1991 saw the music industry turned upside down, and 30 years later, its echoes remain SatSaturday 6 updated SatSaturday 6 Nirvana's Novaselic, Cobain and Grohl were key in the "quasi-revolution" that up-ended music. ( Print text only In the 1980s the music industry was divided into two worlds. On one side was the big-money mainstream world of MTV-approved pop and rock stars, the all-important singles and album charts, and pay-to-play commercial radio. This is where you would find the likes of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Michael Bolton. On the other side was so-called "alternative music" — a catch-all category that covered everything from punk and metal to gangsta rap and indie rock.