As summer 2022 winds down and kids gear up to head back to school, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since 1997—that’s what getting old will do since, for me, it still feels like yesterday. It’s amazing to look back, even though it was not obvious at the time, that 1997 summer was truly epic.
The golden age of touring festivals was at its peak: Lollapalooza and H.O.R.D.E. were all crisscrossing the country offering something for everyone. Single and album sales reached an all-time high. Some of the most popular songs of all time were released that summer. The Spice Girls’ domination of the music world was just getting started, and a tribute to a recently deceased hip hop megastar spent 11 weeks at #1. Another tragedy struck at the close of the year when Princess Diana was tragically killed in a Parisian car accident. It led to yet another million and multi-million selling single. Let’s get into just how big music was that summer.
The Tragic End Of Biggie Littles
The Notorious B.I.G. died on March 9th 1997. After the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles, The Notorious.I.G. was sitting in a car when he was shot and killed. We all remember the sad story of Biggie and Tupac’s beef six months prior. It was shocking to say the least that both of these hip-hop icons were killed in such a short time. At the time of his death, Biggie was on the precipice of releasing the highly anticipated follow-up to 1994’s Ready To Die,The death of Biggie is still being felt by hip-hop decades later. It’s almost like Biggie saw it coming, naming his sophomore album Life after Death.
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The only good thing that came from Biggie’s death was on June 14th, when his longtime producer and mentor Puff Daddy teamed up with his widow, Faith Evans, and the R&B group 112 to record “I’ll Be Missing You”In tribute to the late rapper. The song would spend an incredible 11 straight weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts, only to be knocked off by Biggie’s own “Mo Money Mo Problems.”In May “Hypnotize”Spend three weeks at #1 to ensure that hip-hop’s summer was dominated by Biggie, Puffy and Bad Boy Records.
Pop Revival Exploded
The hip-hop song that was the most popular this summer is “I’ll Be Missing You,”The Spice Girls were then, without question, the dominant force in pop music. The girl power group’s debut single, “Wannabe”The album was actually released in the U.K. on the summer of 1996. However, it would be six months before the United States received its first taste of the bubblegum single. The Spice Girls had exploded onto the charts by 1997. They were selling a lot of hits and ensuring that the album was the most-sold of the year. SpiceOver seven million copies were sold in the United States alone.
On the radio pop stations, if you weren’t listening to a Spice Girls song, there was a good chance you were hearing Hanson’s “MMMBop.” The catchy tune was released in April, and by the summer, it had wormed its way into everyone’s ears. It sold more than 3 million copies in the world, reached #1 in many countries including the U.S. and remains one of the most popular debuts of any band. This feat was achieved by three Tulsa teenager brothers.
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At the end of summer 1997, Princess Diana died. The news reached the whole world in a flash and tributes from every corner of this globe came flooding in. Elton John is the most prominent tribute. John was an old friend of Diana’s and at her funeral, which was watched by millions, he sang a re-worked version of his iconic “Candle In The Wind.”John was already a huge success with the original tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The reworked version is called “Candle In The Wind 1997,” would quickly become the second-highest selling single of all time, moving 33 million copies in no time. It was a worldwide sensation.
Some Of The Most Important Albums Of The ’90s Were Also Released
It wasn’t just chart-topping music that was getting airplay that summer either. Daft Punk, a European band, announced their arrival in Europe with “Around The World,”This song instantly takes me back to that moment whenever I hear it. That summer I was in Europe. “Around The World”It was everywhere in every country, every club, every bar.
Radiohead’s OK Computer was released in May and suddenly it was clear that if pop hadn’t killed grunge, this strange new mix of rock with an electronic twist would. Of course, the album would end the decade at the top of many critics’ lists of the best of the ’90s.
If all that wasn’t enough, Missy Elliott, The Backstreet Boys, and Erykah Badu all released their debut albums in the spring or summer. It’s almost too much to take in. Creed also released their debut record, but I’m not going to hold that against 1997.
Concert Tours Also Reach A Peak
Record companies were able to fill their pockets with millions of dollars in single and album sales, but live music was equally important. I was able to see some of the most memorable concerts in my life that summer. This included seeing Michael Jackson perform in Paris, and then traveling to Maine to see Phish play six sets at their festival called “The Festival.” “The Great Went.”The festival brought in 70,000 people to Limestone (Maine) and was the largest-grossing event its kind that summer. It also raised $4 million for the New England quartet.
Traveling festivals were the norm in America’s concert halls. Lollapalooza had just completed its eighth run and was then put on hold for a while. It was then revived in 2001 as an annual festival.
The “hippie”Version of Lolla, H.O.R.D.E. had one of the most successful tours, with the 1997 version featuring Neil Young and Beck as well as Blues Traveler and other artists. Vans Warped Tour celebrated punk and skateboard culture. Ozzfest premiered with Black Sabbath performing as the headline act. Every possible genre got its own traveling circus.
This included the Lilith Fair festival which featured all-female-based acts. For years, tours like Lolla had been fairly criticized for not featuring enough women artists and in 1997, Sarah McLachlan took things into her own hands and founded the festival, named after Adam’s first wife, Lilith, who refused to be subservient to Adam according to Jewish folklore. The festival brought together some of the biggest female artists of the ’90s. McLachlan was joined by Sheryl Crow, The Indigo Girls and Jewel. Jewel, Lisa Loeb. Tracy Chapman. Joan Osborne. Suzanne Vega were also present on various dates.
All the while, U2 was filling stadiums on their PopMart tour, Fleetwood Mac’s classic lineup reunited for the first time in years, The Rolling Stones hit the road again, this time in support of their Bridges to Babylon album, Michael Jackson toured the world for his final time, though the 82-date run didn’t feature any shows in the United States, and Garth Brooks played a free concert in front of a mind-boggling 800,000 people in New York’s Central Park. It was, to say the least, one hell of summer to catch whatever kind of music you loved—even if it’s Creed.