1990

1990 was a year of big endings and openings. Germany reunified, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison and Margaret Thatcher resigned after more than eleven years in Downing Street. The Hubble Space Telescope went up, and Tim Berners-Lee built the first web server, though hardly anyone noticed at the time. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait set the stage for the Gulf War the following year.

Metal spent the year sharpening its tools. Megadeth's Rust in Peace and Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss showed thrash at its most precise, with Anthrax's Persistence of Time close behind, and the Clash of the Titans tour put several of those bands on one bill. Pantera's Cowboys From Hell began the groove metal story, while Alice in Chains' Facelift pointed towards the grunge-tinged metal that was coming. Queensrÿche's Empire kept the progressive end busy. The old guard turned up too: AC/DC with The Razors Edge, Iron Maiden with No Prayer for the Dying, Black Sabbath with TYR and Ozzy Osbourne with Ten Commandments. Elsewhere, Metallica collected the first Grammy for Best Metal Performance, for "One", and Faith No More's "Epic" helped The Real Thing into the US Top 10.

Personnel changes did most of the damage. Adrian Smith left Iron Maiden for a solo career, with Janick Gers stepping in, and Marty Friedman replaced Jeff Young in Megadeth. Judas Priest won a lawsuit over two teenage suicides blamed on one of their songs, and Possessed frontman Jeff Becerra was left paralysed from the waist down after being shot in a mugging.