SANREMO – THE 1990s
The Festival was no longer (only) a musical contest, but the event that best fit the national idea of television, and as such it crossed the yet extensive broad borders of the media universe to establish itself as a national-popular tradition.
The 1990 edition again combined Italian and foreign artists, but it would be the last time. It was now difficult to find singers who were willing to accept the risk. The Pooh won with Dee Dee Bridgewater (Uomini soli). Second came Toto Cutugno, but Gli amori owes a lot to Ray Charles.
The 1991 edition would be one of the best ever. Riccardo Cocciante was the undisputed winner (Se stiamo insieme) ahead of Renato Zero (Spalle al muro) and Marco Masini with Perché lo fai, which topped sales. Among the evergreen Spunta la luna dal monte (Bertoli with the group Tazenda), Gli altri siamo noi (Tozzi) and Oggi un dio non ho (Raf).
1992 was again the year of singer-songwriters: Luca Barbarossa won (Portami a ballare) but the revelation was Aleandro Baldi, first in the youth section. Non amarmi (with Francesca Aleotta) would be the one-hit wonder of the year.
In 1993 rock won for the first time, with Mistero by Enrico Ruggeri. Cristiano De Andrè came second (Behind the door), followed in third place by Grazia Di Michele and Rossana Casale (Gli amori diversi). Among the young artists Laura Pausini stood out with La solitudine.
The following year (1994) the New Proposals rewarded the belcanto of Andrea Bocelli (Il mare calmo della sera). In the Big category, Baldi (Passerà) won ahead of Giorgio Faletti (Signor tenente) and the newly promoted Pausini (Strani amori).
The trend of the decade was to promote a new generation of performers, and in 1995 Giorgia (Come saprei) triumphed ahead of Morandi and Barbara Cola (Un amore).
In 1996 Ron and Tosca (Vorrei incontrarti fra cent’anni) beat by a whisker the surrealism of Elio and the Storie Tese (La terra dei cachi).
The last editions of the decade slipped away without leaving significant traces. The short lived duo Jalisse dominated in 1997 (Fiumi di parole), Annalisa Minetti in 1998 (Senza te o con te), and Anna Oxa closed the decade repeating her success of 1989 (Senza pietà, 1999).