Somewhere between 1989 and 2000, music changed. A lot.

Exhibit A: The top 10 songs on December 30, 1989:

1. "Another Day In Paradise" Phil Collins

2. "With Every Beat Of My Heart" Taylor Dayne

3. "Rhythm Nation" Janet Jackson

4. "Don't Know Much" Linda Ronstadt, featuring Aaron Neville

5. "Pump Up The Jam" Technotronic, featuring Felly

6. "We Didn't Start The Fire" Billy Joel

7. "Just Like Jesse James" Cher

8. "This One's For The Children" New Kids On The Block

9. "Back To Life" Soul II Soul

10. "Everything" Jody Watley

Obviously, change of this magnitude doesn't happen overnight. In this case, it took 10 years.

Remember, we're talking about a time when the only hip-hop to graze the charts was courtesy of Technotronic, country music on the pop charts would have been deemed a typo and the term "alternative music" wasn't even in the popular lexicon.

Five key events could be deemed responsible for causing the wind to shift, leading to popular music as we know it.

Metallica's self-titled black album

Some might say this is just a turning point for Metallica, when they started to "sell out." They may be right, but this album stands as the turning point for hard rock music - not limited to heavy metal, but not grouped with rock 'n' roll either. Before the black album, the closest "metal" came to consistent radio air play were a few hair bands. Metallica's earlier albums were the real metal, but it wasn't until the black album that teenagers and college students finally put a sound to all those black T-shirts with skulls. Radio was hesitant to play music heavy on music and screaming vocals. Metallica finally broke through with "Enter Sandman" and rock hasn't looked back since, finally finding their place in the top 40 charts.

Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places."

Country music before Garth Brooks was all about the southern guy losing his wife, his dog and his truck - at least that's what most thought. If you didn't listen to country music, then you didn't know any better. And, before Garth Brooks the number of country music fans wasn't exactly at an all-time high.

Then came this country voice inspired by rock 'n' roll and backed by a whole lot of energy. And people started listening. People who wouldn't have been caught dead in a cowboy hat were suddenly out dancing at the country club every weekend. "Low Places" was about friends, beer, whiskey and giving an old girlfriend the kiss-off. And did it ever sound good.

From there, country jumped in the old Ford pickup and cruised to tunes by Alan Jackson, George Strait, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain, eventually crossing the line between country and pop.

Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video.

Some say it's the song. Some say it's the band. Some say it's Seattle.

Really, it started with the video.

The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video was the first viewers simply couldn't turn away from, regardless of the unintelligible lyrics. The video, in effect, made the song. And the song led Nirvana, which led to Seattle, which led to the birth of grunge.

Goodbye Axl Rose. Nice knowing ya, hair bands. Hello Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Soul Asylum. Flannel was the new black.

It was the beginning of all things grunge. Pop got sucked into it. Rock got sucked into it. Long before he killed himself, Kurt Cobain killed rock 'n' roll. He didn't even mean to bring the attention to himself. But the album cover for "Nevermind" with a naked baby swimming after a dollar on a hook says a lot about the 1980s, and a lot about what grunge was against.

Grunge had a grudge against greed.

Of all the events listed here, this is the one that caused the most change, knocked the world off its axis and changed music for good.

Dr. Dre introduces Snoop Doggy Dog on "Chronic."

Rap and hip-hop purists will credit Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet" and "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" as the influential rap albums. But Dr. Dre and Snoop also should share some of the credit.

As much as Public Enemy brought validity to gangsta rap, Dre and Snoop brought it to the main stream. Watching videos on MTV was how white people saw black music in the early 1990s outside of heavily diverse areas.

Snoop's style put a little dance groove into gangsta rap, and people noticed. It led the way for more hip-hop and rap infusions. By the end of the decade, hip-hop was pop music, and rap had become mainstream to the point it was injected into all pop music. Rap-metal bands like Limp Bizkit were the next big thing. And Kid Rock added another genre in the mix to become the first heavy metal country rapper.

Madonna giving props to Ricky Martin at the Grammys.

After she opened her mouth, everybody wanted Ricky Martin. Madonna's endorsement that said it all - this guy is the real deal.

And after everybody got their taste of Ricky, everybody wanted that Latino sound. Ricky's performance at the 1999 Grammys was the only one that night with any hint of life. He won a Grammy that night, though he was relatively unknown before it.

Latin music wasn't the only thing rejuvenated that night by Ricky Martin. All of pop music got the hint that people were ready to boogie.

Soon, boy bands were all the rage, Britney Spears blossomed into a pop star and everything began to come full circle. Boy bands hadn't seen popularity since the New Kids drowned the genre at the beginning of the decade. Britney and Christina were duking it out like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Pop was back and this time, it had a friend in hip-hop, a combination still unstoppable on the charts.

This list may have some holes and glaring omissions, and we want you to tell us about it. E-mail jack.sheard@wcfcourier.com with any suggestions and maybe we'll revamp the list.

{M3