Look at what blew up in the early 90's: grunge and rap, they were cheaper forms of the 80's rock and R&B that came before them. Rap probably wouldn't have happened without the 808 and samplers, and wikipedia puts the first affordable sampler at 1986 which fits the graph in the article pretty well.
I'm not saying it's all technology but when something is cheap and new that's an attractive combination for musicians looking for a different sound. And that new thing will have new strengths and deficiencies which will determine what types of music sound good on it.
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Look at what blew up in the early 90's: grunge and rap, they were cheaper forms of the 80's rock and R&B that came before them. Rap probably wouldn't have happened without the 808 and samplers, and wikipedia puts the first affordable sampler at 1986 which fits the graph in the article pretty well.
I'm not saying it's all technology but when something is cheap and new that's an attractive combination for musicians looking for a different sound. And that new thing will have new strengths and deficiencies which will determine what types of music sound good on it.