Has Any Entertainer had a Decade like Will Smith's 1990's!?

[IrishCanadian25]

I came up with this talking point about a week ago. Tonight, between the Green Bay victory and the start of the Dallas / Washington game, D-Man, Norcal, my wife, and I got into the argument.

Has any entertainer ever had a decade as massive as Wll Smith's in the 1990's?

He had Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which was a MASSIVE show that is still in amazing levels of syndication.

He had a slowed rap career with a sudden shot in the arm with Big WIlly Style and hits like "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" and "Miami."

He became a world-wide movie icon with films like Independence Day and Men in Black.

Becky and D-Man came up with two names of people who MAY make a case, but in the end, I doubt anyone can match up. But for fun, I'll throw it out to anyone who dares take on Will Smith's 90's as the most massive multimedia entertainment decade of all time.

 

[jmt225]

Eddie Murphy during the eighties comes to mind for me.

I mean, sure... his How Could It Be Album is looked at as a joke today, but it was a huge commercial success regardless. Only somebody absolutely loved could have something so shit sale so well.

And people started loving him on SNL, where he was one of the biggest highlights during that early eighties era. After a couple of years on the show, he was able to transition successfully to film, starring in some of the greatest, most memorable comedies of the eighties such as Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop 1-3, and 48 Hrs.

Plus, Eddie Murphy was easily one of the most popular stand-up comedians during the eighties as well. His "Raw" show today is still lauded as one of the greatest stand-up comedy shows of all time.

So, yeah... Eddie Murphy easily competes with Will Smith's run during the nineties, man. While he wasn't on a successful sitcom, his work on Saturday Night Live more than makes up for that, especially since Murphy is considered to be the main person who revitalized the series after its slump before he came aboard.

 

[The Brain]

He's not a musical figure, but Tim Allen did pretty well for himself in the 90s. I remember at one point he starred in the #1 television show, #1 movie, and had the #1 book. That's success. Overall he probably wasn't as successful as Will Smith in the 90s, but I wanted to give him an honorable mention.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I can't say anything about being popular for an entire decade like Will Smith was, but Mark Wahlberg aka Mark E. Mark has been getting much publicity since his rapper days. He's been the main star in many movies including the video game-to-movie Max Payne, the Shymalain movie The Happening, and countless new ones like The Lovely Bones, The Other Guys, etc. Now I'm not a big fan of his, but I do give him credit; he has been around making movies for quite a while now, maybe not as long as Will but still for quite a while.

 

[Davi323]

Elvis Presley in the 60s. He returned from his enlistment in 1960, and it was this decade in which he starred in most of his movies, which were generally huge commercial successes, many of which featured accompanying soundtrack albums. Then, in 1968, after his star power started to dwindle a little, he staged his Comeback special, which was the first televised example of the format featured on MTV's Unplugged, and is still available on DVD today.

Between 1960 and 1969, Elvis had 7 albums reach #1, 13 singles reach #1, starred in 27 movies, and staged a "comeback special" that was a ratings monster.

 

[Whatsinaname696]

I like Big Willie but he's def not the only one to have massive success in a decade, Elvis, as has been mentioned, comes right to my mind, and Davi has stated the reasons, but yeah Will's Def up there