1990 and 1994...in musical terms, those years are milestones for both mainstream and alternative music. In mainstream terms, even though there were a lot of teen pop bands around in 1990, adult oriented pop began to become really big. Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and lesser known one hit wonders like Boy Meets Girl started really getting popular. On the alternative side, a lot of alternative music in 1990 was receiving a lot of attention from the mainstream, and gradually built up until Nirvana broke out in late 1991/early 1992.
In 1994, Grunge was starting to fade away, possibly quickened by Kurt Cobain's suicide, and a couple of other styles of alternative music started coming more into their own at that point. Pop/punk bands such as Green Day and No Doubt came out at that point, and more established punk bands such as Rancid got a lot of attention as well.
The other style that really came into its own is Industrial. Now, Industrial music had come into mainstream music around the same time Nirvana did, mainly because it was a very appealing style that dealt with the same types of aggression and self-loathing that Grunge did, but it was a lot heavier and a lot more controversial. Between 1991-1993, there were only a few Industrial bands that got any media attention (Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, and KMFDM are about the only ones I can recall, but NIN wasn't super-big yet, and Skinny Puppy was almost about to break up). In 1994, since Grunge was fading, and pop/punk was just too happy-sounding, Industrial provided the dark edge that alternative music needed for mainstream success. Nirvana breaking out and bringing a lot of Grunge bands to the mainstream is often called the Grunge Revolution; likewise, starting in 1994 a lot of bands popped up that were heavily influenced by Nine Inch Nails (not to mention that NIN's most infamous song, Closer, had just been released as a video on MTV and stirred up a lot of controversy). This wave of Industrial music is often called the Industrial Revolution. Bands like Stabbing Westward, Rammstein, Gravity Kills, and Filter were getting airplay (although Rammstein was probably only getting airplay in Germany; they didn't really make a splash over here in the US until 'Du Hast' came out in early 1998). The soundtracks to both of the Mortal Kombat movies are full of Industrial artists, as are the soundtracks to The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded.
It was also in the 1990-1994 time period that a couple of Christian Industrial bands got some popularity in the Christian music scene as well. Mortal and Circle Of Dust both came out with influential albums during this time. Mortal sounds a lot like Nine Inch Nails' early material, with very subdued guitars and more emphasis on a haunting sound, and Circle Of Dust has a lot of similarity to the way Stabbing Westward sounded on their Wither Blister Burn & Peel album. Also, the Newsboys put out their Not Ashamed album in 1992 and Going Public in 1994. Both of these CDs are very influenced by electronic dance music, and are two of the most well-known in the Newsboys' catalog.
I'd probably say that Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, and Stabbing Westward on the secular side. If you want more Grunge-era bands, Soul Asylum and Pearl Jam should be considered also. On the Christian side, Mortal and the Newsboys.
This should give you some bands to look into for that project and also give you some background info to use as well.
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