101 Best Songs of 1990 - #1 George Michael - Freedom '90 (1 Viewer)

[Tick]

#29 Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

On the day after I moved in to the dorms, I made my first trek to Schoolkids Records with a few new friends to buy the long-awaited new Jane's Addiction CD. Much like my experience with the Pixies album, Ritual de lo Habitual was a slow burn. In the long run though, it's still in my regular rotation (boasting one of my favorite songs ever) and I can't remember the last time I listened to Bossanova in full. At the time, Nothing's Shocking was my north star, and Ritual just sounded so much different.

I think I still hold a minor grudge against Been Caught Stealing, it's biggest hit. AFAIK, I was the only person who listened to Jane's at my HS, and my classic rock friends would all rip them whenever I played the tapes in my car. I also wore an excellent Jane's tee sporting lyrics from Ted, Just Admit It on the back that got lots of disdain. Then, when I went back home for Xmas break, all these same jackasses would tell me how much Been Caught Stealing ruled. With time, I can admit it's a pretty damn good song, but it's still my most likely skip on the record.

Agree completely, though I’m still more likely to listen to Nothing’s Shocking. What’s the favorite song - Three Days?

Nothing’s Shocking instantly transports me to a bus to a junior high XC race at Westchester Lagoon where I first listened to it.

 

[foxco]

#29 Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

I think I still hold a minor grudge against Been Caught Stealing, it's biggest hit. AFAIK, I was the only person who listened to Jane's at my HS, and my classic rock friends would all rip them whenever I played the tapes in my car. I also wore an excellent Jane's tee sporting lyrics from Ted, Just Admit It on the back that got lots of disdain. Then, when I went back home for Xmas break, all these same jackasses would tell me how much Been Caught Stealing ruled. With time, I can admit it's a pretty damn good song, but it's still my most likely skip on the record.

So you skip the song out of spite? That is freaking super impressive.

The whole album is terrific for me. Nothing beats Nothing Shocking but this is a fine follow-up IMO.

 

[massraider]

I have a pretty strong policy about catching anything by Perry Farrell when he comes around.

Just incredibly interesting crowd. What I assume Burning Man crowd was like, originally.

 

[rockaction]

"Three Days" was the only song from Ritual that they were all in the studio together for. The rest of the songs they mailed to each other and recorded their parts separately. They couldn't get along, apparently.

You can tell.

 

[zamboni]

#29 Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

Makes my best songs featuring barking dogs list. Others include Hey Bulldog (even if it is really Paul barking) and Suburbia by the Pet Shop Boys.

And of course

 

[shuke]

#29 Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

Makes my best songs featuring barking dogs list. Others include Hey Bulldog (even if it is really Paul barking) and Suburbia by the Pet Shop Boys.

You holding out on the greatest ever?

 

[scorchy]

You holding out on the greatest ever?

In the immortal words of EMF, WTF was that?

 

[scorchy]

#28 Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places

Forgive me for this. I guess I'll just plant Garth here at #28 but it's a no win. If you hate it, it doesn't belong on this list at all, but if you understand its greatness then this is way too low.

Early on, I pretended that I was too cool to like this song, but I was lying to myself. Going to college in the south, it was absolutely omnipresent, even though I tended to avoid places you were most likely to encounter it. And I swear everyone would always sing along. If some drunk townie played it at Skeeters (home of the big biscuit) at 2:30 am, the whole restaurant - even us goth kids would join in. It has to be the biggest modern country song ever, right.

I leave you with a Chuck Klosterman critique:

"Friends in Low Places" was as effective as pop music ever gets: It's a depressing song that makes you feel better. ... It's a song that makes me want to get drunk out of spite.

 

[Pipes]

#28 Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places

Forgive me for this. I guess I'll just plant Garth here at #28 but it's a no win. If you hate it, it doesn't belong on this list at all, but if you understand its greatness then this is way too low.

Early on, I pretended that I was too cool to like this song, but I was lying to myself. Going to college in the south, it was absolutely omnipresent, even though I tended to avoid places you were most likely to encounter it. And I swear everyone would always sing along. If some drunk townie played it at Skeeters (home of the big biscuit) at 2:30 am, the whole restaurant - even us goth kids would join in. It has to be the biggest modern country song ever, right.

I leave you with a Chuck Klosterman critique:

"Friends in Low Places" was as effective as pop music ever gets: It's a depressing song that makes you feel better. ... It's a song that makes me want to get drunk out of spite.

This was my barometer for how drunk I was back in the day. When at a bar and this song came on and it annoyed me I was fairly sober. If I sang along I was hammered. With that being said the chicks loved it and most definitely belongs on this list. Seems like a good spot for it.

 

[Bogart]

#28 Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places

Right place for that song. There is a local cover band here, The **** Beldings, that play 90's alternative covers. Great show. You get Green Day, PJ, Nirvana, Toadies, STP, BTE, Tonic, Weezer, No Doubt, The Flys, Spacehog, Lit, you get the point. You get a cover of Sabotage where the lead singer plays a kazoo. They always end with Bulls On Parade because it shreads the singer's voice. 4 hours of just fun. I don't miss a show.

Anyway, I digress, at the occasional show, they will bust out Friends in Low Places and the crowd always goes crazy. It's weird to hear it between Santeria and Longview, but there it is. Always a hit.

 

[zamboni]

There is a local cover band here, The **** Beldings,

I love that band name.

 

[FatMax]

#28 Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places

Forgive me for this. I guess I'll just plant Garth here at #28 but it's a no win. If you hate it, it doesn't belong on this list at all, but if you understand its greatness then this is way too low.

Early on, I pretended that I was too cool to like this song, but I was lying to myself. Going to college in the south, it was absolutely omnipresent, even though I tended to avoid places you were most likely to encounter it. And I swear everyone would always sing along. If some drunk townie played it at Skeeters (home of the big biscuit) at 2:30 am, the whole restaurant - even us goth kids would join in. It has to be the biggest modern country song ever, right.

I leave you with a Chuck Klosterman critique:

"Friends in Low Places" was as effective as pop music ever gets: It's a depressing song that makes you feel better. ... It's a song that makes me want to get drunk out of spite.

Friends in Low Places is about as ubiquitous as it gets for tradition country music, and definitely deserves a mention here. No Fences was one of the first CD's I bought after getting a brand spanking new Sony Discman ... along with AC/DC Razor's Edge.

 

[scorchy]

#27 Iggy Pop (feat Kate Pierson) - Candy

I've had a hole in my heart for so long
I've learned to fake it and just smile along

Swoon. I freakin' this song so much. I've been vocal before about adoring Kate Pierson's voice but finding most B-52s material unlistenable because of Fred Schneider's constant yelping. Swapping out Fred for Iggy works wonders. According to Iggy, he wrote Candy about a HS girlfriend Betsy, with his version of events in the first verse and hers in the second. No one thinks of Iggy Pop as a one-hit wonder, but it was the only song of his to ever reach the mainstream charts, peaking at #28 on the Hot 100. Pure pop goodness.

 

[TripItUp]

#28 Garth Brooks - Friends in Low Places

A rare country music recognition by the FFA. Ironic given the typical FFA music critic guy claiming how diverse his taste is.

Perhaps hell has frozen over.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#27 Iggy Pop (feat Kate Pierson) - Candy

I've had a hole in my heart for so long
I've learned to fake it and just smile along

Swoon. I freakin' this song so much. I've been vocal before about adoring Kate Pierson's voice

Don't know why I remember this but when I first started posting here I started a thread about this song specifically to point out how great her voice is. Great tune.

 

[scorchy]

#26 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

I'm not sure where our resident Bauhaus savant @otb_lifer has disappeared to, but I feel like I can't do this song or the post-Bauhaus discographies/dramas of Peter Murphy, Tones on Tail, or Love and Rockets justice.

L&R had a totally random Hot 100 #3 in 1989 with So Alive. The following year, Peter scored a Modern Rock #1 with Cuts You Up. In terms of the entire post-Bauhaus catalog, I would vote Love and Rockets. But Cuts You Up is the best song of the entire bunch. Every time I hear it, my mind fills with memories of girls with black flowy dresses and heavy eyeliner seeming to float above the fog-Machine filled the dance floor.

 

[Gr00vus]

#26 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

I'm not sure where our resident Bauhaus savant @otb_lifer has disappeared to, but I feel like I can't do this song or the post-Bauhaus discographies/dramas of Peter Murphy, Tones on Tail, or Love and Rockets justice.

L&R had a totally random Hot 100 #3 in 1989 with So Alive. The following year, Peter scored a Modern Rock #1 with Cuts You Up. In terms of the entire post-Bauhaus catalog, I would vote Love and Rockets. But Cuts You Up is the best song of the entire bunch. Every time I hear it, my mind fills with memories of girls with black flowy dresses and heavy eyeliner seeming to float above the fog-Machine filled the dance floor.

Great tune (off a really good album, I played the heck out of that one when it came out). But I'm taking Go! by Tones On Tail as my favorite post Bauhaus song by members of that crew.

 

[Eephus]

#26 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

I'm not sure where our resident Bauhaus savant @otb_lifer has disappeared to, but I feel like I can't do this song or the post-Bauhaus discographies/dramas of Peter Murphy, Tones on Tail, or Love and Rockets justice.

L&R had a totally random Hot 100 #3 in 1989 with So Alive. The following year, Peter scored a Modern Rock #1 with Cuts You Up. In terms of the entire post-Bauhaus catalog, I would vote Love and Rockets. But Cuts You Up is the best song of the entire bunch. Every time I hear it, my mind fills with memories of girls with black flowy dresses and heavy eyeliner seeming to float above the fog-Machine filled the dance floor.

The viola line in the intro sets the table perfectly.

 

[FairWarning]

#27 Iggy Pop (feat Kate Pierson) - Candy

I've had a hole in my heart for so long
I've learned to fake it and just smile along

Swoon. I freakin' this song so much. I've been vocal before about adoring Kate Pierson's voice but finding most B-52s material unlistenable because of Fred Schneider's constant yelping. Swapping out Fred for Iggy works wonders. According to Iggy, he wrote Candy about a HS girlfriend Betsy, with his version of events in the first verse and hers in the second. No one thinks of Iggy Pop as a one-hit wonder, but it was the only song of his to ever reach the mainstream charts, peaking at #28 on the Hot 100. Pure pop goodness.

Iggy Pop’s music has really grown on me, this isn’t one of the songs. It was a big hit in 1990 though. Amazing he is 76 and putting on a show lIke this in Las Vegas earlier this year. Great band with Duff McCaggan and Chad Smith.

Live at the Joint

 

[zamboni]

#26 Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

I'm not sure where our resident Bauhaus savant @otb_lifer has disappeared to, but I feel like I can't do this song or the post-Bauhaus discographies/dramas of Peter Murphy, Tones on Tail, or Love and Rockets justice.

L&R had a totally random Hot 100 #3 in 1989 with So Alive. The following year, Peter scored a Modern Rock #1 with Cuts You Up. In terms of the entire post-Bauhaus catalog, I would vote Love and Rockets. But Cuts You Up is the best song of the entire bunch. Every time I hear it, my mind fills with memories of girls with black flowy dresses and heavy eyeliner seeming to float above the fog-Machine filled the dance floor.

Great tune - I didn’t know of Bauhaus at the the time but was really captivated by this when it came out. Sounded so different than anything else that was coming out then, and as Eephus said, that violin was a terrific touch.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

#29 Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

Makes my best songs featuring barking dogs list. Others include Hey Bulldog (even if it is really Paul barking) and Suburbia by the Pet Shop Boys.

You holding out on the greatest ever?

Maybe you meant 2nd greatest ever?

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Garth Brooks really does have some great songs, I still need to get around to a best songs about bangin old lady’s playlist and get That Summer on it. Desiree by Neal Diamond too

1990 also gave us Love With Out End, Amen by George Straight and Fancy by Reba (yes it’s a cover but she kills it). I’m sure there’s some others I’m missing.

 

[scorchy]

Great tune (off a really good album, I played the heck out of that one when it came out). But I'm taking Go! by Tones On Tail as my favorite post Bauhaus song by members of that crew.

I'll definitely take Go! as the most fun of the bunch. At least a half-dozen L&R tunes I would pick over So Alive - which makes its mainstream success even more curious. Kundalini Express ftw.

 

[scorchy]

1990 also gave us Love With Out End, Amen by George Straight and Fancy by Reba (yes it’s a cover but she kills it). I’m sure there’s some others I’m missing.

If so, not sure the rest of us would notice. My country experience ended once I no longer needed to catch rides with my parents.

Ok, not totally true. I had a Jamaican suite mate that loved Chatahootchee but just checked and that was 1992.

 

[shuke]

You holding out on the greatest ever?

In the immortal words of EMF, WTF was that?

MTV in the 80's.

 

[scorchy]

Live at the Joint

I wish I had 1/10th of Iggy's energy.

 

[scorchy]

#25 Wilson Phillips - Hold On
#24 En Vogue - Hold On

Two songs named Hold On were released a week apart in early 1990. Both were the first single from a debut album. Both were from all-female groups. One hit #1 and the other hit #2. The first group peaked with Hold On - despite scoring two more #1s with far inferior releases from the same album. Their follow-up was a commercial and critical disappointment and that was that. The second group was just getting started. Even though they never had a #1 single, they did make the top 10 another five times from two more massive albums over the ensuing half decade.

The first Hold On was a one-off piece of pop bliss and I can’t say a bad thing about it. The second one though, totally thumps and marks a group with a lot more to say. Give me the Funky Divas all day.

 

[Eephus]

#25 Wilson Phillips - Hold On
#24 En Vogue - Hold On

I was ready to throw hands if you had them ranked the other way.

Norcal all day (except for the temporary avatar)

 

[scorchy]

Norcal all day (except for the temporary avatar)

In Santa Cruz tonight. Enjoying the NorCal vibe. And food. And booze. And sea lions.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

The first Hold On was a one-off piece of pop bliss and I can’t say a bad thing about it.

Fantastic song that always reminds me of the ending of the worst worstest winter I have ever experienced, and the beginning of a beautiful warm spring that I never thought would occur.

For the first few weeks after Christmas break, the sky was a permanent gray and dumped layer upon layer of snow on the campus. The drifts were two stories high, every car got stuck in the parking lot. A couple hundred yard walk from the dorms to the academic buildings took half an hour.

Then for a few weeks after that, the clouds disappeared, the sun was low and bright, bringing with it an epic, bone jarring coldness, and a snow blindness so acute that if you were not wearing sunglasses it ached to open your eyes. One day, a girl took off her sunglasses to adjust her boots, sticking them in her mouth--and her tongue froze to the metal, kind of like the kid in Christmas Story.

After that, the days would be cold in the morning, warm and melting around noon, and then freeze again in the late afternoon, turning the campus into a slick, ice skating rink. Half the student body slipped and fell at least once (I fell four times), and a dozen or so kids fractured/dislocated various limbs, including the starting point-guard for the basketball team who broke his wrist a week before the conference tournament began.

Finally, it warmed up, and stayed warm, the sun friendly and not aggressive. The windows in the dorms were all opened wide, and I remember walking to and from class, and hearing Hold On by Wilson Phillips, and it's always a good memory.

 

[zamboni]

#25 Wilson Phillips - Hold On

Good tune and lovely ladies. Nice to see that they inherited some of the talent, but not the antisocial idiosyncrasatic behavior, of their highly accomplished fathers.

I like the use of this in Bloom/Lammey's weekly podcast during the season.

 

[massraider]

#25 Wilson Phillips - Hold On
#24 En Vogue - Hold On

Two songs named Hold On were released a week apart in early 1990. Both were the first single from a debut album. Both were from all-female groups. One hit #1 and the other hit #2. The first group peaked with Hold On - despite scoring two more #1s with far inferior releases from the same album. Their follow-up was a commercial and critical disappointment and that was that. The second group was just getting started. Even though they never had a #1 single, they did make the top 10 another five times from two more massive albums over the ensuing half decade.

The first Hold On was a one-off piece of pop bliss and I can’t say a bad thing about it. The second one though, totally thumps and marks a group with a lot more to say. Give me the Funky Divas all day.

I love En Vogue, I celebrate their entire catlog.

But that Wilson Phillips one is great. It reminds me of something a musician friend once told me about Weezer. He was a songwriter, and he would hear a popular Weezer song, and think to himself, '****, I could've written that'. You read the lyrics to Hold On, and it's like, hang on, no one wrote this song already? Real simple, affirmation, you just hang on one more day, girl.

Was not cutting edge, but pretty great for what it was.

 

[scorchy]

#23 Sinead O’Connor - The Emperor’s New Clothes

I was sold on Sinead O’Connor from the first time I saw the video for Mandinka on 120 Minutes in early 1988. I don’t think any of her early fans saw the supernova success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got coming. Not a shocking self-spotlight to acknowledge there’s another, much bigger song coming, but the album was so much more than the mega'hit. My personal favorite, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, was too damn depressing to even be included on this list. And The Emperor’s New Clothes is Sinead at her most fierce:

Everyone can see what's going on
They laugh 'cause they know they're untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace


Looking back, it’s amazing how right she was and how dearly she paid for it.

 

[Anarchy99]

#23 Sinead O’Connor - The Emperor’s New Clothes

I was sold on Sinead O’Connor from the first time I saw the video for Mandinka on 120 Minutes in early 1988. I don’t think any of her early fans saw the supernova success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got coming. Not a shocking self-spotlight to acknowledge there’s another, much bigger song coming, but the album was so much more than the mega'hit. My personal favorite, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, was too damn depressing to even be included on this list. And The Emperor’s New Clothes is Sinead at her most fierce:

Everyone can see what's going on
They laugh 'cause they know they're untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace


Looking back, it’s amazing how right she was and how dearly she paid for it.

She was big at the time and as the years passed, she faded out of the public's eye. Hadn't really sold much in 20 years. They still haven’t released what her cause of death was from a couple of months ago. Sad.

 

[massraider]

#23 Sinead O’Connor - The Emperor’s New Clothes

I was sold on Sinead O’Connor from the first time I saw the video for Mandinka on 120 Minutes in early 1988. I don’t think any of her early fans saw the supernova success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got coming. Not a shocking self-spotlight to acknowledge there’s another, much bigger song coming, but the album was so much more than the mega'hit. My personal favorite, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, was too damn depressing to even be included on this list. And The Emperor’s New Clothes is Sinead at her most fierce:

Everyone can see what's going on
They laugh 'cause they know they're untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace


Looking back, it’s amazing how right she was and how dearly she paid for it.

Funny you posted those lines, because they are a great example of my favorite thing about O'Connor: conveying an emotion into her singing. The determination comes through the sound of her voice in this instance. I am never not thrilled when this song turns up on the playlist

 

[scorchy]

#22 Mother Love Bone - Stargazer

I know lots of folks view Mother Love Bone as some sort of forebears of grunge but I don’t see it. Pretty sure Andrew Wood owned being glam, and if they had come up on the Sunset Strip instead Seattle, Stargazer could have been the biggest power ballad of 1990. And as a lover of (good) power ballads, I mean that as high praise - Stargazer still sounds incredible.

 

[northern exposure]

#23 Sinead O’Connor - The Emperor’s New Clothes

I was sold on Sinead O’Connor from the first time I saw the video for Mandinka on 120 Minutes in early 1988. I don’t think any of her early fans saw the supernova success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got coming. Not a shocking self-spotlight to acknowledge there’s another, much bigger song coming, but the album was so much more than the mega'hit. My personal favorite, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, was too damn depressing to even be included on this list. And The Emperor’s New Clothes is Sinead at her most fierce:

Everyone can see what's going on
They laugh 'cause they know they're untouchable
Not because what I said was wrong
Whatever it may bring
I will live by my own policies
I will sleep with a clear conscience
I will sleep in peace


Looking back, it’s amazing how right she was and how dearly she paid for it.

Great album. I finally found a vinyl copy of it before her tragic death. I was enjoying listening to it and rediscovering it and then I heard she had passed.
I really like this song and Black Boys On Mopeds.
As you said the album is so much more than just the huge single.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

#22 Mother Love Bone - Stargazer

I know lots of folks view Mother Love Bone as some sort of forebears of grunge but I don’t see it. Pretty sure Andrew Wood owned being glam, and if they had come up on the Sunset Strip instead Seattle, Stargazer could have been the biggest power ballad of 1990. And as a lover of (good) power ballads, I mean that as high praise - Stargazer still sounds incredible.

They were ‘70s Aerosmith crossed with glam. I celebrate their entire (way too small) catalog.

 

[zamboni]

#22 Mother Love Bone - Stargazer

I know lots of folks view Mother Love Bone as some sort of forebears of grunge but I don’t see it. Pretty sure Andrew Wood owned being glam, and if they had come up on the Sunset Strip instead Seattle, Stargazer could have been the biggest power ballad of 1990. And as a lover of (good) power ballads, I mean that as high praise - Stargazer still sounds incredible.

The music world really missed out on what could have been with MLB - such a tragedy with Andrew. Sure we had the evolution into Pearl Jam, but still...

 

[Pip's Invitation]

#22 Mother Love Bone - Stargazer

I know lots of folks view Mother Love Bone as some sort of forebears of grunge but I don’t see it.

The real forebears of grunge were Gossard and Ament's previous band, Green River, which also had future members of Mudhoney.

 

[scorchy]

#21 Jane's Addiction - Stop

Señores y señoras
Nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tú tiene,
pero los queremos

West-coast time really messing with my posting schedule. Already talked about Jane's a bunch and will have more to say upcoming. After waiting so long for new material from my favorite band, was not expecting a Spanish expression of love to open things up.

 

[Brunell4MVP]

Why do I always view JA them as the original Linkin Park. Maybe it's the shrill voice. The constant guitar reverb. The LA roots. JA is harder rock, but seems to have the same skate rat vibe. Always liked em and this song kicks a$S.

 

[Tick]

Why do I always view JA them as the original Linkin Park. Maybe it's the shrill voice. The constant guitar reverb. The LA roots. JA is harder rock, but seems to have the same skate rat vibe. Always liked em and this song kicks a$S.

boooo

 

[rockaction]

a popular Weezer song

Those all pretty much stink, though. And he's right that about any twelve year-old could write them. They're insipid.

And I love those first two Weezer albums much as anything, really.

If he says he could write anything off of the first two, I'd raise a brow at that.

Really? You thought to totally whiten the hip hop phrase "What's with these homies dissin' my girl/Why do they gotta front?" by using an ascending melody line and brief effects with a five-note guitar solo?

Okayyyyy

 

[rockaction]

was not expecting a Spanish expression of love

Isn't the spoken word at the beginning of "Stop" about how they have more influence over parents' children than the parents do?

I don't know if it was an expression of love or subversion there.

 

[scorchy]

Isn't the spoken word at the beginning of "Stop" about how they have more influence over parents' children than the parents do?

I don't know if it was an expression of love or subversion there.

Son ambos? Pero los queremos...

 

[scorchy]

#20 Depeche Mode - World in My Eyes

Second entry from favorite record of 1990. Martin Gore said of World in My Eyes “Yes, it’s a very positive song. It’s saying that love and sex and pleasure are positive things. It's existentialist. I’m probably as influenced by Camus, Kafka and Brecht as I am by pop songs."

Honestly never thought of Camus when I heard this - just figured Dave Gahan was horny.

 

[rockaction]

Son ambos? Pero los queremos...

Hmmm...

Ladies and gentlemen
We have more influence over your children than you do
But we love them
Bred and spread in Los Angeles
Jane's Addiction!

I guess that's an expression of love in some way. I'll allow it.

 

[scorchy]

#19 Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance

The Humpty Dance is definitely in the running for most fun rap song of the era (maybe tied with Biz Markie's Just a Friend and the Beastie's Paul Revere). It also gave all us goofy/ugly guys hope that we too could be successful with the ladies if we just showed the same confidence as Shock G. Humpty was the second single from the Underground's debut record Sex Packets and reached #11 on the Hot 100 (how it lost best rap video to MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This remains a mystery). Rolling Stone's most recent list ranked it as the #241st best song of all time - that may be pushing it.

Bonus Track: West Coast Rap All Stars - We're All In the Same Gang

As a bonus, how about a grammy-nominated collaboration featuring some of the biggest names in West Coast Hip Hop promoting an anti-violence message. We've got Digital Underground, Tone Loc, Dr. Dre, Ice-T, JJ Fad, Young MC, Eazy-E and more. I still smile every time I hear Eazy's line:

(My baby ain't never hurt nobody!)
But he still got smoked at BeBe's party

 

[Eephus]

#19 Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance

I've posted about this a bunch of times but I was good friends with Schmoovy Schmoov of the Underground crew in the 80s. I knew him from work before his brief musical career but we drifted away after Mrs. Eephus and I had kids. He and Shock G both passed away in 2021, Greg from an overdose and Earl from Covid. I'll pour some of my morning coffee out for both of them.

Bonus Track: West Coast Rap All Stars - We're All In the Same Gang

This got me thinking about Michel'le who gets the chorus on this track. She was a one-hit wonder who was Dre's girlfriend at the time. She had a big singing voice but her speaking/rapping voice was like a little kid.

When the All-Stars performed "We're All in the Same Gang" live on Arsenio Hall's show, Shock G's brother dressed up like Humpty Hump so Digital Underground could keep up the kayfabe of them being two separate characters.

We're All In The Same Gang | West Coast All Stars | 1990 | The Arsenio Hall Show

We're All In The Same Gang | West Coast All Stars | 1990 | The Arsenio Hall Show"We're All in the Same Gang" is a 1990 single by the West Coast Rap All-Stars...

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