plinko
Footballguy
I was let down by Heartbreak Station but I think I just wanted something else. There is no Gypsy Road on this record. But I can listen to it now and enjoy.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
101 Best Songs of 1990 - #1 George Michael - Freedom '90 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter scorchy
- Start date
zamboni
Footballguy
Good band that didn't get its due and were unjustly lumped into the hair metal genre. Not as egregious of a lumping as, say, Tesla, but not too far behind IMO.
massraider
Footballguy
No one to blame but themselves
Funny you mention Tesla, I never like hair metal, but I always grouped Cinderella and Tesla because of the similar throat cancer vocals both bands were rockin.
zamboni
Footballguy
Yeah, Cinderella imaged themselves up and thus weren't taken as seriously as they would have liked, but I'm sure they didn't complain about their bank accounts.
As for Tesla, they never had the glam image and held themselves out as blues-based rock, but just got lumped into hair metal due to timing. Hell of a band though.
FatMax
Member
I like/liked Cinderella.
Say what you want about Jon Bon Jovi rocking a million faces. Tom Keiffer rocked JBJ's face so hard that he talked Mercury into signing Cinderella.
bryhamm
Footballguy
Trouble with the sweet stuff?
bryhamm
Footballguy
Like this one too
scorchy
Footballguy
#71 Tevin Campbell - Round and Round
I know R&B ain't really the FFA;s jam, and normally I would feel a bit embarrassed about liking the debut single from a 14-year old sweet-voiced soul singer, but the fact that it was produced by Prince (and it definitely sounds like it) gives me a little cover. Round and Round, from the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack, seemed to always be on MTV in fall 1990 and hit #12 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard R&B chart. Over the next few years, he had three more songs reach the pop top 10 - I didn't recognize a single one of them.
I know R&B ain't really the FFA;s jam, and normally I would feel a bit embarrassed about liking the debut single from a 14-year old sweet-voiced soul singer, but the fact that it was produced by Prince (and it definitely sounds like it) gives me a little cover. Round and Round, from the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack, seemed to always be on MTV in fall 1990 and hit #12 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard R&B chart. Over the next few years, he had three more songs reach the pop top 10 - I didn't recognize a single one of them.
Eephus
Footballguy
Another artist from ditkaburgers' American 31
massraider
Footballguy
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
Shhh (Break it Down) is also a Prince song. Off The Gold Experience. I guess Tevin decided to go back to the well.
Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
But the best song off the Grafitti Bridge soundtrack is We Can Funk with George Clinton.
scorchy
Footballguy
I really enjoyed a ton of her picks - even the ones that weren't from the 90s.
Eephus
Footballguy
Pop and R&B grew farther apart in the 90s due to tighter formatting by big radio and the declining influence of MTV. People were still buying CDs and there was still a lot of money to be made but the fragmentation that has dominated 21st century music had begun.
TTD/Sananda Maitreya was his own worst enemy
scorchy
Footballguy
#70 - Living Colour - Love Rears Its Ugly Head
Living Colour scored huge in my 1988 countdown, landing at #42 with Open Letter to a Landlord and #3 with Cult of Personality. 1990's Time's Up didn't make nearly the impression on me, my friends, or the airwaves, and after going back and listening, I'm not really sure why. It's pretty good start-to-finish, and features a ton of guest stars, including my man Doug E. Fresh. I may have underrated this one.
Living Colour scored huge in my 1988 countdown, landing at #42 with Open Letter to a Landlord and #3 with Cult of Personality. 1990's Time's Up didn't make nearly the impression on me, my friends, or the airwaves, and after going back and listening, I'm not really sure why. It's pretty good start-to-finish, and features a ton of guest stars, including my man Doug E. Fresh. I may have underrated this one.
zamboni
Footballguy
I also kind of gave up them after Vivid, perhaps prematurely as they still had some juice. That said, seems like they really struck lightning in a bottle with the hard-edged sound of Vivid and couldn't repeat it . Wouldn't be the first band to say that after a killer debut though.
massraider
Footballguy
I think moreso that they were a band without an audience.
And---Vernon Reid was always going to move onto something else. Sticking in a rock band, for a guy who was playing CBGB and doing jazz guitar?
Nah
zamboni
Footballguy
IIRC, they had a pretty strong following after Vivid - even toured with the Stones, I think. After a bit of a letdown with Time's Up, seems like they just kind of faded into obscurity for the most part.
scorchy
Footballguy
I vividly remember MTV News covering the beef Vernon Reid had with Axl when both opened for the Stones in L.A.. From the google:
Obviously Axl came around, b/c One in a Million was eventually dropped from future pressings of any GnR material.
As for Living Colour, critics really liked Time's Up but you're right that maybe their time just passed, or it could be that they simply didn't have another song as great as Cult of Personality. Still, they've put out 5 records since then, the latest being in 2017. I haven't spun any of them though.
zamboni
Footballguy
Seeing this gave me bad memories of my Tevin Coleman draft pick(s).
scorchy
Footballguy
#69 AC/DC - Moneytalks
Gonna be honest and admit that I can't tell the difference between most post-Back in Black AC/DC songs until they get to the chorus. I've probably dropped into the middle of Moneytalks a thousand times over 30-plus years and I still don't immediately know if it's a different song (especially one that's coming up later.) I always crank up the radio regardless.
As omnipresent as AC/DC seems, they only had three songs make the Top 40, with Moneytalks being the biggest (#23) and last. It also finished 1990 as the #2 ranked song on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.
Gonna be honest and admit that I can't tell the difference between most post-Back in Black AC/DC songs until they get to the chorus. I've probably dropped into the middle of Moneytalks a thousand times over 30-plus years and I still don't immediately know if it's a different song (especially one that's coming up later.) I always crank up the radio regardless.
As omnipresent as AC/DC seems, they only had three songs make the Top 40, with Moneytalks being the biggest (#23) and last. It also finished 1990 as the #2 ranked song on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
The chorus to The Locomotion fits perfectly into the one in Moneytalks.
I loathe this song.
I loathe this song.
zamboni
Footballguy
I think that’s a fair assessment. Big Bon Scott fan here and love Back in Black (and some parts of For Those About to Rock…) but IMO the Brian Johnson-led band post BIB is about as homogenous and plain vanilla as you can get.
scorchy
Footballguy
Agreed, but with a Bon Scott song, you don't get the comic relief of singing along in ridiculous Brian Johnson voice.
scorchy
Footballguy
#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
scorchy
Footballguy
#67 - Soup Dragons - I'm Free
Another Baggy band enters the mix, this time from Scotland. Similar to Primal Scream, the Soup Dragons tooled around the indie scene for several years in the late 80s before jumping on the UK House trend for their second album, 1990's Lovegod. Their cover of the Rolling Stones I'm Free (complete with a freestyle interlude from reggae star Junior Reid) hit #5 in the UK and was also a staple of dance nights in the States. Their follow up, Divine Thing was even bigger over here and will definitely gain a couple entries on the 1992 list.
Another Baggy band enters the mix, this time from Scotland. Similar to Primal Scream, the Soup Dragons tooled around the indie scene for several years in the late 80s before jumping on the UK House trend for their second album, 1990's Lovegod. Their cover of the Rolling Stones I'm Free (complete with a freestyle interlude from reggae star Junior Reid) hit #5 in the UK and was also a staple of dance nights in the States. Their follow up, Divine Thing was even bigger over here and will definitely gain a couple entries on the 1992 list.
Eephus
Footballguy
To put this song in its contemporary geopolitical context, this song and similar hits by Jesus Jones and EMF typified the wave of optimism that followed the end of the Cold War.
I probably should have savored it more but who knew what lied ahead.
scorchy
Footballguy
I love Berlin (the city, though the band is pretty good too) and every time I've visited a section of the wall, the first thing that runs through my head isn't deep thoughts about its history and significance but freaking "I saw the decade in, when it seemed the world could change, in the blink of an eye."
massraider
Footballguy
I don't think I need to tell you what kind of smooth operator I was on the dance floor at the Under-21 nightclub when this jam came on.#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
massraider
Footballguy
"Optimism" is a very cool code word for "ecstasy".
zamboni
Footballguy
I’m a few years older than you, but yeah this song was omnipresent at every college keg party/dance club at the time.#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My friends and I liked Time's Up just as much as VIvid. They really expanded their sound successfully. And two of its singles, this and Type, were FM-radio friendly enough to have made a bigger impact than they did. The third single, Solace of You, is a wonderful slinky R&B number but it's easy to see why it didn't catch on in suburbia.
scorchy
Footballguy
#66 - Queensryche - Best I Can
Earlier, I made a joke about Steve Vai being overly popular among the dudes in my dorm, but he had nothing on Queensryche. I'm pretty sure on the day Empire was released (Sept 4, 1990), at least a half dozen of the guys on my floor were in line at Schoolkids' Records to buy it. That same week was always when the giant poster market would come to the student union and new Queensryche posters soon populated the walls.*
Even though it wasn't in my wheelhouse, I learned to like Queensryche simply via osmosis. We usually played Spades most nights in my buddy Dean's room (mine was too messy thanks to Bob) and Empire always seemed to be his soundtrack of choice (or could just be that the other three of us nixed the Steve Vai and Joe Satriani solo records). The two big radio hits from Empire were both released in '91 (and full disclosure, I loathe Silent Lucidity anyway) but it's impossible for me to think of 1990 and not list a couple Queensryche songs.
* I loved poster week, and with my son getting ready to head to college in 2 weeks, my wife and I were wondering whether they're still a thing. Small sample size and all, but I can say for sure that Queensryche posters were not a draw for the ladies, as the five guys I knew who hung them up went 0-fer in the the dating department that year. I initially came to UF with a bunch of Orioles stuff but quickly realized my mistake, replacing it with posters repping Jane's Addiction, The Smiths, and a David Lynch movie. They tended to draw compliments from the kind of girls I was chasing till Bob's stinky laundry and loud guitar playing drove them out.
Earlier, I made a joke about Steve Vai being overly popular among the dudes in my dorm, but he had nothing on Queensryche. I'm pretty sure on the day Empire was released (Sept 4, 1990), at least a half dozen of the guys on my floor were in line at Schoolkids' Records to buy it. That same week was always when the giant poster market would come to the student union and new Queensryche posters soon populated the walls.*
Even though it wasn't in my wheelhouse, I learned to like Queensryche simply via osmosis. We usually played Spades most nights in my buddy Dean's room (mine was too messy thanks to Bob) and Empire always seemed to be his soundtrack of choice (or could just be that the other three of us nixed the Steve Vai and Joe Satriani solo records). The two big radio hits from Empire were both released in '91 (and full disclosure, I loathe Silent Lucidity anyway) but it's impossible for me to think of 1990 and not list a couple Queensryche songs.
* I loved poster week, and with my son getting ready to head to college in 2 weeks, my wife and I were wondering whether they're still a thing. Small sample size and all, but I can say for sure that Queensryche posters were not a draw for the ladies, as the five guys I knew who hung them up went 0-fer in the the dating department that year. I initially came to UF with a bunch of Orioles stuff but quickly realized my mistake, replacing it with posters repping Jane's Addiction, The Smiths, and a David Lynch movie. They tended to draw compliments from the kind of girls I was chasing till Bob's stinky laundry and loud guitar playing drove them out.
Last edited:
Pipes
Footballguy
100%I’m a few years older than you, but yeah this song was omnipresent at every college keg party/dance club at the time.#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
Not much of a Queensryche fan.
Best I Can is a great tune.
I also like Silent Lucidity but can understand why people wouldn't - it's probably a song that a band like Queensryche shouldn't do. It's pretty wimpy for a band like that.
Best I Can is a great tune.
I also like Silent Lucidity but can understand why people wouldn't - it's probably a song that a band like Queensryche shouldn't do. It's pretty wimpy for a band like that.
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I must have hung out with much different crowds.I’m a few years older than you, but yeah this song was omnipresent at every college keg party/dance club at the time.#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
Last edited:
scorchy
Footballguy
Yeah, I thought I loved the title track. It rocks. Then I listened to the lyrics for the first time in ages when putting this thing together and thought "damn, this is some police-state nonsense."
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
Uh, yeah. That's how our government is constructed. Law enforcement is predominantly the purview of state and local offices.
scorchy
Footballguy
I do, and JCW was released as a single in May 91.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
I love Silent Lucidity but I can see why it would not be your kind of thing.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Oh, and in before “only college kids cared about Queensryche” from squistion.
zamboni
Footballguy
Not by choice but that’s what the ladies liked.I'm must have hung out with much different crowds.I’m a few years older than you, but yeah this song was omnipresent at every college keg party/dance club at the time.#68 SNAP! - The Power
I’m the lyrical Jesse James
I just read the wikipedia entry on this but I’m still not sure how a German dance-rap group’s first single became part of the soundtrack to my senior-year spring formal and prom. Something to do with it being a big hit in Europe but needing entirely new samples (with a new American rapper) to get cleared in the U.S., then Arista pushing the hell out of it.
Also from Wiki:
In July 2020, digital publication The Pudding carried out a study on the most iconic songs from the '90s and songs that are most known by Millennials and the people of Generation Z. The Power was the seventh song with the highest recognizability rate.
scorchy
Footballguy
#65 - Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
I was going to ask "only Billboard hit ever about labor issues in mines?" then I remember that just a couple of days ago I mentioned Hippychick had a line about "the miners' strike" as well.
The mainstream success of 1987's Diesel of Dust outside of Australia after 10 years and 5 Midnight Oil albums really came out of leftfield. 1990's followup (Blue Sky Mining) didn't sell quite as well, but still reached Gold status in the US and scored a Billboard Mainstream Rock #1 with Blue Sky Mine. Forgotten Years and King of the Mountain (neither included here) also got a bunch of alternative radio play.
In the spring of '91, I saw Midnight Oil (with Hothouse Flowers) for free at the Gator Bandshell and Petey Garrett was one imposing mother. A bunch of bros were moshing to Beds Are Burning much to the annoyance of everyone around them, and Pete basically told them don't make me come down there and kick your ***. That ended the moshing immediately.
I was going to ask "only Billboard hit ever about labor issues in mines?" then I remember that just a couple of days ago I mentioned Hippychick had a line about "the miners' strike" as well.
The mainstream success of 1987's Diesel of Dust outside of Australia after 10 years and 5 Midnight Oil albums really came out of leftfield. 1990's followup (Blue Sky Mining) didn't sell quite as well, but still reached Gold status in the US and scored a Billboard Mainstream Rock #1 with Blue Sky Mine. Forgotten Years and King of the Mountain (neither included here) also got a bunch of alternative radio play.
In the spring of '91, I saw Midnight Oil (with Hothouse Flowers) for free at the Gator Bandshell and Petey Garrett was one imposing mother. A bunch of bros were moshing to Beds Are Burning much to the annoyance of everyone around them, and Pete basically told them don't make me come down there and kick your ***. That ended the moshing immediately.
Hugsy_Malone
Footballguy
Was a fine album, and notable for their cover of "Sailin' On," which got played on Headbanger's Ball and introduced a young Hugsy to Bad Brains, who would follow up later that year with the crossover punk/metal jam Quickness.
scorchy
Footballguy
I didn't know that was the genesis of your love for Bad Brains. Always assumed Hugsy was born with an affinity for all that punk rock action. No woodstock-esque hippie nonsense for Hugsy.
Hugsy_Malone
Footballguy
nun whatsoever.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Blue Sky Mining is every bit as good as Diesel and Dust. Maybe even better because it doesn't have as much '80s production. All three of the songs you mentioned would probably be in my top 100 for the year.
My first experience with Peter Garrett -- 1993 with Ziggy Marley and Hothouse Flowers -- was similar, minus the ranting at moshbros. He ranted at greedy capitalists instead.
scorchy
Footballguy
#64 - Pixies - Velouria
As the lone (AFAIK) mega-fan of Pixies in my podunk hometown, I was so excited to learn a new album was dropping the week that I left for college. I rushed to the mall to buy it so I could have time to dub a copy to play in my car a few times on the long drive to Florida. Compared to Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, Bossanova was a grow-er and not a show-er. But on that 13-hour solo drive, it did grow on me, and even includes my sometimes-favorite Pixies tune. That tune is not lead single Velouria, thought that's pretty good too.
As the lone (AFAIK) mega-fan of Pixies in my podunk hometown, I was so excited to learn a new album was dropping the week that I left for college. I rushed to the mall to buy it so I could have time to dub a copy to play in my car a few times on the long drive to Florida. Compared to Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, Bossanova was a grow-er and not a show-er. But on that 13-hour solo drive, it did grow on me, and even includes my sometimes-favorite Pixies tune. That tune is not lead single Velouria, thought that's pretty good too.
Similar threads
