I know I said I was going to write more about the movie from last week today, but I realized there is one more movie I have been meaning to watch that could be relevant. I will watch it this weekend, and the movie post will go up next week.
For now, some music.
After going through each year of the 80s, I started thinking about the 90s.
Decade transitions don't happen neatly on the zeroes anyway -- that is part of why I included both 1980 and 1990 in that round -- but I thought that at least for the first few years, I would like to explore.
My not particularly scientific method has been typing "top songs" paired with whatever year I am working on, and then listening to any I don't recognize, as well as noting the ones I like. Part of what makes it less scientific is that there is usually at least one song listed twice, and sometimes different songs pop in and out on different searches, but you do get an overview.
I'm not saying there weren't any 80s songs that I didn't recognize, but the number spiked as we got further into the 90s.
That was partly expected. I had mainly gotten my music knowledge from music videos, not listening to the radio much. I would have been watching less as I went off to college anyway, followed by not watching at all during my mission, but there was another change happening with the 1992 introduction of The Real World.
Advertisers did not love the unpredictability of music channel programming. Sure, people tune in a lot, but might easily channel surf if they catch a video they don't like, or that has been overplayed. There were attempts to resolve this with programming blocks like Club MTV, Yo! MTV Raps and Pop-Up Video, but just being able to sit and watch videos was going away.
After my mission, I ended up pretty disconnected from contemporary music. I would sometimes find bands I liked through other people, but even then I was often wrong about where they fit into the timeline. New to me did not mean new to everyone else.
For 1991, most titles were familiar. For a few that weren't, once I listened to them, the memory came back.
Some of my selections for 1992 are songs I remember hearing around Fresno, but that was later. Their popularity transcended years (especially "Jump" and "Rump Shaker").
I was not listening to contemporary music (except for those streets) from February 1993 to August 1994, so you would think that 1993 songs would have been less familiar.
I recognized nine 1994 titles and only liked four of them. Some that I listened to did sound familiar later, and some were not terrible, but it was mainly not fun. It was also the first year where I needed to repeat a band for that year. (That was Green Day, as is only right.)
Part of what helped me fill out 1994 was two covers of older songs for movie soundtracks. That was Wet Wet Wet covering The Troggs' "Love Is All Around" for Four Weddings and a Funeral and General Public covering The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" for Threesome. I did not know those covers existed, but I haven't seen either of those movies.
And Elton John and Kiki Dee did a version of Cole Porter's "True Love" in 1993; who knew?
In retrospect, I missed a lot of 1993, but I also remember writing home and asking my family to please grab two songs for me because I realized I would want to hear them again. They got me Snap's "Rhythm Is A Dancer", but they could not find me Culture Beat's "Mr. Vain" because I got the name wrong. If I'd seen a video for it, I could have read it off.
(It took me years to find that one.)
The best find was Digable Planets, charting in 1993 with “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”.
The weirdest discovery was "Stay" by Shakespears Sister. That was from 1992, so I don't know how I missed it.
Most irritating was Tim McGraw charting twice in 1994 with hopelessly saccharine "Don't Take the Girl" and offensively racist appropriation on "Indian Outlaw"; that's what's crossing over?!?
The runner-up for most irritating was Lisa Loeb. That Geico commercial really nailed her, but at least it is shorter than the song.
I should probably listen to more Toad the Wet Sprocket (having previously only known "All I Want") and Meat Puppets.
1991
3/22 “The Motown Song” by Rod Stewart with The Temptations
3/23 “Real Real Real” by Jesus Jones
3/24 “Romantic” by Karyn White
3/25 “Rush Rush” by Paula Abdul
3/26 “Every Heartbeat” by Amy Grant
3/27 “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss” by PM Dawn
3/28 “I've Been Thinking About You” by Londonbeat
3/29 “Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)” by Roxette
3/30 “Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D
3/31 “I'll Be There” by Escape Club
1992
4/1 “Jump” by Kriss Kross
4/2 “Tennessee” by Arrested Development
4/3 “Rhythm Is A Dancer” by Snap
4/4 “Jump Around” by House of Pain
4/5 “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-n-Effect
4/6 “Just Another Day” by Jon Secada
4/7 “Friday I'm In Love” by The Cure
4/8 “Please Don't Go” by KWS
4/9 “Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough” by Patty Smyth feat. Don Henley
4/10 “Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg” by TLC
1993
4/11 “What Is Love” by Haddaway
4/12 “I Don't Wanna Fight” by Tina Turner
4/13 “Insane In The Brain” by Cypress Hill
4/14 “If I Had No Loot” by Tony! Toni! Toné!
4/15 “Boom! Shake the Room” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
4/16 “Linger” by The Cranberries
4/17 “Regret” by New Order
4/18 “Mr. Vain” by Culture Beat
4/19 “Whoomp! (There it is)” by Tag Team
4/20 “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” by Digable Planets
1994
4/21 “When I Come Around” by Green Day
4/22 “Another Night” by Real McCoy
4/23 “I'll Stand By You” The Pretenders
4/24 “I'll Take You There” by General Public
4/25 “Love Is All Around” by Wet Wet Wet
4/26 “Fall Down” by Toad the Wet Sprocket
4/27 “Sour Times” by Portishead
4/28 “Backwater” by Meat Puppets
4/29 “No Excuses” by Alice in Chains
4/30 “Basket Case” by Green Day
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