WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!? QUESTIONABLE 90′S HITS
Last week, I did a post entitled WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!? QUESTIONABLE 80′S HITS, where I took a look at some of the hits from the 80’s that will never make it to the hall of fame, and yet were probably song that at one point in time, we all would have to admit to humming when they came on the radio. Well, I thought I would apply that same criteria to the 90’s, to see what I could come up with.
The 90’s were a pretty decent decade for music…not as good as the 80’s, of course, but at least for a few years, the alternative, underground scene busted wide open and acts that had been ignored a few years earlier were enjoyed by the masses. But not everything that came out was great. In fact, there was a lot of crap that came out in the 90’s that still managed to make it to the top of the charts….fueled in large part, I suspect, by that
Of all the groups in the 90’s, the worst group to gain mass stardom was Hootie & the Blowfish. I swear, a worse band never existed, and I struggle to come up with one redeeming thing about them. Their music was pop at it’s worst…simplistic melodies and inane lyrics combined to make crap songs, yet from some reason, they were the biggest thing on the planet for a couple years. Go figure. But even I, in my moments of insanity, will catch myself singing along to I Only Wanna Be With You. Can any song with the lyrics “I’m such a baby, the Dolphins make me cry” ever be considered good?
The irony of this list is that I actually have Paula Cole’s album, and I’ve seen Counting Crows in concert. I guess in the 90’s I must have had more money laying around than brains. But then again, that’s not really fair…Counting Crows was opening up for Live when I saw them, and Paula Cole…well, OK, I was an idiot on that one. But the CD cover look nice.
The rest of the list…well, it’s packed with real winners. I liked Friend in the mid to late 90’s just as much as anyone else, but was the theme song really that good? Of course not. In fact it sucked released as a single. But people ate it up. Talk about coat tails. And Ace of Base. Another band right up there with Hootie, albeit not as popular. Then the list gets to the plain old sad and pathetic…Spin Doctors and Deep Blue Something. I can forgive Spin Doctors…I’ve had friends who’ve seen them live in small clubs tell me their actually a great show. So they get a little break. But Deep Blue Something? Not a chance in hell. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the worst song EVAH! And yet, if it comes on, I find myself singing along. In those moments, I know the true meaning of self-loathing. I really do. Enjoy!
- Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
- Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany’s
- Spin Doctors – Two Princes
- Eagle Eyed Cherry – Save Tonight
- Hootie & The Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You
- Paula Cole – Where Have All The Cowboys Gone
- Barenaked Ladies – One Week
- The Rembrandts – I’ll Be There For You
- Everlast – What It’s Like
- Ace Of Bass – The Sign
June 30th, 2008 at 6:35 am
A great list of songs you love to hate. The unfortunate thing is, I know all of these songs because they were played to death (including the “cleaned up” version of Everlast) on mainstream radio.
A good thing came out of all that. I stopped listening to the radio and started burning my own CDs to play in the car. Then came MP3 players (I have an original Sony that only held 10 songs in addition to my 30-gig iPod), then came satellite radio where you can pick your genre. “Radio” lost me as a listener a very long time ago.
Have a fab week.
MissParker0106’s last blog post..80’s Music Rules ~ Almost back to Canada – The Lucy Show
June 30th, 2008 at 7:33 am
@MissParker0106:
I had the same experience! Although I came late to the iPod scene (got my first one 3 years ago, and it was a 2 gig nano), I now can’t live without it. I have a 30 gig model like yours, and it saves my life with all the traveling I have to do for work. I also have that satellite radio, which is the best, but I also have a cable that allows me to listen to my iPod on my car radio, which is indispensable when I’m in strange cities.
As for the week…4 DAY WEEK AND 3 DAY WEEKEND! Does it get any better than that?
June 30th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I guess one person’s trash is another’s treasure because I actually heard a few of these songs on the way to Destin, FL over the last day – sometimes it depends on context – but one thing we can all agree on is that Hootie & The Blowfish is utter crap. Enjoy your holiday!
June 30th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Man, what I great list of songs that I despised!
June 30th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
The only thing that would make it better would be to work from home. I’m pushing the issue with my employer with gas prices the way they are. Be well.
MissParker0106’s last blog post..80’s Music Rules ~ Almost back to Canada – The Lucy Show
June 30th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Another icky eye-rolling list.
If it were my list, I’d have included one specific Red Hot Chili Peppers tune. Maybe two. Okay, three or four.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:56 am
Well if you think Everlast is in the list – especially with song “What It’s Like “, you might have to think about it again.
This is the irony : You made a point about Hootie’s lyric but then you fail to understand the lyric of “What It’s Like ” – which I found it remarkable. Try listen the entire album, and it’ll change your mind
Beebs’s last blog post..Two Dynamic Visual Interactive Experiments
July 1st, 2008 at 5:18 am
I guess we’re still lucky here in the Old World, we can still get non-business aligned radio especially in the evenings.
Daytime radio, or primetime if you like, is full of dull chart focused music.
I don’t hate it, I just have no interest in it. The time when the music I liked was in the charts is long gone, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way time marches on.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:32 am
@Beebs:
I totally dig the lyrics of the Everlast song, and pretty much agree with everything he said in them. There were really three things that I didn’t much care for, and only 1 was his fault. I really don’t like the music…the delivery just really didn’t do a damn thing for me. A little more powerful delivery would have brought home the point of the song…imagine Pearl Jam doing that song, and how in your face it would have been.
The two things beyond his control is that radio and TV completely massacred that song to the point that it dulled down what little impact the song might have had. I just don’t get why the government finds it necessary to censor works of art!
The last thing is that the song was just so damn over played, and that was the final killer.
Don’t get me wrong…I don’t hate the songs on the list, with the exception of one or two of them (Damn you Hootie!), I just don’t think they deserved to be chart topping hits, that’s all. A list like this is always subjective, and controversial, to be sure. I’m pretty sure that there are songs you would put on the list I would disagree with. And that’s all cool…it’s what make us individuals.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:36 am
@mac:
Ah my friend, you in the Old World are lucky for so many reasons!
I was telling my daughter just yesterday I was going to retire someday over there.
I’ve always been an anglophile myself…I just happen to think that the English just happen to “get” music far more than we in the states do. With a few exceptions here and there, I’ve always found music from there more cerebral, more meaningful and more innovative than music from here. Not to say they don’t produce some of the same kinds of glitzy, shrink wrapped, canned, overly produced crap there than here, it’s just that their great bands are better than out great bands.
I just know I’m in for it now with that last remark!
July 1st, 2008 at 10:31 am
Well, I’m Irish so, I can’t quite share in all your enthusiasm for England, not that I’m an anglophobe, but I can and do pick and choose what I like about the place.
As a country it’s always produced more than it’s fair share of talented people, and most of the popular music that I like is english in origin.
That said, the US continues to produce truely great original artists, I mean who’s better than Tom Waits? Who has a more mesmerising voice than Alison Krause? and for that matter where would you find a better collection talented musicians than Union Station?
I guess in terms of demographics there are more people in the UK and Ireland who are interested in hard edged or interesting pop/punk/rock/whatever you’re having yourself/etc than there are in the US. There is a huge swathe of the US for whom nothing is better than people singing about pick-up trucks, getting drunk/dumped/betrayed/slung in gaol and shouting “Hell yeah!”
More power to them, I’d rather listen to that than to U2’s unforgettable fire period pompous tedium.
July 1st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
@mac:
Well said!