I stayed up and went to the midnight record release at the classic Cleveland spot Record Revolution to get this album. They even gave away a bag of Weaver D’s peanuts. I got home, put the CD on and listened to the whole thing. Needless to say I was hurting at 6 am practice that morning, but I enjoyed a bag of peanuts for breakfast!
Bob Mould is my favorite artist of all time and Copper Blue is his finest work. My favorite song is Helpless but If I Cant Change Your Mind may be the best song he’s ever written!
The theme song to the class of 1992’s summer grad parties as we prepared to begin the next phase of our lives. Their individual vocal prowess is on display here, but the best part of the song is the way their voices combine on the chorus, the harmonies are right up there with the best of classic Mowtown. The music itself is a little to polished for my taste and the spoken word bridge comes off as a bad Barry White imitation. Combining soulful crooning with a super polished finish, this is a strong 8.
Saw them on the Angel Dust tour, Helmet opened along with a then unknown to me Limp Bizkit. I went with a group of teammates, we got there, listened to one song of theirs, then pulled into the lobby to drink more. They sucked!! We returned in time to rage to Helmet and FNM. On of the best shows I've ever seen, at least what I can remember of it.
Madge takes a small detour from the sexual charged music she was making at the time to release this slow, tender, nostalgic ballad. Everything about this song is tinged with melancholy and sadness, in the best possible way. The strings are appropriately weepy, the piano plinks sorrowfully. Madge sells the emotion of the song to the best of her ability. Not her best ballad or performance but it’s very good. 7. A League of Their Own is a great movie too.
A body positive ode to generous rear ends, this comes off as a watered down version of a 2 Live Crew song. It almost borders on being a novelty song, but it’s staying power is undeniable. Musically the Detroit techno sample they built the song around is used perfectly. I like the variable speed scratching, especially when they cut super fast. Mix is a total simp and he freely admits it, he raps with ferocity about his love for big butts. This song knows it’s low brow fun and it doesn’t care. It may not have aged well in some contexts butt it still keeps the party going when it comes on. 7.
Carey was on such a roll that even a last minute addition to her set could go to number one! That’s power right there. Carey does the source material justice, she gives a restrained and tasteful performance, cutting lose at the end. The musical arrangement is faithful to the original and does a nice job of staying out of her way. The backing vocals are subtle and compliment everything perfectly. The weak spot here is Lorenz, he lacks any of Jermaine’s grit on his parts. And don’t even get me started on when he tries to copy Carey’s whistle, ugh!! That costs the song points. This would have been better as a Carey solo performance. 7.
Like this one but I love The Only One I Know. I didn’t like a lot of the Madchester stuff coming out then, I thought it was to dancey and mainstream sounding, but I really dig that stuff now. I missed out on some good stuff cause I didn’t think it was “alternative” enough. Live and learn.
So we are at the number one song the week I graduated from high school. Another thing I gotta put out there right away, while this isn’t as bad as I remembered, there was another song with Jump in the title that was released in 92 that is way better. Since I didn’t give this song the time of day back then I didn’t know this was a diss track aimed at ABC. That boosts it up at least a point for me.
Musically, Dupri makes effective use of the multiple samples, the beat is bangin’, the piano is rhythmic, and the squealing horn sounds adds a bit of g-funk style menace. They have an impressive flow, they have a similar energy and drive that a young Michael Jackson had, and the triplets sort of pre-date the fast, tongue twisting rap that would become huge later in the decade. Their pre-teen, helium squeak voices drop the score for me a bit. Overall I liked this song way more then I thought I would. A strong 7.
This song seems to take every soft rock/adult contemporary trope that’s ever existed and cram them all into one song. It shouldn’t work, I should intensely dislike this song because of that, but somehow it all works for me and I’m really surprised how much I enjoyed this song. A huge part, in fact most of it, comes from Williams vocals. Her voice is genuinely beautiful, she doesn’t wale away or add any melodrama or histrionics to it. The music colors the background perfectly and stays out of her way. The piano plinks, the strings swell and ebb at just the right time. The production is tastefully done. This is right up there with the best of Whitney or Mariah. 8.
Of course the last rock band to top the Hot 100 for a long time topped it with their lighters up ballad. This comes across as a way lesser More Than Words to me. It basically follows the same playbook, chapter and verse, with just a hair more percussion. Martin’s voice is solid but the groups harmonies on the chorus are the big draw here. The acoustic guitar solo has a few vaguely flamenco moments. Overall this feels more like a boy band song then a hard rock ballad. 5.
I try to give novelty or joke type songs the benefit of the doubt when evaluating them. I know that we aren’t supposed to take them seriously and all, but that doesn’t stop them from sometimes being awful. I guess my main issue with this song is that it stuck around WAY to long after it’s self life should’ve expired. It was still everywhere and the song title turned into an annoying catch phrase. My other big issue with it is, in the “ironic 90’s”, how SO many people completely missed the meaning of the song. People insufferably took this goofy, campy song as straight facts and believed that THEY were too sexy! UGH!!
Musically the song is boring pop/house. The break beat sounds generic. The arrangement is super simplistic and cheap. The melody is catchy but is ruined by the vocals. The spoken word/kinda rap monotone drone is grating. At just under 3 minutes it seems way to long. Overall it’s a cute, fun, harmless piece of pop fluff that is barely tolerable for one listen then gets tiresome really quickly. Coupled with the cultural impact stated above this gets downgraded to a 2 for me.
Elton and George together make for a powerhouse duet. I’d venture a guess that Michael’s bringing out John brought the house down. I’m trying not to compare the live version of this to John’s album version, I’ve never been a fan of live tracks as a single, I never get the live experience feel from it. For this song I’m looking at both of their vocal performances. Michael’s sings with passion, the intensity of his performance building over the course of the song. I feel John lays back at bit and let’s Michael’s shine here. The backing band puts in a strong, professional performance. 7.
mt this is an amazing piece of number crunching!! I’m very honored to be in such venerable company in this awesome community! You are indeed the heart and soul of what we have all built here. Wishing you and all the other TNOCSer’s a very merry New Year!!
I don’t have any recall of this song. It has a nice melody and somewhat catchy chorus. The guys voices sound good combined but come across as being way to buried in the mix, or at least being drowned out by the beat. Speaking of the beat, it sounds like they lined up row after row of wind up toy monkeys and let em play. The synth line sounds like the ice cream truck that creepily rides around your neighborhood. Despite all this I like it better then their first number one. 4.
An infinitely better first single then the one from Bad. The gnarly guitar riff and funky New Jack Swing style rhythm make this a fun listen. Jackson delivers the goods with his usual smooth, fluid vocals. It also has all his usual hiccups and tics. The song loses a point or two for the beyond lame rap verse and for being just a bit to obvious with its message. Still, it shows that Jacko could bring it, even in his third decade making music. 7.
I feel how much you will like or dislike this song depends on how you feel about sampling. I like a song that is built around several small bits, combined into something new (De La Soul is a good example). I don’t particularly like it when an artist just basically raps or sings over an old song entirely and says it’s new (a la Puffy). In this case though I also take into account the context of the song and if it feels forced or natural. This song feels like the latter to me.
This is another song that didn’t sound like anything else on the charts at the time. Speaking to my above point about context, they take the laid back vibe of True, add a smooth break beat over it, and deliver their lines with an easy flow, it works with the track they choose. The chorus is catchy and singable. The whole song has an airy, almost dreamy quality to it which I really enjoy. 7.
If it were physically possible, my ears would have thrown up after listening to this piece of aural vomit! This guy has the audacity to think he has the chops to remake this classic (he doesn’t). There’s no raw emotion or desperation in his vocals, while the original is an anguished cry and recognition of romantic loss, Bolton just wales away with no hint of emotional depth. The key change is totally out of place here, it loses all subtlety and grace, it just beats the listener over the head. Definitely in the running for the worst cover song of all time, and right up there for worst number one of all time! 1. Merry Christmas to you all!!
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