A funky, sleazy, bluesy number with a slight T. Rex Bang a Gong type groove. Clearly better than his previous number one, it’s not quite up there with his earlier number ones. The guitar has a full on bluesy twang, and the rolling keys complainant it nicely. The backing vocals have a churchy, gospel vibe that matches the blues feel. Prince himself sounds slightly detached and the whole production sounds just a little to clean for me, it should be grittier somehow. A solid 7.
Here’s another song that I can not recall anything about. I was just starting to go down the grunge rabbit hole around this time. This is a perfectly fine piece New Jack Swing/ dance pop. It has all the Jam/Lewis trademarks: industrial type beat, synth strings and horn blasts. White is a capable vocalist, she brings the right amount of sultry sexiness to her performance. My big issue with this song is the music doesn’t really match the sentiment of the song: a song called Romantic about getting it on should be more of a slow burn ballad feel. The mismatched production here makes it a 5.
Oddly enough a disco type throwback song sounded refreshing in 1991. It didn’t hurt to borrow from the Emotions’ Best of My Love and Cheryl Lynn’s’ Got to be Real. The beat is a nice nod to disco. The piano tips it’s hat towards house. The backing vocals infuse the song with an uplifting gospel vibe. Carey delivers a disco diva worthy performance, bringing the right amount of power and attitude. She also pierces our ears multiple times, letting loss her whistle register which actually fits the song perfectly. I can’t help but bop along whenever this song comes on. 8.
Let’s be honest: the only reason this song went to number one was because of Wahlberg’s abs and Calvin’s!!! It certainly wasn’t because of his rapping, which I will generously say is awful. Everything else about this song is upbeat and mindless fun. The house piano is rhythmic and propulsive, I especially like the piano solo. The beat is insistent, you can’t help but want to get up and dance whenever you hear it. Holloway’s big, powerful voice hits with force. It’s a good thing Wahlberg took up acting, he’s a much better actor then he was a rapper. A fun 7 in spite of his rapping.
I was not looking forward to listening to this song at all, this type of stuff was anathema to me. The synths and beat sound straight out of the 80’s, that same cheap, chintzy sound. It tries to go for romantic but the song just plods along, I couldn’t wait for it to finish. The guys are solid singers but they all sound generic, this song could’ve been sung by any R&B singer or group. The Spanish part at the end feels tacked on and unnecessary. I don’t by anything this song is selling. 2.
My brother and my buddy made a mythical Use Your Illusion single album, theirs's differed from mine a little but they had some of the tracks you mentioned: Pretty Tied Up, Coma, Dust N' Bones..... maybe you right about that double LP after all...
This is my list, in sequence, of the best songs from both Use Your Illusions paired down into one kick ass album that could stand toe to toe with Appetite:
You Could Be Mine
Garden of Eden
November Rain
Breakdown
Double Talkin' Jive
Estranged
Civil War
Right Next Door to Hell
Don't Cry
Bad Obsession
14 Years
Locomotive
Abdul had one heck of a run atop the charts. She finished her run with another upbeat number, this one looking optimistically toward the future. The synths are bright and chirpy, the beat has a slight New Jack Swing feel to it. The harmonies are fun and project a sense of inspiration. Abdul’s vocals have their usually girlishness that I like but they kind of sound pinched here. A bright sunny 6.
Stop for a moment and think about 1991 and how the musical landscape was changing: hip-hop was on the rise, house’s influence on music was being felt, and alternative was about to become mainstream. How did Bryan Adams, practically a dinosaur fossil in chart terms, end up with a number one hit? Another instance of the American record buying public never getting tired of devotional power ballads.
This song is so sappy it’ll give you diabetes if you listen to it to much. The melody and the instrumentation are solid, Adams guitar work is above average here. The lyrics and sentiment drag this down for me. The rhyme scheme is beyond basic, almost to the point of laziness. Does Adams really do everything for his love (some examples include picking his nose, cutting his toenails, cleaning the gutters etc..)? His vocals sound more nasally then usual too. 4.
In doing these little write ups for awhile now I’ve come to be able to make some sweeping generalizations about the Hot 100 up to this point: the American record buying public loves it’s sappy ballads, smooth R&B, boy bands/teen artists etc, and occasionally a novelty type record. But every once in awhile there’s a curve ball thrown that just makes you scratch your head at the randomness of how a song could reach number one. This is one of those songs.
No bones about it, I had the CD single of this song, I liked it a lot then and still like it today, but it’s a mystery to me how it went to number one. Was it the Dice Clay sample/tie in? Most of the mainstream record buying public probably didn’t have a clue about rave culture, much less the Madchester scene. My best guess is that it would fit into the novelty category, which is a shame because I dig this high energy song.
This track is insanely catchy and infectious. The hip hop type groove and propulsive beat drive the song, bringing non stop energy to it. The guitar riff is crunchy and kinda psychedelic all at the same time. The drop right before the chorus is spot on perfect timing. The less said about the Dice Clay samples the better, I’m not wasting any space in this write up in that POS. Major kudos to the boys for sneaking in the “what the fuck” past the censors! A strong 8.
After listening to this song a few times I’ve come to the realization that I prefer Abdul’s uptempo numbers way more then her ballads. There’s nothing particularly horrible or offensive about this song, it’s just plain sleepy to me, bordering on boring even. The synths and drums try to convey a romantic mode but just sound shallow and wimpy. I can’t believe I’m typing this but I’d almost prefer a limp soft rock guitar solo instead of the violin or viola or whatever it is that comes screeching in. I usually like her voice but her it sounds pinched and a little nasally, they should’ve touched up her vocals. 5.
One of the last gasps of late 80’s hair/glam metal (although we will see one more song inspired by this one in 1992), and one of the very last times we will see a rock band at the top of the charts for a long time. Looking back now, it’s kinda refreshing that it’s just two guys singing and harmonizing over a lightly strummed acoustic guitar, no over the top production or bombast. It’s kind of folky, I could see James Taylor singing this. It’s throughly cheesy, but it’s also a guilty pleasure. 7.
Another solid ballad, Carey delivers a surprisingly restrained performance here. Her voice displays a nice vulnerability here, though the chorus comes on a bit to strong, overpowering the lyrically sentiment. The music and production are par for the course for a Walden song, but to me it is cookie cutter and repetitive of his previous work, any other R&B type singer could’ve been subbed in and had a hit with this. A step below her pervious number one. 6.
More fun, catchy, disposable pop rock from this generations Swedish band of the moment. Americans can’t get enough of Swedish pop apparently. This song isn’t as strong as The Look but the chorus is loaded to the hilt. It’s so catchy it plants itself in your brain and stays there. I found myself singing it over and over. The guitar riff floats over the top of the chorus perfectly. The rest of the music and lyrics are fairly nondescript, they seem to try to cram in different influences and even whistling into it. The production is top notch, everything has a nice sheen to it. This is a fun little number that is saved by the monster chorus. 7 because of that.
A spry, upbeat tune, I’m surprised how much I didn’t dislike this one. The beat had me tapping my toe as I listened. The synth riff sounds dinky and is ultra repetitive but weirdly complements the beat and vocals nicely. Grant’s vocals sound innocent and fun. This song is like a shiny, fun object that just sits there looking pretty, it doesn’t do a whole lot but that’s fine. A fun, forgettable 6.
More pleasant, if slightly bland adult contemporary soft rock, from Wilson Phillips. Their harmonies are tight and enjoyable. The music and arrangement are bland and generic, right down to the soft rock guitar solo at the end. This one is a middle of the road 5. Overall I’ve found the Wilson Phillips experience to be more enjoyable then I thought I would.
I’d forgotten what a jam this was, I really enjoyed hearing it again for the first time in forever. I love how it mixes several styles of music together. The rhythmic piano and beat evoke house music. The vocals have a smooth, soulful, Mowtown feel to them. The guitar has a nice, fuzzed out, bouncy, chiming feel. It also adds just a hint of darkness to the song. The chorus is the main hook, I find myself singing it over and over again in my head. A very strong 8.
Estefan triumphantly returned from her near fatal accident with this gospel tinged number. I really enjoy the powerful, emotional sentiment of the song. Estefan delivers an open, honest performance of perseverance and resilience. The backing choir adds to the level of emotional resonance. The music is your standard adult contemporary fare: piano and orchestration. The power of the vocals and message make this a 7 for me.
How in the hell did this bland, boring, insipid, whimpering POS make it to number one?!? I don’t remember this song from back in the day (once again this wasn’t in my musical wheelhouse), and I’m glad for that. This is the most generic type of tripe that gives ballads like this a bad name. The beat is so limp and lame, it’s beyond rinky-dink bad! His vocals are god awful, his voice is thin and weak, there’s no balls there whatsoever. His phrasing and delivery is chopped and stilled. And just when you think this song couldn’t get any worse there’s a spoken word section at the end! This song sucks so hard, beyond even the way the most mediocre of songs can suck! 1.
It must’ve been obvious, in hindsight, that Carey was destined to be a huge star, especially after scoring her third consecutive number one with this New Jack Swing track. This is a fun, uptempo number, the beat has a nice groove to it, it hits hard. The guitar solo during the bridge gives the song a gritty, rock type feel. I read somewhere that the guitar replaced the horns that were on the demo, I’d have liked to have heard that version, it would be more in keeping true to NJS. Carey’s vocals sound confident, powerful, effortless, and even have a bite to them. 7.
I’m familiar with most of Houston’s catalog, but I only vaguely recognize this song. That being said, I like this one. It’s a jazz/gospel ballad that fully demonstrates Houston’s vocals and has strong backing music to boot. The strings build up in sync with her vocals as she belts out the chorus. The piano work is nimble and restrained. Even Kenny G’s sax solo serves its purpose nicely. The choir at the end adds a nice layer of size and grandeur. Houston does her usual bang up job on the vocals, they sound tender at the beginning then build to the bombastic finish. A strong 7.
A dance floor filler if there ever was one, it’s as inescapable now as it was then. This song combines multiple music styles (hip-hop, house, wailing disco diva style vocals) into a banger. The big hook here is Martha Wash’s huge voice, she delivers a massive performance. Her voice alone is worth the price of admission. It’s to bad they had to get a supermodel type to mime her vocals in the video, did anyone really believe that voice was coming out of that frame? Freedom Williams rap verses come off as cold and calculating, kind of like a lesser Ice-T (can’t believe I just wrote that). The lyrics are fake tough but you can get past them due to the hard, sparse, driving beat and the buzz saw guitar. This is a fun 8.
Comments