I had that album cover as a subway-sized poster in my college dorm room in the mid-1990s, and it freaked out at least one of my suitemates, who demanded to know the genders of the kissing couple.
Also worth noting that Murray Head had been releasing singles for nearly 20 years before he had his breakthrough with "One Night in Bangkok." One of my favorites is 1965's "The Bells of Rhymney," which is highly recommended for fans of mid-1960s folk-pop:
https://youtu.be/Bza_QWMDfTI
And now for something completely different from March 1968: Let's go down to Australia for the haunting "Green Mansion" from 19-year-old Marty Rhone. This isn't the kind of material you'd usually expect a teenager to sing, but Rhone also wrote the song, which I think is pretty impressive.
https://youtu.be/lSI4dpFX8e8
A very nice song, even if I like the album's other two singles ("Slow Dog" and "Gepetto") better. 8/10 for me.
I just remembered that I hadn't yet posted my "Top Modern Rock Hits of 1992" quiz yet, so here it is: https://www.sporcle.com/games/prefab/top-40-modern-rock-bands--1992
"Dreams" is such a brilliant song and such a great use of Dolores O'Riordan's unique voice, which could sometimes be too braying when they did more conventional ballads.
I was also in high school when Aladdin came out, and I was just too old to get into any of the movies from Disney's post-1989 renaissance, so there's a whole Disney sensibility (especially a whole musical sensibility) that's completely lost on me. (I grew up watching Fox and the Hound, so if a Disney movie isn't an allegory about racism with only minimal singing, I don't want to see it). I'm glad that Tom mentioned the G-word in his review, because "A Whole New World" is as gloopy as all get-out. Not quite the worst saccharine AC song to top the charts in the 1990s, but close. 2/10.
And Now For Something Completely Different: Remember what it was like pre-internet? You’d sometimes see an interesting-looking song title, but you’d have no way to actually hear the song unless you were lucky enough to catch it on one of your local radio stations. Such was the case with “Detachable Penis”; at that point, I was buying Billboard every three weeks from a newsstand in Athens (the nearest city that carried it), and I recall taking a March 1993 issue to class with me and laughing with my classmates at the titles on the Modern Rock charts, especially “Detachable Penis.” It wasn’t until later that I actually heard the song, which makes me laugh in a different way at its audacious surrealism (accompanied by a great riff). I kept waiting for Rhino to come out with a 1990s version of its Just Can’t Get Enough series, which compiled quirky new wave hits, because this song would have been a slam dunk for inclusion.
https://youtu.be/byDiILrNbM4
And Now For Something Completely Different: Kingmaker was basically a Britpop band who came three years too early. Back in 1992, they were hyped by the NME and had Suede and Elastica as support acts for their concerts, but by the time 1995 rolled around, they’d transitioned into a “grungier” sound and couldn’t pick up any of the listeners Suede and Elastica were getting. But they still had one shining, controversial moment with “Armchair Anarchist,” a song whose “bomb the idiots!” chorus got it banned from some UK stations. But I love it, especially the way Loz Hardy sing-sneers provocative lyrics like “I’ve got a lovely silken blouse that gets me so aroussssed.”
https://youtu.be/0RuYxeSPSvs
And Now For Something Completely Different: Pulp is one of those bands who’ve been around a lot longer than you’d expect. They released several singles in the 1980s, then went quiet for a few years before returning in 1991 with songs like “Countdown” (which ironically had a more “1980s” synth-heavy sound than their actual 1980s records). In my book, the first truly classic Pulp record is “Babies,” a story-song about teen sexuality that knows exactly how to musically ramp up the dramatic tension. It’s a stunner, and once it was rereleased in 1994, it deservedly became a UK hit.
https://youtu.be/38by00DGid0
I appreciate why people are calling the last minute of the song "stunning," but I have a slightly different response to all that vocal power: I feel pummeled by it. I find Whitney's voice to be actively unpleasant as she hits those big notes.
"That's What Love Can Do" actually was a huge hit at Pop radio, making #1 on Casey's Top 40 for two weeks in March. I have no idea why it only hit #18 on the Billboard charts, but it suggests that their formula put a lot of weight on singles sales.
I did not know that! I just assumed that everyone from those short-lived regional 1960s pop groups left the industry and became middle school music teachers or tax accountants or something.
And Now For Something Completely Different from February 1968: The Five Americans are rightfully remembered for the wonderful "Western Union." But their career went on for a few years after that, and they went in some interesting psych-pop directions. I find "7:30 Guided Tour" utterly charming; you could say that I enjoy the trip every time I hear it.
https://youtu.be/zMwW2JxF4Wo
And Now For Something Completely Different from January 1968: Until recently, I only knew Claudine Longet as the punchline to tasteless SNL jokes. But her discography contains some real gems, like the wistful ballad "Snow." For some reason, I could imagine Bjork doing a cover of this.
https://youtu.be/KIXXq7XiV1Y
And Now For Something Completely Different from January 1968:
"PS Call Me Lulu" by the Primrose Circus came out on the small LA label Mira Records, so it's no surprise it wasn't a big national hit. But it's a great example of the era's orchestral harmony pop, sounding a bit like a cross between the Left Banke and the Monkees.
https://youtu.be/OXqBEOGvukU
And Now For Something Completely Different from December 1967: So, I've been doing this project where I go back and try to listen to every record I can get my hands on from the 1960s and 1970s and pick my favorite 365 for each year, one for each day. I started somewhat arbitrarily in 1968, so now we're up to a date where I can share some fun obscurities. And so here's "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You," which would have been the Bee Gees' best 1960s single if only they'd released it as a single. They didn't, but short-lived group the Tangerine Peel released a very faithful cover. (Incidentally, the Tangerine Peel might have the most generic late 1960s band name ever, since every other band at the time was named either after a fruit or a bright color):
https://youtu.be/gDaFX3tvInE
Another great set of Modern Rock #1s. 8 seems about right for Soul Asylum and Peter Gabriel's "Big Time Sledgehammer," but I'd give a 10 to the richly layered "The Devil You Know" and a 9 to "Not Sleeping Around" (with the caveat that I'm saving my 10s for two later Ned's Atomic Dustbin singles).
I might as well embed the "Little Bird" video as well, since that's basically a compilation of Annie's greatest hits as a music video actress, the culmination of her long collaboration with director Sophie Muller.
https://youtu.be/pjbNLVQ_Iwk
That's so interesting, because that's never been how I interpreted the lyrics. But then again, I tend to feel like more of the meaning of pop music comes from the production and the vocals than from the lyrics per se.
Lots of tough calls! I'm going with:
Rembrandts
Classic Example
Saigon Kick
U2
10,000 Maniacs
Snap!
Mad Cobra
Neither of those two songs
Shakespear’s Sister
Def Leppard
Sound Factory
Portrait
Arrested Development
Prince
But let me give a special shoutout to one of my favorite novelty songs of 1992, Goddess's "Sexual":
https://youtu.be/IKZdKyRvtnQ
I'm on the other end of the spectrum with this one.
Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” is a sensitive, melancholy ballad. Large bits of Whitney’s cover sound like hearing it performed by a car alarm. 3/10.
And Now For Something Completely Different: Usually, when you play a song backwards, it’s not very good. (Believe me, I’ve tried). But Orbital’s reversal of Opus III’s dance hit “It’s a Fine Day” works wonderfully, especially in the context of a song that’s allegedly about the Hartnoll brothers trying to depict their mom’s addiction to prescription pills, hence the title “Halcyon.” This one is really best when watched with its “tripping housewife” video.
https://youtu.be/3SwwljI-8JY
And Now For Something Completely Different: It’s very different from his later work, but I think “Next is the E” (aka “I Feel It”) might be my favorite Moby song. It’s certainly the one I’ve listened to the most, as it’s perfect when I need something to pump me up at the gym. (The Shamen’s “Ebeneezer Goode,” which is also in my gym mix, serves a similar purpose). When you want high-BPM techno, you can’t get much better than this.
https://youtu.be/WuQetcc2S-Q
And Now For Something Completely Different: Speaking of Eurythmics, Annie Lennox had many of her best songs on her album Diva, but we shouldn’t ignore a single that was left off the album and only released a few months later, with the release of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. “Love Song for a Vampire” is a gorgeous ballad; if this had been Number #1 for 14 weeks rather than Whitney’s soulless technical exercise, I wouldn’t have minded. In fact, it’s one of the first (and only) singles I ever bought, on cassette as the B-side of the equally good uptempo “Little Bird”:
https://youtu.be/vhG8zC4npsE
And Now For Something Completely Different: Vegas was a short-lived collaboration between Eurythmic Dave Stewart and Special Terry Hall. I don’t think “Possessed” was released in the US at all, which is a shame because it’s one of the best-sounding records of 1992, with a proper soaring chorus serving as a counterpoint to the melancholy verses.
https://youtu.be/tpX8Dzg7n8E
And Now For Something Completely Different: My favorite Beautiful South song, “36D,” is also one of their most rock-oriented tunes, although there’s also some lovely piano work in the mix. For an ode to softcore pornography pinups, “36D” is strangely sad, contemplative, and beautiful. The video, starring singer Dave Hemingway in drag as the object of male desire, has plenty of male flesh on display, flipping the script on the straight male gaze.
https://youtu.be/ptzB88IMEA8
You're too right when you say "it could almost be saved as a record." It currently plays like a bad Richard Marx song, but if you took out the sax, got Jamie Walters to tone it down a little, and removed about 50% of the cliches in the lyrics, it would sound like a mediocre Goo Goo Dolls song.
The Death of Cool is indeed a great album. My favorite song it aside from "4 Men" is the similarly epic "On Tooting Broadway Station." Burn, burn it all, benedictory fire!
https://youtu.be/BUw-xdhm4sE
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