I really, really don't have anything interesting to add to this conversation. It was EVERYWHERE, but I didn't see the movie and it wasn't the type of music I listened to...but I couldn't avoid it.
Whitney was technically brilliant singing this, however, so I'd have to give it a 7. In 1992-93? As it rose on the charts I'd probably have given it a 4, and over the months it would've faded to a 2.
Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” top YouTube official music video comments:
1. 3:10 Her voice impressed me when I first heard it I love her voice
2. I remember driving in my car 🚘 with my 13 year old son and he said, “ mom, who is that lady? She sounds like an angel 👼. I was amazed of my son's question and statement. May this beautiful Black angel continue to rest in perfect peace. 🙏🏾
3. my hearts telling me yes but my vocal range is telling me no 😭
There are times when I'm reading the comments, and they are so boring.
Then I remembered someone needs to write an entire article about the same song, and I realize I can make it through.
(one of these days though, I plan on just attached ALL of the stereotypical comments EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. gets!!)
I have to ask...
Does anyone else get chills down their spine when they hear a new song they love? Or is it just me?
I legitimately get goosebumps.
P.S. I went over and read Stereogum's Attack on Memory turns 10 a few days ago. In my opinion, it's the best album I've heard in the last ten years, and I still get goose bumps when I turn "Wasted Days" up to 11.
My wife wonders why, when I wake up at 4 am the day after a column, I've accomplished NOTHING by the time she and the kids come down between 6-7.
I mean, I have priorities and all...
I always hated the single version of "Boss Drum"; not surprised why it didn't achieve the same success as their previous three (#8 dance, versus #1).
They would be back at #1 with their next U.S. release, my favorite of ALL Shamen songs.
And here comes Prodigy....
My parents were BIG 90210 fans, which immediately made it uncool for me. As a result, I missed all things Aaron Spelling during this time period, and it sounds like that was okay.
I remember this song, but not the show. 3/10
The Heights’ “How Do You Talk to an Angel” top YouTube official music video comments:
1. Even if this was a tv show manufactured band, this was a legit smash hit song. A one-hit-wonder like this one captured a moment. These performers may have hoped for more in their careers, but they will always have this instance of magic.
2. I totally forgot about this gems until one of my bias in kpop (Doh Kyungsoo) recommended this song to his fans.
3. Doesn't this define how we feel when we're crushing on someone like we did in high school...
4. I just heard this song for the first time a few days ago. And it makes me think of a Co worker that I'm crushing on. Because she understands me in a way most people don't. I told her the song is stuck in my mind. I remember when I was younger I wrote a poem about her before I met her. And this song reminds me of that poem. Her eyes draw me in every time I see her. Her smile everything about her makes me ask myself. How do you talk to an angel
5. I still find it hilarious that back when he would do concerts while he was on 90210, girls would come to his shows with signs saying "Leave Donna alone!"
6. The intro of this song always tricks me into thinking that it is actually "Don't Dream its over" by crowded house. Its ridiculously similar
7. Who would've known he was gonna be a writer for WWE??? Good job Freddy!!!
8. Mondegreen: It's like trying ketchup on a star.
Good morning Irish!
So much great music to cover in 1/4 of a single year. You've done it well, even with the gnats flying around (just noticed it, tried to negate their effect).
Recreated List: November 7, 1992
1. Love: The Sundays
2. Not Sleeping Around: Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
3. Pussycat Meow: Deee-Lite
4. Tones of Home: Blind Melon
5. Walk on the Ocean: Toad the Wet Sprocket
6. Two Princes: Spin Doctors
7. Something Good: Utah Saints
8. Nearly Lost You: Screaming Trees
9. Rhythm is a Dancer: Snap!
10. Digging in the Dirt: Peter Gabriel
11. Timebomb: 808 State
12. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses: U2
13. What About Your Friends: TLC
14. Drown: Smashing Pumpkins
15. Peace, Love, Inc: Information Society
16. Jump Around: House of Pain
17. Evapor-8: Altern 8
18. Would I Lie To You?: Charles and Eddie
19. Blood Makes Noise: Suzanne Vega
20. Please Don’t Go: KWS
21. The Hitman: AB Logic
22. Real Love: Mary J Blige
23. Divine Thing: Soup Dragons
24. All I Want: Toad the Wet Sprocket
25. Dizz Knee Land: Dada
Near misses:
Somebody to Shove: Soul Asylum
Hypnotized: Clubland
Jeremy: Pearl Jam
She’s Playing Hard to Get: Hi-Five
I never purchased "November Rain" - at the time I was underwhelmed by its length. I gave it a listen yesterday, and I'd have to say I missed it the first time around. These mature ears were impressed with it.
I was also over buying the cassingle by this point, or the CD single. When researching the charts to compile my chart from this time, I came across a Billboard article about record executives seeing some success with "the $4.99 CD single". In other words, they were no longer selling 45s, or cassingles, if I sort-of-liked one song, I was going to have to spend an outrageous amount for that ONE song.
I guess it's no surprise we'll see P2P before the end of the decade...
Anyway, that's why I'll have songs on my charts that weren't released as a single, and others that were deep cuts. I could've probably included 8 songs or so from the Singles soundtrack as a result, but I didn't.
I feel like I'm the only one who likes Charles & Eddie's "Would I Lie To You?". Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/G_UXvcr22rM
IMO this is the best album in the last ten years.
I can't play guitar, but I won one in a raffle, and my goal was to copy Wasted Days.
Couldn't do it, but still...
I'll put in an order for cornbread, thanks.
True story: corn muffins/cornbread is one of my favorite foods, bar none. Knowing this, my aunt decided to mail me a box of cornbread mix when I was living in Damascus, Syria. I made a batch which stunk (I'm not a cook), so I shared them with friends...as long as they did the cooking.
My aunt told me later it was the most expensive box of cornbread mix she'd ever purchased. The mix itself was about $4, but it cost almost $20 to send to the Middle East.
For some, religion is the answer. For others, its therapy. It's done wonders for myself, and understanding how/why I react to certain things. I'm glad it worked out for you and Mr. Brigit.
I also tell my students to find where the counseling services are on whatever college campus they choose, find someone they are comfortable talking to, and schedule regular appointments, because at some point, they will need to talk to someone (homesick, stressed about grades, social life, etc).
1. I'm sad to say I bought Morrissey's first 4 CDs. Sad, because of who he's become...or, at least, exposed his true inner self. I guess he's my generation's Eric Clapton.
2. ...but I loved his songs, and his lyrics. My favorite song of this album wasn't released as a single, but then again, who would play a song titled "Seasick, Yet Still Docked"?
3. I couldn't remember how "Digging in the Dirt" went, and I was genuinely excited to listen to it over the last few columns as everyone raved about it. 10/10.
4. I owned Suzanne Vega's CD as well, and even though pop radio had since passed her by, I thought it was her most accessible CD. Loved all of the releases off this.
5. I'm going to be a contrarian here, but this is where R.E.M. lost me. I wasn't a fan of any of the singles released off this album, and I would only download two of their songs moving forward, both the singles that charted in the 2000s.
Sidebar:
I'm glad Tom gives "Motownphilly" a 10, because it is.
But MTV third-generation VJ Dave Holmes was obsessed with the video for the song (which I just watched again, and I love the Philly it shows off). But Dave wasn't interested in the sights of the City of Brotherly Love, or Boyz II Men. He wanted to know about the East Coast Family, or more specifically, the group that didn't make it:
Sudden Impact.
They appear at 2:39 in the video. Who were they? What was their story?
He does a podcast episode on it, it's great:
https://ew.com/podcasts/dave-holmes-waiting-for-impact-podcast-90s-boy-band/
I had a friend who...well, went nuts, to put it nicely. He was a GREAT guy, but a bit impulsive and revolted against his parents strict South Asian upbringing.
He ended up doing some amazing things in his career, earning over a million a year as a hedge fund manager, but married a woman he'd known for six weeks (didn't work out), and was burned out by the age of 35.
After he quit his first life, he went to the Seattle area and took drum lessons from Linda Perry, and then played with a band called Raw Cheese.
The last time I heard about him, he'd been kicked off a friend's sofa, where he'd lived for about six months. I wonder often what happened to him...
I was 23 in 1992. I truly believed we'd entered the Golden Age of music.
At the tail end of Boyz II Men's run at the top, 103.9 in Philly changed formats, and for about 2 weeks, they ran commercial-free and acted as pirate radio while FCC approved the changed. During that time, they simulcasted WLIR/WDRE out of NYC, AND played every "Screamer (Shriek) of the Week" they'd ever had.
I bought 10 blank cassettes, hit record, and still have a copy of 900 minutes of perfect music.
Not surprised at ALL. "Physical" was everywhere in Philly, and drove me to near insanity.
When I'm into a song, I tend to drive it into the Earth's crust as well...it's rare for me to feel as strongly about a song a few months after I'd start playing it over and over.
8-4-9-9
I don't often vote in these (too many polls, and I don't know many of the songs to listen to them all), but I knew 3 of them here, and all of them I have fond memories of.
I'm also still in awe of what was popular just a few short years before The Beatles, and during Presley's reign. How was this birthday song #1??!!
7-7-10-5
I actually liked 80s Deep Purple, to the horror of classic rock fans everywhere, but this one was good as well.
Dobie Gray's version is great. Thank God we'll never have to discuss Uncle Kracker.
I know he's not in the band, but can we discuss how great Don Cornelius is? If Morgan Freeman's voice is the Voice of God, then Cornelius sits at his right hand...and his outfit screams "70s". My fraternity was obsessed with Don Cornelius and all things Soul Train when I was in college; I'm not sure that's gone away.
Was Barry Gibb a member of the Stylistics? When I was a kid I thought the Bee Gees sang this song.
I went out for a couple of beers on Friday with a friend of mine, one I keep posted on this column. He asked what year we were in, and we talked about Wednesday's entry for a while. He then asked what song was coming up next.
"End of the Road."
MAN, he said, and then went on to explain how that song has become a part of the African-American communal fabric he grew up in. Graduations, weddings, funerals...that song is played for EVERYTHING...
It's a good song. It might be a great song, but I'd moved on from pop music/ballads. "Motownphilly" was always my go-to with this band.
Boys II Men’s “End of the Road” top YouTube official music video comments:
1. When I was 15 I got into a fight with this dude Daniel for this girl Veronica and I lost the fight one day. About a week later we broke up because he couldn't let go of her. This song reminds me of her every time I listen to it.
2. Everybody gangsta till the acappella part starts
3:39😫
3. Makes me want to play Rock Paper Scissors
4. This song just made me miss my wife who left me and I’ve never been married
5. I used to sing their songs in elementary school to try to impress girls.
6. my teacher played this song thinking none of us knew it and said who sang the next lyric would get a free pizza and i sang the whole song and she was in shock because i was only 12 at the time
I used to compare musical tastes with a buddy of mine who played fantasy baseball with me thru the 90s. I told him about KLF, Ozric Tentacles, among others...and he raved about Luna and Candyskins.
Fantastic band, one I'd forgotten about!!!
Now, our station advertised itself as an all-genre station... but the way we went about it was via genre specific blocks. We had an industrial/punk 4-hour block in the morning, followed by 2-hours of blues, 2-hours of jazz... and then a strange 2-hour block that was an amalgam of folk, classical, and new age.
...because nothing says "Good morning!" like industrial/punk music. Forget the Folgers, pass me some KMFDM!
There's a few jams here, but only 1 JAM.
Michael Jackson is the correct answer.
By August 8th, my tour of Europe was almost over. I'd visited St Petersburg Russia on a Russian ferry, and sold Levis jeans and bubble gum for a collection of old Soviet army stuff (I still have the hat and flag, somewhere). I'd also received a couple of bottles of vodka that never made it out of Scandinavia.
I'd spent a week in Greece, and 8 hours of that week sober. By August 8th I was at the Y's Men Youth Conference in Oslo, Norway, among old friends I'd met in Minneapolis two years earlier.
In a survey we completed at the end of that 1990, we'd asked for more free time, and in 1992 we received it. It probably wasn't the BEST thing, for a bunch of 16-25 years to have "free time", but there it was. In the end, however, one of my favorite moments was the sponsored dance we had after our cultural presentations.
In 1990, the American contingent had performed a 1950s dance routine revolving around "Greased Lightning". In 1992, we couldn't just run out to a local store and buy music to perform...so we improvised.
Bad idea.
We decided to re-enact the 1992 popular show "Studs". It was raunchy, and very...American.
Our audience? Not Americans.
It was received...poorly. But the dance? They played "Jam", and I got to dance. A LOT.
https://i.ibb.co/bd2Jsd1/FB-IMG-1642784252479.jpg
When I was clubbing in the 90s, I never dipped into that scene either, though it was rampant at the clubs I hung out it (for instance, there was a club in London where the women had necklaces with vials/spoons, and occasionally they'd stop dancing and do a snort. Completely blew my mind.)
It wasn't until later that I actually tried E. Once. It was an incredible night, but not one I need to revisit.
"Rhythm is a Dancer" is a 10.
"Everybody's Free (to feel good)" is an 8.
"LSI" is a 5.
I LOVE The Shamen. I own everything they did from 1987-1998, but this is one single I could NEVER get into. In my recreated charts, I'll include a number of other songs from this album (including one which is E-zee to figure out), and one that will become my #1 song in early 1995 after a remix. But LSI? The lyrics are crap, they don't lean hard enough into the bassline/club percussions, and this song cries out for a female belter to balance out the rap nonsense.
I love the story that Phil Rizzuto was upset at the sexual connotations behind his play-by-play analysis that he gives in the song. I've heard he had no idea when it was recorded...
I can remember a time (before his comeback) when Meatloaf was played ALL. THE. TIME. at sing-along bars everywhere.
I can't identify a single bar, or a single night, so it holds no nostalgia for me, other than yesteryear.
It's also crazy how certain columns line up with events occurring in real life - "Cats in the Cradle" with Father's Day, and Tom delaying Monday's column to Wednesday. Meatloaf will be in this column in less than a month.
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