It's the year I got my first CD player. It's the year Alice In Chains prepared us for what was to come our way musically in the 1990's. It's the year that had everyone doing "The Bartman" and singing "Everybody Dance Now!"
...On to the playlist.
1. Poison - Valley Of Lost Souls. - Poison arguably released the best album of their career in 1990. It charted 5 top ten singles. They open every live performance with the intro to this song before launching into their 1986 song "Look What The Cat Dragged In." I'm hoping one of the times I catch them live that they'll surprise me and play this whole song and not just the intro.
2. Poison - Unskinny Bop. - This song doesn't have as much appeal as it used to, but it was fun for the time.
3. Poison - Let It Play.
4. Poison - Life Goes On.
5. Poison - Ride The Wind.
6. Poison - Something To Believe In. - I've heard a lot of journalists and others say that the "Hair Bands" had no substance, but I disagree. This is a prime example that they did. This is a straight from the heart song about losing people you love, all the problems in the world, and questioning the existence of a higher power in the presence of it all. It's a very real song that everyone can relate to.
7. MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This. - I remember the TV commercials for the tour. This song was everywhere in 1990. I still hear people say they want the "Hammer Pants" from this music video.
8. MC Hammer - Pray.
9. The Simpsons - Do The Bartman. - I remember the local Fox affiliate playing this music video in between TV slots on Saturday's. The Simpsons were the hip prime time cartoon that everyone in America loved. It was only natural to bring them to another medium by releasing an album of music called "The Simpsons Sing The Blues."
10. Slaughter - Up All Night. - I think the name of the band is definitely way better than the actual music. I liked them at the time. I think they had talent. Blas and Dana are definitely talented musicians for sure, but I don't think it translated well in this band. Mark Slaughter is definitely a great guitar player too, but his voice is a little hard to palate sometimes.
11. Slaughter - Fly To The Angels.
12. Slaughter - Mad About You.
13. Firehouse - All She Wrote. - The production on their debut album is very slick.
14. Firehouse - Don't Treat Me Bad. - I remember the first time I heard this on the radio. It was love. I immediately bought the album the next day at the record store.
15. Firehouse - Overnight Sensation. - Lead singer CJ Snare definitely had a great falsetto voice that rivaled that of King Diamond's.
16. Firehouse - Love Of A Lifetime. - If I ever get married I want this to be the song for the bride and groom first dance.
17. Firehouse - Helpless. - I loved this song when it first came out. Unfortunately, I don't feel it holds up well today. The guitar playing on it is phenomenal.
18. Jon Bon Jovi. - Blaze Of Glory. - This is the theme song for the movie "Young Guns II." It's a cool song for a cool movie.
19. Wilson Philips - Hold On.
20. Nelson - (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection. - The Nelson twins were known as "Power Tool" prior to changing their name to "Nelson." I liked them for a brief period.
21. Nelson - After The Rain.
22. Nelson - Only Time Will Tell.
23. Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby. - I often question myself as to why I actually liked this at one point. It's definitely on my list of the worst songs of all time. It samples a phenomenal song by David Bowie and Queen called "Under Pressure" that you should definitely go listen to now. Replace this song on my playlist with that song,
24. Vanilla Ice - Play That Funky Music. - Nothing funky here. Move On.
25. Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam. - The 1990's had some great EDM music for sure.
26. Technotronic - Move This.
27. C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now). - I was singing this at work the other night, and someone who was born in 1990 started singing along. That's a testament to how iconic this song is. Everybody knows this song.
28. C&C Music Factory - Things That Make You Go Hmmm.
29. C&C Music Factory - Just A Touch Of Love (Everyday). - If I'm making someone an EDM mix playlist, this song is always included. It still sounds fresh and most people don't pick up on the fact that it's 26 years old.
30. Michael Bolton - How Can We Be Lovers? - I almost forgot about this song until a co-worker brought it up while we were talking about relationships.
31. Janet Jackson - Miss You Much.
32. Janet Jackson - Escapade.
33. Janet Jackson - Black Cat.
34. SNAP! - The Power.
35. Faith No More - From Out Of Nowhere.
36. Faith No More - Epic. - I think this is the first time I heard metal and hip hop mixed together so seamlessly. I still remember seeing the video on MTV.
For those of us who grew up in and around Morgantown, WV you might remember 1990 as the year that the "New Mall" opened. My first purchase at the new mall was the cassette single to this song. I played this song a lot. It was so different from anything else out at the time.
Last week I went to sheetz to get coffee for a co-worker, and this song was playing over the speaker system in the store. I started banging my head when I heard it. I sure was getting some strange looks.
37. Faith No More - Falling To Pieces.
38. Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood. - As the 80's ended, Motley Crue became more and more watered down. This is certainly the slickest they had ever sounded, but I liked the raw edginess of their older stuff.
39. Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart.
40. Motley Crue - Without You.
41. Motley Crue - Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.) - My favorite song on the "Dr. Feelgood" album. It sounds great live.
42. Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away.)
43. Ice T - You Played Yourself. - As the 1990's rolled on, I found myself getting more and more into hip hop.
44. Go West - King Of Wishful Thinking. - I still love this song. The soundtrack to "Pretty Woman" is one of the first CD's I had owned and to this day this is my favorite song from it. I randomly sing this song all the time. "I'll get over you. I know I will."
45. Roxette - It Must Have Been Love. - ..."but it's over now."
46. Biz Markie - Just A Friend. - I remember having my boombox on the playground at school during recess, rewinding and playing this song frequently."
47. LL Cool J - Jack The Ripper. - This song served as my first introduction to what's become known as a "Diss" or a "Battle Rap." This is LL Cool J's diss to Kool Moe Dee but Kool Moe Dee answered back with...
48. Kool Moe Dee - Let's Go. - This is the answer to LL Cool J's "Jack The Ripper." Lyrically speaking he murdered LL on this song, but LL Cool J answered back with...
49. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out. - LL answered Kool's diss with this song, and this is the first battle rap to become a hit single and helped bolster LL Cool J into super star status. Success wise LL Cool J won the battle with this song, but lyrically speaking Kool Moe Dee had the better rhymes.
50. INXS - Disappear. - This is my favorite INXS song. This is the most pop influenced song they've ever written and I love every second of it.
51. Black Crowes - Hard To Handle.
52. Cinderella - Shelter Me. - I think this is one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time. I still love the music video starring Little Richard. It's one of my favorites.
53. Cinderella - Heartbreak Station. - This is a testament to the great song writer that Tom Kiefer is. This song echoes what it feels like to have your heart broken.
54. Faster Pussycat - House Of Pain. - A band known for it's sleaziness scored it's one and only hit with a power ballad. I didn't discover their other music until a few years ago. These guys are the inventors of "Sleaze Metal."
55. Tesla - Signs.
56. Warrant - Cherry Pie. - The story goes that Warrant turned their second album into Columbia Records and it was called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" but it didn't contain this song. The record label told the band they needed an anthem, and out of anger Jani Lane wrote this song in an hour. The band recorded it, and the rest is history as this became their biggest song much to the chagrin of the late great Jani Lane.
The album got renamed to "Cherry Pie."
57. Damn Yankees - High Enough.
58. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance.
59. Bel Biv Devoe - Poison - A great song produced by Michael Bivins that set the stage for two groups to become successful 1991. I'm talking about Another Bad Creation and Boyz II Men.
60. Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence. - This song has great lyrics.
61. Concrete Blonde - Joey. - This is one of those songs from the 90's that sounds like a bad regurgitation of the 1980's. I thought I would never have to hear it again but in 2006 it reared its ugly head out again courtesy of a friend who would play this song repeatedly when she got a little too merry. I love you Sarah.
62. Whodini - Anyway I Gotta Swing It. - This hip hop group never became as successful as the people who ripped them off. I still hear hip hop artists ripping them off. I didn't discover their earlier stuff until about 14 years ago. They were definitely way ahead of their time.
63. Extreme - More Than Words. - This song still gets played often at Weddings.
64. Extreme - Hole Hearted.
65. AC/DC - Thunderstruck. - Easily one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time.
66. AC/DC - Moneytalks. - I seemed to annoy the DJ at the local roller rink a lot as a child. I requested this song almost every time I went there in 1990.
67. Queensryche - Silent Lucidity. - I'm not much of a queensryche fan, but I do love a well written song. This song sounds like it could have been on a Pink Floyd album.
68. Pantera- Cowboys From Hell. - A cousin used to work in the warehouse for the Pittsburgh, Pa based music chain "National Record Mart." They had once per month promotional tapes that would play on a continuous loop in the stores to promote new music. Each tape contained about 16 songs featuring 2 songs by 8 different artists. My cousin would sometimes send me these tapes. On one of the tapes, I heard this song.
I'll never forget hearing that chugging riff, before it launches into a bluesy swaggering thrash metal riff. The whole song grooves from start to finish. I had never heard anything that sounded this amazing, groovy, and brutal before. To this day I haven't heard any metal song that made me as excited as this one.
Sadly, as the 1990's progressed I got into hip hop, and totally missed their next two albums but I ended up discovering those albums in my 20's. I will do an essential Pantera entry in the future.
69. Pantera - Psycho Holiday. - This is the other song that was on that promotional tape.
70. Alice In Chains - We Die Young. - Hailing from Seattle, this band sounded so different. The crushing guitars, and the two part harmonies between Jerry Cantrell and the late Layne Stayley made this band so unique. Even though I had gotten into hip hop post 1992, this is one of the very few rock bands that I followed through the 90's. They were part of the soundtrack to my high school years.
71. Alice In Chains - Man In The Box.
72. Alice In Chains - Bleed The Freak.
Coming Soon...My Life Of Music Obesession: 1991
If you would like to read older entries you can do so by clicking here.
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