My Life Of Music Obsession: 1993

In 1993 West Coast Hip Hop and so called "Grunge" were dominating the music scene.

Snoop Dogg then known by Snoop Doggy Dogg released his album "Doggystyle" which became the biggest and fastest selling hip hop album by going quadruple platinum. That's 4 million copies sold. This feat was unmatched in hip hop until the year 2000 when Eminem's "Marshall Mathers LP" went on to sell 8 million copies.

The soundtrack to the movie "The Bodyguard" snagged the grammy nomination for album of the year and went on to sell over 17 million copies.

Aerosmith released the biggest album of their career with "Get A Grip" which went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide, and charted 7 singles with 4 of them being top 10 singles.

In addition to 1993 producing some of the biggest selling albums of all time every baby boomer and generation X'er in the world knew the chorus and sang along to Tag Team's "Whomp! There It Is."

It was a big year in music and had a huge impact on music history.

Check Out The Companion Playlist: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes.
On to the playlist...

1. US3 - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia). - The break in this song is sampled from Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloop Island." US3 are one of three hip hop groups to really show their admiration for Jazz music in 1993, by outright making songs that could be categorized under both jazz and hip hop. Being a fan of both genres I really enjoyed this song and the next song on my list...

2. Digable Planets - Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat). - This has the coolest jazz bass line in the world.

3. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Gin And Juice. - The intro to the album version of this song has the sound of someone urinating in the background. I much prefer the single version, that doesn't include the micturating but it's impossible to track down unless you own a hard copy of it. I have the 12" single.

4. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Who Am I (What's My Name?). - I remember the magic of hearing this for the first time on the radio in the fall of 1993. I was hooked. The chorus is an interpolation of George Clinton's "Atomic Dog." My excitement became further peaked when my parents would take me for appointments at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh and I would see billboards in the window of every record store in Pittsburgh's Oakland Section for this album. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this album. It did not disappoint the young hip hop fan in me.

5. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You. - The biggest song of 1993. This cover of the Dolly Parton song earned multiple accolades for Whitney Houston.

6. Tag Team - Whoomp! (There It Is). - This is probably the first dirty south hip hop song to be a #1 single.

7. UB40 - (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You. 

8. Janet Jackson - That's The Way Love Goes. - Her album "Janet" is my favorite album of hers.

9. Janet Jackson - If. 

10. Janet Jackson - Again. - I used to sing this ballad to my late great siamese cat "Fe." I never claimed to be normal.

11. SWV - Weak. - I love SWV. They are one of my favorite 1990's R&B groups. I still listen to three of their songs on a regular basis.

12. SWV - Right Here (Human Nature Remix.) - Two of my favorite songs of all time sample "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson. This is one of them. The other is Nas's "It Ain't Hard To Tell" which I will cover in my 1994 blog. Michael Jackson definitely created one of the greatest break beats of all time.

13. Snow - Informer. - This dance hall style song about someone dropping the dime and being ratted out to The Man became a big hit for this Canadian artist in 1993.

14. H Town - Knockin' Da Boots.

15. Duice - Dazzey Duks. - I love the 808 Miami Bass Sound on this song.

16. Paperboy - Ditty - This has that East Bay California hip hop sound, that E-40 and several other Bay Area rappers were known for well into the late 1990's.

17. Billy Joel - The River Of Dreams. - This is an ode to 1950's groups such as The Four Seasons.

18. The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). - While this song is hard for me to listen to right now due to a bad memory involving this song on a drive home from Philly a few months ago, it still remains one of my favorite pop songs.

19. The Spin Doctors - Two Princes.

20. The Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. - This belongs on my ultimate break up songs list. It helped me through my most recent break up. I love the lyric "I hope them cigarettes are gonna make you cough. I hope you heard this song and it pissed you off. I take that back. I hope you're doing fine, and if I had a dollar I might give you ninety nine."

21. The Spin Doctors - Jimmy Olsen's Blues.

22. Tony! Toni! Tone! - If I Had No Loot. - One of my favorite R&B Jams.

23. Onyx - Throw Ya Gunz. 

24. Onyx - Slam. - The first hardcore rap song to become a major hit.

25. Michael Jackson - Will You Be There. - A great song recorded for the soundtrack to a lousy movie.

26. Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray. - Many wondered how this New Jersey Trio could achieve the same success they had with their song O.P.P. They came back strong with one of the greatest hip hop anthems of all time.

27. Toni Braxton - Another Sad Love Song. 

28. 4 Non Blondes - What's Up? - This one hit wonder group never had success beyond this song but it's an iconic song. Lead singer Linda Perry is an award winning songwriter and has written many of today's modern pop hits for the likes of artists like Adele.

29. Ace Of Base - All That She Wants.

30. Ace Of Base - Don't Turn Around.

31. Ace Of Base - The Sign. - This song by the Swedish pop group is one of the biggest songs of all time. It still gets referenced regularly in pop culture.

32. Aerosmith - Livin' On The Edge.

33. Aerosmith - Cryin'.

34. Aerosmith - Crazy.

35. Aerosmith - Amazing.

36. 2 Pac - Holler If Ya Hear Me.

37. 2 Pac - Keep Ya Head Up. - This song written by Tupac Shakur is telling us that we as men need to respect women. This song had a far different message from the misogynistic themed hip hop that most of the year produced.

38. 2 Pac - I Get Around. - The first song that exposed me to the music of Tupac Shakur.

39. Xscape - Just Kickin' It.

40. Positive K - I Got A Man. 

41. Zhane - Hey Mr. DJ.

42. Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain. - The first song I heard by this classic hip hop group. I won a rap battle at a high school dance by rapping this song.

43. Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong. - When I first heard this song I thought a bong was a type of Drum and had no idea that it was used for smoking Mary Jane. It was my 13 year old innocence that had no idea about illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia.

I remember a friend of mine lending me this CD in the 7th grade, and my 7th grade civics teacher snatching it from me somehow, reading the liner notes which contained a whole spill about the history of cannabis, it's prohibition and why it should be legal. That teacher confiscated the CD from me and called my parents. I got a lecture about the dangers of drugs from my parents.

I attended a Cypress Hill concert in 2004. They brought a large bong out on stage and announced to the crowd "It's time for a chronic break." The group commenced to get high on stage and share the bong with audience members in the first few rows before launching into this song.

Who Knew that some 20 odd years after the release of this song Marijuana wouldn't be a taboo subject anymore, and it would become legal to purchase and consume in at least 5 of the fifty U.S. States?

I guarantee that prohibition will be overturned nationwide within the next two years.

44. Cypress Hill - Pigs.

45. Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill A Man. - I took it upon myself to discover their 1991 debut album after hearing "Black Sunday." The first two Cypress Hill albums are amazing.

46. Cypress Hill. -Hand On The Pump.

47. Madonna - Erotica.

48. Inner Circle - Sweat ( A La La La La Long).

49. Inner Circle - Bad Boys. - The theme song from the hit TV series "Cops." When I was enrolled at Penn State Fayette The Eberly Campus for classes I joind a club called the WPSU radio club that allowed it's members to play music in the school cafeteria at lunchtime. The club president decided to send out a survey about the club on campus and the biggest complaint was about the president always playing this song. In fact most of the complaints were about the president. One stated "No More Poison." I still laugh about it.

50. DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince - I'm Looking For The One (To Be With Me.) - Even though clean cut hip hop like this became a dying art in the 1990's due to the Gangsta Rap of the time, when I DJ'd throughout the 90's I would always throw this song in and the crowd loved it. It's got a great sound.

51. DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince - Boom! Shake The Room.

52. Kris Kross - Alright.

53. Haddaway - What Is Love. - I always associate this song with the most iconic scene in the movie "A Night At The Roxbury."

54. Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy. - These guys brought back Power Pop in the 1990's.

55. Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You.

56. Gin Blossoms - Allison Road.

57. Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith In You.

58. Green Jelly - Three Little Pigs. - This song is so wacky.

59. Def Leppard - Two Steps Behind - Easily their best ballad.

60. Def Leppard - Miss You In A Heartbeat.

61. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?

62. Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box. - The band's fourth album saw them move away from the punk sound and to more of a mainstream rock sound.

63. Nirvana - All Apologies.

64.Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance.

65. Pearl Jam - Daughter.

66. Peral Jam - Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town. - My second favorite Pearl Jam song.

67. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock.

68. The Smashing Pumpkins - Today. 

69. The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm. - This is the song that turned me on to this Chicago based group.

70. Counting Crows - Round Here. - I didn't appreciate this song in 1993 like I do now. It was around 2001 when adolescence had ended for me that this song became a lot more meaningful and became one of my favorite songs of all time.

71. Counting Crows - Mr. Jones.

72. Primus - My Name Is Mud. - When I caught Primus live in 2004 they opened the show with this song,

73. Anthrax - Only. - The First song I heard by this thrash metal outfit is this one. I will do an essential Anthrax playlist in a future entry, but the album this came from is still my favorite album of their's to date. It just sounds great. I think it's one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time.

74. MC Lyte - Ruffneck.

75. Outkast - Player's Ball. - Thanks to a cousin who worked in the warehouse of a record store chain, I received an advanced copy of this Atlanta duo's first album. I remember telling all my friends that these guys were going to be huge. I got told that they were terrible and laughed at. A few years later they started to sell a lot of records. I have quite the ear for music. I still love this song and listen to it regularly.

76. Outkast - Git Up, Git Out. - This is the song that introduced Cee Lo Green to the world. He sings on the chorus and even raps a verse on the album version. I remember when I first heard his voice and thinking he's going to be huge. Ten years later he became a household name.

77. Wu Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. - One of the greatest hip hop songs of all time off of one of the greatest albums of all time.

78. Wu Tang Clan - Method Man.

79. Wu Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck.

80. Souls Of Mischeif - 93 'Til Infinity.

81. Queen Latifah - Just Another Day...

82. Queen Latifah - U.N.I.T.Y. - Queen Latifah's stance against the misogyny from the male hip hop artists of the time.

83. A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour.

84. A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation.

85. EPMD - Crossover. - I find it cool that Parrish Smith aka PMD of this classic hip hop group actually plugged my blog entry on old school hip hop on his twitter account.

86. Redman - Tonight's Da Night.

87. Spice 1 - Trigga Got's No Heart. - The song is the only hit this East Bay rapper ever had. I don't think it helped that 100% of his songs are about gang related murders and selling drugs.

88. MC Eiht - Straight Up Menace.

89. Boss - Deeper. - In 1993 hip hop was being dominated by artists from the west coast. New York based Def Jam Records, hip hop's biggest label of the 1980's and early 1990's decided to launch "Def Jam West" and signed Detroit born female rapper "Boss" who relocated to Los Angeles to achieve a hip hop career.

90. Boss - I Don't Give A F***. - I heard this song in an episode of the first season of "Orange Is The New Black." I found it cool that a hip hop rarity like this made it into a major TV show.

91. Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction. - Dave Mustaine is one of the best guitar players in the world.

92. Megadeth - Sweating Bullets. - This is a great song about suffering from anxiety. It describes the feelings of anxiety accurately. It's also one of the best metal songs ever written. It makes me smile a "Black Tooth Grin."

93. Ice Cube - Really Doe. - I think Ice Cube's 1993 album "Lethal Injection" is often overlooked. I think it's one of best. When I went to Philly in the fall, my friend's two brothers kept quoting one of the lines from the intro. I quoted it with them and got high fives.

94. Ice Cube - Down For Whatever.

95. Ice Cube - Bop Gun (One Nation). - This song is a total throw back to the music of Parliment. It even features one of Parliment's member's George Clinton singing back up vocals.

96. Ice Cube - Ghetto Bird.

97. Ice Cube - What Can I Do? - This song is told from the perspective of an ex-con being released from prison and trying to find work.

98. Stone Temple Pilots - Piece Of Pie. - This song rocks. While hip hop pretty much dominated my stereo when this came out I still loved me some STP. These guys are so talented. The late great Scott Weiland was a fantastic frontman.

99. Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing.

100. Stone Temple Pilots - Dead And Bloated.

101. Stone Temple Pilots - Crackerman.

102. Stone Temple Pilots. - Plush.

103. Stone Temple Pilots - Creep.

104. The Cranberries - Dreams. - The Cranberries wrote some beautiful songs.

105. The Cranberries - Linger.


Coming Soon...My Life Of Music Obsession: Punk Rock Volume One.

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