So what happened in the 1990s? Trying to put a lassoo round a decade is difficult and dumb, and never more so than now, when all the critics seem to be talking about ‘fragmentation’. The best way to read ten years’ worth of entrails, I thought, was to come at it sideways, single by single, and hope that some kind of picture built up. Did it? You be the judge.
Why singles, though? Because everyone else was doing albums, because we listen to music one track at a time anyway, because so much of the decade’s most vital music never even surfaced on LP. Album-based rock criticism has its own rhetoric, mostly concerned about whether a record will last and where it stands in relation to the established critical pantheon. I don’t care about whether these records will last – why try to second-guess the future? For me, now, this is the music that mattered.
Authorial Note: The singles are best read in reverse order, from 100 to 1. Thanks.
1. PULP – “Common People”
2. DISCO INFERNO – “The Last Dance”
3. MY BLOODY VALENTINE – “Soon”
4. THE ORB – “Little Fluffy Clouds”
5. PULP – “This Is Hardcore”
6. A GUY CALLED GERALD – “Finley’s Rainbow”
7. TEENAGE FANCLUB – “The Concept”
8. DJ CRYSTL – “Warpdrive”
9. PRIMAL SCREAM – “Come Together (12″)”
10. LL COOL J – “Mama Said Knock You Out”
11. THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – “100,000 Fireflies”
12. APHEX TWIN – “Girl/Boy Song”
13. GANG STARR – “Just To Get A Rep”
14. THIEVES – “Unworthy”
15. TREMBLING BLUE STARS – “Abba On The Jukebox”
16. MASSIVE ATTACK – “Unfinished Sympathy”
17. HAPPY MONDAYS – “Kinky Afro”
18. FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON – “Papua New Guinea”
19. MANIC STREET PREACHERS – “Motorcycle Emptiness”
20. 2PAC ft DOCTOR DRE – “California Love”
21. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – “The Private Psychedelic Reel”
22. PET SHOP BOYS – “Can You Forgive Her?”
23. ACEN – “Trip II The Moon (Part 2)”
24. WARREN G AND NATE DOGG – “Regulate”
24a. BARRY ADAMSON – “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis”
25. FUTURE BIBLE HEROES – “Lonely Days”
26. MASSIVE ATTACK – “Teardrop”
27. SMOG – “Ex-Con”
28. NOISE FACTORY – “Skinteeth”
29. SAINT ETIENNE – “He’s On The Phone”
30. JO – “Apollo 9”
31. THE PRODIGY – “Out Of Space”
32. PET SHOP BOYS – “So Hard”
33. SPEEDY J – “Patterns (Remix)”
34. TIMBALAND – “Up Jump The Boogie”
35. THE FIELD MICE – “Missing The Moon”
36. HUMAN RESOURCE – “Dominator”
37. NEW ORDER – “Regret”
38. PUBLIC ENEMY – “Welcome To The Terrordome”
39. KENICKIE – “I Would Fix You”
40. MCALMONT AND BUTLER – “Yes”
41. MEGA CITY TWO – “Darker Side Of Evil”
42. KLF – “Last Train To Transcentral”
43. PRIMAL SCREAM – “Kowalski”
44. ACEN – “Close Your Eyes (Optikonfusion!)”
45. THE BETA BAND – Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos
46. JX – “There’s Nothing I Won’t Do”
47. PUBLIC ENEMY – “By The Time I Get To Arizona”
48. ORLANDO – “Just For A Second”
49. SAINT ETIENNE – “I Was Born On Christmas Day”
50. BLUR – “Girls And Boys”
51. THE SUNDAYS – “Goodbye”
52. TRICKY – “Tricky Kid”
53. PALACE BROTHERS – “Come In”
54. THE VERVE – “History”
55. BLACKSTREET – “No Diggity”
56. KIRK LAKE/JACK – “Five Finger Discount”
57. FATBOY SLIM – “The Rockefeller Skank”
58. NEW RADICALS – “You Get What You Give”
59. TRICKY – “Divine Comedy”
60. RENEGADE SOUNDWAVE – “Probably A Robbery”
61. BASEMENT JAXX – “Red Alert”
62. FUGEES – “Rumble In The Jungle”
63. SPACEMEN THREE – “Big City”
64. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – “Setting Sun”
65. MADONNA – “Bad Girl”
66. SINEAD O CONNOR – “Nothing Compares 2 U”
67. MANIC STREET PREACHERS – “Faster”
68. COOLIO ft LV – “Gangsta’s Paradise”
69. FLOWERED UP – “Weekender”
70. BASS D AND KING MATTHEW – “Like A Dream”
71. PIANO MAGIC – “I Am The Sub-Librarian”
72. PREFAB SPROUT – “A Prisoner Of The Past”
73. PULP – “Razzmatazz”
74. LAURYN HILL – “Doo-Wop (That Thing)”
75. THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU – “It’s Grim Up North”
76. SHUT UP AND DANCE – “The Green Man”
77. LAPTOP – “Gimme The Nite”
78. URBAN TAKEOVER – “Bad Ass”/”Drop Top Caddy”
79. PIXIES – “Planet Of Sound”
80. OPUS III – “It’s A Fine Day”
81. LAMBCHOP – “Your Sucking Funny Day”
82. PORTER RICKS – “Redundance”
83. THE AUTEURS – “Unsolved Child Murder”
84. 187 LOCKDOWN – “Gunman”
85. THE COUP – “Dig It”
86. LFO – “We Are Back”
87. SPICE GIRLS – “Wannabe”
88. SUEDE – “The Drowners”
89. SPRING HEEL JACK – “Where Do You Fit In?”
90. EC8OR – “Spex Is A Fat Bitch!”
91. MARY J BLIGE – “Be Happy”
92. SPEARMINT – “Sweeping The Nation”
93. PANASONIC – Osasto
94. WORLD OF TWIST – “Sweets”
95. SPIRITUALIZED – “Medication”
96. PRIMAL SCREAM – “Rocks”
97. BEATS INTERNATIONAL – “Dub Be Good To Me”
98. FLYING SAUCER ATTACK – “Sally Free And Easy”
99. THE INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ vs Da Klamz Uv Deth
100. METALHEADZ – “Terminator”