That was a lot more of a slog than I thought it would be! As ever, here is where you get to tick the records YOU would have handed 6 or more to. And hopefully by the end of the week we’ll get stuck into 1991, probably the most all-over-the-place year in Popular history.
Loading ...(My highest mark this year was 10 for Sinead, my lowest 1 for Bombalurina)
Oh, I bloody love Dakota. And yes, I am one of those “it’s their only good single” people. But my…
RIP Roberta Flack, aged 88 after a few years of illness.
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(more because she wanted her fans to easily find her!)
It's a great line, but I can't find any more (from either side) than "Went to the same violin lessons…
Well the Housemartins' bassist was a schoolchum of both the journalist Andrew Sullivan and of Labour front man Kier Starmer...
I don't believe Dave Lee Roth has gone long enough between sexual encounters to build up the frustration required for…
Here's a thing: if this were a stand-alone freakbeat breakout hit, I'd probably go 10/10 straight away without a moment's…
Balls, How did I miss voting for obvious 10 Unchained Melody?
Hah, all the ones I voted for are in a solid block running from Sinead to New Order. Probably the best run of #1s ever.
Hm, only six out of seventeen for me… A lot of fives this year, though.
1990’s ‘phantom’ #1s that topped the NME/ ILR chart, but not the BBC one;
Love Shack – The B52s (1 week)
Tom’s Diner – DNA & Susanne Vega (2)
Groove Is In The Heart – Deee-Lite (1)
Blue Velvet – Bobby Vinton (2)
The Anniversary Waltz – Status Quo (1)
The NME Critics Poll for 1990;
1. Groove Is In The Heart – Deee-Lite
2. Step On – Happy Mondays
3. Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’ Connor
4. Where Are You Baby? – Betty Boo
5. Loaded – Primal Scream
6. Being Boring – Pet Shop Boys
7. My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style – Dream Warriors
8. Come Home – James
9. World In Motion – Englandneworder
10. Different Drum – The Lemonheads
11. In The Days Before Rock ‘N Roll – Van Morrison
12. Doin’ The Do – Betty Boo
13. Kinky Afro – Happy Mondays
14. There She Goes – The La’s
15. The Only One I Know – The Charlatans
16. It’s On – Flowered Up
17. This Is How It Feels – Inspiral Carpets
18. Groovy Train – The Farm
19. Only Love Can Break Your Heart – St Etienne
20. The Storm – World Of Twist
21. Unbelievable – EMF
22. I’m Free – The Soup Dragons
23. Mad Love EP – Lush
24. Message In A Box – World Party
25. My Boyfriends Back – Alice Donut
26. Come Together – Primal Scream
27. Vogue – Madonna
28. Everything Flows – Teenage Fanclub
29. Fall EP – Ride
30. Glider EP – My Bloody Valentine
31. Bonita Applebum – A Tribe Called Quest
32. So Hard – Pet Shop Boys
33. Welcome To The Terrordome – Public Enemy
34. Getting Away With It – Electronic
35. God Knows It’s True – Teenage Fanclub
36. The Only Rhyme That Bites – MC Tunes & 808 State
37. Kill Your Television – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
38. Hey Venus – That Petrol Emotion
39. Soccer Fan – The Real Sounds Of Africa
40. Hello Hello Hello Hello – Something Happens!
41. Velouria – Pixies
42. The Ship Song – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
43. Wash Your Face In My Sink – Dream Warriors
44. One Love – The Stone Roses
45. The Power – Snap
46. Probably A Robbery – Renegade Soundwave
47. What Time Is Love? – The KLF
48. The Boomin’ System – LL Cool J
49. It Wasn’t A Dream – The Ruthless Rap Assassins
50. Sway – Ocean Colour Scene
The MM Critics Poll for 1990;
1. Groove Is In The Heart – Deee-Lite
2. Nothing Compares To You – Sinead O’Connor
3. Kinky Afro – Happy Mondays
4. What Time Is Love? – The KLF
5. Glider EP – My Bloody Valentine
6. The Only One I Know – The Charlatans
7. Fall EP – Ride
8. Justify My Love – Madonna
9. Killer – Adamski
10. The Ship Song – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
11. Dub Be Good To Me – Beats International
12. Step On – Happy Mondays
13. Fascinating Rhythm – Bass-O-Matic
14. There She Goes – The La’s
15. Everything Flows – Teenage Fanclub
16. World In Motion – Englandneworder
17. This Is How It Feels – Inspiral Carpets
18. Only Love Can Break Your Heart – St Etienne
19. Mad Love EP – Lush
20. Espero EP – Cranes
That’s one of the more obvious sets of end-of-year results we’ve had. I voted for the “block” minus “Killer” (only a 5 for me) plus “Unchained Melody” (contemporary Ghost-driven weariness notwithstanding).
Here’s the top 50 from The Face, courtesy of http://www.rocklist.net/
1. DEEE-LITE Groove Is In The Heart
2. HISTORY featuring Q-TEE Afrika
3. THE CHARIATANS The Only One I Know
4. ADAMSKI/SEAL Killer
5. =HAPPY MONDAYS Step On
5. = PRIMAL SCREAM Loaded
7. MASSIVE ATTACK Daydreaming
8. SINEAD O’CONNOR Nothing Compares 2 U
9. FAMILY STAND Ghetto Heaven
10. YOUNG DISCIPLES Get Yourself Together
11. SAINT ETIENNE Only Love
12. GANG STARR Jazz Thing
13. HAPPY MONDAYS Kinky Afro
14. EN VOGUE Hold On
15. INNOCENCE Natural Thing
16. LOOSE ENDS Don’t Be A Fool
17. MONIE LOVE It’s A Shame
18. KID FROST La Raza
19. THE SHAMEN Progen
20. PRESSURE DROP Back To Back
21. SNAP The Power
22. GARY CLAIL Beef
23. SOUL ll SOUL A Dream’s A Dream
24. SHABBA RANKS AND CRYSTAL Twice My Age
25. MADONNA Vogue
26. MARINA VAN ROOY Sly One
27. SOHO Hippychick
28. THE WEDDING PRESENT Brassneck
29. THE CHIMES Heaven
30. INXS Suicide Blonde
31. MC TUNES vs 808 STATE Tunes Splits The Atom
32. THE BELOVED Hello
33. THE FARM Groovy Train
34. STONE ROSES One Love
35. ULTRAVIOLET Kites (remix)
36. THE KLF What Time Is Love?
37. DREAM WARRIORS My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style
38. SYMBOLS AND INSTRUMENTS Mood
39. RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM The Beginning
40. JIMMY SOMERVILLE To Love Somebody
41. BOYS WONDER Radio Wonder
42. X-CLAN Funkin’ Lesson
43. MANTRONIX Take Your Time
44. OLETA ADAMS Rhythm of Life
45. THE LA’S There She Goes
46. PET SHOP BOYS Being Boring
47. BARRIE K SHARPE/DIANA BROWN Masterplan
48. PRIMAL SCREAM Come Together
49. TEN CITY Whatever Makes You Happy
50. MY JEALOUS GOD Pray
1990 was the last ever year of Sounds. This year, even they got around to collating a critics poll;
1. Dee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Ship Song
3. Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows
4. Primal Scream – Loaded
5. Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro
6. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2U
7. Happy Mondays – Step On
8. My Bloody Valentine – Glider EP
9. Primal Scream – Come Together
10. The Charlatans – The Only One I Know
11. Betty Boo – Where Are You Baby?
12. The Lemonheads – Different Drum
13. The La’s – There She Goes
14. New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Fishes Eyes
15. Madonna – Vogue
16. Sonic Youth & Chuck D – Kool Thing
17. Englandneworder – World In Motion
18. Ruthless Rap Assassins – And It Wasn’t A Dream
19. Blur – She’s So High
20. New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big
21. Ride – Ride EP
22. Julee Cruise – Falling
23. The Farm – Groovy Train
24. The Heart Throbs – Dreamtime
25. Dinosaur Jr – The Wagon
26. The Shamen – Pro-gen
27. Butthole Surfers – Hurdy Gurdy Man
28. Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
29. Cocteau Twins – Iceblink Luck
30. The Fatima Mansions – Blues For Ceaucescu
31. Lush – Mad Love EP
32. James – Come Home
33. Soundgarden – Hands All Over
34. Inspiral Carpets – This Is How It Feels
35. Pixies – Velouria
36. Faith No More – Epic
37. Kylie Minogue – Better The Devil You Know
38. Technotronic – Rockin’ Over The Beast
39. Crime And The City Solution – I Have The Gun
40. Van Morrison – The Days Before Rock ‘N’ Roll
41. The Sisters Of Mercy – More
42. Krystal & Shabba Ranks – Twice My Age
43. The Honey Smugglers – Listen
44. The KLF – What Time Is Love?
45. Spiritualized – Anyway That You Want Me
46. The Fall – White Lightning
47. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Weeping Song
48. Public Enemy – 911 Is A Joke
49. Galaxie 500 – 4th Of July
50. That Petrol Emotion – Hey Venus
What on earth did everyone hear in ‘The Ship Song’? For me, its the exact dreary point where Nick Cave becomes a revered rock figurehead…
Yes, 7 out of 17 – the block plus Unchained.
We’re now firmly into my NME reading years (and I bought the Xmas MM too of course) so the above baggy-centric list was one I took v seriously. Gosh though, they did seem to like the Dream Warriors a lot.
I chose only six in the end – from Sinead to ENGLANDNEWORDER – a solid block of exciting music followed by a lot of mediocrity.
#10 “The Ship Song” is the only Nick Cave, Serious Man Of Rock track I like! – at the time a straightforward, sentimental rock ballad was quite a surprise from him I guess. Not heard it in years, mind, and I’d reach for “Tupelo” or “The Mercy Seat” more readily, but it’s not bad.
“This is a weeping song! A song! To make you weep!”
I remember John Peel saying “That was Nick Cave with ‘The Ship Song’ there, sounding more like Neil Diamond than Nick Cave.”
So many fantastic songs in those magazine polls that I came to a year or two late. I had many of them pegged as 1991…
Well, that was my worst year yet in this poll. Just three mustering the 6 or above, none of them above by much.
Similar to everyone else, I voted for the block (Sinead-New Order), Unchained, and also included Elton John. Many, many more classics than I thought there’d be, even if I do fall asleep for the second half of the year in all the ballads.
Favourite non-#1s of the year include Enjoy The Silence, Better The Devil You Know, It Must Have Been Love and I’ve Been Thinking About You. Gotta love a lot of the Madchester as well, which despite being so huge that year didn’t quite get hit the top…
John Peel’s Festive 50
1. The Fall Bill Is Dead
2. My Bloody Valentine Soon
3. Ride Dreams Burn Down
4. Ride Like A Daydream
5. Sonic Youth Tunic (Song For Karen)
6. Paris Angels (All On You) Perfume
7. Wedding Present Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
8. Happy Mondays Step On
9. Wedding Present Corduroy
10. The Orb Loving You (Session)
11. Teenage Fanclub Everything Flows
12. Would Be’s I’m Hardly Ever Wrong
13. The Lemonheads Different Drum
14. New Fast Automatic Daffodils Big
15. The Fall White Lightning
16. Morrissey November Spawned A Monster
17. Charlatans The Only One I Know
18. Wedding Present Don’t Talk, Just Kiss
19. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds The Ship Song
20. Wedding Present Heather (Session)
21. Boo Radleys Kaleidoscope
22. Wedding Present Crawl
23. Nirvana Sliver
24. Pixies The Happening
25. Ride Taste
26. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin Kill Your Television
27. Lush Sweetness & Light
28. Charlatans Polar Bear
29. Dinosaur Jr The Wagon
30. The Fall Blood Outta Stone
31. Pixies Velouria
32. Happy Mondays Kinky Afro
33. The Fatima Mansions Blues For Ceaucescu
34. The Shamen Pro-Gen
35. The Fall Telephone Thing
36. Sundays Here’s Where The Story Ends
37. Spiritualized Any Way That You Want Me
38. Babes In Toyland House
39. Wedding Present Dalliance
40. Sonic Youth Kool Thing
41. The Fall Chicago, Now!
42. The Orb Little Fluffy Clouds
43. Teenage Fanclub God Knows It’s True
44. Deee-Lite Groove Is In The Heart
45. Bastro Nothing Special
46. The Farm Stepping Stone
47. The Farm Groovy Train
48. Pixies Alison
49. Pixies Dig For Fire
50. The Inspiral Carpets Beast Inside
10 for me. A lot – I guess it coincides with my first becoming conscious of popular music. I even quite like Bombalurina and Maria McKee, though I’m in a fairly small minority there!
“Little Fluffy Clouds” was 1990? And Julee Cruise’s “Falling”? And Blur and the Charlatans and Spiritualized and the Sundays and… I have to seriously recalibrate my 1990-91 mental map. What a year!
1990 kinda lost it’s way in the second half.
Don’t years ending in 0 have some strange number ones?
never mind the MM/NME/FACE lists, what about the Beechwood compos?? http://www.bandplanet.co.uk/Oldsite/indietop20s.htm
I got this one (Vol 10) for xmas that year in tape form which I’m sure had extra tracks:
1. Groovy train (Terry Farley mix) – Farm
2. Make it mine – Shamen
3. All on you (perfume) – Paris Angels
4. What time is love (Echo & The Bunnymen mix) – KLF
5. Biting my nails – Renegade Soundwave
6. It’s on – Flowered Up
7. Triangle – Field Mice
8. Only love can break your heart – St. Etienne
9. Lay me down – Mock Turtles
10. Scratches – Spin
11. She comes in the fall – Inspiral Carpets
12. Only one I know – Charlatans
13. Waiting for the angels – Darkside
14. Place with a name – Family Cat
15. Velouria – Pixies
16. Everything flows – Teenage Fanclub
17. Rent – Carter USM
I voted for five – WTF at you people, that fucking football song is not part of any block of undisputed greatness and should not be spoken of in the same breath as Madonna, Sinéad, Beats Int etc.
I like The Ship Song, too. There’s lots of terrific stuff on those end of year lists – Paris Angels, En Vogue, The Fall’s unexpected blissful ballad moment, even if the monstrously plodding Groovy Train seems to have snuck in everywhere…
The Farm, so so bad. They later claimed Macarena was pinched from Spartacus album track Higher And Higher – check it on Spotify and see if you think it was pursuing it in the courts. The Farm did! Tossers!
1991 looks all-over-the-place stylistically, but in terms of quality there’s little in the way of classics or shockers. I predict quite a few 5s.
More excitingly 1991 also boasts four number one singles I bought, all in a row. And I’m only really ashamed about one of them.
US number ones:
Another Day In Paradise – Phil Collins (again)
How Am I Supposed To Live Without You – Michael Bolton
Opposites Attract – Paula Abdul with The Wild Pair
Escapade – Janet Jackson
Black Velvet – Alannah Myles
Love Will Lead You Back – Taylor Dayne
I’ll Be Your Everything – Tommy Page
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Connor
Vogue – Madonna
Hold On – Wilson Phillips
It Must Have Been Love – Roxette
Step by Step – New Kids on the Block
She Ain’t Worth It – Glenn Medeiros featuring Bobby Brown
Vision of Love – Mariah Carey
If Wishes Came True – Sweet Sensation
Blaze of Glory – Jon Bon Jovi
Release Me – Wilson Phillips
(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love & Affection – Nelson
Close to You – Maxi Priest
Praying for Time – George Michael
I Don’t Have the Heart – James Ingram
Black Cat – Janet Jackson
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
Love Takes Time – Mariah Carey
I’m Your Baby Tonight – Whitney Houston
Because I Love You (The Postman Song) – Stevie B
So many women (not you, Nelson)!
lex @ 25:
You should be more disciplined about taking that medication! 6 and above isn’t ‘undisputed greatness’, it’s just ‘quite like it’. For the record my three doesn’t include the football record, nor does it include Beats International or Madonna. Too bad!
9. v satisfying to tick that run of 6.
just about 10 ticks for the VERY ballad-heavy US list but some exceedingly generous ticks there (Roxette?! Wilson Philips?! nostalgia’s a beach…).
The Australian chart this year was like a blend of the UK and US:
The B-52’s, “Love Shack”, 8 weeks (starting 23 December 1989)
Aerosmith, “Janie’s Got a Gun”, 1 week
Sinéad O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, 8 weeks (highest seller of 1990)
Paula Abdul, “Opposites Attract”, 2 weeks
Madonna, “Vogue”/”Keep It Together”, 5 weeks
Heart, “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You”, 4 weeks
Roxette, “It Must Have Been Love”, 2 weeks
MC Hammer, “U Can’t Touch This”, 5 weeks
Faith No More, “Epic”, 3 weeks
Jon Bon Jovi, “Blaze of Glory”, 6 weeks
Young MC, “Bust a Move”, 1 week
Skyhooks, “Jukebox in Siberia”, 2 weeks
Deee-Lite, “Groove Is in the Heart”, 1 week
The Righteous Brothers, “Unchained Melody”, 6 weeks (1 of them in 1990)
And Vanilla Ice topped our charts in January 1990 too. Skyhooks was the only local band on this list – a surprise comeback single from a much-loved early 1970s band.
Now, “Janie’s Got A Gun” by Aerosmith – number 1 in Oz? What an expression of good taste. (No 76 in the UK….) Vaguely amazing given (for all its melodiousness and substance) its lyrical content, which (quite unlike the vaguely porny lyrics of its immediate predecessor, “Love In an Elevator”) is rather serious, the story of a girl taking (armed) revenge on the father who abused her, is hardly radio-friendly.
I suspect it would have stayed on top longer than a week if the Sinead juggernaut hadn’t arrived; it felt like a substantial hit at the time.
I notice a typo in my list next to Unchained Melody – one of its 6 weeks was in 1991 (i.e. 5 in 1990).
Voted two – Beats Int and England NewOrder.
Those critics lists are remarkably similar. They even managed to squeeze “One Love” in, ha ha, such was the stock of the Stone Roses at the time.
I think most of the #1s listed are really bad. I voted for Madonna, New Order, Elton John, though not really so keen on any of them; New Order the best.
I don’t agree with NME / MM about ‘groove is in the heart’ either, or Happy Mondays or Primal Scream – they’re all bad.
But out of those lists there are some magnificent and still moving records by MBV, Ride and a few others.
It was a year of two halves, Brian.
7 for me.
I accept that New Order were an excellent group, but this is their WORST song without a doubt. Nothing more embarrassing than witnessing footballers trying to sing – or even worse – RAP! This can only result in C-rap!
I’m amazed that so many commentors on here rank “world in Motion” alongside Sinead O’Connor’s masterpiece! Is this a result of the “Gazza” effect, I wonder? Sinead also cries during a performance.
WIM – a 1 from me.
@35 Alongside? Their aggregate voter scores suggest a substantial difference in ranking: WiM, 7.2 from 18 votes; Sinead, 8.1 from 26 votes. The above poll only tells us what songs the largest number of voters think are better than average, which is a pretty broad brush.
Young MC no.1 in Australia, gosh. His appearance as top ex-pop star at an office party in Up In The Air was a bit of a surprise to say the least. But his profile outside the UK was obviously higher than I thought. The Southern Comfort mix of I Come Off still sounds top hole.
@28, Steve Mannion. It’s not nostalgia recommending those Wilson Phillips tracks to you – they’re just great MOR singles! And, yay, Janet Jackson’s Escapade.
@Rory. Good on Aussies for sending Faith No More’s Epic to the top. INXS’s Suicide Blonde was a notable, 3 week #1 in NZ in 1990. Probably INXS’s last #1 single anywhere.
Re “Suicide Blonde”, nice work! That only made #2 in Oz itself, where “Original Sin” was their only #1 single I think. I wonder if any notable NZ songs did the reverse… Split Enz’s “I Got You” and Dave Dobbyn’s “Slice of Heaven” topped both charts in the 1980s…
NME readers’ poll for 1990;
1. The Charlatans – The Only One I Know
2. Happy Mondays – Step On
3. Ride – Taste
4. Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
5. Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro
6. Inspiral Carpets – This Is How It Feels
7. The La’s – There She Goes
8. James – Come Home
9. The Farm – Groovy Train
10. Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Kill Your Television
MM readers’ poll for 1990;
1. The Charlatans – The Only One I Know
2. Happy Mondays – Step On
3. The Cure – Never Enough
4. My Bloody Valentine – Soon
5. Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro
6. Ride – Dreams Burn Down
7. Fields Of The Nephilim – Sumerland
8. Lush – Mad Love
9. Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
10. Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence
I once had to listen to the album ”Suicide Blonde” is from (the follow up to ”Kick” I believe?) twice, back-to-back, in a former work colleagues van once. It was a fucking appalling record.
@Rory. I know of two cases: in 2005 Evermore’s Light Surrounding You got to #1 in Oz but only #15 at home, and in 1979 Misex’s Computer Games got to #1 in Oz but only #5 at home.
The Swingers’ amazing Counting the Beat (how did that not transfer to the rest of the world?) was #1 in both countries but, according to wiki, it was the biggest seller of the year (1981) in Oz.
Thanks, swanstep. Haven’t heard Evermore, I’ll have to track that down.
The Swingers and Mi-Sex, top tunes both. Both from around the time I was noticing pop more but not buying singles yet. I remember “Counting the Beat” as a major landmark too.
Sad to learn of Steve Gilpin’s fate at the Wikipedia entry for Mi-Sex.
This all makes me realise that my current fondness for the Midnight Juggernauts probably has its roots in “Computer Games”.
I’ve started writing four of five comments on how I can’t stand Nothing Compares 2U and originally gave it two out of 10 (and thought two was generous), but each time abandoned it as I thought it would just look like I was trolling. But the reverence for it does bug the flip out of me.
Second half of Kid A and first half of Hail to the Thief having a baby = can’t keep my eyes op….zzzz.
This is the year of the only Festive Fifty I remembered to tape and probably the most Peel-unfriendly and ‘poppy’ (I love pop-indie and just wish Saint Etienne had done better). “Perfume”, “Big”, the 20-minute version of “A Huge Ever-Growing Brain”, “Everything Flows”. Come to think of it, possibly a better year than the holy 1989. And New Order got to number 1!
Oh right, and charts happened but I didn’t care because I was a devoted MM reader by then (I can still quote most of Chris Roberts’ review of “Technique”).
Didn’t vote for “Unchained Melody” because it’s a re-release and so doesn’t count. Also it’s a damn shame about ‘Groove is in the Heart’ losing to a re-release on a technicality. Wish I still had the album around.
This site
http://upclosemaspersonal.blogspot.com/
,featuring contributions from Simon Reynolds among others,
offers some reflections on the 90s
the low votes for Ice Ice Baby suggest that Popular has been invaded by enemies of pop.
Spotify playlist: Around 794 singles entered the UK Top 75 in 1990. Here are 658 of them (including AA sides and two tracks per EP) http://t.co/UEW5j8Uom2