This is hardly a new idea, either for me or for anyone else. I have previously made a list of 89-93 (The Capital Years), I've done 93-98 (Britpop Years) and I've done 98-05ish (Interim Pop). But, still, I think this is worth doing. It is a thing that can be somewhat perfect.
It's going to be a playlist of 100 songs, not a rundown from 100 to 1. There'll be 10 from each year (or maybe 9 or 11, but no more variance than that) from 1990 to 1999. There'll be a spread of genres. There can only be one song by each act. Anything eligible for the singles charts counts, which includes songs from EPs (which I'll get to shortly).
This decade was a time for great singles, but, conversely, not a great time for singles. It was the era when the cracks (which have never healed) started to show in the singles charts - too many high new entries, too many one-week Number 1s, a gradual spread of indifference to Top of the Pops.
There were a lot of fabled genres battling for space in the 90s - daisy age rap, gangsta rap, trip hop, acid jazz, grunge, britpop, house, ragga, dancehall, new jack swing, rave, shoegaze, garage, nu-metal, punk-pop, alt-country, but, let's be honest, the main thing in the charts, and the most resilient genre of all, was dance-pop. Pop music you could dance to. Dance music you could pop to. A sound came along in the late 80s/early 90s which hasn't really gone away.
Some of that stuff is good, though it's not my favourite. There was more weird stuff at the top of the charts in the early 90s than in the late 90s, I think. Everything got more and more focused and professional, and that trend carried on with a vengeance into the 2000s.
It was when I was compiling playlists for our wedding day in 2014 that I realised, looking at what I'd put together, how much fondness I had for the chart hits of the early 90s, a time I'd previously assigned to being a bit of a dead zone for my taste, before I got into music in a big way, but also not full of "classic" rock. That fondness holds. 1992 and 1993 are surprisingly vintage years for big, slightly weird singles.
An interesting thing I've noted is that, while pretty much all the music I deeply love now is not truly popular, the music I listened to until around 2000 was pretty much all popular. When I was a kid, I knew nothing but pop music and classics; when I initially got into indie music, indie bestrode the charts. I was used to songs I instinctively liked being hit singles throughout this whole decade. Something that has not really been true since (though I do still like plenty of pop songs, or tell myself i do).
Putting this list together, I tried to have a rule that I had to love every song I include, both at the time it was released, and now. The latter is true; the former is almost true, but not quite. There are a few classics which passed me by when I was younger. But not many. None of this is highly obscure. All singles. Mostly successful singles - that's broadly the point of the list. Some weren't that successful, but that will be hopefully interesting too.
This is a combination of "best" and "favourite". A lot of it is chosen for notability, but some are just personal favourites. I don't think anyone else would put Shorley Wall by Ooberman in their list of 100 Greatest Singles of the 1990s. But, still, Shorley Wall is interesting, because people did really try to make it happen. It was re-released twice, it was Single of the Week in various publications, you'd hear it a lot on the radio in the late 90s, but it never quite made it.
Talking of the late 90s, it is my contention that the EPs released by the Beta Band, Super Furry Animals and Belle and Sebastian in the late 90s were the all-time high point for British indie - such imagination, singularity, range, songcraft. Anyone who thinks British music was in the doldrums in the late 90s is very mistaken - that's the future we could have had. All of those bands were influential, but deserved to be more influential.
And it's something of a relief that this list is defined by the UK singles chart. I don't have to include Pavement. I'm not even going to include Wilco. Other acts I'm not going to include, for reasons I've discussed before (the "reasons" being I just don't like'em, mainly) are Primal Scream, Prince, The Stone Roses, Michael Jackson, the Backstreet Boys and The Spice Girls.
And there will absolutely be naff stuff. Some, not much:
Here it is:
https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/100-from-90-to-99/pl.u-76MjyuJg3pr
and here it is:
- Groove is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
- Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
- There She Goes - The La's
- The Magic Number - De La Soul
- Vogue - Madonna
- Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys
- Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
- Nothing Ever Happens - Del Amitri
- Doin' The Do - Betty Boo
- Unbelievable - EMF
- Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
- Justified and Ancient - The KLF ft Tammi Wynette
- Birdhouse in your Soul - They Might Be Giants
- Crazy - Seal
- Stars - Simply Red
- Sit Down - James
- Fall at Your Feet - Crowded House
- Summertime - Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
- You Got the Love - The Source ft Candi Station
- Innuendo - Queen
- Too Young to Die - Jamiroquai
- November Rain - Guns N'Roses
- People Everyday - Arrested Development
- Walking on Broken Glass - Annie Lennox
- Goodnight Girl - Wet Wet Wet
- Stay - Shakespears Sister
- Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Sheela Na Gig - PJ Harvey
- One - U2
- Out of Space - The Prodigy
- Sound of Da Police - KRS-One
- No Rain - Blind Melon
- Cannonball - The Breeders
- Two Princes - The Spin Doctors
- Oh Carolina - Shaggy
- Everybody Hurts - REM
- Ain't No Love Ain't No Use - Sub Sub
- Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine
- Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill
- That's The Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson
- Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos
- Regulate - Warren G and Nate Dogg
- Confide in Me - Kylie Minogue
- Stay Together - Suede
- Live Forever - Oasis
- Basket Case - Green Day
- Sabotage - Beastie Boys
- Here Comes the Hotstepper - Ini Kamoze
- You And Me Song - Wannadies
- Trouble - Shampoo
- Back for Good - Take That
- Yes - McAlmont and Butler
- Tiny Tears - Tindersticks
- Set You Free - N-Trance
- This is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
- Waterfalls - TLC
- Fantasy - Mariah Carey
- Buddy Holly - Weezer
- Common People - Pulp
- You Oughta Know - Alanis Morisette
- Hyperballad - Bjork
- Come Out 2Nite - Kenickie
- Ocean Drive - The Lighthouse Family
- Give Me a Little More Time - Gabrielle
- If It Makes you Happy - Sheryl Crow
- On and On - The Longpigs
- A Design for Life - Manic Street Preachers
- Born Slippy - Underworld
- The State I Am In - Belle and Sebastian
- No Diggity - Blackstreet
- Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
- No Surprises - Radiohead
- Beetlebum - Blur
- Don’t' Speak - No Doubt
- Mmmbop - Hanson
- Dry the Rain - Beta Band
- Sock it 2 Me - Missy Elliott
- Triumph - Wu-Tang Clan
- Perfect Day – Various Artists for Children in Need
- Sun Hits the Sky - Supergrass
- Music Sounds Better with You - Stardust
- Ice Hockey Hair - Super Furry Animals
- Never Ever - All Saints
- Teardrop - Massive Attack ft Liz Fraser
- When I Argue I See Shapes - Idlewild
- Monday Morning 5.19 - Rialto
- Brimful of Asha - Cornershop
- Road Rage - Catatonia
- Outside - George Michael
- Goddess on a Hiway - Mercury Rev
- Shackles - Mary Mary
- Waiting for a Superman - Flaming Lips
- I Try - Macy Gray
- Drinking in LA - Bran van 3000
- My Name Is - Eminem
- Maria - Blondie
- Shorley Wall - Ooberman
- You Get What You Give - New Radicals
- Doo-Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
- It's Not Right But It's OK - Whitney Houston
7 Seconds - Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'dour, Nancy Boy –
Placebo, It's Alright - East 17, Gone Till November - Wyclef Jean, Insomnia –
Faithless, Your Woman - White Town, Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger, Apparently
Nothing - Young Disciples, The Size of a Cow - The Wonder Stuff, Sleeping
Satellite - Tamsin Archer, River of Dreams - Billy Joel, Jump Around - House of
Pain, One Night in Heaven - M People, Pretend We're Dead - L7, Faded Glamour -
Animals that Swim, Call it What You Want - Credit to the Nation, Today -
Smashing Pumpkins, Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill, Ebenezer Goode - The
Shamen, Right Here – SWV, Always – Erasure, Reverend Black Grape - Black Grape,
Wake Up Boo - Boo Radleys, For the Dead – Gene, Lady Killers – Lush, Sweetness
- Michelle Gayle, Turn on, Tune in, Cop Out - Freak Power, Summertime - The
Sundays, Always - Bon Jovi, Three Lions - B, S and LS, How Bizarre – OMC, El
President – Drugstore, Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison, The Drugs Don't Work
- The Verve, Even After All - Finley Quaye, I Ain't Mad Atcha - 2Pac, Hallo
Spaceboy - David Bowie, He Got Game - Public Enemy, This Feeling – Puressence, The
First Big Weekend - Arab Strap, Chase the Sun- Planet Funk, The Boy is Mine -
Brandy and Monica, End of the Line - The Honeyz, Black and White - Asian Dub
Foundation, To Earth With Love - Gay Dad, Sing it Back – Moloko, Stay Young -
Ultrasound , Jungle Tings Proper - Roots Manuva, Fade Into You - Mazzy Star, On
& On - Erykah Badu, Glory Box - Portishead, Connection - Elastica
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