Who’d have thought it?
That three of 1999’s hits would feature interpolations of hits from:
The Jackson 5…
Hall and Oates…
…or Bruce Hornsby and the Range?
The late 2Pac had a posthumous hit with “Changes,” a composition he recorded in 1992 that came out on a greatest hits set late in 1998.
By January 1999, it hit Number 32 on the Hot 100. The track uses the piano riff from Hornsby and the Range’s No. 1 hit “The Way It Is” as well as a variation of its chorus.
Boy band C Note hit the Top 40 airplay charts in summer 1999 with “Wait ’Til I Get Home,” one of several songs that would be built on a sample from Hall and Oates’ 1982 No. 1 “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”
The original version of “Take Me There” by Blackstreet, Mya, Mase and Blinky Blink used the theme from the TV series Rugrats, which made sense – since it came from the soundtrack of the Rugrats film.
But a remix interpolated the Jackson 5’s chart-topping debut, “I Want You Back,” and helped power the song to a No. 14 peak on the Hot 100 as well as No. 10 R&B and No. 13 pop airplay.
More straight-ahead remakes came courtesy of a dance trio, an R&B duo, a British dance singer, and one of the major rock acts of the decade.
United for the soundtrack of the movie 54, soloists Ultra Naté, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez were billed as “Stars on 54.” They went to No. 3 dance and No. 52 on the Hot 100 with a dance cover of, no kidding, Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.”
The duo called Christión had a minor Hot 100 (No. 86) and R&B (No. 32) charter in 1998 with their remake of Rose Royce’s slow burning “I Wanna Get Next to You.”
British singer (and Rick Astley soundalike) Paul Varney covered a 1960s soul song by American Darrell Banks, “Open the Door to Your Heart,” making the various artists Winter Party 1998 collection.
And the rock group Pearl Jam had a left-field smash with their remake of “Last Kiss,” first a hit in the 1960s for J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers and then a minor Top 40 hit in 1974 by the Canadian group Wednesday.
Pearl Jam’s version went to Number. 2, becoming the group’s biggest Hot 100 hit.
Where AC, R&B and dance dominated previous volumes of this series, album rock and adult alternative make strong showings this time around.
Minneapolis, Virginia, and Texas were all represented by three acts, and their biggest pop airplay hits:
- Semisonic’s “Closing Time” (No. 8 pop, No. 13 rock),
- Everything’s “Hooch” (No. 17 pop, No. 12 rock);
- And Fastball’s “The Way” (No. 4 pop, No. 25 rock).
Other rock-oriented tracks include:
- Hole’s “Malibu” (No. 37 pop, No. 15 rock);
- Raleigh, N.C.’s Far Too Jones with “Best of Me”,
- And Better Than Ezra’s “At the Stars” (Number. 25 pop, Number. 17 rock).
Rufus Wainwright and Lucinda Williams each earned critical acclaim and adult-alternative radio attention in 1999.
Wainwright, a singer-songwriter whose parents are Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, earned attention with “April Fools.”
Williams, a singer-songwriter whose work bridges country, folk and adult alternative rock, scored with “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,” the title track of a Grammy-winning album.
YouTube is where you’ll find the Christión remake.
But to find Varney’s original club mix of “Open the Door to Your Heart,” you’ll need to go to SoundCloud:
Here’s the Spotify link for the rest of this set:
Which ones do you like? Hate?
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I always thought the Jennifer Paige record was a pretty good pop effort. I also got a kick out of Pearl Jam’s remake, and never could quite tell if they were playing it straight or if tongue was firmly in cheek.
At first, “The Way” was interesting for me, in that it had a strong, melodic chorus. But after a few weeks, it somehow became a bit song-songy and not as much fun to hear. Not to mention the lyrics; what was going on , there?
I think Depeche Mode is on the same Paige as you regarding the merits of “Crush.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2iGtRseS7E
“The Way” seemed like it had some kind of message about a lost generation, or maybe just a couple of old people got lost. Or maybe they actually did know the way, and they just didn’t tell anybody else. Or maybe they were actually philosophers who think that we all need to find our own way. I said it seemed like it had a message. I didn’t say that it actually had one.
“The Way” is based on a true story about an elderly couple that were on their way to a fiddling festival in Temple, Texas, and disappeared. They ended up being found dead in a ravine hundreds of miles away in Hot Springs, AR, having gotten lost and confused, probably due to the fact that the driver had Alzheimer’s. The song romanticizes what happened to them, and when their family members heard it and realized who it was about, they were actually very moved by it.
I read this really great article about it a few years ago: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/the-way-how-a-salado-couples-tragic-story-inspired-a-chart-topping-song/269-459113059
Once in a while, I really can’t decide if I used to hear a song on the radio or not.
Meja’s “All Bout the Money” here is a case in point. I’m going to err on the side of “no,” but something about it feels vaguely familiar.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s quite obvious, and you get an “oh yeah! I totally forgot about that song!” Such is the case with “Hooch.” Not a great song, mind you, but more fodder for my 90s radio mix.
There’s some great tunes in this batch, though the rest are Desperately Wanting.
I was starting to think I wasn’t going to recognize any of these songs, but then I got to Pearl Jam. I know the rest of the songs, though I don’t think I could’ve remembered the name Far Too Jones.
Good list!
Paul Varney? The name meant nothing so as a fellow Brit I had to do some digging. Turns out he was a child actor who went on to have a #10 single in 1990 with a cover of Instant Replay as one half of Yell!
Who I do remember. The name suggests a Wham! knock off. Except they were both Andrew Ridgeley.
They were part of the Stock Aitken Waterman stable. That was their only hit, they swiftly split and Paul released a couple of solo singles including Open The Door To Your Heart in 1995 which didn’t trouble the charts. How he pitched up an that compilation in 1998 is a mystery to me.
His last claim to any kind of fame is writing our 1999 Eurovision entry; Say It Again for girl band Precious. It came 12th, solidly mediocre.
Whereas Billie has a far more interesting story. She’s Billie Piper. Her first bit of fame was appearing in a TV commercial for Smash Hits magazine. Which led to a record deal and at the age of 15 her debut single entering the chart at #1. After three #1s and another four top ten singles her singing career was over by 2000.
In 2001 she married DJ and TV presenter Chris Evans. They became tabloid staples due to their party lifestyle and her being 18 and him 35.
I was going to say she sounds like a British Britney though Billie’s debut pre-dated Britney by a few months.
Then there’s the fact that by 2004 they were separated and she escaped her past to embark on a successful acting career that has taken in film, TV and theatre.
She was great on Dr. Who.
7/18. Still a failing grade but better than I have been as of late.
I got 2 this time! 🙂
It’s Lucinda Williams for the win with this bunch. I was glad to have recognized as many as I did. We were emerging from Barney purgatory at my house.
Did you have to pay the ultimate price for your sins and watch the full-length movie, Barney’s Great Adventure, at least 3 times? Not that I speak from personal experience.