After three series bridging the offbeat and the obscure, from…
The 1970s…
The ’80s…
and the ’90s…
…we’re finally at an end.
But why end here? Why not the ‘aughts… or the tens?
The purpose of the CDs was to convert material I purchased on vinyl or cassette to digital versions stored on my iPod. By the turn of the millennium, my music purchases tended to be on CD, removing the need for conversion from other media.
This final set takes us out of the 1990s and into 2000.
- There’s one 1995 track I’d forgotten to convert that joins this lineup:
Take That’s “Back for Good.”
By 2000, former lead singer Robbie Williams was earning solo hits, though more so on the U.K. side of the Atlantic.
As with previous volumes, this set includes straight-up remakes as well as songs that built from famous samples.
- In the former category, country singer Dwight Yoakam took on Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” no big stretch given its rockabilly roots.
It peaked at Number 12 country, and Number 64 on the Hot 100. It was used in a notable TV commercial for the Gap.
- New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight went solo and slowed down Prince’s Top 10 pop hit “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.”
His slow-burn ballad failed to make the Hot 100.
- And the R&B trio Divine took their version of George Michael’s “One More Try” to #13 R&B, #29 on the Hot 100.
Unlike Knight, Divine stayed faithful (no pun intended) to the vibe of the original.
As for songs built from samples?
- None would be more popular than Lou Bega’s randy take on Perez Prado’s “Mambo Number 5.”
Bega’s mambo, subtitled “A Little Bit of …,” went to #3 on the Hot 100 and #1 on pop airplay.
Other tracks in this vein include:
- R&B singer Chante Moore’s “Chante’s Got a Man,” (# 2 R&B, No. 10 Hot 100) which – believe it or not – builds off an interpolation of the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple.”
- And pop singer Jessica Simpson’s 2000 hit “I Think I’m in Love With You,” which uses the central riff from John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane.”
(It wasn’t the first – Simply Red tried a similar trick with its reprise remake of “The Air That I Breathe” on the 1998 CD Blue.)
Was anything in this period original? Yes:
- American rock trio Blink-182 provided “All the Small Things” (# 6 Hot 100, #1 alternative rock);
- Singer-songwriter Ben Harper and His Innocent Criminals offered the bluesy “Steal My Kisses” (Number 1 AAA, Number 15 AC);
- The Knoxville, Tenn., rock group Gran Torino earned regional airplay with “Moments With You”;
And Milwaukee’s Citizen King hit Number 25 on the Hot 100 with “Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out).”
Other artists spanned genres:
- From the gospel/R&B duo Mary Mary with “Shackles (Praise You)…”
To Belgian AC and dance singer (and Celine Dion soundalike) Lara Fabian on “I Will Love Again,”
To country and contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick on “Blame It on Your Mother.”
This time, the only track unavailable on Spotify is the Divine version of “One More Try.” You can see it here on YouTube.
Here’s the Spotify link for the rest of this set:
For those who joined me on this journey, thanks so much! And so, for one last time…
Which ones do you like? Hate?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
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I’m not familiar with a lot of these, yet, but my favorite is Filter’s “Take A Picture.” Perhaps that was predictable.
This has been a fun bunch of lists, Chuck. If you find another compilation somewhere, be sure to reboot the series!
I didn’t know too many either, and “Take a Picture” stood out to me as well.
Also predictable. I also liked the Ben Harper song, though there are others from him I like even better.
There’s 7 that I know. Blink 182 and Mary Mary with the honours as particular favourites.
Others come loaded with memories. Madison Avenue and Wamdue Project were both UK #1s at the time I was living in a houseshare. They were featured heavily in Radio 1s dance music shows on a weekend and would often be heard blaring out from my housemates radio as we got ready for a night out. Then played in every bar and club we went into.
Mambo No.5 is redolent of cricket. It was the theme tune to Channel 4s cricket coverage from 1999 through to the epic cricketing summer of 2005 when a nation rejoiced as England won back the Ashes from Australia for the first time since 1987. A sentence that will be meaningless and incomprehensible to most.
Mambo No.5 also gave Bob The Builder his 2nd UK #1. I know, you’re just coming to terms with the fact we compete for a sporting trophy that is literally ashes, then Bob The Builder turns out to have multiple chart toppers. Bob did change the lyrics to reflect a construction theme rather than reveal he was a serial philanderer. It’s kind of amusing the first time round, so here you go
https://youtu.be/kjERnmcjbAE?feature=shared
So much for my musicguy street-cred: 4/21.A shameful display of apparent disrespect for the sounds of 1999.
I’ll go with the excuse that I was immersed in Y2K disaster prevention planning.
They’re probably the same four I got.
I graduated from high school in 1999, and I only got 5 here.
I’ve seen better days.
I got 5! I am not afraid to admit that I like “Mambo, No. 5”. But my favorite of this bunch is easily “Better Days” by Citizen King. I LOVE that stupid song, and I always think of it when considering one hit wonders from the 90s.
Also, it’s good to see Dwight Yoakam here. His remake may not be as good as the original (my favorite Queen song), but it’s still a fun listen.
Wayne Kirkpatrick is a familiar name to me, having written songs for Amy Grant and many other CCMers. Maybe I knew he put out his own stuff as well. Maybe I didn’t.
What Lou Bega did to Mambo No. 5, I’m surprised the estate of Perez Prado didn’t so him. One of the top 10 irritating earworms of all time to me.
Most of the others I don’t know or don’t recall. Possibly because I was going through a bad time in a relationship that ended a few months into the year 2000. Or maybe something else, I’m not certain at this point.
Very poor showing for me this time around. Sometimes it goes like that.