The musical mix of 1991-92 featured artists from various strains of contemporary music:
- Dance, Rock, and Alternative
- R&B, Hip-hop, annd Contemporary Christian…
- And even a country legend.
- Siouxsie and the Banshees, long the darlings of alternative radio, made the pop Top 40 with “Kiss Them for Me…”
- While another act known to college and alternative audiences, The Smithereens, scored on Top 40 with “Too Much Passion.”
Two new rock bands who sounded a lot like Journey and Boston made chart appearances. At least there was a legitimate reason for the resemblance.
- The Storm, who hit the Top 40 with “I’ve Got a Lot to Learn About Love,” featured three former members of Journey.
- The week their hit dropped out of the Top 40, RTZ, led by Boston vocalist Brad Delp, entered with “Until Your Love Comes Back Around.” Each was the only hit for the respective act.
- As singer/actress Vanessa Williams had the biggest hit of her career with “Save the Best for Last,” two unrelated acts with the same surname were in the Hot 100 with lesser-known recordings.
- The Williams Brothers, guitarist brothers David and Andrew, just missed the Top 40 with the ballad “Can’t Cry Hard Enough.”
- In the meantime, English singer and guitarist Geoffrey Williams got as high as No. 70 with “It’s Not a Love Thing.”
This set’s international lineup also includes:
- Canadian rocker Tom Cochrane, who went Top 10 with “Life Is a Highway,”
- Jamaica’s Shabba Ranks and Britain’s Maxi Priest on the dancehall-style “Housecall,”
- Australia’s Colorhaus, performing their No. 50-peaking “Innocent Child.”
And the oddest, most delightful match:
British dance musicians The KLF and Mississippi native Tammy Wynette, on “Justified and Ancient.”
- Contemporary Christian artist Kathy Troccoli earned her moment in the pop sun with “Everything Changes.”
- The Florida trio Linear hit with “TLC.” (It wasn’t an ode to the hot R&B trio who were in the Top 40 concurrently with their own “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” and “Baby-Baby-Baby”).
A couple of remakes…
- Producers Clivilles and Cole (with lead vocalists Deborah Cooper and Paul Pesco) released a dance version of U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love).”
- Mic Murphy, formerly of 1980s “Who Sings It?” act The System, updated the Chairmen of the Board’s “Give Me Just a Little More Time.”
Of the 19 songs in this set, twelve are on Spotify.
You’ll have to go to YouTube to find:
- The Murphy, Linear, Colorhaus and Geoffrey Williams tracks,
- As well as One 2 One’s “Peace of Mind (Love Goes On),” Wendy MaHarry’s “How Do I Get Over You?
- And Truth Inc.’s “The Very Best of Me.”
Here’s the Spotify link for the rest of this set:
Which ones do you like? Hate? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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I only knew 3 of these, probably an all time low for me with this column, and I was actually starting to listen to non-CCM music again in the early 90s. I do love that the list kicks off with the Hurley’s House Mix of “Got a Love For You” by Jomanda. It’s a banger extraordinaire and I will likely be cranking it today at some point after seeing it here.
Not much better than rb, there’s 5 that I definitely know and then there’s Geoffrey Williams whose name is vaguely familiar. Turns out he was a nearly man here, five chart entries here between 52 and 79.
Always nice to see Siouxsie. Maxi Priest had a long career but was inconsistent in chart terms. 20 singles made the top 75 but only eight of those in the top 40.
I bought Life Is A Highway on cassette single, helping it to be a #62 smash. Never heard anything else by Tom Cochrane.
Clivilles and Cole using their full surname to signify a more mature offering than the C&C Music Factory and the frivolity of Things That Make You Hmmmm. I preferred the frivolity.
Speaking of which; The KLF. It’s not their best single (for me that’s What Time Is Love) but the presence of Tammy was their most audacious single and still a lot of fun.
Oh boy…I’ve got to admit, I’m stumped on a lot of these, with some exceptions. Of course “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams is a 10/10.
Interesting list, and get me some memories from 1991. I love “Kiss Them For Me” and irrationally love “Life Is A Highway”, and I like “Save The Best For Last”. I heard “Justified And Ancient” back in the day and the remixed “Pride” was played a lot on my local radio station.
I knew “Everything Changes” because I had VH-1. I never heard “TLC”, though Linear’s “Sending All My Love” and “Don’t You Come Cryin’” had heavy rotation over here.
I don’t know the rest of the songs.
To this day, the fact that a hit record credited to The KLF and Tammy Wynette even exists still astounds. It could be used a a teaching device in a class on random probability. 1000 pitch meetings by 1000 A&R people still would ever have come up anything close.
As you probably already know, Chuck, Andy and David Williams stopped recording later in the 1990s and David came out as gay. As I recall, there was some speculation about how his uncle, superstar solo balladeer Andy Williams, reacted to the news, given his supposedly conservative viewpoint. I never really heard anyone ask him about it, so who knows?
And the first time I heard “Everything Changes,” I thought it was a Taylor Dayne record. Then I heard who actually sang it, and I thought she was a Taylor Dayne wannabe.
I’m sure that Taylor Dayne connection was no accident, since the producer did many of Taylor’s earlier songs. He also did Mariah Carey’s “Someday,” which sounds as close to Taylor’s stuff as Mariah ever did.
Siouxsie Sioux is life itself.
I’ve always loved “Saved The Best For Last”. Vanessa Williams, in that song’s video, is about as beautiful as any person can be.