As I listen to these tracks from the 1990s, I’m reminded how often that decade’s music was, for lack of a better word:
Moody.
Such is the case for many tracks in this set.
- Joan Osborne’s biggest claim to fame, the Top 10 pop hit “One of Us,” ruminated on the nature of God amid a jangly guitar-driven rock ballad.
- The band Dog’s Eye View mined similar ground in their hit “Everything Falls Apart.”
- “1979,” the Smashing Pumpkins’ biggest pop hit, includes this chorus,
“And we don’t know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust I guess
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth
Below”
- Canadian singer Jann Arden’s AC/pop hit “Insensitive”offered relationship-based angst similar to compatriot Alanis Morissette but more a ballad than Alanis’ pop/rockers.
- For her take on Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” R&B singer Chantay Savage traded light disco for smoldering quiet-storm.
- And the saddest case was R&B mainstay Phyllis Hyman’s gut-wrenching “I Refuse to Be Lonely” –a song released five months after her death.
In need of a mood change?
Maybe an instrumental can help.
For the first time in years, two were in the Hot 100’s Top 25 at the same time.
- U2’s rhythm section, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton, scored a Top 10 hit with their movie soundtrack take on the “Theme from ‘Mission: Impossible.”
- In the meantime, Italian composer Robert Miles had a worldwide hit with the electronic dance track “Children,” hitting Number 21 in the United States.
Other grooving tracks include:
- La Bouche’s “Sweet Dreams,”
- Edwyn Collins’ Empire Records soundtrack tune “A Girl Like You,”
- …and Monifah’s “Nobody’s Body,” the latter from the film soundtrack To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Savage’s remake wasn’t the only one that switched up the context of the original.
- N-Trance hit with a rap remake of the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.”
- Lisa Moorish offered a gender-bending take on Wham’s “I’m Your Man,” complete with guest backing vocal from George Michael himself.
- And Michael English, up to then a contemporary Christian singer, made a bid for the pop and AC market by covering country singer John Berry’s “Your Love Amazes Me.” It missed the Hot 100, but went Top 10 on Hot AC.
Maybe the best antidote to the mid-’90s moodiness is this set’s closing track:
- “That Thing You Do!” from the movie of the same name, credited to The Wonders, the group whose story the movie tells.
YouTube is where you can find the Clayton/Mullen track…
… As well as tracks from two Eves:
The group Eve’s Plum and their take on Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You:”
As well as English dance singer Eve Gallagher’s “Love Don’t Slip Away:”
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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You missed out on the rest of N-Trance’s ouevre. They started out with an original song, house banger Set You Free which was a massive hit. After following that up with Stayin’ Alive they became one of the main proponents of giving well known 70s/80s tracks a cheesy dance music makeover.
There was D.I.S.C.O, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy and most incongruously of all; Paradise City. I’m sure Axl Rose loved it.
A Girl Like You, 1979 and That Thing You Do are the class acts for me.
Never heard of Eve’s Plum before. Something about that name really puts me off.
I guess it sounds vaguely sexual, but as a longtime “Brady Bunch” fan, I got the play on the name of the actress who played Jan (Eve Plumb) right away, so the other meaning never really resonated with me.
What kind of school did the Bradys attend? Jan’s teacher couldn’t add. You would think the teacher counted up the scores more than once. She knew there would be an assembly. Maybe the teacher hated the other girl. Maybe she was a middle child, too. Oh, wait. This is better. The teacher hated Marcia.
I think this is how Tom Perrota came up with the idea for Election.
Lead singer of Eve’s Plum would have a briefly successful solo career under the name Vitamin C as 1999 turned to 2000 (will she show up on your series Chuck?).
I only know about 5 of these, but they all made an impact on me in different ways. A Girl Like You is one of my favorite 90s song period. The rap version of Stayin Alive was played at our wedding reception. A friend of ours did some genuinely high level break dancing to it. Surprisingly, the priest followed, and though not as adept, still wowed the crowd. That Thing You Do is a great and perfect song from a movie I would describe the same. Michael English was kicked out of CCM for an affair with a married member of Christian vocal group First call, which produced a child. Big scandal. Both acts were huge in that scene at the time. One of Us made me happy to hear on the radio, albeit the theology was a bit murky. It’s just a great song.
Happy New Year all!
Forgot to include a 6th song. 1979. Not one of my favorites of theirs but a solid song. First time I have seen Billy Corgan described as pop, but hey it charted, so technically not inaccurate.
Mullen and Clayton’s take on “Mission Impossible” is interesting because it’s in 4/4 while the original was in 5/4. Maybe they were going for a dance hit and knew it’s hard for most people to shake their booties in 5.
Good stuff, Chuck, and happy new year to all!
Looking forward to listening later to the Mission Impossible cover. I’m trying to play it in my head in 4/4 time, but I can’t quite get it to work.
It’ll be interesting to see how they did it.
I’ve heard of a few of these, but I only know the last one…That Thing You Do.
Surprised to see Smashing Pumpkins here — a very big band with a LOT of other hits. Kind of seems to buck the concept of the column (good song though!)
I knew Eve’s Plum better for their song “Blue,” which got a decent deal of MTV airplay back in the day.
https://youtu.be/9JmK3Y03flE?si=jfrkLpAl_JlmTiyj
I knew 6 of these, although I will never remember the name “Dog’s Eye View.”
Have I never heard A Few Good Men? I mistook them for Boyz. A pretty faithful copy.
Apparently with “Children,” Robert Miles pioneered the sub genre of dream house. It was intended as night-ending music to calm the young partiers and hopefully prevent deadly car accidents that were on the rise due to club culture. Not sure if it was effective in that respect, but ya gotta love the prettiness.