The 90s were like a melting pot of different genres of music so I’m sure this list will reflect carryover hair bands, pop, dance music, rock, and even hip hop and rap. I’m going to stick with the Top 5, but I will put the top 5 runners up at the end.
1) Madonna - Vogue
This song was so popular that EVERYBODY knew how to Vogue. It was popular through MTV, clubs, kids, adults, different races, genders, and sexual orientations. Talk about being that influential! Most of Madonna’s music is quite well known and still played today, but Vogue had to be one of her most famous songs in her arsenal. It was supposed to be a B-Side track but when it was played for the music executives they decided it was too good to be on a a B-Side. “Come on Vogue! Vogue! Let your body move to the music!” You know you are already doing the dance in your head so just go ahead a VOGUE!
2) C+C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now
Club Music was the staple of the 90s music scene. The songs of this “house music” genre didn’t have many cool lyrics, but they did have killer beats and the clothes they wore were totally far out! Martha Wash, who was a member of The Weather Girls (It‘s Raining Men from the 80s), sang “Everybody dance now!” However since she wasn’t stick thin, they replaced her with a lip syncing model for the video. How disrespectful! But it was the era of being skin and bones and she was not the first or the last to be used solely for her voice and replaced in the video with a model pretending to sing. This song made appearances in a bunch of TV shows and several movies. “Come on let's sweat, baby. Let the music take control!” (Side note I did a dance routine to this song when I was in the 7th grade. We had black costumes with neon printing so we would glow under black light. Pretty cool, huh?)
3) MC Hammer - U Can’t Touch This
This is probably the most well known song from the 90s and so many knew the song by heart. Everyone ran out to get palazzo pants just like him and learned how to do the Hammer Dance. They just don’t make music like this anymore and I’m not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing! The beat was sampled from Rick James 1981 hit Super Freak. U Can’t Touch this was released just a month ahead of his 3rd studio album in January of 1990. Somehow along the way MC Hammer, or later just Hammer, went bankrupt and even ended up doing a commercial for home owners insurance making light of his bad luck with the Benjamin’s. And incase you were wondering, yes I did a dance routine to this blockbuster hit, too. 🤪
4) Spice Girls - Wannabe
This song was definitely a “GIRLPOWER” song, with the cute girls, awesome outfits, and a catchy tune and lyrics saying that if your man can’t be cool with your gal-pals, he could hit the road! it got so much radio play that it was playing simultaneously on multiple radio stations. The song, along with their 3rd single, 2 Become 1. were both written by Richard "Biff" Stannard and his musical collaborator Matt Rowe in only 10 days. Ten days; two hit singles... show me the money these guys made for the Spice Girls!
5) Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
The 90s was the time of boy and girl bands, but it was the Britney Spears show for sure. She had so many hits though the 90s and early 2000s but this was her very first hit. What made this song so memorable was the 16 year old Britney dressed in a Catholic school girl uniform in the video that got lots of air play on MTV and VH1 (when they actually played music videos instead of ridiculous reality programming) and tons more airplay on the Top 40 radio stations. But poor Britney succumbed to the pressures of the music industry and the paparazzi harassment and she had a psychotic break, buzzed of her hair and fell from glory. Over the past few years she’s made some collaboration music with several groups including Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas and has made a comeback by showing the world she’s still got it!
Does my Top 5 look anything like yours? Leave questions, comments, and your top 5 list of 99s songs below! ⬇️⬇️⬇
And now my top 5 honorable mentions:
Comments