July 5, 2008

  • Out of all the decades out there, a lot of people (especially from my generation) would say that they absolutely love the music of the 1980s. It really was a great decade of music and a lot of big name artists started out in that era. On the flip side, I don't know if it's just my personal experience, but a lot of people seem to be quick to downplay the music of the 1990s. Maybe it's because it was a great big difference to what made the sound of the 80s, "the sound of the 80s." Recently I caught VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s. It brought back a lot of memories, and pretty much reminded me that I loved the music of that decade as much if not more than the '80s.

    The list covered the whole spectrum of music from pop, rock, grunge, R&B, etc... From one hit wonders, boy bands, popular cover songs, to artist defining hits. I actually think that a lot of the songs went farther than just being just another song from a particular decade, which is the problem that a lot of songs from the '80s have. A lot of these songs are classics that still work today, will probably last forever, and it's time of origin will simply be irrelevant.

    I think it's obvious what's the first song you think of when it comes to this decade *cough*smellsliketeenspirit*cough* and sure enough it did get the number one spot. I have the top 25 songs listed here, but click the link and take a look at the rest of the list. I think that you'd be hard pressed to deny the significant impact to music the '90s had.

    http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/127759/episode_featured_copy.jhtml

    01. Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
    02. U2 "One"
    03. Backstreet Boys "I Want It That Way"
    04. Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You"
    05. Madonna "Vogue"
    06. Sir Mix-A-Lot "Baby Got Back"
    07. Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time"
    08. TLC"Waterfalls"
    09. R.E.M. "Losing My Religion"
    10. Sinéad O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U"
    11. Pearl Jam "Jeremy"
    12. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know"
    13. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) "Nuthin' but a "G" Thang"
    14. Mariah Carey "Vision of Love"
    15. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
    16. MC Hammer "U Can't Touch This"
    17. Destiny's Child "Say My Name"
    18. Metallica "Enter Sandman"
    19. Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
    20. Hanson "MMMBop"
    21. Celine Dion "My Heart Will Go On"
    22. Beck "Loser"
    23. Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue "Whatta Man"
    24. House of Pain "Jump Around"
    25. Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"