Monday, April 07, 2025

You've Got To Live and Learn

I love 90s music. The 90s were when I graduated from high school and college and became a young professional. I also went to concerts by myself for the first time (not counting seeing Debbie Gibson in the late 80s).This was a foundational part of my life.

Over the weekend, while flipping around stations on SiriusXM, I came across a 90s "Back in the Day Replay" where they played the top 30 songs from this week in 1992. While I'm not sure if the songs in the countdown are the same as the Billboard chart, they seemed to be similar. Let's take a look at the top 30 songs according to Billboard (since I have this and not the SiriusXM list).

1. Save the Best for Last - Vanessa Williams
2. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
3. Remember the Time - Michael Jackson
4. Masterpiece - Atlantic Starr
5. To Be With You - Mr. Big


Is this an adult contemporary countdown? These are all slow songs that might be played at the end of a high school dance. Well, no one is playing Tears in Heaven, the song based on Clapton's 4 year old son tragically dying from falling out of a window at prom or homecoming. Not a romantic song for teenagers (or anyone else). Of the other songs, I barely remember Masterpiece. All five of these songs are okay at best. In any event, these were your top 5 songs in the first week of April 1992? Yikes!

6. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
7. Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) - Mint Condition
8  Make It Happen - Mariah Carey
9. I Can't Dance - Genesis
10. Beauty and the Beast - Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson

I'll admit that I'm a fan of I'm Too Sexy. It's just fun. And after seeing this, I know you want to tell your significant other that you're too sexy for your shirt or your hat or your car. Otherwise, we have more adult contemporary hits. We have early Mariah, and the absolute worst Genesis song. I also have no recollection of Breakin' My Heart or Mint Condition. Don't remember them getting airplay on B-94.



11. Justified and Ancient - The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette
12. Good For Me - Amy Grant
13. I Love Your Smile - Shanice
14. Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg  TLC
15. Hazard - Richard Marx

The KLF had a great song called 3AM Eternal. They followed it up with a similar sounding song and an extremely odd pairing with Tammy Wynette in Justified and Ancient. Even at the time, I remember being confused about what was happening. Good For Me is fine though the video is um, not good, and makes me dizzy. I Love Your Smile is a happy song, and TLC is just great. Even though my 14 year-old did not like Hazard, I think it's a fantastic song and has been the one stuck in the my head since I decided to create this post.



16. Thinkin' Back - Color Me Badd
17. Human Touch/Better Days - Bruce Springsteen
18. Everything Changes - Kathy Troccoli
19. Missing You Now - Michael Bolton
20. We Got a Love Thang - CeCe Peniston

All five of these songs are completely forgettable. I have no recollection of Color Me Badd having a second song. Human Touch probably doesn't make one of Springsteen's top 75 songs. I really hope that Kathy's last name rhymes with Broccoli. I also remember music videos being better than what I'm sharing in this post. 


21. If You Go Away - NKOTB
22. One - U2
23. Tell Me What You Want Me To Do - Tevin Campbell
24. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
25. Oochie Coochie - M.C. Brains

How about this for a group of five songs? You have two absolute classics by Queen and U2. Tevin Campbell always amazed me since it seemed like he was putting out hits at the age of 10. I'll give New Kids on the Block credit for having massive and catchy songs with You Got It (The Right Stuff) and Step by Step. If You Go Away is not one of these songs. Adding M.C. Brains here reminds me of the part of the movie A League of Their Own where the league makes a reel of its players. And how 'bout M.C. Brains? What a hitter.



26. Live and Learn - Joe Public
27. Romeo & Juliet - Stacy Earl featuring The Wild Pair
28. My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue
29. Uhh Ahh - Boyz II Men
30. I'm the One You Need - Jody Watley


I thought Live and Learn was an awesome song in 1992. Not sure if it still holds up today. Now My Lovin' absolutely holds up. Just as good as 33 years ago. 

Overall, this is not a very good group of songs. In the top 20, you have some of the greatest selling artists of all-time, but these aren't close to the best songs by Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Springsteen, Celine Dion, and even Michael Bolton. So many ballads. Without looking, I'm just going to hope that the charts later that year were much better!

In case you're wondering, there are some amazing and memorable songs beyond the top 30. Prince's Diamonds and Pearls was #31, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was #32, and the one song I remember by Color Me Badd, All 4 Love, was #34 after reaching the top of the chart weeks earlier. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me by George Michael and Elton John was just outside the top 40. Two other notable songs that debuted in the top 100 that week: Jump by Kris Kross and Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

5 comments:

Amy said...

This was a time period where I closely followed the Billboard Top 40! I agree with most of what you said. Though I do love all things Atlantic Starr as well as Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes). DC radio, even top 40 stations, leaned R&B so I did too. I remember Everything Changes but have no memory of Kathy "Broccoli" Troccoli so I probably would have guessed it was Taylor Dayne. Color Me Badd had a few hits but Thinkin' Back was not one of them - surely you remember I Wanna Sex You Up and I Adore Mi Amor?? That was a band highly featured on the original BH 90210. And I actually did dance with a cute boy at a bar mitzvah to "Tears in Heaven" in spring of 1992.

JQ said...

I was listening to a lot of this too this past weekend, and it was a weird mishmash of songs. As for Kathy Troccoli, I remembered the name because it looks like broccoli, but I believe it's pronounced like Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." The charts at this point are still working with a different methodology than today, so our experiences are often different than what showed up on the chart.

Sean said...

Amy - Masterpiece and Breakin' My Heart are slowly coming back to me but I don't think I've heard either song in 30+ years. And yes, the singer of Everything Changes sounds exactly like Taylor Dayne.

I Wanna Sex You Up is the Color Me Badd song I knew. Forgot about I Adore Mi Amor, so I guess my CMB catalog goes beyond one song.

As for Tears in Heaven, the DJ clearly didn't know the story behind the song!

Sean said...

JQ - Thanks for the correcting me on how to say Troccoli. And you're right about how the charts worked then. Still, it's an odd mix of songs and a lot of ballads.

Anonymous said...

My bat mitzvah was the following month, and by then Under the Bridge was absolutely inescapable. What a crazy list.