After the immaculate new pop and rock concepts of the eighties, the nineties came as a bit of a shock; a return to seventies values where pop was manufactured chart music for kids and housewives and ‘real’ music was everything else. I wasn’t always sure which was which but it didn’t matter. As our senses were subsumed by a smorgasbord of fractured cultures, aspirations and impulses, the pop song became a lucky dip grab bag of insubstantial noise.
1990 was the last thrilling year before the culture shakedown began. As everything turned day-glo the charts were jammed with grebo and baggy chancers, a skinhead Irish girl beating Prince at his own game, and the daughters of venerable sixties legends sweetly trilling ‘Hold On’, classic Secret Pleasures all. They were the last blast before pop became a dirty word again, struggling for a new direction, groups with nothing much to say trying to keep up with the plethora of new genres, sub genres and micro genres dreamt up by ego trippin’ music journo’s and DJ’s.
All that kept us from drowning in a bucketful of lightweight R&B pop slop was the occasional hit by the likes of Hothouse Flowers, The Waterboys, Crowded House and James. And we could always count on Cher, a Secret Pleasures icon if ever there was one. Embarrassingly, even INXS were worth the odd punt. That’s how desperate the times truly were.
I guess what everyone was doing, subconsciously at least, was awaiting Britpop, the last movement of our time. When it finally arrived, with its short, sharp, songs about real lives rather than luurrrvvvee, it trounced all competition for a good couple of years. But then, along came Oasis with their dull imitations of the Quo playing The Beatles. After that, Britpop just pandered to the lowest common denominator and that just happened to be the horrendous Dad rock of Noel Gallagher. Never before had a man so ignorant been so influential.
And so, as yet another new dawn faded, the nineties ended almost as insignificantly as they had begun. The only groups left standing were the flotsam and jetsam of Britpop, the Johnny and Jane come latelys of the second division. While they bore little resemblance to the original movers and shakers they did leave a handful of pleasurable nuggets, so proving the theory that every group has at least one good song in them. And if they could do it in the nasty nineties, anyone could.
One
01 SINEAD O’CONNOR / Nothing Compares To You / February 1990
02 WILSON PHILLIPS / Hold On / May 1990
03 HOTHOUSE FLOWERS / Give It Up / May 1990
04 ROXETTE / It Must Have Been Love / June 1990
05 INXS / Suicide Blonde / July 1990
06 SOUP DRAGONS / I’m Free / July 1990
07 BETTY BOO / Where Are You Baby? / August 1990
08 JESUS JONES / Right Here Right Now / September 1990
09 POP WILL EAT ITSELF / X, Y & Z / October 1990
10 AZTEC CAMERA & MICK JONES / Good Morning Britain / October 1990
11 EMF / I Believe / January 1991
12 MOCK TURTLES / Can You Dig It? / March 1991
13 CARTER USM / The Only Living Boy In New Cross / April 1992
14 EAST 17 / Deep / January 1993
15 4 NON BLONDES / What’s Up / June 1993
16 THE WATERBOYS / Glastonbury Song / July 1993
17 CROWDED HOUSE / Distant Sun / September 1993
18 JAMES / Laid / November 1993
19 TORI AMOS / Cornflake Girl / January 1994
20 MARCELLA DETROIT / I Believe / March 1994
Two
01 GENE / For The Dead / April 1994
02 THE CRANBERRIES / Dreams / May 1994
03 KYLIE MINOGUE / Confide In Me / September 1994
04 McALMONT & BUTLER / Yes / May 1995
05 CHER / Walking In Memphis / October 1995
06 DIVINE COMEDY / Something For The Weekend / June 1996
07 SPACE / Neighbourhood / October 1996
08 WHITE TOWN / Your Woman / January 1997
09 BABYBIRD / Candy Girl / January 1997
10 KULA SHAKER / Hush / February 1997
11 SEAHORSES / Love Is The Law / May 1997
12 REPUBLICA / Drop Dead Gorgeous / May 1997
13 NATALIE IMBRUGLIA / Torn / November 1997
14 ALL SAINTS / Never Ever / November 1997
15 CATATONIA / Mulder And Scully / January 1998
16 EMBRACE / Come Back To What You Know / June 1998
17 TRAVIS / Writing To Reach You / March 1999
18 NEW RADICALS / You Get What You Give / April 1999
19 SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER / Kiss Me / May 1999
