25 Years Ago: Billboard's Top 40 - March 31, 1990

I don't know any of the top 4! Voting for Babyface.

That 87 one had like three or four times as many songs I care about.

Was this just a weak moment for top 40 or what?

This is a bizarre mix of the songs that put me in the happiest place of my life and songs that make me wonder if this is a British chart or something cause I've never heard of them, like, ever.

Once you strip away the gritty, heartfelt ballads by old rock dudes (which is about half of the chart), this isn't a bad collection of songs. But "Nothing Compares 2 U" is the clear winner. Honorable mention goes to "No Myth", which is very underrated IMO.

sinead, janet, babyface

Don't think there's ever been a chart like this where so many of the songs have faded into obscurity.

I have positive things to say about all of the following:

01 Black Velvet - Alannah Myles
02 Love Will Lead You Back - Taylor Dayne
03 I Wish It Would Rain Down - Phil Collins
04 I'll Be Your Everything - Tommy Page
05 All Around The World - Lisa Stansfield
06 Don't Wanna Fall In Love - Jane Child
07 Escapade - Janet Jackson
08 Keep It Together - Madonna
09 Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over) - Technotronic
10 Here And Now - Luther Vandross
13 Roam - The B-52's
14 I Wanna Be Rich - Calloway
16 Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
17 No Myth - Michael Penn
19 C'Mon And Get My Love - D-Mob With Cathy Dennis
22 No More Lies - Michel'le
24 Just A Friend - Biz Markie
25 Heartbeat - Seduction
26 Whip Appeal - Babyface
28 Opposites Attract - Paula Abdul (Duet With The Wild Pair)
34 What It Takes - Aerosmith

This is Sinead vs Michel'le, though

Every song in the top twenty still gets play on A/C, adult R&B, oldies, or CVS radio.

GREAT

Escapade
No Myth
All Around The World
Don't Wanna Fall In Love
Roam

GOOD

Keep It Together - Madonna
Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over) - Technotronic
C'Mon And Get My Love - D-Mob With Cathy Dennis
No More Lies - Michel'le
Just A Friend - Biz Markie
Whip Appeal - Babyface
Dangerous - Roxette

"Nothing Compares 2 U" cannot be categorized.

otoh "Here and Now" was Vandross' worst single by yards and yards, Michael Bolton co-wrote two of the stinkers (KISS' second top ten and his own), and the NKOTB wrote Tommy Page's only #1.

it's kind of hilarious, given how much goth rock and industrial I was listening to at the time, how many of these songs I genuinely like/love

haha I should say "Every song in the top twenty except Madonna's obscure fourth LAP single, whose support the label pulled b/c 'Vogue.'"

"No More Lies" one of Dre's first productions iirc.

This was peak radio listening for me.

I keep thinking I wasn't listening to the radio at this point of my life but then I see these charts and am like "oh yeah, I was into over half of this at the time, along with TKK/Skinny Puppy/PWEI/Lush/Ministry/Cabaret Voltair/MBM/Severed Heads/DJ Dick/etc etc

and because I live in Miami these songs got massive dance/freestyle airplay:

Love Me For Life - Stevie B
Sending All My Love - Linear
Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over) - Technotronic
C'Mon And Get My Love - D-Mob With Cathy Dennis

oh wait NOW I remember Linear, add it to my giant list

Assuming Sinead wins this in a walk (and she should), I'm really leaning Escapade here as well. Rhythm Nation 1814 is such a great album.
I'll defend the indefensible, The Heart of the Matter isn't a bad song.

the chorus is a giant earworm

er, Linear's chorus. "The Heart of the Matter" isn't bad Souther-Henley.

This was peak radio listening for me.

Me too. Which is why it's so strange that so many of these songs have me drawing blanks. "Escapade" and "Vogue" and "All Around the World" alone had me addicted to pop radio during this period.

do we prefer the album or single version of "Keep It Together"?

OK, I think I have heard the Phil Collins before (or maybe it's just very reminiscent of something else I've heard? "Wish You Were Here"?), but I have no memory of ever hearing #s 1, 2, 4, or 6. This Jane Child song is great tho! Why haven't I heard it before?

"Black Velvet" is fantastic.

Jane Child basically normalized the nose ring.

Also: one of the great Prince rips of the decade.

The Collins song is one you remember liking, and then you listen to it and go, oh right, he had Eric Clapton all over this.

ya Jane Child ruled, although I always worried about how she navigated a toilet with those long-ass braids

I can't stand "Black Velvet."

I heard the Ronstadt-Neville song at Walgreens the other night and was gonna mention it in the appropriate thread.

"No More Lies" one of Dre's first productions iirc.

He'd been producing for five years at that point? I just discovered this amazing song that was one of his actual first (ghost) productions tho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We1Q2t0EkxI

Collins did totally rip off "Wish You Were Here", which is one of the reasons I like that song so much

My sister blasted the "I'll Be Your Everything" cassingle and I responded with "Cuts You Up."

Should have qualified the Dre remark -- one of his first pop productions.

Dre also produced "Supersonic" by JJ Fad FYI

Wow! That really is for my information (ubiquitous hit for years here)

Should have qualified the Dre remark -- one of his first pop productions.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, March 31, 2015 2:30 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, ok. That makes more sense. And yeah, "Supersonic" got played on the radio all through the 90s in my locale too.

fun list. Voted "No Myth"

See the beauty of unmasked KISS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_RKO5ozLVo

Lol playing the acoustic through Marshalls.

The glory of Natalie Cole before "Unforgettable":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM3ndVwQpBI

Biz Markie

the ones that suck still make me happy because they were around during my childhood and i think they're funny

oh fuck "Escapade" is on there. i fucked up.

I got it for ya.

pretty sure michael bolton co-wrote that kiss song

Yep -- mentioned it upthread.

No Myth

"No Myth" and "This and That" are CVS classics too.

My teachers' college year. Wasn't paying attention at all, but a lot of these songs had been around for a few months, when I still was.

1. "Nothing Compares 2 U," 2. "Roam," 3. "Escapade"

Those are the three I consider ubiquitous at every level.

so was "I Wanna Be Rich" tbh

My ranking

Roam
Nothing Compares 2 U
Just a Friend
No Myth
I Wish It Would Rain Down
All Around the World
Dangerous

Guilty pleasures abound, though: Billy Joel, Elton, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Taylor Dane, Don Henley. Also: Im p sure that 75% of the songs I dont recognize are stuff I remember but havent thought about since I was nine years old

roam>>>>>>>everything else

YOUR MOUTH IS ALIVE

this is really hard

Someone claimed "Roam" is totally ubiquitous but I'm pretty sure I've never heard it before.

And I've known "Love Shack" since I was a kid.

hasn't it been in some commercials?

idk I don't watch tv

Didn't need to read past no.1.

Roam is a glorious second, though.

Nothing Compares 2 U over Roam

"Roam" >>> "Love Shack"

you forgot six thousand more carets.

I can't say off one listen it did the slightest thing for me.

"Love Shack" is a jam tho.

"Escapade" is a jam. "Love Shack" is flakes of dried maple syrup.

"Love Shack" should be left to die in the woods.

just the Fred shouting

I've been sick of "Love Shack" since about 1995, when I was in seventh grade. That and "Roam" both ultimately hit #3, and I remember hearing both of them plenty at the turn of the 90s. Shame that only the former stuck around - shit, I'll bet for most people born later than me, the B-52s are "Love Shack."

I hear "Roam" just as often 'round these parts. That album is a beaut.

Listening to all of these on Spotify reveals how incredibly easy it must have been to write a top 40 hit in 1990.

Ask Jordan Knight, Danny Wood, and Tommy Page.

OK, this Jane Child song is good. I forgot about this one.

Wrote and produced herself too.

man "Love Will Lead You Back" is so gross. Fortunately Clive Davis devoted a chapter in his recent memoir to Taylor Dayne -- an act of uncommon generosity.

"Love Shack" is pretty much an unrepresentative novelty song by a band with a whole lot of really excellent songs. It's fine but not much more than fine.

xxpost Yeah, I was stunned to learn that about the Jane Child song fairly recently! I was always like, who's responsible for the awesome production and amazing keyboards, and where can I find more work they've done? It's a shame that her skills apparently weren't in super high demand afterwards.

'Roam'

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I mean I know I'm old and all but what the hell with all the "who is this 'Jane Child'" talk

"don't wanna fall in love" is the best song

i know i've heard "no myth" before but it's been a....very long time

also thank u conversation upthread for reminding me of cathy dennis

Lots of Aerosmith fans I know (maybe on ILM) defend "What It Takes." It's OK.

i've argued with maura about this (i haaaate "what it takes")

A girl sweetly but jokingly called me "Romeo in black jeans" one time, so I'll always have a place for "No Myth" in my heart.

I'm willing to accept that the burst of pleasure that accompanied remembering "Love Will Lead You Back" was a nostalgic lapse but "What It Takes" is terrific, full stop

Hey Love Shack is great.

You say you heard it too many times? Man, cry to somebody else - I had to hear all those classic rock songs this site is now doting on the first time around - enjoyed many of them the first time too, mind you. Did NOT however bargain on enforced listening for the next forty years.

A girl sweetly but jokingly called me "Romeo in black jeans" one time

did you ask her to dance? i think maybe she was looking for someone to dance with, doofus

I mean I know I'm old and all but what the hell with all the "who is this 'Jane Child'" talk

hey I'm old too, but she wasn't really a household name was she? I was in a funny halfway place between top 40 and grunge at this point in my life, so I have no idea

Ain't no personal thing,boy!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Respectable.

17 No Myth - Michael Penn	9
07 Escapade - Janet Jackson	1

What a weird board this is sometimes.

Yeah, "Escapade" probably would've been my third pick after Sinead. Janet's hits from that era are sublime.

Escapade is pretty lightweight Janet. If it were Love Will Never Do (Without You) getting only one vote I'd probably share more in your bewilderment xp

these results are complete fucking garbage

like y'all really think some shitty fake paul simon dude is better than a top five all-time quiet storm ballad?

but I hate "Sacrifice"!

:-(

Yeah, 2 votes for "All Around The World" is a crime.

Anyone else watch Pose? I'm working my way through season 2, just watched the episode where they recreate a Solid Gold countdown from 1990 (all 10 songs--"Nothing Compares" was the only song from this list on it). Absurdly accurate...in Pose it's a pilot, so I'm not sure if the relaunch actually made it to air.