can we reach consensus on what ten songs best define the aesthetic of 90s popular music

my first vote is for 'the impression that i get'

nope

i know but it will be lol to try

otm

I will vote for "The Impression That I Get" in most situations

Shed 7 - Dolphin

Babylon Zoo - Animal Army

are those real bands and songs

Kula Shaker - Tattva

Indulging in some light War of 1812 Trolling

Technohead - I Want To Be A Hippy

Vanilla - "No Way No Way"

The Levellers - One Way

Alisha's Attic - I Am, I Feel

These Animal Men - "Speed King"

Bentley Rhythm Ace - Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out

Space - Avenging Angels

third eye blind - semi-charmed life

Martika - Martika's Kitchen

Stiltskin - Inside

Robbie Williams - "No Regrets"

Jimmy Nail - Crocodile Shoes

The Bluetones - Slight Return

Harvey Keitel - Some shit about having a flagpole up your arse

Alabama 3 - Ain't Goin to Goa

Reef - Place Your Hands

The Simpsons - Do the Bartman

Credit To The Nation - Call It What You Want*

*I think we can all agree this to be the most significant rap single of the 90s

Nah there were loads better singles off that album.

and you forget

Collapsed Lung - Eat My Goal

H-Blockx vs Dog Eat Dog - Ich Bin Ein Nerdlinger

Guru Josh - Theme From Animal Hospital

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTLten_2ke0

Young Disciples - Apparently Nothin'

Shawn Mullins - Lullaby

Faith No More - Epic

The Beautiful South - No Diggity

Blue Boy - Remember Me

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

Genesis - Congo

Remember Me is much better than I remember it being. So it's a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Weird Al Yankovic - Two Symbols

Tbh I'm just gonna listen to MC Tunes for the rest of the night now.

xp ha - as I was posting I was thinking "I'd probably like Remember Me a lot better these days".

you guys need to start arguing about which ones of these belong in the ~definitive 10~

Green Day - Long View
Portishead - Sour Times
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Blackstreet - No Diggity
Snoop Dogg - Gin and Juice
Acen - Close Your Eyes
Celine Dion - It's All Coming Back To Me
Oasis - Wonderwall
Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea
Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Blue on Black

where is the ska punk?

zoot suit riot

ooh yeah, drop "Blue on Black" for some random Squirrel Nut Zippers song

Aerosmith - Livin' on the Edge

lovefool for sure

Lovefool is one of my favorite songs, but does it really define the 90s aesthetic?

i def have always thought so

i mean when i think about 90s music that's like what i think of

this question is hard

it is, so i'm inclined to nod sagely at "insane in the membrane" and call it a day

ITT ppl have difficulty counting to 10

10 is just one with a vestigial zero, so...

Luscious Jackson was the first thing that popped to mind when I saw this thread.

Yes I also have difficulty counting to 10 due to the difficulty of such a question.

#1 Beck "Loser"

and the rest...
Soul II Soul "Back To Life"
Jesus Jones "Right Here Right Now"
Toad The Wet Sprocket "All I Want"
Janet Jackson "That's The Way Love Goes"
Cranberries "Dreams"
Naughty By Nature "OPP"
Alice In Chains "Man In A Box"
Notorious BIG "Mo Money Mo Problems"
Elastica "Connection"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Marilyn Manson "The Beautiful People"

There were too many types of pop music in the 90s to narrow it down to 10.

plus there are few things more horrible than threads in which people take turns posting lists of things

I totally get why you would pick "Dreams" but I feel very very strongly that The Cranberries should only be represented by "Zombie"

xpost jeez I'm sorry... why don't you wait until I post a list to complain about it..

I thought "Dreams" was a better pick than anything by Alanis/Jewel/Fiona etc

Not a better song, just a better answer for the question.

i'm not really opposed to list threads. life consists of the ways in which horror is accommodated.

Toad The Wet Sprocket "All I Want"

imo this is basically the terminal point of a certain 80s aesthetic — not genuine 90s music

I thought "Dreams" was a better pick than anything by Alanis/Jewel/Fiona etc

That's kind of a toss-up IMO; "You Oughtta Know" trumps a lot of other ESSENCE OF THE 90S songs you could name in terms of its critical impact but it does sort of stand apart in not really sounding like or having the same type of emotional impact of any of the other artists from that musical wing.

I think we're all best served by pretending Jewel never existed.

xp altho of course the 90s is defined at least in part by the persistence of dead and decaying 80s sounds etc etc
but something like the Jesus Jones song does a better job of building the bridge from there into the 21ST CENTURY

Really? The production of "Right Here Right Now" screams 90's IMO.

"Loser" by Beck
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead
Two hip-hop tracks, including one G-funk track and one with more of a James Brown-influenced backing
Two dance tracks, including one lighthearded Eurodance number and one more progressive techno/electronica track.
One track representing black/death metal
One trip hop track

"You Oughtta Know" ... does sort of stand apart in not really sounding like or having the same type of emotional impact of any of the other artists from that musical wing.

maybe, but it's such a perfect exemplar of 90s alt-pop angst, at least as much so as "smells like teen spirit" or "killing in the name"

xp altho of course the 90s is defined at least in part by the persistence of dead and decaying 80s sounds etc etc

Yeah "All I Want" could have been easily switched with something like Belly "Feed The Tree" which sort of also fits what youre suggesting.

Geir nothing on pop radio in the 90's sounded like "Paranoid Android" and there was no deathmetal on the radio.

damn I wish I wouldve said Back to Life...

wasn't "Back To Life" 1988/1989?

Yeah it was '89 but "90's aesthetic" was the question.. and it charted in '90.

billstevejim: yeah I mean "Right Here Right Now" does sound like something new and 90s, but also something that hasn't had all the wrinkles ironed out yet — you can still kind of hear the different ingredients that go into the mix; they hold together in an awkward way that keeps it from achieving a sort of ahistorical judgment of 'good taste' (which is of course precisely what marks it as 'of its time')

or maybe I'm fulla shit, i dunno

Yeah it was '89 but "90's aesthetic" was the question.. and it charted in '90.

Not in Europe! It was #1 for four weeks in June 1989 (which was when I first heard it).

i heard the decade end...

311 - Down

unfortunately defines the aesthetic of 90s Modern Rock radio (chill)

ewwww

I would like to hear Darius Rucker cover "Man In A Box."

whitney houston - "i will always love you"

^ fits in there somewhere. moreso than jesus jones, i'd suppose.

I keep trying to think of songs that sounded "futuristic" when I heard them in the 90s, and thinking they'd be good candidates for this...in addition to obv. things like grunge & gangster rap, which sounded pretty retro in the 90s.

I confess that Marilyn Manson sounded pretty futuristic to me in the mid 90s, as did lots of nu-metal, because of the production.

I thought that all of the rave music I listened to from 90-94 would take over the airwaves one day. (It sort of happened but I didn't expect it to take 15 years)

along with marilyn manson: NIN - "closer", maybe "head like a hole"

I thought that all of the rave music I listened to from 90-94 would take over the airwaves one day. (It sort of happened but I didn't expect it to take 15 years)

― Indolence Mission (DJP), Tuesday, January 18, 2011 8:10 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

Was trying to think of a single rave track to represent all rave tracks... Maybe Let Me Be Your Fantasy?

theres nothing about this thread which asks for 'lists' contenderizer -- its asking for consensus & therefor should encourage discussion & debate & narrowing down, not expanding lists, in the overall picture

There were too many types of pop music in the 90s to narrow it down to 10.

― billstevejim, Tuesday, January 18, 2011 1:37 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is the 'fun' lol

ty deej

Was trying to think of a single rave track to represent all rave tracks... Maybe Let Me Be Your Fantasy?

That one does cover a lot of bases: breakbeat, piano house, female vocals, hoovers, 303 acid... about the only thing it's missing is a "Charly"-esque toytown sample.

Also UK no 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ugvkcy-_4

There were too many types of pop music in the 90s to narrow it down to 10.

I believe this is true for every decade in pop music since the 70s.

you can still do it if you turn your list of 10 songs into an elaborate metajoke about the 90s

Whigfield "Saturday Night"

One of my friends had made a tape with "Saturday Night" 20 times in a row (possibly different mixes, can't remember). That was a great tape.

xp i.e.

jerry = "scatman"
elaine = "nothin' but a g thang"
george = "mo money mo problems"
kramer = "jump around"

ross = "I wish..."
rachel = "semi-charmed life"
phoebe = "everybody's free to wear sunscreen"
chandler = some cake song??
monica = alanis morisette - "uninvited"
joey = "tubthumping"

Haha -- love it.

Have we reached a consensus?
Has TLC's "Waterfalls" been mentioned?