THE WORST SINGLES OF THE 90s

1. 4 non blondes “what’s up?”
2. red hot chilli peppers “under the bridge”
3. billy joel “we didn’t start the fire”
4. elton john “candle in the wind 97”
5. whitney houston “I will always love you”
6. van halen “right now”
7. oasis, “champagne supernova”
8. smashing pumpkins “tonight tonight”
9. celine dion “my heart will go on (theme from titanic)”
10. crash test dummies “mmm mmm mmm mmm”
11. rem, “radio song”
12. baz luhrman “everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen)”
13. deep blue something “breakfast at tiffanys”
14. spin doctors “two princes”
15. bryan adams “everything I do (I do it for you)”
16. joan osborne “one of us”
17. alanis morrisette “ironic”
18. lou bega “mambo no. 5”
19. cranberries “zombie”
20. u2 “discotheque”
21. live, “lightning crashes”
22. dave matthews band “what would you say?”
23. hootie, “let her cry”
24. mr. big “to be with you”
25. all4one “I swear”
26. snow “informer”
27. shawn mullins “lullaby”
28. billy ray cyrus “achy breaky heart”
29. los del rio “Macarena”
30. barenaked ladies “one week”
31. digable planets “rebirth of slick”
32. Madonna “you must love me”
33. the lemonheads, “mrs. robinson”
34. tortoise, “djed”
35. goldie & noel gallagher
36. googoo dolls “iris”
37. lisa loeb “stay”
38. jill sobule “I kissed a girl”
39. color me badd “I adore mi amore”
40. jeff buckley, “last goodbye”
41. pearl jam “Jeremy”
42. michael jackson “black or white”
43. meredith brooks “bitch”
44. ugly kid Joe, “everything about you”
45. jamiroquai “virtual insanity”
46. genesis “I can’t dance”
47. urge overkill “girl, you’ll be a woman soon”
48. tupac “dear mama”
49. greenday “time of your life”
50. chumbawamba “tub thumping”
51. extreme “more than words”
52. silk “freak me”
53. sublime “santeria”
54. verve pipe “freshmen”
55. scatman john “the scatman”
56. us3 “cantaloop”
57. counting crowes “round here”
58. eels “mr. e’s beautiful blues”
59. beastie boys “bodymovin (fatboy slim remix)”
60. Aerosmith “ I don’t want to miss a thing”
61. arrested development “mr wendel”
62. the heights, “how do you talk to an angel”
63. verve, “the drugs won’t work”
64. rednex “cotton eye Joe”
65. toad the wet sprocket “all I want”
66. soundgarden, “black hole sun”
67. adam ant, whatever that horrid fucking comeback single was
68. fugees “no woman, no cry”
69. marcy playground “sex and candy”
70. offspring “keep em separated”
71. master p “make em say ungh”
72. jon spencer blues explosion, “talk about the blues”
73. santana feat. rob thomas “smooth”
74. vanessa williams “save the best for last”
75. bad religion – “21st century digital boy”
76. marilyn manson “sweet dreams (are made of this)”
77. the wallflowers “one headlight”
78. radiohead “creep”
79. body count “cop killer”
80. depeche mode “I feel you”
81. the toadies “possum kingdom”
82. mc hammer “2 legit 2 quit”
83. weezer “buddy holly”
84. ll cool j “doin it”
85. no doubt “just a girl”
86. dr. dre “been there, done that”

* The Farm "Groovy Train"
* Atari Teenage Riot "Atari Teenage Riot"
* Cher "Believe"
* L.A. Style "James Brown is Dead"
* Blind Melon "No Rain"
* Bush "Glycerine"
* the Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Knock on Wood"
* Gin Blossoms "Hey Jealousy"
* Terence Trent D'arby "wishing well"
* Public Enemy "911 is a Joke"
* Duran Duran "Come Undone"

more soon

Mariah Carey
Paula Abdul
MC Hammer
Vanilla Ice
Steps
Back StreetBoys
Five
Hanson
Arrested Development
Marky Mark
Gin Blossoms
Shaquille O'Neal
Will Smith

You probably hate things that sample "Broken Wings" too.

Jess, do you hate emotion?

It sure does.
Having a good read through this list, there are some great songs there. I knew the indie guilt thing is powerful but I never realised it was so destructive. You guys have had a shocka. I could give you 10,000 singles from the 1990's worse than the ones you have listed. No doubt I "just dont get it" but this is popism gone mad.

JBR - I've never seen Pulp Fiction so have no beef with it either way. Obviously had it not been for the film fewer people would have heard Urge Overkill's laboured version. If the list had extended to the 00s then Louise's cover of "Stuck In The Middle With You" could have been included.

"A Little Time" Beautiful South
"Cats In The Cradle" Ugly Kid Joe
"A Change (Will Do You Good)" Sheryl Crow

and, of course, "Runaway Train" Soul Asylum

It was 2000, as it was my single of 2000...

Dom, fine choices all except the Sheryl which is great! Actually I don't remember the UKJ one and "Runaway Train" has some kind of merit maybe, I can't remember.

I nominate LaTour's "People are Still Having Sex"

The real answer would be that they are ALL chart trance from 1999.

Take Bryan Adams out of that and you have a decent "Side One" for a "Best of the 90s" mixtape.

kiwi, watch that bubblegum guilt!!

You forgot:

2nu, "Ponderous"
The Brian Setzer Orchestra, "Since I Don't Have You"
Cliff Richard, "The Lord's Prayer"
Dead Eye Dick, "New Age Girl"
Voices That Care, "Voices That Care"
Bob Carlisle, "Butterfly Kisses"

I think it will be crucial to allow people who actually like some of the list songs to provide positive reviews as a kind of counterpoint.

I love: #36, #50, #53, #54, #57, #74, #77, #84.

I agree that some of these choices were clearly based on familiarity rather than true awfulness - "My Heart Will Go On" sounds pretty good straight after "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" or "Tell Him".

LalalalaICAN'THEARYOUlalalala...

HAHAHAHA! So many of these songs are grebt. You are all on crack.

But Keith, most of Moby's nineties stuff is fine - the metal stuff I'm not sure about but it is surely to negligable to count.

It's all blandly inoffensive Radio Rock, mostly, but hardly anything I would run from the room to avoid. This is what happens when you get Yanks to tell you what they hate. Where are all those really shit records that came out of Europe and Britain in the 90s, eh... EH?!!

geir hongro blues explosion

haha

I like that not even Geir can penetrate the unstoppable force of Santana feat. Rob Thomas

Right Said Fred - Those Simple Things/Daydream

38. jill sobule ?I kissed a geir?

ah yes, the high level of discourse circa 2002, kudos!

62. the heights, ?how do you talk to an hongro?

hongro no 5

a+

I've heard "How Do You Talk To An Angel?" two times in the past two weeks, after not having heard it since the promo for The Heights was shown in movie theaters in '94. I heard it either at Subway or a supermarket -- must be part of a new Muzak playlist.

lol oh man this list

5 years ago

wtf

Elephant in the room on this thread:

http://www.carterusm.co.uk/photos/lianne_clickintogear.jpg

Yeah right like they were ever going to get into this list.

who the fuck is that

curtis otm

(even though i know)

"Lenny And Terence" wd fit right in Matt.

Carter singles poll for tuesday

i am kinda happy to see that most of these songs really are TERRIBLE

(tom and i also discovered that night that rock was the worst music ever, complete with hilarious scenario of uh ? the mysterians or whoever coming to our near and horrible future and looking at what they had wrought.)

lol

i agree that informer does not belong on that list.

and not just because snow beat up one of my friends in high school. in fact, DESPITE it.

replace Informer with Boombastic

i'll always have a soft spot for informer cuz it reminds me of when i left hebrew school and decided to go to a really multi-culti junior high where i met like the first non-jewish friends in my life and discovered rap music, running shoes and reese's pieces

very good list, but these are misses, the first especially

14. spin doctors ?two princes?
31. digable planets ?rebirth of slick?
59. beastie boys ?bodymovin (fatboy slim remix)?
68. fugees ?no woman, no cry?
78. radiohead ?creep?

also rong
* Cher "Believe"
* Public Enemy "911 is a Joke"

Informer very much belongs on this list

that's a hell of a monday morning

xpost?

Boombastic > Informer though.

Has Jesus Jones' "Right Here, Right Now" not been mentioned?

It came to mind when Songs About The Fall of the Iron Curtain came up with the Scorps, but I don't mind it. I think of "Right Here, Right Now" and "Unbelievable" as two songs that I never heard apart from each other.

There's nothing wrong with "Buddy Holly" or "Black Hole Sun." Unless you hate life, of course.

in fact, that list is a piece of crap straight up.

unless you're just too cool to listen to the radio, maybe

Seriously, considering ILM at the time was a bunch of dudes praising the Manics and fucking Magnetic Fields

this thread is appalling. you are all a bunch of idiots.

Indie rock guilt is so stupid. Why be guilty of music you used to like?

Tom and Jess coming up with that list:

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/images/homepage/2303_jewel_header.jpg

I like some of the songs on this list (“More Than Words” is just a great tune!) but it's still quite funny. Lots of hate for college rock gone pop stuff.

You also missed out Fun Lovin' Criminals' "Scooby Snacks" or whatever it was called.

-- N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 2 November 2002 16:23

Hahaha... I expected this on there as well.

"or whatever it was called." = "Errr... not that I would know, of course."

paul jewell porn arghhhhhhhhhhh

What about the Wedding Present as they neared the end of their "hit parade" experiment (and running out of inspiration/money)? They could pretty much release anything at that stage and it would be a Top 40 hit, with something like "Shaft", or the theme from "Twin Peaks" on the B Side.

Wait Dom you don't like the Magnetic Fields? I thought you were all about lame indie shit like that?

Why be guilty of music you used to like?

even if it was Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots?

I'm not embarrassed to have liked Pearl Jam. Infact i still like those records. Always hated Stone Temple Pilots(apart from that 1 song that sounded like Redd Kross). ST always seem more liked on ILM than PJ for some reason.

Or are you admitting you like Pearl Jam and STP and feel guilty?

the latter

i think i just picked completely the wrong year to get into US rock but it coiuldn't really be helped

Wait Dom you don't like the Magnetic Fields? I thought you were all about lame indie shit like that?

-- Matt DC, Sunday, 30 March 2008 12:35 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

I like pussy indie shit, not lame indie shit.

Ahh blueski I think you're a (good?)few years younger than I am so im sure you can be excused for liking that stuff in your early teens. I liked U2 at that age. And i've no guilt, even though I've hated their last few albums with a passion.

Was the sweetest thing a 90s single? if so that's one of the worst(of any decade)

it was an 80s b-side and a 90s a-side. go figure.

unless you're talking about Refugee Camp Allstars 'The Sweetest Thing' which was pretty good (it's OK i know you're not)

Worst use of breathy singing.