THE WORST SINGLES OF THE 90s

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?!!

2. red hot chilli peppers “under the bridge”
Really? Number 2? It's not that bad, is it?

3. billy joel “we didn’t start the fire”
Good pick here. This song should be buried somewhere in a Nevada desert.

8. smashing pumpkins “tonight tonight”
? Surely they've put out worse?

11. rem, “radio song”
Yes, you should have put "Everybody Hurts" on there, too. Though this one sucks pretty bad as well...Did they really release it as a single?

14. spin doctors “two princes”
Another good pick. Awful.

15. bryan adams “everything I do (I do it for you)”
However, really EXCELLENT for comic relief, if you start spontaneously singing the chorus if you do someone a favor and they say "Thank you".

16. joan osborne “one of us”
Would almost certainly be in my the Top 5, for me.

17. alanis morrisette “ironic”
Overwrought, but I dislike "One Hand in My Pocket" more.

19. cranberries “zombie”
My father inexplicably LOVES this song. I mean LOVES it. He doesn't like anything else by them, just this song.

42. michael jackson “black or white”
Brings back chilling memories of McKauley Culkin...

46. genesis “I can’t dance”
Should be MUCH higher up on this list. Another Top 5'er.

57. counting crowes “round here”
Mr. Jones

65. toad the wet sprocket “all I want”
Nah. Harmless. I say substitute this with that "dance on the ocean" or "walk on the ocean" (or whatever the hell it was) song.

Good list, Tom and Jess!

Others:

As suggested previously, Dead Eye Dick's "New Age Girl" has GOT to be on this list, and way, way up. Sheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy". Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" might be a strong contender as well.

one that really should be there: "Both Sides Of The Story" by Phil Collins. or was he just not worth hating by that time?

did smashmouth release anything in the 90s? 'walking on the sun' should be included if eligable

and is 'keep em seperated' really worse than 'pretty fly for a white guy'?

This is from a BJ discography: Storm Front and the first single, We Didn't Start The Fire, reached the #1 spots simultaneously on the Billboard album and singles charts on December 16, 1989. My Billboard book says it stayed #1 for a total of two weeks. So while it was still a hit during the first flush weeks of the '90's, it peaked before 1990. Hence, I would say: NOT a '90's record.

Oh god, yes, the Juliana Hatfield one.

"Champagne Supernova" wasn't a single, but I guess it might as well have been. But given my horrid housemates obsession with it I'll let that pass.

Tracks that I'm not sure came out in the 90s:

3. billy joel “we didn’t start the fire”
31. digable planets “rebirth of slick”
39. color me badd “I adore mi amore”
74. vanessa williams “save the best for last”
82. mc hammer “2 legit 2 quit”

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.