September 1990
#1s
IF WISHES CAME TRUE –•– Sweet Sensation (1 week)
BLAZE OF GLORY –•– Jon Bon Jovi (1 week)
RELEASE ME –•– Wilson Phillips (2 weeks)
(CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR) LOVE AND AFFECTION –•– Nelson (1 week)
Charts moving much faster again now... ANOTHER girl group that passed me by is
Sweet Sensation and honestly I had no idea that America had embraced girl groups with such mainstream success at the turn of the decade, and more interestingly they were all replaced by R&B girl groups by about 1992. These were all pop groups that dabbled in R&B, freestyle, swing and soft rock, and as was common at the time, saw most success from gloopy ballads like this
It's interesting to think that this sound was completely dated in just a couple of years - a reminder of the impact and influence
En Vogue and later
TLC had on the 90s girl group scene.
I had a hard time trying to find information on "Blaze Of Glory" until I realised that it's classed as a solo song, not from the band
Bon Jovi (confusing). Turns out he only had 2 albums solo across his whole career. This one was a huge success, although this track only went to #13 in the UK. I'm not really a fan but I do really like this song!
Wilson Phillips cementing themselves as a 90s sensation (for now) with a second number one.
Nelson are filed under metal but they are anything but - pop-metal if that is indeed a genre, and typical of the time for a band that had great success almost entirely on the back of big swooping ballads that are anything but rock songs. I'm not even going to share the song because it's that crap, and not when an image of them is far more fun:
I'm pretty sure that this image is not ironic. They look like they're auditioning for
Lord Of The Rings. Interesting fact for music historians - Spotify tells me they're the twin sons of 50s pop legend
Ricky Nelson. Well there you go.
Despite
Prince releasing probably his least remembered album before he left Warner (unless you count
Come) he was coming off the success of the
Batman album and so the lead single from
Music From Graffiti Bridge actually did very well, peaking at #6 this month (#7 UK):
Unfortunately the album didn't sustain and follow up single "New Power Generation" peaked at #64 (#26 UK), his lowest charting single in 10 years. Luckily for him, he would rebound BIG in 1991.
Johnny Gill continues a good run after his smash breakout single - "My My My" peaks at #10. It's the inevitable ballad follow up but it's actually good - he has a great voice!
Discoveries:
I think I discovered this properly in my UK project, but this deserves a mention, it's been on heavy rotation again this year:
From the movie
Uncle Buck, it's one of the best uses of a song in 80s Hollywood (John Hughes was always great with his soundtrack choices). It's a great track with a great voice, and stands out as an original and fresh R&B sound, but it didn't do anything, only peaking at #92 in the UK.
Lalah Hathaway (son of Donnie) is someone I was familiar with from the peak of the 2000s neo soul era, but apparently she debuted in 1990 with this wonderful track:
The piano! The strings! Lush early 90s R&B. This scraped into the Hot 100 at #89 but was an R&B smash at #3.
Every now and again a hard rock song will come along that I really do like, and I enjoyed discovering this due to its obvious R&B and bluesy roots:
Not familiar with
Slaughter at all, but this was from their debut album and peaked at #19. Clearly they emerged a bit late as this sound was about to be obliterated by the likes of
Pearl Jam and
Nirvana.
From the UK - OK, this was an interesting find!
I'm very familiar with
Lonnie Gordon's "Happenin' All Over Again" - not my vibe, very
SAW but a good track all the same. This follow up I don't remember - Wiki tells me that SAW considered this one of their best songs ever, and were disappointed with its performance (#48 UK, didn't chart in the US). They tried again with
Sybil in 1993 apparently, and managed #41. Maybe with Lonnie the song was mismatched, as it doesn't sound very typical of the sound that SAW had become known for, in fact it sounds more like their 80s output which was more R&B influenced. I think this is GREAT.
A dance discovery which makes me wonder how I've lived this long without it...
What a SUPERB slice of handbag, uplifting and euphoric with a great vocal. This needs to be put on Spotify NOW. I knew of
BBG because "Snappiness" (UK #28) was a major Ibiza/chillout anthem appearing on lots of compilations in the 90s. This only hit #65 so I must have missed it.
Loose Ends are a pretty well known UK Soul Act from the 80s, predating
Soul II Soul and famous for the classic track "Hanging On A String" in 1986 which was a smash on both sides of the Atlantic. I was not aware however of this comeback from 1990:
It peaked at #13 in the UK (really?) and it turns out they have 12 Top 75 singles in the UK, which is interesting because they absolutely don't seem to have any legacy in R&B apart from the "Hanging On A String" track. Anyway I do like this.
Notable new entries (US):
September 1
41 — PRAYING FOR TIME –•– George Michael
68 — FEELS GOOD –•– Tony! Toni! Tone!
85 — VIOLENCE OF SUMMER (LOVE’S TAKING OVER) –•– Duran Duran
September 8
62 — SUICIDE BLONDE –•– INXS
72 — ICE ICE BABY –•– Vanilla Ice
94 — L.A. WOMAN –•– Billy Idol
95 — HIPPYCHICK –•– Soho
99 — OOOPS UP –•– Snap
September 15
37 — BLACK CAT –•– Janet Jackson
73 — LOVE TAKES TIME –•– Mariah Carey
96 — GROOVE IS IN THE HEART –•– Deee-Lite
September 22
3 — STRANDED –•– Heart
93 — HEART LIKE A WHEEL –•– Human League
95 — SOUL INSPIRATION –•– Anita Baker
September 29
44 — PRAY –•– M.C. Hammer
54 — THE BOOMIN’ SYSTEM –•– LL Cool J
69 — SO CLOSE –•– Daryl Hall & John Oates
98 — LIVIN’ IN THE LIGHT –•– Caron Wheeler
The new era of
George Michael is upon us. In retrospect, a strange choice of comeback after the funk and dance filled
Faith album, but it was very much a taster of what was to come in his 'introspective era' which did of course piss off Sony no end and led to years of clashes and the dumping of what was meant to be his third album after this,
LWP Vol 2. What could have been... Yes the album lacks bops, but Sony should have just taken a minute to realise the album is AMAZING. Fools.
Tony Toni Tone were an R&B group I just couldn't get into, but they had MAJOR success in the US and might actually be the second or third biggest male group of the time (after
Boyz II Men and perhaps
Jodeci). Strange because I LOVE lead singer
Raphael Saadiq, who went on to have great success as a solo artist and produce for some major artists.
Duran Duran is a band that I have no memory of in the 90s, and while they didn't maintain their peak they did have a good run to go yet. No idea about this song. The exception is "Ordinary World" which is a great song.
YAY for
Hippychick. I had no idea that crossed over in the US. I loved that song and was one of my first single purchases.
Another month, another
Janet debut. She really did want to beat her brother's record didn't she?
"Groove Is In The Heart" marks the beginning of a WONDERFUL era of commercial disco house that influenced many artists through the 90s, including
Kylie. The next 2 years in particular is full of this sort of stuff and I loved it at the time and still do now.
This project has reminded me how awesome
LL Cool J was in his imperial era. So many great tunes by him, including this.
I wonder if having the voice of a 5 years old girl had anything to do with it, because they treated her like if she was stupid, and I don't think she was.
I thought it was just Ian Broudie plus some session musicians.
