Pop Shots – A Look At The Charts … From 23 Years Ago
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week I’m hopping into my time machine again, this time setting the coordinates for 23 years ago this week. Stepping out I see Boyz II Men causing a whole lotta babies to be made with “I’ll Make Love To You” firmly in place at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Elsewhere on the chart, some names who would become musical icons are making their voices heard, and a legendary Jock Jam is hitting our ears for the first time.
So let’s get into this exploration in chart history! Of course, since this is Pop Shots, you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Listen, I think Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love To You” is a fantastic, beautiful, song. The lone knock against it is that it spent so much time at #1 that Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do” ended up stuck at #2, staying there for six weeks, and never reaching the top spot.
“All I Wanna Do” was a quintessential mid-90s pop hit, and it’s become one of the songs that most defines this part of the decade – the pre Max Martin era. It was also a heck of an introduction to an artist who is still making great music nearly a quarter century later.
While Sheryl Crow was quintessential mid-90s pop, Real McCoy was quintessential mid-90s dance music.
A thumping beat, male and female vocals, and the general feeling that you’re hanging out with the Night at the Roxbury guys, highlight this ‘90s classic.
Real McCoy may not have been real memorable as a group, but they made a few really good songs, “Another Night” being one of them.
Babyface’s “When Can I See You” is a truly gorgeous song, and much of its beauty is in its simplicity. You have Babyface, his guitar, and the raw emotion of love lost.
A master at crafting R&B songs, Babyface also wrote the #1 song on this week’s chart, “I’ll Make Love To You.” That’s right, he’ll make love to you, then be sad when you break up. Wait, was he R&B, or emo?
The ‘90s gave us a lot of groups that made great music, but flew under the radar of the mainstream. One such group was the alt-rock dream pop band Mazzy Star.
Singer Hope Sandoval’s vocals are gorgeous, and haunting, which is, in large part, why “Fade Into You” has stood the test of time, while songs that charted much higher are now amongst the musical detritus of the era.
The moral of the story – beautiful music lasts forever.
Hey, there’s this cool new band named Weezer that has this song about having their sweater destroyed. I wonder if they’ll go anywhere, or if they’ll just be a one hit wonder. What do you think?
Yes, “Undone (The Sweater Song)” was many people’s introduction to Weezer. Quirky, cool, and definitely different from all the grunge we’d been hearing, they quickly solidified themselves as one of the great bands of the era … and the next era … and the next era.
Side Note – Did anyone ever get Rivers Cuomo a new sweater?
The Jock Jam of all Jock Jams. If you’ve been in a sports arena anytime over the past 23 years you’ve more than likely heard 2 Unlimited’s “Get Ready For This” during the introduction of lineups.
The song has become part of the fabric of sports, and the fact that this same group also gave the epic Jock Jam “Twilight Zone” two years prior should give 2 Unlimited free admission to every sporting event until the end of time.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
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