Late again. Sorry.
Before we finish off '91, let's have a look at the only newbie from this week's '86 show.
40 - "Paranoimia," The Art of Noise with Max Headroom
The Art of Noise were an English electronic act best known for "Moments in Love" (a slow-dance staple at my high school), and their covers of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme" and Prince's "Kiss" (with Tom Jones on vocals). On this, their first American hit, they teamed up with Max Headroom, a bizarre character that was portrayed as a computer-generated TV host but was really Canadian actor Matt Frewer in prosthetic makeup. The character had a brief run of fame as a talk-show host, the subject of a sci-fi series, and perhaps most infamously, the spokesperson for New Coke. Over a typically burbly Art of Noise track, Headroom, in his trademark skip-laden delivery, describes not being able to sleep. Just an odd song all around, but worth checking out, as an artifact of the time if for no other reason.
Okay, back to the main business.
20 - "Unforgettable," Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole
19 - "Something to Talk About," Bonnie Raitt
18 - "Every Heartbeat," Amy Grant
17 - "Emotions," Mariah Carey
16 - "Shiny Happy People," R.E.M.
The second half opens with Natalie Cole launching her second career of recording the kinds of jazz standards her father did by performing a duet with him on one of his signature hits, overcoming the minor obstacle of him being dead for 26 years. It was a successful move, and led to the song winning Song of the Year at the Grammys, which led to it's writer, then-76-year-old Irving Gordon, to give a speech railing against modern music ("It's...nice to have a song get accepted that you don't get a hernia when you sing it," was one of his more memorable lines). Anyway, it's a terrific song, and it was nice to hear Nat's smooth croon back on the radio, but still, the whole enterprise made me somewhat uneasy. So obviously, this is this week's Uneasy Rider.
Singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt's father had been a Broadway star, and she had been a debendable presence on the rock scene throughout the 70s and 80s, but she had never quite cracked the mainstream until her 1989 album Nick of Time swept the Grammys. Two years later, she finally cracked the Top 40 with this bluesy jaunt about friendship turning into something more. A good song, enhanced by Raitt's effortlessly sexy vocals. Long-overdue validation.
Next is Amy Grant. As I've said before, I like her voice more than most of her material, and this is a good example. It's fluffy, lightweight adult-contemporary, but I stick with it because of the warmth coming from Amy's golden pipes.
Then it's Mariah Carey, who, one year after we encountered her just starting out, had already become one of the top stars in all of music. This, the title track from her second album, would become her fifth Number One. I don't think much of this one. Not much substance musically or lyrically (as I said last time, "emotions," is a vague, lazy term), and she goes way overboard on the ultra-high notes at the end. I'm not a fan of hers at all, but she does have much better stuff than this.
Closing out this fivesome are R.E.M with their fourth Top Ten, an unabashedly positive bit of jangle-rock euphoria. A little grating, but the backup vocals by Kate Pierson of The B-52s help it go down a little smoother. Still, not among my favorites of theirs.
15 - "Wind of Change," Scorpions
14 - "Now That We Found Love," Heavy D. and the Boyz
13 - "I Can't Wait Another Minute," Hi-Five
12 - "Love of a Lifetime," Firehouse
11 - "The Motown Song," Rod Stewart with The Temptations
This bunch is led off by the biggest American hit by German rockers Scorpions. It's a power ballad that celebrates the end of the Cold War. Earnest to the point of cheesiness. Why anyone these days would voluntatily listen to this over "Rock You Like a Hurricane" is beyond me.
Jamaican-born Dwight Arrington Myers and his rap crew are here with a track that takes the hook from a 1978 O'Jays song and adds a high-speed loverman rap. Definitely my favorite of Mr. D's, and it's a shame he died too young last November.
Next are Hi-Five, an R&B group from Waco, Texas, a town famous for Baylor University and infamous for the tragedy involving cult leader David Koresh. This is an unremarkable ballad about impatience. Nothing more to say.
Then it's Charlotte, North Carolina band Firehouse, one of the last hair-metal bands to make it big. Their biggest hit was this goopy, drippy power ballad. In one of their genre's last victories over the forces that would destroy it, Firehouse would win an American Music Award for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist over Alice in Chains and Nirvana. This is why no one respects the AMAs.
Last in this bunch are Rod Stewart and The Temptations with a retro-soul number about throwing a party soundtracked by the sounds of Berry Gordy's label. Mediocre MOR, but it was nice to have The Temps eke out one more hit.
Top Ten Style!
10 - "3 A.M. Eternal," The KLF
Brits Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty were responsible for some of the more interesting moments in the late-80s and early-90s dance music scene. They battled copyright infringement lawsuits for songs that heavily sampled ABBA and Whitney Houston, had a U.K. #1 with a track that combined "Rock and Roll Part II" with the theme from Doctor Who, and then had their biggest Stateside success with this beepy, spacey electronic number that features references to the group's strange mythology, which involved something called "The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu." A cool song even without those trappings, but so much more awesome with them. Later, they'd record a truly bizarre collaboration with country legend Tammy Wynette, and later still, they made a film in which they literally burned one million pounds strerling of the money they had earned in music. One of the odder careers in all of pop music.
9 - "Too Many Walls," Cathy Dennis
Dennis, from Norwich, England, first found success in 1989 with the house music group D-Mob, singing on their international hit "C'mon and Get My Love." She then went on to have three Top Ten solo hits in America, the last being this midtempo ballad about the trials and tribulations of love. Good stuff. Nowadays, she's a successful songwriter, penning such hits as Britney Spears' "Toxic" and Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl."
8 - "Crazy," Seal
Londoner Seal Henry Samuel had his first hit with this atmospheric dance-pop number about the necessity of insanity for our survival. Yeah, "Kiss From a Rose" was the bigger hit, but this is the one I choose to think of when I think of him. A fantastic song.
7 - "Time, Love and Tenderness," Michael Bolton
The Boltonator wails about what heals broken hearts. Awful. Some have speculated that Bolton was one of the targets of Irving Gordon's Grammy rant. If so, good for him.
6 - "Good Vibrations," Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch featuring Loleatta Holloway
Yes, before Mark Wahlberg became filmdom's most famous fictional porn star and made movies with foul-mouthed teddy bears, he followed his New Kid on the Block brother Donnie into music by becoming a rapper. Under a track that features house beats and piano and a chorus sampled from Holloway's disco classic "Love Sensation," Marky Mark raps about sweating, dancing, and not being on drugs. A #1 hit that he had to live down for his serious actor transition, but it holds up as fun cheese.
5 - "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...," C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams
The dance music brainchild of producers David Cole and Robert Clivilles had their third and last pop Top Five with a song inspired by a catchphrase used by talk show host Arsenio Hall. On this song, rapper Williams tells tales of being tricked into cheating on his girl, having his best friend impregnate his wife, being lied to as a teenager about his first love's virginity, and then, for the ladies, a story about a wayward boyfriend. Dumb fun, and the only song of theirs that doesn't trigger a gag reflex on my part. Plus, it's nice to actually hear Zelma Davis sing, instead of lip-synching Martha Wash.
4 - "Motownphilly," Boyz II Men
This Philadelphia vocal group was discovered by Michael Bivins of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe fame, who signed them to his Motown-associated label and made them part of his "East Coast Family" with BBD and Atlanta kid group Another Bad Creation. Their first hit wras this fun, New Jack Swingy ode to the dreams they had in their hometown while singing on street corners and eating cheesesteaks. They would go on to have monster hits with loverman ballads, but for me, their best work came on this and their a capella version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday."
3 - "(Everything I Do) I Do it for You," Bryan Adams
The Canadian star stayed at #1 for seven weeks with this nauseating ballad from the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. This was a big part of what made listening to pop radio that summer a frequently annoying experience.
2 - "I Adore Mi Amor," Color Me Badd
This quartet from Oklahoma City were the anti-Boyz II Men in that they were a harmony group but were absolutely terrible. Their first of two #1s was this crushingly bad ballad that proved that they could suck in two languages. At least you could laugh at "I Wanna Sex You Up." This is just depressing.
And at Number One in '91, we find
1 - "The Promise of a New Day," Paula Abdul
The dancer-turned-singer-turned-insane talent show judge had her sixth and last Number One with this dance-pop tune about the possiblities of the future. If only she knew...
Yes, I did get to listen to the actual AT40 again this week (thanks as always, Jimmy). There was a Long Distance Dedication involving Night Ranger's "Sister Christian," but there was a problem with the recording and I didn't get to hear the details. But on the plus side, there were commercials, including one for the Simpsons episode featuring Michael Jackson, one for the show Dinosaurs that created disturbing mental images of prehistoric puppet sex, and an awesome, Patrick Stewart-voiced spot for Pontiac. Most abundant!
Back soon for a look at 1992.
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