Finishing off '95.
20 - "I Could Fall in Love," Selena
19 - "Downtown Venus," PM Dawn
18 - "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Deep Blue Something
17 - "Do You Sleep," Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
16 - "I Can Love You Like That," All-4-One
The second half opens with Selena Quintanilla-Perez, a young woman who had been a star in the Tejano music community for nearly a decade when she recorded her English pop debut album, Dreaming of You. Sadly, before that album's release, Selena was killed at the age of 23 when she was shot to death by the president of her fan club. On this, her biggest Anglo hit, her warm voice lifts a frankly unremarkable and underproduced love song. It's tragic we couldn't have heard more from her.
PM Dawn are here again with one of their last hits, a rockish number where the Venus of the title is not a woman but rather Prince Be himself. Not really sure what it's about, but apparently, he thinks "it's alright to kiss my life." Still, I always like these guys. They give off a good vibe.
Next we have the only hit by the Texas band Deep Blue Something, whose name is either incredibly brilliant or painfully stupid, I'm not sure which. But I have no such ambiguity about the song, on which singer Todd Pipes (!) declares that in spite of all the problems in his relationship, his girlfriend should stay with him. Why? Because they "both kind of liked" a certain Audrey Hepburn movie. This seems just a tad flimsy. Can you imagine this guy saying, "Okay, I slept with your sister, and your best friend, and your sister's best friend. But you can't leave me! Because...what about Breakfast at Tiffany's?! WHAT ABOUT BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S?!!!!" An astonishingly stupid song, and therefore this week's Uneasy Rider.
Then it's Lisa Loeb and company with their first post-"Stay" hit, a pop-rocker about a breakup. Just a good song, sung by a good singer. Sometimes that's all there is to say.
This bunch is rounded out by All-4-One, a vocal group who I like to describe as Color Me Badd's less threatening cousins. The year before this, they had covered a John Michael Montgomery country hit called "I Swear," and made it a blockbuster. So of course, they decided to do another Montgomery ballad, and while it wasn't quite as huge, it did pretty well by normal standards. But it's just blandness to me. I don't blame the kids of Springfield Elementary for not wanting to dance to it.
15 - "Back for Good," Take That
14 - "December," Collective Soul
13 - "Run-Around," Blues Traveler
12 - "Let Me Be the One," Blessid Union of Souls
11 - "You Oughta Know," Alanis Morissette
This group is let off by Take That, a British boy band who had been huge stars at home for a few years already when they finally broke America with this undeniable ballad about wanting a lover to return. The production, the preformance, the structure of the song itself with that monster of a chorus, it's all just amazing. The best boy band ballad ever, no question about it.
Collective Soul are here again with a midtempo ballad on which Ed Roland sings about how he wants someone to "spit me out" and how "December whispers of treachery." Can't figure it out, and don't care to. It's a nice song, but nothing more.
Next is the breakthrough pop hit by New Jersey jam band Blues Traveler, a harmonica drenched rave-up that could be about a relationship, about finding one's bliss, or any number of things. What I do know is that it's big and catchy. People tend to either love or hate this song, but myself, I just like it. I save my "love" for the follow-up to this, "Hook."
Then it's Ohio soul-poppers Blessid Union of Souls with a midtempo tune as straightforward as its title. Really nothing memorable here. No mentions of racism or celebrity name-dropping like in some of their other hits.
For the last song in this section, I'll begin with a story. I was living in Ottawa in the spring of 1991, and one night I was listening to the city's AM pop station when they brought a guest into the studio, a local singer who was debuting her first major-label single. The song was unremarkable teen dance-pop, but the singer went by her first name only, and it was kind of an unusual one. Anyway, over the next couple years, she had a few sorta big Canadian radio hits, but then she disappeared, and I assumed she would just recede into obscurity. Then the word came down that Madonna had signed her to her Maverick label, and she had gone into the studio with a guy who had worked with Wilson Phillips and Michael Jackson. I assumed that they were trying to turn her into some kind of adult contemporary star, and honestly, I didn't think much of it. Then in the late summer of 1995, I heard her new song. To say it wasn't what I expected would be an understatement. It was a snarling rocker on which she asked her ex if his new lady would perform certain sexual acts on him at the cinema in the third line. It was full of rage and pain, and even contained an f-bomb. My reaction was that this was an interested change of direction for her, but I wasn't sure if it would catch on in any major way. Well, it did, to say the least. The song helped propel her Jagged Little Pill album to sales of over 30 million copies worldwide, and for the next two or three years, she was arguably the biggest rock star in the world. Certainly nothing I would have gleaned four years earlier from that first airing of "Too Hot."
All aboard...the Top Ten train.
10 - "Carnival," Natalie Merchant
Hailing from the Buffalo suburb of Jamestown, New York, Merchant first found fame with the folk-rock group 10,000 Maniacs. But shortly after the band's pop breakthrough, a cover of Patti Smith's "Because the Night," she left the group. Her first solo single was this languid number comparing a stroll through the sights and sounds of New York City to a visit to some kind of fair of circus. I pretty much enjoy listening to her sing anything, but I definitely rate this as her best solo song.
9 - "As I Lay Me Down," Sophie B. Hawkins
Hawkins' biggest hit was this pretty ballad about missing someone. It's nice, but it doesn't do much for me. I still prefer her in "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" mode.
8 - "Waterfalls," TLC
This warning for people who are taking unnecessary and dangerous risks with their lives to "please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to" became one of this trio's signature hits. It's all right, but I have at least five other of their songs ahead of it.
7 - "Roll to Me," del Amitri
The biggest American hit for these Scots was this acoustic jaunt in the "You've tried the rest, now give me a chance" vein. Solid radio pop.
6 - "Till I Hear it From You," Gin Blossoms
One of the biggest hits for these Arizonans was this song that's basically a 90s alt-rock "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." It's okay, but not one of my favorites of theirs.
5 - "You Are Not Alone," Michael Jackson
Michael's last American charttopper became the first single ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It probably didn't deserve that distinction compared to some of his other hits, but I would definitely call it his last great single. It's just that voice over an unintrusive backdrop, telling someone he's there for them. The less said about the Lisa Marie Presley-costarring video, however, the better.
4 - "Runaway," Janet Jackson
Janet shows up one spot ahead of her brother with this slinky number about how she's traveled all over the world but regrets that her lover wasn't with her to share those times. Her usual reliable mix of sexy and sweet.
3 - "Fantasy," Mariah Carey
The diva of the decade threw another Number One on the pile with this song that benefits greatly from a repeated sample (and later, an entire verse) from Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love." All this makes me want to do is listen to the original again.
2 - "Kiss From a Rose," Seal
The English star got his biggest hit whan this ballad was included on the soundtrack to the movie Batman Forever. Ah yes, the Val Kilmer one. The movie was okay. The song has just gotten to the point of cliche where I can't listen to it seriously anymore. I think I liked it the first few hundred times I heard it, but now...
And at #1 seventeen years ago, we find...
1 - "Only Wanna Be With You," Hootie and the Blowfish
These four guys met at the University of South Carolina in 1986, and nine years later, their jangly, R.E.M.-lite sound had made them multiplatinum superstars. On this, their biggest hit, singer Darius Rucker spices up a standard love song by not only name-dropping Bob Dylan, but quoting multiple lines from the song "Idiot Wind" (Dylan did get compensated for that, eventually). For me, it's a forgettable radio trifle. Their only song that holds up for me is the anthemic "Hold My Hand." The band never reached the heights of their debut album, and they were pretty much done as a commercial force by the end of the decade. In recent years, though, Rucker has become a very successful country singer, and definitely the biggest African-American star in that genre since Charley Pride.
This show featured three of what used to be called Long Distance Dedications, although for presumably legal reasons they were now called "Request and Dedications." First, a woman dedicated Mariah Carey's "Hero" to her late mother and the boyfriend who helped her get off of the path that took her mother's life. Then, another woman dedicated Firehouse's "Love of a Lifetime" to the boyfriend who relocated to New York City to be with her. And finally, a third woman dedicated "That's What Friends are For" by Dionne and Friends to her best friend.
And yes, there were commercials this time. An eclectic bunch of sponsors: Chevron gasoline, 1-800-COLLECT (remember those days?), Gold Bond powder, Ovaltine. Plus there were multiple commercials for the Army and the Navy, although unfortunately there were no songs in the countdown with the subliminal message "Yvan Eht Nioj."
And at last, we're out of '95. Just in time to get started on '96, which I will do very, very soon.
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