20 - "Then the Morning Comes," Smash Mouth
19 - "All Star," Smash Mouth
18 - "Meet Virginia," Train
17 - "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" Shania Twain
16 -"I Knew I Loved You," Savage Garden
The second half opens with a double shot of Smash Mouth. First, it's another cool little retro-pop number with some hints of a spy-movie sound to it. Nothing wrong with it at all. But then, there's "All Star." It's a cloying bit of cheese with a chorus that singer Steve Harwell once said was specifically written to get it played during sporting events. And not only did it work for that purpose, it also became their biggest radio hit. It was catchy at first, but it got old fast. The lyrics, the arrangement, the hip-hop scratch effects, they were all just so painfully contrived.
Next are San Francisco band Train with their first hit, an ode to singer Pat Monahan's non-existent dream girl, a lady who doesn't wear dresses yet "wears high heels when she exercises. Kinda cutesy and gimmicky, but tolerable on its own. Unfortunately, the cutesiness and gimmickry would get worse with every subsequent hit, peaking with the godawful "Hey, Soul Sister." And they're still having hits to this day. I never would have predicted that.
Then it's Shania Twain at her most poppy on this synth heavy paean to "Girls' Nights Out." It's fine for what it is. And I must admit that once in a while I will utter the title phrase, but almost certainly in a different context from Ms. Twain.
Rounding out this section is the second and last U.S. #1 by Aussie pop duo Savage Garden. Just a bland AC ballad. I'd think much more of this band if they'd disappeared after their debut single "I Want You." Chicka-cherry cola!
15 - "Where My Girls At," 702
14 - "I Do (Cherish You)," 98 Degrees
13 - "Back at One," Brian McKnight
12 - "There She Goes," Sixpence None the Richer
11 - "Scar Tissue," The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Leading off this quintet are female R&B trio 702, who took their name from the area code of their native Las Vegas. Their biggest hit was this number in which they essentially threaten to beat up any woman who tries to steal their men. Nothing special. Destiny's Child did this sort of thing better.
98 Degrees are here again with more boy band balladry. Nothing worth discussing any further. There's a reason these guys were just the clipboard-holders while BSB and 'N Sync battled for the starting job as quarterback of the boy bands.
Next is soul man Brian McKnight's biggest hit, a ballad on which he lays out the steps of his seduction technique. It straddles the line between sweet and cheesy, but all in all, decent little song.
Then it's Texas Christian-pop band Sixpence None the Richer, who had broken into the secular mainstream after the jangly "Kiss Me" was used in the movie She's All That and became a Top Five smash., Their last major pop hit was this faithful cover of a 1991 song by the Liverpool band The La's. Leigh Nash has a nice voice, but I get the feeling that she doesn't realize the song was originally about heroin as she sings lines like "racing through my brain" and "pulsing through my veins." Oh well, songs are what you make of them.
Last in this section is one of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' biggest hits. It's a midtempo ballad that's also apparently about heroin addiction, although in this case the singer is fully aware of that, because Anthony Kiedis himself wrote the lyrics. Dreamy and melodic, and certainly among their best.
Get your Top ten on.
10 - "I Need to Know," Marc Anthony
Marco Antonio Muniz was yet another Spanish-language singer who crossed over into the Anglo mainstream in 1999, but what set him apart was the fact that his breakhrough hit had a higher degreee of Latin authenticity. This was a pure salsa/cha-cha number, with no obvious electronic enhancement or sops to modern dance-pop. That, combined with Anthony's terrific vocal, makes it clearly the best song to come out of the "Latin explosion."
9 - "Someday," Sugar Ray
The ex-punk brats continued their pop turn with this combination of hip hop beats, acoustic strumming, and lyrics about lost love. Musical wallpaper.
8 - "Genie in a Bottle," Christina Aguilera
At 19 years old, and of Ecuadoran extraction on her father's side, Aguilera was seen by some as a product of both of 1999's emerging musical trends. But there wasn't all that much Latin flavor to her first hit, a glossy teen pop trifle about her need to be "rub(bed) the right way." But still, you could tell that her singing voice was clearly the strongest among her peers, and she promised to be a talent to watch. But I don't. At least not on The Voice.
7 - "Waiting for Tonight," Jennifer Lopez
Actress-turned singer Lopez was also lumped into the whole "Latin" category due to ethnicity, but her songs were just generic pop. And I hate pretty much all of them, including this piece of dance monotony. I don't like her voice, I don't like the songs she does, I just think she's one of the most overrated things in music in the last decade-plus. And I'm not sure why.
6 - "Larger Than Life," Backstreet Boys
The Boys are back again, this time with a Max Martin-masterminded tribute to their fans. "All of your time spent keeps us alive," they sing. So theoretically, shouldn't they be close to death by now? Seriously, though, this was one of their better songs.
5 - "Unpretty," TLC
The Atlanta trio's last charttopper was this ballad about a woman's struggles with her self-image. The serious tone manages to not become overly preachy or cheesy. I'll say it again: best girl-group of the 90s, by far.
4 - "(You Drive Me) Crazy," Britney Spears
Brit's third hit was more Max Martin bubblegum, this time about being insanely infatuated. For some reason, though, this stands out to me as possibly my favorite song of hers. I have no idea why.
3 - "Steal My Sunshine," Len
This Toronto group fronted by siblings Marc and Sharon Costanzo had their only major international hit with this song that's supposedly tells two sides of a teenage romance in a way that was inspired by The Human League's "Don't You Want Me." You can't really make that out from the lyrics though, with mentions of "tribal lunar-speak" and lines like "My sticky paws were into making straws." It hardly matters. The beat, looped from Andrea True Connection's "More More More" is infectious, the chorus is a monster, and the vibe is just sunny, smiley goodness. If you're going to be a one-hit wonder, you might as well make that one hit a classic, and this is.
2 - "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)," Lou Bega
Born to an Italian mother and a Ugandan father, and raised in Germany, Bega had his biggest international success by taking a 1949 song by Cuban mambo star Perez Prado and singing over it his need for "a little bit" of various women. Even amidst all the Spanish-accented flavor on the radio back then, this stood out like a sore thumb. Which of course means that it's this week's Uneasy Rider.
And on top that week in '99 was...
1 - "Smooth," Santana featuring Rob Thomas
Carlos Santana was unquestionably a legend by this time. However, record labels had lost interest in him, thinking he was no longer capable of hits, and thus he hadn't released an album in seven years. Enter record executive Clive Davis, who had worked with him in the past and now ran Arista Records. Davis came up the idea of Santana recording an album featuring several collaborations with younger, more contemporary artists. One of the products of this was the first single, a Latin-flavored rock track co-written and sung by my buddy Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20. The result was a humongous hit that helped the album, Supernatural, sell over 30 million copies worlwide. As for the song, well...I like Carlos' guitar playing. I'll leave it at that.
As an extra following the "AT 40 Concert Calendar," Casey played "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. First among the LDDs was a girl who sent out Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" to her late grandmother. Then, a woman dedicated Peter Cetera's "The Glory of Love" to her new husband. And finally, a teenager dedicated "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion to her mother, whom she had recently reconciled with after a period of tumult.
Next up: Two-triple-oh.
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