The year is now 1991. The Cold War is finally over, an event which inspired several of the songs on this year’s poll. I went to #51 for this batch of songs, and it’s probably the last time I’ll have to do so, since this also marks the year when Billboard adopted Nielsen Soundscan and the number of #1s dropped off. (Honorable mention for this year goes to “I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls, which at #52 just missed the cutoff.)
The Scorpions. My family is from Latvia and lived under Soviet rule for a long time. “Wind of Change” is about the fall of the Berlin Wall and of the end of Communism so it has a great deal of significance for me (and a LOT of other people). Plus it’s beautiful.
I picked “Right Here Right Now.” “Here We Go (Let’s Rock and Roll)” and “Wind of Change” were the other two standouts on this list for me. “Losing My Religion” is good, but not one of my favorite REM songs.
Boyz II Men’s entry on this list was fine, but it reminds me we’re in for a real beating with their later ballads in the next few years. They and Mariah Carey dominated the charts for a few years, and pop music in general took a nosedive during this period as a result. Not to mention that the New Jack Swing style of music was reaching its peak.
Voted for “Hole Hearted” because of it still being a singalong favorite of mine, and IMO a grossly underappreciated song (not at all helped by what ended up being Extreme’s biggest hit and its reputation to this day). Other faves are “Wind Of Change” and, of course, “Right Here, Right Now”.
Right Here Right Now would be my call, with Wind of Change (alas… a new world that lasted only a decade) fighting for a close #2 with Losing My Religion – which does not surprise me to be the one actually running away with the poll, heck, I was surprised it had not made it to #1 at least a week.
Most of these songs are New Jack Swing or forgettable early 90’s pop that sucked. Some of the artists featured I like, just not those songs on this list.
I like the Scorpions song only for it’s beautiful intro. Jesus Jones is good though I loved it more when I was a kid, the REM tune was okay, they have better songs.
I could vote for Amy Grant, but she had better songs also. Ditto for Cathy Dennis. Lenny Kravitz’s song is good too.
After the meager offerings of the previous years, I was happy to come across R.E.M.'s Losing my religion going from the top. Finally a great song. Then a bit further down, I saw the Scorpions, and that song is even better.
PS: if you like the song, do check out their later version with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (2000).
I’d have loved to pick another song as this one is not my favourite and it’s a little bit too obvious but yeah, it’s a very good tune that manages to both remind me of that year and still sound pretty fresh although I must have heard it a million times. So I voting with the majority for the first time since the 80s polls.
Now, that’s the one I’d have voted for!
Sticking to the list, the other standout track for me is It Ain’t Over 'Til It’s Over, one of the few Kravitz songs that I like. Which reminds me of how big he was around that time. He seems to have gone from promising but obscure singer to star to ridiculed has-been in the space of 6 years (1989-1995).
In a weaker field, I could even have considered voting for Things That Make You Go Hmmm…. Silly but fun.
I’m not a fan of The Scorpions’ song, though. It did capture the spirit of the times but I don’t think it’s that great. A little bit too generic power ballad for my tastes.
Right Here, Right Now is the perfect song for the end of the Cold War and still one of my all time favorites from an otherwise totally forgettable band.
Voted for “Summertime” even though “Do Anything For Your Love” has one of my favorite lines of all time.
“Give me every little bit of your love’s what I said
Make it smooth to the groove like sandwich bread!”
I must have been neck-deep in alternative music at the time because I don’t recognize half of these songs even after listening to them. Not my year, I supposed, except that Achtung Baby came out at the end of the year.
