Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1993

Cafe Society
1

The year is now 1993. We’ve reached the point at which hip-hop and R&B really exploded into the top of the charts, as we can see from the 31 selections on this list.

What’s your favorite?

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2

I don’t know half the songs on this list, but I’m pretty sure I’d have voted for Mr. Joel anyway.

3

So this is when rock and roll died.

4

This list is much better than the corresponding poll for #1 songs of 1993. I picked “Weak” by SWV in that poll, which ended up being the worst song I ever voted for. As for this poll, I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll pick Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

5

Rock isn’t dead. We sent it to live at a nice recording studio in the country. :slight_smile:

Seriously, though, I had a feeling this poll would get that reaction from the crowd of rockers and grunge-junkies that have been attending these polls. Most of these songs are unfamiliar to me myself, and it ended up being a three-way dance between “Runaway Train”, “Two Princes”, and “500 Miles” (which was actually released in 1988, but didn’t make the Top 40 in the US until it was used in the soundtrack of some Johnny Depp movie this year).

I went with Runaway Train, for the song almost as much as forits video which to this day moves me to tears, which doubles as a PSA about the plight of runaway/missing/abused/homeless youth and is intercut with actual photos of missing children. (Some of them were eventually found alive and well and returned to their families, some were found deceased, some remain missing to this day, and a few of them later made it clear that they didn’t want to be found.)

6

There are several I like on this list, (Duran Duran, Snap!, Billy Joel, Soul Asylum, Robin S, SWV, and Vanessa Williams/Brian McKnight).

I’ll vote for one tonight. I’m pretty sure some others I will recognize with assistance from YouTube.

As for Billy Joel, that is a fine single!

7

Some good stuff I remember from my last year in the navy. I’m gonna go with Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman.” So sad what happened to her after she got mixed up with Bobby Brown…

8

Voted for Soul Asylum, ahead of Billy Joel, Vanessa Williams/Brian McKnight, SWV.
It seems 1993 is the year the Hood took over mainstream music. Most of these songs, even the good ones have aged like crap, but that’s okay, 1993 over two decades ago.

My God half of these songs are suited for cruising around the ghetto or some inner city, danger one.

Noticed some sampling, Janet Jackson sampled the Supremes “Someday We’ll Be Together”, PM Dawn sampled George Michael’s “Father Figure”.

“Dazzey Dukes” and Whoop There It IS" is the same song almost! Tony Toni Tone sounds like Stevei Wonder voice wise and I swear the “Mr. Wendel” is slight rip off of Steely Dan’s “Peg”.

9

It’s a shame we didn’t make it to #44, 95 South’s “Whoot, There It Is”, which literally is the exact same song despite having been released six months before its more popular counterpart by an entirely different group of musicians.

10

I only know 5 songs on this list, and one of them only because snippets get played at sporting events (Whoomp!).

Anyway, Runaway Train has poignant lyrics, good musicianship, and a nice melody.

11

Ah, senior year. Loved ‘G Thang’ then, still love it today.

12

Lots of songs about butts…who knew?

13

“Nuthin’ But a G Thang” it is. Other songs I really like are “Whoomp! There It Is,” “I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me,” “Two Princes,” “Mr. Wendal,” and “Slam.”

In dead-ass last place, “Saving Forever for You” takes the dishonor over Rod Stewart’s abomination “Have I Told You Lately.” The former was on a soundtrack to Beverly Hills 90210 and is just as stupid as one would expect.

14

I know you’re being funny but 1993 is maybe the height of alternative rock. There was a lot of good stuff coming out that year–it just didn’t make it high enough on the charts.

15

Some genuinely good songs to choose from this year. I’m surprised by the absence of Counting Crows, because the fall of 1993 is when I remember their suddenly being on the radio every time I turned it on. But even then, we’ve got “Runaway Train” (which I thought for years was Tom Petty), “I’m Gonna Be,” and “River of Dreams.”

I voted for “River of Dreams,” not so much for itself (although it is a fine song), but as a stand-in for songs on the album that I like even more, like “No Man’s Land,” “Shades of Gray,” and “All About Soul.”

16

For me, Duran Duran is miles ahead of any competition here.

17

I remembered 1993 as a very bad year for music.

[QUOTE=Ponch8]
This list is much better than the corresponding poll for #1 songs of 1993
[/QUOTE]

Maybe. But even if that’s true, it only means that this list is merely very bad instead of plain horrible. There are only 6 songs that deserve consideration and even that is a stretch.

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train. The obvious one. Very good song on a difficult subject. It’s one of the few songs from that year that I really liked at the time (it was the height of my Gothic Phase). It doesn’t feel dated at all.

Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer. Great memories with that one but they date from 1992. And it’s not a very good song either. So, no.

Billy Joel - The River of Dreams. In that list it looks like a masterpiece. When compared to other years or to the rest of Joel’s oeuvre it’s pretty boring.

The Proclaimers - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). Until very recently I had absolutely no recollection of that tune. It makes sense since, as Smapti has pointed out, it’s from 1988. I remember a couple of their songs from that time (i.e. the late 80s) and I hated them. Who are these weird-looking guys with their ugly glasses? Now, I consider this song the freshest of the list by far (500 miles perhaps?)

Spin Doctors - *Two Princes *. Because guitars. But yeah, this song is proof that there is indeed such a thing as limp rock.

Duran Duran - Ordinary World. They never recaptured the magic of their mid-80’s heydays, did they? I didn’t care for the song in 1993 but my opinion has slightly improved since then. The bit in minor right before the chorus “What is happened to it all? Crazy, some say” is actually kind of neat.

It boils down to The Proclaimers vs Soul Asylum. The latter is too depressing and, while good, a bit run-of-the-mill musically. Voting for I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) feels like a breath of fresh air.

The fact that I’m voting for 1988 song in the 1993 poll says it all.

18

1993 was not a good year for music.

19

I’m shocked that “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” isn’t miles ahead of everything else on this list. There are other good songs, but this is the “Smells like Teen Spirit” of '93. *The Chronic *was pretty revolutionary at the time.

20

I went with “Mr. Wendal” here, but , upon further reflection, “Nuthing But a G Thang” should have been my vote. I think I just feel guilty for missing “Tennessee” in last year’s poll.