An embarrassment of embarrassments. I went with “She Drives Me Crazy” as I think it held up the best over time.
I’m still tuned out of pop music at this pont, but I rather liked Biily Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
Lots of allusions to what shaped America and indeed the world.
I forgot how much I loved that group. “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)” was my jam. Too bad it only hit #4 in the US.
A LOT of “nice” songs, a lot of “pretty good” songs, a lot of enjoyably catchy songs.
There are a dozen songs on this list I genuinely LIKE. None that I love.
I LIKE Richard Marx.
I LIKE Poison’s power ballads.
“Hangin’ Tough” was the one New Kids song that you could like even if you WEREN’T a 14 year old girl.
I liked both of those FYC songs.
I even liked Mike + the Mechanics.
But the catchiest song on there was “The Look.” Not a masterpiece, but a very solid piece of pop.
Absolutely nothing I could feel good about voting for here.
I’d be willing to agree with you but it wasn’t just one song - He wrote, performed and produced the entire soundtrack. All of which was related to the movie. This to me says that he took the time to create music about the characters, instead of taking old songs that were laying around and calling it a soundtrack.
I loved the song and the entire record, because when you listen to it, you’re reminded of the movie and certain scenes come back to life.
Then, it was way overplayed and you couldn’t get away from it, now it’s completely tainted by scandal, but if you ignore all that and just take it on its own merits, Blame it on the Rain is a very good song.
Cold Hearted is not a great song, but still one of my favorite videos. Same with Miss You Much.
Agreed completely. There were a number of other great tracks on the album (Trust, Partyman, Electric Chair) that were fun and very Prince-like while still being incredibly evocative of the movie.
Woohoo, I’m finally voting with the crowd!
Tough year. Definitely not the music I was listening to at the time. I always thought “The Living Years” and “Wind Beneath Your Wings” were sentimental glurge, although other’s mileage clearly varies.
For me, that leaves “Like a Prayer” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Prayer has catchy melodic hooks and Madonna’s voice is in great form. But ultimately, it’s a rather shallow pop song – the chorus, in particular, with its poppy upbeat ditziness, doesn’t do the rest of the song justice. (And, somewhat unfairly, it sounds as though it’s “Like a Virgin” rehashed.) So I’m going to go with Billy Joel, just because, well, it’s an audio version of these polls. It takes you through time and makes you think about it, for better or worse.
I guess it is time to vote for Madonna, although other songs appealed to me more.
Namely Straight Up and Paula Abdul was smoking hot. But more She Drives Me Crazy by the inimitable Fine Young Cannibals. That too was in a video, more or less - they played it during an episode of Thirtysomething. And it really fit the moment, plus it is catchy and light hearted.
The rest are much of a muchness - a year with New Kids on the Block and Milli Vanilli in contention is going to be like that.
Regards,
Shodan
I love Roxette*, so of course I had to vote for them. I like “The Look” a little more than “Listen to Your Heart” so that’s the one I clicked.
*I have a long-standing crush on Per Gessle. Roxette sent me on a quest which led me to Mr. Gessle’s solo work and Gyllene Tider.
So very edgy.
Paula Abdul - Straight Up
This is one of the precious few songs that make me want to get up and dance. Cool groove, catchy chorus.
I began my judging by considering lyrics, video, and personal meaning. I had to go with “The Living Years” for lyrics. Very powerful.
That barely edged out Roxette, for personal meaning. Also, loved “Like a Virgin”; that video was controversial when it came out.
Though I ended up in the end not voting for it, I’m glad to see you (and at least two other posters) appreciate it perhaps as much as I do.
I guess I’m grateful for these threads because they remind me that, despite some of these songs being (IMHO) terrible, there are still people out there who like them.
“The Living Years” is pure unadulterated treacle, with that hideous children’s chorus being the puke icing on a barf cake. Being absolutely sincere doesn’t stop it from being ghastly.
And the Billy Joel “List historical events in meaningless sequence” is almost as bad. I like him as a songwriter but he’s doing very little of that in this turd.
I voted for FYC, practically the only oasis in a miserable field.
I dunno if you’re being ironic or not, but it’s the only record of theirs I own. I think it’s their only good record, take it for what you will.
To put a finer point on it: in a series of threads where people (including me) admit to liking the most reprehensible #1 hits, you’re going to deride my taste over Bleach? Eh, enjoy yourself. I think they best things they did after that were Meat Puppets and David Bowie covers.
Just don’t challenge me over Wrong. That record even humiliates Sonic Youth’s best records. Musical, sensitive, completely brutal.
I actually looked that up last night, as I had never heard of Nomeansno. I like what I heard.
Thank you, It’s nice to have your tastes reinforced, too. 