Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1997

Cafe Society
1

The year is now 1997, the last year that the Hot 100 was strictly a singles chart. With one double A-side, we have 30 songs on this list. What’s your favorite?

  • denotes one half of a double A-side

Previous polls: 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Best #1 single polls: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time

2

One of the toughest decisions yet, but The Freshman just edged out Semi-Charmed LIfe for my vote.

3

“Semi-Charmed Life,” with honorable mention to “Bitch” and “Sunny Came Home.”

4

Another good year! :slight_smile: Bitch was the one I opted for, although a lot of others are also good.

5

Hmmm…I’m going to have to get back to this and review the handful of songs I’m not familiar with here. What I do recognize is pretty bleh…

6

Congratulations to the Spice Girls. They join Stevie Wonder (1974) by winning my vote in both polls in the same year: best #1 song and best of the rest of the Top 40. “Say You’ll Be There” gets my vote this time around. (Kesha is certain to join the club in 2010.)

I also considered voting for Sister Hazel’s “All for You.” Like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, they are from Gainesville, home of the awesome FLORIDA GATORS. Tom Petty never made any of these year-end top 40 polls, so “All for You” is my only chance. Alas, “All for You” just wasn’t good enough to beat the Spice Girls.

“Bitch” is dead-ass last.

7

Third Eye Blind, Verve Pipe and Meredith Brooks will not be getting my votes. Duncan Sheik may, the song is better than the previous three.

Like PONCH8, Spice Girls stand a good chance of getting my vote for 1997, as they did in the #1 poll. Savage Garden, Robyn, Paula Cole, En Vogue, Keith Sweat, Backstreet Boys are all powerful contenders.

The R Kelly song was my elementary school graduation song. I remember AZ Yet and Babyface.

Only two I don’t remember. I’ll vote later.

8

Yeah, ended up with The Spice Girls. ETA: Oops. I meant to vote for “Say You’ll Be There.” I didn’t realize there were two here.

9

Semi-Charmed Life won for me, that chorus is such an earworm (doo doo doo…), with Freshmen and All For You nipping at its heels.

10

Meredith Brooks - Bitch

Pretty much the only passable choice here.

Return of the Mack finishes last. Hated the song, hated his nasal voice, hated his whole attitude.

11

Sunny Came Home for me, otherwise I could have done Paula Cole.

12

Who are these people? Granted, I spend much of 1997 living in a shack in the remotest Mexican wilderness. Still, I’m surprised at how little I recognize from this list. No vote.

13

I don’t know why, but I couldn’t stand “Bitch” simply because the first line, “I hate the world today”, had nothing to do with the rest of the song.

“Sunny Came Home” was my pick, but “You Were Meant For Me” is close.

14

What on earth was I doing in 1997? Apart from the Spice Girls, Mark Morrison and R Kelly I don’t know any of these. Perhaps it was a year where the US chart diverged greatly from the UK one. Ah well, I can’t vote this year. Also it is hard to think of a worse band name than “The Verve Pipe”.

15

“I Want You” was my jam back in the day.

Now for the others:
*Leanne Rimes got on my last nerve with that horrible whiny “How do I leeeeeeeeeeeeeve without you.” Nothing surpassed that irritation until Celine Dion decided to caterwaul about her heart continuing without her.

*I’m partially responsible for “All For You” being on this list as that was the first and only cassingle I ever purchased. It was disappointing. The B-side was nothing but other versions of the same song.

*“Sunny Came Home” was the runner-up. I can sing along with it reasonably in tune, which is rare for a female singer. (Curse my alto voice!)

*Quick way to find out if someone’s in their mid-thirties: go into a room and start singing “The sky was gold, it was rose” and see if they continue with “I was taking sips of it through my nose and I wish I could get back there someplace back there smilin’ in the pictures you would take doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break…”

I just passed that test.

16

So many good choices, not easy. In the end after listening to these songs I gave it to the girl group. No not Spice Girls, the all black girl group- EN VOGUE.

17

“Sunny Came Home” won Grammies for Record and Song of the Year, but I was never fond of it.

I went with Jewel’s “Foolish Games.”