# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1990 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770 "2014-10-28T16:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/81 "2014-10-29T10:43:40Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Why because they remind you of your old hag status or because the music style is dim? Because there are so many true artists - musical geniuses, even - who live hand to mouth while the likes of Michael Bolton and New Kids on the Block were considered among the best of their time. mmm ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/82 "2014-10-29T14:33:24Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > Wikipedia says\* Ice Ice Baby\* is hip hop. That was news to me. I don’t see how it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/83 "2014-10-29T16:03:48Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Seeing so many people vote for Sinead just reignites my teenage anger about 1990. What the hell is wrong with you people? That song is barely tolerable, once. Played every forty minutes for two years on end… Dear God, please let me forget. Are all of you people going to vote for Mariah Carey’s Titanic song too? :mad: > > As for me… **Blaze of Glory is the best thing on this list.** It’s not even Bon Jovi’s best, but it’s a song I still enjoy listening to. (In fact, the only other song on this year’s list that I still listen to is Roxette’s It Must Have Been Love). (Emphasis mine.) This explains everything. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/84 "2014-10-29T17:29:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t see how it wasn’t. I always thought it was rap, but I do have trouble seeing the line between hip-hop and rap so that’s not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/85 "2014-10-29T19:08:31Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > I always thought it was rap, but I do have trouble seeing the line between hip-hop and rap so that’s not surprising. It’s both. There’s all sorts of arguments about what is rap and hip-hop; generally, I consider “hip hop” a broader term that describes the culture, including beatboxing, MCing, graffiti, etc., and “rap” to be a type of music within that culture (but not the only type of “hip hop” music.) But it’s a contentious topic. Just google “rap vs hip hop” and you’ll see there’s no real consensus. KRS-ONE, for instance, defines rap as something you do, and hip hop as something you live. That’s the sort of stuff you’ll find. Used to describe a musical genre, what most people think of as “rap” generally also falls under “hip hop.” ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/86 "2014-10-29T19:27:16Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I can completely understand being sick of that song and how incredibly overplayed it was. But dismissing it out of hand and comparing it to pop garbage like Celine Dion is, to me, just silly. And when you think Bon Jovi is better? Dear God, like Sahara Tea said, we are different people. Nothing Compares2 U doesn’t rely on stolen bass lines, it’s not a crappy hard rock ballad, it’s not overproduced boy band crap, and it’s not techno dance garbage. It’s a real song, stripped down and sung, passionately, by a talented vocalist (and head case). Be angry all you want at how popular it became, but it would still be a great song if no one had ever heard of it. I’m pretty sure this is in an old yearbook somewhere, word for word. I can appreciate that it takes talent to sing like Sinead did in that song, and I won’t ding her for that. But it’s not a song that I find enjoyable. At best, it can aspire to being tolerable. (It’s like a lot of Yngie Malmsteen’s work. No question about the talent behind it, but it’s just not all that enjoyable.) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/87 "2014-10-29T21:01:22Z")
I’m the guy who voted for Nelson. The best hair band of the era that wasn’t really a hair band. Even though they had the best hair. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/88 "2014-10-29T21:39:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m the guy who voted for Nelson. The best hair band of the era that wasn’t really a hair band. Even though they had the best hair. I admit that I did like “After the Rain.” ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/89 "2014-10-29T22:54:18Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > All top tunes. Groove is in the Heart was kept of the top spot in the UK by the Steve Miller Band I think. It was probably some jeans advert on TV using an old tune - there was a lot of that going on at the time. :dubious: Yeah it’s too bad and the UK charts are weird as has been pointed out. Sucks that “Groove Is In The Heart” also did not #1 in the U.S, would have got my vote without hesitation. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/90 "2014-10-29T22:55:56Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m the guy who voted for Nelson. The best hair band of the era that wasn’t really a hair band. Even though they had the best hair. I like Nelson. Nothing wrong with that. I’m too old to be embarrassed about the music I listen to. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/91 "2014-11-03T23:51:49Z")
Kind of surprised at _Vogue_’s low performance on this year’s poll; I suppose by now it came across as something sort of expected, not really extraordinary. I _ **am** _, though, quite pleasantly impressed with _Black Velvet_’s very respectable showing; I really enjoyed Alanah Miles’ performance at the time it came out, and come on, good allusions to Elvis must count for something. _Nothing Compares 2U_ is a great recording, sure it’s not the deepest thing we’ve heard and it’s a bit over-the-top, but between Prince and Sínead they came up with a memorable piece of work (so what if she would soon go into a WTF career phase that made changing your name to a glyph look almost middle class; that’s not what the chart is about). As stated in the OP one of the last large-roster years and quite a few of the pieces I had no recollection whatsoever or I had the “oh, THAT’s what/who this was?” reaction. ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770/92 "2014-11-04T03:34:25Z")
wow. what a crap year. I’d forgotten. Everytime I hear Black Velvet I want to poke my eardrums out. Gotta go with Sinead, purely because it was like nothing I had heard before. #2 goes to Ms. Jackson. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1990/702770.md?page=4)