Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1992

Cafe Society
1

The year is now 1992, and this year marks a significant change in how the year-end chart was compiled. Up until now, each song that charted in the Hot 100 received points each week on a scale inversely related to its position in the chart (I.e. the #1 song got 100 points, the #2 song got 99 points, the #3 got 98 points, etc.) and at the end of the year those scores were used to create the chart. With Nielsen SoundScan now providing accurate-to-the unit sales figures, and newfangled computers to do the math for them, Billboard abandoned that system this year, and the year-end chart ever since has been compiled in the exact same way the weekly charts are, just over a period of 52 weeks instead of seven days.

As I mentioned previously, this is when the number of songs that go to #1 drops off, so I didn’t have to go any further than #40, and we have 27 songs to vote on here. (Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” also reentered the year-end chart at #39 this year, having peaked at #2 after its reissue alongside the Wayne’s World soundtrack, but since it won the poll for 1976 I have disqualified it from this year’s poll.)

What’s your favorite?

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

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

Wow, some great songs, but it’s “November Rain” by a long shot. It’s one of the great songs of all time. “Under the Bridge” is an honorable, but distant second. We’re getting into the music that shaped my teenage years, so lots of nostalgia.

3

A boatload of good songs, unlike 1991 this is really hard to choose. I have a feeling many songs will at least get one vote.

I know I won’t be voting for Guns N Roses nor Nirvana, but the hidden gems that have been forgotten.

4

Clapton for me, ahead of RHCP and Nirvana.

5

I can’t not vote for Nirvana here, so there it goes. Don’t like most any of these songs. Prince would be my runner up.

6

House of Pain and the semi-official Irish American Anthem

Especially performed by these guys

7

Hold on, I thought “Shipping Up To Boston” was the semi-official Irish-American anthem.

8

I suspect the Nirvana song will win, but my vote was for the Chili Peppers.

9

I was sorely tempted to vote for Achy Breaky Heart, just to annoy people. Instead I went with Nirvana in a close decision over RHCP.

10

This will be a very tight decision once I have time to consider all the choices. There are far more good songs than I thought there would be.

11

It’s almost unfair that Smells Like Teen Spirit didn’t hit #1, because there’s a decent amount of competition underneath it. I’d have given it to November Rain otherwise.

12

Wow, Jump around came out in 1992? I’d always thought of it as a mid-90s song.

As others have already pointed out: this was a very good year. I’d be inclined to vote for Tears in Heaven but that song depresses me, which I guess is the point.

Smells Like Teen Spirit is the obvious choice but… no. Next, November Rain (killer final solo) and Under the Bridge. Good songs but…

Should I try the pop/soul road? I Love your Smile was a pleasant, sunny number. A little bit too inconsequential, though. I’m tempted to vote for My Lovin’ (You’re never Gonna Get It). I really liked it at the time (still do) although it was definitely not my type of music.

But then, I remembered the effect that Sophie B. Hawkins’ Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover had on 18 year-old me. So, you’re telling me that a song can be hot without being too obvious? A little bit of subtlety, here? That’s… troubling. In a good way.

13

Still one of my favorite songs of the 90s, and takes me right back to high school. Very sexy song.

14

I had to go with Tears In Heaven for this one - even though I’ve never been a father, and I’ve been lucky enough that nobody close to me has died yet, and I don’t even believe in an afterlife, I can feel Clapton’s grief like it was my own, and that’s what music is really all about - getting the listener to feel what you feel.

Nirvana and GnR get honorable mentions in my book.

15

Lot’s of choices for me and I’ll have to think about it. I’m shocked that one of the all-time great albums, U2’s Achtung Baby, with one of the all-time great songs (One) is not on here.

16

“One” was #60 on the year-end chart, and so didn’t make this list.

17

Sophie B Hawkins got my vote, even as a 5 year old I knew there was something sexual and good about that song.
Don Henley/Patty Smyth
Technotronic
En Vogue(The Credence Clearwater Revival of RnB, regarding the lawsuits against each other)
Shanice
Celine Dion(a great cover and one of few songs of hers I like)
TLC
Eric Clapton
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tom Cochrane
Mariah Carey
Cece Peniston

All good songs.

As for Nirvana, I imagine some who voted for it and also did in the Alternative Number 1 poll also, HOW BORING!

Culturally relevant song, but overrated and there were much better songs from that album and Nirvana in general. I was listening to “In Bloom” and it blows SLTP out the water.

18

Ah, we’re in the heart of my high school years. Lots of nostalgic favorites.

Went with Teen Spirit. Almost went with November Rain. Seventeen year old me would’ve probably voted for Tennessee.

19

I picked Clapton, but as soon as I saw Nirvana on the poll options, I knew it was going to take it in a walk.

20

I agree with Nema98 on “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It’s one of my least favorite Nirvana songs.

Here is the *long *list of songs that I did consider:
Tears in Heaven
My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)
Under the Bridge
November Rain
Remember the Time
Finally
Jump Around
Diamonds and Pearls
Damn I Wish I was Your Lover
It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday
Tennessee

In a pretty major upset, “Finally” finishes higher than all the others in the world-famous Ponch8 Music Rating System. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up being the only one to vote for it, but it kicks ass.