Episode 14: Throwbacks of the Year 1990

1990 Throwbacks Spotify Playlist

This week's episode covers 10 tracks from the gateway of the last decade of the century, the year 1990.

Transcript

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Welcome to Mixtapes of Today, episode 14. I am your host, Suze Jones. This week we are going to talk about some songs from the year 1990. 1990 was the gateway to the last decade of the century, and there were many historical, cultural, and technical milestones that year. In that year, historically, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment. Iraq invaded Kuwait, which triggered the Persian Gulf War. The East and West Germanies reunited as one country after the fall of the Berlin Wall the previous year. Technologically, the Hubble Telescope was launched. The Human Genome Project began, and the first ever web server made an appearance as the World Wide Web with the introduction of the first internet browser. On television, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Blossom, and Beverly Hills 90210 premiered. Hitting the big screens at the cinemas was Dancing with Wolves, Pretty Woman, Home Alone, the ever-popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and several others that year. Also, the year 1990 was a very important year for me personally, because that is the year I graduated high school. So with that, I have 10 tracks this week of some memorable songs that I remember hearing on the radio and also got a lot of video play in the year 1990. So check out my Spotify playlist in the description. Track 1, Nothing Compares to You, performed by Sinead O'Connor. Sinead O'Connor was an Irish singer, musician, and activist. During her musical career, which encompassed several hit records and artist collaborations, the song Nothing Compares to You was written in 1985 by funk musician Prince for his project, The Family, and released on their debut album. Prince later went on to perform the song regularly during his live performances. Sinead O'Connor covered Nothing Compares to You for her 1990s studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. Her rendition was released as a single early that year and became a worldwide hit. Its accompanying music video, directed by John Maybury, received heavy rotation on MTV. You can't touch this. You can't touch this. Track two. Stanley Kirk Burrell, professionally known as MC Hammer, is an American rapper and dancer. As a multi-award winner, he is considered a forefather and pioneer of pop rap, incorporating elements of freestyle music. And has been considered his signature song. A music video was produced to promote the single showing Hammer's signature dances, including The Running Man, The Bump, and The Hammer Dance, while wearing his iconic hammer pants. Yo sound the bell, school is in sucker. You can't touch this. Give me a song, our rhythm making them fat. That's what I'm giving them now. They know you're talking about the hairwork, they're talking about a show that's hot and tight. What are you looking at? Track three. Madonna is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the Queen of Pop. She is known for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation throughout the 80s to present day. Vogue was written and produced by herself and Chef Pettibone on her soundtrack album I'm Breathless, music from and inspired by the film Dick Tracy in 1990. The song was inspired by Vogue, a dance popularized in New York City in the late 1980s. The accompanying black and white music video has been retrospectively regarded by critics as one of Madonna's best. It received a total of nine nominations at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. Let's kick it. Robert Matthew Van Winkle, known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, singer, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas and raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success following the 1990 release of his best known hit, Ice Ice Baby. The song's instrumental hook samples the bass line of the 1981 song Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. And they did not initially receive credit or royalties for the sample. In a 1990 interview, Van Winkle claimed the two melodies were slightly different because he had added an additional note. I don't get I don't know. It seems awfully similar to me, even with that added note. You can judge for yourself when you listen to the song. Heavy airplay of the video while Van Winkle was still unknown, increased public interest in the song as well. Wilson Phillips are an American pop vocal group formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The group consists of sisters Carney and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Marilyn Ravel of The Honeys, and Shina Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas. Hold on was written by Carney Wilson, China Phillips, and Glenn Ballard. It was released on February 27, 1990, by SBK Records as the lead single from their debut studio album, Wilson Phillips. Hold On became Wilson Phillips' first number one single, reaching the top spot of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on June 9, 1990, and despite spending just a single week at number one, was ranked the top song of the year by Billboard. The duo enjoyed popularity between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. An influential figure in popular culture, she is known for her innovative works. Escapade is from her fourth studio album titled Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. It was written and produced by Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song was released on January 8, 1990, by AM Records as the third single. The music video for the song was directed by Peter Smiley and was filmed in the back lot of Universal Studios, Hollywood. It was set in a Mardi Gras-like carnival. Jackson and her dancers performed choreography in the exotic environment, and it was choreographed by Jackson and Anthony Thomas. Alice and Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. The band rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and SoundGarden. Man in the Box was featured on the group's debut studio album, Facelift, in 1990. The song makes use of a talk box to create the guitar effect. The effect was actually inspired by Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer when the producer Dave Jordan heard the song on the radio while driving to the studio. The band broke through on MTV and mainstream rock radio with the single release of the song. Snap is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by record producers Michael Munzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act known as Snap has undergone several lineup changes over the years featuring American singers, songwriters, and rappers such as Thea Austin, Turbo B, Nikki Harris, and Penny Ford. The Power is one of their most popular hits that reached number one in the charts of multiple countries. Jackie Harris was employed to mime Ford's vocals in the The Power music video. In an interview, Penny Ford stated that she was out touring and they couldn't find her for the video, so they brought Harris in to mime the voice while they created the video. Now, this same management company was the ones that managed Millie Vanilli, and they were known for the big lip-syncing controversy from 1989 to 1990. So to prevent that same fallout for the power, they brought Benny Ford back in to become the full-time lead singer and the face for all appearances. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he was known as a creative force in songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation. He originally was part of the pop duo Wham from 1981 to 1986. Freedom 90 was written, produced, and performed by George Michael and released in October of 1990. It was the third single taken from his album, Listen Without Prejudice, Volume 1. The song refers to Michael's past success with Wham, yet also shows a new side of himself as a new man who is more cynical about the music business than ever before. By 1990, Michael had become weary of the pressures of fame and having to appear in photo shoots and music videos. He refused to be in the video for Freedom 90 and actually asked the five models from an iconic portrait in the 1990 British edition of Vogue to appear in the video to lip sync the song in Michael's place. This artistic choice actually made the video even more popular. This concludes this episode of Mixtapes of Today. 10 tracks of memorable 1990 throwback hits. Feel free to check out the Spotify playlist link in the description. Thanks for listening to Mixtapes of Today. We will be back next week. Talk to you soon.