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episode date - August 18, 2010
Looking back twenty years ago, I think I was pretty confused about the state of music in 1990, but how could you not be confused? There was no overriding trend to provide any sense of direction, and the splintering of styles that occurred leading up to this point only made things that much worse. It sort of felt like the beginning of the end, and subconsciously, that thought may have been the driving force that pushed toward writing a book about the history of American pop music, because it looked like American pop music was heading toward a cliff.
There were a lot of other things going on from a political perspective, but unlike in the 1960s, music did not take center stage. Suddenly, we heard people claiming that democracy had outlasted communism, and had proved itself to be the natural political state for the world. The Rand Corporation went so far as to proclaim 1990 as “ the end of history’. Well, that lasted for about a year, and then the world does what it always does, and started to fall apart at the seams all over again. Too much of this music sounds quaint today, but that’s just my opinion.
Here are the pop chart hits we picked to make our point. Do you agree?
1) Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Connor
2) Just a Friend – Biz Markie (as a ‘Great Miss’)
3) No Myth – Michael Penn
4) Sacrifice – Elton John
5) Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
6) Heart of the Matter – Don Henley
7) Turtle Power – Partners in Kryme (as a ‘Bad Hit’)
8) Hanky Panky – Madonna (as a ‘Bad Hit’)
9) Vision of Love – Mariah Carey
10) Epic – Faith No More
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