The Best 40 Singles of 1990
The chart was in a right mess in 1990. For all those who said they loved rock music, the best of it was long gone. Megadeth, Thunder, Skid Row, The Quireboys, Gun and Anthrax were churning out generic singles which didn't quite fit the prevailing trends. The late 80s had twisted popular music into a horrible mix of sampling, loops, DJs, digital dicing and people who couldn't sing, putting their vocals on these tracks regardless. 808 State, Guru Josh, Pop Will Eat Itself, D-Shake, Rebel MC, Orbital and Renegade Soundwave were all 'trendy' whilst 80s legacy artists were still trying to have hits but looking very out-of-date just a few years since their heydays (Adam Ant, Shakin' Stevens, Jimmy Somerville, Kid Creole, Sinitta, Billy Idol, Paul Young, Bob Geldof, Bananarama, Status Quo, Iron Maiden and AC/DC all had top 40 hits). It's indicative of how quickly music was evolving that the old guard was being left behind but the fresh artists were only having a couple of hits before disappearing altogether).
It wasn't all bland or desperate in the top 40 however; 1990 gave us some of the best singles of all time - in fact, I'd go as far as to say there are five singles in my top 40 best of the year that would quite easily find themselves in my top 20 singles ever!
When you live through an 'era' (as the kids say) you pick up songs along the way that become part of your history. They remind you of specific things and become 'favourites' not because they're good songs, but because you attach good memories and experiences to them. For me, there are songs that make me happy when I hear them because 1990 was quite the transformative year for me - Wilson Phillips - Hold on, Kylie's 'Step Back in Time', Altogether Now (The Farm), 'Opposites Attract' (Paula Abdul and the cartoon cat), 'I'm Free' (Soup Dragons), Mariah's Vision of Love, Snap's 'The Power', Erasure's 'Wild!' album, The Cure's 'Close to Me', 'Escapade' (Janet Jackson), 'Dirty Cash' (The Adventures of Stevie V.), George Michael's 'Praying for Time', 'I'm Your Baby Tonight' (Whitney), 'I'll be Your Baby Tonight' (Robert Palmer and UB40) and The Stone Roses' 'She Bangs the Drums'. All missed my top 40 but alll of them like a time machine, taking me back to those care-free days of Teenage anxieties, formative experiences and whole new set of adult emotions you never knew existed.
So what were the best 40 (IMHO)?
40. The Only One I Know - The Charlatans
This pseudo-60's flower-power revivalist guitar pop (with draw-bar organs) was gaining traction and Manchester-based bands were rising into the public consciousness. This isn't a particularly interesting song (it's quite repetitive and too long) but it has 'vibes' and certainly appealed to those looking for genre of music to occupy their teenage sensibilities. Slowly shaking your head side to side, sporting long unkempt hair and looking like you've not been sober for a few months was the order of the day here. This track still rings to this day.
(The backing groove, whether intentional or not, inspired U2's 'The Fly' in 1991)
39. Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Phil Collins
Bombastic brass and a live sound made this single quite an exciting one. Phil was always knocking about in the 80s but this was something of a comeback for his solo career, having had several mid-80s hits with Genesis, following on from his 'Another Day in Paradise' smash hit in 1989. Phil just had a knack for melody and rhythm, being brought up on Motown. This has all the vibes of a big 60s Motown hit and the chorus is just perfect pop fare.
38. Vogue - Madonna
I'm not sure how much this single's success relied on the video and the 'dance' becoming whatever the equivalent of 'viral' was at the time. I'm guessing that without it, this single wouldn't have even charted. It's not a great song at all but the ethos became a phenomenon. Everyone knew what 'voguing' was and everyone was having a go at it. It cemented Madonna as one of the greatest pop stars of all time - her ability to change her look for every single and continue to have hits well into the 2020s. Not a lot of artists that were massive in the 80s made it out into the 90s with anything like the same level of success. Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Bryan Adams, George Michael, Queen (70s, I know) did have as much if not more success but lots of others tried and failed - most of them ended up just fading away. Not Madonna.
37. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C & C Music Factory, Freedom Williams
A lot of tracks in the early 90s were dance tracks with 'hooks'. 'I've got the Power!' being one, and 'Everybody dance now!' being another. Songs with a definite recognisable moment whilst the rest of the song was a bit forgettable. Didn't matter for this lot, it sold them a lot of singles and no doubt, bought them a lot of dancing shoes. The drum machine in this track is so 1990 too - the E-mu SP-1200 and Roland 808 were all over the charts.
36. Hello - The Beloved
This is such a strange single but a massively influential one. There's so much going on here musically, and so much innovation. If you listen closely, you can hear some of the tropes Mansun picked up and used on their 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' album (there's also a Simply Red 'Fairground' moment too - as I say, influential). What made this track engaging was the list of names, including (but not limited to) Jeffrey Archer, Bungle, Salman Rushdie and Desmond Tutu. It's a brilliant single actually - give it your attention.
35. Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked) – Chad Jackson
I was 15. I was realising that I was getting emotionally attached to things. I'd seen the world very differently in the 80s and now that I was 'coming of age' I was attaching the music of the time to certain new and formative experiences. This track has especially strong associations for me with events in my life in 1990 - simply because it was so distinctive. Music at the time was evolving really fast with sampling and loops and digital editing (and sampling drum machines). It meant singles like this didn't blend into the chart - they stood out - and whilst it's not a great 'song', it did what it was meant to do - sell records. It still gets played these days in various places without ever really being considered a 'classic'. Strange that.
34. Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) – Technotronic
Whenever I wake up in the morning on a day where I have to do something I really don't want to do (like go to work) I have two go-to things which help me muster the energy to begin the process of getting somehow prepared for it. The first is to yell 'For Frodo!' and then get up immediately like I need to defend Helms Deep from a marauding horde of Uruk-hai. The second is to sing 'Get up, Get up, get busy, do it, I wanna see you party!' and then slowly creep out of the covers and stagger into the bathroom.
Every era of music (in this case, a few months) has a hero. A group who define their genre. Before 2 Unlimited became the gold standard for Euro-Dance and Techno music, Technotronic were busy inventing it. Even if this sort of thing isn't your cup of Matcha, I defy anyone to listen to this and not feel at least a little bit like tapping their foot. The synth-bass line is something special.
33. It’s My Life – Talk Talk
I set a rule in these lists when I did my first ever one on 1973 - that was, to not include a song which had re-entered the chart having been a top 40 hit in a previous year. I have to make an exception here because even though this was a minor hit in 1984, the first time I ever heard this was when it was re-released in 1990 and what a moment it was for me. The production, the synths, the vocals, the groove - everything had me enchanted. So, it's in my 1990 list at 33. Soz.
It's a great example of how memories get attached to songs. This track has some lovely atmospheric sounds which are entirely unique to it. All I have to hear is that opening few seconds and I'm sitting in a French GCSE class reading one of the text books which had been hilariously grafitti'ed with speech bubbles. What I'd give to get my hands on that vandalised copy of 'Tricolour' again.
32. Nothing Ever Happens - Del Amitri
I didn't want to like this song at the time because I didn't like the lead singer's hair style and pointy sideboards. I was an odd 15 year old. However, all these years later, even though this track starts very generically and almost makes you want to skip to the next track before you've given it a fair chance, it slowly starts to pull you in and by the chorus, you find yourself hooked and wanting to listen to it again.
31. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
It's all a little melodramatic for me this track but there's no denying it's one of the most recognisable of it's time. Lana Del Rey tried to recapture the vibe in her 'Blue Jeans' song but failed and if it wasn't for Chris Isaak's punchable face, I'd probably quite like this track. It deserves its place in this list though.
I remember there being a series on MTV (or VH-1) where they'd ask pop stars to pick their top ten tracks of all time (Ten of the Best, it was called) and then play each one. Gary Numan was on one of the episodes and he chose this as his number 1 (or it might have been number 2 or 3, it was over thirty years ago and I forget). This couldn't be further away from the type of music I expected Mr. Numan to kick back to in his gothic castle of a night. He also picked Tears for Fears' 'Shout' and Depeche Mode's 'Never Let me Down Again'. What impeccable taste.
30. World In Motion - New Order
John Barnes doing a rap is all you need really. The rest of the song is a bit table-chair but the John Barnes bit lifts it enough to feature in my list. I think I've only ever really, honestly, enjoyed 'True Faith' by New Order; the rest of their back catalogue, not so much. It might be Bernard Sumner's languid vocal delivery. I know that's the point, but it makes me feel as enthusiastic about their music as he sounds when he's singing it. If England were ever going to win a World Cup again, it was in 1990. How tragically (relatively) it all ended with a Sunderland supporter missing a penalty.
29. Are You Dreaming - Twenty 4 Seven, Capt. Hollywood
I can't really explain why I love this track so much. Maybe it's that emotional connection thing again - it reminds me of some wonderful people and happy times so it could be that. The track itself is really rather cheesy but I do like the chorus and the sentiment is probably in the right place even if it's a bit clunky. Twenty 4 Seven, kick it one time!
28. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
Now now, don't be a music snob. Singles are created to make money. To do that, they need to sell enough to justify the initial financial outlay. To do that they have to appeal to as many single-buyers as possible. There wasn't a human alive in the UK who hadn't heard this song in 1990 and most of them went out and bought it. Only somebody who hates commercial mainstream music would deny that this is one of the greatest singles ever recorded. The people who ruin it are those who do the rap at parties as if they've won life and everyone has to watch and then try to get their testicles to re-emerge after they've retreated into their body such was the power of the cringe induced by one of the worst moments they've ever had to endure. Basically, don't do the rap. It doesn't impress people like you think it does. Almost as much as a very white man saying 'Yo, let's get out of here, word to your mother' does.
27. Advice For The Young At Heart - Tears For Fears
Biased here, because TFF are my favourite band of all time. Regardless of the fact it only reached number 36, it's one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching tracks in their repertoire. Even for this line alone : "Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear.' And, because the song is about growing up and leaving home to get married, 'Too many people living in a secret world, while they play mothers and fathers, we play little boys and girls.'
The lyrics are mostly attributed to Nicky Holland and they're just wonderful, as is her 1997 album 'Sense and Sensuality'.
26. The King Of Wishful Thinking - Go West
Peter Cox always sounded quite privileged and surprised in interviews whenever he mentioned this song was on the soundtrack to Pretty Woman. I always thought that was weird, seeing as how they'd had many chart hits up to that point and surely it wasn't a surprise that they'd be approached to produce a song for a movie. It's a raucous pop track with so many great vocal moments. It was the last great single from the duo however.
25. Serious - Duran Duran
One of the greatest tragedies of chart history this. How did 'Save a Prayer', 'Skin Trade', 'All She Wants Is', 'Burning the Ground' and 'Electric Barbarella' all chart higher than this masterpiece? They'd released 'Violence of Summer' as the first single from their 'Liberty' album and it had gotten to number 20. The album bombed. This, the second single, was by far the strongest track and the best song they'd written since 'New Moon on Monday'. So why didn't it chart?
It's such a good song. What a waste.
24. Where Are You Baby? - Betty Boo
Betty Boo was great wasn't she? Quite an unconventional rapper but she had a knack for a tune and this one was so memorable, especially the space-themed video. I gave her new album (released in 2025) a spin when it came out and she's still got it.
23. 24 Hours - Betty Boo
This track was more of a conventional pop single but she did this very well too. It was steeped in the style of the time and, if you were around at the time, you'd recognise it as very 1990 even though it sounds quite fresh today - this sort of vibe is making a comeback, believe it or not. I think this track was maybe a little to middle of the road for Betty's fan base though as it didn't do quite as well as her other smash hits that year.
22. Don’t Worry - Kim Appleby
Kim soldiered on and recorded all the material she'd written with sister Mel for their second album before her untimely death in early 1990 aged just 23. The album was great (especially 'What did I do wrong') and this, the lead single, was a gale-force ten pop track, which reached number 2 in November. It was written with her then-boyfriend Craig Logan, the bass player from Bros.
21. I’ve Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat
The lead singers voice, the production and the whole vibe of this is what made it stick I think. That intro still gives me goose-bumps thirty-odd years later. It climbed all the way up to number 2 in a very competitive chart.
20. Heart Like A Wheel - The Human League
A criminally ignored Human League track which didn't even end up on their Greatest Hits album which was released just a few years after this. It's a brilliant pop song - I heard them singing it on 'Wogan' at the time and then I never heard it anywhere ever again (apart from in my own house). That's a lie, I think they might have played it live when I saw them in 2010.
19. Policy Of Truth - Depeche Mode
Depeche were leading the way in industrial pop; this and their next album 'Songs of Faith and Devotion' sparked a whole new movement including Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Deftones. Gary Numan even stole a little from them for his Sacrifice album which relaunched his career in the mid-90s.
You could have put any of the singles from Violator in this top 40 but I think this is and the one further up the list are probably the best ones.
18. U Can’t Touch This - MC Hammer
Rap was becoming evermore mainstream and accessible with first 'Ice, Ice, Baby' and Betty Boo and now MC Hammer with his massive trousers, ideal for shoplifting. He actually went on to open a petting zoo but it closed after a few months because he wouldn't let anyone touch anything.
He did have more hits but they were never going to match this. It was one of those moments that only happen once to an artist. Like that 'Gangnam Style' song - singer PSY said in interviews that it wasn't going to launch his career, it was just a momentary viral zeitgeist thing. He understood how it worked. MC Hammer didn't though, he kept on banging the same trite drum until we all turned the other way and pretended he wasn't there.
Whilst all sources cite Jackson as the writer, I suspect Jellybean Johnson of The Time had a large hand in the structuring and polishing. The Time's 1990 single Jerk Out' would easily have made this top 40 but it wasn't released in the UK.
17. Freedom! ’90 – George Michael
This is such a great tune with a wonderful groove and chorus. If you listen really hard, it borrows tropes from the emerging Manchester sound - specifically the Happy Monday's 'Step on' (which was released in April and Freedom was released in December). It also uses James Brown's Funky Drummer. Regardless, this was one of George's finest solo moments. Let's all collectively forget Robbie Williams did a version of this though.
16. Black Cat – Janet Jackson
'Black Cat' is pure energy and a welcome departure from its rock contemporaries who were all trying to sound like each other.
15. Love Shack - The B‑52’s
The B-52's had been quite a niche group and one that required a certain palate. This changed their world however, being all mainstream with a song structure the public could get on board with and that moment all hit singles need - the part of the chorus that sticks in your head from first listen. The video is loads of fun too. It wasn't enough for me to go listen to the album in Our Price though.
14. I Can’t Stand It (Radio Edit) - Twenty 4 Seven, Capt. Hollywood
Most people don't get this track. If you do, then your life just got better by a bit of a percent. It's the Radio Mix I'm talking about, the one with the twinkly synth. The other hundred versions were flat affairs but the Radio Edit (which I picked up on cassette single in a charity shop for 10p) is glorious and I still pop this on from time to time (just not on Spotify because the best version is the only one they didn't upload).
I had been sent out to a printing firm on Work Experience from school for a week and I spent most of my time swinging around in an office chair, reading the paper and listening to the radio. This was on heavy repeat so that's all I can think about whenever I hear it these days. That and the time I tried to pay for my bus fare home with 2p and 5p coins as that's all I could scrape together that morning and the driver refusing to let me on. A kindly stranger took pity on me and exchanged my change for a fifty pee coin. I now have a hatred of all bus drivers. Jobsworth idiots.
13. Doin’ The Do – Betty Boo
Without hearing this song, you could tell it was going to be a hit single. Betty Boo, Doin' the do. I think it means she's giving herself a new hairstyle but I'm not sure. She was never very good on Top of the Pops because she wasn't a dancer or a performer really, she just wrote and sang infectious pop music, but then, I think that's a good thing. Maybe more people should be championed for being very good at a few things even if some of the other stuff isn't their forte.
12. Bad Love – Eric Clapton
This passed me by at the time. Not sure why it was never played on radio (or TOTP for that matter). The guitar riff is brilliant and if he was a better singer, this would be a brilliant package. He does a good enough job to make this one of the best of the year though.
11. A Little Time - The Beautiful South
This song should be much higher up the list because its as close as you can get to a masterpiece. There are ten better songs this year though, so that tells you more about the ten above it than tenth place tells you about this song.
The Housemartins was never going to be the vehicle Paul Heaton rode into the hall of fame as a songwriter. The Beautiful South however showed exactly how good he was at melody, musical constructs and especially, lyrics. This song hints at the fact he would become one of the greatest songwriters of his generation (and a lot of other generations for that matter). The fact he left the song to the other two vocalists in the band and didn't get involved himself is also a nod to the fact he parked his ego in order to allow the song to become exactly what it should be.
There's a wonderfully crafted story of infidelity, men's cake-and-eat-it attitude, revenge and retribution. The way the music stops and starts, changes tempo and frames the tale is also something to behold. There's nothing like this these days and we're all poorer for it. I was so sad when Briana Corrigan left the group although Jaqui Abbott was great, the vibe was never the same.
10. Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode
Originally much slower, this track was almost abandoned until tweaks were made in the studio and it became something entirely different. It's the song that really made me take notice of Depeche, having been vaguely interested beforehand. The Violator album is another masterpiece and the one that followed it would define a generation of music makers.
9. Crazy – Seal
Seals' first album was never out of my CD player at one point. We had every right to be apprehensive about his second single following the global phenomenon that was 'Killer', seeing as how we weren't really sure how much Sealhenri had to do with the writing and who exactly 'Adamski' was.
Turns out, he had everything to do with it and the follow-up was almost as brilliant. It's one of those forever songs - one that never ages, goes out of style and impresses every new generation who hears it.
8. There She Goes - The La’s
It's my opinion that The La's invented a genre. The one occupied in later years by The Verve, The Stereophonics, Travis, Franz Ferdinand et al. This song feels like it belongs in a manual or a museum or both. It's corners are rounded, the vocals are faultless, it's draw on late-60s guitar pop doesn't sound borrowed but rather like they came up with the sound themselves and the result is a song which is undeniably timeless. They actually sound like what I thought the Yardbirds would sound like before I'd ever heard any of their records.
7. It Must Have Been Love – Roxette
If you're looking for the greatest instrumental break of all time, its here. The piano solo in the latter third of the song is so full of atmosphere and musical intelligence that I used to stop what I was doing every single time it was on, just to appreciate it more. Maybe that's a list for later - the greatest musical breaks of all time. Meanwhile, Marie's voice soars like an Albatross full of helium and unlike 'Listen to your Heart', this is all Per Gessle's own work.
6. Roam – Edit - The B‑52’s
I don't need to say anything. Just watch this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk3S0prfCak&list=RDFk3S0prfCak&start_radio=1
What I will say is that Cindy and Kate are having the time of their lives here and if they aren't then they deserve Oscars.
5. Groove Is In The Heart - Deee‑Lite
This is one of the greatest singles ever - and the fact it's at number 5 should make you excited for the top 4. At last - here was a group who understood the power of computers in music, of using digital samples as instruments instead of gimmicks, of blending funk and pop seamlessly and of having an energetic and charismatic lead singer who sold every single moment in the song, even when she wasn't singing. How they didn't go on to stratospheric things is beyond me; the album 'World Clique' was perhaps a little ahead of its time but glorious and euphoric and far better than any of the sampling-DJ acts that followed (and their updating of the late 60s/70s fashion trends to make them fresh again, was genius thanks to the fashion-innovator that was Lady Miss Kier.
4. Killer - Adamski, Seal
This single took several listens, just to believe what you were hearing. Again, very computer heavy - taking what the synth-pop pioneers of the late seventies and early 80s had owned, Adamski (depending on your viewpoint) ran with and made an all-time classic pop single.
There's nothing here that's particularly innovative; most of what's going on in the background is computer controlled synths and effects, but it didn't sound like 80s synth-pop, it sounded like 90s synth-pop and it kicked off a whole new sub-genre. Some would say it helped to develop the electronic dance scene, inspiring the likes of Prodigy and The Shamen. For me at the time, not being into electro-dance quite so much, it brought Seal into my record collection. Why, just yesterday I was listening to his first album again like it had just been released. Superb.
3. Step On – Happy Mondays
I don't know enough about the Manchester music scene to waffle on about it here but I flirted with the outer-rim of it's influence in the early 90s. Not particularly engaging with it (I didn't have long hair and a parka) but not finding it too pretentious either. This is a superb single - with its electronic piano riff, backing vocals from the 70s, Shaun Ryder delivering an earnest vocal performance and all sounding way too polished when you saw who was making the music. 'Kinky Afro' was also great.
2. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinéad O’Connor
Has your heart ever been so broken after hearing a song? Well, yes - Johnny Cash's version of 'Hurt' and Deacon Blue's 'Dignity' are a few examples, but to turn what was a perfectly fine but unspectacular Prince outtake into something which resonates so powerfully across nearly four decades like this does, is a work of absolute genius. Whilst Sinead was a powerhouse, her self-penned songs lacked the kind of musical creativity that her voice deserved. Along comes a Prince demo and the two clicked together like a dove-tail joint and made us all cry (see what I did there?). The stars aligned on this one but somehow, there was an even better single out in 1990.
1. Show Me Heaven - Maria McKee
From her opening line in this song, you know you're going to be taken on a voyage of pure emotion. Unhappy with the original lyric, Maria penned her own and it turned a good song into an unbelievable one. For anyone wanting to become a vocalist beyond the odd Karaoke night at the local, listen to how she pronounces words here like she's researched all the possible meanings on the Merriam Webster site, goes from a whisper to a scream in a few notes and how she sells what she's singing by sounding like she means everything she's saying. For example, in the chorus, which she belts out, she then eases off on the 'leave me breathless' line - selling it. Truly a superb single and a marker laid down for the rest of the pop fraternity to aspire to. And believe me, there are some challengers to this track for the best of the 90s coming up in 1991.
If you're looking for a top 40 'best of' for another year, have a look at the main page here - and I'll see you again soon for my 1991 run down.
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