Top 50 Albums of 1990: 

1. They Might Be Giants - Flood
2. Jellyfish - Bellybutton
3. Fugazi - Repeater
4. Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
5. Sonic Youth - Goo
6. Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
7. Social Distortion - Social Distortion
8. Digital Underground - Sex Packets
9. The Posies - Dear 23
10. En Vogue - Born To Sing
11. Dead Milkmen - Metaphysical Graffiti
12. Eric B. & Rakim - Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em
13. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
14. Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
15. A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
16. Depeche Mode - Violator
17. John Zorn - Naked City
18. INXS - X
19. Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
20. Ice Cube - Kill At Will EP
21. Dwight Yoakam - If There Was A Way
22. The Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses
23. Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
24. Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss
25. Paul Simon - The Rhythm Of The Saints
26. The Breeders - Pod
27. AC/DC - The Razors Edge
28. Soul Asylum - And The Horse They Rode In On
29. The Replacements - All Shook Down
30. Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs For Drella
31. The Pretenders - Packed!
32. Deee-Lite - World Clique
33. Prince - Graffiti Bridge
34. Whitney Houston - I'm Your Baby Tonight
35. James - Gold Mother
36. Little Feat - Representing The Mambo
37. Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining
38. George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1
39. Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
40. Mother Love Bone - Apple
41. Robert Plant - Manic Nirvana
42. The Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
43. World Party - Goodbye Jumbo
44. Superchunk - Superchunk
45. Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey
46. Pixies - Bossanova
47. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory
48. Alice In Chains - Facelift
49. Shudder To Think - Ten Spot
50. Primus - Frizzle Fry

This wraps up the decade that I've been slowly going through for a minute now (previously: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999). It's been fun thoroughly exploring the years that made me into a music fan, but as I said previously, I began really actively following popular music in late '91 and '92, so 1990 was the last time I was just a kid with occasional, fleeting awareness of music. I was 8 that year. So I didn't really hear any of these albums when they were current, besides maybe my dad's copies of the Little Feat and Robert Plant albums -- it wasn't until the mid-'90s I started checking out the Sonic Youth and They Might Be Giants and Public Enemy. I heard a few more later in my high school and college years, but for the most part I've only really heard the overwhelming majority of those albums in the last couple years, which has been really interesting. The turn of the decade, that stuff that doesn't fit what we widely define as "the '80s" or what we widely define as "the '90s" but nonetheless loudly announces its origins in a bygone era, has probably aged better than you'd expect.

























Top 100 Singles of 1990: 

1. Bel Biv Devoe - "Poison"
2. Depeche Mode - "Enjoy The Silence"
3. Madonna - "Vogue"
4. AC/DC - "Thunderstruck"
5. George Michael - "Freedom '90"
6. Digital Underground - "The Humpty Dance"
7. Jane's Addiction - "Stop!"
8. They Might Be Giants - "Birdhouse In Your Soul"
9. A Tribe Called Quest - "Can I Kick It?"
10. Deee-Lite - "Groove Is In The Heart"
11. Sinéad O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U"
12. Janet Jackson - "Love Will Never Do (Without You)"
13. Faith No More - "Epic"
14. The Black Crowes - "Jealous Again"
15. The B-52s - "Roam"
16. Phil Collins - "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven"
17. Whitney Houston - "I'm Your Baby Tonight"
18. Tony! Tone! Toni! - "It Never Rains (In Southern California)"
19. Sonic Youth - "Kool Thing"
20. Public Enemy - "911 Is A Joke"
21. Social Distortion - "Ball And Chain"
22. DNA featuring Suzanne Vega - "Tom's Diner"
23. Lisa Stansfield - "All Around The World"
24. Babyface - "Whip Appeal"
25. The Cure - "Pictures of You"
26. The Soup Dragons - "I'm Free"
27. INXS - "Suicide Blonde"
28. Queen Latifah - "Ladies First"
29. MC Hammer - "Can't Touch This"
30. Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
31. Tevin Campbell - "Round And Round"
32. Queensyche - "Silent Lucidity"
33. LL Cool J - "Around The Way Girl"
34. Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like A Hole"
35. Jesus And Mary Chain - "Head On"
36. C&C Music Factory - "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
37. Aerosmith - "Janie's Got A Gun"
38. They Might Be Giants - "Twisting"
39. Whitney Houston - "I'm Your Baby Tonight"
40. Elton John - "Club At The End Of The Street"
41. Ice Cube - "Amerikkka's Most Wanted"
42. The Black Crowes - "Hard To Handle"
43. Snap! - "The Power"
44. ZZ Top - "Doubleback"
45. Sonic Youth - "Disappearer"
46. INXS - "Disappear"
47. Salt-n-Pepa - "Let's Talk About Sex"
48. Janet Jackson - "Black Cat"
49. Paula Abdul - "Opposites Attract"
50. The Replacements - "Merry Go Round"
51. Aerosmith - "The Other Side"
52. Don Henley - "New York Minute"
53. The Black Crowes - "Twice As Hard"
54. Motley Crue - "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)"
55. Eric B. & Rakim - "Mahogany"
56. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Show Me Your Soul"
57. En Vogue - "Hold On"
58. Depeche Mode - "Policy of Truth"
59. Social Distortion - "Story Of My Life"
60. Billy Idol - "Cradle of Love"
61. Alannah Myles - "Black Velvet"
62. Garth Brooks - "Friends In Low Places"
63. They Might Be Giants - "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
64. Bel Biv Devoe - "Do Me!"
65. Billy Joel - "I Go To Extremes"
66. The Sundays - "Here's Where The Story Ends"
67. Tom Petty - "A Face In The Crowd"
68. MC Hammer - "Pray"
69. Julee Cruise - "Falling"
70. Eric B. & Rakim - "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em"
71. Prince - "Thieves In The Temple"
72. King Missile - "Jesus Was Way Cool"
73. Garth Brooks - "The Thunder Rolls"
74. Concrete Blonde - "Joey"
75. A Tribe Called Quest - "Bonita Applebaum"
76. Eric Clapton - "Bad Love"
77. Tears For Fears - "Advice For The Young At Heart"
78. AC/DC - "Moneytalks"
79. Damn Yankees - "High Enough"
80. Social Distortion - "Ring Of Fire"
81. Little Feat - "Texas Twister"
82. Motley Crue - "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)"
83. Faith No More - "Falling To Pieces"
84. LL Cool J - "Jingling Baby"
85. Aerosmith - "What It Takes"
86. Technotronic - "Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over)"
87. Mariah Carey - "Vision Of Love"
88. Janet Jackson - "Escapade"
89. Rod Stewart - "Downtown Train"
90. The Posies - "Golden Blunders"
91. The Pixies - "Dig For Fire"
92. Don Henley - "The Heart Of The Matter"
93. Madonna - "Justify My Love"
94. UB40 - "Here I Am (Come And Take Me)"
95. Iggy Pop - "Candy"
96. A Tribe Called Quest - "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo"
97. LL Cool J - "Boomin System"
98. Eric B. & Rakim - "In The Ghetto"
99. The Sundays - "Can't Be Sure"
100. Janet Jackson - "Alright"

I'm not big into 'cyclical' theories about pop music occasionally returning to a state it was once in before; I think that's usually a glib and selectively self-serving way of hammering the messy truth into a tidy narrative. But I feel like the musical landscape we're in right now is a bit like the late '80s and early '90s -- alternative rock is very polished and not very aggressive, only certain kinds of very slick or silly hip-hop cross over to the pop charts, R&B and pop and dance are all kind of tied up together into these very robotic, monolithic hits, the overall aesthetic was very bright and shiny and attention-grabbing and kind of ready to become dated at a moment's notice. Lotta great songs back then, though, really love a lot of this stuff, not saying that's all a bad thing.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 09, 2013 at 1:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.