US #1s of 1989

"Batdance" is a "strange" #1 in that the song doesn't contain a single memorable hook (and only made #1 because of, duh, Batman). Though again -- I have a feeling I'd be a little more receptive to it now.

I definitely dismissed Soul II Soul!! I thought they were real new age bores back then. But I've got to tolerate their debut album's groove over the years.

I can think of lots of #1 records without memorable hooks. (Usually they're just called "bad," too.)

True, though "Batdance" isn't merely devoid of hooks it's jammed with anti-hooks: moments that sound designed to scare me off.

xp I mean I've "come to like" Soul II Soul's groove over the years. Tolerate isn't strong enough. But I think part of the reason it seems better to me in retrospect than it did at the time is that nobody seems to make that kind of r&b anymore, and probably nobody has for years. (People called that stuff "swing-beat," right? Did anybody other than Soul II Soul do it? It probably helped, though, when I started thinking of them more as a continuation of the reserved and smooth-jazzy early '80s Brit-soul of people like Linx and Junior than as the exciting new thing they never were. Also, I was cranky then.)

ilm is the wind beneath my wings.

Did anybody other than Soul II Soul do it?

Well, I was totally obsessed with the "soul II soul beat" at the time (which didn't btw start with Soul II Soul -- an almost identical beat was used on Eric B's "Paid in Full" and it comes from another source entirely, I forget what though) and I own plenty of 12" singles from '89-90 with a variation on it (beat-wise I think of those years as a battle between the soul II soul groove and the "funky drummer" sample, which were around the same tempo though easily discernible from one another). Damn if I can remember now what all those singles are (the only one that comes to mind instantly is a 12" remix of Madonna's "Keep it Together"). I seem to think it crossed over a lot into MOR type stuff, precisely like Phil Collins and Quincy Jones et al.

BTW, the groove was totally revived (to the point where it sounds to me like a sample) in that Lloyd/Lil Wayne hit from last year "Around the World." And now that I think of it another big soul II soul groove song from the time was Lisa Stanfield's "Around the World." So um....

but Inner City's "Good Life" (though I now much prefer its followup, "Big Fun,")

weird. 'Big Fun' came first here.

Oops... the Lloyd/Lil Wayne is called "Girls Around the World" - freudian slip.

xp Maybe "Big Fun" was first here too. I honestly don't know. I guess because it wasn't an official hit I didn't get to know it until later.

three singles from '90 using that Soul II Soul beat: JT & The Big Family's 'Moments In Soul', Maureen's 'Thinking Of You', Enigma's 'Sadness Part 1'.

Cinderella - "Gypsy Road"

would definitely have voted for this had it been an option.

"Sadeness" -- yes, absolutely. Thanks Bondzilla.

Wasn't it (the Soul2soul/Paid in full shuffle beat) from "Don't look any further"?

I know the bassline on "Paid in full" came from there.

See, I guess this makes me an old person, or just not a DJ, or something, but I would never put "Paid In Full" or "Sadeness" or "Keep It Together"'s extended mix (all of which I love) in the same category as Soul II Soul, merely on the basis of one element of their sound (even if I'd noticed the similarity before, which I never did.) I think it's interesting that you guys do, but they just don't feel the same to me. Enigma feels more like Alec Costandinos, or Black Sabbath's "Supertzar" even! So when I say I think Soul II Soul were anticipated by Linx, et. al., I'm not necessarily talking about the beat; I'm talking about their whole Brit-soul sound.

I am convinced that many of you are frontin' when you say you hate this list of songs because so many of them are awesome (admittedly "The Living Years" is not awesome)

Okay I looked at the list again and I would like to retract my earlier accusation because really some of these songs should just go suck mouse dick (fuck you, Bad English, just fuck you, and take Richard Marx with you).

xp (to xhuxk)
Well, sure, each of those records has their own completely separate lives and genealogies (?) as well, all I'm suggesting is the S2S beat was one very specific common thread between them. And in a way, it probably WAS a "DJ thing" -- certainly it was for me in that I'd scour record bins for songs with that beat (almost didn't matter what else was happening in the song) because they were easy to mix together and it was FUN to mix them together. (Ditto the zillion "Funky Drummer" tracks available at the time though it became the most irritating cliche eventually.)

"Don't look any further" Hmmm, that might be it.

Not a word about "Hangin' Tough" so far, I see.

Everyone is trying to pretend it didn't exist.

chuck i'm only saying all those tracks use the same basic beat/break - no other meaningful connection. it's fair to say Soul II Soul were picking up brit-soul ethos baton from Linx and whoever tho sure. I don't remember anyone else around the time joining in tho (without veering into Acid Jazz territory).

1989, the year Rhythm Nation came out. so great! i've been listening to a ton of new jack swing lately. voted for "my prerogative" just over "miss you much" though i love both about equally.

so many awesome songs in 1989.

I don't give a single crap about anything here but Janet Jackson. And I hate the Bangles, I really really hate the Bangles. Everything by the Bangles, anything to do with the Bangles. End of sermon.

Obviously you've never heard "If She Knew What She Wants," "Hazy Shade of Winter," "Following..."

The Bangles - All Over the Place album is great. I would have thought Bimble would like "Going Down to Liverpool"

Staying slightly off topic, I wish Roxette's "Must Have Been Love" was on here because that is the kind of sappy ballad that gets to me.

"Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)" still sounds great to me; and "Dangerous" is their best popper.

Did we already do 1990? I want to vote for Maxi Priest "Close to You."

man that Bangles "Hazy Shade" is for me a huge example of a band covering a song and just blowing the original right out of the water.

yep. and "in my room" is flawless sexy mod-pop.

man that Bangles "Hazy Shade" is for me a huge example of a band covering a song and just blowing the original right out of the water.

No -- it's the TEXTBOOK example.

(admittedly "The Living Years" is not awesome)

I have to give it my vote for being a shamelessly manipulative "Cats in the Cradle" update that somehow transcends its by-numbers writing to effectively sell a schlocky message complete with a gospel choir knockout punch.

i'm a total sucker for songs about parents and children, but even i don't like that one.

Chuck and Scott should read this about the "Ashley's Roachclip" break (which Soul II Soul reconfigured): http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2008/05/this-is-the-sou.html.

thanks, that mix and writeup is excellent, though Rich's experience/definition is obviously somewhat different than my own, i.e., this strikes me as a little bizarre: "I was so strict with this that I didn't include stuff like Soul II Soul's Club Mix of 'Keep on Movin''..." To me, at the time, Soul II Soul -- regardless of the actual genesis of the beat -- were the outfit most associated with the beat. But maybe that's just how it hit me at the time.

man that Bangles "Hazy Shade" is for me a huge example of a band covering a song and just blowing the original right out of the water.

TRUER THAN TRUE.

But "Eternal Flame" remains a misstep. In this poll, "Straight Up" and "The Look" both demand my vote and are so incomparable to each other that I can't choose, so no vote.

a Bangles singles poll would be great!

eternal flame ownes

Obviously you've never heard "If She Knew What She Wants," "Hazy Shade of Winter," "Following..."

ARRRGH don't remind me of those first two! Shut up! yuck yuck yuck yuck..."Following" I had not heard before, though, and hearing it on You Tube just now, I admit it's a nice tune, a decent, earnest Indigo Girls-y effort. But everything, I mean everything I'm liable to hear of the Bangles on the radio or in public that was in any way a hit makes me want to puke all over the floor. If someone plays "Manic Monday", for example, I am walking out of that place so fast! And it's not because of some associative connection in my personal life at the time of their hits something, I don't know what it is. I just don't like it. There's a gimmicky cheese factor in there or something and I don't like Susanna Hoffs' voice very much.

BUT that said, when Bangles first appeared on the scene with this video in 1984, I actually liked them. I didn't buy the record, but I remember enjoying this song/video. It didn't do much of a dent in the charts, of course, that would come later:

The Bangles - All Over the Place album is great. I would have thought Bimble would like "Going Down to Liverpool"

But that's the thing! It's not THEIR SONG! Kimberly Rew wrote that song! Soft Boys! Katrina & The Waves! All much better artists/bands than the Bangles. Of course I love that song, it's wonderful. But not the Bangles' version.

"Miss You Much" is great, but you know, I don't really love anything here. Record production was in a very weird place this year.

But that's the thing! It's not THEIR SONG!

whatever, Geir

^^^haha--exactly what i was thinking!

Yeah, Michaelangelo, that "Ashley's Roachclip" blog entry was real interesting. I especially liked this:

Lloyd has now interpolated the two major components of PM Dawn's "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" - obviously, "Ashley's Roachclip" on "Girls," but there was also his use of the melody of Spandu Ballet's "True" in his 2006 single, "You." Do you think Lloyd and Prince Be are actually the same person?

And I shouldn't complain about people categorizing songs by certain beats, when I've obviously done the same thing with, say, the "Children of the Grave"/"Call Me" beat in my books. (More likely I'm just jealous when I don't notice them first!)

LOL at someone called me "Geir"...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Why do I always think of Roxette, "The Look" being a year or two later?

Totally satisfying results.

Yeah, I can live with this.

yo!

It's excruciating how pop radio wouldn't have allowed "Bust a Move" to top the chart (even though it's by "Wild Thing" co-writer Young MC), but it knocks most of these out of the water.

Anyway, I rank the year.