101 Dalmatian Street Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Umm, the title of your good songs list says "Steel's Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1993". Just pointing that out for you before the angry mob comes. Edited it out the same time you were going to point that out. No problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted July 31, 2015 Author Share Posted July 31, 2015 We're at the end of the month. You guys know what that means. Well, I'm still in the mood to review something good. And at the time being, we're going to be dancing to electro-pop like robots from.... 1984 IMO, this is without a doubt one of the best years for pop music and the best year-end list. I'm definitely going to have some fun with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted August 1, 2015 Author Share Posted August 1, 2015 I'm already done with 2005, but.... I'll do these if you do the same thing. I've heard the man. From Wumbo's Bottom 10 that is not on my Bottom 10: Over and Over: #85 - Boring all the way through, and yet so close to my Bottom 10. Just A Lil Bit: #75 - This doesn't really make me pay as much attention to how bad it is. It's still bad in my opinion, but I don't have enough to back up why I didn't like it in order for it to make my worst list. Get It Poppin: #82 - Hate. Consider it dishonorably mentioned. Mockingjay: #70 - This one I regret not putting any higher. Not the worst I've heard from this guy, but still proves the bad side of Eminem's music. Photograph: #49 - See my old post on the first page explaining my reasons why. You and Me: #44 - It's alright. I'm not in too deep on this song, but I still feel it has at least some charm, emotion, and a memorable-enough-chorus to prevent me from hating it. Sorry Wumbo. From Wumbo's Top 10: Let Me Go: #53 - Lel, brownie points. On topic, this almost made my top half and yet I didn't really find it as interesting as any other song the band released ("Kryptonite" for example.) It's still alright. Behind These Hazel Eyes: #11 - So close and yet so far. I love Kelly's music and this yet another shining moment for her, but I opted to putting this as my #11 so my list wouldn't look so biased towards the singer. Hate It or Love It: #43 - Unfittingly, I don't have as much of a love-hate relationship towards this song. I think it's alright and a step forward for 50 Cent who has released a bunch of bad eggs over the course of this year. Sugar, We're Going Down: #12 - Just behind These Hazel Eyes (SEE WHAT I DID THAR?) Love this song. I just happened to love the other 11 songs more than this one. Lose Control: #18 - Missy Elliot is really cool too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 EDIT: Sorry if I posted it without posting my #1. That was due to an accident. EDIT 2: The list is now complete and organized. Feel free to take a look. [My own guarantee for these lists: I get them done sometime after the start of the month.] 1984, everybody! It's surely a pretty good for television, movies, and maybe books, but I can say that 1984 was a very good year for Billboard pop music. I'll definitely say though that 1984 was a year for awesome, AWESOME music! It's not perfect, but still, this year at least had some 10/10 rock, 10/10 pop, 10/10 dance, and 8/10 ballads. Not only did this year give us the songs that made 1984 good, the year also brought us "Forever Young, "You Spin Me Right Round" (Both of which didn't chart in 1984, but still...), "(Pride) In the Name of Love," "It's My Life," and "Panama" to name! However, for a year that good, I have to get through the worst part first: giving you guys my worst list. Like I said, no year is perfect and the year-end list of 1984 did have some of its nasty bites. Steel's Top 10 Least Good Worst Hit Songs of 1984 Spoiler One thing about the list: I couldn't even come up with 10 songs in the -1 and -2 category altogether. So in this case, I don't dislike/strongly hate the first two songs, but my criticisms on them are based on a few, "nitpicks." AND second of all, I don't hate Lionel Richie. He had a couple of good select songs from, and a topnotch one from this year. That doesn't mean that I can't have a distaste for at least one Lionel Richie song.... 10. All Night Long (All Night) / Lionel Richie This one felt a bit more like a chore for me to listen to IMO. It just doesn't really seem to work for me. It's funky and soulful, but I think some of the lyrics felt already-been-done and they also play a large role in my distaste for the song. The worst part is the tasteless side of the lyrics, or otherwise the African-styled verse. That part in particular is just absolute gibberish. It is part of Lionel's sense of humor to be fair, but it doesn't click for me. I don't hate it, still. It's okay, but leans on the lukewarm side for me. Spoiler 9. I Still Can't Get Over Loving You / Ray Parker Jr. If I'm right, this is the follow-up to the fun, memorable, energetic Ghostbusters theme. Once again, it's on the list for a couple nitpicks. Simply put, I find this song kinda boring, and then there's one part of the song that really makes me ponder: I still can't get over lovin' you Every breath you take, I'll be watchin' you, girl Did he just recycle a couple lines from The Police's "Every Breath You Take?" On top of that, I don't see much of a rhyme or reason to interpolate from those two lines. SpoilerI'm already up to the next one. Now here is where the bad side of 1984 starts. 8. Sunglasses at Night / Corey Hart I'm liking where this is going, it has a good synth melody, I kinda like the dangerous attitude, and who am I kidding? This is on my worst list, and I can't even remember why? Don't switch the blade on the guy in shades Oh no Oh, now I remember. Okay, what's with this guy's voice? It was tolerate up until he tries to belt! Don't masquerade with the guy in shades Ugh, either he sounds like he has a tongue depressor in his mouth, or he sounds like he's choking on a toothbrush or something. His voice can at least resonate with the softer tone. Other than that, Corey Hart doesn't give me as much appeal besides the production, even with this: I wear my sunglasses at night So I can, So I can Forget my name while you collect your claim 'Cause what kind of pick-up line/sexual metaphor is that? Spoiler A lot of acts during 1984 picked a rock edge to add some charm to their material. And it worked for a lot of those people. For this singer? Not so much... 7. Twist of Fate / Olivia Newton-John Olivia Newton-John is the least person I'd suspect to go into this route. Even moreso than Lionel Richie. She can make pop-heavy songs like "Physical," catchy songs like "Summer Nights," and boring contemporary numbers like "I Honestly Love You," but when she breaks out the electric guitar, I get that iffy feeling. Olivia shows an unusual identity crisis when she sounds like she's somebody else. She's not Pat Benatar or Chrissie Hynde to name. The tone also feels a bit confusing for me. She either sounds motivational, sad, or distressed, and I'm not sure which either one fits Olivia's mood here. Spoiler Of course Chicago would still manage to screw themselves up. 6. Hard Habit to Break / Chicago This is just another day in the life for Chicago, a band that used to be pretty interesting back in the early 70s. This song yet again symbolizes their worse days: while they are as passionate as they'll be, it still has Peter Cetera's high-pitched voice, useless subject matter, and their high levels of schmaltz. With all that backlash I gave, I'll also make things a bit fair by saying that Chicago isn't one of my most hated bands, even during their cheesy pop ballad days. Moving on, my next pick can make my list a little bit controversial.... Spoiler Look away while you still can. The next one might be surefire to make me lose a lot of my brownie points, cookie kudos, muffin marks, bear claw badges, and any other pasty-related merit metaphors that I would come up with (except for brownie points, I'm a bit surprised that's a real phrase.) Let me say something very clearly, the band represented right here on the list is not a band that I hate. They're not even bad in general. I really do like this band. "Roundabout?" "Wonderous Stories?" Both very good songs. The Closer to the Edge album? Amazing stuff, I recommend checking that out if you guys wouldn't mind sparing time for that. I have a preference with their more classic stuff but not something that's like..... 5. Owner of a Lonely Heart / Yes For a band as exceptional as Yes, this was certainly a dud. So Yes wanted to deliver a more pop sound. Not a bad idea, but it could've worked. Here, it doesn't work for me, and I've got some things to say about this. First off, the production sounds pretty uneven. To specify, it sounds like Yes are trying to make a dance/rock crossover, yet that guitar solo at the climax feels so forced in and too screechy to fit in with the other midtempo sounds, as if it was a way to remind us of what kind of band they usually are. The sound of the singer's voice (which happens to be Trevor Rabin because of a change in line-up.) is kinda weak, most notably at the chorus when he sounds like his voice is cracking. Even some of the lyrics feel so awkward: See yourself You are the steps you take You are the steps you take? Well, no kidding. Shake, shake yourself You're every move you make So the story goes Owner of a lonely heart What kind of transition is that? This is supposed to tell a story in some way? Overall, this line-up of Yes did at least have some talent in their own hands and had a little bit of charm in introducing a new sound, so this isn't THE worst. Spoiler 4. Time Will Reveal / DeBarge Some pop ballads aren't a joy to listen to. This song definitely does little justice for me, and as far as I've heard from them, DeBarge doesn't seem like a good musical group. Aside from being incredibly boring, the falsettos and crooning is what really drags me down and it makes the song feel rather overemotional. What a useless song... Spoiler Let's talk about a band called Huey Lewis & the News. Because anytime is a good time to discuss this band. But in reality, it's because I'm going to revoke your guys' expectations of a certain song appearing on this list: I can assume that this song is how some people would pick on this band. Heck, on Blender's Top 50 worst songs list, it appears as #6. NUMBER SIX. Think about this for a moment: that's higher than "Informer," higher than "Invisible," higher than "Illegal Alien," higher than "What's Up," "You're the Inspiration," "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm," "Rico Suave," higher than anything else! And that's just one of few reasons why I don't trust Blender, because I felt they've overranked it. About the song, I think it's is a cute and fun little tribute to rock and roll, even not the best way to do one. Also, the curse cut-off was the only thing painful about it. "Heart of Rock and Roll" is also not on my list because one other song from them is worse in my views.... 3. If This Is it / Huey Lewis & the News This is probably the most useless that this band can sound. "Heart of Rock Roll" had a theme and some appeal to add to it. "If This Is It" .....is just a thing. Other than that, the song annoys me and jades me on one thing at the same time: this song sounds so ridiculously upbeat for what appears to be a break-up song. Bottom line, it's just really nothing valuable or interesting. Oh, and the end of the music video with the shark attacking is one of the goofiest things I've seen all day. Spoiler 2. Think of Laura / Christopher Cross Christopher Cross might as well have given us the most boring hit song of 1984. "Think of Laura?" For one thing, this song doesn't make me want to think of Laura, rather make me want to space out and then think of why I'm listening to such a dull, saccharine Christopher Cross song. But wait, how did this song get only as close as #2? Well, I can't hate a song just for being so incredibly boring. Christopher Cross is not even so bad of a singer if I had to redeem this in some way. As much as I never get the patience to sit through this song, the #1 song took some careful consideration..... Spoiler Why not pick the most useless and most talentless waste from the Class of 1984 as my #1? 1. Dance Hall Days / Wang Chung https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scs28GFW3dY (The music video had bare baby butts, mind you.) So what is about "Dance. Hall. Days" (Seriously, that's how they deliver us the chorus?) that made the #1 spot? Wang Chung themselves are just so incredibly corny and awkward, just like the song. I don't have the time to specify who's singing, but the singer sounds so uninterested and sounds like he's singing with a droopy tongue. Don't get me started with some of the lyrics: We were so in phase in our dance hall days We were cool on craze When I, you and everyone, we knew Could believe, do and share in what was true Those sentences just feel so sloppy and unnatural, it really gets on my nerves. Dance hall days love And I'm done. Most uninteresting and painful hit song of 1984. Wait until you guys get a load of my Top 10. I'll even have more to say than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Now it comes down to the best part of reviewing this: the best songs of 1984. Once again, one of the best years for pop music. This goes along with 1979, 1977, and 1983 as some of my favorite years. And as you guys would have guessed, I loved at least more than half of these songs. Before I even get started, I'm going to share a list of 40 (count it, 40) honorable mentions. Spoiler 50. Miss Me Blind / Culture Club 49. Church of the Poison Mind / Culture Club 48. State of Shock / The Jacksons and Mick Jagger 47. Drive / The Cars 46. Running with the Night / Lionel Richie 45. Tonight / Kool & the Gang 44. Time After Time / Cyndi Lauper 43. Eyes Without A Face / Billy Idol 42. Let's Hear it for the Boy / Deniece Williams 41. Jump (For My Love) / The Pointer Sisters 40. Uptown Girl / Billy Joel 39. Union of the Snake / Duran Duran 38. I Want A New Drug / Huey & the News 37. On the Dark Side / John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band 36. I Just Called to Say I Love You / Stevie Wonder 35. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues / Elton John 34. Head over Heels / The Go-Go's 33. She Bop / Cyndi Lauper 32. The Warrior / Scandal 31. Caribbean Queen / Billy Ocean 30. Legs / ZZ Top 29. That's All / Genesis 28. Love is a Battlefield / Pat Benatar 27. Pink Houses / John Cougar Mellencamp 26. Borderline / Madonna 25. Undercover of the Night / The Rolling Stones 24. New Moon on Monday / Duran Duran 23. Major Tom (Coming Home) / Peter Schilling 22. Cruel Summer / Bananarama 21. Oh Sherrie / Steve Perry 20. I'm So Excited / The Pointer Sisters 19. Footloose / Kenny Loggins 18. Karma Chameleon / Culture Club 17. Thriller / Michael Jackson 16. Cover Me / Bruce Springsteen 15. Here Comes the Rain Again / Eurythmics 14. The Reflex / Duran Duran 13. The Longest Time / Billy Joel 12. You Might Think / The Cars 11. Let's Go Crazy / Prince & the Revolution Won't be surprised if no one asks me about my opinion on those or any other songs since I'm considerably looking into more than half of the year-end list. Those honorable mentions and my Top 10 should also be the entire top half I have ranked. Alright, let's get it on!: Steel's Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1984 Spoiler 10. Holiday / Madonna I wouldn't say I'm a Madonna fan, but does have a lot of good songs up her sleeve, "Like a Prayer" and "Vogue" being two of my favorites. And there's this song, while I'll admit is not her best, is something I can get a lot of charm from. I can consider this as the "Happy of 1984." This song just gets me in that kind of mood and just free my mind about the bad times and make me want the good times, so I can relate to this and attain some free spirit through it. It's one of those times where Madonna is at her most spirited, earwormy, and danceable, and thus she settles the score as my 10th best of this year. Spoiler 9. Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Jr. For good reasons, this is one of the most important and memorable themes to a movie. It describes the movie brilliantly and gives Ray Parker Jr. the upper edge with his personality. It's a wonderful song and yet I haven't seen the movie or even the sequel, but then again, I absolutely loathe "See You Again" for a variety of reasons and I haven't even watched any of the Fast and the Furious movies. (Ugh, screw that song so much. I wish I could just get that off my mind.... *listens to Holiday*) Alright, where was I? To sum it all up, I love the Ghostbusters theme from start to finish. If you want an inescapable, memorable, and timeless movie tune, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Spoiler This is how I like my one-hit wonders.... 8. 99 Luftballons / Nena Man I love this song, and I don't even know German! Even the sound of this song can probs be comparable to Blondie or The Pretenders (the singer even looks kinda like Chrissie Hynde.), this song can still be topped with its insanely catchy synths and bassline. Taking a closer look at the song and a peak at the English version lyrics, I can also say the theme and subject matter relating to that is done in a clever way, 'cause the song is really good in a unique/strange kind of way with describing "99 red balloons in the summer sky" to describe nearing the end of the world. To rephrase, Nena adds their own kind of charm in here and it works spectacularly with me. Spoiler 7. Self Control / Laura Branigan Laura Branigan, the woman who brought us songs like "Gloria" and "Solitaire." If there was a song that defined her career, then "Self Control" is my best way of proving how talented she can be. The song is so good and interesting in a variety of ways. She's dangerous (with a catchy and heavy guitar opening to boot), she's pleasurable, she's funky, and she can also be pretty haunting. The song melds with those things very well and also sharpens the singer's personality right here. I also can't forget to mention how good of a singer she is. Sadly, she also died pretty young 11 years ago. R.I.P. Spoiler 6. Dancing in the Dark / Bruce Springsteen While I think the title track is the best off his Born in the USA album (which is on the year-end 1985 list), that doesn't stop another song having as much glory as I can give it. Yet another solid pop/rock crossover, I can really see why this is The Boss' biggest hit to date. Bruce Springsteen is as free spirited, passionate, and energetic as he can be in this song. It's just so much fun to listen to, that's how much I can at least describe of this. Spoiler OH WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO, GOT TO DO WITH IT? 5. What's Love Got to Do with It / Tina Turner It seemed like it was about time Tina Turner would go big as a solo artist. (The Ike & Tina cover of "Proud Mary" shows that Tina herself steals the show.) This proves as a big standout track from Tina's career. She's got those amazing vocals, and the song has its very infectious chorus and beats. Other than that, I also find it interesting how the song itself was handed to a group of different artists, namely Cliff Richard, Donna Summer, Phyllis Hyman, and a group named Bucks Fizz....(that name's never going to click for me.) It was good for Tina Turner to be doing this song, as she uses some of her personality to spark interest in the song. It very much suits her, I'll say. Spoiler So, how pleasurably guilty am I of loving this song? ....Frankly, I wouldn't call it so much of a guilty pleasure.... 4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun / Cyndi Lauper ....But I might be crazy enough to put it this high. This song is a living earworm all the way through. Cyndi Lauper uses so much variety to still make this song as infectious. You got the endless guitar riff, Cyndi's unusual vocal styles, the endless chorus and chanting by the climax, and also that strange and yet catchy instrumental after the first chorus. This song is just so much fun to listen to, what else could I really say? Spoiler Here's some talk about a band with a song that made it so close to my top 10: Just wonderful, a big crowing honorable mention. They also had another hit, and their biggest one, which is rather surprising since it's one of their softer songs, ("Drive.") but I still love it. In the year-end list, they had three songs. You might think there's not one The Cars song on my list, (lol puns) but guess again for there was.... 3. Magic / The Cars One listen of that synth, and you're already hooked. This just BARELY made the year-end list at #97, and needless to say, I'm happy to see it make it on there. Not only does this have one of the most catchiest synths I've heard, it's got some good guitar riffs, licks, and a nifty, small guitar solo. Without a doubt, this is one of the most funfelt songs The Cars came out with. This might also be absolute favorite song from this band. Spoiler 2. Jump / Van Halen And this is, without a doubt, Van Halen at their A-game. Man, how can a song inspired from a suicide scene be so good? With all seriousness, this once again shows how many fun songs 1984 has had. It's got a really neat and insanely catchy keyboard riff, really neat guitar playing, and also an uplifting tone to boot to bring you into that good mood. Like I said, the lyrics came from somebody attempting suicide on TV, accordingly, but the song somewhat subverts that little message in behind, so I can't really say it stops me from enjoying this song. Van Halen's best song for sure IMO. Now that this is taken care of, what could possibly be my #1 best? Spoiler 1. When Doves Cry / Prince [No video, because Prince hates us] The #1 song of 1984 is my #1 best song of that year, I have no regrets. This is easily Prince's best song in my opinion. A lot about this is so perfect: That opening guitar, that keyboard riffs, that storytelling, that amazing vocal work! How can I not put this as my #1? Prince has shown so much effort into this. And....I dunno what else to say, I've already summed it up as clearly. If any of you haven't listened to the song yet and you're wondering why I'm giving the song as much praise, just go and get this off of iTunes or track it down somewhere that isn't Youtube. I haven't listened to the album entirely or even own it, but I'd also suggest buying the Purple Rain album, you definitely won't be disappointed! Anyways, that's the end for 1984, new year-end list to be announced on the last day of the month. It's my guarantee. Final thoughts: Spoiler Songs I loved: 57 Songs I liked: 15 Songs I thought were okay: 20 Songs I thought were bad: 3 Songs I loathed: 5 Top half score: 100/100 Bottom half score: 118/100 (Talk about a year so good, it broke through this system.) Final: 94/100 The method I used to get 94 involved adding those scores together and dividing that by 112. (I used to have forgotten a small detail of the method I've used at first, but now I remember.) BTW, you guys should already know what I think of this year and how much I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyanideFishbone Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I love Duran Duran. They're my mom's favorite musical group, so I guess it rubbed off on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 As per request by Overlord Claps, I will review 1958. ....By the start of next month. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Sadly, I have to delay the 1958 list for this month and do it next month instead, but in the meantime during the wait, I have updated my Bottom 10/Top 10 list for the first year-end list I've reviewed from my recent shame, Footloose and Fancy Free Samples. For those who want to check it out or comment on it, my updated Bottom 10/Top 10 for 1997 is at the first post. Edited October 25, 2015 by Steel Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) After a 7 month break, you guys would expect me to post a list right now. For now, it's still alive. Sorry guys, I'm lazy. Now, I've got some good and bad news. The bad news is that the year-end Hot 100 list for 1958 is apparently a top 50. However, I'd like to believe that the Bottom 50, which is no longer on the Wikipedia page, is legitimate for when I make my lists. Good news is that I listened to all 100 songs that were in the list before the page turned into a top 50 list. Even more good news is that I will resume this topic this month. Even more bad news? This might be my last countdown for this topic, because I've been losing interest with this after a while. Edited March 16, 2016 by Steel Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) Alright, 1958. There were only 50 songs that topped its year-end list, but apparently there are some sources that indicate there's 50 more that represent this year in pop music. The music that represented 1958 was grandiose in crossover country, easy listening ballads, good old fashioned rock and roll, and good-or-bad novelty hits. Before I get into detail with my Bottom and Top picks, how should I describe them? Most of the bad stuff from this year only leans towards mediocrity, and most of the good stuff is year is....too good for words. 1958 was a great year for pop, but I wouldn't consider it the best year. Otherwise, I going to post both of my lists in one post, and that's because my thoughts are pretty small, but it will be worth it. I'll use this as my source: http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1958.htm Steel's Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1958 Spoiler 10. Bird Dog / The Everly Brothers For one thing, I'm not very big on The Everly Brothers. The Everly Brothers are indeed a talented duo, don't get too hasty. What is it about the song that makes it a contender for the Bottom 10, though? I have a limit towards a song's silliness, and the term for a lover's rival, "Bird Dog," itself comes across as too silly for me to try and enjoy this. "Bird Dog" is just a cheesy and ridiculous nickname, and it gives me a bit of cringy feeling than leave a good impression on me. The Everly Brothers have done better ("All I Have to Do is Dream," for example), and they can't do any worse. So, what's next? 9. He's Got the Whole World in His Hands / Laurie London This song definitely doesn't do me any justice. While kid singers aren't all bad (and seeing a hymn being a big hit is strange), I can't really take this guy's singing for his age in 1958. That, and in little time, the interest of listening to this song rubs off and it falls flat. 8. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine / Jimmie Rodgers For the way the song sounds, this one leaves me with an impression where I could look into this song in two different ways. There's the utter whoop-see daisy perkiness, and the dreary background tones in the chorus. For the most part, I dunno whether to see this song in a positive or negative light based on these two tones, and it turns up as a bit of a mess for me. 7. Sugar Moon / Pat Boone I don't hate this singer, but I have my limits when it comes to ballads like these. I don't really have as much patience for this, but considering its length, it's too short to be boring, but otherwise, it's really nothing special for me and still turns out bland. 6. It's Too Soon to Know / Pat Boone Make it double. It's a little known fact that I'm not big on Pat Boone, and he was very notable way back in the 50s. I'm also not a big contender for adult contemporary ballads. Pat is a good singer, but otherwise....it's just too boring for my tastes. And of course, my thoughts are no different from the last single, which is pretty much why I felt I needed to put this on the same list. Though, what makes Sugar Moon different is that it has a little more country flavor. 5. Just A Dream / Jimmy Clanton I love this song. But that was just a dream. Anything can't get blander than this though. It's more than just bland, it's a song about being in betrayal from love, and it's by-the-numbers with some melodramatic lyrics, as well as a voice that's only a bit mediocre, but doesn't really make it sound any better. 4. Short Shorts / Royal Teens Now let me introduce to you guys to one of these novelty songs from 1958. Is it a novelty that's worth listening to? It has no hilarity factor, at least for me. In fact, it's pretty useless, considering that it's only a few lines leading to the song. But for a dumb novelty song, it's pretty catchy, which prevents it from getting any lower. 3. Born Too Late / The Poni-Tails Oh, young love. To sum up this song, it's about someone who has a love interest older than her, and so she laments on being "born too late" to be with the guy. And that's what really annoys me, this song is just so sappy to the point of being bothersome, especially with the phrase "born too late." It's just tasteless. 2. The Purple People Eater / Sheb Wooley And there's also this novelty song that has become a very close contender to being my #1 worst hit song of 1958. Again, I don't get any novelty factor from this, but it's too silly to be considerably awful. What's annoying though that the song uses two other songs as elements ("Witch Doctor," "Short Shorts") and fails to incorporate into something good. Sheb Wooley at least moved on to greater things like being the person behind the Wilhelm Scream. The more you know. 1. Ginger Bread / Frankie Avalon I've had the hardest time handling Frankie Avalon, and this song exemplifies it. I cannot take Frankie Avalon's nasally voice over any of those novelty songs I've listed. Interestingly enough, this song just barely peaked at the bottom of half of the year-end list at #100. Overall, a song with bad vocals and worthless, cheesy undertones make this my #1 worst hit song of 1958. With this all cleared out, it's time for side B. Steel's Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1958 Spoiler 10. The Walk / Jimmy McCracklin If I could indicate that any of the songs from the list are underrated, this one sets a good enough example as one. Rock and roll played an important role on the charts in 1958, and "The Walk" is just one of them to appear on my top 10. To sum it up, it's good old-fashioned rock and roll with a catchy chorus and trumpet lines, along with the soulful vocals from Jimmy McCracklin. Really great song. 9. Topsy Part 2 / Cozy Cole This also falls under the underrated side, but it got pretty high on the year-end list. There were some pretty good instrumentals at this time, such as "Tequila." Then you got "Topsy Part 2," which dedicates its work to its percussion and sax. I chose this one as my favorite for how explosive it gets as it continues on, from its drum solo to its sinister trumpet sounds. It's certainly an amazement to listen to. 8. Ballad of A Teenage Queen / Johnny Cash He's got a couple songs on the full list, that's for sure. Most importantly, he's Johnny Cash, one of the most influential country singers of all-time. What makes this song an easy favorite is through Johnny Cash's voice, the background vocals, and for being pretty catchy. It's not his best, but it's one of his defining hits. 7. Sweet Little Sixteen / Chuck Berry Another notable act from that generation is none other than Chuck Berry. Overall, it's a classic little rock and roll tune, backed by Chuck Berry's catchy melody and top notch guitar playing. But what can you expect from Chuck Berry? Of course, there's more where that came from.... 6. Great Balls of Fire / Jerry Lee Lewis This isn't Chuck Berry, but it's another signature rock and roll song from 1958's catalog. Anyways, this is a song that's so much fun to listen to. What especially helps is Jerry Lee Lewis' melody and the catchy piano riffs. Worst part it, it's kinda short. Still, it's a surefire classic. 5. Summertime Blues / Eddie Cochran Why, here's another rock & roll splendor! This one would already seem self-explanatory, but it's got its own charm. It's one of the best definitions for the feel-good summer song for one that's about having the summertime blues. It's really fun to listen to. 4. Don't Let Go / Roy Hamilton They just get more energetic and pleasant as I come and go. Also being another iconic hit from the year, there's also Hamilton's voice that I can easily praise, it adds a lot more charm to it. It's yet another fun little rock and roll number. I could've warned you guys that there's a lot of these. 3. Peggy Sue / Buddy Holly Okay, starting right here, I'm going to have a little more to say. This song is none other than from the one guy who had a lot of potential. Sadly, Buddy Holly died tragically in a plane crash along with the The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. As for "Peggy Sue," what can I really say? It's got a neat little guitar solo, it's got a catchy melody, and the production work from the Crickets adds up to the song's greatness. It's indeed a timeless hit single. 2. Fever / Peggy Lee Let's move away from Peggy Sue for a moment and move on to Peggy Lee. In addition, here's a different type of song for once. This is a jazz ballad that works very well. Most of the song's credit for its brilliance is due for Peggy's voice, the style of the snaps and percussion, and the suspenseful atmosphere. It's all very neat and pleasant. So, what could be my number 1? I think you guys already know what that is.... 1. Johnny B. Goode / Chuck Berry "Alright, this is an oldie, but....well, it's an oldie where I come from." You guys read the title, you guys read the Back to the Future quote as well. When I saw this full list, "Johnny B. Goode" was instantly my #1 pick, and absolutely nothing else could really top this. It is undeniably amazing and one of the biggest rock and roll classics. Once you hear the opening guitar, you're already hooked. Chuck Berry is full of energy, and does everything to make this song so memorable and fun. In conclusion: go, Johnny, go! And that's everything I needed to cover up for 1958, now that I have finally posted this list. Will I ever make another one for this thread? Who knows, but at some point, I'm going to take a break from doing reviews (At least after I get my Top 10 Best Animations of 2015 list done). When I feel like reviewing again, I'll decide if I'll post a new top/bottom list. Edited April 1, 2016 by Steel Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Simpsons Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 I know this is an old thread, warning message below the thread, but since I'm a Billboard enthusiast too, I should speak my thoughts on at least most of the lists on Page 1. Not gonna do 1997's since you're gonna revise it like you said on Page 1 nor 1958's since I'm not very familiar with the year, but all I can say is that Johnny B. Goode is a bonafide classic. 1984: Spoiler Worst: 10. All Night Long (All NIght) / Lionel Richie (I actually think this is one of Lionel's better songs and definitely a better party song than, say, "Dancing on the Ceiling". It's a pretty catchy tune. I can even get past some of the cheesy lines in this song too.) 9. I Still Can't Get Over Loving You / Ray Parker Jr. (Very boring followup to "Ghostbusters". Ray Parker Jr. should've just stayed a one-hit wonder.) 8. Sunglasses at Night / Corey Hart (Well, all I can say is that Corey Hart is definitely not one of the best singers. Also, the synths in the song kinda remind me of "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics so that's cool, I guess.) 7. Twist of Fate / Olivia Newton-John (Oh god, I can't tolerate Olivia Newton-John's music at all.) 6. Hard Habit to Break / Chicago (Yeah, I think it's pretty much unanimous opinion that Chicago songs in the later years are pretty awful and this song is definitely no exception.) 5. Owner of a Lonely Heart / Yes (Okay, this song is one of my guilty pleasures from the list (along with All Night Long since it made it on here). This is definitely Yes' "Mr. Roboto" and far from being one of their best songs, but just like "Mr. Roboto", I kinda find some cheesy charm from this song that keeps me from hating it.) 4. Time Will Reveal / DeBarge (Boring pop ballad. Next.) 3. If This Is It / Huey Lewis & the News (I like Huey Lewis & the News better when they do more interesting songs (i.e. Heart and Soul, The Power of Love), not when they do boring, useless songs like this.) 2. Think of Laura / Christopher Cross (Never had a tolerance for any of Christopher Cross' songs either. Can't even think of a single song I remotely liked from him.) 1. Dance Hall Days / Wang Chung (Not really what I think of when it comes to #1 worst, but it's your list, mang. I only think it's mediocre.) Best: 10. Holiday / Madonna (A very funky Madonna song.) 9. Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Jr. (Along with Axel F, it is definitely one of the most iconic soundtrack songs I have ever heard.) 8. 99 Luftballons / Nena (I can't go wrong with either version of this song. Can't really understand the German version that much so I listen to the English version. Still kicks ass either way.) 7. Self Control / Laura Branigan (Sounds very funky and dark indeed.) 6. Dancing in the Dark / Bruce Springsteen (I can understand this being one of Bruce Springsteen's biggest hits. I liked Bruce Springsteen's hits in 1985 better, but this is pretty decent too.) 5. What's Love Got to Do with It / Tina Turner (Another pretty funky song on this list.) 4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun / Cyndi Lauper (I guess it would be considered a guilty pleasure to guys, but male or not, this is still a great song.) 3. Magic / The Cars (Almost forgot this song existed until I found this list. Definitely one of my favorites from The Cars (with "Let's Go" being my #1 favorite).) 2. Jump / Van Halen (Doesn't beat "Right Now" as my favorite Van Halen song, but it's pretty fun nonetheless.) 1. When Doves Cry / Prince (I like "Let's Go Crazy" more for how fun and upbeat it sounds, but this is Prince at his deepest and at his A-game. I have no problems with this being #1 on your list and #1 on the 1984 charts.) Summary: No doubt, one of the best years for '80s music. While I do like 1985 better by a small margin, '84 is my second favorite. 1993: Spoiler Worst: 10. Forever in Love / Kenny G (Still baffles me how Kenny G's music made it onto the charts. Did people just like boring elevator music?) 9. Saving Forever for You / Shanice (God, this is boring.) 8. To Love Somebody / Michael Bolton (Wait, the original was a Bee Gees song? Well, it is a pretty bad cover and I've never been a big Michael Bolton fan.) 7. I Got A Man / Positive K (Just mediocre.) 6. TIE: Whoomp! (There It Is) / Tag Team & Whoot, There It Is / 95 South (First of all, I'm not sure if I would place two different songs at different places at the same place on this countdown. That would just make it a Top 99. Aside from that, I would probably choose "Whoot" over "Whoop" for this list. Never really was a big fan of the latter while the former I kinda like for nostalgia reasons.) 5. The Right Kind of Love / Jeremy Jordan (Lame early '90s love song I never cared for.) 4. Nothin' My Love Can't Fix / Joey Lawrence (^) 3. Informer / Snow (Even though I can't really understand the lyrics, this song is sort of a guilty pleasure in the joke sense. Like, it's so bad, but at the same time, really ridiculous. And at best, Snow is at least better at being white than Vanilla Ice.) 2. Can't Help Falling in Love / UB40 (UB40, stay the hell away from Elvis, kthanxbye.) 1. What's Up? / 4 Non Blondes (I'm gonna have to respectively disagree with this choice. While Linda Perry does sound like she's yodeling in this song, I wouldn't really call it "torture to my ears". I save that phrase for shit like "Dirty Bit". Also, I do like the rock vibe to the song so I can't really hate it that much.) Best: 10. Hip Hop Hooray / Naughty by Nature (EYYYY OHHHH EYYYYY OHHHHH) 9. Ordinary World / Duran Duran (Haven't heard this song in 5 years until I saw it on this list. This song and "Come Undone" are great songs from Duran Duran's '90s output.) 8. I Get Around / 2Pac (Not one of my favorites from 2Pac, but still a great song.) 7. What About Your Friends / TLC (wait TLC existed in the early '90s too? I like more of their late '90s work the best, but this song is decent.) 6. Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) / Digable Planets (It's slick. It's cool. And it's definitely digable.) 5. Hey Jealousy / Gin Blossoms (The Gin Blossoms are a great band and this song definitely proves it.) 4. Nothin' but A 'G' Thang / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg (I don't think there's ever been a Dre/Snoop song I've ever remotely disliked. This one is no exception.) 3. I Will Always Love You / Whitney Houston (AND IIIIIIIIIIIEIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAYS like this song.) 2. It Was A Good Day / Ice Cube (Definitely, if not, my favorite song from Ice Cube.) 1. If I Had No Loot / Tony! Toni! Toné! (Cool song.) Summary: I think out of everything on the 1993 charts, I liked the alternative rock outputs like "Two Princes" and "Runaway Train" better. Not so much the rap and R&B output barring a few R&B/rap songs I liked. 2004: Spoiler Worst: 10. Walked Outta Heaven / Jagged Edge (First of all, it feels like the harpist at the beginning keeps strumming random notes for no reason. Besides that, eh, I've heard worse.) 9. She Will Be Loved / Maroon 5 (This song is okay. I can't really muster up any hate for Maroon 5's early work. Especially since it's way better than their later work.) 8. Turn Me On / Kevin Lyttle (This song would probably qualify more for "torture to my ears" than "What's Up" will ever do. While Linda Perry actually tries, Kevin Lyttle sounds like he's not even trying to sound great at all. Overall, a weak song.) 7. Hey Mama / The Black Eyed Peas (It's okay.) 6. Tipsy / J-Kwon (This song is guilty pleasure territory right here.) 5. One Thing / Finger Eleven (Yeah, when you compare this song to "Paralyzer", it's very dull and boring. Next.) 4. Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) / Eamon (Eamon is seriously one of the most hilariously pathetic one-hit wonders I have ever heard. There are way better breakup songs and way better "fuck you" songs than this one.) 3. One Call Away / Chingy featuring J-Weav (Never liked anything from Chingy's career and definitely not this one.) 2. Why / Jadakiss featuring Anthony Hamilton (Yeah, this is stupid, but I do like Anthony Hamilton's part and I do like laughing at stupid people asking stupid questions.) 1. Just Lose It / Eminem (Eh, while it is part of Eminem's decline, I wouldn't place it as my #1. Like, "Milkshake" is #1 worst material for me.) Best: 10. On Fire / Lloyd Banks (It's alright.) 9. Dirt Off Your Shoulder / Jay-Z (Pretty great Jay-Z song.) 8. White Flag / Dido (This was the Dido song I forgot about since "Thank You" overshadowed it more for me. Really beautiful song and Dido has a nice voice.) 7. Numb / Linkin Park (I don't really love Linkin Park. I think they're more of a hit-or-miss band. This song is more of a hit than a miss.) 6. Toxic / Britney Spears (Honestly, this would have to be my favorite Spears song. It's catchy, it's sexy, it's intriguing. Also, the catchy violin parts, don't forget about those either.) 5. All Falls Down / Kanye West featuring Syleena Johnson (A cool Kanye West song, but I can't really say much about it.) 4. My Immortal / Evanescence (Beautiful. Just beautiful.) 3. Overnight Celebrity / Twista featuring Kanye West (This song is okay.) 2. Hey Ya! / Outkast (One of Outkast's breakout hits and probably their funnest ever. I can see why it became a pretty popular song.) 1. Jesus Walks / Kanye West (Probably my favorite song out of The College Dropout album. While it's not my favorite Kanye song overall, it is definitely my favorite Kanye song out of 2004.) Summary: Not really a bad year, but I prefer 2005 better. 2005: Spoiler Worst: 10. Some Cut / Trillville featuring Cutty (Just a big fat mess of a song. Plus, that squeaky chair at the beginning doesn't help at all.) 9. Lonely / Akon (Let's face it. I have never really liked an Akon song outside of his guest performance on "The Sweet Escape" with Gwen Stefani (even then, he didn't do shit on that song anyways). This song is no exception.) 8. Incomplete / The Backstreet Boys (Apparently, this song existed and I was unaware that it existed. Nothing much I can say about this song except it's just so sappy.) 7. Run It! / Chris Brown featuring Juelz Santana (Scott Storch? Check. Chris Brown? Check. Terrible rap verse by Juelz Santana? Check-a-rooni. Three people involved in one terrible song.) 6. Let Me Love You / Mario (Mario is one of those singers that just doesn't show any emotion at all. I don't think he's as bad as the likes of Chris Brown or Jason Derulo, but I just think he's pretty pathetic.) 5. Candy Shop / 50 Cent featuring Olivia (Yep, another Scott Storch song that sucks even more. Not to mention that it's one of the most dullest sounding of 50 Cent's songs. Next.) 4. Wait (The Whisper Song) / Ying Yang Twins (I guess this is another guilty pleasure song for me.) 3. My Humps / The Black Eyed Peas (This is, like, the 2nd worst song to ever come out of The Black Eyed Peas. "Dirty Bit" is still number one, but this one is just as bad.) 2. Your Body / Pretty Ricky (Who is this guy and why does this song exist?) 1. Play / David Banner (This song, I can definitely understand being your #1. Just a very steaming pile of shit.) Best: 10. Ordinary People / John Legend (Ordinary song. I sometimes confuse the title of the song for "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran.) 9. We Belong Together / Mariah Carey (No doubt that Mariah Carey is one of the best female singers. This song is pretty good too.) 8. Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Green Day (One of the first Green Day songs I have ever heard. Definitely a great song, but not the best. Also, I love the guitar breakdown at the end.) 7. Holiday / Green Day (While "Boulevard" was more emotional and dark, this one is more upbeat and I definitely love it.) 6. Best of You / Foo Fighters (This song is definitely THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST.) 5. Since U Been Gone / Kelly Clarkson (The first Kelly Clarkson song I ever heard. <3 This one is a 2005 classic.) 4. Mr. Brightside / The Killers (I mean, sure, the verses are repeated, but it just works perfectly in this song.) 3. Gold Digger / Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx (One of the songs that shows Kanye's personality the best.) 2. Feel Good Inc. / Gorillaz (As far as virtual bands go, Gorillaz are awesome. Both this song and "Clint Eastwood" both prove that statement. I also really love De La Soul's rap verse in the song, and I mean I REALLY love it.) 1. Because of You / Kelly Clarkson (Not as good as "Since U Been Gone" or "Behind These Hazel Eyes", but it's still great.) Summary: Better than 2004, but not as great as 2003 (which honestly has to be my favorite 2000s year though I should probably take a closer look at it). 2014: Spoiler Worst: 10. Animals / Martin Garrix (While EDM music doesn't really have a place on the Billboard charts, I still like it better than the other "Animals".) 9. Blurred Lines / Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I. ("Get Lucky" is a song that deserved to be "Summer Song of 2013", not this one. You know I hate it.) 8. Na Na / Trey Songz (Boring and dull. That's all.) 7. This Is How We Roll / Florida Georgia Line featuring Luke Bryan (Rap country has to be one of the worst crossover genres ever.) 6. Adore You / Miley Cyrus (Snooze.) 5. Say Something / A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera (Even more snooze. Such a shame this was the one that was more popular since some of their other songs are actually pretty good.) 4. Wiggle / Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg (Just like all of his other songs, completely worthless. I can't really place any blame on Snoop's part, but I bet he'd be pretty annoyed with Derulo too.) 3. Don't Tell 'Em / Jeremih featuring YG (Very repetitive and annoying.) 2. Animals / Maroon 5 (Between Martin Garrix and Maroon 5, this is the worse "Animals". Cannot stand Adam Levine's voice on this song. Not to mention that Levine sounds like a fucking stalker.) 1. Trumpets / Jason Derulo (Completely stupid. Jason Derulo just gets worse each year and this song is probably his most unbearable. Is it weird that this song reminds me of a Chris Brown song?) Best: 10. Leave the Night On / Sam Hunt (Eh, I don't really have any feelings for this song.) 9. Habits (Stay High) / Tove Lo (I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed this song. It's a completely interesting concept.) 8. Royals / Lorde (As someone who was a bit tired of the old trends in pop, it was refreshing to see this song and artist.) 7. Love Runs Out / OneRepublic (Songs like this and "Counting Stars" bring out the more interesting side of OneRepublic and I like that.) 6. Come With Me Now / KONGOS (Another favorite of mine from 2014 too. The rock hits this year really rocked.) 5. Do What U Want / Lady Gaga featuring R. Kelly (Pretty sexy.) 4. Don't / Ed Sheeran (Eh, I like it at best.) 3. Rather Be / Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne (One thing I like about this song is how similar it sounds to "Lights" by Ellie Goulding. And Jess Glynne has a nice voice.) 2. Ain't It Fun / Paramore (Yes, this song is indeed fun.) 1. Chandelier / Sia (Sia is one of those very eccentric artists and I do find this song rather catchy.) Summary: Not really a big fan of this year's music tbh. Sorry for the non-descriptive criticisms, btw. 2015: Spoiler Worst: 10. Worth It / Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink (To me, Fifth Harmony is either a poor man's Spice Girls or an even worse Pussycat Dolls. Kid Ink doesn't make the song any better, by the way.) 9. Jealous / Nick Jonas (Never really was a big Nick Jonas fan anyways.) 8. Tuesday / iLoveMakonnen featuring Drake (Okay, first of all, what the hell is wrong with your name, iLoveMakonnen? It sounds like an iCarly episode name. Second of all, this song is just mediocre. But seriously, what the fuck is with your name?) 7. See You Again / Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth (Eh, it's not that I love this song to make my Top 10, but I do think it's a bit too emotional for me to hate. And not gonna lie, but I do like Charlie Puth's chorus.) 6. Bitch Better Have My Money / Rihanna (Very mediocre Rihanna song.) 5. No Type / Rae Sremmurd (Just your standard old terrible rap song. Next.) 4. Fight Song / Rachel Platten (For a fight song, I would think of something among the lines of "Eye of the Tiger" or "You're The Best Around", not this boring schlock.) 3. Dear Future Husband / Meghan Trainor (I don't think anyone would want to be Meghan Trainor's future husband after hearing this. Meghan, no future husband wants to do all of your dirty work. Be an independent woman.) 2. Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae) / Silento (What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's a very bad song and it makes me want to break my legs like Silento wants me to in the song. Watch me change to a much better song.) 1. Marvin Gaye / Charlie Puth featuring Meghan Trainor (I honestly wasn't expecting this song to crawl up my skin so much, but the slow and same Trainor doowop production sucks and the references to Marvin Gaye are just cringy. Marvin Gaye honestly deserved better than this song.) Best: 10. Time of Our Lives / Pitbull & Ne-Yo (Never really heard much of this song to judge it, but it's decent, I guess?) 9. I Don't Fuck with You / Big Sean featuring E-40 (One of the few Big Sean and DJ Mustard songs I can actually enjoy.) 8. Talking Body / Tove Lo (Tove Lo <3. I absolutely love her work and I find this song pretty sexy.) 7. Love Me Harder / Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd (I honestly shouldn't have shrugged The Weeknd off after hearing "The Hills" (which I admit, grew on me pretty quickly). He is definitely more talented than some of the other Canadian artists I've ever heard *coughcoughDrakecoughcough*. 6. Blank Space / Taylor Swift (Not much of a big fan of Taylor Swift's work, but that doesn't mean that I'm not a fan of her 2015 work. She really did pretty well this year. (Besides "Bad Blood", which I think we can all agree sucks.) 5. Ghost / Ella Henderson (Pretty decent song.) 4. Uma Thurman (See this, Meghan Trainor? This is how you do a proper tribute to somebody. Or at least properly make a song referencing him/her in the title. I absolutely love The Munsters sample that was used in the song. Mostly because it sounds like something that you would hear in Pulp Fiction. Clearly Fall Out Boy at one of their best.) 3. Uptown Funk / Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars (It was great in 2014, and it's still great in 2015. When it comes to '70s throwback songs, this is clearly one of the best of them.) 2. Style / Taylor Swift (Okay, I swear I didn't even watch Todd's Best of 2015 list before thinking of this as my #1, but after hearing this, can you honestly blame me? This is Taylor Swift when she's at her very best. It has to be my (and probably everyone's) favorite Taylor Swift song this year. It never goes out of style is basically what I'm saying.) 1. Shut Up and Dance / WALK THE MOON (I have to say that I really liked this song before it even became popular. If "Uptown Funk" is the best throwback to '70s funk, then this song is the best throwback to '80s pop/rock. The synth solo honestly wants to make me go on ecstasy and dance. If you don't like this song, shut up.................and dance.) Summary: 2015 is definitely a bigger improvement on pop music than 2014. While 2015's bad songs are worse than 2014's, the best songs of 2015 are better than 2014's. So yeah, this year really did pretty great for pop music. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted June 24, 2016 Author Share Posted June 24, 2016 Since I just remembered that I was planning on re-reviewing 1997 after updating my lists for the second time (mostly because I was not proud of any of my reviews from the dead Footloose and Fancy Free Samples thread, besides my 2004 countdown), I'm going to revive this thread for this one occasion. I can't say when, but I'll leave you guys to think what is and what isn't on my best and worst lists for the year, compared to when I reviewed it for the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 (edited) Before I begin my talking about 1997 in pop music, I'm going to start things off with a bit of a preamble, which is mostly about my presence as a music reviewer and this thread in general. I have a bit of a confession, as I got a little too perked up in having the opportunity to make my own year-end lists review thread. In other words, most of the years I've covered, except 1958, were handpicked. 1997 was also handpicked, but this was before I started this thread. I just want everyone to know that the one year-end list I'd do would've not been handpicked if I continued doing these reviews consistently after 1984. I stopped doing these on a certain basis because doing year-end Hot 100 reviews stopped being fun to me, and just sometimes I felt like I started a bit of a trend as to where Claps once joked about SBC turning into the "Year-End Countdown Community." Jokes will be jokes, but still, I've made myself feel like I started a trend. Also, after I finish writing up the top/bottom ten hit songs of 1997 and of this year, I'm going to take a halt in reviewing music, as I felt like I needed to break away from doing that. It's necessary that I cover the year-end Hot 100 of 1997, since I have already reviewed it, and I wasn't really proud at all of how I first reviewed it, looking back. So yeah, sorry folks, looks like the legacy of the Year-End Countdown Community won't live on. Anyways, I can finally revisit this year in pop now that I have some time to kill. I've got to admit, 1997 was a great year for music. This year came out with critically successful albums from the likes of Radiohead, Biggie Smalls, Spiritualized, Foo Fighters, Ween, and the Chemical Brothers. (most of which I haven't mustered up the time to listen to in full, but you get my point when I called them critically successful.) Then there's the pop scene, which was fairly decent. This was the year that gave us iconic hits like "Don't Speak," "Men in Black," "Walkin' on the Sun," "One Headlight," "If You Could Only See," "Push," and "The Impression That I Get." But contrary to success on the radio from each of those songs, neither one entered the Hot 100 due to a past rule that a single needs to have a physical release, so by Billboard's standards, those didn't count as true pop hits, and that was just one pitfall for the year-end hot 100 of 1997. The year-end list of 1997 was an absolute snooze-fest. It was grandiose of run-of-the-mill R&B, good-to-average electronic and pop, and a fairly small presence in crossover rock, it was just an incredibly boring year for the Hot 100 at that time. While there's a fair amount of bad songs that year, the good stuff wasn't all that good. This was the first year-end list I've ever covered, and I still stand by my opinion that this is the worst top 100 list for any pop year that I have witnessed. Enough of that, it's time start things off with.... Steel's Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1997 Spoiler Before any of you guys ask, the following songs are not in my bottom 10: "Barbie Girl," "MMMBop," "Macarena," "I'll Be Missing You," and "Wannabe." An explanation for this would turn up later, but yeah, now you guys know that this list isn't so easy to predict. In a revised list, there's a lot of changes between the first one I've done, and the one I'm writing up now. Some of my past picks are still present, but the newest additions to these lists are generally some of the most overlooked in how bad or good they turned out to be upon re-listen. Also, my #1 worst pick for this year is not the same as last time, considering that I took "Let Me Clear My Throat" a little too seriously and that it actually grew on me spite still being very silly. To cap things off with #10, let's discuss the biggest girl group of that year: The Spice Girls.... 10. 2 Become 1 / The Spice Girls Depending on who you ask, "Wannabe" is the song people would bring up to put the Spice Girls into infamy. "Wannabe" may be obnoxious, but in the end, it's nowhere near as hollow as this, since "Wannabe" at least can be a fun, little obnoxious tune sometimes. Why I've traded "Wannabe" with "2 Become 1" is because the latter is simply a slow, sentimental pop ballad. So, it's no surprise that I wouldn't have the patience to sit through this. I can see why people hardly ever associate the Spice Girls with this song being one of their most notable, it's anything but interesting. I just don't attain anything from this. To sum it all up, the singing lacks any sorta punch compared to their other two hits from this year. It's schmaltzy, and it just flat out bores me to death. Spoiler 9. 4 Seasons of Loneliness / Boyz II Men Boyz II Men is the biggest R&B group of the 90s. As you can see, one of their songs are in my Bottom 10, but I just need to point that Boyz II Men are capable of making interesting R&B ballads and slow jams. To me, "4 Seasons of Loneliness" is where they are at their blandest. I mean, these guys have always been charming and sentimental but listening to this song makes me feel like I've heard it all before through the rest of their pop ballads. Otherwise, I have a limit when comes to these type of "I miss you so much" ballads. Either I think the songwriting, preferably when Boyz II Men compare love to all four seasons is subtle...or just too cheesy to handle. This group made a few exceptional love songs, but I don't have the patience for this generic ballad. Spoiler Behind Elton John, the #2 spot on the year-end Hot 100 belongs to a singer named Jewel. And the song in particular is another A/B side hybrid, like Elton John's big hit. For a young age, she made her first impression with her soulful type of singing voice, as heard in her debut album. "Who Will Save Your Soul" is undeniably where Jewel shows off her talents. Eventually, she released two other songs from her debut as A/B sides and it became her biggest pop hit. Needless to say both "Foolish Games" and "You Were Meant for Me" sounded pretty good on the album, but as it seems, Jewel had to find a way to earn bigger success on the pop charts, so what did she do? She released pop versions of them, of course....and it stripped away what made those songs fairly decent. 8. Foolish Games // You Were Meant for Me / Jewel My feelings on the two radio versions of these songs lead me up to this one question: why change the voice? Still, I can understand why these songs needed to be pushed into pop territory, but there's something about the change in vocal style that makes my skin crawl. Both songs are on the bottom 10, mostly for the biggest hit out of the two: "You Were Meant for Me." While there is some solemness in Jewel's voice in the original cut, Jewel's voice in the more popular one sounds just too distressed and mopey. Sure that doesn't make the song feel less sincere, but it's so melodramatic to the point where it annoys me. But now, her voice can't be only reason why it landed somewhere on this list. There's even the subject matter that I find to be pretty weak. It's not all bad, but some parts of the narrative linger towards some of the "we're broken up, but I miss you" song cliches. And while I got that song out of the way, I might as well talk about some of the problems I have with "Foolish Games" as well. However, while I don't find that song as bad as the last one I discussed, I do see a problem within some of its overwritten lyrics, as they just feel so klutzy to me: You're always the mysterious one with Dark eyes and careless hair, You were fashionably sensitive But too cool to care Your philosophies on art, Baroque moved you You loved Mozart and you'd speak of your loved ones As I clumsily strummed my guitar So yeah, the original, studio recordings of these songs are fine enough, but you change your voice for a kind of occasion like this, it ends up sounding clumsy and melodramatic. Spoiler Let's talk about a few things, for a brief moment. First thing to discuss is Space Jam, one of the biggest movies of 1996, and its hit singles off of the soundtrack are some of the biggest selling songs of 1997. Second, there were those two singers that were huge during the 90s, spite lacking any personality, and they were none other than Brandy and Monica. Brandy didn't have a charting hit that year, but Monica did contribute to the Space Jam soundtrack, and man was it unappealing.... 7. For You I Will / Monica I think I can see why this song ended up in the Space Jam movie and soundtrack: In a nutshell, the songwriting and the main subject is just as looney as the Looney Tunes, based on how kitschy and saccharine it is. The songwriting in general brings absolutely nothing interesting to the table, as it's basically a bunch of love empowerment cliches piled up into one. Most of all, this hardly even fits within the mold of the Space Jam soundtrack. I mean, from the same soundtrack, we did have R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" is a slow, emotional ballad - a follow-your-dreams type of song generated towards Michael Jordan in the movie, (and it all works to boot, I'll talk more about the song later), but I can see some sense for the latter being in the movie a lot more than the former. I will cross the ocean for you? I will go and bring you the moon? Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Oh, and do you want to know what this song really reminds me of? "Glory of Love" from the second Karate Kid movie. While it's miles worse than "For You I Will" thanks to Cetera's irritating singing voice, it inherits the distinction of having various, cliche love song tropes, and being the most misplaced, award bait song of the bunch. Spoiler Y'all ready for this? You bet I am! Nothing makes out as such a crowd-pleasing jock jam than "Get Ready For This." This wasn't just a jock jam from the 90s, it was THE jock jam of the 90's. When it gets backed up with a series of catchy synths, you'd know why it would make everyone in the stadium rave along to this. Yet for such an iconic song from the decade, the original song never made it past #38 on the Hot 100. Somehow though, we were given another version of this song for the radio and the charts, and it was successful enough to peak at #31. And how would anyone possibly attempt to make this crossover as a top 40 hit yet again and succeed? Perhaps by turning it into corporate garbage.... 6. The Jock Jam / ESPN...sorta One thing I'll point out is that this is a mash-up. Because it's a mash-up, it's got an impressive list of songs used as samples. In other words, it's a bunch of various other sports jams layered and mix-mashed with "Get Ready for This" However, do all these samples work well enough to make this song a good mash-up? In my eyes, it's a big mess. It uses samples from all these other sports songs in a grandiose fashion, and it's really distracting to me, especially when they drop the "Y.M.C.A.", a song miles apart from 1997's era in pop, into the mix. It should also be a give that I expressed distaste for a few of these sampled songs, namely "Tootsee Roll," "I Like to Move It," and "Whoomp! (There It Is)." So yeah when it comes to this mash-up, I can never see myself pumping up the jam, wanting to move it, move it, give it up, strike it up, and stay at the Y.M.C.A. to this when it begs me to. Spoiler 5. Return of the Mack / Mark Morrison It certainly can't be that bad. It's got a nice R&B groove, the singer has some nerve to tell off her ex-girlfriend...and....oh my god, I can't even pretend anymore, this is awful! Let's move over to the main problem I have with this song: Mark Morrison's voice. Not only have I gotten some Akon vibes from this guys voice, but almost every time, he sounds like he's trying to sing while eating a snack. Which brings me to another subject, which is the chorus. The more I listened to the chorus, I more tedious and repetitive I found it to be. While the whole recovery from a break-up thing is fine, it doesn't quite help for me that Mark isn't just directing this towards his ex, but he's making an acknowledgment towards his whole audience that he's got his flow, he's making his comeback, and....I just can't take any part of this seriously. It could've been a very decent song, but within time, it got ruined by an annoying singer, a tedious chorus, and poor songwriting. Spoiler As some of you guys might have already known, "Go the Distance" is one of many of my favorite songs in animated films. It's solemn, it's uplifting, and it's pretty powerful, backed with some great singing talent. Yep, and it was only a matter of time til someone creates a pop version of this song, and the person who took the helm to write an extended, pop version of this Disney song is....Michael Bolton. 4. Go the Distance / Michael Bolton Michael Bolton is the type of artist that I don't want to pit down so much. Most of his songs come off as harmless, (And by most, consider the fact that he's got song titles like "I Said I Loved You But I Lied," and "Can I Touch You...There?"), even though he doesn't have the voice to back it up. The biggest pitfall in Bolton's music is usually his watered down cover versions of various songs. His cover of "Go the Distance" is a prime example of watering it down into something that sounds so pathetic. Michael Bolton doesn't even sound like that he can go the distance, rather he needs someone to help him go the distance. As usual, his voice isn't doing him any favors, sounding as mopey as ever. Everyone do me a favor and just stick with the original. Spoiler 3. Gotham City / R. Kelly R. Kelly is not a bad singer/artist at all, he's even got a spot on my top 10 (spoiler alert), but whenever I'm trying to analyze this song, it really makes me wonder if R. Kelly knows exactly what he's talking about. So get this, the song is about Gotham City, the main setting from the Batman franchise. Furthermore, you got R. Kelly establishing on how Gotham City should be a city of justice, love, and peace. ....Look, I have not read any of the Batman comics or watched any of the Batman movies (shameful for me, I know), I must argue how Gotham City: a city that was founded on the soil of a war site, a city renown for its crime rate, a city with such a dark and moody taste in the air, should be and always be a city for love, peace, and justice. Oh, and why not throw a gospel verse at the middle of the song? That would definitely make more sense towards the subject of this song (!) In other words, I'm just not buying into this plead for peace that R. Kelly's trying to convey. Trying to establish a social message towards the troubles people face in a fictional city just isn't going to work for me. 2. My Baby Daddy / B-Rock and the Bizz After skimming through an amount of boring smut, we have now come across the most obnoxious kind of pop music that 1997 had to offer. From what I can imagine, this song is about a weird phone conversation, but with "that's just my baby daddy" repeated ad nauseam. Just listening to that chorus whenever it pop ups feels like ear poison. This song is straight-up obnoxious, and there's nothing I could say more of how grating it is to listen to the high pitched female voice and the MC arguing over the girl on the phone on how she's lying to him and such. Spoiler My #1 song of this year was "Mo Money, Mo Problems." Is it still my number one even to this day? Who knows? Anyways, I bring it up because Puff Daddy and Mase were two of the special guests (other than Kelly Price) in that song. Funny to say, they also have the #1 worst hit song of this year.... 1. Can't Nobody Hold Me Down / Puff Daddy featuring Mase Upon first listen, I didn't know what to think. I used to think it was kinda alright, lingering towards average. Upon a few more listens, I've realized how awful this song turned out to be. While I've ripped on "My Baby Daddy" for being annoying, nothing can excuse sheer, utter laziness, which is my exact definition of "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." Just to break things down, Puff Daddy and Mase both sound so uninspired and passionless, the flow feels really limp, and that's even limited to how the two samples are executed. You can do something good with a certain sample, even with "The Message," but on here, the duo sound like they're rapping over the beat of the "The Message" while drunk. With all seriousness, just get a load of this: http://www.tubechop.com/watch/8530921 There's also the "Break My Stride" sample, but given how I've already expressed that Puff and Mase sound lifeless, that doesn't make things any better either. Simply put, this is just an awful, weak, thoughtless song all the way through, making it my worst hit song of 1997. And that should be the end of my bottom 10 countdown. Sooner than later, I'll write up and publish my top 10, including my full rankings list for not only the year-end list of 1997, but for every other year that I've covered, so keep your eyes peeled. Edited November 6, 2016 by Steel Sponge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Simpsons Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 I think part of the reason why I like 1999's year-end is because it featured a lot of artists and groups that this year and 1998 didn't. Groups and artists that didn't appear in those years like Sugar Ray, Matchbox 20, Fastball, and Smash Mouth (Seriously, even "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia didn't qualify) all made an appearance on 1999's year-end. I felt like that year was more of a turning point from both 1997 and 1998 and I think that justifies my love for that year. Though I am sure that 1998 had a bit of a helping hand in that as well (Barenaked Ladies and The Verve say hi). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 (edited) It's time to cap off the year-end list 1997 in pop with a wide selection of songs that helped prove that it wasn't all boring. Suffice to say, it wasn't so hard to make my top 10. In fact, do you want to know how many songs from the list I've enjoyed? Fourteen - a small number of tracks that fulfilled my enjoyment in comparison to other years I covered by far. And I'm not talking about the rest of the songs that rank on the "good" spectrum, I'm talking about the ones that fall under the "fantastic" spectrum, so it was a choice between 10 songs out of 14 for consideration of my top 10 best list. Alright, now let's get down to the best of the bunch, this is.... Steel's Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1997 Spoiler 10. I Believe I Can Fly / R. Kelly If there's anybody we can thank for making the Space Jam soundtrack a success, we can express that thanks towards R. Kelly. While I have ripped on his other hit soundtrack single "Gotham City" for having a ridiculous social message, I think the singer really finds his place in making a made-for-movie hit song with this. If you think it's unsettling that the song is made for a film about Michael Jordan teaming up with the Looney Tunes in a game of basketball, here's the deal: Space Jam is primarily about Michael Jordan's finding his way back into his basketball career. Needless to say, "I Believe I Can Fly" was a neat fit for that type of environment. And what else can I say? It's a genuine and heartfelt ballad about following one's dreams. It opens up with some beautiful orchestration and nears the end with a melodic choir. It's something that seems so simple, yet R. Kelly manages to make that work really well. Spoiler 9. Semi-Charmed Life / Third Eye Blind I'll be honest when I say that I used to have some mixed feelings about this song. I thought the instrumental was too familiar for me and I found the biggest pitfall within the incredibly random and awkward sounding lyrics. Two years later, it grew on me and I've gotten past all that. While I still find some lyrics to be pretty clumsy, I can't really say they are such a big issue as I thought they were before when I started out reviewing pop music. All in all, it's a re-playable, mindless fun song about....the singer's crystal meth addiction....even when that's true about the song's content, I can still find myself enjoying this, even in an ironic sense. Spoiler 8. Tubthumping / Chumbawamba Between this and "Semi-Charmed Life," I found more alternative rock fun within "Tubthumping," a song about drinking the night away, added with some political subtext. I'm not an open book about politics, even in the band's home country, all the way in the UK, but this song is still enjoyable for me. For a song that's focused mainly on its chorus, it really gets me moving. It's infectious and it definitely adds up to the anthemic, vigorous tone of the track. Nothing more I could really say here. Spoiler 7. Honey / Mariah Carey Like every other year-end list of the 90s, we got a hit from Mariah Carey, and it's a really good thing that this year had a Mariah Carey. To put it simply, it's as sensually appealing as Mariah Carey can get with this track. The production evens backs it up with a some samples to express the romantic-sounding undertones. While I think there are some other Mariah Carey songs out there that's better than this, "Honey" still proves to be an exceptionally great song for 1997 in pop, as well as being another winner for Mariah Carey and her music for delivering a playful, gritty, romantic tune. Spoiler 6. Cold Rock a Party / MC Lyte featuring Missy Elliott Now here's something I overlooked back when I first reviewed the year-end list. When it comes to party songs this year, this one definitely takes the cake for me. It's got a really nice, funky sound, a catchy chorus, and of course it's got Missy Elliott, which is already enough to make me feel hooked. I can't forget to mention the two rappers either, both Missy and Lyte deliver with an interesting flow. This isn't the only hip hop jam I'm going to discuss, but overall, it's a really fun song. Spoiler 5. Hypnotize / The Notorious B.I.G. Biggie Smalls is one of the most well-respected rappers from the 90s. It was such a shame that he got murdered (he was only 24!) before he could live to see some success from his sophomore album. This was Biggie's last single release at the time he was alive and it topped the charts sometime after his death. Enough with the history, let's talk about what makes this song so good. I love the funky beat sample (taken from Herb Alpert's "Rise."), and....well, it certainly lives up to its title. At the same time, Biggie Smalls serves a hypnotizing flow and a hypnotizing hook. Overall, it's yet another great little hip hop jam. Spoiler 4. C U When U Get There / Coolio featuring 40 Thevz Moving on to some more hip hop from this year, here is one that I find pretty underrated. In general, it's a charming, laid-back, rap song. Then you got the main melody, courtesy of 40 Thevz. Honestly, I love the hook (based on Pachelbel's Canon to boot) a little too much to help provide this spot towards the song. Coolio also does a really fine job with the track, providing himself with a spirited flow. And I think that just about sums up all my thoughts on the song. Spoiler 3. Sunny Came Home / Shawn Colvin For someone who ended up being a one-hit wonder, this singer really had me overwhelmed with a serviceable, haunting, folk rock tune. I especially enjoyed the narrative of the song, which establishes a story about Sunny, who plans to escape from her past by burning down her house. While the storytelling and lyrical content provided are my biggest compliments, Colvin also really sets the mood on this track with a melody that not only sounds eerie, but also quite catchy. Simply put, it's a fantastic song that deserved the praise it has gotten, as well as having the distinction of being so good enough for the Grammys to allow Ol' Dirty Bastard to interrupt and take the stage before the award presentation. No, seriously: Spoiler 2. No Diggity / Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen I'm not a big fan of repetition. I put a backwash song on a bottom/top ten list at least four times including 1997, which is why, as of recent, I would normally disregard that kind of rule to allow past year-end chart entries on my lists.....but I have an exception to that rule. Back when I reviewed 1993, I put "What About Your Friends" on my top 10, when it was already in the year-end list of 1992. If I have any reason giving it a spot for my 1993 countdown, it's because the year-end list of 1992 was just too good for me to give the song a spot. In other words, if a song appears twice on the year-end lists, but couldn't make it the first time, then I will allow it to enter the top or bottom 10. So, have I reviewed 1996, No Diggity would end up being very close to the top 10, and here....it's my runner-up for the best song of 1997. Considering year-end 1997's quality, I know I just had to put "No Diggity" on my list, and give it high regard. As for my thoughts on this track, it's arguably Blackstreet's stylish and smoothest song to date. On top of that, it also shed some more person on the band, proving how cool and interesting they can get. Then you got the verses straight from Dr. Dre (as well as a verse from Queen Pen.), and he really helps make the song a lot more rich in personality and sound. In conclusion, the song, overall, is really smooth, it's got some great vocals and some rap verses that are just well composed and well put into the mix. Spoiler 1. Mo Money Mo Problems / The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase For those who have already looked at my first top 10, surprise! Turns out this song is still my #1. Can you really blame me though? As soon as the song starts with the "I'm Coming Out" sample, you're already hooked. While Mase and Puff Daddy aren't the most interesting pair of rappers, I will admit it that the duo have provided some very decent flows throughout. Then again, the layered, funky, disco sample was what really helped give me some attention towards them. In addition, more about the sample sample itself, it also happens to be my biggest compliment towards the song, because of how incredibly infectious it is. Kelly Price, the backing artist, also provides a very good sounding match-up with the hook. Last, but certainly not least, there's the main artist: Biggie Smalls. As usual, he delivers with a fire verse and some fire lyrics. It's not safe for me to say it yet that this is my absolute favorite Biggie Smalls track, but it's definitely my #1 favorite hit song of 1997. With the top 10 out of way, here's another treat for you guys, and it's none other than my full rankings of the year-end list of 1997: Spoiler 1. Mo Money Mo Problems - The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Puff Daddy and Mase 2. No Diggity - Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen 3. Sunny Came Home - Shawn Colvin 4. C U When U Get There - Coolio featuring 40 Thevz 5. Hypnotize - The Notorious B.I.G. 6. Cold Rock a Party - MC Lyte featuring Missy Elliott 7. Honey - Mariah Carey 8. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba 9. Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind 10. I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly 11. Do You Know (What It Takes) - Robyn 12. Smile - Scarface featuring 2Pac and Johnny P. 13. I'll Be - Foxy Brown featuring Jay-Z 14. Bitch - Meredith Brooks 15. Look into My Eyes - Bone Thugs-n-Harmony 16. Candle in the Wind 1997 - Elton John 17. Not Tonight - Lil' Kim featuring Da Brat, Left Eye, Missy Elliott, and Angie Martinez 18. Pony - Ginuwine 19. All Cried Out - Allure featuring 112 20. Don't Let Go Love - En Vogue 21. Say You'll Be There - The Spice Girls 22. Don't Wanna Be a Player - Joe 23. The One I Gave My Heart To - Aaliyah 24. Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan 25. The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe 26. MMMBop - Hanson 27. You're Makin' Me High / Let It Flow - Toni Braxton 28. Fly Like an Eagle - Seal 29. On & On - Erykah Badu 30. When You Love a Woman - Journey 31. I Believe in You and Me - Whitney Houston 32. Big Daddy - Heavy D 33. I Shot the Sheriff - Warren G 34. Change the World - Eric Clapton 35. I Like It - The Blackout All-Stars 36. Where Do You Go - No Mercy 37. Don't Cry for Me Argentina - Madonna 38. Up Jumps da Boogie - Timbaland & Magoo featuring Missy Elliott and Aaliyah 39. You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time) - Brian McKnight featuring Mase 40. No Time - Lil' Kim featuring Puff Daddy 41. Everyday is a Winding Road - Sheryl Crow 42. I Want You - Savage Garden 43. All for You - Sister Hazel 44. Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson 45. Coco Jamboo - Mr. President 46. Every Time I Close My Eyes - Babyface 47. It's Your Love - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill 48. G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T. - Changing Faces 49. Let Me Clear My Throat - DJ Kool 50. You Make Me Wanna... - Usher 51. I Don't Want To / I Love Me Some of Him - Toni Braxton 52. Cupid - 112 53. Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit - Gina G 54. Let It Go - Ray J 55. All By Myself - Celine Dion 56. In My Bed - Dru Hill 57. Never Make a Promise - Dru Hill 58. Someone - SWV and Puff Daddy 59. You Must Love Me - Madonna 60. Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? - Paula Cole 61. I'll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112 62. One More Time - Real McCoy 63. Quit Playing Games (with My Heart) - Backstreet Boys 64. Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen 65. What's on Tonight - Montell Jordan 66. What About Us - Total 67. How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes 68. Get It Together - 702 69. When You're Gone / Free to Decide - The Cranberries 70. Your Woman - White Town 71. Twisted - Keith Sweat 72. It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion 73. Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton 74. I Belong to You (Every Time I See Your Face) - Rome 75. Barely Breathing - Duncan Shiek 76. Butta Love - Next 77. Last Night - Az Yet 78. If It Makes You Happy - Sheryl Crow 79. Nobody - Keith Sweat 80. Mouth - Merril Bainbridge 81. I'm Still in Love with You - New Edition 82. Wannabe - The Spice Girls 83. I Finally Found Someone - Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams 84. My Love is the Shhh! - Somethin' for the People featuring Tina & Tamara 85. Invisible Man - 98 Degrees 86. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) - Los del Rio 87. Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Az Yet featuring Peter Cetera 88. Barbie Girl - Aqua 89. I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis 90. Da' Dip - Freak Nasty 91. 2 Become 1 - The Spice Girls 92. 4 Seasons of Loneliness - Boyz II Men 93. Foolish Games / You Were Meant for Me - Jewel 94. For You I Will - Monica 95. The Jock Jam - Various artists / ESPN 96. Return of the Mack - Mark Morrison 97. Go the Distance - Michael Bolton 98. Gotham City - R. Kelly 99. My Baby Daddy - B-Rock and the Bizz 100. Can't Nobody Hold Me Down - Puff Daddy featuring Mase For some clarity on what I thought on this year-end list in general, in the chronological order of my full rankings list, there were 14 songs I enjoyed, 17 songs I liked, 33 songs I thought were alright or had no strong feelings for, 12 songs I disliked, and 24 songs I despised. Edited February 10, 2018 by Steel Sponge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Simpsons Posted November 13, 2016 Share Posted November 13, 2016 M'kay then: MMMBop Let Me Clear My Throat Your Woman Un-Break My Heart Barely Breathing If It Makes You Happy Wannabe Barbie Girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 (edited) MMMBop: Having this one as high as #25 should come off as surprising, and I'll gladly explain why I've given it a high spot. According to most people, this is one of the worst hit songs of 1997, and I can understand why: it's obnoxious, the lyrics are nonsensical, it's saccharrine. I have this feeling that I should hate this song, but surprisingly enough, I can't get myself to do that. If there's one thing that the song really accomplishes for me is that I'm still in a positive mood when I listen to it. If there's a couple other things it accomplishes, the song is not boring, and it also has quite a good amount of replay value, because it can be kinda fun to listen to sometimes. The lyrics are something I can get past as well. They're not subtle by any means, but let's face it: it's written by a group of kids, so the lyrics are very much going to have that teen pop flavor. In short, it's a guilty pleasure of my own. Let Me Clear My Throat: I used to utterly despise this song back when I first reviewed the year-end list. Spite still being kinda ridiculous, I think it's a serviceable hip hop party song. It's grown on me enough to squeeze into the top 50. Your Woman: I dislike this song in a sense where it doesn't really elude me much. It's pretty drab, IMO. This was in my old Bottom 10, but I'll admit that I've overstated my displeasure with the song back then. Un-Break My Heart: This falls under the "cliche love ballad" category. Heck, before she accepted the offer of doing the song, Toni Braxton herself said she disliked the songwriting. She is as passionate as ever, which saves it from being any lower, but there's far better songs from the singer. (including the A/B-sides that rank at #26) Barely Breathing: Just some boring, weaksauce adult alternative. This also was in my old bottom 10, but it's not bad enough to fall into the "awful/terrible" category. If It Makes You Happy: It's hard for me to be in the best mood to listen to the song. I really hate the shrill-sounding chorus ("If it MAKES you happyyyyyyyyy, it can't be that baaaaaa...AD!") The rest of the song is fine, but there's so much better Sheryl Crow songs IMO. Wannabe: Like I've said before, obnoxious, yet energetic enough for me to keep it away from the bottom 10. Barbie Girl: Now this one is what I would call everyone's worst hit song of 1997, but it barely missed the lower half of my list because I don't see much of a reason to take this so seriously. It may be audio torture for the majority, but I don't find this so intolerable. It's just a really dumb product placement song. Edited November 13, 2016 by Steel Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonball Z Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Could you please give me your thoughts on "Say You Will Be There" by The Spice Girls, and "Don't Let Go Love" by En Vogue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 Say You'll Be There: While I've expressed distaste towards "2 Become 1" for being hollow and "Wannabe" for being loud and schmaltzy, "Say You'll Be There" was just right for me. I'm not quite big on this, but it's still a fairly enjoyable pop track. Don't Let Go Love: Meanwhile, I'm more favorable towards En Vogue, in terms of other girl groups that had a song on the year-end list. Not my favorite, but it still gets its spot on the top 20 for its raw power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
101 Dalmatian Street Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 (edited) Before I put this thread to rest (except for when I copy/paste my top/bottom 10 songs for 2016 on the first post), here's the big bonus: the full rankings for every other year I have covered: 1958: Spoiler 1. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry 2. Fever - Peggy Lee 3. Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly & the Crickets 4. Don't Let Go - Roy Hamilton 5. Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran 6. Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis 7. Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry 8. Ballad of a Teenage Queen - Johnny Cash 9. Topsy Part 2 - Cozy Cole 10. The Walk - Jimmy McCracklin 11. Oh, Boy! - Buddy Holly & the Crickets 12. Chantilly Lace - The Big Bopper 13. I Got a Feeling - Ricky Nelson 14. Endless Sleep - Jody Reynolds 15. Hard Headed Woman - Elvis Presley 16. Rockin' Robin - Bobby Day 17. Poor Little Fool - Ricky Nelson 18. Witch Doctor - David Seville and The Chipmunks 19. For Your Love - Ed Townsend 20. All the Way - Frank Sinatra 21. Rebel-Rouser - Duane Eddy 22. Looking Back - Nat King Cole 23. Maybe - The Chantals 24. Lollipop - The Chordettes 25. Buzz-Buzz-Buzz - The Hollywood Flames 26. Tequilla - The Champs 27. Oh Lonesome Me - Don Gibson 28. Breathless - Jerry Lee Lewis 29. Tears on My Pillow - Little Anthony and the Imperials 30. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Elvis Presley 31. Guess Things Happen That Way - Johnny Cash 32. At the Hop - Danny & the Juniors 33. What Am I Living For - Chuck Willis 34. I Got Stung - Elvis Presley 35. The Stroll - The Diamonds 36. Splish Splash - Bobby Darin 37. Stood Up - Ricky Nelson 38. Jennie Lee - Jan & Arnie 39. Get a Job - The Silhouettes 40. A Wonderful Time Up There - Pat Boone 41. You Are My Destiny - Paul Anka 42. Kewpie Doll - Perry Como 43. Big Man - The Four Preps 44. March from the River Kwai and Colonel Bogey March - Mitch Miller and His Orchestra 45. Queen of the Hop - Bobby Darin 46. All I Have to Do is Dream - The Everly Brothers 47. Little Star - The Elegants 48. It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty 49. One Night - Elvis Presley 50. It's All in the Game - Tommy Edwards 51. Yakety Yak - The Coasters 52. Don't - Elvis Presley 53. Do You Want to Dance - Bobby Freeman 54. Twilight Time - The Platters 55. Catch a Falling Star - Perry Como 56. Volare - Domenico Modungo 57. To Know Him Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears 58. Who's Sorry Now? - Connie Francis 59. My True Love - Jack Scott 60. Tom Dooley - The Kingston Trio 61. The Book of Love - The Monotones 62. I'll Wait for You - Frankie Avalon 63. Poor Boy - The Royaltones 64. Near You - Roger Williams 65. Problems - The Everly Brothers 66. Lonesome Town - Ricky Nelson 67. Willie and the Hand Jive - The Johnny Otis Show 68. Return to Me - Dean Martin 69. Chanson d'Amour - Art and Dotty Todd 70. 26 Miles - The Four Preps 71. Are You Sincere - Andy Williams 72. Sugartime - The McGuire Sisters 73. When - The Kalin Twins 74. Patricia - Perez Prado and His Orchestra 75. Secretly - Jimmie Rodgers 76. The Story of My Life - Marty Robbins 77. Why Don't They Understand - George Hamilton IV 78. April Love - Pat Boone 79. Tea for Two Cha-Cha - Tommy Dorsey Orchestra & Warren Covington 80. Lazy Mary - Lou Monte 81. The End - Earl Grant 82. Sail Along Silvery Moon - Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra 83. Oh, Julie - The Crescendos 84. Beep Beep - The Playmates 85. Western Movies - The Olympics 86. Devoted to You - The Everly Brothers 87. DeDe Dinah - Frankie Avalon 88. Liechtensteiner Polka - Will Glahe and His Orchestra 89. Billy - Kathy Linden 90. Susie Darlin' - Robin Luke 91. Bird Dog - The Everly Brothers 92. He's Got the Whole World In His Hands - Laurie London 93. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - Jimmie Rodgers 94. It's Too Soon to Know - Pat Boone 95. Sugar Moon - Pat Boone 96. Just A Dream - Jimmy Clanton 97. Short Shorts - Royal Teens 98. Born Too Late - The Poni-Tails 99. The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley 100. Ginger Bread - Frankie Avalon 1984: Spoiler 1. When Doves Cry - Prince 2. Jump - Van Halen 3. Magic - The Cars 4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper 5. What's Love Got to Do With It - Tina Turner 6. Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen 7. Self-Control - Laura Branigan 8. 99 Luftballons - Nena 9. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr. 10. Holiday - Madonna 11. Let's Go Crazy - Prince 12. You Might Think - The Cars 13. The Longest Time - Billy Joel 14. Thriller - Michael Jackson 15. Here Comes the Rain Again - The Eurythmics 16. The Reflex - Duran Duran 17. Cover Me - Bruce Springsteen 18. Karma Chameleon - Culture Club 19. Footloose - Kenny Loggins 20. I'm So Excited - The Pointer Sisters 21. Oh Sherrie - Steve Perry 22. Cruel Summer - Bananarama 23. Major Tom (Coming Home) - Peter Schilling 24. New Moon on Monday - Duran Duran 25. Undercover of the Night - The Rolling Stones 26. Borderline - Madonna 27. Pink Houses - John Mellencamp 28. Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar 29. That's All - Genesis 30. Legs - ZZ Top 31. Caribbean Queen - Billy Ocean 32. The Warrior - Scandal 33. She-Bop - Cyndi Lauper 34. Head over Heels - The Go-Go's 35. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John 36. On the Dark Side - John Caffery & the Beaver Brown Band 37. I Want a New Drug - Huey Lewis & the News 38. Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper 39. Union of the Snake - Duran Duran 40. Uptown Girl - Billy Joel 41. Jump (For My Love) - The Pointer Sisters 42. Let's Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams 43. Church of the Poison Mind - Culture Club 44. Eyes Without a Face - Billy Idol 45. Tonight - Kool & the Gang 46. Running with the Night - Lionel Richie 47. Drive - The Cars 48. Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police 49. State of Shock - The Jackson 5 & Mick Jagger 50. Miss Me Blind - Culture Club 51. An Innocent Man - Billy Joel 52. Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us - Ollie & Jerry 53. Love Somebody - Rick Springfield 54. Missing You - John Waite 55. Round and Round - Ratt 56. Rock Me Tonite - Billy Squier 57. Lucky Star - Madonna 58. Breakdance - Irene Cara 59. Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins 60. If You're Ever in My Arms Again - Peabo Bryson 61. Give It Up - KC & the Sunshine Band 62. Sister Christian - Night Ranger 63. When You Close Your Eyes - Night Ranger 64. Joanna - Kool & the Gang 65. Islands In the Stream - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton 66. I Just Called to Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder 67. Infatuation - Rod Stewart 68. Cum on Feel the Noize - Quiet Riot 69. Break My Stride - Matthew Wilder 70. Nobody Told Me - John Lennon 71. Almost Paradise - Mike Reno & Ann Wilson 72. Yah Mo B There - James Ingram & Michael McDonald 73. Talking In Your Sleep - The Romantics 74. Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell & Michael Jackson 75. Got a Hold On Me - Christine McVie 76. Automatic - The Pointer Sisters 77. The Glamorous Life - Shelia E. 78. Hello - Lionel Richie 79. Stuck on You - Lionel Richie 80. Adult Education - Daryl Hall & John Oates 81. Sad Songs (Say So Much) - Elton John 82. Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson 83. The Heart of Rock and Roll - Huey Lewis & the News 84. Dancing in the Sheets - Shalamar 85. I Can Dream About You - Dan Hartman 86. Let the Music Play - Shannon 87. They Don't Know - Tracey Ullman 88. To All the Girls I Loved Before - Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson 89. Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins 90. Say It Isn't So - Daryl Hall & John Oates 91. All Night Long - Lionel Richie 92. I Still Can't Get Over Loving You - Ray Parker Jr. 93. Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart 94. Twist of Fate - Olivia Newton-John 95. Hard Habit to Break - Chicago 96. Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes 97. Time Will Reveal - DeBarge 98. If This Is It - Huey Lewis & the News 99. Think of Laura - Christopher Cross 100. Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung 1993: Spoiler 1. If I Had No Loot - Tony! Toni! Tone! 2. Today Was a Good Day - Ice Cube 3. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston 4. Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang - Dr. Dre 5. Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms 6. Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) - Digable Planets 7. What About Your Friends - TLC 8. I Get Around - 2Pac 9. Ordinary World - Duran Duran 10. Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty by Nature 11. Dreamlover - Mariah Carey 12. All That She Wants - Ace of Base 13. Fuck with Dre Day - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg 14. Come Undone - Duran Duran 15. Real Love - Mary J. Blige 16. Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi 17. If - Janet Jackson 18. Check Yo Self - Ice Cube featuring Das EFX 19. Fields of Gold - Sting 20. Mr. Wendal - Arrested Development 21. I'd Die Without You - P.M. Dawn 22. Runaway Train - Soul Asylum 23. The River of Dreams - Billy Joel 24. Lately - Jodeci 25. What Is Love - Haddaway 26. Good Enough - Bobby Brown 27. I Don't Wanna Fight - Tina Turner 28. Hey Mr. D.J. - Zhane 29. Anniversary - Tony! Toni! Tone! 30. Sweat (A La La La La Long) - Inner Circle 31. 7 - Prince 32. Faithful - Go West 33. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting 34. In the Still of the Night - Boyz II Men 35. A Whole New World - Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle 36. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers 37. Bad Boys - Inner Circle 38. I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston 39. Three Little Pigs - Green Jelly 40. Livin' on the Edge - Aerosmith 41. Slam - Onyx 42. Love Is - Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight 43. Right Here - SWV 44. Reason to Believe - Rod Stewart 45. Looking Through Patient Eyes - P.M. Dawn 46. I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf 47. Give It Up, Turn It Loose - En Vogue 48. Alright - Kris Kross 49. Break It Down Again - Tears for Fears 50. That's the Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson 51. Rain - Madonna 52. Don't Walk Away - Jade 53. I'm Every Woman - Whitney Houston 54. Cryin' - Aerosmith 55. Rhythm is a Dancer - Snap! 56. One Last Cry - Brian McKnight 57. Rump Shaker - Wreckx-n-Effect 58. More and More - Captain Hollywood Project 59. Just Kickin' It - Xscape 60. I'm So Into You - SWV 61. Baby I'm Yours - Shai 62. O-o-h Child - Dino 63. Boom! Shake the Room - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince 64. Again - Janet Jackson 65. Another Sad Love Song - Toni Braxton 66. Do You Believe In Us - Jon Secada 67. Comforter - Shai 68. Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill 69. Two Princes - Spin Doctors 70. Deeper and Deeper - Madonna 71. If I Ever Fall In Love - Shai 72. Show Me Love - Robin S. 73. One Woman - Jade 74. Here We Go Again! - Portrait 75. Knockin' da Boots - H-Town 76. Weak - SWV 77. Will You Be There - Michael Jackson 78. Angel - Jon Secada 79. Two Steps Behind - Def Leppard 80. When She Cries - Restless Heart 81. Freak Me - Silk 82. Have I Told You Lately - Rod Stewart 83. I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me) - Expose 84. How Do You Talk to an Angel - The Heights 85. That's What Love Can Do - Boy Krazy 86. Dazzey Duks - Duice 87. Ditty - Paperboy 88. Can't Get Enough of Your Love - Taylor Dayne 89. Cats in the Cradle - Ugly Kid Joe 90. Forever in Love - Kenny G 91. Saving Forever for You - Shanice 92. To Love Somebody - Michael Bolton 93. I Got a Man - Positive K 94./95. Whoomp! There It Is - Tag Team / Whoot, There It Is - 95 South 96. The Right Kind of Love - Jeremy Jordan 97. Nothin' My Love Can't Fix - Joey Lawrence 98. Informer - Snow 99. Can't Help Falling in Love - UB40 100. What's Up? - 4 Non Blondes 2004: Spoiler 1. Jesus Walks - Kanye West 2. Hey Ya! - Outkast 3. Overnight Celebrity - Twista 4. My Immortal - Evanescence 5. All Falls Down - Kanye West featuring Syleena Johnson 6. Toxic - Britney Spears 7. Numb - Linkin Park 8. White Flag - Dido 9. Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z 10. On Fire - Lloyd Banks 11. The Way You Move - Outkast featuring Sleepy Brown 12. My Happy Ending - Avril Lavigne 13. Breaking the Habit - Linkin Park 14. Yeah! - Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris 15. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet 16. Burn - Usher 17. Stand Up - Ludacris featuring Shawnna 18. Change Clothes - Jay-Z featuring Pharrell Williams 19. You Don't Know My Name - Alicia Keys 20. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams 21. Slow Jamz - Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx 22. Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson 23. Suga Suga - Baby Bash featuring Frankie J 24. Here Without You - 3 Doors Down 25. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson 26. Don't Tell Me - Avril Lavigne 27. Remember When - Alan Jackson 28. Let's Get It Started - The Black Eyed Peas 29. If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys 30. Step in the Name of Love - R. Kelly 31. When the Sun Goes Down - Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker 32. Damn! - YoungBloodZ featuring Lil Jon 33. Happy People - R. Kelly 34. Confessions Part II - Usher 35. Through the Wire - Kanye West 36. Roses - Outkast 37. The First Cut is the Deepest - Sheryl Crow 38. I'm Still in Love with You - Sean Paul featuring Sasha 39. Meant to Live - Switchfoot 40. Wanna Get to Know You - G-Unit featuring Joe 41. Diary - Alicia Keys featuring Tony! Toni! Tone! 42. I Don't Wanna Know - Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy 43. It's My Life - No Doubt 44. This Love - Maroon 5 45. Catch My Breath - Destiny's Child 46. Heaven - Los Lonely Boys 47. American Soldier - Toby Keith 48. My Boo - Usher and Alicia Keys 49. Game Over (Flip) - Lil' Flip 50. I Go Back - Kenny Chesney 51. Live Like You're Dying - Tim McGraw 52. Naughty Girl - Beyonce 53. On the Way Down - Ryan Cabrera 54. Milkshake - Kelis 55. Get Low - Lil Jon & the East Side Boys featuring Yin Yang Twins 56. You'll Think of Me - Keith Urban 57. Leave (Get Out) - JoJo 58. Sorry 2004 - Ruben Studdard 59. 100 Years - Five for Fighting 60. Headsprung - LL Cool J 61. Letters from Home - John Michael Montgomery 62. Why Don't You And I - Santana featuring Alex Band 63. My Place - Nelly featuring Jaheim 64. Salt Shaker - Yin Yang Twins featuring Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz 65. Goodies - Ciara featuring Petey Pablo 66. Me, Myself, and I - Beyonce 67. Splash Waterfalls - Ludacris 68. Read Your Mind - Avant 69. U Should've Known Better - Monica 70. With You - Jessica Simpson 71. Baby Boy - Beyonce featuring Sean Paul 72. Hotel - Cassidy featuring R. Kelly 73. Dude - Beenie Man featuring Shawnna 74. Everytime - Britney Spears 75. Pieces of Me - Ashlee Simpson 76. Sunshine - Lil' Flip featuring Lea 77. Dip It Low - Christina Milian 78. Slow Motion - Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim 79. Lean Back - Terror Squad 80. The Reason - Hoobastank 81. Locked Up - Akon 82. Gigolo - Nick Cannon featuring R. Kelly 83. Holidae In - Chingy featuring Ludacris and Snoop Dogg 84. Move Ya Body - Nina Sky 85. Freek-a-Leek - Petey Pablo 86. I Like That - Houston featuring Chingy, Nate Dogg, and I-20 87. Over and Over - Nelly featuring Tim McGraw 88. Someday - Nickelback 89. Southside - Lloyd featuring Ashanti 90. My Band - D12 91. Walked Outta Heaven - Jagged Edged 92. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5 93. Turn Me On - Kevin Lyttle 94. Hey Mama - The Black Eyed Peas 95. Tipsy - J-Kwon 96. One Thing - Finger Eleven 97. Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back) - Eamon 98. One Call Away - Chingy featuring J-Weav 99. Why? - Jadakiss featuring Anthony Hamilton 100. Just Lose It - Eminem 2005: Spoiler 1. Because of You - Kelly Clarkson 2. Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz 3. Gold Digger - Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx 4. Mr. Brightside - The Killers 5. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson 6. Best of You - Foo Fighters 7. Holiday - Green Day 8. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day 9. We Belong Together- Mariah Carey 10. Ordinary People - John Legend 11. Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson 12. Sugar, We're Goin' Down - Fall Out Boy 13. U Don't Know Me - T.I. 14. Lose Control - Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop 15. Caught Up - Usher 16. It's Like That - Mariah Carey 17. Cool - Gwen Stefani 18. Karma - Alicia Keys 19. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams 20. Get Back - Ludacris 21. Listen to Your Heart - DHT featuring Edmee 22. Lonely No More - Rob Thomas 23. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day 24. Numb/Encore - Linkin Park and Jay-Z 25. 1 Thing - Amerie 26. We Be Burnin' - Sean Paul 27. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson 28. Hate It Or Love It - The Game featuring 50 Cent 29. La Tortura - Shakira featuring Alejandro Sanz 30. Shake It Off - Mariah Carey 31. Just the Girl - The Click Five 32. Mississippi Girl - Faith Hill 33. Pimpin' All Over the World - Ludacris featuring Bobby Valentino 34. Beautiful Soul - Jesse McCartney 35. Inside Your Heaven - Carrie Underwood 36. Beverly Hills - Weezer 37. Bring Em' Out - T.I. 38. Daughters - John Mayer 39. Don't Phunk with My Heart - The Black Eyed Peas 40. Girlfight - Brooke Valentine featuring Lil Jon and Big Boi 41. I Don't Want to Be - Gavin DeGraw 42. As Good As I Once Was - Toby Keith 43. Slow Down - Bobby Valentino 44. You and Me - Lifehouse 45. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield 46. Outta Control - 50 Cent featuring Mobb Deep 47. Lose My Breath - Destiny's Child 48. Speed of Sound - Coldplay 49. How We Do - The Game featuring 50 Cent 50. True - Ryan Cabrera 51. My Boo - Usher and Alicia Keys 52. Obsession (No Es Amor) - Frankie J featuring Baby Bash 53. Let Me Go - 3 Doors Down 54. 1, 2 Step - Ciara featuring Missy Elliott 55. Soldier - Destiny's Child featuring T.I. and Lil Wayne 56. Truth Is - Fantasia 57. Don't Lie - The Black Eyed Peas 58. U Already Know - 112 featuring Foxy Brown 59. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani 60. Number One Spot - Ludacris 61. Pon de Replay - Rihanna 62. I'm Sprung - T-Pain 63. Collide - Howie Day 64. Chariot - Gavin DeGraw 65. Switch - Will Smith 66. Back Then - Mike Jones 67. Goin' Crazy - Natalie 68. Photograph - Nickelback 69. Sugar (Gimme Some) - Trick Daddy featuring Ludacris, Lil' Kim, and Cee Lo Green 70. Soul Survivor - Young Jeezy featuring Akon 71. Oh - Ciara featuring Ludacris 72. Get Right - Jennifer Lopez 73. Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani featuring Eve 74. Like You - Bow Wow featuring Ciara 75. Baby I'm Back - Baby Bash featuring Akon 76. Scars - Papa Roach 77. Let Me Hold You - Bow Wow featuring Omarion 78. Wonderful - Ja Rule featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti 79. Disco Inferno - 50 Cent 80. Just a Lil' Bit - 50 Cent 81. Grind with Me - Pretty Ricky 82. Give Me That - Webbie featuring Bun B 83. Get It Poppin' - Fat Joe featuring Nelly 84. Cater 2 U - Destiny's Child 85. Don't Cha - The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes 86. Over and Over - Nelly and Tim McGraw 87. She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5 88. O - Omarion 89. Lovers and Friends - Lil Jon featuring Usher and Ludacris 90. Mockingbird - Eminem 91. Some Cut - Trillville featuring Cutty 92. Lonely - Akon 93. Incomplete - Backstreet Boys 94. Run It! - Chris Brown featuring Juelz Santana 95. Let Me Love You - Mario 96. Candy Shop - 50 Cent 97. Wait (The Whisper Song) - Yin Yang Twins 98. My Humps - The Black Eyed Peas 99. Your Body - Pretty Ricky 100. Play - David Banner 2014: Spoiler 1. Chandelier - Sia 2. Ain't It Fun - Paramore 3. Rather Be - Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 4. Don't - Ed Sheeran 5. Do What U Want - Lady Gaga featuring R. Kelly 6. Come with Me Now - KONGOS 7. Habits (Stay High) - Tove Lo 8. Love Runs Out - OneRepublic 9. Happy - Pharrell Williams 10. Drunk on a Plane - Dierks Bentley 11. Pompeii - Bastille 12. Royals - Lorde 13. The Man - Aloe Blacc 14. Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood 15. The Monster - Eminem featuring Rihanna 16. Let It Go - Idina Menzel 17. Shake It Off- Taylor Swift 18. Counting Stars - OneRepublic 19. Turn Down for What - DJ Snake featuring Lil Jon 20. Sing - Ed Sheeran 21. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons 22. 0 to 100 / The Catch Up - Drake 23. Wake Me Up! - Avicii 24. Not a Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake 25. Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson featuring Justin Timberlake 26. 2 On - Tinashe featuring ScHoolboy Q 27. Latch - Disclosure featuring Sam Smith 28. Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake featuring Majid Jordan 29. Birthday - Katy Perry 30. American Kids - Kenny Chesney 31. Problem - Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea 32. Team - Lorde 33. She's So Perfect - 5 Seconds of Summer 34. Am I Wrong - Nico & Vinz 35. Bailando - Enrique Iglesias featuring Descember Buenos and Gente de Zona 36. Leave the Night On - Sam Hunt 37. Brave - Sara Bareilles 38. Timber - Pitbull featuring Kesha 39. Bang Bang - Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj 40. Believe Me - Lil Wayne featuring Drake 41. Somethin' Bad - Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood 42. Dirt - Florida Georgia Line 43. Boom Clap - Charli XCX 44. Hey Brother - Avicii 45. While Walls - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Hollis and ScHoolboy Q 46. All of Me - John Legend 47. Stay the Night - Zedd featuring Hayley Williams 48. Black Widow - Iggy Azalea featuring Rita Ora 49. Bartender - Lady Antebellum 50. Classic - MKTO 51. Shower - Becky G 52. Demons - Imagine Dragons 53. New Flame - Chris Brown featuring Usher and Rick Ross 54. I Don't Dance - Lee Brice 55. A Sky Full of Stars - Coldplay 56. Stay with Me - Sam Smith 57. Partition - Beyonce 58. Beachin' - Jake Owen 59. Can't Remember to Forget You - Shakira featuring Rihanna 60. Cool Kids - Echosmith 61. Play It Again - Luke Bryan 62. No Mediocre - T.I. featuring Iggy Azalea 63. Burn - Ellie Goulding 64. Story of My Life - One Direction 65. Studio - ScHoolboy Q featuring BJ the Chicago Kid 66. Best Day of My Life - American Authors 67. Lifestyle - Rich Gang featuring Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan 68. Break Free- Ariana Grande 69. Me and My Broken Heart - Rixton 70. Drunk in Love - Beyonce featuring Jay-Z 71. Bottoms Up - Brantley Gilbert 72. Fancy - Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX 73. Animals - Martin Garrix 74. Loyal - Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne, French Montana, and Tyga 75. Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus 76. Let Her Go - Passenger 77. Maps - Maroon 5 78. Anaconda - Nicki Minaj 79. Dark Horse - Katy Perry 80. Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I. 81. Rude - MAGIC! 82. La La La - Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith 83. Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo featuring 2 Chainz 84. All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor 85. Roar - Katy Perry 86. Amnesia - 5 Seconds of Summer 87. 23 - Mike WILL Made-It featuring Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J 88. My Hitta - YG featuring Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan 89. Summer - Calvin Harris 90. Hot Boy - Bobby Shmurda 91. Burnin' It Down - Jason Aldean 92. Show Me - Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown 93. Na Na - Trey Songz 94. This Is How We Roll - Florida Georgia Line featuring Luke Bryan 95. Say Something - A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera 96. Adore You - Miley Cyrus 97. Wiggle - Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg 98. Don't Tell Em - Jeremih featuring YG 99. Animals - Maroon 5 100. Trumpets - Jason Derulo Also take note that these lists reflect my current opinions on each of the songs. There are even a few that I grew to like, a few that I grew to despise. This is especially evident in my 2014 list. On top of 2014, I will also give out some commentary on my old top/bottom 10 review in the new entertainment reviews thread at some point. Edited February 10, 2018 by Steel Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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