Loading ...
Holy crap! “VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs Of The ’90s”! How do those words make you feel? Excited? Nauseated? Giddy? Not so fresh? Finally, the market leaders in repackaging entire decades into easily digestible canons of kitsch have weighed in on “ten years of tight music that was ‘too legit to quit’”! (Yes, they actually said that!) The full list (without d-list talking heads) is after the jump, and you will never guess the No. 1 in a billion years. Maybe a zillion!
1. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. U2 – One
3. Backstreet Boys – I Want It That Way
4. Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
5. Madonna – Vogue
6. Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back
7. Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time
8. TLC – Waterfalls
9. R.E.M. – Losing My Religion
10. Sinéad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
11. Pearl Jam – Jeremy
12. Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know
13. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) – Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang
14. Mariah Carey – Vision of Love
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge
16. MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This
17. Destiny’s Child – Say My Name
18. Metallica – Enter Sandman
19. Beastie Boys – Sabotage
20. Hanson – MMMBop
21. Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On
22. Beck – Loser
23. Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue – Whatta Man
24. House of Pain – Jump Around
25. Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun
26. Eminem – My Name Is
27. Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
28. Ricky Martin – Livin’ la Vida Loca
29. Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby
30. *NSYNC – Tearin’ Up My Heart
31. Radiohead – Creep
32. BLACKstreet – No Diggity
33. Spice Girls – Wannabe
34. Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life
35. Oasis – Wonderwall
36. C+C Music Factory – Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
37. Green Day – Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
38. Christina Aguilera – Genie In A Bottle
39. Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
40 . Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up
41. Spin Doctors – Two Princes
42. Collective Soul – Shine
43. En Vogue – My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)
44. The Fugees – Killing Me Softly With His Song
45. Hootie & the Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You
46. Shania Twain – You’re Still the One
47. Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch – Good Vibrations
48. Matchbox Twenty – 3 AM
49. Jewel – Who Will Save Your Soul
50. Alice in Chains – Man in the Box
51. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) – California Love
52. Sugar Ray – Fly
53. Naughty by Nature – O.P.P.
54. Joan Osborne – One of Us
55. Fiona Apple – Criminal
56. L.L. Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
57. Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule – Can I Get A…
58. Sophie B. Hawkins – Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover
59. Weezer – Buddy Holly
60. Bell Biv DeVoe – Poison
61. Sheryl Crow – All I Wanna Do
62. Live – I Alone
63. The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase & Puff Daddy – Mo Money Mo Problems
64. The Presidents of the United States of America – Peaches
65. Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance
66. Edwin McCain – I’ll Be
67. Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
68. Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
69. Korn – Freak on a Leash
70. Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
71. Arrested Development – Tennessee
72. Barenaked Ladies – One Week
73. Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy
74. Cher – Believe
75. Kris Kross – Jump
76. Blues Traveler – Run-Around
77. Ice Cube – It Was a Good Day
78. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way
79. Meredith Brooks – Bitch
80. Right Said Fred – I’m Too Sexy
81. Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait
82. Geto Boys – Mind Playing Tricks on Me
83. The Breeders – Cannonball
84. Snow – Informer
85. Cypress Hill – Insane In The Brain
86 The Cranberries – Linger
87. Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart
88. Duncan Sheik – Barely Breathing
89. Liz Phair – Never Said
90. New Radicals – You Get What You Give
91. Sarah McLachlan – Building a Mystery
92. Public Enemy – 911 Is A Joke
93. Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories – Stay
94. Fastball – The Way
95. Montell Jordan – This is How We Do It
96. Nelson – (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection
97. Prince & The New Power Generation – Gett Off
98. EMF – Unbelievable
99. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott – The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
100. Gerardo – Rico Suave
Well that’s… pretty much exactly what we would have expected based on the last seven years of ’90s nostalgia, a handful of wedding receptions, a lot of karaoke nights, and many hours spent subjecting ourselves to alt-rock gold radio. And before you get salty with VH1 for choosing “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” over every other Green Day song (deep breaths), please note that “with more than 600,000 votes cast, the countdown list was determined by an online poll at VH1.com where viewers had the opportunity to pick their favorite songs of the ’90s from all genres–rock, pop, rap, or R&B.” The people wanted Joan Osborne, and so Joan Osborne they shall have!
100 Greatest Songs Of The 90s [VH1]
Earlier: VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs Of The ’90s: What Are You Gonna Do?
Wow, this is essentially one half of the “Best of the 90’s! AND TODAY!” satellite radio playlist I used to have hammered into my head working at Ben & Jerry’s. Would’ve liked to hear “Never Said,” though, an oddly tasteful choice on an unfortunate but mostly unsurprising list.
Idolator, you guys need to step up and do a list like this, but you know, FOR REALSIES.
the world isn’t ready for that much tevin campbell.
“All My Friends” is snubbed yet again…
How can they possibly have Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories ranked below Geto B…
wait, you’re telling me that there’s no way to justify any of this? You mean to tell me they analyzed radio station playlists and arbitrarily threw this together? You’re telling me debating this is pointless? Why is their blood trickling out of my ears.
I <3 that the Backstreet Boys are #3!!
Then again, a list with Rico Suave on it is highly suspect…
Mo Money Mo Problems should be way higher.
I think it’s time we make a list of these lists.
did they not already do this list?
or was it mtv?
or was it the top 100 alternative and/or pop songs of the 90s?
because this all looks very familiar…
This list has one of those stupid rules that only allows one song per artist. I hate when they do that.
@SomeSound-MostlyFury: Hypnotize is the far superior song in my opinion.
IIRC, the online vote on VH1’s site only gave like 200 or 300 options, mostly only a couple token songs by each artist represented here and a few more one hit wonders that weren’t. So the deck was stacked in such an uninteresting way that even though I kinda wanted to vote, I just couldn’t.
@The Van Buren Boys:
Another rule is that the song is the initial hit for a new artist: NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” was much bigger than “Tearing up my heart.” I mean, I think it was.
God, the 90s were such a long time ago.
No Cathy Dennis? No “Silent Lucidity?”
@Dead Air ummm Dead Air: Stylus already made a “list” list: [www.stylusmagazine.com] (I miss them so much!)
@Dead Air ummm Dead Air: are you suggesting a meta list? i think that’s a little too much pomo effort for something so crappy.
“84. Snow – Informer”
instant disqualification.
no breakfast at tiffany’s, no credibility
I remember trying to vote for this, but you couldn’t write-in choices, you had to select from a list. I wasn’t able to come up with a top 10 from their options.
How long until this list turns into “Solid Gold Hits of the ’90s” and is sold via infomercials?
@maura: …and how can they pick “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” over “More Than Ever” or “After the Rain?”
“Hey Jealousy” isn’t on here? Fucking ridiculous.
I looked at this.
@rhythmchyc: I happen to like “Tearin’” better than “Bye^3″ in the *N Sync oeuvre, but even if I agreed with you, “Bye^3″ is from 2000, thereby disqualifying it from this list.
This whole list is very glass-half-full. The fact that the public voted and came up with Nirvana at No. 1 is actually a good thing, tired as it is to all of us, because they could’ve put, I dunno, Whitney there. And any list that includes prime-era Liz P. is impressive just for existing. OTOH, yeah, one-song-per-artist is bullshit, and the pre-seeding of a small list of songs is very suspect. I dunno, this could’ve been worse; as it stands, it’s just…meh.
@maura: Seriously, so much fucking smug easy-listening alt rock (Sheryl Fucking Crow?!?) on this list and no “Runaway Train”, “Hey Jealousy” (xpost) or “No Rain”? Maybe a by year breakdown of the songs would be revealing?
Also Wikipedia just told me this: In 1995, Blind Melon also contributed a version of the song “Out On The Tiles” to the Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin, as well as a promotional CD with a cover of the School House Rock song “Three is a Magic Number.” WTFFFFFF
@Jon Williams: that ‘three is a magic number’ cover is actually not bad. the schoolhouse rock tribute cd is fairly decent overall, although my favorite track is man or astroman’s ‘interplanet janet’ cover.
ah, blind melon, the patron saints of long island. how that came to be i will never know, since they are not from there at all. but i’ll never forget the day when i got into the ‘kurt cobain vs. shannon hoon: who’s the bigger rock martyr?’ argument at a record store in westbury.
@maura: I HATED that cover of “Three is Magic Number”, but mainly because I thought Shannon Hoon had a really whiney voice.
@dennisobell:
That means it’ll be #3 on the 2000s list.
Milli Vanilli didn’t make the cut? I blame it on the rain..
How could anybody be mad at this list? Music from the 90s pretty much sucked a couple round hairy ones from beginning to end. Just be glad they didn’t find a way to put Jennifer Lopez on there. AND Hey Jealousy blew, AND Soul Asylum were no-talent ass clowns.
Wow… history has been scrubbed clean of rap-metal–with the sole exception of Korn at 69. No Rage Against The Machine either.
I’m not saying that those songs were great (no, they were awful), but has VH1 just conveniently forgotten just how huge Limp Bizkit was at the end of the decade? Woodstock 99 anyone?
@iamlovebot:
A licky boom-boom down!
Best song of the 90’s? Alice in Chains – Rain When I Die.
I am amazed the Spice Girls aren’t higher.
Where is Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”?
As those years recede it seems like that’s the ONLY song I can remember from the ’90s…
Bitches, we are so watching this. Don’t front.
I used to love these lists but now that I’m old enough to remember the songs and such, they’re not as entertaining. Nostalgia does not trump a lesson in pop culture. No matter how corny the puns are.
It’s strange that while I don’t _like_ the list, I do think the list got a lot of it right. The wisdom of crowds is giving us a feel for the Zeitgeist, without actually thinking about whether the songs are “good.”
The inclusions of “Today was a Good Day” and “Never Said” however, make this list a little bit better than expected.
@Nicolars: For the record, Embrace’s cover of “Three is a Magic Number” runs circles around Blind Melon’s.
I find it odd that a band not listed on there from the 90’s is still considered “A” list by Rolling Stone, still putting out albums and one of the highest in concert revenues for several years, Dave Matthews Band didn’t have one memorable song from the 90’s? “Ants Marching”, “Crash Into Me”, “What Would You Say?” all could have easily been somewhere on that list. Quite an overlook.
Third Eye Blind is the greates band of the 90’s and ARGUABLY the greatest band of all time.
You’re all bitching about Soul Asylum, but you’re missing the bigger picture:
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS.
Or even, “Closing Time,” by Semisonic?
seriously. no stp – interstate love song?!?!? or fastball – the way? or fire escape?
and seriously, no closing time?
I think the only way the Geto Boys, Edwin McCain and Liz Phair songs are on this list is that they showed up to talk about them.
Yes, I just questioned your list’s integrity, VH1. What are you gonna do about it?
I don’t know if I would really say half of this list makes sense as “top” songs for the 90s, but I do think they are the songs that probably stood out for the 90s when it comes to mainstream music. I sort of wish certain songs were higher and certain songs even made but list but I guess I cannot complain. Every generated list, even if its based on on-line votes, will have some sort of flaw.
I can’t believe Smashing Pumpkins are not on the list but f-in Geraldo or whatever his name is, is on here. Smashing Pumpkins are my favorite group of the 90’s and at least in the top 5-10 best groups of the 90’s Doesn’t make sense. I don’t even like STP or Dave Matthews too much, but they should have definetely been on the list over at least half the songs. And No Rain by Blind Melon is not my favorite song or anything but it is a good song and represents the 90’s more than almost any song.
NO mention of Boyz II Men?!
VH1 fails at life.
(I mean, if having the longest standing #1 single in Billboard history can’t get you in anyone’s top 100…)
I too cannot believe the Smashing Pumpkins are not on this list!! How can there be a list of top 100 songs of the ’90’s without including them??????
Also, there was no Seal, only one red hot chili peppers song, and no tumthumper. As pissed as i was, i believe some of them were good choices. Im overall pleased with the list
good list
i just dont understand why oasis is on it but not blur. does no one remember the battle of britpop?!?!?!
Honestly…
Just ONE Madonna song?
Are you kidding?
Smells Like Teen Spirit – No. 1?
This was an entertaining and nostolgic 5 hours, but I was truly disappointed in the placement of songs and d-list celebs talking for 3 1/2 of the 5 hours.
Still love the 90’s though
Everybody got just one song, except Tool, they got none for some strange reason.