Yeah I've become anal myself over my comps. They are all volume balanced at 92db, all have yearly T-Shirt artwork....and they run as the songs entered the charts....so track 1 would be the first new entry in say January of that year. Here's my 1972.....
All 4 Love - Color Me Badd I didn't mind this at the time. It had some energy and the girlfriend liked it so why not? Like anything by this group, it didn't age so well. 3/5
#763 (1st of 1992): "All 4 Love" by Color Me Badd (#1 for 1 week - January 25, 1992) This is one of those songs where I didn't recognize it by title but it was familiar as soon as the melody kicked in. I'm gonna jump on the "nothing amazing but beats the hell out of their last #1, upbeat and kinda fun" bandwagon.
Yes, that was me. Glad you are enjoying them! I still have to finish my 60s list...only up to 1963 and I haven't worked on it in a few months because I've been too busy. Here are the album lists (some albums aren't on US Spotify): US & UK #1 Albums 1945-1959 - All #1 US & UK albums 1945/59 1960-1969 - All #1 US & UK albums 1960/69 1970-1979 - All #1 US & UK albums 1970/79 1980-1989 - All #1 US & UK albums 1980/89 1990-1999 - All #1 US & UK albums 1990/99 2000-2009 - All #1 US & UK albums 2000/09 2010-2019 - All #1 US & UK albums 2010-2019
Finishing up 1991, part 1. Other publication #1's: Cathy Dennis - Touch Me (All Night Long) I'm sure this slammed in the clubs. The beat is understandably incessant and her voice sounds good enough on top of it. The chorus has a good hook. I couldn't listen to this one multiple times, but I like it. Certainly better than the Hi-Five and Mariah songs it couldn't top. C+C Music Factory - Here We Go We did get some dance songs at the top, but these last two tracks give more of a clue how popular they were in 1991. This song almost sounds like a remix of Gonna Make You Sweat. It's way too similar and sounds like C+C didn't have many tricks up their sleeve. This song is pretty obnoxious, to be honest. They cram way too much extra noise into the production. Pass on this one. Rod Stewart - Rhythm of My Heart I'm one of those people who doesn't really like Rod Stewart that much. As a kid in the 80s and 90s I just though he was this ridiculous old guy who made supremely weak music. Nowadays, while I can appreciate on some level his 70s stuff, the only thing I've really LIKED his is work on Jeff Beck's Truth album. Otherwise, I have no interest. So, Rhythm of My Heart...it's just a bunch of soft rock bs made for suburban moms. Such a lame song. Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now This should've been a number one. I'm glad it hit the top for Cash Box. I always enjoyed this one even if it has an air of self-importance to the lyrics. I had the sense at this time that there was a contingent of people, mostly people in their early-mid 20's, who were wishing for something like the 60's to happen. Maybe it wasn't a revolutionary thought but more coming from wanting to get out of the boredom of life in the late 80s/early 90s. I just picked up on a lot of 60s nostalgia at this time (like Groove is in the Heart from 1990) and maybe that was it. So yes, whenever I hear this song it brings me back to that thought. I still like the song and it also bridged that gap between what was going on with the alternative world and the main chart. I thought we'd be hearing a lot more from JJ in the 90s. Bryan Adams - Can't Stop This Thing We Started Simple and boring. Not as bad as his huge #1 this year, but it still sucks. Of all the music I heard in 1991, Bryan Adams was the one I wanted to hear the least. Boys II Men - It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday I could've sworn this was a #1 and I was wondering why we hadn't talked about it. My first memory of this is that it was played at the funeral for a friend in high school who was shot and killed. I can't listen to this song because all of that comes back. It's a beautiful song, but that memory will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Finishing up 1991, part 2 **Songs that peaked at #2 and didn't otherwise top the other charts** Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up Having this group and Boys II Men getting popular at the same time was too much of a similar thing. I haven't heard this song in a long time...it's really bad! The title lyric is laughable. It's an earworm, of course, but man is it terrible. Rhythm Syndicate - P.A.S.S.I.O.N. The shadow of Prince's earlier work loomed large. This is pretty much a bad copy of Erotic City. No thanks, I'll take the original. Amy Grant - Every Heartbeat This one isn't as good as Baby Baby, but it's still decent enough and fairly fun. I love that change to the bridge, that was unexpected. The chorus gets a bit too repetitive. Lenny Kravitz - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over This early 70's soul pastiche really stood out in 1991. I don't care for Lenny's music at all, but this is probably his best song. Roxette - Fading Like a Flower The verses are a bit weak and forgettable, but the chorus is very strong. That's a great hook. Good performance overall. Natural Selection - Do Anything I don't remember a thing about this song, don't remember ever hearing it. Again, mining the Prince sound/vibe. Boring.
Finishing up 1991, part 3/3 1991 in Review I was surprised to find that, today, my favorite #1 of the year was Prince's Cream. At the time my favorite of the #1s would've been More Than Words or Set Adrift on Memory Bliss. I still really love both of those songs and I'm glad they hold up. In 1991 I managed to hear nearly all of these #1 songs enough that I was familiar with them, even though 99% of my music listening was heavy metal and classic rock. Of the 27 #1 songs, there are 13 that I still consider "keepers", with 14 that I have no use for. Keepers from 1991: Madonna - Justify My Love Surface - The First Time C+C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) Mariah Carey - Someday Amy Grant - Baby Baby Roxette - Joyride Mariah Carey - I Don't Wanna Cry Extreme - More Than Words Paula Abdul - Rush Rush EMF - Unbelievable Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amor Prince - Cream * PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss 1991 saw me hitting my first actual concert, Iron Maiden and Anthrax, with Judas Priest/Alice Cooper/Motorhead, Ozzy & Van Hagar to follow throughout the year. I started to get obsessed with Rush during this year. The main new albums I was into this year were Metallica's S/T, GNR Use Your Illusions, Ozzy's No More Tears, Skid Row's Slave to the Grind, Anthrax's Attack of the Killer B's, and Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid. Favorite #1 album - U2's Achtung Baby Favorite overall album - Pearl Jam's Ten While I didn't get into Ten until early summer 1992, it's still the best album released in 1991. The best thing overall in my life in 1991 was getting my bass guitar at Christmas. It's still one of most major life-changing things that's happened to me.
Color Me Badd - All 4 Love I don't remember this at all. Maybe the chorus hook? Either way, the music is extremely terrible/cheesy and the vocals are extra squeaky. Awful start to the year.
Now to get to this next one . . . #764 (2d of 1992): "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by George Michael (With Elton John) (#1 for 1 week - February 1, 1992) Hard-wired as I am to Mr. John's definitive 1974 original, this is another version where I immediately head for the radio dial when it comes on. One book had even noted that Mr. Michael's act and persona, post-Wham!, was equal parts Elton John and Queen (especially emanating from its recently-deceased frontman, Freddie Mercury). For Mr. John - cleaning up his act and headed down the road to sobriety after years of alcohol and drug abuse, not to mention battling bulimia - this continues the pattern established with his "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" duet with Kiki Dee in 1976 where anything involving him that went #1 was part of either a duet or group effort ("That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne [Warwick] and Friends - the only known time he made #1 on the R&B chart). Speaking of charts, this one also reached #1 on Cash Box but was held back at #2 on Radio & Records. (In a sense, this trajectory was somewhat reverse of Elton's definitive original, which had made #1 on both Cash Box' Top 100 and Record World's Singles Chart, but had to settle for #2 on both the Hot 100 and the R&R chart, back in '74.) This also topped the UK chart for two weeks, 7 December-14 December 1991, as laid out on the Every UK #1 Single of The 1990's Discussion Thread. (Again, unlike his 1974 original which, in the land of his birth, had to settle for #15 on the New Musical Express chart, #16 on the "official" chart, and #19 on Melody Maker.)
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me - George Michael 1991 found me in a new relationship with a wonderful girl and as we were getting to know each other, she was discovering my enthusiasm for music and my various OCD-ish ways of cataloguing and consuming the art form. My oldest sister was always a huge Elton John fan so I was definitely into borrowing her LP collections and making Elton John mixes, especially playing one of them quite frequently in '91. My girlfriend bought me the "To Be Continued...." Elton John boxset for Christmas in '91 and putting that into my father's Pioneer 6 CD magazine changer and shuffling it was really a great experience for me. Also, '91 saw me playing George Michael's "Listen Without Prejudice" in heavy rotation. Logically, this cover appealed to me. It's tastefully done and Michael's vocals are on point. The band does a wonderful job too. I have no complaints about this because I like the original and appreciate both the artists involved. 4/5
"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" - Nothing can compete with the original. This live version is a fine showcase for a couple of huge stars, but there's nothing in it that makes me want to hear it again.
All 4 Love : The song itself is all right and the harmonies are great. The production is a little too cluttered for my tastes though. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me : Nothing could ever supplant the original for me but this is tastefully done and both GM and EJ are in excellent form here.
You know, I actually really love this version of the song. No it's not the original with the great Beach Boys backing vocals, but it's it's own thing: both singers sound beautiful -- no one really blows the other off the stage, and I really think it's a well-done duet, which I hardly ever say. It helps that I am a slightly more than casual fan of both, i suppose, but my God, compared to Color Me Badd.... 4/5
George Michael & Elton John - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me I've never been able to warm to Elton John bar the odd song and although I liked a lot of George Michael's solo stuff, I find this a back slapping affair that does little for me. It's done well but leaves me indifferent. Once in a blue moon I can listen to it. Feeling generous.... 3/5