Mariah Carey's album sold ten million copies, as did No Doubt's album. Pretty sure the listeners who bought the former are just as much "real people" as the folks who bought the No Doubt album.
The chart success was a given - two of the biggest artists of the era collaborating for a ballad that fused their signature sounds together seamlessly - but the song itself can be pretty powerful for people who are grieving. I remember my mother weeping when "One Sweet Day" came on the radio, shortly after my grandmother had died. There's a Celine Dion song in the future that hits the same way with some people going through that same specific experience, IMO.
Always Be My Baby Again? It's like I'm participating in a Mariah Carey thread. I sense some payola going from her record company to Soundscan. The song is semi-catchy and not awful, but so what. It's dull. From the video I gather it's a love song to a swing.
I used the term 'real people' in context with the article I linked to previously, on Chart Manipulation and tried to ignite discussion 'But no one is interested in discussing relevant literature from the time period it seems.' We'll just got back to 'I hate this song/I Love this song'. I was highlighting that music requested on the radio was reflected in 'Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart'. As opposed to these Singles that literally did sit at #1 for months at a time, as it became evident that record labels were manipulating sales in some cases. It may not have been the case for albums, as they were higher Value and Sony for example couldn't flood Mom and Pop stores with free CD Singles to sell at 49c; Which wasn't in the future it was in 1995 and 1996 when the article was published on JAN. 25, 1996, and specifically discusses "One Sweet Day,".
Because You Loved Me An interesting thing happened. I tried to listen to this, and about 30 seconds in, YouTube spontaneously stopped. I tried again, and the same thing happened. I took it as a sign. You don't ignore the 'Tube when it objects to something that hard!
I liked You Oughtta Know and Hand in My Pocket, although I always found her angry b**ch shtick annoying (fortunately I didn't see the video too often or I would have been done with her much more quickly). By the time Ironic came out I was starting to wish for her to go away; that one sounded like warmed over Sheryl Crow to me. Whatever that video was where she was naked seemed to be the moment when she jumped the shark. Don't know what was up with that move.
I think Mariah gets an unfair shake from people about discounted singles. The article clearly states that this was a standard policy with "high profile releases", so clearly this was happening with other artists too. Also, the article stated that any "manipulation" might have resulted in a couple-position jump, but it couldn't take it all the way to the top. Perhaps any discounted singles may have helped One Sweet Day get to the top, but it wasn't the reason why it spent 16 weeks at No. 1.
Radio airplay was a huge driver in its success, as it was in all of the long running No. 1 singles of this era. Madonna’s seven week No. 1 wasn’t even a platinum single. Radio play kept it at the top. OSD also benefited from the Christmas season. Streaming has thrown all the metrics off, but a double platinum single was a very big deal in those days. The single and the album were under a lot of Christmas trees that year. Not unlike “I Will Always Love You” three years earlier.
Turning the page, we next go to . . . #807 (3d of 1996): "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (#1 for 8 weeks - May 18-July 6, 1996) Another example of how rap and hip-hop were making their inroads on this here chart. Cash Box had this up at #1 for 7 weeks, but at Radio & Records, it petered out at #19. Woven somewhere in-between the two extremes was the UK chart where it got as high as #8. Among those at #1 over there in this 2-month period were a record that would make #1 on R&R only (the opposite of the chart trajectory for this); a Eurovision entry that would top out here at #12; and "Three Lions" by Baddiel And Skinner And Lightning Seeds.
It's a cute song, not one I'd go out of my way to listen to but I could sit through at least a minute and a half of it... Iconic though, I guess
#807 (3d of 1996): "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (#1 for 8 weeks - May 18-July 6, 1996) Wait, what? This doesn't ring a bell at all. I guess I was too busy with end-of-freshman-year stuff and summer camp during this period...? Eh, doesn't sound like I was missing much. ETA: Ok, as I listen more maybe it sounds vaguely familiar? I'm still surprised that it sat at #1 for 2 months and yet barely registered with me.
And now for those that made #1 on the other two charts - Cash Box and Radio & Records - over the first six months of the year. Remember, bold = #1 on either chart but not Billboard, bold italics = #1 on both other charts but not Billboard. And so, we turn to when "One Sweet Day's" grip on the top is finally loosened and we . . . ahem . . . will go on . . . (no spoilers now) . . . Cash Box #1's Feb. 17-24: "Missing" by Everything But The Girl (BB #2) Mar. 2-9: "Not Gon' Cry" by Mary J. Blige (BB #2, R&R #32) Mar. 16-23: "Sittin' Up In My Room" by Brandy (BB #2, R&R #11) Mar. 30-Apr. 13, May 11-18: "Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey Apr. 20-May 4: "Because You Loved Me" by Céline Dion May 25-July 6: "Tha Crossroads" by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (R&R #19) Radio & Records #1's Feb. 16-Mar. 8: "Missing" by Everything But The Girl Mar. 15-22: "Nobody Knows" by the Tony Rich Project (BB #2, CB #2) Mar. 29-Apr. 19: "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette (BB #4, CB #3) Apr. 26-Jun. 7: "Because You Loved Me" by Céline Dion Jun. 14-21: "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman (BB #3, CB #2) Jun. 28: "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees (BB did not chart, CB did not chart) Through June and into July, all three of Billboard's Hot 100 #1's topped Cash Box, but only one did likewise in Radio & Records.
Crossroad - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony I liked this one. I had no clue what they were saying, but I liked it. It was a different kind of rapping. I couldn't explain it. I somehow acquired it and another song from that album, "1st of Tha Month" ,which I also really liked. My liking of hip hop was always spotty. Some yes, but with most I was just so indifferent. But sure, this was fun. 4/5
From my memory, oats dad has this right and you’re way off base. Siamese Dream was arguably just as big as Mellon Collie. Remember, the latter was a double, so its sales are artificially inflated. “Today” and “Disarm” were all over rock radio and back in 1993/1994. Whether there were physical singles, I’ll leave for somebody else to determine.
Siamese Dream reached triple platinum in 1994. It got to quadruple platinum after Holiday 1995, which was when Mellon Collie got its first certifications. I remember hearing “Today” and “Disarm” a lot back in the day.
I’ll play rank the grange artists game… 1) Pear Jam 2) Alice In Chains 3) Nirvana 4) Soundgarden your mileage does vary
Stefani was born in 1969, making her just a few years younger than I. I was surprised to learn that, too; I would have thought she was five or six years younger when she hit.
Always Be My Baby It goes without saying that I don't remember this -- wait, another Mariah Carey song? Didn't we just run this race a few days ago? Anyways, that makes just 1 of her 11 number ones I recall. I think I like the part best where she goes: doo doo doo, doo doo doo doooo, doo doo do do duh do duh. OK, I'm kidding, I don't think I would have even remembered that if I weren't listening to it as I type.
I feel like I should have liked Oasis, since they massively and blatantly 'homaged' the Beatles not only in sound but in looks and style. But I just found most of their stuff to be a blaring mass of noise. They should have gotten a producer that could have toned that nonsense down, since it sounded like at least some of their songs were decent before they Spectored all over them. But why would I listen to Oasis' Beatles-redux shtick when the originals were on the charts? Real Love and the second Beatles Anthology came out in March. The album was awesome; I consider the first take of Strawberry Fields to be almost as beautiful as the final version, and Tomorrow Never Knows/Mark I bizarre in a very different way from the Revolver version. Real Love peaked at 11, their final charting original. I liked this one much better than the new song from the last record, Free as a Bird.
This song was No. 1 for a couple of weeks before I even heard it, or knew what it was. It came crashing onto the charts in quite a high position and I was confused because I didn't know anything about it. By this time in the '90s, radio started to be so fragmented that I don't think there was a single station that played all the top 40 hits anymore. Sometimes back then i would flip stations for a while and hear some of these other songs. This isn't bad, but nothing I'd feel the need to buy. Oh...and for those still keeping track, there was no US 45 on this song. I bring that up because there were still quite a few songs being released on 45s at this time (although the number was dwindling by the year), and most of the No. 1s could still be bought on a 7-inch. However, the No. 1s with no 7-inch available will become much more frequent as we move on through the rest of the '90s.
