Best Songs of 1989

Just like I created 100-song Best of Lists representing 30, 20, and 10 years ago, I have spent the past year creating lists for every other year I've been alive. So rather than wait ten years to publish them all, I'm also going to share lists from 5, 15 and 25 years ago. I'd do 35, too, but that pesky Best of 1979 isn't quite finished yet.

In the past two years since I started this process of culling tracks from every year of my existence, I have come across a slew of great albums and artists that I had only heard of (but not heard), or, in a few cases, had never known about at all. It's been a wonderful experience, yet again, to piece together this list.

As before, this list is an honest attempt to assess a year in music, merging the reality of a list made 25 years later with the idea that, had I been able to conceive of such a list at the time (as an adult, not as the ten-year-old I was), I would have included pop hits, obscure tunes, aging favorites and new artists alike.

For these year-end lists, I like to undertake the seemingly impossibly task of creating an hours-long mix. The order you see below represents that effort, which you can listen to via Spotify or my preferred streaming service, Rdio. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available in either case, but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or—particularly if last year's un-annotated lists are a sign of future action—maybe never.

Show Grid

Just a Friend

Biz Markie

The Biz Never Sleeps

Cold Chillin’

Notes
Bust a Move

Young MC

Stone Cold Rhymin’

Delicious Vinyl

Notes
Wild Thing

Tone Loc

Loc-ed After Dark

Delicious Vinyl

Notes
Batdance

Prince

Batman

Warner Bros.

Notes
Down In It

Nine Inch Nails

Pretty Hate Machine

TVT

Notes
Fight the Power

Public Enemy

Fear of a Black Planet

Def Jam

Notes
Me So Horny

2 Live Crew

As Nasty As They Wanna Be

Lil Joe

Notes
Pump Up the Jam

Technotronic

Pump Up the Jam: The Album

EMI

Notes
Buffalo Stance

Neneh Cherry

Raw Like Sushi

Virgin

Notes
Blame It on the Rain

Milli Vanilli

Girl You Know It’s True

Arista

Notes
On Our Own

Bobby Brown

Ghostbusters II

MCA

Notes
Can’t Stop

After 7

After 7

Virgin

Notes
Cherish

Madonna

Like a Prayer

Sire

Notes
Trouble Me

10,000 Maniacs

Blind Man’s Zoo

Elektra

Notes
Covered in Roses

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Bread and Circus

Columbia

Notes
No Myth

Michael Penn

March

RCA

Notes
When the Hammer Came Down

House of Freaks

Tantilla

Rhino

Notes
Let Her Dance

Marshall Crenshaw

Good Evening

Warner Bros.

Notes
Veronica

Elvis Costello

Spike

Warner Bros.

Notes
Cuts You Up

Peter Murphy

Deep

Beggars Banquet

Notes
Let the Day Begin

The Call

Let the Day Begin

MCA

Notes
Hands All Over

Soundgarden

Louder Than Love

A&M

Notes
Epic

Faith No More

The Real Thing

Slash

Notes
Knock Me Down

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Mother’s Milk

EMI

Notes
Slack Motherfucker

Superchunk

Superchunk

Merge

Notes
This Gift

Mudhoney

Mudhoney

Sub Pop

Notes
Kennedy

The Wedding Present

Bizarro

RCA

Notes
Cast a Shadow

Beat Happening

Black Candy

K

Notes
Nightmares

Violent Femmes

3

London

Notes
My Days Are Numbered

Close Lobsters

Headache Rhetoric

Fire

Notes
Head On

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Automatic

Warner Bros.

Notes
Darklands

The Golden Palominos

A Dead Horse

Celluloid

Notes
You Don’t Give Up

The Blake Babies

Earwig

Mammoth

Notes
About a Girl

Nirvana

Bleach

Sub Pop

Notes
Where the Twain Shall Meet

Screaming Trees

Buzz Factory

SST

Notes
The Bus

Buffalo Tom

Buffalo Tom

SST

Notes
Talent Show

The Replacements

Don’t Tell a Soul

Reprise

Notes
All Her Favorite Fruit

Camper Van Beethoven

Key Lime Pie

Virgin

Notes
Strange

Galaxie 500

On Fire

Rough Trade

Notes
Never Let You Go

Felt

Me and a Monkey on the Moon

Cherry Red

Notes
You’re the One Lee

Miracle Legion

Me and Mr. Ray

Rough Trade

Notes
On the Wire

the Windbreakers

At Home With Bobby and Tim

dB recs

Notes
Change II

The Alarm

Change

I.R.S.

Notes
A Girl Like You

The Smithereens

11

Capitol

Notes
She Reminds Me of You

Fire Town

The Good Life

Atlantic

Notes
Boots or Hearts

The Tragically Hip

Up to Here

MCA

Notes
We’re All Waiting

Green on Red

This Time Around

Polydor

Notes
Two Angels

The Jayhawks

Blue Earth

Twin/Tone

Notes
Closer to Fine

Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls

Epic

Notes
Couldn’t Feel Safer

The Field Mice

Snowball

Sarah

Notes
Just Let Me Know

The Ocean Blue

The Ocean Blue

Sire

Notes
The Maker

Daniel Lanois

Acadie

Opal

Notes
Nick of Time

Bonnie Raitt

Nick of Time

Capitol

Notes
Nobody Knows Me

Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

Curb

Notes
Running on Faith

Eric Clapton

Journeyman

Reprise

Notes
Tightrope

Stevie Ray Vaughan

In Step

Epic

Notes
Hank

Treat Her Right

Tied to the Tracks

RCA

Notes
Black Velvet

Alannah Myles

Alannah Myles

Atlantic

Notes
Wicked Game

Chris Isaak

Heart Shaped World

Reprise

Notes
This Woman’s Work

Kate Bush

The Sensual World

Columbia

Notes
Another Day in Paradise

Phil Collins

…But Seriously

Atlantic

Notes
The End of the Innocence

Don Henley

The End of the Innocence

Geffen

Notes
Woman in Chains

Tears for Fears

The Seeds of Love

Fontana

Notes
Lovesong

The Cure

Disintegration

Elektra

Notes
Dancing Barefoot

U2

When Love Comes to Town 7"

Island

Notes
I Wanna Be Adored

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses

Sony

Notes
Planet

The Sugarcubes

Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week

Elektra

Notes
Fun & Games

The Connells

Fun & Games

TVT

Notes
Fire Woman

The Cult

Sonic Temple

Beggars Banquet

Notes
Major Tom (Coming Home)

Peter Schilling

The Different Story

Elektra

Notes
Roam

The B-52’s

Cosmic Thing

Reprise

Notes
She Drives Me Crazy

Fine Young Cannibals

The Raw & The Cooked

I.R.S.

Notes
Love Will Never Do (Without You)

Janet Jackson

Rhythm Nation 1814

A&M

Notes
Back to Life

Soul II Soul

Club Classics Vol. One

Virgin

Notes
Tribe Vibes

Jungle Brothers

Done by the Forces of Nature

Warner Bros.

Notes
Shake Your Rump

Beastie Boys

Paul’s Boutique

Capitol

Notes
Me Myself and I

De La Soul

3 Feet High and Rising

Tommy Boy

Notes
The Gas Face

Third Bass

The Cactus Album

Def Jam

Notes
Going Back to Cali

LL Cool J

Walking With a Panther

Def Jam

Notes
Bad Boys

Inner Circle

Identified

Vision

Notes
Here I Am/Small Axe (Come and Take Me)

UB40

Labour of Love II

Virgin

Notes
Island Hopping

Joe Strummer

Earthquake Weather

Epic

Notes
When the Love Is Good

BoDeans

Home

Slash

Notes
If a Tree Falls

Bruce Cockburn

Big Circumstance

True North

Notes
Dirty Blvd.

Lou Reed

New York

Warner Bros.

Notes
Mixed Emotions

The Rolling Stones

Steel Wheels

Universal

Notes
I Go to Extremes

Billy Joel

Storm Front

Columbia

Notes
Run

New Order

Technique

Factory

Notes
So Alive

Love and Rockets

Love and Rockets

Beggars Banquet

Notes
Here Comes Your Man

Pixies

Doolittle

4AD

Notes
Blow Your Tuneless Trumpet

Mekons

The Mekons Rock ’n’ Roll

Twin/Tone

Notes
Into the Heart of Love

The Mighty Lemon Drops

Laughter

Sire

Notes
Funtime

R.E.M.

Get Up 7"

Warner Bros.

Notes
Rockin’ in the Free World

Neil Young

Freedom

Reprise

Notes
I Won’t Back Down

Tom Petty

Full Moon Fever

MCA

Notes
Splendid Isolation

Warren Zevon

Transverse City

Warner Bros.

Notes
Downtown Train

Rod Stewart

The Best of Rod Stewart

Warner Bros.

Notes
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns

Mother Love Bone

Shine

Stardog

Notes
Janie’s Got a Gun

Aerosmith

Pump

Geffen

Notes
Let Love Rule

Lenny Kravitz

Let Love Rule

Virgin

Notes