Best Songs of 1990

I had a relatively easy time last year putting together my Best of 1989, but for some reason, compiling 100 tracks for just one year later has proven quite difficult. Some of that had to do with pesky, incorrect metadata (forcing me to go back to the drawing board on a handful of tracks at the 11th hour), but mostly it had to do with that strange period of adolescence between listening to whatever is on the radio (and what everyone else is listening to) and finding your own music.

Eleven years old for most of 1990, I was just on the cusp of my lifelong music obsession, and as such, a large chunk of these 100 songs were new to me (or at least new to my library) in the past handful of years. For whatever reason, it wasn't quite as easy to put together as my list for 1985, and only slightly less painful than that for 1980. I’d blame all turn-of-the-decade years for being terrible, but 1970 and 2000 were pretty fantastic, so it must simply be a coincidence.

In any event, as it is every time I undertake this project, I have discovered new artists and new songs in the decades since, and am very happy for that opportunity. I’m also especially glad to see my 11-year-old self butt up against my current self, for there is so much of that push-pull between the past and present on this track list. As such, it is a great summation of all the kinds of music I’ve loved over the past 25 years.

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 and my preferred outlet. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available (the ever-iconoclastic Prince and Neil Young strike again), but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.

Show Grid

Yo Home to Bel-Air

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Yo Home to Bel-Air 7"

Jive
via The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air library:

Theme song to the TV show. Officially released in 1992.
Ice Ice Baby

Vanilla Ice

To the Extreme

Capitol
via MTV library:

Notes
Scarface

Geto Boys

The Geto Boys

Rap-a-Lot
via TK library:

Notes
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Ice Cube

AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Priority
via TK library:

Notes
Poison

Bell Biv DeVoe

Poison

MCA
via MTV / KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
Rub You the Right Way

Johnny Gill

Johnny Gill

Motown
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
I’ll Do 4 U

Father MC

Father’s Day

Uptown
via MTV library:

Notes
Groove Is in the Heart

Deee-Lite

World Clique

Elektra
via MTV library:

Notes
Elevate My Mind

Stereo MCs

Supernatural

Island
via TK library:

Notes
Do You Want Me

Salt-N-Pepa

Blacks’ Magic

Next Plateau
via MTV library:

Notes
Feels Good

Tony! Toni! Tone!

The Revival

Mercury
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
The Humpty Dance

Digital Underground

Sex Packets

Tommy Boy
via MTV / KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
Pray

MC Hammer

Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em

Capitol
via MTV library:

Notes
Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J

Mama Said Knock You Out

Def Jam
via MTV library:

Notes
The Power

Snap!

World Power

Arista
via MTV library:

Notes
Here We Go, Let’s Rock & Roll

C+C Music Factory

Gonna Make You Sweat

Columbia
via MTV library:

Notes
Everybody Everybody

Black Box

Dreamland

Sony
via MTV library:

Notes
I’ve Been Thinking About You

Londonbeat

In the Blood

Radioactive
via TK library:

Notes
Freedom 90

George Michael

Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1

Columbia
via past experience / MTV library:

Notes
Vogue

Madonna

I’m Breathless

Sire
via past experience library:

Notes
Close to You

Maxi Priest

Bonafide

Charisma
via TK library:

Notes
Thieves in the Temple

Prince

Graffiti Bridge

Warner Bros.
via past experience library:

Notes
Raspberry Beret

Hindu Love Gods

Hindu Love Gods

Giant
via past experience (R.E.M., Warren Zevon) library:

Notes
Golden Blunders

The Posies

Dear 23

Geffen
via TK library:

Notes
Love Come Round

The Blue Aeroplanes

Swagger

Ensign
via TK library:

Notes
Merry Go Round

The Replacements

All Shook Down

Reprise
via past experience library:

Notes
Birdbrain

Buffalo Tom

Birdbrain

Beggars Banquet
via TK library:

Notes
Ball and Chain

Social Distortion

Social Distortion

Epic
via TK library:

Notes
Candy

Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson

Brick By Brick

Virgin
via TK library:

Notes
Cradle of Love

Billy Idol

Charmed Life

Chrysalis
via MTV library:

Notes
Repeater

Fugazi

Repeater

Dischord
via TK library:

Notes
Vertigogo

Erectus Monotone

Vertigogo 7"

Merge
via TK library:

Notes
Just Like Heaven

Dinosaur Jr.

Just Like Heaven 7"

SST
via TK library:

Notes
Kool Thing

Sonic Youth

Goo

DGC
via TK library:

Notes
Vapour Trail

Ride

Nowhere

Sire
via TK library:

Notes
Fourth of July

Galaxie 500

This Is Our Music

Rough Trade
via TK library:

Notes
La Dolly Vita

Smashing Pumpkins

Tristessa 7"

Sub Pop
via Pisces Iscariot library:

Notes
Crown of Thorns

Mother Love Bone

Apple

Polygram
via Singles (1994) library:

Notes
Silent Lucidity

Queensrÿche

Empire

EMI
via MTV library:

Notes
Sadeness - Part I

Enigma

Sadeness - Part I 12"

4AD
via MTV library:

Notes
Tom’s Diner

DNA featuring Suzanne Vega

Tom’s Diner 7"

A&M
via MTV library:

Notes
Hippychick

Soho

Goddess

Savage
via contemporary radio library:

Notes
Kinky Afro

Happy Mondays

Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches

Factory
via TK library:

Notes
I’m Free

The Soup Dragons

Lovegod

Big Life
via TK library:

Notes
Solace of You

Living Colour

Time’s Up

Epic
via contemporary radio library:

Notes
The Obvious Child

Paul Simon

The Rhythm of the Saints

Warner Bros.
via past experience library:

Notes
Shaking the Tree

Peter Gabriel

Shaking the Tree

Universal
via past experience library:

Notes
Put the Message in the Box

World Party

Goodbye Jumbo

Papillion
via 103.7 The Mountain library:

Notes
There She Goes

The La’s

The La’s

Go
via TK library:

Notes
Heavenly Pop Hit

The Chills

Submarine Bells

Slash
via TK library:

Notes
I Don’t Know Why I Love You

The House of Love

The House of Love

Fontana
via TK library:

Notes
Enjoy the Silence (Radio Edit)

Depeche Mode

Enjoy the Silence 7"

Mute
via MTV library:

Full version appears on 1990 LP Violator.
Suicide Blonde

INXS

X

Atlantic
via past experience library:

Notes
When the River Runs Dry

Hunters & Collectors

Ghost Nation

Atlantic
via TK library:

Notes
Drawing to a Whole

The Clean

Vehicle

Rough Trade
via TK library:

Notes
I’ll Take Anything

The Blake Babies

Sunburn

Mammoth
via TK library:

Notes
Did I Tell You

Yo La Tengo

Fakebook

Bar/None
via TK library:

Notes
The Ship Song

NIck Cave & The Bad Seeds

The Good Son

Mute
via TK library:

Notes
You Won’t Find It Again

The Go-Betweens

1978 – 1990

Beggars Banquet
via TK library:

Notes
Beautiful Girl

Robyn Hitchcock

Eye

Twin/Tone
via TK library:

Notes
How Long Will I Love You

The Waterboys

Room to Roam

Ensign
via TK library:

Notes
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

They Might Be Giants

Flood

Elektra
via MTV library:

Notes
Bouncing Around the Room

Phish

Lawn Boy

Elektra
via TK library:

Notes
Sunset Road

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

Warner Bros.
via TK library:

Notes
Angel Dance

Los Lobos

The Neighborhood

Slash
via Just Another Band from East L.A. library:

Notes
Where Were You Last Night

The Traveling Wilburys

Vol. 3

Warner Bros.
via past experience library:

Notes
Factory Belt

Uncle Tupelo

No Depression

Rockville
via TK library:

Notes
The Other Kind

Steve Earle

The Hard Way

MCA
via TK library:

Notes
Time Takes Away

Blood Oranges

Corn River

Hi-N-Dry
via TK library:

Notes
Dropping Some NYC

Blues Traveler

Blues Traveler

A&M
via my sister library:

Notes
She Talks to Angels

The Black Crowes

Shake Your Moneymaker

American
via contemporary radio / MTV library:

Notes
More Than Words

Extreme

Extreme II - Pornograffiti

A&M
via MTV library:

Notes
Joey

Concrete Blonde

Bloodletting

Capitol
via TK library:

Notes
Watershed

Indigo Girls

Nomads Indians Saints

Epic
via my sister library:

Notes
Corporal Brown

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Pale

Columbia
via past experience library:

Notes
She’s So High (Edit)

Blur

She’s So High 7"

Food / SBK
via The Best of Blur library:

Alternate version appears on 1991 LP Leisure.
Everybody

The Railway Children

Every Beat of the Heart

Virgin
via TK library:

Notes
You My Flower

The Afghan Whigs

Up In It

Sub Pop
via TK library:

Notes
Down in the Dark

Mark Lanegan

The Winding Sheet

Sub Pop
via TK library:

Notes
Sliver

Nirvana

Sliver 7"

DGC
via Incesticide library:

Notes
Fuckin’ Up

Neil Young

Ragged Glory

Reprise
via past experience library:

Notes
Man in the Box

Alice in Chains

Facelift

Columbia
via contemporary radio / but also maybe Beavis & Butthead library:

Notes
At the Library

Green Day

39/Smooth

Lookout!
via TK library:

Notes
21st Century (Digital Boy)

Bad Religion

Against the Grain

Epitaph
via TK library:

Notes
Been Caught Stealing

Jane’s Addiction

Ritual de lo Habitual

Warner Bros.
via MTV library:

Notes
Deeper Shade of Soul

Urban Dance Squad

Mental Floss for the Globe

Arista
via contemporary radio / MTV library:

Release in Europe in 1989.
On a Sunday Afternoon

Lighter Shade of Brown

Brown & Proud

Pump
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
Knockin’ Boots

Candyman

Ain’t No Shame in My Game

Epic
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
Let’s Chill

Guy

The Future

Geffen
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)

Hi-Five

Hi-Five

Jive
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
Someday

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Columbia
via MTV library:

Notes
Sensitivity

Ralph Tresvant

Ralph Tresvant

Universal
via KUBE 93.3 library:

Notes
It’s a Shame (My Sister)

Monie Love

Down to Earth

Warner Bros.
via TK library:

Notes
Bonita Applebaum

A Tribe Called Quest

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

Jive
via TK library:

Notes
Hold On

En Vogue

Born to Sing

Atlantic
via MTV library:

Notes
Nothing Compares 2 U

Sinead O’Connor

I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got

Ensign
via MTV library:

Notes
Heaven or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

Heaven or Las Vegas

4AD
via TK library: 1/29/24

Notes
Here’s Where the Story Ends

The Sundays

Reading, Writing & Arithmetic

Rough Trade
via TK library:

Notes
Give You My Lovin

Mazzy Star

She Hangs Brightly

Capitol
via TK library:

Notes
Some Things Last a Long Time

Daniel Johnston

1990

Shimmy Disc
via TK library:

Notes