Hello and welcome to the next Chapter in our Throwback Thursday series. We've travelled through 80's Pop/Rock/RnB/Reggae/Dance. Now we're having a stop-over in the 90's. It was a glorious 10 years for fashion, technology & of course music. Some songs changed the landscape of music forever whilst some were unfortunate one-hit wonders & for the next 3 weeks we'll be bringing you 5 great songs.
The Artist: Aqua
The Song: Barbie Girl
Released: 1997
CONTROLRadioUK Thoughts: Aww Aqua. My mum hated you. In the words of one 'It was extremely inappropriate having kids at school parties singing and dancing along to this'. Yes! She still feels quite passionate about this even if I am edging closer to 30's these day. In the defense of us 90's babies, like with 'The Beautiful South' we had no idea what this song meant. We thought the video was cute. For the longest time I thought 'undress me everywhere' was 'and dress me everywhere' & why wouldn't you? Unless you're really focusing on the lyrics (which we certainly didn't) you can think it's people just talking about playing with dolls. Yes it annoyed our parents & our school's got told off for reasons we didn't understand, but I think 90's music really coined the phrase 'ignorance is bliss'. You do still get songs that are filled with puns these days, but unlike the 90's they're far more blatant with it which takes the fun away. To my mum's further annoyance this was amongst the first songs I bought & something I listened to religiously (but she won out on refusing to let me listen to Destiny's Child until I was well into my teens) . This song also hit the top 10 charts in over 15 countries & has been certified Platinum & Diamond in various countries as well. The joy.
The Artist: The Verve
The Song: Bitter Sweet Symphony
Released: 1997
CONTROLRadioUK Thoughts: Ok so everyone probably remembers this as the final song to play in 'Cruel Intentions'. Since I was banned from watching that film until I got to age where I couldn't be banned from anything, I randomly came across this song one day on the music channel & whilst I have since watched 'Cruel Intentions' (and count it amongst my favorite moves sorry mum!) my love for the song came from that random viewing. You wouldn't think a video where a guys walking down a pavement & refusing to move in his path (and almost gets hit by a car in the process would work, but it really does. I absolutely adore the music & the lyrics resonate well. It wasn't a song that was a massive seller though it did hit Gold, Platinum & Silver but it's still one of my favorites.
The Artist: Backstreet Boys
The Song: Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
Released: 1997
CONTROLRadioUK Thoughts: I couldn't not include this song in a Throwback Thursday 90's Special. They might have released their first album in 1996, but they didn't come to the UK until 97 where we were treated with this beauty & I am not ashamed to admit I was a huge Backstreet Boys fan. Everyone in school was and this video, it freaked us 90's kids out good (some music channels wouldn't even play it before watershed) but the lyrics? They're in your head, you're singing along 10yrs later & you're dancing & jamming till the sun goes down. Yes, some of the lyrics were still considered minorly inappropriate by the parentals (along with 'Hey Mr DJ') but we did not care! We already had 'Barbie Girl' taken from us! We were jamming to Backstreet Boys like no tomorrow! Do I still find elements of this video creepy? Well yeah! It's a horror parody & horror is not my best friend, but it's the videos uniqueness that makes it so good (along with that dance routine) The song was of course a hit around the world & there was never more joy than when you were on a school bus going somewhere really boring, and someone randomly broke out into a Backstreet Boys song.
The Artist: Dannii Minogue
The Song: All I wanna Do
Released: 1997
CONTROLRadioUK Thoughts: So occasionally I have to include songs here I'm not partciularly fond of because others at CONTROLRadioUK are, but I still think up nice things about them right? No chance here! Dannii Minogue ruled my household when I was a kid. There was never not a poster of her in my mum's room, or a song of hers in the CD Player. That's all cute right? Except for the fact her songs were a tad more suggestive than my poor old 'Aqua', 'The Beautiful South' & 'Backstreet Boys' (ok probably not the case in 'The Beautiful South') but still you can get the point. I knew all the words to Dannii Minogues songs because i was forced to hear them so much & it's ok for me to randomly sing about I wanna touch someone, but not ok to sing about dressing dolls?! There's a massive case of favoritism there (which I do enjoy bringing up). Putting that minor issue aside I did & still do enjoy some of Dannii's music. Maybe it's the source of forced enjoyment turning to actual fun, but I like this song here for the music. The video reminds me of everything I loved about 90's (both with the decor & the clothing you can thank my 'Mise En Scene' scriptwriting class yesterday for that observation) The song wasn't a massive hit but performed decent enough.
The Artist: Hanson
The Song: MMMBop
CONTROLRadioUK Thoughts: I feel really bad putting this in the category of a 'One Hit Wonder' but none of their songs since this have lit up the charts. This was also one of those songs I constantly heard on the radio, didn't know all the words (I still don't) but i still danced & sang along in incoherent mumbling (and it was the best ever) This song went #1 around the world & has been certified Gold & Platinum. Musically this song is really fun & the video goes with that tone. It is worth looking up the lyrics because when you do, you'll find this song is actually surprisingly (if slightly depressingly) deep. Like 'Aqua', 'Backstreet Boys' and another band I'm forbidden from mentioning here, Hanson ruled the school disco with this song & again even if I only sung along incoherently, this song still ruled.
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