Generic list post: 101 best non-Rap singles of the 1990s imho

Hi, I'm Generic British Generation X Guy. You may remember me from such posts as Dear diary, my teen-angst bullshit had Ice-T's Body Count, Christian Slater was a better Jack Nicholson than Jack Nicholson, and Earth is roughly 4 billion years old but I'm glad I was alive at the point in time when SL2's On A Ragga Tip sat attop the U.K Top 40.

Always wanted to compile a best non-Rap singles of the 1990s list but was daunted at how time-consuming and mind-bending it'd end up being. I was right: it was a right royal pain in the posterior to whittle the 1990s down to 101 singles since it's an incredible decade which also happens to be plagued by the absolute worst type of nostalgia - whether it's Rap, Rock, R&B or Rave there's a very specific type of ageing bloke who remains forever frozen in 1996 and who is constantly doing his damndest to ruin 90s classics for me. Anyhoo, after a lotta lotta deliberation this is my definitive 101 favourite 1990s Other Genres™ singles, which is set in stone and never to be changed (... until I remember summat obvious I've forgotten, natch.)

Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (1990)
The Family Stand - Ghetto Heaven (Soul II Soul remix) (1990)
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (1990)
Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro (1990)
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison (1990)
Slayer - Seasons Of The Abyss (1990)
Shabba Ranks - Dem Bow (1990)
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing (1990)
808 State - Cubik (1990)
Madonna - Justify My Love (1990)
Suicidal Tendencies - Send Me Your Money (1990)
EMF - Unbelievable (1990)
Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World (1990)
Alice In Chains - Man In The Box (1990)
LFO - We Are Back (1991)
Nirvana - Lithium (1991)
SL2 - Way In My Brain (1991)
Massive Attack ft. Shara Nelson - Unfinished Sympathy (1991)
Prince & The New Power Generation - Gett Off (1991)
Seaweed - One Out Of Four (1991)
Second Phase - Mentasm (1991)
Aretha Daye ft. MC Chan - No More (Making Love) (1991)
Genesis - I Can't Dance (1991)
Liquid - Sweet Harmony (1991)
Soundgarden - Rusty Cage (1991)
Altern-8 - Activ-8 (Come With Me) (1991)
Talk Talk - Ascension Day (1991)
Sounds Of Blackness - Optimistic (1991)
The House Crew - Keep The Fire Burning (1991)
Teenage Fanclub - What You Do To Me (1991)
Young Disciples - Apparently Nothing (1991)
Paperclip People - Oscillator (Electronic Flirtation Device) (1991)
Brand New Heavies ft. N'Dea Davenport - Never Stop (1991)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away (1991)
Shades Of Rhythm - The Sound Of Eden (1991)
Danzig - Dirty Black Summer (1992)
Sade - Cherish The Day (1992)
A Guy Called Gerald - 28 Gun Bad Boy (1992)
Mary J. Blige - Real Love (1992)
Cajmere - Let Me Be (1992)
The Prodigy - Out Of Space (1992)
Bobby Brown - Two Can Play That Game (K Klassic mix) (1992)
L7 - Pretend We're Dead (1992)
Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote (1992)
Underground Resistance - Jupiter Jazz (1992)
Faith No More - Easy (1993)
Foul Play - Finest Illusion (1993)
The Breeders - Cannonball (1993)
Big Drill Car - Surrender (1993)
Hardrive - Deep Inside (1993)
Jodeci - Feenin' (1993)
Girls Against Boys - Bulletproof Cupid (1993)
Vicious ft. Doug E. Fresh - Freaks (1993)
Portishead - Sour Times (1994)
Weezer - Buddy Holly (1994)
UK Apachi ft. Shy FX - Original Nuttah (1994)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms (1994)
TLC - Waterfalls (1994)
Green Day - Basket Case (1994)
Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy (1994)
Mariah Carey ft. ODB - Fantasy (Remix) (1995)
Kyuss - One Inch Man (1995)
Total ft. Notorious B.I.G - Can't You See (1995)
Shaggy - Boombastic (1995)
Rancid - Roots Radicals (1995)
Everything But The Girl - Missing (Todd Terry remix) (1995)
Ghost Town DJ's - My Boo (1996)
Ginuwine - Pony (1996)
The Cardigans - Lovefool (1996)
Blackstreet ft. Dr. Dre & Queen Pen - No Diggity (1996)
Norma Jean Bell - I'm The Baddest Bitch (Moodymann remix) (1996)
Tricky - Christiansands (1996)
Tori Amos - Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden remix) (1996)
Super Furry Animals - God! Show Me Magic (1996)
Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack (1996)
Aux 88 - Electrotechno (1996)
D'Angelo ft. Redman - Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine (Def Squad mix) (1996)
Lynden David Hall - Sexy Cinderella (1997)
Lathun - Freak It (1997)
Laurent Garnier - Crispy Bacon (1997)
Handsome - Needles (1997)
Dem 2 - Destiny (Sleepless) (1997)
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn (1997)
Beenie Man - Who Am I (Sim Simma) (1997)
Coldcut - Atomic Moog 2000 (Bullet Train edit) (1997)
SWV ft. Missy Elliot - Can We (1997)
Double 99 - Ripgroove (1997)
Money Mark - Hand In Your Head (1998)
Faith Evans - Love Like This (1998)
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You (1998)
Whitney Houston - It's Not Right But It's Okay (1998)
Tamia - So Into You (1998)
Paul Johnson - Get Get Down (1999)
Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff (1999)
Mr. Oizu - Flat Beat (1999)
Kelis - Caught Out There (1999)
The Messenger AKA Todd Edwards - So Real (1999)
Blink-182 - All The Small Things (1999)
Artful Dodger ft. Craig David - Re-Rewind (1999)
Donnell Jones ft. Left Eye - U Know What's Up (1999)
Larry Heard - Missing You (1999)

As noted previously, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Massive Attack and Tricky selections are songs I love by artists I loathe.

The SL2, Cajmere, and Underground Resistance selections weren't technically the first songs on their respective 12"s but they became A-side anthems in their own rights because they're simply THAT good.

Slint's Spiderland is one of my favourite Other Genres™ 90s albums on some Yank equivalent of Talk Talk's Laughing Stock type shit, but it doesn't have any singles and I'm not too fussed about Slint's actual 10" single.

The entrance to France's Notre-Dame de Royan is my favourite Brutalist architecture which resembles the robot on the cover of A Guy Called Gerald's 28 Gun Bad Boy album.

This is Monsta Island not Istanbul or Constantinople

Sum shit I recently found out: Kurious recorded a King Geedorah song with MF DOOM over the Monster Zero beat which was never used, but they later completely re-recorded it for some Ninja Tunes boxset. Glad they did too because this second version has more #SongTitleSynergy than the original. How did DOOM find a sick Barış Manço' sample for Kurious to give it the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks.

Kurious - Snake Charmer 2
(From some wanky Ninja Tunes boxset; 2010)


PS: They Might Be Giants over The Four Lads all day, every day.

Cleopatra In Memphis

Duke Deuce - WTF!
(From WTF! single; 2021)


Lock Em In The Trunk is the Duke Deuce song I'm waitin' on to drop, but WTF! definitely ain't no entrée. In fact, it's the anthem that Duke's trademark "WHAT THE F*CK!" ad lib deserves. D Squared is very good at condensing Big Crunk Energy down into hardbody exotic shit - don't even front like that beat doesn't sound like Egyptian Lover moved the Pyramids to Memphis.

One 4 The Britz: Hacienda Hallway

Just noticed that a British holy grail has finally turned up on YouTube: the full episode of The Hitman & Her broadcast from Manchester's infamous Hacienda club in 1989. For doz that literally slept, The Hitman & Her was a British late-night TV show hosted by Stock Aitken Waterman supremo Pete Waterman & then-kids TV presenter Michaela Strachan. Beginning in 1988 the show's M.O was visiting various British nightclubs which were to be provincial meat-markets where Sharons & Tracys and Kevins & Garys would politely dance to current Top 40 pop music and indulge in wacky japes at the behest of Waterman & Strachan.

So far, so standard night out Ritzy's Wine Bar. Until, that is, Waterman & Strachan took a trip to the Hacienda during the peak of Britain's Acid House explosion in 1989 and came across a bacchanal of Mancunian 24 hour party people dancing to rave classics by L.U.S.T, Rhythm Is Rhythm, West Bam, Inner City, Maurice etc. Well, sorta - the club had announced The Hitman & Her would be filming that night so a shitload of Sharons & Tracys and Kevins & Garys also turned up to get their mugs on the telly. Thing is, though, it's this combination of folks which make the episode such a period-piece classic; seriously, there is no better documentation of British club culture in 1989 than the juxtaposition of Waterman & Strachan coaxing a group of hairdresser lasses into singing Beatles karaoke before the cameras cut back to a dancefloor full of Mancunian ravers locked into the plinkity-plonkity hypnotic 303 tweak of A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray.



Petition to get the aforementioned Voodoo Ray footage (32:35 in the second video) recognised and realised as the song's official video. Note the lad dancing on the stage who looks like a Pakistani Shaun Ryder and another lad who looks like a chunkier Kermit from the Ruthless Rap Assassins. Together they coulda been the Bizarro World Black Grape.

Generic list post: September 2021

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when The Rock was spotted driving around listening to Giggs' Talking The Hardest. Talk about "all gassed up now Ima slang me a rock" eh?

Max B - Bang Bang Boogie (2006)
Young Stoka - Dope Man Swagg (2011)
Eatem - Go Get Yo F*ckin' Brotha (video) (2021)
AZ ft. Keffa - Keep It Real (2021)
Mic Terror - OJ Simpson (2021)
Megan Thee Stallion - Thot Shit (2021)
Cootie & BiC Fizzle - Supafly (2021)
Jenevieve - Exit Wounds (2021)
The Freeze - I'm Too Good For You (1982/1997)
Olivia Rodrigo - Brutal (2021)

Other notables: impatiently waiting for Ezale's Hotel Motel; Mozzy's homage to Messy Marv's Tycoonin' is very welcome around these parts; Duke Deuce's WTF is cool but I'm waiting on his Lock 'Em In The Trunk remake meself.

Feel a bit noncey enjoying an Olivia Rodrigo song, but Brutal cranks way harder than any of the new Rock shit currently on rotation on KerrangTV dunnit? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, the forecast is.. partially cool

Money Mark - Hand In Your Head
(From Push The Button album; 1998)


Best quality video upload I've ever seen of this masterpiece. A MTV2 favourite from 1998 which should be an AM radio mainstay forever ever. A perfect pop song from a most unlikely place: the Beastie Boys' keyboard noodler guy.

Speakin' of whom, I've loved the Beasties' So What'Cha Want for damn near 30 years but only just noticed that Ad-Rock is wearing a The Fever t-shirt in the video. Strong period-detail synergy for a song which mentions Spoonie Gee and references Wild Style.

Beastie Boys - So What'Cha Want
(From Check Your Head album; 1992)


"Whoa is this, like, the weather channel?"

Sweet '16

Fall back, Cleanhobo - there's a new bellhop in (Funk)town. Feel like I'm back in 2016 again the way I'm rewindin' Ezale teaser videos. Maybe we'll finally get that Cold Game Chronicles song which was the one with the long-deleted video teaser of Ezale climbing up the abandoned apartment complex. He really thinks that he's Tom Cruise foreal foreal.

Late pass!

Young Stoka - Ack A Ass
(From YouTube; 2010)



Young Stoka - Dope Man Swagg
(From YouTube; 2011)


Gooblums on deck, here's some decade-old Baton Rouge shit that's new to me. 70th Street Carlos and Trel Itz A Hit swear Young Stoka was THE shit to them growing up and who am I to disagree? If Stoka only has two songs to his name then at least they both crack on some low-budget Baton Rouge rogues gallery type shit - donkey boy shit on the former and dope boy shit on the latter.

Born To Audiomack: P-Lo singles 2020/2021

Made meself a little playlist of P-Lo's current run of singles. Once a minor HBK Gang member more known for his production, P-Lo outlasted the crew's star rappers and has truly blossomed orchestrating self-produced Slap Anthemos on his lonesome. This ain't no J. Cole and his record sales, this is P-Lo and his songwriting skillz - slapinum with no features.

And dont forget MC Spoonie Gee...

AZ ft. Keffa - Keep It Real
(From Doe Or Die II album; 2021)


Expeditiously I be on my grizzly, yet I'm feelin' A-Ziggy gettin' semi-wavy by puttin' the Max in the B over Love Rap from the bottom straight to the tizzy. So, Doe Or Die II is a mess but I'll forgive AZ because it's like he made this song especially 4 me.

LMFAO @ the painfully solemn Idris Elba intro. At least mi don Idris' verse on Wiley's Boasty was sorta intentionally funny.

Sorry Sauce 4 The Wait

Eatem - Go Get Yo F*ckin' Brotha
(From YouTube; 2021)


... speaking of 2021 Rap songs which sound and look like hit singles from an entirely different era, Eatem's wonderful Baton Rouge Brawl Music™ anthem Go Get Yo F*ckin' Brotha now has a video. People say Rap music is #problematic but what other genre is lettin' down-syndrome midgets like Baby James be all up in the videos flexin'?

Bonus actual #problematic points for bringing back Long Duk Dong's gong to announce the AZN kid's arrival for the Karate battle.

CURRRRRTISSSS

"Wockesha and one litre got me floatin', bitch, I'm on planet Mars"

Cootie & BiC Fizzle - Supafly
(From YouTube; 2021)


Conclusive proof that classic Curtis Mayfield samples can make any and all rappers sound super duper stupid fly. This shit really does Hit Different™ because it sounds and looks like a regional hit from an entirely different era.

I'm waterproof when the rain hit

Max B - Bang Bang Boogie
(From Public Domain (Million Dollar Baby Radio) mixtape; 2006)

Max B · Bang Bang Boogie

Every time I wipe out after deep surfin' The Wave™ I come outta that water with a song I've kinda slept on. So, move over Deez My Streets because Bang Bang Boogie is ya host's new favourite song on Max's first Public Domain mixtape. Shoot, bro - Max over The O'Jays is like a waterproof suit, yo. That grown and Gore-Tex shit for the summer, for the winter, fourth quarter, whatever, owww.

Generic list post: August 2021

Styles P & Max B - Kill That Faggot (remix)
(From Max B's Million Dollar Baby 2 mixtape; 2008)


Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when Styles P didn't break Max B outta prison to perform the Kill That Faggot remix at the LOX and Dipset Verzuz. And that's why there needs to be a rematch when Max gets out.

Little Shawn - Hickeys On Your Chest (video) (1992)
Digable Planets - Little Renee (1993)
BIA - Whole Lotta Money (2020)
Ezale - Raised Like This (2021)
Stunnaman02 & QuakeBeatz - Big Steppin' (2021)
Homeboy Sandman - Go Hard (2021)
Max B - Revolution (2021)
Rio Da Yung OG & RMC Mike - Give Me Lyfe (2021)
Stephanie Mills - Never Get Enough Of You (1983)
Cookiee Kawaii ft. Justin Love - Donkey (2021)

Other notables: quite like Capitol 1 by EST Gee; AZ's The Wheel ain't my favourite shit but it's still a billion times better than Nas' new album (wtf? @ the guests on Doe Or Die 2 tho.)

PS: when Homeboy Sandman says "I'm like Samson in reverse" on Go Hard he's really talking about Romelu Lukaku.

And speaking of Donkeys...

"There's a genie in the bottle and she better be a model
Got a dollar to my name, Ima bet it on the lotto
We was playin' in the sand, now we playin' in the wind
'Cause if I can do it over ima do this shit again"

Max B - Revolution
(From Revolution single; 2021)

Max B · Revolution

As real Max mavens know, the snippet of this one had been around for donkey's years, and when I say donkey's I ain't talkin' about Yung Eeyore French Montana, boiiiiiii. Literal vintage Bigga here.

Max's camp have re-released 75 In The Can but addded a buncha stupid bell & whistle doodads. That Paul Couture bloke just can't help himself messing Max's shit up, and the sooner Dame Grease kicks him outta the camp the better.

Act A Donkey

Cookiee Kawaii ft. Justin Love - Donkey
(From Soundcloud; 2021)

Cookiee Kawaii · DONKEY - Cookiee Kawaii feat. Justin Love

Why wasn't this the intro on Cookiee Kawaii's album? Very good scene-setter for her JeR&Bsey Club sound. Also, it's the real sequel to Vibe (If I Back It Up), f*ck the official Tyga remix!

Can't we just all get along...

Little Shawn - Hickeys On Your Chest
(From The Voice In The Mirror album; 1992)


Little Shawn's Hickeys On Your Chest AKA the missing link between Super Lover Cee and Ma$e. Never seen this video in such pristine quality before - possibly the only Rap video to feature Bela Lugosi. Is Little Shawn's album worth a listen? Howie Tee produced the whole thing so there must be at least one more Legit Jam™ on there.

Update: checked the album and there's nowt as good as Hickeys On Your Chest on there. Nowt as good as his later single Dom Perignon either tbqh.

Little Shawn ft. Notorious B.I.G - Dom Perignon
(From Dom Perignon single; 1995)


10/10 opportunism for Little Shawn flipping Biggie's line on Party And Bullshit into a comeback single and billing it as a Biggie cameo.

Generic list post: best bonus tracks (2000 - 2021)

When MF DOOM asked "which n*ggas is wack until they last two tracks?" on The Finest in 1999 he couldn't have ever anticipated how ridiculous the bonus track game would become in following decades: regular bonus tracks, deluxe bonus tracks, remix bonus tracks, re-released 2nd pressing bonus tracks, 2nd disc bonus tracks, European bonus tracks, Japanese bonus tracks, Australian bonus tracks, Best Buy bonus tracks, Target bonus tracks, iTunes bonus tracks, Spotify bonus tracks etc etc etc. FREEZE! This shit is outta control, for example an actor who never snapped outta his role. So, here's ya host's favourite songs from the past 20+ years which were forced to get in where they didn't fit in as bonus tracks.

Sean Price ft. Agallah & Bazaar Royale - Rising To The Top (2005)
UGK - Wood Wheel (2001)
Nas - Thief's Theme (2004)
AZ - Live Wire (2005)
50 Cent - Wanksta (2003)
Bubba Sparxxx - Disappear (2003)
Foxx ft. Boosie & Webbie - Wipe Me Down (remix) (2007)
D-Lo ft. E-40, Beeda Weeda & The Jacka - No Hoe (remix) (2009)
The Jacka - It's The Jack (2006)
Ludacris - Act A Fool (2003)
Diddy - Get Off (2006)
Young Dro - Cartoon (2006)
Max B - Blow Me A Dub (remix) (2008)
Gucci Mane - Photoshoot (2009)
Waka Flocka Flame - Luv Dem Gun Sounds (2010)
Mic Terror - Rodney King (2014)
Mac Dre ft. PSD & Dubee - Bonus Track (2004)
Jim Jones ft. Max B & Mel Matrix - Sour Deez (2006)
Birdman & Lil' Wayne - Neighbourhood Superstars (2006)
YG ft. Pushaz Inc - When I Was Gone (2014)
Prodigy - Dirty New Yorker (2008)
Future - Sh!t (2014)
Berner & The Jacka ft. J.Stalin - Live Without Me (2015)
Roc Marciano - Paradise For Pimps (2012)
Boosie - We Gon' Miss You (2010)
T.I. - You Ain't Fly (2006)
Busta Rhymes ft. Diddy & Pharrell - Pass The Courvoisier Part 2 (2002)
Rhymefest - These Days (2006)
Freeway ft. Young Chris - Line 'Em Up (2003)
Kendrick Lamar ft. Dr. Dre - The Recipe (2012)

Nothing sums up Nas' idiocy better than him relegating his last truly great song to a bonus track on one of the worst double albums in Rap history. Word is bond, son, you let yourself down like dis!?!

PS: Schrödinger's Album (noun)
A philosophical thought-experiment conducted by dullards on Rap Twitter where Nas' It Was Written is simultaneously unfairly underrated and better than Illmatic.

Keep it in the Fam-Lay

On one hand, Fam-Lay retired from Rap without having a hit single even though he had a handful of singles which shoulda been hits. On the other hand, Fam-Lay sorta has a 2021 hit single by proxy via that BIA lass he discovered/mentors. I ain't tryna suggest his writing hand was behind BIA's rhymes on Whole Lotta Money, but her nonchalance and flow on this one sound like they were trainedtogo by him.

BIA - Whole Lotta Money
(From For Certain EP; 2020)



Related: while I was playing Duck Hunt, the DMCA treated my Fam-Lay playlist like a sitting duck. A best of Fam-Lay without either version of Rock N' Roll? That's like thinking of Lee Harvey without thinking of a Harley.

Fam-Lay ft. Lil' Flip & Kelis - Rock N' Roll (remix)
(From Rock N' Roll (remix) single; 2003)

Late pass!

Digable Planets - Little Renee
(From Coneheads soundtrack; 1993)


Say what you want about the 1990s, but it was the only decade where a killer Digable Planets exclusive could end up on the soundtrack to a Dan Aykroyd movie alongside songs by Slash & Michael Monroe, R.E.M, Morten Harket from A-ha, Barenaked Ladies, and Soft Cell's Tainted Love. It's a pity Aykroyd didn't have Digable Planets perform it in the movie like Digital Underground did with Same Song in Nothing But Trouble innit? Some of youze lads will probably front like you've got this song on a test-press 12" single, but I'd never heard it until a few weeks back, nor have I ever seen or heard anybody mention it before. Genuine deep cut status or wot?

Ghost Town

"I'm from the town, I'll take your bitch
Just because I was raised like this"

Ezale - Raised Like This
(From Raised Like This single; 2021)


Yeah surprises are cool, but ain't it nice that Ezale's comeback song sounds exactly like you'd expect it to sound? R.I.P Hawk Beatz - you out-DJ Freshed DJ Fresh a couple of times on Ezale's Tonite Show album and the same can be said about Raised Like This here.

I'm A Homeboy (no K-Rob) part 2

Homeboy Sandman - Go Hard
(From Anjelitu EP; 2021)


This James Bond B-Boy Beat Bop shit now has a video. Nice paradox of No Hands and Rap Hands.

Bit disappointed Sandman hasn't dropped any more music videos of him sittin' around eatin' tortilla chips with hummus and guacamole. Must be a double-dip recession in N.Y.C.