Category: 1990s

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My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 15TH 1996:

  1. “Jellyhead” – Crush
  2. “C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs
  3. “Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” – Gina G
  4. “This Is Your Night” – Amber
  5. “Counting Blue Cars” – Dishwalla

All right let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars”. First the facts. It spent 26 weeks in a row on my chart from July 1996 to January 1997. 18 of those 26 weeks were in my Top 10, 10 weeks were in my Top 5, 3 weeks were in my Top 3, and it peaked at # 2 for a single week. It was my # 6 hit of all of 1996 (out of 177 hits that charted). It spent over 11 months on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a long-running rock, alternative, pop, and hot adult contemporary smash, and it was even featured in a couple of movies – most notably “Empire Records” in 1995. (The story of “Empire Records” in itself is very interesting, and I could write a blog post just on that movie and its groundbreaking music.)

I’ll do that some day, but for now it’s the controversial “Counting Blue Cars”. It wasn’t controversial for me. I thought it was cool to hear a hard rock song on the radio that was about God. (This was a full decade before my salvation had started.) Apparently it was controversial for some Christians who objected to God being identified as a woman:

♫ Tell me all your thoughts on God
‘Cause I’d really like to meet her
And ask her why we’re who we are
Tell me all your thoughts on God
‘Cause I’m on my way to see her ♫

I can’t imagine ever getting upset about a song on the radio that refers to God as a her. The song was inspired by a young 10-year-old boy and his spiritual journey discovering and exploring God. Apparently Dishwalla and their lead singer even received death threats at the time from angry Christians. That’s not so Christ-like. Nowadays our God is mocked and ridiculed, and His followers are persecuted and discriminated against by the world. I don’t get angry about that. I pray about it. It’s in God’s hands. He’s in control.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to September 1991.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Blogging Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 18TH 1991:

  1. “Just Like You” – Robbie Nevil
  2. “Every Heartbeat” – Amy Grant
  3. “The Dream Is Still Alive” – Wilson Phillips
  4. “Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)” – Roxette
  5. “Unbelievable” – EMF

If you read my blog post yesterday then you’ll know that exactly 30 years ago this weekend I was at sea in the Caribbean for the first time ever with my family. This is the chart that I produced just before my family arrived here in Miami.

Amy Grant is currently at # 1 on my chart as a featured artist with her husband Vince Gill on Ryan Stevenson’s tribute song to his mom – “When We Fall Apart”. Back in the early-1990s Amy was one of the hottest stars on the pop chart with 5 big hits in a row from her quintuple-platinum album “Heart In Motion” – including her 2ND hit “Every Heartbeat” – which would eventually ascend to # 1 on my chart.

Here’s the official music video for “Every Heartbeat”:

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to August 1986.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1990s Blogging Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 11TH 1996:

  1. “Jellyhead” – Crush
  2. “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” – Primitive Radio Gods
  3. “Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” – Gina G
  4. “This Is Your Night” – Amber
  5. “C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs

Good music during the Summer of ’96. Fun season when I was 29.

The “Motiv8 Pumphouse Remix” of “Jellyhead” from British girl duo Crush was a regional pop hit here in South Florida. It spent 8 weeks in a row at # 1 on my chart, and it was the 10TH biggest hit of the entire year. I still hear it almost every day at work, as it’s in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace. It’s aged wonderfully over these past 25 years. I still consider it to be one of the greatest ’90s HI-NRG Eurodance tracks ever made.

At the movie theatre I saw “Kingpin” and “A Very Brady Sequel” 25 years ago this month.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to August 1991.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1990s Blogging Career Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday July 21ST 1991:

  1. “Unbelievable” – EMF
  2. “Hard To Handle” – The Black Crowes
  3. “A Couple Days Off” – Huey Lewis And The News
  4. “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” – C + C Music Factory Ft. Freedom Williams
  5. “Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)” – C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams & Zelma Davis

The Black Crowes scored a surprise # 2 hit on my chart with “Hard To Handle”. I say “surprise” because it received very little radio airplay here in South Florida while it was a hit on the radio in other parts of the U.S. some 8 months earlier in November and December of 1990. It received tremendous airplay in my tent at “Tent City” at Al Kharj Air Base in Saudi Arabia during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I didn’t play it. One of my tentmates played it over and over again – loudly. It became a de facto anthem of the war. I bought it on cassette single after returning home stateside, and I played it over and over again myself in my dorm room – loudly. I consider it to be one of the greatest rock songs ever made.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to July 1986 – when I lived on the edge of the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire England.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries