Category: 1990s

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 8, 2021

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 October 13TH 1996:

“Let’s Make A Night To Remember” – Bryan Adams
“Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)” – John Mellencamp
“If It Makes You Happy” – Sheryl Crow
“Counting Blue Cars” – Dishwalla
“C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs

I’m gonna do this “Mini-Thoughts” style. Longtime readers of my blog know what that means:

Bryan Adams will be 62 next month.
He released his first single – a disco song – at age 19.
His breakthrough hit here in the U.S. – “Straight From The Heart” – early in 1983.
He’s still touring and performing today. I’d like to see him LIVE.
“Let’s Make A Night To Remember” is one of my favorites from him.
I like John Mellencamp’s music more today than I did back in the day.
25 years later I forgot how “Key West Intermezzo” sounded like.
So I went to YouTube of course to play the video.
Good song. Good beat too. I was actually singing along to it.
It was his 22ND and final Top 40 hit here in the U.S.
When Sheryl Crow debuted in Spring of 1994 I said she’ll be around for awhile.
“If It Makes You Happy” rocked my face off in 1996.
It won a Grammy in 1997.
I wrote about Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars” last month.
Fun Fact: Quad City DJs are not from the Quad Cities. They are from the #JAX.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to October 1991. “There’s a hole in my heart that can only be filled by you – and this hole in my heart can’t be filled with the things I do.” That Top 5 hit will be featured next week.

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 !

Tags 1996, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 17, 2021

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 22ND 1991:

“Shiny Happy People” – R.E.M.
“I’ll Be There” – The Escape Club
“Wind Of Change” – The Scorpions
“It Hit Me Like A Hammer” – Huey Lewis And The News
“Every Heartbeat” – Amy Grant

For this edition of RETRO I wanted to highlight the one song on my Top 5 exactly 30 years ago that I don’t remember. It’s because I haven’t heard it since 30 years ago when it spent 19 weeks on my chart. I’m talking about The Escape Club’s “I’ll Be There”. You probably remember their biggest hit – “Wild Wild West” – from 1988. You may even remember its immediate follow-up hit – “Shake For The Sheik”. I remember both. But I seriously didn’t remember “I’ll Be There”. That is – until I went on YouTube to watch the music video for it.

Now I remember it. Good song. Good video. It’s almost like a pop anthem for that time-period. It can easily bring tears to your eyes. That was their final song. It was their 3RD of 3 Top 40 hits here stateside. They were a British band out of London England, but they never charted in the U.K. with any single or album. They did achieve some success “down under” in Australia and New Zealand.

I just bought the single on iTunes. YES – I still buy music. Now THAT’S RETRO !

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to September 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 !

Tags 1991, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Christian God Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 10, 2021

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:

“Jellyhead” – Crush
“C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs
“Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” – Gina G
“This Is Your Night” – Amber
“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 !

Tags 1996, Dishwalla, Movies, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 20, 2021

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:

“Just Like You” – Robbie Nevil
“Every Heartbeat” – Amy Grant
“The Dream Is Still Alive” – Wilson Phillips
“Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)” – Roxette
“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 !

Tags 1991, Music, Radio