Category: 1990s

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 14, 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 May 12TH 1996:

“The World I Know” – Collective Soul
“Name” – Goo Goo Dolls
“Follow You Down” – Gin Blossoms
“Ooh Boy” – Real McCoy
“Take Your Chance” – Fun Factory

Collective Soul, Goo Goo Dolls, and Gin Blossoms: Who are 3 cool light-rock bands who enjoyed their greatest mainstream Top 40 success during the mid-1990s ?

Collective Soul formed during the early-1990s, and Goo Goo Dolls and Gin Blossoms formed during the mid-1980s. All 3 bands are still together today – performing and touring. Aside from a brief hiatus during the late-1990s for Gin Blossoms all 3 bands have been continuously active since the beginning. Goo Goo Dolls celebrate their 35TH anniversary this year !

All 3 bands had a lot of great songs during their heyday, but if I had to pick a fave from each of them then it would have to be Collective Soul’s “The World I Know”, Goo Goo Dolls’ “Name”, and Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy” (from my wild and crazy Summer of 1993).

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to May 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, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Career Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 16, 2021

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

“Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)” – C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams & Zelma Davis
“Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” – C + C Music Factory Ft. Freedom Williams
“I Touch Myself” – The Divinyls
“Voices That Care” – Voices That Care
“Joyride” – Roxette

Written by David Foster, David’s future (and now ex) wife Linda Thompson, and Peter Cetera – this charity single for Operation Desert Storm warriors was released a few days after I left Al Kharj AB Saudi Arabia and returned home stateside. It was a hit at Top 40 and Hot Adult Contemporary radio during the Spring of 1991. I bought the cassette single during my rest and recuperation leave up in Northern Virginia (my home-of-record before I joined the United States Air Force). I wore out that cassette by playing it over and over again over the next several years. I still have it today. I’d love to buy the original version digitally, but it’s not commercially available today. The song always made me feel good, and it reminds me of a totally different U.S.A. that existed 30 years ago that we really haven’t experienced since.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to April 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 Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 9, 2021

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday April 14TH 1996:

“One Of Us” – Joan Osborne
“I Want To Come Over” – Melissa Etheridge
“Insensitive” – Jann Arden
“Rock And Roll All Nite” – KISS
“The World I Know” – Collective Soul

kiss

KISS is arguably one of the greatest rock and roll bands in the history of the rock era, and “Rock And Roll All Nite” is arguably their greatest song ever. Some consider it to be one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever made. It was originally a minor hit on the radio in 1975 before it exploded in popularity early in 1976. It kicked-off a string of hits for KISS from 1976 to 1979. They were an alternate to the disco era of the time; although, they too would succumb to the discotheque sound with their often-maligned disco smash “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”.

But back to “Rock And Roll All Nite” – it was actually reissued as a single (both at retail and to radio) 20 years later early in 1996, and it became a Rock 40 smash all over again. You may remember the Rock 40 radio format. It was very popular during the early-to-mid-1990s away from both coasts – particularly in smaller radio markets – and it blended pop music (deemphasizing hip hop and rap) with hard rock music.

“Rock And Roll All Nite” has been in heavy rotation on my iPod Shuffles that play at my desk at my workplace for many years. It’s garnered 1,007 plays over the past 9 years.

I’ve been to a lot of music concerts over the past 35 years, but KISS was regrettably not one of them. Some will say that you haven’t truly lived the concert experience unless you’ve been to a KISS concert. (I wouldn’t know.)

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to April 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, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Career Driving Home Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1991

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 19, 2021

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday March 17TH 1991:

“One More Try” – Timmy T
“Waiting For That Day” – George Michael
“Joyride” – Roxette
“Baby Baby” – Amy Grant
“More Than Ever” – Nelson

Exactly 30 years ago this weekend I was at home – my teenage childhood home in McLean Virginia (just outside of Washington D.C.)

On the weekend prior I departed the pink desert sands of Al Kharj AB Saudi Arabia with some of my fellow Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm airmen. We lifted-off from the runway in Saudi at 0326L on Saturday March 09TH 1991. After 7 hours and 7 minutes in the air we landed at Torrejon AB Spain (near Madrid). It was a longer-than-expected nearly 5½-hour stop before we took-off again for our stateside destination at Dover AFB Delaware. We touched-down there at 1656L (21½ hours after leaving Saudi). A bus transported us to Philadelphia where we spent the night at a hotel near the airport. We flew out (commercial) the next morning – Sunday March 10TH 1991 – arriving back in Miami at 1001L.

We returned to Homestead AFB with no fanfare at all, and the next morning I was back at my workplace office. I met my new supervisor. He replaced my previous supervisor who was “reassigned”. He told me to take up to 30 days of “R & R” (rest and recuperation) as a returning war veteran. That Wednesday March 13TH 1991 I was on-the-road northward heading towards the Washington D.C. area. I spent the night in South Carolina, and the next afternoon I arrived at my childhood home 1,096 miles from the base. I stayed there for the next 2 weeks enjoying family time.

I was sent to war as punishment by my supervisor at the time (end of 1990). I didn’t do anything wrong. She just hated me. She had issues with guys that looked like me. An investigation occurred while I was at war, and she was relieved of her duties. The war (and post-war) was the start of the best (and final) 26 months of my entire Active Duty Air Force career.

(I still work for the USAF today as a Federal Civilian – at now Homestead ARB.)

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 35 years ago to March 1986 – towards the end of my first year working for the USAF.

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