Category: 1990s

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1997

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 21, 2022

Hello again retro music fans. 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, 20, 25, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday October 26TH 1997:

“Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
“(I Just Wanna) Fly” – Sugar Ray Ft. Super Cat
“(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !” – Real McCoy
“Show Me Love” – Robyn
“Mo Money Mo Problems” – The Notorious B.I.G. Ft. Puff Daddy & Mase

If any act defined and expanded Eurodance back in the mid-1990s – it was Berlin Germany’s Real McCoy. After “Another Night” and “Run Away” invaded the pop charts worldwide in 1994 and 1995 they scored with 5 more hits on my chart – “Come And Get Your Love” (# 2), “Automatic Lover (Call For Love)” (# 1), “Ooh Boy” (# 2), “One More Time” (# 3), and finally “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !” (# 1).

4,686 = Combined number of plays of all 7 Real McCoy tracks on my iTunes / iPod Shuffles since the Summer of 2007.

I loved “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here !”, and I still love it today. Commercially it was a flop, but luckily here in South Florida it was a regional smash on the radio. It generated heavy airplay as it spent 23 weeks on my chart.

Shania Twain cowrote the track, and she took it to # 1 on the U.S. Country Music chart early in 1996. It was also a minor pop hit at Top 40 radio.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of October 1987. It’s when Sara, Siobhan, and Keren scored a # 1 smash on my chart. It will also be my final British-based pop chart.

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 1997, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1997

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 16, 2022

It’s the 3RD Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 21ST 1997:

“Tubthumping” – Chumbawamba
“(I Just Wanna) Fly” – Sugar Ray Ft. Super Cat
“Semi-Charmed Life” – Third Eye Blind
“Push” – Matchbox 20
“All For You” – Sister Hazel

What a cool rock chart that was a quarter of a century ago – back when I was the BIG 3-0. Not too hard. Not too light. Just right. All 5 artists in my Top 5 were debut artists – on with their very first hit. Those are some big artists from the late-1990s !

Chumbawamba’s raucous pub-crawling anthem “Tubthumping” was at # 1 for the 2ND week in a row 25 years ago this weekend. It would go on to spend the rest of the year (1997) at # 1 and stay there for 18 weeks in a row into January 1998. It’s the longest-running # 1 smash (by far) in the entire history of my chart.

But how about that Sister Hazel song ? It was a hit on my chart, a U.S. hit, a Canadian hit, and strangely – a Top 10 hit in Iceland !

Now if you read the lyrics to the song – you could think that it’s all about God. And that’s the way that I’m looking at it – 25 years later as a born-again Christian. I can sing this song, and every verse to me leads straight to my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – even though the song is essentially about relationships in general.

Sister Hazel are still together – almost entirely intact since 1993 – touring and performing in their 30TH year !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to September 1987. It’s when a Eurythmic and a Rolling Stone wrote and produced what would become a # 1 smash on my chart. There’s also a #TOTP anomaly associated with this song. If you know then you know. I’ll explain next weekend.

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 1997, Music, Radio

1990s Blogging Computers Geography Internet Music Radio Television Travel

Perth Australia

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 15, 2022

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This month I’m virtually visiting 5 continents in 5 weeks. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Luxembourg in Europe. Last week it was Yunnan China in Asia. This week it’s down under to Perth Australia.

I’m a big fan of Australia and New Zealand from afar. I’ve never been to either. (I’ve never been south of the Equator.) During my upcoming retirement chapter of my life – I definitely wish to somehow someway visit either or both nations for an organized 2-to-3-week tour. I actually want to see and experience Australia and New Zealand over any other destination in the world.

Every time “House Hunters International” (on HGTV) does an episode from either nation I’m glued intently to it – especially the scenery in the background. I get ecstatic when the house hunters are in Perth Australia.

About 25 years ago when I was discovering the Wild Wild World Wide Web (after I weaned myself off of AOL) I used RealAudio (remember that ?) to listen to pop music radio stations from around the world. I ran a pop music web site at the time that was gaining in popularity in Europe (particularly Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany) and Australia and New Zealand. I couldn’t believe that I was creating an electronic product, placing it on the Internet at my very own web site with its own domain name, and people from thousands of miles away and on the other side of the world were interested in it.

One of the many radio stations that I used to listen to from Australia was 96fm out of Perth. It was fun to hear tomorrow’s zany morning show at night here on the U.S. East Coast. Back then (in the late-1990s) pop music in Australia was like a hybrid of both U.S. and U.K. pop music. I remember hearing Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” for many months, and thinking to myself that it should be played on the radio here stateside. Eventually it made it here, and it was a MASSIVESMASH. (That’s an ode to my old web site.)

I learned a lot about Perth listening to the radio, and I even catered my website somewhat to Perth and other cities in Australia and New Zealand, since my fanbase there outnumbered most everywhere else in the world.

Perth is located on the southwest coast of Australia near the 32ND parallel south. Summers are mostly sunny, warm, and dry. Winters are mostly cloudy, cool, and wet. Spring is on its way Perth, and so are many sunny days !

Perth’s skyline from the sea is beautiful. Its metro area is vast along the coast. Over 2 million residents call Perth home. It’s one of the most isolated major cities in the world !

#VisitPerth

From Australia to South America. Next #TravelThursday I’m visiting Santiago Chile. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Australia, New Zealand, Perth

1990s Blogging Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1992

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 19, 2022

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 23RD 1992:

“Restless Heart” – Peter Cetera
“Steel Bars” – Michael Bolton
“Lift Me Up” – Howard Jones
“Too Funky” – George Michael
“My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” – En Vogue

2 weeks prior to Sunday August 23RD 1992 I compiled one last Top 40 hit music chart on notebook paper, but I didn’t really know that it would be the final one.

Hurricane Andrew destroyed my home, my workplace, and my entire region on the morning of Monday August 24TH 1992. It was the most frightening night of my life. By the end of that week I was driving northward away from the death and destruction of Homestead Florida to continue my life and military employment up in the Washington D.C. area (my original home-of-record).

I actually tried twice to restart my weekly hit music chart in late-September and early-November of 1992, but both attempts fizzled. I was no longer interested in writing down my favorite songs each week. That hobby came to a temporary close. 3 years later in late-1995 – back in a partially-rebuilt Homestead Florida – I tried again by bringing it back electronically (via spreadsheet), and that 2ND era was a success – lasting over 14 years !

This is my final look-back at 30 years ago in 1992. Starting in September I’ll look-back at 20 years ago in 2002.

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 35 years ago to the end of August 1987. It’s when my # 1 smash was a # 2 smash all across the British Isles.

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 1992, Music, Radio