Friday, October 27, 2006
The Pop List: Top ten one-hit wonders of the ‘9os
I grew up in the ‘9os. The decade defined how I lived then, and it’s still defining the music that I listen
to now. Thanks to the Internet, there’s so much, dare I say too much, music floating around today - on
blogs, MySpace and other websites. When I was growing up, the modern-day Internet was in its infancy
- you found new music through magazines, mix tapes and the radio, the latter of which I found most
beneficial. I’d divvy my time between alternative radio and top-40-hits-of-the-‘Bos-and-‘9os radio. My
taste in music now is so diverse thanks to this dichotomy, and the following songs helped to define what
I liked growing up, and what I like now. These songs inspired change and reaction in the ‘9os, and ulti
mately contribute, however lame they may seem now, to pop music’s largely-encompassing canon.
Every Friday in my fifth grade language arts class, our teacher allowed one student to bring in any CD
of his/her choosing. One week, my best friend at the time, Donnie, brought in Chumbawamba’s
Tubthumper , the band’s triple platinum major label debut and the album from which “Tubthumping” was
released; I shook my head in embarrassment. Inside, however, I was riddled with excitement, anxious to
hear the song with the funny title. Known as an genre-bending, anarchist band in their native England,
Chumbawamba will forever be known in the States as the oddly-named band with the song that no one
knows what it’s about. While the title suggests some sort of political connotation (a tubthumper is a politi
cian in England), the song, to the naked ear, is memorable for its chant-worthy and mouth-watering lyrics:
“I get knocked down / But I get up again / You’re never gonna keep me down;” “He drinks a whisky drink
/ He drinks a vodka drink / He drinks a lager drink / He drinks a cider drink...” Speaking of, I think I’d
actually have to get really, really drunk to listen to this song again.
Instantaneously recognizable by the initial lone guitar strum and high-hat taps, “I’m Gonna Be (500
Miles)" catapulted The Proclaimers straight to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts. Known for their accen
tuated harmonies and Scottish accents, The Proclaimers, comprised of identical twin brothers Charlie and
Craig Reid, first hit their stride overseas in the late ‘Bos, but it wasn’t until “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),”
which appeared on 1993’s Benny and Joon soundtrack, that the band was able to break through to the U.S.
The song, about a man’s devotion to a woman and the lengths he’s willing to go to show his love, is per
haps best known for, if not it’s chorus, the quirky post-chorus ramblings. Nearly 15 years later, The
Proclaimers and its only U.S. hit continue to be popular with American fans: In April of this year, the band
appeared and performed “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” on an episode of the cartoon Family Guv.
Oh my gosh. A swear word? On the radio?! To this, Meredith Brooks said, Hell to the yes. My mom
would always yell at me if I swore in front of her. When “Bitch” was released, I finally felt I had the free
dom to swear all the time. Hey, if someone says it on the radio, I can say it to my mom, right? Well, no,
but it was still pretty cool to hear cursing on the FM during the car ride to school in the mornings. Initially,
Brooks, who was 39-years-old when her debut album Blurring the Edges came out, didn’t have enough
cash to record “Bitch,” but a friend chipped in and the rest is history. Released during the height of ‘9os
female alternative rock, “Bitch” gave Brooks the opportunity to capitalize on the success of other artists
like Alanis Morissette. The pay-off was big: “Bitch” hit #1 on Billboard’s Top 40 Mainstream chart. While
the song itself attempts to break down exactly what the word “bitch” means, and whether it’s good or bad
to be called it, “Bitch” is ultimately remembered for stirring up the airwaves with its water cooler title. And
I still feel weird cursing in front of my mother. Great, thanks Meredith Brooks.
On the brink of a new year and decade, New York City-based house music mashers Deee-lite released
one of pop music’s most bubbly, kooky and vivacious dance numbers ever, “Groove Is In the Heart.” The
song blends elements of disco, funk (legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins plays on the song and appears
in the accompanying video) and rap (A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip lends a few rhymes to the song), as well
as a string of record samples which help set the booty-shaking backbeat. Led by the cutesy speak-sung
vocals of Lady Miss Kier and featuring Jungle DJ Towa Tei and Super DJ Dmitri (hey, it was the early ‘9os
- give ’em a break), Deee-lite was short-lived, lasting only four years, three albums, and one Billboard Hot
100 hit. “Groove Is In the Heart,” however, remains a reminder of just how fun (and straight-up quirky)
pop music in the ‘9os would turn out to be.
r\r
_
By Sean Mihio
student life editor
Chumbawamba
“Tubthumping”
The Proclaimers
“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”
it
1/ wP',
Meredith Brooks
“Bitch”
1997
ip .#
V m *** ‘
«-rw> ::
Deee-lite
“Groove Is In the Heart”
1990
'T'\ *" “
**JI.
Australian rock band Divinyls had been playing music for over a decade before its one and only U.S. hit,
‘I Touch Myself,” was released. Usually referred to as a duo, vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark
McEntee started playing together in the early 1980 s and released their first studio album. Desperate , in
1983 on Chrysalis. Essentially an ode to (oh, do I really even need to say it?) masturbation, “I Touch
Myself’ (which was co-written by Amphlett and McEntee and the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy
Steinberg, who also wrote Madonna’s "Like A Virgin”) is straight outta the oven, and Amphlett’s raspy,
breathy vocal delivery and overtly-sexual lyrics (“I want you /1 don’t want anybody else / And when I think
about you /1 touch myself,” and a bunch of “ooh’s” and “ahh’s" along the way) heighten the song’s per
sistent theme. Although controversial at the time of its U.S. release, the song would eventually peak at #4
on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. “I Touch Myself,” with its sexual frankness, paved the way for other artists
to express their, um, “inner” feelings, like Tweet’s 2002 top-ten R&B hit “Oops (Oh My)” and Britney
Spears’ “Touch of My Hand” in 2004.
Stay tuned for the conclusion in next week’s issue of the Beacon.
Interested in con-
tributing your
fop 10 list? Have any
fStudente Life? Want
to write for
"its
...
©
,mk* L *
Divinyls
“I Touch Myself’
The Behrend Beacon I
own
us?