Quick note: monthly rankings are based on weekly positions on the Billboard charts collected and scored. Rankings are in [brackets] and will correspond to the position on the playlist provided above. Some months not all songs are available to stream and cannot be made available for a playlist, so sometime we pretend they didn’t exist, sorry.
“What was it like in the nineties?” You read on the screen and since The Goo Goo Dolls haven’t yet released the ubiquitous “Iris”, you’re stuck looking at a photo montage of children looking awkward as hell wearing Hypercolor t-shirts and B.U.M. Equipment sweats featuring music like Roxette’s “Joyride”[32] and that song by Rick Astley. No, I’m not talking about the song that became a prank to “Rick Roll” someone and it wasn’t the other hit “Together Forever”, but the minor hit that charted this month in 1991, “Cry For Help”[30]*.
Revisiting March 1991 saw yet again a new song taking the top spot while the previous chart toppers descend quickly. In fact, January’s number one song, Madonna’s “Justify My Love” failed to chart in the top 50 in any of the weeks in March and C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat” fell down to position 16.
Topping the charts this month is the mopey heartbreaking ballad “One More Try” by Timmy T [1]. In comparison to the chart toppers of the time, the song was an absolute anomaly for the time. Released without the backing of a major label, “One More Try” was starkly different from the polished offerings such as “Love Will Do Without You” by Janet Jackson and the aforementioned previous monthly toppers “Justify My Love” and “Gonna Make You Sweat”. However, this is three minutes of groveling over an admittedly bumpin’ bouncy bass and 808 percussion. If there was any chance of me warming up to the song, the spoken word final salvo pushes it over the top and into the Golden Goose Bad Egg chute. I tried. More than once.
Speaking of the artists that topped the monthly charts so far this year, both Madonna and C+C Music Factory had another tune debut on the charts this month. “Rescue Me” [11] was the second new song featured on Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection. Revisiting “Rescue Me” definitely made me wonder why this song didn’t have much staying power. For a song with great production and featuring some strong vocals from Madonna, “Rescue Me” faded away fairly fast only lasting two months on the Top 50.
C+C Music Factory quickly followed the smashing success of “Gonna Make You Sweat” with “Here We Go, Let’s Rock & Roll”[43]. Pretty much sounding exactly like a store-band “Gonna Make You Sweat, “Here We Go” felt like gambling on purchasing a compilation CD and being absolutely gutted by the off-rate ‘hits’ contained within. It sounds like it would be used in an advertisement for something like, I don’t know, Hypercolor t-shirts. I felt like living in a direct-to-tv movie montage of a rambunctious teen inline skater probably named Zack trying to fit in at a new school and woo the female lead (who, let’s be honest was too good for him anyway).
Last month a couple of offbeat tracks made their way onto the charts, notably 2Nu’s “This Is Ponderous”. While only lasting a month it was sadly missed as it would have paired quite oddly with “How To Dance” by Bingoboys [39]. If you were ever curious as to what OK Soda tasted like, it tasted like this tune. Spoken word vocals paint the verses as Princessa takes over, giving elements of house and elevates the song and makes it a real body swayer.
Cathy Dennis had a second song pop up this month as “Touch Me (All Night Long)”[40] made it’s way on the charts. “Touch Me” was released shortly after “Just Another Dream”[66] was making it’s way further down the chart. Both of these song are undeniable jams and it felt like there was a big future in the spotlight for Dennis. While her recording career lasted only three albums, Dennis found massive success as a songwriting helping writing monumental hits such as Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl”, Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and a pair of singles for Kylie Minogue, “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” and “Come Into My World” (which is one of the coolest music videos ever created).
Whitney Houston’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner[29] was quickly recorded and released after her stunning performance at Super Bowl XXV (New York Giants over the Buffalo Bills). At the actual time of the performance, Houston was singing into a dead microphone an the pre-recorded vocals played to help with keeping time and with the jets flying overhead. Whitney Houston’s rendition was historic as this was the first time the Nation’s anthem made it’s way onto the charts. The feat would happen again ten years later as the same performance was reissued and charted after the attacks on September 11, 2001. To this day, Whitney’s version remains as the gold standard for performing the anthem.
Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut took the top spot on the album charts, finally knocking off Vanilla Ice’s reign as To The Extreme dropped to number three. Mariah Carey will stay on top of the album charts for the next three months. (spoiler alert!)
Despite not having any representation on the singles charts this month, R.E.M.’s Out Of Time was released this month. Driven by the massive hits “Shiny Happy People” and “Losing My Religion”, Out Of Time sold over four million copies and has been included in many lists for the greatest albums of all time.
Songs that charted but are not available on streaming services.
Shades of Sade shimmer in “Temple Of Love” by Harriet charted at the 60th position for March. Sadly, this song is unavailable on any services, but thanks to YouTube it lives on for instant gratification. I really enjoyed this one and felt deflated knowing that there’s not much of anything to dive into further. There’s not much information surrounding Harriet, but thankfully there’s a little reminder here of their charting success, however minor.
Notable albums that did not chart
Slint – Spiderland
Slint’s second album Spiderland is widely regarded as one of the most defining rock albums of the decade and it seemed like it almost never saw the light of day as the band had broken up months before the record’s release. Once released the album gave new life to the band and its success gave Slint a huge audience. Featuring poetic spoken word passages ranging from whispers to screams, Brian McMahan bared his soul while buzzing guitars and punchy snares accent the descent into depression and madness.
*I was never gonna give up the opportunity to do that.
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