Finally, I found someone who shares my disdain for the '90s! Gen-Xers always gush about that decade because of the alternative rock scene -- which admittedly gave us some great music -- but God, the mainstream pop was TERRIBLE. There was a period of about 2-3 years when it seemed like every song you heard on the radio recycled about the same four or five drum machine patterns over and over again, and the backing track often consisted of nothing more than one sampled riff played ad infinitum. There certainly has been plenty of crappy music since the '90s, but I don't think any of it has been quite as bad as the worst stuff from that ten-year period.
@@TheProgCorner I disagree, I think the 2000s saw a slight upswing with the rise of the indie/post-rock scene (the best modern equivalent of prog-rock, IMO) and the influx of local/independent artists that were able to get widespread recognition thanks to the advent of MP3 technology and sites like MySpace and CDBaby. As for the mainstream pop, it was definitely a mixed bag, but again, not quite as awful as the '90s stuff.
Gen-Xer here. I love the 90's, my second favorite decade for music. It's not because of alternative. It's a lot of other stuff like grunge, jam band, singer-songwriters, returns to form by older artists who had gone astray in the 80's, and of course, third-wave prog. I never had a problem with what they played on the radio, because I never listen to the radio.
@@danaaronmusic Grunge and jam bands would probably fit under the alternative category. I wasn't a huge fan of grunge, but I agree the jam-band scene was great, with Phish easily being my favorite band of the decade.
Yeah, there were some rock hits like Losing My Religion by R.E.M. There's also Green Day, Nirvana, and other popular rock acts of that time period. I wished some of those songs reached Number 1.
In the grocery store the other day I heard "missing" by Everything but the Girl. Uggh. It was barely tolerable back in the 90s and for a while I thought I'd never hear it again. Boy was I wrong. I'm not sure if it was number one or not but it sure seemed to be one of those songs that you just couldn't get away from back then. Ack! Imagine how much faster you would try to leave if they played that in an escape room. Yep, some real dubious songs back then to say the least. Lol.
You nailed it with the Cher, and I guessed Macarena would be on there. But how can you not like Black Velvet? It is one of the great songs of all time, in my opinion. Please do a 2000s version and then the decade after that if you dare.
You absolutely have to do the 2000's now. There is some dreadful stuff there. The 60's would be difficult to do, even the no so great hits from that decade have a charm about them. Really enjoying this series Scott
@TheProgCorner that's great news, I'm already getting a list together for the 2000's. The 60s will be tough. I like pretty much everything from that decade
I am impressed you spent the time for 90s worst songs. It was horrible for mainstream music!! Fake synthesized, bad musicianship, autotune. Just horrid! I enjoyed the new rock scene like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Bush. There also was some decent easy listening with Anita Baker, 10,000 Maniacs then solo Natalie Merchant.
Electric Slide (I actually like it lol), I want it that way (Backstreet boys), Three Little Pigs (Green Jello), Barbie Girl, What is love baby don’t hurt me. Keep going, I’m enjoying this, do the 00s and 10s decade too!
Scot you deserve a medal 🏅 for sorting through all as you Americans say the trash 🗑 terrible and such a brave man to go through it! I agree with your choices! 😂
To answer your question of if you should make a video of the worst #1 songs of the 2000s, I am of two minds. The prog rocker in me says no because there are so many bad songs in the 2000s that it isn’t worth it. But the capitalist in me says you should make that video for the numbers!
@@TheProgCornerYes, you should do the worst 2000s number ones. It's a shame Don't Go didn't go to number one. That Yes track deserves to be on that list in spite of the fact that Magnification is my 6th favorite album in all music history. Don't Go is the only dud on the last truly great Yes album.
The big record labels are at fault along with MTV and other media. MTV was huge then and made decisions to push certain things and completely bury others.
@@TheProgCornerI like a lot of his songs. Everything I Do reminds me of If Only You Knew by Yes. One of the most beautiful songs Anderson wrote outside of Jon & Vangelis. Every woman and girl who heard that song loves it. It's a shame that not many women and girls didn't hear Yes pop much.
Yeah I've seen that one covered by a few TH-cam music critics. I also believe it was a #1 in The States albeit they were a bit luckier than us obviously since they only got a few weeks. Also for 1994 obviously Wet Wet Wet's version of Love Is All Around which only managed one week less than Bryan Adams. Incidentally both were also from movies, Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves and Four Weddings And A Funeral respectively.
Ugh! Pop music in the 90s! Just as bad as pop music in the 80s. It's amazing what people think is good. It's a head shaker for sure. But I've said it before and I'll say it again. People love McDonald's! I'm not bothering with a list. Yours is enough to induce vomiting. Thanks Scot! Hmmm...yeah do the 60s. That won't be as terrible as the decades that followed. I'm liking your plans for upcoming shows. Mixing up content keeps it interesting. That Charisma idea is pretty good. Looking forward Scot, looking forward.
@@TheProgCorner Hey man, I like those Sinatra/Hazelwood albums. Tunes like Some Velvet Morning and Sand are psychedelic masterpieces. Check ‘em out if you’re not aware. Lee Hazelwood was a decent writer. But no matter I’m looking forward to what’s in the bag.
"It hurts! It hurts!!" Fred WAS right. Some full-on turd biscuits were launched in the 90's. I had stopped listening to the radio in the mid 90's so I never even heard of some of these songs.
Of all the number ones you mentioned, I actually bought Blackstreet, Boys II Men, and Notorious BIG. Most of the good 90s stuff wasn’t top ten material at that time. 🖖🏼
What's interesting about your rundown is the lack of rock groups and the amount of R&B and Rap [not Hip Hop] tunes that were not only in the pop chart but no. 1 and some for weeks. They moved the goal posts and quickly dealt with that runaway train come 2000.
I got fed up with "To Be With You" and More than Words" the first time I heard them and wish I could never hear them again. But surprisingly Extreme and Mr. Big are really good Glam Rock bands with a lot of talent who had members jump on the Prog Rock/Metal scene.
I didn't realize it got that bad in the 1990s. I now don't like Ice Ice Baby as much since it ripped off Under Pressure by Queen, a favorite song from one of my favorite bands. I would say I might still like whatever else that I know from here, but my mind might be changed with some songs later on. I still like the rendition of Candle In The Wind, but I generally prefer the original version from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, one of my favorite albums of all time.
"Save King Chucky!" LOL that bit never gets old! Yeah, the pop charts in the 90's were amazingly awful! I say leave the 2000's alone. That was the beginning of what I call the musical dark ages. And the beginning of the cookie cutter era. It's all the same now. So how about do the 60's next?
@@TheProgCorner Well, if you insist on doing the 2000's that's cool but as I said they all sound the same so every #1 song should make the list then! 😁
Would like to see your list of tolerated or better songs that made it to the Top 5 in the 90s. Or top 10.. or whatever constrain grants a suitable list for a video.
I'm surprised Bryan Adams' Everything I Do (I Do It For You) wasn't your worst for 1991 or a dishonorable mention and I thought Bump'n'Grind should have been the worst for 1994 and in my opinion the worst #1 hit of the decade especially given R.Kelly's history.
Thank god for Guided by Voices ( I came in after hearing "Under the Bushes, the 2CD with Tigerbomb, which BLEW me away) The Oilvia Tremor Control, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, Built to Spill - If it wasnt for Lo-Fi, the 90s is more or less what you mention in this video, which is most trash, did you forget "Saturday Night" by Whigfield Or Rednex - COtton Eye Joe, HORRIBLE!?!? LOL
In the 80's when I sometimes was annoyed at some simpleton chart music I wish the 90's would have told me ahead to chill because it would get much much worse. And the collective brains never recovered from the 90's cancer. 😂
Whitney Houston's- "I Will Always Love You" I will always despise this song. Wilson Phillips-"Hold On" PLEASE NO! I'm going to throw your radio out the window. Mariah Carey-"Emotions" My ears are bleeding! C+C Music Factory-Everybody Dance Now Beyond annoying! New Kids on the Block-"Step by Step" There's a good reason all male fans of this group stayed in the closet. Bryan Adams-"Everything I Do" All our girlfriends and wives love this song and we wish it never existed!
@@TheProgCorner I think Blur's Song 2 was a hit there. Ironically it sounded rather like early '90s Grunge, the very thing Britpop initially set itself up as a reaction to.
@@TheProgCornerI'm very sorry to disagree with you on Stay by Lisa Loeb. She really got real lucky as she is the very first artist to have a Billboard number 1 song WITHOUT A RECORD CONTRACT. That's right, no record label going to the Billboard number 1. Her song appears on a movie soundtrack as she was never signed. The first artist to do that in all music history.
My siblings and I call Michael Bolton "The Bolt". An inside joke as well as others. I remember when he was a Hard Rock singer. A generic Sammy Hagar at best or at worst. I was really surprised when he went into Adult Contemporary making music for menapausal women. Hilarious! Or there is the story Toni Iommi had about Michael Bolton trying out for Black Sabbath after Dios departure.
I will add "What's Up" by "4 Non Blondes". Music, lyrics, singing and appearance of the band are all terrible. Fortunately, they remained a one-hit-wonder, so I never had to hear anything else from them. This song alone is horrible enough. And surprisingly, it still gets played a lot everywhere, as if it was a current hit.
Yes ....then she lifted a LedZep riff for a future abomination which finally extinguished her career.. 'This is a song instead of a kiss..instead of a soothing kick in the afterbirth '
No list of musical atrocities from that decade is complete without mentioning Doop, a record by some malevolent entity of the same name, that topped the UK charts for 3 weeks in 1994.
Well Scot, considering all of the junk that came out in the last 24 years, I’d recommend not covering that malarkey 😆. And I would certainly agree with all the 90s songs you mentioned, even though I don’t actually recall the names of most of them being that I wouldn’t have liked them regardless. No doubt, in that decade, the quality of hit song music was complete garbage. But I’ll always remain focused on the best of the 90s, anything ranging from Radiohead to Seattle Grunge and Indie Rock to British pop, there was still a lot to admire from that decade. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have survived it.
@@TheProgCornerYes were the Kings of pop in the 1990s. Yes had at least a dozen songs that could have been top 40 singles if they had a record label that had the balls to promote singles. There are at least 4 singles that could have gone to number 1 from The Ladder alone. Love Shine from OYE is my 2nd favorite pop song of that decade. And New State Of Mind could've been a number 1 too. 4 great pop songs on Union. A couple more on Talk. State Of Play is outstanding. 90s Yes pop is phenomenal. Way better than Genesis garbage. Even Rush couldn't compete with Yes pop. Six pretty good albums where the pop songs are mostly amazing.
Hilarious , by far the 90's was the beginning of some of the most annoying pop/rock/rap-crap ever recorded, and sadly it seems to have gotten worse, heck it's almost 2025. IMO, the only good /interesting music has come from the prog-metal bands, like Opeth, Mastodon, Dream Theatre etc.. It is great to see that some of the old classic prog bands (Yes, J. Tull, Focus, PFM, etc.) are still creating some good stuff.
I've always labelled this time as the decade that music forgot , perhaps slightly unfairly but this decade on the whole just didn't do it for me... one or two notable exceptions with Radiohead the highlight. Shockingly bad decade... even the mighty Iron Maiden weren't able to reach their top notch quality. Glad its not just me on a downer with the 90's Scot !!! Awful. 😅 😍🎵🎵🤘
I dunno, maybe it's just me being younger (born in '93, while on the subject of the '90s) but I don't really hate most of these songs. I don't really like most of them either, so I'm not going to go out of the way to defend them (except maybe Gangster's Paradise and Smooth, weird combo, I know). But really the only one that really rankles me in any significant degree is Ice Ice Baby, and that's mostly because of the profound arrogance behind it than the music itself. I don't have a problem with sampling in and of itself, but my god, man, have some common decency about citing your sources, or maybe just some common decency in general. I haven't heard Creep before but I feel like it would also be one I'd hate. But most of the rest of the list, and most of the '90s number one hits in general from my cursory understanding, are just boring rather than the "why would anyone think this was a good idea even in concept" of some of the terrible hits of previous decades (still reeling from some of those '70s tracks you mentioned that video), and that tends to bother me more personally than the music being lame or boring. Which, on that note, I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention that, for a year as objectively revolutionary in music as 1991 was, the best selling single of the year was the most boring song possible - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams. Is it the worst song that year? I dunno, probably not, but it's super forgettable just the same.
I only had sisters and they listened to Mariah Carey religiously. So I had a distain for Mariah Carey. Could not stand those high pitch sqeels. The Christmas album is the absolute worst of time. Rap and Hip Hop are completely awful genres so I felt torchured in the 90's by there being too much of it. Didn't care too much for Grunge but it was still way better than most of the commercial stuff out there. Prog Metal saved my life in the 90's.
I like maybe a handful of these songs, but '90s pop was a real snoozefest much of the time! Thank God for alternative rock, right? 😂 For being at the peak of pre-recorded music sales, 1999 was a far better year for movies than for music. That year deserved to have better songs at the top of the charts...
Thankfully, I never heard most of this garbage. Alternative music was a genre aptly named at the time, and I bought a lot of great music through the decade and entirely avoided hearing all that boy/girl singers trash. Please don't continue onward with the series into the 2000s. It will be a horrible experience for everyone involved, including yourself. A '60s edition would be interesting, and I hope you do it.
Agree with almost everything, but would've chosen Ace of Base's "The Sign" as worst for 1994. (Being a bit of a hater of such euro dance bands and their tired thing. AoB is certainly no Abba...) Anyway, Lisa Loeb 's Tails album (and "Stay" particularly) is a bit indie-ish but really ok, I somehow really dig Lisa and her sensitive girl, poetic lyrical shtick. But hey I'm different, I was into a lot of other female artists in the 90s like Joan Osborne, Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple, all of whom also had at least one really good album sometime in that decade. The only straight-ahead rock I really could find appealing then was Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. Maybe some Pogues. Most rock artists of the time just seemed to have degenerated into putting out the same old boring BS repetitively. Kind of like now, actually! : /
Underground electronic dance music absolutely kicked ass in the early 90s. Every decade has bad and good things to offer. It is about figuring out what those things are. Also, expanding music taste and being open-minded doesn't hurt. When people don't like something, they almost always assume it must be bad, but often it is actually about limitations in one's ability to appreciate something. Music genres/styles evolve in time. If that wasn't the case, some Byzantine Chants would be all music we have, but luckily there was Renaissance, Baroque, Classism, Romanticism, Jazz, Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Soul, Sunshine-pop/rock, Prog Rock, Country, Funk, Disco, Rap, New Age, Synth-pop, House, Rave, Breakbeat, Jungle, Drum 'n' Bass, Trance, Vapour-wave and literally hundreds and hundreds of other genres/subgenres linked to those listed. That is a cornucopia for anyone willing to learn to appreciate different styles of musical expression/art, but sadly most people limit themselves to a couple of genres calling all other music systematically garbage... ...that said, #1 songs have probably never been about the best music has to offer. Great music is often marginal and only sometimes commercially very successful.
All of that music is garbage, but things got so much worse in the 2000s up until today. There is still good music being made in the rock, metal and prog rock genres, but it gets no attention. Instead they prop up all this 💩 music that we have today.
@@TheProgCorner No, I'm not glorifying novelty songs. It's just that novelty songs are made for humor and not musicality. You can't rate them on musical quality. One of the few "musical" novelty songs I can think of would be Todd Rundgren's "Bang on the Drum".
Set Adrift On Memory Bliss was cool imo I'm Too Sexy uses that sample or bit from Hendrixs Third Stone From The Sun so a little hard to hate Macarena video had some of the fittest looking women ever. Yeah Im shallow Stay I Missed You us a nice song but Lisa Loeb looks like she is bursting to go to the toilet in the video Im going to suggest doing your 5 favourite number 1s from each decade
I first heard that riff in Cozy Powell's Dance With The Devil. Also sounds like the drum part in that was used by Boney M as the intro to their song Rasputin.
@@TheProgCorner I had a look at the 1950s number 1s in the UK . I'd choose, in no particular order Adam Faith - What Do You Want Prez Prado - Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White Bill Halley and The Comets - Rock Around The Clock Bobby Daring - Mack The Knife Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child I could have chosen 5 classic rock n roll hits but I wanted to have more variety For bad/novelty songs in that decade there's How Much Is That Doggy In The Window and Hoots Mon There's A Moose On The Loose
Here's my Top Ten Best #1 songs of the 1990's. *01:* Santana (w/ Rob Thomas) - Smooth *02:* *03:* *04:* *05:* *06:* *07:* *08:* *09:* *10:* I stopped listening to the radio in the early 90's due to so-called songwriters forgot how to write decent songs & the ermerging of usage of sampling. You know you hit rock bottom whan a so-called artist sampled *Elton John's "Benny & the Jets"* & *America's "Tin Man"* as their hooks. And I thought disco was bad. Reason the 90's was a big decade of pre-recorded music was radio became irrelevant by becoming corporatized cookie cutter stations.
Ok as much as I love ballads some are not that great. “My heart will go on” is such a boring song to me. I will always love you, vision of love & kiss from a rose are much better ballads
Yeah, do the worst of the '60s and maybe even '50s. Because if you thought the '90s were bad...just wait for the 00s and 10s. And just put the '20s out of your mind.
@@TheProgCorner I could see that. Some of the songs are too on the nose & sappy but for me I’m more mesmerized by the vocals & key changes. Also crazy how no grunge hits peaked at the number 1 but then again I wasn’t alive until the second half of the decade lol
@@phillinsogood Pearl Jam hit #2 with “Last Kiss.” No grunge act hit #1. Wow!!! I had never thought of that. Interesting. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hit #6. “Black Hole Sun” peaked at #24. I’m amazed.
90s and 00s have, for a while, been my least favorite decades for popular music.
The '10s and 20's seem to be just as bad...
@@stanferraro4130 they’re not too good either
Finally, I found someone who shares my disdain for the '90s! Gen-Xers always gush about that decade because of the alternative rock scene -- which admittedly gave us some great music -- but God, the mainstream pop was TERRIBLE. There was a period of about 2-3 years when it seemed like every song you heard on the radio recycled about the same four or five drum machine patterns over and over again, and the backing track often consisted of nothing more than one sampled riff played ad infinitum. There certainly has been plenty of crappy music since the '90s, but I don't think any of it has been quite as bad as the worst stuff from that ten-year period.
The machine was in full force. Things started breaking down after 2000-2001.
@@TheProgCorner I disagree, I think the 2000s saw a slight upswing with the rise of the indie/post-rock scene (the best modern equivalent of prog-rock, IMO) and the influx of local/independent artists that were able to get widespread recognition thanks to the advent of MP3 technology and sites like MySpace and CDBaby. As for the mainstream pop, it was definitely a mixed bag, but again, not quite as awful as the '90s stuff.
Gen-Xer here. I love the 90's, my second favorite decade for music. It's not because of alternative. It's a lot of other stuff like grunge, jam band, singer-songwriters, returns to form by older artists who had gone astray in the 80's, and of course, third-wave prog. I never had a problem with what they played on the radio, because I never listen to the radio.
@@danaaronmusic Grunge and jam bands would probably fit under the alternative category. I wasn't a huge fan of grunge, but I agree the jam-band scene was great, with Phish easily being my favorite band of the decade.
@@jhillst And Phish is so prog too.
90’s Alternative music never got the respect it deserves. So many great songs. No 2k
Yeah, there were some rock hits like Losing My Religion by R.E.M. There's also Green Day, Nirvana, and other popular rock acts of that time period. I wished some of those songs reached Number 1.
@ceilingfansclocksminecraft1226 Exactly!!!!
I don't even remember some of the songs you mentioned. I'll admit I kind of checked out during the 90s. Especially in regards to mainstream music.
Understandable
Good call for Believe - the song that ruined music. South Park immediately nailed it.
The Lisa Loeb part had me rolling.
Not a fan!!!!!
In the grocery store the other day I heard "missing" by Everything but the Girl. Uggh. It was barely tolerable back in the 90s and for a while I thought I'd never hear it again. Boy was I wrong. I'm not sure if it was number one or not but it sure seemed to be one of those songs that you just couldn't get away from back then. Ack! Imagine how much faster you would try to leave if they played that in an escape room. Yep, some real dubious songs back then to say the least. Lol.
I forgot about them. Thanks a lot!!!! 😡
Great show Scot 👍. Im still laughing 😂😂...those songs all were turds 😎. Peace ✌️
Just awful.
@@TheProgCorner💩💩💩😎
You nailed it with the Cher, and I guessed Macarena would be on there. But how can you not like Black Velvet? It is one of the great songs of all time, in my opinion. Please do a 2000s version and then the decade after that if you dare.
It’s getting scary…
You absolutely have to do the 2000's now. There is some dreadful stuff there. The 60's would be difficult to do, even the no so great hits from that decade have a charm about them. Really enjoying this series Scott
It’s settled. 2000’s next week and then we will circle back and do the sixties!!!!
@TheProgCorner that's great news, I'm already getting a list together for the 2000's. The 60s will be tough. I like pretty much everything from that decade
I am impressed you spent the time for 90s worst songs. It was horrible for mainstream music!! Fake synthesized, bad musicianship, autotune. Just horrid! I enjoyed the new rock scene like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Bush. There also was some decent easy listening with Anita Baker, 10,000 Maniacs then solo Natalie Merchant.
For sure but the pop charts were so bad!!!
Electric Slide (I actually like it lol), I want it that way (Backstreet boys), Three Little Pigs (Green Jello), Barbie Girl, What is love baby don’t hurt me. Keep going, I’m enjoying this, do the 00s and 10s decade too!
👍👍👍
Scot you deserve a medal 🏅 for sorting through all as you Americans say the trash 🗑 terrible and such a brave man to go through it! I agree with your choices! 😂
It’s dirty work but somebody has to do it!!!
@@TheProgCornerNow take a shower!🚿🛁😎
To answer your question of if you should make a video of the worst #1 songs of the 2000s, I am of two minds. The prog rocker in me says no because there are so many bad songs in the 2000s that it isn’t worth it. But the capitalist in me says you should make that video for the numbers!
Yeah!!!!!!
@@TheProgCornerYes, you should do the worst 2000s number ones. It's a shame Don't Go didn't go to number one. That Yes track deserves to be on that list in spite of the fact that Magnification is my 6th favorite album in all music history. Don't Go is the only dud on the last truly great Yes album.
So much great music in the 90's, and these are the songs that hit number one! It's not the people's fault, it's the radio.
Corporate radio is at fault. Bring back real DJs.
@@KnEpH131 Yes.
The big record labels are at fault along with MTV and other media. MTV was huge then and made decisions to push certain things and completely bury others.
How about Bryan Adams Everything I do I do it for you! That spent 16 weeks at number 1 here in the UK in 1991! Hate that song so much haha.. :)
Awful song.
@@TheProgCornerI like a lot of his songs. Everything I Do reminds me of If Only You Knew by Yes. One of the most beautiful songs Anderson wrote outside of Jon & Vangelis. Every woman and girl who heard that song loves it. It's a shame that not many women and girls didn't hear Yes pop much.
Definitely at the top of my list. I didn't care for Bryan Adams in the 80's but I hated what he did in the 90's.
Yeah I've seen that one covered by a few TH-cam music critics. I also believe it was a #1 in The States albeit they were a bit luckier than us obviously since they only got a few weeks. Also for 1994 obviously Wet Wet Wet's version of Love Is All Around which only managed one week less than Bryan Adams. Incidentally both were also from movies, Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves and Four Weddings And A Funeral respectively.
@@alanwhite9466 Yeah I hate that Wet Wet Wet song too haha.. well remembered my friend! :)
Ugh! Pop music in the 90s! Just as bad as pop music in the 80s.
It's amazing what people think is good. It's a head shaker for sure.
But I've said it before and I'll say it again. People love McDonald's!
I'm not bothering with a list. Yours is enough to induce vomiting.
Thanks Scot!
Hmmm...yeah do the 60s. That won't be as terrible as the decades that followed.
I'm liking your plans for upcoming shows. Mixing up content keeps it interesting.
That Charisma idea is pretty good. Looking forward Scot, looking forward.
The '90s were much worse than the '80s for pop music. (The rock music, on the other hand, was better in the '90s.)
Nancy Sinatra??? Oh, there will be pain. There will be tears. The sixties had some of the best and some of the worst music ever recorded!!!!
@@TheProgCorner
Hey man, I like those Sinatra/Hazelwood albums. Tunes like Some Velvet Morning and Sand are psychedelic masterpieces. Check ‘em out if you’re not aware. Lee Hazelwood was a decent writer.
But no matter I’m looking forward to what’s in the bag.
"It hurts! It hurts!!" Fred WAS right. Some full-on turd biscuits were launched in the 90's. I had stopped listening to the radio in the mid 90's so I never even heard of some of these songs.
The Elton John "Candle In The Wind" resurgence was because Diana died in 1997. He played the song at her funeral and changed some of the lyrics.
He was friends with the princess.
Of all the number ones you mentioned, I actually bought Blackstreet, Boys II Men, and Notorious BIG. Most of the good 90s stuff wasn’t top ten material at that time. 🖖🏼
I like Blackstreet!!!
Years ago Right Said Fred did an unplugged version of "I'm Too Sexy". Embarrassing! It gave new meaning to the term godawful!
I’ll bet. Glad I never heard that.
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day Scot ❤😊 also I went to a bar barbeque which was Saturday ❤😊
I love a good cookout!!! BBQ ribs and chicken. Making me hungry…
I knew before I even clicked on the video that Macarena was going to be on this list 🤣
Had to be!!!!!
What's interesting about your rundown is the lack of rock groups and the amount of R&B and Rap [not Hip Hop] tunes that were not only in the pop chart but no. 1 and some for weeks. They moved the goal posts and quickly dealt with that runaway train come 2000.
👍👍👍
I got fed up with "To Be With You" and More than Words" the first time I heard them and wish I could never hear them again. But surprisingly Extreme and Mr. Big are really good Glam Rock bands with a lot of talent who had members jump on the Prog Rock/Metal scene.
Great bands with a radio hit or two!!! We forgive them for their sins. A band’s gotta eat!!!
I didn't realize it got that bad in the 1990s. I now don't like Ice Ice Baby as much since it ripped off Under Pressure by Queen, a favorite song from one of my favorite bands. I would say I might still like whatever else that I know from here, but my mind might be changed with some songs later on. I still like the rendition of Candle In The Wind, but I generally prefer the original version from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, one of my favorite albums of all time.
I love that album. Elton’s best.
4:04 LMAO! You should do a video where you sing your least favorite hits of all time.
Feel free to continue this series into the 2000s.
I should sing them all in the next installment!!!!!
Where I live we are currently going through a massive heatwave so Ice Ice Baby doesn’t sound that bad.
Right???
"Save King Chucky!" LOL that bit never gets old! Yeah, the pop charts in the 90's were amazingly awful! I say leave the 2000's alone. That was the beginning of what I call the musical dark ages. And the beginning of the cookie cutter era. It's all the same now. So how about do the 60's next?
I’m definitely doing the 60s and the 2000s!!!!
@@TheProgCorner Well, if you insist on doing the 2000's that's cool but as I said they all sound the same so every #1 song should make the list then! 😁
Would like to see your list of tolerated or better songs that made it to the Top 5 in the 90s. Or top 10.. or whatever constrain grants a suitable list for a video.
Wow. That would be difficult for a decade so devoid of great hit singles!!!!
@@TheProgCorner Ok, Top 200 🤣 j/k
What would be priceless:
To see the expressions of these "artists" the moment they discovered they made a Prog Corner "worst of" list.
Right??? It’s gonna happen!!!
I'm surprised Bryan Adams' Everything I Do (I Do It For You) wasn't your worst for 1991 or a dishonorable mention and I thought Bump'n'Grind should have been the worst for 1994 and in my opinion the worst #1 hit of the decade especially given R.Kelly's history.
It should have been acknowledged!!!
........yeah, music kinda left me in the '90s and beyond........but i m workin' hard at gettin' it back goin' again now........
I left in the nineties too. But Transatlantic pulled me right back in!!!!
Thank god for Guided by Voices ( I came in after hearing "Under the Bushes, the 2CD with Tigerbomb, which BLEW me away) The Oilvia Tremor Control, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, Built to Spill - If it wasnt for Lo-Fi, the 90s is more or less what you mention in this video, which is most trash, did you forget "Saturday Night" by Whigfield Or Rednex - COtton Eye Joe, HORRIBLE!?!? LOL
👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
In the 80's when I sometimes was annoyed at some simpleton chart music I wish the 90's would have told me ahead to chill because it would get much much worse. And the collective brains never recovered from the 90's cancer. 😂
👍👍👍
Snap "I got the power" 😂😊...or Vanilla Ice..Ice,ice baby..
🤢
Vomit emoji definitely needed...
Speaking of vomit, no Shania Twain here?!
That don't impress me much 😊
Shania Twain gets a pass because she is hot!
That’s how I feel about Taylor Swift.
Shania Twain's biggest single, "You're Still the One," only got to #2.
Whitney Houston's- "I Will Always Love You"
I will always despise this song.
Wilson Phillips-"Hold On"
PLEASE NO! I'm going to throw your radio out the window.
Mariah Carey-"Emotions"
My ears are bleeding!
C+C Music Factory-Everybody Dance Now
Beyond annoying!
New Kids on the Block-"Step by Step"
There's a good reason all male fans of this group stayed in the closet.
Bryan Adams-"Everything I Do"
All our girlfriends and wives love this song and we wish it never existed!
Well done!!!
All I can remember in the UK charts was dance dreck but enlivened by Madchester and then Britpop. Blur were awesome IMO.
There were some highlights from the decade - sadly none of it made a dent in the US charts!!!
@@TheProgCorner I think Blur's Song 2 was a hit there. Ironically it sounded rather like early '90s Grunge, the very thing Britpop initially set itself up as a reaction to.
The 90's were great for post rock bands like GY!BE, Swans, and all the others. The pop hits from other bands though...
Lots of great music in the 90s but not on the charts!!!
The only problem with Michael Bolton songs is Michael Bolton! God, what a bore! ❤
Terrible. And then he cut his hair…
@@TheProgCornerI'm very sorry to disagree with you on Stay by Lisa Loeb. She really got real lucky as she is the very first artist to have a Billboard number 1 song WITHOUT A RECORD CONTRACT. That's right, no record label going to the Billboard number 1. Her song appears on a movie soundtrack as she was never signed. The first artist to do that in all music history.
@@charleswagner2984 Agreed, that was by far the best of all the songs he listed. All the other #1's he mentioned for '94 were worse.
My siblings and I call Michael Bolton "The Bolt". An inside joke as well as others.
I remember when he was a Hard Rock singer. A generic Sammy Hagar at best or at worst. I was really surprised when he went into Adult Contemporary making music for menapausal women. Hilarious!
Or there is the story Toni Iommi had about Michael Bolton trying out for Black Sabbath after Dios departure.
Anything from green day
I will add "What's Up" by "4 Non Blondes". Music, lyrics, singing and appearance of the band are all terrible. Fortunately, they remained a one-hit-wonder, so I never had to hear anything else from them. This song alone is horrible enough. And surprisingly, it still gets played a lot everywhere, as if it was a current hit.
Terrible song!!! Thankfully only got to #14 in the US.
@@TheProgCorner Here in Austria it was #1 and consequently spreaded like the plague.
Fun Fact: Diane Warren wrote both "Un-Break My Heart" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."
She did!!!!!! She was a hit machine!!!
Black Velvet by Alannah Myles, she opened for Robert Plant on his Now and Zen tour.
Yikes!!! Show up late!!!
Yes ....then she lifted a LedZep riff for a future abomination which finally extinguished her career..
'This is a song instead of a kiss..instead of a soothing kick in the afterbirth '
Come on Scott- i own best of Boyz to Men. Those fellas can sing baby! 🤘🏼
Oh they can harmonize!!!
No list of musical atrocities from that decade is complete without mentioning Doop, a record by some malevolent entity of the same name, that topped the UK charts for 3 weeks in 1994.
It did not chart in the US (only on the dance charts but not the Hot 100.) I have never heard it. Dare I hit play???
Well Scot, considering all of the junk that came out in the last 24 years, I’d recommend not covering that malarkey 😆. And I would certainly agree with all the 90s songs you mentioned, even though I don’t actually recall the names of most of them being that I wouldn’t have liked them regardless. No doubt, in that decade, the quality of hit song music was complete garbage. But I’ll always remain focused on the best of the 90s, anything ranging from Radiohead to Seattle Grunge and Indie Rock to British pop, there was still a lot to admire from that decade. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have survived it.
There WAS a lot of great music in the nineties - just not on the radio!!!!
Exactly !!
@@TheProgCornerYes were the Kings of pop in the 1990s. Yes had at least a dozen songs that could have been top 40 singles if they had a record label that had the balls to promote singles. There are at least 4 singles that could have gone to number 1 from The Ladder alone. Love Shine from OYE is my 2nd favorite pop song of that decade. And New State Of Mind could've been a number 1 too. 4 great pop songs on Union. A couple more on Talk. State Of Play is outstanding. 90s Yes pop is phenomenal. Way better than Genesis garbage. Even Rush couldn't compete with Yes pop. Six pretty good albums where the pop songs are mostly amazing.
Hilarious , by far the 90's was the beginning of some of the most annoying pop/rock/rap-crap ever recorded, and sadly it seems to have gotten worse, heck it's almost 2025. IMO, the only good /interesting music has come from the prog-metal bands, like Opeth, Mastodon, Dream Theatre etc.. It is great to see that some of the old classic prog bands (Yes, J. Tull, Focus, PFM, etc.) are still creating some good stuff.
Absolutely!!!!👍
Elton John didn't make any money from 'Candle in the Wind 1997'. All global proceeds from the single went to Princess Diana's charities.
Thank you for that but I refuse to let the facts get in the way of a good story…
I've always labelled this time as the decade that music forgot , perhaps slightly unfairly but this decade on the whole just didn't do it for me... one or two notable exceptions with Radiohead the highlight.
Shockingly bad decade... even the mighty Iron Maiden weren't able to reach their top notch quality. Glad its not just me on a downer with the 90's Scot !!! Awful. 😅
😍🎵🎵🤘
There was a lot of great music in the nineties but none of it made the singles chart. Dreadful.
I dunno, maybe it's just me being younger (born in '93, while on the subject of the '90s) but I don't really hate most of these songs. I don't really like most of them either, so I'm not going to go out of the way to defend them (except maybe Gangster's Paradise and Smooth, weird combo, I know). But really the only one that really rankles me in any significant degree is Ice Ice Baby, and that's mostly because of the profound arrogance behind it than the music itself. I don't have a problem with sampling in and of itself, but my god, man, have some common decency about citing your sources, or maybe just some common decency in general. I haven't heard Creep before but I feel like it would also be one I'd hate. But most of the rest of the list, and most of the '90s number one hits in general from my cursory understanding, are just boring rather than the "why would anyone think this was a good idea even in concept" of some of the terrible hits of previous decades (still reeling from some of those '70s tracks you mentioned that video), and that tends to bother me more personally than the music being lame or boring. Which, on that note, I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention that, for a year as objectively revolutionary in music as 1991 was, the best selling single of the year was the most boring song possible - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan Adams. Is it the worst song that year? I dunno, probably not, but it's super forgettable just the same.
Yeah, I just didn’t feel like talking about Bryan Adams!!!
I only had sisters and they listened to Mariah Carey religiously. So I had a distain for Mariah Carey. Could not stand those high pitch sqeels. The Christmas album is the absolute worst of time.
Rap and Hip Hop are completely awful genres so I felt torchured in the 90's by there being too much of it.
Didn't care too much for Grunge but it was still way better than most of the commercial stuff out there.
Prog Metal saved my life in the 90's.
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Right on the money.
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I like maybe a handful of these songs, but '90s pop was a real snoozefest much of the time! Thank God for alternative rock, right? 😂
For being at the peak of pre-recorded music sales, 1999 was a far better year for movies than for music. That year deserved to have better songs at the top of the charts...
That’s for sure!!!
90's music was not good . Few exceptions ( alice n chains to name one ) . Good video Scott 🎉
Horrible decade for pop.
Greetings from Brazil. Another perfect list;, it's amazing how you never make any mistake, man. Love, respect and long live president Kamala
You rock!!!!
Thankfully, I never heard most of this garbage. Alternative music was a genre aptly named at the time, and I bought a lot of great music through the decade and entirely avoided hearing all that boy/girl singers trash.
Please don't continue onward with the series into the 2000s. It will be a horrible experience for everyone involved, including yourself. A '60s edition would be interesting, and I hope you do it.
Some of these terrible songs were unavoidable!!! No matter how hard I tried - The Macarena still haunts me…
Fat of the land , maybe it’s just not your bag, had a couple of cheeky #l’s on it ❤😂
Aw. Vogue is one of my favorite (not that there’s many) Madonna songs.
I love Madonna but Vogue isn’t my favorite. I’m old school so gimme Like A Virgin, Holiday and True Blue!!!
Hey Scot! Thanks for making me sick!!🤮🤮🤮👍☮️👑🐍😎
Yuck!!!!!!🤢 I’m sorry!!!!
@@TheProgCornerGuess it had to be done. Glad you are following up on the RS article I sent you. Just terrible picks of album covers!!!😎
Agree with almost everything, but would've chosen Ace of Base's "The Sign" as worst for 1994. (Being a bit of a hater of such euro dance bands and their tired thing. AoB is certainly no Abba...) Anyway, Lisa Loeb 's Tails album (and "Stay" particularly) is a bit indie-ish but really ok, I somehow really dig Lisa and her sensitive girl, poetic lyrical shtick. But hey I'm different, I was into a lot of other female artists in the 90s like Joan Osborne, Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple, all of whom also had at least one really good album sometime in that decade. The only straight-ahead rock I really could find appealing then was Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. Maybe some Pogues. Most rock artists of the time just seemed to have degenerated into putting out the same old boring BS repetitively. Kind of like now, actually! : /
Big STP fan here!!!! And Soundgarden too.
@@TheProgCorner Badmotorfinger, Superunknown, STP's Purple (and debut, Core, as well) - All awesome records....
Underground electronic dance music absolutely kicked ass in the early 90s. Every decade has bad and good things to offer. It is about figuring out what those things are. Also, expanding music taste and being open-minded doesn't hurt. When people don't like something, they almost always assume it must be bad, but often it is actually about limitations in one's ability to appreciate something.
Music genres/styles evolve in time. If that wasn't the case, some Byzantine Chants would be all music we have, but luckily there was Renaissance, Baroque, Classism, Romanticism, Jazz, Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Soul, Sunshine-pop/rock, Prog Rock, Country, Funk, Disco, Rap, New Age, Synth-pop, House, Rave, Breakbeat, Jungle, Drum 'n' Bass, Trance, Vapour-wave and literally hundreds and hundreds of other genres/subgenres linked to those listed. That is a cornucopia for anyone willing to learn to appreciate different styles of musical expression/art, but sadly most people limit themselves to a couple of genres calling all other music systematically garbage... ...that said, #1 songs have probably never been about the best music has to offer. Great music is often marginal and only sometimes commercially very successful.
I can confirm that electronic dance music in the early 90s was really good, it made me want to be a DJ for a couple of years.
All of that music is garbage, but things got so much worse in the 2000s up until today. There is still good music being made in the rock, metal and prog rock genres, but it gets no attention. Instead they prop up all this 💩 music that we have today.
It’s actually very sad.
personal hells
Exactly!!!
Scott, Ya gotta filter out those novelty songs! Your humble sycophant, Robert
The mighty novelty song!!!
@@TheProgCorner No, I'm not glorifying novelty songs. It's just that novelty songs are made for humor and not musicality. You can't rate them on musical quality.
One of the few "musical" novelty songs I can think of would be Todd Rundgren's "Bang on the Drum".
You make a good point. That’s probably why I love a good novelty track!!!!
I hope you didn't have to listen to all of those, that's going above and beyond!
I listened to them all!!!!! Every #1 song (well, at least a few bars…)
CONTINUE THE SERIE !!
Okay!!!! I think I will!!!!
What a terrible time for so called music.
Just awful.
Set Adrift On Memory Bliss was cool imo
I'm Too Sexy uses that sample or bit from Hendrixs Third Stone From The Sun so a little hard to hate
Macarena video had some of the fittest looking women ever. Yeah Im shallow
Stay I Missed You us a nice song but Lisa Loeb looks like she is bursting to go to the toilet in the video
Im going to suggest doing your 5 favourite number 1s from each decade
Not a bad idea!!!
I first heard that riff in Cozy Powell's Dance With The Devil. Also sounds like the drum part in that was used by Boney M as the intro to their song Rasputin.
@@TheProgCorner I had a look at the 1950s number 1s in the UK . I'd choose, in no particular order
Adam Faith - What Do You Want
Prez Prado - Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White
Bill Halley and The Comets - Rock Around The Clock
Bobby Daring - Mack The Knife
Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child
I could have chosen 5 classic rock n roll hits but I wanted to have more variety
For bad/novelty songs in that decade there's How Much Is That Doggy In The Window and Hoots Mon There's A Moose On The Loose
The 90s were so bad! LOL. Thank god for Alice In Chains.
And Soundgarden.
So disagree on 94,I've always enjoyed her act. Lisa Loeb ❤...
I knew that one would be controversial!!!
Scot you have to do the 2000's see if it is better than the 90's
Yeah, I think I have to…
@@TheProgCorner Also when is the best list coming out?
Since the 80's pop music is going down for me beacuse of all that rap crap and the idiotic robotic electronic dance stuff
Yep.👍
Here's my Top Ten Best #1 songs of the 1990's.
*01:* Santana (w/ Rob Thomas) - Smooth
*02:*
*03:*
*04:*
*05:*
*06:*
*07:*
*08:*
*09:*
*10:*
I stopped listening to the radio in the early 90's due to so-called songwriters forgot how to write decent songs & the ermerging of usage of sampling. You know you hit rock bottom whan a so-called artist sampled *Elton John's "Benny & the Jets"* & *America's "Tin Man"* as their hooks. And I thought disco was bad. Reason the 90's was a big decade of pre-recorded music was radio became irrelevant by becoming corporatized cookie cutter stations.
Because I Love You - Stevie B. Was worse in 1990. 1991: I Adore Mi Amor - Color Me Badd
Yes!!!!
Ok as much as I love ballads some are not that great. “My heart will go on” is such a boring song to me. I will always love you, vision of love & kiss from a rose are much better ballads
Nickelback hit number 1 in 2001. You must continue on.
Well, that settles it!!!!!
Yeah, do the worst of the '60s and maybe even '50s. Because if you thought the '90s were bad...just wait for the 00s and 10s. And just put the '20s out of your mind.
Looking at the 2000s now and YUCK!!!!🤮
Great Decade
What a show
For me the song on top of this huge turd of music
Informer by Snow
I cant listen to that song
So bad!!!
Don’t you go dissin’ on BNL!
Never!!! I’m a fan.
@@TheProgCorner oh! Sounded like you were saying Two Weeks was a bad song. Sorry
@@courtneywallace871 No way!!! (Even though I always preferred Steve’s songs…)
Now wait a minute what makes Always Be My Baby & Unbreak my heart terrible? I’m guessing your more of a rocker 😂
Something about Diane Warren’s writing.i never loved and yeah, I’m definitely on the rock side of the equation!!!! 👍👍👍
@@TheProgCorner I could see that. Some of the songs are too on the nose & sappy but for me I’m more mesmerized by the vocals & key changes. Also crazy how no grunge hits peaked at the number 1 but then again I wasn’t alive until the second half of the decade lol
@@phillinsogood Pearl Jam hit #2 with “Last Kiss.” No grunge act hit #1. Wow!!! I had never thought of that. Interesting. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” hit #6. “Black Hole Sun” peaked at #24. I’m amazed.
@@TheProgCorner right as influential Smells like teen spirit was I’m shocked it didn’t go to #1 for at least 1 week
my wife luhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhvs The Spice Girls!
Mine too.
Yep therewith were bad,#1s
Was never a fan of grunge or alternative.
No Soundgarden or STP for you?
No.
On another note, I've been mishearing 'Informer' as 'hey farmer' which I think is hilarious.
Not of these songs are worse than the post man song Stevie b
That was a terrible song. Should have at least been mentioned for its enormous stench. And it was #1 for what, six weeks???
@@TheProgCorner with a better singer it mighta been alright. His voice hurts my ears
FIRST!!!
That’s the spirit!!!