Top 100 Songs From 1990 Upd

For the goths and the art kids. In a year of bombast, Depeche Mode offered quiet minimalism. The thump-thump-thump of the drum machine and Dave Gahan’s baritone created a mood that has never gone out of style.

If you had a boombox with a dual cassette deck, these songs were on your slow-jam mixtape. top 100 songs from 1990

Madonna was already a star, but "Vogue" made her a living art exhibit. Inspired by the underground ballroom scene of Harlem, she took gay club culture and put it in the center of the mall. The video is black-and-white perfection. Strike a pose. For the goths and the art kids

Keep spinning those CDs (or rewinding those cassettes). If you had a boombox with a dual

Love it or loathe it, it was the first hip-hop song to top the Billboard Hot 100. The bass line (stolen from Queen/David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”) is law. The lyrics are nonsense. But when he says "Stop. Collaborate and listen," you stop. You listen.

The 1990s was a decade of massive sonic shifts. At the dawn of the era, the glossy hair metal and synth-pop of the 80s were fading, making way for the raw power of grunge, the golden age of hip-hop, and the dominance of the power ballad. 1990 specifically acted as the perfect bridge—a year where New Kids on the Block shared airwaves with Public Enemy and Sinéad O'Connor.

Looking back, 1990 didn't have a singular sound, and that’s its beauty. It was the glue between the decadent 80s and the cynical 90s. You had the last supergroups of arena rock rubbing shoulders with the first digital house beats.