At some point in the early 1990’s a switch was thrown, and I started listening to country music. From the Nashville sound to countrypolitan to country pop, from the 1950’s through the 1980’s I’d always found some country music to my liking. But in the 1990’s I found myself listening to and buying country music more than contemporary pop music. My favorite country songs from the 1990’s are mostly ones I heard during the decade, unlike previous decades when many of the songs on my list are ones I discovered later.
While I had still found most of the music of the 1980’s to my liking, the mainstream sounds of the 1990’s had me scanning the radio dial; and I often ended up on a country station. To check out if this impression is accurate, I looked at a list of 1990’s top songs. Out of 100, I could only readily identify 23 (for other decades it would probably be 75 or more). And when I tried to list my favorite non-country records of the decade, I only came up with around 25. So for the 1990’s, country music would probably outscore other genres two to one. And most of the pop favorites came from “Adult Contemporary” listings. Songs like Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams,” Madonna’s “This Used To Be My Playground,” Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love,” and Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet” would be high on my list of 1990’s favorites, but they would have a hard time displacing my top five country songs.
Looking at my list, it’s obvious that two artists are dominant. Both George Strait and Garth Brooks were artists that I discovered around mid-decade and then became acquainted with their earlier releases. In 1997 I bought George Strait’s album, “Carrying Your Love With Me” and that sent me searching for other George Strait records. I ended up buying his box set, “Strait Out of the Box.” That’s where I became a fan of his earlier releases such as “Amarillo by Morning” and how they came to be listed as favorites from the 1980’s. With five songs in my top 25, including #2, “Love Without End, Amen,” and ten on my total list of those considered, Strait is clearly my #1 artist of the 1990’s.
I had been checking out Garth Brooks songs on the radio and finally purchased the cd, “Sevens” in 1997. Then Brooks published a box set of “Limited Editions” of his earlier albums in 1998 and I purchased that, giving me a collection of all of his 1990’s music at that time. His earlier singles “Friends in Low Places” (#5) and “The Dance” (#1) made my top five and a total of four in the top 25 and six that were considered for my list.
The list could have been even more dominated by Brooks and Strait as both had other records that I could have listed. For Brooks: “The Thunder Rolls,” “Unanswered Prayers,” “That Summer,” “We Shall Be Free,” and “The Beaches of Cheyenne.” And for Strait: “The Chill of an Early Fall,” “When Did You Stop Loving Me,” and “We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This.”
Others that were prominent favorites in my new affinity for country music were Jo Dee Messina, Alan Jackson, and Alabama. Jo Dee Messina had three songs considered and another, “Bye, Bye” was a certified platinum #1 that almost made the list. Alan Jackson was close to the top two with four listings, including # 9, “Gone Country.” His #1 triple platinum certified “Chatahoochee” was close to being listed. For all its success in the 1980’s, Alabama doesn’t have a song in my top 25 for that decade, but three of its 1990 releases made it, including “Dancin’, Shaggin’ on the Boulevard” at #10.
Two songs that beg me to reconsider for the top 25 are “The Hard Way” and “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.” “The Hard Way” was a track on Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 1993 album, “Come On, Come On” which was one of the early country cd’s I purchased. It was released as a single and reached #11 on the country chart. “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” was Terri Clark’s 1996 remake of Linda Ronstadt’s 1978 version. Ronstadt’s issue reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100; Clark’s was #5 on the country chart. One song that didn’t make the collection is Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis.” As it was a #13 Hot 100 hit but only reached #74 on the country chart I decided it really wasn’t a country song. And Cohn doesn’t qualify as a country artist as none of his other singles were listed on the country chart.
Either Carpenter’s or Clark’s recording would have been in my top 25 if “This Night Won’t Last Forever” had been disqualified as more of a pop hit. Just like Clark’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “This Night Won’t Last Forever” was a remake of a pop recording. Writer Bill LaBounty made the Hot 100 chart at #65 in 1978 and Michael Johnson reached the top ten on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1979 (#19 on the Hot 100). Sawyer Brown’s version was #6 on the country chart in 1997. The song has a pop feel to it, but Sawyer Brown is a country band, and it was a success on the country chart, so it stays on the list.
As evidenced by the George Strait and Garth Brooks songs left off my list, the 1990’s was a decade that made me part of the country music audience. I wouldn’t say I’d “Gone Country” like the Alan Jackson song describes as I still liked music such as 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up,” REM’s “Man on the Moon,” and Shery Crow’s “All I Wanna Do.” But there is no denying that country music became a major part of my soundtrack for the decade. If you’re a country music fan, I would think you’d find my list of favorites to your liking. And maybe there’s some you would disagree with, but keep in mind this is my list. |
