The 90s: Worst Decade for Pop Music

[Meatwad]

Yes, it probably was because Eurodance was inescapable here throughout the decade. Early on, we had artists like DJ Bobo, Haddaway, 2Unlimited and Dr. Alban. Towards the end of the decade, there was artists like Vengaboys, Toybox, Dr. Bombay, E-Type, Aqua and 666. It just seemed like it would never go away - unlike the often fondly remembered grunge which didn't last long at all.

Oz had a couple of 2 Unlimited songs that charted well, one Dr Alban tune, one Haddaway tune, 2-3 hits from Vengaboys and 2-3 hits from Aqua. The rest of those mentioned I have never heard of although DJ Bobo vaguely rings a bell (but maybe I only came across him on Eurovision because I dont think he had any big hits down here).

Out of all of those only the Vengaboys really did my head in. Aqua probably had a couple of hits too many for what they were, but I actually like the humour in Barbie Girl which I dont think people really got as most folks took it pretty literally since its a pop song. On a side note (to prove that "Barbie Girl" may have been more tongue in cheek) one of the members of Aqua formed the group Lazyboy around ~2005ish and put out this rather amusing tune ..... 


Lazyboy - Underwear goes inside the pants

Aqua - Barbie Girl

[DJChameleon]

If you think the 90s had crap pop music. It's definitely an age bias. I bet you loved 80s pop but if you hate on 90s pop it definitely shows how old you are.

Myself like Mrs. Waffles had our formative years during the 90s so we probably treasure a large majority of 90s music in general as being better. From 90s hip hop to 90s R&B shining along with boy bands and the techno dance scene.

[Guybrush]

If you think the 90s had crap pop music. It's definitely an age bias. I bet you loved 80s pop but if you hate on 90s pop it definitely shows how old you are.

Maybe, but I was born in 82 so I had formative years in the 90s too. But I also knew Rednex was bad the first time I heard them 🤔

All these songs were on the hit lists here. A fun challenge is listening to the refrains and see if you can tell them apart.

Don't get me wrong - there's lots of music I love from the 90s. It's just the amount of straight up trash reaching popularity is unmatched by any other decade, I think.

[DJChameleon]

I don't know Rednex outside of Cotton Eyed Joe which I loved. I was definitely a singles person for the 90s I barely listened to full albums.

One hit wonders exist in all decades though. Some of them aren't the greatest but they were made popular and people enjoyed them as a one off.

[Lexi Darling]

Yeah, I was born in '89 so I'm a little bit younger then both of you. I was exposed to most 90s music for the first time when I was in the single digits, I wasn't old enough to be musically discerning. So I enjoyed a lot of stuff I wouldn't probably give any time to if I'd heard it now at 34 rather than as a kiddo in the 90s.

And for what it's worth, I'm 100% with Guybrush on Cotton Eye Joe. I actually loved it when I was a 6-7 year old kid, but it's just irritating to adult me.

[Meatwad]

En Vogue - My Lovin'

[DJChameleon]

I love Childish Gambino's cover of this but 1998 song from Tamia.

[Guybrush]

I saw this today. This is pretty much what the mainstream 90s were like to me.

I miss musical diversity in the charts, but man.. There was such a lot of soulless crap being made.

[robhr]

I wholeheartedly agree, 90s pop music is abysmal, I would rather have silence.

Horrible thing I am about to admit about myself, but as a child I enjoyed The Backstreet Boys. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I couldn't be more sorry.

[DJChameleon]

I wholeheartedly agree, 90s pop music is abysmal, I would rather have silence.

Horrible thing I am about to admit about myself, but as a child I enjoyed The Backstreet Boys. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I couldn't be more sorry.

BSB was and is still so good.

Now if you said you were an NSync fan then you should be sorry for that. Or a 98 Degrees fan.

[Guybrush]

There are certainly worse offenders, like Urban Cookie Collective who has two hits, I think, in that Top 20 video.

Typical 90s. Even when it's upbeat, it feels kinda dreary and cold. The music is mostly just some house chords and samples to a breakbeat or house beat and centers around about four bars worth of actual music with some generic vocals.

[Lexi Darling]

IMO you shouldn't be apologetic for enjoying music. The Backstreet Boys were a hugely popular band, I liked them too. If their music was enjoyable you to you at the time, or even now, there's nothing wrong with that.

[Meatwad]

BSB was and is still so good.

Now if you said you were an NSync fan then you should be sorry for that. Or a 98 Degrees fan.

98 degrees were absolutely terrible but NSync werent that bad. Just a pale imitation of Backstreet Boys.

[Meatwad]

This shit slaps !! Turn yo speaker to eleven bruh ...... 

Pinball matters !!

[Meatwad]

More proof that 90's pop was hard .......