Tyler: Number 50! Beck, “Loser.”

This was a breakout.  Very MTV-based, if memory serves.

Peter: It was a big deal.

I like it. It’s good.

Great chorus.

Tyler: Seen as a bit of a gen-X “anthem,” no?

Those listless flannel-clad layabouts!

Peter: I was pretty listless. Yeah, this was a bit of an anthem for my generation. The lyrics are pretty much gibberish, but it didn’t matter. It was the spirit of the thing, Tyler! We were young and alive! And losers. Who wanted to die. Apparently. I don’t know. You had to be there, I guess.

Tyler: I recognize those feelings from my own awkward high school years.  Soon to come: Hot Hits ’01!

Peter: God help us!

What’s next?

Tyler: Jumping up just one spot, to a real gem.  “Linger” by The Cranberries.

Peter: I never really liked this one.

Tyler: I returned to this song for a spell, working it into a playlist, I believe, a few years back.  Really fell for it then.

I’m not huge on “Zombie,” but I really like “Linger.”

Peter: Interesting. I prefer “Zombie.”

Tyler: Well fine!  I prefer Zombi 2, an Italian horror film from Lucio Fulci in the late ‘70s.   This is a confident wisecrack that I will now frantically double-check after sending.

Peter: Everybody’s in on that joke.

Tyler: Playing to the masses, Peter.

Peter: I don’t hate “Linger,” but it was their second album, No Need to Argue, that won me over.

They played “Zombie” and “Ode to My Family” on SNL. Taped it on my VCR!

Tyler: I shudder in realizing that our younger readers may not know what a “VCR” is.

Peter: I was eating a McDLT whilst I watched.

Tyler: Washing it down with a tall cool Crystal Pepsi.

Jumping up to #43, we’ve got one of rather some cultural import: Melissa Etheridge’s “Come To My Window.”

Peter: I never really liked this one.

Tyler: Blessedly, I was not raised to so much as bat an eyelash at Etheridge’s then-novel openness as a lesbian.  Go Melissa!  The song, though, I could take or leave.

Peter: She covered “Thunder Road” when she did MTV Unplugged. She brought Bruce out and they sang it together, but when it got to the “So Mary climb in” line, Bruce stepped back and she sang it alone. It was pretty cool.

Tyler: Beautiful!

Peter: So, yes! Way to go, Melissa! But I don’t like this one.

Tyler: Well, then, we’ll see what you think of our next selection.

#42!

Tag Team, brother.  “Whoomp! (There It Is).”

Peter: Wow. So many memories.

It’s a terrible song.

Tyler: Yeah, it’s really quite dreadful.

Peter: I’m not even going to listen to it. Let’s move on.

Tyler: There was also a “Whoot! There It Is.”  Didn’t win the battle.

Peter: They were so close!

Tyler: #41, on the other hand, is terrific.  “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),” from Us3.

Peter: Yeah, this is a cool track. I like it.

Tyler: A Buzz Bin selection, I believe.

Peter: This still slaps. Am I using that correctly? Slaps?

Tyler: In my estimation, you’re correct.  But, we’re both out of date.  “Slaps” with the kids is a thing of the distant past.

Peter: Like the McDLT.

It kept the hot side hot and the cold side cold. I mean, who wouldn’t want that, Tyler?

Tyler: What was it, the styrofoam packaging that killed that one?

Peter: Probably.

It was worth it.

Is this a runner? Have I brought up the McDLT in past chats?

Tyler: I just attempted to find a search feature on the Writers’ Loom homepage.  I was certain I had one on there.  But no!

I have failed all of us.

Peter: I feel like I probably spend too much time thinking about the McDLT. I mean, any amount of time is probably too much. Whatever.

Tyler: I myself miss the Cheddar Melt.

Peter: RIP to a real one.

Thumbs up for “Cantaloop.”

Tyler: Number 40 coming in hot!  Well, not like scorching, but MTV Unplugged fire.  10,000 Maniacs covering “Because The Night.”

Peter: Love it.

I was into the 10,000 Maniacs before they got huge, Tyler. So I’m a pretty cool guy.

Tyler: “I knew them when it was just 4,000 Maniacs” – Peter.

Peter: I am going to say that now.

Kidding aside, this was a huge album. Everybody had it.

Tyler: I believe the copy floating around our house was my sister’s.  I never knew it well, but I did eventually develop a real soft spot for  “Candy Everybody Wants.”

I myself wound up with Natalie Merchant’s debut solo LP, Tigerlily, one of those sensitive-lad indulgences of my butter-soft emotional youth.

The band had a go of it with a new singer after Merchant departed.  The nü-Maniacs’ debut single was a cover of “More Than This.” Ballsy choice.

Peter: It’s like The News without Huey Lewis. The Funky Bunch without Marky Mark. The other guy from Wham!, on his own.

Heresy.

Tyler: Andrew Ridgeley! I was told recently that he was very cool about George Michael going solo, understanding his friend’s ascent to stardom and musical achievement.  Amicable parting of the ways.  Imagine that!

Peter: Suck on that, Garfunkel!

I’ve always wanted to say that.

Tyler: “Feels good, doesn’t it.” -Paul Simon.

Onto number 38!

“I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).”  The late Meat Loaf.  You wanna talk about an iconic video.

Peter: Such a crazy anomaly. Nothing on the radio or MTV sounded like this. It was just so very weird.

Tyler: The bombast of a Celine Dion—spoiler alert!—was the closest thing to the hyper-melodrama Meat Loaf brought with longtime creative collaborator Jim Steinman.  The paths would later cross when Dion recorded “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” a Steinman composition.

Peter: Yes! I heard Meat Loaf tried to buy that song for a million dollars.

That might be apocryphal.

Tyler: The Loaf ain’t got swing like Celine.

Peter: It’s still weird. What’s next?

Tyler: Do you recall the hook to “Can We Talk,” from Tevin Campbell, sitting at #36?

That’s about all I remember, but it was indelible. “Can we taaaaaalk, for a minute.”

Peter: I’m listening to it now.

I don’t remember this song.

Tyler: Moving right along!

“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” at #35.  Crash Test Dummies.  One of the most left-field one-hit-wonders of the 1990s.

Never liked it myself.  In fact, I detested it.

Peter: I’ve always hated this song.

Tyler: Thank you.

Peter: It’s hard to listen to. They used to play this on the radio a lot. Crazy.

Tyler: It’s so bad!

Even the Weird Al parody wasn’t great.

Hopping up a spot to #34, where we have the debut single from an artist who’d become my first real musical obsession.  “All I Wanna Do” doesn’t even jazz me too much in retrospect, but it brought Sheryl Crow to the table, and I loved her music.

Peter: This was another big, breakout hit. She blew up.

Tyler: The lyrics are taken from a poem, but the author’s name is lost to history.

That’s not true.

The lyrics being from the poem is true.  The poet’s name is—<scurries to Wikipedia link>—Wyn Cooper.

Peter: I had no idea! Look at you with the 1994 facts.

Tyler: I have my moments.  I did have to queue up our next selection to jog my memory.  It’s a doozy.  “Return To Innocence,” by Enigma.

#33.

Not a fan!

Peter: This is sort of watered down trip-hop. Years before Dido!

Tyler: Got a little bit of Sting’s “Desert Rose” in its wake, as well.

Peter: Yeah. Not great.

Tyler: At #32, we have “Said I Loved You…But I Lied,” but there are more iconic Michael Bolton jams from prior years.  And, yes, I’m using the word “jam” real real loosely.

I mean, give me some “Soul Provider” to mock.

Peter: I feel like I should get credit for listening to this. I’m suffering for you, readers!

Tyler: Let’s move on, quick!

Number 31.  “Shine.”  Collective Soul.  If I were to title this song, it would be called “Shine (Duh-nuhnuhnuh-nuh-nuh-nuh YEAH).”

Peter: There was a lot of grunge-lite on the radio by ’94. Most of it sucked. This is an example of that.

It doesn’t actually rock, but it sort of gives the impression of rocking. That’s what they were all aiming for.

God, the guitar solo! It’s so horrible! My ears!

Tyler: The lead singer’s gruff.  RAWK.

Are you ready for some Janet?  Number 30, “Any Time, Any Place” along with “And On And On.”  I don’t remember the latter, but “Any Time” was some sexy business even to an 11-year-old.

Maybe I realized that later.  MTV corrupted me!  My innocence!

Peter: Oh, baby. This song just made me pregnant.

Tyler: Congratulations!

Peter: It is very sensual. Got that slow jam thing going.

The coy spoken word bit is perfect.

“I was thinking maybe we could… Well, you know…”

I know, Janet! I know!

Tyler: Also bringing some heat: the very next song on the list, #29, “Shoop” from Salt-n-Pepa.  Or, as Patrick Stewart would declare, “Salt.  …And Pepa!”

Peter: Shout out to John Mulaney!

This song always brings me back to mopping floors at the Anoka Cinema after the late shows! Good times.

Tyler: Oh man.  They left the music on after hours?

Peter: For sure. It was kind of creepy being there alone. The music helped. We used to find weird stuff when we were cleaning up. I could tell you some stories.

Tyler: Oh dear.

Peter: It was mostly liquor bottles and fast food containers. Like whole buckets of KFC. How’d that get in there?

Tyler: Oh, Lord, somebody’s backpack still smells of that chicken to this day.

Peter: Anyway, good song. Fun memories.

Tyler: Yeah, “Shoop” is a bop.  That’s also out, saying “bop.”  They move too fast, the youths.

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