Apparently, these guys are Ninety-One, a contemporary pop band from Kazakhstan. Here is one of their songs. You don't have to thank me, I do this as a public service. I wonder if this is their manager?
Anyway, back to 91 songs. And despite a couple of attempts at 911 songs (fortunately, none of you suggested these guys), there were slim pickings this week (no, not him... though he'd be far preferable to any of the above). In fact only The Swede came up with some proper 91 songs, the first of which was this...
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Summer of '91
I have to say, I have a lot of time for ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, if only because they have an amazing band name... for a heavy metal band. Pity they're not actually a heavy metal band at all. Still, they make a pretty good noise despite that, of which this is a fine example. Normally it would be disqualified under my "no year-songs" rule though...
Normally.
The Swede's other suggestion was this...
Singers & Players - 91 Vibration
"A fine dubwize selection," he says. And who am I to argue? Especially since, "This video contains content from [Merlin] Warp Records, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds." Yes, record company, that's a great move: stopping a potential customer from hearing your songs. I despair. Especially as that was my one chance of finding a song that (presumably) doesn't actually have anything to do with the year 1991...
All of which leads me to this...
I knew nothing at all about Lucy Spraggan when I picked this album up from the library, but I liked her quirky songwriting and amusing lyrics. It was only later that I discovered she'd been a contestant on The X-Factor, a show I loathe with every fibre of my being. But Spraggan is not typical of the usual X-Factor fodder, and I guess she only used the show to get her name out there... eventually dropping out of the bread & circuses nonsense due to "illness", by which point she'd already scored a Top 20 hit.
91 isn't the best song she's written but it was the best I could come up with for this week. And yes, it's a year song: but rules were made to be broken! Desperate times...
Which brings us to the end of the 90s. Number 90. A nice round number. Surely there must be a decent 90 song out there...
Can I be first with the obvious one? Freedom 90 by George Michael. But does that fall foul of the "no year-songs" rule?
ReplyDeleteInteresting, because it's a completely different song to the original Freedom, so it doesn't fall foul of the Remix Rule... and the date has relevance to the actual song. It could well be in contention...
Delete...but to be honest, for the first time in weeks, I've got LOADS to choose from for #90. So we'll have to wait and see...
The theme tune to Joe 90?
ReplyDeleteSacrilege, I know, but I was never a Gerry Anderson fan...
DeleteI see that there is a band out there called Joe 90
DeleteIs there any guy of a certain generation who wore glasses as a kid who was never referred to as Joe 90 at least once?
'Ninety Miles an Hour Down a Dead End Street' by Hank Snow is great and was also covered in quite a sombre fashion by Bob Dylan. There's also '90 Degrees In My Shades' by Dr John Cooper Clarke. Does The Fall's 'US 80s-90s' qualify?
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in checking out '91 Vibration', it can be found here... https://singersplayers.bandcamp.com/track/91-vibration
ReplyDeleteThank you. He does like his echo chamber, doesn't he?
DeleteIt was going to be the Joe 90 theme for me too but reading your reply to CC doesn't sound as if it will the the one.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Freedom 90 could be in contention - There are grey areas with these year rules it seems! That would have been my first choice.
The Swede beat me to the Hank Snow song, so I'm forced to fall back on "One After 909" by the fabyewless mawptops from Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteKeep that one for when I do my Hot 1000 - it'll be great for #910.
DeleteI'd go for the Joe 90 theme too. Whatever you think of Gerry Anderson, Rol, you've just gotta love this music, surely?!
ReplyDeleteOh, just thought - could this also be the first of three appearances in this countdown for C30 C60 C90 Go by Bow Wow Wow?
ReplyDeleteWell remembered C - That could very well be the one.
DeleteInspired suggestion C.
DeleteArgh - my oh so clever choice of Bow Wow Wow has gone.
ReplyDeleteYes - 90125
(it's got 90 in it. Let's just ignore the fact it is an album, not a song))
The only other one I can offer is Robbie Williams - 90s Song, which will immediately be excluded because (a) it s a year reference, and (b) it's Robbie Williams
90125 is my favourite Yes album.
DeleteThere are quite a few songs in my collection with 90s in the title. (And by that, I mean 90+s, like the Robbie Williams song you mention.)
There are also a good few very strong contenders that nobody has mentioned yet.