Best Songs of 1989

[Uncle Joe]

[underpants]

1. Whew

That was painful

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Generally pretty cheesy but there's still some fairly great stuff mixed in

Won't Back Down, Paradise City (which, in actuality came out in 1986 on Appetite but they released singles for years after), All I Want is You, a couple good Madonna songs, I Want it All, If You Don't Know Me By Now, Love Shack, Lovesong, Personal Jesus, Stand, End of the Innocence.

Which ain't a high ratio when there's 100 songs lol.

This is a good example tho of why grunge started hitting big very shortly thereafter. People were like OMG popular music SUCKS right now.

[underpants]

3. Thank. God!

A friend the first time he heard Nirvana on the big ROCK station where we lived. We knew of Nirvana from their first album “Bleach”. The ROCK station mixed classic rock with hair bands including their horrific ballads.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. Indeed!

I can pretty well remember what my fave albums of 1989 were since I'z in college at the time ...

Only represented by two songs here.

Key Lime Pie - Camper Van Beethoven
Rattle and Hum - U2 (actually a late 1988 release but I played it for a long time)
Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys (actually a late 1988 release but I played it for a long time)
Change - The Alarm
Oranges and Lemons - XTC
Disintegration - The Cure
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

First grunge albums I bought were Louder Than Love by Soundgarden, followed by Mother Love Bone - Apple, and Temple of the Dog. I actually didn't like Louder than Love much, Cornell's voice grated on me. Then Temple of the Dog came out and I went HOLY SHIT. This guy is a freaking rock GOD. Badmotorfinger was then bought immediately when it came out soon after

[underpants]

8. We have similar tastes

I have The stone Roses CD in my car and was playing it last week.

Loved Camper and Cracker

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. Yeah I think that's pretty well established by now my friend :)

Saw Cracker open for Camper in about 2008 I wanna say, in SF. Very cool show, but Dave's voice was pretty ragged by the end

The Stone Roses is a freaking classic, and I knew it at the time. I'm like this is SO freaking good, I played it CONSTANTLY.

Not a duff track on that thing, all culminating in I Am The Resurrection (at least, on vinyl) which is a staggeringly great song in my book.

Oh, I also listened to REM - Green a lot that year. Forgot to put on my list. It's also late 1988 but I played it a ton in 1989. Arguably a tad uneven but the best songs are so good. World Leader Pretend, You are the Everything, Hairshirt (my favorite vocal perf by Michael other than perhaps Nightswimming and Country Feedback), I Remember California, and Turn You Inside Out are my faves, also the untitled last track has a lot of charm.

[LonePirate]

4. Despite the frontman fraud, I really like Blame It on the Rain.

The (unknown?) vocalists hired to sing the group’s/duo’s songs were good singers. While I am indifferent at best to their other songs, I actually like Blame It on the Rain. The song is a fun and well-engineered pop song that sounds great. I will defend the men who actually sang it.

There are several songs in this list that I considered to be classics such as Buffalo Stance, Bust a Move, Like a Prayer and She Drives Me Crazy, among others. The late 80s are hated by many but I like many of these songs and they are present on an 80s Spotify playlist I created a couple of years ago. Good tunes!

[Shermann]

5. Really a pop/new wave/soft rock kind of limited list

1989 had more to offer than that, most of this list hasn't aged that well (especially Milli Vanilli).

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. Damn near any song off Disintegration or The Stone Roses

Is better than 85% of the songs on this list