6 December 1990 Yet again a 1990 number one proves to be dubious pop music but impeccable pop culture. MC Hammer had already struck oil that year by dressing rap in the gold lamé baggy trousers of familiar funk samples and family-friendly lyrics. However, Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' was the first rap or hip … Continue reading Vanilla Ice – ‘Ice Ice Baby’ →

22 November 1990 Banned at number one! I am pretty sure, and I'm happy to be corrected on this, that at some point in its heyday this song was not being played on the usual 2FM outlets like the chart show, The Beat Box or The Hotline. I'll go into the reason for this further … Continue reading Watch Your House ft. Paul McGrath – ‘Ooh Aah Paul McGrath’ →

8 November 1990 Ever wondered why this song is called 'Unchained Melody'? It was written as the theme for a 1955 prison drama called Unchained, that's why. Since 1990, though, we've known it from a different movie: the much-parodied romantic weepie Ghost. Movie soundtrack songs had been going to number one since God was a … Continue reading The Righteous Brothers – ‘Unchained Melody’ →

20 September 1990 We'd already had a stage culchie (Miley from Glenroe) at number one that year, plus a stage Dub (Liam Harrison) for balance. The Irish live rock music scene was thriving: bands like The Stunning and The 4 Of Us enjoyed genuine chart success and huge live audiences, the first Féile had rejuvenated … Continue reading The Saw Doctors – ‘I Useta Lover’ →

6 September 1990 We've already had Italia '90 songs, we'll soon have movie soundtrack songs, and here's another hugely-popular flavour of '90s event release: The Song From The Levi's Ad. The ad itself was usually glossy and expensive, with a slightly witty and romantic set-up where someone invariably had to take off or put on … Continue reading Steve Miller Band – ‘The Joker’ →

30 August 1990 Bombalurina is the name of a feline in the musical Cats, and the 'executive producer' of this record is Cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who apparently wanted a number one pop hit. Why he thought this was best done by getting an irritating English kids TV presenter to front a cover version … Continue reading Bombalurina – ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ →

31 May 1990 The first of those '90s monsters: the event single that stays at number one for months on end. 'Put 'Em Under Pressure' topped the Irish charts for a then-record 13 weeks. As is the way, the longer 'Put 'Em Under Pressure' stayed at number one the more people grew to hate it. … Continue reading Republic of Ireland Football Squad – ‘Put ‘Em Under Pressure’ →

17 May 1990 "World Cup! English clubs! / Kevin Moran and the Dubs!" - that's the one! This wasn't the first sporting-themed single by Irish band The Memories; in 1974 they had a top ten hit with 'The Likes Of Heffo's Army' celebrating Dublin's All-Ireland win that year. Intriguingly, ten years later they had an … Continue reading The Memories – ‘The Game’ →

10 May 1990 Collective mania; divisive debate; World Cup dominating the front and back pages; everyone hating Eamon Dunphy... yes, the Saipan affair in 2002 was an incredible Irish socio-cultural experience. We'll get to that here in due course, but for now we can marvel at how Saipan really was such an uncanny negative image … Continue reading Liam Harrison and the GOAL Celebrities – ‘Give It A Lash Jack’ →