Best Hit Songs of 1992
Part 2: Top 15 Best Hit Songs of 1992
Alright, after listing the “worst” songs of the year and the many, many Honorable Mentions for the best list, I think it’s time we get to the Top 15 Best Hit Songs of 1992. As I mentioned last time, 1992 was a great year for popular music, ending up with a score of 373/495, or 75.3%, blowing the previous high score set by 2010 (61.6%) out of the water. Considering that 2001 only got a 60.4%, the dropoff in Pop Music’s overall quality (I.E. when the bad stuff got much worse) likely occurred later on in the 90s, but I’ll have to look at that later. Anyways, I think it’s time that we get on with the list, so without further ado, here are the Top 15 Best Hit Songs of 1992!
#15: Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough by Patty Smyth and Don Henley (Peak: #2, Year-End: #22)
Starting off the list, we have a duet between Patty Smyth, most known for her work with Scandal, who had a Top 10 hit in 1984 with The Warrior and Don Henley, famous for being one of the two frontmen for The Eagles, including on Hotel California. The instrumentation is pretty standard Rock ballad stuff, but that ain’t such a bad thing. What really put this song over the hump to make it on to the list proper, however, are the lyrics about the struggles that come from trying to keep a relationship going over time when you and your partner end up changing so much as people. I think it’s beneficial that a song with this subject was performed by people with more years under their belt than your typical popstar (Patty Smyth was 35 and Don Henley was 45 when the song came out). Say what you will about Boomers, but you can’t deny that they made some dang good music. Hey, speaking of veteran acts making great songs…
#14: I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt (Peak: #18, Year-End: #100)
It’s rare for an artist to peak in commercial success in their 40s, but that was exactly the case with Bonnie Raitt. After years of critical acclaim, she achieved mainstream success in the Early 90s, notably with Something To Talk About, a Top 5 hit from the previous year. However, I Can’t Make You Love Me clicked for me for being a wonderfully minimalist piano ballad about how she’s willing to let her relationship go, since it’s clear that it’s not going to work out. Bonnie’s performance is restrained and yet incredibly heartfelt at the same time. As with the last entry on this list, I’d argue that her age helped the song out, as I don’t think it would’ve had the same power if a younger and flashier artist had performed it. Also, this is the second best list in a row where the Year-End #100 made it, so that’s interesting. The next entry, however, was a little… bigger.
#13: To Be With You by Mr. Big (Peak: #1, Year-End: #12)
Jokes aside, this is one of the most adorable songs ever made. This is famous for being the last song by a Hair Metal band to go to #1, although it’s much less Hair Metal than it is a charming Soft Rock ballad. Frontman Eric Martin wrote it when he was a teenager about one of his sister’s friends and waited well over a decade to put the song out, but it all paid off in the end. It’s got a perfect singalong chorus and a vibe of jamming around the campfire, so I can definitely see why it was a #1 hit, even if it’s genre was cratering. Sure, it’s total cheese, but dang it, just let me have this one.
#12: Real Love by Mary J. Blige (Peak: #7, Year-End: #85)
See, I don’t dislike Mary J. Blige, even if I’m not a fan of her biggest hit. In contrast to the made-up words of Family Affair, this, her first hit, is quite a bit… realer (pun 100% intended). Real Love is simply about her desire to find a lover who’s right for her after a failed relationship. She’s not found what she’s been looking for, and even though she has some doubts that it’ll ever come, she’s still gonna keep on searching. While the production is clearly of it’s time, that’s not a bad thing in this case, and Mary’s voice is fantastic. It’s one of the most wonderfully simple songs of the entire year, and there’s nothing else that I can say.
#11: All I Want by Toad The Wet Sprocket (Peak: #15, Year-End: #53)
Huh, looks like the 80s weren’t the only decade with stupid band names. However, as bands like Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark have shown, a stupid band name does not mean that the music is going to be bad, and that is definitely the case with Toad The Wet Sprocket. Alternative Rock had been on the rise for a good few years by this point, and 1992 is the year where it became Rock’s premier genre, and while grunge may get the credit, this R.E.M.-y Jangle Pop is my preferred type of Alt-Rock. This is a rather simple song about not feeling the same way about his partner that she feels for him, even though he really wants to (at least that’s what I got from the song’s Genius page, the lyrics are pretty vague). Really though, it’s just on the list because it sounds great, and these lists are determined solely by how much my ears enjoy the music, so that’s all I really need to say about it, it’s just a really good song.
#10: Tell Me What You Want Me To Do by Tevin Campbell (Peak: #6, Year-End: #35)
Ooh, this could get me in some hot water. This was on Nerd With An Afro’s worst list for this year, and it’s not like I don’t understand why. Yes, the production is dated as all heck. Yes, the lyrics are as sappy as a maple tree. Yes, Tevin Campbell is clearly trying to be Off The Wall era Michael Jackson in his delivery, and yes, I have no idea how he hit that Mariah Carey-esque high note. However, I’m a sucker for that type of Late 80s-Early 90s R&B production, dated as it is. Sappy lyrics don’t get to me nearly as much as it does for other people. Off The Wall just happens to be my favorite era of Michael Jackson, and yes, I was blown away by the high note, and it’s the main reason it made it onto this list. TL;DR: One man’s trash is another’s hidden gem. Hey, you know how I mentioned Mariah Carey a few sentences ago? Well...
#9: Can’t Let Go by Mariah Carey (Peak: #2, Year-End: #23)
Mariah Carey is an incredible singer, and if you disagree, then well… we’ll have to beg to differ. Now, I’m no Mimi stan (Loverboy was a Dishonorable Mention on my Worst of 2001 list, after all), and on the whole I prefer Whitney Houston, but that doesn’t mean that Mariah isn’t one of the most impressive vocalists ever to hit the pop scene. Can’t Let Got has the perfect balance of restraint and belting, and the lowkey instrumentation is just as flawless, and has held up much better than the previous song. The lyrics are about as basic post-breakup lyrics as you can get, but when the one behind the mic is Mariah Carey in her prime, that’s no issue at all (and beside, I did just say that basic, cliched lyrics don’t bother me). Mariah, more of this and less of songs like Loverboy and Obsessed, OK?
#8: Friday I’m In Love by The Cure (Peak: #18, Year-End: #71)
Ladies and Gentlemen, here is The Cure to all unhappiness… sorry. Ironic, considering that The Cure are most known as a Goth Rock band, and Goth is about the furthest thing from happiness in the universe. However, The Cure saw an explosion of success in the Late 80s and Early 90s, and moved in a more mainstream direction in order to capitalize on it, before the Rock scene moved in a much more downbeat and angsty direction right around the time this song hit it big. To give a quick summary of this song, the narrator doesn’t care if the work week blew, because he can always look forward to Friday, the day that begins the three day reprieve where one can do whatever they want. Even in troubling times such as these (check out the date this was posted in case you’re reading from the future), this song never fails to put a smile (or at least a positive expression) on my face, and really, what more can you ask from a pop song?
#7: I Will Remember You by Amy Grant (Peak: #20, Year-End: #96)
Ooh, here’s another hot take! Amy Grant was a Contemporary Christian singer who saw big time crossover success in the Early 90s, and I liked all three of her songs on the 1992 Year-End List. However, it was her most minor hit of the year, I Will Remember You that clicked for me the most. Sure, a lot of the production is quite dated (although I do like the electric guitar touches), but it still works for me. Amy Grant, while not the most technically impressive singer, pulls off a great performance.
It’s the lyrics, though, that put it so high on this list. I’m a sucker for songs about reflection on one’s past (see my Best of 2017 list for the biggest example of that), and this hits it to a tee, as she reflects on her long gone relationship and all the great times they had together. She doesn’t hold any bitterness towards this guy (not saying that songs about post-breakup bitterness can’t work, they can), but rather a sense of nostalgia. While she wishes that it could come back and still has feelings for him, she’s accepted that it’s over, and has moved on.
#6: Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton (Peak: #2, Year-End: #6)
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure that I can even talk about this one. I don’t know how to approach something with such a heavy subject matter, but I’ll try anyway, here goes nothing…
In August of 1990, Clapton’s friend and fellow guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter accident. Nine months later, his son Conor died from falling out of a window from 53 stories up. Clapton wrote the song with songwriter Will Jennings (who wrote songs like Up Where We Belong, Higher Love and My Heart Will Go On) both for the 1991 film Rush and as a tribute to the previously mentioned friend and son. Or, in other words, let me quote from Diamond Axe Studios’ Best of 1992 list:
“The first time I listened to this, I was gonna make it a Dishonorable Mention because of how much Eric Clapton sounds like a dying dog on this song. Then I looked up the reason that Clapton wrote this song. I listened to it again, and by the end of the song I had tears in my eyes. It’s too depressing and context dependent to make the list proper, but… damn this song can make you feel things.”
Now, I knew about the context before listening to the song for this list, but even if I hadn’t, I still would’ve thought it was a sweet song. However, the context really does add a lot to it. R.I.P. Conor Clapton, 1986-1991.
#5: Mysterious Ways/One by U2 (Peak: #9/#10, Year-End: #57/#60)
Yup, this is the second list in a row where U2 has ended up in my Top 5. Beautiful Day topped my Best of 2001 list (although Austin was admittedly very close to nabbing the top spot, seriously that song is amazing). While I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a fan (Bono is one of the most pretentious celebrities out there, and that’s saying something), U2 has made more than their share of fantastic songs, and they sure delivered in 1992.
Let’s start with Mysterious Ways, the (slightly) bigger of their two hits this year. I’ll get the obvious out of the way first: the bassline is awesome. Apparently bassist Adam Clayton was just jamming out and came up with this bassline that gives Superstition by Stevie Wonder a run for its money in terms of funkiness. According to the song’s Lyrics Genius page, the lyrics describe a man who doesn’t understand how love works, but really, when the groove is this strong, not a whole lot else matters.
Next, we get to their other hit in 1992, One. This is frequently listed as one of the greatest songs of all time, and while I wouldn’t go that far, it’s a damn good song nonetheless. Unlike Mysterious Ways, whose main focus is on the bassline, this song’s acclaim comes from the lyrics, which are stuffed with Biblical references and have been interpreted in a wide variety of ways. On the surface, though, the lyrics appear to be about not seeing eye to eye and wishing to live as one even with the differences. I really don’t have a whole lot to say about it that hasn’t been said already, so let’s move on to the parting shot of a dying genre.
#4: When I Look Into Your Eyes by Firehouse (Peak: #8, Year-End: #82)
So, here it is everyone. The final Hair Metal hit. Press F to pay respects if you want to. Still, it’s the perfect swan song to one of the biggest genres of the previous decade. I may have said this at some point, but in case I haven’t, Hair Metal ballads are among my biggest guilty pleasures, and yeah, it’s all here on this one. The explosive, lighters-in-the-air chorus, the harmonies in the background, the guitar solo and the frickin’ key change at the end scream 80s Power Ballad cliché in the best way possible. I have no idea how it was a Top 10 hit in the Fall of 1992, a full year after Nirvana broke through, but hey, nothing changes overnight, so this must’ve gotten in right before the window permanently closed. Either way, it’s just my type of cheese, and I expect to cover a lot of these types of songs when I eventually get around to the Late 80s. Now, for an act and genre that had a bit more staying power in the 90s…
#3: End Of The Road/It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday by Boyz II Men (Peak: #1/#2, Year-End: #1/#37)
Boyz II Men were absolutely gigantic during the 90s, scoring five #1 Hits, three of which spent over 10 weeks at #1.
End Of The Road was, ironically considering the title, their first number one, breaking the record for longest run at #1, clocking in at 13 weeks (the record is now 19 weeks as of the time I’m writing this). It’s a fairly standard breakup song, with the guys lamenting how their girl left them, and how they’ll do anything to get her back, even though any effort will likely be futile (gosh, it’s awkward to talk about four dudes singing about one girl). However, the guys perform it exceptionally well, with the solo parts on the verses all coming together for that fantastic harmonized chorus. Seriously, why did they disappear after the 90s wrapped up? They should've been huge through at least the Early-Mid 2000s when R&B was still huge.
Now, onto their other hit in 1992, which I’d argue is even better. Originally a minor R&B hit in 1975, Boyz II Men did an acapella cover of it that is absolutely sublime. The lyrics are about looking back fondly at someone you’ve lost, whether that be a breakup or the death of a loved one. It’s just the guys on this one, however, and they absolutely steal the show here. The song doesn’t really have a chorus, but that gives each of them space to shine, with the others harmonizing in the background over a minimalist snap track. It’s a truly wonderful acapella track, and it lands a spot on 1992’s pop olympics podium.
#2: The One by Elton John (Peak: #9, Year-End: #43)
Now, for one of the most acclaimed and timeless acts in Pop history. So much so that he was actually knighted, and I’m not one to disagree, because this is a fantastic song. It’s hard to describe how great this song is, everything is amazing. The instrumentation is powerful and yet not overwhelming. The lyrics, co-written with longtime partner Bernie Taupin, are simple, yet poetic, and Elton John is… well, Elton John. His voice aged like fine wine, even with the surgery in the Late 80s. The six minute runtime of the song flies by, it keeps you engaged the whole way through. It’s almost too perfect, which is why it’s not, well, The One. So, what could that be?
I have had my fair share of hot takes on this list, haven’t I? I mean, I put a sixteen year old MJ clone, a Contemporary Christian singer and a Hair Metal band on my best list, not to mention Smells Like Teen Spirit not making the list at all. However, my #1 is certainly not a hot take. My pick for the Best Hit Song of 1992 will surprise pretty much no one, because it is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time, a description that I in no way disagree with. In fact, I think that might be understating it, as I cannot think of another hit song from any year or era that is as incredible as this one. While I may not listen to it every day, there was nowhere else this song could be but #1, and whenever I do decide to take a listen, it blows me away every time. So, without further ado, The Best Hit Song of 1992…
#1: November Rain by Guns N’ Roses (Peak: #3, Year-End: #17)
Even though this is my first 90s Year-End and I’m not too familiar with the decade on whole, I feel confident in saying that this is probably the best hit of the entire decade. I mean, what else could it be? It’s a nine minute long odyssey of a song composed of multiple unique sections, each of them going above and beyond the call of duty to create a song that can only be described as legendary. It is a masterpiece of nearly Biblical proportions that I have a hard time believing was actually a hit. So, I will take each section one at a time, starting from the very beginning.
The song opens up with a minute and a half intro that perfectly sets the tone of the song, being a combination of a classical symphony and a hard rock epic. You then get into Axl’s first verse, describing a love that started off strong, but has faded over time. The mix of orchestra and hard rock drums continues in the background. Slash comes in with electric guitar hits as the song builds up and gets more intense, lasting a full four minutes, the length of a typical pop song, before Slash gets to unleash with a guitar solo.
The thing is, this ain’t just any guitar solo, but one of the most legendary solos in Rock history. It hits a perfect balance between precise shredding and long, extended notes that emphasize the emotional gravitas of the story.
Speaking of the story, did I mention that the lyrics are the most poetic of any song (not just hit songs, but songs period) that I’ve ever heard? Something I’ve noticed is that most pop songs, even very good ones, simply don’t work as spoken-word poetry. It’s meant to be sung, not spoken. However, not only does November Rain work as spoken poetry, but it works fantastically as spoken poetry. Take this for example:
“And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothing lasts forever
Even cold November rain”
That follows Slash’s second guitar solo, which while not quite as mind-blowingly amazing as his first, would still be the career high point for most guitarists. After those poetic lines I just quoted, the epic ballad that makes up most of the song ends, but the song itself is far from over. Instead, you enter into an intense buildup and then into a badass guitar solo that takes up the remainder of the song, backed by Axl’s vocals and orchestration that is shredding just as hard as Slash, before the song finally dies down and completes it’s marathon nine minute run time, which seems to go by in the blink of an eye. This became the first 20th Century song to surpass a billion views on YouTube, in no small part because of the extravagant music video that cost a million dollars to make (in 1992 dollars, it’d be 2.7 Million today). It’s one of the most iconic songs of the decade, and is hands down The Best Hit Song of 1992, if not the entire 90s decade. Next up on my blog, I’ll take a look back at 2008, and see what another key transitional year in Pop Music had to offer, but until then, take care and have a wonderful day!
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