Monday, October 19, 2009

Week 21: '90s Dance Pop

Ten weeks ago, I made a mixtape of classic 1990s vocal house tunes. In my little introductory blurb, I wrote the following:
"Oh, and before you mention it, here's what I have NOT included: What is Love, Rhythm is a Dancer, Another Night, For What You Dream Of, Mr. Vain, Strike It Up, Be My Lover, The Vengabus, or Barbie Girl. That is not house music. I love it, but it is not house music. Another day, another tape."
Ladies and gentlemen, here is that tape.

Chrissy's Year of Mixtapes Week 21: '90s Dance Pop.
  1. Snap!; The Power
  2. C+C Music Factory feat. Freedom Williams; Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
  3. Black Box; Strike It Up
  4. Madonna; Vogue
  5. Crystal Waters; 100% Pure Love
  6. Black Box; Everybody Everybody (Le Freak Mix)
  7. Technotronic; Move This
  8. Deee-Lite; Groove Is In The Heart (Chrissy Re-Edit)
  9. Robin S; Show Me Love (12" Mix)
  10. Army Of Lovers; Crucified (Chrissy Re-Edit)
  11. The KLF; 3AM Eternal (Live At The SSL)
  12. Technotronic; Pump Up The Jam
  13. Snap!; Rhythm Is A Dancer
  14. Haddaway; What Is Love?
  15. Bloodhound Gang; The Bad Touch
  16. Everything But The Girl; Missing (Todd Terry Remix)
  17. Bizarre Inc. feat. Angie Brown; I'm Gonna Get You
  18. Technotronic; Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over)
  19. 2 Unlimited; Twilight Zone
  20. Rozalla; Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)
  21. Jimmy Somerville; Heartbeat
  22. Bedrock feat. KYO; For What You Dream Of
  23. Gigi D'Agostino; The Riddle
  24. Culture Beat; Mr. Vain
  25. The Real McCoy; Another Night
  26. Corona; The Rhythm of the Night
  27. Aqua; Barbie Girl
  28. La Bouche; Be My Lover
  29. Alice Deejay; Better Off Alone
  30. ATC; Around The World
  31. Sonique; It Feels So Good
  32. The Real McCoy; Run Away
  33. Ace of Base; Beautiful Life
  34. The Vengaboys; Boom Boom Boom Boom
  35. The Vengaboys; We Like To Party (The Vengabus)
  36. Pharao; I Show You Secrets
  37. Aqua; Lollipop
NEXT WEEK: The Year in Happy Hardcore—1994.

30 comments:

  1. I have to say I love every single one of your mixes. Seriously, every genre is well selected, well represented, and well mixed. You got serious talent my friend. Keep em coming, and thank you.

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  2. hhmmmmm........
    back in the day most tracks on this mix would have made me maim and slaughter anyone who had the audacity to play them, and i`m not generaly a violent person.
    i mean, c`mon :
    ace of base (nazis in disguise...one of them was in the swedish viking youth. really nice people)
    aqua
    venga boys
    ....or is this some kind of sick experiment?
    i`m gonna give it a go though.....

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  3. OK, how should I respond to that...
    1) yes, ulf ekberg from ace of base is a reformed skinhead. he claims to have changed; i'll take that on face value but obviously he could still be a secret nazi. how is this relevant to their obviously apolitical music?

    2) "Back in the day" I hated on a lot of this stuff too, because it represented a sort of cultural enemy. It was the dance pop trash that was threatening the survival (and 'underground-ness') of rave culture (which I was a part of and still miss). But you know what? You and I were just being dumb snobs. These records were amazing, well-crafted (albeit mindless) pop tunes, and are a lot of fun. Some people got that instantly, for me it took a few years (and some distance from their original cultural context) for that to dawn on me. Some people will obviously never see the appeal of these records, but that's ok. I'll forgive you :)

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  4. hehe...thanks.

    yeah, i agree, we were being dumb snobs. some of the songs are quality tunes, i agree...allthough there are also ones i just can`t stomach. but luckily we`ve all got different tastes.

    as for ulf, i was just stating. the relevancy of this information may be a specific european take on things. but are you sure their music is apolitical...hahaha

    anyhow, excellent blog and i wish you luck on your rather special mission.

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  5. haha perhaps you're right! "All That She Wants" = a racist rant against european muslim birthrates or something? :)

    anyway, hope you enjoy--thanks for listening!

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  6. Last week's Paul Lekakis track on your HARD GAY mix, "BOOM BOOM", made me wonder if the Venga Boys were stealing from him. Perhaps they were just inspired.

    I have always loved that Jimmy Somerville track, too. I bet you throw great house parties.

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  7. if I had a big house I would throw delightful house parties :)
    I play at other people's house parties though, and it's a lot of fun...lemme know if you're ever in chicago and I'll give you the deets

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  8. great theme, excellent mix, thank you!

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  9. I live in Chicago, and I'd love to catch you spin some time.

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  10. Chrissy. How the fuck do you know about the past lives of Ace of Bass? You monster.

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  11. I'm a technology novice. How do I download this?

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  12. I feel so stupid...

    Thank you!

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  13. no worries--everybody's got to learn sometime, right?

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  14. What an incredible mix. I could not help but laugh at and love every song!

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  15. Can I just say, this blog is the best thing i've seen in ages. I've downloaded about 10 of the mixes, and they are brilliant. Oddly enough I put the Belgian Techno mix on my mp3 player, and within 5 minutes I was surrounded by about 100 Belgians. Considering I live in London, what are the chances...?

    This mix is the pinnacle though. Anyone who can listen to these tracks and not feel nostalgic is either way too old or way too young.

    Grob.

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  16. Aww thanks man! So glad to know people are enjoying it :)

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  17. Man... This one took me back! Thanks again Chrissy... Lookin' forward to that Weed mix... I might have to skip ahead!

    Thanks again,

    M

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  18. I was bumping this in the car for like a week straight =). Brought me back. I gotta say though, not to take anything away from the mix (ITS THE BUMP), but I kept wanting to hear Nightcrawlers Push the Feeling On but its not on there. Still dope though!

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  19. I just found out about this delicious trove today but am loving it already. '92 IS where it was at and marked my intro to the US east coast club scene. Amongst the cheez there are tons of gems and I am glad you celebrate all of it. Not only was jungle breaking stateside, but so was big beat with the pre-fatboy Cook influence, and amazing mid-tempo house was everywhere. Throw in Ministry and Cypress Hill and down come the genre silos.
    BTW, as a former bouncer with no say over what he had to listen to, I salute your feelings on psy-trance. I have to go shower now...

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  20. There's some real classics on here, but I'm going to have to back up the calls that the Vengaboys & Aqua are a step too far... There's always a temptation to stop listening after track 26.

    Mind you, my opinion may have been affected by watching a post-apocalyptic sketch show where the only tune which had survived was The Vengabus. Seeing a morbidly obese Sexy Claus doing a 'routine' to a slowed down version haunts me to this day. Play it at -8 and imagine the wobbles!

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  21. hahahaha I love The Vengabus! I WILL NOT BE ASHAMED

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  22. That transition from Vogue to 100% Pure Love is pure genius!

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  23. I'm only 22, but my friends used to have parties at this roller rink/arcade when we were like 10-12 and this is exactly the shit the DJs there used to spin. I forgot about most of that music until I heard this mixtape. when I listened to it I was so close to those memories I could taste them. thanks.

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  24. I'm 29 so this was high school roller rink music for me...it's crazy how powerful those childhood memories can be :D

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  25. This is so going to be in my birthday party playlist this year! I bet half of the people are going to hate it and the other half will love it!

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  26. Like 2 Unlimited and Alice Deejay, Vengaboys are a treasure of Dutch Cultural History. Next time I recommend you 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor, Twenty 4 Seven, LA Style, Charlie Lownoise & Mental Theo, Paul Elstak, Party Animals, CB Milton and the whole Dutch Happy Hardcore-movement from the mid-nineties (much cheesier than the UK Happy Hardcore).

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  27. Great stuff!!! You've taken me way back!!

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