Flashback: November 17, 1995

 Hello everyone, except for you, Ticketmaster. I see you're up to your old tricks again; remember what they did to Pearl Jam years ago? Well, in case you've been living under a rock this week, the outfit decided to shake down fans of Taylor Swift in anticipation of her "Eras" tour that's set to kickoff next year. I hear that LiveNation, a subsidiary of iHeart (iHate) Media, now owns them. I already have beef with that outfit for ruining music on the radio, but that's for another entry in this blog, if I haven't covered it already. 

Anyway, for this flashback we're going back to the year that the linked Pearl Jam story was written, 1995. If my memory served me correct, that month was rather special, as all my brothers and sisters traveled from Florida to North Carolina (I was on liberty from my ship at that time) for my father's 75th birthday. At the time, I thought it was the first time since my dad married my stepmom in 1982, just two months after my mom passed, that all my siblings had been together for an occasion. I apparently couldn't remember by high school graduation just three years beforehand, then again, my brain was kinda mush with depression and anxiety back then; no wonder I my memory was rather spotty back then. Enough of my flapping my gums about my memories though, here were the Top 40 songs (kinda*) according to Radio & Records Magazine for November 17, 1995.

(*note: this is a modified top forty, as R/R Magazine back in 1995 did not have a recurrent rule, so I retroactively created a 20/20 rule for that period of time; any songs that fell below #20 with more than 20 weeks in top 40 were eliminated)

40. You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson. Cringe-worthy video with then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Incidentally, "Thriller 40" comes came out today to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the greatest selling album of all time.

39. I Wish You Well by Tom Cochrane

38. Hook by Blues Traveler. This was the follow-up to "Run Around," which I think was the basis for R/R eventually enacting a recurrent rule for their charts, as it wound up on the official chart for nearly a year, which was insane for that time. By the way, Paul Schaffer made a cameo in the video to this song.

37. Missing by Everything But The Girl. Kind of a microcosm of my love life, I have everything but the girl, because some people think I'm missing (and no, my siblings don't help me at all. They think I should just be retired instead of dating).

36. A Girl Like You by Edwyn Collins. Oe of my favorites, and no, I haven't met one like that...yet.

35. When Love And Hate Collide by Def Leppard. This was their last top-25 hit. They had a minor hit in 1999 and that was it for them.

34. One Of Us by Joan Osborne. Listen to the spoken word verse at the very beginning of the long version of this song. I swear the mother of someone I used to know from Lake County, FL sang that part.

33. Tell Me by Groove Theory

32. We've Got It Goin' On by Backstreet Boys. Yes, this was the Orlando-based outfit's first chart single, though I don't remember it getting any airplay in Norfolk, but I do remember hearing it when I traveled to Florida for Christmas leave.

31. Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band. In Virginia of course, they were the greatest thing ever (because they started at UVa). In Chicago, not so much...

30. Pretty Girl by Jon B.

29. Dreaming Of You by Selena. I wonder how bright her star would have shone in the US had the president of her fan club not murdered her just as her debut album was about to come out.

28. I Wanna Be With U by Fun Factory. They had a hit called "Close To U" earlier that year that got tons of airplay in Norfolk, but apparently nowhere else.

27. Lump by Presidents of the United States of America. I've had several lumps of that variety in my head, some for decades.

26. Solitude by Edwin McCain. Before he hijacked the top 40 in 1998, with "I'll Be," he had this song which prevents him from being a one-hit wonder.

25. Time by Hootie & the Blowfish. Time, why DO you punish me?

24. Your Little Secret by Melissa Etheridge. I wouldn't mind being someone's little secret. 

23. Let Me Be The One by Blessid Union of Souls

22. Do You Sleep by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories. Actually Lisa, not really. Not this whole year at least.

21. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) By Whitney Houston

20. Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio. From the movie "Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle Pfiffer. We of course lost Coolio this year. Rest In Peace.

19. You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette. So let me get this straight, supposedly she was fuming over Dave Coulier of "Full House" fame and that's what led to this song? Cut. It. Out!

18. I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth) by Meat Loaf. Another artist we lost this year, and interestingly enough, this song could be used for Donald Trump's upcoming presidential campaign. Good luck with that, Donald!

17. Good Intentions by Toad The Wet Sprocket

16. Roll To Me by Del Amitri. A band that I thought would have had more staying power instead of the mid-to-late 90s

15. Kiss From A Rose by Seal. I don't care what anyone says, to me, the BAtman franchise peaked with this movie. Too bad Val Kilmer didn't do another Batman movie, but at least we got Alicia Silverstone for the next one, forgettable as that one was.

14. One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. My friend Sarah in Oklahoma started belting out THAT DAMNED SONG (not "One Sweet Day," that other one) last night on TikTok and now I have a headache.

13. You'll See by Madonna. Why has Madonna gone weird the past few years???

12. Hand In My Pocket by Alanis Morissette. I have one hand in my pocket, and the other one is typing this blog post...wait, what?

11. Diggin' On You by TLC. A shipmate of mine from the Eisenhower mentioned one day about the absolutely atrocious deal that TLC made with LA Reid and Pebbles in the early 90s, and I didn't believe him back then. Turns out he was right after all; I saw the "Behind The Music" episode when VH-1 was still relevant and not all crappy reality TV.

10. Beautiful Life by Ace of Base. Another artist that I thought would last longer than they did. I remember when the then-Florida Marlins won their first World Series, they played that song as they were celebrating. I still don't know how they won that series, let alone the one in 2003.

  9. Back For Good by Take That. Britian's most notable entry in the global worldwide "boy band" crisis of the late 90s.

  8. I Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie & the Blowfish. Suddenly I have flashbacks to that commercial that aired on TV in Norfolk at the time, which I spoke about here a few years ago.

  7. Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something. No, I haven't seen that film. I've only seen a gif of Aubrey Hepburn peering over her sunglasses.

  6. As I Lay Me Down by Sophie B. Hawkins. I preferred the "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" Sophie.

  5. Carnival by Natalie Merchant. Whatever happened to her? She had one album after "Tigerlily" then faded into Bolivia as Mike Tyson once siad.

  4. Til I Hear It From You by The Gin Blossoms. And when I do, is it going to truthful or just an excuse to get more money from me?

  3. Name by Goo Goo Dolls. Little did we know that they would eventually have arguably the biggest hit of the decade two years later.

  2. Runaway by Janet Jackson. You know there were THREE songs named "Runaway" in 1995? This one, one by the Irish group The Corrs that was on the chart the week before, and "Run Away" by Real McCoy, which peaked at #4 in the spring.

and the number one song the week of November 17, 1995 was

  1. Fantasy by Mariah Carey. The melody of this song is almost ancient, this smash used the melody from Tom Tom Club's 1981 song "Genius Of Love," and lately, Latto has used it in her song "Big Energy." Speaking of which, another friend of mine in Washington state plays the heck out of this on TikTok, but she has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Hmmm.

UPDATE: She's back after being away for thirty days.

Well that's this week's flashback. I hope to have more writing this weekend, that is if I don't wind up with the flu bug my eldest has gotten and I don't have to drag Christmas decorations out from our attic. Until the next time be well.

CT