The songs of 1990 are a snapshot of a world holding onto the familiar while nervously eyeing the future. They are diverse, messy, and full of life—a perfect soundtrack for a year that was, quite literally, the turning of a decade.
1990 gave us an eclectic mix of anthems: the final gasps of glam metal, the rise of the diva-powered ballad, the golden age of hip-hop, and the first thunderous rumblings of the alternative revolution. Here is a look back at the songs that defined a year on the brink. The charts in early 1990 were still dominated by holdovers from the previous decade. Jon Bon Jovi scored a massive solo hit with the cowboy-poet rock of Blaze of Glory , while Aerosmith , in the midst of their incredible comeback, released the power ballad Janie’s Got a Gun . Madonna continued her reign with the playful, innuendo-laden Vogue , a song that became a cultural phenomenon and turned the Harlem ballroom scene into a global dance craze. songs that came out in 1990
transitioned from synth-pop to dark, brooding rock with Enjoy the Silence , a masterpiece of atmosphere and melancholy. Sinéad O’Connor tore up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live later in 1992, but it was her 1990 cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U that made her a global star—a stark, haunting video shot entirely on her face that redefined the music video as art. The songs of 1990 are a snapshot of