(Finished November 11th, 2024) Part 8 of Was 1989 and 1990 Really The Diet Slice Era of Music? Part 4 of the Best Songs of 1990

Hello,

Happy Veteran’s Day, thanks to all those who have fought and died for this amazing country. Also thanks to all their family members for dealing with their sacrifices.

Esquire Digital has a feature about 1989 and 1990 being the two weirdest years of music. Esquire author, Dave Holmes, calls it the Diet Slice era. Holmes says about the drink and the music of those two years:

“The Diet Slice gets its name from the low-calorie version of Slice, a popular soft drink of the time which set itself apart from its shelf-mates by claiming to be somewhat natural; its can crowed “with 10% real juice,” later downgraded to “contains real juice,” and although I eventually stopped paying attention, I bet toward the end it was more like “is technically a liquid.” As a beverage, it was refreshing and indistinct. Like the music of the time, you would consume it if it were there, but you are never thirsty for it.”

Holmes is certainly entitled to his opinion. I have to agree there were some unusual songs in those two years. However there was also a lot of great music those two years. Included in that were a lot of great country songs, I’ve added several here.

Not only do I not think that 1989-1990 is the Diet Slice era, I don’t think there has ever been a Diet Slice era. These are some of the albums that arrived in 1989 (in no particular order): 1) Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” 2) Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever” 3) Motley Crue’s “Dr. Feelgood”, 4) Aerosmith’s “Pump”: 5) XTC “Oranges and Lemons” 6) Nine Inch Nails “Pretty Hate Machine” 7) Skid Row’s self-titled debut 8) The Cult “Sonic Temple” 9) Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” 10) Neneh Cherry’s and Prince’s funky “Batman” Soundtrack. The Danny Elfman score is also good.

102) The Cure “Pictures of You”:

103) Social Distortion “Story of My Life”:

104) The Scorpions “Wind of Change”:

105) Soul 2 Soul “Back To Life”:

106) “Here’s Where The Story Ends”:

107) Wilson Phillips “Hold On”:

108) The La’s “There She Goes”:

109) Midnight Oil “Blue Sky Mine”:

110) Milli Vanilli “All or Nothing”:

111) James Ingram “I Don’t Have The Heart”:

This song has even more relevance now than it did when it first came out. With The Trump Disaster Train coming back to Washington DC, the environment again is going to be a non-priority. 112) Alabama “Pass It On Down”: