So it's the mid-90s, I'm in junior high, I love techno but it's not so easy to come by in Texas. But 104.1 FM, the pop-rock radio station for Moms, will play "dance music", and some of it's pretty good. I cling to this like a liferaft.
- "Set U Free", Planet Soul
…And then there was the "Planet Soul" song, which was not just pretty good but great. This song's weird, progressive, does strange things with tempo, but its laid-back groove is so accessible even KRBE would play it, as long as it's after 8 PM. Unless you'd figured out KTRU Rice Radio's erratic schedule (which, at this time, I had not) this was the only way you were going to hear a 303 on the radio in Houston in 1995.
This song was later blatantly ripped off by Jocelyn Enriquez as "A Little Bit of Ecstasy".
- "Sweet Dreams", La Bouche
When I think about 90s "dance music" (I don't even know what actual genre I'm even talking about; my main mental association with "dance music" was the period I was too young to know the names of electronic genres. Is this "Eurodance"? Or was that later?) I think La Bouche. They were the Archetype. All their hits sounded about the same, they all had cheesy production and cheesy raps and they were all extremely effective.
This works, it really works, this music was created with a Purpose and it succeeds at it hard. Listen without judgement
- "Straight Up", Paula Abdul
If I ever have to explain to someone what the Synclavier was, I will simply play them this song.
This song might actually be the exact point the 80s pop production style peaked. There's so much going on here! The sampled flutes. The Scarface visual gimmick on the the video. I spent years wondering why the worst possible retaliation for mistreatment Abdul could imagine inflicting on her partner was to go "a ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba".
- "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", En Vogue
Here's a song from that brief, magical junction point in the 90s when hip-hop, r&b, pop, "dance music", and the OST to "Paperboy 2" for the Super Nintendo were all briefly the same genre. And then there's the video, which increases the sense of all things conjoining by loading up with 50s R&B imagery. 90s kids, you've heard this song but have you ever really listened to it? This is a bop. This is so charming.
- "You're Not Alone", Olive
Eventually the "dance music" era of 90s Houston radio (soft rock radio will play some techno) gave way to the "electronica" era (regular rock radio will play some techno). Right on the border in late 1996 dropped this lovely europop song with some legitimately hype sampler work. Listen to this in stereo (headphones or whatevs).
Bonus: This "lyrics" video upload was mis-encoded and starts glitching interestingly about 20 seconds in.
⬇️ Click below for remixes by Seal and Autechre ⬇️