If you wonder why this band has been able to tour stadiums for years, you can thank the next song in my 1981 countdown. My mom loved this song so I heard it quite a bit growing up, and today it ranks up there along with Satisfaction as one of the band’s ultimate staples. Coming in at #3 is Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones.
Our next song was considered the ultimate summer song of 1991, and it’s still popular today. You can still hear the song played at summer parties, clubs, and in cars going “2mph so everybody sees you.” Even when I was listening to these tracks, this tune made me wish it was summertime already. Coming in at #3 is Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
This next track might surprise some of you given how high it’s placed here. It, however, cemented this artist’s comeback after the Album of the Year winning Nick of Time, and it is still considered one of her best songs of the 90s and is also a song I just love. If nothing else, it gives you Something to Talk About, the #4 1991 song by Bonnie Raitt.
What many people consider the quintessential song for this band debuted in 1981. The opening E blows up any speaker system, and after Geddy’s introductory vocal, you’re off on a wild ride. Time signature changes, iconic synths, and a drum solo that Neil Peart loved doing every time make this the band’s most popular song. At #4 it’s Tom Sawyer by Rush.
We enter the top 5 with another song that holds a firm place in 80s culture based solely on its sound. It is still a huge song today, almost always in every 80s radio station rotation, and it’s hard not to sing along to every lyric too. Arriving at #5 in my countdown is Don’t You Want Me by Human League.
We’re entering the top 5 now and holding the bottom is one of my favorite early 90s rap songs. Later to be used as Mike Tyson’s entrance music, I have no doubt his arrival in boxing helped influence this song, which helped establish this artist’s supremacy in the hip-hop world. The #5 1991 song is Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J.