Hey guys, and welcome back to the blog for another top 10 post! This is one I've been waiting to do for a while now, but I feel like now is the time to crank it out, so here it is! Let's dive right in!
INTRODUCTION
1997 is considered by many to be one of the best years for music. There were many fun pop, rap, and R&B hits that dominated the charts throughout this time that made people in love. And honestly, I have to agree with the people who call 1997 one of the best years for music. Along with 1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2015, 1997 is one of my personal favorite years for music because of all the good stuff that came out during that time. Because I love that year so much, I decided to put together a list of my top ten songs that were hits during that year. It was extremely difficult, but I did it, so I'm here to present it. Any song that appeared on the Hot 100 Year-End Singles chart, Hot 100 Year-End Airplay Singles chart, or was a notable alternative hit during that year is eligible to appear on here, just to make it easier for me. Also, I tried not to include any repeats from 1996 on this list because I can see myself making a 1996 list in the future. In other words, I would have had the huge hit "Don't Speak" by No Doubt on this list, but I'm saving it for 1996 in case I do that. So yeah, let's get to this list!
10. Mariah Carey - Honey
When people call Mariah Carey a queen and one of the best R&B vocalists of all-time, they are not lying. She really is that good. While I do not think this song is her best vocal performance nor her best song, it is more than worth talking about here. You may not know this song, but it was a huge hit, as it debuted at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. So think of it as a "thank u, next" of 1997. It was the third Mariah Carey song to do this, which is pretty impressive if you ask me. The song was also nominated for two Grammy awards, and while it did not win any awards, the nominations were well-deserved in my opinion. Mariah Carey has an amazing voice and she really shows it in this song. The song does not represent her usual style very well in my opinion, which can be good because it means she's trying something new. One thing I do really enjoy about it is that piano riff that comes in once every few bars. I think that is really satisfying to hear for some reason. It makes the song sound really good for me. I doubted about putting it on this list because of how great of a year 1997 was for music, but this masterpiece is my most played Mariah Carey song, and it's not close either. So it had to be on here.
9. Third Eye Blind - Graduate
Just listen to a few seconds of the chorus to tell how amazing this song is. The band is trying something a little different with this song and I love it. In fact, the only one of the five singles from their self-titled album I'd say is like their usual style is "How's It Going To Be", so I overall love how they tried some different styles with the singles. This song is a lot harder and more energetic than their usual stuff, which I enjoy. It definitely wasn't as big as the three top ten singles from the album, but it still was an alternative hit which was good. I wasn't sure what the song really meant until I got 3EB's greatest hits CD and read the inside booklet, where lead singer Stephan Jenkins was giving commentary on each of the songs. For this one, he said that it's about "demanding your place", which kind of makes sense considering that the main hook is where he says, "CAN I GRADUATE?" A bio of the song as written on Genius says similar things like, "Graduating from play-pretend to making things happen." I really like this theme as we all will probably feel this way at least once in our lives. That and the energy level always make the song fun to listen to. This isn't the last 3EB song we will see on this list, but this song is still amazing and deserves to be recognized more.
8. Puff Daddy/Faith Evans/112 - I'll Be Missing You
Unlike the previous two songs, I'm pretty sure most of us have heard this song or the song that this song samples at least once in our lives. That's part of why it spent eleven weeks in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1997. But the other part means everything. We'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, this song samples and interpolates the 1983 hit single "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, which is why it could have sounded familiar during the first listen for anyone. I think the sample was made very well and holds up the song nicely. Puff Daddy's rapping is great and Faith Evans's chorus is amazing. 112 also made some nice contributions on the bridge. But the real highlight of this song is the meaning. Unlike a lot of songs, the meaning should be easy to tell if you have just a little bit of background knowledge of hip hop music of the 1990s. It's really nothing more than a tribute song to rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who was murdered in March of 1997 at the young age of 24. You can tell from the verses that Puff Daddy and Biggie were very close friends, which means that Puff was very saddened by his death. You could probably tell that Faith Evans, who was Biggie's wife, was feeling the same things as Puff was just by listening to the chorus. I'm not really sure what relation 112 had to Biggie but there's some emotion in their parts as well. So if you don't know how talented Biggie was and how much he meant to the world of rap music at the time, listen to this song and you should tell. It was amazingly written and proves its point perfectly. My personal favorite Puff Daddy song.
7. Foo Fighters - Everlong
Well, here's the first of five songs from this list that I've talked about on this blog already. I won't spend too much time raving about those because they are already praised in other posts, but I will still give an overview. Anyways, to me, this is kind of a song you have to listen to to see the deal. It is hugely iconic and hugely amazing, but I can't really explain why. That's kind of something you have to hear for yourself. But I think the guitars here sound really good, especially the ones in the intro, and Dave Grohl sounds great along with them. The song isn't a huge banger like songs like "The Pretender" (which is still my favorite Foo Fighters song), so it sounds good in the sort of non-banger way, I guess. It sounds like a usual Foo Fighters song, but better, let's put it that way. So yeah, not much else to say. This song was a huge hit everywhere and is often considered as the best and most iconic Foo Fighters track, so don't be afraid to give it a listen.
6. The Offspring - I Choose
...and we're back here again. I already gave a huge explanation as to why this song is just amazing in my top 10 Offspring songs post I put out on Sunday, so go check that out if you want more. But in short, life is often unfair and messed up to us, and that sucks. But you can make the choice to look at life in a more positive way, and make it like, as the chorus says, a playground rather than a nightmare come true. That's basically what the song is about and I love that theme so much. It also has that insanely catchy guitar riff that follows the song very well. The chorus is amazing not just lyrically, but musically, too. But yeah, I won't get too much into this one because I already did in that top 10 post. Let's get to the top 5 now!
5. Chumbawumba - Tubthumping
As random as this song seems, you've probably heard it before, you just don't know the name of it. This is that bouncy one-hit wonder song that goes, "I get knocked down, but I get up again..." and stuff like that. I think I might have known it from memes or something like that, but I really don't know. This song is really catchy to me and I like how the intro makes it sound slower, but it really just breaks into something awesome and full of energy. The chorus really shows that, as it's the part that makes me enjoy the song so much. The rest of the song is cool, even if it can be weird. I also think the guy singing in this (not sure who it was because this band had a lot of different singers) sounds really good and makes the song slightly better. This song deserved to top lots of charts and gain lots of recognition around the world because it is that good. Very iconic song that is worth still listening to 20 years later.
4. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
Have you ever heard a song, like "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People, that is really fun and catchy but actually has a pretty dark meaning behind it? Well, here you go. This song is a perfect example of that. In fact, it goes so extreme that the catchy guitar riff that helps make the song upbeat even has a connection to the darkness behind it. But more on that in a minute. The main reason why I enjoy this song is because it's catchy and I love catchy. The song is set up very well and flows through perfectly and it's hard to get tired of that. Stephan Jenkins sounds good throughout the song, too. But what's also really good about it is how well the song was written and set up so that the dark meaning is disguised behind the fun stuff in the song. Basically, the lyrics have to do with an addiction to crystal meth, which is obviously kinda dark. While I definitely do not have much to say about that theme because I wouldn't be able to relate to any of it, I really like how it is hidden behind such fun instrumentals that it shouldn't matter too much. Also, I heard once that the great guitar riff that follows the song is a reference to the charming sound of crystal meth or something like that, and if that's true, then that's just genius at work. I love that. This is definitely not my favorite Third Eye Blind song, as that title goes to "Jumper", but this is still an unforgettable song because of how well it is written and structured.
3. The Notorious B.I.G./Puff Daddy/Mase - Mo Money Mo Problems
I already talked some about this song in my top 25 songs of all-time post, but it's time to revisit it because of this post. I feel like it would be quite wrong to not include a Biggie song on this list because 1997 was quite the year in terms of his music. His second and final album, Life After Death, was released, he had two number one songs in this and "Hypnotize", and another song about him (which I already talked about in this post) spent most of the summer at #1. But on the flip side, it was also the year when his life was tragically brought to an end at the young age of 24. Even though he only released two albums and didn't have too many mainstream hits, he is still considered one of the best and most iconic rappers of all-time, and I agree with anyone who says that. He really is that good. And although he only has one verse in this song, it really proves how good he was and his affiliates are. All of the verses are amazing and the chorus is iconic, too, and the beat is really fun. Some of my personal favorite old school rap songs are ones with both awesome rapping and a more upbeat/catchy production, and this song is a perfect representation of that. It's exactly my style and I enjoy it. Sounds like a pretty amazing song, right? Well, let's just see how much more amazing our top 2 are, because they're obviously pretty good.
2. The Offspring - Gone Away
I kind of just reviewed this song in my top 10 Offspring songs post I put out the other day, but I'm fine with revisiting it again because it's just so good
1. The Wallflowers - One Headlight
I debated for some time on whether to count this song as from 1996 or 1997, but since it peaked on the alternative charts on 1997 and won its two Grammys in the 1998 ceremony, I included it here. I gave a full, in-depth review for it already in my top 25 songs of all-time post, so I'll just go over the basics for this one. I think the production for this song is absolutely on point and fits with the song very nicely. Jakob Dylan has great vocals throughout the song as well. It takes a lot of listens to finally get it and see why I think it's as amazing at it is, so when I was able to get it and see what the big deal was, that was cool because this song was a new favorite of mine. The song is so well-written that it often just speaks to you, and that's really cool. So yeah, I won't say much more since I already talked a ton about it in my first post. This song is overall a masterpiece and I'm glad it was as popular as it was and won as man Grammys as it did.
And that wraps up this post! I hope you had a fun time reading it because I had a fun time making it. 1997 was truly an awesome year for music and a lot of the songs we got out of it were just amazing. If you want to listen to any of these songs because they sound cool to you, I embedded YouTube videos for each song when presenting them so you can listen to them that way. I recommend all of these songs because of how good they are. I will have a 2018-related post out pretty soon (hopefully) so I need to get working on that, but until that comes out, thanks and if I don't post again today I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year and that you have a fun time celebrating today and tomorrow! See you next time!
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