The Year the Charts Went Rogue
From Sinead's tear to Vanilla Ice
1990 was the year the UK charts went properly strange. Dance music crashed the mainstream. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rap spent a month at #1. Sinead O'Connor tore up a photo of the Pope on American television. Elton John came back. The Stone Roses defined indie for a generation. And somewhere in the chaos, the 1990s — the last great decade of physical music — began in earnest.
It was a transitional year. The 80s excess was fading, acid house had reshaped club culture, and the major labels were scrambling to figure out what came next. The answer, as it turned out, was Britpop, but nobody knew that yet. In 1990, the charts were a glorious, messy free-for-all.
Dance Music Takes Over
By 1990, acid house and rave culture had fully penetrated the mainstream. "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz and the Plastic Population kicked off the year. Snap!'s "The Power" brought German-produced Euro-dance to the masses. Adamski's "Killer" gave us Seal's voice for the first time. And then there was "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers — a 25-year-old song re-released after the success of Ghost, spending four weeks at #1. The charts had never been more eclectic.
Britpop's Seeds Are Planted
1990 was the year the bands that would define the next decade started to emerge. The Stone Roses had exploded the year before with their debut album, but 1990 saw them headline Spike Island — a gig that became legendary more for its cultural impact than its actual sound quality. Happy Mondays released Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, fusing dance music with indie rock. Primal Scream's Screamadelica — released in 1991 but gestating through 1990 — was about to change everything. Britpop hadn't arrived yet, but its foundations were being laid.
The One-Hit Wonders
1990 was a golden year for one-hit wonders. Bombalurina (Timmy Mallett from children's TV) reached #1 with "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". Partner and "People Hold On" gave us a taste of house-pop that disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' "Turtle Power" spent a bewildering four weeks at #1. It was glorious nonsense, and it proved that the UK charts still had room for the absurd.
Sinead's Moment
Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" was the song of 1990 — a Prince cover that became utterly, devastatingly her own. The video, with a single tear rolling down her face, was inescapable. But it was her appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992 that defined her legacy: tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television. The backlash was brutal, but history has vindicated her. In 1990, though, she was simply the most powerful voice in pop music.