Pop Shots – A Look At The Charts … From 20 Years Ago
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week I’m hopping into my time machine again, this time setting the coordinates for 20 years ago this week.
Touching down in late April of 2000 I’m suddenly flooded with memories of the final month of my senior year of college … and the soundtrack to that month was pretty damned epic!
Being that we’re talking about the year 2000, you already know we couldn’t go more than 30 seconds without hearing something by Carlos Santana. Not only was “Maria Maria” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, “Smooth,” after 12 weeks at #1, was still holding strong at #11 (and still holding strong in our heads 20 years later).
There were plenty of other modern day classics on the radio, as well, so let’s get into this! Of course, since this is Pop Shots, you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, knows some part of the choreography from the video for “Bye Bye Bye.” Off of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached album, which sold 2.4 million copies in its first week, this is inarguably one of the biggest songs in the pantheon of boy bands, and qualifies as both a genre, and era, defining hit.
“Thong Song” will always hold a special place in my heart, because during nights out in college, when the DJ put it on, the reaction in the bar was always wild. I don’t think I should fully describe what went on – it’s amazing how certain recollections are remarkably clear – but let’s just say there would be footprints on the bar after the song was over.
“There You Go” was the very first time we heard Pink. Over 90 million albums sold later (that’s not an exaggeration, that’s really her global album sales), it’s safe to say she can pay for that window she busted.
Even though it would end up in the Top 10, and earn a Grammy nomination, I still feel like this is one of the more underrated Backstreet Boys songs. The vocal harmonies on the chorus are simply gorgeous, and BSB probably doesn’t get enough credit for that aspect of their work.
Much like Sisqo’s “Thong Song,” DMX’s “Party Up” was another staple of a lot of late nights at crowded bars back in college (maybe it’s a good time to mention I went to Hofstra University, which is in Hempstead, NY, so DMX was a perfectly normal soundtrack for a night out). This was one of many songs that caused a lot of … exuberance. Yeah, let’s go with “exuberance.”
With boy bands, pop princesses, and TRL, being all the rage, Blink-182 did a hilarious parody of the pop world for the video for their now classic pop punk song “All The Small Things.” Of course, in a beautiful bit of poetry, “All The Small Things” would end up being played on TRL right alongside the videos it parodied.
Although it was starting to get a little tougher to find, there was still some soul on the charts, including the Brian McKnight classic “Back At One.” This is one of those songs that can immediately cause pregnancy, so play at your own risk.
Sophomoric, and full of sexual innuendos, if you find someone who doesn’t love “The Bad Touch,” tell them to loosen the f*ck up.
Man, we had a lot of fun in Y2K.
Closing out this look at the Billboard Hot 100 from this week back in the year 2000 is one more song that reminds me of college, as Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” was making its chart debut at the uber appropriate #69. This song was played at least once a night at every bar, and yes, we all thought we were pimps when it came on. Spoiler alert – we were not pimps.
That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.
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