Tuesday Top Ten: '90s Social Distancing Songs

Prior decades:
-Top Ten Pre-1960s Social Distancing Songs
-Top Ten '60s Social Distancing Songs
-Top Ten '70s Social Distancing Songs
-Top Ten '80s Social Distancing Songs

Our next stop on our weekly look at COVID-19-appropriate songs from each of the past seven decades is the 1990s.  What a time to be alive.  I went from preteen to college senior, and I honestly can't think of a better decade to have been in junior high, high school, and college.   

While not everything was exactly diggity dank during the decade -- we had the Gulf War, Rodney King, the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine, and the Ice Beer Wars -- things in the '90s were generally just, well, chillin' like a villain.  The economy was great (once Clinton got into office anyway).  People became more accepting of others.  Baggy clothes were the norm.  They still played videos on MTV.  You could have a reasonable discussion with someone with different political views, different religious views, or different allegiances in the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry without it erupting into an insult-laden tirade or fisticuffs.

The music was great, too.  From grunge to gangsta rap to alternative rock to new jack swing to ska to metal to hip hop to jam bands to techno/house music to the end of the Hair Band Era (though I never wanted it to end) to boy bands to girl power to acoustic rock to the swing revival, I absorbed it all and appreciated most of it.
But enough about me.  Let's get to the music.  Here are my top ten '90s songs that relate to social distancing, COVID-19, and what we are all going through, in alphabetical order by artist.  As always, I tried to go with songs that best fit the theme, and not necessarily my favorite songs or the "best" songs.  There may be songs that I have already featured in a COVID-19-themed Retro Video of the Week.  And as always, only one song per artist.  Whatever.


1.  "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac
2Pac's 1993 album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. was one of the first CDs I got after my conversion from cassettes to CDs.  It's a great album, and one of my favorite songs on the album is 2Pac's second Top 40 song in the U.S., "Keep Ya Head Up," a song with a positive message of staying strong and doing the right even when the times are tough.  The chorus samples The Five Stairsteps' "O-o-h Child," which is a fantastic song in its own right, telling us "things are gonna get easier" and "things'll get brighter."  That's what keeps us going.


2.  "Infected" by Bad Religion
Punk rockers Bad Religion kind of broke through with 1994's "Infected," which received some airplay on alternative rock stations.  The kicker is that you might be infected, even if you don't have a fever or have any other symptoms.  That's why everyone really needs you to stop being a dick and just wear a mask when you're around strangers.


3.  "Shelter Me" by Cinderella
With their third studio album, 1990's Heartbreak Station, Cinderella turned its sound more in the direction of blues rock (though they were still lumped in with the hair band genre), and "Shelter Me" is a good example.  It was the band's last Top 40 hit in the U.S., reaching #36.  For our purposes, with shelter-in-place orders over the last couple months, it's perfect.  We all do, in fact, need a little shelter.


4.  "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing" by Garbage

Garbage is one of the bands that just reminds me so much of the '90s.  They were great, and "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" is haunting track from their second studio album, 1998's Version 2.0.  The advice is sage in these times.  If you want to avoid dying from the COVID, the trick is to keep breathing. 

5.  "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer
I couldn't have a list of COVID-19-related songs from the '90s without MC Hammer's megahit "U Can't Touch This."  Or, if you do touch something, make sure you don't touch your mouth before washing your hands with soap or hand sanitizer.


6.  "Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone" by Money Mark
Money Mark has collaborated with a lot of great artists, including Beastie Boys, Beck, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, but he has also released his own stuff.  "Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone" is a DIY, lo-fi keyboard song from his 1995 debut album Mark's Keyboard Repair, and you may recognize it from the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack.  Anyway, the message is particularly relevant in these times.  Sometimes you can't rely on others, but you just have to make it alone -- like when there's a global pandemic.


7.  "Stay Away" by Nirvana
The tenth song off of Nirvana's groundbreaking Nevermind album is another one of those songs you should have cued up for when you're queued up.  The chorus is a blunt message to any invalid who can't figure out how far six feet is.


8.  "Down with Disease" by Phish

I featured this one as a Retro Video of the Week in late April.  My sentiments then remain as poignant as ever.  You should still be doing things to make sure COVID-19 goes down, rather than up.  So, for instance, maintain social distancing when walking past other people, don't go to a giant shoulder-to-shoulder party in Lake of the Ozarks, and don't loot a Target without wearing a mask.

9.  "Barely Breathing" by Duncan Sheik
Pop/acoustic rocker Duncan Sheik's debut single in 1996 was a big one, reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative chart, and getting a lot of MTV airplay.  Little did he know that it would have applicability 24 years later, as patients on ventilators struggle to maintain their breathing.

10.  "Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)" by Snoop Doggy Dogg (feat. Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G.)

The last song on the list is my favorite Snoop Dogg song.  It's certainly not a song anyone could put out these days -- at least not without getting a lot of shit -- as it's basically a rather graphically lewd and lascivious ode to doing the nasty and how much it sucks (pun intended, motherfuckers!) when you can't.  One of the side effects of having to socially distance and stay at home is that a lot of homies can't have none, which, as this song tells us, ain't no fun.


Honorable mention:  "No Place Like Home" by 4 Non Blondes; "Sneakin' Out The Hospital" by Beastie Boys; "The Distance" by Cake; "I Will Survive" by Cake; "Sick For The Cure" by Cinderella; "Alone + Easy Target" by Foo Fighters; "Breathe" by Faith Hill; "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson; "I Stand Alone" by Jackyl; "Not the Doctor" by Alanis Morissette; "Miss U" by Notorious B.I.G.; "Gotta Get Away" by Offspring; "So Alone" by Offspring; "Alone" by Pearl Jam; "Breath" by Pearl Jam; "The E.N.D." by Pharcyde; "Breathe" by Prodigy; "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy & The Family; "Rubella" by Smoking Popes