Billboard's Top 10 fifteen years ago...

...I stumbled across this interesting column from EW...don't know how often they do this, but I'll have to look for it in the future. Pretty fun stuff...though I definitely disagree with a couple of the assessments (I'm sorry, but even though I had a crush on Paula Abdul in 1991, there's nothing in "Rush Rush" that's worth anywhere close to a B). There are a couple of wretched songs on this list, but there was a quite a bit of lasting power here, as you can still here 5-6 of these songs on the radio relatively frequently, led of course by "Losing My Religion" and "Right Here, Right Now". Best blurb:

6. ''More Than Words,'' Extreme I had a lot to say about this simple acoustic cheesefest — how it completely redefined power ballads for the post-hair metal era, how Nuno Bettencourt is maybe the best rocker name ever, how you will be hard-pressed to find anyone between the ages of 25 and 40 who cannot nail both parts of the harmony from memory — but I'm too busy crying. Sorry. A

Just in case you're wondering, here's the Billboard Top 10 for this week:

1. Nelly Furtado & Timbaland - "Promiscuous"
2. Shakira & Wyclef Jean - "Hips Don't Lie"
3. Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
4. Cassie - "Me & U"
5. Yung Job - "It's Goin' Down"
6. Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man"
7. Chamillionaire & Krayzie Bone - "Ridin'"
8. Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
9. Lil Jon & E-40 - "Snap Yo Fingers"
10. Field Mob & Ciara - "So What"

Never mind the fact that that's almost entirely Rap/R&B (no no, check that...it is entirely Rap/R&B), I think it's safe to say that only "Crazy" (and maybe "Hips" or "Ain't No Other Man") has any chance of being played on the radio in five years, much less fifteen. Put another way...

"Today's music sucks!" said the music snob.