VH1's 40 Greatest R&B Songs Of The '90s

[Verisimilitude]

This airs tonight on VH1 at 9 PM Eastern.

This should be good. '90s R&B >>>>.

[Verisimilitude]

Complete list:

VH1′s 40 GREATEST R&B SONGS OF THE 90S
40. Bobby Brown, “Humpin’ Around”
39. En Vogue, “Hold On”
38. Jade, “Don’t Walk Away”
37. Shanice, “I Love Your Smile”
36. Boyz II Men, “Motownphilly”
35. Keith Sweat, “Twisted”
34. Aaron Hall, “I Miss You”
33. 702, “Where My Girls At?”
32. Johnny Gill, “Rub You The Right Way”
31. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, “Tha Crossroads”


30. Ginuwine, “Pony”
29. Tony! Toni! Toné!, “Feels Good”
28. Faith Evans, “Love Like This”
27. Silk, “Freak Me”
26. K-Ci & JoJo, “All My Life”
25. Lisa Stansfield, “All Around The World”
24. Whitney Houston, “I’m Every Woman”
23. Jodeci, “Come And Talk To Me”
22. TLC, “No Scrubs”
21. Guy, “Do Me Right”

20. Mariah Carey, “Fantasy”
19. Usher, “You Make Me Wanna”
18. SWV, “I’m So Into You”
17. Blackstreet, “No Diggity”
16. Mary J. Blige, “Not Gon’ Cry”
15. Brian McKnight, “Back At One”
14. R. Kelly, “Bump N’ Grind”
13. Brandy & Monica, “The Boy Is Mine”
12. Color Me Badd, “I Wanna Sex You Up”
11. En Vogue, “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)”

10. Boyz II Men, “End Of The Road”
9. Aaliyah, “Are You That Somebody?”
8. Mary J. Blige, “Real Love”
7. Montell Jordan, “This Is How We Do It”
6. TLC, “Waterfalls”
5. R. Kelly, “I Believe I Can Fly”
4. Janet Jackson, “That’s The Way Love Goes”
3. Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”
2. Mariah Carey Featuring Boyz II Men, “One Sweet Day”
1. Bell Biv Devoe, “Poison”

[HolidayGuy]

One of the most acclaimed R&B acts of the 90s- Lauryn Hill- not present? Hip-hop, R&B, whatever- she's both.

One of the most whack VH1 lists yet- I know VH1 song lists are commercially/charts driven, but some of those choices...

[Deleted]

It's a bit strange to include Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on a list of R&B songs.

[Verisimilitude]

And I CANNOT at the shade against Toni Braxton. WTF?

[areyoureadytojump]

I love what's #1!!

[jenglisbe]

I love the inclusion of Jade (that song is still a jam) and SWV (though "Weak" is more of a classic). Toni Braxton should definitely be on here, and there are other songs that should represent Jodeci ("Forever My Lady" or their cover of "Lately" come to mind).

[Agent Yoncé]

TLC

[Deleted]

This may be the weirdest VH1 list yet. Thing is, I don't have a problem with any of the songs on this list - in fact I was working on a personal 90's r&b list a while ago and all but a handful of these songs are on it - but there are some strange snubs, and artists who should be there but with different songs (ex., SWV should be on the list with "Weak"). I think they should have made a full top 100 list so they could include some of the people/songs they left off along with their pet favorites.

I get the sense that whoever compiled this list was actually purposely not factoring in commercial success and/or really doesn't care for the big 'divas' of the era, and skewed more toward early to mid 90's/New Jack Swing-era songs. The Mariah and Whitney mentions almost feel obligatory (probably because they know they'd never hear the end of it) rather than inspired choices, and I guess that explains why Toni got snubbed completely. Also explains why Brandy and Monica have no songs on here other than their duet. For that matter, the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack is notably absent too. That soundtrack was amazing. At least one song from it should be here. (edit: Never mind, I see they have "Not Gon' Cry", for some reason my brain got that crossed up with "I'm Goin' Down"...but with that said, now the general absence of anything else from Mary is what I find egregious here.)

I would have assumed they excluded Lauryn because they consider her hip-hop but then they included Bone Thugs, who definitely which doesn't make any sense at all. Bone should be switched out for "Ex Factor."

[Honeymoon]

For TLC I would've picked "Creep" instead of "No Scrubs". Or "Baby-Baby-Baby" but I know that's less popular.

For Whitney I would've skipped both of those and went with "All the Man That I Need" and "My Love is Your Love"

For En Vogue I would've added "Don't Let Go (Love)" near the top.

[Honeymoon]

And I like that they picked a semi-unusual choice for the #1 but I don't think "Poison" is any better than the similarly styled "Motown Philly" which is right near the bottom.

[Agent Yoncé]

I know 99% of this list. The only song I don't know of is #40. Lol

[JamaicaFunk²]

Don't care about these lists unless Tevin Campbell gets the respect he deserves.

[Enigma.]

Such a weird list although I like the surprise #1

Pony too low.. And I Believe I Can Fly the best R. Kelly song of the 90s? Never.

EDIT: This wasn't "Best song", this was "greatest song".. well it's a big song I agree

[musicjunky318]

No Scrubs isn't really R&B to me. I'm surprised they didn't go with Creep.

[d.t.m]

They should have included SWV's Weak or Human Nature.

[Enigma.]

Wouldn't it be awkward if a Michael Jackson song would've represented SWV?

[musicjunky318]

Remember The Time should have made this list.

[HolidayGuy]

getmyrocks- you never heard "Humpin' Around"? It was a jam in 1992. Though I'm not sure how old you are. :)

I didn't care much for the track. Some Bobby Brown tracks I did kinda like include "Rock Wit'cha," Every Little Step," "On Our Own" and "Good Enough."

[Agent Yoncé]

Jun 29, 2012 23:14:46 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

getmyrocks- you never heard "Humpin' Around"? It was a jam in 1992. Though I'm not sure how old you are. :)

I didn't care much for the track. Some Bobby Brown tracks I did kinda like include "Rock Wit'cha," Every Little Step," "On Our Own" and "Good Enough."

If it's not from his LP, "Don't Be Cruel," never heard of it. I'll be 21 in Sept. :)

I'm curious to know how they measured or picked these songs. I'm stunned 'Nobody's Supposed To Be Here' isn't on the list. It was the longest running #1R&B until 'Be Without You'.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Jun 29, 2012 23:23:23 GMT -5 Agent Yoncé said:

Jun 29, 2012 23:14:46 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

getmyrocks- you never heard "Humpin' Around"? It was a jam in 1992. Though I'm not sure how old you are. :)

I didn't care much for the track. Some Bobby Brown tracks I did kinda like include "Rock Wit'cha," Every Little Step," "On Our Own" and "Good Enough."

If it's not from his LP, "Don't Be Cruel," never heard of it. I'll be 21 in Sept. :)

I'm curious to know how they measured or picked these songs. I'm stunned 'Nobody's Supposed To Be Here' isn't on the list. It was the longest running #1R&B until 'Be Without You'.

It's VH1. You can't take anything they do seriously anymore. They are another comedy channel that isn't funny.

[Linnethia Monique]

The Top 10 were all the right choices. Their explanation for #1 was right on the money. It still feels like a new release whenever it comes on. That intro is iconic. If you play that song at any event it gets the same reception it did around its initial release.

[bat1990]

I agree with sentiment about the missing Deborah Cox and Toni Braxton, and not enough Mary.

[Agent Yoncé]

Jun 30, 2012 20:42:42 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

Jun 29, 2012 23:23:23 GMT -5 Agent Yoncé said:

If it's not from his LP, "Don't Be Cruel," never heard of it. I'll be 21 in Sept. :)

I'm curious to know how they measured or picked these songs. I'm stunned 'Nobody's Supposed To Be Here' isn't on the list. It was the longest running #1R&B until 'Be Without You'.

It's VH1. You can't take anything they do seriously anymore. They are another comedy channel that isn't funny.

Lol. I know. Just curious w/their reasoning. That's all.

[Kishi KCM]

No Prince, MJ, Toni, Deborah...but it's a decent list. I'd give it a 7/10.

[Sir Benji]

They should have done a Top 100 or at least a Top 50, and i'm trying to figue out why/how "Crossroads" & "Do Me Right" made the list. "Creep" should have made that list instead of "No Scrubs" and Aaliyah's "One in a Million" should have made that list in addition to AYTS. Oh and I guess "Hey Mr DJ" by Zhane was a huge flop that no one remembers despite being a BBQ/Party staple for the past 2 f**king decades. "Hey Mr DJ" still gets a lot of recurrent airplay, it is pure fuckery that the song didn't make the list. Some songs on this list are very questionable. Oh and don't get me started on "Do Me Right". That is nowherenear Guy's best single wtf? Then they had the nerve to snub Toni. Really VH1?

[Verisimilitude]

It really is sad how badly executed this list turned out. Especially when VH1 have the VH1 Soul channel which plays '90s videos all the time, you'd think they'd have the staff from there pick a much better list than this one.

Besides, when I think of '90s R&B from the top players, it's Whitney's My Love Is Your Love, Mariah's Butterfly, and either of Toni Braxton's debut or Secrets albums.

[Sir Benji]

Oh and I'm also trying to understand why they snubbed the entire Neo-Soul subgenre.

[horchata]

Jun 28, 2012 17:48:55 GMT -5 Verisimilitude said:

12. Color Me Badd, “I Wanna Sex You Up”

Eh.

[Rican@]

With majority of these artists, they could have picked a better song from them. I would have put "Honey" or "Always Be My Baby" over "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day". R.Kelly has better not so generic releases instead of "I Believe I Can Fly", what about "When a Woman's Fed Up"? And no "On Bended Knees"? "No Ordinary Love"?

There so many missed marks here. It's supposed to be the "greatest" of that decade but some of the choices are the artists' most generic output.