1. Neneh Cherry, "Buffalo Stance." I was getting old by the time 1989 rolled around … all of 35 … I had no idea what a buffalo stance was, anymore than I understand why they're called buffalo wings. But the loopy hook of this song was hard to resist. Cherry has recently turned up as the co-host of a BBC cooking show, Neneh & Andi Dish It Up. The video link is from 1988, so somebody's cheating on dates … I think the single came out that year, the album in '89, which is why I'm letting it stay on this Random Ten. Oh, and the video is from a famous Top of the Pops performance, where Neneh shook it while seven months pregnant.

2. The B-52's, "Love Shack." You could call this a comeback, except until "Love Shack" the B-52's had never been a huge success … this was their first Top 40 song (it made #3). It came out ten years after their first album, and they'd been fading ever since their second album in 1980. Guitarist Ricky Wilson had died a few years earlier, after which the band disappeared for a couple of years. In 1979, their sound was delightfully retro … by 1989 it sounded modern.

3. Faith No More, "Epic." Influential precursor to rap metal, with a killer riff worthy of Jimmy Page. As for the song's meaning, I can do no better than to quote somebody on Wikipedia:

Some perceive the lyrics as a reference to masturbation. The lyrics also possess themes of rape. Other sources indicate that the lyrics may intertwine with people not being able to achieve what they want. Such as an accomplishment or goal. This contests to the "masturbation" conception stated above. Although, many people feel that the video for the song explains the second theory better. Which is not about sexual deviance at all, but more along the lines of people not acquiring what they desire most. For example, the fish at the end who dies without water.

There is also the possibility that the song's pervasive 'it' is a variable for whatever is the 'it' in modern culture. Various senses are tantalized throughout the song to give it a broader appeal. Any pop culture trend that disappears as quickly as it appears seems to fit as 'it'.

So all you college professors out there, if you ever find the phrase "Various senses are tantalized" in a student's paper, you'll know where they got it from. (The video link is from a performance on SNL that uncovers the previously-hidden connection between Joe Cocker and Johnny Rotten.)

4. Nirvana, "About a Girl." From Nirvana's first album, which reportedly sold 6,000 copies. At least, until Nevermind introduced the rest of the world to the band … Bleach has now sold upwards of four million copies. There's a story to be told about the different between 6,000 and 4,000,000.

5. Madonna, "Like a Prayer." My personal favorite Madonna song. To steal a famous quote, she had me at "God." As for the video, it's been said, and if you haven't read it, well then, Google is your friend. VH1 named it the #2 video of all time ("Thriller" was #1).

6. De La Soul, "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)." It's perhaps hard to remember how much baggage people attached to this fine album, a runaway winner of the year's Pazz & Jop poll. It wasn't enough that the music was terrific … it had to stand in for the hope that the future of hip-hop would grow out of its positive innovations. In other words, it wasn't Straight Outta Compton. History would suggest that those hopes were never realized, but the music is still great.

7. Beastie Boys, "The Sounds of Science." There are albums you play over and over because of the pleasure they give you … you just have to hear that song one more time. And then there's Paul's Boutique. You could play this album a thousand times and never get to the bottom of it. Partly this is because of the astounding depth of the album, in particular its use of sampling. But what made Paul's Boutique especially unique in subsequent years was Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc., aka Gilbert O'Sullivan sues Biz Markie. That decision was handed down 2 ½ years after Paul's Boutique, and effectively ended the bottomless well of sampling as a legal artistic outlet. OK, that's an interesting legal note in music history, that helps explain why you don't hear albums like this anymore. But the prevalence of mashups on the Internet remind us that messing around with sound bytes isn't hard at all … what's hard is getting it right. And no one ever got it more right than the Dust Brothers and the Beasties on Paul's Boutique. While the title "The Sounds of Science" might suggest a confrontation between bratty rappers and mellow-folkie singer/songwriters, in fact the primary source of samples for the song is the Beatles, in particular "When I'm 64" and "The End." Both of those songs are used in a sore-tooth manner, such that you can't quit running your tongue over the spot that hurts. The "64" rip takes two notes from the oboe-y musical intro to the original and loops it over and over … there isn't a baby boomer alive who won't want to scream at the stereo, "PLAY THE REST OF THE LICK, DAMMIT!" There wouldn't seem to be anything more entrancingly aggravating … and there isn't, until they rework a guitar riff from Abbey Road in a similarly annoying way. It's guitarus interruptus, as the first chords of the guitar raveup at the end of Side Two of Abbey Road get repeated over and over and over and over … and they never resolve the moment, so all you can do is listen to the song again, hoping this time they'll finally get to the gee-tars. And they never do ... it's like an old vinyl album that gets stuck. Hurts so good.

8. Phranc, "M-A-R-T-I-N-A." A classic from the "All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger." Phranc's another one of those artists who have done a lot of different things in their lives … Neneh Cherry may have a cooking show, but Phranc sells Tupperware, as documented in Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventure in Plastic. If De La Soul was seen as the anti-gangsta (whether they wanted to or not), Phranc was the anti-Olivia folksinger, funny, with a background in punk rock. And you have to love the way she spells "Czechoslovakia."

9. k.d. lang and the Reclines, "Pullin' Back the Reins." Phranc's influential and all of that, but here's the lesbian singer who rules the roost. Lang has one of the finest voices in contemporary music. Absolute Torch and Twang was the culmination of her country period, and to this day my favorite of her albums. This is my favorite song from that album.

10. Digital Underground, "Doowutchyalike." I can't decide if this is a good shuffle-play move or not. On the one hand, this song belongs back with De La Soul and the Beasties … on the other hand, can you think of a better summation of k.d. lang and Phranc than "do what you like?" Digital Underground was the most obvious inheritor of certain George Clinton traditions … others were as good or better at co-opting the Funkadelic sound, but Shock G/Humpty Hump had it over everyone else in creating a visual image and overall funky goofiness that owed much to Clinton. Digital Underground also points to the future: while they reside in the "alternative rap" world of De La Soul rather than in the gangsta rap world that was becoming dominant, they had a hand in the latter: one of their roadies/dancers was a man named Tupac Shakur.