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Song of the Day #5,517: ‘Whoomp! (There It Is)’ – Tag Team

After a run of great Throwback Weekend songs from the 60s through the 80s, we hit the brick wall of the 90s. Fortunately, I’ve already posted the #1 song from the week of August 7, 1993, the awful but inexplicably popular cover of ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You‘ by UB40.

In the #2 spot is a song I was ready to dismiss as hot garbage, but my increasing nostalgic fondness for early 90s hip-hop keeps me from going too negative. ‘Whoomp! (There It Is),’ by hip-hop duo Tag Team, isn’t great art, but its verses have the playfulness and buoyancy that make much of this era’s rap music a delight.

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Song of the Day #5,516: ‘She Works Hard for the Money’ – Donna Summer

Throwing back to the week of August 6, 1983, we find that it was great to be a music fan that summer. In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 is The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take,’ which ultimately spent eight weeks atop the chart (and gave the band its only #1 hit on the Hot 100).

I’ve featured that one before, so we move to #2, where the Eurythmics classic ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ spent one month before overtaking The Police for the #1 spot. I’ve written about that one, too.

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Song of the Day #5,515: ‘8 Good Reasons’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O’Connor’s 10th and final album was released in 2014 with the great title I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss. The title was a nod to the Ban Bossy campaign, which launched the same year and aimed to remove negative associations with women in positions of power.

This album picks up where its predecessor left off, serving up another batch of solid, confessional songs that make great use of O’Connor’s vocals. Musically, the tracks have a muscularity that at times hearkens back to her debut.

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Song of the Day #5,514: ‘Back Where You Belong’ – Sinéad O’Connor

I was hoping Sinéad O’Connor’s final two albums would be worthy successors to her great early work, and I’m happy to say that her penultimate album, How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?, definitely meets the challenge. I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see if the final one does.

This one was released in 2012, a full five years after Theology. She kept a pretty low profile between the releases, but suffered a nervous breakdown right as this album was coming out. It’s touching and bittersweet to read old YouTube comments on the songs wishing her well and hoping she recovers.

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Song of the Day #5,513: ’33’ – Sinéad O’Connor

After two albums of covers, Sinéad O’Connor released her first collection of original material in seven years with 2007’s Theology.

The album, which as the title suggests is focused on religious themes, is split into two discs: Dublin Sessions and London Sessions. Each disc contains recordings of the same 10 songs, with the Dublin sessions entirely acoustic and the London sessions featuring a full band and string section. The first disc adds a 45-second, a cappella sung prayer, while the second features a cover version of ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Jesus Christ Superstar.

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