100. "Rico Suave," Gerardo: Do they not want us to watch the last 4 hours, 55 minutes of this? Get serious, you guys.
99. "The Rain (Super Duper Fly)," Missy Elliott: I think Missy really likes her pot.
98. "Unbelievable," EMF: Good riff. Holds up.
97. "Gett Off," Prince and the New Power Generation: Eh, not his best decade.
96. "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection," Nelson: Only nostalgia for MTV cheese can explain how anyone voted for this.
95. "This Is How We Do It," Montell Jordan: A theme song for the 1995 Cleveland Indians, but otherwise I never cared for it.
94. "The Way," Fastball: I'm surprised anyone remembered this.
93. "Stay," Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories: Nah.
92. "911 Is a Joke," Public Enemy: Kind of a throwaway by their standards, but hell, it's Public Enemy.
91. "Building a Mystery," Sarah McLachlan: I always did like her voice, even if the Lilith Fair thing was a little obnoxious.
90. "You Get What You Give," New Radicals: Greg Alexander really wasn't Todd Rundgren?
89. "Never Said," Liz Phair: Everyone who bought Exile In Guyville must have voted. I don't think I've ever once heard this on the radio. That obviously doesn't make it bad, but it never crossed over into even the broader rock scene, much less pop culture in general.
88. "Barely Breathing," Duncan Sheik: Nice little song, but one I'm surprised anyone still recalls. Sheik is now winning Tonys, of all things.
87. "Achy Breaky Heart," Billy Ray Cyrus: No comment.
86. "Linger," The Cranberries: We'll still be hearing it in 50 years.
85. "Insane in the Brain," Cypress Hill: Excuse me, I have to go slug a cop.
84. "Informer," Snow: They were too embarrassed to honor "Macarena," but had room for this?
83. "Cannonball," The Breeders: You can't have a list like this without an Ohio State dropout on it.
82. "Mind Playing Tricks on Me," The Geto Boys: I knew time would be kind to this one when it was a current hit. A true genre classic.
81. "I Don't Want to Wait," Paula Cole; "Say a little prayer for I"--what the hell was that all about?
80. "I'm Too Sexy," Right Said Fred: I'm going to have to hurt somebody.
79. "Bitch," Meredith Brooks: You can't deny it was catchy.
78. "Are You Gonna Go My Way," Lenny Kravitz: Totally derivative, but it can't be denied.
77. "It Was a Good Day," Ice Cube: For most of the real prolific acts on this list, VH1 didn't nail down their best hit, but I do think this was Cube's all-timer.
76. "Runaround," Blues Traveler: Meh.
75. "Jump," Kris Kross: Underrated because these kids fell off the face of the earth, but holds up as classic pop 15 years later.
74. "Believe," Cher: Overrated because this woman refuses to fall off the face of the earth.
73. "Sex and Candy," Marcy Playground: "Disco lemonade." This song still makes me giggle.
72. "One Week," Barenaked Ladies: My sister told me once she was tired of "quirky Canadians." I believe she had this song in mind.
71. "Tennessee," Arrested Development: The band that named itself after its future career path. This sound was destined not to take over hip-hop, to put it mildly.
70. "Virtual Insanity," Jamiroquai: Inexplicable.
69. "Freak on a Leash," Korn: I never really got into this sound, though they were definitely influential.
68. "Gettin' Jiggy With It," Will Smith: This was hardly his best hit of the decade, but I think it's held on to our memories because, well, it's a ridiculous phrase.
67. "Groove Is In the Heart," Deee-Lite: Definitely one of the best songs on this list.
66."I'll Be," Edwin McCain: Pleasant enough. It has certainly tugged at the heartstrings of many.
65. "The Humpty Dance," Digital Underground: Probably not the song these guys would want to be remembered for.
64. "Peaches," The Presidents of the United States of America: I'll always stand up for silliness.
63. "Mo Money Mo Problems," Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Mase: Biggie hardly even appears in this one. I'm not sure why VH1 picked this to represent him instead of his previous single, "Hypnotize."
62. "I Alone," Live: Ed Kowalcyzk was the singer for those who felt put off by Michael Stipe's macho posturing.
61. "All I Wanna Do," Sheryl Crow: I liked most of her '90s singles (not so much since).
60. "Poison," BellBivDeVoe: I always liked the general sound these guys represented, but they were pretty lame.
59. "Buddy Holly," Weezer: What's with these homies dissing my girl? As a card-carrying Weezerphile, I can't object to this.
58. "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover," Sophie B. Hawkins: One of the weirder songs on this list. She scared me a little.
57. "Can I Get A..." Jay-Z feat. Amil & Ja Rule: I have to dock Hova some points here for introducing the world to Ja Rule.
56. "Mama Said Knock You Out," LL Cool J: With the prespective of time, the fact that LL was complaining about being written off in his early 20s is sort of funny. Great song.
55. "Criminal," Fiona Apple: Probably a little underrated. I don't have much use for anything about Fiona Apple except her music.
54. "One Of Us," Joan Osborne: She had her magic moment with this one.
53. "O.P.P," Naughty by Nature: Those clever, dirty boys.
52. "Fly," Sugar Ray: I didn't have much use for Smash Mouth, who were always sort of confused with these guys, but they had several singles better than "Fly" and are nowhere to be seen on this list.
51. "California Love," Tupac & Dr. Dre: Gangsta rap's greatest moment even though it's not actually a gangsta song. Singles don't come much cooler.
50. "Man In the Box," Alice In Chains: This isn't the song from these guys I would have picked (I would have gone with something from Dirt), but I turn it up every time I hear it.
49. "Who Will Save Your Soul," Jewel: Revenge of the poetry-scribbling teenage girls. What were we thinking?
48. "3 AM," Matchbox Twenty: Why this and not the world-conquering "Smooth" or their first hit "Push"? It's just not very memorable.
47. "Good Vibrations," Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch: See comment at #96.
46. "You're Still the One," Shania Twain: You can win a lot of bar bets by asking people what the best-selling album of the '90s was: it's the one this song appeared on.
45. "Only Wanna Be With You," Hootie and the Blowfish: Is it time to forgive Hootie yet?
44. "Killing Me Softly," The Fugees: I liked them. I'll let Lauryn Hill know when she returns from Alpha Centauri.
43. "My Lovin' ("You're Never Gonna Get It)," En Vogue: I thought En Vogue would become what Destiny's Child became about 8 years later. Good song.
42. "Shine," Collective Soul: I won't say how it is I know this, but a couple of these guys' songs are great in strip clubs.
41. "Two Princes," Spin Doctors: Jesus, people.
40. "I Wanna Sex You Up," Color Me Badd: Consider yourself colored. Because your music sure wasn't.
39. "Iris," The Goo Goo Dolls: I'm just getting depressed now.
38. "Genie in a Bottle," Christina Aguilera: Xtina may have disavowed her early hits in her pursuit of skank, but I always liked this song and it really holds up.
37. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," Green Day: Admit it: you like it too.
36. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)," C&C Music Factory: Really the best example of the little Eurodisco flurry we had in the early '90s.
35. "Wonderwall," Oasis: This was hardly their best hit, but I think Oasis became a bit underrated because the Gallaghers were sort of jerks. Enough time has passed that we can look back with affection.
34. "Semi-Charmed Life," Third Eye Blind: I used to like to compare different radio stations to see how much of this song they censored. The oral sex stuff got through most of the time, surprisingly.
33. "Wannabe," The Spice Girls: Their second U.S. single, "Say You'll Be There," was one I really liked, but it's inevitable that this cheese is the one people remember more.
32. "No Diggity," Blackstreet: Had the good sense to be released at a time when it really stood out on the radio. Which it still would today.
31. "Creep," Radiohead: They've spent nearly 15 years running away from it.
30. "Tearin' Up My Heart," N' Sync: Even then they were sort of turning into a one man band, weren't they? That J.C. Chasez couldn't be denied.
29. "Ice Ice Baby," Vanilla Ice: See the link to the left for the apology I'm expecting.
28. "Livin' La Vida Loca," Ricky Martin: For about 9 weeks in 1999 everybody suddenly had to pretend this stuff was interesting.
27. "Mr. Jones," Counting Crows: I never did find these guys commercial, and apparently everyone agreed with me after a while.
26. "My Name Is," Eminem: Few songs have done a better job of introducing the artist.
25. "Black Hole Sun," Soundgarden: I like it. I'm a sucker for Chris Cornell, although there was a picture of him with his children in Newsweek a few weeks ago, and that concerns me some.
24. "Jump Around," House of Pain: I remember when we went through a phase where every summer there was at least one big rap hit that made you want to go hit someone. This was probably the best of those songs.
23. "Whatta Man," Salt-n-Pepa & En Vogue: This is one of those songs where I can understand why it was popular, but I never got into it myself. Salt-n-Pepa was cool, though.
22. "Loser," Beck: I think once this guy proved he wasn't a novelty act, this song started getting respect again. Weirdest song on this list by a long shot.
21. "My Heart Will Go On," Celine Dion: I guess you have to rank it.
20. "MMMbop," Hanson: See #23. Should we blame these guys for the boy bands? And if so, can we go back in time and keep their parents from ever meeting, or something?
19. "Sabotage," Beastie Boys: I still turn it up whenever I hear it.
18. "Enter Sandman," Metallica: Their original fans never forgave them for writing a catchy song, but I imagine they've gotten over it by now.
17. "Say My Name," Destiny's Child: WHAT??
16. "U Can't Touch This," MC Hammer: This song has gone through the entire cycle of perception: phenomenon to overplayed novelty to fondly remembered artifact of a bygone time. You can't deny this.
15. "Under the Bridge," Red Hot Chili Peppers: I don't know that there's any band I "like" that has a higher ratio of crap to good stuff than the Peppers, but this deserves all its kudos.
14. "Vision of Love," Mariah Carey: Good song, though if we knew what it would lead to we all may have prevented it from becoming a huge hit.
13. "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang," Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg: Highly influential, and of course it gave us Snoop.
12. "You Oughta Know," Alanis Morrissette: Alanis is polarizing as hell and most of the time I find her pretty unbearable, but this song fully deserves its reputation.
11. "Jeremy," Pearl Jam: Hardly their best song and I'm sure they would agree, but the show is airing on VH1 and they need a video to illustrate it.
10. "Nothing Compares 2 U," Sinead O'Connor: You knew it would be huge when you first heard it, even though no one knew who Sinead was.
9. "Losing My Religion," R.E.M: For a brief moment, these guys really did write good pop songs.
8. "Waterfalls," TLC: Nothing about them wasn't overrated, sorry. That documentary about the final days of Left Eye was really engrossing, though.
7. "...Baby One More Time," Britney Spears: Oooh baby, baby. We're coming up on the 10-year anniversary of this song infecting America. And infecting is a word that just seems to fit Britney anymore.
6. "Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-A-Lot: Yes, according to VH1 this was the greatest rap hit of the decade. It is legitimately funny, though. Its reputation has risen in recent years--a similar list made the day the '90s ended probably wouldn't have mentioned it.
5. "Vogue," Madonna: I'm the farthest thing from a knee-jerk Madonna basher, but the reputation of this song has always puzzled me. I think it's one of her less interesting major hits.
4. "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston: I can respect it without being much interested. Right?
3. "I Want It That Way," Backstreet Boys: The singles on their first album were better, but this song cemented them as a phenomenon so here it sits. Scarily, we're overdue for another boy band infestation.
2. "One," U2: Seeing this song's slow rise to standard-hood has been an interesting experience. When it was new, I remember thinking, "OK, the new U2 single." The idea it would be as revered as something like "Imagine" 15 years later would have struck me as incredible.
1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Nirvana: Well, yeah.
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