Barenaked Ladies “If I Had a $1,000,000” released as a radio single this month

If I Had a $1,000,000 Barenaked Ladies

Writer(s): Steven Page, Ed Robertson (see lyrics here) Released: December 1992 First Charted: February 19, 2000 Peak: 37 AR, 13 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 12.5 video, 37.82 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Barenaked Ladies formed in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. They released about 500 copies the next year of a tape called Buck Naked. It featured the song “If I Had a $1,000,000.” It showed up again in 1990 on their tape Barenaked Lunch. 2000 copies of it were released. It showed up once again on The Yellow Tape. That sold over a half million copies and became the first independent release in Canada to be certified gold. “If I Had a $1,000,000” got a lot of airplay on the Toronto radio station CFNY-FM and helped the band get signed to a major label deal with Reprise Records. The song saw release yet again on the band’s 1992 Gordon album, which sold a million copies. Despite never having a proper video or single release, the song became a staple in the band’s catalog. In 2005, it was ranked #2 on a list of the top 50 essential Canadian tracks as aired on CBC Radio. WK It was released as a one-track radio single in December 1992. It reached #13 in Canada and was officially released in the UK as a commercial single in the UK. A 1996 re-release, thanks to the live album Rock Spectacle, prompted the song to hit #13 on the UK rock chart. In 2000, the song reached #37 on the Billboard Adult Top 40. Steven Page and Ed Robertson came up with the song while counselors at a summer music camp. It became a trademark of the song for Page and Robertson to break into free-form banter, improvising eccentric purchases they’d make with a million dollars. WK The recorded version included references to Kraft macaroni and cheese dinners, the Elephant Man’s (John Merrick) remains, and exotic animals (a reference to Michael Jackson’s lavish spending habits). Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Barenaked Ladies SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 10/9/2022.

 

Dr. Dre The Chronic released

The Chronic Dr. Dre

Released: December 15, 1992 Peak: 3 US, 18 RB, 43 UK, -- CN, 91 AU Sales (in millions): 5.7 US, 0.3 UK, 6.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. The Chronic (intro) (with Snoop Dogg) Dre Day (with Snoop Dogg, RBX, & Jewell) (5/15/93, 8 BB, 8 CB, 25 RR, 6 RB, 59 UK, sales: ½ million) Let Me Ride (with Ruben & Jewell) (9/13/93, 34 BB, 31 CB, 38 RR, 3 RB, 31 UK) The Day the Niggaz Took Over (with RBX & Snoop Dogg) Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang (with Snoop Dogg) (11/19/92, 2 BB, 2 CB, 24 RR, 1 RB, 31 UK, 63 AU, 21 DF, sales: 1.5 million) Deeez Nuuuts (with That Nigga Daz & Snoop Dogg) Lil’ Ghetto Boy (with Snoop Dogg) A Nigga Witta Gun (with Snoop Dogg) Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat (with Snoop Dogg & RBX) The $20 Sack Pyramid (with Big Tittie Nickie, D.O.C., & Samara) Lyrical Gangbang (with Rage, Kurupt, & RBX) High Powered (with RBX, That Nigga Daz, & Rage) The Doctor’s Office (with Jewell & Rage) Stranded on Death Row (with Bushwick Bill, Kurupt, & RBX) The Roach (with RBX, That Nigga Daz, Rage, & Emmage) Bitches Ain’t Shit (with Snoop Dogg, That Nigga Daz, & Kurupt) Total Running Time: 62:52

Rating: 4.245 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings) Quotable: “One of the greatest and most influential hip-hop albums of all time” – Steve Huey, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Without Dr. Dre, West Coast hip-hop wouldn’t be the same and the game would be eons worse for it.” PM “After helping write the book on gangsta rap with N.W.A, Andre ‘Dr. Dre’ Young started a smokin’ new chapter with his… solo debut.” BL We also have “The Chronic to thank for the burgeoning superstar careers of MCs like Snoop Doggy Dogg and 2Pac, as it effectively reinvented an entire generation of music.” PM “G-funk was vaulted into the mainstream, and gangsta rap became the prevalent mode of performance on the West Coast.” PM “With its stylish, sonically detailed production,” SH “The Chronic managed to be both dangerous and addictive at once.” BL On this album, we experience “Dre’s invention, not quite from scratch, of a sound that defined early ‘90s urban L.A. in the same way that Motown defined ‘60s Detroit…Dre delivers his verses with hypnotically intimidating ease,” TL “sampling everyone from Led Zeppelin to Jewel to Parliament-Funkadelic to Ohio Players and Gil Scott-Heron.” PM We also get “soulful backing vocals, and live instruments in the rolling basslines and whiny synths.” SH “Dr. Dre perfectly bridges the gap between old school and hip-hop, as one of the first artists to fully realize the commercial potential of rap.” RV “What’s impressive is that Dre crafts tighter singles than his inspiration George Clinton – he’s just as effortlessly funky, and he has a better feel for a hook, a knack that improbably landed gangsta rap on the pop charts” SH with hits like “Let Me Ride and Nuthin’ But a G Thang [which] feel like dusk on a wide-open L.A. boulevard, full of possibility and menace.” TL The latter is “one of the greatest, most infectious jams in hip-hop history. RV “But none of The Chronic’s legions of imitators were as rich in personality, and that’s due in large part to Dre's monumental discovery, Snoop Doggy Dogg” SH “as his vocal foil.” BL “While it's debatable whether this was a net positive for the world, Snoop’s drawled-out Mississippi-ness (he was rap’s first country cousin) was just one more original element.” TL “Snoop livens up every track he touches, sometimes just by joining in the chorus – and if The Chronic has a flaw, it’s that his relative absence from the second half slows the momentum. There was nothing in rap quite like Snoop’s singsong, lazy drawl (as it’s invariably described), and since Dre’s true forte is the producer’s chair, Snoop is the signature voice. He sounds utterly unaffected by anything, no matter how extreme, which sets the tone for the album’s misogyny, homophobia, and violence. The Rodney King riots are unequivocally celebrated, but the war wasn’t just on the streets; Dre enlists his numerous guests in feuds with rivals and ex-bandmates.” SH “Yet The Chronic is first and foremost a party album, rooted…in ‘70s funk and soul.” SH “Its comic song intros and skits became prerequisites for rap albums seeking to duplicate its cinematic flow; plus, Snoop and Dre’s terrific chemistry ensures that even their foulest insults are cleverly turned.” SH “That framework makes The Chronic both unreal and all too real, a cartoon and a snapshot. No matter how controversial, it remains one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop albums of all time.” SH

Resources and Related Links: BL Blender (10/08). “100 Greatest American Albums” SH Steve Huey, All Music Guide PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light VB Vibe (Dec. 1999). “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century,” pages 154-164. Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/20/2010; last updated 6/7/2024.

The Bodyguard soundtrack hit #1 for the first of 20 weeks

First posted 3/25/2008; updated 12/1/2020.

The Bodyguard Whitney Houston/Various Artists

Released: November 17, 1992 Peak: 120 US, 18 RB, 111 UK, 19 CN, 15 AU Sales (in millions): 17.0 US, 2.14 UK, 38.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B

Tracks: Song Title (PERFORMER) (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. I Will Always Love You (WHITNEY HOUSTON) (11/14/92, 1 US, 1 UK, 1 RB, 1 AC, 4x platinum single) I Have Nothing (WHITNEY HOUSTON) (2/20/93, 1a US, 3 UK, 3a RB, 1 AC, gold single) I’m Every Woman (WHITNEY HOUSTON) (1/9/93, 2a US, 4 UK, 4a RB, 26 AC, gold single) Run to You (WHITNEY HOUSTON) (6/21/93, 26a US, 15 UK, #31 RB, #9 AC) Queen of the Night (WHITNEY HOUSTON) (11/6/93, 36a US, #14 UK, #47a RB) Jesus Loves Me (WHITNEY HOUSTON) Even if My Heart Would Break (KENNY G/ AARON NEVILLE) Someday (I’m Coming Back) (LISA STANSFIELD) It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day (S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M.) What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding (CURTIS STIGERS) Waiting for You (KENNY G) * Trust in Me (JOE COCKER/ SASS JORDAN) Theme from ‘The Bodyguard’ (ALAN SILVESTRI) * not on U.S. album Total Running Time: 57:44

Rating: 3.499 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Few observers expected that Whitney Houston’s first big-screen role in 1992’s The Bodyguard would generate a phenomenon. Not that the film itself was a phenomenon – it was a healthy success, due not only to Houston, but to her co-star Kevin Costner's drawing power – but the soundtrack’s success was astonishing. The Bodyguard followed Houston’s cover of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You to the top of the charts, and once they got there, neither the single nor the album budged for weeks. ‘I Will Always Love You’ spent a record-shattering 14 weeks in the top slot, while The Bodyguard spent 20 weeks at number one, eventually selling over 15 million copies and winning the Grammy award for Album of the Year.” STE “Like many phenomena of that magnitude, it’s hard to see, in retrospect, what triggered such a massive public response. True, The Bodyguard isn’t a typical soundtrack in that its first half plays like Houston’s sequel to I’m Your Baby Tonight, but its second half is filled with the flotsam and jetsam typical for a big-budget soundtrack – an excerpt from Alan Silverstri’s score, some flavorless but pleasant Kenny G instrumentals, dated pop and dance numbers, and a cover (Curtis Stigers’ take on (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, which is notable in some circles as the recording that made the song’s author, Nick Lowe, a millionaire).” STE “Then again, nobody really paid attention to anything outside of the first six songs, all of which rank among Houston's best efforts, demonstrating progress from the somewhat stilted I’m Your Baby Tonight. It’s not startling enough to justify the phenomenon, but I Have Nothing, Queen of the Night, Run to You, and especially her cover of I’m Every Woman are all first-rate urban pop songs that skillfully capture Houston at her best. In a sense, the album is no different than any other album Houston recorded.” STE “It may seem odd that a soundtrack is Houston's biggest-selling album to date, but consider this – even her best records had five or six great songs surrounded by well-constructed filler; the same is true here, only the filler is recorded by other artists.” STE

Resources and Related Links: Whitney Houston’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide