There are a number of them I can think of, but these are the ones that stand out, at least for me.

What I Am--- by Edie Brickell (1988)
Probably the most blatantly 90s sounding song.......very 1995ish

It's the End of the World as we know it--- REM (1987)
Sounds like Green Day, and would probably fit well with the times were it released 10 years later

Right Here Waiting For You--- Richard Marx (1989)
I honestly thought this was from maybe 1998, heard it a lot as a kid.

All around the world by Lisa Stansfield (1989)

All around the world by Lisa Stansfield (1989)


That was pretty much a 1990 hit though it was released in late '89. But agreed......very 90s sounding.

All around the world by Lisa Stansfield (1989)

That was pretty much a 1990 hit though it was released in late '89. But agreed......very 90s sounding.

Absolutely. In many countries it was released in '89, but it didn't become a hit in the U.S. until early 1990 (which is why I often associate it with that year). Still, it is a great song. 8)

Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp (1982). Thought it was a 90s song for the longest time.

"All I Want Is You" by U2 comes to mind. I thought that was a 90's song for the longest time as well. (Especially when I heard it a lot on the radio in mid-1994 or thereabouts.) I was shocked to find out that it was originally released in the year 1989!

That "What I Am" song you mentioned (fittingly the first song noted in this thread) was the one that instantly came to mind. Very Alanis Morissette/Natalie Merchant.

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

Some of Suzanne Vegas's songs from the late 80's.

Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp (1982). Thought it was a 90s song for the longest time.


Nah, that's 80s given away by the electric guitar instrumental portions between verses.

But many rap songs seem '90s to people since that was the decade rap really penetrated the mainstream rather than being an alternative genre during the '80s.

And "What I Am", some of Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman are really neo-'60s rather than '90s sounding, much like the Stray Cats are neo-'50s.

But one thing that strikes me as ironic is Killing Joke's "Eighties", sounding more like a '90s alternative song.

But one thing that strikes me as ironic is Killing Joke's "Eighties", sounding more like a '90s alternative song.

Maybe that's due to the fact that the main riff from that song is oh-so-similar to that of "Come As You Are" by Nirvana, who were said to have ripped it off from there.

Nah, that's 80s given away by the electric guitar instrumental portions between verses.

But many rap songs seem '90s to people since that was the decade rap really penetrated the mainstream rather than being an alternative genre during the '80s.

And "What I Am", some of Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman are really neo-'60s rather than '90s sounding, much like the Stray Cats are neo-'50s.

But one thing that strikes me as ironic is Killing Joke's "Eighties", sounding more like a '90s alternative song.


To me "What I Am" sounds genuinely '90s, I thought it was a song from like 1994 when I first heard it, "Eighties" sounds like pretty typical gothic/post-punk to me. I'd say electronic dance music by '88(like acid house/rave) was already pretty '90s but most mainstream rock was still stuck in hair metal/ballad mode until '91/'92.

It Takes Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IBRbzf3Fws



The incessant hook makes it seem much closer to a 90s rap song than an 80s one, definitely ahead of its time.

It Takes Two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IBRbzf3Fws



The incessant hook makes it seem much closer to a 90s rap song than an 80s one, definitely ahead of its time.


It definitely has that 90's sound.

I'd say electronic dance music by '88(like acid house/rave) was already pretty '90s.


Yeah, Pump up the jam and such stuff. :)

One of the oldest songs with some hints of (early) 90s music I can image is Full Force - Alice, I want you just for me; released in 1985.

Besides that, I have to say none of the 80s R.E.M. tracks I know, even those from the first album Murmur (from 1983), sound really 80s to me. Al tracks would have fit the 1990-1992 era better.

Pop culture in the late 80's was still very 80's, but there were certainly a few 90's-like things popping up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsRz3TJDEY

I think Buffalo Stance has a 90's sound to it.

Maybe it's more interesting to post songs nót released in 1989.  :P

There's a song that came out around '86 apparently that has a cat in the music video. I honestly thought it could've even been 2000s. Not very 80s-like at all.

There's a song that came out around '86 apparently that has a cat in the music video. I honestly thought it could've even been 2000s. Not very 80s-like at all.

Which song is that?

Which song is that?


I can't remember the name. I think the cat was like a celebrity in the music video and was being applauded by crowds or something. It's a rock song.

On an unrelated note, "You Got To Fight, For Your Right To Party" doesn't sound very 80s either, IMO

I can't remember the name. I think the cat was like a celebrity in the music video and was being applauded by crowds or something. It's a rock song.

On an unrelated note, "You Got To Fight, For Your Right To Party" doesn't sound very 80s either, IMO

Other songs by the Beastie Boys seem like that, as well.

The MOST 90s sounding 80s song came out in 1984.  It was called Eighties by Killing Joke and reached #60 in the UK chart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1U1Ue_5kq8

Some Trivia:  In 1991, Nirvana recorded Come As You Are that featured a bass line riff similar to Eighties and when they released it as a single, Killing Joke tried to take legal action, but dropped it when Kurt Cobain died.  In 2003, Dave Grohl served as the drummer on Killing Joke's 12th album

Pump Up The Volume by MARRS (Oddly, the movie of the same title seems like a holdover of the 80s, from 1990)

Let The Music Play by Shannon. Could easily see it on the soundtrack of A Night At The Roxbury. But if it was a 90s song, it would be an '80s-like' 90s song.

Orinoco Flow by Enya. New Age music was definitely more of a 90s fad, and the song was played in pretty much everything throughout the 90s, even though it's from 1988.

Anything by The Pixies or Sonic Youth made in the 80s. Ditto Mudhoney, Vaselines, any of the original grunge bands.

Bananarama and the Spice Girls share a lot of similarities.

I think "Me, Myself and I" by De La Soul could've easily been a 90's song in the hip hop world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3kgjzUsDeg

I think "Me, Myself and I" by De La Soul could've easily been a 90's song in the hip hop world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3kgjzUsDeg


De La Soul sounds more 90's than late 80's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7fs2979Y4

Young MC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7fs2979Y4

Young MC

He also had another hit in 1989 called "Bust A Move"; that one could easily be mistaken as a 90s track.

Mountain Song, Janes Addiction 1988

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAIMlISHhU

Really anything released by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, Urban Dance Squad,

Jungle Brothers, House Music All Night Long, 1988

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeO3U1i3hCU

Enigma, Sadness, 1990 (Very early 90's but would classify it as a 90's sounding 80's song since it's so close to the 89/90 border)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9DxYhqmKw

The pixies-where is my mind (1988).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCD14IrOcIs
Even someone mentions in the comment how this sounds like a 98' song rather than 88'

My Bloody Valentine-lose my breath( 1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMrZsR8hapk

He also had another hit in 1989 called "Bust A Move"; that one could easily be mistaken as a 90s track.


Yeah, I used to think that was a 90's song for a long time.


Whip Appeal - Babyface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRx-BY1Z9sk

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

Agreed on that one too.

Yeah, I used to think that was a 90's song for a long time.


Whip Appeal - Babyface

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRx-BY1Z9sk


or how about My My My?

Even though it was released as a single in early 1990, it was included on a 1989 album. Given that "Last Cup Of Sorrow" fit well with 1997, this song could've easily made it in that year by my estimation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yoABwIlX3s

I don't think just being rap makes a song sound '90s'. Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill and Young MC are definitely what I'd think of as typical 80s hip hop. And 'Epic' by Faith No More sounds pretty 80s in my opinion, it's pretty stylistically akin to 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', though it certainly paved the way for nu metal bands like Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine so I suppose it's kind of transitional.

Just my opinion though. :)

I don't think just being rap makes a song sound '90s'. Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill and Young MC are definitely what I'd think of as typical 80s hip hop. And 'Epic' by Faith No More sounds pretty 80s in my opinion, it's pretty stylistically akin to 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', though it certainly paved the way for nu metal bands like Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine so I suppose it's kind of transitional.

Just my opinion though. :)


Agree here. There was plenty of rap to go around in the 80s, even if it wasn't as popular as it was in the 90s.

What about "Let The Music Play" by Shannon. I think the vocals sound pretty typical of 90s House music. Though then again, Hi-NRG is the direct predecessor to Eurodance.

There She Goes by The La's is uber 90s sounding.

There She Goes by The La's is uber 90s sounding.


Oh yeah, I could see Tal Bachman writing that.

What about Pump Up The Volume by MARRS? From '88, but I think it could easily have been a hit in 1993.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGPhUr-T6UM

What about Pump Up The Volume by MARRS? From '88, but I think it could easily have been a hit in 1993.


Wow, that could go even deeper into the 90s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iQl46-zIcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY

Both of these came out in the first half of '89.

Maybe it's more interesting to post songs nót released in 1989.  :P


Of course those are going to be the more obvious ones. That said, here are some 80's songs that sound 90's simply because I never heard them until the 90's:

Bobby Brown - Tender Roni
Biz Markie - Just a Friend
Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey (and I never listened to Paul's Boutique until 1995)

Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing (1988)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrOek4z32Vg

Of course those are going to be the more obvious ones. That said, here are some 80's songs that sound 90's simply because I never heard them until the 90's:

<Snip>
Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey (and I never listened to Paul's Boutique until 1995)

There are many 80's songs that I never heard until the 90's either; this one included. I initially thought it might've been from 1990/91 or so, mainly because one station I listened to in the mid-1990's mostly played "current" pop music, with only a small handful of 80's pop (as well as songs from the disco era).

What about "Let The Music Play" by Shannon. I think the vocals sound pretty typical of 90s House music. Though then again, Hi-NRG is the direct predecessor to Eurodance.


I would think a little bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iQl46-zIcM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY

Both of these came out in the first half of '89.


sounds like the 90's.