Category Archives: 1990s songs

The best 500 songs from the 1990s. Lyrics, meanings and interpretations from your favorite musicians. Radiohead, REM, Weezer, No Doubt, Alanis, Jewel, and Guns and Roses. See which of your favorite 90s bands and artists rank highest on the greatest songs of all-time lists.

1990s songs, heroes

#38 My Hero (acoustic)- Foo Fighters

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There goes my hero…he’s ordinary.

The Foo Fighter’s “My Hero” is a tribute to the everyday heroes. Specifically, the ones who aren’t famous rock stars or athletes…they’re “ordinary”. Obviously anyone who is a hero isn’t ordinary. People who are mother’s and fathers, or doctors or teachers…just ordinary good people. We hear songs all the time about the extra-ordinary people. This is a song for the everyday heroes.

This song reminds me of a couple things. Charles Barkley got a lot of shit from the media when he said, “I am not a role model”. He was trying to express something similar to what Grohl is saying. Whenever this song plays it always reminds me of my dad.

My Hero meaning
Foo Fighters

For the definitive version of the song, listen to Grohl play live from the Howard Stern Show in 1999 (above). Interestingly, I think this is the second song on this list where I have said the definitive version is from the Stern Show. I can’t think of another show that had a signature performance performed on it. (Sia’s performance of Diamonds was the other, and Imagine Dragon’s Shots would be close too, but they have duplicated that performance elsewhere).

My Hero Lyrics

Too alarmin’ now to talk about
Take your pictures down and shake it out
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Don’t the best of them bleed it out
While the rest of them peter out?
Truth or consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Kudos, my hero, leavin’ all the mess
You know my hero, the one that’s on
There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary
There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary.

written by Dave Grohl

1990s songs, love songs

#34 Thank You- Tori Amos/ Led Zeppelin

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If the sun refused to shine/
I would still be loving you.

Tori Amos-Thank You

Both the Tori Amos version and the original Led Zeppelin version of “Thank You” are fantastic–but the Amos version is superior. She is the best artist ever at covering other people’s work. Her version sounds delicate and she sounds gracious and her “Thank You” comes across as more earnest than Zeppelin’s. While her piano arrangement sounds simple, I assure you it is not. Playing that at the same time as singing is very difficult and few could pull it off.

Thank You Song Meaning tori amos
Tori Amos

The lyrics of “Thank You” tell that the narrator has found an easier and better life with his new significant other. This is not a song about the honeymoon period—it is a song about genuine love. The narrator speaks of past tears that seem almost insignificant now, as he has found his forever love. With her, he is looking forward to walking the miles—that is living life with her.

Led Zeppelin-Thank You

The theme sounds similar to another song on this list, The Luckiest by Ben Folds. The narrator expresses that he expects the love to last forever–until the sun runs out—and he is grateful for it.  What makes it special here is the beautiful melody accompanied with the original piano arrangement and Amos’ vocals.

Thank You Meaning led zeppelin
Led Zeppelin

Thank You Lyrics

If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea,
There will still be you and me.

Kind woman, I give you my all;
Kind woman, nothing more.

Little drops of rain whisper of the pain,
Tears of loves lost in the days gone by.
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong,
Together we shall go until we die.
My, my, my inspiration is what you are to me,
Inspiration look, see.

And so today, my world it smiles,
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles.
Thanks to you it will be done,
For you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad,
Happiness, I’m glad.

If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you.
Mountains crumble to the sea,
There will still be you and me.

written by Page/Plant
1990s songs, relationship problems

#21 One- U2

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Love is a temple, love is a higher law/
You ask me of me to enter, but then you make me crawl.

U2’s “One” is about a man questioning how great his relationship really is. He is coming to the conclusion that it might be over. The relationship is still passionate—that’s not the problem. They speak of each other as if they were “one”. But they don’t treat each other that way.

They argue late into the night, the relationship is loveless—at times she almost holds her love over him. At the end of the song Bono comes to the realization that we have one life and we should treat each other well and seek out happiness. We’re one but we’re not the same.

U2 One Meaning
U2

“One” is a bit more edgy than a lot of U2’s successful stuff off of their previous album, Joshua Tree. It is more nuanced both musically and lyrically. It helped cement them as perhaps the largest band in the world at the time. Bono’s vocal is superb.

He is restrained and avoids the vocal runs that he sometimes succumbs to. The guitar work sounds great. It is not spectacular, but the sound is perfect and creates a melancholy sound that is unique and fit the lyrics perfectly.

One U2- Lyrics

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame

You say one love, one life (One life)
It’s one need in the night
One love (one love), get to share it
Leaves you darling, if you don’t care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well it’s too late, tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We’re one, but we’re not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other

One, one
One, one
One, one
One, one

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head
Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot?
You gave me nothing, now it’s all I got
We’re one, but we’re not the same
See we hurt each other, then we do it again
You say love is a temple, love is a higher law
Love is a temple, love is a higher law
You ask me of me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can’t keep holding on to what you got, ’cause all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters and my brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other

One, one
One, one
One
One love, one life
written by U2