We can't look at these tracks the same way anymore. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re breaking down songs released between 1990 to 1999 that have taken on a darker meaning in the years following their initial release. Out of respect for those involved, all entries to follow are unranked, and listed in chronological order.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're breaking down songs released between 1990 to 1999 that
00:13have taken on a darker meaning in the years following their initial release.
00:18Out of respect for those involved, all entries to follow are unranked and listed in chronological
00:24order.
00:31Come As You Are – Nirvana Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was widely noted
00:44for his dark, often cryptic songwriting style.
00:48This combined with his keen instinct for Beatle-esque pop hooks captivated the public's imagination,
00:54along with the tight musicianship of bassist Chris Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl.
00:59Come As You Are is a shining example of this, combining all of the above traits and executing
01:05them masterfully.
01:06Cobain's 1994 passing devastated not only the band's fans, but music fans en masse,
01:13who looked to the Washington native's lyrics for answers.
01:17Once again, Come As You Are stood out within Nirvana's discography, largely for its tragically
01:23prescient hook, in which Cobain declared that he didn't have a gun.
01:33Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number – Aaliyah We have just two words that will answer any
01:44questions you might have.
01:46R. Kelly 15 year old R&B slash pop prodigy Aaliyah
01:51was taken on by the Pied Piper himself in a mentor-mentee relationship that very quickly
01:57deteriorated into something much more sinister.
02:06The two secretly wed while working on Aaliyah's debut album, which shares its title with this
02:11song in 1994.
02:13The marriage was annulled the following year by her parents due to her age at the time.
02:18Knowing that leads modern day listeners to hear Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number in
02:23a different, wildly off-putting light.
02:31Bump N' Grind – R. Kelly Remember Kelly from the last entry?
02:42As you might have guessed, he managed to get himself into even more trouble than when he
02:47convinced an underage girl to marry him.
02:57While 1994's Bump N' Grind might have worked as a playful, if deeply corny plea to shed
03:03a potential lover's inhibitions, Kelly's misconduct in the following decades makes
03:08the song read as a serial abuser's manifesto.
03:11Accused of nearly 30 years worth of disturbing misconduct, the R&B giant was indicted and
03:17arrested on federal racketeering and human trafficking charges in 2019, making Bump N'
03:23Grind an endurance test for listeners.
03:37Nutshell – Alice In Chains Much like Kurt Cobain, his contemporary Alice
03:52In Chains frontman Layne Staley struggled with substance use disorder and ongoing mental
03:57health issues.
03:58This was reflected in his songwriting, which often resulted in raw, vulnerable lyrics like
04:04those found in Nutshell, a deep cut from the band's 1994 EP, Jar Of Flies.
04:10The singer later passed away from an overdose in 2002, making Nutshell's already intensely
04:16personal lyrics hit even harder.
04:23Tragically, Staley wouldn't be the last founding Alice In Chains member to lose his life in
04:32such a way.
04:34Nutshell bassist Mike Starr died in 2011, also of an overdose.
04:39Jerry Cantrell, the band's guitarist and alternate lead singer, now dedicates performances
04:44of Nutshell to his fallen bandmates.
04:52Suicidal Thoughts – The Notorious B.I.G.
05:02Even during his lifetime, Biggie Smalls made death an integral theme of his music.
05:07This is evident from the titles of his two albums, 1994's Ready To Die and 1997's
05:14Life After Death.
05:15For a clear example of this, look to this pitch-dark track from the former album.
05:25Biggie describes his own hellish version of It's A Wonderful Life, in which the rapper
05:30fantasizes about and considers his own death.
05:34The hip-hop icon was gunned down just over two weeks before the release of his second
05:39record, making Ready To Die B.I.G.'s only album to be released during his lifetime.
05:52So Many Tears – Tupac Much like his contemporary arch-rival, Biggie
06:05Smalls, Tupac Shakur seemed to be preoccupied with death and dying.
06:11This was most commonly in the context of the Los Angeles gang violence he so often lamented,
06:17but he often contemplated his own passing.
06:20So Many Tears stands out in the rapper's catalogue in its crystallization of themes
06:25the influential performer often covered.
06:29Notably, the song features Pac bluntly addressing his personal desire to end his life.
06:38As noted by Rolling Stone's Chio H. Coker, So Many Tears deals with the senseless violence
06:44that marked his childhood, but with the internal demons that threatened to consume him, snapping
06:49at his conscience like hellhounds on a blues man's trail.
06:59Pretty Noose – Soundgarden In what emerged as a heartbreakingly common
07:11pattern for grunge frontmen, Soundgarden and Audioslave lead singer Chris Cornell's death
07:17was untimely.
07:19The Black Hole Sun vocalist took his own life after a 2017 concert in Detroit.
07:24While Audioslaves later, like a stone, might hit harder for Cornell's fans who are still
07:30mourning, Pretty Noose catches its eye due to its unfortunate association with the method
07:35by which Cornell ended it all.
07:40However, beside that, the song otherwise bears no indication of ideation.
07:51Cornell once described Pretty Noose as being about an attractively packaged bad idea, something
07:56that seems great at first, and then comes back to bite you.
08:06Morphine – Michael Jackson While King of Pop Michael Jackson had experimented
08:18with heavier styles of music before, Morphine stands out as a groovy, distorted, almost
08:24industrial jam that almost recalls Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails.
08:29In line with Jackson's songwriting during the 90s, Morphine is a scathing indictment
08:34of media scrutiny regarding his well-documented personal life, acting as an impassioned plea
08:39for privacy on the singer's part.
08:49While already a difficult listen at the time of its release, it took an even darker layer
08:53following Jackson's 2009 death, the result of acute propofol intoxication.
09:00This was later ruled as involuntary manslaughter on the part of Conrad Murray, his personal
09:05physician.
09:30Satisfy You – Diddy Featuring R. Kelly
09:38Somehow two of the biggest figures in 90s hip-hop and R&B turned out to be two of the
09:43most sinister villains of the decade since.
09:47And in an entirely predictable yet super-creepy turn of events, their collaboration, Satisfy
09:52You, has aged, well, about as well as you might expect, which is to say, like milk.
10:06Over a barely-tweaked instrumental sample of I Got 5 On It by Loonies, Kelly and Sean
10:12Diddy Combs desperately plead with a romantic interest to break up with their significant
10:16other.
10:17Knowing the extent of the musician's misconduct will have you shuddering after the fact.
10:21Particularly Combs' assertion that, I'm the feeling that you can't leave.
10:34Which 90s song is hard for you to hear nowadays?
10:37Be sure to let us know in the comments.