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reliving the 90s

Max Martin – The greatest pop music producer ever(?)

By Mithun Divakaran
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Oct 18, 2012
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Music/Videos

I’ve been meaning to work on this project for quite some time now. Even back in 2008, when I was working at AOL, I felt like pushing this feature out for the portal I worked at – but I felt other than me, nobody else would care. Last week I said: “Screw it, I’m doing it… even if it gets taken down on copyright violation claims!”

As a kid growing up in the ’90s in Bahrain, I was quite literally raised on radio. I couldn’t think of a day I didn’t switch on to listen to Radio Bahrain, which played a lot of UK chart music back then. I also began reading pop magazines like Smash Hits and buying cassettes of albums I liked.

By the mid-to-late 90s, Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync were very much a part of the pop music business. Whenever I went through the inlay cards of the albums I bought, I kept seeing some common names when reading the song credits, and Max Martin was one of them. The others were (his mentor) Dennis Pop, Kristian Lundin, Rami Yacoub, Andreas Carlsson and Per Magnusson – to name a few. Mind you, there are other co-writers and co-producers who deserve a mention, but I can’t list them all!

I won’t get into his whole bio – you have Wikipedia for that – but consider this: chances are you haven’t heard of Max Martin, but you have heard his music!

So here’s my video tribute to Swedish producer and songwriter Martin Samberg – or Max Martin as he likes to call himself. Why? Here’s why:

Now, I know some of you maybe thinking “Man, you got the chronology all wrong”. But I didn’t. I just went with the years I first heard the songs. In particular Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync – both of whom debuted in Europe and Asia long before they struck gold (and multi-platinum) back in their home country. For example, ‘Backstreet’s Back‘ (the 2nd album) was never released in America because by the time “Quit Playing With My Heart” (the last single from the first album) gained airplay in the US, Backstreet Boys were already superstars in Europe and Asia. So when it came time to release a first album in America, they merged both their debut album and the second album into one.

‘N Sync debuted in Europe with “Here We Go” all the way back in 1996, but it wasn’t until 1998 “I Want You Back” got a music video makeover and was released as the first single for ‘N Sync’s American debut.

Also, in case people were wondering where I stood: ‘N Sync > Backstreet Boys.

Sorry, I still like them, believe in ‘KTBSPA‘and look forward to their new album next year (in which I hope to see a Max Martin contribution)… but somehow ‘N Sync had the ‘it’ factor. Kind of like with One Direction over The Wanted now.

Oh yeah, about the quality of the video. Sorry, I know it’s 2012 and 480p is so 2006, but I had to download all the videos off of YouTube, convert them from .flv to .m4v just so iMovie ’09 would open them. And some of these videos are pretty old (heck, most weren’t even in widescreen format). I’m no pro editor, I created the whole thing in a few days using a hand-me-down Macbook Pro I just got recently. So pardon the amateur cuts. I tried my best.

I know there were other hits I missed but I could only cram as much in under 15 minutes. I left out Celine Dion’s ‘One Heart,’ will.i.am’s “This Is Love” and Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want From Me” just to make space for the others. Again, if you want Max Martin’s entire discography, check Wiki or Maratone.se (Max Martin’s own studio).

If you guys have any other feedback, or would just love to chat about the good ‘ole late ’90s, gladly leave a comment below! 🙂

P.S: Here’s that last image I used, in case you didn’t get to read it all:

Swedish pop music producers — I only listed a few songs done by these guys. There’s LOTS more!

P.P.S: Ha ha, a viewer of my video just shared this video of Max Martin’s old band ‘It’s Alive’:

Re-living the 90s: My favourite songs from 1991

This is the second of 10 posts. One post for every year of the decade that was the 1990s. For an introduction into this series and why I felt like doing these blog posts, read this first.

As 1991 came along, my interest in music grew. So did my favourable appreciation of rap music. As you’ll read below in my conclusion, the following songs were favourites of mine at the time — not necessarily the best in popular music 1991 had to offer.

Rap pop 1991 biggest hit artists — L-R Clockwise: Naughty by Nature, Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff, Marky Mark, Heavy D & Wet Wet Wet

EMF – “Unbelievable”

This was one of the most memorable hits from the 1990s. A number 1 song in the US and top 3 hit in their home country UK, EMF are largely known as a ‘one-hit wonder’. Still, given how often this song is still played and used on soundtracks, the band members are probably still living off of royalties from this song.

Naughty by Nature – “O.P.P.”

Sampling the hook from the Jackson 5’s “ABC,” this song was first big hit for Naughty by Nature. Of course, back then as a 9-year old, I assumed “O.P.P” was an abbreviation for “Other People’s Party”… until Wikipedia told me otherwise. With this song, Naughty by Nature was officially on my ever-expanding rap radar.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “Summertime”

Fresh Prince a.k.a Will Smith was one of my favourite people in entertainment during the 1990s. Not just for his music with his friend DJ Jazzy Jeff, but he was also popular at the time for his sitcom “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air“. I even memorized the lyrics to the opening intro song. “Summertime” is still a fresh ‘Good Morning’ song!

Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch – “Good vibrations”

Before Mark Wahlberg became the badass actor he is now, Mark Wahlberg was a Calvin Klein underwear model, and before that, Mark Wahlberg was rapper Marky Mark. Funny, I know. Back then, he was famous for being the brother of Donnie Wahlberg (of NKOTB) and was one of the few white rappers on the pop scene.

Heavy D & The Boyz – “Now That We Found Love”

I used to love the chorus for this song! Heavy D was one of the biggest rappers back then — both literally and otherwise.

Wet Wet Wet – “Goodnight Girl”

Though rap ruled my world back then, I wasn’t incapable of appreciating melodious songs from Scottish bands like Wet Wet Wet. “Goodnight Girl” was a UK number one hit back in 1991 and one of the many good songs from the group that were hugely popular in Europe, but never made it in the US.

———–

It’s funny, when I look up some of the biggest hits that came out in 1991, I found so many songs that ended up becoming favourites as I matured into the 1990s. Songs like:

Bryan Adams – “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”

Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Extreme – “Hole Hearted”

Genesis – “No Son Of Mine”

Chris Isaak – “Wicked Game”

Metallica – “Enter Sandman”

Roxette – “Fading Like A Flower”

The Scorpions – “Wind Of Change”

Queensryche – “Silent Lucidity”

So yeah, mostly rock. I guess I was still into easy pop and rap at the time. Many of these songs still rank as some of my favourite songs ever, but looking at the above list of songs, 1991 surely was one heck of a year for music!

Re-living the 90s: My favourite songs from 1990

Dick Clark once said: “Music is the soundtrack to your life”

That statement, for sure, holds true for my life.

I was born in 1982, but growing up in Bahrain in the 1980s, me and my older brother were more interested in cartoons about transforming robots, transforming automobiles and transforming jets. Not Michael Jackson or 80’s hair metal. It wasn’t until I grew into the next decade that my interest in music slowly started to grow.

I remember my brother getting a tiny Black & Decker radio which my dad won at some company party, and that pretty much became our introduction to the music broadcast over Bahrain’s airwaves (mostly Radio Bahrain 96.5fm). Since the radio, we moved up to a Sony hi-fi system, got cable, and then as the internet became a part of my adult life, I ended up listening to so much music that I link moments of my life to the songs from that period.

For the past few months on my Facebook profile, I’ve been sharing songs I grew up listening to under the ‘Re-living the 90s’ headline. It was pretty well received by my friends who, like me, reminisced about the music and went: “Man, I haven’t heard this ages!”.

So, this is the first of 10 posts. One post for every year of the decade that was the 1990s.

Now, these songs weren’t necessarily the top songs of the 90s, best, or even the greatest songs of the 90s — but yeah, they surely were big hits from the 1990s. I’m including them in my selection because I remember them as “favourites”.

So here we go:

NKOTB Vanilla Ice Cathy Dennis MC Hammer Maxi Priest 1990s chart music — All of these guys (yes, even those pants) were cool... back in 1990

New Kids on the Block – “Step by Step”

In 1990, I was 8 years old. NKOTB was my favourite group at the time. Why? I don’t know, maybe it was because their songs were simple, catchy pop songs — or I thought their dancing was “SO AWESOME” at the time. They even had their own cartoon I used to watch. Whatever it was, I had their cassette tapes… and I loved songs like “Right Stuff” and “Hangin’ Tough” as a kid.

The last NKOTB song I heard was “Dirty Dawg (1993-94),” their attempt to break away from the cheesy pop that made them famous. It wasn’t a huge hit and NKOTB eventually broke up after that. Jordan Kinght and Joey McIntyre came back to the music scene in the late 90s and in 2008, NKOTB re-emerged with a new album and tour. But as I grew up in the 1990s with the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, I now realize how much more vocally talented those two boy bands were compared to NKOTB.

DNA feat. Suzanne Vega – “Tom’s Diner”

Do you know that song that goes: “D0-do-doodeh, do-dodeh-do, do-de-do-do, do-dedo-do…” Yeah, that’s how I used to remember this song 🙂

Maxi Priest – “Close To You”

Maxi Priest‘s biggest hit. He also did a decent reggae cover of “Wild World“.

Vanilla Ice – “Ice Ice Baby”

The 1990s saw rap hit the mainstream. Unfortunately, it was through rap hits like this:

I was among the millions back then who loved this song! I have a fond memory of when we first got our Sony hi-fi stereo (with karaoke mic!) and my older brother rapped the lines while I was snuggled in excitement on our living room sofa. Oh the things that excited me back then.

Now I’m among the millions who laugh at the guy whose real name is Robert Van Winkle 🙂

MC Hammer – “U Can’t Touch This”

Besides Vanilla Ice, the other laughing stock of early 90s pop rap was MC Hammer. Once again, everybody loved him when he was a chart-topping success. He too had a cartoon, Hammer Man. He lived the high life, bought a multi-million dollar home, a Ferrari — and then his career fizzled out after his second album, ‘Too Legit to Quit’. Then he went bankrupt. He’s still around though.

Cathy Dennis – “Too Many Walls”

Her biggest hit — and probably the only song of hers I remember. She didn’t last too long in the public eye as a pop star. Most of you may have never heard of Cathy Dennis, but if you heard songs by S Club 7, or number 1 hits like Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” “Toxic” by Britney Spears, or Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” that’s all Cathy Dennis. She wrote those hits.

So that’s all for the inaugural post in this series. I know it’s not a lot of songs, but I was only going on 8 then.

Cartoons were still a bigger priority for me.