August 31, 2026 • 55 mins
Bobby kicks off a new year-by-year series counting down the top 10 moments that defined country music in the ’90s, starting with 1990. In this episode, he looks back at Garth, Reba, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, The Highwaymen, The Chicks, Tim McGraw, Lorrie Morgan, Travis Tritt, and more — while also sharing conversations with some of the artists decades later about the songs, albums, and decisions that shaped the year. Plus, Bobby mixes in the movies, TV shows, and pop culture that made 1990 feel like the start of something huge.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey everybody, it's Bobby here, and welcome to a 10-part
series about country music in the 90s. Which, let's be honest,
it's the best decade country music has ever had. It's
the best decade that's ever existed on Earth, I think.
In each episode, we'll focus on one year from the 90s.
Episode 1 will be 1990. We'll go all the way
through 1999. And in every episode, I'll count down 10
standout moments from that year.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It could be chart toppers. It could be album releases.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It could be career-defining songs or even unforgettable events that
shaped the decade. If it mattered in 90s country, we'll
be talking about it. We'll also have guests to talk
about how the 90s affected them or how they affected
the 90s. We'll also sprinkle in a little pop culture.
that really was just country music adjacent. So let's jump
(00:59):
in with 1990.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Okay, here we go. Number 10.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Let's start with Reba because in 1990, she didn't just
dominate country music or country radio. She made her acting
debut too. January 19th, 1990, Reba showed up in a
movie called Tremors. And if you haven't seen it, it
still kind of holds up. It's one of those cult
classic horror movies that, But it's also kind of funny.
(01:26):
There are these underground creatures. I remember watching it, but
I was so young. I think they're called Graboids.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
They're very 90s.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And they attack a small desert town. Kevin Bacon's in it,
the guy from Footloose. And Reba plays a survivalist named
Heather Gummer. And she was part of this doomsday prepper
couple that was helping to save the town. You may
have seen the memes where Reba's in like all this
khaki colored, like bodysuit with a gun it was her
(01:56):
first big acting gig but she'd kind of been acting
a little bit already in music videos especially whoever's in
new england which was a basically a mini movie but
still tremors was her official jump into hollywood she crushed
it critics fans everybody loved her in it she was
funny she was tough she was believable which isn't always
easy to pull off when you're stepping from music into
(02:18):
the movies now fun fact reba wasn't even supposed to
be in the movie The role was originally written for
someone older, but the director, Ron Underwood, saw her perform
at the Grammys and thought, that's Heather Gummer. He offered
her the role on the spot, if you believe lore
and legend. To prep, she went through legit firearms training,
(02:39):
like actual tactical stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So she looked the part.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Here's a clip from Reba from the Tremors YouTube account,
where she talks all about the first scene they shot
on set.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
The very first day I was here, we did the
master shot of a scene in town when we first
found the monster. I was down there and I was
looking at the monster and I had two lines.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
I was like, phew, stinks too.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Phew, stinks too.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But at the end of.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
My scene, he said, that's a take.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I went, yeah, yeah, I did it, I did it,
I did it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And I was just screaming my head off and I
was like, that was my first take.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I'm in the movies now.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And everybody was just kind of looking at me like,
she's lost her mind. But they were kind of tickled
for me because they knew I was excited.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Tremors ended up with an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes,
which is actually the highest rated Reba film ever, and
it's still a fan favorite. Originally, the movie was going
to be called Landsharks, but Landshark was actually a very
popular character on SNL, and that character was a parody
to Jaws, and they didn't want any confusion. The Graboids,
which were the monsters under the ground, were made by
(03:37):
a special effects company called ADI, and they went through
a bunch of designs before landing on that creepy version
that if you look it up, if you Google and
then click images, you'll.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
See it there.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Tremors opened the door for Reba to go full Hollywood.
From that point on, she wasn't just a country star.
She became a full-blown actress doing more films, more TV shows.
I had Reba at my house for a Bobby cast
in 2022, and we talked about her TV show and
asked her how the show got picked up and if
it was always just named Reba.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
When we filmed the show for the pilot, The script
was called Sally. And Narva went to them and said,
you know, if you did the afternoon filming as Sally
and then in front of the audience, tape it and
Reba be Reba instead of Sally. Then let's see how
that tests out.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
And they said, okay.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
The title went from Sally. By the time I got
to Upfronts, it was Deep in the Heart because we
were all from Houston, Texas, and we were the Hart family.
So then there came out this thing on USA Today
that their publicist had said, why? WB had ever hired
Reba McEntire for this part is ridiculous. She's not of our,
(04:46):
she's not our demographics. The head of the company called
by the time we got back to the hotel after
Upfronts and said, terribly sorry, terribly sorry. What can we
do to make up for this? Well, I'd already gone
back to bed. I had a performance that night. So
Narvel was talking to her and he heard me get
up and go to the bathroom and out of the
other room. And he said, hang on, let me put
Reba on the line. He banged on the bathroom door
(05:08):
and said, pick up the phone.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And so I said, hello.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
We're terribly sorry what happened and what was in the
USA Today. What can we do to make this up
to you? And I was half asleep, and I said, well,
she said, well, Narvel said if we call it Reba,
you'll be happy with that. And I said, that's a
wonderful idea. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Hung up, went back to bed.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So that's how I got the name Reba.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Pretty crazy the show was almost named Sally. And whoever
wrote that bad stuff about Reba and her pilot, they
should still be held accountable.
Speaker 7 (05:35):
But without her getting her first break.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
On Tremors back in 1990, there may have never been
a Reba.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
The TV show, of course, not Reba McEntire. Number nine.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Let's talk about Clint Black. Now, today, as I record this,
I love Clint. I know him.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I consider him a buddy. So love him now. When
I was like 10, I idolized him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He had so many great songs.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And we're going to do Clint Black because 1990 was
a monster year for him. Now, Clint had already kind
of burst onto the scene with his album Killing Time
in 1989.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And it wasn't just a good debut album. It was
a game changer. Hit after hit after hit right out
of the gate. He was everywhere. His voice was awesome.
His lyrics were good.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And it was a traditional country sound that still felt
like it was moving forward and fresh. Nobody pointed at
him and went, that ain't country. He had the cowboy hat.
Obviously where he came from, his music was country. But sonically,
there was a lot of new happening. Now to really
appreciate why 1990 was such a big deal, let's back
(06:38):
up for a second. And talk about Clint. That's where
he comes from. Now, he was born in New Jersey,
but he grew up in Texas. So he was a
Texas guy. It's where he really soaked up country music.
And when Killing Time dropped, it was like that dude
from Texas just put out something kind of revolutionary.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It exploded. Every single that they put onto the radio hit.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I had Clint Black in studio in 2020 and asked
him about a story I heard where he took a
chance and pushed for Better Man to be a single.
when some radio executives suggested they try another song called
straight from the factory.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
Straight from the factory was going to be the first single.
And I thought, ah, I'm really worried about a Western
swing song playing all over the country. And, uh, and
I had a cassette tape in my pocket and, you know,
Bob said, well, played them straight from the factory. He said, well,
I could, you get that into the top 20, I
can add it. And I knew what that meant. You know,
(07:33):
it's the catch 22, uh, of, uh, promotion. So, uh,
I took a chance.
Speaker 9 (07:40):
I was new.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
I didn't know if it would be frowned upon, but
I said, I've got this tape in my pocket. Can
I play you this one? And I gave him the tape.
It was Better Man. And at the end of the
first chorus, he hit stop and said, I'll add that
out of the box. And we got out of there
and called the head of the label and said, you know,
guess what just happened? We have to change the single choice.
(08:03):
And they did. And that one went to number one.
And really kind of got me on this show.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
By the time the CMA awards rolled around in 1990,
he was named male vocalist of the year.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And it wasn't one of those. Oh, cool.
Speaker 9 (08:19):
Surprise.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Clint.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
It was like, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, he
had the songs. He could sing them. He had already
developed a massive fan base.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
He was doing it all. And he wasn't just a
studio guy either. He was out on the road constantly
selling out shows, connecting with fans, If you ever saw
Clint live back then, you know he was electric. If
you see him live now, you're like, dang, he still
got it. But back then, whoo. And I'm not saying
(08:50):
flashy electric either, like explosions, but just real.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So Clint Black was.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Live, part of why people latched onto him then and
still feel like they're so close to him. On top
of that, CMA Award, he also cleaned up at the ACM's.
Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year. Everybody, including the industry,
was all in on Clint Black. He even got some
Grammy nominations, which at the time was a really big deal.
It was one of those, okay, this guy isn't just
(09:19):
big in country. He's kind of crossing over into the
wider music world. When he got all the Grammy nominations,
because now there are a certain amount of country nominations
that are going to happen regardless.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That didn't always happen then.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
But he was helping shape what 90s country was going
to sound like. Except he wasn't trying to do that.
Clint Black was just being himself. He just wrote and
he just sang great songs and it worked. A lot
of future artists, especially in the 90s, that boomed, they
look at Clint as someone who proved you can still
go traditional, be a bit progressive, and still have massive success.
(09:57):
So 1990 really set the tone for a couple things. One,
Clint Black's entire career.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But two, 90s country in general.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, Clint would keep making hits for decades, but this
was the stretch where he became a star. And it
all started with that run from Killin' Times leading to
1990 when he won the Male.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Vocalist of the Year award. Clint freaking Black. We interrupt
this countdown to bring you the top five movies and
TV shows from 1990. At number five, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah,
this cracked the top five.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And I can tell you, as a kid who loved
the cartoon, I loved this movie. It was like a gritty,
and I won't say special effects. It was a practical
effects movie. You ever go to Chuck E. Cheese and
see the animatronics and they're just basically on a hinge
doing very simple robotic moves? It was slightly better than that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
But not much. But it was those four. Fight and crime.
And you know what?
Speaker 9 (11:04):
We love that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
At number four, Pretty Woman. Julia Roberts becomes America's sweetheart.
She was a prostitute. And also, big mistake.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
Big.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Huge mistake. People still quote that.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Number three, Dances with Wolves. Man, looking back, Kevin Costner
just loves to make really long things. Kevin Costner went
full epic with a three-hour western called Dances with Wolves.
It won Best Picture at the Oscars and made people
believe you could still make a thoughtful, slow western and
you could still get your money's worth. Basically, it was
Yellowstone's great-great-grandfather. At number two, Ghost. Part love story, part
(11:44):
ghost story, part pottery tutorial. Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore
and Whoopi Goldberg. One of the most genre-bending, box office-crushing
hits of the decade. That's a quote from Rotten Tomatoes.
Ghost made over $ 217 million. And it also made the
song Unchained Melody from the Righteous Brothers cool.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And number one, 1990, Home Alone.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A Christmas movie about a forgotten child turned DIY Ninja.
It made over $ 285 million. And if we're going to
quote Pretty Woman, we have to do, That's the cologne scene.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Or, Kevin! That's when she realized she forgot Kevin.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Macaulay Culkin became a superstar, and every kid then thought
they could survive by swinging booby-trapped vases from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Home Alone, your number one movie of 1990.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
If we look at the top five television shows, at
number five, The Cosby Show.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Why'd you have to ruin something good? Why'd you have
to be a terrible person, Bill Cosby?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Like, this was the beginning of the ratings decline for
the Cosby show because that show had been all through
the 80s such a monster.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But that was such a good show back in the day.
But now, it's on nowhere, and you know what? Rightfully so.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
At number four, A Different World, which was a Cosby
spinoff that found its own voice.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It gave mainstream audiences a glimpse into HBCU life. It
was cool. I was like Dwayne Wayne in his glasses.
Not Dwayne Wade, who played for the Heat. Number three, Roseanne.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I just think of the harmonica. It's a blue collar show.
My mom loved Roseanne. I think we watched every single episode.
Roseanne Barr and John Goodman felt like your actual neighbors
or like in my family, like your actual family. America
loved him for that. Made her a superstar. Made him
a superstar. At number two, 60 Minutes. People still love
(13:38):
the ticking clocks. No matter what changed in pop culture,
60 Minutes stayed in the top five. It was the
number two show of 1990.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And at number one.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Sometimes I want to go where everybody knows my name.
I think I messed that up, but still crushing it
in season nine. Norm, Cliff, Sam, they own Thursday nights.
And the bar where everybody knew your name was America's
Favorite Hangout. Your number one show of 1990 was Cheers
(14:08):
on NBC. Thankfully, as we go through this episode of
the podcast, my friend Brandon Ray is here with me
to help sing... through some of these songs so we
can remember just how excellent they were.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Brandon, we appreciate you, buddy.
Speaker 9 (14:20):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 7 (14:22):
Feels like it's NPR. Thank you, buddy.
Speaker 9 (14:24):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Number eight. Okay, let's talk about a group that would
eventually blow the doors off of country music.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
The Dixie Chicks.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
These days, they go by The Chicks, but back in 1990,
they were just getting started. They formed in Dallas, Texas, 1989.
The original lineup looked a little different than what most
people remember. Laura Lynch was on bass and lead vocals,
and sisters, Marty and Emily, played fiddle, mandolin, banjo, dobro,
you name it. It was all about bluegrass meets traditional country.
(14:54):
The name Dixie Chicks actually came from the song Dixie
Chicken by Little Feet, which kind of tells you where
their musical heads were early on. In 1990, they put
out their very first album independently. It was called Thank
Heavens for Dale Evans, and they were basically hustling, playing
small shows, busking, where you get on the streets, hitting
every venue around Texas, trying to build a following. They
(15:17):
released two more independent records over the next few years. Little,
little cowgirl, and shouldn't have told you that. But they
hadn't broken through yet. Then in 1995, everything changed. Laura
Lynch left the group. They brought in Natalie Maines as
the new lead singer. That decision, total game changer. But
they started back in 1990, which is why we get
(15:37):
to include this.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
In the 1990 version of it.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Natalie brought a huge voice and bold personality that immediately
shifted the group's energy and sound. She wasn't trying to
be the backup at all. That same year, the chicks
signed with Monument Records. A few years later, 1998, they
released Wide Open Spaces. That album was, there's your trouble,
Wide Open Spaces, you were mine, massive hits. The album
(16:02):
sold over 12 million copies and it won them their
first Grammys. Suddenly, they weren't just a trio from Texas,
they were a full-blown movement in country music. Their next album, Fly,
came out in 1999, and they kept the momentum going.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Ready to run.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Ready, ready, ready, ready. Ready to run.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Cowboy, take me awake.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Cowboy, take me awake.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Goodbye, Earl. Cause Earl had to die.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Earl?
Speaker 9 (16:33):
You feeling weak?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
They also weren't afraid to mix in humor, heartbreak, revenge, because.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Earl had to die.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
That's when people started realizing, yeah, they could play, they
could write. They also didn't play by whatever the rules were. 2002,
they put out Home, which leaned back into their acoustic
and bluegrass roots. Long Time Gone, Traveling Soldier, great songs.
And it showed they weren't chasing trends. They were, as
they always had been, setting their own trends. Now, we
(17:04):
know about 2003. At a show in London, Natalie made
a comment about President George W. Bush and the Iraq War.
She said, quote, we're ashamed of presidents from Texas. And
just like that, a firestorm hit. Backlash, boycotts, country radio blacklists.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It was intense.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
They went from being America's sweethearts to being basically blackballed
from their own genre. But they didn't back down. In 2006,
they came back swinging with Taking the Long Way.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It was personal. It was raw.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And it tackled everything they'd been through. The lead single,
Not Ready to Make Nice, was an anthem. It won
Album of the Year at the Grammys. Through it all,
the chicks, as they go by now, have stayed true
to who they are. They've sold over 30 million albums.
They've won 13 Grammys, and they've inspired a ton of
other artists, especially women, to speak their truth and take
(17:53):
creative risks. They've evolved, adapted, never lost their edge, whether
you agree with them or not. Whether it was the
tight harmonies, the bold lyrics, or standing firm in controversy,
they They've always been about substance. Their first album in
1990 may not have made waves at the time, but
it definitely lit the fuse. And what followed changed and
(18:16):
challenged country music forever. Let's take a pause in the
countdown for a minute and talk about the big fashion
trend of 1990. That's right, I'm talking about denim.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Denim was... Everywhere back then. Denim jackets, denim skirts, overalls, jeans, shirts,
and yes, full-on Canadian tuxedos. It was denim. It was awesome.
And if it was denim, it was in style.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
It didn't matter.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
The jeans were baggy.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Now they'd probably be called kind of dad jeans. The
rise was high. That's where the mom jeans craze started.
And while the dad jeans haven't quite come back yet,
mom jeans, totally back and then gone again. And then back,
and I'm not sure where they are right now. But
trendy stores are still selling them now. So a big
shout-out to denim if you're listening. I didn't know you
(19:02):
had ears, but that's pretty cool. Maybe you're rocking the
bootcut Levi's or the denim vest. Oh, man, if you're
rocking that denim vest in 1990, big shout-out to you
and that denim vest. But you were officially part of
the era's fashion statement, one we're still seeing show up today.
Speaker 9 (19:17):
Hang tight. The Bobbycast will be right back.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Number seven.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
In 1990, for Absolute Legends, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings,
and Chris Christopherson officially hit the road together as The Highwaymen.
This was the first time they toured as a group,
and it was a big deal. Imagine that kind of
star power on stage.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Heck, even just one. one of them is massive star power.
But all four?
Speaker 7 (19:54):
Nuts.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
The first show?
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Nuts.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Over 55,000 fans packed in.
They watched it March 3rd, 1990. What's crazy is they
had already recorded an album together five years earlier, back
in 1985, but they didn't tour until this moment. 55,000 people,
March 3rd, 1990. They did some shows, and the shows
(20:21):
were something special. Each guy brought his own thing to
the table. Johnny Cash with that Willie with the laid-back groove.
Waylon's outlaw edge. and Chris Christopherson's storytelling lyrics. They played
solo sets, they did duets, they did group performances, they
did their own catalogs, and they did hits from the Highwaymen,
(20:44):
like Highwayman.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It wasn't just the music, though.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
It was the stories, it was the jokes, it was
the laughing between the songs. You could tell these guys
weren't just sharing a stage, they were sharing history. That
first tour wasn't just a concert. It was more like
a museum of country music legends... And it left a
legacy that's still inspiring artists today. Not only them individually,
(21:09):
but them as a group and other artists have, I
won't even say mimicked. I will say appreciated by doing
something similar.
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Like the Highwaymen.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Number six, number six, number six. The Class of 1990.
Lori Morgan and Travis Tritt's first number one songs. Now,
this year of 1990 was a breakout for two country stars.
Lori Morgan and Travis Tritt both scored their very first
number one hits that year. Lori with Five Minutes and
Travis Tritt with Help Me Hold On.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Let's start with Lori.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Five Minutes was an emotional ballad that really hit home
for a lot of people. It was about heartbreak, honesty, regret,
stuff people feel but don't always say out loud. It
was the fourth single off her debut album, Leave the
Light On, but It put her firmly on the map.
Pam Tillis actually recorded the song first in the 80s,
(22:04):
but it didn't make an album until years later. Now,
Lori's voice and delivery made it hers, and that's what
made her stand out. She didn't just sing songs.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
She kind of lived in them.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Five Minutes was the beginning of a long run for her,
and her fans still stick with her today because of
the emotional connection that song and her music constantly and
consistently brought. Now, if we move over to Travis Tritt,
Help Me Hold On. That was the second single off
(22:33):
his debut album, Country Club, and it shot to number one.
He co-wrote it with Pat Terry, and it's basically a
guy owning up to messing up things in.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
His relationship and just begging for one more chance. It's raw.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
People felt it. Heck, now people still feel it. Even
the music video had some fun touches.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It starts and ends with the Dick Van Dyke show
playing on a TV in the background. That blend of
classic and then Travis Tritt's fresh vibe.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
At the time.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
It was like country with a rock edge, but still
rooted in emotion. Like it all just worked. Both Lori
and Travis used those first.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Number ones as launch pads, obviously, because they became massive stars.
They didn't just have hits.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
They made music that stuck with people and is still
sticking with people. And 1990, country music was all the
better for it. Number five.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Let's talk about Tim McGraw. Let's rewind.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
October 22nd, 1990. That's the day a 23-year-old Tim McGraw
signed his first record deal with Curb Records. Yeah, it
was the beginning of something big, obviously. Now, before music
took over, Tim actually went to college. First in Louisiana,
then in Florida. But after the death of Keith Whitley
in 1989... Tim realized music was where his heart was.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
He dropped out. He moved to Nashville. He made a demo.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
He handed that demo to his dad, Tug McGraw, the
former MLB pitcher, who passed it on to an exec
at Curb Records.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
And this is how Tim got his shot. From there,
the stats speak for themselves.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Just on Curb, 11 studio albums, over 40 top 10 hits,
so many number one songs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Don't Take the Girl.
Speaker 9 (24:15):
Take any boy in the world, but please.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Don't take the girl.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Live Like You Were Dying. I went skydiving.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I went Rocky Mountain climbing.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
I went.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
You know this one.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu.
Speaker 9 (24:37):
Yeah, I love it deeper.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
I like it. I love it.
Speaker 9 (24:42):
I like it.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
I love it.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
I want some more of it. I've tried so hard.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
I can't rise above it.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Fun fact about I like it. I love it. Tim
almost never recorded it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I was talking with Tim in 2022 and I asked
him if there was a song he almost never cut.
Because he didn't think it would do well.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Only because, I mean, I love the song, but only
because I had had Indian Outlaw not too long before that.
And I thought, you know, I just don't want to
be this guy that sings all these novelty songs. And
to me, I thought it was sort of a novelty
song at the beginning. Now I really love it and
love the record we made on it. But yeah, I
almost didn't cut it because I just didn't want to
become that guy that does those kind of songs all
(25:22):
the time. So luckily, you know, we had a bunch
of other great songs around it, and that's still a
great song. So I'm glad I recorded it because it's
become one of my, on stage, one of my biggest songs.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Isn't it crazy that Tim McGraw was a 90s artist?
Because he's still so relevant today. It is crazy that
Tim McGraw, as we talk about 1990s specifically, we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Freaking Tim McGraw. His album sold millions.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Some went multi-platinum. A few even hit diamond status. Not
a Moment Too Soon, Everywhere, A Place in the Sun,
all classics. But of course, a 20-year relationship can lead
to a lot of disagreements. Between the legal battles, delayed albums,
and a messy breakup on how and when the music
would be released, Tim finally left in 2011 and signed
(26:10):
with Big Machine in 2012, but not before Curbs sued
him over the Emotional Traffic album. Still, without that first
deal in 1990, there's no telling what Tim's career would
have looked like. That was the start of one of
the most successful runs in country history. By the way,
he's still running.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
Number four.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
In 1990, George Strait, a.k.a.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The King of Country, dropped an album that reminded everyone
exactly why he wears the crown.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It was called Livin' It Up. It hit shelves May 15, 1990.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Now, at this point, George already had a ton of hits,
but this album felt like he was locking in to
next level.
Speaker 9 (26:50):
Or at least the 90s.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
It blended classic country, which we know him for, and
just enough modern polish to keep it fresh, and fans
ate it up, and it was the odd fans ate
it up and critics did too mix. The album had
10 tracks total. It debuted at number one on the
country charts. It even made waves on the Billboard 200,
which is rare for a country album, or at least
(27:13):
it was then, especially one that still leaned traditional, but
that's how strong George's appeal was.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
The singles? Massive, right? It's a love without end, amen.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I've come to expect it from you.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Number one. Number one.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And for five weeks each. And if it's a five-weeker,
if it's a four-weeker, if it's a three-weeker, that's not
just a hit, that's dominance. Drinking Champagne, which was a
cover of a Bill Mack song, also made the top five.
George co-produced the album with Jimmy Bowen, and you could
tell they were in sync. It was clean, it was polished,
(27:51):
but it.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Never felt overdone.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
There was the classics, the steel guitar, the fiddle, the piano,
real country instruments, played by some of Nashville's best session musicians,
and it.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wasn't just a hit record. It was a blueprint for
how to keep country music evolving without losing what made.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It special in the first place. George wasn't chasing trends.
He was his own trend. Living it up didn't just
give us great songs. It actually helped define what country was...
in the early 90s, that allowed it to then grow
to the mid and late 90s. And more than 30
years later, the album still holds up, just like George Strait.
(28:29):
And now, let's talk about an unforgettable moment from 1990.
1990 was the year that the Grammy stripped a Grammy
from an artist who had won the Grammy. I said
Grammy way too many times there. But Milli Vanilli, they
were massive.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
They had,' Blame it on the rain.' yeah yeah they
also had girl you know it's true i love you
millie vanillie they were killing it november 1990 during a
live mtv performance the backing track skipped and suddenly the
(29:07):
secret was out they were not singing if i remember
correctly And it sounds like a record player. I'm sure
it was a CD. It was something.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Because you don't see that. You just see them on
the stage. And it's like, girl, you know it.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Girl, you know it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And they kind of run off stage. Turns out, upon
further investigation, they didn't sing any of their songs. A
journalist dug into it.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Pow.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
It came out the voices on those albums belonged to
other singers entirely. Rob and Fab were just the faces
that were Milli Vanilli. They were not the ones singing
on the records. So the Recording Academy did something it
had never done before. They took back the Best New
Artist Grammy. I remember seeing them sitting at the table,
having a little press conference about it.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It was crazy. Fans were mad. Lawsuits.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
People wanted refunds for albums and concert tickets. Radio stations
dropped their music. Stores pulled their CDs. And just like that,
Milli Vanilli went from the top of the world to
a punchline, which still today is used as a punchline.
Ashley Simpson had the SNL moment later on. It was
very Milli Vanilli-esque, except she didn't lose an award for that.
(30:16):
Milli Vanilli tried to come back later and actually sing
their own stuff, but the damage had been done. The
scandal did change, however, how the music industry approached authenticity.
After that, labels and award shows started paying closer attention
to who was really doing the work.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's a good thing, right?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
It also made fans skeptical. People wanted to know that
what they were hearing was real. That moment forced the
industry to take a good hard look at itself and remember,
at the end of the day, it has to be.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
About the talent.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And now, let's get back to the countdown. Number three,
Alan Jackson arrives here in the real world. Earlier that
same year, February 27th, we get introduced to Alan Jackson.
He dropped his debut album, Here in the Real World,
and it was clear that Alan Jackson wasn't just passing through.
He wrote or co-wrote nine out of the ten tracks,
(31:05):
including his first number one hit, I'd Love You All
Over Again. Alan is an amazing songwriter and performer, so
I asked him to think back to the time he
first came to Nashville to see if he moved here
to write songs or to be an artist and perform.
Speaker 7 (31:18):
And then we got into the depths of his songwriting process.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Singer. I'd never written a song in my life until
I was singing with that band. And everybody kept telling me,
you ought to go to Nashville, you know. I didn't
know anything about the music business or recording or anything.
And this one old guy, Noonan, a young man that
had a band, a rock band, he played in Atlanta some.
He had a little four-track studio in his basement or something.
He's the only guy I ever knew that recorded. And
(31:41):
so I asked him about it. He said, yeah, if
you go to Nashville, you know, you can't go up
there singing everybody else's songs. You need your original material
to show them who you are. So I started writing songs.
And when I came to Nashville, I had a paper
sack full of songs. And a lot of those ended
up on the first two or three records.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
And Like you say, you didn't have a huge history
of writing songs before you got to Nashville. Did it
come to you pretty easy, or did you take a
long time and kind of labor to learn how to
actually write a good, catchy song?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Well, I think some of it, you got some kind
of natural ability to hear melodies and make it rhyme. But,
you know, it's a craft. I thought, you know, the
more I wrote and wrote with experienced writers, I learned. But,
I mean, the first month or two I moved to Nashville,
you know, I never lived anywhere, and my wife was working–
job to pay our bills. I mean, she was out
of town most of the time. I was up here
(32:29):
by myself, lonely, and it was sad. The first month
or so I was there, I wrote a song for
my mama for Mother's Day that was coming up right
after I had moved here, and it was called Home.
It's a song about my mom and daddy and the
house they grew up in, and it's a true story,
a bunch of facts scribbled down, and that was one
of the first songs I wrote when I came to town,
and it went on to be a hit, you know,
(32:50):
years later. You know, you never know. You write something
like that, but comes out of you that's personal. Sometimes
it writes itself more, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
How do you know when you write by yourself if
it's actually good? Because anytime I write jokes by myself
or anytime I write in dopey songs, like I kind
of need that other person to tell me that I'm
not that funny. Like when you're writing, how do you
know if you're like, yep, I did it all.
Speaker 9 (33:13):
I know it's good.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well, I don't know if I know that either. I
think you definitely, when you write something of your own
and you're singing it, you get real close to it.
It's hard to have a perspective. of somebody that's never
heard it before. But, you know, my wife's a pretty
good board to bounce it off of. And, you know,
I think I just feel like when gut instinct tells
me usually if it's a pretty good song and I'm
(33:35):
not always right. But, I mean, I've written a lot
of things that I realize top shelf and everybody does.
You don't really know. I mean, like Denise, one time
I wrote this song that she told me was stupid
and it went on to be a number one hit.
So you never know.
Speaker 9 (33:53):
And what song was that, if we can ask?
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Gosh, I wish you hadn't asked me that now. It's
not I'm in love with you, baby. It's I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
If it comes to you, let us know. Did you
ever have a song that you wrote?
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I mean, you're in the Songwriter Hall of Fame, so
you're writing song after song, great songs. But did you
ever have a song and you thought, I don't think
that song is going to do much, but then it
ended up being a big smash and you were surprised
by it?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yes, Chattahoochee.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When you finished Chattahoochee, you finished writing in that room
that day. Did you go, all right, this is never
going to be heard by anybody other than us who
wrote the song?
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Well, Jim and Brad and I wrote that. And I
just thought that it was, you know, a title of
the name of a river in Georgia that I grew
up on and around. And nobody, unless they were from
that area, were even going to know what in the
world I was singing about. I guess the song was
really more than that. It was a growing up kind
of coming of age song in a small town. And
I realized later that everybody had a Chattahoochee or something
(34:49):
like that. So they related to it regardless of the title.
So I was wrong on that one.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
This album helped land him four CMA nominations, five ACM nominations,
and he won top new male artist. That is a
very strong rookie year. You get him to sign that
rookie card, that probably goes for a lot. He also
made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1990 and was
inducted into the Opry just a year later. What really
(35:17):
stood out with his album is how country it sounded.
No pop gloss. No overproduction. It was honest. It was
stripped down. And people really connected to it. Critics compared
him to George Jones. Critics compared him to Merle Haggard.
That's the level of respect that.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
This rookie earned himself. right out of the gate.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
The album hit number four on the Billboard country chart,
later went platinum, and spent 103 weeks on the chart.
So 52 is one year, and 52 is one year,
so that's 104.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Missed two years by one week.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Dang.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
But it stuck around.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
And in a decade where country music was starting to
flirt with pop just a little bit more, Alan Jackson
held the line. He stayed rooted in that traditional sound
and people loved him for it. Let's take a quick
pause from the countdown. From 1990, here are my two
favorite things that aren't country music. So obviously 1990 was
a big year for country music in general, but also
(36:23):
in rock or blues or soul, the Black Crows were
killing it. They put out the album in 1990, Shake
Your Money Maker. The first song was hard to handle,
which is a cover because Otis Redding did it back
in the day. But man, they crushed it. But when
She Talks to Angels came out, like that song was
(36:43):
amazing then. That song is amazing now. I like slow songs.
It was a slower, more emotional. Also, I could actually
tell what they were saying in the lyrics. But I
love the Black Crows. That album comes out in 1990.
I love She Talks to Angels. And I was able
to talk to Chris Robinson about that song. I was like,
what's the fastest song you ever wrote? And he talked
(37:04):
about this song. She talks to angels here. Rich came
up with that guitar intro. I mean, he was still
at mom and dad's house.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
How old were you guys when this happened?
Speaker 10 (37:16):
Rich was 16 when he wrote that riff or whatever,
maybe 17.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
And you were?
Speaker 10 (37:20):
I was 19, 20. So that's one of the first,
but you know, it's funny. We wrote that song and
then it did it. We didn't really have any way
to play it. And when we meet George Draculius, who
signs us and finds us and produces our first couple
of records, I don't think we had that middle section.
Speaker 7 (37:40):
Reality is we.
Speaker 10 (37:41):
Wrote the bones of that song in about 25 minutes,
20 minutes. For whatever reason, she never mentioned the word addiction.
So she's hiding something and she doesn't want.
Speaker 9 (37:53):
To talk about it.
Speaker 10 (37:55):
Again, I'm writing this song way, you know, we were
talking about drugs.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
I had never, I.
Speaker 10 (38:01):
Had probably been stoned a handful of times. I definitely
knew about alcohol, but I wasn't involved in anything like that.
The subject matter would become a lot more familiar as
the 90s roll on. But the correlation between then and
today and how I write especially this record. I was
saying the lyrics are darker. There's a lot of stuff
(38:23):
and there's a lot of decadent stuff in there. I'm
in the only relationship that's ever had any gravity to me.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (38:30):
I'm in the only relationship that contains real, real dynamic
love and passion and commitment.
Speaker 9 (38:39):
But who wants to hear about that?
Speaker 10 (38:40):
You know, so if I'm going to write a song
and what really did, I mean, lots of people want
to hear about that, but What really dictates to me
the imagery and the lyric, the poetry of the song
could be anything. In the case of She Talks to Angels,
Rich played me something that was really melancholy.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (38:59):
So I could access like a sort of story that
was adjacent to me. I knew a girl in Atlanta
who had a certain look. And I didn't know her
that well. She was super rad, goth chick. But maybe
she was on heroin or something, which at the time
(39:19):
would have been pretty deep.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (39:23):
We were still kids. So I romanticized about like someone
i didn't know if someone loses a kid you know
what i mean i just started I wrote one draft
of the lyric too. It wasn't like I worked on
it for days. You know, it just, the story.
Speaker 9 (39:36):
Came out in that form.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You held that song for a long time then, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Pretty.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Like you knew it was good then you just were
waiting for the right time.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
It was just like, how did it fit into what
we were at the time?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Did it fit into what you were or was it
so good?
Speaker 10 (39:49):
Not when we wrote it, but later, you know, I
think when we start to find ourselves like, you know,
you're also talking about the era of the power ballads
of all these like hair metal bands and stuff. So
we were, To me, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands is
a ballad. To me, Wild Horses is the ballad. We
loved Graham Parsons.
Speaker 9 (40:08):
We loved the Burrito Brothers.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
So we're not afraid of ballads.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
But I think we would put it more.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
In the context of, and I think one of the
reasons that song has lived on and has a certain
mystique about it is because it comes from that kind
of place.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Do you still like playing that song?
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 10 (40:29):
I think we're so blessed to have a song like that.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Did you ever not like playing the song? Maybe, you know,
cause it got so big. And I think anything that
you're expected to do all the time, it doesn't matter
what it is.
Speaker 10 (40:39):
You'd probably, if you're me, you're definitely hate that, you know, but,
but that was youth too.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Now I, I can't imagine not playing it.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
And the black crows, they weren't country, you know, they
were from Georgia though. And they had Southern background and
you could definitely feel that in their music. So if
I'm talking about my favorite things that aren't country from
1990 to I'm putting the Black Crows and then putting
Shake Your Money Maker out as a record.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I loved it.
Speaker 7 (41:04):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
That's number one. Number two on the list, The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air debuted. Man, that was the coolest show
in the whole world. September 1990, NBC, the debut of
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Probably the greatest theme song
in television show history. It's either Fresh Prince or The Nanny.
(41:28):
You don't even have to love the nanny to understand
that that theme song is also pretty much perfect because
in the nanny, it tells the whole story of her
ending up being the nanny at that rich people's house.
The same thing about the Fresh Prince. It tells the
whole story of how Will ended up at those rich
people's house.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
So I love theme song.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I thought the Fresh Prince, which that's why I knew
him first because it was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the
Fresh Prince rap duo. I bought their tapes, but man,
when the Fresh Prince hit NBC, it was so cool.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
All the colors.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I don't even know where Philadelphia was, but I learned
because of this show. All the characters, Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv,
which by the way, changed out in the seasons because
in real life, Will got into a fight with the
first Aunt Viv and they traded her out and never
even said anything to the audience, which is crazy. The
Fresh Prince ended up running for six seasons, 148 episodes.
Speaker 7 (42:25):
That's massive.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
And then I probably watched them all three, four or
five times in syndication on TBS as well. Will Smith
got two Golden Globe nominations for the role. The show
got a bunch of awards. So looking back, 1990 was
the year of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for me.
And it was the year of the Black Crows putting
out their first record, Shake Your Money Maker.
Speaker 9 (42:45):
Hang tight. The Bobbycast will be right back.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Number two, 1990 was a massive year for Reba. Not
only was she on the big screen, she also released
her 16th studio album, Rumor Has It. 16 albums in,
and she was still raising the bar. Now, by that point,
Reba was already a country powerhouse, but this album really
solidified her status as a genre-defining artist. It had big
(43:17):
tracks on it too, like You Lie, Falling Out of Love,
and of course, still probably her biggest song, Fancy. Let's
talk about Fancy for just a second. It is a
cover of Bobby Gentry's original Reba Turned It Into Her Song.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
It's, how do we say this?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
A rags to riches story with great storytelling. And with
Reba's delivery, it became one of her signature hits. It
still gets people fired up today.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
But yeah, it's about a mom kind of, you know,
putting her daughter out there.
Speaker 7 (43:59):
You know what? Instead of having me explain it, just
listen to Reba.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
We talked about this and just how controversial it was
for her to record. This is from a Bobbycast episode
a few years ago. I never really knew what Fancy
was about until I got to be an adult. And
then when I found out what Fancy was about, I
was like, wow, I've been singing that song a little
too passionately. I was singing it hard.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
I mean, I was really into it. Then it's like
one day you just go, oh, how about that?
Speaker 6 (44:28):
How about that? Yeah, the little girl coming to school
and wanting to sing fancy for the talent night.
Speaker 9 (44:33):
And she goes, do you know what this is about?
Speaker 6 (44:36):
She's, yeah, she gets a brand new red dress from
her mama.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
And then, okay, if that's what you think it's about,
that's great.
Speaker 7 (44:43):
Have at it.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
So when you recorded that song, was there any talk
with you, your team, like, This is kind of an
area that we're going to be singing about that maybe
isn't talked about a whole lot in contemporary country music.
Speaker 6 (44:54):
Well, when I was with Jimmy Bowen in the 80s,
he said, is there a song you want to do
a remix on?
Speaker 2 (44:59):
And I said, yeah, Fancy.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
He said, oh, woman, you don't need to be doing that.
Speaker 7 (45:02):
That's about a prostitute.
Speaker 6 (45:04):
I said, I'm totally aware of that. And so when
I went with Tony Brown in 1990, he said, would
you like to.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
Do a song again?
Speaker 2 (45:13):
And I said, Fancy.
Speaker 6 (45:14):
He said, oh, my gosh, that's my favorite song.
Speaker 4 (45:16):
So we did it.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
So it had been discussed years earlier.
Speaker 5 (45:19):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 7 (45:20):
You decided not to cover it.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Well, I was vetoed.
Speaker 9 (45:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (45:23):
It was like, nope, can't do that.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, kind of weird when you break it down, but man,
what a jam.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Rumor has it, hit number three, but it was Falling
Outta Love that reached number two, and You Lie that
took the top spot on the country charts. She co-produced
the album with Tony Brown, maybe you've heard of him,
and he helped make sure it sounded exactly like she wanted. Sharp, emotional,
classic Reba. The whole thing was a perfect mix of
Big ballads and some up-tempo moments, too.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Critics loved it. Fans loved it.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It helped shape what country would sound like all through
the 90s, especially for female artists. Rumor has it it
wasn't just another album. Heck, it wasn't just another Reba album.
It was Reba at full power. And it's a big
reason why she's still considered one of the greatest of
all time. And before we get to number one on
the list, let's do a little Where Were They in 1990?
(46:11):
Because as massive as 90s country became, a lot of
the stars that defined the decade... hadn't even shown up
yet in 1990.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
Shania Twain. Let's start with the queen herself.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
In 1990, Shania Twain wasn't even Shania Twain yet. She
was still going by Eileen Edwards, singing in bars in Ontario,
supporting her family after her parents had died in a
car crash. She was performing at night, working other jobs
by day, and it wasn't until 1993 that her debut
album came out, and that didn't blow up until Mutt Lang, yeah,
(46:44):
the guy who produced ACDC and Def Leppard, discovered her,
married her, and.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Worked with her.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
So in 1990, she's singing cover songs at Deerhurst Resort
in Canada.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Imagine that.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
The woman who would go on to outsell every other
female in country history was doing dinner shows for tourists.
This one blows people's minds. In 1990, Faith Hill was
working the merch table at Reba McEntire concerts. She was
selling t-shirts, literally. That's how she got close to the business.
She hadn't even met her birth mother yet. That happened
(47:17):
later in the decade. She eventually got a receptionist job
at a publishing company in Nashville where she'd sneak demos
onto producers' desks. By 1993, she had her debut single.
But in 1990, she was the one folding shirts and
counting cash at the end of the night.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Kenny Chesney.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
In 1990, he was a college student at East Tennessee
State studying advertising. He was playing tiny bars with a
guitar and maybe 10 people in the audience.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
He wasn't wearing a cowboy hat yet more like baseball caps.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
And flannel he recorded a self-financed demo that year called
my poor old heart he sold it out of the
back of a car that's not a myth that's real
think about this 10 years later he's selling out stadiums
but in 1990 he was figuring out how to book
gigs at a knoxville pizza joint martina mcbride in 1990
she was performing in a band with her husband john
(48:11):
mcbride he was a sound engineer and she was just
starting to dream of a solo career They moved to
Nashville that year to make ends meet.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
She took a job selling t-shirts for, wait for it,
Garth Brooks. The selling t-shirts thing. Sound familiar?
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Garth heard her demo and helped her land a record deal.
She literally went from merch girl to superstar.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Toby Keith.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
In 1990, he was working the oil fields of Oklahoma
and still playing football in semi-pro leagues on the side.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
No hat, no attitude, at least not yet.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
He wouldn't put out his debut album until 1993, and
it was his second single that changed everything. And that
song was, Should've Been a Cowboy. That song ended up
becoming the most played country song of the 1990s. But
in 1990, he was just a roughneck with a guitar.
And then how about this?
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Lightning round.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Joe Diffie was working as a demo singer. He released
his debut single, Home, in 1990. And boom, number one.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
One of the fastest starts of the decade. Leigh-Anne Rimes,
she was eight.
Speaker 7 (49:19):
Eight years old.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Still doing talent shows in Texas and making adults cry.
Trick Pony, Brad Paisley, Sarah Evans. Not even on the
radar yet. Here's the thing. 1990 wasn't just a big
year for debuts. It was the year a lot of
future icons were still working regular jobs.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Still unknown. Still hustling. But that's kind of inspiring.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Because it reminds us that no one shows up fully formed.
Every legend has a backstory. And for the biggest names
of the 90s, 1990 was just chapter one.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Number one. One, one, one, one, one, one. That's not
an effect.
Speaker 7 (49:57):
That's my voice. Number one.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
1990 is when Garth Brooks officially became Garth Brooks.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Or Garth freaking Brooks.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Or Garth.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Capital G. Yeah, I could do this all day.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
On August 27th, he dropped his second album, No Fences,
and that changed everything.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
The album had friends in low places.
Speaker 8 (50:19):
Yeah, I got friends in low places where the whiskey
drowns and the beer chases.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
The album had thunder rolls.
Speaker 9 (50:29):
Thunder rolls and the lightning strikes.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Boom, boom, boom. It had unanswered prayers.
Speaker 4 (50:37):
God's greatest gift. Unanswered prayers.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
It was a monster. He had an album before.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
But like I said, that first album, I just laid
the tracks for the train.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Because no fences. Chugga chugga chugga.
Speaker 9 (50:55):
Choo choo.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
I've been lucky enough to become friends with Garth over
the years and have even opened for him at one
of his stadium shows, which was super cool. I asked
Garth if he could feel just how big he was
getting at the time. and what it was like being
mentioned in the same breath as guys like George Strait,
Randy Travis, and all the legends who have come before him.
Speaker 11 (51:13):
Also, what you're talking about is opinion. So I've got
my opinion of who the greatest country artist is, and
for me it's George Strait. Haggard is the greatest ever walked,
so you're never going to put your name with those guys. Ledoux, Whitley,
Randy Travis, those guys. So it's... It's fun just to
get to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, but I
don't know if you ever really knew.
Speaker 9 (51:31):
Maybe Central Park.
Speaker 11 (51:33):
Maybe when you looked up and saw the crowd, maybe
something went across your head like, something might be happening here.
I think most of all, you're just having fun.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
You're just playing.
Speaker 11 (51:43):
What people think of you or the names that they're
going to put on you, they're going to put on you.
You don't have anything to do with that, so just
enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (51:49):
Have fun.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
Garth Brooks once said, if you want to know who
Garth Brooks is, the song Friends in Little Places is
who Garth Brooks is. The album hit number one on
the country charts, stayed there for 41 weeks. It also
climbed all the way to number three on the Billboard 200.
Speaker 9 (52:04):
What's the difference?
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Well, that's all genres.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
It was at number three on the all genres album
chart as a country album.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
Kind of unheard of. It eventually sold over 18 million copies.
Speaker 7 (52:20):
Unheard of.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Garth also received the Icon Award from the Billboard Music Awards.
At the time, He was the ninth artist ever to
receive the honor, and in truly humble Garth form, this
is how he responded when I told him congratulations.
Speaker 9 (52:32):
Thank you, and thank you for it.
Speaker 11 (52:34):
I mean, if you look at those names, none of
them are country. So this is a reflection of the
country music radio charts, which is you guys and the
country music audience. So thank you for it. It's pretty
cool to look at the list of decades that you
can pull songs from, and thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
The Thunder Rolls is interesting because that started up controversy,
especially the video. And you had networks banning the video. Go,
we're not going to show it. Which really just created
demand and interest. I can remember being a very young
kid and I believe CMT was, ah, we're not going
to show this video. Except it just made you want
(53:11):
to see the video more. The video showed domestic violence.
The video showed, but not in a glorifying way. In a,
we shouldn't accept this type way. It got praised for
how real and powerful that it was. So we did
Friends in Low Places. We did Thunder Rolls. Let's get
(53:32):
to Unanswered Prayers. Possibly one of the best story songs
of all time. It's about running into an old flame
and realizing, huh, I actually have everything that I needed.
Even if it wasn't at one time what I thought
I wanted. That song went number one as well, obviously.
(53:55):
My point is No Fences wasn't just a big album.
It was an album that changed country music. Garth did
blend old school country with the storytelling and then used
arena-sized rock energy. And like I said, it was top
three on the Billboard 200. All genres, that means it
(54:16):
connected with just about everybody. By the end of 1990,
he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, where he
still is a very, very proud vocal member now.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
In 1990, that's the year Garth Brooks, Garth Brooks, Garth
freaking Brooks.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Capital G, that's the year he became a household name. So, yeah,
as we close out this year and this episode, between
Garth blowing the doors off And Alan Jackson quietly setting
the bar for country songwriting. 1990 wasn't just a big year.
(54:54):
It was the beginning of a lot of very special
years to come. And by the way, we here, we're
just getting started. Next week, we'll look at what happened
in 1991. More hits, more chaos, and more reasons why
the 90s are and were the best decade that country
music's ever seen.
Speaker 2 (55:12):
Thank you all for hanging out. I'm Bobby Bones. We'll
see you next time.
Speaker 9 (55:17):
Love this episode of The Bobbycast? Subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hey everybody, it's Bobby here, and welcome to a 10-part
series about country music in the 90s. Which, let's be honest,
it's the best decade country music has ever had. It's
the best decade that's ever existed on Earth, I think.
In each episode, we'll focus on one year from the 90s.
Episode 1 will be 1990. We'll go all the way
through 1999. And in every episode, I'll count down 10
standout moments from that year.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It could be chart toppers. It could be album releases.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It could be career-defining songs or even unforgettable events that
shaped the decade. If it mattered in 90s country, we'll
be talking about it. We'll also have guests to talk
about how the 90s affected them or how they affected
the 90s. We'll also sprinkle in a little pop culture.
that really was just country music adjacent. So let's jump
(00:59):
in with 1990.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Okay, here we go. Number 10.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Let's start with Reba because in 1990, she didn't just
dominate country music or country radio. She made her acting
debut too. January 19th, 1990, Reba showed up in a
movie called Tremors. And if you haven't seen it, it
still kind of holds up. It's one of those cult
classic horror movies that, But it's also kind of funny.
(01:26):
There are these underground creatures. I remember watching it, but
I was so young. I think they're called Graboids.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
They're very 90s.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And they attack a small desert town. Kevin Bacon's in it,
the guy from Footloose. And Reba plays a survivalist named
Heather Gummer. And she was part of this doomsday prepper
couple that was helping to save the town. You may
have seen the memes where Reba's in like all this
khaki colored, like bodysuit with a gun it was her
(01:56):
first big acting gig but she'd kind of been acting
a little bit already in music videos especially whoever's in
new england which was a basically a mini movie but
still tremors was her official jump into hollywood she crushed
it critics fans everybody loved her in it she was
funny she was tough she was believable which isn't always
easy to pull off when you're stepping from music into
(02:18):
the movies now fun fact reba wasn't even supposed to
be in the movie The role was originally written for
someone older, but the director, Ron Underwood, saw her perform
at the Grammys and thought, that's Heather Gummer. He offered
her the role on the spot, if you believe lore
and legend. To prep, she went through legit firearms training,
(02:39):
like actual tactical stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So she looked the part.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Here's a clip from Reba from the Tremors YouTube account,
where she talks all about the first scene they shot
on set.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
The very first day I was here, we did the
master shot of a scene in town when we first
found the monster. I was down there and I was
looking at the monster and I had two lines.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
I was like, phew, stinks too.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Phew, stinks too.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But at the end of.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
My scene, he said, that's a take.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
I went, yeah, yeah, I did it, I did it,
I did it.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And I was just screaming my head off and I
was like, that was my first take.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I'm in the movies now.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And everybody was just kind of looking at me like,
she's lost her mind. But they were kind of tickled
for me because they knew I was excited.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Tremors ended up with an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes,
which is actually the highest rated Reba film ever, and
it's still a fan favorite. Originally, the movie was going
to be called Landsharks, but Landshark was actually a very
popular character on SNL, and that character was a parody
to Jaws, and they didn't want any confusion. The Graboids,
which were the monsters under the ground, were made by
(03:37):
a special effects company called ADI, and they went through
a bunch of designs before landing on that creepy version
that if you look it up, if you Google and
then click images, you'll.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
See it there.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Tremors opened the door for Reba to go full Hollywood.
From that point on, she wasn't just a country star.
She became a full-blown actress doing more films, more TV shows.
I had Reba at my house for a Bobby cast
in 2022, and we talked about her TV show and
asked her how the show got picked up and if
it was always just named Reba.
Speaker 6 (04:07):
When we filmed the show for the pilot, The script
was called Sally. And Narva went to them and said,
you know, if you did the afternoon filming as Sally
and then in front of the audience, tape it and
Reba be Reba instead of Sally. Then let's see how
that tests out.
Speaker 7 (04:24):
And they said, okay.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
The title went from Sally. By the time I got
to Upfronts, it was Deep in the Heart because we
were all from Houston, Texas, and we were the Hart family.
So then there came out this thing on USA Today
that their publicist had said, why? WB had ever hired
Reba McEntire for this part is ridiculous. She's not of our,
(04:46):
she's not our demographics. The head of the company called
by the time we got back to the hotel after
Upfronts and said, terribly sorry, terribly sorry. What can we
do to make up for this? Well, I'd already gone
back to bed. I had a performance that night. So
Narvel was talking to her and he heard me get
up and go to the bathroom and out of the
other room. And he said, hang on, let me put
Reba on the line. He banged on the bathroom door
(05:08):
and said, pick up the phone.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And so I said, hello.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
We're terribly sorry what happened and what was in the
USA Today. What can we do to make this up
to you? And I was half asleep, and I said, well,
she said, well, Narvel said if we call it Reba,
you'll be happy with that. And I said, that's a
wonderful idea. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Hung up, went back to bed.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So that's how I got the name Reba.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Pretty crazy the show was almost named Sally. And whoever
wrote that bad stuff about Reba and her pilot, they
should still be held accountable.
Speaker 7 (05:35):
But without her getting her first break.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
On Tremors back in 1990, there may have never been
a Reba.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
The TV show, of course, not Reba McEntire. Number nine.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Let's talk about Clint Black. Now, today, as I record this,
I love Clint. I know him.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I consider him a buddy. So love him now. When
I was like 10, I idolized him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He had so many great songs.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And we're going to do Clint Black because 1990 was
a monster year for him. Now, Clint had already kind
of burst onto the scene with his album Killing Time
in 1989.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And it wasn't just a good debut album. It was
a game changer. Hit after hit after hit right out
of the gate. He was everywhere. His voice was awesome.
His lyrics were good.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
And it was a traditional country sound that still felt
like it was moving forward and fresh. Nobody pointed at
him and went, that ain't country. He had the cowboy hat.
Obviously where he came from, his music was country. But sonically,
there was a lot of new happening. Now to really
appreciate why 1990 was such a big deal, let's back
(06:38):
up for a second. And talk about Clint. That's where
he comes from. Now, he was born in New Jersey,
but he grew up in Texas. So he was a
Texas guy. It's where he really soaked up country music.
And when Killing Time dropped, it was like that dude
from Texas just put out something kind of revolutionary.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It exploded. Every single that they put onto the radio hit.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I had Clint Black in studio in 2020 and asked
him about a story I heard where he took a
chance and pushed for Better Man to be a single.
when some radio executives suggested they try another song called
straight from the factory.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
Straight from the factory was going to be the first single.
And I thought, ah, I'm really worried about a Western
swing song playing all over the country. And, uh, and
I had a cassette tape in my pocket and, you know,
Bob said, well, played them straight from the factory. He said, well,
I could, you get that into the top 20, I
can add it. And I knew what that meant. You know,
(07:33):
it's the catch 22, uh, of, uh, promotion. So, uh,
I took a chance.
Speaker 9 (07:40):
I was new.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
I didn't know if it would be frowned upon, but
I said, I've got this tape in my pocket. Can
I play you this one? And I gave him the tape.
It was Better Man. And at the end of the
first chorus, he hit stop and said, I'll add that
out of the box. And we got out of there
and called the head of the label and said, you know,
guess what just happened? We have to change the single choice.
(08:03):
And they did. And that one went to number one.
And really kind of got me on this show.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
By the time the CMA awards rolled around in 1990,
he was named male vocalist of the year.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And it wasn't one of those. Oh, cool.
Speaker 9 (08:19):
Surprise.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Clint.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
It was like, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, he
had the songs. He could sing them. He had already
developed a massive fan base.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
He was doing it all. And he wasn't just a
studio guy either. He was out on the road constantly
selling out shows, connecting with fans, If you ever saw
Clint live back then, you know he was electric. If
you see him live now, you're like, dang, he still
got it. But back then, whoo. And I'm not saying
(08:50):
flashy electric either, like explosions, but just real.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So Clint Black was.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Live, part of why people latched onto him then and
still feel like they're so close to him. On top
of that, CMA Award, he also cleaned up at the ACM's.
Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year. Everybody, including the industry,
was all in on Clint Black. He even got some
Grammy nominations, which at the time was a really big deal.
It was one of those, okay, this guy isn't just
(09:19):
big in country. He's kind of crossing over into the
wider music world. When he got all the Grammy nominations,
because now there are a certain amount of country nominations
that are going to happen regardless.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That didn't always happen then.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
But he was helping shape what 90s country was going
to sound like. Except he wasn't trying to do that.
Clint Black was just being himself. He just wrote and
he just sang great songs and it worked. A lot
of future artists, especially in the 90s, that boomed, they
look at Clint as someone who proved you can still
go traditional, be a bit progressive, and still have massive success.
(09:57):
So 1990 really set the tone for a couple things. One,
Clint Black's entire career.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But two, 90s country in general.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Now, Clint would keep making hits for decades, but this
was the stretch where he became a star. And it
all started with that run from Killin' Times leading to
1990 when he won the Male.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Vocalist of the Year award. Clint freaking Black. We interrupt
this countdown to bring you the top five movies and
TV shows from 1990. At number five, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah,
this cracked the top five.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And I can tell you, as a kid who loved
the cartoon, I loved this movie. It was like a gritty,
and I won't say special effects. It was a practical
effects movie. You ever go to Chuck E. Cheese and
see the animatronics and they're just basically on a hinge
doing very simple robotic moves? It was slightly better than that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
But not much. But it was those four. Fight and crime.
And you know what?
Speaker 9 (11:04):
We love that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
At number four, Pretty Woman. Julia Roberts becomes America's sweetheart.
She was a prostitute. And also, big mistake.
Speaker 7 (11:16):
Big.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Huge mistake. People still quote that.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Number three, Dances with Wolves. Man, looking back, Kevin Costner
just loves to make really long things. Kevin Costner went
full epic with a three-hour western called Dances with Wolves.
It won Best Picture at the Oscars and made people
believe you could still make a thoughtful, slow western and
you could still get your money's worth. Basically, it was
Yellowstone's great-great-grandfather. At number two, Ghost. Part love story, part
(11:44):
ghost story, part pottery tutorial. Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore
and Whoopi Goldberg. One of the most genre-bending, box office-crushing
hits of the decade. That's a quote from Rotten Tomatoes.
Ghost made over $ 217 million. And it also made the
song Unchained Melody from the Righteous Brothers cool.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
And number one, 1990, Home Alone.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
A Christmas movie about a forgotten child turned DIY Ninja.
It made over $ 285 million. And if we're going to
quote Pretty Woman, we have to do, That's the cologne scene.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Or, Kevin! That's when she realized she forgot Kevin.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Macaulay Culkin became a superstar, and every kid then thought
they could survive by swinging booby-trapped vases from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Home Alone, your number one movie of 1990.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
If we look at the top five television shows, at
number five, The Cosby Show.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Why'd you have to ruin something good? Why'd you have
to be a terrible person, Bill Cosby?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Like, this was the beginning of the ratings decline for
the Cosby show because that show had been all through
the 80s such a monster.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
But that was such a good show back in the day.
But now, it's on nowhere, and you know what? Rightfully so.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
At number four, A Different World, which was a Cosby
spinoff that found its own voice.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It gave mainstream audiences a glimpse into HBCU life. It
was cool. I was like Dwayne Wayne in his glasses.
Not Dwayne Wade, who played for the Heat. Number three, Roseanne.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
I just think of the harmonica. It's a blue collar show.
My mom loved Roseanne. I think we watched every single episode.
Roseanne Barr and John Goodman felt like your actual neighbors
or like in my family, like your actual family. America
loved him for that. Made her a superstar. Made him
a superstar. At number two, 60 Minutes. People still love
(13:38):
the ticking clocks. No matter what changed in pop culture,
60 Minutes stayed in the top five. It was the
number two show of 1990.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And at number one.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Sometimes I want to go where everybody knows my name.
I think I messed that up, but still crushing it
in season nine. Norm, Cliff, Sam, they own Thursday nights.
And the bar where everybody knew your name was America's
Favorite Hangout. Your number one show of 1990 was Cheers
(14:08):
on NBC. Thankfully, as we go through this episode of
the podcast, my friend Brandon Ray is here with me
to help sing... through some of these songs so we
can remember just how excellent they were.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Brandon, we appreciate you, buddy.
Speaker 9 (14:20):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 7 (14:22):
Feels like it's NPR. Thank you, buddy.
Speaker 9 (14:24):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Number eight. Okay, let's talk about a group that would
eventually blow the doors off of country music.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
The Dixie Chicks.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
These days, they go by The Chicks, but back in 1990,
they were just getting started. They formed in Dallas, Texas, 1989.
The original lineup looked a little different than what most
people remember. Laura Lynch was on bass and lead vocals,
and sisters, Marty and Emily, played fiddle, mandolin, banjo, dobro,
you name it. It was all about bluegrass meets traditional country.
(14:54):
The name Dixie Chicks actually came from the song Dixie
Chicken by Little Feet, which kind of tells you where
their musical heads were early on. In 1990, they put
out their very first album independently. It was called Thank
Heavens for Dale Evans, and they were basically hustling, playing
small shows, busking, where you get on the streets, hitting
every venue around Texas, trying to build a following. They
(15:17):
released two more independent records over the next few years. Little,
little cowgirl, and shouldn't have told you that. But they
hadn't broken through yet. Then in 1995, everything changed. Laura
Lynch left the group. They brought in Natalie Maines as
the new lead singer. That decision, total game changer. But
they started back in 1990, which is why we get
(15:37):
to include this.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
In the 1990 version of it.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Natalie brought a huge voice and bold personality that immediately
shifted the group's energy and sound. She wasn't trying to
be the backup at all. That same year, the chicks
signed with Monument Records. A few years later, 1998, they
released Wide Open Spaces. That album was, there's your trouble,
Wide Open Spaces, you were mine, massive hits. The album
(16:02):
sold over 12 million copies and it won them their
first Grammys. Suddenly, they weren't just a trio from Texas,
they were a full-blown movement in country music. Their next album, Fly,
came out in 1999, and they kept the momentum going.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Ready to run.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Ready, ready, ready, ready. Ready to run.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Cowboy, take me awake.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Cowboy, take me awake.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Goodbye, Earl. Cause Earl had to die.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
Speaker 9 (16:29):
Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Earl?
Speaker 9 (16:33):
You feeling weak?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
They also weren't afraid to mix in humor, heartbreak, revenge, because.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Earl had to die.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
That's when people started realizing, yeah, they could play, they
could write. They also didn't play by whatever the rules were. 2002,
they put out Home, which leaned back into their acoustic
and bluegrass roots. Long Time Gone, Traveling Soldier, great songs.
And it showed they weren't chasing trends. They were, as
they always had been, setting their own trends. Now, we
(17:04):
know about 2003. At a show in London, Natalie made
a comment about President George W. Bush and the Iraq War.
She said, quote, we're ashamed of presidents from Texas. And
just like that, a firestorm hit. Backlash, boycotts, country radio blacklists.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It was intense.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
They went from being America's sweethearts to being basically blackballed
from their own genre. But they didn't back down. In 2006,
they came back swinging with Taking the Long Way.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It was personal. It was raw.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And it tackled everything they'd been through. The lead single,
Not Ready to Make Nice, was an anthem. It won
Album of the Year at the Grammys. Through it all,
the chicks, as they go by now, have stayed true
to who they are. They've sold over 30 million albums.
They've won 13 Grammys, and they've inspired a ton of
other artists, especially women, to speak their truth and take
(17:53):
creative risks. They've evolved, adapted, never lost their edge, whether
you agree with them or not. Whether it was the
tight harmonies, the bold lyrics, or standing firm in controversy,
they They've always been about substance. Their first album in
1990 may not have made waves at the time, but
it definitely lit the fuse. And what followed changed and
(18:16):
challenged country music forever. Let's take a pause in the
countdown for a minute and talk about the big fashion
trend of 1990. That's right, I'm talking about denim.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Denim was... Everywhere back then. Denim jackets, denim skirts, overalls, jeans, shirts,
and yes, full-on Canadian tuxedos. It was denim. It was awesome.
And if it was denim, it was in style.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
It didn't matter.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
The jeans were baggy.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Now they'd probably be called kind of dad jeans. The
rise was high. That's where the mom jeans craze started.
And while the dad jeans haven't quite come back yet,
mom jeans, totally back and then gone again. And then back,
and I'm not sure where they are right now. But
trendy stores are still selling them now. So a big
shout-out to denim if you're listening. I didn't know you
(19:02):
had ears, but that's pretty cool. Maybe you're rocking the
bootcut Levi's or the denim vest. Oh, man, if you're
rocking that denim vest in 1990, big shout-out to you
and that denim vest. But you were officially part of
the era's fashion statement, one we're still seeing show up today.
Speaker 9 (19:17):
Hang tight. The Bobbycast will be right back.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Number seven.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
In 1990, for Absolute Legends, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings,
and Chris Christopherson officially hit the road together as The Highwaymen.
This was the first time they toured as a group,
and it was a big deal. Imagine that kind of
star power on stage.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Heck, even just one. one of them is massive star power.
But all four?
Speaker 7 (19:54):
Nuts.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
The first show?
Speaker 7 (19:56):
Nuts.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Over 55,000 fans packed in.
They watched it March 3rd, 1990. What's crazy is they
had already recorded an album together five years earlier, back
in 1985, but they didn't tour until this moment. 55,000 people,
March 3rd, 1990. They did some shows, and the shows
(20:21):
were something special. Each guy brought his own thing to
the table. Johnny Cash with that Willie with the laid-back groove.
Waylon's outlaw edge. and Chris Christopherson's storytelling lyrics. They played
solo sets, they did duets, they did group performances, they
did their own catalogs, and they did hits from the Highwaymen,
(20:44):
like Highwayman.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It wasn't just the music, though.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
It was the stories, it was the jokes, it was
the laughing between the songs. You could tell these guys
weren't just sharing a stage, they were sharing history. That
first tour wasn't just a concert. It was more like
a museum of country music legends... And it left a
legacy that's still inspiring artists today. Not only them individually,
(21:09):
but them as a group and other artists have, I
won't even say mimicked. I will say appreciated by doing
something similar.
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Like the Highwaymen.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Number six, number six, number six. The Class of 1990.
Lori Morgan and Travis Tritt's first number one songs. Now,
this year of 1990 was a breakout for two country stars.
Lori Morgan and Travis Tritt both scored their very first
number one hits that year. Lori with Five Minutes and
Travis Tritt with Help Me Hold On.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Let's start with Lori.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Five Minutes was an emotional ballad that really hit home
for a lot of people. It was about heartbreak, honesty, regret,
stuff people feel but don't always say out loud. It
was the fourth single off her debut album, Leave the
Light On, but It put her firmly on the map.
Pam Tillis actually recorded the song first in the 80s,
(22:04):
but it didn't make an album until years later. Now,
Lori's voice and delivery made it hers, and that's what
made her stand out. She didn't just sing songs.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
She kind of lived in them.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Five Minutes was the beginning of a long run for her,
and her fans still stick with her today because of
the emotional connection that song and her music constantly and
consistently brought. Now, if we move over to Travis Tritt,
Help Me Hold On. That was the second single off
(22:33):
his debut album, Country Club, and it shot to number one.
He co-wrote it with Pat Terry, and it's basically a
guy owning up to messing up things in.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
His relationship and just begging for one more chance. It's raw.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
It's real.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
People felt it. Heck, now people still feel it. Even
the music video had some fun touches.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It starts and ends with the Dick Van Dyke show
playing on a TV in the background. That blend of
classic and then Travis Tritt's fresh vibe.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
At the time.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
It was like country with a rock edge, but still
rooted in emotion. Like it all just worked. Both Lori
and Travis used those first.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Number ones as launch pads, obviously, because they became massive stars.
They didn't just have hits.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
They made music that stuck with people and is still
sticking with people. And 1990, country music was all the
better for it. Number five.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Let's talk about Tim McGraw. Let's rewind.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
October 22nd, 1990. That's the day a 23-year-old Tim McGraw
signed his first record deal with Curb Records. Yeah, it
was the beginning of something big, obviously. Now, before music
took over, Tim actually went to college. First in Louisiana,
then in Florida. But after the death of Keith Whitley
in 1989... Tim realized music was where his heart was.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
He dropped out. He moved to Nashville. He made a demo.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
He handed that demo to his dad, Tug McGraw, the
former MLB pitcher, who passed it on to an exec
at Curb Records.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
And this is how Tim got his shot. From there,
the stats speak for themselves.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Just on Curb, 11 studio albums, over 40 top 10 hits,
so many number one songs.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Don't Take the Girl.
Speaker 9 (24:15):
Take any boy in the world, but please.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
Don't take the girl.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Live Like You Were Dying. I went skydiving.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
I went Rocky Mountain climbing.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
I went.
Speaker 9 (24:31):
You know this one.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu.
Speaker 9 (24:37):
Yeah, I love it deeper.
Speaker 7 (24:41):
I like it. I love it.
Speaker 9 (24:42):
I like it.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
I love it.
Speaker 9 (24:44):
I want some more of it. I've tried so hard.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
I can't rise above it.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Fun fact about I like it. I love it. Tim
almost never recorded it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I was talking with Tim in 2022 and I asked
him if there was a song he almost never cut.
Because he didn't think it would do well.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
I like it.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Only because, I mean, I love the song, but only
because I had had Indian Outlaw not too long before that.
And I thought, you know, I just don't want to
be this guy that sings all these novelty songs. And
to me, I thought it was sort of a novelty
song at the beginning. Now I really love it and
love the record we made on it. But yeah, I
almost didn't cut it because I just didn't want to
become that guy that does those kind of songs all
(25:22):
the time. So luckily, you know, we had a bunch
of other great songs around it, and that's still a
great song. So I'm glad I recorded it because it's
become one of my, on stage, one of my biggest songs.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Isn't it crazy that Tim McGraw was a 90s artist?
Because he's still so relevant today. It is crazy that
Tim McGraw, as we talk about 1990s specifically, we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Freaking Tim McGraw. His album sold millions.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Some went multi-platinum. A few even hit diamond status. Not
a Moment Too Soon, Everywhere, A Place in the Sun,
all classics. But of course, a 20-year relationship can lead
to a lot of disagreements. Between the legal battles, delayed albums,
and a messy breakup on how and when the music
would be released, Tim finally left in 2011 and signed
(26:10):
with Big Machine in 2012, but not before Curbs sued
him over the Emotional Traffic album. Still, without that first
deal in 1990, there's no telling what Tim's career would
have looked like. That was the start of one of
the most successful runs in country history. By the way,
he's still running.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
Number four.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
In 1990, George Strait, a.k.a.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
The King of Country, dropped an album that reminded everyone
exactly why he wears the crown.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
It was called Livin' It Up. It hit shelves May 15, 1990.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Now, at this point, George already had a ton of hits,
but this album felt like he was locking in to
next level.
Speaker 9 (26:50):
Or at least the 90s.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
It blended classic country, which we know him for, and
just enough modern polish to keep it fresh, and fans
ate it up, and it was the odd fans ate
it up and critics did too mix. The album had
10 tracks total. It debuted at number one on the
country charts. It even made waves on the Billboard 200,
which is rare for a country album, or at least
(27:13):
it was then, especially one that still leaned traditional, but
that's how strong George's appeal was.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
The singles? Massive, right? It's a love without end, amen.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I've come to expect it from you.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Number one. Number one.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And for five weeks each. And if it's a five-weeker,
if it's a four-weeker, if it's a three-weeker, that's not
just a hit, that's dominance. Drinking Champagne, which was a
cover of a Bill Mack song, also made the top five.
George co-produced the album with Jimmy Bowen, and you could
tell they were in sync. It was clean, it was polished,
(27:51):
but it.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Never felt overdone.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
There was the classics, the steel guitar, the fiddle, the piano,
real country instruments, played by some of Nashville's best session musicians,
and it.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wasn't just a hit record. It was a blueprint for
how to keep country music evolving without losing what made.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It special in the first place. George wasn't chasing trends.
He was his own trend. Living it up didn't just
give us great songs. It actually helped define what country was...
in the early 90s, that allowed it to then grow
to the mid and late 90s. And more than 30
years later, the album still holds up, just like George Strait.
(28:29):
And now, let's talk about an unforgettable moment from 1990.
1990 was the year that the Grammy stripped a Grammy
from an artist who had won the Grammy. I said
Grammy way too many times there. But Milli Vanilli, they
were massive.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
They had,' Blame it on the rain.' yeah yeah they
also had girl you know it's true i love you
millie vanillie they were killing it november 1990 during a
live mtv performance the backing track skipped and suddenly the
(29:07):
secret was out they were not singing if i remember
correctly And it sounds like a record player. I'm sure
it was a CD. It was something.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Because you don't see that. You just see them on
the stage. And it's like, girl, you know it.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Girl, you know it.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
And they kind of run off stage. Turns out, upon
further investigation, they didn't sing any of their songs. A
journalist dug into it.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
Pow.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
It came out the voices on those albums belonged to
other singers entirely. Rob and Fab were just the faces
that were Milli Vanilli. They were not the ones singing
on the records. So the Recording Academy did something it
had never done before. They took back the Best New
Artist Grammy. I remember seeing them sitting at the table,
having a little press conference about it.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It was crazy. Fans were mad. Lawsuits.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
People wanted refunds for albums and concert tickets. Radio stations
dropped their music. Stores pulled their CDs. And just like that,
Milli Vanilli went from the top of the world to
a punchline, which still today is used as a punchline.
Ashley Simpson had the SNL moment later on. It was
very Milli Vanilli-esque, except she didn't lose an award for that.
(30:16):
Milli Vanilli tried to come back later and actually sing
their own stuff, but the damage had been done. The
scandal did change, however, how the music industry approached authenticity.
After that, labels and award shows started paying closer attention
to who was really doing the work.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
That's a good thing, right?
Speaker 1 (30:31):
It also made fans skeptical. People wanted to know that
what they were hearing was real. That moment forced the
industry to take a good hard look at itself and remember,
at the end of the day, it has to be.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
About the talent.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And now, let's get back to the countdown. Number three,
Alan Jackson arrives here in the real world. Earlier that
same year, February 27th, we get introduced to Alan Jackson.
He dropped his debut album, Here in the Real World,
and it was clear that Alan Jackson wasn't just passing through.
He wrote or co-wrote nine out of the ten tracks,
(31:05):
including his first number one hit, I'd Love You All
Over Again. Alan is an amazing songwriter and performer, so
I asked him to think back to the time he
first came to Nashville to see if he moved here
to write songs or to be an artist and perform.
Speaker 7 (31:18):
And then we got into the depths of his songwriting process.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Singer. I'd never written a song in my life until
I was singing with that band. And everybody kept telling me,
you ought to go to Nashville, you know. I didn't
know anything about the music business or recording or anything.
And this one old guy, Noonan, a young man that
had a band, a rock band, he played in Atlanta some.
He had a little four-track studio in his basement or something.
He's the only guy I ever knew that recorded. And
(31:41):
so I asked him about it. He said, yeah, if
you go to Nashville, you know, you can't go up
there singing everybody else's songs. You need your original material
to show them who you are. So I started writing songs.
And when I came to Nashville, I had a paper
sack full of songs. And a lot of those ended
up on the first two or three records.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
And Like you say, you didn't have a huge history
of writing songs before you got to Nashville. Did it
come to you pretty easy, or did you take a
long time and kind of labor to learn how to
actually write a good, catchy song?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
Well, I think some of it, you got some kind
of natural ability to hear melodies and make it rhyme. But,
you know, it's a craft. I thought, you know, the
more I wrote and wrote with experienced writers, I learned. But,
I mean, the first month or two I moved to Nashville,
you know, I never lived anywhere, and my wife was working–
job to pay our bills. I mean, she was out
of town most of the time. I was up here
(32:29):
by myself, lonely, and it was sad. The first month
or so I was there, I wrote a song for
my mama for Mother's Day that was coming up right
after I had moved here, and it was called Home.
It's a song about my mom and daddy and the
house they grew up in, and it's a true story,
a bunch of facts scribbled down, and that was one
of the first songs I wrote when I came to town,
and it went on to be a hit, you know,
(32:50):
years later. You know, you never know. You write something
like that, but comes out of you that's personal. Sometimes
it writes itself more, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
How do you know when you write by yourself if
it's actually good? Because anytime I write jokes by myself
or anytime I write in dopey songs, like I kind
of need that other person to tell me that I'm
not that funny. Like when you're writing, how do you
know if you're like, yep, I did it all.
Speaker 9 (33:13):
I know it's good.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
Well, I don't know if I know that either. I
think you definitely, when you write something of your own
and you're singing it, you get real close to it.
It's hard to have a perspective. of somebody that's never
heard it before. But, you know, my wife's a pretty
good board to bounce it off of. And, you know,
I think I just feel like when gut instinct tells
me usually if it's a pretty good song and I'm
(33:35):
not always right. But, I mean, I've written a lot
of things that I realize top shelf and everybody does.
You don't really know. I mean, like Denise, one time
I wrote this song that she told me was stupid
and it went on to be a number one hit.
So you never know.
Speaker 9 (33:53):
And what song was that, if we can ask?
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Gosh, I wish you hadn't asked me that now. It's
not I'm in love with you, baby. It's I can't remember.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
If it comes to you, let us know. Did you
ever have a song that you wrote?
Speaker 1 (34:06):
I mean, you're in the Songwriter Hall of Fame, so
you're writing song after song, great songs. But did you
ever have a song and you thought, I don't think
that song is going to do much, but then it
ended up being a big smash and you were surprised
by it?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Yes, Chattahoochee.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
When you finished Chattahoochee, you finished writing in that room
that day. Did you go, all right, this is never
going to be heard by anybody other than us who
wrote the song?
Speaker 4 (34:26):
Well, Jim and Brad and I wrote that. And I
just thought that it was, you know, a title of
the name of a river in Georgia that I grew
up on and around. And nobody, unless they were from
that area, were even going to know what in the
world I was singing about. I guess the song was
really more than that. It was a growing up kind
of coming of age song in a small town. And
I realized later that everybody had a Chattahoochee or something
(34:49):
like that. So they related to it regardless of the title.
So I was wrong on that one.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
This album helped land him four CMA nominations, five ACM nominations,
and he won top new male artist. That is a
very strong rookie year. You get him to sign that
rookie card, that probably goes for a lot. He also
made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1990 and was
inducted into the Opry just a year later. What really
(35:17):
stood out with his album is how country it sounded.
No pop gloss. No overproduction. It was honest. It was
stripped down. And people really connected to it. Critics compared
him to George Jones. Critics compared him to Merle Haggard.
That's the level of respect that.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
This rookie earned himself. right out of the gate.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
The album hit number four on the Billboard country chart,
later went platinum, and spent 103 weeks on the chart.
So 52 is one year, and 52 is one year,
so that's 104.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Missed two years by one week.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Dang.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
But it stuck around.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
And in a decade where country music was starting to
flirt with pop just a little bit more, Alan Jackson
held the line. He stayed rooted in that traditional sound
and people loved him for it. Let's take a quick
pause from the countdown. From 1990, here are my two
favorite things that aren't country music. So obviously 1990 was
a big year for country music in general, but also
(36:23):
in rock or blues or soul, the Black Crows were
killing it. They put out the album in 1990, Shake
Your Money Maker. The first song was hard to handle,
which is a cover because Otis Redding did it back
in the day. But man, they crushed it. But when
She Talks to Angels came out, like that song was
(36:43):
amazing then. That song is amazing now. I like slow songs.
It was a slower, more emotional. Also, I could actually
tell what they were saying in the lyrics. But I
love the Black Crows. That album comes out in 1990.
I love She Talks to Angels. And I was able
to talk to Chris Robinson about that song. I was like,
what's the fastest song you ever wrote? And he talked
(37:04):
about this song. She talks to angels here. Rich came
up with that guitar intro. I mean, he was still
at mom and dad's house.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
How old were you guys when this happened?
Speaker 10 (37:16):
Rich was 16 when he wrote that riff or whatever,
maybe 17.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
And you were?
Speaker 10 (37:20):
I was 19, 20. So that's one of the first,
but you know, it's funny. We wrote that song and
then it did it. We didn't really have any way
to play it. And when we meet George Draculius, who
signs us and finds us and produces our first couple
of records, I don't think we had that middle section.
Speaker 7 (37:40):
Reality is we.
Speaker 10 (37:41):
Wrote the bones of that song in about 25 minutes,
20 minutes. For whatever reason, she never mentioned the word addiction.
So she's hiding something and she doesn't want.
Speaker 9 (37:53):
To talk about it.
Speaker 10 (37:55):
Again, I'm writing this song way, you know, we were
talking about drugs.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
I had never, I.
Speaker 10 (38:01):
Had probably been stoned a handful of times. I definitely
knew about alcohol, but I wasn't involved in anything like that.
The subject matter would become a lot more familiar as
the 90s roll on. But the correlation between then and
today and how I write especially this record. I was
saying the lyrics are darker. There's a lot of stuff
(38:23):
and there's a lot of decadent stuff in there. I'm
in the only relationship that's ever had any gravity to me.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (38:30):
I'm in the only relationship that contains real, real dynamic
love and passion and commitment.
Speaker 9 (38:39):
But who wants to hear about that?
Speaker 10 (38:40):
You know, so if I'm going to write a song
and what really did, I mean, lots of people want
to hear about that, but What really dictates to me
the imagery and the lyric, the poetry of the song
could be anything. In the case of She Talks to Angels,
Rich played me something that was really melancholy.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (38:59):
So I could access like a sort of story that
was adjacent to me. I knew a girl in Atlanta
who had a certain look. And I didn't know her
that well. She was super rad, goth chick. But maybe
she was on heroin or something, which at the time
(39:19):
would have been pretty deep.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 10 (39:23):
We were still kids. So I romanticized about like someone
i didn't know if someone loses a kid you know
what i mean i just started I wrote one draft
of the lyric too. It wasn't like I worked on
it for days. You know, it just, the story.
Speaker 9 (39:36):
Came out in that form.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
You held that song for a long time then, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Pretty.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
For a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Like you knew it was good then you just were
waiting for the right time.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
It was just like, how did it fit into what
we were at the time?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Did it fit into what you were or was it
so good?
Speaker 10 (39:49):
Not when we wrote it, but later, you know, I
think when we start to find ourselves like, you know,
you're also talking about the era of the power ballads
of all these like hair metal bands and stuff. So
we were, To me, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands is
a ballad. To me, Wild Horses is the ballad. We
loved Graham Parsons.
Speaker 9 (40:08):
We loved the Burrito Brothers.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
So we're not afraid of ballads.
Speaker 9 (40:14):
But I think we would put it more.
Speaker 10 (40:16):
In the context of, and I think one of the
reasons that song has lived on and has a certain
mystique about it is because it comes from that kind
of place.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Do you still like playing that song?
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yes, of course.
Speaker 10 (40:29):
I think we're so blessed to have a song like that.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
Did you ever not like playing the song? Maybe, you know,
cause it got so big. And I think anything that
you're expected to do all the time, it doesn't matter
what it is.
Speaker 10 (40:39):
You'd probably, if you're me, you're definitely hate that, you know, but,
but that was youth too.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Now I, I can't imagine not playing it.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
And the black crows, they weren't country, you know, they
were from Georgia though. And they had Southern background and
you could definitely feel that in their music. So if
I'm talking about my favorite things that aren't country from
1990 to I'm putting the Black Crows and then putting
Shake Your Money Maker out as a record.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I loved it.
Speaker 7 (41:04):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
That's number one. Number two on the list, The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air debuted. Man, that was the coolest show
in the whole world. September 1990, NBC, the debut of
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Probably the greatest theme song
in television show history. It's either Fresh Prince or The Nanny.
(41:28):
You don't even have to love the nanny to understand
that that theme song is also pretty much perfect because
in the nanny, it tells the whole story of her
ending up being the nanny at that rich people's house.
The same thing about the Fresh Prince. It tells the
whole story of how Will ended up at those rich
people's house.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
So I love theme song.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I thought the Fresh Prince, which that's why I knew
him first because it was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the
Fresh Prince rap duo. I bought their tapes, but man,
when the Fresh Prince hit NBC, it was so cool.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
All the colors.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I don't even know where Philadelphia was, but I learned
because of this show. All the characters, Uncle Phil, Aunt Viv,
which by the way, changed out in the seasons because
in real life, Will got into a fight with the
first Aunt Viv and they traded her out and never
even said anything to the audience, which is crazy. The
Fresh Prince ended up running for six seasons, 148 episodes.
Speaker 7 (42:25):
That's massive.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
And then I probably watched them all three, four or
five times in syndication on TBS as well. Will Smith
got two Golden Globe nominations for the role. The show
got a bunch of awards. So looking back, 1990 was
the year of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for me.
And it was the year of the Black Crows putting
out their first record, Shake Your Money Maker.
Speaker 9 (42:45):
Hang tight. The Bobbycast will be right back.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Number two, 1990 was a massive year for Reba. Not
only was she on the big screen, she also released
her 16th studio album, Rumor Has It. 16 albums in,
and she was still raising the bar. Now, by that point,
Reba was already a country powerhouse, but this album really
solidified her status as a genre-defining artist. It had big
(43:17):
tracks on it too, like You Lie, Falling Out of Love,
and of course, still probably her biggest song, Fancy. Let's
talk about Fancy for just a second. It is a
cover of Bobby Gentry's original Reba Turned It Into Her Song.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
It's, how do we say this?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
A rags to riches story with great storytelling. And with
Reba's delivery, it became one of her signature hits. It
still gets people fired up today.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
But yeah, it's about a mom kind of, you know,
putting her daughter out there.
Speaker 7 (43:59):
You know what? Instead of having me explain it, just
listen to Reba.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
We talked about this and just how controversial it was
for her to record. This is from a Bobbycast episode
a few years ago. I never really knew what Fancy
was about until I got to be an adult. And
then when I found out what Fancy was about, I
was like, wow, I've been singing that song a little
too passionately. I was singing it hard.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
I mean, I was really into it. Then it's like
one day you just go, oh, how about that?
Speaker 6 (44:28):
How about that? Yeah, the little girl coming to school
and wanting to sing fancy for the talent night.
Speaker 9 (44:33):
And she goes, do you know what this is about?
Speaker 6 (44:36):
She's, yeah, she gets a brand new red dress from
her mama.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:39):
And then, okay, if that's what you think it's about,
that's great.
Speaker 7 (44:43):
Have at it.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
So when you recorded that song, was there any talk
with you, your team, like, This is kind of an
area that we're going to be singing about that maybe
isn't talked about a whole lot in contemporary country music.
Speaker 6 (44:54):
Well, when I was with Jimmy Bowen in the 80s,
he said, is there a song you want to do
a remix on?
Speaker 2 (44:59):
And I said, yeah, Fancy.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
He said, oh, woman, you don't need to be doing that.
Speaker 7 (45:02):
That's about a prostitute.
Speaker 6 (45:04):
I said, I'm totally aware of that. And so when
I went with Tony Brown in 1990, he said, would
you like to.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
Do a song again?
Speaker 2 (45:13):
And I said, Fancy.
Speaker 6 (45:14):
He said, oh, my gosh, that's my favorite song.
Speaker 4 (45:16):
So we did it.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
So it had been discussed years earlier.
Speaker 5 (45:19):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 7 (45:20):
You decided not to cover it.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Well, I was vetoed.
Speaker 9 (45:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (45:23):
It was like, nope, can't do that.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, kind of weird when you break it down, but man,
what a jam.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Rumor has it, hit number three, but it was Falling
Outta Love that reached number two, and You Lie that
took the top spot on the country charts. She co-produced
the album with Tony Brown, maybe you've heard of him,
and he helped make sure it sounded exactly like she wanted. Sharp, emotional,
classic Reba. The whole thing was a perfect mix of
Big ballads and some up-tempo moments, too.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Critics loved it. Fans loved it.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It helped shape what country would sound like all through
the 90s, especially for female artists. Rumor has it it
wasn't just another album. Heck, it wasn't just another Reba album.
It was Reba at full power. And it's a big
reason why she's still considered one of the greatest of
all time. And before we get to number one on
the list, let's do a little Where Were They in 1990?
(46:11):
Because as massive as 90s country became, a lot of
the stars that defined the decade... hadn't even shown up
yet in 1990.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
Shania Twain. Let's start with the queen herself.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
In 1990, Shania Twain wasn't even Shania Twain yet. She
was still going by Eileen Edwards, singing in bars in Ontario,
supporting her family after her parents had died in a
car crash. She was performing at night, working other jobs
by day, and it wasn't until 1993 that her debut
album came out, and that didn't blow up until Mutt Lang, yeah,
(46:44):
the guy who produced ACDC and Def Leppard, discovered her,
married her, and.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Worked with her.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
So in 1990, she's singing cover songs at Deerhurst Resort
in Canada.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Imagine that.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
The woman who would go on to outsell every other
female in country history was doing dinner shows for tourists.
This one blows people's minds. In 1990, Faith Hill was
working the merch table at Reba McEntire concerts. She was
selling t-shirts, literally. That's how she got close to the business.
She hadn't even met her birth mother yet. That happened
(47:17):
later in the decade. She eventually got a receptionist job
at a publishing company in Nashville where she'd sneak demos
onto producers' desks. By 1993, she had her debut single.
But in 1990, she was the one folding shirts and
counting cash at the end of the night.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Kenny Chesney.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
In 1990, he was a college student at East Tennessee
State studying advertising. He was playing tiny bars with a
guitar and maybe 10 people in the audience.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
He wasn't wearing a cowboy hat yet more like baseball caps.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
And flannel he recorded a self-financed demo that year called
my poor old heart he sold it out of the
back of a car that's not a myth that's real
think about this 10 years later he's selling out stadiums
but in 1990 he was figuring out how to book
gigs at a knoxville pizza joint martina mcbride in 1990
she was performing in a band with her husband john
(48:11):
mcbride he was a sound engineer and she was just
starting to dream of a solo career They moved to
Nashville that year to make ends meet.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
She took a job selling t-shirts for, wait for it,
Garth Brooks. The selling t-shirts thing. Sound familiar?
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Garth heard her demo and helped her land a record deal.
She literally went from merch girl to superstar.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Toby Keith.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
In 1990, he was working the oil fields of Oklahoma
and still playing football in semi-pro leagues on the side.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
No hat, no attitude, at least not yet.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
He wouldn't put out his debut album until 1993, and
it was his second single that changed everything. And that
song was, Should've Been a Cowboy. That song ended up
becoming the most played country song of the 1990s. But
in 1990, he was just a roughneck with a guitar.
And then how about this?
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Lightning round.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Joe Diffie was working as a demo singer. He released
his debut single, Home, in 1990. And boom, number one.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
One of the fastest starts of the decade. Leigh-Anne Rimes,
she was eight.
Speaker 7 (49:19):
Eight years old.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Still doing talent shows in Texas and making adults cry.
Trick Pony, Brad Paisley, Sarah Evans. Not even on the
radar yet. Here's the thing. 1990 wasn't just a big
year for debuts. It was the year a lot of
future icons were still working regular jobs.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Still unknown. Still hustling. But that's kind of inspiring.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Because it reminds us that no one shows up fully formed.
Every legend has a backstory. And for the biggest names
of the 90s, 1990 was just chapter one.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Number one. One, one, one, one, one, one. That's not
an effect.
Speaker 7 (49:57):
That's my voice. Number one.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
1990 is when Garth Brooks officially became Garth Brooks.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Or Garth freaking Brooks.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
Or Garth.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Capital G. Yeah, I could do this all day.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
On August 27th, he dropped his second album, No Fences,
and that changed everything.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
The album had friends in low places.
Speaker 8 (50:19):
Yeah, I got friends in low places where the whiskey
drowns and the beer chases.
Speaker 2 (50:28):
The album had thunder rolls.
Speaker 9 (50:29):
Thunder rolls and the lightning strikes.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Boom, boom, boom. It had unanswered prayers.
Speaker 4 (50:37):
God's greatest gift. Unanswered prayers.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
It was a monster. He had an album before.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
But like I said, that first album, I just laid
the tracks for the train.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Because no fences. Chugga chugga chugga.
Speaker 9 (50:55):
Choo choo.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
I've been lucky enough to become friends with Garth over
the years and have even opened for him at one
of his stadium shows, which was super cool. I asked
Garth if he could feel just how big he was
getting at the time. and what it was like being
mentioned in the same breath as guys like George Strait,
Randy Travis, and all the legends who have come before him.
Speaker 11 (51:13):
Also, what you're talking about is opinion. So I've got
my opinion of who the greatest country artist is, and
for me it's George Strait. Haggard is the greatest ever walked,
so you're never going to put your name with those guys. Ledoux, Whitley,
Randy Travis, those guys. So it's... It's fun just to
get to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, but I
don't know if you ever really knew.
Speaker 9 (51:31):
Maybe Central Park.
Speaker 11 (51:33):
Maybe when you looked up and saw the crowd, maybe
something went across your head like, something might be happening here.
I think most of all, you're just having fun.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
You're just playing.
Speaker 11 (51:43):
What people think of you or the names that they're
going to put on you, they're going to put on you.
You don't have anything to do with that, so just
enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (51:49):
Have fun.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
Garth Brooks once said, if you want to know who
Garth Brooks is, the song Friends in Little Places is
who Garth Brooks is. The album hit number one on
the country charts, stayed there for 41 weeks. It also
climbed all the way to number three on the Billboard 200.
Speaker 9 (52:04):
What's the difference?
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Well, that's all genres.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
It was at number three on the all genres album
chart as a country album.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
Kind of unheard of. It eventually sold over 18 million copies.
Speaker 7 (52:20):
Unheard of.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Garth also received the Icon Award from the Billboard Music Awards.
At the time, He was the ninth artist ever to
receive the honor, and in truly humble Garth form, this
is how he responded when I told him congratulations.
Speaker 9 (52:32):
Thank you, and thank you for it.
Speaker 11 (52:34):
I mean, if you look at those names, none of
them are country. So this is a reflection of the
country music radio charts, which is you guys and the
country music audience. So thank you for it. It's pretty
cool to look at the list of decades that you
can pull songs from, and thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
The Thunder Rolls is interesting because that started up controversy,
especially the video. And you had networks banning the video. Go,
we're not going to show it. Which really just created
demand and interest. I can remember being a very young
kid and I believe CMT was, ah, we're not going
to show this video. Except it just made you want
(53:11):
to see the video more. The video showed domestic violence.
The video showed, but not in a glorifying way. In a,
we shouldn't accept this type way. It got praised for
how real and powerful that it was. So we did
Friends in Low Places. We did Thunder Rolls. Let's get
(53:32):
to Unanswered Prayers. Possibly one of the best story songs
of all time. It's about running into an old flame
and realizing, huh, I actually have everything that I needed.
Even if it wasn't at one time what I thought
I wanted. That song went number one as well, obviously.
(53:55):
My point is No Fences wasn't just a big album.
It was an album that changed country music. Garth did
blend old school country with the storytelling and then used
arena-sized rock energy. And like I said, it was top
three on the Billboard 200. All genres, that means it
(54:16):
connected with just about everybody. By the end of 1990,
he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, where he
still is a very, very proud vocal member now.
Speaker 2 (54:25):
In 1990, that's the year Garth Brooks, Garth Brooks, Garth
freaking Brooks.
Speaker 1 (54:33):
Capital G, that's the year he became a household name. So, yeah,
as we close out this year and this episode, between
Garth blowing the doors off And Alan Jackson quietly setting
the bar for country songwriting. 1990 wasn't just a big year.
(54:54):
It was the beginning of a lot of very special
years to come. And by the way, we here, we're
just getting started. Next week, we'll look at what happened
in 1991. More hits, more chaos, and more reasons why
the 90s are and were the best decade that country
music's ever seen.
Speaker 2 (55:12):
Thank you all for hanging out. I'm Bobby Bones. We'll
see you next time.
Speaker 9 (55:17):
Love this episode of The Bobbycast? Subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
Scuba Steve
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