Before we turned into moody teenagers and perhaps later inherited music tastes from our parents or older siblings, we were children. Innocent, sweet children that turned the radio to full blast imitating dance moves and lyrics to our then, favourite songs.
A walk down memory lane brings to mind ten songs out of many that accompanied us during childhood. What we loved then is probably what we cringe at now. Let’s not forget the hairbrush which we temporarily transformed into a microphone and the empty space in the living room that suddenly became our dance floor.
Britney Spears — Oops I did it again
Britney’s blonde looks and the hot boyfriend that accompanied this music video raised the song to the top of the charts. How can you not remember Britney in this video? Britney, in that iconic wet-look one piece that sticks. This song marks early success for Britney. However, more importantly it is a landmark in our childhood for all the times we tried to imitate Britney’s dance moves while no one was watching when this song played on the radio.
Axel F — Crazy Frog
"DING DING.’ This song made its debut with Alex F’s remix. Subsequently, this tune sparked a global hit on the mobile phones such as the indestructible Nokia 3310 we treasured so dearly. The catchy tune was a worldwide success not only as a mobile phone ringtone and gave birth to the crazy frog merchandise. The iconic frog with the big lips, wears goggles and half a smile was everywhere.
Las Ketchup — (The Ketchup Song) Asereje
With dance moves that are described a refurbished Macarena, this song has more revelation of the skin, more shaking of the hips and bending of the knees. The closest method to understanding the lyrics is the Spanglish version of the song or a translator. We can’t understand half of the lyrics but we still danced our heart out to this song during the school talent show or a birthday party.
Aqua — Barbie Girl
What now sounds so cheesy is probably what we danced to and sang from the bottom of our heart in our childhood. The voices are superficial and irritating. But this is what made us turn up the radio volume back in the sweet days of childhood. When radio presenters announced this song, girls squealed in happiness, danced and sang the lyrics. Now that the "Barbie girl’ days are over the song still brings sweet childhood memories and you can still remember the lyrics quite well.
Los de Rio — Macarena
Since the release of the song, it topped music charts worldwide and remained popular for three consecutive years since its release. People gathered together like penguins to dance to this song. The dance moves are universal. Even if you couldn’t dance, you couldn’t go wrong with the Macarena.
S Club 7 — S Club Party
S Club 7 songs found themselves in school talent shows year after year. Break time was spent talking about our favourite S Club 7 member or who’s the hottest male member. Alternatively we showed off our new S Club 7 magazine, flipping through the pages taking quizzes and reading their stories. During our free time we probably turned on the television to watch S Club 7 episodes. For birthday and Christmas we begged for S Club 7 merchandise. We knew the lyrics to most of their songs and perhaps even tried to imitate the dance moves. That empty space in the living room that mums kept unfurnished always came in handy when we used all our energy in our attempts to dance to S Club 7 songs.
Westlife — Uptown Girl
Boys with handsome good looks and a British accent left a long stream of screaming females. One love song after another and the good-looking boy band was left at the top of the music charts for a long time. Hopeless romantics dreamed of a man that would feel the same way as Westlife did about love. With a more upbeat tune, Uptown Girl tops our list of favourite Westlife songs.
Vengaboys — Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The song that was literally everywhere — the dance floors, ringtones, cassette players and the radio. This is definitely an iconic song of the 90s. Although later it received a number of negative reviews, this song was one of the top songs of Euro dance-pop music.
Spice Girls — Wannabee
Spice Girls had a variety of music genres throughout their career but Wannabee probably is what typifies the Spice Girls until the present day. This song deals with the power of friendship over relationship (a female version of bros before hoes). The song’s catchy tune made it an instant worldwide hit. Men surely loved Spice Girls’ crop tops and short skirts in Wannabee’s music video. Once again, thanks mum for allowing us some living-room space to practice dance moves with the Spice Girls.
Coolio — Gangster’s Paradise
The soundtrack to the film Dangerous Minds, Gangster’s Paradise is probably one of our early attempts at rap music. We probably managed to sing the chorus while singing partial stanzas to the rest of the song, as we couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced lyrics. Although Eminem brought the real wave of rap music in the nineties Gangster’s Paradise is one of the first rap songs we listened to as children.
