‘L’Amour Toujours’ N°474 – Vintage 90s Music Videos

1 . Seven – Inside Love

Released in January 1990, “Inside Love” by Seven occupies an intriguing space in the Adult Oriented Rock (AOR) genre, where bombastic guitars and radio-friendly hooks tend to reign supreme.

The song floated to a modest No. 78 on the UK Singles Chart and maintained its grip for four weeks—a respectable but hardly trailblazing performance.

The production by John Parr, of “St. Elmo’s Fire” fame, lends a polished sheen to the track, pulling it squarely into late-’80s rock aesthetics while angling for something a touch bolder.

On the flip side sits “Till Then,” a track produced by Tim Lewis and Mike Parker that appears to play second fiddle to the more commercially targeted a-side.

Seven’s marketing machine wasn’t slacking either; they even rolled out a promotional video, a necessary gesture during an MTV-era landscape that punished anyone unwilling to slap visuals onto their sound.

The band’s origins are endearingly provincial—formed in Bournemouth in 1989 and championed by Phillip Schofield on Radio One, giving them a fleeting moment in the national spotlight.

Despite being backed by Parr and positioned as a sprightly, young Def Leppard, they never soared to those heights, their potential buckling under internal tensions.

Still, the story doesn’t entirely end there; the band pulled together decades later to drop *Seven* in 2014, a collection of unreleased material that felt like a time capsule from a different era of rock ambitions.

Followed in 2016 by *Shattered,* it’s clear the band refuses to be a mere footnote, even if they walked the industry tightrope without a safety net for longer than most would care to.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

2 . Gay Dad – To Earth With Love

Released in January 1999 as Gay Dad’s debut single, “To Earth With Love” surfaces as a peculiar blend of glam rock swagger and neo-psychedelic gloss, encapsulating the late-’90s British indie scene’s restless experimentation.

Ranking at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart, it became their highest-charting hit, propelled by an audacious promotional push that included a historic performance on *Top of the Pops*—before they even released a record.

Musically, the track oscillates between Bowie-inspired theatrics and the kind of polished production that screams Britpop’s last hurrah, thanks to co-producers Gary Langan, Chris Hughes, and an early contribution by Tony Visconti, of all people.

Its lyrics, dripping in cosmic romanticism, find their counterpart in Pedro Romhanyi’s kitschy-futuristic music video, which plays out like a bargain-bin Kubrick fever dream—a bold aesthetic choice, though not one without its detractors.

The hype machine surrounding Gay Dad, stoked by music magazines like *Melody Maker* and *Select* dubbing them as Britain’s next saviors, was as much a blessing as a trap.

Though celebrated on critics’ year-end lists and enjoying considerable airtime (even the demo snagged BBC Radio 1’s Single of the Week in 1998), the track’s sheen couldn’t outlast frontman Cliff Jones’ very public disdain for the manufactured spotlight.

“To Earth With Love” exists now as a cult highlight of an era fraught with overambition and fleeting stardom, revisited occasionally—nostalgically, skeptically—on YouTube by a scattered following who marvel at its ambition as much as its contradictions.

Featured on the 1999 album “Leisure Noise “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

3 . Cicero – Love Is Everywhere

Released in 1992 as part of Cicero’s debut album *Future Boy*, “Love Is Everywhere” is a synth-pop effort soaked in the early 90s’ obsession with glossy production and romantic sentimentality.

Co-produced by the Pet Shop Boys, their fingerprints are all over the track, from its lush keyboard layers to Neil Tennant’s unmistakable backing vocals, which feel like a wink from the duo rather than a full handshake.

The song hit a respectable number 19 on the UK Singles Chart but was eclipsed on *Top of the Pops* by none other than Michael Jackson’s “Black or White,” an irony not lost on those who recognize how tightly pop music ties itself to timing and spectacle.

Released under Spaghetti Records—another Pet Shop Boys imprint—the track carries a somewhat calculated charm, like a demo polished until every edge gleamed but left with little room to breathe or surprise.

Thematically, it’s right on the nose, declaring the ubiquity of love with an earnestness that would’ve felt right at home in the lyrical lexicon of the era, though it now possibly borders on the saccharine for contemporary ears.

The attached music video datedly rests in Cicero’s YouTube archives, a relic suspended in a bubble of aesthetic choices that were bold in their time but might strike today’s viewers as soft-focus nostalgia.

While *Future Boy*, the album from which this single emerged, failed to chart, the song remains its shining moment, proof that even fleeting chart success has its audience, no matter how niche or ephemeral.

Cicero was discovered via a demo tape, a classic tale that adds a touch of mystique to his narrative but simultaneously underscores how heavily his journey interlocked with the creative yet commercially-minded machinery of the Pet Shop Boys themselves.

“Love Is Everywhere” functions less as a cultural milestone and more as a crystalline snapshot of a musical alliance, anchored in a moment when big-label pop flirted openly with the underground echoes of synth-heavy club music.

It’s a track that straddles two worlds—embraced by the charts just briefly enough to matter, yet too tethered to its producers’ shadows to ever truly belong to Cicero alone.

Featured on the 1992 album “Future Boy”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

4 . Bonnie Tyler – Making Love [Out Of Nothing At All]

Bonnie Tyler’s 1995 rendition of “Making Love [Out of Nothing At All]” finds its footing in the lavish, unapologetically theatrical production style of Jim Steinman, the track’s original writer.

Originally a chart-climber when released by Air Supply in 1983, Tyler’s version leans into her raspy vocals, amplifying the track’s inherent melodrama.

Co-produced by Steinman and Steven Rinkoff, the arrangement doesn’t shy away from indulgence, layering soaring piano passages, emotional crescendos, and a surprising opera reference: a sample of Tyler’s mother singing Puccini’s *”Un bel dì vedremo.”*

Running nearly eight minutes, the track’s length borders on self-indulgent, but in Steinman’s universe, excess is a feature, not a flaw.

While Air Supply secured mainstream hits with the song, Tyler’s version serves as a deeper, darker exploration of romantic defiance, fitting snugly into her 1990s album *Free Spirit.*

AllMusic hailed it as “fantastic,” emphasizing how the track’s vocal and emotional demands align perfectly with Tyler’s bold delivery.

Featured on the 1995 album “Free Spirit “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

5 . Eric Clapton – Bad Love

“Bad Love,” Eric Clapton’s 1989 single from his *Journeyman* album, lands somewhere between a breakup catharsis and an ’80s rock clinic.

The track is co-penned with Mick Jones of Foreigner, and that collaboration is as evident in its airtight production as it is in its polished, radio-friendly chords.

Russ Titelman keeps the mix clean—almost pristine—whether it’s Clapton’s vocal rasp or Nate East’s bass work anchoring the song’s smooth yet powerful center.

Phil Collins brings his usual percussive precision, though his vocal contribution is more subtle in this outing, opting for texture over flourish.

Thematically, this isn’t an opus of heartbreak but more a declaration of liberation, resonating with anyone who’s slammed the door on emotional baggage.

Awards like the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1991 might suggest this is peak Clapton, but chart positions tell a quieter success story—#1 on U.S. Mainstream Rock, yes, though a modest #25 in his native UK.

The track is undeniably of its era, with perhaps too much reliance on slick instrumentation rather than raw emotion it tries to sell.

The accompanying video, shot in monochrome, feels oddly both intimate and distant, showing the band rehearsing yet never quite peeling back the layers on Clapton as an artist.

Performed 131 times during the *Journeyman* tour, “Bad Love” wasn’t just a radio hit but a live staple, adding a bit of mid-set punch to Clapton’s catalog.

If it lacks the timelessness of “Layla” or the reflective grace of “Tears in Heaven,” it compensates by giving listeners a solid, no-frills rock anthem with enough polish to catch the light, if not always the earworm trophy.

Featured on the 1989 album “Journeyman “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Twitter

6 . 911 – A Little Bit More

1999’s chart-topping single “A Little Bit More” by 911 takes a calculated dive into nostalgia, reworking Dr. Hook’s 1976 bedroom serenade into a glossy, boy-band confection tailored for the late ’90s pop market.

Originally penned by Bobby Gosh, the song cheekily embraces its origins as an ode to prolonged intimacy, yet 911’s rendition smooths its rough edges with sentimental vocals and a polished production that leans heavily into commercial appeal.

Rather than reinvention, the band opts for reverence, keeping the sultry undertones intact while wrapping them in soft harmonies and an understated arrangement.

Its brief but successful reign at number one on the UK Singles Chart marked a high point for the group, even as the single’s one-week tenure atop the charts underscored the ephemeral nature of pop glory in that era.

Beyond the UK, its modest performance internationally—landing at number seven in Ireland and struggling in New Zealand—speaks to the regional appeal of this reimagined classic.

The accompanying music video amplifies the romantic atmosphere, placing the trio in an intimate setting that toes the line between swoon-worthy and saccharine.

Interestingly, this cover reflects a broader trend in the ’90s of repurposing soft rock staples for a new generation, but its earnest presentation gives it little room to challenge or critique the original’s narrative or style.

What the track lacks in innovation, it makes up for in nostalgia-driven comfort, standing as a product of a time when reinterpretations were a surefire ticket to cross-generational approval.

Years later, its presence in reunion performances and greatest-hits compilations ensures it remains tethered to 911’s legacy, if not their most daring moment artistically.

Does it break boundaries? Hardly. But as an artifact of its era, it perfectly captures the late ’90s penchant for recycling with just enough sentimentality to make it stick.

Featured on the 1999 album “There It Is”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Instagram

7 . Van Halen – Don’t Tell Me [What Love Can Do]

Van Halen’s “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do),” a brooding entry from their *Balance* album, trades the neon bravado of their earlier work for a heavier, clenched-fist introspection.

Released in January 1995, the track plants itself firmly on the edge of hard rock, with Eddie Van Halen’s dense riffing and Sammy Hagar’s full-bodied vocals setting a tense, dramatic mood.

The lyrics, initially conceived as a hopeful anthem, absorbed the gloom of Kurt Cobain’s death and the band’s own internal fractures, morphing into a darker commentary on redemption and struggle.

Lines like “I heard the shotgun” are jarring, a poetic nod to despair without tipping into exploitation.

The video, directed by Peter Christopherson, splices band performance with vignettes of crime, incarceration, and grief—a bleak narrative in tune with the track’s somber energy.

Critics noted the song’s atmospheric shift compared to Van Halen’s usual swagger, marking it as both a departure and a reflection of a band nearing the end of its original era.

Featured on the 1995 album “Balance“.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

8 . Rialto – Untouchable

“Untouchable” by Rialto emerges from the late-’90s Britpop scene with a blend of orchestral grandeur and shadowy introspection.

Released first in 1997 and revisited in 1998, it occupies a curious place in pop history, claiming the title of the first UK chart single available exclusively online—a nod to the nascent digital music era.

The song’s production, chiefly orchestrated by band member Jonny Bull, crafts a cinematic landscape with strings that veer toward the melodramatic, while the lyrics dig into the guarded insecurities of a heart reluctant to embrace vulnerability.

“Untouchable” sits at the intersection of Beatlesque nostalgia and a distinctly noir aesthetic, channeling a mood poised between grandeur and melancholy.

Its reception highlights this duality: peaking at #20 on the UK Singles Chart and finding a fervent audience in East Asia, it simultaneously underscores the band’s relative invisibility in broader Western markets.

The track remains both a curious artifact of Britpop’s latter days and a reminder of the fleeting nature of pop innovation.

Featured on the 1998 album “Rialto”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Wikipedia

9 . Sugar – If I Can’t Change Your Mind

Sugar’s “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” occupies a fascinating space within the early ‘90s alternative rock landscape, balancing raw emotional heft with an unexpectedly buoyant melody.

Co-produced by Bob Mould and Lou Giordano, the track is found on the band’s debut album *Copper Blue*, which gained critical acclaim and secured the title of 1992’s Album of the Year from *NME*.

The jangly acoustic guitar runs counter to the distorted textures that defined much of the album, making the song an outlier in Sugar’s otherwise electrified oeuvre, yet it’s undeniably magnetic.

With no gender pronouns in the lyrics, the piece achieves universal relatability, focusing on heartbreak and the acceptance of a relationship’s collapse without resorting to overplayed sentimentality.

In the music video, Bob Mould clutches a photograph paired with the message “This is not your parents’ world,” an emblematic nod to generational shifts and the universality of emotional turmoil.

Despite its undertones of pain, the song’s bright arrangement feels paradoxically hopeful, a testament to the complexity Mould infused into his post-Hüsker Dü melodic evolution.

Commercially, the single charted at number 30 in the UK, gaining genuine traction without feeling calibrated for mainstream recognition.

If there’s any critique, it may lie in the fact that its upbeat delivery could inadvertently mask the rawness at its core, though this interplay of contradiction is arguably its greatest strength.

Featured on the 1992 album “Copper Blue“.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Wikipedia

10 . Nick Howard – Everybody Needs Somebody

Nick Howard’s “Everybody Needs Somebody” stakes its claim in the eclectic terrain of ‘90s electronic pop, a genre cocktail mixing synth-pop and techno with a dusting of Aussie charisma.

Released in 1994 and featured on his 1995 album *Sound of Breathing*, the track barely nudged its way onto the charts—71 in Australia, 64 in the UK—but its modest stats hide a deeper resonance.

Howard’s layered production speaks more to the underground German club scene of the time than the glossy, radio-friendly pop of his contemporaries.

Its title suggests a cry for connection, perhaps appealing to the human vulnerability shared across dance floors, even if the lyrics themselves remain elusive here.

This sonic experiment precedes Howard’s stint as a songwriter for TV shows like *Girl TV* and *A gURLs Wurld*, as well as collaborations with early-2000s pop darlings Bardot and Delta Goodrem, grounding him as both artist and behind-the-scenes architect.

A curious intersection of tech-house instincts and a pop heart, this track offers a glimpse of an artist grappling with identity in a chaotic genre era.

Featured on the 1995 album “Sound of Breathing”.

More by the same : Official Site

11 . Diesel Park West – Fall To Love

Released in early 1992, “Fall to Love” by Diesel Park West represents a moment where timing and record label interference blurred the edges of a potentially sharper impact.

This track emerged from sessions recorded in 1990-1991 but was shelved due to EMI’s peculiar decisions, including scrapping another single, “Walk With the Mountain.”

Diesel Park West’s sound leans heavily on the dusty nostalgia of the 1960s West Coast scene, channeling harmonies reminiscent of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield but framing them with a moodier, alt-rock sensibility that nods to their era.

The band’s history of transformation—from their earlier days as The Filberts—adds a layer of intrigue, though it doesn’t necessarily elevate the song into standout territory beyond its UK chart peak at No. 48.

Laurie Latham’s production is reliably clean, delivering a polished rock sound familiar to listeners of early ’90s alternative radio, but the lack of a dedicated music video leaves it feeling a touch isolated amid peers more visually assertive.

“Fall to Love” exists in the shadows of delayed opportunities and competing priorities, a product of a label’s fickle moves and a band’s persistent homage to a bygone musical spirit.

Featured on the 1991 album “Decency”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

12 . Let Loose – One Night Stand

Let Loose’s “One Night Stand” carries the unmistakable air of mid-90s pop simplicity: polished hooks wrapped in a narrative of fleeting romance.

Released as a single in 1995 but first appearing on their self-titled album from late 1994, it reached a respectable No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart, riding the coattails of the group’s earlier breakout “Crazy for You.”

The song, framed by Nicky Graham’s radio-ready production, sticks to a theme of transient connection, showcasing the band’s knack for pairing breezy melodies with glossy, supermarket-ready pop sensibilities.

The track is charming, if not particularly profound, and its chart performance speaks to a moment when British pop fans were hungry for uncomplicated earworms that filled the dancefloor.

Yet, while “Crazy for You” sold an impressive 400,000 copies, “One Night Stand” feels faintly like walking into the room just after the party’s peak—pleasant but not essential.

The trio’s fleeting moment of glory culminated in a 1995 UK tour, where their carefully produced sound likely played better than their somewhat underwhelming presence on record suggests.

Ultimately, “One Night Stand” is less notable for what it contributes than for where it sits: perfectly adequate, nestled in the shadow of stronger singles from a group whose success would quietly fade like its titular affair.

Featured on the 1994 album “Let Loose”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Wikipedia