3 Songs From the 1990s That Are So Weird but So Fun To Listen To

Surprisingly, even the strangest pieces of art have layers you can only comprehend by diving deeper and giving them your full attention. Here are three 90s hits that are a little silly but still totally worth listening to once you embrace the weirdness.

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“Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba

This is one of those songs you don’t really think you know until you hear it again, and then it’s instantly recognizable. You might not have paid much attention to the words before, but if you take a look at the Chumbawamba hit, it’s actually surprisingly anthemic. 

The opening verse sings, “Truth is, I thought it mattered / I thought that music mattered / But does it? Bollocks! / Not compared to how people matter.”

“Tubthumping” sings of the working class, who, even when they “get knocked down”, almost always “get back up again.” Oh and by the way, a “Tumbthumper” is actually just another word for an English politician.

Boff Whalley, Chumbawamba’s guitarist, told The Guardian in 2016 that for him, the song still doesn’t get old. In fact, he doesn’t feel embarrassed by it whatsoever. “I know some bands who hate their songs being popular, but I just think, ‘Get off your high horse!’” he said. “The whole point of art is to have an audience.”

“Loser” by Beck

“Loser” by Beck is one of those songs you either have to tune out completely or embrace wholeheartedly. Personally, we’d recommend the second option, because lyrics in this one are kind of hard to dismiss.

The first verse sings, “In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey / Butane in my veins, and I’m out to cut the junkie / With the plastic eyeballs, spray-paint the vegetables / Dog food stalls with the beefcake pantyhose.”

Like…what does that mean?

When you learn that the song was initially Beck’s attempt to get people’s attention by making up lyrics on the spot, it totally tracks. He told Pitchfork in 2011 that when he first played it, “Loser” was kind of a joke.

“I didn’t even have a copy of the song. I just remember it being a laugh, but some people heard it and liked it,” he admitted.

“Whoomp! There It Is” by Tag Team

One day, you’re not thinking about this song at all. The next day, you put on a 90s playlist, and “Whoomp! There it is.” 

All jokes aside, this tune was actually a pretty huge hit for Tag Team, who got a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart out of it in 1993.

DC Glenn told Songfacts how “Whoomp! There it is” just started with a popular saying and a dream. Apparently, he and Steve Rolln were looking to make something up-tempo, so Steve contributed the beat, and Glenn thought to use the “Whoomp! There it is”.

“I had a stack of rhyme books, so I started going through the rhyme books trying to match the beat with the lyrics. That’s how I used to do it back then,” he explained. “I used to love to write. I had rhyme books and dictionaries and I’d really be university with it because that’s how I started—I did it in class.”

The song might get a little repetitive from time to time, but undeniably it’s a jam and oh so 90s.

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