Children of the 90s Party Playlist

I know I'm a few days late on the Cinco De Mayo front, but some of us had to work and are forced to suspend our partying for a couple of days. In the spirit of the upcoming summer season, I've compiled a special playlist with your dance party needs in mind. Even if you can't wrangle up a party in the next couple of days, this will at least get you through a particularly rough commute. It may, however, garner some strange looks from fellow drivers when they see you singing your 90s heart out on the on-ramp.

This list should have you well on your way to throwing a solid 90s party. Just be warned: mixing these songs with alcohol may lead to some adverse reactions. I can't be held responsible for the things you might do or the dance moves you might break out under the concurrent influence of rockin' old school 90s dance music and a couple of vodka tonics. I hereby absolve myself of all liability; I said solid party, not liquid. Consume at your own discretion. Those dance moves are all you.


Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) (C&C Music Factory)



They've got their own music factory, so you know C&C has got to be good. This one is straight, direct, and to the point. Everybody dance. Now. Do it.


Gettin' Jiggy With it (Will Smith)



Ah, the song that encouraged us to use the word "jiggy" in everyday parlance. You want to hate it, but Will Smith is just so darn likable, you might just get carried away by the beat. Or, you know, lost in his eyes on the album cover. Either or.


Boombastic (Shaggy)



This one gets a little PG-13 in parts, so you may want to leave it off your song rotation if you have any young guests. Then again, we listened to it and turned out okay. Well, sort of. To be fair, we couldn't understand most of the words. Also, it starts pretty innocently: "Soft and cuddle hug me up like a quilt." With an intro like that, who would have thought it would get so racy?


Be My Lover (La Bouche)



It's got a beat and you can dance to it? Plus, it's totally cheesy. What's not to like.


OPP (Naughty By Nature)



You know who's down with OPP? Yeah, you know. Me. Totally am. Constantly singing the praises of OPP. Guilty as charged.


This is How We Do It (Montell Jordan)



This is one of those songs we all knew the words to as children, even though we probably couldn't tell you what any of them meant. At the very least, it promoted designated drivers. That's semi-educational, right?


C'mon and Ride it (The Train) (Quad City DJs)

Quad City DJ's - New Music - More Music Videos

We all need an excuse every once in a while to form a line of people complete with a leading conductor car and a caboose bringing up the rear. It's a dance anyone can do. We all look equally stupid doing that bent arm pull-down train whistle motion.


Whoomp! There it Is (Tag Team)



In case you didn't catch the words, the gist of it is Tag Team telling us how awesome they're going to be. The major theme of the song is their explaining how much they're going to bring it. The answer? A lot. Actually, that's the theme of the next two songs as well, so this is a great segue. Anyway, there is, however, some Whoomp Shak a Laka-ing in this one to which we can all sing along. Thank goodness for that. A sing-along moment always helps break up the party tension after we've unsuccessfully attempted to rap our way through a full song.


U Can't Touch This (MC Hammer)



With MC Hammer's biggest single, we all get the chance to stop and observe a heartfelt moment of Hammer Time. If you could throw in some metallic hammer pants, that would work too. If someone asks who you're supposed to be and you get all embarrassed, feel free to claim you've come dressed as Aladdin. It will probably fly. Like the magic carpet. Yep, I went there.


Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice)

Vanilla Ice - New Music - More Music Videos

Okay, okay, I'll admit I watched Glee this week and thus a few of these so-called songs with bad reputations have been floating around in my cerebral cortex. Anyway, there's just something so magical about stopping, collaborating, and listening. If I didn't know Vanilla Ice better, I'd say that came straight off a worksheet from middle school peer mediation. Who knows? Maybe it did.


What is Love? (Haddaway)



It may be irritating, but that SNL Night at the Roxbury sketch had been pretty persistently persevering. This song still makes most of us want to hit the dance floor and try to attract partners with pickup lines like, "You? Me? Him? You? Me?" It's essentially a foolproof method.


Tootsee Roll (69 Boyz)



Everyone likes a song with step-by-step directions in it. It tends to distract from those of us who have no rhythm and flail wildly, hoping to be obscured by the strobe light. Luckily the 69 Boyz were kind enough to throw in a little "To the left, to the left" and all that good stuff. It even tells us when to dip. Thanks, Boyz!


We Like to Party (VengaBoys)



This is truly a terrible song, but it's just so darn catchy you're almost willing to excuse it. Until your brain is spinning "We like to party! We like! We to party!" on repeat all day. It's a little excessive. Just be thankful I didn't put their other it, "Boom Boom Boom." That one's a real killer.


Everybody (Backstreet's Back) (Backstreet Boys)


Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back) (Official Music Video) - Watch more top selected videos about: Backstreet_Boys

Yes, it's a song with responsive parts. How easy is that? They say something, then we say something. Simple. Sometimes we also get to go, "yeeeaaah--ahhhh." It's also considerably less awkward for a room full of adults to shout out, "Am I sexual?" than it was for us at a middle school dance or some such equally inappropriate occasion. I can only imagine the adult chaperones were mortified.