Backtracking: 4 Great Music Moments From The ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Soundtrack

Robbie Daw | September 2, 2010 11:23 am

You may have noticed that—holy Luke Perry!—today’s date just happens to be 9/02/10. In honor of this symbolic calendar phenomenon, we’d like to whisk you back in time to the not-so-far-away days of 1992. It was a year when Bill Clinton was elected President, sideburns were in, Right Said Fred were too sexy and—oh, yes—the Beverly Hills, 90210 soundtrack was a must-have guilty pleasure.

1. Before we get to the legit radio smashes that the original 90210 soundtrack thrust upon the masses, let’s check out the under-appreciated jam “Why” by Cathy Dennis. The British singer-songwriter landed her first American hit with D-Mob (also featured here on “Why”) in 1990 (“C’mon And Get My Love”). Later she would go on to pen the American Idol theme song and co-write Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” Kylie Minogue’s “Cant Get You Out Of My Head,” Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” and S Club 7’s “Never Had A Dream Come True.”

2. Shanice‘s Diane Warren ballad “Saving Forever For You” was one of the bigger hits from the soundtrack (it eventually peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100). And while she never found chart success again, the hat-loving singer can at least fondly look back knowing that Brian Austin Green’s dialogue in her music video was even cheesier than the song’s lyrics.

3. Way before she originated the role of icy, stiletto-wearing vixen Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty, Vanessa Williams served up a string of popular ballads throughout the 1990s that went on to become radio staples. One such slow jam was her duet with Brian McKnight, “Love Is.” It wound up being the biggest hit off Beverly Hills, 90210: The Soundtrack after peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 in spring 1993.

4. We’d be remiss if we didn’t include Jeremy Jordan‘s “The Right Kind Of Love”—mostly because, after seeing the music video, he was this then-teenage writer’s first “celebrity crush.” The earrings, the B-boy style, those moves—you go, white boy. “The Right Kind Of Love” reached a respectable #14 on the Hot 100, and afterward Jeremy segued into a fairly successful acting career (Never Been Kissed, Bio-Dome).