The 1990s produced some superb dance music in the country genre. There were tunes that just made you want to jump to your feet and twirl around the dance floor 'til you dropped. They communicated plain old-fashioned fun of the kind that never goes out of style. These songs are timeless. There is no expiration date on them. So while we may have outgrown '90s big hair and suit jacket shoulder pads like linebackers wear, we will not ever get tired of these toe-tapping classics. Billy Ray Cyrus, Alan Jackson, Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, we owe you all one!
Videos by Wide Open Country
"Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus
This song is terrific. Yes, I mean it. You can hardly resist the urge to move to it. Cyrus exploded on the music scene like a comet zooming across the sky in 1992 because of this track. Handsome and devil-may-care, he was the charming heartthrob that (female) country fans adored. He sure knew his way around a song.
"Chattahoochee" by Alan Jackson
Another fun song from the early 1990s. Jackson looks like he is having a real down-home, goofy blast in the video. I picture a dance floor filled with smiling couples swinging each other around to the lively strains of this classic. The CMA liked it too. It picked up prestigious honors from them for Song of the Year and Single of the Year.
"Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain
Twain's magnificent Come On Over LP was the wellspring of so many great songs. This was a doozy of a track. It marked the rebirth of womanly sass, if it ever went away in the first place. Co-written by Twain and her then-husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange, it also earned her a well-deserved Grammy. As the song says, "Let's go, girls!" Best intro ever.
"Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks & Dunn
This tune helped put line dancing solidly on the map. Per Billboard, "...[T]he song became Brooks & Dunn's fourth No. 1 Hot Country Songs hit, with a music video featuring a line dance — which helped spark the 1990s country music line dance craze. 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' spent four weeks atop the Hot Country Songs chart in 1992," The track was crafted by Ronnie Dunn. So many years later, it still sizzles.
"Down At The Twist And Shout" By Mary Chapin Carpenter
Racing along at breakneck speed, this song by Carpenter was designed for dancing. From her 1990 LP, Shooting Straight in the Dark, she penned it herself. She also took home a Grammy for it. A winner of a tune if there ever was one.
