A Single by Single Celebratory Rock Countdown to ’92

The roads aren’t the only scary place to be on this celebratory night.

Listening to the radio also can be a harrowing experience for sober pop fans on New Year’s Eve because disc jockeys love to reminisce.

That means a dreary replay of the mostly vapid pop singles the stations have been playing all year.

Instead of showcasing records that challenge or inspire, most pop stations--and country, rock and R&B; stations to varying degrees--play records that entertain on a superficial, non-demanding level.

A look at trade publication Radio & Records’ year-end ranking of 1991’s most-played pop singles suggests some of the horrors in store tonight.

The year’s most played song: Bryan Adams’ flaccid “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You.”

And it doesn’t get much better as you go down the Top 10.

The other singles, in order: Paula Abdul’s “Rush Rush,” Amy Grant’s “Baby, Baby,” Mariah Carey’s “Someday,” Karyn White’s “Romantic,” Color Me Badd’s “Adore Mi Amor,” Carey’s “Don’t Wanna Cry,” Extreme’s “More Than Words,” Cathy Dennis’ “Touch Me (All Night Long)” and Amy Grant’s “Every Heartbeat.”

Think that was bad?

Look at the next 10 most-played pop singles of the year:

Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up,” Carey’s “Emotions,” Tara Kemp’s “Hold You Tight,” EMF’s “Unbelievable,” Londonbeat’s “I’ve Been Thinking About You,” Gloria Estefan’s “Coming Out of the Dark,” Wilson Phillips’ “You’re in Love,” Whitney Houston’s “All the Man That I Need,” Abdul’s “The Promise of a New Day” and Surface’s “First Time.”

It’s enough to make you change all your car-radio buttons to the news and talk stations, right?

How many of those records express any genuine sense of individuality or passion?

One? . . . Two?

This is why I make my own New Year’s Eve tape, spotlighting some of the singles from the last 12 months that offered individuality and passion.

This year’s winner: R.E.M.’s elegant “Losing My Religion,” a song about loss of faith that helped define the questioning, uncertain mood of much of the year’s most compelling music.

Let’s start off the countdown to ’92 with a lucky-seven honorable mentions. The list includes some album tracks--by Sinead O’Connor and Guns N’ Roses--that would have been on the official Top 10 countdown if they had been officially released as singles.

* Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod” (Sire): You may think you’ve heard great novelty car songs, going all the way back to “Rocket 88” and “Hot Rod Lincoln,” but this mumble ‘n’ rumble may be the prize. A guaranteed classic.

* C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat” (Columbia): A countdown honorable mention last year when the tune was just beginning to pick up dance club play, it returns to the list after being a Top 10 smash. Special kudos to Martha Wash for the key “everybody dance now” exultation.

* Sinead O’Connor’s “Sacrifice” (Polydor): This breathless, intimate version of the Elton John-Bernie Taupin song, which is a track on the “Two Rooms” tribute album, is a reminder that the Irish singer-songwriter, for all the controversy surrounding her, is an extraordinarily gifted artist. Her “Nothing Compares 2 U” topped Calendar’s countdown to ’91.

* The Pixies’ “Head On” (4AD/Elektra): I prefer the original Jesus and Mary Chain treatment of this exhilarating rock song, but even this version should have been a smash radio hit. The fact that it generated only moderate airplay outside the college/alternative world is proof that most pop radio programmers can’t tell a great song even if it is offered to them twice. The Jesus and Mary Chain version was No. 6 on last year’s countdown.

* Travis Tritt’s “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)” (Warner Bros.): This was a major year for country commercially, though there are still questions about whether the artistic depth of the crop of new stars is equal to the sales interest in them. At any rate, this sarcastic put-down was one of the year’s bittersweet gems.

* LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” (Def Jam/Columbia): The album may have come out in 1990, but the single didn’t make it onto the charts until last spring, so it was part of the 1991 pop experience. It doesn’t offer the social commentary of Public Enemy or gangsta dialogue of Ice Cube, but it epitomizes the bravado and self-affirmation that has always been at the heart of rap.

* Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” (Geffen): Speaking of John and Taupin, this Axl Rose ballad has much of the emotional grace and sweep of the pair’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” Look for the track from the “Use Your Illusion I” album to be high on next year’s countdown if the band gets around to releasing it as a single.

Now, the official countdown to 1992. The 10 most striking pop singles:

10--P.M. Dawn’s “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” (Gee Street/Island): Spandau Ballet, part of the short-lived New Romantic movement in British pop-rock, always comes to mind when making a list of the most annoying bands of the ‘80s. So it’s remarkable that this New Jersey rap duo has built such a silky, seductive single with building blocks that include a sample of Spandau Ballet’s 1983 hit “True.”

9--Seal’s “Crazy” (Sire): This exotic dance-funk hit from a most promising British newcomer started off the year being compared endlessly to Prince, but ended up sounding fresher and more inviting than anything that Prince eventually gave us in 1991.

8--Vince Gill’s “Look at Us” (MCA): Garth Brooks may be the most exciting performer in country music in years, but Gill delivered the year’s most memorable country single. The song--about a relationship that works--is warmly affecting, but it’s the conviction and purity of Gill’s vocal that makes the record so endearing.

7--Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” (Elektra): The single is the one song from the “Unforgettable” album where daughter Natalie doesn’t just do an exquisite job of interpreting some classic tunes by the late Nat King Cole, but actually teams up with him in a duet so seamless that it’s hard to believe his part was recorded in 1951, when she was still in diapers.

6--Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now” (SBK): In a year in which the majority of rock’s most powerful moments were tied to anger and confusion, this young British band checked in with this unabashedly optimistic song, inspired by such landmark social changes as the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

5--EMF’s “Unbelievable” (EMI): This frisky single’s ability to get enough mainstream radio airplay to be a national hit was one of the most encouraging developments in pop this year. The dance-rock jewel bristles with the youthful snarl of such forerunners as the Stones’ “Get Off My Cloud” and proudly signals the arrival of a new generation of British bands. Now get ready in 1992 for the Stone Roses.

4--Public Enemy’s “Can’t Truss It” (Def Jam/Columbia): The only act from last year’s countdown to repeat this time (“Welcome to the Terrordome” finished second last year), Public Enemy remains rap’s most important and rewarding group. This history lesson on slavery (then and now) seems a miracle of economy at just 5 1/2 minutes.

3--Sting’s “Why Should I Cry for You” (A&M;): Though Sting’s noteworthy and more accessible “All This Time” was a bigger hit, this deeply moving reflection on the loss of a loved one was ultimately the more stirring work.

2--Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (DGC): It may be easy on casual listening to think that Kurt Cobain’s snarling vocal just represents more of rock’s 1991 frustration and ranting at adult authority, but the anger here is directed more at what he sees as the disheartening apathy of his own generation.

1--R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” (Warner Bros.): Where singles released early in the year are often at a disadvantage in year-end round-ups because they wear thin after repeated listening, this one keeps getting stronger. A masterful expression of self-doubt, “Losing My Religion” summarizes quite tenderly much of the personal and social anxiety at the start of the ‘90s. The mandolin punctuation helps supply a timeless, Americana edge that is reminiscent of the Band’s landmark works.

Making Merry on the Tube: From Bonnie Raitt to a classic Donny and Marie show, television offers up its traditional assortment of actors and singers making merry tonight while parades and college football bowl games mark the beginning of ’92. F18

FO. . . “Why Should I Cry for You” by Sting, above, . . .