People have recently acknowledged the fact its now 20 years since the Spice Girls debuted, so I thought it would be a good idea to write about them in the next instalment of my Nothing Lasts Forever series.
Early on in 1996 many young females were devastated at the news that Take That had decided to call it a day. At the same time, many young males including myself were very happy to see the end of Take That. In July of that year though it became apparent that whilst Take That had finished as a group, their members hadn't finished and Gary Barlow went straight in at number one with his debut "Forever Love". What was yet to become apparent was that it wasn't the number one of that week I should be worried about, it was the new entry at number three which you've probably guessed was "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.
The following week the Spice Girls knocked Gary Barlow off number one and remained there for what seemed like an eternity. I thought this was bound to be a one hit wonder, or at the very least they'd follow it up with a couple of flops before disappearing. Even when I saw the TV debut of their follow up "Say You'll Be There" on The Noise (short lived music show presented by Andi Peters on ITV before The Chart Show) I thought it would flop, but no it went straight it at number one. After that I conceded they weren't going away any time soon.
They were a prime example of how marketing a band in the right way can bring great success. They were clearly there to fill the void left by Take That for the teenage girl audience, but gained a lot of attention from the male audience too which had nothing to do with the music. In those days, when you bought albums you'd often have a mail order card for additional merchandise, and the Spice Girls were no exception to this. One thing you could order was a poster of them in Baywatch swimsuits, when word of this got out many males would buy the album just to order that poster, I knew people who did that, no Google image search in those days. I even knew one person who bought the "2 Become 1" single purely because you could see Geris legs on the cover.
In 1997 the hype surrounding the Spice Girls just got ridiculous, it seemed anything which could be Spice Girls branded was. Then there was the movie which I happy to say that to this very day I've never seen. Music wise though, they only had three singles this year which all got to number one. This was the year they were at the peak of their success.
By 1998, although still hugely popular, the downward spiral would begin. First of all they had their first single that didn't reach number one which was "Stop" which got to number two being denied by Run DMC with "Its Like That". Then Geri Halliwell left the group, which musically wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference, but it made people questioning whether the whole girl power concept was real or just a marketing campaign.
They finished the year with a Christmas number one with the appropriately titled "Goodbye". Whilst they weren't completely finished as a group, this really was the end of the Spice Girls era. Geri had gone, Mel B and Mel C had already begun their solo careers and both Mel B and Victoria were pregnant by this point.
In 2000 they did make a comeback and had a number one with "Holler", but I don't think too many people remember that. They also came back seven years later with a very forgettable song that failed to reach the top 10. There is also talk of a reunion to mark 20 years, but not all members will be part of it.
So the Spice Girls era may have felt like an eternity, but it only lasted 2 and a half years. Still, it's allowed them all to forge a lucrative career out of doing bugger all ever since so I don't think they'll be complaining.
Saturday 27 August 2016
Monday 22 August 2016
How much music fails because of lack of awareness?
It goes without saying that music with the right marketing behind it will succeed most of the time irrespective of the music itself. There have been many examples of this happening, even if the X Factor winner doesn't make Christmas number one it still makes a good payday for a certain Mr Cowell.
On the flipside, there is the music that doesn't succeed because it hasn't had the right promotion. The question is how much is lack of promotion and how much is because simply not enough people like it?
I always had the ambition to be a successful musician. When I was younger I had a band, I wrote plenty of songs, I played some gigs. We never made it as musicians, clearly there weren't many people who heard our music, but even if they had it may still not have guaranteed success. For the record, I personally thought we were good and still listen to our music all these years later.
When we did play, there were people who liked us. There were people who complimented us on our music, I even saw some people sing along which to me was quite something. Some of my friends who knew my songs would tell me I was a talented musician.
However, there were also people who weren't so complimentary. A work colleague of mine at the time told me there was no way my band could be better than Blink 182 because they are playing arenas all over the world and selling lots of records, whereas we would play the occasional gig at small venues where most people had gone for a drink rather than to see me and we had sold precisely zero records. Sadly there are a lot of people who have this attitude. Admittedly I do enjoy a few Blink 182 songs and the drummer is decent, but we are talking about a band who can only play the basics on guitar and bass, often mess up when playing live and are quite dreadful at singing. They also have a song which is a basic chord sequence and the lyrics are simply "It would be nice to have a blow job" repeated over and over, not exactly genius song writing. The point is just because they are popular doesn't make them superior in every respect to those who aren't popular, give me the choice of listening to my old band or Blink 182, I'd choose my old band.
I also had somebody tell me to forget any aspirations of being a musician. He said I'm not the talented musician I think I am and I should stop kidding myself. This person and the person in the example above have one thing in common, both of them never heard any of my music. That's half the battle really, if your an unknown entity then many people will automatically assume you're crap.
I'll leave it at that with my old band, I am a little biased in that respect after all. There was a pub I used to go to most Sunday nights which would always have a live band on. There was one particular band who I saw 2 or 3 times that would mostly play covers. Admittedly a lot of the covers they did were of songs I didn't like, but they also played a couple of their own songs which I found to be so much better than the other songs they would play, but people went to that pub to hear songs they know and love, not to discover new music.
You do however get music that does not succeed which simply isn't good enough.
When UK Hardcore rose from the ashes of Happy Hardcore and gained in popularity, the major events would have line ups consisting of just the big name DJs, some of whom had gone away and come back again now it was more popular. People on the internet forums would complain left, right and centre about the big names keeping out the more talented up and coming DJs, and there were many of them. However, I heard quite a few of the up and coming DJs and to be honest I didn't think any of them were better than the big name DJs.
Another example of a group who many fans said were under promoted was Alisha's Attic. Around the time their final album came out there was a forum on the official website and many people said the reason why the second album didn't succeed was because the record label didn't promote it enough and they seemed to be making the same mistake with this album. However, the reality was that most people I knew were aware of Alisha's Attic, but most of them didn't like them. When they set a date for the first single release of the new album, "Push it All Aside" a TV schedule was given on their website. They went on Top of the Pops, Popworld, GMTV and several other shows promoting it. It was also heavily promoted on The Box music channel and I remember a lot of people telling me they had seen the video because they knew I was a fan. The single flopped though, but it was because people didn't like it enough to buy it rather than lack of promotion.
Ultimately there will be music out there that only a handful of people will ever hear, but would be popular if everybody got to hear it. There will also be music that would never be popular no matter how many people will hear it. How much of it falls into which category is probably something we'll never know.
A final thought on the subject of popularity, the biggest selling album of all time is "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. I remember reading a few years ago that around 1 in 5 American households own it. Sounds impressive, but at the same time it means 4 in 5 American households don't own it. So even if your music is extremely popular, you'll still find at least 80% of people won't like it enough to buy it.
On the flipside, there is the music that doesn't succeed because it hasn't had the right promotion. The question is how much is lack of promotion and how much is because simply not enough people like it?
I always had the ambition to be a successful musician. When I was younger I had a band, I wrote plenty of songs, I played some gigs. We never made it as musicians, clearly there weren't many people who heard our music, but even if they had it may still not have guaranteed success. For the record, I personally thought we were good and still listen to our music all these years later.
When we did play, there were people who liked us. There were people who complimented us on our music, I even saw some people sing along which to me was quite something. Some of my friends who knew my songs would tell me I was a talented musician.
However, there were also people who weren't so complimentary. A work colleague of mine at the time told me there was no way my band could be better than Blink 182 because they are playing arenas all over the world and selling lots of records, whereas we would play the occasional gig at small venues where most people had gone for a drink rather than to see me and we had sold precisely zero records. Sadly there are a lot of people who have this attitude. Admittedly I do enjoy a few Blink 182 songs and the drummer is decent, but we are talking about a band who can only play the basics on guitar and bass, often mess up when playing live and are quite dreadful at singing. They also have a song which is a basic chord sequence and the lyrics are simply "It would be nice to have a blow job" repeated over and over, not exactly genius song writing. The point is just because they are popular doesn't make them superior in every respect to those who aren't popular, give me the choice of listening to my old band or Blink 182, I'd choose my old band.
I also had somebody tell me to forget any aspirations of being a musician. He said I'm not the talented musician I think I am and I should stop kidding myself. This person and the person in the example above have one thing in common, both of them never heard any of my music. That's half the battle really, if your an unknown entity then many people will automatically assume you're crap.
I'll leave it at that with my old band, I am a little biased in that respect after all. There was a pub I used to go to most Sunday nights which would always have a live band on. There was one particular band who I saw 2 or 3 times that would mostly play covers. Admittedly a lot of the covers they did were of songs I didn't like, but they also played a couple of their own songs which I found to be so much better than the other songs they would play, but people went to that pub to hear songs they know and love, not to discover new music.
You do however get music that does not succeed which simply isn't good enough.
When UK Hardcore rose from the ashes of Happy Hardcore and gained in popularity, the major events would have line ups consisting of just the big name DJs, some of whom had gone away and come back again now it was more popular. People on the internet forums would complain left, right and centre about the big names keeping out the more talented up and coming DJs, and there were many of them. However, I heard quite a few of the up and coming DJs and to be honest I didn't think any of them were better than the big name DJs.
Another example of a group who many fans said were under promoted was Alisha's Attic. Around the time their final album came out there was a forum on the official website and many people said the reason why the second album didn't succeed was because the record label didn't promote it enough and they seemed to be making the same mistake with this album. However, the reality was that most people I knew were aware of Alisha's Attic, but most of them didn't like them. When they set a date for the first single release of the new album, "Push it All Aside" a TV schedule was given on their website. They went on Top of the Pops, Popworld, GMTV and several other shows promoting it. It was also heavily promoted on The Box music channel and I remember a lot of people telling me they had seen the video because they knew I was a fan. The single flopped though, but it was because people didn't like it enough to buy it rather than lack of promotion.
Ultimately there will be music out there that only a handful of people will ever hear, but would be popular if everybody got to hear it. There will also be music that would never be popular no matter how many people will hear it. How much of it falls into which category is probably something we'll never know.
A final thought on the subject of popularity, the biggest selling album of all time is "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. I remember reading a few years ago that around 1 in 5 American households own it. Sounds impressive, but at the same time it means 4 in 5 American households don't own it. So even if your music is extremely popular, you'll still find at least 80% of people won't like it enough to buy it.
Monday 15 August 2016
Nothing Lasts Forever - Happy Hardcore
When looking back on different eras of music, whether its genres, certain bands or different music scenes, one thing that is noticeable is just how short that era was.
This gave me the idea to start a series of posts about these things. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that music starts and ends in a defined period, indeed most scenes continue in a small way indefinitely not to mention big revivals you have of some too.
I'm beginning with one that's close to home, Happy Hardcore. When I first started showing interest in rave in 1994 I was told that there were two types of rave, Happy Hardcore and Jungle. This is the moment in rave history defined as being the scene split. At the time, the difference wasn't as obvious as you would think. For example, there was "Breaking Free" by Slipmatt, who would become a Happy Hardcore DJ, but that record spanned both Happy Hardcore and Jungle in reality. Then there were tunes like "Above the Clouds" by Sunshine Productions and "Positive" by Love Nation, perhaps both remembered as being Happy Hardcore tunes but they are both on a Jungle compilation I have from that time.
In 1995 the difference started to become more obvious and Jungle had evolved into Drum & Bass, though you'd still find Helter Skelter and Dreamscape tape packs having both genres mixed together. It wasn't until new years eve 1996 when Helter Skelter first completely separated their Happy Hardcore and Drum & Bass tape packs and they would still keep a mixture of the two genres in the same room until the end of the decade.
1996 saw the start of Hardcore Heaven which was a Hardcore only rave which also released compilations. It also saw the start of the Bonkers compilation series. Although never commercially successful in the UK, this was probably the year Happy Hardcore was at its most popular. Around the same time, Dutch acts such as Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo and Paul Elstak were enjoying chart success in Holland.
For me personally, 1996 and 1997 were the years I was most active in my tape pack buying. I have fond memories of waiting for the new Helter Skelter newsletter and flyer for next event which would give details of how to order the latest tape pack. On receiving the tape pack I would always play the DJ Vibes tape first.
By 1998 I stopped buying new tape packs and started back filling my tape pack collection with Helter Skelter offering discounts on older packs, but also buying second hand packs from people who had now gone off the music. I still followed the scene though through compilations, but the two main magazines covering the scene, Dream and Eternity, had now ceased to exist. I'd also opened up to other genres of music too particularly house music which I'd previously written off for being too slow.
At this point, Happy Hardcore had fully established itself as being a genre that was seen as a bit of a joke. I remember at the time going into a record shop in Leicester which had sections for pretty much every dance music genre you could think of apart from Happy Hardcore. When I asked at the counter whether they stocked any Happy Hardcore, they laughed and said no. When I listened to Bonkers 4 that year, I could see where people were coming from and it was getting a bit too cheesy for my liking as well.
However, I would always leap to the defence of Happy Hardcore. I hated the snobbery of some house music fans about it and was determined to stick to Happy Hardcore and give the 2 fingers up to house, even though I was starting to prefer it purely from a musical perspective.
After the first Helter Skelter of 1999 I bought a new tape pack for the first time since 1997. I played the Vibes tape first as usual, the first track was "Forever Autumn" by Supreme and UFO which I first heard in 1996. I enjoyed the set, but very little of it was new material. Next up I listened to Force and Styles, the first track was "Pacific Sun" which I first heard in 1997 and again hardly any new material. The tape pack also featured some hard trance from Mark EG & M Zone, old skool from Ratpack and a DJ Seduction classics set, so really the whole pack didn't contain a great deal of up front Happy Hardcore, a sure sign the music was on its way out.
DJ Seduction officially retired later on that year and many of the other DJs had moved onto other genres shortly afterwards, most notably Hard House. The only big rave that still had Happy Hardcore in its main room was Slammin Vinyl, but even then they started to mix Hardcore and Hard House in the same room at one point.
So in summary Happy Hardcore grew out the original rave sound in 1994, established itself in 1995, enjoyed its glory years in 1996 and 1997, declined in 1998 before slowly grinding to a halt 1999 onwards.
Some of you may be thinking what about the 00s with the return of Bonkers, the start of Hardcore Till I Die and the Radio 1 show?
Well, basically that is a different era. It became UK Hardcore as opposed to Happy Hardcore and many of the 90s fans did not like the 00s stuff. I bought the comeback Bonkers album and didn't think much to it. Though admittedly I still hadn't become one of those people who would say "Yeah I used to listen to Hardcore", I was adamant that I still listened to it. My realisation that I was a raver of yesteryear in denial was when somebody said "Yeah I used to listen to hardcore" and I found out the beginning for him was the Bonkers comeback album, so after I stopped liking the new stuff.
This gave me the idea to start a series of posts about these things. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that music starts and ends in a defined period, indeed most scenes continue in a small way indefinitely not to mention big revivals you have of some too.
I'm beginning with one that's close to home, Happy Hardcore. When I first started showing interest in rave in 1994 I was told that there were two types of rave, Happy Hardcore and Jungle. This is the moment in rave history defined as being the scene split. At the time, the difference wasn't as obvious as you would think. For example, there was "Breaking Free" by Slipmatt, who would become a Happy Hardcore DJ, but that record spanned both Happy Hardcore and Jungle in reality. Then there were tunes like "Above the Clouds" by Sunshine Productions and "Positive" by Love Nation, perhaps both remembered as being Happy Hardcore tunes but they are both on a Jungle compilation I have from that time.
In 1995 the difference started to become more obvious and Jungle had evolved into Drum & Bass, though you'd still find Helter Skelter and Dreamscape tape packs having both genres mixed together. It wasn't until new years eve 1996 when Helter Skelter first completely separated their Happy Hardcore and Drum & Bass tape packs and they would still keep a mixture of the two genres in the same room until the end of the decade.
1996 saw the start of Hardcore Heaven which was a Hardcore only rave which also released compilations. It also saw the start of the Bonkers compilation series. Although never commercially successful in the UK, this was probably the year Happy Hardcore was at its most popular. Around the same time, Dutch acts such as Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo and Paul Elstak were enjoying chart success in Holland.
For me personally, 1996 and 1997 were the years I was most active in my tape pack buying. I have fond memories of waiting for the new Helter Skelter newsletter and flyer for next event which would give details of how to order the latest tape pack. On receiving the tape pack I would always play the DJ Vibes tape first.
By 1998 I stopped buying new tape packs and started back filling my tape pack collection with Helter Skelter offering discounts on older packs, but also buying second hand packs from people who had now gone off the music. I still followed the scene though through compilations, but the two main magazines covering the scene, Dream and Eternity, had now ceased to exist. I'd also opened up to other genres of music too particularly house music which I'd previously written off for being too slow.
At this point, Happy Hardcore had fully established itself as being a genre that was seen as a bit of a joke. I remember at the time going into a record shop in Leicester which had sections for pretty much every dance music genre you could think of apart from Happy Hardcore. When I asked at the counter whether they stocked any Happy Hardcore, they laughed and said no. When I listened to Bonkers 4 that year, I could see where people were coming from and it was getting a bit too cheesy for my liking as well.
However, I would always leap to the defence of Happy Hardcore. I hated the snobbery of some house music fans about it and was determined to stick to Happy Hardcore and give the 2 fingers up to house, even though I was starting to prefer it purely from a musical perspective.
After the first Helter Skelter of 1999 I bought a new tape pack for the first time since 1997. I played the Vibes tape first as usual, the first track was "Forever Autumn" by Supreme and UFO which I first heard in 1996. I enjoyed the set, but very little of it was new material. Next up I listened to Force and Styles, the first track was "Pacific Sun" which I first heard in 1997 and again hardly any new material. The tape pack also featured some hard trance from Mark EG & M Zone, old skool from Ratpack and a DJ Seduction classics set, so really the whole pack didn't contain a great deal of up front Happy Hardcore, a sure sign the music was on its way out.
DJ Seduction officially retired later on that year and many of the other DJs had moved onto other genres shortly afterwards, most notably Hard House. The only big rave that still had Happy Hardcore in its main room was Slammin Vinyl, but even then they started to mix Hardcore and Hard House in the same room at one point.
So in summary Happy Hardcore grew out the original rave sound in 1994, established itself in 1995, enjoyed its glory years in 1996 and 1997, declined in 1998 before slowly grinding to a halt 1999 onwards.
Some of you may be thinking what about the 00s with the return of Bonkers, the start of Hardcore Till I Die and the Radio 1 show?
Well, basically that is a different era. It became UK Hardcore as opposed to Happy Hardcore and many of the 90s fans did not like the 00s stuff. I bought the comeback Bonkers album and didn't think much to it. Though admittedly I still hadn't become one of those people who would say "Yeah I used to listen to Hardcore", I was adamant that I still listened to it. My realisation that I was a raver of yesteryear in denial was when somebody said "Yeah I used to listen to hardcore" and I found out the beginning for him was the Bonkers comeback album, so after I stopped liking the new stuff.
Tuesday 2 August 2016
Bryan Adams Record Still Intact
Bryan Adams famously sang about the summer of 69, but for me and many others he'll be mainly remembered for the summer of 91 when he spent what is still a record 16 consecutive weeks at number one. Those following the charts will know that record was under threat but the number one in question only made it to 15 weeks.
I remember exactly where I was when "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" became number one. I was at a family barbecue and we had the top 40 countdown playing until Bros entered the charts with their comeback single "Are You Mine?" and my uncle decided enough is enough and turned the radio off. Therefore I had to wait until the next day to read what got to number one in the local paper, no internet in those days of course.
For those who don't know, this song was on the soundtrack to the "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" film and I suspect that sales of toy bow and arrows were selling just as well at the time. For most of the summer holidays this record was also keeping "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred off the top as well.
In September, Bryan Adams released his follow up, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" but this didn't seem to make any difference, by the time this fell out the chart "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was still at number one.
It was finally knocked off the top spot in November by U2 with "The Fly". What helped this reach number one was that it was a limited edition which was only available to buy for 3 weeks. However, even if U2 hadn't done this it would still have been knocked off the top as Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff were at number two that week with "Dizzy" which would become number one the following week
I remember exactly where I was when "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" became number one. I was at a family barbecue and we had the top 40 countdown playing until Bros entered the charts with their comeback single "Are You Mine?" and my uncle decided enough is enough and turned the radio off. Therefore I had to wait until the next day to read what got to number one in the local paper, no internet in those days of course.
For those who don't know, this song was on the soundtrack to the "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" film and I suspect that sales of toy bow and arrows were selling just as well at the time. For most of the summer holidays this record was also keeping "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred off the top as well.
In September, Bryan Adams released his follow up, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" but this didn't seem to make any difference, by the time this fell out the chart "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was still at number one.
It was finally knocked off the top spot in November by U2 with "The Fly". What helped this reach number one was that it was a limited edition which was only available to buy for 3 weeks. However, even if U2 hadn't done this it would still have been knocked off the top as Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff were at number two that week with "Dizzy" which would become number one the following week
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