Record of the Year 1991: Bomb the Bass - Winter In July

1991 was a golden year in music in my opinion. It spawned acts who to this very day I'm still a big fan of such as Massive Attack, The Prodigy and Shades of Rhythm to name a few.

However in my mind there was only ever going to be one record of the year for this year which is "Winter In July" by Bomb the Bass.

I was already familiar with Bomb the Bass at the time from his earlier material in the late 80s which I liked. When I heard this record though it was quite something else, words cannot do it justice it is quite simply an unbelievable good record.

As I mentioned in my yearly review, Bomb the Bass had to record under his real name Tim Simenon earlier on in the year because of the Gulf War. He had released a single called "Love So True" but this failed to chart and is said to be because people weren't aware who it was. So had the Gulf War not ended by this point, this may not have charted either. Instead it got to number 7 and was the only Top 40 single from his excellent "Unknown Territory" album.

Bomb the Bass has since retired from the music business and is now running a meatball restaurant in Prague called Brixton Balls. It's a shame he's no longer making music, but it would be a near impossible task to top this. It is quite possibly the best record to ever enter the Top 40, it's certainly up there.

UK Singles Chart: 1991

After playing second fiddle to Elvis in terms of most hits for many years, Cliff Richard finally caught up with Elvis to become joint first with 101 hits. He also kept his streak of hits every year since 1979. The act with the second longest streak was Shakin Stevens with a hit every year since 1980.

Here are the acts with the most hits:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	101
=	Cliff Richard	101	More To Life, We Should Be Together
3	David Bowie	44
4	Elton John	42	Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
5	Status Quo	41	Can't Give You More
6	Queen	40	Innuendo, I'm Going Slightly Mad, Headlong, The Show Must Go On, Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives
7	Paul McCartney	39
8	Stevie Wonder	37
9	Rod Stewart	35	Rhythm Of My Heart, The Motown Song
10	Frank Sinatra	32
=	Rolling Stones	32	Highwire
12	Diana Ross	31	When You Tell Me That You Love Me
=	Shakin Stevens	31	I'll Be Home This Christmas
14	Lonnie Donegan	30

and the most number ones:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	17
=	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	13
4	Abba	9
5	Rolling Stones	8
6	Madonna	7
7	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6

The big talking point of the year though was Bryan Adams with his 16 weeks at number one with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You". This was an artist who's chart record prior to this was four hits in 1985 which failed to reach the Top 10 plus several singles which didn't make the Top 40. Singles wise this is the success story of the year, but artist wise it probably wasn't Bryan Adams as his follow ups "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" and "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" failed to reach the Top 10, the former dropping out the Top 40 when "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was still at number one and the latter dropping out the Top 40 the same week as "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You".

Queen have a case for being the success story of the year as they were the only act to have more than number one with "Innuendo" at the start of the year and the Christmas number one "Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are the Days Of Our Lives" but the three singles in between didn't chart so well.

Edging both Bryan Adams and Queen though in my opinion were the KLF. They scored a number one with "3am Eternal" and number two with "Last Train To Trancentral" and "Justified and Ancient". They also scored a number 10 with "It's Grim Up North" as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.

Having dominated the charts a couple of years earlier, this year was the last we'd see of Stock Aitken & Waterman with Matt Aitken sailing off into the sunset. Artist wise it was just Kylie and Jason who had hits from them this year, the final one being "Shocked" by Kylie. Stock and Waterman carried on though, the first one being "Word Is Out" which was the first Kylie single not to make the Top 10. We also had the last of Jason Donovan's involvement with "Happy Together". He also scored his last number one with "Any Dream Will Do" but this was nothing to do with Stock Aitken & Waterman.

Dance music wise it was once again the year where things got both faster and slower. Most notable from this was the emergence of breakbeat hardcore music with perhaps the most notable debutants from this year being Altern-8 with "Infiltrate 202" and "Activ-8", and The Prodigy with "Charly".

The debut from the Prodigy had it's critics and was labelled as being Toytown Techno alongside "Summers Magic" by Mark Summers and "Roobarb And Custard" by Shaft.

There were other notable debutants from the rave scene this year including Shades Of Rhythm with "The Sound Of Eden" and "Extacy", Bizarre Inc with "Such A Feeling" and "Playing With Knives", Carl Cox with "I Want You (Forever)", Moby with "Go" and SL2 with "DJs Take Control / Way In My Brain".

From Belgium we saw the last of Technotronic with "Work" but we had new acts in Quadrophonia with "Quadrophonia" and "The Wave Of The Future", T99 with "Anasthasia" and "Nocturne", Cubic 22 with "Night In Motion" and Digital Orgasm with "Running Out Of Time". Only the latter would have any further hits beyond this year.

From Italy we have debuts from DJH featuring Stefy with "Think About…" and "I Like It", Anticappella with "Square Root of 231" and East Side Beat with "Ride Like The Wind" whilst Black Box had a hit with "Strike It Up".

Perhaps the biggest sign though of what was to come from Europe over the next few years was the debut of 2 Unlimited with "Get Ready For This".

Another style of music we would see for the first time in the charts this year was Trip Hop, with Massive Attack debuting with "Unfinished Sympathy", though they had to change their name to just Massive because of the Gulf War which was happening at the time. They had reverted back to Massive Attack for their follow up "Safe From Harm".

Likewise Bomb the Bass had to use his real name to release music but had not Top 40 hits during this time, but he was back to being Bomb the Bass when he released "Winter In July" in July.

Saint Etienne had a side project this year as Cola Boy with the hit "Seven Ways to Love" in July. This however came before the debut of Saint Etienne which came in September with "Only Love Can Break Your Heart/Filthy" which despite it being one of their better known songs, only reached number 39.

The baggy scene was still going strong with many of the acts debuting the previous year continuing this year. Making their debut was the Mock Turtles with their only hit "Can You Dig It", High with their only hit "Box Set Go", Flowered Up with "Take It" and Blur who were considered part of that scene at the time with "There's No Other Way".

Guns N Roses returned to the charts this year with "You Could Be Mine". There were also hits from Thunder, Little Angels and David Lee Roth. Other hard rock from this year though was looking quite 70s with Thin Lizzy having their final hit with "Dedication" and Slade having their final hit with "Radio Wall Of Sound" plus hits from AC/DC and Alice Cooper.

There was a new genre emerging in the rock world though, Grunge. The only Grunge record this years was the debut of Nirvana with "Smells Like Teen Spirit". But did this kill off Glam Metal?

Not at this point it didn't. We had hits from the likes of Motley Crue, Skid Row, Poison, Warrant and Vixen. We also had the debut of Extreme with "Get The Funk Out", but they had their biggest success with their second hit, the ballad "More Than Words".

Iron Maiden scored their only number one at the start of the year with "Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter". They had more company in the charts from the Heavy Metal world with The Almighty making their debut with "Free 'N' Easy" followed by "Devils Toy" and Ozzy Osbourne returning to the charts with "No More Tears". It was also the year of Metallica's black album which spawned the hits "Enter Sandman" and "The Unforgiven", and they were now considered to be Heaby Metal as opposed to Thrash.

In the Thrash world Megadeth had a hit with "Hangar 18" and Anthrax had one with "Got the Time". Most notable though was the Thrash/Rap collaboration between Anthrax and Chuck D with a new version of the Public Enemy tune "Bring The Noise".

There was more Rap/Hip Hop in the charts this year than there had been in previous years with hits from the likes of MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa and De La Soul amongst others. The notable debuts this year came from A Tribe Called Quest with "Can I Kick It" and PM Dawn with "A Watcher's Point Of View" followed by the better known "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss". We also had Mark Wahlberg have his only UK hit with "Good Vibrations" as Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch.
We had the first and only New Jack Swing number one this year which was the debut single from Color Me Badd with "I Wanna Sex You Up". They followed this up with the number 5 "All 4 Love" which would be their final UK Top 40 hit.

For the first time since 1963 there were not Motown records in the Top 40 this year. We did however have the only Top 40 hit from Ian Levines Motorcity label with "Footsteps Following Me" by Frances Nero. We also had the hit "The Motown Song" by Rod Stewart and the Temptations.

We had a 1952 debutant return to the charts this year after a 29 year absence excluding reissues with Nat 'King' Cole having a posthumous duet with his daughter Natalie Cole with "Unforgettable".

Returning to the charts after a 25 year absence for his final hit was 1960 debutant Frank Ifield with "She Taught Me How to Yodel". 26 years after making her solo debut, Cher finally scored her first solo number one this year with "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)".

It was the year Chesney Hawkes had his famous number one hit "The One And Only". He was not a one hit wonder though, he had another hit with "I'm A Man Not A Boy".

There were 3 instances on non musicians having number ones this year. Hale & Pace had a number one with "The Stonk" which was a comic relief song. There was also a number one for The Simpsons with "Do the Bartman". Finally Vic Reeves collaborated with the Wonder Stuff with a cover of "Dizzy".

Having split up several years earlier and never having a Top 10 hit, The Clash returned to the charts with a reissue of "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" which got to number one courtesy of it's appearance in the Levi's  advert.

Whilst there was plenty of new music in the charts in 1991, it seemed that the older musicians came out on top. Aside from The Simpsons who were cartoon characters, Chesney Hawkes, Color Me Badd and Jason Donovan, every other number one of the year featured musicians over 30 which is quite surprising.

Next up is 1992 which has already featured on this blog several times this year in records I enjoyed at the time each month, but I will also need to cover what I didn't like and the music that was just ok.

Sounds Like Friday Night

Last night saw the first in a new BBC show called "Sounds Like Friday Night" which is supposed to be the modern day equivalent of Top of the Pops. As regular readers of this blog will know, I don't think Top of the Pops would work anymore due to the nature of the charts, but thought I'd give this a go to see what they've come up with.


Each week they have  guest presenter and this week was Jason Derulo who opened with a song that's currently going down the charts, not very Top of the Pops like so far.


This was followed by a sketch with Dave Grohl where presenter Greg James tried to get him to do BBC voiceovers. It was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't at all.


The next song came from Charlie Puth which is currently going up the charts, but it seemed like a long time since we heard any music by this point. There was a mini interview with him before his song and he seemed very disinterested.


Straight after they started interviewing Jessie Ware on another stage, it looked like a song was to follow but it was obviously too soon as they went to another pointless feature of Jason Derulo playing basketball whilst being asked questions.


Then Jessie Ware did a song which currently sits outside the Top 40. Then came a Kurupt FM feature which initially didn't know if it was supposed to be a piss take or not, but it was merely a feature to promote their YouTube video.


It finished with yet song from Jason Derulo, an acoustic version of a song which charted 2 years ago, apparently a world exclusive.


So basically there was just 4 songs, 2 of which was from the same artist and the rest of the show was just a load of filler crap. Quite frankly I would rather have a shorter version of Top of the Pops, it was an absolutely terrible show. I know it may be targeted at people considerably younger than me, but I just don't see how this can work with the youth of today.

Top of the Pops: 26/10/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown



Post Malone is number one again and we have 10 eligible records, one of which is also by Post Malone and therefore is the one eliminated from the show.



You may be thinking that sounds familiar and you'd be right, that's exactly how I started last weeks post and the same has happened this week.


We have two new entries, and it's not a mistake at number 40, it is "Rihanna" by Yxng Bane and not the other way round. The highest new entry at 33 comes from Pink ft Eminem which interestingly is Eminems 33rd Top 40 hit.


⬆ (28) Jason Derulo - If I'm Lucky
⬆ (24) Craig David - Heartline
⬆ (21) Khalid - Young Dumb & Broke
New (40) Yxng Bane - Rihanna
⬆ (19) Post Malone - I Fall Apart
⬆ (9) Marshmello ft Khalid - Silence
⬆ (4) Avicii ft Rita Ora - Lonely Together
New (33) Pink ft Eminem - Revenge
(1) Post Malone ft 21 Savage - Rockstar

Radio 1 Vintage

From September 30th - October 2nd to celebrate 50 years of Radio 1 they put on 3 days worth of shows spanning the 50 years. I've just finished listening to all the shows they put up. They are still just about available to listen to here.

For me it was a mixture of shows before my time, during my time and after my time. I suppose I could say technically I'm still a Radio 1 listener as I still listen to the Essential Mix every now and then, but I've not really been much of a listener since around the turn of the century.

It was good to listen to the first ever show even though it was the exact show, more Tony Blackburn talking about the show and playing the same records. I quite enjoyed the show he did with Nick Grimshaw too which featured interviews with Simon Mayo and Sara Cox and plenty of music from years gone by.

Then came Kenny Everett, someone from before my time who is highly regarded. Whilst I have no doubt he was very talented, I just found him annoying to be honest. Kid Jensen on the other hand was very good, I've been enjoying his Top of the Pops episodes with John Peel and discovered they joined forces on the Radio too and were just as entertaining.

Next up was Colin & Edith, an after my time one but was pleasantly surprised. The music was actually quite good, I guess there were just many alternatives to Radio 1 by that point. Fearne & Reggie on the other hand was pretty dreadful but I kind of expected that anyway.

Dave Pearce was the first one I was particularly looking forward to as I'd always listen to Dance Anthems on a Sunday night back in the late 90s. Was good to hear some crazy people making requests again, but at the same time reminded me that I never got on there despite phoning up with requests several times.

Pete Tong came later and he is probably the DJ I've listened to the most shows of on Radio 1 so unsurprisingly I enjoyed his show too. When Fabio & Grooverider came on for the last show of the day they mentioned the predecessor to their show, One In the Jungle, which they said didn't really work but I used to love that show. Anyway was good to listen to a bit of Drum & Bass whatever the show was.

Day 2 began with Zoe Ball basically saying how surprised she was to do the breakfast show without prior radio experience and how she'd always be going out on the piss and sleep in the next day, but fortunately Kevin Greening was there to begin without her. Next came Mike Smith and the highlight for me was when someone tried to give shout outs to a bunch of people, and he cut them off, Ken Bruce should take note for Popmaster.

Chris Moyles was full of waffle, I actually liked his show when he did early breakfast but once he did the primetime radio he was just annoying.

I always remember enjoying Bruno Brookes on the radio as a kid but couldn't quite remember why. Listening to Bruno & Liz though made me realise they were funny and I found them very entertaining.

Always liked a bit of Dreem Teem on a Sunday morning back in the day and their show brought back memories, though could have done without having David Beckham as a guest on the show.

With Trevor Nelson it's always been a bit love/hate for me. It's true that I started to appreciate R&B music a lot more when he started on Radio 1 in the mid 90s, but as time went on and he started featuring nonsense like Rihanna who to me is a pop singer with an annoying voice.

The next show was The Ranking Miss P, someone I wasn't familiar with but I was very impressed. It was a reggae show and her style of presenting fit the bill perfectly. Lots of tunes I wasn't familiar with but I was kept interested throughout.

The best of the official chart was quite predictable, but I guess that made sense. Then came Annie Nightingale, the show I always remember after the charts having "Hi" in it during the first song, would have been good to hear footage of some of her later shows when she did the chill out zone or the breaks, but still not a bad track selection.

The big dog Tim Westwood was hilarious as always, I know he gets a lot of stick for acting the way he does but personally I find it quite entertaining.

Onto the final day, I found Mike Read irritating, Noel Edmonds ok and then came Simon Mayo who's breakfast show was the first one I properly remember. It was good to hear confessions again.

We got to hear the Ali G interview on Sara Cox, something I remember reading about at the time but never heard and I did find it quite funny.

Next came Simon Bates and we got to hear Our Tune which I used to absolutely love when I was a kid. I'd not heard of Emperor Rosko who came next, but found his show to be quite entertaining.


With just half a days worth of shows remaining, I was onto one show that I couldn't listen to the whole way through, The Live Lounge. It was just so boring, just reminded me of a man who used to play "Livin On a Prayer" slowly on his acoustic guitar at the students union which would just send you to sleep. Expect it was an hour long rather than 5 minutes.

Then came Mark & Lard who said they never wanted to do the Breakfast Show and tried to get out of it by demanding they record it in Manchester and got more money, but they got what they asked for so couldn't get out of it. Some funny sketches in there but the music was a bit boring.

Steve Wright was poor, too much talking and not enough music for my liking. The Evening Session was something I would listen to in the 90s, mainly for the new music. The music on the vintage show though wasn't great, I'm sure they didn't just stick to Brit Pop music at the time.

Rob Da Bank was one that was after my time but seems like I missed out a bit there. It had a good representation of what is essentially dance music played with live instruments which I quite like.

The penultimate show was Mary Anne Hobbs who I remember being on Radio 1 but don't recall ever listening to her shows. I thought her shows were rock and indie music orientated, but it was actually more grime and dubstep so quite a difference.

Last up was John Peel and it goes without saying that it was a good show.

The big eye opener, or should I saw ear opener, for me was how many shows didn't have an obvious track selection. Obviously with John Peel and the more specialist shows you won't, but with some of the more mainstream shows there were some quite obscure songs on there which never charted.

I recall working a job for a month or so in the early 00s which had Radio 1 on all day in the office and it was a very narrow playlist. This was my realisation that there was very little variation on daytime radio 1, but maybe it wasn't always like that. On the other hand maybe they played records they thought would be big but flopped.

Overall it was a mixed bag as expected, but was a good opportunity to hear things I hadn't heard for 20 years or so and things I hadn't ever heard. So if you haven't done so yet, I would recommend you give it a listen.

Queen Singles Rated

After last weeks post about Queen I thought it would be a good idea to rate each of their UK Top 40 singles. I'm just going to look at the 39 hit singles prior to Freddie Mercury's death, which means 40 songs as it includes a double a side.

1. Seven Seas of Rhye
I saw a live performance of this before I heard the studio version. The live performance was great, the studio version less so but I still like it despite the dodgy ending.
Verdict - Good

2. Killer Queen
A bit cheesy in my opinion, but not a bad song.
Verdict - OK

3. Now I'm Here
Can't say this one has ever had an impact on me, sounds like its trying to be heavy without really being heavy, but I don't dislike it either.
Verdict - OK

4. Bohemian Rhapsody
I've often been critical of this song. It is nowhere near the best song ever, it's not as ground-breaking as it's made out to be. At the same time though it isn't a bad song, just not a great one. 
Verdict - OK

5. You're My Best Friend
Love the intro to this one, definitely one of their best ones and much better than its predecessor!
Verdict - Good

6. Somebody to Love
If we want to talk ground-breaking Queen songs look no further. This to me is a song that pulls into different directions whilst keeping you interested. It's nearly as long as Bohemian Rhapsody too. Love the backing vocals on this too.
Verdict - Good

7. Tie Your Mother Down
A bit like Now I'm Here, a bit of a filler song that's ok but nothing special.
Verdict - OK

8. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
The lead song from Queens First EP, this is rather cheesy but not bad enough to call crap
Verdict - OK

9. We Are the Champions
Nice little money maker here, get this played at the big sporting events and their set for life. I'm tempted to say this is crap, but its fun to sing along to.
Verdict - OK

10. Spread Your Wings
This is more like it, the second lowest charting Top 40 hit for them which reached number 40 is quite possible their best one.
Verdict - Good

11a. Bicycle Race
Maybe there's a message in there somewhere, but this is just silly and annoying.
Verdict - Rubbish

11aa. Fat Bottomed Girls
The other side is also silly and annoying, and a bit boring at the same time. Not for me.
Verdict - Rubbish

12. Don't Stop Me Now
Brian May apparently hates this song and I can see why. The fact I would hear this at pretty much every "Cheese Night" I went to in my student days says it all.
Verdict - Rubbish

13. Crazy Little Thing Called Love Even when I was a Queen fan I always hated this one. Just sounds like generic novelty 1950s crap.
Verdict - Rubbish

14. Save Me
An improvement over the last few hits, but a bit of a nothing filler song really.
Verdict - OK

15. Play the Game
It has it's moments, but not quite good enough to be considered good.
Verdict - OK

16. Another One Bites the Dust
It is basically a rip off of Good Times, but different enough to not be considered plagiarism. Still, I like it, good bass line and good sing-along music even if it did get played to death on the Gladiators in the 90s.
Verdict - Good

17. Flash
Can't say I like this one, this music just seems to repeat itself and the talking from the film is just irritating.
Verdict - Rubbish

18. Under Pressure
I remember hearing this for the first time and being particularly impressed with how the vocals came in. I do like the noises as opposed to words being sung throughout it too. This is definitely one of their better ones.
Verdict - Good

19. Body Language
When I was a Queen fan I didn't actually know this one as it never made it onto the Greatest Hits. I can see why, I think even the most die hard Queen fans think this is crap.
Verdict - Rubbish

20. Las Palabras De Amor
Another one which didn't make the Greatest Hits but I did know it when I was a Queen fan via some TV footage I'd seen. Can't say I like this one either.
Verdict - Rubbish

21. Backchat
This also didn't make the Greatest Hits so took a while for me to hear. This only just made the Top 40 but this was because it wasn't good enough rather than not commercial enough.
Verdict - Rubbish

22. Radio Gaga
Probably my least favourite Queen song of all time. I've never been able to tolerate this song, it's just awful.
Verdict - Rubbish

23. I Want to Break Free
A song that's better remembered for the video rather than the song itself. I quite like this song though, it has a certain groove to it.
Verdict - Good

24. It's A Hard Life
On paper this seems more of a filler, but I like it.
Verdict - Good

25. Hammer to Fall
This was one of my favourites back in the day, its dropped down the rankings since then but still good enough to be good.
Verdict - Good

26. Thank God Its Christmas
There are very few Christmas songs I can genuinely say I like and this is no exception. However its good to sing along to and as far as Christmas songs go it's one of the better ones.
Verdict - OK

27. One Vision
It has its moments, but just doesn't quite get there. Good build up to the intro, but that's about it.
Verdict - OK

28. A Kind of Magic
Can be a bit irritating but it's not too bad really.
Verdict - OK

29. Friends Will Be Friends
This was always one of my favourites and still is as far as Queen songs are concerned. I like the bit where he sings "its so easy now".
Verdict - Good

30. Who Wants to Live Forever
This is also one of the better ones, great build up and doesn't disappoint at the end.
Verdict - Good

31. I Want It All
Where it all began for me, good song. Once saw it on a karaoke list and decided to sing it, or should I say shout it. Unfortunately it wasn't available but the DJ offered me Bohemian Rhapsody instead... 
Verdict - Good

32. Breakthru
Not as good as I Want It All, but still good enough to be good. 
Verdict - Good

33. Invisible Man
A very odd one, but I like it. All about the groovy bass for me.
Verdict - Good

34. Scandal
This one never made the Greatest Hits but I remember it being a hit at the time. I like it.
Verdict - Good

35. The Miracle
Another good one, that's 7 in a row which I consider to be good. Seems like I discovered them at the right time.
Verdict - Good

36. Innuendo
Some say this is Bohemian Rhapsody part 2. I say this is miles better than Bohemian Rhapsody. They do seem to have gone for the same concept admittedly but I guess the "keep on trying" part of this is so much better than the "mama" part of Bohemian Rhapsody. 
Verdict - Good

37. I'm Going Slightly Mad
Big disappointment this one, the title suggests it should be much more than it is. Perhaps the most boring Queen song.
Verdict - Rubbish

38. Headlong
Can't say I like this one either.
Verdict - Rubbish

39. The Show Must Go On
I do like this one though, it had just left the charts when Freddie Mercury died so I must have considered this good enough to become a Queen fan for the next year or so.
Verdict - Good

So I consider 18 of the 40 hits to be good, 11 to be ok and 11 to be rubbish. That's not bad, take 40 random songs of anyone and there would be rubbish ones in there.

I've always found most bands/artists no matter how crap they are have at least one good song. To have 18 is quite an achievement. I guess the point is that they have a load of crap too, and its often the crap like "Don't Stop Me Now" which is celebrated rather than the good stuff like "Spread Your Wings".

Top of the Pops: 19/10/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

Post Malone is number one again and we have 10 eligible records, one of which is also by Post Malone and therefore is the one eliminated from the show.

There are five new entries this week, the highest being number 28. Amongst the new entries is Liam Gallagher who appeared on Top of the Pops itself as part of Oasis.

New (28) Giggs ft Donaeo - Linguo
New (33) Liam Gallagher - For What It's Worth
⬆ (19) Mabel ft Kojo Funds - Finders Keepers
New (38) Camelphat & Elderbrook - Cola
⬆ (12) Maroon 5 ft SZA - What Lovers Do
New (39) Sam Smith - Pray
⬆ (9) Stefflon Don ft French Montana - Hurtin Me
New (40) Charlie Puth - How Long
(1) Post Malone ft 21 Savage - Rockstar

Queen

Today I was at a big family gathering and one of my cousins who I've seen sporadically throughout my life asked me "are you still a Queen fan?".

I was somewhat surprised to be asked give I was a Queen fan for a year or so 25 years ago. This was followed by a few years of hating Queen and then I guess I've been indifferent ever since then.

My first memories of Queen are being a space in my Smash Hits sticker album when I was a kid. At the time I'd taken a liking to what I'd call "shouting songs". Shortly afterwards they released "I Want It All" which fit my criteria of a shouting song, but there were a couple of things I found strange. First of all I never expected Queen to be a male band and secondly, "shouting songs" were normally done by scruffy blokes with long hair, Freddie Mercury was wearing a shirt and tie and had short hair. I did however think it was a good song.

I was told that Queen had lots of Top 40 hits but wasn't told how many. This was the same sort of time that Cliff Richard released his 100th single so I was expecting a similar figure. Then when "The Miracle" was on the Chart Show it said in the blurb that it was Queens 35th single, rather short of the number I was expecting. I also learned that Queen did songs I already knew such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Are the Champions" and "A Kind Of Magic".

I kind of forgot about Queen during 1990 as they didn't have any Top 40 hits that year, but they were back in 1991 with "Innuendo" which I quite liked. I was somewhat disappointed with the follow up "I'm Going Slightly Mad" as the title suggested to me it would be shouty but it wasn't.

I would have called myself a casual listener at this point, but when Freddie Mercury died at the end of the year I became a fan. It was not long after this that I owned the 2 Greatest Hits albums so knew the vast majority of singles. I assumed that because they were clearly a very popular band they had lots of number ones, they had two in 1991 alone.

Looking at the 70s hit singles book we had I was somewhat surprised that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was their only number one of the 70s. When I got my first British Hit Singles book shortly after, the first thing I looked at was Queens singles discography and found their only number one of the 80s was "Under Pressure". So they had the same number of chart toppers in 1991 as they had in their career to date prior to that.

This is where it is somewhat baffling where exactly Queens popularity lies, this is not a criticism. Its fair to say they are not an album band, their albums are not that well known and their Greatest Hits albums are by far their most popular, yet take "Bohemian Rhapsody" out of the equation and their singles weren't hugely successful. It's probably fair to say the David Bowie factor helped "Under Pressure" get to number one, and "Innuendo" plummeted out of the charts quickly after it's solitary week at number one and was possibly one of the easiest moments in chart history to score a number one, it was the same month "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" by Iron Maiden reached number one which was the lowest selling number one to date.

They're not a bad band though, they have several songs that I still think are quite good, but I do definitely think they are overhyped. Yes they were all songwriters and yes they didn't just stick to one sound, but that doesn't make them the best band in the world ever.

I've always been one to question what exactly bands with legendary status contributed to music. I always questioned the Beatles when I was younger as they always seemed to be just another 60s band. I can now see how much popular music changed when they first came around and how they evolved their sound throughout their existence to remain relevant. With Queen though I really cannot see what their contribution was other than have a few sing-along songs that most people know. I certainly don't see what the fuss is about "Bohemian Rhapsody", there were plenty of prog rock bands around that time who were making long songs which were trying to push the boundaries.

Still, I can think of many popular bands/artists who are much worse than Queen but can also think of many that are much better. I guess that's why now I'm indifferent.

Top of the Pops: 12/10/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

We have a new number one from Post Malone ft 21 Savage which was a new entry 2 weeks ago. Post Malone also has a new entry at number 40 which also features on this episode. This could possibly be the first time we have the same act at number 1 and number 40, but I can't be sure.

Post Malone isn't the only act to appear twice though. Khaid also appears twice with a climber at number 20 and a new entry at number 38.

So as you may have guessed, we don't have enough eligible records for a whole episode this week with just 7 eligible records. The other three include two climbers and the highest new entry from Chris & Kem at number 15 is a contender for worst Top 40 record of the year.

New (38) Khalid - Young Dumb & Broke
⬆ (20) Marshmello ft Khalid - Silence
⬆ (10) Yungen ft Yxng Bane - Bestie
New (15) Chris & Kem - Little Bit Leave It
⬆ (3) Camila Cabello ft Young Thug - Havana
New (40) Post Malone - I Fall Apart
⬆ (1) Post Malone ft 21 Savage - Rockstar

Record of the Year 1990: DNA - La Serenissima

When it comes to DNA, most people think "Toms Diner" and to a lesser extent "Can You Handle It". Both great tunes, but for me it's all about "La Serenissima" which I've picked as my record of the year.

In a year where a lot of dance music either got harder or more mellow, this record seems to capture both directions perfectly, one of those records you can dance to in the club and chill out to at home.

Like the other two DNA singles, this wasn't original material. The original was by Rondò Veneziano, an Italian chamber orchestra. That version was used as the theme music to a BBC TV show called Hospital Watch.

Normally I would say only a nitwit would pick a dance version of a TV theme for a record of the year, but fortunately I only recently found out that's what this is. Perhaps if you hear a tune as a record before you hear it as a TV theme tune you see it in a different light.

So what about DNA themselves? Well there were two members, Nick Batt who has continued behind the scenes in the music business working with Goldfrapp amongst others. The other member, Neal Slateford, went on to become founder of sex toy company Lovehoney.

In the mid 90s I thought DNA had gone on to produce happy hardcore but that DNA turned out to be a different person.

UK Singles Chart: 1990

Now we've reached a new decade and we're in the 39th year of the singles chart I thought now would be a good time to make a slight change to these posts.

Each year I cover who has the most hits, the story was mainly how much Elvis and Cliff were miles ahead of everyone else and that nobody else caught Frank Sinatra or Lonnie Donegan, both of whom had the bulk of their hits in the 50s/early 60s. Then in the 80s several acts started to have over 30 hits to their name and it started to get a bit wordy. So instead I will have a table for those who have over 30s hits and will show what new hits they had if any. Likewise I'm going to do the same for number ones for those who have 6 or more.

Here are those with the most hits by 1990:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	101
2	Cliff Richard	99	Stronger Than That, Silhouettes, From A Distance, Saviours Day
3	David Bowie	44
4	Elton John	41	Sacrifice/Healing Hands, You Gotta Love Someone
5	Status Quo	40	The Anniversary Waltz - Part 1, The Anniversary Waltz - Part 2
6	Paul McCartney	39	Put It There, Birthday, All My Trials
7	Stevie Wonder	37
8	Queen	35
9	Rod Stewart	33	Downtown Train, It Takes Two
10	Frank Sinatra	32
11	Rolling Stones	31	Almost Hear You Sigh
12	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Diana Ross	30
=	Shakin Stevens	30	I Might, The Best Christmas Of Them All

and those with the most number ones:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	17
=	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	13	Saviours Day
4	Abba	9
5	Rolling Stones	8
6	Madonna	7	Vogue
7	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6

As well as now being just two hits behind Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard was still the person with the longest current streak of hits every year dating back to 1979 and also had the Christmas number one with "Saviours Day".

There were a few artists who had a hugely successful 1990, but the one who would be the success story of the year was Madonna. She had a number one with "Vogue" and two number twos with "Hanky Panky" and "Justify My Love".

So far it doesn't sound like the start of a new decade with the most successful act being a mid 80s debutant and a Christmas number one from a 50s debutant. Furthermore another act who could claim to be amongst the most successful of the year were 60s duo the Righteous Brothers who scored a number one with a rerelease of "Unchained Melody" and a number three with a rerelease of "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling".

We also had Elton John score his first solo number one with the double a side "Sacrifice/Healing Hands" which had both previously been released as separate singles and had both failed to reach the Top 40. Another number one was the Steve Miller Band with "The Joker", a 17 year old song which had been used on the Levi's ad.

Patsy Cline made a return to the charts after a 28 year absence with "Crazy" and Bobby Vinton returned after a 27 year absence with "Blue Velvet" which reached number two.

However there was plenty of new music for the 90s around too. Having debuted with a number one the previous year, New Kids on the Block followed up with the first number one of the year with "Hangin Tough". They went on to have 7 Top 40 singles this year, all of which reached the Top 10.

The second number one of the year was "Tears On My Pillow" by Kylie Minogue which would be the final number one for Stock Aitken & Waterman. Kylie also had a number two with "Better the Devil You Know" and a number four with "Step Back In Time". We had another new act from the Stock Aitken & Waterman camp in Lonnie Gordon who scored a number four with her debut "Happenin All Over Again".

The rest of the Stock Aitken & Waterman acts now seemed to be declining in popularity. Jason Donovan failed to reach the Top 10 with two of his four hits, Big Fun and Sonia collaborated on a charity single "You Got A Friend" but that record along with the other hits for both acts failed to reach the Top 10. There was a final Top 40 hit for Pat & Mick with "Use It Up and Wear It Out".

The late 80s saw the rise of House music in the charts but by 1990 a lot of the dance music was more downtempo, perhaps largely influenced by Soul II Soul. Amongst these was the number one record "Dub Be Good To Me" by Beats International, a group lead by a pre Fatboy Slim Norman Cook.

We still had Italo House present in the charts with four hits from Black Box, two for the 49ers and we also had the only hits from Gino Latino with "Welcome" and Don Pablos Animals with "Venus".

We were now seeing the emergence of Eurodance or Euro House in the charts and at the forefront of this was German act Snap who had the number one hit "The Power" and had a further three Top 10 singles. Also from Germany was Jam Tronik who had a cover of "Another Day In Paradise" and then there was German/Dutch act Twenty 4 Seven ft Captain Hollywood who had a couple of hits with "I Can't Stand It" and "Are You Dreaming".

Belgian act Technotronic had four hits this year plus the hit "Spin That Wheel" under the name Hi-Tek 3. Also from Belgium came Bizz Nizz with their only hit "Don't Miss The Partyline". However, the following year they would evolve into 2 Unlimited.

We also had a notable presence of Techno music in the charts, although some of the records could be debated as to whether they were House or Techno until the cows come home. Amongst these was the number one "Killer" by Adamski. This was his second hit, his first being "NRG" at the start of the year and he also had a hit with "Space Jungle". After singing on "Killer", Seal made his solo debut later on in the year with "Crazy".

Other well known hits of the techno variety this year included "Infinity" by Guru Josh, "LFO" by LFO, "Tricky Disco" by Tricky Disco and "Cubik/Olympic" by 808 State, "Olympic" being the theme to the new TV show The Word. We also had the debut of Orbital with "Chime".

The year also marked the beginning of the KLF in the charts under that name with the first hit being "What Time Is Love" which reached number 5 and actually turned out to be their lowest charting single.

Arguably the best known dance record of the year though was "Groove Is In the Heart" by Deee-Lite which was a double a side with the not so well known "What Is Love". Deee-Lite had a follow up single, another double a side with "Power Of Love / Deee-Lite Theme". They would release further singles but none of them made the Top 40.

This was the year the baggy sound really took off in the charts. The Stone Roses rereleased the two hits they had the previous year and had a further three hits. The Happy Mondays were also back and charted with perhaps their two best known hits "Step On" and "Kinky Afro".

We had the debut of Manchester groups the Inspiral Carpets with "This Is How It Feels", James with "How Was It For You", the Charlatans with "The Only One I Know" and Northside with "My Rising Star".

From Liverpool we had the Farm debut with "Groovy Train" and follow up with "All Together Now" and the La's have their only Top 40 hit with "There She Goes". From Scotland we had Primal Scream debut with "Loaded" and the Soup Dragons debut with "I'm Free".

Elsewhere we had Jesus Jones debut with "Real Real Real", EMF debut with "Unbelievable" and Candy Flip score their only Top 40 hit with their cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever".

11 years after we saw the first Rap/Hip Hop record in the Top 40 we finally get and Rap/Hip Hop number one. In fact their were two, first up was "Turtle Power" by Partners In Kryme and next came "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice. Both were chart debutants but only Vanilla Ice would return with another hit.

We also had the debut of MC Hammer with "U Can't Touch This", NWA with "Express Yourself" and Dream Warriors with "Wash Your Face In My Sink".

The R&B music in the charts was mostly of the New Jack Swing variety. This included the only Motown record of the year, "Juicy" by Wrecks-N-Effect. Other records of note included "Poison" by Bell Biv Devoe and Glenn Medeiros collaborating with Bobby Brown on "She Ain't Worth It".

We also had En Vogue debut with "Hold On", but they weren't the only group to debut with a song of that title, Wilson Phillips debuted with a different song with the same title this year.

Iron Maiden had the only Heavy Metal record of the year with "Holy Smoke", but in the Thrash scene we saw the chart debut of Megadeth with "No More Mr Nice Guy" which was followed up with "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due". We also had Anthrax back in the charts with "In My World". That's now three of the big four Thrash bands we've had in the charts, the fourth, Slayer, never had a Top 40 hit.

From the Glam scene we had the debut of Skid Row with "18 And Life". We also had hits from Motley Crue, Poison and Vixen whilst we had the solo debut of Jon Bon Jovi with "Blaze Of Glory".

Thunder made their debut this year with "Dirty Love" and had a further three hits this year. There was also the debut of Little Angels with "Radical Your Lover" and followed up with the appropriately titled "She's A Little Angel".

Away from the more established rock genres, we had a more funky side to rock music hit the charts this year. There was the debut of Faith No More with "Epic" and the debut of Red Hot Chili Peppers with "Taste the Pain".

So far we've found the 50s Rock n Roll never really started until the late 50s, the 60s as we know it didn't really start until 63, the 70s killed of the 60s before the decade we knew really began and the 80s seemed to start in the late 70s, but what about the 90s.

Well if you look at the list of number ones it's almost like going back in time with the likes of Cliff Richard, Elton John and the Righteous Brothers amongst others. At the same time it doesn't look typical of the late 80s and there is plenty of new material in the charts.

I guess its the case where music from the more recent past was considered outdated, the new was happening now and absence has made the heart go fonder for some of the older acts and records. Will it be more of the same in 1991?