25 Years Since....April 1994

Once again it's time to go back 25 years to 1994 and look at the records I was enjoying at the time:

Little Angels - Ten Miles High

I always liked it when I encountered a guitar band nobody had spoken about before and then introduced them to people in the hope they'd like it.

This was one of those bands, some had heard of Little Angels and some hadn't. Likewise some thought they were good and some didn't, one criticism someone had was that having a piano player in the band was so 80s.

Of course this wasn't the first time Little Angels had charted. They scored their first Top 40 hit in 1990 and had a hit every year up to 1994, but no Top 10s. This was in fact their final Top 40 hit and they split up just a couple of months later.

Bitty McLean - Dedicated To The One I Love

I remember the first time I heard this. I was watching Top of the Pops and could see the next act had a guitarist on the stage and was looking forward to some Rock music.

Obviously this turned out not to be Rock, but instead Bitty Mclean was back with his cover of a Mamas and the Papas song.

However I liked the way it just goes straight into song with no messing around with any intros. Also as you may have seen from previous posts I always secretly liked a bit of Bitty Mclean at the time.

Pet Shop Boys - Liberation

I first became aware of this song when I heard someone singing it quite often. When questioning what he was singing he told me it was the Pet Shop Boys.

He was also the first person I heard openly admit he liked the Pet Shop Boys. However I wasn't ready to admit that myself, particularly as this person was a Raver so therefore the enemy at the time.

I then heard the actual song and thought yes Pet Shop Boys have made yet another great tune.


Erasure - Always

Another group I wouldn't admit to liking at the time. I don't recall anyone else admitting to liking Erasure either, though I do remember a couple of younger girls enthusiastically singing along to this on the school bus at the time.

To be honest that put me off more than anything, I didn't want to like music that appealed to young girls. But it's a great tune, the way the chorus comes in and the way it sounds like the backing music is trying to catch up with the vocals is just fantastic.

Terrorvision - Oblivion

After seeing this on The Chart Show, I thought Terrorvision were another band I could bring to the table.

However someone at school had already heard other songs of theirs and also knew that they had an album coming out called "How to Make Friends and Influence People" which he went on to buy.

I remember around this time I was buying "Mega Metal" magazine which was owned by "Kerrang". You would have profiles of a number of bands in each issue including where they came from. Pretty much all the Rock and Metal bands we were all listening to were American and I assumed Terrorvision also where. However when their profile appeared I discovered they were in fact from Bradford.

Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed - Week 17

Here's my weekly look at the Top 20 from 20 years ago. On the basis we'd reach the Top 20 in the Top 40 countdown around 17:30 on a Sunday at the time the plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the top 20 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

20. Steps - Better Best Forgotten

This song title certainly sums up this song, that it's better best forgotten. I had to stop the music after writing that sentence it's that bad. Steps know they're music is shit, but they make a lot of money out of it so keep on doing it and the public keep on paying their hard earned money to subject themselves to this torture.

Verdict - Rubbish

19. Whitney Houston - It's Not Right But It's Okay

I think the song title sums this one up quite well. Generally speaking Whitney Houston's music to me was either cheesy pop or dreary ballads, but then in the late 90s it was more R&B which I guess doesn't seem right but it's ok.

Verdict - OK

18. E-Z Rollers - Walk This Land (New)

E-Z Rollers were a Drum & Bass act I first came across in the mid-90s when they were only known by ravers. Here they were in 1999 with their first and only Top 40 hit which is known by many thanks to it's inclusion in the film "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". Despite Drum & Bass seeming a lot more commercial by 1999, this was actually the only Top 40 Drum & Bass hit of the year.

Verdict - Good

17. Electronic - Vivid (New)

The final Top 40 hit for Electronic. It's a bit of a strange one as Electronic originally formed because Bernard Sumner wanted to make more Dance orientated music, yet here we are in 1999 when Dance Music is bigger than ever and we have this record that doesn't sound very Dance at all. I do still like it though.

Verdict - Good

16. Blackstreet With Janet - Girlfriend/Boyfriend

It could be argued that the success of Blackstreet in the mid 90s had a lot to do with the addition of Mark Middleton to the group who was arguably their best singer. Then he left the group and it seems their solution to life without him is to have a song that they don't really sing on. In addition to Janet Jackson, they also have rappers Ja Rule and Eve feature on this track. I have their "Finally" album which this song is on. It was considered a flop but I actually think it's a really good album and despite the lack of proper singing on this track I still like it. I should add that some of the album tracks do have good singing on them.

Verdict - Good

15. Catatonia - Dead From The Waist Down

I don't think I've heard this since 1999, I remember it as being the record that isn't actually called "Make Hay Not War". I thought my verdict on this record would be ok until I listened to it just now for the first time in 20 years. It's actually a pretty good tune, much better than I remember it.

Verdict - Good

14. Ruff Driverz Presents Arrola - La Musica (New)

Another example of underground DJ/Producers going commercial. Ruff Driverz were Chris Brown and Brad Carter. Chris was better known in the mid-90s as Eruption and made several Happy Hardcore records as well as being the owner of the rave United Dance. Brad was engineer on many Happy Hardcore tunes around the same time. It wasn't until maybe a couple of years later that I realised this so therefore I could appreciate this record without being bitter about them leaving the Hardcore scene.

Verdict - Good

13. Vengaboys - We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, well actually I'm not sure whether this is worse than Steps but it's pretty close. The Vengaboys had previously charted with "Up & Down" which I thought was ok, though I did get pretty sick of it given how overplayed it was. Then came this, which is essentially "Up & Down" with ridiculous vocals over the top of it provided by 2 females and 2 males that you don't actually hear. The Vengaboys it seems had become the Dutch Steps (yes I know there were 3 females in Steps but there could just as easily be 2).

Verdict - Rubbish

12. Glamma Kid ft Shola Ama - Taboo

It's Glamma and Shola Ama, did this collaboration come about because their names rhymed? Glamma Kid was the vocalist on "Fly Life" by Basement Jaxx and this was his first Top 40 hit as a artist in his own right. It interpolates"The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade. Quite hard to take this seriously, but then does it really matter, I like it.

Verdict - Good

11. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

When I first heard this I thought it was alright. Then I heard it so many times that made me hate it. 20 years later I see it as one of these songs that's a bit too American High School for my liking, even though it was written by a Swedish bloke.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. The New Radicals - You Get What You Give

One day in 1999 I was in HMV and asked to listen to a CD at the listening post. When I got to the listening post, the man who had just been listening at it told me it's the New Radicals on there, not knowing I'd gone up to the counter to ask for something else. That was the first time I'd heard that name and maybe a couple of weeks later I heard this. I thought maybe it would have been good to have listened to them at that listening post as I quite like it. I still like it today but still haven't heard any other New Radicals tunes, given that after their breakup frontman Gregg Alexander started writing rubbish for Ronan Keating and Sophie Ellis Bextor amongst others maybe it's better that way.

Verdict - Good

9. The Honeyz - Love Of A Lifetime (New)

The 3rd single from The Honeyz which was their last before Heavenli left the group. When they released their repackaged "Wonder No.8" album it included CD-Rom videos for all their singles to date apart from this, and the official video isn't on YouTube either. But at least we have the audio, it's possibly my favourite Honeyz single.

Verdict - Good

8. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

Some dismissed this as being a novelty record at the time thanks to Flat Eric, the puppet who appeared on the Levi's adverts containing this tune. However, if you simply listen to the tune it's not cheesy at all. Mr Oizo is also a successful French House DJ on Ed Banger Records.

Verdict - Good

7. The Cartoons - Witch Doctor

First there was Whigfield, then there was Aqua, then came The Cartoons to continue the cheesy Europop from Denmark in the charts. I guess they're probably more blatant that it's supposed to be cheesy crap, but that still makes it crap.

Verdict - Rubbish

6. TLC - No Scrubs

TLC were big in the mid 90s with their "Crazy Sexy Cool" album and then for me at least they just disappeared until this came out. It was a great comeback though, and the funny thing is that had Xscape not broken up the year before it could have been an Xscape single given Kandi and Tiny of the group were two of the writers.

Verdict - Good

5. Suede - Electricity (New)

Suede in 1999? Yes their chart career actually lasted until 2003. This was their final Top 10 hit and they had taken their music in a more electronic direction. It doesn't work though, just sounds like noise.

Verdict - Rubbish

4. Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched And Billie - Thank Abba For The Music

Oh dear, this is just awful. The who's who of shit music at the time doing a medley of Abba songs. Either you like Abba, therefore you'd want to hear the actual Abba songs, or you don't like Abba and therefore you're unlikely to like these covers which are made to sound the same. You could say it was to cater for the fans of the featured artists on this record, but when Erasure, who I like, did their Abba covers a few years earlier I hated it.

Verdict - Rubbish

3. Eminem - My Name Is

Here we have the beginning of Eminem's chart career. I could take or leave this record at the time, though I did find the line about what Spice Girl he wanted to impregnate quite amusing. The following year I got into Eminem's music when he released "The Marshall Mathers LP" and I bought "The Slim Shady LP" at the same time and that's when I really started to appreciate this tune.

Verdict - Good

2. Phats And Small - Turn Around

By the time this tune charted I'd heard it a lot and I remember it appearing on Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems on Radio 1 pretty much every week. I also remember Phats & Small presenting the show themselves one week when Dave Pearce was on holiday. Despite it being overplayed though I have good memories of this tune, despite the lyrical content of someone being down it's a feel good Dance record. Funnily enough "Feel Good" was the name of their next hit.

Verdict - Good 

1. Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment

I ended 1998 watching the death of Tiffany on Eastenders and then going to the pub and wondering why I bother watching Eastenders because it's just depressing. I stopped watching Eastenders from that point, but then a few months later Tiffany comes back to haunt me with this crap. The formula was to take a dreary song by Polish singer Edyta Górniak and in true Eastenders style make it even more depressing.

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 12.5/20, or 62.5%. The best Top 20 I've reviewed so far.

Will we see Madonna in the Top 40 again?

It's been in the news recently that Madonna is back with a new single which was released last week. There was a time when that meant a potential new number one was on it's way, but those days have seemingly now gone. The single didn't even make the Top 40, charting at 87.

I thought catching Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard in terms of number of Top 40 hits was probably a step too far for Madonna, but I fully expected her to go far ahead of the rest of the pack in 3rd place. 10 years ago Elton John had what is likely his final hit thanks to Ironik and Chipmunk sampling "Tiny Dancer", the last time he had been in the Top 40 was 2005. He was 3rd with 69 Top 40 singles and Madonna was in 4th with 65. It seemed only a matter of time before Madonna would overtake Elton John into 3rd.

However, since then she's only had 3 Top 40 singles so remains in 4th with 68. The figure on the Official Charts website is wrong as it's counting re-entries as separate singles when it shouldn't.

Given Madonna is now 60 and given the nature of the charts these days, it's looking increasingly unlikely we'll see Madonna in the Top 40 again. A glance through the artists who had a Top 40 in 1984, the year Madonna made her debut, none of them appear to have been over 60 at the time. The closest was Henry Mancini who was 2 months off his 60th birthday. The only other artists that year over 50 to my knowledge were Mel Brooks and Willie Nelson.

It's not just an age thing though, after all David Guetta is only 9 years younger and he's been one of the biggest charting acts of the decade. The streaming era though has had a notable effect on music acts who started out in the 20th century.

Since the streaming era began nearly 5 years ago, the earliest chart debutant to have a Top 40 hit is the Jackson 5, who debuted in 1970. The way they've managed to have this hit is because of the flood of old Christmas songs entering the charts at Christmas time coupled with the fact "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" failed to make the Top 40 when it was first released in 1972.

The next earliest was Paul McCartney, who had a couple of Top 40 hits in 2015 which were both collaborations with Kanye West. Then there was Michael Jackson who had a hit last year thanks to his vocals being sampled in a Drake single.

The earliest chart debutant to have a hit in the streaming era that wasn't an old Christmas song or as featured act on a modern artists single was in fact Madonna who had a hit with "Living for Love" in 2015.

Kylie Minogue managed to scrape a Top 40 last year reaching 38 with "Dancing". She also had her version of "Santa Baby" from 2000 chart in Christmas 2017. The final 80s debutants to have Top 40 hits in the streaming era were Stone Roses, who had 2 Top 40 hits in 2016 with "All For One" and "Beautiful Thing".

Just 6 acts then from the first four decades of the charts to have a Top 40 in the streaming era. There are more acts from the 90s, but few have had Top 40 hits on their own merit. Here's a list of all the Top 40 hits:

Artist/Group	Year of Debut	Hit	Year of Hit	Notes
Take That	1991	These Days	2014
		Cry	2016	featuring Sigma
		Giants	2017
Darlene Love	1992	Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)	2018	Old Christmas song
Shaggy	1993	I Need Your Love	2015	featuring Mohombi, Faydee and Costi
R Kelly	1994	Bump n Grind 2014	2014	Credit on Waze & Odyssey version
Robbie Williams	1996	Love My Life	2016
Daft Punk	1997	Starboy	2016	featuring Weeknd
		I Feel It Coming	2016	featuring Weeknd
Steps	1997	Scared of the Dark	2017
Wyclef Jean	1997	Dimelo	2017	featuring Rak-Su and Naughty Boy
Usher	1998	New Flame	2014	featuring Chris Brown and Rick Ross
		She Came to Give it to You	2014	featuring Nicki Minaj
		I Don't Mind	2015	featuring Martin Garrix
		Don't Look Down	2015	featuring Juicy J
Britney Spears	1999	Pretty Girls	2015	featuring Iggy Azalea
Craig David	1999	When the Bassline Drops	2016	featuring Big Narstie
		Nothing Like This	2016	featuring Blonde
		One More Time	2016
		Ain't Giving Up	2016	featuring Sigala
		Heartline	2017
		I Know You	2017	featuring Bastille
Eminem	1999	Guts Over Fear	2014	featuring Sia
		Revenge	2017	featuring Pink
		Walk On Water	2017	featuring Beyonce
		River	2017	featuring Ed Sheeran
		In Your Head	2017
		The Ringer	2018
		Lucky You	2018	featuring Joyner Lucas
		Fall	2018
		Killshot	2018
		Venom	2018
Enrique Iglesias	1999	Subeme La Radio	2017	featuring Matt Terry and Sean Paul
Westlife	1999	Hello My Love	2019
		Better Man	2019

That's a total of 35 Top 40 hits from 90s debutants in the streaming era of which only 13 don't involve modern artists or are old Christmas records charting for the first time.

Back to the original question though, will we ever see Madonna back in the Top 40?

Well, I know she did a version of "Santa Baby" so that could appear one Christmas. She could collaborate with a modern artist, but that's what she's just done as her latest single is a collaboration with Maluma, although I'm not sure whether too many people in the UK know who he is. Then again Madonna is one of only nine 20th century chart debutants to chart in the streaming era without the aid of Christmas or a modern artist.

Except that final statement isn't strictly true. Her one and only Top 40 hit in the streaming era was produced by Diplo and it could be argued that helped get it in the Top 40.

Looking at the track listing from her forthcoming album, there is a track on there which features Quavo, who had a number one in 2017, and is produced by Diplo. Could this be the single that puts her level with Elton John in terms of number of singles? We'll wait and see.

Top of the Pops: 25/04/2019

What's this all about?

Top 40 Countdown

Number of eligible records: 5
⬆ (34) George Ezra - Pretty Shining People
⬆ (7) Russ & Tion Wayne - Keisha and Becky
New (12) Avicii ft Aloe Blacc - SOS
New (13) BTS ft Halsey - Boy With Luv
⬆ (1) Lil Nas X - Old Town Road


Missing Out
None

My 25 Favourite Albums: Massive Attack - Blue Lines

The next in the series of My 25 Favourite Albums is the debut from Massive Attack. It came out in 1991 shortly after the single "Unfinished Sympathy" reached the Top 40. Because of the Gulf War happening at the time, they had to temporarily shorten their name to Massive, but as they were an unknown entity to many people it probably didn't make that much difference.

I do remember "Unfinished Sympathy" at the time but it was one amongst many that you wouldn't hear once it left the charts. In the mid-90s Massive Attack was a name I was hearing more as being part of the "Bristol Scene", but again it wasn't something I was paying much attention to like I mentioned in my previous post about "Dummy" by Portishead.

Then one day I was watching "Club Nation" or a similar programme on TV where they played a record from the archives which was "Unfinished Sympathy". That was probably the first time I'd heard it since 1991 and that's where I learned it was by Massive Attack, the name change at the time may have had something to do with it. I realised then what a great tune it was.

During the late 90s it was being played a lot as one of the all time classics and made number 2 in Radio 1s countdown of best songs of the millennium on NYE 99 despite the fact it only charted at number 13 at the time. The album also peaked at number 13 but would keep re-entering the chart throughout the 90s.

I bought the album around 98/99. When I listened to it for the first time I discovered I also knew the opening track "Safe From Harm" which was also a single and appeared on Top of the Pops.

As you might expect, the album takes a few listens to get into but the order of tracks helps you to give it those few listens you need. Aside from the 2 singles mentioned, the catchier tracks of the album are "Be Thankful for What You've Got" and "Hymn of the Big Wheel" which as it turns out were part of the "Massive Attack EP" which charted in 1992. These are tracks 1, 4, 6 and 9 so you have no more than 2 tracks between these and it's a 9 track album.

You also have the penultimate track "Lately" which would have a degree of familiarity if you know "Mellow Mellow Right On" by Lowrell which it samples. The second track "One Love" takes a similar amount of time to get familiar with.

The remaining 3 tracks, which are all a lot less catchy, feature a then unknown Tricky. However as he was already an established artist when I, and no doubt many others, bought the album it makes them more intriguing.

Overall there isn't a bad track on the album. I wouldn't say I love every track on the album and I wouldn't say it gets better than "Unfinished Sympathy", but that's largely to do with what a great track that is. What I will say though is whatever style of music you're into, you may like this album as it incorporates a variety of styles done in a Massive Attack type way.

Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed - Week 16

Here's my weekly look at the Top 20 from 20 years ago. On the basis we'd reach the Top 20 in the Top 40 countdown around 17:30 on a Sunday at the time the plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the top 20 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

20. Another Level ft Jay-Z - Be Alone No More

The only Another Level single not to make the top ten. This was a remix of their debut hit which features Jay-Z, presumably in an attempt to crack America. Personally I'd prefer to hear it without Jay-Z.

Verdict - OK

19. B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman

The fourth hit and fourth number one from B*Witched. The only logical reason I can think of for so many people buying it is that they desperately wanted to knock Boyzone off number one.

Verdict - Rubbish

18. Steps - Better Best Forgotten

This song title certainly sums up this song, that it's better best forgotten. I had to stop the music after writing that sentence it's that bad. Steps know they're music is shit, but they make a lot of money out of it so keep on doing it and the public keep on paying their hard earned money to subject themselves to this torture.

Verdict - Rubbish

17. Billie Piper - Honey To The Bee

This made me cringe at the time and 20 years later it still does, though until now I don't think I've heard it for 20 years, I certainly wasn't listening to the Chris Moyles show when he campaigned to get this back into the charts in 2007. What was more depressing though is that at the time I had hopes of being a successful musician in the future but she was now 4 singles into her career and she's younger than me, a sign I may have missed the boat already.

Verdict - Rubbish

16. Boyzone - When The Going Gets Tough

I like the original by Billy Ocean, but this is just dreadful. It just sounds like a karaoke song where the singer seems a bit bored.

Verdict - Rubbish

15. Meat Loaf ft Patti Russo - Is Nothing Sacred (New)

When Meat Loaf first came about in the 70s I could imagine his music, or more accurately Jim Steinmans music, would have been perceived as being different. 20 years later it all starts to sound the same, though given he spent most of the 80s in the wilderness before successfully returning to the sound that made him big in the first place you can't blame him really. Not my cup of tea though.

Verdict - Rubbish

14. Catatonia - Dead From The Waist Down

I don't think I've heard this since 1999, I remember it as being the record that isn't actually called "Make Hay Not War". I thought my verdict on this record would be ok until I listened to it just now for the first time in 20 years. It's actually a pretty good tune, much better than I remember it.

Verdict - Good

13. The Cranberries - Promises (New)

When The Cranberries hit the big time in 1994, many people loved them, particularly "Zombie". I personally never liked them though. This was their final Top 40 hit which came 3 years after their penultimate Top 40 hit. I do vaguely remember seeing them on the TV some years after their mid-90s heyday but have no memory of how the song they played went, but it was likely it was this song which is instantly forgettable.

Verdict - Rubbish

12. Vengaboys - We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, well actually I'm not sure whether this is worse than Steps but it's pretty close. The Vengaboys had previously charted with "Up & Down" which I thought was ok, though I did get pretty sick of it given how overplayed it was. Then came this, which is essentially "Up & Down" with ridiculous vocals over the top of it provided by 2 females and 2 males that you don't actually hear. The Vengaboys it seems had become the Dutch Steps (yes I know there were 3 females in Steps but there could just as easily be 2).

Verdict - Rubbish

11. Blackstreet With Janet - Girlfriend/Boyfriend (New)

It could be argued that the success of Blackstreet in the mid 90s had a lot to do with the addition of Mark Middleton to the group who was arguably their best singer. Then he left the group and it seems their solution to life without him is to have a song that they don't really sing on. In addition to Janet Jackson, they also have rappers Ja Rule and Eve feature on this track. I have their "Finally" album which this song is on. It was considered a flop but I actually think it's a really good album and despite the lack of proper singing on this track I still like it. I should add that some of the album tracks do have good singing on them.

Verdict - Good

10. Glamma Kid ft Shola Ama - Taboo (New)

It's Glamma and Shola Ama, did this collaboration come about because their names rhymed? Glamma Kid was the vocalist on "Fly Life" by Basement Jaxx and this was his first Top 40 hit as a artist in his own right. It interpolates"The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade. Quite hard to take this seriously, but then does it really matter, I like it.

Verdict - Good

9. The New Radicals - You Get What You Give

One day in 1999 I was in HMV and asked to listen to a CD at the listening post. When I got to the listening post, the man who had just been listening at it told me it's the New Radicals on there, not knowing I'd gone up to the counter to ask for something else. That was the first time I'd heard that name and maybe a couple of weeks later I heard this. I thought maybe it would have been good to have listened to them at that listening post as I quite like it. I still like it today but still haven't heard any other New Radicals tunes, given that after their breakup frontman Gregg Alexander started writing rubbish for Ronan Keating and Sophie Ellis Bextor amongst others maybe it's better that way.

Verdict - Good

8. TLC - No Scrubs

TLC were big in the mid 90s with their "Crazy Sexy Cool" album and then for me at least they just disappeared until this came out. It was a great comeback though, and the funny thing is that had Xscape not broken up the year before it could have been an Xscape single given Kandi and Tiny of the group were two of the writers.

Verdict - Good

7. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

When I first heard this I thought it was alright. Then I heard it so many times that made me hate it. 20 years later I see it as one of these songs that's a bit too American High School for my liking, even though it was written by a Swedish bloke.

Verdict - Rubbish

6. The Cartoons - Witch Doctor

First there was Whigfield, then there was Aqua, then came The Cartoons to continue the cheesy Europop from Denmark in the charts. I guess they're probably more blatant that it's supposed to be cheesy crap, but that still makes it crap.

Verdict - Rubbish

5. Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched And Billie - Thank Abba For The Music

Oh dear, this is just awful. The who's who of shit music at the time doing a medley of Abba songs. Either you like Abba, therefore you'd want to hear the actual Abba songs, or you don't like Abba and therefore you're unlikely to like these covers which are made to sound the same. You could say it was to cater for the fans of the featured artists on this record, but when Erasure, who I like, did their Abba covers a few years earlier I hated it.

Verdict - Rubbish

4. Phats And Small - Turn Around

By the time this tune charted I'd heard it a lot and I remember it appearing on Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems on Radio 1 pretty much every week. I also remember Phats & Small presenting the show themselves one week when Dave Pearce was on holiday. Despite it being overplayed though I have good memories of this tune, despite the lyrical content of someone being down it's a feel good Dance record. Funnily enough "Feel Good" was the name of their next hit.

Verdict - Good

3. Eminem - My Name Is

Here we have the beginning of Eminem's chart career. I could take or leave this record at the time, though I did find the line about what Spice Girl he wanted to impregnate quite amusing. The following year I got into Eminem's music when he released "The Marshall Mathers LP" and I bought "The Slim Shady LP" at the same time and that's when I really started to appreciate this tune.

Verdict - Good

2. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

Some dismissed this as being a novelty record at the time thanks to Flat Eric, the puppet who appeared on the Levi's adverts containing this tune. However, if you simply listen to the tune it's not cheesy at all. Mr Oizo is also a successful French House DJ on Ed Banger Records.

Verdict - Good

1. Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment (New)

I ended 1998 watching the death of Tiffany on Eastenders and then going to the pub and wondering why I bother watching Eastenders because it's just depressing. I stopped watching Eastenders from that point, but then a few months later Tiffany comes back to haunt me with this crap. The formula was to take a dreary song by Polish singer Edyta Górniak and in true Eastenders style make it even more depressing.

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 8.5/20, or 42.5%. Just the one record was OK, the rest were good or rubbish and 6 of the Top 10 were good.

Top of the Pops: 18/04/2019

What's this all about?

Top 40 Countdown

Number of eligible records: 10
New (39) Jonas Brothers - Cool
New (36) Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly
New (33) Blackpink - Kill This Love
New (32) Khalid - My Bad
New (25) Jax Jones ft Martin Solveig & Madison Beer - All Day and Night
⬆ (16) Ava Max - So Am I
⬆ (11) Marshmello ft Chvrches - Here With Me
⬆ (5) Meduza ft Goodboys - Piece of Your Heart
(1) Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved


Missing Out
⬆ (9) Khalid ft Disclosure - Talk

Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed - Week 15

Here's my weekly look at the Top 20 from 20 years ago. On the basis we'd reach the Top 20 in the Top 40 countdown around 17:30 on a Sunday at the time the plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the top 20 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

20. Des'ree - You Gotta Be

You might be thinking surely this didn't come out as late as 1999 and you'd be right. This re-entered the charts after being on the Ford Focus advert. I hated this when it first came out and by 1999 my opinion still hadn't changed and remains the same now.

Verdict - Rubbish

19. Beverley Knight - Made It Back '99 (New)

A remix of a single from 1998 with this version sampling "Good Times" by Chic. It managed to peak 2 places higher than the original and is probably slightly better. However I don't like it enough to rate it as good.

Verdict - OK

18. Whitney Houston - It's Not Right But It's Okay

I think the song title sums this one up quite well. Generally speaking Whitney Houston's music to me was either cheesy pop or dreary ballads, but then in the late 90s it was more R&B which I guess doesn't seem right but it's ok.

Verdict - OK

17. Steps - Better Best Forgotten

This song title certainly sums up this song, that it's better best forgotten. I had to stop the music after writing that sentence it's that bad. Steps know they're music is shit, but they make a lot of money out of it so keep on doing it and the public keep on paying their hard earned money to subject themselves to this torture.

Verdict - Rubbish

16. Mariah Carey - I Still Believe (New) 

My advice would be don't click on the link above even if you like it. Instead go and listen to the original here by Brenda K Starr. It's a proper 80s ballad that's been turned into a dreary ballad by Mariah Carey, who actually started life as backing singer for Brenda K Starr.

Verdict - Rubbish

15. Reef - I've Got Something To Say (New)

I thought Reef were finished chart wise by 1999 but turns out they weren't. This was their penultimate Top 40 single which I do remember, I just thought it was more like 96/97 time. My memory of this song is it being more lively than it really is, it's actually a pretty dull song.

Verdict - Rubbish

14. B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman

The fourth hit and fourth number one from B*Witched. The only logical reason I can think of for so many people buying it is that they desperately wanted to knock Boyzone off number one.

Verdict - Rubbish

13. TLC - No Scrubs

TLC were big in the mid 90s with their "Crazy Sexy Cool" album and then for me at least they just disappeared until this came out. It was a great comeback though, and the funny thing is that had Xscape not broken up the year before it could have been an Xscape single given Kandi and Tiny of the group were two of the writers.

Verdict - Good

12. Boyzone - When The Going Gets Tough

I like the original by Billy Ocean, but this is just dreadful. It just sounds like a karaoke song where the singer seems a bit bored.

Verdict - Rubbish

11. Another Level ft Jay-Z - Be Alone No More (New)

The only Another Level single not to make the top ten. This was a remix of their debut hit which features Jay-Z, presumably in an attempt to crack America. Personally I'd prefer to hear it without Jay-Z.

Verdict - OK

10. Vengaboys - We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, well actually I'm not sure whether this is worse than Steps but it's pretty close. The Vengaboys had previously charted with "Up & Down" which I thought was ok, though I did get pretty sick of it given how overplayed it was. Then came this, which is essentially "Up & Down" with ridiculous vocals over the top of it provided by 2 females and 2 males that you don't actually hear. The Vengaboys it seems had become the Dutch Steps (yes I know there were 3 females in Steps but there could just as easily be 2).

Verdict - Rubbish

9. Billie Piper - Honey To The Bee

This made me cringe at the time and 20 years later it still does, though until now I don't think I've heard it for 20 years, I certainly wasn't listening to the Chris Moyles show when he campaigned to get this back into the charts in 2007. What was more depressing though is that at the time I had hopes of being a successful musician in the future but she was now 4 singles into her career and she's younger than me, a sign I may have missed the boat already.

Verdict - Rubbish

8. The New Radicals - You Get What You Give

One day in 1999 I was in HMV and asked to listen to a CD at the listening post. When I got to the listening post, the man who had just been listening at it told me it's the New Radicals on there, not knowing I'd gone up to the counter to ask for something else. That was the first time I'd heard that name and maybe a couple of weeks later I heard this. I thought maybe it would have been good to have listened to them at that listening post as I quite like it. I still like it today but still haven't heard any other New Radicals tunes, given that after their breakup frontman Gregg Alexander started writing rubbish for Ronan Keating and Sophie Ellis Bextor amongst others maybe it's better that way.

Verdict - Good

7. Catatonia - Dead From The Waist Down (New)

I don't think I've heard this since 1999, I remember it as being the record that isn't actually called "Make Hay Not War". I thought my verdict on this record would be ok until I listened to it just now for the first time in 20 years. It's actually a pretty good tune, much better than I remember it.

Verdict - Good

6. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

When I first heard this I thought it was alright. Then I heard it so many times that made me hate it. 20 years later I see it as one of these songs that's a bit too American High School for my liking, even though it was written by a Swedish bloke.

Verdict - Rubbish

5. The Cartoons - Witch Doctor

First there was Whigfield, then there was Aqua, then came The Cartoons to continue the cheesy Europop from Denmark in the charts. I guess they're probably more blatant that it's supposed to be cheesy crap, but that still makes it crap.

Verdict - Rubbish

4. Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched And Billie - Thank Abba For The Music (New)

Oh dear, this is just awful. The who's who of shit music at the time doing a medley of Abba songs. Either you like Abba, therefore you'd want to hear the actual Abba songs, or you don't like Abba and therefore you're unlikely to like these covers which are made to sound the same. You could say it was to cater for the fans of the featured artists on this record, but when Erasure, who I like, did their Abba covers a few years earlier I hated it.

Verdict - Rubbish

3. Phats And Small - Turn Around (New)

By the time this tune charted I'd heard it a lot and I remember it appearing on Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems on Radio 1 pretty much every week. I also remember Phats & Small presenting the show themselves one week when Dave Pearce was on holiday. Despite it being overplayed though I have good memories of this tune, despite the lyrical content of someone being down it's a feel good Dance record. Funnily enough "Feel Good" was the name of their next hit.

Verdict - Good

2. Eminem - My Name Is (New)

Here we have the beginning of Eminem's chart career. I could take or leave this record at the time, though I did find the line about what Spice Girl he wanted to impregnate quite amusing. The following year I got into Eminem's music when he released "The Marshall Mathers LP" and I bought "The Slim Shady LP" at the same time and that's when I really started to appreciate this tune.

Verdict - Good

1. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

Some dismissed this as being a novelty record at the time thanks to Flat Eric, the puppet who appeared on the Levi's adverts containing this tune. However, if you simply listen to the tune it's not cheesy at all. Mr Oizo is also a successful French House DJ on Ed Banger Records.

Verdict - Good

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 7.5/20, or 37.5%, making it the worst week I've reviewed so far.

Top of the Pops: 11/04/2019

What's this all about?

Top 40 Countdown

Number of eligible records: 8
Re (13) Billie Eilish - Wish You Were Gay
⬆ (6) Billie Eilish - Bury a Friend
New (2) Billie Eilish - Bad Guy
New (19) Jay1 - Your Mrs
New (26) Westlife - Better Man
New (39) Lil Nas X - Old Town Road
New (40) Ariana Grande ft Victoria Monet - Monopoly
(1) Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved


Missing Out
None

Record of the Year 2013: Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Back in the 90s and early 00s Daft Punk were one of those Dance acts who were seen as being credible by the purists whilst being commercially successful at the same time. By the time "Get Lucky" came out though, many were accusing Daft Punk of selling out.

Whether they were or not, the resulting music is pretty good. Ok it's not as good as their earlier material and they follow the David Guetta/Calvin Harris formula of getting "names" to feature, but it really is a breath of fresh air compared to the likes of David Guetta and Calvin Harris.

I did find the choice of vocalist somewhat baffling. Pharrell Williams is a producer who did a bit of singing and rapping presumably because he wasn't content with staying in the background, but the reality is he isn't a very good vocalist so why get him to provide vocals for a tune he didn't produce? That said if you're a good vocalist then you're wasted singing on Dance records so maybe it was a good choice.

It was the first Daft Punk Top 40 hit in 8 years and the only chart success Pharrell had in the previous 7 years was vocalist on a Swedish House Mafia single, which is probably where Daft Punk got the idea from. It became their first number one and only Top 40 hit from their "Random Access Memories" album which was just their fourth studio album and still their latest album to date.

UK Singles Chart: 2013

David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Bon Jovi all had their final Top 40 hits in 2013. Joining the 30+ club were Eminem and Kanye West:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Elvis Presley	124
=	Cliff Richard	124
3	Elton John	69
4	Madonna	67
5	David Bowie	58	Where Are We Now
=	Status Quo	57
7	Queen	53
8	Michael Jackson	50
9	Kylie Minogue	48
10	Paul McCartney	47
11	Rod Stewart	45
12	Pet Shop Boys	44
13	Diana Ross	43
=	Rolling Stones	43
=	Depeche Mode	43
16	Stevie Wonder	41
=	U2	41
18	UB40	40
19	Mariah Carey	39	Beautiful
=	Jay-Z	39	Holy Grail, Drunk In Love
21	Prince	38
=	Rihanna	38	The Monster, Right Now
23	Janet Jackson	37
=	Bon Jovi	37	Because We Can
=	R Kelly	37	Do What U Want, PYD
26	Tom Jones	36
=	George Michael	36
28	Erasure	34
=	Manic Street Preachers	34
=	Robbie Williams	34	Goin Crazy, Go Gentle
31	Frank Sinatra	33
=	Shakin Stevens	33
=	Morrissey	33
34	Iron Maiden	32
=	Simply Red	32
=	Whitney Houston	32
37	Roy Orbison	31
=	Bee Gees	31
=	REM	31
=	Eminem	31	My Life, Bezerk, Rap God, Survival, The Monster
40	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Tina Turner	30
=	Duran Duran	30
=	Paul Weller	30
=	Mary J Blige	30
=	Glee Cast	30
=	Kanye West	30	Black Skinhead

Eminem and Rihanna collaborated on the number one "The Monster" bringing both their total of number ones to 7. Britney Spears scored her 6th number one:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	21
2	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14
=	Westlife	14
5	Madonna	13
6	Take That	11
7	Abba	9
=	Spice Girls	9
9	Rolling Stones	8
=	Oasis	8
=	Eminem	8	The Monster
=	Rihanna	8	The Monster
11	George Michael	7
=	Michael Jackson	7
=	Kylie Minogue	7
=	U2	7
=	Elton John	7
=	McFly	7
=	Robbie Williams	7
20	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6
=	Blondie	6
=	Queen	6
=	Sugababes	6
=	Britney Spears	6	Scream & Shout

Kanye West remains the act with the most consecutive years of Top 40 hits. It would be the final year for Leona Lewis in the Top 40 with her final hit being "One More Sleep":

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Kanye West	2004
2	Rihanna	2005
3	Chris Brown	2006
=	Leona Lewis	2006
=	Ne-Yo	2006
6	Calvin Harris	2007

Leona Lewis wasn't the only X Factor contestant who's Top 40 career ended in 2013. Series 5 contestants JLS called it a day with their final hit being "Billion Lights". Series 7 winner Matt Cardle had his final hit which was a collaboration with Mel C and also was the final Top 40 for any of the Spice Girls. The runner up of series 7, Rebecca Ferguson, also had her final hit with "I Hope".

Two of the series 8 contestants finished their Top 40 career with Drum & Bass tunes, Amelia Lily with the appropriately titled "Party Over" and Misha B with "Here's to Everything (Ooh La La)". Series 9 contestant Lucy Spraggan had her final hit with "Lighthouse".

This meant the earliest X Factor contestant to still have an active Top 40 career by the end of the year was series 6 contestant Olly Murs with his biggest hit of the year being "Dear Darlin" which made number five.

Series 7 contestants One Direction scored their third number one in as many years with "One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)". After a promising start to their careers, series 8 winners Little Mix only managed one top ten hit out of their four singles in 2013 with "Move" which made number three.

The winner from the previous series, James Arthur, scored a number two with his second hit "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" but failed to reach the top ten with his third, "Recovery". We had the debut from fellow contestants of that series, the boyband Union J who debuted with "Carry You" and followed up with "Beautiful Life".

After 2 years of charity records making Christmas number one it was back to the X Factor winner in 2013 with Sam Bailey - "Skyscraper". There was an anti X Factor campaign to get "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC to Christmas number one which gave AC/DC their first ever Top 10 hit which made number four. They had previously held the record for most hits without a Top 10 with that honour now going to Super Furry Animals.

Rival show The Voice had it's first contestant to score a Top 10 hit, with runner up Leah McFall making number 8 with "I Will Survive". She followed this up with "Killing Me Softly". Series winner Andrea Begley did make the Top 40 but only managed number 30 with "My Immortal". Tyler James from the first series had a hit with "Worry About You". This would be the last we'd see of all 3 contestants.

The success story of the year from a chart perspective was a 40 year old Pharrell Williams. Prior to 2013 he'd only had one Top 40 hit in the previous 7 years. He came back with the number one single "Get Lucky" in collaboration with Daft Punk who themselves hadn't had a Top 40 hit for 8 years. He then had another number one with Robin Thicke, who's only previous Top 40 effort had come 6 years prior, and TI.

The number 19 "Get Like Me" in collaboration with Nelly and Nicki Minaj followed, but then he ended the year clearly delighted at his renewed success with the hit "Happy" which reached number one at the very end of the year and would return to number one twice in 2014.

The most successful Girl Group of the year were The Saturdays who finally scored their first number one, 5 years after their debut with "What About Us" which featured Sean Paul. They also had a number 5 with "Disco Love" and a number 14 with "Gentleman".

The other non X Factor Girl Groups in the charts in 2013 were Stooshe with "Slip" and newcomers Neon Jungle with "Trouble". Both songs made number 12 and it was the end for Stooshe but Neon Jungle would be back.

Boyband wise outside of X Factor it was a case of out of the old and in with the new. Boyzone had their final hit with "Love Will Save the Day", McFly had their final hit with "Love Is On the Radio" and the Wanted had their final hit with "Show Me Love (America)".

That said, the new boybands didn't have much impact on the charts with newcomers Reconnected making numbers 32 and 33 with their hits "One in a Million" and "Time of our Lives" and Mad reaching number 37 with their debut hit "Toyboy". That would be the last we'd see of Reconnected but Mad would be back.

Electropop was still the big genre of music in the charts in 2013, though there was less of it that there was in 2012. There isn't an awful lot to say about Electropop other than it being the same as it ever was but there were other genres making an impact though.

Early on in the year we had the number one debut from rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with "Thrift Shop". They follow this up with the hits "Can't Hold Us" and "Same Love". There was also come novelty rap music returning to the charts with PJ and Duncan making number one with "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" 19 years after it charted the first time follow Ant (PJ) and Dec (Duncan) performing it on their Saturday Night Takeaway show.

There was an increase in R&B hits in the charts in 2013, but this was mainly due to Justin Bieber releasing an R&B album which produced 10 singles. However the highest charting of these, "Heartbreaker", only made number 14. We did have an R&B number one from another Justin which was "Mirrors" by Justin Timberlake.

Ed Sheeran brought his total Top 40 singles count to double figures in 2013 with "Everything Has Changed" in collaboration with Taylor Swift and "I See Fire".

We had a Folk inspired number one from OneRepublic in 2013 with "Counting Stars" which was just their fourth Top 40 hit having debuted in 2007.

Folk was also influencing EDM music with Avicii scoring a number one with "Wake Me Up". This was his second number one of the year, his first being "I Could Be the One" in collaboration with debutant Nicky Romero, who followed this up with "Like Home" which was in collaboration with Australian DJ duo Nervo.

Calvin Harris scored a number one with "Under Control" in collaboration with Alesso and Hurts and also had hits with "Thinking About You" in collaboration with Ayah Marar and "I Need Your Love" in collaboration with Ellie Goulding. It was a relatively quiet year for David Guetta who just had one hit earlier on in the year with "Just One Last Time" in collaboration with Taped Rai.

We had the chart debut of Martin Garrix who scored a number one with "Animals". At the time of writing this is the last time we've had an instrumental hit at number one.

After the big Drum & Bass revival of 2012 we had even more Drum & Bass hits in 2013 making it the year with the most Drum & Bass hits to date. We had a Drum & Bass number one as well with "Waiting All Night" by Rudimental ft Ella Eyre. A notable Drum & Bass act making their debut in 2013 was Wilkinson with "Afterglow".

We also had a mini revival in the charts from Breakbeat from Chase & Status and Naughty Boy plus the number one "Love Me Again" by John Newman which was a Breakbeat/Soul crossover hit. UK Garage also had a mini revival with "You & Me" by Disclosure ft Eliza Doolittle and "Higher (Free)" by All About She.

Dubstep was finished from a chart perspective with no records in 2013 coming under that genre. We did however see the rise of Deep House. This isn't the same as Deep House in years gone by but was used to describe more mellow bassline driven music.

We had two Deep House number ones which were "Need U (100%)" by Duke Dumont ft AME and "Look Right Through" by Storm Queen. Other acts in this genre to have hits included Breach, Ben Pearce, Chris Malinchak and Disclosure.

There was also the first example of Tropical House music in the charts which was "Sonnentanz (Sun Don't Shine)" by Klangkarussell ft Will Heard. Tropical House is considered to be a sub genre of Deep House.

As well as Daft Punk there was another name from yesteryear in the Dance music world making a comeback. Fatboy Slim returned to the charts with "Eat Sleep Rave Repeat" which featured Beardyman and Rivastarr.

To summarise 2013, as mentioned Electropop is still the dominant music in terms of quantity but at the top of the charts we are seeing more variety than recent years. With EDM it isn't just the generic electronic driven music we are seeing, there are revivals of older music forms and the Deep/Tropical House emerging. We are seeing Rap, R&B, Folk and more general Pop music at the top as well, maybe the record buying public are getting fed up of the same Electropop music and want more variety. Will this be reflected in the charts in 2014?