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:
Yet another older artist making a Dance record. But this time the record is actually pretty good. It's easy to dismiss this as an old artist trying to cash in on the modern sound when people just want to hear the old stuff. But if you just listen to the record it sounds like a proper Dance record, it's not cheesy, there isn't too much emphasis on the vocals, it's how a Dance record should sound.
Verdict - Good
Oh dear, this is just dreadful. I guess she was successful with the equally dreadful "That Don't Impress Me Much" so thought more of the same.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been over a year since Embrace had last been in the Top 40. All their hits to date had been slow, boring and depressing in my opinion, but this was different. It was more upbeat, but despite this was still rather boring.
Verdict - Rubbish
On the song writing credits for this record is band member Brian Littrell. As the story goes, he took this song to Swedish producers Max Martin and Kristian Lundin who would then make alterations and additions to the song. I wonder just how similar the final song is to what Brian had originally wrote.
Verdict - Rubbish
This sounds a bit out of place in 1999, probably because from memory this is the first Dancehall record to feature since I started this series of posts. I also own a compilation with this on which I bought around 2003 so I associate it more with that time. Given I didn't press the skip button when listening to said compilation I would say I like it.
Verdict - Good
After charting in the summer with "Not Over Yet 99", Planet Perfecto charted one place higher with "Bullet in the Gun" which would go on to reach the Top 10 almost a year later. You could say on that basis it was ahead of it's time, but when you consider commercial trance music was at it's best in 1999 that's probably unfair is this is one of those great 1999 trance records.
Verdict - Good
I'm sure I heard this one in the summer, but then it wouldn't be the first dance record that charts long after it first gets popular on the dance floor. There were many trance records in 1999 better than this, but actually it's still a decent record.
Verdict - Good
After spending the majority of the decade singing depressing ballads, here's Mariah Carey going all gangsta. Ok not quite, but it's a record for the Rap and R&B crowd and features a rap from Jay-Z. It's quite fitting that she has perhaps the shittest rapper of all time feature on this shit record.
Verdict - Rubbish
This had already been played to death by the time it charted. I remember listening to the Top 40 the week it topped the charts but turned the radio off once the number one record was announced. It's absolutely terrible.
Verdict - Rubbish
This is very cheesy. It was the debut hit for Ann Lee who had previously had some success as a songwriter. I always imagined this to be sung by a teenager but turns out Ann Lee was 31 when this was released. Obviously she had learned the formula for selling records. I don't mind this record though.
Verdict - OK
Apparently their record label challenged them to produce the next "Truly Madly Deeply" and this was the result. I would argue this is a better song, it's not as soppy and is more uplifting and therefore I can listen to it without cringing. I also have this on a compilation and don't press the skip button.
Verdict - Good
The debut hit for Christina Aguilera. Like with many pop songs by young American artists at the time, this is very American high school sounding, but based on what we've learned about many of these songs, you'd expect it to be written by a Swedish bloke. But not this one, 2 of it's 3 writers are actually American, the other coming from New Zealand. Still, not a record I can say I like.
Verdict - Rubbish
This is probably the best known Westlife song. It was written by the same people who wrote their first number one "Swear It Again". The funny thing was that it wasn't originally going to be a Westlife song, it was going to be the debut solo record for Boyzone member Stephen Gately. Given most people don't remember Stephen Gately even having a solo career, I wonder if he'd have been more successful if this song was given to him instead as originally intended. As far as Westlife songs go, this is probably one of the better ones but it's still shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I first heard this I imagined the singer to be in her 50s. She actually is now, but at the time she was only 32. I thought it was alright initially but then it quickly got irritating. On paper it shouldn't be a bad song, it's original, it's soulful and it certainly isn't boring but for some reason it just bugs me.
Verdict - Rubbish
I was at a karaoke night in maybe 2002 and somebody suggested I got up and sung this. There was one slight problem with that though, I didn't actually know it. Of course once YouTube arrived I had to listen to it after remembering that karaoke night and it did ring a vague bell. Quite why this person thought I should sing it at karaoke though remains a mystery.
Verdict - OK
The problem I have with this record now is that it sounds like it set the scene for all that cringe worthy crap she did with the likes of Pitbull later on in her career. At the time though I thought it was alright. I guess the fact you don't have anyone shouting "Mr Worldwide" in it means it still is alright.
Verdict - OK
The 7th Top 40 single from his "R" album, and still not the last. This is one of those records that charted much later than I remember it charting, but given it's on an album that I own and the first single from that album came out in early 1997 it's not that surprising. Good tune though.
Verdict - Good
On hearing this record for the first time I was expecting it to open with a rap from J. Instead it opens with singing from someone I'd never noticed being in the group before. It was band member Sean who'd pretty much been in the background up until now. J does still get the lions share of the vocals though, with his vocals being somewhere in between singing and rapping in this tune. It was the first Five record to get to number one and I've got to say I like it.
Verdict - Good
It's the solo debut of Baby Spice, well her first non Spice Girls hit anyway. It ended up being the final Top 40 hit for Tin Tin Out and also their most successful. It's a cover of the Edie Brickell record, I'm not keen on the original and this cover does nothing to improve it.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 3rd solo hit and 2nd number one for Geri Halliwell. Despite leaving the Spice Girls due to musical differences, all 3 of her solo hits to date had been written by Absolute, the producers who discovered the Spice Girls and produced half the tracks on their first 2 albums. In fact all the songs on Geri's debut album were written by them and predictably it's still crap.
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%. We're improving.
