25 Years Since....August 1996

Let's not get too carried away, The Spice Girls were number one for the whole of August 1996. Here's what I was listening too instead:

E'Voke - Arms Of Loren

E'Voke had previously had a hit with "Runaway" which was a blatant rip off of "Set You Free" but I still loved it. Then they disappeared for almost a year until they reappeared with this.

I remember them appearing on The Big Breakfast around the time of it's release and I thought this seemed pretty decent too. Then they disappeared again, though an internet search tells me they have had further tunes but none I've noticed.

Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet

Whilst The Spice Girls were harping on about girl power despite being a group manufactured by men singing a song written by men, here's a female who was in no way manufactured and wrote her own music.

As a raver at the time I couldn't be seen to be buying anything that wasn't rave but there was no denying I loved this tune. A couple of years later I saw the CD single in Cash Convertors and bought it.

OMC - How Bizarre

The song title more or less describes the song. The tunes quite melodic but the vocals are anything but. It's not really singing or rapping, but somehow it works.

It was also proof that Crowded House wasn't the only music to come out of New Zealand. As Crowded House were about to break up here was someone to fill that void. It wasn't to be though and they never had another hit.

OMD - Walking On The Milky Way

Yes that's right, OMC and OMD were both in the charts at the same time. At the time I never really paid close attention to the lyrics and dismissed it as being some fantasy space nonsense. I love the tune itself though.

Later on in life I paid a bit more attention to the lyrics and they started to make sense to me. You're young and have your dreams but then reality hits and I particularly liked the last line in the 2nd verse "I don't believe that anything can recreate your youth".

Even later on in life I met Andy McCluskey (the sole member of OMD on this single) and unfortunately I thought he was a bit of a prick. But then he was the man who gave the world Kerry Katona.

East 17 - Someone To Love

This was the final single from the "Up All Night" album. They were ever present throughout my music tastes even if I wouldn't admit it at the time.