Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 27 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Friday.
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 30 from this week in 1996 with my verdict on each record:
We're still in the era of Bon Jovi that I hated at the time. I've grown to like some of the hits from this period retrospectively, but this sounds every much as bland as I remember it being. It was taken from the album of the same name.
Verdict - Rubbish
When Brian May performed this at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert and then hit the Top 40 with it, we all thought it was written as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. Then 4 years later here is Freddie Mercury actually singing it. Turns out this was recorded in 1989 and didn't make the cut for "The Miracle" album. It became the 44th Top 40 hit for Queen and first to be co-written by anyone outside of the band. As I liked the Brian May version it's difficult to not like this one.
Verdict - Good
This was the final Top 40 hit where Eternal could enjoy pretty much having the monopoly of British girl groups. Maybe they knew this was the last time they could say they had such a good thing. I'd take this over the Spice Girls any day, but that's not saying much.
Verdict - Rubbish
Here's something unusual, a British indie band in 1996 who didn't fall under the Britpop banner. Their music was considered to be too American for that. I must admit I did suspect they might be American from listening to this and it was only looking them up that confirmed they were British. It's a bit dull though I have to say.
Verdict - Rubbish
If you want a trick question in a music quiz then a good one would be what was Peter Andre's debut Top 40 hit? The obvious answer would be "Mysterious Girl", but it's actually this record. I think this record was well known enough at the time, but the name Peter Andre not so much. I can't say I was a fan of it at the time, but listening all these years later it really hasn't aged well at all.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut and biggest hit for Joan Osborne, though the only one to feature here as her follow up failed to make the Top 40. I quite like the concept of god taking a bus back to heaven and getting a phone call from the pope. The first time I realised how much I liked this song was when it came on in a pub.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd Top 40 hit for the Lighthouse Family and the one which made them household names. They divide opinion but I find some of their music quite soothing and this is one of those. A great tune to listen to whilst driving on a country lane, not that I think I've ever done that.
Verdict - Good
One of the songwriters on this record was Taylor Dayne alongside Arthur Baker and Fred Zarr. The latter also was one of the writers of "Where Is My Man" by Eartha Kitt and in a way this sounds like Tina Turner is trying to do something across between that and a Taylor Dayne song. As I don't like that record in question or and Taylor Dayne songs I've heard that means that this is dreadful.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Tori Amos - Talula (New)
I mentioned when reviewing the previous Tori Amos hit that I recall hearing on the Top 40 that she got expelled from school as a kid and I remembered hearing that fact more than I remembered the actual song. Thinking about it, I'd say it was more likely before playing this record. The single version was remixed by BT, who she would collaborate with on a later single. Not very memorable, but I feel this record has more life in it and could grow on me so I'll give it half a mark.
Verdict - OK
This was the first Top 40 hit by Shaggy that I don't remember the first time around. It was the first one to chart outside the Top 20 which may explain it. I did however get to know both of these tunes when I bought his greatest hits a few years later. "Something Different" features Wayne Wonder a few years before he became a well known artist in his own right with "No Letting Go". "The Train Is Coming" is a cover of a Ken Boothe record and features Ken Boothe himself. Both decent records.
Verdict - Good / Good
I've not heard this one in a long time and my memory of it is being a more miserable follow up to the very cheerful "Alright". Now I'm listening to it I realise that it's a pretty decent tune. I was trying to remember how the verses went but there isn't any really, in fact there's not many words to the song at all but enough to get an idea of what they're singing about.
Verdict - Good
This originally topped the charts in 1979 and then remixed in 1987 as the E Reg model and now we have the Premier Mix. It doesn't sound hugely different to the original version, which at least means it hasn't been ruined.
Verdict - Good
You have to feel sorry for Tito Jackson really, a musician in his own right yet 3T were best known as Michael Jacksons nephews as opposed to Tito Jacksons sons. What I remember about this at the time was one of them having a backpack on that he'd throw to the ground part way through the song. No idea why he did that, maybe a distraction from the fact it's not a very good song.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Louise after she left Eternal. It's a cover of a record by Expose, an American group who were big in the freestyle scene in America but have just a solitary number 75 to their name chart wise in the UK. As you would expect, this is in every way inferior to the original.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record had already become well established in the underground prior to hitting the UK Top 40. If you went to a techno room in 1995 it was almost inevitable that you would hear this tune. One of those records that got commercial through it's popularity rather than being created to sell to the masses.
Verdict - Good
This is a remix of a 1992 record with the lyrics to "Do You Want It Right Now" by Degrees of Motion. I mention Now 33 being played to death at the time and I recall this being the first track of side 2 of tape 2 which was the best part of the compilation, but that hardly ever got played.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for Luniz and the only record many people know them for. It's an anthem no doubt which is possibly both a blessing and a curse for them. A blessing that they have such an iconic record but a curse that people only talk about the record and not Luniz as an act.
Verdict - Good
A coming together of Rick Nowels who wrote most of Belinda Carlisle's hits and Billy Steinberg who'd written hit for a number of female musicians produced this which sounds like, well a Celine Dion record. She made it her own I guess, that's pretty much the only positive thing I can think of about this record.
Verdict - Rubbish
In 1995 I was singing this all the time, and those not into rave had no idea what I was singing with some even thinking I was making it up. In 1996 here it was in the Top 40. Technohead were a British husband/wife duo who'd recorded under several aliases over the years. In the early 90s they relocated to Holland and topped the charts with this. By the time it charted over here though one of them had sadly passed away.
Verdict - Good
11. Madonna - One More Chance (New)
The 40th Top 40 hit for Madonna, a milestone few acts had reached at the time. Listening to the intro I'm thinking is she trying to do "More Than Words" by Extreme. That's as exciting as it gets. It was written with her "You'll See" collaborator David Foster and both records were made for her greatest hits ballad album. Sounds dull.
Verdict - Rubbish
10. Menswear - Being Brave (New)
The 4th and biggest Top 40 hit for Menswear. The way I read the situation at the time was that the band were a bit of a joke initially and this was them trying to be taken more seriously. The result though is a song that's pretty dreary.
Verdict - Rubbish
Like it's predecessor "Free As A Bird" this started out as a John Lennon demo with the remaining Beatles adding their parts and produced by Jeff Lynne. It's the 30th and final original Beatles Top 40 hit to date. I'd say this sounds more like The Beatles sounded in the 60s than how you'd imagine them to sound in the 90s, but that's no bad thing especially as they achieved the latter on their previous hit.
Verdict - Good
The 6th Top 40 hit and only Top 10 hit to date for Shed Seven. This is the single which made them household names which was helped a lot by Chris Evans playing it on his radio show all the time. I never got the appeal personally.
Verdict - Rubbish
Believe it or not, this record was written by the 5 members of Boyzone and nobody else. I struggle to believe it myself, it follows that poundland 70s soul music formula that's been done several times by seasoned songwriters and producers who seem more likely to have written it. Anyway if it's true then at least some of them have talent as songwriters as it does take skill to write crap too.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember when this first entered the charts it was at number six for three weeks in a row. It would eventually climb to number one, the first time a record climbed to number one rather than go straight in at number one for a while. I always found Mark Morrison quite hard to take seriously with the way he sang. Still not a bad record though.
Verdict - OK
Despite being a brand new record in 1996, this sounds like it could have easily come out in 1966. That's not a bad thing though. I do remember hearing this a lot at the time so I did get a bit sick of it, but still not a bad tune.
Verdict - OK
4. Garbage - Stupid Girl (New)
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Garbage which was also their first Top 10 and their biggest hit to date. I honestly don't know what to make of it after all these years and hearing it many times. It's certainly nothing to get excited about but I don't exactly dislike it either. I guess that's what the half mark is for.
Verdict - OK
I find interviews with Noel Gallagher nowadays very entertaining and do find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says about music that I don't like. I can't say the same about his music though. I never understood why Oasis were so popular, their music was just so dull in my opinion. Not only is this tune dull though, it's rather annoying too.
Verdict - Rubbish
A record you definitely couldn't avoid hearing in 1996, but what a tune. Like many dance records at the time, this was already over a year old by the time it was released. It's one of those tunes you can sit back and relax to but also get up and dance to, and I've done both.
Verdict - Good
I have happy memories of this record coming out as we knew (or should I say thought) this was the end of the band. To me, doing a cover as your final song is quite a pathetic way to go out. Saying that, they could have done "Twinkle Twinkle" and it would have probably still got to number one and give them that final pay cheque they were looking for.
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 14/30, or 47%. We do seem to be hovering above and below to 50% mark a lot.
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