Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 40

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Double Vision - Knockin

In the UK in the 90s we had Eurodance acts from several European countries hit the Top 40. One notable absent country though was Spain. In Holland we had Spanish Eurodance act Double Vision top the charts with this record. The music is very much Eurodance but the vocals sound quite gothic, a strange combination. Their Dutch Top 40 career began and ended in 1995 but we have one more record of theirs to come.

Arno Kolenbrander - Why God Why

Between 1985 and 2002 Holland had a TV show called "Soundmixshow" which was essentially their version of "Stars in Their Eyes", though they came up with the idea first. Arno Kolenbrander was the 1995 winner of the show and this was his winning song. It's a cover of a song from the musical "Miss Saigon" and the song title more or less sums up what I think of it.

Clouseau - Zie Me Graag

For the 3rd and final time this year we have a hit from Belgian band Clouseau with a song sang in Dutch. I'm listening to the song waiting for it to start and finding something to say about it, but it never happens, just plain dull.

Vaya Con Dios - Don't Break My Heart

Another Belgian band but this time one singing in English. They topped the Dutch Top 40 with their debut "What's A Woman" in 1990 but in 1991 founding member Dirk Schoufs died. The band carried on but this would be near the end for them. In 1996 singer Dani Klein quit the music business. That was until she came back and eventually reformed the band who are still going at the time of writing.

2000: The Good Old Days? - March

This isn't a month of halves, every record either gets a 1 or 0. That might explain why I was quite surprised by the score once I added it up at the end.

The best record this month is "Is It Love?" by Chili Hi Fly. I'm pretty certain I first heard this in the summer of 1999 so it just took a while to get to the charts. It's one of those summer house records you may associate with Ibiza.

Artful Dodger returned to the charts with their 2nd Top 40 hit "Movin Too Fast". This was surprisingly the first UK garage record to make the Top 40 in 2000, over 2 months after the year began. This one gets full marks but the other garage record this month doesn't get any which is "Can't Get Used To Losing You" by Colour Girl.

Trance wise the only decent record is "Sunshine" by Yomanda. The others are ATB covering "Killer" which is in every way inferior to the Adamski version. Then there's "Don't Give Up" by Chicane & Bryan Adams. I like Chicane but this just doesn't work for me. It worked for him though because it topped the charts.

Most of the house records are decent. As well as the best record they include "Off the Wall" by Wisdome and "Mr Devil" by Big Time Charlie & Soozy Q. The only one I don't like is "Chocolate Sensation" by Lenny Fontana & DJ Shorty, yet another record sampling "Love Sensation" which was getting tired by this point.

Just the one decent rap record which is "Still Dre" by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. I was shocked when it was revealed it was written Jay-Z who is one of my least favourite rappers. Big rivals to Jay-Z for that crown had Top 40 hits this month who were Puff Daddy and Will Smith.

Just the one decent R&B record too which comes from the Honeyz with "Won't Take It Lying Down". 

Blink 182 had their 2nd Top 40 hit with "All the Small Things" which is the one they're best known for. Whilst not as good as their pre-fame material it's a decent enough record.

Onto the worst record and that comes from Geri Halliwell with "Bag It Up". I remember the Top of the Pops performance with boxes of washing powder on stage labelled "Girl Powder" and thinking what a load of nonsense.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

It felt a better month than the score suggests, but then again this would be a good score by later years standards.

January Charts: 1978

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Bill Withers - Lovely Day

2. Electric Light Orchestra - Mr Blue Sky

3. Rich Kids - Rich Kids

4. Rose Royce - Wishing On A Star

5. War - Galaxy

6. Scott Fitzgerald And Yvonne Keeley - If I Had Words

7. Tonight - Drummer Man

8. Eddie and the Hot Rods - Quit This Town

9. Modern Lovers - Morning Of Our Lives

10. People's Choice - Jam, Jam, Jam (All Night Long)

11. Heatwave - The Groove Line

12. T-Connection - On Fire

13. Gordon Giltrap - Heartsong

14. Paul Henry Featuring Mayson Glen Orchestra - Benny's Theme

15. The Sweet - Love Is Like Oxygen

16. Smokie - For A Few Dollars More

17. El Coco - Cocomotion

18. Stargard - Theme From 'Which Way Is Up'

19. Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou

20. Darts - Come Back My Love

21. David Bowie - Beauty And The Beast

22. Rod Stewart - Hot Legs/I Was Only Joking

23. Terry Wogan - The Floral Dance

24. Baccara - Sorry I'm A Lady

25. Brotherhood Of Man - Figaro

Punk was very much a thing in the charts by January 1978, it just seemed to be taking a winter break from them. There were no punk records as such but there were ones you would closely associate.

There's "Quit This Town" by Eddie & the Hot Rods that is technically pub rock but you could easily lump this together with punk. Then we have "Drummer Man" which was the only Top 40 hit for Tonight who were described as new wave. The best of these records though was "Rich Kids" by Rich Kids, another new wave band whose members included former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and a man of many bands Midge Ure.

Pipping the Rich Kids into 2nd place though is ELO with "Mr Blue Sky" which came close to winning but what it came down to was the fact the outro on this is a bit too long. This meant that Bill Withers comes 1st with "Lovely Day" which I even loved as a teenager predominantly listening to rave music.

The disco music here is mostly credible. The best of these is "The Groove Line" by Heatwave, helped by the fact Brandon Block did a house version in the 90s that I liked. From The Bahamas we have T-Connection with "On Fire" which is decent whilst "Cocomotion" by El Coco is alright. 

However we do have a cheesy one with Baccara having their lesser known 2nd and final hit with "Sorry I'm A Lady" but this is only the 2nd worst record. Down the bottom is Brotherhood Of Man with "Figaro" which is a reminder of the sort of cheesy rubbish we'd get in 1976.

Terry Wogan is in the charts with "The Floral Dance" which I remember very well from the Top of the Pops reruns. It's rubbish, but then it's clearly meant to be. We have another novelty record from Paul Henry with "Benny's Theme" but despite that fact I find the actual music really good.

David Bowie finds himself near the bottom with "Beauty And The Beast". I've just never got the appeal of his music even if many music fans don't agree. I am however sure that many music fans share my dislike of Rod Stewart and I didn't even bother listening to his double a-side "Hot Legs/I Was Only Joking" because I've heard it many times and don't like it.

I do like most of the records in this batch. The problem is that the ones I don't like are ones I really don't like and score zero.

Score: 45