Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 37

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

Hollenboer - Het Busje Komt Zo

This Dutch duo were a genuine one hit wonder in Holland. This was their only hit and it was a chart topper. It's a novelty record and although I don't understand the lyrics you can tell from the video and sort of tell from the video that it's a record about a bus. 

2 Brothers on the 4th Floor - Come Take My Hand

The 2nd and final time we'll see 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor in the Dutch Top 40 this year. At the beginning of the video they get of the bus, but fortunately it isn't a record about a bus. It's a happy hardcore record, very much of the commercial variety. I do quite like it but can't help but think it was an influence on the crappy vocally happy hardcore that would come in the UK a few years later.

Dune - Are You Ready To Fly

More happy hardcore but this time it comes from Germany. It's the 2nd time we've seen them this year, the 1st being "Hardcore Vibes". Whilst "Hardcore Vibes" was played at the UK raves at the time I can't recall ever hearing this one on a rave tape. A shame really because I like it. We will be seeing Dune again later on in the year.

January Charts: 1975

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Sweet Sensation - Purely By Coincidence

2. Sparks - Something For The Girl With Everything

3. The Stylistics - Star On A TV Show

4. Mac And Katie Kissoon - Sugar Candy Kisses

5. Love Unlimited - It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It's Spring)

6. Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman

7. Betty Wright - Shoorah! Shoorah!

8. Queen - Now I'm Here

9. Kevin Johnson - Rock And Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)

10. Elvis Presley - Promised Land

11. Pilot - January

12. Glitter Band - Goodbye My Love

13. Helen Reddy - Angie Baby

14. Johnny Mathis - I'm Stone In Love With You

15. The Carpenters - Please Mr Postman

16. Wigan's Chosen Few - Footsee

17. Johnny Wakelin And The Kinshasa Band - Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)

18. Dana - Please Tell Him That I Said Hello

In 1974 we had an early example of a disco record in the charts and it's pretty well known that by the late 70s many soul artists from years gone by were putting out disco records instead.

There's no disco records this time, but many of the soul records appear to be at least disco inspired. The top record is an example of this, though Sweet Sensation would have no more Top 40 hits after 2nd hit "Purely By Coincidence". Yes it is essentially "Sad Sweet Dreamer" part 2 but I do still like it.

The Stylistics era of Bell/Creed being songwriters was no over and they were now into the Hugo & Luigi era. Some say this was the end for them, but I think they were still making decent records such as "Star On A TV Show".

Mac & Katie Kissoon were very much the pop side of soul music and they were making their debut with "Sugar Candy Kisses" which is pleasant enough. Same goes for the final Love Unlimited hit "It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It's Spring)".

Stevie Wonder had a solid record in "Boogie On Reggae Woman" which despite the title is a funk record rather than reggae. Below is a record from the Northern soul scene "Shoorah! Shoorah!" which was average at best.

An example of Northern soul starting to lose it's way though was "Footsee" by Wigan's Chosen Few which is as bad as it's made out to be. It's not as bad as novelty record record "Black Superman (Muhammed Ali)" by Johnny Wakelin which in turn isn't as bad as former Eurovision winner Dana making a comeback with the abysmal "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello".

In the 80s Australia famously gave us Kylie and Jason in the music charts. In 1975 they gave us Helen and Kevin, though I'm not aware of collaborations between them. Helen Reddy had her only hit with "Angie Baby" which I find rather dull. Kevin Johnson had his only hit with "Rock 'N Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)" which is slightly better but still a bit dull.

I've been waiting for the 70s slump and it looks like it's finally happened. 

Score: 31

2000: The Good Old Days? - June

In my post for November I mention the breakstep sub genre of UK garage and how "138 Trek" by DJ Zinc was the only example I could thing of. This month I see I forgot "I Don't Smoke" by DJ Dee Kline which charted first. Maybe the name breakstep came about between the two records.

The other UK garage record this month is "Girls Like Us" by B15 Project featuring Chrissy D & Lady G and as a result it's full marks to the garage genre. The record "What's Your Name" by Angel Lee had a well know garage mix by MJ Cole but for the purpose of this exercise we need to go with the original R&B version which gets no marks.

In fact none of the R&B record this month get any points and all are of the pop variety. It includes the Pink debut single "There You Go" which does have a decent garage mix but again we have to go with the crap original. 

The nearest we do get to an R&B point is "Shackles (Praise You)" by Mary Mary. It's a gospel record but does make its way onto R&B compilations. I ended up buying the album but this was the only decent track on it.

Rap wise we have Richard Blackwood making his Top 40 debut with "Mama - Who Da Man?" and comes across as the British Will Smith which is never good. Jay-Z had "Big Pimpin" which is also crap. We did however have "Forgot About Dre" by Dr Dre & Eminem which is another record to have a decent garage mix but this time the original is just as good and almost good enough to be the best record.

Beating it to best record is Moby with "Porcelain". I had contemplated buying his "Play" album based on previous singles, but this one was so good it prompted me to buy the album. One of the all time chill out greats.

This month feels a bit of a turning point for trance music in the charts. We have some decent ones such as "A9" by Ariel and "Embrace" by Agnelli & Nelson. Then there's "It's My Turn" by Angelic, a Judge Jules project featuring his wife on vocals which is a bit cheesy and commercial but I like it. Then we have vocal rubbish from BT & Kirsty Hawkshaw with "Dreaming" and possibly the worst instrumental trance record of all time "Sandstorm" by Darude which just sounds plain lazy. These latter two are examples of commercial trance losing it's way for their respective reasons.

We also have one of the worst house records to make the charts, "You See The Trouble With Me" by Black Legend which just made me think dance music was getting far too commercial that we're getting nonsense like this.

The worst record though reminds me of perhaps the worst nightclub I've ever been too. It's "Reach" by S Club 7 that was played every time I went there. These were the days when pubs shut at 11pm and the only place to get a drink after was the nightclub. This was the main nightclub in a small town that everyone went to after the pub and I can still picture all those drunken people putting their hands in the air to reach for the stars.

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: 26%

Here's a look at the chart:

The worst month of 2000 so far. We also had a slump in June 2001, maybe there's something in that.

UK Number 40s: Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams (2015)

 

It could be argued that I shouldn't be including this record in here. Whilst this made number 40 when it was released in 2015, a re-recorded version made number 25 in 2021. However I like to go by the British Hit Singles book definitions which say if the artist has gone into the studio to re-record it then it counts as a separate single.

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest names in the modern era and there was clearly no decline in popularity going on here. However, her popularity hasn't always translated into chart success. At this point the majority of her Top 40 hits had failed to make the Top 10 and she was yet to have a number one. It fared better in America where it made number 5.

Max Martin and Karl Schuster are the songwriters so sounds like it should be successful on paper. Then again the previous Top 40 hit for Karl Schuster as songwriter was "This Summer" by Maroon 5 which was another record that made number 40.

UK Number 40s: Maroon 5 - This Summer (2015)

 

Whilst Maroon 5's first record to only make number 40 could be regarded as a success due to only being a promo single, the same couldn't really be said of this record.

Their album "V" had been out for a year and a duluxe version of their album was released which included this track on it for the first time. It only made number 23 in their native America too, other singles of theirs from around this time were charting much higher.

The full title of this record is "This Summers Gonna Hurt Like a Motherfucker" which obviously doesn't lend itself well to radio play. It was the last single from their "V" album but their Top 40 career was far from over.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 36

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

24. Caprice - Oh Yeah

Caprice is a model who decided to branch out into music and ended up having 2 Top 40 hits which both made number 24. This was the first of those. When a non-musician decides to release a record you generally expect it to be crap. More often than not it is and this is no exception.

Verdict - Rubbish

23. Mark Morrison And Connor Reeves - Best Friend

You probably didn't think that Mark Morrison was still having hits in 1999. This was his last original Top 40 hit to date. It was also the final Top 40 hit to date for Conner Reeves. I would say that Mark Morrison has done better and Connor Reeves has never made a good record as far as I'm aware.

Verdict - Rubbish

22. Ayla - Ayla

Yet another German trance record in the Top 40 in 1999. This record was originally from 1995 and would end up featuring in the film "Kevin & Perry Go Large", a film that sounds right up my street but I've never watched for some reason.

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 12/30, or 40%. Now we're slipping. 

80s in the 90s: 1984

Continuing the look at whether 80s acts succeeded in the 90s here's a look at the 1984 debutants:

Madonna: This is possibly the easiest verdict I have to give. Madonna kicked of the 90s with a number 1, followed by 2 number 2s followed by 3 number 3s. That alone would make for a successful 90s in the charts. She went onto have 27 Top 40 hits that decade, more Top 40 hits than anyone else in the 90s and more Top 40 hits than she had in the 80s.

Verdict: Hit

Billy Idol: A name you would associate with the 80s as a solo artist. His biggest hits came in 1985 with "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell" both reaching number 6. He clocked up 8 Top 40 hits in the 80s and then had a further 2 in the 90s, "Cradle Of Love" which made 34 in 1990 and "Shock To The System" which made number 30 in 1993. Not really enough to be considered a 90s act too.

Verdict: Miss

ZZ Top: The 90s Top 40 chart record of ZZ Top is almost identical in the 90s to the 80s. Both decades gave them 5 Top 40 hits of which 2 made the Top 20 and 1 made the Top 10. Their Top 10 hits both made number 10, "Gimme All Your Lovin" in the 80s and "Viva Las Vegas" in the 90s. On that basis I'd say they're just as much a 90s band as an 80s one.

Verdict: Hit

George Michael: It could be argued that out of all the people who have left a band and gone solo George Michael has had the most successful solo career from a UK chart perspective. He topped the charts with his first 3 singles and then in the 90s he managed 3 number ones in a row again and had a total of 4 that decade. He had a total of 16 Top 40 hits in the 90s and 11 of them made the Top 5.

Verdict: Hit

Feargal Sharkey: He only just makes the minimum criteria for this list, 4 Top 40 hits in the 80s and a solitary Top 40 hit in the 90s. His 90s Top 40 hit was "I've Got News For You" which made number 12 which was higher than 2 of his 80s hits. However the other 2 80s hits include the chart topper "A Good Heart". He also called it a day as a singer in 1991.

Verdict: Miss

Scritti Politti: Another act who only just makes the minimum criteria for this list. The sole Scritti Politti Top 40 hit in the 90s was "She's A Woman" and was the lowest charting one. It was a collaboration with Shabba Ranks and afterwards came a lengthy hiatus from frontman Green Gartside which last almost the rest of the decade.

Verdict: Miss

Alison Moyet: She only failed to make the Top 10 once from her 7 Top 40 hits of the 80s. In the 90s she failed to reach the Top 10 with either of her hits, "This House" made number 40 and "Whispering Your Name" made number 18.

Verdict: Miss

Cyndi Lauper: It may come as a surprise to hear Cyndi Lauper had more Top 40 hits in the 90s than the 80s. She only had 4 in the 80s, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", "Time After Time", "True Colors" and "I Drove All Night" which are all pretty well known. The same can't be said for her 7 90s hits with the biggest of these being "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)" which was a remake of her 80s hit and reached number 4. 4 of them charted outside the Top 30 whilst the other 2 failed to reach the Top 10. This is a difficult one but I'd say she just about gets a pass.

Verdict: Hit

Sade: The biggest Sade hit was her debut "Your Love Is King" which made number 6 and was her only Top 10. Her 2nd biggest hit was her only 90s Top 40 hit "No Ordinary Love" which made number 14. I'd say the lower charting 80s ones are better known and I wouldn't say this is enough to be considered a 90s chart act.

Verdict: Miss

Freddie Mercury: As a solo artist Freddie Mercury had 5 Top 40 hits in the 80s and 2 in the 90s. Both of his 90s ones came after he died, "In My Defence" was originally recorded in 1985 and "Living On My Own" was originally released as a single in 1985 but failed to make the Top 40. The latter gave Freddie Mercury his only solo number one. In theory a 90s number one should make you a 90s chart act. but given they were 80s records charting after his death in this case I don't think it does.

Verdict: Miss