Record of the Year Revisited: 1993

Original Record of the Year: Saint Etienne - Hobart Paving

I'm purposely not looking at what I originally picked as my record of the year prior to making my new choice but I'll never forget what my choice was for 1993.

It seemed like the perfect choice for a variety of reasons. It's definitely one of my favourite Saint Etienne hits and it gives me nostalgia of myself being nostalgic about the early 90s at the end of the 90s. I liked their "Too Young To Die" CD enough to buy the video version and seeing the East 17 graffiti in the video made it very 1993.

Then there's the London aspect. A significant amount of their music references London where I ended up moving to and have since spent the majority of my adult life here. Not only can I relate to the London aspect but I can also relate to the fact they appear to be music nerds like myself. At the very least Bob Stanley is.

I still live in London but the members of Saint Etienne have since moved out. Not really relevant in terms of picking my record of the year. What is relevant though is that the reason why I remember picking this is remembering my instant regret afterwards.

As much as I like Saint Etienne and this record I see it as being the TVR of the music world. Basically a TVR is a great car but if I had enough money to buy one I'd only do so if I couldn't afford a Ferarri.

New Record of the Year: Leftfield Lydon - Open Up 

I do find Leftfield a mixed bag but the name alone suggests you're not going to like all of their music. However the main problem with much of their tunes is they're not as good as their debut "Open Up".

The problem with putting vocals on dance records is that it can take the attention away from the beats and certainly some girly vocals can make a hard fast record sound quite namby pamby.

Leftfield had a good solution for adding vocals, get a punk singer to do them. It's an all round good record, it would work just fine without vocals but I think John Lydon really adds something here.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1992

Original Record of the Year: Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era - Far Out

I went for a rave classic for my choice for 1992. As the year that rave music was at it's commercial peak it only seemed fitting that I picked a rave record.

There's plenty of choice and some really close contenders. It's very difficult to say whether I prefer one tune over the other but this still seems like the logical choice.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1991

Original Record of the Year: Bomb the Bass - Winter In July

What I originally said was 1991 spawned acts like Massive Attack, The Prodigy and Shades of Rhythm who I'm still big fans of to this very day but there was only ever going to be one winner and that was Bomb the Bass.

It fits firmly in the chill out category and is one of the best chill out records I've ever heard, if not the best. In my mind a record like this was always going to beat anything that's more upbeat.

Do I still think that?

New Record of the Year: Shades of Rhythm - Ecstacy

No I don't. One thing that's changed since then is I've got more into the harder side of dance music like I was in the 90s. Shades of Rhythm were one of the pioneers of that in the beginning. 

The one everyone knows is "Sound of Eden" and it's a great tune but "Ecstacy" is the one I really like. Not only is it that breakbeat hardcore sound I love but it's also quite raw. Some of the sounds they've put in don't really work together but it sounds great as a result.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1990

Original Record of the Year: DNA - La Serenissima

With my choice for 1990 I ticked all the boxes. It was the lesser known DNA record so nothing obvious and it was a record that works well in the club and for chilling out at home to.

It's a great record, sometimes box ticking doesn't necessarily mean its a good record but this one is and a worthy winner of the record of the year for 1990 and would of easily won if it charted in some other years.

There is a question mark though. Can I honestly say this record is better than "LFO" by LFO?

New Record of the Year: LFO - LFO 

No I can't. This is perhaps the biggest record from the bleep techno era and widely praised by a number of DJs as being a ground-breaking record. 

I guess that's why I was reluctant to initially pick it. When a record is held in such a high regard I can't help but thinking there's similar more obscure records that are probably better. There probably is, but the limitation here is reaching the Top 40 and I can't think of a better one from 1990 than this.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1989

Original Record of the Year: Ten City - That's The Way Love Is

I have a lot of nostalgia for 1989. Whilst I had my music preferences I just loved pop music in general and had no bias about a song not being the x, the y, the z. 

My choice for record of the year though came from an old skool rave compilation I bought many years later and was a different type of nostalgia.

I had several favourite songs throughout the year and Ten City was never one of them so the question is was one has one of my favourite songs at the time now take the crown?

No. First of all its difficult for me to recall exactly which songs were my favourite. Also as my favourite song kept changing I can only conclude none of them were good enough to be my favourite for too long whereas Ten City was my favourite track on the compilation from 1989 for way over a year and still is now.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1988

Original Record of the Year: Nitro Deluxe - Let's Get Brutal

When it comes to 1988 there are 2 different angles for me to approach it from.

First of all my earliest memories of the charts begins in 1987 but 1988 would have been the first full year I remember. It was the year I got my first Now album and the year I got my first Smash Hits magazine. I therefore have many nostalgic memories of that year.

Then you have the routes of the rave music that defined my youth. It was the year acid house took off in the UK and an important part of rave history. Not all were records I was into or even knew at the time but there is the retrospective nostalgia of my youth.

I picked a record that very much fitted the rave criteria and helped by the fact it wasn't an obvious record.

New Record of the Year: Jack n Chill - That Jack That House Built

The 2 angles don't have to be mutually exclusive. There are records that are both ones I enjoyed as a kid and that are part of rave history.

My new pick is one of the first British acid house records to make the Top 40 but was also a record that featured on Now 11 which was my first now. That fact perhaps made it seem more obvious that my initial pick, but importantly it's the record I'm enjoying more at this moment in time.

Record of the Year Revisited: 1987

Original Record of the Year: Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin

In 1987 if you'd asked me what my favourite song was then this would be it. We're talking about my earliest memories of the charts and music in general and as a result this was my first favourite song.

It seems a no brainer to pick it, but then there were plenty of Top 40 hits from 1987 that I know now but didn't know at the time. Some of them are really good and provide the Pet Shop Boys with some serious competition.

Have any of them managed to beat them?

Not quite. Up to this point I've been choosing between records I only know retrospectively. On that basis they're all equal, no record is going to bring back memories of 1977 for example because I wasn't even born then.

When you're talking about his period when I'm discovering music for the first time it's going to be very difficult for me to pick a record that I didn't hear until 20 years later. 

"It's A Sin" is an excellent record and may have even won had I not remembered 1987. When it brings back memories of me standing in the kitchen as a kid with this playing on the radio and thinking wow, it's going to be tough for any other record to stand a chance.