25 Years Since....August 1992

Ok 25 years and 1 day to be exact, I think even the Barcelona Olympics seemed to last longer than 2017 has so far. Here is what I was enjoying back then:
Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé - Barcelona

We began with the song of the Barcelona Olympics called Barcelona. 1992 was my year as a Queen fan and that included solo material such as this.

It originally came out in 1987 but was released again in 1992 for the Olympics. I don't think I've ever followed an Olympics as closely as I followed this one and watched it on an almost daily basis. As such I think it's safe to say this was the song I heard the most during August 1992 but I don't recall ever getting sick of it.

Later on in life I thought this would be the perfect song to send to Man United fans after they lost in the Champions League final to Barcelona!

Jon Secada - Just Another Day

In 1991, Jon Secada co-wrote and sang backing vocals on Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark". Then in 1992 that's exactly what he did with this record.

I love the way the record begins with the piano and sounds like its going to be a happy tune, then he starts singing and you realise it isn't. There's no build up in his singing, he comes straight out with it but somehow manages to give it more welly in the chorus, genius.

He is incorrectly remembered as a one hit wonder, but he had a further four singles including "Angel" which I like just as much as this and yes it's not a happy song either.

Undercover - Baker Street

Yet another cover I heard before the original, a record from a group who's Top 40 hits are all covers.

At the time I do recall thinking it was a bit strange seeing a group on Top of the Pops with a saxophone player, but I liked it.

They managed a further two hits and I just assumed they went back to the day job after that. However it turns out they had several less successful covers and were still going as late as 2004.

Even more remarkable is that band member Steve Mac has written and produced many many pop hits since the 90s and still continues to this very day including being one of the writers on Ed Sheerans "Shape Of You" this year. Look at the list on his Wikipedia page, it's huge. Not bad for someone who was in a covers band.

Felix - Don't You Want Me

A record that I loved at the time and still like it now, although I am a bit sick of it now due to it's "anthem" status.

Like Jon Secada, people remember Felix to be a one hit wonder but he actually had a further two Top 40 hits with "It Will Make Me Crazy" and "Stars".

Thunder - Low Life In High Places

Thunder, the band all rock fans of a certain age seem to love and that everyone else say's who the hell are they? there are some exceptions to that rule including myself.

They do however have 18 Top 40 hits to their name, though none of them reached the Top 10. I think this record caught my attention at the time because I interpreted the singer moving the microphone around on it's stand was him attempting to do a Freddie Mercury with it but it was too big for him to successfully do it.

I did like the song itself too and have grown fonder of it from getting older and understanding the lyrical content of it and it's particularly relevant in this day and age.