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 20 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:
20. Vengaboys - We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)
(Edit: Steps were also in Top 20 when I first wrote this) Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, well actually I'm not sure whether this is worse than Steps but it's pretty close. The Vengaboys had previously charted with "Up & Down" which I thought was ok, though I did get pretty sick of it given how overplayed it was. Then came this, which is essentially "Up & Down" with ridiculous vocals over the top of it provided by 2 females and 2 males that you don't actually hear. The Vengaboys it seems had become the Dutch Steps (yes I know there were 3 females in Steps but there could just as easily be 2).
Verdict - Rubbish
19. Glamma Kid ft Shola Ama - Taboo
It's Glamma and Shola Ama, did this collaboration come about because their names rhymed? Glamma Kid was the vocalist on "Fly Life" by Basement Jaxx and this was his first Top 40 hit as a artist in his own right. It interpolates"The Sweetest Taboo" by Sade. Quite hard to take this seriously, but then does it really matter, I like it.
Verdict - Good
18. Armand Van Helden ft Roland Clark - Flowers (New)
We were at the height of the superstar DJ era and the Armand Van Helden vs Fatboy Slim event had just taken place. Both DJs had reached number one with their first hits of the year and both released their follow ups in the same week. This was Armand Van Helden's offering which whilst not being quite as good as it's predecessor is still a good tune. This is the highest it reached in the charts.
Verdict - Good
17. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat
Some dismissed this as being a novelty record at the time thanks to Flat Eric, the puppet who appeared on the Levi's adverts containing this tune. However, if you simply listen to the tune it's not cheesy at all. Mr Oizo is also a successful French House DJ on Ed Banger Records.
Verdict - Good
16. The Honeyz - Love Of A Lifetime
The 3rd single from The Honeyz which was their last before Heavenli left the group. When they released their repackaged "Wonder No.8" album it included CD-Rom videos for all their singles to date apart from this, and the official video isn't on YouTube either. But at least we have the audio, it's possibly my favourite Honeyz single.
Verdict - Good
15. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
When I first heard this I thought it was alright. Then I heard it so many times that made me hate it. 20 years later I see it as one of these songs that's a bit too American High School for my liking, even though it was written by a Swedish bloke.
Verdict - Rubbish
14. Faithless - Bring My Family Back (New)
This tune didn't really have much of an effect on me at the time. I liked "Insomnia" and "Salva Mea" straight away but it took time for me to get into any other Faithless tunes. By the time I bought "Forever Faithless" in 2005 though I was into it.Verdict - Good
13. The New Radicals - You Get What You Give
One day in 1999 I was in HMV and asked to listen to a CD at the listening post. When I got to the listening post, the man who had just been listening at it told me it's the New Radicals on there, not knowing I'd gone up to the counter to ask for something else. That was the first time I'd heard that name and maybe a couple of weeks later I heard this. I thought maybe it would have been good to have listened to them at that listening post as I quite like it. I still like it today but still haven't heard any other New Radicals tunes, given that after their breakup frontman Gregg Alexander started writing rubbish for Ronan Keating and Sophie Ellis Bextor amongst others maybe it's better that way.Verdict - Good
12. Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched And Billie - Thank Abba For The Music
Oh dear, this is just awful. The who's who of shit music at the time doing a medley of Abba songs. Either you like Abba, therefore you'd want to hear the actual Abba songs, or you don't like Abba and therefore you're unlikely to like these covers which are made to sound the same. You could say it was to cater for the fans of the featured artists on this record, but when Erasure, who I like, did their Abba covers a few years earlier I hated it.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. Eminem - My Name Is
Here we have the beginning of Eminem's chart career. I could take or leave this record at the time, though I did find the line about what Spice Girl he wanted to impregnate quite amusing. The following year I got into Eminem's music when he released "The Marshall Mathers LP" and I bought "The Slim Shady LP" at the same time and that's when I really started to appreciate this tune.
Verdict - Good
10. The Cartoons - Witch Doctor
First there was Whigfield, then there was Aqua, then came The Cartoons to continue the cheesy Europop from Denmark in the charts. I guess they're probably more blatant that it's supposed to be cheesy crap, but that still makes it crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
9. TLC - No Scrubs
TLC were big in the mid 90s with their "Crazy Sexy Cool" album and then for me at least they just disappeared until this came out. It was a great comeback though, and the funny thing is that had Xscape not broken up the year before it could have been an Xscape single given Kandi and Tiny of the group were two of the writers.
Verdict - Good
8. Phats And Small - Turn Around
By the time this tune charted I'd heard it a lot and I remember it appearing on Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems on Radio 1 pretty much every week. I also remember Phats & Small presenting the show themselves one week when Dave Pearce was on holiday. Despite it being overplayed though I have good memories of this tune, despite the lyrical content of someone being down it's a feel good Dance record. Funnily enough "Feel Good" was the name of their next hit.
Verdict - Good
7. TQ - Bye Bye Baby (New)
I don't ever remember this being a single. I do however own TQs "They Never Saw Me Coming" album so have known this for many years. It's not the most obvious choice for a single as it's arguably the most controversial track on the album, but then again maybe that's the reason he decided it should be a single.
Verdict - Good
6. Busta Rhymes ft Janet - What's It Gonna Be?! (New)
I always questioned what exactly the point was of getting Janet Jackson to collaborate on this track when she does very little. A session singer could have done the same thing for a fraction of the price. However when you discover that $2 million was spent on making the video, that question seems less relevant. By having a well known collaborator and ridiculously expensive video you take the loss (which I've no doubt it was) on this record in the hope it raises your profile and makes you more money in the long term. I didn't own a Busta Rhymes album at the time, now I do, so maybe in a round about way it worked.
Verdict - Good
5. Basement Jaxx - Red Alert (New)
Prior to hearing this tune, "Red Alert" to me was one half of Red Alert and Mike Slammer, a Rave duo who did "In Effect" in the mid 90s and who ran Slammin Vinyl. This was the second hit for Basement Jaxx and the one that made the masses start to take notice. Perhaps a bit overplayed at the time but a good tune.Verdict - Good
4. Texas - In Our Lifetime (New)
Texas are one of those bands I just don't get the appeal of. I find their music rather boring and this song is no exception.Verdict - Rubbish
3. Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment
I ended 1998 watching the death of Tiffany on Eastenders and then going to the pub and wondering why I bother watching Eastenders because it's just depressing. I stopped watching Eastenders from that point, but then a few months later Tiffany comes back to haunt me with this crap. The formula was to take a dreary song by Polish singer Edyta Górniak and in true Eastenders style make it even more depressing.
Verdict - Rubbish
2. Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now (New)
When Fatboy Slim and Armand Van Helden went head to head in 1999, who actually won? I have no idea but the chart battle was clearly won by Fatboy Slim who made number 2 with this (vs Armand Van Helden at 18). This was the final single from his "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" album and a great tune to hear out loud with your hands in the air.
Verdict - Good
1. Westlife - Swear It Again (New)
Ever wondered what happened to Nomad, who did "(I Wanna Give You) Devotion" in the early 90s? Well one of it's members, Steve Mac teamed up with another songwriter, Wayne Hector, to write this the debut hit of Westlife. A complete change of direction then, but I guess it helped pay the bills.
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 13/20, or 65%. The best Top 20 I've reviewed so far.
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