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. Fierce - Dayz Like That
Whatever happened to Fierce? This was their second Top 40 hit and it narrowly missed the Top 10. It took until their fourth single for them to score their first Top 10 hit and then they promptly disappeared off the face of the earth. It's definitely of it's time, but then that's a good thing.
Verdict - Good
19. Pete Heller - Big Love
The only solo Top 40 hit from Pete Heller of Heller & Farley. He is also a well known DJ in the House scene. One of the best records of 1999 in my opinion, great tune.
Verdict - Good
18. Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now
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
17. 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
16. Skunk Anansie - Secretly (New)
I don't think I've heard this one for 20 years so it sounds a bit different to the way I remembered it. I think this is one of those songs you need to listen to several times over to really appreciate, but as I've not done that it just gets an ok from me at the moment.
Verdict - OK
15. 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
14. The Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job?
Despite the band members being in their mid-30s by this point, The Offspring seemed very American high school to me in this era. This was their follow up to "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" and to be honest I just found it irritating.
Verdict - Rubbish
13. Powerhouse ft Duane Harden - What You Need (New)
Summer was just around the corner and what better way to mark it than with this tune. Powerhouse aka Lenny Fontana and vocalist Duane Harden, the vocalist on "You Don't Know Me" by Armand Van Helden, came with what is almost the perfect summer anthem. I liked it at the time, but when I heard it down the pub on Christmas Eve that year, possibly for the first time since the summer, I decided I loved it.
Verdict - Good
12. Basement Jaxx - Red Alert
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
11. Super Furry Animals - Northern Lites (New)
Super Furry Animals were a band I'd put on the list of boring bands alongside the likes of Travis and Stereophonics. I'd struggle to name a record of theirs which I presumed to be because they were so boring I'd forgot them. However, years later I realised the error of my ways, their music isn't actually that bad and certainly isn't boring. They hold the record for most Top 40 hits without a Top 10 and this was their most successful single peaking at number 11.
Verdict - OK
10. Bryan Adams - Cloud Number 9
Just under a year before Chicane topped the charts with his collaboration with Bryan Adams he remixed "Cloud Number 9" by Bryan Adams. The result is a record that is more Dance and less guitar than your typical Bryan Adams song. It's alright, but it's nothing special.
Verdict - OK
9. 911 - Private Number
This was their third single in a row which was an old song they ruined. I've since discovered all the songs on their final studio album were covers.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Stereophonics - Pick A Part That's New
I remember knowing quite a few people at the time who loved the Stereophonics and I just didn't get it. One man in particular who used to wear a Stereophonics hat all the time would say Pop Music has no skill because everything gets written for you, Dance Music has no skill because DJing is easy, but the music he listens to is written by the bands themselves who can play instruments and play together and that takes skill. Fair enough, but if using your skills of writing songs, playing instruments and playing together produces something that sounds like this then what's the point?
Verdict - Rubbish
7. 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
6. Westlife - Swear It Again
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
5. 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
4. Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
The only UK number one for American boy band Backstreet Boys, written by a couple of blokes from Sweden, one of whom was the writer of "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. I guess it's not too bad.
Verdict - OK
3. Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much (New)
The song title pretty much sums up how I feel about this song. This was the fourth Top 40 hit from her Country/Pop crossover album "Come On Over". The first three singles didn't really sound Country at all to me, but this sums up everything bad about Country Pop.
Verdict - Rubbish
2. Geri Halliwell - Look At Me (New)
A year after leaving the Spice Girls, Geri Halliwell released her first solo record. I can't decide if this is better or worse than your average Spice Girls record but what I do know is it's bloody awful.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Boyzone - You Needed Me (New)
The penultimate Top 40 hit for Boyzone before going on hiatus and their final number one. In true Boyzone style it's a poor cover of an old song. I don't particularly like the original and this version is even worse.
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 10/20, or 50%. Again an evenly balanced Top 20.
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