Here's my weekly look at the Top 20 from 20 years ago. On the basis we'd reach the Top 20 in the Top 40 countdown around 17:30 on a Sunday at the time the plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.
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:
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
Yomanda is one of the many aliases of DJ Paul Masterson. I taped this off the mix selector on Dave Pearce's Radio 1 show at the time so the first few times I listened to this it had "you choose them, we mix them, the mix selector on Radio 1" over the top at the start.
Verdict - Good
When I did my 1998 vs 2018 comparison last year, the original release of this was in the Top 20 and this is what I had to say:
This was a record that came after the hype about Speed Garage died down but before UK Garage exploded onto the radio. This was it's 1998 peak but managed to reach number 9 when it was rereleased in 1999. By then the people who would have talked about House and Garage were now talking about House and Trance and this appeared on the House CD of "Kiss in Ibiza 99" such was the lack of commercial Garage at the time. On that basis it was good to hear something a bit different at the time and I always enjoyed this tune.
Verdict - Good
A teenage love ballad sung from a teenage girls perspective, written by a 36 year old bloke from Sweden.
Verdict - OK
This was originally a hit in 1995 for Grace, who was Paul Oakenfold and a couple of others. Here we have the Planet Perfecto aka Paul Oakenfold remix for 1999. It doesn't sound an awful lot different to the 1995 version, but I like the original so that's no bad thing. I guess what it shows is this tune was ahead of it's time because with a slight tweak or 2 it fits right in with the Trance sound of 1999.
Verdict - Good
The 3rd single from Fierce, the British female R&B group few people remember. This is the poorest of their singles, it just seems very generic.
Verdict - Rubbish
The night before this charted at number one, I was in a bar where I heard this for the first time and someone informed me it was the new Vengaboys song. Given the history of cheesy euro acts releasing the record every knows them for, followed by a record that sounds the same, followed by fading into obscurity, I assumed the Vengaboys would do the same. Instead they had their first number one, I felt the same as I did when I realised the Spice Girls weren't going to be a one hit wonder.
Verdict - Rubbish
Oh no, it's Steps. This was allegedly a song Pete Waterman wrote in 1991 but he had better songs to give to his artists at the time. By 1999 I guess he figured he could give any old crap to Steps and it would still sell a lot of records, so he did.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was so overplayed at the time I couldn't stand it. Everywhere you'd go someone would be singing that riff. However once it stopped being played all the time and I'd listen to it on occasion as the opening track on the Trance CD on "Kiss in Ibiza 99" I realised that I actually like it.
Verdict - Good
This Wyclef Jean penned song is actually quite clever. It's impossible to listen to this without thinking about "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley. Yet when you try and sing "No Woman No Cry" along with this in your head you find these sudden changes that stop it from being a blatant rip off, even though it kind of is. It's hard to look past the fact it's not as good as the song that inspires it, but then if that song didn't exist I wouldn't hesitate to call it good.
Verdict - Good
If you want to listen to this then instead of clicking the link I would recommend watching this being performed on Ali G instead. Before the song is performed, Ali G say's to singer Fran Healy "we listened to your music, and it's fuckin miserable" which pretty much sums up my thoughts. During the performance Ali G puts some beats to it, starts rapping and advises Fran he no longer needs his guitar. A big improvement if you ask me.
Verdict - Rubbish
The tune that was described as a blatant rip off of "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles. I'd never heard said song at the time but thought surely the Chemical Brothers, a Dance Music duo of the 90s couldn't sound that similar to the Beatles, a guitar group of the 60s. When I did hear the Beatles song though I realised just how similar it sounded. Do I like it though? Yes I do.
Verdict - Good
I like Dru Hill, I've seen them in concert. I therefore find it a bit of a shame that their biggest UK hit was a collaboration with Will Smith. This was taken from a film of the same name that Will Smith was in. I once read an article about rappers who went on to act in films. On Will Smith, they said "he became so successful at acting in films that he stopped rapping, at least that's what we wish he did". That pretty much sums this up.
Verdict - Rubbish
The follow up to "Turn Around", I don't know how well remembered this one is but I certainly remember it. It follows the same sort of formula as "Turn Around" but doesn't sound too similar, this sounds like more of a summer tune so probably a good thing they released it in the summer.
Verdict - Good
I remember this as being the song where Five are trying to sound like the Backstreet Boys. I was therefore surprised to learn it wasn't written by anyone in the Swedish songwriting team responsible for many of the Backstreet Boys hits and some of Fives early hits too. That said now I'm listening to it for probably the first time in 20 years I'm finding it doesn't sound as much like the Backstreet Boys as I remember. It is rather irritating though.
Verdict - Rubbish
For some reason this completely passed me by at the time. The first time I recall hearing it was the following year when I bought "The Slim Shady LP". Much like his debut hit "My Name Is" this is controversial with a bit of humour and Dr Dre contributes more to the vocals this time giving him a credit on the record. I'd say I prefer this to "My Name Is".
Verdict - Good
The opening tune to Pete Tong's Essential Selection at Café Mambo in Ibiza in 1999. No I wasn't there unfortunately, but I did record the show and listened to it a lot. He went on to say what a tune to open with, and I can't argue with that. It was certainly my favourite Basement Jaxx single to date.
Verdict - Good
This wasn't the debut hit for Ricky Martin, but I'd say it's the song that made a name for himself. His previous 2 singles were basically that crappy Spanish song you hear on holiday in Spain that makes it's way into the UK Top 40. This ones no different in that respect, except you know it's Ricky Martin from America.
Verdict - Rubbish
I can still picture where I was when I first heard this, I was sat in a car waiting for somebody whilst listening to the Pete Tong show. What a tune, I thought. A common misconception is that Alice Deejay is the female singer, but it's actually a group of Dutch producers with the singer and 2 dancers fronting it.
Verdict - Good
Boyzone weren't quite finished yet, but this was the start of Ronan Keating's solo career. It could just as easily have been a Boyzone song as it followed the same formula of being a poor cover of an older song.
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 10.5/20, or 52.5%. Now we're improving.
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