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 30 from this week in 1990 with my verdict on each record:
30. Luciano Pavarotti - Nessun Dorma
A record that charted 18 years after it was recorded thanks to it being used for the BBCs coverage of the World Cup. At the time I didn't know what an opera was, I just saw it as the genre of music where they sing it funny. I can't say I'm a fan of opera, but I guess thanks in part to my childhood memories of this song and watching the World Cup I thought this is a song I quite like. Listening to it now though, I'm not actually sure if I've listened to it from beginning to end before. Basically if you want to hear the good bit then just listen to the last 30 seconds. The good bit is enough to make this song good though, in the same way I like "Layla" but always stop listening when the outro comes in.
Verdict - Good
29. ZZ Top - Doubleback (New)
I have no memory of this record at the time, the first time I came across ZZ Top was seeing them last in the alphabet in the British Hit Singles book. I even thought about forming a band when I was older called ZZZ Zoo just so we could take their place. I have heard this record several times over the years though and find it quite surprising that it's from the 90s as opposed to the 70s. But then it is ZZ Top who were around in the 70s. Not a bad record though.
Verdict - OK
28. Englandneworder - World In Motion
The official song for the England football team at the 1990 World Cup. It is of course New Order with their name temporarily changed for the occasion and would be their only number one record. It's best known though for the John Barnes rap, which is quite frankly terrible, but then what do you expect from a footballer. Despite that though, its a great record. Best football song ever written in my opinion, but then that's not saying much.
Verdict - Good
27. Bananarama - Only Your Love (New)
Bananarama in the 90s? Yes, and not for the last time either. They ended the 80s with Stock Aitken & Waterman, but started the 90s with Youth as their producer. It actually sounds like they've moved into the 90s too. The problem is that when you hear the singing you know it's Bananarama, and hearing Bananarama sing over anything that isn't a cheesy 80s backing track just seems wrong. At the same time though, given the choice I'd rather listen to this.
Verdict - OK
26. Phil Collins - That's Just The Way It Is (New)
I find it somewhat ironic that Phil Collins is a drummer and here is him with a single that doesn't have any drums on it. Still, I can see why he chose not to put drums on it. I guess it takes a bit of time to get into, but it's been 30 years now so that's plenty, and what we have is a pretty decent ballad.
Verdict - Good
25. Bombalurina - Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (New)
The summer holidays had arrived, and that meant Wacaday would be on. This summer though we had a double dose of Timmy Mallett courtesy of this song. Bizarrely I always thought he seemed more serious in this song than he did on Wacaday. Anyway, as much as I liked Wacaday and Timmy Mallett, there's no denying this song is bloody awful.
Verdict - Rubbish
24. Together - Hardcore Uproar (New)
I remember when this came out, I thought it was the theme music to "The Clothes Show" made into a single. It does have it's similarities, but that's no bad thing as the theme tune was pretty much the only thing I liked about "The Clothes Show". This is a better tune though, it's one which came out of the Hacienda. Sadly one of the members of Together, Jon Donaghy, died in a road accident when they were out in Ibiza promoting this.
Verdict - Good
23. Duran Duran - Violence Of Summer (Love's Taking Over) (New)
Duran Duran's popularity had been in decline for years by the time this record came out. I can't say I've ever been a fan of Duran Duran. Some of their songs are catchy, which explains why they were popular, but they were also a bit crap. In fact there is only 1 Duran Duran song I actually like, which came out in the 90s. It isn't this one though.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Tricky Disco - Tricky Disco (New)
I don't remember this record at the time, but it was on a techno compilation I bought a few years later. Liking my music underground as I did, I was disappointed to see in my British Hit Singles book that this had been a hit. It was the only Top 40 hit for Tricky Disco, but not the only one for it's members. They would return to the charts in 1996 as Technohead with "I Want To Be A Hippy".
Verdict - Good
21. Little Angels - She's A Little Angel (New)
A band called the Little Angels singing about someone else being a little angel. They were one of those bands who were always around in the early 90s but nobody really spoke about, well amongst people I knew anyway. They were a band I liked, but I don't think this song has aged very well. It just doesn't have enough about it to make it good.
Verdict - OK
20. Bell Biv Devoe - Poison
The only Top 40 hit for Bell Biv Devoe. It's members are Ricky Bell, Mike Bivins and Ronnie Devoe who had all been in the charts previously as part of New Edition. Arguably Ralph Tresvant and Bobby Brown were the 2 best known members of New Edition, so what we have is basically the 3 guys in the background. Doesn't sound good on paper, but that's why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. This tune is probably my favourite of everything I've heard post-New Edition from all it's members. In fact it's better than anything I've heard from New Edition as well.
Verdict - Good
19. The Stone Roses - One Love
I always thought The Stone Roses were overhyped, yet we've had 2 Top 40 hits of theirs feature in 1990 so far and I've liked both of them. This record though is an illustration of why I think they're overhyped. It's just a nothing song. They'd recently played their Spike Island gig so clearly had a large following by this point and it's like they're now popular enough to make any old rubbish and people will like it because it's The Stone Roses.
Verdict - Rubbish
18. Glenn Medeiros ft Bobby Brown - She Ain't Worth It
You see it time and time again with teenage pop singers, they start off with a clean cut image and then they go bad. That's what happened with Glenn Medeiros, except his clean cut image lasted just one song. Then 2 years later he went bad with this record, hooking up with fellow teen singer turned bad boy Bobby Brown. What we end up with is, well quite frankly crap. This would be his final Top 40 hit, his following single was slated on Juke Box Jury later on in the year and predicted to be a miss, which it was.
Verdict - Rubbish
17. New Kids On The Block - Tonight (New)
I thought I was mishearing the lyrics at the time. I was hearing "Hangin Tough" and "The Right Stuff" but I've never been good at making out lyrics so thought I was only hearing those words because of their other hits. Turns out I wasn't mishearing, they are quoting the titles of their other songs. It's the sort of thing you might expect when a group has been around a long time, but it had only been 9 months since they first hit the Top 40. In reality though they formed in 1984 and were now on their 4th album. I don't actually mind this record though.
Verdict - OK
16. Dream Warriors - Wash Your Face In My Sink
What a name for a record. A title like that would perhaps imply this is a novelty record, but it isn't at all. It's the Top 40 debut for Dream Warriors who made jazz influenced rap music. Quite a strange combination admittedly, but the resulting tune is actually quite good.
Verdict - Good
15. Snap! - Oops Up
After Snap! had a number one with "The Power" they didn't disappear until "Rhythm Is A Dancer" in 1992, they had hits in-between. I remember this coming out at the time, but for some reason I don't remember the sound of a squeaky child's toy appearing throughout the tune. I can't help but notice it's presence now and it's bloody irritating which means no matter how good the rest of the music might be, it's unlistenable.
Verdict - Rubbish
14. LFO - LFO
This is one of those records I'd initially heard without knowing what it actually was. I did find out in the early days of me using the internet when I came across a rave website that had a bunch of must hear tunes in the history of the rave scene to listen to on the site and this was one of them. That was very exciting in a pre-YouTube era. I liked this tune so much I ended up buying the "Frequencies" album on which this appears.
Verdict - Good
13. River City People - Carry The Blame / California Dreamin'
A double a-side where I'd say "California Dreamin'" is the best known. That's probably in part to do with the lyrical content of "Carry the Blame" which is to do with abortions. This version of "California Dreamin'" was the first version I'd heard. I thought it was ok, but when I heard the original version I thought this cover sounded pretty crap in comparison. "Carry the Blame" is alright, but nothing special.
Verdict - OK / OK
12. FAB ft MC Parker - Thunderbirds Are Go
Before "Toytown Techno" became a thing, we had this in the charts which is the same idea. There is nothing good about this record at all, it's so poor that it doesn't even sound as cheesy as its supposed to.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. Prince - Thieves In The Temple (New)
Prince was an artist I got to like though listening to the Top 40 countdown. The previous year, the first song I taped off the Top 40 without any assistance from my parents was "Batdance". My favourite of his song's from the Batman film was "Arms Of Orion", which was his most recent single at the time. The standard had been set, but unfortunately this didn't meet it so I was quite disappointed. However I did start to like it eventually.
Verdict - Good
10. Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Roxette, which came over a year after their first, though they tried and failed to reach the Top 40 with a couple of single in between. Their first hit "The Look" was mainly sang by Per Gessle, but in this one Marie Fredriksson takes the lead with just the occasional backing vocals from Per. This was another song I used to hear on a daily basis thanks to the person giving me a lift to school playing Now 18 every day. I like a bit of Roxette though.
Verdict - Good
9. Technotronic ft Ya Kid K - Rockin' Over The Beat
As it happens the rest of the music isn't up to much either.It's Technotronic again, with their 4th Top 40 hit. I doubt many people realised they had many, but this wasn't exactly an obscure one that scraped into the Top 40, it made the Top 10. The fact this record is long forgotten makes it alright, if I heard it too often I may think otherwise.
Verdict - OK
8. Soup Dragons ft Junior Reid - I'm Free
This song taught me the drawbacks of buying a single. I didn't buy it myself, but I knew somebody who did. We were going somewhere in his mums car and he played this single both there and back. The problem was there was just this song and the b-side on the tape so it only lasted about 7 minutes and the car journey was a lot longer than that. Needless to say I was completely sick of the song by the end of it. Fortunately 30 years have passed since then so it's given me enough time to appreciate it for what it is. It's a cover of the Rolling Stones song done in a 90s Madchester style, except Soup Dragons aren't from Manchester, they're from Scotland.
Verdict - Good
7. Craig McLachlan And Check 1-2 - Mona
There was no escaping Craig McLachlan in 1990, first you'd see him in Neighbours, then you'd see him in Home and Away, then he'd be on Top of the Pops singing this. I always thought singing about building a house next door was ridiculous, unless Mona lived out in the middle of nowhere it's most likely there would already be a house next door to her. What I didn't realise at the time was that it's a cover. It's originally by Bo Diddley and it's a song covered by the Rolling Stones on their first album. Still, it's a pretty dreadful song.
Verdict - Rubbish
6. Blue Pearl - Naked In The Rain
Here we have the bass player from an 80s band making a name for himself in the dance music world. It isn't Norman Cook though, it's Youth, formerly of Killing Joke. This reminds me of a school trip I went on to the Science Museum around this time. Not sure why, maybe it came on the radio on the bus. Anyway, good tune.
Verdict - Good
5. MC Hammer - U Can't Touch This
Love it or hate it, you can't deny the impact this record has had on the world. Whenever someone shouts "stop", many people no doubt at least think "hammer time". I did like this at the time, but since then it's been played to death, plus I've gone through a period of being really into rap music of a more controversial nature and resenting more party rap music like this. On that basis it gets an ok.
Verdict - OK
4. Elton John - Sacrifice / Healing Hands
I once went to a quiz on holiday where we were asked what Elton Johns first number one was. I knew this was his first solo number one, but said "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" because he never said solo, but the official answer was "Sacrifice", whether he'd have taken "Healing Hands" as an answer, who knows. Anyway enough of crap quizmasters, what about the songs? Both were released as separate singles in 1989 and both failed to reach the Top 40, but the double a-side made number one. This was actually the record that taught me what a double a-side was. The most played of the two was "Sacrifice" and I always quite liked that record. I got a bit confused when one week on Top of the Pops when they played "Healing Hands" instead, but that's how I learned about double a-sides. Not too keen on "Healing Hands" though to be honest.
Verdict - Good / Rubbish
3. DNA ft Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
I remember misreading the title of this record at the time as Tom's Dinner and thought fancy naming a record after somebodies dinner. The original title of this was "Oh Suzanne" as it's a remix by DNA of a Suzanne Vega record. I never knew any of this at the time, but I always thought it was a great record and I've since heard the original, and think this is better.
Verdict - Good
2. Madonna - Hanky Panky
I don't think I've heard this record since 1990, I guess the sheer quantity of Madonna hits means there's bound to be a number that you don't hear anymore. I'd happily wait another 30 years until I hear it again, I thought it was crap at the time and my opinion hasn't changed.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Partners In Kryme - Turtle Power
Given the amount of rap music you get in the charts these days, it's hard to think that it actually got off to quite a slow start commercially in the UK. It had been 11 years since the Sugarhill Gang gave us the first rap Top 40 hit, but finally we get the first rap number one. Few would have predicted the first rap number one would be about a kids TV show. Like pretty much every boy of my age, I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I liked this record for that very reason. Do I still like it though? Well it is pretty awful, but there is that novelty factor so it gets the ok.
Verdict - OK
If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 18/30, or 62%. I'd still say the scores in 1990 are pretty consistent.
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