25 Years Since....May 1996

In May 1996 Take That had dropped out the Top 40 with their final hit and it was before the Spice Girls, a very brief golden period for the charts for that reason alone. Here's some of the good tunes:

Pet Shop Boys - Before

This record divides opinion amongst Pet Shop Boys fans. It's a move away from their 80s synth pop roots which alienates some. 

Regular readers will know I never really made it public knowledge in the 90s that I liked the Pet Shop Boys because it wasn't cool. But here they are doing a house record which made it seem almost acceptable to like them. I don't think it's them jumping on the house music bandwagon, more them moving with the times.

The problem was I was into the harder dance music so even admitting I liked any house record was difficult enough.

Busta Rhymes - Woo-hah!! Got You All In Check

I remember hearing this record for the first time. It was the rap record I'd been waiting to hear all my life. That combination of gravelly rapping over a melodic background really did it for me.

When I properly got into rap music a few years later I was still a little reluctant to properly declare myself a rap fan and restricted myself to west coast rap or rappers associated with Dr Dre such as Eminem. 

Busta Rhymes was the first rapper outside of that which I bought an album of. Quite ironic then that a few years after that he signed with Aftermath, Dr Dre's record label.

Alex Reece - Feel The Sunshine

I remember this coming on the radio and saying I liked this to someone. They were amazed I'd like a record like this in the beginning as they thought it was going to be a ballad until the beat kicked in.

As far as commercial drum & bass records went at the time, this was as good as it got.

JX - There's Nothing I Won't Do

I'll be the first to admit this record hasn't aged very well. At the time though it was a great record and the nostalgia element means I still like it now.

For me it's all about the build up when the beat first comes in. Then there's the short breakdown later on before the tune kicks in again. It was irresistible at the time.

Scooter - Rebel Yell

One of my friends was absolutely disgusted by this record. It had completely ruined a Billy Idol classic in his opinion. Furthermore, he said the HP Baxxter couldn't sing it the way Billy Idol sang it.

He completely missed the point about Scooter. HP Baxxter can't sing for shit, but that's the point. It's just good fun music. The only thing it's lacking is HP Baxxter shouting some random shit because he's too busy singing it.