25 Years Since....October 1996

It was October 1996 when I discovered The Spice Girls weren't going to be a one hit wonder. Fortunately there was plenty of good music about:

BBE - Seven Days And One Week

It's a very simple tune, but very effective. It was the Top 40 debut for BBE, they did have more hits but this is the one everyone remembers.

One thing that does annoy me though is when people say this was the beginning of trance music. Trance existed long before this and we'd already had trance records in the Top 40 from the likes of Paul Oakenfold and BT.

The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun

I've made no secret of the fact I never liked Oasis. Therefore I didn't really want to like this tune because of it's inclusion of Noel Gallagher. But I couldn't help but like it.

The Chemical Brothers were already pretty established by this point, but this record was the one that made them a household name. 

Scooter - I'm Raving

Shut Up & Dance had done the same thing 4 years earlier, rewrite the lyrics to "Walking In Memphis" and make a rave version. But the trick with Scooter is to just enjoy it and don't take it too seriously.

This was the last Top 40 hit from what I guess is the forgotten era of Scooter. When they returned to the Top 40 in 2002 with "The Logical Song" pretty much everyone who wasn't a dance music fan thought they were a new act.

Faithless - Insomnia

I've now heard this record more times in my life than I care to remember. It's one of those records that's universally loved, even by people who generally don't like dance music. But I'll brush all that to one side to reflect on when I first heard this.

Basically I'd heard nothing like it before. You can tell its going to be a dance record from the intro, but it doesn't quite go the way you expect it to. In comes the rap of Maxi Jazz in his own unique style, something I'd never heard before. Then the beat kicks in but in a pretty chilled way, but still cool. Then Maxi Jazz raps again and it gradually slows down. Then at the end of the rap in comes that riff.

I liked this so much I bought the single and I've never bought that many singles really.

The Future Sound Of London - My Kingdom

They're called Future Sound Of London and the video is shot in London, but this tune reminds me of Plymouth. I know I went there in October 1996, but I'm not really sure why I have this association. It may have been going through my head whilst walking around, I may have heard in on the radio or may have been a completely different reason.