Sunday 5 February 2023

Top 30 in 1993 Reviewed: Week 6

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. 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 30 from this week in 1993 with my verdict on each record:


The Shamen could do no wrong in 1992 it would seem. I would say this is the best of their 1992 hits, possibly helped by the fact it hasn't fallen victim to anthem bashing. At the time I misheard the lyrics to the chorus as being "we are the burger people". 

Verdict - Good


Its safe to assume I was no longer a Queen fan by this point as I have no recollection of this record being remixed. It originally made the Top 40 in 1987. The remix makes it sound more like a Queen record, but it's not my cup of tea.

Verdict - Rubbish


The 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date for Undercover which once again is a cover. This record doesn't hold any 90s nostalgia for me like their first 2 hits because I don't remember this. On that basis I'm hearing it for what it is, a generic dance cover that's a bit rubbish.

Verdict - Rubbish


The 2nd Top 40 hit for Naughty By Nature, who's debut "OPP" is their best known record but only made number 35. Like it's predecessor it has a catchy sing along chorus. Take that out of the equation though and you still have a decent hip hop record.

Verdict - Good 


Despite the fact this record came out at a time when I was very much following the charts and "Sledgehammer" came out just before my music memories begin I still find myself getting the 2 records mixed up. According to one of the video comments Peter Gabriel wrote this as a reaction to the critics saying all his songs sound the same. It's not a bad sound for all your songs though.

Verdict - OK


Aside from his "Dancing in the Street" cover with David Bowie I would guess few knew Mick Jagger had a solo career. Interestingly his Top 40 solo career spanned 42 years, the same number of years as The Rolling Stones Top 40 career lasted for. This is his penultimate Top 40 hit to date and I can see why few talk about Mick Jagger as a solo artist.

Verdict - Rubbish


If I was to pick the most bland and generic dance record of the 90s then this would be a strong candidate. It was the Top 40 debut for D:Ream and their biggest hit and possibly the only hit many people remembered. They had a few more equally bland hits though.

Verdict - Rubbish


The 2nd biggest Top 40 hit for Jon Secada which got no higher than 23, which may explain why many will only remember him for "Just Another Day". This ones purely a ballad though, but a pretty good ballad I have to say. I used to listen to a 90s radio station on the internet which was American and this got played a lot.

Verdict - Good 


Rapination were The Rapino Brothers who were enjoying success as producers of "Could It Be Magic" by Take That. I associate this record with school discos and being an example of why modern music as it was at the time was the best.

Verdict - Good 


There seemed to be a lot of old songs being re-issued in the 90s to promote greatest hits albums and this was one of them. It famously was kept off the top spot in 1981 by a novelty record. As this was the 90s though it seemed unlikely it would be competing for number one this time and it wasn't. A decent record though nonetheless.

Verdict - Good 


The biggest complaint I have about this record is that it's not "Carry Me Home". I absolutely love that record and it's easy to draw comparisons even though this record came first. I'm usually not a fan of vocals in dance records but I'll make an exception for this one.

Verdict - Good 


I remember Tom Jones still being around in the early 90s, but he only had 2 Top 40 hits in this period with this being the first and I have no recollection of it. It's a cover of The Beatles song and sounds very karaoke.

Verdict - Rubbish


The Cult were finished in terms of new Top 40 hits by this point, but they were in the Top 40 once again with a remix of their debut hit "She Sells Sanctuary". They were one of the 80s bands seen as acceptable by the grunge community and the remix was done by Nirvana producer Butch Vig you'd expect it to have more of a grunge sound. It has more of a dance sound though and doesn't really work.

Verdict - Rubbish


It was around the time this record came out that it was established that if you were a boy you weren't supposed to like Take That. At the same time, this was the first Take That record I actually liked. I wouldn't admit it at the time but I admit it now.

Verdict - Good


One thing I remember about this record at the time was some people thinking this was Guns N Roses. I sort of get why having the word "roses" in the title may cause this confusion, but it really sounds nothing like Guns N Roses. I think Bon Jovi were my 3rd favourite band at the time, behind Guns N Roses funnily enough and INXS. It's a ballad, but one you can scream your lungs out to which is a good thing in my book. 

Verdict - Good 


Extreme enjoyed a lot of success and gained a lot of criticism for being the hard rock band with acoustic guitars. What I would say in their favour is they were pretty good at doing acoustic songs and ballads. They'd run out of steam with this acoustic number though, it's a pretty boring one and is their final Top 40 hit to date.

Verdict - Rubbish


I would say "Mr. Wendal" is one of those records that's got better with age. I liked it at the time, but later on in life I'm realising what a strange record it is, but in a good way. "Revolution" was one I don't ever remember hearing at the time, but I do know it now. It was looking like it wasn't on YouTube when I searched for it, so I went to Google to search and a YouTube video was the first result. Again a decent record.

Verdict - Good / Good


Grunge was supposed to have killed off music like this, but here is further proof that it didn't. That said Def Leppard were never a cool band to like amongst my peers. The main reason I never really like Def Leppard though were generic songs like this.

Verdict - Rubbish


The highest charting Top 40 hit for Faith No More which is a cover of the Commodores record. It did find it somewhat questionable initially but hearing the guitar solo in it convinced me. "Be Aggressive" has aggressive vocals but the music not so much, but decent tune nonetheless. 

Verdict - Good / Good


When Lulu collaborated with Take That later on in the year my perception was that it was the first time she'd been in the charts since the 60s. Turns out her comeback came at the beginning of the year with this record which passed me by. If you didn't know this was Lulu then you wouldn't know it's by a 60s singer, it sounds very much like a 90s record. Nothing special but it's alright.

Verdict - OK


This was 3rd time this record made the Top 40 having previously charted in 1979 and 1984. It was also the highest charting release. I gather this was released this time due to being featured in the TV show "The Gladiators" at the time. I got into an argument with someone else about what the best song from the show was, they liked this and I liked "The Boys Are Back In Town".

Verdict - Rubbish


This originally made the Top 40 in 1991 but was remixed in 1993 to sound more like a pop record which is the direction they took for the rest of the decade. I guess you could call it dance music for people who aren't into dance music. I am into dance music though.

Verdict - Rubbish


This record is best remembered for it's video full of naked people rather than the actual tune. Reading through the video comments I came across one that sums it up perfectly for me "It sounds great and the message is still something to aspire to. It's a shame the years have made me cynical.". 

Verdict - Good 


This one reminds me of school discos where someone was getting pissed off with me copying their dance moves. I wasn't aware of the Simple Minds tune this sampled at the time, but now I'm very familiar with it I realise there's not really that much difference between the two records.

Verdict - Good 


If ever there was proof that everyone's got one good song in them, then this is it. I'm not a fan of Duran Duran, I've always found their music irritating generally speaking. But this record is excellent. It's easy to point the finger at the guitaring for making this record so good and it certainly contributes to that, but everything about it is good.

Verdict - Good 


It had already been established that boys weren't supposed to like Take That, but nobody had said anything about East 17 yet. Therefore I would make no secret at the time that I liked this record. It was their first Top 5 hit.

Verdict - Good 


I did like this record at the time but haven't heard it since. I was expecting not to like it now though as I've become much less tolerant of eurodance in general, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I still like it. The fact it's breakbeat rather than the kick drum probably helps, but it sounds like a proper dance record.

Verdict - Good


We're into the final year of Stock and Waterman having hits which begins with this. It sounds like Stock and Waterman had little to do with it though, it's a cover and production was done by West End aka Eddie Gordon amongst others who were uncredited. That would explain why this record is actually quite good.

Verdict - Good


The tune which knocked Whitney Houston off number one which everybody sang "there's no lyrics" to. I'm terrible at making out lyrics in songs and I remember being criticised for not knowing the words to the other bit she sings and remember other people telling me what the words were. My thoughts were they would have been better of genuinely having no lyrics.

Verdict - Rubbish


You couldn't escape this record at the time, it was everywhere. I recall "The Bodyguard" film which this was taken from being massive as well. Let's just say the film was much better than the 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 17/30, or 57%. Lots of crap entering the charts this week but we still have the same score as last week.
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