Sunday, 15 October 2023

Top 30 in 1993 Reviewed: Week 42

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:


This was an EP of the debut hits of the bands who contributed to it i.e. "Gangsters", "The Prince", "On the Radio" and "Tears of a Clown". It was released to promote a best of 2 Tone album. All decent records in my opinion.

Verdict - Good


Crowded House revert to the weather theme in their song titles with this lead single from their "Together Alone" album. It worked well for them previously, so why not I guess. I'm finding myself still singing it once I've finished listening to it, a sign that I like it.

Verdict - Good


I keep mentioning those unwritten rules at the time where if you were a rock music fan then bar a small number of exceptions you shouldn't like pop music. This was the one pop song the person who told me of said rules liked, though I would say it's more soft rock than pop. Either way I could enjoy this record knowing it was acceptable to like. 

Verdict - Good


You can tell that grunge and alternative rock were big around this time because other bands are jumping on the bandwagon by turning up the distortion on their guitars. That's the case with both of these songs. I understand why they would do it, but the result is 2 songs that are just a non-entity in my book.

Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish 


It wouldn't be long before Blur would be one of the biggest bands in the country, but this was very much the calm before the storm and I mistakenly thought they were called Blair rather than Blur at the time. I always liked the way this song sped up, but it's decent all around.

Verdict - Good


Staxx were Simon Thorne and Tom Jones, not that Tom Jones though it's something who's genuinely called that as far as I'm aware. I can't say I think too much of this record, it treads that line between house and eurodance but ends up being the worst of both worlds.

Verdict - Rubbish


I have no memory of One Dove existing in the 90s but discovered this tune later on in life and thought how did I miss this the first time round. It highlighted the benefits of exploring older music you've not heard before as you can find some real gems.

Verdict - Good


It's a cover of the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song. When it comes to covers that completely ruins a song this has to be up there. All the good bits have been taken away and replaced by an acoustic guitar. Fortunately this was the last Top 40 hit to date for Go West.

Verdict - Rubbish


This originally charted in 1990 and was on the soundtrack to the film "Pretty Woman". It entered the charts again in 1993 because of the TV premiere of the film. I find it somewhat baffling that a 3 year old film making it's TV debut was such a big thing, particularly as the film was shit. I like the song though.

Verdict - Good


As far as I'm aware this song isn't a cover. It was Paul Youngs 13th Top 40 hit but just his 3rd that wasn't a cover. It sounds like the sort of thing Kenny Thomas would sing which is never a good thing.

Verdict - Rubbish

20. Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

For the first time in almost 4 years I cannot find a song on YouTube or anywhere on the internet to review. I can find the original version, but not the 1993 remix which Wikipedia describes as being largely instrumental. I have no memory of the remix existing either so I can't say whether I like it or not.

Verdict - Unknown


One of the things that's surprised me when doing these posts was how many Top 40 hits Dina Carroll had before "Don't Be A Stranger". This was her 8th of 14 Top 40 hits. It's no doubt her signature song, something she probably won't be happy about because it's one she didn't write. I wonder whether the success of this song dictated that she wouldn't write any of her remaining Top 40 hits after this. Anyway I couldn't stand this record at the time, too slow and boring. I can't say I've really changed my mind to be honest.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember this one very well. The first thing that springs to mind is poundland Stereo MC's. Then I read up about Stakka Bo and this song and the comparisons with Stereo MC's are being made. Stakka Bo is Swedish so I assumed this was one from the Denniz Pop production line, but it isn't. Might as well be though.

Verdict - Rubbish


I was taking guitar lessons around this time and amongst the tablature in one of the books I had was pictures of iconic guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. One picture I did find quite strange though was Prince who was never someone I really thought of as a guitarist let alone an iconic one. Then he released this very guitar driven record. Of course I now know how good a guitarist Prince was. This has a decent riff to it, but doesn't quite have enough about it for me to truly like it.

Verdict - OK


A few years after this came out I was flicking through the music channels and saw this video playing and it brought back memories of how I liked this record, but I couldn't remember what it was. It was being played on "The Lick" so didn't say what it was at the end of the video, but I eventually found out. The chants of "SWV" should have given it away, which was being done by a then unknown Pharrell Williams. 

Verdict - Good


This is one of those records which was pretty big at the time but never gets played anymore. I don't think I've heard this since 1993. It bears a vague similarity to "Baby Baby" by Amy Grant which means I can't help but think this isn't as good. Not a bad record though.

Verdict - OK


At the time there was someone who put forward the controversial opinion that The Lemonheads were better than Nirvana. I said don't be stupid, but who was I kidding. This song is miles better than any Nirvana song I've heard. 

Verdict - Good


I remember when this record came out it created a divide at school between the rock crowd and everyone else. It was singled out as an example of a crappy pop record by the rock crowd but everybody else seemingly loved it. Putting all that aside, my first thought when hearing this was have Snap changed their name to Culture Beat. 

Verdict - Rubbish


We're now into the "Music For the Jilted Generation" era of The Prodigy. This lead single isn't hugely different from the "Experience" era, but at the same time it is a mark of the fact the chart era for rave music is now in the past. We're being eased into the next era of The Prodigy.

Verdict - Good


This is the opening track to the "Keep the Faith" album which I'd listened to a lot over the summer. By this point though I can't remember whether I'd gone off Bon Jovi or not. That doesn't really matter though because it's what I think of it now that counts and I like it.

Verdict - Good


I think this was the last Pet Shop Boys record I admitted to liking at the time. I remember the rules that the rock crowd weren't supposed to like pop music but a small number of exceptions were allowed and this was one of those for me. It wouldn't be long before even a small number of exceptions wasn't acceptable.

Verdict - Good


We've reached the end of the first Bruce Dickinson era of Iron Maiden with this live version of a song that's was over a decade old. The rock crowd at school tended to not like Iron Maiden because they were too old. These days though my test of whether an Iron Maiden song is any good is how fast it is. It takes a while to get going, but once it gets fast it's good.

Verdict - Good


After this topped the charts in 1984 and spent nearly the entire year in the charts you would have thought anyone who wanted this record would have already bought it. Seemingly not as this re-issue made the Top 10. I've heard it far too much in my life to truly like it, but I don't dislike it at the same time.

Verdict - OK


The Top 40 debut for Eternal. I remember when this came out my assessment of it was poundland SWV. I don't think I knew at the time that SWV were American and Eternal were British, but on reflection this is a prime example of how British acts don't do R&B as well as their American counterparts.

Verdict - Rubbish


I just assumed most people only remember Haddaway for "What Is Love" but 16 million views of this follow up hit on YouTube suggests otherwise. I'm not completely anti-Eurodance, there are a handful of records I like but most of it is dreadful and this is one of those.

Verdict - Rubbish


The biggest hit for M People which also made the charts in America. I would also say this is the most pop record they'd made to this point as well. They knew what they were doing making records like this, but it's not for me.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember this record being on the list of non-rock music records I secretly liked at the time. As I'm going through the weeks I'm finding I like a lot of the reggae pop records that were coming out in 1993. 

Verdict - Good


I couldn't stand this record at the time, it's always irritated me. Then when I started going out on a Saturday night I'd hear this every week which made me hate it even more. My drunken self down the students union would dance to all sorts of rubbish, but I'd always leave the dancefloor when this came on.

Verdict - Rubbish


Meat Loaf had been in the wilderness for several years before this and his previous big hits were before my music memories so I wasn't familiar with his music at the time, I'd just heard the name. At the same time someone at school was a Meat Loaf fan and would say he was heavy metal. I was therefore excited to finally hear a Meat Loaf song, but heavy metal it's certainly not. That disappointment along with the fact it goes on forever and is just ridiculously over the top means I've never liked it. 

Verdict - Rubbish


There was no avoiding Take That when this came out. They could release any old rubbish safe in the knowledge it would probably go to number one and they achieved that with this one. 

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 14.5/29, or 50% (Diana Ross has been excluded). We've reached 50%, though that could change if I ever hear the Diana Ross remix.
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