Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 27 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Friday.
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 1996 with my verdict on each record:
The 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date for Sarah Washington. Sarah who? is probably what you're thinking. I have to admit I'm not sure if I've heard this record before, it rings a vague bell but it's such a generic sound I could be thinking of anything. It's dance music that's centered around the vocals which is exactly what I don't like.
Verdict - Rubbish
Here's yet another record that reminds me of "The Noise" with Andi Peters. That show must have had a bigger effect on me than I realised. As I recall though I believe Louise sang a line from it as part of a competition to guess what it was she was singing. This time George Michael failed to top the charts and I'd say this is actually better than his 2 chart toppers of 1996, but that's not saying much.
Verdict - Rubbish
After 18 years away from the Top 40 The Smurfs are back with this novelty take on "I Wanna Be A Hippy". It's music that's intentionally crap, I remember the adverts for the album with clips of several tracks. One more would make the Top 40.
Verdict - Rubbish
Regular listeners of Popmaster don't know the main hit for 90s Motown singer Horace Brown and would no doubt be shocked to hear he had another hit. To be fair though, it's not a very memorable record. The Motown factor does make me look for redeeming qualities to this record, but who am I trying to kid, it's crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
Here's proof that there were charting musicians from New Zealand that had nothing to do with the Finn brothers. There had been John Rowles and Kiri Te Kanawa previously. It was the only Top 40 hit for OMC and the title more or less describes the tune. I like it though. I also know that we'll soon be getting OMD in the charts too just to confuse things.
Verdict - Good
The Top 40 debut for CJ Bolland and also his biggest and best known hit. The original mix is a blatant rip off of "Poison" by The Prodigy but is just about different enough. It was an Armand Van Helden remix that is perhaps the best known version though which makes it less obvious. Both are decent in their own way.
Verdict - Good
This was the final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Runrig and penultimate Top 40 hit to date. It had previously been a Top 40 hit for Rod Stewart in 1991 but it obviously wasn't originally a Rod Stewart song, it was originally by Rene Shuman, a Dutch artist not Scottish. It does suit the sound of Runrig but unfortunately the sound of Runrig isn't really my thing.
Verdict - Rubbish
I do remember this record but I don't think I've heard it since 1996. In the time that has since passed I got to know "Love Me Two Times" by The Doors and listening to this record it sounds like they're trying to remake The Doors record. As a result I just wanted this song to end and go and listen to The Doors.
Verdict - Rubbish
I did wonder whether this was a cover. It sounds like it could have been originally from the 60s, but no it was a new song. That's both a good and a bad thing. It's good because I love that 60s soul sound, but bad that it's not as good as an authentic 60s soul sound.
Verdict - OK
What a name, well the presents Maddog bit anyway. It heavily samples "Boogie Wonderland" and has a rap over the top of it, but nothing too over the top. It did like it at the time but not sure whether I'd like it if I was hearing it for the first time now. The nostalgia means I still do like it though.
Verdict - Good
The 9th Top 40 hit for Jamiroquai which became their highest charting to that point. I remember being quite surprised by this record because I saw Jamiroquai as being a futuristic band but here they are singing about "useless twisting our new technology". Maybe Jay Kay knew we'd have a lot more of that in the future which we do. One benefit of the modern era that didn't exist back then was the ability to go to YouTube and play music from the good old days.
Verdict - Good
The 20th Top 40 hit for Phil Collins and his final Top 10 hit to date. It was also his first hit after he'd actually left Genesis. Yet I can't help but think this would have worked better as a Genesis record than a Phil Collins solo one. To be clear I'm referring to the later Genesis sound. I guess it just sounds uplifting for a Phil Collins solo hit. It doesn't matter who did it though, it's a question of whether I like the song and the answer is yes.
Verdict - Good
My perception on the Super Furry Animals back in the late 90s was different to how they really were. I would lump them in the with boring indie bands who needed Ali G to liven up their music, but they weren't one of those bands at all. A song title like this is anything but boring and it's actually a decent record.
Verdict - Good
This is a cover of the Four Seasons record which is a record which has always irritated me. Quite frankly I don't think any cover of this is going to change that fact. A cheesy commercial eurodance cover certainly isn't.
Verdict - Rubbish
There was no escaping this song in the summer of 1996. It was the Top 40 debut for the Spice Girls and I thought it had one hit wonder written all over it at the time. Unfortunately it wasn't and there was no escaping them for the next 2.5 years which felt a lot longer.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record finally ended the Spice Girls time at the top of the charts. Peter Andre made a name for himself earlier on in the summer with "Mysterious Girl" which sounded like it was ripping off "Sweat" by Inner Circle. This time he's ripping off "Hoochie Booty" by Ultimate Kaos. The only thing I like about this record is that when you ask the question what was Peter Andre's first number one they normally get it wrong.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Luther Vandross and his penultimate Top 40 hit to date. I do like the way he stuck to his guns and continued to do the sort of music he does best. Completely out of place in 1996, but it's Luther Vandross so who cares.
Verdict - Good
This was the 7th Top 40 single for LL Cool J which reached number 7 and became his highest charting hit to that point. It features uncredited vocals by Total, the R&B group I described as being poundland TLC when I reviewed their record a few weeks ago. They didn't really sound like TLC here, but just make an annoying sound that is the chorus. It's far too pop for my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish
12. Damage - Love II Love (New)
The Top 40 debut for Damage who were filling the shoes of MN8 as the main British male R&B group. They too suffered the same problem of British R&B being inferior to its American counterpart. It was one of the early Top 40 hits for Wayne Hector as a songwriter.
Verdict - Rubbish
Jeremy Healy was known to be the highest paid DJ at the time and Amos was known to be Jeremy Healy's sidekick. I always found it quite baffling why one would pay Jeremy Healy more than anyone else particularly as I never thought much of the DJ sets I'd heard from him. At the same time though I always thought this tune was good and listening to it again I still do.
Verdict - Good
In 1993 there was no escaping Dina Carroll. Then she disappeared for the next 3 years until she came back with this record. She picked up where she left off with a ballad which worked well for her before and this time round she scored her joint highest charting hit. Hearing this again after all these years I'm reminded of the lyrics about a heart on the shelf which I always found amusing. I was ready to write this off as another dreary ballad but now I've changed my mind. I really enjoyed listening to that.
Verdict - Good
This was the 3rd post-Richey Edwards Top 40 hit for the Manic Street Preachers though this time it was a record with lyrics written by Richey Edwards. Still a no from me, I see this as an opportunity for them to make a record with some oomph in it but instead come up with something pretty dull.
Verdict - Rubbish
In 1996 you were more likely to find me listening to the drum & bass rip off of this rather than the Fugees record. In a way though I saw it as a good compromise between listening to this and staying true to the rave scene. It's a great record though, pretty dark but has a sung chorus to keep it radio friendly. There was no stopping the Fugees in 1996.
Verdict - Good
One thing that I get quite annoyed by is hearing that this record was the start of trance music. Trance had been around a long time before this and that includes Paul Oakenfold bringing it to the masses. It's legendary status has meant I've heard it too many times now, but it was a record I liked at the time and I still can find the enjoyment in it.
Verdict - Good
Prior to this record I thought The Beautiful South were pretty much finished. They'd failed to reach the Top 10 since they topped the charts in 1990, they'd released their greatest hits and were more likely to be heard on Radio 2 than Radio 1. Then this came out and all of a sudden they were big again. I like the sentiment of this song, I've been to numerous towns and cities over the years and thought this could be anywhere. Musically though not to my liking.
Verdict - Rubbish
As someone who listened to the radio back in the 90s there were lots of records I'd hear that I didn't like. Generally I'd just put up with them, but there were some records that I hated so much I would have to turn off the radio. This was one of those records. I can also tell you that we'll be getting "Breakfast At Tiffany's" in the charts soon because that was another that made me turn off the radio at the time. Why break the habit of a lifetime, I'm stopping this before the end of the video.
Verdict - Rubbish
This is basically Celine Dion does Meat Loaf. It was written by Jim Steinman who wrote the bulk of Meat Loafs hits including a Meat Loaf version of this 10 years later. Therefore it's long and over the top and not to my liking, but I will concede it's better than her usual dreary ballads. Still crap though.
Verdict - Rubbish
3. Babybird - You're Gorgeous (New)
At the time I remember hearing that Babybird was a really prolific songwriter who'd written hundreds of songs. For many though, this is the only song of his they remember. It's a record I remember being out around the same time as "Breakfast At Tiffany's". It's not as crap, but is still crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
After reviewing "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis I knew this record was just round the corner because it was another record that I hated so much I had to turn the radio off whenever it came on. Now I'm going to end the YouTube video before it finishes.
Verdict - Rubbish
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.
Verdict - Good
If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 12.5/30, or 42%. A slight improvement despite lots of crap entering this week.
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