25 Years Since....November 1998

Time to go back to November 1998, where Sundays were about Formula One and Dave Pearces Dance Anthems:

Fatboy Slim - Gangster Trippin

Fatboy Slim was a big name by the time this record came out but it was just before he got ridiculously popular. I could still feel comfortable about liking Fatboy Slim without thinking he was too commercial. This has been somewhat overshadowed by other hits of his since, but that may be why I'm more fond of this record.

The Cardigans - My Favourite Game

I was a big formula one fan at the time, so much so that I'd get up at/stay up till stupid hours to watch the grand prix live. The final race of the 1998 season was in Japan and I was watching it live. What does that have to do with this record I hear you say.

Well at the end of the show they had a video montage of the 1998 season with this song playing over it and it just worked really well. This song reminds me of that. I wonder whether Martin Brundle is a fan of this record.

Spacedust - Gym And Tonic

First we had Stardust with the biggest dance record of the year, then we had Spacedust with this chart topper. I remember my supervisor at work having a bit of a dance to this when it came on the radio which was quite amusing. It's a silly record really, but an enjoyable one. 

U2 - Sweetest Thing

The video to this record showed just how big U2 had become by this point. I've never really considered any of them to be exceptional at what they do, but to me what stands out about them is that they occasionally put out a record that just works so well.

This is one of those records and I would say it was their best single to that point.

Doolally - Straight From The Heart

I regard this record as being the bridge between the speed garage and the UK garage era. In a mainstream sense people were now talking about house and trance as opposed to house and garage, to this point this record appeared on the house CD for "Kiss Ibiza 99".

Doolally would be back the following year as Shanks & Bigfoot but the less said about that the better in my opinion.