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:
I said earlier on in the year that Norman Cooks time in the Top 40 as Pizzaman had now finished. Turns out not quite as it was the Pizzaman mix of this record which was the single version. I always thought Duke was Italian for some reason but turns out he's a Geordie. Anyway good tune.
Verdict - Good
The start of 1996 brought us The Presidents Of The United States Of America who's first 3 hits got weirder with each hit. Then came this, their 4th and final Top 40 hit to date which is nowhere near as weird as it's predecessors. A bit disappointing in that respect, but I guess it shows they can do more serious music too.
Verdict - Good
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
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
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
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
The 4th Top 40 hit for Mark Morrison and he's turning down the tempo on this one. The trouble is he doesn't really have the voice for a record like this. It works alright on the more upbeat numbers but he's singing in exactly the same voice and it doesn't work.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Gene - Fighting Fit (New)
We've now reached the halfway point of Gene's Top 40 career with this being hit number 5 out of 10. From a personal point of view I'd say this was the most memorable of them, but I'm not sure they really had a big hit as such. It's still throwaway rubbish in my opinion.
Verdict - Rubbish
Whoever thought this was a good idea. I've made it known before that I think "Bohemian Rhapsody" is overhyped but I at least get the appeal of the record is that it's basically a few short songs into one and on that basis makes it an odd one to cover. They go straight into the "mama" bit, then the headbanging bit in the same style then go back to the "mama" bit with a bit of "nothing really matters" thrown in. Awful cover.
Verdict - Rubbish
Someone once told me they consider Suede to be one of the underrated bands of the 90s. I disagree, they were seen as one of the big four Britpop bands yet when you had the Blur vs Oasis battle etc. they were nowhere to be seen. Then with Britpop more popular than ever, they were releasing any old rubbish and going straight into the Top 10 with it. This being a prime example.
Verdict - Rubbish
19. REM - Bittersweet Me (New)
I've not heard this one for a long time and as I play it I question if it's the record I remember it being. Then it completely change as we go into the chorus and confirms it is the record I remember. The chorus is strong enough to carry the rest of the tune.
Verdict - Good
Although this wasn't the highest charting single for Blackstreet, this is the record they're best known for. With Dr Dre rapping the intro one could think it was him who produced it, but then Blackstreet already had their own big name producer in Teddy Riley and of course it was him who produced it. I love the sampling in this record, that's what makes it really stand out.
Verdict - Good
This was the 5th Top 40 hit for Cast and their 5th with a one word title which is their highest chart single to date. Hard to say which record Cast are best known for. I'd say they're better known as what The La's did next. I do remember several of their sits individually including this and remember not liking them.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
In the summer of 1996 there was no escaping "3 Lions" to the point it was easy to forget that The Lightning Seeds were a band who did other songs too. This was their following single and I remember it seeming a bit weird seeing The Lightning Seeds on their own again. I also remember thinking it's not very good and I'm still yet to be convinced by it.
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
Whilst I was disappointed to discover the Spice Girls weren't going to be one hit wonders, I was glad to see Alisha's Attic were back with a 2nd Top 40 hit. I was also glad to hear it was just as good as its predecessor.
Verdict - Good
11. Space - Neighbourhood (New)
I grew up in the sticks and I guess this was an insight into living in the city. I knew pretty much everyone down my street but when I did move to a city I knew absolutely nobody on my street and they could have been the people described in this record for all I know. I've said before that Space were definitely one of the better Britpop bands which is helped by their humour.
Verdict - Good
At the time I was given the option of going to the cinema to watch "Evita". I had nothing better to do so I thought why not. It was the biggest pile of shit I'd ever seen, it was truly painful to watch. This record was from that movie which had Madonna in it.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Livin Joy and their last big one really. Their sticking to the same formula of commercial dance music. Not a bad record by any means, but with this formula it was always going to have it's limitations.
Verdict - OK
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
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
6. Reef - Place Your Hands (New)
One of my early memories of this record was it being on the Chris Evans breakfast who with wedding bells over it because I recall someone in his radio show crew was about to get married. It would of course end up being famous for the reworded "Its Your Letters" on TFI Friday. It's one of those records where the lead singing being a rubbish singer makes the record sound good.
Verdict - Good
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. I liked this so much I bought the single and I've never bought that many singles really.
Verdict - Good
After having all 5 of her previous Top 40 hits written by Babyface, Toni Braxton turned to prolific songwriter Diane Warren for her 6th. It worked as this became her joint highest charting Top 40 hit, but often in order to achieve popularity you have to compromise on quality and this is what's happened here in my opinion.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been nearly 2 years since Boyzone made their Top 40 debut and I remember when Take That were still around some said they were losing their grip on the boy band world to Boyzone. Yet it took Boyzone until this record to score their first number one. Still, it was one hit sooner than Take That scored their first number one. A cover of the Bee Gees record which could be best described as the alternative lyrics of: shits only turds and turds are all I have to take your fart away.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record was released to promote East 17s greatest hits album. To show they weren't planning on splitting up any time soon they put in the reference "The Journey So Far", but we all know what happened next. As with pretty much all the East 17 singles, I like it.
Verdict - Good
Once again I'm going to talk about "The Noise" with Andi Peters. This was when it became apparent that The Spice Girls weren't going to be one hit wonders. They exclusively showed the video to the new Spice Girls single. It's not as bad as their debut, that's the only positive thing I can say about it.
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 12.5/30, or 42%. With an increasing number of new entries though who knows what will happen next week.
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