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:
30. Jimmy Nail - Country Boy (New)
The final Top 40 hit to date for Jimmy Nail with the only Top 40 hit from his "Crocodile Shoes II" album. I didn't mind the music he initially did for the series, but it was getting pretty tired by this point.
Verdict - Rubbish
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 Top 40 debut for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in 1995 where it made number 32, but fared better when it was re-issued off the back of the success of "Tha Crossroads". I do remember it being out at the time, but it was one you didn't really hear anymore follow this period. When I bought their "E. 1999 Eternal" album and heard it for the first time in years I thought wow this is much better than I remembered, what a tune.
Verdict - Good
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
This was the first record I remember by the Fun Lovin' Criminals because I remember the title being pretty much the same as the band name. I'm surprised it didn't get any higher in the charts than this. I'm also surprised I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected to. Not heard it for years, I guess it hasn't aged well.
Verdict - OK
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
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
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
22. Beck - Devil's Haircut (New)
What I remember most about this record was there was a remix by Noel Gallagher who had just collaborated with the Chemical Brothers and a remix by the Dust Brothers which was the original name of the Chemical Brothers who had to change their name as a result. It's one of those records I feel I should like, but never really been able to get into it.
Verdict - Rubbish
Babyface had several Top 40 hits as writer or producer already in 1996, so it only seems fitting that he has a Top 40 hit of his own....with a cover of a Shalamar song. It was his 2nd Top 40 hit as an artist with his first being "When Can I See You" which reached number 35 in 1994. To give you an idea of how prolific he was as a songwriter, he had 34 Top 40 hits as one at this point. Onto this record, I liked it enough to be a factor in my decision to buy his greatest hits album.
Verdict - Good
20. Fluke - Atom Bomb (New)
Fluke had been around a number of years by this point and never stuck to one particular style of music. With this record they'd moved into big beat territory. I can't say this record is anything special, but not a bad record.
Verdict - OK
The 3rd Top 40 hit for 911 and the first to make the Top 10. For some reason I thought they hailed from Leeds at the time, possibly because the lead singer was called Lee. They actually all come from the North West but formed in London. What used to trouble me about this record at the time was I quite liked it, but now I'll happily enjoy it.
Verdict - Good
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
It had been 7 years since the Fine Young Cannibals had last been in the Top 40. Since then singer Roland Gift had made an appearance in the TV show "Heartbeat" which I found quite odd. Then came this, their first and only original Top 40 hit of the 90s. I remember this on The Chart Show and in the blurb it mentioned Roland Gift had just left the group. Again quite odd seeing as they'd seemingly done nothing for the previous 7 years. Anyway this was a pretty good comeback, maybe it's for the best they left it at that.
Verdict - Good
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
We're deep into the era where I was listening to nothing but rave, yet there was music which was as far away from rave as you can get that I found quite good. This is a prime example of this. I think my stance was that it's good but not something I'd go out and buy. Years later I did go out and buy it.
Verdict - Good
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
It would have been around this time that Mick Hucknall was named Wanker of the Week on the Girlie Show. I remember thinking they must have picked him because he'd done this Aretha Franklin cover. It features the Fugees which seemed an odd collaboration. That all said, it's actually pretty decent.
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
This was Dodgy attempting to make their own "Ordinary World". There's at least some similarities between the 2 records whilst clearly not being the same. I've not heard this one for years so wasn't sure what I'd make of it after all this time, but I have to say I did enjoy that.
Verdict - Good
Gina G was someone who I thought would be a one hit wonder and she's thought of by many as being a one hit wonder, but she wasn't. I recall hearing this on Noels House Party and thinking that it would have been better if she'd remained a one hit wonder.
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
The 3rd Top 40 hit for the Backstreet Boys which is a ballad, something that seemed almost inevitable. One of the writers of this was Eugene Wilde who had a couple of Top 40 hits in the 80s that he didn't write himself. I get the whole point of this song, but it's not something I'd want to listen to.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Woolpackers were 3 actors from Emmerdale who were named after the pub that features in the soap. As you can probably predict then, this is cheesy and shit. It's a line dancing record, something myself and many others used to take the piss out of.
Verdict - Rubbish
After having 2 big hits that were both instrumentals, Robert Miles did the unthinkable and released a record with a vocalist. I remember at the time thinking what are you doing having a vocalist on your record. The vocals have always annoyed me so on that basis this gets half a mark.
Verdict - OK
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
A year after Michael Jackson topped the charts with "Earth Song" he's attempting it again with another ballad but he falls short this time round. Like "Earth Song" he's trying to get a message across but musically it's not to my liking. I also got irritate about the way he pronounce Moscow.
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
Robson & Jerome had a total of 3 Top 40 hits and they all reached number one. This was the final one of those hits. Like it's predecessors, it's a cover and it's rubbish. To be fair they knew there time was probably up after this so called it a day.
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 15/30, or 50%. Well we've got back to 50%.
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