Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Wednesday.
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 1998 with my verdict on each record:
The song title for this record is almost descriptive of the record. The "Slow" bit is at least, but not so much the "Nice". It was the follow up to Ushers chart topper and his final Top 40 hit of the 90s. Amongst its songwriters was Brian Casey of Jagged Edge.
Verdict - Rubbish
29. Freak Power - No Way (New)
What's a bit of an eye opener when doing these reviews was how much of a presence Fatboy Slim had in the Top 40 before he had any major hits. Freak Power was Norman Cooks acid jazz group in the early 90s who's big hit was "Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out". This was their only other Top 40 hit which sounds more like a Fatboy Slim record. The namechecking of DJs such as Carl Cox adds fuel to that. It's probably better than any actual Fatboy Slim hit though.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd Top 40 hit for 187 Lockdown which was also their highest charting. It was the first speed garage record to make the Top 10 that wasn't a remix of a non-garage record. Once again it brings back memories of that summer.
Verdict - Good
27. Green Day - Redundant (New)
The final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Green Day and it honestly looked as if Green Day were finished by the time the year 2000 hit. Like their previous hit "Good Riddance" it's different to what you'd normally expect from Green Day but this time they pull it off in my opinion. I can really get into this one.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd Top 40 hit for The Dandy Warhols which was also their 2nd highest charting overall. It was also the penultimate Top 40 hit of the 90s and last one of the 90s to reach the Top 30. Lyrically this record stands out because of the title if anything, but musically it's a complete non-entity.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record tells me that summer is just around the corner. My mate had just bought his first car and was driving around a lot and it seemed more often that not he'd have this record blasting out. It also brings back memories of what a terrible driver he was.
Verdict - Good
It had been almost a year since Ultra Nate charted with "Free". That record was around for such a long time though that it didn't feel like it had been that long. It's not a record you really hear anymore and I have to say it hasn't aged well. Not bad though.
Verdict - OK
The 4th Top 40 hit for Sash! and the first not to reach number 2. It sounds like they're trying to do "Chariots of Fire" eurodance style. Very cheesy and predictable, but they were onto a winning formula so why not.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been 31 years since Aretha Franklin made her Top 40 debut and this marked her final Top 40 appearance to date. It was written by Lauryn Hill and is very much one for the 90s. I'm not so sure how well this works though, but it's not a bad record.
Verdict - OK
This record was a mark of a time when I was becoming much more receptive to house music. I remember hearing this one Friday morning with the weekend just hours away and it was giving me the feel good weekend vibes.
Verdict - Good
I remember hearing this song and that it was by someone called Billie Myers, but then seeing it and discovering it was actually a woman singing it. I recall Chris Moyles acknowledging that fact by playing it on the radio and singing along by saying "I'm a bloke, I'm a bloke, I'm a bloke, I'm a bloke, no I'm not". I can't say I ever thought much to this.
Verdict - Rubbish
The biggest hit for K-Ci and JoJo. I was still purely listening to rave at the time but did find myself drawn towards this for some reason. I did eventually get into K-Ci And JoJo via the garage scene which then lead to me buying all their albums. The "Love Always" album is one of my all time favourites.
Verdict - Good
The Jungle Brothers are a rap group who were around long before jungle music. It does however seem appropriate for them to have a drum & bass hit. No only because of their name, but also because they were crossing over with dance music back in the 80s.
Verdict - Good
Another big mystery of the late 90s, how did this obscure Kula Shaker record make number 3? The logical explanation would be lead single from the album. It would become their final Top 10 hit. I actually quite like it, the Doors influence organs in the record make it sound quite good.
Verdict - Good
The 7th Top 40 hit for Busta Rhymes which became his highest charting single to this point. It samples the Knight Rider theme which works really well. The verses are rapped quite calmly but then it gets more aggressive in the chorus. Absolutely love this record.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd and final chart topper to date for Celine Dion which was take from "The Titanic" movie. I remember how big that film was so it was almost inevitable that this would get to number one. It's also a depressing film given that people die at the end so I guess it's appropriate to have a depressing song for it. Musically though its just another Celine Dion record.
Verdict - Rubbish
We're now reaching the time when I started opening myself up to music that wasn't rave. There was always non-rave music that I liked, but when my friend who taught me all I needed to know about rave in the beginning played this song on the jukebox in the pub it started to seem more acceptable. I also realised that I liked this record whilst listening to it in the pub.
Verdict - Good
13. The Bluetones - If... (New)
The wheels had fallen off the Top 40 career of The Bluetones with this failing to reach the Top 10 having achieved that with their previous 4 hits. The Top 40 hits would continue until 2003 though, but this was the last of the 90s to make the Top 30. I would say this would have worked better as a lead single than "Solomon Bites The Worm" but it's still not great.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Leann Rimes. I once took part in a quiz where a question was who charted in 1997 with "How Do I Live" to which I confidently answered Leann Rimes. The answer was Trisha Yearwood who reached number 66 with it. Leann Rimes was in 1998 and is the better known version. Although not the first person younger than me to chart, I do recall a younger Leann Rimes charting making me start to think have I missed the boat already in my music career.
Verdict - Rubbish
Queen Pen was the female rapper on "No Diggity" by Blackstreet and here she is with her highest charting single as artist which features Eric Williams from Blackstreet. I heavily samples "Never Too Much" by Luther Vandross. It's produced by Teddy Riley who was having one of his off days. Also was written by Jay-Z. I'll say no more.
Verdict - Rubbish
10. Massive Attack - Teardrop (New)
I've always considered Massive Attacks best known record to be "Unfinished Sympathy". However I have a friend who once told me this record was the only Massive Attack record he knew. Further to that it's their only Top 10. It is pretty iconic I have to say.
Verdict - Good
9. Garbage - Push It (New)
Here was another reminded that there was good music out there which wasn't rave. It had been nearly 2 years since Garbage had last been in the Top 40 and this was the lead single from their 2nd album. I love the way the chorus comes in on this record.
Verdict - Good
There was a pub near where I grew up that had live music at the weekend. When I say live music I mean a singer, ocassionally one with a guitar and a karaoke machine. They'd sing the classics, but this song immediately slotted into the sets and I recall one particular night I swear the singer did this song around 5 or 6 times. Needless to say I got sick of it very quickly.
Verdict - Rubbish
In the early 90s Stock & Waterman tried transforming Bananarama into the new Abba with this being one of their records but it failed to reach the Top 40. Now Pete Waterman tried the same with Steps and was more successful in doing so. Each female was given a verse each whilst you wouldn't even know the males were on the record from listening to it. Unfortunately we'd get more of these over the next few years.
Verdict - Rubbish
At the time I remember this being this opening song of Top of the Pops for a few weeks in a row. At least that's what it felt. There also seemed to be a lot of people on the stage so I assumed they were a band with many members, but it turned out there were only 2 of them in Savage Garden. Never before have I seen a song contradict a band name so much. I do like some of their music, but not the soppy ballads.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been 10 years since Run DMC had last been in the Top 40. This Jason Nevins remix of their 1983 record took them to the top of the charts and ended the Spice Girls run of number ones. It also made its way onto several dance compilations which validated me liking this record.
Verdict - Good
The 11th Top 40 hit for Boyzone and their 3rd number one after scoring 3 number twos in a row. It was penned by the same songwriters who revived Donny Osmonds career in the 80s and who would pen the debut hit of Rihanna in years to come. I think that tells you all you need to know.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I first heard this record with it's sample of "Can You Feel It" by The Jacksons it caught my attention because I like what it is sampling. Then I listened to the record the whole way through and realised that was the only redeeming feature, the rest was cheesy nonsense.
Verdict - Rubbish
2. Madonna - Ray Of Light (New)
This was the 23rd Top 40 hit of the 90s which meant Madonna had more Top 40 hits in the 90s than in the 80s. Mariah Carey would be the only other act to reach 23 Top 40 hits in the 90s. The total score I've given for all of the previous 22 Madonna hits of the 90s is a big fat zero. However she finally had a decent hit with this. The credit of course has to go to William Orbit who was the main man behind this record.
Verdict - Good
After being pleasantly surprised by who much I liked the first two hits for All Saints I decided to buy their album. On it was 2 covers and these were released as a double a-side for their next single. Maybe having 3 decent singles in a row was a step too far, the cover of "Under The Bridge" is particularly poor given how good the original is.
Verdict - Rubbish / 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%. We've reached that magical number.
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