Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.
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 1994 with my verdict on each record:
I thought this was a really odd one when I first heard it. My first thought when this was introduced on Top of the Pops was that the singer looked like Neil from the Young Ones. Then he started singing in a loud deep voice, I thought what the fuck is this. However, I started to like it after a few listens. Of course a song sung by a Neil from the Young Ones lookalike with a funny voice and a chorus that is simply "mmm" repeated several times is hard to take seriously. If you listen to the rest of the lyrics though they're actually quite meaningful.
Verdict - Good
29. Therapy? - Die Laughing (New)
This was the final single from the "Troublegum" album and one I'm more likely to refer to as "I Think I've Gone Insane" rather than it's actual title. It's also a song I've sung many times when waking up for work in the morning, specifically the bit that goes "I would kill for a good nights sleep, I'm feeling I'm feeling dead".
Verdict - Good
I have to say I don't remember this one from The Brand New Heavies. It came between "Dream On Dreamer" and "Midnight At The Oasis" but my memory is of the latter following the former. I do like their music generally speaking but I find the vocals too over the top in this one and it doesn't have a good enough groove to compensate.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for Pulp who finally cracked the Top 30 having formed back in 1978. It was really the calm before the storm for them. The main track from this EP is "Babies". Not really my cup of tea I have to say.
Verdict - Rubbish
I do like a bit of Roxette and they've done some decent ballads but they can't always get it right. What this is lacking is that secret ingredient to draw you in. Without that element a ballad is always going to be dreary and that it what has happened here.
Verdict - Rubbish
I think we are now going into the era of Crowded House that many people have forgotten. Their previous hit was "Locked Out" which was their best hit in my opinion. I'm not sure if I remember this one or not as it sounds generic Crowded House. Sounding a bit tired now.
Verdict - Rubbish
24. SWV - Anything (New)
I have mixed feelings about this record. It has the ingredients to be a decent record but I can't help but think they'd got the wrong group to do it. It was written by Brian Alexander Morgan who also wrote their first 3 singles but instead of being pure R&B it's going into hip hop crossover territory.
Verdict - OK
I would call this a prime example of pop music disguising itself as R&B. It's written by the same people who wrote "Rewind" for Precious a few years later and one of the writers also wrote for S Club 7. The singings too over the top for me and I just find it irritating.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Blur - To The End (New)
Given how big Blur were by now, I'm surprised this only managed to get to number 16 in the charts. That said, the "Parklife" album was now out so I guess people were buying that instead of the single. Singles wise I'd say this is the best one from the album.
Verdict - Good
Yet another eurodance act from Germany making their Top 40 debut. As you may have already gathered it consists of a female singing and a male rapping. Sounds like hundreds of other mass produced not very good eurodance records.
Verdict - Rubbish
It's fair to say Bad Boys Inc. failed to make much of an impact with their first 3 Top 40 hits in 1993. In 1994 though they go straight into the Top 10 with this which is their only Top 10 hit to date. They stuck with this songwriting team for the remainder of their hits, but don't think for a minute that the music improved at all.
Verdict - Rubbish
With eurodance being big around this time it seemed inevitable that a 2 Unlimited record would pop up soon. Here it is, but it's the last time they made the Top 10. I guess with so much choice they were just one of many by now. The usual crap from them except a bit faster.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 9th Top 40 hit for Salt-N-Pepa and they were the first rap act to reach this number. It was also the first Salt-N-Pepa hit that was actually written by Salt-N-Pepa, though Salt did write one of their previous hits by herself. It's a change in direction and they've definitely moved into the 90s with this one, but it's still cheesy commercial rap that isn't very good.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally by the Drifters and taken to the top of the charts by the Searchers in 1963. This CJ Lewis version is pretty cheesy, it is the sort of record you'd expect Andi Peters to like. At the same time though it's great fun to listen to and pure 90s nostalgia.
Verdict - Good
16. Manic Street Preachers - Faster / PCP (New)
Despite the names, "Faster" is actually slower than "PCP". As a result I do prefer the latter. It's the lead single from "The Holy Bible" which is the final album of the Richey Edwards era. I would say "Faster" is not bad but lacking any excitement and "PCP" has enough energy about it to make it good.
Verdict - OK / Good
This is a cover of the Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand record that has been produced by Stock & Aitken. It sounds more like they're bringing this record into the 80s rather than the 90s. I'm not keen on the original to be honest and this cover does nothing to improve that.
Verdict - Rubbish
I did like this record at the time and included it in my "25 years since...." series of posts. However there is no getting around the fact this is nowhere near as good as the Aswad version. It therefore raises the question why bother listening to it. It's not a bad record though so it gets half marks.
Verdict - OK
When I was reviewing "I Lift My Cup" which was the Top 40 debut for Gloworm I recall saying that my only complaint about it was it wasn't "Carry Me Home". Well here is the far better "Carry Me Home" which is such a good tune. All I can say really is give it a listen and you'll know what I mean.
Verdict - Good
The whole appeal of The Beautiful South is the lyrics which I'm sure is intentional. Therefore I would question what was the point in doing a cover. The one thing that attracts a number of people to the band is missing. On the other hand maybe they were making the point there was more to them than the clever lyrics. Don't see the appeal myself though.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Grid and their highest charting hit that many people only know them for. It's a classic biggest hit is nowhere near their best music sort of situation. It has a catchy hook and isn't a bad record but it is a little irritating at the same time.
Verdict - OK
One thing I do remember when this record came out was that I'd stopped listening to Guns N' Roses, as had many others. The fact they were no longer cool to like gave me license to slag off this record, but listening to it now as someone who does like Guns N' Roses I have to say this is pretty poor.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was a remake of a record Dawn Penn had originally recorded back in 1967. This became her only UK Top 40 hit. It's quite an iconic record and is easy on the ears, but I'm not sure I like it enough to give it full marks.
Verdict - OK
Another chart topper thanks to it's inclusion on the Levi's advert. This one was specifically written for the advert though by Pete Lawlor and then Stiltskin were formed off the back of it. Inevitably comparisons were drawn between it and Nirvana, particularly as Kurt Cobain had only died quite recently. In all honesty though I think it's better than anything Nirvana ever did.
Verdict - Good
This was the Comic Relief record done by the Pet Shop Boys under a different name. Perhaps part of the reason for not using their usual name is to distance themselves from the record. It's shit, but that was probably the point. On a side note, "Absolutely Fabulous" is a comedy I've always hated and never understood why everyone else seemed to love it.
Verdict - Rubbish
We have a record here that I would consider a life changing moment. I was a grunger and rave was the enemy. Given that rave from a Top 40 perspective was basically dead I wasn't hearing anything in the charts that would tell me otherwise about rave. Then came this record which I thought was amazing. It wouldn't be too long before I bought the "Music For The Jilted Generation" album which took me over into rave territory.
Verdict - Good
It had only been a few months since East 17 had last been in the Top 40 but here they are with the lead single from the "Steam" album. In the lyrics they sing "there's no place like home" and having seen Tony Mortimer's home on the East 17 reunion documentary I'm inclined to agree with him. As regular readers will know, I love a bit of East 17.
Verdict - Good
The eurodance records are coming thick and fast now with this being the Top 40 debut from Germanys Maxx. It's the usual male rapping female singing combination that could really be by any eurodance act. Mass production is something that springs to mind with all these records.
Verdict - Rubbish
Football songs are generally shit, especially ones by actual football teams. I don't think people really buy football songs for the actual music, but I'm surprised this got to number one because surely only Man Utd fans would have bought it. Maybe it shows just how many Man Utd fans there are.
Verdict - Rubbish
The only Top 40 hit for Big Mountain which is a cover of the Peter Frampton record. There was no avoiding this record at the time, I remember some people loving this. I do like a bit of reggae pop myself but have never liked this one.
Verdict - Rubbish
Aside from a chart topper in 1992, the 90s hadn't been a great decade to this point for Wet Wet Wet from a Top 40 perspective with the rest of their singles of the decade so far failing to reach the Top 10. This was all about to change with this record after it spent 15 weeks at number one and could have beaten Bryan Adams record had they not pulled it from sale. Obviously this topped the charts due to it being from "Four Weddings and a Funeral" but it's also a decent song and definitely revitalised them after some pretty poor singles.
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 11.5/30, or 38%. Are we going to build our way to 50% this time?
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