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:
It's Gianfranco Bortolotti again with a hit with Anticappella at the same time as he had a hit with Cappella. Again it's a eurodance record off the production line with a female singer and male rapper which raises the question why the need for the different but similar sounding names?
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally a Top 40 hit in 1992 which reached number 31. It was remixed in 1994 and fared better. This was presumably off the back of "Shine On" being a hit. The original of this is good, but this remix is pretty average.
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
Janet Jackson managed to pull off a decent ballad with "Again" several months prior to it. No such luck with this ballad though. The reality is getting a ballad to work is pretty difficult so having 2 from the same album meant inevitably at least one of them would be crap and that's what this is.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
One think I come across in these reviews are records that initially passed me by which are in the middle of what I thought were 2 consecutive hits. This is an example which has quite an appropriate title given that. Not a very good choice for a single though, sounds like album filler material to me.
Verdict - Rubbish
90s Aerosmith divides opinion. It was their commercially most successful period but that alienated the purists or even others who said they were blatantly selling out. I think they made some good records during this era, but this isn't one of them. It's very throwaway.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
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
After having a pretty successful 1992, KWS came back in 1994 following the sort of formula that made them successful in the first place i.e. 90s dance remakes of older records. This of course was originally by Chaka Khan, but they've got Gwen Dickey of Rose Royce to provide the vocals instead. It's not great if I'm honest.
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 penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Chaka Demus And Pliers and we're very much into the era of Chaka Demus And Pliers that few remember. All of their singles came from the same album so I'd say we're into album filler territory as this is nowhere near the standard of their first 2 hits.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Let Loose and the record they're best known for. I remember this being universally hated at the time and rightfully so because this is an absolutely dreadful record. It's annoying and cringeworthy and hopefully I'll never hear it again.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Aretha Franklin. It's written by Babyface and Daryl Simmons and you can tell. It's easy to draw comparisons between this and her earlier material which was much better. In the 90s though what do you do? you can't redo the 60s. As a result though we have a pretty average record.
Verdict - OK
16. Aaliyah - Back And Forth (New)
The Top 40 debut for Aaliyah who took over from Abba as the first act in the British Hit Singles book. It's a nice catchy number that's easy to sing along to. I have this on a pure swing compilation and would always enjoy it when it came on.
Verdict - Good
The other Top 40 hit for Atlantic Ocean. I absolutely loved their big hit "Waterfall" but what they've done here is followed the path of many others by creating a poundland version of your big hit for your follow up. They've added some vocals too which makes it worse.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the Top 40 debut for Juliet Roberts in 1993 which returned to the Top 40 in 1994 as a remix. Much like the original version it's a pleasant enough record that would be good to hear out and about without being anything special.
Verdict - OK
Apparently this is a gospel inspired song, but don't let that description fool you. It's yet another dreary ballad from Mariah Carey. There was also a jungle rip off of this around the same time with pitched up vocals which is quite something when it's Mariah Carey singing.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
11. Oasis - Shakermaker (New)
When Oasis made their Top 40 debut earlier on in the year with "Supersonic" they only made number 31. This was their 2nd Top 40 hit which is a blatant rip off of "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" done in the Oasis way. Never understood the appeal of Oasis myself, also thought it was a dreary noise.
Verdict - Rubbish
Speaking of Gianfranco Bortolotti, here he is again with perhaps his most famous project Cappella. We have "U" in the title once again, the generic eurodance riff with a male rapper and female singer. This is getting pretty tedious now.
Verdict - Rubbish
After Aswad topped the charts with their Top 40 debut "Don't Turn Around" their following singles did chart so well until this record over 6 years later. The fact Ace of Base had their own version of "Don't Turn Around" out around this time would have reminded people of Aswad and that may have helped this single become a success. It's written by the band itself and it's a decent record that I liked at the time even it I wouldn't admit it.
Verdict - Good
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
Another follow single that doesn't sound an awful lot different to work. Let's face it though, Erick Morillo made these records to sell in large quantities rather than for musical credibility. Therefore why not make a record like this, it would have been easy enough.
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
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
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
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
When Big Mountain hit the charts I knew this record would be just around the corner because there was also no avoiding this record at the time and it used to annoy me in equal measure. It was originally a country song by John Michael Montgomery. It wasn't the only Top 40 hit for All-4-One though, they would return with another John Michael Montgomery cover but fortunately that never made the Top 30 so I won't have to listen to it.
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 9/30, or 30%. Going backwards again.
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