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 1997 with my verdict on each record:
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Erykah Badu and I feel I'm going to contradict myself once again because this is actually a decent record and not just good background music. Maybe by doing these reviews neo soul music is finally growing on me.
Verdict - Good
29. Code Red - Can We Talk (New)
There are a number of long forgotten boy bands of the 90s that nobody seems to remember except for me. Here's another long forgotten boy band of the 90s, but this time even I don't remember them. It was their Top 40 debut which was a karaoke version of the Tevin Campbell record. They would be back with one more Top 40 hit but not in the Top 30.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been nearly a year since New Edition came back with "Hit Me Off". The album had already been out some time as well, but this was the next Top 40 which was their final one to date. I would say this is the best known of the more modern era of New Edition and it's good.
Verdict - Good
This was the 4th Top 40 hit for Damage and their highest charting. It's a cover of the Eric Clapton record. One of the YouTube comments sums up this record nicely which is "they seriously damaged this song". What else can I say.
Verdict - Rubbish
After scoring her joint highest charting Top 40 hit with a ballad, Toni Braxton followed up with another ballad. This time it's written by R Kelly and is much better made. It's definitely an improvement over it's predecessor, but I'm not as tolerant with ballads as I once was so this gets half a mark.
Verdict - OK
This was the main song from Space Jam and I asked the question why do they always have ballads for cartoon films. That said, I did think this ballad was much better than your average ballad so not a bad choice really.
Verdict - Good
My main complaint about music like this at the time was that it was too slow. I did however find myself drawn towards this record though. The backing vocals of "what's up" grabbed my attention. The word "underground" in the title also helped, after all I was a fan of underground music. It was the debut hit and biggest hit for The Sneaker Pimps.
Verdict - Good
As the story goes, Shola Ama was singing on the tube one day and was heard by someone in the business which eventually led to this her Top 40 debut. It's a cover of a Turley Richards record made famous by Randy Crawford. I do quite like this record.
Verdict - Good
George Michael had made the Top 4 with all of his Top 40 hits since 1991 up to this point. This broke that run but continued his run of Top 10s at least. That said Toby Bourke is the lead artist here so it was probably the George Michael presence that helped it to the Top 10. That was surely more of a pull that the music itself.
Verdict - Rubbish
21. Chicane - Sunstroke (New)
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for Chicane and the follow up to "Offshore". I'm pretty sure I first heard this record on the ITV show "Club Nation". It seems the right sort of time for it. Chicane were always one of those acts I always liked despite being commercial and making slower records than what I was typically listening to at the time.
Verdict - Good
I had a friend who was also a raver who I used to think just made up things about the rave scene safe in the knowledge nobody had anyway of proving otherwise. One day he had written quite a sizeable list of DJ names, some were ones I was very familiar with and others I thought he'd just made up. One such DJ was DJ Quicksilver. I questioned whether a DJ would really name himself after a brand of clothing. Then it turned out there was such a DJ. When I first heard this record it wasn't what I was expecting. I expected something of the hardcore or drum & bass variety, but this was club music. I still liked it though.
Verdict - Good
This was Top 40 hit number 4 for Gina G, not bad for someone remembered for being a one hit wonder. She just missed out on the Top 10 this time, but I personally remember it. When I learned that "I Love You" in Italian is "Ti Amo" I though ah that's the name of a Gina G song. It sounds like she's doing her own version of "La Isla Bonita" here, a bit crap.
Verdict - Rubbish
There seems to be lots of random long forgotten American R&B music making the UK Top 40 in 1997. This was the Top 40 debut for Allure who were signed to Mariah Carey's record label and this record was written by Mariah Carey with a million other people. Pop music disguised as R&B springs to mind, but basically it's shit.
Verdict - Rubbish
When it came to the soundtrack for "Romeo + Juliet" this was seen as the big record from it as opposed to the much better "You and Me Song" by The Wannadies. A very poor choice of record in my opinion, there's nothing to like about this record, it's irritating.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 4th Top 40 hit for Joe but just the 2nd time he's made the Top 30. It was his highest charting Top 40 hit to this point for Joe. I'd say this is probably the record he's best known for, but he's known for quite a few tunes really. I'm a fan of his music generally speaking and that includes this record.
Verdict - Good
The only member of Simply Red that most people know is Mick Hucknall. In a way that was a win win situation for former Simply Red member Tim Kellett when he formed Olive. The music is nothing like Simply Red, but people would buy it without being put off it being by a former Simply Red member because they wouldn't know. At the same time Simply Red fans may have bought it because he used to be in Simply Red. Either way this is an undeniably good record.
Verdict - Good
14. En Vogue - Whatever (New)
En Vogue had bucked the trend at the start of the year by being an early 90s female R&B group making better music in the late 90s rather than going shit like the others. Then the unthinkable happened, Dawn Robinson left the group. This was their first post-Dawn Robinson Top 40 hit. It was a Babyface composition and whilst it's not as good as its predecessor or their early 90s material it's still decent.
Verdict - Good
13. Wet Wet Wet - Strange (New)
We've reached the penultimate Top 40 hit of the 90s for Wet Wet Wet before they split up. The title more or less describes the record itself. The fact it's not on album, it's by a well known band and it's 1997 but fails to reach the Top 10 suggests this wasn't well received. I'm not a fan.
Verdict - Rubbish
This of course was the theme song for the TV show Friends. I used to watch Friends back in the 90s and I liked it but I have to say it's not aged very well. The theme music though was always shit, but it was probably intended to be that way.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the highest charting Top 40 to date for Skunk Anansie. As the song begins it sounds like it's going to be a ballad, but I remember it livening up when it gets to the chorus. It does in the fact the guitars get heavier but still remains a ballad. It's a bit disappointing on that basis because I remember it being much more lively. Not bad though.
Verdict - OK
The Smashing Pumpkins has 2 Top 10 hits, "Tonight Tonight" which is pretty obvious and this one which isn't. It's from the "Batman & Robin" movie which helps, you can release any old rubbish if it's from a big name film and it will chart. This is what has happened here.
Verdict - Rubbish
Radiohead were back with this being the lead single from their "OK Computer" album. It also gave them their highest charting single to date. There's an interesting video to this which distracts from how boring the song is. Not sure if the single had the CD-Rom video but would have no doubt helped boost sales if it did.
Verdict - Rubbish
8. Mr President - Coco Jamboo (New)
When I was doing my search for the best year this appeared in the Top 40 I looked at in 1997 and I picked this as the worst song. It's almost like The Vengaboys before The Vengaboys and even has a name that implies the members would be male but has female members too.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I first got into rave I was still listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers initially but by the time this record came out I'd definitely stopped listening to them. It's a cover of the Ohio Players song done for the Beavis & Butthead movie and became their highest charting single to that point. It was probably their worst single to that point too.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I was on Champions League Popmaster I'd say the easiest question I had was to give the surname of Rosie who had a hit in 1997 with "Closer Than Close". I remember this very well at the time and it was one of those records I was supposed to like but wasn't convinced by. It's aged really well though and has become a bit of a classic.
Verdict - Good
5. Ultra Nate - Free (New)
There was absolutely no avoiding this record at the time. I remember it appearing on Club Nation and then an advert for the single appeared in the advert break. It didn't take me too long to get absolutely sick of it. Not a bad record by any means but I thought this record was just alright in the first place and that's my view of it now.
Verdict - OK
Bon Jovi were now on hiatus so here comes the inevitable Jon Bon Jovi solo record. It became his highest charting solo hit, well it was 1997 after all. It had been co-written by Dave Stewart. To me it's just Jon Bon Jovi writing a song for himself safe in the knowledge he had enough fans to buy it.
Verdict - Rubbish
This record appeared in the Top 40 I reviewed for my best year search. I found it to be better than I remember it being. At the time I wrote it off, but it's actually not bad. Not sure I like it enough to give it full marks, but it's definitely worthy of half marks.
Verdict - OK
It had been nearly 4 years since Eternal had made their Top 40 debut but it took until this, their 13th Top 40 hit to top the charts. It did sound like they'd finally cheered up in this record have had a string of rather miserable hits. All was not well behind the scenes though as this would be the penultimate Top 40 hit with Kelle Bryan in the group. Still a rubbish song though.
Verdict - Rubbish
I believe Hanson were the first band younger than me to top the charts. The fact the lead singers voice was yet to break gave that one away. It was the only song most people remember from them, but unfortunately they did have others.
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 13/30, or 43%. I was expecting a drop but we've improved.
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