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 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
29. James - Runaground (New)
This was Top 40 hit number 15 for James and the 2nd to be released to promote their greatest hits album. Although they still had further Top 40 hits left in them, they were nearing the end of their Top 40 career. I find this one pretty boring.
Verdict - Rubbish
It's that time of year where we have the football songs. This ones a cover of the Donna Summer record and the lyrics changed to reflect Arsenal. It actually doesn't sound too bad to start off with, but it soon turns into your typically shit football song.
Verdict - Rubbish
27. Fog - Been A Long Time (New)
This record was originally recorded in 1993 but a Full Intention remix took it into the Top 40 in 1998. A good solid bit of house music and again I will say it's good to see records like this were getting into the Top 40 today given only cheesy EDM makes it these days.
Verdict - Good
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
After Jason Nevins successfully done a dance remix of "It's Like That" by Run DMC it was time for Germany producer NYCC to have a crack at "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" by the Beastie Boys. This is bloody awful though.
Verdict - Rubbish
24. Next - Too Close (New)
The Top 40 debut for Next, an R&B group who seemed big around the turn of the century and then just seemed to disappear overnight. The Blue cover of this record is much better known in this country which is a shame because this is miles better.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd and final Top 40 hit to date for R&B supergroup Levert Sweat Gill which was a cover of the Midnight Star record. I'll be honest I've never heard the Midnight Star record so can't comment on how it compares, but this is a great record that has some smooth 80s vibes to it but done 90s style.
Verdict - Good
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
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Cleopatra which confirmed they were no novelty one hit wonder singing about themselves. My memory about this record was the line "don't just listen" and thinking I'd rather not even listen let alone do whatever else you want me to do.
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 looked like the wheels were falling off the music career of Natalie Imbruglia with this her 3rd Top 40 hit being nowhere near as successful as it's predecessors. Unfortunately she would still be around in the Top 40 for nearly another decade.
Verdict - Rubbish
18. N-Tyce - Boom Boom (New)
N-Tyce were the first girl group to have a Top 40 hit following the success of the Spice Girls but they never reached anywhere near the same heights. The girl group who got the closest to the Spice Girls success in the 90s was B*Witched and the week they made their Top 40 debut was the same week N-Tyce had their final Top 40 hit to date.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was Top 40 hit number 17 of the 90s for Gloria Estefan. Not bad when you consider all her well known hits came in the 80s. It's a dance record, very generic and bland. There was still more of that to come before the decade was over.
Verdict - Rubbish
I once expressed my opinion that I think Jay-Z was a bit shit and someone responded "how can you diss Jay-Z, his game is so tight". My response to that was what the fuck does that even mean. This record came out in an era where rapper like Jay-Z were getting well established from talking a load of shit. It's therefore refreshing to see Public Enemy talking sense on this record. Proper rap music.
Verdict - Good
Todd Terry may have now been finished in the Top 40 as an artist but he was still around. It was his remix of this Fleetwood Mac cover by The Corrs which gave The Corrs their Top 40 debut. At the time I recall someone asking me if I liked The Corrs, I thought about it and then said actually yes they are pretty good.
Verdict - Good
What the fuck happened here? The first 2 Top 40 hits for Aqua were complete piss takes but then came this which was a proper song. I just could not get my head round the fact that Aqua could make a record like this. It take my hat off to Soren Rasted and Claus Norreen, the Aqua members in the background on stage but writers of all their hits. They clearly knew what they were doing.
Verdict - Good
Although this wasn't the beginning of the solo career of Wyclef Jean it's the record that kickstarted it. What a record it is and you can apply it to a lot of situations. It has all the right ingredients, it's both a record for the busker on the street and for the radio and above all it's got soul.
Verdict - Good
As I'm going through the hits of the Super Furry Animals I alternate between questioning why I would lump them in with the boring indie bands and realising why I lumped them in with boring indie bands. With this record it's questioning why because it's certainly not a boring song. Apparently it was a stand alone single because it didn't fit in with their other stuff.
Verdict - Good
Bus Stop were Daz Sampson, the person who represented the UK at Eurovision a few years later and Flip & Fill. This is a cheesy eurodance remake of the Carl Douglas record which featured the man himself. I already knew the originally and remember wondering why people were singing it all of a sudden, then heard this and thought oh dear.
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
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
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Sweden based American singer Lutricia McNeal which was also her highest charting Top 40 hit. It was also the first Top 40 hit as songwriter for Rami Yacoub, one of Max Martins sidekicks. I did find it a little irritating at the time but I'm not minding it now.
Verdict - OK
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
The 4th Top 40 hit for Embrace and their first that wasn't an EP. I would say this was their best known song of the 90s. Again though this is boring indie music which no doubt led to the Stereophonics and Travis finally making the Top 10 with their boring songs.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
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
This brings back memories of the god awful TV show "Man O Man" that was hosted by Chris Tarrant. This was the theme music to that as I recall. The TV show and record suited each other though given how dreadful they both were.
Verdict - Rubbish
One of the big songwriting teams in the R&B world is Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels. This was their first Top 40 hit as songwriters. Both Brandy and Monica had only been in the lower reaches of the Top 40 prior to this. I remember hearing how great Brandy's "Never Say Never" album was supposed to be and given I liked this song I decided to buy it. This song aside it really wasn't that great and I ended up selling it.
Verdict - Good
1. B*Witched - C'est La Vie (New)
On May 31st 1998 we had the news that Geri Halliwell had left the Spice Girls. The same day B*witched topped the charts with this their debut single. They really couldn't have timed it any better. I immediately thought come back the Spice Girls all is forgiven. Actually I didn't because the Spice Girls weren't finished yet, but this is every bit as bad as your average Spice Girls record.
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 11.5/30, or 38%. Another slight drop.
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