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:
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
I remember watching the video to this on The Chart Show. It was of a teenage boy who's parents had gone away for the weekend and then Janet Jackson turns up to his door, but it all turns out to be a dream. It distracts from how much of a non-entity this record is.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I was reviewing her previous hit "Butterfly" I mentioned how I recalled Mariah Carey promoting it on The Big Breakfast. I'm now thinking it may have been this single she was promoting. Put it this way they are pretty similar to each other and people must have felt cheated with her transformation to R&B singer on "Honey".
Verdict - Rubbish
This was a Greek record that was taken to the UK Top 40 in 1965 by Marcello Minerbi. LCD were a computer generated dance act who took this very cheesy eurodance version back into the Top 40. Very much a novelty record.
Verdict - Rubbish
I've now lost count of how many records charted due to the World Cup but here's another one. This was the theme music used for the World Cup by the BBC. The actual record has nothing to do with football though and it isn't bad.
Verdict - OK
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
This was the Eurovision winning song of 1998 which became the first Eurovision winning song not form UK or Ireland to make the UK Top 40 since 1982. The winning country was Israel which made me think since when is Israel in Europe. I was also surprised how modern it sounded compared to what I'd been used to hearing from other countries at Eurovision. Still crap though.
Verdict - Rubbish
23. Hanson - Thinking Of You (New)
My memories of Hanson in the 90s was their first couple of hits followed by them appearing on The O-Zone where the singers voice was starting to break therefore hindering his ability to sing their songs. He does seem to be struggling in this video so that's probably when it happened. It was their final Top 40 hit of the 90s.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally the Top 40 debut for Blue Peal back in 1990. The last time we'd seen Blue Pearl in the charts was in 1992. Given the classic status of this record a 1998 makeover was given to it so it could fit in with the latest dance tunes. A pretty solid remix.
Verdict - Good
21. Space - Begin Again (New)
This was the penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Space which was also their lowest charting Top 40 hit. With Space being lumped in with Britpop and Britpop going out of favour it was probably always going to be a struggle for Space by this point. Not a bad record though.
Verdict - OK
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
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
The 4th Top 40 hit for Aaron Carter and his final one of the 90s. It's a cover of the Beach Boys singer and is clearly music for children. It's very cringeworthy and I'm sure that Aaron Carter himself thought the same when he got older.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
16. Ultra - Say It Once (New)
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Ultra, the boy band who played instruments. I'd also say it's the record they're best remembered for, if anyone remembers them that is. Sounds like it could just as easily have been a 911 song.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I first heard this record, I liked it. Then I started to hate it from hearing it all the time but started to like it again when the hype around Fatboy Slim started to die down. It was his 2nd Top 40 hit but the first that really made people notice,
Verdict - Good
The highest charting Top 40 hit for Des'ree which was her penultimate Top 40 hit to date. It had also been 4 years since she'd last been in the Top 40. This record has been widely ridiculed for it's stupid lyrics and I'm inclined to agree.
Verdict - Rubbish
The film "Lost In Space" was out around the same sort of time as this record but as far as I can tell this record has nothing to do with the film. Although not their final Top 10 hit I would say this marked the end of the commercial peak of the Lighthouse Family. Like some other hits of theirs it's quite soothing.
Verdict - Good
More football music for the World Cup. No lyrics this time, instead it was taking a sample of music used in football and making a dance version of it. As you've probably gathered by now I'm not a fan of football music, but I actually don't mind this.
Verdict - OK
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
Although this made the Top 10 just about, it did seem the wheels were starting to come off for the Top 40 career of 911. They would turn a corner after this record though. It was written by the same people who wrote "All That I Need" by Boyzone.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was a cover of an Everything but the Girl record and knowing that fact I can tell that it is. I always thought of this record as being Billie Ray Martin mark 2. You may recall from my Billie Ray Martin reviews that I wasn't a fan and I'd say this was worse if anything.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember watching the video to this and thinking what the fuck? It's a boy band trying to be gangsta rappers and is absolutely ridiculous. I stand by that, but at the same time I couldn't help but like it. I would say this is one of my guilty pleasures.
Verdict - Good
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
When I was reviewing the Finley Quaye hits coming into the Top 40 I thought Eagle-Eye Cherry would be just around the corner. Here he is with his Top 40 debut and best known hit. He's the brother of Neneh Cherry and his real name is Eagle-Eye believe it or not. The only positive thing I can say about this record is that's he's better than his sister, but that's not saying much.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had been nearly 4 years since the Beastie Boys had last been in the Top 40. The last time they'd been in the Top 40 they had hits to show they were to be taken seriously as a rap act. This is more of the same in that respect and this became their highest charting single to date.
Verdict - Good
The fist time I heard this record was on the radio one morning when I was half asleep and I remember later on that day thinking what was that good tune I heard on the radio earlier. I soon found out what it was. It was the solo Top 40 debut for Fugees member Pras so should really come as no surprise I'd like it given how good the Fugees were.
Verdict - Good
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
This was the alternative of alternative England songs for the World Cup. It's a very non musical song that was nothing more than something for the fans to sing from the terraces. That's the very reason this record appealed to a number of people, but it didn't appeal to me.
Verdict - Rubbish
After topping the charts with "3 Lions" during Euro 96, Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds were back for the World Cup in 1998 with a remixed version which was basically the same as the original but with different lyrics. I never liked the original.
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 9/30, or 30%. I knew this week would be poor as it was the one used for my best year search.
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