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:
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 only Top 40 hit for Electrasy who were bucking the trend of obscure 1998 indie bands by having just the one Top 40 hit instead of two. It's certainly more bearable than a lot of the boring music coming out at the time, but it's still not good.
Verdict - Rubbish
28. N-Trance - Paradise City (New)
I've mentioned before how "Set You Free" by N-Trance was a life changing moment for me. Not only was it the music, it was also the appeal of the rave scene. I then mention the crap that N-Trance came out with thereafter but this one really takes the biscuit as they're covering a record from that world I moved from into rave. It's a terrible cover, I can't see how anyone could like this.
Verdict - Rubbish
With her previous hit "Ray of Light" Madonna had her first Top 40 hit of the 90s that I actually liked. It seemed highly unlikely she'd have 2 in a row that I'd like. She didn't though, this may have also been written and produced by William Orbit but he's not going to get it right every time.
Verdict - Rubbish
Confession time. When I first came across this record my initial thought was questioning whether it was a cover of "Freek 'N You" by Jodeci having not heard that record for years. I soon realised that it was a completely different record but took a few years for me to find out this was a cover of a Silk record that topped the charts in America in 1993. Obviously the original is better, but having been familiar with this cover for a long time before I heard the original I do like it.
Verdict - Good
This was the only Top 10 hit in the 90s for Puff Daddy that wasn't his chart topper "I'll Be Missing You". It features Jimmy Page on the guitar doing the riff to "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. You could therefore say this is a rap and rock crossover record but it's done in a very watered down way.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember this being performed on Top of the Pops and thinking oh dear what a dreadful cover. The cover is of the Jackson Five record. It was the 3rd Top 40 hit for Cleopatra and final Top 10 if you exclude the Abba medley they did with everyone and everyone else the following year.
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
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
Geri Halliwell had left the Spice Girls but this record had already been recorded and therefore featured her. The video was an animated one that also included Geri Halliwell. It was said to be delayed and poorly promoted but still topped the charts because of the brand. People also knew this would be the last Spice Girls single to feature Geri.
Verdict - Rubbish
Tin Tin Out started out doing dance music, then had a complete change in direction with their cover of "Here's Where The Story Ends" which gave them their first Top 10 hit. They then followed that up with this, which sounds a bit like their own attempt at writing "Here's Where The Story Ends". It's a no from me.
Verdict - Rubbish
19. Hole - Celebrity Skin (New)
Hole made their Top 40 debut after the death of singer Courtney Loves husband Kurt Cobain, had a couple of hit and then split up. They quickly reunited and then this came out which is perhaps their best known single. It sounds like the Hole of old but watered down, and I didn't like the Hole of old.
Verdict - Rubbish
I'd completely forgotten about Alda, the Icelandic singer who wasn't Bjork. This was the first of 2 Top 40 hits for her. 1998 was really the year of obscure two hit wonders, most of whom did well to score a second hit given how bad their first one was. This record fits that category.
Verdict - Rubbish
17. Dario G - Sunmachine (New)
It had been a year since Dario G made their debut with "Sunchyme" and here they are doing another "sun" themed record with "Sunmachine". It's based on a sample of a David Bowie record. It was also their final Top 40 hit of the 90s. I like it.
Verdict - Rubbish
The first 3 Sash! Top 40 hits all made number 2 but then the 4th made number 3. It was back to number 2 with Top 40 hit number 5. I always felt there wasn't something quite there with this record. I seem to recall thinking it already sounded dated by the end of the year.
Verdict - OK
I once purchased a love songs compilation on CD and recorded it onto tape to listen to in my car. I therefore decided to only include songs I actually liked from that compilation. This was the first song from the compilation I put onto tape. It is without doubt my favourite single by The Corrs. At the time it was released I was opening myself up to music that wasn't rave.
Verdict - Good
Every now and then comes a record which on paper should be a record I like and everyone else I consider to have good taste in music seems to like, but for whatever reason I can't take to it myself. This is one of those records for me. It's always bugged me.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I got into rap music one of the first questions I had about each rap act I came across was are they east coast or west coast. In the case of Sweetbox though it was neither, it was Germany. This is one of my all time favourite rap records, it would send me into my own little world when it came on. I also own the single.
Verdict - Good
Imagine that you are a songwriter in a band with varying degrees of success over the years but still await you first US Number 1 or your first UK Top 10. Then 28 years later you finally achieve both with a song written by somebody else, not just anybody else, but Diane Warren who's written shit loads of hits for other people. That's exactly what happened to Steve Tyler. Aerosmith were described as a blues-based hard rock band when they formed in 1970 but by the 90s their style was more Rock Music for people who aren't into Rock Music. The guitars are so discrete in this song you would question whether this is even Rock Music at all even if Wikipedia describes it as being "Hard Rock". I'm not one to shy away from ballads by Rock bands but this seems a step too far. Despite this though, I can't help but like it.
Verdict - Good
The final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Aaliyah. She's reunited with Timbaland on this record, but instead of being co-written by Missy Elliott it's co-written by Static Major which set the scene for her future releases. Not really a fan of this effort though.
Verdict - Rubbish
One day in 1998 I got a lift from someone with a modified Ford Fiesta with a fancy stereo system. He turned it on and a tune with an electronic sounding intro came on. I was expecting it to turn into a dance record that you were likely to hear blasting out of these cars at the time, but no it was "To The Moon And Back" by Savage Garden. When "I Want You" by Savage Garden came on next it confirmed he was playing their album and not the radio. I found it hilarious, but at the same time I realised I actually quite like this record too.
Verdict - Good
It's rumoured that this record was written about Eric Clapton. It was the final Top 10 hit for Sheryl Crow. From the intro to this it sounds like it had potential, but it never really gets going. The intro is really the most distinctive thing about it.
Verdict - Rubbish
Few would argue that this was the biggest dance record of 1998. It was everywhere at the time. It was a one off side project by Daft Punks Thomas Bangalter along with Alan Braxe. I wasn't impressed when I first heard it, I thought it was too repetitive. It did manage to grow on me eventually though after hearing it for maybe the 100th time.
Verdict - Good
This was the Top 40 debut for The Honeyz and British R&B music at its finest. The bit of the chorus where Celena sings "It's always been you" is second to none. I was a big Honeyz fan for a period of time and considered myself pretty clued up on them, but I've only just discovered now that this was written by Henry Binns of Zero 7.
Verdict - Good
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Steps. Whilst on their 2nd hit you wouldn't know any of the males were on it, on this song you wouldn't know anyone but Claire Richards was on it. Once again they've very much gone for the Abba sound and once again it's absolutely dreadful.
Verdict - Rubbish
When the Manic Street Preachers made their post-Richey Edwards comeback I wasn't a fan of the music they did. However, when they returned nearly 2 years later with this record I thought wow what a tune. It also became their first chart topper. They'd gone even softer with their music, but with it they found a formula that works and this record is quite profound.
Verdict - Good
4. Jennifer Paige - Crush (New)
This was the only Top 40 hit for Jennifer Paige and it was huge at the time. The chorus is pretty catchy but the verses sound like they were written just to fill the time between choruses. Overall though I find it pretty cringeworthy.
Verdict - Rubbish
What this record now reminds me of was the time a friend of mine tortured me with it on the way home from a Nelly Furtado concert. He agreed to go to the concert without being familiar with Nelly Furtado and decided he didn't like it so I figure playing this repeatedly on the way home was his act of revenge. I do question why he had it on tape though, but then again his taste in music was very questionable.
Verdict - Rubbish
2. Five - Everybody Get Up (New)
Memories of the students union are coming back with this record. It was played pretty much every time I went there with the whole room drunkenly dance along to it. The intro to it is the same as "I Love Rock N Roll" meaning some people are expecting that when it starts to play and it's always amusing to see their reaction. Given how good it sounded after a few beers I'm going to give it half a mark.
Verdict - OK
1. All Saints - Bootie Call (New)
I already owned the All Saints album by the time this was released so was very familiar with this record. It was possibly my favourite track on the album, so given it was pop music it made a lot of sense for this to be released as a single.
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 11/30, or 37%. We slip even further.
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