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:
Another Top 40 hit from Erick Morillo's commercial dance project. You pretty much knew what you were getting by this point, though this time he added some female vocals just to make it a little bit different but not too much.
Verdict - Rubbish
The charting of this record meant that The Rolling Stones had 2 Top 40 singles in the same year for the first time since 1980. In reality though few people remember anything by The Rolling Stones which came after their solitary 1981 hit "Start Me Up". This isn't a very memorable one.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was originally part of a double a-side earlier on in the year with "Again" which made number 33. This is slower than I remember it being. Like with her hits generally it's pleasant enough without being outsstanding.
Verdict - OK
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Aaliyah which is a cover of an Isley Brothers record. It was this version that was sampled in the happy hardcore record "12" of Love" by Sy and Eruption which is one I particularly liked. That in turn makes me like this record if anything.
Verdict - Good
The only Top 40 hit for the Purple Kings which is a eurodance record that heavily samples "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits. According to Discogs this is the only thing that Purple Kings or any of its members ever did, though one of them is called Dodo so could be anyone. I too would want to put my real name to this.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the 14th Top 40 hit for the Manic Street Preachers and the last before the disappearance of Richey Edwards. Some have the opinion that they went too soft in the post-Richey Edwards era but records like this imply they were already going soft beforehand.
Verdict - Rubbish
Jungle had arrived in the Top 40. The rave music that was hitting the charts in 91/92 was reflective of the rave scene but once the rave hits dried up the music was changing in the underground branching off into jungle and happy hardcore. This evolution wasn't seen in the Top 40, just straight from the original rave sound to jungle with a gap in between. I was initially gearing towards jungle when I first got into rave.
Verdict - Good
The 11th Top 40 hit of the 90s for Gloria Estefan and we're not even halfway through the decade. We're into the era of her doing covers with this being a cover of a disco record by Vicki Sue Robinson and is done disco style. I've not heard the original but I'd speculate Gloria Estefan didn't do much to make it her own.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember watching this video. You had lots of strange looking people enter the photo booth, but then the last one to walk in was an ordinary looking bloke with long hair. Not only did I think the bloke with long hair was a bit out of place for looking normal, but I also thought long hair equaled rock music, and this was a dance record. I was therefore amazed to see the bloke with long hair was the bloke singing it, though in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. A bit overplayed now, but I still like it.
Verdict - Good
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
When Bad Boys Inc. had their final Top 40 hit to date I said that next up was Upside Down in the 3rd rate boy band world. I'd forgotten about the very brief chart career of 2wo Third3. It was just the beginning of a very successful music career for songwriting band member Richard Stannard who went onto write many of The Spice Girls hits. This record is just as bad.
Verdict - Rubbish
1994 seemed to be a pretty big year for acid jazz movement so it was only a matter of time before we'd see Jamiroquai back in the Top 40. This was the lead single from "The Return of the Space Cowboy" album and this has such a good groove to it that it doesn't really need anything else.
Verdict - Good
This was really "End Of The Road" part 2. Once again it's a Babyface penned ballad and know by many as their other hit. I guess it worked wonders for them the first time round so why not do the same again. It didn't quite hit the same heights as "End Of The Road" in the UK but it topped the charts in America.
Verdict - Rubbish
I was always a big critic of The Cranberries. To me their music was too namby pamby for the rock crowd to be listening to. Then along came this record to contradict what I was saying. I tried really hard to not like this record because it's The Cranberries but I have to admit I do like it.
Verdict - Good
16. Cappella - Move It Up / Big Beat (New)
The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Cappella who use the word "Move" once again on one side and use a genre name that was just emerging for the other side. Nothing big beat about either of these tunes, it's the usual eurodance rubbish as their previous few hits.
Verdict - Rubbish
PJ & Duncan had now left Byker Grove and had made their name as pop stars following the success of "Let's Get Ready To Rhumble". I remember this being played a lot by the same people who'd been listening to "Baby I Love Your Way" and "I Swear". That tells you about who this was aimed at, not me.
Verdict - Rubbish
Luther Vandross is one of the best singers of all time. At the same time though he put his voice to some pretty terrible records. To make thinks worse he duets with Mariah Carey on this Lionel Richie and Diana Ross cover. I absolutely hate this record whatever the version.
Verdict - Rubbish
I found myself liking a lot of the reggae pop music that came out in 1993, but the ragga pop that was coming out in 1994 got tedious pretty quickly. This was the 3rd Top 40 hit for CJ Lewis which again was giving an old song a ragga pop makeover. It was the last of this formula he had a Top 40 hit with, he did a couple of original compositions afterwards but they failed to reach the Top 30.
Verdict - Rubbish
I knew this record would be appearing soon after "Yesterday When I Was Mad" by the Pet Shop Boys hit the charts. This record came on the radio all the time when it sounded like it could be the Pet Shop Boys for the first couple of seconds. I hate it as a result, but now I can listen at my leisure I'm actually quite liking this.
Verdict - Good
This was Elton John's other song from the "Lion King". It really just sounds like an inferior version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". As "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" only just scraped a half mark this record isn't going to get any.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the lead single from the "Bedtime Stories" album where Madonna was jumping on the R&B bandwagon. The man behind this record was Dallas Austin. He's a credible producer but he's wrote a lot of crap too and this is an example of the crap he's written.
Verdict - Rubbish
I've sang pretty much every East 17 hit at karaoke at some point, but this ones my favourite to sing. I'd also say this is probably my favourite East 17 hit. As I transitioned to a raver this record made me think that maybe I could now get away with admitting to liking East 17. I did hold off a few years until I did that though.
Verdict - Good
The only Top 40 hit for Lisa Loeb and also the only record of hers that I've ever heard. I don't want to ruin my perception by hearing any of her other songs. A great bit of 90s pop and they don't make them like this anymore.
Verdict - Good
I would call this a good representation of everything that was naff about the 90s. I think of it as the sort of record that Andi Peters would like. At the time I remember finding this record painfully slow and when I heard it years later I was reminded of what a poor record it was.
Verdict - Rubbish
The Top 40 debut for Corona. What I remember about this record what it came about was there was lots of eurodance about and I thought oh no not another sodding eurodance record. It summed up everything I was hating in music at the time. Listening now I have to say it's not aged very well.
Verdict - Rubbish
In order to promote her greatest hits album, Cyndi Lauper returned with a reggae style remix of her debut hit. It samples "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone. It sounds very cheesy, even more so than the original which is really saying something.
Verdict - Rubbish
I remember at the time learning that this was a cover of a 60s number one by The Equals. When I asked my mum if the original was a reggae tune she said no, there was no such thing back then. Well actually there was. I also remember people singing the "CD collection of Bob Marley" part thinking that was just a piss take not realising that was actually part of the lyrics. I think it's also worth pointing out that this also features Ali and Robin Campbell from UB40 who I think do more singing in it that Pato Banton. Anyway its a good bit of reggae pop.
Verdict - Good
I hated this record at the time. Bon Jovi had become the rock band for people not into rock music and releasing this ballad which became their biggest hit didn't do them any favours in that respect. A few years later though I realised that I actually like this song. I knew someone who had their greatest hits and I borrowed it just to tape this song which then got regularly played in my car.
Verdict - Good
I first came across this record via someone singing it at school. I heard her singing the "be my baby" part initially thinking she was trying to sing "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", but it wasn't long before I was hearing this everywhere. Once the hype had died down I remember hearing it on holiday a couple of years later for the first time in while and was thinking how badly it had aged already, it was sounding far too slow.
Verdict - Rubbish
1. Take That - Sure (New)
The comeback single for Take That which was the lead single from what proved to be their final album before splitting. They came back with a new look to mark the new era, Robbie had shaved his head, Marks hair was considerably shorter, Jason's hair was considerably longer, Howard had dreads and Gary looked exactly the same. Brothers in Rhythm were the producers on this record but don't let that fool you into thinking it's any good because it isn't.
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%. We remain below 50%.
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