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:
30. Moby - Feeling So Real (New)
I guess you could say this was the first happy hardcore record to make the Top 40. Moby did very much fall under the rave banner when he made his Top 40 debut in 1991 with "Go" but he still seemed an unlikely person to have a happy hardcore record in the Top 40. Anyway its a great record and these days when I listen I feel like my phone is ringing.
Verdict - Good
The 2nd of 3 Top 40 hits to date for Elastica. I know this best these days for being the warm up music to Race for Life as they've played that every time I've gone to show me support along with some god awful rubbish from Rihanna. It's like an evolved version of their debut hit but still crap.
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
When this record came out I was very much on my own when it came to liking Terrorvision as I remember people commenting on how shit they found it. They had a point now, I'm listening to this again for the first time in years and it's not very good.
Verdict - Rubbish
26. Pink Floyd - High Hopes / Keep Talking (New)
This was the final Top 40 hit to date for Pink Floyd which marks the end of a 27 year long Top 40 career. Not bad for a band that didn't really do singles. I feel like I've listened to an entire album from just listening to these 2 pretty lengthy records with no shorter edits and I've completely lost the will to live.
Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish
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
24. Massive Attack - Sly (New)
After releasing one of the best albums of all time with "Blue Lines", Massive Attack were back with a 2nd album of which this was the lead single. It clearly was unlikely to be as good as it's predecessor, but was it any good. Well yes it was.
Verdict - Good
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 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
21. Maxx - You Can Get It (New)
The final Top 40 hit to date for German eurodance act Maxx. I'm getting a bit lost as to who was who to be honest as they all followed the same formula and came from the same production line. The end of Maxx in the Top 40 will be no loss to me
Verdict - Rubbish
The top 40 debut for Green Day. In terms of what direction the rock crowd should be taking now that grunge was pretty much finished I thought this was a much better path than Britpop. Then again I went in a completely different direction and got into rave. I did like Green Day for a brief period before that and then a few years later I really got into this period of Green Day and their earlier stuff which I still like to this day.
Verdict - Good
19. China Black - Stars (New)
I remember a Champions League question on Popmaster one year was to name a China Black Top 40 hit that wasn't "Searchin". I think I could name all 3 of them. This was their 2nd Top 40 hit and doesn't hold the same nostalgia factor as it's predecessor.
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
The Top 40 debut for the Simon Cowell created boy band Ultimate Kaos who really were still boys when this came out. On paper this should be a really shit record and I'm not going to pretend for a minute that it has an ounce of credibility. At the same time though it's a guilty pleasure of mine.
Verdict - Good
The penultimate Top 40 hit to date for Rozalla which has Lamont Dozier and Rick Nowels amongst it's songwriters which implies it's across between the Four Tops and Belinda Carlisle. It isn't though, it's actually a great bit of dance music.
Verdict - Good
This was the penultimate original Top 40 hit to date for INXS which came 3 years before their final one. It was released to promote their greatest hits album. Their greatest hits in a literal sense though are generally far better than this pretty poor effort from them.
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
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
The guitar riff to this comes straight from "Get it On" by T Rex. I thought it sounded familiar when I first heard it. This became the biggest hit to this point for Oasis who were very much household names by this point. Again I don't get the fuss.
Verdict - Rubbish
After being in the Top 40 for what seemed like an eternity with their Top 40 debut "Crazy For You", Let Loose follow up with this record which follows a similar formula. Fortunately this didn't hang around for nearly as long.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
9. Sting - When We Dance (New)
I've said this before and I'll say it again, my view is that Sting was such a big name that he would release any old crap in the knowledge that people would buy it regardless. This bland record released to promote his greatest hits is a prime example of this.
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
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
The 3rd Top 40 hit for R Kelly which was really his breakthrough record in the UK giving him his first Top 10. It was taken from his first album "Born into the 90s" which he did with Public Announcement which came out in 1991. A great record which was the only track I knew on said album prior to buying it.
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 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
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
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
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%. Are we having another charge to over 50%?
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