Friday 1 November 2024

Top 30 in 1997 Reviewed: Week 44

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 27 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Friday.

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 1997 with my verdict on each record:


We're at a time when we're heading towards the end of the existence of Dream Magazine. What I remember from those final issues were people complaining about drum & bass becoming too commercial with the fingers pointed at Roni Size and Goldie. This record though was just the 14th drum & bass record to make the Top 40. I don't recall fingers pointing at Natural Born Chillers, but then this was the only thing they did and it wasn't great. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was said to be the 2nd ever garage record to make the charts. They didn't say which one was the first, but both "Ripgroove" and "Gunman" hit the charts before this so it clearly wasn't the 2nd. Putting that to one side though, it is a classic.

Verdict - Good


This was the record that first got me into Depeche Mode. Some may think that's a bizarre choice but let me explain. There was a Kruder & Dorfmeister remix to this which appears on "The K&D Sessions" which had a massive impact on me. That eventually led to me listening to other Depeche Mode records and getting into them.

Verdict - Good


If you were to ask the question what was the only number one single for The Verve? I would guess most people would say "Bitter Sweet Symphony" but it was actually this record. There always seemed to be someone playing this at open mike night at university which is one of the reasons I wouldn't have gone to it myself if I wasn't playing songs there myself.

Verdict - Rubbish


The only Top 40 hit for Jimmy Ray and I can't help but think he sealed his fate as a one hit wonder with a song asking are you Jimmy Ray. Where else do you go from there. The fact this was a stupid song too probably contributed to that.

Verdict - Rubbish


With Will Smith an established actor by this point and Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince now split up you would think Will Smith would have given up on the rapping. Unfortunately he was only just getting started as a solo artist with this being his Top 40 debut. 

Verdict - Rubbish


Black Grape made their Top 40 debut in June 1995 and scored 5 Top 40 hits in the year that followed, 4 of which made the Top 10. Then there was a big gap that followed until this which was their final Top 40 hit to date. Sounds a bit of a mess.

Verdict - Rubbish


This started off as and R&B record in 1995, but it was a Tuff Jam garage remix that got it into the UK Top 40. Now considered to be one of the garage classics and rightfully so. It may have inspired some other big garage remixes of R&B records.

Verdict - Good


This was one of a number of garage anthems from 1997. If there was ever any confusion as to what the difference between house and garage was then I'd say listen to this as an example of a garage record and you should understand.

Verdict - Good


Janet Jackson was back with her 24th single which was the lead single of just her 4th album. It's the one that samples "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell. A lot of the rave music I was listening to at the time was based on samples of old record so given that someone asked me whether this was my sort of music because of the sampling. I said no.

Verdict - Rubbish


There's a song somewhere in that 10 minute long video. It samples "Let's Dance" by David Bowie and interpolates "All Around The World" by Lisa Stansfield. The video makes it pretty much unlistenable, but I get the impression it's a poor record anyway.

Verdict - Rubbish


Oasis were back...oh no it's another band making an Oasis record. This was the Top 40 debut for Hurricane #1 and one of their members, Andy Bell, would go on to join Oasis a few years later. The guitar bit was used on Match of the Day shortly after and at the time I thought it was "D'You Know What I Mean?" that was being used, such is the similarity. 

Verdict - Rubbish


Stu Allan's commercial dance outfit Clock were now onto their 10th Top 40 hit and lead single from their 3rd album which was released in Japan only. It's a cover of the Hot Chocolate record and what I recall is this version pretty much stopped being played overnight when the original re-entered the charts thanks to its inclusion in "The Full Monty".

Verdict - Rubbish


The 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date for Diana King which is a cover of the Dionne Warwick version. It's done reggae style and she sings "Me Say a Little Prayer", one of many ways that she has ruined this record.

Verdict - Rubbish


This record brings to a close the comeback of The Charlatans that wasn't really a comeback. It would be 2 years until they would next be in the Top 40. That would be perfect timing for to get in amongst the boring indie music that this sounds like.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the follow up to Dannii Minogues successful comeback single which was written by Mark Taylor and Steve Torch who would also write the follow up to Kylie Minogues successful comeback single in the year 2000. Again a commercial and crap dance record.

Verdict - Rubbish


The garage records were coming thick and fast this week, with this record returning to the Top 40 after making number 31 back in May. One thing I do remember at the time was someone asking me whether this was by Pete Tong which I found quite amusing. It's considered the first breakthrough garage record. It's a classic for sure.

Verdict - Good


The fingers were pointing towards Goldie at making drum & bass too commercial. To be fair to Goldie, from a Top 40 perspective he had just a solitary number 39 to his name prior to this. Collabarate with a famous American rapper though was a very commercial thing to do, but it's something different and sure beats getting Take That or Rita Ora to provide vocals for your record.

Verdict - Good


This was the 12th Top 40 hit for The Brand New Heavies but it was their only one to make the Top 10 which I find quite tragic. It's a cover of the Carole King record and was a massive anti-climax to the excellent "You Are The Universe". They never made the Top 30 again so this is the last time they'll feature.

Verdict - Rubbish


It wasn't unusual for a British R&B act to do an inferior version of an American R&B record. This song was a chart topper in America for Monica that didn't chart here. The difference though was it was Eternal who did it first. It would be the last Eternal Top 40 with with Kelle Bryan in the group.

Verdict - Rubbish


Chumbawamba first formed back in 1982 but this was the first time they hit the Top 40. It sounds like the sort of record that would make the charts because of a major football tournament happening, but there wasn't. Maybe it was just compensating for the lack of major football tournament. 

Verdict - Rubbish


There was a pub near where I grew up called the Black Horse and for some reason that comes into my head when I hear this record. No idea why, maybe I heard it in there one time or it came on the radio when I went past it. Many seemed to like this at the time but I never did.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the 3rd number 3 for the Backstreet Boys. They'd also had a number 2 prior to this and all 4 of these record were the ones that had been written by Max Martin. An early sign that by the time I'm writing this post only Paul McCartney would have more Top 40 hits to his name as songwriter.

Verdict - Rubbish


Just when you thought N-Trance were back to making good music they come up with this crap. After Rod Stewart released so many singles that were covers, here's somebody else covering Rod Stewart for a change. It kept Rod Stewarts run of a Top 40 hit in every year of the 90s to this point going. 

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the Top 40 debut for Dario G. I liked this record at the time and remember enjoying it when it appeared on Top of the Pops. Then several years later this came on the music channels and it made me think what a classic it was.

Verdict - Good


911 were still the leading British boy band at this point, but the success of Irelands Boyzone and America's Backstreet Boys meant I don't think too many people noticed. I heard many cheesy pop songs on a Friday night out when I was younger but don't ever recall hearing this.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember the intesting fact that "Encore Une Fois" was in French, "Ecuador" was in Spanish and "Stay" was in English but Sash! was German. Those first 2 hits were very commercial sounding and whilst I didn't mind them they weren't really my cup of tea. I'm not going to pretend this is anything other than commercial dance, but its found the formula to appeal to me.

Verdict - Good


The biggest selling single of all time thanks to it being a charity record and a tribute to Princess Diana. I can picture the video clip of loads of people piling into the record shops as soon as it opened with one woman going and picking up a massive pile of CDs to buy. This blog is all about the music though and not the sentiment and musically it's not to my liking.

Verdict - Rubbish / Rubbish


At the time I remember somebody saying that they actually like the new Spice Girls single even though they felt they shouldn't. I told him he was on his own there. It was the lead single from their 2nd album and given the whole Spicemania nonsense going on it was always going to top the charts.

Verdict - Rubbish


I remember someone telling me there was a song about Barbie that had just come out which had some sexual references between Barbie and Ken. I thought he was taking the piss, but then I heard this. When I heard they were from Denmark, the same country as Whigfield, it made more sense. Remember the lyrics "I need you inside me tonight"?

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 6/30, or 20%. This has to be the worst week of the 90s.
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