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:
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
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
M&S were behind this record for Michelle Weeks which was her only Top 40 hit credited as a solo artist. It interpolates "Get Up Stand Up" by Bob Marley and is one of those cheesy commercial vocal house records.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was Top 40 hit number 3 for North And South which follows the general trend of the 3rd single being a ballad. It does sound like the beat is going to kick in when the chorus comes but it just slows it down.
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
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
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
23. Beck - Deadweight (New)
One thing I'm noticing in 1997 is that there's a lot of songs from movies in the charts. I'm talking about multiple songs from the same movie, in this case it's another song from "A Life Less Ordinary". It's almost like the solution to having a hit is to have it feature in a movie.
Verdict - Rubbish
After having a couple of successful hits written by people who weren't Babyface, here's Toni Braxton with a Babyface penned song that wasn't so successful. It was the final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Toni Braxton and the final Top 40 hit to date for Kenny G. Too slow and boing for my liking.
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
20. Stereophonics - Traffic (New)
The 3rd Top 40 hit for the Stereophonics and the first time they made the Top 20. What a massive yawn fest this record is. Their debut hit was "More Life In A Tramp's Vest" but I'd say there's more life in a graveyard than there is in this song.
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 penultimate Top 40 hit of the 90s for The Bee Gees and last one on their own. The 90s brought what is in my opinion the best Bee Gees song in "For Whom The Bell Tolls", but they'd not really done anything any good since.
Verdict - Rubbish
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
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
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
The start of the decade brought us Michael Bolton in the Top 40 for the first time, but he was unable to go the distance to the end of the decade with this being his last Top 40 hit to date. He'd had his haircut and therefore lost all his power. Actually that's not true, his debut is a guilty pleasure of mine but I think everything else he did was crap. The same could be said of "Go The Distance" which was from a Disney film. "The Best Of Love" on the other hand was a Babyface composition and actually isn't bad. There's nothing wrong with his singing voice, just his songs. Having Babyface on board though, there's no reason why this shouldn't work and it's worthy of half marks at least.
Verdict - OK / Rubbish
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
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
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
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
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 debut single for Embrace which was rereleased as an EP and became their first Top 10 hit. I keep crediting Travis and Stereophonics as the leaders of boring indie music of the late 90s, but I do think Embrace played a big part in that too.
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
6. Peter Andre - Lonely (New)
Another Peter Andre hit that I have no recollection of and I remember a lot of his songs that nobody else remembers. This ones a slow ballad that is instantly forgettable. He wasn't finished yet but spoiler alert, I actually remember his next single.
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
2. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn (New)
I was watching Live & Kicking in 1994 and Natalie Imbruglia was a guest on the show having just left Neighbours. She was asked if she was planning to launch a music career to which she said no which shocked Andi Peters. 3 years later here she is launching a music career and I was shocked. I wasn't shocked to find it was shit though.
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 4.5/30, or 15%. I never expected a worse score than last week, but here it is. Surely there was never a worse week in the 90s than this.
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