Friday, 15 November 2024

Top 30 in 1997 Reviewed: Week 46

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:


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


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 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


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


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 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


Did you know that Peter Cox from Go West had a solo career? No me neither. He actually had 3 Top 40 hits but only this one made the Top 40. This may as well be a Go West record really, it's just as bland in every way.

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


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


When I first heard this, presented as the new single from Faithless my reaction was are you sure? Not only was this nothing like "Insomnia" but also Maxi Jazz was nowhere to be seen. I was aware of them being experimental though. Initially I thought this was too different and too slow. After hearing it enough times though it grew on me.

Verdict - Good


In the days before internet forums a good outlet to hearing people moaning about the rave scene was via the letters in Dream Magazine. Someone who got much of the criticism was Roni Size for making drum & bass commercial. To be honest I was inclined to agree, I didn't want to see the music I listened to in the Top 40. Crucially though it annoyed me because it was music I listened to and therefore liked.

Verdict - Good


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


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


When it comes to speed garage, it doesn't get much bigger than 187 Lockdown. They scored 3 Top 40 hits and were the only act from the speed garage era to achieve that. This was the first of those. It's a classic for sure.

Verdict - Good


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


The wheels had now fell off for Cast with this ending a run of Top 10 hits. What we're seeing is Britpop falling out of favour with the newer indie bands starting to make their mark on the charts. I would say Cast contributed to the demise of Britpop.

Verdict - Rubbish


Jon Bon Jovi sang about Chelsea, then New Orleans and now he's singing about town, wherever that is. No Dave Stewart on this one though. The title is a play on "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town". I do wonder whether these Jon Bon Jovi record were made to make Bon Jovi sound heavier than they were.

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 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


It was a good 1997 for Texas. After spending all the 90s in the wilderness prior to 1997 they scored 4 Top 10 hits with this being the 4th. It's a ballad and joining them on songwriting duties is Dave Stewart. It's a ballad so maybe Dave Stewart took inspiration from his time working with Jon Bon Jovi.

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


Moby's career had taken a bit of a nose dive by this point. He'd released the album "Animal Rights" which was a move away from dance music and making guitar based music instead. I once assumed this to be on "Animal Rights" as it fits that story to me, but it wasn't.

Verdict - Rubbish


This was the last solo Top 40 hit from Gary Barlow that anyone remembers. He seemed to have the edge over Robbie Williams at this point, but then Robbie Williams did "Angels" and Gary Barlow's solo career nosedived. On reflection people were probably noticing how bad his solo records were.

Verdict - Rubbish


I was aware this record was from the "Trainspotting" film and that said film was out in 1996. I was therefore wondering why this wasn't released until the end of 1997. Turns out the film and soundtrack were so popular they released a second soundtrack of records that failed to make the first. I'd say there's a good reason this didn't make the first.

Verdict - Rubbish


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


When it comes to dreary ballads, few can claim to be as prolific as Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion so it only seemed logical that they would do a collaboration. To top it off they did a song written by Walter Afanasieff, the man who wrote many of Mariah Careys records and Linda Thompson and David Foster who wrote "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston. I'm really struggling to think of anything that can sound worse.

Verdict - Rubbish


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 7.5/30, or 25%. I just had to improve from last weeks abysmal score.

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