Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Wednesday.
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 1998 with my verdict on each record:
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Billie Piper and her 2nd chart topper, though this would be her last. I do remember making a point at the time that her music was always going to have limitations given she was only 15 but then someone pointed out that she'd just turned 16. It's very much music for kids though.
Verdict - Rubbish
It had now been over two years since the excellent "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morissette which is by far her best hit. This didn't have the same impact though, it's not a bad record but not one I'd go out and buy like I did her previous hit.
Verdict - OK
When the Beautiful South revival happened in 1996 they had 2 hits where Jacqui Abbot did the entire lead vocals and 1 where Paul Heaton did. Around 18 months after that last hit they were back with a record where both singers shared lead vocals. On a personal note I remember walking one wet Sunday afternoon with this record going round my head. It was in a good way though.
Verdict - Good
I can't say I was particularly keen on this song at the time. Listening to it now though it actually sounds better than I remembered it being. It's no "Careless Whisper" though.
Verdict - OK
In 1998 I was a big fan of formula one to the extent that I'd get up at stupid hours to watch the grand prix live. The final grand prix of that season was the Japanese Grand Prix and at the end of the coverage they had a montage of the seasons highlights with this song playing over the top. It worked really well and probably helped me to like this record. Also as a result this record reminds me of Martin Brundle.
Verdict - Rubbish
I don't remember Culture Club the first time round but I do remember the solo career of Boy George and had assumed the likes of "Karma Chameleon" were by him rather than Culture Club. In the 90s he became a House DJ which brought him a new set of fans, myself included, so I questioned why after becoming an established House DJ would he want to bring back Culture Club. That said this song isn't bad.
Verdict - OK
Oh dear, after a promising start I'm greeted with this rubbish. A children's song given a cheesy Irish Folk meets Euro Dance make over. I found this really irritating at the time and remember hearing it down the pub a lot but now this weird combination of music styles is reminding me of Ed Sheeran.
Verdict - Rubbish
Not to be confused with early 80s medley group Stars On 45. This was Amber, Jocelyn Enriquez, and Ultra Nate doing a disco version of the Gordon Lightfoot song and taken from the movie "54" about the Studio 54 nightclub. It's not great if I'm honest.
Verdict - Rubbish
The record which put Hip Hop on the world stage, "Rappers Delight" famously sampled "Good Times" by Chic. The bassline to "Another One Bites the Dust" is basically the same and nearly 2 decades later it gets sampled on a Hip Hop track. Except this is more "Another One Bites the Dust" with a bit of rapping in-between. It's not bad, but the original Queen song is much better.
Verdict - OK
Neneh's brother with a song that isn't "Save Tonight" that surprisingly made the top ten. To me it just sounds like a watered down version of "Save Tonight", not for me.
Verdict - Rubbish
20. Mike Koglin - The Silence (New)
The Top 40 debut for Mike Koglin who was yet another trance producer from Germany. It's a remake of "Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode but it's just the main riff being used so it's nothing like the cheesy trance remakes we became used to. Done in a good way.
Verdict - Good
This was the second hit for Fugees member Pras after "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" which I liked. This follow up is a rework of "Grease" by Frankie Valli, doesn't quite have the same impact but it's ok.
Verdict - OK
There is no doubt Country Music is hugely popular in America but us Brits have generally written it off as a load of American rubbish. The solution to crack the British market therefore is to give us a watered down version of Country Music like this. Can't say I'm a fan.
Verdict - Rubbish
17. 2Pac - Happy Home (New)
2Pac made it into double figures in terms of Top 40 hits when this record hit the Top 40. The only other rap acts to reach that milestone at that point were Salt-N-Pepa and LL Cool J. That's quite something when you consider he only had 2 Top 40 hits to his name when he died. It was from the yet to be released "Until The End Of Time" album and is a solid effort once again.
Verdict - Good
This was the final Top 40 hit to date for Clock which was a cover of the Mick Jackson record. Stu Allan said in an interview that Clock had run it's natural course when they called it a day. 13 Top 40 hits isn't a bad run and it did it's job of shifting records even if the music was a bit iffy.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the biggest Top 40 hit for James which originally made the Top 40 back in 1991. It was back in the Top 40 in 1998 with this remix from Apollo 440. I will concede it does liven up the record somewhat, but I've never thought much of the original and it was always going to be a difficult task to make it sound any good.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was the first Top 10 hit for Stereophonics and was also the first single that I identified as being a Stereophonics record. They had truly arrived then, and I remember a number of people loving them. Really did get what the fuss was myself.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was massive at the time but I don't think I've actually heard it since 1998. I remember this being around the same time as "Up and Down" by the Vengaboys which indeed come out a couple of weeks later. Both were overplayed, but I wasn't really keen on this in the first place and hearing it all the time made it annoying. It's less annoying 20 years later but I still don't like it.
Verdict - Rubbish
We all remember Brian Harvey making his comments on Ecstasy at the start of 1997. He was sacked from the band but then was let back in and Tony Mortimer quit. They changed their name to E17, maybe Brian's discrete way of standing by the comments on ecstasy he made, and became an R&B group. The result is this song which is pretty good.
Verdict - Good
Imagine that you are a songwriter in a band with varying degrees of success over the years but still await you first US Number 1 or your first UK Top 10. Then 28 years later you finally achieve both with a song written by somebody else, not just anybody else, but Diane Warren who's written shit loads of hits for other people. That's exactly what happened to Steve Tyler. Aerosmith were described as a blues-based hard rock band when they formed in 1970 but by the 90s their style was more Rock Music for people who aren't into Rock Music. The guitars are so discrete in this song you would question whether this is even Rock Music at all even if Wikipedia describes it as being "Hard Rock". I'm not one to shy away from ballads by Rock bands but this seems a step too far. Despite this though, I can't help but like it.
Verdict - Good
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Ruff Driverz and their only Top 10 hit. Ruff Driverz were Chris Brown and Brad Carter who were both involved in the hardcore scene a year earlier before moving onto speed garage. With this record they've moved away from speed garage to flamenco inspired house music. They did a decent job of that too.
Verdict - Good
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Shania Twain and she follows the path of many others with this being a ballad. It was originally written for Celine Dion but then Shania Twain decided to do it herself instead. Apparently it was written when she was bored at a football match and I really feel that boredom.
Verdict - Rubbish
Sash! score 4 number 2's and a number 3 with their first 5 Top 40 hits. This one, their 6th only made number 8 though. Yet it was the best one they did in my opinion. The Shannon on this record was the same Shannon of "Let the Music Play" fame.
Verdict - Good
The Tamperer ft Maya had scored a number one back in the summer by having the hook of an 80s song as the chorus. Follow that success they released a follow up which had the hook of an 80s song as the chorus, making number 3 this time. This wasn't as overplayed as its predecessor "Feel It" so I could tolerate it more.
Verdict - OK
6. The Corrs - So Young (New)
The Corrs had their first Top 40 hit remixed by Todd Terry, their 2nd by Tin Tin Out and then this their 3rd Top 40 hit remixed by K-Klass. The problem with writing a record about being so young is that it doesn't age very well with members of the band now being between 50 and 60. I was so young myself when this came out and continued to be for some time until I blinked and suddenly I wasn't anymore. It's not a bad record though, just not as good as it's predecessors.
Verdict - OK
This was the first chart topper for Steps and it's the Bee Gees cover that is arguably their best known song. "Heartbeat" was apparently sitting in the drawer for years before it was given to Steps. Both are terrible as usual.
Verdict - Rubbish
4. Vengaboys - Up And Down (New)
The Top 40 debut for the Vengaboys and little did we know what was to come from them. This is a catchy number that caught my attention initially and I didn't mind but very quickly it started to irritate me. It's cheesy, but nowhere near as bad as the crap we'd get from them in future releases.
Verdict - Rubbish
I never saw this coming, a Celine Dion record that I actually like. OK that's not strictly true, I always knew this would come up at some point. It's not like Celine Dion had a complete makeover, this is a ballad still. A ballad though can be good if done well, and R Kelly was someone who could do it well.
Verdict - Good
This was the 5th Top 40 hit for Five. No rapping on this record, they've gone all Backstreet Boys. That can be explained by the fact this was written by Swedish songwriters Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson with the latter making his songwriting debut in the UK Top 40. At least they waited until the 5th record for the ballad, maybe that was on purpose given their name.
Verdict - Rubbish
This was number one for an eternity and I knew quite a few people who liked this. I however thought it was rubbish and still do. It set the scene for the music we'd come to expect from Cher for the forseeable future following the success of this.
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%. Same as last week.
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