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:
30. Paul Weller - Mermaids (New)
Paul Weller is highly thought of by many people and this was the 14th time he'd released his song in the 90s and was still getting into the Top 40. However the YouTube video has 21k views in 14 years at the time of writing which is especially poor for a so called music legend.
Verdict - Rubbish
The 3rd Top 40 hit for Shola Ama. Guess what? yes that's right, this is a ballad. I did buy the "Much Love" album on which this appeared based her 2 big hits and the fact it was only 50p. I've not really listened to the album much though.
Verdict - Rubbish
28. Meredith Brooks - I Need (New)
Yes that's right, Meredith Brooks had another hit. It was her only other Top 40 hit and no expletives this time. Instead she's listing all the things she needs. Reading between the lines what she probably needed was a long and successful music career instead of one widely know song. It's hard to sympathise too much though when it's one more widely known song than I have.
Verdict - Rubbish
Super Furry Animals were quite prolific in the lower reaches of the Top 40 in the 90s. At the time of writing they're the act to have the most Top 40 hits without reaching the Top 10. Their music is a mixed bag though and this one is a bit of a non-entity.
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 3rd Top 40 hit and that means almost inevitably it's a ballad. It was also the last of their big hits, though they did manage a Top 10 comeback single in 2005. I'm sure this record wouldn't have made the Top 10 had it not been 1997 though.
Verdict - 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 this record being played for what I think was the first time on Children in Need. It's a novelty line dancing mixed with eurodance record. Of course this turned out to be many hits for Steps. It goes without saying this song is shit. As a side note I have no problem with the cheesy holiday rep type image they're portraying here, it serves a purpose I suppose. The issue is them now being stuck up celebrities complaining about it but are happy to still milk it with their nostalgia tours.
Verdict - Rubbish
22. Dru Hill - 5 Steps (New)
Steps had made their Top 40 debut and here's Dru Hill acknowledging that there were 5 of them. Not really, if you look at Dru Hill Top 40 hits excluding them being featured artists then this was Top 40 hit number 3 for them so you probably know what's coming, that's right its a ballad. Not really my cup of tea.
Verdict - Rubbish
DJ Quiksilver rounded of the year with this remix of "Open Your Mind" by USURA which was originally a Top 40 hit in 1993. The Simple Minds sample is less prominent in this remix which isn't as good as the original, but it's not bad.
Verdict - OK
It had been a year since The Prodigy topped the charts with "Breathe" in the time that had passed since, the "Fat Of The Land" album had come out. Then came this single which was famous for it's notorious video. It distracts from the fact this record isn't very good.
Verdict - Rubbish
With the Backstreet Boys now established as the biggest American boy band, it was time to unleash the pop career of Backstreet Boys Nick Carters 9 year old brother Aaron Carter. It's a cover of the record by The Jets and is basically music by a kid for kids.
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
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 had been 13 years since Shannon had her only 3 Top 40 hits to this point. She was back as the vocalist on this Todd Terry record. I've just listened to this twice to determine whether I like it or not and I still can't decide, so I guess it's half marks.
Verdict - OK
The post-Louise era of Eternal was more or less finished by this point, but the solo career of Louise carried on. It was probably helped by the fact that by this point she was the girlfriend and soon to be wife of footballer Jamie Redknapp. The is a karaoke version of the Average White Band record.
Verdict - Rubbish
We're now in the era known as "Indie Kylie". With everyone trying to make an Oasis record in 1997 I guess why not. It doesn't sound like an Oasis record by the way, but is a guitar driven move away from bubblegum pop type song.
Verdict - Rubbish
When I saw Hot Chocolate performing this on Top of the Pops in 1997 I thought there must have been renewed interest in this record due to the Clock cover. Turns out that wasn't the case. Instead it was because it was used in the film "The Full Monty". It's overplayed and a bit cheesy but I do quite like it. That's the song, never seen the film and unlikely to ever watch it.
Verdict - Good
Another football song for Man Utd and it wasn't even around the FA Cup final when that normally happens. Instead they release a record in the middle of a season when they weren't the champions.
Verdict - Rubbish
11. Gala - Let A Boy Cry (New)
Yes that's right, Gala had another Top 40 hit. In fact she had 2 other Top 40 hits but the other one never made the Top 30. I do recall hearing the record about silver and gold, but it was a blink and you'll miss it moment unlike it's predecessor that hung around forever.
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
Lutricia McNeal is from America but she relocated to Sweden and launched her music career. Then the Swedish songwriters started taking over the pop world and this, her debut Top 40 hit became a worldwide success. It's always irritated me for some reason.
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
7. The Verve - Lucky Man (New)
The 2nd half of 1997 was a good one for The Verve. They had 3 Top 10 hits including a number one having never been in the Top 10 before. That was pretty much it for them though, no hits in 1998 and then they split up in 1999. They did reunite and have a final comeback single in 2008 though. This ones as boring as the others.
Verdict - Rubbish
When the All Saints first came about I was amazed to find that I liked their debut Top 40 hit. I was even more amazed to find I also liked this, their follow up. It's one of those records I'd felt I'd heard before but hadn't. As a result of me liking these first 2 singles I went on to do something I'd not done in a long time, bought an album that wasn't rave which was their debut album.
Verdict - Good
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
In 1996 we saw the beginning and end of the Top 40 career of singing actor John Alford. Then at the end of 1997 we had this, the Top 40 debut for another London's Burning actor Steven Houghton. A poor cover of a poor record.
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
When I went to Helter Skelter for the millennium, I was looking forward to the Vibes and Live Lee set which was the last of the night. It was a bit of an anti climax though when the first record he played was a happy hardcore version of "Baby Can I Hold You". "Shooting Star" is one I never knew until I started listening to Popmaster where they like asking questions about it.
Verdict - Rubbish
If you were watching the BBC in late 1997 then you would have heard this record many times. It seemed to be on between every TV show. It's a long list of singers who would sing a line each and I got absolutely sick of it.
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 4/30, or 13%. Now this is the worst week of the 90s so far. Surely it can't get any lower than this.
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