Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 15

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

23. Bus Stop - Jump

The 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date for Bus Stop. They weren't done as individuals though, Daz Sampson went on to represent the UK at Eurovision in 2006 whilst the other two would have future hits as Flip & Fill. This is a eurodance cover of the Van Halen record and it is bad.

Verdict - Rubbish

21. Bon Jovi - Real Life

Bon Jovi went on hiatus in 1996 and this wasn't really the big comeback we were expecting from them. It passed me by and I'm sure it passed others by too. They rectified that the following the year after turning to Max Martin for their big comeback record "It's My Life", almost like this record never existed. It's not very memorable.

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 12/30, or 40%. No such luck this week, we've dropped.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 15

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Together In Wonderland

If it wasn't for Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo I probably wouldn't be doing these posts at all. Here they are with their 2nd Dutch Top 40 hit of 1995. This is one I never heard until YouTube became a thing. The vocals are based on "All Together Now" by The Farm, but as you might guess it's in wonderland rather than in no mans land.

Rowwen Heze - T Roeie Klied

Rowwen Heze are a band from America. Why are they singing in Dutch then I hear you ask. Well because "America" is the name of the village in Holland they come from. It turns out their regional accents are so strong that even many Dutch people struggle to understand what they are singing.

2002: The Good Old Days? - April

In May we'd gone back to the UK garage era which helped give it the best score in 2002 so far. I did however mention the latter stages of this era will give us records which contributed to the genres demise and this is what we see in April.

There's "Ride Wit Us" by the So Solid Crew who were seen by many as the reason for its demise. We also had "Champagne Dance" by Pay As U Go, another collective with lots of members including future grime artist Wiley. It wasn't just the crews that led to the demise, it was also everyone jumping on the bandwagon. The other garage single of the month was "I Can't Wait" by Ladies First who were basically a girl group doing garage. None of these records get any points.

The best record is a drum & bass one which is "Shake Ur Body" by Shy FX & T-Power, an example of drum & bass being musical without being too watered down. Another dance record to get full marks is "So I Begin" by Galleon though it could do without the vocals.

Maxi Jazz is involved in 2 records that get half marks. There's "One Step Too Far" by Faithless which features Dido, the sister of Rollo from Faithless. Then there's "My Culture" by 1 Giant Leap which also featured Robbie Williams. Barthezz does his similar sounding to "On The Move" follow up with "Infected" which also gets half marks.

I do however now think I spoke too soon in Mays post about being back in a more credible era for dance music. Lots of other dance records but they all get zero. One example is "Lazy" by X-Press 2 ft David Byrne, a record loved by many dance music fans but I've always hated it.

Just half a mark from the rap world which comes from Outkast & Killer Mike with "The Whole World" which isn't quite good enough to get full marks. Former drum & bass producer Adam F had gone into rap music collaborating with Lil Mo on "Where's My..." which isn't to my liking. Not so keen on "Let's Push Things Forward" by The Streets either.

The only R&B point comes from the most unlikely source, N Sync. It was their final Top 40 hit, the Neptunes produced "Girlfriend" which was basically a warm up to Justin Timberlake's solo career. The only other R&B record was "U Turn" by Usher which isn't to my liking.

No other records get full marks so that just leaves the worst record. This month it's Michelle Branch with "Everywhere". It's one of those cringeworthy records you would expect to find in a cringeworthy high school movie at the time. I'm even less tolerant of that type of music now as I was back then.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 12%

Here's a look at the chart:

Oh dear, what a terrible month. It wouldn't get this bad again until December 2005. It's going to take a remarkable first quarter for 2002 to be convincing as the good old days.

January Charts: 1953

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Mills Brothers - The Glow Worm

2. Tony Brent - Make It Soon

3. Nat King Cole - Faith Can Move Mountains

4. Tony Brent - Got You On My Mind

5. Eddie Fisher - Outside Of Heaven

6. Perry Como And The Ramblers - Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes

7. Al Martino - Now

8. Ted Heath And His Music - Vanessa

9. Eddie Fisher - Everything I Have Is Yours

10. Jimmy Young - Faith Can Move Mountains

1953 was the first year the charts existed in January. The first week of January 1953 was the 8th week of the charts overall. Being in the era before rock & roll I thought familiarity would win but that wasn't really the case.

Easily the best record was "The Glow Worm" by Mills Brothers. They were a barbershop quartet who formed in 1925 and this was their only hit and spent a solitary week in the charts. They were the first act to have only spent 1 week in the charts. Obscure then, but a hidden gem I've uncovered.

The 2nd place record was another I wasn't familiar with but pleasantly surprised by. Tony Brent was a British singer covering a Doris Day record which doesn't sound a good thing on paper but having also listened to the original I would say this cover is better.

The same can't be said about British singer Jimmy Young covering "Faith Can Move Mountains" which is very much the inferior British version of an American record. The Nat King Cole version is also a cover but done better.

With the exception of Tony Brent's other record in this list "Got You On My Mind" I already knew the records ranked between 3 and 6 and I think familiarity has helped their position. The records below aren't bad but I've already forgotten how they go.

I never had great expectations for this first batch of records and it's more or less how I would expect it to be overall.

Score: 36

January Charts

Over the years I've done numerous chart reviews on this blog. There's the Top 30 from each year in the 90s which is nearing it's conclusion. I'm also currently looking at how the charts declined in the 21st century by listening to and rating each record.

I've previously found that 1969 was the best year for the Top 40 by taking the Top 40 in the middle of the year and rating each record. I also used those charts to compare to the Christmas Top 40 of each year to test the theory the quality of the charts declines in the Christmas period.

All are fairly sound ways of rating the charts but every method has it's drawbacks. Taking a sample Top 40 is all well and good but a handful of bad records that hang around the charts for ages will handicap several weeks. Let's hypothetically say in a given month you have 10 terrible records that are in the Top 40 all 4 weeks and 30 great records that last a week each. Taking it week by week gives a score of 75%, taking the month as a whole gives 92%. Both are correct depending on what angle you look at it.

The main drawback to taking the middle of the year is how one might expect a year to progress. January is the quiet month, the opportunity for new music to make it's mark. There may be a newish genre that suddenly gets popular. This means by the middle of the year everyone jumps on the bandwagon and we get a load of rubbish. Victoria Beckham jumping on the garage bandwagon springs to mind.

It's got me thinking which year has the best January? the month that should in theory set the scene for what to expect across the year even if it doesn't quite pan out as expected.

To do this, and partly to exclude anything from the Christmas charts, it will be looking at the new entries. It also means for the first time I can include the 50s before it became the Top 40.

I'm also going to change the way I score for this and I'll use for the following example to illustrate why:

Let's say we have 2 batches of records to rate:

Batch 1

Pet Shop Boys - Somewhere

Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene 10

Depeche Mode - Home

DJ Quicksilver - Bellissima

Olive - You're Not Alone

Batch 2

Outkast - Roses

O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei

Kelis - Trick Me

Eamon - Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)

VS - Call U Sexy

Now I like every record in both batches, but if I was to rank all 10 records in order of preference then the first batch would be the Top 5 and 2nd batch the bottom 5. Yet both batches would get an equal score if I was to use the usual 1 for good, 0.5 for OK and 0 for rubbish. There's different levels of good and different levels of rubbish. There's plenty of records I like without being blown away be them. There's also plenty of records I don't like but would tolerate if they came on the radio.

As a result here's the new scoring system:

5 - an outstanding record, only a select few will be good enough for this score

4 - I don't just like it, I love it

3 - I like it without being blown away by it

2 - an average record

1 - not a record I like at all but not bad enough to annoy me or cause extreme boredom

0 - terrible, annoying, a truly shit record

So there you go. These posts will go out weekly on a Thursday.

UK Number 40s: Thrills - Nothing Changes Around Here (2007)

 

I have a vague memory of hearing The Thrills quite a bit when they first came about in the early 21st century. I think they would get played on a jukebox at an establishment I regularly went to by default when nobody else was selecting anything, or maybe it was a jukebox advert.

Then one of my flatmates told me about a new band called The Thrills that he liked. He played their album and some of the music started to ring bells. They never really made much impact on the charts though getting no higher than 17.

In 2007 it had been 3 years since we'd last seen them in the Top 40 and they were back with "Nothing Changes Around Here" which was their final Top 40 hit to date.

In terms of their music nothing really did change. It was taken from their album "Teenager" and after that flopped too they were dropped from their record label.

UK Number 40s: New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream (2007)

 

Around 2013/2014 time I went to see Fenech Soler at Shepherds Bush Empire. This was a group with no chart success but big enough to play a 2000 capacity venue in London. I would also speculate I may not have heard of them had I not made the effort to find them.

At the gig I bumped into someone I knew and they were there to see the support act New Young Pony Club. I had no idea who they were but I was about to find out. I didn't know anything they played until they finished off their set with this record. That was the one and only record of theirs I did know.

It raised the question why were they supporting Fenech Soler and not the other way round. It turns out that this was their only record which only made number 40 and was several years old by this point.

What I'm not sure about is whether I knew this record properly or I was only familiar with it after it appeared on an advert.

20 Years Since....Q1 2005

Here's the tunes I was enjoying 20 years ago:

Roni Size ft Beverley Knight - No More

It had been 4 years since Roni Size had been in the Top 40 and this would be his final Top 40 hit to date. It's also just about the last decent drum & bass record to make the Top 40, we'd be introduced to Pendulum later on in the year not to mention the more modern rubbish we've had in the Top 40 since.

Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers

We were just about still in a era when I took sides when rappers had beef with each other. In the Ja Rule vs 50 Cent one I was very much team Ja Rule and given this record disses Ja Rule I shouldn't have liked it.

However all that was overruled by the music itself. This is a very dark record just the way I like my rap music. 

Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz - Roll Call / What U Gonna Do

I was really into Lil Jon at the time. It was simple but effective, he wasn't really much of a rapper and the lyrics were generally a repetition of the same thing. I liked the aggressive tone though.

Trick Daddy ft Twista & Lil Jon - Lets Go

It's Lil Jon again, I told you I was really into him at the time. This one is more of a rap and rock crossover record and again I love the aggression of the record.

Snoop Dogg ft Pharrell - Lets Get Blown

This was pretty much Snoop Dogg makes an R&B record the Snoop Dogg way. It was his 3rd Top 40 hit to feature Pharrell and as you'd expect it was produced by The Neptunes. I was listening to his "R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece" album on which this appeared a lot at the time.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 14

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

No new entries between 21-30 this week.

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 16/30, or 53%. A great 21-30 has more than doubled the 1-20 score.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 14

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Vangelis - Conquest Of Paradise

Vangelis is a name many will be familiar with and best known in the UK at least for doing "Chariots Of Fire". That was his only UK Top 40 hit as a solo artists, though he also had hits as a member of Aphrodite's Child and Jon & Vangelis. In Holland though this was his biggest hit which topped the charts.

Cappella - Don't Be Proud

Italian Eurodance act was a name I wouldn't expect to find on this list. In the UK they had 5 Top 40 hits from their "U Got 2 Know" album but not with this particular single. However at the same time Gianfranco Bortolotti, the main man behind Cappella, had a Top 40 hit in the UK with "Express Your Freedom" as part of Anticappella.

EZK - Oh Diana

I can't find any information about this record other than the fact it exists. It was the only Dutch Top 40 hit for this act. It's a reggae record, where it's from is anyone's guess.

2 Brothers on the 4th Floor - Fly Through The Starry Night

Here we have yet another Eurodance act who never had a UK Top 40 hit. 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor were funnily enough 2 brothers, Martin and Bobby Boer and they had a male rapper and female singer fronting the act. They had a string of hits in Holland in the 90s including a chart topper in 1994. There is a UK happy hardcore take on this record simply called "Starry Night" by Hixxy.

2002: The Good Old Days? - May 2002

One thing I remember saying in the summer of 2003 was that the charts were better when we had lots of UK garage in it. Well here in May 2002 we find ourselves at the tail end of the UK garage era so was I right?

One thing to consider is the demise of garage came as a result of the MCs taking over so the latter part of the UK garage era may not be so good. However in May 2003 we had 3 UK garage records and all 3 were good. 

DJ Luck & MC Neat were there at the start of the UK garage explosion at the end of 1999 so it's fitting they have the final record of the era with "Irie". Kristine Blond had her lesser known hit with "You Make Me Go Ooh" which someone on YouTube nicely describes as a cheesy source but great work by DnD. Then there was the Heartless Crew with their self titled theme who were one of the better crews.

The best record was one of the final techno records to make the Top 40 which was "La La Land" by Green Velvet. We also had the only Top 40 hit from Tiga with "Sunglasses At Night". Both are people I've gone to see play before.

We do appear to be going back to a more credible period for dance music in general. We have some proper trance music from Push with "Tranzy State Of Mind" and Cosmic Gate with "Exploration Of Space". Then proving that not all vocal trance is bad is 4 Strings with "Take Me Away Into The Night".

Vocals do however mean that Timo Maas only gets half points for "Shifter", a great tune music wise but the vocals stop me from truly liking it. All the dance record this month which I don't like are quite vocal heavy.

Just the one rap record which is "What's Luv" by Fat Joe, a decent if overplayed record. As an R&B fan in 2002 I'm surprised to see how few of the R&B records from the year so far that I actually like. The only one this month is "Rock The Boat" by Aaliyah. Interesting how I was more into rap and R&B at the time but dance music contributes most of the points.

All that remains is the worst record. S Club 7 were music for kids and terrible in my opinion but then someone had the idea of creating the S Club Juniors, music for kids sung by kids. This month saw their debut single "One Step Close" chart. I remember Noel Gallagher giving his opinion on them and he talked about when they become adults and start working at Burger King. If only that's what happened, instead one of them presents what could be a decent music quiz badly along with her husband and makes it unwatchable.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

Well UK garage has made a difference giving us the best score of 2002 so far. We need improvement if we're to call 2002 the good old days though.

UK Number 40s: LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum (2007)

 

I was still listening to some new music around this period but I had no idea whether any of it was commercially successful or not. Most of it wasn't, but one that was perhaps more popular than I realised was LCD Soundsystem.

When they decided to call it a day in 2011 they were big enough to play their final gig at Madison Square Garden. From a Top 40 perspective though they just had a number 29 and a number 40 to their name.

Their debut was "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" which was from their self titled debut album. This one came from their second album "Sound Of Silver". The performance of this record at their farewell gig had Arcade Fire on stage doing backing vocals.

Despite this being just one of two Top 40 hits though, when I went to see them on their comeback tour they never played this. It was a shame really because it sounds much better live than the studio version.

UK Number 40s: Mumm-Ra - What Would Steve Do (2007)

 

There's a connection to M People with this record. Musically there's no similarity at all, M People were a dance pop act of the 90s and Mumm-Ra were an indie band of the 21st century. 

Following the end of M People though, the M from M People Mike Pickering went onto to work as a record label A&R and it was him who signed Mumm-Ra to Colombia Records.

This was their debut single that failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 2006. It did however succeed when reissued in 2007 and became their only Top 40 hit to date. The band split the following year.

25 Years Since....March 2000

The 21st Century was in full swing and I was still optimistic about the future. Here's the tunes I was enjoying:

Artful Dodger ft Romina Johnson - Movin Too Fast

I remember this record confusing a few people. Artful Dodger had become a household name thanks to debut hit "Re-Rewind" but I heard more than 1 person saying what's happened to the bloke who says "Re-Rewind".

That bloke was of course Craig David, featured vocalist on that record and not the Artful Dodger. This was the follow up record and still really the calm before the storm in terms of UK garage exploded into the charts. 

Honeyz - Won't Take It Lying Down

This was the 5th Top 40 hit for the Honeyz and 5th one to make the Top 10. No R&B act had managed to reach the Top 10 with their first 5 singles before. Unfortunately they wouldn't reach the Top 10 again, they next 2 singles would flop and they were dropped from their label before the still unreleased 2nd album.

It's different to their previous 4 hits, more upbeat and different lyrical content. It grew on me though and I have to say I do like the video.

Moby - Natural Blues

Moby enjoyed great success in the early 90s most notably with debut hit "Go". Once he started to experiment in the late 90s his career took a downturn but by the time this record came out he was bigger than ever before.

He'd established himself as more of an ambient artist with records like this as opposed to the rave sounds he was previously known for. I listened to this a lot in my car at the time because his "Play" album was just about the only new album I had on cassette. I eventually bought it on CD once I had a CD player in my car.

Chili Hi Fly - Is This Love

Another record that I'm pretty sure I first heard in the summer of 1999. Turns out this record was originally released in 1998. It was the only Top 40 hit for Chili Hi Fly who were a duo from Australia.

I guess in Australia the was technically the end of the summer of 1999 for them, well the summer that began in 1999 anyway. I don't know how they refer to these things. I'm sure this won't be the last 20th century record to feature here.

N 'N' G ft Kallaghan - Right Before My Eyes

Back in the day pretty much all the records DJ Vibes made was with someone called Wishdokta. This wasn't a DJ you'd see on any rave line ups and I knew nothing about him aside from being someone who made records with Vibes.

Later on I discovered Wishdokta was Grant Nelson who became one of the pioneers of UK garage and is the "G" in N 'N' G with "N" being fellow garage pioneer Norris "Da Boss" Windross. Much like Grant Nelson I was finding myself more drawn towards garage than happy hardcore by this point.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 13

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

22. Echo & The Bunnymen - Rust

The final Top 40 hit to date for Echo & The Bunnymen and the end of their late 90s revival. There were just 3 Top 40 singles from this era but it felt like they did a lot more than that, when I heard the band name I think of Chris Evans introducing them on TFI Friday. This record fitted in quite well with the boring indie music that was happening around this time.

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 13/30, or 43%. An improvement despite just one rubbish record between 21-30.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 13

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

E-Rotic - Fred Come To Bed

We say hello again to German Eurodance act E-Rotic. We saw them in the 2nd week with "Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex". Well it turns out Max did have sex with his ex so the singer is now asking Fred to come to bed because of it. They wouldn't trouble the Dutch Top 40 again but continued to have hits in other countries such as their native Germany.

Sandy Kandau - Young Hearts Run Free (Party Mix)

Sandy Kandau was born in Germany but lived in Holland. This as you may expect is a cover of the Candi Staton record. This was the only Dutch Top 40 hit for Sandy Kandau but I gather she's just as famous for being a TV presenter and actress in Holland.

Twenty 4 Seven ft Stay C & Nance - Keep On Tryin

Twenty 4 Seven were a Dutch Eurodance act who had a couple of UK Top 40 hits at the start of the 90s with German based American Captain Hollywood. We've already seen Captain Hollywood continued to have hits in Holland long after this. As Twenty 4 Seven were Dutch it makes sense that they continued to have hits too. This was the point though where they were only having hits in Holland.

2002: The Good Old Days? - June

When I got into rave in the 90s I wanted to trade my guitar for some turntables. A few years later I finally got some turntables it quickly became apparent it would be an expensive hobby and I was a poor student. With vinyl costing around a fiver each it would cost another £100 to buy enough vinyl to play the same set everytime. Basically my DJing never truly got underway and I concentrated my efforts on my band instead.

What's this got to do with the charts in 2002? Well this was the last time I tried to give the DJing another go and I bought 2 of the records that feature this month on vinyl. These were "Be Cool" by Paffendorf and "The Logical Song" by Scooter. The latter made Scooter a household name in this country but they had been going since the mid-90s and had a few minor hits over here back then too.

Dance music was the most prolific genre this month and the majority of the dance records get at least half a point. It also gives us the best record which is "Love Story" by Layo & Bushwacka. This was the original instrumental version and therefore the better version.

However dance music also gives us the worst record which is "Get Over You" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I thought her providing vocals to "Groovejet" was bad enough, but her solo career took it to another level.

Not so good on the rap front this month. Eminem did his traditional piss take lead single of his upcoming album with "Without Me" but that concept had worn thin by this record so gets not points. Busta Rhymes is normally reliable for points but having P Diddy feature on "Pass The Courvoisier - Part II" put me off and The Neptunes production made me think otherwise. In reality it's not a very good tune. Then we have "Hot In Herre" by Nelly, far too pop for my liking. The only points come from Ludacris with "Rollout (My Business)" which is OK.

R&B is a mixed bag. We have the only decent record from Ms Dynamite with "It Takes More" whilst I do quite like "Roll On / This Is How We Do It" by Mis-Teeq even if they we better doing garage. We also have the only Top 40 hit from a British singer called Rhianna. She's nowhere near as bad as the singer from Barbados but still not great.

A particularly good record that deserves a mention is "Jump On Demand" by Spunge. They were a rare example of a British punk band in the 21st century who managed to break through to the mainstream. They are still going but have to work day jobs to pay the bills, perhaps a lesson that my dreams of being super rich via my own punk band were never going to happen even if we did made it big.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 23%

Here's a look at the chart:

The same score as June 03 so now it's up to May to deliver.

UK Number 40s: Bowling For Soup - High School Never Ends (2007)

 

Bowling For Soup were one of the pop punk bands who were big in the early part of the 21st century. They made their Top 40 debut in 2002 with "Girl All the Bad Guys Want". There was something quite American high school about their music despite the fact they were in their 30s by that point.

It would be another 2 years until their follow up Top 40 hit "1985" and then another 3 years until this, their 3rd and final Top 40 hit to date.

The fact that high school is in the title means they've stuck to the same formula. The message though is that you still have the same sort of bullshit to put up with in adult life as you did at high school. It gave those who were at high school when they first broke through to move through the times with them.

However the record also contains the lyric "And you still listen to the same shit you did back then" which you can translate as nobody is interested in your new material, they just want to hear what they listened to in high school.

UK Number 40s: Thunder - The Devil Made Me Do It (2006)

 

In 2006 I recall a work colleague saying they were going to see Thunder in concert. Then later on in the year after I'd moved jobs and cities there were a few people in this new job who were also going to see Thunder in concert.

My initial thought was oh yes Thunder, the 80s hard rock band. It also made sense to me that people of those work colleagues sort of age were going to see them in concert. Little did I know that Thunder were still having Top 40 hits just about.

I also wasn't really accurate about them being an 80s band either. They did form in 1989 but didn't make their Top 40 debut or release their first album until 1990.

The clocked up a total of 18 Top 40 hits with this being the final one. They also have never charted any higher than 18 and jointly hold the record of most Top 40 hits without a Top 10 with the Super Furry Animals.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 12

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

29. Kavana - Will You Wait For Me

Yes that's right, Kavana was still going in 1999 just about. This was his 8th and final Top 40 hit to date. It's a dreary ballad which was enough to put off the few people who still were buying his records. Hopefully I won't hear his music ever again.

Verdict - Rubbish

18. Daniel O'Donnell - The Way Dreams Are

With this record Daniel O'Donnell became just the 5th act to have at least one Top 40 hit every year between 1992 and 1999 after Whitney Houston, Elton John, East 17 and Madonna. Whilst many people could name a number of hits by those four, how many could name a Daniel O'Donnell hit? I've forgot this one already.

Verdict - Rubbish

14. Travis - Writing To Reach You

Apparently "74-75" by The Connells inspired this song. There's no resemblance though aside from the fact both are mellow songs. Whilst The Connells record is really well made, this Travis record is just as boring as....well a Travis record. 

Verdict - Rubbish

13. Orbital - Style

I recall Orbital being an act who benefited from the surge in popularity in dance music by the end of the 90s. They had gone from someone only the dance music community spoke about to someone everybody was talking about. That sort of ruined it for me, but there was no denying that they were still making top music.

Verdict - Good

12. The Beautiful South - How Long's A Tear Take To Dry?

This record marked the end of the late 90s revival of The Beautiful South. A small number of minor hits that I don't remember followed in the 21st century but I remember this one very well. Although I don't remember anyone specifically liking this, it has got me thinking about a number of disagreements I was having with a number of people about music at the time. Maybe I pretended to like this one just to piss them off.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. REM - At My Most Beautiful

The final Top 40 hit of the 90s for REM bringing their total for the decade to 22. I remember around this time someone pointing out numerous times that REM should be held in high regard because they had also been around in the 80s. Like with a lot of so called legendary bands who were around for a long time, their music is a mixed bag. This ones a ballad and actually isn't bad, but nowhere near their best.

Verdict - OK

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 12/30, or 40%. The good ones have stuck around it seems.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 12

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Gordon - Miracle (TV-Tune Love Letters)

It's Gordon again, the Dutch bloke we saw in the 2nd week who isn't really called Gordon and sings in English. This time he's singing the theme tune to a Dutch TV show with an English name "Love Letters" which ran from 1990-2005 in Holland. 

Ice MC - Take Away The Colour (1995 Reconstruction)

Well we've reached the point of the year where we're going to be seeing acts charting for a 2nd time. Ice MC was an artist already in the Top 40. To recap, Ice MC is a British MC who was based in Italy and had just one minor UK Top 40 hit to his name, but greater chart success on the continent. This is a remix of an earlier hit and features Italian singer Alexia who was yet to have her brief chart career in the UK Top 40.

20 Fingers ft Roula - Lick It

Yes that's right, 20 Fingers of "Short Dick Man" or the censored version "Short Short Man" fame had another record. They're not from Holland though, they're from America. Like their big hit and as the title might suggest, this has lyrics that are explicit. It would be the 2nd and final time they'd make the Dutch Top 40 but appeared to make more of an impact in Italy where this topped the charts and they managed to stretch their singles chart career to 4 records.

Danny Lukassen I.s.m Flair & De Ajax Supportersclub - Ajax Is Kampeon

You don't really need to speak Dutch to work out that this is a football record and that the English translation is "Ajax Are Champions". Seems a bit premature to declare that in March, but turns out they were unbeaten all season and whilst I doubt that they would have officially been champions by that point it seemed inevitable.

2002: The Good Old Days? - July

In many ways my music tastes are a little older than my years. When I talk about the good old days of rave for example I talk of a time when I was too young to actually go to a rave but was always listening to the tapes. There are however some things I was the right age for, one of which was the Fatboy Slim era.

It was July 2002 when he played to 250k people on Brighton Beach and being in my early 20s at the time I was the right sort of age to be there. Unfortunately I was living the other end of the country in Newcastle at the time and couldn't be bothered to go all that way. 

My pick for the best record was the one Fatboy Slim opened his set with which was "It Just Won't Do" by Tim Deluxe & Sam Obernik. Despite not being there I do hold some nostalgia for it and have watched it on YouTube many times.

Dance music was the most prolific genre in July and it also contributed most of the points to this months score. Just missing out on best record was "LK (Carolina Carol Bela)" by DJ Marky & XRS & Stamina MC. Also getting full marks were Beginerz with "Reckless Girl" and Fischerspooner with "Emerge".

There's half points for Rob Dougan with "Clubbed To Death" and DJ Shog with "This Is My Sound". Inevitably there was rubbish too such as "Shooting Star" by Flip & Fill which was the first of many watered down covers of happy hardcore tunes. 

What about the rap and R&B then? Well rap contributes no points because there weren't any rap records. R&B on the other hand was a mixed bag.

The R&B points come from Ashanti and Alicia Keys, both records reminding me of a seaside trip I went on that wasn't to Brighton that summer. Another that reminds me a little of that trip is the worst record which is "Work It Out" by Beyonce. It's not the worst thing she's done by any means but this is where her solo career began, without it there may have been no solo career which would have been a good thing.

The Pet Shop Boys had their most unusual Top 40 hit with "I Get Along". I say unusual because they swapped the synths for guitars which is very unlike them. I do quite like it though.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 21%

Here's a look at the chart:

Halfway though the year and we're yet to get above 25%. Then again we didn't in the 2nd half of 2003 either. We should hopefully at least see an improvement in the first half of the year.

UK Number 40s: Cast Of High School Musical - We're All In This Together (2006)

 

High School Musical was a Disney movie that I've never seen and have no intention of ever watching, but I do recall it being pretty big at the time. So big in fact that Pot Noodle did a High School Music inspired advert. As a result when I watch this I just think "I love making Pot Noodle, more fun than throwing a poodle".

The lead single from the soundtrack to the movie "Breaking Free" made number 9. Then came this and I guess the record buying public just thought it was overkill. One of the songwriters on this record is 80s singer Robbie Nevil.

It would be the final Top 40 hit for "Cast Of High School Musical" but the following year we would get "Cast Of High School Musical 2" plus a number 40 by 2 of the cast members. More on that when the time comes.

UK Number 40s: Maccabees - First Love (2006)

 

A few years ago someone at work had tickets for the farewell tour of the Maccabees but couldn't attend. She sent an email to everyone in the company trying to sell the tickets along with links to their big hits saying you must remember all these. I didn't know any of the so called big hits she posted.

It turns out they had 3 Top 40 hits and never got any higher than number 33. This was their Top 40 debut and was taken from their debut album "Colour It In". 

Follow up single "About Your Dress" from the same album was their highest charting hit at 33 whilst their final Top 40 hit "Love You Better" made number 36.

Despite the lack of Top 40 hits after this, their final album did top the albums chart.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 11

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 Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

28. Alanis Morissette - Joining You

I should be suing Alanis Morissette for copyright. The guitar riff to the intro of this record is the same as one I wrote a few years earlier. That said I'm sure someone else wrote the same riff in their bedroom never to be heard by anyone else years before I did. The point is a very basic riff I wrote when trying to get to grips with the guitar for the first time is the best thing about this record.

Verdict - Rubbish

24. Jay-Z ft Amil And Ja Rule - Can I Get A...

This was the Top 40 debut for Ja Rule and only Top 40 hit for Amil who was a protégé of Jay-Z. It was from the film "Rush Hour". It was the era before Ja Rule became famous for his mix of rap and R&B and some say he had more credibility prior to that. Collaborating with Jay-Z though is hardly credible in my book and I'd much rather hear him collaborating with an R&B singer.

Verdict - Rubbish

22. Mytown - Party All Night

Mytown were an Irish boy band looking to fill the void that would be left by Boyzone at the end of the year. Unfortunately for them, Westlife were just around the corner. Not sure that would have made much difference though given how this, their only Top 40 hit wasn't exactly a huge success. A couple of its members would reappear a few years later as part of The Script.

Verdict - Rubbish

17. Skunk Anansie - Charlie Big Potato

I have to say I like the title of this record, it draws my interest at least. Then with the drum & bass style intro it draws my interest even further. However once the actual song kicks in I start to lose interest. It isn't a bad record, it's just lacking in excitement.

Verdict - OK

12. E17 - Betcha Can't Wait

Had this single not made the Top 40 then East 17 would have had a total of 17 Top 40 hits. As it did though they had 18. They were really making the statement that they were now an R&B group with similarities to the likes of Jodeci. It's not bad but at the same time it's an illustration of British R&B not being as good as its American counterpart.

Verdict - OK

10. Ginuwine - What's So Different?

Ginuwine was back with a second album of which this was the lead single. Once again Timbaland was the main man behind it and this would be the last original Ginuwine Top 40 hit where Timbaland was involved. It's another record that fits the alright but lacking in excitement category.

Verdict - OK

7. Madonna - Nothing Really Matters

If I remember correctly it was around the time of this record that we had a TV programme of Madonna being interviewed by Johnny Vaughan. My memories of that interview was that she was talking a lot of nonsense and she came across as someone who saw herself as some sort of superhuman, which she isn't. This record in particular did nothing to convince me otherwise.

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 11/30, or 37%. The 2nd week nothing new is good.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 11

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

U96 - Club Bizarre

Good to see U96 again, although sad to say this will be the last time they will feature. It features a sped up sample of "Do You Dream" by Carlton. This meant that anyone else could try to make a similar record by using the same sample and that's what Kaos and Energy did in the UK in 1997 with "Breakin Free". One of many examples of this sort of thing happening.

Paul Elstak - Life Is Like A Dance

The main reason UK producers would make their own versions of records from other countries by using the same sample was due to DJs like Paul Elstak doing the same to them and having greater success with it. Dougal originally made "Life Is Like A Dance" which was relatively popular within the hardcore scene in the UK, but these records never really sold in huge numbers. Paul Elstak made his own version and landed his first Dutch Top 40 hit with it and made the Top 10. 

Dominica - Gotta Let You Go

With a name like Dominica and a tune that sounds like this I assumed it would be Italian. It's not though, it's American. I'm sure I knew this record in 1995, I certainly knew it before I started exploring the Dutch charts. It also makes me think I was there in 1995 and they were much better times.

Pharao - There Is A Star

In the early to mid-90s there were a ridiculous number of Eurodance acts making the UK Top 40 that all following the same sort of formula with a female singer and male rapper. When you look beyond the UK charts you find there's even more of them. Pharao were a German Eurodance act who never had a UK Top 40 . This was their only Dutch Top 40 hit.

Popmaster TV 2025

We've just come to the end of another series of Popmaster TV. It only feels like yesterday that the first series began but it's getting on for 3 years now. What did I make of this latest series?

Well one of the differences this time is I most likely watched most of the episodes on catch up this time round whereas previously I'd made more of an effort to watch it live. I watched every episode but somehow felt less engaged this time round. Whilst I applied to the first 2 series and failed to get on, I didn't bother applying this time round though did consider it.

There is something that's occurred to me, are the earlier rounds too specialised or is Popmaster itself a specialist area of music knowledge that we don't realise?

I say this because there are contestants who have been on Champions League on the radio version who have gone out early on the TV version. As a former Champions League contestant myself I do question whether I would be one of those were I to get on.

I like the links round and do get the majority of questions correct. I find the way questions link together quite interesting. My only complaint is lack of consistency, I recall in one episode one contestant had quite simple questions such as what instrument Mick Fleetwood plays then the next contestant got questions about Taylor Swift and One Direction which is something most people over 35 will struggle with which is most contestants.

I feel like if I was to draw the Taylor Swift and One Direction questions in that it would be an early bath for me. I'm not bad at the intros, middles and ends round but the contestants can be very quick and I could easily see myself scoring zero in that round.

In the grand final I kept a worst case scenario score in the first 2 rounds. My worst links score from a set of questions was 9 and there were 2 songs in the intros, middles and ends round where I shouted out the answer before any contestant buzzed and both would have bagged me 5 points, so 19 points which would have comfortably seen me through to the next round.

Video Gaga has changed this series and for the better in my opinion. My previous gripe was the lack of consistency, one contestant would get a still from an iconic video whilst another would get a video from 2020 that nobody under 25 has seen. Now the contestant can buzz in with an answer to a question and then pick a category for the video they get.

However the Video Gaga round wasn't so good in the grand final. 3 of the 4 sets of questions were far too modern and one set was a video by Leon Bridges who I've never heard of before. He's never had a Top 40 hit either and this brought back memories of the new Jack Savoretti song being a Popmaster question in the Radio 2 days which you fortunately don't get on Greatest Hits Radio.

The Mixtape round often has at least one artist I've never heard of or couldn't name a record by, but at least the contestant can try to avoid that artist when pressing the button. The years round is what it is and no complaints really aside from when the year is too modern.

I've already ranted about It's Only Words carrying too many points so I won't go there again. What I will say is that if I was on the show I would have possibly made it to this point, but there's no way I would have scored enough points on this round to make it to the final.

The eye opener for the regular Popmaster round is that I don't think any contestant scored a full house this series. Most of the contestants got nowhere near and there was one contestant who scored zero. This brings me back to my original point, does regular Popmaster only cover an element of ones music knowledge or are the earlier rounds too specialist? Like I said we've had contestants who have scored full houses on the radio get eliminated early and contestants who have clocked up lots of points in the earlier rounds but struggled with the final.

It's already been confirmed there will be a 4th series but will there be a 5th?

I'm not so sure. From where I've looked on the internet there seems to be very little discussion about it. When I watched the grand final I could count the number of tweets on the hashtag on my hands. I've not found any articles about it. I feel the excitement of Popmaster making it to TV has faded away. I'll continue to watch until they pull the plug but I do think it's days are numbered.

2002: The Good Old Days? - August

As an R&B fan in 2002 one thing I would do was try and convince myself that some R&B records were good when they really weren't. Examples from this month included "Rainy Dayz" by Mary J Blige & Ja Rule which I even bought the single of and "Addictive" by Truth Hurts. I even tried to like "Boys" by Britney Spears because it feature Pharrell Williams.

I hindsight I don't like any of these records and I don't consider any of the R&B records from this month to be any good.

Rap on the other hand was generally much better. The rap records this month remind me of going to HMV that summer with an old college friend who spend over £100 on CDs there. One CD I remember him buying was the latest Cam'ron album, one I would have bought myself if I'd had enough funds based on "Oh Boy" which is the best record of this month.

I also remember him buying the solo album by Romeo from the So Solid Crew. That wasn't on my want list partly because I wasn't a fan of the So Solid Crew but I had to concede his self titled solo debut single was good. An album I did buy that day was "In Search Of" by Nerd which contained the single "Rock Star". A record featuring Pharrell which is genuinely good.

Plenty of dance music entering the Top 40 this month and most of these records do contribute points. The problem is too many are average rather than good. The best of these dance records is the experimental "Starry Eyed Surprise" by Paul Oakenfold. 

From the punk world we have "My Friends Over You" by New Found Glory which I'm surprised to discover was their only UK Top 40 hit. They always seemed a bit too poundland Blink 182 for my liking, but this was a record of theirs which I did like.

Plenty of candidates for the worst record but this month it goes to the Sugababes with "Round Round". My immediate reaction when I heard it was that it was shit. Then I heard it out and about all the time but what stands out is the slow bit in the middle which really doesn't work in that environment.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 23%

Here's a look at the chart:

Too many average records keeps the score down for August. We're on a par with August 2003 so there's still hope 2002 will be better in the earlier months.

UK Number 40s: Trivium - Anthem (We Are The Fire) (2006)

 

As mentioned previously, heavy metal has had a big following for a long time but the number of heavy metal records making the Top 40 has always been few and far between.

This was the only UK Top 40 hit for American heavy metal band Trivium. If you imagine what a collaboration between Iron Maiden and Metallica would sound like then this record would probably be it. The likening to Metallica is what critics were pointing out at the time.

It came from their 3rd album "The Crusade". In order to promote the album they went on tour with, funnily enough, Iron Maiden and Metallica.

UK Number 40s: Shapeshifters & Chic - Sensitivity (2006)

 

Shapeshifters topped the charts with their Top 40 debut "Lola's Theme" in 2004. They ended their Top 40 career with this record which was their fourth hit. All four singles appeared on their album "Sound Advice".

Chic made their Top 40 debut back in 1977 and were one of the big names of the disco scene at the time. The bulk of their hits came in the 70s but they had further hits in 1987 with "Jack Le Freak" which was a house remix of "Le Freak" and then this in 2006.

In reality it wasn't so much featuring Chic, it was featuring Nile Rodgers on guitar. Seeing how Nile Rodgers has successfully featured on other more modern records perhaps this record came out too soon.

Shapeshifters were the more commercial side of dance music and had connections to the Swedish songwriters who wrote many hits of the modern era. They once included Swedish member Max Reich but nowadays are just Simon Marlin on his own.