25 Years Since....January 2000

Wow it's 25 years since the beginning of the 21st century. It felt exciting at the time, I was determined to draw a line under the 90s and embrace what the 21st century had to offer. Here were the tunes I was enjoying:

Bob Marley vs Funkstar De Luxe - Rainbow Country

The irony that the first charting record of the 21st century came from an artist who died nearly 2 decades prior. Much like "Sun Is Shining" of 1999, this was a Funkstar De Luxe reworking in a house music style. I'm pretty sure I heard this in the summer of 1999 and this release was probably taking advantage of the quiet January and selling to those who were cold and looking forward to the summer in Ibiza.

Des Mitchell - (Welcome) To The Dance

Again I'm pretty sure I first heard this in 1999 but do remember it hitting the charts in January 2000 and having this down as the record to start the 21st century with. Not that different to the trance in the summer of 1999 really. I guess the point is the world didn't change overnight at the turn of the century but gradually declined thereafter.

New Vision - (Just) Me & You

I definitely first heard this in the summer of 1999. Radio 1 were doing a weekend in Ibiza and this was the 2nd track Pete Tong played from his set at Café Mambo. There were several decent dance records having an impact on the charts and I expected this to be one of them. No sign of it for the rest of 1999, but then some time around the end of 1999/beginning of 2000 I turned the radio on in my car which was set to Radio 1 in those days and this was on one of the regular shows. I was going to play a tape, but kept it on the radio until this tune had finished.

Roger Sanchez - I Never Knew

I have a feeling I heard this in the summer of 1999 too. Roger Sanchez was one of those DJs whose profile grew in 1999, I remember a punter on one of the Ibiza shows that summer saying he'd just discovered Roger Sanchez and was blown away. At a time when trance music was dominating it was also good to hear some dance music with a bit more soul to it.

Nu Generation - In Your Arms (Rescue Me)

I think we finally have a record that I didn't hear until the year 2000. Maybe that's what drew me towards it, as mentioned at the start of this post I wanted to draw a line under the 90s and embrace what the 21st century had to offer. 

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 5

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

T-Spoon ft Jean Shy - Mercedes Benz

In the UK T-Spoon are known for the hit "Sex On The Beach" in 1998. However they were charting in their native Holland long before that with their first hit coming in 1993. This record is a cover of the Janis Joplin song done in a pretty similar style to "Sex On The Beach".

Bit Machine ft Daisy Dee - Somebody Real

Bit Machine never had any Top 40 hits in the UK as Bit Machine. But like with many dance acts, they had other aliases. The most famous of these aliases was Black Box who had a chart topper in the UK with "Ride On Time". Daisy Dee is a Dutch singer which no doubt helped this into the Dutch Top 40. In a way it's an evolution of Black Box into the 90s, it's piano driven house music but without the screeching.

Andre Van Duin - Het Naaimachine Lied

We're only 5 weeks into the year and already we've had a few non-musicians having Dutch Top 40 hits. Andre Van Duin is another example of this, he's a comedian and whilst I have no idea what he's singing I gather it's supposed to be funny. Despite not being a musician though, he's been quite prolific in the Dutch Top 40 with his first hit coming in 1972 and his most recent in 2009 and he also topped the charts 3 times, though not with this.

Assekruus - Slavenkoor Carnavalesque 

When watching the video to this I gather there's some sort of celebration going on. I also gathered from the title that it has something to do with carnivals. That's basically what it is, a cover of a Verdi piece which is played a lot at carnivals.

2003: The Good Old Days? - February

One thing I can say for sure about February 2003 is that I was listening to 2Pac more than anyone else. Yes another posthumous album of his had come out at the end of 2002 and I bought it straight away to add to all his other albums which I had in my collection. This album gives us the best record for this month "Thugz Mansion". The album had 2 versions on it, the version that had the video at least was an acoustic version featuring Nas. 

The fact I was predominantly listening to a rapper who died in 1996 may suggest than 2003 wasn't the good old days after all. Speaking of 1996, Blackstreet were back with their final Top 40 hit to date with "Wizzy Wow". I bought the single and then the album so it goes without saying it gets full marks.

Back to the subject of 2Pac, we had the record "03 Bonnie And Clyde" by Jay-Z and Beyonce which uses the chorus of "Me and My Girlfriend" by 2Pac. This made me angry at the time because it was well known that 2Pac hated Jay-Z. I do too but this was only the 2nd worst record of the month. 

The worst record goes to Tatu with "All the Things She Said". It was a marketing campaign that clearly worked because it topped the charts. Basically they were a Russian female duo who were supposedly a lesbian couple who were kissing each other in the video. It turned out that as well as not really being a couple they weren't lesbians either. The record buying public didn't let reality get in the way of fantasy though and bought it. This is about the music though and I'm sure a lot of people who bought the single would agree the music is abysmal.

There was plenty of dance records in the charts which spanned a variety of sub genres and the quality varied too. The highlights here are "Dinosaur Adventure 3D" by Underworld and "Fix My Sink" by DJ Sneak, both legendary names.

I also like "Freeloader" by Driftwood which is an instrumental trance record. I'm quickly finding via these posts though how much I didn't like much of the vocal trance and this month is no exception. There's the abysmal "The Opera Song" by Jurgen Vries & Charlotte Church and "Time After Time" by Novaspace. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were in the "By the Way" era which wasn't a great time for their music in my opinion. I do however make an exception for "Can't Stop" which entered the Top 40 this month.

A somewhat odd but good record is "Light and Day" by Polypohonic Spree. They were about the only group who could compete with the So Solid Crew in terms of number of members. The music couldn't be more different, it's singing of joy and happiness, a little cringeworthy but musically great.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

February tells use the same story as March really. Only January left to complete the story of 2003.

UK Number 40s: Ferry Corsten - Fire (2006)

 

It's been a while, but once again we have a number 40 that's a trance record. In the earlier part of the 21st century there were quite a number of trance number 40s. This will be the last trance number 40 with the genre almost becoming extinct in the Top 40 by this point.

Ferry Corsten was one of the biggest names in trance and had a number of different aliases such as System F. As Ferry Corsten he had a total of 3 Top 40 hits with this being his final one.

It features Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran on vocals and they are the same as the Duran Duran record "Serious". It would also be the last time Ferry Corsten would be in the Top 40 under any name.

UK Number 40s: Daft Punk - Technologic (2005)

 

Daft Punk made quite an impact when they first hit the Top 40 with "Da Funk" in 1997. The follow up was "Around The World" was even bigger and their debut album "Homework" was bought by many.

Then in 2000 they made an even bigger impact with comeback single "One More Time" which is no doubt being played on a dancefloor somewhere whilst you read this. After the success of the "Discovery" album in 2001 many waited in anticipation of what they would do next.

It took a while, but when they did return in 2005 it was pretty low key. Dance music had declined in popularity and people were more likely to be listening to guitar music. Daft Punk reacted to this be releasing the rock inspired album "Human After All". 

It spawned 2 Top 40 hits, "Robot Rock" which made number 32 and then this single. Following this it looked like their Top 40 career was finished but then in 2013 they came back and topped the charts with "Get Lucky".

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 4

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.

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. PJ Harvey - The Wind

PJ Harvey is one of those artists who I've never really got to be honest. She writes songs, plays lots of instruments, likes to experiment with different styles etc. but in terms of music output it's just throwaway rubbish to me.

Verdict - Rubbish

27. T-Spoon - Tom's Party

T-Spoon are best known for the cheesy and somewhat controversial "Sex On The Beach" but they had one further Top 40 hit with this. It's a mash up of "Toms Diner" and "Dreadlock Holiday" with that eurodance signature to it. Therefore it's just as cheesy as it's predecessor but perhaps not as catchy.

Verdict - Rubbish

17. Juliet Roberts - Bad Girls / I Like

The final Top 40 hit for Juliet Roberts as the sole artist. She'd made her Top 40 debut in 1993 so that wasn't a bad innings. We have a cover of the Donna Summer record "Bad Girls" which follows the trend of house makeovers of old disco records. "I Like" isn't as well known but follows a similar sort of formula. 

Verdict - OK / OK

15. Destiny's Child ft Timbaland - Get On The Bus

Although Timbaland had been writer and producer of several Top 40 hits by this point and had also featured on some of them, this was his first Top 40 hit as a credited artist. It would be the final Destiny's Child Top 40 hit not to make the Top 10 which is pretty tragic.

Verdict - Rubbish

11. 3 Colours Red - Beautiful Day

3 Colours Red were one of the first post-Britpop indie bands to make the Top 40 in 1997. After being absent from the Top 40 in 1998 they were back in 1999 with this which became their highest charting single to date. It seems like they've truly perfected the boring indie formula on this one.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. All Seeing I ft Tony Christie - Walk Like A Panther '98

When Tony Christie made his big comeback in 2005 with a reissue of "Is This The Way To Amarillo?" many thought he'd been in the music wilderness since the 70s. They forgot about this brief revival of his music career. I don't blame them really, it's not very good.

Verdict - Rubbish

7. Cassius - Cassius 1999

The Top 40 debut for French electronic duo Cassius. This was different to anything I'd heard before and in a good way. It was a record that everyone seemed to agree on at the time, and one of those records that I could keep on listening to.

Verdict - Good

5. Emmie - More Than This

This was a dance cover of the Roxy Music record. It goes without saying that the Roxy Music version is much better but this cover is decent too. I would say that the backing track to this would work well as an instrumental or at least with minimal vocals.

Verdict - Good

2. Another Level/Ghostface Killah - I Want You For Myself

The fourth Top 40 hit for Another Level and the first one that they wrote themselves, officially. The featuring of Ghostface Killah was presumably to give them some credibility but there have been a number of times a decent rapper has appeared on a crappy pop song. This is one of those.

Verdict - Rubbish

1. 911 - A Little Bit More

Dr Hook were a band I really got into in late 1998 and I remember fuming when I heard this terrible cover. It turns out the Dr Hook version was also a cover and it was originally by Bobby Gosh. The point still stands though, this version is absolutely terrible. 

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 7/30, or 23%. 1999 is consistently shit so far.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 4

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

Andre Rieu - Geen House Maar Strauss

When this entered the Top 40 Andre Rieu was higher up the charts with his previous hit "The Second Waltz". Although this never charted and has a Dutch title that probably means nothing if you're English, if you take a listen you'll probably recognise it. I'm sure it was on an advert at the time.

Captain Hollywood Project - Flying High

Captain Hollywood is an American rapper based in Germany who was one of the first Eurodance acts to chart in the UK. He fronted Dutch act Twenty 4 Seven and had a Top 10 with "I Can't Stand It" in 1990. He had a minor follow up with Twenty 4 Seven and a couple of minor hits of his own in the UK with the final one coming in 1994. In Holland though, this was his biggest hit.

TNN - Ayayay Cielito

Here we have some Eurodance from the most unlikely of countries, Argentina. TNN stands for The New Nation. They'd already had their big hit in Holland the previous year and this I guess was their lesser known other hit. 

Willeke & Willy Alberti - De Glimlach Van Een Kind

Willy Alberti was a Dutch singer who originally had a hit with this record in 1968. He passed away in 1985 and this version is a posthumous collaboration with his daughter Willeke. I guess you could say it's the Dutch equivalent of "Unforgettable" by Natalie and Nat 'King' Cole.

2003: The Good Old Days? - March

We certainly appear to have gone back to an era when dance music was big in the charts. Normally when the popularity of a genre declines it comes after everyone jumps on the bandwagon and makes rubbish.

We'll start on a more positive note though with the best record which is "Mo Fire" by Bad Company UK. It's members included DJ Fresh, an example of someone making decent music before going on to make commercial rubbish even by his own admission in a round about way. There was another drum & bass record in "Midnight" by Un-Cut which could do without the vocals but is decent nonetheless. 

We have what is possibly the last techno record to make the Top 40 and it comes from the most unlikely act to have that honour, Queen. Admittedly they had little to do with this release, it's Vanguard doing a techno remake of "Flash" and Queen get a credit on the single. It gets full marks.

Also getting full marks is some garage from MJ Cole with "Wondering Why" and a solid effort from Chicane with "Love On The Run". On more of a chill out vibe we have decent records from Rokysopp with "Eple" and Jakatta with "One Fine Day". There's also a rare 21st century hit for Massive Attack with "Special Cases" which also gets full marks.

Such is the quantity of dance music though there's plenty of rubbish too. A lot of it is vocal trance/eurodance remakes of older records such as "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "The Boys Of Summer", "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", "Someday" (Mariah Carey song) and "Heaven Is A Place On Earth". These all no doubt contributed to the decline in popularity of dance music.

Rap wise we have decent records in "Sing For the Moment" by Eminem, "Mesmerize" by Ja Rule & Ashanti and the double a-side "Provider / Lapdance". Not so keen on "Gossip Folks" by Missy Elliott & Ludacris or "Work It" by Nelly & Justin Timberlake.

Mis-Teeq came back with an R&B record following the demise of UK Garage with "Scandalous" which is decent but would be the last decent record they'd make. Simply Red were also back with "Sunrise" which is one of their better records in my opinion.

The worst record this month comes from Christina Aguilera with "Beautiful". With her previous single "Dirrty" she was moving away from her pop roots to be more street but then she did this dreary nonsense.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

It's starting to look like early 2003 was better than late 2003. Lets not get carried away though, March 2003 is slightly worse than August 2007 which was just 2 months before we got our first zero.

UK Number 40s: Sons And Daughters - Dance Me In (2005)

 

In 2005 we had more indie records in the Top 40 than we've had in any other year, totaling over 100 hits. This almost inevitably meant we'd get an indie record peaking at number 40, and here it is.

It was the only Top 40 hit for Sons & Daughters. It was taken from their 2nd album "The Repulsion Box". One more single came from that album which was "Taste the Last Girl" which made number 75.

Their success was enough for them to support Morrissey on tour, he was enjoying a revival of his own around this period. It also led to Bernard Butler producing their following album.

They called it a day in 2011.

UK Number 40s: Audioslave - Be Yourself (2005)

 

Depending on what definition you'd like to use, Audioslave were either a supergroup or Rage Against the Machine with a new singer. It's members were Chris Cornell from Soundgarden and Tim Commerford, Tom Morello and Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine.

They were more popular at the time than their Top 40 career might suggest. Their Top 40 debut "Cochise" made number 29 in 2003 and then this was their only other Top 40 hit. This record is arguably the better known of the two.

As its members came from bands from the early 90s the fans of Audioslave were more likely to be over a certain age. Whilst in theory anyone can go and buy a CD single, it's often been the acts the youngsters like that have succeeded in the Top 40.

These days the evidence of the popularity of this record is the hundreds of millions of views it's got on YouTube.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 3

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.

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. Gloria Estefan - Don't Let This Moment End

This was the 19th and final Top 40 hit of the 90s for Gloria Estefan. Not bad for someone whose main hits all came in the 80s. I don't remember the majority of those 19 hits including this one. There's nothing very memorable about it though, I've forgotten how it goes already.

Verdict - Rubbish

21. Babe Instinct - Disco Babes From Outer Space

I remember one day in late 1997 I was listening to the Judge Jules show on Radio 1 and this record came on. It made an immediate impact on me but then I didn't hear it for a long time afterwards. Then in early 1999 here it was in the Top 40. It was good to finally hear it again.

Verdict - Good

14. Da Click - Good Rhymes

On paper Pied Piper is a one hit wonder, but he was the DJ behind this record along with some MCs and a vocalist. It was a preview of the UK garage boom of the year 2000, there wasn't really any other garage records hitting the Top 40 around this time. I've seen Da Click perform this live too and it was a great experience to see.

Verdict - Good

11. Justin - Over You

When you simply use your first name as your stage name, unless your name is pretty unique then you run the risk of someone else with the same name coming along and taking ownership of it. That's what happened with Justin, long before Justin Bieber came along. One could be forgiven for thinking this is a Justin Bieber record though, it's bland enough.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. The Porn Kings vs DJ Supreme - Up To The Wildstyle

More commercial dance crap from All Around the World records. It's basically a rip off of "Higher State Of Consciousness" by Josh Wink done in the way that record label does best. Nothing much to like about it really.

Verdict - Rubbish

8. Ultra - Rescue Me

The final Top 40 hit to date for boy band with instruments Ultra. It was also their highest charting but I would say that was more to do with it being January so therefore an opportunity to capitalise on a quiet month. I can understand why they are long forgotten.

Verdict - Rubbish

3. Blockster - You Should Be...

Blockster was an alias used by Brandon Block to release this house makeover of "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees. He was one of the superstar DJs of this era but was perhaps better known for partying hard than for his actual music. His music was good as well though.

Verdict - Good

1. Fatboy Slim - Praise You

I remember hearing what was then the new record from Fatboy Slim at the time and thinking what the fuck is this. The wider public on the other hand loved it and suddenly Fatboy Slim was massive. However it has grown on me over time but I still don't fully like it.

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 7/30, or 23%. Still not a great score.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 3

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

Gijp - Geef Me Hoop Jomanda

Gijp is Rene van der Gijp, a Dutch former football player who retired from playing in 1992. I don't speak Dutch, but the title looks suspciously like "Gimme Hope Jo'Anna". That's because it basically is, but Jo'Anna has been replaced with Jomanda who is a Dutch healing medium. 

Vanessa & David McWilliams - Candlelight

Let's start with David McWilliams. He came from Northern Ireland and is best known as the original singer of "The Days Of Pearly Spencer" which never made the UK Top 40. In fact he never had a UK Top 40 hit. Vanessa is a Dutch singer who isn't really called Vanessa, her real name is Connie Witteman. This was a record that kept going round my head when I went to Holland. It's half Dutch I suppose.

De Dijk - Laaiend Vuur

De Dijk were a Dutch rock band who were active from 1981 - 2022. They had a dozen Top 40 hits in Holland, but most charted in the lower reaches. As all their records were in Dutch they never troubled the UK charts. We've now reached the first record that doesn't really ring a bell to me.

2003: The Good Old Days? - April

2003 has yet to be convincing as the good old days for the charts but there is one thing of note. When I see the list of new entries I know what the majority of them are. This certainly wasn't the case in the later years I've looked at.

Aside from pop the music prominent genre in April is dance music so that's where we'll start. I feel like Scooter had a new entry ever other month around this time and they can often be relied on for a point. This month is no exception with "Weekend". We also have the Top 40 debut from Goldfrapp with "Train" which is also a reliable full marks. 

The only other points from the dance music world is half a mark for Planet Funk with "Who Said (Stuck In The UK)". The rest is cheesy vocal trance and Eurodance , a far cry from 1999 when a lot of the charting trance records were decent.

This is perhaps why I was more into rap and R&B at the time. From the rap world we have solid efforts from Snoop Dogg with "Beautiful" and Nas with "I Can". The Roots have an interesting record with "The Seed (2.0)" that's rap with instruments and a funky groove and is good. There's a remix of "It's Tricky" by Run DMC which is alright, not as good as the original. No points for Eve with "Satisfaction" or Jay-Z with "Excuse Me Miss".

R&B is a bit more thin on the ground. Just a couple of alright records from Mario with "Just A Friend" and Aaliyah with "Don't Know What To Tell Ya". Then there's another abysmal attempt from Mariah Carey at doing R&B with "Boy (I Need You)".

The best record though is a mix of punk, rap and drum & bass. It's "Diamonds & Guns" which was the Top 40 debut for Transplants whose members included Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Travis Barker from Blink 182. 

In 2001 we had the group Hear'Say formed on the TV show Popstars. In 2002 they were finished but then in 2003 we had the solo careers. OK make that solo career as only Kym Marsh managed one. Her debut "Cry" came out this month and is the worst record. 

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:

It's back to the original story of 2003 i.e. not quite as good as 2004. Still 3 months to change that story though.

UK Number 40s: Bullet For My Valentine - 4 Words (To Choke Upon) (2005)

 

With a band name like Bullet For My Valentine you would expect their music to not exactly be radio friendly. A song title like "4 Words (To Choke Upon)" more of less confirms their music to not really be radio friendly.

Bullet For My Valentine are a heavy metal band who formed in 1998 but this was their Top 40 debut which came from their debut album "The Poison" which came out the same year.

Heavy metal has had a big following for a number of years now, but there has never really been a great deal of heavy metal records in the Top 40, particularly in the 21st century.

Bullet For My Valentine were really the last heavy metal band to have a handful of Top 40 hits. They've had a total of 5 and the highest they've ever reached is number 27.

UK Number 40s: Tears For Fears - Closest Thing To Heaven (2005)

 

2005 was a year that saw a number of older acts return to the charts after quite a lengthy gap. One of these acts was Tears For Fears who were back in the Top 40 after a decade long gap.

Tears For Fears in the 90s effectively became a Roland Orzabal solo act after Curt Smith left the group. This comeback single saw Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith reunited and was taken from their comeback album "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending".

It would be the last time we'd see Tears For Fears in the Top 40, but to have a Top 40 hit at this stage of their career would have no doubt been seen as an achievement.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 2

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.

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. Alisha's Attic - Wish I Were You

I remember thinking the chart position of 29 was rather low given how big this record appeared to be at the time. The wheels were now starting to fall off for Alisha's Attic but there wasn't a better song from their "Illumina" album that they could have used as the 2nd single from it. Not bad, but not the best either.

Verdict - OK

25. Fierce - Right Here Right Now

The Top 40 debut for female R&B group Fierce. It was a low key start for them and they actually reached their commercial peak at the end of their Top 40 career. It's not a very strong record to start their career with, a bit of a non-entity really.

Verdict - Rubbish

24. Lighthouse Family - Postcard From Heaven

The Lighthouse Family formula was getting a bit tired by this record. This was their 9th Top 40 hit and it sounds like a poundland version of their Top 40 debut "Ocean Drive" and they had really reached the end of their shelf life.

Verdict - Rubbish

10. Prince - 1999

This record made the Top 40 twice in the 80s but given it's title it made perfect sense for this return to the charts in 1999. In reality it was the record label cashing in, I remember hearing that Prince himself had nothing to do with this re-issue. His Top 40 career was already finished in terms of original releases.

Verdict - Good

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 7/30, or 23%. A slight improvement.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 2

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

Irene Moors & De Smurfen - No Limit

The Smurfs first hit the UK Top 40 in the late 70s and then returned in the mid-90s most notably with their cover of "I Want To Be A Hippy" retitled "I've Got A Little Puppy". What perhaps isn't so well know is that The Smurfs music comes from Holland. Here they are doing a cover of "No Limit" by fellow Dutch act 2 Unlimited. Both versions topped the Dutch charts. Collaborating with The Smurfs is Irene Moors who is a Dutch comedian.

E-Rotic - Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex

It's expected that the majority of records featured here will be Dutch records, but if it's not Dutch then there's a good chance it will be German. This is the case with E-Rotic, a German Eurodance act whose records tended to go with the theme of their name. They will return later on in the year with a record which picks up where this left off.

Arie Passchier - Kleine Vogel

Age certainly seemed no barrier to entering the Dutch Top 40. Arie Passchier had his one and only Dutch Top 40 hit at either aged 58 or 59, only his birth year of 1936 is known. It was a re-issue of a 1988 record that failed to chart at the time.

Live - I Alone

Yes that's right, "I Alone" by Live never made the UK Top 40. Despite it being pretty well known at the time it only managed to make number 48 in the UK charts and they were yet to have their first UK Top 40 hit. It made number 22 in Holland. It seemed almost inevitable an American act would appear at some point, well here they are.

Marc Daniels - Deveny

Marc Daniels isn't a very Dutch sounding name, but he is Dutch and this record is sung in Dutch. As such I needed Google Search and Google Translate to find out what it's all about. Turns out to be about the now King of the Netherlands Willem Alexander who had gone public with his then girlfriend Emily Bremers.

Frans Bauer - Het Leven Is Te Mooi

I've just come across a new genre of music, Levenslied. It's described as being a sentimental Dutch language sub-genre of popular music. A genre I suspect would only work in Holland. As you've probably guessed Frans Bauer is Dutch and he falls under this genre. It sounds a bit like someone pressing the demo button on a keyboard and singing over the top of it.

Gordon - Let It Be Me 

You wait all these years to come across the Levenslied genre and then 2 records come along at once. Except this one is sung in English so contradicts the genre description really. It's a cover of the Everly Brothers record and Gordon sounds a bit like a Dutch Gary Barlow. Yes that's right, he's Dutch and he's not really called Gordon. His real name is Cornelis Willem Heuckeroth.

2003: The Good Old Days? - May

In May 2003 if you asked me what my music taste was I would have said dance, rap and R&B. I count almost half of the new entries for May to come under those genres so on paper this should be a great month. Is it though?

Lets start with dance and we have full marks for Groove Armada with "Easy". Also getting full marks are Kid Creme with "Hypnotising" and Saffron Hill with "My Love Is Always". There's also a couple of UK Garage records a year or so after it's presence in the charts more or less died. We have a decent record in "Everybody Come On (Can U Feel It)" by Mr Redz vs DJ Skribble which is a Stanton Warriors remix. Not keen on "You Didn't Expect That" by Billy Crawford though, it's more like a modern pop singers take on a garage record.

The latter is an example of why lots of dance music in the charts isn't always a good thing. In addition to this we have vocal trance records which are cheesy commercial crap. Most notable of these was "Loneliness" by Tomcraft which really irritated me at the time.

Onto rap and overall it's looking pretty good. We have an unlikely collaboration between Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Phil Collins with "Home" which is excellent. DMX had his biggest hit with "X Gon' Give It To Ya", I had all his albums at this point and loved this record straight away. Then we have "ADIDAS" by Killer Mike which reminds me of Channel U in a good way. The only rap record to get no marks is "The Jump Off" by Lil Kim.

Onto R&B and it's more of a mixed bag but it does give us the best record which is "Ignition Remix" by R Kelly. I remember some saying why Mr I Believe I Can Fly being a bad boy all of a sudden, I would point out he was always like that. We also have "Rise & Fall" by Craig David & Sting which is perhaps the best thing he did after the garage era.

However R&B also gives us the worst record which is "Can't Nobody" by Kelly Rowland. I always hated Destiny's Child and was surprised to find myself liking her debut "Dilemma". Next record "Stole" wasn't great but nowhere near as bad as Destiny's Child. However "Can't Nobody" was as bad.

Outside dance, rap and R&B we have full marks for Sean Paul with "Get Busy" and for Less Than Jake with "She's Gonna Break Soon" plus there's half marks for a few other records.

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: 30%

Here's a look at the chart:

The best month of 2003 so far and second best month we've looked at so far. Is this a one off though?

UK Number 40s: Paul Weller - Early Morning Rain (2005)

 

The Top 40 career of Paul Weller is known to be The Jam in the late 70s/early 80s, The Style Council for the remainder of the 80s and then as a solo artists as part of the Britpop movement of the 90s.

What perhaps isn't as well known is that he had just as many solo Top 40 hits in the 21st century as he did in the 90s and also the same number of solo hits in the 21st century as he had with The Style Council. That number of Top 40 hits is 15.

In 2004 he released the album "Studio 150" which was an album full of covers. This was the fourth and final Top 40 hit from that album. It was a cover of a record by Gordon Lightfoot. 

By this point in his career Paul Weller had enough of a following that he didn't really bother to promote his music. This approach worked for him from a Top 40 perspective until 2010 when he charted with his 30th and final solo Top 40 hit to date "No Tears To Cry / Wake Up The Nation" which was also the last double a-side to make the Top 40. 

20 Years Since....Q4 2004

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

Twista - Sunshine

One thing I remember about this record when it came out is that it was just about the only thing in the Top 40 at the time that I actually liked. It's based on "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers which is a record I've always liked. I bought Twistas album not long after this record came out.

Lil Flip - Sunshine

There's quite a few rappers called Lil something and normally it's to do with them being short. That wasn't the case with Lil Flip who is possible the tallest rapper with Lil in his name. This was his only Top 40 hit.

Ja Rule ft R Kelly & Ashanti - Wonderful

After releasing his more underground sounding "Blood in my Eye" album Ja Rule was back to doing the rap/R&B crossover music he was best known for. It also gave him his only number one to date but came at the end of his commercial peak.

Usher - My Boo

Usher was really the big surprise of 2004. I'd never really been a fan of his music and was quite reluctant to like this record at first until I had to concede that it's a great record. It features Alicia Keys but what really makes this record is the backing track.

3rd Wish - Obsession (Si Es Amor)

I remember this record doing the rounds on the music channels but don't remember it coming out as a single or getting into the Top 40. I did however buy their follow up single "I Am" which failed to make the Top 40 and was the last CD single I ever bought. This is the b-side of said single.

UK Number 40s: UNKLE featuring Ian Brown - Reign (2004)

 

UNKLE made their Top 40 debut in 1999 with the record "Be There". It made the Top 10 and featured Ian Brown on vocals. Back then DJ Shadow was a member of UNKLE and was the writer of that record.

In 2003 they were back minus DJ Shadow with a second album "Never, Never Land". Lead single "Eye For An Eye" made number 31 and then came this record which saw them reunited with Ian Brown. There was also a contribution to the record from Ian Browns former Stone Roses band mate Mani.

It failed to reach the success of "Be There" from a chart perspective. They do continue to release music though with James Lavelle the only constant member, but this was it for them in terms of Top 40 hits.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 1

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.

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:

Well that was a good start, there were no new records in this Top 30.

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 6.5/30, or 22%. Very poor start to the year.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 1

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

Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo - Wonderfull Days

Week 1 and record 1 is more or less where my love for Dutch music began. I'd only just converted to being a raver and was very much learning what it was all about. A mate did me a happy hardcore mix and this was one of the stand out records on there. I had no idea what it was at the time, once I discovered it was Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo I knew of other tunes of theirs and knew they were Dutch. What I didn't know until many years later was the it was a Dutch number 2. It's had numerous remixes over the years, the one I'm posting here is the one which appeared on that tape which is labelled on YouTube as being the "Good Version". 

Talk of the Town - The La-La Song

It's called "The La-La Song" because La-La are pretty much the only lyrics to it. At least you don't need to speak Dutch to understand it. Very much a novelty record and one that becomes irritating once you get past that novelty.

Rene Froger - For A Date With You

Out of all the records featured so far I think this is the one you're most likely to hear on Eurotrash. It's a 34 year old Dutch singer doing a Eurodance record. 

Definition Of Joy - Stay With Me 4 Ever

This is essentially a project of 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor who had already had a Dutch number one. This was the only thing they appeared to do as Definition Of Joy.

2003: The Good Old Days? - June

One of the questions I start each month with is what is the most prolific genre? In the mid-00s it's often been indie, sometimes it's been rap/R&B and as we go further back it can be dance music too. This month however is the turn of rock and metal. I'm using this definition to cover the heavier side of guitar music and am therefore including punk as part of it.

The 2 punk records provide the bulk of those points. We have "All You Ever Do" by Violent Delight, a record I enjoyed on P-Rock TV back in the day. I also think "Girls Not Grey" by AFI is OK. Also getting half marks are Dave Gahan with his solo debut "Dirty Sticky Floors" and Red Hot Chili Peppers with "Universally Speaking".

It was the era when commercial drum & bass was quite good and the 2 drum & bass records "Twist Em Out" by Dillinja & Skibadee and "Feelin' U" by Shy FX & T Power both get full marks. Another decent dance record was "How Did You Know" by Kurtis Mantronik and although really cheesy I do like "Fly On The Wings Of Love" by XTM & DJ Chucky presents Annia. No points for the rest of the dance records which are of the cheesy vocal variety.

The only American rap record comes from Busta Rhymes with "I Know What You Want" which is a record I like. From the UK we have the Top 40 debut from Dizzee Rascal with "I Luv U" which was just about the worst record doing the rounds on Channel U at the time.

Most of the R&B is decent this month. We have "Hell Yeah" by Ginuwine which sounded better than I remembered, "Girlfriend" by B2k which was the first record of theirs I liked and "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)" by Ashanti which again is decent. No points for Jamelia or Jennifer Lopez with their pop records disguised as R&B.

We turn to dancehall to find the best record this month which goes to Wayne Wonder with "No Letting Go". It was good enough for me to buy the album which I played a lot at the time.

What remains is the worst record which goes to Jennifer Ellison with "Baby I Don't Care". She was a Brookside actress but nobody was watching Brookside anymore and it got cancelled the same month. It's a cover of the Transvision Vamp record which is shit itself.

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 story of 2003 so far is that it's marginally worse than 2004.

2025

Happy New Year! It's now 2025, before this year is over this blog would have reached it's 10th birthday. I started this blog for 2 reasons really, as an excuse to properly research the history of how the UK Singles Chart has evolved and the fact I like talking about music, so why not put something I want to say on a blog where people who are interested can read it. The latter inspired the name because I didn't want it to be restricted by any particular theme.

Since then I've come up with a number of things to write about. The longest running of these is my weekly look at each record that peaked at number 40 in the UK charts. This began in 2019 and is still going now with quite a few more number 40s to do.

Another significant one is the weekly Top 30 review of years in the 90s. I decided to fast track these a couple of years ago because 10 years felt too long to be doing them for. There's now just 1999 to do which will be up every Sunday throughout the year.

I've now decided to fast track the Number 40s because this feels like it's taking too long to get through now. It will now feature twice a week, every Monday and Tuesday.

My journey into when the quality of music in the charts declined continues each Thursday.

New for this year, each Friday I will be taking a look at the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that week in 1995 that never made the UK Top 40.

As it's still a random music blog I may come up with something else to write about as the year goes on, but I'm going to make sure it's something that doesn't take several years to get through.

Dutch Top 40 1995

We've already established that the best year for the UK Top 40 that I've lived through is 1995. As we know though, there's more to music than the UK Top 40 and if anything I was more likely to be found listening to tunes at the time that didn't make the Top 40.

Being a raver opened me up to music from another country, Holland. There were loads of great rave tunes from there which were underground records in the UK, but I later found many were big hits in Holland. That in turn led me to seek out other charting records in the Dutch Top 40 from that period.

It's about to be 30 years since the start of 1995, so to mark this I'm going to be looking at the Dutch Top 40 that week. 

This won't be like my Top 30 from 30 years ago posts where I review all records in the Top 30. Instead I'll be looking at records that made the Top 40 that didn't make the UK Top 40. I aim to make this more fact rather than opinion, though I may still give my opinion from time to time.

To kick start this I'm going look at the records that were already in the Top 40 at the start of the year which didn't make the UK Top 40:

Hermes House Band - I Will Survive

It was around Christmas 2001 when Hermes House Band had their only UK Top 40 hit with their cover of "Country Roads". 7 years earlier they had the Dutch Christmas number one with their cover of "I Will Survive". They group date back even further having first formed in 1982. This record also became a number one in France in 1998 when it became the anthem of the French football team during the World Cup, despite the fact Hermes House Band are Dutch.

Marco Borsato - Waarom Nou Jij

Marco Borsato is a name you're probably not familiar with if you're not from Holland. If you're from Holland though I suspect you've almost inevitably heard of him. He's scored an impressive 15 number ones in the Dutch chart, only The Beatles can claim to have had more. This was the 2nd of those 15 number ones and his most recent came in 2019. It is however unlikely he'll add to his total though, I would suggest you Google it if you want to find out why.

Marco Borsato - Dromen Zijn Bedrog

This was the first Dutch number one for Marco Borsato which was now on it's way down the charts. It had been number one for 12 weeks in late 1994 but fell short of being the Christmas number one. This is the record I think of when I hear his name, no idea what he's singing about because it's in Dutch but it's an uplifting and a little cheesy piece of pop.

Andre Rieu - The Second Waltz

Despite his lack of UK Top 40 success, you probably have heard of Andre Rieu. You may not have realised he was Dutch though, I didn't. He's a famous violinist/composer and this was his biggest hit in Holland. He has been in the UK Top 40 though in 2020 with "Ode To Joy". 

Ice MC - It's A Rainy Day

Here's something you probably weren't expecting, a British artist having a hit in Holland but not in the UK. This failed to make the UK Top 40, only making number 73. His music career began in Italy in 1989 and he became part of the Eurodance movement in the early 90s. The female vocalist on this track is Alexia who had a handful of UK Top 40 hits in the late 90s. Ice MC had one UK Top 40 hit in 1996 with "Bom Digi Bom (Think About The Way)", a 1994 record that appeared on the Trainspotting soundtrack.

U96 - Love Religion

When it came to techno in the 90s the first country you'd think of was Germany. The first German techno record to make the UK Top 40 was "Das Boot" by U96 in 1992. It made number 18, but was a chart topper in Germany. They never troubled the UK Top 40 again but were still going strong in Holland 1995 with this effort.

Mark Oh - Love Song

Mark Oh had a UK Top 40 hit in the UK in 1995 with "Tears Don't Lie". It's been described as a German Techno version of "When A Child Is Born". He had a more prolific chart career in his native Germany and this was his 2nd biggest hit in Holland.

Scooter - Hyper Hyper

Scooter never really became a household name in the UK until "The Logical Song" in 2002. They'd actually made their UK Top 40 debut in 1995 with "Move Your Ass" but before that they'd made their chart debut in several European countries with this record.

Paul De Leeuw - Wacht Nog Wat

As much as I'd like to think Holland is a country that you only hear banging beats there is inevitably going to be ballads. Paul De Leeuw is a Dutch comedian who made a record. Again I have no idea what he's singing, sounds like it's a sad song but could be funny if I could speak Dutch.

Joel - Een Doodgewone Kat

Another example of Holland being more than banging beats. This is a kid whose voice is yet to break with an acoustic guitar. Again it's in Dutch, but what I do know is that it's essentially a love song about a cat. Not much is known about what Joel did next.

Doop - Huckleberry Jam

Doop had a self titled number one in the UK in 1994 with a self titled hit. This only made number 11 in their native Holland but they did managed a 2nd Top 40 hit there. They managed a 3rd too but that came in 1996 so won't feature.

Glennis Grace - I'm Gonna Be Strong

This is where I will state my opinion. It's a cover of the Gene Pitney song, in the same year Cyndi Lauper charted with her cover in the UK charts. This is a terrible record from a young a then 16 year old Dutch singer who seemed to go the same way as a typical child star. 

Marusha - Trip To Raveland

In the UK in 1995 it was the Germans who were leading the way in the Top 40 rave wise and it seems they have a case in Holland too. Marusha is German producer whose time in the Top 40 was coming to an end with this record being her last Dutch Top 40 hit to date.

Rob De Nijs - Iets Van Een Wonder

It had been 5 years since a 43 year old Elton John scored his first solo number one in the UK charts with "Sacrifice". In Holland in 1995 it was the turn of then 52 year old Rob De Nijs to have a hit in Holland with the same record but sung in Dutch. At least I know what he's singing about here.

Normaal - Half Um Half

So far we've had dance music acts, pop singers, novelty acts but what about rock bands? Well here we have one, a band who made their Dutch Top 40 debut in the 70s and were in the latter stages of their career. It doesn't sound very rock though, but we don't really expect that of the Dutch.

Huub Hangop - Lelijk Van Dichtbij

A Dutch novelty singer with his only Dutch Top 40.

Andre Hazes - Leef Je Uit

One thing that struck me at the time of writing is that all the artists that have featured so far are still alive. That's until I get to this, the number 40 record in the first weeks of the Dutch Top 40 in 1995. Andre Hazes was 43 by the time of this record and had made his Dutch chart debut in the 70s. He passed away in 2004.