25 Years Since....May 2000

By May 2000 UK garage was massive and a lot of it good. Here's some of the tunes I was enjoying:

Craig David - Fill Me In

The mystery of what happened to the man many thought was the Artful Dodger, he was actually Craig David. This was his solo debut which topped the charts. It's also quite possibly his best solo effort for the simple fact it's a garage record.

It's more of a garage song than a garage tune and would only really blend in with a garage night in remix form. 

Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers

Quite often when a music act is known to be a one hit wonder, they're actually not and I'm always keen to point out their other hits. With Sweet Female Attitude I used to point out they had another hit with "Eight Days A Week" until I discovered it never made the Top 40, so they are a one hit wonder.

This record has suffered with being played to death ever since, but at the time this was a joy to listen to and still is to a certain extent. 

Sisqo - Thong Song

The record that Dru Hill member Sisqo is best known for as a solo artist. It caused quite a stir 25 years ago due to it's lyrical content which no doubt contributed to its success. Personally I think if you get offended by records like this then you need to get a life.

Whilst I do like the single version of this, it was the garage version I was hearing on the tapes that I was more drawn to. It would prompt some garage MCs to say things some people may find offensive.

MJ Cole - Crazy Love

MJ Cole was someone who made a name for himself in the mainstream in the speed garage days with "Sincere". This was his follow up record and the one he's perhaps best known for.

The popularity of garage meant the genre as a whole had it's critics, but even they would concede that this was a decent record.

DJ Luck & MC Neat - Masterblaster 2000

This was the follow up to their debut hit "A Little Bit Of Luck". This time they've got singer JJ on board. It's essentially a garage version of the Stevie Wonder record of the same name as sung by JJ with MC Neat putting a bit of rapping to it. It does have an identity of its own and works really well.