By January 1996 I was a rave purist so it's only right we should have a rave record at the top. Of all the Baby D singles I would say "So Pure" is my favourite and was at the time. It didn't appear on any of the rave tapes I had though, the scene had split into happy hardcore and drum & bass and this didn't fit either, more a pre-split sort of sound.
In 2nd we have "Little Britain" by Dreadzone, their only Top 40 hit and one of a select few dub records to make the Top 40. Another of these was "Release The Pressure" by Leftfield in 7th place.
In 3rd place we have The Chemical Brothers with "Loops Of Fury" who hadn't put a foot wrong singles wise up to that point. Then it's Dubstar with "Not So Manic Now" or the cup of tea song as I like to call it. Then we have Goldbug with a dance cover of "Whole Lotta Love" which I very much liked at the time.
Although my tastes had moved away from guitar music I did like The Presidents Of The USA and their quirky sort of sound. Sticking with the guitars I have no recollection of "Stuck With Me" by Green Day at the time but became very familiar with it a few years later and it's a solid fast number. I don't think "Lightning Crashes" by Live came on my radar until I had music channels a few years later and like the record.
The last non-rave record I'd bought to this point was the "Gangstas Paradise" single by Coolio. His follow up "Too Hot" wasn't as good but a decent record nonetheless. There's a posthumous record for rapper Eazy-E with his only Top 40 hit "Just Ta Let You Know". LL Cool J always seemed a bit pop for my liking but some of his records have grown on my retrospectively and "Hey Lover" is one of those.
Skunk Anansie were one of the better guitar bands of this era for the simple fact they'd not gone soft like many of the others. Ace of Base had moved away from their reggae pop sound with more of a dance sound with the cheesy but enjoyable "Beautiful Life".
At the time my main criticism of house music was that it was too slow. The records "Hide-A-Way" by Nu Soul and "Feel Like Singing" by Tak Tix are both solid records without being anything groundbreaking.
I can't say the same for "Imitation Of Life" by Billie Ray Martin which finds itself down the bottom. First of all I find her voice irritating but also I've already forgotten how the tune goes and I know this isn't the first time I've heard it.
Just above we have "Oh Father" by Madonna which was her joint lowest charting Top 40 hit to that point. Just above that is Cher with "One By One" which one in a long line of covers she had Top 40 hits with at the time.
Also down there we have Lush which is just feminist claptrap, Q-Club doing a cover of "Tell It To My Heart" which I don't think can ever be made to sound good, Xscape with something very generic, boy band Upside Down with a blatant rip off of "Careless Whisper" by George Michael who had a very boring number 1 with "Jesus To A Child".
I must also give a mention to "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo which sounded great on the Levi's advert but the rest of the song was terrible.
1995 may have only just ended at this point but we're already seeing a decline in quality.
Score: 40
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