Curse of the 6

One thing I learned when watching the Top of the Pops documentary before they started the reruns was that 1976 was widely considered to be a low point for music.

Watching the reruns starting in 1976 I could understand why. Brotherhood of Man were number one week after week with the god awful "Save Your Kisses For Me" and there were some long forgotten songs on the show that were laughably bad.

It was a time when early 70s movements such as glam rock were fizzling out but punk was yet to come along and bring music into a new era. It wasn't all doom and gloom though, bands like ELO were releasing great records but there were a number of Top of the Pops episodes where the only decent song was the ELO one.

Thinking about it though it wasn't just 1976 where music took a downturn. In fact it started a trend of music taking a downturn in years ending with 6.

1986

Many consider the big four of 80s pop to be Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club and Wham! but by 1986 all four had their best days behind them.

Wham! went their separate ways in 1986 and whether you liked them or not this left a gap in the pop world. Culture Club and Spandau Ballet meanwhile had seen their popularity dwindle. Both had been absent from the charts in 1985 and the longevity of their 1986 hits suggests they were yesterdays news by 1986. Duran Duran did manage to make the Top 10 with their only 1986 hit "Notorious" but this was a turning point of making the Top 10 most of the time to failing to reach the Top 10 most of the time.

In the synth pop world you had the likes of OMD and Ultravox having their final hits of the 80s which had nowhere near the impact their early 80s hits had.

Whilst the music that was big in the early 80s was no more it was also a time before the Stock Aitken & Waterman dominance of the late 80s had kicked in.

Topping the charts were novelty records such as "The Chicken Song" by Spitting Image and "Every Loser Wins" by Eastenders actor Nick Berry. There were also universally hated songs such as "Lady In Red" by Chris De Burgh and "I Want To Wake Up With You" by Boris Gardner.

1996

Admittedly this is more a personally view than a universal one. Don't get me wrong there were a lot of good things about 1996 but it was nowhere near as good as 1995 which was the best year I lived through.

Historically it had been the norm for a record to enter the lower reaches of the charts and then climb its way to number one. By the end of 1994 just 38 records had gone straight to number one. In 1996 alone 19 of the 24 number ones that year went straight in. In fact simply going up in the charts had become a bit of a rarity.

The ultimate low for me in 1996 was one of the records that did climb to number one, the Spice Girls debut. It's not just the Spicemania that came with it. There's the long lasting damage it did to pop music. They proved you could sell any old rubbish with the right marketing so that's exactly what people did thereafter.

2006

One of the positives of records entering the charts at their peak before quickly exiting the charts was the increase in quantity of Top 40 hits giving you more to choose from.

By 2006 though the landscape had changed. People were downloading records instead of buying CD singles and this got factored into the charts, something the charts have arguably never recovered from.

As a consequence we went from 598 new entries in the Top 40 in 2005 to 465 in 2006. Still a decent number but was the beginning of a downward trend and only leaving room in the Top 40 for the commercial fodder and not the good stuff.

The most significant event of 2006 though was the end of Top of the Pops. Viewership had already been in decline but the move to Sunday nights was the final nail in the coffin. For me personally I'd gone from always knowing what was number one to rarely knowing.

2016

By 2016 downloading was old hat, streaming was the way people were consuming music. The inclusion of streaming in the charts lowered the quantity of Top 40 hits even further.

In 2016 there were just 168 new entries in the Top 40 which at the time of writing is the lowest there's been in a single year in the Top 40 era.

It wasn't just the small quantity of new entries overall, it was also the large quantity of new entries from individual artists. Historically 4 new entries in a year from a single artist was considered a lot. In 2016 Drake had 8 and Beyonce and The Weeknd had 7 meaning even less variety.

One of Drakes records spend 15 weeks at number one but barely anyone noticed. Many people don't even know the song in question and whilst I have heard it I couldn't hum it.

2026

There's still time for music to turn the corner this year but I wouldn't hold my breath.

We're comfortably over halfway through the year and it's still not clear exactly what 2026 music is. A big factor here is that for 23 weeks this year a song that first charted in mid-2025 has been number one and it's a song I've never knowingly heard.

It's still possible that this year will have the fewest new entries in the Top 40 era. The highest new entry (not re-entry) this week is "9-5" by Dolly Parton, a song that's 46 years old that didn't chart the first time round.

We've also had "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson charting for the first time. Not only does this not put new music in a good light but it's also ruining chart history because the well known songs that never charted are now charting.

Celebrity Popmaster TV

After it seeming Popmaster TV was ending it's now back for a new series and kicked off with a celebrity special. All 5 celebrities who took part were in the music business so you'd assume they'd have good knowledge but I think it's fair to say none of them covered themselves in glory.

The first contestant to be eliminated was Carol Decker from T'Pau. Although she only got 1 question correct in the first round (none got more than 2) I had her down as one to make it to the final round after the first round. However her weakness seemed to be not being quick enough on the buzzer in the second round.

Next was Shaun Ryder who came across as someone who knows what they know and doesn't care about anything else. A question I was surprised he got wrong though was naming the guest vocalist on "Getting Away With It" by Electronic. They were label mates of the Happy Mondays and this came out when the Happy Mondays were breaking through into the mainstream.

Next was Patsy Kensit who I thought was lucky to get as far as she did. She came across as someone who didn't really have much interest in music and seemed the least knowledgeable of them. However the tiebreak question that eliminated her seemed a little unfair.

The contestant who correctly answered the tiebreak question was Kelle Bryan from Eternal. The question was which member of Boyzone has the surname Duffy. Eternal and Boyzone no doubt crossed paths many times in the 90s, in fact a Boyzone member was married to an Eternal member at the time so this would have been a really easy question for Kelle.

Kelle didn't score a single point in the final round. Normally on the radio version at least Ken would give the contestant help on the final question so they don't score zero. This time he couldn't do that though because the winning contestant, Dougie Vipond from Deacon Blue only scored 3 points.

Then I thought should any of this be a surprise?

In the early 90s on the TV show "Don't Forget Your Toothbrush" a musician guest would go head to head with their biggest fan to answer questions about themselves. If I remember correctly it would often be the fan who'd win.

I guess being knowledgeable about music doesn't mean you're any good at making music and being good at the drums doesn't require knowing a bit of pop trivia. 

Blue Dot Fever

I've heard the term "Blue Dot Fever" been mentioned a few times recently. I thought it was either some sort of illness or a term youngsters use these days which I won't understand.

Turns out it's neither. It's actually musicians cancelling tours or concerts because they've not sold enough tickets. The blue dots refer to the available seats on the venue maps on the ticketing websites.

I'm possibly contributing to this because I don't go to concerts nearly as much as I used to. I've not suddenly stopped liking it but the reality is it ain't what it used to be.

25 years ago the experience was something along these lines. You'd go to a box office with a £20 note to hand over. In return you were given a ticket to a concert of your choice and maybe a bit of change. On the day itself you'd take your ticket and a £20 note and arrive at opening time. At this point you showed your ticket to get inside and then use your £20 note to buy a few beers and soak up the atmosphere before watching whoever you chose to see. You'd leave the venue with some change in your pocket and if you had a good enough time you'd buy some merchandise, a poster perhaps with your change.

Somewhere along the way the drinks prices went up and the quality of the beer went down. As far as I remember the beer prices at concert venues 25 years ago were similar to those in the pub. If they were more expensive it wasn't by enough to make me notice. I do remember the first place I spent more than £5 for a pint was at a gig.

As a result the experience changed to have several beers from the shop first then arriving at the gig later. The ticket was no longer for the whole evening, it was for the time the act you wanted to see was on stage.

OK there came a point when I decided to no longer drink at a concert, the price of a beer at The O2 (currently £9.50 if the internet is to be believed) reached the point of me vowing to never buy a drink there again.

The wider issue that affects everyone though is the price of the tickets themselves and the fact that in some cases they're not actually tickets. Any venue that requires me to download an app rather than send me and actual ticket (e-tickets acceptable) doesn't deserve my custom.

You hear about dynamic pricing which is only ever going to put people off. Set a price and I'll decide whether it's worth paying or not. 

The fact of the matter is that bands like Oasis are so popular they can get away with expensive tickets, dynamic pricing etc. but very few music acts are that popular.

A quick scan of the listings at London venues tells me that there's no must see concerts happening in the near future but there are a few in the would be nice category and the prices here actually aren't too bad for the most part.

I did however stumble across Saint Etienne at Shepherds Bush Empire. This venue is at the smaller end of the major London venues and a ticket here will set you back around £75.

I've seen Saint Etienne in concert a few times and for the most part enjoyed them. When I heard they were calling it a day I thought it would be nice to see them one last time but I've seen them enough times for it to be fine if I don't. At £75 I'm certainly not going.

It looks like the last time I saw them in concert was in 2017 which cost £27.50. I would expect the price to go up a little bit in 9 years but not almost 3 times as much. Even the price of a pint in The O2 hasn't gone up by that much.

Lets say the people who spend £20 to go to a gig years ago are now willing to pay £100 a ticket. Back then if you had £100 to spend on tickets you could go to 5 gigs. Put the price up to £100 that person isn't suddenly going to have £500 to spend. They have to pick 1 gig and the other 4 music acts miss out on their custom.

Do all songs have a shelf life?

If I never hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" again then I'll be happy with that. It's not a bad song but after hearing it so many times in my life it does nothing for me. I can sing the whole song word for word and hum all the instrumental bits in between. I can even picture what happens in the video every moment in the song. I never set out to learn it in so much detail, it's just hours upon hours of exposure and I've been completely sick of it for years.

Yet it wasn't always like that. There was a time when I'd listen to it through choice, more specifically when listening to Queens Greatest Hits. I always thought Queen had better songs and perhaps always considered it over-hyped but somewhere along the way it became overplayed.

Similarly with "Don't Stop Me Now" which I'd often hear out in town. I can't stand that song yet I don't think I minded it in the beginning.

These are 2 examples of songs that have been played constantly for decades and I'm certainly not alone in being sick of them. I can thing of several more songs that I may have had a higher opinion of had they stayed in the past.

That's not the only way for a song to pass it's used by date though. I've spoken on here before about my Alisha's Attic phase where I was doing the overplaying of their songs myself. After listening to them in my car on my way to see them do a gig the last thing I wanted to listen to on the journey home was Alisha's Attic. 25 years later I've still not really been able to get back into them.

The question though is does every song have a shelf life or are there songs I'd still like to hear regularly for the rest of my life?

I won't truly be able to answer until I'm on my death bed. Obviously if you listen to the same song on repeat you'll eventually get sick of it. The true test though is whether you can return to it after a break.

For example when I was younger I'd go to clubs and pubs with loud music every week. One song you'd often hear was "Jump Around" by House Of Pain. Quite logical, a good tune, pretty catchy but above all people could dance to it by jumping around.

It did reach the point of not this again. Those days are long behind me though so my frequency of hearing "Jump Around" is much less. As such I'll happily listen to it, in fact I did earlier today when listening to the House Of Pain album with it on.

Will I happily keep on listening or does it have a use by date it hasn't reached yet?

Honeyz - Butterflies

Few would argue that the Honeyz were the biggest UK female R&B group from 1998-2000 and Mis-Teeq were the biggest from 2001-2003. 

Both groups are reunited but the difference I struggle to get my head round is that Mis-Teeq are playing at Wembley Arena for £100+ a ticket whereas the Honeyz played at a pub in Clapham a couple of weeks ago which was free to enter before 9pm.

In 1998 I was a teenager with my whole life ahead of me and music aspirations of my own. Now I'm a 40 something who never fulfilled those ambitions, a lot more skeptical and hate all things modern. The Honeyz themselves are only a few years older than me and whilst they did make it in music they've spent the last 25 years knowing they're unlikely to be able to make a living from being the Honeyz anymore.

When I listen to the Honeyz it takes me back to a time when I was young and optimistic and the world seemed a much better place. This is the sort of reason why lots of groups reunite, the see the demand from fans to be taken back.

Then they do something there's often no demand for, they release new music. When I heard that the Honeyz had a new song I can't say I was excited. Neither were too many people by the looks of things. It was released this week and currently has 73 views on YouTube, 3 of which are me and 2 are a friend who I told about it. To put that into perspective, the last post I made on this little blog got more views

The silver lining is this was written 20 years ago, probably longer than that because it was from when Naima was still around but it's the current line up who recorded the vocals for this recently. On that basis it could be said this is a sign of what was to come had they still been around for the 3rd album in the early 00s.

The guitar intro almost sounds like it could be a Queen song but this all changes once we get to the singing. It's an odd combination but it's a catchy number, I could still hum the chorus after a first listen. 

The jury was out after a first listen but it sounded better after a second one. Then the third listen just before writing this post has got me thinking this is actually quite good. 

Why the lack of interest particularly given the hype about the Mis-Teeq reunion?

I would say lack of awareness of it's existence is the main factor. Another is the question of who exactly are the Honeyz in terms of members? 

The line ups have changed a lot and the only constant member is Celena. In terms of the current line up we have Heavenli who left before the 3rd single and first returned when their popularity was in decline. Then there's Candace who was never in the group in their heyday. 

Then again should that matter? when the much hyped Oasis reunion was announced all we knew was the Gallagher brothers were returning, nobody knew or probably even cared who else was joining them. 

Would the return of Naima be the difference between playing pubs in Clapham and playing arenas? I can't see it myself but then again I didn't thing Mis-Teeq had a hope in hell of selling enough tickets for Wembley Arena so you never know. 

18 Week Number 1

In September 1953 the UK Singles Chart wasn't even a year old when Frankie Laine clocked up his 18th week at number one with "I Believe". It was knocked off the top spot twice along the way so whilst it's longest stint of 9 consecutive weeks was a joint record with first number one "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino that would get broken, his 18 collective weeks at number one did not get broken until now.

The current number one has now been there for a total of 18 non-consecutive weeks. This is arguably as significant as when Bryan Adams set a record of 16 consecutive weeks at number 1 in 1991.

You had to be living under a rock in 1991 to not know about Bryan Adams record breaking stint at number 1. This time though many of you will be thinking what it the song at number 1?

The song in question is "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean. That song probably rings no bells and you're now thinking who's Sam Fender? and who's Olivia Dean?

Well Sam Fender made a name for himself when he finished runner up for England in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with "Spaceman". Olivia Dean is one of the latest in a long line of Disney child actresses who made the transition to pop music, a sort of Britney Spears for the 2020s.

Oh hang on I was thinking of Sam Ryder and Olivia Rodrigo. OK I don't really know who Sam Ryder and Olivia Dean are either. Nor have I ever knowingly heard their song that's been top of the charts for 18 weeks.

The fact of the matter is had I not started this blog which in turn made me feel the need to keep a vague eye on the Top 40 then I probably wouldn't know what's at number 1 myself. 

My interest in the charts stems from a childhood of watching Top of the Pops and listening to the Top 40 countdown. It stepped up a gear when I got my first British Hit Singles book and to this very day I still find the history of the charts fascinating.

These days all that interests me are the chart stats, the days of me being interested in the actually music in the current charts are long gone. Many other 40 somethings feel the same except they were never interested in the chart stats, just the music. Therefore the charts are irrelevant to them.

The youngsters I speak to these days don't even know there's such a thing as the charts. They may listen to what's in the charts without knowing it.

Are the charts relevant to anyone these days but a small niche of music nerds? Probably not.

What remains is the question of whether Sam Ryder and Olivia Rodrigo can go on to beat Frankie Laines record......

Remembering 1996: December

December is a bit of a strange month when it comes to music. You have Christmas and inevitably the Christmas music that comes with it. There's also novelty tunes and music from people who don't normally make music and the 2 aren't mutually exclusive. Then there's the build up to New Years Eve which spills over into New Years Day. Aside from that not much really happens.

One of my memories of 1996 was that by December in music terms we were already into 1997. Compilations with 1997 or 97 in their name were already in the shops. The January 1997 editions of music magazines were already on the shelves.

There were also songs that were setting themselves in the future. "Cosmic Girl" by Jamiroquai charted in Dec 1996 and opens with a line about something than happened on a Saturday in 1999. That sounded so far into the future at the time. Now I see this year and 2029 merging into the same thing when I look back in the future.

There was the Top 40 debut from Chicane with "Offshore" and he would go on to be the most prolific trance artist chart wise in terms of number of hits. 

My memory has this down as being earlier on in the year but clearly wasn't, it was the month the World Dance compilation mixed by DJ Hype and Ellis Dee was released and I bought it.

In the inlay was an interview with both DJs and the real eye opener for me was finding out DJ Hype started DJing in 1982 and Ellis Dee in 1987. In my mind the music hadn't existed long enough for them to be DJing that early and I always imagined the DJs to be around 18 once they made a name for themselves.

I had the theory they must have been only 14 when they started DJing and it turns out that was the case with DJ Hype. Not with Ellis Dee though, he was comfortably in his 30s at the time of this compilation.

World Dance themselves held their new year event at Wembley Conference Centre. Despite the separation of hardcore and drum & bass with World Dance going down the latter route there would still be some hardcore DJs on the line up such as Force & Styles.

Meanwhile Helter Skelter held their first new year event at The Sanctuary. It had previously been Dreamscape holding events there at new year but they didn't put one on this time around. The Helter Skelter event became the first of theirs where the hardcore and drum & bass tape packs were all separate.

Remembering 1996: November

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Radio 1 is arguably the best remembered Radio 1 Breakfast Show of the 90s and yet it didn't even last 2 years. 1996 was the only full calendar year it was on for.

One of his team on the show was Danny who I'm pretty sure they used to call Danny Boy. After much was made about how long he'd been with his girlfriend he proposed to her live on air and this happened in Nov 96. The reason I'm able to pinpoint this was they played "Place Your Hands" by Reef which was a new song at the time and put wedding bells over it.

Few people probably remember that but many will remember the bigger reason Chris Evans made "Place Your Hands" by Reef famous. On TFI Friday a new segment called "It's Your Letters" was introduced and Reef played a reworded version of "Place Your Hands" singing "It's Your Letters" instead.

We had the first of many posthumous hits from 2Pac in Nov 96 which was "I Ain't Mad At Cha". Incidentally the singer of the chorus on this is called Danny Boy but a different person to the one who was on the Chris Evans show.

Another artist having a posthumous hit this month was Wildchild. It had been a year since he passed away shortly after making a name for himself with "Renegade Master". His posthumous hit was "Jump To My Beat" which is the better of the 2 records in my opinion.

It had been a low key year for Dreamscape followeing the death of it's promoter Murray Beetson earlier on in the year. In November Dreamscape 23 was held which was just the 2nd and final Dreamscape of the year. It would carry on beyond 1996 but even by this point Helter Skelter was seen as the biggest rave promoter.

The Prodigy followed up "Firestarter" which another chart topper with "Breathe". Whilst it followed a similar formula as it's predecessor being a dance/rock crossover with vocals by Keith I actually like this one and bought the single. Perhaps the additional vocals from Maxim helped.

The Fine Young Cannibals made a comeback in 1996 with "The Flame". It was their first Top 40 hit since the 80s but by the time it made it onto The Chart Show lead singer Roland Gift had left the band, so it was a very brief comeback.

Remembering 1996: October

At the start of 1996 Oasis had become just about the biggest band out there. In the summer I went to what I believe was my last village hall disco for teenagers before deciding I was too old for them. At that disco people were chanting for Oasis after every song. I didn't get it, they were too slow and boring for a disco in my opinion. Had you told me at that disco that Noel Gallagher would feature on one of the best number ones of the year I wouldn't of believed you.

That's exactly what did happen when he provided vocals for "Setting Sun" by the Chemical Brothers. It couldn't sound any more different than Oasis. That said it did have it's similarities in that both this record and many Oasis records were heavily inspired by The Beatles. In the case of this record it came from "Tomorrow Never Knows".

I felt I had bragging rights in a way because I'd been singing the praises of the Chemical Brothers for a year or so at this point and now they'd hit the big time with a chart topper. I was a fan before they reached these heights.

However I couldn't claim the same thing for the commercial dance record that had the biggest impact on me in Oct 96. On an episode of Top of the Pops I was introduced to "Insomnia" by Faithless. I'd never heard anything quite like it and bought the single the following week. However it had previously reached number 27 in the Top 40 the previous year and this was a rerelease.

Now for some future bragging rights. Scooter were well known within the rave scene for being German cheesers. The had 4 Top 40 hits that made the lower reaches in the mid-90s and the final one of these was "I'm Raving", their take on the Shut Up & Dance record. They wouldn't return until 2002 with "The Logical Song" where the mainstream public assumed them to be a new act but I'd refer to "I'm Raving" as and example of them being around for several years.

One of the big rave anthems of the early 90s was "Don't Go" by Awesome 3. It never made the Top 40 though until 1996 when a remixed version featuring Julie McDermott on vocals made the charts. It didn't end there though because another version by Third Dimension which also featured Julie McDermott on vocals charted. My advice though is stick to the original.

I would occasionally listen to Trevor Nelson on a Sunday afternoon on Radio 1, a show that had started earlier on in the year. It made me start to appreciate R&B and the music he played was more of an urban variety.

One such record was "No Diggity" by Blackstreet. My previous reservation about R&B was that it seemed a bit sappy, but this was anything but. It was hip hop with singing as opposed to rapping, though it did have rapping on it courtesy of the opening rap by Dr Dre and a later rap by Queen Pen. One might assuming the presence of Dr Dre meant it was produced by him but it wasn't. It was produced by Blackstreet member Teddy Riley who'd produced for Michael Jackson amongst others.

In the last weekend of October when we had the Helter Skelter Odyssey event at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. This was the last event where they release a drum & bass 4 pack, hardcore 6 pack and and 8 pack that was a mixture of hardcore & drum & bass. Following this it was either a hardcore 12 pack or drum & bass 8 pack. The music had now split to the point they could no longer be mixed.

We were however seeing early signs of a split in hardcore. Although the Billy Bunter set was still a happy hardcore set it had a more mature sound than the other sets and the signs were there on what would evolve into trancecore.

Remembering 1996: September

Some say that trance music originated in September 1996 when "Seven Days And One Week" by BBE was released. Obviously that's nonsense, trance had been around for several years by this point. It was the first trance record to make the Top 3 though and there's no doubting it's a good record.

Is it my favourite trance record of the year? no it's not even my favourite trance record of September. That honour goes to Way Out West with "The Gift". I've talked about this record on this blog before but what makes it stand out to me is the breakbeats.

Saint Etienne were a music act I'd taken a liking to when they released "He's On The Phone" in late 1995. In September 1996 I got the impression they'd split up because their vocalist Sarah Cracknell released the solo record "Anymore". This was simply a side project for Sarah Cracknell and Saint Etienne hadn't split up and are still together at the time of writing, though not for much longer.

There was a new music TV show, "The Noise" which was on ITV on Saturdays before The Chart Show. The first episode was Aug 31st but it felt more appropriate to include it in September because that's when it began getting panned by critics.

It was presented by Andi Peters and I understood the criticism. It was a no frills all about the music sort of show which was going to struggle to get mainstream appeal. However as a music person I liked that aspect and enjoyed watching the show.

It was the month The Fugees topped the charts with "Ready Or Not" which was the better one of their chart toppers in my opinion. It wasn't just impacting the pop world or rap world though. There was a drum & bass version called "Fugees Or Not" which was played in many DJ sets. It was said to be the work of DJ Hype but it was in fact DJ Zinc. There was also a happy hardcore version but the less said about that the better.

One of my favourite happy hardcore tunes of 1996 was "Santa Maria" by Jimmy J & Cru-L-T. In September the tune of the same name that it sampled made the Top 40. It was by Tatyana who became the first act from Croatia to have a Top 40 hit since Ivo Robic in 1959.

Helter Skelter held their 2nd and final event at Club Kinetic on September 20th. Not many more events were held at Club Kinetic because the club closed down at the beginning of 1997.

A week later in the middle of the night on ITV was a show called Helter Skelter which I saw in the TV listings. I thought this must be coverage of the Helter Skelter just gone so decided to watch it. Unfortunately it had nothing to do with Helter Skelter the rave, it was a music show that had a bunch of unknown rock bands playing on it. This was the biggest music disappointment for me since hearing "Spaceman" in full.

A bit earlier in the month I happened to be listening to the Radio 1 Rap Show in the middle of the night, not something I'd usually do at the time. It was during this I heard about the shooting and subsequent death of 2Pac. It was a name I'd only just become familiar with, he'd only had 2 UK Top 40 hits to this point but would have many more to come.

Remembering 1996: August

The sporting event of 1996 that always gets talked about is Euro 96 but there was another big sporting event in 1996 that played second fiddle this time around, the Olympics.

The official song for the Olympics was "Reach" by Gloria Estefan but that had already been in and out of the Top 40 by the time the Olympics began. In August she was onto her next Top 40 hit "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".

The only record that made the Top 40 as a result of the Olympics was "Tara's Theme" by Spiro & Wix which was the music the BBC used for their coverage.

It was the month where Alisha's Attic made their Top 40 debut with "I Am I Feel". Musically it sounded quite similar to "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morissette which also charted this month but lyrically they couldn't be any more different. It was the Alisha's Attic record that grabbed my attention more though, what started as an enjoyable listen on the radio evolved into me buying almost their entire discography followed by me questioning why I did that.

E'Voke had a Top 40 hit in 1995 with "Runaway" and in Aug 96 they were back with a 2nd and final Top 40 hit with "Arms Of Loren".  I first heard it myself when they played it on The Bigger Breakfast which was an extended version of The Big Breakfast for the summer holidays.

It was the month that PJ & Duncan started using their real names Ant & Dec instead. The first single they released after this change was "Better Watch Out" and is the only single of theirs I actually like in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

I don't know when it started or ended or what it was called but in Aug 96 I discovered there was a 5 minute slot in the evening on Channel 4 where they would play a new music video and I remember "Better Watch Out" being one of those.

It was the month that gave us the comeback of New Edition with their comeback single being "Hit Me Off". Although a 5 piece in the 80s with Johnny Gill replacing Bobby Brown when he left, this time there was 6 of them with Bobby Brown and Johnny Gill both being part of the reunion. 

Speaking of 80s groups there was one final hit for OMD with "Walking On The Milky Way". By this point OMD was just Andy McCluskey who called time shortly afterwards. It's quite possibly the best OMD single.

The Pet Shop Boys also released what's possibly their best single of the 90s "Se A Vide (That's The Way Life Is)". This is a go to song for me having a nostalgic look at summers of the past.

Helter Skelter held their Energy 96 event in Aug, the first of their Energy events which wouldn't occur annually in Aug for the remainder of the 90s.

Remembering 1996: July

Some will say you can't really talk about July 1996 without talking about girl power so I'll get this out of the way. It was of course the month Shampoo had their final Top 40 hit with "Girl Power".

A month after Crowded House announced to the world they were breaking up there was a new music act from New Zealand ready to take their place. OMC made their Top 40 debut with "How Bizarre". A big hit no doubt and I like it too, but they didn't exactly fill the gap left by Crowded House because they had no further Top 40 hits.

It was the month "Born Slippy" by Underworld from the Trainspotting soundtrack entered the Top 40. It was the record that brought Underworld to the general public's attention, but they'd been around for some time and already had a significant following.

Elsewhere in the dance music world we saw future Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules in the Top 40 for the first time. The record was "Outrageous" which was a collaboration with fellow DJ John Kelly under the name Stix 'N' Stoned.

Patrick Prins is a name you may not be familiar with. He's a Dutch producer who has quite a lengthy number of aliases and in Jul 96 he released "Le Voie Le Soleil" under the name Subliminal Cuts. He'd previously had a Top 40 hit the previous year with "To The Beat Of The Drum (La Luna)" under the name Ethics.

Dreamscape returned in Jul 96 with the rescheduled Dreamscape 22 which was their first event since the tragic death of promoter Murray Beetson. It was now in the hands of Red Alert & Mike Slammer who were the same people who ran Slammin Vinyl.

There was also a Slammin Vinyl event at Bagleys in London in conjunction with Dream FM. It included a Jimmy J & Vinyltrixta back to back set with MC Ruff which is quite possibly my favourite happy hardcore set ever. At the time I thought they were the ones who ran Slammin Vinyl but they infact ran the record shop of the same name in Kingston.

July saw the launch of arguably the biggest happy hardcore album series, Bonkers. It was mixed by Hixxy & Sharkey who had given us "Toytown" the previous year. However they were going in different directions musically, Hixxy was a cheesefest including "Toytown" whereas Sharkey was going in a more mature direction which would evolve into Freeform.

Remembering 2026: June

As we're halfway through the Remembering 1996 posts and halfway through the year I thought I'd make a post for reading back in 30 years time that captures music of the moment.

Most of the new entries in the Top 40 in Jun 96 didn't get a mention because there were 68 of them. In Jun 26 there were just 10 which seems few enough to look at all of them.

The month began with Ariana Grande going straight in at number one with "Hate That I Made You Love Me". Incidentally it's composer Max Martin made his UK Top 40 debut as a songwriter in Jun 96 with the Backstreet Boys debut "Get Down (You're The One For Me)". The artists have changed but behind the scenes it's still the same.

The only other new entry that week was "Noble" by F3miii. He's a Nigerian-Irish singer-songwriter on TikTok who released it on Boxing Day 2025, it first charted at 81 in April and gradually climbed into the Top 40. Whether he'll be a one hit wonder or the next Ed Sheeran remains to be seen.

The following week Taylor Swift went straight in at number one with "I Knew It I Knew You". It was from the film "Toy Story 5", in 1996 we'd only had one Toy Story film. The question is in 30 years time how many Top 40 hits will Taylor Swift have had and what Toy Story number will we be on.

Taylor Swift very much feels like a modern artist but it's now 17 years since she made her Top 40 debut. To draw comparisons in Jun 96 Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen from U2 charted with "Theme From Mission Impossible". U2 were still popular but at the time but they were also seen as old. Taylor Swift is 36, the same age Adam Clayton was in Jun 96 whilst Larry Mullen was 34. U2 were 15 years into their Top 40 career at that point.

Alex Warren had his 9th Top 40 hit with "Passenger". He'd had his big hit "Ordinary" the previous year which spent 13 non-consecutive weeks at number one which at this point was the longest run at number one in the 2020s.

18 year old Alyssa Grace made her Top 40 debut with "Bloodstream". Will she still be having hits at 48 or will she quickly disappear? She's that new at the moment that she doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

Mac Miller died in 2018 but never had a Top 40 hit until Jun 26 when "Cinderella" in collaboration with Ty Dolla Sign charted. It was a 10 year old song that became part of some TikTok trend.

In Jun 96 most of the new entries came from British artists but Maxi Priest was the only Brit to make the Top 40 with said record in America. In Jun 26 only 1 of the new entries in the UK Top 40 came from a British artist. This Silva Bumpa making his debut with "On 2nite". He's yet to have a Wikipedia page.

Onto week 3 and the highest new entry came from Olivia Rodrigo with "Stupid Song" which entered at number 2. She had other songs at numbers 3 and 5 whilst the number 4 was by someone named Oliva too.

Then there was the song "Iconic By Mistake" which was a collaboration between 3 girl groups, Le Sserafim, Illit and Katseye. There were more individuals on that record than the remaining new entries combined.

Finally there was the official World Cup song "Dai Dai" by Shakira & Burna Boy. It's the only one of these new entries I've actually heard at the time of writing and that's because I've been watching the World Cup.

Shakira is now 49 which is older than Freddie Mercury ever was and had he still been alive in Jun 96 when Queen charted with "Let Me Live" then that's how old he would have been.

Onto the final week of Jun 26 and there were no new entries in the Top 40. What did happen though was "Reign Me In" by Sam Fender & Oliva Dean climbed back to number one making it 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one and therefore overtaking Alex Warren for most weeks in the 2020s.

How much longer can it go? 

Remembering 1996: June

Euro 96 is often mentioned when looking back on 1996. I was a significant event and I'm going to talk a bit about it here mainly to show that there were more Euro 96 related songs than "3 Lions".

In fact "3 Lions" wasn't even the official Euro 96 record. That was "We're In This Together" by Simply Red which is now largely forgotten. It's not a very memorable song though, what's more memorable was that it came at a time Mick Hucknall had his haircut after Martine McCutcheon had been sick on it.

Then there was the alternative song which saw Black Grape collaborate with Joe Strummer and Keith Allen on "England's Irie" which I guess you could call the "Vindaloo" of it's time.

It was an era when songs from adverts were getting in the charts and in Jun was the turn of Collapsed Lung with "Eat My Goal" which appeared on the Coca-Cola advert which tied in with Euro 96.

Even the BBC theme music to their Euro 96 coverage made it into the Top 40. This was "Ode To Joy" by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

England weren't the only British team in Euro 96 with charting songs though. There were 2 songs for Scotland which were "Purple Heather" by Rod Stewart and "The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown" by Primal Scream, Irvine Welsh & On-U Sound.

Speaking of Irvine Welsh, this was of course the year for his film "Trainspotting" which also gets mentioned a lot when looking back at 1996. In Jun we had the first song from the soundtrack make the Top 40. No, not that one. It was "For What You Dream Of" by Bedrock featuring KYO which had originally been released in 1993.

It was a month we had 2 big names of techno both score Top 40 hits. Carl Cox had the double a-side "Sensual Sophis-Ti-Cat / The Player" and Dave Clarke had "No One's Driving". It would be the last time we'd see Dave Clarke in the Top 40 but Carl Cox would be back.

Heading back to Scotland and from the world of bouncy techno we had the only Top 40 hit for Q-Tex with "Let The Love". One of it's members was Scott Brown whose tunes were making it into a lot of happy hardcore sets in England.

Helter Skelter was fast becoming the biggest rave promoter of this era. On June 1st they started using the Rollers warehouse for their event at The Sanctuary which effectively doubled the capacity of their events, something Dreamscape first did on NYE 1994.

Meanwhile M-Beat teamed up with Jamiroquai to make the drum & bass record "Do U Know Where You're Coming From". This had been played on One In The Jungle a couple of months prior.

It was the end of the road for one band who announced to the world they were breaking up, though they have since reunited. No not Take That, they'd already broken up. It was Crowded House, though judging by the single that coincided with this announcement "Instinct" it sounded like they'd run out of steam.

Remembering 1996: May

May is the month the FA Cup final is held in football and one of it's traditions is the 2 teams in the final having an FA Cup song. In 1996 it was between Man Utd whose song was "Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)" and Liverpool whose song was "Pass And Move (It's The Liverpool Groove)".

This meant that David Beckham had a Top 40 hit before Victoria did as the Spice Girls were yet to make their Top 40 debut. Meanwhile the Liverpool record featured a rap from John Barnes.

It wasn't just the FA Cup final songs making their way into the charts from the football world. 1300 Drums featuring The Unjustified Ancients Of M U had a hit with "Ooh! Aah! Cantona". Incidentally Eric Cantona scored the only goal of the FA Cup final.

"Feel The Sunshine" by Alex Reece had originally been released in 1995 but got a re-release in May 1996 and made the Top 40. This was arguably helped by drum & bass now having a regular show on Radio 1 with One In The Jungle.

If you were listening to One In The Jungle on a Friday night then you would be missing a music show on Channel 4 returning to TV in May for a 2nd series. The show was "Baadasss" and was presented by rapper Ice-T and Andi Oliver the mother of future "Popworld" presenter Miquita Oliver. It was described at the time as being a black version of "The Word" and would get cancelled in 1996 due to its controversial nature.

We had the Top 40 debut of Busta Rhymes with "Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check". I remember watching it on Top of the Pops for the first time and it sounded like the sort of record I'd been waiting to hear all my life.

1996 was the last time I sat down and properly watched Eurovision. I'd never been much of a fan but in 1996 I liked the UK entry "Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit" by Gina G. I'd also become familiar with hardcore and techno music from Germany and Holland and was optimistic those countries would have a decent song, but sadly it wasn't to be.

Speaking of music from Germany, it was the month Scooter had a Top 40 hit with their version of "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol. This would be the final Top 40 hit of the 90s that could be considered happy hardcore but Scooter would be back later in the year.

Despite not having much chart presence happy hardcore was growing in popularity. It was the month that United Dance 4 was released. It was mixed by Slipmatt and DJ Sy and it first came to my attention from a TV advert.

Remembering 1996: April

A stand out memory I have from April 1996 is being on holiday in a snack bar one afternoon and they had German techno playing. At least I assumed it to be German techno, I didn't know any of the tunes being played but it was definitely techno and sounded of the German variety. Then a few tunes later they had a complete change in music with 70s record "Jeans On" by David Dundas coming on, the first time I'd ever heard it and I didn't know what it was until years later.

Speaking of German techno it was the month "Forever Young" by Interactive chart. Not a German techno record as such but the members were key figures in the German techno scene. It was already 2 years old by this point.

You wouldn't be hearing it at the raves though, not only because of it's age (2 years was considered old in rave terms at the time) but because British DJs Jimmy J & Cru-L-T did their own version called "I Wanna Be Forever" that you'd hear instead.

It was the month that gave us the first Dance Nation compilation from the Ministry Of Sound. The DJs on the compilation were Pete Tong and Boy George, the former now very much a big name from his Radio 1 show and the latter a former pop star who was very much a DJ by this point. Not that either DJ actually mixed their CD but importantly with the tracklist like a lot of these big compilations its a mixture of classics and not so classics.

One In The Jungle returned to Radio 1 in Apr 96. It had previously aired for a few weeks in the summer of 1995 but was now back for a regular slot on a Friday night at 10pm after the Pete Tong show. It would be hosted by an MC, usually MC Navigator in the early days and include a jungle chart rundown and a guest mix from a different DJ each week.

March had seen the theme to The X-Files enter the Top 40 and in April we saw a dance version of the theme by DJ Dado. 

2Pac was a big name rapper in America and was on his 5th album but he didn't make his UK Top 40 debut until Apr 96, just 5 months before his death. The record was "California Love" in collaboration with Dr Dre who had left Death Row records the month before.

Another significant Top 40 debutant from the rap world was The Fugees. Their debut was "Fu-Gee-La" which only made number 21 even though it was pretty well known. They wouldn't chart any lower than number 3 for their remaining singles.

Remembering 1996: March

One of the most popular TV shows in 1996 was "The X-Files". I really tried to get into it myself but I didn't think much of it to be honest. It's popularity meant the theme tune by Mark Snow got to number 2 in the charts.

It was kept off the top spot by the comeback single by The Prodigy, "Firestarter". I was listening to the Evening Session on Radio 1 the evening it made it's premiere on the show. As someone who loved the first two albums I was looking forward to this but when I head it I was massively disappointed. I guess the issue was I'd gone from a rock music fan to a rave purist whereas this tune saw The Prodigy gravitating more towards rock music.

Speaking of Radio 1, it was around this time that Status Quo sued the station for refusing to play their latest single "Fun Fun Fun" with the Beach Boys.

It wasn't just Status Quo whose music was banned by Radio 1. The Beatles had what was to be their final single with "Real Love" which was using some John Lennon recordings for the remaining 3 members to work with and had Jeff Lynne produce the song. Despite not being playlisted it still made a respectable number 4 in the charts.

The Prodigy weren't the only 1991 rave act making a comeback with a different sound. Bizarre Inc had a comeback single with "Keep The Music Strong" which couldn't be any more different than "Playing With Knives". Again I didn't take to kindly to this new sound but it did grow on me eventually.

There was also a return to the Top 40 in the same week for 2 of the biggest name DJs of the early 90s. Carl Cox had the "Two Paintings And A Drum EP" where the lead track was "Phoebus Apollo". He had taken a new direction in music the previous year which was seen as a gamble but the techno he went on to do was quite groundbreaking.

Sasha returned with "Be As One" which had vocals from Maria Nayler and was the progressive house sound he'd become well known for. Also in the same week we had a remix of "Passion" by Gat Decor chart. The original in 1992 is credited with kicking off the progressive house sound.

One of the big Dutch techno records of 1995 found it's way into the Top 40 in Mar 96. "Access" by DJ Misjah & DJ Tim was very much an underground record that got popular.

Another underground record getting commercial success came from Ken-Doh. The record "Nakasaki" had been doing the rounds since 1994 but for its commercial release they added vocals and named it "Nakasaki (I Need A Lover Tonight)". I prefer the instrumental but the vocals do work on this record.

There was a happy hardcore record that appeared on TOTP2 but never made the Top 40. "I Kiss Your Lips" by Tokyo Ghetto Pussy gave the impression this was Japanese but it was actually an alias of German producers Jam & Spoon.

St Patrick's Day saw the tragic death of Dreamscape promoter Murray Beetson in a car crash. They were arguably the biggest rave promoter at the time and Dreamscape 22 was scheduled for April but cancelled out of respect. 

Remembering 1996: February

Another month another song getting into the charts due to featuring on an advert. "I Just Want To Make Love To You" by Etta James which was originally recorded in 1960 appeared on the Diet Coke advert. Can't say I thought much to the advert but it's a good song.

We had the first episode of TFI Friday and the first song to be played was "The Riverboat Song" by Ocean Colour Scene. The intro to this would be used when guests walked into the studio.

It was a show that was mostly associated with Britpop music but on that first show there was also easy listening music from Count Indigo with "My Unknown Love". Chris Evans played it frequently on his radio show but it failed to make the Top 40 and that's was the last we'd hear of him.

My first proper introduction to happy hardcore had come the previous year from a tape a mate had mixed. One of the tunes on that tape was "I Wanna Be A Hippy" by Technohead and in Feb 96 it entered the UK Top 40 to my surprise. What I didn't know at the time was that it topped the Dutch charts in 1995.

Another thing I didn't know at the time was "Have You Ever Been Mellow" by the Party Animals was topped the Dutch charts that month. The underground music I was listening to perhaps wasn't as underground as I thought it was.

Happy hardcore was getting more popular in 1996. It had well and truly split from jungle/drum & bass by this point. There was a rave called Hardcore Heaven which was run by DJ Seduction which was hardcore only and had been running since late 1994 at The Rhythm Station in Aldershot. Then in Feb 96 they held their first event at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes.

On the techno side of things it was the month that gave us "Southside" by Dave Clarke which gave him his first Top 40 hit. The hardbag scene was still a thing and one such record was "Naughty North And Sexy South" by E-Motion which allegedly was a favourite of Prince William. It was rubbish though.

On the mellower side of dance music Feb 96 gave us "Children" by Robert Miles. A good record which is just as well because there was no escaping it for the rest of the year.

Mr.C from The Shamen had opened The End nightclub at the end of 1995 which had an underground music policy. The Shamen were still going though and in Feb 96 they released "Heal (The Separation)" which became their final original Top 40 hit to date.

I would have described myself as a rave purist at the time but there were non-rave songs that I liked too. One such song in Feb 96 was "One Of Us" by Joan Osborne. I have this memory of sitting outside a pub and hearing this playing and thinking what a tune.

Remembering 1996: January

Given how much we're bombarded with and irritated by adverts these days its strange to believe that songs used to get to number one in the charts simply because they appeared on an advert.

This is what happened in January 1996 with the then current Levi's advert. By this point the concept of the Levi's advert song was a big thing and this time it seemed like they had the best song ever to feature on their adverts.

Then we heard the song in its entirety only to find the 30 seconds worth of intro and outro which appeared on the advert were the only good bits of the song. What came in-between was completely different, the advert gave the impression it was a dance record but it was mostly a rock one. Many people went from praising it to calling it crap. Still those people who kept it at number one for a 5th week must have heard it in full by the time they purchased the record.

It was the moment in the spotlight for dub music with "Little Britain" by Dreadzone and "Release The Pressure". The concept of mixing reggae with dance music was nothing new but this was bringing to the mainstream an alternative to jungle music that used this concept.

Speaking of jungle, I had regularly been listening to a Best Of Jungle compilation and the final track on CD1 was "Retreat" by The Dubster which was very much a reggae influenced jungle track.

In January 1996 I was hearing the name Dubster being mentioned frequently. I wondered whether this tune had gone mainstream or another Dubster record had or if they were even talking about the same person (or group for that matter, I knew nothing about them).

Turned out they were in fact talking about Dubstar whose latest record was "Not So Manic Now". Not jungle at all then but a pleasant chilled out but upbeat record that I likened more to Saint Etienne. Not too similar though, the 2 blokes with a blonde female singer no doubt played its part in that comparison.

The Chemical Brothers released the "Loops Of Fury EP" which was a limited edition with 20,000 copies available which took it to a solitary week in the charts at number 13.

Their music had a crossover appeal between dance fans and rock fans and as such had been a good middle ground to make the transition from rock to dance music.

Another crossover record from Jan 96 was a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" by Goldbug. I was firmly in the dance music camp by Jan 96 so did question whether I should like a Led Zeppelin cover but it's essentially a dance record with sampled guitars and I loved it.

I was mostly listening to the rave music I acquired in 1995 but what we have here in the space of just one month are several examples of dance records that are a bit different and not part of the rave scene and not house music either. That includes 30 seconds worth of "Spaceman".

Remembering 1996

I recently read an article stating that 1996 was the best year ever. Whilst I think 1995 was better I still think 1996 has a good shout.

The article wasn't just about the music though that was the main focus. What I didn't agree with though were the reasons it gave.

From a music perspective they highlighted Oasis playing at Knebworth, the Jarvis Cocker incident at the Brit Awards, Spice Girls bringing us girl power and Robbie Williams kicking off his hugely successful solo career. 

Doubtless the millions of people who were into Oasis, Pulp, Spice Girls and Robbie Williams agree with some of that. Whilst I do like a few Pulp and Robbie Williams songs, it's far from my favourite music and I could never stand Oasis or Spice Girls.

What I thought I'd do is a month by month celebration of 1996 that goes deeper than the same handful of things you've kept hearing about since 1996.

I did my 25 years since 1996 posts in 2021 but that was picking 5 songs from the Top 40 each month I was enjoying at the time. This time it will be more about music in general and beyond the Top 40 because it played a significant part for me at the time.

I aim to do a post every 3 days or so.