Bonkers Part 15

 

By the time Bonkers 15 came out all the DJs who had mixed a Bonkers album to date were the wrong side of 30. This may have been a factor in altering the line up by making all 4 CDs back to back mixes.

Gammer was by factor the youngest big name DJ at this point having only turned 20 that year and he was paired with Dougal. Recon was aged 24 and the other big name DJ to break through in the 21st century and he was paired up with Hixxy. Marc Smith and Neophyte were older and had been around longer than any of the other DJs but they were paired up with Sharkey and Scott Brown respectively.

Although I was still in my 20s myself I was finding myself more drawn towards the more mature sounding house music. Buying this Bonkers album was never even a consideration.

The notable thing about the Hixxy and Recon mix is seeing 2 labels I'd not come across before, Definitive Dance and Electric Euphoria. Turns out they were labels started by UFO and MC Marley respectively so basically music that would have previously been on Raverbaby.

The main question is would this mix have been any different if it was Hixxy by himself and the answer is probably not. It's a mixture of cheesy vocal stuff, hardcore remixes of commercial dance tunes and awful MC tunes courtesy of Storm and Wizzkid who themselves seemed to be the stars of the raves rather than the DJs by this point.

Onto Sharkey and Marc Smith, once again I would say if Sharkey did this on his own it would probably be the same. One thing I recall from around this time is that freeform was popular enough for there to be a freeform event called Freeformation.

It sounds like this was a result of it sounding more and more like regular hardcore and probably only sounds a bit more serious because it follows a Hixxy set. Around mid-way through the set I hear a tune that grabs my attention and surprise surprise its a tune off Next Generation in "Working Up A Sweat" by Ham.

Things did change somewhat when Neophyte joined Scott Brown. Instead of the usual 2/3 hardcore 1/3 gabber it was 100% gabber. This was a positive move in my opinion as whilst hardcore went downhill in the 21st century, gabber didn't. This was mainly because it never really changed.

Finally there was Dougal with Gammer. This was unlikely to alter too much given that many of Dougal's 21st century tunes were done with Gammer. By this time though Gammer now had his own label called Muffin Records for the material he did by himself.

The mix sounds like a Cludland advert from the word go. Having Gammer on the mix does give it a slightly harder edge, but overall it really sums up what I don't like about more modern hardcore music.

This album meant there had now been more Bonkers albums in the 21st century than there had been in the 20th century. It didn't stop there either, but more on that next week.

UK Charts Best Year Search: 2003

What's this all about?

Top 40

Best Song: R Kelly - Ignition Remix

This was the era when I'd spend most Saturday nights going to crappy bars with late licenses that were basically clubs you didn't pay to get into. This record stands out as being one of the only records being played that I liked, but also replicating some of the moves in the video such as  "hands through my fro" and "bounce bounce bounce" on the dancefloor. It's a great record and even people who were into completely different styles of music liked this one too.

Worst Song: Jennifer Ellison - Baby I Don't Care

For the 3rd year in a row I've gone with a record that features someone from a soap for worst song. This time it's Brookside, a soap I don't think I ever sat down and watched an episode of. I hate the Transvision Vamp song too, if that was in this Top 40 instead it may have still been worst song. 

Top 40 Review

In 2003 I was still into rap and R&B and that's what most of the decent records in this chart fall under.

I never thought I'd be giving full marks to a Mariah Carey record, but this reminded me she sang a few lines on "I Know What You Want" by Busta Rhymes. There's also the excellent "X Gon Give It To Ya" by DMX, his biggest hit to date.

There's another R Kelly composition in the chart with "Girlfriend" by B2K. Ashanti has the lead single from her 2nd album "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)". Justin Timberlake is in there with "Rock Your Body" which I first heard in one of those crappy bars and thought this is great.

It was the year that reggae was making a bit of a comeback in the mainstream and we have "No Letting Go" by Wayne Wonder which was a strong candidate for best song.

Dance music wise the stand out record is "How Did You Know" by Kurtis Mantronix presents Chamonix. Scooter have a typical Scooter tune in "The Night". Perhaps more of a guilty pleasure is "Fly On The Wings Of Love" by XTM & DJ Chucky presents Annia which is actually the only tune mentioned so far that I don't own on CD at all.

Guitar music has more of a presence in this Top 40 including the number one "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence. Every single one of them gets a zero from me though. Likewise all the generic pop records get a zero from me too.

It's definitely an improvement on 2002 and we're back into double figures.

Score: 11

Table

Despite the improvement, 2003 is still near the bottom and is worse than all the 70s and 80s:

UK Number 40s: Mantronix - Who Is It (1987)

 

Rap music may dominate the Top 40 these days, but it got off to a pretty slow start from a chart perspective. It had been 8 years since Sugarhill Gang gave us the first rap Top 40 hit with "Rapper Delight". The number of rap records to hit the Top 40 over those 8 years were few and far between and included a number of records by non-rap acts and novelty records.

In 1987 we started to get more rap hits and acts making their debut included Beastie Boys, Eric B & Rakim, LL Cool J and Public Enemy. The first rap record to make the Top 40 in 1987 though was this.

Mantronix had made their debut the previous year with "Bassline" which made number 34. This was the follow up to that. Whilst these were their only 2 Top 40 hits of the 80s, they had a further 4 that failed to make the Top 40. 

The next time we'd see Mantronix in the Top 40 would be at the start of 1990 with "Got To Have Your Love" which was a complete change in direction, not being rap music at all.

This was the only single to peak at 40 in 1987.

Top 30 in 1991 Reviewed: Week 45

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 30 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

Obviously some of the records will be the same as last week so therefore the review will be the same for these. I've indicated which ones are new so you can skip the others if you read last weeks post.

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 top 30 from this week in 1991 with my verdict on each record:

30. Julian Lennon - Saltwater

The 3rd and final Top 40 hit for Julian Lennon which came 6 years after his previous effort. People give Julian Lennon stick for not being John, but with records like this does it really matter? I loved this record at the time and it still sounds great 30 years later. 

Verdict - Good

29. Manic Street Preachers - Love's Sweet Exile / Repeat (New)

The 2nd Top 40 hit for Manic Street Preachers having made number 40 with their debut earlier on in the year. The band themselves have since said they don't like "Love's Sweet Exile" and I'm inclined to agree with them. "Repeat" is definitely the better of the two, but it's just alright.

Verdict - Rubbish / OK

28. The Charlatans - Me In Time (New)

The Charlatans probably have the most Top 40 hits in the 90s which I don't remember. This is one of those and I'm sure I will have forgotten it in the next 5 minutes.

Verdict - Rubbish

27. INXS - Shining Star

Aside from their cover of "Good Times", this was the first Top 40 hit for INXS that wasn't written at all by Michael Hutchence. It was written solely by Andrew Farriss who did wrote most of their hits and therefore it's another solid effort. 

Verdict - Good

26. Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet (New)

After Paul Youngs awful cover of their debut hit "Don't Dream It's Over", Crowded House are back in the Top 40 for the first time in 4 years with their 2nd Top 40 hit. It's the lead single from the "Woodface" album. Crowded House are one of those groups I've got to appreciate more later on in life. Their music was different to anything else at the time and although rave music was more my thing than anything else, this is a breath of fresh air when the beats of rave music get a bit too much.

Verdict - Good

25. Dannii Minogue - Baby Love

It was around this time that I heard "Baby Love" by The Supremes for the first time. This isn't a cover of that record though, it's a cover of a record by Regina. Needless to say the Supremes record with the same title is far far better.

Verdict - Rubbish

24. Control - Dance With Me (I'm Your Ecstasy) (New)

This was the first Top 40 hit on All Around the World records. The label has given us some of the most dreadful dance music over the years. This record does sound more commercial than a lot of other dance records at the time, but I do quite like it.

Verdict - Good

23. Queen - The Show Must Go On

This was the final Top 40 hit for Queen during Freddie Mercury's lifetime. Interestingly Leo Sayer, who's vocals have previously been mistaken for being Freddie Mercury, made his Top 40 debut with a different record called "The Show Must Go On". Furthermore the final week "The Show Must Go On" by Leo Sayer was in the charts, Queen were making their chart debut with "Seven Seas Of Rhye". Anyway what do I think of this record? I like it, one of the better Queen singles in my opinion

Verdict - Good

22. Paul Young - Don't Dream (It's Over)

Many will have probably forgotten this Paul Young cover of the Crowded House record. This came before Crowded House had the bulk of their hits with this being their only Top 40 hit to their name at the time which made just number 25 in 1987. It was the 12th Top 40 hit for Paul Young and his 10th cover, which is just ridiculous in my opinion.

Verdict - Rubbish

21. Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

This record really irritated me at the time. My view hasn't really changed, it's a truly awful record. It was one that Bryan Adams kept off number one.

Verdict - Rubbish

20. Lisa Stansfield - Change

I've not heard this record in a long time and it's one of those records that's hard to place as being at any particular time. However listening to it did bring back memories of the period it's from. Not my cup of tea though.

Verdict - Rubbish

19. Union ft England World Cup Rugby Squad - Swing Low (Run With The Ball) (New)

I've said numerous times that music and football don't mix, but I should really extend that to music and sport don't mix. To add to that, I don't think there is any sport I dislike more than rugby.

Verdict - Rubbish

18. Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - It's Grim Up North (New)

The only Top 40 hit credited to Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, but they were also having hits in 1991 as KLF. The lyrics are basically a long list of northern towns which does seem like a very KLF thing to do. Like pretty much anything by KLF it's great.

Verdict - Good

17. Mariah Carey - Emotions

The lead single from her album of the same name, Robert Clivilles and David Cole penned this record which is surprisingly uplifting for a Mariah Carey record. That doesn't mean it's any good though. She may have a vocal range few can claim to have, but all that screeching just gets on my nerves.

Verdict - Rubbish

16. Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - After The Watershed

An upbeat record with a dark subject matter and some pretty angry vocals. Get this combination right and you have a great record. That's exactly what this is and definitely my favourite Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine tune.

Verdict - Good

15. Enya - Caribbean Blue

This is one of those records I'm not sure I remember being in the charts at the time but it's one I've probably known since. Enya's music was always a little too different for my liking and almost seemed like music the sort of music they'd want you to learn at school which was never good. However over the years I've got to appreciate her music a lot more and quite like this record now.

Verdict - Good

14. Oceanic - Insanity

There was a happy hardcore version of this in the mid-90s by DNA, Breeze & Munchie which I listened to quite a bit. When I heard this for the first time in years it seemed so slow given I'd got used to the happy hardcore version. That was a long time ago though, nowadays I can take the relative slowness.

Verdict - Good

13. Moby - Go

The debut hit for Moby. I forgot his name pretty much straight away, I remember at the time talking about a record called "Go" without knowing who it was by. A few years later I found out who it was and was also surprised to find out he was American given this fits right in with the rave music British acts were making at the time.

Verdict - Good

12. Don McLean - American Pie

A record I didn't realise was an old record charting for the second time at the time. It's Don McLean's best known song but not one of his two UK number ones. I tried to find out why this was given a new lease of life in 1991 but couldn't find anything. I liked this at the time and remember me and a mate singing it at school. My view hasn't really changed.

Verdict - Good

11. SL2 - DJ's Take Control / Way In My Brain

The Top 40 debut for SL2 aka Slipmatt and Lime. At a time before the rave scene split into happy hardcore and jungle, you'd think based on these tunes they would end up going down the jungle route. However, Slipmatt has often been crediting for starting happy hardcore with his SMD series. These are both great tunes and show there's more to SL2 than just "On A Ragga Tip".

Verdict - Good

10. The Scorpions - Wind Of Change

The biggest hit to date for The Scorpions who had last been in the Top 40 in 1979 with their debut. My memories of this record at the time was that whenever it got played it never seemed to get played till the end and I was always intrigued as to how it ended. 

Verdict - Good

9. Monty Python's Flying Circus - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

This failed to chart when first released 12 years earlier, but thanks to Simon Mayo and his revival of old novelty records this was re-released. I did quite like it at the time admittedly, but its one of those songs that's supposed to be shit. Therefore a verdict of OK seems appropriate.

Verdict - OK

8. K-Klass - Rhythm Is A Mystery (New)

The debut Top 40 hit for K-Klass. It failed to make the Top 40 when released earlier on in the year, but here it is going straight into the Top 10. It perhaps suffers from it's "anthem" status, but it's a great record that really did sound quite something in the 90s.

Verdict - Good

7. Kylie Minogue And Keith Washington - If You Were With Me Now

Despite the fact that Kylie Minogue was still with Stock Aitken & Waterman (who were just Stock & Waterman by this point) it does sound different to her earlier hits. What we have instead is a song that sounds like it should be from a Disney movie

Verdict - Rubbish

6. Genesis - No Son Of Mine

My take on Genesis at the time were they were basically Phil Collins with a band. I had no idea about their history. It does seem quite odd in a way that a band who didn't really do singles in the beginning are having Top 10 hits 20 years after their 70s heyday. I do still think their later stuff could just as easily be Phil Collins solo material though and I happen to like Phil Collins as a solo artist.

Verdict - Good

5. Kiri Te Kanawa - World In Union

At the time I thought how the fuck did a record like this get into the Top 40. An opera song sung by someone I'd never heard of who wasn't exactly young. Many years later I discovered it was the song for the Rugby World Cup, I never knew there was such a thing until England won it.

Verdict - Rubbish

4. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Summer holidays are on the way, this so reminds me of the summer holidays of 1991 where it was number one the whole time and beyond. Quite remarkable for a 31 year old 80s singer who'd failed to even make the Top 40 with most of his prior singles. I got pretty sick of this at the time like most people, but I actually quite like it.

Verdict - Good

3. 2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This

The Top 40 debut for 2 Unlimited, though they had a Top 40 hit the previous year as Bizz Nizz. I did like this at the time, but my memory has been somewhat tainted by the crap they released after this. I also remember hearing it a few years later for the first time in a while and it sounded much slower than I remembered. 

Verdict - OK

2. U2 - The Fly

Despite the fact this topped the charts a knocked the longest running number one off the top, this may struggle to even get into the Top 10 when it comes to best known U2 songs. The fact it was a limited edition probably helped it to top the charts but also made it a blink and you miss it sort of song. The fact you don't hear it much these days though means it still sounds good.

Verdict - Good

1. Vic Reeves And The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy

It amazes me how many people I've met who don't remember The Wonder Stuff, particularly given they had a number one with this. They did alienate some of their fans by collaborating with Vic Reeves, but I do wonder if they'd think the same had Vic Reeves not been a famous comedian. To me there is absolutely nothing wrong with this song, I've always liked it.

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 19.5/30, or 65%. A decent score, but I wonder if the score goes down as we get towards the end of the year like it did with 1990 and 1999. We'll soon find out.

Bonkers Part 14

 

I could tell you the first upfront hardcore event I went to, but I honestly can't remember what the last one was. What I do know is that the first one was Helter Skelter at The Sanctuary and the last one would have been some small local club hosting a hardcore event.

Basically when I started going to upfront hardcore events again, I liked it enough to go to an event that wasn't too much effort but I didn't like it enough to travel to Birmingham for HTID or Shepton Mallet for Slammin Vinyl. The Sanctuary wasn't too far away, but by the time this Bonkers came out it had been closed for almost a year.

The fact of the matter was that I never consciously decided to stop going to upfront hardcore events, I just realised one day that I'd stopped going to them. I would still go to old skool nights though which makes it a bit more difficult to remember, but by the time Bonkers 14 came out I'm pretty certain I'd been to my last upfront hardcore event.

I also considered buying Bonkers 14, but I looked at how many remixes were on the track listing and decided no. Around the same time the Clubland Xtreme Hardcore series had started. I thought maybe that would cater for the cheese to appeal to the kids and Bonkers could be for those of us who had been around a while. I never listened to one to find out, until now.

Hixxy was the biggest culprit in terms of remixes with 8 of the 16 tracks being remixes. This included yet another remix of "Set You Free" and "Pretty Green Eyes" which definitely put me off buying it.

The opening track marked a return to Bonkers for the first time in the 21st century to Ramos and Supreme. They were doing the trancecore/freeform thing in the late 90s before disappearing for a few years. This comeback was very much down the cheesy route though. The same could be said for the opening few tracks. The GEOS track is one with MC Marley demonstrating once again why MCs shouldn't appear on tunes.

We then get a load of remixes until a track with MC Storm also demonstrating why MCs shouldn't appear on tunes. The final two tracks weren't that cheesy, but I didn't think much to them either.

Onto the Sharkey mix, and it a funny way it starts off as a refreshing change to the cheese fest that was Hixxy's mix. But if the Bonkers albums only ever consisted of the Sharkey mixes I would never have bought them.

A reviewer on discogs sums up the Sharkey mix when they say: well it's not bad, but after listening to it a few times I don't remember any of it.

The CD that's most likely to dictate whether I missed out on not buying this though is the Scott Brown one. The opening track sounds like a Clubland advert and is followed by 2 remixes. The latter grabs my attention until I realise it's an inferior version of a track on an earlier Bonkers. The same can be said about track 6 "Rock You Softly 2005".

It then turns into a bit of a cheese fest on tracks 9 - 11 including a remix of the god awful "You're My Angel" by Styles & Breeze. It then redeems itself with track 12 with a remix of a tune I'd never heard before. Then it's into the gabber section, which is definitely the best bit of the whole compilation.

Finally there's the Dougal mix. Lots of Essential Platinum records on there as expected. There's also an AATW record which is a hardcore mix of the commercial dance version of "Shining Down" by Force & Styles by United in Dance who are Dougal, Gammer and Styles.

Also on the mix is the only Next Generation record of the album which isn't a remix which is "Getting High" by Brisk & Ham. Unfortunately it's a rip off of "Higher Love" by Steve Winwood and a bit rubbish.

Appearing on Bonkers albums for the first time in the 21st century is Seduction who had come out of retirement, started a label called Maximum Impact and an event called Uproar. Also making their 21st century debut is Vibes who never went away but has never been very prolific at making records.

The interesting one is track 4 by Transit who are Chris Brown & Brad Carter. In the 90s Chris Brown was best known as Eruption and Brad Carter engineered lots of hardcore tunes. Away from hardcore they formed Ruff Driverz and Transit is noted as being an alias of theirs. However I'm not sure whether this was them returning to hardcore or this is a remix of an old track or a non-hardcore track. I've never read anything to suggest they did return to the scene at all.

The fact we had all these DJs/producers of yesteryear returning to the scene and that AATW had their own hardcore compilations would suggest hardcore was doing alright at this point in time.

In a way though, that was part of the problem. Look at any style of music that's had a degree of commercial appeal and you'll find it's the cheese that sells. Therefore they way to capitalise on that success is to make cheese.

All that said, Bonkers 14 was not that well received. I've seen some internet discussion saying Bonkers 15 was a big improvement. I'll find out whether it was next.

UK Charts Best Year Search: 2002

What's this all about?

Top 40

Best Song: Scooter - The Logical Song

Scooter became a household name in the UK thanks to this record. Many people had heard nothing quite like it with the high pitched vocals and the MC chatting a load of nonsense. Yet they were doing the same thing in 1995 when they made their Top 40 debut and nobody outside of the rave scene seemed to notice. What I love about Scooter is that it's music you're not supposed to take seriously and once you acknowledge that fact it's great fun to listen to/

Worst Song: Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss

When someone from a soap makes a record you can almost guarantee it's going to be crap. In the late 80s when we started to see people from Neighbours have hits it kind of made sense because every man and his dog was watching it. I don't know anyone who was still watching Neighbours in 2002. Of all the hit singles from Neighbours alumni, this is probably the worst.

Top 40 Review

In 2002 I was mainly listening to rap and R&B. I was also of the opinion that the Americans were much better at that type of music than the British.

Despite this, none of the rap records get full marks with just "Rollout (My Business)" by Ludacris getting half marks. I'm generally not a fan of Eminem's comedy lead singles from his albums, in this case "Without Me" and I genuinely tried to like "Hot In Herre" by Nelly at the time because it was produced by The Neptune's, but I think it's crap.

R&B wise there are just 2 records which I like which both come from British acts. There's "Roll On/This Is How We Do It" by Mis-teeq and "It Takes More" by Ms Dynamite. Both acts had previous had UK garage hits, but that genre was more or less finished by this point.

Outside of rap and R&B, The Neptune's did get it right with "Hella Good" by No Doubt who's later material is generally better than their earlier stuff in my opinion.

Dance music wise, the only record aside from Scooter to get full marks is "Be Cool" by fellow Germans Paffendorf. Some get half marks and some is pretty terrible such as "Tell It To My Heart" by Kelly Llorenna.

There's a grunge revival with records from Chad Kroeger ft Josey Scott, Puddle Of Mudd and The Calling and they're all crap. 

Once again cheesy pop dominates which has now been augmented by pop idol acts, in this case Will Young and Rik Waller both doing piss poor covers.

Every record that's got full marks has got a mention, which means the score is pretty poor.

Score: 7.5

Table

Only 1962 is worst than 2002:

UK Number 40s: Chris De Burgh - A Spaceman Came Travelling / The Ballroom Of Romance (1986)

 A Spaceman Came Travelling

The Ballroom Of Romance

We have another first. Whilst it's not unusual for an act to have both a number 1 and a number 40, this is the first time we've had someone make their Top 40 debut with a number 1 and follow it up with a number 40.

That number 1 single was "Lady In Red" which had topped the charts in August. This reached its number 40 peak at the end of December, just 4 months after he'd topped the charts. However, he actually failed to make the Top 40 "Fatal Hesitation", his follow up to "Lady In Red" which hit it's peak of 44 in September before "Lady In Red" had left the Top 40.

What is perhaps surprising though is that "A Spaceman Came Travelling" only made number 40 when it's a well known Christmas song that you still hear today. Despite this, it's yet to be amongst the Christmas records that now make a return to the Top 40 every year. Even if it did, it would effectively be a different single because it would appear as itself rather than as part of a double a-side.

The song originally appeared on his 1975 album "Spanish Train And Other Stories" and failed to chart when originally released as a single in 1976. It did however top the charts in his native Ireland.

It was following the success of "Lady In Red" that this got released. "The Ballroom Of Romance" was one of his current songs at the time, taken from his "Into the Light" album.

Making the Top 40 could be considered a success given that "A Spaceman Came Travelling" failed to chart the first time around. The way that "Lady In Red" divides opinion though means perhaps it's no surprise this got no higher than 40.