In July this year Steve Lacy scored a Top 40 hit with "Bad Habit". What was perhaps quite surprising about this is it was the first R&B record to make the Top 40 this year. Since then there's been just one further R&B Top 40 hit in "Under the Influence" by Chris Brown.
How did R&B became virtually extinct in the Top 40?
It's existed in some form in the charts since the 50s. Genres like soul and funk would fall under the R&B banner but by the 90s anything under the banner was being described as R&B.
It became more closely aligned with rap music. Collaborations were happening between rappers and R&B singers and some of these records made could legitimately be described as both rap and R&B. Such was the similarity, the way some records would fall under the rap or R&B banner was dictated by whether the record was rapped or sung.
At the same time though, the term R&B started being used to describe pop music to give it a bit more credibility. Even the Spice Girls single "Holler" in the year 2000 was being described as R&B.
The Spice Girls example though showed how the lines were being blurred between R&B and pop. It was written by Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels, who have written many R&B records too. You had other producers such as The Neptunes and Timbaland who were making both pop and R&B records. these producers had a certain sound that could be heard across all these records.
As we got further into the 21st century, the more commercial rappers and R&B singers started making electropop music and EDM.
Coming out the other side of this, rap music has gone from strength to strength from a chart perspective but R&B hasn't quite recovered. Many of the R&B hits from the last few years have come from Justin Bieber which doesn't do much for it's credibility.
Who knows though, this time next year the charts could be full of R&B
We're now into a new era for both Slammin Vinyl and Tazzmania. Both had now held their final events at the Rhythm Station in Aldershot. Hastings Pier was the new home of Tazzmania with the first event held with Slammin Vinyl.
The line up consists of a solitary drum & bass DJ with Grooverider and the rest of the line up being hardcore. The tape pack doesn't contain the Grooverider set though.
The tapes aren't entirely free from drum & bass though with the Easygroove set being a mixture of hardcore and drum & bass and this is why I've posted his set.
Quite a few new for 1995 drum & bass tunes appear on his set which are:
DJ Rap - Fuze 1+2
J'ia Francis - How Many Ways
DJ Sparks - Your Mind
A Touch Of Jazz - Between The Lines
B-Jam - Scandalous
DJ Phantasy - Just Waiting
Hardcore wise these are the new for 1995 records:
Druid & Heatwave - Music for the 90's
Druid & Heatwave - Round and Round
Phoenix - Who's In Control
DJ Psycangle - Smile, Fuck Up
DJ Supreme vs. Billy Bunter & D-Zyne - Outside World
Elation - The Anthem
DJ Ratty - Unknown Title
Dy-Sector - Free Your Mind
E-Logic - The Sorcerer
Marc Smith - Feeling
Diss Reaction - DJ Lan
DJ Creator & Shardy.L - Heaven Sent
Billy Bunter & D-Zyne - Rock To The Beat
DJ Sub-State - Boom!
DJ Psycangle - Parallel Worlds
Eye On Life - Got 2 Feel Good
Sensi-Tize - I Do
Party Animals - Have You Ever Been Mellow
A couple of significant ones here. "Have You Ever Been Mellow" by the Party Animals would be a Dutch number one the following year.
Another significant one is "Smile, Fuck Up" by DJ Psycangle. It's an alias of Luna C, a man who keeps breakbeat hardcore going to this very day. This tune though was very much the Dutch sound. Given the success hardcore was having in Holland at the time I guess it made sense to make a record like this.
There are 3 tunes that make 4 appearance each across the tapes. There's "Toytown" by Hixxy & Sharkey, no surprise there. Also appearing 4 time is "Ride Like The Wind" by Billy Bunter & D-Zyne which was one of the big records of the time. Finally there's "Rock This Place" by DJ Chewy who may have passed away by this point, it was 1995 when it happened.
One of the surprises on the tapes was the appearance of MC Massive. He was resident MC at Helter Skelter and this is the first time I've known him to appear at any rave apart from Helter Skelter.
It's the final event of the year for both Slammin Vinyl and Tazzmania. From this point onwards Tazzmania would carry on at this venue with the odd rave elsewhere before calling it a day in 1998. Slammin Vinyl would find a new home in Bagleys the following year where they held most of their events for the rest of the 90s.
When Dido first became known to the world it was off the back of being sampled in an Eminem record. It was therefore safe to assume she'd been round for a bit, at least long enough to have made a record for Eminem to sample.
Then we discovered she was sister of Rollo from Faithless and had been involved with their music. Both Rollo and Sister Bliss of Faithless had enjoyed Top 40 success prior to Faithless.
Going back even before that though we find a record which involves Dido, Rollo and Sister Bliss which is this record. Rollo was producer, Dido and Sister Bliss both provided vocals and Dido was also co-writer of the record.
Rollo had been behind the scenes with Top 40 records prior to this, but this was the first Top 40 hit to my knowledge that Dido and Sister Bliss had been involved with.
But what about Mr. V himself?
His real name is Rob Villiers hence the name Mr. V but aside from that the only thing I can find about him on the internet is that he is presumably the horrible ex boyfriend of Dido who she started out making music with.
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 1992 with my verdict on each record:
This is a song my memory places in 1993 for some reason. Quite strange seeing how this is an 80s band doing a song that sounds like it belongs in the 80s. Go West are one of those bands who have always irritated me and this record is no exception.
Yet another Gloria Estefan hit of the 90s I have no recollection of. It was a charity single where proceeds were donated to victims of Hurricane Andrew. It's a ballad and a pretty boring one.
Liberation was an alias of The Rapino Brothers who would go on to have success as pop music producers most notably for Take That. Don't let that put you off though, this is a house record and a pretty good one too.
This was the 2nd Top 40 hit for both artists and perhaps an unlikely Top 40 hit too. I can only imagine this was riding on the success of the opera influenced Olympic records which had recently charted. Not the sort of thing I would normally listen to, but I quite like it.
A collaboration between John McEnroe's wife and the drummer from the Eagles. There was a place I once worked at that would have the same tape on repeat for a period of time and this was on that tape. I'm not sure I'd heard it prior to that, but I don't think I've heard it since said job and have no desire to hear it ever again.
After Erasure did their Abba covers, here's an Abba tribute band doing Erasure covers in the style of Abba. It really is as awful as it sounds, but in a way I think that was the whole point.
Having very much heard of Bob Marley and seeing he had quite a few hits from looking in my British Hit Singles book, I'd not knowingly heard a Bob Marley record until this song came out. There was something oddly familiar about it. Obviously it was recorded long before it came out but this was the first time it had seen light of day.
The 2nd Top 40 hit for Felix which isn't as well remembered as his first. It has more of a eurodance feel to it than its predecessor which may explain why it enjoyed more success on the continent. Fortunately it doesn't cross the line into annoying cheesy territory that many eurodance records do.
This was the 2nd solo Top 40 hit for Dina Carroll which peaked at the same position as the first. This time the songwriting duties went to Robert Clivilles and David Cole. The result is something that doesn't sound all that different to her previous effort.
A record from 1967 which was given a new lease of life in 1992 when it featured on the Levi's advert. Erma Franklin was the sister of Aretha and had more or less retired from the music business long before this. It's the only record of hers I've ever heard so my impression of her as a singer is a positive one.
This record seems a bit out of place in 1992. It's one of those I feel I've always known but it's most likely that when I first heard it in 1992 I just assumed it was an old record. It was the 2nd single released for his greatest hits album, the first not making the Top 40 and prior to that he hadn't been in the Top 40 since 1986. Quite surprisingly he was still having Top 40 hits as late as 2004 but this is the last one I actually remember. It's your typical naff Lionel Richie record.
The Farm are best known for "Groovy Train" and "All Together Now" and many would struggle to name a 3rd record of theirs. Chart wise this was the 3rd most successful and yes it's a cover of the Human League record. On paper this should be awful and listening to it I can confirm it is awful.
Sunscreem weren't your typical dance act. Normally it would be one or two people using the latest technology to make a tune whereas Sunscreem were a group who played instruments. With technology changing the way it does, many dance tunes from 1992 were already sounded dated by the late 90s. This tune though doesn't even sound dated now. It's a great example to show those into EDM nonsense what proper dance music is.
It's funny that Prince wrote a record called "My Name Is Prince" and then the following year he would change his name to a symbol. This is the closest I've heard Prince come to making a rap record. He seems pretty angry in it too. Somehow it works.
I remember this one being played on Top of the Pops and having a ridiculously long guitar intro. Once the singing finally happened I realised that the guitar intro was the best bit of the song.
Being a London resident, I pass though Baker Street a lot and still to this very day I get this record going through my head more often than not when I do so. It was the Top 40 debut for Undercover and their best known. I'd not heard the Gerry Rafferty original at the time so this is my default version.
Believe it or not, this record failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 1979. The original recording had Bon Scott on vocals but this live version had been recorded at Donington the previous year and therefore had Brian Johnson on vocals. I personally think his singing sounds like a cat being strangled therefore this version is worse than the original, and I don't like the original.
I used to own the "Countdown to Extinction" album this was on, but always found the album to be a disappointment because for a band who were supposed to be really heavy didn't sound heavy at all.
In 1992 The Orb released the album "UFOrb" but this tune wasn't on it or any of their albums for that matter. Given the standard of dance music in the charts in the modern era it's hard to believe that interesting tunes like this could make the Top 40 back in the day.
To promote their greatest hits album Simple Minds released this double a-side of older songs. "Love Song" was first released in 1981 but failed to make the Top 40 the first time round. "Alive and Kicking" made number 7 when released in 1985 but goes one place better here. Given that their 1991 efforts were nowhere near as good as their earlier efforts, this re-issue is very much welcome. "Alive and Kicking" is amongst my favourite Simple Minds record.
In 1992 there were just 2 rap records which made the Top 10, "Jump" by Kris Kross and this record. It was the Top 40 debut for Arrested Development. It was the weird noises that I always liked about this record at the time.
I think we're reaching the point here where the rules were getting established in that if you were female you liked Take That and if you were male you didn't. I should point out I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking, I like what I like. What I will say about this song is that it showcases Gary Barlow's credentials as a songwriter. It's a proper song, nothing particularly cheesy about it unlike their previous efforts. That doesn't mean I like it though.
One memory I have of this record is that someone who I would regularly get lifts from would turn the radio off when this would come on. At the time I thought they simply could stand it but it's more likely they knew what the lyrics meant and didn't want kids listening to it. I still managed to hear it a lot though not knowing what the lyrics really were. I liked it because it's a good tune.
This was the beginning of Sweden taking over the music world. Dr Alban was a Nigerian based in Sweden and wrote this with Denniz Pop who founded Cherion Studios. There were a number of songwriters who have since been very prolific with their songwriting including Max Martin who at the time of writing only has Paul McCartney ahead of him in terms of most Top 40 hits as songwriter. Given how much dreadful music has been created as a result of this I should hate it. However it probably would have still happened with or without this record and I do like it in a 90s nostalgia sort of way.
The era of toytown techno in the Top 40 was now over and rave was giving way to eurodance. The theme for the novelty side of eurodance was versions of computer game music with this being the first. Quite surprisingly the man behind this record was Andrew Lloyd Webber. I prefer this to pretty much everything else he's done but that's because I really don't like his music.
This was the comeback single for Bon Jovi after 3 years away from the Top 40. The big news surrounded this at the time though was that Jon Bon Jovi had a haircut. Music wise I loved this record at the time and there came a point when Bon Jovi were my 2nd favourite band.
This was single number 28 for Madonna which was the lead single off what was only her 5th album. It somehow manages to be both irritating and boring. It was controversial at the time and the video was banned on MTV, but it's really a nothing song.
This is a tune which reminds me of the beginning of a school year. I loved this tune at the time and still do. It was the 3rd Top 40 hit for Bizarre Inc but it was a change in direction compared to it's predecessors. The story is that the record label wanted them to make more of a pop record and this was the result.
When it comes to Boyz II Men I can't look past the comparison that's often made between them and Jodeci which is basically Jodeci were the bad boys of R&B whereas Boyz II Men were the clean cut group. Behind the scenes though Babyface was one of the writers and he has also written for K-Ci & Jojo of Jodeci. That doesn't mean this song is good though.
I recall a few years ago watching a "Forgotten Gems of the 90s" show on one of the music channels. It was a welcome change to the usual anthem bashing you get on retro channels. If memory serves me correctly this was number one. My initial thought was is this really forgotten, but then I guess I've not heard it much since the 90s. That may be a reason why I still like 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 17/30, or 57%. I thought the score would go down given some of the new entries, but its stayed the same.
It was back in January when we did Hysteria at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes, but given how many raves were happening in 1995 it's taken until October to return.
There were 2 tape packs from this event, a happy hardcore one and a drum & bass one and I owned both. The happy hardcore one in particular brings back lots of memories making it difficult to pick a single one to post. There were 6 tapes in the pack and each one has a story.
I've decided though to pick my old favourite, Jimmy J. He was the hardcore DJ keeping the breakbeat alive as we head towards the end of 1995. I have to give the MC on the tape a mention too. His name is MC QC and appeared to just play a handful of events in late 1995 before disappearing and there is nothing I can find about him on the internet. If you listen to him though you'll understand why the bookings may have dried up. He just spouted random nonsense out of time in a weird voice. That said I've listened to this tape so much that I find myself saying his MC lines when I listen to the tunes featured individually.
Someone else I've found nothing about on the internet is DJ Degree. Anyone I knew who'd heard the set thought it was good, but this is the one and only event I've seen evidence of him playing at and he wasn't even on the flyer.
The reverse side of the Jimmy J tape is 15 minutes of Dougal followed by 15 minutes of Hixxy. The final tune of the Dougal set was "Toy Town" and the point the tape joins the Hixxy set is when he's playing "Toy Town". I do remember "Toy Town" appearing a lot in this pack, but "On Top" by A Sense of Summer was played an equal number of time.
Looking at the tracklisting of the Hixxy set I see something interesting I've not thought of before. The final 2 tunes he plays are "Happy Vibes" by Scotchman and "Hardcore Vibes" by Dune.
Speaking of Vibes, he also features in this pack. Unfortunately I didn't keep onto that tape long. A friend at school wanted to borrow it so I lent it to him. Next thing he's dropped out of school and I've not seen him since. No internet or mobile phones to keep in touch at the time.
The Seduction tape has a tune at the end which appears to be from a different set and uses the same sample as "Above the Clouds" by Sunshine Productions and is really good, but it's still not been identified on the internet.
The first tape I listened to in the pack was the DJ SY one and I have to say despite MC QC again in all his glory, this is possibly the best DJ SY set I've ever heard.
These are the new for 1995 hardcore tunes:
Eruption - Let The Music
Eruption - Don't Stop
Frenzy - Lets Work
Stripey J & Eff - Get’cha Some More
Dymension - Move Into The Rhythm
Eye On Life - Going All The Way
2 Xperience feat Cru L T - Never Give Up
Happy Tunes - Rush Me Tonight
Rebel Alliance - Flying High
Cartoon Capers - Dreema
Mixmatt vs. Rebel Alliance - Do You Love Your Hardcore
DJ Rush Gee - Innovator
I'd say the most notable of these is "Let The Music" by Eruption. I know that Eruption was quite prolific with his tunes, but I didn't realise he had so many in 1995.
Drum & bass wise we have 8 tapes, a sign that Hysteria was more about the drum & bass. I particularly liked the Brockie set, just seemed to flow very well. The Roni Size set is decent too, interesting how he played in the 2nd room and was yet to reach the heights he would go on to reach.
Plenty of new for 1995 drum & bass tunes too:
L Double - Rock Dat Shit
Hot Steppers - Volume 2
Bad Influence Ft. DJ Rush Puppie - Time & Time
City Connection - Impact
Smokey Joe - Smokin Hornz
Roni Size - Box Of Tricks
Serious Intent - Easy Dred
Mask - One People
The Outlaw - O.G. Call
Roni Size - Caspar
L Double - Music For The 90's
Bizzy B & Agent K - Original Gangster
P-Funk – Return Of The Funksta
D-Power - Self Control
Tarzan - Hold Up
Joint Venture - Sunrise
X-Clusive - No War Business
John B - Green
Special K - Deep In Space
The Essence - Intelligence
Keen - Vol 1 A
Decoder - 8 Tap
Concept 2 - Soon Come
DJ Krust - Angles
Roni Size - Dayz
Potential Bad Boy - Bass Rumble
Lion Of Judah - Set It
DJ SS (Ft. Mental Power) - Highly Recommended
Renegade - Tear Out
Dr Wootang - Wootang Re Lick
Benny Blanco - Remember Me
The Dream Team - Just A Little Hip Hop
DJ Krust - Not Necessarily A Man
L Double & Liccle D - Dubplate Special
Eternal Bass - A Piece Of Drum n Bass
45 Roller - Shotz
Clayton - Pot Fiction
Blackstar feat Top Cat – Champion DJ
One again whilst "The Lighter" and "Hearing Is Believing" both appear, it's "This Style" by Shy FX that appears most on the tapes, appearing 7 time including a few seconds of the Hype set that can only be heard of the happy hardcore pack.
One of the MCs appearing at this night was MC Free & Easy. He's better known these days as Terry Turbo, the man who used to run One Nation. By this point One Nation had become a purely drum & bass event and even when happy hardcore DJs had previously featured you'd tend to get just 1 or 2 at a given night.
Terry Turbo would also take over Dreamscape later on and drop happy hardcore from its line ups. Despite this, as MC Free & Easy he was MCing to happy hardcore sets at this night.
It does however remind me that One Nation is yet to feature in these posts so I'll try to do something about that before the end of the year.
It's fair to say this record is pretty well known so you may be thinking how did this record only make number 40. You may also be thinking did this really come out as late as 1994.
The song was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse in 1964 for the musical "The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd". It was then recorded in 1965 by Nina Simone. As a side note that same year Leslie Bricusse had a number 40 as songwriter with "If I Ruled the World" by Tony Bennett.
At this point Nina Simone was yet to have a UK Top 40 hit. Her debut came in 1968 with "Ain't Got No - I Got Life". In January 1969 when her debut was still in the Top 40 she released the single "To Love Somebody" and "I Put A Spell On You" on the same day. "To Love Somebody" entered the Top 40 straight away and "I Put A Spell On You" entered the Top 40 a week later meaning she had 3 singles in the Top 40 at the same time.
"I Put A Spell On You" was from her 1965 album of the same name which also had "Feeling Good" on it. The next time we'd see her in the Top 40 would be in 1987 with "My Baby Just Cares For Me" which came from her debut album "Little Girl Blue". This was a result of it appearing on the "Chanel No 5" advert and gave her a number 5.
We were now into an era where old songs were being given a new lease of life after featuring on an advert. A prime example of this came in 1993 when "Young At Heart" by the Bluebells topped the charts after appearing on the Volkswagen advert.
Then in 1994 "Feeling Good" appeared on the Volkswagen advert and the single had a photo of a Volkswagen Golf on the cover. Given Nina Simone succeeded before from appearing on an advert and Volkswagen ensured an old record topped the charts, this sounded like a recipe for success but it wasn't to be.
Nina Simone wasn't done with the Top 40 yet though. A remix of "Ain't Got No I Got Life" by Groovefinder in 2006 gave Nina Simone her final Top 40 hit to date which perhaps unsurprisingly appeared on an advert, this time being Muller.
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 1992 with my verdict on each record:
A record from 1967 which was given a new lease of life in 1992 when it featured on the Levi's advert. Erma Franklin was the sister of Aretha and had more or less retired from the music business long before this. It's the only record of hers I've ever heard so my impression of her as a singer is a positive one.
I guess you could say this was the calm before the storm as far as M People were concerned. It was their 4th Top 40 hit but so far they hadn't got any higher than 29. They would mostly have Top 10s after this. Yet this early period of M People produced better music than what followed. Don't get me wrong, it's still essentially pop music but it isn't the full on cheese we'd come to know them for.
After clocking up hits at least every other year since 1980 we wouldn't see The Cure in the Top 40 for another 4 years after this record charted. I can appreciate The Cure as musicians and do like some of their record, but I find this one boring.
This was the lead single from the "Automatic for the People" album which is arguably the album they're best known for. It was quite a low key introduction to the album though, I don't remember too many people acknowledging "Drive" at the time and the other singles are much better remembered. That means it hasn't been played to death so I still like it.
We were at the beginning of the school year at this point and I can tell you that we were studying electricity in science. My reason for remembering that is because in our experiments we used connectors and at the same time this record was out. It's their Top 40 debut and lead track off their 3rd album of the same name. It also played it's part in my decision to buy the album.
Yes that's right, Billy Ray Cyrus had another song. Whilst the one we all know is a bit of a joke song that nobody can really take seriously, he's trying to be more serious on this record. It doesn't work. On a more positive note, it's better than anything his daughter has ever done.
The Farm are best known for "Groovy Train" and "All Together Now" and many would struggle to name a 3rd record of theirs. Chart wise this was the 3rd most successful and yes it's a cover of the Human League record. On paper this should be awful and listening to it I can confirm it is awful.
Sunscreem weren't your typical dance act. Normally it would be one or two people using the latest technology to make a tune whereas Sunscreem were a group who played instruments. With technology changing the way it does, many dance tunes from 1992 were already sounded dated by the late 90s. This tune though doesn't even sound dated now. It's a great example to show those into EDM nonsense what proper dance music is.
A collaboration between John McEnroe's wife and the drummer from the Eagles. There was a place I once worked at that would have the same tape on repeat for a period of time and this was on that tape. I'm not sure I'd heard it prior to that, but I don't think I've heard it since said job and have no desire to hear it ever again.
There's something quite amusing about the fact this was recorded at Radio 1 in the park given by the mid-90s Radio 1 refused to play their music. I saw them do something similar at Radio 2 in the park a couple of years ago. It works well even, though the fact their songs are known to sound the same helps.
In my college days I bought an old rave compilation from Cash Converters and put it on in the common room. Several people in the common room weren't into rave and weren't familiar with most of the tunes. I was there saying they were missing out, this was good stuff. Then this tune came on which everyone did know, but I had to concede that this one was shit. Think that was the only one we all agreed on.
Believe it or not, this record failed to reach the Top 40 when first released in 1979. The original recording had Bon Scott on vocals but this live version had been recorded at Donington the previous year and therefore had Brian Johnson on vocals. I personally think his singing sounds like a cat being strangled therefore this version is worse than the original, and I don't like the original.
When I saw the video to this I thought Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson looked different to how I remember them. That is of course because it's not Luther Vandross or Janet Jackson in the video, it's Damon Wayans and Stacey Dash from the film "Mo Money" which this record is from.
The 10th single of the year for The Wedding Present and finally they have one I actually quite like. The "get along get along get out" bits make it interesting and it's got enough of a tempo to it to keep me interested. Proof that almost everyone has at least one good tune in them.
This was the 2nd solo Top 40 hit for Dina Carroll which peaked at the same position as the first. This time the songwriting duties went to Robert Clivilles and David Cole. The result is something that doesn't sound all that different to her previous effort.
In 1992 The Orb released the album "UFOrb" but this tune wasn't on it or any of their albums for that matter. Given the standard of dance music in the charts in the modern era it's hard to believe that interesting tunes like this could make the Top 40 back in the day.
This record seems a bit out of place in 1992. It's one of those I feel I've always known but it's most likely that when I first heard it in 1992 I just assumed it was an old record. It was the 2nd single released for his greatest hits album, the first not making the Top 40 and prior to that he hadn't been in the Top 40 since 1986. Quite surprisingly he was still having Top 40 hits as late as 2004 but this is the last one I actually remember. It's your typical naff Lionel Richie record.
Having very much heard of Bob Marley and seeing he had quite a few hits from looking in my British Hit Singles book, I'd not knowingly heard a Bob Marley record until this song came out. There was something oddly familiar about it. Obviously it was recorded long before it came out but this was the first time it had seen light of day.
This is the opening track to his "Tubular Bells II" album which is is the sequel to his "Tubular Bells" album in the 70s. I listened to that album years ago after hearing about what a masterpiece it was. I can't say I was a big fan if I'm honest, but I didn't mind it. I can say the same about this record too.
This was single number 28 for Madonna which was the lead single off what was only her 5th album. It somehow manages to be both irritating and boring. It was controversial at the time and the video was banned on MTV, but it's really a nothing song.
Being a London resident, I pass though Baker Street a lot and still to this very day I get this record going through my head more often than not when I do so. It was the Top 40 debut for Undercover and their best known. I'd not heard the Gerry Rafferty original at the time so this is my default version.
I think we're reaching the point here where the rules were getting established in that if you were female you liked Take That and if you were male you didn't. I should point out I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking, I like what I like. What I will say about this song is that it showcases Gary Barlow's credentials as a songwriter. It's a proper song, nothing particularly cheesy about it unlike their previous efforts. That doesn't mean I like it though.
The era of toytown techno in the Top 40 was now over and rave was giving way to eurodance. The theme for the novelty side of eurodance was versions of computer game music with this being the first. Quite surprisingly the man behind this record was Andrew Lloyd Webber. I prefer this to pretty much everything else he's done but that's because I really don't like his music.
It's funny that Prince wrote a record called "My Name Is Prince" and then the following year he would change his name to a symbol. This is the closest I've heard Prince come to making a rap record. He seems pretty angry in it too. Somehow it works.
To promote their greatest hits album Simple Minds released this double a-side of older songs. "Love Song" was first released in 1981 but failed to make the Top 40 the first time round. "Alive and Kicking" made number 7 when released in 1985 but goes one place better here. Given that their 1991 efforts were nowhere near as good as their earlier efforts, this re-issue is very much welcome. "Alive and Kicking" is amongst my favourite Simple Minds record.
This was the beginning of Sweden taking over the music world. Dr Alban was a Nigerian based in Sweden and wrote this with Denniz Pop who founded Cherion Studios. There were a number of songwriters who have since been very prolific with their songwriting including Max Martin who at the time of writing only has Paul McCartney ahead of him in terms of most Top 40 hits as songwriter. Given how much dreadful music has been created as a result of this I should hate it. However it probably would have still happened with or without this record and I do like it in a 90s nostalgia sort of way.
This is a tune which reminds me of the beginning of a school year. I loved this tune at the time and still do. It was the 3rd Top 40 hit for Bizarre Inc but it was a change in direction compared to it's predecessors. The story is that the record label wanted them to make more of a pop record and this was the result.
One memory I have of this record is that someone who I would regularly get lifts from would turn the radio off when this would come on. At the time I thought they simply could stand it but it's more likely they knew what the lyrics meant and didn't want kids listening to it. I still managed to hear it a lot though not knowing what the lyrics really were. I liked it because it's a good tune.
When it comes to Boyz II Men I can't look past the comparison that's often made between them and Jodeci which is basically Jodeci were the bad boys of R&B whereas Boyz II Men were the clean cut group. Behind the scenes though Babyface was one of the writers and he has also written for K-Ci & Jojo of Jodeci. That doesn't mean this song is good though.
I recall a few years ago watching a "Forgotten Gems of the 90s" show on one of the music channels. It was a welcome change to the usual anthem bashing you get on retro channels. If memory serves me correctly this was number one. My initial thought was is this really forgotten, but then I guess I've not heard it much since the 90s. That may be a reason why I still like 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 17/30, or 57%. Standards are slipping but still a decent score.
