25 Years Since....September 2000

One thing I was expecting in September 2000 was the return of Alisha's Attic, but that got delayed. Still plenty of other music to amuse myself with:

Robbie Rivera - Bang

As someone who was into the harder side of dance music I did used to turn my nose up somewhat to house music. At the same time a lot of house fans would write off the harder styles. One house music fan though said they grew to like some of the harder dance music after hearing it in my car a lot. By the same token I'd grown to like house records such as this.

Tru Faith & Dub Conspiracy - Freak Like Me

The original Adina Howard version of "Freak Like Me" passed me by at the time. This was therefore the first version of the record I was familiar with. It's a garage record that was on plenty of tapes at the time. This was before the god awful Sugababes version of the record came out.

Encore ft Eska & Stephen Emmanuel - Coochy Coo

It felt like all the summer anthems were coming in September in the year 2000. I guess it gave them the opportunity to gather momentum in Ibiza etc. before getting a release.

Sasha & Darren Emerson - Scorchio

Darren Emerson left Underworld in the year 2000 and then collaborated with Sasha on this record. Both were big names on the DJ circuit so I guess expectations were high. This record certainly delivered though.

Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400

One common theme with the records that featured earlier on in the year 2000 was that a lot of them were actually from 1999. Here's another one from 1999. I do very much associate this with the year 2000 though.

UK Number 40s: Yxng Bane - Rihanna (2017)

 

In the modern era the most prolific genre of music in the Top 40 is rap. This trend began in 2017 helped in part by rapper Drake flooding the Top 40 with his records. It did however mean there were new rappers making their Top 40 debut and Yxng Bane was one of those. 

He first gained mainstream attention at the start of 2017 by featuring on a remix of "Shape Of You" by Ed Sheeran. Then he made his Top 40 debut as featured artist on "Bestie" by Yungen. Then came this, his first Top 40 hit as lead artist.

The title "Rihanna" is in reference to the singer of the same name. She had been one of the most prolific Top 40 artists in the decade or so prior to this, but by 2017 the hits started drying up for her. At the time of writing she's only had 3 Top 40 hits since, though by the time you read this she may have had her comeback single.

As for Yxng Bane, he was last seen in the Top 40 in 2021 at the time of writing.

UK Number 40s: Martin Garrix ft Troye Sivan - There For You (2017)

 

In an era where collaborations seem to be the norm, a number 40 can give opposing stories for the artists featured. This is the case with this record. Martin Garrix made his Top 40 debut with a number one in 2013 with "Animals" and this was the Top 40 debut for Troye Sivan who as you see started his Top 40 career with a number 40.

Because dance music events typically require one to be over 18 to attend, many DJs tend to be older than your typical pop singer. However, Martin Garrix the DJ was only 17 when he made his Top 40 debut and not old enough to attend some of the events he would play at. Singer Troye Sivan on the other hand is a year older than Martin Garrix.

Martin Garrix, whose real name is Martijn Garritsen was sole songwriter and sole artist on his debut hit but his remaining Top 40 hits have all been collaborations with multiple songwriters. This one was written by Brett McLaughlin, Martijn Garritsen, Ben Burgess, William Bean, Troye Sivan and Jessie Thomas, a fairly typical number of writers on a modern day EDM record.

As for chart success, well Martin Garrix scored what he'd presumably consider a more important number one in 2017, the number one DJ in the DJ Mag Top 100. 

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 39

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

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 records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

27. Everything But The Girl - Five Fathoms

The final original Top 40 hit to date for Everything But The Girl. I do remember at this point they very much seemed to be considered a part of the dance music scene. Personally speaking I never liked them, their dance record all sounded the same and the dreary singing from Tracey Thorn has always irritated me.

Verdict - Rubbish

25. Andrea Bocelli - Canto Della Terra

We've never really had much opera music in the Top 40 so for Andrea Bocelli to score 2 Top 40 hits in the 90s is quite and achievement. It's not a bad record once it gets to the chorus, but I'm not going to be in a hurry to listen to it again.

Verdict - OK

22. Jamiroquai - Supersonic

In 1999 Jamiroquai released "Canned Heat" which is probably the best thing they've ever done. This was the follow up that had a lot to live up to. It obviously isn't as good as "Canned Heat", but still a decent effort and contributed to my decision to buy the "Synkronized" album.

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 11.5/30, or 38%. That's quite an improvement.

80s in the 90s: 1987

Continuing the look at whether 80s acts succeeded in the 90s here's a look at the 1987 debutants:

Public Enemy: They had 4 Top 40 hits in the 80s, all pretty well known but none of them got higher than 18 with "Don't Believe The Hype" reaching that position. In the 90s they had 5 Top 40 hits including 2 number 18s and they fared better with "He Got Game" which made 16. All their 90s Top 40 hit charted higher than their 80s hits that weren't "Don't Believe The Hype". 

Verdict: Hit

Belinda Carlisle: In the 80s Belinda Carlisle clocked up 6 Top 40 hits, 4 made the Top 10 including chart topping debut "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and the other 2 failed to reach the Top 30. In the 90s she had 13 Top 40 hits but only 3 made the Top 10. This includes "(We Want) The Same Thing" in 1990 which is one of her better known records and enough of a reason to say she succeeded in the 90s.

Verdict: Hit

Wet Wet Wet: It originally looked as though Wet Wet Wet were finished as a chart act by 1989. Although they had Top 40 hits every year in the early 90s they failed to reach the Top 10 with any of their Top 40 hits from 1989s "Broke Away" to 1994s "Cold Cold Heart" with the exception of the 1992 chart topper "Goodnight Girl". Then in 1994 they were number 1 for 15 weeks "Love Is All Around" and they were rarely out of the Top 10 with their hits after that until they broke up in 1997.

Verdict: Hit

Heart: With 6 Top 40 hits in the 80s and 2 in the 90s they're clearly more of an 80s band. However you can't ignore that one of their 90s hits was "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" which was one of their three Top 10s. It came out in March 1990 so was most likely recorded in the 80s and very much sounds like an 80s record. Their other 90s hit was "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" which made 19 in 1993. It goes without saying that wouldn't be enough to consider them a 90s act too and in the case "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" it's more the 90s coming just a little too early.

Verdict: Miss

Rick Astley: He made the Top 10 with all his hits between 1987 and 1989 and they he just disappeared. Then in 1991 a now long haired Rick Astley made a comeback with a more mature sound with the hit "Cry For Help". It too made the Top 10 but this comeback was short lived. One final Top 40 hit "Hopelessly" came in 1993 and that just made number 33.

Verdict: Miss

T'Pau: They were one of my inspirations for doing these posts because of their solitary 90s hit with "Whenever You Need Me" in 1991. An example of a pop act squeezing whatever life they have left from their chart career with one final hit that nobody remembers. 

Verdict: Miss

Def Leppard: They started out in the 70s but they never had a Top 40 hit until 1987. Even then only their debut "Animal" made the Top 10 for them in the 80s. After a 3 year gap they came back in 1992 and reached number 2 with joint biggest hit "Let's Get Rocked". The 2nd time they reached number 2 was in 1995 with "When Love And Hate Collide". They had another 9 Top 40 hits in the 90s but none of them were Top 10s. Their big hits were enough though.

Verdict: Hit

WASP: They had 5 Top 40 hits in the 80s but none of them made the Top 20. Then they had their biggest hit in 1992 with "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New York Morgue)" which made number 17 and then in 1993 came "Sunset And Babylon" which made 38. I think when your biggest hit only makes 17 it's more appropriate to measure in quantity.

Verdict: Miss

Luther Vandross: In the 80s Luther Vandross got no higher than number 13 in the charts with "Never Too Much". 6 of hit 8 Top 40 hits that decade failed to reach the Top 20. In the 90s he managed 2 Top 10s but both were duets, "The Best Things In Life Are Free" with Janet Jackson and "Endless Love" with Mariah Carey. His remaining 8 Top 40 hits of the 90s didn't make much impact with 7 of them charting at 20 and below. I'd say duets aside his 90s record and 80s record are pretty similar.

Verdict: Hit

Christians: They'd had a total of 10 Top 40 hits, 3 of which have "world" in the title and 2 have "word" in it. They topped the charts in 1989 as part of the collective who did "Ferry Cross The Mersey" and that same year they scored their biggest hit on their own with "Harvest For The World". In the 90s they had 2 Top 40 hits, "What's In A Word" which made 33 and "The Bottle" which made 39.

Verdict: Miss

Boy George: He topped the charts with his solo debut "Everything I Own" but never really had much impact on the charts with his other solo singles. In the 90s he had 2 Top 40 hits, "The Crying Game" which made 22 and "More Than Likely" with PM Dawn which made 40. Also he was known more for being a DJ in the 90s than an artist.

Verdict: Miss

Terence Trent D'Arby: He had 4 Top 40 hits in the 80s but did 1 better in the 90s with 5. However his 4 80s ones included his 3 Top 10s and if I asked you to name 4 Terence Trent D'Arby records then his 4 80s ones would probably be it.

Verdict: Miss

Beastie Boys: There was a 7 year gap between their 4 Top 40 hits of 1987 and their comeback Top 40 hit in 1994. That comeback single was the double a-side "Get It Together / Sabotage" which is one of their better known records. Then in 1998 came their biggest hit "Intergalactic". They had a total of 6 Top 40 hits in the 90s.

Verdict: Hit

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 39

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Ruth Jacott - Ik Ga Door

Ruth Jacott was one of Rene Froger's friends on "You've Got A Friend" which was still in the Dutch Top 40 this week. Here she is doing a record on her own but having less of an impact on the charts. She was in the latter stages of her Dutch Top 40 career at this point. It's a dance record sung in Dutch with a short rap on it.

Me & My - Dub-I-Dub

What I learned about Me & My before listening to this was that they're a female vocal duo who are sisters and from Denmark. Going off that alone tells me this is going to be a cheesy record, and it is. It was a chart topper in their native Denmark where they continued to have hits into the 21st century. In Holland though they had no more Top 40 hits.

2000: The Good Old Days? - April

This was the month that UK garage really took off in the charts so it would only seem right to pick a UK garage record as the best record this month. This goes to N&G featuring Kallaghan with "Right Before My Eyes". The N and G stand for Norris 'Da Boss' Windross and Grant Nelson who were pioneers of UK garage in the mid-90s.

It was the month where many discovered that Craig David wasn't Artful Dodger when he had his first solo hit with "Fill Me In". We also had "Flowerz" by Sweet Female Attitude which is a great record even if it's overplayed. Then we have "Imagine" by Shola Ama which started life as an R&B record but works much better as a garage record.

It wasn't all good in the garage world though. We had True Steppers with Dane Bowers doing "Buggin Me" which is very much a pop does garage record. There was also "Slice Of Da Pie" by Monie Love that was a bit crap.

The genre garage was replacing as the dance genre of the moment was trance. We had the excellent "Airwave" by Rank 1 plus decent records from Ralph Fridge with "Angel" and Hurley & Todd with "Sunstorm" which samples my favourite Elton John record "Song For Guy". I also don't mind "From Russia With Love" by Matt Darey.

However we also had "Toca's Miracle" by Fragma. This was an example of taking a decent record (Toca Me) and ruining it with crap vocals. It worked though because it topped the charts.

Some decent house music in there too with "Jingo Jingo" by Basement Jaxx and "I Don't Want Nobody" by Cherie Amore. What wasn't so good was "You're The Reason" by Wamdue Project, one of many examples of following up your big record with something that sounds the same. 

Speaking of follow ups that sound the same, we have "Do It To Me Again" by Soulsearcher which isn't bad. It's an example of US garage which is different to UK garage.

Just the one rap record which is the double a-side "Rap Superstar/Rock Superstar" by Cypress Hill and both are decent tunes.

I could put this period of time down as me learning my music tastes were dance, rap and R&B because all the records which get full marks this month fits one of those genres.

R&B wise we have "Thong Song" by Sisqo which is a great record. There's "Only the Loot Can Make Me Happy" by R Kelly which is another great record. TQ was basically a rapper who sang and his record "Daily" was solid. Montell Jordan was back with his final Top 40 hit "Get It On Tonite. Of course we had rubbish too such as "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child.

Onto the worst record which goes to Precious with "Rewind". I wasn't 100% sure I knew it, but once I started playing it I knew it and after around 20 seconds I couldn't listen to anymore.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 36%

Here's a look at the chart:

I get the feeling we'll remain in the same ballpark as the end of 1999. We'll soon find out.