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Louise was a FINE pop star. People just diss her because she was a bit bland, but she had some really nice tunes - admittedly nothing earth shattering.
Pop! Check out Naked, Arms Around The World and 2 Faced.
Louise always had amazing remixes, the record company must have spent a BOMB commissioning them all. DJ Tonka remix of All That Matters and Rated PG mix of Arms Around The World are the best of these 2 for me.
omgies shampoo are totes cool when i was 17 back in 94 i totally wanted to be them even tho i was boy. but now i'm a girl so it all worked out alright really!
Louise was a FINE pop star. People just diss her because she was a bit bland, but she had some really nice tunes - admittedly nothing earth shattering.
Pop! Check out Naked, Arms Around The World and 2 Faced.
I'd LOVE to hear them. DJ Tonka's 2002/3 updates of Robin S's singles brought them back to life for me after years of over-exposure.Originally Posted by That One
Reflected onto the wet pavement, can you see what I see?
"Naked" sounds the most instant and they're all alright pop tunes but they all just seem so LIFELESS. I can definitely see the sexless description from Slave's write up in that "Naked" video
Naked practically had chlamydia it was so sexual.
Reflected onto the wet pavement, can you see what I see?
Arms Around the World is so slinky. The production's got that anaemic touch about it, it's got the delicate glamour of a supermodel's eating disorder.
Last edited by Mugatu; 01-06-2012 at 11:15 PM.
Throwing up CHUNKY BEATS.
Reflected onto the wet pavement, can you see what I see?
"Arms Around the World" is one of those songs that pops up disproportionately often on my iPod shuffle (and usually for the first ten seconds I'm wondering if it's Janet instead). Certainly one of the finer moments of Lousie (one of my all-time fave typos on Dotmusic of old).
I quite liked the A*Teens' versions of those ABBA classics, even though I pretended not to on the official ABBA forum where pretty much everyone trashed them. But obviously they'd go on to more memorable things (in Marie Serneholt's case, THIS winning Melodifestivalen performance from earlier this year).
Hey go get the doctor
Doctor came too late...
395. Truce - Eyes Don't Lie (Released: 1998, UK peak: #20)
Chart run: 20-42-58
Truce are another of those acts that were curiously dropped right after releasing a few singles that achieved modest chart peaks and then scoring their biggest hit. 'Eyes Don't Lie' is a wonderful slice of mellow R&B that I suspect could have been a little bit bigger in the hands of one of the slightly more successful artists of the time - it actually sounds VERY similar to something that Kele Le Roc might have released and briefly brushed the top ten with (to give it some kind of context) in that the vocals are competent rather than outstanding and the melody is pleasantly memorable but it's never going to be a genre-defining track. Nonetheless, this really WORKS for me as a breezy, summery tune - and it sounds just that bit more notable than other forgotten mid-tempo R&B tracks which have featured thus far - although curiously despite normally being one for a good old key-change whacked into a song, here it almost feels a little unnecessary. It doesn't really add anything to the song where so often it's the perfect excuse for some ridiculous ad-libs, here it just feels like it's there for the sake of it - not a criticism as such, it just doesn't provide the usual "lift" that such moments often do - 'Eyes Don't Lie' isn't really a track that needs to build to an epic climax, it's perfectly fine just ticking along as it is. Ultimately this was a breakthrough of sorts for Truce after their debut album campaign failed to produce a single top 40 hit. Yet perhaps it was just not enough for the group's label to invest further in them and ultimately this went on to become their final single - they didn't completely vanish from the industry however. One of the members, Michelle Escoffery, did go on to pen several big pop hits including Liberty X's 'Just A Little'.
394. Spice Girls - Step To Me (Released: 1997, UK peak: #--)
Chart run: N/A
Bridging the gap between the 'Spice' and 'Spiceworld' albums, 'Step To Me' wasn't ever commercially released as a single, instead the only way to obtain it was to collect 20 Pepsi ring pulls and send them off. This still garnered quite a lot of radio airplay however and I generally remember it being about this time that "Spice Mania" was at its PEAK - the first album campaign was wrapped up and there was a HUNGER for more. The merchandising and sponsorship deals were EVERYWHERE and it was all quite new and exciting (they continued into the 'Spiceworld' campaign of course, but by then it was largely "more of the same" or "what else can we actually put our face on?"). 'Step To Me' was apparently claimed more than 600,000 times in the UK which would put it amongst their biggest sellers and really seems quite astonishing given the rigmarole you had to go through to get it. The song actually bridges the gap between the first and second albums quite well; sound-wise it's vaguely reminiscent of the slightly less POPTASTIC numbers from 'Spice' ('Love Thing', 'Something Kinda Funny') but it has the kind of KILLER hook that they really mastered on 'Spiceworld'. The chorus is a bit more of a cohesive group effort than a lot of their singles (not a single Mel C ad-lib in SIGHT here) and it's much catchier than I gave it credit for the first few times I heard it. As usual, it's the solo spots that are the highlights: Mel B's rap is possibly my FAVOURITE that she laid down during the group's career ("Ch-ch-ch-check yourself if you think I'm gonna stand for THAT, what do you think I AM, some kind of pussyCAT?") but Emma (and Victoria)'s "Now it's TIIIIIIIME, come prove your words to ME, if you think you've got what it ta-a-akes; there's no TIIIIIIIME, for your insecu-RUH-ties, I'm gonna WIPE that smile off your fa-a-ace" pre-chorus really is the killer blow, it remains a fantastic example of the group's ability to craft and completely nail a catchy hook. Perhaps owing to the limited number of tracks in the group's catalogue at that time, 'Step To Me' was performed live a number of times and is probably better known than its status as a Pepsi giveaway would suggest. Which makes it even more baffling that it wasn't included on the group's Greatest Hits...
393. Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It (Released: 1995, UK peak: #11)
Chart run: 11-14-13-13-20-29-35-42
34-20-16-7-6-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-6-7-10-12-19-24-27-34-35-40-43-49-48
Although Def Jam Recordings is now home to a number of major stars, in the mid-nineties it was struggling and a year before 'This Is How We Do It' was released, the label was threatened with closure. It survived via a buyout of Sony's share in the label and this went on to become its first #1 hit. Like so many BIG R&B/hip-hop tracks from the '90s that have already appeared in the countdown, this represents Montell Jordan's commercial peak with everything that came after it failing to reach the same level of success and rightly so. It is of COURSE based around a sample, this time it's Slick Rick's 'Children's Story' which provides the thumping beat that plays out for the duration of the song. Again, I think the appeal here is that it sounds properly and effortlessly COOL; if anything it sounds BETTER with time, the tinny beat just SCREAMS mid-'90s. I still can't help but nod my head and shrug my shoulders when I hear it; it's got a very accessible beat. It scored a totally deserved seven-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, on the other hand it had a rather brief eight week run in the UK top 75. Although I can totally see a song like 'This Is How We Do It' having MUCH more appeal in America, I think this has endured much more strongly than its #11 peak would suggest. Indeed, I suppose it did eventually got a solitary week at #7 in 2002 when it was given a lick of "Mis-Teeq FLAVA" - small recompense given the significant underperformance of the original though.
392. Tatjana - Santa Maria (Released: 1996, UK peak: #40)
Chart run: 40-59
What can I really say about 'Santa Maria' other than it is really one of the most fabulously homosexual pop songs of the 1990s? Yes, Queer As Folk probably made it an indisputably gay venue-only dancefloor cut, but did people seriously treat this as anything BUT beforehand? The song was composed in and influenced by mid-'90s Ibiza and I guess instrumentally you can kind of hear those origins, particularly in the piano-synth breakdown. It's just everything that's heaped on top, which makes this increasingly GAY. The melodramatic, slightly ghostly backing vocals, the ridiculous(ly catchy) "Rhyme to the rhythm, come ON feel the rhythm, there's a rhythm that rhymes that rock the whole time" male vocal and even Tatjana's rather limited vocal delivery - the whole thing has pretty much every element of your average local gay establishment pop/dance STAPLE that no-one in "real life" paid much, if any attention to. Not that this is a criticism, because 'Santa Maria' is such a GREAT, arms-aloft, poppers-o'clock track – it’s a total pick-me-up to this day. This had a rather modest chart run in 1996 before being re-recorded by Samantha Fox in 1998 for the UK and American markets where it achieved only slightly more success, peaking at #31. Like many similarly niche tracks, this song is probably better known than its chart stats would suggest – though it proved to be a career killer for both Tatjana and Samantha Fox, neither of whom have charted another song in the top 75 since this.
391. All Saints - Bootie Call (Released: 1998, UK peak: #1)
Chart run: 1-7-15-24-34-46-60-57-63-71-71
This is one of the only times during the All Saints’ career that I felt they had become a group who were plucking chart toppers out of thin air based on their fanbase rather than the quality of the material they were releasing. In hindsight I’m rather glad that ‘Bootie Call’ reached #1, even if it did plummet out of the top 40, but in any context other than following up two previous massive singles as it did, it seems evident that this would not be claiming such honours. At the time I found this to be a bit LACKING in terms of the big pop hooks of the songs it followed, but hindsight is much more flattering and I actually think this has aged incredibly well. The intro is simply delectable, easily my favourite part of the song – I’m not even entirely sure what is going on, the sound effect still sounds like a horse braying or someone snoring to me, neither of which are particularly flattering endorsements of the All Saints’ sex appeal. I guess the appeal in ‘Bootie Call’ now, which I didn’t get at the time, is that it’s quite unassuming; the verses are nonchalantly delivered whilst the chorus consists of the same line repeated over and over again as they sheepishly coo “It’s a bootie CALL”. This track is almost the complete opposite to the very deliberate commercial intentions of something like ‘Lady Marmalade’; it’s much more of a grower, which is what has perhaps given it better legs. Indeed I like this song now perhaps more than I ever have before – a completely forgotten #1 single, and really quite irrelevant to whatever legacy the All Saints might have left behind – but all the same a magnificent track that has secured a place in the chart archives however lucky it might have been to do so.
YAY
LOVE Bootie Call. It was my immediate favourite from the album, and remains so to this day. Fuck you War of Nerves. You can have funky.
FEARLESS FEMALE
Santa Maria is one of my favourite gay club songs ever. I remember dancing to it as a 16 year old at an after-hours party in Brixton and feeling like I'd really ARRIVED.
390. Kéllé Bryan - Higher Than Heaven (Released: 1999, UK peak: #14)
Chart run: 14-33-43-71
It's one of pop music's small crimes that Kéllé Bryan's solo career was cut short - just imagine how much pop toilet GOLD could have been gleaned from a woman who was unceremoniously DUMPED from Eternal by FAX and then forced to abandon her £1.2 million record deal when she was diagnosed with Lupus before her ironically titled album 'Breakfast In Bed' made it to the shelves (like it was EVER going to get released). I was personally a little disappointed that 'Higher In Heaven' didn't perform better - quite frankly there isn't enough gospel-tinged pop music in the charts; admittedly the marketing for this was all wrong and doesn't play to the song's strengths at all. This is a delightfully little uplifting summery pop track so firstly don't set the video in an underground BUNKER and secondly don't release it in OCTOBER - the single cover might be a budget effort, but at least it seems to vaguely understand what might sell the track. Looking back now, I was perhaps over-optimistic about 'Higher Than Heaven's commercial prospects because if you're really going to sell this sort of song in the late '90s then you need some serious VOX and the biggest praise I can heap on Kéllé Bryan's performance in those terms is that she establishes herself as a more capable solo vocalist than Louise. Lupus or not, I suspect that her career was on a downwards trajectory from this point ANYWAY (follow-up single 'I Wanna Know' totally bombed) as indeed was Eternal's, who released their final single just a few weeks later.
389. Janet Jackson - Go Deep (Released: 1998, UK peak: #13)
Chart run: 13-29-41-55-75
Another hot cut from 'The Velvet Rope' - although this one sounds MUCH more like the Janet Jackson of today; 'Go Deep' is everything you'd expect from a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis production, full of little plinky sound effects. It's not QUITE the modern Janet mumble-fest, but it was one of the first times when it felt like she could have given the delivery a little bit MORE in terms of the attitude you feel the production really demands. Instead she opts for a softer vocal approach, to the point where she's almost inaudible during the chorus, save for her ad-libs ("...and we don't get no SLEEP, cause we by up all NIGHT", etc.) which are what gives the chorus a bit of character. Nonetheless, this rather hands-off approach to the vocals is probably saved by the fact that the chorus is really strong melodically which allows her the opportunity to be carried along somewhat. 'Go Deep' was far from the biggest hit from 'The Velvet Rope' which makes it somewhat bizarre that this style of song, above pretty much everything else she dabbled in on 'The Velvet Rope', became the one she replicated so much on her subsequent material - you can certainly hear elements of 'All For You' in it, but it's hard now to shake the feeling that it's been done five times over on almost every album since. It never quite managed to assert itself on the Billboard Hot 100, though that might perhaps be because Janet chose instead to perform album track 'What About' during promotion for the single...
388. Alanis Morissette - Thank U (Released: 1998, UK peak: #5)
Chart run: 5-9-18-21-29-40-53-71-74-73
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 17-20-23-26-32-43-42-62-84-92-99
As the first single from Alanis Morissette's 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie' album, I guess there was a certain level of anticipation about this in the aftermath of 'Jagged Little Pill'. Yet it delivered quite different chart fortunes - in the UK it became her highest peaking single and also her longest running on the chart whereas in America it performed more modestly and was a significant step down from the top ten successes of 'Ironic' and 'You Learn/You Oughta Know'. Normally I am not a fan of pop songs that try to make profound statements about life, but that is pretty much at the root of the construction of 'Thank U' and whilst there's nothing here that is going to change the way people see the world, I quite like the rather
387. Eternal - Stay (Released: 1993, UK peak: #4)
Chart run: 16-10-7-4-6-9-21-36-51
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 87-60-45-33-27-26-26-23-19-20-22-20-25-33-42-49-59-67-77-83
The original 'Stay', released by Glenn Jones in 1990, was a very minor hit in America. The difference between his and Eternal's versions is ridiculous - whether it's because I'm just so accustomed to the latter I'm not sure, but the original sounds so anaemic and void of soul compared to this, which went on to become the defining version of the song in the UK and America. This is EVERYTHING that a debut single should be in my eyes; it's bang on trend (well, for the time), the harmonies sound confidently polished, the styling and image of the group is pretty cool and above all else it's totally VOXALICIOUS. 'Stay' has really stood the test of time, it sounds absolutely fantastic in 2012 as an old-school R&B track; the difference really (and which is perhaps most telling in the chart performances) is that where the majority of Eternal's material was very British-sounding R&B, this could easily be the big-budget debut by an American girl group, it really sounds that significant. It duly became a top 20 hit in America, albeit Eternal's only one there, whilst in the UK it was the first of 12 top ten hits for the group.
386. Kylie Minogue - Shocked (Released: 1991, UK peak: #6)
Chart run: 10-6-9-18-23-38-55
'Shocked' was apparently not originally intended for release as a single, but towards the end of the 'Rhythm Of Love' campaign was beefed up with a remix by DNA, acquired a rap by Jazzi P and subseqeuntly became the final release from the album. Personally if we're talking Kylie songs with raps then I'd go for 'One Boy Girl' every time due to how entertainingly RIDICULOUS it is whereas here it's neither here nor there. The appeal of 'Shocked', for me, was always that it's not QUITE up there with the biggest of Kylie's SAW pop hits in terms of out-and-out spectacle but instead flirts with dance (the first 20 seconds or so in particular, especially the piano chord intro before the beat kicks in) and has a slightly more sensual edge to it. The chorus is hook-laden, but it's as much about the way Kylie delivers it as it is about the songwriting - I can't really imagine anyone else singing the "ooh-OOH"s, etc. in quite the same way, something which I couldn't honestly say about a lot of those early tracks which, when you examine the SAW back-catalogue, really were much of a muchness. I also think 'Shocked' has aged really well (discounting the rap which is VERY early-'90s); identifiably from her early career of course, but nowhere near as twee/novelty-sounding as 'I Should Be So Lucky' et al. I also think it benefits somewhat for not being up there with the most well-known singles from that period of Kylie's career; she's performed it fairly regularly as part of her tour setlists and it is easily recognisable, but it was her smallest hit at that point in terms of chart run and also her joint lowest-peaking single along with 'What Do I Have To Do?' which I think is reflected in how infrequently you seem to hear this immediately cited in any discussion of Kylie's career.
"Go Deep" was the first Janet song I liked. Like you say, her delivery of it is pretty much everything that's wrong with her recent material (well kinda) but the chorus melody really is nothing short of tremendous.
YAY at a Tatjana appearance
Hey go get the doctor
Doctor came too late...
How old IS Tatjana then?
omgies shampoo are totes cool when i was 17 back in 94 i totally wanted to be them even tho i was boy. but now i'm a girl so it all worked out alright really!
How many more Eternal songs to come if Stay has already been?
omgies shampoo are totes cool when i was 17 back in 94 i totally wanted to be them even tho i was boy. but now i'm a girl so it all worked out alright really!
IMDB (yes, she IS a thespian) says:
Born:
June 9, 1963 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia [now in Croatia]
Hey go get the doctor
Doctor came too late...
This is definitely my favourite Tatjana track.
Baila baila. Muchacha. Baila baila. Mi amor.
What's confusing? We just find the heart of the prison and the dragon who speaks without walls, and we're home free. Simple.
Wasn't it Princessa who rapped on Shocked?
Reflected onto the wet pavement, can you see what I see?
I always thought it was MC Kinky, who made Erasure's "Take a Chance on Me" fit for the urban market (
Hey go get the doctor
Doctor came too late...
Princessa and Jazzi P are one and the same.
Also Pauline Bennett.
A normal person must
Dismiss you with disgust
And weep for those who trusted you.
Santa Maria charted on its rerelease. It didn't chart the first time but apparently this was down to rumours of chart fixing and it was deleted from the chart. I think Mike Stock mentions something about it in his autobiography, and that it actually sold enough records to be top 10.
I'm sure I've read him say the same thing about Nicki French's For All We Know, which charted at 42 after having some suspicious sales excluded, but Music Week at the time stated that it would only have been number 39 anyway!
omgies shampoo are totes cool when i was 17 back in 94 i totally wanted to be them even tho i was boy. but now i'm a girl so it all worked out alright really!
Yeah I think it's happened a few times with his record label. He seems quite butter about the whole thing, and is probably part of the reason why he left the music industry.
Santa Maria really should have been a bigger hit than the chart position shows, I remember it being everywhere at the time!
Typo of the month
Hey go get the doctor
Doctor came too late...
385. New Kids On The Block - Step By Step (Released: 1990, UK peak: #2)
Chart run: 2-5-12-23-30-45-72
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 27-16-8-4-2-1-1-1-6-13-30-45-55-66-81
The first single from New Kids On The Block's third album of the same name, 'Step By Step' is the group's biggest selling single and represents their commercial zenith, although the album as a whole was also the point where they started to experience a backlash and their chart fortunes decline. Unlike many of NKOTB's earlier singles, I don't think this one sounds AS horribly dated by modern standards; the production is beefier and less tinny, but I guess the real enduring factor about the track is the chorus melody - the "gonna get to you guuuuuuurl/really want ya in my wooooooorld" hook remains utterly infectious, although nothing can beat the middle section for enduring boyband NAFFNESS where each member of the group gets a "step" (the best one blatantly being Jordan Knight's falestto "It's just you and MEEEEEEEEE") culminating in a massive "HUH!" (pelvic thrust not even optional). I was only four years old at the time but I can't imagine this was a moment in pop music that was ever cool, but it totally WORKS and since the group reformed it continues to be a moment of feverish audience participation for ladies of a certain age (and weight, apparently). New Kids On The Block continued charting hits throughout the first half of the '90s, but they never went higher than this position again - indeed 'Step By Step' was their penultimate top three single.
384. Bizarre Inc - I'm Gonna Get You (Feat. Angie Brown) (Released: 1992, UK peak: #3)
Chart run: 17-6-4-3-4-5-9-16-25-42-57-73-x-72
There's not a great deal of history to discuss around this track; Bizarre Inc formed in 1989 as a house/dance-pop duo, though underwent a few line-up changes behind-the-scenes during their career. It was during 1991 and 1992 that the group enjoyed its biggest success - in 1991 they reached the top five with 'Playing With Knives' which peaked at #4 and the following year went one better with this track. With vocals provided by Angie Brown, the song was a massive crossover hit and also reached #47 on the Billboard Hot 100. You don't even need me to tell you that it works really well, the formula of dance act +session singer has been replicated so many times since and it's not hard to see WHY with cuts as satisfying as this. 'I'm Gonna Get You' remains a delectable slice of old-school dance; the "da da da da dun da da" outro slays me every time into a
383. Taylor Dayne - Love Will Lead You Back (Released: 1990, UK peak: #69)
Chart run: 69
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 55-40-32-23-18-15-10-4-2-2-1-5-12-23-27-34-47-67-83-87
As I mentioned earlier during discussion of 'I'll Be Your Shelter' which was released as the second single from the 'Can't Fight Fate' album in the UK, 'Love Will Lead You Back' was the third single from that album, whereas in America the releases were switched the other way around. Not, normally, a particularly significant move and something that continues to happen semi-regularly, save for the fact that this track went on to become Taylor Dayne's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100, her only #1 single in fact. It's therefore quite bizarre that it wasn't released in the UK before 'I'll Be Your Shelter', although as it happens by the time it was released it went on to become a MASSIVE flop in comparison to its success across the Atlantic. Taylor Dayne's career had already hit the skids in this country and true enough, 'Love Will Lead You Back' is not one of Diane Warren's career-revival '90s efforts. All the same, the credence of having been so big in America would have translated somewhat to the UK you'd have thought; I actually think it's a WONDERFUL MOR ballad, epic and rousing in all the right places and perfectly suited for semi-regular rotation on late-night commercial radio - Wikipedia even suggests that it was originally intended for Whitney Houston but Clive Davis insisted on it being given to Taylor Dayne instead (which, if true, is probably NOT a glowing testament to its quality). Alas globe-conquering success was not for this single and it's Taylor's smallest top 75 hit over here. She did recover somewhat and returned to the top 20 in 1993, which conversely was when her US chart fortunes declined considerably.
382. Marvin and Tamara - Groove Machine (Released: 1999, UK peak: #11)
Chart run: 11-28-36-44-67
The speed at which new acts and singles were PUMPED into the charts, mostly via Woolworths' 99p for a cassette / £1.99 for a CD first week pricing structure invariably meant that many were mercilessly cast aside if they didn't achieve a certain level of success. It's ridiculous but despite this hitting #11 at a time when the internet was rapidly growing in popularity, there is almost NO trace of it remaining online - mostly, one presumes, because missing the top ten had pretty much already sounded the death knell for Marvin and Tamara. It is of course not a reflection on the quality of 'Groove Machine'; I will not hear a negative word said about it because THIS is what the late '90s were all about - the song clearly takes a reference point from Jackson 5 tracks like 'ABC' and 'I Want You Back' vocally, production-wise and in the fact that it's STUPIDLY uplifting. I guess I'd file it along with the sort of throwaway summery stuff that S Club 7 did on their first album in that it's deliberately retro-pastiche but totally embraces that and runs with it. Despite some lyrical clunkers which seem somewhat out of place on a track delivered by two KIDS ("We don't need no witness to make you believe, we're on a one way road to where you gotta be, we be jamming like a refugee, when you hit on that groove machine"
On that GROOOOVE machine, YEAH
Shake it
My crew be jumpin' till the break of LIGHT (when you hit on that, when you hit on that, when you hit on that groove machine)
G to the R double O, V, E, got all my CREW with ME
Here we GO for the whole WEEKEND (here we GO)
(Do do do do do do DO) JUMPING, PUMPING (ON that GROOVE MACHINE)
(Do do do do do do DO) JUMPING, PUMPING (watch me NOW)
(Do do do do do do DO) YEAH (do do DO)
Here we GO for the WHOLE WEEKEND
(Do do do do do do DO) *generic rap*
I really think this is a WONDERFUL pop song and very underrated. And whilst #11 at that time clearly was NOT good enough, Marvin and Tamara never really stood a chance when the crucial follow-up was the festive-themed 'North, South, East, West' which a) was not very good and b) naturally had no shelf-life beyond December (even though it actually peaked at #38 on the 8th January 2000 - God bless that seasonal lull). Pop casualties they swiftly became, but 'Groove Machine' deserves to be remembered.
381. M People - Search For The Hero (Released: 1995, UK peak: #9)
Chart run: 9-12-17-25-31-36-50
One of my earliest memories of how influential the power of advertising can be, 'Search For The Hero' first came to my attention when it was used to advertise the Peugeot 406, a moment that remains one of my enduring childhood memories because it is such an effective, striking advertising campaign. I always felt like it gave the song a real sense of PURPOSE, but listening back to it now I think it remains a superb piece of music - it actually came much later in M People's career than I remember - I would have dated this as much earlier than songs like 'Moving On Up' or Sight For Sore Eyes' and certainly before Heather Small's vocals descended into total parody. Yet it was actually one of the group's final top ten singles (the only other two being 'Just For You' and 'Angel St.' which both peaked at #8, the former in 1997 and the latter in 1998) and by this point we should have been quite accustomed to Heather Small's vocals - yet I always thought there was something instantly "classic" sounding about them on this song more than the majority of their other singles. They really suit the soulful saxaphone accompaniment and the two together create an immediately stirring ballad which I still think sounds utterly EPIC despite the overplay this suffered in the few years following its release. Musically I think this has aged much better than M People's other signature tracks because it is less tied to the emerging trends of the decade in which it was released - and some of the images within the accompanying video remain somewhat shocking; it's hard to imagine that anyone in 2012 would clear a shot of a small child swinging from a noose. And if you enjoyed nothing else about this track, the single cover at the very least is highly entertaining with Heather Small's ridiculous weave breaking up the text as she pulls a fabulously self-unaware pose.
And her bandmates looking at it like there's a tenner stuck in it at the back.
Reflected onto the wet pavement, can you see what I see?
I LOVE Baila Baila! I also loved the 2003 remix of Santa Maria, although neither of them compare to the majesty of the '95 Santa Maria.This is definitely my favourite Tatjana track.
Baila baila. Muchacha. Baila baila. Mi amor.
Bizarre Inc is of course amazing. May I take this opportunity to repost this video
Skip to 1:30 to hear Angie barking like a dog, and see Hazell Dean arguing with her over the microphone.
omgies shampoo are totes cool when i was 17 back in 94 i totally wanted to be them even tho i was boy. but now i'm a girl so it all worked out alright really!
Can you believe that Marvin and Tamara is the ONLY one of the last bunch that I bought on CD single? I bought any old TAT in 1999. I can barely remember how it goes though. I bought the second single too! And I was TWENTY at the time, no excuse!
I do LOVE Taylor Dayne though and have the Can't Fight Fate album, but I was a bit young to buy singles back then, but I ADORE Love Will Lead You Back. Gorgeous.
As for M People, they are an act I kinda like sometimes, but there's just something about them that doesn't click with me. I'm just not sure what it is...
Last edited by Kalabaliken; 08-07-2012 at 01:06 AM.
"Love Will Lead You Back" really is made by Taylor's delivery of it so I'm not sure it would've been any better as a Whitney track... probably would've blended right in the frigid scream-a-thon pop balladry of "Didn't We Almost Have It All" or "Where Do Broken Hearts Go". Taylor adds a warmth to it that I love, the best bit is:
I KNOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH
Love will leeaaad you baaaack
Someday I just KNOW THAT!-
Love will lead you back in my arms...
It's really all about that dramatic switch up from the pained growl of those first 3 lines to the vulnerability of the 4th line.
Last edited by POP!; 08-07-2012 at 09:37 AM.
And Slave - I trust that the forever underrated "Tonight" will be above "Step By Step"?
Probably not
I did CONSIDER it because it was one of my favourite moments at the NKOTBSB concert. But the studio version is really HORRIBLE, it suits them much better now vocallyAnd Slave - I trust that the forever underrated "Tonight" will be above "Step By Step"?
Probably not
I remember being greatly amused at the time how North South East West by Marvin and Tamara literally sounded EXACTLY the same as Groove Machine.
Except with SLEIGH BELLS
I just listened to both of the Marvin and Tamara singles on You Tube. GOD. Tamara's vocals were terrible. Makes Lolly sound like Mariah in comparison. My tastes have obviously improved a lot since then...
380. Take That - Could It Be Magic (Released: 1992, UK peak: #3)
Chart run: 9-5-4-4-3-3-4-10-17-27-45-54
The final release from Take That's debut album, this actually ended up being their biggest hit by FAR at that point - it was their first single to break the top five and their longest runner on the chart (although the 12 weeks this amassed seems rather PALTRY in hindsight when compared to the 73 weeks that 'Rule The World' has accumulated). I guess the most obvious reason for the success of this single compared to the five that came before it is that it's a cover of a well-known song - though a rather smart choice given the Barry Manilow original peaked at #25 and the Donna Summer version (which this is essentially an update of) reached just #40. It goes without saying that in chart terms this is therefore the defining version of the track, but it would be unfair to dismiss it merely because it's a cover version - Take That's 'Could It Be Magic' brings the song bang up-to-date (in 1992 terms) and whilst some may disagree, I think it actually realises the hook much better than the aforementioned versions; I've heard this SO many times during my life, but every time I think I might have grown tired of it, the "could this BE the magic...at LA-AH-AST" part of the chorus makes me cast any such thoughts aside. This really was where Take That EXPLODED - indeed, it wasn't until 2007's 'I'd Wait For Life' that one of the group's singles charted lower than #3 following this release. Despite this feeling like something of an "easy hit", it's still played semi-regularly on the radio and there does seem to be some genuine, enduring fondness for it.
379. Bad Boys Inc. - More To This World (Released: 1994, UK peak: #8)
Chart run: 10-8-12-20-41-56-65
A boyband who almost certainly would not have been given so many chances to land themselves a hit were it not for the continued success of the act above, Bad Boys Inc. finally hit the top ten with this, their fourth single. I actually really like their debut album because it is uplifting, feelgood pop at its most BASIC, it does exactly what it says on the tin, no more and no less. I wouldn't specifically say this is the single that most deserved to earn credentials as their biggest hit (more on that much, much later) but at the same time there is nothing about which disappoints me in doing so - if anything I just find it slightly BIZARRE that it was this point where they suddenly entered the top ten, given 'More To This World' really isn't THAT different to the rest of their material. It's pretty much an amalgamation of everything that was on trend in pop music at the time - looped tinny beats, a light saxaphone accompaniment and ropey harmonies. This is the kind of song that really WORKS in the summer, it's gloriously sun-drenched (perfectly realised in the music video) and in that context you wouldn't even stop to acknowledge the fact that the whole concept of Bad Boys Inc. was ridiculously NAFF. The group released another two singles which returned them to the lower reaches of the top 30 and promptly VANISHED. Despite releasing the one studio album and with no real sense that there is any kind of demand for a comeback, a Greatest Hits compilation appeared just a few years back in 2010. Madness.
378. Republica - Ready To Go (Released: 1996, UK peak: #13)
Chart run (1996): 43-59
Chart run (1997): 13-15-17-26-36-46
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 99-96-93-93-79-73-68-65-59-59-59-57-56-56-59-60-59-65-73-80
'Ready To Go' was originally a non-starter in the UK, reaching an underwhelming peak of #43 in 1996. However later that year it was remixed for America where it went on to become more of a hit than the #56 peak would suggest; the following year the song performed much better in the UK, although again I'd say it's MUCH better and more of an enduring hit than the #13 position implies. I can see why the remix was a bigger hit, the addition of an electric guitar accompaniment definitely gives the song a lot more of a RUSH and would invariably have given it more appeal to the American market at that time. Yet I'm probably a bit fonder of the more piano-orientated production of the original, somewhat ill-fitting an arrangement as it was at the time for the kind of act that Republica were, mainly because the US Mix is too often like a wall of generic guitar FUZZ. There are some really nice melodies audible in the original that are totally swamped by the remix, and being able to hear the beat a bit more invests the original version with a bit more energy. I'd definitely class 'Ready To Go' as one of those songs that felt like more of a hit after it left the chart - it regularly pops up as the sound-bed on sports programmes and Wikipedia lists an impressively long list of similar uses in America (and I'm quite willing to believe that most are genuine rather than the result of "Saffron" frantically sat at home typing them up whilst listening to 'Speed Ballads' on repeat). There is little else to say about Republica that I haven't previously mentioned - other than that the anatomically unlikely cover of their 2002 'Ready To Go: The Best Of' album still looks RIDICULOUS.
377. Björk - It's Oh So Quiet (Released: 1995, UK peak: #4)
Chart run: 9-8-9-8-4-4-4-8-19-29-39-47-59-71-69
I've always been of the impression that this is considered as a novelty single of SORTS, which really is a massive discredit to it. Yet the reason it's quite low on the countdown is because I really can't imagine a time when I would ever listen to it unless I was in an absolutely batshit mood. This, quite frankly, is not the kind of song you can just drop into your daily listening unless you're in a particular mood. I'll be honest, I don't really GET Björk, but I totally appreciate what she's done with 'It's Oh So Quiet', a song that was approaching fifty years of age when she released her version of it. The production isn't MASSIVELY different from Betty Hutton's English-language version from 1951 but she manages to grant her cover a vocal which totally captures the original era of the song rather than sounding like a quirky Icelandic woman doing a really BAD impression of it. Listening to 'It's Oh So Quiet' in 2012, it doesn't sound quite the strikingly unique song that it did before the Amy Winehouse-led jazz revival, but it shouldn't be forgotten that this really was a something QUITE different when it appeared in the mid-'90s chart. It's not even like Björk was known for this sort of thing; her previous top ten hit 'Army Of Me' really has nothing in common with this at ALL. I suppose my concluding thought of 'It's Oh So Quiet' is that it's BONKERS in every context, but that's exactly WHY it works and what has made it such an enduring moment in pop music. I do feel like the success of this song has somewhat undermined everything Björk has released since because she was never a massively commercially successful artist and her subsequent chart positions were roughly consistent with those before this single. But after scoring such a memorable hit, it's somewhat inevitable that people will use it as a benchmark by which everything else is measured.
Last edited by Slave; 20-07-2012 at 03:53 PM.
376. Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills (Released: 1999, UK peak: #6)
Chart run: 6-12-14-22-27-32-40-54-74
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 84-52-11-2-1-2-3-2-3-2-4-6-9-12-17-23-27-35-44-61
I always consider 'Bills, Bills, Bills' as the moment that Destiny's Child really launched as a group; although 'No No No' outpeaked this in 1998, it was followed by two singles which missed the top ten so when they re-appeared 16 months later, it felt like a re-launch of sorts, particularly in the UK. There would still be a few line-up changes to come, but this was the first of 11 consecutive top ten singles for the group and really their last that didn't proceed straight down the "R&B club banger" route - although this was the first release from 'The Writing's On The Wall', I'd say it's got a lot more in common with their debut album sound-wise thanks to the sparser production and tight vocal hooks. The whole package comes together magnificently here: Ms. Tina's pink and purple outfits are positively ICONIC, the delivery is STEAMING with attitude, and the "I. DON'T. THINK. YOU. DO. SOOOOOO YOU. AND. ME. ARE. THROUGH" put-down is one of my favourite Destiny's Child moments EVER - it was basically the crux around which the WHOLE track hung and the bit that surely everyone knows. It totally overshadowed the rest of the song for me in my early-teens when R&B was not REALLY on my radar. It took another few years for me to appreciate that 'Bills, Bills, Bills' was a lot more than an acerbic brush-off; it's such a polished song, everything is delivered in moderation and employed to maximum effect - the squelchy production, Beyoncé's ad-libs (absolutely KILLER during the penultimate chorus), the stop-start beat; it always threatens to get more involved than it ever has any intention of doing so, the end effect being that it leaves me wanting MORE every time. From here on in Destiny's Child seemed to be much more about the fuller productions - not necessarily a bad thing given the number of quality songs that followed, but it always struck me as somewhat odd that they never really went back to this type of track when the response was so positive - particularly in America where it became their first of four #1 singles. It might now be overshadowed by the behemoth that was the 'Survivor' album in terms of the group's defining hits, but I suspect that the memorable hook of 'Bills, Bills, Bills' is quietly woven somewhere into the psyche of pretty much everyone that grew up around the charts at this time.
375. Westlife - Swear It Again (Released: 1999, UK peak: #1)
Chart run: 1-1-2-6-15-24-31-39-48-56-59-60-x-x-x-71
Billboard Hot 100 chart run: 96-82-66-55-55-46-44-44-37-35-32-25-21-20-20-25-30-33-45-56
I, along with the majority of Moopy, really could not stick Westlife when they turned into a "one album and one single per year" act who generated high album sales based purely on the fact that they released their material during the winter period; they were long past being a pop group, instead simply turning an easy profit with minimal musical investment. Last year's announcement that they were splitting up and the subsequent ITV farewell special that my friend made me sit through however led me to re-evaluate the quality of their early material. Yes they were a cliché with their constant ballads and performances on stools, but some of those early songs really aren't THAT bad (particularly where they worked with Swedish songwriters). 'Swear It Again' was the group's debut single and pretty much sets the template for the early part of their career - written by Steve Mac, I think it did differentiate from the other boyband ballads of the time (*NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, etc.) in that it's a bit more orchestral sounding as opposed to squelchy synths. I like the way it never really has the BIG moment where it throws a massive key-change and overwrought ad-libs into the final few choruses; instead the song reaches quite a gradual and somewhat understated climax. The introduction of Westlife was well managed - Boyzone had arguably peaked and a successor was needed; Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Louis Walsh (though it was surely nothing more than a smart marketing ploy to appease fans as the baton was passed - what else did he ACTUALLY do?!) which essentially guaranteed them a fanbase from the off. It was absolutely no surprise to see this go straight to #1, and the following year it even reached the top 20 in America, their only single to chart there.
374. Zucchero & Paul Young - Senza Una Donna (Without A Woman) (Released: 1991, UK peak: #4)
Chart run: 54-49-34-22-9-7-4-7-10-15-28-65
I completely blame my Mum for the inclusion of this song - it is, in all likelihood, the kind of song that I would never, EVER have come across were it not for her rampant OBSESSION with all things Paul Young when I was growing up. I cannot even begin to guess just how many times I listened to 'From Time To Time - The Singles Collection' during my childhood. Indeed, I don't think it actually left the tape player in our car from 1991 until she discovered Matchbox 20 in 1996 - she went through four copies of it because it melted over and over again where it was constantly in the car during the summer months. Anyway, I could quite happily disregard the majority of Paul Young's material, but I do actually REALLY like this one. Originally recorded and released in the late '80s by Italian rock singer Zucchero, his material was so successful in his home country that he attempted to bring it to the UK in the early '90s with the does-what-it-says-on-the-label album 'Zucchero Sings His Hits in English' which this was lifted from. It was a massive breakthrough for Zucchero and Paul Young's first time back in the top ten since 1985 - yes it is pretty much your archetypal MOR soft-rock but I just think it's so, SO catchy and the melody really well crafted. The addition of Paul Young is neither here nor there really; the production is identical to the original and although he obviously contributes English lyrics, the two singers' vocal technique isn't a million miles apart and they complement each other. After this single it was back to the chart doldrums for Paul Young and Zucchero charted two more duets in 1992 with Randy Crawford (#44) and Pavarotti (#15) before returning to Italy where he continues to release chart-topping albums, the most recent in 2010.
373. Cleopatra - I Want You Back (Released: 1998, UK peak: #4)
Chart run: 4-11-17-24-36-46-64
The REALIST in me would say that 'I Want You Back' is one of those songs that you just DON'T cover - even if it WERE possible to top the original, why would you ever NEED to? It's not a song that people need reminding of or desperately needs updating to make it sound less dated. But taking off my sensible head, I think this is a GREAT version of the song; it doesn't veer too far from the source material (until the end where it all gets a bit WEIRD), it's every bit as FUN and FUNKY (as late '90s bubblegum pop covers go) as you would expect and delivered with some hot pop vox to boot. For the most part this is essentially an updated version of the three minute original although it adds an additional minute to the running time which is essentially an extended outro featuring the group ad-libbing over a generic '90s robotic looped "I want you back now baby" vocal. It's this, amidst chants of "I say WHAT" and "1998 Y'ALL" in a fake American DRAWL that makes 'I Want You Back' such a prime, enjoyable example of that joyful period of pop music where respecting the legacy of the original track was not even a consideration when preparing a cover version. Ultimately I think this did quite well to reach the top five given how completely unnecessary it is; in doing so it became Cleopatra's final top ten single (besides their participation in the Brits ABBA tribute) although they had another few years left in them thanks to the success of their debut album in America.
372. Texas - Say What You Want (Released: 1997, UK peak: #3)
Chart run: 7-3-6-8-13-16-28-31-37-48
'Say What You Want' was a massive comeback for Texas, arriving eight years after their first (and only at that point) top ten single 'I Don't Want A Lover' back in 1989, it returned the group to the top ten as the first single from their million-selling 'White On Blonde' album. The song received heavy rotation on Chris Evans's Radio 1 breakfast show and continues to be something of a local radio staple - and it's really not hard to see why. The track is so perfectly crafted for that purpose - the chorus is naggingly hummable yet I've never really hit a point with it where it's annoying and the guitar melody which is most audible during the intro and verses is just perfect, sounding like it's been pinched straight from a Californian rock group (it does actually remind me of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers). Mostly, 'Say What You Want's real strength lies in the fact that despite being quite understated to the point where you’ll find yourself nodding your head along to it without even noticing these days, it's a LOVELY listen when you take the time to pay attention to it, which isn't always true of other such tracks. I have deliberately ignored the fact that this charted in 1998 as well, reaching #4 after being remixed to feature the Wu Tang Clan, mainly because that version is a complete MESS of 'Carnival Girl' proportions and deserves to be erased from the history of pop music.
371. Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Released: 1994, UK peak: #1)
Chart run: 3-1-1-2-9-13-14-13-19-33-46-52-60-75
'Let Me Be Your Fantasy' was originally released in 1992, but in top 75 chart terms its first appearance came two years later after the track was re-issued due to enduring popularity in clubs. There's no doubting that it's an absolute CLASSIC, it wasn't until a decade later that I started clubbing and it was still going strong as a setlist staple, something it continues to be today. Although the song is very typical of the breakbeat hardcore period of dance music from which emerged, it's aged incredibly well - mainly, I guess, because the heavy use of the piano melody in the song is something that is still (perhaps even MORE) commonplace so it isn't entirely jarring to throw it into a mix of euphoric house tracks. It really IS ridiculously euphoric as well, it's one of those other worldly moments on the dancefloor where you can almost completely forget about everything and everyone around you - the spaced-out, floaty piano breakdown and the "Let me BE...let me BE" vocal towards the end of the track is a total
I only purchased 2 out of the last 24. Bjork and Baby D. The latter being an eternal favourite.
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