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| ThePensmith Reviews Every Girl Group Top 40 hit (2000 - now), Updated every Sunday |
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 Jun 11 2015, 08:18 AM
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#41
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 They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
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11TH MARCH 2001
Dream - "He Loves U Not" Official UK Chart peak: #17  One of the beautiful things about taking on the challenge of writing this thread, when it started two months ago, was the prospect of reacquaintance I was going to make not just with personal favourites of mine, but with some more unusual nuggets that fell some way short of being a top 10. Such is the case with the only entry in this thread from our next act. Formed in late 1998 by LA talent scout Judith Fontaine, and originally called First Warning, Californian teens Holly, Melissa, Ashley and Diana had, in a bold move not seen since the early days of the Spice Girls, ditched their original manager and after changing their name to Dream, secured a massive record deal with Sean Combs (Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Diddy/Did/delete as applicable)' label, Bad Boy Records. Launched in the autumn of 2000 in the States, 'He Loves U Not' was their debut single and quickly raced up to #2 on the Billboard chart - only one place behind Destiny's Child with the mighty 'Independent Women'. It was March of the following year by the time it got its release here in the UK, but could only spend one week inside the top 20 before falling. As my memory recollects now, I was forever getting them confused with a number of different US teen acts - one of which we'll meet later from 2001, and also short lived teen singer Kaci who released her debut single 'Paradise' that very same week. And before I'd even heard or seen what Dream looked like, I actually naturally thought that 'He Loves U Not' was a Christina Aguilera single as it had that same skippy R&B flavoured pop slant. Indeed, it shares a songwriter with her own 'Genie in a Bottle' - Aussie expat hitmaker Steve Kipner. The chorus is probably the only redeeming feature of what is otherwise a bit of a limp effort - it sounds like the sort of record that features in one of those awful, overtly American straight to video movies about a smalltown girl where she becomes a popstar and records this kind of song, then it goes to number one and the cheesy label boss and everyone tells her 'THIS. IS. A. HIT!' despite the fact it's quite patently anything but. A series of personnel changes and a flop second album that never reached our shores put paid to Dream's eventual split a year later. |
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Jun 11 2015, 08:44 AM
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#42
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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18TH MARCH 2001
Alisha's Attic - "Push It All Aside" Official UK Chart peak: #24  Another lone appearance now from an act more predominantly successful in the 90s than in this decade. And a shame really, as these two happen to be one of my personal favourites. Essex sisters Shelly and Karen Poole - daughters of Brian Poole, frontman of the popular 60s beat combo The Tremeloes - aka Alisha's Attic, are one of those weird chart anomalies, in that they strangely never got a record inside the top 10, even with their platinum selling 1996 debut opus 'Alisha Rules the World' and it's 1998 follow up, 'Illumina'. But they had a very consistent hit rate nonetheless, with all seven of their previous singles to this - among them gems like 'I Am, I Feel', 'Indestructible' and 'The Incidentals' - peaking inside the top 40. 'Push It All Aside', the first single from the sisters in two years at this point, and first off their third album, 'The House We Built', joined these ranks to become their 8th top 40 hit - and what was to sadly be their last. Whilst not their absolute best single - indeed, of the three examples I listed above, I'd say the latter was probably their finest hour (So Solid Crew even sampled it on their debut single 'Oh No (Sentimental Thing)' in December of the previous year) - 'Push It All Aside' was another example of the spiky, slightly twisted acoustic pop that the sisters were so great at doing. Like a lot of my favourite pop acts, their sound was too clever and knowing for the top spot, let alone top 10, but it sounded so wrong to have not seen them gone higher than a number 12. Their follow up single in July, 'Pretender Got My Heart', bombed out at #43 whilst the album 'The House We Built' did likewise at #55 a week later - bringing to an end the five year, quiet but powerful career of Alisha's Attic. In the decade plus since their split, however, both have gone on to find even greater success as songwriters - Karen has notably penned hits for Kylie, Will Young and fellow entrants on this thread Atomic Kitten and Sugababes, whilst Shelly has written for the likes of Rachel Stevens and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Jun 11 2015, 08:45 AM |
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Jun 11 2015, 09:15 AM
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#43
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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15TH APRIL 2001
Sugababes - "Run for Cover" Official UK Chart peak: #13  You'll remember when we last met Sugababes v1.0, how I said that 'New Year' was strangely omitted over some of their better peaking but lesser remembered singles from later incarnations of the ladies on their 2006 best of 'Overloaded'. Apart from their debut hit, this was the only other single from the first lineup that made its way onto said best of album. 'Run for Cover' finds the ladies on fine form once again, and exactly one year ahead of the single that was to finally break them, showcased their raw, gritty urban credentials off to great further potential - with a lushly orchestrated backdrop to boot. So I guess the question begs - what was it that failed to catch on to scoring them a second top 10 hit here that some of their later singles did manage? A quick look at the video above might give us some of our answers. This single was released at about the same time the equally critically acclaimed cult teen drama 'As If' started on Channel 4's youth strand T4, and this single's accompanying visuals are like a micro version of an episode of that show - dark, moody and not easily approachable (also, eagle eyed amongst you, watch out for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from a young, future 'When the Beat Drops Out' hitmaker Marlon Roudette). Even taking the simmering teen tensions in the lineup at that point out of the equation (we'll go into this in more depth with the next single of theirs we'll meet), Sugababes as a band were still not quite malleable or accessible enough for the British record buying public. Public perception is a powerful thing and sadly, no matter how good the record, how accessible you make yourself is what can cost the difference between a top 10 or pop oblivion - something that, as we'll see, Sugababes were teetering on the brink of later that summer. |
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Jun 11 2015, 10:30 AM
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#44
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c:
Joined: 12 March 2014
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Eek, I was only 1 or 2 at this stage so I apologise for not knowing much!
Jumpin' Jumpin' is one of my favourite DC singles, it's just very energetic and makes me want to get jumping, jumping (very nearly wrote humping, oops). Wish we got to see more of Farrah though  Independent Woman is probably their best though for me, I love the way it's quite conversational in the way you can just imagine her yelling at her ex 'I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings'. The sort of statement and response in the 'shoes on my feet, I bought it' section. It all just works so well with all the different sounding sections that go together to make one incredibly catchy tune. I'm not familiar with that Cleopatra song but I used to absolutely adore Cleopatra's Theme. I first heard it on some Science video they were showing us in school and I knew I had to go back and buy it, me and my friends laughed about it because it seemed like a bit of a silly song at the time but I secretly loved it
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Jun 16 2015, 08:03 AM
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#45
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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22ND APRIL 2001
Destiny's Child - "Survivor" Official UK Chart peak: #1  You'll note with interest, from the cover artwork above, that the B-side of the Destinys' second UK chart topper on the trot featured their performance of their last number one, 'Independent Women' live from that year's BRIT awards. It was that performance, as they strode through flames majestically in matching gold lame, that, as with the Spice Girls and THAT Union Jack dress of Geri's five years previously, put them on the map. So by the time promo started on both sides of the Atlantic for this, the title track from their third album, it was only a fool who said they weren't going to be heading to number one again - which they duly did here and in five other countries, but unfortunately could only peak at #2 in the States behind Janet Jackson's 'All for You' - thus missing out on two consecutive Transatlantic chart toppers. Musically and lyrically it's an interesting number - all dramatic strings and a brooding beat delivered with the usual sass we've come to expect of Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle: 'Thought that I'd be stressed without ya but I'm chillin' / You thought I wouldn't sell without ya, I sold 9 million'. The second line I quoted above in particular, is worth focussing on. We've touched briefly on the last couple of times we met them, of their numerous personnel changes they had during the course of 2000 - and 'Survivor' reads almost like a 'we've got the upper hand' kiss off to their fired former bandmates. However, with three fired bandmates' word to the tabloids against that of its present incumbents, you did have to wonder who was really speaking the truth - particularly with a band whose de facto lead singer's dad was also their manager (Matthew Knowles). Sticky band politics aside, only the resurrected Atomic Kitten posed much of a threat to Destiny's Child's continued world domination and indeed, domination of the UK charts now. Also: quick fact to continue on from their last entry here. As with 'Independent Women', S Club 7 knocked them off the top after a week (this time with 'Don't Stop Movin') - but the video location for 'Survivor' also shares with that of the video for the Clubbers' former top 3 hit 'Natural' - the beautiful Paradise Cove in Malibu, California (also to be the backdrop some 10 years later for One Direction's debut video for 'What Makes You Beautiful'). |
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Jun 16 2015, 08:34 AM
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#46
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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27TH MAY 2001
3LW - "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)" Official UK Chart peak: #6  Oooh, I've been looking forward to writing about this one from the second we got in to the 2001 entries. Naturi, Kiely and Adrienne, the 3 Little Women - or 3LW for short - were formed in late 1999 and were quickly snapped up by Epic Records, and after selling 1.2 million copies of their self titled debut album in the States, their first single was an instant top 10 smash here and in New Zealand. Spoiler alert - this is one of only two visits we'll make to 3LW in this thread. I pick up on this now because, as a two hit wonder, they are quite an act to behold - for their first effort in any case. Namely lead vocalist Kiely, who's strange lisp has thus forever altered the way I sing this song back in my head whenever I'm reminded of it. There's even the obligatory totes hilar meme in celebration of that, which has probably helped this song stay in the minds of most internet types in recent years. But aside from the curious lisp, what are 3LW offering us here? A sassy but laidback guitar flecked, er, 'no more' to a wrong doing boyfriend. True, hardly an original topic for any girl group single, let alone a debut one, and whilst they weren't exactly ever bidding to be market leaders it far eclipsed some of the UK's attempts at R&B laden pop - and considering some of said efforts we've met so far in this thread, that's a very good thing. A balanced pop food chain, as it were, thrives not just on the world beaters who turn to gold everything they touch. It thrives also on the middle performing and lesser known acts to give it a bit of spark and interest - even if that's only for a small amount of releases. 'No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)' was a record very of its time, and always reminds me fondly of the summer of 2001, and as with Mary Mary last year I'm also a bit sad they weren't a one hit wonder in the UK because that's all they really needed to be. Alas, we'll meet them one last time a couple of months later - under much reduced fortunes. |
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Jun 18 2015, 01:54 PM
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#47
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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17TH JUNE 2001
Mis-Teeq - "All I Want" Official UK Chart peak: #2  In which we meet Mis-Teeq for the second time this year, and also the second time we'll meet UK garage types Sunship. You'll remember me saying, when we met them last year (on remix duties for Sweet Female Attitude's 'Flowers'), how their sunny, technicolour stuttery take on previously naff R&B records created pop genius. The same was done here (cue the steel drums that punctuate the chorus of this song like a lilting, exotic cocktail), but with an added kick. Said added kick was, of course, Alesha Dixon's raspy, hundred mile an hour MC'ing that gave Mis-Teeq's tracks the 'wasn't-expecting-that' bolt in the arm that you could sense was brimming behind Sabrina's sweetly riffed verses - and when it finally hit you went off like nitrous oxide. Whilst far from her best MC'ing turn (we'll meet that on a future entry from the ladies in early 2002) and indeed, whilst 'All I Want' wasn't their absolute peak (again, we'll meet that in a couple of years' time) it suddenly proved that Mis-Teeq were suddenly something a bit more than a British so-so take on the Destiny's Child formula. UK garage was still about under a year away from reaching its commercial and creative peak - which, when it did, was thanks in part to being killed off by the bad press that surrounded the collective who featured Alesha Dixon's future first husband, MC Harvey (So Solid Crew). A year previous to this, Victoria Beckham had tried to cotton onto the 2-step laden boom with the True Steppers on 'Out of Your Mind' - and hampered her initial goodwill by flogging herself to every available media outlet in order to snatch a number one. Mis-Teeq however, were offering it in the most commercial yet still classy and credible form possible via the age old concept of the girl group with just the right amount of exposure and non-desperation - proof if any that the concept of the girl group wasn't dead just because the Spice Girls had fizzled out, it just needed to move with the times, like the latest Windows system update. And on the basis of 'All I Want', the future seemed bright. |
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Jun 18 2015, 02:20 PM
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#48
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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8TH JULY 2001
Bellefire - "Perfect Bliss" Official UK Chart peak: #18  Remember on our last visit to Girl Thing, me mentioning that Baby Girl Thing - read, Jodi Albert - was also, in 2011, to be a part of Wonderland, the ill fated country twanged girl group managed by her Westlife hubby Kian Egan and X Factor's former seal clapper Louis Walsh? Well, this next lot were basically Wonderland but just 10 years earlier. And also, like every other popstar from Ireland since 1993, were managed by Louis Walsh. And also, like quite a handful of certain Irish pop acts (The Kray Twins, Kerri-Ann, Reel, I am looking at you all here), were more mildly successful in the Emerald isle than they ever were here. Bellefire - officially the most double entendre laden name we'll encounter in this thread. Duly snigger quietly to yourself here - consisted of Tara, Cathy, Ciara and Kelly, and were formed in 1999 when Louis was looking to form his version of S Club 7, but chucked in the idea when the male auditionees who turned up weren't up to his standards. This was the end result, and despite only achieving a top 20 debut here, it was a #2 hit in Ireland and went double platinum, before they then did that oh-so early 00's girl group tactic of releasing the album it was from in the Far East and Japan first whilst everyone back in the UK went 'Oh, well that was a bit unexpected' when they saw the chart position. A listen to the single, even back then, might give us our explanation as to why. 'Perfect Bliss' shares songwriters in the same Swedish team of Jorgen Elofsson and Per Magnusson - who are largely associated with Louis' other charges, Westlife, and my God does it show. It's basically any one of their number one singles (except 'When You're Looking Like That'. That was good) from the two years previous to this but slightly faster. Gushy lyrics, key change with vocal acrobatics and just an overall whiff of vanilla seep throughout. Would have probably been a runaway top 5 hit in 1998, but was sounding dated as anything by the summer of 2001. |
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Jun 23 2015, 08:19 AM
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#49
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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22ND JULY 2001
Sugababes - "Soul Sound" Official UK Chart peak: #30  When you look at it, the early formations of both Sugababes and Atomic Kitten have much to compare between them. Mildly successful first eras that ended or nearly ended in being dropped. Second eras that started with career rescuing chart toppers. And also, second eras that started with entirely new lineups. And that's not even taking into account who'd be joining Mutya and Keisha in the last few months of 2001. For yes, until - spoiler alert - 12 years later, this would be the last charting instance (under whatever band name they chose) of Sugababes v1.0. 'Soul Sound' was the girls' final release from the 'One Touch' album, but disappointing and diminishing returns from 'Overload' onwards had left their label, London Records, to hand them an ultimatum: either get into the top 10 with this single or be dropped. And so this groove central, laid back summer ditty found itself languishing into the top 30 - their lowest charting single at that moment - and just a matter of weeks later, whilst promoting the 'One Touch' album in Japan, Siobhan excused herself to the ladies' room during an interview, and never came back. Not for the first time in their career, Sugababes regenerated themselves as some kind of new pop time lords. Now a member down, and with no record deal to their name, everyone was resigning themselves to the fact that one of the brightest but perhaps too smart minded girl group hopes of recent times was all but over. However, Darcus Breese, the MD of Island Records had other ideas. And meanwhile, sat in his bedroom, somewhere in the North of England, a man called Richard was mixing together a Gary Numan sample with a vocal track from an Adina Howard club hit... |
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Jun 23 2015, 09:09 AM
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#50
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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29TH JULY 2001
Atomic Kitten - "Eternal Flame" Official UK Chart peak: #1  Destiny's Child - "Bootylicious" Official UK Chart peak: #2  For the first time so far in this thread, girl groups occupy the top 2 positions of the UK chart. It's just frustrating then, that they're in the wrong positions musically speaking. Only one of either the Kittens or Destinys would be adding another consecutive chart topper to their tallies this week, but top honours eventually went to Kittens v2.0 with their first proper release as a new lineup - but by far, one of their laziest. And it's just the tip of the iceberg. Let me explain why. When Billie Piper made an unexpected comeback into the top 20 in January 2007, after the new chart rules regarding any paid-for download being eligible, myself and a fellow pop loving geek mate at the time were discussing Innocent Records, the Hugh Goldsmith founded pop offshoot of Virgin that housed Piper during her brief tenure as a popstar, Martine McCutcheon and the Kittens. He observed, rather wittily, that what Innocent gradually became best known for, as time went on, was straight ahead pop with 'lite' (note the spelling) R&B and hip-hop influences. But lest we forget, in all seriousness, that said mate had a point. The summer of 2001 saw the launch of the boyband who'd go onto become by far Innocent's biggest act bar the Kittens, and whom many saw as their male equivalent - that band of course, being Blue, who wore their 'pop-with-lite-R&B-influences' togs with pride on their first couple of chart topping releases and indeed, all through their initial five year run. And that too, seemed to be the case for Kittens v2.0. Gone were the nu-disco Big Country antics of a year previously, and in their place came bland white outfits, three newly bottle blonde Kittens and a 'urban' style cover of a Bangles chart topper from 1989. I remember that summer, around the time of or just a few weeks after 'Eternal Flame' topped the chart, hearing the original on Classic Gold Breeze from my mum's stereo, and instantly realising A) what a beautiful, nay heartbreaking song it was with Susanna Hoffs' soaring vocal, and B) realising just how awful the Kittens' remake of it was, from the shuffly 'beats' and the 'call my name' rapped ad-libs down to the actual delivery. To be fair, Liz does a decent enough job on her parts, but Tash strains her way through the high notes, and you hardly even notice that Jenny's actually singing. Just breathing in something resembling a key. But bland 'n safe seemed to be what the public wanted from Atomic Kitten's second incarnation, and they were thus duly rewarded not just with this but also with a repackaged version of the 'Right Now' album soaring straight to the top of the album chart. We'd have been meeting them again in November of this year with what was to be that album's final single - 'You Are' - but it was cancelled for release here at the last minute, and so it'll be May 2002 before we meet them again. So the Kittens' triumph was at the expense of Destiny's Child making it a hattrick of chart toppers for a girl group - and one which would have made them the first to do so since B*Witched in 1998. But they could take some consolation at least, in the fact that its parent album 'Survivor' had been at number one on two occassions that summer, easily attaining their second double-platinum album. Sampling a chugging guitar riff from 'Edge of Seventeen', a largely forgotten solo release by Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks, 'Bootylicious' was a four to the floor, no holds barred jam that gave most paying attention their first glimpse of Beyonce's now famous derriere. Between this and 'Eternal Flame', it's the single that's dated the best with 14 years' distance - largely because it doesn't sound in the slightest bit dated. Even now, you can put this on in a club and everyone's up dancing like they're in My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. The video is one of their most iconic as well, with Nicks herself making a cameo appearance in a series of brightly coloured setups that called to mind the popular American music show 'Soul Train' in its 70s/80s heyday. Whilst the Destinys hadn't won the battle this week, musically speaking they had won the war. |
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Jun 25 2015, 03:00 PM
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#51
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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12TH AUGUST 2001
Honeyz - "I Don't Know" Official UK Chart peak: #28  Time for the third and final visit we'll make to the Honeyz camp in this thread now. A year on from the HR nightmare that was Heavenli's begrudging return to the lineup, and the previous year's flop of 'Not Even Gonna Trip' still looming large over their heads, the shock most pop watchers had when they returned in the summer was not of 'They got a second single after that?' but more of 'Honeyz? I didn't even know they were still around'. Wherein the fatal flaw of our R&B laden songstresses lies. If you consider, for a minute, the fact that even on their series of 'The Big Reunion', the ladies, despite having arguably the most interesting back story of all their fellow peers (which I think is probably what turned me into a big fan of theirs, more so then when they were first around), found their screen time gradually reduced more and more as the series went on at the mercy of the more soundbite-y, dramatic shindigs of Blue, 5ive and Kittens v1.0. It's a suggestion that the case that was true back at their 'height' (in the loosest sense possible of that word) was even truer in the 2010s. I did mention earlier on when we met 3LW that it's all about balance, and pop needs its middle league performers just as much as it needed the big guns, so to speak. Hell, even the middle performers can experience unexpected promotions to the big boys and girls with the right single or album. But even around the time of 'Finally Found' and 'End of the Line', and as I said earlier on when we met 'Won't Take it Lying Down', it felt like the Honeyz were just kind of...there. And when 'I Don't Know', their first release proper off their (eventually cancelled) 2nd album 'Harmony' zipped in, then out again, of the top 30, it just felt like they were...there. And not doing much else or aspiring to move to much else besides (something the numerous personnel changes probably put paid to). And it's a shame because I generally thought this single was actually alright, and in the hands of an artist like Gabrielle, or even Emma Bunton, might have been a much bigger hit. It had a bit of the summery, slightly soft rock feel that two years later - spoiler alert - Kelly Rowland would be utilising to great effect on her first solo efforts away from Destiny's Child in 'Stole' and 'Train on a Track'. But 'I Don't Know' given to a band with such fractions and lack of direction and support as Honeyz had, was a bad move for all concerned. Plans then went afoot for the ladies to release a third single - the actually brilliant 'Talk to the Hand' - and then the album, but Mercury got cold feet and dropped them before they had a chance to reverse their fortunes. The Honeyz dream had finally buzzed off into pop wilderness. |
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Jun 25 2015, 05:30 PM
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#52
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 PTTP
Joined: 30 April 2012
Posts: 4,806 User: 16,865
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I don't like all major girl groups from this time period (Spice Girls, TLC, Destiny's Child, All Siants), but have a very warm feeling for low-known groups.
Supersister, Girls @ Play, M2M, Vanilla, Alisha's Attic, Little Trees, Clea, Girls Can't Catch, 21st Century Girls, Loose Chippin's, Benefit, Thunderbugs ... Almost every group from this list had # 1 single in my chart. From major groups only three had # 1s in my chart (Sugababes, Girls Aloud and Saturdays). |
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Jul 1 2015, 01:20 PM
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#53
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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QUOTE(Broken Heart @ Jun 25 2015, 06:30 PM)  Supersister, Girls @ Play, M2M, Vanilla, Alisha's Attic, Little Trees, Clea, Girls Can't Catch, 21st Century Girls, Loose Chippin's, Benefit, Thunderbugs ... Almost every group from this list had # 1 single in my chart. Two of which from the lot you listed we'll be meeting or meeting again shortly...apologies for no post yesterday peeps. The time I had put aside to do it got taken up with something else...rest assured there'll be a new set of entries in the morning! |
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Jul 2 2015, 09:19 AM
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#54
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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19TH AUGUST 2001
Tymes 4 - "Bodyrock" Official UK Chart peak: #23  Supersister - "Shopping" Official UK Chart peak: #36  It's interesting that I am writing this particular entry in the midst of one of the hottest UK summers on record. Mainly because the next two records we're encountering are from a similarly balmy summer from the 21st century. The summer of 2001 was, as I remember it, a very hot one for virtually all our school holidays, most days of which, for me, were spent in a pool in our back garden, listening to the 'Hot 30 Countdown' on my local station Essex FM (now Heart) blasting the latest tunes. Ah, to be carefree again. But if it's getting a bit too nostalgic, then let me say quite categorically that I wasn't a fan back then, nor am I now, of either Tymes 4 or Supersister. I'll also say now that, for every set of entries I'll write in great depth and enthusiastically about - Spice Girls' "Holler", for instance - there'll be some which I'll keep brief and blunt but am obligated to write about as they did chart inside the UK top 40 and they were by girl groups. So, let's get Tymes 4 out the way first. Apart from not quite deciding if their band name was a badly misspelt reference to a herb or a mathematical process, Tymes 4 were a London four piece consisting of Holly James, Taymah Gaye, Natalie Edwards and Melissa Garrick. Hauling themselves around the kid's TV/schools tour circuit in the spring of that year, 'Bodyrock', a dull and lazy offering of clip-clippy R&B was their first single, skidding into the top 30. As with Dream earlier on, I could pretty much cut and paste my thoughts on that single and re-apply it entirely to 'Bodyrock'. It's little wonder that everyone was saying pop had fallen on its arse when this single came out. And the same 'cut-and-paste-my-thoughts' rule could also be applied to Supersister. Someone at their record company quite clearly decided that everything about their last single, 'Coffee', were things in pop music that needed to be glorified and reapplied to other inane topics rather than avoided like the plague. And so coffee as a tired metaphor for doing a bit of nookie thus became a truly bizarre ode to retail 'therapy' as the tired metaphor. And I put that last word in inverted commas because this is anything but. At risk of sounding like Mark Kermode ranting about the 'Entourage' movie, everything about 'Shopping' makes me want to curl up into a ball and despair for the way the world was going at that time. It's still beyond me how a record containing the line 'I know it might sound corny / But shopping really makes me horny' even got as far as #36, let alone that it was actually released. Crass, vile, vulgar and patronising. As I mentioned earlier on, Supersister's reappearance in the top 40 nearly a year after their debut was solely down to public 'interest' (again, inverted commas necessary) in them reigniting following that year's Big Brother winner Brian Dowling zipping around the house singing 'Coffee' like a banshee on steroids that summer. Thankfully, by the time their more 'serious' effort 'Summer Gonna Come Again' was released that November, the general public had finally seen sense and it tanked even harder, going in at #51 and thus committing Supersister into a special place in girl group hell. This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Jul 3 2015, 08:02 AM |
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Jul 2 2015, 09:40 AM
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#55
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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26TH AUGUST 2001
Little Trees - "Help! I'm a Fish" Official UK Chart peak: #11  Ah, a chart week that starts on my birthday this one! I'd just turned 12, and I'd received copies of 5ive's 'Let's Dance' (that week's #1), Muse's 'Bliss' (that week's #22) and Dido, Gorillaz' and Coldplay's debut albums in my presents that year. I was nothing if not eclectic. Meanwhile, a bit further down the chart - and in UK cinemas - a decidedly so-so European animated kid's film called 'Help! I'm a Fish' was making itself known. Again, for reasons of disinterest and lack of space I'll point you in the direction of the Wikipedia article to ascertain what the film was about, and thus what the hell its title track, sung by Danish teens Little Trees was about. Produced by the same team behind A*Teens (who themselves had been riding high with 'Upside Down' in Europe and the US that year), this was as frothy, bubblegum and generally disposable as they come - not much to write home about then or now, unless you'd seen the film of course. Perhaps bizarrely, this single charted in Europe under two different Danish girl groups - Little Trees being one of them, and Creamy being the other, who released their cover of this song on their debut album 'We Got the Time' in Germany. Little Trees' version was by far the bigger of the two, hitting the top 3 in Denmark and just missing out on the top 10 here in the UK. Creamy would also release a bizarre cover of Limahl's 'Never Ending Story' later that year but failed to chart. I promise these entries will get more interesting once we start encountering half decent records again readers. But even as was the case back then, for the time being we are in for something of a rough ride... |
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Jul 2 2015, 06:47 PM
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#56
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BuzzJack Regular
Joined: 13 February 2014
Posts: 409 User: 20,593
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I remember none of the last few!
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Jul 7 2015, 08:09 AM
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#57
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
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2ND SEPTEMBER 2001
3LW - "Playas Gon' Play" Official UK Chart peak: #21  Second and final visit now to 3LW. A little fact to open on here: 'No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)' made its chart debut the very same week of May that Blue made their debut at #4 with 'All Rise' - two places ahead of them. This time, Lee, Simon, Duncan and Antony were ahead again, but on a much wider chasm - as their cover of Next's US #1 from 1998, 'Too Close', became their first UK chart topper, whilst 'Playas Gon' Play' was close but no cigar to the top 20. It's a fact I pick up on because this is possibly where girl groups were performing the weakest in all the years we still have to come from the 21st century. Even with the impending split of 5ive, between Blue and Westlife's success, the boyband was alive and kicking and girl power was, for the most part, strictly off the agenda - the ladies behind the two of the next few entries we'll encounter being the exception at that point rather than the rule. 3LW were the rule, and really should have remained a one hit wonder with their debut. So whilst this would be the last we'd hear of them in the UK, they'd continue to moderate levels of success across the Atlantic with their second album 'A Girl Can Mack', until their eventual split in 2006 - with an obligatory personnel change midway through that period. This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Jul 9 2015, 08:20 AM |
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Jul 7 2015, 08:32 AM
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#58
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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7TH OCTOBER 2001
Girls@Play - "Respectable" Official UK Chart peak: #29  An 80's revival had been in full swing for much of 2001. I touched on this briefly earlier, when we met Atomic Kitten's cover of 'Eternal Flame', itself a chart topper for the Bangles in the dying years of the decade. But it was prevalent elsewhere too: Basildon's finest Depeche Mode were scoring top 10 hits some 20 years after their debut, a remixed version of Eddy Grant's 'Electric Avenue' had scaled the top 5 that summer, and even acts like The Human League and Kim Wilde were packing out arenas again with the 'Here & Now Tour' (the 2001 equivalent for 80s bands of 'The Big Reunion' for most of the acts we've met so far). Not to mention that a whole host of retrospective TV shows along the lines of 'I Love 1984' or 'The 100 Greatest 80s Moments' were the in-thing (and thus gave rise to the careers of Johnny Vegas and Peter Kay as inane 'talking heads', a terrible thing in itself). And of course, half of the decade's biggest and best known production team of all - Stock & Aitken - were alive and kicking with their work for Girls@Play. And so, taking a leaf out of their former colleague Pete Waterman's book - see Steps' cover of Kylie's 'Better the Devil You Know' some two years previous to this - the ladies' second single was a cover of the Mel & Kim chart topper from 1987 - complete with the infamous 'Take, take, take, take, t-t-t-t-take take' hook that had made the original such a delight. It failed to match the original's chart success though, stalling inside the top 30. It was indeed a - pardon the pun - respectable enough cover, but didn't really cover much ground or add much to the original and was on the whole a pleasant but unnecessary effort. In any case, it put paid to their chart bothering antics and come Christmas of that year, they too, like Steps, had gone to pop heaven. But whilst Steps were to reunite for the TV gold that was their Sky Living documentary 10 years later, Rita Simons was to reappear in 2007 in a very different guise - on Albert Square, as the long lost half sister of Phil Mitchell... This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Jul 9 2015, 09:49 AM |
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Jul 9 2015, 08:36 AM
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#59
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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21ST OCTOBER 2001
Mis-Teeq - "One Night Stand" Official UK Chart peak: #5  So from an 80's throwback, we now leap back into the present day, and to Mis-Teeq's second top 5 hit of 2001. Produced by the legendary and then nascent Norwegian production team of StarGate - who'd also been having swimming success with Blue that year, and a certain Barbadian songstress and then current member of Destiny's Child much further down the line - 'One Night Stand' marked the first time since the original release of 'Why' a year previously that the ladies had moved away from the UK garage grooves that had broke them. In its place is a track that is a late 90s/early 00s R&B lilted pop record down to the tee - but in the nicest sense of the word. Opening around a baroque influenced string section (see virtually every British R&B record from this era - Jamelia's 'Money', I am looking at you), this sassy, sophisticated kiss off to a would-be bedfellow wanting more than a dance with a lady on a girls' night out ("Act wild but I/Got style cause I/Ain't sipping if it ain't Cristal") is possibly the best British attempt at very American R&B we've encountered thus far in this thread. Alesha's rapping is a bit of a non event on this single - the further down the line their career would go, she would get better at this and when we get to 2003 we'll find the perfect example of this - but it doesn't detract from what is still a formidable and well deserved third top 10 hit for the ladies. In place of a then touring S Club 7, they'd also go on to perform this track at the following February's BRIT awards - and were by all accounts the star turn of what was a fairly unmemorable year for that ceremony. |
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Jul 9 2015, 09:09 AM
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#60
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They've had the very Tunnocks, Mary
Joined: 13 March 2011
Posts: 5,505 User: 13,208
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18TH NOVEMBER 2001
Destiny's Child - "Emotion" Official UK Chart peak: #3  Ladies First - "Messin'" Official UK Chart peak: #30  Not for the first time in this thread, we'll see an act announcing that they're 'taking a break to pursue our own projects' just as they get to the height of their powers. So until this time in three years from now, it's a brief 'see you soon' to Destiny's Child, who sign off from their successful 'Survivor' campaign and their initial five year run of success with their first ballad - a cover of a song written by the Bee Gees and originally a big US hit for Samantha Sang in 1977 - then covered by the Gibb brothers themselves in 1994 for their 'Love Songs' album. 'Nasty Girl' had originally been all set to be the third single off the album - and indeed would go on to be used as an overseas single to promote their 'This is the Remix' album the following year. However, following the horrific events of 9/11, US radio stations had taken on a rather more respectful, sombre outlook, and had this, Enya's 'Only Time' and Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero' (the latter itself just two months away from becoming a UK chart topper) playing on constant rotation. So whilst never in contention to stop Blue getting their second number 1, a run of three top 3 hits that year added to the ladies' overall total of nine, placing them second only to the Spice Girls for the most UK top 10 hits for any girl group at that point. But with a large amount of focus - as you can see from the video above - on one member in particular, solo careers were beckoning, and so it did seem the right time for them to take a break, however crazy the logic of them doing so at their height seemed. Further down the chart that week, Polydor had seen Telstar's success with Mis-Teeq as the wave of UK garage success continued on apace, and wanted in. Enter Leanne, Mel and Sasha, aka London based trio Ladies First, who with a slightly bigger label backing were hoping to follow in Sabrina, Alesha and Su-Elise's stilletto heeled, blonde weave sporting footsteps. Just one small problem though: 24 hours before this record hit the shops, Leanne - who wanted to pursue a DJ'ing career more than mumbling boredly over a speed-garage beat about a no-texting, wrong doing boyfriend - quit unexpectedly. Even taking this bizarre last minute member departure out the equation, "Messin'" sounded dated even back then, and was more spiritually akin to Sweet Female Attitude than it ever was to Mis-Teeq. Not unpleasant by any means, but I could rest easy without ever hearing it again. |
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