UK Top 40 Singles - week ending 4 May 1996

 

1. George Michael - Fastlove

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us

7. Pet Shop Boys - Before

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin'

10. Sleeper - Sale Of The Century

 

11. 3T - 24 Jul

12. Chantay Savage - I Will Survive

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

14. Robert Miles - Children

15. Cure - The 13th

16. Ash - Goldfinger

17. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches

18. Def Leppard - Slang

19. Mark Snow - The X Files

20. Terrovision - Celebrity Hit List

21. Gabrielle - Give Me A Little More Time

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic

23. Tony Rich Project - Nobody Knows

24. 2Pac ft Dr Dre - California Love

25. Technohead - Happy Birthday

26. Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad

27. Orbital - The Box

28. Dana Dawson - Show Me

29. Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

30. Babylon Zoo - Animal Army

31. Mary Kiani - Let The Music Play

32. Kadoc - The Nighttrain

33. Plux ft Georgia Jones - Over & Over

34. Coolio - 1234 (Sumpin' New)

35. Kula Shaker - Grateful When You're Dead - Jerry Was There

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

37. Adeva - I Thank You (Remix)

38. Matt Goss - If You Were Here Tonight

39. Meat Loaf - Runnin' For The Red Light (I Gotta Life)

40. Skunk Anansie - Charity

I only recall liking:

 

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

 

 

Mind you ... these three more than make up for the rest of the crap making up the top 40 that week.

 

Norma

not keen on 96...though there was some good music

 

 

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit ...... ok pop i suppose

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life.... ok

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia.... interesting cover.

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin'..... ok

13. Prodigy - Firestarter............... great inovative track

14. Robert Miles - Children....... overplayed dance classic

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger.... i still rate this as their best track ever, anthemic, well composed/produced, imho they have and never will top this.

 

A brilliant year for music, and a rather fascinating time - just a couple of months after this, the Spice Girls released 'Wannabe' and suddenly the whole late 90s kiddie pop era started. Check out a chart from three years later and you couldn't move for groups like them, yet here there's none.

 

Not much of a memorable chart here though - even the Pet Shop Boys with one of their worst singles ever don't improve things. A few interesting tracks though:

 

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

14. Robert Miles - Children

 

Two highly overplayed yet groundbreaking dance tracks, that sound completely different to each other - the heavy punk influences of Firestarter and the dream house of Children, both sounded an absolute world away from a lot of the generic Eurodance from the previous year and it's easy to see how they were huge. 1996 and 1999 are two of my all-time favourite years for dance music - also coming up this year were 'Higher State of Conciousness', 'Born Slippy', 'Insomnia', 'I'm Alive', 'One & One'...

 

25. Technohead - Happy Birthday

 

For a brief time in 1996 it seemed like we were going to join the happy hardcore craze that was appearing over parts of Europe at the time. Scooter got their biggest hit ever (then) with 'Back In the UK' peaking at #19, and Technohead's 'I Wanna Be A Hippy' climbed all the way to #6, easily the highest charting and biggest selling hit of the genre ever. After this follow-up though it mostly disappeared, save for the occasional surprise like Nakatomi's 'Children of the Night' somehow appearing in the top 30 in 2002, six years after original release.

 

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

 

Agreed with above - a true classic of the Britpop genre. 1995 though really was the pinnacle (Common People, Wonderwall, Country House, etc...), with a couple of good tracks released after but had been replaced as the dominant musical force by 1998.

 

Definitely better charts around though from this year!

1. George Michael - Fastlove

Never understood why this was so popular, it wasn't even a great cover of Forget Me Nots. Always saddened me when people said Will Smith's 'Men In Black' was a rip off of this one too.

 

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack

Twat with a whiny voice.

 

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit

Putrid crap.

 

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life

The first post-Richie stuff, talk about a change. Liked it quite a lot at the time though.

 

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia

Good fun pop cover of Simon & Garfunkel.

 

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us

Utter rubbish. Does he really sing 'Everybody dog poo' at one point?

 

7. Pet Shop Boys - Before

Don't even remember this one.

 

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)

Where MUFC embraced 'rave'. I've never seen a less animated bunch of singers than the squad in this video.

 

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin'

Awful handbag house

 

10. Sleeper - Sale Of The Century

Passable track from a band who were heading very quickly to their own sell by date (geddit?)

 

And I like these from the rest....

 

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

16. Ash - Goldfinger

17. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches

27. Orbital - The Box :w00t:

 

My era, so I'm gonna like more than I should

 

1. George Michael - Fastlove not bad, far better than Jesus To A Child anyway. God that droned on!

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit love this, harmless eurovision pop

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us one of his better tunes imo

7. Pet Shop Boys - Before underrated gem

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe) to be fair, there's been far worse football songs. I'm not saying this is good though

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin' would return to the Top Ten months later thanks to Todd Terry's version

 

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

14. Robert Miles - Children overplayed, i always prefered Fable and Fantasia myself

21. Gabrielle - Give Me A Little More Time

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic

23. Tony Rich Project - Nobody Knows

24. 2Pac ft Dr Dre - California Love

25. Technohead - Happy Birthday worst track in the chart by miles!

27. Orbital - The Box

28. Dana Dawson - Show Me the motiv8 mix of this is superb!

29. Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

31. Mary Kiani - Let The Music Play struggling to remember this, but think it's a cover of the Shannon hit?

32. Kadoc - The Nighttrain

33. Plux ft Georgia Jones - Over & Over liked this a lot at the time

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger no, can't stand this i'm afraid

38. Matt Goss - If You Were Here Tonight

 

They Don't Care about Us is the best single of HIStory era

 

The Top 10 is quite brilliant.

1. George Michael - Fastlove Nothing particularly special, agreed the original Patrice Rushen track is far, far superior.

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack Much rather have this over virtually any of the R&B dirge of today, granted he was a first class prick though!

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit Guilty pleasure!

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life Can't stand the manics... I don't want to feel 'challenged' when listening to music, thanks.

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia Bloody awful!

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us By this point it had been about 10 years since Jacko did anything decent.

7. Pet Shop Boys - Before It's no 'It's a Sin', is it?

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe) Urm, no.

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin' Love love love this bit of camp handbag house!

10. Sleeper - Sale Of The Century Don't really recall much by Sleeper.

 

And of the rest, I like:

 

12. Chantay Savage - I Will Survive A good example of a decent cover.

13. Prodigy - Firestarter Era-defining track, but not a personal fave of theirs. Much prefer their 91-93 era.

21. Gabrielle - Give Me A Little More Time The only one of hers I rate

24. 2Pac ft Dr Dre - California Love

27. Orbital - The Box Hit and miss with Orbital, but I really like this. Great vid also.

29. Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded

32. Kadoc - The Nighttrain

33. Plux ft Georgia Jones - Over & Over GREAT slab of handbaggy house... 96 all the way!

 

The worse...

 

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic :puke2: :puke2: :puke2:

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us By this point it had been about 10 years since Jacko did anything decent.

 

You haven't really listened to his music have you ;)

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)

Where MUFC embraced 'rave'. I've never seen a less animated bunch of singers than the squad in this video.

as if having another Man Utd song in the charts wasn't bad enough - and as far as football songs go this ranks up there with the worst of them - the actual football team had just displaced my beloved Newcastle at the top of the table after we had been 12 points clear at one time and it was this actual week in 1996 (April 29 to be exact) that Kevin Keegan cracked up live on Sky Sports in possibly one of the most saddest yet funniest (it was him wearing those headphones!) post match interviews ever to take place :( Fergie had managed to get to him...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW8p8xppxwA...feature=related

Edited May 1, 201015 yr by Robbie

1. George Michael - Fastlove Never ever liked his solo stuff. Or Wham! for that matter.

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack Bloody awful dirge.

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit Ultimate cheese anthem.

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life Absolute class from the Richie-less Manics :(

5. Suggs ft Louchie Lou & Michie One - Cecilia Crap Simon and Garfunkel cover

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us Don't like Jacko

7. Pet Shop Boys - Before Don't remember this

8. Manchester United FA Cup Squad - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe) MUFC Ugh!

9. Lisa Marie Experience - Keep On Jumpin' Don't remember this either

10. Sleeper - Sale Of The Century Always quite liked Sleeper although Louise Wener was a bit of an arse sometimes. What Do I Do Now? is one of my favourite singles.

 

And I like these others:

 

13. Prodigy - Firestarter One of the best #1s of all time

15. Cure - The 13th

16. Ash - Goldfinger

17. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches

27. Orbital - The Box

30. Babylon Zoo - Animal Army

35. Kula Shaker - Grateful When You're Dead - Jerry Was There

36. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

 

This one deserves special derision for possibly the most stupid lyric of all-time

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic

 

These I still enjoy:

 

1. George Michael - Fastlove

2. Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack

3. Gina G - Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit

6. Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us

14. Robert Miles - Children

19. Mark Snow - The X Files

22. Alanis Morissette - Ironic

23. Tony Rich Project - Nobody Knows

24. 2Pac ft Dr Dre - California Love

32. Kadoc - The Nighttrain

34. Coolio - 1234 (Sumpin' New)

 

1996 for me was one of the worst years of the 90s.

You haven't really listened to his music have you ;)

 

i think many of us respect his 'genius' era, but dont like his loony era....

i think many of us respect his 'genius' era, but dont like his loony era....

 

Precisely. It's all down to taste. I love his 'Off The Wall' era, I like parts of 'Thriller' but that's all.

Dangerous and HIStory Continues are his most ambitious albums though... Dangerous is everything a pop album should be and HIStory Continues still sounds futuristic after 15 years...Oh well as a fan I can't be truly objective.

UK Top 40 Singles - week ending 4 May 1996

 

 

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life

13. Prodigy - Firestarter

27. Orbital - The Box

 

 

3 of the best singles of all time.

4. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life Can't stand the manics... I don't want to feel 'challenged' when listening to music, thanks.

 

 

It's not always about being challenged. Sometimes it's just about sheer melody. A Design for Life is swells into a chorus that brings tears to my eyes when they play it live.

It's not always about being challenged. Sometimes it's just about sheer melody. A Design for Life is swells into a chorus that brings tears to my eyes when they play it live.

 

Maybe not this track specifically but lyrics with a political agenda don't float my boat... though having said that, I love how Pet Shop boys did in the 80s so maybe I'm contradicting myself! :lol:

... i think its more about quantity?... i mean, i think political tracks certainly have a place in music but not perhaps all the time..

 

the manics never really grabbed me tbh.

The grabbed me. I was instantly hooked when I heard Everything Must Go on Top of the Pops.