Faye takes the lead in Last Thing On My Mind too, yet you only gave it a 6 :cry:

But LTOMM is only good when you're at a cheesy disco/club.

My LIFE is a cheesy disco :P Its perfect.

I also forgot to add "drunk" to my sentence :P

Oh :lol:

I've never understood the notion of a song being OK to like. Surely you either like a song or you don't? I mean I don't go screaming about my love for 80s Fleetwood Mac but it doesn't mean that I don't think it's OK to like it.

That's exactly what I feel too. I don't base my musical tastes/rating of songs on what other people think is acceptable. If I like something, no matter what it is, I feel no shame in listening to/loving it.

 

WRT ITWYMMF, I just think it's utterly rubbish and for all the supposed differences just ends up sounding like a really tired version of their usual forumula.

:wub:

 

ITWYMMF isn't THAT bad, but it's a cheap copy of the Swedish pop sound of teh time that was big in the US, like with early Britney and Backstreet Boys. Maybe they were planning to release it in that market at one point? I know Buzz was released there with some remixes and different tracks, though I don't know what they released singles-wise apart from One For Sorrow.

07 5, 6, 7, 8

08 Last Thing On My Mind

09 One For Sorrow

08 Heartbeat

09 Tragedy

09 Better Best Forgotten

05 Thank Abba For The Music

08 Love's Got A Hold On My Heart

10 After The Love Has Gone

09 Say You'll Be Mine

07 Better The Devil You Know

11 Deeper Shade Of Blue

05 When I Said Goodbye

06 Summer Of Love

10 Stomp

10 It's The Way You Make Me Feel

04 Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

09 Here And Now

03 You'll Be Sorry

07 Chain Reaction

08 One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix)

06 Words Are Not Enough

04 I Know Him So Well

 

Member Rank:

1. Faye

2. Lisa

3. Claire

4. Lee

5. H

Edited August 23, 201113 yr by Alex!

That's exactly what I feel too. I don't base my musical tastes/rating of songs on what other people think is acceptable. If I like something, no matter what it is, I feel no shame in listening to/loving it.

 

WRT ITWYMMF, I just think it's utterly rubbish and for all the supposed differences just ends up sounding like a really tired version of their usual forumula.

 

I agree, the term 'guilty pleasure' is redundant to me, why feel guilty about liking something - it just means that you take yourself far too seriously and worry too much about what others think about you :lol:

06 5, 6, 7, 8

07 Last Thing On My Mind

08 One For Sorrow

09 Heartbeat

08 Tragedy

07 Better Best Forgotten

09 Thank Abba For The Music

10 Love's Got A Hold On My Heart

11 After The Love Has Gone

10 Say You'll Be Mine

07 Better The Devil You Know

09 Deeper Shade Of Blue

08 When I Said Goodbye

09 Summer Of Love

08 Stomp

10 It's The Way You Make Me Feel

-1 Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

09 Here And Now

09 You'll Be Sorry

08 Chain Reaction

08 One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix)

08 Words Are Not Enough

08 I Know Him So Well

 

Lots of high scores there. :D

I had completely forgotten about 'Thank ABBA For The Music' until now - I think it was the first time I'd heard of ABBA, and I also remember forcing myself to like Tina Cousins, as she was the only one I didn't really know much about.

'After The Love Has Gone' will always be my favourite, as I remember the first time I saw them perform it on TOTP and was blown away by the instrumental dance routine with all the arms coming out. :lol:

 

1. Faye Tozer (best)

2. Claire Richards

3. Lisa Scott-Lee

4. Ian 'H' Watkins

5. Lee Latchford-Evans

 

It's probably no coincidence that I thought Delta during her 'Innocent Eyes' era looked a bit like Faye.

 

http://graphics.sonymusic.com.au/cdcovers/medium/6738575.jpg

07 5, 6, 7, 8

11 Last Thing On My Mind

08 One For Sorrow

07 Heartbeat

08 Tragedy

07 Better Best Forgotten

08 Thank Abba For The Music

10 Love's Got A Hold On My Heart

07 After The Love Has Gone

07 Say You'll Be Mine

08 Better The Devil You Know

08 Deeper Shade Of Blue

07 When I Said Goodbye

08 Summer Of Love

10 Stomp

08 It's The Way You Make Me Feel

07 Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

09 Here And Now

08 You'll Be Sorry

10 Chain Reaction

09 One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix)

08 Words Are Not Enough

08 I Know Him So Well

I'm sorry but I actually love Chain Reaction. Too many of their singles are so cheap, tinny and pretty much nothing but a crap dance beat production-wise but Chain Reaction is just all-out triumphant fun that never lets up from the word go and is all the better for it. Very disappointing that it's probably going to be significantly underrated here; it was one of their bigger hits for a reason! :angry:

 

It's The Way You Make Me Feel has a certain charm to it but it's still PISS WEAK by ordinary pop songs standards. Of course by Steps' standards it's actually alright. But why anyone would bother it when there were better pop songs like Stronger, Independent Women, One More Time, Black Coffee, Same Old Brand New You, etc, sharing space with it on the charts/radio playlists is BEYOND me. Although 2000 was such a brilliant year for pop music in general that I'm not sure why anyone would bother with Steps full stop in it really; I know that I didn't!

 

I agree, the term 'guilty pleasure' is redundant to me, why feel guilty about liking something - it just means that you take yourself far too seriously and worry too much about what others think about you :lol:

I think you're taking the term a bit TOO literally there. There are plenty of songs I like that I would call guilty pleasures but I'm not particularly ashamed to admit them or worried about what people think of me if I do. To me it's more a song you know is pretty crap musically or whatever but still can't help but like it anyway. That's the definition to me, anyway :lol: I guess the above example of Chain Reaction would be one of my guilty pleasures!

I'm sorry but I actually love Chain Reaction. Too many of their singles are so cheap, tinny and pretty much nothing but a crap dance beat production-wise but Chain Reaction is just all-out triumphant fun that never lets up from the word go and is all the better for it. Very disappointing that it's probably going to be significantly underrated here; it was one of their bigger hits for a reason! :angry:

 

The problem with it in my eyes is it adds NOTHING to the original by the divine Miss Diana Ross :wub: I will appreciate that the production is less tinny and fuller than their early songs but it's kind of a rip-off of Go West by the Pet Shop Boys. The reason why it's one of their bigger hits is because everyone knew it already.

 

By the way according to Digital Spy the bonus track is a cover of Dancing Queen. Woop de fucking doo.

By the way according to Digital Spy the bonus track is a cover of Dancing Queen. Woop de fucking doo.

 

I read that. I think I'd prefer to have Words Are Not Enough :lol:

 

At least if they were covering ABBA, they could have picked a more interesting song!

UGH, what an uninspired choice. I bet it'll be a like for like cover too.

I think you're taking the term a bit TOO literally there. There are plenty of songs I like that I would call guilty pleasures but I'm not particularly ashamed to admit them or worried about what people think of me if I do. To me it's more a song you know is pretty crap musically or whatever but still can't help but like it anyway. That's the definition to me, anyway :lol: I guess the above example of Chain Reaction would be one of my guilty pleasures!

 

I get your point and I think that different people use the term to mean different things (for example I can see why The Fast Food Song might be a 'guilty pleasure' as it's an old playground fast food franchise chant turned into a Europop song!). But I hate that well produced, decent pop songs of the likes of Just A Little and Don't Stop Movin' are seen as 'guilty pleasures' and always feature highly on such countdowns/lists. I can appreciate that people can see the worth in these songs anyway from heralding them as such but why should they only be allowed to be liked behind this umbrella term when self parodying crap like Lyla is ok to like just because it's by Oasis? :lol: By a lesser act it would have been laughed out of the room. Ah well, I can't be terribly objective over it as I've never in my life cared what anyone thinks about me or the music I listen to and always been very upfront about my tastes on here and amongst my peers so I can't really relate to people who shudder at the thought of somebody finding out that they like an S Club 7 song!

 

I know it's a term that's used very much in jest by most people but the sad thing is that quite a lot of people (mainly high-brow music journalists) use it deadly seriously so as to try not to lose any credibility, and then the songs that they call 'guilty pleasures' are disco or Motown songs or something which are hardly embarrassing to admit liking! It seems like if it's not male rock then it's worthless to some people! I have a subscription to Q Magazine who are currently voting on their 'top 25 greatest acts of the past 25 years' - we have Madonna and Bjork, a couple of male rappers and 20 odd male indie/rock acts, hurrah for diversity! Spice Girls should surely be in the list with the impact they had? Or Amy Winehouse (Arctics are in the shortlist so longevity can't be a factor here)!

 

But I suppose it's just a term that's always slightly irked me, along with 'real music' of course but that's a whole other can of worms!

By the way according to Digital Spy the bonus track is a cover of Dancing Queen. Woop de fucking doo.

 

:/ I wonder if it will even be pushed as a single. It may just be another Take That - Today I've Lost You type situation with them then inevitably putting out a new album/touring next year. If the whole thing drums up enough interest in the first place that is...

 

My guess is it will sound like the bit of Dancing Queen in the medley of Thank ABBA For The Music :lol:

I definitely agree with you all on the whole "guilty pleasure" thing, but like I said on the last page, I can still listen to the likes of S Club 7, B*Witched, Spice Girls, Atomic Kitten etc... without cringing. But with Steps, I just can't listen to much of their stuff now, without thinking, my GOD did I ever LOVE this? Sort of thing. All my family and friends know which sort of music I'm into so I don't think I could ever give the phrase of "guilty pleasure" personally and I too, don't see why I'd have to.

-1 5, 6, 7, 8 {Just dire, I cannot, cannot like it, even if Lisa's body in the video is just :wub:}

7 Last Thing On My Mind {had heard at the time that LTOMM was inspired by the ABBA sound so I was immediately interested in hearing this, when I did (after buying the CD single without previously hearing it), I really liked the song, with the ABBA similarities extremely obvious}

11 One For Sorrow {first saw this performed on GMTV and it was at this point that my obsession started. This is the Steps' equivalent of pop perfection / ABBA's Dancing Queen. I adored this song at the time, and still do; I also genuinely think this song has stood the test of time and could easily be a Katy Perry / Leona Lewis / Kelly Clarkson / heck even at a push Beyonce track. Great, easy to learn dance routine coupled with a simplistic, but extremely effective, summery video. And WOWOWOWOW at Claire's body in that one!!!!}

5 Heartbeat {didn't really get this song at all; the only saving grace was the cheesy as hell video and oh yeah at Lisa's (Faye's?) high kick on the ice queen!}

9 Tragedy {@wub@ @ the dance routine. I genuinely cannot escape a family party without this track being requested and being forced to do the whole routine surrounded by a circle of family members. Oh the shame :blush:. Still, great track though and definitely the sound of the party and pop club scene in late '98 / early '99. Glad this track finally rose to #1 in the New Year after being denied initially. I remember seeing them at #1 on teletext and froze the teletext screen and stared at it for about 10 minutes as I was convinced it wasn't reality - after OFS had missed out on #1 along with this track initially I thought that might have been their chances gone}

4 Better Best Forgotten {I think when this was released, they were at the height of their popularity coming off the back of 2 successful tracks (LTOMM and OFS) and a mega-smash in Tragedy. Unfortunately, this was one of their weaker tracks for me, and while it commanded astonishing first week sales (only the Comic Relief Boyzone track managed to stop it from #1 - god they really were unlucky until Stomp sneaked in later) it didn't deserve it and only managed those sales IMO through the track being released 2 months after Tragedy peaked. Dance routine weas complete and utter rubbish as well. All in all one of their weaker efforts of their entire career}

9 Thank Abba For The Music {Loved this collab with Billie, Cleopatra and Tina Cousins. Although wish Steps had a more substantial element of the vocals. Great performance at the BRIT awards - was that the joke year when they were snubbed for Belle & Sebastian? :(}

10 Love's Got A Hold On My Heart {I remember hearing this one coming back from a night working in the pub - I'd missed the CD:UK performance from earlier in the day, but as CD:UK was repeated for all the club goers at 1am, I set the VCR to record it. Fell in love with the song immediately. I replayed the performance until 6am on loop that morning and the obsession got even deeper ... Still think that the "Darling there's no way out, nothing can help me now" line should have been followed with another rhyming couplet with the exact same melody before the "Love's Got A Hold On My Heart" line, it sounded odd on first listen. LOVED the dance routine to this one too!}

9 After The Love Has Gone {A mini One For Sorrow, still excellent but not quite as stunning. Best bits of the song - Claire's fantastic vocal, the oriental theme dance and the middle eight instrumental where they get in a line and do that pincer thingy with their hands}

8 Say You'll Be Mine {great video, really inspired IMO but song kinda weak; the more H in a song = the less likely I am to love it}

10 Better The Devil You Know {Wow! First heard this on the Steptacular tour and couldn't get it out my head whatsoever. Loved the Kylie version and this was almost a direct carbon copy but I genuinely didn't mind as the melody of the song is just top notch. Wish they'd kept the Kylie middle eight in though - I don't like the "Woah, woah, woah-oh-oh!" bits}

9 Deeper Shade Of Blue {One of their two "cool" tracks. I remember so many people who didn't like Steps and/or thought they were just embarrassingly cheesy that actually liked this track. Also remember this as being one of the first (and few) times they performed live on TV - Blue Peter got the honours of H's strained vocals for this one. Overall extremely solid track, and again a great video - looking back Steps had some great videos really}

3 When I Said Goodbye {As dull as the black and white video and saved to an extent by Summer Of Love}

8 Summer Of Love {Didn't hear this for ages as was in America at the time and although I knew about it from the official Steps forum, it was impossible at the time to find anywhere on the net to listen to it. Great, fun, uptempo track, I love the dance routine to this one (so much I punched someone at a concert as a result of the "Dance, its the summer of love" bit where you progressively raise you hands in the air) but how the hell did they do the video? I've always wondered that, so if someone can shed any light on that ... :)}

10 Stomp {bright uptempo track with a stomp-ing beat. I absolutely love this track and I'm glad it bagged them a 2nd #1, even if their sales were low that week. It was definitely a better #1 than the late challenger that week - "Who Let The Dogs Out", who were catching up all week having a starting Tuesday midweek of #14 ... really fun video and was this the first point Lisa had her braces (or was it Summer of Love?)}

8 It's The Way You Make Me Feel {The 2nd of their two "cool" tracks - again this managed to actually get a "pass" vote from the anti-Steps brigade. Lovely melody on this one I thought, and a great live performance on TOTP with a fantastic high note from Claire. Absolutely beautiful video - my girlfriend was mocking Steps the other day so I dusted down the VCR and punished her with my Steps performance & video collection - needless to say the Victorian theme of this one resulted in a retracted opinion and a lovely breakfast in bed the following day :)}

?? Too Busy Thinking About My Baby {What single was this released with? Was it even an A-side?!}

8 Here And Now {A definite change in sound for Steps this one - more "grown-up", less poppy than normal. Although the video was hardly any more mature than otherwise. Lisa in this video = :wub: :wub: Hot hot hot!!!}

1 You'll Be Sorry {The worst of all the Steps singles since the abomination of 5,6,7,8. This is probably the only single that I can barely remember the melody to, and on that basis alone it tells me all I need to know}

9 Chain Reaction {Fantastic track (and a very naught video) but misses out on a 10 as it will always remind me of their last ever performance together at the end of their final arena tour, and Claire's tears as the ticker tape dropped from the ceiling. I agree with Tom Kay, it doesn't really add anything to the previous version other than an updated production which gives it just a bit more oomph}

2 One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix) {Should be listed in all music classes/teaching/lessons as the epitome of the way to completely destroy a fantastic track through the apocalyptic decimation of the melody. 2 points only for the fact that it still is OFS. Booo!!}

9 Words Are Not Enough {Love this song! Its so simple in construction but that works. One of their best ballads and I liked the closure of this and IKHSW as the final double-A side. Solid live vocal performance of this on TOTP as well}

9.5 I Know Him So Well {I loved the Elaine Paige / Barba Dickson version of this song, so when I heard they were recording this I was interested to see if they could pull it off. I really like Claire's vocal on this and to be honest while the song necessitates at least 2 singers, she should have been given more IMO - inclusion of Faye/Lisa is workmanlike at best and doesn't quite take the track where Claire could. A great way to bow out and again a great live vocal performance on TOTP}

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

1st Claire Richards = the voice of Steps.

2nd Lisa Scott-Lee = the sex in Steps. Here And Now = :wub:

3rd Faye Tozer = Not dread-ful at all; except when she thought she was too "cool" for the band (quite obvious in numerous interviews)

4th Ian 'H' Watkins = a pass simply for trying to sing on numerous occassions and for the suspense at which of his Idol's tracks he would perform badly on tour

5th Lee Latchford-Evans = pointless and jsut a complete and utter waste of space. Must have been taunted something dreadful by his mates and he was clearly just embarrassed to be in Steps; which is poignant as most of Steps' fans were equally embarrassed that he took up the 5th place in the band.

06 5, 6, 7, 8

06 Last Thing On My Mind

06 One For Sorrow

06 Heartbeat

09 Tragedy

06 Better Best Forgotten

00 Thank Abba For The Music

05 Love's Got A Hold On My Heart

05 After The Love Has Gone

07 Say You'll Be Mine

05 Better The Devil You Know

09 Deeper Shade Of Blue

02 When I Said Goodbye

10 Summer Of Love

07 Stomp

08 It's The Way You Make Me Feel

00 Too Busy Thinking About My Baby

06 Here And Now

11 You'll Be Sorry

05 Chain Reaction

04 One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix)

02 Words Are Not Enough

-1 I Know Him So Well

 

01 Claire Richards

02 Ian 'H' Watkins

03 Faye Tozer

04 Lisa Scott-Lee

05 Lee Latchford-Evans