Very pleased to see the wondrous Summer Of Love managing such a respectable finish, is that the highest of all the Buzz singles in this rate?

 

 

6. Chain Reaction - 7.49

 

 

UK #2 - 2001

 

Now Steps did a lot of covers over the years but this was one of the most accomplished. Diana Ross' incredibly famous and popular song probably didn't need a cover, and I always found it strange that they chose to cover songs that were already huge anyway (Tragedy, Better The Devil You Know etc...) as it gave more scope for people to say 'oh NOES, they've murdered it!!!!'. This was the first single to promote their Gold - Greatest Hits collection, little did we know that it was their penultimate release, they were still up there close to the peak of their fame three years earlier which was proved by this song going very close to #1 and Gold (surely an ABBA reference?) going on to be a million seller and spending a few weeks at the top of the album chart.

 

The production on Chain Reaction though was a lot different to their other songs, the steel pans were out and it sounded like it was influenced by Safri Duo's Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song), a hit earlier on in the same year. The verses were shared between Claire/Faye and then H/Lisa whilst the chorus was insanely joyful and although it really shouldn't have worked, it was definitely a late career highlight of theirs, in particular the hospital themed video. I'll always remember this song for a very strange reason, I had it going through my head whilst having my BCG injections at the age of 14 as I was trying to cause a diversion in my mind to stop thinking about the pain. As it turns out it didn't hurt at all anyway, but I still look at the scar on my arm and think of this song! :lol:

Very pleased to see the wondrous Summer Of Love managing such a respectable finish, is that the highest of all the Buzz singles in this rate?

 

It's The Way You Make Me Feel is still to come!

 

Oh of course :(

Last Thing On My Mind FTW :D

I wish they had stuck with the hospital video for the full video in Chain Reaction, they could have done the dance routine in a big ward or something rather than seguing off to that rubbish stage section.

5. Love's Got A Hold On My Heart - 7.54

 

 

UK #2 - 1999

 

A pleasant surprise now for me as the first of my personal top three Steps songs appears, and I honestly didn't expect to see it in the top five! The lead single to 1999's Steptacular, the band dressed in a tasteful yellow and hoped to secure their second chart topper. Sadly, although it was expected, it wasn't quite to be and although they ran Ricky Martin incredibly close, Livin' La Vida Loca had overtaken by the weekend. I don't get the hate for this song at all (and I did notice some), it most certainly is NOT a non-song, it has brilliant verses that contrast Faye's crisp clear vocals in the verse with Claire's deep and powerful vox ready for the bridge come chorus and vice versa on the second verse/chorus with Claire and Faye switching places. And the bell-laden production was already far more impressive than that of the previous single, Better Best Forgotten. Ignoring the yellow, they all looked great in the video as well, who can forget Claire's hat?

4. Last Thing On My Mind – 7.76

 

 

UK #6 - 1998

 

Onto what is probably my personal favourite now, although it was incredibly close with the song at #5 and a song yet to come...Following 5,6,7,8 was never going to be the easiest task, that being pure novelty and a gimmick. Fast forward a few months to May 1998 and they decided upon a cover of a little known Bananarama single, Last Thing On My Mind. They turned it into a fully blown ABBA-esque track which soon became their trademark 'sound', the previous single being a definite anomaly. It began the tradition of what soon became standard - Faye verse, Claire verse, Lisa section and was just a thoroughly great pop song in a chart dominated by overwrought power ballads, boybands and the back end of Britpop. It hung around for an impressive six weeks in the top ten - impressive for a non top five hit in a volatile chart climate anyway - and was their last single not to reach the top five.

 

Being active between 1997-2001 when I was 10-14 years old means that I relate an awful lot of memories to Steps songs and this one was no different, it was incredibly prominent in 'last ever' type primary school events such as disco's and friend's goodbye parties. Along with other such classics as Kung Fu Fighting, It's Like That and How Do I Live (for the slow dance, year 6 was when everyone realised that they were interested in the opposite sex after all!)

I shall rundown the top three later, I wouldn't say there's anything too shocking here but they are - in alphabetical order;

 

Deeper Shade Of Blue

It's The Way You Make Me Feel

One For Sorrow

 

Thoughts, predictions?

I suspect 'One For Sorrow' will win. It's ok I guess but I was never a big fan of that song. On the other hand, I genuinely thought 'Deeper Shade Of Blue' and 'It's The Way You Make Me Feel' were two great pop songs so would rather see one of them win this. Can't see it happening though.

 

Oh, and Last Thing On My Mind. :wub: Steps were so popular in Belgium that this spent something like 10 weeks at no. 1 there and they were hailed as the new Beatles by many a Belgian. :lol:

Really hope One For Sorrow wins, but I think itll be Deeper Shade Of Blue

I suspect 'One For Sorrow' will win. It's ok I guess but I was never a big fan of that song. On the other hand, I genuinely thought 'Deeper Shade Of Blue' and 'It's The Way You Make Me Feel' were two great pop songs so would rather see one of them win this. Can't see it happening though.

 

Oh, and Last Thing On My Mind. :wub: Steps were so popular in Belgium that this spend something like 10 weeks at no. 1 there and they were hailed as the new Beatles by many a Belgian. :lol:

 

I always felt the same way about Deeper Shade Of Blue, although I adore the other two, but we shall see how it turns out!

2 more amazing songs gone there. If ITWYMMF wins this I am declaring the whole thing null and void. I hope the low marks were enough to counteract the sleugh of 11's it got.

 

ONE FOR SORROW FTW (DSOB would be fine too)

'Tragedy', 'Heartbeat' and 'Better Best Forgotten'' should be HIGHER.

 

Its The Way You Make Me Feel for the win please.

 

 

Better Best Forgotten is VERY tinny. I did love it at the time though but not even nostalgia could get it more than a 3 from me IIRC. By the most part I still love the majority of the songs I did as a child (even some embarrassing ones!) but not that one...

 

Great to see Chain Reaction 6th. I was sure it was going to be 14th or something; it looked to me like it was getting a lot of low/average marks! I only wish I had given it a 10/11 now as that might have lifted it above Love's Got A Hold On My Heart and into the top 5 :manson:

 

I don't really 'get' Last Thing On My Mind. I can sometimes enjoy it in the context of other songs from its time but it's never one I'd choose to listen to and indeed if it came up on shuffle on my iTunes, I'd probably skip it more than half the times. I think I gave it a 5 which seems fair...

 

I think it's between Deeper Shade of Blue and It's The Way You Make Me Feel. I could be wrong but I'm sure the former got consistently high marks which might be enough to win, while It's The Way You Make Me Feel got a lot of 10s/11s but also a few people rated it lowly (like me!) - maybe I'm just deluding myself though in thinking that fairly average song won't win...

Better Best Forgotten is VERY tinny. I did love it at the time though but not even nostalgia could get it more than a 3 from me IIRC. By the most part I still love the majority of the songs I did as a child (even some embarrassing ones!) but not that one...

 

Great to see Chain Reaction 6th. I was sure it was going to be 14th or something; it looked to me like it was getting a lot of low/average marks! I only wish I had given it a 10/11 now as that might have lifted it above Love's Got A Hold On My Heart and into the top 5 :manson:

 

I don't really 'get' Last Thing On My Mind. I can sometimes enjoy it in the context of other songs from its time but it's never one I'd choose to listen to and indeed if it came up on shuffle on my iTunes, I'd probably skip it more than half the times. I think I gave it a 5 which seems fair...

 

I think it's between Deeper Shade of Blue and It's The Way You Make Me Feel. I could be wrong but I'm sure the former got consistently high marks which might be enough to win, while It's The Way You Make Me Feel got a lot of 10s/11s but also a few people rated it lowly (like me!) - maybe I'm just deluding myself though in thinking that fairly average song won't win...

 

Yep, if you'd given it an 11 it would have been 5th, such was the narrow margin between the two!

The top three all scored an average of above 8, which is actually very impressive considering we had 35 rates!

 

3. Deeper Shade Of Blue - 8.27

 

 

UK #4 - 2000

 

The Steps song that it was ok to like next, surprising considering that it was vocally led by H of all people! Deeper Shade Of Blue had a cool edge with darker production than usual and a very distinct look in the video, recreated when H was in Big Brother iirc? Admittedly it wasn't one of my favourites but I can see why people enjoyed it, it was far less cheesy than usual and more accessible to outsiders and the production was incredibly contemporary for the time, far more so than the singles surrounding it. It probably would have made a good UK Eurovision entry in 2000 but instead we got a reheated Steps leftover sung by mid 90s one hit wonder Nicki French.

 

For all of its critical acclaim, it performed relatively poorly chartwise with a Steps career low of 9 weeks inside the top 75 although it was released on a busy week, debuting at #4 as part of an entire top six of new entries. Nevertheless it has a legacy and with such a high average rate, clearly deserves its top three placing here.

'Summer Of Love' should've finished in the Top 3 alongside 'Deeper Shade of Blue' and 'Its The Way You Make Me Feel'. The latter to win now please. :wub:

2. It's The Way You Make Me Feel - 8.69

 

 

UK #2 - 2001

 

And onto the song that I expected to win, and in fairness it wasn't far off! Despite scoring quite a few 11's there was also quite a bit of indifference and thus this song just manages to miss out on the top spot again. I say again as by rights this should have been their third UK #1, but the curse of unlucky Steps struck again. Instead of the usual midweek chart slide, what happened here is that the single was leaked to shops a few days early and as such shifted enough copies to debut at No.72, climbing to No.2 a week later. All well and good but they missed out on No.1 to Rui Da Silva's Touch Me by less than the amount that they sold the previous week. Assuming that that would have been the combined total for the week of release, it's clear to see that this time they were genuinely robbed!

 

The song itself is another 'Steps song it's ok to like', certainly a lot of my friends who hated Steps loved this. I'm not sure why as it's no less cheesy than their usual output but it does have something a little bit different to it, a slight sadness to it in the bridge/middle 8 which perfectly contrasts with the joy of the chorus and elation of Clarie's operatic ad-libs towards the end. Very much a shared effort, they all get a bit of lead vocal to sing and although I love Touch Me, it's a shame that it didn't go to the top as it was FAR superior to Stomp which came before it and managed to go to #1 on a much lesser sale, even with this already being available on the album.

 

1. One For Sorrow – 8.76

 

 

UK #2 - 1998

 

Not the winner I expected if I'm honest but it gets there by virtue of being well appreciated by almost all. It had quite a few 10's and 11's, not as many as It's The Way You Make Me Feel but very few people rated it lowly and it thus steals the win! The group's third single, this went even more down the ABBA route than Last Thing On My Mind, a late 1998 hi-NRG take on something that might have appeared on the Swedish act's final album. Led entirely by Claire, who claims that it's her favourite Steps single for that very reason (her first chance to properly shine), it showed everyone just what this band were capable of, and quickly Claire moved to the forefront of the band to become the lead singer of sorts.

 

Debuting at No.2 and instantly becoming their biggest hit, it lingered around the top ten for five weeks and was another decent selling single for the group. A summery video contrasted the group dancing in sunflower fields, having a picnic, cycling and holding hands with the underlying sorrow of Claire unleashing her inner Agnetha in the opening scenes. It comes somewhere close to being the perfect original pop single and sums up the essence of Steps in a four minute burst. Great stuff.

 

That's it! Hope you enjoyed the rate and lets hope that they can get around to making some new material in the next few months, of the quality of the top five opposed to the bottom five please!

Results in full:

 

1. One For Sorrow – 8.76

2. It's The Way You Make Me Feel - 8.69

3. Deeper Shade Of Blue – 8.27

4. Last Thing On My Mind – 7.76

5. Love's Got A Hold On My Heart – 7.54

6. Chain Reaction – 7.49

7. Summer Of Love – 7.44

8. Say You'll Be Mine – 7.37

9. Tragedy – 7.25

10. Stomp – 7.24

11. After The Love Has Gone – 7.20

12. Better Best Forgotten - 7.13

13. Here And Now – 7.08

14. You'll Be Sorry - 6.98

15. Heartbeat – 6.86

16. Better The Devil You Know - 6.5

17. 5,6,7,8 – 5.89

18. One For Sorrow (2001/Tony Moran US mix) – 5.78

19. Words Are Not Enough – 5.57

20. Thank Abba For The Music – 5.31

21. I Know Him So Well – 5.13

22. When I Said Goodbye - 5.03

23. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby – 3.53

 

Member rank;

 

1. Faye Tozer – 120 Points

2. Claire Richards – 115 Points

3. Lisa Scott-Lee – 97 Points

4. Ian 'H' Watkins – 55 Points

5. Lee Latchford-Evans – 51 Points