3RD JUNE- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Pulp_-_Common_People.JPG

 

Sometimes a record comes along at just the right time. "Common People" was one of those records, Britpop was, amongst other things, a movement which took teh ordinary and made it something which became glorified. Post "Parklife" the idea of the working class subculture being something aspirational became highly fashionable, who would have guessed that the most biting criticism would come from within the movement itself. Of course "movements" aren't really that, they are most often incidental and identifiable only in retrospect, but as much as it can be "Common People" is a critique of mid 90s culture, Cocker taking wry shots at it, part of its charm is of course that let's us in on the joke.

 

Writing about this song isn't an easy task, it's multi-layered, far too clever by half, and of course a stonking tune to top it all off. Based on a real life story of a girl Cocker used to know who thought it was trendy to slum it, it emerged from nowhere really and kinda captured the summer of 95 far more than the record that held it off the top (Robson & Jerome), Cocker was instantly thrown into the A List celebrity circle as some kind of modern day oracle and spokesman of the zeitgist, a role reiterated by his appearance at the BRITS in early 96 and THAT Jackson affair! I recall in the "Sun" newspaper it illustrated how to dance like cocker such was the image he had given birth to, indeed it seemed like a time when us Brits had triumphed over all that American music, indeed that Britpop didn't really translate around the world looking back was rather beside the point, the point is that for a few years at any rate it didn't matter to us what was going on over there, Britain became self absorbed, self analytical, and also slightly arrogant. For a nation which always been slightly coy about trumpeting its own successes it became (paradoxically) quite American in its bombast.

 

Of course the old problem didn't too long to rear its head- if your stock in trade is the ordinary and the perils of the mundane, then once fame has found you your experiences are different, you gain entry into a lifestyle that few people have access too, it's hard to write about being poor and being aspirational if you have wealth and desires fulfilled. Anyway that's still to come, and Pulp back in 1995 were a band with something to say, the underdogs who were laughing with us at the establishment, and "Common People" is therefore more than a record in reality, it's a record entirely of it's time musically, but timeless in its theme

 

Edited November 18, 201113 yr by gezza76

17TH JUNE- HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME- U2 (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Hmtmkmkm.jpg

 

Recorded for their 1993 "Zooropa" sessions, U2 had by this time become more than the sum of their parts. This is my first opportunity to write about U2, always far better when not being political in my opinion, they had made the fantastic "Achtung Baby" by this point, after which the rest of the decade seemed rather pointless for them apart from the rather sweet and innocently loveable "Sweetest Thing" in 1998 which was an 80's composition in any eventuality. It was with a hint of appropos that they recorded this track as the theme to "Batman Forever" considering that back in 1989 their song "All I Want Is You" was stopped at No 4 in the charts behind amongst others, Prince's "Batdance".

 

Never a favourite of mine, this ALWAYS seemed too long as a record, and in a summer of new fresh talent U2 looked curiously old fashioned and non relevant to what was going on at that time. I suppose that that is what makes a great band, not that their fame rises and falls through these changing pop times but that they can survive them all relatively unscathed, indeed their star seems only to have seriously wained these last five years, but for me post 1991 they lost their shine.

 

"Hold Me" is therefore a walk through old familiar territory, it isn't going to appear to a new audience, for a group so political it is somewhat ironic that they have been the "establishment" for so long and of course this corporate tie in highlights the paradox of taking such a stance. It doesn't wound my ears but if I never hear this song again no tears will be shed!

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 201113 yr by gezza76

03 JUNE- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (2 weeks)

 

I fawn all over this in all the threads you post, but simply put it IS Britpop and will forever be the song that changed my life/fave song of all time.

 

17TH JUNE- HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME- U2 (2 weeks)

I usually despise U2, but I actually really like this - the sound is a bit different for them and I guess it is the influence of the long hot summer when it was out.

15TH JULY- ALRIGHT/ TIME- Supergrass (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/ALRIGHT7.jpg

 

Like an annoyingly happy teenager "Alright" was overplayed to the max during the summer of 1995, and to be honest it didn't do it any favours. Maybe I'm a miserable old sod but anything good that song possessed was soon stripped from it in my eyes by the cloying perkiness, my thanks to Wikipedia for providing me with the band's own view on it ""it wasn't written as an anthem. It isn't supposed to be a rally cry for our generation. The stuff about 'We are young/We run green...' isn't about being 19 but really 13 or 14 and just discovering girls and drinking. It's meant to be light-hearted and a bit of a laugh, not at all a rebellious call to arms.....It certainly wasn't written in a very summery vibe. It was written in a cottage where the heating had packed up and we were trying to build fires to keep warm."

 

Perhaps if it had been written about being 19 then I could have related more but the "fun" to be had in this song seems too forced to be natural, the scene is too disconnected from real life really but perhaps not to a 13 year old, but regardless "Alright" got very annoying very quickly for me.

 

On the plus side until just now I never listened to "Time" (well not that I recall anyway) and was pleasently surprised. Much more laid back in tone and reserved in theme I quite enjoyed it, if only I'd paid attention to it back in 95 eh! so it's not all bad news in this review, the plodding nature of the song seems to amble along agreeably and whilst I can see fully why it was lost in the clamour for the brighter, poppier, "Alright" it's a song which I greatly prefer.

 

Edited November 19, 201113 yr by gezza76

29TH JULY- SHY GUY- Diana King (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Shy_guy.jpg

 

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND A WORD THIS GIRL IS SINGING ABOUT. I think I've made that abundantly clear now, what is the point in this song? It's on this list in the main due its use in the "Bad Boys" Film which was in box offices at the time and I know it's sung mainly in Patois not English but this just seems a bit too reggae tastic to slip through the net for me and it's a song that I always turned off when I listened to the radio/ charts or found something else to do for 5 minutes.

 

I'm sure this has it's place, actually 1993 would have been perfect for it, but by 1995 it was all about Britpop for me by now, though Summer is always a spell that matches the reggae beat nicely and when it used to have its greatest successes. A couple of equally pointless covers extended her career to three hits before it was time to say goodbye to Diana, can't say I miss her.

 

Edited November 19, 201113 yr by gezza76

Diana King had a million selling album in Japan. I'm baffled too. :lol: But "Shy Guy" is a cute song... if you never liked Soho's "Hippychick", you'd never like "Shy Guy". :P

Diana King had a million selling album in Japan. I'm baffled too. :lol: But "Shy Guy" is a cute song... if you never liked Soho's "Hippychick", you'd never like "Shy Guy". :P

I'm confused- who said I didn't like "Hippy Chick"? I actually quite like that song (I bought it at the time) but "Shy Guy" does nothing for me! :(

19TH AUGUST- I LOVE U BABY- Original (1 week)

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nw8fcHV1bdE/SLrqCRNrHqI/AAAAAAAADUQ/URO6VOwx6dk/s400/The-Original.jpg

 

So here I am in August 1995 waiting for my A Level results to come through, working part time in a local hotel silver service waiting, they were innocent pre uni days when the most stress I had was exams. In the pop world we were gearing up to the biggest chart battle of the decade but the week before that this euro dance outfit almost bagged a surprise chart topper from the mighty Take That.

 

I can't really find anything on the web to tell me that much about the band, other than this made No 31 in Jan 95 before a re-release post summer holidays proved more fruitful. It's another example of the famous "Ibiza" effect, returning holiday makers buying tracks they had heard in the most famous clubbling spot in the world in the 90s anyway, and whilst I don't dislike this song it's hard to sum up any strong feeling about it all. A traditional slump in sales in August may account for it's high position but it's an "also-ran" song for me i'm afraid.

 

Edited November 20, 201113 yr by gezza76

26TH AUGUST- ROLL WITH IT- Oasis (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/Rollwithit1.jpg

 

So we finally arrived at the infamous battle of the decade. Looking back it seems an odd battle, neither track is the best the bands (Oasis and Blur) did maybe this was therefore a battle about other things, North Vs South, Middle class vs Working class, witty intellectualism vs salt of the earth honesty. Imagine if this battle had been "Don't Look Back In Anger" Vs "The Universal" or "Supersonic" Vs "Tender" but we're stuck with what we got, and I still remember the slot on the 9 o'clock news that Monday night 14th August when the battle was deemed important enough to run alongside tales of war & Famine. Sometimes Pop can extend outside of its own confines and grip the nation, and as a 19yr old it seemed at the time that it was all about my age group, we were the bright young things who were making a mark on the world, fools that we were. but that the power of Britpop it made you believe your life was immesurably more interesting than it was simply because the songs were about just that ordinary life in your avergae UK town.

 

Shame then that "Roll With It" is so poor, a rock-n-roll by numbers track that is full of its own pomp but this time sadly without much of it being warranted, the end result of that battle which places this Oasis track in this thread was probably the right one in the end in my opinion though of course it was hotly contested at the time, and yes the question "Do you prefer Oasis or Blur" was genuinely asked many times back then and in pubs- the cliches are all true. "Roll With It" is a track that even Oasis seem to bore of half way through and it's a track I always skip when listening to WTSMG, almost any other song on there would have been a better single than this but by this point the name alone would guarantee a top 2 placing.

 

As we know the battle was lost but the war was won by them and Oasis's impact on pop culture and the proverbial kick up the jacksy they gave the record industry in the mid 90s can't be under-estimated. Few bands had come with the urgency to be massive, a drive so primary and vital that they refused to be denied, and that was something which had been lacking in the UK Charts for a good decade or so (probably since the new romantic movement) which goes part way to explaining why they became so big, and for a while the records echoed that sense of purpose and drive. Ignore "Roll With It" and you have a pretty flawless string of string of hit singles 1994-1996, dots that connect to form the perfect cannon of rock singles.

 

Edited November 20, 201113 yr by gezza76

16TH SEPTEMBER- STAYIN ALIVE- N-Trance Featuring Ricardo Da Force (1 week)

 

http://www.musicobsession.com/Pictures/n/t/ntrance235817.jpg

 

Oh dear- how the mighty have fallen. After the fantastic "Set You Free" N-Trance decended into a seemingly endless parade of 1970s covers with increasingly poorer results, this of course a cover of the Bee Gees 1978 No 4 hit. No bad thing for the brothers Gibb though as they were, for the remainder of the decade, much sought after in the cover version stakes with Take That, Boyzone, Blockster, 911, and Steps all scoring top 3 hits with the remakes in addition to this, a compilation album of artists covering their songs "A Message To You" also made it big in 1998 and they even returned to the top 10 in person on Celine Dion's "Immortality" in that same year.

 

Ricardo Da Force you may recall was also the rapper on many a KLF hit in the early part of the decade so it seems to have sulled all's reputation in the involvement of this cover. If the 80s was full of 60s remakes and re-issues then the 90s was full of the 70s doings and N-trance became just another byword for cheesy dance remixes of that decade's biggest hits, Clock, Course, and Bus Stop would be similar criminal bands to fall under this banner. By way of trivia "Stayin Alive" in it's original form was used to train doctors to give the correct amount of chest comopressions during CPR in the 80s?!!!

 

Anyway I can't think of a single redeming factor for anyone involved in this creation so best we move on.

 

Edited November 21, 201113 yr by gezza76

7TH OCTOBER- MIS SHAPES/ SORTED FOR E'S & WHIZZ- Pulp (2 weeks)

 

http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~jaay/images/misshapescd1_big.jpg

 

Well here they are again. This time with added controversy. Both sides of this hit were taken from their forthcoming "Different Class" album which was very shortly to be conferred with the "classic" tag, but in early Oct 1995 the band were embroiled in a very public spat with the Mirror Newspaper which concerned not only the lyrics to "Sorted" but also the packaging, the full story of which can be found here pulp controversy but in short the original sleeve contained DIY instructions on how to make a "speed wrap" which the band thought of a s a promo gimmick considering the nature of the single. The Mirror however took it to be an endorsement of drug taking and campaigned to get the song banned with some initial success, though more for the band who had pre orders of over 200k!

 

Pulp eventually conceeded and the artwork was changed though of course they still maintained that the song had ben fundamentally misunderstood. Frankly it beggers belief that anyone who listened to the lyrics could think it was a PRO drugs track in the same way that "Ebenezer Goode" was back in 1992. A tale of drug taking focusing on the empty feeling of the comedown, "Sorted" is a majestic record, not as poppy as "Common People" certainly but a self assured wise old record wishing to impart its knowledge, the dislocated bridge of the record seems to mirror the floating "high" feeling of the track with the come down similarly represented musically, a great record deserving of all the praise regularly heaped onto "Common People".

 

"Mis-Shapes" is for me, not as good a record, an ordinary pulp tale of the outsider, it's still fantastic in relation to the N-Trance gubbins obviously, it's just that it is more formally structured and therefore less stand out than "Sorted" but confirmed Cocker's status as spokesman for the dis-enfranchised for the britpop period. As a package the fact that was denied the No 1 spot (despite leading in the midweeks) is criminal really, such witty insightful lyrics deserved a place at the very top of this country's chart but I suppose while you have the Simply Red's of the world then the chances were always slim, for a band so championing of the underdog and the outsider, perhaps the fact they were never admitted to the No 1 club is rather fitting?

 

 

Edited November 21, 201113 yr by gezza76

16TH SEPTEMBER- STAYIN ALIVE- N-Trance Featuring Ricardo Da Force (1 week)

 

http://www.musicobsession.com/Pictures/n/t/ntrance235817.jpg

 

Oh dear- how the mighty have fallen. After the fantastic "Set You Free" N-Trance decended into a seemingly endless parade of 1970s covers with increasingly poorer results, this of course a cover of the Bee Gees 1978 No 4 hit. No bad thing for the brothers Gibb though as they were, for the remainder of the decade, much sought after in the cover version stakes with Take That, Boyzone, Blockster and Steps all scoring top 2 hits with the remakes in addiction to this, a compilation album of artists covering their songs "A Message To You" also made it big in 1998 and they even returned to the top 10 in person on Celine Dion's "Immortality" in that same year.

 

Ricardo Da Force you may recall was also the rapper on many a KLF hit in the early part of the decade so it seems to have sulled all's reputation in the involvement of this cover. If the 80s was full of 60s remakes and re-issues then the 90s was full of the 70s doings and N-trance became just another byword for cheesy dance remixes of that decade's biggest hits, Clock, Course, and Bus Stop would be similar criminal bands to fall under this banner. By way of trivia "Stayin Alive" in it's original form was used to train doctors to give the correct amount of chest comopressions during CPR in the 80s?!!!

 

Anyway I can't think of a single redeming factor for anyone involved in this creation so best we move on.

 

 

Blockster got to #3, and don't forget 911's #2 cover of More Than A Woman! :D

 

Stayin' Alive was dire, what a comedown from the greatest song of all time!

Blockster got to #3, and don't forget 911's #2 cover of More Than A Woman! :D

 

Stayin' Alive was dire, what a comedown from the greatest song of all time!

Oops you're right- I think I got it and Bamboo mixed up! 911- "I'll reserve my thoughts on that one! :D

Not been posting comments for a while so here's a chance to catch up.

 

3RD JUNE- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (2 weeks)

 

An absolute gem right here. Lyrically spot on and summerising the social experience of 1994 to a tee. I remember when I doing my degree at Stockport College and we actually had a lecture about 'Common People'. Serously!!! :lol: Our tutor started off proceedings by showing the music video on a large screen. Then we spend 30 minutes talking about/analysing the lyrics. Oh, how very art were Pulp. In case you're wondering, I studied Design & Visual Arts. Pop culture at it's finest. To conclude, if you want to meet the girl/boy of your dreams, go to Tesco. :D

 

17TH JUNE- HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME- U2 (2 weeks)

 

This wasn't bad and considering it's U2 looking at the chart run, it actually stuck around much better than most of their big hits tended to. I guess being the soundtrack to the Batman film meant people continued buying this track for the weeks following the films release. It isn't classic U2 but compared hidious crap like 'Get On Your Boots' from 2009, this is a masterpiece in comparison.

 

15TH JULY- ALRIGHT/ TIME- Supergrass (2 weeks)

 

Aww, I actually like this. Even today alongside 'Common People' I'd say these were the two songs that represented Britpop 1995 for me. Have to admit I don't think I've ever heard 'Time' but 'Alright' has become their signature tune.

 

29TH JULY- SHY GUY- Diana King (1 week)

 

Here's another track I actually liked at the time. In the slow sales period during the summer of 1995 I guess songs like this managed to get high up purely because it just happened to sell enough rather than because it was a genuinely popular song. Maybe I'm wrong but I've not heard this song in a long time. It's like a forgotton gem of the 90s. Again coming from the film 'Bad Boys' probably explains the reason for this songs success in a similar to U2's track.

 

19TH AUGUST- I LOVE U BABY- Original (1 week)

 

As much as I love classic 90s dance music, this has always missed the mark for me. There were other dance tracks in the chart around this time I preferred more and never understood the appeal of this. Yes, that opening synth melody is decent but it quickly decends into nothingness. What always irritated me the most was the pointless key change after the first chorus only to go back down in key for the second verse. Just...why?!!! :lol: So I'll stick to the lesser successful selling dance hits of the time like 'Hideaway' by De'lacy and 'Sunshine After The Rain' by Berri thank you very much. :dance:

 

26TH AUGUST- ROLL WITH IT- Oasis (2 weeks)

 

Referring back to my Supergrass comment, 'Alright' and 'Common People' better represented Britpop for me than either 'Roll With It' or 'Country House'. I wouldn't say I disliked either track but both weren't exactly the best tracks by Blur and Oasis and perhaps the bands relied heavily on this "battle" to sell these two records. Without the hype I very much doubt they would've sold as many units in that first week. They probably would've still gone top 2 anyways.

 

16TH SEPTEMBER- STAYIN ALIVE- N-Trance Featuring Ricardo Da Force (1 week)

 

From 'Set You Free' to 'Stayin' Alive'. :manson: I really don't know why this track was so successful. Lack of competition? Maybe the video was "hilarious" enough to persuade young teenagers to buy the song. For me, at the time it was purely a novelty song. One of those "let's have a laugh" songs like 'Agadoo' and 'The Birdie Song' in the 80s that quickly lost their appeal.

 

7TH OCTOBER- MIS SHAPES/ SORTED FOR E'S & WHIZZ- Pulp (2 weeks)

 

I have to admit whilst I thought 'Common People' was musical genius especially when compared to Robson & Jerome, I was never that interested in this AA-side. :( Of the two tracks I think 'Mis Shapes' was the track I tended to hear more on the radio. With two weeks at #2 it's clear to see that alongside Blur and Oasis, Pulp were definitely up there as pioneers of the Britpop movement. I guess Pulp were truly lucky that these songs were released at the height of Britpop.

"Hideaway" :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

21ST OCTOBER- WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDE- Def Leppard (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/14810.jpg

 

This one is slighly left field. I remember back at the time wondering where exavtly this had come from?! To launch their greatest hits album "Vault" this was a track recorded for, but not included on the 1992 album "Adrenalize" an album did give us an earlier song in this thread "Let's Get Rocked", in all fairness this is relatively harmless stuff but it's also more or less identikit to the kind of material Bryan Adams had been put out for the last 4 years.

 

If soft rock and AOR balladeering is you rbag then i'm sure you'll love it, an if you damned Simply Red for keeping Pulp from No 1 then just remember it kept this piece of anodyne dad rock from the top as well. Part of my frustratino with the song is that we really are starting to get into a great time for pop and a review on this kind of record just seems rather trivial, even "Let's get Rocked2 contained some humourous moments and was quite fun even its tweeness, this however has no such thing to recommend it.

 

It's sad to lament the demise of the british rock group but they were sealing their own fate with tracks like this, and Leppard never made the top 10 again.

 

Edited November 22, 201113 yr by gezza76

28TH OCTOBER- I'D LIE FOR YOU (AND THAT'S THE TRUTH)- Meat Loaf (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/174b_1_b.JPG

 

Meat Loaf is a massively endearing figure in real life- Guaranteed to always be larger than life and be great TV his music is similarly filled with high drama and thanks to Jim Steinman, well ordinarily anyway, except this one is penned by Diane Warren famed for such hits as Starship's "We Built This City" etc. The loaf was returning to the fray and following up his massive 1993 album "Bat Out Of Hell II" album which had surprisingly given him his first chart topper here and the period earned him both the best selling single and album of 1993. The attempt at replicating that success is clear here, Same OTT performance, same long title (with brackets), guest female vocals provided by Patti Russo, and a similar extravagant promo video picking up from the end of the "I'd Do Anything" video.

 

It's just that the tune isn't quite good enough, whilst "I'd Do Anything For Love" had a story and theme, and a convincing one at that, saying that you'd lie for someone isn't exactly the most ardent profession of love, it's all a pale imitation of his 1993 period without much new on offer. Now a No 2 hit is hardly a failure but he must have been expecting bigger things to come from this and sales of over 330k were nothing to be sneezed at but it's that old problem- when you're last period was so huge anything but another huge era looks like a failure, it's a problem that will soon face Adele.

 

Edited November 22, 201113 yr by gezza76

"Hideaway" :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

I was watching Dance Nation whilst flicking through the music channels one morning last week and they had a section called Back To The Old Skool - or something like this. Basically non stop dance tracks from the 90s and 'Hideaway' was played. It still sounds excellent all these years later. Some dance tracks sound really dated now but for me 'Hideaway' was quite classy and it shows in how well its aged. Granted the Berri track was more of a novelty song but purely for the 'I Feel Love'-esque synth intro it was all kinds of *.* 'I Love You Baby' is just...there and doing very little. ** shrugs **

 

when you're last period was so huge anything but another huge era looks like a failure, it's a problem that will soon face Adele.

 

Only time will tell. Usually we've seen artists struggle when following up a successful album/era with another one. The only artist at the moment who seems to be having success with each era is Rihanna. Maybe it's because she works so hard in recording all these new tracks, making new music videos, constantly changing her style (as in appearance) so just as the last era is coming to end, Rihanna is straight back with the next one. Never giving her fans enough time to think that she's vanished off the face of the earth. It also helps that Rihanna's record company buy what turns out to be really successful singles - at least I think they buy the singles? (I may have got this wrong :lol: ).

 

Look back to the 60s with The Beatles. They were from a decade where they really were innovative with music, broke down musical barriers and changed British pop culture forever. Again, they had the ability to continue writing/recording new material. Once one album/era was coming to an end, along came the next. Hard work really does pay off and The Beatles achieved this in the space of 6 years in the 60s. Rihanna is pretty much doing the same thing albeit far more manufactured - you can't deny how successful she's become though.

 

Which to finally get to the point ( :kink: ) there's no reason why Adele's next era can't be successful. She just needs those excellent singles that will propell her to the top again. Then release another brilliant single to keep the momentum going. The problem with a lot of acts over the years is they come back with an excellent single to kick start that era. Then along comes the second single and it's the biggest anti climax. It fails to help sell the album and before you know it, the album is considered a flop.

 

Urgh!!! Essay style posts. Don't ya just loathe 'em? :lol:

4TH NOVEMBER- HEAVEN FOR EVERYONE- Queen (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Hfeuk1.jpg

 

Much like 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G, Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, far from being the end for Queen, spelt the beginning of a seemingly endless releases from them through the 1990s. The album "Made In Heaven" was an album filled with out takes and a selection of Mercury tracks that were recorded prior to his death but later found the light of a day as a cash cow for the die hard fans, it was an odd time in 90s Britain for Queen, they were revered in a way not really seen before yet few would argue that either "The Miracle" or "Innuendo" (the last two studio albums they made) were the best they had done. It was a long farewell to Mercury that in truth lasted a good 4 years and ended with this release (let's glaze over much of what happend post 96) and to be honest "Heaven For Everyone" is pretty much ballad by numbers, inspiration lyrics put to a nice enough tune but it's nothing special.

 

The song was written by Roger Taylor for his spin off band The Cross, and appeared on their 1988 album "Shove It" with Mercury on backing vocals, another version existed where Mercury took lead vocals and it was this version that surfaced with new production in late 95.

 

It did its job in promoting the album to a Christmas audience that lapped up a million copies of Mercury's last notes including the excellent "You Don't Fool Me" but, sentimentality aside, this is nothing special from one of the most influential bands in UK music history.

 

Edited November 23, 201113 yr by gezza76

11TH NOVEMBER- WONDERWALL- Oasis (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Wonderwall_cover.jpg

 

Ah what more can be written about "Wonderwall"? The best song ever written? an anthem for a generation? Certainly it seemed like all of those things at the time and it's not aged badly at all, then guitar pop tends not to, back in 1995 this song was EVERYWHERE. A standout track from Morning Glory from the start, it perhaps benefits from the fact that for all the expression of admiration in the lyrics it's the repressed nature of the song that hangs heavy over the track "There are many things that I would like to say to you/ But I don't know how" the imagery plays on the image of Oasis as northern lads who can't express their emotions, and that this is the best way they can convey that (after all what exactly is a Wonderwall?). The popular image of the band as the thugs of indie, the bully's of poor old Blur, were really, deep down, sensitive souls, was the right identity to convey the meaning of the song, this is perhaps one of the reasons why the record works so well.

 

Liam's Vocal, normally so agressive and bold, is much more refrained and earnest, the underbelly of the beast if you like, rendering the song entirely convincing in the execution, and the orchestration contributes to the rather melancholy feel of the track, this was Britpop being a "new man" (remember that 90s phrase?). Of course the tune is great, this was the band's golden period when almost everything had the magic touch and indeed Wonderwall sold enough copies in its first week to top the charts for most of the weeks in the year, this time however it was the scourge of britpop acts Robson & Jerome who held them from the top.

 

Incidentally it was apparently Liam who was supposed to appear on the cover but that was vetoed by Noel on the day. Similarly Noel's claim in 1996 that the song was written about Meg Matthews was changed post break up to an imaginary person so believe what you will, either way it doesn't detract from just how beautiful and well crafted "Wonderwall" is. The best No 2 of the 90s? well it should certainly be in the running.

 

Edited November 23, 201113 yr by gezza76