94. EVERYBODY GET UP- Five (230,300)

 

http://eil.com/Gallery/425788b.jpg

 

RELEASED: 1998

PEAK PSITION: 2

WKS ON CHART: 12

 

The first of three successive No 2 hits for the band this lost out in a girl group Vs Boy band battle to the All Saints in September 98. A factor in this was the fact that the Five CD was sold at £3.99, almost double that of the opposition single so whilst they may have lost the battle they probably generated far more profit for the record company than the All Saints track did. A sample of “I Love Rock N Roll” and a school based promo helped flog it no doubt.

 

93. BLAME IT ON THE WEATHERMAN- B*Witched (231,100)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Blameitontheweatherman.jpg

 

RELEASED: 1999

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 9

 

Despite suffering the biggest fall from the top spot in 8 years that didn’t dent the achievement of B*Witched in getting their fourth No 1 single in a row, the first to have each of their first four hits debut at the top, and the second act (after the Spice Girls) to start a career off with four No. 1’s. In truth they were fortunate to get there thanks to a weak market (for 1999 anyway) and the late collapse in sales of the Comic Relief record by Boyzone which enabled them to grab 7 days in the sunshine.

 

92. IF YOU COME BACK- Blue (232,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/BlueIfYouComeBack.jpg

 

RELEASED: 2001

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 13

 

What connects the last two records (other than both being No 1 hits)? Well it’s actually another boy band 911. 911 Front man Lee Brennan married B*Witched Lyndsey Armaou and co-penned this song for Blue which rounded off a perfect year 1 for them, it helped launch their debut album which whilst a big seller took until April 2002 to finally make No 1.

 

Hmm, I was never a fan of those kind of songs from Five. They tended to suffer from lack of melody and awful shouting/straining vocals. Not my cup of tea. Better than their We Will Rock You cover (which is one of the worst #1s ever) but that's all the praise I can give it.

 

And Blame On The Weatherman is a bit of a BORE too. No real hook and their unfortunately characterless vocals don't help matters. I know for a fact there were better songs on that album just crying out for release, such as the Jackson 5-sampling Rev It Up and the rather lovely Oh Mr. Postman, which I thought was like the most beautiful song ever as a kid. (And yes, I did just listen to the album the other week, hence why I can remember these so vividly.)

 

That 1-9 drop was definitely a shock though! Although I was more floored when Emma Bunton went 1-1-8 with What Took You So Long? The concept of her only getting two weeks because it was dead the second didn't even enter my mind back then, being at #1 for more than a week ALWAYS suggested the song was hugely popular to me in those fleeting days, so dropping to #8 after that seemed inexplicable. :o

B*Witched had some fantastic songs, the first album was brilliant. Shame they disappeared so quickly.

 

Looking forward to seeing where all the Spice Girls songs are!

92. IF YOU COME BACK- Blue (232,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/BlueIfYouComeBack.jpg

 

I have softspot for this one too.

Speaking of B*Witched's first album, this is possibly the most WTF moment on any late 90s pop album:

 

 

Irish Jig (DRUM AND BASS remix). T'was wasted as an intro - we needed a full version and for it to be a single! :(

^ THAT is appauling- I never bought the album, but i'm pleased to hear that the thread inspired you!

b*witched did have some awesome album tracks. 'if It Dont Fit' and 'Are You A Ghost', and 'Someday' were all highlights for me

Blame It On The Weatherman was quite decent I thought but a HUGE step down from the mighty To You I Belong, I too was shocked at the 1-9 slip though, I'd never seen anything like it before! It was more 'worldy' than their other singles so led nicely into their second album I guess.

 

If You Come Back is probably my favourite Blue single, a great example of a pop ballad. I too have little time for that 5ive song/general sound.

B*witched? Whaaaat? Truly, truly, utterly AWFUL. Come on, guys.... you can't be serious.

95. WHEN WILL I BE FAMOUS?- Bros (229,000)

 

 

I worked in HMV when Bros released their first single... they came in with the record company rep to do a PR signing session. As the single hadn't sold a jot, they ended up stood behind the counter JUST chatting to the staff....... nice guys, fair play.

 

However, when they were stood there, customers just thought they were HMV staff, and they fended off no end of people asking the duo to help them find a certain item.

 

How odd that just months later, they were Britain's biggest band (albeit for 2 minutes).

91. FREAK LIKE ME- Sugababes (235,000)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/image/r29645_300.jpg

 

RELEASED: 2002

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 14

 

And so the best selling single by the Sugababes (pre 2005 anyway), and the single that turned round their career in a stroke. The band’s previous single “Soul Sound” only made No 30 and things were looking grim for the group as new member Heidi Range was drafted in as the rather photogenic replacement, but this song is not really a Sugababes record but a Richard X track. He had done an illegal mash-up for a group called Girls On Top entitled “We Don’t Give A Damn” but failed to get a sample of the Adina Howard track “Freak Like Me” cleared so had in effect to get a group in to record new vocals. At this point he had the idea to mash the track with Tubeway Army’s 1979 hit “Are Friends Electric?” and it was he that chose the Sugababes to record it. No matter, the margin of under 2k which won the band the No 1 spot re-launched them and for the remainder of the decade the band accrued a total of 6 No 1’s.

 

90. HOLLER/ LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY- Spice Girls (236,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Holler.jpg

 

RELEASED: 2000

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 17

 

With an inordinate amount of publicity and hype the girls returned to the pop charts in November 2000 with this double A-Side creation, the R N B Darkchild produced “Holler” and the gentler ballad “Let Love Lead The Way”. Naturally it debuted at No 1 though sales of 106k were hardly a return to the heady days of the 90s and the tracks were criticised for being “too American” or too aping of the current R N B style to make them individual, something that the group managed to do effortlessly previously. A high profile war of words with Westlife was the result of seeing their albums being released in the same week and when the girls came off second best (and with very poor sales comparatively) they took the hint and called it a day- for 7 years at least.

 

89. BOOTIE CALL- All Saints (237,600)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/BootieCallCover.jpg

 

RELEASED: 1998

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 11

 

Registering the biggest first week sale of any of their 90s hits, “Bootie Call” arrived at the top of the charts to become the 800th No 1 of all time in the UK. A fourth hit to be lifted from their eponymous debut album it became a third straight chart topper for them during a year where they seriously challenged the Spice Girls for chart domination.

 

90. HOLLER/ LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY- Spice Girls (236,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Holler.jpg

Well yes, Holler is really rubbish, and another song that was shamelessly ripping off No Scrubs in 1999/2000. Let Love Lead The Way is a flat retread of former glories that never gets even close to lifting off the ground. Phoned in pretty much defines both.

 

The worst thing is this was still one of the "best" things on THAT album. A truly tragic fall from grace when you consider the previous album Spiceworld is practically the magnum opus of the late 90s teen/bubblegum pop era. Makes me still a bit sad now TBH. :cry:

Holler and Bootie Call are the absolute worst that Spice Girls and All Saints had to offer respectively, both dire and neither should have gone anywhere near #1. Let Love Lead The Way was ok but again, album filler at best.

Bootie Call was too urban to have mass appeal and sell that much (considering this was 1998) and maybe didn't deserve to be #1 in that respect but it's still ace. I just love the ominously creeping production that manages to make the whole thing sound like some dark, sordid fantasy.

But it COULD have been the rather better "War of Nerves" that got a release instead of this and become a No 1. Then again that has a more "christmassy" appeal to it I suppose. As noted in my commentary of No 94 (the song it held off No 1) it was sold at virtually half the price of the Five record which was certainly a factor....

88. DROP THE BOY- Bros (239,000)

 

http://www.recordsale.de/cdpix/b/bros-drop_the_boy_(shep_pettibone_mix)(1).jpg

 

RELEASED: 1988

PEAK POSITION: 2

WKS ON CHART: 10

 

After the initial success of “When Will I Be Famous” (No 95) the follow up was a considerably more instant affair rocketing from 17-2 and spending 4 weeks waiting patiently at there, a mixture of Aswad and the Pet Shop Boys depriving them. All of which proved a mixed blessing for Tom Watkins who managed both acts not that I suppose he was too fussed, lyrically a tale of growing up and being taken seriously they seemed to misunderstand their audience who were far too interested in sticking posters on bedroom walls and screaming at the boys to take this message seriously.