Hit was an absolute peach of a song made all the better because that absolute goon Einar was hardly on it shouting incomprehensible gobbledygook.

This was one of the reasons why I loved Debut so much.

 

Still not as good as Birthday though.

 

 

Einar's bit (if I'm correct) weirdly reminds me of the rap in REM's Radiosong from KRS-1.

 

09/02/1992

 

Tori Amos - China

 

5 Weeks

 

One of the purest, most heartbreaking songs that I've had the pleasure of experiencing. When she sings "sometimes" in the chorus it twists a piece of my consciousness in a way that only she can do. Then the heavenly backing vocals on "in your eyes". I've known this song for 20 years and it still has the same effect. It spent a while in my Top 5 of all time. It's probably still in my Top 30.

 

It failed to reach the UK Top 40 - which is shocking considering the shite that does. I have this on 12", cd single, cassette single and 7". The only single I have on 4 formats. The b-side Sugar is among her best 10 songs too.

 

Top 3s

09/02/1992

1 - China - Tori Amos

2 - Hit - The Sugarcubes

3 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

 

16/02/1992

1 - China - Tori Amos

2 - Hit - The Sugarcubes

3 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

 

23/02/1992

1 - China - Tori Amos

2 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

3 - The Big Ones Get Away - Buffy Saint Marie

 

01/03/1992

1 - China - Tori Amos

2 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

3 - The Big Ones Get Away - Buffy Saint Marie

 

08/03/1992

1 - China - Tori Amos

2 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

3 - Rozalla - Are You Ready to Fly?

Edited November 23, 201311 yr by AnthonyT

Tori! :wub:

 

I've always known that you loved that track but it's never been one that stood out for me on Little Earthquakes... each time I see your adoration for it I always think I must revisit it again and give it another try, perhaps this time I actually will! :D

It made me cry the first time I heard it. Her backing vocals are so amazing and almost not even there.

 

15/03/1992

 

Shakespeare's Sister-Stay

 

1 Week

 

And another song of loss and longing that trades on its purity - in the first half of the song, at least. For many the stand out number 1 of 1992. It's sales were quite poor for an 8 week number 1, finishing the year on fewer than 500,000.

 

For a while I went off it but now I love it again. I think it's the cycling through the three note refrain in the bridge that I love.

 

 

Top 3

15/03/1992

1 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

2 - Rozalla - Are You Ready to Fly?

3 - Dragging Me Down - Inspiral Carpets

 

 

22/03/1992

 

Rozalla - Are You Ready to Fly?

 

1 Week

 

Sneaking a week at the top is Rozalla with her third anthem (Faith (In the Power of Love) missed the Top 3 because of the quality of Nov 1991 singles). In truth it's weaker than its predecessors but still a worthy chart topper in which is probably the best year for dance singles ever. Although 1999 must run it close.

 

 

Top 3

22/03/1992

1 - Rozalla - Are You Ready to Fly?

2 - Dragging Me Down - Inspiral Carpets

3 - Stay - Shakespear's Sister

Interesting choice... not a track that I remembered at all and not one I can say I care for in retrospect either having just listened to it.

 

Stay is, of course, wonderful. Always a joy to watch that video!

 

29/03/1992

 

Tori Amos - Winter

 

6 Weeks

 

The drama, the beauty, the breath-taking keychange when she sings "all the white horses are still in bed", when she nearly cries singing "things are going to change, so fast" in the final verse. Strangely enough, before I ever saw the video I danced around a living room with two children in a circle to this song rather like the way she does in the video for Winter.

 

Her best single and her best song until the adventurous Hotel came out on For the Choirgirl Hotel in 1998. I've seen her play live four times and this is the only song that she did on ll four occasions. It's still in my Top 5 of all time 20 years after I first heard it.

 

She denies some classic songs of a number 1 spot in this chart - Breath of Life, Injected with a Poison, Why, all would have beaten Rozalla to number 1 had they been released earlier. Injected with a Poison would go on to be one of the highest performing number 2s in the Year End chart.

 

Top 3s

29/03/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - Are you Ready to Fly? - Rozalla

3 - Dragging Me Down - Inspiral Carpets

 

05/04/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - Breath of Life - Erasure

3 - Why - Annie Lennox

 

12/04/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - Injected with a Poison - Praga Khan

3 - Why - Annie Lennox

 

 

19/04/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - Injected with a Poison - Praga Khan

3 - Why - Annie Lennox

 

26/04/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - On a Ragga Tip SL2

3 - Injected with a Poison - Praga Khan

 

03/05/1992

1 - Winter - Tori Amos

2 - On a Ragga Tip SL2

3 - Injected with a Poison - Praga Khan

Edited November 23, 201311 yr by AnthonyT

Interesting choice... not a track that I remembered at all and not one I can say I care for in retrospect either having just listened to it.

 

 

In truth it was a non-number 1. Perhaps Stay deserved a second week but this is how charts work. :P

Winter is obviously wonderful, as are the other tracks you mention that were in contention at the time. Good April tastes!

 

(Oh and having tracks like Rozalla at #1 is what makes these things interesting, it's all about seeing songs that I'd completely forgotten about yet others loved)

 

 

10/05/1992

 

SL2 - On A Ragga Tip

 

2 Weeks

 

 

Keeping up the momentum of spending two weeks at number 2 behind Winter enough to overcome it for a few weeks at the top is this piece of wonderfully original dance music. That is until you find out that almost all of the samples come from Jah Screechy's Walk and Skank. Disapointing.

 

But amazing.

 

 

Top 3s

10/05/1992

1 - On a Ragga Tip - SL2

2 - Winter - Tori Amos

3 - Twisteralla - Ride

 

17/05/1992

1 - On a Ragga Tip - SL2

2 - Temple of Love - Sisters of Mercy

2 - Winter - Tori Amos

 

Can I momentarily hijack your thread to post the ones that reached #1 for me at the time? (Hope you say yes as I am doing!!!)

 

001 28/01/90 Halo James "Could Have Told You So" (2 weeks)

002 11/02/90 Depeche Mode "Enjoy The Silence" (4 weeks)

003 11/03/90 Erasure "Blue Savannah" (2 weeks)

004 25/03/90 The B52s "Love Shack" (2 weeks)

005 08/04/90 Madonna "Vogue" (4 weeks)

006 06/05/90 Paula Abdul "Opposites Attract" (3 weeks)

007 27/05/90 Betty Boo "Doin' The Do" (2 weeks)

008 10/06/90 Roxette "It Must Have Been Love" (2 weeks)

009 24/06/90 The B52s "Roam" (5 weeks)

010 29/07/90 DNA featuring Suzanne Vega "Tom's Diner" (4 weeks)

011 26/08/90 Betty Boo "Where Are You Baby" (4 weeks)

012 23/09/90 Depeche Mode "World In My Eyes" (2 weeks)

013 07/10/90 The Beautiful South "A Little Time" (3 weeks)

014 28/10/90 Pet Shop Boys "So Hard" (1 week)

015 04/11/90 Kim Appleby "Don't Worry" (1 week)

016 11/11/90 The Cure "Close To Me (Remix)" (2 weeks)

017 25/11/90 The Beautiful South "My Book" (5 weeks)

018 30/12/90 Enigma "Sadeness Part I" (4 weeks)

019 27/01/91 Jesus Jones "International Bright Young Thing" (1 week)

020 03/02/91 The KLF "3AM Eternal" (4 weeks)

021 03/03/91 Madonna "Crazy For You" (3 weeks)

022 24/03/91 Roxette "Joyride" (4 weeks)

023 21/04/91 The Beautiful South "Let Love Speak Up Itself" (1 week)

024 28/04/91 Cathy Dennis "Touch Me (All Night Long)" (1 week)

025 05/05/91 Roxette "Fading Like A Flower" (5 weeks)

026 09/06/91 Kirsty Maccoll "Walking Down Madison" (1 week)

027 16/06/91 Lenny Kravitz "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" (1 week)

028 23/06/91 Erasure "Chorus" (3 weeks)

029 14/07/91 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark "Pandora's Box" (5 weeks)

030 18/08/91 PM Dawn "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" (4 week)

031 15/09/91 Erasure "Love To Hate You" (8 weeks)

032 10/11/91 Michael Jackson "Black Or White" (3 weeks)

033 01/12/91 Erasure "Am I Right?" (3 weeks)

034 22/12/91 The KLF featuring Tammy Wynette "Justified And Ancient" (5 weeks)

035 26/01/92 Erasure "Am I Right? (Remix)" (2 weeks)

036 09/02/92 James "Born Of Frustration" (1 week)

037 16/02/92 Shakespear's Sister "Stay" (5 weeks)

038 22/03/92 Erasure "Breath Of Life" (3 weeks)

039 12/04/92 L7 "Pretend We're Dead" (1 week)

040 19/04/92 Prince "Money Don't Matter 2Night" (1 week)

041 26/04/92 Tori Amos "Winter" (2 weeks)

042 10/05/92 Michael Jackson "In The Closet" (1 week)

 

A fair few in common (and some I'm rather embarrassed by, Kim Appleby and Cathy Dennis are definitely my Rozallas!) - I'm really tempted to do what you have done and look at the charts retrospectively and see what should have done better based upon my tastes now. Also made me realise that This House wasn't a #1 for me after all, could have sworn it would have been! :(

I remember at the time I also loved Tom's Diner, Don't Worry and Where Are You Baby (Now 18 tracks, one and all) but they have since lost their shine. Pretend that We're Dead, Fading Like a Flower and 3AM Eternal were shortlisted for this run down but obviously failed.

Edited November 24, 201311 yr by AnthonyT

 

24/05/1992

 

The Sisters Of Mercy - Temple Of Love

 

1 Week

 

It seems criminal that this only gets a week at number 1 but 1992 had classics being released on a weekly basis. I tried to stay away from re-issues in this chart but that's usually when the song had already been a hit. I allowed this re-issue because it hadn't been a hit when released in 1983.

 

This is just so imposing and pervasive.

 

AlexRange should love this as it has male AND female vocals. :D

 

Top 3s

24/05/1992

1 - Temple of Love - Sisters of Mercy

2 - On a Ragga Tip - SL2

3 - I Dont Care - Shakespear's Sister

Edited November 24, 201311 yr by AnthonyT

 

31/05/1992

 

The Levellers - Fifteen Years

 

1 Week

 

Nice crunchy rhythm guitar in this and the fiddles are at the right level in the mix - not something that could always be said of a Levellers song. This was the first time I'd heard of the band and I would be a slightly-more-than casual fan of them after that.

 

This hung around my Top 10 of all time for a period in the early 90s. I love the plaintive vocals. The chorus just bored its way into my brain and wouldn't leave for months.

 

 

Top 3

31/05/1992

1 - 15 Years - The Levellers

2 - I Dont Care - Shakespear's Sister

3 - Temple of Love - Sisters of Mercy

Edited November 24, 201311 yr by AnthonyT

 

07/06/1992

 

Utah Saints - Something Good

 

3 Weeks

 

Wow (no pun intended). It has to be said that I had not heard Cloudbusting from Kate at this point nor was I in any way a fan so I couldn't comment on what it was like for a fan of hers to hear her vocals being used like this. Of course, the strings and and some of the other instrumentation on Cloudbusting are used in this too.

 

It's just superbly put together - I got it on 12" two weekends ago.

 

 

Top 3s

07/06/1992

1 - Something Good - Utah Saints

2 - 15 Years - The Levellers

3 - I Dont Care - Shakespear's Sister

 

14/06/1992

1 - Something Good - Utah Saints

2 - 15 Years - The Levellers

3 - I Dont Care - Shakespear's Sister

 

21/06/1992

1 - Something Good - Utah Saints

2 - Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

3 - 15 Years - The Levellers

 

28/06/1992

 

Crowded House - Four Seasons In One Day

 

4 Weeks

 

With several nods to the Beatles, this is just beautiful. A delicate lullaby about who knows what - I've read that it is about depression.

 

I was totally obsessed with this band in 1994 and this was always a lump-n-throat moment - especially the poignant chorus.

 

Aside:

It would hold Tori's Crucify at number 2 for three weeks preventing her from having third number 1 on the trot - but she did, however, match Erasure's record of four consecutive top 2 songs. Their own ABBA-escue EP at the time being a mixed bag between genius (SOS and Voulez Vous) and shite (Take a Chance on Me).

 

Top 3s

28/06/1992

1 - Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

2 - Something Good - Utah Saints

3 - SOS - Erasure

 

05/07/1992

1 - Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

2 - Crucify - Tori Amos

3 - Something Good - Utah Saints

 

12/07/1992

1 - Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

2 - Crucify - Tori Amos

3 - Temple of Dreams - Messiah

 

19/07/1992

1 - Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

2 - Crucify - Tori Amos

3 - Rythm Is A Dancer - Snap!

 

 

_

Edited December 24, 20159 yr by Ever After

No Future Sound Of London or Gat Decor. :(

 

But YAY at SL2 and Utah Saints :D - two defining 90s dance hits. Both received good reactions at the 90s night I put on in July. I guess Utah Saints being slightly more known now because of the 2008 remix that went Top 10 but it was always a classic. They also put Eurythmics' "There Must Be An Angel..." to good use on "What Can You Do For Me" in 1991.

 

I also remember Simon Mayo playing "Funky Music" a lot in 2000 but that never went on to be a big hit.

I believe What Can You Do for Me outsold Innuendo in 1991 even though it only reached number 10 and Innuendo number 1. It was at number 10 during the highest selling period Sept, when Oceanic, Zoe, Rozalla, The Prodigy, Right Said Fred and Brian Adams were all selling very well - some of which were out-performing sales levels typical of their chart position. Plus it had a decent enough chart run.

 

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