Culture Beat - Mr. Vain

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_mr_vain_zpsrkb1xzai.png

 

Date 22nd August 1993

5 Weeks

Official Chart Run 24-12-6-1-1-1-1-3-5-9-13-16-28-43-65 (15 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

Next up is an anthem about narcissism, a trait that the majority of us wrestle with, but has been increasingly celebrated in the era of Facebook and the ‘selfie’. In the 1970s we had “You’re So Vain” which was addressed to men specifically, but “Mr. Vain”, which exploded across Europe during the spring and early summer, was less gender specific despite the honorific, and thanks no doubt to the track becoming the soundtrack to Brits getting slightly inebriated on holiday in Europe - this led to the song rocketing into the upper reaches of the singles chart when these holidaymakers returned.

 

Culture Beat had been around for a good few years already, having formed in 1989, and were put together by German 25-year-old DJ Torsten Fenslau. The group scored a hit in Germany and minor hit here with Jo Van Nelsem (a well known cabaret singer in Germany) on “Cherry Lips (Der Erdbeermund)” (No. 55) but the follow-up “I Like You” flopped in at #96 in the UK. A few years passed after which British singer/songwriter Tania Evans was spotted and recruited by Torsten to replace original singer Lana Earl, and together with New Jersey rapper Jay Supreme took to fronting the group for the much more urgent and powerful eurodance sound he’d put together for second LP Serenity.

 

We mentioned earlier how influential Snap!’s 1992 #1 “Rhythm Is a Dancer” was to become, and here “Mr. Vain” unashamedly wears this influence, taking a similar but much harder approach ramping up the BPM with an urgent beat from the outset, and that influences the mood of the track (the UK special edit has a softer tinkly intro for the first 6 seconds before that beat punches in). Where it differs are the lyrics which take a darker approach, Jay Supreme’s expertly delivered rap sketches out a dancefloor predator with the confidence and charm to get whatever he wants - whenever he wants. However the line ‘I know what I want and I want it now’ could almost double as the decades mantra, summing up as it does the boom in the consumer driven economy. When the group invite us to note the equivalence of Mr. Vain to Mr. Wrong, it is quite clear the message that they are putting out however. There’ll be more to discuss about the tragedy that struck the group later in the year…

 

Fun-fact: This was the first UK number 1 single to not be available on the 7” vinyl format since the 1950s.

 

Edited October 2, 20159 yr by Doctor Blind

I know what is next and I want it now?

 

SPOILERS!! :D

 

 

I want you cause I'm Doctor Blind

 

 

Another classic track, from the beat to the lyrics! Adore it! :D

Assuming you're counting the remix of the track as being the single, then I'd imagine the longest runner to be a certain unexpected smash that never even made the top 2...

 

(and it would be a great title holder too!)

 

It looks as though dance re-mixes of non-dance tracks have not been included (otherwise Living On My Own would have appeared), so I believe the track you are referring to will be *missing* from this list.

It looks as though dance re-mixes of non-dance tracks have not been included (otherwise Living On My Own would have appeared), so I believe the track you are referring to will be *missing* from this list.

 

Then why was the Heaven 17 remix still included? :unsure:

 

Brilliant song but does anyone know why they completely messed up the radio edit? The video - and the 12" mix - starts with that brilliant opening synth riff, but the radio mix has a really underwhelming first minute or so in comparison, like they massively watered it down. And there doesn't seem to be a radio edit like the one in the video, unless you edit the 12" or copy the sound from the video.

 

EDIT: Oh, even the linked video above has the radio edit I mentioned. The video mix I mean is this one, which is the first version of it I heard. Note the completely different intro:

 

Edited October 2, 20159 yr by BillyH

Living On My Own wasn't included because it was deemed too pop/synth pop. Other remixes will be included

Brilliant song but does anyone know why they completely messed up the radio edit? The video - and the 12" mix - starts with that brilliant opening synth riff, but the radio mix has a really underwhelming first minute or so in comparison, like they massively watered it down. And there doesn't seem to be a radio edit like the one in the video, unless you edit the 12" or copy the sound from the video.

 

EDIT: Oh, even the linked video above has the radio edit I mentioned. The video mix I mean is this one, which is the first version of it I heard. Note the completely different intro:

 

The video I linked to is the UK special radio edit which was track 1 on the CD single and the version played on UK radio, the video mix you've linked to is the album version (which was 5 minutes 37 seconds) and was the basis behind the 2003 remix “Mr. Vain - Recall” which made #51. Most of the tracks on Serenity were over 5 minutes and the radio edits were definitely needed!\

 

I've tried where possible to always link to the version that UK radio played at the time.

Urban Cookie Collective - The Key: The Secret

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_the_key_the_secret_zpsdvnfd7rv.png

 

Date 1st August 1993

3 Weeks

Official Chart Run 40-29-20-11-6-2-2-4-6-7-13-20-33-42-56-67 (16 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

We continue with more eurodance in the summer of 1993, though this time its origins are British and it has fewer and even more memorable lyrics than “No Limit”!

 

Urban Cookie Collective, were exactly that, a collective of Manchester-based record producers, songwriters, and musicians brought together by Rohan Heath - probably the most well-known and successful of which was Neil Claxton, aka Mint Royale - who now provides amusing commentary of the UK midweeks on twitter. Heath was himself influenced heavily by the Manchester dance scene that was tied closely to the hugely successful Haçienda nightclub and its co-founders New Order. He had previously worked with Together (who hit #12 in August 1990 with “Hardcore Uproar”) and toured as keyboardist with Gerald Simpson (aka, A Guy Called Gerald) who was responsible for the early acid house classic “Voodoo Ray” which also got to #12 in the summer of 1989.

 

Wanting to go it alone, Rohan set up Urban Cookie in 1992 and wrote/produced the hip-hop influenced track “Pressin’ On”. Both that single and follow-up “Lucky Stars” failed to chart, along with the original “The Key: The Secret”. Step forward into 1993 and the development of the ‘collective’ which included Mark Hadfield and the aforementioned Neil Claxton, who were both just starting out, but also Simon Bentall, Peter Samon and Johnny Jay. Perhaps the biggest coup however was the extremely talented vocalist Diane Charlemagne who had been the lead vocalist with 52nd Street during the 1980s, and was approached to provide the vocals on a remixed club ready version of “The Key: The Secret” which was based on Glam “Hell's Party”.

 

Despite its understated chart debut at 40, it quickly became the soundtrack to the summer with Diane Charlemagne’s soulful vocals elevated by the uplifting piano house melody, providing indie label Pulse-8 with their biggest hit when it went all the way to #2. The near identical follow-up “Feels Like Heaven” went to #5 in the autumn but diminishing returns soon set in. Charlemagne went on to record Goldie’s brilliant early D&B classic “Inner City Life” (which charted at an unfairly low #39 in 1995), and Neil Claxton went on to form Mint Royale with Chris Baker in 1997, who belatedly reached #1 in 2008 thanks to a dance by George Sampson on Britain’s Got Talent.

 

 

Great tune but I've always preferred Feels Like Heaven :heart:

Edited October 4, 20159 yr by girlsaloudjunkie

That moment in the Mr. Vain video when everybody starts eating fruit like crazy. :rofl:

M People - Moving On Up

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_moving_on_up_zpsgrawx0nq.png

 

Date 26th September 1993

4 Weeks

Official Chart Run 4-2-3-5-5-11-15-23-38-59-75 (11 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

Mike’s People, later named M People, came about in the early part of 1990 when Mike Pickering and Paul Heard started writing together, and planned a succession of singles to recreate the best traditions of Northern Soul - these were initially planned to be recorded with a roster of different guest vocalists but that changed very quickly. Mike had been one of the original DJs at The Haçienda, giving the group a heavy club influence - though when they came across the distinctive vocals of Heather Small she was more used to singing ballads with the band Hot House, who had charted at #70 in 1988 with “Don’t Come To Stay”.

 

It was indeed this reason that they wrote and released the ballad “How Can I Love You More?” (their second single), which managed to sneak in a few weeks inside the Top 40 just before Christmas in 1991 and peak at #29. A re-release of “Colour My Life” followed as well as a cover of Ce Ce Roger’s “Someday” (sampled heavily in ’92 by Ce Ce Peniston - as discussed earlier) and deciding that Heather was suited so well to their sound, they decided to make her a permanent member. In 1993 the group exploded in popularity, so much so that a remixed re-release of “How Can I Love You More?” made the Top 10, and “One Night In Heaven” bagged them extensive mainstream radio play and a #6.

 

Continuing the upbeat pop sound, “Moving On Up” encompasses some elements of disco, and has an addictive melody that kicks off the track and mixes with a sax riff throughout. In ’93 we were still 3 years away from the ‘girl power’ mantra of The Spice Girls, and the ladette culture that followed; however the world had changed - women were much more empowered and equality, both of gender and sexuality were moving swiftly in the right direction. As you’d expect music was continuing to reflect this, and Heather Small took up this mantle of female empowerment in “Moving On Up”, a saxophone drenched kiss-off to her cheating partner, where she angrily barks ‘Take it like a man baby if that’s what you are’ recalling other such anthems like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”. It became their biggest single when it peaked at #2 behind DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Boom! Shake The Room”, and started what would be the groups most successful period.

 

 

Always loved this song. They still remain the most surprising winner of the Mercury Music Prize though! Other than Speech Debelle.

Edited October 4, 20159 yr by Ne Plus Ultra

Honorary mention naturally to Heather Small who had already had a number one.

Honorary mention naturally to Heather Small who had already had a number one.

 

Yes, which I completely overlooked!! Completely forgot about “Ride On Time”. :(

I really disliked M People. Their Bizarre Fruit singles were uniformly awful.

Yes, which I completely overlooked!! Completely forgot about “Ride On Time”. :(

 

Feels like history has been changed somewhere - how come I had never heard about this until now?

I only heard about it two years ago. It was kept quiet for a long time, probably but if you go back and listen to Ride On Time you can hear the Manchester accent in the vocals :D Especially the way she sings "such".

Edited October 5, 20159 yr by AntoineTTe

It depends when you purchased it though, I bought it early on in it's chart run before it was changed to the Heather Small vocal.

Oh god, I should read this thread more often... why haven't I????

 

Classics: Mr Vain, The Key The Secret :wub: :wub: :wub:

Oh god, I should read this thread more often... why haven't I????

 

Classics: Mr Vain, The Key The Secret :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

 

:lol:

 

You should read it all.