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Was it 'must be a reason why I'm free of my tressle'? Always been confused by that!
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Nah, definitely something to do with trestle tables.
December 1999 was particularly special because of the millennium hype, which might explain the huge amount of dance hits that Christmas as everyone went out and partied. Now 44 is the biggest-selling Now album by some distance for I think similar reasons.

Artful Dodger ft. Craig David - Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/rsz_re-rewind_zps7v9lpijr.png

 

Date 5th December 1999

5 Weeks (3 consecutive)

Official Chart Run 2-2-6-5-3-2-3-7-11-17-21-29-34-52-60-62-64 (17 weeks)

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

 

The song that provided a springboard for Craig David’s successful career very nearly torpedoed it too, after comedian Leigh Francis used its key phrase to somewhat unfairly parody the Southampton born singer in the Channel 4 series Bo' Selecta!. “Re-rewind…” not only marked the end of a millennium (and a decade of dance), but marks the arrival of the UK garage scene as a significant chart force and would succeed the explosion of hits the following spring. It also would have likely followed the more pop leaning “Sweet Like Chocolate” to #1 with ease had it not been blocked by Cliff Richard and his abysmal “The Millennium Prayer”.

 

So-called Artful Dodger after the rogue Dickens character in Oliver Twist, the Southampton collective started out as duo Pete Devereux & Mark Hill, but were later joined by singer Craig David and producer/DJ Dave Low. They developed a significant following in the underground as the genre began to grow, though unlike their contemporaries in the emerging 2-step garage scene, the group preferred to re-record vocals as opposed to sampling directly, and were heavily influenced by both jazz, hip-hop and house - neatly progressing the early nineties sound.

 

A celebration of the dancefloor and the DJ itself (‘this one goes out to all the DJs’), “Re-rewind…” is a call back to rewinding back those moments in a track that make the dancefloor explode with delight with an approving ‘Bo Selecta’ (good choice - for the uninitiated). Its opening speaker and ground shaking bassline punctuates the shuffling trademark 2-step groove, and is joined throughout by various hooks provided by Craig David’s soulful vocals, all adding to what was the perfect anthem to bring in the new millennium.

 

Whilst Craig David was able to launch a triumphant solo career which started with “Fill Me In” (a collaboration with the Artful Dodger’s Mark Hill) storming to #1 in April 2000 and continues today with recent Top 10 hit “When The Bassline Drops” (#10 in February 2016), Artful Dodger capitalised on the genre briefly becoming mainstream in 2000 and 2001 with a further 5 Top 10 hits but were last seen in December ’01 with the prophetic “It Ain’t Enough”.

 

 

December 1999 was particularly special because of the millennium hype, which might explain the huge amount of dance hits that Christmas as everyone went out and partied. Now 44 is the biggest-selling Now album by some distance for I think similar reasons.

Yeah, I agree with this - there were some great parties back then. Shame Binary Finary's 1999 (Kaycee's remix) won't be featured here :(

 

 

This takes me back to them more than any other dance track.

 

Who'd have thought when this thread started that Craig David would be back in the top ten this year!

 

Rewind's very much the noughties come early - I always forget it's a '99 track rather than 2000. Like how 'French Kiss' by Lil Louis is a 90s house track a year early and Tubeway Army's 'Are Friends Electric' the sound of 80s synths a year early...I'm now trying to think of a 2009 track that signals the start of the 2010s, I think there's a few of them!

Who'd have thought when this thread started that Craig David would be back in the top ten this year!

 

Rewind's very much the noughties come early - I always forget it's a '99 track rather than 2000. Like how 'French Kiss' by Lil Louis is a 90s house track a year early and Tubeway Army's 'Are Friends Electric' the sound of 80s synths a year early...I'm now trying to think of a 2009 track that signals the start of the 2010s, I think there's a few of them!

 

David Guetta's "Sexy Bitch" sounds way more 2010's than 2009, especially when compared to "When Love Takes Over".

Who'd have thought when this thread started that Craig David would be back in the top ten this year!

 

Rewind's very much the noughties come early - I always forget it's a '99 track rather than 2000. Like how 'French Kiss' by Lil Louis is a 90s house track a year early and Tubeway Army's 'Are Friends Electric' the sound of 80s synths a year early...I'm now trying to think of a 2009 track that signals the start of the 2010s, I think there's a few of them!

Any David Guetta or Calvin Harris-produced songs of 2009 (except maybe 'Ready For The Weekend') seemed to signal the sound of the early 2010s well.

 

particularly 'I'm Not Alone'/'Holiday'/'I Gotta Feeling'/'Sexy Chick'/'When Love Takes Over'

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Re-Wind - what a song!

 

The word iconic is used far too much but this is iconic. Not just because of the music but because it brought new language into popular culture also, announced the arrival of Craig David, Artful Dodger and UK Garage. It has stood the test of time I think too.

Any David Guetta or Calvin Harris-produced songs of 2009 (except maybe 'Ready For The Weekend') seemed to signal the sound of the early 2010s well.

 

particularly 'I'm Not Alone'/'Holiday'/'I Gotta Feeling'/'Sexy Chick'/'When Love Takes Over'

 

I'd also add:

 

Example - Watch The Sun Come Up

Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden - Bonkers

 

Which all sound suitably 2010.

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Cuban Boys - Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/tonyttt31/CVI_cover_lg.jpg

 

Date 19th December 1999

1 Week

Official Chart Run 4-7-9-13-28-42-66-64-58(9 weeks)

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

 

And so this is it. The final song in our year long quest to re-imagine what the UK number 1 spot would have been during the 1990s if only dance music was available to purchase.

It would seem that Re-Rewind is a more fitting end to the decade, signalling, as it does, the sound of 2000. And while Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia is the final entry, it only interrupts Artful Dodger's dominance for one week before passing the baton back.

 

The Cuban Boys formed in 1998 by Skreen B and Ricardo Autobahn using the internet as a publicity and collaboration tool from the outset. After a web only release of an anonymous dance track, Diophantus Arithmetica, they recorded Oh My God! They Killed Kenny which featured sampled dialogue from South Park combined with The Bump by Kenny. This was played extensively by John Peel and took the 6th position in the 1998 Festive Fifty. Following this it was released as the band's first single and then a six-track EP, Blueprint For Modernisation, followed soon afterwards.

 

Cognoscenti Vs. Intelligentsia came next. CvI is built around a sped up sample from Roger Miller's Whistle Stop which was featured in Disney's Robin Hood. It was first featured online as part of The Hampster Dance song on the website of the same name.

 

It also became championed by John Peel and joined the race for Christmas Number 1 1999 due to its high novelty factor. It topped Peel's Festive 50 that year and is the second track in this thread to have done so. Cornershop's Brim Full of Asha also did in 1997, albeit in un-remixed form.

 

The Cuban Boys fought a hard fight in the charts selling 104,000 copies their debut week to take a week from Artful Dodger but that momentum couldn't be sustained. They never again troubled the singles chart but continued to release music until 2011.

 

The only notable thing I remember about Ricardo Autobahn was that he co-wrote “Teenage Life” for Daz Sampson as the UK Eurovision entry for 2006.

 

That's it then - thanks to all who contributed and followed this thread, Colm for creating it - putting in a huge amount of effort into his analysis and coming up with a brilliant idea.. oh and for putting up with my many holidays and disappearances. I have really enjoyed looking back at the 1990s, and it makes you realise how very different the start and end of the decade were for dance music with many, many highs (of which were covered within this thread).

 

There will be huge amounts of omissions here due to either low charting or incredibly strong competition, maybe discussion of these is for another day however.

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Thanks Dr B.

 

366 days ago myself and Doctor Blind had a modest dream and one we wanted to share with you. And I rather think it has been a success. We've managed to transform this thread to a sort of Sash! single as it now stands as the number 2 most viewed thread and also the number 2 most posted to thread in the chart forum - EVER!

 

I would like to offer my eternal gratitude to Doctor Blind without whom my dream would never have been realised - he raised the bar in terms of write up scope (just look at how short my write up for Got To Get was last June) . I'd also like to thank James Silkstone (who is she?) who inspired this idea with his April 2015 thread neatly titled "Best Selling Singles By Female Solo Artists: 1980-2015, week by week look at the biggest singles by female artists since 1980".

 

I don't want to single out particular contributors but a stalwart of this thread has of course been richie with unadulterated criticism and praise of nearly every entry in this list. I always looked forward to his thoughts.

 

Thank you to everyone else who contributed and I hope you all found it at least nostalgic if not informative.

 

It's been spiritual.

 

Over and out; Colm xxx

a bit of a weird song to end with :lol: also does anyone know why the song is called 'Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia' rather than just 'The Hamster Dance Song' or something? seems a bit of a random title.

 

congrats on finally finishing this mammoth task anyway, and all the effort gone into it too :D

Thanks to you both, this has been an excellent read over the past year, and brought back a lot of chart and musical memories.

Thanks both of you, this has been a mammoth task and you've done a great amount of work here to be kept in the chart forum.

 

A mixed bag of final two songs to end with, I was never a huge fan of Re-Rewind the Crowd although I can appreciate its significance (at many a night out) while Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia is a very guilty pleasure of mine, I adore it.

Ah Re-Rewind the Crowd's a real classic, definitely the right song to usher in the early 2000s as said.

 

I...have never heard of that last one, I also didn't know the Hamster Dance song was anything other than an early 00s internet meme, oh my *_* Classic Christmas weirdness I guess, one o

 

Thank you very much to you both, I love 90s dance and this thread has been so educational in reliving my faves and learning about others with the background etc., wonderful job. I would love another one for the 00s, but I understand that would be harder to compile.

 

Also, could I possibly get a copy of the MP3s for the NOW 90s Dance album? ^_^ That would be my playlist for...well everything.

Thank you very much to you both, I love 90s dance and this thread has been so educational in reliving my faves and learning about others with the background etc., wonderful job. I would love another one for the 00s, but I understand that would be harder to compile.

I have been talking to Colm about doing a 00s thread, and if it goes ahead it'll be starting in a few months time and me and Ethan will be doing the writeups from 2002 onwards (as Colm is only interested in 2000/2001) ^_^

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