SL2's 'On a Ragga Tip' might be the most played rave track of all time (that or 'Out of Space' by The Prodigy) - both continue to get played on the radio today...testament to their catchiness I suppose...reggae and rave meet together uptown and all that.

 

Worth pointing out that there was a response ragga-rave record by Progression called 'On a Rubbish Tip' that wasn't anywhere near as good as the title suggests...or is exactly as bad as the title suggests.

 

 

I'm up next with 5 of the big hitters of 1992. Next entry tomorrow.

KWS - Please Don't Go/Game Boy

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/tonyttt31/please%20dont%20go.jpg

 

Date 3rd May 1992

7 Weeks

Official Chart Run30-9-1-1-1-1-1-2-3-5-7-12-20-30-40-63 (16 weeks)

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

 

Originally a KC and the Sunshine Band hit song from 1979, in a very much ballad tradition, Please Don't Go was covered in 1992. Twice.

 

A dance version of the song was recorded by Eurodance group Double You and was a major world wide hit. It earned Double You gold and platinum records in a number of European countries including Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

 

Pioneering dance music distributor Network Records (Neil Rushton and Dave Barke) applied to release the record in the UK but failed to secure these rights. Knowing there was money to be made they quickly recorded and released an almost identical version of the song by an unknown band KWS. This was a huge hit spending 7 weeks as the best selling dance single in the UK.

 

However, the story wasn't over for Network Records and KWS.

 

The similarity to the Double You version resulted in Network Records paying compensation to Double You’s producer Roberto Zanetti, following legal action. The proceedings lasted 3 years with the judge finally ruling that there was a separate copyright in an arrangement, distinct from the copyright in the original song.

 

The KWS’ defence was that their version was claimed to be released in honour of European football defender Des Walker (of the Nottingham Forest) who was about to sign with an Italian team called Sampdoria.

 

The song (backed with its double A side partner, the much more rave-tastic Game Boy) was also a moderate hit in the USA for KWS. It was released in German, managing to peak at number 7 despite Double You's version already having been a hit.

It wouldn't be a feature on German Singles Chart for long as it disappeared due to the legal issues with Double You. Because of this, Please Don’t Go is the highest positioned single to drop dropped out of the German Singles Chart the following week.

 

KWS had 3 more UK Top 30 hits with covers of Rock Your Baby, Hold Back The Night and Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better).

 

Somewhat perplexity, considering that The Prodigy and Altern-8 had emerged with debut albums in 1992, KWS were nominated for the Best British Newcomer award at the 1993 BRIT Awards alongside another covers group, Undercover. These nominations drew criticism from the British music press taking into account the exciting dance music that was being released.

 

However, according to the Brits website KWS lost out to Tasmin Archer - which is at odds with the claim earlier in this thread that they actually took the trophy home with them

 

 

Edited August 21, 20159 yr by AntoineTTe

For some odd reason, I bought the KWS single. I quite liked the cover at the time (although don't think much of it now) but I knew that their other tracks were more in keeping with the hardcore sound of the time and thought "Gameboy" might have been a rave track I'd heard somewhere earlier in the year that sampled the music from Tetris. Of course, it wasn't - it was pretty non-descript.

 

Tetris would come to the charts later in the year, not in the form of the hardcore white label I'd heard but its polar opposite in L.L.W....urgh

To add insult to injury, the Double You version peaked at No.41!

 

Worth noting that Shut Up and Dance also caused controversy during this period with an uncleared Mark Cohn sample, leading to a midweek #1 relegated to 2 and then quickly dissapearing from the chart. Even the ToTP performance had to use a different mix of "Raving I'm Raving".

I liked Please Don't Go at the time. Lord knows why. I cant stand it now.

 

Was Raving I'm Raving relegated to number 2 because of the uncleared sample or because its sales dropped off?

Edited August 21, 20159 yr by AntoineTTe

The single was deleted from stores during the end of it's release week due to the uncleared sample and because of it, it's one of the lowest top ten selling singles ever.

Something has never seemed right about Raving I'm Raving. I bought a copy of it in an Inverness shop two weeks before it got to number two which makes me think the stock was already out but embargoed as there was an ongoing dispute. The Inverness folk either didn't get informed of the embargo or didn't care as nobody would check that far north. As I recall, Marc Cohn allowed the release to go ahead but no more discs were to be produced and ALL royalties had to go to charity (or maybe him, I can't remember). So, it ended up at no.15 the week after as stock simply ran out and then disappeared from the chart 100%.

 

It ruined SUAD financially and, yep, the hastily put together "remix" with random synths replacing the piano sample and the new 'melody' for Peter Bouncer to try to sing was horrible.

I remember it falling to 15 in the chart. It was afterwards that I found out about the uncleared sample.

Utah Saints - Something Good

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/tonyttt31/something%20good.jpg

 

Date 21st June 1992

2 Weeks

Official Chart Run9-6-6-4-5-7-14-29-43 (9 weeks)

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

And now for something good.

 

Based in Leeds, Utah Saints were formed in 1990 after its two members, Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt, met each other while working at Mix Nightclub in Harrogate. Their early mission was to get guitars into dance music and to sell it.

 

They'd struck gold with their debut hit single in 1991 What Can You Do For Me? (Third best selling dance single in Sept 1991 behind Oceanic's Insanity and The Prodgy's Charly). But this was only a pre-amble to what would become their best known and signature hit.

 

Something Good continued their prominent use of 80s vocals legends with a sample from arguably the greatest of 80s singers - Kate Bush. Unlike some of their contemporaries (Hello to Shut Up and Dance :D ), the Utah Saints were good citizens and sought official clearance for the vocal sample in Something Good. Although just the vocals were used from Bush's Cloudbusting, the staccato string motif from the song was approximated using synths.

 

The track is packed with movements and sections - never maintaining a theme for more than 4 bars. The shuffling beat, the propulsive bass, the thin techy synths, the cascading piano, the textured guitar sample, and a wonderful manipulation of that vocal sample make for an intoxicating and joyful 3 minutes which resonates still today.

 

They would follow this up, and into the top 10, with the third part of their "vocal sample trilogy" Believe in Me, this time using Philip Oakey's vocal for Love Action. After that the hits became less hooky and less successful.

 

Something Good's fame would be revived when in 2007 when Australian electronic band Van She produced an unsolicited white label remix of the song which gained attention from local DJs. Impressed with how the song maintained its fun, almost euphoric atmosphere the Utah Saints sent the original tapes to Van She for them to make an official remix for public release.

 

This was released in 2008 and, unusually for a dance single, hit the top 10 in the UK on downloads alone. The remix is also notable for it's "running man" video which won the award for Best Dance Video at the UK Music Awards later that year.

 

A much less palatable drum and bass remix of What Can You Do For Me? was the band's final Top 40 single in 2012.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 20159 yr by AntoineTTe

Wahoo! Utah Saints U-U-U-tah Saints. :D

 

This song is pretty much how I discovered the wonderful Kate Bush and went on to mine her rich musical catalogue after starting with “Cloudbusting” - the opening strings and crowd noise floor me every time.

A bona fide classic! Love both it's versions!

Love Something Good. Unusually for a 90s dance band (of the 1993 variety), their album was better than you may expect.

love 'something good' such a jam :heart:

Love Something Good. Unusually for a 90s dance band (of the 1993 variety), their album was better than you may expect.

 

 

I remember getting it on tape. I can't remember much about it.

Something Good was such a good record! I'd say that "I Want You" from 1993 was still a good record even though it wasn't anywhere near as big as their first 3 singles.

 

Not sure if the Utahs managed to get all their samples cleared though. I think the early white label versions of 'What Can You Do For Me' had a snatch from 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen which they weren't able to clear for the full release.

Something Good was such a good record! I'd say that "I Want You" from 1993 was still a good record even though it wasn't anywhere near as big as their first 3 singles.

 

Not sure if the Utahs managed to get all their samples cleared though. I think the early white label versions of 'What Can You Do For Me' had a snatch from 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen which they weren't able to clear for the full release.

 

 

I wasn't either but as I knew they got clearance for the Cloudbusting sample I noted in the commentary that they did so for that sample alone.

Smart E's - Sesame's Treet

 

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/tonyttt31/smart-es.jpg

 

Date 5th July 1992

2 Weeks

Official Chart Run 3-2-3-4-8-15-27-45-60 (9 weeks)

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

 

The Smart-E's were Christopher Howell, Tom Orton and Nick Arnold.

Howell and Orton met in a record shop, both browsing the hard core records section. Orton DJ'd and helped run a weeknight rave called Ultimatum and Howell began DJng at this event too.

 

Arnol was a friend with a modest recording studio and when the other two approached him with a plan to record some music together the three of them formed Smart-Es.

 

The first tune Smart E's released was on Boogie Times Records, an offshoot of the parent label Suburban Base Records, and was called Bogus Adventure. It was a simple hardcore track that featured samples from the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

 

Selling a couple of hundred copies it was no more successful than expected by the band.

 

This gave them the confidence to make a second attempt and so they produced Sesame's Treet with it's well known sample of the piano refrain from the theme from Sesame Street complete with the Count's intro.

 

Interest in the record was considerably higher and the limited number promos for the single became highly sought after. It became a daily staple of Kiss FM's Steve Jackson dance music show.

However, to avail of the potential commercial opportunity they needed a much more professional sounding track and approached Jackson to remix it. Word of the track soon to spread to raves and pirate radio stations and when the distributor ordered copies to be pressed found themselves with 50,000 pre-orders.

 

When the track was released demand was so high that the single matched the record for the highest entry for a debut single (not including charity records or entries in the very first top 10 back in 1952) of a number 3 placing - Crystal Waters' Gypsy Woman was the record holder, at the time

 

Public popularity didn't mean critical acclaim - it never does - and the press laughed the track off as furthering the bandwagon that The Prodigy created with Charlie. The band were seen as opportunists cashing in on the trend of dance tracks with child friendly samples.

 

After the pressure to promote the record around the world, a poor professional relationship with promoters and management and the negative press coverage Howell decided to abandon the Smart-E's name and move on to many other aliases during the 1990s - none of which were aimed at singles chart success, setting up Kniteforce Records so that he could have more control over his output.

 

Another single that is often associated with Sesame's Treet is Trip to Trumpton by Urban Hype which, although in the Top 10 at the same time, was only the third best selling dance single in any one week. The next entry in this countdown would be sandwiched between them for both of the weeks that Sesame's Treet was the best selling dance single

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 20159 yr by AntoineTTe

Awful. I'd forgotten all about it and have just listened to it, really really really bad.

I preferred “Trip To Trumpton” which underneath the (thankfully) more restrained sampling was a half decent track. I think should be re-released featuring Donald Trump gaffe's sporadically interspersed throughout the track!