Songs Released In 1997 That Turn 20 In 2017

1997 was a brilliant year, for me the first where a lot of pop started to sound more 'modern' and the late 90s sound - like Cheiron and generally more polished production - began to emerge to set it aside from the early to mid 90s. Arguably this came through in 1996 though, Spice Girls singles like 2 Become 1 and Too Much really don't sound at all dated, whereas a lot of pop from 1995 or before still sounds quite 'of its time'.

Anyway, my top 50 of 1997 was:

1. Eternal feat BeBe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One (this song is just awesome, the key changes, the pure joy, the fact that the girls finally got a #1!)

2. Republica - Ready To Go (an anthem, one of the best merges of dance and Britpop)

3. Kylie Minogue - Some Kind Of Bliss (sorely underrated, this is so good)

4. The Corrs - I Never Loved You Anyway

5. The Corrs - Only When I Sleep

6. Paula Cole - Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

7. All Saints - Never Ever

8. Dario G - Sunchyme (the first tropical house hit?)

9. Boyzone - Picture Of You (I agree with ThePensmith, this is utterly brilliant and one of their very best)

10. Katrina and the Waves - Love Shine A Light (20 years since we won...)

11. Texas - Say What You Want (pure class, really gorgeous)

12. Eternal - Angel Of Mine

13. The Cardigans - Lovefool

14. Mr President - Coco Jamboo (ok, this one did sound dated, and could be from 1992, but it's too catchy to ignore)

15. Dannii - All I Wanna Do (something approaching a career high, a great revival for Dannii)

16. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn

17. En Vogue - Don't Let Go (Love)

18. Spice Girls - Mama (beautiful, underrated in their discography)

19. Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman - Time To Say Goodbye (so majestic, I love that the original of this was essentially a runner up in the Italian Eurovision selection in 1995)

20. Gala - Freed From Desire

21. Boyzone - Baby Can I Hold You (the best of their many covers for me, I guess it helps that the original wasn't as well known as Words or When The Going Gets Tough)

22. Coolio feat 40 Thevz - C U When U Get There (genius sample use)

23. No Doubt - Don't Speak

24. Sash! - Ecuador

25. Spice Girls - Too Much

26. Sash! - Stay

27. Savage Garden - I Want You

28. Texas - Halo

29. Janet Jackson - Together Again

30. No Doubt - Just A Girl

31. Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous

32. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life (I feel like this needed a late 00s download era X Factor boost to become the top ten hit it always should have been. Why did that never happen? Such a lost classic in the UK, but way better known than it's low peak suggests)

33. 911 - Bodyshakin'

34. Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

35. Texas - Black Eyed Boy

36. Hanson - MMMbop

37. The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work

38. Backstreet Boys - Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)

39. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me

40. Mark Owen - Clementine (I find this really anthemic, wish it had hung around the charts longer)

41. Steps - 5,6,7,8

42. Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life

43. Gary Barlow - Open Road (beautiful song, the best of his early solo career for me)

44. Finley Quaye - Sunday Shining

45. Manic Street Preachers - Australia (Blistering. I seem to recall this being the theme tune to a show called Renford Rejects at the time)

46. White Town - Your Woman

47. Mariah Carey - Honey

48. DJ Quicksilver - Belissima

49. Aqua - Barbie Girl

50. Oasis - Stand By Me (the bridge in this is really good, my favourite song from Be Here Now by far, later completely ripped off by Robbie Williams in Strong)

I could go on and on, there are at least 30 other 10/10 songs from this year for me.

Edited January 25, 20178 yr by gooddelta