20 years of On The Horizon.

 

Let’s pretend it didn’t happen

Severely underrated it’s a bop!

meh

Severely underrated it’s a bop!

 

This!

 

One of my favourite albums - don’t get the hate/dislike for this album from Mel and a lot of the fanbase.

I think 'On the Horizon' is a great single! It's not like anything else was gonna do any better for her at that stage, it was the best chance they had of saving the project.

As a stand-alone album I think it’s a beauty - however after building up her solo fanbase with NS there was a distinct :nocheer: from any new solo fans she had gained when ‘Reason’ was released.

I don't think 'Here it Comes Again' was an especially strong single to come back with after such a long gap, I don't dislike it per se but I've always found it an exceptionally bland song that doesn't really leave much of an impression.

 

Maybe 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' could have been a better comeback, but I think either way she left it at least a year too late and she'd really missed the boat by 2003.

Edited June 3, 20232 yr by Jessie Where

As I mentioned in my “what would you release” thread, I think HICA would have benefited heavily from being a double a-side with Yeh, Yeh, Yeh. Both strong songs that would compliment each other while showing different sides to the album.

On the Horizon is one of my favourite Melanie C songs and in my opinion one of her best songs of her career, I don't care what Melanie C herself or many of the fans think, I said what I said :coffee:

On the Horizon is one of my favourite Melanie C songs and in my opinion one of her best songs of her career, I don't care what Melanie C herself or many of the fans think, I said what I said :coffee:

 

 

Supporting you all the way Jay, it's a BOP! Deserved so much more success, that it didn't at least go top 10 astounds me even to this day. :blink:

It definitely deserved more :(

 

I think after the first single + album were met with such a tepid reception, it was gonna be a mammoth task to get any second single into the top 10.

It definitely deserved more :(

 

I think after the first single + album were met with such a tepid reception, it was gonna be a mammoth task to get any second single into the top 10.

 

 

Funny thing is Reason had a fairly ok opening week, it had the fourth best selling opening week and sold almost double what Northern Star's first week did on 31k sales. Sadly it's sales collapsed pretty soon after as it ended up with 102k in total. So it suggests that HICA wasn't such a bad choice for first single as it helped sell the album but the follow up ones sadly did nothing for it to keep it selling. The only other solo albums to have better first week sales were Schizophonic, Scream and Free Me.

 

In order of first week sales:

 

1. Spiceworld = 191,856 [#1]

2. Spice = 128,873 [#1]

3. The Greatest Hits = 75,787 [#2]

4. Forever = 73,390 [#2]

 

5. Scream If You Wanna Go Faster = 35,356 [#5]

6. Free Me = 33,091 [#7]

7. Schizophonic = 31,274 [#4]

8. Reason = 30,876 [#5]

9. A Girl Like Me = 21,694 [#4]

10. Northern Star = 17,773 [#10]

11. VB = 16,500 [#10]

12. Life In Mono = 12,307 [#65]

13. Beautiful Intentions = 8,970 [#24]

14. Hot = 7,419 [#28]

15. Melanie C = 7,265 [#8]

16. My Happy Place = 6,674 [#11]

17. This Time = 4,500 [#57]

18. Version Of Me = 4,084 [#25]

19. The Sea = 3,735 [#45]

20. Stages = 2,326 [#50]

21. LA State Of Mind = 670 [#453]

 

It'll always confuse me because radio was supportive of On the Horizon, but sadly it didn't encourage a major turn around for the album and obviously the single reached #14 :nocheer: So maybe the public just didn't take to it, hmm. Not sure what her TV promotion was like, if she didn't do enough.

 

If I remember rightly, even though the fans initially reacted well to On the Horizon as an album track and were generally happy with the single choice, the music video wasn't met with positivity from the beginning.

It'll always confuse me because radio was supportive of On the Horizon, but sadly it didn't encourage a major turn around for the album and obviously the single reached #14 :nocheer: So maybe the public just didn't take to it, hmm. Not sure what her TV promotion was like, if she didn't do enough.

 

If I remember rightly, even though the fans initially reacted well to On the Horizon as an album track and were generally happy with the single choice, the music video wasn't met with positivity from the beginning.

 

 

Again I don't understand the hate towards the video, I think it is cute and works well for the song, it certainly doesn't look low budget either.

 

I also can't see what went wrong with OTH, it was one of her bigger radio hits, must have just not struck a chord with the public at all, especially since Emma and Geri both achieved decent sale hits after it so we can't 100% blame it on Spice backlash (although that surely played a part in all their solo endeavours in the 2000s).

 

Funny thing is Reason had a fairly ok opening week, it had the fourth best selling opening week and sold almost double what Northern Star's first week did on 31k sales. Sadly it's sales collapsed pretty soon after as it ended up with 102k in total. So it suggests that HICA wasn't such a bad choice for first single as it helped sell the album but the follow up ones sadly did nothing for it to keep it selling.

 

It kind of says to me there was the initial first week sales coming off the back of a big era, and then practically no interest after that. The album was dead and buried within a month or so.

It kind of says to me there was the initial first week sales coming off the back of a big era, and then practically no interest after that. The album was dead and buried within a month or so.

 

 

Also very possible... I'm going to choose my theory because I like HICA though! :lol:

Here It Comes Again came out a day after my 15th birthday (useless info x), and I faithfully went out on Monday afternoon to get the CD and the DVD, even though I didn't have a DVD player at the time! :lol:

 

I never understood Virgin's persistence with DVD singles. I'm sure a CD1/CD2 would have been the better choice! Having exclusive B Sides on DVDs... nooo!

I also can't see what went wrong with OTH

The reason (pun intended!) is simple, IMO. Melanie was marketed by Virgin as the British P!nk, as a cool rock chick. She came back with an edgy single in Here It Comes Again. You don't follow it up with a pure pop (and relatively cheesy) song. It sends a contradicting message.

 

What's more, in 2003 pop was on its way out. The Greg Alexander sound had already become quite dated by the time On the Horizon came out.

 

The second single should have been a rocky number - Yeh Yeh Yeh or Let's Love.

Edited June 3, 20232 yr by Voodoo

On the Horizon is one of my favourite Melanie C songs and in my opinion one of her best songs of her career, I don't care what Melanie C herself or many of the fans think, I said what I said :coffee:

 

You're not alone, Jay! The radio mix is certainly in my Top 10 of her single releases; it always reminds me of summertime.

 

I find it ironic in a way, though, that Melanie has been so vocal about disliking this song that radio was seemingly supportive of; then we had a couple different iterations of Better Alone shoved into our ears, which went over like a lead balloon. To me, her push of Better Alone felt like her jumping on the anti-Spice bandwagon because it was one of the same bandwagons that took down Reason. I still can't fathom the budget being wasted on TWO videos for Better Alone, meanwhile, Last Night On Earth was just sitting there waiting for a big stadium moment. :nono:

Edited June 3, 20232 yr by Equinox8

You're not alone, Jay! The radio mix is certainly in my Top 10 of her single releases; it always reminds me of summertime.

 

I find it ironic in a way, though, that Melanie has been so vocal about disliking this song that radio was seemingly supportive of; then we had a couple different iterations of Better Alone shoved into our ears, which went over like a lead balloon. To me, her push of Better Alone felt like her jumping on the anti-Spice bandwagon because it was one of the same bandwagons that took down Reason. I still can't fathom the budget being wasted on TWO videos for Better Alone, meanwhile, Last Night On Earth was just sitting there waiting for a big stadium moment. :nono:

 

 

I think that she was hooked on Better Alone for two reasons:

 

1) It was personal to her, due to being about leaving Virgin

 

2) It got the best reaction of all the new songs at her shows showcasing the album (Barfly tour wasn't it ?) where fans all went a bit mad for it, so she clearly thought 'Ok this is one to release.'

 

I agree though, such a bad choice, especially when she did it AGAIN after it had been cancelled in the UK!