26TH JANUARY

 

http://bp3.blogger.com/_F1w2gsnwDjI/Rz8ZHuv8iVI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KuIx4vGlk70/s400/queen%20in%20black.jpg

 

“Innuendo” is Queen’s 19th top 10 hit, only two of those track ever made it to the top “Under Pressure” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” and neither of them debuted there, but now “Innuendo” becomes their fastest seller and their first to ever debut at No 1. It is the first release from the album of the same name due next month and comes with a rather epic promo to support its 6 minute + soundtrack, all of which makes it a rather triumphant return to the charts for the group who have been absent for 2 years. The fact that the song enters at the top on a sale of 55,000 owes a large debt of thanks to events in the Middle East which of course escalated to a full war on Thursday causing BBC to dedicate several hours to the coverage and meant that TOTP got delayed until Saturday night thusly denying airtime to both KLF and Enigma who would otherwise have had exposure and a sales boost, in the event “3AM Eternal” rises 5-2 (54,000) whilst Enigma drop 1-3 (52,000) in spite of that 30% sales increase, so it really was a close fought race, Enigma can console themselves on the album charts with MCMXC.AD” toppling Madonna after 9 weeks at the top of the charts.

 

 

 

Currently tearing up the clubs, 2 In A Room have one of the hottest tracks around at present in “Wiggle It” which arrives instantly at No 6 (28,000) to warm up the cold winter. The duo had only previously got a No 66 hit to their name with “Somebody In The House Say Yeah!” but the clubs are now an equally valid entry point into the charts these days, and to some extent more influential than radio airplay for dance records.

 

 

 

And speaking of dance records, here’s German Production duo Off-Shore and their track “I Can’t Take The Power” which flies 11-7 (24,000) to deliver them a top 10 smash. The song samples Class Action’s “The Weekend” and Jocelyn Brown’s “Love’s Gonna Get You”, the latter sample was of course also sampled on Snap!’s chart topper “The Power” so has already has chart credentials.

 

 

For the second time in his career Robert Palmer has back to back top 10 hits, he follows his No 6 hit “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” with the medley of Marvin Gaye tracks “Mercy Mercy Me- I Want You” neither of which were ever UK hits though they are familiar to many. The single floats 13-9 (20,000) as the parent album “Don’t Explain” rebounds 21-16 with sales of over 100,000 to date.

 

 

Outside of the new songs Jennifer Warnes & Bill Medley are the only climbers 10-8 (23,000) as everything else falls away, that includes songs that many thought were future chart toppers such as Seal 2-4 (39,000) and C & C Music Factory 3-5 (33,000) who both see sales increases as they fall. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John complete the ten as they fall 4-10 (19,000). Next week should see top 10 debuts for the new Vanilla Ice and Kylie Minogue singles- Can they challenge Queen?

 

 

1- INNUENDO- Queen (55,000)

2- 3 AM ETERNAL- The KLF (54,100)

3- SADNESS PART ONE- Enigma (52,000)

4- CRAZY- Seal (39,000)

5- GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT (EVERYBODY DANCE NOW)- C & C Music Factory (33,000)

6- WIGGLE IT- 2 In A Room (28,000)

7- I CAN’T TAKE THE POWER- Offshore (24,000)

8- (I’VE HAD) THE TIME OF MY LIFE- Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (23,000)

9- MERCY MERCY ME- I WANT YOU- Robert Palmer (20,000)

10- THE GREASE MEGAMIX- John Travolta & Olivia Newton John (19,000)

 

900 sales difference between Queen and the KLF? Woah!

Sadness/Innunedo/SPOILER

 

is one of my favorites triplets of number 1 singles.

 

That top 4 is quality. 1991 is an underrated year for singles. Probably because the biggest sellers were mostly awful.

Edited May 28, 20214 yr by Colm

At 36 on the chart this week (20 Jan 1991) is a new entry by Mark Summers - “Summers Magic” - which remixes the theme tune from The Magic Roundabout. One of the first to sample a children's TV show on a breakbeat/dance track in a mini trend that would start to become big with the Prodigy later in 91 and culminate the following year.

Sadly it doesn't climb much higher.

Wow at Enigma gaining sales for the second week in a row after the post Xmas slump. It doesn’t feel like such a fluke #1 in retrospect as it’s had a good sales run.

I didn't know Sadness increased sales while dropping a place. I wonder how common that is.

 

It and Crazy ended up in the top 40 best sellers of the year (outselling Innuendo) so they weren't default top 2 singles. They earned it.

Edited May 28, 20214 yr by Colm

not the biggest fan of Queen or Innuendo

actually my fav out of all these newies was the Jesus Jones one, for some reason I was a big fan and I even bought the album. crazy how they were much bigger in the US, If I remember well Right Here right now was a #2 in the US while being a very small UK hit

Interesting that Queen probably wouldn’t have made #1 in a usual week, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Queen so I would definitely have been rooting for an extra week for Enigma or for KLF to make it.

I was also in the KLF/Enigma camp, and thought innuendo underwhelming in it's Bo-Rap ambitions - but in retrospect I actually love it these days, very much a grower. Given what we now know was going on, Freddie's last songs are full of pathos and sadness.

Also into Jesus Jones, too, but the BJSC entrants have spoken and they said "No" to their best record (Info Freako), bah, humbug! :P

Innunedo is my favourite Queen song. It's basically Muse's whole career squeezed into 6 minutes.

Ha so true Colm!

That Off-Shore dance track is great only just discovered it. Seal - Crazy brilliant - it was great seeing it a few days ago on the TOTP reruns. The new genre of trip hop and its production certainly was popular at this time with this and Enigma in the charts. Innuendo by Queen a great #1 too.

 

Marvyn Gaye cover by Robert Palmer - more nostalgia and there was loads of it in 1990 and the first two months of 1991 with The Righteous Brothers, Patsy Cline, The Carpenters, Steve Miller Band The Joker all charting.

 

The Jesus Jones track is great, quite Madchester I think in style even though they aren't from Manchester!

 

Its great hearing Enigma Sadness Part 1 again too havent heard it in ages, reminds me a bit of Visage - Fade To Grey because it has a the French language spoken word vocal and because of the whole chillout vibe of the track.

Edited May 30, 20214 yr by sn👠ke

2ND FEBRUARY

 

 

For the second time in their career’s The KLF are No 1, the first time they were billed as The Timelords on 1988’s “Doctorin’’ The Tardis” but now they have their official title (to be technical the song is also credited to “The Children Of The Revolution”) as “3AM Eternal” lifts 2-1 (53,000) although its sales are off 2% in actual fact. They were in the lead from the off but Queen did narrow the gap post TOTP on Friday and Saturday but in the end decline 1-2 (51,000) they must now be concentrating on their album due in a fortnight. In debuting at No 1, and failing to hold the top spot for a second week, “Innuendo” becomes the second single after Jive Bunny’s “Let’s Party” to fail to extend its run after the debut initial success.

 

 

 

With backing vocals by Michael Jackson (and some say he might have written it) The Simpsons are a cartoon family from the US who quickly become part of the national consciousness after starting life as an mini series on the “Tracy Ullman Show” in 1987 before securing their own series in 1989 and are now available in the UK on Sky TV only. They’re also now a chart act with “Do The Bartman” powering 11-3 (44,000) and a full album of the family’s thoughts will be available next month.

 

 

 

He’s back with a new image, long hair, and a new sound, yes Rick Astley has shrugged off S/A/W and returns with “Cry For Help” which is co-written and Co-produced by the man himself and precedes his third album “Free” which is doubtless how he must now feel. A more soulful and gospel approach reaps rewards with the song moving 14-7 (26,000) to keep his string of his top 10 singles intact with the count standing at 8, the song is also co-written by Rob Fisher one half of Climie Fisher.

 

 

 

Featuring a sample of The Smiths “How Soon Is Now?” Soho are sisters Jacquie and Pauline Cuff along with Tim London and their single “Hippy Chick” only made No 67 when first released last May. Come the new year and the song has been given a second chance and responds 16-8 (24,000), it’s already been a top 20 US hit at the end of last year.

 

 

 

EMF have been busy recording their debut album but second single “I Believe” arrives straight into the charts at No 9 (21,000) this week. Last Single “Unbelievable” hit No 3 on the way to sales of 280,000 and that from a lowly debut of No 55, this is therefore a bright start for the single as it beats new entries from Kylie Minogue and Vanilla Ice.

 

 

2 In A Room advance 6-4 (38,000) while Seal and Enigma are finding it hard to separate as they fall 4-5 (34,000) and 3-6 (31,000) respectively as C & C Music Factory dive 5-10 (20,000).

 

1- 3AM ETERNAL- The KLF (53,000)

2- INNUENDO- Queen (51,000)

3- DO THE BARTMAN- The Simpsons (44,000)

4- WIGGLE IT- 2 In A Room (38,000)

5- CRAZY- Seal (34,000)

6- SADNESS PART ONE- Enigma (31,000)

7- CRY FOR HELP- Rick Astley (26,000)

8- HIPPYCHICK- Soho (24,000)

9- I BELIEVE- EMF (21,000)

10- GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT (EVERYBODY DANCE NOW)- C & C Music Factory (20,000)

 

oh love Hippychick, such a clever use of the sample, forgot it had been a US hit too

Cry for Help was nice enough, and I Believe was decent although quite a step down from Unbelievable

but ouch at the Simpsons song debuting so high :/

oh love Hippychick, such a clever use of the sample, forgot it had been a US hit too

Cry for Help was nice enough, and I Believe was decent although quite a step down from Unbelievable

but ouch at the Simpsons song debuting so high :/

The Simpsons song was a debut at 11 the week before.

oh love Hippychick, such a clever use of the sample, forgot it had been a US hit too

 

It is certainly closer to the sort of indie music I like, like early 80s style new wave, than most early 90s indie. Although it is perhaps a bit too obvious in being influenced by 60s psychedelic music with its title and the flowers in their TOTP performance!

 

I like EMF - I Believe, sort of continuing the stadium rock mixed with dance sound that Frankie Goes To Hollywood started in the mid 80s.

Edited June 3, 20214 yr by sn👠ke

I totally forgot about 'Hippychick'! What a slice of sheer brilliance.

 

'Wiggle It' is also a bit of a guilty pleasure. :blush:

found this on Hippychick and the story behind its US success (peaked at #14 in the US):

 

Hippychick moved into the lower reaches of the charts, although it hit #1 in most of the general dance charts at the time. A woman at Savage/Tam Tam, our record company at the time, sent a hundred copies to various radio stations in the USA, including one to a big station in Houston, Texas, where a DJ played it once and had such a good response from listeners, he played it again, eventually being inundated with requests and, over a couple of weeks Hippychick became a big hit in, first Houston, then Texas, until it had spread around the States. At that time, The Smiths were a fairly unknown group in America, beloved mainly by Anglophiles. Hippychick, with its bizarrely UK-centric lyrics was an unlikely hit, but it eventually sold the best part of a million, at the time outselling Deee-Lite's 'Groove Is in the Heart' which was #1 (due to the charts depending on radio-play, not sales, in those days in the USA) and often being lumped in with the groovy New Yorker's single as another kooky, almost new agey-hippy thing, when it's message was something far tougher.

 

9TH FEBRUARY

 

 

The KLF increase sales to 56,000, and they had to in order to retain the top spot from the fast climbing Simpsons who were chomping at their heels, “Do The Bartman” ending up just 4,000 copies behind “3AM Eternal” once the dust had settled. The two tracks are now way ahead of the rest of the field so much so that 2 In A Room continue to climb 4-3 (37,000) but are further away from the top than they were last week.

 

 

 

Climbing 14-4 (35,000) this week are duo Nomad which is Damon backwards reflected one of the members Damon Rochefort along with Steve McCutcheon, they’ve enlisted Sharon D Clarke into the mix whom you might recall as the vocalist on FPI Project’s “Going Back To My Roots” last year, and Mc Mikee Freedom for “(I Wanna Give You) Devotion”. It’s already a sizeable dance hit and continues to provide evidence that 1991 is turning into the year that Dance becomes the predominate force in the singles chart.

 

 

 

Making an even bigger climb of 19-5 (35,000) are Praise, a trio whose new single “Only You” will already sound very familiar to most as it features in the current ad for Fiat Tempra being aired. Vocalist Miriam Stockley is a pretty busy backing vocalist having already featured on many top 10 singles produced by S/A/W including some chart toppers by Kylie and Jason, could she grab another for her band?

 

 

 

Speaking of Kylie she’s back with her 12th single and a 12th Top 10 hit “What Do I Have To Do” and is another S/A/W written and produced composition, it pounces 11-7 (32,000) which must come as a relieve to the ailing producers who have lost their deft touch of previous times. It was originally intended as the second single from “Rhythm Of Love” until bypassed by “Step Back In Time” but is certainly evidence that S/A/W are trying to adapt their sound to the changing market. The video features her little sister Dannii, who is already a popstar herself down under and will be hitting our shores shortly though you can already see her in “Home And Away” nightly, and model Zane O’Donell who is popularly rumoured to be her new boyfriend!

 

 

 

Pushed in the US as his first single “Play That Funky Music” was eventually flipped to its B-side “Ice Ice Baby” for Vanilla Ice and well the rest is now pop history. His cover of the Wild Cherry 1976 No 9 hit springs 17-10 (19,000) to prove those that thought he was a one hit wonder wrong. Curiously Ice’s version of the song doesn’t credit Robert Parissi as a writer and yet it’s a cover……a mystery.

 

 

Last week’s new tracks all seem to struggle slightly, EMF move 9-6 (34,000) but Soho are stuck at No 8 (27,000) whilst Rick Astley surprisingly falls 7-9 (27,000).

 

 

1- 3 AM ETERNAL- The KLF (56,000)

2- DO THE BARTMAN- The Simpsons (52,000)

3- WIGGLE IT- 2 In A Room (37,000)

4- (I WANNA GIVE YOU) DEVOTION- Nomad (35,000)

5- ONLY YOU- Praise (35,000)

6- I BELIEVE- E.M.F (34,000)

7- WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO- Kylie Minogue (32,000)

8- HIPPYCHICK- Soho (27,000)

9- CRY FOR HELP- Rick Astley (27,000)

10- PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC- Vanilla Ice (19,000)