Both events happened before I followed the music charts or had even heard of Kylie, so like Aly, I can't answer it from the perspective of how it came across at the time.

 

 

Spinning Around was my introduction to Kylie and I honestly thought she was a brand new artist until my mum informed me otherwise! I was 12 years old then. I can't even say whether it felt like Spinning Around would go to #1 - because I know for sure that I hadn't heard the song in advance of its physical release. This is a specific memory, but I remember looking at the new releases area in Woolworths and I was drawn to Kylie's Spinning Around artwork. I bought it out of curiosity! I did that sometimes, maybe that was a bit weird of me. Luckily I loved Spinning Around from the first play, it was right up my street. In those days I'd record different singles/album tracks onto blank cassettes so I could listen to many of them on my walkman. I remember letting my friends listen to it by passing around the headphones and they really liked it too.

 

I bought Smash Hits magazine religiously back then and I don't really recall them featuring Kylie during Spinning Around promo - or if they did, perhaps I skipped over the interview because I didn't know who she was. However I know that Smash Hits gave Girl Thing a big push. I was aware of Girl Thing before Kylie Minogue! :lol: I actually bought the Girl Thing single as well. There were definitely higher expectations for that to do better than #8. I wouldn't even be surprised if Simon Cowell didn't consider Kylie to be any form of competition for his new girl group.

 

 

I went off on a bit of tangent there... regarding Confide in Me, I would have thought that it even reaching #2 would have come as a pleasant surprise at the time. That success came over two and a half years after her previous Top 10 single (the #2 peaking Give Me Just A Little More Time), and it followed singles that peaked at #11, #14 and #20. She had a near two year absence from the singles chart from November 1992 to August 1994. I assume there must have been quite a bit of intrigue surrounding Kylie's return, with the new label, sound and image. I guess it must have come across like a comeback after that gap. Sometimes comebacks flop despite being good quality, just because that artist's moment has passed... I feel like nothing is guaranteed. A #2 entry and peak must have seemed excellent rather than a disappointment or shock, no? Also she'd never had a single enter at #1, so was that really an expectation?

 

Confide in Me's weekly sales:

46,000 - #02 [10/09/94]

61,000 - #04 [17/09/94]

50,000 - #06 [24/09/94]

 

If she had released a week earlier, 46k would have got her to #3. A week later, 46k would have seen her enter at #5. Two weeks later, an entry at #6. So it appears she had good timing to get that #2 peak.

 

I've also looked at its airplay run. Radio was perhaps surprisingly a little slow to throw its support behind it. It was #27 on radio the day before single release, moving up to #18 on radio in the week it entered the singles chart at #2. Its airplay peak of #11 came w/e 1st October 1994, at which point the single had fallen out of the singles Top 10 to #15. This was also the week that the album entered at #4.

 

 

I'm going to vote that Some Kind of Bliss entering and peaking at #22 would have been the bigger shock. Her 1994 album achieved single peaks of #2, #11 and #16, while 'Where the Wild Roses Grow' went to #11. Apart from the side project song Keep On Pumpin' It going to #49, Kylie had never missed the Top 20 with any other single release. So to launch a new album with a #22 must have come as a nasty shock and been widely seen to be a massive failure. Particularly considering that in the days of physical releases, not making the Top 10 was often regarded as being in flop territory, let alone the Top 20. It's kind of curious what went so wrong there, given that the next two singles both peaked at a more decent #14. How and why did Some Kind of Bliss get the cold shoulder from the public and her fan base? :thinking: I don't mind the song, and it doesn't seem particularly out of step with the general indie rock sound of the late 90s, many of which would sail into the Top 10.

Confide in Me is one of times we can say Kylie def released at the right time or otherwise she would have got a much lower peak. I do giggle when i hear people saying that when spinning around came out they thought Kylie was a new artist and i have seen that many times so it must have been a surprise to discover what a huge catalogue of songs and hits she had before the release. For me spinning around was a lovely time to be able to say to people who wrote her off that i told you Kylie would be back. Pre spinning around my friends used to always say to me she is finished, i also remember a DJ on a late night show on 2fm here in Ireland talking about Kylie and basically laughed her off saying her career was over so it was just a lovely time to see Kylie prove everyone wrong and it really was the comeback of all comebacks, from been a fans through all the highs and lows up to this point there was a huge feeling of proudness seeing Kylie back at Number 1 again, little did we know even bigger was to come.

I was aware-ish of who Kylie was pre-Spinning Around (that she was in Neighbours and Lucky/The Locomotion/Devil/Confide in Me etc existed), but I was only 12 when 'Spinning Around' was released just a few short months after I started following music and the charts properly. My first thought upon seeing 'Spinning Around' at #1 that week without having yet heard it, was "ooh, this random soapstar from the 80s is back" :lol:

 

Little did I know the impact she would soon have on my life forever...

I find that great in a weird way for me, I suppose I grew up knowing kylie from a very young age, like or hate her she was unavoidable, luckily as fan she was everywhere and success was almost a given in my view so when the downturn came I was like oh this doesn't happen but thankfully it was all reversed spectacularly. Even when her chart success faded I always had a feeling she would turn it around and I think kylie was always liked as a person so there was always good will behind her.

Could we open a new thread discussing a broader range of Kylie's chart life ups and downs.

I was thinking of doing another one and it was word is out missing the top 10 or better than today missing the top 20 but we could add more, what do others think?

Maybe we could have a general “chart surprises” thread for people to put forward their suggestions and discuss. I could add a poll of the common responses to the poll at a later date.

Some kind of bliss missing the T20 was a big shock. It was the first single from a new Kylie album and I remember it featured in Woolies T10 chart. I was never certain that confide in me would reach no1. It’s a fantastic song but was so different to anything else she had done at the time. I’m more surprised by how quickly confide in me dropped out of the T10 after such a good start.

Maybe we could have a general “chart surprises” thread for people to put forward their suggestions and discuss. I could add a poll of the common responses to the poll at a later date.

Ya I'm all for this, my suggestion is word is out missing the top 10 and better than today missing the top 30/20.