1990: MC Tunes - Primary Rhyming

Peak position: #67

Weeks in chart: 05

Christmas Number One: Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day

 

MC Tunes aka Nicky Lockett is a rapper from Manchester who was involved in the "Madchester" scene. He had two top 20 hits with 808 State in 1990 however this follow-up effort could only make it as far as #67. Obviously I hadn't heard it before. It's erm, not that great. Particularly as this song's gimmick seems to be that he's got a child guest rapping (uncredited) hence "Primary Rhyming". There's also an uncredited guest female rapper at the start and I was disappointed when it turned out she wasn't MC Tunes and didn't have the whole song really as it went downhill after she stopped rapping. It is still very early days for rap in 1990 anyhow and as you'd expect the rap flow style and production hasn't aged the best.

 

Next time we jump right to 1994 as the chart downgraded to a top 75 for the next three years.

Yeah that's not a great song from MC Tunes, considering how good 'The Only Rhyme That Bites' was. I still listen to that, it's a great example of early 90s rap!

Love the Fresh 4/Lizz E track. Video filmed in Bristol..watched it randomly for the first time in ages a couple of months back!

Next time we jump right to 1994 as the chart downgraded to a top 75 for the next three years.

 

https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussio...k-charts-thread

This ukmix thread has 76-100 positions for a good chunk of the missing period, including the xmas weeks of 1992 and 1993, but I don't think it has xmas week 1991 (I haven't checked every last post on every last page of the thread).

https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussio...k-charts-thread

This ukmix thread has 76-100 positions for a good chunk of the missing period, including the xmas weeks of 1992 and 1993, but I don't think it has xmas week 1991 (I haven't checked every last post on every last page of the thread).

#100 for Christmas week 1991 definitely isn't there as the chart isn't available. 1992 and 1993 are in the thread at https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussio...ts-thread/page9

 

1992: Mad Jocks feat. Jockmaster BA - Jock Party Mix

Peak position: #100

Weeks in chart: 01

Christmas Number One: Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

 

Perhaps the most obscure of the whole bunch we'll get to here - all I can find on Mad Jocks is that they appear to be a Scottish act who parodied dance music - Jock Mix 1 was a parody of early house music, then after that 2 Unlimited seemed to be their target for parody with No Lager (No Limit) and Here We Go Again (Get Ready for This). Somewhere in-between came this which on the A-side had a medley of The Conga, Knees Up Mother Brown and The Hokey Cokey and on the B-side a version of Auld Lang Syne (the A-side seems to be impossible to find on YouTube so I've linked to this), which oddly was also the B-side to Jock Mix 1 and Here We Go Again. Just imagine the song played on bagpipes with a dance beat and that's basically it. However on Spotify there is a version that links Auld Lang Syne to the aforementioned medley if you're really intrigued.

1993: Serious Rope feat. Jonathan King - Music Music Music

Peak position: #89

Weeks in chart: 02

Christmas Number One: Mr. Blobby - Mr. Blobby

 

Okay now actually this is the most obscure song we'll get to because I literally can't find it on the internet. So instead I've linked to their highest charting single "Happiness" which reached #54, which on first listen sounds like a rather good piano/organ house track. Serious Rope are a dance production duo with Jonathan King a British producer and singer-songwriter.

1994: The Brand New Heavies - Spend Some Time

Peak position: #26

Weeks in chart: 06

Christmas Number One: East 17 - Stay Another Day

 

Brand New Heavies are a British acid jazz and funk group who were reasonably big in the 90s with two top 5 platinum certified albums and 15 top 40 singles. At this point they were led by N'Dea Davenport but Siedah Garrett would later join in time for their only top 10 hit 'You've Got A Friend' (a cover of the James Taylor song). This wasn't one of their biggest having only spent 2 weeks in the top 40 but as the first track of theirs I have heard, it sounds rather groovy and could have easily passed for a bigger hit, though clearly even amongst their listeners it hasn't been all too remembered as it's not in their top 10 on Spotify.

I don't recall that Brand New Heavies track but they released some really good stuff in the 90s... Back To Love, Close To You, Midnight At The Oasis, Sometimes, You Are The Universe. They're largely forgotten these days but those tracks are definitely worth checking out!

1995: Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone

Peak position: #12

Weeks in chart: 07

Christmas Number One: Michael Jackson - Earth Song

 

Considered by many to be one of the greatest songs ever written "Like A Rolling Stone" was originally wrote and performed by Bob Dylan in 1965. 30 years later the inevitable happened with The Rolling Stones covering it. The song was recorded live and taken from their album Stripped - most of its tracklist consisted of live recordings of their previous work. Contrary to what some may believe the band did not get their name from the Bob Dylan song but actually from a song by Muddy Waters. As you may suspect anyhow this cover isn't quite as good as the original version and not considered to be amongst the band's most classic songs.

1996: Damage - Love II Love

Peak position: #12

Weeks in chart: 09

Christmas Number One: Spice Girls - 2 Become 1

 

Boyband RnB was a big thing in the 90s with the likes of Boyz II Men and Blackstreet. Not so well remembered these days perhaps is the UK's own Damage. They clearly thought by hopping on the trend of spelling "to" as "II" would bag them a hit and sure enough it was their first of nine to reach the top 40. This style of RnB has never done anything for me, the song is completely inoffensive and forgettable really. They did have one fairly decent song later on in 'Ghetto Romance'. Most recently they have been on the "90s Baby Pop" tour with similar pop acts who peaked in the 90s and early 00s.

1997: Roy Davis Jr. feat. Peven Everett - Gabriel

Peak position: #22

Weeks in chart: 05

Christmas Number One: Spice Girls - Too Much

 

I'd never heard this song before but it is supposedly a classic of UK Garage, with as much as 20m Spotify plays. 'Gabriel', named after the biblical angel, featured both vocals and trumpet playing from Everret. The song spent 2 weeks in the top 40 and was the only hit for Roy Davis Jr. - a DJ from Chicago. The song was originally a house track however he ended up remixing it and giving it the title "Live Garage Version" as his studio was besides his garage. This one's very much worth a listen anyhow and is a contender for best discovery of this thread, the whole thing is very smooth and soulful.

I don't recall that Brand New Heavies track but they released some really good stuff in the 90s... Back To Love, Close To You, Midnight At The Oasis, Sometimes, You Are The Universe. They're largely forgotten these days but those tracks are definitely worth checking out!

 

'Never Stop' was by far my favourite. Became a top 20 hit when re-released as lead track on the 'Ultimate Trunk Funk (EP)' in 1992. Others were really good too including 'Stay this Way' which I do remember from the time.

Ooh I'm glad this project has allowed you discover 'Gabriel', Dan! I think I first came across it in the mid-2010s or so thanks to Kisstory spinning it a fair bit back then :music: I was actually reminded of it just a couple of weeks ago when it popped up on 6Music, good to see that it still impacts the airwaves in some form.

I'd never heard of that Roy Davis Jnr track either which is weird because I followed the charts religiously back then and this track made 22 and stayed in top 40 for 2 weeks. Bizarre no recollection even of the artist/title!

I really like both Gabriel and Spend Some Time - in fact it was Spend Some Time that finally convinced me to buy the the BNH's album so I definitely remember it well.

1998: Ace Of Base - Cruel Summer

Peak position: #08

Weeks in chart: 07

Christmas Number One: Spice Girls - Goodbye

 

Perhaps not the most appropriate song for Christmas, we have a song about the opposite time of the year in Cruel Summer. A #8 hit in October, their 5th and final top 10 hit - it fell fairly quickly before re-entering at #100 for Christmas. The song was originally written and performed by Bananarama and this version is pretty much an exact recreation of it but with 90s production values. So in hindsight a bit pointless really.

1999: Andrea Bocelli - Ave Maria

Peak position: #65

Weeks in chart: 02

Christmas Number One: Westlife - I Have A Dream

 

Who fancies some classical music at the... bottom of the chart? "Ave Maria" was composed way back in 1825 by Franz Schubert. The lyrics are taken from a Walter Scott poem and read as a prayer to the Virgin Mary, so I guess that explains this having been released at Christmas (it was even covered on Michael Buble's Christmas album). Not being a Christian myself I'd still happily take this over Westlife though. The composition and orchestration are rather nice anyhow but operatic vocals aren't really for me. Bocelli of course is one of the most famous classical vocalists and currently has a Christmas album in the top 10.

2000: Billie Piper - Something Deep Inside

Peak position: #04

Weeks in chart: 14

Christmas Number One: Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It?

 

Who remembers when Ms Piper was the biggest Billie in music? Well I don't as I was in nappies, but she had a run of six top five hits from 98-00 concluding with this. At this point she was certainly going for becoming the UK's Britney Spears, however she'd soon retire from music to go into acting. On a first listen it's a rather serviceable pop song, what you'd expect for a young female artist in 2000 I guess, but likewise it's not particularly surprising that it didn't end up being well-remembered. Some of the autotune effects have really dated the song too..

it is supposedly a classic of UK Garage.

 

It definitely is a UK garage classic! It would probably be on most of the UK garage classics playlists, compilation albums, etc. And it really is a wonderful song imo.