January 21, 20232 yr Author 231 | The Fugees - Killing Me Softly So let's do this one as well then while we're looking at huge selling #1s. This is a great song and one I was so familiar with by this point... I grew up with my parents playing a lot of Roberta Flack and of course this was a staple as one of her biggest hits. The song divided our household with me thinking this was a great update and secretly wanting this to chart higher than the original so I could poke fun at my dad (which of course it did and I did!) and my folks who thought that the woman in the this version could sing but hated the one time two time parts. In retrospect they were right, Lauryn could sing and the parts she layers like the intro are lovely but overall the production and unnecessary ad-libs from Wyclef leave this version trailing behind the original. Sadly this kept Space from #1 with Female of the Species as it entered at #3 for me. Space was the bigger hit for me overall as the quirky track remained in my affections for a while - it also helped that this was the first I'd heard from them before they got kinda annoying after a while. I still think it's their best effort. The stats: Date: 02 June 1996 Weeks: One 1990s chart rank: 167 2020s plays rank: 252 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#3 w/c 02 June 1996) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: oKOtzIo-uYw YG11YNe8TSs
January 21, 20232 yr Author 228 | Sleeper - Sale of the Century Next up are one of the more underrated Britpop bands, Sleeper, back with the track that immediately preceded their second album. The "It" Girl was a great Britpop album and one where I think Louise Wener peaked with her lyrics. Sadly female fronted acts were always a bit overshadowed in the Britpop days and when this entered at #10 it was about as high as they would ever get in the chart. However it made #1 for me (in the obviously more important chart) and was one of three that they achieved but it's the first to depart. It was up against stiff competition in the form of a returning Pet Shop Boys. Their singles from the Very album had been huge faves of mine so I fully expected them to return with something I'd adore... however it didn't quite pan out that way with Before only managing #4. That feels about right in retrospect as whilst the album embraced club themes this was a low key lead single really. The fab Red Letter Day would probably have managed it for me as a lead though. Unusually the song I love now that I didn't at the time was actually the UK #1 this week. I wasn't a huge fan of George Michael at the time (and I still find him very hit and miss now) but I've since discovered the full version of Fastlove that incorporates a playful version of I'm Your Man and I think that's really good. The stats: Date: 28 April 1996 Weeks: Two 1990s chart rank: 195 2020s plays rank: 215 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#4 w/c 28 April 1996) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: rJEyKr7J0Wc
January 21, 20232 yr Blue is OK, seems quite popular... :lol: Fragma waiting for a miracle, and I also liked the Beth Orton track. I agree with your parents, while I liked seeing The Fugees give it a new life, it lacked the emotion and class of the original and that one time two time was bloody annoying. Lauryn is great but she's not Roberta... My chart-topper was Space, quirky and joyful and very British, and they remained so. Still rate them way more than The Fugees. Sleeper was OK too, not a band I was mad on, but Ive grown to appreciate them more. Both Fast Love and Before topped my charts. Ive not revisited Before for some time but I preferred it to Red Letter Day overall, I think. I've still got that bonus CD set they did unplayed for the later 90's oops. Been sat there 2 or 3 years now!
January 21, 20232 yr oh I love the Beloved, their debut album Happiness is a masterpiece, Consicience is good too You've got me Thinking is a great track, probably in my top 5 Beloved tracks (1 Time after time 2 The sun rising 3 Sweet harmony 4 Hello 5 You've got me thinking) loved the Lemonheads back in the day and bought the It's a Shame about Ray album and the follow up too. The Eiffel song is a big no from me, ouch The Fugees cover I agree the best part is Lauryn Hill's vocals and the worst is Wycleef and the 1 time thing Space I also kinda liked, but not loved, fav track Neighboorhood Sleeper I know a couple songs but not enough to appreciate... Fast Love is the typical upbeat GM track, much preferred his ballads, this is just ok... Before is not the bestest PSB song let's say Edited January 21, 20232 yr by Bjork
January 21, 20232 yr Author I'm curious Bjork as you have great taste in a lot of things... do you like any music that's fun and just not at all cool? I love most of what you seem to like but you don't seem to have much of an affinity for anything outside of that... I want to hear about Bjork's guilty pleasures!
January 21, 20232 yr Author Oh no! I've just realised I've messed up... you'll see why soon but Sleeper should actually have been 2 places higher
January 21, 20232 yr Offshore and Lucky Man are both BRILLIANT I get your point about Offshore not necessarily feeling so "fresh" anymore - especially in the context of Chicane where he's since rinsed and repeated the Offshore vibe a gazillion times over, and still does to this very day Radio-friendly and over-exposed they may have been, but The Verve's "Urban Hymns" era was one case where I think the success really was completely deserved Female Of The Species would have been a FAB number one. Edited January 21, 20232 yr by Torple
February 2, 20232 yr Author 230 | Madonna - Drowned World / Substitute For Love Madonna features again at 230 with the third single to be lifted from the amazing Ray of Light album. This is one of my favourite opening tracks to any album, it does a perfect job of setting the tone and message without replicating what's to come. There have been times when this is my favourite Madonna song actually, I probably do still think it her best song lyrically and certainly one of the few where you get a real sense of her as a person rather than just as an artist. Something she doesn't really ever manage to capture again until arguably 'Queen' which was a reject from the Rebel Heart album, despite it being far better than virtually everything on it. Me being heavily into dance music around about this time, this single also benefitted from a Sasha remix that was doing the rounds in the clubs - one of her better remixes imo but very much in the progressive style so it won't be for everyone. The main thing I remember about this week was genuinely agonising over what to put at #1. The songs at #2 and #3 both made the top one way or another so I'm skipping those to land at Faithless who were new at 4 with God is a DJ - a great song and shows the strength of the week when I song I loved as much as that could only enter fourth. Lower down, new and peaking at #10 for me was Honey by Moby. I did obviously like it but it is notable for being one of my favourite songs of his these days so it definitely hugely underperformed at the time. It is of course also notable for being the beginning of the Play era for Moby, almost a year and three quarters before the album made UK #1 in Spring 2000. The stats: Date: 30 August 1998 Weeks: One 1990s chart rank: 221 2020s plays rank: 195 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#4 w/c 30 August 1998) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: 6rsdGjNWiIw qQ-nJmLqc30
February 2, 20232 yr Author 229 | The Fugees - Ready Or Not So the Fugees lose both their #1s on my chart in quick succession. Killing Me Softly was the bigger hit with me at the time but it's definitely Ready or Not that I consider to be the better of the tracks these days. If Dobbo ever does another song history post then you could probably have some fun with Enya and Boadicea. This was the first time it was sampled and, if I recall correctly, she wasn't properly credited and had to fight for royalties from the song - a decision the Fugees probably regretted seeing as this went on to be another huge smash for them. This was a pretty big moment in the charts, being one of the earliest (if not the first?) hip hop #1 in the UK - I'm not counting Killing Me Softly obvs! - and I think it still stands up today as a great example of mixing rapping and soulful vocals to create something sublime. New to my chart this week at 3 was Sheryl Crow returning for her second album, the rockier sounding If It Makes You Happy was a fine start to the campaign. Crow is one of the most successful acts on my chart to never have a #1, she did make #2 though so I won't spoil which tracks until we get there in the countdown. Classic wise, easy choice in DJ Shadow with a single from one of my favourite albums ever made :wub: The stats: Date: 15 September 1996 Weeks: One 1990s chart rank: 227 2020s plays rank: 187 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#3 w/c 15 September 1996) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: aIXyKmElvv8
February 2, 20232 yr Author 227 | Shakespears Sister - Hello (Turn Your Radio On) Next up it is the first appearance for Shakespears Sister who finished off an excellent year on my chart with a #1 in November with the final single from the Hormonally Yours album. They really were on fire in 1992 and this, the closing track on the album, was a really underrated gem of a song. It was remixed a little from the album version to make it more radio friendly and bring the chorus back one final time. I've really got back into this album in a major way over the past year or two and I was going to refer to it as being 'Beatles-esque' but listening now I'm not sure that's actually true. It definitely has the feel of an old classic ballad from a rock band though. In a VERY unexpected moment, the highest placed song that this kept from #1 was a P*** C****** track in the form of the live version of Invisible Touch. At the time I found it to be really catchy, not being familiar with it before this live rerelease. It remains one of the best songs that he's had any involvement with. Moving swiftly on to the fave that I didn't fave in the form of the remix of Build by Innocence. It's difficult to find any information online about this band but they were a soulful early 90s act, a little bit similar to Dina Carroll who was having success around the time. It's a lovely little song that is lifted by the remix. The stats: Date: 15 November 1992 Weeks: One 1990s chart rank: 244 2020s plays rank: 161 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#5 w/c 15 November 1992) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: IrbFydtLF-Y
February 2, 20232 yr Aww Hello (Turn Your Radio On) is fab. Ready Or Not is my favourite Fugees song.
February 2, 20232 yr I absolutely love Hello (Turn Your Radio On), it’s almost up there with Stay. *whispers* I didn’t mind some of the early 90s Genesis singles.
February 2, 20232 yr Author 226 | Robbie Williams - No Regrets One of the decade's biggest stars arrives in the countdown next with the second single from his second album... and unless I discover that he perhaps features in a week as a kept from #1 style this will also be his departure as this was the only Robbie or Take That chart topper for me. It's still one of my faves of his now, probably only equaled by Feel or Come Undone. My younger brother had the album, I considered Robbie too tacky at the time to really let myself enjoy, and I remember him playing it a lot and me being really surprised by how good this track was. Of course the presence of Neil Tenant and Neil Hannon helped that enormously as both bands were faves of mine and both excel in providing backing vocals here that really complement Robbie's vocal. I also really liked the video with Robbie shying away from a typical boy band star persona and instead playing the part of someone playing the part of one - some of the fx haven't aged well but the concept is still really strong. Dance and indie were still my two main genres of choice at the time and both are represented here with Liquid Child bringing a hypnotic trance classic and Manic Street Preachers delivering one of my favourite singles of theirs. For some reason I didn't get behind them much during this era, despite loving The Holy Bible and Everything Must Go - something about them felt very sanitised somehow but this was still a lovely track. And Janet Jackson gets a feature here, it's not one of her better singles but I do love its parent album The Velvet Rope but had absolutely no idea that this was ever a single until doing my research for the chart week just now. The stats: Date: 06 December 1998 Weeks: Two 1990s chart rank: 172 2020s plays rank: 232 Biggest song it kept from #1: (#3 w/c 06 December 1998) and (#3 w/c 13 December 1998) Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: Uyb67x1C2Dg
February 2, 20232 yr Four perfect songs in a row. No Regrets is probably my favorite Robbie single. Feel is probably its only challenger. Edited February 2, 20232 yr by Colm
February 3, 20232 yr 'No Regrets' is brilliant. Love the production, Neil's backing vocals also fit in nicely and the video is superb too. Like both The Fugees tracks but 'Ready Or Not' I slightly prefer more as well and whilst I'd rank 'Substitute For Love/Drowned World' as my least fave from the classic Madonna era it's still a very good track!
February 3, 20232 yr No Regrets is very easily my favourite Robbie single, a masterpiece. Wonderful atmospheric backing vocals from the two Neils. I didn't realise Diving Faces came out that early, I only recall it from its re-release. I also loved all of the Manics singles from that album, including The Everlasting, shame it missed the top ten by a whisker. Edited February 3, 20232 yr by gooddelta
February 3, 20232 yr Yes, 4 winners there, none of them topped my chart but all are worthy, I preferred the other 3 singles off Ray Of Light but that's just splitting hairs and I like God Is A DJ too. Ready Or Not is Fugees best record, not least because they nick from the glorious Delfonics' original but don't do anything annoying with it one-time like they did two-time with Roberta Flack's definitive. Hello is fab, Shakespear's Sister are fab. Invisible Touch? Just no, I still have nightmares about being on Radio 1 (as I've said many times) with Mike Read touching my shoulder saying "you cant see me" as I stood open-mouthed in front of a crowd on national Radio 1 :lol: Any other Genesis song is preferable... No Regrets is very Pet Shop Divine, and is Robbie at his best, as always laying his heart on his sleeve, but with a way with words (under-rated lyricist is Robbie). It's the story of Robbie looking to Gazza, being very young, far too young to be able to deal with massive success, and feeling angry and sad and bitter at not getting support. One might say he was 25 years ahead of society and the music biz. As an old fart not that fussed about teen-aimed Gary Barlow songs (bar 2 classics) I was pretty much a Robbie convert right away - a brilliant rockpop entertainer with far more to say than Barlow's slight-in-comparison efforts.
February 3, 20232 yr I also loved all of the Manics singles from that album, including The Everlasting, shame it missed the top ten by a whisker. According to a chart that Gezza did, The Everlasting outsold all the EMG singles apart from ADFL even though it missed the top 10.
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