245 | Push - Universal Nation

 

By the late 90s I was fully on board with trance and obsessed over club music and so the re-issue of Universal Nation shot straight to #1 in 1999. At the time the main version was a Ferry Corsten remix (as was most things in 1999!) but it's the original that I always loved and still do now. I'm assuming most people will already know this track as it has found its way on to many trance classics style compilations over the years but if you don't then I think its style of synths has aged really well, I definitely still really enjoy it whenever I hear it these days. It was very close at the time between this and Mercury and Solace by BT, an act that I'd been really growing to love over the last couple of years. I do still like both but I think I got this one the right way round.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 03 October 1999

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 262

2020s plays rank: 192

Biggest song it kept from #1:

Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time: Melanie C - Goin' Down

Now we're talking. All great and great examples of 90s music that get overlooked all the time.

I tended not to bother with remix releases (not even pet Shop Boys!) unless they were radical reinventions and as good in their own right (U2's Even Better Than The Real Thing being one example, so I combined them for a joint chart number one). I still rate James, they are never bad, and Born Of Frustration was one of many top 10's for me (but Sit Down is total classic chart-topper!) and I love Stereo MC's cool grooves, Step It Up is still fab, it encourages that cool sideways sort of rave dancing that was very 90's and which suits me the same as laid back latin rhythms suit me :D

 

Push means nothing to me, sorry! I didn't chart it and I don't remember it! :o

 

In terms of "what was around" Movin' On Up was a chart-topper for me, Ol' Red Eyes was a top 5 gem, and Phorever People was a goodie top 10 too. Man On The Moon I sadly still find dreary, which is ironic as Andy Kaufman was the complete opposite of dreary :o

boo Man on the Moon is the opposite of dreary :/

boo Man on the Moon is the opposite of dreary :/

 

Well, I'd pick It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) as the opposite of dreary, but it's all subjective :lol:

 

244 | Betty Boo - Where Are You Baby?

 

Back to the beginning of the decade we go and we stop off in outer space with the poptastic Betty Boo. I thought she was ace, like really ace. Her first three singles (if you include Hey DJ / I Can't Dance To That) were all catch pop/dance tracks that were just a huge amount of fun. This was the only one to top my chart after the previous one very narrowly missed out. It's well known within the UK rap scene that nobody else bothered until the 00s because Betty was the only rap artiste that mattered in the 90s, her classic lines like "I've used up all my tissues, because there's more serious of issues" could clearly never be topped. Dizzee Rascal was going to start his career in 1993 until he realised that the iconic spacewoman raygun image he was going to use had already been done my the master. I hadn't listened to this in such a long until recently Colm pointed out in one of the threads on here that it had similar production to the big beat hits of the late 90s... I was all like wtf at first but it's so obviously there once it has been stated... so there we have it, not just an icon in the eyes of UK hip hop but a pioneer of the Brighton big beach sounds of the late 90s too. What a truly iconic influencer she was.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 26 August 1990

Weeks: Two

1990s chart rank: 197

2020s plays rank: 254

Biggest song it kept from #1: Deacon Blue - Four Bacharach & David Songs EP (#2 w/c 26 August 1990)

Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time:

Despite this I'm aware of knowing very few of these so far, so have added 10 songs onto my playlist of random stuff to listen to whilst working today!

 

The Captain Hollywood Project track was the one of these I liked the most, but generally my thoughts were I can see why they're at the bottom end :D

 

I really like Born of Frustration, certainly one of my favourite James tracks. I got into them quite a bit in the 90s, largely because of Sit Down, but that remains a favourite of mine.

oh was obsessed with Betty Boo back in the day, her first 3 singles were just fantastic

Where Are You Baby is my #1 of hers too but Doin'the Do and Hey DJ were 10/10 songs too

her album Boomania was kinda patchy though, not that great, although I still have the vinyl somewhere

It's a pity she only lasted 1 era in the charts cos she was so talented

another artists I was 100% sure she was gonna be on the same league as Madonna but alas :D

Am I Right and Old Red Eyes is a fabulous 1-2

 

I'm also approving of the love for I'll Remember. It's possibly the best ballad of that "era", although I know most people would (wrongly) pick Take A Bow over it.

I hadn't listened to this in such a long until recently Colm pointed out in one of the threads on here that it had similar production to the big beat hits of the late 90s... I was all like wtf at first but it's so obviously there once it has been stated... so there we have it, not just an icon in the eyes of UK hip hop but a pioneer of the Brighton big beach sounds of the late 90s too. What a truly iconic influencer she was.

 

Ah yes. The ever perceptive me.

Aww Where Are You baby is fab. Great fun, she's still great fun. I bought her recent single when she did it on Ryland's Radio 2 show a few months ago, and she revisited her old stuff in the studio too. Doin The Do is great too. I still fondly recall her being told to cease and desist using the name Betty Boop, which was of course copyrighted and leased out to then-Universal Studios Barcelona/Portaventura. I wish Betty would go and have her photo taken with Betty Boop Portaventura Theme Park version. That would be fun, since they got sold by Universal they only have Betty Boop and Sesame Street wandering the park and in the shops to buy. Not quite Disney, but it's 3 times cheaper and the rides are just as good. :teresa:

 

I digress (as usual)

I think I have 38 official UK #1s that will appear during this countdown and these next two will be two of them...

 

better not be Blobby.... :o :lol:

I'm pretty sure I've heard the Betty Boo track somewhere before but re listening to it now and it's insanely catchy :music:

 

243 | Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

 

It's just dawned on me that the second official #1 to feature is also the second Norman Cook #1 to feature too - and to demonstrate his success, they are both from polar opposite ends of the decade. Dub Be Good To Me was of course a cover, however in 1990 this was the first version I'd ever heard so it was completely new to me. There was something about it that just seemed really different and cool compared to everything else around at the time. It was released at a time when my interest in PWL records was starting to dwindle (as was the rest of the UK's!) and so I spent the first part of 1990 looking for different sounds to expand my musical palette. Now I know my fellow mod PCF is not overly keen on this but I do think it's aged quite well - it's very much of its time but still sounds obviously cool and laid back.

 

I don't have any of the new entries from that week that I particularly love so I'm cheating a little and choosing to highlight the wonderful Shine On by House of Love :wub: It would almost certainly have been my #1 this week if I was to redo them now.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 11 February 1990

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 242

2020s plays rank: 202

Biggest song it kept from #1: Black Box - I Don't Know Anybody Else (#4 w/c 11 February 1990)

Biggest fave now that I didn't love at the time:

 

I'm pretty sure I've heard the Betty Boo track somewhere before but re listening to it now and it's insanely catchy :music:

Do you also recall her other singles? The 3 I mention in the post are all so good really

Do you also recall her other singles? The 3 I mention in the post are all so good really

 

I don't think so but will check them out now if they are just like this.

Dub Be Good To Me and Shine On are both marvellous

Love Am I Right, Step It Up, Where Are You Baby and Dub Be Good To Me :wub:

 

Oh and Shine On too!

Edited January 12, 20232 yr by JulianT

Shine On, that's a classic! Just gave the album a spin the other day and was surprised at how many great tracks it has, in particular Never and I Don't Know Why I Love You, which both criminally peaked at #41