242 | Babylon Zoo - Spaceman

 

Next up it's the absolutely huge Spaceman single. I, like many others, rushed out to buy this in week one having only heard the advert and was bemused when the sped up intro gave way to a rock song... however it didn't stop the hype from making this song enter at #1 for me. These days I actually still quite like the track and in many ways I feel like the band was a bit ahead of its time as they are sort of a template for quite a lot of US 00s bands. This one doesn't appear on many of my playlists but I do like another song of theirs called I'm Cracking Up I Need a Pill. Whilst everyone was wanting that version of the song that didn't go all rock, the Arthur Baker remix was released on 12" etc for clubs and tbh I think I prefer the original version these days as that remix feels like the idea runs thin to me.

 

The two other tracks I've linked are a Chemical Brothers EP that I didn't realise existed when it was released and a largely forgotten cover of Whole Lotta Love that debuted behind Spaceman for me. I still really like both and that Goldbug cover sounds better today I think than it even did at the time, it's a really original take on a classic without losing the spirit of the original.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 21 January 1996

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 196

2020s plays rank: 245

Biggest song it kept from #1:

(#2 w/c 21 January 1996)

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

I'm a fan of 'Spaceman' with the weird sound effect vocals :lol:

I do still like Dub Be Good To Me (top 10-er for me at the time) but I LOVE Just Be Good To Me (SOS Band/Jam & Lewis) so it was never going to stand up to comparison, but it has a shuffling, baggy charm to it. House Of Love is fab, I'd give that the edge of the 2 (and very much not the Black Box follow-up) :)

 

I also bought Babylon Zoo amongst the mania of the moment, but really it's the first 30 seconds that is the exciting bit, the rest of the song comes over as an anti-climax these days. I also bought Goldbug, great cover of Zep that I prefer to the original. That said I preferred the C.C.S. Top Of The Pops hit cover to the original too - because thats the version I heard first. Didnt hear the Zep original till the 80s.

 

241 | Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby

 

We're sticking with 1996 at the moment as next up it's the Queen of Christmas herself. Now I'm not the biggest of fans of Mariah but I did genuinely really love this song back in 1996 and I still think it is one of her best tracks. It's all very effortless and the harmony sections are just so smooth, it's like a template of the 90s R&B sound. In terms of her singles, it ranked 3rd for me in the 90s after one that is still to come and her obvious christmas smash.

 

There were a lot of #1s for me that hung around during this period so we have to go to #5 before we find Pianoman with Blurred. If you're not familiar with it, and I suspect most won't be as it doesn't seem particularly well remembered these days, it is basically quite a simple dance track that samples Girls and Boys over a piano house track. My song that I didn't love quite at the time was She Said by the Longpigs. I didn't fully get behind Longpigs until their lovely guitar ballad On & On but after buying the album I found it to be really consistent and She Said really grew on me.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 16 June 1996

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 243

2020s plays rank: 196

Biggest song it kept from #1: Pianoman - Blurred (#5 w/c 16 June 1996)

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

 

240 | Radiohead - Just

 

Next up we have one of the most important music acts in my heart, Radiohead with their first #1 for me in the form of Just. I wasn't the biggest fan of Creep and I'm still not that mad on it if I'm honest, instead it was this angst ridden and explosive track that really got me on board... well until another song blew me away but we'll get to that later on. The Chart Show was to blame/be thanked for me loving this as they played the video one week and I was absolutely stunned by it. It felt like a classic arty film reduced down to a 4 minute promo, it just seemed so cool and meaningful somehow - which is odd in retrospect because the meaning is of course never revealed. After the video, it was the lyrics in the chorus that really resonated with me - the whole 'you do it to yourself' line made me genuinely think as a teenager as to how much of my problems were actually being made up by myself and it genuinely changed me... I became much more myself and stopped hiding away for fear of all the bad things that I thought people could think about me. It's a pivotal moment for me and one that began a lifelong obsession with the band.

 

Whilst looking through the songs that debuted that week, I'm most surprised to see that Peter Andre debuted at #53 with Mysterious Girl. I had no idea that it had been released before 1996 until now. However I'll choose the pretty much unheard of Paraffin by Ruby as I think that's likely to be a discovery for people and I do enjoy it.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 10 September 1995

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 257

2020s plays rank: 179

Biggest song it kept from #1: N-Trance - Stayin' Alive (#4 w/c 10 September 1995)

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

Just :wub:

 

 

from your January postings:

 

257 | Cappella - U Got 2 Let The Music – rather catchy, great euro dance track

251 | Fatboy Slim - Praise You – enjoy this a fair bit, though I hope 'Right Here Right Now' is still to come

245 | Push - Universal Nation – proper trance classic alert and cruelly robbed of a BJSC qualification alert!!

243 | Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me – quite like this but there were a lot of better dance tracks in the 90s

242 | Babylon Zoo - Spaceman – this is great, seems a bit too forgotten about these days for how big a hit it was at the time

241 | Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby – not really a fan of hers but this is one of her better songs

 

239 | Coolio feat. 40 Thievz - C U When U Get There

 

A slow burner up next from 1997 in the form of Coolio and his second biggest hit, C U When U Get There. I don't think this is particularly well remembered these days and it does feel kinda dated when I'm listening just now so I'm not too surprised. The song is based around Pachelbel's Cannon in D Major and as such had quite a distinctive feel to it, helped by the fact I was starting to listen to some classical music at the time so it felt right. It wasn't an instant favourite, taking a fair few weeks to top my chart. In retrospect it's no Gangsta's Paradise but it's kinda okay and I can see why I liked it.

 

The biggest song of the week in the UK was undoubtedly Will Smith and Men in Black which debuted and peaked at #3 for me, listening to that now and it's actually kinda fun and arguably has aged the better of the two with the sample from the excellent Forget Me Nots. As for faves that have developed over time, I knew a lot more music in the later 90s but Elcka did pass me by... however Supercharged is a decent enough mid 90s indie effort that probably deserved to do better than it did - it has a slight hint of David Bowie about it in parts :wub:

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 10 August 1997

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 169

2020s plays rank: 266

Biggest song it kept from #1: Will Smith - Men In Black (#3 w/c 10 August 1997)

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

I'm not a fan of 'Creep' either (or Radiohead :ph34r: ) but 'Just' is pretty great. 'Always Be My Baby' is good as well.

 

238 | Pet Shop Boys - Go West

 

Perhaps a surprisingly low exit for Pet Shop Boys here with Go West but, in honesty, it was a song I loved for a couple of weeks but then decided it wasn't as great as the previous single. I think at the time I was probably influenced by realising it was a cover of the Village People and the OH SO GAY associations that came with that... I found it was a particularly uncool thing to like at school and as such I had a strange battle going on with the track as I wasn't really ready mentally to be associated with things like the pet shop boys. However it still isn't a huge fave of theirs for me so I think I kinda got it about right, even if it wasn't for quite the right reasons at the time. The Very album it came from however was a huge favourite for me and it turned out there were so many better songs on that.

 

Highest new entry at #3 that week was Haddaway following up the huge What Is Love. Life sort of followed a similar format and peaked in week one for me as it didn't match up to its predecessor. Smashing Pumpkins entered the official chart with Today that week but I want to give the under appreciated nod to Belinda Carlisle this week as I think Big Scary Animal is one of her best singles and is often forgotten about in comparison to her bigger 80s hits.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 19 September 1993

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 201

2020s plays rank: 231

Biggest song it kept from #1:

(#3 w/c 19 September 1993)

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

Ah yes one I hear quite on radio now still. Love a bit of 'Go West'!

from your January postings:

 

257 | Cappella - U Got 2 Let The Music – rather catchy, great euro dance track

251 | Fatboy Slim - Praise You – enjoy this a fair bit, though I hope 'Right Here Right Now' is still to come

245 | Push - Universal Nation – proper trance classic alert and cruelly robbed of a BJSC qualification alert!!

243 | Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me – quite like this but there were a lot of better dance tracks in the 90s

242 | Babylon Zoo - Spaceman – this is great, seems a bit too forgotten about these days for how big a hit it was at the time

241 | Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby – not really a fan of hers but this is one of her better songs

I don’t recall Push being entered to BJSC… was it one of yours?

Oh Go West is actually one of my favourites from them! (I have some quite unpopular Pet Shop Boys opinions on here it seems x), it's so grand and over the top, visually as well as audially. Suits them very well x

 

Praise You (though I do prefer Right Here Right Now) and Dub Be Good to Me are also big dance favourites. Spaceman as well *.* deceptive classic x

What?! Go West is still an iconic PSB moment live, goes down a storm. I'm not surprised playground chat turned against PSB's with Go West, the same thing happened back in 1973 with T.Rex's iconic 20th Century Boy. "Too Gay!" and out come the knives. Go West was all about taking a pro-hedonistic gay lifestyle 70's disco anthem (a pretty crap one) and turning it into a lament for the post-aids gay generation, and also bunging in the video the fall of the Iron Curtain as Eastern Europe turned to the west. As always with PSB there are layers on layers. I also adore the previous single but it's not as fondly remembered as Go West amongst the general public.... I also rate Life, both chart-toppers for me and Belinda was always good.

 

Mariah Carey I vaguely recall being one of her better tracks, but not as classic/great as Dream Lover, Fantasy and Xmas (official "not the Queen of xmas"). I liked Longpigs. Hated the name, cannibalism is not a pretty image.

 

 

Coolio's is a goodie, I played the other month when he died and recharted it, it's still sweet. I also don;t subscribe to the Will Smith slag-off bandwagon, he made great pop/rnb records, and Men In Black is a good tune from a classic film. He was amazing back in the day moving from teen rapper to movie superstar, the first genuine black box-office draw.

 

So, Radiohead. I rate Creep. Generally though, I remain oblivious to their charms (but I'm glad they had such a positive impact on you! :yahoo: ) No Surprises I liked top 20 and There There was top 10, but for the most part their brand of down-beat self-reflection just got me down in the same way a critically-acclaimed depressing dark downbeat film sends me into a darker self-reflecting mood, and I need things that lift me up as I can slip into uncontrollable depression if I'm not careful. I know a lot of Radiohead fans, and it might be Great Art, but it's just not for me....!

 

Catching up

 

I really liked Spaceman back in the day, more the ad.part music than the single I have to admit. The Loops of Fury EP is great, especially Get Up on It Like This

 

Always Be My Baby is very average Mariah, surprised you liked it so much, doesn’t sound very Dandy-esque to me. I was quite the Mariah fan in her early days and love most of the 90s singles but not this one.

 

Just is great from Radiohead, one of the many jewels from The Bends. The video is great too. Good it stopped the N-Trance monstrosity from #1 :)

 

Coolio’s Gangsta Paradise is overrated, but C U is just bad, not really #1 material. But Men in Black was even worst.

 

Go West was disappointing at the time, easy-cheap way for PSB to get a big hit, they were starting to run out of ideas. I’d rather Hardaway-Life at #1

 

 

 

PSB's hardly running out of ideas :lol: They didn't repeat the Go West treatment...ever. And where on the previous songs did they feature a Welsh coalminers male choir? Pulleeze, NOBODY was then or since. They chose coalminers to be political not randomly, following the closure of the coalmines. Very was a great album packed with great tracks. I agree they started to be a bit cover-by numbers when they did Somewhere a few years later, but the next single cover they did after that was the brilliant Numb in the 00's - and Diane Warren had to nag them to do it, and wouldnt take no for an answer :lol:

 

 

I really liked PSB in 97-88, after that, not so much, they totally lost me especially with gimmicky covers like Go West

I really liked PSB in 97-88, after that, not so much, they totally lost me especially with gimmicky covers like Go West

 

It's all fine not to be keen on a record or artist :) we all like different stuff, part of the fun of exploring back catalogue on BJSC and tbh most of the pop fans dropped them in 1990 when they released the very low-key sombre album Behaviour - but came back briefly for the upbeat Very in 1993 :) I just got a bit over-defensive over the "running out of ideas" quip (I'm a bit of an enthusiast but I don't think anyone's noticed yet :lol: ) - they've written ballets, musicals, film music, worked with Dusty Springfield, Liza Minelli, Madonna, Bowie, Yoko Ono, Killers, Girls Aloud, Gaga, New Order, orchestras, Spanish music, Kylie, Robbie, Years & Years among others and maintained a pop career at the same time so running out of ideas is not really something I associate with them - in comparison to some acts who prefer to stick to what they do best. The Ab Fab single was very much a gimmick though, but that was a bit of fun released under a pseudonym to set it apart from the more 'serious' work (and I'm not keen on it that much so I understand how Go West might have the same effect on others) :)

 

237 | Dubstar - Not So Manic Now

 

Time for some wistful and dreamy indie-pop now with the lovely Dubstar. They capitalised on the Britpop movement and were definitely lumped in with those bands, even if sonically they definitely never really fitted at all - in practice they made really wonderful synth based pop music and this was the first thing I'd heard from them. Also, intriguingly, they seemed obsessed with slightly risqué artwork in their early days with innocent items being displayed in less innocent methods... like hmmmm what on earth could the slipper be on their album cover hmmm? Listening again today and I'm pleased this made #1 for me as I still really like it :wub:

 

Baby D were the act they prevented from reaching #1. This was an okay third single from them but definitely paled at the side of Let Me Be Your Fantasy. Further down the chart we could find Lamb with a song from their debut... Cotton Wool is quite harsh in its beat at times but it's definitely one of the most interesting tracks from the chart and one that I play quite a lot these days, either in its original format or the great Fila Brazilia remix.

 

 

The stats:

 

Date: 7 January 1996

Weeks: One

1990s chart rank: 222

2020s plays rank: 205

Biggest song it kept from #1:

(#3 w/c 07 January 1996)

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

I love Not So Manic Now, one of my favourite singles of 1996.

 

I only last week found out it's a cover, this is the original:

 

Edited January 16, 20232 yr by gooddelta