Regarding I'll Remember by Madonna.

 

It was Madonna's 32nd different top 10 hit but the 35th time Madge has made the top 10 - Holiday was a top 10 hit 3 times and Crazy For You twice made number 2 - only the 2nd ever single to achieve this feat following Honey by Bobby Goldsboro.

The 1991-96 Madonna was very uninspiring for me!

yes there was a gigantic stepdown from Madonna's output

but there are still some great tracks like Deeper and Deeper or I'll Remember

I love everything except the whole Evita era which I like to pretend doesn't exist.

 

(Oh and the Bedtime Stories album is quite boring in places)

The 1991-96 Madonna was very uninspiring for me!

 

How can you possibly say that when we got the Massive Attack / Madonna collab in 95?

 

Good she re-invented herself with Ray of Light <3

I’ve always liked Madonna’s 1995 song Human Nature!

The 1991-96 Madonna was very uninspiring for me!

The Erotica and Bedtime Stories eras may have been uninspiring for you but it was almost certainly inspiring for a great number of others - primarily female artists who had never really had the platform to sing so openly about such direct and sexualised subjects. Musically a lot of it doesn’t hold up as well for me either but culturally Erotica was arguably one of her most important albums.

For me, during the Erotica era she was relying too much on being controversial

You can be controversial if you have the music to back it up

like she did during Like a Virgin or Like a Prayer

but here it was just controversy + average songs

I think between filming "a league of their own" and promoting "in bed with Madonna" plus the Oscars and doing the "sex" book, she didn't put as much effort into the album as she did normally.

Erotica is a great album to me, probably one of her best as a whole body of work. Waaay better than the one that followed at any rate.

Abot madonna early 90s, I absolutely love This Used To By My Playground, it is in my Madonna all time top three with Into the Groove and Live To Tell.

I agree about early 90s Madonna. I don't think there's anything between the Like A Prayer and Ray Of Light albums that I would rank among my favourites from her.

You'll See. This Used to Be My Playground. Erotica. All favourites of mine.

Erotica and Deeper And Deeper are top notch, so is Human Nature.

16TH APRIL

 

 

Nothing can budge Take That who easily retain the top spot even though sales are down by 18% to 105,000 making a total of 234,000 in 13 days, a third week should be easily doable for the boys. That percentage decrease was less than usual as a new second CD single version was released this week featuring a remix and interview which buoyed sales along with the Easter school holidays.

 

 

Prince has now had 14 top 10 hits without a chart topper (though of course he has written them for Chaka Khan and Sinead O’Connor) that’s a record! He does progress this week 4-2 (55,000) to equal his best ever that he achieved with “Batdance” and “1999/ Little Red Corvette” but his current hit has a long way to go to make that final step.

 

 

Over the past week we’ve found out a lot about Tony Di Bart, like he used to be a bathroom salesman before he recorded his song “The Real Thing” which this week ramps up 13-6 (27,000). Di Bart (real name Antonio Di Bartolomo) first released the track last Autumn to some club support but new mixes are the key to the return of this track.

 

 

 

 

Haddaway is back with his 4th single which looked like it was trouble when it dropped 11-12 in its first two weeks of chart life but it now climbs 12-9, Of course behind that lies the truth that the track gained sales (slightly) when it dropped and now loses sales (minimally) as it climbs! The 20,000 it sold enables Haddaway to have a 100% strike rate with his singles hitting the top 10, the album is getting re-promoted again from this week in an attempt to improve on its No 46 peak first time out.

 

 

Making up the rest of the top 5 are songs all in retreat though their total sales tallies are impressive, Bruce Springsteen holds at No 3 (43,000) Doop fall 2-4 (37,000) and Ace of Base remain No 5 (36,000). The tracks cumulative totals stand at 255,000, 421,000 and 378,000 and all are in the top 8 for the year so far.

 

Refusing to give up the game Reel 2 Real Featuring The Mad Stuntman are moving back up again 8-7 (27,000) as they swap places with Madonna 7-8 (26,000) and D:Ream fall 6-10 (20,000). Next week we’ve got a new Erasure single out, their first in over a year- how well can it do?

 

 

1- EVERYTHING CHANGES- Take That (105,000)

2- THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD- Prince (55,000)

3- STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA- Bruce Springsteen (43,000)

4- DOOP- Doop (37,000)

5- THE SIGN- Ace Of Base (36,000)

6- THE REAL THING- Toni Di Bart (27,000)

7- I LIKE TO MOVE IT- Reel 2 Real Ft Mad Stuntman (27,000)

8- I’LL REMEMBER- Madonna (26,000)

9- ROCK MY HEART- Haddaway (20,000)

10- U:R: THE BEST THING- D:Ream (20,000)

 

23RD APRIL

 

 

It’s taken 37 hit singles but finally Prince can celebrate his first UK No 1 single this week, a record in itself, though as has been noted he’s topped the charts twice as a writer already. “The Most Beautiful Girl In The World” steps 2-1 selling 60,000 copies last week to do the trick, it must be particularly galling for Warner Brothers who are currently in dispute with the singer and allowed the single to be distributed by Music of Life instead of themselves.

 

 

Take That slump 1-2 (57,000) with sales cut by 45% which suggests that fans have now had their fill of this release, still sales of 291,000 in 3 weeks is impressive in 1994 nonetheless. Tony Di Bart continues to push toward the top lifting 6-3 (46,000) and could challenge Prince next week.

 

 

Highest new entry of the week time- and naturally it’s Erasure. Their first single in 18 months “Always” enters at No 4 (45,000) to register the 14th top 10 hit for the duo, it is taken from their new album “I Say I Say, I Say” which is out in a few weeks, their first studio album in 3 years. The single is produced by ex- Human Leager Martyn Ware- watch out next week for this one.

 

 

 

There isn't much international success associated with the genre of Canadian folk rock but Crash Test Dummies are attempting to change that. Their first album “The Ghosts That Haunt Me” was a domestic success but the unusually titled “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” currently stands at No 4 in the US and has had strong support from radio here as it enters at No 5 (41,000). It is the longest title for a hit single without a vowel according to all reports and tells the tale of various individuals who are isolated in some form from their peers.

 

 

 

Hoping to replicate the No 2 peak of the original by the Mama’s & Papa’s in 1967, Bitty McLean’s new single “Dedicated To The One I Love” is making short work of the charts rising 12-8 (22,000). It’s his third top 10 single in 8 months and helps his album “Just To Let You Know” soar 61-32 this week though it has spent just 6 weeks on the chart peaking at No 19 on release and has yet to sell 50,000 copies.

 

 

Bruce Springsteen drops 3-6 (31,000) and Reel 2 Real hold steady at No 7 (26,000) but have now sold over 250,000 copies- very impressive in 11 weeks for a song which has only spent one week in the top 5. Haddaway is also stuck in the groove at No 9 (20,000) and Ace Of Base drop 5-10 (20,000) as it finally falls from favour but will sell its 400,000th copy this week.

 

 

1- THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD- Prince (60,000)

2- EVERYTHING CHANGES- Take That (57,000)

3- THE REAL THING- Tony Di Bart (46,000)

4- ALWAYS- Erasure (45,000)

5- MMM MMM MMM MMM- Crash Test Dummies (41,000)

6- STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA- Bruce Springsteen (31,000)

7- I LIKE TO MOVE IT- Reel 2 Real Ft Mad Stuntman (26,000)

8- DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE- Bitty McLean (22,000)

9- ROCK MY HEART- Haddaway (20,000)

10- THE SIGN- Ace Of Base (20,000)

 

This week saw Oasis’s debut at 31 with Supersonic, though we will have to wait for the next release for a debut TOTP appearance!

Always was by far my favourite song at this time, I still think it's one of their best singles. I remember listening to a commercial radio chart that had them at #1 on the Saturday so I was really quite gutted when the single only entered at #4. Of course in retrospect #4 was actually pretty typical for an Erasure single. It will sadly be the last time we see an Erasure song I really love in this thread.

 

I was equally shocked to see it was Prince who was at #1 instead, I didn't think he was popular enough at all. Sales were pretty low though I guess at the time.

Tony di Bart definitely isn't the best singer but the production of this 1994 release of "The Real Thing" is brilliant, I like how it builds up through the song.

 

'Rock My Heart' is a good fun song.