Those Robson & Jerome sales are mind-boggling 🤯 their appeal is unsurprisingly lost on me :kink:

 

Like Bjork, my favourite new addition is 'Your Loving Arms' :heart: quite liked the Fred Again.. remake a fews years ago too before his commercial breakthrough

Both Yes and Your Loving Arms entering on the same week :heart:

 

Two of my favourite songs from the 90s

Your Loving Arms is a dance classic :wub:

Robson and Jerome were awful - but I’m saving my wrath for next week :kink:

 

I’m intrigued!

 

Was Robson and Jerome not Simon Cowells first step into releasing shite music by marketed acts? R&J do remind me of an XF winners single!

Edited November 12, 20231 yr by steve201

I’m intrigued!

 

Was Robson and Jerome not Simon Cowells first step into releasing shite music by marketed acts? R&J do remind me of an XF winners single!

 

Well it depends on your definition but he'd already worked on TV-music crossover acts such as Zig & Zag, WWF wrestling, and Power rangers so....

Were Robson and Jerome singing live on TOTP then? I’d heard that their singing was ‘enhanced’ in the studio.

Well it depends on your definition but he'd already worked on TV-music crossover acts such as Zig & Zag, WWF wrestling, and Power rangers so....

 

That’s right, all his acts had little musical integrity then!

^Except Sinitta of course :D I'd save Ella Henderson too, I mean many artists got stuck with him but got away in the end

Sinitta was quality 😜

And she’s oddly enough now in the 1986 thread!

Confirmation that Simon Mayo gets paid £35 for a Top of the Pops repeat from 1995 !!

 

https://twitter.com/greatesthitsuk/status/1...180269567652202

Gawd, R&J were like the precursor to Westlife :puke2:

 

Thinking about it though, I'm amazed they didn't carry on for longer. Is it because they knew when to quit while they were ahead knowing the gimmick would wear thin?

From what i've read they only went ahead in the first place because of Cowell's incessant pestering and refused to do a third album despite him chucking a load of money on the table because they were sick of the whole gimmick.

 

 

I've just been reading up on this, it's actually quite a fascinating story!

3RD JUNE

 

 

Spare a thought for Take That this week, they’ve been chasing Celine Dion’s “Think Twice” for the honour of best selling single of 1995 for the last few months and in moving 14-22 this week it finally passes Dion with sales of 928,000 to date. It isn’t the biggest seller of the year though because Robson & Jerome shifted another 320,000 this week to become the 1990s 5th million seller with a total of 1,094,000 in just 21 days. Nothing has sold this quickly since Band Aid.

 

 

 

Britpop is with us again in the form of Pulp, a band that have been going for over a decade without much to show for it, but 1994’s “His N Hers” proved their breakthrough garnering a top 20 single “Babies EP” and a nomination for the Mercury music prize where it came second to M people’s “Elegant Slumming” by one vote. Their new album is due in autumn and lead single “Common People” debuts at No 2 (75,000) to give them by far their biggest hit to date. Cocker’s musings on “class tourism” as he calls it have certainly been a hit with radio and TV where the promo for the song features the actress Sadie Frost (who is also still Mrs Gary Kemp despite separating officially).

 

 

 

“Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime” was a No 5 hit for The Korgis back in 1980 and 15 years later it is back at No 5 this time in a cover version by Baby D who have vamped up the track for the 90s adding the old title in parenthesis to give a new one in “I Need Your Loving (Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime)”. The song has also recently been covered by Yazz who took it to No 56 last year but the 41,000 that Bady D sold last week already eclipses Yazz’s total sales, this is the follow up to the chart topping “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” but No 1 may be beyond them this time.

 

 

Perez “Prez” Prado and Scatman John each move down a slot to accommodate Pulp’s arrival selling 58,000 and 57,000 respectively with Scatman again coming dangerously close to overtaking. Ali Campbell slips back 5-6 (37,000) with further fallers coming from Billie Ray Martin 6-9 (26,000) and Livin’ Joy 4-10 (25,000). The Nightcrawlers hold the ship steady at No 7 (30,000) and just fend off McAlmont & Butler who are up 10-8 (28,000).

 

Next week sees the arrival of THAT duet between the Jackson siblings- Tipped by almost everyone as a chart topper has it got what it takes to take Robson & Jerome down?- Expect a massive chart battle!

 

 

1- UNCHAINED MELODY/ WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER- Robson & Jerome (320,000)

2- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (75,000)

3- GUAGLIONE- Perez “Prez” Prado & His Orchestra (58,000)

4- SCATMAN- Scatman John (57,000)

5- (EVERYBODY’S GOTTA LEARN SOMETIME) I NEED YOUR LOVING- Baby D (41,000)

6- THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYE- Ali Campbell (37,000)

7- SURRENDER YOUR LOVE- The Nightcrawlers Featuring John Reid (30,000)

8- YES- McAlmont & Butler (28,000)

9- YOUR LOVING ARMS- Billie Ray Martin (26,000)

10- DREAMER- Livin Joy (25,000)

 

I never knew how many copies Common People sold, kind of pleasing in a way to see that it wasn’t even vaguely close and that it wouldn’t have been guaranteed #1 in other weeks etc. I didn’t know the song before it charted so I was definitely a week 2 purchaser

10TH JUNE

 

 

Well this week didn’t go to plan for sure, history would suggest that a new Michael Jackson single from a new album would effortlessly top the chart just like “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Black Or White” did, but more on that in a bit. Instead we congratulate Robson & Jerome whose “Unchained Melody/ White Cliffs Of Dover” spends a fourth week at the top whilst it takes another 38% sales hit but still easily outpaced the rest of the field, a sale of 198,000 taking its total to 1,292,000 after a month on sale. It’s been, all in all, a great week for Stock & Aitken who not only produced R & J but also Nicki French’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” which this week’s makes the US top 3.

 

 

 

No 2 all week in the sales updates the new Michael Jackson single (it features on his forthcoming new/ GH set “HIStory”) is a duet with sister Janet and has certainly had enough promotion even though the video isn’t out yet- you can catch it for the first time on TOTP this week, but still a lot more was expected from “Scream”. In the end the song arrives at No 3 (65,000) being overcome by even Pulp (67,000) at the death. The song is being seen as a test of faith by Sony to see how the allegations (now settled) have affected the Jackson brand, the outcome can’t be judged an overall success if this doesn’t improve. Incidentally the video is rumoured to be the most expensive in history if you believe the hype costing a cool $7 million, eclipsing his previous effort with “Black Or White” in 1991 ($4 million) and Madonna’s “Express Yourself ($5 million) as the previous holder of the title. For now it becomes Michael’s 31st and Janet’s 8th UK top 10 single.

 

 

 

Bon Jovi, like Janet Jackson, are an act who you assume have accumulated more top 10 singles than they have, indeed both acts score their 8th top tenner this week. For Bon Jovi “This Ain’t A Love Song” will serve as their introduction to their 6th album “These Days” out in three weeks, the song debuts at No 7 (36,000)- their 5th hit to arrive in the top flight on the trot.

 

 

 

Once the talk of the critic’s, drugs got in the way of the Happy Mondays which resulted in the disintegration of the group in 1993 whereupon Sean Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape. After recruiting some new rappers we finally get the first fruits of the group with the single “Reverend Black Grape” which is basically being sold off the back of Sean Ryder’s name and image and it’s certainly worked with the single flying in at No 9 (27,000)- album next month!

 

 

Baby D lurch 5-4 (47,000) swapping places with Scatman John (44,000) but both care now above Perez “Prez” Prado who sinks 3-6 (42,000). Billie Ray Martin slips 9-10 (21,000) and Ali Campbell is down 6-8 (30,000) but has his album “Big Love” to take care of this week.

 

This week sees the release of the new “Batman” soundtrack single from U2 which is being tipped as the next number one- surely R & J can’t hold out again?

 

 

1- UNCHAINED MELODY/ WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER- Robson & Jerome (198,000)

2- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (67,000)

3- SCREAM- Michael & Janet Jackson (65,000)

4- (EVERYBODY’S GOTTA LEARN SOMETIME) I NEED YOUR LOVING- Baby D (47,000)

5- SCATMAN- Scatman John (44,000)

6- GUAGLIONE- Perez “Prez” Prado & His Orchestra (42,000)

7- THIS AIN’T A LOVE SONG- Bon Jovi (36,000)

8- THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYE- Ali Campbell (30,000)

9- REVEREND BLACK GRAPE- Black Grape (27,000)

10- YOUR LOVING ARMS- Billie Ray Martin (21,000)

 

Common People the defining track of the decade?

Selected tracks outside the Top 10 TOTP 3rd & 10th June 1995

 

 

Reef - Naked

Chart entry this week: 11

Peak: 11

 

 

TOTP debut and their second top 40 hit. Not the most well known of their hits, but I do love a bit of Reef.

 

 

 

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Chart entry this week: 22

Peak: 20

 

 

Stunning second single from The Bends. Although 'live' by satellite, this was oddly mimed?!

 

 

 

Dodgy - Staying Out For The Summer '95

Chart entry this week: 19

Peak: 19

 

 

Another hit on reissue, this is a joyous summer romp. Defiantly not dodgy!

 

 

 

So, Common People is my favourite song of all time and I think the most enduring and iconic song of the 1990s.

 

Beaten by Robson and Jerome is a musical travesty, an example of the a song of the moment being eclipsed by a song of our time! Sigh. I am just about over it. What superb TOTP performances by Pulp though - we are now at the point that I remember watching these the first time round :D

 

These songs from the 3rd June chart are all superb:

 

2- COMMON PEOPLE- Pulp (75,000)

5- (EVERYBODY’S GOTTA LEARN SOMETIME) I NEED YOUR LOVING- Baby D (41,000)

7- SURRENDER YOUR LOVE- The Nightcrawlers Featuring John Reid (30,000)

8- YES- McAlmont & Butler (28,000)

9- YOUR LOVING ARMS- Billie Ray Martin (26,000)

10- DREAMER- Livin Joy (25,000)

 

You don't get many top 10s that good!

 

As an aside, I loved the fist TOTP album, one of my favourite compilations ever (I have even made a version of it on Spotify).

 

 

For the 10th June chart, really like Scream, one of the best MJ songs post the Bad era. I have quite the soft spot for Black Grape as well.