I was super disappointed with Spaceman after the chorus/ad

I think it's such a disjointed song, verses and chorus don't match, it's like if there was a mix up and placed together parts of 2 different songs

 

There were some amazing songs in Jan 96 that peaked between 11-40 but should have been much much bigger, and top 10 minimum

 

Tori Amos-Caught a lite sneeze

The lead single from Tori album #3 Boys for Pele, fantastic song, I remember I was so disappointed it only peaked at #20

and was super commercial so not sure why suddenly the GP was not interested and Tori became a hardcore fans act only

anyway fabulous song, the harpsichord <3 the cryptic lyrics, the song is about the NIN guy Trent ("I'll make my own pretty hate machine")

 

Lush-Single Girl is all kinds of amazing. That was a huge change for Lush, who were super indie shoegazzers for albums 1 & 2 and suddenly they came back with the poppiest bubblegum pop sound. I was a big fan of Lush, both eras, I still remember buying their debut album Spooky on cassette :D but the transformation worked and they had 3 big top 40 hits in a row, with Single Girl peaking at #21

 

Leftfield - Release the Pressure

Fabulous single from Leftfield peaking at #13, one of my fave from them

 

Skunk Anansie - Weak

Single number 4 from their debut album and their first top 20 debuting and peaking at #20

Was one of my fav bands at the time, Skin is such a great band leader

This is one of their classics and one of their best songs

 

Chemical Brothers - Loops of Fury EP

2nd top 20 hit for the Chemicals, the EP included Get Up on It Like This, which also ended up on album 2

one of the highlights of the album for me

 

Love 'Weak' so much!

3RD FEBRUARY

 

 

Such was its initial hit that even a 51% loss of sales can’t prevent Babylon Zoo’s “Spaceman” from registering a second week at No 1 on a sale of 204,000 though if it keeps losing sales at that rate then its days are numbered! Still it’s platinum after just a fortnight and easily the biggest selling single of the year so far.

 

 

 

Highest new entry of the week comes from Britpoper's The Bluetones who have been scoring successively bigger hits over the past 6 months to finally hit it big with “Slight Return” which slides straight in at No 2 (68,000) this week. The single was first issued as a double A-Side with “Fountainhead” last year as their first release but it failed to chart, subsequent singles “Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?” and “Bluetonic” made No’s 31 & 19 respectively indicating their direction of travel. If you’re wondering where the title comes from (it isn’t mentioned in the lyrics) then it comes from the Jimi Hendrix song “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)”, if it rises to No 1 it will be the first song in 3 years to debut at No 2 and climb though it was the most played track on Radio 1 last week.

 

 

 

Slow but steady seems to sum up the career of Radiohead over the last 3 years. “Creep” established them in the minds of most when it made No 7 in 1993 but after they break they came back with second album “The Bends” which has produced 4 top 30 hits without any massive sellers yet has been shifting nicely and is back in the top 20 this week after 41 weeks on the chart. It now yields a fifth single and its biggest “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” which debuts at No 5 (48,000).

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that the “National Lottery” TV show on a Saturday is rapidly turning into a more reliable Launchpad for a hit single than even TOTP, a few weeks ago Cher saw her single benefit by debuting at No 7 (it drops 7-8 this week on a sale of 36,000), and last week Meat Loaf was on performing “Not A Dry Eye In The House” which this week soars 23-7 (40,000). It’s only his 5th top 10 single for someone with a career dating back to the 70s and 4 of them have been over the last 3 years. The track is another Diane Warren penned track as Loaf seems to have overlooked the two Steinman penned tracks on his new album.

 

 

 

First released in 1994 Dog Eat Dog’s “No Fronts- Remixes” comes, as you might have guessed, with a selection of remixes, the group were one of the first to marry rock and rap and coupled with a growing live performance the time was right for a break through. The main remix comes from Run DMC’s Jam-Master Jay and is new at No 9 (32,000).

 

 

3T creep 4-3 (62,000) overtaking the descending George Michael 2-4 (57,000), whilst Goldbug drop 3-6 (47,000), Cher drops 7-8 (36,000) despite a best week ever sales wise, and Michael Jackson falls 5-10 (26,000) and will become his first million seller at some point in the next fortnight.

 

 

1- SPACEMAN- Babylon Zoo (204,000)

2- SLIGHT RETURN- The Bluetones (68,000)

3- ANYTHING- 3T (62,000)

4- JESUS TO A CHILD- George Michael (57,000)

5- STREET SPIRIT (FADE OUT)- Radiohead (48,000)

6- WHOLE LOTTA LOVE- Goldbug (47,000)

7- NOT A DRY EYE IN THE HOUSE- Meat Loaf (40,000)

8- ONE BY ONE- Cher (36,000)

9- NO FRONTS- REMIXES- Dog Eat Dog (32,000)

10- EARTH SONG- Michael Jackson (26,000)

 

 

Street Spirit :wub:

 

I was absolutely obsessed with that song. I’d liked Just before it but this one convinced me to buy the Bends and I never looked back from there. In particular I remember being stunned by the video when it was played the week before on the chart show, it was so unique at the time

 

Slight Return was another good one, liked their debut album even though I know some found it disappointing. Not sure if I mentioned last week but I liked the Goldbug cover too, thought it was a good version

Such a lazy myth that people bought Spaceman just off the back of the first 30 seconds if it was still selling over 200k in its second week!

10TH FEBRUARY

 

 

It suffers another sales hit of 37% but Babylon Zoo are No 1 for a third week, “Spaceman” romping home to an easy victory on sales of 129,000 giving a three week total of 750,000- the million mark must beckon surely?

 

 

 

1996 looks like it could share 1995’s propensity to make re-issued hits bigger at a second time of asking! Last May The Lighthouse Family, a Newcastle based duo, released their debut single “Lifted” which only made No 61, a follow hit “Ocean Drive” made No 34 but the album of the same title disappeared after a solitary week at No 74 and has since been deleted. The relaunch of the group is however much more successful with “Lifted” getting a second go with new mixes and is now new at No 4 (44,000)- its success down to major radio support where the song is already top 3. The album will be re-issued next month!

 

 

 

Coca-Cola may not have the chart credentials of Levi but they were generating chart topping singles back in the 70s and 80s from their ads (New Seekers/ Robin Beck) and now they propel the 35 year old Etta James track “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” into the top 5 (39,000). The song was written by Willie Dixon who may recall is also a co-writer, albeit belatedly acknowledged, of “Whole Lotta Love” which was recently made into a top 3 single by Goldbug, it was first recorded by Middy Waters though it didn't chart here.

 

 

 

Joan Osborne is the newest singer songwriter on the block, her single “One Of Us” was written by Eric Bazilian of 80s band The Hooters and currently sits at No 4 stateside. She was snapped up by a major label just last year and is clearly providing the hits already- debut album “Relish” will be in shops in a few weeks, for now the single debuts at No 6 (34,000).

 

 

 

A ninth top 10 single for East 17 comes in the form of their new single “Do U Still” a second single from the “Up All Night” album. There seems to have been less attention around this release than you would expect for the second single from an album with rumours that all is not well within the band. The single arrives at No 7 (32,000) regardless such is their fanbase.

 

 

 

 

Technohead’s “I Wanna Be A Hippy” flopped when released last summer but it went on to be a major European hit topping charts in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Netherlands and now gets another chance here. The man behind the act is Michael Wells who was also behind Tricky Disco and the lyrics are borrowed from David Peel’s “I Like Marijuana” the song bounces 12-8 (30,000) though it appears to be quite a divisive song with the public.

 

 

Babylon Zoo’s new challengers are 3T who continue to improve 3-2 (70,000) and stands an outside chance at dethroning “Spaceman” next week if it can hold up, it takes advantage of a weakening Bluetones who slip 2-3 (53,000) whose album is out next week.

 

Cher continues her slow descent 8-9 (28,000) whilst George Michael’s fall is somewhat quicker 4-10 (25,000).

 

 

1- SPACEMAN- Babylon Zoo (129,000)

2- ANYTHING- 3T (70,000)

3- SLIGHT RETURN- The Bluetones (53,000)

4- LIFTED- Lighthouse Family (44,000)

5- I JUST WANNA MAKE LOVE TO YOU- Etta James (39,000)

6- ONE OF US- Joan Osborne (34,000)

7- DO U STILL- East 17 (32,000)

8- I WANNA BE A HIPPY- Technohead (30,000)

9- ONE BY ONE- Cher (28,000)

10- JESUS TO A CHILD- George Michael (25,000)

 

Such a lazy myth that people bought Spaceman just off the back of the first 30 seconds if it was still selling over 200k in its second week!

I think there's more than enough in this thread alone to say it was a thing in week 1 at least. I think it was picking up new fans (almost) by its second week who probably appreciated it more for the whole song though.

lmao at the TOTP edit of I Wanna Be A Hippy. :lol:

One Of Us is one of my favourites of the mid 90s female singer/songwriter staples

Slight Return is a great record from the Bluetones.

 

On the other hand thank god for Babylon Zoo keeping that 3T horror off the top.

'Slight Return' and 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)' :wub: a fantastic pair of Top 5 new entries.

 

We often used to watch TOTP with subtitles, so the Technohead performance had "mari, mari" coming up on the screen - I had no idea it was spelt like that until then :lol:

One of the Pumpkins best singles here with 1979.

Street Spirit remains one of my favourite songs ever - I sort of see it as a warm up for OK Computer.

 

Slight Return is a Britpop classic :wub:

Such a lazy myth that people bought Spaceman just off the back of the first 30 seconds if it was still selling over 200k in its second week!

That was true in part as Gezza says in week 1 - I was one of those so it’s not quite a ‘lazy myth’ :rolleyes:

One of the Pumpkins best singles here with 1979.

 

1979 :wub: :wub: :wub:

'One of Us' is brilliant.

 

'I Want To Be A Hippy' is certainly an interesting dance hit; one of the few happy hardcore style hits in the UK.

 

'Lifted' is a lovely song, I always thought the Lighthouse Family singer had a very nice tone.

Edited May 17, 20241 yr by TheSnake

That was true in part as Gezza says in week 1 - I was one of those so it’s not quite a ‘lazy myth’ :rolleyes:

 

Of course *some* people bought the record without hearing it on the radio or seeing any TV performances, but it’s clear the vast majority were happy - still over 100k in Week 3 ;)

Slight Return :wub:

 

The Bluetones are one of my favourite 90s bands!

Slight Return :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:

 

A surprise that this made no.2 as The Bluetones were fairly unknown but OMG this is just perfect, heartfelt indie pop. One of the best - though I also rated 'If' just as highly from them.

'One of Us' was very unusual for a top 10 hit, then and now as lyrically it's a theology discussion/contemplation set to music. Can't think of many others - there have of course been worship tracks but nothing that jumps to mind that is more meaning of life. Kate Bush 'Sat in Your Lap', Sam Sparro 'Black and Gold' possibly.

 

Great tune though - and even that style wasn't very typical of the charts. Just a surprise hit all round.

 

So many other great tracks already in year 'Street Spirit' is hauntingly beautiful of course and 'Lifted' is of course radio friendly but very lovely, sunny soul without cynicism.

Edited May 17, 20241 yr by Smint