So many greats over the past couple of weeks

 

Toxygene :wub:

Barrell of a Gun :wub:

She Makes My Nose Bleed :wub:

 

I really like 'Discotheque', in fact I love that whole era from them!

 

Also love 'Where Do You Go', I never realised it did that well!

 

And yeah, that LL Cool J one is a total damp squib and I never understood it.

Blueboy getting that second stint in the top 10 :wub:

 

I don't mind Discotheque, it's at least quite different sounding for them. I still prefer the better new entries from Depeche Mode and The Orb though

 

22ND FEBRUARY

 

 

The merry-go-round at the top of the charts continues to whirl with No Doubt this week’s victors. “Don’t Speak” has been on the radio for weeks now placing at No 3 presently and that was before it had charted- an unusual step to be so high without a chart placing! The confidence is justified though as it arrives with 195,000 copies sold- a best yet for the year in terms of weekly totals. The band formed way back in 1986 but only released their first album in 1992 and it has been a slow but steady climb to fame since then with their third album “Tragic Kingdom” becoming the real breakthrough. Charting in the last 6 weeks it moves 10-9 to equal its peak position and gave us No Doubt’s first UK hit when “Just A Girl” made No 38 late last year.

 

 

“Don’t Speak” is about the failed relationship between band members Gwen Stefani (lead vocals) and Tony Kanal (bassist) and is produced by 80s popstar Matthew Wilder. As it is the 5th week in a row that the No 1 single is debuting there it helps to create another chart record!

 

 

Warren G has done to Bob Marley what he did to Tina Turner 4 months ago, kept the chorus but made his own raps for the verses and so “I Shot The Sheriff” follows “What’s Love Got To Do With It” all the way to No 2 for him selling 87,000. That’s a mere 5,000 less than his former single started out with but is faced with much stiffer competition in the form of No Doubt, female vocals come courtesy of Nancy Fletcher. Interestingly Marley’s version has never been a hit in the UK leaving Eric Clapton’s version as the standard and the version sampled in this interpretation.

 

 

 

The race to fill the Take That void remains hot and furious with 911 staking their claim, their fourth hit “The Day We Find Love” is their biggest yet as it charges in at No 4 (59,000). Debut album “The Journey” is out in a matter of weeks and will give a clearer idea of the size of their fanbase but the hits are certainly mounting for these boys.

 

 

 

Subject to a record label bidding last year French house duo Daft Punk signed with Virgin last September who have helped to create one of the hippest bands on the dance scene at present. Debut UK release “Da Funk/ Musique” comes with a memorable video featuring a man in a dog costume which does it job in pushing the single in at No 7 (44,000).

 

 

 

Already a top 40 hit stateside and a dancefloor hit on both sides of the Atlantic DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat” finally makes its appearance over here at No 8 (39,000). The song samples both The 45 Kings and Kool & The Gang and gives the Washington born DJ John Bowman Jnr (DJ Kool’s real name) a bona fide hit here.

 

 

 

It’s been 6 years since James were at the height of their commercial appeal as demonstrated by “Sit Down”’s 3 weeks at No 2 behind Chesney Hawkes. Since then they’ve made two studio albums and had middling success with the singles taken from it but a rest of three years has done them good and return single “She’s A Star” restores them to the top 10 at No 9 (36,000)- new album “Whiplash” follows in a few weeks. Incidentally the promo features actress Keely Hawes who was also in Suede’s “Saturday Night”- busy girl.

 

 

That means that just a week after we got a record 6 new entries in the top 10 we’ve done it all over again!

 

The remainders include the seemingly immune No Mercy who drift 2-3 (77,000) but seem to have peaked saleswise unlike En Vogue who inch 6-5 (53,000) who have a best week yet at retail and equal their best ever chart position with “Don’t Let Go (Love)”. Last week’s chart topper from U2 tumbles 1-6 (48,000), it’s the third week in 1997 that the previous week’s No 1 has fallen out of the top 5 with Blur and The Spice Girls also recording big dips. Finally Blue Boy ebb 8-10 (35,000).

 

 

 

1- DON’T SPEAK- No Doubt (195,000)

2- I SHOT THE SHERIFF- Warren G (87,000)

3- WHERE DO YOU GO- No Mercy (77,000)

4-THE DAY WE FIND LOVE- 911 (59,000)

5- DON’T LET GO (LOVE)- En Vogue (53,000)

6- DISCOTHEQUE- U2 (48,000)

7- DA FUNK/ MUSIQUE- Daft Punk (44,000)

8- LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT- DJ Kool (39,000)

9- SHE’S A STAR- James (36,000)

10- REMEMBER ME- Blueboy (35,000)

 

1ST MARCH

 

 

The revolving door at the top of the charts finally comes to a halt this week as No Doubt prove too strong for the competition despite a 28% sales dip week on week. That means that 140,000 copies got sold last week raising the total to 335,000 in a fortnight as it moves to No 1 on the airplay chart and also No 2 on the YTD behind No Mercy’s “Where Do You Go” which fades itself 3-4 (48,000) as it sells its 400,000th copy. The No Doubt album advances 9-5 to a new peak and is doubtless diverting sales from the single despite the singles impressive numbers.

 

 

 

German dance music time and DJ/production trio Sash! are now the nearest challengers for the throne with the Euro wide hit “Encore Une Fois”. It features lyrics in French from German singer Sabine Ohmes, a truly continental affair and sells an impressive 98,000 copies to land at No 2.

 

 

 

Are we due a revival of early 90s dance? Well the proof may rest at No 3 where The Source Featuring Candi Staton land with “You Got The Love” a track which made No 4 back in 1991. It has been remixed by an outfit called Now Voyager which, as it transpires, is none other than John Rush an alias of John Truelove AKA The Source! Anyway the disc sold 61,000 to instantly outdo the “Original”.

 

 

 

The reputation and standing of the Gibb Brothers has been helped considerably over the last few years by the use of their songs as covers for both Boyzone and Take That, and both of which were chart toppers last year, and of course N-Trance in 1995. Proving you can’t beat the real thing the brothers are back with a new album and lead single “Alone” which is now their 17th top 10 hit and in at No 5 (45,000)- their highest debut ever almost 30 years to the week since they had their first hit. An incredible feat in this day and age and helped by their recent BRITS award for outstanding contribution to music!

 

 

 

Bush are so far noteworthy in this country for two reasons, firstly they are a British band who are big in the US yet relatively unknown here, and secondly for lead singer Gavin Rossdale’s current relationship with No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani and former relationships with Courtney Love and (allegedly) with singer Marilyn in the 80s (Peter Robinson). They can finally back that up with a hit single after their first album “Sixteen Stone” gave them only the No 48 single “Machinehead” last year, second album “Razorblade Suitcase” is out in a few weeks and first single “Swallowed” is off to a flying start and is new at No 7 (38,000).

 

 

En Vogue finally post a sales loss (43,000) and retreat 5-6 in the process, Warren G flies past them on the way down 2-8 (37,000). Blue Boy lose sales but still move up 10-9 (33,000) and 911 scuttle 4-10 (29,000).

 

Next week sees big releases from Peter Andre, Eternal and Kula Shaker- can any of them knock No Doubt from the top?

 

 

1- DON’T SPEAK- No Doubt (140,000)

2- ENCORE UNE FOIS- Sash! (98,000)

3- YOU GOT THE LOVE- Source Featuring Candi Staton (61,000)

4- WHERE DO YOU GO?- No Mercy (48,000)

5- ALONE- Bee Gees (45,000)

6- DON’T LET GO (LOVE)- En Vogue (43,000)

7- SWALLOWED- Bush (38,000)

8- I SHOT THE SHERIFF- Warren G (37,000)

9- REMEMBER ME- Blueboy (33,000)

10- THE DAY WE FIND LOVE- 911 (29,000)

 

FYI - BBC4 will not be showing the episode on the 28th March 1997 due to I Belive I Can Fly playing over the chart rundown.

 

They will also skip the 3 weeks the song was at number 1 - 11 , 18 , 25 April shows.

Some fabulous gems

 

Daft Punk's Da Funk is all kinds of amazing, so glad it went top 10, I remember being obsessed with the dog video.

 

I also love love love No Doubt-Don't Speak. Insane that it never charted in the US cos the greedy label wanted to move albums, so they never issued a physical single hence forcing people to buy Tragic Kingdom, but that meant the single couldn't chart in the US.

 

I was also a huge fan of Bush and love Swallowed. I was already a big fan of the previous album and songs like Glycerine or Machinehead. Crazy that Glycerine never was a UK hit, such an incredible single and huge in the US, think it went 20-ish. Same as Don't Speak, the US label never released Swallowed in the US as a single as was inelegible to chart there.

 

Also a big fan of James-She's a Star, one of their best singles ever and a great comeback.

Da Funk :wub:

Encore Une Fois :wub: :wub:

 

'She's a Star' is also a great track!

'Encore Une Fois' has a great buildup.

 

'Da Funk' is a good track too. Instrumental and mostly instrumental dance had become big.

 

My parents are big fans of the Bee Gees so I know their song 'Alone' a lot with its bagpipe synth after the chorus, quite nostalgic to listen to now as are many of the Bee Gees' songs.

 

I don't know which version of The Source ft Candi Staton 'You Got The Love' I prefer there is also a very similar one production-wise to the 1997 one from 2006 but with violins! :o I probably prefer the original 1991 track.

Edited January 24Jan 24 by TheSnake

These two episodes <3333 high on the nostalgia scale, either my older brother (Warren G, Sash!, The Source, Daft Punk) or sister (No Doubt) bought and were rinsing these at the time so they were very familiar songs to me despite not really following music myself at the time closely.

 

My own favourite at the time - and still - was Ready To Go by Republica, was great to see that on the second show tonight.

 

Also Ant & Dec presenting the first episode was a nice precursor to their success with CD:UK the following year.

 

I don’t recall ever consciously listening to the DJ Kool song but I certainly recognise the backing track - probably because Streetmate used the same sample as its theme tune at the time.

 

The James song is a classic too, one of their best for sure.

 

Only song I wasn’t keen on was the very dated sounding track from 911. Thankfully they had far better to come later in the year.

 

And Mama I have always absolutely loved and it reminds me of the end of primary school, the music industry was really in a very good state in 1997.

Edited January 24Jan 24 by gooddelta

^Republica - Ready to Go was a fantastic single and definitely should have been top 10. Great great band. Was quite the hit in the US too.

 

Just looked at the rest of the chart and found this peaking at #15 quite a well known dance classic

 

Lots to love here!

 

Don’t Speak - wonderful number 1. I was so desperate to get this song a couple of weeks before I bought the album just for it!

 

She’s A Star - my favourite James song and a late Britpop classic

 

You’ve Got The Love - New Voyager mix is the best version of this song imo

 

Encore Une Fois - takes me right back. Superb dance tune.

 

2 great episodes.

Pick of outside the top 10 not mentioned is Space - Dark Clouds :wub:

Just looked at the rest of the chart and found this peaking at #15 quite a well known dance classic

 

 

I used to love this song at the time and it used to be played a lot at the clubs when I was younger, but haven’t heard it in 20 years and it sounds quite dated now very HiNRG kinda.

 

Def the point where climbers ended as we get 6 new entries in the top tier for 2 weeks in a row. It’s a pity as many songs benefited with high NEs and sales so naturally fell slowly but many missed out a were released too late and had a 4 week chart run!

Small but I noticed after James on the first episode this week, Ant says and we have a new number 1 from No Doubt :lol: was this a mistake? Never noticed them just give away the number 1 before, it used to be a big thing people looked forward to finding out surely.

 

Absolutely love Bee Gee's 'Alone', it's pretty much completely forgotten today I feel.

looking at some songs that peaked in the 11-40 zone in the first couple months of the year...

 

#13 Skunk Anansie - Hedonism

This should have been a top 10. Too bad the band never managed one, this deserved. It's a great single from them,

possibly even their best ever. Think I learned the word "hedonism" thanks to them. It was the 3rd single from Stoosh, maybe if it had been the lead...

 

#25 EBTG - Before today

The opening track from EBTG fabulous 1996 album Walking wounded, easily their best album ever. It was single #4 from the album so did well but this is really one of the best chill out dance tracks of the 90s. Lyric are also fab: I don't want a phone that never rings <3

 

#26 Enigma - Beyond the invisible

The first single from their 96 album Le roi est mort, vive le roi, great single, love it. Pity they seem to have lost popularity by then...

 

They’ve been mentioning the new number 1 for a while, that’s not new with the show.

Love all of your picks there Bjork. I agree in particular that Hedonism really should have made the top 10, it seemed popular enough to but was perhaps one of those that became more popular when people heard it after week one maybe

I've always been amazed 'Ready To Go' charted that low, to this day it still feels like such a well-known song.

 

Absolutely stormer though :wub:

Don't Speak is a great #1, I liked it at the time but it has grown on me much more over time.

 

Da Funk is a classic, I absolutely adored it and loved the next single even more. The Source back with the definitive version of You Got The Love - took me a long time to realise that it is basically the original song on top of a very similar production to Rob Dougan's 'Clubbed to Death' from the Matrix. Sash! was another fave at the time, although I don't love it as much now.

 

That Warren G track was one of the worst of the year, difficult to believe that this was the same guy that made Regulate :/

 

Oh and agree that Ready To Go should definitely have been bigger, it was an absolute belter