19. Aqua - Doctor Jones

Rank: 7/10

After the huge success of Barbie Girl, one of the biggest selling singles of all-time in the UK, it was intriguing to see what Aqua would do next and how they would fare. Would the Danish group remain a one-hit wonder, or as was more likely in the 90s/early 00s, a one and a half hit wonder, where the second song is very similar to the first and peaks at 3-10 and then they slowly fade away. But the answer was, in fact, a second, big No.1 single.

Doctor Jones was not dissimilar to its predecessor, a colourful novelty Europop single. But was not this time specifically affiliated with a brand, although the video had more than a whiff of Indiana Jones to it, and the song title suggests that was the aim. The instant school disco favourite Doctor Jones debuted at No.1 - something Barbie Girl hadn't achieved - and managed two weeks there and six weeks in the top ten. It followed much the same template of Lene singing and Rene offering a rap response in places. The post-chorus 'ah-yippie-yi-ooh, ah-yippie-yi-yeah' refrain was an earworm bigger than the chorus and it's easy to see why this was another smash, also hitting the top in Australia and Ireland. But there is only one Aqua single I ever truly loved, and that will come later.

Doctor Jones is pure fun - I miss sings being unashamed at being silly, happy and pure pop.

1 minute ago, Jester said:

Doctor Jones is pure fun - I miss sings being unashamed at being silly, happy and pure pop.

Yes I don’t know when the world started to take itself so seriously with music. When the physicals era died off for some reason as we didn’t have many fun/colourful pop download hits either. Possibly due to the introduction of social media and camera phones at the same time, and being conscious of oneself at all times?

Whenever I watch the old TOTP episodes and you see all the 16-18 year olds having the time of their lives to Steps, Aqua and B*witched and I just think today’s teens of the same age would just find it cringey and never listen to stuff like that. It’s a shame that people care so much more what others think about them now.

98 and 99 were halcyon days for Pop, it began to tail off after that.

I think this was a trend in music, like indie it dies out (like now) but does come back. Maybe there is a big Pop explosion round the corner!

I did wonder that recently with Golden spending 10 weeks at the top.

Pop always comes back around and currently South Korea are having all the fun (see also APT.).

I’d like to see Western acts lighten up a little too!

We need bands back first really!

Doctor Jones I like, as with most things 90s eurodance, but of course there were much better songs from the eurodance genre in 1993-95. Doctor Jones is poppier than it, although I would still classify it as dance. And yes most chart dance music today is minimal in production and less fun unfortunately.

'Deeper Undergound' is okay but wouldn't say I'm a fan of their stuff really.

'Doctor Jones' is a sure bop. Don't particularly care that it sounded like a replica of 'Barbie Girl' either haha. Not when it's joyous and feel good pop.

I don't really remember Deeper Underground in fact I don't remember hearing a Jamiroquai song until Little L in 2001. I later discovered the great Canned Heat thanks to Donkey Konga on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2005.

Oh I absolutely love Doctor Jones. If Barbie Girl opened the door to my love of pop in 1997 then Doctor Jones kicked it off the hinges in late 1997 early 1998. There was a time where I went off the maybe 20 years ago, but I think that was just a phase of me trying to deny loving pop music. I got out of that phase though.

Also I have this memory of going with my mum to pick my sister up from her friends house in 1998 and her friend had Smash Hits magazine, back when they had a list of songs and phone numbers you could call to listen to them. As I loved the song and didn't have the single my sisters friend called the number and passed the phone over to me. It's funny the memories that stick with us.

Edited Saturday at 23:432 days by Paddington James

28 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

I don't really remember Deeper Underground in fact I don't remember hearing a Jamiroquai song until Little L in 2001. I later discovered the great Canned Heat thanks to Donkey Konga on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2005.

Ah yes, I had and loved playing Donkey Konga too, a good selection of hits and lesser known stuff on there. I still love the Mighty Mighty Bosstones track (also from 1998), The Impression That I Get that was on the soundtrack, among other songs I knew very well already.

6 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Ah yes, I had and loved playing Donkey Konga too, a good selection of hits and lesser known stuff on there. I still love the Mighty Mighty Bosstones track (also from 1998), The Impression That I Get that was on the soundtrack, among other songs I knew very well already.

That’s right it was too! I remember The Impression That I Get from 1998 and was impartial to it, but it really grew on me after Donkey Konga.

18. Robbie Williams - Millennium

Rank: 7/10

Reason: 1998 was a banner year for Robbie Williams, after a stuttering start, thanks to the long-running success of Angels, which was still doing big business well into January and February. He followed that with the No.3 classic Let Me Entertain You and you wonder why he saved releasing two such great songs so long into a faltering album campaign. Was this recovery and career turnaround story the plan all along or did the label genuinely not see the value in these songs over the likes of South Of The Border? Either way, it pushed Life Thru A Lens to the top and he was primed for a much bigger start out of the gate with the first single from his next album.

With the millennium a mere 15 months away, there was lots of hype for what was around the corner, although honestly nowhere near as much as in 1999 for obvious reasons, so this single was a little premature. With a renewed self confidence and swagger, Robbie finally looked and felt like the country's biggest solo star by this point, and indeed he was. Built around a well utilised sample of You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinatra, from the Bond film of the same name, the track cruised to No.1 and was never off the radio for quite a few years.

On a personal level, I like the track and it's catchy, with clever lyrics (Robbie is a hugely underrated lyricist - compare what he writes about with many contemporary male solo stars at the time and there's a big difference), but as with a lot of Robbie lead singles, it's not one I tend to go back to through choice that much - if we were discussing the follow-up No Regrets then you'd probably have found that in my top five of the year. For several years the song felt like one of his main signature hits, but I do feel like it was overshadowed several times over by the likes of Rock DJ and Feel while the aforementioned Angels and Let Me Entertain You have probably held up better too. It is not in his Spotify top 10 most played anyway. But still, a good song, his first solo No.1, and another step on his road to becoming a true superstar, it set up the I've Been Expecting You album to do very big things.

17. The Tamperer feat. Maya - Feel It

Rank: 7/10

Reason: This is my final 7/10 and then we're up to 16 songs I really like or love. Feel It is a song that has grown on me massively over the years, I used to find it annoying as anything and would probably have put it nearer to the bottom, due to the shouty delivery of the famous lyric 'what's she gonna look like with a chimney on her', which was basically being chanted everywhere in my face in brash fashion in the school playground in the closing months of primary school. With time though I can actually see that this is a huge part of the song's charm, and I have very much warmed up to it in the last few years. The Top of the Pops repeats have helped becaue it reminded me that American singer Maya was such a charismatic performer that you almost can't believe she didn't have a solo career. And the production is almost too good not to notice.

Using a very prominent sample of Can You Feel It by the Jacksons, the extra Italo house production from Italian act The Tamperer gives it that hard drum pattern that was all over the place in 1998. Listen to this, and then listen to Tragedy by Steps, and ask yourselves if that would have sounded the same without the producer hearing this first.

Feel It lifted its key lyrics from a 1996 track called Drop The House by Urban Discharge. And when you listen to that, the strange 'chimney on her' line is suddenly presented in context and the whole thing makes a lot more sense. The combination of these factors all provided one of the most enduring dance hits of the year, unusually for 1998 taking six weeks to finally reach the top after hovering around the top five. The act managed two hit follow ups, including the use of a f-f-f-f-f-f-f-fabulous Madonna sample on top three hit If You Buy This Record Your Life Will Be Better.

I’m glad I’m not the only one that can hear a link between Feel It and Tragedy. For quite a while when ever I heard Feel It on the radio I always thought it was Tragedy!

I like the song itself though, so I’m happy to see it with a very respectable 7/10.

I remember thinking at the time that the Millennium music video was very ‘Bond’ inspired. I had no idea about the You Only Live Twice sample either. I can take or leave this song though. It’s not one of my Robbie favourites, but I don’t hate it either. If it comes on I’ll happily listen to it.

Yeah Deeper Underground I like but it's not in the same league as proper JK singles of the era, and the film didn't impress me either. The best Godzilla film by far is the recent Japanese film Godzilla Minus One, fab. The chart position is prob about right though here. Doctor Jones was a fun follow-up, I enjoyed it more than Jamiroquai I think, and it wasnt as blatantly irritating as Barbie Girl on repeat, though in retrospect its not quite as iconic or amusing.

Robbie hits peak pop star mode with a classy Bond sample and an irresistable song, love it and very much at the top end of classic records of the time, enough for me to buy the album - something I would never have thought possible, in the same way as I once thought that about Kylie, and Miley. You just never know! I agree about Robbie's lyrics, he's under-rated. Millenium would easily be top 5 for me, if not number one. Talking of classic samples, Can You Feel It is as beloved as You Only Live Twice to me, but I did enjoy Feel It's tongue-in-cheek romp, still great fun and second on this list so far, behind Robbie. The Madonna sample follow-up also great fun. I'm with any comments about modern pop music charts having lost that joyous quality - maybe it's the tough times we live in, but I do also suspect it teen's trying to look cool what with online pressures. When they didnt exist you could like what you wanted, and you didnt have to prove anything. And I LOVE Apt, a rare exception to the rule, what a joy. I was singing it at a big family dinner yesterday when it came on Radio 2 and everyone of a certain age (over 6 and under 45) did too.

Think these last two have been my favourites (I have got a bit of a soft spot for Because We Want To I confess, might be my Doctor Who nostalgia coming through x) Millenium is admittedly all about the sample, but I think Robbie does put his own stamp on it. Feel It is straight out iconic with one of the most quotable lyrics of the time, it shouldn't work but it really does. 1998 had a lot of naff number 1s, but some real classics in there too.

Poor Stardust being as low as 9 in the number 2s rank! That would very easily be my favourite in a pretty poor list, bloody Boyzone -__ Mysterious Times is really good though and One for Sorrow one of a small handful of Steps songs I really like.

I do like 'Millenium' but like you it's not one I'd play out of choice and never been a favourite or anything.

Not keen on 'Feel It'. Find it rather repetitive and annoying and not much going on musically that's too exciting either but it'd still be around here for me too albeit a few places lower!

If someone missed girl groups time, there are always Lithuania for you.

Much more talented and interesting thing than K-Pop.