Kind of iconic for the Casualty theme to go to #1 in the guise of a garage sample really.

Bound 4 Da Reload also charted on the album chart at number 71 as the 12 inch doublepack had a dealer price of £3.50 which was too expensive for the singles chart.

Bit of a mixed bag tonight, so many repeat or second performances on first episode. Toni Braxton on first episode what an absolute banger that remains. May I say top 3 Rodney Jerkins for me (the others - "The Boy Is Mine" and "It's Not Right But It's Okay").

Some great UK garage on both episodes from True Steppers and Dane Bowers and also MJ Cole. I was less keen on Oxide and Neutrino although the Casualty / Lock Stock samples were kinda cool.

Mandy Moore's brief emergence is where you can tell all the major labels were scrambling to find a teen pop princess in the wake of Britney's success. But as her pre-release performance of "Oops..." testified, no one could really hold a candle to her.

Oh and it appears re: BBC Music Live episode from Sheffield Arena that that's not getting a second airing. Hopefully we get it turn up on YouTube!

33 minutes ago, lewistgreen said:

I know the Scooch song is SAW produced but it couldn't be more Steps if it tried.

Only S and A. Steps were W lol

25 minutes ago, mrpopquiz said:

He Wasn't Man Enough is magnificent,

This to be honest

3 hours ago, lewistgreen said:

Half the Top 10 full of garage tunes!

And all five feature on Buzzjack Presents... Classic Garage, coming very soon...!

Some great garage and dance tracks indeed, I'm glad Crazy Love got into the top 10 as it's such a classic. Some fun pop from Lolly and Scooch and I bought that Mandy Moore song on release week and still enjoy it, I liked her way more than Jessica Simpson, but less than Britney and Christina.

I'm also a big fan of Private Emotion, a really strong duet and it was nice to see Meja get a top 10 after All 'Bout The Money missed.

Brilliant R&B from Toni Braxton as mentioned and was nice to see her back in the top 10.

I'm not a great fan of Bound 4 Da Reload although they did promote at my school when the following single came out, so it was a bizarre experience of seeing a No.1 single live in my school assembly hall

Who Feels Love - bit boring for me. Gas Panic would have been a better single from this album albeit better live.

Nice to see a live performance of Cry by System F, I really feel like Ian Van Dahl copied the general vibe/tempo/key of that with the similarly titled Try two years later.

'Private Emotion' is a lovely duet. Still remember buying that on CD when it was raining lol.

'Candy' is rather cute too. One time we had her album on in the car lol. Random looking back now and yeah I prefer her to Jessica as well.

Wholeheartedly agree with Lolly. Clearly I and my sisters were the target demographic at the time (I was 8, they were 9 and 12 at the time). She just left me with a big smile on my face. So joyous and fun.

Scooch also gave me the same feeling, its like music you listen to when going to Spain, just fun and summery!

Garage was absolutely dominating! MJ Cole’s ‘Crazy Love’ is so classy, I love it.

Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) reminds me of my older sister (9) and my childhood friends who thought they were “gangstas” for enjoying this music at the time. They’re now working full time jobs and have kids of their own!

Great seeing Hanson again, great acoustic version-if Only definitely deserved higher than 15.

I’ve never been fussed on Who Feels Love. It hasn’t grown over the years for me like Go Let It Out did.

Great track from Toni Braxton but atrocious miming!

I’ve never taken to that Oxide and Neutrino song either.

That's pretty much the only Ricky Martin song I like, but I really like it!

Crazy Love

Oxide & Neutrino was a fun little novelty at the time, although it's not exactly aged well.

21 hours ago, gooddelta said:

Some great garage and dance tracks indeed, I'm glad Crazy Love got into the top 10 as it's such a classic.

Nice to see a live performance of Cry by System F, I really feel like Ian Van Dahl copied the general vibe/tempo/key of that with the similarly titled Try two years later.

I thought some of the garage tracks like Flowers and Crazy Love sounded strangly melancholy at the time. Good songs though.

System F - Cry is melancholy too but great and sounds more 2002 than 2000 I agree, in being a more vocal led trance track. The bassline more reminds me of Dee Dee - Forever than Ian Van Dahl though.

Edited September 26Sep 26 by TheSnake

13TH MAY

Despite all the US teen stars to come in her wake Britney Spears proves that she’s still the biggest of them by opening at No 1 for the third time in 15 months. Nothing came even remotely near the 124,000 opening tally of “Oops I Did It Again” last week giving her the accolade of becoming the youngest female soloist ever to grab a hat-trick of UK chart toppers given that Spears is still only 18, she’s also the first act to score two No 1 singles in 2000 and hence the decade and millennium. Of course it is the first single from her second album of the same title so much was expected of the track and it hasn’t disappointed.

Tales of the singer being hit by a falling camera and receiving stitches have been all over the press recently and certainly the eye catching promo featuring Britney in a bright red PCV catsuit hasn’t harmed sales.

The 1983 film “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” was an immediate hit with critics on release and has become a cult classic over the years, its theme was an instrumental by Ryuichi Sakamoto and was a hit in some parts of the world though the UK got a version with lyrics by Japan frontman David Sylvian retitled “Forbidden Colours” (#16, 1983). Now 17 years later the song gets a dance overhaul thanks to Watergate who is actually Orhan Terzi, a name you may recall from a few years ago when he recorded under the name DJ Quicksilver scoring top 10 hits with “Free” and “Bellissima”. This proves to be his biggest hot yet powering in at No 3 (44,000).

Rapidly emerging as one of the finds of 2000, Toploader finally scored a hit with their version of “Dancing In The Moonlight” earlier this year making No 19 and now score an even bigger hit with “Achilles Heel”. It was originally a No 64 hit almost a year ago but a re-issue sees it glide in at No 8 (30,000), you only have to wait three weeks for their debut album “Onka’s Big Moka”.

Oxide & Neutrino drop 1-2 (51,000) whilst Fragma slip 2-4 (42,000), total sales of “Toca’s Miracle” now top the 400,000 mark. Bloodhound Gang dip 4-5 (33,000), Sisqo ebbs 5-6 (32,000) and Craig David loses popularity 3-7 (32,000), further down Toni Braxton dives 5-9 (26,000) and Sweet Female Attitude slide 8-10 (24,000).

1- OOPS!....I DID IT AGAIN- Britney Spears (124,00)
2- BOUND 4 DA RELOAD (CASUALTY)- Oxide & Neutrino (51,000)
3- HEART OF ASIA- Watergate (44,000)
4- TOCA’S MIRACLE- Fragma (42,000)
5- THE BAD TOUCH- Bloodhound Gang (33,000)
6- THONG SONG- Sisqo (32,000)
7- FILL ME IN- Craig David (32,000)
8- ACHILLES HEEL- Toploader (30,000)
9- HE WASN’T MAN ENOUGH- Toni Braxton (26,000)
10- FLOWERS- Sweet Female Attitiude (24,000)

20TH MAY



Already we’re up to our 15th chart topper of the year and so it proves that Britney can’t hold onto the chart crown as she’s toppled 1-2 (80,000) and is replaced by Australian duo Madison Avenue. Their debut single “Don’t Call Me Baby” was the best selling single of 1999 in Australia but tanked at No 30 here on first release back in November, nevertheless it has been a constant on the dancefloor and went on to be a major hit in Europe prompted the record label to give it another go here with a slew of new mixes. The ploy worked with the track amassing 93,794 buyers last week, some royalties will be heading back to McFadden and Whitehead whose 1979 hit “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now” forms the bassline of the track though the sample on the Madison Avenue track comes from Pino D’Angio’s “Ma Quale Idea” which also used the sample. It’s the first chart topper by an Australian group since Men At Work way back in 1983.

Tom Jones’ “Reload” moves back to the top of the album charts this week propelled by his most recent single “Sexbomb” which in keeping with all the songs on the album is a duet of kinds with producer Mousse T whose only other single was of course “Horny” in 1998. The single was the third release in most territories but we got “Mama Told Me Not To Come” instead, that meant that this song was on rotation at UK radio for some time and now fully available it debuts at No 3 (66,000). It’s Jones’ 18th top 10 hit and biggest in 13 years, it has been remixed from the album version and now includes a sample of Sister Sledge’s “All American Girls” (#41, 1981) to give a more disco feel though the song is the only original composition on his album.

The late 70s/ early 80s provide the basis for our next new entry from Armand Van Helden called “Koochy”, using as a base Gary Numan’s 1979 #1 hit “Cars”. Though it isn’t the follow up to his chart topping “You Don’t Know Me” on account of his single “Flowers” hitting No 18 last May, it does mark the return to the top 10 for Van Helden as it smashes in at No 4 (48,000).

One of the forefathers of the trance movement is German DJ Paul Van Dyk, his track “For An Angel” is considered one of the most influential tracks in the genre, he’s never made the top 10 and neither for that matter have Saint Etienne who have produced 14 hits never making it higher than No 11 (“He’s On The Phone” 1995). They’ve teamed up (well only Sarah Cracknell appears on the track) to give us “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)” which instantly beats both parties existing discography by entering at no 7 (31,000).

What’s this? The return of Iron Maiden? They’ve been absent from the top 10 since 1995, indeed the group took a noticeable dip in chart popularity after lead singer Bruce Dickinson left the group in 1993, last year he announced that he would return and it reignited interest in the group of which this is the first fruit. “Wicker Man” takes its inspiration from the classic film of the same name and lands at No 9 (26,000) to give the band their 12th top 10 single.

Losing popularity this week Oxide & Neutrino move 2-5 (36,000) and Watergate cascade 3-6 (33,000), Bloodhound Gang linger on 5-8 (29,000) and have sold over 260,000 copies now, whilst Fragma tumble 4-10 (26,000).

1- DON’T CALL ME BABY- Madison Avenue (93,794)
2- OOPS!...I DID IT AGAIN- Britney Spears (80,000)
3- SEX BOMB- Tom Jones & Mousse T (66,000)
4- KOOCHY- Armand Van Helden (48,000)
5- BOUND 4 DA RELOAD (CASUALTY)- Oxide & Neutrino (36,000)
6- HEART OF ASIA- Watergate (33,000)
7- TELL ME WHY (THE RIDDLE)- St Etienne & Paul Van Dyk (31,000)
8- THE BAD TOUCH- Bloodhound Gang (29,000)
9- THE WICKER MAN- Iron Maiden (26,000)
10- TOCA’S MIRACLE- Fragma (26,000)

I do wonder if Saint Etienne have ever performed this song live. I bought it on CD on this week and still adore it, but sure they have never even acknowledged it in concerts despite it being their only top 10 hit (unless you count Cola Boy which was an alias for Bob & Pete). About eight years ago I sat next to Paul Van Dyk on a flight from Heathrow to Berlin, and should have told him how much I love this track! But decided to leave him alone.

Achilles Heel is by far my favourite this week.

You mention that Sex Bomb was the 18th top 10 hit for Tom Jones at number 3.

It also completes his top 10 bingo card.

1 - 2

2 - 5

3 - 1

4 - 1

5 - 3

6 - 1

7 - 2

8 - 1

9 - 1

10 - 1

Bit of a mixed bag again on tonight's episodes. You can tell that hardly anybody bothered to go up against Britney on her release week, and those first week sales speak for themselves. "Oops..." is one of her classics up there with "Baby..." and "Toxic".

Good to see Madison Avenue do much better second time out as well and hit number one. I remember the chart from when "Don't Call Me Baby" had first entered the previous November (it was a new entry on the same chart as the Geri vs Emma and Tin Tin Out chart battle) and remember thinking it should have been bigger.

I actually quite liked the Iron Maiden song on the second episode, I knew I knew that song from somewhere because of the "Your time will come" refrain but didn't realise it was them.

Very surprised the Paul Van Dyk and Saint Etienne track didn't get an airing, I agree with @gooddelta it's a fabulous track. I actually saw Saint Etienne just last weekend on their farewell tour in Cambridge and they were brilliant.

Also. Made In London continuing 2000's over-subscription of new girl groups. I remember a promo postcard for "Dirty Water" flopping through our letterbox prior to release (they were on RCA and as I recall, I think they used to send out postcards or mailshots for other acts on their roster similar to ones you'd signed up for info from from those little cards inside CDs. In my case I think it was Five as they were on RCA too). Anyway, I remember my dad picking it up and announcing "Made In London, Dirty Water? Is that a song about how full of shit the Thames is?" 🤣

Edited Friday at 21:095 days by ThePensmith

Pretty good sales for Sex Bomb

Also. Totally forgot. Heather Small on second episode...

🤣🤣🤣

On 02/10/2026 at 22:04, ThePensmith said:

Very surprised the Paul Van Dyk and Saint Etienne track didn't get an airing, I agree with @gooddelta it's a fabulous track. I actually saw Saint Etienne just last weekend on their farewell tour in Cambridge and they were brilliant.

I was at this same gig in Cambridge! Wonderful show.

My wider thoughts on these two weeks:

Absolutely loved Heart of Asia, and bought it, low sales there for No.3 but glad it took advantage and crept into the top three there.

Achilles Heel is so beautiful, I really wish this was Toploader's signature song instead of Dancing In The Moonlight, glad it made the top 10 at least.

Dirty Water was done dirty with that peak, that's for sure. One of the best songs of 2000. It's easily up there with the highlights of Sugababes' debut album and isn't unlike it in sound. There was another quite similar vibey girlband called Kick Angel out around the same time, who I think missed the top 75 altogether with Misunderstood, and also Masai the following year with Heaven & Hell and Kick Back, who eventually made the top 50 but not quite top 40 when they went R&B in 2003 with Do That Thang. I loved all these sophisti-pop girlgroups. Dirty Water was very clearly modelled however on Janet Jackson album track This Time, the production, melody and structure are so similar, it's a clear ripoff. Also Aussie Popstars winners Bardot covered Dirty Water on their second album so at least somebody saw the potential.

It is funny really how Britney had the whole industry running scared, only seven new entries in the whole top 40. Oops is of course a pop classic and holds up well today, so I don't blame labels for avoiding it. Shout out to this trance song You Put Me In Heaven With Your Touch by Rhythm Of Life just outside the top 20, which I always loved.

The following week, I'm not sure I expected Madison Avenue to quite inch past Britney to clinch the No.1 (it was already available on both Now Dance 2000 and later Now 45, so I didn't bother getting the single myself) but I'm so glad they did. One of my favourite songs of the year, I also heard it on the chart in late 1999 and thought it sounded bigger. A fantastic dance record, which uses the samples so well.

Sex Bomb is fun from Tom Jones and it was cool to see him get a top three hit from this era, especially being the age he was at the time. Was nice to see Mousse T get a second hit too.

Koochy is so much weirder than I remember, I only recall it from the prominent Gary Numan sample, the song didn't last long in the charts so the No.4 peak was surprising.

Tell Me Why (The Riddle) was the second No.1 in my personal chart in a row for Paul Van Dyk (Another Way was absolutely glorious the previous autumn), and kicked off my love affair with Saint Etienne. Such a warm vocal from Sarah Cracknell on this fantastic trance track. It deserves to be spoken of as a classic, rather than never being performed live at all. I remember buying the CD single from Asda and didn't realise until I got home that they mistakenly put in CD2 full of long mixes (when discs were still kept behind the counter), and I wanted the radio edit, so took it straight back to swap it.

Mambo Italiano was quite fun from Shaft but I think we were all over mambo by this point. Fantastic performance though from Heather Small, which would obviously get second and third winds thanks to the London Olympics and Miranda, it was a real statement of a debut solo single.