I Love No.1's - 1994

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Last week showed the patchy knowledge of Poptimists where 1958 was concerned, however hip-wiggling burger fan Elvis was the winner with a respectable 29 ticks. Not so much love for Jane Morgan, who failed to receive a single tick! Bad luck, Jane. This week we fast forward to a year when, thanks to the age restrictions on Livejournal, I am 100% sure that all you lot had been born! It's one of my formative pop years - 1994.

[Poll #788245]

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I own three of the above on cassingle!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

If Chaka Demus & Pliers with 'Twist & Shout' was 1994, does that mean that 'Tease Me' was towards the end of 1993?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I think so. 93 = summer of ragga innit.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

EVERY summer in the early 90s was summer of ragga, SURELY!

[darkpigeon.livejournal.com]

a-la-la-la-la-long

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Tease Me' was a hit around May '93 i think.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Also, poptimists may wish to be reminded that STATUS QUO penned above Man Utd single. I blimmin' loved it at the time. And sort of still do. We are the devils in red yknow, man united here we go!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Consider your copybook duly blotted

Dedication's what you need

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the Wets song, but I was still rooting for them to top Bryan Adams' record of 16 weeks at No.1. My resulting disappointment when they deleted their single knew no bounds.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Stiltskin doing well!

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

That surprised me, isn't it a bit of a semi-rockist incident?

[dansette.livejournal.com]

If anyone disses Take That they'll have to answer to me!

Love,
Jason Orange's duffle coat

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Sure is their worst single. It is soooooo dreary. And the video! There's a five minute long intro with them just hanging round the house doing nothing. It's almost surreal it's so tedious.

[dansette.livejournal.com]

You have a point about that video. Are we really supposed to believe it's like a day in the life of Take That as they prepare food, hang out with curly haired children and joke with each other in a heterosexual way?

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I think we should do a 3x Wet canon some time. I would def. tick 'Wishing I Was Lucky' but no others.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

What about 'Wishing Well'? That has almost the same title.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

i believe it is called 'Goodnight Girl' dear ;)

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I = fule!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

actually that song comes close to being Actually Quite Good at certain points. but then you just think of Marti Pellow's smug ol' face. i wonder if he still has long hair now?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Argh that was Terence Trent D'Arby wasn't it.

I meant 'Goodnight Girl'.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Wishing Well' roxor, wish it had been #1

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Sign Your Name is better.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

but 'Dance Little Sister' may surpass all

"GET OUT OF YOUR ROCKIN CHAIR GRANDMA

or rather, would you care to dance, Grandmother?"

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

Either I'm being a nostalgic old fool, or pop music was actually really good at this time. And good fun, too - the fun factor is missing in so much pop these days. That current Rihanna single is less fun than Nick Cave.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It's bobbins innit? So DREARY.

Rhianna's 'Unfaithful' vs Doop's 'Doop'

Compare and contrast!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I think Paris and Lily are quite fun in their own ways. As are Rogue Traders. But this is just looking at this week's top 40. There does seem to be a bit of a dearth actually. Where's the goofiness?

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I like that Paris song, but mostly because it sounds like it could be 1994 cod-reggae. The first time I heard it I was half expecting a guest spot from Pato Banton, or whoever the rappy one in Red Dragon feat. Brian and Tony Gold was.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE ALL OLD!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

What were you listening to in 1994, Matt?

[(Anonymous)]

All of these! Except Take That, because that was music for girls.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The current Rihanna single is loads of fun! Not in the danceydancey way but given that she's given us 'Pon De Replay' and 'SOS' in the past year I think she should be permitted a ludicrous ballad in which she draws analogies between infidelity and murder. Popstars have always had soppy ballads and 'Unfaithful' is a particularly off-kilter take on it.

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I suppose she can be allowed one upset ballad. But just one!

Yes with me colour TV and me CD collection of Bob Marley

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Are you covering up the involvement of A CAMPBELL in the Pato affair?

Re: Yes with me colour TV and me CD collection of Bob Marley

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

No, everyhit is!

Re: Yes with me colour TV and me CD collection of Bob Marley

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

YES, with me bag a s3n5i, we can be together for e-tern-ity

IN MY DAY

[zenith.livejournal.com]

I saw the video for 'Deep' on the telly the other day and it made me realise that WE ARE MISSING EAST 17 - not the reformed (!) band themselves, but an equivalent, whose videos are all about how they are a bunch of young, monged ruffians who have a sense of community and never do anyone any harm and just get monged and play pool all the time. Who do we have nowadays instead? Lily Allen slumming it and the Daily Mails Chiefs.

Re: IN MY DAY

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Alas the music industry doesn't support bunches of young lads ar5ing around anymore. You have to work hard for your record label advance these days, it's all gruelling tours, in-store appearances and saturday morning kids tv. No time for pool!

Re: IN MY DAY

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Although the devlopment and success of East 17 was quite calculated by Tom 'Tiny' Watkins, perhaps the inspired aspect was that it always felt accidental and quite shoddy, with Tony Mortimer as the more streetwise Gary Barlow from the wrong side of the tracks. It really worked!

Somehow the climate has changed but it's difficult to pinpoint quite why this approach wouldn't work now. Maybe it is just that people in power don't believe it's really credible (they are perhaps making the mistake in thinking credibility is as important as it is) - although East 17 enjoyed some sense of cred. among both (young) teenage girls AND boys (in a way that Bros initially did perhaps, only stronger), unlike Take That.

Re: IN MY DAY

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

east 17 were really credible to 9-yr-old lex, I chose them over take that cos they were street innit

('stay another day' is my favourite e17 song, though i preferred 'deep' back then)

Re: IN MY DAY

[(Anonymous)]

Stay Another Day is the best East 17 ballad and Deep is good but neither of them are a patch on House of Love or Its Alright or Steam or any of the other identical singles where they are FIRING ON ALL POP CANNONS!

Re: IN MY DAY

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Sorry - that was me.

Probably wrong things I have learnt about pop from Wikipedia:

1. The band was seen as a Pop group due to the marketing hype by London Records, but their lyrics and non single tracks showed otherwise. For example, the Ivor Novello award winning song - 'Stay Another Day' - was thought to be a simple love song, but was in fact a response from Tony to his elder brother, who committed suicide. Other titles were written about life after death, and one track even incorporated a part of The Book of Revelations into a futuristic rap song.

I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT ANY OF THIS.

2. E17 were very popular in the UK, but INCREDIBLY popular in Latvia. Presumably because House of Love articulated the defiance of living for decades under the shadow of the Cold War. And the bomb.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

D:Ream = evil

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I predict Tony Blair has personally cost D:Ream at least 5-6 votes.

[koganbot]

Yikes! I know 1958 a lot better than 1994. Or, really, 1994 has way more divergence between Britain and the U.S. than 1958 does.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

It has suddenly occurred to me that this poll documents my descent from teenage poptimism into rockism. I bought FIVE of the first eight singles on cassette, but a combination of Wet Wet Wet's domination of the charts and Stiltskin (and actually Nirvana) turned me to ROCK.

I then pretended not to like everything from Whigfield onwards.