12March

Ten years ago, the jury in the Grobbelgaate (©WSC 1994) match fixing trial was been discharged after it could not agree a verdict. Deng Xiaoping died aged 92. The BBC dropped Danny Baker from his phone in show on Radio 5 Live; he has been rude to his audience and football referees. Robin Cook attacked the xenophobia of Michael Portillo and John Redwood, claiming it bred racism. The Grate British Public picked Katrina and the Waves for the Eurovision Song Contest, in a show hosted by Dale Winton.

New entries in the 75 for Shawn Colvin (70), Deus (56), and the last week for Spearhead (45). First and last weeks for Zero Vu (69), Scotti Deep (67), and 18 Wheeler (59). Bis's Sweet shop avengerz had been advertised with massive posters at train stations, but could only make position 46; at 41, Olive's Miracle fell at number 41, the most annoying place in the universe.

First new entry in the top 40 came at 31 - for Qattara, Come with me was the career highlight. Live's last week on the 40 was their highest, Lakini's juice, new at 29, was their swansong. Cathy Dennis and Warren G were both spending their final weeks on the 40 as solo performers. Sneaker Pimps entered at 21 with Spin spin sugar - they'd taken Six underground into the top 20 in late 1996, and would do so again in June. ..Sugar never got the respect it deserved.

3 Colours Red have their second top 40 hit of the year, Sixty mile smile comes in at 20, just one place behind Dodgy. Found you was the second single after their career-defining smash Good enough, and was their last single to threaten the top 30. In their two-year career of making top 20 hits, the peaks were the nigh-symmetrical 19-12-4-11-19.

Third hit single for Alisha's Attic was Indestructable, the one with the unforgettable cartoon-world video. Never quite worked out what the story of the cards inserted into the singles was, though.

Debuting at 11 was Monaco, the side-project of Peter Hook while New Order was on a break. They only released the one album, and people only remember the one single, but what a wonderful single it was. What do you want from me? sounded like the right kind of 60s nostalgia, all sha-la-las and major chords.

Antan Dec have the second top ten single of their career. Shout sampled Walk on the wild side (apparently, we could never trace it), and was by far the best all-round song ever to be sung by the Geordie duo. Remember them this way, not for ..Rhumble. No Mercy came down two to 9, and Eternal dipped five to 8. Mark Morrison's fifth top-ten single in a row turned out to be his last - does anyone remember how Moan and groan went?

Kula Shaker dropped four to 6, the Bee Gees held at 5, and Sash! was a non-mover at 3. The Fugees entered at 3 with Rumble in the jungle, their fourth top three hit in nine months. This is another song that's rather been erased from the collective memory, as it doesn't appear on their The Score album, and that's almost certainly A Bad Thing. The sample was from Abba's The name of the game.

Number one for the last three weeks, No Doubt, slips to number 2, overpowered by the Comic Relief song, Who do you think you are / Mama, from the Spice Girls. The fab five became the first act to open their chart careers with four number one singles - Gerry and the Pacemakers, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Jive Bunny had all fallen short, while Robson and Jerome hadn't yet released a fourth single. (And they still haven't! We win!) One side shamelessly cashed in on Mothering Sunday, which fell at the end of the first week of release; the other was a fun(d)-raiser for Comic Relief, which fell on the following Friday. The Spices couldn't lose, and didn't lose; it's a shame that there's not been a Comic Relief record to touch it in the decade since.

With Wannabe topping the Hot 100, the Spices became the first act to head the UK and FARCE charts with different songs since Tiffany had done it with I think we're alone now and Could've been in 1988. They also became the first act to top the charts with four songs from their debut album.

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