30April
The general election moved towards its conclusion. John Major accused Tony Blair of rushing headlong into a federal Europe; the opposition leader said that a Labour government would make decisions based on British interests. The PM said that Mr. Blair was a slippery customer, changing his mind on big issues each day. Mr. Blair said that he would raid the National Lottery fund to supplement projects funded from taxation, in schools, community, health, and business. He also said that the government would put VAT on food and abolish state pensions. The Conservatives said that this was a bare-faced lie.
British broadcasters declined to show a party election broadcast by the Pro Life Alliance, saying that it breached rules on taste and decency. Anti-racist groups reported the British Nationalist Party's broadcast to the police, as an incitement to racial hatred. Kenneth Clarke visited pubs in Sussex, ostensibly to gauge public opinion over Europe.
A series of security alerts caused travel chaos across the country; Luton Airport was twice closed, Gatwick and Stanstead once; Paddington, King's-cross, St Pancras, Charing-cross, Watford-junction, and Birmingham-neustraßebahnhof all shut for some hours. The M6 in Staffordshire was closed for much of Friday after two devices attached to an electricity pylon exploded in an attempt to topple the pylon onto the motorway; there were further closures in Northamptonshire and Derbyshire.
There will be a general election in France on 25 May and 1 June, over the economic reforms required to bring the budget deficit to under 3% and allow France to join the Single European Currency. There will be a general election in Canada on 2 June, prime minister Jean Chretien (Lib) has gone to the country eighteen months before the end of his term, to secure another mandate before the Conservatives get their act together. Iraq sent helicopters across the No Fly Zone to collect pilgrims from Mecca. Peruvian troops stormed the Japanese embassy, ending a hostage crisis that had lasted over four months. French fishermen blockaded Calais, Boulogne, and Dunkirk in a dispute over the mesh sizes of fishing nets; P&O was granted an injunction to end the blockade. A 130-foot hole opened in a back garden in Ripon; mining experts were looking into it.
Iceland started selling Wacky Veg, including chocolate-flavour carrots, and tomato-flavour cauliflower. The manager of a Dudley nightclub was fined £900 with nearly £1,500 costs for falsely advertising that pop star Peter Andre was to sing at his club, when in fact the event was a concert by Peter Andrex. The manager, a Mr. Jason Donovan, declined to speak to the press.
| Number One | Blood on the dancefloor, Michael Jackson, 1st week |
|---|---|
| Second Highest new entry | Bodyshaking, 911, number 3 |
| Fastest climber (within top 40) | You might need somebody, Shola Ama, up 1 to 6 |
| Fastest climber (within top 75) | as above |
| Lemming-like fall (within top 40) | Wanted dead or alive, Twopac and Snoop Doggy Dogg, down 19 to 35 |
| Lemming-like fall (within top 75) | I'll be your friend, Robert Owens, down 30 to 55 Dead man walking, David Bowie, down 30 to 62 |
| Top 40 debuts | Brainbug, Pavement, Silver Sun, Tony Toni Tone |
| Top 40 ends | Smoke City, Tony Toni Tone |
| Top 75 debuts | Brainbug, The Roots, Fatboy Slim |
| Top 75 ends | 3T, Bennet, Bruce Dickinson, The Candyskins, Fugees, Jocasta, Robert Owens, SWV |
It was rare for us to miss hearing a top 40 chart entirely. Over the years, we've tuned in from a train stuck at signals somewhere near Nuneaton, while erecting a tent in the pouring rain, and even from a hotel room in the middle of Paris. During 1997, though, we would miss the entire show on no fewer than five occasions; on a further five Sundays, we would have other things to do that kept us away from at least the bottom half of the chart. This chart, broadcast on 27 April, was the first of the five we missed completely.
Just six entries in the lower part of the top 75. Bennet's second and final single, Someone always gets there first
, made 69. We don't recall the Candyskins (Hang myself on you
, 65) at all, and have only hazy memories of Jocasta (Change me
, 60). Former Housemartin Fatboy Slim had his first hit under that moniker, Going out of my head
could only come in at 57. His big breakthrough wouldn't come until 1998's Rockafeller skank
. Bruce Dickinson's solo career petered out with Accident of birth
stalling at 54; he'd never quite beaten the bombast of 1990's Tattooed millionaire
, and returned to Iron Maiden before the decade was out. The Roots hit at 49 with What they do
. Their only decent song was The seed
, and that's still six years away.
Eighteen new entries in the top 40, including the first three songs. Yank-rockers Pavement debuted at 40 with Shady lane
, Busta Rhymes was in at 39 with Do my thing
, and trance-dance act Grace came in at 38 with Hand in hand
. There were some good survivors, Bruce Springsteen falling 7 at 37 and the Brand New Heavies dipping 6 to 34, both in their third week. Tony Toni Tone had their hit, Let's get down
came in at 33. One place higher came Silver Sun's Golden skin
. They had had a couple of minor hits in the previous six months, and would scrape a top 20 hit in June 1998.
One of the more overlooked smooth soul records came in at 30, Nobody
, performed by Keith Sweat and Athena Cage. It's an unlikely entry in Two Songs a Week, and we pick it primarily as an example of the sort of soul record that was popular in the late 1990s. Note the close harmonies, the understated (but clearly present) sexual overtones, and the complete absence of any rap. This record is barely ten years old; it sounds radically different from many songs nowadays.
Tricky's biggest hits had come off the back of the 1995 trip-hop fad. but he retained enough hard-core fans to put Makes me want to die
in at 29. This week's best-selling 7-inch single, and number 27 overall, was Nightlife
, one of the best songs from Kenickie. (They were all good - Ed). DJ Supreme had put The wild style
to number 39 just seven months ago; on re-release, it landed at 24. That's two places ahead of Faithless, slumping 10-26; there are also big falls for U2 (3-17) and Daft Punk (5-14), but smaller drops for the Spices (19-25) and the Lightning Seeds (8-13).
Third time around for the only hit people remember from Irish group D:Ream. They'd had a number of hits stall just outside the top 20 during 1993, but quality won through as, one after another, they hit the top ten when re-issued during 1994. Though Peter Cunnagh and the other one had stopped recording in 1995, their biggest hit, Things can only get better
, had remained popular. Number 24 in 1993 had turned into a number one smash in early 1994. Then the song was adopted by the British Labour party as their campaign song during the election, and the re-release came in at number 19. Radio 1 came in for much criticism when it declined to play the song outside of the chart show, not just because it was associated with one political party, but because it was terribly dated already. In at 18 came another record that hasn't dated at all well, Snoop Doggy Dogg's Vapours
.
Seven new entries into the top twelve, beginning with Tomorrow
, the second single from James's album. They'd been very quiet during the high water of Britpop, but cleaned up in the next three years; this was the second of five top 20 hits between 1997 and '99, more than the rest of their career combined. Not entirely sure why they've got a greatest hits album out in 2007, there's little new from the 1998 collection. Brainbug came in at 11 with Nightmare
, a record that we don't think we've ever heard. Judging from the reviews, we missed nothing. Ditto for Hypnotise
, the Notorious B.I.G.'s latest single, in at 10. Mr. B.I.G. had been shot in New Amsterdam a couple of months earlier, and this was the first single in a rather short posthumous career - two top ten hits, then it's over.
Blackstreet came down three places to 9, and Robbie Williams dipped six places to position 8. Republica came in at 7 with Drop dead gorgeous
, the biggest hit of their too-short career. Shola Ama rose one place to 6 in her third week of release, and DJ Quicksilver dipped one to 5 in its fifth week of action.
Though My So-Called Life
hasn't given rise to a top 40 hit single (though Jordan will be trying next week, just as he is every week), Claire Danes' next project, a re-working of Romeo and Juliet
was more successful. Lovefool
had been a moderate hit for the Cardigans in September 1996, peaking at a career-best position 21. The Swedish group hadn't yet taken off, but would become airplay faves when Lovefool
was re-released. As we've discussed before, the next single rather flopped for reasons beyond their control, but we'll get to that in due course. Mundy and Stina Norstrom also enjoyed minor hits with their contributions to the soundtrack, Garbage's Number one crush
did great things in Canada, and Quindon Tarver's version of Everybody's free (to feel good)
would form the backing track to The Sunscreen song
, which Baz Luhrmann would record later in 1997, but wouldn't become a hit here until 1999.
The 911 came in at 3 with Bodyshaking
, the second top five hit this year for one of the more forgettable boy bands. After three weeks at the top, R Kelly dropped down to 2.
Which brings us to Michael Jackson, whose career purple patch on the UK singles chart came around the History
album. Part one came out in 1995, and yielded five top four hits, including number ones You are not alone
and Jarvis Cocker's favourite recording, Earth song
. Fresh from this success, Jacko commissioned a remix album, entitled Blood On the Dancefloor
. The title track was the lead single, and it became his seventh chart-topper, and his eighth top three single in fourteen releases, stretching back to 1991. It was also his final chart-topper; there would be one more single from this remix album, but by the time of his next release in 2001, the tide had turned against the llama-obsessed loon. Allegations of kiddyfiddling would dog both Jacko and R. Kelly, makers of this week's top two singles, in the new century.
Next week, Jacko faces a challenge from a rose, a star, and just that.
