25June

Former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken ceased his libel action against Granada TV and the Grauniad; his opponents presented a dossier (principally, plane tickets from London to Geneva, making it impossible for Mrs. Aitken to have been in Paris) to police indicating that he had perjured himself, and encouraged his wife and teenage daughter to lie on his behalf. Costs of £1.8 million were awarded against him, and he would eventually serve some weeks in prison. The result of the second ballot amongst Conservative MPs for their new leader was Mr. Clarke 64, Mr. Hague 62, Mr. Redwood 38. A third ballot was to be held on Thursday; Mr. Redwood urged his supporters to back Mr. Clarke. In the final ballot, Mr. Clarke lost to Mr. Hague, 92-70. Panorama reported that the government was planning to privatise the London Underground; John Prescott said that he rejected the idea. After three years, McDonalds won a libel action against environmental activists. The Nationwide building society closed its doors to new savings accounts, fearful that it was being carpet-bagged prior to conversion to a bank. The government confirmed that there would be a millennium exhibition, and it would be held in a dome on the disused gasworks near Greenwich, rejecting calls to move it to a site near the NEC in Birmingham. Peter Mandelson was put in charge of the project.

Michael Foster Lab, Worcester introduced a bill to outlaw hunting with hounds. Tram tracks were laid in Wolverhampton prior to the opening of the Midland Metro, scheduled for autumn 1998. Edwina Currie confirmed that she would not be standing for parliament again. Sarah Brightman broke an engagement to perform at a charity concert in Lichfield, preferring to perform for the Norwegian royal family. Pol Pot was captured by Cambodian government forces. The Baptists began a boycott of the Disney corporation, still upset over the cancellation of My So-Called Life two years earlier. The G7 summit opened in Denver, with Mr. Yeltsin in attendance, presenting his claim for full membership. The British Lions beat South Africa 25-16. In the second Test, England was bowled out for 77. The British men won the European Cup of athletics.

Twenty-two new entries into the top 75, fifteen into the 40, and ten new in the top 16. The low new entries were from React II Rhythm (73), Wireless (68), Urusei Yatsura (58), Blacknuss (56), and Paradise Lost (53). The power of love had originally made number 65 for Q-Tex in April 1994; re-mixed and re-released, the song peaked at 49 this week. Funky Green Dogs followed up their success from April with The way, a number 43 miss. This week's huge list of plumetters included Radiohead (3-9-22-48), Smashing Pumpkins (10-30-44), Jon Bon Jovi (4-15-35), and the Bee Gees (14-42).

Travis's second single All I want to do is rock entered at 39. Amen! UK's People of love was 36, they followed Delerious? as another entry in the happy-clappy godsquad charts denoted by major chords and curious punctuation. See also: Cliff Rich@rd. ETA entered at 28 with Casual sub (burning spear), a song we completely do not remember; and Depeche Mode's third hit of the year, Home, took its bow at 23. New at 21 came the Brand New Heavies, performing You are the universe. It's their twelfth hit, and fifth to peak between 19 and 24. Will they never have the top tenner they deserve?

Three more big plunges, all from last week's top ten - Supergrass went 10-29, Foxy Brown 9-25, and the Charlatans' highest new entry was for fans only, going 6-24. More moderate falls for Az Yet, 7-17; for Rosie Gaines, 5-14; and Brightman and Bocelli, 3-12.

Primal Scream's Star entered at 16, we did them last year. New at 15 was Paula Cole performing her big hit Where have all the cowboys gone? We might also ask, where have all the Paula Cole hits gone? She recorded another album in 1999, including the local hit Still believe in love, and returned to the concert circuit recently with an album called Courage. More from WFUV.

The first Fugee to have a solo hit was Wyclef Jean, whose We trying to stay alive hit at number 13. It wasn't his best work, and he would receive greater success the following year with Gone till November. Former Eurovision Song Contest winner Céline Dion came in at 11 with Call the man, one of the most tedious songs from her Falling Into You album. It was the fifth and final single release, and the only one not to make the top ten. Keeping Céline out were German techno-wotsits Mr President, the joint-fastest climber down two to 10. Liverpudlian journeymen Cast came in at 9 with Guiding star, also known as the one that goes Get up, get up, get up. It's the group's fourth top ten hit in a row, and probably the one they're best remembered for.

Another dead famous Liverpool band was Echo and the Bunnymen. They'd enjoyed a string of critical acclaim and moderately-successful hits through the early 1980s, peaking with 1984's Ocean Rain album. The group never quite translated their critical acclaim into A-grade superstar status, but that was never really the way of the group's guiding light and lead singer Ian McCulloch. The Echos split in 1988, allowing each of their band members to go their own way - McCulloch made solo albums, and had a minor hit in 1992 with Lover lover lover. McCulloch began working with two other Bunnymen in 1994, and the group was joined by the last member for 1997's Evergreen album. The lead single Nothing lasts forever became only their third top ten hit as it entered at 8. Since their career resurrection, the Bunnymen have continued to make critically-acclaimed but small-selling records, and released an updated singles collection in 2006. The version here is from Ian McCulloch's solo session for Xfm last year, when the station was good. It's also in WMA format.

Ultra Nate dropped three to 7, and Eternal came down four places to 6. Four new entries into the top five: at 5 came Blur's On your own, the third single from their eponymous album. They had the courage to be ahead of the cutting edge of popular music; Ocean Colour Scene, in at 4 with Hundred mile high city were trapped in 1977. It's amazing to think that such a forgettable song was the group's joint-largest hit, tying with The day we caught the train a year before.

Hanson was the other joint-fastest climber, down two to 3. In at number 2 came the Verve's Bittersweet symphony, built from a loop of an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones's The last time. The video was an arse-over-tit tribute to Massive Attack's clip for Unfinished sympathy, involving the singer being unreasonably aggressive to passers-by. The group had had a few hits in 1995, including tunes called On your own (already a hit for Blur) and History (a track by that name is released soon.) They briefly split, but returned with this and three other hits that would dominate radio airplay for very nearly a year. The group would put at least one, and often more, of their self-pitying records in the sales-and-airplay Network Chart until the beginning of June 1998. Mercifully, the group split for good by then; regrettably, lead droner Richard Ashcroft has had something of a hit career since.

All of this left Puff Daddy and Faith Evans to take the top spot with I'll be missing you. This one was based on a loop of the Police's Every breath you take, and turned out to sell far more than the original. The song was a tribute to Shaun Wallace, a rapper who had been murdered the previous March. Though depressing, it had some scintilla of optimism, making it far less rubbish than the band at number 2.

Addendum: Sweeping the Nation gave their opinion of this week's chart in August 2008

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