No but the last time I was in that coffee shop I saw Alan “Lewie” Lewis the highly regarded (by himself) ex rugby international referee.
Out getting the record player fixed.
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Living the dream.
Bit of a nuisance really to be honest. Traffic coming back from Blackrock is cat now that the Merrion Gates are shut.
Ten of the worst. I think I’ve narrowed it down to a straight fight between Barlow and the Black Eyed Peas but Puff Daddy’s cynical corporate cheese for $$$$$$ masquerading as grief for a friend takes some beating. Everything about that track was an abomination. Actually having now written the previous sentence I’m leaning towards that track as the winner.
10/09/1988 A GROOVY KIND OF LOVE PHIL COLLINS 2
20/07/1996 FOREVER LOVE GARY BARLOW 1
08/09/1984 I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU STEVIE WONDER 6
24/04/1982 EBONY AND IVORY PAUL McCARTNEY & STEVIE WONDER 3
17/04/1999 PERFECT MOMENT MARTINE MCCUTCHEON 2
26/07/1997 I’LL BE MISSING YOU PUFF DADDY & FAITH EVANS FT. 112 3
13/07/1991 (EVERYTHING I DO) I DO IT FOR YOU BRYAN ADAMS 16
14/12/1996 A DIFFERENT BEAT BOYZONE 1
30/10/1999 FLYING WITHOUT WINGS WESTLIFE 1
08/08/2009 I GOTTA FEELING BLACK EYED PEAS 1
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no joe dolce, no party
I can’t argue with any of that.
It’s remarkable how many conversations I’ve been in where I’ve casually slipped in that I don’t like that Black Eyed Peas song and have been met with an eyes lighting up, validated response by the person I’m conversation with who reveals they hate it with all the energy they can muster.
The latest example was when I was talking to a counsellor at that community cafe thing I went to the Sunday before last. I have no idea how it came up in conversation, but it did. I guess there’s never a bad time for people to discuss their hatred of that song and share mental notes as to such.
I don’t believe I’ve ever met anybody who expressed a liking for the song, which is reassuring about the future of humanity.
It’s actually remarkable how the only two UK number ones achieved by a genuinely legendary artist are such utter schlock.
Or maybe it isn’t.
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Revolutionary
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I preferred this from few months after
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That’s a smashing track. I’m not quite sure I’d call it revolutionary, but it’s still an important landmark.
There are about five or six number ones between 1977 and about 1990 which are sort of landmarks for electronic music in general.
Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” was definitely revolutionary, probably one of the most influential tracks ever made, it was the first proper dance track to make it to number one and an utterly shocking record in the best possible way.
I think Are Friends Electric? by Tubeway Army was revolutionary because it had a shocking, dystopian sound which would come to define a particular sound and a particular vision of Thatcherite society and the late cold war era. Plus it was made by Thatcherites. It was uncompromising in what it was.
Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is revolutionary for all sorts of reasons. Because it was a genuine landmark in popular culture, because it was totally inescapable, the t-shirts, the slogans. Because Top Of The Pops banned it because it was so overtly gay. Because the band themselves were a brilliant yet hilarious mixture of two outrageously camp gay lads, one of whom did nothing but dance in ridiculous leather costumes, and three lads who looked like they’d been nabbed from the Kop at Anfield or the Gwladys Street End at Goodison, and the whole thing had serious straight working class street cred. Because it showed that modern electronic production techniques could turn a quirky garage band demo into an all-consuming monster of popular culture. Trevor Horn’s production was Rolls Royce. This to me is very hard beaten as the best number one single ever.
From there you’re onto Paul Hardcastle’s 19, another dystopian electronic track which swept all before it and brought the use of samples into the mainstream.
Jack Your Body by Steve Silk Hurley was the entry of the Chicago House sound and the Roland 303 bass and 808 drum machines into the mainstream and there was a big overlap with the Jam and Lewis production sound too used by Janet Jackson and Alexander O’Neal which is some of the best production in the history of music.
Pump Up The Volume sits somewhere in a category with Beat Dis by Bomb The Bass (which only got to number 2 in the chart) in that it was sort of a precursor of acid house and sort of wasn’t, those two tracks didn’t fit that neatly with much that came before it or after it but they definitely were a big signpost that electronic music was about to almost completely take over. They were faceless, and faceless production was about to become a big thing.
To me Killer by Adamski in 1990 was the last great number one of the great era for electronic music, where you felt you were hearing something that was unthinkable before, where song and musical technique were meshed into something bold and shocking.
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What did you think of Dub be good to me?
That was a good tune
Ian Dury’s band played the instruments on Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Trevor Horn told the lads to stay in Liverpool and draw their dole
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It was OK but I wouldn’t rank it as a classic and I don’t think it has endured nearly as much as some other contemporary tunes of the time which were similar in style. Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Saint Etienne for instance had much less chart success but has endured more.
To be fair it was part of a smashing run of number ones but is probably the weakest of this run.
| 03/02/1990 | NOTHING COMPARES 2 U | SINEAD O’CONNOR | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03/03/1990 | DUB BE GOOD TO ME | BEATS INTERNATIONAL FEATURING LINDY LAYTON | 4 |
| 31/03/1990 | THE POWER | SNAP | 2 |
| 14/04/1990 | VOGUE | MADONNA | 4 |
| 12/05/1990 | KILLER | ADAMSKI | 4 |
| 09/06/1990 | WORLD IN MOTION | ENGLANDNEWORDER | 2 |
Any kid from the 80s will be able tell anyone straight away what the average age of a combat soldier was in World War 2
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A good decision for everybody. Welcome To The Pleasuredome is a fucking astonishing track musically and in production terms.
The album not just one track