The Blur v Oasis chart battle, when Blur moved the release of Country House to match the release of Roll With It, the second single from (What’s The Story) Morning Glory was a stunt pulled by the music press, Creation & Food Records and Radio 1 to enliven a hot summer.
I was a chart fiend, even at seven years old, and I want to look at what pop music was like in late period John Major’s Britain. Tonight Matthew (as Stars In Their Eyes would have had it in 1995) I’m going to be…Mark Goodier!!!
100-41
Interestingly, CD single sales of songs from Definitely Maybe were also moved to the front of record shops. Live Forever (88), Shakermaker (87), Supersonic (85) and Cigarettes & Alcohol (83) re-entered the Top 100, standalone single Whatever rose to 77, while former number one Some Might Say rose to 73.
The lower reaches of the Hot 100 were occupied by the likes of Haddaway, who had peaked at 20 with Fly Away, another song that wasn’t quite as good as What Is Love. Two places above them was Luke Vibert, on the Mo Wax label, whose ambient tune A Polished Solid entered at 98.
At 93 was I Want To Be An Eddie Stobart Driver by The Wurzels, a novelty song. At 89, in August, was Morten Harket with the symphonic A Kind of Christmas Card. There is no way this would come out in August today. These were still outsold by summer smashes including T.O.F.’s jungle-meets-2-Unlimited Funk It Up (82) and Lovely Thang by Kut Klose, an r’n’b trio from Atlanta discovered by Keith Sweat who seemed to be Elektra’s version of TLC.
In rap, Notorious BIG was down with One More Chance (50) while the top 10 smash I’ll Be There For You/ You’re All I Need brought Method Man and Mary J Blige to the attention of record buyers. For cool kids Aphex Twin offered Donkey Rhubarb, which entered at 78 possibly off the back off John Peel play, a typically wacky video with giant dancing teddy bears and a reputation cultivated by the buoyant music press.
Fans of what was by 1995 called modern rock (previously ‘alternative rock’) were treated to Tongue by REM (70), Gotta Get Away by The Offspring (68 but 99% Nirvana) and two Irish acts. Sinead O’Connor entered at 51 with Famine, a political tract delivered spoken word over a looped beat and quoting Eleanor Rigby’s chorus, while the Cranberries were at 67 with Ridiculous Thoughts.
Old songs made new include Big Yellow Taxi by Amy Grant, Get Down On It by toasting duo Louchie Lou and Michie One and a remix of Blue Monday by New Order. Old timers in the top 100 included Rod Stewart – with the Maggie Mae soundalike Lady Luck, which had missed the top 40 the previous week – and relative veterans Michael and Janet Jackson, whose song Scream was still being sold in shops a few months after its release. Prince’s band New Power Generation, meanwhile, were enjoying The Good Life at 49.
Poppier acts from the pages of Smash Hits were dotted throughout the Top 100: MN8 were Happy (69), PJ & Duncan were Stuck On U (48 and better than you think it is) and Robson & Jerome were still hanging around with their double-sided number one Unchained Melody/ White Cliffs of Dover (46). I loved Dana Dawson’s top 10 hit 3 Is Family (42), while once place above her was Mary Kiani’s dance-pop ballad When I Call Your Name, on Mercury Records. I know her from her vocals for the dance act The Time Frequency. Fans of Italo house, the particularly Italian brand of house music, would love Keep Warm by Jinny, which peaked at 11 when it was re-released in summer 1995 and left the top 40 the week of Blur v Oasis.
Speaking of British rock, many of the big names of the era are in the top 100’s less important half. Common People by Pulp was still selling (71) while Garbage, the band featuring Nirvana producer Butch Vig, opened their account with Subhuman (76). British rock institution Julian Cope had entered at 24 a fortnight before with Try Try Try having, incredibly, performed the song in a funny hat on Top of the Pops in July 1995.
Interestingly, Just Good Friends by Fish and Sam Brown is not the Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder song but a weepy ballad which promoted two albums released in late August 1995 on the same day called Yin & Yang. Alison Moyet landed at 44 with the Britpopping Solid Wood, driven by the sort of rhythm that was driving many records in the charts of 1995. It promoted her Singles compilation.
Big hits from hit albums tumbled out of the Top 40: In The Name of the Father by Black Grape, whose album It’s Great When You’re Straight Yeah was number one the week of Blur v Oasis; You Do Something To Me by Paul Weller, from his number one album Stanley Road; and Paninaro ’95 by Pet Shop Boys, which promoted their brand new album Alternative which was kept off number one by Black Grape. That album, in turned, had knocked I Should Coco by Supergrass off number one,
40-21
Time to get into the Top 40 and, amazingly, at 40 was Matt Goss with The Key, which seemed to mix Bjork and Michael Jackson. One place above was Cyndi Lauper’s reggae-inflected Come On Home, which promoted her own Best Of titled, magnificently, Twelve Deadly Cyns…And Then Some. Also in the lower reaches of the Top 40 were Australian act Tina Arena (Heaven Help My Heart, 33) and Jamaican reggae legend Shaggy covering Mungo Jerry’s In The Summertime (38). After the early 90s success of UB40, including their number one Baby Come Back, Ali Campbell entered at 25 with a cover of the song Let Your Yeah Be Yeah, which had a very quirky video which referenced Mondrian’s art.
Mid-90s cult acts including Levellers (Hope St at 29), The Shamen (Destination Eschaton, one of 12 Top 40 hits, at 28) and Happy Clappers (the piano house track Hold On, in at 27) charted, as did the world’s biggest rock band. U2’s offering from Batman Forever, a cast-off from their Zooropa album, had the winding title Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me. It still sounds impressive in 2020 because the production is so enormous, thanks to Nellee Hooper’s magic touch. It was one of Iceland’s biggest sellers of 1995.
Classic tracks still played on UK radio today include Edwyn Collins’ A Girl Like You (35), power-pop anthem Ash’s Girl From Mars (31) and the underrated ’74-’75 by The Connells (21). Two important artists are next to one another: Bjork at 23 with Isobel and Alanis Morissette at 22 with You Oughta Know.
More Canadian rock can be found with the track Push by Moist which slipped to 30. They were from Vancouver and had listened to a lot of Pearl Jam. Vocalist David Usher, born in Oxford, has made his money as the founder of Reimagine AI and creator of the Climate Clock. He has written a book on unlocking creativity called Let the Elephants Run. The band are due to tour Canada in 2021, so good on them.
Freedom by Shiva, which is about 99% M People (no bad thing), drops to 37. The dance anthem Don’t You Want Me by Felix, down to 24, also sounds great 25 years on. Combining alternative rock and club-friendly dance, Zombie by ADAM ft Amy was, yes, a dance cover of the Cranberries’ anthem. Someone decided the world needed to hear this, and thousands agreed.
Elsewhere Eusebe enters at 32 with Summertime Healing. Points to you if you remember this song, which is delivered by a man with a voice like Anthony Kiedis and two ladies who sound like Neneh Cherry. The chorus lifts the ‘when I get that feeling’ bit from Sexual Healing; noticeably, the women are dark-skinned black women, which was very rare at the time for a Top 40 act. And still is.
If you bought Smokie’s expletive-laden reworking of their song Living Next Door To Alive with Roy Chubby Brown, which eventually clambered to number three and was at 34, I wonder if you still own it.
20-11
In the week of Blur v Oasis, Supergrass were dropping down the charts with their song Alright, which scandalously stopped at number two. History will decide on whether they were better than Oasis. On Beggars Banquet, The Charlatans were in at 12 with Just When You’re Thinkin Things Over. Their career pre-dated Oasis but they had now been surpassed by them.
Otherwise the ten places below the Top 10 were a mix of r’n’b, dance music, soap stars, Beatle covers and vocal harmony groups. First, the dance anthems: at 19 a cover of Come and Get Your Love by The Real McCoy and at 18 Boom Boom Boom, the Outhere Brothers’ number one smash.
Boyzone continued their chart career with the funky So Good, sliding from 3 to 17. The late Tom Watkins, who managed Bros and East 17, put together a quartet who were in the running to represent the UK for Eurovision 1995. Promoted with a fun video set at a wedding, the dull On The Bible was the third Top 20 hit for Deuce, who included Lisa Armstrong in their line-up. She went on marry, and famously divorce, Ant McPartlin from Ant & Dec. Today she heads the style team at Strictly having worked on The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent in the 2010s.
The Beatles cover at 16 was the inspired reggae version of I’m Only Sleeping, while the r’n’b tune was Shy Guy by Diana King, which hit a high of number two. Soap star Michelle Gayle was new at 15 with her fifth hit Happy Just To Be With You, which is 99% Good Times by Chic. It was written by the great Nerada Michael Walden, best known for his work with Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Michelle starred as Hermione in the London production of the Harry Potter play The Cursed Child, which is a speaking role which does not require any singing.
10-1
Into the Top 10. At 10 was Corona’s Try Me Out, the fun follow-up to Rhythm of the Night where the singer exaggerates the word ‘yours’. At 9, another song from Batman Forever: the US number one hit by Seal, Kiss From a Rose. Majestic production by Trevor Horn means this song still sounds terrific when Magic play more of the songs you love.
At 8, a song by Alanis Morissette’s label manager Madonna. Human Nature’s chorus included the words ‘bitch’ and ‘shit’, while its bridge had the singer intoning the words: ‘Oops I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex’. Not yet 40, Madonna was still in her imperial phase and she purrs the lyrics of one of her best songs.
Two dance bangers in a row follow. At 7 was the incendiary dance smash Son of a Gun by JX, while Clock entered at 6 with hi-NRG tune Everybody. Both songs are hi-NRG tunes perfect for shaking one’s tush in the hot summer sun, while also being chart-friendly enough for Radio 1 daytime play.
At 5 was Waterfalls, the AIDS-referencing tune by TLC that remains their greatest moment (better than No Scrubs, I think). At 4 was the previous week’s number one. Take That still end their shows with Never Forget, Howard’s vocal contribution to their catalogue and an audience participation number. Robbie Williams had just quit the band as the single was being promoted and launched a modestly successful solo career. Their album Nobody Else was available in the UK version and, entering the chart at 26 on import, the US version, which featured Pray, Babe and Love Ain’t Here Anymore.
At 3 were the smooth vocals of an uncredited Everett Bradley on I Luv U Baby by The Original. Originally issued in 1994 it returned as a summer smash in 1995, peaking at two behind Take That and then stuck behind the two guitar acts. Fun fact: Everett is currently a backing vocalist with Bon Jovi and is best known for his work on Stomp.
I always preferred Oasis growing up. I prefer Country House to Roll With It, as did the British public. This week 25 years ago was the zenith of British rock music in the 1990s, after Oasis, Blur and sundry others stepped forward to fill the gap left by Kurt Cobain’s suicide. Yet there were so many other types of music in the Top 100 that week that it is too simplistic to say 1995 was all Britpop.
Just as 1964 wasn’t just Merseybeat, and 1977 wasn’t just The Sex Pistols, so 1995 was more than just Blur v Oasis.
In case you have no idea who won the Battle of Britpop (it was actually Pulp), here’s Country House in a video directed by Damien Hirst.