Thursday 28 April 2011

Doop 'Doop'

Chart Peak: 1 [3 weeks]

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'Doop', the crazy happy house tribute to the Charleston, is a product of the imagination of Dutch producers Ferry & Garnefski... Due for release on 28/2/94, it is strongly tipped to crossover from the dancefloors to the National Top 10

Well, they weren't wrong there, as by the time the album was in the shops the single had entered at 3 and climbed to the very top of the charts. It's the kind of performance that had become increasingly common at this time, especially with club or overseas hits where it was easier to build up demand ahead of the commercial release; we are still a couple of years away from the time when new entries at the very top were the rule rather than the exception. Unfortunately this early press date precludes them from mentioning that 'Doop' was the UK's second-ever (and last, to date) self-titled Number One single, mere months after the first by the musical legend that is Mr Blobby.

For almost two minutes it seems like it's going to be the last instrumental chart-topper too, until the vocal comes in, and there's not much to that either. Combining 1920s and 1990s dance music must have seemed like a more original idea in 1993 and if the KLF or somebody had done it this would probably be recognised as some sort of subversive classic or something, but as far as I know it was just a couple of Dutchmen trying to come up with something distinctive enough to be a hit and this has a reputation as a source of irritation. It's not unjustified when you're subjected to it repeatedly and I certainly hated it at the time, but it does have a certain silliness that's sort of appealing in retrospect. And it is at least more remarkable than a lot of dance tracks I've had to write about on here. As with the Enigma track on the previous disc I think I'd rather be listening to the source material.

Available on: Circus Doop

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