Lolly 'Mickey'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

Have I really just spent three and a half minutes of Valentine's Day listening to this? Well, at least I used the headphones so my wife didn't have to hear it - I wonder if that counts as a present.
Now, at the time my brother was quite keen of the Lolly singles, which were part of the massive explosion of light-hearted pop at the end of the decade. Perhaps had it been one of the others that had cropped up, I might have been more sympathetic, but this was a song that already bordered on the annoying, and is done no favours by this performance.

Incidentally, I realise she wasn't actually the small child she dressed up as, but it was still a bit of a surprise to learn that she's older than me.

Also appearing on: Now 43
Available on: My First Album

S Club 7 'S Club Party'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

It seems only fair to warn people that this song contains the lyric "Hoochie Mama, show your nana!"

In October 1999, my brother was (jokingly) castigating me for not buying this group's debut album, plumping instead for an album by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci that was released in the same week. Although this was in fact the second S Club 7 single, following up their TV theme tune 'Bring It All Back', it sounds sort of like a debut. Not only does it (obviously) have their name in the title, it also introduces each member of the band by name (helpfully captioned in the accompanying video); beyond this exposition, it's a catchier song than its predecessor too.

That said, this is one track that's disappointed me here, because it has dated a lot worse than I thought. The hip-hop affectations are a lot more prominent than I remembered, and inevitably unconvincing. It sounds far more dated than I expected too (although of course those big "HEY" chants in the background are still to be heard in this week's chart thanks to TI). Unsurprisingly, the harder it tries to sound cool, the less it works. Still, if you agree that "Their aint no party like an S Club Party" {sic} then you can always book them. Well, three-sevenths of them. If they're all available that night.

And of course the great question that remains unanswered: how would I go about waving my hands in the air if I did care?

Also appearing on: Now 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 54 (as S Club), 55 (as S Club)
Available on: S Club

Honeyz 'Never Let You Down'

Chart Peak: 7

YouTube

One reason why the Now albums appealed to me as a subject was the secret history they seem to offer of their times. Because they're not compiled with any nod towards posterity, they present a pretty wide view of what was making an impression on the singles chart at any given time, so you can typically expect to find songs that are still heard to this day, songs that are regarded as follies of their time, and a lot of stuff that's simply vanished off the radar. I'd have put the Honeyz into the latter category; a group who managed five consecutive Top 10 singles (of which this is the fourth) but a decade on are only heard of as a question on Popmaster, which nobody ever gets right.

As it turns out, somebody remembers them well enough to have generated a remarkably detailed Wikipedia entry, from which I learn that this single was the debut of their second lineup, Mariama Goodman having joined from Solid Harmonie. It's helpful to have some factual information here, because this is another song that I struggle to form a strong opinion on. The chorus, I suppose, is solid enough that I was able to call it to mind before I looked it up on YouTube, but otherwise there's little to catch the ear - it's a typical British attempt to replicate the least interesting end of RnB. It's well put together, but goes nowhere. It may be no accident that the run of Top 10 singles I mentioned above was followed by two singles missing the Top 20 and the end of their record contract, or that so few people seem to have noticed when they reformed in 2005. I don't want to sound too mean here, but there's not a lot going on.

Also appearing on: Now 41, 42, 43, 45
Available on: Wonder No.8

Gabrielle 'Sunshine'

Chart Peak: 9

YouTube

Already into her second comeback, Gabrielle rather surprised me with the success of this single. She's an act I've often felt rather ambivalent about - a performer of obvious talent whose records I often didn't really appreciate. This was her first Top 10 single since a painfully superfluous cover version of 'Walk On By', which rather seemed to prove the point.
'Sunshine' is definitely better than that, but it remains surprisingly low-key for a comeback single (even if you find a more audible copy than the official YouTube version). Part of the reason for these sales must lie in the skilful choice of remixes for the B-side (the Wookie mix seems to have gone down especially well), but it also seems that the song hit a nerve. It was apparently written as a tribute to her son and the relief he brought to her often troubled life: not least the fact that his father was sent to prison soon after he was born. Even though I don't love this record, I'm pleased it did well.

Also appearing on: Now 25, 26, 27, 33, 35 (with East 17), 36, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 58
Available on: Rise

Jordan Knight 'Give It To You'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

Jordan Knight's only UK solo hit (and unless I'm mistaken, the only UK hit by any New Kid On The Block) is a bit of a lost one. It certainly doesn't seem easy to get hold of now, charity shops aside.
When I realised this one was coming up, I thought it was a prime candidate for sounding dated, because it seemed so up-to-the-minute a decade ago. It's actually weathered surprisingly well considering - yes, it sounds of its time, but it's not yet reached the stage of being laughable, at least not in musical terms. You can chalk that one up to the production skills of no less than Jam & Lewis. What I'd forgotten until re-listening (although it didn't go unnoticed at the time) was how dirty this song is lyrically. I know it's called 'Give It To You' and all, but he really does push things about as far as he could within the boundaries of teen-friendly pop; the song was, I now learn, co-written by later solo star Robin Thicke. I also dimly recalled the please-don't-sue-us-copyright-owners-of-Grease video, although just between you and me, I thought the girl looked better with the glasses.

Successful as this one single was though, it couldn't push the album higher than 135, and as a result no further UK releases were forthcoming. Further singles in his homeland failed to match this sort of sales, which is probably why there's a new NKOTB single out this week. I hadn't made the connection until I read the YouTube comments, but now I come to think of it, every day that Justin Timberlake sits at home counting his money, and doesn't have to go on tour with Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and the other ones, he should be thinking "There, but for the grace of God..." He probably doesn't though.

Available on:Kiss Smooth Grooves 2000 R&B Club Hits

Backstreet Boys 'Larger Than Life'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

Well, you can't accuse them of underselling it: especially not in the video, where it's almost a minute in before the song even starts. But after the last few tracks, it's certainly a relief to run into something upbeat, even if overblown. Lyrically, the boys are showing commercial nous in praising the fans who, after all, paid their wages.

At the time, Backstreet seemed to rank among the most annoying of boybands, and their ballads are still pretty sick-making. And of course this is a pretty blatant re-hash of 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)'. But this probably scrapes by as a job well done, if you're prepared to meet it half-way.

Also appearing on: Now 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51
Available on: Greatest Hits: Chapter 1

Martine McCutcheon 'I've Got You'

Chart Peak: 6

YouTube


I recall that at some point, around the time when it became clear that Martine McCutcheon was going to leave her role in Eastenders in order to pursue a singing career, I heard her on a TV show demonstrating that, unlike many a soap star, she actually could sing. Just as well, it turned out, since her character was ultimately killed off, apparently against the wishes of the actress.

What she couldn't really do, though, was write songs, so she ended up at the mercy of the material handed to her. Some of her album tracks were collaborations with the singer-songwriter duo Ben & Jason, which might have been interesting to hear, but somebody seems to have slipped up badly in the choice of single material, hence the relative brevity of her chart career. 'I've Got You' is a case in point, coming over like an even less interesting version of the Lighthouse Family. To her credit, McCutcheon makes a valiant effort, and resists the temptation to oversing in an attempt to compensate for the material, but the ultimate effect is still of rather a non-event.

I suppose this is the sort of record that really brings home why I put the word "challenge" in the name of this blog. It's not bad, or anything, it's just a struggle to find anything interesting to say.

Also appearing on: Now 43, 45, 47, 48
Available on: You, Me & Us