Pretty Fly (For 1999) 17th January. Hard Slide Life.

 So this week is somewhat quieter than usual but we did get a pile of movement in our top ten just not right at the very top where of course "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" by The Offspring continues to rule the number one spot on the chart but again the margins are really close because right behind it at number two is "Believe" by Cher, if things keep going "Believe" can take the top spot next week!.

What's not going to get close to top spot is "Goodbye" by Spice Girls despite the fact it climbed one spot to number three, it's not as strong on sales as the top two and it may well have peaked even as it surged past "Finally Found" by Honeyz down one to numnber four, it's also pretty much done and should gradually make its way out.

Remaining in their positions from last week are "Crush" by Jennifer Paige, "When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams feat. Mel C and "From This Moment On" by Shania Twain. 

Rising one spot to number eight is "No Matter What" by Boyzone because people love their sloppy boy group ballads, speaking of boy groups, Five's "Got the Feelin'" has rocketed into the top ten from it's debut of thirty five last week all the way to number nine..I will say it's catchy even if I think other parts of the song are amateur. 

Finally also arriving in the top ten is the pretty decent "A Little Bit" by Pandora which jumped four spots to wrap up the top ten at number four. 

Losers

Billie's "Girlfriend" is on the precipice of leaving the top fifty as it skidattled thirteen spots down to fifty. 

S.O.A.P's "Ladidi Ladida" continues to suffer losses down eleven to forty three. "Sway' by Bic Runga sayed down seven to forty. 

The Living End's "Save the Day" might need to start trying to save it's chart position as it crumpled eight to thirty.

Gains

So outside of Five's "Got the Feelin'" having that enormous gain into the top ten, *NSYNC continues to rise up the chart with "I Want You Back" as it climbed nine spots to fifteen.

Hole is putting on "Celebrity Skin" rather than shedding it as it climbed from forty nine to twenty four this week. 

Re- Entries

Two returns this week with "Second Solution" by The Living End back at forty nine while "Would You..." by Touch and Go came back at forty eight.

New Entries

Two new entries this woek, lets begin with...

45, "Slide" by Goo Goo Dolls

Time for the follow up to the Goo Goo Doll's massve smash hit from 1998 in 'Iris" (it's a fine song, it just doesn't grab me like it does to others) and I am probably going to get push back for saying this but I really like "Slide" more than "Iris", there's an intense energy coming from John Rzenik's vocals that really hits a chord with me and I like how the production has his vocals front and centre rather than buried behind the guitars and drums 

As for the content, it's fine too, the lyrics delve into a story from Rzenik's own childhood where a teenage girl gets pregnsnt and is forced to confront difficult life changing decisions...should she get an abortion or keep the child and get married which actually explains why Rzenik sounds so damn intense on this song. It's a great song, check it out. 

36. "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" by Jay-Z

We end the week with the chart debut of American rapper Jay-Z courtesy of a song that samples "It's a Hard Knock Life" from the musical "Annie' for the hook and I have to be honest here, I don't like how the sample sounds here with the kids voices mutilated to sound like chipmunks to the point I get annoyed with the song and have to turn it off which is a shame because it's a song where Jay-Z details his come up and all the set backs he has had just to get to the point of having a charting hit.

In other words, its not terrible but I am not coming back to it, it's the "worst" of the week.

"Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls takes best of the week. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999): 10th January. Got The 1999 Smoke Feelin

 So it's a pretty standard week for the chart, a few changes here and there but nothing too remarkable which is probably the apt way to describe our top two within the top ten right now where "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by The Offspring holds sway at number one just ahead of "Believe" by Cher at number two, these two songs are just duking it out for the top spot, it's not all that close. 

The Honeyz "Finally Found" their way ip three spots to number three while "Goodbye" by Spice Girls remains at number four and "Crush" by Jennifer Paige at number five.

Rising three to number six is "When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams feat. Mel C, this has some decent traction and could go higher which I am happy about as it's a good song.

Rising four places to number seven is Shania Twain's love ballad tailor made for weddings "From This Moment On", this song is kind of bland but I get it. 

Taking a five place fall this week was Stars on 54's cover of "If You Could Read My Mind" which tumbled to number eight this week. Rising three to hit the top ten at number nine is Boyzone's awful "No Matter What"...the sooner this is gone from the top ten the better.

Finally "Jackie" by BZ feat. Joanne remains at number ten. 

Losers

This is just more of 1998's music falling away like "Raincloud" by Lighthouse Family which slipped ten to forty, "Treat Me Good" by Bachelor Girl down nine to forty six, "Thank U" by Alanis Morrisette continuing to stumble down twelve to forty five.

"Outside" by George Michael got pushed back nine spots to thirty nine,  "Viva Forever" by Spice Girls skidded from twenty four to thirty one while "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust stumbled nine to twenty six and "Horny '98" by Mousse T. vs Hot 'n' Juicy slipped thirteen spots to twenty seven.

Gains

So we got some decent gains this week. I wish I could be all that excited about some of these especially as *NSync's "I Want You Back" threw itself up nineteen to twenty four and "Body Movin'" by Beastie Boys lived up to it's name and moved up from forty nine to thirty four.

In better news, "Malibu" by Hole climbed from thirty four to eighteen (yeah, it's a cool song...I dig it) and "A Little Bit" by Pandora which leaped twelve spots to fourteen. 

Re-Entries

Two returns this week with "Celebrity Skin" by Hole back at forty nine and "The First Night" by Monica at number thirty. 

New Entries

Three new entries this week, beginning with...

48. "1999' by Prince

We're starting with a bit of a cheat code here because this was originally released in 1983 and peaked on the Kent Music Report charts at number two and hit the year end at number sixteen. It was re released to coincide with the year 1999 and well... this song insight into a fever dream Prince may well had been having with surreal lyrics about swearing it was Judgement day, sky being purple and people running everywhere and looking for destruction despite not even caring. It's a shockingly dark song over some of the most fun pop production I've heard in awhile, Great song. 

42. "Smoke" by Natalie Imbruglia

Fourth and final single from Natalie Imbruglia's album Left of the Middle and it's easily Imbruglia's most vulnerable song to date as the song delves into emotional pain stemming from either family issues or other personal trauma, it's not defined as to who the song is about but Imbruglia is able to bring this pain nto her performance and for me it works especially over the piano and strings...good song. 

35. "Got The Feelin'" by Five 

British boyband Five return to the charts with their latest single amd this one is less raucous than "Everybody Get Up" and less trying to hook up like on "When the Lights Go Out" but for as chill as this song is trying to be, maaan, I am not impressed by the boys rapping, it sounds amateur and just really unconvincing especially as it's just lyrics about getting down with the band to party if you got the feeling. Skip this. 

Yeah...that was our week and "Got the Feelin'" by Five nets worst of the week. I know this is cheating but "1999" by Prince gets best of the week...it's definitely unfair but it is better than "Smoke" by Natalie Imbruglia. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999): January 3rd I Want You Body Movin' That Thing to Doo Wop and Back

 Hello final year of the 20th century and we start out 1999 with a reasonable chunk of new arrivals and a bit of movement in our top ten so why don't we start there because we do have a bit of a duopoly going on with The Offspring at number one with "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), this song has a decent sales margin over "Believe" by Cher which sits at number two for another week.

Then we have the cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" by Stars on 54 which climbed four places to number three, it's likewise for the Spice Girls as "Goodbye" also crawled up four to number four this week.

Not the case for Jennifer Paige though as her former chart topper "Crush" slipped two to number five, it's similuar also for "Finally Found" by Honeyz down two to number six and "Rollercoaster" by B*Witched down two to number seven.

"Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)" by Green Day slipped two back to number eight.

We have two songs entering the top ten this week with the first of those being 'When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams and Mel C up two spots to number 9 while "Jackie" bv B.Z feat. Joanne got a five place gain to number ten (I have a feeling this song might be going to be a chart topper with how catchy it is).

Losers

Steve Dundon's owe to the Adelaide Crows going back to back in the AFL "It's the Crows Again" slipped seven spots to fifty. "Under the Bridge" by All Saints fell down twelve to forty two (it's a weird song that one, it uses the hook of the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic) and Lightbouse Family stimbled six spots to forty with "Raincloud".

SOAP's "Ladidi Ladida" got hit with some seven place ladida to thirty six while "Thank U" by Alanis Morrisette slid from twenty six to thirty three.

Spice Girls 1998 top ten smash "Viva Forever" tumbled from twenty four to sixteen while Five's "Everybody Get Up" utterly just sit down hard to go from nine to twenty one...ouch. 

Gains

We got a decently big amount of gains here with "When You Believe" by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston rose ten places to twenty three. 

Mousse T. vs Hot 'n' Juicy continue to get spicy as "Horny '98" climbed seven spots to fourteen.

LCD are dancing up nine to fifteen with "Zorba's Dance" while people agree with Stardust as "Music Sounds Better With You" climbed eleven slots to seventeen. Pandora's "A Little Bit" jumped twelve slots to twenty six. George Michael's "Outside" also did the twelve spot drive up to thirty.

Hole's pretty great song "Malibu" got a huge leap from forty nine to thirty one. 

Re-Entries

Just one return with "If You Buy This Record Your Life WIll Be Better" by The Tamperer feat. Maya back at forty one.

New Entries

Three new entries this week and to start our travel through 1999, let's start with...

49. "Body Movin'" by Beastie Boys

So this is the follow up to the successful "Intergalactic", its the second single from Beastie Boys fifth album "Hello Nasty" and it sucks to say that we are off to a rough start in 1999 in the reviews because geezus christ, how mant times must the title of the song be repeated until it gets completely tiresome makes me want to throw things out the window and I lost interest in the song even with that nicely used sample of "Fydo" by The Byrds. The Beastie Boys are capable of so much better than THIS as they proved with "Intergalactic" in 1998. 

45. "Doo Woop (That Thing)" by Lauryn Hill

It kind of feels redundant to write about this song because dear god...this song comes from Hill's debut solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill". The song's subject matter is a warning to African-American wen and women to be careful when they are caught in 'the struggle" especially guys who are into the rims of their car, shoes and their women while ladies are warned not to let "that thing" ruin their lives. Its definitely more conservative leaning but hey, that production and Lauryn Hill's voice make this song one that must be heard. Great song!

43. "I Want You Back" by *NSYNC

So we have a Max Martin written dance-pop song from an American boyband called *NSYNC, this being the lead single from their self titled debut album and really...it's pretty standard bpyband song about how this girl is all he ever wanted and needed in his life and now that she is gone, he wants her back but the production has this weird layer of creepiness, it just feels a bit too dark for a song all about trying to win back the affections of this girl who has clearly up and left for good reason. *NSYNC do have some nice moments of good harmonies but overall...not really a fan of this.

Yeah, that wraps up the week and "Doo Wop (That Thing)" by Lauryn Hill is absolutely running away with best of the week. "Body Movin'" by Beastie Boys nabs the worst for being an annoyance to my eardrums.