All 4 1994: 2nd October Always Lay Your Fantastic Voyage On Me

 We have one hell of a fascinating  week at hand here mostly because the top spot isn't one percent certain for next week but anyway lets get to the top ten where "Confide in Me" by Kylie Minogue spent a third week at number one...again, it's future at number one is looking shaky as it lost its sales margin. 

Right behind it, up four places to number two is "Endless Love" by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey, this song has a head of steam going and looks set to make a play for the top spot next week. The same could be true of "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry up one spot to number three while "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet got something of a second wind up one to number four. 

All-4-One slumped two places to number five with "I Swear" as it begins its graceful descent while "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men climbed one spot to number six.

"Swamp Thing" by The Grid had the biggest fall inside the top ten down four places to number seven while "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories  remained at number eight. 

Returning to the top ten is "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John rising three places to number nine..YAY! 

Finally "Rockin' For Myself" by Motiv 8 feat. Angie Brown slipped back one spot to number ten. 

Losers

Some long term songs that have stuck around longer than you might expect are finally getting the death rattle with "Hey D.J" by Lighter Shade of Brown down fifteen to fifty this week and "Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base down eleven spots to forty nine. 

Similar case for "Letitgo" by Prince which tumbled eleven to forty eight and "Shine' by Collective  Soul which skidded from twenty seven all the way down to forty (it does have a year end spot wrapped up though)

Francis Dunnery's "American Life In the Summertime" slipped seven to thirty two while "Hands Out of My Pocket" by Cold Chisel is seeing it's hands sliding back into a pocket as it slumped eight places to twenty one. 

Gains

Some decent sized gains this week, let's start with the unchained seven place movement to number thirteen for "Chains" by Tina Arena, this song is potentially heading for a stint in the top ten which I wouldn't nind. 

However I do mind that "Gimme" by Boom Crash Opera got a huge boost up from forty two to twenty nine...why? 

At least Babyface's "When I Can See You" got a good ten place boost to thirty nine. 

New Entries

Six new entries this week beginning with....

46. "Lay Your Love on Me" by Roachford

So Roachford is back wtth yet another single straight out of his own somewhat acoustic r'n'b and you know what? I might like this song even more than "Only to Be With You"! This song seems to have this nervy tension about it with Roachford urging this girl to lay all her love on him especially as it's hit a point in their relationship where the talking isn't enough anymore and he wants something more from the relationship only she isn't sure. The only issue I have is were the handclaps really necessary? Otherwise great song!. 

45. "Fantastic Voyage" by Coolio

Third single from Coolio with thhis one sampling 1980s "Fantastic Voyage" by Lakeside and yeah, this groove goes off! I love it however that sumptuous groove and melody belies tbat this song is actually about the dream of escaping urban black poverty and dreaming of a place where his kids can play without the fear of a drive by shooting. All up it's actually a pretty sad song but yeah, I think this one is worth a listen, check it out. 

43. "Red Light Avenue" by James Reyne

The lead single from James Reyne's album "The Whiff of Bedlam" and another pretty damn good song this week although I will say this ballad is a strange choice of lead single as this song's content is dark, this is about somebody doing anything they can to make ends eg: selling out be it through prostitution, drugs or even a child selling candy...yeah this is a sad one but ultimately  I think it's one of James Reyne's best, check it out. 

42. "No Matter What You Do" by Olivia Newton-John

Ahh the return of Olivia Newton-John to the charts with this pretty standard "I love you and will stand by you no matter what you do" track because that's just pretty much what this sosng is and that weirdly trying to be hip for 1994 production is doing nothing for me whatsoever. Pass. 

26. "Tomorrow" by Silverchair

Now we have a debut from three Newcastle teenagers courtesy of this song from the EP also titled "Tomorrow" and well...this is as grungey as anything you'll hear out of Seattle from Soundgarden or Nirvana especially wirh the vocals from Silverchair's frontman Daniel Johns but those guitars just help drive the song home, as for the content, it appears to be a conversation between a very wealthy man and a man who is doing it tough, Damn good song but I think it's going to have a fight to be the best of the week. 

16. "Always" by Bon Jovi

Ending this week with more rock, this time from American band Bon Jovi except this is more of a piano ballad with some of the most dramatic and ridiculous language I have ever heard from this band. "This Romeo was bleeding but you can't see his blood"...what the hell is that even supposed to mean? That's all before we get to the hook where Jon Bon Jovi shrieks in the most nasal tone possible "Annndddd IIIII WILL LOVE YOU BAYBEEE FOR ALLLLWAAAYS", talk about clingy and over dramatic! 

That ends the week on a bit of a sour note but yes "Always" by Bon Jovi is getting worst of the week. Best however is tougher because wow, four of the six are damn great songs, I am going to give it to "Red Light Avenue" by James Reyne...just ahead of Silverchair and Coolio

All 4 1994. 25th September. Gimme A Fly Girl

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All 4 1994. 18th September Black Book of Endless Love Chains Selling Drama Out of My Pocket

 Well, things just got interesting...it's been a duopoly at the rop for the past couple of weeks and now that duopoly is out on its ear because we do have a new number one, rising a massive thirty places to hit the top spot...it's "Confide In Me" by Kylie Minogue at number one and it got there on those massive sales numbers in a surge so big that previous number one "I Swear" by All-4-One was never going to match as it slipped back to number two. 

The same happened for "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet at number three and "Swamp Thing" by The Grid at number four. 

"7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry remained at number five and "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories followed suit at number six. 

The big victim in all of this is "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters which slumped three places to number seven while "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona climbed two spots to number eight. 

Finally we have two new entries to wrap up the top ten for this week with "Hands Out of My Pocket" by Cold Chisel entering at number nine as our biggest debut of thr week while Luther Vandross has teamed up with Mariah Carey for "Endless Love" which enters the chart at number ten. We'll talk about both songs later.

Losers

Stone Temple Pilots are on the precipice of slipping out of the top fifty this week with "Vasoline" sliding from thirty seven to fifty. 

Green Day's "Long View" fell ten to forty eight (this song really just hasn't gotten going at all). Kulcha's "Don't Be Shy" slumped seven spots to forty seven while "The Ballad of Oz" by Daddy Cool tumbled eleven slots to forty six. 

"Wild Night" isn't going to last much longer for John Mellencamp and Me'shell N'degeocello as it folded fifteen spots to hit forty five. It was also a rough week for "That's The Thing About Football" by Greg Champion as it fell eleven to hit forty four (then again I don't expect this song to stick around).

The hardest fall of the week belonged to Des'ree as "You Gotta Be" utterly fell into a hole down from twenty six to forty two. Roachford was hit with a ten place fall to thirty nine for "Only to Be With You".

Ten place slide for "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous as it hit twenty nine while "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real Stuntman probably hated to move it down nine to twenty three. 

We did have three songs fall out of the top ten with "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain falling five spots to number twelve, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John slumping from nine to thirteen and " Son of a Gun" by JX crumbled eight spots to fourteen. 

Gains

We had some decent sized gains this week starting with the huge boost for "I Like the Nightlife (Disco Round)" by Alicia Bridges which boogied all the way up from it's debut of forty one up to twenty thanks to the impact of "Priscilla: Queen of the Desetrt"

Another noted boost off the debut was for Jaki Graham's great cover of "Ain't Nobody" wbich got a well deserved bump up from forty three to twenty eight while "Dreams" by The Cranberries also had a decent boost off it's debut as it climbed from fotty two to thirty six.

"Wild Flowers" by Things of Stone and Wood jumped from from forty nine to forty one.

Sadly not all the last week debuts having gains this week are good with "My Enemy" by Culture Shock getting a seven place gain to forty three,

 New Entries.

Six new entries this week, let's get the show rolling with...

49. "Selling the Drama" by Live

We're leading off with Live's lead single from "Throwing Copper" and my god this song is way too on the nose for it to be a 1994 song with lyrics ained at how political and religious leaders try to control the public and yeah, I get it especially if we're looking at the political scene in Australia and around the world. I guess my criticism would come in on the production where sometimes the vocals can get a bit smothered by the guitar riffs etc but still damn good song.

35. "One Night A Day" by Garth Brooks

Like, I said last time when "Stnading Outside the Fire" charted, it's impossible to get a decent quality version of a Garth Brooks song and this one is no different so unfortunately I am not able to review this particular song. 

30. "Black Book" by E.Y.C

So lets go another round with E.Y.C and I guess this is fine if you can ignore how lethargic the production and instrumentation is forcing you to pay attention to the lyrics which are just...wow...toxic much" You tell this girl she can open up to you and tell you whats going because she can trust you then on the hook say "Well girl, I'm taking you out of my black book". Toxic and manipulative garbage..,next!

21. "Chains" by Tina Arena

So the next two songs are ballads and we begin with the lead single from "Don't Ask" and my god, we have a powerhouse of a love song here that just builds and builds into that crescendo at the end. Tina sells the pure joy of being in love with this guy and  being spellbound by being in chains or in love with the incredible backing harmonies that join in on the verses and choruses plus the instrumentation is just perfect here. Phenomenal song.

10. "Endless Love" by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey

Genuine question here: Who was asking for this cover of Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross's sappy 1981 ballad? Mariah's got a good song on the charts right now so this cover feels a little unnecessary but I will give Luther Vandross this, he can sell this even if he is going to get outsung by Mariah Carey...I wish they'd learnt how to harmonise properly on this. At the end of the day, it's just two people declaring their endless love for each other, nothing more nothing less, now can we move on from the sappy please?

9. "Hand Out of My Pocket" by Cold Chisel

Oh here we go...this is more like it, time for some Cold Chisel even if this song doesn't sound like a typical Cold Chisel rocker and  Barnesy isn't screaming his lungs out. It's claimed by Australian music historian Glenn A. Baker that the song was inspired by a horrible incident on Christmas Day where a ousin of Jimmy Barnes who is Hare Krishna decided to hold a self immolation rite in a bathtub...yowsers. Either way while this is good, this really does sound like the band are indifferent to the song, there's not quite the same energy that typically gets Chisel going. That's all I'll say,

As a result, best and worst of the week fall out quite easily. Worst is going to "Black Book" by E.Y.C and best of the week to "Chains" by Tina Arena

All 4 1994. 11th September. My Wild Flowers Dreams Confide In Me: I Love Football and Nightlife

A busy as hell week here and I have to say, things look like they may be headed for a bit of a shake up as we got the return of Kylie Minogue to deal with but she isn't a player in our top ten so let's get to that where for another week "I Swear" by All-4-One ruled the roost but the question is for how much longer. 

"Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet continues to be a like a pimple on a backside remaining at number two, can people please just be done with this gooey nonsense clogging the charts?

"Swamp Thing" by The Grid climbed one spot to number three, it ultimately pushed back "100% Pure Love" bv Crystal Waters back to nunber four

"7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry moved up two spots to number five which was nice to see while "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories lived up to it's name and remained at number six and "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain slumped two spots to number seven.

Rest of our top ten are gains with "Son of a Gun" by JX u[ one to number eight, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" by Elton John up one to number nine and finally "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona climbed one to number ten.

Losers

"Snake Skinned Shoes" by The Black Sorrows as done well to stick around for as long as it has but it's down sevcn place to forty seven and appears to be headed on it's way out likewise for "Alone Like Me" by The Sharp which collapsed ten spots to number forty four.

"Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base suffered a six place fall down to twenty seven while "Hey D.J" by Lighter Shade of Brown is shouting for the D.J a little less loudly as it slipped eight to twenty four.

Gains

Not much in the way of gains this week with "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg up eleven spots to twenty but other than that...pretty quiet, most movement stymied by the new entries this week so let's get to that, shall we?

New Entries

A whopping seven new entries this week, let's begin with...

50. "My Enemy" by Culture Shock

Starting off with a weekly dose of Eurodance and its already a bad sign when I am greeted what sounds like a casio keyboard playing a painfully gerneric melody along with vocals that are absolutely buried in the mix and sounds terrible. I won't be revisiting this song anytime soon. Can we do better please?

49. "Wild Flowers" by Things of Stone and Wood

Well this is better.. a piano led song from Things of Stone and Wood that's actually pleasant with the drums really doing a lot of heavy work with the song's content appearing to be a running commentary on how we as humans always seem doomed to repeat past mistakes and the rise of racism with the line that hits asnd resonates the hardest being "Why do Nazis seem to grow like wild flowers?", a troubling question in 1994 and probably even more timely in 2025! Good song all up. 

43. "Ain't Nobody" by Jaki Graham

Now for our regularly scheduled cover of the week, this time this cover is of Rufus and Chaka 1983 song "Ain't Nobody" which went on to become something of a medium hit in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 but didn't cross over to Australia so now we've got a version released by British singer/songwriter Jaki Graham hittinng the charts and I will say I like this a fair bit more because Graham has some real distinctive power and presence on the microphone, she sounds phenomenal here and I love how fresh it sounds, the original does hasn't aged as well as some might hope it as especially sound wise. I'll take this though!

42. "Dreams" by The Cranberries

So The Cranberries are an Irish rock act that apparently released this song in late 1992 and went on to appear on the band's debut album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We" and yeah, this song is legitimately great, I love how distinctive in sound to the point the melody washes over you and then there's frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan who vocally just makes her presence on the mic known, she sounds so good here and given the song is about her first love back in Ireland it makes sense that she sounds lovestruck and to a point giddy. Yeah, check this out!

41. "I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)" by Alicia Bridges

Well here we go, this is here because of the movie "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert", this song originally was a decent sized hit in 1979 saw the song reach number nine on the Kent Music Report chart and reach number forty six on the year end chart for the same year now it's being re released in line with the release of "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert"...I got to say it's a song that's very much of it's time and does feel out of place on a chart that's smothered in euro-dance, pop and grunge rock with hints of r'n'b and hip hop given this is a disco song and Alicia Bridges does have a terrific voice even if she sounds way too casual about loving the nightlife and wanting to boogie, it's good fun but I don't see this disco revival lasting.

33. "That's The Thing About Football" by Greg Champion

Oh this is timely especially with the AFL finals underway, Greg Champion is from ABC's Coodabeen Champions and is also a songwriter and guitarist, he co wrote this song with Mike Brady (the man behind "Up There Cazaly") and Paul Kelly...now that's some serious pedigree of Australian music talent there so what about the song? Well it's definitely written to be an anthem for going to the footy and it does have one killer hook even if it takes a bit to get there. It's definitely a novelty track but one that I can respect the hell out of. Nice.

31. "Confide In Me" by Kylie Minogue

And the biggest new song of the week is the lead single from Kylie Minogue's fifth studio album and I have to say this is a pretty daring choice of lead single mostly because this is a move away from the clean cut pop sound from the Stock Aitken and Waterman era and into something darker and dare I say edgier thanks to her signing with dance label Deconstruction records , there's elements of eastern music, indie music and even trip hop and Kylie's vocals on this are just...wow...she sounds absolutely incredible on the hook

That vocal delivery from Minogue makes sense for the content of the song to where she seduces and tries to manipulate people to confude in her, she can manipulate a situation between her and another person and that she holds the power. Yeah, this song is one of Kylie's best. Check this out,

However it's not the best of the week, that's going to "Dreams" by The Cranberries...it was a close run thing. 

However worst falls out easily...that's going to Culture Shock for whatever the hell "My Enemy" is.

All 4 1994: 4th September. You Mean Standing Outside the World, Enough is Enough

Alright, no mucking around, let's drive straight into things with the top ten this week because the top three didn't change at all, mostly down to margins being too big to close so "I Swear" by All-4-One at number one, "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet at number two and "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters at number three.

"Swamp Thing" by The Grid climbed one spot to number four, its got decent momentum, it's just a question if that momentum can get bigger to catch the top three but for now, it was big enough to push past Big Mountain's "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain down one to number five.

Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories are starting to push for a spit in the top fove as "Stay (I Missed You)" climbed one to number six while "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry moved up three to number seven.

Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" remains in the number eight hole this week while "Son of a Gun" by JX slipped three places to number nine.

In the best and possibly best news on the charts for 1994, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John got a six place boost to join the top ten at number ten! So so happy to see it here. Let's hope it can rise higher in the weeks ahead. 

Losers

Not really that much in terms of big losers this week although we did see Kulcha's "Don't Be Shy" slide from twenty seven to thirty eight and former number one "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies slip ten to thirty.

"Only to Be With You" by Roachford slumped from twenty one to twenry nine...bit of a shame this song is on the downswing, it's not bad. 

Gains

Ir's on the gains front that things are interesting because rhere was an eleven place gain for Joshua Kadison's "Jessie" to number seventeen while "Rockin' For Myself" by Motiv 8 feat. Angie Brown rocketed with bullet points from forty one to eighteen,

Up seven splots to thirty is "American Life in the Summertime" by Francis Dunnery while "Regulate" by Warren G & Nate Dogg climbed nine to thirty one. 

Most annoyingly "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies climbed six places to forty two. 

New Entries

49. "You Mean the World To Me" by Toni Braxton

Surprised we didn't get an immediate follow up single to "Breathe Again" (a song that is good but has become kind of forgettable) and I got to admit I was curious what we'd get going in and yeah, we got a pretty sweet love song combining both piano and guitar but allowing Toni Braxton's vocals to shine and shine they do, there's a passion in the vocals from Toni that really make the song believeable. I dig it. 

48. "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" by Kym Mazelle & Jocelyn Brown

Ahh, it's been awhile since we dealt with a cover version on in one of these retro episodes but today we get to deal with Kym Mamzelle and Jocelyn Brown's take on the hit duet between Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer, the original hitting number 8 on the Kent Music Report charts in 1979,  

Now it starts out well enough, it starts out favouring soft but strong vocals then dives into this weird Eurodance/disco vibe that really doesn't work especially when in comparision the production helped both Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand but on this cover, it feels like both Kym Mamzelle and Jocelyn Brown are having to sing shout to be heard over the noisy production. 

I'll stick to the original...next!

47. Standing Outside the Fire" by Garth Brooks

So Garth Brooks on the charts and briefly stepping away from being in 1994 mode, I'm going to confess that I cannot find a decent enough version of the song to be able to review this properly. I may also have to do this with any future Garth Brooks songs that chart. Sorry.

43. "Alrabaiye (Take Me Up)" by Amadin feat. Swing

And we end the week with more eurodance because that's the way we want to finish with one of the more screechy and annoying songs I've heard in quite some time and when I say screechy I am talking about the vocals that get increasingly more annoying as the beat that never changes so yeah... this isn't good. Next!

That was our week and the best and worst fall out easily, for the first "Alrabbiaye (Take Me Up" by Amadin feat. Swing...obviously. Best of the week is going to "You Mean the World to Me" by Toni Braxton. 

All 4 1994: 28th August. Regulate Afternoons and Coffeespoons whiile Children play

This was an interesting week...more for the fact that there were some shifts in our top ten that I find exceedingly interesting going forward...now of course our top four didn't change with "I Swear" by All-4-One holding the number one spot ahead of "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet at number two, "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters at number three and "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain at number four. 

Then we get to all the shifting that happened with "Swamp Thing" by The Grid moving up four to number five, it's got momentum thanks to sales and could rise higher in the weeks ahead. 

JX got a one place gain to number six with "Son of a Gun" while Lisa Loeb launched four spots into the top ten with "Stay (I Missed You)". 

This saw "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden tumble two to number eight while "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real slipped back one to number nine.

Rising four spots into the top ten is the brilliant "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry. It's a terrific song and am happy to see it here.

Losers

Sad to see "You Got Me Floatin'" by P,M Dawn not really getting all that much traction, its down seven to number fifty. 

The losses continued this week for Eternal as "Stay" collapsed a further nine spots to forty three. "Snake Skinned Shoes" by The Black Sorrows toppled from twenty one thirty eight...ouch!

The chart fire is well and truly going out for "Light My Fire" by Cluh House feat. Carl has it stumbled nine slots to thirty seven. 

Finally tumbling out of the top ten is "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous as it crashed six spots to number eleven.

Gains

There are a lot of gains this week so let's start with "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona which smashed it's way up from twenty seven to fourteen. I'd not be surprised if this breaks into the top ten. 

Also gaining big is "LetitGo" by Prince which jumped ten places to twenty two this week while Public Enemy hit an eleven place sweet spot with "Give It Up" hitting twenty four.

Joshua Kadison's appeal to "Jessie" earnt that song an eight place gain to twenty eight while 'American Life In the Summertime" by Francis Dunnery continues to climb up nine to thirty.  

New Entries

Five new entries this week beginning with...

48. "Afternoon & Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies

Time for the follow up to "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" and well...rhis is better than "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" even if the instrumentation reminds me a lot of "Happy Birthday Helen" by Things of Stone and Wood however it's tbe lead vocals that drive me up the wall and the fact it does feel like he is trying to force each word to feet into the song hard, the vocal delivery just makes me want to grind my teeth so yeah...no thanks, I am moving on. 

47. "Rain (Let the Children Play)" by Marcia Hines

The lead single from Marcia Hynes eighth studio album "Here and Now" has arrived on the charts and I don't know? Maybe for a song where it's about letting the children play, I was expecting something a bit more infectious and energetic or at least reflective of children playing but instead we get this meditative piano ballad that suits Marcia's voice but doesn't really hit in the way that I was hoping it would. It's good but could stand to be better.

41.  "Rockin' For Myself" by Motiv 8 feat Angie Brown

The moment I saw the artists involved I knew this was an electronic dance cut, Motiv 8 is the stage name of British electronic dance producer Steve Rodway. This song uses a rather prominent sample of Italian act 49ers 1992 single "Move Your Feet" and I guess this is solid, I like Angie Brown's vocals and there's almost somehow a gospel vibe to the song that works in it's favour. I dig this. Check it out!

40. "Regulate" by Warren G & Nate Dogg

Getting an eclectic mix of songs this week because we're diving into R'N'B and hip hop with Warren G and Nate Dogg with this song intriguingly using a four bar sample of Michael MacDonald's "I Keep Forgettin' (Every time You're Near) along side "Sign of the Times" by Bob James and an interpolation of "Let Me Ride" by Dr Dre and I got to say there's a smooth slickness to the use of the samples and the interpolation that make me dig this a fair bit even if the production doesn't quite match content which centres around the stealing of property! Cool song. I dig it. 

35. "The Ballad of Oz " by Daddy Cool

So this was credited with the B side from Skyhooks called "Happy Hippy Cut" so I am only going to review the song credited first which is this song from Daddy Cool and...I am already reminded of "Eagle Rock" in the instrumentation especially with the guitars and handclaps. I appreciate the song is telling a story but I don't know...I just can't get behind it when all the instrumentation wants me to do is go back to better Daddy Cool songs. Don't hate it but sure don't love it either.

That was our week, bit of a rough one but best and worst fall out reasonably easy. For best, I'm going with "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg...the production killed did enough for me.

As for the worst, yeah it's got to be "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crasb Test Dummies

All 4 1994: 21st August If You Leitgo, Rhythm of the Tunnel follows

So it's a bit of a standard week here, the top ten is settling down at least in the top half and we have our usual group of new entries to talk about later so let's not waste any more time and get through this top ten where of course "I Swear" by All-4-One retained the niumber one slot, its got a comfortable margin over former number one "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet which remained at number two.

Also holding steady are the trio of "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters at number three, "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain at number four and " Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous" at number five. 

From there "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden reached a new peak up one to number six,  "Son of a Gun" by JX shot up two spots to number seven.

After six weeks of stalling at number six, "I Like To Move It" by Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman fell two spots to number eight.

The big surprise this week was the massive gain by "Swamp Thing" by The Grid as it climbed off it's debut of forty three to number nine.

Finally down two places to number ten is "Shine" by Collective Soul, that song has lost it's shine with the public rather quickly.

Losers

Now we get to the losers where "Whoomp! (There It Is)" by Tag Team sliding seventeen spots to fifty while "I Believe" by Marcella Detroit slipped from thirty two to forty six. 

The Pretenders "I'll Stand by You" sitting position on the charts keeps getting lower and lower as it plunged another nine spots to forty four. 

"The Winner Is..." by Southend with Nik Fish slumped from twenty eight to forty one wbile "Lonely" by Frente! collapsed eleven spots to forty. 

"Stay" by Eternal is continuing to fall, this time tumbling from twenty one to thirty four while "Vasoline" by Stone Temple Pilots slipped seven to thirty one

Crash Test Dummies former number one hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" slumped ten spots to twenty two. 

Gains

Solid amount of big gains outside the top ten this week with "Do You Wanna Get Funky?" by C&C Music Factory up from thirty one to nineteen while "Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona)" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka is up fourteen spots to twenty six. 

Up ten to twenty nine is the underwhelming "Heaven 'n' Hell" by Salt 'N' Pepa  Finally "Speed" by Billy Idol sped up eight to thirty eight. 

Re-Entries

We do have one re-entry with "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms back at forty nine

New Entries

Four new entries this week, starting with

48. "If You Go" by Jon Secada

To kick things off, the "Just Another Day" dude is back and the problems kick in yet again because the instrumental is somehow louder in the mix than Jon Secada is at points. A very early nineties piano track where Jon Secada croons about how all he really wants is this girl and if she goes there'll be something missing in his life which is actually really fucking guilt trippy. So bad writing and bad production combine for a pop song not worth the sum of it's parts....NEXT!

42. "Tunnel" by The Screaming Jets

Moving onto The Screaming Jets and I will be honest that I haven't really cared that much about a Screaming Jets single since 1991's "Better" so I don't hold a lot of hope for this and you know what? I think I dig this one, I like what the instrumentation is doing and Dave Gleeson is actually trying to do what sounds like either an odd nasal impersonation of Michael Stipe but hey the song works, the hook kicks ass so hey, I'll take it. 

32. "Letitgo" by Prince

Alright so I like "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" which was under another alias The Symbol so I was curious to see what this song would offer up snd yeah, it's a dark but ultimately very funky R'n'B with hints of hip hop jam where Prince admits he has a lot of feelings pent up inside him and now he wants to let everything go so he can move on with life. Yeah, you know what? I'll take this. Good song.

27. "The Rhythm of the Night" by Corona

Eurodance this time from Corona, a group out of Italy and yeah, this a pretty incredible dance track especially in terms of production where big doofy beats are somewhat held bacl to allow lead vocalist Giovanna Bersola (aka Jenny B) to shine, she sounds absolutely phenomenal here. Good song, hope it catches on. 

However I am going to give "Letitgo" by Prince the best of the week...that song resonated a bit more for me. Worst falls out easily..."If You Go" by Jon Secada...seriously. enough of the guilt tripping ex partner songs please. 

All 4 1994: 14th August. Give it Up and Get Funky, Jessie.

 It's a pretty standard week for 1994 this week with five new entries and some changes that could reasonably be seen to be coming including right at the very top so let's dive straight into the top ten because we do have a new number one and unfortunately it's..."I Swear" by All-4-One. it finally pushed past "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet which slipped back to number two on weaker sales. 

Sigh. Let's move on from our incredibly sappy top two with "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters remaining at number three, it's not a challenger for the top spot at this point, the same goes for "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain despite it climbing one spot to number four ahead of "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous at number five,

"I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman continues to just stall at number six, this is this song's sixth week at number six. 

"Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden remains at number seven while "Shine" by Collective Soul jumps one spot to number eight, also on the rise is "Son of a Gun" by JX up one spot to number nine. 

Finally the top ten is rounded out by Des'ree's "You Gotta Be" which jumped one spot to number ten. 

Losers

Let's start at the bottom of the chart as we usually do as D:Ream's "U R The Best Thing" slumped thirteen to fifty while "Around the World" by East 17 crashed eleven to forty nine. and Jam & Spoon feat, Plavka slumped from thirty four to forty eight with "Right in the Night"

The "Hip Hop Holiday" might be over for 3 The Hard Way as their hit slipped eight to fotty four while "Shaka Jam" shook down from twenty six to fourty two. 

"I'll Stand By You" by The Pretenders needed to sit down as it slumped eight spots to thirty five.

Frente! experienced a sharp decline of twelve places to twenty nine with "Lonely" while "Stay" by Eternal did the exact opposite running down nine spots to twenty one.

Gains

The gains are a wild bunch this week, Lisa Loeb's "Stay (I Missed You)" rocketed up from thirty nine to fifteen while much to my surprise "Snake Skin Shoes" by The Blake Sorrows slithered it's way up ftom twenty two to sixteen.

"Wild Night" by John Mellencamp and Me'Shell N'degeocello rebounded ten spots to eighteen. 

Up ten spots to twenty off it's debut is "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry which is great to see. Up eight to twenty seven for some ungodly reason is Bjorn Again's cover of "Flashdance...What a Feeling". 

Finally "American Life in the Summertime" by Francis Dunnery climbed up from forty eight to forty one whch I don't mind.

New Entries

Six new entries this week beginning with...

46. "Speed" by Billy Idol

Well this sure is a way to begin the week's reviews, the new song from Billy Idol, the song for the movie of the same name and this is pretty good. At first I wasn't sure about Idol's lower vocals but I think they work well alongside the instrumentation which just gives the song the whole riocking fast car energy with the wailing guitars, there's definitely the thrill and the adrenaline of driving a fast car pumped into this song. I dig it!

43. "Swamp Thing" by The Grid

Needs to be said first things first that the baby in the music video is adorable so if you need a couple of moments of cute, check out that out but anyway, The Grid are a British electronic group which is wild because this song features a fucking banjo amongst all that electronic production yet the song does absolutely nothing for me because fucking hell, that banjo gives me a god damn headache. Next!

39. "Heaven 'N' Hell" by Salt 'N' Pepa

Salt 'n' Pepa's final single from their alnum "Very Necessary" and this one is probably the least good of the singles mostly because the rapping sounds rough as hell and not as well delivered as I would expect from this group but then again given the song is about street crime and drugs that really makes sense. Still not an overall fan of the song given the hook isn't much to grab on to, this song could have been better.

37. "Give It Up" by Public Enemy

Lead single from Public Enemy's fifth album "Muse Sick-n-hour Mess Age" and here we have a much better depiction of the destruction on the streets and battling for respect and unity against all the gun vioence and drug crime, it hits hard as hell with that incredible groove and yeah, there's a weight to this song that makes it impossible to ignore, check this out!

34. "Jessie" by Joshua Kadison

Relax, this is not a cover of the Carly Simon song, this is an original song from Joshua Kadison about a relationship thats falling apart before the narrator's eyes even though he is clearly still in love with this woman however fraught the relationship is and he wants "Jessie" to know that he will be there no matter what if she wants to talk. It is a bit corny and lovelorn but there's a sincerity that stops me from wanting to say it's a bad song, it feels lived in and genuine which is more than I can say about a few songs at the top of our chart right now.

31. "Do You Wanna Get Funky" by C&C Music Factory

Oh joy, a new C&C Music Factory single although to be fair, this one does live up to the title because that little melody that this song has going on is quite good! In fact overall, I actually like this more than the noise of their previous songs to have hit the charts. There's some nice harmonies here along side the really good rap versions being delivered that only add to the vibe. Good song.

However best of the week is going to Public Enemy for "Give It Up". I guess worst of the week is going to "Swamp Thing" by The Grid

All 4 1994: 7th August Summertime American Vasoline in 7 Seconds, Stay!

For the first time in what seeems like weeks, we may have a fight for the number one spot and we also have quite the week to deal with here outside the top ten so let's dig into what happpened. Wet Wet Wet held onto the number one spot with "Love Is All Around" but I question for how much longer as sales are slowing.

This opens an opportunity for All-4-One as "I Swear" climbed one spot to number two on the back of major sales gains, this song has some major momentum behind it as it pushed past "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters which slipped back one spot to number three.

The next three songs stayed exactly where they are this week so "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous at number four, "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain at number five and "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman at number six.

Moving up one to number seven is "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden as it is was strong enough to move past "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies which slipped back to number eight.

"Shine" by Collective Soul continues to shine brighter up one to number nine while joining the top ten is "Son of a Gun" by JX up six to number ten.

Losers

Some older songs on their way out like "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by The Symbol down ten spots to forty. 

Much to my disappointment, "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms hit the skids down twelve to forty nine while Blur's "Girls and Boys" is down from thirty three tio forty seven.

The losses continued for "Pray" by Take That down seven to forty one, the same goes for "Around the World' by East 17 down nine to thirty eight.

Sadly 3 The Hard Way's "Hip Hop Holiday: dived from twenty one down to thirty six this week. Ouch. Former top ten hit "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka slumped eleven places to thirty four. 

The big boost for "Wild Night" by John Mellencamp feat. Me'shell N'degeocello didn't last as it crumbled nine slots to twenty eight and "Shaka Jam" by Kulcha got jammed down from eighteen to twenty six. 

In good news, "The Winner is..." by Southend feat. Nik Fish got slapped down eight spots to twenty three.

Gains

So continuing it's gains drom last week is Roachford's "Only to Be With You" which rocketed from thirty to nineteen!.

Surprisingly The Black Sorrows got a rather healthy gain with "Snake Skinned Shoes" up from forty eight to twenty two.  Also up decently off the debut last week is "Longview" by Green Day up ten to thirty three. 

However the big eleven place gain that I am absolutely over the moon about is "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" which jumped from twenty five to fourteen...uhh...fuck yes!.

New Entries

48. "American Life in the Summertime" by Francis Dunnery

We kick off our reviews of this week's new entries with the former lead singer of British prog rock band It Bites and well I definitely was not expecting a catchy summery pop rock song that is as fun as it is entertaining to listen to! Not much else to say here other than this is a surprising jam...check this out!

43. "Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona)" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka

The follow up to "Right in the Night" has landed and honestly...I am bit colder on this one than I was with "Right in the Night" and its hard to pin down why, maybe because it sounds less like something interesting that could work outside of the club like "Right in the Night", sure there's then keyboard that comes in but yeah...no, this does very little for me other than missing the ring tone era. 

39. "Stay (I Missed You" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

A song from the Reality Bites soundtrack has hit the chart via American singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb and this is definitely one of the better songs from the singer'songwriter cannon, its a guitar ballad about the end of a relationship and now the narrator is regretting the decision and is now wanting the former romantic partner to stay instead of leaving and yes, the warning on the first line that song is quite self involved was welcome. Great song, worth checking out!

30. "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry

Excited to talk about this one because it's fascinating considering how brash Neneh Cherry was on 1989's "Buffalo Stance" (a song that I still think is awesome today) and a Sengalese singer Youssou N'Dour and well, this quite the song given it takes the first seven seconds of a child's life and contrasts them with racial and social prejudice emphasising how a child is free from those complex issues and unaware of difference in class or status. It's quite a beautiful song and both do an incredible job on getting the message across. I also like how paired back the production is. Another great song this week!

24. "Vasoline" by Stone Temple Pilots

And we finish off this week's reviews with American tock band Stone Temple Pilots with song being from their second album "Purple" and I really don't care for this at all, I don't like how the vocals feel buried under that monotonous guitar riff which might explaimable given the content of the song which is described as being about feeling like an insect under a microscope and just generally being stuck in the same situation however that doesn't excuse how the production just feels...off.

That was our week, I am going to give worst of the week to "Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka because that just...nooo.

Best of the week is a bun fight and a half. I think it JUST goes to "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb but "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry were close.

All 4 1994, 24th July Any Time is Absolutely Fablous with Any Place

So in some ways this week wound up busy but in other ways not...and there was no more perfect example of this than our top ten where for yet another week "Love is All Around" remains at number one for Wet Wet Wet and I have to say I am so done with this sloppy nothing of a love song being at the top, come on Australia, we all aren't complete fucking mush. 

Though I do not see what challenges it in the immediate future even though we do have a new entry at number two being "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous, we'll get more into the quality of the song later but it's here on massive sales thanks to the popularity of the TV show of the same name.

Remainingat number three is "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters which remained steady at number three this week and with number two looking somewhat an open proposition, this coiuld get there. 

Big Mountain saw a one place boost to number four with "Baby,  I Love Your Way" while "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntman remained steady at number six.

Now we have to deal with one of the biggest gainers of the week and sadly it's one of the sappier songs to hit the chart with All-4-One's cover of "I Swear" climbing a massive twenty one places to number severn thanks to absolutely enourmous sales, it might take a couple of weeks but this might be the most immediate challenger for the top spot?

All of this saw Eternal's "Stay" slip four spots to number eight while Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" climbed five spots to number nine. 

Finally down three to wrap our top ten at number ten is "Shaka Jam" by Kulcha, this song looks to have peaked and is on the way out naturally.

Losers

So we got a busy week on this front, let's start at the bottom because down twelve to number fifty is "I'll Remember" by Madonna...kind of surprised that this song has stuck around for so long given the production issues.

Down nine spots to forty nine is Roachford's "Only to Be With You" whille "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms" fell nine spots to forty one. 

The live version of "One" by Metallica fell nine to forty,  former chart topper "The Sign" by Ace of Base slipped eight to thirty seven while another former chart topper "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World" collapsed from fifteen to thirty one this week, 

Down ten to twenty seven is "U R The Best Thing" by D:Ream as "Around the World' by East 17 slid out of the top ten down to twenty two this week. 

Re-Entries

We do have two songs back in the top fifty this week with one being great that being "Laid" by James at forty eught and the pretty mediocre "Sweets for My Sweet" by CJ Lewis at forty seven.

Gains

So I mentioned the big gain for All-4-One with "I Swear" shifting into the top ten, we had several big gains on the chart this week outside the top ten with "Alone Like Me" by The Sharp up eight to thirty four while Ace of Base are on the climb up twelve to thirty three with "Don't Turn Around"

Meanwhile the decent "Son of a Gun" by JX is up twenty to twenty six and the excellent "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" by Elton JOhnson moved up from it's debut at forty one to number twenty five. 

Finally up nine to seventeen this week is "Shine" by Collective Soul which is not a bit surprising considering how big that sort of rock sound is, 

New Entries

Only two new entries this week, beginning with...

44. "Any Time, Any Place" by Janet Jackson

Another single from Janet Jackson's 1993 album "Janet" with this song (tegrettably) having a remix with R. Kelly. This song's content is definitely sexual in nature with Janet singing about going the PDA with her lover and how sshe doesn't want to her lover to stop just because people are walking past and staring, she's gone past the point of caring what other people think because her lover is so good at what he does to her and he can do it with her any time anywhere regardless of if there are other people there or not. 

I will say the music does match the sexy vibe that Janet is going for here with the elegant production and arrangement. I really like this. Definitely check this out if you are in a sexy mood. 

2. "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous aka Pet Shop Boys

Took a bit of time to get here but this song  was recorded by the Pet Shop Boys under the name Absolutely Fabulous and as you can imagine from the song itself, it is based the hilarious sitcom of the same name and does feature sound bites from the show. 

Look, I do get the appeal and I love the female vocals singing the hook but this does get pretty dang repetititve and does lose some of that charm for me. I think I will give this one a skip going forward.

Yeah it's the worst of this week although I really wouldn't call it that bad. Best is going to Janet Jacksn for "Any Time, Any Place"

All 4 1994. 17th July: Can You Feel Black Hole Love? Don't Be Shy and Turn Around, I Swear.

 We have quite the busy week at hand here, numerous new entries along with some movement in our top ten as per usual howver the only thing that didn't change was our number one which is "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet and honestly I don't see what's beating it right now as it has a comfortable lead on sales. 

It certainly won't be former number one "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies which remains at number two this week having not been able to bridge the margin to "Love Is All Around" and is probably a chance of sliding in the weeks ahead. 

This leaves things open for "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters which jumped a massive twelve spots to number three, it's not quite telling if it could threaten Wet Wet Wet's stranglehold on number one but it could very well climb to number two at least.

It did push "Stay" by Eternal down to number four this week as it's sales dipped and it's not quite as competitive as it once was. 

Big Mountain had a nine place gain to number five with their cover of "Baby, I Love Your Way"..I guess I am fine with this.

"I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Reel feat. The Mad Stuntman remained locked in at number six thanks moderately steady sales.fourte

More Kulcha in our new entries but tbey saw "Shaka Jam" rise two number seven while Jam & Spoon's "Right in the Night" featuring Plavka slipped three to number eight, 

Our last and rather unfortunate arrival to our top ten up fourteen places to number nine is "The Winner Is..." by Southend feat. Nik Fish...why are we dignifying this shit?

The biggest loser in the top ten this week is East 17's "Around the World" down six to number ten this week. 

Losers

"Is It Love?" by Twenty 4 Seven feat. Stay-C and Nance slipped fourteen places to fifty this week as its time on the charts looks to be sputtering out. Also on the way out is "Satisfy the Groove" by Culture Shock down nine spots to forty nine. 

Down ten to forty four is "Helping Hand" by The Scresming Jets who look like they could use a helping hand to stay in the top fifty

"I'll Remember"  by Madonna slipped eight to thirty eight while D:Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better"  slumped ten as it fell back to thirty six. 

Metallica's live version of "One" skidattled down from nineteen to thirty one. "Doop" by Doop slipped eight to thirty, Former chart topper "The Sign" by Ace of Base saw a sign and tripped eleven places to twenty nine. 

Gains

So outside of the major gains in our top ten, we saw "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree up from twenty seven to number twelve this week while "Anytime You Need A Friend" by Mariah Carey climbed six to number eighteen. 

Collective Soul jumped up hard off their debut at thirty eight last week to hit twenty six while Lighter Shade of Brown bounced up nine to twenty seven with "Hey DJ"

Re-Entries 

Two returns this week with "Only to Be With You" by Roachford at number forty and 'Flashdance...What a Feeling" by Bjorn Again at forty eight.

New Entries

Six new entries this week, beginning with...

47. "Love Is Strong" by The Rolling Stones

So we have got the lead single from the Stones album "Voodoo Lounge" and well, this is about what you would expect the Stones to sound like in the 90s and while I like the driving guitar melodies, there's something really kind of creepy about the vocal delivery here that makes my skin ctawl, it might work coming from Michael Hutchence or another frontman with more charisma but coming from the Rolling Stones, it's just weird on a love or lust at first sight song...yeah not a fan of this,,,next!

45. "Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base

The follow up to "The Sign" which is a minor key cover of an 80s Tina Turner song and I have to be honest here, thos really does feel like a lesser cut than "The Sign", sure its got the same pop flourishes as "The Sign" but it's not gripping me in the way I think it wants me to given the hook feels really kind of weak. I don't know, I don't think it's a bad song but it's not one that I'll remember compared to "The Sign"

41. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" by Elton John

So now we finally get this song on the charts, it's from the Lion King movie soundtrack and composed by Elton John with the lyrics written by Tim Rice and yeah, the result is a wonderful, magical masterclass in pop music, there's something about this song that makes you feel warm and fuzzy as Elton's voice just carries this song with just enough orchestral swell that it's a warmth that just lingers. I absolutely adore this song.

28. "I Swear" by All-4-One

This song was originally a country song penned for John Michael Montgomery in 1993 with American R'n'B group All-4-One covering it this year and here is the cover on the chart and I have to say almost immediately I prefer the John Michael Montgomery version especially as it seems more sincere in its vocal delivery and the instrumentation sounds less gummy and overproduced than on the All-4-One version,

Even so the song is still a cloying, clingy thing no matter the version so most days, it would be a skip for me. 

24. "Don't Be Shy" by Kulcha

Ahh, time for the follow up to "Shaka Jam" and I think it's an improvement? It's got a nice swagger to it which would make the whole "girl, don't be shy" aesthetic work however I am going to complain about how the vocals on the hook are lower than on the verses which feels like a mistake in the production and mixing of this song, otherwise this is a solid song, check it out if curious. 

14. "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is the highest debuting song of the week, this song is the third single from Soundgarden's album "Superunknown" and was inspired by Chris Cornell mishearing something a news anchor said on his drive home from the recotding studio and wow, does this song hit a a really strong chord especially the line "times are gone for honest men" and wow, that resonates hard in 2025. I love that everything on the song including the guitars and drums are given their moment to shine but Cornell is the star here, the guy just commands your attention the minute he starts singing. Great song.!

However best of the week is going to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John, it was really close there though.

As for thr worst, nothing outright terrible but "Love Is Strong" by the Rolling Stones gets it mostly for being weird and creepy. 

All 4 1994: 10th July. Wild Night For My Sweet Shine

 So we have a reasonably interesting week at hand here, sure our top three didn't change but we do have some changes to our top ten and up and down the chart this week but speaking of our top ten, let's dive into that where for a second week "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet remains at number one, its just got nobody able to compete with it at the moment so therefore it holds the top spot comfortably.

The same goes for "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies except at number two and for "Stay" by Eternal at number three. 

East 17 climb one spot to number four with "Around the World", it pushed "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka back to number five, both these songs are facing some stiff competition from "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Reel feat. The Mad Stuntman up eight to number six and looks to have all the momentum to rise higher in the weeks ahead.

"Lonely"  by Frente remains a lonely figure at number seven while "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by The Symbol slipped two to number eight. 

The next two songs in the top ten are joining it for the first time with "Shaka Jam" by Kulcha up three to number nine and "Ptay" by Take That also up three to number ten.

Losers

Not too mamy major losers this week although we did see "Satisfy the Groove" by Culture Shock take a seven place dip to forty one, I hardly know what to make of this song's chart run to be quite honest, it's a bit all over the shop.

"The Beauitful Experience (EP)" by The Symbol slipped six to thirty nine while Madonna's "I'll Remember" stumbled ten places to thirty. 

"Doop" by Doop slipped seven spots to twenty two while "I Berlieve" by Marcella Detroit slumped six to sixteen this week. 

Gains

Only two big gains outside the top ten this week with "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain getting a massive boost off it's debut of twenty seven up to fourteen this week, This looks headed for the top ten. 

Also likely bound for the top ten is "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters rising nine to fifteen.

New Entries

Three new entries this week. starting with...

49. "Sweets For My Sweet" by CJ Lewis

Your regularly scheduled cover version of the week comes from British reggae singer CJ Lewis who decided to a reggae version of The Drifters 1961 hit "Sweets for My Sweet" and it pretty much sounds as you would expect...like if Glee was a thing in 1994...like come on, what the hell is this cloying disaster of a cover? Apart from the fact Lewis sounds like he is mumbling his way through his verses and the chorus sounds like the cast of Young Talent Time pitched up. Yeah no, let's move on fast. 

47. "Wild Night" by John Mellencamp feat. Me'Shell N'degeocello

Well we can only go up from here...you may not know that I do actually like a lot of John Mellencamp's music, "Jack & Diane" is a staple song for me so I was kind of curious to check out a cover of a Van Morrison 1971 song in which he brought on board American singer/songwriter Me'Shell N'degeocello for a collab and it turns out what we got is pretty good! It's funky, Mellencamp and N'degeocello have a tonne of vocal chemistry and the song really does benefit from the guitars playing off each other...I enjoyed this quite a bit...check it out!

38. "Shine" by Collective Soul

Ending this week with a song from an American alternative band called Collective Soul and in a year where grunge has pretty well dominated the rock and alternative scenes, this is actually a really bright, kind of sweet song where Collective Soul are asking for heaven to shine a light down just to find love or something tangible. The song is a bit of a prayer, regardless with the repetitive riffs that definitely work to this song's advantage, I can see this becoming a hit. 

However it's not the best of the week that's going to "Wild Night" by John Mellencamp and Me'Shell N'degeocello. 

Worst is easy with that going to "Sweets for My Sweet" by CJ Lewis. Seriously we can do better than this. 

All 4 1994: 3rd July Baby, I Love Your Son of A Real Thing..What A Feeling

 Sigh...yeah...let's get on with this, starting with the top ten where we do have a new number one that being "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet and yeah, its at the top thanks to sales to whom I'd have to assume are people planning weddings and want this song to be the music for their wedding...yikes.

It did push "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies back to number two as it just couldn't compete with "Love Is All Around" and is facing some real competition from "Stay" by Eternal up two spots to number three, it's got some decent momentum right now which probably helped it move past "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka which slipped ne to number four.

"All Around the World" by East 17 climbed one spot to number five which was mostly on the weakness of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World' by The Symbol down two to number six.

"Lonely" by Frente! climbed two spots to number seven while "I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders reamains standing stuck at number eight.

"U R The Best Thing" by D:Ream climbed from thirteen to number nine to give D:Ream another hit for 1994. 

Finally joining the top ten this week is "I Believe" by Marcella Detroit which climbed two places to number ten.

Losers

Pearl Jam's "Animals" tumbled eleven to fifty this week while former chsrt topper "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion fell ten to fotty seven. ile 

Also down ten is "Light My Fure" by Club House feat. Carl to thirty nine while "Is It Love?" by Twenty 4 Seven feat. Stay-C and Nance slid nine spots to thirty six. 

"The Beautiful Experience (EP)" by The Symbol crashed twelve to thirty three and "Breathe Again" by Toni Braxton slipped eleven to twenty nine.

Finally down nine this week is former number one "The Sign" by Ace of Base to sixteen.

Gains

So up sixteen spots to twenty four off it's debut is "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters. This has all the makings of becoming a hit so we'll have to see. 

Also up solidly is "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree which bounced up from thirty two to twenty five.

Sadly not all the gains were good this week with "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Reel feat. The Mad Stuntman up ten to fourteen

New Entries

Six new entries this week beginning with...

49. "Flashdance...What a Feeling" by Bjorn Again

ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again have turned to covering Irene Cara's massively successful 1983 hit "Flashdance..What A Feeling" and I have to be honest, there's just something magic about the original that Bjorn Again even with the somewhat trying to imagine ABBA covering the song just don't quite get, the ladies atre more nasal than needed. Yeah, I'lll stick to the Irene Cara original.

48. "Alone Like Me" by The Sharp

Our weekly Australian rock entry comes from Melbourne band The Sharp and honestly I kind of like this? Sure that scream of "OOOOHHH" on the hook could have been left out and the lead vocals a bit louder in the mix but song reminds me a lot of if Midnight Oil and R.E.M collaborated. This isn't too bad...I'll take this. 

46. "Son Of A Gun" by JX

The debut single of British DJ Jake Williams otherwise known as JX with this song featuring a sample of 1976 song "Touch and Go" by Ecstasy, Passion & Pain feat Barbara Roy and you know what? This song isn't as bad as some of the other dance cuts that have charted. For once the sample is used effectively and the vocals are clear and crisp. I like this a lot, check it out. 

44. "The Real Thing" by 2 Unlimited

Okay, another song with 2 Unlimited and I'll be fair here, this one is better than their previous efforts. The rap verses are pretty generic dancefloor hype up but after all that's really what this song is aiming to do and the harmonies on the hook are nice. I'll take this as I've heard much worse from this group previously. 

43. "Ease My Mind" by Arrested Development

So this is the new single from Arrested Development's new album called "Zingalamaduni" and I don't  know...I think the song is fine but given what this group have released previously, I kind of expected a little better, its still distinctly Arrested Development but that hook is more repetitive than I would like it to be. This song just doesn't do it for me. Sorry. 

27. "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain

Sigh, another cover of Peter Frampton's 1975 classic song as if we didn't already have enough of that god awful cover of the song in 1989 from Will to Power and now American reggae/pop act Big Mountain are giving it a go for the soundtrack of the movie "Reality Bites" and look, this is merely decent as at least this version looks to have a bit of a groove thanks to the drums and percussion, the harmonies on the hook, not terrible for a change I guess.

Which leaves me in quandry as there are no real contenders for worst of the week here, I guess I'll go with Bjorn Again's cover of "Flashdance...What A Feeling" because that just felt off. 

Best of the week though...I'm giving that to JX for "Son of a Gun. 

 

All 4 1994 26th June 100% Pure DJ Only With You, Love.

A slow week with a small amount of new entries, let's dive straight into this, shall we? "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies spent yet another week at number one but it's a weak number one and it'll face a challenge to hold on in the face of opposition from "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet which rose five places to number two and looks set to hit number one soon which means more sloppy mush at number one..yay.

It did have the affect of pushing "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka back to number three, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by The Symbol to number four, "Stay" by Eternal to number five, "Ariound the World" by East 17 to number six and "The Sign" by Ace of Base back to number seven.

The Pretenders with "Stand by You" buck that trend as they climb one to number eight likewise Frente! with "Lonely" up one to number nine, 

Finally a bit of a surprise at number ten with "More Wine Waiter Please" into the top ten having gained two spots to hit number ten. 

Losers

After an incredibly impressive run, "Dum Da Dum" by Melodie MC is on the way out down ten to fifty. likewise for "Mr Jones" by Counting Crows down six to forty nine.

"Return to Innocence" by Enigma got smacked down seventeen spots to fotty seven while "Without You" by Mariah Carey slumped ten spots to forty three.

Former number one "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion continues to fall, this week its down nine to thirty seven. A fall of nine occured for "Feel Like Making Love" by Pauline Henry, it's now at thirty six.

Gains

The gains are a mixed bunch this week especially as I am not thrilled that the biggest gain of the week belonged to "The Winner Is..." by Southend with Nik Fish up off it's debut at forty two to twenty eight somehow...folks there are better ways to relive the announcement Sydney is hosting the 2000 Olympics, come on!. 

Also "Light My Fire" by Clubhouse feat. Carl up from thirty six to twenty nine is somewhat questionable...sigh. However I am not going to complain that "Anytime You Need A Friend" by Mariah Carey is up eight spots to thirty this week...nice to see. 

Also pretty happy with "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree up from thirty two to thirty nine and "Laid" by James up nine to forty one.

New Entries

Three new entries this week starting with...

48. "Only to Be With You" by Roachford

We start off this week with an English band fronted by a guy named Andrew Roachford and yeah, this is a pretty sharp pop/rock song purpose fit for the radio with the content about how this guy lived his single life fast and free but is now craving something more with another person in his life because they make him want to stay unlike no else has made him want to do. Cool song, definitely check it out. 

44. "Hey! D.J" by Lighter Shade of Brown

Time to talk about an American hip hop duo that had a big hit in the US in 1990 with "On A Sunday Afternoon" a cover of a 1984 song by The World's Most Famous Supreme Team and well, I am definitely not a huge fan of those oddly chipmunked samples that gets pretty dang annoying which is a shame because I do like the beat and groove underneath it especially that drum groove tbat gives the song a great start, it sounds so good if those god damned chipmunked vocals disappeared!

40. "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters

Ending off with this interesting song from American singer/songwriter Crystal Waters and I say it's interesting in that it seems to combine elements of a lot of the trends we've seen in terms of big electronic beats, r'n'b and some pop touches which makes this song something of an infectious powerhouse because yeah even though I am not wild about the more nasal vocal delivery from Waters herself, she does sell this song about going all the way for a partner in a show of being committed to this relationship she is in and it's certainly catchy enough...yeah I dig it. Check it out.

You know what, it's getting best of thr week. 

The worst goes to "Hey! DJ" by Lighter Shade of Brown, just one element threw me out of that song

All 4 1994. June 19th You Gotta Be Four Letter Word Friend and Winner

 Alright so no preamble this week, I have things I need to be doing, let's just dive right in and begin with our top ten where for second week we have Crash Test Dummies at number one for a second week with "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" and it's got a solid margin right now.

Granted, I don't think the threat is going to come from "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka which climbed to number two purely on weaknesses for "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World' by The Symbol which fell back to number three.

Moving up one is Eternal's "Stay" to number four, it looks locked and loaded for a good run in the top five while "Around the World" by East 17 climbed two places to number five. 

"The Sign" by Ace of Base is showing signs of moving gracefully down as it dropped two spots to number six. 

What blew my mind though is the big gain for the incredibly saccharine "Love is all Around" by Wet Wet Wet up from it's debut of twenty three to number seven. What the hell?

At least it did help to push "Doop" by Doop down two number eight while The Pretenders got a nice two place boost into the top ten at number nine with "I'll Stand by You"

Also into the top ten this week is "Lonely" by Frente! which climbed five places to number ten. 

Losers

Unfortunately "Laid" by James slumped seven to fifty while "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen suffered an eight place fall to forty seven.

Chocolate Starfish are coming down the other side down nine to forty four while "Mr Jones" by Counting Crows slid from twenty nine to forty three. 

The downward progression for Melodie MC continues with "Dum Da Dum" down seven to number forty

"Without You" by Mariah Carey slumped hard from sixteen last week to thirty three this week. Don't stress though, there's more Mariah in our new entries. 

"Helping Hand" by The Screaming Jets needs a steadying hand down seven to thirty one. "Return to Innocence" by Enigma fell nine to thirty

Looks like the decent run for "Is It Love" by Twenty-4-Seven feat. Stay-C and Nance is over as it stumbled from twenty two to twenty nine while former number one "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion fell eleven to twenty eight. 

"Feel Like Making Love" by Pauline Henry slipped seven to twenty seven. 

Gains

A number of big gains this week with "Pray" by Take That riding a nineteen place boost to fifteen. 3 the Hard Way continue to climb with "Hip Hop Holiday" climbing from twenty six to nineteen this week.

"Shaka Jam" by Kulcha continues gaining as it jumped from thirty seven to twenty one for some inexplicable reason, the same goes for "Whoomp (There It  Is)" by Tag Team up five to twenty two. 

Annoyingly "I LIke to Move It" by Reel 2 Real feat. The Mad Stuntmen got a huge boost off of it's debut as it jumped from thirty eight to twenty three. Also climbing hard off of it's debut is "Girls and Boys" by Blur up from forty to twenty five. 

"I Wanna Dance" by Melodie MC rocketed up eight places to twenty four while "Light My Fire" by Club House feat. Carl climbed from fotty four to thirty six and "Satisfy the Groove" by Culture Shock continues to yo yo as it rebounded from forty six to thirty seven. 

Re-Entries

Just one return with Pearl Jam's "Daughter" back at 41

New Entries

Four new entries this week, beginning with...

48. "Anytime You Need A Friend" by Mariah Carey

Well, it could only be better than that overwrought cover of "Without You"...right? Well yeah this is better because this feels a bit less and this comes across as a more genuine song with gospel backing and Mariah offering her hand of friendship any time someone needs it. It's a nice ballad and likely will connect with a lot of people. 

45. "4-Letter Word" by Chocolate Starfish

Given "Mountain" was a surprising medium sized hit, Chocolate Starfish are back with their new single and this one just doesn't quite hit with the some intensity as "Mountain" does, the chorus doesn't quite explode after the more whispered verses that sound pretty good. I don't know...bit disappointed by this one. 

42. "The Winner Is..." by Southend with Nik Fish

Oh god so Southend are a band that have remixed TV coverage of the 1993 2000 Olympics and bits and pieces of IOC speech announcing "Sydenee" as the winner over annoying dance music with the feral sound of somebody laughing..it's actually one of the worst pieces of music I have heard in some time. Straight audio torture.

39. "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree

So we're rounding off this week with an empowerment song from British pop and soul singer Des'ree and look, I don't mind this, Des'ree's voice is calm, warm and definitely inviting and reminding the person that love will save the day but in the mean time stay cool, calm, together and strong. the music does hold up with gentle piano and drums. Nice song!

You know what? "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree just nudges out Mariah for best of the week. 

Worst of the week falls out easily with that going to "The Winner Is..." by Southend feat. Nick Fish because that shit was just audio torture

All 4 1994: June 12th Love Laid Around the World, Girls and Boys so Light the Fire

 Ugh. This is one of those sorts of weeks where things feel wrong in the kind of way that leaves a sick feeling in the pit of my stomache and some of that is in our top ten because we do have a brand new number one, that being "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies and look, it's number one because it's got strength in sales, it was easily able to move past "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by The Synbol down to number two and "Right In the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka down to number three.

Former number one "The Sign" by Ace of Base remained at number four while "Stay" by Eternal continues its rise up the charts up four to number five which is some good news I guess, it did push past "Doop" by Doop which slipped down to number six.

East 17 have our new entry in the top ten this week with "Around the World" at number seven. I'll talk more about the quality of this song later.

Metallica's live version of "One" slipped two spots to number eight while "I'll Remember" by Madonna slumped one to number nine and former number two hit "Breathe Again" by Toni Braxton fell three to  number ten. 

Losers

 After a run in the top ten "Whatta Man" by Salt 'N' Pepa feat. En Vogue is on it's way out of the top 50 altogether down seven to fifty.

"I Can See Clearly Now" by Jimmy Cliff is also on the precipice of a chart exit down nine to forty nine. 

Sliding eight to forty six is Cullture Shock's "Satisfy the Groove" while Roxette is doing some sleeping on the chart because "Sleeping In  My Car" is down twelve to foty two.

As I said we'll talk about East 17 again later in the new entries but their former number one "It's Alright" is down from thirty four to forty one this week. 

Chocolate Starfish are on the decline with "Mountain' on the tumble from twenty two thirty five. Prayer doesn't seem to be working for Take That as "Pray" stumbled from it's debut of twenty eight to thirty four.

"Dum Da Dum" by Melodie DC is on the down da down as it collapsed from seventeen to thirty three while Zhane's "Groove Thang" fell seven spots to twenty eight.

Wrapping up our losers is former number one hit "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion down six to seventeen and former top ten hit "Without You" by Mariah Carey down six to sixteen.

Gains

We've got a few gains this week with the biggest coming for The Poor with "More Wine Waiter Please" up ten to thirteen. Am surprised this song is catching on!.

D:Ream broke into the top twenty again with "U R The Best Thing" climbing from twenty six to nineteen. 

I'm pleased that "Hip Hop Holiday" by 3 The Hard Way is up nicely from thirty one to twenty six but not thrilled it took "Whoomp (There It is)" by Tag Team up from thirty three to twenty seven...bitch please.

Also what's the go with Electric Hippies getting a six place gain to thirty with "Greedy People"? Come on now. Kulcha's "Shaka Jam" climbed to thirty seven from forty one.

Re Entries

One re entry before the new songs with "It's My Life" by Dr Alban back at forty eight...why?

New Entries

44. "Light My Fire" by Club House feat. Carl

So when I saw the name of this song, I got terrified, I thought it was going to be a cover of The Doors classic song (a song I don't care for) but as it turns out we got an electronic house song from Italian group Club House who brought Italian American singer Carl on board for this song and...I don't really think it's per se bad but there's just not a lot to it with the lyrics adding up to two sentences "Baby, come light my fire" and "burn baby burn" over this decently mixed groove. It's definitely not terrible but more for the clubs than anything else. 

43. "Laid" by James

So James, a British rock band hailing from Manchester, debut in the top half of the charts and I got to be honest I was a bit leery of this song but as it turns out..."Laid" just might be one of the best rock songs of 1994 so far and yes that does include "Mountain" by Chocolate Starfish...that's how good I think it is!. I love the vocals that tell the story of a loud couple having sex but she can only cum when she is on top and from there it's violence and him realizing she's so dominant that he can't live without her and wnats her to comeback home. The instrumentation just gives this song an added power with the gentle swell that always supports the vocals but never overpowering them. Great song!

40. "Girls and Boys" by Blur

Looks like this week is the week of British rock music becaiuse we have another rock band out of Britain here, this time Blur and I have to be honest I am not as bigger fan of all the electronic touches around this song and that chorus is just fucking annoying at the end of the day, it's just disconnected chanting. Yeesh...skip it.

23. "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet

Okay so the pop act responsible from some pretty intensely gooey music in the late eighties is back (Don't deny, you remember the cringe fest that was "Sweet Surrender" back in 1989) and given the title I had my expectations really low (keeping in mind it's cover of a The Troggs 1967 song) and yeah, those low expectations were thoroughly met!. Folks, if you like music that is more mushy than that cereal covered in milk in the morning and possibly even more mushy and unflattering than Bryan Adam's number one hit "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" than you have found your ideal song and probably a song that will get overused as brides nervously walk down the aisle silently hoping they don't trip over the hem over their overlong wedding dresses (the song was recorded for the "4 Friends and a Wedding movie)

The most i can be nice about this song is at least it has some nice instrumention and swell that makes the song feel bigger than the slog it really is. The lyrics make the song incredibly unrealistic, it's written on the wind? Really? Didn't know we could now send messages of sexual harassment via a gentle breeze! 

Anyway. I cannot stand this song, it's too gooey and cutesy for it's own damn good. 

7. "Around the World" by East 17

And we end the week on a British note because we have the new song from East 17 and to their credit, this song is gentler and not as migraine inducing as "It's Alright". I still don't think the rapping is anything to write home about and I do wish that the vocals were a bit louder in the mix but overall there's something nice about this ballad that relies more on harmonies, piano and percussion to get the song across. Could be better but could be a lot worse.

That was our week and honestly, "Laid" by James just runs away with the best of the week. Close go for the worst of the week but I think considering how annoying the hook is on "Boys and Girls" by Blur...it gets it ahead of "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet which really is just mush with the consistency of diarrhoea.

All 4 1994. 5th June Pray and Disarm Beautiful Lonely Dance Experience

 Look, I am definitely not thrilled about some shifts in the top ten this week. Geezus christ, Australia, what the fuck? Anyway, enough preamble, let's dive into the top ten before we get to the rest of the chart so you can see what I am grumbling about. I am not unhappy that "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by The Symbol aka Prince remains at number one but one wonders for how much longer.

Especially as we do have "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka jumped one spot to number two and here's where my complaints begin because up four places to number three is "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies...like come on...there's so much better in the top 50 this week that deserve this slot

Worst part is it pushed former chart topper "The Sign" by Ace of Base down two spots to number four. 

Even more depressingly "Doop" by Doop continues it's run up one to number five. it did move ahead of the live version of Metallica's "One" which slipped to number six. 

Toni Braxton's "Breathe Again" looks to be on the way out of the top ten down three to number seven while "I'll Remember" by Madonna remains rooted to the number eight space.

In better news, Eternal's "Stay" has arrived in the top ten up two to number nine, it actually pushed "Without You" by Mariah Carey down one to number ten.

Losers

Speaking of losers, "Loser" by Beck sits on the cusp of leaving the top fifty down fourteen to fifty. "Animal" by Pearl Jam skidded twelve spots to forty five while "I'm Ready" by Tevivn Campbell also got hit with a twelve place fall to forty four.

Salt 'n' Pepa's "Whatta Man" feat. En Vogue slumped twelve spots to forty three whiile Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly  Now" slid eleven to forty 

Former number one "It's Alright" by East 17 slumped from twenty seven to thirty four while "Twist and Shout" by Chaka Demus & Pliers featuring Jack Radics and Taxi Gang got kicked down eight to thirty two (I like to this its because the song blows)

"Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen slumped from sixteen to twenty seven.

Gains

"Satisfy The Groove" by Culture Shock rebounded up eight to thirty eight while the only other major gain came for The Poor with "More Wine Waiter Please" up twelve to twenty three. 

New Entries

Five new entries this week, let's begin with...

48. "Disarm" by Smashing Pumpkins

Ahh time to talk about Billy Corgan and co with the third single from Smash Pumpkins second album "Siamese Dream", the dramatic instrumentation here gives way to some rather confronting and gritty lyrics about Corgan's toxic relationship with his parents with the production lending weight to that toxic dynamic that was going on in Corgan's childhood. In short, I do wish Corgan was a bit louder in the mix but this song get's point across well. Check it out. 

37. "I Wanna Dance" by Melodie MC

As somebody who was very surprised at how much I liked "Dum Da Dum", I had some hope for this and well...I am not a fan of this as much as I would like to be, the beat is just not even that good here and feels like it curdles a bit while the female vocals are turned down in the mix which feels like an odd choice...yeah not a song I am keen to revisit...that's all. 

28. "Pray" by Take That.

Ahh, I was wondering when we'd get new music from Take That and yeah, this is actually pretty good! I like the harmonies that are through out the song even if the song is a bit cliched all about wanting to be apart of this girl's life at some point again but the instrumentation matches that hope, it's bright and doesn't overpower any of the group's voices. It might be cliched to hell and back but I dig this song. Definitely worth checking out.

18. "Lonely" by Frente

The band behind "Accidentally Kelly Street" are back and with a change of sound, this one is a bit darker and more eclectic sounding (although Frente have always been a bit eclectic with their sound) and I don't know why I don't like this as much as I probably should, it just doesn't click for me especially if the song is trying sound alone or as lonely as Angie Hart makes it come across. I don't think it's bad...just not for me

16. 'The Beautiful Experience (EP)" by The Symbol

Yeah, ya all know I like our current number one, nothing more to reiterate here, if you like "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" than this is definitely worth checking out. 

That's our week and worst of the week is going to "I Wanna Dance" by Melodie MC. Best...yeah, you know what? "Pray" by Take That is getting it but it was close...Smashing Pumpkins have a good song in "Disarm" 

All 4 1994. 29th May

 New week and we have some changes at the top and while the new entries seem a bit lean, I'll take quieter week on that front but let's get straight to the top ten where the big story is that we have a brand new number one with The Symbol aka Prince riding to the top with "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and it might not even last long at the top given what appears to be rising. 

It did however push "The Sign" by Ace of Base back to number two as sales finally slowed down and it couldn't match the momentum of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World".

Proving a memorable hook will get you high on the charts is "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka which jumped one spot to number four as it moved past "Breathe Again" by Toni Braxton at number four.

Much to my surprise the live version of "One" by Metallica remained at number five while "Doop" by Doop also stayed at number six.

Climbing three places to number seven is the utterly annoying now "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies. We do not need to make this a hit, people. 

Down one to number eight is "I'll Remember" by Madonna as it seems to be losing stream early while "Without You" by Mariah Carey remains at number nine.

Finally, down two to number ten is former chart topper "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion.

Losers

So let's rip through our big losers this week with "Cornflake Girl" by Tori Amos on the way out likely having secured her place on the year end list down fourteen to forty eight. 

"Down nine to forty five is "Let Me Show You" by K-Klass while former chart topper "It's Alright" by East 17 slipped nine to twenty seven.

Gains

Lets dive into the big gains and my god we had some climbers up stream this week, let's start with "I Believe" by Marcella Detroit which still sounds way too much like an ad for nappies but it's up eleven places to fifteen. 

Breaking into the top twenty is  "Groove Thang" by Zhane which climbed from twenty three to seventeen. 

I am thrilled to see "Hip Hop Holiday" by 3 the Hard Way up ten to number thirty, unfortunately Electric Hippies got an eleven place boost for "Greedy People" to thirty seven but at least "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms got a boost from forty six to thirty nine.

Re-Entries

One re entry with "To The Top" by Peter Andre back at forty nine

New Entries

47. "When The Shit Goes Down" by Cypress Hill

Another song from Cypress Hill and honestly while I like the production, there's a groove and melody there that does work but dear god does that stuffy nosed and nasal vocal delivery do nothing for me especially when it's a song about being tough and ready for things to go down. Think I'll skip this. 

40. "I LIke To Move It" Reel 2 Reel feat. The Mad Stuntman

Ughh. This is the one I was dreading this one so this comes from an American solo project from Edrick Morillo who is known as Reel 2 Reel, he has teamed up with Trindad and Tobago rapper The Mad Stuntman for this song and yeah again, it's a more North American take on Eurodance especially as this song does feel somewhat more obnoxious especially as it's hook is literally just "I like to move it move it". Empty party hype song is what this is but I guess if it gets the job done for you than you'll like it better than I do. 

35. "More Wine Waiter Please" by The Poor

Ending off this week on some Australian hard rock from out of the Northern Territory and yeah this song goes rather hard, the guitars shred and honestly reminds me a lot of Rose Tatttoo. I am definitely on board with the sound here and while I am not overly wild about the vocals, I think this more than not so yeah check this out.

It's the best of the week easily. Worst of the week goes to "When Shit Goes Down" by Cypress Hill

All 4 1994. 22nd May. One Shaka Jam Hip Hop Holiday Mama Said

 So we got a return to the busy and insane chart turnover with multiple new entries and business up and down the chart but let's start as per normal with our top ten where as it as been for the last few weeks. "The Sign" by Ace of Base remains at number one but it's got a new challenger as it's sales slowed down.

Who is that challenger? It's Prince aka The Symbol with "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" rising one to number two, it's gaining momentum and is definitely forming the foundations of being a chance fot the top spot.

It moved past "Breathe Again" by Toni Braxton which moved down one spot to number three as it's sales are no longer all that competitive and it looks to have peaked across the board, this paves the way for stronger songs to move up in the weeks ahead like "Right in the Night" by Jam & Spoon feat Plavka which moved up four spots to number four, this definitely has the base move higher in the weeks ahead.

Then we have a new entry in at number five with the live version of "One" by Metallica.I'll talk about this song later in the new entries but this is here because Metallica do tend to debut high thanks to strong sales.

Up three spots to number six unfortunately is "Doop" by Doop...sigh...sales are strong and this looks to be going nowhere else but up over the next few weeks.

Remaining steady at number seven is "I'll Remember" by Madonna which just couldn't make up ground on the songs above it but it's not under threat from "The Power of Love" by Celine Dion which slipped three places to number eight this week. 

Mariah Carey's "Without You" is also on the downswing as it slipped four places to number nine. 

Finally completing our top ten is...unfortunately is "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies which got a massive sales boost this week to jumped fourteen places to number ten. 

Losers

Culture Beat's "Anything" slipped from thirty seven to fifty while K-Klass's "Let Me Show You" slumped from twenty nine to thirty six

"Can We Talk?" by Tevin Campbell fell eight to thirty five, Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly Now" collapsed eleven places to thirty two. 

"Loser' by Beck also got hit with a eight place drop to thirty one, "Whatta Man" by Salta 'n' Pepa feat. En Vogue fell nine to twenty eight. 

Gains

So we had a couple of big gains this week outside the top ten, lets start with the continued impressive gains for "Stay" by Eternal as it jumped from thirty one to sixteen. I am pretty happy about that!. 

"I'll Stand by You" by The Pretenders got a good jump from thirty four to nineteen, it's not a surprise as it's the sort of ballad that does well. 

"I Believe" by Marcella Detroit climbed from thirty three to twenty six, I still can't get past this song potentially being in a nappy ad. 

New Entries

48. "Greedy People" by Electric Hippies

So Greedy Hippies are an Australian psychedelic rock group with this song being the second single from their self titled debut album. I will say straight off that the cover art for this song made me laugh but it doesn't raise much hope of the song being good so what did we get with this? 

Well its probably more straight forward pop rock song with a lot of the psychedelic edges taken away as the song goes on about how rich and those power and wealth hungry will likely end up lonely as their greed upsets those who love them and,,,it's fine enough for what it is but the lack of anger at the greed especially when we're talking about capitalism is a little concerning here. Decent song but just lacks a little punch...that's all. 

46. "Hey Jealousy"  by Gin Blossoms

More rock now courtesy of American rockers Gin Blossoms with song from their 1989 album "Dusted" but ended up being re recorded for their 1992 album "New Miserable Experience", it was written by the band's ex guitarist Doug Hopkins and describes his attempts to get back with his ex because she was the best thing he ever had and he regrets hurting her with his cheating and drinking.

The song is a bit too self aware for it's own dang good but god damn, if ever there was a song that knows it screwed up and does it well enough, it's this one, check it out if you are curious. 

43. "Shaka Jam" by Kulcha

So some Australian R'n'B courtesy of group Kulcha with this song being the lead single coming from their self titled debut album and honestly while it's a pretty cute hype track, this sounds like a very early nineties r'n'b jam that is still hanging on to the new jack swing sound a little too hard especially when it's trying so hard to be this sexual party song but shouting "Boom Shaka Shaka jam" is beyohd distracting. Cute song that just doesn't quite click. 

40. "Hip Hop Holiday" by 3 The Hard Way

So from that we swerve iuto New Zealand hip hop from Kiwi trio 3 the Hard Way with this song being their debut release and I do like that they twisted the hook of 10cc's "Dreadlock Holiday to "We don't like hip hop (yeah no)...We love it (yeaaahhh) and honestly it's just a song pumping up hip hop and you know what? I love it even with what sounds like an interpolation of "Informer" by Snow on the second verse. I'll take this. Fun stuff. 

38. "Mama Said Knock You Out" by Defryme

Back to Australian rock we go and this time, it's a harder closer to metal sound from Victorian group Defryme and good lord this is bad, not only is the vocal delivery cartoonishly forced in the rap forces to the shrieks of "Mama said knock you out" on the hook over instrumentation that really doesn't fit the vibe the vocals are going for. It's just juvenile and not in a good way...next!

5. "One (Live)" by Metallica

So because I have already reviewed this song, I am going to keep it pretty short by repeating my thoughts from "Lookin' Fine 89". It's a dark, sad song that really does paint war and the impacts of it it on individual human beings in a dark but extremely powerful light, it's almost as though the song was designed for the music and the lyrics to take a backseat to the recordings that are played through out the song. May we never forget the horroes that war brings with it and is never the answer. Great song by Metallica, check it out. 

Howver it's not the best of the week...that's going to "Hip Hop Holiday" by 3 The Hard Way. Worst of the week goes to Defryme for "Mama Said Knock You Out"