Hits 21 - 1990 (2): Sinead O'Connor, Beats International, Snap!

Episode Date: October 13, 2024

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21! It's time for a new season: Hits 21 - The 90s. At the roundtable from now on it's Rob, Andy, and Ed, with Lizzy stepping aside for the next while. This week we've got Sinead O'Connor covering Prince, the last gasp of the 80s and the first breath of the 90s, and we come across a song that's survived a 34-year assault by British TV advertisement. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

The End Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21, the 90s, where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, Ed are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us, you can. You can find us over on Twitter, we are at Hits21UK, that is at Hits21UK and you can email us too. Send it on over to Hits21Podcast at gmail.com. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1990. This week we'll be covering the period between the 28th of January and the 7th of April.

So we are covering a much larger period than last week. I think we barely got through a month last week. In fact, we didn't even finish the end of January, but in this one we're gonna skip forward a couple last week. In fact we didn't even finish the end of January but in this one we're going to skip forward a couple of months. Last week the poll winner it was shared between hanging tough and tears on my pillow. They took it pretty pretty confidently from band A2 actually. Right then so it is time to press on with this week's episode and here are some news headlines from around the time the songs we're covering in this episode were at number one in the UK.

Nelson Mandela walks to freedom after leaving Victor Vestor Prison where he had spent 27 years behind bars and the UK and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after eight years. Diplomatic ties were obviously broken off after Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982. 14 people are killed as storms hit Britain in February, with the worst affected areas being in North Wales. 200,000 people take part in the poll tax riots in London, resulting in 400 arrests. I think we maybe should have pointed out quite just how far away we are that Margaret Thatcher is still the Prime Minister at this point, folks. And in other news, one person is killed and over 200 are injured during the Strangeways prison

riot in Manchester, which lasts for 25 days. Three people are injured when a bomb explodes in Leicester city centre, the perpetrators of the attack were quickly revealed to be the Irish Republican Army, and the Hubble telescope launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida after being in development for almost 50 years. These films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Black Rain for two weeks, Honey I Shrunk the Kids for three weeks, Born on the Fourth of July for three weeks and War of the Roses for two weeks.

Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini renews the fatwa on British author Salman Rushdie, which was imposed last year following controversy over his book The Satanic Verses. And the Crystal Maze debuts on the BBC, hosted by Richard O'Brien. Now it's the 90s, Crystal Maze, yeah. Staying with the BBC, Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp make their debuts as Phil and Grant Mitchell in EastEnders. The Australian science fiction kids comedy Round the Twist airs on CBBC, but it's the end of Blankety Blank presented by Les Dawson as the quiz show begins a seven year hiatus.

Andy, the UK album charts, how are they doing? It's interesting this because I have to pick up directly from last week more so than usual because last week we covered the fact that Phil Collins with dot dot dot but seriously was at number one for the first whole month of the year and the last month of 1989 that had been number one for eight weeks before the Christians knocked it off for one week but we start this period with a further seven weeks at number one for But Seriously by Phil Collins which means that the 16 weeks between 2nd of December and 3rd of February were entirely taken up apart from that one

week with Phil Collins at number one atop the albums chart. Dark times, dark times. Yeah. But finally, finally it's toppled in the middle of March by Sinead O'Connor, who I hope we get to talk about there at some point, with I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, which went double platinum and was number one for one week. That's then replaced at the top for just one week by Changes Bowie by David Bowie which went only gold, only gold, a rarity in those days. And then finally seeing out this period it's two weeks at the top and quadruple platinum for The Carpenter's greatest hits album only yesterday which that's interesting because it's actually only seven years at this point since Karen Carpenter passed away. So there's still quite a lot of interest in the legacy of the Carpenters at this point.

So that goes number one for two weeks and like I said goes four times platinum. So yes, very mixed bag this week. We've got Bowie, we've got The Carpenters, Sinead O'Connor and Phil Collins. We nearly had it 4 for 4 there. Never mind, you can't have everything, can you? Ed, how are the states doing? I will start with the albums, or should I say the album, because one single album dominates the top of the charts for the whole of February and March 1990.

Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl is on top of the charts for nine weeks. It only made number three in the UK. And I don't think I know anything about that album. I'll be quite honest. Paula Abdul, complete blind spot for me. But yeah, singles, bit more complicated. We're still with Michael Bolton for an additional week,

making three weeks total. Didn't quite hit the top in the UK. I don't know if that's a sad thing or not, because again, no idea what the song's like. Opposites a track by Paula Abdul and the Wild Pear for three weeks. That actually reached UK number two, though. So it's very nearly- It's a decent song, actually it's pretty good I think. Kazan dressed like a cat

sorry that's a family guy thing. Oh is that the one with the cat video? Yeah one step forward and two steps back yeah it's a good song yeah. I got that kind of muddled up in my mind with Oliver and company I think but never mind. It's very it is very similar to Streets of Gold from Oliver and Company. You're not the only ones who've picked that one up. Glad to hear you say that, yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure. But, yeah, things, well at least from my vantage point, look a bit, a bit more sprightly for March, with a couple of, a couple of tracks I'm rather fond of, I must say. For three weeks we have Escapade by Janet Jackson, which actually only reached 17 in the UK.

And then finishing it off, finishing March Off, we've got two weeks at the top for Black Velvet by Alana Miles. So that almost reached the top here. There's actually a lot of sort of synchronicity in the charts but not quite there it was number two in the UK although it did go platinum here so it was very popular. An additional little stat there by the way about Forever Your Girl is that it was released in 1988 and it hit number one 64 weeks after its

debut on the chart which is the longest an album has ever been on the market before hitting number one in America. And I will say that 1988 is the year that Oliver and Company came out. It's not a coincidence. It's really not. And it's also the year that that new Kids on the Block album came out. So we really are just dealing with the sort of the last gust of the 80s here. Well thank you both very much for those reports and we are going to move on now to our first song this week which is... this. It's been seven hours and fifteen days Since you took your love away I can go out every night and sleep all day

Since you took your love Since you've been gone I can do whatever I want I can see whomever I choose I could eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant But nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues Cause nothing compares Nothing compares to you OK, this is Nothing Compares To You by Sinead O'Connor. Released as the lead single from her second studio album, we heard about it before, titled I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, Nothing Compares

to You is Sinead O'Connor's fifth single overall to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one. However, as of 2024, it is her last. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by Prince and the Family in 1985. Nothing compares to You first entered the UK chart at number 30, reaching number 1 during its third week on the chart. It stayed at number 1 for... FOUR WEEKS! 4 weeks. Across its 4 weeks atop the charts it sold 425,000 copies. Along the way it beat competition from Get Up by Technotronic, Happening All Over Again by Lonnie Gordon, and I Wish It Would Rain Down by Phil Collins, Walk On By by Sybil, and Instant Replay by Yell, Do

Be Good To Me by Beats International, I Don't Know Anybody Else by Black Box and Live Together by Lisa Stansfield, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You by Michael Bolton and Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Nothing Compares To You dropped 1 place to number 2. It initially left the charts in April 1990 but re-entered the charts in 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2023, spending a total of 22 weeks. Inside the top 100, the song is currently officially certified 2 times platinum in the UK. As of 2020, 2024, Andy

kick us off with Sinead O'Connor. I had no idea that Enjoy the Silence was in contention, that got so close that that did really well. And that's my dad's favourite song ever, so I'm disappointed that we can't discuss that. It is a good one. It's a great song, great song. I really like it too, yeah. As for this, straight out of the gate, no surprises, I really like this.

This is the kind of thing that's sort of made for me to be honest. But what I found particularly interesting is that there's a lot about this where if it was just slightly different, I perhaps wouldn't be a fan of this. And I think the production is the star of this and I think there's certain decisions that are made that really do turn this into a classic when it could have been a total damn squib as far as I'm concerned. Most notably the percussion. I think the thing I really love about this song is that drive and beat really carrying us all the way through this that really makes you kind of want to sway and sing along to the chorus and there's a thing around this time, more of the late 80s and early 90s things, but there's a thing around this time where some artists naming no names are Mr. Philip

Collins, who are allergic to percussion, who really like have this languid free form quality to ballads like this that I could absolutely imagine this song having, that it would just be sort of loose and contemplative in that way. The fact it's got this banger beat behind it just completely transforms it and I really really like that. I think this is interesting that it was of course originally written by Prince but made famous by Sinead O'Connor and I think both those ideas in my head are just equally valid. It's very unusual for me to hear two versions of a song and two different artists for a song that are just

both perfectly aligned with this. I can totally, totally see this for both Prince and Sinead O'Connor, where usually one trumps the other completely. But I think that this really works for both of them. And I really like Sinead O'Connor's take on it, just because it's so kind of raw and bold. And she really like Shereeda Khan's take on it just because it's so kind of raw and bold and she really throws herself into this. It's really, really lovely to listen to. Her voice suits this perfectly and like I say the production, the very wide kind of

space that exists in this is really, really nice to listen to. I don't love everything about it, I think it goes on for much too long to be honest but that's There's not much more that I don't love about it to be honest Another point of praise, something I'm always harping on about which people who listen to The Naughty Show are probably aware of that I have this thing about verses and choruses that I don't like it when choruses carry the whole song and verses are an afterthought. This is sort of the opposite with this song that most of the song is verses and bridges

apart from that fade out at the end with the repeats of the chorus. Most of the sort of first two thirds of the song is these very long verses and then just a quick, it's not really even a chorus, it's just a refrain of the nothing compares to you line. But you've got these really melodic, really kind of big arcs in the verses that I think are really interesting to listen to.

They're easily, you know, sing alongable in their own right. And I think that always lifts any kind of song, really. There's a lot of things that are particularly pet likes, if you like, of mine that I really liked hearing in this one. So it gets a lot of extra bonus points that otherwise wouldn't have got. I don't think it's perfect. And like I said, I think it's sort of our stage is welcome. And I don't think it's up there with the very greatest songs of the era.

But I don't think it's any surprise for anyone to hear that. I think this is so far above the other three songs from last week that it's not even funny, to be honest. Easily the best song of 1990 so far above the other three songs from last week that it's not even funny to be honest. Easily the best song of 1990 so far. Let's see how long that holds because this is a good one. I completely agree Andy I think that this song is just the more and more I've listened to it this week the more and more I've found it to just be so beautiful. I think the way that it expresses the scenarios in the beginning of the song, they feel kind of uncommon for breakup hits, you know, like eating dinner in a fancy restaurant, going

out and sleeping all day, seeing whomever she chooses. You know, the phrasing of certain lyrics is sort of off kilter and it kind of ducks the cliche that's flying at its head. Like even the way the time is phrased in the opening line, it's seven hours and 15 days, when I would always phrase it the other way around. You know, 15 days and seven hours. Like, you know, you get the sense that Sinead's life is split into two eras before and after this breakup. You know, it makes me more curious about the story.

It makes me want to learn more and hear more from Sinead's protagonist about what's happened here. And even the reveal that kind of at the end, it makes me want to learn more and hear more from Sinead's protagonist about what's happened here. And even the reveal that kind of at the end, you know, that yes, it's a breakup song, but it's also a song about grief in general. You know, either grieving a relationship or like a lost parent, you know,

it's a bittersweet and interesting note to kind of leave it on. Kind of reminds me of another Prince song actually that he did obviously for the Bangles, Manic Monday Monday where a song about not wanting to go to work on Monday suddenly stops and it's revealed that she's only so tired because on Sunday night her boyfriend was like come on baby who cares about work in the morning sort of thing and it keeps you guessing and waiting and wondering for another twist or revelation and behind her that instrumental is so hypnotic and it weeps and it teeters over the edge of dream pop. I think the whole time

it leaves Sinead all vulnerable and exposed to give a suitably kind of tortured and emotional performance and in the end I think the point of the song is that you can fill your life up with so much stuff, but if you've lost that life source of another person, then what's it all worth? And is there a way to fill that hole if the person isn't there anymore? I think it's why the music video was so successful and iconic as well because there's nothing to distract you really. You just have to stare back at Sinead's like ashen but beautiful androgynous face and those really big green-grey eyes. I think if I had a mark against this, I agree with you Andy,

that the bridge section that comes in around the three-minute mark with the strings, the... that should just be the end. That should be the outro. It should fade out at that point. I don't think it needs the last minute. It doesn't really provide anything new after that point. I feel like the bridge section is such an effective and tearful farewell, but I don't mind another go round of the chorus really. So yeah, I think this is beautiful and touching and emotional and definitely passionate I absolutely prefer it to the original so Ed how do you feel how do you feel? Right okay devil's advocate here Andy you're absolutely right this this this slaughters anything we had on the show last week. It is obviously a better track.

It is a good track. However, it is super interesting that you said that the production and arrangement was really what elevated it for you. Because weirdly I kind of have an inverse relationship. I mean, my original like shorthand notes just say, great song, good performance, the arrangement and production kind of kills it a bit for me. Really? That might seem like absolute sacrilege

in some ways but again it's just it's entirely how we hear production and what we consider to be supportive production. Maybe I was just expecting something else but now just the positives here yeah Andy to echo what you said Sinead's vocal it's very bold it's very demanding and compelling in this I actually like what they do with the chorus compared to the Prince version here. They add it so it moves harmonically with each word, she says almost, and it's really it creates a sort of focal point for the chorus so it doesn't sort of remain on a plane as it were. And I think yes, it does

really wring every ounce of grief out of the potential of the original track And it does it does sound like a deathly solemn track Okay now to be an asshole and I Think this has more mood and it has more space and more atmosphere than anything We covered last week, but on more so than the other two tracks we will cover this week, this does sound and not necessarily in a way that I think is particularly positive.

It sounds like the last gasp of the 80s. I do definitely agree with that actually. I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing, but this did surprise me that this came out in 1990. would never have guessed that actually I would have thought 86 87 for this yeah well or at the least I think 89 I mean and it's not purely the you know I would say the fault of this track that it's going for this what I would consider to be a slightly pompous, like Hollywoodized arrangement, but done on the kind of cheap, on the midi cheap as it were, and just smothered in reverb and echo. I mean

it might be partly atmospheric, but in some ways it kind of reminds me when I very first started trying to produce my own music and I'd have shitty VSTs that came free with something and I was like, well these violins sound like turd, I'll just smear them with all of this Vaseline and people won't notice but the problem is you get to that middle section and the tackiness of the sounds involved just really comes through and what is the deal with that violin break? I mean, everyone's kind of hinted at it in a way, but it's not that it's just, you know,

it doesn't really do anything fresh and the song should end. It's like there's a track missing because it goes on for quite a long time and it starts off kind of a bit bare bones with a bit of a sort of wiggly crying cat fake violin sound like but then it sort of just sort of stops a bit and it's just down to the bare bones of the backing track until the Sinead starts singing again it's like oh is this just a minute silence i'm not

not 100 sure but there's a there's a sort of, widescreen pompous solemnity to this. And I keep basically reiterating the same thing. And I kind of keep imagining that towards the end, the beat's going to pick up a bit and we're going to get a gospel choir. It's going like, Nothing compares. Nothing compares. compares nothing compares like a bit of a like a prayer scenario or something but you know that was the sort of late 80s style for a for a balladic piece I think

and you know been listening to a lot of Trevor Horn stuff recently I think an amazing producer who has reinvented himself with the times over and over again. And listening to the big hits he had at the tail end of the eighties, they haven't aged great. They're very, you know, ponderous and echoey and full of sort of world music gestures. And it's, yeah, it's, I'm just,

I'm glad to be seeing the last of that sort of era of, of, of production personally, but I've dwelt on this too long now. There are a couple of other things that I noticed, like, I actually think Sinead's vocal would benefit more from being just single track, bare. It's not like she's got a loud track to fight against. But what they've done is they've made her like triple track, her own vocal. And so it sounds quite abrasive and phasey in places. And I mean, I know, yeah, she's got a very deliberately rough edged, you know, full on voice in the first place, but I don't think it helps.

It's just another element of smearing. I'd like to be a bit closer to the song. I'd like it to be a bit more intimate, but that's just me. But yeah, look, this is all just whittling about the point. It is fundamentally, it's a really good track and she gives a really good vocal, but it really, I really don't think much of the setting I think I think it could have had a bit more effort and a bit more

um production value put into it but that's that's just me I think what you've said there about the production actually has made me think that like this episode is gonna have a big sea change in like two minutes and the next two songs I feel like a better representations of what the 90s eventually goes on to sound like and it is a huge kind of about turn because yeah I do I mean obviously this will have been mostly done through the 80s because it was only released in March 90. I'm not going to knock a mark off for this and I wasn't even going to mention it actually

because I thought it might be a bit trivial but what the hell if I'm not trivial. To you. Could it not be the actual words? I don't know why that drives me so mad that it's to you. I think it's just a Prince thing because you've got when two are in love from around this time off love sexy and one that I can't mention but it's two N words united for West Compton. He likes using numbers and text speak and well early examples of text speak.

Don't like that. I guess even things like you got the look and things like that you know it's just always been a thing of his I guess you sexy MF so he just started dropping words do you lie I wonder you yeah so it's yeah it's always been I don't like that I don't like that yeah I'm not like in a grumpy old man way I just I just like correct grammar that's all yes in a grumpy old man, yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about. Yes. Right then, we will move on to our second song this week, which is... This!

Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty You're listening to the boy from the big bad city This is jam high This is Jam High Friends tell me I am crazy That I feel you're already mine Whenever you're with me People always talk about Okay, this is Dub Be Good To Me by Beats International. Released as the lead single from the group's debut studio album titled Let Them Eat Bingo, Dub Be Good To Me is Beats International's first single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, however as of 2024 it is their last. The single is a reinterpretation

of the song Just Be Good To Me, which was originally recorded by the SOS band and that reached number 13 in the UK in 1983. Dove Be Good To Me first entered the UK chart at number 15, reaching number one during its fourth week on the chart. It stayed at number one for...four weeks! Across its four weeks atop the charts, it sold 261,000 copies, beating competition from The Brits 1990 by various artists, Elephant Stone by The StoneoneRoses, Infinity by Guru Josh and Downtown Train by Rod Stewart, Moments in Seoul by JT and the Big Family, That Sounds Good to Me by Jive Bunny and the Master Mixers, Love Shack by B-52s, Blue Savannah by Erasure and Lily Was Here by David A. Stewart and I'll Be Loving You Forever by New Kids on the Block.

When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Dub Be Good to Me fell 4 places to number 5. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 13 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2024. Ed, how do we feel about Dubb Be Good To Me? Well, it's the 90s, isn't it? Yes. As you were saying, for better or worse, this is very different. And I can't speak for the last few number ones of the 80s. I'd need to have my

memory jigged in that regard, but I think this was pretty fresh chart-wise, this sort of thing. However, that's not to say I'm going to be sort of lavish in my praise because there's a lot to like here. There's a lot I like. First off, just to mention one of the tracks I was thinking of, the Trevor Horn tracks I was thinking of was Downtown Train, which was like an inter, you know, international super hit. But anywho. Yeah, this introduces the kind of dancehall dub thing to the top of the charts. I take it it introduces it in a way that, you know, while four weeks at number one seems a little wild to me now,

I guess it really was a bit unusual at the time. And I like what it's trying to do a lot. And I like it in principle and the breath of fresh air that it brings. However, this feels like the kind of thing and the sort of fusion that would be done better very quickly. I mean, it's not quite the same, you know, exact measurements, but, you know, within the year we're going to get Massive Attack coming onto the scene with their debut single and then the album that followed

which just sounds so much more advanced and a bit less novelty than this in the way it fuses elements because there is a sort of an element of novelty to this. It's a bit kind of third hand because that bass riff, the dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, that is already taken from a kind of novelty dub song on London Calling, Guns of Brixton, so that was already sort of a few steps removed and it's like, oh, what's a dub sounding riff everyone will know? The Clash. And yeah, I like some of the samples and things. I'm

always a sucker for Ennio Morricone, so I love the harmonica sting from Once Upon a Time in the West, although it just reminds me that we should all be watching Once Upon a Time in the West right now. In fact, should we just sack this off? Because that's a really, really good movie. But anyway, yeah, the other issue is a little bit that it's just a personal thing. The SOS bands, Just Be Good To Me is amazing, in my opinion. And I mean like the full sort of eight minute version of it. I absolutely love that. And that sounds, you know, on dated and vast and futuristic in a way that this doesn't. This sounds a little more, it sounds slightly flimsy and a little bit tinny

and happy go lucky by dub dance hall standards. It's, yeah, it's a bit, it's a bit lightweight but it pleases me to see this kind of fusion on the charts. Yeah, I'm finding it hard to go too in-depth about this to be honest. I think sometimes we just come across songs on the podcast where my emotional connection is pretty small but I just kind of sit back and appreciate the artistry and I appreciate that it's just a well-constructed pop song. I don't have much of a personal connection but whenever that tank, fly, boss, walk bit,

that comes in I'm like yeah I could do with some of this, like whatever this is that it's about to give me and it does that job for three and a half minutes. I'm delighted that this song and the next one are so built so much on samples and collaging and a little bit of plundered phonics and you know that this feels like the 90s coming into view quite quickly after last week because sampling is such a special art form that roots this era of pop squarely and you know proper post-modernism and sampling is such a a wonderful thing and it's the more interesting side of postmodernism this I feel as opposed to last week where it's just covering songs

from the 50s and saying we're aware of this I feel like this is probably the moment where a lot of artists like you say Ed start to master it and a better stuff comes along quite quickly though it introduces the pop charts to Norman Cook though I guess and it's a nice performance from Lindy Layton too but yeah I just mostly look at this and think yeah pretty good well done. The thing that works best in its favour for me just personally is that this feels like a little bit of a precursor to Gorillaz. The dub elements and electronics mixed with the slightly drunken special styles melodica harmonica thing is very Clint Eastwood from about 11 years after this. I keep imagining Damon Albarn's going to breeze in with his like 2D character vocals and then like Roots maneuver would turn up and do a verse.

You know I think there's little bits of Soul to Soul in here as well from the year before, 88, 89, Soul to Soul. So I never feel that close to it and we may have to revisit this in the future for me to like decide how I feel about it. I feel like I need to spend a little bit more than a couple of weeks with it but I'm you know I'm mostly with this I am mostly with this. Andy you can finish off this segment how do we feel about Beats International? Yeah I don't actually have too much more to add because various points that both of you have made I completely agree with. I think Ed has articulated a lot of what I wanted to say far better than I had had it planned so I'm glad you went first there Ed. Very interesting point there Rob about Gorillaz with Clint Eastwood because definitely it

is very reminiscent of Clint Eastwood but the backstory of that I'm sure you both will have seen that video and it went sort of quite viral of Damon Albarn showing that the backing track in Clint Eastwood is literally just a preset completely untouched on a MIDI keyboard and those kind of things tend to be like 10 years out of date so it's quite possible that that literally was just aping off of this that preset that got used for Clint Eastwoods it might actually be the case. I think I agree as well with the point that it's not exactly the way you phrased it but we can overthink these things can't we that I think so much of just what defines an era

is personnel essentially. And we definitely all had a moan about stock acumen watermen last week, which is so much a defining feature of the late eighties. And here we have, it's Fatboy Slim, you know, who hears a defining sound of the nineties in British pop at least. It's just sort of a changing of

the guard really that just instantly sets the tone for what's to come and a lot of that is hindsight and I agree with the point that hindsight is quite cruel to this that it is quite good and it's innovative and fresh for the time but it exists in this very small little corridor in between different things and yes, we're not even that far away in the grad scheme of things from Fatboy Slim as a solo artist doing huge mega smashes that are a million miles ahead of this and that's only like seven years away and looking back on something like this, it's very easy to see it almost as novelty as kind of kitschy and tacky really, which it sort of is in retrospect unfortunately because this kind of sampling thing got old pretty quickly. But it's fun for the time and I can understand why this

was such a big hit, it's just been sort of wholesale replaced by things that came later, so it's not that interesting now unfortunately and I find it quite hard to connect to it. I did enjoy the various samples that made it into this though. The emphasis on that this is Jam Heart. It's just like, I really don't know why it's in there, but it really hooked me. And my sort of Simpsons quote of the week for that is Homer Simpson watching Twin Peaks going, brilliant brilliant I have no idea what's going on. That's how I feel about this is jam-hot thing there's just no idea why that works but that really works. So yeah I completely echo what both of you said really that this is sort of unfortunate that this is sort of little bit in between things really and it's been forgotten about because of that but I definitely

think this is a big step forward into the 90s both in terms of behind the scenes as it were and in front of the scenes as it were and I think we will look back on this one quite fondly as the decade unfolds I think. Or I think so, a lot of people will want the show to progress at this point. They will want the show to carry on and they will want us to play the third song. Now it's my choice whether the third song gets played. You might say I have... No, I'm not doing it.

Here's the third song this week. Here's the third song this week. It was I've Got the Power. Here it is. I've got the power Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, skin, gotta have it Like the crack of the whip, I snap attack front to back In this thing called rap, dig it like a shovel rhyme double On a heavily level, bang the bass, turn up the treble Radical mind day and night all the time, Southern 14, wise divine Maniac, brainiac, winner the game game I'm the lyrical Jesse James This is the Power by Snap, released as the lead single from the group's debut studio album titled World Power.

The Power is Snap's first single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number 1 and it's not the last time we'll be coming to Snap on this podcast. Oh yeah sorry you mispronounced the name, it's pronounced Snap. Snap! The Power first entered the UK chart at number 12, reaching number 1 during its second week on the chart. It stayed at number 1 for… TWO WEEKS!

In its first week atop the charts, it sold 57,000 copies, beating competition from Strawberry Fields Forever by Candy Flip, which climbed to number 3, and Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants which climbed to number 8, and in week 2 it sold 68,000 copies, beating competition from Vogue by Madonna which got to number 4, and Don't Miss the Party Line by Biz Niz which climbed to number 8, and Hang On to Your Love by Jason Donovan which got to number 9. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, the power dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 23 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK as of 2024 that baffled me I looked that up apparently it has had no

update to its certification since its release I don't know why I mean point to think it's in a bit better than that yeah I would say it's gotta be platinum by now Andy how do we feel about snap I'm completely on board with that by the way that whenever I read anything with an exclamation mark I feel like I hear the exclamation mark. Snap! Yes. Well, if we went in the early 90s already from Beats International, we certainly are now. You are absolutely, whichever one of you said it, you are absolutely right about

the sea change that's hit us this week. Can we believe that we're in the same year, mere weeks away from tears on my pillow last week? Like things have changed. And I know that it's not as straightforward as that and we've certainly got a bit more to trudge through in terms of the sort of ag end of the 80s stuff. But again, similar comments to W. Good to Me to be honest. It feels fresh, it feels new. It certainly again feels a little tacky and feels very dated but I really like quite a lot of this to be honest I think I'll start with my downsides which it's quite a big downside it does knock a few points off really which I think there's a lot of

empty space in this which is entirely the intent I think that's that's a stylistic choice it's just not one for me that it's a little minimal in terms of this sort of meat on the bones which does not mean that there's nothing to it and that it's a lazy piece of work because it's not at all there are a lot of elements to this I just feel like an awful lot of things could use it just a bit of a crank of reverb or something you know know, just, I think the guitar parts, well the synth guitar, whatever it is that, I just feel like that could do it just a little bit of just turn it up a little bit. And there's a lot of different parts of the production

that I feel that way about where it's just, it's quite a lot of empty space where I find it quite hard to actually imagine this in the club setting that it was designed for, people kind of losing it to this. It just feels like you'd have to turn the volume up quite loud for that to be the case to be honest again that's a stylistic choice this is something quite new and I'm a bit basic and follow the Big Beat Manifesto so I am gonna say that about this to be honest but like I say that's quite a big thing that I would hold against it but there is a lot that I really like love that voice love that voice because you could easily get away with something much more restrained in a production like

this but the fact that that comes to be so powerfully over the top I think actually that kind of minimal sound underneath there actually accentuates how good that vocal is at the top they're just screeching out I got I got the power! And that's the hook of the song obviously. I feel like I could do with a bit more of a hook throughout that's a little bit hard to emotionally connect with it in the same way as Beats International but those are my negatives really there's not that much more I have to say about about it in a negative way I really really like all those little bells and whistles that are thrown into this you've got that little cowbell bit at one point you've got little samples you've got little synth organs in the background a lot of work

has gone into this and I think although it probably gets labelled with a kind of throwback cheesy pop, you know, novelty factor these days, I think that's a shame because it's not, there is actually some really intelligent and really interesting production choices in this. Again, like basically all three of the songs this week it's got a beat that really slaps and it really kind of comes to life, which is a huge breath of fresh air after last week. And the other thing I'll say about this, which really colors my response to it entirely and I really just have to address, hopefully not the only one in the world who

just really cannot get gladiators out of their head when they hear this. This is completely gladiators for me. I think it was Shadow, it was one of the gladiators, I think it was Shadow who had this as their theme. They all had themes in a professional wrestling sort of way for those who didn't watch gladiators that when they won or when they got cheered on, the gladiator would come out to their song. I think Saracen had another one, Bites the Dust, and I think one of them had I Need a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. There was there was all sorts of like different themes that they had.

And this really like was a big one that was played a lot for that early 90s bastion of Gladiators, of course. And I was a huge fan of that show. So this is a really big, nostalgic one for me. And they also Gladiators, the show did this version of the theme tune that was really heavily inspired by this in a really bad way that they used to play out sometimes, I'll just put a link to it on their Twitter or something that they did this sort of soulful can you feel the power of the gladiators with that bap bap bap bap beat in the background and it's not good. It's not good at all. So that's sort of colored my view as well. But yes, again,

mostly complimentary about this. I think this is a nice step forward into the years we've got to come. I just kind of wish everything could kind of crank up a little bit more and let me dance and freak out a little bit more to it. But that's in retrospect really when there are much bigger bops of this sort to come. Erm... and yes, I do like this. I do like this quite a lot, yeah. Ed, the power, how we feeling? The power! Ooh... well...

Snap. You mean SNAP? No, I like the sibilance playing up at the end so that so snap yeah I love this I'll be honest I actually like this more than I thought I was going to I just basically remembered that riff and as you say it is this is a really really early 90s track it is firmly locked to the early 90s track. It is firmly locked to the early 90s, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's in a super fun way, the same way that I think something like Out of Space by Prodigy is, in a way. Well, it still sounds great. You

can still have a ball with it. It doesn't sound flimsy in a way. I mean, one thing I don't necessarily quite agree with you on is that the actual opening, you know, sawtooth guitar adjacent, but from a distance sound that plays through the track. I like how that's so skeletal and it has no base to it. It really is just a stylistic choice that I personally wouldn't have done. So I don't really hold it against the song that much. I completely recognize it's not inherently bad. It's just not what I would do, really.

So I do go on, yeah. Honestly, I do get it completely, yeah. Well, I mean, that's the name of the game. And it just, you know, it pretty much showed with me not going for the production on the first track when obviously that really clicked with other folk. It is completely subjective. But I think that that, you know, the thinness of the sound layer of that opening really

allows you to get punched in the face when the rhythm section comes in. You mentioned the bells and whistles and it is that kind of track but really effectively it's like oh what cool little surprise is going to come next where's this going to go next. But almost for me and this sounds so super bloody nerdy of me to say but it gave me a bit of a chill because I wasn't expecting it right at the end of the track there is a single bloody bass note that goes boom. And it's real sub bass in a way that I'm not entirely sure we would have heard in the charts up to this point, or even that a lot of like car speaker tech would have been able to pick that up. But it surprised me a little bit hearing proper sub bass rumble,

because I didn't think that came into chart music until like, you know, breathe by the prodigy or, you know, sexy boy or things like that in the mid to late nineties. But I'm realizing how influential this track is. As you say, the cowbell and all that stuff riding over the top, the use of dissonant vocals against that, it's like speaking a massive attack. I think they were listening to this. And I think that this was on their mind somewhere when they were doing Unfinished Sympathy, presuming of course that they actually aligned time-wise. But that's got the detuned soul vocals with the prominent sort of ting to ting like cowbell sort of part to it.

But yeah, it's just fun this and the way it proportions its elements out, like no bits actually go on for too long. You know, the rapper, you know, it's basically just syllables and it almost doesn't matter what he's rhyming about at all. It's not important, but he's got such a proper commanding big flow that it's perfect.

And this whole song is about that kind of wallop. It's like, don't get too cozy cause we we're gonna punch you in the face in a second. But there's a nice combination of full-on brute attack and that sort of soulful mellow aside and they nicely play off each other here. And yeah I think in many ways it's sort of... its bag of tricks is probably exhausted by about the three minute mark and it does probably just coast after that. But I really like this track and I think as dated as it is it's still a blast to listen to and it must have been bloody thrilling in 1990 I imagine.

Ed I'm totally with you on this. I think that despite how much the British TV advertising industry has tried to kill it, this still has a really striking impact upon landing. You know, the harsh electronics, the Jocelyn Brown sample, which she later sued Snap over because they cleared the sample eventually just before it was released in 1990. But it seems that Jocelyn Brown by sort of like late 2000s wasn't happy with what had happened and so there was a big campaign and she sued again and she won the court case but you know it's still an amazing use of the sample.

The I've got the power. It's just so instant. Yeah. Yeah. And the constant build up and build up of samples that pile on top of each other and then you of course you have that kind of, I don't even know what it is, I guess it's a hook I suppose, the overdriven guitar, the it just sounds like some kind of machinery clanking and it's musical collaging again and it works to a great effect i even think that like just at the point where you're like okay this is great but could you give me something more you know you get that kind of serviceable fun verse from turbo b oh i

thought it was turbo turbo can he fix it you don't want that! He seems to be doing his best Chuck D impression with about 60% of the impact. He's not the lyrical Jesse James but he is charismatic enough to keep the song peppy and I think it's testament to the track that despite hearing this for the first time over the years in little snippets on adverts for Tesco or B&Q or Pampers or tv shows like the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or films like Bruce Almighty it still contains a good solid amount of hype and excitement despite how much time has tried to destroy it. Like I just I feel like advertising it should be banned from being an advert. It's in an advert at the moment in that Tesco club card advert where you get the the old people miming I've got the power. Because we all know that old people doing outrageous things is funny.

So like, I'm happy that listening to the song aside from its context and trying to just get down to it, even with all of the 34 year history that it's had, and the fact that it's mainly been delivered to me via TV rather than radios or stereos, it hasn't really diminished the impact. I think, yeah, the verses are fine. Like you say, yeah, they're just kind of just syllables. They're just there to be, that they're there to provide a bit of distraction, but it's in and out pretty pretty fast I admittedly have only really listened to the single version I only really like listening to single versions that we cover on this because they're the versions that would have been on the radio they were the versions that made people go out and buy them but there is that longer version with the

Russian voice recording at the beginning and there's a slightly you know there's a couple of extended sections and stuff but i tend to like listening to the three and a half four minute versions of stuff on this show just like say just because that's the that's the thing that people listen to and thought right i'm gonna go and buy that based on what i've heard and then they may have bought the album later and found out there was a longer version but yeah i think this week has been a much better week than last week and it feels like we're in the 90s now it feels like we're there it didn't take long admittedly it felt a little bit like you know in the 2000s I

feel like it took a little bit longer than you know the 2000s still felt like there were lots of 90s hangovers sort of milling around and so I think we've got our shit together a bit faster and for it to be April and for us to be like, yeah, new decade, you know, this is what it sounds like, then yeah, I'm very much broadly positive about this week. And next week is probably even better, I think. I think next week is even stronger, which I'm even more pleased about. The first sort of like, you know, the spring to summer of 1990, I think it's got some good stuff going on. From summer to autumn into winter, less so.

So stay tuned! Next week, next week, it's so good that I think I might say that next week is absolutely killer Don't get it. It certainly put our world in motion And I can't think what to do with that Want to be fair ed though like we spent the first half of 2008 going got the back half of 2008 It's really shit and people stuck with us. So it's... And then that makes me feel worse, because, you know, we have an episode like last week

and I think, oh, they've been through enough. Oh, poor listeners, you know, we have to put them through this now instead. Ah. All right then, does anyone else have anything more to say about the songs we've covered in this week's episode? I have one, just one thing. Going back to the Sinead thing, I was wondering, you were mentioning the video when we talked about Nothing Compares to You. Do you think that song would have as much resonance if it weren't for the memory of

the video? Well, it was like, you know, the video was the big thing, wasn't it? Like that was the thing that kind of kept it at number one, you know, it was like, you know, the video was the big thing, wasn't it? Like that was the thing that kind of kept it at number one. You know, it was replayed on MTV constantly. Like I obviously I have no memory of this, but like the facts are there. Well, like during this year, it was like one of the most in demand music videos on MTV and top of the pops and all this stuff. So, yeah. But Andy, yeah.

I mean, yes, I do agree with Rob, but it has stuck around. Like it's never had any trouble with radio airplay. It's still a big hit just without the video. Still very much in the public consciousness. I think the video gave it a huge lift into people's living rooms in a way that it would not otherwise have achieved.

So it would not have been as big a hit, I don't think. But I think once it got there, it wasn't just about the video. I think the song justified its own existence. But yeah, the video definitely got it into people's living rooms. 100%. Yeah. Yeah, I was just thinking that for me, I don't know if it would actually resonate with me emotionally. Were it not for the memory of the tears in the video and hearing Jeannette talk about what she was thinking of and the

memories that were evoked by the flowers in the backyard line. And I'm like, would I, how much of the feeling of this is me kind of channeling all of the associated ephemera around it and how much is it the core song? Or is that a completely futile exercise? Well, it's futile in the sense that we'll never know, but I do think it's a good question because you can't really separate one from the other, can you really?

But we will never know. But yeah, like I say, I think it was a huge launch pad for it and it eventually took flight of its own accord. But yes, we will sort of never know with that really. It's hard to find, I think it has to be on a case-by-case basis with regards to whether your emotions come from the core song or whether it comes from the full package because you know like I kind of think about this with respect to albums but you can apply it to singles too where like if you are handed a seven inch single with a cover it's kind of like you're handed like a full piece of you're handed like a multimedia full piece of art there and I guess

the music video is the same as well, where it's like, you are handed the video, the cover and the song at the same time, and you are supposed to like absorb all of them together. And those are the feelings that you're supposed to have. If you know what I mean, but also on this, you know, at the same time, like if you're a songwriter, like we all are, you kind of have to look into the nuts and bolts of like, what about the construction of the thing? Like the heart of it all?

Whereas, you know, how was that put together and how do I feel about the way that it was put together? But, you know, I think about this with albums as well, where it's like, is it just the music or is it the cover, the liner notes, the posters, the, you know you know, is it, you know, additional material? Is it... extra-curricular stuff as well? And so, yeah, I think that we'll never know the answer to that question, like you were sort of saying there, Andy, because knowing how to judge it, there is no catch-all, like you must look at all of it this way. It's like every single song has to be looked at slightly differently.

So, yeah, okay. Interesting note to end the episode on there. Some homework for everybody. Some homework for everyone. Andy, I'm going to come to you first. So, Nothing Compares to You, Don't Be Good to Me, The Power, Vault, Piehole, What We Doing? Well, I wouldn't quite say that nothing compares to nothing compares to you. But it does compare to other songs in the vault. So it's going into the vault. That was a particularly torturous one. I'm sorry, everyone.

As for dub be good to me, well, I won't be good to dub, unfortunately, because it's not going anywhere. And as for the power I find that unfortunately it does not quite have the power to make it into the vault unfortunately it doesn't quite have the crackle the pop or indeed the snap hey so Ed Sinead O'Connor beats International and snap. Yeah look I'm not gonna hold that gag against you Andy I couldn't think of one for Sinead O'Connor either so I'm just gonna say that it's good but I am actually probably going to be the minority here and not put it in the vault just a few things hold it back from actually resonating with me personally.

As for dubbe good to me, at the risk of putting undue shade on it, unfortunately in this circumstance dubbe mid to me. And I'm gonna put snap in the in the vault because I do want that. See, that was crap. I said, that was fine. It was crap. Well, for me, nothing compares to you, Sinead O'Connor. That's going in the vault. I think that's quite comfortably sat in the vault for me.

Dove be good to me. It was good to me, but not good enough for the vault and the power by snap I Yeah, it does have the power for me Andy. I am gonna put it into the vault It's just sliding in not quite as far in as nothing compares to you, but you know Before we go ahead actually when you mentioned Snap before, the first thing that made me think of was Face Shopping by Sophie. Oh, right. My face is the front of shop.

That's quite a video. Oh yeah, and quite a song, yeah, by quite an artist. But yeah, just that opening, my face is the front of shop. Oh, I see. I thought we were talking about reference to the videos accompanying the music but yeah, yeah. Like the P popping, but anyway. Okay, so we'll be back next week when we'll be continuing our journey through 1990 and

we'll see you for everybody. Goodbye now. Bye bye. Bye. Bye bye! I'm a deputy of love, and if you are thinking of When it comes to committing a crime Baby, you will see