Sunday, January 14, 2007

Chart of 1995

The Britpop craze, which started in 1994, really took hold in 1995. Also this was the year that singles started to enter the chart at their peak position and then work their way down, rather than enter low and climb higher.

Deuce - Call It Love

Kitsch British pop group famous for wearing day-glo colours. This was their most successful hit. They went on to attempt to represent the UK at Eurovision 1995 with the song I Need You. They had a string of hit singles, but were dropped by their record label when they couldn't compete with the Britpop bands of the time. They were probably a few years ahead of their time.



Livin' Joy - Dreamer

Number 1 hit for an Italian house music group. This song is considered a house classic.



Seal - Kiss From A Rose

One of the most popular waltzes written in the '90's, this gave the London singer a worldwide smah hit. It was released with the film Batman Forever, which was the second biggest film of the year after Toy Story.



Pulp - Common People

Big breakthrough single for the Yorkshire indie disco band. However, whilst this was a huge success in the UK, success in the rest of the world never came.



East 17 - Thunder

Number 2 hit for the bad boys of pop, this was the first release from their third album Up All Night.



Madonna - You'll See

Lead single from her album Something To Remember. It was accompanied by a Spanish version called Verás (You'll See), which was a huge hit in the Hispanic market. The matador in the video is the same one who appears in the video for Take A Bow.



Oasis - Some Might Say

The first taste of number 1 for the Mancunian lads, this was the lead single from their second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? Liam failed to turn up for the video shoot, so the final video for this release contains a mix of footage from the videos for Cigarettes & Alcohol and Supersonic.



Scatman John - Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Dop-Bop)

Huge dance-jazz inspired song from the stuttering Californian John Larkin. This was his biggest single and was hugely successful in Europe. He holds the record for releasing a song that has charted in more countries than any other artist.



TLC - Waterfalls

This was TLC's biggest selling single and it aims to tackle issues such as drugs, homosexuality and AIDS. It was reported to be the most expensive music video ever made at the time of its release.



Take That - Never Forget

The band's 7th number 1 hit in the UK, but USA success STILL wasn't forthcoming.



Björk - It's Oh So Quiet

This is the crazy Icelandic singer's biggest hit and a cover of Betty Hudson's song Blow A Fuse. She seems to resent a cover being her biggest success and never included it on her Greatest Hits album.



The Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You

Theme tune to the American sitcom Friends, this gave the band a number 2 hit in the UK although no further success followed.



Perez 'Prez' Prado & His Orchestra - Guaglione

A posthumus release from the King of Mambo to coincide with a popular advert for Guinness!



Oasis - Roll With It

One of Oasis' most popular song, which promotes the great philosophy that you should just be yourself. This release was pitched against Country House by rival band Blur in what became known as the Battle of Britpop. This lost only making it to number 2 in the summer of 1995.



U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

Second chart success for the film Batman Forever, this is one of U2's biggest hits and comes complete with a fantastic video. This was the more successful of the 2 songs from the film on the UK chart, whilst Seal's song (above) was more successful in the USA.



N-Trance - Set You Free

Huge hit for the Mancunian eurotechno group. This was one of the UK's biggest music exports of 1995 and it found chart success across Europe and Oceania.



Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe

Swedish euro dance band that captured the country-dance music vibe started the previous year. It's a complete trash song, but nevertheless it was a huge success and gave them a string of hits.



Boyzone - Father And Son

Cover of a Cat Stevens song it got the Irish boyband another number 2 hit from their début album.



Blur - Country House

Winner of the Battle of Britpop, the indie band from Essex got their first number 1 with this classic pop song. The video is directed by Damien Hirst. They beat Oasis to number one on the singles chart, but lost out in the battle of the albums.



Outhere Brothers - Boom Boom Boom

Radio edit of the American eurorap dance outfit. Lobbyists tried to get them banned in the UK due to the risqué nature of their lyrics, but this no doubt gave them more publicity and a predictable number 1 as a result.



Oasis - Wonderwall

Number 2 hit single and one that gave the Manchester boys their American breakthrough. This is one of the most covered songs to have been originally written in the '90's. It has been voted several times as one of the best British songs ever written.



Everything But The Girl - Missing

Best known hit of the Yorkshire pop and electronica band. They gave the track to music producer Todd Terry who came up with this version. It peaked at number 3 in 1994, but was the 9th biggest selling single in the UK in 1995.



Michael Jackson - Earth Song

Paean to saving the Earth, this was number 1 at Christmas 1995 and sold over a million copies in the UK. The video features real footage of Serb shelling in Bosnia-Herzegovina and clearing of the Amazon Rainforest. The song divided critics, some accuse it of being too overbearing. Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) famously invaded Jackson's stage performance of the song at 1996 BRIT Awards.



Robson Green & Jerome Flynn - I Believe

This was the second release from two actors in British military TV drama Soldier Soldier, which was popular at the time. They had to sing in one episode (see below) and carved out a short musical career off the back of it. This cover was the third biggest selling single in the UK in 1995. The video quality is really bad though.



Coolio feat. LV - Gangsta's Paradise

The second best selling single of the year came on the back of the film Dangerous Minds. The song begins with the first line of Psalm 23 from the Bible, but from there it diverges to comment about the life of violence and death that gangsters lead. It has the honour of being the first true rap song to reach number 1 in the UK.



Robson Green & Jerome Flynn - Unchained Melody

The biggest selling single of 1995 was this cover taken from the hit TV series Soldier Soldier. It was the second time in 6 years that this was the biggest selling UK single of the year. It was sung during the programme and ITV received so many requests for it to be released that they allowed the boys to do so. Personally I think it's a criminal version, but there ya go!

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