Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 12/10/1997

Chart Review No.2 - 12/10/1997

Bienvenue, and welcome to the second annual chart review of decades gone by, where I, Alfie, attempt to discuss what went on in a random chart from a random stretch of time. Not that it matters much, but someone has to do it. This chart was taken from the musical backwater that was 1997, where songs appeared out of nowhere, flew into oblivion, and the new entry counter always seemed to be in double digits. Basically, the complete opposite of what the charts are right now.

16 new hits made up this particular week, headlined by Sash! whose third hit Stay became his third to peak at No.2 (Candle in the Wind '97 was at the top for a fifth week, but nobody likes that song, so I'm not gonna talk about it). Decent enough dance song, that's all I've got to say. 5/10

In other news, the Propellerheads (whose album Decksanddrumsandrocknroll would go Top 10 in 1998) entered at 7 with On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which could not be more James Bond-like if it tried. 5/10 for that. Meanwhile, at 10, Mansun clocked in their second Top 10 appearance with Closed For Business (or the Seven EP, as they would like to call it). Given it fell to 37 a week later, it probably doesn't mean much. Or sound like anything that isn't jammy Britpop, to be frank. 6/10

4 other songs entered the Top 20, including the The Brand New Heavies, whose cover of You've Got A Friend would later charge up the chart like a Trojan horse (5/10), Clock, whose cover of Hot Chocolate's U Thing may or may not have involved The Full Monty (4/10), and Busta Rhymes, who was as inconsistent as they come with Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See. No one remembers this song. Seriously. Not even the people who bought this can remeber it, it's THAT forgettable (5/10). Also invading the upper half were Supergrass whose third hit from In It For The Money (Late In The Day) became their first song to not make the Top 10 since Mansize Rooster in early '95. Love this one though (8/10).

In other news, Sheryl Crow's fifth entry from her self-titled set, Home, entered at 25 (5/10), sandwiched between two very contrasting records. At 24, there was the first ever Top 40 single for Newport trio Feeder (who would keep having hits until 2008, in case you were wondering), as High slammed into the charts, the words "brilliant song" covering it from head to toe (10/10). Meanwhile, at 26, The Wildhearts would have their last hit for five years, with Urge, which is probably the loudest and most incomprehensible single to make it onto Radio 1's chart show. Ever. Just try listening to this and tell me it makes sense. I like it though. Not that anyone else does (9/10).

In other news, the Levellers threw their weight to 28 with Celebrate (5/10), Aussie pop wannabes Universal got their second hit, in the form of Make It Good (4/10), R'N'B loser Omar achieved a second hit with a cover of The Stranglers' Golden Brown (5/10), fellow bomerang wielders Silver Sun slammed their way to 35 with a re-release of Lava (8/10), and Catatonia squeaked their way to 40 with I Am The Mob (6/10). Given their next single flew to No.3, there clearly must've been some dark magic influencing their performances back then. Also, at 36, Aphex Twin achieved the second hit-single of his career with Come To Daddy, which is probably just as noisy and strange as that Wildhearts song from earlier. With a more creepy video, obviously (7/10).

Down in the album chart, The Verve landed a second week at the top with Urban Hymns (no shocks there), with Janet Jackson landing at 6, Louise Redknapp-Nurding-whatever-her-surname-is entering at 5, Jimmy Nail's greatest hits at 10, and Suede charting a 9 with a stellar B-sides collection. Naturally. Elsewhere on the chart, Morrissey, single Roy's Keen became his first to not make the Top 40 since dinosaurs last walked the Earth, with Edwyn Collins, Jools Holland, and Fountains of Wayne also landing miniature singles. And on the album chart, the Pixies arrived at 20 AND 28 (of course they had to rig the chart like that. What are they, magicians?), whilst Terry Hall, Rootjoose, Steve Earle, Billy MacKenzie, Strangelove, The Pogues, Hole and Paul Carrack also landing new albums.

So there, that was the chart from sometime in '97, where hopefully you got a good idea what the music scene sounded like back then. I'll be back another time to talk about some more "music". Eventually. Probably not. But I'll be here waiting for another opportunity. See ya.

(P.S. At No.21 there is a song called Ooh La La, but at 22 there's another one called Oh La La La. Imagine the chart presenters trying to get the two the right way round. It must have been torture.)