What did 1992 ever do for us eh? Oh God it seems so long ago that I’m not sure what happened to be honest. OK, think. Well, it was the Queen’s ‘annus horribilis’ with the Royal Family beset by a series of bad news stories including one divorce, two separations, a fire, the publication of a tell all book about Princess Diana oh and pictures of Sarah, Duchess of York (Fergie to us) in the tabloids sunbathing with her tits out.

What else? The world of politics was just as awful as it is now with a depressing fourth consecutive General Election win for the Conservative party. There were loads of riots all over the place, ‘Black Wednesday’ and probably worst of all, the scandal that was David Mellor and his affair with actress Antonia de Sancha which led to revelations that he liked to have sex with her dressed in a Chelsea FC football kit. That was an especially hard one (no sniggering at the back) for Chelsea fans like me to take.

Talking of Chelsea, I genuinely thought we might be on the cusp of finally winning something this year as we got to the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time in a decade only to be dumped out by lower league Sunderland after a replay. Curses! 1992 also saw the inaugural season of the Premier League though the advert below featuring images of Vinnie Jones, Andy Ritchie and a moustachioed John Wark in the shower didn’t seem a premier league idea to advertise its coming.

In entertainment news, comedy legends Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill died within a day of each other but we also saw the first episodes of two comedies that would become part of the UK’s TV scheduling for years to come in Absolutely Fabulous and Men Behaving Badly. Meanwhile, god awful BBC soap Eldorado began its mercifully short run contrasting with Later… with Jools Holland which started its 30 years (and still going) place at the heart of music television. We can also all wake up to Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast for the first time this year introducing us to the horror that is Chris Evans.

As for music, 1992 seemed to be year where not much happened at all. Simply Red had not only the biggest selling album of 1991 in “Stars” but it also shifted the most units in 1992 as well. Looking at the 25 or so different albums that topped the chart this year, I would say only three of them were by an artist that didn’t fit into the category of established or mainstream or whatever you want to define the prevailing musical norm as. If I discount REM (which is probably unfair but still), those three would be The Orb, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine and perennial non conformists The Cure. The majority of No 1 acts were almost rock royalty – Genesis, Abba, Cher, Neil Diamond, Lionel Richie and those that weren’t like The Smiths tended to be at the mercy of records companies hawking Greatest Hits collections (10 of this year’s chart topping long players fell into this category).

In the singles charts, a cover of a Dolly Parton song was the year’s best seller whilst other No 1s of the year included some not particularly fondly remembered dance tunes from K.W.S., Snap! and the Shamen. Erasure finally bagged themselves a No 1 single but then so did the odious Charles And Eddie which kind of devalued the achievement.

As for me, I trundled along fairly happily for the first half of the year until an offer of promotion turned up. I’d never pursued the idea of advancement at work and so when it was stuck in front of me, I asked for some time to think about it. Apparently this was not the standard reply when working for Our Price back then – any chance of stepping up a rung on the management ladder was snatched at. In the end, I decided to do it and spent a great year hanging out in Rochdale before the managerial merry go round forced me into a series of moves most of which I didn’t really enjoy that much.

1992 then. I’m not holding out too many hopes that this will be a review full of joyous surprises to contradict my admittedly pessimistic preview but to quote three of the biggest selling singles of that year, “Stay…”Please Don’t Go” and stay with me until the “End Of The Road”.

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.