1996? Same as 1995 wasn’t it? Britpop was still a thing, The Beatles ‘Anthology’ project gave us another single, Take That at No 1…same old same old. Well yes…and no. By February, Take That weren’t a thing anymore (and wouldn’t be for another ten years) after announcing their break up with a Greatest Hits album and final single “How Deep Is Your Love”. Britpop was still about but a new force in pop music was to emerge during the Summer that would subvert the traditional teenage girl market – yes, the Spice Girls are coming! Gulp! ‘Girl Power’ wasn’t the only term in town though as the Summer also brought us Euro ‘96 and that football single by Lightning Seeds and Baddiel & Skinner – “Three Lions”.

Controversy came courtesy of Jarvis Cocker wafting his arse in the direction of Michael Jackson at the BRIT Awards leading to his arrest and Shaun Ryder whose expletive laden appearance on TFI Friday with Black Grape led to his ban from live broadcasting and the show to have to be recorded rather than going out live on air. Oasis continued their stratospheric rise with a second No 1 single and by playing some historic gigs – two nights at Manchester City’s then ground Maine Road (I was at the second) and two at Knebworth House which saw the biggest ever demand for concert tickets in British history. In complete contrast, former Manchester heroes the Stone Roses had a dreadful year with founding guitarist John Squire leaving the group who then performed a very poorly received gig at the Reading Festival which saw the press (and fans) pour scorn on Ian Brown’s vocals in particular.

The best selling single of the year would come from a hip hop version of an old Roberta Flack song which broke the record at the time for the most radio plays in a single week. Meanwhile, the album that shifted the most units in 1996 was by a most unlikely artist who seemed to have already peaked during the previous year having had two minor hits and spending twenty weeks in the UK Top 40 albums chart but never getting higher than No 12. In an almighty turnaround, by the end of the year, that album would have been No 1 for eleven weeks (seven of them consecutively) and spent forty-one on the spin inside the Top 10. Alanis Morissette, your time has come.

In the wider world, there were two royal divorces, a Doctor Who feature film with Paul McGann in the title role (that split opinion as I recall), a cloned sheep called Dolly and Glenn Hoddle announced he was leaving my beloved Chelsea to become the next England manager. Independence Day was the biggest grossing film of a year which also saw the release of the film adaptation of Irvine Walsh’s Trainspotting whose soundtrack would go three times platinum in the UK. My own personal year saw me stay in the Our Price store in Stockport and enjoy a holiday in Barcelona…until I had the worst case of the runs I’ve ever had. Let’s hope the TOTP repeats of 1996 don’t similarly stink the place out.