I haven’t done this for a while but I should probably check in with what I was doing back in 1997. I know, I know but I’ve spent loads of posts banging on about TOTP and the changes under Chris Cowey and then the whole Princess Diana funeral (which won’t be going away anytime soon thanks to the Elton John single) so I’m giving myself some time off to talk about what I know best – myself. This year was turning out to be pretty eventful – I’d been to China, my beloved Chelsea had finally won something and there were big changes at work. Our manager, the legendary Pete Garner, had left and, as assistant manager, I’d been left in temporary charge of the Our Price store in Stockport. Not only that but I had to oversee its conversion to a ‘live’ stock inventory system and it had all started to take a toll on me. I’d applied for the manager’s position because the staff wanted me to but I was glad not to have got it in the end as I was feeling pretty stressed anyway. The person who got the job was a lovely woman called Lisa who wound have been in post by now. I got on great with Lisa but she only stayed for one Christmas before moving on and then things really went downhill but that’s all for another time. For now, things were starting to stabilise after a few rocky months so let’s see what songs I would have been selling to the punters back then. *SPOILER ALERT* – it was mainly just one specific song!

It’s from ‘rocky’ to ‘Ricky’ as we get our first glimpse of the Puerto Rican hip swiveller Ricky Martin. Now, most of us (me at least) just know him for his No 1 song “Livin’ La Vida Loca” but that wasn’t his only hit. No, before that came “(Un Dos Tres) Maria”. I don’t remember this at all but then I hadn’t been holidaying in the Balearic Islands that Summer and so hadn’t heard it being played constantly in the clubs and bars there. Conforming to the tradition of British holidaymakers wanting to buy that song* that had soundtracked their time away, the British public duly sent it to No 6 in the UK charts.

*A tradition which stretched back as far as 1974 and “Y Viva Espana” and took in Ryan Paris, Baltimora, Sabrina and the execrable MC Miker and DJ Sven.

The track is widely recognised as igniting the whole Latin / dance crossover craze of the 90s (personally, I thought it was Gloria Estefan who did that…or was it the “Macarena”?) it seems to consist of a lot of counting to three in Spanish and that backbeat that was popularised by The Goodmen’s hit “Give It Up” and pinched by Simply Red for “Fairground”. Despite its success – it topped the chart in most South American countries as well as Australia and much of Europe – his record company weren’t keen on it initially as he’d made his name recording ballads. It would become the biggest selling Latin pop song of all time when it was remixed by the aforementioned Gloria Estefan producer Pablo Flores. Didn’t those record company executives know that any song called “Maria” was a guaranteed winner? Just ask Blondie, P. J. Proby, Santana, Tony Christie….

After witnessing her little sister Dannii return to the charts recently after a gap of three years, big sister Kylie Minogue was ready to make her own comeback. In truth, she’d been chomping at the bit for a while. Her own three years absence had only been punctuated by her unlikely murder ballad hit with Nick Cave (my own guitar class version of “Where The Wild Roses Grow” remains pretty special!) so by 1997 she was set to deliver her new sound to the world. Sadly for Kylie, there were a number of impediments stopping her from doing that. Firstly, her record label Deconstruction postponed her album’s planned release from the January to May. It was postponed again with a new date of September scheduled. With the death of Princess Diana in late August, the album’s proposed title of “Impossible Princess” caused Deconstruction to panic that it might be seen as in bad taste and so it was delayed for a further three months. Kylie herself agreed for it to be retitled eponymously to enable its release in Europe eventually in March 1998. Once finally out, it divided fans and press alike. Whilst some appreciated her attempt to reinvent herself with an album of diverse musical styles ranging from electronica to trip hop to rock, others weren’t able to accept Kylie as musical chameleon and even accused her of being a fraud. Seemingly, this was the preserve of the likes of David Bowie.

As host Jayne Middlemiss states, lead single “Some Kind Of Bliss” was written with James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore of the Manic Street Preachers which led the music press to dub this latest incarnation of her career ‘Indie Kylie’. It was a lazy term given the disparate nature of the album but it stuck which fed the belief that Kylie was jumping (albeit belatedly) on the Britpop bandwagon – well, it had worked (sort of) for Robbie Williams after all. As for me, I liked it, certainly more than her SAW produced bubblegum pop hits of the late 80s. However, it didn’t cut much ice nor indeed through with the record buying public with its chart peak of No 22 meaning it was the first time she’d missed making the UK Top 20. There were mitigating circumstances though. It was released at the same time as Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind ‘97” which accounted for 75% of all sales that week so it was hard for any new release to make an impression. Retrospectively, this era of Kylie and its associated album has been more favourably recognised and is a favourite for a niche part of her fanbase despite its poor commercial performance. She would storm back to the top of the charts come the new millennium with No 1 hit “Spinning Around” and those hot pants but back in 1997, her future was more pants than hot.

The No 1 that never was next. In any other week in pop history, “You Have Been Loved” by George Michael would surely have topped the charts but the events in Paris on 31st August and the subsequent outpouring of grief by the nation and the release of the aforementioned Elton John single meant it was never to be. Don’t take my word for it, even Jayne Middlemiss says so in her intro. This week’s chart would break all sorts of sales records but it also provided an unusual chart quirk with the top two positions occupied in week one of sales by two artists who had also duetted on a No 1 record of their own – 1991’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”.

Now this is quite strange. A band making their debut TOTP appearance nine years after they formed and seven since their debut album went Top 5. Like Garbage and Skunk Anansie, I should really know more about The Sundays and make an effort to explore their back catalogue further. I know some people who swear by them (including comedian David Baddiel who is best friends with guitarist David Gavurin) but somehow, once again, I didn’t get the memo. Formed in 1988 after Gavurin met vocalist Harriet Wheeler at Bristol University, the couple initially started writing songs for their own enjoyment rather than as a route to a career in music. However, augmented by bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan, they sent out some demo tapes and became the subject of a record label bidding war, finally signing to Rough Trade. Their debut single “Can’t Be Sure” topped the indie charts and, in direct contrast to the title of their single, were assured acclaim from the music press inkies. The album “Reading, Writing And Arithmetic” followed in 1990 peaking at an impressive No 4. However, no other singles were released from it due to the collapse of Rough Trade though “Here’s Where The Story Ends” topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in America. Tin Tin Out would take a dance cover of it to No 7 in 1998. The album’s jangly guitar pop sound and Wheeler’s distinctive, quirky vocals and the fact that it was unavailable following Rough Trade’s demise for years helped create a myth around the band. That and their devotion to musical perfection and a low public profile. They eventually reappeared in 1992 with sophomore album “Blind” (having signed to Parlophone Records) and were rewarded with a No 15 chart peak and more sold out shows though it wasn’t received as well as their debut in the music press. Yet again, singles weren’t forthcoming – only minor hit “Goodbye” appeared in the UK. I’m beginning to understand why they’d never been on TOTP before now.

Gavurin and Wheeler stepped back from music following “Blind” to start a family before resurfacing in 1997 with their third and so far final album “Static & Silence”. It would continue their run of success by going Top 10. I had a promo copy of it but I’m not sure I ever played it (call myself a music fan?!). The album supplied “Summertime”, their highest ever charting single which finally secured them a place on the running order of the BBC’s prime time music show. The perfect soundtrack to the last moments of Summer and the beginning of Autumn, it was written about Gavurin and Wheeler’s perception of some of their friends joining dating services. I’m not sure that something like today’s Tinder could inspire such a whimsical piece of music.

The band have been on hiatus for nigh on 30 years since though apparently they have continued to write songs throughout though whether anyone will ever get to hear them is anybody’s guess. Still, I’ve got at least three albums to check out in the meantime. Now, where’s that promo copy of “Static & Silence”?

All I knew of Sly & Robbie before this point was their reputation as reggae and dub producers and their 1987 hit single “Boops (Here To Go)”. Of their collaborators here Simply Red, I (regretfully) knew much more. Finally, despite a discography of nearly 80 studio albums, I pretty much was only familiar with one Gregory Isaacs song, that being this one, “Night Nurse”. Supposedly, this was an updated take on the reggae classic but I can’t understand why you wouldn’t just seek out the original. However, back in 1997, that wouldn’t have been an easy ask. You couldn’t just say “Alexa, play “Night Nurse” by Gregory Isaacs” – no, you’d have had to do some research and possibly order a whole album from your local record store just to get that one song so maybe it was easier just to buy the single that was available. Indeed, maybe some punters weren’t aware of the original and its creator – I barely knew Gregory Isaacs and I worked in a record shop! Whatever the truth behind its success, this version of “Night Nurse” made No 13 on the UK charts.

Boyz II Men had 12 UK Top 40 hits according to officialcharts.com but could anyone name more than three? A superfan maybe? Or their Mums perhaps? I thought I was doing well with two – “End Of The Road” and “I’ll Make Love To You” (though they’re basically the same song so is that only one really?). “4 Seasons Of Loneliness” was their tenth and guess what? It was a ballad. Or was it? It sounds more like a voice exercise than a song. Their sweet harmonies prowess is all very well but you still need a proper tune to wrap them around. I work in a theatre these days and often witness the actors in pre-show mode and I can honestly say I’ve heard vocal warmups that are more tuneful than “4 Seasons Of Loneliness”. I’m also willing to bet that there was a floor manager out of shot holding up ‘scream now’ signs to the studio audience when each of the four band members gets to their solo parts. Not many people seemed to agree with my assessment though – it went to No 10 over here and No 1 in America.

Oh gawd! Guess who’s back? Yes, it’s Mark Morrison and, rather predictably, he’s still going on about the bloody ‘Mack’! His recent three month spell at Her Majesty’s pleasure for attempting to take a firearm on a plane (daringly hinted at in her intro by Jayne Middlemiss) doesn’t seem to have made him reflect on his life choices much. He’s just reliving the past glories of his previous hits and most obviously “Return Of The Mack” by calling this track “Who’s The Mack!”. Morrison clearly didn’t take any educational programmes in prison otherwise he would have known to put a question mark and not an exclamation mark at the end of that song title. His track is more of the same nonsense as before so I was more interested in the staging of the performance and the backdrop of words behind him which resembled the set of Have I Got News For You. Were they the song’s lyrics? I don’t know but apparently a few people wanted to know about this ‘Mack’ bloke – there are at least two other songs called “Who’s The Mack” by Ralph Tresvant and Ice Cube.

And so we’re finally at the chart moment not just of the year but of all time – maybe. Depending on how you want to look at it, “Candle In The Wind 1997” is either the best selling or the second best selling single worldwide of all time. What?! Yes, it’s a sentence that needs explanation. The only other contender for that title is “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby but it was released in 1942 before the advent of formalised UK and US charts so it’s harder to confirm its sales. In 2007, Guinness World Records adjudged that “White Christmas” had sold 50 million copies whereas “Candle In The Wind 1997” had shifted 33 million making the former the biggest seller. However, in 2009, a further clarification said that Elton’s single was the best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s. What’s not in doubt is that the tribute to Princess Diana is the fastest selling single of all time in the UK with 650,000 copies snapped up within 24 hours. At its peak, it sold six copies per second. Needless to say, it was No 1 in just about every country in the world.

In my ten years of working in record shops, the only other event that came anywhere near to the profile (though not sales) that “Candle In The Wind 1997” held was the Oasis v Blur chart battle in 1995. The difference was that I enjoyed being a part of that, literally on the shop floor. I felt almost privileged to be working within the record industry when that happened. Its a clumsy and perhaps even insensitive comparison but with the Elton John phenomenon, it felt like record shop staff were somehow aid workers trying to support the public through their outpouring of grief by supplying the medication of that single. The difference I guess is that we hadn’t volunteered for the role, we were just caught up in the frenzy. I have definite memories of punters grabbing the single out of our hands as we tried to refill the shelves. For some people, conventions of social niceties went out of the front door as fast as the single. I know it was our job but it really felt like hard work at that time. If this all sounds like offensive hyperbole then I apologise – I’m just trying to describe the unique nature of what happened back then as I experienced it. I’m sure everyone has their own story to tell /perspective on this moment in time.

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.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0029lyr/top-of-the-pops-19091997?seriesId=unsliced