Ultra Naté

TOTP 24 JUL 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

I’m starting to get behind with these TOTP reviews. All it takes is one busy week in my own life and suddenly I’ve got four shows to write up in seven days to keep pace with the BBC4 schedule. I’ve tried skimping on the word count when this scenario arises but the completist in me fights hard against this strategy. Besides, nobody wants to read a couple of dozen words on each song stating whether I liked it or not do they? Our host tonight is Jayne Middlemiss who hasn’t been on the show for a month (maybe she really had been ill when they did that skit to introduce Kate Thornton the other week).

We start with Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing Mýa and their hit “Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)” to quote the full title which I don’t think I did in the last post (no brackets, no points!). I also failed to mention that this came from a film called Bulworth which was written and directed by and starred Warren Beatty. I was a regular cinema goer around this time but I failed to catch this movie which was a political black comedy that was well received critically but failed to put bums on seats in the cineplexes (wasn’t just me then).

The soundtrack album was popular in the US selling a million copies but that success didn’t translate across the pond in the UK. In fact, I don’t recall it being released over here at all and certainly don’t recognise the art work of the cover. The album featured some of the biggest names in hip-hop and rap including Dr. Dre, LL Cool J, Method Man, Ice Cube and Public Enemy. As for Pras, he would have two more UK hits – “Blue Angels” which was the follow up to “Ghetto Superstar” and he also featured on “Another One Bites The Dust” which was a remix of the Queen track by Fugees band mate Wyclef Jean for the soundtrack to the film Small Soldiers. Ol’ Dirty Bastard sadly passed away in 2004 from a drugs overdose whilst since 2013, Mýa has been married to herself. No, really.

Next up is the singing medical student Ultra Naté. OK, she wasn’t really but she did seem to have an obsession with medically themed song titles. After her previous hit “Found A Cure”, she was back with the follow up “New Kind Of Medicine”. It strikes me that Ultra Naté was a bit of a musical chameleon. On her biggest hit “Free” she channeled her inner Rozalla and then looked to “No More Tears” (Enough Is Enough)” by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand for the inspiration for “Found A Cure”. Chic were her muse for “New Kind Of Medicine” and it worked well for her albeit that the single couldn’t match the chart numbers of its two predecessors.

As for that unusual name, it turns out that was her actual real name and not a stage moniker. No, really. It’s Ultra Naté Wyche. Sticking with the name theme, I note that “New Kind Of Medicine” was co-written by one Ed Baden-Powell who surely must be a relative of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouts movement. It doesn’t stop there though – “Free” and “Found A Cure” were co-written by one Lem Springsteen though he doesn’t seem to be related to ‘The Boss’.

Still with Peter Andre?! Still?! In 1998?! Panic not though as I believe this is the last time we’ll see him on TOTP; at least the last time I’ll have to write about him anyway as he didn’t have another hit after this until 2004 with a rerelease of “Mysterious Girl” and I’m packing in this blog after the 1999 episodes have finished. I have zero recollection of “Kiss The Girl” but listening back to it, I thought it sounded like it could have been from the soundtrack to something like The Lion King. Well, blow me down but, on reading up on the song, I wasn’t a million miles away as it was from The Little Mermaid. Originally, the song was a calypso number but, as part of the film’s rerelease in 1998, the soundtrack was revisited with some of its songs being re-recorded by new artists. For some unfathomable and despicable reason, Peter Andre was one of those invited to the project and he turned it into a dismal, sappy ballad, the berk. How did this guy ever become and continue to be famous? Minuscule talent but massive pecs see seems to be the answer. I swear down, has there ever been a more useless celebrity?! Away with you sir and your overly gelled hair!

There’s quite a back story to this next hit. “Mas Que Nada” is a song written by Brazilian Jorge Ben who originally recorded it with bandleader Zé Maria in 1962 and it was subsequently covered by other Brazilian acts such as the Tamba Trio in 1963 and Louis Carlos Vinhas the following year. However, the most commonly known version came in 1966 when Sérgio Mendes covered it with his band Brazil ‘66. Thirty-one years later, its profile was raised again when it was famously used in a Nike commercial featuring Brazilian footballers such as Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos. In 1998, it resurfaced again, I’m guessing as part of the plethora of football related songs released due to the World Cup of that year (I could be wrong on that). Not just once though but twice as the aforementioned Tamba Trio version was a Top 20 hit the week before this danced-up version by Echobeatz just pipped it by making the Top 10. I’ve no idea who Echobeatz were/are but clearly whoever was behind this version had one eye on the clubs judging by the Italian House flavoured mix they gave it. “Mas que nada” is a Portuguese expression that can mean “more than anything else in Spanish” but in Brazilian Portuguese it has a more colloquial meaning of “whatever” or “no big deal”. I wonder if Ariel got Peter Crouch to record an advert for the Brazilian market with him saying “Mas que nada”?

Just as with B*Witched and Billie recently, last week’s No 1 gets another airing despite the fact that it’s been deposed from its chart crown. In her intro to “Freak Me” by Another Level, did Jayne Middlemiss say one of them was called Bobak? Sounds more like a Croatian footballer…

*checks Wikipedia*

Oh that was Zvonimir Boban who played most of his career with AC Milan. I’m sure there was a footballer called Bobak though…

*checks Wikipedia again*

There was a Peter Bodak who played for Coventry City in the 80s…

*checks Wikipedia one last time*

Found him! Roman Bobak! A Polish right back. I can’t mean him though. He’s hardly had any sort of career at all. Maybe I was thinking of Stjepan Bobek, a Yugoslavian player in the 40s and 50s and manager in the 70s. As dull as all this is for you to read and for me to write, it is more interesting than anything Another Level ever did.

P.S. Remember the last post when I said I always get Dane Bowers mixed up with Blue’s Anthony Costa? Well, when Another Level appeared at the RnB Nation festival in 2024. Only Bowers and Mark Baron from the original line up signed up for the gig so they got two new blokes in to make up the numbers and one of them was called Greg Costa. No wonder I’m confused!

I seem to have developed a theme to this post as I’ve gone along which is that of names. Joining the 15 year old Billie (Piper) in the charts this week was another Billie – Billie Myers. This Billie was 27 years old at the time and that older age meant that her hit was a little more…mature than Ms Piper’s. Well, a lot more if you watch the official video for “Tell Me”. Set in what see seems to be some sort of bondage club, Myers is a participant in some erotic scenes which look like they could have been in Bram Stoker’s Dracula film starring Keane Reeves and Winona Ryder.

The song itself sizzles with passion and even, dare I say it, menace and is a definite lost classic of the 90s. It really should have been a much bigger hit than its No 28 peak. After its appearance on this BBC4 TOTP repeat, there was a lot of love for it declared online. Sadly, in 1998, the record buying public was more enamoured with Billie Piper than Billie Myers and it slipped thoroughly the net. Shame.

Billie Piper and stuff like this. If I was surprised that Peter Andre was still having hits in 1998, then colour me shocked that Ace Of Base were as well. Their No 1 “All That She Wants” had been as long ago as 1993 whilst their last visit to the Top 10 had been in 1994. Somehow though, they convinced us that this life-affirming slice of pop fluff that was “Life Is A Flower” made them still relevant deep into the 90s.

Apparently the favourite Ace Of Base song by the band member who wrote it (Jonas Berggren), “Life Is A Flower” was radio friendly but brain cell hostile. It would rot your mind if you listened to it too much. Its lyrics included:

“Please Mr. Agony, release them for a while,

Learn them the consequences of living without life”

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Jonas Berggren
Life Is a Flower lyrics © Megasong Publishing

“Learn them”?! Surely you mean ‘teach’ them? In an act of redemption though, after Tina Arena the other week with the title song from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down The Wind musical, here’s another use of those words in the opening two lines to remind us of not only a great film but a great pop song too…

It’s another new No 1 and the only one of Jamiroquai’s career. “Deeper Underground” was taken from the soundtrack to the Godzilla movie of this year starring Matthew Broderick. As with the aforementioned Bulworth, I’ve never seen this film and, judging by its reviews, I’m glad I haven’t. Rated mainly as a stinker, it also underperformed commercially. Even the director never wanted to make this film apparently. However, its soundtrack album did go some good business, debuting at No 2 on the charts and achieving platinum sales in America. It mainly featured what would be defined as ‘rock’ songs, including another huge hit called “Cone With Me” by Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page which sampled the legendary Led Zeppelin track “Kashmir” but we won’t be seeing that on any BBC4 repeat due to the Puff Daddy issue. Although definitely not a rock song, “Deeper Underground” did have a harder sound than we had come to expect from Jamiroquai it seemed to me.

Despite only having one week at the chart summit, it was a pretty hardy single spending three weeks inside the Top 10 and two months on the Top 40 in total. Is it Jamiroquai’s most famous song? I don’t know. They’re a funny act. For all their 26 hits, only nine of them went Top 10. And could you name them? I might be able to pull out two or three from the recesses of my mind and I’ve probably reviewed most of them. Have they all just morphed into one because, dare I say it, they all sound the same?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing MýaGhetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)I did not
2Ultra NatéNew Kind Of MedicineNegative
3Peter AndreKiss The GirlAs if
4EchobeatzMas Que NadaNah
5Another LevelFreak MeNope
6Billie MyersTell MeGreat song but no
7Ace Of BaseLife Is A FlowerNever
8JamiroquaiDeeper UndergroundNo

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/m002kkmx/top-of-the-pops-24071998

TOTP 24 APR 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

Ah – and I thought last week’s show was the nadir. Looking at this week’s running order, I am genuinely not inspired to even bother writing this post. If it wasn’t for the completist in me, I might well have given up at this point but nine years of writing the blog which is into its sixteenth TOTP year does cut deep and I can’t quite let it go just yet. I might have to get through this one in double quick time though and with the briefest of commentaries in places.

Jayne Middlemiss is once again our host and we begin with a hit that was on the show as recently as last week but is given some more exposure due to it holding firm in the Top 10 at No 6. Although we just get a repeat of last week’s performance of “Found A Cure” by Ultra Naté, there was also a video made went to promote the single which was directed by one Charles Stone III. Who? Well, he was the director for many a music promo by the likes of Living Colour, A Tribe Called Quest and Neneh Cherry before moving on to feature films like Paid In Full. Still no clue? Well, he was also responsible for this notorious advert which in turn was responsible for men everywhere believing they were suddenly the funniest person alive by dint of saying just one word…

The first comment under the video on YouTube for this is possibly the saddest thing I’ve read in a while:

“This ad made me really excited to have friends when I got older. Sadly that never happened. I drink a lot of beer though.”

@YesOkayButWhy; 2021

As for Ultra Naté, after finding a cure, she seemingly pursued a career in pharmacy – her next single was called “New Kind Of Medicine” and in 2006 she released the song “Love’s The Only Drug”.

Savage Garden are back on the show with “Truly Madly Deeply” – again. What was the deal with this one? It spent five consecutive weeks in the Top 10 being completely ignored by TOTP Executive Producer Chris Cowey but has now been on the show in three out of the last four episodes courtesy of it spending three weeks at No 5. I’m wondering if it was to do with a desire by Cowey to make the show almost completely studio performance based. As with Ultra Naté earlier, the song’s video is never shown but instead we get the same in studio appearance recycled three times. Were the Australian duo ignored initially because they weren’t available to appear in person and Cowey refused to show the video instead? According to the excellent @TOTPFacts, after the early May ‘98 shows, not one video was shown until the end of June when they would appear occasionally.

The word ‘mighty’ has been used a fair few times in the world of entertainment. There’s The Mighty Wah, one of the many pseudonyms of one of my heroes Pete Wylie. How about “The Mighty Quinn”, a 1968 No 1 single for Manfred Mann? Then there’s Wolverhampton indie rockers The Mighty Lemon Drops and, from the world of comedy, The Mighty Boosh. However, I’d completely forgotten about this lot. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were a ska-punk band from Boston (geddit?) whose only UK chart entry was “The Impression That I Get”. It was an unusual title for an unusual hit. A raucous rampage of ska beat, parping brass and the rip-your-throat-to-shreds vocals of lead singer Dicky Barrett. With this being a live performance, I had to check if the recorded version of the song sounded the same and they pretty much do with Barrett sounding like he’s swallowed a razor blade even on record. Barrett is a supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the outspoken anti-vaxxer who is somehow the current United States secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump government. Something tells me that Barrett might not be the best judge of character. His song though sounds pretty good and he sells it to the studio audience even though some of them, I get the impression (ahem), maybe don’t know who him and his band are or how to dance to the sound they are making. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones only called it a day in 2022 with Barrett’s views on COVID-19 vaccines given as the reason for this.

From a hit I’d forgotten about to one I do remember (everyone remembers this one surely?!) but it had slipped my memory quite how big a hit it was – anybody else forget that “Feel It” by The Tamperer featuring Maya was a No 1? It was for just a solitary week but a chart topper is a chart topper. So who were they? They were a bunch of Italian record producers who sampled the old Jacksons hit “Can You Feel It” to create a monster dance anthem with a model-looking woman out front to sell it. So basically another Black Box then.

Anyway, although the Jacksons sample completely dominated the track, what was even more distinctive about it were the lyrics which included the infamous line “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?”. Like many people, I was left scratching my head on first hearing and saying to myself “Did she just sing about having a chimney on her? Surely not”. On second hearing, after the lyrics were confirmed, my fingers were still scraping my skull but this time my question to myself was “What on earth does she mean?”. Well, I didn’t know this back then as a fledgling internet wasn’t widely accessible to all but it turns out the lyrics were nicked from little known track “Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch)” by Urban Discharge and suddenly the whole mystery is cleared up.

So successful was “Feel It” that The Tamperer featuring Maya would repeat the formula to create two further hits by sampling Madonna and ABBA but that’s all for a future post. For now, let’s marvel at the sight of two consecutive artists on the show having prominent brass sections and in the knowledge that back in 1998, pissed up clubbers would have been winding their way home in the early hours chanting “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?”.

It’s not getting any better (for me at least). This next hit, and this is going to make me sound like a right reactionary old fart, is literally just a lot of shouting. No, correction – a lot of shouting over the theme tune to 80s TV show Knight Rider. This is Busta Rhymes with “Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up”. The third single from his “When Disaster Strikes…” album, it’s apparently radically different from the album version which sampled Al Green’s “Love And Happiness” but I’m not tempted to find out how different. It would spend two weeks at No 2 in the UK chart in its remixed format so I was clearly out of sync (yet again) with the record buying public. I stand by my original assessment though – this was just shouting as this performance evidences. Ah yes, this performance. It’s introduced by Mr Rhymes himself on the now established show prop “the big telly owa there” as Jayne Middlemiss describes it and guess what? He and his mate (no I don’t know who he is) just barks some words at the screen, banging on about No 1. Erm…Busta? You’re not No 1 fella. And what was the idea with the Knight Rider sample? It was a terrible theme tune and a terrible show with a terrible actor as the lead. Ah, I’m done with this. NEXT!

What. On. Earth? Having swiped left on Busta Rhymes, I’ve ended up with what is technically known, I believe, as ‘some right weird shit’. OK, that’s not right. Technically speaking, 187 Lockdown were a speed garage artist but I reserve the right to my original, personal qualification. I dislike pretty much everything about this – the track, the staging… everything. I get they’ve tried to add an Eastern vibe to their sound but it’s just that usual, sub-genre defining, sped-up, skittering backbeat with an culturally appropriated melody and some random spoken word samples dropped into it. As for the performance, quite what is the guy dressed in black meant to be doing? There some half hearted “Kung-Fu” styled movements, some facial grimacing, what looks like some Marcel Marceau trapped-in-a-box miming and…is that a praying mantis yoga stance? Then there’s the two female dancers who start the performance in full kimonos but end it stripped down to bras and knickers. It’s all a bit ‘lads mag’ and also a possible case of cultural stereotyping.

After the popularity of speed garage faltered, 187 Lockdown was shut down while its prime movers Danny Harrison and Julian Jonah continued to release music under the alias of M Factor and remix for artists as mainstream as Robbie Williams and Atomic Kitten. However, there was a renewed interest in the 2010s in their 187 Lockdown material thanks to the popularity of BBC TV series People Just Do Nothing and its characters that made up Kurupt FM. I can’t say I’ve ever watched it but one show I did watch religiously as a kid was Kung Fu starring David Carradine. Now, if 187 Lockdown had remixed that TV theme and had Master Po and ‘grasshopper’ performing on stage…now that I would have been there for.

Now, when I saw this on the running order, I wrongly assumed it was just another entry on the list of dance tracks that was essentially this TOTP and that, of course, I would hate it. However, “Sounds Of Wickedness” by Tzant is rather good. A track comprising some breathless rapping and some breakneck breakbeats with a funky bass line courtesy of Reuben Wilson’s “Orange Peel” (though it sounds like Dee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” to me), it fair pelts along giving the listener quite the head rush. Apparently, Tzant were the same people behind the PF Project who brought us the Trainspotting themed hit “Choose Life” in 1997 and the rapper is the same guy from all those awful cover versions by Clock. “Sounds Of Wickedness” was nothing like either of those though. In fact, it reminded me of another early 90s hit by Definition of Sound…

Maybe Tzant’s track is a bit more hard-hitting but you get my drift. They would have one more minor hit under that moniker but would score another Top 20 entry in 1999 under the name of Mirrorball and go onto mix the first volume of the “Euphoria” dance compilation albums that were huge sellers at the end of the 90s and early 2000s.

It’s the final week of six at No 1 for Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins with “It’s Like That” so I suppose I should finally comment on the video we’ve been watching for all these shows. There’s not much to it really though – an unconvincing male vs female breakdance-off set in a disused building interspersed with the odd shot of the Run-D.M.C. lads doing their trademark arms folded pose and some of Jason Nevins in yellow tinted glasses which are his trademark apparently. It’s not a patch on their iconic promo with Aerosmith for “Walk This Way” but then they were always going to miss a showman like Steven Tyler.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Ultra NatéFound A CureNo
2Savage GardenTruly Madly DeeplyI did not
3The Mighty Mighty BosstonesThe Impression That I GetNah
4The Tamperer featuring MayaFeel ItI wasn’t feeling this one – no
5Busta RhymesTurn It Up (Remix) / Fire It UpBig NO
6187 LockdownKung-FuNegative
7TzantSounds Of Wickedness‘Fraid not
8Run-D.M.C. versus Jason NevinsIt’s Like ThatAnd no

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/m002hf79/top-of-the-pops-24041998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 17 APR 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

Dearie me! This doesn’t look like the strongest TOTP line up I have to say. In fact it looks completely uninspiring to be frank. As such, my motivation is not at the levels it should be. The 1998 repeats have always been a bit of a slog so far to be honest and running orders like this are not helping. Well, I guess I’ve got to just get through it. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more…

Our host is Jo Whiley who would hail someone farting “The Birdie Song” as a musical genius if it kept her on TV. Thankfully the acts tonight aren’t quite that bad. We start with Billie Myers who was only just on last week (of course she was in the Chris Cowey era) performing her hit “Kiss The Rain”. I mentioned last time how she was sort of ‘the other’ Billie of 1998 next to Billie Piper and it got me thinking about how many famous Billies there were/had been. Here’s what I came up with:

  • Billie Eilish
  • Billie Holiday
  • Billie Jo Spears
  • Billie Joe Armstrong
  • Billie Whitelaw
  • Billie Jean King
  • Billie from Here Come the Double Deckers!

OK, the last ones a bit of a cheat but the first four are all singers so if you add Billie Piper and Billie Myers to that list that’s six which seems a fair few music artists especially when you consider I haven’t included those whose name is spelt Billy. As for Billie Myers, where does she rank in that list for you?

Sticking with the name game theme, the next artist has quite the moniker. Ultra Naté whose real name is…erm…Ultra Naté – no really, that’s her actual name – Ultra Naté Wyche – is back with a follow up to her massive hit single “Free”. It’s taken almost a year for it to be released but to be fair to her record label AM:PM, “Free” was such a monster spending three and a half months inside the Top 40 that I guess they had to let the momentum of that single finally run out of steam so as not to deflect sales from any new material. Plus, AM:PM released a “Free (The Mixes)” single in the January just to make sure they completely squeezed any remaining sales potential out of the track. With all that saturation, it probably made sense to wait a while before releasing a follow-up and, resisting the temptation to rinse and repeat, it wasn’t just a carbon copy of its predecessor. Sure, it’s still a dance track but, as we have discovered in this long, long journey through 90s music, dance music could be many different things and come in many different colours. Whilst not as immediate as “Free” nor as big a hit, “Found A Cure” still found a market spending two consecutive weeks at No 6.

Next in this unappealing running order is/are Mase (or is it Ma$e?) featuring Total with a rap track called “What You Want”. I can’t say I know much about Mase nor his music but even I, unaccustomed as I am to the rap genre, can tell that the start of this performance is hackneyed and lazy. Did he really just run on stage and shout “Everybody throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care”?! This is followed up by encouraging the studio audience to chant “Oh yeah” and then, focussing on “all the ladies”, gets them to “scream!”. Really?! There’s then a lot of rapping about Mase’s girl and his money and…shopping? I’m not really sure though he mentions enchiladas and giving her carats until she feels a rabbit. Is that a reference to buying a fur stole? I’m so confused and so as Mase ultimately as he couldn’t decide between a career as a rapper or dedicating his life to God as he retired from the music industry to become a pastor before returning in 2004 with an album called “Welcome Back”. It’s an unusual though not unique choice of career paths (didn’t MC Hammer also become an ordained minister?). It reminded me of my mate Robin who once took a carers advice exercise the result of which was that his optimum careers were either being a social worker or a comedian.

What are the chances?! Two acts on the same show with the name Ultra?! That’s where the similarities end though. I must have deliberately obliterated this lot from my memory banks as there is nothing familiar about them at all apart from them appearing to be a prototype version of Busted. No, wait – Busted playing the music of S Club 7. Their hit “Say You Do” is so annoyingly catchy that it’s…well…annoying. The usual route of support slots on tours by major artists (Boyzone and Louise in this case) helped establish a fan base (they were huge in South East Asia and Italy apparently) but that old music industry banana skin of record company restructuring saw the A&R team who signed them leave and they were released from their contract. Three of the four members continued as Rider who released a football record for the 2002 World Cup featuring Terry ‘El Tel’ Venables but it failed to chart. Conversely, they might have been better off keeping their original band name or at least adapting it to ‘The Ultras’. If you know, you know.

Right, who are these two? K–Ci & JoJo? Sounds like a TV show on the Disney Channel in the 90s. Apparently, they were half of the US R&B group Jodeci who were on a hiatus meaning that the group members could pursue other projects. K-Ci & JoJo were brothers Cedric and Joel Hailey who took the ball and ran with it all the way to No 1 in America with this single “All My Life”. For three weeks it reigned atop the Billboard Hot 100 but over here it had to make do with one week at No 8. It did, however, spend ten weeks inside the Top 40 descending gradually but consistently in an unusual chart journey. Clearly, there were some live vocals going on in this performance but they did seem to lack a bit of control – there was definitely some very elongated ‘ooh ooh-ing’ going on which I have to say caused my dog to howl uncontrollably when I watched this TOTP episode (no really – he did!).

The ‘all my life’ chorus sounded familiar but I couldn’t place what it reminded me of for ages until it finally clicked. Now, they’re nothing like each other in every other respect but the phrasing and intonation on those three words are almost exactly the same.

After some very unstimulating turns so far, we finally get to a song that inspires a tiny bit of excitement (for me anyway). If Ultra were an early version of Busted, then could a case be made that Ben Folds Five were the blueprint for Keane? I know, I know. Putting music into neatly labelled boxes probably isn’t the smartest nor fairest practice (and I’ve no doubt been guilty of it many, many times during the course of this blog). What I will say is that the “Battle Of Who Could Care Less” hitmakers were at the very least out of the ordinary with their acidic, piano driven, power pop tunes.

However, they risked alienating their fan base with this, their biggest hit “Brick” which was a much more subdued and earnest sound telling the story, as it did, of the abortion that Folds and his high school girlfriend went through. There is a beautiful intensity to the track though which can’t be denied. What wasn’t especially beautiful though was its title and it got me thinking of other songs that have titles that don’t seem to match their sound and I came up with this which is surely the ultimate example of the phenomenon…

The rebirth, rejuvenation and resurrection of Robbie Williams is complete! After looking down and out as the end of 1997 came into sight, he was now back at the very top as his debut album “Life Thru A Lens” has finally made it to the top of the charts six months after it was initially released. To celebrate the achievement, he’s been invited onto the show to perform a track from it. “Killing Me” was the one chosen for the appearance. It’s a brave choice in a way what with the dark song title but presumably Robbie wanted something that he believed would show people his depth as an artist. Certainly, “Killing Me” is a world away from his cover of George Michael’s “Freedom” which seemed a lazy and uninspired decision to launch his solo career with. I guess he could have gone with the more uptempo title track but on reflection, I think he made the right choice.

Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins remain at No 1 for a fifth straight week with “It’s Like That”.

Despite all its sales and all its plaudits, is there any better way of demonstrating the legacy of this track than it being used to soundtrack an Australian McDonalds advert in 2025?!

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Billie MyersKiss The RainNo
2 Ultra Naté Found A CureNope
3Mase featuring TotalWhat You WantNever happening
4UltraSay You DoOf course not
5K-Ci & JoJoAll My LifeNah
6Ben Folds FiveBrickLiked it, didn’t buy it
7Robbie WilliamsKilling MeNot available to purchase as a single
8Run-D.M.C. vs Jason NevinsIt’s Like ThatAnd no

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/m002hf77/top-of-the-pops-17041998?seriesId=unsliced