TOTP 1999 – the epilogue
As with seemingly every year, 1999 brought us the usual bad news stories – war and conflict, earthquakes, political turmoil etc but let’s not dwell on all that – the state of the world is shocking enough in 2026 without reminding ourselves that it was ever thus. In popular culture, the Pokémon phenomenon took over the world whilst in TV, The Sopranos, Family Guy and SpongeBob SquarePants premiered. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was predictably the biggest grossing film of the year though one of the most talked about movies was the genre bending The Blair Witch Project.
In technology, the way we consumed music was about to change forever. File sharing network Napster was launched ushering in a musical digital revolution. As the year and indeed the century ended, technology was at the forefront of all our minds as the fear of the millennium bug loomed. In the end, those fears came to nought but in terms of 1999’s music (in the charts at least) they were realised.
As for TOTP itself, we were still in the Chris Cowey era and after he’d introduced a new theme tune, logo and title sequence the year before, 1999 saw the executive producer focus on the show’s running order and, let’s be fair, he made a right mess of it. The historical mantra that a song must be No 1, a new entry or going up the charts to be featured was totally ransacked with records descending the Top 40 regularly showcased. The constant rotation of No 1s meant that we often had the spectacle of ending a show and starting the next with the same hit as last week’s chart topper was shown again immediately despite having been knocked of its perch. If it was frustrating to watch back then, reviewing the BBC4 repeats in 2026 was torturous.
The show’s main presenters were Jamie Theakston, Jayne Middlemiss and Scott Mills though we also saw the introduction of Gail Porter as a replacement for Kate Thornton. There was also the curious footnote of TOTP history that was Emma Ledden’s solitary appearance.
OK, well, let’s stick to tradition and look at the year’s Top 50 singles:
Best-selling singles
The first thing to say is how many No 1s there were! Twenty-nine of the Top 50 were chart toppers. In total there were thirty-six singles that made it to the top which I’m pretty sure was a record. This was no doubt down to heavy first week discounting by the record companies which the public very soon got on board with and wise to. Three weeks at the top was the maximum time any of those records managed with the first nine weeks of the year seeing nine different songs at the summit. Only two of the Top 50 were singles that peaked outside of the Top 3. As for the Top 10 best sellers, I’d break them down like this:
- Six were dance hits of one hue or another
- One was by an established boy band
- One was by a country artist crossing over into the mainstream with a hybrid sound
- One was by a new teenage singing sensation
- One was by Cliff Richard!
Clearly dance music still dominated the charts but what was interesting (possibly) was the different genres represented. Eurodance, Latino, garage, electro house, trance…it was exhausting. Further down the list we found returning superstars such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz and most surprising of all Blondie. We still hadn’t had enough of novelty singles with South Park‘s Chef, Bad Luhrmann, Cartoons and, arguably, Mr Oizo all having huge hits.
Boybands may not have been having it all their own way anymore but Boyzone, Five, Backstreetboys and the depressing emergence of Westlife ensured they were still very much able to pull in sales from a devoted fanbase. Girl groups though were on the wane it seemed with the Spice Girls releasing no new material but laucnching solo careers instead whilst B* Witched looked on decidedly dodgy ground come the year end. However, girl/boy combos were finding success easier to come by with S Club 7 and Steps both featuring. How many of the Top 50 did I buy? One. Any guesses which? OK, I’ll put you out of your misery…it was New Radicals.
Best-selling albums
So let’s move on to the best selling albums…
Yet again, my overall impression is how mainstream most of the artists were. The Corrs, Celine Dion, Westlife, Texas, Cher, Bryan Adams are just a few of the names that stand out on first glance. Then there’s legacy acts like ABBA, Queen and Dean Martin…where were the new artists? OK, Britney Spears and Macy Gray. Who else? Martine McCutcheon? Please! Even breakthrough names like Travis had already been around for a while before hitting it big in 1999.
If new artists were hard to find, now about non-mainstream acts? I’ll offer you The Offspring, The Chemical Brothers, TLC, Fatboy Slim, Stereophonics, Catatonia and The Cardigans. It’s not many is it? Best Ofs and Greatest Hits were still doing decent business accounting for nearly a fifth of the Top 50 whilst Cher, George Michael, Robbie Williams, The Corrs, Boyzone and Steps all had two albums on the list making up nearly a quarter of the chart. As for the year’s best seller, give me strength! What on earth was happening?! And me personally, How many did I own? Maybe three? Four or five if you add in my wife’s contributions. A vintage year it was not.
Hits We Missed
We missed five shows that BBC4 did not broadcast in this run of 1999 TOTP repeats due to the Scott Mills sacking controversy and the Gouryella cultural appropriation issue. Two of those are addressed below whilst there are a further two that weren’t deemed big enough hits to warrant a place in the running order.
Duran Duran – “Electric Barbarella”
Released: Jan ‘99
Chart peak: No 23
Duran Duran were having hits in 1999?! Yes, they were but this one will take a bit of explaining as it has quite the back story. Six years on from their Indian Summer moment that was “Ordinary World” and their seventh studio and second eponymous album aka “The Wedding Album”, the band’s fortunes had taken a bit of a nose dive. The disastrous decision to record a cover versions album – 1995’s “Thank You” – as its follow up (which Q magazine declared the worst of all time in 2006) had derailed the good will and credibility they’d acquired with that comeback to the point that their ninth studio album “Medazzaland” was only released by record label Capitol in the territories of North America, Latin America and Japan. It wasn’t officially released in the UK on various digital platforms until 2021 and finally a physical release the year after.
“Electric Barbarella” was one of two singles released from it but only initially in America where it made little impression. That could have been the end of its story but come 1998, the relationship between the band and their record company reached breaking point after the commercial failure of the whole “Medazzaland” project and they parted company with EMI. And guess what EMI did next? They tried to maximise the commercial returns of their previous charges by raiding their back catalogue for a Best Of collection. Of course they did.
Rather unsurprisingly, it turned out that although the UK didn’t have much of an appetite for new Duran Duran material, when it came to revisiting their past glories, then there was definitely a whole to be filled. The “Greatest” album would eventually go three times platinum, updating as it did, 1989’s “Decade” collection. I say ‘updating’ but, in truth, there were only four songs on it from the 90s one of which (and crucial to our story) was “Electric Barbarella”. Off the back of the success of “Greatest”, it was finally given a UK release in its own right. OK but one week spent at No 23 isn’t much of a story you might well comment. However, here’s the kicker which places the track at the heart of the biggest change in music consumption ever. “Electric Barbarella” is widely considered to be the first ever single by a major label artist available for digital purchase/download on the internet. No really.
The alt-rock and pop history website Diffuser has a great piece about the song’s significance and it’s so interesting to read about some of the concerns and attitudes such a milestone release caused back then. Whilst their label was initially reticent about the whole concept, they eventually relented and the track was to be made available as a digital download two weeks before the physical single hit record shop racks. The retail sector had a wobble about supporting a format that seemed to be given exclusivity and Capitol caved by synchronising release dates. Some of the prevailing attitudes of the time have not aged well though. Look at this quote from Scott Burnett, the VP of Marketing at Liquid Audio, the company Duran Duran partnered with to deliver the electronic version:
“This is about creating additional revenue—not about taking away established revenue streams.”
20 Years Ago: Duran Duran Make Music History by Selling ‘Electric Barbarella’ as a Digital Single; Annie Zaleski, diffuser.fm; 2017
Didn’t really work out like that did it Scott? Then there was Robin Bechtel, senior director of new media (U.S.):
“Most people who find out about music on the Internet do go down to their local retailer to make a purchase. This will help to generate more sales at retail.”
20 Years Ago: Duran Duran Make Music History by Selling ‘Electric Barbarella’ as a Digital Single; Annie Zaleski, diffuser.fm; 2017
Ha! Anyway, as for the song itself, it was a very electro track, with a repetitive, driving rhythm and simple but hooky chorus but its most interesting parts were the sonic effects in the mix that gave it a claustrophobic, under duress feel. The rather inevitable film reference in its title that gave the band their name reminded me of that time that The Rolling Stones finally recorded Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” for their live album “Stripped”. The robot sex doll video for “Electric Barbarella” will surely only be remembered for all the wrong reasons though. And if you think I’m done with artists who made their names in the 80s in a review of 1999, then think again…
Groove Armada – “At The River”
Released: Jul ‘99
Chart peak: No 19
Another hit now that wasn’t huge in terms of its chart position but it was in terms of its reach. Groove Armada are the electronic music duo of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay who had visited the Top 40 earlier in the year with the single “If Everybody Looked the Same” but it was “At The River” that really announced them, certainly to me at least. What a curious thing this was. Ostensibly a dance track, this was no high bpm dance floor filler though. No, this was an early morning, come down tune that would become a staple in the running order of all those ‘Chilled Ibiza’ compilation albums.
Those solitary two lines of lyrics – “If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, Quaint little villages here and there” – are sampled from the 1957 song “Old Cape Cod” which was recorded by American country and pop music singer Patti Page whom I’ve never heard of before and certainly didn’t know about back in 1999. Indeed, Cato and Findlay only became aware of the track whilst holidaying in the Lake District when they bought a 1950s compilation album from a bargain bin in a shop in Ambleside for 50p. Added to that, the mesmerising trombone solo was only included because Andy Cato had brought his instrument with him on holiday to practice for a forthcoming jazz concert. On such random incidents can huge moments in popular culture be made.
“At The River”‘s ubiquity and lazy beats didn’t help though when it came to staging the performance of it on TOTP. A hazy sheen visual effect and a small monitor showing the talking head part of the official video seemed to be the only idea the programme makers could come up with to enliven what was on our screens. That and a fair bit of attention on the very blonde woman on the keyboards. The track would have a second life in 2006 when it was used to soundtrack adverts for Marks & Spencer Food and you don’t get bigger moments in popular culture than that (ahem).
Travis – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?”
Released: Aug ‘99
Chart peak: No 10
I’ve included this one as Travis really were the breakout stars of 1999 and although they would go on to have bigger hits, this single seemed to me to be the one that made a statement of intent – they were on their way and there would be no turning back. Ironically, it’s opening lyrics – “I can’t sleep tonight, Everybody’s saying everything is alright” – refers to a late night conversation between songwriter Fran Healy and their manager who was trying to reassure the former that the band’s career was taking off whilst Healy himself wasn’t convinced. In many ways, it mirrored the rise of Oasis who after two middling-sized hits, unleashed “Live Forever” and we knew that they meant business. Lending weight to that comparison is the fact that both “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” and “Live Forever” peaked at No 10.
Sonically, I don’t think there’s that much similarity between them (any musicians reading this will no doubt correct me) although Healy has admitted to pinching the chords from “Wonderwall” for the Travis hit “Writing To Reach You” even referencing the Oasis song in its lyrics. “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” is almost jaunty in its chorus (despite its oppositional lyric) whereas “Live Forever” has a heavier, almost defiant tone to it. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that WDIAROM also picked up extensive radio play which helped establish Travis in the minds of the public who had not yet caught up with the band.
In a Guardian article in 2020, Fran Healy stated that the moment they started playing the song in their set at Glastonbury 1999, the heavens opened and that everything turned around for them and superstardom beckoned. I guess a song called “Why Doesn’t It Always Rain On Me?” wouldn’t have translated as well.
The Divine Comedy – “Gin Soaked Boy”
Released: Nov ‘99
Chart peak: No 38
Not only did we miss “The Pop Singer’s Fear Of The Pollen Count” on the show due to the Scott Mills controversy, but we also missed this little gem from The Divine Comedy because it wasn’t considered a big enough hit I guess. Both tracks came from the compilation album “A Secret History…” and both deserved to be bigger hits (TPSFOTPC peaked at No 17) but the ignoring of “Gin Soaked Boy” by the record buying public bordered on criminal.
Sometimes the lyrics to a song pass you by (even if you enjoy its sound ) but in this case, the track is all about the lyrics. Now, whether you hear them as random nonsense or cleverly constructed rhyming couplets that play on oppositional meanings, that’s up to you. Personally, I find it intriguing even on repeated hearings with my favourite line being the penultimate and ridiculous “I’m Jeff Goldblum in The Fly“. Glorious stuff. If you still weren’t convinced by it, then the CD single included the Father Ted theme “Songs Of Love” and the marvellous Eurovision entry “My Lovely Horse” from the episode ‘A Song for Europe’. What more could you ask for?
As for the song’s title, it must have been borrowed from the song of the same name from the Tom Waits 1983 album “Swordfishtrombones” which also includes the wonderful “In The Neighbourhood”. Neil Hannon himself says that the gin reference is about ‘spirit’ using the word’s alcoholic definition as a metaphor for resilience within the human condition. Or something. Whether my liking for the song has any bearing on my liking of the drink I’m not sure. If I’m not the gin soaked boy, though, well, who am I?
Hits That Never Were
Slim pickings in this section again, so much so that I had to resort to seeking out two fallen 80s idols.
Toploader – “Let The People Know”
Released: Aug ‘99
Chart peak: No 52
The ubiquity of their hit “Dancing In The Moonlight” (and, let’s be honest, its tweeness) is generally perceived to have taken a sledgehammer to Toploader’s credibility, a blow from which they have never recovered. Now, I’m not saying that I disagree with that but they didn’t start out as everybody’s go to bland band to hate on (or was that the aforementioned Travis?). This single which preceded that mega hit was a precision-tooled, driving, darting arrowhead of disco-influenced soul-pop that was as startling as it was slick.
I first heard it not on initial release but as part of a free gift CD attached to the cover of Q Magazine about a year or so later and, on first listen, it almost blew me away. It was unconscionable that they were the same band which released that King Harvest cover. Even the Rocky inspired video felt like it fitted. Maybe they should have rereleased it as the follow up to “Dancing In The Moonlight” instead of “Achilles Heel” although, to be fair, that was a decent tune as well.
I guess I didn’t subscribe to that theory that they were the ultimate creators of generic, safe, uninspired and inoffensive rock/pop music. In fact, I’m sure I didn’t as I saw them live once (gulp!). No, wait! Come back! It was when I was living in York having left Manchester and you didn’t get many names on the circuit come to York at the time so I went. They were OK as I recall.
There is, of course, a link from them to TOTP 1999 even though they didn’t appear on the show during that year which is that their guitarist Dan Hipgrave was dating the aforementioned presenter Gail Porter (and was presumably the envy of many a teenage lad back then). They married in 2001 but separated three years later before divorcing. He would subsequently marry sports presenter Lynsey Horn.
Howard Jones – “Let The People Have Their Say”
Released: Feb ‘99
Chart peak: No 99
I guess once you have “Let The People Know” then the logical progression is to “Let The People Have Their Say”. The paucity of decent entries for this section has led me to find out what a pop hero of the mid 80s was up to in 1999. Sadly, Howard Jones had long since faded from the minds of the general UK record buying public. His last Top 40 hit had been 1986’s “All I Want” which itself had only just secured that status by clambering to No 35. After that it had all been downhill over here though he had remained a significant live draw in the US.
After his ten year record deal with Warners had expired in 1993, he’d resorted to releasing albums on his own Dtox label via his website and at live gigs. One such release was “People” from which the single “Let The People Have Their Say” was taken. A jaunty, bounce-a-long pop tune with a calypso feel, it was never likely to become a huge hit up against the boybands and dance anthems that were occupying the charts at the time. It’s a nice enough tune though and until 2005 when he featured on Mohito’s No 82 hit, was the last time he ever broke the Top 100 barrier. One final thing though Howard. If you let the people have their say, they invariably get it wrong.
Nik Kershaw – “Somebody Loves You”
Released: Feb ‘99
Chart peak: No 70
Now, it was always the case that Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw came as a pair so…in truth though, it is odd how their careers have almost run in parallel. They both hit within a few months of each other, both had huge selling debut albums with the word ‘Human’ in the title and their chart careers both fell away at almost exactly the same time with the release of their third albums. By 1999, they were still in sync in terms of a lack of commercial success albeit that Kershaw had written a No 1 hit for Chesney Hawkes eight years earlier. However, in terms of racking up the sales under their own names…well, there was virtually nothing.
In the case of Nik though, he hadn’t actually released any music as a solo artist since 1989’s “The Works” as he’d been writing and collaborating with other artists for most of the decade including Genesis’s Tony Banks, Elton John, Les Rythmes Digitales and…erm…Let Loose. However, for his fifth album “15 Minutes”, Kershaw decided that nobody but him could record those songs and so he returned to the studio in his own right.
The lead single from it was “Somebody Loves You”, a very melodic, very mature, very well constructed pop/rock song so, obviously, the crap-obsessed record buying public of 1999 weren’t having it at all. It surely deserved better than its No 70 chart placing. The video with Nik as a living museum exhibit foreshadowed the House Of Annie Lennox exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum which on occasion saw her working within a perspex box by 13 years. Kershaw has continued to record and tour extensively in the past 25 plus years and has even written a book detailing the stories behind his big hits as well as every track spanning his 40 years career.
Shack – “Comedy”
Released: Jun ‘99
Chart peak: No 44
Keeping the 80s theme going in 1999 were Shack who emerged from the ashes of the criminally ignored band The Pale Fountains. They released some wonderful tracks between 1982 and 1985 such as “Thank You”, “Palm Of My Hand” and “…From Across the Kitchen Table” all of which fell by the chart wayside. Singer Mick Head licked his wounds and formed Shack with his brother John in 1987 releasing two albums before finally finding not just critical acclaim but crucially commercial success as well with third album “H.M.S. Fable”. From personal memory, this was a steady, consistent seller rather than a runaway sensation, a recollection which its peak chart position of No 25 supports. The music press loved it though declaring it the second best album of 1999 in the NME and Uncut magazine.
Two singles were taken from it of which “Comedy” was the first. In an unexpected turn, I find myself potentially using similar words to describe it which I used whilst writing about Nik Kershaw above. Sacrilege? Maybe but also undeniable. The album received plaudits that talked about ‘lyrical craftsmanship’, ‘effortless melody’ and ‘classic pop harmonies’. There were also the inevitable Oasis comparisons but with the caveat that Shack were an upgrade (in today’s parlance) or that they were the band that Oasis always wanted to be. You can understand such reviews when listening to songs such as “Comedy” which, without wanting to repeat myself, was all those things and more. Why oh why wasn’t it a hit?
Shack would release two further albums (the final one ironically on Noel Gallagher’s Sour Mash label) whilst Michael Head now plys his trade as Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band who, in 2022, finally gave him the commercial respect he deserved when the album “Dear Scott” made No 6 in the charts.
Their Season In The Sun
Martine McCutcheon
Seemingly taking the well trodden route of soap star to pop star, Martine actually went from pop star to soap star to pop star. Sort of. She was originally in an all-girl group called Milan as a teenager who released three singles and toured as a support act for East 17 before joining the cast of EastEnders. They never achieved fame and fortune though.
By 1998, McCutcheon had decided that it was time for another go at this pop star lark and so, with her Albert Square character Tiffany killed off in the New Year’s Eve episode, there was nothing to distract her from devoting her full attention to music. Her start couldn’t have gone any better with a No 1 straight off the bat with classy, big ballad “Perfect Moment”. Her album “You, Me & Us” made No 2 and generated two more hit singles. The noughties brought two more albums which sold but not in the same numbers and her recording contract was eventually cancelled. She would return to the charts briefly with a fourth and so far final album in 2017. Since then though, her only musical foray has been as Swan in 2021 on The Masked Singer.
The Offspring
This one probably needs some context adding as I’m sure if you’re a fan of The Offspring, you’ll be coming at me with all sorts of stats and data that belie my perceived suggestion that they had one magnificent year and that was it. That certainly was not the case. For a start these American rockers have been going for over 40 years and have released 11 studio albums. In terms of sales, as of 2015, The Offspring had sold over 40 million albums worldwide.
And yet…in 1999, the UK fully discovered and embraced the band as they released perhaps their most commercial album to date – “Americana” – that furnished them with a No 1 and a No 2 hit single. “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” came out of nowhere to debut at the top of the UK charts at the start of the year, spending over a month inside the Top 10. To put that into perspective, their biggest hit over here up to that point had been “All I Want” which made No 31 in 1997. They followed it up with the “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” apeing “Why Don’t You Get A Job?” which just missed the top spot. However, when the album’s third single “The Kids Aren’t Alright” failed to make the Top 10, signs that the fever dream was coming to an end appeared. They didn’t disappear from our charts completely but the high flying days of 1999 would never return. However, they still record and play live to this day including the quaintly titled Shit Is Fucked Up tour in 2009.
Shanks & Bigfoot
Not quite the classic one hit wonder (a solitary No 1 and then nothing) but not far off it. Hailing from that hot bed of late 90s dance artists that was Brighton, Steven Meade and Danny Langsman (aka Shanks & Bigfoot) scored a chart topper in “Sweet Like Chocolate” in the Summer of 1999 and for a while they were the bomb. Accolades and awards followed (nominations and one win at the MOBO/ Ivor Novello/ BRITs) and the likes of Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child asking the duo to write for them.
Somehow though, it all fell away, possibly not helped by the year’s delay between “Sweet Like Chocolate” and their debut and only album “Swings And Roundabouts” being released. Momentum lost and all that. When it finally arrived, it failed to dent the Top 75. Their only other chart entry came from No 12 single “Sing-A-Long” in 2000. What are they up to today? The trail is a little cold though “Sweet Like Chocolate” was sampled by Stormzy during his headline set at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival.
Vengaboys
They came (on a bus), they saw (an opportunity) and they conquered (the charts). The success of this…this…project (I refuse to dignify this insult to music by calling them a group) was both baffling and irritating in equal measure. How on earth did the masses fall for their idiotic, nursery rhyme-like ditties (I refuse to call them songs)?! Yes, they had hits before 1999 and after but it was this year that they racked up two consecutive No 1s in “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!” and “We’re Going To Ibiza!”. This was peak Vengaboys and boy did they cause a fit of pique in me.
Come the new millennium, they would replace an original member with a dolphin trainer which is pretty apt as I think I’d rather listen to the chirping squeaks and clicks of a dolphin than a Vengaboys record – in fact, what’s the difference? Unbelievably, a version of the group project still exists and as recently as 2025 opened for Scissor Sisters and Kesha at Madison Square Garden on The Tits Out tour (insert your own joke here…).
Last Words
1999, you were pretty crap I have to say. I’m not sure what I was expecting from these TOTP repeats but what I got was underwhelming, no not underwhelming…poor…no, not that either…shite…yes, that’s the right word…SHITE! You can an ‘utter’ before it too for maximum accuracy.
Personally, it was my final year of working in record retail for Our Price and I lasted just 10 weeks with the company into the new millennium before leaving after having been an employee for nearly 10 years. Not only did I change jobs but also cities, swapping the ever hip Manchester for the not quite as cool York. Sorry York but it’s true. The change from record shop to the civil service proved too big a change and I struggled from day one to come to terms with office life. Somehow I managed seven years before uprooting again to my current home of Hull.
What would have happened if I hadn’t have left when I did? I’d have probably stumbled along for a bit feeling ever less connected to the music I was selling as I settled into my 30s. The writing was on the wall for the traditional record shop though as the digital revolution lurked around the corner yet in plain sight. If I’d have stayed at Our Price, ultimately I would have had to find a new job as the chain folded in 2004. It was a wrench to leave though after all that time and I did feel emotional on the final day. The first thing I ever sold was an Elton John Greatest Hits cassette so my colleagues managed to find an old Elton cassette single that we had in the shop and one of them bought it so Elton on cassette was also my last sale. Bless ‘em.
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.
TOTP Rewind - the 90s 