26th January 1991 for one week

Queen were such an awesome band, it’s such a privilege to discuss them on this blog. The last time they were at the top was in 1981 with Under Pressure (with David Bowie).

I was completely unaware, it seems of music in early 1991. So I have no memories of Innuendo reaching the top – none whatsoever. In fact, it’s such an average noise, it is such a shame that it was one of the few Queen songs that reached the top.

Queen’s music has soundtracked many moments to my life. They are a truly special band. Their main singer, of course, passed away in 1991 (later this year), and yet 33 years later their music still sound wonderful.

But Innuendo is not one of their finest moments.

2/10

19th January 1991 for one week

I first heard of Enigma in 1993 with the brilliant Return To Innocence. I had no idea that they had released a song two years earlier that reached Number 1.

Sadness is a great song and one I like. But it’s hard to understand why it reached Number 1. Why?

The last three Number 1s have been Cliff Richard, Iron Maiden and Enigma. What a bizarre few weeks.

6/10

5th January 1991 for two weeks

The first time I became aware of this song was hearing some lads singing it in the changing rooms when we were getting changed for PE. I didn’t think it was a real song and thought it was the usual crap that these daft lads would mouth off.

But no, it was a real song.

It’s not my thing. I have heard it a few times but not for a while. But even now, 33 years later, it is still rubbish.

1/10

29th December 1990 for one week

The Christmas Number 1 in 1990 was Saviour’s Day by Cliff Richard. I loved the song at the time. As a Christian family it didn’t trouble me at all that it was Christian music. It simply didn’t register that this could be problematic for some people at the time. 

I still really enjoy the song now, although our children aren’t fans as it sounds a bit tame compared to the upbeat Christmas classics.

The song has not recharted since, even in the days of downloads and streaming. That tells you something about its appeal – it is very niche. It hasn’t stood the test of time.

5/10

1st December 1990 for four weeks

It’s hard to believe that there was actually a time before Ice Ice Baby. It is so instantly familiar and well known, it’s almost like it’s been around for ever.

But, I can remember it being out in 1990 like it was yesterday!

At the time, I had no idea that it was based around the bassline from Under Pressure, by Queen. In fact, when I heard Under Pressure I thought it was sampling Ice Ice Baby!

Ice Ice Baby was like nothing I’d heard before – I’d heard some rap, but this was the first song that made it really accessible. 

In my head, everyone loved this song, without exception. It seems that a few years later people considered it to be cheesy. I still don’t get that.

My aim was to learn all of the words and I can still (almost) rap to the entire song today.

Our children enjoy the song too. 

10/10

3rd November 1990 for four weeks

Unchained Melody is one of those phenomenal songs that everyone knows. It was originally recorded in 1955 and was then released by The Righteous Brothers in 1965. It reached Number 14.

In 1990 the film, Ghost, was released. We never went to the cinema as a child so I know that I didn’t see the film until a year or two later on the bus when we went to France on a school trip.

However, the song, Unchained Melody, was featured in a prominent moment in the film and the song was released as a single once again. And it was a smash hit! This version of the song was 25 years old by the time it reached Number 1 and it was there for four weeks and was the year’s biggest selling single!

It is a fantastic song – and this is 100% the best version of it. We will meet the song again a few more times, but nothing will ever top the Righteous Brothers’ version. 

10/10

27th October 1990 for one week

My memory of The Beautiful South is a little confusing. I can vividly remember hearing this song on the Chart Show and loving it. I didn’t understand what it was about at the time, but I knew I liked it.

But I don’t remember any other songs from the group until their greatest hits album, Carry On Up The Charts was released in 1994. But I can recall that I knew most of the songs on it in 1994. I must have heard the songs when they came out, but have no recollection of them individually. Carry On Up The Charts was an amazing album and it drew me into the band and I loved them and much of their music that came out afterwards.

A Little Time was their only Number 1 song so I feel it’s important to point out that The Beautiful South became one of my favourite bands. Some absolutely perfect songs – Paul Heaton is a musical genius.

8/10

29th September 1990 for four weeks

Show Me Heaven is power ballad heaven. It is a truly sensational song and Maria McKee absolutely belts it out.

I can remember that it was a song from a movie but have only just realised that it was from Days Of Thunder, a film I’ve never seen.

The song was huge at the time and it just became one of those classic songs almost as soon as it was out.

I wonder what became of Maria McKee?

9/10

15th September 1990 for two weeks

In 1990 we were still years away from the ability to fast forward through adverts. I don’t watch any adverts on TV now, if I can avoid it. 33 years ago we had to sit through them all, and this is what led to a song from 1973 reaching Number One.

The Joker was used as the soundtrack to an advert for Levi’s jeans. I don’t remember the advert. But I do remember the song. I quite liked it. It felt a bit grown up – it talked about smoking and that was edgy. I can remember that it beat Deee-Lite’s Groove Is In The Heart to the top (more on that in a moment) and that was definitely a good thing because I hated Groove Is In The Heart. 

Over the years I grew to like the song more. It feels an unlikely song to reach the top somehow. That advert must have been brilliant! Levi’s adverts were responsible for a few more songs to reach Number 1. We’ll come to them over time…

Apparently The Joker beat Groove Is In The Heart to the top on a technicality. They both had the same sales! That is incredibly unlikely, you would think, but back in 1990 a lot of estimating was used to calculate single sales. Joker made it to the top because they increased their sales more to get to the top, which meant that Groove Is In The Heart was at Number 2.

Ironically, I now consider Groove Is In The Heart to be a fantastic song! It is a disgrace that it never reached the top as it is brilliant, sounding just as good 33 years later.

7/10

25th August 1990 for three weeks

The next kid-friendly song to top the charts in the summer of 1990 was led by Timmy Mallett, the Wackaday TV presenter who all children loved. Yes, the star of Mallett’s Mallett and other hilarious (I say that without sarcasm) kids’ TV teamed up with Andrew Lloyd Webber (!) to produce a great pop song.

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini is apparently a song from the Sixties originally that had been popular in other languages. Wikipedia pretty much describes that the song was produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber for a laugh and that, apparently, Mallett didn’t actually sing on the song.

I’ll be honest, I don’t care if he did sing on the song. It is fun and that’s all that it was aiming to do.

I think it still sounds alright 33 years later. They don’t make pop songs like this any more!

By the time IBTWYPDB was off the top of the charts I was at high school and my musical taste would be forced to grow up. Until this point I never really understood that other people would disagree with you about whether a song was good or not. Over the coming years I’d learn that liking pop music was not cool. It wasn’t till I was an adult that I stopped caring.

7/10