Dumper Retrospective: 1996

[Forgive Me Jenny Elly Moondial]

UK NUMBER ONES 1996.

Earth Song- Michael Jackson. (9th December 1995)
Jesus to a Child- George Michael. (20th January 1996)
Spaceman- Babylon Zoo. (27th January)
Don't Look Back In Anger- Oasis. (2nd March)
How Deep Is Your Love- Take That. (9th March)
Firestarter- Prodigy. (30th March)
Return of the Mack- Mark Morrison. (20th April)
Fastlove- George Michael. (4th May)
Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit- Gina G. (25th May)
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (1st June)
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (8th June)
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (6th July)
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (13th July)
Forever Love- Gary Barlow. (20th July)
Wannabe- Spice Girls. (27th July)
Flava- Peter Andre. (14th September)
Ready Or Not- Fugees. (21st September)
Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something. (5th October)
Setting Sun- Chemical Brothers. (12th October)
Words- Boyzone. (19th October)
Say You'll Be There- Spice Girls. (26th October)
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted/Saturday Night at the Movies/You'll Never Walk Alone- Robson and Jerome. (9th November)
Breathe- Prodigy. (23rd November)
I Feel You- Peter Andre. (7th December)
A Different Beat- Boyzone. (14th December)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Throw These Guns Away- Dunblane. (21st December)
2 Become 1- Spice Girls (28th December)

2 Become 1 stayed at number 1 until 18th January before being knocked off by Profesional Widow by Tori Amos which then led to there being new entries at number 1 for the next six weeks.

The previous record was three new entries in a row and everyone got excited when it got to four. For me this is where the charts lost all credibility and songs showed how they did their heavy promotion in the first week rather than actualy climbing up the chart or having any staying power.

Other points are that four acts managed to hit number 1 with two different songs in the same year (George Michael, Fugees, Prodigy & Boyzone), the Spice Girls managed 3.

[Jen]

now thats educational. peter andre- reminsces.

[jNyasu: Geekspert And Utopian]

What a great run of number 1s that was!

[Ms Buffay]

Ok, just because I feel like it, here are my thoughts on some of those '96 number ones.

Earth Song- Michael Jackson. (9th December 1995) Liked it

Spaceman- Babylon Zoo. (27th January) Loved it

Don't Look Back In Anger- Oasis. (2nd March) Loved this too - came out on my 17th birthday!


How Deep Is Your Love- Take That. (9th March) 'twas their last song - sob!


Firestarter- Prodigy. (30th March) hated it


Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (1st June) Did like it ...

Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (13th July) Loved it

Wannabe- Spice Girls. (27th July) Hated it - hated it hmm - kind of grew to like it. And them ...


Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something. (5th October) Liked it a lot


Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Throw These Guns Away- Dunblane. (21st December) - Was that really this long ago - I was very disturbed by Dunblane and by the Lisa Potts incident in Wolverhapmton.

[Forgive Me Jenny Elly Moondial]

Oh I want to this now as well though there were only a few number 1's I actually cared about:

Earth Song- Michael Jackson. (9th December 1995) Nice video, heartfelt sentiment let down by the fact he was so rich he could probably do a lot more than release a song.
Jesus to a Child- George Michael. (20th January 1996) Boring.
Spaceman- Babylon Zoo. (27th January) (HATED IT WITH A PASSION, mainly because I like most people I knew was expecting the whole song to be a dancier verion of the "Spaceman" bit on the jeans advert. I got a remix version in the ned which made me a bit happier.
Don't Look Back In Anger- Oasis. (2nd March) Didn't Mind it.
How Deep Is Your Love- Take That. (9th March) Could never stand Take That anyway.
Firestarter- Prodigy. (30th March) One of my favourite number 1's of all time. A fantasic tune, the cementing of The Prodigy's muscial direction change and a great video, image and the fact they always refused to appear on TOTP because it was crap. And it knocked off Take That, what more could I ask for?
Return of the Mack- Mark Morrison. (20th April) Hated it, mainly because it knocked off Prodigy.
Fastlove- George Michael. (4th May) Boring, I just didn't like him until after that 'incident'
Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit- Gina G. (25th May) Loved it, still do.
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (1st June) OK it was a song for the time and fitted the occassion perfectly so I'm pleased it was number 1.
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (8th June) Slow song which I didn't like.
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (6th July)
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (13th July)
Forever Love- Gary Barlow. (20th July) I don't even remember this one....
Wannabe- Spice Girls. (27th July)....this one on the other hand. Aaaaargh. I was a Prodigy fan which says a lot about what I probably, and indeed did think of the Spice Girls.
Flava- Peter Andre. (14th September) Didn't like it
Ready Or Not- Fugees. (21st September) Liked this one, I was surprised since the Fugees never really thrilled me.
Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something. (5th October) Yeuch.
Setting Sun- Chemical Brothers. (12th October) Oh loved and totally forgot about this. Good video too.
Words- Boyzone. (19th October) Ballads, hate them, next.
Say You'll Be There- Spice Girls. (26th October) Spice girls, hate them, next.
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted/Saturday Night at the Movies/You'll Never Walk Alone- Robson and Jerome. (9th November) Robson and Jerome, hate them, next.
Breathe- Prodigy. (23rd November) Brilliant, fantastic, wondeful though I was still surprised it got to number 1.
I Feel You- Peter Andre. (7th December) don't remember it.
A Different Beat- Boyzone. (14th December) But I do this one, no didn't like it.
Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Throw These Guns Away- Dunblane. (21st December) Or this one, yes I know it was for charity but I still disliked the song.
2 Become 1- Spice Girls (28th December) God they're back again.

1996- Ah the Prodigy's best year.

[TheMoon]

Earth Song- Michael Jackson. (9th December 1995) - An average Jackson song.
Jesus to a Child- George Michael. (20th January 1996) - Snogged a really fit girl to this song at a party. Brings back great memories.
Spaceman- Babylon Zoo. (27th January) - Crap
Don't Look Back In Anger- Oasis. (2nd March) - Quality
How Deep Is Your Love- Take That. (9th March) - Crap cover of an excellent Bee Gee's song
Firestarter- Prodigy. (30th March) - Gotta support the home town boys. Loved it. Still do.
Return of the Mack- Mark Morrison. (20th April) - Making somewhat of comeback in my local bars at the mo. Quite welcome too.
Fastlove- George Michael. (4th May) - More quality from George Michael
Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit- Gina G. (25th May) - Bloody awful
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (1st June) - Same as Moondial
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (8th June) - Liked this, preferred the original
Three Lions- Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. (6th July)
Killing Me Softly- Fugees. (13th July)
Forever Love- Gary Barlow. (20th July) - Pass
Wannabe- Spice Girls. (27th July) - Worst. Song. Ever
Flava- Peter Andre. (14th September) - Pass
Ready Or Not- Fugees. (21st September) - Meh
Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something. (5th October) - Awsome. Only song I can perform to a decent standard on karoke
Setting Sun- Chemical Brothers. (12th October) - Dislike the Chemical Brother with a passion
Words- Boyzone. (19th October)
Say You'll Be There- Spice Girls. (26th October) - Second. Worst. Song. Ever
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted/Saturday Night at the Movies/You'll Never Walk Alone- Robson and Jerome. (9th November) - How the hell were these 2 morons allowed to crucify classic hits like these?
Breathe- Prodigy. (23rd November) - See Firestarter
I Feel You- Peter Andre. (7th December) - Sorry Peter, your only song was Mysterious Girl, as far as I'm concerned
A Different Beat- Boyzone. (14th December) - Piss of Boyzone
Knockin' On Heaven's Door/Throw These Guns Away- Dunblane. (21st December) - Meh
2 Become 1- Spice Girls (28th December) - I don't care how big Geri's boobs looked, piss off already.

[Forgive Me Jenny Elly Moondial]

Pheeble said:

How Deep Is Your Love- Take That. (9th March) 'twas their last song - sob!

Oh I forgot that, another reason for loving the Prodigy.

[Ms Buffay]

Moondial said:

Oh I forgot that, another reason for loving the Prodigy.

evil evil evil ... sorry I was a bit of a teeny bopper back then. If I'm fair I had pretty much outgrown Take That around the end of 1995 ( soon after robbie left) by which point I was liking Blur, Oasis, Boo Radleys and such like.

[Ms Buffay]

TheMoon said:

Never Walk Alone- Robson and Jerome. (9th November) - How the hell were these 2 morons allowed to crucify classic hits like these?

I beleive it may have had something to with a certain Mr Cowell somewhere along the line ... one of my friends at the time had their albums, videos and posters on her wall.

[Forgive Me Jenny Elly Moondial]

Pheeble said:

evil evil evil ... sorry I was a bit of a teeny bopper back then. If I'm fair I had pretty much outgrown Take That around the end of 1995 ( soon after robbie left) by which point I was liking Blur, Oasis, Boo Radleys and such like.

I've kind of gone the opposite way.

From the ages of 9-19 it was rave, dance and hardcore all the way. Then dance music became written by DJs who realised they could shove a few samples and beats together and have a number 1 but not bother with anything else after that.

Now I've gone full on into pop music simply because there are actually personalities behind the songs rather than faceless record spinners that happen to make music.

Having said that The Prodigy are still fantastic because they could actually fill albums with their work, like The Shamen, Orbital etc before them. All we've got now are Alice Deejay and Ian Van Dahl etc which just isn't the same.

[babyrose]

The only ones still going are whats left of TLC, George Michael, The Prodigy and Louise. Thats a crazy grouping!! Suprisingly Louises music isnt shit anymore! Or maybe its just cos I like r'n'b more than pop!

[Ms Buffay]

Moondial said:

I've kind of gone the opposite way.

If i'm honest I just like a really wide variety ... Mainly pop - but I still like the odd bit of Indie here and there.