Weaver's Charts

September 1999

Heavy notice: These charts are not intended as any representation of sales or airplay data on any station. They are merely intended as a guide to the most successful records in the UK at the moment. Unauthorised reproduction in print, electronic, broadcast or other media is not permitted without the consent of the author.

On the survey this month: 18 bands, 12 lasses, 9 blokes and a duet. There are 16 United Stations, 11 and a half British acts, three Canadians, two Germans, two Irish, two Puerto Ricans, two Italian, one Dutch, one French, one Danish, half a Swede and one multinational act in the 40.

This	Tot wks	TITLE album Act	Peak
Number One
1	9	Five Weeks at #1 MAMBO NUMBER FIVE A Little Bit of Mambo Lou Bega	1
It's not unusual for a record to crack this chart based on overseas success. It is absolutely remarkable for one to make #31 on the sales pile based on import copies alone. But that's what happened to this track; the UK release was brought forward a week to stem the import tide, one of the imports was so long it gave him the #1 budget album for a fortnight, and the song looks set to storm quickly up on release. Though why so many people should want the theme song for Channel Four's cricket coverage, when they've shown two losses in the worst season ever, is beyond me. Anyway, this track stormed to the top after two weeks on release, and stuck there for the rest of September.
2	4	BLUE Eifell 65	2
Another of the records that hit before release; in this case, a #39 single plus a #1 budget album. On release it tops the sales charts, and soars from 40 to 9 to 2 on this listing, missing the top by one week.
3	10	BALIAMOS Wild Wild West OST Enrique Inglesias	2
Son-of-Julio has a bigger hit on his hands with this track. It's got a clear Latin touch, which seems to be flavour of this summer. It shows his voice to be a strong implement, far stronger than other contributors to this movie; like another contributor, he's spent a week at the top in the States. Unlike the notional star, he stayed for a second.
4	8	Very Long Runner UNPRETTY Fanmail TLC	2
The second single off the girls' album may be the most commercial piece of New Jill Swing ever to feature a guitar solo. But then, with lyrics about how Society (read: men) expect womyn to look like models all the time, the track works on many levels. I'm waiting to see someone claim that TLC, not the Spices, invented Girl Power...
5	4	THE LAUNCH DJ Jean	6
A French track, that is centred around a count-down. Much as Bomb the Bass' "Beat Dis" was in 88, but by no means as good.
6	6	MUCHO MAMBO Shaft	5
An updated version of Rosemary Clooney's song "Sway" - a hit for Dean Martin in '54 - was set for release in the spring until Clooney's estate denied permission to use her vocals. Claire Vaughan is the new vocalist, re-working a track by the artist who had the first mambo chart-topper back in 55.
7	4	WE'RE GOING TO IBIZA The Party Album Vengaboys	7
Their song is back, and this time it's about the joys of eating Italian food, set to the tune of Typically Tropical's 1975 chart-topper "Barbados".
8	7	MI CHICO LATINO Schizophrenic Geri Haliwell	3
After her solo album fell quickly away from a peak at 4, the critical jury was quick to declare Ginger's solo career a flop. But the success of this single - top of the pile for a week on sales - and the resurgance it's given to that album - may yet give them cause to ask for cream to pour on their words. It's worth remembering that Robbie Williams didn't have a sniff of the top spot for five months after the release of his solo album.
9	10	One Week at #1 BETTER OFF ALONE Alice DJ	1
A strange track, all thumping keyboard and quietly insistent vocal. Shouldn't work well, but it does, somehow. Had it not been for Lou's amazing popularity, this would have romped away with August's monthly prize, but does score very well for the quarter.
Sureshot
10	4	MAN! I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN Come On Over Shania Twain	10
Single five (count 'em!) from Shania's breakthrough album. This is not the track one found on original pressings of the album, with the guitar pushed to the fore at the expense of the country beat. Indeed, this has happened with many other tracks; so much so that the version available here would rightly be called the European Remix Album. The original is still available in the USA and her native Canada. And the video takes a pastiche of Robot Palmer's 1986 "Addicted To Love" clip, the one with the nasty-looking womyn.
Sureshot
11	7	SUMMER GIRLS LFO LFO	11
The Lyte Funky Ones are no relation to the LFO who hit the top 20 here in summer 1990 with a music-with-bleeps track imaginatively entitled "LFO". This is a reggae-tinged rap track, based around the bass hook from Extreme's 1991 hit "More Than Words". It aims to encourage a 1990-ish vibe, namechecking Macaulay Culkin's role in "Home Alone", MJ Fox in "Back To The Future Ill", and the New Kids On The Block (who are, according to bad reception, a bunch of tits.) This song was presented to the record company as a demo, but got leaked to a radio station who played it over and over until it was released without further embellishment.
12	23	Four Weeks at #1 Very Long Runner LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA Vuelve / Ricky Martin Ricky Martin	1
The loud, brash, brassy breakthrough single - and US Number One - from Ricky picks up huge amounts of pre-release airplay, and turns into his first significant hit in the UK. It reached a hugely successful position - two months on the listings, #12 by the week, #15 by the month, without being available in any store, and rocketed to the top of the monthly listings in its second week of release. Where it remained for a month, in spite of losing one of its CD formats owing to an error in the length of the disc. That slip also gave him the #1 budget album for a week.
13	5	I'VE GOT YOU You, Me and Us Martine McCutcheon	12
Single number two is a decently powerful ballad, far stronger than her previous release. Probably the best thing she's going to release.
Single Of The Month
14	4	FRIENDS FOREVER Thunderbugs	14
It's A New Girl Band (Number 428 in a series.) The Thunderbugs bring to mind the Bangles, in that they (gasp!) actually play their own instruments. They bring to mind all sorts of dodgy boy bands, as they're from Germany, Sweden and the UK. They bring to mind Journey, according to one (slightly demented) scribe. But, most of all, they are the re-incarnation of Kenickie, right down to the glitter-tastic shades that the singer wears in interviews. Deservedly a massive hit.
15	10	One Week at #1 WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL Notting Hill OST / By Request Ronan Keating	1
The third single lifted from the British movie of the summer, following Another Level's "From the Heart" and Elvis Costello's cover "She". Boyzone are, in true Ross and Rachel style, 'on a break' at the moment, allowing lead singer Ronan's first solo effort to chart. It still appears on Boyzone's greatest hits album. There is a book being run on which of Boyzone, the Spice Girls or Elvis Presley will produce a brand new album first. The Spices are favourites. Like most of Boyzone's work, this is also a cover - Keith Whitley doing the original back in 1988. The 'zone have also recently covered tracks by John Michael Montgomery ("I Love The Way You Love Me") and Anne Murray ("You Needed Me"), making them the second biggest country act of the year, behind Shania.
16	6	SING IT BACK Moloco	14
Another of those dull dance tracks.
17	2	S CLUB PARTY S Club 7	17
After "Miami 7" on the BBC came two shows on rival ITV, and a more laid-back R&B sound which just isn't the same. Pop's Dreaded Dumper awaits, we hope.
Sureshot
18	2	YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY ...baby one more time Britany Spears	18
A return to the upbeat Eurodisco of "Baby One More Time" for hit #3. While she's not quite shaken off the accusation of One Album Wonder, Spears does seem to have a good shot at sticking around.
August's Single Of The Month
19	7	DRINKING IN LA Bran Van 3000 Bran Van 3000	7
While solo Canadian acts have had great success in recent years - witness the domination of Shania Twain this year, Celine Dion in the mid 90s, and Bryan Adams for most of 1991 - groups from the North Country have had a far more difficult task. This year, though, there's been breakthroughs for the Moffatts, the Barenaked Ladies, and now this eight-piece act from Vancouver and Victoria. "Drinkin" first came out to great critical acclaim in May 98, but could only make #82 that month, and #532 for the year. Since then, it's found use in a commercial for beer, and has come back to deserved success.
20	11	GENIE IN A BOTTLE Christina Aguilera Christina Aguilera	20
Another American teen sensation, spending five weeks atop the chart over there. She's not released onto an unsuspecting UK market until the beginning of October, but managed to enter the sales 75 a full month before her scheduled release.
21	3	SUN IS SHINING Funkstar Deluxe	21
With the vocals of Bob Marley, who first recorded this track in 1971, and the remixing "talents" of Martin Ottesen of Denmark. This is a relatively sensitive re-working, but does detract from the original. That was never a UK hit, but formed a central part of the Marley canon, and the base of Finlay Quaye's "Sunday Shining" a couple of years back.
22	4	MICKEY My First Album Lolly	22
As in, "Stop taking the .., this will never work." Only it did. A note-for-note cover of Toni Basil's #2 hit from the dark recesses of 1982, Lolly brings out the cheerleader's uniform and markets herself as a poor Britany Spears clone.
23	3	BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE Revolve Tom Jones & The Cardigans	23
The Welsh Wizard's first studio album in five years sees him duet with some (er) more contemporary stars. This track was originally on Talking Heads' 1983 album "Speaking In Tongues". Oddly, Jones' growl sits well with Nina's squeak, but aren't David Byrne. Either of them.
24	6	SUMMER SON The Hush Texas	12
Another slice of tedium from the band that used to be interesting.
25	22	Four Weeks at #1 Very Long Runner THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH Come On Over Shania Twain	1
Canada's biggest star of the moment. It's the most twangy dance track around since Steps' debut. Or, looking another way, the most dancey country entry since the Wurzels (or something.) Whichever, Shania is appealing to both country and dance audiences, and the large crossover-AOR segment between. The album hit a new peak at #2 on the success of this track. Shania returned to the top of the monthly chart at the beginning of July, the first track to do so since the original "Three Lions" downed the Fugees in 1996.
26	8	IF I LET YOU GO Westlife	5
Yet another slow song with a Boyzone connection; this band remain co-managed by Ronan Keating. It's a slow ballad that does nothing to advance the cause of music, and is almost the same - if a little less inspired - than their breakthrough three months ago. Out of this is not built a long career; single three comes out in mid-October, another sign of minor appeal.
27	4	SHE'S ALL I EVER HAD Ricky Martin Ricky Martin	27
The US follow-up is a more introspective ballad, but a great one. The British follow-up is another upbeat track, which isn't anything like as good.
28	18	Very Long Runner BEAUTIFUL STRANGER Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Madonna	2
Confirming her status as the most successful act of the decade, Madonna continues in a similar vein to last year's "Ray of Light" album. It joins "Crazy For You", "Who's That Girl?" and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" as her biggest hits from movies.
29	15	Very Long Runner MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE My Love is Your Love Whitney Houston	3
Eyebrows all over Chart City were raised when Whitney's last single, "It's Not Right But It's OK", turned out to be the best thing she's released in over a decade. With this classy track, soft soul at its finest, Whitney finally stakes the claim to singing high ground that she vacated after the bombastic "One Moment in Time" in October 88. And we've missed her, as a counterweight to the over-wrought Mariah and the icy Celine.
30	18	Very Long Runner IF YOU HAD MY LOVE On The Six Jennifer Lopez	3
Latino dance seems to be the flavour of the summer, with Ricky Martin and Ms Lopez having sizy hits. This is slower, but in a similar vein. Another American chart topper, like Ricky.
Sureshot
31	4	THERE SHE GOES Sixpence None The Richer	31
Follow That! and Cover That! Fitting into both categories at once is a rare move, even more so by the legendary status bestowed on the LA's one UK hit single from autumn 1990. This is a reverant cover, allowing the song to do most of the work. It's interesting that Leigh (very much female) hasn't changed the gender of the track, until one remembers it was originally written about a bad heroin trip. A bold move, and one that does work.
32	3	GET GET DOWN Paul Johnson	32
Chicago-based Johnson has his UK breakthrough thanks to wide exposure in Italy over the summer. This is classic Chicago house, comparable to the original House of 1986.
33	4	SMOOTH Smooth Santana feat Rob Thomas	33
Rob is the vocalist from Matchbox 20, joining the rest of Eric's group on a laid-back but still charged hit.
Sureshot
34	5	THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT Americana Offspring	28
After selling out somewhat with their last two, over-commercial hits, the Offspring return to their hard rock roots with this number. It's actually better than many of the other tracks that radio does find attractive.
35	17	Very Long Runner SOMETIMES ...baby one more time Britany Spears	4
The second hit single, a slower, wistful, more melodic ballad. Spears is still more hype than substance, but there are showings of a decent talent there.
36	17	Very Long Runner WILD WILD WEST Wild Wild West ost Will Smith	2
The most bland star in America plugs his movie over 120 times in four minutes. The tune part of the song's not bothered to show up. An American number one, but only while they waited for something better from the soundtrack to turn up.
37	1	HEARTBREAKER Mariah Carey	37
She's back. Can she sing yet? Don't know, coz I've yet to hear this track. One week as America's topper.
38	3	MOVIN' Supergrass Supergrass	35
Oh, go away again.
39	9	WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN ON ME? The Man Who Travis	17
The third release from this album becomes their biggest hit, being a classic soft rock number.
July's Single Of The Month
40	12	BILLS BILLS BILLS The Writing's On The Wall Destiny's Child	11
In the same vein as Whitney and Lauryn, the Girl Power from the R&B camp is a sight to behold. Their run as America's biggest was curtailed by Will Smith.

UK acts in blue;Canadian acts in red;Irish acts in green.

breakers...

oct 5 99