Hits 21 - 1991 (1): Iron Maiden, Enigma, Queen

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21! It's time for a new season: Hits 21 - The 90s. At the roundtable from now on it's Rob, Andy, and Ed. This week we've got perhaps the weirdest line-up in Hits 21 history! Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

The End Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21 The 90s where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, Ed are looking back at every single UK number 1 of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us you can find us over on Twitter, we are at Hits21UK, that is at Hits21UK and you can email us too, just send it on over to Hits21Podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again, we are now looking back at the year 1991 and this week we'll be covering the period between January 1st and the 26th of January so we're not making it out of the first month of the year. There is no poll winner to speak of, because it was only Cliff on his own last week, that

wouldn't be fair. So it's time to press on with this week's episode and here are some news headlines from January 1991. The Foreign Office expels eight Iraqi embassy officials from the UK during ongoing conflicts in Kuwait. One person is killed and more than 500 are injured when a train crashes at Cannon Street Station in London. The final phase of the M40 is built, giving the West Midlands its first motorway links

to the capital. As tensions increase in Kuwait following its invasion by Iraq in August 1990, the Gulf War begins. Otherwise known as Operation Desert Storm, the war lasted five weeks and Kuwait was liberated by UN coalition forces in late February. An estimated 200,000 people had lost their lives over the course of the conflict, which had lasted more than six months. In the UK, unemployment figures reach 1.8 million and the ongoing recession deepens,

with Prime Minister John Major refusing to drop interest rates. Thousands of jobs are lost after Ford and Peugeot closed factories in Britain. Despite this, the Conservatives remain ahead in the polls. And 28 people die as Gale Force wins hit the UK. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Home Alone for one more week, and then Arachnophobia for three weeks and the BBC dedicates a large amount of its programming to following

the Gulf War. The Britass Empire makes its debut on the BBC while BBC Two airs an interview with Nelson Mandela and after Janet Street Porter insists that the BBC must broadcast more programs suitable for young people, American comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air makes its debut on British TV. And Oliver Reid causes controversy on Channel 4 after appearing on the talk show After Dark. Reid became increasingly drunk during the broadcast and made numerous offensive remarks towards the other guests including author Kate Millett. The show was briefly taken off air after a hoax phone call indicated that Channel 4 boss Michael Gray was quote, furious. Andy, the UK album charts,

not much of a time period to work with, but how are things looking in January 91? Well, it's more of a tight run thing than you would have thought actually, because due to two factors, one, this episode covering such a short time period and also Madonna's The Immaculate Collection being such a stormer over the Christmas period I very nearly didn't have anything to talk to you about at all in the albums chart which would have been I think a first for a regular episode but just on the very very last day of the period we're covering. Madonna is finally toppled after nine weeks by none other than Enigma with MCMXCAD which went to number one for one week and went triple platinum. Enigma, eh? Who are they? Wonder if we'll ever

get to talk about them. Hmm, Nath. America, Ed. How are they doing at the moment? Well, I wish I had anything to talk about on the albums front, or rather I wish I didn't have to say what I have to say now, because throughout January, guess who's still atop of the iceberg? Yes, it's Vanilla Ice, still all month, and through February, as a bit of a spoiler, with To The Extreme. What? What? Okay, I'll just leave it at that. I feel like it's in its Gangnam style phase now, isn't it, where it's no longer a cool thing. It's like, this is just annoying now. We all just want it to stop now.

It's got to be just young kids. Just every week it's like two years younger, the core demographic of the song. Right, onto the singles now. For two weeks at the beginning of January 1991, Madge is still justifying her love at the top of the pile. As you know, this was a Born To Run Her Up in the UK that I think we're all pretty fond of. Before, Love Will Never Do for Janet Jackson for one week. Only got to number 34 in the UK though. And Surface, rise to the top for the first time,

but not the last time, carrying over their blindspot-tastic reign into February. And it's a single that has Cluver Art that looks like a 1970s brochure for Piano Cruises so it's stalled at number 60 in the UK. I don't know if those two things are connected, probably not, but check out that cover. It's amazing, it's like all of the timelines have met at once. All right then, thank you both very much for those reports and we are going to come back over this side of the Atlantic to the UK and check out the first number one of the episode and the first new number one of 1991.

It's this. Honey, it's getting close to midnight And all the bets are still in town True love and lipstick on your leather Bite the pillow, make no sound If there's some living to be done Before your life becomes your tomb You'd better know I'm the one I'll chain your back door and bite me around Bring your daughter, bring your daughter to the slaughter Let her go, let her go, let her go Bring your daughter, bring your daughter to the slaughter

Let her go, let her go, let her go Let her go, let her go And it's getting close to daybreak The sun is creeping in the sky No painting remedies for heartache Just empty words of humble pie Okay, this is Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter by Iron Maiden. Released as the second single from the band's eighth studio album titled No Prayer for the Dying, Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter is Iron Maiden's 22nd single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number 1, however as of 2024 it is their

last. Bring Your Daughter went straight in at number 1 as a brand new entry and it stayed at number 1 for 2 weeks. In its first week atop the charts it sold 41,000 copies in a week where there were no other new entries to the top 10. And in week 2 it sold 29,000 copies, beating competition from Crazy by Seal, which climbed to number 4, and I'm Gonna Make You Sweat by the C&C Music Factory, which climbed to number 10.

When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Bring Your Daughter plummeted 8 places to number 9. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104. 5 weeks. The song has never received any official certification from the British phonographic industry. In the words of Red Letter Media, Fuck you, it's January! Ed, Iron Maiden, bring your notes to the podcast.

How did this happen? Now just as a bit of contextual information anyway, this is not exactly regarded as Iron Maiden's high watermark and yet it seems to be a bit of a commercial powerhouse. I think the group was dissolving at this point. Bruce Dickinson I believe was about to leave but yeah this is so weird and it's not the only weird weird number one we'll be getting this week for better or for worse. First of all I'll say this for, I mean this in the best possible way, any pure pop-tomist, chart-pop lovers out there don't really go in for the grungier, grittier end of rock. Don't worry, because

in my opinion there is no discernible rock in this whole episode. But that's just me. Now, what I will say though, is that episode does show the influence, the deserved influence, of Ronnie James Dio quite extensively. And this isn't the only song that happens on. Now, I'll be quite frank, I don't like Iron Maiden. It's nothing to do with them being metal. I like metal. I love Judas Priest, Sabbath, Metallica. I've quite a lot of time for it. But I've tried. I've tried. And I gradually managed to deduce why I don't really get on with Iron Maiden. At first, listening to their stuff, I thought it was maybe because the rhythm section was going too fast and to quote the late Neil Culcony, they sort of trundled

instead of rocked and I tended to get this image where instead of strutting and swaggering, like the best rock and roll does, not that I'm a particular authority and I've got about as much rock and roll in me as Bonnie Langford. But... Liver alliance. Yeah, I do get this image of somebody struggling on a treadmill, just struggling so hard to compensate for the speed. They're going too fast and creating this kind of theme to danger mouse effect. But I think the problem is a little bit more specific

than that and it's not just the drummer and it's not just the bassist. It's kind of like very technically proficient orchestral musicians have tried to assemble rock from the outside in. In this case, they've got like the Halloween mask, but the sort of rock and roll soul that they just hope that will materialize

as the mask is put into the air. And I don't necessarily think that happens. As a very specific example, I had a kind of epiphany moment. Look, you'll have to forgive me for A, ranting on this episode and B, going to pointless sort of crate digging ephemera, because when am I going to get the chance

to talk about this shit on this programme? Let's be honest, just indulge me. But I remember listening to the first track on there, acclaimed second album, Killers, and it's got a kind of staccato riff and it's got a lot of space between, no instruments play for sort of pure gaps of air, effectively between these different,

these synchronized notes. And I realized listening to it, it's like, I can't hear any rhythm between the notes. I know that might sound a bit strange, but if you listen to any band of any genre that's got a bit of swing and rock and groove to it, you can actually feel the beat in between the notes. This feels a bit like people just counting

to wait for their cue to press their button. And, you know, they've got so many bloody fans, I don't really give a shit about offending folk on this. What I say is not going to make any difference but if you compare that for instance to a contemporaneous song by Judas Priest say delivering the goods it's just you put that on afterwards it's like oh my oh my god, the swagger, the beat hangs, the percussion hangs behind the beat and it has this real danger to it, this sweat, this kind of nice kinkiness to it, whereas you just, Iron Maiden just feel like a costume in a weird way. And that sounds like such a snobby, sneery kind of quasi-authenticist debate, which is bollocks.

But yeah, that's not my only beef actually in general. And that is something I find with this song, unfortunately it does trundle somewhat for me. Bruce Dickinson is, like the rest of the band, very technically competent. He's very good on a purely technical level, far beyond anything I could do for sure. However, it feels like a series of tics. It feels like someone has heard Ronnie James Dio and performed it as like two or three sort of interchangeable tropes. And normally he does this sort of vibrato that bloody robs the song of musicality for me.

Run to the hills, run for your life. I'm like, oh god damn it. It's like having a car alarm right next to my head. It does something to me. But, now that said, it's not all bad. It really isn't. And that's my longest dating

completely privileged little rant there out of the way. Iron Maiden can, and have always I think, been able to do good hooks. Catchy hooks. I think they could, I've got genuinely no beef with their songwriting. I think they're good songwriters, which might seem a bit odd given my sheer venom that I've just piled on them. Not to bring venom into this. But yeah, I think this has got a nice bluesy hook. I like it. I like it when there's a bit of blues to metal anyway, which perhaps shows what

fucking fake metalhead I am or something. But it does repeat far too bloody often and the song's too long. But I think I like it. I like the ingredients here. And also, added bonus, Bruce Dickinson, because it's so low pitched compared to his normal tracks and doesn't have the opportunity to go full air raid siren on us only occasionally it just these little you know a measured you know moderated amount which is which is just fine I do you know what, technically, this is fine. Technically, I've got no problem here.

I just wish it was delivered by a metal group that had a bit more rock and roll about them. And look, Painkiller came out in 1990. Tornado of Souls came out in 1990. I mean, yeah, okay. Yeah, Dave Mustaine with a voice like that was never going to get to number one. He sounds like a sort of strangulated rat in a good way, I think. But yeah, it's just... Why? Do you know what? Just sack off the rest of it. I'll just leave it as that. Why? Next. Yeah, this is not really for me. Unlike you Ed, where like, I'm very much into metal,

but Maiden? Like, I appreciate Maiden and I don't have a problem with them as such, or maybe I do. I just think we've landed after the Golden Age with this one. Even Maiden fans don't seem to like the album much that this is far from a God, they rip it. Yeah, from part from a couple of songs like Holy Smoke, but it's got to the top because it's January. So it's a bit of a free for all. This had basically zero radio play from what I've read about.

So I guess fair play for all. This had basically zero radio play from what I've read about. So I guess fair play for it, you know, getting number one off the back of fan support, but it feels like a bit of an aberration, a bit of an outlier. Although this whole week feels like an aberration and an outlier with the songs we're going to be covering. I just, when this starts, it sounds like I'm about to have a really tremendous time, you know, like I'm going to get something that's the heavier end of power pop, something a bit more punk rock, you know, the dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun that dominates the song, that kind of ruins it for me. The bass really awkwardly squeezes up against the drums like it's made of plasticine. It's just guzzling without providing much drive. It sounds like it's going conker conker conker conker conker and it's that's not really much of a rhythm, that's just kind of noise. It's just things that are happening. There's no real sense of direction

in the verses either from Bruce Dickinson. There's no real sense of melody, it's just him finding new metaphors for forbidden sex and cackling as he kind of goes and I'm not really that interested in that to be honest. And then you get to the chorus and I'm not really into any of the metaphors in this song, I'll just state that for the record. I know it's metal but it all feels very style over substance with what they're going for. It's almost midnight and the myths are running through the town. Unchain your back door. I just know. The thing it reminds me of actually now I'm sitting here is so it's a comedy cover version of Green Onions by an artist called Romeo Taylor, who also goes by

Cool Jinzo sometimes, but Romeo Taylor's Green Onions cover is one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life, where it is just Green Onions playing in the background. And then he puts on this kind of voice and goes like, the demon invades my dreams and fights me in hell. And then he goes to the chorus and he goes, green onions in my life. Fantastic, but those- Oh I've gotta hear this. Oh he's so good. But the verses, the sort of goblin demon voice that you would get in like Scooby-Doo.

It can work. It does work. It has worked. I don't know if it works here because I'm just distracted by a lot of the unadventurous and kind of lazy metaphors. I feel like this song is actually in search of convention in order to find the easiest route through. This feeling hits me hardest during that guitar solo,

which is just one of the most unadventurous and rudimentary up and down the scales thing I've ever heard. Just the, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- It just like you're gonna do anything else apart from the the sort of Vocals that Like ghosts this isn't the best made and showing I'd rather be talking about can I play with madness or Run to the hills or something. I'm not pie-holing this I'm kind of on the fence with it because I think yeah, it's a fairly well executed thing technically, but I have no doubt that some degree of musicianship and effort went into this, but yeah, it's, I don't know, I don't know. The first time

I ever came across this song was in that book I've mentioned before that um Guinness Book of Records hit singles thousandth number one single celebration and I saw that it was in that list of of number ones at the back of the book and I was like bring your daughter to the slaughter I wonder what then it was this is like eight-year-old me like I wonder what that means. And then this is like the first time I've actually sorted it out in the last month or so, preparing for this and yeah, not particularly keen. Andy, are you, do you feel any better about this? Oh heavens no, no no. I think people who have been listening long enough probably have some sense of what, you know, my kind of tendencies tend to be, which is that I'm a pophead, you know,

unashamedly so. So this is just not for me. And I always feel a little bit weird about going in too heavy about songs that I know are just not for me, that they're just not my genre, they're just not my thing. Felt a bit like that about Paul Cliff last week where I ended up going into this tirade about Christianity, which I shouldn't have done really, because I was just like, you know what, this is just, I'm not the audience for this, and that's fine, but I do think there's things about this

that's just really weird, like just looking back through a 33 year lens, but also just odd even for the time. Like, this is sort of the rage against the machine just looking back through a 33 year lens but also just odd even for the time. Like this is sort of the rage against the machine getting number one moment of its day really but I mean without the kind of X factor smash the system kind of context but that was impressive in 2009. Looking at this in 1991 this is just mental like they didn't have the internet and this wouldn't have got any press coverage really.

It wasn't getting radio airplay like you said Rob. How did this happen? How did they organise this? How did they make this stuff happen without any kind of connective web? Maybe there must have been one, some sort of fan club thing or something making it happen but it's a hell of an impressive thing to have a number one campaign like this for something that had no support from the mass media to make it happen. I think that's really cool and I'm really in favor of this having happened. Yes it's

January and you know it's a long old tradition going right back to the very first episode of our show with Masters Against the Classes. Long old tradition for something weird to get number one in the first episode of each year. I will say this episode is sort of jumping the shark with that to be honest. It's quite a lot of that. But yeah, I'm always in favour of the weird non-commercial stuff getting number one to be honest. But I say weird, I say weird, but it's funny because when I was growing up, I don't know if this was an experience for you too, but when I was growing up, Iron Maiden were like the, that's the kind of phrase just the

sort of stock name that would be referred to as an example of like it's not music it's ah turn that stuff down they're just screaming it's just noise you know metal blah blah blah and it's just not that at all like whenever I actually listen to Iron Maiden which is never really by choice but when they sort of come into things and I hear Iron Maiden, I'm always struck by how, like, completely not scary it is and, like, completely totally accessible. Like it is metal, obviously, but either times have massively changed and the bar has gone much higher in terms of what's considered uncommercial and what's considered scary teenage music or people were just being very, very reactive

to something that's totally accessible and totally not on the fringes at all. And I was almost a little bit disappointed by that because at least with Rage Against the Machine, which is also not my thing, at least I could listen to that and feel challenged by it and feel like, whoa, need to turn this down. And it's really making me think about things which I don't think about. You know, it's a challenging song. Whereas this. I never once felt like it was sort of grabbing me, like pulling me to attention, really, even though this is something really different to my normal listening.

It felt safe, felt safe, even from my limited knowledge, it felt safe, to be honest. And with a title like bring your daughter to the slaughter And coming in with a big bang, you know as you would hope for it shouldn't be like that really But I really lose interest throughout unfortunately I I do agree that I like musically in terms of structure in terms of everything it like it's fine Nothing wrong with it at all. It's not going in the pie hole or anything for me But other than the fact that I think it's pretty cool that this happened I don't really think there's much to say that hasn't already been said for me. But other than the fact that I think it's pretty cool that this happened, I don't really

think there's much to say that hasn't already been said for me, to be honest, because it is absolutely not my thing. And also I think even if it was, I'm glad to hear that the fans, you know, didn't really like this because it does vindicate me somewhat in that this like, I'm not missing anything here am I? Like this is, this is pretty safe. This is pretty milk toast Iron Maiden to be honest but yes one thing I will say is that I think Electric Six took some inspiration from this because that hook with Bring Your

Daughter to the Slaughter really sounds like their song Naked Pictures of Your Mother which I am quite a fan of so I think they were somewhat inspired by this and you talk about all the weird, I can't remember which one of you it was that was joking about the vocal inflections in this. The one that really stuck with me was the pronunciation of daughter, which is sort of spelled like D-O-O-O-O-O-H-H-W-W-W-T-E-R You know, really, like, I didn't expect when listening to Iron Maiden to be put in mind of one Danny Dyer,

but that's really like the exact same pronunciation, like, bring your daughter to the slaughter. So it really put me off. But yeah, it was a fun experience listening to this and giving it a whirl, but it certainly won't be entering my regular rotation. Fine for what it is, but if you're gonna do a big chart assault like this why not

make it something that's really gonna really gonna make people shiver a bit. This is just sort of you know Playmobil's my first metal song really. So you know as an introduction to the genre I'm sure it's quite effective but if you're not interested in being introduced to the genre it's just whatever. On to the next one really. Yeah What you've just said there has reminded me of a bit in the song that makes me laugh where they try and introduce some Variation but in doing so they end up tripping up over themselves with a sentence that doesn't make sense So like it's in the bridge section towards the end where they do the doing softer and they go

It's in the bridge section towards the end where they do the doing softer and they go bring your daughter And then they go fetch your daughter and then he has to go fetch your daughter to the slaughter And it's like well, no, that's not the title of the song. Is it? Stop trying to make fetch your daughter happen Bruce. It's not gonna happen Okay, so we will move on to the second song this week, which is this. The the the the the

the The The Lord, the Lord, the Prince, the Perfect Son, He is the Son of the Father, the Father, The King of glory, the King of glory, The King of glory, the King of the earth Sadness Part 1 by Enigma Released as the lead single from their debut studio album, titled 1990 AD. As Andy said before, Sadness Part 1 is Enigma's first single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number 1, but it is their last as of 2024. Sadness Part 1 first entered the UK chart at number 27, reaching number 1 during its 6th week on the chart and it stayed at number 27, reaching number one during its sixth week on the chart, and it stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 40,000 copies, beating competition

from 3AM Eternal by the KLF, which got to number five, International Bright Young Thing by Jesus Jones, which climbed to number seven, and I've Had the Time of My Life 1990 by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warns, which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Sadness Part 1 fell two places to number 3. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104, 12 weeks, the song is currently officially certified silver in the UK but that's based on that pre-Kantar data as of 2024. So Andy, Enigma. Well it is a bit of an enigma isn't it? This is one of those really strange curate

tags of a song that is so unusual and so incomparable to other things that we've covered that it's I find it quite hard to decide whether it's actually good or not you know there are things that I like about it but so much the time I'm just like what the freaking hell is this I've kind of reached the sort of zen state where I've thought you know actually it doesn't matter whether it's good or not like it matters for our scoring system which I've kind of reached the sort of zen state where I've thought, you know, actually it doesn't matter whether it's good or not, like it matters for our scoring system, which I've completely copped out of, but like does it really matter whether it's good or not? Because it's certainly unique. It's odd to hear those sort of quasi-Kurigori and vocals haunting the track all the way through like this. It's very odd

to be honest and I'm not sure whether it's a thing I like. It kind of puts me in mind of some of the really tacky sample things that we got in the early to mid 80s. Oh the other show that I do about the Now albums, we covered some of Malcolm McLaren's sample things which are just some of the most un-listenable things I have ever heard in my life. And this, they are dangerously close to that sort of thing where it's just like taking something considered to be high art,

sampling it, doing some stuff around it, and thinking that's enough. And it does feel dangerously close to that. So I'm never gonna get too excited about it. But the parts I really like are actually the sort of restraints around it. And the fact that that like are actually the sort of restraint around it and the fact that that beat and those synths that they use underneath it are really kind of cushiony and subtle and lovely. It has a texture to it, it has an

overall feel to it which really does take you away and I was to compare it to Iron Maiden where that kind of lost me as it went. This sort of didn't quite grab me at first but gradually took me me as it went. This sort of didn't quite grab me at first, but gradually took me away with it, where I gradually sort of like started to really enjoy that sound. It is cheesy. It is a bit of a gimmick at the end of the day.

And I'm really mystified as to how this like stormed and took off so much where it went from like, you know, the lower twenties almost to Christmas number one, and then to number one in the week after Christmas, and the album went to number one. That feels weird because it didn't stick, as far as I'm aware, it didn't really stick around at all. Like this is not in the canon anymore

when we think about the early 90s. But I enjoyed hearing it. I enjoyed hearing it, I absolutely did. I think this is one that is a grower and when I say grower, probably we're talking years, probably a couple of years down the line I might look back on this and think you know what I should have raved about this a bit more but I don't know because I just I genuinely can't decide whether this is any good

or not to be honest I think it is but I also think that it doesn't matter and it's about the journey rather than the destination with this one it is genuinely an enigma. It really is. But yes, overall tentative confused thumbs up. I'm going to say thumbs up question mark. Yeah. Initially in my ears with this, they really pricked up because this is like the least obviously commercial thing I think we've ever covered on the podcast. Where this getting to number one feels like a genuine mystery. like it stands out as something entirely different, not just in the context of 91 but in the context of pop in general. You might have to go back to something like Albatross in the 60s or like I-Level in the 70s and even then I-Level

just sounds like a TV theme that took off. So maybe not, you know, you'd be hard pushed to find any kind of equivalent to this really. No real promotion, it went to number 1 before the music video was finished, it went to number 1 in about 10 countries across Europe, Enigma have one more top 10 hit in the UK but they're basically done as a chart concerned by 94, this came from nowhere and then kinda went back there almost immediately. It's just a shame that this is kind of middling, more of a mood piece that feels like it doesn't end. Absolutely perfect for like turn of the century modern cocktail bars or gift shops in castles, but kind of nowhere else. But

do you know what I mean? Because castle gift shops are the only place in the world where you will find those Celtic New Age, religious New Age music CD things, those compilations you've never seen before in your life. But they're always in Castle gift shops in Wales and Scotland. They're always called like Songs from the Anglican Morning or Celtic Spring or something. And the covers are always green and slightly mysterious or there might be like a green field and a night sky or something. I'm struggling to see the appeal of this though beyond that, I think this is just one of those songs you get sometimes where it gets to number one without anybody really questioning why, it just kind of happens by word of mouth and curiosity and if you can get that curiosity and word of mouth to last like two weeks then you might be on to something I'm into the atmosphere though, and I love the

French whispering, the seductive whispering interspersed with all the Gregorian chanting, it gets stuck in time actually, between two times, in a way I find to be quite intriguing for the most part, it's just that I'm kind of done by the middle of the song, which is a shame because downtempo stuff like this is usually my bag, like among things like shoegaze and grunge and rave, you know, like genres that are heavily associated with the nineties, whether they originated in the nineties or not. I think that this downtempo is among my favorites, you know, like it boards a, or a tecra, or afx twin, but my love for those kinds of acts exposes this as being much weaker.

And if I'd never come across stuff like this, or even artists like Enya and Clannad, I might have been more impressed by this, but as much as I find this to be really pleasant, rest year or next year but this really stands out as like whoa that was unexpected that is a genuine surprise and so fair play to Enigma for getting this and for nudging themselves above you know some quite you know a bit big acts and getting a you know a good January release just to kind of you know squeeze it in but I'm on the fence, it's not really for me. I wish it was, but hey. Ed, sadness, part one, Enigma, how are we feeling? Well, first of all, I would like to thank Transglobal Hypercorp for this opportunity to present at this illustrious corporate sporting event.

Before we take questions and play a little game, we're just going to have a brief slideshow just to give you some background on what we do at EarnYourKeep.org. I realise some of you at the back unfortunately go into the space, can't see properly so I will be reading out the bullet points as they slide and fade in from the right on furling in papyrus font So Rob, can we have the oh, oh, we can't hear the music. Hang on and Oxyn so what's Can everyone hear that? No good music good. No, okay

Well, we are a charity founded in 1997 in the founders' grandmother's shed in Sale. Since then, we've gone from strength to strength and have expanded to have over 12 workshops based all around the UK. We're built on the principles of do, make, be, and that's really the clarion call behind everything we do. We've helped over 600 disadvantaged youths to get off the streets, get out of

damaging environments and circles and do stuff. And here at EarnYourKeep.org we have a saying. We always say children are like clay and in every child there is a cremation urn and It is It is thanks and this must be said it is thanks to the whim of Massive corporate bodies like yourselves and your kindly gifted outsize check for like yourselves and your kindly gifted outsized check for £150 that we are allowed to subsist on the edge of insolvency for so many years. Thank you for your time. Yeah I just gotta say this right I remember music like this at the

time it's for me I was like I heard it was like oh Amiga this is Amiga as fuck it's just at number one you're right this is mad I like it I like it being at number one but yeah you've hit on it it's just it's just there it's background music it's just King Mood music and it's even the ooh you know plain song medieval chanting aspect isn't fresh and it was being done better by other artists. I mean, not quite the same area of dance, but the Hallelujah remix by Happy Mondays uses Gregorian chanting as its basis and it kicks ass in my opinion and that was kind of contemporaneous of this, there's other tracks like the Belfast by Orbital and

things like that that used it. But yeah, okay next. Yeah I think fair enough. Okay so the third and final song this week is this. Oh, oh Ooh, ooh While the sun hangs in the sky and the desert has sand While the waves crash in the sea and meet the land I should see We'll keep on trying To break that fine line Oh, we'll keep on trying Just passing that time While we live according to race, color or creed While we rule by blind madness and pure greed Okay, this is Innuendo by Queen, released as the lead single from the band's 14th studio album titled Innuendo. Innuendo is Queen's 37th single overall to be released in the UK and their third to reach

number one, and it's not the last time we'll be coming to Queen on this podcast. Innuendo went straight in at number 1 as a brand new entry, and it stayed at number 1 for… one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 55,000 copies beating competition from Wiggle It by 2 in a Room which got to number 6, I Can't Take the Power by Offshore which climbed to number 7, and Mercy Mercy Me by Robert Palmer which climbed to number 9. When it was knocked off the top of the charts Innuendo dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104. Six weeks. The song

is currently officially certified silver in the UK, but that is based on that pre-Kantar data. So, Ed, Queen, Innuendo, how we feeling? Oh, poor progressive rock. That's not a judgement on the song, that's a lament. The whole genre used to be slated based on a sort of perception of its self-indulgence, stupid costumes, nonsense lyrics, endless songs with multiple movements and its just general air of pretentiousness and snootiness. And now it's been revived somewhat and is sort of post-ironically appreciated? Question mark citation needed. Or condescended to, at least.

For its self-indulgence, stupid costumes, nonsense lyrics, endless songs with multiple blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. I think I preferred it the first way. at least there was only one misunderstanding happening. Now a lot of prog back in the day stank. It really was not great and a lot of it still stinks actually but some of it was fantastic and deserves to be held up with the best music of its era. And it's not just because it was audacious and OTT and tasteless and extravagant and showy, but because it was actually, I believe a quantifiable approach to making music. The best prog used motivic writing. It used assemblages and, you know,

sound collaging to create long songs that actually made sense as big structures, which actually took a lot of work and actually was still fun at the same time. I mean, something like Close to the Edge by Yes and the Bel Air Suite by Cannes, which, you know, has always been quite cool, so no one would ever admit that was actually Prog, were made in the same way. They were made as the same way. They were made as sort of assemblages but with a large sense of an overall cohesive pattern. And the problem is that this bit of it gets forgotten. But now for all its strengths you know, Freddie's vocals are always good for starters.

Um, Innuendo isn't really progressive rock. I'm not a big prog fan, actually. I'm not a purist, I might come across that way, especially on this bloody episode. But look, as I say, indulge me. When the hell are we going to talk about prog rock on this program? But I am... I'm just rather indignant with people assuming that they know what prog rock is. In the same way Andy, that you were saying that Iron Maiden were held up as this concept, this totem of what a thing was and what it represented, without people actually listening to or understanding what it actually was. In some ways, just prog rock in general, it's just seen as this sort of

mush of seventies kitsch of kind of nasty, sweaty, exertion and maths. But if people want to resuscitate prog, and I think it deserves it, they should at least give it its due. Something more than that. More than silly, silly over the topness. I think my first point is this and I can't overlook it coming as a sad bastard who used to study like Mozart piano concertos. Yeah. It's just two songs crammed together this. It's not really... It's basically a medley. That's not necessarily to say that it doesn't work. It's not that I'm not making that kind of judgment, but it's not really prog rock. It's just there's a start bit and then that comes back at the end

and in the middle you have the swimmy flamenco time. In the middle you have the swimmy flamenco time. Now Queen have done some fantastic stuff. Freddie is a brilliant vocalist. I don't really think I need to qualify that much. Brian May is a superb guitarist, a very unique guitarist. Deservedly influential, very melodic. He was not showy or noodly and extremist, which was very refreshing. But Freddie Mercury ain't Ronnie James Dear and

Brian May ain't Steve Howe from Yes And this is at best if it is as it is frequently logged taken as Progressive Rock it's a sort of surface level echo of a memory of progressive rock. Is it bad? No, no it's not. I mean I don't actually get anything out of it myself, I'll be honest. And it, Jesus Christ, is six and a half minutes long. But again, there's a perverse novelty like the other songs in this episode for that getting

to number one. Even if I'm going to get sniffy about it, that a track like this did get to number one. Yeah, fair do, you know. We need the variety, it's all good. Although sadly, I will be honest, when I first saw the placement, I was like, oh really? That? That was the number one? Oh my goodness, was that just after Freddie died? And then I realised, really? That, that was the number one? Oh my goodness, was that just after Freddie died? And then I realized, no, no, that was, no, that was later in the year. This was just popular, I guess.

So yeah, pop prog, nothing wrong with pop prog, hybrid prog, fantastic stuff. You know, mix up your songs. There were loads of ballads in the 70s that went a bit bloody proggy How old coda sections and sort of harmonic? Convolution and dynamic builds and things and I love that big bombastic ballad sound but Yeah

Just stop condescending to procg. It's suffered enough. Look, I'm sorry, this was just an excuse to rant about prog rock. I mean, this is my true miserable old fart reactionary colours coming through loud and clear. Don't worry, they'll go back to their sad little hiding place soon enough. But look, I'll just put it simply as this if you want a quick fix of a song like this that actually rocks and doesn't sound like it was recorded in a pillow then listen to Stargazer by Rainbow that's a sort of theatrical metal prog track and it kicks ass it is silly it is over the top it's

very very long but it has real gravity and dynamic motion to it anyway that's me okay then Andy how about you I I have a much much much much much much much much dimmer view of Prague than you do. My stance on it basically is that it's more like 90 to 95% of it is total pretentious unlistenable shite to be honest. That's probably not far off actually to be frank. But there are fabulous examples that I will go to bat for. Not for everybody. There are fabulous examples, but I think the very small amount of them that there are are of such high quality that it manages to give the whole genre credibility, which is completely

unearned. It's just a statistical quirk of the maths that occasionally you'll get one that manages to be any good at all. And I think the genre as a whole deserves to be revitalized about as much as Asbestos does. So, yes, not a fan of Frog Rock at all. I want to talk about the elephant in the room with this, really. Yes, it may look like a bit of a surprise that it's at number one, but we have to remember when this is. We are 10 months away from Freddie Mercury passing away.

He's had HIV for nearly a decade at this point. And one of the great lies that, I say lies, probably more of a massaging of the official line on things and not wanting to be speculative about things, which then turns into a eradication of the actual truth of the matter. One of the great kind of differences that you'll see between what the internet tells you versus what actually happened is this idea that no one knew that Freddie Mercury

was ill, that no one knew that he had HIV and AIDS. To this day I've had a good look around, all the websites will still say, oh there might have been a couple of rumours but nobody had any idea no one knew whereas if you actually talk to anybody who was around at the time they will say yes everybody knew literally everybody knew that he had HIV and like we were just waiting for him to say like everybody knew and and my dad was telling me once about how there was a particular piece of footage that went out around 1989, 1990, that where he looked, he was starting to look really ill and everyone was really surprised by how his voice wasn't sounding any different,

that he still had the voice and part of the appeal of new music at that time, I say appeal, was this kind of grisly kind of, oh let's see if his voice has still got it, let's see if he can hear the illness at all, let's see if he's kind of talking about it in any of his songs and he does sort of start to touch on the subject in some of his songs. Not really in this one but I think that's a big factor in this getting to number one unfortunately is that there is a big public need if you, for content from Freddie Mercury right now, partly because of the horrible morbids kind of, oh, how ill is he right now? And also because we're genuinely wanting to hear what he has to say and wanting to see if there's any clues.

The thing that I've had it compared to is the Peter Kay situation a couple of years ago where literally everybody knew something was wrong there. We don't know exactly what it was, but like, literally literally it was an open thing. Everybody knew something was wrong with Peter Kay a couple of years ago. That's kind of the close comparison really where all the you know all Wikipedia and the like will always say oh no nothing was ever said you know but it's not true and I think that is very unfortunate really because that's kind of probably the main reason it gets it but I think it's kind of nice that we have that because this particular

Year or the last couple of years. I'm tempted to say everything post-live aid, but it's probably more like 1989 to 91 really were at the time everyone was very kind of flinched from really talking about it And I think to this day That's still the case where we as a society just back away from the early 90s of Queen really because we just don't still don't really feel comfortable talking about these final few years really there is still a sort of British squeaminess about addressing the fact that that this man was very very ill with something that was a very taboo illness and we all just kind of got

on with it, all knew it and nothing was said until the day before he died. And so I like that we have an opportunity here to kind of address this and kind of break the taboo and be like, you know what, let's celebrate the fact that less than a year before he died he was still coming out with stuff that was ridiculous like this, like ridiculous. As much as I don't like this kind of long-form prog adjacent kind of thing, what I do like is the amount of inventiveness here because for Queen, the thing is with Queen especially once they get into the 80s, you know, they can be quite formulaic, they can be quite crowd pleasing literally, you know, and it's nice to see something that's a bit more creative from them especially that I know it is sort of a medley that's two songs stitched together but hearing it as it is you know that I want to say breakdown but that doesn't really do it justice that total

halt that comes in the middle really where the song just almost comes to a total complete pause to turn into something much softer and much quieter. The thing I always compare songs to do that to is One More Time by Daft Punk where I think the really truly special, I'm certainly not the only person to think this by the way, but the really truly special thing about that song I think is that breakdown in the middle where it just stops completely and lets only the vocal take you through before it comes back up again. That's sort of like this, that's the best kind of compliment I can give it really. So I applaud the creativity here, I applaud the fact that Freddy's

voice is still absolutely smashing out of the park when he's so near the end and I'm really glad that we have a representation here of an era that we still are so squeamish about talking about that even the film of his life was shamefully so squeamish about talking about. So I really just like that this is here and thank you for letting me get on my gay corner soapbox as I so often do. But here we have a man who is one of the most famous men in the country who has an illness that no one felt willing to talk about. Let's talk about it 33 years later eh? We can do that can't we? So yes, I'm glad that it's here. Yeah, you're right Andy actually because there is this kind of prevailing narrative I guess that does appear on Google that we only found out the

day before he died and then he died sort of thing but there's that front page of the Sun from a whole year before he dies I think it's November 1990, the sad face of Freddie Mercury, where photographers were following him and taking pictures of him coming out of like doctor surgeries in London and stuff like that, not looking particularly well. And so yeah, I think that that was probably the big driver behind Innuendo's success, that a lot of people were like, oh God, like this isn't good, but he's still, you know, it's not good that we, you know, we could be losing Freddie soon and he's still giving us this. This to be honest, yeah, I feel more positively

towards this than both of you, I think. I think this is my favorite song this week. I have problems with Queen, big problems in some cases. I love a handful of their songs and I enjoy a decent portion of their discography, but they've never really connected with my soul in any meaningful way. I find them to be like Sparks's normal cousin, but I don't want to meet Sparks's normal cousin. I just want them to be as weird as Sparks, but then they do slightly weird stuff. There's a bit flamboyant like bicycle race and what have you, and I just find them irritating in that mode as well. I just, I often find that in groups where there's tension between two musical directions, that can often produce really interesting

material, but with Queen it just feels like Freddie's flamboyance and loudness is swallowed up by pretty conservative band members behind him who just want to make rock music or pop music. Let's not do any of that weird shit Freddie, let's just play the hits kind of thing which is why innuendo is probably my favorite Queen album because they stop fighting between styles and they kind of meet each other in the middle for once and I I think this is probably the best thing from it, maybe. There's a couple more. The band here, they provide a lot of big traditional hard rock instrumentation to begin with and Freddie's happy to use the kind of space provided to sprinkle the more kind of outrageous edges onto it because when it comes to the meat of the track it's actually just in arena rock style and it matches up quite well. You've got the propulsive kind

of rhythm section, there's big footing, giant footsteps style drums, the big open power chords that ring out, big chorus as well and then it dive bombs into that slightly proggy-ish section of instrumentation, the flamenco bit that drops into 5-4, and then that riff comes back in again with this sort but that's not a major issue and yeah I also do keep thinking about the fact that Freddy was not in a good way at this time, basically staring death in the face, but giving it everything as always, there are people on this earth who have been on this earth who were put here just to perform and I think, you know, I think Freddie was one of those people. I think it becomes more

emotionally potent and resonant with songs like These Are The Days Of Our Lives, The Show Must Go On, etc. And I think I'm more open to the idea of, you know, like really liking this because that run in the 80s is fairly dismal. I think Live Aid being the big thing that people associate with Queen in the 80s helps people forget that like that run from the Flash Gordon soundtrack to The Miracle is sort of drab. Occasionally, occasionally good, but mostly just queens struggling to adapt to the fact that the 70s are no more. I sort of start getting off the queen ride around the time of news of the world. I'm really not keen on We Are The Champions or We Were Rocky really. We Were Rocky was curious. It is curious. I like the fact, you know, it's so minimal and it was kind of written just to kind of pad a couple of minutes out in sets and keep the crowd engaged

and all that sort of stuff. But they sound kind of tired and out of ideas by the end of the 80s and then this comes along as a bit of a surprise. You know, this is definitely absolutely their best thing since either Night of the Opera or Day of the at the races but it is my is my favorite album of theirs i think it's the only album of theirs i would say that i love most of their stuff i just think like yeah okay like well done you uh i think i'll just listen to sparks instead i think that i have to admit though my opinion of freddy being the flamboyant one that wants to push things and the other members kind of being like, but we could not push it Freddy. That idea does come through from something that was put down in Bohemian Rhapsody, which

I think the more the years go by that I spend away from it, I think it might be my least favorite film of all time. I really think it is a genuinely ugly, ugly thing. And it's rare that I would ever say this about a piece of art, because I think that even pieces of art I don't like, effort's gone into it, there's care, there's passion, there's all sorts of things. But with Bohemian Rhapsody, I think it is the one piece of art that I would say that the people involved should just be ashamed.

Really genuinely ashamed, and I mean literally everybody that touched anything to do with it. I think it is a really horrible film from an editing perspective. It had two directors. What? It won an award, didn't it? They got like, didn't Rami Malek win best actor at the Academy Awards for it? It's a horrible performance. Oh my god it's disgusting and I like Rami Malek, I think he's great in Mr Robot, which is one of my favourite shows of the 2010s. It's a really horrible performance disguised by an even worse set of prosthetic

teeth. Just the whole thing is really ugly and the message that you get, and I completely agree Andy, the message you get coming away from that film is oh god what if Freddy wasn't so bisexual eh? And it just kind of blames him for his own death, he's got all these horrible horrible horrible scenes of him doing drugs while menacing music plays over the top and mustachioed men glaring at him from one side of the room as if like temptation and sin are like, you know, the things that brought him down. And it goes on about like, oh, Freddie going off to Germany doing all of his solo music. Well, oh, Roger Taylor was the first member of Queen to release his solo music, well, oh, man. Roger Taylor was the

first member of Queen to release a solo album. And fair enough, if that's the story that these filmmakers have come up with, then fine, whatever. But then you look in the production credits and all the other members of Queen are producers on this film. And then I went and saw them with Adam Lambert, because my partner, she's really big into film. And then I went and saw them and with Adam Lambert, because my partner, she's really big interqueed and Adam Lambert's a respectful and good singer and stuff. Then there's this moment where Brian May is alone on stage with an acoustic guitar while holograms of Freddie go over the screen and stuff. And I'm just thinking like you produced this film that just made it seem like his flamboyance was a problem and his sexuality killed him.

It's just like so, so ugly. And so the feeling I'm left with with Queen is that, like, Freddy was like the heart and soul and Brian May's a fantastic guitarist and stuff. But I just get this feeling that, like, Freddy was curtailed by most of their stuff and that my favorite ones tend to be when he's allowed to go a bit more large and operatic and stuff like that. And I'm not saying that any of this is necessarily true. It's just the overriding feeling I get from a lot of their stuff. It's just that there's something better trying to break out of every Queen album and it never comes because they just they just kind of like want to go no we'll just do the easy thing we'll play to the crowd a little bit I think things like Bohemian Rhapsody and things like that are moments where they don't go for the more conservative side of things you know they want to make something that's written through and you know large and has different sections and all this kind of stuff but mostly they don't do stuff like that and which but I guess like

this is why I enjoy innuendo as an album so much because we're not long off I want it all which I think is probably their worst single I don't like I want it all at all that that's not a chorus that's just saying the title of the song Freddie that isn't it's all these like really kind of boneheaded hard rock aor end of things that it sort of ended up like with Queen but anyway I've but I guess all of what I'm saying is that like this is why innuendo strikes me as a bit of a surprise like the first time I ever heard this I was about 16 and I was in college and we were having a bit of a kind of like a casual lesson at the end of the year in my music technology classes we were just kind of revising for exams and stuff and the teacher that I had this was playing and I was like oh I don't I was

like I feel like I recognize this voice from somewhere and then I turned around and it got it on YouTube and it was the innuendo video for Queen. I was like, whoa, I didn't know they had like this kind of side to them. And so that was when I thought, right, okay, time to have a big Queen sesh, you know, and but this and A Night at the Opera were the only two albums where I was like, yeah, I really get it. Or maybe bits of sheer heart attack, but like, yeah, I don't, I don't get them, but I do get this, which is a bit curious really. I'm just gonna quote Lizzie, who of course is very much missed on the show,

who said to us earlier, she was looking forward to this episode because it's possibly the weirdest three songs that we've ever had on the show. And I think that's very much true. This has been our weird week. This has been the love and monsters episode of Doctor Who. That's been this week, to be honest. Complete with a mention of Peter Kay, weirdly enough.

Anyway, yes. So, Ed, bring your daughter sadness and innuendo. Pie hole, vault, anything like that? As much as I sounded like a ranting old fart, I'm not going to put of these in in the pie hole Don't have them deserve that obviously. I'm not gonna put any of these in the in the vault either For me all of these are like looking at a picture of music it's like oh

It's it's fine. I'm Unengaged so yeah there there it is on the fridge right on the refrigerator. Andy, I made an Enigma Queen. Yes, as for bring your daughter to the slaughter, well, I won't be bringing the song to the vault, nor will I be bringing it to the pie hole. As for sadness, it's not voltness nor is it piehole-ness.

Tell you what about that song I should say, you know I've had songs in the past where I've had nothing to say about them at all, I've had songs where I can't describe why I feel a certain way about them but that's the first one we've ever had where I genuinely have no idea what I think about it to be honest so that's going nowhere and as for innuendo well it's not in the pie hole you endo nor is it in the vault you endo except for me I'm going to hell for those puns not at all as for me Iron Maiden is going nowhere. I'm not going to lock it in the Iron Maiden. It's not that bad.

Yeah. Enigma, yeah, kind of on the fence, leaning towards liking it, I guess, but not sure. But Innuendo by Queen, that's just going to sneak into the vault for me. I'm not a huge fan of the section of when it moves back into the main song, but everything else around it, I am into it. I am very much a fan of it, so I'm happily putting that and that's our first vault entry of 1991. We will see you next week when we will continue our journey through 1991. We'll see you for it. Bye bye now. Bye bye. See you later. I look within the mirror, the mirror of my life. A mirror that will tell me of the mysteries of life.

I take a poison jellies and I cast it into hell. I drink a healthy lixor and this is all my health to fool. The demon of my life is chasing me inside my dreams. The demon tortures me and sends me spiraling to hell. I fight each night this demon and I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me.

I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me.

I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one who can save me. I'm the only one to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon

I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon, I'm on my way to the moon I'm on my way to the moon but I'm powerless and weak. The demon that enjoys my pain is mental and a freak. Green onions in my life. Green onions yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy. Green onions in my life.

Green onions in my life. Yeah, yeah, yummy yummy yummy yummy