Hits 21 - 1991 (4): Color Me Badd, Jason Donovan, Bryan Adams

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21! It's time for a new season: Hits 21 - The 90s. At the roundtable this week it's Rob, Ed, and Andy! This week - shiver me timbers, it's Color Me Badd! Any vocalist will do, it's Jason Donovan! And Bryan Adams reigns for almost four months. 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 one of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us, you can. 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 ever so much for joining us again, we hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year's break. Welcome to the Hits21 in 2025.

We are currently looking back though at the year 1991 and this week we'll be covering the period between the 2nd of June and the 2nd of November. A huge week this week, but last week we have a couple of things to take care of. So the listeners, they decided that the Shoop Shoop song, It's In is Kissed by Cher, was the best song last week. But Andy, you weren't here for the previous episode so I just want to ask it's just gonna be a pie hole and vault situation just so everyone knows and for posterity I suppose hail and pace is that a pie hole or a vault or going nowhere?

Vaults for hail and pace no obviously I'm not an idiot. Hale and Pace going into the pie hole, certainly. Lizzie did her guessing what I think of each song, and I will just say she was absolutely right about that. Hale and Pace going into the pie hole. Chesney Hawks nearly vault-worthy for me. She was right again that I really like that song. I think it's really fun, but not quite good enough for the pie hole.

So, sorry, not quite good enough for the vault. So that's just in the middle and shoot shoot song. Yeah, Lizzy was right again. I do quite like it. It's just in the middle. Thank you, by the way, to Lizzy, who I'm sure is listening, filling in for me last time during such an wonderfully able job for filling in for me. It's great to be back.

Yeah. And it's funny because when Lizzie stepped out and took over I joked that it was like Lizzie had regenerated into Ed and so last time I got to sort of experience the equivalent of a sort of multi-doctor episode which was really fun for me so yeah yeah which multi-doctor episode I must ask well the thing is with it's like With Lizzie coming back just for a bit to fill in before, you know a more permanent host returns She's basically doing what David Tennant did for the 60th anniversary. So this is David Tennant in this situation Which I guess makes you Matt Smith, which is I would take

Pretty chuffed with that. So before we get going with this week's episode I did mention either last episode or in the previous episode before that the moments of truth that little rap series I was doing that's it's it's died it's gone it's over because of a copyright strike, but that I did have something else in the pipeline. That something else is called Rewind, and it's very simple. I will be chatting to numerous guests about their favourite albums. That's it. And I won't be playing much music, if any, in those episodes in order to keep those episodes alive. If you want any of the Moments of Truth episodes that I did, just email thehits21 at podcast.gmail.com

and say, I want the files, and I'll say, okay, and I'll give them to you. But that's Rewind. I don't know when it'll start, but it's gonna come in 2025, so, and quite early in 2025. I just want to get a decent roster up first. It is time to press on with this week's episode, and here are some news headlines from June to November in 1991. Obviously there's a lot of news there, so we're gonna stuff in as much content here as we can. Three members of the IRA are killed in County Tyrone during an ambush by the British Army while interest rates placed on small businesses skyrocket to as high as 17%.

John McCarthy, a British hostage in Lebanon, is freed after five years in captivity and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces that she will be stepping down as an MP at the next election and that will be held in the next 12 months. Boris Yeltsin is elected as Russia's first president following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Bank of England closes the Bank of Credit and Commerce amid fraud allegations. The MP for Liverpool broad green Terry Fields is jailed for 60 days after refusing to pay £375 of poll tax and riots erupt in a Cardiff suburb over disagreements over which shops are allowed to sell certain

food products. The recent UK recession is showing signs of coming to an end as Prime Minister John Major gears up to call a general election. He'll be opposed by Labour leader Neil Kinnock, we're gonna win, and Lib Dems leader Paddy Ashdown. And polls show that nine months after his death in November 1990, Roald Dahl has become Britain's favourite children's author, overtaking Enid Blyton. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows, and there's a lot of them. Mermaids for one week, The Silence of the Lambs for three weeks, Naked Gun 2.5 The Smell

of Fear for three weeks, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves for four weeks, Terminator 2 Judgment Day for seven weeks, Robin Hood Prince of Th, for one more week before the commitment closes this period. And that was at number one on the box office for three weeks. Australia beat England 12-6 to lift the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The BBC departs from Lime Grove Studios, another Doctor Who reference there, that's where the first episode of Doctor Who were made. Channel 4 airs Family Pride, the first British soap opera to feature a predominantly Asian cast. Bernard Winton wins the second series of Stars in Their Eyes.

And despite the torrential downpour, 125,000 people gather in Hyde Park to watch Luciano Pavarotti in concerts. An extended episode of Terry Wogan's chat show sees him interview Madonna, 2.4 children, Get Your Own Back and children's series Brum will make their debuts on BBC One, while repeats of Thunderbirds begin being shown on BBC Two. Add the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog 1 was released in this

period and my life officially begins. And top of the pops is simulcast on BBC Radio 1 for the very last time, with the final one being hosted by Jackie Brambles. And something that's separate from UK news and UK pop culture news is that Lizzy is born in this period. That should have been headline news, but Lizzy is born. Congratulations world, you've got a new Lizzie! Yay! So, Andy, the UK album charts, I understand that there is a lot of time to cover, but how's it looking? Yeah, we've got a few, got a few, definitely. I feel like there's a lot of weeks where I

say, oh, it's a quiet week this week because sometimes we cover, you know, only a really small period. That is really, really the bill has come due now. I've got about 11, I think, to talk to you about this week. So I will race through them. But five months worth of the album charts. A whistle stop tour. Here we go. We open with Eurythmics returning to number one for one week with their greatest hits, which went six times platinum.

That's been number one in our previous episode. Then that's replaced by love hurts by share which of course produces you cheap song and that went number one for six weeks six weeks and went three times platinum then we get Luciano Pavarotti with the essential Pavarotti to a number one for two weeks and going platinum then we've got Metallica by Metallica which went number one for two weeks and going platinum then we've got Metallica by Metallica which went number one for one week and went single platinum then we've got a two week run at the top for the soundtrack to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which is credited to Jason Donovan and the London cast

which I think is the name Jason Donovan is doing some heavy lifting there if he's probably got that written into his contract. And that went number one for two weeks and went platinum. Then we've got another compilation. We've got Paul Young's collection called From Time to Time, the singles collection, which went number one for one week in September and went triple platinum. We've then got Dire Straits with their latest On Every Street, which went number one for one week and went double platinum.

Then we've got Guns N' Roses with Use Your Illusion 2, a really bad album title that, which went number one for one week and went single platinum. Then we've got someone called Brian Adams who we'll never discuss again on the podcast who went number one for one week, went triple platinum with Waking Up The Neighbours, something that my dog does quite a lot. And then we're nearly there, we're nearly there, we've got two more to talk about. We've got Simply Red's latest Stars which I'm sure you can put together, produce the not the number one single but produce the hit single stars Which were number one for two weeks and this is the highest selling album of 1991 This went an extraordinary 12 times platinum, which just blows

Everything else from this year completely out of the water. It's it's not a close one this year Which I think is quite extraordinary really especially because we've had Brian Adams who you know I was only joking we will be talking about again and he only went three times platinum with his latest But anyway, then we've got a razor a number one for one week single platinum with chorus before finally We close out this period with another week at number one for simply read with stars And that is your lot. That is five months of the albums chart. Oh, Ed, how is America doing?

I guess in the entire latter half of 1991 almost. Yeah, yeah. Getting on for let's see if Jason Donovan brings in the big bucks in the States. He doesn't. I started off doing like the UK comparisons for this but then I realized my god we will be here all evening so I'm just going to try and keep it simple as I go through first the albums then the singles. So let's go albums from the 8th of June 1991 till the end of bloody October thanks to Brian Adams. Two of Paula Abdul spellbound then we have E Phil for zagging By NWA without the good rapper which may have only hit the top for one week

But sold nearly a million copies in that week very odd But staying with the 1980s theme we've then got hairy survivors skid row with slave to the grind for one week before we go ahead and jump further back with three whole weeks of Van Halen with their hilarious and not at all crass and very stupidly titled for unlawful carnal knowledge come on Nirvana hurry it up please then a blockbuster a chart watermark it's the somewhat ironically titled unforgettable with love by Natalie Cole

for five arguably forgettable weeks. Well, not in my household. My mom listens to that all the time. Really? All the time. Oh wow. Colour me asshole then. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha by Metallica also known as Metallica for a month and Clearly not thinking of the connotations of the album title the US gave money to Garth Brooks for rope in the wind

In the wind and then we had two weeks of our your favorite Andy use your illusion Part two by guns and roses. I know you're also a particularly large fan of this, Rob. Before that is Left Lying On The Bed by Garth Brooks again, with his ropy wind, for some time, as in, it goes past the bounds of this list for some considerable weeks. So, finally, singles. Starting at the beginning of June.

Extreme blaze and blister to number one with a kind of happy, clappy acoustic ballad for a single week. Before Paula Abdul comes back again, I had no idea she was so prominent in the early 90s. I thought she was pretty prominent in the early 90s. I thought she was pretty much gone by this point. But she indicates she's in no rush, rush to fuck, fuck off by spending five weeks at number one. To which a bunch of saggly dressed boys have but one thing to say for a single week.

You're unbelievable yeah EMF made it to number one in the US which they didn't manage in the UK that genuinely is unbelievable yeah this feat is not reflected perhaps sadly perhaps not sadly by seven straight weeks of one Brian Adams but will he do it for us on Hits 21? You'll have to find out shortly. Oh my god Paula Abdul is back again somehow with the promise of a new day failing to promise a second week. Then... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr The song I adore me a more had something to do with pirates. So just forgive me Two weeks of that and enough of that and then shit It's Mark Wahlberg with everyone's third favorite single with the title Good Vibrations, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and

finally if you thought oh that isn't music it's just talking you might have been better served citation needed by three weeks of dog aggravating operatics from Mariah Carey with the somewhat unthoughtfully titled emotions and that's all the weather. Chris! Oh god, ok then, so we will get into the first of TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok

Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop to the heart, TikTok Get on, stop, stop off your coat, I'll make you feel at home Now let's pour a glass of wine, cause now we're all alone I've been waiting all night, so just let me hold you close to me Cause I've been dying for you, girl, to make close to me Cause I've been dying for you girl to make love to me

Girl you make me feel real good We can do it till we both wake up Girl you know I'm hooked on you And this is I Wanna Sex You Up by Colormee Bad. Released as the lead single from their debut studio album, titled CMB, and from the official soundtrack album to the film New Jack City, I Wanna Sex You Up is Colormee Bad's first ever single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number 1, however as of 2024 it is their last.

I Wanna Sex You Up first entered the UK chart at number 27, reaching number 1 during its fourth week. It stayed at number 1 for… THREE WEEKS! In its first week atop the charts it it sold 47,000 copies, beating competition from Light My Fire 91 by The Doors, which climbed to number 10. In week 2, it sold 59,000 copies, beating competition from Holiday 91 by Madonna, which climbed to number 5, and Thinking About Your Love by Kenny Thomas, which climbed to number 5 and Thinking About Your Love by Kenny Thomas

which climbed to number 10 and in week 3 it sold 52,000 copies beating competition from Any Dream Will Do by Jason Donovan which got to number 2, Do You Want Me by Salt and Pepper which climbed to number 6, From a Distance by Bette Midler which climbed to number 7, and Only Fools Fall in Love by Sonya which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, I Wanna Sex You Up dropped 1 place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 14 weeks. The song is currently certified silver in the UK as of 2025, but that

is based on that pre-cantar data that we were warned about. So, Andy, welcome back to the pod. After a week's absence, how do we feel about Colour Me Bad? Oh, thank you for the welcome, Colour Me Flattered. Yeah, I'm gonna dine out on that one, let me warn you right Bad. Oh, thank you for the welcome, Caller Me Flattered. Yeah, I'm gonna die now on that one, let me warn you right now. Anyway, it's funny this, for a few reasons. First of all, this joins the ranks of the likes of Take A Bow, My Life Would Suck Without You from previous episodes, of being a song that when I hear it I instantly think of Glee, and I definitely won't be the only one who feels that way about this. This was in a really early episode called Akafella's,

a really weird early episode that went down to Blind Alley where Will Schuster, the teacher, a bunch of other teachers and a bunch of kids made an all-male acapeella group that song this they sung. This is how we do it right down the camera. They sang the song song, I think, as well. And so that gave me an image of this song as like deeply uncool sort of dad sex music, to be honest, which is just like, not for me at all. But I think more than that, like this whole week in general, like I've said both in 1990 and 91 episodes, you know,

there's definitely felt a bit of dislocation since we did the Noughties and coming back here, you know, there's things that I don't get. But this week, all three songs for various reasons, I just feel like, you know, this was not my moment. This was not something that I lived through. I really, really feel that. And the reason I feel that with this, because I just feel like this is not a genre that I was ever exposed to as a kid.

Like not by the time of me getting into music in the early noughties, you know. And this is just like so early 90s, so early 90s. Like it's it's charming for that. You know, like you really feel a sense of time and place when you listen to this. But also it kind of feels a bit tacky in a way that's not very fair because we're looking back on it in retrospect and it's got that badge of tackiness to it. So I've had to kind of look past that a little bit, do my best. And I've spent quite a lot of time with this in the past few days

trying to convince myself to get more into this. And you know what? I did. I got there. myself to get more into this and you know what I did I got there I did get more into this with a few things that pulled me through chiefly the oh say we like about the rest of the song but that is just a really really good hook like color me hooked you know, it's really, really a great earworm. The lyrics are kind of somewhere in that range of so bad, they're good teetering on, you know, sort of cheeky, genuinely quite fun, but mainly kind of so bad, they're good. And I think there's a lot that weighs it down.

I think the production is gloopy as hell. Like it's really like almost feels like there's like sand in the speakers sometimes because it's just like it feels like it's been put through this through this kind of sounds that goes over it, which I don't like at all. And it's definitely very corny and silly. And imagine if you actually put this on to try and you know make sexy vibes like if you know wanted to use this as actual sex music you'd get laughter you know that would be the end of the evening you know a cup of tea in an early night you

know it's just imagine actually trying to use this for the purposes it was written for maybe they did in 1991 I don't know funnily enough I was conceived around this time so maybe but anyway um it's it's just like a weird throwback this song and I sort of enjoy it for what it is but it's really just like not not part of my experience in life so I look back at this and think what the hell something like this got number one colour me intrigued intrigued but yes I have gradually grown to like this as you listen to it so it's slightly slightly more positive than negative and I will hand over from there color me finished yeah I feel very similarly to

you Andy I think this falls a bit flat for me because I don't feel sexy when it's on. Like it also feels like this kind of stuff was a bit dime a dozen in the early 90s American R&B scene and I'm not sure why this stood out to Brits as a particularly definitive example. I am a fan though of the ooooooo, that thing that keeps revolving around because it feels like that's the closest the song gets to evoking like Marvin Gaye or other like 70s slow jams that I feel like it wants to evoke. I'm just left wanting by everything else. I have a real bugbear about songs that don't have proper choruses, where it's just the name of the song repeated a few times and then the verse rolls kind of back in.

And this just about escapes that with a couple of slight variations, but the whole chorus is just kind of back in vocals. It's not enough for me. I feel like I want more sex and I want more urgency and I want it to be louder and bigger. We've discussed it a dozen times already on the show in the 90s era, but this whole era is a problem for me in terms of dynamics, in terms of adding things in and taking things away, development, slowing up, speeding down, you know, all the things that songwriters use to make songs interesting. I feel like this era of pop is a bit of like, songs start as they mean to go on and they finish as they started, kind of thing. And underneath all the vocals that I've never really remembered, even after all this time,

and a chorus that... I'm not... I don't know, I just feel like I want... I always feel like I want more from this. I expected it to be different. I expected it to be something I would remember beyond just the ooh and the repetition of the title. I'm not pie-holing it because I think that sample is, you know, genuinely just that good and, you know, it's never never it never leaves me sitting there feeling particularly angry or despondent I just wish it was more I wish it leaned more into the slightly dizzy lusty side of that sample when it feels a little bit

kind of lightness and whimsy to me but it's you know it's just less than fine to me. Not terrible, but also just not for me. Er, Ed, maybe you can shed a more positive light on it. I know what I hate. And I don't hate this. Yeah, I don't actually have much more to add to what you've said. You're right that there's no real chorus highlight to it. It is more or less a cyclical track. I just, I love the vibe of it, the sound of it, the groove of it, but I guess, you know, ironically considering it is advertising itself on, you know,

sex appeal and lustiness and body sweat yeah I hadn't really thought about the fact that I don't know is it sexy is it conducive to lovemaking I'm not 100% sure what music is though I mean maybe I'm tipping my hand experiences but um I think you could say that the fact that it is a sort of groove-based song that gets into a rhythm rather than having like peaks and troughs, it's not like a Beethoven symphony or something, which if someone is making love to that,

would be slightly disturbed, I think. But I think that has a certain sexy considered propulsion to it something tantric about it maybe I think because the lyrics so unquestionably dumb I never really I don't know I guess part of me didn't actually think that people might have taken this seriously maybe someone did I don't know I can't say maybe this was a proper did. I don't know. I can't say. Maybe this was a proper bedroom jam. I don't think it was. I think people probably, I wouldn't go as far as novelty, but I think people probably saw it as fun rather than actually sexy. I

don't know because I wasn't there, but I just, I don don't think I don't feel like times have changed that much yeah I'm inclined to I'm inclined to agree um but then again you know a lot of the apparently things like Boz Gags and things in the 70s which is sort of yacht rock adjacent was seen as very sexy music in the 70s and now it's sort of, you know, it's sort of slick and smooth in a way that sounds more like a yuppie apartment than any place you'd want to have deep romantic relationship with someone. But anyway, I like this quite a lot, partly because once I got past the fact that there isn't really a chorus to speak of aside from the cyclical which we all agree is just a really nice bit of vocal business and I do like it and I'm just I

think my mood turned from disappointment or potential disappointment in there not being a peak to it to just a pleasant surprise that something like this could reach number one. That is pretty much just like mood music but in a good way. It's a sort of a slightly sinewy groove and I like that quite a bit. It's not like some of the electronica stuff we've covered in that sense of mood music where it's like, this accompanies like one of those slideshow-esque ads you get at the beginning of YouTube videos

from cheap local companies. Like, you know, X Carvery has over 25, you know, anyway. Yeah, I should note there is another super cool recurring element in this, which is the slick Rick sample that starts the song with the, to the TikTok, you don't stop, to the TikTok, you don't stop to the tic-tac you don't stop and it kind of moves around the sound channel sort of in a figure eight and it does create this this i don't know i really like the texture of that because it turns out something kind of quite abrasive and confrontational into

something almost meditative in the background and i don't kind of mind that sort of unclear, you mentioned sort of sandy quality to the back of your ear because it's got a... I like it's somewhat featurelessness, it sounds like I'm being mildly mesmerized to a degree but yeah the lyrics are total bollocks and what I'm quite pleased about is that I wasn't 100% sure whether I wouldn't be on the defensive foot here because people would come in and say, have you read some of these lyrics? They suggest something quite horrible. For instance, the Do It till we both wake up. Which honestly, the only song recently I've been listening to that has lyrics similar to that is a song called I Want You

by Elvis Costello and The Attractions, which is a deeply disturbing song about sort of possessiveness, stalking and possible rape. So that's really what they wanted I'm sure when they were releasing this. But yeah I just thought am I gonna have to just say that I feel this is yeah it's not that bad really because I just think it's just it's a well-intentioned clumsy thing. I think they're honestly wanting it to be very romantic and you know,

there's very, you know, two people together through the night, but it's like it's been translated twice with each step, you know, by a person where it's one step removed from their native language. And so it is a bit robotic and weird but that kind of adds to the charm. It does not however, I admit, add to the sexiness of it. But yesterday, and this might be something to do with my Covid-induced delirium state that I've partly been living in the last few days, I started singing the title to the tune of another very different song from the 1970s. I wanna pick you up by the Beach Boys.

Now, this is killing time, I'll be honest. No, it's totally not. Just be crowbarring in the Beach Boys reference. Let's just pretend this is a useful synaptic connection that I've made that really says something about these songs. But in a similar sort of way, if not in quite as cute a way as the Beach Boys song, it is aiming for something bizarrely sort of straightforward and pleasant in a way. I know this sort of sex stuff

has got a traditionally very chaste reaction to it, but it's nothing, there's nothing problematic about what it's actually implying. But I just wanna read you a few lines from I Wanna Pick You Up by the Beach Boys, which I think was a very earnestly meant song. Brian Wilson wrote about children and his memories of bringing up his own kids and I just want to see if you can pick up anything else going on here. I love to pick you up. Because you're still a baby to me.

Cribs and cradles and bottles and toys are part of the joys they bring. I want to wash your face and change your clothes and button your shoes. Walk you around and wrestle with you. Then I'm going to make you sing. In the morning I could wake you up notice I could wake you up feed you breakfast from a little cup I want to tickle your feet drop you in your little tub wash your body and shampoo your hair. Be careful not to sting your eyes." Oh god. That's a bit weird. Yeah. Then again, this is off love you, isn't it?

It is. Which is, it is pure naivety and that's part of the charm of that album. It contains some of the most lovably shite lyrics you will ever hear if Mars had life on it I might find my wife on it Delivered deadly earnest it's it's it's charming but some people look at it and go this is an absolute train wreck but well it's part of its wreckish charm anyway I'm going well off-piste here. The second you said the word romantic that was like that has unlocked something for me with this because it's definitely not a sexy song

of this but you know what if someone just sort of jokingly serenaded me with this I would find that really endearing like it wouldn't make me want to jump into bed with them but I'd be like you know what that's very very fun that's very sweet you know I do think it has a bit of a quality to it that's like just sort of loosen up and have a bit of fun you know I it's accidentally endearing it is it's kind of it's trying it's almost like it's trying to be sexy but it ends up just being like dorkily cute. Do you know what I mean? Like it's getting it wrong a bit but it's still, it means well.

You know what I mean? And also just to address the question of what music is actually made for this purpose. First thing that comes to mind, What's Your Pleasure by Jessie Ware. The whole album but particularly that title song. That's the one I always tell people. Yeah. What? A record., what a record. So great, so great. It just, it has something about it where like for no reason at all like there's nothing in the text but you feel like oh this is an album you'd never play in front of your parents like it just feels feels very adult yeah. Yeah, the first half of that record is relentless in its quality and tempo and atmosphere. I mean, the second half is also great, but yeah, the first half is a properly special dance pop record, I think.

It's kind of signaled like a second era for it, I suppose. Okay, so from second era to the the second song this week which is this. I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain, to see for certain what I thought I knew. Someone was weeping, but the world was sleeping Any dream will do I wore my coat with golden lining Bright colours shining, wonderful and blue And in the east, the dawn was breaking And the world was waking, any dream will do Okay, this is Any Dream Will Do by Jason Donovan. Released as a standalone promotional single for the 1991 West End production of Joseph

and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Any Dream Will Do is Jason Donovan's 12th single overall to be released in the UK and his 4th to reach number 1, however, as of 2024, it is his last. The single is a cover of the song originally written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in 1968. Any Dream Will Do first entered the UK charts at number two, reaching number one during its second week. It stayed at number one for... TWO WEEKS! week. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts it sold 106,000 copies beating competition from Chorus by Erasure which got to number three, Everything I Do I Do It For You by Bryan Adams which got to number eight, and Motown Song by Rod Stewart, which climbed to number 10.

And in week 2 it sold 79,000 copies, beating competition from Rush Rush by Paula Abdul, which climbed to number 7, Always There by Incognito and Jocelyn Brown, which climbed to number 9, and I Touched Myself by Divinals which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Any Dream Will Do dropped 1 place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 12 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK, based on that pre-Kantar data as of 2025. So Ed, Jason Donovan.

Any dream will do I guess. Just this one if nothing else. Yeah I have never seen the musical. In fact, I've never seen any Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. I've never seen Glee, actually, referencing our last song. I don't really know very much of the context of anything, it would seem. But what I can gather from what little I have heard of this musical is that it sounds eminently pleasant but kind of bland in a slightly restless way. Like I try myself itching a bit, like I was being encroached upon by people with leaflets after a little while. I might be wrong. Maybe it's a wall to wall bangers

and is sort of kin to hair, which I think came out the same year actually, but I'm not necessarily sure that's true. I don't have a lot to say here. I can't argue with its melodic invention and the fact that it is very, very catchy. I've remembered this from when I was a kid. I had a little compilation of musicals, well I think it was my gran who had it, that she would kind of force down my throat just some key songs off

them when I went round to her house, along with the fact that she couldn't really cook. That was another reason for me not necessarily wanting to go round to her house, along with the fact that she couldn't really cook. That was another reason for me not necessarily wanting to go round to her house, but that's another matter. But yeah, that, oh, has stuck with me as something that's not unpleasant since then. But yeah, it's too repetitive. I mean, maybe that's part of the reason it is so catchy. It just kind of, it's got that verse, then the chorus, then the verse, then the chorus, then the verse, then

the chorus. But yeah, erm, it, erm, I mean, that's about it really, innit? I mean it's, it's just, it's bland but pleasant and it kind of I don't actually have anything to disagree with but I do get restless after a while and just want something to just give it a bit of a shock, a bit of a jerk. I've deducted half a mark from my hidden score for that bloody ghastly g ghoulish, ice rink organ solo that comes on. I mean that's unintentionally spooky I think. It sounds lonely and isolated and kind of like it's being performed by some sort of pervert just because it's a little bit off key. That's such a strange thing to say but do you know where I'm coming from?

I do. Yeah I don't have a problem with it but I don't gravitate towards it either. What an exciting analysis. Please someone else take over with more. My favorite thing about this song actually is in the Wikipedia plot synopsis of Joseph and the technical dream coat because this this song is performed at the beginning this is kind of to introduce Joseph if you will and and it says Joseph sings an inspiring but seemingly meaningless song to the audience yeah I thought about mentioning that it's like is there any point then... Yeah, well, it's because at the end of the musical there is a reprise and you're like, oh... And like, the plot of Joseph is kind of vaguely condensed into the lyrics of Any Dream Will Do, where from memory, because I kind of had it drilled into me when I was eight and I

haven't really watched it since, Joseph is kind of like a Jesus type figure who's kind of like also seen as the runt of the litter in his family and he has loads and loads of brothers who are mean and don't like him and they secretly sell him into slavery. He somehow ends up in prison because of the there's a Pharaoh and the Pharaoh puts him in prison and then he sings an inspiring song and then he gets out of prison or something. There's other things as well but I think that's the gist of it. I think me and you Andy and I know Lizzie too, we've come to know Joseph through doing it at school productions, right? Did you do a school production? No, not for me.

I'll get to it when I do my bit. I've got a different memory with this, but yeah, go on. So I got to know Joseph in the technical dream coat when I was in the fifth year of primary school, so eight, nine, ten years old, because we were going to be the choir for the sixth years, year six, who were leaving that summer. So they got all the main parts and we were the 30 of us in our class that we were the choir. So we had the Donny Osmond film sort of mainlined into us between sessions of handwriting and basic maths and things like that. And

I've gotten so used to the Donny version over the years because he's my mum's favourite as well. My mum was, hmm, she was nine years old when the Osmonds released Crazy Horses, so you know, put two and two together, and she still loves him now. And I've sort of come to like Donnie's version of Any Dream Will Do as a result. I don't think that Donnie's the greatest singer of all time, or even the best singer in the Osmonds, to be honest, but I think he matches the lightness and the airiness of the composition in his version. He keeps things breezy while communicating a sense of story. The track doesn't have much of a sense of rise and fall or ebb and flow, but Donny does

try to bring it, and I think he largely turns a fairly plain song, that's two words there, not plain song, into a nice little kind of pop, musical pop tune. It's a nice kind of show tune I suppose. Because Any Dream Will Do is another one of these kind of, at least the, you know, the film version and then the film, the version that was on the stage. You know, it's this kind of 90 90s number it starts exactly as it goes on and finishes as it starts I don't think I've been transported anywhere which is funny because the plot synopsis of the entire musical is contained within this song I feel like I've not experienced anything really by the end but then this version takes Donnie out of the equation

and puts in Jason Donovan who is a limited singer at best and doesn't sound like the right kind of person to be doing this on record I can't comment as to how he was on the stage when he was doing it but here he sounds like somebody strangling Mark Hollis so what you have here is a song I'm lukewarm on being performed by a vocalist I don't like much and yeah that's that's kind of your lot really for me with this. I also have very little to offer on this. The Donny version I think is the superior version. I think if you know it wouldn't be in the vault or anything for me. I'm not pie-holing this I will say I think if, you know, it wouldn't be in the vault or anything for me. I'm not pie hole in this. I will say, I think, you know, calling me bad and, um, Jason Donovan this week,

they're both providing songs I'm not a fan of, but I don't have it in me because I think everything kind of going on around the, the, the kind of vocals and just the general way I feel, I don't... There's no part of me boiling right now. You know, there's nothing simmering or boiling. It's just kind of, eh. You know. And that's kind of how I feel about Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals kind of in general.

Except maybe Cats. I do have a bit of a... Parts of me do boil, actually, with Cats. Especially the adaptation from five years ago. I went in to see that thinking like, oh everyone hates this but I bet it won't be that bad. It is. Andy, any dream will do. How do we feel on the Jason Donovan song for this week?

I mean I have to unpack so many layers from this, because, right, I'll start at the start. So, if I'm not mistaken, this is the first musical theatre number one that we've covered on the show, right? Maybe not the first one ever. That sounds about right, yeah. Yeah, but I'm pretty sure it's the first one we've ever covered, which means it occurred to me before that, I don't know if I've ever,

like, actually revealed on the air that I'm a big musical theatre fan. Probably not a surprise to be honest, given my other views. But anyway, I am guilty of being a bit of a snob about it. I'm not going to lie that I like big hefty T.J. Ecker musicals and I don't tend to go in for your Mamma Mia's and for your Lion Kings and for your Joseph's, to be honest. There's nothing wrong with them.

I'm not judging either the musicals or the people who like those musicals. Definitely a place for them. And I am a bit guilty of sometimes wanting too much out of the musical. However, Joseph rankles me in a way that pretty much all, apart from maybe Phantom, pretty much all Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals do which I will get into in a moment

But first of all you asked me did I ever do this in school? I know I didn't but I was exposed to this a lot because it was a VHS favorite of wet play or of last days of time, yeah, or whatever That we would play that god-awful Donny Osmond VHS version of it. And just to say I agree that he's fine and that and he's a good singer, nothing wrong with him in that. But that VHS version of Joseph is I've never seen anything like it since that it's like, it's not for those who haven't seen it. It's not it's not that I'm filming the stage production.

They're filming it like as a film, but with literally no budget at all. But it's you ever seen like an episode of Rainbow or something like that where a lot of scenes just take place in this empty void room. Yeah. And like there's no set dressing whatsoever. And the narrator just wears straight up 20th century clothes. And like they don't even give her a costume. And it's it's absolutely bizarre. It's bordering on the avant-garde, to be honest.

So I remember when I used to watch that as a kid, I was like, what is this? At no point have they told me like when and where we are. No one's addressing the narrator who's standing in this empty room with the rest of them, who's wearing 20th century clothes? It was really dislocated and weird and Didn't seem to bother with the fundamentals of storytelling So I never liked Joseph at all and then as I grew older and I got more into musicals And I listened to a lot of the scores and stuff realized that's that's just what I'm Julie Webber musicals alike most of them anyway certainly

certainly cats and stuff like starlight express and stuff as well where it's like if if most stories are essentially like books andrew loyd webber musicals are more like paintings really where it's like there's a vision of something he wants there it is and then you just take it in for two hours there's no there's no real story to speak of in a lot of these musicals it's very interesting that both of you with Joseph you used words like I'm not sure what this is about or that's the vague plot summary or I think this is what happens and that's not either of you like not properly recalling that's just what these shows are like yeah where there just isn't really a plot they are

borderline plotless cats is actually plotless really it's just what these shows are like yeah where there just isn't really a plot they are borderline plotless cats is actually plotless really it's just about like a sort of cat talent show for most of it and it really really bothers me that they're just so not to my taste at all where it's basically just like yeah I've got this idea and here's the sort of one or two signature songs like here's any dream will do or here's memory or here's starlight express or here's music of the night, you know, and you get one or two great songs from each Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and the rest of it. To me, frankly, is garbage.

Like it's really just like pure showmanship at the expense of storytelling, at the expense of proper production. It's just kind of an Emperor's New Clothes thing, really. And I'm less inclined to be sympathetic and not be nasty about it because of the behaviour of Andrew Lloyd Webber himself in recent years, who has been shown to be an extremely ruthless businessman who treats his cast and crew like something he stepped in. But anyway, as to the song itself, it's like, well, I have all the, of all the songs we could ever have covered from musical theatre, they've got number one,

this one, this one, really, like this isn't even the best song from Joseph. I find that the only song from Joseph which which I really quite like, is Jacob and Sons slash Joseph's Coat because they're musically quite interesting. Like you've got the first half of that is really like bouncy and catchy and a lovely production to it. And then you've got Joseph's Coat, which has that really nice chord turned thing with the red and yellow and orange where the chords turns around it. But as for the musical itself itself it's like I can think of no better pointer as to this is the kind of musical this is that they

use that joke in the thick of it where Terry Coveley is established to be a massive fan of Joseph and stages their own production of it every year and plays Jacob which is really funny but like that's exactly, exactly the market for Joseph. And, oh god, I could just talk, I feel like I can give a warm piece here about Joseph, but the other thing about it is that narrator, I think that narrator is one of the hardest parts in all of musical theatre. Because no character at all, it's not a narrator as in a kind of how I got here narrator, or a Rafiki figure, it's nothing like that. It's just some woman who's not there,

who exists 2,000 years hence. She's just some woman who has incredibly demanding songs, like even right there in Jacob, and suddenly she's got the, Jacob! Like really, really high, incredibly vocally challenging. In lots of productions doesn't get a costume, doesn't have any involvement with the rest of the cast, doesn't have a character at all,

absolutely thankless role and has the most lines and has the most songs and is there all the way through. Who would take that job? Like a terrible, terribly demanding role. Yeah but anyway, as to this right I made a joke before about how it said when Jason Donovan and the London cast, that's doing some heavy lifting. Because it is, because Joseph is not even the main character of Joseph, really. This is one of the only proper solo songs that he gets. He does fine with it.

He does fine. And that's all I can say, because it's a song that's really hard to do anything with, to be honest. He has the right kind of gentle, friendly, sort of a voice like this that really goes really nicely with Any Dream Will Do, and he's perfect pick for it. But it's not inspiring much in me other than just sheer impassiveness because that's all that the musical generates in me, because there's no context to that musical, there's no real emotion you put into it it's just pure impassive blandness that I feel towards it and in terms of like how it's made how it's put together in terms of production it's not really

doing much for me either there's a few particular sounds in this that are just like you only find them in the early 90s that like at the start which like that is such a signature of the early 90s and that kind of makes its way into the Lion King as well. That's the Lion King in the back part of my brain. Definitely you feel like there's elements of Hakuna Matata or something that's coming from this just in terms of the broad structure of it. But yeah, it's really hard for me to escape my intense dislike of this show and of Andrioloid Webber musicals in general, because this is quite a good example of the issue I have with them, which is that it's like it's just a thing with no context and no one

really knows what it's about and no one really knows how they should be feeling. But nobody says that to each other. It's like,'s a big shiny Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals again it's just it's bollocks it's bollocks the only thing I will say is that I actually had a claim to fame because I used to work back when I was like 18 I used to volunteer with this arts charity a really great arts charity by the way who had quite a lot of backing and one of the patrons was Julian Lloyd Webber. And that's Andrew like, brother, by the way, quite a famous musician in his own right famous cellist. And he came to visit and I had to like PA for him for the day. And he was very nice man. But like, I think it says something about

my lack of interest in Lloyd Webber musicals that like you'd think that when you meet someone like that, you'd want to ask things and I just like didn't I just didn't want to ask him anything about his brother. I just didn't care. Why? Why Julian? I just had nothing to ask so I just treated him like any other and I completely forgot that had happened completely until this came up this week.

It's like I've been friends with you two for ages and ages and I've never mentioned that to either of you ever before. I don't think I'd even told my husband about that ever before because I just forgot that happened because I have no feelings towards the Lloyd Webber's at all. Are you sure? Are you sure it's not just part of your Andrew Lloyd Webber lies? But yes, if there's one final comment I will say on this, it's that we sometimes use the phrase lowest common denominator quite a lot. And that is sometimes using the derisory fashion,

which I don't often take it to mean. But the actual definition of this, I think you can point to this song, right? You've got Jason Donovan, you have a impassive Lloyd Webber musical You have this mid tempo Boinky Boinky all about the mids production. It's the year 1991 and you're in the middle of the summer and It's just this that like came off some VHS version probably well not the VHS version, but I don't know where people got this from for number one But it just came off Jason Donovan's current popularity really. This is the definition of lowest common denominator for me. This is nothing to this. And sorry I've given war and peace on this but bloody hell you know there are hamiltons in the world like why can't we have something good for

musical theatre at number one. This...ugh alright then so the third and final song this week is this Look into my eyes, you will see what you mean to me Search your heart, search your soul When you find me there, you'll search no more Don't tell me it's true, everything I do, I do it for you Look into your heart, you will give it all, I would sacrifice Okay this is Everything I Do, I Do It For You by Brian Adams. Released as the lead single from the soundtrack album for Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and as the lead single from his sixth studio album titled Waking Up The Neighbours, Everything I Do, I Do It For You is Brian Adams' 12th single overall to be released in the UK,

and his first to reach number one. It's not the last time he'll top the charts, we've already covered that on his 21 when he topped the charts with Chicane. Everything I do, I do it for you. First entered the UK charts at number 8, reaching number 1 during its third week. It stayed at number 1 for 16 weeks! It's 16 weeks atop the charts. It sold 1.29 million copies, beating competition from the following highest new entries and high climbers. You could be mine by Guns N' Roses. Now that we've found love by Heavy D

and the Boys. Things that make you go hum by the C&C Music Factory. More than words by Xtreme. I'm too sexy by Right Said Fred. Enter Sandman by Metallica. Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by PM Dawn. All for love by Colour Me Bad. Charlie by The Prodigy. I'll Be Back by Arnie and the Terminators. Sunshine on a Rainy Day by Zoe. Let's Talk About Sex by Salt and Pepper. Insanity by Oceanic.

Winds of Change 91 by The Scorpions. Salt Water by Julian Lennon. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python's Flying Circus and Get Ready For This by 2 Unlimited. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Everything I Do, I Do It For You fell three places to number four. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 25 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified 3 times platinum, it is triple platinum in the UK as of 2025, unsure if that's been updated since 1994 when the Kantar data was updated and stopped being counted. I should also say as well as a stat at the top of this that this song still to this day as of 2025 has the longest uninterrupted run at number one. 16 weeks completely uninterrupted. Of course, I believe by Frankie Lane is the song with the most weeks at number one, but that fell to number two or three and came back up and that's the Same with shape of you. I think by Ed Sheeran as well. So

Here we are The big thing that's been hanging over the charts for 34 years now Andy you can kick us off with Brian Adams everything Everything I do, I do it for you. Oh, well, thank you. I wish you hadn't done that for me. Well, let's do the thing, because I just can't get into this. I just can't. I can't.

I never have been able to, really. Which is odd for me, to be honest, because as much as I don't really believe in guilty pleasures, if I did have guilty pleasures, it'd be a lot of stuff like this, like one and only was kind of what, to be honest. I really quite like a big, silly, 90s power ballad, to be honest. I think Turn Back Time by Cher is great, apart from having one of the worst key changes ever to appear in music. Turn Back Time, I think, is great. I think I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith is great. I love that song. I kind of like it

too, I'll be honest. I really like My Heart Will Go On as well and going back further than this stuff like Totally Eclipse of the Heart. You know I really like a big like angsty power ballad so you'd think that this might be one that sneaks into my kind of secretly love it really. Nope, not even a bit of it, not a little bit. And so I've spent most of my time listening to it over the past few weeks. One, trying to get into it and trying to understand

why this is so beloved or was so beloved at the time at least. And the other sort of half of the time I spent with it has been like why why is this not clicking for me in terms of why it's not clicking for me it gets quite sort of meta and weird really because I think this is the first song there's been lots of songs that we've covered on the show that have done better than they should have really with me because of nostalgia and that's carried them through. This is probably the first one I can remember that we've done that is doing worse for me because of my memories of it. Like this is actually doing badly from my experience of it, which is essentially that it's just so overplayed. I was gonna

say I'm so fed up with it, which is not really fair because I don't hear it day to day now But it's just one of those songs that exists in the world so much that has been so predominant That I just don't ever want to hear it like ever Because I feel like a lot of the songs I've mentioned they're like yes My heart will go on this an absolutely huge thing at the time but in the in present day you know those are things that you kind of go back and rediscover whereas with this you know yes it's the record hold of a number of weeks at number one it always appears on like 90s playlists it always appears like weddings and things like that you

know not every wedding but it appears a lot and like we've never quite got out of the shadow of this one and I was never kind of predisposed to like it anyway because I think Brian Adams voice on this is really not enjoyable for me. Where I, when I said the word really, then I accidentally sort of channeled him a bit where like, that we're dying for. You know, it's really hard to get into, I think.

I don't think it has the oomph and the power and the big kind of hands in the air, sing the song quality that the other songs that I mentioned do. So it was never really one of my favorites anyway, but the fact that this is like a record holder and it's always, always, you know, just still talked about all the time. I just kind of want to flush this song down the toilet. I felt like I was just kind of giving it time that I didn't want to give it when I was listening to it, to be honest. But there is still a part of me, to be honest, I'm not going to lie, that's still completely mystified.

Like, just doesn't understand why this really took off. Like, yes, there's a big crew in relevant to it. And it's got the Robin Hood thing alongside as well very good brand synergy there but I don't think it's it's there's anything about it that's like oh this speaks to me in a way that no other song quite does there's nothing that's like this is the song for this mood at this time where other songs have covered that I haven't liked I've at least understood that like it's doing something that is not for me. Or even songs that like I have quite liked that are just as cheesy and just as kind of maudlin as this.

I've still liked because there's something about them like Hero by Enrique Iglesias. Like I liked that even though that's really like sort of a slightly less overblown but sort of a noughties version of this genre to be honest. I quite like that because that was so kind of earnest and treats the man in a different way whereas I feel like with this you're sort of like looking at the man on high as he sings this grand sweeping thing to you and I just don't buy into it. I just don't like that at all. So yeah I was never really a fan of it anyway. And then the fact that like it's it's this big, massive, you know, symbol of the 1990s. I just wanted to go.

I don't ever want to hear about this song. So, no, it's not for me. Not for me at all. Sorry. But I'm genuinely interested in like if either of you two can illuminate on like, what is it about this that gave it its 16 weeks and number one? Ed, can you can you shed any more kind of positive light and help Andy out? There is of course the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves connection and I remember in the aftermath that being huge not just at the cinema but also you know it was a big you know oh the show is premiering

on telly or we've got to watch this blah blah. Don't even know if I ever got around to seeing it, but beyond the fact that it was a huge movie on both sides of the Atlantic, there was also the fact that Kevin Costner at that time was a bit of a sort of heart throb. And that, the romantic sentiment of the song, I think people might have projected his voice, you know, have projected Ryan Adams' voice

onto his sort of rough, rugged, good looks, you know, I projected Ryan Adams' voice onto his sort of rough, rugged good looks, you know. Maybe this is all conjecture, but I know that my sister liked Robin Hood and probably Kevin Costner, mostly because I remember when I was young, and this is quite telling, trying to record Star Trek 2, the wrath of Khan off the television. And my sister realizing that, oh, she was only staying with us as well, but she realized that Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves was on the other side.

So she actually turned my recording off, changed the channel and recorded half of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. I was not aware of this I was not aware she'd done it so the next day I went and I watched what I thought would be my first exposure to the pretty pretty good Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan and I honestly was yeah I sat with it for about five, ten minutes after they started randomly sword fighting in hay and being like, well, you know, they were on that desity planet. Maybe they've kind of regressed to like a feudal state.

And then, yeah, it took me a surprising long time to realize that Kevin Costner and Robin Hood and indirectly Brian Adams had spoiled something else for everybody. But that's harsh because to be quite honest I know I'm supposed to hate this song. I think maybe if I were a couple of years older it would have that candle in the wind 97 effect but I just missed it. I was aware of like the after effect of it and it seemed like a big deal. I remember seeing the music video which as I mentioned had loads of clips from the movie in it but I don't quite remember the song's ubiquity. I wasn't that tuned into music in general at that point. But I don't hate this.

I think it's well structured. I think it's dynamic. I think it builds well enough. I don't, it doesn't, I know what you mean, Andy, that it doesn't actually ever seem to be that big, even though when I'm listening to it, it's like it really does put a lot into trying to build up the dynamic attention

to something quite large arrangement wise by the end. But it always does seem fairly fragile for some reason. But there's lots of things I like about it. I like the country motion in that bridge, the, you can tell me it's not worth dying for. I think that's a nice bit of writing there. I also like the surprise modulation and chord change in the middle eight. I think that's very effective, very striking. I think it's well constructed. I think it was deservedly popular.

It's certainly not an incompetent song by any in any way, shape or form. I mean, the lyrics are total piss, but I'm not really expecting that much from a Brian Adams ballad written for a big Hollywood film I mean if you can if you're gonna be disappointed by that I don't know what to tell you but yeah I am but I don't mind this at least not the single version wasn't aware originally that I was listening to the

album version until Rob actually pointed that out to me where there's a completely unnecessary what sounds like bloody minutes that's been exerted from a like a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song just put on the end I could go into that but that's not what we're talking about I could go into the laughable fact that the album is called Waking Up The Neighbours but but I won't go into that. I could go into the laughably Bruce Springsteen adjacent album cover, but we won't go into that. But yeah, the song itself. I think it's fine. Rob? Yeah, this is massive. This kind of towers over me. the first song we've covered in this 90s show that when I think about every bit of my life it's there it's always there it's

somewhere in the background constantly I think when a song is number one for this long it imprints itself on everything that happens around it, especially in like the 90s when you actually have to go out and buy the song to get it there and keep it there. And it imprints on the lives of the people who hit major milestones while it's there, reigning with IEG. As we know, Lizzy was born when this was number one, a family friend of mine was born when this was number one. A family friend of mine was born when this was number one. I actually looked up the number of babies born in the 16 weeks that this was number one and would you believe that Lizzie and my family friend were two of 300,000 babies

born in the UK while Brian Adams was at number one with this. and those of us born in the summer of 94 we have a similar experience with wet wet wet when that comes around all around it's another movie tie-in as well that's three songs this week that have had a movie or a musical tie-in add that to share last week as well and the stonk obviously with Comet Relief there's so many tie-ins at the moment getting to number one and then you go on the YouTube video for everything I do and the entire comment section, like all of it, is people saying either me and my wife slash husband dance to this song at our wedding and now my wife slash husband is dead. I miss you every day. Or me and my wife slash husband dance to this song at our

wedding and this week we've just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary or you know something so and almost nothing else like in a way i think everything i do is one of a few songs that was so universally adored upon its release that it was always destined to take on several lives beyond its own a really definitive example of the debate over whether an artist can still own something that's out in the world affecting things and soundtracking things because the song as it exists now is not what it was during the first week when it came out despite never changing and that alone I think is

you know kind of it's worth studying and worth looking at and you know The the fact that it was it was number one for so long. I think We're in an era of power ballads It has the movie tie-in and I think it becomes one of those where it's like, oh have you heard? Etc, etc because I think one of the lies of this song That as a nation we all decided to adopt is that oh we've always loved brian adams no we haven't yeah no we fucking haven't he went through the entire 80s with two top 40 hits in the uk run to you which was his debut single that got to number 11 and he did

one with tina turner which i think got to like number 30 or 29 or something and that's it. None of his other songs even reached the top 40. I think the last song of his before this that charted at all in the UK it was Victim of Love and it reached number 68 in 1987 but then in 1993 you get that Brian Adams compilation album which has got all of the stuff on it. Summer of 69 that gets to number 42 in 1985 and is on the chart for seven weeks. It has actually spent more weeks on the chart since 2008 than it did in the 80s. But we all went along with this lie that oh we've always loved Brian Adams and Summer of 69 and we've we've oh no no we haven't no we didn't it's a lie but this song's impact was so big that it made

people forget reality and maybe that's something in its favor as well. Everything about this suggests that I should hate it it has that lifeless bombast in the rhythm section that I hate so much in 99% of Regan Rock. Snare drums the size of the Empire State where every hit sounds like a wave crashing. Those overdriven and overproduced guitars that sound like a tractor firing up. Brian Adams' continuing, never-ending, ersatz, Bruce Springsteen impression, the mind-numbing execution as well that you only really find with a lot of 80s stadium rock where the band seem constantly concerned with whether the audience are capable of things like understanding implication or noticing subtlety or being patient, so they hammer home the strong bits relentlessly to make sure you get the point.

You know it's all there and yet and yet there is something about this. I think it's one of the more substantial power ballads from around this time. I think the bombast actually has something behind it, something supporting it. It isn't completely lifeless. I think basing it off a classical piece from the film's soundtrack gives the melody and the harmony some depth. It goes back in the mix a little bit, it's not all upfront, you know, you have things like, oh I've heard that, oh I'm hearing this, and oh I'm hearing, oh yes, you scratch under the surface of this and I think there's actually something there. I've always enjoyed the movement to signal the pre-chorus where it goes from that G into the D minor just for a little

change of mood and then it goes back over into the C. You know, you were saying about that bridge section that's quite striking. The lyrics aren't much to write home about but they are sparse while the piano is relatively, it's active but it isn't overbearing. I just find it decorative and it means that your attention's being pulled from one ear to the other, kind of like that figure eight effect you were talking about before, actually with them calling me bad.

And I also think as well, above anything, I do feel the romance in this. When I'm reading those comments that people have left about their husbands and wives and partners and whoever, I can feel the significance of the song in their lives and I can understand why it would become such a big deal to so many couples, to so many people. It's outside of my comfort zone aesthetically

but I think the storytelling is there. I think it has enough momentum to keep driving itself forward. There isn't much plot but there is story. And when I read those comments that people leave about their husbands and wives and wedding days and births and all of that I just think oh yeah I get it like you know the the song comes from a genuine place of deep feeling I find I will say I agree with you Ed that I uh I absolutely

prefer the single version to the album version because the album version, that last two minutes is a waste of time. Yes! It is a waste of time. It always makes me feel slightly uncomfortable and that like, someone in the editing suite should start winding this down and just fade it out and don't tell them. But no, they just have this endless coda section. It's like I've accidentally walked in on him having some alone time and I can't get out. They spend the two minutes going on like oh man. Look how good this song is We're just gonna keep it going and going and going and I feel slightly sad during those two minutes because all those people Have assigned such a powerful memory of theirs to a really emotional power ballad

Which then stops and descends into the biggest load of nonsense Hmm, and I just think like, oh, like during the first four minutes of this song, I'm like, yeah, I get the stories. I get the feeling. The last two minutes, two and a half minutes, I'm like, oh, Brian, why are you insulting these people's memories? Like I mean, obviously that's not literally not what he's doing, but yeah, this, you know, I think that this has also been improved slightly over the years by the release of All for Love in November 1993, which was written by Bryan Adams and Michael Kamen.

And Michael Kamen, or Kamen, he did the soundtrack for Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and wrote the classical piece that Everything I Do is Based On. They wrote All for Love a couple of years later for the Three Musketeers film, which was a very obvious, very, very obvious play at trying to recapture the success of Robin Hood Prince of Thies. You know, you give it a slightly medieval setting, it's all swords and sandals and, you know's you know people with muskets and you know like feather bow hats and things like that and they do this big like you know this big ballad this all for love they get sting and rod stewart in to do it as well the film itself just about is a

success on a budget of 30 million it makes 111 million back, but it's like a third of the size in terms of success because I think Robin Hood Prince of Thieves adjusted for inflation that would have just about topped a billion Yeah, if it were released today at the box office. Hard to tell, hard to tell, but yeah. Yeah, but this, The Three Musketeers would have probably done about 300 million, which is, you know, it's pretty good. It would have been a box office success, nowhere near as successful. All for one, all for love, or, you know, it got to number two and it did okay, but it

wasn't the hit that they wanted and it wasn't really the hit I think that they were anticipating. And so compared next to it, I think you look at this and go yeah okay this was a successful go what this was but I do think that we are in a slightly different era now where in the 90s and in the 2000s there was such a thing as you know and it was like something that was collectively agreed upon by the population, a song of the summer. I think that through the months of July and August when it's hot and everyone's tuned into the charts and still buying loads of records and listening and caring about the pop charts and music and stuff as a thing, you get songs of the summer now, but we kind of agree between like three or four of them and we sort of figure it out afterwards, whereas I feel like I remember being a kid and it felt like the song of the summer was kind of decided upon after about three weeks of

it being number one and then it kind of stretched a little bit into the summer and then maybe into the autumn and it'd leave the charts when the rain started again. And if it was anything like that when I was alive, I imagine it was more intense before I was born. And so I think it's just kind of collective excitement is what keeps something at number one for 16 weeks in 1991, as opposed to something like One Dance by Drake, which is number one for 15 weeks in 2016,

and is only kind of there, I think at least seven of those weeks, it of, it's kind of passively there. If you know what I mean, like it's not like everyone going out and buying something, it's just kind of everyone in shops playing it. I feel a bit this way about the Christmas charts at the moment because Last Christmas by Wham is only number one at Christmas because it's the top of every Spotify playlist for Christmas. The same with Mariah Carey. It was the same reason Brenda Lee got to number one in America last year in 2023 because she was at the top of the American Christmas playlist made by Spotify and stuff. Whereas this feels like it was a cultural event and it came with the film and the song and all of

that and then it kind of soundtracked everything forever and yeah I should hate this and yet I just I haven't really grown sick of it over the years which I think really counts for something. I think we have to sort of slightly discount the film as part of the package really like it is a part of the package but it's not that... I just don't think it can be that responsible for the success of the song other than igniting the initial spark because the film just hasn't lasted at all. Like the film has not stuck around.

But it lasted long enough in 1991 I think. It wasn't even that big even. I know you said it would have made around a billion in modern money but that's not that much. It wasn't even that big even. I know you said it would have made around a billion in modern money, but that's not that much. It wasn't even the biggest film of 1991. That was Terminator 2, which made a lot more money. I think all the other big movie tie-in songs, like the film has survived with them as well. My Heart Will Go On, Titanic, both very much the same sort of level in the zeitgeist, really bodyguard.

I will always love you, etc, etc. But this like I feel like the only thing that people of our generation really know about this film is this song. Like I think a lot of people from our generation, including me until a few years ago, I think most people our generation have probably never seen this film, which is definitely not true of things like Titanic or The Bodyguard. It's it's really left behind. I know that many people have seen The Bodyguard, to be honest.

I think the song has outlasted that somewhat. And even then, that was 10 weeks rather than 16 in the end for Whitney Houston. Yeah, I just I just don't think this film can possibly have that much to do with the phenomenon surrounding this song, because you just didn't say. I wasn possibly have that much to do with the phenomenon surrounding this song because you just do the Siggur I wasn't suggesting that was the whole explanation for I'm just saying it's like that might have contributed No, I just don't think I don't know one looks back on this fondly No one looks back on that film fondly in the way that they do the song Where's with with Titanic and with the bodyguard? It's both people look back on both fondly

Whereas they don't with this this yeah, this definitely wasn't the whole explanation, but it was, the film was number one at the box office for four weeks, and so without the film, there's part of me thinking that maybe this would be 10 weeks or 11 weeks. Yeah. You know, like, not, you know, it's kind of like when we did Amarillo, the Peter Kay thing, where that was number one for seven weeks in total,

and after the third week was when they started counting downloads in the UK, and that suddenly, that gave it a big push, and it just gave it that extra kind of three weeks, and then all of a sudden, something that's number one for a month and kind of fits in with everything else, is suddenly number one for nearly two months, and that feels like a much bigger deal, and so I think it's something like this, where maybe this would have been number one for a couple of

months, still a big deal, but not the longest running uninterrupted number one of all time in the UK over 73 years. Yeah that's pretty mad and yeah it is obviously eclipsed the movie itself. How much the movie matters to people of that specific generation, I'm not entirely sure whether my sister's still like, oh Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, oh yeah. Yeah, I'm really not convinced that it has that much cultural cash with that generation. No, you might well be right. Right then, so Andy, call me bad, Jason Donovan, Brian Adams, Piehole, Volt, where's

everything going? Well, I wouldn't call it bad and I wouldn't call it good either. I want a sexy office staying in the middle. And then as for any dream will do, that's the definition of blandness as well. If I had a dream with any dream will do that's the definition of blandness as well if I had a dream with any dream will do it I'd forget that dream when I woke up it's not a nightmare but it's not a paradise kind of dream either so it just stays there in the middle and as for everything I do I do it for you there's one thing I'm gonna do for it I'm gonna put it in the pie hole. Yeah Okay, so Ed I want to sex you up any dream will do everything I do I do it for you, right? Well color me bad

Ultimately, I don't want to sex it up I don't want to let it down or drown Would have it so you can colour me beige on that one. With Any Dream Will Do, it certainly isn't Jason Bob Dylan, but I can't say it's quite Jason Peter Sarstead either, so it's going nowhere. That will have a certain generational appeal. Do you think it's, he's as good as Jason Derulo Jason Donovan maybe add a bit of a timberland so represent and represent BB Gurum. Anyway, yeah, and as for Brian Adams' 16 week of behemoth, apparently, I will tell you,

it's not worth adjusting the radio for in either direction. It's not really going anywhere, it's fine. Well, for me, I can kind of sum it up really quickly. None of the songs are going in the pie hole or the vault for me this week but Jason Donovan and Colour Me Bad were at the lower end of Nowhere and Brian Adams was slightly more towards the higher end of Nowhere. One other thing I want to say before we finish because we forgot to mention this the first time and the second time and nearly the third time I've already just remembered now.

So any dream will do was the 300 song that we've ever covered. And we forgot the foot hundreds and the 200th. The hundredth was if you're not the one by Daniel Bedingfield way back when then 200 song was the Rose by Westlife. And this was the 300th we've made it to 300. And as if that's not cool enough, started a weird trend with them which is that the hundred second 200th and 300 songs none of them got put in the vault or the pie hole by anybody I wonder if that will hold as we go forward yeah they're just not they're just none of them have been exciting

songs have they it's like the Rose I had to scratch my head about as our Westlife. I'd explain to you. Okay, so Thank you both Very much for this week's episode. Thank you to everyone who was listening next week We're gonna be covering four songs because we're gonna take you right up to But not including the Christmas number one for 1991 the year's almost over and we've only just started 2025. So we will see you next time. Bye bye now. Bye bye. From the hurt and the pain Let's make it all for one All for love You're the one you hope

You're the one you want The one you need Cause when it's all by one It's one for all When there's someone that you know Then just let your feelings show Make it all by one All for love