Hits 21 - 1992 (3): Snap!, The Shamen, Tasmin Archer

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21: The 90s.At the roundtable this week it's Rob, Ed, and Andy!This week - Snap are as serious as neuroblastoma, The Shamen go to war with Arsenal fans, and Tasmin Archer looks back at the Space Race.Twitter: @Hits21UKEmail: [e-mail]

Music 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. Just send an email to Hits21podcast at gmail.com. Thank you ever so much for joining us again, we are currently looking back at the year 1992. 1992 is almost over because this week we'll be covering the period between the 2nd of August and the 24th of October, so not quite as big a leap as the previous two episodes, but still an almighty stride. Last week, the poll winner was Eurasia, with the ABBA-esque EP, slash Take a Chance on Me.

So it is time to press on with this week's episode and here are some news headlines from August to October-ish, 1992. In Scotland, TV cameras are allowed into courtrooms for the very first time. The first ever season of the Premier League gets underway with Sheffield United beating Manchester United 2-1 in the very first game and English driver Nigel Mansell wins the 1992 Formula One Drivers Championship with five races to spare, becoming the first Brit to do so since James Hunt in 1976. The Daily Mirror publishes intimate photographs of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, during

a holiday with American businessman John Bryan. The UK economy is hit by Black Wednesday as the government is forced to withdraw £1 sterling from the European exchange rate mechanism. And unemployment in Great Britain reaches a five-year high with almost 3 million people out of work. The Royal Mint unveils a new 10p piece, which is said to be thinner and smaller than previous versions. 31,000 jobs are lost as more than a third of Britain's coal mines are closed, despite protests being attended by more than 100,000 people.

And in America, a $6 billion rebuild of Los Angeles continues after the Rodney King riots earlier this year. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Universal Soldier for one week, Beethoven for one week, Lethal Weapon 3 for one week, Alien 3 for one week, Lethal Weapon 3 for two more weeks, House sitter for one week, Unforgiven for one week and Patriot Games for two weeks. The BBC and Sky Sports both launch dedicated programs to coverage of the new Premier League, including the first ever episode of Monday Night Football featuring a live musical performance from the Shaman.

Emma Bunton makes her acting debut on EastEnders. The Big Breakfast launches on Channel 4. And Mr Blobby makes his first ever TV appearance during an episode of Noel's House Party. During a live musical performance on Saturday Night Live, Sinead O'Connor rips up a photograph of Pope John Paul II, also advising viewers to fight the real enemy. Thousands of complaints were issued,

and later episodes of SNL, starring the likes of Joe Pesci and Madonna, mocked the incident. And another headline, a slightly less important one or a more important one, depending on your view of the world or your view of me, I was born in August of this period. Yeah, what up yo? I'm in the world now and that means Ed, Lizzie and I in that order have all arrived on the scene now which is the one incarnation of Hits 21 that we've never had. But yes Rob will be joining us soon enough.

But yes, I'm here. Hello. Yes. So the album charts around your very first, well not even your first birthday, it's like just the day you were born. Well, you're not even your first birthday. It's like you're just the day you were born. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's a few albums this week, but the first one was technically at number one when I was born. Kicking off from last week, it's Neil Diamond with the greatest hits 1966 to 1992,

which went to number one at the end of July into the middle of August, just about covering when I was born. That went number one for three weeks and went platinum but the first new number one album of my lifetime was in excess with Welcome to Wherever You Are which yeah could do a lot worse to be honest not that bad that went number one for one week and went gold then it's a re-entry for Genesis yet again with We Can't Dance, which went number one for one week and went five times platinum. Toppling Genesis, we've got The Smiths with best...one. That went number one for one week and went gold, just gold that one. Then we've got Kylie Minogue with Greatest Hits and isn't that weird that she's already releasing Greatest Hits in 1992?

That's a bit odd, yes. And that went number one for one week and went platinum. Then something very different. We've got Mike Oldfield with Tubular Bells II, which went number one for two weeks and went two times platinum. Never heard that. I've heard Tubular Bells I a bunch of times. I've never heard that one.

Then we've got an album which I do own actually. It's the best of Belinda Carlisle volume one which went number one for one week and went double platinum. Then we've got none other than ABBA showing up perhaps somewhat inspired by ABBA-esque last week but in any case they're at number one with ABBA Gold which went number one for one week for now but it comes in and out all the time over the next 33 years really it comes in and out all the time currently sitting at 18 times platinum ABBA Gold. Yeah I mean that's one of

those albums where if I had to walk into a random house anywhere in the UK and guess one album that they've got that's the one that I would guess I feel like almost every household has got ABBA GOLD in it somewhere rightfully so but yes 18 times platinum crazy stuff yes then we're still going we're still going in October taking us into the middle of the month we've got Automatic for the People by R.A.M. another lovely album there that went number one for one week and went six times platinum month we've got Automatic for the People by R.A.M. another lovely album there that went number one for one week and went six times platinum. Then we've got Prince and the New Power Generation with Symbol. Yes it's that era of Prince and it went number one for one week and went single platinum and then finally at the very end of this period it's Simple Minds with Glittering Prize 8192, which went number one for three weeks and went three times platinum.

A lot, a lot of movement on the charts in this period. Is there as much movement in the States Ed? No, quite simply. Very, very different story. As hinted last week, I have a very easy couple of podcasts in terms of the US roundup So for the period 8th of August to the 24th of October 1992 Albums we've got two two whole albums right And one of them is carrying on from the last time so Billy Ray Cyrus

Keeps at bay pirates for a further eight weeks. Jesus Christ. Oh no, I enjoyed that, yeah. With his Billboard behemoth, Some Give All, an album which sold nine million copies in the US alone in its first year. Wow. Hang about though,

cause Garth Brooks has woken up again and realized he hasn't released a new album in like weeks So hot on Cyrus's trail. We have the chase by Garth Brooks Which takes us all the way up to the 24th of October. That's it. That's the albums roundup singles Arguably slightly more scanty than that Madonna starts us off for a single week lamenting how she, the number one spot used to be her playground.

Before we get 11 weeks, and that's just the start, of false advertising from boys to men with End of the Road. Come the end of October, it still wasn't. That's it. That's the US Roundup. Hope you enjoyed it. Get my name right on the cheque. So we are going to move on to our first song this week and I can presume Andy that this was the one that was number one when you were born. This is the one. Okay then, so let's hear it. The

first song this week is... this! The rhythm is a dancer, it's a source of of anger You can feel it everywhere Let your hands and voices bring your mileage on us You can feel it in the air Oh, it's a passion Oh, you can feel it yeah Oh, it's a passion, oh Rhythm as a dancer, get some sauce to pack ya You can feel it everywhere

Let your hands and voices bring your mind and join us You can feel it in the air, oh Okay, this is Rhythm Is A Dancer by Snap Released as the second single from their second studio album titled The Madman's Return, Rhythm is a Dancer is Snap's seventh single overall to be released in the UK and their second to reach number one, but as of 2025 it is their last. Rhythm as a Dancer first entered the UK charts at number 16, reaching number one during its sixth week. It stayed at number one for six weeks. Across its six weeks atop the charts, it sold 328,000 copies, beating competition from the following songs. Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Cabal

Achey Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus and Book of Days by Enya The Best Things in Life are Free by Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson Just Another Day by John Cicada Don't You Want Me by Felix and This Charming Man 92 by The Smiths Baker Street by Undercover Rock Your Baby by KWS and Walking on Broken Glass by Annie Lennox Ebony's A Good by The Shaman and Too Much Love Will Kill You by Brian May and It's My Life by Dr. Alban When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Rhythm as a Dancer fell two places to number 3.

The song originally left the charts in November 1992 but re-entered the top 40 in 2003 and the top 100 in 2008 and 2009, which means that by the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 36 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2025, unsure if that's based on pre-cantor data because it has charted semi-recently after its release. So Andy, you were born while this song was at number one, so you can go first. Yes, it's interesting that about this being number one when I was born because I'm always quite happy with that as a choice. I think I've done quite well there.

Yeah, pretty solid. Yeah, and compared to, I know that yours, Rob, was love is all around, Lizzie's was everything I do, and Ed, what was yours again? I believe mine was Chain Reaction by Diana Ross. Oh, see, that's not bad. That's not bad. No, I'm pleased with that one. I'm quite pleased with that one. But like, I generally I love it when the conversation comes up of what was number one when you were born, because I know I've got a good one

and generally I either win the room or like I've got like, you know, a good shot of it really where people are like, oh oh yeah, that's pretty good. I've always dined out on that a little bit compared to, I had a friend, Mr. Blobby for her and a few other really embarrassing ones. So I was always quite happy to have rhythm as a dancer. But it never occurred to me before, last week, to check what it could have been

if it was just a little bit differently. If there was a slight breeze in the charts and things had moved a bit differently, or if I was born a bit earlier, if I'd come a bit early, then I would have had to say to people whenever that conversation come up, oh, it was this random Jimmy Nail thing called Ain't No Doubt. Which I'm glad I dodged that bullet, really, because this is this is good. This is really good. I think this is a good example of an artist who's like looking at, right, what have we

done well? What do people like about us? They've gone away again, come back a couple of years later with something that's really like refined the formula and we have an instant classic here. Not to say that the power is not also an instant classic, because it is. For me personally though, this is like, oh, they've hit the nail on the head with this. Those synth sounds that just sort of, they drive and they really just provide instant momentum to the song. They've got that melodic hook with the rhythm, there's a dance there, that just runs all the way through. That's just so simple, but so catchy all the way through. They don't rest on their laurels with it, they introduce lots of other

little melodies as well with the it's a passion and just lots of little different variations throughout so it's kind of made of hooks to be honest. It never really feels like it's dragging its heels, it never really feels like it's slowing down or losing momentum, you know it's kind of in this nice middle ground between it has ideas and is willing to throw ideas at you all the time, but it's not going to bombard you with them and make you like, oh, you know, too much in this song, too much going on in this song. It's this really nice sort of well-prepared meal

rather than a massive buffet on a plate or rather than something that feels a bit more like a bland kind of starter. This is just a nice big well-prepared meal of a song and I really just appreciate that from any piece of music when you come away from it thinking you know what that's exactly the right amount of content that like it kept me engaged throughout it sounded great throughout I really just thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and I never felt wanting for anything. That is hard to achieve. You know, it sounds like a simple thing but that is hard to achieve really. So this is great. This is really great. And like I say, I think the things that I really liked about the power, which is interesting use of synth sounds, great use of hooks, great use of percussion, sounds, great use of hooks, great use of percussion and a deliberate attempt to get in your head as much as possible with as many different things as possible. All of them, absolute

nail on the head with this. I will address the small elephant in the room, it's not really elephant in the room because we're discussing it straight away, but that one line from the rap which is one of the most famous things about this song now, that one very noticeable line from the rap verse of, I'm serious as cancer when I say rhythm is intense. Which I can barely even finish without laughing at it because I remember when I first heard that years ago, because I was listening to this because it was number one when I was born and I didn't really know it. This is when I was a teenager.

And I remember thinking, oh, I've misheard that. That can't be what he just said. And I love it when that happens because I remember feeling the same thing when I listened to Judas by Lady Gaga for the first time. And she has that line saying, so wear ear condom next time. And I remember thinking the same thing of like,

well, I've misheard that. That's not what she said. That can't be what she said there. And it is. She said, say, wear ear condom next time. But you kind of expected a bit more with Lady Gaga, whereas here it was like a serious cancer. Like it's it's really it's really badly placed.

Like it's a bizarre line. But you know what? Even though, yes, it is a bit poor taste and is a bit weird. I have to sort of give it some credit for thinking you know what that's a line that anyone literally anyone would look at and think are we sure are we sure and then they go for it anyway so I kind of admire the bravery with that and I admired the commitment to the bit of like yeah I've come up with this simile and I'm going with it we're confident enough in our vibe that we're

going for here that we can actually say a line like that and it'll work. I think the bizarreness of it and like I say the sheer frundery of putting a line in there like that I kind of love, to be honest, like I'm not offended by it, I don't think many people would really be offended by it. It just feels weird, but you know what? Weird is good, weird is good, weird is good, weird is good. I may be doing a slight spoiler for the song that's coming up next there. But yes, I have very little bad to say about this, except that there is that line that really stands out. This is a really, really strong week and this is a great start to it. And I'm very happy to have been brought into the world by this song.

So yeah, happy with this. Love this. Yeah. For me, first off, I think I've mentioned, in fact I have mentioned a few times on this show that I'm a fan of Manchester City, that they're my football team, have been for 26 years now as of 2025. And I can't discuss rhythm as a dancer without bringing up the chant that our fans made up for it during the run to the treble in 2023. I'm always fascinated by British football fans' ability to completely flatten pop songs into terrorist chants but still retain enough of the original to make it like, oh they're basing it on that kind of thing. The best one for me has always been like the ability of football fans to turn Sloop Jon B into a big insult about whatever town they're currently visiting

with the team that they're following. You know, they changed the lyrics, the melody, the tempo, basically everything, but it's still rhythm as a dancer, which I mean, I'll do it quickly, but it just kind of goes Edison and Aki walk around a kanji Ruben Diaz Johnny stones Best defense in Europe. We're Manchester City on our way to Istanbul whoa Where the boys in blue whoa? coming after you

Which I guess speaks to the songs instant memorability and after a few weeks of totally new stuff on this show really to me it's nice to come across something familiar that I can touch and remember. And I think the majority of this is a really solid slice of Eurodance, I just find myself comparing it to The Power quite a lot, and where The Power can is shot out of the gate with those fast overdriven guitars and the uncompromising and quite abrasive sound world, this feels quite gentle and over-peace with a bunch of stuff around it. By no means a weak song, it just doesn't feel as ground-breaking in my world as The Power did but I definitely understand its appeal, why it was number one for so long, why it's

endured for so long. This would be track one or two on most hypothetical Eurodance compilations. I will say that having it right next to the Shaman gets at the difference to me between European house and techno and British house and techno and why I kind of prefer British dance, because it's always struck me as being almost too fast, much sweatier, more claustrophobic, more paranoid, like your senses being taken away from you by whatever substance you've chosen. Whereas a lot of European dance feels like there's room to breathe and think and meditate and a lot of European house and techno feels like

it's in search of something greater or more philosophical, whereas a lot of British house and techno feels like you're just trying to get through the next six hours without dying from dehydration. And I think I prefer the urgency and the fidgety nature of British house at this time. And I feel like something like The Power has, you know, is more in that vein, but I still really enjoy Rhythm as a Dancer. I appreciate how different it is from The Power. Snap would not a one trick pony. That is completely for sure.

And I will say that having Rhythm as a Dancer and The Shaman as a one two here feels like the actual 90s have started, they're clicking into gear. Something actually new has come along and everybody seems very interested in it. Dance is about to take over in a big way. I'm really into that feeling the song gives me. It feels like worlds are opening up and the future is just ahead of us at last. So yeah, really like really solid. I've always enjoyed it. Despite the perfunctory rap verse and the it's not even just the fact that he uses that line, but it's the way that he says it as well. It's like cancer. It's not like I'm serious as cancer.

It's like the strong emphasis on the kin at the start of it is what really throws me. But Ed, how do we feel on rhythm as a dancer? Well, it seems Andy arrives just in time for my cognition and recollection of the charts to arrive. Because this is the exact point, I think, when I stop being generally aware of what's going on in the charts and whether I crudely like things or not.

Now I do remember me and my friends, we all just seem to intrinsically like Rhythm is a Dancer and now I still like Rhythm is a Dancer. There was a slight wrinkle with my experiences writing notes for this episode, not least because my brain is still recovering from something, to put it crudely, but I actually had quite a lot to say about the wrong version. And this was partly due to me having accidentally heard on another playlist, not the very well researched playlist that Rob makes for the show, I should add,

which is entirely on me. I've been listening to the LP version. And just today, as I was looking at the lyrics to the LP version on Genius, I was like, there's something, something missing, something phasing in from the back of my recollection, like a, wait a minute, yeah, no, oh, serious is cancer. Oh, and I was like, no, that's the other rhythm one,

that must have been rhythm of the night. And it probably took me far too long to realize that, I'm serious like cancer when I say rhythm of the night doesn't quite have that same you know, memetic quality. It really would be so out of place in that song. Like, oh my god, it's out of place enough in this, but rhythm of the night. But seriously, it took far too long for me to come to this conclusion. And so yeah, I announced it on our group chat

and Rob was like, look, here you are, here you are. Sort yourself out. And yeah, I'll be honest, the single version is the way to go. I have very little doubt in my mind the LP version came first. It's quite often the case. It's not always the case. Sometimes they get the single

and then they do the album around it and try and bolster it out and increase the length and blah-de-blah-de-blah. But yeah, I really dig this track. However, hearing the LP version has highlighted some flaws, at least to my mind about this. But I will go on to those first things first yeah as Rob said this they aren't a one trick pony this is very different

from the power and very good as well in a different way it kind of has the same sort of balance of you know strong or strong isish female vocals in a rap verse and a sort of a hard-hitting memorable synth riff but this has a very different feel. We're evidently moving with the times, it's got a bit more of a Eurodance kind of feel to it. Yeah, really good stuff. I really love the fact that it even on the seven inch, which is like two minutes shorter than the album version, takes about one minute and 10 seconds before they even bring the drum beat in properly. I love that.

They hold it back quite a bit and you just get this sort of very, you know, intimidating echo slamming effect to start with under the synth with this, doong, doong, doong, doong, doong, doong. It's like, get ready, get ready and gather start with under the synth with this dung dung dung dung dung dung. It's like, get ready, get ready and gather for this experience. But yeah, it's catchy, as you say.

There's a couple of really strong hooks in there. They had to go that extra bit further to try and add that you don't want that, you don't want this hook to this song and they settled on Cancer. Interesting choice but we all remember it. It's just say Andy, it works and it's become a kind of cultural touch point for this track at least except for me evidently. But yeah, my slight issues with the track, if you do listen to the LP version, and I know we're rating the single, but they are connected,

there's a lot of big empty gaps in it. It's quite long, but there's like a bass bit that doesn't have the rap verse in it. It has somebody just babbling nonsense through some sort of echo effect that's next to inaudible. And having looked it upon Genius, It's just twaddle. It's some sort of cod existential tripe about Walking out of your manicured office brought blocks into oblivion knocking through the doors of the

So I've been translated twice or something. It's kind of rubbish and you can't hear it anyway. The vocals are a bit more raw on the LP version, the female vocals. Not quite the powerhouse of the power, oddly enough. They are a little bit awkward, a little bit more pitchy. This sounds totally unfair, but a lot of that is just effectively covered up by the the chorus effects and added effects given to the single version so that's not really an issue. However, what is interesting to me about this track is that it teases a sort of focal point that it never actually arrives at.

Now my first issue I think, and this may be on me again, is that I forgot what songs we were covering when I was letting this number ones of the 90s playlist run through a few weeks back. And I just let it run on and this came on with the dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee and I'm like, I need you, cause I'm Mr. Vane.

I know what I want and I want it now. And I'm like, oh God. Ten months for that. Yeah. And I'm like, oh God. And it starts so well and I can't wait for it. And then it was like the rhythm is a dancer. And I was like, oh yeah. Yeah, that's good.

But I realized, and this is so stupid, it's like that other hook is a little bit more rhythmic, a little bit more punchy, and would give a track like this a bit more treble presence that it kind of lacks. Because that's one thing I'll say here, it just never has that real high apex focal point of a vocal hook or something that says this is the center of the song.

There's never even a point where the chorus and the synth riff and that opening do-do-do-do-do effect match together. It's so logical, I think, to me that you would find a point where all of these bits play together and that's the centrepiece and the song, that's the centrifuge, that's the gravitational pull, but it never quite happens. And even though it's just leagues better and more refined than the LP version, it still feels like there's a little bit missing on the top. Like it never quite has that lightning strike moment that is the centrepiece of it. It kind of drifts in a good way, I like it,

but I almost, it feels like it teases an arrival that never quite comes if that makes any sense. However, I do really dig the track and the single version, yeah, it did change my confidential score somewhat. Yeah, I dig it. it's a really good start and yeah it's a good number one to have Andy. Can I just very briefly mention on the Mr. Vane thing I'm really glad you mentioned that because when I was doing the theme tune for this year in 1993 I do them in two year blocks and I always

look at the list of what I've got and I thought oh Rhythm is a Dancer, not only is it the one from before I was born but also that's really good so I'll do a version of Rhythm is a Dancer for our theme tune this year and then as I was doing it I realised I kept getting confused with Mr Vane, I kept thinking that one was the other, not really focusing on either one, just get both of them confused with the other and then I realised that Mr Vane gets number one next year, so I thought, oh well nothing is more representative of this era than doing that sound, because we've got both years covered, which is a lovely thing. So that's why Rhythm Is A Dancer has been so blatantly covered for this year,

or has Mr Vane been covered? You decide. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And which is better? That would be interesting. Only one way to find out. Bye! Yeah, which is better. That'll be interesting. Only one way to find out And also I just want to say Rob as well, can I add one more lyric to the Man City song? That might help it. I'm serious as cancer when I say Man United are a bunch of chances All right, then we will skip ahead to the second song this week, which is...

this! There's a guy in the place who's got a bit of sweet face, and he goes by the name of Ebenezer Good. His friends call him Ezra and he is the main geezer, and he's right by the place like no other man could. He's refined, he's sublime, he makes you feel fine, and very much reliant and misunderstood. But if you know Ezra, he's a real crap-leaser, he's ever so good, he's Ebenezer Good. His CD is mischievous, mysterious and devious, when he circulates amongst the people in the place, why don't you know he's fun, and something of a genius?

He's got a bit of a sweet face, and he goes by the name of Ebenezer Good. His friends call him Ezra and he is the main geezer, and he's right by the place like no other man could. He's refined, he's sublime, he makes you feel fine, and very much reliant and misunderstood. But if you know Ezra, he's a real crap-leaser, he's ever good, he's ever an Eazer good His CD is mischievous, mysterious and devious When he circulates amongst the people in the place Why don't you know he's fun, and something of a genius He keeps the green and goes around face to face Backwards and then forwards, forwards and then backwards Eazer is a geezer, he loves to muscle in

That's about the time the crowd has shat the name of Eazer As he's conked in the corner laughing by the bass bin Eazer good, Eazer good He's ever an Eazer good Eazer good, Eazer good He's ever an Eazer good Okay, this is Ebeneezer Good by The Shaman. Released as the second single from the group's fifth studio album titled Boss Drum, Ebeneezer Good by The Shaman Released as the second single from the group's fifth studio album titled Boss Drum, Ebeneezer Good is The Shaman's sixth single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, but as of 2025 it is their

last. Ebeneezer Good first entered the UK charts at number six, reaching number one during its third week. It stayed at number 1 for... 4 weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 42,000 copies, beating competition from My Destiny by Lionel Richie which climbed to number 8, Themed from Mash by Manic Street Preachers which got to number 9, and House of Love by E17 which climbed to number 10. In week 2 it sold 45,000 copies beating competition from Iron Lion Zion by Bob Marley which climbed to number 6.

In week 3 it sold 41,000 copies beating competition from Sleeping Satellite by Tasmin Archer which climbed to number 4 and End of the Road by Boys to Men, which climbed to number 6. And in week 4 it sold 39,000 copies, beating competition from I'm Gonna Get You by Bizarre Inc., which climbed to number 6, My Name is Prince by Prince, which got to number 9, and Sentinel by Mike Oldfield, which climbed to number 9, and Sentinel by Mike Oldfield which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts Ebeneezer Good fell two places to number 3. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 9 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK as of 2025 but pre-cantar etc etc.

Andy, The Shaman, Ebeneezer Good. Yeah I love this love this. Love it. Yeah if I didn't love this I think that would be naughty naughty very naughty which is something that I've quoted quite a lot over the years and I've not known where it's from and then I heard that in this song when I started listening to it a few weeks ago it's like oh that's what that's from and yeah this is great I'll start with the song itself like it's it's you know basic and kind of hooky enough to be almost kind of novelty to be honest with that all the way through you know it's it's almost like a child-friendly thing even though obviously the whole point is that it's not.

It's sneaking things in past the radar. But the sound of it is great. Like, I have this thing, I'll get into this more when we get into more kind of Manchester kind of stuff in the mid-90s, but I have a sort of, almost like a nostalgia for something I didn't visit for Acid House, you know, because I was obviously far too young for it. But I just think the whole vibe of that scene and how much fun

everybody seemed to be having all the time and the kind of willful middle finger up at everyone who was poo-pooing that scene. I just think there's something really revolutionary about it, something really great about counterculture in the acid house movement and I When I listen to stuff like this, I just think God that that would have been great to be part of that And obviously I'm not glorifying the whole thing, you know There were obviously a lot of drugs being taken and it wasn't a great time for everybody But I do think there's there's a certain magic about this scene that I just really wish I could sort of like do a sort of quantum leap and live the life of someone who was going out in the clubs for this

kind of thing every night. And yes, it's really like good just as a piece of music. Like I just really like enjoy dancing to this. I've been finding it very hard to stay still when I've had this on over the past couple weeks. The extremely heavy cockney accent I would usually mark something down for with this, but it adds to the effect. It adds to the effect of like whatever, like I'm just a geyser who's singing about my Ebenezer. And there's no pretension to it at all this is just a bit of fun that's taken over the pop charts again kind of anarchic and kind of like vaguely revolutionary in a way of like they're just like these are just normal guys who are having a laugh and I just love that spirit that comes

through to it and then of course the-textual side of the song is that whole joke of ease are good, ease are good. And what I will say first of all, just to kind of get the bad point out of the way, is that it is sort of one joke stretched out for an entire song. And that's why I've knocked a few marks off this in our super secret system is because yeah, it does stretch out the joke quite a lot. Like you hear it once in the first chorus and you think, huh, that's good. That's clever what they're doing. And it is. I'll get to that. It is clever what they're doing.

But, you know, it sort of wears off a bit. It's a bit like the Tim Minchin song, Prejudice, where there's quite a big build up to that first chorus of what the joke is going to be. And then he does the joke. It's a very good joke. And you love seeing other people's reaction to it when they first hear it, but then there's like another four or five minutes

of the song and you're like, yeah, okay, good, fine. You do you, I'm gonna skip. It's a little bit like that. But I really like what this is doing with censorship. Like the challenge that this is setting to the radio, to the BBC, to the music establishment, to the cultural establishment, to the tabloids, to what have you who seek to censor here because they have tried this very simple loophole

of like well look it's just wordplay, it's just a name, Ebony's a good like you know if you want to censor us then you go ahead what is it that you're censoring because it's one thing to censor actual, like very clear lines about drugs. And there's bits in this, it's like, fancy a bit of this, fancy a bit of that, whatever, which like that there's a clear argument for being censored. And obviously, obviously it's about ecstasy. Like, obviously everybody can hear that, but it does start a little bit of a conversation. But it just starts a little bit of a conversation of like, well, look, it is just the name Ebenezer

Good. Like, what is it that you're censoring? Because you're not censoring any particular words. What you're doing here is you're looking for a concept or you're finding a concept that exists in the subtext of this and you're censoring that. And that's less justifiable. And I like, again, sort of a similar point that I made to Rhythm is a Dancer for Lee Knoth,

I like the idea of artists fronting up and saying things that they shouldn't really say and just kind of seeing what happens with it. Because this is something that like my parents didn't really like having on the radio when this came on a few times when I was younger, because they sort of had to explain it to me. And I was like, and looking back now,

it's like, well, if I didn't get it, then why'd you have to explain it to me? Like for a kid, it is just like Ebenezer Good. It's this guy called Ebenezer Good, and I didn't understand what the joke was, and my parents had to explain to me that E is short for ecstasy, et cetera, et cetera. And that is a sort of

getting crap past the radar thing that I love in pop music like we've got a long tradition of that like I love it when songs do that this there's an Eurovision entry this year it's called I think it's about the cant and it's called serving cant and that's great doing stuff like that Getting that on the Eurovision stage and again Eurovision are finding it quite hard to censor that because they're not saying any swear words, they're not actually saying anything like against the rules. So it's challenging that system as well. It's like something like If You Seek Avi by Britney Spears, which I don't like the song but I love the idea, I love the wordplay there. I just think that censorship is a bad thing,

that curating what is proper culture, what is counterculture, and shielding the two from each other, that is not a good thing either. And simple tricks like this, and simple statements like this just help to break down those walls a bit, and just help to sort of get people thinking, you know what, what are we objecting to here? This is a good song.

And yes, there is a bit of a joke in here about ecstasy, but the kids aren't going to get it. They're not going to notice it. We're not glorifying it for kids. Everyone who is noticing it, it's like, well, you're already aware of the thing then because you know what an E is. You're noticing the word play. So like this isn't telling anybody anything they don't already know.

And it's a really good song and everyone's having fun. Like chill out. Chill out a bit, you know? So I love the spirit of this. I think it's a really catchy song. I do think that like it's a little bit basic in places musically and the joke is like all the way through the song. So it's not that great for repeat listens listens but I just love what this is doing. I think this is like a form of you know punk inspired musical anarchy at its

finest here. I really enjoy this. Yeah. Yeah I completely agree with you Andy. For the moment I hear a great philosopher once wrote, No-chi, no-chi. I'm very into this because rarely on this show do we ever come across songs that introduce themselves and announce themselves So obnoxiously and definitively and from there we get this sweaty claustrophobic atmosphere that I mentioned that I love in house I think you know what I want is for tracks like this from the 90s to remind me of the The bits towards the start of train spotting where if I can hear Tommy and Spud shouting at each other SHEREDA IT GOES BEHPORTING then it passes the test. You know, if I need to imagine their subtitles in that scene

it's bang on and this gets in well early with that feeling so I'm on board. Andy, I also mentioned in my notes that this made the government sweat over whether it should be played on radios or not and Radio 1's producer said fuck off for playing it So I'm into that as well I'm always gonna be appreciative of artists who bend the English language so they can get things past census We've had fell in love with Uranus. No, no, we lost. Yeah. Yeah, and now we have ease of good I'm into the way. This is constantly throbbing and

Unrelenting I'm into the speedy rap delivery in the verses because the verses actually sound like MDMA, where the choruses don't really, the chorus sounds more drunk than high. Maybe this song is about mixing stellar and disco biscuits and that's where the slightly debauched chorus kind of comes in. I always feel that about the extended mix of Bourne's Slippy, Nuck's with a shouting louder louder louder, louder. I prefer the kind of melancholic beginning where it feels like a horrible come down. It's a reference to Trainspotting again, I suppose. But just, you know, but just for a second in that

chorus, it feels like a bunch of football fans have invaded the song. And I get a little tired of the Garnivirus, la-v-ley, you know, like pulling me braces out, twang, kind of thing, like, cockney, you know, that kind of thing. It goes a bit far through the song, like you were saying, it is like one joke, extended, but I do love this from beginning to end. Sometimes you need something solid that's going to hammer you with it, like I say, something very evocative, reminding you of an experience, reminding you of a time that you maybe never experienced. Like, you know, I never experienced it and you saying you didn't either, but you wish you could be there. It's a party you wish you were at. I just want to make a special mention to something that features City again, actually, because Arsenal versus Manchester City at Highbury on the 28th of September 1992

was the first Premier League game ever broadcast on a Monday night. So while the Premier League and Sky Sports are still figuring out what they want the identity of the league to be, they decide a half-time show featuring the Sheymen would be a good idea. So the Sheymen get up and start doing Ebenezer Good and Move Any Mountain and the crowd immediately start chanting From the clock end at Highbury Oh the fucking LA you and the booze and cheers get louder and louder and to make matters worse The cheerleader squad that they've got dancing in front of them called the sky strikers

They're dressed in three colors And I want I want listeners to sort of, you know, see if they can guess and Ed and Andy see if you two can guess what the problem might be at Arsenal Stadium with these three colors. White, navy blue and yellow. So spares, they spares colors? Yes, they are the three colors of Tottenham Hotspur and Mr. C, the lead singer of The Shaman, is a Chelsea fan. So they give him a load of shit about being a Chelsea fan as well. Arsenal ultimately win the game 1-0, Sky Sports abandon the idea of a half-time

show almost immediately and The Shaman don't score another top 10 hit after 1992. So I don't know how well that went. It's funny you mention football though because when you were talking about football chants for Rhythm Is A Dancer I thought with this this chorus is just made for being turned into a chant like if anyone's got the surname Good or anything that even rhymes with Good like there must have been some chants using this at the time because it even sounds like a football chant in this. Yes, which is where I think my little points that get knocked against it do come in. I think it doesn't sound like an E to me or like, you know, how E's are put to me in loads

of other music about ecstasy and MDMA. But anyway, Ed, the shaman, Ebenezer Good. Ed Benezer Good, Ed Benezer Good, here you go. Thank you. As a great philosopher once said, 90s 90s, very 90s. It starts with like the most early 90s drum loop and fill ever and it's great. My melon is twisted, I tell you, thoroughly and completely. Yeah, I can't really disagree with whatever you were saying. I'm maybe not as enthusiastic about it for the same reasons, the sort of one-joke-ishness of it, the kind of overplayed cockneyisms. I'm still not sure whether I find this cheeky and charming or kind of hectoring and grating.

I'm still on the fence there. I think it's good. But I mean, this is in kind of the same slightly cheeky London, ecchi dance vibe, at least to my uninformed ears, as some prodigy stuff of the time like fire which is again very insistent and hyperactive and like yeah yeah yeah what you know it's it's kind of cartoony in a way and this is this is

probably a little bit more of a poppy distillation of the scene if you can broadly call it that, which isn't necessarily a problem really and obviously worked for them very well. It does sound a little bit like self-parody perhaps, like we get in the Dead Ringers version of that scene, if you know what I mean. Again, not a serious problem, there's a spirit of fun, it's evidently, you know, it's meant well, they're not taking themselves very seriously and they are having a bit of tongue in cheek fun with the whole, you know, he's a good, he's a good, is Ebenezer good.

I mean, calling that sort of wordplay to get something into the chart is a little bit of a stretch maybe because has the abbreviation Easer ever been used for the name Ebenezer? It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? There's no one in like the Christmas carols, no one's like, oh, you know, it's old, he's a Scrooge.

He's a Scrooge, he's a Scrooge. I just think, I think it probably just happened the other way around where they just like, they happened upon the joke where they probably were saying like, oh, he's a good. And then someone came up with the name Ebenezer and they just thought like, you know, universe brain moment happened. And I don't think they thought it through any more than that. Like, obviously no one was sure. They probably right.

I'm not. I think that is probably the origin. It was probably that way round. But nonetheless, it's not like, you know, if you see Kate or whatever, whatever it was called. If you see KB. Yeah. If you see KB, that's right. I fucked that one up

oddly enough Yeah It's a bit more of a light. Well either isn't a thing Unless they're talking about the European Space Administration or something which I don't think they are but Yeah, I mean as I say I'm on the fence here. It's, I like it's, it's, it's, you know, an archic spirit. It's fun. It is hinting, as you say, it's opening up a little crack

into a scene that sounds quite fun and lively and like a necessary, you know, bit of vivacity entering the, and I love the fact that there's so much upbeat dance stuff from all sides of the spectrum for all of the Europe entering the charts This year, I mean it's it's nice to remember how much kind of quality commercial dance was about to be honest but I think it's just It is the the

Recycling in this track that ultimately wears me down a bit. Because it starts off straight out the gate, full energy, da da da da da da da da da, and it basically does the same thing three times and then it stops and it finishes. There's no real downtime. It's just a kind of, you know, it recycles itself. And it's a bit like Ian Jury if he was kind of fucking buzzing and right next to your head. And, you know, I would actually probably just rather just just talk to you during to be fair

maybe that's cuz I'm like a gray and dead but yeah I mean it's not bad it's a bit it's a bit of fun it's a bit of fun it's a bit cheeky fun got any salmon well we don't have any salmon but we do have some Tasman. So the third song this week is this. sky and the dream that died with the eagle's flight I blame you for the moonlit nights when I wonder why are the seas still dry? Don't blame it, it's just a satellite Did we fly to the moon too soon?

Did we squander the chance? In the rush of the race The reason we chase is a lost in romance And still we try To chase it by the waves for a taste of man's greatest adventure Oh, I blame you for the moonlit sky And the dream that died with the eagles flying I blame you for the moonlit nights

When I wonder why are the seeds still dry? Don't blame this on the satellites Have we lost what it takes to advance? Have we been too soon? If the world is so green, then why does it scream under a blue moon? We wonder why Okay, this is Sleeping Satellite by Tasmin Archer. Released as the lead single from her debut studio album titled Great Expectations, Sleeping Satellite is Tasmin Archer's debut single to be released in the UK and her first to

reach number one of course, but as of 2025 it is her last. Sleeping Satellite first entered the UK charts at number 50, reaching number one during its sixth week. It stayed at number one for… TWO WEEKS! In its first week atop the charts it sold 33,000 copies beating competition from Love Song by Simple Mind which climbed to number 6, Tetris by Dr. Spin which climbed to number 8, and The Million Love Songs EP by Take That which climbed to number 9, and in week 2 it sold 45,000

copies beating competition from Erotica by Madonna, which climbed to number 4, Keep the Faith by Bon Jovi, which got to number 5, and People Every Day by Arrested Development, which got to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Sleeping Satellite dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104, 17 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK as of 2025, but pre-cantar data so not 100% reliable. Ed, you could start us off with Sleeping Satellite. I mentioned earlier on that

this is probably the point where I start actually engaging with what's on the radio, noticing it and unconsciously rating it. And this is an important one for me, actually. After probably the seal crazy back in 1990, this is probably the next track that sort of struck a nerve with me back in the day. Bear in mind that I was reared on the tapes in my parents' cupboard, like my mum's old crumbling 60s and 70s cassettes. The Beatles, The Stranglers, Billy Joel and yes, Joan Armatrading, who very much influenced my guitar playing whether I was initially aware of it or not I'd love for kind of jazzy harmonies in sexing a songwriter music and I feel there's something of an echo of that kind of sophisticated Bittersweetness here. I mean, it's not quite got the same

It's not quite got the same rich humor or sort of jazzy polyrhythms as say, Joe and I'm a trading does. But there is that, you know, there is something of that here, I think. It's interesting. It doesn't sound like anything else in the charts at this point. But it's an interesting hybrid, I think,

because in some ways it sounds like an 80s ghost with kind of down tempo accoutrement. There are a lot of very modern effects going on but if you cut it down to the fundamental arrangement and the sort of yearning style of the pop songwriting it's got a bit more in common with like aha or gerand gerand actually, when you cut it back. In fact, the reason I say aha very specifically is that harmonically and in terms of the melodic tricks

it uses, the chorus is quite a lot like the living daylights by aha. Comes the morning and the headlights fade away. It's the same changes and it hangs on the same note at the end. It's always sort of struck me as the same. And it's got a superfluous guitar solo as well, which does not really sound very much like

what was going on elsewhere in 92. I will say this verse and chorus melody, absolutely lovely. Lovely is like an ostinato melody that always has a nice effect on me. I think using an ostinato to ride over whatever harmonic landscape you have is always a way of hooking me in and taking me with you. And it is just a very memorable,

beguiling chorus hook, I think. I don't unfortunately think I like this as much as I used to. I used to absolutely adore it. Because I don't think it varies itself up enough harmonically or in terms of sections. It doesn't really have a middle eight. It kind of just swims around with some sound effects and sometimes it just repeats the chorus with there going And then there's a couple of solos that just get dropped in,

including one that reveals that the man's greatest adventure, in fact, is probably a trip to the ice rink. That is not a great solo, I don't think. It doesn't belong here it sounds a bit fucking naff and it kind of just cycles a bit around the same harmonic terrain for slightly too long. It is nearly five minutes long but I do really like this still. It really did touch me as a kid. And the yearning quality of it is something I find very appealing. It's just, unfortunately, it doesn't justify its length in my mind.

Andy, Tasmin Archer. Yes, I've been on a bit of a X Factor J word with this one to be honest. I didn't know it very well until, well I don't think I knew it at all until about five years ago when I, there's a local CD shop in Stockport that always does like four for ten pound on Now albums which was sort of in Stockport that always does like four for 10 pound on Now albums, which was sort of how I started picking up a lot of Now albums which I collect. And I noticed this one, whichever one it would have been, Now 20 something, 23 or something like that, that this was track one. And it was that very rare thing of me not knowing track one on a 90s Now album. It might be the only now album from the 90s

where I didn't know track one, like the second I put it on. And I thought, that's unusual. So I listened to this and I thought, oh, that's very nice. But I don't really like, don't really get it, but it's very nice. That was just it. That was, that was actually, it can't have been that one in stock.

Well, this was years ago. And it hasn't sort of come back to my life until now when I've listened to this again and I recalled it again. And a lovely thing has happened with this where I, throughout the noughties and throughout the nineties as well, something I've really been hoping all the time to get from this show is a song that I don't really know very well, sort of do, but I don't really know very well, that I've really discovered and have really fallen in love with. And there wasn't many opportunities for that to happen in the noughties

because that was my era. So almost everything from the noughties, there was about 10 songs that I didn't know in the noughties, but almost everything I did. And the ones that I didn't generally was for good reason. I think the closest we came in the noughties to me really discovering something, I think I've had a look down the list

and maybe like black coffee, that was only a sort of vague memory for me. And I really, really love black coffee. The promise by Girls Aloud to some extent, like I knew that really well, but I'd never really properly sat down and analyzed it. But I'd never had one that's just a total out of nowhere like this where I came back to it,

I haven't only heard it once or twice about five years ago and through the last few weeks I have just gradually fallen in love with this and this is this is my one this is my one from the 90s where it's like I have completely discovered a brand new song that I love from this show and I'm really glad that it's happened because there hasn't been any others in the 90s so far to be honest. I think there's just so much richness in this, there's so much to get out of this. First of all on the sound, it's interesting that both of you two have said about the previous two songs that they're very 90s and it sounds like the 90s have started. I would say the same for this actually. I think there are a lot of songs later on in the decade that have that mellow, like right in the middle of the mix, acoustic guitar sound with some light percussion around it and a female singer.

There's loads of big hits like Linger, like Kiss Me, like Torn by Natalie and Bruglia. You know, there's loads of that in the 90s. It's quite a sort of signature sound, even stuff like Texas at the end of the decade. And actually I thought that a song that we'll get number one in the future that we'll cover, have to see when we get there, but I suspect that that might be trying to rip this off a little bit, which is Blame It On The Weatherman by Bewitched, I think might be trying to slightly play off this a little bit, but we'll see when we get there.

But I love the sound of it, let's take it away straight away. That melody in the chorus, that is the real star where it moves just some really interesting chords where it's just a simple little ostinato that hangs around and like so and the chorus just sort of stops it just sort of glides through a finish it only has three lines in the chorus and then it just sort of stops, it just sort of glides to a finish. It only has three lines in the chorus and then it just sort of filters away and goes back into the verses. It leaves you so much space but with that catchy melody in its chorus, it's really kind of like trying to provoke thought and trying to provoke engagement with it, which is great because then you've got the lyrics which are incredibly provoking, like incredibly interesting. The first couple of times I listened to this, my take on it was that

it's about this relationship breakdown where the protagonist of the song blames their partner for everything, whether or not it's true, whether or not it's rational, that there's just so much arguments in that household that it's like even things like moonlight and nature, you know, it's, oh, that's your fault, I blame that on you. And like the sort of sense of just discontentment and sadness that comes in with a relationship breakdown. I thought there was something to do with that. And a sleeping satellite might be like, oh, you're so lazy, I can't trust you to do anything. And I do think, in fairness to my couple of weeks ago self, that that reading of it is somewhat valid, that there is room in there, I think deliberate room in those lyrics to interpret it that way, that this is all actually a bit

of a metaphor that you can put different things onto. But the other meaning as well which I've been reading about is the whole space race angle of it, how the mission to go to the moon captured so much attention that so many resources got funneled into it that before the moon landing it was this white elephant that you know, sort of had some bitterness and certainly had far too much attention at the time. But I'll say far too much, may well have prevented a couple of wars to be honest, the space race but we'll see. And after the moon landing, yeah, people look back on it as an even bigger white elephant and think, oh, well, what was the point of that?

We've not got anything out of it. We wasted loads of resources on that. Um, and I just think that's a really interesting topic to go into. I know, Rob, you've want to say more on that, so I won't say too much about it, but like, I think that that is very interesting. And then the fact that that managed to coexist alongside this possible relationship analogy as well those are some really deep lyrics some really precisely well tuned lyrics so we have a sound that is gorgeous we have a a melody that is just in my head and I just cannot

get out of my head and we have lyrics that are really hooking my attention and really making me think. The thing that gives it the icing on the cake is Tamzin Archer's performance herself, which I think is really effective, really emotive. Like you'd feel this sense of melancholy all the way through. Again, another aspect of those songs that I'm talking about,

like Linga, like Tone, like Kiss Me, where you feel that sense of melancholy. I'm not claiming that Sleeping Satellite invented that little sort of micro genre or set that template because I'm not sure that that's true, but I can certainly believe that it's had a big influence there. And that is, like I say, the sort of pièce de résistance there is that performance where you feel a sense of bluesiness, you feel a sense of melancholy, a sense of bittersweet energy coming through the song. So it's the whole package. And I have really fallen for this.

I've really fallen in love with this and I can't stop listening to it, which is just a lovely thing. I definitely think it's my favorite song of this year so far. And other than Vogue, which is like a behemoth that's going to be hard to unseat, my favorite song of the 90s that we've covered so far this. Oh, yeah, yeah, really, this is like a behemoth that's going to be hard to unseat, my favourite song of the 90s that we've covered so far this. Oh yeah, yeah really this is just my jam. The only thing that stops it from being a perfect 10 and from entering the big, big leagues for me is exactly what Ed said, which is that it lingers on a bit too long and doesn't vary

itself enough to justify that nearly five minutes. That organ solo is where it loses me slightly, where that doesn't need to happen. I think the sound is a little bit out of place, but I'll forgive it, it doesn't really matter to me that, that I get what you mean about the ice skating rink sound, but it's fine, I think there's space for that in the mix, like I can accept it, but it's a bit unnecessary and there isn't much after that point.

So yes, it is probably at least about a minute too long. If that had been sorted and there was either a bit more variation in that time or it was a bit shorter, then I think this would be getting close to perfect for me, to be honest. Absolutely love this. And I'm so glad that this is now entering my regular rotation. I'm glad to Hits 21 that this has been brought to my attention. What a song this is. Love it. Yeah. Oh, do you know what,, sorry, my young self,

my single digit self feels so vindicated by that. I'll be honest Ed, you know, you were saying that, you know, this may be one of the first songs you remember. This one was completely new to me. But you know, before we started our 90s series, you know, I'd heard the name, Tasmanaccio a few few times and maybe the title of the song a few times as well, but I never knew it was a number one and I never knew that it was this, like you know this was what it sounds like. This feels completely separate from everything we've covered so far in a lot of ways and refreshing

too. I love all the organic and lush instrumentation, uh, Tasman's voice being slightly raspy in the upper registers, that's always great to hear. It's understated but it's potent, there's some nice halfway points expressed here between genres, bits of down tempo but also singer-songwriter, bits of pop soul, land somewhere between Seal and Tori Amos, you know, from sort of like around this time. But it all feels, also feels a little predictive of Gabrielle, who's not far away, and the post-Britpop sound as well. I wouldn't put this beyond bands like Coldplay or Doves or Travis to give this a go and make it sound like theirs without really missing a beat. I'd also really love to hear John Grant cover this. If you listen to something like Glacier

or GMF from his 2013 album Pale Green Ghosts, you'll see what I mean, and that stab of the piano towards the end, that's very Can't Fight the Moonlight, this feels like it finds its own little niche and place to sit in the 90s but and it feels like a little bit of a miracle for it to be ahead of such big names that we've gone past in that chart rundown but it also feels oddly prophetic of a few things that are coming, all those songs you mentioned Andy as well. And yeah, how often do you get pop songs that are about this kind of stuff, you know, that's this bravely existential and philosophical about really specific subjects, you know, it's a broad metaphor about the end of a relationship and it can be taken that way, but I think the broader point that it makes about squandered potential actually does

hit harder when you focus on the literal details of the lyrics. She's wondering and possibly arguing whether humanity racing to the moon in the 60s was kind of the peak of our achievement the last time the species pushed itself into the future and whether reaching the moon within the context of the Cold War meant that the mission to the moon and the space race was it kind of ended up like a bit of propaganda as opposed to something that humanity genuinely wanted to do because you know humanity's progress has always been dreamers who know science and then kind of delivering that.

And obviously, the dream to fly, we did it. You know, we just like, we wanted to walk and we did it. We wanted to run, we did it. We wanted to fly. We wanted to make fire, electricity, you know, that sort of thing. And then we wanted to fly and we wanted to reach the moon. You know, we wanted to, but like, that sort of thing. And then we wanted to fly and we wanted to reach the moon,

you know, we wanted to... But like that want kind of got distracted and it was pulled off into a war effort or to sort of dissuade a war effort, I suppose. And then she's wondering if we'd paced ourselves and the Cold War wasn't there and maybe we'd reach the moon organically a little later, but maybe we'd have progressed further beyond that point. You know, instead of reaching the moon in 1969 to try and prove something to the Soviet Union, maybe if we reached the moon in 1978, we'd have gone further in those 45 to 50 years than we have done since the moon landing in 69 because NASA funding accounted for 4.5% of all US government spending in 1966. In

1970 it was at 1.9%. As of 1991-1992 it was down even further at 1.1% and as of 2017 it was 0.4%. It feels like, you know, us landing on the moon. I recently went actually this time last year, I actually went to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center and stuff in Florida. And they, you know, they teach you all this stuff about how like, you know, it was great, it was this and look what Americans did and all this stuff about how like, you know, it was great, it was this and look what Americans did and all this stuff. But like, in full retrospect, all that kind of proves to me is that if you give something money, it will happen. And then that kind of made me feel sad because it's like lots of things could happen, but no money has been given.

And the potential that we had, it feels almost hauntological, this actually, where it feels like a future we were heading for was lost somewhere in political games. And yeah, it's like when do you ever get pop that gazes up at the stars and laments the fact that we still have to gaze up at the stars to see them at all? I am a big fan of this, I wish there were larger dynamic shifts into each chorus but that might just be my noughties maximalist pophead thinking. I also struggle to see how it justifies being 4 and a half, nearly 5 minutes, I think I was looking around for an edit of this that was maybe 3 and a half to 4 minutes but I couldn't find one. But

otherwise I think this is great, not like special special but yeah great You know and a little mention as well to a follow-up single in your care Which is a really frank and honest song about child abuse and all the money she made from that was ended up donated to child Line and I think children in need got involved later in the year as well So yeah, it has been arch has been such a lovely surprise to find I haven't listened to great expectations yet But I do plan to. Yeah, me too. In this week.

So yeah, this feels like, I mean, a slightly better new, you know, experience to me is Show Me Heaven, where it was kind of like, you know, I had an idea about it, or in the case of Sleeping Satellite, you know, no idea about it. And then all of a sudden, just such a lovely, sudden surprise that, you know, something that I'd not really given much time before has worked its way into a bit of a, you know, a bit of my regular rotation. You know, how like after doing Show Me Heaven, Ed I know you were a particular fan of what Maria McKee had done around that time. Oh God, great voice. Is it that debut album of hers? Well she went on to, her debut I've not heard but I know in the mid 90s she started to do some interesting sort of alt rock inspired

stuff which is really unexpected and shows that she's got quite a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Yeah, Life is Sweet. That was the album that you told me about. Yeah. So, yeah, lovely way to end the week and a very strong week as well. A really strong week. I think when Rhythm is a Dance is my least favourite song of the week, then it's a really good sign that we've had a really solid week. I think when Rhythm Is A Dancer is my least favourite song of the week, then it's a really good sign that we've had a really solid week. Just on Tasmin, A, I just, you know, while I'm not as enthusiastic as once I was, I am sort of warmed by how much you've both responded to that, because this was a formative track

for me. I think that just shows the changing of the generations there and what songs have influences on whom and which ones you pick up retroactively. But I think you're quite right to point out, you know, Gabrielle and some of the late 90s examples you did, Andy, as being like, yeah, this does come back actually. But I think there are certainly precedents, if not just in terms of the arrangement, in terms of that sort of hanging melodrama, which is kind of more an 80s thing really. Like it reminds me a little bit of,

it's got that sort of tone of slight sort of wistful doominess of something like Save a Prayer, or like a late police ballad, like when Sting started getting a bit more acoustic, something like King of Pain or Wrapped Around My Finger or something like that next year, 1993, we get Ordinary World Ordinary World, the chorus Just to say Ordinary Worlds, yeah

Yeah, it even has that sort of similarly hanging unresolved end to the chorus there so I think maybe this was more influential than we realised. Who knows? And I love Ordinary Worlds for a lot of the same reasons. It's a good track. This whole conversation has been really interesting to me as well though, because I've not mentioned it that much in our group chats and stuff, but because I've been listening to this so much,

I sort of took away from it that, oh, this is hitting a lot of my personal buttons. This is doing things that I personally like. I love that sound I'm really interested in general in the space race and whether that was a good or a bad thing and all stuff around that I love those double meanings in the lyrics I love that voice I love the whole concept of this I was like this is pushing a lot of my personal buttons and I thought to some extent is this just me and it's quite vindicating to be like well it does push a lot of my personal buttons but also this is like, is this just me? And it's quite vindicated to be like, well, it does push a lot of my personal importance, but also this is like, it's not just me.

You know, that there's definitely a place for this in the world, it's not just me. So yeah, hugely invigorated by this. I didn't even notice the space race connection. I thought it was just nice imagery. I thought it was just a metaphor, or I assumed it was, because I didn't dig any further, but it was you that pointed that out to me in the chat,

having known this track for like 30 years now and I'd never got that before but I think you know it that's a really it is a really interesting thing to have a hit about and it got everyone on the chat sort of ruminating about the the significance of the big milestones in you know space exploration especially especially because like it because it's a very, very different perspective that she's looking at it from. When this is released, that's closer to the moon landing than it is to now.

This is only 23 years after the moon landing. It's not very long at all. Some of these topics people might not have ever really thought about before. Like, all the stuff that was used to get to the Moon was sort of the absolute, very, very limit of technology, which meant we couldn't do anything when we got there. Like, that was it.

And it was so far ahead of everything else that most of that technology, like home computers still hadn't really found their way into people's homes yet at this time. Like, the public was seeing no payoff from the space race at all and in the present day we have seen that. Like we've all got things in our pockets that are more powerful than what was used for Apollo 11 so we kind of have a different view I think of Apollo 11 now but in those days yeah it's a real ghetto. Like the space race was such a random thing and it's such a different point of view that she's looking back on. I just find it fascinating. I really do. Yeah

Yeah, all right then so Andy rhythm is a dancer Ebony's a good and sleeping satellite How we feeling well? for Rhythm is a dancer more like rhythm is a Volta Yeah, yeah, and then we've got in the vault in the vault in the vault. It's going in the vault and and finally we've got a Vaulting satellite. I've got nothing better than that. I'm gonna say I blame you for the vaulted song. Yeah So this is a triple Volta for me this week. Can I just say, this has been one of my favorite weeks in ages.

These are three cracking songs. Like, there's not many weeks where I think the lineup has been as strong as this. Ed, Snap, The Shaman and Tasmin Archer. In spite of my reservations about a lack of, you know, top end peaks, Snap get an unprecedented second Volt in a row from me. I guess I really like Snap. I didn't even know. Shayman, there's no Shayman what they're doing. Oh, but he's aren't quite good enough for me to push it into the vault. I'd rather listen to Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3. That's a real crowbarding thing, but if you haven't heard Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3 by Endury, listen to it. It's fucking fantastic.

It's an unexpectedly good early novelty rap track that's fucking ace. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. Tasman Archer it's a bit sort of beguiled in a child versus grumpy nitpicking old twat here and sadly the nitpicking old twat wins by a hair this week so it doesn't quite make it into the vault just a few it needs a little bit more variety to justify itself, but it is a gorgeous chorus and it is just by a max wing there. Alright then, Rhythm is a dancer, not quite enough to get into the vault for me, but Ebony's are good and Sleeping Satellite are both going in there. Yeah, what a week, what a good strong week.

Well done everyone, between August and October 92. You had something going on there. So well done. When we come back we'll be giving you the penultimate episode before Christmas. Already. Just unbelievable. The slow rate of change in 1992. But we will see you for it anyway. Thank you very much for listening this week. And bye bye bye bye Woah, we're the boys in blue Woah, coming after you Woah, we're the boys in blue Woah, one, two, three, four And this is our life, we're walking out of capture

With the gears trying to stall