Hits 21 - 1992 (5): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

HAND EYE WILL ALWAYS LOVE CHRISTMAS.Email: [e-mail]

Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits 21, 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, email us at hits21podcast.gmail.com. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1992, but 1992 is already over because this week we'll be covering the race for Christmas number one in 1992. Already, already at the end of 1992. Before we get on with business, though, just going to make a brief stop and ask Andy if he would like to let everybody know about a little sub podcast he's going to be doing that's going to be coming out with this episode. It will be coming out very shortly after this episode.

Yes, by sub podcast. Just to clarify, that means a spin offoff not a podcast about being submissive but yes. Or submarines? Or submarines yes but no it's neither of those things unfortunately sorry to disappoint you but yes I've decided to just sort of dip my toes into something more of a solo project and put it to you the hits 21 audience just to see what you think I have had the greatest passion for like my entire life for film scores and I really just would like to start kind of indulging that a bit more and put it out there so I've come up with a spin-off show called scores on

the doors which is a neat little pun there that I think I I don't know. Was it Ed? Was it Rob? Was it it could have been Lizzie? Don't know. It was Lizzie. Oh, it was Lizzie. There we go. Who came up with scores on the doors. And basically what I'll be doing is just looking at a individual film score and doing a sort of deep dive on it for about an hour in each episode of it.

I'm going to just sort of do them every so often. Really, there would be a hugely strict timetable to them We'll just flip them in every so often But yeah, if you fancy giving them a lesson and let me know what you think that would be amazing if you Like the scores of up which is the first one that I'm doing and casino royale, which is the one I'm doing after that Then you'll definitely get something out of them I think so. Yeah, if you want to listen to me talking about film soundtracks for an hour uninterrupted So yeah, if you want to listen to me talking about film soundtracks for an hour, uninterrupted, except by the music, then yeah, do give me a listen.

It'll be lovely to have you there. That'll be scores on the doors and it'll be in our feed, the first one just after this episode. All right then, so last week, the poll winner, it was a complete washout. Would I lie to you? Every single vote on the poll boistered me with zero. So well done to Charles and Eddie. It is time to press on with this week's episode now and here are some brief news headlines from around December Christmas time 1992.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana split after months of speculation about their marriage, but Prime Minister John Major announces that there are no plans for a divorce. The Queen's Christmas message is leaked in the Sun newspaper 48 hours before it's broadcast on Christmas Day, and something definitely relevant to this podcast, vinyl records are removed from shelves in certain stores after years of declining sales due to the popularity of the CD single and cassettes. So we are definitely entering a new era. Long live cassettes! Long live cassettes! Funny how things work out, isn't it? You could almost say the reverse of that exact headline

for 2025. It's like exactly the reverse now. Andy, finishing the year in the albums charts. What's the situation? Well, I don't normally have anything to tell you about in the Christmas episode and I do only have one album to mention but it's a bit of a biggie. It's not a new one, we've heard about it before. So last episode Cher was at number one for one week with her greatest hits 1965 to 1992 and then that was knocked off the top spot by erasure but that's not the last of it because Cher is now back in at number one for six more weeks for pretty much the whole of December and almost the whole of January 1993. Cher is back at number one for another six weeks, but interestingly still only three times platinum

which for an album that had seven weeks at number one over the Christmas period and the January sales period as well That's a bit low. So I think just to put the sort of final capper on this thing we've mentioned a few times during then this year of the show, which is that there's Stuff going on with sales on the charts like low sales and not much movement in the charts. That is the final piece of evidence there really that we have what looks like a storming hit for sure all the way through December and January but only three times platinum ultimately. So yeah interesting one to finish the year on.

How are the US finishing the year and what's the year been like for the states? It feels like a very different situation from the one Andy describes because there are some scary big numbers going on in the American charts. Right, I'm going to start with the number one albums of December 1992, then I'm going to move on to the top ten Billboard albums and singles of the whole year. And then finally, just get into that Christmas week top 10 Billboard singles countdown. Right, after half a year of mainstream country warfare

on the albums charts, Ice Cube pops up briefly with perky post riot post Morton, The Predator. It was at number one for just a week, but it was a good week. Before the bodyguard takes a hit from December the 12th through the whole holiday season. Now there is actually only one number one single covering this whole period and we'll get to that.

Okay, the US top 10 best-selling albums of 1992 as a whole it was a big selling year all new entries for 1992 Nothing carrying over from 1991 with the top seven albums here going at least Diamond in their alternate sales but number 10 after having resorted to naming their last studio album Recycler, that's true, the studio heads start writing a premature eulogy, i.e. a greatest hits collection for fun southern boogeymen ZZ Top, which flies off the shelves to the tune of 6.5 million copies. At number nine, we have the first of two lying, lying, liar, live albums

in the MTV Unplugged series with Mariah Carey cheating like Cheaty McCheatersen by not only singing into a plugged in microphone, but showing her flagrant usage of said instrument of betrayal on the bloody album cover. At number eight Stone Temple Pilots sell in excess of eight million copies of their debut album Core. The album reached number 27 in the UK where it also sold some copies. Behold the legacy of the invasion of Cyrus.

At number seven, with Billy Ray's debut LP, more than achy breaking even by shifting ten and a half million units, a feat almost matched twenty years later by his daughter Grimes. At number six, Garth Brooks. At number five, someone was buying this. In fact at least 13 million someones voluntarily got up, went to a vendor of records, CDs, cassettes, slash eight tracks and paid full price for Breathless by Kenny G. The cost? A tenner, of course. Number four. Fucking hell, this surprised me.

An archetypal dues paying band. Athens Georgia Natives REM. Prove you can A. Get a major label contract without sucking. B. Get eight albums deep into your career while still producing amongst your best work. And C, have a multi-diamond hit with what amounts to a concept album about grief with Automatic for the People.

So well done there. Right at number three, Eric Clapton is halfway there. He's clutching an acoustic guitar, but he's also clearly using electronic voice amplification on the cover of his unplugged quote unquote album. The CD inlays of which are still used as tiling in middle-class homes to this very day. Number two, it's ABBA GOLD.

It's ABBA GOLD. I don't need to say much more than that. Just absolutely flew off the shelves. At number one, Whitney Houston shouts the hits of Dolly Parton Sorry, my feelings too veiled here. On the Bodyguard soundtrack which sold 45 million copies. Oh wow. It's insane. Jesus. But think of all the other hits off that record, you know, all of them. You know, all those bangers that are indelible. Anyway, best-selling US singles of the year, 1992.

Well, for me, the song title, maybe accompanied by the sound of crickets, Just Another Day, hops to number 10 for John Cicada. At number nine, Kulime Bad ripples through the Beach Boys posts and finds that the hate mail is unsurprisingly all for love. Running out of jokes for that so I might have to start taking this seriously if you're not careful.

Well, Culli Me disappointed. Number eight, Red Hot Chili Peppers may not have ever wanted to feel the way they did that day, but come the end of the year they were probably fine with the experience of Under the Bridge. Number seven, people very much did get it, rocketing My Loving by En Vogue to Gold Sales. At number six, Eric Clapton lucratively takes the cake for the number one single with the world's most upsetting backstory, mining his own grief over the death of his infant son on the solemn and undeniably pretty, I think, Tears in Heaven.

At number five, TLC finally go OTT with BBB or Baby Baby Baby, while Vanessa Williams saves the both for fourth with Save the Best for last. Oh, fuck. That was, oh, I enjoyed that one. I'm not sure I did. Well, at Thriggedy Thriggedy Third, it's kids rapping, which isn't a prospect I would normally jump at

outside the confines of an episode of Best of the Worst, but crisscross crested a crumulant wave of popularity before crashing and washing up on a beach of adolescence. And at number two, speaking of adolescence, bums, butt cakes, backyards, buttocks, mud flaps, rumps, ass cheeks, air cutters, King Kong bundies, pantyplanetoids, butt frontums, yes, Sir Mix-a-lot, but only really mixes wants to be honest, but leaves a hot indelible mark on the charts with baby got back his follow-up was about tits and I'm not I'm not even joking that is

honestly what the follow-up was about and at number one the end of the road ends in the middle of the road with boys to men's the end of the road I know Andy already did that joke last week but you try and find more to say about Boys To Men or that song. It's low-hanging fruit isn't it, so fair enough yeah. The song went four times platinum and spent 13 consecutive weeks at the US number one which isn't even their longest stretch. That of course would be the spoken word section on the album version. Boom boom! Right. Nearly there folks. It's time for the Christmas countdown, what we're all here for. So the week beginning 19th of December 1992, US Billboard top 10. At number 10, TLC asks, what about your friends?

Well, at number nine, Mary J. Blige forges her own R&B hip hop balance with the somewhat generically titled Real Love. Number eight may not be number one, but for Bobby Brown, it is good enough. While at number seven, I'm serious as the clap, it's only bloody snap, at number six, the heights have fallen slightly with how do you talk to an angel? Well if he doesn't get it over with soon, it'll seraphim right.

Number five puts boys to men to shame with its borderline personality disorder adjacent sentiment as PM Dawn romantically slash possessively slash unhingedly claim, I'd die without you. Ugh. Number four, speaking of, those transitional teens to tenancy tearjerkers, Boys to Men, give up the illusion of freshness altogether with a cover of 1956 doo-wop evergreen in the still of the night. Number three, more asses. It's Rex in effect with Rump Shaker, proving there's more booty in them there hillocks. Number two, Shy gets more hands off with the conjectural Congress of if I ever fall in love which means the Christmas number one is something something bodyguard

back to you Rob Andy if we're waking up on Christmas day in the morning ready to thank God what will we be watching later on TV? Well yes, I would have been waking up for a little bit and then going back to sleep for a long time then waking up for a little bit then going back to sleep for more of a long time because this is of course my first TV Christmas I was four months old so I wouldn't have been watching much but I was present for this. The last couple of years have been largely awful from a 2025 perspective so let's see if we fare any better in 1992. Let's see so the BBC they lead on the big night with specials for only fools and horses and birds of a feather both of which have

popped up before so not much change there but also on Christmas night we have Victoria Woods all-day breakfast which I've never seen but it appears to have been a one-off parody of this morning or good morning or GMTV or whatever it was at that time where Victoria and guests sort of lampooned the breakfast TV chat format for an hour something different there something different to the last couple years it sounds quite funny to be fair. But Boxing Day is where party time is at because Noel's house party gets a special on Boxing Day. Much more on Noel's house party next Christmas of course and also if that's not your jam well Snooker Bollocks Big Break gets a special too.

And doesn't this sound fun from Big Break? So the guests are Heidi Heys, Ruth Madock, Patrick Moore from The Sky At Night, and Anthea Turner, fresh off that thing where a car went off in her face. And they play alongside their assigned Snooker players as Jim Davidson plays the role of Dick Whittington throughout an apt first name for Jim Davidson there with John Virgo playing Dick's cat and I don't think it's going too far for me to assume certainly not watching it so I'll just assume that an obvious joke was played quite a lot there with Dick and words for cat. The 90s. Yay. Family fun. Did the games master more?

I don't know. I'm not going to watch it. I'm not going to give that thing any air time. That belongs as many years ago as it can get from me. Yes. Over on ATV. First of all, a quick shout out to what would surely be Rob's favorite show of the season at 9am on Christmas Eve. It's Timmy Mallet's Utterly Brilliant Christmas Show.

I bet you would love that one. It is once again very much the 90s and that continues. On the evening of Christmas Day we've got hour long specials of Barrymore, first time we've heard his name I think think. And Christmas blind date with our sailor giving us a lot of lot of laughs. Mileage may vary. Other than that, though, they continue to just stick a film on in primetime, which they've done for the last couple of years. And bizarrely, they give us like

an eight till ten, like right at the peak. They give us the premiere of 1989 flick Three Fugitives starring Nick Nolte. Speaking of films let's do our Christmas afternoon film showdown as ever. So on BBC One we've got Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and on ITV we've got Supergirl. So Indiana Jones, Supergirl but which is better? There's only one way to find out. Indiana Jones, Supergirl. But which is better? There's only one way to find out. Asquab and Dead, of course.

Last Crusade. Yeah, I mean, well the thing is, I've never seen Supergirl. It's one of those films that people like ironically. It is perhaps one of the worst representations of powerful women, quote unquote, in semi-modern cinema. So maybe worth checking it out for a cackle in that regard but yeah. Now Last Crusade is it? That's a good Christmas movie.

Yeah I also haven't seen Supergirl but Last Crusade is pretty good so let's just carry that motion there. On to the soaps and it's a typical cheery one on EastEnders as Pat Butcher struggles with her guilt after having run over a pedestrian by accident on Christmas Eve, while Arthur Fowler secretly spends Christmas night with his mistress Christine behind Pauline's back. Naughty naughty. Naughty naughty! Very naughty! Couldn't resist that there!

On Corrie, Mike Baldwin decides to start a romance with Maggie Redman behind his wife Alma's back, but finds out that Ken Barlow has beaten him to it. And on Emmerdale, Frank Tate discovers that Kim and Neil have been having an affair. The Queen uses her Christmas speech to talk about her annus horribilis, which is of course her bad year, not a horrible bum. She addressed the importance of resilience and personal fortitude in times of personal hardship from one of her three undamaged inherited palaces. And finally just a quick mention to Channel 4 who I never talk about really, who reliably provide

alternative programming to your usual Santa Claus radio times fare. On Christmas Eve, they show highlights of this year's Eskimo Indian Olympics, which I'd never heard of, had to look into that, and it's a multi-discipline sports event like the Olympics, competed in solely by Native Americans with a completely different range of sports. Sports include the ear pull, the Alaskan high kick and seal skinning. So that's what Channel 4 had on Christmas Eve. So, yeah. Wow.

So on that note, yes. Merry TV Christmas, everyone. You've got Silla, you've got seal skinning and you've got Pat Butcher running over pedestrians. What more could you wish for? Yeah. So obviously at this point in the 90s we've been relying on the BBC for their info regarding the top 10 toys and games of Christmas 1992 and 91 and 90 and the BBC have archived a video this time so go to play a clip it's about three and a bit minutes long

enjoy and we'll be back on the other side of that clip. Thousands of parents will spend money they can ill afford this Christmas making sure their children get the presents they've asked for. The children want to keep up with their friends advertising and toy popularity charts just add to that pressure. The shops predict that well over £700 million will be spent on toys by Christmas Day. Bill Hamilton reports now on one industry that's been able to withstand the recession. A toy superstore in North London, scene of the latest Thunderbirds mission. The task this time to rescue thousands of British households from their worst fear,

Christmas without Tracy Island. Don't tell the manufacturers of the model version that the country's in a recession. They're busy kicking themselves that they've fallen so far behind the ever-growing demand for Jeff, Tracy and company. Some had taken three months to get their hands on one of these boxes, including one night spent sleeping on the streets in sub-zero temperatures. As soon as I arrived I was told by everybody it was totally impossible. So it now looks as though I've scored.

It's about my fourth attempt to get one. So I'm quite pleased I've had it. Just to see the look on my son's face Christmas morning. That's what it's all about. The bill for toys bought in Britain this Christmas is being estimated at 780 million pounds. Half of that spent on electronic video games. A figure so overwhelming that toy retailers have had to separate them from this year's top 10. You think it's good? You like it? Oh I'll have to see whether I can bring you one for Christmas one day. On average £60 will be spent on each child at Christmas and this is what the

popularity chart is showing. It's hard to remember when Cindy didn't make the top 10, this year's adornment, a ballet outfit. Figures based on the Terminator films fall into the more affordable range. Boglands appeal their disgusting guise, and one for the girls, Polly Pocket Compacts. Lego's most popular line this Christmas, a propeller plane. A brand new entry at number five, electronic learning aids to help with spelling and maths. The Sylvian family are as popular with parents as children which may explain their good showing. And now the

top three. Barbie still combing those golden locks. The Trolls a dramatic return to the charts at number two. But it's the sport of real wrestling that's proved this year's surprise knockout. The figures sell at less than a fiver. But why are toys able to withstand a recession that has brought disastrous results in many other manufacturing areas? If you're wanting a new carpet, it can wait. But things like Christmas and birthdays can't wait. They are our priority for children, and I think parents give their children concern and look after them. Certainly myself and my husband will go without to get what the children want this year,

because unfortunately I feel the way things are. Likely or only children just don't know that there is a limit to a mum's purse strings, and they just expect and you don't like to disappoint. And that's the majority view of parents, which means no respite for Father Christmas. Come Friday morning, Santa's sack will be just as heavy as ever. So, the top 10 toys and games of 1992. There they were. So it is time for one of our little, I say annual, annual as it relates to the calendars

of the 1990s, a little annual contest. Be true. Andy, born to runner up. Take it away. Yeah, we've all been excited about this this year. Well, I have certainly. I feel like we've all been excited about this because. Oh, yeah. First of all, we had loads of songs this year.

We've had 22 songs that peaked at number two in 1992, which is I haven't checked. But I think that's certainly amongst the most that we've ever had. And also, like, again, as is so often the case in this era, loads of them we don't really know. So we've all been on a bit of a journey of discovery to different extents, like I only knew about five or six of these. So a real journey of discovery and ranking all these, which has meant that we are all over the place.

And I've already said this to Robin Ed, so that's not a total surprise to them, but we have gone for wildly different choices in our favorites in our least favorites and in the middle well I will say actually we do sort of agree on our least favorite I will tell you that the 22nd place entrance the worst number two single of the year didn't get higher than second worst for any of us is knocking on heaven's door by Guns N' Roses yeah get in the bin terrible I will do our top ten and I will say there is a bit of a surprising winner. So in tenth place we've gone for the Everybody in the

Place EP by the Prodigy. Another EP there. Yeah it's solid I do think that Prodigy would get better. They could get an idea and repeatedly smack you over the head with it like a big rubber mallet at this point. In ninth place we've got The Best Things in Life are Free by Luther Van Dross and Janet Jackson. Oh, yeah, pretty pleasant little song that I thought. It is. It's not the most memorable thing in the world, but it's just got such a nice breezy rush to it. I think it's held up very well in terms of its sound world. Something very different at number eight, it's Twilight Zone by 2 Unlimited. Oh, okay. Yeah, well done to them.

Yeah. Getting so high. I'm still a bit sad that Get Ready For This didn't win in 1991, but never mind. Yeah, they're continuing to show up. In seventh place, it is Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé. Yeah, good to see Freddie again. I loved that one. I rated that really high and you two didn't quite agree with me, but seventh place isn't bad. I like it. Yeah, I think it just wasn't as high as some other ones. In sixth place I'm sad about this because this is my favourite I Love Your Smile by Shanice which I just love I love that hook. It's a magnificent hook it sounds lovely and the chorus is kind of just hammered in repeatedly until the end but it is bloody lovely. And in fifth place it's actually Rob's

favourite song, favourite number two song of the year. It's Justified and Ancient by the KLF in fifth place which I actually really like, that was one of my favourites. I remain entertained by the KLF at this point. into our top four and also Another one of our favorites. So Ed your favorite of the year finishes at number four on a ragged tip by SL2 coming in at number four Oh, I feel validated by that because when I when I put that number one, I saw that list

It's like they're gonna think I'm I'm on crack that's just that's that is clearly mad what it means basically is that our top three none of us have put any of these songs as our number one favorite in third place we've got jump by Crisscross coming in at number three. Oh well done yeah. Genuinely great really good that. It is I was shocked because I have a vague memory of it but I just remember people being almost automatically annoyed by them being, you know, kids trying to be all hard and stuff. It's a 1992 chart single which is actually close to three minutes long. Yes, true.

Yeah. In second place, it's finally by C.C. Penniston. Good, good, good. Oh, done very well to get that high. Yeah.C. Peniston. Good, good, good. Oh, done very well to get that high. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So a good showing, but all of that means that our number one, taken over from Seal from

last year, our number one, number two of 1992, is My Girl by The Temptations. Okay, yeah. Yeah, fair enough. We all really like, yeah, we do all really like it was none of our favorites But we all agree that that one's really nice. Yeah, come on. I'll give it a really I don't know if you agree with me. It just didn't feel quite right putting that at number one because it's You know, it's it's a it's an evergreen. It doesn't outstay its welcome While it's not, you know, it not my favourite, quite my favourite Temptation

single that might be Get Ready, which I think is bloody amazing, but it's great. It's very solid and it's lasted and re-charting proves that again. But yeah, I just, I think I felt too much of an old fart putting that at number one so I had to pull it back a little bit. Yeah, well I mean well done to the Temptations and I love how our Champion of Champions is shaping up for the 90s that like really different things we've got Suzanne Vega and DNA and Seal and the Temptations that's our first three that we've picked for Champion of Champions that'll be fun at the end of the

90s yeah so yes my girl wins, My Girl Wins, B-True, 1992. Well done, Temptations. Paul Van Elfer, Macaulay Culkin being devoured by a bunch of bees. Which pushed the single into the charts in the first place. So... Right then, so it means with B-True for 1992 now done, it is time for the Christmas Day Top 10 and then we're going to take you in to the Christmas number one for 1992.

So here we go. At 10, Madonna's Deeper and Deeper is heading deeper and deeper down the charts, dropping four places from number six. Rod Stewart is at number nine with Tom Traubert's blues, Waltzing Matilda staying exactly where he was last week. At eight, it's up eight places from last week. Gloria Estefan is hitting the UK with her Miami hit Megamix.

Another Megamix is in at number seven with the Boney M Megamix up 3 places from number 10. At 6 it's the WWF Superstars with Slam Jam slammed down 2 places from number 4 this week. Into the top 5 it's Forever People by the Shaman up 2 places from number 7. Who could it be at number 4? Why it's Take That with Could It Be Magic up Up one place from number five and into the Christmas 1992 top three. It's a former number one. Charles and Eddie are staying put for now with Would I Lie to You? And at number two, missing out on the Christmas number one, it is

Michael Jackson with Heal the World World which is held off the top by This Should stay I would only be in your way So I'll go of you every step of the way And I will always love you We'll always love you You, my darling you

Bitter sweet memories That is all I'm taking with me So goodbye, please don't cry With me, so goodbye Please don't cry We both know I'm always love you I will always love you I hope life treats you kind And I hope you joy and happiness But above all this I will always love you I will always love you I will always love you.

I will always love you. I will always love you. I will always love you. I will always love you. Okay, this is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. Released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the bodyguard, I Will Always Love You is Whitney Houston's 17th single overall to be released in the UK and her fourth to reach number one However as of 2025 it is her last the single is a cover of the song originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1973 I

Will always love you first enter the UK charts at number 12 reaching number one during its third week on the chart It stayed at number 12 reaching number one during its third week on the chart. It stayed at number one for 10 weeks. It became Christmas number one during week four and it became the first number one of 1993 during week five. Across its 10 weeks atop the charts it sold 1.06 million copies, beating competition from the following songs. I Still Believe In You by Cliff Richard In My Defence by Freddie Mercury Someday by Lisa Stansfield Exterminate by Snap Mr Wendell by Arrested Development I'm Easy by Faith No More Get the Girl Kill the Baddies by Potmullit itself

The Devil You Know by Jesus Jones The Love I Lost by West End We Are Family 93 by Sister Sledge Open Your Mind by Usura Sweet Harmony by The Beloved, Steam by Peter Gabriel, No Limit by 2 Unlimited, Deep by E17, Ordinary World by Juran Juran, and How Can I Love You More 93 by M People plus all the songs in the Christmas Day Top 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, I Will Always Love You dropped 1 place to number 2. The song originally left the charts in April 93, but re-entered the top 100 in 1993, 1994

and 2012, meaning that it has currently, as of 2025, been inside the top 104, 32 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK as of 2025, but I think that could still be pre-cantar data because I think if we were to add in all the figures from years gone by, those numbers would be ginormous. So Andy, Whitney Houston, Christmas number 192, how do we feel? Oh I mean it's another one of those happening at Christmas again that it's

almost hard to know what to say because we had Pemian Rhapsody last year which I did sort of talk about other things rather than the song itself. But part of the motivation for that was that it's just this big monolith in music history, really. And while, you know, in the British charts and in terms of like the impact and the innovation, this isn't quite as big a deal as Bohemian Rhapsody is. I definitely think it's one of like the most famous, most perennial songs that we've ever covered on Hits 21. Really, like this is just like pervasive in a sense that like, I don't think will ever, ever end like this is like the power ballad of all time.

If you were to sort of name like, what is the quintessential example of power ballads that literally everybody knows it would be this and so I said I certainly have a certain appreciation for it because of that because there are lots of good things about it I like that acapella bit at the start and I like that gentle sliding of the strings that's got that gentle melancholy to it that I think really works for this song. It loses me when it gets bigger and I'll get to that in a second. But one thing I never doubt is Whitney's voice in this that she's technically

excellent like she can really hit those notes and with full control over them as well. It never feels like she's being carried away or losing control of the song. She always like is in full command of this material. And as a power ballad, like on its own basis, like within that genre, yes, excellent. Like a really, really good power ballad. And I totally see why this became so big and really took off.

There's definitely an element to it with the bodyguard I imagine as well, which I can't speak of because I've never seen the body an element to the bodyguard, I imagine, as well, which I can't speak of because I've never seen the bodyguard. And to be honest, I don't plan to. It's not really my sort of thing from what I've heard of it. But this really resonates with people. And I really see why, because it's a fantastic vocal performance. It is a great power ballad.

And more, most importantly of all, and this is what I'm going to pivot to now. Most importantly of all, the original song is just gold in terms of the material. So the original Dolly, of course, way, way back before this way back in the early 70s. And it's really strange this because I am usually one of those who kind of decries hipster opinions and like often suspects people have thinking, oh, you don't really think that you're just saying it because, you know, it's the unpopular opinion or whatever. But I have found such a hill to die on with this because it is just like this received wisdom that is almost everywhere, like even like very serious

music publications or people I've met in real life whose opinions about music I really respect who just take it as an absolute given that this is the superior version of this song and that Dolly deserves credit for writing it but this elevated it in every way and it's not a hipster opinion for me it's not me being objectionable or me being alternative. I really passionately do not agree. I will die on this hill that Dolly's original version of this song is something else. Like it's, it's really, I'm not going to say better in every way because it's going for different things in this way, but it's certainly better for my sensibilities in every way that instead of being universal and having this power powered element to it, it's specific, it's personal,

it's authentic in a way that this can't really be because it's sort of coming from a film and again, it's a cover, you know, it's very tender and very fragile in a way that Whitney's version isn't. And it has a vocal to it that I think is even better than Whitney's, that the level of vocal control and the level of technique and the level of flourish sounds so effortless in Dolly's performance in that song that I think it is genuinely unbelievable. Like, it's genius.

I will always, always go on about Dolly Parton, that, you know, yes, she does have a certain amount of respect that people always speak very highly of her, but I really do think she is one of the great talents of the 20th century. She is an extraordinarily good songwriter, has an amazing vocal range, an amazing command of her voice.

And she just really knows how to communicate ideas through music in a way that sounds so easy, but is not easy at all. I only found out the other day that she wrote this and Jolene on the same day, which is just frankly disgusting. Just unbelievable. That's like Shakespeare, you know, coming up with Hamlet and Macbeth on the same day. That's just madness, absolute madness that she did that. And the reason I love the original so much is that it just genuinely really feels like

that is how a mutual, like friendly breakup feels. You know, that my first partner who I ever had years and years ago, we sort of broke up for that kind of reason, we're just mutual, just like, yeah, we're in different directions here, knock our time for each other and we'll just sort of let each other go. And it really gets that feeling of like, there doesn't have to be any malice in it at all. You can just accept that it's right to break up and send each other off with a smile and a wave, but still be really sad about it. It's OK to be happy for them and not hold any malice against them But be really sad about it

It's okay to cry into your pillow tonight and it's okay to wish them nothing but love but still wish you sort of had them for yourself It gets to such a specific feeling that I think is really really powerful And you can really hear that in her voice as well. It's oddly prescient, by the way, that at the time of recording, that very sadly Dolly Parton's husband of 60 years has died this week. And I don't mean to imply that any of what I'm saying is kind of inspired by that. It's just a really horrible, unfortunate coincidence that, you know, that those feelings of saying goodbye to a lover. Just sad that we're talking about it at this time

really. But I, over the years, have fallen for that original version of the song so much. I just think it's absolutely beautiful. It's a crowning achievement of what country music can do with that tenderness and with that focus on virtuoso vocals and focus on simple effective song writing. It is such a great example of the power of good country music as is Jolene, by the way. And with this, it's just going through a completely different sort of atmosphere. Whereas the original is about a individual breakup for mundane life reasons. This feels like a tragic, epic romance

of two people who have been torn apart, not literally, you know, but they just sort of, they want to be together, but they just can't, and their fingertips just can't touch as they move away from each other, you know? Like it's got that sort of tragic, you know, better to have loved and lost energy to it that the original doesn't have. The original keeps it much more real and like that's fine. Like I say, that

is absolutely fine because it's got that cinematic element to it and it's a power battle. It's supposed to go bigger. And that's what Whitney Houston does so well is she creates these big epic feelings out of songs. I just think all of the things that I love about this song are the things that are really personal, the things that really resonate, that feel far more individual in terms of experience. And with this, it's a great power ballad, but it goes too big for me, it goes too overblown.

It makes it a little bit generic in the end. And I do think those high notes at the end are not quite necessary. It doesn't really need to go as high as it does. I'm not really thinking like the big one, you know, the hand eye, that's fine. It's more like when she is fading out at the very end with a and I start wondering how many octaves she's going to go off. Like she's like a sort of human arpeggio at the end that it's just not necessary. So other than the vocals slightly annoying me, I think Whitney's version is great, but it will just always pale in the shadow of Dolly for me.

Like this is fine for what it is. Got nothing particularly bad to say about it. But I've very much openly just used this time to talk about Dolly instead, because I think it's so much better. I don't know if either of you two feel any kind of in comparison to the Dolly version but like I say that is a hill that I will die on that the original of this just is better it's just so much better and that's not to condemn this but the original so much better yeah. Ed how do we feel about I Will Always Love You? Yeah pretty much coming from the same direction

as Andy here, really. That opening, yeah, for me, that's the best part of the song. It's tender, it's reserved, it's vulnerable in a way that the rest of the track just isn't. Also agree with you, Andy, that I'm not actually a big Dolly Parton fan in general, but I really do think that Dolly's version of this track is just so much

richer and more relatable sounding really. I was looking at the reviews, the somewhat polarized reviews of this track on Rate Your Music and a user in the comments box described Whitney Houston's performance as an atom bomb. And I was about to kind of agree with them, but I realized that they meant it like, it's a sensation. It's totally, and I was like, oh, oh, I meant it as a kind of sort of negative. Now, yeah, she undeniably is a very good singer.

It's very loud and very impressive. But after the first verse, I kind of stopped considering this a love song. And I start thinking of it as an exercise, an immaculate one, nearly, but it's more like an imperial statement, really. It kind of... it crushes you under its foot and as a result I don't believe a word of it, which isn't actually the case with the Dolly one. Now, I'll be honest, never been the biggest fan of Whitney Houston as

a vocalist. She is very much in the tradition of, you know, technicality as many grace notes and glissandos and octaves and changes in volume as possible denotes a great singer sometimes at the express the at the expense of nuance or restraint now I'm not saying she's like a fucking Cilla Black here to mention Cilla Black oddly for the second time this episode it's not like doing Alfie where she goes from kind of what's it all about? Alfie! What's it all about Alfie? It's like, ehh.

So it's like, you know, there's no in between. There is here. This is very well controlled as a pitch up. But, and this is probably sacrilege and it might just be my ears. I cringe every time that chorus comes up on here. I don't know, maybe some people agree with me or maybe I'm completely potty, I don't know whether it is the fact that she is actually coming in flat and then adjusting it with her

trademark vibrato after exactly four seconds each time or whatever or whether it's just so like loud and strident that it's actually just an unpleasant sound to me because it's just really forceful and I've always slightly recoiled from it which is in what circumstances that a kind of appropriate reading of the song if you know what I mean? Now, it might just be a problem with my ears, maybe a technical problem with my ears, and it sounds so pompous of me to start picking fault with the technique of a singer like Whitney Houston that I could never hope to fucking possibly match in any way, even in my own little sphere and little field and little range of ability.

But I think the larger problem here is that I shouldn't really be focusing on issues with pitch or tone in a chorus in a song like this. It's like there's something a bit wrong there when I'm just focusing purely on the decoration, on the grace notes, on the use of trills and glissandos and yeah by the way Andy that fucking glissando ending is stupid. It's so pointless. It sounds daft to be quite honest. But yeah just to... Now Dolly also uses vibrato in her voice, but how different is the use there?

Throughout Dolly Parton's version, it's used to denote fragility and uncertainty, like somebody's not quite... They're feeling the end and they're trying to get some composure. It's sweet and sad and you feel that moment. It doesn't feel like a party political fucking broadcast like Whitney Houston's one does. The whole song ebbs and flows dynamically. Now while there is a sort of a very much a solid stride and up arrow in the Whitney Houston version, it's more gentle and faltering in the Dolly version.

It never goes to full volume because how could it given the circumstances of the song and the story it's telling? It feels like someone building themselves up to a sad farewell handshake that their body is screaming at them to run away from but they are trying to keep their nerve. And God, the difference in the final verse. I mean, they just go in a completely different direction. Now full credit to Whitney Houston, she didn't try and emulate the source material. But where Parton goes down to like a hushed spoken word, which is unlike Poister Men last week,

I think one of the most effective and least corny spoken word sections I've ever heard, and it draws me in. Whereas Whitney's one, which is she melodicizes it and she's just naturally stepped up from the previous verse in terms of projection and you know embellishments of the melody it actually alienates me because it does feel like somewhat it's like a wall of sort of shouting or somebody doing massive semaphore gestures from like a fucking aircraft carrier or something. But I mean, yeah, look, I'm a Bob Dylan fan. I think Ringo's verse on, well, Ringo's singing on With a Little Help from My Friends is actually fantastic

because it suits the song superbly. So I don't usually give a shit about pitching in songs, but when a song just feels so overtly showy at the expense of its own message, yeah, I'm, it's very weird this, because I find it hard to actually criticize much here. Aside from a few niggles in terms of my feelings about the chorus and just the general

maximalism of it, there's nothing really wrong here. There's nothing that I can technically, you know, cross off. So it's not like I hate this song. I don't. It just irritates me because I feel It's missing the point of the song. Now. I can't put it in context of the film Like Andy, I don't know if you've seen the film Rob. I've not seen the bodyguard. Don't know maybe Her character in the film this sort of overbearing Loud approach it makes sense but Yeah, I this sort of overbearing loud approach it makes sense but yeah I just I think this song kind of spawned an expectation for what soulful vocals were that again I feel slightly misses the point at the risk of sounding pompous.

No I agree with that actually. Yeah. again, I feel slightly misses the point at the risk of sounding pompous. No, I agree with that, actually. Yeah, because oddly I feel that Dolly Parton's song, and this might sound like sacrilege, is the more soulful rendition of the two. And that might send all sorts of alarms going off in people's heads. But this is sorry to interrupt, but that's exactly my point is that that people treat that like it's sacrilege to say and like no, it's it's Dolly's version is brimming with soul, like absolutely overflowing with soul and Whitney's isn't really as far as I'm concerned, but

it does feel like sacrilege to say we all just assume that Whitney's version is better and it really isn't really isn't. Yeah, it's louder. It is louder. It's more quote unquote impressive and it's got more fireworks. Certainly not more soulful. Definitely not. Yeah. The thing I love about Whitney's version of I Will Always Love You is that it presumably made Dolly Parton very rich.

Yeah. And Andy, I've also written down, you know, that, you know, with the death of her husband this week, it feels like, you know, Dolly's version takes on another meaning in 2025, because that's the life of a song, really. You know, it gets written about one thing and then the universe takes it and changes the existence of the original text are kind of lost to time. Which sadly I think is what happened here. I don't object to Whitney's version of the song turning a mournful goodbye into a melodramatic Hollywood declaration of love, you know, because I think it suits the soundtrack for The Bodyguard, and I haven the bodyguard but I've read a lot about the bodyguard and I've seen clips from it and you know it's a Hollywood actress slash singer is being

protected from a stalker by Kevin Costner they fall in love they initially don't get on etc etc and there's a big thing at the end where her life is in danger and Kevin Costner rescues her and whatever. But it's also clearly what British people needed during Christmas 1992, because it was number one for 10 sodding weeks. And I think Whitney does a fairly good job of turning the song into something new

without changing much or any of the lyrics. It means that it is all in the performance at least and in in the new arrangement you know that the new emotions but I prefer the Dolly version so much more. This is a song that I think is meant to be a sad goodbye. Dolly's version is like watching someone walk out of your life with a tear in your eye but Whitney's version is like running towards someone in an airport and jumping in their arms after you haven't seen them for a while. And maybe it's just me but I prefer the former image there. I

have mixed feelings towards power ballads generally, and I think in its attempts to be a big Hollywood loving embrace, I think Whitney's version kind of wipes out any subtlety and definitely, I think, sets quite, you know, Ed, you were saying about this expectation of what soulful vocals and big power ballads should sound like going forward, there is a pretty cynical template for all those ballads in the future being set here. There's the

sound of a playbook being written, and it's going to be repeated over and over and over again for the next 20 years almost, and it isn't a playbook I enjoy reading, even the early pages. Because as much as I appreciate that the song builds itself around a moment that comes very late on and keeps you waiting and waiting for that punchline with the big key change, I struggle so much with how it chooses to approach the arrangement before that, I think it slows the song's tempo down to the point where it feels like it starts to approach the arrangement before that. I think it slows the song's tempo down to the point where it feels like it starts to go backwards. The producer David Foster feels like he's been building to this point for about a decade because I've been looking

through his production credits and there's quite a telling period I think where in 1979 he produces I Am, Earth, Wind and Fire. That's in 1979. Bloody hell, that was him. That is an album where maximalism is very much to its credit. It is great anyway. Sorry, Rob. But then in 1983, he produces the Sheena Easton remix

of We Got Tonight by Kenny Rogers. And if you listen to that, you can hear the distant sounds of something like this so many glitzy ballads that crop up more and more and more and David Foster is behind a lot of them and I will always love you feels like the definitive example of everything David Foster was working towards throughout the 80s and the definitive Example of his that so many big ballad producers attempted to copy example of his that so many big ballad producers attempted to copy from here on out. I just I find his approach to Dolly's original material to be a little strange just in the sense that there's there's kind of barely a song happening until you get to the big end you know towards

the end. Before that it's just a bunch of it strikes me as a bunch of stuff floating in space struggling to take physical form It looks like it needs that big big bang I think also I just It's a kind of give an overview of Whitney. I prefer her in fun mode I think a genuinely incredible pop star was kind of stolen from us by all the weepy ballads that she did You know dance with somebody how will I know so emotional, I'm your baby tonight, it's not right but it's okay, you know, it's a great, really solid collection of singles but it feels like she just found this stuff easier.

Greatest love of all, one moment in time, when you believe, you know, like, I feel like she just kind of found that stuff a bit easier to do and because of the template that felt like it was set, you know, around sort of like the late 80s and early 90s, it was like this was the stuff that just sold very well. It was like a bit kind of like how if Westlife had had more songs like, I mean they're not my biggest favorites or anything, but like Bop Bop Baby and World of Our Own and things like that, you know, a bit more upbeat, a bit more youthful and, you know, more energy and stuff.

But they clearly just found it so much easier to do the slow stuff. Because that was what everybody wanted and that was what everybody expected. And those were all of their, you know, their biggest hits. And whenever I listened to Whitney's Faster Stuff, I was like, oh, yeah, it is the same person. Really impressive collection of hits, you know, more, you know, more hits than I think people remember her having. If you know what I mean, I feel like, you know, people kind of put it down to maybe this and dance with somebody, greatest love of all, and then maybe at a stretch like how

will I know, but there's a deeper collection going on there and it's just kind of a shame really that she kind of got boiled down to sitting on that chair while the camera zooms out and her mouth is wide open and she's sitting in the snow and yeah I don't know I just I've never really been that keen on this I think that it's again it's kind of a it's a soulful ballad in the same way that like to me the stereophonics Dakota is kind of like an example of 21st century alternative rock where it's like people who like the broad shape of something but don't really want to understand or investigate any further if you know what I mean. So yeah it's kind of meh for me. It doesn't sound like any of us are going to piehole this.

No I think the thing that saves it for me is that I do completely agree with you Rob that like this is sort of ballads for people who don't really want to be challenged. But I will always say that like there is a place for that. Like, that's OK. And I'm not suggesting that you said, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not at all suggesting that you said otherwise. It just that's what saves it for me, which is that like, you know, it's number one for, you know, figuring nine centuries the way it was.

Obviously, it resonated in a massive way, even to this day. Like you can't get away from this song. No, like there is obviously a place for this sort of thing. Its success speaks for itself. And also, I do think, like I said, as a power ballad, I think it is a very good one. It's just yeah, it's not inviting any challenge. It's not asking to be questioned at all. But, you know, it's Christmas.

It's a weepy power ballad coming from a Weepy film. Is that not the market for it? So, you know, I can give it a pass based on that. Yeah. Yeah. And I will say that normally when there is a song, there is a cover that's on Wikipedia, the Wikipedia page is normally the original song and then obviously further down the page you get so-and-so's version on Whitney Houston's I will always love you has its own Wikipedia page. It isn't like a sub Original song it has its own wiki page and they see even says I will always love you and then in brackets Whitney Houston recording

And they see even says I will always love you and then in brackets Whitney Houston recording So yeah, I assume that the Dolly Parton one has its own page. It does. Yeah. Oh, thank God for that It's not just at the bottom the Dolly Parton version one paragraph No, I'm just gonna say if we're talking about comparisons now, this is crude and it is unfair But thinking about what was at the absolute rock bottom of our Be True list this time, there is a song that kind of suffers from a similar thing but worse, which is a very showy cover version that seems to completely miss the point of the original song, knocking on heaven's door by Guns N' Roses. Now the original, which I think people forget

was a Bob Dylan song, because it was covered again by Eric Clapton, somewhat louder and decent. And then, you know, this maximalist thing, I use that word a lot, but I don't know how, what else applies. And oh my God though, it's like the comedic version of the of the aesthetic Whitney Houston takes here just bloody hell the hi hi hi starts doing after the knock and it's like you're dying you're bleeding to death

the way he says door on heavens down hi. And then Bloody Slash comes in with the wonderful Tonight guitar line. It's like, are you taking the piss? And then if you look on the singles cover, it says, A tribute to Freddie Mercury. Oh, yes, seriously. Grace. Honestly, it's like in some ways, these two represent an end point of something.

You know, whereas this is not the nadir of Guns N' Roses, which I think just represents the flabby end of rock, along with some of the other things that we should didn't mention that were in the bottom of that B-True list, like deaf leopards, let's get rocked. Oh, that was awesome. Yeah.

It's embarrassing really, isn't it? Doesn't even sound like rock anymore, it's so overproduced. But yeah, it sounds like I hate this, I don't. It don't, and probably though, so much of it owes to the strength of the material though, cause it's such an indelible, like circular melody. It's very hard to completely destroy the shape of it, if you know what I mean.

Not that I'm saying that the atom bomb of Whitney Houston actively eradicates anything. It doesn't. She gets the melody spot on. She hits all of the right points, she embellishes well, but yeah, it's just, it's all sound and fury signifying nothing to Nicker Cliché. So Andy, we now need to work out whether I Will Always love you has avoided our bottom five but the thing is there have been so few number ones this year are you just gonna do the list from bottom to top instead of separating them? I am gonna do that yeah because we've actually for those who've been following you already

know this but if not you may be surprised to learn we've only had 12 number ones which is the least we've ever had in a year we have 12 number ones in 1992, which means it's possible to be in the top five but also finish eighth Which is the case for one song? So it seems a bit unfair to do it that way So we're gonna just start at the bottom It may be a surprise Actually, but again, it's a bit of a consensus pick that none of us really went about for this and the other two did have Defenders that are near the bottom. So with an average score of 4.5, but not put in the pie hole by anybody the 12th and worst number one of

1992 according to us is end of the road by boys to men But the two above it both did end up in the pie hole in But the two above it both did end up in the pie hole in 11th place with an average score of 4.8 put in the pie hole by me it's the ABBA-esque EP by Erasure. And also with 4.8 and put in the pie hole by Rob, not by anyone else, squeezing into the top 10 it's deeply dippy by right said Fred our lowest scored top ten entrant in hits 21 history yeah in a ninth place with an average score of 5.2 not put in the vault or pie hole by anyone it's eight note house by Jimmy Nail making it into the top ten yeah you're lying. And in eighth place,

with an average score of 5.7, not put in the pie hole or vault by anyone, it actually is I Will Always Love You by Houston, that has ended up in the vault. But yeah, it's sort of in the middle of the whole year. Not a bad score, that, but yes.

More the lack of number ones than anything else. In seventh place, with an average score of 6.3, no vaults or pie holes for this one, it's Please Don't Go slash Game Boy by KWS. Oh, yeah, okay. Talk about splitting the difference. In sixth place, with an average score of 6.5, no vaults or pie holes from anyone, it's Would I Lie To You by Charles and Eddie.

Okay, yeah. God, the lack of reactions is saying a lot, isn't it? 1992 has been a weird year. A very weird year. So into our top 5, I will say that we all were positive about all of these to varying extents. So with an average score of 6.8 but not put in the vault up I hold by any of us it's good night girl by wet wet wet if you told me at the start of the year that that was gonna make top five and that was actually gonna make my personal top five as well I wouldn't have believed you my favorite surprise of the year yeah yeah I'm crisscross well there's a

bigger surprise of the year for me, but we'll get to that. In fourth place, this is our first vault entry of the year. It was put in the vault by me and no one else. It had an average score of 7.5. Our fourth place of the year is Stay by Shakespeare's Sister. All the way back to the start of the year, which was less than a month ago And then our top three so all of these had multiple vault entries so putting the vault by me and Ed and with an average score of 7.7

I'm serious as TB when I say rhythm is a dancer is at number three Okay, yeah well done snap yeah, yeah with an average score of 7.8 our second place of the year Put in the vault by me and Rob, but not by Ed It's ever knees are good by the shaman finishing in second place Yeah It's Ebenezer Good by The Shaman finishing in second place. Yeah. Okay, so to unveil our number one, well, I'm going to bring on last year's winner, which is Queen, who was number one with Bohemian Rhapsody in Days of Our Lives. Hello Queen, good to see you all.

Don't bring your instruments in please, there's not enough room in here. No, I said don't bring them in roger uh yes oh and brian mays brought anita dobson with him as well honest to you anita yes so they're here to hand over the crown and jewels to our winner for 1992 it was a very clear winner actually average score of 8.2 i'm putting the vault by me and Rob but not by Ed. This year's winner and I am delighted to say this but our best number one of 1992 was Sleeping Satellite by Tasmin Archer. Yeah, okay. No, that's entirely fair. I'm pleased.

That was my surprise of the year. Like I did know it before but oh my god have I fallen for that song love it so much so well done Tasman yeah oh well alright then so that's 1992 drawn to a close when we come back it'll be 1993 I can't believe that night that's our shortest ever year that is our shortest ever year I was actually looking back at our early schedule when we were in the year 2000 and we had to get through about 42 number ones that year and we did five songs every week if we'd have done five songs each week I think it would have been over in like three episodes three episodes. Oh dear, yeah, things are moving slow.

Things speed up a little bit in 93 and then a little bit again in 94. It's not really till about 95, 96 where the top five and top ten and bottom five will you know actually sort of like you know be far apart from each other as opposed to just one of the same but anyway we will see you for our 93 coverage bye bye now bye bye