Hits 21 - 1993 (1): 2 Unlimited, Shaggy, The Bluebells

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21: The 90s.At the roundtable this week it's Rob, Ed, and Andy!This week - there are no limits for how many versions 2 Unlimited want to make of No Limit, Shaggy gets throaty (to the extreme), and The Bluebells are wedged into the White Cliffs of Dover.Email: [e-mail]

Music 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, send it on over to hits21podcast at gmail.com. Thank you ever so much for joining us again, we are now looking back at the year 1993 and this week we'll be covering the period between the 1st of January, New Year's Day and the 24th of April so it's another large stride, but that's mostly because of last week's song, Whitney Houston, I Will Always Love You which would have been the pole winner if we put one down in the previous episode because it was the only song available in last week's episode,

which is why we didn't do one, it would have been far too easy and 10 weeks at number one is enough for Whitney I think. So it is time to press on with this week's episode and here are some news headlines from the first third-ish of 1993. The oil tanker MV Brea runs aground in the Shetland Islands, spilling tons of oil into the North Sea. News reports indicate that Princess Diana wishes to divorce Prince Charles after all, despite earlier claims to the contrary. 86 people are killed during the Waco siege in Texas, and six people are killed in a bomb attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The USA and Russia agree to halve their number of nuclear warheads. Ben Johnson is banned

from international athletics for life after failing a second drugs test. The Bank of England lowers interest rates to 6%, the lowest since 1978, and two people are killed in Warrington when a bomb planted by the IRA explodes on a local high street. Police in Merseyside confirm that the body of a two-year-old boy found by a railway track in Merseyside is that of the missing James Bolger. The Grand National of 1993 is declared void after 30 riders fail to hear calls for the race to be reset following a false start. And one person is killed when another IRA bomb explodes in London near Liverpool Street Underground Station. You know it's strange that when I was writing the headlines a few days ago,

I thought it was a little odd to put the oil tanker thing first, but it was just the first thing that happened chronologically according to Wikipedia and then literally this week We have another with literally this week a tragic oil tanker Ship crash in the North Sea. It's such a such an unfortunate coincidence with just strange Circumstances as well as a lot of unanswered questions about that really, huh? The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. The Bodyguard for four more weeks. Bram Stoker's Dracula for four weeks.

Under Siege for three weeks. Scent of a Woman for one week. Forever Young for one week. And The Jungle Book for three weeks. In TV news, TeleText Ltd. takes over from Oracle to provide the UK's TeleText service. Kate Winslet makes one of her earliest on-screen appearances in an episode of Casualty, Great Training Ground Casualty.

I think Daisy Ridley made her first TV appearance in that as well. Yeah, loads, loads did. And Oprah Winfrey records her famous interview with Michael Jackson, in which he publicly admits to being diagnosed with vitiligo. In children's TV, going live comes to an end on BBC One. The Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl XXVII after beating the Buffalo Bills 52 points to 17,

with Michael Jackson performing for the halftime show. And Elton John is forced to prematurely end a concert in Australia after a swarm of grasshoppers invade the stadium. How bizarre that sounds like almost biblical laugh. That's very strange isn't it? They left before the locusts arrived for fortunately. Do you know Ed, you mentioned in something there after I mentioned Scent of a Woman I was told to watch that during the pandemic. Oh my god, that was the film that they gave Al Pacino's best actor for. Fucking hell. Jesus. It's one of those where like, sorry we didn't give it to you

throughout the 70s and the 80s when we probably should have done. Here you can have this one. It's kind of like Leo winning it for the Revenant, which no one remembers. Speaking of Leo, The Departed for Martin Scorsese, like a lower tier, slightly forgettable Scorsese film, but they were like, oh, we're very sorry for three decades of snubs. Dearie me, Andy, the UK album charts. Only 11 to talk to you about this week. Yeah I'll go through this fast I can. So we start with an absolutely horrendously titled album. It's Genesis with The Way We Walk volume 2, The Longs, which went to number one for two weeks and only went gold mercifully. The Longs? The Longs? What are

we on about there? Anyway yes yes, that was a live album, but that's toppled for one week by Little Angels with Jam, which went number one for one week and only went Silver, one of the lowest selling number one albums of this whole decade, actually. It's a very quiet period. Then we've got The Cult with Pure Cult for rockers, ravers, lovers, and sinners. And that's all, it's not for anyone else. If you're not a rocker, ravers, lovers and sinners.

And that's all. It's not for anyone else. If you're not a rocker, raver, lover or sinner, you're not allowed to buy that album, which is why it only went gold and only went number one for one week. I can only assume that's then toppled by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Not literally. Buddy Holly wouldn't have been able to do that. But that's words of love by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, which went number one for one week and went gold again. As you can see, nothing has reached platinum so far, and we're into late February.

It's a quiet few months in 93. Yes. Then it's East 17 with Walthamstow, which went number one for one week and went Platinum. So there we go we finally have a platinum album outselling Genesis, Little Angels, The Cult and Buddy Holly East 17. We then have a re-entry from last year quite a while ago, almost a year ago actually, we've got Annie Lennox with Diva coming back in at number one.

That went four times platinum in the grand scheme of things but that's an album from last year. So still only one that went platinum We've got another one with Lenny Kravitz with Are You Gonna Go My Way? Which of course spawned the very famous title track off that album that went number one for two weeks and went single platinum Then we've got Hot Chocolate with the oddly titled Their Greatest Hits like this has been written in the third person, this album title, which is very unusual to have a specific sense of narrator for an album title. That's very odd.

And that went number one for one week and went platinum. Just a few more. These all went gold. So there is no album in these whole three and a half months that went more than single platinum. Most of them went just gold or silver. So we've got Depeche Mode with Songs of Faith and Devotion at number one for one week. Swade with Swade number one for one week. And David Bowie with Black Tie White Noise, which went number one for one week.

And I'm a relatively big fan of Bowie and I don't know that one so I think that yeah this is a pretty quiet period despite how many have talked about quite a lot of unusual things in their little angels the cult buddy Holly you know it's it's a quiet few months here it does pick up almost immediately next week but yeah quite a lot of different stuff on the charts at the moment yeah the 90s are a funny period for Bowie. I think his fans seem to agree with that but yes Ed the US charts is it as as prolific as packed as the UK album charts? Well as I'm thinking of changing the title to Whitney Houston News not not really so the albums from the end of December 92

to the end of April 93, The Bodyguard continues its dominion, unabated, selling more than one million copies in the week of January the 9th in the US alone before being unseated by a tasteful version of Layla on Eric Clapton's Unplugged which is in turn unplugged after a three week period by the Bodyguard soundtrack for one more week then Depeche Mode debut at number one with Songs of Faith and Devotion but also debuted at number one in

the UK I think with this making you realise how long they were actually big for really but salvation proves fleeting for them as the fucking bodyguard muscles its way back in front presumably on the strength of such evergreen chart-humpers as Kenny G's Waiting for You and Joe Cocker Crooping His Way Through Trust in Me. Not that one. And, oh, maybe it was on the weight of Curtis Stiger's cover, of Elvis Costello's cover of Brinsley Schwartz's Peace, Love and Understanding. But whichever album track Giant Killer kept it at the top, it is nothing short of an embarrassment. Of riches, sorry. Oh, singles, right. Whitney Houston for about a billion years until that is unseated by a Middle Eastern street rat with foppish Hugh Grant hair and a Middle West Coast accent. Yes it's a whole

new world from the film Aladdin for a single week before that gets its carpet pulled by an informer with Canadian reggae musician Snow licking its boom boom down. I wrote that song in jail, explains Snow, about informers which may be all you need to know other than it remaining at number one until the end of April. Rob? Thank you both very much. It's a good thing you did those chart run downs in the end of April. Okay, so the first song this week is this Let me say yeah! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Okay, this is No Limit by 2 Unlimited. Released as the lead single from the group's second studio album titled No Limits, No Limit is 2 Unlimited's fifth single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. However, as of of 2025 it is their last. No Limit first entered the UK charts at number four, reaching number one during its third week. It stayed at number one for five weeks. Across its

five weeks atop the charts it sold 294,000 copies, beating competition from the following songs. Little Bird by Annie Lennox. How Can I Love You More, 93 by M People. Stairway to Heaven by Rolf Harris. Why Can't I Wake Up With You by Take That and I'm Every Woman by Whitney Houston. Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz. Give In To Me by Michael Jackson and I Feel You by Depeche Mode, Oh Carolina by Shaggy and Animal Nitrate

by Suede, Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden, Stick It Out by Right Said Fred and Bad Girl by Madonna. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, No Limit dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 16 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK as of 2025, but that's pre-Kantar stuff. Justice for Animal Nitrate. Ed kick us off with Too Unlimited. I like this song. I remember it as a pretty sort of foundational pop song. Who can forget it?

No, I know. It is undeniably, it's probably the archetypal chart techno pop track. I don't mean anything belittling by that designation, it's just a very broad one. It has that, in many ways, era-defining synth riff to begin it, and it's just got two great hooks basically in the track. It's what you need from a song like this, and it worked, everyone loved it, and it sticks in the head eternally. People always go wild when this comes on, even now. Anyone who knows the song previously, when you put it on, at, for instance, a wedding disco, which happened quite recently,

everyone loves it, it brings everyone together. That said, I don't actually like this as much as the Twilight Zone. In part because, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, the Twilight Zone. In part because yeah, yeah, yeah, well, well, well, the Twilight Zone, it has a less defined hook. It's not as catchy. It's, this feels like a more focus group sort of refined version of the template of the Twilight Zone and as such it's lost a bit of its creepy atmosphere, it's lost a bit of the jagged edges and unpredictability of the structure. I don't know if the fact that it's the single version has anything to do with that. But as much as I like this, listening to it in isolation,

it feels like it's been fine-tuned for kind of cheerleading demonstrations. It sounds a terrible thing to say but do you kind of know where I'm coming from with that? Absolutely. And I've got to say maybe just because these are clustered so together I am getting kind of tired of what is beginning to feel like the mandatory Rap verse or pair of rap verses in a techno track at this point Especially when they seem as lazy as this because even compared to the Twilight Zone I mean this is this is Veering into kind of Chakarron territory for like fuck it whatever fits and just repeat a bit of what she says in the song bit

You know, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, techno chart hits and got rid of any elements that don't stick in the head and just focused on the memorable ones which isn't much of a criticism is it really but then again I think I actually preferred the kind of techno stuff when it was a bit more abrasive and a bit more unpredictable if that makes any sense. As for me, I haven't got too much on this so I'll flesh my section out by saying that this is another song that was turned into a pretty good chant by British football crowds in recent years.

In fact I think this might be the most kind of viral or famous new football chant to come out of the 2010s. There are ones from previous years which are way bigger, but the Yaya Torre, Kolo Torre chant that City fans came up with to the tune of No Limit was so big that you'll still hear it every now and again. And it's not even City fans singing it anymore usually, because Yaya Torre and Kolo Torre have both, you know, Kolo Torre left in 2013-2014 Yaya Torre in 2018, you know, so it's been a while But there's a video of Liverpool's players singing it when Kolo Torre moved there. You always hear it at the darts during the World

Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace every Christmas and New Year. So again, proof that Pop often endures on the terraces of football stadiums up and down the land. To be honest, I think that this is great. I think it's big and stupid and sort of brilliant at that. I was saying the other week when we covered the Shaman and Snap kind of back to back. I was saying that where European techno and rave sounds like it's searching for a higher purpose and gives itself loads of room to explore and British dance sounds kind of sweaty and claustrophobic like it's trying to survive the night without dying from exhaustion. This kind of gives you both of those things because you get the female vocal section that's all about reaching for the stars and there's

no limits and everything She says feels like she's reaching upwards with both hands and both arms like she's going yeah you know and then the rap section comes in and it's fast and Furious and confrontational and you have very little room for maneuver finishes on that defiant line the making tetanol and I am proud Although it should also be mentioned that in the... it was very hard to find, but there is a no rap version which was kind of also available, if you will, around the time of the the song's release and it was seems that this version and the no rap version kind of were equally as popular as each other because

I remember being quite small and this being that this is where the techno techno techno thing comes from but not in a version that's easily accessible on streaming services. You kind of have to go to YouTube for it and they shot a second video for it. I think that they clearly had two things in mind for this, two very distinct audiences and they decided to hit both of them, the clubs and the radios, where you know I prefer the version with the full rap verses but the fact that the no rap version has that techno techno you know hook it's enough to justify their decision there. Both versions come with the single anyway plus an extended version. And speaking of the rap version, it features one of my favourite literal translations of

a foreign language into English, which is the, no limits allowed because there's much crowd. I can't even notice that. I'll be honest, unfortunately I was struggling a little bit to follow what he was actually saying. I had to look it up, but I imagine that was in the minds of that comedian Kyle Gordon when he did the Planet of the Base song. When the rhythm is glad there is no need to be sad and all sorts of things like that.

If I may just add to what you were saying about the other version it's interesting that I at university in a fit of nostalgia bought for my flat in Glasgow a the very best club anthems double CD album back in this is like 2004 or something got it from Woolworth's ooh it had the other version on with the techno, techno, techno, techno, which it has that which is kind of indelible but at the same time it also had one of the dumbest uses of samplers I've ever heard in my life. Do you know what I'm referring to? Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, techno, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, And of course I've gone this far without mentioning the mind numbing but immortal hook which is

emphasized and then re-emphasized and then re-re-emphasized and has been turned into those popular football chants and stuff and it's just, that's the thing that's lived, I think. The no no da da da da da. It's great, it's so so great. It's a perfect hook, I'm not going to take that away from it. Andy you can finish us off with no limit. Yeah, I've got a bit of a strange history with this one,

which I will get into in a minute, but just to quickly give you my thoughts on the actual song. Yeah, wow. We are living in a post snap world here, aren't we? Not sorry, not like Thanos, but post snap, in like rhythm as a dancer and the power that you know We've definitely had a door open to there that people are stepping through Here like mainstream dance and rave is having a real moment here, and I think this is really good. I think this is really good I think although it has a great hook Probably the best compliments I can give it is that It I think the hook is not

even the best bit of the song I really like that refrain no matter how deep no matter how high with that warm fuzzy synth pad behind it I think that's the nicest bit of the song and so the hook is just kind of like a nice cherry on top of it really I think this would be a really good song anyway I don't get too excited about it for a couple of reasons partly because there's not a whole lot to it really it's very much there's not a whole lot to it beneath the surface and also like it's so so over the top and so kind of cheesy and camp and not necessarily in a way that I go for to be honest so I'm not too excited about it but I do

think this is really good but I can't separate this from the way I grew up with this which is you're not gonna be ready for this but you know the Smurfs those little blue guys and girls who I I don't know anything about the Smurfs I've I so this is an even stranger story, but we had an album in our house when I was a kid called The Smurfs Go Pop, where the voice actors of the Smurfs did parodies of then popular songs.

I have no idea why, because neither me or my sister had any interest in the Smurfs at all, but we played that album quite a lot. And track one on that CD was called The Smurfs Are Back which was this but with the lyrics oh oh oh the Smurfs are back now that's all about the Smurfs. That's how I knew this growing up. So I've gone back and had a look at this album and it's not just no limit that they decided to have a go at they did Boom Bastic by Shaggy, of all people.

They did a cover of Oh So Quiet. They did Love Is All Around. They did Living Next Door to Alice, apparently, on this album as well. And they did an original song called Football Forever, which contains no reference to the Smurfs at all. It's just about football, other than a line that says, it's a smurfing good game. football other than a line that says it's a smurfing good game. It also says on the wiki page that they plan to have multiple covers from What's the Story in Morning Glory show up as covered by the Smurfs. They wanted to do Roll with it, Wonderwall and some might say but Noel Gallagher himself intervened to stop it and said we hated the Smurfs as kids I'm not letting a bunch of blue guys in white hats touch our stuff. So yes, that's history of the Smurfs go bop.

So yeah, I always, always, even now when I hear this I expect to say, the Smurfs are back now, so I can't, maybe that's why I see it as really cheesy in camp. Are you disappointed that it doesn't have those lyrics to it? Do you get a slight heart sink that it's not the Smurfs version? It feels, it just feels a bit wrong. Even though it's right, it feels a bit wrong. You know like how the original, we're going to Barbados, like I grew up on that. Yeah, yeah. Rob will as well, not so sure about you Ed, but we grew up on we're going to Ibiza. So hearing we're going to Barbados sounds odd, it sounds really weird, like it's

not finished yet, like it needs more time in the oven and I think that's how No Limit feels because it needs to be about the Smurfs to be fully finished. Yes, so that aside, no I really really like this, I'm not, I haven't decided, I don't think I'm going to vault it just because like I say I think there is, ironically enough, a limit and also I forgot to mention as well I do sort of need to knock the points off for that rap section because it is rubbish like one real problem I'm having lately with this genre is the just total lack of quality control on the rap verses they just are there to serve a purpose and no one's

listening back to them before they put them in the song it seems like they're just sort of thrown in like right as the CDs are being printed almost because there's just no quality control on them at all and I would say to reference an early installment from the genre of terrible rap verses in otherwise great dance songs I'm serious as melanoma when I say that rap verse puts me in a coma. It is like almost the high watermark in terms of tightness was that verse on the power by Snap. That was good. And it's been kind of just gradually, gradually sinking down and down even on the

same two unlimited album to get to this point where it's got like a fuck diction who needs it? much crowd yeah all right then so the second song up this week is this I'm not a Carolina come up on me, oh watch how she groove Carolina come wine for me, oh watch how the girl groove Oh Carolina, got a bruh love Girl you'll be jumpin' brons Oh Carolina is a girl She's dead on top of the world But now she rock her body And I move just like a squirrel Okay, this is O'Carolina by Shaggy. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album titled Pure Pleasure, O'Carolina

is Shaggy's first single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one, and it's not the last time we'll be coming to Shaggy during our 90s coverage. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by the Folks Brothers in 1958. O'Carolina first entered the UK charts at number 62, reaching number 1 during its 7th week. It stayed at number 1 for… 2 weeks! In its first week atop the charts, it sold 64,000 copies, beating competition from Mr. Loverman 93 by Shabba Ranks, which climbed to number 3, Informer by Snow, which climbed to number 8, Short Sharp Shock EP by Therapy, which got to number 9, and Too Young to Die by Jamiroquai, which climbed to number 10.

And in week 2 it sold 67,000 copies, beating competition from Young at Heart 93 by The Bluebells, which got to number 5, Cats in the Cradle by Ugly Kid Joe, which climbed to number 7, Peace in Our Time by Cliff Richard, which got to number 8, and Jump They Say by David Bowie, which got to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, O'Carolina dropped one place to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, O'Carolina dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104 for 19 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2025. Could be pre-canter, might not be, unsure.

Andy Shaggy, O Carolina. Get in the cradle and still have spoon. Yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas. Yes, this is like, I said to you two before, that I had about four words on this and two of them were O Carolina. Because it's tough to get juice out of this lemon and turn it into lemonade to be honest I don't think it's bad by any stretch of the imagination to be honest like it's fine, but like it really is sort of middle-of-the-road fine to be honest I Feel like unless I'm missing something huge here

Although this probably wasn't intended as a novelty song, I think this has been treated as a novelty song. It's been bought with a novelty mindset because there's not much in this that would attract attention, especially from over there in America. Like there's not that much to attract interest. So I am tempted to think that this is just like a mildly funny voice that is attracting attention here because Shaggy does have a mildly funny voice, depends on the song obviously and like he will start ramping that up a lot more as the years progress which we talked about funnily enough years before on It's 21. But I do kind of think there's just a bit of a thing with Shaggy of like,

yeah, whatever. This is more of a sound than a song, really. You know, does anyone look back on this with any great fondness, especially when compared to Shaggy's other hits, which I think all three of his other number ones, I think it's three. All three of us on the number ones are much more fondly remembered than this. I think they're all much better than this it feels like a fair shot across the bow for someone's career because there's not much here not the finished article yeah

but obviously hook it into the fact that his voice sells records for good reasons or bad and other than that I've just got nothing to say nothing to say it's like okay British public you do your thing. Yes, his voice is peculiar. You go buy it, enjoy it. Nothing else to say on this one. I just, I really, really don't understand this. Yeah, it's just totally fine.

Like the most average thing that we've heard in years, I think, yeah. For the first sort of 90 seconds, I'm really into this. I think this is something completely different compared to what we've covered on the show before The UK definitely has a bit of a dance hall and ragga obsession at the moment We've just had you know gone past mr. Lut, you know, Shabba ranks and snow the informer you know the there's one coming at the start of 94 as well, which we're not far away from and It just needed maybe a character like Shaggy obviously with them on a ragga tip as well, which we're not far away from and It just needed maybe a character like Shaggy obviously with them on a ragged tip as well

But I feel like it just maybe needed a character like Shaggy To take it to the top because Shaggy even from this early point. It's full of personality unmistakable behind the microphone Not quite operating at his peak yet and not quite leaning into how wonderfully unique his voice is yet but he's most of the way there and he's definitely the strongest individual presence we've had as a vocalist on this podcast for quite a while because whenever Shaggy opens his mouth you know it's him and I think as a pop star if people can recognize you

like that you have something going on there. But then it just kind of repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats and I lose patience with it. And Andy, I also get the sense that while the UK did have a bit of a dancehall obsession around this time, I don't think this is countercultural folks going like, oh yeah, let's get some dancehall to the top of the charts. I think there's part of me thinking this reached the top of the charts because we saw Shaggy as a bit of a Jamaican jester.

Like, oh, did you see that funny man on the TV with the funny voice kind of thing? And I think that they were aware of that, the potential, you know, Shaggy and his team and they play up to it and they leave the track running in that mould rather than trying to move it forwards or bring something new to the table but it's definitely not bad and I'm always appreciative when the chart offers up different flavours and this week we have gone from Techno into Dancehall and Raga and we'll be going out into a bit of jangly country pop as well but yeah I just have this sneaking suspicion that

I don't think this was bought for the same reasons as something like on a raga tip where it was like a bunch of people had been spending nights with DJs getting to know rga and dancehall scenes from Jamaican immigrants in urban areas in the UK, I think that this is more families sitting at home in their living rooms looking at a funny man with a funny voice from another country going like, oh, oh, wouldn't it be funny if, and then it happened. And it feels a little bit like with Mr. Boonpastic when he comes back it's like, right, we're gonna lean into this full pelt. And it feels a little bit like way when I was a kid as well because like when I was 8, 8 years old, 8 years old, 7 years old when it wasn't me, got into the charts, Shaggy

having a funny voice was all of the appeal that he had to kids. I mean he starts doing actual comedy songs, you know Mr. Bumpastic could be taken, maybe it's a comedy song, maybe not, whereas like Mejoolee and It Wasn't Me, they're straight up comedy tracks and by that point he's playing into the character massively and I think it's a character that was kind of designed for him a little bit. But Ed, how about you? I haven't got that much to add. I think my feelings are roughly the same as you guys.

And I agree, Robert, that there was a real sense of novelty, I remember. It was a great singer for kids to do an impression of. But at the same time, you know, as you implied, he does own it. You know, it is his voice and he doesn't really care. And I think he knows that it's fun and it's not meant to be some sort of serious, you know, inroads into the pop charts for pure dance hall or anything like that but

yeah it's I I like it it's a little bit sluggish which isn't helped by the fact that as you say Rob it's not got a huge amount to it the original version is a little shorter as songs were in those days the one the only one thing in this that I think is a major knock against it is that fucking metallic cowbell surrogate sound. Oh I know! It's so irritating! It's like a horrible resonance through the whole track but it could be worse. Now I'm gonna kind of fill time here by doing a little bit more comparison with the folks brothers version Which for you know being written in 58 think was released in 60 was pretty ahead of its time

In terms of what it was bringing to the table very interested Influential I gather on rocksteady and scar and things like that and you can hear it for a track from my era It's like oh you could put this you know a few years down the line And it has its own overbearing repetitive pattern to it, which is this horrible like overly loud Simple conga pattern that plays through the whole thing so it's like pick your poison for which Repetitive trilling sound you would like in your song. I actually think shaggy's is less heinous but only by her hair. Now on first pass I thought well I've not got anything to say about this like you said Andy. On the first pass I thought of the 1960 version because I thought I'd give that a listen for added interest. It sounds

pretty, very similar actually you, accepting some some 90s production tropes and sparkle. However, Shaggy's delivery is really, you know, it's far throatier, it's far more in-your-face and it adds an element of lasciviousness to the track, a little element of swagger that is completely absent from the original, which is probably doomed by its own era and the limits of it and the to the track. A little element of swagger that is completely absent from the original which probably doomed by its own era and the limits of it and the fact that it was you know finding its feet as a new style. It sounds very polite, doesn't sound very sexy whereas you know it's all on the surface text stuff in the original I think. If there

is supposed to be the implication that you know the dancing stuff is a little more of a sexual signification isn't really let on by the arrangement or the vocals whereas Shaggy again, Mr Boombastic comes in and it really has that you know Mr Lover Man trope played very large, but it does give the song added strut and it gives it a sense of fun and a sense of momentum, kind of lacking from the original, which a lot of people will probably think is fucking sacrilege, but I do think that it illustrates novelty though it may be, what a kind of fun and charismatic and unusual presence, especially to mainstream ears, Shaggy's voice was at the time.

And so while you could easily say the 1958 slash 60 version is, has historical importance on its side, I think you can't understate how, how much that voice captivated people in the early to mid 90s, in the UK particularly. And ultimately, to be fair, it took very overt dancehall tropes overseas eventually. You know, it started making an impact in the States to the tune of Platinum Sales, as I recall. So, hey, whatever gambitit it was it evidently worked. Yeah his voice is like seeing him in a sort of an earlier guise I suppose you can sort of see where

the bits of his voice are that he leans into if you will it's kind of like Homer in season two of The Simpsons Not quite listening to frosty chocolate milkshakes Yeah, it's a bit a bit more advanced than that, but it feels like we're not quite there yet Well, I think you know it's season three into four where Dan Casalinato really masters like Homer's voice whereas like you know Shaggy feels more like he's in the season two dancing Homer kind of mold. And yeah, okay. Like, you know, as a, he's not like a great singer or anything like that, but he is, he is a great vocalist though. Yeah. I think he has charm. He has a lot of charm. Yeah. I just want to elaborate a bit more on the whole, you know, always got a funny voice thing that I didn't immediately want to take it to a racial place, especially because I was going first.

Maybe I didn't want to take it that seriously, to be honest, because I don't think many people would have taken it that seriously. But now that it's come up in the discussion anyway, I just want to say the thing that was really coming to my mind with this was because I got high from 2001 where I think there is a lot of the same I'm not gonna say the same appeal because that implies it's the text itself which is creating that which it isn't I think there is a lot of the same people purchasing and I just have this sneaking suspicion that there is a certain section of the British public in the 90s and 90s, maybe still now, but certainly in the 90s and 90s, that will make problematic purchases and have problematic opinions on race given the slightest encouragement. And both this and Because I Go High are quite good examples of that.

I have no evidence to back that up, but it does feel like there's a common world there between those two. It feels and maybe I'm completely misguided and it's painted by the sort of era Well the place I was in the world at the time. This feels a little bit more fun loving and innocent than Because I got high which it really is leaning into, as you say, like this is textual stereotyping in a way. That's not quite here. You know, this this linguistic novelty, but a lot of that was just drawn from the musical heritage anyway.

Do you know what I mean? It wasn't just like this is how we live our lives. Do you get what I mean? Yeah, because it's not like all music by black artists. Clearly not. You know, how many songs have we covered by blackists, but there's definitely something about, oh, the funny voiced man from Jamaica, like there's just something about that, that... hmmm... yes. Another time, it's another time, isn't it? Yeah. All right then, so the third and final song this week is this Young at heart yet water-slung, for the poor they're tied They married young, full of their last? Was it only right?

How come I love them now? How come I love them more? Your love at heart Your soul Your love at heart Okay, this is Young At Heart by The Bluebells. Released as the only single from the band's first compilation album titled The Singles Collection, Young At Heart is the Bluebell's seventh single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, however as of 2025 it is their last. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by Bananarama in 1983.

The song had already charted at number 8 for the Bluebells in 1984. Young At Heart first entered the UK charts at number 5, reaching number 1 during its fifth week. It stayed at number 1 for 4 weeks. In week 1 it sold 67,000 copies beating competition from Fever by McDonough which got to number 6, When I'm Good and Ready by Sybil which climbed to number 8 and Show Me Love by Robin S which climbed to number 10. In week 2 it sold 74,000 copies, beating competition from Don't Walk Away by Jade which climbed to number 9 and Ain't No Love Ain't No Use by Sub Sub which got to number 10. In week 3 it sold 64,000 copies, beating competition from You Got To Know by Capella, which climbed

to number 9, and in week 4 it sold 48,000 copies, beating competition from Regret by New Order, which climbed to number 4, and I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston, which got to number 9. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Young at Heart dropped 1 place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts, both it stays on the chart, it had been inside the top 100 for 24 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2025, again, pre-canter. Just want to mention show me love robin s So far ahead of its time was originally released in 1990

Yeah, yeah, yeah made its way over here very slowly, but still feels very ahead of its time. That's 1990 Incredible. Yeah, I love hearing elements of that Still pop up all the time even in the 2020s. Yeah. Yeah love that song Ed the bluebells young at heart My young at young at young at heart my young at heart Younging through the heart Dougal we've got to get rid of that fiddle solo Dougal, we've got to get rid of that fiddle solo. Now, this song has a lot to like about it.

It's catchy, it has multiple hooks, the verses have a nice laid back 80s jangle pop sound, and there is good use of backing vocals to create counterpoint and stop things getting stale. Nonetheless, I kind of hate this. I'm not going to lie. I mean, you know, I complain about it a lot, but there is a difference between Ernest and Tui. And this crosses the line. Now it should get together with A Little Time by The Beautiful South and they should compare

their Sylvainian Family's collections or something. But the lead vocal is supposed to be off the cuff I gather, but it kind of goes into a sort of limp like, oh good old grandad, good old days. And it really though, I'm just stalling for time, it is the fiddle riff and the fiddle work that utterly sinks this for me. It's Morkish is how I would describe it and Hectoring. There's an aww shucks quality to it, like aww our kids, don't they grow up fast? Oh god, why did they let them do that bloody solo?

It's an aberration. I mean I'm not 100% sure. Is it supposed to be like, oh this song sounds completely edgeless. Do like an acoustic tribute to Brian Eno's first solo album. But I don't know if it's just that or if it's just shit. But either way it doesn't fit and the fiddle seems to overtake the mix in the whole song and just that insistently twee-cloying main riff makes me want to rip my hair out. The whole thing is just... Yeah, cloying is how I would describe this.

Which is a shame because it's well-made. And it is memorable. Which is, I'm sounding like a stuck record here because I keep saying the same things. It's like, it's well-made. It's a good pop song. They know what they're doing. It's interesting.

But I hate it. But I kind of, yeah. No, I find this irritating. Andy, do you find it as irritating as Ed? Er, no. No. Before I get started in my main remarks, I'm just gonna do another Simpsons reference based on what Ed just said and quickly slip into Wayland Smithers.

You leave the beautiful south out of this! Yeah. Yeah, sorry. That was a low blow. You leave the beautiful south out of this. Yeah, sorry, that was a low blow. Yeah, I disagree, to be honest. But I think it's one of those situations where you genuinely can just agree to disagree and like fair enough, because I will accept that this song completely lives or dies based on what you think of that riff. Like, it's on the turn of the coin. Like, it really is. Like, if you can't get into that fiddle, then you're doomed with this.

Whereas I can. I do actually quite like that riff. I know that it's incongruous and it's quite high pitched and it's quite squeaky and it's the most pitched and it's quite squeaky and it's the most distracting thing in the song but I actually just kind of like that. I think for one thing it's something different. I'm not saying it's the most authentic thing in the world, clearly it's not the most authentic thing in the world, but it's at least doing something with instrumentation that we don't hear very often. I have a lot of the same sympathies towards dupe by dupe which is coming in a year or so which is not

I know Rob I know it's I haven't yet settled my feelings on that song But I do at least like how the instrumentation in that is not afraid to do things that You should be afraid to do quite frankly And I do quite like that that feel so I was in there They don't need to do it as relentlessly as they do. And I wish there was a bit more variation in there. I wish there was an actual proper solo for that fiddle where they really, like, it felt live to some extent. It never feels live. It always feels like it's been tracked in, which is a big disappointment. But as a reinvention of the original, as a cover that generally is putting its own stamp on it and that has a new sound yeah I quite like this I wouldn't say that I would deliberately

say listen to this at any time but I wouldn't skip it in a playlist I think it's relatively pleasant to listen to as for like what inspired it and why that fiddle solo is in there I have no idea the only point of relationship that I could possibly think of it's very unlikely is Have you seen back to the future three? Where the that's the one that's set in the Wild West and that came out in 1990 I think maybe 91 actually so very soon before this and that has a song in it Which is that a sort of?

Exactly like that fiddle solo. That's the country version of ZZ Topps double back. Yeah, it's a cover of that song made to promote the film and I think that little moment in the film is generally quite liked and people like that fiddle solo that they hear throughout that scene. That film's only come out a year or two before this so that could Possibly be some relationship, but like I'm clutching the straws there to be honest One other thing I had to mention with this I might be going mad here But it's not quite a theory corner because I'm only talking about something quite basic

But it's something on a musical level that I just couldn't get away from basic but something on a musical level that I just couldn't get away from. It can't have consciously inspired it because it's so different it's hilarious so maybe it unconsciously inspired it but that verse melodically it's some might say like it's so similar to some might say like it's in the same key it hits in the same point of the bar and it's the same tune It's like you could put the words some might say and instead of younger heart and it would be the same not the whole verse But that little us that are so that little some might say and young at heart Coming from one bar into the next it's the same

So I don't know if that potentially is why some might say which is bizarre Because they can't have well have been an unconscious influence. We you know, it's it's one of those ones that it's hard to disagree It's hard to disprove and it's also so similar that I can't Quite ignore it. It could be one of those things like what happened with Ed Sheeran with let's get it on where it's just like a genuine similarity that You can't quite ignore because there's only so many notes and melodies and harmonies in the world you know or it could be that yeah it did inspire and they didn't quite realize I don't know it's just something that jumped out to me to be honest but yeah I like this a lot more than you did Ed but like I say I completely accept that that fiddle solo you've got to get with

it or you are finished with this so very happy to just respectfully disagree on that but it's something But it's something different. It's something different and it's something fun. Yeah. It is, it is. I just, I just, it does rub me the wrong way. I think you hit on it there. Cause it is, it's the fiddle.

If that fiddle were subdued or it actually had, it wasn't so repetitive in its riff, I would probably have very different feelings. Yeah. I think I'd land in the middle of U2 on this. The reason for it being in the chart again is it's a Volkswagen advert that has sent this to the top of the charts. Volkswagen have picked this up nine years after its original release, perhaps inspired

by the popularity of that ZZ Top Song in Back to the Future III. Like a few songs from before I was born, the first time I ever heard Young at Heart was as part of a joke on Phoenix Nights in the second season episode, The Quiz Night, where Ray Vaughan is the quiz master and it comes to the music round and he says, now, I want the name of the song, not the artist, and then proceeds to accidentally press play on Young Get High. And the whole room yells at him for playing the wrong song. A great episode of a great comedy show. But because that's all I knew of this song for years, I was really surprised to find that the rest of the song proceeds in a kind of jangly pop country folk-ish fashion,

and this week I've been trippily surprised to find out that this is the cover of a Bananarama song which was written by Robert Hodgins of the Bluebells and given to Bananarama and then he took it and remodelled it for himself. So yeah, I appreciate the effort here taken to change the composition and bend it into something completely new. I doubly appreciate the effort by Robert Hodgins to take the song he'd given to Bananarama, turn it into something for the Bluebells. I'm just kind of on the fence because like Q-Ed, I also find it a bit twee, a bit gimmicky as well to be honest, and it's only really here because of that advert, and no matter how many times I hear it,

I'm always a bit mystified when it immediately reveals itself to be a bit of a barm dance number. A real outlier again in the sort of early 90s chart. So I appreciate the variety, again I appreciate the UK public throwing their weight behind something that's different but I don't know, I just... Not for me. I was in, funnily enough, I was in the entertainer kids shop in the Arndale about six months ago. I think it was around the time we started this 90s series, so maybe a little more recently than six months ago. And I just heard it, like, I was just sort of...

We were in there looking for bluey toys for a friend of ours her son we were looking they might have been just before Christmas then but um yeah we were looking for bluey toys in the entertainer and I just sort of heard it faintly come over the speaker system just there yeah yeah and I thought oh yeah I need to pay more attention to this because I'll be coming to this in a few weeks and I'd again forgotten that it was like a It was all a bit muppet see like, you know, it's time to play the music etc But yeah, I don't know. I just find it is such a curiosity this But not one I particularly love

Really? I don't hate it. I'm not pie-holing this, I just find it a bit... I feel like in the 90s is like... Actually, you know, maybe the 70s is peak naffness, but the 90s runs it bloody close for peak naffness, I think. I think the 70s probably, yeah, but there's a bit of a naff revival going on in the 90s and I feel like this is at the crest of the wave. Do you know what's interesting about this? Just thinking about it. Mentioning earlier Andy that Buddy Holly and the Crickets are back in the charts,

probably because of Heartbeat. This could have been the theme tune to Heartbeat. Do you know what I mean? It's got that sort of slightly smearing, navel gaze-y kind of, you know, it's very easy going and easy rolling in that slightly pre-packaged way. I can't believe you've said that because I thought exactly the same thing. I swear to God, exactly. I said that's so strange that when I was listening to this I kept thinking heartbeat for some reason. That's what, what is the relationship there? That is very interesting nostalgia. Yeah, just this case got that you know, Werther's original

vibe going on. That is odd. No offence to the song. It is a really well written song and it's really catchy and I understand why it was a hit. I'm not going to take that away from you. Also interested to hear about new additions to the entertainers playlist. My first job was in the entertainer and I knew that playlist so well that I used to know what time it was from what song was playing and younger heart was not on there yeah interesting about that yeah how long was the playlist that that was usually the killer where you worked in retail or hours it got changed oh good I still remember seven o'clock was telly tubbies eight o'clock was call the shots and nine o'clock that was after the story cleared out so they put some more fun stuff on and nine o'clock was bonkers. I think

What a collection so Ed no limit. Oh Carolina young at heart. Where are we sending them? Do I feel no limits chances of reaching the vault are one? limited to No limits chances of reaching the vault are one, limited, two, unlimited or three, both of the above. And the answer is three. If it didn't feel so kind of, you know, polished and by the numbers in its structure, like it was like, this is the refined version. It might threaten the vaulting because it is really good. But I just, I don't know. I like the previous thing a little bit more.

Very subjective. Oh Carolina doesn't need to prowl off, nor does it jump and dance its way into the vault. So more lukewarm sentiment from me. And finally, blue bells aren't over the white cliffs of Dover, but I can't bring myself to drown them, so they remain embedded in the cliff face like some Tweed Mount Rushmore. And the two unlimited shaggy and the blue bells. Yeah, I do really love No Limit, but I wouldn't say that my love for it is unlimited. If I was in Wicked, I'd be describing my feelings towards the song as limited.

I'm not going to put it in the vault. It's a really close one, a really close one. I might be being a bit harsh, but there's just a bit too much counting against it compared to other songs that I put in the vault so no but that's a close one. As for O'Carolina it's not O'Caropina but it's also not O'Volterlina either that's just staying in the middle and finally it may be Young at Heart but it's not Young in the Vault it's just staying in the middle, so all three in the middle for me this week, yeah. Okay then, yeah. So for two unlimited, yep, that is definitely Vault material for me. Fair does.

More than only just, it's not flying in, but it's, you know, it's there. It's there. Um... Oh Carolina, yep, I'm gonna say the same as you heard, it doesn't need to prowl off or jump and prance or whatever It's just kind of staying in the middle and it's the same with the blue bells as well So that is it for this week's episode. Thank you very much for listening when we come back We'll be continuing our journey through 1993 we are almost at the halfway point of the decade unbelievable we will see you for it bye bye now bye bye bye Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, the splits are back now

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, the splits are back now Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, the splits are back now Let's change for the better!