Hits 21 - 1994 (1): Chaka Demus & Pliers, D:Ream, Mariah Carey

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21: The 90s.At the roundtable this week it's Rob, Ed, and Andy!This week - Chaka Demus gets some help from some taxi folks, D:Ream are in the charts for millions of years, and Mariah Carey is no sex, no dancers, no autotune, 100% talent.Email: [e-mail]: https://bsky.app/profile/hits21uk.bsky.social

Hits 21 Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21, the 90s where me, Rob, me, Andy and looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. Hello Ed. If you want to get in touch with us, you can. Email us, send it on over to hits21podcast at gmail.com. We're also on Blue Sky. I'm trying to get that started up if I remember. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year, and it's our first step into the year 1994 and this week we'll be covering the period between the 1st of January and the 12th of March so stepping into a new year which means it's time to press on

with this week's episode and here are some news headlines. 68 people are killed when a mortar bomb explodes in a market in Sarajevo in Bosnia. Catherine, the Duchess of Kent, becomes the first British royal in 300 years to convert to Catholicism. Serial killer Fred West is charged with two more murders after the discovery of his daughter Heather's remains, and thieves steal Edvard Munch's The Scream from a museum in Norway. 29 people are killed when terrorist Baruch Goldstein opens fire on a mosque in Palestine. BMW takes full financial control of Rover after British Aerospace sells 80% of its shares. The IRA launches three bomb attacks on Heathrow Airport, although all three bombs fail to explode and former Manchester United

manager Sir Matt Busby dies aged 84. In America, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked with a crowbar in Detroit. The assailant, Shane Stant, had been hired by a man named Jeff Galulli, who was husband to Kerrigan's skating rival, Tonya Harding. Harding was eventually banned from skating for life, and 20 people are killed after a huge earthquake hits Los Angeles. Goodness, what a rough few months. Wow. Yeah, lot going on there. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. After

Aladdin's seven week reign comes to an end, we have Tombstone for one week, Mrs. Doubtfire for five weeks and Philadelphia for one week. And on the BBC, Jules Holland hosts the very first Hooternanny on New Year's Eve into New Year's Day. That's that music show he does. David Dimbleby takes over as the host of Question Time, with previous host Peter Sissons stepping down after four years. And if that's not enough to get the kids gathered round the TV, well, whoah, turn off Simpson Season 5 because the first episode of Time Team is broadcast on Channel 4. Whoah, look kids, Tony Robinson's about to find a coin.

And BBC2 debuts a new spoof comedy series, The Day Today, featuring the likes of Armando Iannucci, Rebecca Front, Chris Morris and Steve Coogan in his TV debut as Alan Partridge. This is the news. The BBC show's live coverage of a 31-mile charity walks through the Channel Tunnel. And in America, the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl after beating Buffalo Bills by 30 points to 13. The halftime show featured a group of American country musicians, including Clint Black and Winona Judd. I almost read that as Cilla Black there, that would have been very interesting.

What a surprise. Andy, the UK album charts, how are they doing in the first quarter of 94? We begin with Diana Ross with her compilation One Woman, The Ultimate Collection. Not much of a collection of women if there's only one woman in it, but never mind. Yes, so that goes four times platinum and is at number one for one week. Before it's replaced by a returning entry at number one, which is Everything Changes by Take That. Everything Changes but the charts so it seems. That's also at number 1 for 1 week and goes 4 times platinum.

Then we've got Brian Adams who takes the top spot with So Far So Good. Hmm, we'll say So Far. Yeah. And that went number 1 for 1 week and went double platinum before Diana Ross is back in again with that same compilation for another week. Then we've got Shaka Damos and Plyers with their album Tease Me in for two weeks and go single platinum. And then here's a name we've definitely not had before, we've got Tori Amos with Under the Pink which went number one for one week at the start of February and went platinum Still a few more to go, we've got Enigma with The Cross of Changes also one week and went single platinum

and then Mariah Carey comes back in with Music Box, I say comes back in because I got number one late last year so a few months later that's back in for another four weeks which is quite amazing for a returning album to do that, another four weeks at the top and that ultimately went five times platinum and that sees us through to the end of this period so actually loads and loads of faces showing up but then Mariah Carey just comes and stomps them all with an album that's not even new So impressive from Mariah there. So Ed, the US, is Mariah dominant over there as well?

1994, guys, I am excited for 1994. Fantastic year for music, fantastic year for music. You know, Selected Ambient Works, Apex Twin, Illmatic by Nas, just fantastic year for music. Live Through This by Hole. The Blue Album by Weezer, I know that's near and dear to your heart, Rob. Fantastic.

Fantastic year for music. Jeff Buckley's Grace, Radiohead, Turn the Corner with My Iron Lung. Ready to Die, Dub No Base with My Headman by Underworld. Fantastic, just a fantastic year for music. Outkast's debut album, Stress the Extinction Agenda, fantastic, fantastic year for music. Offspring's debut, Sunny Day Real Estate, fantastic year for music, seriously. Vox All A Night, Gravedigger's debut, just fantastic, seriously.

Parklife. Parklife, absolutely, and definitely maybe. Sparks, Gratuitas Sax, their best album in fucking eons. Fantastic, fantastic year for music. I Could Live In Hope by Lo. The Sun Rises In The East by Jiru and The Damager. Or Jiru, The Damager as its name actually is it's fantastic fantastic year for music God I can't wait to cover all of these artists on this show yeah sorry I have another

piece of paper right albums America that's what we're here for. New Year's Day to March the 12th, 1994. Mariah Carey is still on top with her music box before it loses momentum after an additional two weeks when she's briefly chased by a dog. Snoop Dogg, that is, only to return to spinning slowly around and plinking and plonking in an agreeably tasteful decorative fashion for three further weeks. I love the idea of Mariah Carey

being chased by a dog. Not like out of any kind of sadistic thing, I don't wish her any harm, but just she's so kind of preened and rehearsed with everything she does that a kind of chaotic caper like that I would just love to see from her I.K.R.E. just to chill her out a little bit just be chased by a dog like a nice little friendly sausage dog that just wants to play that would be really fun. Yeah. Never mind. Maybe that's what that movie she released that no one saw was about. Oh Glitter.

Oh did you see it? No nobody saw it because it came out on September 11th 2001. I shouldn't laugh. That's very unfortunate. Hey, hey, look the blueprint's still sold by Jay-Z. That came out that day. Yes. What's Mariah Carey's excuse, eh?

That's true, yeah. Anyway, Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains shows up for a week, creating quite a buzz before losing its blue grungy bottle when John Michael Montgomery chases it off with a newspaper, kicking it up to the top of the charts for a single week before Toni Braxton rejoins the single week relay race we seem to have going on with her self-titled debut, Tony Braxton. Before again, oh look, Symmetry of my very favorite kind,

it's Music Box again for another two weeks. Hope you like hearing about Music Box because that's not the last time I think you're going to be hearing about music box. Right, singles. Oh good, it's Mariah Carey. It takes three, count them, three supervillains to take down her three weeks of heroics. As Brian Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting cross their inert

Brian Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting cross their inert M.O.R. streams to create a truly thing stuff. It's all for love for all of three weeks. And Celine Dion seems to agree, striking tepid gold with her cover of mid-80s hit, The Power of Love. No, not that mid-80s power of love. No, not that mid-80s power of love. The other, other mid-80s power of love. Before finally, a sign from the heavens. Well, from Sweden anyway. It's only those ace of bastards again. Back to you, Rob. Alright then, thank you both for those reports and we are going to crack on with the first song this week, which is this. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, yes, yeah Mmm, mmm, mmm, yeah Well, come on now, baby Twist, twist, twist, all day Oh, honey, twist and die

Now, wake up on the floor Come on, come on, come on, come on, baby Now, now Come on, baby Oh, we can work it on out Work it on out You know your twix so good Twix so wonderful

You know your twix good, you know your tweets so fine Come on, twist a little closer now, so the world don't mind She got me moving all over, oh the weight is on my shoulder Girl, if you can't be my lover Oh, what should I do? I heard her talking, I'm talking, I'm talking, I'm talking, I'm talking Titty-dum titty-dum, me ba Just keep on moving, baby You're still up there when you work off your body Okay, this is Twist and Shout by Shaka Damos and Plyers.

Released as the fifth single from the duo's fourth studio album, titled Tease Me, Twist and Shout is Shaka Damis and Player's third single 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 The Top Notes in 1961. Twist and Shout first entered the UK charts at number 4, reaching number 1 during its fourth week. It stayed at number 1 for… 2 weeks! In its first week atop the charts, it sold 70,000 copies, beating competition from Things Can Only Get Better by D-Ream which climbed to number 10. And in week 2 it sold 66,000 copies beating competition from anything by Culture Beat

which got to number 5 and All For Love by Bryan Adams, Sting and Rod Stewart which got to number 7. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Twist and Shout dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 15 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2025, but that's based on pre-Kantar stuff. So Andy kick us off with Shaka-Demus and Pliers. Yeah, interesting one this, because it's really starting to become apparent to me that in the early to mid 90s the UK really was

having a bit of a moment with, I mean you know between this mysterious girl, the collective shaggy verse as well, that, you know, we really quite liked this reggae-adjacent, Caribbean-coded, chill-pop sort of thing. And it's not my favourite thing, to be honest. Like, it's not my favourite kind of genre. I think it's a little bit close to stuff I really don't like, like UB40 to me to be honest and I will say that this is certainly nowhere near as bad as anything UB40 have done but that's a low bar. It just doesn't really vibe with me this sort of thing to be honest and I think it's because there's a lot of songs that

we've covered on this show that are basically just superficial and it's just about the superficialities of it but I think this really does stand out as that to be honest that it's just the superficial stuff like it's a cover of Twist and Shout that has been made to sound Caribbean influenced right I'm not going to call it reggae because it's more kind of reggae adjacent than anything really with a little bit of shaggy sort of thing thrown in. It's a novelty it's just a song that people like from the past given a somewhat modern spin and that's just it really that's all there is to it and that's fine like they do a

perfectly decent job with it but it can't really excite me in any way partly because the genre just isn't really for me but also because I just think this is relatively low hanging fruit. It's quite an easy win, really, because Twists and Shouts is already quite well geared towards this sort of thing. Like it's a song that, you know, the original version and well, not the original original version, but the Beatles version. Like it does that thing where the ones and threes bounce against the twos and fours

and where there's a very simple one, four, five chord structure that just keeps on repeating all the way through lots of room to be kind of loosey-goosey and throw in improv bits as well very, very easy to transfer into this sort of genre so it's not blowing my mind, to be honest I also think it's way too long, way too long and it's not quite touching four minutes actually. So it's not that long, but compared to the two minutes,

two and a half minutes-ish that we're used to from Twist and Shout, it really, really shows because I think it's something that's often remarked upon about early popular music, late fifties rock and roll, early sixties, Mersey Beat kind of stuff, that it's extremely short, that these songs are really, like, known for their brevity.

And when you try and lengthen them, you can really see why, because that's one of the great things about early popular music, that's why I find it so exciting, is that it's just ruthlessly efficient, it's just, bam, here's all our hooks in the first 20 seconds We're just gonna smash them over and over again And you won't get bored because it's only gonna last for two minutes or less than that something like that's alright You know last for like 90 seconds. You know that these songs are made to be quick Like rushes to the endorphins where you have a little bit of a laugh You kind of go nuts a bit and go crazy while you're singing them You wreck your voice while you're doing it and then you move on to the next one and you can get through a

whole album in half an hour. This is very different. It's sapping away all of that energy. As much as John Lennon's vocals on Twist and Shout are like, wince-worthy, that's kind of the appeal, that you really get a sense of just letting yourself go and having fun with it, which I don't think you get from this this ironically, despite the fact that it's in a completely different setting it feels much more restrained and much more safe

than the original Twists and Shout does to be honest so it's not wowing me, this is not for me but it sounds perfectly fine it's nice and summery and nice and cheery I think it's definitely the kind of thing that people would like to listen to in January to lift them up a bit in the cold and gloomy weather. But like I say, I think this is just a really kind of easy thing to do, to be honest.

And I'm not particularly impressed or engaged by it. It's just sort of, it exists and it's a superficiality thing that has nothing more to it than that. It's just an object. So yeah, that's all I've got on it really. Yeah, I don't feel that different to you Andy actually. You saying that, you know, it exists. It's kind of like us covering it.

It's kind of the only proof I have, if you know what I mean. Yeah. I think because it's January, you'd always expect acts like this to get to number one where they'd slowly been rising through the ranks and maybe had a couple of bigger hits after being signed to a major because they got signed to Ireland records but then getting a number one feels like something that could only really occur in January you know when everything's a bit quiet people aren't quite sure what to get

behind so a song like this benefits from attention when it might not have been enough to get the top spot at any other time of the year. But it feels a little incongruous at the same time just because we have such a summery song getting to number one in January. This is normally something I think we would expect to get to number one in August or September when the nation's been on holiday and they bring this back from Spain or you know somewhere in the Balearic Islands or wherever. And instead it seems that we fancied putting a bit of sunshine at the top of the charts during a dismal and snowy month.

I was reading a few reviews of this from 93 and 94 and apparently it became a big hit at 1993 work Christmas parties and it feels like that's kind of an ironic thing in the UK, like an ironic dance floor thing, like we kind of went through with Shaggy a little while ago. Like we're trying to force the weather to hear the song, but number one, and then act accordingly. Sort of thing. But I think, you know, that's basically it, I think, you know, that the point, you know, that this is a nice dose of sunshine and it's designed to encourage more smiles by just sunshine and it's designed to encourage more smiles by just smiling itself. They take a familiar song, they dress it up in their style in a way that probably took like

two minutes to work out and they use the natural charm of Chacodemus and players, you know, keep the good atmosphere going and I think this is also riding the wave of, you know, Dancehall and Raggo and stuff that's come to the UK charts over the last 18 months which you know i don't think is a bad thing i do have a few major issues with it though that yelping dog sound in the back that that sounds like a barking dog that's off somewhere that needs to be like hardcore got rid of this feels like the british public buying into an idea of Reggae and Dancehall again instead of tuning into the reality where like it seems like, you know, we think Reggae and Dancehall are all peace and love and mangoes.

Did you know that the name of the record label that they were signed to was Mango, by the way, it was a subsidiary of Ireland and it was called Mango. So yeah, I think, you know, yeah, they're kind of pushing that side of it a bit, whereas like for me, you know, the majority of it is all quite fiercely violent and political. A lot of reggae and a lot of dancehall and stuff like that. But above all, I think like you, Andy, I think this just is a bit too easy. I don't really get the sense of like inspiration from this like oh they really thought like oh yeah let's work really hard at this I just thought

oh well Twist and Shout is popular and it has a vaguely kind of you know we can give this some island rhythms kind of thing you know we can give it that flavor if you want and there you go. They've barely touched it, they've barely transposed it, they're basically just covering the same twist and shout that everyone else covers but just in a style that kind of comes to them by default. They spin it around for four minutes, call it a day. Don't hate it but I found myself getting a little impatient and slightly weary of it. Ed, can you offer a more positive assessment? Or is that not really possible right now with this?

What surprises me and it makes me think that, I don't know, maybe I've just been in a bad mood this week. I'm not sure. It's that I've been well into a lot of this stuff. You know, a lot of the dance hall oriented bits. I really like that Bitty McLean number two. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like the feel of it.

It was good. This... How do you make twist and sound sound indistinct and not dynamic? I would have thought it was intrinsically exciting. I mean, I suppose it's a subversive take because everyone's got the associations of, you know, as you alluded to Andy, John Lennon doing his, you know, you look so good.

The real gravel voice, which I love. Take it, take it, take it, take it, take it! That was, sorry, that was a back to back two of the worst impressions I've ever done of anybody. And that's saying something. But, er... Yeah, I... You know, it's either that or it's Ferris Bueller dancing about in the street. It's got these big poppin' party moments.

And so it's almost like, hey, we don't need to do shit here because it already signifies party. People will be partying in their own heads with their own memories. So it can be the most flat rendition possible. It's like the backing track is firmly in the background. It's not been backing track is firmly in the background. It's not been mastered at all so it's just one big distant brick wall. I mean it makes old

Carolina sound like fucking pressure drop or something. I mean it did the whole thing doesn't it sound a bit soggy? The whole bat... like it's been recorded inside a wet tea bag was was how I could describe it. And the vocals have just been rested on top, like it's been playing, it's played on an old car stereo and they've sung it over the top and recorded that. I mean, it's interesting that there is actually one of the collaborators on the truck, sounds like a Nazi or something, one of the collaborators involved. It's called, well, they're called the Taxi Gang, whoever the hell they are. I don't know if it says that on the collaborators involved. It's called, well, they're called the taxi gang,

whoever the hell they are. I don't know if it says that on the Spotify credits. But the image I got when I was listening to this before I actually registered that is of somebody driving a taxi. They have the radio on sort of half volume. They're not really listening. They're occasionally singing along with bits they remember.

And then they're kinda doing half half-assed banter with the passenger and then going back to sort of misremembering the words and banging their hand on the side of the cap. That's what it sounds like to me and the level of interest and engagement I got out of this. It's, you know, they've added like a couple of, like he finds a hook, sort of, and he added like a couple of, he finds a hook, sort of, and he does that a couple of times, but it doesn't really decide on anything. It doesn't know whether it wants to follow the course

of the original song or just talk a load of bollocks, so it just fluctuates between the two with no particular rhyme or reason. I mean, the big buildup bit from the original song. I mean, how do you make that flat? Well, they fucking try because it's like, I love you. I love you. I love you. And then he kind of goes, I love you. Ah! And then he kinda goes, ah! I love you.

Take it to baby. Jesus Christ, I'm alarmed that this was at number one. I don't get it. I really don't. And I feel like I should. I really like the original track. It has a really good vibe to it. I usually like this kind of music,

but this is just a big soggy nothing to me. I think it's, I think it's pants. Anyway, move on. I'm really like, I'm really like, it's just actually that you mentioned Ferris Bueller that hadn't really occurred to me because, just caveat, I am a little bit like, precious about it because Ferris Bueller's like,

one of my favorite films ever. Oh, it's a good movie. But like, I love that scene with Twist and Shout, partly because of kind of what you're saying about the raw energy of the song Where the the way that scene was filmed was a real parade that was really high Happening that they just hijacked and the crowd went with it with them singing twists and shouts because you can't help but go with it Like it's got such energy in there But so they didn't know what the hell was happening in that parade

But it just works as like movie magic partly because the song is just so infectious and you're right how is that lost because imagine imagine if they did the same scene with Ferris Bueller but with this version of Twist and Shout it would die in its arse Matthew Broderick would have been getting booed out of there like get off the street what are you doing? But you know the music video for this should have been somebody you know waiting in the traffic you know maybe in a cab with the windows down just and the only audio is what's happening outside the car and then I think that would be perfectly appropriate. Yeah it's just I agree

that I'm just mystified as to like how they lose so much. But then there's a few things in there that seem to be quite big Beatles deep cut things that they're doing. The one that really jumped out to me was at the very beginning, when they do that extreme panning thing from one ear to the other, right at the very start, which you can only really hear in headphones. But it's really horrible. And I hate it. That's one of my least favorite things that the Beatles do in their early years, stereo albums at least. Early stereo they were so

excited. Of all the things to take from early Beatles let's not take the extreme panning I don't like that. Yeah there's a reason that went out of fashion by about 1969 to be quite honest. I had labyrinthitis last year which is an inner ear infection where you lose your equilibrium you lose your sense of balance and feel like you've fallen over all the time and that's what that extreme panning does to me I absolutely hate that so this this song got off on the wrong foot straight away yeah by doing that well after such a bad start things can you know it You can walk my path, you can wear my shoes Land a tug like me, and be an angel too

But maybe, you ain't never gonna feel this way You ain't never gonna know me But I know you Singing in our days Can only get better Can only get better If we see it through That means me and I mean it too

So teach me how to think Can only get better Can only get, can only get Take it off from me, you know I know That things can only get better And all it gets better I sometimes lose myself in me I lose track of time And I can't see the woods, wall of trees

You set them alight Burn the bridges as you go I do it to fight you Okay, this is Things Can Only Get Better by D-Ream. Released as the second single from the group's debut studio album titled DREAM Volume 1, Things Can Only Get Better is DREAM's sixth single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, however as of 2025 it is their last. Things Can Only Get Better first entered the UK charts at number 35 in January 1993, reaching number 1 during its 8th week. It stayed at number 1 for… FOUR WEEKS! Across its four weeks atop the charts, it sold 279,000 copies beating competition from the following songs. Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos Save Our Love by Eternal

I Miss You by Hadaway and Here I Stand by Bitty McLean Breathe Again by Toni Braxton In Your Room by Depeche Mode and Return to Innocence by Enigma The Power of Love by Celine Dion and Give It Away by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Deeper Love by Aretha Franklin, Come Out in the Rain by Wendy Moten, Like to Move It by Reel to Real and Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Things Can Only Get Better dropped 1 place to number 2.

After originally leaving the charts in April 1994, the song re-entered the charts again in May 1997 and March 2014. By the time it was done on the charts across both of its stages, it had been inside the top 104. 3,786,432,000 light years. No, it was actually 28 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2025.

And for the first time in our 90s coverage, that is Kantar approved. We have passed the February, 1994 deadline. Everything from now on is recorded by Kantar, which means the figures will probably be more in line with how our Noughties coverage kind of organized things in terms of its certifications and each song selling certain numbers of copies.

So Ed, can things get better from Shaka Damis and the players? Well, let's just get the red flag out of the way Chomp chomp chomp chomp Um... Aw Yeah, yeah, the whole New Labour thing, yeah It's kind of the born in the USA Reagan campaign effect thing, isn't it? I mean, it's not actually as bad as the Reagan campaign effect, which completely misinterpreted that song

And I've heard that a trillion times, but Jesus Christ, if you heard the lyrics to Born in the USA recently, it's one of the least happy songs you've ever heard. Yeah. But anyway, moving along. This. Divorced from its political context is a good track. I really like it. I've enjoyed rediscovering this.

It's actually a lot more interesting and I know I use the word dynamic a lot, but it is. It's a lot more dynamic than I gave it credit for. And even this can't resist a little touch of Jamaica coming in with a, you know, there's a busy rumbling bass pedal point, some interesting cross rhythms going on. It mixes things up just enough in terms of the density of the sound to keep it going, because it could be very frilly and very lightweight, if that weren't the case. I mean, it's a deliberately simple statement,

but they give it 110%. It's got that broiling rhythmic undercurrent to it. And the lead chap, Mr. Reem, he's not quite got the skyscraping soul voice that he wants. I mean, in the intro, he keeps trying to give a bit of gravel and it doesn't quite work. It's going a little bit cookie monster occasionally but he's so

enthusiastic and he seems so kind of unselfconscious in his attempt to kind of sell this as an empowering moment that it doesn't fucking matter. There's such a lot of energy and such a lot of enthusiasm that it works. I enjoy this. It's got cheek. It's got a couple of satisfying little textural twists. That's about all I've got to say. I've just enjoyed this quite a lot and I can tell because when it stops after about four and a half minutes, I'm like, oh, oh, it's finished Unlike so many of the songs we've listened to recently in a similar sort of vein It's not like yeah wind it up guys, you know If you've done your little bag of tricks, but it just makes it up enough. I I rather like this one Yeah, it feels a bit weird to be talking about this in a 94 context, doesn't it?

I don't want to say too much on it, but all I'll say is that I agree with the theory put forward by Adam Curtis that over the last kind of 70 years, politicians have gone from running on campaigns about making the future better for everyone to running campaigns about how they can save us from threats that we don't understand. In my lifetime in this country I think Tony Blair's first election was probably the last time a major political campaign centered itself around optimism. This idea that things can get better and that Tony Blair can do it for you. Every election since, including the two

re-elections of Tony Blair, they seem to have been, like the campaigns have sort of been a series of shrugs followed by them sort of being like, they seem to have been, like the campaigns have sort of been a series of shrugs followed by them sort of being like, well, we're shit and we've got no money, so we can make your lives slightly marginally less worse as opposed to catastrophically worse, but at least we're not that guy on the other side of the podium. We're not Ed Miliband, we're not Jeremy Corbyn, we're not Rishi Sunak, and we'll do a better job of throwing those dangerous asylum seekers into the English channel. By the way, your council tax is up £50 this month. Sorry! For the song, I will say it does a decent job of offering up a British interpretation

of that kind of elated dance pop we felt creeping into the charts recently. Were it not for the American gospel elements, I would compare this to a lot of Eurobeat and Eurodance that we've gone past on this podcast recently, just in a way that's more kind of adult contemporary and family friendly, if you know what I mean. I think for all these gospel elements though, I think it lacks a sense of deep spirituality. I think it lacks a bit of weight for me. The mix is quiet to me, almost a bit too quiet. I don't think I'm being transported anywhere by it. It doesn't lift my soul.

I think it's a curious little thing though, with the styles that it chooses to mix. I just think there's a slight absence of urgency and force. It's sort of there on paper, you know, like, oh yeah, big Eurodance number or whatever, you know, big pop number with big gospel choirs and you think, oh, but then you hear it and it's like, oh, well, yeah, it's nice. But I don't know, I always thought a better version of this kind of thing was Marvelous by the Lightning Seeds, a similar kind of, you know, things could be great,

things could be much better, things could be marvelous, you know, that felt like that had a bit more going for it. But praise, definitely my favourite song this week, which feels like a bit of a back-handed compliment. But I do like this though, I do feel warmly towards it. I just think that like the meat of it, the real substance that I really want to get into and put my arms around it just feels like it's not quite there. Andy, D-Ream, how are we feeling? Yeah, I too am going to have to do this in terms of a very distinct section about the song and then a section about the big red rose in the room rather than the elephant in the room if you like, because it's hard for me to divorce the two.

It's very, very hard and I'll go into why. But for the song itself, I actually quite like the song itself. I think it is very easy to see why the Labour Party went with this because it is like inherently kind of anthemic. It's got a sound to it and it's got a message to it that is so universal that it's kind of too universal to fail. That like it does kind of lift you up, it does give you a sense of... it's stirring. I'm not gonna go as far as inspiring but it is stirring and I think it's really nicely produced. It's very very catchy. It's not perfect as a song. I think it takes really nicely produced. It's very, very catchy. It's not perfect as a song.

I think it takes way too long to get going. It's too long in general, but it's because it takes like, I think like two minutes for those drums to really kick in and for the full chorus to hit us. And that's too long. You know, if something's going to be an anthem, it kind of needs to kick in a bit earlier than that for me. I think the voice is quite weak, if I'm honest as well,

and I don't know if that's his personal preference, but I think it could tie in itself up. But as a piece of work, yeah, it's pretty good. I can see why people before that context really got into this. And I can also see why people still love it now, whether you're a labor supporter or not, it does have that

quality that stirs up something in you and I don't deny that at all. But the other side of this coin is what it's been co-opted to mean by the Labour Party, to the point that D-Ream themselves no longer want this song to be associated with the Labour Party. And it is still, like it's not just a 97 thing look at last year when Rishi Sunak was stood out in the rain with his umbrella without his umbrella I should say didn't have an umbrella did he when Rishi Sunak was stood out in the rain with Things Can Only Get Better blaring outside the gates of Downing Street that was like arguably the most iconic moment of that whole election was right

at the very start when he got Things Can Only Get Better blasted in his face as he called the election just showed you that that song still is the siren call of the Labour Party years and years on and you know these are those events are 27 years apart and so it begins to make me feel very uncomfortable, very queasy about that. I think there was a message of genuine hope like Rob said, a message of really genuine hope and really genuine significance with the way it was used the first time. And the 97 election is a big moment of hope and a big inspiration in our society. There's no doubt about that, whether it ultimately came to pass or not, the idea of the 97 election really did capture people. And that's fine, that's to be applauded to get people engaged in politics so much in that way. 27 years later though?

Hmm I think we look back on well I look back on things can only get better now as a sort of harbinger of the demons that are about to arrive into politics and the horrible football match politics that we end up with these days in the two-party system. I mean, it was all part of the narrative that the Tories are the great evil that needs overthrowing so that the good guys of Labour can start their new benevolent green grass future for all of us. Express through the simple messages, you know, things can only get better now that I've found you. Right. And in 1997, yeah, you know, I guess you

could say that in many ways things did get better at first. Suddenly certain parts of our infrastructure did get better. At first in 1997, like I won't deny that, like big asterisk, big asterisk on at first, because everything from 2001 onwards, it's not clear at all whether things really got better and certainly big question marks over whether the decisions were being made in the interests of the people that voted for them, to put that politely but broadly, broadly, if you want to dumb it down to Tory's evil, labour, good in a 1997 lens like it's very oversimplified but I can go with that, like it kind of works okay.

In this incarnation though where this song is still being used as such a emblem of what labor means from 2024 onwards I feel really really uncomfortable with the part that this song is playing in still perpetuating that same idea that Tories bad, Labour good. And I'm not saying that the Tories aren't absolutely fucking awful because they are, but that doesn't automatically make Labour really good. You know, this song and the idealism around two party politics, they mask the fact, and it is a fact, they mask the fact that for many communities, like disabled people, people who are reliant on benefits, immigrants, trans people most recently, things have like measurably,

factually got worse, not better. They have undeniably got worse in this one year since they've been elected. Just because the stories are bad doesn't automatically mean that labour are good and this song plays a role in perpetuating that myth that there is a good and evil in politics, that there's an empire and a rebellion that there's a fellowship and there's a Sauron, you know, and that Labour are the good guy overthrowing the bad. Like, it's possible for there to be two shades of shit in politics, you know? And I really don't like what this song has done to the conversation of Labour are the good guys and Tories are the bad guys it's it really really makes me uncomfortable because it gives labor a pass to do awful shit which they are doing right now there would be really

hard line and they need to be held to account so yes I don't like the legacy of what this song has created and I can't quite tear my brain off to that when listening to this I think the interesting thing for me is that it kind of... It's only ever really been a chorus in my head. I've just never really been aware of there being any other part of the song. And so it was intrinsically surprising for me, you know, when the... Like the cross rhythms and stuff came in. That was another shit impression. I'm on fire today

As I say it was just it was so much better than I was expecting I totally agree with you Rob that it's kind of it doesn't It's too thin to have that real gospel presence It's perhaps yearning for and it leans very heavily on that rhythmic underpinning. Because otherwise it would be probably quite a chintzy, like Euro pop hit. It would probably be quite vapid because, yeah, it is very broad in the bracket of its lyrical concerns? But yeah, I mean, one thing he says that

this was part of, regardless of how you feel about how things turned out with that government, this was part of one of the most brilliant political PR campaigns of the last 50 years. And I mean, as I say, you're absolutely, I mean, I'm a bit older than you two, but I was only 11 when Tony Blair came into power. But I remember the sense of excitement surrounding that election. When I was 11, I didn't know what the fuck was going on I just remembered that they showed the black adder the third episode about the

You know the the election on that night and that you know finally brought the world of politics into my head It seems but but yeah, it was Yeah, it is. It is a shame. That's just become that lazy shorthand that's lost all meaning and it's just become that lazy shorthand that's lost all meaning and it's just become just a slapped-on slogan and I think it's just like let's wheel that out again every time you know the other side just becomes absolutely contemptible we can always wheel that out. I think it's basically to put it much more succinctly than I did before I think it's gone from a message to propaganda Simple as that and I think it deserves to be called out for that to be honest But yes, yes not to get too serious about this silly pop song, but yes, it does annoy me

At this point I would like to point our listeners towards the BBC documentary series the three-part series the power of nightmares by Adam Curtis and documentary series, the three-part series, The Power of Nightmares by Adam Curtis. And we will move on to our third and final song this week which is... THIS! I can't forget the singing of your face as you were leaving But I guess that's just the way the story goes You always smile but in your eyes your soul shows Yes it shows No I can't forget tomorrow When I think of all my sorrow

When I had you there But then I let you there but then I let you go And now it's only fair that I should let you know What you should know I can't live, living is without you I caniah Carey, released as the third single from her third studio album titled Music Box. Without You is Mariah Carey's 11th single overall to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one. It's her last number one of the 90s but not the last time we'll be coming to Mariah on this podcast. The single is a cover of the song originally

recorded by Badfinger which became a number one for Harry Nilsson in 1972. Without You went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for... FOUR WEEKS! Across its four weeks atop the charts, it sold 358,000 copies beating competition from the following songs. Move On Baby by Capella Let the beat control your body by 2 Unlimited Stay Together by Suede and The Sign by Ace of Base Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John and RuPaul and DOOP by DOOP Renaissance by M People Rocks by Primal Scream The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get

by Morrissey When it was knocked off the top of the charts Without You dropped 1 place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 14 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2025 and I don't have to mention anything about Kantar anymore. So Ed, Mariah Carey, how do we feel about Without You? It's bollocks really. I'll be honest I don't really like the original song very much anyway. It sounds such a, you know, it's a tragic story bad thing and no

doubt when you look into it. But I don't like them very much as a band personally. They're part of a sort of niche of post Beatles bands that mind a very specific part of the Beatles sound and it was not necessarily the part that I loved. I adore Paul McCartney he's one of my favorite songwriters but nonetheless nonetheless, and as I say, I'm sorry to Badfinger fans. I'm sorry to the many, many, many fans of ELO who I respect, the fans of them, that is. But it's as if these groups had only religiously studied Paul McCartney mid-tempo piano ballads about common folk. That kind of 1967 Sergeant Pepper era, carna, lovely Rita, plink-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-dink-a

sort of thing going on. If I want a soppy overwrought 70s ballad beholden to the Beatles I will go with Eric Carman in general, just my opinion. But this version, the Mariah Carey version, it's clearly based on the Nielsen version more than anything else. I don't even know by the sound of it if Mariah Carey has heard the Badfinger version. I don't know that it was tremendously successful at the time in its own right. I'm not 100% sure whether it was really Nilsson that made it huge but this doesn't seem to be a popular take. A lot of people admire the original for its rawness and the chorus is certainly very raw on the original. I do think the Nilsson version is the best. Just because he has a dynamic

and warm voice, he does belt it out but it's not too showy. It's almost like you don't expect him to have that much projection because he's often very restrained. And, but he does, he's a very capable singer, but he never loses that degree of character. Now he's kind of, you know, slightly less plinky plonk than the original, but in a way that he's kind of just smeared over it a bit. So it's just become a bit languid and liminal instead, except for the chorus in the Nielsen version I'm

talking about here where it kind of really hits that first beat each time and it sounds kind of really jagged like someone being stabbed instead of just a plot. That's gone for Mariah Carey's version and It's it's basically as I say, it's the Nilsson version but any of the rhythmic sharp edges have been filed down and She is over singing to shit. It's really not good because it's kind of 60% exactly the same as what Nilsson is doing, like she's just taking his ideas and translating them. And 40%, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, which I don't think is a great move, but that's just me.

It's... I don't find the Badfinger version's chorus very tuneful. I know it's probably people appreciate the raw, weepy, vulnerable side of it, but it just sounds a bit strangulated to me, and I think Nielsen brought out a bit more melodic flavor to it. Now, Mariah Carey has gone too far the other way where she can technically sing. And so boy, does she fucking do it. And so it's a different kind of tuneless that we have here.

It's pretty dreary. It really is making me feel like I was very, very hard on Whitney Houston. Because, god damn it, her version of I Will Always Love You is hell of a lot more worthy than what fucking Mariah Carey is doing here. Because this is poor. Andy, can you offer a more positive assessment? Oh, no, no, no, no This is shit Rob I will say a bit more. I will say a bit more but that's that's the bottom line basically

I actually I don't mind the original too much to be honest I I think the theepy, like strained, like sort of speaking, crying, singing thing that's going on in that original. There is a place for that. You know, I'm always reminded of the scene where it's used in Peep Show, where Jeff is crying into one of Sophie's dresses after the breakup. And like, that's actually a really good use of it because that's, there is a place in music for those kind of songs where you really just want to ugly cry and really let yourself

go and just feel absolutely awful for women and have that catharsis. You know, stuff like, stuff like All By Myself or Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt, you know, like I think there is a niche for that to be honest. And I think it's alright. Like that song has probably given a hug to many a broken-hearted person over the years and yes, it's certainly not something I would ever listen to in my daily listening, but I can see why it's there and funny enough if you say that you say, you know, you were harsh on Whitney Houston I would say the same for Whitney Houston to be honest It's about I will always love you and about a lot of her things like I have nothing, et cetera.

Sometimes you need to just feel the feels and like even if they don't particularly mean anything, you just you just need to be like sonically hugged by an artist. And that's OK. That's OK. But for me, that's a key difference that this doesn't do this because there isn't any of the emotional authenticity to it. There isn't any of the edge, any of the actual unguarded feeling that you get from the original which is what you really need to make something as maudlin and dreary as this work. Mariah Carey is such an unusual singer for me, like really really odd in that I can't

think of any other singer who has this Venn diagram that is so like two two different circles entirely basically which is that technically as a technical singer she's like a ten out of ten like she she a complete master of her voice whether you like what she does with her voice different question but technically she's like ten out ten but in terms of expression terms of actual emotion and texture I think I honestly think it's like an absolute zero like I've never listened to anything by Mariah Carey and felt a single thing like just pure true neutral impassive line

Even all I want for Christmas with you Absolutely that's especially that. Oh I dig it. Especially that. I don't think there's any authenticity to that at all. I just don't feel anything and I don't think that's my fault quite frankly. I feel like that's Mariah. Like she just doesn't really put much emotion into her music.

She's so focused on the stupid you know tricks that she can do with her voice that she forgets to mean anything. She forgets to feel anything. And this is, something like this, this is where that comes undone. Where simply performing the song is not enough. You've got to get a bit dirty and a bit teary and a bit like... You've got to let yourself go a little bit on something like this. She's done this with other songs as well. She did this cover, I remember I saw her perform it on the X Factor years and years ago, of... oh what's the song? Oh it's I Wanna Know What Love Is! It started as just a tedious Mariah cover of a ballad just like this. But then she started doing whistle tones and started doing tricks in the middle of it.

And like, there's a time and a place. Like, you know, that's not a song that is made for notes that only dogs can hear. Like, you know, you've got to put some feeling into it. And like I say, I think that is the big trick that is missed with this is that the original, although it is extremely wallowing, you know, it's at least doing that. It's committing to the wallowing that it's doing. This is just like I buy the numbers Mariah sings this song and it's awful.

It's awful. It's really bad. Yeah. I have very little on this. I find it quite dreary. I feel it takes all the anguish and torture and pent up desperation and frustration of the two original versions, I guess, you know, the Badfinger and Harry Nilsson ones, and just kind of turns it into a vague and broad sense of hashtag pain kind of thing. Like a lot of these arrangements, I feel like the space for doubting and questioning is gone like whatever you feel in the first few seconds is what you feel throughout and it makes sure that you don't feel any differently. I feel like this set's a very bad template for literally everything Simon Cowell comes up with in the mid-2000s. She makes the right decision to stick

closer to Nilsson's version rather than the bad finger version because the Nilsson version has always been my favorite version of this. Not a major favorite song of mine but I do feel the I feel the emotion I feel the story at least in Nilsson's version a bit more but just from the moment those pianos strike up in the beginning it's just a sea of X Factor winners in my head and a sea of X Factor and Britain's Got Talent auditionees who tried to do this, but not as good. At this point, I will point people to the version of this performed on Bulgarian Idol by a woman named Valentina Hassan

who thought the song was called Ken Lee and performs it with that title and says, Ken Lee to the BDB Douche you. Oh, it's legendary. And one of the judges asked at the end what language was that sung in? I just feel the basis for bad things being reinforced here and then you look in the YouTube comments and it's like not everybody who likes this song is like this and not everybody for whom this song is their favorite is like this, but it feels like this

appeals to people who, when they're in YouTube comments, they have to say things like you know, on a live performance, like, no sex, no auto-tune, no dancers, just pure 100% talent like sex, auto-tune and dances are bad things and that pop songs have to be in opposition to something in order to be worth something. You know? Like, oh, this stuff is... I am a better person. I don't have moral failings because I like this song. You know? Those kind of people. You know, this is what Jesus would like, like that kind of pop music. But it's Mariah doing this rather than some jobbing singer, so it keeps it above the pie hole for me. I definitely agree that this is technicality over emotion, but it's quite impressive technicality and at least it's performed well so it stays out of the pie hole for me.

So that's kind of it. So Ed, twist and shout, things can only get better without you. Where are they going? Well, it's more like Shackerd, Deimos and Briars because I'd like them to be stuck in a bush on the second moon of Mars. It's in the pie hole, it's bollocks. Anyway, right, sorry, I should have made that clearer. Things can only get better for a D-Ream, I ain't very promising, but some room for improvement. You're going nowhere, Starmer. Sorry, you're going nowhere, D-Ream. And finally, uh...

Uhhh... Mariah Carey is shit in the pie hole. That's my joke. Alright then, so, Andy, Chakadamus, and players, D-Ream and Mariah Carey, how are we feeling? Well they've managed to shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it out of the pie hole because they're not going in there but it's certainly not Twist and Vault either so they're staying in the middle. As for D-Ream, well I would like to correct them, things could get worse because I could have put them in the pie hole but I didn't. But things can get better because I also didn have put them in the pie hole but I didn't but things can get better because they all I also didn't put them in the vault so things things things are progressing at a normal level things are breaking even

yeah maybe not as maybe not as great a message for political parties using it if it's things will remain broadly agreeable yeah they'll be entirely adequate operating at 50% but yes that's where we are with that yeah and as for without you well no she's wrong because I can live if living is without this song I can in fact I want to live without this song it's going in the pie hole I'll just get through mine quite quickly They're all going in the middle this week. None of them are going anywhere So yeah pretty near weak for me not angry or happy either way particularly so next week we're gonna take a little bit of a

Break, but we will be back the week after that as we take more steps into 1994. We will see you for our next episode of 94. See you then. Bye bye. Bye bye. Thanks for watching!