Hits 21 - 1996 (2): Take That, The Prodigy, Mark Morrison, George Michael

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every single UK #1 hit.You can follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hits21UKYou can email us: [e-mail] 21 DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO ANY MUSIC USED IN THE EPISODES. USAGE OF ALL MUSIC USED IN THIS PODCAST FALLS UNDER SECTION 30(1) OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT 1988.

Ed, I think I've worked it out, actually. It's Ed's window cleaner. Came to him with a piece of toast. He made butter on the window. Thank you. Hi there everyone and welcome back to HITS 21, the 90s where me, Rob, me, Andy. Me, me, me. Looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s.

If you want to get in touch with us, please email us, Hits21 podcast at gmail.com. We're also back over on that there, Twitter, at Hits21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1996, and this week we'll be covering the period between the 9th of March and the 18th of May. This is because last week we were planning to discuss how deep was your love, take that, but the Oasis chat took a lot out of us, and we decided to leave take that to this week. Hits 21 does not own the rights to any music in this episode, but YouTube of all the music

in this podcast falls under Section 30 Clause 1 of the Copyright Act 1988. So it is time to press on with this week's episode, Andy, the album charts, from March to May 96. we're doing? Well, first of all, take a breath. And second of all, I feel like if we all speak at that speed, if we'd all spoke at that speed last week, we might have been able to get in a take that conversation last week. Maybe that's the way forward. If you'll just say everything like this, I think take that's really good.

Anyway, yes. So the album charts for this period, we've got four to talk about. So we start this period with Celine Dion at number one with falling into you, which went seven times platinum. She's a big seller for all of her albums. but that's big even for her seven times platinum. Then we've got the Beatles with Anthology 2, which as the wise amongst you may have predicted

was the follow-up to Anthology 1 and was the predecessor to Anthology 3. Of course, that went number 1 for one week and went platinum. For my money, that's the best of the anthologies, probably, probably. And then we've got take that with their greatest hits. Surely a bit early for a greatest hits? I mean, I know they sort of knew they were breaking up,

but they have only been together for two and a half years at this point. That's early for a greatest hits. But anyway, people bought it. It went number one for four weeks and went triple platinum. But there's a biggie to finish off. We have already had the highest selling album of the decade, which was What's the Story Morning Glory, but that came out in 95.

So we've got the year's biggest album, and it's the biggest by a long way, a 10 times platinum seller. And it is a big, big famous. one. Anyone know what's on number one album of 1996? I'll kick myself. Go on. And neither of you knew it? Well, isn't that ironic?

It's uh, oh, yes. It's Gen. Little Pill by Alanis Morissette, uh, which went number one for two weeks, but when 10 times platinum and it will be back a lot more during this year. Let me tell you that, but two weeks for now,

but that is a monster that is being porn there. Not in the quality sense. I quite like that album. But yes, 10 times platinum for Alanis Morissette. So that's your four for this week. Thank you very much for that report, Andy. In the news, three British soldiers are sentenced to life in prison in Cyprus after the manslaughter of a Danish woman named Louise Jensen.

All three soldiers were eventually released from prison in 2006, though. The Tories lose nearly 600 seats in local council elections, and Fergie and Prince Andrew announced their divorce four years after separating. In Australia, 35 people are killed in a mass shooting in Tasmania. The perpetrator, Martin Bryan, is still serving 35 life sentences in prison to this day. And in Egypt, 17 Greek tourists are killed when a group of gunmen open fire on a hotel. The gunmen belonged to the terrorist group, Al-Gamar al-Islamia. In football, Manchester United regained the Premier League title.

Manchester United also win the FA Cup after beating Liverpool 1-0. in the final at Wembley Stadium. The European Cup is won by Juventus, who beat IAC's 4-2 on penalties after a one-all draw in the final at the Stadio-Olimpico in Rome. And the films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows.

Toy Story, 12 Monkeys, The Birdcage, an executive decision. In TV, Coronation Street airs a special feature-length episode called The Cruise. God, I remember that! You'll never guess who wrote it. Russell T. Davies. Yeah, I was thinking Rusty Dayless.

Yeah. And Amor Quinn wins the 1996 Eurovision song contest for Ireland with her song, The Voice. So, enough about Europe. What about the continent over the other side of the Atlantic Head? What's going on in America? Well, my inability to name the UK's biggest selling album of 1996 is especially embarrassing when I tell you what's on the US album shots. I did this period.

Yeah. I'm sorry. I just had, like, you know, it was Oasis last time that was like, oh, you know, best-selling album of the year, the decade, what's it? I was thinking, oh, UK album, what's that going to be? It's like, dumbass, they sell American stuff over here, too. I've forgotten. Anyway, just, in my defence, that they've been very different, the UK and US charts,

and that doesn't change. It's always, they were, yeah. Okay, US albums, number one, 9th of March, which is the 18th of May. after its release in mid-95, Alanis Morissette returns to remind us of the mess no less than three times. She also leaves a number of increasingly passive-aggressive emails and a defamatory message on the public complaints portal over her total of 12 weeks at the US No. 1, with some light relief provided in between by All Eyes on Me by Mr. Tupuk, and two discs of fucking demos by some dead scousers. And evil empire by Rage Against the Machine, which I had no idea got to number one at all, actually. Speaking of no idea, I got to number one. And the blowfish.

Yes, it's train records favorite Fairweather Johnson, their second album. Now, flopping is very relative, isn't it? Because that's actually at number one for two weeks, but is still considered a flop. So on to the singles now. Celine Dion steals a meagre six weeks at the top from Carrie and the groomsman with Because You Loved Me, only for the limelight to be nicked back by the Mariah Shepardone shitbag Carrie for two weeks of equally vapid-sounding fun with Always Be My Baby. But wait, it's like America has found some porn in a bush. A long period of strongly hip-hop-leaning R&B begins with the first of ever. Eight solid weeks at number one for bone thugs and harmony with The Crossroads. And that's all the weather.

Good record. Good record. Thank you, Ed, for that US report. So we are going to come to the first of four songs this week. A bit of a bumper episode for you. And it's this. morning sun i feel you touch my hand in the pouring rain and the moment but you wonder far from me i want to feel you in my arms again and you come to me on a summer breeze keep you warm and your love and you softly leave and it's me you need to show

How deep is your love? Deep is your love How deep is your love I really need to love Because we're living in a world Our folks Breaking us down But they all should let us be

We belong to you and me I believe in you You know you're the dawn Okay, this is how deep is your love? Okay, this is How Deep is Your Love by Take That? Released as the only single from the group's first compilation album titled Greatest Hits. How Deep Is Your Love is Take That's 16th single to be released in the UK and their eighth to reach number one. it's their last number one of the 90s but not their last number one overall.

The single is a cover of the song originally released by the BGs which reached number three in the UK in 1977. How Deep Is Your Love went straight in at number one as a brand new entry? It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 257,000 copies beating competition from Coming Home Now, by Boyzone, Going Out by Supergrass, Passion by Gat Decor, and Good Thing by Eternal. In week two, it sold 120,000 copies beating competition from Real Love by The Beatles and Return of the Mac by Mark Morrison. And in week three, it sold 90,000 copies, beating competition from Stupid Girl by Garbage,

give me a little more time by Gabrielle, going for gold by Shed Seven, and being brave by Men's Well. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, how deep is your love fell three places to number four. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 17 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2025. I tried not to giggle, by the way, when I went through Coming Home Now by Boyzone

being immediately followed by going out by Supergrass. So the members of Supergrass saw Boysone coming through the door and went, right, we're off. and the dodgy had staying out for the summer when they saw it. So Andy, take that, their last single. How are we feeling? Yes, better like than never, but I will be brief on this one. I am glad that this happened, though.

I mean, never forget was fantastic. Like, really fantastic. Like, I've kept listening to that in the weeks since we've covered it because it's just bloody brilliant that. And what a climax to a, what we thought was their whole career as a band at this point. And if you could just go out on that, you'd think, whoa, that's like Ava going out on Dancing Queen, you know,

or it's like the Beatles going out on, I don't know, a day in the life or something, you'd think, oh, stop right there. Like, you've just gone out at your peak there. But I like that this happened because I think it's nice to just sort of take a moment after the big storm to just have a period of calm to say goodbye. to them. And I know that's not what was intended

necessarily at the time. There isn't as much of a narrative to it as that. But I'm going to make a reference here that I'm sure Rob will like, which is, you know, in Game of Thrones, where almost every season of Game of Thrones, the big climax happens

in episode nine, or the penultimate episode wherever that happens to fall. And, you know, I think like almost every season does that, there's one or two that don't, particularly the first and the third season. have everything pop off in the penultimate episode and then the last episodes of those seasons

it's quite quiet, it's just about right, okay, so everything's happened there, all the themes have concluded, everything's reached its climax, the story's done, let's just take a breath now, look at where we are, move on, turn over, move on to the next thing.

And that happens in TV quite a lot. It's one of the great good things about books as a medium, I think, is that, you know, the last chapter is never the most gripping one. The most gripping one is 20, 30 pages before the end, and then you get some time to sort of tune out of the book and come away from it. And you very, very rarely get that in film or in music,

and particularly not in music. Like, people try and always go for the biggest thing all the time. And it's nice here to just have this kind of quiet little offbeat bit of nothing that falls after the fact, really, because if we just finish with never forget, it'd be like, woof, they're gone. and it's nice to just look back on them as a whole really and just reflect on the journey they take that of being on

from really, really naff little boy band Nothings all the way up to these superstars who have got a songwriter working for them who is really genuinely gifted and is pulling out some amazing pop music and then we plateau again with this and it's like, yeah, you're still a bit of a nap 90s boy band I'm ready to say goodbye to you now. As for how do you because you love yourself, I mean,

I think the theme of this week, all four songs, I think the theme of it is they are all really well written songs. Obviously, a huge amount of variables beyond that in terms of how well they're executed, how well they suit the artists, you know, the kind of length of them, the production, et cetera, et cetera. But I think all four songs this week are really well written. And with how deep is you love, I always used to look back on that as like a really bland, you know, compared to some of the stuff the BGs did, like it's just sort of soft and, you know, bland. Again, I'm going to say really it's just a little bit dull to be honest but that is a really fun song to play far more interesting and exciting to play on any instrument than it is to sing or to listen to i think

it's it's really like gorgeously harmonized and got some really really nice chord sequences that really challenge the player actually so i think it's a little bit of a gem as a song but it doesn't suit take that at all it just comes across as a bit sad and Mordland and like a sort of very weak younger brother to back for good, to be honest. But they don't do a whole lot with it, to be honest. They change the genre and they really rip a lot out of the, you know, the warmth that should be there in this song and turn it into this little, you know, early Gareth Gates kind of number here.

But, you know, whatever. We're living in the era of Robson and Jerome. I can kind of see why they did that. So I don't think they do anything particularly offensive to the song. it's just kind of this sort of is what it is it's nice to have one more chance to say goodbye to them this is like just whatever it's it exists

this is a song that we are covering bye take that goodbye yeah Andy my notes if you listen carefully I have made basically exactly the same point but with slightly things are just slightly rearranged but you'll notice it so like I'm not pie-hole in this

but I am also a little saddened by the fact that this is what take that ultimately said goodbye with, at least to the 90s, you know, you'd kind of hope there was a better track in the vault somewhere that they could have dragged out. I think with it being, take that's last single, and everybody knowing that it was their last single, it would have been bought in droves anyway. So maybe something a little riskier may have played well anyway. But never mind. I think my issue with this is more than anything, is that it's, it could be read as slightly perverse in a sort of meta-commentary way, as if take that are asking their fans, how deep is your love?

right before they end it all. Like, do you love us that much? Will you go out and buy the record? What about our greatest hits album? They even kill them off in the video, misery style. Oh, I mean, we've talked about this in the Nauties, though, that everyone fucking dies in their videos a few years on from this. So maybe they're just ahead of the game there.

But it's a bit Stephen Kingy, but yeah, the cover itself, I think, is respectful without being particularly necessary. It's far too polite and unassuming, I think. bit chintzy, bit twee, bit cloying. There's a load of pleading going on with this. It feels, though, Andy, more like the epilogue or an end credit scene where never forget was the big finale.

That was the big payoff. This is the kind of thing you have on in the background as you leave the cinema after seeing the 90s take that movie. Everybody walks out with this. It exists because there needed to be something to go on the greatest hits album to get it in the main album charts and that's fine. It deliberately does nothing to their legacy whatsoever. This song could not exist and their legacy in the 90s would have been exactly the same. And for better or worse,

it's a good legacy. Changed how boy bands look, move and operate, changed how labels approach the charts and made it a bit more exciting on a week-to-week basis, just in my opinion, it's just what I grew up with. But yeah, this is the safest possible way they could have gone out, I suppose, Take that. How Deep is Your Love? How Deep Is Your Love by Take That? Or, we can't stand each other, but the label's promoting a best of in lieu of us recording a whole fucking album. So let's go into the booth one at a time and just get it out, shall we? Yes.

That's basically what I've accepted the story probably was here. I'm going to keep this brief, because you've all basically covered it. This song isn't worth that much attention. I don't think it was deemed worth that much attention by the group, to be honest. I love Bossa Nova. This is another track that's got that And it's leaned into it more than the original song But all of the kind of extra exotic a tinsel

Just kind of cheapens it And makes it a bit A bit karaoke track, doesn't it? I mean, imagine if this version was in the closing credits of Saturday Night Fever Over that, you know, the still image If the two main characters cradling each other

It's the same song with the same basic moves But the feel would be entirely different And it's almost in spite of itself. I mean, I know you're not the biggest fan of the original, Andy. I really love it. It's got a sort of a... I love its harmonic movement. I love how lush and sweet it is.

I mean, all of the bangers on that record. It's got a glow to it, a sense of intimate hush to it. And Barry Kipp really leans into that showing his... He's maybe not the most technically impressive singer in the world, but he had such a range and a way of phrasing and sort of marking the dynamic trajectory of words in his song. I think he was a fantastic vocalist. Gary Barlow is a pleasing vocalist,

and that's basically it. He's pleasant and he's good and he's solid and he's neat and he's bril-clemed and he's got the crew cut and the whole nine yards. But this is just weird. I thought this made sense late last night. Let's see if you can make something of it. The original is like hot butter running inside a rainy window pane.

This is like toothpaste on a flat mirror. Yeah. Does that make... Is that just the prattling of a pretentious and very tired person? How did the butter get inside the window pane? Did your window glazer have a piece of toast in his hand? I don't have much of a budget to work on with subcontractors, to be honest. So you get what you get.

I mean, I think there's a pasty in one of the ceiling voids. Look, I'll leave it at this. This isn't their worst single. It's too inoffensive for that. It's not really anything. It's not annoying. It's a pleasant song. Perform pleasantly.

But outside, as you've already said this in so many different ways, outside its original, probably contractual context. It's totally pointless. So let's move on. Yeah. Ed, I think I've worked it out, actually. is that Ed's window cleaner came to him

with a piece of toast made butter on the window So the second Yeah, yeah Forget that The second song No, no No, cut that out

No, we're going to keep talking about this So you have to leave it in Yeah, put it as a sound clip At the beginning of the episode Before the theme Just have that as like a teaser I'll repeatedly reference this to the rest of the episode

so that you have to leave it in Okay The second song Up this week What attention breaker It's this It's this I'm the problem

I'm the trouble daughter and key needs to go ta' I'm the fear addicted and I get illustrated I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter. I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter. I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter. I'm the bitch you hated, felt me vacuated.

Okay, I'm a fire starter, twisted, twisted fire starter. Okay, this is Fire Starter by The Prodigy. Released as the lead single from the group's third studio album titled The Fat of the Land, Firestarter, is the prodigy's tenth single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. It's not the last time we'll be coming to the prodigy during our 90s coverage. Firestarter went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 119,000 copies beating competition from The X-Files by Mark Snow,

Nakasaki by Ken Doe, and Walk Away by Cast. In week two, it sold 80,000 copies, beating competition from UR just a little bit by Gina G. You've Got It Bad by Ocean Color Scene and X-Files by DJ Dardo, and something changed by Pulp. And in week three, it sold 75,000 copies, beating competition from California Love by Tupac and Dr. Dre and Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Fire Starter fell two places. to number three, it initially left the charts in August 1996 but has since made re-entries in 1997, 1998 and 2019. As of the time of recording, it has been inside the top 100 for 60 weeks 60. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK. Ed,

Are you a fire starter, twisted fire starter? Wow, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ow! Hello, sub-base. Yeah, this is refreshing, I think, to say the least. It was nice looking ahead in the list of songs we'll be covering and seeing Prodigy there. And not that long ago, I listened to their early records, and Fat of the Land held up really, really well.

It's a really solid album. And, you know, I think one of the better dance, totemic dance records of that era, not that I'm an expert on such things. But it's nice to see some other, you know, more playful and somewhat brutal styles of dance breaking through commercially at this point. And we get a bit more of that, you know, get the Chemical Brothers breaking through soon with some hits. but this feels and in some ways is comparable to something like ebony's are good earlier in the decade. It's got a similar sense of being

something naughty and cryptic and from left field if you get what I mean. I mean this, you know, that used sort of mixed up and made up like possible drug lingo and that all fuelled the fire behind it and this is a twisted fire starter but like punking in

like punking instigator I mean that's just made for a bunch of like 12 and 13 year olds to go like what's that what's a punkin instigator and then for one of the lads to be like oh yeah no it's yeah no I know what that is yes it's it's it's drugs

yeah it's about drugs yeah my dad my dad told me but yeah it feels like the literal underground music video might be a little bit on the nose in theory but it's just got the right grimyness for this, for this song.

There's like a graphic novel style grimness to it. Not like a novel, the Victorian novel style grimness. But there's something cool and dangerous and sinister about it. It's acceptably sinister. It's sinister but fun. That's B-U-T space fun. in case there was any confusion there. But, yeah, like Ebenezer Good, was more comic book.

And this is to the same ends in some ways, but it feels a little bit more dangerous. I really like this. I'll be honest, it's not my favourite off the album. I have a feeling that might come along at some point. I don't know that it has the obligatory reference to dynamism. dynamism or variety of other tracks and to be honest I think it could have done

without what sounds like a comedy chomping sound effect at the end it does sound like when Muttley takes a bite of something which is maybe not what they were quite going for I know it's possibly a guitar but otherwise no this is it's great fun and unusual and still to this day does not sound like anybody else but the prodigy because the combination of styles going on here is so unique. It's got a bit of that whole Wutang kind of, let's take in samples of old, you know, samurai movies and put them in,

combined with the sort of pure old-school punk aesthetic of Keith Flint. And then, you know, the evolved kind of jungle and proto-big beat Tana sounds coming in as well. and it's pretty intoxicating really it's great i mean this was um this was something different even in the way it presented itself visually so yeah this was a bit special yeah man alive what a gear shift from take that you know from the moment i think this song starts it sounds like it's trying to declare that the 90s are over already like it's saying you've had you take that's they're done now now it's our turn to top the charts to turn it up to 11 kind of thing, you know, Big Beat is obviously a massive 90 sound, but I think the intention was

to push pop forward towards and into the new millennium to make a sound for the 2000s, which again is kind of ironic and unfortunate, because the Big Beat doesn't really last beyond the millennium, to be honest. In terms of big dance tracks in the charts, it kind of gets eaten up by vocal trance and kind of pop rave stuff, you know, clubbing changes and becomes a bit more sanitized, friendly, less gnarly. I think the criminal justice bill probably has a lot to do with that. You know, the kind of raves people went to

suddenly became regulated and organized and different types of people started showing up and different types of people wanted different types of dance music. But make you no mistake, like Fire Starter is gnarly and aggressive and it's in your face, it's confrontational.

It's teasing. Keith Flint sounds like Johnny Rotten, which is appropriate as well because I think it sounds like, you know, the 80s and 90s, the message of the 80s and 90s to me kind of prove that punk didn't just have to be about rock music. You could take the volume and the noise and the distortion of punk rock, but you could apply it to, you could apply it to rap and electronics as well. You know, those first three to my ears, public enemy records, proved to me that, you know,

when I was a teenager, you know, that punk could sound very different actually. I think punk in music is ultimately about bravery too and conviction in your ideas. it's been 35 years and I've never heard anything try what public enemy tried with brothers going to work it out and i think the prodigy are trying to forge something similar here in an electronic context like they're trying to crack stone in the same way that suicide did in the late 70s and early 80s they're really sort of overdriven and distorted guitar soundscaping you know that's like the first thing you hear along with the massive hits of bass and break beats you know it begins like something that's going to be played over sped up footage of the front window of you of a

a train or highlights of an old motorbike racing game on PlayStation 1 you know played at double speed and it never really lets up from there and of course the whole thing hinges on a breeders sample the that's a you know distorted thing from a sort of like a deep cut from a breeders record from a few years earlier the spirit of punk lives through this and you never really stop feeling that spirit and of course there's that mantra like central line as well that was so instant and so memorable, the Amma fire stalled

twisted fire and the way that he enunciates and pronounces those words Keith Flynn fantastic, you know so memorable

ends up in a bloody episode of peep show ten years later you know and speaking of peep show I have to mention

this is outrageous the song that Jez makes Jez definitely thinks he's Keith Flynn or one of the chemical brothers futile

God save our gracious Queen. Yeah, right. No, mum. I won't come in for my fucking tea. Keep away from it. And to be fair, you know, I think in Peep Show, the big beat manifesto is probably named after the meat beat manifesto, the group. You know, so I think, you know, the stamp of influence that this song has made crosses, crosses media. And it's all very complete. packed and tightly packaged, kind of perfect for how, you know, the massively increased availability of the CD single.

It feels like something that, this feels like something you would put on a CD. I feel like if you played a record of this, it's too fast for a record, if you know what I mean. Like the three minute version. I think if you did the record, it would need to be part of a much larger mix, whereas like this, it's fast, compact, sexy, tight, you know, and it's like little CD single. I think that's, you know, that's the perfect kind of format for this kind of song. So, Andy, Firestarter.

I fully agree with what you said about the punk spirit being alive and well here in a completely different setting, in a completely different decade, in a completely different genre from completely different types of culture, really. But I do think that that message of punk about it being a kind of counterculture, as cultural revolution kind of spirit where you can sort of do it yourself, do it outside of the rules and basically, you know,

have a mass, mass wave of support behind you purely from the fact that you are doing something different and doing it yourself. I think that's, you know, it's fantastic and that's part of this. And I think that feeds into a broader point about this and about the prodigy in general, which is that, you know,

just the feeling of it, the atmosphere is so strong. cards on the table I'm not really a fan of the prodigy to be honest like they're certainly an act I admire and appreciate like there's a hell of a lot of fantastic work and fantastic ideas that goes into their music but to listen to it like it's such an assault on my ears it's it's a bit cacophonous for me like it's just personally not to my taste but I do really admire what they're doing um but my husband is big is big big fan of um the prodigy he's got all their well I'm not sure it's quite all their album. He's got all of them up to invaders must die. I don't know how much they've done beyond that. And when a few years ago, when he got me an old iPod and put all the albums that are the one of

us own on there and I decided to listen to all of them, A to Z, it meant that I had to listen to the entire prodigy discography. And I did find quite a lot to enjoy in that. But like I say, I just sort of appreciated from a distance. But it made me think actually talking about Peep Show, that Mark Corrigan moment where he references it, when me and my husband first got together um he was watching people show with me and he he sort of liked it but he was not quite sold on it for a while and he absolutely adores it now but the moment where he laughed out loud at it for the first time and really laughed at it was that fire starter quote from mark something really clicked there and that's always reminded of like ah that's when he really got into people

show was when that fire starter quote is in it um yeah there's just something about mark oregon knowing that song that's just farcical. It's just really, really weird. But yeah, I think going back to sort of what Ed was talking about, you know, in terms of what people have kind of ascribed to this and, like, different things that people have got out to it, I would argue, well, I would pose the question, does a song need to mean or represent anything

if the vibes are as strong as this? Can we not just have fun with this fantastic dance record? because I think the Big Beat Manifesto in Peep Show as much as it's a joke about how it's like a stupidly oversimplified thing that feels like it means something profound but it doesn't at all.

I don't know. I think there is something to that idea of Big Beats of the Best, get high all the time. Because like, you listen to this and it's like, does it have to be anything other than just a bloody fun song to listen to? Do we have to have anything other than that?

Like, can you not just get high and listen to this And that's like, that's an experience in itself, that that's a genre in itself, that that's something that people sharing together, like just in itself, just the sound of this. Because it's basically the same sound all through their entire career and people kept going and going to them and I've heard from people who've been to see the prodigy, that it's like going to, you know, a cult at a temple. Like, it's just absolutely riotous experiences. Yeah, their glass and reset this year was fucking unreal.

Yeah. Really, really, really fantastic. And who cares what the songs are... I mean, I don't give a shit what the songs are about. Most of them aren't about anything. Most of them are just kind of like, you know, in your face and that's it, really. And, you know, big beats are the best. Get high all the time.

It works for me, yeah. So this is definitely something that, like, I look upon from a distance and think, wow, that's really good. I don't ever actually choose to listen to it. This is probably the first time, other than when I had it on my iPod that I've actually spent a lot of time with this. and really listen to it. But, like, I always think about the number of tracks

that are on the mixing desk for songs like this. And I think, goodness me, so many things. It must be about 50 different tracks going down on this. It's technically an absolute marvel. It's an absolute riot to listen to. And 30 years later, it still feels like it's completely fresh and still at the absolute peak of what you can achieve with dance music. So, bloody fair enough, as far as I'm concerned, this is really good.

Yeah, just what I take. end this segment by giving a shout out to a guy called Anton, who was very briefly a friend of mine when I had a two-week stay in hospital in 2019. We both had nasogastric feeding tubes for different reasons, so we bonded over that. Anton had this thing called gastroporesis, where your stomach muscles can just stop working, meaning that your stomach doesn't process food, so he wasn't eating. And he was severely, severely underweight, like, and so underweight, in fact, that he developed narcolepsy and would often just fall asleep. You know, we had to be very, very careful with him.

He was not allowed to walk along the ward on his own. He had to be helped around in case he fell asleep. And sometimes he'd be asleep for 30 seconds. Sometimes he'd be asleep for five minutes and sometimes he'd crash and wake up hours later. But the thing that always woke him up without fail was when his phone went off because his ringtone was fire starter. So, Anton, wherever you are, I hope that you are. at least 10 stone now and that you are over the worst of it.

I should reach out to him. We did exchange numbers, but it's one of those things where if you've ever had a long stay in hospital, you become so entwined with the most intimate parts of these people's lives for two to three weeks. And then you're just gone. And you never hear from them again and stuff. So maybe I should reach out and see how he's doing.

I hope he's progressed from that day from those couple of weeks as much as much as I have. But yeah, whenever I hear Firestar, I always think of Anton, sitting in the bed opposite me and one to the right. They're, well, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Never ever turned his phone on silent and I'm kind of glad he didn't. So, yeah. So the third track this week is this. Oh Oh Oh

Come on Oh Yeah But I try to tell you soon But I guess you didn't know As I said a story go Baby now I got to blow Because I know it from the start

Maybe when you broke my heart That I had to tell my game I'm sure you that I'm You love to mind All those thumbs I say that I love you You'll lie to mind Yes, I try Yes I try

Even though you know I die for you Your life to me Yes I cry Yes I cry Return after me It is Okay, this is Return of the Mac by Mark by his debut from his debut studio album titled Return of the Mac.

Return of the Mac is Mark Morrison's third single to be released in the UK and is first to reach number one. However, as of 2025, it is his last. Return of the Mac first entered the UK charts at number six, reaching number one during its sixth week. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week, atop the charts, it sold 90,000 copies beating competition from They Don't Care About Us by Michael Jackson, Walking Wounded by Everything But the Girl,

Peaches by Presidents of the USA, and Cecilia by So. Suggs, and in week two it sold 90,000 copies again, beating competition from A Design for Life by Manic Street Preachers, Goldfinger by Ash, and Keep on Jumping by Lisa Marie Experience. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Return of the Mac dropped one place to number two. The song originally left the charts in September 1996, but made one re-entry in 2013. As of the time of recording, it has been inside the top 104, 204. weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK.

As of 2025, Ed, return of the Mac. Oh my God. Yep. Not much to say about this one. There's not really much to talk about. And that should probably be a problem. But it isn't really, is it, in this case? first of I think this is if I'm going to simplify it in this way it's the best non-US take on US R&B that we have yet seen

it's incredibly convincing most people who don't know the origin story you know especially considering the particular place he's from would assume this was an American artist I mean we've been getting slightly better as the decade goes on I mean who was it who did that the number two from

That's not a criticism of its quality From last year The I got a little something for you It's like you're almost there It's just the strain around the edges It's a bit JLS if you get what I mean That was MN8 I think Oh Eminate, yeah then

Or with their string of hits Sorry no I don't mean to throw it on it I've never said it out loud MN8 Right not MN8 Yeah Got you thanks

Yeah That's just a good time Clever guys. Clever guys. Oh, absolutely. That was weeks of committee thinking that one. But, yeah, this track's great. And Andy, you mentioned when you were talking about fire starty.

It's like fire starter, I should say, not fire starty. What is needed if the song's vibes are strong enough and if they commit to them enough, what more is needed than just to have vibes? And this is a brilliant illustration of that because it is basically a sort of rigorous head bob of a song, isn't it? It just gets your kind of slinking along. It is a song for, you know, get a car.

I don't have one, but I feel like I should be driving or at least in a passenger seat hanging out the window doing a bit of a head bob. Well, this is on because it awakens something inside me that needs to do that. it is as they say a vibe and what is amazing about this is that considering it's

almost I mean it's two chords but effectively is like the most linear thing in the world the slight additive instrumental elements to the chorus but it is basically just a line it doesn't actually outstay its welcome

very quickly maybe in like the last 15 or 20 seconds But other than that, it kind of breezes past entirely on mood and that bloody lead vocal. Because the interjections he supplies into the regular elements are so memorable and so varied in rhythm, that it keeps it going as a kind of consistent conversation almost, even though I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. It doesn't matter. As I say, this is such a vibe, a vibe song. I sound like a moron saying that.

No, you know what I mean. You're completely right, yeah. And it is. It's superlatively slinky. And it's very difficult not to get on board with its very clipped groove. It's great. It's great. I like this.

Hmm. Yeah. I cannot believe this guy's British. Yeah. Man, like this song is so sure of itself. Have I fucking Lester? Leicester as well. What comes from Leicester? Honestly, I'm from Leicester and I'm going to say that. But the thing is, I said this song is sure of itself superficially, but we'll get to that.

I cannot believe that contemporary R&B with this much cocksure confidence could be from the East Midlands. I know Mark Morrison spent a few years in Florida while he was at school, but still, you know, I can imagine Biggie doing verses over this and then having the chorus come round untouched, kind of like Gangster's Paradise. Anyway, yes, this song being superficially sure of itself. This is ultimately a song about a guy trying to get his girl back after she broke up with him. But instead of approaching that subject in the manner that maybe Blue would approach this five years from now, or maybe even boys to men around this time, he comes back in with a pimp cane, fur coat and a top hat,

and he's like, ha, the Mac daddy has returned, and you know you can't resist this. And I think this comes through because that chorus is just so fucking sticky. It's almost like the content of the verses doesn't matter because the content of the chorus is just that replaying and revolving return of the... Once again, return... It's like, yeah, I want to be you. I want to be you right now. Even in this situation where you're trying to get your girl back and it's maybe not looking great,

but like you are sure of yourself, you're standing on your own two feet. Like, so I want to be you, whether that's where the partner or not, it almost becomes a sample in of itself, that return of the kind of thing. It's just in the way, yeah, it is so, I mean, I want to say memetic, I suppose. You know, a word does have to go, though,

to the sample in the back there from the 1992 song Games by Chuckie Booker. Because I think what's the real cherry on top of this song is how expertly this renders a kind of Isley Brothers atmosphere, where you have a rhythm section that only looks forwards, but provides enough space for the physical act of slow kind of hip thrusting. But then everything on top swims like

you're caught in the haze of the moment. It's like the backbeat is your hips and the melody is whatever is swimming around your brain at the point of orgasm. That's why between the sheets has been sampled a million fucking times. And return of the max instrumental isn't a million miles away from Jay Z's ignorant shit which use between the sheets. It has that same kind of effortless ease with itself, but underneath there is something propulsive. There's something generating energy from underneath that you can't even see through the kind of psychedelic, slightly, you know, smoky, like colored floodlights through smoke kind of atmosphere with it. It's, yeah, this is something. I think this is pretty great. I don't feel much of a sentimental attachment to it.

I don't feel like there's much to say about it. I think it's something that I am. totally fine with, as you were saying, experiencing entirely on a surface level because its surface level is so convincing with its pitch. So, Andy, do you feel the same about return up the mark? I feel exactly the same. I feel exactly the same that you do occasionally get a song every now and again on our show where none of us really have anything to say, except that we all really like it. It's really good. It's getting triple vaulted. But like, that's just it. It's just really good, like in an own complex way. I remember we all basically were like that about Lola's theme back in the day

where we all loved that but we had not one word to say about it because it's just uncomplicated good pop music and I would say the same for this I wouldn't say it's uncomplicated to be fair because I do think this is war this has a sound to it this I think there are two songs this week

the other one which we haven't had yet which are like really right on the sound of the what the cool authentic 90s was and they sound very similar to each other you know but like this is just so so in the moment really that i feel like when when films or tv shows try to do a scene set in the 90s and try and convince you it's really the 90s you know

they occasionally use stuff like i don't know like barbigale or wonderwall or something and it's like no this this is like this is 90s this um and i can't believe these british as well i mean who is this guy really like the oozing of style and confidence the total sureness of the sound, the, like, the swagger in that vocal performance and the polish on their productions, like, who is he? Like, how is this guy not more famous?

You know, I mean, I know that obviously this song is really famous, and a lot of people know, it's Mark Morrison, but, like, this guy should be like, you know, like Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer should be a total household name who still pops up all the time. Like, wow, really, really just blown away by that. I think that the vocal style

although it's very striking and definitely has an element of cool to it it is the main thing I would mark down against this song purely in the sense that I don't know

what a fucking word is that he's saying most of the time like it's really really low on consonants and heavy on vowels like it does kind of sound you know like when you pull

the side of your left for hat it sounds a little bit like that most of the time where I think basically basically everything outside of the chorus, apart from there, you're lied to me, basically every single line of the verse I had to read. I had no idea what he was saying.

But that is part of the sound of the song, that is part of the vibe of the song, that is really, you can imagine just like lying back on a, you know, a big chair just singing this, like with minimal effort. Like, that's part of the cool of the song. So I wouldn't really suggest he changes it, but it's just, oh, it's heavy on the low enunciation um it's not to my taste that but everything else about this are like it doesn't add today it's welcome it's extremely tight it's extremely immaculately produced um and it's just a slam dunk another slam dunk and we've got the biggest slam dunk of the week i think still to come but yeah

i've got vanishingly little to say about this um except that it's just really really good and we get these now and again and that's fine this is just like total whole whole in one. All right then so the fourth and final song this week is this. You got to get up to get it to be able to be able to do it. Oh, yeah. I've got to get up to get in time. You got to get up to get in time. Looking for some education.

Made my way through the night. All been washing conversation. Well, baby, can't you read the sign? the signs I will know you with a detail, baby I don't even want to waste your time let's just say it made you could help to ease my mind

baby I ain't missed the right but if you're looking for fast in love the best love in your eyes it's warming to look Had some bad love, so fast in love by George Michael, released as the second single from his released as the second single from his third studio album titled, Older.

Love is George Michael's 19th single to be released in the UK and his seventh to reach number one. However, as of 2025, it is his last. Fast Love went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 111,000 copies beating competition from before by Pet Shop Boys, Move Move, Move by the Manchester United Football Squad and Sale of the Century by Sleeper. In week two, it sold 75,000 copies beating competition from Charmless Man by Blur, Cut Some Rug by the Blue Tones, and Woo-Harr got you all in check by Buster Rhymes, and club hopping by club heads.

And in week three, it sold 55,000 copies beating competition from Pass a Move, it's the Liverpool Groove by Liverpool FC. There's nothing I won't do by JX. Tonight Tonight by Smashing Pumpkins and Nobody Knows by Tony Rich Project When it was knocked off the top of the charts Fast Love dropped one place to number two By the time it was done on the charts

It had been inside the top 104, 17 weeks The song is currently officially certified Platinum in the UK As of 2025 So Ed Are you looking for Fethelove? Because George Michael

apparently had lots in 1996. It would appear so. First off, I think it's almost a shame that this follows up, Mark Morrison, because in some surface ways, they have similarities. Oh, yeah. They ride a sort of linear groove

with an insistent recurring hook that if it isn't a sample, sounds like a sample, as you mentioned, proff in the last case. However, this, there is there is a bit more going on here and I feel like I actually need some more time with this

I know I should have taken this into account really but the more I've listened to it the more I realise that there is actually a lot of motion in here there are different sections but it moves like shifting sand rather than a strictly delineated polite pop song and there's so much variety in the way his delivery and in the melody, that it's very hard to keep track of where you are, except for the fact that it does have this continued,

coolly confident role to it. I mean, in some ways, it's like it's swishing from between bar to bar, like through high-class nightlife, and you're just getting the noise from each one sort of watching over you. But you never really move out of that place. But then towards the end, well, I'll be honest, is a bit of a foreshould. I assumed this wasn't the single version,

the Fast Love Part 1. But then I realised there is no other version and this was the single version. It's another long song and it basically changes into a different song after about three and a half minutes. And also, value for money means you don't have to buy men in black by Will Smith.

So that's good. Yeah, again, I feel like I need more time with this. But it's like Jesus to a child, it's so rich. and confident and it speaks of a place and a mood with such composure,

I guess, that, yeah, it's another winner. Yeah, very good week this week. Ed, you are going to love my notes. You mentioned there about these high class bars moving through these high class bars. I think we've been peering over each of the shoulders.

Speaking of effortless ease, to just go back to Mark Morrison there, yeah, I don't have anywhere near as much on this as I did for Jesus to a child, but I'm just grateful that both that and Fast Love both got to number one, because on this podcast, I think we get to therefore paint both sides of George's character here, his pop star character, and it means we get something close to the full picture, because you get the sweeter, more sensitive side of George on Jesus to a child, and on Fast Love, you get that horny little devil that exists inside him, that exists inside many of us. And many of us are ashamed to say exists inside us. It's great to hear from that horny little devil because it turns out he makes pop that's just as memorable as the sweet and sensitive George as we met in the last week's episode. But I will say that he delivers this very sensitively. This is seductive and is sexy, but it's also quite gentle and whispery. I think it's very careful with itself.

I would trust George were he to be my fast lover for that evening. but I think what I get from this aesthetically is something that did last into the 2000s kind of unlike, you know, maybe Big Beat and Mark Morrison who apparently had several brushes with the law and a few issues. Oh yeah, with some substances and things like that, which, you know, I hope he's in a better place now.

But what did last into the 2000s is a new idea of what lounge music was meant to sound like and what cocktail lounge aesthetics were supposed to look like. Fast love reminds me, of a really specific memory of mine. It reminds me of accidentally ending up in the cocktail bar at the top of the OXO Tower in London with my parents in about 2004, 2005.

So the OXO Tower, it was actually renovated around the time that this song was at number one. It was kind of renovated through the late 90s to include offices and high class living and cocktail bars slash restaurants on the very top floor. see you'd have the view looking back over the Thames towards the North Bank and St. Paul's Cathedral and all that. My dad thought it would be something different to what it ended up being. We'd just gone down to London for the weekend and he just wanted to see, you know, the view from the top of the Oxto Tower back towards sort of like Blackfriars and that in London. But I remember going up and the lift doors opened into this bar that I was clearly way too young to be at. It was about

7pm on a Saturday night. My dad thought it would be quiet. I guess London maybe wasn't as busy then as it is now, but still. But it was incredibly busy. But it immediately imprinted on me and has become the reference point for so many indoor decor aesthetics from that era, the kind of what I call the PFI era. Because that bar at the top of the Oxo Tower on that day is exactly how the early 2000s look in my mind, and it's exactly how fast love sounds, where almost everything is glass and chrome, except for the laminate wood flooring, and all the metal and chrome is somehow cylindrical or circular, no sharp edges on anything anywhere. All the handrails and the door rails and the chair frames and the table legs feel like the bottom of a coat can when you touch

them. And there's a sort of retro futuristic thing going on where in amongst the glass and chrome and laminate floors. There's exposed brickwork and there might be an inexplicable beanbag on the floor and there might be some impressionist modern art on the walls. And a fish tank. Yes. It basically looks like the rental unit where they filmed the earlier seasons of Dragon's Den or how everything looks in the background of the gotta get through this video or like how everything looks in love actually. You know, and that's exactly what fast love sounds like. It sounds like he's trying to guess where sophisticated nightlife is going to go in the new millennium. And I think he gets it. gets it pretty much spot on, because it definitely lasts.

This sounds like a cocktail bar in 2003, and we're in 1996, so he gets a big, big credit for that. I don't take as much meaning from it as I do Jesus to a child, but I still enjoy this hell of a lot. Andy, I've given you the floor, because I know that this one has ended up being a massive hit for you over the past few days, so you can finish the show with Fast Love. How do we feel? Yeah, I mean, this is extraordinary, to be honest. I've spent like very little time with this over

the past decades you know like I've been aware of this like I knew it but just sort of hadn't really kind of listened to it much but appreciated it you know liked it when it was on but I'd never been particularly active with it and I've spent the last sort of three or four weeks because I tend to say a little bit ahead of schedules and the last three or four

weeks listening to this and I must have listened to this about 20, 30 times by now and I've gone into the whole album that this and Jesus to a child was off called Older. And first of all, to acknowledge this and Jesus to a child as back-to-back singles, I mean, what a pop star that, you know, not just be capable of those two, but be capable of releasing those two within weeks of each other. You know, that incredibly tender, long-form grief ballad, more than a ballad. It's like a sort of elegy, really, you know, that plays with form.

and then to go into this which is like incredibly horny like essentially modern disco going into sort of early naughtyies French disco to be honest

it's extraordinary like what a pop star to put those two things out back to back and this I've just completely fallen for like I'm just absolutely wowed by this I said that there were two songs this week that I think are instantly transportative to the 90s

and this is the other one And I think this more than any other, maybe more than any other song, full stop, is like, this is it. This is the sound of the mid to late 90s for me, only for me personally. But if I was to kind of want to put myself back in the shoes of like the early 90s version of myself, what music sounded like at this time, it is essentially this. And I was never a fan of this, like I said, sort of aware of this as I was growing up, but like I was never a fan of it. but it's everywhere. Like, this song is just everywhere across the decade.

Like, it uses bits from before. It's all sorts of stuff after, and it's in lots of stuff that is simultaneous to it. Like, Retail of the Mac is essentially simultaneous with this, and it's got a lot in common. I agree with Ed. It's got a lot in common with Return of the Mac. It's got that similar sort of groove,

that kind of snap beat to it, definitely shares those vibes. Just keep saying that word, all of us all week, but, like, it definitely shares a similar sense of atmosphere with Return of the Mac. that sense of cool as well. But it's like, I'm going to use an absolutely ridiculous comparison point here, but go with it.

There's a series of Doctor Who, you know me. There's a series of Doctor Who where the TARDIS explodes in flight, which means that it scatters. The shrapnel of the TARDIS scatters across all of time and space. It's everywhere. It's in the past, the present and the future, because it exploded in the time vortex. And that's kind of what this feels like,

where it's like a bomb has gone off in the 90s and spread bits of this song around. where it's like, say, we'll be there that comes out next year, it has that whee-o-wee-o-the-thing going on. Return of the Mac that's happened at the same moment has loads that's in common with this. And there's stuff from before that's been carried forward, like the forget-me-not stuff,

which is going to get revisitors anyway in Men and Black, like he's ahead of the game on that. And there's stuff that's, like, years later, like stuff that's recently been done by Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter, even, that really sounds quite a lot like some of the sounds that are in this. And I can't believe, what a touchstone this is,

that this feels like irremovable from the DNA of the 90s, that this sounds like where everything kind of comes together. And it makes me even more proud of that, that this is a song about gay sex that manage this, that is like right at the heart of everything.

And it's not so much about the lyrical content why I think this is so, you know, so much of a massive touchpoint in 90s music. It's not so much about the lyrics, but it doesn't have help that, you know, that this is someone who is really genuinely very sexy in this song. Like, I'm not particularly attracted to George Michael,

but he could convince me in this. Like, we've talked a lot about songs that have come up that we've thought are not sexy at all, like powerfully unsexy, like boombastic, and I want to sex you up and stuff like that. This, though, this actually is a really sexy song that, you know, sets the atmosphere that I might actually consider putting this song on,

you know, during the act of, you know, making baby making babies that just fell out of my mouth which of course isn't what I'd be doing very much the opposite of that but anyway

but like I would actually put this on because this is genuinely very sexy like he knows how to imbue a song with horniness and with the kind of drama and excitement and tension that comes with wanting to have sex. And it's just like done with such style. I think the sort of sonic elements of this,

if you just look at this as a piece of sound, what academically you refer to as the music itself, where you divorce it of all contexts and it's just literally the sound of it. I think it's genuinely extraordinary. I think that it's innovative to a degree that's not just innovative. It's like he can actually see the future. You know, like it's like he's looked one or two years ahead and knows that the sound of the spice girls is coming. He knows that the sound of Fat Boy Slim is coming. He knows that the sound of early daft punk is coming. And it's all here.

It's all here. And it's done with a huge gay sex land to it, which I'm always going to be in favour of as well. But yeah, I mean, if there's one thing that I, a sort of question, it's the forget-me-not sample, but I don't even care. I don't even care.

Like, that's one idea too many, but when you're thrown as many ideas at this and they all thought together so well, one extra one, I don't care about at all. that's fine. I love that breakdown in the middle where it turns into a completely different key, briefly a completely different song and then comes back again. For once, I don't mind how long it is. Like, I really want to bask in this and have this sound wash over me forever. Every time those little tiny blast of trumpet under the got to get up, got to get down vocals,

come in and just give it an extra layer. I just get a little tingle. Yeah, to go back to my other point about return to the Mac, if I was to set a scene in a TV show or a film, in the 90s and I was to set it in a bar or something, this is what would be playing because this is what would make me feel like it is the 90s because sonically, this is all over the rest of this decade and beyond that into the early naughties

as well. And finally, cycling background again to George Michael, I think it's amazing that this is coming from someone who is, who is not new on the stage role. He's not like an old fogey, he's younger than me when he did this. But if you look back to who George Michael

contemporaries were when he set out of the gate in like 1983, 1983, 1984, his contemporaries, they're so long ago now, so far gone, that it's ridiculous really, that, you know, his contemporaries are people like Nick Kershaw or Howard Jones or, you know, sort of the back end of Duran Duran. Like, he's so out of his original time here,

but he's still right at the very front, not just, like, in touch with the zeitgeist, but it's still setting the zeitgeist. Like, years on in the mid-90s, when all of his contemporaries have gone. The only thing you can really compare it to, I really think he should be in the conversation with the likes of Madonna, to be honest,

for how much they set the zeitgeist repeatedly through the 80s, 90s and early 90s. Because he's not even finished yet. You know, he's got some really, really gorgeous songs coming up at the end of the decade and the early naughties as well. So huge, huge respect for George Michael for being still as confident

and as in touch with what people want as this. But mainly I just look at this as like a masterpiece, to be honest. It's the first thing since Sleeping Satellite back in 92 that I've properly, truly fallen head over heels in love with from listening to it for this show. And I'll say right now, this is a 10 out of 10 for me. This is perfect, and it's possibly my favourite song we've covered of this entire decade. Oh, fantastic. What a way.

What a way to end the episode. And what a good episode it has been. We're going to look back over it now. So, Ed, piehole, vault, take that, the prodigy, Mark Morrison and George Michael. It would have been an across-the-board vaulting, were it not for the slight necessary schedule change. But I'm not going to put, take that in the bin. It's just, it's completely inoffensive, really, isn't it? But yeah, the other three tracks, they're all getting vaulted in their own way, for their own strengths.

Yeah, this is turning out to be a solid year so far. Definitely. My scoring is exactly the same as you. How Deep is Your Love is not going anywhere, but Fire Starter, Return of the Mac and Fast Love, they're all going in the vault. So Andy, How Deep is Your Love, Fire Starter, Return of the Mac and Fast Love? Where are you putting everything?

Well, we don't need to ask the question, how deep is your vault or how deep is your pie hole, madam, because they're not. They're not going anywhere. The only question that we need to ask, as Rob, so we correctly put it earlier on, is, how warm is your toast? Is your toast? Yeah.

They're not going anywhere. Fire starter by the prodigy. Well, more like Fire Volta. Yeah, that's going up into the vault. Like I say, it's weird that we get songs like this, where it's not something I would ever really listen to myself, but my God, I can't deny how good that is. So that's going into the vault. return of the Mac

Return of the Vault that's going in there as well it just about squeaks in there for me I think again it's so good that I can't deny it to be honest even though it's not a personal favourite of mine my system of what goes in the vault is just completely broken this week

because we've got these behemoths that are turning up that I just can't deny and fast love well emphasis on the love for me from this one vault love fast vault super speedy fast vault part billion yes

absolutely storming this into the vault so that's all of those last three for me this has been an exceptional week exceptional week amazing stuff yeah yes it really really has so that is it for this week's episode there will be if you look out for it there will be an episode coming up

probably during this week where it will be similar to the one that we did when Lizzie announced that she was in and we were going to do the 90s and all that stuff. And I did like a short five to 10 minute episode, just explaining about a few things that have been going on in the background. And I'm going to do a similar one.

This one's about good news, but it's just good news that you need to be made aware of so that nobody gets lost again. There have been some positive developments with Spotify. I will say that much. So I will see you for that episode and we'll see you for the next episode next week. As usual, you soon.

Bye now. Bye-bye.