Hits 21 - 1996 (4): Spice Girls, Peter Andre, Fugees, Deep Blue Something

Episode Date: October 31, 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

Hits 21 Well, hello everyone back to hit's 21, the 90s, where me, Rob, the 90s, where me, Rob, me, Frodo and me, Ed, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us, please do. We're at Hits21 Podcast at gmail.com. Hits21 podcast at gmail.com

and Twitter it's at Hits21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back. We have returned to the year 1996 after three weeks out. And this week we'll be covering the period between the 21st of July and the 5th of October. So a fairly big stride through 96. Hits 21 does not own the rights to any music in this episode,

but usage of all the music in this podcast falls under Section 30 Clause 1 of the Copyright Act 1988. It is time to press on with this week's episode. Andy, welcome back from Down Under and then even further under. Thank you. Three hours on a plane further under. How are the album charts doing through the sort of end of summer and beginning of autumn in 96?

First of all, just want to do a shout-out to Lizzie. Thank you so much for filling in for three weeks for a whole three episodes while I was away. I very much enjoyed listening to those episodes. Thank you to all three of you for waiting for me to get back. We have four albums to talk about this week. One of them, it's the highest-selling album of the year, which you may remember from so long ago when our last episode was, is Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette.

That had previously had one week at number one, but now it's back for another eight weeks and would ultimately go 10 times platinum and that's one of those numbers that you can see just rising and rising forever because that's just perennial really, isn't it? That's knocked off the top spot by Swade with Coming Up which went number one for one week

and went single platinum. And the same is true single week and platinum for REM with new adventures in high-fi. And the last album this week, it's Cooler Shaker with the text that I send when I agree to do something but I will do so with annoyance, which is K. And that went number one for two weeks and went double platinum.

So, yeah, quite an unusual mixed bag this week. Thank you very much for that report, Andy. In the UK, Princess Diana and Prince Charles finalised their divorce proceedings after 15 years of marriage, and seven months after the Dunblane massacre, the government announces the possession of handguns is to be made illegal in Britain. In Spain, 35 people are killed in a bomb attack on. Royce Airport. In football, Alan Shearer becomes the most expensive footballer in the world after

his £15 million transfer from Blackbone Rovers to Newcastle United. And in Formula 1, British driver Damon Hill wins the World Driver's Championships, becoming only the second British winner in 20 years after Nigel Mansell. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela announces he will not be seeking re-election as president in 1999. And in America, two people are killed and more than 100 people are injured in a bomb attack at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Twister, Independence Day, Last Man Standing and the Nutty Professor. And in UK TV, an episode of Have I Got News for You results in a £10,000 fine after

Angus Dayton refers to Ian and Kevin Maxwell as, quote, heartless bastards, end quote. Ed, America, Autumn 96. How are they finding it? Naz is continuing his trail of transcription in the album charts with It Was Written, adding up to a whole month before passing the baton to another hip-hop legend, beats rhymes and life, beats, shoots and leaves after a single week. I've got a fever, I guess, and the cure is a jagged little pill. Again, the US intake of this jagged little peal is starting to resemble binging quite fiercely,

but this three-week relapse is followed by a mohy couple of weeks with Pearl Jam's no code, followed by a post-perge buzz of childlike optimism, as new addition, somewhat improbably, have the top for a week with home again. They are soon evicted again in favour of more conservative delights, Celine Dion's Falling Into You, which has its three weeks of commercial sunshine dampled only by a Nirvana live album. Bloody hell, the 1996 charts in America basically just seem like the early 90s is having some sort of antimatter explosion and time is fracturing because this is all over the goddamn

place. The singles, which are on another piece of paper, which is right here, I have the piece of US singles. It's totally worth the weight this. It's a week of Tony Braxton and then Macarena for 14 weeks. Oh my God. And that's it. That's the singles. Far simpler. Well, thank you very much for that report too. And we're going to get back over to the UK now for the first of four songs we're going to give you this week. That's right. Three weeks off, four songs back on. Bit of a treat for you. This is the first of them. I want to really, really want.

Don't tell me what you want, what you really, really want. I'll tell you what I want to want what I really, really want. Don't tell me what you want what you want, what you really, I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to really, really want to ziggasic. If you want my future, forget my past. If you want to get with me, better make it fast. Now don't go wasting, my precious time. Get your act together, we could be just fine. All right I really, really want.

No, tell me what you want, what you really, really want. I want a, I want a, I want a, I want a, I want to really, really want to figure it on. If you want to be my lover, you got to get with my friends. Make it last forever. Friendship never ends. If you want to be my lover, you have got to give. Taking it's too easy, but that's the way it is. All right, this is wannabe by Spike.

Bice Girls. Released as the lead single from the group's debut studio album titled, Spice. WannaB is Spice Girls' first single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, and it's definitely not the last time we'll be coming to Baby, Sporty, Scary, Ginger and Posh on this podcast. Wannaby first entered the UK charts at number three, reaching number one during its second week on the chart. It stayed at number one for seven weeks across its seven weeks. Atop the charts, it sold 882,000 copies beating competition from the following top ten entries, and there are a lot of them. Crazy by Mark Morrison, Higher State of Consciousness by Wink, Macarena by Los Del Rio. Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers.

Feet by Alanis Morissette. Woman by Nenna Cherry. Freedom by Robbie Williams. Trash by Swade. Good Enough by Dodgy. The Crossroads by Bone Thugs and Harmony. Someday by Eternal. Peacock Suit by Paul Weller.

How Bizarre by OMC. Why by 3T and Michael Jackson. We've got it going on by the Backstreet Boys. Say Aidae by Pet Shop Boys. Better Watch Out by Anton Deck. Spinning the Wheel by George Michael. Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai. The Letter by REM, Undivided Love by Louise, Let's Make a Night to Remember by Brian

Adams, Hey Dude by Cooler Shaker, one to another by charlatans, I've got a little puppy by the Smurfs, and me and you versus the world by space. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, wannabe fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 26 weeks. The song is currently officially certified four times platinum in the UK as of 2025. Oh my God, the things that happen in the background there during these seven weeks.

You have Macarena coming into the world, Robbie Williams coming into the world as a solo artist, a song that influences the legendary iconic act of Blazing Squad, of course. We mustn't forget that. The virtual insanity video goes by, oh my God. Most importantly of all, I've got a little puppy.

That's off the Smurfs go pop. I know that's actually a pop album. Yeah. And I just, I always amazed that I'm impressed. Ebo the letter, which features Patty Smith, got so high on the charts. I mean, I didn't stand a chance against one Abe. But, yeah, I think that's a fantastic song. But when I was a kid, I think I just would have been baffled and probably a bit bored by

Ebo the letter. but I think it's a fantastic track. But anyway. Yeah. Pretty incredible. Yeah. God, yeah. Robbie Williams sneaking in.

So, Ed, wannabe, Spice Girls. How are we feeling? Well, I'm going to keep it brief because they do. This is the first single we've had in quite some time, I think. It's like sub three minutes in length. Yeah. And that includes the little run-up at the beginning. There's like a false start where there's a couple of seconds with no sound.

Like, ah, gotcha. Get you waiting. But, yeah. Yeah, I have a feeling that others on this episode might have a great deal to say about this. Who do you mean? I don't know. I don't know what I'm reviewing to. But I have a few notes, but yeah, the first thing that came to my head is that I think, having grown up with this effectively and seen the video a trillion times, this might be the world's most brilliant multimedia advert. And I mean that in the best possible way, because it crams into that three minutes such a lot.

It's a series of choruses, as in I don't just mean repeats of the same chorus. I mean, there's like three different potential choruses in there with variations on a theme in between, which actually highlight each of the characters. And it doesn't just tell you about who these girls are and why you want to be a part of their club. it actually they express it not only in what they say and how they sing it but even in the aesthetic of the singing like it goes into a you know a hip-hop rhyme scheme at one point and then goes back to the melody and they all sound so distinctive clustered so close together and then there's that video which is just matches it perfectly and it's just i think everyone who grew up in the 90s knows that video and you can't disconnect it from the energy of the song and it says it all. It's like, welcome to our world. Follow us, you know, on our trail of destruction through stuffy establishment. It's got so many signals going on. It's, as you say, it's welcoming you into a club, but it's letting you know it's an exclusive club in its own way.

And it is a group, but it's also full of individuals, and you too could be an individual. And yeah, I've made this sound so clinical in a way, but it's, It's so bloody well done and it's so concise and performed with such vivacity and evidently has had so much work put into making every single corner of it engaging and memorable because the hooks, as I kind of implied, aren't just in the choruses. They're in the way parts of the verses are sung and there's little bits and interjections like there's an extra bar of almost a cappella vocals just before it goes into the second. verse, just apropos of nothing, it's just another memorable element. I mean, this is, this is brilliant chart pop, as in it's like pop, it's about as good as it gets. It's a sort of, yeah, I'll leave it there. I think I've, I think I've made the most out of my very few notes, but that's not a reflection on the quality of the song, which I think endures, not just because it was part of a multimedia kind of zeitgeist grabbing push, but because it's, it's really

good. Andy, I know you'll have absolutely loads to say about this, so I'll give you the four, you can go, you can go last, we'll save the best to last on it, I think. So I'll, I'll get mine out of the way. I think in some way our 90s coverage has been waiting for this moment, like we've been sitting in a holding pattern, waiting for the year 96, when Spice Girls hit and the late 90s begin because I think like Andy I don't know about you we know when ed's memory begins which is obviously with sonic but for me my memory sort of begins at the point that spice girls and wannabe enter the world I've said before that any memories I have of my childhood are sort of foggy and they sort of amalgamate into blurry images that are more representations of my childhood as opposed

to like accurate recollections clear images only really start coming through around the time of my 12th and 13th birthdays. One of the blurry images from my single figure years is me in the backseat in my parents car, in a car seat, asking for the Spice Girls cassette tape to be played over and over and over again. I thought wannabe in particular was so, so exciting and it was my favourite song until I was about 10, which was when I had to start liking football and PlayStation games and boy things. But when I was much smaller, like three years old, sometimes we'd get to like track four on the first album and I just want the first three songs to come back around again and ask for them to be restarted. Obviously like a lot of us who grew up in the

90s and like I just implied, we kind of left the spice girls behind a bit in that, you know, it was a sort of 90s thing as our taste changed and we grew up and went into the new millennium and all this stuff. But since around 2015, 2016, when I got into my 20s, I found myself returning to them more and more. You start looking beyond the initial excitement you had when you were three or four years old and the magic of something like wannabe is that even looking beyond the superficial stuff like the bright colors and the bouncy execution you know there's so much to be excited about here even when you know it inside out like you know that i think this is fantastic i think it's been you know something that's been written and explained a dozen times

already but the launch of the spice girls to the people involved was about launching more than a pop group it was about you know an idea you know simon fuller and the five girls that they wanted to you know make sure that people came across that phrase girl power before they even knew who the Spice Girls were. And like, you know, girl power originated with Bikini Kill about five or six years before this, but an advert for the Spice Girls that was put in a few magazines before the release of wannabe mentioned girl power but didn't even mention the group. It was just like girl powers on the way or girl powers around the corner, just you wait or something. And it's like the group has an ethos before you even know who they are. And then it arrives with Jerry's

loud laugh and the sudden shout of yo is this the first instance in the 90s of a song at least opening with yo or having the word yo put in it there can't be particularly many that we've covered especially from a british act well i don't know about british acts i think the first word of do the bartman is yo i think yo hey what's happening dude what's happening yes i think that's the only one i could think of yeah so for a british act to say the word yo Huh. And then those hard pianos and the call and response, you're immediately presented with something as confident and brash as something like salt and pepper, but with additional 70s funk and disco influences. And from there, what you're experiencing is a constant barrage of ideas and information. Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, who wrote the song with the Spice Girls. They've said that they didn't really sit down and plan this as like a verse chorus, verse chorus thing. It was more that they kept the tape running. And the four. girls at the time via because there was only four of them in the studio posh victoria she was on the phone saying yeah i like that or i don't like that bit but i do like that bit that's why she's not she doesn't

have her own thing she just wasn't there on the day of recording but she came in and did some stuff afterwards it's not linear this song but it's not conventional either and apparently matt and richard they kind of said like look we just played the tape and then they kept yelling things and these things that they were yelling were really catchy and we just kept as much in as we could it means you get new things new ideas new bits new hooks from the beginning right until the very end you know you are already having the time of your life and then mel b comes in with so here's a story for me the first utterance of that slam your body down and wind it all around only hits after the two minute mark and that's one of the most memorable bits of the song just the slammy body down a

The chemistry is strong throughout with all five of them. You get new phrases to enjoy, like zigazig-a-zag-ar. And then that soft chorus comes in and kind of cuts through a lot of the kind of rap-based chaos. They hand the mic around like the Beastie Boys and Run DMC at their best, and then they kind of cut through with that kind of tranquil, angelic, just the, if you want to be my love, it's very, very good. But I think the magic ingredient with all of this is that the spice girls both fit and don't fit together. They're like action figures in a box.

each of them with their own outfit, their own style, their own individual flair, but they're also a bit unkempt, like how in the video it looks like they just bumped into each other on a night out, five individual nights out, but they've become instant besties. You have posh in an LBD and then sporty and a vest top and trackies, and yet you'd never question that they were in the same group. There are lots of interesting opposing forces here, and there's a very special pop song in the middle of it all, and man is it nice to get this end of the Spice Girls on the show finally instead of hollow.

which was the only song of theirs that we got to cover in the 2000s, which everybody remembers so fondly. But this, yeah, this is basically as close to perfect as Pop can get. I think this is marvelous. Andy. This is, like,

it's no exaggeration to say that not just this, but the Spice Girls in general, is what sold me on doing the 90s on Hid's 21 altogether. That, like, this is what I've been waiting for. This is what I've been waiting for since Holla,

where I, that was just to give us some behind the scenes, there that I did a big, like, 10-minute monologue at the time about like the entire history of the Spice Girls and why I felt hollow was the instant end to all. And that was completely unplanned. I just did that off the cuff. That's not to brag, but that's for me to say the depth of which I have connected with the Spice Girls over the years. What a big part of my childhood they were. What a big part. They still remain of my kind of pop culture experience, really, and how I could just talk about them forever. I feel like I connect with them and

have a sort of encyclopedic knowledge of them to a level that I don't have about many other topics. And so I was just sort of twiddling my thumbs thinking, oh, I wish I could talk about the spice skills again. And I actually don't know how much I've talked about them on the air. I suspect it's probably quite a lot because I am an absolutely huge fan of them and have been ever since this came out in 1996 when I was four. And it's like, it's very hard for me to put myself in the shoes of people who don't have that level of nostalgia for it. Like I do kind of wish I could put myself in the shoes of adults in the 90s who were being exposed to this, who had things to compare it to, because for me, this is the start of music, essentially.

I know, obviously, it isn't, and I don't mean that in any kind of real sense, but, like, this is my first memory of, other than the songs like Fairground, which mentioned in the past, which I just sort of liked hearing them in the background, and, you know, just like the video or whatever, this is the first time I was like, no, I actually, in a real sense, actually do like this, and like, I want to go and have this on cassette, and I want more songs from them, Like, I don't just want to see the song on the TV on the music channel and sing along to it. I want more from them. I want to know who these people are.

And that was my very first actual interest in any pop culture element at all. This is like the absolute start for me of engaging with music, engaging with pop culture. So they are like up on the mountaintop for me. They really are. And because of that, it's very daunting. I've said this before that. We have these songs that come along every now and again, like, can't get you out of my head

or crazy and love to some extent or, you know, just these songs that, like, they're kind of scary from a podcasting perspective. You're like, how to hell to be analyzed? So remember that week where we had to just briefly stop off and do jailhouse rock from the 50s? It's like, it's quite, like, terrifying to do those justice and think, put it into words.

Why is this song actually so iconic and so powerful? And a lot of the times you can't really put it into words, but I've given it a go with this. And one of the reasons I really wish I could put myself in the shoes of an adult at the time who doesn't have that rose-tinted lenses for it is because I do think this is close to being objective, I think. I think this is close to being like you actually cannot deny this. And there's no such thing as that, obviously. But I just think this is it.

Like this is like lightning in a bottle in a genuine sense. I think if we judge all acts If we were to do an exercise I've judged all musical acts By how long does it take When you first exposed to them To completely get them To know them

To completely get everything they're all about And have received their whole mission statement I think Spice Girls It's like one minute of this video That's it You can come away from just one minute of this video And you know who all of them are You know exactly what their tone is

What their style is Who their market is And you've got that song in your head head. That's not an easy thing to do. And I have a memory of first hearing this song to back it up that I actually unbelievably do remember the first time I heard the Spice Girls, which I'm like really happy about because I was only four years old. But it was my sister who had already seen the video a few times. I hadn't quite caught it. I hadn't seen it yet. But she had seen it enough times that she was getting excited where my mum would say, Sarah, that's my sister's name. Sarah, come down.

Spice Girls are about to come on. They're saying Spice Girls are on next. And I ran in. And I I remember my sister doing the dance moves to the song, and I was just absorbing it for the first time. And then I was like, I want that again, play that again, play that again. It just hooked me instantly, instantly. And I think one of the reasons it gets you so instantly is because the clarity in their message is just so strong. The characterization is so strong.

They have very obvious differences in their voices, for starters, which is actually quite a rare thing in girl groups. I don't think there's many girl groups where you can, could immediately pick out every voice. And with the possible exception of baby and posh, because they're a little bit more vanilla than the rest, I think every voice is extremely recognizable, and you get a sense of personality from them straight away. It's like the first song from a musical that introduces all the characters.

It's like, you know, that song, my shot from the beginning of Hamilton, where they just like introduce all the characters and go, oh, my name so and so and my name so and so. And then they move into it. It's kind of like that. But in a pop music sense, like you know. that this is the start of something. Like this is, like I say, it's a mission statement. And every one of the five, every character is so vivid. And like, it's exactly how you would describe them a first glance with the possible exception of scary. I think the other four, that is literally

what you would say. Like, you look at them, you take one look at them and you go, oh, the posh one, the one is kind of babyish, the sporty kind of one, the ginger one. That's like exactly what you would say. They emphasise those aspects of them and you'd get them straight away from Now, with Scary, I think that's less obvious, to be honest, and I think there's maybe a little bit of, like, uncomfortable stuff to do with calling her scary. But you would at least know what they're going for there, but she's the loud and leery and in-your-face one. And I just think they're all so strongly characterized,

and it comes through not just in their performance, but in the way they behave, the way they carry themselves, in their costumes. I'm going to call them costumes, because they are costumes, not outfits, really. They are costumes that, you know, immediately jump into. to everybody's head when they think of them. It is really short and brisk.

It is amazing how short this is, considering how much it packs in. And actually, it could stand to be shorter. Like, no problem at all. I don't think it out to days it's welcome. I don't want it to be any shorter. But if it had to, it could be. Like, you could get this down to two minutes 30

rather than the two minutes 55 that it is. No problem. That is sharp writing and sharp production. And it does help the overall effect of this, that the song is an absolute, banga it doesn't miss a beat at all it packs in so much stuff

as Ed said it packs in so so much stuff that at the time I can imagine people probably would have thought oh well they've just blown to all their ideas in one song there

like they've just thrown everything in one song that they're going to be a one hit wonder and I think it's to this song's credit and actually to the credit of the Spice Girls in general and the teams that they had

behind them that's something that is so full of ideas is this and it's so packed. It's just the start. That as much of this is a tothum in pop music history, this is literally just the start. Like, there's so much more to come

and so much better to come, as far as I'm concerned. But just the amount of stuff. There's a booming piano hook, that really low piano, which is like the first thing that everyone wants to learn when they get to play piano properly

and they're a 90s kid is they discover the low end of the piano and they go, oh, that sounds a bit like, brum, brum, I think we've all been there. The ziggasigigga, thing at the start where like it gives them a bit of mystique I remember at the time where like on CBBC or whatever where they like have discussions about the spice

girls and they're like what is Zigger Zigar what does that mean like they just have a little bit of like coolness about that like that sort of impenetrable nature that just adds a little bit of extra sheen the sing along chorus that as Rob said you know stands in contrast to the rest of it that you get a nice easy karaoke sing along with a really easy melody that anyone can copy the verse as well is really catchy in its own right, like that's got a really nice soaring melody as well that you can sing along to really easily. The rap section that everybody tries to memorize that just sits in that sweet spot where like it's difficult enough that it will take you a few listens and it's a bit

impressive in the playground and even as adults, you know, the kind of millennial 90s revisiting that we all do all the time where it's still like worthy of a round of applause if someone stands up and does the whole verse rap section from wannabe without pause. but it's not like so hard that it's really difficult it's not like it's in no sense like you know genuine authentic rap difficulty it's just like a nice little thing for you to go away and learn and the slam your body down refrain as well which like i say is like doesn't need to be in there that's like an extra hook an extra little thing to focus on that you just don't need it's just a bonus all of it packed in to those just over two and a half minutes um but what what really i think sends it over the top as something really special is that It's just a masterclass in branding and imagery. It's a genuine, complete package that any one of these things that I've said about it would be worthy of getting it to a number one. Like if it was a really, really great song, if it had really good hooks,

or if it was a rubbish song, but it had a really interesting personality behind it, or if it had a really great video behind it, or if it just had one element like the ziggasigar that, like, you know, gets people interested. All of those things on their own are enough to get something like this to number one, to do it all together and execute it all so perfectly you have the complete package

delivered in one fell swoop and I think it is a serious contender for the best debut single ever released certainly for the most successful in what it's trying to do like if you were to take it on a relatively objective measure of right

someone's coming onto the scene this is what they're trying to do I don't think any debut single has ever done it as successfully as wannabe does like even the Beatles at a few false start You know, it's amazing that this is their page one, this is the first anybody heard of them, that there was no false start, there was no test in the ground before this other than the

hype campaign that Rob mentioned. So, yeah, I mean, I have to acknowledge I'm completely awash in nostalgia for it to the point that, like, you know, the film Spice World, which I'm going to shelve for now, because I'll talk about that when we get into that era. That's like probably the thing in the world that I'm most, that makes me feel most nostalgic as that film, Spice World, because that's just such a big part of what the late 90s was to me. But I don't think it's just nostalgia.

Like I say, I think this is close to being objective that this felt like just a nuclear bomb striking the charts at just the time, you know, with the kind of cool Britannia wave just around the corner. This was just the time where people were really ready for something fresh to some sort of take the UK music scene stratospheric. So I'd say ultimately this is a triumph, but it's not just a triumph for the Spice Girls. I think this is a triumph for pop music. This is a cornerstone of recent pop music history.

I say recent, it's nearly 30 years ago now, but this is a cornerstone of pop music history that I think we as a nation can be incredibly proud to have shouldered. And this is a genuine stone called Classic and one of the greatest songs that we've covered in the 90s and one of the greatest number ones that there's ever been, probably. All right then, so the second song up this week is this. Party all right

Party all right Yeah, what's the blame Yeah I can't bring myself to slave So I get the keys to my deep Well there's nothing that I ain't gonna do tonight He's down on the number 2-1 Because I hear there's a jam that's going on

going on what I'm feeling is so good in my neighborhood ooh there's something special about tonight and I know it's so everybody's got their groove on I want to let it go are you here with me I said I want to hear the party sing if you down throw your hands up in the air match back with a flavor of the year here we go there's a party over there we go there's a party Okay, oh, yes and a drink that I like that I like that I'm back with a flavor of the room. Ain't got no time to bang, so I grab a drink. I got the type that I like and I ain't gonna waste no time.

I'm back in a corner of the room. I see the one and she makes my heart go boom. I'm smiling and I am leaving all my friends behind. Okay, this is Flavor by Peter Andre. Released as the fifth single from his second studio album titled Natural. Flavor is Peter Andre's fifth single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one, and it's not the last time we'll be coming to Mr. Andre on this podcast. Flavor went straight in at number one as a brand new entry.

It stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, It sold 129,000 copies beating competition from Ready or Not by Fugees and I'm Alive by Stretch. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Flavor dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 17 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK. As of 2025, Andy, you can get us going with Andre Peter. This isn't as good.

I think we'll just say that straight off that this isn't as good as wannabe. I don't think that'll be a particularly controversial thing to say. And I sometimes think about the songs that knocked off absolute classics from the top. The people who've done that must always tell that story at dinner parties where, you know, I was just looking back, an afro man knocked, can't get you out of my head, off number one in 2001 in the UK at least. and you know I think Peter Andre must be aware of the fact that he knocked

wannabe off the top in 1996 like that's crazy not the worst thing imaginable but the most forgettable thing because like this leans so heavily into other stuff of this genre

that it feels like a parody because it's that obvious to be honest where it's like that refrain that runs all the way through sounds just like I got a little little poet

exactly like that and it even has that little thing that comes post-chorus that goes leave your friends and it's like it sounds like this is how we do it and like the references he's making

are extremely obvious to the point where it doesn't feel like a reference but more just like outright taking it but all of those reference points that I'm talking about that seems so obvious they seem like five years out of date maybe not five years

but at least like two three years out of date this feels so out of its time and so just like unwelcome in the 1996 charts. Like, he's unlucky that wannabe has just happened. So this is like, you know, whatever followed Lady Gaga with Just Ansel Pokerface, it's like, oh, right, you're one step behind the game, you know, just that one step.

And so I do feel a bit sorry for him in that sense. But like, this is just so, so outdated at this point. It can only have got to number one off the back of Mysterious Girl, which I'm very surprised didn't get to number one in the 90s, by the way. It can only have been off the back of that where people think, oh he's that hunk who is in the water with his shiny pecks and now he's got another song so let's just buy that

and assume that does something to the world and that's it like this has no value it's just like generic bump and grind like landfill and it's not like absolutely horrendous it's not unlistenable

but it's pretty rubbish and it's just a waste of my time so I'm not going to spend any more time on it nah don't like this at all oh i like it a little bit more than that actually i don't think this is too bad i think it's definitely fluffy and like and definitely not as convincing as it wants to be with the kind of lethario party boy stuff that peter's being asked to do definitely got a little bit of that emanate in there too the like you said that i got a little something for you it also really

reminds me of a song that came a bit later called opera number two by vitas the russian counter tenor, which I'm not sure is the vibe that he's going for either. But once the new Jack Swing stuff kicks in, there's something here. There's not much, but there is something. I've always been taken by that strange synthesized accordion thing that rolls round in the back, the thing that does remind me of Opera 2. I don't think it's the vibe that he's going for, but I've always found it pretty curious that that ends up there.

Weird intervals for this kind of song that... That's very, very unusual. It feels a bit sort of greasy and sleazy, doesn't it? Yeah, and it's also a bit Eastern European folk as well. But I think this coming off the back of songs like Return of the Mac, it maybe exposes how not that cool Peter probably looks in retrospect. He's incredibly attractive and buff, and he plays the part well enough.

He doesn't have a bad voice. He's just a bit weak vocally, and then when he says the max back with the flavour of the year, I'm not totally buying it after Mark Morrison only came a few weeks ago. There's not quite enough personality coming from him for me, which I think does get exposed, I think, in the next number one that he does. There's enough going on around him in this, I think, for him to get away with it. We have this. It's a half-decent party track.

Feels a bit cruel that this seems to have been forgotten so much. though, you know, I like those backing vocals, the party on night, and you got the, ooh, there's something special bad tonight, you know, the bridge section, I think there's good enough bits in this, but it's pretty clear that this was a big jump for like first week sales and then maybe the second week and then blah blah and then it doesn't achieve 400,000 sales, you know, it's, yeah, it's fine, I won't be pie-holing it or anything like that, but it's yeah, I can kind of see why this may have slipped out of people's memory a little bit, even if that is a bit harsh.

Ed, what do you make of flavour? I will give you my flava beans and a nice kianti. I can't really argue with any of that from either of you, really. Yeah, I mean, the first note I put was, easy to forget how tenacious New Jack Swing was. It's 1996. And I'm like, take it out, it's like, this could have been any year from, about 1989

and America, I think, was well, well past this. We had just evidently got an aftertaste

of it. The only thing I can argue with is, Andy said it's pretty forgettable. I've had, when I saw the title,

unlike so many singles around this time, I immediately remembered the track. I think I possibly had a bit of a taste

for this sort of, you know, Brit take on you, Jack, this ersatz new jack swing we had going on but then again I mean this this until about the age of 15 was like the peak of my chart pop engagement so it's possible that I've just heard it so many times in its entirety

that it just became part of my brain's furniture and I was bound to remember it a bit like I remember once writing a very pissy review about sing by Travis and I think I got annoyed because somebody said it was catchy and it's like yes, of course it's catchy. He sings the same word over and over and over and over again. If someone came up to you in the street and said the word fridge 25 times for no apparent reason, you'd fucking remember that word. On this song, just a slight counterpoint, like, I actually don't know for sure how forgettable this is

because I don't think I've ever heard this before, before we had to listen to it for the show. But then, that's exactly what you would say about a song that is really forgettable, is that you might forget that you'd ever heard it before. So I don't know, because this is, this to me, this song is like, this has passed me by completely. Like, I may have heard it once or twice, who knows, but I have no memory of ever having heard this before. No, and I get, I mean, the thing is, well, it's always been there in the back of my head at the same time. I can't put myself exactly into the shoes of someone who hasn't really necessarily heard it before. However, it's the kind of song delivered in the kind of way that I imagine if it is a song you're hearing for the first time,

It must just sound like the most middle of the road vapor imaginable. Because, yeah, it is basically using the same tricks as Eminate, which they in turn copied off a load of American acts. And we've had a similar thing, just done with far more force and conviction by Mark Morrison recently. And that comparison really brings the drawback here. Because, you know, Peter Andre has got a fine, he's a fine voice. But he just doesn't have the edge and definition and.

sass that the American acts that are kind of being emulated or you know filtered here have and so it does it's better than a lot of them I think it's better than the MN8 track it I think Rob because you mentioned like the backing vocals

and the stacked things it does mean that it doesn't feel like it outstays it's welcome necessarily at least not to me where Eminate felt like it just went on and on forever this does have slightly more purpose to it but but yeah it's

I like it I think it's a good example of what it is but what it is is slightly pallid if that makes sense totally yeah that's it really that's that's all I have to say

about flavar all right then so the third song up this week is this Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide. Gonna find you and take it slowly. Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide. I'm gonna find you and make you want me.

Now that I escape, sleep, walk, awake. Those who correlate know the world they kick. Jail bars ain't golden gates. Those who fake they break. When they meet their 400-pound bait, they bakaboo in the world. Everyone would have a gun in together, of course, when you get the up and on their hearts. Kick-a-arm, drinking Mujan. I pour a sip on the concrete, put a deceased, but no, don't weep.

Why clefts in the state of sleep thinking about the robbery that I did last week. Money in the bag, banka look like a drag. I want to play with Pelicans from here to Baghdad. Gun blast, think fast, I think I'm hit. My girl pinch my hips to see if I still exist I think naught I'll send a letter to my friends A born again, a hool again

Don't need to be king again Ready or not Here I come You can hide Going to find you And take it slowly Ready or not Here I come

You can hide Going to find you And then you want me All right this is Ready or Not by Fujis, released as the third single from their second studio album titled The Score. Ready or Not is Fuji's third single to be released in the UK and their second to reach number one. However, as of 2025, it is their last. Ready or not, first entered the UK charts and number two, it stayed at number one for two weeks.

In its first week atop the charts, it sold 70. 2,000 copies, beating competition from Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something, Always Breaking My Heart by Belinda Carlisle, and If It Makes You Happy by Cheryl Crow. And in week two, it sold 75,000 copies, beating competition from escaping by Dina Carroll, 7 Days and 1 Week by BBE, The Circle by Ocean Color Scene, Marblehead Johnson by the Blue Tones, and I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, ready or not, dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 15 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK. As of 2025, Ed, Fugees, ready or not, how are we feeling? Atmosphere. Ooh, it sucks you in this one. And again, a bit like, I mean, obviously, not to the same to the same cultural degree

but this is really wedded well in my head to the imagery of the video which as I say I don't even know if that's what I've not seen the video since the 1990s I don't think but as I recall it was in like a

like a nuclear submarine with really like low lighting and the sonar thing getting out as a screen and it's like it's militarising this sort of ready or not thing. I loved it. It was so thick and fuggy and ominous.

And that feel goes through the whole song. I like this much more than their debut salvo, which was a canny pick, you know, the cover version showing off Lauren's voice, which they obviously thought, well, this may be the easiest way into the international markets. Let's sell it on the vocalist because, yeah, maybe. If they were looking at looking at the UK market,

it in particular, they probably would be a bit hesitant about going full on into the hip-hop thing because aside from a couple of examples, we've not been big on sending them to the top at this point. But, pleasingly, for me, this is a track that shows a far more well-rounded view of what the Fugees were about. And I think it shows a far more effective and focused use of sort of its sample material. It's not a sample, but you get what I mean, the material it's drawing from, And, yeah, it's, whereas the first track just introduced you to the melodic capabilities of the group, this introduces them as rappers. And they're all good rappers. As I said, this is a really very good late naughty's hip-hop track.

And I think both Wyclef and Lauren, they steal the show here. Not that, was it Praz? The other chap? Yeah, Pras. Yeah, sorry, forgive me. his name because he had that super slow hit later on did he not yeah remember that one very clearly as well I mean it's yeah he's no you know he's not bad either but yeah it's is um this is nice because it shows you it's like oh no we've not just got one mode we don't just take old tracks

and sing them pleasingly in a sort of blunted out feeling environment we've got focus we've got we've got punchy delivery and we can bring it when we need to so yeah I really like this track It really does suck you in. And yeah, I just think it's a really damn fine example of late 90s hip-hop. Yeah, this is the kind of experience I was expected with killing me softly. This is immediately smokier, duskier, muskier, darker. Takes that Delphonic's original and turns it from something blissful into something seriously threatening, like a stalker. That take it slowly makes it sound like she's going to kill you and make your death really fucking miserable and slow.

it's not straight horror core but it's teetering over the edge at points it also employs a choral sample in the background just to have like a demonic cultish edge like Gangsters Paradise did and it's not the last time this specific Enya sample from her song Bodicea is used

on the number one hit because Mario Wynens uses it for I don't want to know in 2004 and I think Mario Wynens was trying to revoke Reddy or not on that song anyway rather than the Enya original. I think in battle of the verses, this might be slightly controversial, but I think Wycliffe just about

Pips, Lauren, I think, you know, they're both comfortably clear of Praz, but like, I think Lauren and Wycliffe's verses are more focused and engaging. And honestly, if a radio edit cut Praz's verse, I don't think you'd notice much was missing after, you know, say if you hadn't heard it for a few years, and then like, Magic FM played it. And Magic FM always do this thing where they cut one verse out of a song to fit as many into the hour as they possibly can, because our attention spans I think if they did that I wouldn't have noticed

but the content of Wycliffe's verse is elevated above the rest for me because Lauren's verse is solid I love the S rhyme scheme that she goes with but she manages to put two poop jokes in there one is fine but I don't like the idea

of Lauren putting two poop jokes in one verse Wycliffe sounds more mysterious like he's on the hunt moving through shadows so thin that his girlfriend needs to pinch his hips to see if he's still there And then he does that double word play on the, if I exist, I think not.

You know, not only is he shadowy and sinewy and so much so that he's not there, but he also sneaks in a little René Descartes reference in there too. You know, it's okay, yeah, nice, you know, good improvement on killing me softly. I think this is pretty solid until, actually, I would say it's great until the third verse, which is then just pretty solid. So it does have a couple of marks knocked off for that. yeah, big improvement, I think, a nice improvement on killing me softly and just representation in the UK in general at this time. Andy, ready or not?

Ready. I found myself with killing me softly having nothing to say at all, where it's just in sort of quiet admiration of it, like in a sort of mild sense. And it's sort of the same with this, but everything's just more so. Like, I do completely agree that this is like a more confident version, well, not more confident version, but definitely a more confident advancement for them compared to killing me softly, which was solid and definitely was something interesting, but

this is like, oh, there's a real sense of individual voice coming from this now. There's a real sense of tone, a real sense of atmosphere, as Ed says, that you know, you just listen to and you're a bit struck by it in a way that I perhaps wasn't by killing me softly, where like, that's a enjoyable song, but this, it's like,

oh, what's this? This is making me sort of stop what I'm doing and listen and pay attention to this and did make me want to sort of dig deeper into the Fuji's catalogue because I'm really not particularly O'FA and this seems far more interesting to me. I just think the sound is the killer on this, like the production on this is the star. It really just sounds really enticing and enigmatic in a way that I think is a really good combination with hip-hop in the 90s to be honest, that you want that sense of excitement, that sense of adventure and innovation.

I prefer Lauren Hills verse, actually. I think, like, the thing is because I'm such a lame into the genre, I think I'm in that mode of just like, oh, she's just very entertaining and very impressive, and she just seems like something special, to be honest. So, like, I think I'm just easily pleased, and she probably does what for her are quite cheap points, but whatever, like, they score it for me.

Yeah, I think there's an efficiency to this as well, which I really quite like that. It feels snappy, despite being, you know, it's about four minutes long, I think, but it feels very snappy. It feels like everyone has a really brief moment in the spotlight and that the choruses are coming at you fairly thick and fast with that ready or not refrain. And that radio not refrain is so catchy as well that it just feels like it never lingers on one thing for very longer, that it's over before it starts, which is I actually mean that as a compliment that I think this is the second song this week that's like, whoa, that whizabeth. in a flash. That was a whole song. That's just whizzed by in about a second. So, yeah, I have nothing but compliments for it, really. Like, I'm not absolutely amazed by it.

But again, I'm feeling a sense of sort of quiet admiration for this. Where I'm like, yeah, this is just a really pleasant thing to listen to. I'm really glad it's here. It's something very different, really, compared to most of the hip-hop songs that we've had, so far, at least. And yeah, I think this one maybe needs a little longer to bring. with me, but I definitely really, really like this. Speaking of a brew, a brew is something you might have

during the first meal of the day, which is a funny coincidence, isn't it? If you really shoehorn that coincidence into this podcast script. What a coincidence, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah.

And you know what a coincidence is? It's something in common. So, yes, let's move on to the fourth song and final song this week, which is this. You'll say, we've got nothing in common, no common ground to start from, and we're falling apart. us our lines have come between us still I know you just don't care

and I said What about breakfast to Tiffany She said I think I Remember the film I It's I recall I think we both kind of lighted And I said well that's One thing we got

I see you The only one who knew me But now your eyes see through me I guess I was wrong So what now It's plain to see We're over And I hate when things are over

With so much left I'm done All right, this is Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something Released as the lead single From the band's debut studio album title, Home. Breakfast at Tiffany's is Deep Blue Something's first single to be released in the UK

and their first to reach number one. However, as of 2025, It is their last. Breakfast at Tiffany's first entered the UK charts at number 55, reaching number one during its fifth week. It stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 85,000 copies beating competition from. It's All Coming Back to Me Now by Celine Dion, Lounge in by LL Cool J, and Dancing to the Night by Phil Collins. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Breakfast at Tiffany's,

dropped one place to number two. It originally left the charts in December 1996 but made re-entries in 2011 and 2012, pushing its total stay on the chart to 18 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK as of 2025. Oh, double platinum. I should say as well, obviously all of the lyrics are about having, well, having one thing in common. It was a stupid reference at the end of the last bit. Ed, save me. Deep Blue something. I like this mostly. Um, I think at the time it was quite refreshing to UK ears, just by merit of the fact that it, it was deliberately and loudly so awkward and kind of gawky in a way we weren't quite used to. That sort of nerdy,

you know, flop-sweety side of American old rock was kind of coming through. And he'd get it with things like the bare naked ladies and stuff like that as well. But, yeah, I would like this more if I knew what it was saying. And I don't just mean in the terms of it sort of, you know, hesitating and using what might be considered, you know, weedanisms. But yeah, I like the idea of two people, you know, bonding over cultural ephemera or uniting over it at least. But is the song supposed to be making fun of the gesture? Is it supposed to be saying, well, it's very clear that this doesn't actually mean very much?

It's like, so that's one thing, I guess. And is that supposed to be like a punchline? Or is it supposed to be like, you know, oh, well, you know, you say we've not got a bond, but think back to the times that got us together. And it's like, oh, yeah. Because that kind of doesn't come off that way. Because it sounds a bit like she's saying like, oh, oh yeah, I think I remember the film. You know, it's like,

if it was of any significance, you wouldn't just say, oh yeah, I think that might have happened. It's like, yeah, if that was your binding moment in the memory of your relationship and your partner said that, I think there's cause for some deep thought there.

Some deep blue thought, you might say. Oh, deep blue thought, indeed. but it is a bit like you kind of you ended with someone because they're shit and you hate being in the relationship but they

you know stop you and just say please just hear me out remember when we watched Tron Legacy that time and you'd be like yeah yeah

and then they're like well you thought that was okay didn't you it is very repetitive as a song it could do with the middle eight not just like a quiet version of the verse without drums. Oh, God, yes.

Yeah. And yeah, they just basically just press the same button over and over again, which is even more notable because the chorus is so deliberately awkward and deliberately phrased in that way. So it does sound even more copy pasty and obvious than otherwise it would. Nonetheless, I like the ingredients here. This is never a song that's going to meet. much to me, but I enjoy it for about two and a half minutes, and that's fine from time to time. I recall we both kind of liked it. Sorry, that was bloody lame. Anyway, so one take

over here. Andy, how are we feeling on Deep Blue something? I have an incredibly specific memory of the song, which I don't think I've ever told anyone about before, because I didn't really remember it until I was listening to this. And I thought, God, what was that about? Which was, this was in August 2003 when I was on a holiday in Landudno and I would have just turned 11 at the time and there was a live cabaret act every night, the same singer every night on in the hotel we were in

and they did this song a couple of times and I hadn't really knowing it before but I decided that I just really loved it. I don't know why but I just decided that I just adored it and, like, it made me feel things, you know? And I think what it was is, like, I was on the cusp of puberty. Like, I hadn't actually hit puberty, but I was on the cusp of it. And, like, I think there was a general sense in my head that, like, oh, I should be, like,

feeling really profound, deep things, man, about things. But, like, I didn't have the emotional capacity to do so. Because, like, everyone else in my life, like, my sister was a bit older than me. And obviously, my mom and dad, like, would get emotional at certain songs and stuff. And I just, like, decided that, like, oh, I should really, really connect to songs sometimes, you know, that I should really, like, feel really like, oh, this song is so meaningful. So I used to just, like, hum this song all the time.

But I say all the time. This only went on for about a week before, like, I was ordered to stop. But, like, I just would kind of sing a couple of lines from the chorus of this song and do these really pretentious things. Like, I'd sort of sigh or shake my head as to do it. Like, unbelievably cringe. And, like I said, I was just sort of faking. having a profound experience for pop music

because I'd seen other people do it. Like, I was sort of faking, being connected to a song, highly neurospicey a moment from my childhood there, which I hadn't really thought about. But I was just, oh, so cringe. And so as I was listening to this, that was the main thing in my head where I was just sort of like,

oh, this reminds me of a really embarrassing moment from my childhood. But, like, I was immediately struck when I heard the guitar at the start. I was like, oh, what a warm, fuzzy song. sound. I really like this sound. But then the sound gets really closed and tight and not very pleasant in the chorus. And there's just something wrong with that chorus. Not just the sound. There's something up with that. I wish I could kind of get into nuts and bolts with, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is where it's like, I don't know if the melody is a bit too

repetitive where like I just wish the kind of the notes on the stave or a bit more ranged. Like it's just, da-do-da-da-da-da. Like you're only three. a four notes out from each other at any one time. I don't know if it's something to do with that, but it just feels a bit enclosed, a bit trapped that, like, stops emotion from getting out of this. I feel it's just a bit sort of claustrophobic,

and there's something wrong with that chorus that makes it feel that way. I don't know what it is. I do like the idea of it, and I like this kind of slice of knife. Slice of knife. I like the kind of slice of life, like idea. I like songs that do that.

Like, I actually really quite like stuff, like Bad Day by Daniel Poulter, because I just like that kind of window into a moment in that coffee pop genre. I actually don't hate coffee pop, to be honest, and this is a very clear example of it. But it never really soars for me, and certainly it's very repetitive

and goes on far too long. I noticed that the second chorus had finished before the halfway mark of the song, which is always something that raises an eyebrow for me, and I was like, oh, what else has this got up at sleeve? I don't remember having anything else up at sleeve, but we've still got just over two minutes, and there's only one chorus left.

And alas. Nope. There's nothing. What we have is a fourth chorus. Like, that's just it. We just do the chorus again. And it's no different to the first three times they've played it. There's no, like, big note that they hit at the end, which I feel like some sort of big, like, virtuoso note wouldn't hurt.

And the guitars are nice. But, like, they're just sort of jangly and kind of there. I think when the sound is right, it's lovely. It kind of sounds like cranberries, who I'm a big fan of. but like a lot of the time the sound doesn't work for me and it just feels like you're sort of wading through mud so like this is okay

like I say I like the concept of it and I really like quite a lot of the lyrics and I think that it definitely did something to me as a kid that made me think oh this is like a proper song I should really get into this so there's obviously something about it but I just think the whole thing feels

sort of not finished like this feels like a draft that needs more work so like it's okay and I've kind of talked myself out of liking it as much as I did when I started talking I think I feel like I like it less ever since I've started talking to be honest like it's

it's just sort of okay and I really wish I could kind of get behind a production desk and fix it to be honest yeah it does sound very fragile you know it's it's got the least depth of sound I think of the songs we've covered this episode and also

it's the only one pleasingly that I think clearly suffers from what's been the early to mid-90s problem of this song has to be four and a half minutes long for some reason how do we fill the extra two minutes just do the same shit over and over again I mean the other songs have not had that issue but it's nice to see that this is the exception in that case

I know but that's okay if that prompts you to add more to the song because like we had that with Country House I was really surprised by like how quickly the first two choruses go by country house but then it goes bananas um and like that is a good thing that works in that song's favor and we've had other stuff like sleeping satellite which as much as we may not like what it does it does decide to go for that you know ice rink trip to the hockey round in the middle you know like it can it can prompt you to do more if you think the songs run a bit short it can prompt you to do some creative things but all they've done here is just sort of copy and paste and done the chorus again

at the end which is very lazy but yeah yeah it's a shame they've arranged the song in such a way that it's been designed so that DJs can talk over the last minute of it and it won't make a difference and that is a crime. Yeah, this is far too long. The last chorus repeats too many times, gets very irritating. It's from that particular blend of Americans slash Canadian rock that produced Hootie and the Blowfish and Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls and Bare Naked Ladies and bands who were sort of a third-rate R-EM

and a second-rate gin blossoms and I doubt Deep Blue something were even among the better bands of that whole scene, the verses of whatever, but they paint such a strange picture. The lead singer looks like a young Josh Hom as well. I'm always surprised when he sings and he gets such an average vocal. I expect like some hard rock crooning and then it never happens. But yeah, this is a curious, funny, slightly knowing thing, I think. You know, it's a song that I think knows how silly its subject matter is, or at least it knows it's shining a light on a silly and ultimately futile interaction between a desperate boyfriend and girlfriend. The girlfriend has already got one for out the door.

The girl has said they have nothing in common, so it's got to end. And in clamouring for something in his brain that might make a stay, he accidentally stumbles across breakfast to Tiffany's and just shoots his shot. Well, that's one thing they've got. You know, it's got an inescapable chorus as verbose as it is. And there are rare moments, I think, where it allows itself to be a fully fledged jangle pop number, those post-chorus guitar sections where they just allow the guitar to just go, do-do-do-do, bling, bling, you know, pretty, that's pretty. Sounds quite lovely. Those

moments are very fleeting, though. But yeah, it's fine. It's just like, it just needs to be a full minute shorter. There is a nice moment around three minutes in where one of those nice little guitar post-chorus sections comes through. Just repeat that a couple of times and fade out. Nice and easy, nice and streamlined. I've not managed to hear it, but there is like a demo album of theirs that they self-released about two years before this, and there is a version of Breakfast that Tiffany's on

it. I just can't find it anywhere. I'd have to buy the actual CD. No one seems to have uploaded it to YouTube or anything, and that version of Breakfast of Tiffany's is five and a half fucking minutes long. Oh, save your money. Save your money, yeah. Yeah, the album is called 11th song, because

the 11th song is untitled and doesn't have, like, it's just a hidden track and it's nine minutes. Oh, my God. So the album is 11 minutes long, 11 songs long and it's 54 minutes. Oh, 90s, baby. There is one song under three minutes and two more songs under four minutes. So seven of the 11 songs are four minutes or over, which is insane, really insane.

Doberman Records released it Apparently that was like their own label re-recorded for the band's next album which was called Home which was their proper debut in 94 Wikipedia has it down as their second studio album Some places have it down as their first Because 11th song didn't really

Do anything or go anywhere I don't think it sold any copies And so yeah But yeah it's fine And they actually do you know Funnily enough they didn't have another hit in America, they had a song called Halo get to 102, so not quite on the billboard 100s, but they had a follow-up in 1996 over here called Josie, which got to number 27.

So they did a decent job with that follow-up single of theirs, considering there are a one-hit wonder, the fact that they at least have another song on the chart, fair play to him. It seems like they have a pretty dedicated cult following. they're still going apparently they don't really seem to release much music anymore although they did put out there was an EP

they put out in 2015 called Locust House and it seems that they released an album earlier this year called Lunar Phase but it's their first album in 24 years and it doesn't have a Wikipedia page released on flat iron recordings but yeah they're still going

I imagine they have the kind of following that they would probably be able to play between 10 and 20 dates across the USA in smallish venues and about 300 people would turn up to all of them. Look, if we just can tour the UK on the reg every year, then these guys can. Did you see the Spotify graphic they had,

the Spotify animation that plays over the song? You know how the way you hit all, basically all songs on Spotify have some animation that plays over the screen now when you go on? And theirs is something I've never seen before that was like really funny and really kind of tacky which was that it was just like,

it's a deep blue something and then like flashing like add them to your playlist and download the albums. It's just really weird just an advert in the song. That was really like I feel like someone doing their PR doesn't know how to do Spotify

and that was really strange. Oh my God, yeah. It's the equivalent of one of those YouTube videos where it says, you know, oh, watch till the end. You know, like a bloody comedy thing and then nothing happens at the fucking end. That stuff is supposed to be tonal.

It's supposed to be just like an added image. and added a pair of teeth to the song. It's not supposed to be an advert, and that's just really weird. Putting any text in the background, it's very odd for those animations. That's very strange. I'm just looking at it here. It's rolling round again.

It says, deep blue something, new song, out now. New song, will you wait? Follow an ad to playlist. Will you wait? Rob, you gave a big list of very evocative and very kind of accurate bands that this is kind of in the same area as. And there's one more that springs immediately to mind, simply because every time this song comes into my head and I'm like, I try to sing it from the beginning, I end up singing a different song instead. And I thought that it was the follow-up by this group, because this group had a second, you know, the second single he said was called Halo.

And I'm like, oh, well, that's why. They're basically just rehashed the same thing. But no, what I was thinking of is the, do you remember a song called Every Morning? by Sugar Ray I remember Sugar Ray but not every morning oh what's the name of that other

Sugar Ray hit the big one that they did oh it's such a huge hit oh no I'm fucking I'm thinking of fucking eagle eye cherry yeah you see it's in the same

semi-sonic semisonic are in the same in the same camp as well but no do you remember the song every morning it's not the most bloody like lame title ever

it's there every morning there's a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend's four balls bed I know it's not man but I'll see if I can you It's basically the same song as this And then I just actually add either

And I said, what about Or I just go into And you ain't seen nothing yet Uh-uh Baby Because you might as fucking well But anyway There's a lot of that stuff

Dave Matthews band were under the one as well Who were kind of in this mould Yes, very flannel-y Very flannely. Yeah, and Dave Matthews band, to be fair, Dave Matthews band, they were not very big over here, but they were astronomically popular in America, the Dave Matthews band.

And I do have a bit of a soft spot for Crash Into Me as well from the Dave Matthews band, purely because it's... Lady Bird. Lady Bird, yeah, so, yeah. Again, we'll see, you know, it wasn't much of a hair over here, but I remember it because of that film, so yeah. But do we have anything more to say about the songs in this week's episode? Have we seen Breakfast of Tiffany's?

Have we got that in common? Is that one thing we've got? I wouldn't have it in common with the singer of Deep Blue something. I haven't seen it. No, I haven't. So none of us have seen it. That's one thing we've got. Yeah, exactly.

We can unite over that. The podcast is still going. It's still going to keep going, yes. The sad thing is, it's like, it's one of those movies that up until about 10, 15 years ago, it was regarded as a bona fide classic. You know, Audrey Hepburn in her pomp, in a wonderful, comedic role well written and now it's kind of

I think it's more or less been sunk by the yellow face in the movie basically unfortunately so I don't know anything about it well yeah yeah and so it's not making it any more likely

for me to want to see the film because I'll be waiting for the scene where up Mickey Rooney plays a character called Mr. Unioshi so I mentioned that's that Mickey Rooney like if you're going to do yellow face, at least like try and cast someone who you can vaguely maybe present, like, as convincing

yellow face, Mickey Rooney, come on, he's the last person on earth that you'd cast in yellow face, surely. It doesn't look like, it doesn't look like him because they've given him big fake, fake, sticky out teeth, and they've wrapped a band around his head, so it's fine. Oh, no, yeah. They've done the whole crusty the clown, right? Okay. Yes, yeah. So, Andy, wannabe flavor, ready or not, breakfast at Tiffany's, pie hole, vault, where are we going? Well, if you want to be my lover, then you better put wannabe in the vault.

Oh, we're going to fall out. So, yes, wannabe is going in the vault, obviously. Peter Andre's song this week wasn't exactly my flavour. So that's going in the pie hole. Ready or not? Well, I hope it's ready to go in the vault, that is. because that was a borderline one for me but I thought it just struck me enough

and got me interested enough and like well that's something interesting there so that's going in the vault just about and breakfast of Tiffany's well I guess the breakfast that it's having is like a bowl of rice Krispies and a glass of water like it's an uninspired breakfast

it's just staying in the middle Ed Spice Girls Peter Andre Fujis and Deep Blue something how are we feeling The imperial phase of girl groups begins and if this is the manifesto I say, zigga-zig-hiel to that.

Oh, my God. Because this is not just a zig-zig-significant ziggas-zingle, zigg-z-gnawing the arrive of a successful act. For my money, this is right at the peak of our 90s number one zig-zigerat. Jesus, that took me a while. Can I just say, I am now, seriously, I feel like I've had just a light bulb, universe-brain moment happen where I'm like, could you do

a musical about Nazi Germany with the music of the Spice Girls called Zigazig Heil? Just Oh, my brain is speeding here. It's a how we find the funding question. Or a remix of wannabe

that does Zigazig Sputnik is like a sort of high tie where Mr. G does the musical Sunamorama, which is the Asian Sunami to the music of Bonanarama. Oh, I can't believe I've not heard that before. Peter Andre, Ed. Peter Andre.

Right. Sorry. Okay. Insert flavour of the month joke here. I do like it, though, but it doesn't have the bite to nip onto the vaulting balloon, which is a weird expression. The Fugis defecate on the pie hole,

rather like the mic, with such ferocity that it launches them into the vault. Zig Zig Zig Zig Zig Zig. It's like that on Thunderpants. Yes, yes, just like that. That underrated a British gem. And what about Breakfast at Tiffany's? I kind of liked it, but it is a bit fucking clingy.

So it's kind of on the level, really. But two volts, two fairly, well, one fairly solid vault and one clear surefire vault. So yeah. Yeah, same pretty much for me, Azad. to be, I'm slamming that in the vault. That's going straight in. Flavor's hanging around the middle. Ready or not, that's sneaking into the vault and breakfast at Tiffany's hanging slightly in a more positive place in the middle. That'll be it for this week's episode. We will join you for next week's episode. Good to be back in a regular routine. Welcome back, Andy, to the show

after three weeks in, NZ down there. We will see you next time. Bye bye now. Bye. Bye-bye. Thank you.