Hits 21 - 1997 (2): U2, No Doubt, Spice Girls, Chemical Brothers

Episode Date: December 5, 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 Hi there, Rob, me, Hit's 21. Hi there, everyone, and welcome back to Hit's 21, the 90s, where me, Rob, me, Andy. and me, Ed, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s, email us at Hitch21 podcast at gmail.com, Twitter us at Hitch21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1997 and this week we'll be covering the period between the 9th of February and the 5th of April. So a couple of months go by this week and it's time

to press on with this week's episode, Andy, the UK album charts. How are they doing? So first of all, we've got Reef with Glow. That went number one for one week and went gold. Before, that's toppled by Texas with white on blonde. That went number one for one week and went six times platinum. Then we've got Blair, with Blair's latest Blair album, that went number one for one week and went platinum.

So it's 16% as popular as Texas. Then we've got Manson with Attack of the Grubes. grey lantern. That went gold for one week. Then we've got a repeat appearance at number one for I think the fourth time with Spice by Spice Girls, which is number one for just one week here. As a reminder, that went 10 times platinum after its release in 1996. Then it's U2 with Pop. That went number one for one week and went single platinum before we finish this week off with yet another four weeks at the top for Spice Girls. with spice. So it's still pretty much spice mania at the moment. So in the news, in America,

rapper Christopher Wallace, better known by his stage name, The Notorious BIG, is shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. The 24-year-old had been celebrating the release of his second studio album, Life After Death. His murderer has never been formally identified. Back in the UK, three people are killed when more than 150 cars are involved in a pile upon the M-42 near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. Scientists announced the birth of the first sheep to ever be cloned, naming her Dolly, and Jerry Halliwell dons her famous union flag dress at the 1997 Brit Awards. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail publishes the names of five men accused of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, after a coroner's inquest rules that he was unlawfully killed.

and in TV news, Channel 5 launches in the UK. Meanwhile, the films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Ransom, Mars Attacks, Jeremy Maguire, and a special edition re-release of Star Wars. Ed, America, how are things between February and April 97? There's a new number one every single week for this period, so in the absolute apex of the bankability of 90s film music. music, the soundtrack to Gridlocked sold more than 150,000 copies in its first week. No doubt are back for a week, pushing tragic kingdom sales up to Diamond. Then, Leanne Rhymes gets a belated push with a reissue of her 1994 sophomore album, All That,

now renamed Unchained Melody, the early years. Doesn't that sound tempting? There were likely many selling points. The cover of the reissue, though, is definitely not one of them. In fact, I would go as far as to say, as the worst cover to a number one album I've ever seen, but I know what's coming later in 1997. You will know when you see it. Only a week at the top for the Fighter of the Nightman there,

as live are back. Live! With their fourth album, Secret Samadie. 90's spoken word fun with Howard. Stern next. Did you know this was the 1990s? Jesus. Then a short stop for everyone's favourite U-2 album, Pop. Scarface had a number one album. I did not know this. The Untouchable holds the top spot for a week. Before, finally, Aerosmith proves unmerderable with nine lives. I would make a joke about them spending them all, but we all know.

that Armageddon is round the corner but enough about modern British politics singles Tony Braxton completes her 11 weeks of top dollar cardiac surgery before America is finally

charmed by a zigazig R wannabe by the Spice Girls does what so few British acts had done previously and crashes the gates with their debut single four weeks at the top for the fan fatals of flavouring.

Jesus Christ, Ed. Fucking hell. That's appalling. It's the hackish, most hackish thing I've ever written. Finally, talking about iffy cover art and iffy are people, taking us right into April, Puff Daddy and Mace. Which context aside,

sounds like the most soporific vocal combo since Car the Snake learned how to administer Novakame. Thank you both very much for those reports in the either side of my news. We're going to get on with the first of four songs this week. Well, technically five, but the first of them is this. You can read, but you can't grab it. You can hold it in trouble. You can't buy it

You can touch But you can't direct it Circulate, regulate, Oh no You're not connected You know you chew and bubble You know that it is like you still once out We just can't get a lot

I'll be able to learn get thrown stride You get confused You get confused But you know Yeah you have to

wait for a lot You don't know I'm shower Let's go Disco Tech Okay, this is the lead song from their ninth studio album titled Pop Disco Tech is U2's 24th single

to be released in the UK and their third to reach number one. It's not their last number one, but it is their last number one of the 1990s. Disco Tech went straight in at number one as a brand new entry and stayed at number one for one. One week! In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 125,000 copies, beating competition from Clementine by Mark Owen, barrel of a gun by Depeche Mode, Ain't Talking About Dub by Apollo 440

Remember Me by Blue Boy She Makes My Nose Bleed by Manson and Novocaine for the Soul by Eels When it was knocked off the top of the charts Disco Tech fell five places to number six By the time it was done on the charts It had been inside the top 100 for 13 weeks The song is currently officially certified Silver in the UK

As of 2025, Andy kick us off with disco-tech. The criticisms to make, I think, are many and obvious, to be honest. I think this is just an all-round cringe-inducing failure to listen to, to be honest. I will acknowledge that I'm automatically predisposed to not like this because I don't like you two anyway. Like the few times that we've covered them on the show before, which I think was only twice in the naughties, we had Beautiful Day which had some nostalgia value for me so I was more keen on that than I otherwise wouldn't have been than I otherwise would have been

and we had Vertigo which didn't much like that one but yes I just don't like you two full stop but another thing I really don't like from anyone is a brazen desperate attempt to update your sound in order to sound with it and cool and relevant and that's what's happening here like they're just

are really doing the opposite of setting the trend they're just following what other people are doing so much more successfully and trying to get in on the big beat manifesto basically I think it's a horrible horrible combination

those very kind of funky beats with the drawl of Bono's voice not to mention that there's no hooks in this at all like it's just the least catchy song possible it just kind of keeps going and I remember about halfway through I'm like have we had a chorus yet I'm not sure if any of these things that we've had

were a chorus like there was a bit where they sort of repeated the word discotheque a bunch of times and there was a bit of a pause but would I even describe that as a chorus would I even really describe it as a refrain like this is just kind of it feels like a jam sesh that's been put to a beat

that's kind of nifty and kind of fun and it's like they think that's enough and I think the sense of well that'll do were you too radiates out of this to be honest I think like it's basically produced competently and does at least sound interesting when you first hear it

like grab my attention straight away so it gets a viewpoints to that I don't think it's like absolute garbage but in terms of how utterly lazy soulless and kind of arrogant this is I think this has kind of annoyed me more than anything else in the 90s apart from Robson and Jerome

to be honest, so like all I'm going to say is be grateful that I'm not being more harsh than this because this rub me up the wrong way and I was frankly embarrassed for them to listen to this to be honest

because they do, I admit although they're not to my taste they do have something about them which people love, they do have some talent none of it's in this. This is just really, really poor, lazy, like I say, kind of arrogant and vaguely pretentious attempts to try and fit in

and do something new without justifying it at all. This is best forgotten, I think. Yeah, I'm going to be honest, pretty much up front. I've kind of bottled it this week. This has spent, this song has spent a period of this week in the pie hole, but when it really came down to it, I thought I was maybe being a bit harsh. You know, there is just enough in this to avoid the drop.

You know, it mostly comes in those kind of clean melodic sections that give you a chance to pause for breath in the middle and then take the song, and then they take the song out towards the end. You know, where you finally get some resonant kind of edge-style arpeggio shooting out of the sludge that is the rest of the song. And Bono actually does something else with his voice instead of just doing a stage whisper while a double-tracked lower octave is in underneath him. It really is sludgy this, too sludgy.

There's a, like, I agree with you, Andy. There is a real lack of memorable melodic content in the entire song. It's very flat. The riff, if you can call it that, it's just two notes played in a very, very predictable way. It's just do-de-dun-d-threat, three notes. They seem to be going for form over content with this, style over-substance, genre over-execution of that genre. The problem with pop in general that album I find is that it takes all the bad bits from Zeropa and the very few duff moments, in my opinion, from Acton Baby

and blows them up for some kind of post-modern experiment. It doesn't ever really come together. Like this single, a lot of the mixing is muddy and obscured by something. There's very little rise and fall, no real sense that it's ever going anywhere or arriving anywhere. A lot like Blur, last week, I feel like they've fallen for a lot of American styles like grunge and have been listening to Bullet with Butterfly Wings,

specifically because there's that moment in the pre-chorus I think it's meant to be the pre-chorus where Bono says you know you're chewing bubble gum you know what it is and you still want some and I was half expecting the next line to be Jesus was the only son tell me I'm the chosen one and that really reinforces how much of this feels borrowed like a Frankenstein made up of bits of you too that don't really own themselves or know what to do with themselves. There is a remixed version of this done by Mike Hedges, which I prefer, in all honesty. The intro is much more stripped back, it runs for a bit longer. The mix itself feels much less busy once everything comes in, makes it feel more like

an actual dance track. Right now, in its current mode, the whole thing sounds like stock music you'd get on the menu screens of really shit racing game knockoffs on PlayStation. Just a, do-jit-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d. You know, thank God they pivoted away from this stuff and went back to just being four guys writing pop-rock songs as opposed to all this, ostensibly cool, suave stuff that I just think makes them look foolish.

I know they play up to it a bit in the video because they, like, dress up as the village people. They're inside the big disco ball. There's all this stuff going on. It matches the live tours they were doing at the time, which were, like, trying to be the most ambitious live shows you've ever seen. and yeah again what i mean about style of a substance just like just give us the tunes man

like you don't need the big light shows you don't need all of this because i feel like you've forgotten that within all these live shows and underneath all these live shows you've got to have the tunes and they have the tunes up to about and including 1991-92 xeropa is fine there's some decent stuff on that pop is It kind of, to me, it is, I think it's their weakest album until you get to songs of innocence, songs of praise, whatever they're called, those later ones that they foisted upon everybody and forced on everybody. Actually, no, no line on horizon is probably the point where it all starts really going wrong and they never come back. But anyway, Ed, yeah, disco tech. I mean, I've noticed, I think, that in general, I've been rating.

songs of this era like a tiny bit higher than you two, partly because familiarity can actually create a sense of catchiness, however, illusory. But I just remember a combination of the video and the guitar riff and stuff. And that has a certain degree of fond familiarity to it. But I expected the rest of the song to fall into place, which, you know, even, you know, again, a bit like Andy. I'm not much of a YouTube fan. I've never enabled to. to get my teeth into them exactly. But, you know, even stuff like hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me, which was kind of leaning in the same direction.

That had structure, it had hooks, it was memorable, it had some, you know, motifs that you can grab onto that aren't just a, basically like a boogie rock guitar riff that's been kind of chopped to bits. It's a bit like if ZZ Top were produced by William Orbit and then something happened to the sound file and it just got corrupted and chopped a bit. And it's like, well, it's modern, question mark.

Didn't Katie Perry have like a slave to the rhythm kind of have your pop cake and eat it two song that everybody slated that was probably actually more subtle and more substantial than this. Yeah. That's a sad thing. Because, I mean, no offence to Katie Perry. That's not exactly her golden era, is it? Oh, you can offend Katie Perry.

That's fine. Oh, she had some decent stuff in the early years. Come on. I mean, I know she's kind of a bit of a laughing stock these days, but she wasn't always awful. Or would you disagree? Oh, I just don't think she's very nice, but that's fine. Yeah.

Furbos. I don't really know anything about her as a person, to be honest. but I do like some of the dynamic ingredients. Like you said, Andy, it's like you first listen to it and it sounds like it should be quite interesting. I like the contrast between the loud section with the quote-unquote chorus citation needed and the quiet section or quieter section

with the guitar arpeggios, but it doesn't mean anything and it doesn't really have any shape. and it seems to be signifying some sort of profundity like a moment thought in the midst of the postmodern dance world but it doesn't add up to anything and the more you listen to this song it just it just disintegrates before your very ears and it is fucking lazy

they almost get away with it in the verse because there's so much stuff going on with sound and it's all about the rhythm and the murky grimy atmosphere but then there's that shit awful bridge which is like the most obvious sort of A to B bloody chord sequence with them just effectively following that along and then it goes... There are no actual surprises in the songwriting itself.

It's all just been blown up and chopped up after the fact. But what we really want is for them to go from A and then to B and that's a X. Yeah. But they didn't. They didn't. listen to Jeremy, and that might be the problem. This feels probably like the tour that accompanied it,

like a concept in search of substance. The problem with post-modernism is it only works if the target is clear. I mean, who is this aimed at? Are they criticizing the audience? Is it like, oh, we're on board with you? In which case, why isn't this a good pop song? And why, if it's anything, does it sound like something very hoarse and old-fashioned and stadium stuff your pants rockish just covered with a kind of

we're still relevant veneer of post grunge glitz and grime it's it's a fucking mess really isn't it i don't dislike it to listen to it but it's it's nothing it is to use a cliche all sound and fury signifying nothing but yeah they do change their tap very quickly again never will be a big a youtube fan i've tried but they do better stuff than this, bloody hell. It's no wonder that, were there any other singles from this album? And did they go anywhere? I think there were other singles from this album,

but obviously this was like the big launch, you know, everybody's sort of waiting with bated breath for you two to come back. I think that's probably what makes it so disappointing for me, is that it's been a while since you've had you two on this album. Most of Zeropa just kind of passed us by. numb and lemon don't get any chart business from Zeroper stay gets to number four hold me throw me kiss me kill me gets to number two off the Batman soundtrack miss Sarajevo is like a offshoot thing with Brian Eno yeah discotheque gets to number one staring at the sun gets

to number three vaguely remember that last night on earth gets to number 10 please gets to number seven. If God will send his angels, gets to number 12. They do the best of 1980 to 1990 with the sweetest thing, which is a huge change of direction and a song I actually quite like of theirs. Yeah. Kind of reminded folk that. I mean, that 1980 to 1990 thing really kind of, that was huge. That really reminded people of it. I remember the ads being played over and over again. When you read out the things that this had sort of displaced to get to number one. There are other examples of this kind of older group who once had a big stadium following. Well, I mean, you two still do. But I'm actually managed to do the kind of post-grunge electronic

thing much better. I did notice Barrel of a Gun by Depeche Mode there, which is a really, really good song. It's a slow burner for sure. I'm not surprised it wasn't number one, but it is a damn sight better at doing this end of things than fucking discothec is. But anyway, yeah, I probably, um, I doesn't irritate me this song, but it is pretty much nothing, so I'm kind of on board with you two. So from you two this week to song number two, this week, which is this. be together, every day together, always, I really feel that I'm losing my best friend, I can't believe this could be the end. It looks as though you're letting go, and if it's real, I don't want

to know. Don't think I know just what you're seeing. So please stop explaining. Don't tell me cause for her. Don't speak. I know what you're thinking. I don't need your reason. Don't tell me because of her.

Your memory. Okay, they can be in finding, with some are altogether mighty, riding. Okay, this is Don't Speak, By No Doubt. Released as the third single from their third single, studio album titled Tragic Kingdom. Don't Speak is no doubt second single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. However, as of 2025, it is their last. Don't speak went straight in at number one as a brand new entry and stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week at Top the charts, it sold 195,000 copies beating competition from I Shot the Sheriff by Warren G,

The Day We Find Love by 9-1-1, DaFunk by daft punk, let me clear my throat by DJ Cool and She's a Star by James. In week two, it sold 140,000 copies beating competition from Encore Unfois by Sash. You Got the Love by The Sauce by the sauce and candy staten, alone by the and swallowed by Bush. And in week three, it sold 85,000 copies beating competition from Hush by Cooler Shaker, Don't You Love Me by Eternal, Natural by Peter Andre, and show me love by Robin S. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, don't speak, dropped one place to number two. The song originally left the charts in June 1997 but re-entered the top 100 on two occasions in 2012.

By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 23 weeks. The song is currently officially certified three times platinum in the UK as of 2025. Ed. No doubt, how are we feeling? Good song. Well song.

I like it. It's a nice song. There's no air to it. I was wondering why it was kind of blow. Like, why does this not resonate exactly? But it's kind of claustrophobic in a way. It's like the performance is a little flat and studio it, as in the band just feels like they're very much going to the preordained motions,

motions, and that bloody continued snarewap in the right channel over and over again, like bludgeoning and compressed, doesn't help matters. It just all sounds a little bit crushed Like there's a little bit too much going on But then there's not enough room to move With any of the material either And it just kind of circles round and round At the end

It's good though It's good I like it It's good The middle eight I will say It sounds like it belongs to a different song It never kind of

quite fits. I'm very much one for, you know, modulating and changing things up. But it sounds like a bit of tonal whiplash. And there's a couple of instances in the song where it just clicks over to a different section or a jarring new thing without that much grace. But I like it. It's a good song. What fun. Yeah, it's a different sort of power battle of this, I suppose. You know, we're in the 90s and I guess this is a different kind of perspective on that thing. you know this is really gripping at first i find you know the the slightly unusual intervals in the guitar playing that bring it in the lot of tension almost immediately the scar influences that are always kind of threatening to break him but never really materialized so there's kind of more tension

there Gwen stephanie's vocal lines starting out quite sparse but then they grow denser and denser so you know there's even more tension there and then they suddenly pivot into a new key for the chorus and that means the first drop really hits what chorus by the way one of the best chorus one of the best of the 90s, one of the most iconic choruses of the 90s. Yeah, I'm going to use that word. A proper hairbrush classic, I think. You know, one of those choruses you only need to hear once to remember all of the important bits, which this week was a massive breath of fresh air after whatever the hell disco tech tried

to pass for its chorus. My issues start coming in a bit later. I don't think it grows to the extent that it should. They dip into that new key for the bridge, but instead of following it with the size of the arrangement, stays a bit stripped back and maybe a little too gentle for what it's trying to do. I think it only starts to go places during the Coda section when Gwen's actually fully wailing like, don't, don't. And then it follows up with that. I know you're good. The breakdown in the bridge, I think it should go bigger, louder, noisier. It kind of ends up a bit more soft rock

and the scar influences. Maybe that's where they should break in a bit more. It means I'm left feeling like the song peaked in its first chorus. The first 60 to 90s, seconds is full of so much tension and drama and if the song continues to grow out from there i think we'd really be cooking with gas but as it is i think their cover of it's my life or maybe sunday morning or spider webs or might be their best single i think they did better stuff than this but this has their best chorus so i get it that's like i get the success but i do i do really like they're reimagining if you will of uh if it's my life uh sort of as a more kind of souped up you know know, hit for the new millennium sort of thing.

And much as I prefer Talk Talk's Original, they do a pretty stand-up job with it. Spider-Webbs feels a bit dirtier than this, maybe a bit truer to themselves in a studio. They're not 100% sure on this, but it feels like this may have had a different producer to the rest of their albums

because they, like, you know, like they get one guy in to clean this up because they know it's going to be their big breakout hit or something. I'm not sure if that's what they did. It just sounds like that. Andy, is odd to me this because

there's something about this which has always made me think there's something that I'm missing here because I'm very much like Ed in that I think it's good I think it's like decent I certainly don't agree that it's one of the best choruses of the 90s I don't

think that I think it's just fine like very easy to sing along too good karaoke song and melodically it remains interesting all the way through and I think harmonically it's actually quite interesting as well that it does have some quite interesting chord changes. I 100% agree about the bridge. That sounds like it's from a completely different song, but kind of in a good way, because I kind of prefer that slightly grungier, you know,

going towards like the kind of Courtney Love whole scene of a few years earlier than this, that that sounds kind of quite a lot like that. And I think that's more interested, and I feel always feeling it's a bit of a shame when it comes back away from it and goes into that soft guitar instead. But there is always something about this that just made me think, I'm, what am I missing? Why is this so popular? Because it's, it's fine, and it's very of its time, it's tapping into a few different things. I think Alanis Morissette comes to mind for me, to be honest, that it's like that kind of, just that kind of sound. And I definitely think the thing that I'm not missing, because I'm identifying it here, but maybe the thing I'm

not taking enough account for is the fact that it is very atmospheric that certainly, like, when you take the video into account as well, that, you know, there's something about Gwester Zafani's vocal at the start and the relative sparseness and the fact that it's a sort of mid-tempo sort of slow jam all the way through with Gwen's quite expressive vocals anchoring it. I think there is a real sense of atmosphere to this and it to some extent it doesn't really matter what she's saying or what the song's about because the vibes are pretty strong with this one and I think you could arguably say that about a lot of Alanis-Morissette stuff as well. so I think that's part of the appeal

but I don't think it's just me because Ed seemed to be sort of grappling with the same thing as well which I don't want to speak for your head but you sort of feel the same that like this may be something that's just not what like what am I not getting about this

yeah you could probably tell from my sort of review I was like is it just is it because it sounds claustrophobic is it this and that I think I think Gwen Stefani steals the show here and I think she's such an important

part of the character of this and giving it a sense of organic flow and appeal because the problem is it's like it doesn't it doesn't sound like a band if that makes any sense it sounds very studio musiciany and it's like the solo comes in and that's really like it just seems to evaporate temporarily and just becomes like background music for a little while and it's just like if they were matching her variety in this and the variations she brings to the outro, I don't think I'd have as much of a problem. I think it's just because it sounds too compressed and it sounds too, you know, trying to hit the beats, as it were. And it doesn't have the, like, you would grasp, I mean, I'd never even thought of the scar thing, of course, but of course they had an element of that.

But you were indicating, Rob, you felt like it should be breaking into something like that and there's little bits of it in there. I'd almost have a sense that it's like, it's too confined in what it needs to be. and it feels it doesn't have the looseness that's required to actually make it breathe, if that makes sense. Well, this is kind of what I meant when I said

that it sounds like they got a different producer in to clean this up because they knew this one was going to the radio. Yeah. I think I only know one of the song off this album, though, which is just a girl. So I kind of almost, I'm not in a good place to compare, but that does make sense, and it does sound a bit overly compressed as well.

It's a bit brutal. For such a quiet song You're both sort of touching towards the conclusion I'm coming to though Because I looked into this Well I said looked into this further I did some independent research if you like Of like what is it about this

Is it just me? Like what am I missing? So I had this on On one of my listens to it And my husband was there And he's like Oh great, don't speak I love this So I said oh why tell me why

I said what am I missing about this Like what is it? Because like I like it I got no issue with it But like what is it And he just said, I don't know, it's just really good. And so I then asked another friend who I know is a fan of this and who is often, often gives me a very kind of analytical comments about music,

who also just said, yeah, I don't know, it's pretty good. And I just couldn't crack that nor. And I think what it is is that it's, there's two signs of the coin with this. Some may call it accessible. Some may call it a bit lowest common denominator. and I'm not sure which side I fall on with that and I'm not sure whether either are things is necessarily a bad thing.

Obviously, you know, lowest common denominator sounds a little bit more critical, but I do think there's something to be said for making this a bit more mass market and I think I'll probably lean more towards it being accessible just because there are definitely places this could go. I agree with Rob, there are places this could go that it kind of restrains itself from doing, that it never gets itself bogged down

with any kind of additional surprises or additional complexity. apart from that bridge, which just sounded a bit different to the rest of the song. It's like it doesn't spend long enough in that opening, teasing section. It needs more of that space and mystery about it in some ways. But just to be, to clarify, when I was mentioning the middle eight, I was referring particularly to the, da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Yeah, it's that chord. It's that chord that it hits. That's like, that's a really very different chord that it hits. And, like, her vocals have to take a dive to get there as well. So that's quite striking. But it's like, suddenly the song, start smiling very briefly, and then there's the da-da-da-da-da, and then it's

like, what the fuck? Did someone change the channel? What the fuck? I do think that's a good decision because I think that's the one point where although it's a little bit safer times, I'm never bored by it, and that's the one point where I could have got bored if it was just a kind of unremarkable middle-eight, then I could have got bored at that point, and the fact they do something different, it's a really good decision. I agree, and it is, it always

captures my attention. However, I think just the fact that it's different isn't quite enough because for me it's different in a way that's almost like oh this just feels like they're almost trying to distract you from the mood of the rest of the songs like oh that was getting a bit boring look over there and now we're back in the room and it's like it would have been nice if they found a more organic place to go that did provide a different kind of tension or a different kind of release

that was based on the trajectory of the rest of the song which is quite frowny and this this very sprightly other section it's just it feels it makes the tone of the song more pat it actually it's simultaneously i think are you think you're absolutely right simultaneously elevates interest temporarily while actually ironing flat any potential tonal sophistication of the song does that make any sense it does it does and i think that's a more you know version of what I'm trying to get out really yeah I think I just think

I do like this definitely definitely like it but I do think that considering the clear talent they've got on the table here like you know Gwen Stefani she's obviously a star like straight away

she's obviously a star and the atmosphere that's established is so strong and so evocative right at the start that I just think it plays it safe with the materials it's got on the table

and so it never quite rises for me and I think it's slightly overrated if I'm honest. So the whole album, Tragic Kingdom, was produced by a guy called Matthew Wilder. I didn't break my stride. Yes, it is. Yes, yes, it is him. But the whole album was produced by him, but it was mastered by three different people in two different locations.

And so I wonder if Robert Voskeen or Vosgien, I do wonder if he, you know, if don't speak was one of his as opposed to. you know one of the fewer songs that he was brought in for i don't know if that's necessarily true but regardless of whether it's been done by a different person or not it does have a different feel to their other singles the third song or third single this week is this She used to be my only enemy I never liked to leave and be free Catching me in places that I knew I shouldn't be Every other day I crossed the line

I didn't mean to be so bad I never thought you won't become a friend I never had Why, why you are mis-understood? So now I see through your eyes, all that you did was love. Mama, I love you. Mama, I care. Mama, I love you. Some of my friend

You would see Okay, this is Mama, Who Do You Think You Are? Released as the fourth single From their debut studio album titled Spice, Mama, Double A Side with Who Do You Think You Are? is SpireSgirl's fourth single to be released in the UK and their fourth to reach number one

and it's not the last time we'll be coming to the Picant Petoutis during our 90s coverage. Mama, AA side with Who Do You Think You Are? Went straight in number one as a brand new entry and stayed number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 248,000 copies beating competition from Rumble in the Jungle by Fugis, Mown and Grown by Mark Morrison, and Shout by Anton Deck. In week two, it sold 152,000 copies beating competition from Isn't It a Wonder by Boyzone? If I Never See You Again by Wet, Wet, Fresh by Gina G, love guaranteed by damage, The Real Thing by Lisa Stansfield, and It's Over by Clock.

And in week three, it sold 85,000 copies beating competition from I Believe I Can Fly by R Kelly, Anywhere for You by the Backstreet Boys, Flash by BBE, another suitcase in another hall by Madonna, and Red Letter Day by Pet Shop Boys. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Mama AA side with Who Do You Think You Are? Drop one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts,

it had been inside the top 104, 20 weeks, and the song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2025, Ed, Spice Girls, how we feeling? Yes, AA side, which I foolishly forgot until earlier today when I did some cramming on Mama, which sounded, unintentionally bad. But, yeah, okay, starting off with the one I have the most notes for, who do you think you are? I like myself from Disco. This is perhaps more clearly than the first three Spice Girls single. It's a disco track, and it's a good one, and it has an iconic disco horn riff at the beginning

that isn't just an impression of an iconic disco horn riff. It's actually a good one that's catchy in its own right. Loads of hooks, again, it's like, oh, in case you didn't like that chorusy bit, we'll give you another one that has a slightly different mood. It isn't quite for me on the same tier as the first three singles from Spice. It didn't really have to be, to be honest, I mean, if you're going to release five fucking singles off the album, they can't all be on the same par. And there's nothing wrong with having a song that's in a more reliable genre

or anything like that. However, there are little aspects to this that are just, you know, I think obviously less satisfactory than the others. Like, depending on what mood, I'm in the actual one of the choruses, can border on the hectoring just with the...

Make it, move it, make it, make it, do-do you think you are. Da-da-dan-dan-dan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then it's... I'm like, that's fine, but then at the end, it's like Mel C just decides to turn into a siren for the outro, and it does outstay. It's welcome. You remember it, but that's not always for the best.

However, having said that, it does feel on this track more than the first three, that they're finally like honing in on Mel C as like she's got the fucking voice they can all sing to one degree or another but she has a very thick characterful voice that always sticks out and they use her very well on this song except for the outro maybe

but yeah I do have you know my my quibbles with this one but on its own it would probably still get vaulted, because I do think it's a really good disco song. It's got a lot of character, a lot of charm.

Yeah, I could have done without the bloody early 90s, East 17 crazy horses siren sound that punctuates parts of the verses. You know the one. Specific reference point for that, which I'll come to, because, yeah, I've got something to say about that. It's like, it's not 92 anymore. I mean, fucking hell, that was being used on hip-hop albums

in the late 80s, and it's not quite retro enough to be retro. Yeah, it just sounds a little bit, a little bit old hat. But anyway, having said all of that, it would still be a vaulting. However, Mama is for me quite clearly the weakest of the first five singles by a considerable margin. I don't think it's bad. It's a perfectly well-structured song. It's pleasant.

It's fairly simple in terms of its construction, and it's not very very, take a sip dynamic compared to the others and it is a little bit twee. I think it comes from a positive place but I don't know it's just it feels very

very greetings cardish coming from the same album that had to become one which felt like a very mature and quite sexy song we've got this on it which is very like we grandpa

car, we love you sort of shit if you get the drift. I hate to say it, but it's fine. I wouldn't say I particularly like it, nor do I particularly dislike it, but it does feel a little bit disappointing. So, yeah. I actually feel that's slightly opposite to you. Usually, you know, when we come to double A sides on hits 21, I like to give lots of attention to the A side,

and then maybe just pay lip service to what is really the B side, acknowledge that it's there but kind of focus on the A side but that isn't the case with this one not just because I you know the B side is it's just bigger isn't it

in terms of size and popularity it's bigger than your average other one on the A side when we've covered like eternity by Robbie Williams and then you find out that he's just managed to sneak the last track on his album

as a B side and then release it as a double A side I think that as close to equal billing as you can get on something like this that we've covered so far. I personally I think Mama is lovely. I think the album version

runs a little longer than it should. I prefer the single cut and I think this is the beginning of the Spice Girls playing it slightly safer with some of their singles. They come back to this particular well a couple of times and they do tend to slip into soft

ballad territory to bang a few big winners with the public. Releasing Mama on Mother's Day as part of the comic relief drive feels a bit cynical as well, but hey, it's the pop business. And I think they make sure there's lots of content to justify

the majority of the runtime and the money that people will spend. You know, not exactly short change for your 99P or however much it is on the shelf, you know, with your CD single, you get five minutes on one side and nearly four minutes on the other. I think the single edit gives you just as much,

though, just in a shorter span of time. My favourite part of the song is when Emma and Mel come in together under the final chorus with the love that's so true and guaranteed you loving me. Nice little counter melody. They were so good at doing that on their final choruses, weren't they? And lyrically too, and in terms of his mood, what I'm left feeling after Mama is this sense that, yeah,

okay, it is a song about a young woman apologising to her mum for how she behaved when she was a teenager or a little girl. She's grown up now, sees her younger, herself through her mum's eyes, et cetera. But I've never really found it to be as simple and easy as that. Because I'm also left with this sense that as much as the Spice Girls recognize that their mum, moms does do, love them. And, you know, her methods of discipline and control were ultimately out of love. I think there is also this sense that if and when the Spice Girls have children, they maybe won't raise them in the same way that they were raised.

Spice Girls were all about being a new generation trying to push a new way of thinking about women and girls new ways of being a woman in the modern world and this feels, you know, on the surface may be deferential to the previous generation in a way that move over will just kick through the door in about six to seven months time or maybe just in about a year's time for Spice World

but I think what makes this more complex is the tone it strikes in terms of mood it's not mournful but it is slightly pensive and regretful. There's this sense that, yeah, you know, they've accepted and understood that the strained relationship they had with their mum was partly their fault, but also that it did take two to tango and that they will be trying to learn from the bad things that their moms did as well. It's sort of an acceptance like, look, okay, you weren't perfect, but you were just a human being trying your best. And for better or for worse, I forgive us both

for what went wrong. Like, I'm sorry about the way I was as well. But there is also this unspoken feeling of like, but in the end I was just a kid. And we didn't have to argue as much as it seemed like we did. And I don't know, it's kind of a sobering thought to leave it with. Very balanced point of view, I think, gets put across. Whereas who do you think you are is just a straight up party track about keeping a grip of your senses when you become famous.

Go for gold, but don't forget who you are sort of thing. Lots of disco and funk influences, racing to the front of the queue with this. Mel C. comes in. and does those fun adlibs over the final chorus again, never lets up. I'm into this basically from the moment, Jerry says, Giving is good, as long as you're getting. I'm like, yep, I'm into that. Fuck with the way that you, fuck with the words the way you want.

There is an uncontrollable amount of personality in this group. This song does feel like it's bursting at the seams to get out of whatever radio it's playing from. That baseline as well, that's something special. That's a bit of a secret weapon for people on good sound systems working away under there. I think maybe in terms of impact, these two are lessened by not being as fresh as wannabe or say you'll be there or to become one. And the horns sound a bit, what they're playing is great, but they do sound a bit comic relief. But I also think to compare them to a later

group, there are slightly unusual lyrics in Who Do You Think You Are, that maybe would have sounded a little bit more convincing as part of a girls allowed ensemble, because that's what their songs were kind of known for, but these are two great singles. They're a good foil for each other. They provide good variety, strong contrasts from each other. It justifies, I think, it's double A-side status, even if the release of it is a bit like, all go on, do as a favor sort of thing. But Andy, I've left you for last because I know you'll have the most to say about this. I probably won't, to be honest. It's interesting because I've got double healthen of Spice Girls this week. And it's also interesting because one of these I absolutely

adore the bones of. But I've probably got a little bit less because I do accept that these two are less innovative. There's less, oh my God, I'm being assaulted by new things. I've got so much to think about with these than there was about the other three. I do still think, though, that we are basically five for five here, not only with them all being good, but also with, they are all very different to each other, all five of them. Yeah, I agree. I would vault all five of these individually. I think they basically do form a bit of a pentagon of the equal sides. I don't think any of them are particularly too close to any other one.

I think all five of them are just clearly very different, not different genres, obviously I wouldn't go that far, but they're completely different facets of pop. And so I think these five singles, because this is the last single now from Spice, these five singles as a set, I think there's a really big argument that as a set of singles from one pop album. This might be the best batch of singles ever released for any pop album, I think, potentially, in terms of none of them miss, and they're all so different, and they're all really good. I'm not thinking of many of the contenders, to be honest. Maybe

the fame and the fame monster, if we can think of them as one thing. But even that's got anything else I can say on it, so, you know, so. The one people go to, even though it might not even necessarily be true is thriller but the thing is that that has its duds in the single run I mean that has bloody

the girl is mine exactly that's what I'm thinking of yeah yeah like I'm not a huge fan of want to be starting something I think PYT's a fun a fun disco like groovy song but I don't think there's much to it really

I think this is better but maybe I'm just biased maybe I'm just coated in nostalgia because obviously that's the thing that undercuts the spice girls all the time for me and I can't ignore that I'll start with Mama there's a scene in Spice World

which I always talk about and we'll get to it like we are thinking about covering Spice World in more depth but we'll hardly need to because I talk about it every time we cover the Spice Girls there's a scene where they imagine what it'll be like when they've got kids and they do this flash forward where they're all

dressed in like made to look older half of them are pregnancy bumps and the kids making noise up stairs and they all sat in a living room together going, oh, kids these days, they don't know how lucky they are, as their mama plays over the scene. And it's one of the many scenes in that film that we just played for comedy at the time,

but with the passage of time, have become oddly moving and oddly quite affecting to watch, because obviously we know how things went, and none of them had like bad lives, but, you know, that's obviously they're looking through young-ish eyes there. Well, very young, but in terms of adults, you know, they're looking through young adult eyes. towards what later adulthood might be like

with Mama playing over it and there's just a lot to unpack in that scene I just think that's an interesting thing because I agree with Rob that what's being expressed here is actually quite complex and as with all of the previous three singles once again I think they do not take the easy route because the easy route releasing a single on Mother's Day

that's about loving your mum you could make it just Grandpa we love you you could make it just like something as sickly sweet as like save your kisses for me even though you're only three. You know, you can do something as like completely sugary as that if you wanted to. But they don't.

They kind of keep it real and they take an angle on it that I think a huge amount of teen, particularly teenage girls and maybe girls that are sort of moving into like 18, 19 years old who are sort of coming of age, would really relate to this version of relationship with your mothers. There's something about, I mean, obviously all teenage and all parents, there's always, you know, fractious stuff that happens there, there's always tensions. But there's something about teenage girls and mums that, you know, you see it through so much media, you see it so much just in life, that there's something about that relationship, where there is quite often tension there, there's quite often a lack of understanding,

but it also comes from maybe a bit too much understanding and two different types of womanhood coming into play and just creating arguments where, you know, there's no ill intent on either side, and it can be a very difficult relationship. this really gets into that and takes a really tender tone in the song that's like, you know what, we argue all the time and like, we both know

that we don't actually mean it, just like emotions run high and we do love each other, but like, God, isn't it difficult going through life together as mother and daughter? Like, they just sort of, you know, are honest about what that relationship is like. There is a real honesty, a real authenticity to it. Yes, this

is being released on Mother's Day, yes, it's raising money for comic relief. And yes, if you want to go down this route. They are a corporately assembled girl group. However, that doesn't mean that what they're singing isn't something they've actually experienced and something that is true to life for a lot of people, which is that, you know, you complain your parents for everything and then you get to adulthood and you think, oh, you know what? They were sort of right. And I would maybe say the same to my own kids when I have kids. And I really sort of shouldn't have said that to my parents and I've treated them a bit too harshly. And there's something

about, like I say, there's something about the mother-daughter relationship within that, that I think you don't often hear that specific topic addressed as plainly as this. And so I think it has real merit and real value for not just taking the easy route and having a little bit more of a slice of life, or a spice of life, if you will. Musically, again, I don't think it takes the easy route. I don't think this is as interesting as any of the previous three, musically. But I do think it does things that it just doesn't need to, that just add colour to the song.

Like, I do think it's too long, and it doesn't need to have those long last few minutes, but, like, no one would have minded if they hadn't brought in a gospel choir at the end. Like, why did they do that? That's just a decision made to, not something they've ever done in any song before. Let's bring in a gospel choir.

That do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do thing that hangs around the ends of the chorus is. I love. It's just like a little bit of tension around that cadence. Again, just kind of touching at the kind of suspensions around the chords that just create, again, that's just that little sense of just kind of clanging up and a little bit tense and trying to release that tension. I think it's really, really gorgeous to listen to. And the strings as well, they never overdo it with the strings.

And it's the same here, I think, where it's just like string quartet sound most of the way through, as to that sense of tenderness. So I do think it's too long. I do think it's a little bit cheesy, and it's definitely going for easier points than the other three have gone for. But I do think this is great, Mama, and I would certainly be vaulting it on its own way. It is always helpful to have people draw my attention better to the lyrics, because to be quite honest, I always get, you know, restless with this song and skip on. But you're right, I was not giving it its due in terms of it dealing with something from an older vantage point,

and it's a worthwhile viewpoint. However, that doesn't necessarily stop me from finding it musically if I just find it a little bit dreary and... I mean, it's totally fair, totally fair, different strokes. Its arrangement isn't very exciting. No, and it's not, let's be honest, I hate my favourite word, it's not very dynamic. I do think it would undermine the tenderness and undermine the tone of the song if it was being too weird, though.

And I know that there's a big, big gap in the middle there for them to exploit. And I do think that's fair enough. but I also see why they'd want to make this relatively vanilla because otherwise you're distracting, you're from too many ingredients in the mix, potentially. But oddly enough, I would say I was distracted from the sophistication of the message by how childlike the song sounds in terms of it sounds like that nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

I like that, because it's like, so the verses are talking about all these all deep, complex arguments we've had. But then sometimes you just want to give you your mum a hug and say, oh, mum, I love you and revert to childhood and revert to being a baby. Yeah, I like that. Again, it's different strokes for different folks, but I think to me it sounds too sort of clean and straight and sentimental rather than actually representing any of the more complex things you're saying. I wish it went a little darker sometimes in the lyrics. Like I said, that feeling I get from it, it is a little, it is unspoken by the song. It's just a feeling I'd pick up from the music rather than something that's being said.

Don't get me wrong. It is definitely my least favourite of the five, but I don't think that it's a particularly wide bar. Like, I will go to about for this. I really will. But I'll stop. Like, we can, I mean, we're not really disagreeing that much on it, to be honest, but I think I just like it more. Look, I put it up a half mark on our top secret ranking. So it's still not quite in the vote, but I felt I was being a bit harshly dismissive,

especially on the lyrical content. We do all agree on who do you think you are, though. And, I mean, maybe to different extents, though, because this is a clear 10 for me, another one from the Spice Girls. This is one of my absolute favour to those, just because sometimes you just need the simple pleasures, or I just need the simple pleasures. like I think people who've listened to every episode of the show I've probably got that for me so far

that I like my big crazy camp disco things that don't hold back at all one of my favorite pop songs ever is your disco needs you so that gives you a little bit of a glimpse into kind of stuff I go for that right from the start where it goes on for just long enough it goes on for eight bars that like you recognize it

you're getting ready for the song to start and I've got this lovely memory of I worked for an LGBT organisation a few years ago where part of what I had to do was I had to organise our entry in the Manchester Pride parade and part of that was I had to do the playlist for us all to march to

which is kind of pressure because it's a you know you're going all the way through Manchester with like thousands of people on the street like dancing to whatever it is you're playing so I felt a little bit like serious DJ mode for that I will say that playlist is probably one of the finest things I've ever done in my life I absolutely nailed it to be honest but the first song that came on

as we were entering onto Dean's Gate and saw the crowd was we heard those opening bars of who do you think you are and it's like, oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, that's a lovely feeling. Nice pick. That siren is weird. And I tell you what I always think of that, there's two things that I can think of in two different songs, both of them, big, stupid gay classics,

that I can't ever hear once I've noticed them. One of them is Rocket to the Moon by RuPaul, which you might know is the theme tune at the end of Drag Race UK, which is when RuPaul on the background says, Blair stuff, I can't help the hear it. bust up and that just like I can't ever get out of my head

the other thing is the siren at the start of this there's a very specific niche Simpson's reference that it just always immediately conjures up for me which is the episode Simpson Tide in series 9 where Homer joins the naval reserve and

he makes a noise like a whale that is that exact sound from who do you think you are and it's just I just see Omer, every time. But anyway, it's like disco to the max it has those massive trumpets

which just like, you know, kind of a channel and earthwind and fire for the 90s, so on board with that. And what I really like is that although they deliberately lower the level of mystique

and go for kind of fun, party, you know, pride vibes, not just pride, but like, just like, you know,

just big club stomper kind of vibes. They do keep some of the mystique. They still have a sense of like, oh, you know we're on a different plane we've got interesting ideas and what I love is that it's such a weird it is actually a key change and it's a weird key change because it goes from a minor to a different minor which is odd and they stretch out that where you take a while to land on that new key and it's just a really unsettling kind of spooky moment in this otherwise really straight down the line

unchallenging disco song to get this odd little movement and again that's kind of with the spirit of disco as far as I'm concerned that's very much like something that the Bee Gees would have done or something that Donna Summer would have done it's just have an odd moment of insecurity in the middle of this big stomper

which really gives it like the icing on the cake to me but I think the kind of slightly call and response-ish you know past the baton from one singer to another verses that I've got this you know very strong melody to them the pre-chorus like I say, which is so spooky and odd. And then the swing it, shake it, move it, make it,

which has that quality just like wannabe where you're trying to learn every word so you can recite it in the playground. Kind of hits on every front. And then you've got Melsie with the swing it, shake it, just giving it that extra layer. I think the sheer energy all the way through, the sense of fun, the sense of confidence,

while still having a Spice Girl's character to it, I just think it's an absolutely bullseye. So yeah, I love both of these. and who do you think you are is the only song that I've heard a Spice Girl do live out of any of the ones that we've had so far where Mel C, I saw her, and she was doing a lot of her solo stuff, obviously,

but she decided to give us a few Spice Girls ones, and she did say you'll be there just acoustically, just a guy on a guitar, so I wouldn't really say I've heard say you'll be there be done, because it was just her and an acoustic guitar. But then she kind of pointed up to the stage and heard there, boom boom a boop but doop come in the homer wail sound come in and i just completely fangled and felt weak

at the knees to be honest so yeah a lot of happy memories associated with the song and just a shout out to that video with french and saunders as well imitating them i really liked that at the time i thought that was really funny and it's the start of the long time relationship between jennifer saunders and the spice girls which she's she's got a funny cameo in spice world she then made that musical Viva forever, which bombed, but, you know, she still did that. So that's just interesting to know as well. Yeah, love this, love this. Mama's like a nine out of ten for me.

Who do you think you are as an easy ten? So that's 49 out of 50 that I've scored them for these five songs. So, yeah, pretty good. I'm glad you picked out that. So who do you think you are? As in, that's my favorite bit of the song as well, because it changes mood. It becomes a little more aloof. a little more icy and cool

but it's just the arrangement changes and it's got that cool kind of like piano announcements and but then just and I think you just made me remember when you were talking about it it's just another little pack every inch with stuff and make it flow

spice scales touch which is the movement from that part back into the chorus two second three chorus whatever it is with the you have got to it's like that doesn't need to be there but it builds it up ready for the next parts to just you know blow out of the speakers yeah that you know it is it is good it is

undeniably a very good disco song that sort of odd who sound the thing that it kind of evokes for me is if you're on the dance floor and having a great time and everything's uncomplicated but then you just have a thought that stops you for a second where you're like hmm you know just something troubles you for a second but then you get back into the party that's kind of how it makes me feel and yeah just and again an unnecessary level of complexity and interest in this silly funny dance song so yeah and just one thing to mention well right way way way way back when we were talking about this is in the noughties and we're talking about the solo careers for the spice girls and I said jerry was the continuity candidate

basically because bag it up is basically this bag it up is just going for all the same points as this And I do think that Jerry took this as the template for, yeah, this is how you just sort of get pop bangor after pop bangers if you basically do something like this all the time, which is what she did in the Northeast, and it did work. All right then, so the fourth and final song this week is this. Backer another one of those block rocking beats. Back when the local music is like rocking beat.

Back when the local is going to rock and beat. Back when I'm going to go to be like rocking beats. Back when I'm going to go to be like rocking beats. Back with another one of those block rocking beats by the block rocking beats by the Chemical brothers. released as the second single from their second studio album titled Dig Your Own Hole. Block Rocking Beats is the Chemical Brothers fifth single to be released in the UK and their second to reach number one. However, as of 2025, it is their last.

Block Rocking Beats went straight in at number one as a brand new entry and stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold. 85,000 copies beating competition from North Country Boy by Charlottons, Bellissima by DJ Quicksilver, Free Me by Cast, Hit Em High by Be Real, Buster Rhymes and Culeo, and Gotta Be You by 3T. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, block rocking beats fell seven places to number eight. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 14 weeks,

the song is currently officially certified silver. In the UK, as of 2025, Andy, give me another one of those bits of your analysis. Sorry, yeah. Dig your own hole, just makes me think, dig your own grave and save. Don't worry, I've not got nearly, like, probably not even got 5% as much to say about this one.

But I do really like it. I think the sound is just absolutely killer with this. It's really interesting to hear this in the same week as Disco Tech because we've got opposite ends of the spectrum here, although they're not, weirdly, not that far apart. You've got you two who are straining to be relevant by, you know, sticking these copy and paste beats over the top of it, which feel completely unnatural.

Here you've got the actual, real side of that where you've got innovative, exciting, interesting dance music which fits into a landscape with their contemporaries, and it's just really, really fun. to listen to. Like, again, weirdly similar to spice guys, just kind of uncomplicated fun. It's too long. It's way too long. And it's just so much of a problem for me that I have to knock several points off for it. Because, like, there isn't really anything in the second half that isn't in the first half. And I think, I understand that that's just how dance music is made and you've got to,

it's got to go on for a certain amount of time so you can fill the dance floors and stuff. And that's, that's just how the genre works. But it is too long to just sit and try and try and analyze through your headphones, to be honest. But what a lovely sound to this. Great sample, great production. Another one of those songs that I just think, like, I can just imagine how many faders there are in the dashboard doing how many different things.

And the Chemical Brothers have just been really interested in me, the times that we've done them so far. I still think that the ones that I like the most have not come up and never will come up. But they're just, they're adding something that is sort of sound of the future to the charts because we've got frankly

the sound of the past with you too although they'll never really go away we've got the sound of the present with the spice scales very much right here in the moment and then we've got something that's looking a bit more

onto the very late 90s with this so it's kind of a nice little past present future thing that we've got going on this week but yet it is far too long and I just wish if this was like a brisk three minutes and be like, yeah, great, perfect. But I do still really like this.

I just don't have anything too analytical to say about it. It just, it kind of slaps, as the kids say. The vibes are good, as I sometimes say. With this, Andy, I think, you know, what you've said there, I think we might be in the peak era of album versions and single edits. Yeah. I think because CDs are provided more room, but radios still want songs that are three to four minutes max.

So there are a lot of those hanging around. in the 90s and especially in the late 90s whereas I feel like in the 2000s because songs are being released as download singles and stuff you don't you know you don't really want them to be too long you do if you know the actual physical thing not being there you do kind of want it to be a bit shorter and then there is a standardization period between what gets played on radios and what gets played on iTunes when you download it well exactly and I think I think I don't know if everyone agrees with this it's an interesting question but I think broadly that's a good thing for the present day where like I think the problem with this year is that there's no

compromise like most too much space mostly you get either three minutes and then the album edit is like five or six or even seven minutes and there's very little compromise in the middle whereas these days at least if you get one thing it feels like enough it feels like the right amount so yeah I think that's broadly a good thing one of the few things about the present day industry which I think is slightly better than the 90s industry Ed, block-wracking beats Kind of slaps You're just going to mirror

Mirr Andy's sentiment fully there Yeah I would agree that it is A little bit too long I think it just about gets away with it Because it is always varying the textures up a bit There's always got different ways of chopping And changing the bass

And little, you know, different drum loops and things I always, by the way, I did always love the use of very live-sounding kind of analogue, like, drum fills in the Chemical Brothers tracks, gives it a real sense of looseness and live energy that some electronic tracks wouldn't. But it does feel, I can care, a bit like they've, they are spreading it quite thin. It doesn't ever quite just become toast, but it's getting there at places. But yeah, what a baseline. And they do mix it up.

And it is just one of those songs that is just sort of, it's cool and it knows it is. And it's difficult to deny that it's cool. I really don't have much more to add than that. I think, again, I think the slightly skeletal aspect isn't helped. And I've said this every bloody time the Chemical Brothers have been mentioned by the fact that as a duo and as a project, they don't necessarily have a huge amount of, of character and you can say a lot about mystique but then again daft punk managed it fine so there's a sense that aside from some of the reference points of the things they're sampling they don't have the character of a fat boy slim or a prodigy or you know so there is something always a little bit

missing between the gaps that's not necessarily simply musical for me however this was a lot of fun then and it's a lot of fun now yeah I think just from what we were sort of saying before, something's kind of clicked while you two have been talking about this. If we go back to the U2 song before, where that kind of guitar riff or whatever you can call it, the down it, down it, down it, that basically does nothing. But this baseline in block rocking beats doesn't do much more

in terms of complexity, but just the way. that it's phrased, there aren't many more notes in this baseline compared to discotheque, there's probably more notes in the discotheque lead riff than this one, because it's just a repeat of a do-d-d-d-da-d-d-d-da-d-d-da-d-d-d-d-d-. But the way that it is played, the reliance on syncopation with Disco-Tek, the bassline, well, the riff or whatever, it just kind of hits the ones and threes and that's it. Whereas with this, it doesn't really ever hit anything, it's constantly up or down. It's constantly moving somewhere.

it's never landing it's either on its way down about to spring back up or is down or is on its you know on the way up about to cannon back off the trampoline like it's you know do da da da da da da da da that is the secret i think to rhythm at least or at least how doing things with rhythm can make things much more interesting um basically what you can do here for me is repeat the superlatives from the conversation that we had about setting sun and just apply them here I get the sense, though, that Big Beat is pushing itself to its absolute commercial limits here and that there might not be much more room to expand and grow into without alienating people a little bit. This is, as Tom Ewing has called these kinds of things for the late 90s,

a fan base number one where all of the fans of the group go out in the first week and buy it, and then public goodwill does not extend to week two. it falls seven places and it crashes out of the top five and from here the chemical brothers keep making good to decent stuff i think surrender good record but never to quite the same reception or the same success or to the same level crucially i think of abrasiveness i think this is the point where big beat starts to mold into what will eventually just become like pop rave you know like it'll soften it will become vocal trance that's the kind of dance music that people want more of i love hey boy hey girl that might be my favorite song of theirs but it does feel like a slight

step away from the edge back towards convention where this feels like a bigger risk there's actually something a bit prime time of your life about this in a way that it repeats and repeats and tries to suck you into a pretty wild and unwelcoming place and that can be a double-edged sword for the public, but this is fast, it's exciting, it's loud, it's the kind of music that should accompany a new millennium, but in the end it sort of didn't, as Andy you were saying, it kind of fizzles a little bit in 98 and 99. They had to refine a bit to remain as commercially popular as they did until about the mid-2000s and stuff like galvanize and that sort of thing. But they had their fan base, but maybe weren't extending out to everybody else, which is fine.

Not every number one gets to number one for the same reasons, but as much as I think this is great, it may be, maybe, maybe, maybe hints towards the Chemical Brothers and Big Beat reaching absolute breaking point in terms of its balance or balancing act of experimentation, volume, abrasiveness, and public backing. I feel like they kind of maybe get the message

from falling so fast from number one that they think, okay, maybe we need to do stuff that's maybe a little bit more mainstream in appeal next. But by then, another couple of years had gone by and you get the one with Noel Gallagher, The How Does It Feel Like, Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, De, Forever Be. Let Forever be, exactly. And that, hey, boy, hey, go.

Where they are just a little, kinder on the ears. And obviously, you get right here, right now from Fat Boy Slim, we get Praise You, which is, well, a lot of it is just sung. There's a nice melodic bit. Everybody knows the piano bit, rather than. and the sort of more heavily distorted bits and the big drums and stuff like that. And so I think, you know, big beat is just,

this is the point where it slightly recharacterizes, maybe. But this, for now, for this point in time, this is still great. I'm still a very, very big fan of this. So, Ed, discothec, don't speak, the Spice Girls' Double A side and Block Rocking Beats. How are we feeling? Disco-tech falls to bits quickly, like a plastic action figure you bought from next to the till at a chemist.

There are so many bits, it proves too much of a faf to scrape into the hole, so you just kind of leave it there. Like a cheap deconstruction of a tacky breakdown of a hollow thing. When it comes to no doubt, I kind of have to speak, Gwen, it's a podcast. I know you're good but really good Not quite Spice Girls Disco fun points to the vault

but unfortunately Mama just holds it back Parents they fuck you up Not quite a vault but certainly no embarrassment for the Spice Girls though And they said they were going to work it out

On the last album Did the Chemical Brothers And they did And not a conclusive But a fairly solid Vault for the Chemical Brothers Andy, you too, no doubt, Spice Girls, Chemical Brothers

Disco Tech, more like Disco Pie I'm not going to come up with a more inventive pun than that because it hasn't earned it if they're going to be lazy, then so am I. Don't speak, well it's more like don't vault because although I do really like it, I don't think it does enough like I say, there's something missing for me

so not getting in the vault. Swing it, shake it, move it, make it, more like vault it, vault it, vault it, Volt it, vault it, vault it, vault it. Both of them individually would have been vaulted. Barp it, pushed it. Tap it. Yes. And that's going in the vault.

And chemical brothers, well, they've got a brother in the vault already because I put setting sun in there. So, yes, there are two actual chemical brothers in the vault now, yes. As for me, discotheque is just missing the pie hole. Don't speak is just missing the vault. Mama is and who do you think you are They're creeping in to the vault Well done Spice Girls

You're going four for four five for five And block rocking beats is also Gonna go in the vault I'm in a good mood at the end of this episode Next week We are going to take a little break From our scheduled programming I think we're going to look at the top of the pops episode

From when Andy was born I think we're going to do that Ed your working away And so we're going to take a week off. We'll come back with that TOTP episode for Andy's birthday. We might try and sneak one more in before Christmas and then we'll probably take a little bit of a break until the new year. Speaking of, actually, I should say at the end of this episode,

didn't want it to take up too much time during our analysis of it. I'll sneak it in at the end here. Andy, we're talking about the top of the pops episode from when you were born, which would be August, it would be 92. It will. I won't say the exact day because I don't want anyone to get into my online banking, but it will be August 92 yes well I won't say the exact date either

but we have just gone past so mama and who do you think you are that was number one when my wife was born so which is a pretty ace pretty ace song collection there to have I think my husband was baby come back from 94 which is you know it's all right but yeah she did but she did much better bye bye bye bye bye bye

all right then so that is it for this week we will see you next week for that top the Pops episode, and then we'll be back as usual. But bye-bye, and thanks for listening. Bye-bye. T'all right.