Hits 21 - 1998 (2): Celine Dion, Cornershop, Madonna

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

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

Hi there, everyone. Welcome back to Hits 21, the 90s where me, Rob, me, Andy, and me, Ed, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. Email us at Hits21 podcast at gmail.com. Twitter as it hits 21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1998. And you can tell it's 1998 because this week we'll be covering the period between the 15th of February and the 7th of March. All songs are jumping on and off the number one spot like I don't know what. So it is time to press on with this week's episode. Andy, is the UK album's chart as frenetic and fast-paced as the singles chart at the moment? Well, certainly compared to last week, yeah, where we only had the one to talk about, which was the verve.

It certainly got much more to talk about this week. So, coming in hot, three times platinum, it is James Horner, of all people, with Titanic, Music from the motion picture. Before the verve, do one more week at number one with urban hymns. They just won't get out of the way. And then we have Titanic again. James Horner again with Titanic, music from the motion picture, another two weeks at number one. So pretty much all of this period, apart from that one bloody week of the verve, is Titanic.

But that does mean that we get through the first two months of this year, the first two and a half months, actually, with only two albums having appeared at the the top of the chart. So it is quiet, but we've had more to talk about than last week. So yeah, it's all about Jack and Rose this week. In the news, Muhammad Al-Fayyad, the father of Dodefayy says his son was about to propose to Princess Diana before their fatal car crash. He also claims that he is 99.9% certain that the car crash that took their lives was a conspiracy to kill rather than an accident, revealing his plans to sue both the Queen and Tony Blair. A fraudulent study published by physician Andrew Wakefield claims to have established a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in children. The study wasn't retracted until 2010. And in Gateshead,

the Angel of the North sculpture is unveiled by its designer, Anthony Gormley. Elton John becomes Sir Elton John after being knighted by the Queen. The British Union flag begins to be flown at full mast over Buckingham Palace, even when a member of the royal family is not in residence. this flag policy was changed after the death of Diana last year. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Starship Troopers, the Jackal and the Devil's Advocate before Titanic begins a run of 13 weeks that takes us all the way through to the end of April. And in TV, Robot Wars makes its debut on the BBC.

see so ed america how are things going over there not that much different really the billboard albums billboard number one albums for this period it's uh it's titanic it's just titanic

so here are ten titanic puns in one minute just in case you feel shortchanged by that what does the titanic have in common with a tiny sharepoint file they both take a surprisingly long time to sink they're petitioning to change the name from RMS Titanic to is a mess Titanic.

I hear the captain went down with the ship. I assume they were sucking off the iceberg. I hear the ship was expensively broken in half. What is this? A Square Enix remaster? As the ship sank, the house band plays excerpts from that a cappella album. Iceberg 4, whole nil.

Famously, there weren't enough life raps for the ship's compliment. If there had been just five more, it would have said it like their shoes. Rumour has it that the appearance of Captain Bird's Eye was modelled on that of Captain Edward James Smith, who himself had the eyes of an absolute cock, and ended up with frozen fingers. When working on their next major liner,

the white star engineers took lessons from Titanic by negating the steel hole and having the vehicle instead buttressed by a contrived love story. Knock, knock, who's there? Wiseacre? Why's a co-who? Wiseacre, this incompetent allowed to man a ship.

And finally, Titanic director James Cameron went on to direct Avatar, making that the second time he had based a movie around lifeless blue people. Oh, my God. My favourite type of people are lifeless blue people. I just, that's my type. Cold and waterlogged is, is, it's your, is your flavour.

Good to know. Woof, cool it down in here. Whoa. Yeah. Right, singles. This is equally short. Usher takes it nice and slow, adding another week at the top to his slinky, syncopated tally before, oh, fuck me, Titanic.

Director James Cameron picked Celine Dion to sing the movie's theme after hearing how well she handled falling into you, which was mostly, after all, in sea. So, the first of just three songs up this week, because I'm pretty sure we're going to have a lot to say about all of them, is this. This is My Heart Will Go Ones, This Is The Last This Is The Fourth Single from her 15th, Sto'Eon. released as the fourth single from her 15th studio album titled Let's Talk About Love. And as the lead single from the soundtrack album to the film Titanic, My Heart Will Go On is Celine Dion's 18th single to be released in the UK and her second to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is her last.

My Heart Will Go On went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for one week. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 235,000 copies, beating competition from Let Me Show You by Camisra, and Solomon Bites the Worm by the Blue Tones. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, my heart will go on, dropped one place to number two, but it is not the end of its time at the top of the UK charts just yet. So, Ed, Celine Dion, how we feel on? I like that. I like, I like, I like the effort there. Half a rhyme.

What a memorable, iconic song. I don't like it, unfortunately, but I cannot deny those things. It has stuck around, and it seems to have a great deal of resonance. I don't like the vocals. She's a very good singer. but there's this sort of really whispery laboured vibrato delivery with lots of... Is this soulful? Because it sounds to me a bit like an enunciation lesson

immediately after a very long run. The production is NAF, which considering the budget at the disposal of the movie is a bit of a shame. There's loads of reverb for sort of cheap atmosphere and space. and a load of NAF MIDI kind of keyboard and guitar sounds in the background. This could have been from about 1991. Now, you might say, oh, that makes it timeless. I think it makes it a little bit time-locked.

Now, nothing against Celine D.Lon, I actually think she's an excellent vocalist. I just, I don't like the song. I don't like the stylized contrivance of the vocals and the emotion, and yeah, the sort of the yearning, quote-unquote, ethnic instrumentation does rub me up the wrong way. But it is a memorable song, and I can't deny that. So I have a feeling it is up to you two to say far more pleasant things about this song. Well, as for me, this is usually the kind of thing I really struggle with, because, yeah, like, you know, being honest, like this is a, a bludgeoning power ballad

and bludgeoning power ballads rarely tend to go down well with me. You can hear Louis Walsh somewhere in the distance deciding that when he forms his next group after Boyzone this is all he's going to make them do. Only I think if this was the inspiration for a lot of West Life's output

then I think he's missed the point of this. We've had songs on this podcast in the past like I will always love you where the size of the power ballad means the emotional subtlety of the composition and the depth of the emotional message, if you will. They kind of get bulldozed over in favor of like big declarative choruses full of platitudes and technically impressive vocals. But I think my heart will go on mostly,

only mostly avoids the worst kind of pitfalls of taking the kind of approach that it takes. It still has some, but it mostly avoids the worst ones because I think there are, there are actually some moments of like genuine quiet reflection in this. You know, there are unexpected little curveballs that give you different things to focus on too instead of just you know of the main event happening up front as a piece of film soundtracking music for a story about the titanic you know this song contains little irish folk influences that nod to the fact that a lot of the passengers on the boat in third class steerage were irish Leonardo decaprio's character isn't real but his real life counterpart is believed to be a man from dublin and i i think that

the big kind of bellowing choruses here are sort of earned because you have to wait a while to get one. This reminds me of show me heaven more than anything. That Maria McKee one that we covered in the 90s, more, you know, more than anything else. I think, you know, given that Celine Dion is meant to be singing this basically in my head as like as the Titanic goes down alone in the Atlantic ocean, I think this is meant to be one last distress signal or one last declaration of love before she fades under the water. The pipes at the beginning where the, Irish folk influences, I guess, kind of come from. I feel like they're kind of, they're drifting to Celine across the dark water, you know,

from a ship that's too far away to savor. And I even think that the key change is handled fairly well because it lands on something new. Sudden lurches like this tend to be more easily digested for me when the song has landed in a new place along with a new key. And I think this big section is suitably placed and suitably measured to bring it to a big finish in the same way that Show Me Heaven slowly rammed. up the tension quite carefully. With that said, you still get a lot of late 80s hallmarks

kind of hanging around in this, the snare drums that could knock down buildings. The pipes feel strangely midi, but I guess maybe that's my fault for not being able to tell if they've been recorded live or plugged in afterwards. And this isn't so much an 80s hallmark as it is something that's just bugged me.

But, Ed, you were saying about the sort of the intonation lessons that the verses feel like. Celine only ever sang one version of this. She sang over a demo that was rearranged by the producer Baby Love, whose real name was Walter. And James Horner's original idea was almost completely thrown out. And apparently there's a few people not happier that, like, James Horner kind of gets semi-equal billing on this song,

even though his original idea was mostly, you know, it's like Ship of Theseus sort of thing. And Celine apparently had to be convinced to take this on in the first place, sort of as a favour to Horaceous. I think she sounds technically amazing. Everyone knows that. It's her signature song. But some of the lyrics are a bit like she's trying to read them off a piece of paper

that's about five yards away and she can't quite make out the smaller letters. And I think maybe in another lifetime she'd have gone back in to tidy up the phrasing and positioning of certain words and the way that certain sentences are emphasized. Because it means you get strange moments in the lyrics where she says, you have come to show you and then a pause and you think what? And she says go on and I think oh okay

but then I think wait you have come to show you go on huh but then you also get love was when I loved you one true time I'd hold to which I always thought it was hold true or hold you which mostly I feel like the actual line mostly makes grammatical sense but it's really clunky on the ears and there are a few moments like that

where it's like, you have come to show you go on. It's like a bit of an empty lyric there. That seems like something in the very, very early stages of being workshoped, but before they'd actually finish the full lyric, Selim was like, no, I did it once as a favour and I'm not going back in and doing it again. You're just going to have to make do with it.

And now you listen to it, and it's a bit like, right, have we all just been overlooking this over the years? There's very, very, very strange lines in this song. But yeah, not too bad at all. I expected to recoil away from this, but nope, I've not done that at all. Andy, how about you for My Heart Will Go On? Yeah, I almost don't really know where to start with this because I've got so many different things, different memories associated with this.

It's interesting though to hear some of the criticisms or comments you've made, you know, about things that you find unusual about this song, because I can actually answer some of them as to why that is. I think the common thread through a lot of the, you know, the kind of MIDI sound, some unusual lyrics, perhaps not the best vocal take possible. The kind of through line through all of that is that this was very rushed, very rushed, very rushed, very, very rushed. And I knew some of the backstory of this, which was that James Cameron didn't want a song in this film at all, didn't want any song before he was not convinced by that he thought that was very 80s that was very passe

old hat kind of thing to do um he was somewhat right but we were in an era of you know a huge explosion of big movie themes and james horner was convinced that they needed to be one his original idea was thrown out so he then wrote another one and gave us this and i was able to learn more about that because i'm amazed and delighted to say i'm amazed at myself to be able to say i've actually met james horner and spoke to him about this um That's because I studied music at uni and then my master's was about film music and I ended up getting invited to all sorts of lovely things like that and I was able to meet James Horner and when I met him I was like, goodness me. Yeah, I'm so starstruck by the composer of one of the greatest songs ever written, I see you by Leona Lewis from the movie Avatar. Not really, obviously.

basically. It was actually very shortly before he died. That I met him he died very tragically about 10 years ago. But I thought, it was a sort of Q&A session and I thought, God, what I want to ask? So I thought, I'm going to ask him about that, about this whole story that gets echoed down the years of James Cameron didn't want there to be any song at all, but James Horner made it his mission to convince him that they needed to be one. He got Celine Dionne in to do this demo and sort of needed to convince James Cameron, but he didn't know that that was going to be successful.

And the thing that really confused me about it was that the song is so embedded in the score of this film. It's everywhere through it. Like, there's not really much of a score without that song. Like, certainly the intro that do-d-d-d-do-do-do is in it all the way through. The tune itself, to my heart will go on, is Rose's theme in the film. Like, most memorably used with the, I'm flying jack scene. And it's like all the way through the film.

So it's just like, how did, how, how did that work if that song wasn't even supposed to be in the film at all? So I asked about that, like, what was the order of events? And he said, well, he kind of looked at, well, okay, you rejected my original idea. Let's look at what I've already got. So we've got that little, that little sonato that do-do-do-do-do-do, why don't I turn that into something and take the other melodies, take Rose's theme, and turn it into a song. He took it from the text that he'd already written. the idea being, well, this is already such a big part of the film that people will kind of want to sing along to it at the end,

that you kind of make it already embedded, you make it already iconic, he didn't use that word, but you kind of make it already iconic, already really familiar to the viewer, so that you want a big song version of it over the credits, which makes sense to me, and I think that's part of the reason for its success, is that you hear that cue so much through the film

that you already know the song by the time it plays at the end, and it's an emblem of the film itself. So I thought that was really interesting, and that means it's really rushed, really, really rushed, because this wasn't going to be attached to the film until the last second. God knows how they found time to do the music video, and it's quite revealing that the video is just Celine

against the green screen and clips from the movie. Like, there's not much to that music video. But yeah, so that's perhaps some of the reason and why for some of all this, and it was a pleasure to meet him. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, as for what I think of it, so as a kid, because it was like this big, massive thing,

and Titanic was just huge. I was far too young to watch it when it was out, but because it was so big in the world, like I was, you know, silly little kid who just wanted to be on board with the popular stuff, and I remember declaring to my mum that this is the greatest song of all time when I was like five years old, and she laughed at me. And I remember saying to me,

so what do you think is the greatest song of all time? And I think she said careless whisper. Just another unusual choice, to be honest. But yeah, I mean, I think careless whisper is probably better than this. But I've got other huge memories with this song. One of them is my sister, like guitar as a child. Around the time this was out, she would have been like eight years old. And one of the first things that all the guitar students learned to play

was the melody of My Heart Will Go On. Oddly not the chords. which is what you think they would learn. No, they learnt the melody. And I heard them in an assembly once with this sound that will never leave me. And we always joke about of this chorus of 10 kids on guitars,

all plucking, bring, bring, bring, bring, bring, bring. Oh, that takes me back. It's just, oh. So every time I hear this, I can't, certainly in the chorus, I can't help but think, bring, bring, bring.

The other thing I also can't help but think about in this song is when I was doing music GCSE, which was in the late noughties, we had to, for some reason we had to do some singing. I don't really know why we had to do some singing practice. And our teacher wanted to give us a song that everybody knew,

so put lyrics in front of us for my heart will go on. But because it was so familiar to everybody, because it was so all known to everyone, she didn't bother to write out the full lyrics. And for the chorus, she just said, near far, etc. And you know when there's just, an unspoken mass agreement on something. The whole room, none of us said anything,

but every single one of us in that lesson sang the chorus as near far, et cetera. Every single one of us. And there was just this roar of laughter that every single person had the same idea. That was wonderful. But yeah, I hope that gives a picture of like how prominent this song was for about 10, 15 years after this. and so it's iconic to a degree that I almost can't look at it objectively or even subjectively really because it's just like it's this massive thing this massive monolith of the late 90s and I have huge nostalgia for it

you know it really really takes me back to 97 I'd say you know another song this week takes me back in a different way but really it's just it's so emblematic of 97 into 98 and I think it's stuck around for good reason I think it really the tone of the film. I think it really captures that bittersweet, kind of melancholy that goes through the film of, you know, they better to have loved and lost sort of thing. And, you know, this great Shakespearean-style tragedy that happens on this boat.

And that kind of mournful quality that goes through the whole film and goes through the song as well. Someone said it. I think it might been James Cameron. I don't know who it was said it, but there's a thing about the film that's always made it click for me is that in that film, you know, you know, You have to imagine that the ship is the whole world. And so the sinking of the ship is the end of the world.

In that film, it's the end of the world. And you have to paint it that way. So it's like a sort of Independence Day, you know, Armageddon type movie. It's just happening on a boat, but it's got that same tone to it. And yeah, I think that's basically how the film feels. I only saw the film for the first time about eight and nine years ago, where I had some time on my own.

My husband was away. And I just thought, you know what? I'm going to watch some films I've never seen before. I'm going to stick Titanic on. And despite being, like, in my mid-20s, I'm ashamed to say I still was quite a hipster. I still was very kind of, you know, contrarian about things that were really popular.

I was kind of watching it, mainly so I could dig on it and, you know, take the piss out of it and be like, what a shit film that is? Why does everybody love that? I'd successfully done that with Batman versus Superman the day before, which is one of the worst films I'd ever seen. And then I decided to put Titanic on. And I was like, oh, yeah, it's pretty good this.

It's pretty good. And by the end, I was like, oh, ah, yeah, this is really good, isn't it? And I was kind of ashamed to admit it. But now I'm not ashamed to admit it because I don't have any kind of hips tendencies. Now, Titanic is a fantastic film. It's brilliant. I can see why it's so popular. I can see why it struck so much of a chord with so many people.

It's fantastically made. It's so engaging all the way through. It really sticks the landing and really kind of, like, it's just so dramatic and epic all the way through. And it's done with such sincerity that you really just can't help but feel absorbed by this whole story. It's, yeah, I think it's a fantastic film. And I think the best thing about it is how the music captures the tone and captures the atmosphere so perfectly. I think the forced romance is probably the least favorite part of the film. But the actual retelling of this epic event and what it felt like, I think is amazing.

So I think this is a great kind of, a great advert for fantastic film music. and what it can do. I think it's really emblematic of the era and of that era of cinema as well. I don't love Celine's performance in it, but I do think the song as a piece of writing is beautiful. And I can't help but love that key change.

I do think she nails that key change with the yah! I think when she needs to go big, she goes big. So, yeah, it's an odd story of how this came about, but I think it created magic. One thing just before we finish is that I'm sure the three of us we've all been to the Trafford Centre, haven't we? Yes. Ed? Take it you visited L Trafford Centre before?

Oh yes. And it's new annex, the whatever it's called room that's freezing cold. Yes. Well, so not all of our listeners may have been to the Trafford Centre. So for those among our listeners who are from America and may never, have been or know about, may never have been to the traffic centre or know about it. It's a massive shopping centre in West Manchester. Really, really huge, big car park.

It's kind of like, I think it is the most American thing in the northwest of England. That and Cheshire Oaks outlet park, those are the two most American-style things. well at the Chaffa Center is like, you know, this big ornate, you know, fountains and classic design building and like, you know, it's a huge thing. And it's a third largest retail area in the UK and all this stuff is massive. So it opened on the 10th of September, 1998. About six or seven months after the Titanic mania, shall we say, the massive food court

in the Trafford Centre to this day is still shaped and designed to look like the Titanic because of the film. Is that why? You know what I always thought it was? I thought it was because of like Jane McDonald's cruise ship

kind of vibes. I thought that was what they were going for. It could be that too. Yeah. I think you're right. Now you say it. I'm not I've never actually read that this was 100% confirmed, but the idea was to make it seem like a classy, you know, kind of like early 20th century shit. And I don't think it's a coincidence

that the big food court looks like the deck of the Titanic in the film about six months. It opened six months after the film was out, and I'm like, so that's why there's bodies and debris everywhere. I've always wondered that. That's why there's this big door in the middle of the food court

that only one person's allowed on at a time. And I'm pretty sure I could be making this up. It could be my five-year-old's memory. My five-year-old me's memory kind of making this up. But I'm sure they used to play the Titanic film on a loop in the food court through the day. I'm sure they used to do or play clips from it or something like that.

because it used to have the starry night sky. It still has the starry night sky above the food court as well with the little lights in the ceilings and I'm sure that's what they're trying to evoke. I can never decide whether it's quite nice or whether it's really, really tacky because it's definitely memorable. It's an immersive theme for sure. They've gone balls deep on that theme. It's very memorable, but it is incredibly tacky.

It is monumentally tacky, but that doesn't mean it can't also be immersive. And they have the little The dances at lunchtime where some of the old folks come out which is interesting because, you know, it's a strange environment to have your,

to have your burger and then go to the arcade in. Yeah. You know. Well, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure discussing that song with you. But we have to have

the second song up this week, which is this. Okay, this is Brimful of Asher, Norman Cook remix by Corner Shop. Released as a standalone collaborative single, Brim Full of Asher is Corner Shop's second single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is their last.

The single is a remix of the song originally released by Corner Shop, which reached number 60 in 1997. The Brimful of Asher remix 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 208,000 copies beating competition from Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden. When I Need You by Will Meller. Be Alone No More by another level and you're still the one by Shania Twain. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Brimful of Asher fell two places to number By the time it was done on the charts

It had been inside the top 1004. 13 weeks, the song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK. As of 2026, Ed. Corner Shop and Norman Cook, how are we feeling? Pretty good about this.

I think everyone liked this at the time. And, you know, with the best of intentions, we didn't know what half of the lyrics were. so we just sort of put syllables together but it was quite intriguing and ooh, ooh, the naughtiness when they were putting the word bosom on the radio bosom for a pillow

not for pillow as I thought it was whatever the piss that is but yeah this has had an unusual journey I mean the original track is good it's a little slower and it's a very sort of slightly jangly kind of mid-60s viny

garage track, that kind of on the cusp of psych kind of garage. And then Norman Cook got hold of it and brought the novelty pop aspect to it and it ends up being really accessible and really irresistible.

I mean, one of the great things about Corner Shop is that they weren't just trying to kind of go with the flow. They were very much sort of evoking their background and their concerns in their music. And in terms of accessibility, that could be a mixed bag. I remember on the back of this,

getting the album when I was born for the seventh time, and it is for sure an interesting album. But if you were expecting anything like this, you would be sorely disappointed, I feel. That does not mean that it's not a good album. But, yeah, I mean, while in some ways Norman Cook does take the edge of it a little bit, he does just ensure that it is the crystalline pop song that it was always intended to be.

And this combination of just unique and very earnestly joyful lyrics that have a sort of an idiosyncratic take and an idiosyncratic theme, I'm not sure that there are many singers songs anywhere that are about talkback singers, no, playback singers, i.e. the vocalists who sing the actual. vocals on Indian films when other people effectively are mouthing the lyrics. And that's what a lot of the references are to I discovered in this song. But I only recently discovered that. But yeah, it's just, it's very joyful. Norman Cook doesn't go totally OTT with this sort of repetition and stuff.

There's a bit of that, you know, classic glitchiness. But it does feel like it is a two-hander to make a really impressive pop sit. single between Corner Shop and Fat Boy Slim. And yeah, it stood the test of time. It's still a lot of fun. And it's pretty much, oddly the Norman Cook stuff, which was the modern stuff, is probably the most dated aspect about it now.

But it still sounds fresh and sparkly enough that I don't think this is going to age that much very quickly because it already sounded fairly timeless, which I think is what they were going for. Yeah, I think this is a, it's a it's a bit of an evergreen pop gem really yeah to me this has always sounded like a memory that my mum kind of implanted in my head i don't recall it because i was three years old but i think it was one of those like one of those days where she probably looks back on it and thinks oh that

was such a you know a special day which i think is why she always looks back on this song with great affection. And whenever it plays on the radio, these days, she always says, oh, this reminds me of X, Y, Z. In early 1990, 98, my parents took me to Blackpool for what I think was the first time, or one of the earliest times anyway. And it was just an ordinary family day out. And I think there's only so much fun you can have in Blackpool, kind of like once you turn 13. So I don't think it was for my parents. I think it was more for me. But my parents were 38 and 34 respectively at the time. So they were a young married couple with their new baby and it probably felt like life was beginning for all of us you know me very literally and then more figuratively and i'm experiencing that same sense of life

begins now where all my big milestones of childhood and adolescence and early adulthood have kind of passed by now like you know finished high school finished college finished uni got a job learned to drive got married got a house and it's like you kind of organize the first 30 year in years in conventional senses you kind of organize the first 30 years of your life around those things you know everything's kind of building up to you being 16 and leaving school and then being 18 and living college and go to uni and so on and so forth and that feeling now is you know it's just me and my wife adults who own a house we drive and the rest of our lives are out in front of us and there's not really another milestone that we you know there's not really another target we're

aiming for. And my parents were the same, you know, they had the rest of their lives in front of them. They're, all the bits that they had to do in life were sort of over and now they could do what they wanted. And I think that that kind of nails what this sounds like. Ironically, considering the video for right here, right now was about the beginning of life and the theory of evolution. This Norman Cook remix makes the Corner Shop original sound like life is beginning. Blackpool is all lights and noises and arcades and money and candy floss. And I imagine very dizzying when you're as small as I was. It made me think back to when we covered Fairground,

the Simply Red One, and how that sounded like a hazy memory of a theme park at night. Ironically, it was Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This literally sounds to me like a buzzing memory of going to somewhere like Blackpool for the first time. The image that always comes up in my head is me and my push chair with a big beaming smile being escorted around by my mum and dad while some recorded footage of all the penny arcades

and illuminations and donkey rides and flashing pound signs, they all go past me at double speed. And I'm in my push chair thinking to myself like, whoa, is this life? Is this the beginning of life? Man, life is sure exciting. Or it's all three of us sitting in the car on the M61 on the way there with the realization coming over my parents' faces.

It's like, wow, is this, is this life? Is this the beginning of life? Man, life sure is exciting. You know, that this has always sounded like the very start of something exciting. And over time, I think, in some media, it has come to represent the kind of innocence and frivolousness and perhaps blissful ignorance of British and Irish people in the 1990s. Like, this always seems to get used in TV shows when it's like, they want to drop you on a morning, on a busy morning in the 90s. and this is what plays.

This is always the needle drop. This gets used in Derry Girls. It was also used in one day that Netflix adaptation of that book. Anne Hathaway was in the film. The film's shit. The TV series is quite good. Both popular TV shows

that lean on the 90s as a kind of hook into the story. And like, yeah, I'll let the music directors of those shows have this one because they're not wrong to pick this as the thing to represent the 90s feeling happier than the 21st century.

I think this, runs on too long. I think once it's done the everybody needs a bottom for a two times, I'm left searching for new things and it never quite delivers in that last portion. But apart from that, I think this is one of the most insanely memorable and infectious songs of the 90s to the point where like you were saying there, Ed, before about none of you really knowing what the lyrics are. The melody emphasis and the intonation of the song's title,

Breemphileveshom 45, kind of makes it so the word don't matter. I don't think anyone really knew or cared what a brimful of Asher was. It was just a new phrase that means no worries for the rest of your days. Turns out Asher is the Hindi word for hope. So that's sweet. He has lots of hope. That's nice to know. It's also, yeah, apparently a tribute to Bollywood playback singers like Asher Bosel and Corner Shop here, a British Indian group sneaking a Hindi word and references to Bollywood into a 90s number one. single. This is part of that wave I was talking about where the three consecutive sort of one hit wonders from British Asian acts, Babylon Zoo, White Town and Now Corner Shop. You know, the early 2000s

fascination with music originated from the Eastern world, but only get bigger. But this is sort of the beginning of that. The BBC Asian Network has been broadcasting for about 18 months by this point, but only in the Midlands. So Lester, where Corner Shop, were from. So I imagine that Corner Shop and the BBC Asian Network probably had a mutually beneficial relationship at this time. But I think as well, this is a celebration of music itself. You know, a brim full of Asher on the 45 is surely just another way of saying there's life and hope in music, especially those seven-inch singles. And yeah, that kind of brings it back around to the beginning. That if you hear this a time in your life when you feel as though your life is

beginning in one way and exciting things are getting underway, then you will likely always associate this with that feeling. I think it practices what it preaches and I have a lot of time for it. The original is a different beast entirely, but Mr. Norman does a grand job, I think, of chiseling it down to its bare essences and then repeating those essences until you find it impossible to forget them. He does it a few times on lots of records that he does. It is a little shame that the remix cuts the mention of things like Latamangeshka, who's probably the most well-known, Bollywood playback singer. She died a couple of years ago at the grand age of 90-something having recorded over a thousand songs for, or music for a thousand films or something,

to the point where apparently, like, you know, before she died, she didn't even remember some songs she'd recorded. She'd recorded that many. It's a little bit of, of a shame that that's not made it to this. But hey, we still get the reference to Asha Bostle, so that's fine. Yeah, I think that this is pretty much great. I really do love this, actually. Andy. What are you doing to me this week? Like, all three songs this week. I mean, my heart will go on was, you know, big nostalgia here and also I think it's genuinely lovely. But this, this is one of my favorite songs of the nighties full story. Like, not even number ones.

It's just one of my favorite songs of the 90s. Full stop. Hasn't always been that way. As a kid, it was like, yeah, whatever. It's just another song, like, liked it in the same kind of neutral way that I think a lot of people did. But I don't think this is really a song for kids. I think this is a song for adults to really appreciate, to be honest. That's been my experience anyway.

I needed time away from this. And then I, so those who have listened to other shows in the Andy Podcast universe may know that I, like the now albums, and I listened to a lot of now albums, and me and my friend Jay did a show about now albums. And I ended up collecting a lot of them, and I've got about 40 now albums on the shelf on CD. And when I, a few years ago, decided to listen to every CD I own

because I'm a masochist, and that meant I had to listen to all of those now albums, one after the other, because I went through everything in alphabetical order. And I got to Now 38, which I encouraged, encourage everybody to look up, because in my opinion, that's maybe the best now album ever. It's got this on it. It's got Torn. It's got High by the Landhouse family.

It's got Together Again, Janet Jackson. It's got Never Ever. It's got 5, 6, 7, 8. I think it's got who do you think you are and Mama. It's, oh no, it's got stop on it. It's got Renegade Master. It's even got that shitty vanilla, no way, no way. It's a really stacked.

now album. Yeah, it's really like full of stuff. And there's loads that I'm forgetting there. But this was on it, buried away halfway through a disc two. And I remember actually where I remember exactly where I was walking when this came on. I was like, oh, I haven't had this in years. And I just fell in love with it. It's just like, God, this is just wonderful. First of all, it was so transportative. But also, I just really, it just really resonated with me. It just really clicked in a way that it hadn't done before. And it stuck with me. since and now it's like one of my most listening songs in general all the time like this is an absolute favorite for me um i think what it is is actually rob really got to the heart of it i

completely agree that there is a sense of like all is well with the world let's enjoy life let's just sit back kick back and enjoy life i think that really comes through in this partly because the song is not about anything big scale it's about like you're just enjoying this woman's voice you know the ah shabazli as he says you know you just enjoy that and like that's it all is well and I think in this crazy in the words of Paul McCartney in this ever-changing world in which we live in you know it's it's just nice to sit and think about nothing and just enjoy the moment and that is ultimately what this song feels like to me and it reminds me of the great British

summertime experience which yes Blackpool definitely that was a big part of the 90s for me totally agree with that but as an adult for me, and I think for most adults in this country, the most wonderful thing you can do with a day in the British summer is sit in the back garden, have a drink in your hand and just sit and do nothing but chat with your loved ones, just sit and do nothing with your summer. I think that's like a really like shared British experience that we all love. And I think that really resonates with a lot of people. Certainly resonates with me. And this is kind of, this is the song that transports me there even in gloomy January, you know, or like on a really rainy day, put brimple of Asher on. And I'm outside in my backyard and with a beer in my hand, sunglasses on all as well.

That's how this makes me feel. And so it's not just the feeling of it, but it's also just like, I mean, the production on this is fantastic. I mean, I'm a big, big fan of Nolan Cook. I'm a big fan of Fat Boy Slim. And bizarrely, I have a weird memory of an... When we interviewed Brian Capron,

for those who've listened to that episode, I'm doing a lot of name dropping this week. I apologize for that. But when we interviewed, Brian Capron. And he mentioned that he really likes Fat Boy Slim. And bizarrely, literally that day I'd been out and bought, you've come a long way, baby, by Fat Boy Slim,

and I had it in front of me when we were doing that into. It's really weird. But yeah, I'm a really big fan of that sound. And I agree with Ed that, like, it's kind of a really nice mix of fresh and timeless, that it sort of feels like it's so good and so precise that it will never really age. But it is also really, really crisp and refreshing

and has a light touch to it. and never goes too heavy on anything. It's just a really gorgeous sound. But I don't think this is aged at all. I mean, not in any kind of negative sense. I think this still feels as fresh as the day it was made. It still feels really invigorating and exciting. I do think this is going to go down as a timeless song, to be honest.

And I do think the late 90s, early noughties are a particular production peak for me. Like, there's another song coming right around the corner that I think is also an amazingly produced song. and there's loads in the early noughties as well. Maybe there's nostalgia with that, but that doesn't really matter really, but for me that's just like, this is like the most amazing era of pop music production and it really shines through on this.

Love those vocals. I love the sort of languid style and I love the mystery in the lyrics that I agree that you don't really particularly care what it's about. Like, I think a lot of people probably don't even know that that job role exists. You know, people doing, singing,

tracks for, you know, laying over people's vocals in Bollywood films, I think, and not just Bollywood films, by the way, in a lot of, a lot of Western films back in the day as well, used to be overdubs. Almost every Bond Girl up to, like, the 90s is dubbed by someone else for all of their lines. And all Italian films pretty much used to be overdubbed, because Chinna-Chita was next to the train station, so they couldn't record the live audio. And it's, yeah, it's just a odd thing that, like, a lot of people probably don't even know that that used to happen. and I just, I have felt no compulsion to look it up until probably only about last year

where I was just like, well, who is Asher Bosley and who's, you know, who's all these names he keeps dropping? And what is the brimful of Asher? What is it? And I just, I just had to look it up. And when I found out, I was like, oh, okay, that's cool. That's nice, a little bit of culture there, but I don't really think it changes my view of the song at all.

It's all about vibes. It's all about vibes this song. And the vibes shine through somehow without you needing to know what it's about. and that sense of mystery, that sense of slight otherworldliness really adds to it, I think. I'm not sure about everybody needs a bosom for a pillow.

That's such a strange line. It's strange, lyrically, and it's also strange rhythmically because that suddenly speeds up there. Everybody needs, everything else has been really relaxed pace. So I'm not sure about that, but it doesn't attract from the song for me at all. I still think this is basically, like,

getting close to 100 out of 100 for me. But it's slightly. sets me off a little bit. I don't know. I don't know about that. But otherwise, yeah, this is just gorgeous. I actually really like the original as well. In a completely different way.

It's a completely different beast. But I do think that, you know, there's a real kind of chill out getting high, a very weed-infused feeling to that original version of the song, which I quite like. And I definitely think the kind of, plodding kind of nature of it. It's kind of similar to the original versions of Clint Eastwood in 19, 2000,

versus the remixes of Clint Eastwood in 19, 2000. It kind of feels like that kind of difference to me. And the Soul Child remix of 19, 2000 is amazing. So, like, that's a very positive comparison for me to make. But yeah, I've kind of gone on about it long enough, but this is just beautiful. I think it really does capture this, the exciting spirit of the late 90s before everything kind of,

of winter shit. It really was just, it felt like an era of permanent summertime, and now it captures summertime to me, because this is all about just feeling free and feeling happy with where you are right now and enjoying the smaller things. It's a difficult thing for me to grasp, enjoying the smaller things, but this song helps me to do so. It's a real kind of therapy song for me. It's a comforting song for me, and it just makes me smile, and I feel like this is a song that's going to stick with me, maybe forever and will always give comfort and so it really is

I think one of my favourite songs that we've ever covered on the show and I'm so made up that one of my favourite songs gets to number one so I can actually talk about this because so many of my favourite songs don't get anywhere near number one

this is a really lovely thing to happen Great British Public got it bang on right and I'm sure there are many many other people who hold it in their hearts just as much as I do I'm so glad I rediscovered it

so glad I went through all those now albums and heard this and was like, God, yeah, wow, this is worth the revisit. Yeah, it's absolutely wondrous. I love this. Absolutely love this, yeah. Do you hear me before? Asher Bostle, as if I've not heard Asher Bosley literally said in the song, fucking idiot.

Look, it was a well-intentioned mistake. It's fine. Yeah. All right. The third and final song this week is this. See, how can life be frozen? Hearts not are so consumed with how much you get. You waste your time with hate and re-

Hearts not open. Okay, this is Frozen by Madonna. Released as the lead single from her seventh studio album titled Ray of Light, Frozen is Madonna's 50th single to be released in the UK and her eighth To reach number one, it's not Madonna's last number one, but it is her last number one of the 1990s. Frozen went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for, you guessed it, one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 197,000 copies beating competition from The Ballad of Ton Jones by Space and Keros Matthews,

How do I live by Leanne Rhymes? Show Me Love by Robin and Who Am I by Beanie Man? When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Frozen fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104. 13 weeks! The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK.

As of 2026, Andy, Madonna, how we feeling? What are you doing to me this week? What are you doing to me this week? This is another one that is just absolute slam dunk. I probably don't love it as much as either of the other two. But it's probably just because it doesn't have the nostalgia factor to me because I didn't know this until I was like, I don't know, 17, 18.

I hadn't heard this. Somehow it passed me by. I will say I prefer Ray of Light to this, the song, Ray of Light, to this. But that's no insult to this. But that's no insult to this, because that's, you know, it's like naming your second favorite Beatles album, you know. It's like, they're all pretty great. But Ray of Light is like, oh my God, up on the mountaintop for me.

This is still brilliant. And I just think it's so fascinating, first of all, that this is like, this is a dry run for another one of my favorite songs. This is like the early version of Pure Shorts. It's so similar to Pure Shores. obviously. But it's even got that bamp, bamp, bamp, bamp. It's got a lot of the same sense. It's got, it makes a lot of the same moves kind of sonically. It's got that sweep to it that kind of sounds like the

seaside a lot of the time. But it's also got that kind of chilled, cold electronic effect to it that is such a obvious feature of really morbid stuff. Really interesting to hear that. But it fits Madonna like like a glove and it fits this song like a glove. And I think that's kind of chilling cold. You think obviously it's cold frozen. suits it perfectly. But I really like the way it kind of bends and morphs and never really

settles on anything for one time. For a very long time, sorry, it's particularly the, uh-d-d-da-da-da-d-d-d-d-er in the chorus. There's just, you just no need to do that. Just these little turns that make this have a sort of bumpy kind of hills after mountains kind of effect where it's just, it never really settles in one place. And that could so easily be a really bad thing. I think, you know, there's lots of songs that I would criticize for that, that it never settles on one thing. As much as I love Lady Gaga, it's criticism I throw at quite a lot of her songs, quite a lot of the time, is that there's no clarity, she never settles on one thing. But this is a perfect example of how to get it right, where it's like the verses, the

choruses, the bridges, the instrumental breakdowns are all very different to each other. They often feel like they're from different songs, but the production ties it together. And it makes it a very challenging song, and it makes it a very kind of almost like intellectual feeling kind of song that it feels like people who really understand music have made this. But also, it's Madonna, and she's got that mystique about her. She's got that ability to kind of really resonate without really having any idea what she's talking about a lot of the time. And also, I've never thought Madonna is really the best vocalist, but this is so perfectly within her range. This is so perfectly within what she does really well. So I think it really suits her as

It's a perfect combination of perfect producer, perfect choice of artist, perfect song for that artist. Yeah, it's really, really great. And when I say it's a challenging song, when me and Rob used to be in that karaoke league, and I heard someone sing this on karaoke, and I thought, this is a really difficult song to sing, actually. Like, it's a really good, like, singers song, as it were. Like, it really challenges you. There's quite a lot of technique you need to kind of stay on top of this song.

otherwise you'd just get swallowed up by that production or you'd fall out of tune, fall out of pitch very quickly because it moves around so much so I just think this is a really great advert for just really good music that's really rich and has loads to dig into

I'm not going to bore you with like a big long theory corner but there's loads of things to happen on a musical level on a harmonic level in this, that I'm just like, how are you doing that? Where the chord progression in the chorus is so different to the core progression in the verse that has this kind of up and down effect that sort of feels like you should be modulating to a different key

but you're not really modulating to a different key. It's just working within the confines of one key and sort of almost treating it as modes rather than keys. It's really deep stuff, really, really clever stuff that they're doing with this. Yeah, it's really so tightly bound together. and I don't think it's as good as Ray of Blind just because I think Ray of Blaine

has that ecstasy to it, has that sense of euphoria to it that this isn't going for and I just love that euphoria kind of feeling that you get from Ray of Bligh. But this is still really good. This is, this is big grown-up music. This is really good, yeah.

So, Ed, I'm going to ask you for your thoughts on Frozen. I like this song. I think it's got a great chorus. I love the sweeping quality of it. I think that William Orbit's production really was sort of transformational at this point for Madonna. It's a bit like a ZZ top on Eliminator moment

where they kind of add a bit of cutting-edge tech and somehow it just brings it all to life and everybody's listening again. Yeah, I prefer Ray of Light as well. I do like the album as a whole, but I think, yeah, that has the drive to go with the ethereality. And if I'm going to demureate this in any way, is, again, I'm just going to go slightly,

lean slightly further into something Andy said. I also have never found her a very convincing vocalist. I'm not actually the biggest Madonna fan in general. Sometimes I like some of her songs, but it's more like, oh, that's a good little song discreetly here and there over the decades, rather than me really. Me too, to be fair. tuning in to Madonna, but I've never quite understood the singular rapture that a lot of folk seem to, you know, I've never quite understood the full reverence because she always comes across with a great deal of confidence, but she doesn't have the chops for it. I know that sounds such an arrogant thing to say, but she strides for an authority that really belongs to someone.

who is a little bit more accomplished and careful in the vocal department. And here, there's a sort of musical theatre choppiness and seriousness to it that does keep me at a bit of a distance from it. I find it a little bit annoyingly aloof, to be honest. I find her a little bit annoyingly aloof, actually. So maybe that's not a coincidence. And maybe that's why I dig things like Ray of Light or Beautiful Stranger, where she's just swinging her arms about.

And she sounds like she's having a bit more fun. Whereas here, she's serious, though. And I'm like, yeah. But hey, it sounds great. It's got a great atmosphere to it. There are those lovely changes in the chorus that seem so organic and graceful, but are so distinctive at the same time. I very much like that.

I do think it is a little bit too long for what it actually has ingredients-wise. and it just kind of treads water a bit towards the end because although it has a great atmosphere, it isn't a song of tremendous dynamic variety and it is more of a traditional song structure than something like Never Ever, for instance. It does feel a little bit listless as a result because, you know, it just ends up cycling itself at the end.

But minor criticisms, I do think, I do think this is a very good song. I think this is the good ship. Ray of Light is a great record. William Orbit has officially arrived and he's ready to show us where he's going, you know, where he's going and how he's going to shape his futuristic pop sound and take pop into the new millennium. We get another kind of rejected Bond theme atmosphere going on with this. You get little snapshots of how William Orbit might build pure shores for all saints not long after this. Madonna's reinvented herself again.

On this podcast, we've kind of missed most of her transition. from doing like 80s cheerleader friendly pop stuff like holiday and lucky star into slightly more arty theatrical stuff like like a prayer or rescue me just because we've not done the 80s yet but then also we've also missed her becoming a little bit of a down tempo and trip hop queen on the quiet because songs like justify my love deeper and deeper and bedtime story didn't get all the way to number one either so if you were to track her just by her number ones in the UK, you would jump from who's that girl to like a prayer, to Vogue, to this. Like, it's quite a radical shift that it all takes place in about a decade. The biggest selling artists of 2015,

that were also the biggest selling artists in 2025, were probably Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Ed Shearren. Think of their 2025 output. Is the shift as big for them over time compared to Madonna? I don't think so. I don't think it has been. This was a big, big step. We just missed like the movement of the legs between each step because we don't cover anything underneath number one. But I get that you can talk around a song and make it sound great without ever really addressing it. So I'll just say, you know, I love how much Madonna seems to have kept from her Evita years. You know, her singing contains many more multitudes now. I think I prefer it in this mode, deeper, huskier, always had quite a shrill voice in the 80s and early 90s. And over

her last two or three albums, plus the Evita stuff, she's trained it to sound different. It means she can pull off sultry in different ways. I mean, Justify My Love is a really bold and experimental approach to like pop stardom and pop construction, but I wonder if she looks back on it and thinks, ah,

maybe I could have sung that if I'd just held on to it until about now in time, until about 1998. Probably not. But this makes it feel like her attempt to reconstruct Justify My love from the ground up and then give it moodyer textures and a more melodic vocal.

I think she leans into the broodier, darker elements of this more than she lent into the kind of breathless erotica of Justify My Love. When it all comes together, I think the effect is quite magical, much like Celine Dion earlier this week, the image I get in my head is of Madonna looking out over an ocean, searching for something to come blowing in on the wind. It's hypnotic and actually, you know, relating it back to Corner Shop reminds me occasionally of the work that Latam and Geska would have probably provided for hundreds of films in the 20th century. The long humming section in the chorus with the unusual intervals between the notes that they do recall things like Bollywood playback singers and music with more Eastern origins. Even in the video, she's got those kind of Mendi-hanna-looking tattoos on her hands. And one of them is the om symbol on her hands, actually.

So she's been studying yoga, clearly. It all ties in. Like all three songs this week, and many of the songs that we've covered this year so far, it runs on a little long. But I think this one just about justifies its length out of the three we've gone over. I think William Orbit's kind of spaced out electronics

and Madonna's kind of ideal suitability in this moment, up against them. It does create images of you, crossing great lengths of land and sea on the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. So the great expanse underneath you doesn't feel like it'll take forever to cross. You know when you're on a travelator, those flat escalator things in airports and stuff, and you decide to walk on them instead of just standing on them, and you can feel it move under your foot as you put it down,

and it feels like you're floating a bit. It's that. Like, I like that feeling. And in fact, that feeling is so deeply entrenched in our brains that even when you step on a broken an escalator or travelator, you still feel yourself being pulled forward by absolutely nothing. You're pulled forward by the memory of using these pieces of technology. So who knows, maybe I love Pure Shores as much as I do because there's this feeling in me that has actually been given to me by Frozen and that feeling is just lying deep somewhere

in my unconscious mind whenever Pure Shores is playing. I do think this is great. like I say, I think it runs on a little bit too long. I'm unsure if there's enough up and down to justify it being five, you know, five over five minutes. Even the edit is over five minutes. But this, yeah, this is a really strong week this week. I'm not going to vault.

My heart will go on. It's not really that close, but it's nowhere near the pie hole. I'm definitely vaulting brimful of Asher. No problem with that. And the same with Frozen. Frozen's probably my highest rate. It's on this week. Definitely going in the vault.

Andy What about you? Celine Dion, Corner Shop, Madonna. Well, near, far,

wherever it is, that's where the vault must be, because that's where my heart will go on, is going. Oh. And I'm the one

who keeps the dream alive for Brimful of Usher if the dream they have is going into the vault because that's where that's going. And, hmm, hmm,

yeah, I think I'll put Frozen in the vault as well. I just want to say I think this might be my favourite batch of songs in an episode that we've ever had I think

it's a triple vault for me but we've had triple vaults before but like this is I've had a look at some of the other really best episodes that we've had one week we had the fear my life would suck without you and just dance and that was that was a good one Yeah.

That one. We had Grace Kelly, Ruby and Shine, and I triple vaulted that week. We had Vogue, Killer and World in Motion. And we've had some great weeks worth triple vaulted, but this is, I think, yeah, I absolutely love all three of these. So, yeah, I think this is an all-timer episode for me, this.

Ed. My heart will go on, brimful of Asher, and Frozen. Insert Titanic joke. Celine is on a raft. She's not down there in the depths With that 12 year old from Romeo and Juliet But it's precarious I hate to say it

Corner shop Appropriately Edges bountifully Into the vault Frozen meanwhile Orbits the vault But unfortunately remains out in the cold It's menacingly close there

I mean if you look out the port hall Madonna's face is right big so it's a bit startling. Yeah. It's annoying that it's called Frozen and she never addresses. Does she want to build a snowman? All right then. So that is it for this week.

We will be back next week as we continue our journey through 1998. And we will see you for it. Goodbye. Bye, bye-bye. Behind movie scenes, behind those movie scenes. Sadie Randy. She's the one who keeps the dream alive In the morning past the evening

To the end of the life A brimful of Asher on the 45 I said a brimful of ashore on the 45 A brimful of ashore on the 45 Brimful of Asher on the 45 You're dancing Behind movie scenes Behind those movies scenes