Hits 21 - 1998 (5): Another Level, Jamiroquai, Spice Girls, Boyzone, Manic Street Preachers

Episode Date: March 19, 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, and welcome back to Hitz 21, the 90s, where me, Rob, me, Andy, and me, Sid James, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. Email us at Hits21 podcast at gmail.com, Twitter as at Hits21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1998, and this week we'll be covering the period between the 12th of July and the 5th of September. Nearly through the year. Time to press on with this week's episode. Andy, the album charts. How are they doing?

So, we start this week with The Beautiful Courge. It's the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful course. Talk on Corners is number one for one week. As mentioned last week, that is nine times platinum and the highest selling album within the year of 1998. And we've got the Beastie Boys then toppling them from number one. Is there ever been a bigger change?

from week to week, from the cause to the Beastie Boys, with Hello Nasty, which went number one for one week, and only went gold. Then we've got Jane McDonald, of all people, with Jane McDonald, of all albums. And that went number one for three weeks, and went platinum. Now, I know some people will swear by Jane McDonald

and say she's an icon, and I don't think she's, like, bad, but I still sort of suspect that her entire career might be a practical joke on me just to see if I would believe it. She's just a very strange individual and I really have to recommend there's clips of a hair show about travel

where she has this tendency of explaining basic concepts like rooms and windows. Like she goes right down to basics, she gets into a room and looks out the window and she goes, the great thing about a window is it allows you to look outside the room onto the world. I hope of that, Jane McDonald. Thank you.

And that's Jane McDonald with Jane McDonald, the debut album by Jane McDonald. Then the cores are back in for another three weeks. And that's your lot. What a week that is. Two lots of the cores, Beastie Boys and Jane McDonald. That's a weird dinner party there, isn't it? A weird fight for your right to dinner party.

So talk on corners then. Which was your favourite corner? I used to like the black cherry one myself. The one at the end of my road where you can see an ASDA, a Sainsbury's, and an Aldi all at the same time, because I get to choose which one. That's probably my favourite corner. Yeah.

Rob, your, yours is it? Rob, favorite corner? Muller. Just, just as a whole. Okay. Fair enough, it's all. In the news, there is a lot of bad news, Jesus Christ. Three brothers, age 9, 10 and 11 are all killed

when their house in Bally Money, Northern Ireland, petrol bombed by the Ulster Volunteer Force. Jason Mark and Richard Quinn were part of a Catholic family living in a Protestant area. Only one of the four men involved in the bombing was ever formally convicted. A month later, 29 people are killed in a car bomb attack in the town of Omar in County Tyrone, carried out by the real IRA. It was and remains the deadliest attack of the entire troubles. Days later, the real IRA declares a ceasefire that lasts for two years.

229 people are killed in a plane crash in Nova Scotia and more than 200 people are killed when two simultaneous bomb attacks target US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bombings were carried out by members of the Salafist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda under the instruction of its leader Osama bin Laden. The films to hit the top of the UK box office

during this period were as follows. I forgot to do it last week, so there's a lot. US Marshals, Scream 2, Deep, Deep, The Wedding Singer, City of Angels, six days, seven nights, Godzilla, Lost in Space, Armageddon, The X-Files, and lock, stock, and two smoking barrels. Sorry, I've just got to say, what an awful summer at the cinema. Awful. That is bad stuff.

Sorry, carry on. Yeah, I saw most of them at the time, I think, unfortunately. Ed, in America, how are things? Lots of soundtracks to go with the films. Um, frowny face mode, Nicholas Cage, who had City of Angels last time, hands the halo directly over to Bruce Willis. Uh, I'd say Bruce Willis is in frowny face mode, but that's the only setting he has, let's be frank. The Armageddon soundtrack leaves a deep impact on the chart, powered meekly by late period, Aerosmith Journey and Bon Jovi.

There is some ZZ top on there too, though, so, uh, not the end of the world after. all. After two weeks of lucrative flying debris, we actually stay in space for a bit, going intergalactic planetary with the Beastie Boys, who hold number one for an impressive three straight weeks with Hello Nasty. But it seems we can't get away from big names and their forgotten flotson. Another Snoop Dog album hits the top spot for two weeks. No one gives the shit again, at least retroactively, but this time, no. one gives a shit on no limit records. For Snoop, the game is to sell, not to do critically well.

Then finally, oh, it's a coming. It's a brewing. Is that Fred Durs just around the corner? A single week of Corns Follow the Leader takes us into September. By which time, on the singles front, Brandy and Monica, only just ready to bugger off and give someone. else ago. September begins with the first hit song ever

written from the asteroid's perspective. Yes, it's I don't want to miss a thing by implausible Mick Jagger caricaturist Steve Tyler. So, you know, I don't want to miss a thing. I know that that's like quite looked down upon.

But I absolutely love that song. I wish that I could carry it off on karaoke. I absolutely love that song. I like it as well. As much as I As quippy as I can be about Aerosmith, I do like that song. The first song up this week is not from Armageddon. It's this.

Okay, this is Freak Me by Another Level. Released as the second single from the group's debut studio album titled Another Level. Freak Me is another level'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 cover of the song originally recorded by Silk, which reached number 43 in 1996. Freak Me 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 99,000 copies beating competition from Immortality by Celine Dion and the BG. Be careful by Sparkle and I think I'm paranoid by garbage. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Freak Me dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had a bit inside, the top 104.

13 weeks! The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As a 2026, Andy, read your notes up and down until I say stop. Oh, okay. please say stop at a relatively easy distance because I've not got much on this one Here's a thing that I reckon I can say That neither of you can

Seeing this live Have other of you seeing this live? Does it bring on a whole new dimension To the song? In a bad way Well not to the song It brings a whole dimension to proceeding So when I say I've seen this live

I'm not that old I saw this live in 2010 Which is like Way way Way beyond the rise, fall and extinction of Dane Bowers' career. And it was just him on his own. So what I went to was a show called Radio City Live,

which I think I've mentioned before on the podcast because there was a lot of people in the Nauties who did that. It was like a sort of festival at an arena and there's like 10 different acts on. It was stacked, though. It was, bear in mind this was 2010. So it had the headliners were the script, which I wasn't that keen on it,

and Scouting for Girls Who I also wasn't that keying on. But then it also had the Saturdays, Alexander Burke, the wanted, and they were number one at the time with all-time low. Pixie Lott, I think, Professor Green.

It was pretty, like, for 2010, it was stacked. There was a lot of big names there. The Hoosius as well, that was another one. And like... Oh, deal. They were all very current,

all top in the charts, and only like 30 quits. So it was a great show. But the opening act was Dane Bowers. He was the first one on. And everyone was like, what is Dane Bowers doing here?

That's really unusual. Yeah, They must have been out of their mind. Well, he agreed. That was what was really sad. He agreed. He came on and he said, right, listen, got no back of music or anything. This is in an arena.

He said, got no back of music or anything. I just wanted to sign of ad lib, not ad lib, acopella this with me. Anyone know a song called Freak Me? And he just sang it, and the rest of us sang it with him. And then he just said, right, cool, you're not here to see me. See you later. Bye-bye. It was really sad.

It was pretty fearless. It's really bleak. It sounded like the setup to like an anxiety dream. Oh, you're just. You're suddenly being invited to a stadium gig and you've not got anything to play. I don't know. It was just, it was bleak. I can assume he brought nothing with him.

Like, no roadies, not even a microphone. Like, it was really just bleak to watch. But, you know, he'd had this moment. So it's not like he was like, you know, some failed artist. He'd been a big deal back in the day. But it was like, wow, this is what happens when someone's career has been over for 10 years.

Just, yeah. Yeah, bleak scene. And it didn't help by the fact that, it's not the nicest song in the world. I mean, the lyrics are awful. There's no two ways about it. It's just, I'm going to quote Marge Simpson when she's trying not to criticize Homer's inventions

in that episode where he's trying to be Thomas Edison, where she says, it's not these particular inventions. It's just that all of these are awful, and no one in their right mind would buy them. That's what I'd say. It's not you, Dane. It's just these lyrics are awful.

And no one would ever disagree. No one in their right mind would disagree. I mean, some of these, like, let me play with your body baby, make you real hot. Like, make you real hot. And especially, I want to be your nasty man. I want to make your body scream. Then you'll know what I mean. It's just written by Noel Gallagher.

Just, oh, oh, oh, terrible, terrible stuff. It's really long. It's really like, cliche, R. Kelly. R&B, there's not a lot to like in this one. I do think it's relatively catchy, like it's in my head from when I last listened to it, but not a lot to love here. Not for me of this.

Thanks. I wish I liked this more than I do. I can always get behind a kind of, you know, consent is sexy pop hit. You know, I think it places a lot of emphasis on that till you say stop. You know, it's a song about a guy waiting for permission, kind of begging and teasing.

You know, it's very much about acknowledging. that sex and intimacy kind of has to be a two-way street and that your sexual partner isn't a vessel, no matter how much your hormones try to tell you that. You know, the experience can only be enhanced, I think, if you pay attention to the emotions and movements of your partner and you can share the experience together, as opposed to like the primal male brain just kind of shutting itself off from any of the stimuli in a bid to simply procreate. Like, I think it's smooth and tender and okay, yeah. Two big problems, though.

this is flat as a pancake sonically, dynamically. It goes where it goes for about 90 seconds and then it goes nowhere else. I also think that once you've done the first verse, it doesn't shock me or surprise me or make me laugh after that point because at first, you know, I think having really explicit lyrics delivered to you in those whispered voices,

it, you know, it leans into a little bit of silliness that's there and it jumps out at you a bit. But after the shot values kind of worn off, I start to wonder if it's going to go anywhere else. and it sort of doesn't, which kind of has me thinking like, okay, so you had one idea and this is sort of it. I also wish it was in a sweeter key. I wish it was more open-hearted and emotional,

kind of like two become one, which is basically about the same thing. Because despite all the consent is sexy stuff, there is still this sense in the song in the way it's delivered, that this is still a predominantly male activity that females are just kind of briefly present for. And I think that's maybe not intended. It's polite enough with it, but there is this sense of it being one of those songs that's like,

let me do all of this, just let me do this to you, instead of it being a bit more, let's take part in this together. You know, I find songs about sex, or rather my favourite songs about sex, they tend to be about the first time with that particular person, whereas this doesn't really feel like that to me. This feels more like bragging, which is valid, but I don't think it covers the full picture. the main things I feel in this kind of scenario are, you know, excitement first and foremost, but also nervousness. You know, the nervousness fades, but it's definitely there at the beginning, but I never really get that sense in the song. I don't get the sense of like, you know,

kind of softly sort of like hope that everything goes okay. I understand though that I'm kind of getting into the territory here where I'm just actually just wanting a different song instead of critiquing what's actually there. And yeah, I think that's, why I can't really bring myself to say that I like this. Like, I'm not pie-holding it. I don't think it's near that, but it's unfortunate, I think, that this is kind of remembered ironically as well. And I feel like it's kind of played a little bit ironically in some parts of it.

And I think that it's a song that we could learn from, but in the end, yeah, I do just wish it was different, and that's never really a good sign. Ed, how about you? Somehow, for your introduction and all of that, this has lost a whole point in my estimation. I didn't actually know this was a cover. And while I have nothing against covers

and there are some amazing ones, if this is the cover, I mean, oh God, I dread to think what the original was like. But yeah, God damn, this is boring. It starts off like, you know, quite nice and sultry and I gave it a pass because I basically remembered it. Now, this is the curse of the nostalgia of this era.

when I remember all of these songs quite clearly. Yeah, a sweeter key might have helped, Rob. You did mention that. Because the lead singer, I think he's trying to be hushed and husky. But it just ends up sounding a bit like an exhausted moron. It's kind of... We could get freaky in a minute, but kind of, I need to go to the toilet.

I want to take you up and... Oh yeah, sorry of them. If you see my keys, I can't cover my keys. It's like, this isn't, it's just, it makes more sense. And I don't know it's a cover. That's why they sound so bloody awkward. I have nothing more to say. It does just sort of cycle itself to deletion.

It is a difficult, a difficult one to navigate the kind of slow and sultry against just plodding and empty. And tantric versus repetitive. and unfortunately this pretty much falls onto the weaker side of all of those things. Yeah, um, could do without this really. So, the second song up this week is this. Okay, this is Deeper Underground by Jamiriqui. Released as the second single from the soundtrack album to the film Godzilla, Deeper Underground is Jamirikwai's full.

14th single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. However, as a 2026, it is their last. Deeper Underground 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 89,000 copies beating competition from, You're the One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Life is a Flower by Ace of Bass, Kissed the Girl by Peter Andre, and Mashkanada by Echo Beats.

When it was knocked off the top of the charts, deeper underground fell four places to number five. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 12 weeks. The song is currently officially certified silver in the UK. As of 2026, Ed. This is a real nostalgia button for me. I bloody adored this at the time.

that kind of fuzz synth bass sound was something I'd never really heard before because it wasn't really a sound on commercial radio much. It was sort of being fucked around with by dance artists. I remember being quite struck by the fact that the first song other than this I heard with that buzzing sound was a song called My Elastic Eye by the Chemical Brothers, which came a couple of years afterwards. But yeah, they were one of the first bands. actually loved and was a sort of follower of at the time.

The first one was technically the police, who I obviously wasn't a follower of at the time. But this was the first one that I was, you know, I was there to see some of their singles and things come out. And I bought the singles when they came out. I bought canned heat when it came out. But yeah, I got there as I do with so many bands I'd just get into just in time for them to become a little bit crap. So the album after this was called Synchronon. and that was the first one I bought when it came out. Wow, new Jamiroquai album. It's been years since the last one.

Ooh. Oh. But anyway, yeah, look, elephant in the room. J.K. is one of the more overt Stevie Wonder imitators there have ever been. That's like the first thing you notice. But I think him and the band did enough with it, with the formula, with the aesthetic, to actually make some.

really good, you know, slinky soul funk stuff in the 90s. I would very much recommend their first couple of albums in particular. I mean, this track and Stardust were my 1998 holiday to Scotland, to be honest. I do hope that Be True gives us a chance to talk about Stardust because, yeah, I mean, amazing track. and it has lasted more than many of the songs at number one, but anyway, I won't spoil any more on that. Yeah, listening back to it,

this track does recycle itself a little bit towards the end, but I still think it's a pretty unique and fun and funky and zappy, and it's just fun. I really dig this track, and it's kind of one of the last big, great striking Jamiroquite tunes when they weren't just sort of going a bit disco and rehashing old trends. So yeah, I'm well up on this one still.

Yeah, this is a dose of something different, huh? You know, this feels closer to things Jamir Choir maybe did at like the very, very beginning and then kind of left behind for a bit and then came to a little bit later. Like this kind of reminds me of feels just like it should, which I think, I forget the name of the album that was on. It was around sort of 2005-ish. So it was a little bit after the heyday.

dynamite. Dynamite, that was it. Yeah, so it feels just like it should. Ow. Yeah, that feels more in keeping with this. Never mind a number one hit, though. It's rare to come across a pop song that allows the bass to be this prominent

and that fuzzy. Like, I was honestly thinking of like dance punk groups, like electro class groups from the 2000s whenever I had this on, like really early LCD sound system or even like death from above 1979, you know, where it's very sparse in terms of the arrangement and instrumentation,

but the low end is so prominent and the gain has been turned up so much that it kind of swallows the rest of the mix hole. But in a good way, this is abrasive. You know, the most abrasive thing we've had since maybe the Prodigy or the Chemical Brothers. Mad to think that Jemiriqui's next hit after this was canned heat, which is, I think, is a fast,

a really, really fantastic song, and I love it, but it's so much cleaner than this and owes more of a debt to disco. Than 100%. This has got going on, yes. I guess, like, this is the one big benefit of movie soundtracks, which is given a brief to an artist that allows them to step outside of their comfort zone a little bit.

You know, like, you know, one of my favorite Paramour songs is Decode that they did for the Twilight soundtrack, which is about half a mile away from their usual material, but sometimes giving art is a different sort of task when writing a song can produce something like this, which is a little outside of Jammarikai's usual approach with their big singles. In terms of 1998 as well, this dropping in really unexpectedly

has been a refreshing jolt to the system. I just wish it did more as it went along. I think by the last third of the song, all it really has to offer is JK kind of scatting and going and the skibadoo skib-do-ski-a-ba-ba-ow. But I'm into what it's doing, which means the lack of compositional and sonic variation is a problem, but only a minor one.

Even when I start to feel a little impatient with the lack of development around JK, I'm still enthralled sort of by default. This is hardly the most radical or noisy number one we've ever covered, but it is unusual, and it's a weird little slice of how the charts don't make sense sometimes. Like virtual insanity, cosmic girl, little L,

feels just like it should, canned heat. They all floated around the top 10, while this was the one to break the duck. And the only one to break the duck. In some ways, I love that. And in some ways, I'm a little frustrated. But you can't say that they scrimped on this when it comes to unexpectedly making an assault on the charts

with something that definitely jolts you awake if you're getting used to the cleaner sound of the late 90s when it comes to chart. this starting on the playlist I always have a place together of all the number ones and when we're normally about halfway through the year that we're currently in I start listening to the playlist for next year and it was actually on that trip to London that I mentioned uh when we covered usher and then when we covered uh bewitched in the last episode I was walking away from kings cross by this point in the playlist and back towards Houston for my train and

this came on while I was walking along the stretch outside the, like the fire station that's on the approach to Houston. And it was like, oh, hey, you are. I don't think I've ever, you know, don't think I've come across this before. If I have, I've forgotten about it. Yeah, it was a really, really nice surprise. Andy, deeper underground. How are we doing? Yeah, this is fine. I mean, I don't have much more to say than that, to be honest, which in itself is a frustrating thing, because I, I too quite like Tamirio quite, love Canteet. Certainly, I was a debt to disco. I've never been able to clarify whether it actually samples Boogie Wonderland

or whether it's just using an awful lot of cues from it. But yeah, I love Canteat, quite like virtual insanity, quite like Cosmic Girl, yeah. And it is frustrating that none of their really good songs have appeared here. And this, which I didn't even know, is here. I don't dislike it. I do like it, but I don't love it. And I think the problem I have with it is the problem I have, to Miracai in general, what tends to keep them from

greatness for me and just and they always just sit there's just like kind of cool. It's that there's always just like not enough brevity, not enough editing, like these are big, long, spacious songs that don't have enough in them. And so it means that they always end up coming across to me a style of a substance, which is not like, not in itself, that doesn't have to be a negative thing.

Like a lot of dance music is style of substance and it's still really good and a lot of funk music like this well not like this but a lot of funk music like Jamirquite is very very silent substance there's nothing wrong with that but there just needs to be a little bit more juice in the bottle for me

so like I think it sounds really cool and for the first few minutes or so I'm really with this I'm wondering why on earth this was on a Godzilla movie like that's a bit mad and I definitely think it's unique and it's something interesting to you but there just isn't that much too it and that's why I always feel listening to Jemiriqui.

Like, when I've listened to albums of this, I just kind of want it to be, because I'm like, oh, I just get really bored. Like, every song could just be half the length. Like, you could cut, like, half an hour out of that synchronized album, and it would be better. And that's the problem I have to J.M.R.I. Yeah. Also, I do find it funny how,

how clearly J.K. imitate Stevie Wonder, because obviously Stevie Wonder's, like, like, number one artist ever. And, like, to be fair, if you, I mean, if you're going to shoot for the movie, you're gonna miss, but he doesn't like, you know, fail to launch. Like, he makes it to like the sky. Like, it doesn't like completely miss. Like, he does a fairly good job of capturing that kind of sound, but not really. And so I've always just thought, Jamiroquist, in quite an unusual

niche where when they do it right, there's nothing else like them. And so, boom, you have a absolute stone called Smash It. But when they don't get it quite right, I kind of find myself questioning who these songs are for, who this music is for, and I definitely find out of this, who's going to a Godzilla movie and wanting something like this out of it? But obviously people did, because they got number one, so just personal preference on that.

But yeah, I wish we were discussing something a bit better by Chimarii, but this is cool. It's fun. It's nice to see, but I do think a tip of eyes the style of a substance problem that I have with Chimari in general. Maybe this will help nudge it over the edge into the vault, which is there were two big singles

from the Godzilla movie, and the other one, which didn't get to number one, was P. Diddy. Ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Fuck you. So anyways, this is more worthy than that. Well, yeah, but I don't have to choose one. It's not like... We don't have a weekly dilemma where is it vault this or vault P Diddy.

Like that would be an awful show. I'd quit if that was one of our rules. No, that is the choice. There is no other way around it. All right. Well, this will be my final episode of Hits 21. It's been a pleasure. I don't know. I think there is another way around it. The Godzilla shows everybody every time he shows up in a film.

Just stand on it. That's the way around it. So, the third song up this week, I should say, of five. We normally do three or four, but it's five again this week. The third song is this. Okay, this is Viva Forever by Spice Girls. Released as the fourth single from the group's second studio album titled Spice World. Viva Forever is Spice Girls' eighth single to be released in the UK and their seventh to reach number one,

and it's not the last time we'll be coming to these four. Well, it is the last time we'll be coming to these five, but not the last time we'll be coming to them as a foursome during our 90s coverage. Viva Forever went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 278. thousand copies beating competition from Just the Two of Us by Will Smith and My Oh My by Aqua. And in week two, it sold 112,000 copies beating competition from Come With Me by Puff Daddy,

Lost in Space by Apollo 440, and I can't help myself by Lucid. When it was knocked, off the top of the charts, Viva Forever fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 16 weeks. the song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2026, I need to warn you guys, my review of this will be what is likely to be a contender for my wankiest review I've ever written. So I'll try and sandwich that in between two good ones from you two. Andy, Viva Forever. I'll be waiting for your views.

Okay. I mean, you imply that there's a difference between good and wanky, but we'll see. We'll see. Well, we'll see. I love this. I love this. I mean, no surprise at this point for me to be gushing the hell out with Spice Girls songs, but they fucking never miss.

Not until Holler, at least. Like, really, I think their singles discography is amongst the finest that we've ever had in pop music, really. If you ignore the last two being holler and headlines, then really, they truly genuinely never miss. And this is no exception. there's an ethereal odd melancholy to this that is really hard to capture that I don't quite know how they did it because musically and lyrically it's not particularly strange it's a fairly straightforward ballad

it's got a very normal chord sequence but there's so much done to it it just has this atmosphere of like that kind of feeling you get when you're like am i sad or am i thoughtful or am i nostalgic or am I just numb and there's just something a bit like hmm I don't feel okay right now but I can't really put my finger on it anymore it does tend to come with like passage of time and looking back and stuff like that

that feeling and which is why it's such an excellent choice for the scene where it's used in Spice World and again I always gush about the film Spice World but it's a banger of a movie and they use it for the scene where the girls have all become disenchanted with the high life and they want to go back to the start and go and hang out at the camera

where they, this is a fictionalised version of them, the cafe where they got together as a group and wrote wannabe, they go to the cafe and it's been boarded up and it's gone. And they stand outside and just say, oh, well, that's how it is. You can never go back, can you? And they just feel sad while Viva Forever plays. And although it's really cheesy and like, it's like a really straightforward, straight down the line, tacky pop movie, that beat hits quite hard. that's a really nice little moment in the film that, that like, you can't go back and you don't realize it at the time.

Couple that with the music video to this, which is downright unsettling, where, for those who can't remember it, you probably will remember it, because if you've ever seen it, you would remember it, where it's got like a gumball machine and there's fairy cartoon versions. Fairy, I mean, like,

fairy Tinkerbell, not fairy, the more modern thing. Like, in Rapture, this man. and trap him in the ball machine forever and then fly away and it's just a sad, horrible story. And I think the overall effect you get from it

is just like, life's a bit unfair sometimes if you don't really know why, like without rhyme or reason, and you just kind of want to hold on to the good times, you just kind of want to hold on to the moment. That's kind of what I get from this. And another factor in that is the vocal performances in this, which I think they're really tender. Mel C manages to do something with this

that's really, really quite difficult. That's like more difficult than it sounds when you listen to it, where she's going high and she's going loud and she's blasting those notes but without like, without really like, going for them. She managed to do that, Viva forever. Like that's her vocal run thing

that she does on all the songs, but she does it at this kind of restrained measure, which is, that demonstrates a real level of control that is quite impressive, to be honest. And my favourite vocal thing that happens in any Spice Girl song happens in this, which is Mel B's extremely husky, extremely reverby, like a millimeter away from your ear, Viva forever.

It's just, oh, it's really haunting. It's really like, you'd never feel like that listening to any of the Spice Girls song. And I wish they'd got her to sing in that low register more often, because, whoa, that's a nice bassy voice that she's got there. So I love this Absolutely love this I think once again They're being far better

Than they have any need to be Like they're producing really Genuinely interesting pop music here That has a tonality to it And an atmosphere to it That's quite unique And certainly unique in the girl band arena They are heads and shoulders

Above anyone else in their field And yeah Their winning streak just continues here And it's sad that this is the last one With the five of them that's any good But It's a lovely one For the original five to go out on

Yeah, the only thing I don't like about it The only thing that stops it being another perfect 10 for the Spice Girls is that I do think there's too many choruses at the end They need to just bring it to a quicker conclusion, I think I feel like Rob may disagree on that Because it is part of the atmosphere that it establishes

I'd like it to wrap up a little bit quicker That's all But yeah, a really, really lovely song, this And maybe like the sort of dark sibling Of Two Become One, this feels like And I can give it no high praise than that Oh, I mean, oh, goodness me, I get very emotional with this more than I would ever expect to. So, you know, forgive me if my analysis isn't the most clear-headed and forgive me because it is a bit wanky.

I just think this is fantastic. Like, I know we have another song of theirs to come, which is literally called Goodbye. But this, for me, is the proper sort of end of the Spice Girls in the 90s. And then Goodbye is kind of like whatever plays over the credits. The song just seems to be about a summer round. romance coming to an end, which I mean, hey, you know, there are probably about 5,000 different songs about that subject, but this treats the end of a summer romance like an actual death. Like something of great significance has been lost.

Like, the Spice Girls themselves are singing from beyond the grave. Like, at the moment, me and Andy are in this thing, this music league where all 12 of our big group of friends put forward songs for certain categories and then we vote on them. And this week we've just finished nominating songs from films, TV or video games. And honestly, the tone that the instrumental strikes, it's like you're in a fantasy video game, like Zelda or Dark Souls. And you arrive in a world as a character, you arrive in this world called like Brithoria.

And you discover that Brithoria has fallen into a new dark age and the instrumental from Viva Forever plays while the king of Brithoria tells you all about how his kingdom fell from an age of prosperity into darkness, thanks to something that he refers to as the sun's unmaking, in which the sun exploded and thousands of people were killed. And you find out it's up to you to restore the heart of the sun and save Brithoria from an eternal ice age,

or something like that. It makes such a small thing feel so big in the grand scheme of things. Like the end of a brief relationship, it feels like it's strong enough to have someone die of a broken heart, or like it's caused a star somewhere in the galaxy to die. I really think the lyrics bring this through, you know, this sense of love and grief lasting throughout history. It comes in from the start, like, do you still remember?

Not like, oh, do you remember? It's like, do you still remember? Like, the events they're recalling happened a very, very, very long time ago. Hastamagnano, which is, you know, has always been used poetically to signify that tomorrow maybe never actually comes and, you know, at least not until you see that specific person again, I'll be waiting, everlasting, like the sun, as though, you know, the Spice Girls are singing to us

not just from beyond the grave, but they're sort of waiting for us to join them in the Great Beyond, you know, ever searching for the one. You know, they make it feel like a story that has a thousand years of history behind it and a thousand more to go, but that no matter how long the story goes on for, the love that they speak of will always endure, like always be mine. It kind of gets into As territory, you know, Stevie Wonder,

although where as is written by someone living, saying that his love for his partner will endure beyond his death and beyond the heat death of the universe, Viva Forever feels like it's been sung by a dead person who has seen the heat death of the universe and has seen that their love endures on the other side of it. It makes me think of the end of it, such a beautiful day, that animated film by Don Hertzfeld,

which I think is the most emotionally staggering end to a film I think I've ever seen. I feel really bad for spoiling it to make my point, but, you know, the film's quite old now. And, you know, it's about a guy, the film is about a guy called Bill. It's an animated film whose brain is deteriorating, causing him to forget things, repeat things he's already done, you know, that sort of thing. It's kind of implied that it's dementia, but it's never really spoken. And then at the end of the film, on the titular, beautiful day, he lies down under a tree for a break and dies. And you think, oh, you know, what a lovely but kind of sad, you know, film that was.

But then the narrator starts telling Bill to get up and continue living forever and ever and ever until the actual end and death of the universe. And Don Hertzfeld recites this incredible monologue about Bill existing for billions of years. And he says, Bill will outlive them all for millions and millions of years exploring, learning, living until the earth is swallowed beneath his feet, until the sun is long since gone, until time loses all. meaning and the moment comes that he knows only the positions of the stars and sees them whether his eyes are closed or open until he forgets his name and the places he'd once come from. He lives and he lives until all of the lights go out. And I kind of don't want to talk about the songs specifically beyond that. This has had a very unusual effect on me the last couple of weeks. I always remembered this like being one that like, oh, I like it. But it's rendering

and execution of leaning into that kind of, because I was looking at it. I was looking at it up. Like, there's loads of different songs in deep sharp minor. Obviously, you know, the fucking thousands of them, but of the most recent pop songs, none of them make me feel the way this is. I think, you know, them singing as a kind of ghostly choir from the beginning, sets the atmosphere off. And there's no, for me, emotionally, there's no, there's no real coming back from that, I get taken somewhere with this that, yeah, I can't really explain beyond wanky fantasy metaphors and references to relatively niche animated films that I don't think anyone listening to this has ever seen or cared about. I've seen it.

I've seen it. Yes. So good, good. So Ed, Viva forever. It's pretty nice, this. More static than I would like, but it's pretty nice. That was a haiku. And so too is this statement.

Snowfall on Fuji. Back to you, Rob. Are you sure you don't want to say more? It's just right, isn't it? Can you speak only in haikus for the rest of your time on the show, Ed? I will try my best to speak only in haiku. I intend to... Shit.

It's snowing on Mount Fuji. All right. The fourth song up this week is this. Okay, this is true. We'll find our wrong way back. Okay, this is No Matter What by Boyzone. Released as the fifth single from the group's third studio album titled Where We Belong, and as the lead single from the compilation album, Songs from Whistle Down the Wind.

No matter what is Boyzone's 13th 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 Boyzone during our 90s. The single is a cover of the song originally written by Andrew Lloyd-Weather and Jim Steinem. No matter what went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 278,000 copies beating competition from Mysterious Times by Sash, Pure Morning by placebo, and Needin' You by David Morales. In week two, it's sold 176,000 copies, beating competition from Music Sounds Better with You by Stardust, to the moon and back by Savage Garden, I Want You Back by Cleopatra, the air that I breathe by Simply Red,

and everything's going to be all right by Sweetbox. And in week three, it's sold, 148,000 copies, beating competition from What Can I Do by the Cause, real good time by Alder, and my weakness is none of your business by embrace. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, no matter what, fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 16 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK. As of 2026, Ed, Boyzone. Boyzone are back now.

Here they are. It is Boyzone. And it's nasal shit. Back to you. Do you have any notes that aren't in haiku? Unfortunately, I do not have any such. Only these ones here. Andy, what about you with Boyzone? Well, I do think that's slightly harsh.

You know, beautifully written haiku though it was. something truly like once in a lifetime happening here so Marky Diaries that this is me slightly defending something with Beecher's Roning Keating on it

which I will never do again let me tell you he's amongst my least favourite artist that we've ever covered on this show and Boys Own certainly are no exception to that like really I can't think of almost anything by them that I could hand on

heart say I genuinely like but this is okay. I think even the worst artists by default still have a best song, a least bad song, and I'd say this is for me probably the best one. I think it's because it's just a very straight down the line, very simple in its intentions ballad. That's very easy to remember.

It's got a very nice hook to it. And it has some level of emotional sincerity to it. It's lost entirely when they do that key change. I don't know why they had to do that key change. Like, that just, you just, oh, just take a day off, guys. You don't need to be a 90s cheesy boy band selling records all the time. You don't need to be doing that all the time. Like, just sing something from your heart, like, if you even have one.

You know, because sometimes you just think, are these even people? Because, like, even in a song like this that feels like it's getting something to it a little bit more natural, they have to throw in a cheesy key change and just, yeah. But other than that, I think this. is like, it's okay. I admit to being slightly influenced and having a bias, I can't quite get rid of, because my, I describe him as a granddad,

he's not really my granddad, but the relationship is hard to explain. Grandad, who died in 2005, this was one of his favorite songs, this was like his song with all of us grandchildren, and it played at his funeral, so it's always been a kind of special family thing because of that. I still don't like it, like it hasn't

risen above that because it was that, but it does have a little bit of importance to me. And I do think the softness of it, most of the way through, certainly up to about the halfway mark, the softness and the tenderness and the relative restraint that they show is quite nice

and I quite like the lyrics as well. But yeah, it completely blows it and turns into cheesy pop stuff because they can't resist. So this never rises above, yeah, surprisingly fine for Boy's Own. It could have been much better than that, but as it stands,

it's a slightly better than usual entry from a band who really appear to just have nothing going on behind the eyes. Yeah, I don't think this is too bad. I would even describe this as pleasant. Less Ronan than usual, more Stephen than usual, which is nice, because where Ronan always seems like he's trying to glower and brood, Stephen always sounds like he's singing with a smile.

A cover of a song from a musical instead of whatever wrote in sippid shit they served up last time. It means you get a bit of Lloyd Webber's occasional compositional flourishes and a slightly unconventional pop structure. There's an attempt at BG's Bossanova going on here that's acceptable. Although I think if you were a big BG's fan, it would probably only expose how weak this Boston over probably is in reality. The key change, I don't mind. I think it occurs without you really noticing it

because it does it during that little instrumental section. Ronan and Stephen sound quite nice together when they start overlapping in the louder sections towards the end. I love to slow down on Ronan's I know, I know at the end of the song. There's a decent attempt at a little fade-out coda section as well. It's still sickly and feels like a little pound store value, like most boys' own stuff. And I think when Stephen Gately says, I know this loves forever, it does expose the song as being considerably less impactful to me than Viva Forever, despite it being roughly about the same subject.

But as Boy Zone hits go, this is more than possible. I think. I think this is okay for no matter what. I will say about Lloyd Webber though, because he's come up before on Any Dream Will Do. And I just, I really should like Andrew Lloyd Webber

because people assume I do because I'm a big musical theatre fan and I also like know a lot about music theory and, you know, I've been in those kind of circles of people who really like Andrew Leiber. He just doesn't really do much for me. There's very few songs of his that I think are genuinely really great.

I think, I think the way he approaches songwriting is just not enough about form like there's just not enough going on in a lot of his songs like it's all vibes and I think that's the problem when you give that something like that to Boy's Own

they're just going to walk all over it and turn it into pop trash to be honest but I don't really like Andrea Greber in the first place so it's just I don't know I really really struggle with him maybe it's because I personally dislike him because of what he did to the Cinderella cast but that's a story for another time Alright, so the fifth and final song this week is this.

Okay, this is, if you tolerate this, your children will be next by Manick Street Preachers. Released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album titled, This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours. If you tolerate this is Manick Street Preachers 24th single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. It's their last number one of the 1990s, but it's not their last number one overall. Check our very first episode for that one. If you tolerate this, 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 148,000 copies,

beating competition from One for Sorrow by Steps, finally found by Honey's. God is a DJ by Faithless and Drowned World by Madonna. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, if you tolerate this fell four places to number five. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 17 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK.

As of 2026. Ed. If you tolerate this, your children will be next. So give me your notes then. Tolerance. Tolerance is very important. And I think people have forgotten what it means. You don't have to agree with something

or even fully understand something in order to tolerate it. I think the essence of tolerance is to see something that you realize, well, it's not hurting people. It isn't affecting them. I might not get it, but live and let live. And so I'm going to let that bit. There's some things that I can't control and shouldn't control. I'm totally just filling up time here

because to be honest, I am not qualified for this. It's very interesting, Andy, that at the beginning of this podcast, you mentioned that Jane MacDonald feels like a joke played specifically on you. Well, I have a small list of groups that I just... I do not understand what people get out of them. And there are people that I know are intelligent, erudite, thoughtful,

far beyond my capabilities, who really gets something out of this group. But, I mean, when I listen to them, it's like, well, they're clearly pretentious, bombastic, self-important, melodically clumsy shite. You know, it's like if you suck the emotional wrench and restraint out of the fur of, you end up with grey self-serious shite

like this. But I know in my childish tantrum that they aren't that bad because I respect the people who like them. And yet, fuck me. I find this group awful. By the way, that small little list of artists who I don't understand why everybody goes all... Oh yeah, though. Oh no, I really see where they're coming from about.

It includes Peter Gabriel, Joanna Newsom, Nick Cave, and Bonnie Prince Billy, who probably every fuck has forgotten about now, but I'm still really annoyed at a pitchfork recommendation I got about him about 25 years ago. So yes, you've probably guessed. This is all me on the naughty step at a party, basically, grumbling because I don't get to join in with what the other kids are doing. I am not qualified, as I say, look, I will leave it to people who understand what's happening and understand how to listen to this properly. I'm just going to sit in the corner now. I don't care. Let's go to the corner.

Andy, Mannix. How are we doing? Yes, I also have a kind of list of those type of artists, and I would completely, absolutely include my next few preaching to them. That's exactly how I've always felt about them, where there seems to be a little bit of an emperor's new clothes about them. I used to get every installment of Q magazine. I used to like Q magazine around the late Norties and I was teenager,

partly to help me feel more cool, have better references in music. But one of the reasons I stopped reading it was because the same little group of artists would get covered month in, month. out, like every single, every single issue in either Oasis or Radiohead or Paul Weller or Manick Street Preachers. And like the first three, even if you don't like them, I think you can acknowledge their impact and acknowledge that they have interesting things to say and interesting things to discuss with their music. Manich Street Preachers, no, not so much. I would never read those features because, like, I just don't get it, don't get it with them. I don't dislike

them, but I definitely put them in that category. Back in the day, the other ones I used to in that category where Fools, never got the big deal about there at all, and Bon Iver, everybody went mad about Bonne Eva, and just, not a clue, not a clue, and it seems like people are with me on that one now,

people have joined me there, talked about him a few weeks ago. Do you to agree with me on Bonneva, just as a sidebar? I like his first three records. That's about it. I think that number 29, Stratford Apartments is a great song,

and the original Skinny Love and Calgary, but yeah, I don't get the mad obsession with him and I think my favourite thing about them, well, him, Justin Vernon, is a song called Justin Vernon by the band Her Parents, who were an offshoot of Dananana Nacroid when they split up,

one of the members of the band, went and formed a band called Her Parents who did a song called Justin Vernon, which has some of my favorite lyrics in any song released in the last sort of

like 15, 20 years You're making all of these people up, aren't you? No, Justin Vernon clearly. Her parents, they were a very,

very short-lived, very, very short-lived band, but the, oh God, the lyrics really do make me laugh.

He built a cabin in the woods, didn't he? He taught us how to love, didn't he? He released a mysterious video.

Didn't he? He enslaved our women folk, didn't he? He also tuned tuned it out. Owl. He redefined the MP3.

He put dogs in his drum beats. He re-contextualized bards worldwide. And then it cuts to this chorus, if you will, of just, he's haunting me, he's haunting me, he's haunting me. But I'm grateful for his existence for that alone. For those wondering, for those listening at home, the answer is, yes, he's like this all the time. it's a compliment Rob it's a lovely thing that we all love about it that we bring we bring

up a random artist like that and an encyclopedic level it's like having a poker decks on the podcast it's a lovely thing yes but um but anyway yeah i would i would categorize my next three preachers under that kind of category really where it's like yeah i don't really get this and i pride myself on my ability to not like something but to totally get why people do there's a lot of music in that category where it's like yeah this is never going to be for me but i actually totally respect what it is and admire it and like cool no I'm not going to judge you for liking that not that I never really judge anyone for what they like anyway but like I get it I just don't like it whereas with Manix Street Preachers I don't really get it or like it like yeah it's

very odd to me um with this is it beyond the realms of possibility that they just got a really long way with a very striking title for a song because it is a very striking title for song like it's it definitely is a very pithy way of sort of summing up how people talk in the media like what kind of you know brass eye petergaden culture is kind of like you know it it is a very nice pithy statement and I think the song like is it okay enough to go with it is this number one material absolutely not

it's not number one material at all yeah they keep getting to number one they just have these little weeks here here and there they have such a big cult following Well, a cult following, exactly, and like a very, very devoted one. You can tell because they just come in at number one and then drop off the face of the earth there. I don't mind a design for life. I don't mind this. Like, it's fine. I think it's an all right song.

I didn't really like masses against the classes. Do I understand why any of them are popular? No, not really. No. But I do tolerate this. The thing is, the thing is, I just, I don't like the word. tolerate. Just because Ed mentioned it earlier, I don't like the word tolerate.

And I'm always, part of my job, never talk to my actual job. Part of my job is to like reach out to like kind of minority groups in the workforce and like, you know, learn more and like, learn how to talk to them and stuff like that. And Reform UK would love to get rid of my job. But anyway, but part of it is like

authentic language and this is what you do and don't say. And I've always telling people to not use the word tolerance. Because tolerance is like, oh, I'll put up with you. I can just about stand to allow you to exist. It's like, oh, we should tolerate gay people. We should tolerate trans people.

It's like, I think we should go to set the bar a little bit higher than that. Than like, I can just about manage to let you live. And she's going a little bit further than that. And so I hate the word tolerance. So that's my rant of the week. That's, that's gay corner this week. It's a decent starting point tolerance, I think. And then it has to become something else.

Yeah. It's not, it's not something you aim for. It's the baseline expectation. and what you aim for is celebration, respect, all that stuff. Tolerance is like, do you want a medal? Like, oh, I hate it. Sorry, I'm off on one now. I absolutely hate it when, like, I'll tell someone I'm gay,

and then they'll go, oh, I don't mind the gay is me. It's like, oh, thanks. Oh, well done. Really? You don't mind them. That's all right. You're right with me existing. Oh, that's, I'm so glad.

I was waiting for you to confirm that my application has been accepted. Yeah, unfortunately, with the modern fucking climate, It is surprising how low the bar has to be set. But if... I'm sorry, you're just mentioning the song titles, Andy. Just you mention them, if you tolerate this, then your children will be next. A design for her life. There's something so unmusical and sort of rhetoric.

I agree completely. It's like, oh, we've got the textbook, we've got the slogans. Let's shoehorn them into something that sounds like music. I completely agree. But in fact, sounds really dry and ugly as music. It's always got to me that. But I'll just say this. I mean, I basically said this on the group chat the other day,

so you two could tune out. This is an appeal to the listener. Are you familiar with reinforcements by Sparks kind listener? It turns the knowingly unpoetic, sibilant title, Reinforcements, which they actually. start pronouncing as reinforce mints, just to really get all of the spit out of it. It turns it into a ludicrous celebration, because the whole song is ridiculous. It's like a metaphor for somebody's failures in romance done as a sort of a military operation.

By the end, it's this amassed round of voices going like, reinforcements, You got your reinforcements And it's really grand and dramatic And it's so stupid And it knows it and it's wonderful Well, the manics always sound to me Like if reinforcements by Spock's Was actually intended as a serious attack

On the military industrial complex And like they don't know that they sound Fucking stupid But anyway, lots of people I do genuinely respect really like them So just ignore me I'll go back to my naughty step. Apologies, Rob, take away.

Sorry, I also just want to comment on that because I absolutely so, so completely agree on that, Ed, about how, like, the lyrics do not fit the music, that this is, like, it's a weird thing that's been mashed together, like two things have been put together.

I totally agree. It's like the Bob Dylan thing. Well, obviously, very far from the first person to point this out, like, it's very common view, but, like, he's not a singer. He's a writer at heart, really. And it's the same with this. It's like, these are newspaper columnists

or their poet. or they're like, you know, the kind of John Cooper Clark type poet. These aren't songs. You put in lyrics to music that doesn't match. It's odd. I completely agree. Completely agree.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about it. I will say this, though. I think Bob Dylan, I feel his vocal delivery and I listen to it. Technically, whatever his name is, I can't remember his bloody name lead singer here, is technically more proficient. but I don't think he's a very good singer.

He's frequently out of his register, pushing far too much air and it just makes him sound whiny and thin when I think he thinks he sounds sort of commanding. Yes. And he never does to me. I just, it all seems very thin and very superficial for something that obviously, well, it seems to broadcast importance and zeitgeist grabbing.

And I just think it's, I just think it's a bit embarrassing. I'm sorry. I should have stopped, I should have stopped saying something at long. time ago on this. I have no right to judge. Anyway, carry on. I don't, uh, I actually don't mind this at all. I actually think this is, this is on the good side of, like it sounds on the good side of decent, I think. We'll say that when I first heard this as a child, I thought he was saying, if you tolerate crisps, then your children will eat eggs when I was about four or five years old. And I heard this. They wouldn't say that, Rob. That's fun. I grew up and realized it was more

scathing and political than I'd ever thought a number one song could be. And it's funny I'm about to say this in my notes because you two have just gone on a rant about it. The way that they squeezed that line in about shooting rabbits and shooting fascists, they really try and bend that in, don't they? They really try to bend it. It's like, well, I've got to get this in the song. If I catch you rabbits, then it's fascists. And it's like, ah, it doesn't quite fit, though, does it, mate?

It doesn't feel comfortable to the ears, but fair enough. I think the manics were good, not great. were great, then Richie Edwards went missing. And they jumped on the post-Brit pop train with the likes of stereophonics embrace the Supernatur's feeder, Travis, like them lot, and rode it all the way to this point. But they were a little bit of a Trojan horse, I suppose. You know, they were happy to lump themselves in with a lot of other stadium-focused British bands. But then they used that exposure to kind of build up a loyal fan base, sneak songs about the Spanish Civil War to the top of the charts and, you know, things like that. Fair enough. I don't think it

as resonant as a design for life and maybe not as interesting or queer as the material on the Holy Bible. I guess you could call this a successful redesigning of the group's aims and intentions. It doesn't quite reach as high as a design for life, but the same sense of desperate exhaustion is there, I think. Plus towards the end, when the deeper, darker guitar tones emerge, from underneath the mix kind of moved towards the centre. And the strings feel slightly less prominent and the effects on the edge of the mix start to add to the sense of corrosion of society falling backwards. Then I think it comes together. I just think as much as this tries to draw a line between older revolutions and civil wars and like the Britain of the late 90s, I'm not sure

what it's directly saying we're making a mistake of tolerating. What specifically are we tolerating that our children are going to have to suffer through? Like, is it, is it creeping fascism or is it like deindustrialization or something, you know, the, broad thrust of leftist politics is there and it carries it over. But the specific this seems kind of vague when I kind of wanted the title to reveal, you know, wanted the title to be revealed later. But yeah,

you know, this is a key part in the continuing lineage of popular British rock. And it's a shame that a few of their contemporaries and forebears kind of moved away from the politics and kind of left the politics out of their music while still doing mostly the same kind of, you know, stadium-filling kind of gesture-based kind of pop rock stuff. But yeah, this isn't bad at all, like I say, on the good side of decent, on the good side

of decent, I think. It's so clearly literate. And it does, I think they clearly do give a shit. And they are wanting people to, you know, notice more how the, you know, the systems of control work and question, you know, standard assumptions, which is always good, in my opinion. but to be so specific and their lyrical references and so overtly clumsy, like the message is always first,

which is fine in some cases, and yet still not be able to articulate what it is they actually mean, isn't that a fundamental failure? I mean, you know, this is... They have got their chance here at number one to speak to the masses, and they seem to do it with eloquence.

And yet, It's just, it is just hectoring noise, really, at the end of the day. I don't, oh, God, sorry, I'm sorry, back to the naughty step. Just cut me out of this. Well, Ed, I'm going to stick with you, actually. Don't go back to the naughty step just yet. Freak me, deeper underground, Viva forever, no matter what. And if you tolerate this, your children will be next.

Where are they all going? Well, thanks, Rob. I do need a freaking after all of that. But, well, I changed my mind. here freak me is going neither up nor down, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, both musically and critically, but I've actually stepped it down a notch.

So they're freaking down and out. Now, you could go deeper underground with them, J.K. Or you could creep into the vault. There's too much manix in this town. You could creep into the vault. Hastamanya. That's balks. Spice girls.

aren't being vaulted, but they do at least have a nice deck chair, so they're elevated above, freak me and the manix. I'm not vaulting them. The manix, funnily enough. I don't like them. I'm not pie-holing them either, again, because too many people I respect, have a connection with them, and I feel I'm just acting like a spoilt and unreasonably betrayed child. So I'm going to put them in a new area that may never be used again.

The Hits 21 isolation ward, where they will. be studied from a distance and I will occasionally prod them with pointy metal things and just go, huh. And what about Boyzone? Oh, exactly. There you are. What about Boyzone? I've accidentally deleted my note on Boy Zone, which I think says a lot. Have we lost their trust? Have we lost the trust? We'll tell you what, they've lost their standing because I'm, I thank you for bringing more of a perspective to this and pretty much all of the criticism on this show, you guys. It's been resting on your shoulders. Unfortunately, I am pushing this so far down in the vault. It's practically coming out the other side, falling back through space and then going back in the vault. It's just

like in portal, if you sort of did one hole there and one. Anyway, what am I talking about? I don't like it. So anyway, carry on. Andy, another level, Jamiroquai, Spice Girls, Boy Zone and Manix. How are he feeling? Well, it is another level, because the level we're going on to is down below. It's going up and down. I want to get pie with them. Not really. I don't want to... No, that's a dirty joke.

No. That's going into the pile. Tipper Underground is a misnomer because it's staying where it is. Viva Forever, more like, Volt, Vault for a rare vault. I'll be vaulting. Ever vaulting. Vault, Or as Mel B would say,

Volvolve, Vov, Volf. Boisone, no matter what they do, I will not be moving them up or down. So stop asking Ronan. I think this is the first song by either Ronan or Boyson we've ever had that I haven't pyeholds, so be thankful for small mercies.

And if you tolerate this, then your children will be next. This being not putting you in the vault. or the pie hole. Yeah, if they tolerate that, then God knows what else is next. We'll find out next week, I guess. Hey, have we tolerated the Manix, Andy?

Yeah, and I wouldn't go as far as to say, respect or offer dignity or celebrated or... No, just the base level. I've not destroyed them and put them in a bin. So that's a movement. I would be absolutely fine with never hearing their music again. So I think that's what I would describe as tolerance, where it's like I can literally give or take

whether you exist or not. And that's how I feel about the Manix. Not like literally, but whether their music exists or not. I'm totally five out of ten ambivalent on that matter. If you tolerate the manix, star sailor will be next. Oh, fuck sick. As for me, freak me another level. It's not going up or down.

It's going nowhere. Deeper underground. It's just missing the vault for me, just missing. Viva Forever has no such problems. That's going straight into the vault. No matter what. hanging about in the middle. If you tolerate this, your children will be next. Also hanging about in the middle. So we will not be back next week. We'll be back the week after. And we will see you

for it as we continue our journey through 1998. And we're nearly at the end of it now. See you then. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.