Hits 21 - 1998 (8): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: April 17, 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 Hits21, the 90s where me, Rob, me, Father Christmas and me, Ed, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. Email us at Hits21 podcast at gmail.com, Twitter us at Hits21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1998 and this week it's the end of 1998 because this is the raceful Christmas number. one. So Ed, the holidays have arrived and how are America A celebrating those holidays and B, what happened in 1998 at the very, very top of the sales charts? Best-selling albums of the year 1998 in the US according to the Billboard charts. Number 10 best-selling album of the year,

Spice World by the Spice Girls. The instant vociferous munching of the debut has calmed a little bit, but not enough to get any less than 4 million sales for the new album Stateside. And number nine, Savage Garden by Savage Garden. All the hits. All of them. All of them. I was recently introduced to I Want You by Savage Garden and I thought it was really good. Each to their own. Horses for Courses. Number eight, Will Smith's got a big wheelie, But not in a suggestive way, of course. And number seven, the City of Angels soundtrack. There are four songs on this record with the word angel in their title,

which is more a hamlet of angels, really, but you can't say you didn't get any angels. Well done, various artists. And number six, it's Matchbox 20. I have nothing to say about that. And number five, Shania Twain. come on over and we'll listen to your new album

and number four rather less fun than I remember than being but still pronouncedly better than boys own it's the backstreet boys self-titled and number three Garth Brooks and number two Celine Dion breaks the ice

with Let's Talk About Love and at number one she's double dipping or is that double breaking in off and sinking it's the Titanic soundtrack at number one. More than 11 million copies in the US alone. And the Christmas number one album for 1998 was Garf Brooks with double live.

So it's actually a different album, which I have heard some of. And I'll just leave it at this. I'll leave it at this because I, I feel like I'm being very judgmental and close-minded. America can be very alienating sometimes. Overall best-selling singles of 1998 in the US, according to Billboard, at number 10.

I don't want to wait by Paula Cole. Maybe if it'd hung around longer, you would have placed higher in the chart. Nine, Usher gets nice and close, then a bit too near, then is outright invasive. The group next have something to say about that later, by the way, but everyone else seems content to keep buying for now.

At number eight, candle in the wind burns out long after all goodwill has evaporated. It's 1998, guys. God's me, we're still talking about candle in the winds. Oh my God. Yeah, I mean, come on. I mean, Queen Debbie died like a year and a half ago, guys. Come on.

And number seven, Casey and Jojo cherish every. hug and play fast and loose with tenses on all my life. The first of the uninsightful bombastic R&B ballads this week, but not the last. And number six, it's together again by Janet Jackson. And into the top five, Leanne Rhymes brings her DIY roadshow to record with

How Do I Live? Then, I can't believe I have to talk about these guys again. Savage Garden is very blandly, Mopey at number four. Shanaya Twain is still the one at three, but there's only a two percent chance of that. And kind of shocked, really, given its remorseless number of weeks at the top, Brandeem Monica and their Bechdale failing spat are pipped to the post. Number one, in fact, is a single I found so surprising I had to double check that I was looking at the right list.

It's too close by next. That's right. US number one single of the whole year 1998 is too close by next, which I kind of knew, but it's one of those songs that you're not sure if it just sounds like other songs. Blue covered it and it got to number one over here a few years later.

Oh, that's why I know it then. That's why semi-demi know it. quasi-semi-Demmy know it. It's fine. The lyrics are bloody awful, if you remember. It's kind of one of those songs that's desperately trying to be sex.

by using the most contrived and sort of sibilant language you can imagine, including a description of the act of sexing, if you remember. Bin the lid off the lube, I think I'm going to need it all after that. And Christmas Week, finally, top five singles in the US. I'm keeping it to top five, because to be honest, after all that, who wants to hear the whole bloody top ten? Number five, do-wop that thing by Lauren Hill. I don't have any more Lauren Hill gags only had one to begin with.

And number four, from this moment on, Shania Twain, we're finished. Might as well listen to your new single instead. At number three, it's lately by Divine, which proves boys aren't the only ones scamming the public with sociopathic greeting card slop at the time. And number two, nobody's supposed to be here. Deborah Cox protests, as she's found curling out of poop in a screening of the magic faraway tree.

Number one, Merry Christmas. Here's Celine Dion, drifting on some broken flotsam, or R. Kelly, as he was once called. Oh. So, Andy, the UK TV schedules across the BBC and ITV, how were they looking at Christmas 98? Ding-dong merrily on high On telly the bells are ringing Ding-down verily the sky

Box is still very expensive Launch What's a shit on the tell me this Christmas Ah We begin, as we so often do With the BBC And this really is the most 1989 lineup ever

Like if you just sort of, you know, parodied what might have been in 1998 lineup you basically get this. So the specials of men behaving badly and they do it. And they think it's all over, which take the late evening slots on Christmas Day and also changing rooms at its height right now.

Get a special right in the middle of prime time, right after Christmas dinner. I've forgotten all about that show. Funny that. I was just thinking about it. I cannot think of anything more stressful than someone else. A stranger completely turning my house upside down right before. Christmas. I don't want to, I don't like it. Don't do that to me. So yeah. Across the period, there's also French and Saunders, Jonathan Creek, and Frank Skinner, who get their own Christmas specials.

I did say this is very 1998. Wow. ITV, on the other hand, give us who wants to be a Christmas millionaire? And according to all available data, a Christmas million is worth the same as a million pounds at any other time. That's a bit of special about that, really, is there? Christmas is from hell gets a full hour on Christmas evening too. And no, that's not a satanic venture, and it's the Christmas cheer. It's part of that holiday from hell, neighbours from hell kind of thing that was big back then.

Remember those? Yeah, Christmas is from now as well. Whatever fucks you, bros. The moment of truth with our siller, heartbeat, and Ruth Rendell mysteries also get requisite festive outings. The lucky, lucky viewers, those are. Over on the soaps, let's start with Corrie. Judy Mallett gives birth to twins. Poor Judy will die within the year,

just to put a dampener on that. And the Duckworth Stager's sit-in at the Rovers after being evicted, with Vera using the sit-in as a chance to seduce Jack. Foof! Turn it down. Woof! On EastEnders, Tiffany Mitchell lies about her accident on the stairs

and gets Grant in trouble with the police. Tiffany is... You probably know about this one. She's memorably killed off a week later for New Year in a tragic car accident. in one of these then the most famous scenes. That, and this is the setup to that was Christmas. And Grant also has to help Bianca give birth in the Vic on Christmas Day.

I don't know how he finds a time at Christmas, honestly. And on Emmerdale, Billy's attempts to rob the post office while it's closed for Christmas goes badly wrong when he accidentally kills Vic Windsor. The big film battle this year is, we didn't have one. The BBC opts for lots of smaller programs. instead. And ITV has the Spice Girls Live at Wembley

during that usual slot. So that's enough. Best I can do is that the BBC do have a premiere of Bid in the early evening. That's the film about a pig, not to take that bollet. And ITV late at night put on the Godfather 2.

So Babe, Godfather I think the winner is obvious. The Insomnia I think it'll take the Godfather 2 over there. It's obvious, isn't it? You know, it's pretty cerebral tone, superb. direction and a superlative emotive script. I'd actually go for Babe. I mean, I'd actually be quite a bit.

I have seen Babe, but I remember literally nothing of it. So, I mean, it's it we're going to have to call the draw. We've decided that those storms are equally good. That's what we've agreed on. You joke. Anyway. The Queen made some speech or other about different generations, learning things for each other, who gets the fuck, I don't know, whatever.

Channel 4 have a far more worthy Christmas message that's given by Doreen and Neville Lawrence, who are parents of the murdered teenager, Stephen Lawrence. Speaking to Channel 4, they never fail to put out something truly mad. On Christmas Day, their main daytime

film is Tom Fong from 1958, with their evening film being the Omen. Very Christmassy. Amongst it all, there's half an hour of Gilbert and Sullivan, the countdown grand final, which is repeated in full on Boxing Day prime time, just in case you missed it, and a two-hour opera performance of Hansel and Gryffle, or on Christmas Day itself.

And it has been pointed out to me that I never talk about Brookside, which was, you know, really big in the 90s. Too late now, only got one year left of the decade, sorry, but on Boxing Day, there is a 125-minute edition of Brookside, which, as far as my research confirms, is the longest single episode of the soap ever broadcast in the year. UK. Was it a good idea? I have to ask. But stranger things to shame that kind of length, I think, is it just about? Yeah. I know. A bookside episode that's as long as some movies. That's just really, that's really unusual. Yeah. So that's your lot. Massive soaps, talking pigs, spice girls, and cash money. But enough about my presence, what's on the telly?

D-dong! So, for the toys and games, I have found a clip. from the BBC in 1998, which will, perhaps, remind those of us who were alive in 1998, just how long ago it was. Shopping can damage a man's health, and that's official. A leading psychologist has found that men's stress levels saw when they're confronted with the Christmas shopping, crowded shops and long queues. Every single man in the survey suffered significant increases in blood pressure and heart rate.

For men who've tried every trick in the book, at last the ultimate excuse to avoid Christmas shopping. Darling, it's bad for my health. New research into the psychology of shopping claims that men suffer increases in blood pressure and heart rates on their seasonal shopping sprees. It sort of like does get your heart going and you get a bit annoyed more than anything, especially with all the pushing and shoving. That annoys me more than anything. People just being basically rude. It's boring. Shouldn't have to do it. Definitely shouldn't have to do it.

Male stress levels are said to peak when they're shopping for gifts. Loud music and cues also add to what the author of the research says is nothing short of panic. We were looking at blood pressures and heart rates and the secretion of stress hormones. Really, in some cases, at a level you might expect to find in a combat pilot or a riot policeman in action. So they were very highly stressed by the shopping experience. Shop assistants say men's problems with shopping stem from being out of practice. men come in at Christmas time in a complete panic I have to get something I don't know what to get

do I want sexy do I want cute and of course I don't know what size she is most women won't doubt the accuracy of the new research but one thing might be bothering them what is it about Christmas that affects men and why is it that when it comes to buying perhaps a new set of golf clubs or even a new car that they're strangely immune to the symptoms of stress the research says women should forget men and do the shopping themselves. Advice not all women accept.

It's harder to do it when you've got children than it is for a husband to go out and do an row. What do you think of this research then? Written by a bloke. It has to be. Brent Cross Shopping Centre has a cure for Christmas stress, valet shopping. Someone to choose the gifts and carry the bags. Denise Mahoney BBC News. This was 1998, not 1948. Yeah. So that was a Christmas of the past. And staying with the Christmas of the past but just because the pop music makes it feel a bit closer in time than the people buying that music it's gonna feel a bit happier right now 1998 rather than 1948 but anyway the Christmas Day top 10 from

1998 is as follows and of course after this we will bring you in to the Christmas number one from 98 so here we are at 10 it's a brand new entry the country may have gone slightly insane it's Jane McKeigh McDonald with her cruise into Christmas medley. Down three places at number nine, it's Billy Piper, telling us what Mariah Carey was after at Christmas in 1994, she wants you. At eight, down two places from last week. Brian Adams and Mel C have teamed up, but the chart ain't doing what it should when you're gone. Down two places at number seven, dropping from its peak of number five.

It looks like it's the end of the line for the latest Honey's release. release. At six, it's climbing up two places from number eight, a heartbeat away from the top five. Steps are on the scene with that double A side along with tragedy. Into the Christmas day, top five, it's a former number one, down four places. Bewitched, sadly, don't belong to number one this Christmas. At four, down two places from number two, it's another former number one. Cher still believes in holding on to a top 10 place after topping the charts. Into the top three and it's a brand new entry and again I must ask what the fuck is happening. It's especially for you from Denise and Johnny.

And at number two, it's a list of demands from Isaac Hayes accompanied by cocoa and sodium chloride chocolate salty balls by chef. Which means that the Christmas number one for 1998, is this. Okay, this is Goodbye by Spice Girls. Released as a standalone single, goodbye is Spice girl's ninth single to be released in the UK and their eighth to reach number one. It's not their last number one overall, but it is their last number one of the 1990s. Goodbye went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for Just because it's 1998, one week! In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 380,000 copies beating competition from the songs you just heard about.

When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Goodbye, dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 21 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum. platinum in the UK. As of 2026, aired you can open up the present which contains our thoughts on goodbye by Spice Girls. Yeah, I like this. It's going to be a shame to say goodbye to the Spice Girls because obviously having already covered the 2000s, we're not going to be covering them again, aren't we? Do they come back at all with some spontaneous re-release or something?

They, they, in 2007, when they got back together, they released headlines, but they didn't even make the top ten. So this is, this is it. Yeah, they have holler in the early 2000s, but we covered that, and it's not very good. Yeah, I do recall. Well, I don't recall the song so much as it not being very good. But this is a kind of elegant bow out for the sort of era everyone remembers. I mean, it's not quite the full compliment of the group, but it's close enough to being. the full real deal.

And they all sound in fine form on this. It's a difficult one to balance. And in some ways, it's familiar ground. I mean, when you've got sort of two becomes one, and you've also got Viva Forever, and also Mama, which has some similar sort of tonal and thematic things going on. It's a tricky one to stand up amongst that company. but I think this is very good in its own right.

It's got a very memorable chorus. I'm a sucker for an overlapping melody. I love the way that works with the rise and fall of the chorus. Very nice indeed. There's some lyrics I really like in this as well. I don't usually... I usually miss lyrical content a lot, so I thought I'd actually try and focus on it this time.

I love that so glad we made it, because it is... It creates a bit of nuance to it. It creates a bit of multidimensionality to the lyric. It's not just... just, oh, I'm so sad, don't know what we're going to do. Goodbye. We're all mourning. It's kind of, look, look, how far we've come. And you should be proud. And we're both going our separate ways onwards and upwards. So it's nice. It's bittersweet, which I think is the best,

the best way to leave things if you have the chance. However, there's that, you'll always be someone's baby line. And I'm like, is that supposed to be a dual meaning? Like, you know, you're always someone's child? Or is it meaning, like, oh, you know, you know, you'll always have someone to look after you kind of thing, which I'm a bit like, that's not a great message, is it? It's like, you'll be all right as long as you have a partner and you're not just sort of floundering around on your own girl.

I think it's sort of like a plenty more fishing seat type thing. Like this might be it for us, but you'll be, you'll be all right. You'll find someone. I think it's just a cack-handed way of saying that. It is a bit cack-handed, though. It does sound a bit like you'll find someone. Don't worry. Don't think about what will.

up and if you don't, don't go there. It's long, empty, dry and you know, you just devaporate as an old spinster. So glad we made it. Time will never fade it. Anyway, but yeah, I love the elegant restrained string breakdown in the middle, kind of a string quartet thing going on. It's brief, but it's very, very pleasant, very spice girls, actually. It's not completely OTT and in your face, and it does sort of, it very much reminds me if two becomes one. I mean, I feel like I'm having my strings pulled a bit, if you'll forgive the pun by that, but I'm fine with it. You know, remind me of two becomes one as much as you want. It's still probably my favourite spice girls track. It's not fresh necessarily, but it is graceful, it's elegant, it's well-performed, it very much fits the bill tonally.

Well, it's not one of my absolute favourites. I think it's really solid, and I think it is worth a vaulting from me. Oh, Andy, what about you? Yeah, I really like this. like this. I mean, it's such a shame about a hollow, isn't it? Probably because it's just, this is such a natural movement to go out on. I mean, I don't even have to explain why, you know, it's called goodbye. One of the bands already left.

Need I say more? You know? But not just that, but also like quality level, you know, there hasn't been any Spice Girl singles that I haven't loved. I mean, you know, some of them love more than others. But all of them, I've voted, I think. All of them have really, really been brilliant.

And, you know, Stock didn't get to number one, but that's fantastic as well. We'll be talking about that, maybe, at least with the episode. But there has a virtually flawless singles run, and it would have been excellent to end it here. Like, there's nothing wrong with just ending once it's over. There's no need to keep extending things beyond their natural life cycle.

And I went on and on about this, you know, Bunkies years ago when we did holler, that this zombie incarnation of spice girls that went into the 2000s was just best forgotten. And I never ever listened to that album, the third one. And that means that I never listened to this, because this is on this package as part of that Forever

album. I only ever listen to Spice and Spice World. And so I always forget about Goodbye. I never really listen to it, but I'm really glad to have been listening to it again. It came up naturally recently, it was on in a party, it was up. And it's just, it's just lovely. It's just really, really nice. I do think

that this is something they actually needed to do, to be honest, that obviously there's untext of this is Jerry's left. You know, it's not just a sort of break up goodbye. It's also a real life goodbye that we're talking about here. And I think they were such a phenomenon and particularly in the sense that those five

personalities, they were basically characters in a show you were watching. You know, you kind of have to address the element in the movie and you have to do a song about it, I think. And I think they do it in this dignified and nice a way as they could have done very.

It's not too modeling and it's also not, they've got to not any sense of attention to it at all. It manages to really diffuse what was undoubtedly quite a lot of tension in the air over this. And it has a really nice tone to it that is sort of a fond farewell. That, you know, bit of pieces of a word, like I'd said, you know, that it's sad that things have to end, but things do have to end. And that's not an inherently bad thing.

We're just kind of moving on to our next chapter. Very much like I will always love you, the original, I would say, from Dolly Parton, for me off, another Christmas number one from the 90s. But, yeah, I really like the time that this strikes. and it makes it very suitable for real life goodbyes, I think, because most goodbyes, when you know you're saying

at least a temporary goodbye to someone in real life, most of them aren't acrimonious, I find. Like, if you have a breakup, that might be a bit acrimodious, of course, but if, like, you know, it's a friendship or you're leaving a job or you're moving away or something,

life is full of fun of goodbyes, and this song is actually very suitable for that. When I left school, in my leave as assembly, this was the song they played over a slideshow of photos of us from the last few months that all the teachers had been taken. And I was someone who cried to myself, I'm not crying like then,

but even me and all the boys were crying, but it's watching that slideshow as this song was playing, and it always reminds me that last day of school because of it. Yeah, I think it's genuinely emotional, and I think it's a really nice mood to this. I recently, well, a friend of, mine and Robbs recently emigrated to

Australia who had, well, two friends recently emigrated to Australia and was very, very close to them. And this is the kind of feeling that I get from that. This is a nice song for that where it's like, it's not the end, you know, it's just goodbye and you know, sending me off with a smile and

I'm glad that we had the time together that we had. Yeah, it's a nice mood to sit with and it's a really nice note for the Spice Girls to go out on if they indeed they had been out on this. I don't it's got that spark that so many Spice Girls songs have. It's obviously got pretty much a hero fun to it and it doesn't

have quite the level of of majesty to it that Two Be Cold Warne has or the sense of scope and the sense of drama that be forever and too much have. I think this is just a really nice ballad, but it is a really nice ballad

by their usual standards, this is probably one of the weakest but like I say, they don't have any bad singles at this point. So yeah, really nice to hear from the one more time. It's a kind of forgotten treasure as far as I'm concerned with the Spice Girls. And God, I wish this was it for them, because they would have had a unblemished record. Yeah, lovely stuff. Yeah, there's a weird, slightly mournful feeling I get when I listen to this.

You know, this feels like a capstone on 90s pop, actually, and a bit of a capstone on this era of the podcast, despite there being a whole other year to go. It felt this way when we covered the fear, actually, the Lily Allen one. You know, that felt like us saying goodbye to the 2000s. the 2010s kind of came into view, you know, the meta quality that this has, you know, with the dominant group of the 1990s, literally saying goodbye to their ex-fifth member, feels like it applies not just to the Spice Girls' internal relationships and politics, but to their involvement in the pop scene that we've been looking at since, you know,

since they emerged. You know, the Spice Girls, they made pop shift. You know, we know that. You know, and then they were the number one game in town, but now one of their members is left and they're sort of passing the baton without really kind of knowing it fully, you know, or maybe they are acknowledging it in this in a way. And I think the Spire's Girls pass in the baton, as they probably saw it at the time, you know, to the explosion of pop acts that came to the charts after their emergence, you know, like Bewitched and Billy Piper and S Club 7,

who were about to get here in five and steps, All Saints, 911, Westlife are about six months away. You know, and the kind of new wave of American artists, I mean, Brandy and Monica don't. don't really obviously get back together much, you know, for much longer, but also like Usher, you know, they're going to start influencing our charts in a big way to, it's like the 90s passing the bat onto the 2000s in a way, you know, and by the time the Spice Girls come back in the 2000s,

they're already trying to play catch up with that American R&B sound, which was, I think, was completely the wrong direction for them to go in, in my opinion. So this is, this is sort of it, you know, Viva Forever was the final scene of the Spice Girl's story, goodbye is what plays as they take their bowels in front of the audience. And then, I don't know, like, Holla must be the failed sequel with a different director and one of the original cast, like, Jaws the Revenge or something, yes. Holla is the Jaws the Revenge of the Spice Girls discography. There you go.

You can have that one on a mug if you want. So, yeah, I guess, like, you know, with all that context in mind, you know, I was starting to listen back to this and wondering about how it stood up. And, you know, I think it stands up pretty well. You know, when we covered Viva forever, I think, you know, I said that, like, what's the, the Spice Girls did really well was when they dipped into their slightly more cynical side with the kind of slower, slightly more weepy songs like this and too much at Christmas where they were going for the, you know, the populist vote, they still make sure to pack those songs with the really strong and gripping content. I think you can tell with their big singles, even their less stellar

ones, like this one in my, you know, in my view, that still a lot of time and care was still taken over it, you know, they managed to find that balance where this contains a lot of different parts and lots of little details but never feels overwritten. The call and response, you know, the backing vocals in the chorus, Mel C leading the post chorus, the post chorus really nicely nestling back into the no, no, no, you know, from the intro, Mel C leads the fade out with the ad libs, you know, it's all there. I think almost everything you could want from a Spice Girl single is there, you know, especially on one of their ballads, you know, the formula is pretty tried and tested and they kind of run it out again, you know,

they choose to lead on Emma for a soft goodbye. Mel B, slightly huskier and raspyer voices lead into the pre-chorus. Mel C springs off from the others with a slightly more rounded voice in the chorus, letting Victoria have the third verse so that she doesn't feel left out. You know, it is all there. But, you know, as much as the formula is spot on, that word formula does keep springing up in my head because there's one thing missing from the Spice Girls formula, and it is Jerry.

I think without Jerry, the Spice Girls went from being five different characters in a box, like you were, just like you were describing them, Andy, you know, five action figures, or in the case of the Viva Forever video, fairies you could play with, you know, and after she left, they kind of turned into one group that had four singers in it. Like, you can kind of see it on the single cover for this, and then on the sleeve of forever, which are basically identical. You know, it's a white background,

and they're all kind of, you know, they don't dress them up in color. You know, I don't know about YouTube, but growing up, I always associated the Spice Girls with the color of their own. Oh, yeah, all over their marketing, the way they dressed, you know, Jerry to me was always bright orange,

Mel B was always gold, Emma was always sky blue, Mel C was always green, and Posh was always black. and they were always on a union flag backdrop somehow in my head. You know, I mentioned it before, you know, the kind of variety pack appeal. There's somehow all of this chaotic energy and all of these disparate forces came together under a single banner.

But now the sense of colour is kind of gone. You know, the single cover's all white. They've all got straightened black or long hair on the cover. None of them are actually wearing any clothes. So, you know, they all have like, you know, just kind of flat skin tones. when it comes to the Forever album cover, they're all just in black dresses, and Mel has even dyed her hair blonde at this stage

and has kind of gone for a different sort of look altogether. There's no sporty spice about her really on the Forever album cover. And Jerry going off on her own, and the four remaining members kind of grieving through the song, it's all a bit like that little women bit from The Simpsons just like, they were no longer spice girls. They were spice women. And it's like, ah,

there's the USP kind of fade in a bit. You know, this is maybe the first time it feels like the group are treading over old ground in order to recapture something that's not physically possible with one whole voice gone. Like, they're aware that the balance isn't quite where it was

and that their transition from adolescence into adulthood is almost complete. And I think, like, with that balance of five not being there, instead of trying to keep the balance with four, they've kind of done what I said before, which is one, They are one group. There's so many times in this video where they are together linking arms.

They are one thing as opposed to like previous videos where they've all had different outfits or they've been in different sets. Or like with the too much video, they all had five completely separate environments that they were in. They were all filmed individually on their own. Whereas now it's like we're together. You know, they start the video in their four separate cars. But as soon as they get out, they're linking arms. They're thinking about Jerry. They're doing this.

you know, the girls together again, one night kind of thing. And I think the worst thing that pop groups can really do is grow up. Like, you wouldn't listen to a group called the Backstreet Men, would you? If anything, you'd avoid them. And if a group came along called Manzone, you'd wonder why they'd name themselves after the shed at the bottom of the garden. Or after a gay bar. All that. Pop is a game for boys and girls.

And now these four are women. And I think they know it. Jerry's gone to be on her own. She's going to be her own woman elsewhere. Mel B and Victoria are both pregnant. At this point, Mel B has released solo material already. Jerry's working on hers. This just sort of feels like the summer holidays

after you leave school where you realize there's no going back. So you give it one last go, one last house party. You record a song called Holla, but it's kind of gone, you know, forever preserved in amber in the 90s and it can't really go any further. I do think on its own, I think, I may have vaulted this if it was just kind of the last thing they ever did, but I think knowing that this is their attempt to kind of like continue it sort of after the thing is over,

it's just a little, I can feel that trend, I can feel that direction in the group. I can feel it ever so slightly, which I guess, you know, it is with hindsight, but I think if they'd left it as the final capstone, it would have been like, yep, it's a goodbye to the group. It's maybe an admission that they can't carry on without Jerry. And so they're saying goodbye, not just to Jerry, but to all of us, but they did kind of try to carry on. And then they stuck this on the end of the album that they did like two years from now. After the, because there's a sort of little, I know they officially announced their hiatus in December 2000, but I mean, they're kind of already on hiatus by this point, really. You know, the tour in America is over. They're all off doing,

well, half of them are off doing solo stuff or at least planning to do it. They are are very much a different group already by this point. I think Jerry without, you know, Jerry not being there. I'm not saying she was like the essence of the group, but I just think that when the Spice Girls were so perfect as a five, that suddenly then being a four is a bit like, oh, yeah, there's a little bit of flavour that's just gone for me from this. But still very, very lovely, very mournful and appropriate, I think.

Yeah, a little cynical going for it then. they know what they're doing, I think, with this kind of material at this time of year. But, I mean, I was running down that top 10 list. I don't think there's anything I'd rather be Christmas number one than over this at all. So you definitely tell what you can get. But this is very strong. This is literally missing the vault by a shade, literally just a shade. I don't know if anyone else has anything more to say because, you know, this is kind of it.

This is kind of wrapping up the Spireskills on Hits 21. I have appreciated Spice Girls all the more for going through their catalogue in the context of what was around them at the time, because I think there was a sort of a lazy assumption from what might be considered the rockest media and, you know, people like me for who that stuff was geared towards, who just clumped all of these groups together rather lazily in a kind of, you know, commercial, cynical, mass-marketed trash kind of stuff, and didn't really see the differences that made the great ones great, and the not so good ones, you know, just that so few of them had the longevity and the variety of the spice girls in terms of their output, not just the kind of the way they were presented, which, yeah, as we've covered, that was something of a masterstroke. and it also played into their own personalities. So it kind of worked. Like in, you know, I hate to go into the world of wrestling here.

But the best gimmicks and characters in wrestling are the ones that are basically just the people themselves turned up to 10. Like the best wrestling heels, the bad guys are always the ones that are basically twats in real life. Because they play it so, so well. But yeah, I... I've got to say, I would like to hear another spice girls album. Maybe not call it Spice Girls,

maybe just call it Spice, but just to hear how they, as long as they were all wanting to do it, which is the tricky one, I think. You know, it's always good to hear how these people evolve, how these people grow,

how they sound next to each other and how they work that dynamic later in life. I think it was a good time to call it today. I agree that Holly was probably an error of judgment at the time and just sort of stretching it rather too far.

But I think if you check back in with groups like this, I think that can work really well. For instance, you know, look at take that. Like possibly their best album is Progress, which was the effectively, the very short-term full reunion album they did with Robbie Williams. And it's really nice to hear them coming together after their own solo experiences

and finding a way to work together and how that sounds. And they do sound older and they do sound like they have more perspective. And what separated the spice girls, I think, from so many of the groups around them is no matter how well-crafted some of the songs are and a lot of these girl groups

have fantastically well-crafted songs. I mean, we're talking about Bewitched and Selar V. That's a really well-sculpted track. There's a song in the Be True. that's coming up that I think although it's it wears his influences very much on his sleeve I think it's a really really well-written memorable piece of pop I think it's really good however I don't give a shit about the individual members of those groups don't know who they are I don't I couldn't they'd sing the song fine but I really don't care spice girls I found rather like the beach boys or

other groups I really really like I find myself listening in and identify me individual members as they do things in the song. It's like, oh, that's her. Oh, she does that. Oh, yeah. Of course, they'd give her that bit to do. You know, what? They'd give her Mel C.

that bit because she has the real, the projection on the higher register side of things. And yeah, I think that is why I feel they could work if they came back together for just sort of one album would probably be shite. And it would probably be a total contrivance. And someone like Victoria would probably phone it in. if you were allowed to appear at all. But, yeah, yeah, I really do appreciate them more. They were a fantastic pop act, not just in the small sphere of kind of 90s girl groups.

I think they really were a great pop group and deserved to be remembered as such because they put so much effort into their performance and into the songs, and it was just a complete package, and it was a popular triumph, I think. Sorry, that was quite a soapboxy thing there, sorry, Andy.

You bet you wish you'd gone first now. No, I mean, I'm very happy someone else could have the floor to talk about them at length because I've talked about them so much. I mean, back when we talked about howl, I just went off in about 20 minutes about their whole career. First to say, I will be putting goodbye in the vault, which means I've vaulted every spice-scale single

that we've covered. and if stock had got number one, I would have altered that as well. So I think that's these volumes, really. And I don't really have anything else left to say because I've said so much on them. And anyone who's listened to any episodes of the show knows how much I want the Spice Girls.

But they were really just a complete package that everything they released in those first two albums was just such exciting pop music. It was so fun, so engaging. There was just lining in a bottle that I can barely ever managed to describe with them. And I was at the perfect age for them.

I was four years old when they started, six years old at they finished, and their shadow cast for about another five years after that, I would say. And I feel very, very fortunate to have had them as part of my childhood. They were the original pop phenomenon for me.

And 30 years on, my love for them has not waned at all. And I don't think it ever will. I think they'll be with me forever. They really are, they really are something very, very special. And in their own words, I know they're gone. They said they're gone, but I can still feel way. Well, I think that's, yeah, I think, I don't think there's anything more needs to be said there. So, that means that we are on to the first of our three little competitions that we have

running throughout the year. This one is born to runner up. So Andy, born to runner up for 1998, how was it shaked out? Yes, so there was, there was a not insignificant number of them. This year we had 25 songs in Bonsa Runner Up this year. Yeah, so it was almost as much work, if not more work, actually, than our entire year's coverage, actually, which is a weird thing to think about. But it was only 24 really, because the last one, bottom of the list, which we just chose not to cover at all, was come with me by Puff Daddy, like you get in the bin. Of the other 24, I will say there was a load of absolute garbage, but there was a lot that was very, very good as well.

It's a very varied year. I will set some light on what was our worst of the year, apart from come with me. Until the time is through was our worst of the year. Just absolutely, incredibly, tedious, and pretty much all of us agreed that that was awful.

So many bad boy bad ones. I don't remember that song. Who was that? as Boys and so many bad Boys on songs. Of course. Of course. Not just Boys on, but boy bands in general. It's a really bad year for them. And I'm just very thankful

that he's got to number one, because we would have struggled to say much about these. But 911 had a shit Bej's cover with more than a woman. But there's also All I Have to Give by Boyson, which Ed, but not by Boyson, all I have to give by Backstreet Boys, which Ed loves, but me and Rob absolutely hated. I don't mind it at all.

I think that was certainly the, pick of those, but that's not saying very much. They were mostly wretched. There's a lot of songs that sort of ranked in the middle as well as you're very famous. Just to mention, we had sex on the beach, but somewhere in the middle. We had Everybody Get Up by Five. Vindaloo,

of course, by Fat Les. Big mistake by that way of group, they all missed out on the top ten, but yeah, it's relatively notable year, but not always of the best quality. So, into our top ten. In 10th place, it is.

get a superstar Daddy what you are Honestly I would have run that a bit higher If I didn't love islands in the stream so much Because it kind of feels like heresy of it But it's nice enough It's really something back That is really nostalgic here in that

Then in ninth place It's horny by Moose Tea So horny Horny, horny, horny horny, horny, horny horny, horny, horny, horny tonight I'm horny,

in eighth place it's outside by George Michael which I think it's fair to say there's not up there with fast love and Jesus to a child and a lot of you have 90 stuff are covered by George Michael but still pretty good it's pretty nice

yeah so high bar yeah in seventh place well the artists of this song came and demanded that they get the born to run a up trophy and I just need to say you need to give it up I've had about enough

if the boy is mine In sixth place These are mysterious times Sash Really enjoyed that Really like mysterious times I'm glad I wasn't the only one Yeah

It's a subtle creeper I don't mean it In a burvey kind of way It's a really really great little public kind of riff going on in the doctor It's all top five And these are all great This is a really good top five

So in fifth place Rob was much cooler on this but me and Ed both really loved it, I've always liked this. It's won for sorrow by Steppes. Yeah, this is a bit of a jam. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I don't mind it at all. I thought it was decent.

That's in fifth place, but there's four more than even better. What's at Christmas Street in fourth place, which me and Rob absolutely in love, but Ed was not as keen on. It's Perfect Hen by The Beautiful Self, which is mine and my husband's carry-over song. It's a good song, I'm not going to deny it.

Just, it's something about the tone of the group really hits me the wrong way. That's right. I know. It's a me issue. Into our top three. And in third place, well, look at me it is again. That not I won the trophy this year. It's the Spice Girls with Stop.

In third track. Hard to argue with that one. Very solid. Thank you very much, girls. Yes. Yeah. But you can stop right now. That's goodbye.

Thank you very much. Stop. Just stop. And so our top two, and I will tell you this, there's one point between them. We both, well, we both, we all loved both of these. They all figured it on top three. It's tight as anything, but they are separated by one point. In second place, its music sounds better with you by startup.

Wow. Yeah, just didn't make it, just didn't make it. Wow. Okay. And so I'm going to bring on the cardigans of all people. Hello, the cardigans. How are you in the cardigans? You're wearing some nice sweaters.

What's that? Your favorite number two of the year was Dindaloon. Interesting, the cardigans. Thanks for that. Anyway, let's hand over your tiara, your scepter, your jewelry, everything else that you get as a perk of the a runner-ob trophy, including a sickening supply of Nix cosmetics.

Not really. Anyway, and we are giving this year's trophy the best number two single of 1998. It goes to Ray of Light by Madonna, which was in everyone's top two at least. So it's pretty, I think pretty, like it got

nearly four marks, which is why it did it in the end. Yeah, absolutely extraordinary production. and a really just fantastic song. They're like, really worthy women. And also, for someone, I am someone who's whined about her vocals a lot. This, for me,

is probably her apex as an actual vocalist. It is a whole, you know, it's a whole package. She's not being held up purely by a production. I think it is a, this is a damn good, well-performed, yeah, it's, to use the same bloody cliche phrase again, it's for complete package. I just think, yeah, it is fantastic.

and I think it's probably her strongest record as well, her strongest album. I do love it, yeah, it's really, really good. Probably my favourite. Yeah, I love 90s Madonna. I do love 90s Madonna. Bedtime stories and erotica and this. Yeah, it's great. I think it's really, really strong.

And also Madonna has the distinction of being one of only three artists to ever win the most runner-up trophy and to win the number one record of the year trophy. Quiz for our hosts and also only listeners, who are particularly avid fans. Who are the other two who've won both trophies? Born to runner up and best song of the year.

Yeah. Girls Aloud? They did. So they won as well, so there's four of them. Yes, so Girls Are Loud is won. The other two. Any other ideas?

I can put your argument as we. Arctic Monkeys. Correct. Alfti Monkeys were born to runner up with Brian Storm. And they will record of the year with I bet you look good

on the dance floor in 2005. Sugar Babe. Not Sugar Babe. No. Um, kind of going bit funny and blank now. Uh,

yeah, I'm a bit, no, I don't know, yeah. It's our Kylie. Kylie won in 2001 with Can't get you out of my head

and she won't want to run her up with Confide in me. Oh, good shout. All right then, so, from the best of the runner ups to the worst

of the number ones, these are our bottom five songs, bottom five number ones of 1998. And bloody hell, there were a lot of them, 29 number ones this year. So there's a lot. I thought Oster has been 53 songs this year. We've done a lot of listening.

Wow. Yeah. So our fifth worst number one of the year with an average score of 4.5 piehold by Andy and Ed. It's Freak Me. By another level. Sorry, guys. I'm going to do a quote from Reverend Lovejoy, when he's reading Homer and large his

house. Let me lick you up and down. Down is underlined. I should note also that when Rob says 4.5, that's out of 10. It is. We're not just incredibly high voters. So the fourth worst number one of 1998, According to us, guys, not according to me, but definitely according to Andy and Ed,

who pie-holed the fuck out of it, all around the world by Oasis, an average score of 3.7. And I will say, if not for Europe, based on just minor ed scores, it would have been the clear worst of the year by a huge distance. So you really save it, yeah. In third, our third worst, number one, she's got many flows from. overseas. It's I want you back, Mel B and Missy Elliott, piehold by me and

Andy, an average score of 3.3. Oh God, I don't want anything back less than that. Like, I'd rather that I'd have a colonoscopy than that. It's just awful. Our second worst number one of the year.

Piehold by me and Andy, an average score of 3.2 Jim and Tonic by Space Dund. They stole it. They could fuck off. But guess who can fuck off even further? A song that has the same average score of 3.2,

but has been pie-holed by all three of us, All Than I Need by Boyzone, is the worst number one single of 1998, not just in our opinion. It's just the worst number one of the year. That's now fact. Genuinely, does anyone remember how that went? Only because my mum doesn't...

only because my mum played it in the car a lot, but that's her. I'm honestly, in the same way that I've just got a massively increased appreciation with the Spice Girls, having to go through all of these fucking boys' own singles, both on this and on the B-True listings, they are one of the worst bands of all time. I mean, I assume because I like take that and that, they'll be like, well, hey, maybe they'd be fun to revisit, maybe not all their back. No, they're fucking awful. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, fans of Boysend. God. awful. Anyway, sorry, carry on. I was just asking, you know, if anyone remembers that. I remember how it went as the final last bonus question in the boy's own quiz. Oh.

Have you got your little jingle, or do we have to remember it? The boys' quiz! Wonderful. Oh, God. All right, so that means we're now

into the top ten songs of the year. A nice thing about this top 10. It shows it's been quite a good year because all of them have been vaulted by someone which is nice. Can't say that about every year. We start with Millennium by Robbie Williams which was vaulted by Robb

and got an average score of 7. In 9th place, I bloody love this, I vaulted this and got an average score of 7.2 it's feel it by the temperate feature in Meyer. What is she going to look like with a ninth place on it? In 8th place, with an average score of 7.3, vaulted by me.

I'm sorry, you're not going any higher than 8th place. It's like that. That's just the way it is. I love DMC and Jason Negus. In 7th place, vaulted by Ed with an average score of 7.5. If it was any lower than this, it'd be deeper underground. Benjamin McQuire. In sixth place,

vaulted by me with an average score of 7.5. It's a song by me witch, which it would have been really nice for it to go any higher, but that's like, it's silly, baby witch. So we're into our top five.

In fifth place, with an average score of 7.8, and voted by me and Ed, and as Robin mentioned earlier, just by a whisker, not vaulted by him, but nearly It's goodbye by Spice Girls.

So, yeah, so long and thanks for all the hits. Yes. In fourth place, and I can't believe this was this year. What a long year we've had on the show. With an average score of 8.3 and vaulted by me and Rob. Do you want to build a snowman? It's frozen by Madonna. Yeah, I mean, I know I didn't vault that one, but, you know, let it go.

in third place with an average score of 8.5 and vaulted by Rob and myself it is Viva Theret by the spice scales I think a no point one sorry Viva Thiel by the Spice scales Wonderful, yeah really really good

my favourite number one of the year I think So into our top two And I'm going to tell you it in no particular order It's a tie All voltses 6 volts there Nothing could separate them, except one thing. They could be separated by Lizzie, who intervened to declare our winner for 1998. And Robin Head don't know what it is.

In second place, with an average score of 8.8 and vaulted by all three of us, its share with the lead. So fuck's sake, Andy! Yes. Bye, Cher. Bye. Yeah, she's stormed. I'm not surprised.

And so, let's bring on Blair, everyone. Hello, Blair. Hello, Damon Albarn. Oh, it's mid to late 90s, Damon Albarnas, well. I know, I know. I've got to be in my house.

I'm you jealous of. Yeah, I mean, the other members of Blair here is quite awkward to guys. And Cher's still on the way out, so it's a bit of a weird vibe in here. Yeah, it's not like Graeme Coxon was an ugly chap.

But we've got to make... He's not. He's not. And I'm sure they're all very pretty. We've got to make room for Corner Shop and Norman Cook as well. We've got Fat Boy Slim in the room. It's a crowded party right now because Blair are handing over this year's trophy to the number one, number one of 1998. It's Brimful of Asher.

Everybody needs a trophy for a pillow. Yes. I mean, I will say, those are the two clear best of this year. and I actually adore both of those. I was genuinely, would have been happy with either of them. I do think Brimple Lashire probably hits it, to be honest. I was just playing devil's advocate. I do think Brimble Lashire is the better one.

So I think Lizzie's made the right decision there. But yeah, just, oh, what are this song? That is. I love it so, so much. So well done Brimple Lashire. It does sound, though, that Rob was holding out for Viva forever, though. Yes, that is my favourite number one of the year. Yes.

Oh, well, I mean, they still did pretty well. They came in third. Yes. It was a very strong. top three, one of the strongest top threes we've looked for a while, I think. And yeah, as Ed says, very oddly fitting. I mean, it's a very small way for us to pay tribute. But of course, Asha Bosley, the subject of Brimful of Asha, did pass away earlier this week.

So fitting that we give the trophy to such a wonderful song that assured her legacy in music. Definitely. I've seen a few people sharing it this week upon the news of her death, actually. Yeah, it has been circulating social media every now and again. and people have then not just stopped at Brinful of Ashabut have said no go and listen to all the playback recordings that she did that got her mentioned in this song in the first place. Well, exactly.

When I say, you know, this is short her legacy in music, that's kind of a, you know, poison talus, isn't it really? Because this is definitely the thing that Western audiences will most think of when they hear her name. But she had so much music of her own that, yeah, let's make that our mission, everyone, to go out and listen to Ashabst thing. Yeah. Alright then, so that is the end of 1998.

When we come back, we'll be in 1999, and our last year of the 90s before we go on into the 2010s, and we will see you for our return. Goodbye now. Bye-bye.