Hits 21 - 1999 (2): The Offspring, Armand Van Helden, Blondie, Lenny Kravitz

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every single UK #1 hit...Bathtime to Magic 1152: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5JadbRJq70sm4ZStCViakB?si=48cefbe19f4f4a09You 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, Andy and me, Ed, are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. Email us at Hits21 podcast at gmail.com, Twitter us at Hits21 UK. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1999 and this week we'll be taking our second step through 1999. 24th of January to the 20th of February it's another small step Andy what happened on the UK album charts

in this little sort of just about four week period yeah we finished last week with I've been expecting you Mr Williams as they might have said in a bomb film that doesn't exist and that's replaced by a returning talk on corners by the cause which went number one for a further three weeks

weeks and eventually went nine times platinum. That's then knocked off the top by Stereophonics with performance and cocktails, two of my favourite things, which went number one for just one week, and went three times platinum. And that's it. The cause and stereophonics with corners, talk, cocktails and performance, but not necessarily in that order. In UK news, Killer GP, Harold Shipman, is charged with yet more murders following his arrest at the end of 1998, and Glenn Hoddle is dismissed as England manager by the FA after giving

a deranged interview to the Times about the hypothetical past lives and past crimes of disabled people. In American news, President Bill Clinton is acquitted of perjury by the Senate after being impeached by the House of Representatives, and rapper Lamont Cole, better known by his stage name Bigel, is shot dead in New York City and the murder case remains unsolved. To this day, controversy erupts at the Brit Awards as Bell and Sebastian win best newcomer

instead of steps leading to allegations of vote rigging. On TV, Holby City debuts on the BBC and Queer as Folk debuts on Channel 4 while over in America sex in the city begins on HBO. The film to hit the top of the UK

box office during this period was as follows a bug's and that's it. So, we're loving ants at the moment in the UK. What is America loving during this little period, Ed? Well, it would seem to be Britney Spears. Although, albums-wise, the loneliness of Baby One More Times Solitary Week

at the top of the charts would appear to be killing it. But we must still believe. Now, this one is genuinely a shocker. Silk the Shocker Who is number one for one week with Made Man Now that's not just a lazy root one play on words Although it is partly that

I am genuinely baffled And without hyperbole I do judge and question The American record buying public For ever allowing Silk the Shocker To make number one in anything He was born of nepotism Being related to Master P

And seemingly nothing else and if there has ever, ever, ever been a worse mainstream rapper, I don't think I've heard them. Now, again, no hyperbole, untalented bag of shit, so he may be, at least P. Diddy could actually scan. But anyway, enough about that. We have one week of China Doll by Foxy Brown. That's China Doll by Foxy Brown.

And then, yep, Brittany is back on top. after two of evidently the most forgettable number one album placings of all time. She's not just lucky, she's a star. And she cry, cry, cry, and so on and so forth.

Singles! I was running out of jokes here. Baby two more times. Wonder who got the power pack. Then we have the other half of the boy split duo which did sound far worse than I intended it to on paper, it's Monica's turn at the top.

She's sorry that Brandy seems to be confused, so she sits declaratively at the top for multiple weeks with Angel of mine. Rob. Thank you both very much for those reports, and we are going to head straight in to the first song of four this week, which is this. Okay, this is Pretty Fly in brackets,

For a White Guy by the Offspring. Released as the lead single from their fifth studio album titled Americana. Pretty Fly for a White Guy is the offspring's sixth single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is their last. Pretty Fly for a white guy 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 140,000 copies beating competition from Tequila by Terror Vision, Westside by TQ, Gimme Some More by Buster Rhymes, and To Earth With Love by Gay Dad. After one week at the top, Pretty Fly for a white guy dropped one place to number two.

It remained inside the top 104, 13 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK. As of 2026, Andy, am I right in thinking that the offspring have a fairly significant... They are a fairly significant chapter in your live music journey. I mean, you've sort of given the game away there, but first of all, they're pretty significant in my life for writing this song about me, because I am in fact pretty fly for a white guy, as in fact are both of you by an astonishing coincidence.

But yes, some may remember from when we call... covered 2001, all those many moons ago, that technically the first show I ever went to, I'm not going to call it a gig, because that would imply any kind of thrill, but the first show I went to was A1 at the Blue Peter Road Show on Scarborough Beach, which was as child-friendly as it sounds, and we just happened upon it. We didn't mean to go there at all. We just walked into it, and it was only about an hour. So we, you know, I kind of don't really treat that as my first gig. My first gig that I chose to go to was at the Manchester Apollo, the first time I'd ever been to Manchester in 2005, September 2005, I think, to see the offspring with my friend

Kieran, who was absolutely crazy about them. I was pretending to be crazy about them because I was insecure about my friendships, but I didn't love them, really. I knew about four or five songs, sort of liked them, went along, I wanted to go to a gig and be a grown-up. And it was what you'd expect. It was the offspring. You know, it was pretty noisy. It was pretty juvenile. There was a lot of people there with their tops off. There was a lot of beer being thrown. There was a support act called Sendmore Paramedics, which was probably the most memorable part of the night. And it was, it was fun, it was fun, but it was not a gig guy and kind of look back on particularly fondly. And now, I do feel sort of vaguely embarrassed when I tell people now that was my first gig. Yeah,

It was 20 years ago, and, you know, kids are into stupid shit. But the offspring have not really matured like a fine wine in the way that the likes of Blinkwonit 2 or Mykem have, which, you know, I think people would be very proud to say those. Now, the offspring have sort of gone away, and it really staggered me to learn that they'd had a number one. I always thought that they were much more underground than that. But this is, I mean, if one of them was going to get number one, I can understand why it was this. It has many gimmicks attached. It has the how, how, how, how? It has the sultry female voice with a give it to me, baby.

And it has the for a white guy thing, which is quite sort of risque at the time as well. It's full of gimmickery. It's an attention-grabbing song that, you know, is really trying to just sort of get into people's radar rather than doing anything musical. And that's kind of what rock music is all about, to be honest. So, like, that's fine. I enjoy it for that.

I do not think this is anything special at all. I, in fact, weirdly enough, they've come up a few times for me recently because I've started doing a thing called Music League, which I think I've mentioned before, which is where you're in an anonymous group with your friends and you have to submit songs and rate the best ones based on a theme. And I was in one where you had to put your first and your last gig on there. So I had to do a song by the offspring,

and a song by Florence and The Machine for my latest gig, but that's by the by. And the one I did for the offspring, well, I didn't really know what to pick, because I don't really listen to them anymore, and I didn't really remember kind of what my favourites were, but I remember I used to like, why don't you get a job? So I put that on. That was rubbish.

I listened to it, and I thought, oh, God, were the offspring really that bad? But then I listened to this a few weeks later in preparation for this, and I thought, oh, this is all right, this is fun, should have picked that. And also at around the same time, in a different musically ground, my friend put on hit that by the offspring as well, and that is fantastic. Like, that is so much fun. I don't even care, who knows it?

I think that's an absolute hoot, that song. So they were a mixed bag of a bad. They had some really fun stuff. They had some stuff that was really not good at all. This is kind of in the middle for them, really. I don't think it's like an anthem in the way that's not like hit that, or I want you bad is. But I get why it took off.

It is pure gimmick, it is pure kind of tongue-in-cheek. You, whatever man, Jimbo Jones type of music. but it works on that level and I think it's a fun little throwback Yeah, with this just at the top I would like to remind everyone listening that my favourite band in the world

in case you've forgotten are Weezer who aren't really contemporaries or cousins of the offspring but they do share a lot of similarities which is to say I know what it's like to be a fan of an American alternative

rock band from California who have lots of minor hits and a couple of major hits and that one of their major hits is considered a massive sellout by their diehard fans, but is basically the only song of theirs that's known to regular people. Weezers won is Beverly Hills. Ask any random person to name a Weezer song, and it's either, I'd say, maybe Buddy Holly Island in the Sun,

that Africa cover they did, but mostly it would be Beverly Hills. I think it would definitely be Buddy Holly, not to interrupt, but I think that would be definitely Buddy Holly in my experience, but do go on. I think the nostalgia for Buddy Holly, Holly has definitely helped its cause these days. But I would say, you know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, kind of, you know, ask a random UK person in the street. Like, name or weas or something. They'd be like, well, actually, no, they'd say teenage dirtbag first. And then I'd say, no, that's weetus. But yeah, so Beverly Hills, you know, and ask like, you know,

any random person for an offspring song, it's probably this, isn't it? You know, especially in the UK. And I imagine it really rankles offspring fans that this is the one that they're really. known for in the UK. But the thing is like, even as a diehard Weezer fan, I still really like Beverly Hills. Like, I think it's got a good, like, you know, glam stump to it. It's slightly sarcastic, but only slightly sarcastic in the way that quite a lot of mid-naughties Weezer songs are, where you sort of like, is he serious about this? And it's got that silly talkbox solo. And like, yeah, and I kind of feel the same about Pretty Fly for a white guy. I think there's lots to like about this. I think, you know, it deliberately plays on the kind of, you know, kind of a basic

instrumental, but it kind of has fun with it. It's got that thick sort of dumb main riff that revolves around under that instantly memorable hook and chorus, because Jesus, what a hook. That's the kind of hook. The other songwriters here and think, oh, I wish I'd written that. I'd be pretty fucking rich if I'd written that right now. I think I knew the phrase, give it to me, baby. before I knew how to say, please and thank you. And then outside of that, you have this kind of white wannabe, you know, kind of rapper, hipster, gangster guy, kind of being skewered, which feels a bit like an attack on a kind of person that the UK hasn't quite been exposed to yet.

The kind of person that they will think Eminem is about six months from now, not knowing Eminem's history. the kind of person that will maybe be more accurately parodied by J-Rock in trailer park boys about two years from 1999. But like it is quite funny, just kind of, you know, running through a load of unfortunate things happening to this pretty fly, not so pretty fly white guy, but him obliviously carrying on regardless with this new image he seems to have, you know, crafted for himself. There is a lot of fun, I think, in this, derived from poking a bit of lighthearted fun at a particular American state. stereotype. It is stupid. I could understand that if you were a, you know, a diehard kind of offspring fan who's sort of like, I don't know, maybe even got into them in the 80s, in the late 80s when they formed and, or maybe followed them through the ignition and the smash days

and things like that, then you'd be like, what the hell is this? But no, I'm sorry, I think this is fun. I'm going to declare this fun. Ed, what about you with this one? Well, I'm giving a review, yeah, I'm getting it done. Yeah, by you, did you just nick my notes directly about Weezer? Because I put here, do you think this was in the back of Cuomo's mind when he did Beverly Hills? Again, I've got a bit, I'm with you. I'm with you, Rob, though. I really like Beverly Hills.

It is silly, but it, and also, I mean, that, that song has a real darkness to it that people forget. Whether they like that or not, I don't know, but I've always dug that track. and I've always really dug this one. I was kind of expecting it to find it, you know, stupid crap in retrospect. But no, no, it's been a delight to revisit. Me and my brother really liked this one when it came out. I know he was saying there was just,

there's loads of gimmicks, Andy, but there's so many gimmicks though, Andy. So many. And so many pop-hooks. Neither have you mentioned my favorite, stupid, crass gimmick of the whole bloody thing. do-dick, do-to-do-dick, the fucking cow-b-low.

I love it. It's so dumb. And I've only just realized that adding to the the gnafness, the deliberate gnafness, the intro is stolen from deaf leopard.

You know, the Guntagliben glas that's sampled from a bloody deaf leopard song. They know this is, as they say, whack. But it just works. and they have about five different hooks in it.

And I'll... I'll say this, right. Okay. Andy. Now, we have played blind karaoke before, have we not? We have. Yes. And so has Rob.

I've played it with Rob as well. Yeah, yeah. Yeah? How fucking awful am I at Blind Karaokey, Andy? Be quite candid. I'll be polite about it. Fucking terrible. Yeah.

I am. I am so poor. I have about an 80% recall of about 11 songs in terms of the actual total lyric sheet. Songs I've heard dozens and dozens of times I really struggle with. But there are a few strange exceptions

where an odd tone or an odd turn of phrase will jam in my head and I won't be able to forget it. My recall of the lyrics of this song, having not actually directly heard it in about 25 years, was shockingly high. Like that,

he's getting a tattoo, yeah? He's getting it done. He asked for a three, three, but they drew a 31, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm like, that's got to be doing something right. This is so perfectly, perfectly primed as a great, all-inclusive silly pop track that it's not pretentious. Everyone knows what it's talking about. It's not quite mean-spirited either, because it's kind of championing the goofiness as well.

And they've always got this offspring. I've always had this charming aspect that was, well, yeah, as you say, Andy, I mean, Blink 182, they've become more revered in the long run. I think this kind of gonzo-dufus rock kind of approach that they did kind of paved the way for acts like Blink 182 in a way. Because, I mean, it was a probably, I mean, offspring had been going since the turn of the 90s, and their first big hit album was like 94. We were smash. Yeah, I'd say.

The thing is, the other name I wanted to drop as Green Day, but I don't think that's, because they are their contemporaries in all areas. Yes, yes. But I thought that was a weird comparison, because Green Day were kind of already sort of revered in their day, whereas the offspring weren't unquited too much. And also, they had a slightly

furrowed brow, whereas offspring were basically kind of like, no, this is more Ramonesy in a sense that it's just dumb shit. You know, I'm not going to get off the skateboard and question. anything. I'm just going to ride it into a wall and you're all going to film it and laugh and then we'll watch us, me falling over on video and laugh again while getting drunk.

But one thing I'll say about the crazy, I've given it away now, about Offspring's legacy. It's as long as they keep re-releasing crazy taxi, I think they will live forever in the public consciousness because I think in many ways for a certain audience of a certain time, it was never a hit in this country. I don't even know if it was a bloody single. But if you mention offspring to a certain small generational slice, they'll just hear, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, do, do, do, do, do, which was the crazy taxi song. And so it basically has its own long playable music video. And I don't think Blink 182 ever had that. But yeah, it's, it's silly, it's crass, it's gimmicky. And I think It's a triumph for all of those reasons.

All right then, so, a big change of pace for the second song this week, which is this. Okay, this is You Don't Know Me by Armand Van Helden and Dwayne Harden. Released as the lead single from his third studio album titled To Future for You. You Don't Know Me is Armand Van Helden's fifth single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is his last. It's also the first and only number one credited to Dwayne Harden. You Don't Know 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 119,000 copies beating competition from VISA of The Times by Drew Hill, National Express by The Divine Comedy. I grow up by garbage and good life by inner city. After one week at the top, You Don't Know Me, dropped one place to number two. It remained inside the top 104, 16 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2026, I'm going to give my very short notes on this and then shuffle out of the way.

Hey, nice house track. Not much Ebenflow, though. It maybe leans on that string sample a little too much. It's got a good sense of righteous indignation and defiance in the vocals from Dwayne Harden. The string sample is incredibly catchy. Yep. Although sometimes when I'm listening to it, I do wonder like, what if he is just the dickhead and all of his apparently negative friends are right?

He's all like, let me live my life. But what if he has a destructive drug habit that he's not telling us about and his friends are just trying to stage an intervention? I want to hear their side of the story personally. But no, yeah, really nice house track. It is nice. It just, I don't know, I've listened to this about a million times hoping for some kind of emotion. And all I can sit there and think is just, yeah, good seven out of ten house track.

Oh my God, I can't think of anything more to say, all right. And so I was panicking a little bit and just kind of hammered that out earlier today. Ed, you can go first on Armand Van Helden. What he said, Andy. Oh, great. I'm not coming to save you here, guys, I'm afraid. no I mean I've got a little tiny bit more the only thing I wanted to add really is just that I'm glad you pointed it out

Rob about how this is a big change of pace from the offspring because I don't think there have been many times on the show that I've been as blown away by the fact that these two songs were not just released in the same year they actually produced in the same year because we've had stuff like you know random out lies like Amarillo and are you ready for love and stuff but this and pretty fly for a white guy coming out the same time it's just just crazy to me. It's just crazy to me because Offspring feels like a totally different area to this because here we've got, you know, clearly French house daft punk adjacent dance music here that feels

like the next millennium and the offspring very much don't feel like the next millennium as far as as I'm concerned. Not an insult to either of them, but yeah, that's just mad. I agree it's a really, really nice sample that is just gorgeously used. There's not much to the song other than that, but it's so good that like, yeah, kind of tap my foot along to this. But I got about halfway through this and I thought, wow, there's really nothing going on in this, is there? But for what it is, for, you know, just kind of chilling out, pulling at the bar in 1999, this serves us perfectly well. So I think this might be one of the shortest segments we've ever had. But yeah, I agree.

This is a nice health track. And that's it. Yeah, what you've said there, Andy actually, is, you know, kind of maybe sit and think, you know, like the offspring is sort of like, that's the end of one thing and this is the beginning of another thing and they've happened right next to each other. Totally. It feels a little bit like the fear following Just Dance. I really wish they were the other way around where Just Dance is the start of the new thing and the fear by Lily Allen is the end of the old thing.

And one of them is like a very like, you know, mournful kind of look back on the decade that went and then Just Dance is like the start of the night that will last for the entire first half of the 2010s, that because it ushes in a style of music where everybody turns around and goes, hey, let's just do that. But with like David Gwetta involved somehow, and that's the first half of the 2010s pop music. Ed, do you have nothing more at all to say, you don't know me? What notes have you got written down? I want to know. Basically, what you said was almost exactly what I had written down. I like this.

It is fairly low on content. The hook is gentle, but insistent. I think the kind of cyclical nature of it is actually what makes it work. So it kind of doesn't get boring. It doesn't grow tiresome because it is kind of mesmerizing and that loop is very effective.

So it doesn't sound jarring every time it repeats. And it's just, it's never like my favorite late 90s, early naughty's house Bob. So it's just kind of like oh, oh, I like this, but I would never seek it out.

It's just good. It's just good. You know what it is? It insists upon itself. Oh yes. Final journal, because I'm never going to get a chance to bring this up again. That National Express by the Divine

Comedy, for some reason that I could not tell you, I have absolutely no idea. Even at the time, like, this is not as an adult, when I was six years old when this came out, I was obsessed with that song. I loved National Express by the Divine Comedy. It's a great track.

It is just fun, fun for all ages. I had them on CD single. I remember bringing it into school and I'd bring your CD singles to school all day. And everyone else had Spice Girls, whatever. And don't get it wrong, obviously, I love the Spice Girls too. But I remember my teacher laughing his head off that I brought in Divine Comedy.

And to be fair, I had a bit of reputation for it because when we bring your own album in, I brought the lighten seeds. I had the tastes of a 30-something dad when I was six years old. So, yeah, nice to hear about National Express. I hadn't thought about that in years. That's actually reminded me of a time, you know, like having a slightly older music taste than your peers in primary school and the reactions that teachers give you and visitors and things like that. And I remember, you know, my parents were really big U-2 fans, less so in the late 90s, but definitely

in the early 2000s when I was at primary school. And I remember the guy, this guy came in from the church down the road, and he played a guest the intro's quiz with about 100 kids in the school. And he played Vertigo by U2. And from the first hit of the drumsticks next to each other for the counting, me and a lad about three rows in front of me, our hands both went straight up in the air. like that. I mean, it was number one at the time.

So, you know, it wasn't like it was a, you know, an obscure hit, but it was like two 10-year-old boys like, oh, yeah, love you two, absolutely adore you too. Know it so well that from the first hit of a drumstick, it's like, yep, I know the whole rest of what that song's going to be. Well, talk about decrepit, bloody taste for a, for a young. And I don't know if I ever told either of you. Do you know what my very first gig was?

I got tickets for it as a birthday present. And it's got less cred than ever. It was Eric Clapton on the From the Cradle Tour, because I was an eight-year-old who really liked Eric Clapton. Now, isn't that a sad little story? Well, not as sad as what I was wondering if you, you know, in my head, I don't know why, but before you said Eric Clapton,

I imagined you saying the scaffold for some reason. Oh, that song is the creep. Creeps, creeps, the scaffold. Jesus Christ. No, no, that's too creepy even for me. I saw on Wood L.A.T. And this is true, what he said, that David Mitchell, in his 50-odd years

has only ever been to one gig in his life. And it was Shirley Bassie. Yeah, he doesn't like music. It's just crazy. I remember him saying that on a panel show about 15, 20 years ago, he's saying, I don't really like music, I don't really listen to it.

And I've been very suspicious of him ever since. I'm really, really suspicious. Anyone who says that immediately puts me in like attack mode like a dog. I'm like, what's up with you? You don't like music. Yeah. I'm sure everybody listening to this would agree. If you don't like music, this is a weird podcast to be 100 episodes deep into.

But yeah. We're going to get a message from Mitchell saying like, I've been listening for a couple of years now. And I really don't get the appeal. I don't. Love the voice. Oh, dear. So, the third song this week is this.

All right, so this is Maria by Blondie. Released as the lead single from the band's seventh studio album titled No Exit. Maria is Blondie's 19th single to be released in the UK and their six. to reach number one. However, as of 2026 it is their last. Maria went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for one win. In its first and only week at top the charts, it sold 128,000 copies, beating competition from Boy You Knock Me Out by Tatiana Alley and Will Smith, enjoy yourself by A Plus and can't get enough by Soul Searcher. After one week at the top, Maria dropped one place to number two.

It remained inside the top 100 for 17 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 20, 26, Andy, Maria, blonde are back after about 15 years away. What do you think? It's crazy, isn't it? It's crazy. At the time, it must have been so unexpected. And it's so weird looking at it in the charts that this happened.

because, I mean, I'm trying to think of a comparison. Here we are in 1999. You've got a band that got going in the late 70s, peaked in the early 80s, did not think really in the intervening years. Here they are with the number one. It's like in 2026 if like Avrilavine got a number one or something. Or I don't know, maybe like...

Well, she's still sort of active, isn't she? I'm trying to think of a band that, like, I mean, I guess it would be like Oasis randomly coming back and getting a number one. They're too big. I think that's one he's been completely gone for like 15 years. BDI.

What about BDI? The killer's got the number one now or something like that. But even then they're still sort of going, aren't they? Oh yeah, they can fill a stadium. Yeah. They can still fill a stadium.

Yeah, no, it is a bit mad. There's not much of a modern comparison points, to be honest. I guess maybe black eyed peas that might be one. But it's, it's, you get the point of making. Like, these are from an entirely

different era. And I don't think anyone could have called this so they'd be back with the number one. But I see why. Another one that even at the time, I have the street cred here of a six-year-old, that I loved this. It was the only blondie song I knew as a kid,

obviously, because it was current. But I absolutely loved it. I remember having endless debates with my... It was just a funny kind of, you know, like a chicken and end conversation that me and my dad used to talk about, is she saying this woman called Maria to the audience?

You have to see this woman called Maria. Or saying, Hey, Maria, look at that woman over there. You've got to see her, Maria. And it sounds much more boring than it was. I had many of plenty of fun conversations about that. Listening to it as an adult, there's no ambiguity at all. We definitely say you need to see a woman called a woman called Maria.

That whole bad anecdote was worth it for that. Thanks, Ed. Anyway, but I really, really like this. It's really energetic. it's really like just full of momentum and full of fun and it's weirdly kind of different for Blondie you can see that they've done something different in the intervening years like there isn't really that sense of

laid back chill new wave to them that you always got with kind of Debbie Harry's lazy vocals and this is much more full on this is much more similar to something like Call Me which was a little bit of an outlier for them you know this this is definitely a 90s version of Blondie and I really like it. I'm going to go and listen to more of them from the 90s.

I don't know how much there really is. I honestly don't know. I think it might be just this album and one other. But yeah, I mean, I'm definitely always going to be on board of Blondie because, for one, I just like them, but also, I've said this a bunch of times, but I think Debbie Harry is potentially the world's coolest person. Like, in terms of aura, in terms of the sheer atmosphere around that woman and the vibe she gives off.

I can't think of someone who has that level of mystique that is as effortlessly cool as she is. And I just admire that. But it helps as well that, like, this is just a really, really catchy song that this really gets in your head. It's got a killer chorus.

I like how the verses build up in that kind of, it's staying on the fifth of the scale of it, so it's kind of building up constantly to that chorus. And the bridge I really like as well with that random harmonica thrown in. there. That's something quite different with the it's really odd and it shouldn't work but it does. There's way more effort been put into this than you would expect for a band that are

really kind of, you know, just kind of paying the bills you would think at this point. I imagine it was as much as a surprise to them as it was to anyone else that this got number one. But it's good enough to get there. I think this is really, really great. Yeah. I do think it's like it pretty much uses all its moves in the first verse and chorus and bridge of course and like it kind of rests on its laurels after that and kind of just relies on the catchiness of it

it's not as inventive as some earlier blondy stuff it's not kind of pushing the envelope in the way that I would kind of expect for them but it's just a really entertaining fun pop song yeah really like this yeah I have to agree actually for a comeback single that's 16 or 17 years in the making

you know I'd argue that this does deserve I think to be considered one of the one of the stronger examples of that from its time you know I've always always like, Blondie. Never loved them, though. Parallel lines, great album, Eat to the Beat, yep, good record, fantastic singles collection. Debbie Harry did her part as well with putting rap on a global stage, you know, mentioning key figures of the late 70s New York hip-hop scene, you know, putting them on the map over here with rapture. I've just never loved them. For every parallel lines,

there's an auto-American or a hunter, and for every atomic, or call me, there's a tides high, or Island of Lost Souls or something. You know, Debbie Harry, I agree, is super cool. But that's all she's ever really ever come across as to me, which means that they're more sentimental material, maybe doesn't ache in the way that it sometimes should. And I find I'm at something of an emotional remove when I'm not listening to that absolute best material

because, oh, she is just so cool. And they're so cool. They're so prim and perfect and nimble and energetic and CBG. and all that stuff. But this, there is a significant degree of emotion and vulnerability to this. And I think it's brought on by age and the imperfections in the performance that come because of age. You know, Debbie Harry trying to belt out something that her voice can just about manage. But you're worried that she might lose that top note at any time. She does hit that note, but she sort of compensates with volume.

She kind of shouts it. And it does bring this level of concern in me and care that maybe they're more perfect material from the late 70s and early 80s doesn't quite manage. You know, it means that all the teenage longing in the song comes through. But I will say, I sort of appreciate it seems to be getting told in the second person. Like Debbie's sort of narrating the emotional and romantic deterioration of a male protagonist, which feels, you know, it's something like Dias Straits Romeo and Juliet or something like that. you know, where it feels like it's like a doomed story, it's like a doomed story because it feels like it's being told by some omniscient narrator that knows it all kind of ends in tragedy in some way. Like, I mean, even with the name of the song, there are allusions to West Side story in there,

you know, this sense of two lovers or two prospective lovers, you know, they've got doomed fates kind of laying out in front of them for one reason or another. There's also this sense of entitlement, I think, male entitlement that comes through in the lyrics about men, you know, what you want to break her and take her home and all that stuff. What keeps this out of the vault for me and maybe keeps it below, in my estimation, like the best of their material? It's going to sound pretty agis, but I do think it's a double-edged sword of a comeback that what you might gain in terms of vulnerability and experience you lose a bit in terms of

vitality and urgency, the arrangement around Debbie feels a little relaxed. Like it's not matching her storytelling or the intensity of her delivery. Like the guys are in the back. You know, they're all there. There are things about it that I'm sort of looking at. I go, no, I like what they've done there, that what they've done there. But it's just that little bit slower, that little bit looser, maybe less interested in remembering lots of details that may have padded out this composition,

where it done 20 years earlier in their lives. All you really get is the sample of that bell going, ding, dong, ding dong. And that's the only variation it seems to come up with after a point. It's not that light on its feet. It sits on the verge of trudging through what I think is a fairly safe experience anyway instrumentally. So while I'm into Debbie Harry's performance and the general idea of, you know, moulding a comeback around and emotionally fraught lead single, the stuff underpinning it just feels a little heavy in its execution.

But that's all. It literally is just like fine hairs keeping it out of the vault for me. I've yeah this was a lovely lovely surprise to come back to this and I know that Andy me and you in this music league that we have with our you know like a you know sort of group of friends and couples and stuff that we know

that Maria came up recently and so we've had a little bit of a preview of it I think I've heard it about 10 times in the last month or all being told but yeah not a displeasure to hear this at all but yeah I just wanted to mention on the point about Debbie Harry's age and all of their ages really that it would be remissue

of me not to kind of bring this up because last year when we had believed by share I made a big fuss of how amazing it is for a 50-year-old pop star to have the biggest hit of their career at that time and although this isn't the biggest hit of blondie's career at all it is still a UK number one for a 54 year old woman and I think that's absolutely awesome because in pop music though 54 is not old by any any stretch of the imagination in pop music terms it's you know it's positively ancient and so it's absolutely amazing that she managed this in 54 and just huge problems for that. Especially for women as well, because I feel like it's a lot harder for women over 30

and especially women over 40 to be considered. You know, the nation doesn't tend to get behind them in quite the same way. Ed, Maria, Blondie. Yeah, I like this too. I don't think anything I'm going to say is going to blow too many minds. I actually like this a little bit more than their sort of classic, perhaps more aloof, perhaps more postmodern. hits pretty much for exactly the reasons that you say, Rob, that it does sound more direct. I love the fact that she cuts loose a bit and there's a bit of urgency in that chorus. I do really like this

and again though I have to mirror your sentiments Rob that I think the arrangement and the recording and the sort of flat safeness of the performance does hold it back from being as rapturous, if you'll forgive the pun, as it could be, because there's real bountiful power pop spirit. And Debbie Harry has it 100% on this. I think she's great, having given her a lot of stick in the past for basically doing what I once I think described as her sexy little teapot routine. Yes, yeah.

Which I think it's just, I did find that air of, sort of post-modernism a bit tiresome, especially combined with the fact that the rest of the group were always very capable. They could move from, from genre to genre very capable, but they never had any sort of trademark or signature outside of the fact that they had this massive beaming sun of charisma in the middle, which was Debbie Harry. I'll never take that away from her. What a pop figure. But nonetheless, just listening on purely musical terms, I did feel quite distanced by it. Like, what am I listening to? And why aren't they letting me in ever? Why aren't they providing me with anything that resonates beyond we make pop music and we're

clever? Don't you wish you're part of our club? And I was like, but here, this is, this is big, this is inviting, but it could just be a bit more urgent. As you say, it does verge a bit on plodding. and they really, I don't know if it's just the band's fault. I think the production is a little bit, a little bit cheap, which is another thing that I think might give credence to it being a bit of a surprise this hit, because it's not decked out for all of the little gimmicks in it, like a big pop hit. It does have the ding, dong, dung, and the harmonica, quote, unquote, but they sound kind of terrible if you isolate them.

They're really like cheap. off-the-rack things that don't sound like they're being deliberately artificial, because the rest of the song sounds like it's going for a fairly conventional rock arrangement. So it's just, it's a really good song. It is. It's endured. It's memorable. It's lots of fun.

But I think it is held back by its slightly leaden sense of gravity, really. But yeah, I like this. I like this quite a lot. I will slightly go to back for their earlier stuff, on what you just said because I do completely get it and it's completely valid point obviously but I think

you know the whole thing about them not letting you in and being appearing quite distant I mean that's that's new wave really that's kind of what they were trying to do that's the style essentially but here this isn't music that is artificial if you get me but it's just the aesthetic and the approach

and it being kind of a celebration of tropism in a lot of ways there are conventions stuff. And I'm saying like, I am not correct here. Do you bear this in mind? This is my own no, this is my own little bug bear that I've always had in part because it always pissed me off that people

would say, well, you've either got a like blondie or the pretenders and the... It's like, why? Why? You were saying that to you, Mr. Tweedy from Chicken Run? Everyone. Bougar. But that's

my own thing. And the thing is, What you have in Blondie's late 70s, early 80s work is a collection of great, very, varied, very memorable pop rock hits. And I'm not taking that away from them. There is a reason why they're so popular. But I just, for my personal tastes, it's just they felt like they were deliberately. I don't know. I didn't like a sense of aloofness I got, which is such a weird complaint. Called distant New York kids.

Yeah, it's like, can I have some residents? But yeah, I am wrong, as I say. All right then, so the fourth and final song this week is this. Okay, this is Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz. Released as the lead single from his fifth studio album titled Five, Fly Away is Lenny Kravitz his 16th single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is his last.

Fly away went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for one win. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 123,000 copies beating competition from Changes by Tupac. Protect Your Mind by DJ Sarkin. One week by Bare Naked Ladies and Be There by Uncle and Ian Brown. After one week at the top, Fly Away fell two places. to number three.

It remained inside the top 100 for 12 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2026, Ed. Lenny Kravitz. It's a bit like instant coffee, this, in a sense that I love coffee. I'm one of those. Another thing that Mitchell doesn't like.

I mean, okay, that's fine. I know Rob, you're not much of a coffee person either, but that in combination with the music thing, I'm, I don't know. I look into his deep, dark eyes, and I'm not sure if I can discern a soul. But anyway, yeah, instant coffee. I don't hate it.

I have it sometimes, and it's like, oh, this is crap and cheap and not really quite premium. It's not very nuanced. It's made cheaply. It's mass marketed. There's too much of it to actually justify the experience. But, you know, it feels like a naughty

bit of fun. It has a quit rush. And yeah, it's fast food. It's fast food. It is crap. But it's... I don't know.

That's the clincher. It's fast food. It's crap. But I don't know. Yeah. There's not a huge amount to say is the problem. Isn't it with this?

Because everything it has is pretty much in the first 30 seconds. And it does sound, given his previous stuff, like this is somebody just just wheeling off, you know, what is needed to have a pop hit. And they do. They do. And it was very successful and it's stuck in the consciousness. And it's a bit bare minimum-y, though, isn't it though? It's not exactly edifying as a close listen. I wish I could say the same about not having much to write about it. Andy, you can go next

on Lenny Kravitz. Well, I don't have much. It's the second time I've said this this week. Well, it's sort of the third, really. It's, yeah, it's another one really that kind of blows a flowed in the first minute, and then that's what you've got. But it's interesting, really, because if I kind of feel the same as I do about You Don't Know Me, which is that, yes, it kind of goes through all its ideas quite early on,

but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's lazy because they're pretty good ideas. Like, it's really, really memorable. Like, I think almost everyone who was alive in the 90s would instantly recognize this when they hear it. It's really... I wouldn't say stuck around, but it did really resonate. And it is very catchy. They, I want to get away.

And it's some very, very nice harmony on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some very nice three-part harmony on that. So some lovely stuff to it. You can definitely tell that there's some artistic talent behind it. And another extremely cool person here in Lenny Kravitz as well. So, like, yeah, it's definitely got flair, it's got style. It definitely is something that, again, you kind of put on for your sort of Friday office drinks as you, you know, have a chicken burger in a local pub.

Like, it's the kind of thing you'd expect there. I don't think it's going to knock anyone sucks off in retrospect, and I don't think it really did then. But I don't think it was really supposed to. I think it was just supposed to be kind of nice, ambient music. Like, you know, the era we're in, you know, bands like Jamira Choir. really popular, you know, where sound is kind of a big selling point here, vibes are a big thing. I'm noticing this about quite a lot of number ones over the last few years is that a lot of style over substance and that is just kind of what people are going for a lot of the time at the

moment. And it obviously works, got to number one, so there's a method to it. I think it says, like, fine, I agree, I got bored with it very quickly, but what I got bored with was stuff that, at least at first, definitely did pick my interest. So I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I suspect that for Rob, this is also like instant coffee in that he doesn't like it. Yes.

I was going to chime in before and say yes, it's very much like instant coffee and that as soon as I come into contact with it, I have to run to the toilet. I didn't think that I hated this. I thought I was like you two, where I thought, well, you know, yeah, you know, yeah, stop, yeah.

Not bad. Sort of thing. Then there was a moment that I experienced with it the other day, which I will go into eventually in my notes, because fucking hell, I think I hate this. You know, that jokey expression people say sometimes when someone's acting out, and you just say,

I remember my first pint as well. Well, for Mr. Kravitz, all I can think of is I remember when I first listened to Blood Sugar Sex Magic as well. Fucking hell. I quite like it ain't over till it's over. And hey, like, you know, are you going to go my way? That, you know, that performed its function by finally, finally replacing Born to Be Wild on car adverts.

You know, Mama said is meant to be a decent record, so I'll trust people on that one, but oh, this fucking hell. Up to that first chorus, I'm not exactly with it, but I'm mostly trusting it. You know, that first verse and then the launch into the chorus, you know, it feels quite good. You know, you wish you'd maybe start using a new melody, perhaps, or that maybe try switching up the rhyme scheme,

but then the chorus appears and you think, oh, yeah, okay, yeah, not bad. He wants to get away and run away and fly away, but then as soon as that second verse starts, I just wish he'd fuck off and go away already. The arse falls out of it completely for me. I think it just retreats back to that same kind of goofy, wobbling, slap-based thing, and fucking hell.

Then he starts wittering on about rhyming, see the stars with even my. And I'm sorry, but if you start a list, the items of which are going to exponentially expand or be bigger, you can't say stars expand to the Milky Way and then suddenly betrack that vision to mention our neighbouring planet. And I've preferred it if he said Stars Milky Way and then try to bend Universe so that it sounded like universe like that. because stars, okay, Milky Way, or he really wants to go everywhere, even Mars. It's like, oh, that's much closer than all of the things you've just said. Maybe in a different order, mate, you could have put that list, but never mind. And then it clicks in the second verse for me that his voice is really, really whiny on this.

And thought, God, that lead hook is the whineers bit. the fucking I want to get a and when it comes back around the second time I'm like no please no and then the bridge comes along if you can call it that

and you think oh maybe something different but no it just keeps doing that same fucking bass loop over and over and over again and this song's idea of a bridge is just to say the title of the song or whisper it

and then go oh oh yeah and then do the chorus a million fucking times again and it's just, I want to get away. I want to get away. I want to get away. And honestly, right, me and my wife, we were in the car the other day and I've got the playlist on for this year, just listing ahead. And honestly, after the fifth fucking, I want to get away in quick succession, I just went, all right, fucking hell shut up and just skipped it. I said, no, I've had enough. I'm not. I can't do it. This is decent for the first like 45 seconds and then there's just this insane downturn in how I feel about it, the more it drags the fuck on.

And then it keeps incessantly repeating the most annoying bit of the song. So no, absolutely not. This has very few ideas, stretches them out to almost four minutes, and it feels like forever. And then I just end up lamenting that he doesn't have that rough edge to his voice anymore that he had for something like always on the run, you know, at the beginning that he did with Slash. And I'm watching the music video. and like for this song and like they're artificially shaking the camera like it's this real heavy rock song and I'm like I could write something heavier than this right now in my sleep I could do it later and I'm not someone who tends towards those kinds of aesthetics when I'm making music I like soft you know friendly power pop you know that kind of thing that's the stuff I write but oh probably is worst hit this and it ends up being the one that really goes over the top for him but fuck's sake like just oh when I was listening to it at the start, I was like, yeah, you know, I remember this. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't too bad. And then, oh, God, it just

the da-da-da-da-da-da for like five times and I'm like all right I feel like I've kind of had enough already the chorus is the first go-round it's like okay get decent syncopation in the guitar playing and there's a good kind of synergy going on here I suppose and then as soon as that second verse starts I'm like oh it's going to stay really stripped back and really repetitive and it's going to get more and more and more on my nerves and yeah and I got to the point like my wife laughed when I did it. All right. All right. Enough out of you. And then press the thing on the dashboard.

It's like, nope, we're not doing it. I couldn't get to the end. I don't think I've ever reached the end of this song without like, oh, it reminds me a lot. I will say that I made a playlist recently that was like Piccadilly radio hits from sort of like 98 to about 2004 when we didn't have a shower in my house. And we just had a bath. And so my dad had this wind up. radio the ears have to go

and then it had worked for about 10 minutes and then you had to get out the bath and then go and then start it up again and they always played this this is one I always remember and the other one was is it thinking of you or dreaming of you by the coral that was another one that they always used to play

yeah it was magic sorry magic radio I made this play this play this it was bath time to a magic 1152 we didn't get a shower in our house until 2004. This meant it was bath night every other night. My dad had a wind-up radio in the bathroom tuned to Magic 1152. These songs seem to be on a permanent loop between 1998 and 2004. You got Mulder and Scully as well by Catatonia. Say What You Want by Texas. Can't Fight the Moonlight. Have a Nice Day. Drops of Jupiter. Fucking hell did they play drops of

Jupiter, point of view by DB Boulevard, white flag by Dido, you know, that kind of thing. And this, I didn't mind it when I was a kid. It's just something that, you know, as I've started to care about songwriting and stuff like that, I listen to this and I'm like, oh, and I can't really go any further. So, yeah, apologies for kind of just coming in and just sort of being like, this is terrible. Yeah, to tell us how you really feel. Yeah, like one thumbs up now. I mean, I could summarize my feelings on the whole as

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Tell you what, I'll tell you this. First place I lived that had a shower, 2013. Yeah. Yeah. I got to the age of, oh, no, tell a line, when I was at uni halls for a year, I had a shower then. But permanent living, you know, I only had a bath until it was 21.

Yeah. Yeah. Sh showers were like, oh my God, half an hour out of my day. Brilliant. Yeah. I mean, I don't know how it, I'm trying to remember how it felt the first time I ever had a shower. Because like, yeah, we didn't have a shower and sometimes I'd stay at friends' houses and stuff and they'd have showers. But like, you know, you're 10 years old, like, or nine years old, like, you're not using a shower in somebody else's house. You're just like, you're a kid, you don't sweat.

You can just shout, you can go four days without having a shower. Imagine you were horrible. Can I have a bath? I used to sweat, sweat as a kid. I was such an appealing kid. I was a sweaty little Eric Clapton fan. When I swatted sweating, everybody knew. That was about the time I wished we did have a shower because my daily baths started to sap my time.

Yes. So, Andy, the offspring, Armid Van Helden, Blondie and Lenny Kravitz. How are we feeling? Well, it may be pretty fly for a white guy, but it doesn't fly all the way into the vault, unfortunately. and while we're at it, nor does fly away. That doesn't fly into the vault either, but not the pie hole.

It just stays where it is. It's a perfectly safe landing for that flight away. As for, you don't know me. Well, one thing I do know is that it's not going into the vault on the pie hole. It's just where it is. Whoa, Maria, you've got to see her all the way in that vault over there where she is, because she's in the vault. because I'm putting her in the vault.

You've got to see that. That's the end of my bit. That was brilliant. I loved it. Ed. Pretty fly for a white guy. You don't know me. Maria and fly away.

The vault evidently loves wannabes, I guess. So, hey, hey, do that vaulting thing. Don't ding, don't, don't, ding, ding. Honestly, I think it is the cowbell that actually edges it. I do love that. Maybe that's what flyaway needs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Winner, you see, that I'd redeem it.

Almost there, but alas, poor almond, I didn't know him, Horatio. Oh dear, that was a bit forced. Anyway, but so close again for Blondie, maybe a million candle lights. That last one does make all the difference. it seems. Vote this may. If Kravitz is flying, it's more like a test flight at Kitty Hawk. It's clearly not going to get anywhere near the vault,

though it isn't cratering its way into the pie hole either. Well, as for me, pretty fly for a white guy. That is just, just missing the vault, just. You don't know me is also kind of just missing the vault, but is a little further down the ladder. Maria by Blondie, again, like I was saying, it's a couple of hairs breadth away from a vaulting fly away is

nope well really i'm really surprised yeah that that's a that's a pie hole in for me that's oh yeah the first 45 seconds got it up to a three out of ten for me and then the rest of it is just a flat line so i'll you know it's not like the most hated thing in the universe it is mainly just from the second verse onwards when i realize it's not going anywhere and then it's going to reinforce all the stuff that makes who want

to claw my own skin off my face. So we will be back for our third episode of 1999 next time. Thank you very much for listening, and we will see you soon. Bye-bye now. Bye-bye. Do-by-do-to-do-d-d-d-ting.