Announcement

**George** · 02-12-2012, 22:42

#1's - The Nineties

1996

George Michael - Jesus To A Child
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman
Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
Take That - How Deep Is Your Love
The Prodigy - Firestarter
Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack
George Michael - Fastlove
Gina G - Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit
Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds - Three Lions
Fugees - Killing Me Softly
Gary Barlow - Forever Love
Spice Girls - Wannabe
Peter Andre - Flava
The Fugees - Ready Or Not
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffanys
The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun
Boyzone - Words
The Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There
Robson & Jerome - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted/Saturday Night At The Movies/You'll Never Walk Alone
The Prodigy - Breathe
Peter Andre - I Feel You
Boyzone - A Different Beat
Dunblane - Knockin' On Heaven's Door / Throw These Guns Away
Spice Girls - 2 Become 1

1997

Tori Amos - Professional Widow
White Town - Your Woman
Blur - Beetlebum
L.L. Cool J - Ain't Nobody
U2 - Discotheque
No Doubt - Don't Speak
Spice Girls - Who Do You Think You Are / Mama
The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats
R. Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly
Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance Floor
Gary Barlow - Love Won't Wait
Olive - You're Not Alone
Eternal featuring Bebe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One
Hanson - Mmm Bop
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean?
Puff Daddy & Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
Will Smith - Men In Black
The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work
Elton John - Candle In The Wind '97 / Something About The Way You Look Tonight
Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life
Aqua - Barbie Girl
Various Artists - Perfect Day
Teletubbies - Teletubbies Say 'Eh-Oh'
Spice Girls - Too Much

1998

All Saints - Never Ever
Oasis - All Around The World
Usher - You Make Me Wanna
Aqua - Dr Jones
Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha
Madonna - Frozen
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins - It's Like That
Boyzone - All I Need
All Saints - Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade
Aqua - Turn Back Time
The Tamperer featuring Maya - Feel It
B*witched - C'Est La Vie
Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds - Three Lions 98
Billie Because We Want To
Another Level - Freak Me
Jamiroquai - Deeper Underground
Spice Girls - Viva Forever
Boyzone - No Matter What
The Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
All Saints - Bootie Call
Robbie Williams - Millennium
Melanie B featuring Missy Elliott - I Want You Back
B*witched - Rollercoaster
Billie - Girlfriend
Spacedust - Gym & Tonic
Cher - Believe
B*witched - To You I Belong
The Spice Girls - Goodbye

1999

Chef - Chocolate Salty Balls
Steps - Heartbeat/Tragedy
Fatboy Slim - Praise You
911 - A Little Bit More
The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me
Blondie - Maria
Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away
Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
Boyzone - When The Going Gets Tough
B*witched - Blame It On The Weatherman
Mr Oizo - Flat Beat
Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment
Westlife - Swear It Again
The Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way
Boyzone - You Needed Me
Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate
Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
S Club 7 - Bring It All Back
The Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom
A.T.B. - 9pm (Till I Come)
Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca
Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All
Westlife - If I Let You Go
Geri Halliwell - Mi Chico Latino
Lou Bega - Mambo No5 (A Little Bit Of...)
The Vengaboys - We're Going To Ibiza!
Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)
Christina Aguilera - Genie In The Bottle
Westlife - Flying Without Wings
Five - Keep On Movin'
Geri Halliwell - Lift Me Up
Robbie Williams - She's The One / It's Only Us
The Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle
Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer
Westlife - I Have A Dream / Seasons In The Sun

If this list has confirmed one thing then it's that the final two years of the decade were musically the direst period possible between the release of Telstar in 62 and the turn of the millennium. 1985 doesn't even come close.

**Borracho** · 03-12-2012, 03:01

#1's - The Nineties

1996 looks marginally better than the rest, though 1982 it ain't. None of the years listed here is any great shakes.

Very noticeable how the actual quantity of No 1s massively increases the closer you get to 1999.

**Furtho** · 03-12-2012, 07:18

#1's - The Nineties

Slightly stunned to be reminded of the fact that B*witched had four number one singles. But God, what a wretched decade.

**beak** · 03-12-2012, 08:58

#1's - The Nineties

Sweet Christ. This should be my decade - on the stroke of the nineties turning into the noughties I was seventeen years old, so these are my formative years all in one place.

There's probably one-and-a-half songs on that list I'd listen to for fun, and maybe another two or three I could tap my foot to if they came on in the pub.

What a shitshower of a decade.

**1974ddr** · 03-12-2012, 10:15

#1's - The Nineties

Jesus. The horror, the horror...

**Sits** · 03-12-2012, 10:42

#1's - The Nineties

Holy buggery.

I remember noticing some time around the late 90s the brevity of tenure at No. 1 but also how meaningless it had become. Very hard to choose between these years but here goes:

1: What was the best year. 1996

2: What was the worst year. 1999

3: What was the best #1 from each year
90 Adamski - Killer
91 U2 - The Fly
92 Erasure - Abba-Esque (EP)
93 NIL^
94 NIL^
95 Blur - Country House
96 Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
97 Blur - Beetlebum
98 The Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
99 Fatboy Slim - Praise You

4: What was the worst #1 from each year.
90 Maria McKee - Show Me Heaven
91 George Michael & Elton John - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
92 Boyz II Men - End Of The Road
93 Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby
94 Mariah Carey - Without You
95 Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
96 Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffanys
97 Elton John - Candle In The Wind '97 / Something About The Way You Look Tonight
98 Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
99 Seriously, what could I leave out?

^didn't get Worst Year as they had a lot less crap songs than 1999

**Duncan Gardner** · 03-12-2012, 11:06

#1's - The Nineties

Good game, thanks George.

1990 best Killer, worst Tears on my pillow
1991 Bring your daughter, Everything I do
1992 Abbaesque, -----
1993 ----, Mr Blobby
1994 Things can only get better, Saturday night
1995 Back for good, Country house
1996 Breakfast at Tiffany's, Breathe
1997 Your woman, Candle in the wind
1998 Brimful of Asha, My heart will go on
1999 Chocolate salty balls [for the title alone]

**matt j** · 03-12-2012, 11:50

#1's - The Nineties

I've said it before, but fuck, the UK must have been an odd place to live during the 90s. (And there is not much rescue from the US crossover hits, either.)

I agree with jim's sentiment.

**MsD** · 03-12-2012, 12:24

#1's - The Nineties

It was a great decade for music, but not necessarily reflected in the No 1s, as with other decades. The "dance" genre led the way, generally, although guitar-based bands got a shot in the arm.

**beak** · 03-12-2012, 13:01

#1's - The Nineties

Aye, I was going to say: on reflection, a lot of the music dearest to me came out in this decade (and didn't get within sniff of making the charts).

Still, a shocker for hits.

**Giggler** · 03-12-2012, 13:39

#1's - The Nineties

I'll always maintain that you discover the most important music of your life in year of birth + 16, ideally in that summer. That places me squarely in 1997 and with Bury newly-installed in the second tier, it bears out that it was the best summer ever. But my God, there was some dross that year.

I bought a lot of new release singles that year when they were only �1.99 in the week they came out but none of them got to the top spot. However, Dreamer by the Seahorses (a b-side of Love Is the Law) remains a great tune to these ears.

I always had a fondness for 1991, excepting Adams, which probably stems from loving the KLF on Atlantic 252 back in the day.

**Duncan Gardner** · 03-12-2012, 13:47

#1's - The Nineties

Giggler wrote: I'll always maintain that you discover the most important music of your life in year of birth + 16, ideally in that summer.

01 Boney M Rivers Of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring
02 John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John You're The One That I Want
03 John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John Summer Nights
04 The Bee Gees Night Fever
05 The Commodores Three Times A Lady
06 Brian & Michael Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs
07 Father Abraham & The Smurfs The Smurf Song
08 Abba Take A Chance On Me
09 Kate Bush Wuthering Heights
10 The Boomtown Rats Rat Trap
11 Wings Mull Of Kintyre / Girl's School
12 10cc Dreadlock Holiday
13 Brotherhood Of Man Figaro
14 Blondie Denis
15 Clout Substitute
16 Darts Come Back My Love
17 Gerry Rafferty Baker Street
18 Boney M Mary's Boy Child
19 Darts The Boy From New York City
20 Althia & Donna Uptown Top Ranking
21 Marshall Hain Dancin' In The City
22 Rose Royce Wishing On A Star
23 John Travolta Sandy
24 Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams Too Much Too Little Too Late
25 Darts It's Raining
26 A Taste Of Honey Boogie Oogie Oogie
27 Boney M Rasputin
28 Rod Stewart Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
29 James Galway Annie's Song
30 Showaddywaddy I Wonder Why
31 Andrew Gold Never Let Her Slip Away
32 Rose Royce Love Don't Live Here Anymore
33 Suzi Quatro If You Can't Give Me Love
34 Olivia Newton-John Hopelessly Devoted To You
35 Frankie Valli Grease
36 David Essex Oh What A Circus
37 Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keely If I Had Words
38 Donna Summer Love's Unkind
39 The Rolling Stones Miss You
40 Eruption I Can't Stand The Rain
41 Jilted John Jilted John
42 Dean Friedman Lucky Stars
43 The Bee Gees Stayin' Alive
44 The Motors Airport
45 Yvonne Elliman If I Can't Have You
46 The Boomtown Rats Like Clockwork
47 Electric Light Orchestra Mr Blue Sky
48 Justin Hayward Forever Autumn
49 The Village People YMCA
50 Frankie Miller Darlin'
51 Patti Smith Group Because The Night
52 John Paul Young Love Is In The Air
53 Genesis Follow You Follow Me
54 Odyssey Native New Yorker
55 The Jacksons Blame It On The Boogie
56 Showaddywaddy A Little Bit Of Soap
57 Electric Light Orchestra Sweet Talkin' Woman
58 Electric Light Orchestra Wild West Hero
59 Donna Summer MacArthur Park
60 Samantha Sang Emotions
61 Sylvester You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)
62 The Cars My Best Friend's Girl
63 Manfred Mann's Earth Band Davy's On The Road Again
64 The Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band Floral Dance
65 The Bee Gees Too Much Heaven
66 Bonnie Tyler It's A Heartache
67 Exile Kiss You All Over
68 Smokie Oh Carol
69 Cerrone Super Nature
70 The Barron Knights A Taste Of Aggro
71 Showaddywaddy Pretty Little Angel Eyes
72 Dee D Jackson Automatic Lover
73 Kate Bush Man With The Child In His Eyes
74 Leo Sayer I Can't Stop Lovin' You
75 Plastic Bertrand Ca Plane Pour Moi
76 Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper
77 Tavares More Than A Woman
78 Blondie Hanging On The Telephone
79 The Michael Zager Band Let's All Chant
80 Lindisfarne Run For Home
81 Dan Hartman Instant Replay
82 City Boy 5-7-0-5
83 Heatwave Always And Forever / Mind Blowing Decisions
84 Wings With A Little Luck
85 Bill Withers Lovely Day
86 Crystal Gayle Talking In Your Sleep
87 Raydio Jack And Jill
88 Sheila & B Devotion Singin' In The Rain
89 Goldie Making Up Again
90 Abba Summer Night City
91 Raffaella Carra Do It Do It Again
92 Bob Marley & The Wailers Is This Love
93 Crystal Gayle Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
94 The Sweet Love Is Like Oxygen
95 Hi Tension British Hustle
96 Blondie Picture This
97 Rod Stewart Hot Legs / I Was Only Joking
98 Child It's Only Make Believe
99 Ian Dury What A Waste
100 Yellow Dog Just One More Night

Even by my very low standards, there are some bad records in that list.

**Disco Child Ballads** · 03-12-2012, 13:52

#1's - The Nineties

I turned 16 in 1991. As the above shows, it really was a terrible year for music.

**Ginger Yellow** · 03-12-2012, 14:04

#1's - The Nineties

That said, 3am Eternal would be a great number one for any year.

**Mumpo** · 03-12-2012, 14:51

#1's - The Nineties

Thin pickings, huh. For what it's worth, the decent number ones from that lot (not including reissues):

1990
Madonna - Vogue
Adamski - Killer
Englandneworder - World In Motion

1991
Queen - Innuendo
The K.L.F. featuring Children of The Revolution - 3AM Eternal
U2 - The Fly

1992
Shakespear's Sister - Stay
The Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode

1993
Shaggy - Oh Carolina

1994
Prince - The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
Tony Di Bart - The Real Thing

1995
Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy
East 17 - Stay Another Day
Shaggy - Boombastic
Simply Red - Fairground

1996
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman
The Prodigy - Breathe

1997
Tori Amos - Professional Widow
White Town - Your Woman
Blur - Beetlebum (Woah! A hat-trick!)
The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats
Olive - You're Not Alone

1998
Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha
Madonna - Frozen
Run DMC vs Jason Nevins - It's Like That (And another!)
Jamiroquai - Deeper Underground
The Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

1999
Mr Oizo - Flat Beat
A.T.B. - 9pm (Till I Come)

The Manics and Cornershop get in by virtue of being indie bands, rather than having made it to the top with especially good songs.

**Giggler** · 03-12-2012, 15:52

#1's - The Nineties

Duncan Gardner wrote:

Originally posted by Giggler

I'll always maintain that you discover the most important music of your life in year of birth + 16, ideally in that summer.

01 Boney M Rivers Of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring
...
100 Yellow Dog Just One More Night

Even by my very low standards, there are some bad records in that list.

I'd like to make a distinction of discovering the music that changed your life in year of birth plus 16 as opposed to the music that came out that year. Candle In The Wind '97 didn't change anything at all for me, but discovering the Mondays, the Roses and the Charlatans in that glorious summer, did.

**steveeeeeeeee** · 03-12-2012, 18:36

#1's - The Nineties

Disco Child Ballads wrote: I turned 16 in 1991. As the above shows, it really was a terrible year for music.

You've got to be kidding me, imo 1991 was arguably one of the greatest years in music history.

**George** · 03-12-2012, 18:48

#1's - The Nineties

Since when has Indie worthiness ever been a positive? This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours-era MSP were just as much a part of the problem in '98 as most of the other shit on that list. If You Tolerate This... is beyond turgid - it was awful then and remains so.

I fear the Gates of Hades have been opened up with this thread. Just looking at that list is making me increasingly enraged.

**Benjm** · 04-12-2012, 08:54

#1's - The Nineties

I expected to see I'm Too Sexy there but it stalled behind the Bryan Adams Robin Hood song.

The Fairbrass brothers used to be in a band called The Actors who supported Suicide and Joy Division;

It's hard to know which would have seemed the most unlikely had you told the bands on the night what the early '90s held for them; I'm Too Sexy or World In Motion.

**Mumpo** · 04-12-2012, 09:43

#1's - The Nineties

On the subject of 90's indie, 6Music breakfast gobshite Shaun Keaveny had a pop at Senser the other morning, after a listener phoned in to confess that Switch was their current earworm. He declared the band to be nothing more than an 'Aldi Stereo MCs', and reminded us that his comedy sidekick, Matt Everitt, "fought in the Britpop wars" so that he could wipe "this kind of stuff" off the face of the Earth. Matt Everitt, as you will probably need reminding, was the drummer in Menswear.

**Sits** · 04-12-2012, 10:31

#1's - The Nineties

OK following the "This is my birth + 16, show me yours" theme, here's 1980:

1 Don McLean - Crying
2 Barbra Streisand - Woman In Love
3 Abba - Super Trouper
4 MASH - Theme From 'M*A*S*H' (Suicide is Painless)
5 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno
6 The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me
7 Kelly Marie - Feels Like I'm In Love
8 Odyssey - Use It Up And Wear It Out
9 The Detroit Spinners - Working My Way Back To You / Forgive Me Girl
10 Kenny Rogers - Coward Of The County
11 Blondie - The Tide Is High
12 Ottawan - DISCO
13 Olivia Newton-John & Electric Light Orchestra - Xanadu
14 Fern Kinney - Together We Are Beautiful
15 Lipps Inc - Funky Town
16 David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
17 The Pretenders - Brass In Pocket
18 Hot Chocolate - No Doubt About It
19 Abba - The Winner Takes It All
20 The Jam - Going Underground / Dreams Of Children
21 Liquid Gold - Dance Yourself Dizzy
22 Sheena Easton - 9 To 5
23 Blondie - Atomic
24 The Specials - Too Much Too Young (The Special AKA Live! EP)
25 Johnny Logan - What's Another Year
26 Diana Ross - Upside Down
27 The Jam - Start
28 Madness - Baggy Trousers
29 St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma
30 John Lennon - (Just Like) Starting Over
31 Status Quo - What You're Proposing
32 The Nolans - I'm In The Mood For Dancing
33 Randy Crawford - One Day I'll Fly Away
34 Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster (Jammin')
35 Blondie - Call Me
36 Marti Webb - Take That Look Off Your Face
37 The Whispers - And The Beat Goes On
38 Leo Sayer - More Than I Can Say
39 Stacy Lattisaw - Jump To The Beat
40 Odyssey - If You're Looking For A Way Out
41 The Vapors - Turning Japanese
42 Bad Manners - Special Brew
43 Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Back Together Again
44 Madness - My Girl
45 Dennis Waterman - I Could Be So Good For You
46 Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall
47 UB40 - King / Food For Thought
48 Paul McCartney - Coming Up
49 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Could You Be Loved
50 Billy Preston & Syreeta - With You I'm Born Again
51 The Gap Band - Oops Upside Your Head
52 David Essex - Silver Dream Machine
53 Matchbox - When You Ask About Love
54 Stephanie Mills - Never Knew Love Like This Before
55 The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
56 Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry
57 Hazel O'Connor - Eighth Day
58 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay
59 Roxy Music - Over You
60 Dr Hook - Sexy Eyes
61 Michael Jackson - She's Out Of My Life
62 Madness - Embarrassment
63 David Bowie - Fashion
64 Abba - I Have A Dream
65 The Boomtown Rats - Banana Republic
66 Kate Bush - Babooshka
67 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
68 Rainbow - All Night Long
69 The Piranhas - Tom Hark
70 Elvis Presley - It's Only Love / Beyond The Reef
71 KC & The Sunshine Band - Please Don't Go
72 Sheena Easton - Modern Girl
73 Adam & The Ants - Dog Eat Dog
74 The Detroit Spinners - Cupid / I've Loved You For A Long Time
75 Cliff Richard - Carrie
76 Styx - Babe
77 Mike Berry - The Sunshine Of Your Smile
78 Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short
79 UB40 - My Way Of Thinking / I Think It's Going To Rain
80 The Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
81 The Lambrettas - Poison Ivy
82 The Specials - Rat Race / Rude Boys Outa Jail
83 The Nolans - Gotta Pull Myself Together
84 The Brothers Johnson - Stomp
85 Jermaine Jackson - Let's Get Serious
86 Crown Heights Affair - You Gave Me Love
87 Kool & The Gang - Celebration
88 Diana Ross - My Old Piano
89 Joe Jackson - It's Different For Girls
90 The Boomtown Rats - Someone's Looking At You
91 Cliff Richard - Dreamin'
92 Sky - Toccata
93 Elvis Costello - I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
94 George Benson - Give Me The Night
95 Keith Michell - Captain Beaky / Wilfred The Weasel
96 Roxy Music - Oh Yeah (On The Radio)
97 Teena Marie - Behind The Groove
98 UB40 - The Earth Dies Screaming / Dream A Lie
99 Darts - Let's Hang On
100 Jon & Vangelis - I Hear You Now

Hmmm inconclusive. From memory I was buying Blondie, The Stranglers and The Clash that year, along with UB40, Kings of the Wild Frontier and Goonhilly Down by The Planets.

**Gangster Octopus** · 04-12-2012, 10:47

#1's - The Nineties

I bought a lot of singles in 1980. Not many are on that list...

**Lucia Lanigan** · 04-12-2012, 21:57

#1's - The Nineties

You can't really judge any decade on its number ones. But as it happens I do think late 90s British music was fairly moribund. There was a similar situation to the present one, with bland Jools-fodder guitar bands in the mainstream and niche post-rock things going on in the margins; but not much oomph in the centre. Garage was good, but not as strong a style as jungle, grime or dubstep.

You only need a taste of Timbaland to remember how bold and subtle million-selling artists could sound even in the arse-end of the 90s though. I'm still in awe of these records: Missy, Destiny's Child and Jay Zed. Pop's under the cosh of a panzer trance hegemony at the moment, but it'll get its shit together soon, you mark my words.

**multipleman78** · 06-12-2012, 19:42

#1's - The Nineties

I believe that two of the most famous songs of 1995 were denied being at number 1 by Robson and Jerome. Pulp's Common People stalled at number 2 around May and Oasis's Wonderwall missed number 1 in October or November.

The 90's are my decade for growing into liking music and i think there was a lot of good stuff in the decade but this list doesn't reflect that. You will find no Nirvana on this list for example.

The one song that stands out for me is Prince hitting number 1 with The Most Beautiful Girl In The World. His only number 1 in the UK. He should have had more.

Announcement

#1's - The Nineties

#1's - The Nineties

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