So at last, here's the rest.
20 - "The Key: The Secret," Urban Cookie Collective
The first and biggest of four Top 40s for this British dance group was this house track about having a key, and also a secret "to another way." That pretty much sums up the lyric. The backing track is pretty good, though. A bit above average.
19 - "Here We Go," Stakka Bo
The only major international hit for Swede Bo Johan Renck was this pop/hip-hop number that rails against consumer culture. Catchy, with an interesting if awkwardly-rapped message. And one of the better post-disco uses of flute. Renck has gone on to direct music videos and TV shows, including episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.
18 - "Big Scary Animal," Belinda Carlisle
The ex-Go-Go was no longer having hits at home, but she was still charting regularly in Britain, scoring the fourteenth of her 19 Top 40s with this pop-rocker that compares romance to a ferocious beast. She employs the rockier rasp in her voice more than she did on her American hits, and I like that. I missed the edge.
17 - "Living on My Own," Freddie Mercury
This posthumous remix of a 1985 single became the legendary Queen frontman's only solo #1. It's a dance-rocker about loneliness and longing for better days. Not a strong song, but Freddie's outsized charisma sells it.
16 - "Faces," 2 Unlimited
The seventh of 14 U.K. hits for the Dutch dance group known for their sports arena-friendly tracks was this number featuring a rap about accepting each other and things of that nature. The music is a little darker-sounding than their more familiar hits, but I think it makes for a better song that doesn't become an annoying earworm in the "Get Ready for This" or "No Limit" vein.
15 - "Dreamlover," Mariah Carey
This was her seventh #1 in the U.S., but only her third Top Ten here. Meh, it's okay, as she goes. She is what she is.
14 - "Rubberband Girl," Kate Bush
The ethereal chanteuse had another hit with this, er, bouncy pop song about a desire to be elastic. The kind of strangeness you want from her, and in this field, that's good enough for an Uneasy Rider.
13 - "Creep," Radiohead
The first major hit for the Oxford band who became one of the most acclaimed and influential groups of the last quarter-century was this grungy rock blast about the love/hate relationship a stalker has with the object of his obsession. For a while, the band seemed dismayed by its popularity and shunned performing it live, but they seemed to have reclaimed it in recent years. As they should, because it's just this perfect little rock song.
12 - "It Must Have Been Love," Roxette
A re-release of the Swedes' 1990 Pretty Woman monster hit. Still one of their less interesting efforts to these ears.
11 - "The River of Dreams," Billy Joel
His last Top Five on both sides of the Atlantic was this sprightly, gospellish number about spiritual searching. My main thought about this is that Paul Simon did stuff like this better.
10 - "On the Ropes EP," The Wonder Stuff
This band from the West Midlands picked up thirteen Top 40 hits between '88 and '94. Number ten was this EP whose title track is a rock song about the battle between artistic and commercial instincts. I think that's it. Very good, er, stuff, and I'm more interested to check out their other material now than I was when they were kind of a fringe band on the playlist of Toronto "modern rock" station CFNY.
9 - "Condemnation," Depeche Mode
This latest hit from the Essex synth stars was this gospel-tinged ballad about always feeling unjustly persecuted. This could be Donald Trump's campaign song. When will we stop being so unfair to that kind, respectful, warm, and loving humanitarian?
8 - "Life," Haddaway
The first of three other U.K. Top Tens from the man who gave us "What is Love," is this dance tune about romantic uncertainty. Some definite similarities to his best-known hit, but more minor chords and electric guitar. Decent, but it's easy to see why it's not the perennial that other song is.
7 - "It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)," Bitty McLean
Given his nickname due to his diminutive stature, Birmingham-born Delroy McLean began a two-year run of hits with this dancehall cover of a 1961 Fats Domino song about being left by a lover. It's okay, even if the toasting bits seem superfluous. I should look up the original, though.
6 - "She Don't Let Nobody," Chaka Demus and Pliers
The Jamaican duo of emcee John Taylor and singer Everton Bonner had the second of sic Brit hits with this ode to a faithful lady. Pleasant reggae-pop, no more or less.
5 - "Right Here,/Human Nature" SWV
Sisters With Voices transatlantic Michael Jackson-assisted Top Five. Okay.
4 - "Movin' on Up," M People
This Manchester dance group had a whopping 19 hits in the 90s, the biggest being this one, which reached #2. This is a frankly brilliant update of classic disco, with singer Heather Small delivering a powerhouse vocal about leaving an inadequate lover. I will admit that I liked this song so much that it was the sole reason I acquired the soundtrack to The Full Monty back in the day. Ah, the strange things we did for one song back in the pre-everything on demand world.
3 - "Mr. Vain," Culture Beat
This German group formed by Frankfurt DJ Torsten Fenslau had one of the bigger Eurodance hits of the decade with this international charttopper. It's a catchy beat over which rapper Jay Supreme boasts of how irresistable his sexual prowess is to the female of the species. It's definitely one of the songs in the genre that stands out and has some legs.
2 - "Go West," The Pet Shop Boys
The London synthpop duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have had some success in America, but at home they have been prolific hitmakers, scoring 42 Top 40 hits to date, including this cover of a 1979 Village People song about heading to a "promised land," often interpreted as San Francisco given the group's not-exactly-disguised homosexuality. The Boys' version is impressively epic-sounding, even incorporating an all-male Broadway choir on backing vocals. It's quite rousing and inspirational, and blows away the original.
And topping the charts way back when was...
1 - "Boom! Shake the Room," Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince.
The duo of Jeff Townes and Will Smith (who had by this time dropped the words "DJ" and "The" from their name) never charted higher than #4 at home (with 1991's "Summertime"), but they managed a charttopper here with this harder-edged track. Smith's rap is shoutier than it had been before (and would be afterward), but it doesn't seem like a pose, and it works for the song. They wanted to be taken more seriously, but not too much more seriously, and this was an effective effort. A solid party jam.
There you have it. I slowed down a bit there, but I'm not done, and I will return soon. Stay tuned.
