Jukebox Junior: Playing records to a girl called Junior
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Singles Of The Year 1993
[1] Talizman, 'Only You'
I’m guessing most of you won’t even have heard of this. Or maybe you all know it, it was a No.1 in 1993 while I was drunk, and you still erect shrines in awe of its all-pervading glory. Well, you should. And, to this end, I kindly made a tiny mp3 out of the massive vinyl this morning. Enjoy it right here, slightly illegally. So, it’s an unusual record, rich with house, reggae, country, Balearic and soul influences. I never knew too much about it. It was on Cowboy Records, usually famed for its meaty progressive house, but stood apart at a slower, skittering hip hop tempo. Oh, and it was Pete Tong’s Essential Selection one week. That’s where I heard it. Apparently, the 12” will fetch a bit these days, but Junior won’t want it to go. Beaming, she danced for its full 7mins and 47secs. 1993. Not all bad. Right, that’s it for Jukebox Junior for a while.
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[2] Saint Etienne, 'Hobart Paving'/'Who Do You Think You Are?'
A staggeringly perfect AA sided single that deserves the top spot, only missing out because- I assume- I’m just a contrary sod.
Some other facts: ‘Hobart Paving’ is about a woman-done-good returning to her less glittery roots; it’s gorgeous and made my mum come up to my bedroom to ask me what it was, so impressed was she. I must stress that this was back in 1993. My mum doesn’t live below me or anything. ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ is a cover of a Candlewick Green song. Apparently, they were rubbish. It’s the bouncy counterpoint to ‘Hobart Paving’’s wistful melancholia and has ace deadpan co-vocals by Debsey out of the Dolly Mixtures.
This single’s always welcome.
‘Hobart Paving’ saw Junior just out of bed- having slept in, the lazy munchkin- gazing in wonder, spaced-out, at the stereo. Think she liked it. She perked up for the other side, but that might have been down to the Weetabix too. She danced in her highchair, grooving in restricted space, just like the night she went to the Saint Etienne gig in her mum’s tummy.
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[3] Björk, 'Venus As A Boy'
I confess that I harbour a deep love for Björk. She’s probably the only woman that my brother and I will ever agree on. For Junior, she’s just another odd noise coming out of the stereo, so she plays ‘There’s A Hole In My Bucket’ over the top. It can’t sound any stranger. Anyway, our budding critic [I tried to think of a decent female music journalist, of which there are many, but Julie Burchill kept getting in the way] gave it a sway here and there. Muted appreciation.
I’m sure you all love this too, with its synthesized harps, naughty words and unhinged Icelandic vocal swoops and clicks. She was flavour of the year in the music and style press, ‘Debut’ getting all the plaudits denied the Sugarcubes. Amazing what you can manage with a trendy producer.
And a fat set of stonking tunes.
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[4] Pet Shop Boys, 'Go West'
Or how the Pet Shop Boys managed to prise a bit of melancholy out of a silly gay anthem.
Junior took a position in the centre of the rug, stood up and swung hips from the seaside intro to the brilliant, mad acieed finale. A floorfiller, if Junior could ever fill a floor.
I wasn’t too taken with this to begin with. I already considered the ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’/’Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ mash-up to be their final roll of the creative dice, and they hadn’t been doing much to disprove this. I thought we had a straight cover here, but then I heard the acid coda and then I listened more closely to the orchestration and the choir and the middle bit and the yearning and the loss and the grief.
And then the video went and put a fall of the Soviet Union spin on it too. Brilliant.
This was definitely the final roll.
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[5] New Order, 'Regret'
Every note swells with the regret he claims not to feel. It’s textbook New Order, but without the usual distance, and even the words seem real. I say it’s their last great single.
And they released some great singles, singles you wanted to keep, singles that didn’t always have to clutter up albums, they could just exist in their own right. ‘Regret’ is on an album, but I wish it wasn’t. I wish it had been a swansong, standing alone, and they never reformed. Too lacklustre in the last ten years, becoming their own greatest hits tribute act on their own stage.
Although I understand that they’re still cracking live.
As the energy ebbed out of New Order, it filled Junior afresh as she spent most of the song clearing the coffee table of dad’s phone, dad’s notebook, dad’s pen and dad’s travelcard. Had a quick chew on the travelcard too. I’d offer some laboured pun about her regretting this later, if I hadn’t tried the trick loads of times before. Much to my regret.
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[6] The Breeders, 'Cannonball'
American indie pop and the death of grunge. Put simply, the Pixies sired grunge according to accepted history, whether they wanted to or not, and by 1993 it had died in a slowly bubbling sludge of Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, accompanied by a bone-scraping Nirvana record- ‘In Utero’, an advance elegy. Out of all this, the Breeders (with occasional ex-Pixie Kim Deal upfront) made an entirely inappropriate thrashy candyfloss pop nonsense rocker that ate the world’s indie clubs.
Copy it down. That’ll get you an A* in your Fictional Pop Genres 1989-1994 GCSE.
That’ll be one of the less outlandish subjects on offer in 15 years time when Junior’s taking her GCSEs via that Bluetooth headchip I mention occasionally. And she’ll stuff it up, because the baby suncream she’d swiped off the bookcase was far more interesting than any beautiful Breeders tunes.
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[7] Sub Sub featuring Melanie Williams, 'Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)'
I know this countdown’s been a bit of a chore for some, so here’s a springy little number to cheer a few of you up. Junior couldn’t have given a stuff about it, but she’s not always right. Or is she? I tried to wow her with stories about them becoming Doves, but she said she’s heard enough fairytales.
But they did. The blokes in the background, I mean. It’s not so surprising; they like their rhythms, do Doves. Melanie Williams went on to, well, nothing. She’s probably Honey in Eastenders for all I know, but I think this was really her one brush with fame. Her band Temper Temper had made a passable dance track or two, maybe good enough for Normski’s show but no more than that.
Bloody hell. Normski. What happened to that divvy?
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