I'm not even halfway through this. Christ. Fear not, I'm quite sure the second half will be less wordy, as there are quite a lot of songs I have no real connection with. The late 80s and 90s are the ones where I remember pretty precise details of my relationship to the song. That's not to say there aren't some grrrreat songs to come - some of the greatest.
But for now, it's
Deeper Underground - Jamiroquai
which was Number 1 for one week leading up to 1st August 1998, before Viva Forever by the Spice Girls took over.
I choose this to write about, as I've already ranted about the Spice Girls. Viva Forever was the last single on which Geri Halliwell sang, and she was already out of the group by the time it was released. From Wannabe, 2 years before, to this, it was the blink of an eye - they had packed in a lot of story.
After this, it is quite interesting that there were then a couple of years where the Spice Girls were quite ubiquitous as solo artists in the charts, and that Mel B recorded with Missy Elliott and Mel C with Left-Eye, so were clearly aiming for cool, but then none of them could sustain successful solo careers ... Spice Girls, though they have returned here and then, have always felt like a historical entity since then.
...anyway, I said I wouldn't talk about the Spice Girls. Jamiroquai it is.
I have, and have always had, a certain soft spot for Jay Kay and his merry band, in spite of it all. Being told by my sisters that he was from Ealing, indeed that he "used to deal weed on Haven Green" and then seeing him on Top of the Pops with his big hat and fancy moves, him being initially deemed super cool and then almost immediately marked as perennially and utterly uncool, listening to Too Young to Die, and hearing everyone say "that sounds like Stevie Wonder" but not knowing enough Stevie Wonder to know why, being punched by a paparazzo ... I was always just rooting for him. Well, mostly.
Deeper Underground, which was from the film Godzilla, was their only UK Number 1, and only for 1 week. It was one of those Number 1s of that specific era, a bit like the Manics' If You Tolerate This later that summer, which was a bit of a smash and grab. It wasn't actually that popular a song, it just had a week's opportunity and took it.
Jamiroquai have more popular songs than this one. They have an impressive 19 UK Top 20 hits. They really kept at it. They've more in common with earlier mainstream bands like Simply Red and UB40 than the 90s trends, but Jay Kay was very Britpop-attitudy, so gets lumped in with that a bit. Early on, they were part of acid jazz. As a band, they always struck me as exceptionally well drilled. People I know who went to see them said they were great. It seemed like they were a band that girls liked. I've seen their tracks, particularly Virtual Insanity, played by more than one wedding band.
Deeper Underground is a bit rockier, heavier, than a lot of their hits. It's not really a great song, but it's ok. I remember thinking I'd be excited by going to see Godzilla, and then when it came around, realising I didn't fancy it at all, which, I guess, was the kind of decision that set me on to the path to the kind of film fan I am.
I have not much memory of that summer (after 1st year at university), to be honest, beyond France 98 ... just drifted through it a fair bit. Rolling around Ealing and Barnes, drinking London Pride, sleeping in. 20, but still pretty much a child.
Oh, it ended with a boat trip on the Norfolk Broads. That was good. I listen to Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley. Small changes but significant.
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