Times Of Our Lives: 1997 – The Science Of It All

1997, Y2K was becoming the buzzword and were you compliant? Minion mode was engaged as most of us went, “Oooooh” at the predicted chaos which would ensue. The End Of The World As We Know It, indeed.

But in pop culture, the Grim Reaper had a busy year. Before that, we said “Hello” to Maisie Williams, Teletubbies, Channel 5, Jonathan Creek, I’m Alan Partridge, Midsomer Murders (total to date: 643, making it the murder capital of the world), Brass Eye, Kipper the Dog,

We said “hello again” to Top of the Pops, which time-warped from 1982 with Blondie, Echo & the Bunnymen and Depeche Mode all reforming. It turned out that Harry Potter was messing around with his wand as he drew everyone into his adventure with the Philosopher’s Stone. Blankety Blank returned to our screens

Still at least we recognised them. You wouldn’t recognise Kylie Jenner now – I’ve had the whole Kardassians thing explained to me  – apparently. This photo has something of the Carlos the Jackal or Pablo Escobar about it; a scary 70s or 80s villain.

Perhaps it’s an artistic genre?

1997 also said “Ciao” to:

• Big Audio Dynamite,
• Michael Hutchence got fed up with hanging around and belted up,
• Fela Kuti,
• Bill Berry as REM’s drummer and for the most part, the musical output went downhill from here;
• Billy Mackenzie, proving it was something rather than nothing;
• Sportsnight;
• Give Us A Clue;
• The Brittas Empire;
• Brian Glover;
• Colonel Tom Parker pulled on his blue suede shoes one last time;
• Brian Connolly – that’s Mr Taggart’s brother to you, sonny! Sweet;
• Terry Nation was exterminated;
• Allen Ginsberg;
• Baltazar;
• Laurie Lee supped his last pint of cider;
• Robert Mitchum;
• Jimmy Stewart;
• Diana, Princess of Wales;
• Mother Teresa;
• Jeffrey Bernard really was unwell;
• Burgess Meredith was foiled by Batman for the last time;
• Stig Anderson began negotiations for the Great Abba Reunion Tour in the sky;
• Jimmy Witherspoon really had the blues about dying;
• John Denver wished he’d taken the country roads home rather than flying;
• Shirley Crabtree had one last Big Daddy splash;
• Billy Bremner slid into one last tackle and lost; and,
• Denis Compton got hit for six.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the film Titanic was released, the number one singles included genuinely awful releases by Spice Girls, Tori Amos, Aqua, White Town, Oasis, Blur, U2, LL Cool J, No Doubt, R Kelly, Michael Jackson, Fat Boy Barlow, Olive, Eternal, Hanson, The Police Faith Evans and Puff Daddy, Will Smith, Elton John, Teletubbies, and the Children in Need version of “Perfect Day”.

Redemption was at hand when the Chemical Brothers made it to the top of the charts, and the Verve as well. But two weeks out of 52? You can do better than that, people.

Well, let’s see if I did with this lot!

Title	Artist
Travellers Tune	Ocean Colour Scene
Fighting Fit	Gene
Science	Paul Weller
The Drugs Don’t Work	The Verve
Nightbird	The Men They Couldn’t Hang
15 Years	Levellers
Bum	Tanya Donelly
Ready Or Not	Sarah Cracknell
The Boy Done Good	Billy Bragg
Elysium	Portishead
The Private Psychedelic Reel	The Chemical Brothers
Dadi Waz A Badi	Black Grape
Brimful Of Asha – The Norman Cook Remix	Cornershop
1999	The Seahorses
Beat Him Up	Helen Love
Spice Girls (Who Do You Think You Are?)	Period Pains
Lazy Line Painter Jane	Belle & Sebastian
Don’t Die Just Yet (The Holiday Girl) – Arab Strap Remix	David Holmes
Burning Wheel	Primal Scream
4 1/2 Inch	The Fall
The International Language Of Screaming	Super Furry Animals
Bitter Sweet Symphony	The Verve
How Can You Leave Us	The Charlatans
Block Rockin’ Beats	The Chemical Brothers
I Want To Be There – When You Come	Echo & the Bunnymen
Thatcherites	Billy Bragg
In Pursuit of Happiness	The Divine Comedy
Motorhead	Primal Scream
Ticker Tape Of The Unconcious	Stereolab
North Country Boy	The Charlatans
Chubacabras	Super Furry Animals
Coastal Town	Sarah Cracknell
Sonnet	The Verve
Hit	The Wannadies
Late In The Day	Supergrass
Love Is The Law	The Seahorses
Get Higher	Black Grape
Pretty Deep	Tanya Donelly
I’m All You Need	The Divine Comedy
Into My Arms	Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Brakhage	Stereolab
Sun Hits The Sky	Supergrass
Free Will And Testament	Robert Wyatt
Sugardaddy – Moodswings Remix	Billy Bragg
Oh Yes (It’s a Mess)	The Wannadies
Brompton Oratory	Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Hundred Mile High City	Ocean Colour Scene
Peacock Suit	Paul Weller
Desert Baby	Sarah Cracknell
Ain’t That Enough	Teenage Fanclub

Advertisements