— Matt Goss
The Chart Music podcast team, and show regular Taylor Parkes in particular, often speak about the so-called 'eighventies', a vague period of time in which the seventies and eighties blended into one another. One decade, it would seem, was keen to get started prior to it even beginning while the other desired carrying on well past its time running out. I was just three-and-a-half when the seventies gave way to the eighties so remnants of the 'eighventies' are difficult for me to spot but I am aware of a similar occurance known as the 'neighnties'. No one spoke of the neighnties at the time and it only really seemed to be a curiosity in retrospect. It's odd to think, for example, that the Pixies existed before Roxette or that there was still pop metal as late as 1992 but these weren't remarked upon then.
With the nineties just over a week old, it would have been little too much to expect the past decade to be rid of completely so early on. Instead, we have a very late-eighties pop star reviewing the new releases (all of which would have been written, recorded and cut in the eighties) with his pick for Single of the Fortnight being a very late-eighties rap combo who were looking to shake the tag of having one megahit to hold their hats on. It was going to take a while for the eighties to be extricated completely from the nineties.
Matt Goss last appeared in this space just a few months' ago. Bros had been at the forefront of British consciousness in 1988 but their star had gradually begun to wane over the course of the following year. Craig 'Ken' Logan took a leave of absence (he wasn't on stage with the Goss brothers at their Wembley Arena show in mid-January, much to the bitter disappointment of my sister) before officially departing in the spring. Having been all over the place a year earlier, the public was sick to death of them and their legion of Brosettes was diminishing as allegiances were transferred over to Jason Donovan and New Kids on the Block. Now a duo of Matt and twin brother Luke, they wanted to tell everyone of how serious they were and that they'd be around for years. Yeah, about that...
Bros' attempt at reviewing the singles in Smash Hits in September of 1988 is poor even by the modest standards of guest pop star critics. They recommended poor records and, worse, they made the whole thing all about them. Taking on the task alone this time, I am pleased to report that Matt Goss handles it much better the second time round. He tries a little too hard to prove what catholic tastes he has ("I do like rock — I love Journey") but at least he sticks to giving his thoughts on the music he's been given. That said, he makes a bit of an arse of himself when he knocks the New Kids for being "white boys...trying to sound black and not succeeding". Oh the irony.
Salt 'N' Pepa were another trio that rose to fame in 1988. "Push It" had been a near number one but it is now far more beloved than the song it was stuck behind (Glenn Medeiros' "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You"). Bros' first hit single that year ("When Will I Be Famous") also released the runner-up spot and it led to a further four Top 5 smashes; Salt 'N' Pepa's breakthrough success only led to modest performances subsequently. "Shake Your Thang (It's Your Thing)" rode its predecessor to a Top 30 spot but good luck finding anyone who remembers it today. A fun cover "Twist and Shout" returned them to the upper echelons but, again, when did you last hear it?
The group had a quiet 1989 but at least they managed to get out of it without anyone jumping ship. DJ Spinderella, Salt 'N' Pepa's very own Ken (admittedly it was difficult to accept that an outfit with two people in the group name would be a trio), would be a mainstay until being abruptly terminated in 2019. Much of the year was spent working on their second album and "Expression" was to be the first single. Fans expecting another "Push It" weren't going to be disappointed.
In spite of Goss' odd recommendation (see the quote above), "Expression" would ultimately end up being held off until finally being released that April. (It appears in the ALSO RELEASED THIS FORTNIGHT sidebar, reviewer Sian Pattenden having a much tougher selection of singles to sift through as the neighnties really began to heat up) This postponement may have contributed to its shockingly poor chart record as it only just crawled into the bottom of the Top 40. Any worries that they were heading down the dumper would quickly be reversed when follow-ups "Do You Want Me" and "Let's Talk About Sex" made them relevant all over again.
Goss points out that their singing in the chorus makes for a nice change and he's right. Doing tough comedy rap was only going to take them so far and working out a new approach turned out to be the right move. The other big change "Expression" marks is an embrace of feminism. They aren't explicit with this message but just who were these young women trying to encourage if not teenage girls? When they first arrived they seemed horny and up for a laugh but now they were trying to go deeper and mostly pulling it off. I don't suppose this is the "message" that rap fans of the time would allude to but it's a message all the same and one that your Public Enemies and NWA's weren't interested in pushing into their material.
What's missing is originality. With an oft-repeated chorus imploring listeners to "express yourself..." they were either knowingly or unknowlingly inviting Madonna comparisons. "Express Yourself" had been a global hit for Madge only six months' earlier and it couldn't have helped the chances of Salt 'N' Pepa's comeback. Why it was chosen to mark their return is anyone's guess even if it's a well-intended effort. I don't imagine they meant to copy Madonna but that's not how it would've been taken. For his part, Goss doesn't bring this up and it's possible no one noticed.
The first Single of the Fortnight of the nineties, "Expression" ushered in a period of hip hop becoming much more critically acceptable in the pages of Smash Hits. And, for once, they weren't being lauded for not boasting about themselves as previous wags had gone out of their way to give props to the likes of Run-DMC, De La Soul and Redhead Kingpin. Hip hop could finally be taken as hip hop and there would be plenty of room for the braggarts, do-gooders, gangstas and hippies. Salt 'N' Pepa would carry on and continue to do well throughout the decade ahead. As for Bros, well...
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Deacon Blue: "Queen of the New Year"
"Ha-Hoo-Ha!" Timing, as they say, is everything. Ver Blue's second album When the World Knows Your Name had come out about nine months' earlier. I got it for my twelfth birthday and I have always associated it with the hot summer of '89 as a result. Sure, there was this song about the New Year that opened it (as well as two further numbers that mention Christmas) but the big choruses and drums and all that yodeling made for fun listening on warm evenings as well as car trips around the south of England. Jump ahead to the start of 1990 and "Queen of the New Year" suddenly made sense and became my favourite song on an album that was now all about snow and ice and staying in. An LP for all seasons even if the cool kids weren't having any of it.
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