Someone in the comments called “I Wanna Sex You Up” distressingly indiscreet, which seems a bit prudish but Bryan is definitely serving up something a bit more romantic – the sexing you up is all in the thrusting, hairy-chested sound of it, not in the devotional words. And there hadn’t been many of those at Number One recently, the last comparable thing was probably “Unchained Melody”, which was from 1965 anyway. Most of the really colossal 90s hits are love songs, and very big, demonstrative, Hollywood love songs at that. You also have to think about the subject matter, of course. Play 4: That piano intro is starting to sound a bit fussy. Doesn’t quite explain the longevity, though. More seriously I think there’s a sense in which “Everything I Do” was put at number one as a reaction to a lot of the other stuff which was going on in pop, a ballad built on good old fashioned (well, circa 1986) values. If the second preference votes for Rebel MC had been counted in favour of the Prodigy perhaps we wouldn’t be having this discussion. At the risk of a stab at topicality which will date this entry event more, there’s yer argument for AV right there. “I don’t like sad music.” Don’t worry, only thirteen more plays to go! Anyway, in the comments Billy Hicks asks the killer question – why this? As he points out the top ten seemed to be this plus half a dozen breakbeat tracks. Play 3: “This is a little bit sad music” says a passing four-year old. (Ah – the solo again – now I’m noticing little moans from Bry on it, dear me.) Anyway I hardly noticed this being number one for its first few weeks and certainly bore it no ill will. I suspect “Everything I Do” might have a rather wider appeal. “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” – now there, I thought, was a love song. The song got to number one just after I’d left school – I was spending the summer listening to Bob Dylan and picking fruit for a pittance. Play 2: So on first go that wasn’t so bad! I was 18 when this song was around and I dare say a great deal less amenable to ballads in general and romantic ballads in particular. It levels up repeatedly, reaches a climax about two-thirds of the way through, then we have a lingering solo (which I didn’t remember at all and have really no desire to hear another fifteen times), a reprise of the pre-chorus and chorus, and that’s your lot. The record is – oh look, you know this, but anyway – it’s a power ballad, slower in fact than I remember. At least one other record has come close, a few have threatened to, but this is still the champ. In case anyone doesn’t know why I’m doing this, “Everything I Do” – a soundtrack hit from Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves – holds the record for the longest consecutive run at Number One in the UK singles chart. I’ve honestly hardly heard this in the last twenty years so I don’t anticipate the full horror will strike me for a few plays. This song got to number one for 16 weeks, so I decided to play it 16 times in a row, writing as I went. Sixteen Listens For Sixteen Weeks: An Everything I Do Liveblog
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