POP ON TOP
As S Club 7 announce a 25-year anniversary reunion tour, MARION McMULLEN looks back at 1998, a year when boy bands and girl bands reigned supreme on the UK charts
IT was the year TV comedy The Royle Family and quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? were seen for the first time, Titanic was the big winner at the Oscars and new British pop group S Club 7 appeared on the music scene.
The seven-piece outfit – Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole and Tina Barrett was originally created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 1998.
They went on to score four UK number one singles – Bring It All Back, Never Had a Dream Come True, Don’t Stop Movin and Have You Ever – as well as the UK number one album 7.
They recorded four studio albums, released 11 singles – that all entered the UK Charts’ Top 5 – and went on to sell more than 10 million albums worldwide.
The band’s celebrity status was also cemented with their TV shows Miami 7 and LA 7 and they became record-breaking favourites on children’s TV, watched by more than 90 million people in more than 100 countries. In fact LA 7 remains the highest rating programme of all time on CBBC.
The group is celebrating their 25th anniversary with a UK and Ireland arena tour later this year and singer Bradley said the dates will have a nostalgic feeling to them. “It feels fantastic, we are so lucky to be here after 25 years. Reaching out to a younger generation would be great. Bring a lot of nostalgia. Make sure to bring your 90s gear.”
But S Club 7 were not the only popstars having a fine time 25 years ago.
1998 saw then 52-year-old music and movie icon Cher top the UK chart for seven weeks with her smash hit Believe. The song went triple platinum, sold nearly two million copies and was the bestselling single of the year.
Aqua also reached number one with their follow-up to BarGirl. Doctor Jones proved another Euro pop hit for the DanishNorwegian group and went straight to the top of the charts, beating Will Smith’s Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It in the process.
Irish boy band Boyzone were enjoying success with No Matter What by Jim Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, from the musical Whistle Down The Wind and I Love The Way You Love Me.
Meanwhile, Irish girl band B*Witched, which featured Boyzone’s Shane Lynch’s sister Keavy, had a triple whammy, with their debut single C’est La Vie, Rollercoaster and To You I Belong all getbie ting to number one. C’est La Vie came from their self-titled debut album and the four denim-loving girls went on to sell more than three million records worldwide.
Steps had everyone dancing with Heartbeat and Tragedy. Their career saw them nabbing a Brit Award, two number one UK singles, 14 consecutive top fives and a chart-topping album, with more than 20 million records sold globally.
Robbie Williams was flying high with Millennium. In 1998 he made his first appearance at the Brits without Take That as he joined Welsh singing star Sir Tom Jones to perform a medley of hits from the Full Monty soundtrack at the award ceremony in London.
Billie Piper released her debut album Honey To The B, Sophie Ellis Bextor was making her mark with British group Theaudience and a 16-year-old Britney Spears released her debut single Baby One More Time. The famous video for the song was filmed at Venice High School in Los Angeles, which also doubled as Rydell High School in the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John movie Grease two decades earlier. Girl band All Saints were also enjoying success with songs like Bootie Call. They met King Charles at the Party In The Park Concert that year at Hyde Park in London in aid of the Princes Trust.
The Spice Girls reached the top in 1998 with Viva Forever and had the Christmas number one with Goodbye – their third consecutive festive number one. Posh Spice Victoria also got engaged to footballer David Beckham. They met at one of his matches and it was rumoured she asked her band manager Simon Fuller to arrange a meeting. “I am the happiest girl on the world today,” she said officially announcing the engagement. As S Club 7 prepare to bring back the sounds of the 90s, singer Rachel Stevens says: “I think where we are in the world right now, we just want to get up there and bring some joy and positivity.
“I can speak for myself – my kids listen to our music – I think our lyrics and everything are so joyful and so positive and to bring that back to kids today and that nostalgia is such a special thing to be a part of.”