Charting 1997: 11th October

01. (1) Elton John - Something About The Way You Look/Candle In The Wind
Still not budging.
02. (3) Dario G - Sunchyme
03.(NE) Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me
So this is the highest new entry of the week. One of their most popular songs although I never liked it. And "people say... I am blind, risking it all in a glance" doesn't quite work as a metaphor.
04.(NE) Eternal - Angel Of Mine
Possibly their sappiest song, which if anything I hated even more than the Backstreet Boys. Their last single  as a trio and their last to make the Top 10, it was later a US chart-topper for Monica, though her version flopped here. 
05. (2) Oasis - Stand By Me
06.(NE) Lighthouse Family - Raincloud
Lead single from their second album and the point where their ubiquity started to grate. Also, it's a watered-down version of 'Another Star' by Stevie Wonder isn't it?
07. (5) Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
08. (9) Will Smith - Men In Black
09. (6) Janet Jackson - Got 'Til It's Gone ft Q-Tip And Joni Mitchell
10. (4) Louise - Arms Around The World
11.(11) Tina Moore - Never Gonna Let You Go
12.(NE) Foxy Brown - Big Bad Mamma ft Dru Hill
So called because it samples the old funk hit 'She's A Bad Mama Jama', this was from the soundtrack to the film How To Be A Player. No, neither had I.
13. (8) M People - Just For You
14.(NE) Coolio - Ooh La La
I have a vague idea this might have been in a film too, but it was also the second single from his album, and his last major UK hit. It samples 'Pull Up To The Bumper'. 
15.(10) The Verve - The Drugs Don't Work
16.(NE) The Seahorses - Love Me And Leave Me
The chart debut of Liam Gallagher as a songwriter (he co-wrote it with John Squire). Fittingly, the first line of the song is copied from a John Lennon number. 
17.(12) Bellini - Samba De Janeiro
18.(13) 2 Eivissa - Oh La La La
19.(NE) DJ Flavours - Your Caress (All I Need)
The model in the video was Emma Morton-Smith, who had a Top 5 hit of her own in early 1999 with a cover of 'More Than This' by Roxy Music.
20.(NE) Roachford - The Way I Feel
Another comeback single from a soul act. Not his best work, but not as boring as the Lighthouse Family.
21.(NE) Paul Weller - Friday Street
One of his best singles of this era, not least because it's so concise. As you can see from the making-of footage on YouTube, the video was shot in the street where he used to live, which seems to suit the vibe well enough even if you can't tell when it's supposed to be set. 

22.(NE) DJ Shadow - High Noon
His highest UK chart position (as a solo artist) came with this track, a non-album single until he released a best-of last week. No really, he did, it just went completely unnoticed. Anyway, though I don't remember this at all from the time I bought it on 12" subsequently and think it's rather good. Creepy video though.
23.(NE) Catch - Bingo
Another creepy video, though in a slightly different way. At least it's the uncensored version. A short-lived act somewhere on the border between Britpop and boyband, they were evidently much fancied within the industry, but this proved to be their only Top 40 hit and their album was only released in Indonesia.
That video already had an unfortunate place in history: it was showing on the late-night repeat of the ITV Chart Show when it was faded out for the announcement of Princess Diana's car accident.
24.(14) Sly And Robbie - Night Nurse ft Simply Red
25.(NE) Green Day - Hitchin' A Ride
The first single from their "experimental" fifth album which is slightly more interesting than the one-dimensional punk-pop they'd made their millions from. 15 years on, Billie Joe Armstrong has recently checked into rehab, which lends a certain irony to the lyric "I'm off the wagon and hitching a ride".
26. (7) U2 - Please
27.(18) Puff Daddy And Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
28.(15) Blackstreet - Fix
29.(NE) East 57th Street - Saturday ft Donna Allen
Later sampled as a theme tune for Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
30.(NE) The Jam - The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow) {1997 re-issue}
Double dose of Weller this week, a single re-issued as part of the group's 20th anniversary celebrations and to promote a single-disc best of: all four tracks on the CD single had already appeared on the boxed set earlier that year so I didn't bother buying this. 
31.(20) Hanson - Where's The Love
32.(17) Ricky Martin - (Un, Dos, Tres) Maria
33.(16) No Doubt - Spiderwebs
34.(19) George Michael - You Have Been Loved
35.(21) Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Loneliness
36.(26) All Saints - I Know Where It's At
37.(25) Mariah Carey - Honey
38.(33) Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
39.(NE) Filter And The Crystal Method - (Can't You) Trip Like I Do
Another song from a film, combining the "talents" of second-rate grunge band and second-rate electronica act whose name nobody here understood at the time.
40.(24) House Traffic - Every Day Of My Life

43.(NE) Strangelove - Freak
45.(NE) D-Influence - Magic
50.(NE) Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Disco Machine Gun
Big favourites at the NME and late-night Radio 1, who seemed about to have their first Top 40 hit... until the single was withdrawn after two days due to an uncleared sample of 'Cannonball' by the Breeders. That's already been excised from the promo video but you can hear it just before the vocal comes in here. As part of the settlement, not only did the sample have to be removed but even the song title was ruled to be too similar, so the track eventually appeared on album as 'Blisters On My Brain'.
53.(NE) Morcheeba - Shoulder Holster
58.(NE) Kaleef - I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
73.(NE) Progress Funk - Around My Brain