Dance Hits From 1994

Clockwise: General Public, Céline Dion, Madonna, and Kristine W.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the songs that topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1994, and I thought it was pretty damn impressive. Stars like Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Bjork, CeCe Peniston, Deee-Lite, k.d. lang, Mariah Carey, C+C Music Factory, Patti LaBelle, and Ace of Base topped the chart that year, and didn't make this post. Some even had two different songs go #1! Who were the four lucky artists and which the lucky songs? I will begin with the song that went to #1 the week of June 4. That is when General Public, the British New Wave band I just loved, had "I'll Take You There" on the soundtrack to the film 'Threesome', and it caught on with the, well, general public. The song went to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was in the Top 100 on the year end chart. It also stood on top of the Hot Dance Club Play chart, so here are General Public with "I'll Take You There".

You can find "I'll Take You There" on 'The Best of General Public', available from iTunes and Amazon. It was about this time French Canadian songstress Céline Dion was beginning to make a mark on the American charts. Her first US #1 song was "The Power of Love", the first single off the album 'The Colour of My Love', in 1993. The second single was "Misled", which went to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it also went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart the weeks of July 2nd and July 9th. This is "Misled" by Céline Dion.

You can find "Misled" on 'The Colour of My Love', available from iTunes and Amazon. During the summer, almost 20 years to the day, it was the start of something pretty darned special. The week of July 23rd, "Feel What You Want" went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, the first of eight songs in a row to go to the top of the chart. As a matter of fact, she had 14 of her first 15 songs make it to the top, the other one only going to #2. But it was her first single off the album 'Land of the Living' that started the run, and it is easy to understand why. The song is smokey, smart, sexy, and powerful, and you couldn't ask any more from a song, could you? And the video is, well, amazing. This is "Feel What You Want" by Kristine W.

You can find "Feel What You Want" on 'Land of the Living', available from iTunes and Amazon. For our final song of the post, I can't say it was the artist's first #1 song, nor even her first of the 1990s. Madonna had her first #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1993, with "Holiday". Fast forward almost 11 years, and 18 Dance chart toppers, and Madge releases the album 'Bedtime Stories'. Of course the album is a success, as is the first single, "Secret". Sexy and moody, the song went to #1 on the Dance chart the weeks of November 26th and December 3rd.
"Secret" by Madonna




You can find "Secret" on 'GHV2', available from iTunes and Amazon.

Sunday Morning with General Public

This Sunday morning I am going with General Public and their version of I'll Take You There, a staple for gospel singers everywhere. They added their own little ska beat, and kept the song real for themselves. Enjoy David Wakeling and Ranking Roger as they perform it for you. If you'd like to hear more from these handsome me, check out my post here.

Worth Another Listen - English Beat/General Public

What binds these two bands together? The gorgeous faces of Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger. They started out together in a band named The Beat in their native England, but called The English Beat here in the states. They formed in 1978, but released their first album in 1980. The Beat were a Ska band, embracing some of the reggae beats and speeding it up a bit giving it more of a pop/dance feel. This put them in the same ground as Terry Hall and The Specials, although The Beat stayed away from the political and social issues of reggae, holding more of a romantic view. They had success with songs like Tears of a Clown, Ranking Full Stop, Can't Get Used To Losing You, and Hands Off She's Mine.

In 1983, The Beat called it a day, and Dave and Roger went on to form General Public. The first album, All The Rage, was released in 1984, and spawned a couple of hits in Tenderness, Never You Done That and Hot You're Cool. They garnered some attention with song placement in several movies, including the immensely popular Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Taking The Day Off).

The stayed together thru the mid 90s, but to little avail, with only moderate success with I'll Take You There. The stayed apart until the turn of the century, and have toured from time to time with other bands from the 80s, mostly sticking to the Ska sound of The Beat.