I had a vague awareness of Venus (I was around 7 years old) but they really got my attention late 1988 when I got into pop music in a big way. Their Greatest Hits Collection was one of the first cassettes I got (must’ve been early ‘89 as it had Help! included) but I think my stanning started slightly before around the time of Love, Truth & Honesty/Nathan Jones releases. Was such a great time for SAW/Pop music and may explain why Dame Jacquie O has always gotten so much credit from me as she was part of the trio back then.
Bananarama
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I had a vague awareness of Venus (I was around 7 years old) but they really got my attention late 1988 when I got into pop music in a big way. Their Greatest Hits Collection was one of the first cassettes I got (must’ve been early ‘89 as it had Help! included) but I think my stanning started slightly before around the time of Love, Truth & Honesty/Nathan Jones releases. Was such a great time for SAW/Pop music and may explain why Dame Jacquie O has always gotten so much credit from me as she was part of the trio back then.
Dame Jacquie O was in the group when I also became a proper fan while Siobhan was already in Shakespears Sister so I too have a great affection for the second trio lineup.
It's such a shame they didn't release a SAW album with Jacquie in 1989 to keep momentum going, that 4 year gap between studio albums really killed their chart career. We would still have had Pop Life in 1991 of course!
Same, basically. Bananarama 2.0 was when i first started getting into music. I love Jacquie and the icy quality she had about her. And i say that with the upmost respect.
Although the 4 year gap between albums was to long for them, it’s not like they were album artists. Their albums didn’t sell much. They really should of kept momentum going by filling the gap with more singles. To bridge the gap.
Nowadays of course they could have just released singles and EPs to keep momentum.
This would have made a wonderful album cover in 1989
This would have made a wonderful album cover in 1989
Similar to others said, I was a youngster absorbing PWL pop and Bananarama was a strong force in that era and the same again, the Greatest hits collection was bought for all my PWL era Nana singles reasons which then gave me appreciation for the earlier stuff.
I then became a huge fan to this day and what I like is that Bananarama has felt like a life long friend to me, all my life they have been there in some form.
Of course by being a Bananarama fan it also made me a huge fan of Shakespears Sister too.
I then became a huge fan to this day and what I like is that Bananarama has felt like a life long friend to me, all my life they have been there in some form.
Of course by being a Bananarama fan it also made me a huge fan of Shakespears Sister too.
My Mum bought I Want You Back as she liked it and that was the start for me, I loved it and then got Love, Truth & Honesty and The Greatest Hits Collection which was the first CD I ever owned, I loved everything on it. I then bought every subsequent single. I bought Wow! and back ordered a few singles (used to be a thing!) and then wanted Venus on vinyl and the only place I could get it was on Hit Factory 1 LP, which started my love for all things Stock Aitken Waterman and PWL too.
They have been the soundtrack to my life and I love them in all incarnations dearly.
They have been the soundtrack to my life and I love them in all incarnations dearly.
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The first start to finish album run I can remember is ‘Wow’ although I have the ‘Venus’ 7” so must have spent my pocket money on that in Woolworths that week.
I found I did know a lot of the hits before then. I guess as a child I absorbed it from tv, radio and my big sisters’ bedroom tunes.
I found I did know a lot of the hits before then. I guess as a child I absorbed it from tv, radio and my big sisters’ bedroom tunes.
I'm glad I got to experience True Confessions and WOW! in real time. I bought the cassettes, Venus on 45. They were and remain fantastic pop albums. The Greatest Hits Collection remains one of my favourite greatest hits collections of all time, up there with The Immaculate Collection and Legend. One of those rare GH collections that work as an album, it's just so consistent.
I also remember The Greatest Hits Collection VHS with the opening medley of songs/videos, and then the video for Love in the First Degree which randomly transitioned into their performance at the Brit Awards.
But Venus was the song that started it for me. That song is like an incredible rush. Still a force over 35 years later.
I also remember The Greatest Hits Collection VHS with the opening medley of songs/videos, and then the video for Love in the First Degree which randomly transitioned into their performance at the Brit Awards.
But Venus was the song that started it for me. That song is like an incredible rush. Still a force over 35 years later.
My love for Bananarama started with this TV performance on our national television, and the love is still strong - I loved all their era's (well, Exotica not so much) - but yea, I am an original line-up stan:
I just realised .... it's been 40 years since my love for these women started! As It AIn't.., Really Saying Something and Shy Boy all charted here in the Netherlands in 1982.
Who remembers taping their hits from the radio? My first Bananarama purchase that was not a pop magazine with their posters was the WOW! album (gatefold edition)
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I remember getting into Bananarama back about 2016 when my elder male lover/love of my life, showed me the joy of their music-and never looked back since.
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I feel bad that I’ve never really had a massive connection to any studio album. Wow! was the closest I came.
The Greatest Hits Collection was another story though. I had been prepped to stan by the three 1988 singles anyway.
I only became a huge stan of some artists due to bulletproof greatest hits sets. In particular Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper. There is a lot to be said for a good 80s/90s greatest hits. Are they redundant these days?
Gloria Estefan also had a strong GH in 92. Diana Ross in 93 too.
Strangely I didn’t get around to Tina’s Simply The Best for years. In hindsight it seems an obvious GH for me to buy at the time. I even got the Nutbush 91 single.
Does anyone know why Mariah Carey’s Greatest Hits wasn’t a monster seller?
The Greatest Hits Collection was another story though. I had been prepped to stan by the three 1988 singles anyway.
I only became a huge stan of some artists due to bulletproof greatest hits sets. In particular Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper. There is a lot to be said for a good 80s/90s greatest hits. Are they redundant these days?
Gloria Estefan also had a strong GH in 92. Diana Ross in 93 too.
Strangely I didn’t get around to Tina’s Simply The Best for years. In hindsight it seems an obvious GH for me to buy at the time. I even got the Nutbush 91 single.
Does anyone know why Mariah Carey’s Greatest Hits wasn’t a monster seller?
The Greatest Hit Collection, is just classic followed by classic. Few Best Of's can beat it.
I was always a fan of Cruel Summer in '84, but I didn't become full-fledged fan until Venus and the amazing video that pervaded my 15-year old life in '86. I'd say that the jaunty b-side of White Train was a major reason that I wanted to hear more, and seeing that they had done Na Na Hey Hey and It Ain't What You Do was alluring. I then sought out their entire back catalogue, and I was enraptured ever since. The fact that I loved the first four albums in their entirety solidified them as my favorite music group for many, many years.
I guess there was no promo from Mariah for the Greatest Hits as the fallout from Tommy/Sony was still very fresh and they issued the album without fanfare and her permission from my memory? It wasn’t til a good few years later it peaked in the UK Top 10 and sold a decent amount (and guess it still is a go-to for new or causal fans). I also suppose that #1s did decent numbers a few years before and had most of her biggest hits at that time.
I remember this happening (I think) on here!?
Ah yes, essential 80s/90s/00s GH sets! Maybe we should start a thread for those!
Loved Venus but wasn't really into music, my cousins had WOW! Got the Greatest Hits VHS just before the Pop Life era when I became a big fan and started getting their older albums and buying their singles.
Oddly I must have been a Shakespears Sister fan first as I was a fan from You're History/Sacred Heart.
It took me a while to figure out it was Siobhan from Bananarama as I remember a pop magazine had an article about her and claimed her voice was deeper because she took male hormones, and being a dumb kid I believed it!
Oddly I must have been a Shakespears Sister fan first as I was a fan from You're History/Sacred Heart.
It took me a while to figure out it was Siobhan from Bananarama as I remember a pop magazine had an article about her and claimed her voice was deeper because she took male hormones, and being a dumb kid I believed it!
For me, my love of the girls started when they released ‘Move in my Direction’ followed by the superb electro stomping album, ‘Drama’.
The first thing that grabbed me was that iconic, moody album cover. The photograph was so on point - two beautiful (older) women at their prime, looking fierce, sassy and so commanding. I was hooked. Delving into the album, I was coming from the passion of Dannii’s ‘Neon Nights’, Holly’s ‘State of Mind’ and various Girls Aloud tracks, and it just sounded so beautiful. ‘Frequency’, ‘Love Bite’ and ‘Don’t Step on my Groove’ kept pulling me back and I knew that this was album I would hold in such high regard. Fun fact, I managed to snag a copy of this on Vinyl, brand new, last year! Plays perfectly.
From then, I have been hooked. ‘Viva’, ‘In Stereo’ and ‘Masquerade’ have only cemented my love for the girls and now make me actively seek them out to see live, pull together playlists and consume these girls consistently throughout the year.
Strangely, it has not made me want to dig into their back catalogue, with me only going back as far as ‘Drama’. This may surprise some, but I think it’s because for me, this is who Bananana were from their relaunch and the sounds of the original trio just doesn’t stir any nostalgic value, if that makes sense.