iheartHazey's 90s EURODANCE PARTY: Wanna go for a rate? - THE END

One more song till the top 40...
























































































Oh, was that a hint?
























#41. Real McCoy - One More Time - 7.086

After 5: #40
After 10: #55
After 15: #36
After 20: #32
After 25: #42
After 30: #38
Final: #41

Highest: 10 x 2 (@iheartpoptarts, @Aester) 9.5 x 1 (@OspreyQueen) 9.3 x 1 (@berserkboi)

Lowest: 1 x 1 (@CasuallyCrazed) 4 x 3 (@soratami, @Sprockrooster, @Ray)

Album: One More Time (1997)

Best Charts: #27 (US), #3 (Australia), #8 (Canada), #25 (Iceland)

Producers: Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza (of Real McCoy), Juergen Wind (Maxx)

M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy was born in 1989 when German label ZYX Records decided to cash in on the success of Technotronic's 'Pump Up the Jam' by throwing together a rap cover as fast as possible.

Somehow this mess led to Eurodance amazingness. Eventually.

The Real McCoy referred to Olaf "O-Jay" Jeglitza, the male voice behind the group and only constant member. M.C. Sar was not in fact real and they hired a guy to play him in the videos. Who's up for a hip house party?

That's 'It's On You', their Europe-wide breakthrough and first legitimately great song. In case anyone's interested (you should be), they re-recorded it almost a decade later with the most Vengaboys-sounding remix ever.

After some financial troubles at the label and a few singles that went nowhere, Real McCoy moved to BMG and 'Another Night' conquered the world. Let's skip that whole era for now because it deserves its own post and it's getting two of them. Oh, and they stopped pretending M.C. Sar was a thing.

'One More Time' kicked off their next album campaign, and here we have a rare Eurodance hit that wasn't actually big in Europe. Canada? Yes. Australia? Platinum. America? Kind of. But as for their home continent? Well, it was #25 in Iceland.

Still, it's got a huge euphoric chorus and it deserved much better, so your resident Canadian (*waves*) has forced you all to listen to it. Really. I think @DJHazey tried to take it off the list but I put it back on. Ha.

(No shade from him, though, he gave it a 9.)

Afterwards came 'I Wanna Come With You', which appears to have flopped everywhere except Canada, so at least I got to live happily ever after.

Because we're on Popjustice, I should probably mention that a Xenomania remix totally exists.

One More Time:

@WowWowWowWow (8) - Well, they tried it! Sophomore slump was definitely a thing for some Eurodance artists, and while I think everyone knew that they weren't ever going to reach the days of Another Night and Run Away again, they seemed like they were at least on the right track with "One More Time." Then it stalled at #27 on the Hot 100 and we pretty much never heard from them again on these shores. Apparently they also released that infernal Shania Twain cover as a single, thankfully it didn't go anywhere. Later it would crack me up when I would see "Real McCoy - Greatest Hits!" compilations on the shelves. Like.... they had two albums. Either put all the songs from both albums onto one CD, or buy both albums. It's not like there was exclusive new material on there either! Clive Davis cashgrab alert!!!

My old iPod has one of those Greatest Hits albums and I'm forever bothered that they didn't just throw on some of the early Europe singles for fun!

P.S. Let's not post the Shania cover because I hate it.

@ThisIsRogue (8) - Ooohhh that long floaty synth during the rap is a mood.

@ohnoitisnathan (8) - Neat.

@31entrance (9) - I swear the beat is similiar to Gunther's Goldiggers...??

True, and I think I like it. Maybe we should've let him in the rate?

@berserkboi (9.3) - Good number!

@Seventeen Days (6) - From a music lovers’ POV, this is actually a pretty solid track. But from a personal POV, I was already more into the Spice Girls and Britpop by the time this came out, so it didn’t really catch me. The “Play me! Play me BA-BEH!” part is pretty catchy.

And the comparisons were bound to happen...

@Cutlery (8) - Similar enough in energy to Another Night, but still has its identity.

@Empty Shoebox (7) - It's not quite as memorable as 'Another Night', but it's perfectly serviceable.

Never Again:

@Sprockrooster (4) - For a song that is supposed to make me dance this is quite boring.

@One Stop Candy Shop (6) - It's rather bland. I don't need to hear this one more time.

@Ray (4) - I never heard this before, and I can’t say I missed out on a lot.

@phily693 (5) - It’s slightly grating, I wish it was better.

@CasuallyCrazed (1) - The Real McCoy without Karin Kasar is like christmas without presents. All the magic is gone in this one -- its just a joyless slog with the flattest vocal possible.

And with this, Karin has won.

---

I leave you with something called the UK Radio Mix. If that's what they were playing, no wonder it didn't chart there!

(...Okay, so it's not that bad. But they took all the Eurodance out of it.)​

 

NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM (7/12)


#??. 2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This
#??. 2 Unlimited - No Limit
#??. Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone
#??. Alice Deejay - Back In My Life
#??. Paradisio - Bailando
#??. Vengaboys - We Like To Party
#??. Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom

ITALY (10/12)


#??. Alex Party - Don’t Give Me Your Life
#??. Ann Lee - 2 Times
#??. Black Box - Strike It Up
#??. Cappella - U Got 2 Let the Music
#??. Corona - Rhythm Of The Night
#??. Corona - Baby Baby
#??. Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)
#??. Gala - Freed From Desire
#??. Whigfield - Saturday Night
#??. Whigfield - Think Of You

GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND (13/20)


#??. Amber - This Is Your Night
#??. Amber - Sexual (Li Da Di)
#??. Culture Beat - Mr. Vain
#??. Culture Beat - Got To Get It
#??. Culture Beat - Anything
#??. Haddaway - What Is Love
#??. Haddaway - Life
#??. La Bouche - Sweet Dreams
#??. La Bouche - Be My Lover
#??. Mr. President - Coco Jamboo
#??. Real McCoy - Another Night
#??. Real McCoy - Run Away
#??. Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer​

UNITED KINGDOM AND CANADA (4/9)


#??. Berri - Sunshine After the Rain
#??. Gina G - Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit
#??. Livin' Joy - Dreamer
#??. Livin’ Joy - Don't Stop Movin'

DENMARK (4/11)


#??. Aqua - Barbie Girl
#??. Aqua - Doctor Jones
#??. Aqua - Lollipop (Candyman)
#??. Daze - Superhero

SWEDEN AND NORWAY (2/11)


#??. Dr. Alban - It’s My Life
#??. Reset - Blue

---

This is the part where you guys ask us why the songs you don't like are still here. Have fun!​

 

Get Gala out.

 

LOL at Denmark still being in almost exclusively due to Aqua!

 

How has Ann Lee's "2 Times" made it this far? I was bored out of my mind listening to that.

 

So I know it is going to be a bloodbath no matter what, but I will shed the fewest tears over these leaving sooner rather than later:

 

2 Times is a catchy lil bop and can stay a while longer. And Aqua better lose anything for another 10 rounds.

#??. Alice Deejay - Back In My Life
#??. Paradisio - Bailando
#??. Vengaboys - We Like To Party
#??. Alex Party - Don’t Give Me Your Life
#??. Whigfield - Think Of You
#??. Mr. President - Coco Jamboo
#??. Dr. Alban - It’s My Life
#??. Reset - Blue

These guys have all overstayed their welcome.

 

It’s My Life really needs to go now...Coco Jamboo too

 

Are all of you trying to give me a heart attack asking for Coco Jamboo to go already?

 

Uuhhh why exactly?

 

No-one's suggested it yet, so let's get shot of 2Unlimited.

If we keep this up folks, we can get all the songs before the next elimination.

 

WHAT???

 

Had no idea about the M.C. Sar thing, I always saw it in some titles and wondered what it was all about. Also when I was first getting into Eurodance whether to tag them as 'The Real McCoy' or simply 'Real McCoy' threw me off at first.

I only took 'One More Time' off the song list briefly when we were trying to decide whether to let artists have three songs or not.

 

I'd forgotten "One More Time" existed until I re-listened to it for this rate, but when it started up I immediately went, "Oh! Yeah! This song! I LOVE IT." It is criminally catchy and this is too low!

 

It's one of the worst songs here, and I should be team Italian because I am partly.

 

Great Top 40, good work everyone!

I only really miss Maxx and Captain Hollywood, otherwise it's spot on.

 

So as we enter the Top 40, we go from one German power to another..













































































It may not be the song you expected to go first either..































































#40. Culture Beat - Got To Get It - 7.094

After 5: #31
After 10: #40
After 15: #41
After 20: #40
After 25: #35
After 30: #41
Final: #40

Voting Average: #38

Pretty much on the money, but did anyone else expect "Anything" to go first? We'll see how far it got.

Highest: 10 x 5 (DJHazey, @roborovsky, @idratherjack, @ohnoitisnathan, @Untouchable Ace) 9 x 4 (@geomixes, @31entrance, @Sprockrooster, @ThisIsRogue)

Lowest: 2 (@CasuallyCrazed) 3.5 (@Aester)

iheartpoptarts: 6

Album: Serenity (1993)

Charts: #2 (Netherlands) #4 (Germany, UK) #5 (Sweden) #6 (Norway) #7 (Australia, Switzerland, Austria) #10 (France) #13 (New Zealand)

Producer: Torsten Fenslau (Culture Beat founder)

Culture Beat starting making waves in Germany with the 1989 release of "Der Erdbeermund" or "Cherry Lips" that included the spoken-word vocals of Jo van Nelsen. Eventually their debut album Horizon hit stores in 1991, but was really only impactful in their home country. So Torsten brought in British vocalist Tania Evans and American rapper Jay Supreme. This would become the duo most everyone in the world is familiar with when it comes to Culture Beat.

A much harder Eurodance sound was introduced with the release of "Mr. Vain" which everyone knows as the band's signature hit and its album Serenity in 1993. Culture Beat would take home just about every dance-oriented award possible in Germany that year. The biggest recognition came from winning the ECHO award for Best -Selling German Act Abroad and Torsten winner an ECHO award for Producer of the Year. This was sadly the last time Torsten could enjoy the fruits of his labor. On November 6, 1993 he passed away due to a car accident at the age of 29.

Tortsen's brother Frank stepped forward and promised to follow in his brother's footsteps. He delivered by bringing in multiple production teams for Culture Beat's next album Inside Out (a tactic really only seen in the U.S. during this time). The result was an album varying in sound but a general laid back trancey-brand of Eurodance that satisfied their fans. It was never going to match the success of Serenity but still managed to deliver the bops. Tania and Jay Supreme would leave before the next album Metamorphosis which saw Frank move to a more mainstream pop sound and the band was never the same again.

I almost didn't give this a 10 because I've always loved the longer album version and feel the radio mix takes away my favorite parts of the song which are the long instrumental bridges throughout. It's hard for me to pick a favorite between "Mr. Vain" or "Got to Get It" when those instrumentals are definitely my favorite moment on either song. Though for the chorus and rap, the edge definitely goes to "Mr. Vain". Either way, this is still a no-brainer 10 for me and figured I could just rate it based on the extended version.

Can't get you out of my head, I try, thoughts of you I just cannot deny:

@WowWowWowWow (8) - Living proof of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," but I do prefer "Mr. Vain" that much more. "I'm gonna have to change this... let's stop it for a second. *OK, let's do it!*" may be my favorite part.

@Cutlery (7) - The pause where they change the cassette during sex is a quirky memorable detail

This is probably a bit too TMI, but I've never been shy so here goes. That bit you speak of is something I already knew before discovering Culture Beat's music a decade or so ago. It actually knew it from a softcore pornographic film called "Educating Brittany" in one of my favorite scenes I had watched several times, DDDDDDD. It was in the middle of the background music for the scene.

@roborovsky (10) - Another band whose follow up was as good as their biggest hit. This song’s great - especially the spoken interlude.

@Sprockrooster (9) - I am definitely loving the stronger housevibes this got compared to other songs in this rate. It definitely makes it stand out apart from all the other male half-talking and woman singing duets in this rate. Just a tad too long sadly keeping me from giving this full marks.

I was going to suggest the album version before that last part where you already think it's too long.

@Ray (8) - The chorus is undeniable, but I can’t really say Culture Beat are my favourite part of this rate. However, that minor chord synth riff gets extra two points because it’s THAT good.

@ohnoitisnathan (10) - Another great slice of melancholic eurodance. I love the pretense of eurodance with 'serious, moody' imagery in the video.

Here for the sad bops, no wonder you torched bubblegum dance.

I think I expected too much of it:

@rav4boy (6) - A poor rip-off of their more famous song.

#NeverEnough

@phily693 (6.5) - The chorus isn’t so catchy, but the production is still pretty good.

@One Stop Candy Shop (6) - Nice song even but the chorus is rather weak.

@Seventeen Days (5) - Nothing really making this one stand out to me. Kind of beige.

@Empty Shoebox (5) - I think it's the vocals that let this one down.

@sfmartin (7) - Chorus is lacking. Instrumental elevates it.

@berserkboi (8.6) - Fails to stand out properly here

Poor Tania.

My favorite version.

 

That's not what I asked for.
This is not ideal.