CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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Nov 13, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: November 13, 1994

Although Australia had been a little late to the boy band party, things really started picking up in 1994. Following the success of...

Nov 6, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: November 6, 1994

The decision for an artist to record a covers album is an interesting one, because it suggests they have run out of their own ideas...

Oct 30, 20195 min read

This Week In 1994: October 30, 1994

There comes a time in every pop group's life when one member wants to leave for a solo career. And those left behind have to decide...

Oct 23, 20195 min read

This Week In 1994: October 23, 1994

Pop music and controversy have always gone hand in hand. From Elvis Presley's swivelling hips right up to Madonna's steamy fllm clips,...

Oct 16, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: October 16, 1994

In the UK, their chart competition was much more hotly contested, but in Australia, the battle of British boys bands East 17 and Take...

Oct 9, 20193 min read

This Week In 1994: October 9, 1994

In the last few weeks, we've seen six of 1994's top 30 biggest singles debut on the ARIA top 50. So we're about due for a week where not...

Oct 2, 20195 min read

This Week In 1994: October 2, 1994

Sometimes the changing of the guard in the Australian music industry happens subtly. And sometimes there are weeks like this one in 1994...

Sep 25, 20196 min read

This Week In 1994: September 25, 1994

As half of one of America's top songwriting and production teams, he'd been responsible for some of the biggest US hits of the late '80s...

Sep 18, 20196 min read

This Week In 1994: September 18, 1994

As we approached the final quarter of the year, 1994 was really shaping up to be the year of the power ballad. This week, two big ballads...

Sep 11, 20195 min read

This Week In 1994: September 11, 1994

From 1987 to 1992, she had dominated the pop music scene, both in Australia and the UK, registering three chart-toppers and 18 top 40...

Sep 4, 20193 min read

This Week In 1994: September 4, 1994

For some people (i.e. me), it was a major event — a remake of a disco classic that had been a landmark release in 1979, updated by two of...

Aug 28, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: August 28, 1994

If I could sum up my favourite mid-'90s music in one phrase it would be "Motiv8 remixes". And the song that got the ball rolling for...

Aug 21, 20193 min read

This Week In 1994: August 21, 1994

It's no wonder dance music got a bad rap in the 1990s — so many successful acts from that genre made use of models as frontpeople rather...

Aug 14, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: August 14, 1994

I liked a lot of dance music in 1994 — from techno to Eurodance, dance-pop to hi-NRG, synthpop to trance. But there was one massive club...

Aug 7, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: August 7, 1994

These days, unexpected musical collaborations are pretty common, so much so that it's more unexpected when an artist doesn't have one or...

Jul 31, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: July 31, 1994

They would come to be two of the most influential and acclaimed bands of the decade (and beyond), but this week in 1994, a British dance...

Jul 24, 20193 min read

This Week In 1994: July 24, 1994

An unusual thing happened this week in 1994 — a pop duo scored what would be the biggest hit of their career in Australia, but it wasn't...

Jul 17, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: July 17, 1994

Sometimes the difference between a song being a flop or a hit is all down to what genre it is. That point was demonstrated by two of the...

Jul 10, 20193 min read

This Week In 1994: July 10, 1994

Once upon a time, recording a cover version used to up an artist's chances considerably of achieving chart success. But this week in...

Jul 3, 20194 min read

This Week In 1994: July 3, 1994

Most songs are lucky to be a hit once. But there are plenty of successful tunes that go on to have a second lease of life thanks to a hit...

A Journey Through Aussie Pop - green light.png

A Journey Through Aussie Pop is shining a light on classic Australian pop artists and releases from the 1980s, '90s and 2000s.

A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman is working its way through every single produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman in chronological order.

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About Chart Beats

Chart Beats: A Journey Through Pop has been looking back at music from the '80s, '90s, 2000s and 2010s since 2012. Run by freelance journalist and content creator Gavin Scott in Sydney, Australia.