mindful of the fact that i am very much heading towards that point of a year when i construct a sort of "best of" thing, look you see, there is a very great danger in declaring anything to be "the best". or, for that matter, the "most important", or "most significant" and, well, so on. such shall forever be subjective, or even if it is all fact based scientific then open to debate, discussion and further dissemination. basically, calling something "the best" is a brave move, and perhaps one best not done.
something that has always stuck in my mind, then, was when NME declared Regret by New Order to be the "best and most important single of the 90s". it was not a flippant, off the cuff, limited to a possibly over excited review, either. no. they repeated this claim for a good few years.
yes, this was NME when NME was NME. as in, of value, and an important publication. normally they wielded their power for good, but their were some curious decisions they made. like, for instance, the time they effectively gifted the generally average band Cornershop a whole career as it suited them to do so for their bizarre war on Morrissey. and, maybe, their love of Regret.
please make no mistake. Regret is a good song. great, even. many would say f*****g excellent, and i would not quibble. someone or other out of the band (possibly Bernard) said that they felt it was the last truly good song the band did, and with that there would be no argument.
for some reason you might be reading this and be unfamiliar with the song, or not heard it for a while. if this is true of you, then here is a link to the video. yes, fans of such, it is indeed "that song that was on an episode of Baywatch once", or similar.
as much as i like the song, and New Order for that matter, i really do struggle with the view that NME had of it. enough to hold on to such for all these years. but it got me wondering, what would count as the best and most important single of the 90s?
just being "the last decent song" New Order did doesn't seem to tick that box. nor did the song, as far as i am aware, influence the style of the day in any way that left some sort of tangible legacy.
if you wanted to do some sort of fact based "best and important single of the 90s" thing then the answer comes to Something About The Way You Look Tonight by Elton John, which sold millions due to his re-recording of Candle In The Wind was on it. so far as i am aware all royalties off the re-recording portion of the single went to charity, so why not.
there is of course a case to say two songs hold the title of "best and most important" of the 90s, in the form of Country House off of Blur and Roll With It by Oasis. whilst both are easily listed as decidedly average songs, the chart battle brought on by the two being released at the least showed a time when music mattered.
well, dig what you dig.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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