Singles of the 90's

Sign of the Times
by: peter naldrett

The 90's weren't a bad decade, as you look back on them through the rose tinted glasses of the new millennium. There was the Oasis/Blur Britpop, the teen-splendour of the Spice Girls and, erm, Ace of Base.

The hugely successful Swedish supergroup may not be at the front of your mind when it comes to the top acts of the last ten years, but their new greatest hits album has a cracking collection of disco-happy pop. Bursting onto the UK scene in the summer of '93 with the pop-reggae "All That She Wants," the multi-million-selling team of Jenny, Jonas, Malin and Ulf instantly left their mark.

And with follow-up singles "The Sign" and "Life Is A Flower," they made sure that they were no one-hit wonders, although they did get a reputation for making more than one song that sounded the same. But forget the criticisms and put your Y2K rose tinted specs on again, because this is a fun album, summed up perfectly by the fantastically performed "Love In December," "Wheel Of Fortune" and "Don't Turn Around."

But how can they possibly top their debut number one, "All That She Wants." It really was a defining moment of European pop in the 90's, with some classic lines. "She's the hunter, you're the fox" and "it's not a day for work, it's a day for catching tan" are reason enough to go out and treat yourself to this top collection of 16 Swedish singles, the like of which hasn't been seen since Abba. Mar-2000