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1997 Music Hits
1997 was a very important year in music as the proving ground of the decade was coming to an end. Who would come out on top as the legend, the ground-breaker of the industry.
Old school rocker David Bowie turned 50 that year. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul finally got his star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame. In what some say was retaliation for the drive-by shooting murder of Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. Was likewise assassinated in a car while attending an awards show. Paul McCartney becomes a real knight of the realm. 1960s-70s group The Monkees reunite and sell out concerts. The Spice Girls rise to outrageous fame and fortune. Again Notorious B.I.G., hits the headlines as the first musician ever to get two #1 singles posthumously. Elton John attends Princess Diana's funeral where he sings her favorite song “Candle In The Wind”. Michael Jackson breaks more records when he ended his History World Tour with over 4,500,000 fans in attendance.
The top five songs of the year were a twist in trends seeing the #1 spot going to Puff Daddy aka P Diddy aka Sean Coombs and Faith Evans with their hit “I'll Be Missing You”. Second was Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana “Candle In The Wind”. The third spot went to Aqua with their song “Barbie Girl”, following at #4 was then newcomers No Doubt with their hit “Don't Speak” which vaunted the band and its lead singer Gwen Stefani into one of the most unusual celebrity heights ever. Finally the #5 spot went to a group of blonde haired boys named Hanson with their song “Mmmbop”. It was quite the cross section of genres and artists for the top five spots and showed that nothing is predictable regarding the public's taste.
Other notable songs of the year 1997 include, “All By Myself” Celine Dion, “All Is Full Of Love” from Bjork, “Eye” by the Smashing Pumpkins, “Firestarter” from The Prodigy, “Pink” by Aerosmith, “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind, “Hypnotize” by The Notorious B.I.G., “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” by Paula Cole, “Step By Step” by Whitney Houston, “Walkin' On The Sun” by Smash Mouth, “It's No Good” by Depeche Mode, and more.
The Grammy Awards showcased the switch away from movie soundtracks and showed that Country music was still a strong genre. The Record of the Year and Song of the Year went to Eric Clapton and Babyface his producer for “Change The World” and colleagues Wayne Kirkpatric, Tommy Sims, Wynonna and Gordon Kennedy shared the honors. Album of the year went to “Falling Into You” by Celine Dion with her producers Jeff Boba, Roy Bittan, Aldo Nova, Dan Hill, Steven Rinkoff, Jim Steinman, Bill Steinberg, Rick Nowels, Rick Wake, John Jones, and Dan Hill. The Best New Artist went to LeAnn Rimes who really surprised the music industry and started an inspiring career for other Country music. She also won for the Best Female Country vocal Performance for the song “Blue”.
A real wild year for music to say the least!