1995 The Outhere Brothers: Boom Boom Boom

For a few months now I've been planning on prefacing one of these entries with the general question "Are the music charts getting worse?" and then following it with my ten cents. worth But I haven't. And I haven't because, no matter how I try to arrange the words and sentences in my head, I can't do it in a way that doesn't make me sound like some stereotypical old git bemoaning that it used to be all green fields round here. Or to put it another way, without sounding like my father used to when I brought home the latest album from The Clash. But now faced with this second Outhere Brothers song in quick succession, I'm thinking now that, rather than deny that I've turned into him (something I used to fear worse than death), I should embrace it with open arms.

Because the simple fact is I do not like 'Boom Boom Boom' and my main reason seems to be simply that it pales in comparison with most of the other hundreds of entries that have taken up my time over the past three years or so. There, I've said it - things aren't as good as they used to be. There's another reason I don't like 'Boom Boom Boom' too - I don't understand it. Though maybe I should qualify that by saying I don't understand why everybody else liked it enough to make it the best selling single in the UK that week. What I especially don't understand is how such a prime example of American jock, six pack humour should be number one over here when the Brothers never managed the same level of success in their own US.

'Boom Boom Boom' has the same jokey, dancey, hip hop vibe of 'Don't Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)' - just as relentless, though slightly less cretinous, it's a single designed to establish or play off a party mood like a 'Hi Ho Silver Lining' for a new generation. "Boom boom boom now let me hear you say wayoh. I say boom boom boom now everybody say wayoh" - you get the picture. Or maybe like me, you don't. In line with 'Don't Stop', there's an explicit version of 'Boom Boom Boom' just for some adult giggles and shits, but for my money either version is a three and a half minute summation as to why hip hop gets such a bad press. But then again, maybe I am just getting old.