1999 S Club 7: Bring It On Back

Although my attitudes toward music have changed and widened considerably over the past twenty years or so, it wasn't always the case and I don't need much of an imagination to know what the early teen version of me (had he been an early teen in 1999 that is) would have made of S Club 7 as a whole and 'Bring It All Back' in particular. He'd have hated both. No doubt about that. I can see me now, wound up to a pitch well past fever, loudly dismissing its relentless bounce of juvenile enthusiasm to anyone who'd listen as disposable ephemera that wasn't played on proper instruments by a proper band. And then I'd have probably gone back to my Marillion albums.

That was then anyway, but though the 'actual' 1999 me was far less blinkered in his views, he still looked sideways at S Club 7 and their stage school precocious, overly photogenic and assembled by audition make up (the current version of me still does to be honest - there's literally nothing there beyond a raft of pretty faces), but at least the tunnel vision had broadened as regards the song itself. Essentially modern R&B with all 'r' and 'b' bleached out by S Club 7's perky yet flat vocals and a musical box churn of handclaps and whistles, that relentless bounce of sunshine now becomes a plus point rather than a negative, a clockwork spiral of verse to chorus hook and back again that barely pauses for breath in its celebratory rush of enjoying itself.

And that, I think, adds to my earlier thesis regarding what makes a 'good' pop song - whilst I can pull a dozen acts off the top of my head who'd have done a better job on this than the S Clubbers, the actual band and their method of delivery here are secondary to a song that's too strong for them to ruin (and by taking its positive message on face value with the well meaning enthusiasm of youth, then how could they totally derail it anyway?) But while it is undoubtedly good pop, it's also rebottled pop, a derivative song that chooses to mimic rather than progress the medium. And that's a hard strike against it in my eyes; 'Bring It All Back' borrows a bit too much from the Jackson 5 or The Osmonds template for its inspiration (again, I keep hearing 'One Bad Apple' as a main source here). It might work fine for a new generation (or those with short memories), but this offers up little more than a remould when I'd really rather see some new tread.