No, this isn't an April Fools thing. Delirious really are at numbers one and two in the Amazon singles chart this morning.
This despite not getting past number 16 in their previous chart attempts (and that was eleven years ago), and also despite the fact they finished at Christmas and are no longer touring or recording. Somewhat bouyed by the effect of Rage Against The Machine's Facebook-driven Christmas number one, a few fans convinced the band and their publisher to release the 1996 song History Maker - never one of their singles before - as an Easter special. And so here we are, halfway through the week, with a midweek chart position of six and an Amazon position of numbers one and two.
Can't buy it from here, even with UK pounds, due to the geographical IP address thing and my lack of a decent UK proxy. But for 49p it's a good deal for anyone with access over there, especially given that it probably is their best song ever. (Cue controversy: I actually prefer 'Investigate' from the Glo album but for a purely inspirational song, History Maker has to be it).
The irony is that they still won't be on Top of the Pops. Pops somewhat infamously overlooked them on four occasions when they made the top twenty, and now that they're sufficiently high that they can't be overlooked, Pops no longer exists. Ah well. Sunday afternoon chart show on Radio 1 will have to do.
Except I won't be able to listen to that as we're about to head out on holidays, probably for the last time before the baby arrives. For those who don't follow Gloria's facebook, the baby is due Aug 17th or so and, according the the ultrasound on Monday, is a girl. (No names yet, and we're not telling until the baby comes out anyway). So we're heading out tomorrow evening and returning on Sunday 11, by which time Delirious will be long gone from the charts, probably for the final time.
And for those of us who remember those Cutting Edge Saturday nights down at Central Hall (two pounds to get into church??), this week feels the tiniest bit like it used to, back when Deeper first made number twenty and we all realised this was just a little bit bigger than we thought. All together now... "I'm gonna be..."
Footnote: What are the Wurzels doing in there at number six? Alicia Keys must be feeling miffed at being outsold by a bunch of scrumpers.
Footfootnote: Just been informed that the Wurzels are up there as a similar Facebook campaign, this time as a protest against the upcoming 10p rise on the price of cider. Bizarrely, in the official midweek chart, they're not present at all. Not sure what the message to the Chancellor is: "if you put up the tax on cider, we'll force them to play scrumpy'n'western music on the radio, then you'll be bleddy sorry."
3 comments:
Sorry to disagree ;-) but Obsession was their best song - especially when performed live. That reminds me of a glow-in-the dark Frisbee evening - oh happy days!
Do you still have the frisbee?
I'm going to disagree with you both and go for "The Happy Song"
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