What song held the number one spot the longest in 1991?
Sheep cloning, illegal raves, and cross-channel tunnels, the 1990s was a strange old decade, with an even stranger musical legacy. From grunge to acid house to the emergence of Britpop, the era certainly had a lot to answer for, but the weekly singles charts of the 1990s painted a rather different picture.
Everything seems better in retrospect, but the early 1990s definitely had a sense of aspiration about them. As the tear-gas smoke of the Poll Tax riots cleared, and attitudes across this sceptred isle began to shift, the decade ushered in a new age of music, fashion, art, and film which still defines a lot of our modern-day cultural sensibilities.
Within the music world, in particular, the likes of Oasis, Pulp, Nirvana, Spice Girls, and a litany of other utterly iconic names – all of whom emerged onto the mainstream stage during the 1990s, still hold an unparalleled grasp over audiences to this day.
It is worth noting, however, that the music-buying public of the UK aren’t always the most alert when it comes to emerging revolutionaries. Throughout the history of the singles charts, British audiences have had number ones of everybody from Cliff Richard to Mr Blobby, while swathes of innovative, visionary artists go undeservedly ignored. Even with the cultural shift of the 1990s beginning to take shape, 1991 was a year that perfectly exemplified the public’s willingness to platform guff over the songs that would eventually come to define the era.
After all, 1991 through the lens of nostalgia was the age of grunge, when groups like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney began to break through into the mainstream and reignite the rebellion that punk had started years prior. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is now hailed among the greatest tracks of the year, but Kurt Cobain’s magnum opus didn’t even break into the top five upon its original release, peaking at number seven in the UK and six in the US.
You also had the early origins of Britpop indie beginning to make it into the charts in 1991, with Blur, James, and The Wonder Stuff all scoring major hits over the course of the year. The Wonder Stuff even had a number-one with ‘Dizzy’ alongside Vic Reeves. Meanwhile, the rave scene was bleeding over into the mainstream with the aid of acts like The Prodigy and The KLF. Still, none of those undeniably legendary artists could compete with the year’s best-selling single, which came in the form of Bryan Adams’ ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’.
Recorded for the soundtrack of Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which is nowhere near as well-remembered as the song itself, Adams’ power-ballad remained at the top of the US charts for an impressive seven weeks, and topped the UK charts for an unimaginable 16 weeks. For context, the song’s run at the top of the charts lasted from early July until late October, eclipsing an entire summer and making it the longest-running continuous number-one in UK chart history.
Now, there are surely people out there who think that ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ is a good song. In truth, nobody knows who these people are, but they are bound to exist somewhere. But, even still, 16 weeks at number one is ludicrous for any song. So, why on earth did the honour fall to Bryan Adams? Regrettably, that question has not become any clearer in the last three decades.
Although it’s often suggested that people bought the single to play as a wedding first dance, it’s unlikely that there are enough wedding DJs in the UK with enough power to send a song to a 16-week unchallenged run at number one. What’s more, there were some truly great songs coming into the charts during that long summer of power ballad-induced madness, so it isn’t as though the single had no competition.
Either way, it is fair to say that, by the end of October 1991, the British public were finally sick of hearing ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ and it was eventually deposed by U2’s endearingly industrial ‘The Fly’ in early November, putting an end to one of the most inexplicable success stories in British chart history.
