It’s time once again to take ourselves back to check out what was moving and shaking the UK singles chart 25 years ago this week, with The Story of Pop: 1998. This week: how a line dancing novelty crossed over to become one of the 90s biggest pop groups…
- Artist: Steps
- Song: One For Sorrow
- Released: 24/08/1998
- Writers / Producers: Mark Topham / Karl Twigg / Lance Ellington / Pete Waterman
- Highest UK Chart Position: #2
- Weeks on Chart: 14
On paper, Steps are one of those bands that shouldn’t have lasted beyond their first single. They were formed by Tim Byrne, then producer of the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party show that aired on BBC One every December, with awards voted for by readers of that fortnightly essential pop bible, who was looking to form a new pop project that was neither another girl group or another boyband.
He helped form them in May 1997, together with Steve Crosby (husband of “Rodeo” Ruth, who did line dancing on GMTV in the 90s) and Barry Upton, who wrote their first single, the techno line dancing novelty banger, “5,6,7,8”, which marked the band’s blueprint of combining catchy songs with easy to follow dance moves that just so happened to be included inside the sleeve of the single in a genius marketing move.
But it was Pete Waterman who took a shine to the group, famously describing them as “ABBA on speed”, signing them on the spot and producing the resulting hit version of the song. And when that single was released in early November 1997, it became one of the biggest selling singles of the 90s to never reach the top 10, eventually settling at its peak of #14 during an 18 week run on the charts.
Following the release in April 1998 of “Last Thing On My Mind”, a cover version of a latter years single by Bananarama first released in 1992, that had failed to make the top 40, they broke into the UK top 10 for the first time, peaking at #6 and proving that they were far from one hit wonders. But it was with their third single that they were about to consolidate themselves as one of the pop acts of that year that was in it for the long run.
Although it was a hot bone of contention that established tensions that would underpin their first phase of success, owing to the fact that the band’s powerhouse vocalist Claire Richards took lead on the track, “One For Sorrow” could only ever have been destined to be the curtain opener for Steps’ debut album, Step One. And what a curtain opener it was.
Ominous thunderclaps and rain sound effects gradually usher in a tinkling piano riff, as the story of the song is immediately set with wistful melodrama: “I wanted your love, but look what it’s done to me / All my dreams have come to nothing / Who would have believed / All the laughter that we shared, would be a memory? / I cannot count the tears you’ve caused me / If I could have seen”.
The obvious sonic reference point here is ABBA – specifically “The Winner Takes It All” – but it’s done in a respectful way. One that is realised so brilliantly as the song builds from the bridge (“And do you ever think of me / And how we used to be?”) before it hits the chorus and thus its magnificent stride: “Oh I know you’re somewhere else right now / Loving someone else no doubt / Well I’m one for sorrow, ain’t it too, too bad? / Are you breaking someone else’s heart? / Cause you’re takin’ my love where you are / Well I’m one for sorrow, ain’t it too, too bad? / About us”.
It makes sense that Claire is singing lead on this; having grown up immersing herself in the likes of big vocalists like Karen Carpenter, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand, in this song she was unveiled as Steps’ secret weapon that answered their critics firmly who suggested that they were mere pieces of pop fluff with little in the way of genuine talent and charisma.
Backed with a lush promo video set in Italy, with the group dancing in front of a sunflower field, it was little wonder that by the time the single was nearing release, that they were on course to enter the big leagues, which they did. “One For Sorrow” debuted and peaked at #2 – just missing out on the top spot to the Manic Street Preachers – but was one of 1998’s biggest selling singles and as a group, it is their third best selling single overall.
It also earned them another feather in their cap three years later, when the US remix of the song by Tony Moran, that had been commissioned for use in the Melissa Joan Hart teen movie Drive Me Crazy in 1999, was added as a double-A-side to their 2001 cover of Diana Ross‘ “Chain Reaction”, meaning it is one of only a handful of singles in UK chart history to peak at #2 on two different occasions.
What the single crucially did for Steps however, was open the door to them being big album sellers; their debut album Step One was released a couple of weeks later, and also peaked at #2, going onto spend over a year on the album chart whilst shifting over 1.4 million albums in the UK alone.
And of course, as we’ve already covered on The Story of Pop: 1999, it was their next single – the million selling double-A-side of “Heartbeat / Tragedy” released that November, that gave them their first number one single and biggest hit of their career. But “One For Sorrow” was undoubtedly the crucial piece of the puzzle that got them there – and is part of the reason why they are still going strong 25 years later.
Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 1998. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop1998.
The Niche Reference 