TIME MARCHES ON! Before we head into another new year of hot dance music prospects, a look back is definitely in order. 2002 was an incredible year for energetic dance music, and music just seemed to get more exciting as each season progressed.
The first weeks of 2002 got us off to an amazing start, with some of the year's biggest singles taking flight just as soon as the holidays were over. The domestic edition of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" hit the street in early January and it kicked in right away, eventually becoming her first American pop chart hit since "The Locomotion" back in 1989. It went on to also become one of the biggest club records of her career, rivaling even "Better The Devil You Know" and "I Should Be So Lucky" in terms of cumulative chart points when all was said and done. As Kylie was busy preparing her most successful assault on the USA to date, an unassuming little single called "Take Me Away (Into The Night) " by 4 Strings received a less auspicious launch in Germany. Though it would take many more months for the 4 Strings single to conquer American clubland, the fuses were already fired on the two singles that would eventually battle it out for the #1 single of the year honors. As mid-winter imports, both DJ Sammy's "Heaven" and Cher's "Song for The Lonely" seemed to explode right out of the box, though Sammy's longer mainstream legs eventually earned him the crown.
Meanwhile, Modern Talking's powerful Euro-NRG anthem "Ready For Victory" was scaling the German pop charts while simultaneously delighting American NRG mavens as the season's most highly-prized 'guilty pleasure' import. Our own personal guilty pleasures from last winter were equally delectable, and they include the Almighty collaboration with Stock & Aitken on Natalie Powers' "Music To My Heart" and the gorgeous Wild Orchid trance-NRG version of the haunting Enya epic "Only Time". It was just after the holiday season last year that we were also introduced to two of our absolute favorite records of the entire year: the delectable It Girls single "My Heart (It Feels Like) and Supersister's "Summer Gonna Come Again". Both tracks embody the pure joy of traditional HiNRG, combining classic PWL-inspired hooks with melodic, beautifully sung productions that we're still enamored by almost a full year later. Interestingly enough, Pete Heller really got yours truly to move with his remix of the Chemical Brothers' "Star Guitar" at about the same time. It appealed to the Mr Hyde side of our decidedly Jekyllian core in the most unexpected way, just as John Creamer and Stephane K's momentous "Fuck Sonnet" would do later in the year.
