ERASE/REWIND

Cardigans

Forget Lovefool. Forget how twee they used to be. Forget even Erase/Rewind, because although it’s a fine lump of Scandinavian moodiness, that’s not the reason why you’ll be buying this single and you know it. It’ll be for the proper (not MTV-approved) video for My Favourite Game, with Nina swerving all over the road like a nutter, forcing oncoming traffic into flying off the road (in some style too) and eventually smashing straight into an oncoming van, flying over the top and then… There’s four different endings, and (Tell the kids! Tell the kids!) she only survives in one of them. What do you mean, you’ve got nothing to play CD-ROM videos on? Find someone who has and then sit back and enjoy the show! See, everybody’s happy.

IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OKAY

Whitney Houston

Some musical atrocities can never be forgiven. I Will Always Love You is one such evil. Barbie Girl is another, but there’s another time for that. The question is, what do you do when you’ve committed one of these sins to the charts? Do you a) carry on in much the same way and hope everyone thinks it’s a great new trend (see Right Said Fred) or b) lay low for a while and then come back with fresh new tunes and hope everyone’s forgotten about it? Sadly, the most popular answer tends to be a), but luckily for us Whitney’s gone for b) and the R&B approach. It’s not the greatest song in the world but it jiggles about well enough and, hey, anything that can temporarily remove that song from your thoughts can only be a good thing.

WRITTEN IN THE STARS

Elton John with Leann Rimes

This ballad is so over-the-top it jumps right over the edge and hurtles to the ground screaming before it gets turned into jam at the bottom.