Oasis' 'Be Here Now' turns 20 YEARS OLD! Here are 20 tunes you won't believe are 20

Prepare to feel completely ancient as we take you on a musical journey back to the sickly-sweet pop-filled charts of 1997.

As Oasis’ album ‘Be Here Now’ turns 20 years old, we’ve well and truly jumped on the band wagon (see what we did there) and taken a stroll down memory lane to 1997. The charts were actually pretty diverse around this time from pop belters like ‘Mmm-Bop’ and ‘Men In Black’ to emotion-filled songs for the late Princess Diana and American rapper Notorious BIG etching themselves into our memories.

In a year that saw Take That’s Mark Owen release ‘Clementine’ and a super young Gwen Stefani step into the limelight with No Doubt (and an Indian forehead bindi), Warren G allegedly ‘Shot the Sherrif’, Kula Shaker encouraged us to ‘Hush’ and the band James proclaimed ‘She’s a Star’, 1997 was pretty epic!

Here’s 10 of our favourite tracks from 1997….

1 – The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony

Released in June 1997, Bitter Sweet Symphony became something of an urban hymn as frontman Richard Ashcroft walked the London pavements singing about life. It also caused a bit of drama due to plagiarism too!

2 – Backstreet Boys – Quit Playing Games

There are no words to truly describe how amazingly 90’s this Backstreet Boys track is. Quit Playing Games with my Heart reached number 2 in the UK singles chart in 1997, crying shame it didn’t make the top spot.

3 – Gabrielle – Walk On By

Dreams singer, Gabrielle covered this Dionne Warwick classic and reached the lofty heights of number 7 in the UK singles chart in January of 1997. Never gets old this one.

4 – Chumbawumba – Tubthumping

As annoying as it became you can’t hide form the fact that we were all ‘singing when we were winning’ in 1997.

5 – En Vogue – Don’t Let Go’

Oh and the girl just kept ripping up the charts with style and swag in 1997. American vocal group, En Vogue brought the leather-clad attitude to the UK and reached number 3 in the charts. Back in the charts right now courtesy of James Hype, but come on the original is ALWAYS the best!

6 – Supergrass – Sun Hits The Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6i8KmIKv5I

Still with our ‘Teef nice and clean’ Supergrass smashed out ‘Sun Hits the Sky’ and claimed the number 10 spot in June with the third track from their album ‘In it for the Money’. Love a bit of old school Britpop!

7 – Elton John – Candle In The Wind 97′

Genuinely still can’t watch this without tearing up. Elton John somehow managed to perform this beautiful tribute to the late Princess Diana following her tragic death in 1997, the track became the best-selling single of all time.

8 – BBC Children in Need – Perfect Day

Children in Need scored a winner with this multi-artist version of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day. Reaching number one for three weeks, the video caused as much of a stir as the single.

9 – Echo & the Bunnymen – Nothing Lasts Forever

Echo and the Bunnymen released ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ as their first single after reforming, it reached number 8 in 1997 and was the last track played by legendary DJ Janice Long on her Radio 2 show earlier this year.

10 – Aqua – Barbie Girl

Love it or hate it, chances are you know the majority of the words and have been dragged up to perform it on holiday in Salou. Don’t feel ashamed, its an absolute belter!

11 – Natalie Imbruglia – Torn

Fresh from Ramsey Street ‘Torn’ was the debut single for everyone’s favourite Ozzy (after Kylie of course!)

12 – Ultra Nate – Free

Little did we know in 97 that this tune would become one of the biggest dance anthems of all time, still sounds fresh today 20 years later.

13 – Spice Girls – Who Do You Think You Are

You can’t look back at 1997 without including these five famous faces. Love them or hate them they changed pop music across the globe forever.

14 – Sash! – Stay

Come on we all know the words to this one, otherwise known as Sascha Lappessen, Sash owned the dance charts in the late 90’s and ‘Stay’ was one of the best.

15 – Puff Daddy Ft Faith Evans & 112 – I’ll Be Missing You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM0-ZU8njdo

As if this iconic anthem is 20 years old. We all shed a little tear for Biggie watching the video for this on The Box. Tune!

16 – Lightning Seeds – Sugar Coated Iceberg

You can’t have a chart without a scouser can you? The 14th single from the Lightning Seeds reached number 12 in the charts in January of 97.

17 – White Town – Your Woman

The song that had us all asking ‘what the f… is it about?’ White Town dominated radio airplay in 1997 and reached number one too.

18 – Tori Amos – Professional Widow

Tune. End of.

19 – Texas – Say What You Want

As if this song only got to number 3 in the UK single charts, another sing-a-long pop classic, made in 97.

20 – Oasis – Stand By Me

We had to end with one of the track’s that made ‘Be Here Now’ so epic. ‘Stand By Me’ was kept off the top spot by Elton John’s Princess Diana tribute. Despite this, “Stand by Me” still went gold in the UK. It ended up at #44 in the end of year charts in the UK for 1997