PULSE - music and more, with Simon Donohue

WE STARTED the year with the fab five and ended it with the flabby four.

As The Spice Girls kickstarted the year with the number one single Two Become One, so the Teletubbies rose to megastardom with their chart-conquering cry of "Eh-oh" to round it off.

But have those weird children's TV characters got the staying power to conquer the pop world in the coming year - and does anybody over the age of three really care?

The throwaway nature of the hits which sandwich the pop year doesn't mean there hasn't been a quality filling.

Blockbuster albums have been pumped out in volume throughout 1997.

Leading the field as THE album which will creep to the top of the end-of-year polls is Radiohead's third album OK Computer. Never since The Smiths split up has being so miserable become such an art-form - but a delightful one.

The Verve managed the rebirth of the year, reforming after a two-year split to find greater success than they had tasted before.

Their album Urban Hymns is one of the year's biggest sellers and the melancholic singles, The Drugs Don't Work and Bittersweet Symphony (largely pilfered from another track), are among the year's finest.

Spiritualised won plaudits for their gospel/psychedelia hybrid Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, with tinkling synthesisers alternating with a Stooges-style garage-rock racket. Oasis smashed records with their eagerly-awaited third album Be Here Now, which followed the taster single D'You Know What I Mean to number one.

Despite a midweek release, it sold such a large volume that it shot to the top slot within hours of going on sale.

But for all the band's bluster and bravado, the album's content - a wild rock-out of dense guitars and overblown epics - wasn't a patch on its predecessors.

Another hit in the end of year polls has been When I Was Born For The Seventh Time by Cornershop, who poked their heads up from the underground to receive their due acclaim.

Blur managed to ditch their quirky narratives in favour of punky workouts and experimental guitars. And though they're no longer at the forefront of British pop, they proved they are still a force to be reckoned with.

After a handful of minor hits, Mansun emerged as a major player with the album Return Of The Grey Lantern.

Its loose song structures, ridiculous track titles and playful guitar riffs catapulting them from the fringes to number one in the LP charts.

It's been a year when big beats came into their own.

The Chemical Brothers enjoyed a second number one and followed it up with a block rockin' hit album, Dig Your Own Hole. But the biggest exponents were The Prodigy whose third album was one of the most keenly anticipated releases of 1997.

Controversy raged before and after it hit the shelves when it emerged that one of the tracks was called Smack My Bitch Up.

The band had already been demonised for their scary Firestarter video and they have continued to thrive on the rumpus, so much so that they released the offending track as a single - with an unbroadcastable video to boot.

Others who have made their mark on the year are just-out-of-nappies band Hanson with their bright, chirpy pop appealing across the generations.

Texas are a group who managed a miraculous resurgence with hit singles and a best-selling album White On Blonde after years floundering in the wilderness.

But 1997 has really belonged to the Spice Girls.

The quintet strutted their way from strength to strength, lending their celebrity endorsement to cameras, crisps and cola amongst other consumer goods, as well as chalking up hits around the world.

Chumbawamba movie time

CHART-TOPPING Burnley band Chumbawamba have gone into the movies.

The use of their surprise summer hit Tubthumping on TV adverts for Home Alone 3 has helped boost sales of their album.

Tubthumping was released by EMI after One Little Indian lost interest. Now US commercials for Home Alone 3 have boosted sales of the album Tubthumper by more than 30 per cent.

"The advertising agency for the film asked to use the song because it thought the rousing 'I get knocked down' chorus was a good match for the slapstick scenes," said Monte Lipman, of Republic Records.

"It seemed like a good way to get exposure."

Concert for hostages

A CONCERT in aid of the Hostages In Kashmir Campaign will take place at C'est La Vie, Blackburn, on Tuesday, December 30.

Proceeds will go towards efforts to trace Blackburn student Paul Wells, who was kidnapped by Kashmiri militants in 1995.

Artists appearing are Jamboree, Scapegoat and Neil Aspin.

Doors open at 8.30pm and tickets are £3.

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