Better best forgotten?

"We’ve had so many fans over the years who’ve talked about their hard times: growing up, coming out, different illnesses and stages of their lives. We’ve all had different chapters in our lives but the constant for everybody is Steps... We’re not here to get into the politics of the world but what we can offer is escapism and a bit of positivity in people’s lives."
- Lisa Scott-Lee, interviewed by Popjustice

I haven't been so excited since ITV announced that Dame Joan Collins was to appear in Benidorm...

Yes, the cheesiest, Most Fun band of the 1990s is back!

Steps (for it is they) first exploded upon the British music scene twenty years ago with the faintly-ridiculous-yet-forever-remembered "barn-dance" song 5, 6, 7, 8 [which remains one of the biggest-selling songs never to have actually hit the Top 10 in our charts]:

Steps - 5, 6, 7, 8

...and that was even before pop maestro Pete Waterman got on board! They went on to conquer the charts of the era, with an unbroken chain of 14 consecutive Top 5 hits that included Last Thing on My Mind, One for Sorrow, Love's Got a Hold on My Heart, Better Best Forgotten, Stomp and (of course) the Bee Gees cover Tragedy - and this one... a personal favourite, here's Deeper Shade of Blue:

Steps - Deeper Shade Of Blue

[It came as such a shock to the world when "H" came out as gay. Cough, cough!]



Not content with merely announcing their new album [their first in five years] Tears on the Dancefloor, which goes on sale in April - and there is a bit of buzz in the media about the fact that one of its tracks Story of a Heart was written by none other than Benny and Bjorn of ABBA - they're also going on a massive tour of arenas up and down the UK, supported by the even-more-cheesy Vengaboys! Wow.

The first single from the new Steps album, Scared of The Dark premieres on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday 9th March and will be released on iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music on Friday 10th.

I have no doubt I will feature it here in due course.

Steps official website