Here, in the first of a season, we take a look at the albums that topped the UK charts this week in two different years...
2000
Moby – Play
Moby’s breakthrough album into the mainstream market was actually his sixth studio release. While some of Moby’s earlier work garnered critical and commercial success within the electronic dance music scene, Play was his first true pop success. The album introduced Moby to a worldwide mainstream audience, not only through hit singles, but because it was the first album ever to have all of its tracks licensed for use in movies, television shows, or commercials.
Moby did not individually approve each commercial use, but it is unknown what sort of financial arrangement, if any, was reached. According to Wired magazine, the songs on Play “have been sold hundreds of times... a licensing venture so staggeringly lucrative that the album was a financial success months before it reached its multi-platinum sales total.�
It stayed on the charts for several years and broke all sales projections.
One of the notable aspects of Play, as opposed to other electronic albums of the time, was the way in which it combined old gospel and folk music rhythms with modern house sensibilities. Moby sampled heavily from the collected field recordings of Alan Lomax in songs such as Honey, Find My Baby, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?.
Inside the booklet included with the album, there are five short essays written by Moby, on topics such as veganism, fundamentalism, and humanitarianism. After the essays is a disclaimer written by Moby: “These essays are not really related to the music, so if you hate the essays you might still like the music, and if you like the essays you might hate the music. Who knows, maybe by some bizarre twist of fate you’ll like them both.�
1982
Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast
The band’s third studio album saw the debut of vocalist Bruce Dickinson.
Even though Iron Maiden had been on the brink of worldwide superstardom after their breakthrough second album, Killers, vocalist Paul Di’Anno left the band at the conclusion of its 1981 world tour.
The album topped the charts, despite being the centre of much controversy, particularly in America, due to the lyrics of the title track and the cover art. It was widely panned by mainstream media upon its release, including Rolling Stone, who claimed that it “blusters along aimlessly, proving again that bad music is hell.�