Steps - kind of classic/ sorta dud or just wtf

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I have an awful lot of time for Steps, I reckon they're a much maligned Abba-lite for the 90s (especially 'One For Sorrow') so I'm coming down on 'kind of classic'. Lee with his weird earring, Lisa with her super-pointy chin, H being a twunt, Claire with her massive mouth and... er... the other one.

However, I recently t0rr3nted a Steps video collection and these are some of the most shoddily made promos in existence, with dancing so lumpen it makes Nicola Roberts look like Margot Fonteyn. For example, the aforementioned 'One For Sorrow':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBdUKnHF6s4

A promising opening, then... riding round on bikes in the countryside? Having a picnic? At one point it even appears Claire and The Other One have just split up, and not Claire and Some Bloke. The dance routine is the icing on the cake.

So, am I alone? Or is this just popist guilt?

― I don't know whether to play the trumpet, read a book or be a lesbian. (aldo_cow, Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

How could you forget Faye? Faye was great.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

Their 2000 special "Steps into summer" was one of the most ghastly things imaginable. Charlie Brooker described it as "less fun than falling over and breaking your jaw on a door frame" and it has cameos from Lulu, Lionel Richie, Michael Buerk and Alan Titchmarsch amongst others. Überdud.

― jimn (jimnaseum), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

this thread in 200 posts' time: "OMG STEPS!!! We've been discussing STEPS for 200 posts!!!"

― to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

How could I forget Faye? You're right of course.

I've just watched 'Stomp', wherein they all try and be a bit more wacky and individual. And Lisa has braces on her teeth for no discernible reason. We're also supposed to infer at one point that H LIKES THE LADIES.

― I don't know whether to play the trumpet, read a book or be a lesbian. (aldo_cow, Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

They were great but split up at least one album too late - everything from "Stomp" onwards is pretty rotten.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

I'm actually struggling to get past my Faye infatuation and remember any of their songs, other than the covers. Can't fathom why they were never a Eurovision entry (unless they were!), they were surely natural heirs to Bardo. '5-6-7-8' was quite a weird start though, what was with that?

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Latchford-Evans' rap on 5-6-7-8 is one of the most painful raps in history. Excepting Madonna on that American Life one.

― jimn (jimnaseum), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

For me they are probably the defining band of that era. At their best they were brilliant.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

I pretty much hated them, some of this down to their drunken and ironic appropriation by the kind of undergraduates who liked fighting and date-rape and such when I was at university, and some of it down to the fact that I just found/find them musically horrible and uncomfortable on a physical level - they set the pit of my stomach turning unpleasantly in anticipation of their songs stopping. Nasty, low-budget pop.

Faye was cute though.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

they were shit.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

Steps being equated with date rape.

Welcome to ILM.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:01 (nineteen years ago)

SecretlyDead (1 week ago)
Totally my fave Steps video. i loved these guys!! I actually started doing the dance as i watched this. i'm scaring myself now XD And my boyfriend, what with him being a Cannibal Corpse fan XD

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

Latchford-Evans' rap on 5-6-7-8 is one of the most painful raps in history.

Unbelievably, not the worst bit of the song (Lisa mumbling "You're mine now, Bubba" wins, surely).

― I don't know whether to play the trumpet, read a book or be a lesbian. (aldo_cow, Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

Steps >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TV On The Radio

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

I can sort of agree, and I like TV On The Radio.

― I don't know whether to play the trumpet, read a book or be a lesbian. (aldo_cow, Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

equidistant

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

To complain that the dances are dull seems to miss the point -- the entire gimmick (STEPS -- geddit?) pretty much is that each song has a pretty distinctive dance, and you can learn the dance for each song. So clearly they can't be super-complex.

I can understand someone saying they don't like them because they've been tainted by association. There's a handful of bands I can't stand because of being exposed to fuck-tard fans (Beatles, Queen, spring to mind) but if I let that affect my judgement too much pretty much everything mentioned on ILM would be off limits.

(And yeah, why are ILM regulars being such dicks at the moment?)

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

They seem quite weirdly innocent, it's hard to fathom that they existed post-Britney. Real Blue Peter pop. A bunch of Biddy Baxters in an Ann Summers world.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:12 (nineteen years ago)

I totally agree! I like Steps for many of the same reasons I like the Go-Betweens. The slightly shambolic feel, the sense that they were always a bit out of place, the lyrics which hover between poignancy and cliche, the daft clothes.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

xpost. Yes, they were a little anachronistic. Like the spectre of an age that had passed. HAUNTOLOGY

― jimn (jimnaseum), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

They seem quite weirdly innocent, it's hard to fathom that they existed post-Britney. Real Blue Peter pop. A bunch of Biddy Baxters in an Ann Summers world.

they share this with a lot of mixed-gender groups i think, s club 7 were the same. it's partly why i never got totally enthused by them - that sexlessness, the lack of anything other than kids' tv permagrins. (i always hated kids' tv, especially when i was a kid myself.)

HOWEVER it seems perfectly obvious that several of steps' songs were completely awesome. and that nick southall and nrq are total curmudgeons.

― antidote against poisoning (lex pretend), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

But H just sat there and he could have stopped them at any moment!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

which songs were 'completely awesome'?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

'tragedy', '5 6 7 8', 'last thing on my mind' and 'deeper shade of blue'.

― antidote against poisoning (lex pretend), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

shocked that enrique doesn't like them

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

"Last Thing On My Mind", "Deeper Shade Of Blue", "One For Sorrow", "Love's Got A Hold On My Heart"

I can sympathise with Nick S - the Steps sound *was* cheap and brash, a world away from the stuff he seems to like.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

ah, yes, 'tragedy', the famous steps song.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

CHAIN REACTION: Exhibit 2 in "Steps Better At Bee Gees Than Bee Gees" trope

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

How did I forget Faye as a HOTT NURSE in the 'Chain Reaction' video?

― I don't know whether to play the trumpet, read a book or be a lesbian. (aldo_cow, Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

even at their peak they felt a bit 2nd tier. yes tragedy sold a million but bring it all back, c'est la vie, because we want to and probably loads more tower over most or their hits.

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

the tweenies were much better. not to mention sexier.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

This is just getting silly now.

Under Glitter's Law "Bring It All Back" is unlikely ever to be brought back.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

I love the fact that in interviews in Smash Hits most bands used to come across as young and enthusiastic and full of the belief that they would take over the world, but Steps came across as being a bit older and wiser, well aware that this was all going to pass, but that who would complain about hotels in foreign countries and as much booze as you could get -- they were there for the ride, and loving it. So I was totally not surprised by the fact that H turned out to be a whole lot cooler than someone from S Club on CBB.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

Most Awesomest Steps:

It's the Way You Make Me Feel
Deeper Shade of Blue
After the Love Has Gone
Last Thing on My Mind
5, 6, 7, 8

I'm a sucka for the sad ones. And 5,6,7,8

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

I think think treating FOOD LIKE FOOD is fine. It serves a purpose. Making food.

Spoken like a true Dickensian villain. I'm imagining you sat in a top hat, posting between flogging small boys and sending folk off to debtors prison.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha, incredible fuck up.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

That veggie thread will destroy yer branes.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 7 February 2007 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

5,6,7,8 - I have always loved this song. Pop-earworm-country-eurodance awesomeness.

― Davek (davek_00), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 01:47 (fifteen years ago)

Bosh!

― Davek (davek_00), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 01:50 (fifteen years ago)

All about One For Sorrow.

― A brownish area with points (chap), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 15:28 (fifteen years ago)

oh my lord, 5,6,7,8 is simply awful. it's probably one of the only songs that i downloaded at one point but then deleted from my hard drive because i just couldn't stand to hear it come up on shuffle EVER. i'm not even sure why i downloaded it in the first place.

― teledyldonix, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

I worked with someone from Steps. After being signed, she came into work to hand her notice in. She said that although she had a 'deal' with a 'new group' she didn't want to say much because they were so embarrassingly bad. I remember she mentioned Line Dancing' which was popular with middle aged people at that point. Two weeks later 5, 6, 7, 8 was released. Hideous indeed.

― mmmm, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 16:37 (fifteen years ago)

Lee Latchford-Evans was the line-up bloke on Buzzcocks the other night. They haven't faded that far from the public consciousness, surely (also he's always on shite reality shows)?

Steps were great. Proper pop tunes (and a higher rate of properpoptuneness than S Club 7, for my money).

― ailsa, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 16:44 (fifteen years ago)

I like Steps for many of the same reasons I like the Go-Betweens.

A sentence only possible here.

― sonofstan, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 17:58 (fifteen years ago)

A sentiment, if not a sentence, that I stand by.

(Also blimey - the days I used to actually say what I feel or think on the internet).

My vague memory is that even Pete Waterman thought of 5,6,7,8 as a cash-in novelty, and that the decision to run with the group as a going concern was made after it hit big.

― byebyepride, Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:58 (fifteen years ago)

That would explain alext's above memory of them in Smash Hits as "older and wiser" - they knew they had got lucky following 5,6,7,8 and were waiting for it to end.

Were people really shocked when H came out?

― get the fuck out of my mouth (boxedjoy), Thursday, 28 October 2010 09:46 (fifteen years ago)

They haven't faded that far from the public consciousness, surely (also he's always on shite reality shows)?

Nope, they all got him dead easy, even though "number 4" was somewhat of a lookalike.

― Mark G, Thursday, 28 October 2010 10:24 (fifteen years ago)

My vague memory is that even Pete Waterman thought of 5,6,7,8 as a cash-in novelty, and that the decision to run with the group as a going concern was made after it hit big.

They had already made 5,6,7,8 (and "One for Sorrow" I think) with Barry Upton for Jive, and PWaterman sort of went along with it. The rest was down to him.

― Mark G, Thursday, 28 October 2010 10:30 (fifteen years ago)

four years pass...

Ex-Steps singer Ian 'H' Watkins launches career as artist.

― Betel-chewing Equipment of East New Guinea (Tom D.), Sunday, 29 March 2015 22:33 (ten years ago)

His paintings are rather sombre...

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Monday, 30 March 2015 17:19 (ten years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.