“Lovefool” is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish band the Cardigans’ third studio album, Fist Band on the Moon (1996). It was released as the album’s lead single in Sweden in mid-1996 and in September 1996 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the song was serviced to radio in August 1996. A few months after its release, the track was included in the Baz Luhrmann film Romeo + Juliet, helping the song gain international recognition. “Lovefool” peaked at No. 2 in the UK following a re-release in 1997 and achieved moderate success on other European charts. In North America, it reached No.3 in Canada and No. 2 on the US Billboard Airplay chart (it did not appear on the Hot 100 due to rules in place at the time). Persson said that, the song was originally “slower and more of a bossa nova”. She noted that the band knew the potential commercial appeal of the song, saying, “We definitely were aware that it was a single and a catchy song when we wrote it, but the direction it took is not something we could have predicted. It wasn’t necessarily our character; it felt like a bit of a freak on the record — which, objectively, it still is. But then when we were recording, by chance, our drummer started to play that kind of disco beat, and there was no way to get away from it after that”.
“Trouble” is a song by British female pop music duo Shampoo, released as the first single from their debut album, We Are Shampoo (1994). It was the duo’s most successful single, reaching No. 11 in the UK and making the top 20 in Australia, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands as well as number 37 in Canada. Attempting to break into the US market, the song was released as a promotional single for the 1995 film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, in anticipation of the release of the US version of We Are Shampoo. A new music video was recorded featuring clips from the Power Rangers film. NME magazine ranked “Trouble” at number 23 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994.
“You and Me Song” is a song by Swedish band the Wannadies. Originally released as a single in 1994, it became the group’s biggest hit. In April 1996, it peaked at number 18 in the United Kingdom. Appearing on the band’s third album, Be a Girl, the song was also included on their next album, Bagsy Me, due to the success of the re-released single and the song’s appearance on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo + Juliet.
“Hey Boy Hey Girl” is a song by the British big beat duo the Chemical Brothers. The song contains a sample from “The Roof is on Fire” by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three. “Hey Boy Hey Girl” was released as the first single from the Chemical Brothers’ third studio album, Surrender (1999), in May 1999. Upon its release, the song peaked at number three in the UK in June 1999 and remained on the chart for 10 weeks. It also reached the top 10 in Finland, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Spain, as well on Canada’s RPM Dance Chart. In the latter country, it did not make it onto the RPM Top Singles chart, but it did debut and peak at No. 3 on the singles chart.
“Informer” is a 1992 song by Canadian reggae musician Snow, released as the first single from his debut album, 12 Inches of Snow (1993). Produced by MC Shan, who also contributed a rap verse, the single was a chart-topping hit, spending seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard. It was his biggest hit in the UK, where it reached number two, behind two different number-one singles. In 2007, the song was ranked number 84 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. Conversely, the song was included in Pitchfork’s 2010 list of “the seven worst U.S. number one singles of the 90s”. The song is well known for the line “a licky boom boom down” and for Snow’s fast toasting and often unintelligible lyrics.
