My obsession with the young Miss Kylie Minogue is a twenty year one, and the first time I ever saw her was on TV on an old Australian Soap Opera called “Neighbours.” Kylie played a mechanic called Charlene and wore dungarees, hooking up with Scott Robinson on the show. Scott Robinson was played by Jason Donovan. Shortly after this Kylie released her first solo single and it became a smash hit in the UK and Australia, and also started shagging Jason Donovan. The first single was actually a groovy 1980s pop cover version of 60s hit “The Locomotion.” As an 8 year old I wasn’t exactly sure what the Locomotion was, but I definitely wanted to do it with Kylie, who made a string of UK Kids TV show appearances at the time. It was stuff like Wacaday, Going Live and Top of The Pops. Her second single, I Should Be So Lucky featured slim and curvy Kylie lying in a bath singing a poignant love song, the words of which still ring true to this day. Hits and hits followed and I was obsessed with young Kylie. At the time many girls at school loved Jason Donovan and I remember these awful black leather jackets with Kylie and Jason on them. I never owned one of those, probably just as well…This obsession of mine lasted through the 1990s and into the current century where Kylie is still regarded as one of the princesses of pop. My obsession will probably reach a peak tomorrow night, when after 20 years of loving Kylie Minogue, I am going to see her live in concert at London’s Millennium Dome! I can’t wait!
Kylie Minogue is no ordinary pop star. She has the smile, the dance, the moves, the voice, the nicey nice manner, the flambouyance, the confidence, the looks, the legs, the nice pert breasts and generally she has a personality without a blemish. Not even the drug period and sex acts with INXS singer Michael Hutchence can tarnish Kylie, who has enjoyed the highs of an OBE and numerous number one singles; but also the lows of breast cancer, the flop of my favourite single “Some Kind of Bliss” and at the age of 40 still surprisingly unmarried and without children. I’d want her for both those things, and the singing, and the sex. Also what about her little Australian accent? She is a truly remarkable woman.
Back in the late 1980s, I was into Lego, Glentoran FC, Boats, Northern Ireland (mainly Norman Whiteside) and Kylie Minogue. I still have a 7 inch single of “I’ve Got To Be Certain”, a song which I still love and I remember I used to confuse it with “I’ve Got To Be Sunshine” for some bizarre reason. The first album is simply called Kylie and is a 10 track masterpiece. “Love At First Sight” (NO, not the stupid recent single, the first one!), “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi” and “Turn It Into Love” are Kylie at her original and best. The following albums were all great, spanning hit after hit and collaboration after collaboration. These reached bizarre levels of melancholia when she released a single with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds in 1995, and also appeared naked in the video for the single “Put Yourself In My Place.” By 1996 however, Kylie’s 8 years in pop looked to be over. She found a new record company, and also hooked up with one of my favourite bands, Welsh rockers the Manic Street Preachers. The story goes that in 1992 the Manics had tried to get in touch with Kylie to sing the female vocal parts of a beautiful song about an unborn baby. The song, “Little Baby Nothing” in the end had to be recorded with Traci Lords on vocal. A slutty porn star, who gave an excellent sound to the single. However wires had crossed and Kylie never knew about the offer to sing on that particular song. Then, by 1996 with the Manic Street Preachers suddenly a bigger band, they got in touch again and penned some songs for her. James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire wrote “Some Kind of Bliss” and “I Don’t Need Anyone” for Kylie’s next album “Impossible Princess.” But this was a year of taints and flops for Miss Minogue…
A few weeks before the album was due, Princess Diana died sending shock waves around the world. Diana was a little bit like Kylie. Loved and admired and constantly in the public eye. The album by Kylie had to be re-titled and in the end majorly delayed. Caught up in the decline of Britpop, a Diana mourning Britain, and Richard Ashcroft’s sombre tunes, Kylie’s single “Some Kind of Bliss” passed un-noticed and entered the chart at number 22, leaving the chart the next week. I bought the single when it came out and it is my favourite ever Kylie Minogue song. So while Oasis fired the anthemic “Stand By Me” into number 2 in the UK charts, Elton John hit top spot for weeks on end with his tribute to Princess Diana, Candle In The Wind. Suddenly Kylie’s singing career had taken a nosedive and she would be left to pick up the pieces and concentrate on other things (which Kylie was used to, her own lingerie and fashion accessories, her acting, her numerous TV appearances, she wasn’t going to be short of money, but maybe just confidence with the singing career now seemingly OVER). The following two singles were disasters, “Breathe” and “Did It Again” passing us by. I bet nobody who isn’t a big Kylie fan could remember those two songs now?
After that short period of musical failure in the life of sexy Minogue, Kylie was still a big tabloid star and was dating Olivier Martinez (I think) some French guy. Then when the new millennium arrived, Kylie paid 50 pence for a pair of cheap gold pants from a market stall in Portobello Road and suddenly the legend was reborn. Hitting the number one spot in early 2000 with the song “Spinning Around”, Kylie was back as queen of pop. The year produced some more cracking singles in the form of “On A Night Like This” and “Please Stay” and the album “Light Years” sold hand over foot, bringing her back into the public eye and bigger than before. In the next year or so she had dressed as a sexy Miss Santa Claus for a Top of The Pops appearance with the song “Santa Baby” and had even started singing (though not flirting) with Robbie Williams in a song he wrote for her called “Kids” (actually my least favourite Kylie or even Robbie song, and I’m a fan of both strangely).
2001 saw the dancey Europop hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” which really confirmed Kylie’s superstardom as the world’s most famous female singer (yes…Madonna takes second place here). I loved that tune, and its album “Fever” also produced a new dancey flirty Kylie for the singles “Come Into My World” and “In Your Eyes.” She even confused me by releasing a song called “Love At First Sight”, which was brand new and totally different than its superior 1988 pre-decessor. Still the skirts were short, the fanny was tightly held in skimpy pants and the boobs were making men like myself mis-grate their cheese as she came on TV.
The legend of Kylie Minogue will live for a long time, and her singles are very diverse, she could fire out different concerts every night, such is the size of her back catalogue. Just a few weeks ago she met Prince Charles and got her OBE. Not bad for a wee Aussie chick.
If I could get married to anyone tomorrow it would be Kylie Minogue. She oozes sex appeal and the topless photos of her show off a stunning figure. I’ll just get the bubble bath running, then hop in and maybe I’ll be joined by Kylie Minogue. I should be so lucky…
My favourite Kylie Minogue song – Some Kind of Bliss (reached number 22 in September 1997)
Other favourites – Confide In Me, Chocolate, Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi, Step Back In Time, On A Night Like This, Red Blooded Woman, Turn It Into Love, I’ve Got To Be Certain.
Kylie Minogue’s Bra Size – Any guesses?
Kylie Minogue Albums:
X
Release Date: November 26, 2007
Label: EMI
Body Language
Release Date: February 10, 2004
Label: EMI
Hits Two
Label: EMI
Fever
Release Date: February 26, 2002
Label: EMI
Light Years
Release Date: September 25, 2000
Label: Mushroom
Intimate and Live
Release Date: February 02, 1999
Label: Mushroom
Impossible Princess
Release Date: 1997
Label: Deconstruction
Kylie Minogue
Release Date: 1994
Label: Mushroom
Kylie Minogue’s Greatest Hits
Release Date: 1991
Let’s Get to It
Release Date: 1991
Label: Mushroom
Rhythm of Love
Release Date: 1990
Label: Mushroom
Enjoy Yourself
Release Date: 1989
Label: Geffen
Kylie
Release Date: 1988
Label: Geffen
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SOME KIND OF BLISS (Live on TFI Friday):
SOME KIND OF BLISS (Video):
CHOCOLATE (Video):