This is another group who were bubbling under on the UK singles chart about two decades ago now. I must admit that I don’t really remember them from the time, but looking back now, they did do some good songs, even if it turns out that none of them made the Top 100. Venus Hum are an American group from Nashville, who formed in the late-90s and have something of an electropop sound.
Their singer Annette Strean wore glasses, and apparently there should be more bespectacled people in pop music, so she was clearly doing her bit for the cause. Their debut album was released in 2001, but they first made an impact on the UK chart in November 2002 when “Hummingbirds” was released, although this only reached an unofficial no. 165.
Next in May 2003 was “Montana”, which reached an unofficial no. 109, their highest-peaking single in the UK. These weren’t too bad, but my favourite of theirs has to be “Soul Sloshing”, which was released in August 2003, and reached an unofficial no. 123. This was definitely one of those songs that once it entered your head, was making no plans on leaving ever again.
The video also featured the lyrics appearing on the screen as they were sung, which reminds me of that thing in all dramas now where people send text messages like “where r u?” and they appear next to them, they were clearly about 15 years ahead of their time in that respect. As far as I know, they didn’t make any TV appearances in this country though.
I’m also not aware of them having any hit singles in America, which is disappointing because it would’ve been great seeing the likes of “Soul Sloshing” going quickly up the Hot 100, making them say “this is crazy y’all!” which is apparently the standard response to people becoming stars on the chart nowadays. As nice as all this was, I wondered if they had ever done something a little more unusual.
But there is something of a twist in their story, because I discovered that around 2004 Annette collaborated with Blue Man Group on a cover of Donna Summer’s chart-topper “I Feel Love”. I don’t know how all of this exactly happened, but it was good that it did. It seems that Venus Hum are still going, and their sixth album was released a couple of years ago.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 