The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 20)

Taking our weekly Tardis ride back to the sights and sounds of the UK charts as they were at the turn of the millennium, this is The Story of Pop: 2000. This week: the sassy Antipodean floorfiller that struck it second time lucky…

Formed of songwriter, DJ and producer Andy Van Dorsselaer and impossibly pouty singer Cheyne Coates in Melbourne, Australia, Madison Avenue had first come to the attention of our friends down under in 1999.

The sassy kiss off of ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ had been a huge hit on the ARIA charts, where it had peaked at #2 that October. Based around an old Italodisco sample, it saw Coates stroppily tell a no hope chat up artist to not ‘underestimate me boy, I’ll make you sorry you were born’.

Attempts to turn it into an international success were initially something of a damp squib. When first released here in Blighty that November, it topped out at #30, and that appeared to be that.

But VC Recordings, one of Virgin’s many dance imprints had faith that the single had the potential to do more than that, and word of mouth saw to it that it quickly became a favourite with clubbers the land over.

One re-release later exactly twenty years ago this week in May, and ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ went thundering in at number one in the UK, going onto sell over 400,000 copies all told and being one of the year’s biggest sellers as well as topping the charts in Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.

To all intents and purposes, Madison Avenue were solely one hit wonders both here and in Aussie. Second single ‘Who The Hell Are You’ was their last top 10 hit, but further follow up single ‘Everything You Need’ and their album ‘The Polyester Embassy’ bombed. And though they parted ways in 2003, ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ remains a much loved floorfiller.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 2000. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments or Tweet us, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2000.