The Story of Pop: 2002 (Chapter 7)

Bringing you the sights and sounds of the UK singles chart from the year when the BBC launched the CBBC and CBeebies digital channels, and when the Ford Focus was the best-selling car, this is The Story of Pop: 2002. And without any ado let’s get to this week’s featured hit…

• Artist: DB Boulevard
• Song: Point of View
• Released: 11/02/2002
• Writers / Producers: Laurent Brancowitz / Deck D’Arcy / Christian Mazzalai / Monica Bragato / Alfredo Comazzetto / Thomas Mars / DB Boulevard
• Highest UK Chart Position: #3
• Weeks On Chart: 14

2002 can in many ways be looked back on as the last year when dance music still straddled a line in producing records that sounded just as good out on the dancefloor of your provincial discotheque as they did pumping from radio airwaves the land over.

Certainly, it is hard to imagine a record like this week’s one being popular in any other year of the 00s, although that may just be us. The result of a collaboration between three Italian DJs and producers – Roxy, Azzetto and Broggio – together with powerhouse vocalist Monica Bragato, aka Moony – DB Boulevard’s “Point of View” had first been a huge club track back at the start of 2001.

As is often the case with these sort of records, it took an inordinately long amount of time in circulation as a white label and an intense bidding war between record labels to license it for a full release, with Illustrious, the dance imprint of Sony Music run by Kevin Robinson, former MD of the legendary Positiva Records label, being eventual triumphant winners to release it.

“Point of View” is a curious record; though its feet are firmly set on the dancefloor, there’s a depth to the lyrics about looking at things from well, another point of view, when life throws you obstacles such as that which Moony sings about in the opening lyrics: “Don’t have a cent, will I pay my rent? / And even my car doesn’t work / Me and my man is the one to die for / We have split up”.

It is perhaps this, combined with the unusual promo video of depicting a cardboard cutout world that made it one of those records that was going to be huge regardless of when it came out. When it did, “Point of View” was a smash, being the big floorfiller of that late winter, as it entered at #3 and went onto spent just over three months in the UK charts.

And it’s success wasn’t just here in the UK and Europe; thanks to its timely use in an episode of the fifth season of Sex and the City later that year, titled ‘Cover Girl’ (it’s the episode where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw shoots her first book cover), it also went onto top the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart; a feat that was as rare then as it is now. Moony’s success also briefly spilled over into a solo career with her song “Dove (I’ll Be Loving You)” becoming a #9 hit in June. But to this week we toast DB Boulevard, with their dance anthem that gave us all a different perspective.

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 2002. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2002.