The Story of Pop: 1998 (Chapter 32)

Time for us to continue our weekly look back at the UK charts of 25 years ago now, with The Story of Pop: 1998. This week: the biggest selling single by an Irish act in UK chart history from one of the year’s newest West End musicals…

• Artist: Boyzone
• Song: No Matter What
• Released: 03/08/1998
• Writers / Producers: Andrew Lloyd Webber / Jim Steinman / Nigel Wright
• Highest UK Chart Position: #1
• Weeks on Chart: 16

Ireland’s first big boyband of the 90s, by 1998, Boyzone were by now five years deep into a career that had taken in eleven top 10 hits, three of which had gone to number one (their cover of The Bee Gees‘ “Words” and “A Different Beat” in 1996, and “All That I Need” in April of this year), as well as three consecutive number one albums (Said and Done in 1995, A Different Beat in 1996, and Where We Belong in May of this year).

But despite racking up the hits with such consistency, if there was one thing that Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham were lacking, it was a signature hit that crossed them over beyond their initial teen fangirl audience. There was a couple that had arguably almost achieved that – 1997’s “Picture Of You” from the Bean movie soundtrack, for example, or their covers of Cat Stevens‘ “Father & Son” and Tracy Chapman’s “Baby Can I Hold You”.

But it was a chance invitation by none other than Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, that was about to change everything. First opening at the National Theatre in Washington D.C two years previously, Whistle Down The Wind was a musical adaptation of the 1961 film of the same name, following the story of some kids who find a fugitive in a barn who they believe to be Jesus.

Ahead of its debut in London’s West End, a concept album was released with contemporary artists recording assorted songs from the show, including Sir Tom Jones, Boy George, and Australian singer Tina Arena, who had gone first releasing the show’s title tune as a single in June of that year, reaching the top 20.

Boyzone, meanwhile, were given the song “No Matter What”, arguably the central song of the musical, a soaring ballad about faith and hope in spite of doubt. It made sense therefore, that the band’s most ardent lover of musical theatre, Stephen, took lead vocal along with Ronan. Production on their version of the song was done by none other than Jim Steinman, who had notably worked with Meat Loaf and Celine Dion, and as a result, elevated the track into something rather special.

Capital FM in London were the ones to identify it as a hit in waiting; originally the boys had been planning to release “Will Be Yours” as the next single from the Where We Belong album. But as one of the station’s then most popular DJs, Neil Fox highlighted, when the station head was played “No Matter What” by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber at his house, he immediately lobbied Polydor, the band’s record label, for it to be released as a single.

Radio picked up on the track almost immediately, and when finally released as a single at the start of August, “No Matter What” soared to number one on first week sales of well over 270,000 copies. It then stayed there for three weeks in all – something Boyzone singles didn’t do that often – and eventually went onto notch up sales of over 1.2m copies in the UK alone, making it the biggest selling single by an Irish act ever in UK chart history – a record they still hold to this day.

Added to a revised edition of the Where We Belong album, it promptly sent the album back to number one a few weeks later. Further signs of the single’s popularity came at the end of the year, when it won the public vote on the first ever Record Of The Year TV show and phone poll held by ITV. And with that one single, Boyzone were elevated to a level of prestige and respect, and thus crossover appeal that they hitherto hadn’t commanded, making them pop legends in the process. Songs like “No Matter What” don’t come along often in most artist’s careers, so it’s all the more special when they do.

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 1998. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop1998.