Now Yearbook 1993

 

Well it is Wednesday and as much as the urge to blog something around style and that is, you know we're going to get another one of those Now Yearbook compilations as they criss-cross the decades turning over memories.

1993 was in the early days of exploring being sissy before online really started and everything was more catalogues, certain mail order magazines and shops where you just had to come out about what you were being was for you to the sales staff if you needed a hand.

I loved music too and that's where we're going this week.

We last looked at the 1990's in February this year with 1990 and as this mega series works in five year batches the question was to be which year next which helpfully is the year after initial 1990's batch, 1993 where shoe-gazing, dance trends,grunge and the start of brit-pop were the thing.

As ever this comes in three versions, a deluxe book form 4 cd with notes, a cheap card 4 cd and a three lp selection.

Disc 1 opens with a posthumous #1 for Freddie Mercury with the remix of 'Living On My Own', before the first of two tracks included on this 'Yearbook' from Pet Shop Boys taken from their classic 1993 album 'Very' with its lego cover, 'Can You Forgive Her?'. New Order returned to the Top 5 with 'Regret', and R.E.M. had a string of hits including 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite'.

 One of the highlights of 1993 was the Chart renaissance of Duran Duran - and 'Come Undone' features next (with another to come on Disc Four) while Take That had their first #1 with 'Pray', Ace Of Base scored a global smash with 'All That She Wants' that I heared in the local HMV at the time, and a-ha were back in the Top 20, plus Whitney Houston and Lisa Stansfield had huge singles from the soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard' and the collaboration between West End feat. Sybil produced a massive floor-filler. 

Long established superstars enjoyed huge success in 1993 including Billy Joel's River Of Dreams, with  Annie Lennox, Sade and Sting, who closes the first disc with his timeless 'Fields Of Gold'. 

Disc Two opens with two of the year's newer charting bands: Radiohead with 'Creep', and the brilliant Suede with 'So Young' - both destined to become an essential part of the fabric of the decades' Charts while Paul Weller returned with 'Wild Wood', and Paul McCartney was back in the Top 20 with 'Hope Of Deliverance'. 

A popular TV-ad propelled The Bluebells to #1 with 'Young At Heart', 9 years after its first release while M People and Dina Carroll both had hugely successful Pop-Dance albums containing a number of big hit singles, and Pop-Trance crossover hits are featured from Cappella, Urban Cookie Collective, and Utah Saints along with big club tracks from D:Ream, Leftfield, The Beloved and Jamiroquai - who were celebrating their first (of many) Top 10 singles. 

The disc closes with 3 of the years' Reggae smashes including #1s from Shaggy with 'Oh Carolina' and UB40 with their cover of '(I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You'. 

Disc 3 starts with the big come-back star of the year was Meat Loaf: 'I'd Do Anything For Love...' spent 7 weeks at #1 and was 1993's best-selling single, and is joined by Bon Jovi, and Lenny Kravitz. 

A great run of Alt-Rock/Pop follows from Manic Street Preachers, Spin Doctors, Crowded House, The Cranberries and the massive 'What's Up?' from 4 Non Blondes plus Soul and R&B huge hits from Arrested Development, SWV, Shara Nelson and the #1 debut 'Dreams' from Gabrielle. 

The disc slows tempo with some of the years' most soulful ballads including 'Delicate', 'Now I Know What Made Otis Blue' and finishing with 'In Your Care' from Tasmin Archer. 

Disc 4 is all about anthemic Pop! - and kicks off with defining tracks from Duran Duran with the sublime 'Ordinary World', from "The Wedding" album of 1992 and Pet Shop Boys with their superb cover of 'Go West'. The #1 collaboration between Take That and Lulu is followed by dance-floor gold from Robin S, SNAP! feat. Niki Harris, Haddaway, and RuPaul. 

The final disc continues with Bananarama, Kim Wilde, Deborah Harry and Gloria Estefan ahead of enduring artists Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Go West and Tears For Fears, and love songs from Lisa Stansfield and Dina Carroll lead to a sign-off from Elton John & Kiki Dee with their version of 'True Love', which was a Top 3 single through the Christmas period. 

Out on August 9th, the three cd extra set adds a further 57 unforgettable tracks to the collection.

Disc 1 sets the stage with a blend of classic hits across multiple genres. Pet Shop Boys kick off with "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing," followed by New Order with "Ruined In A Day" and Duran Duran’s "Too Much Information." 

Next come the powerful vocals of Annie Lennox with "Little Bird" followed by classics from defining albums: Sting with "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” from ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales’ and R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming" from ‘Automatic For The People’. Up next are a stellar run of beautiful songs from Saint Etienne, Sade, Go West and Terrance Trent D'Arby (Sananda Maitreya). SNAP! and M People scored huge Pop-Dance hits, and Heaven 17 and Visage saw remixed versions of their classics become hits once again. The first disc draws to a close with a great collaboration between David Sylvian and Robert Fripp plus Suzanne Vega, Chris Rea, and finishing with Elton John’s “Simple Life”.

Disc 2 travels through Dance and Alternative Pop. Cappella’s high-energy "U Got 2 Know" and Urban Cookie Collective’s “Feels Like Heaven" set the tone, followed by infectious beats from Captain Hollywood Project and S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. featuring Michelle Visage. R&B smashes from Jade with "Don't Walk Away" and SWV’s "I'm So Into You" feature alongside Shara Nelson’s "One Goodbye In Ten", and Jamiroquai’s funky "Blow Your Mind". Stereo MC's, Sunscreem, and Pop Will Eat Itself add to the eclectic mix, and James’ "Sometimes", Del Amitri’s "When You Were Young," and Paul Weller’s "Sunflower" are representative of ‘93’s Pop-Indie crossover hits. The disc finishes with “Kite” from the brilliant Nick Heyward – his first new release for five years, and power ballads from Cher with her live interpretation of “Many Rivers To Cross” and Bon Jovi’s “Bed Of Roses”.

Disc 3 includes powerful vocals and dance floor favourites. Opening with a huge track taken from a massive hit soundtrack: Whitney Houston’s "I Have Nothing", from ‘The Bodyguard’. Sister Sledge’s classic "We Are Family" was a hit again, remixed for the ‘90s dancefloor, followed by Taylor Dayne’s cover of "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love" and Lulu’s "Independence”. Sybil enjoyed her second big hit in ’93 with "When I’m Good And Ready", as did Haddaway with "Life", while more Eurodance came from Dr. Alban with the uplifting "Sing Hallelujah!". Barry Manilow’s "Copacabana" was remixed to become a hit for the second time, and cover versions of Pop classics “This Is It” and “Everlasting Love” gave Dannii Minogue and Worlds Apart chart success. Soulful vocals from Michelle Gayle, Gabrielle, Lisa Stansfield and Dina Carroll are featured ahead of UB40’s “Higher Ground”, whilst the final two tracks are from the years’ biggest pop groups; East 17 continued their chart run with “Slow It Down” and Take That saw “Babe” become their third number one in 1993.

And there over four discs we have 1993 a year that matched new and old acts and quirky things...Blobby!

A return to Blytonville

This week we're going to the most celebrated little boy (of sorts) with the original form of audio book, the story record.

1953 was a very different era, many children lived in highly polluted cities where smog was a killer, grown ups ruled your life quite firmly and even those of us who lived in areas with our own accents and spoke in dialect informally such as here in twin conurbations of Staffordshire were expected to learn received pronunciation which was the language of radio and television back then.

Regional voices such as ours were kept down, we were the uncouthed, so to listen to these recordings does take you back  but the star is Noddy and the magical world of Toyland  and that was where I returned to this week.

In 1953, very much at her height as leading children's authoress, Enid Blyton went to EMI Records with the idea of making a sound recording of her reading a series of the Noddy stories for record.

She was open to the use of sound effects and songs to add dramatizing, realizing this all helped hold your attention and they were issued on ten inch (22 cm) 78 rpm records during that period where we were moving from shellac 78 discs to unbreakable microgroove 45 and 33 rpm ones.

They were recorded on tape which made re-issuing on 7 inch 45 rpm extended play discs with two sides of the originals to a single side easier and the quality is of the highest of the era.

Of course these are not the secretly rewritten versions where gollies no longer exist, everybody is presumed English of the dominant cultural norms and we lived in world we were just a step a way from the threat of a spanking.

Times change and will no doubt continue to but that world was closer to that of my childhood than that of today's and really one needs to explain to children about these differences so they understand different times have their own norms.

I recently re-read Those Dreadful Children.

The story begins with the three Carlton children - John, Margery and Annette - being excited when a new family move into the house at the bottom of the garden. However, the older Taggertys - Pat, Maureen and Biddy are loud, rough, dirty and not at all the sort of children the prim, tidy Carltons want to associate with. 

Due to an old friendship of their fathers they are forced together - two sets of Dreadful Children - who have to take a hard look at their own behaviours as they learn to get along, learning from the best of each other, understanding each others faults.

This is very much product of its era in terms of values but in showing the good in each family rather than pushing any one, I feel she was on the right lines.

You can kill iniatitive and imagination with kindness, preoccupations with cleanliness and respectability but there are standards too about respect for others, please and thank-you's and turn taking.

The other side of you

Another week and in the eclectic mix slice of life blog that this is we'll go back a bit to the early days on this blog during a guided period in my life where for the first time a lot of work was done into exploring every latent idea and interest within me, pulling them right out.

In so many ways having been confronted by their presence and dragged out the treatment ensured they could never go back and you only consider when to act upon them.

I could never again resist them

So that meant sissykins beyond replacing one pair of Pj's for something more overtly feminine also needed to get back on track as only until the period just before covid did I stop wearing any kind of a night dress,

With that in mind and the many remembered words from those early days I have a satin pink Baby Doll night dress with dainty little rose bud details, frilly lace strips and hem.

It positively oozes uber femininity

To go underneath them, matching panties.

A Baby Doll night dress is really what the older "Big" side of sissikins really belongs in, something that is so much sensual, that while not being explicitly grown up is not worn by the Littlest of Girls because it is sexy.

A sissy that has gone through puberty is sexual even if while in little form you elect not to use that side, you ARE sexily needy and that's really the best for you when that is the case.

You don't take a vow of celibacy as Little Sissy, you protect that side of you whenever she's out.

Little sissy gurl bedtimes

This was rather more the post I wished to make last week because really when you are more a Adult Little Gurl rather than a Big Gurl with all hur grown up interests  and sexual identity some might say "and what exactly sissy dressing".

I would say it was on the highly sugary side of little girl dressing baby pink or blue, very much about soft, smooth materials and very much feminine.

Sissikins has new pj's with a satin smooth finish that gives off very much a gurlish feel, you could never mistake them for boys which makes total sense

Because it can get warm as an option  I did get a pair of  matching French Knickers that could be worn with the top with pretty lace detail, again very gurlish and smooth feeling.

It all helps with feeling great as sissy me.

Discourse: Little Sissies exist!

 Okay so I was going to post something rather different but seeing a dialogue of the deaf going on one one site one what was supposed to had been a a thread about what you might like at "sissy event" being hijacked by a Little Girl who thinks all Sissies are about SPH*, adult humilation and one Sissy who thinks sissies can only be into going to places where you might be "tied up", called any amount of demeaning sexually explicit  terms and Forced to do anything.

That is so so ridiculous.

Of course some sissies and much of Online sissy culture does run with all of that which if you see yourself as primarily an Adult who is very much sexual is totally fine.

Some do use traits such as dressing like a child as a humilation but that doesn't make being dressed like one necessarily a matter of being humiliated so much you are attempting to resemble a child- the child you see yourself as or enacting and they sure don't deserve to be seen as a kink ever.

Little Sissies can and do exist - unlike LG's (Little Girls) we tend to be more frilly feminine than most of the same emotional age and perhaps by their standards effeminate - but basically we like the same games, play with toys that uses our imagination, dolly tea parties, arts and crafts, dress up sessions and the like.

When we're like that we do things that are more child-like enjoying being that child even if we're more frilly from many a LG.

Having been their and done it I know it exists in just the same way Adult Sissy stuff does and really it's entirely up to you what side if any you're on.

Just quit lecturing people about things you don't know and haven't had the life doing.

2024 Comic Summer Specials

 The good thing about being a little sissy gurl is you get to enjoy little life all over again as you really were

What's that Temptations song?

It's Summer.

As sure as eggs are eggs Summer comes around after things like year Exams and things like GCSE's (or O levels in my day) and your A's we work through before the six weeks or more before the start of the next term.

Unless your folks are the sort that pulled you out school for a week before, which happened then, and sure enough does today but soon what started of as "Yay freedom" soon turns to "I'm bored" and then if you were away the day you wanted to go to the beach, it was raining over Bill's mothers too so that was off.*

You needed something that didn't just occupy the time, you needed a good laff to bring a smile back on your face after that disappointment and for many of us it was the special Comic Specials.

Specials that had exclusive new stories were it and back then their were loads such as Tammy, Jinty and The Dandy which you might of taken with you or bought as soon as you got to that resort or camp site.

We lost the Dandy way back at the end of 2012 as weekly comic but an experimental Summer issue in 2013 proved successful and today we get one a year and an annual.

Thing is, us old-young at heart readers are slowly reducing so it's not enough to just cater for the retro adult market, you need to reach out to actual modern children so you can't just keep old cartoon strip series in, you need to add new ones that exist more in the modern world and so we continue with last years Dandytown Scouts, modern but easy for us older readers to relate to as much as todays youngsters.

Then D C Thompson have reimagined Dina Mite  as Dinah Mo as a ecological activist caring about the environment (and we should) and had Lew Stringer draw her with both new strips with a more diverse range of children from we had in 1977 or even 88 reflecting how society has changed.

This is being cross promoted by another long standing comic - The Beano.

Unlike the Dandy despite both having a trouble identity crisis driven period around 2007 to 2010, this still continues and is last man standing of the old school weekly comics although the revived monthly Monster Fun can join it.

There's no denying it has changed, somethings such as more inclusion, more ethically diverse characters more welcome for reflecting the world and addressing poor representation of girls, disabled children (something that irritated me back then) and so on.

Being a weekly the setting needs more to reflect the world as it is now with internet and smartphones in it even if grown ups rightly are debating how much of children's time should be spent with such things.

Because Rodger, Minnie, Dennis and the Class of 2B are still ten they're still around but in that world and they go on super summer adventure that has a common theme - pranks and pranking - and they guest in each others comic strip series in the summer edition with a common story.

They are joined by newer strips that have none of the baggage older comic strips have some of which tend to work a bit better than others so it's a little less of a retro experience but if you enter the headspace  of a ten your old  today it makes lots of sense and is quite funny.

It just isn't 1974 but this isn't typewritten then but posted online in 2024!

Out now at major newsagents, Amazon and thank god this year D C Thomson's own website.

Guiding this week

 

I have written a bit around scouting and being a an eternal Brownie as a sissy gurl on here before but just what do I do?

Well, weather this weekend was really quite good so exploring was very much on the agenda here as I followed the canal towpaths taking my time to take in the countryside tucked beyond the built up area.

Sections have rough and ready pathways affording the ability to get close to trees providing much needed shade this week and identify their species before making ones way towards the next lock moving along.

 Inspiration can come from many places and sometimes where you may not expect such as comics where a few did try to do for them what the popular "Why Don't You..." television series on the BBC did and use their medium to encourage children to put down what they were doing and do something like go outside instead.

The girls comic Tammy did a fair bit about being fit and going out exploring the countryside  not just in the regular comics but also in their annuals.

Here from an page in the 1970's they are looking at the things you need on and with you and the things you might do along the way like identify trees, flowers, birds and so on which isn't a million miles removed from what you'd do in Scouts and Girl Guiding but with the advantage anyone anywhere can just do it where there can be waiting lists and in a few places the lack of age appropriate unit for you.