Stepping Back & Forward with Steps

I've rediscovered my love of Steps, a popular British quintet whose prominence ranged from 1997-2001. 2011 heralded a reunion for Steps after a rupture in the group ten years previously this December.

Soaring back into the British public consciousness on the back of a documentary detailing their mended fences, Steps has topped the U.K. album charts (digitally and physically) with their Ultimate Collection. The companion tour, already selling out, is making this reunion a fantastic realization for longtime fans. A new album could even be in the works.

My initial exposure to Steps was and is owed to my love and interest in the Spice Girls, another United Kingdom export, though worlds away from the pre-fab pep pop Steps favored. The Spice Girls opened my ears and eyes to the international music scenes, because of this I was able to fall under the sway of the Steps spell in the late spring of 2000.

Proceeding the pre-fabricated explosion that stole America by two years, Steps racked up the requisite silver, gold, platinum single and albums sales, and nothing less than Top 20 chart placements at their peak. Lee Latchford-Evans, Ian "H" Watkins, Lisa Scott-Lee, Claire Richards, and Faye Tozer were conceptualized by Tim Byrne, Steve Crosby, and Barry Upton, all movers and shakers within the U.K. popular music sphere.

Later, Pete Waterman, a former third of the production trio Stock-Aitken-Waterman, became involved in the songwriting and production duties for Steps. Waterman, with his S.A.W. peers defined pop music in England, Europe, Australia, and Asia from the late '80's through the early '90's. America caught the S.A.W. bug as well throughout the '80's, but not as feverishly as the previously mentioned locales. The S.A.W. stable boasted Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Rick Astley, and (importantly) Kylie Minogue. Waterman's hand in their first two records came from experience.

Steps drew their name from their dance choreography that accompanied every single and video they released, their music often was founded in varying strains of European and British dance music. However, they did have a longer reach in their singles and albums than a momentary listen would lead a casual observer to believe. What made Steps stand out was their crystal harmonies, they could sing.

Some of the Steps crafts have not aged well ("5, 6, 7, 8" anyone?), the rest retains a golden gleam of well written, sweet appeal. Hyped as the ABBA of their day wasn't a completely off nor accurate description. At their brightest, they evoked the early and latter days of ABBA on "One for Sorrow" and "After the Love Has Gone."

Their covers promptly showed that Steps weren't just ABBA copycats, their own personality pouring over classics by Bananarama ("Last Thing On My Mind"), The Bee Gees ("Tragedy"), Diana Ross ("Chain Reaction"), and the already mentioned Kylie Minogue ("Better the Devil You Know").

Like fellow Brit-popper Robbie Williams in the same time-span, Steps attempted a shot at American success. Combining elements from both Step One (1998) and Steptacular (1999), they prepped a composite U.S. edition of Step One which arrived in 2000. Williams tried the same technique with '99's The Ego Has Landed, which combed cuts from the multi-platinum successes Life Thru a Lens (1997) and I've Been Expecting You (1998).

Despite the lukewarm reception Steps received in the U.S., it was on the third LP Buzz (2000), along with their American contemporary the Backstreet Boys' Black & Blue released the same year, that Steps courted iconoclasm in their art. New Musical Express critic Peter Robinson stated in his favorable review of Buzz (NME ranked it "8/10"):

Even more so than second albums, third albums are notoriously difficult in pop. For while a second album can lodge itself in the slipstream of all the excitement that comes with a debut, third albums are there to see bands "standing on their feet" and "proving themselves," and-call the police!-"taking a more mature direction' by "writing our own material."

Buzz, the first album I ever imported, is one of the finest pop records of its time. The disco resurrection of "Stomp," touted in the liner notes as a tribute to Chic frontmen Niles Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, was unapologetic in its lush, flying groove. Songs like these are why I'm endeared to British pop music, they don't fret and fuss like Americans do over (supposedly) appearing old hat when getting into great period pieces.

Elsewhere, Buzz held one song written by each Step, all strong affairs. Claire's "Hand On Your Heart" and Lisa's "Never Get Over You" were epic and gorgeous stand-outs. Additional highlights included their world music pull, lifted from Ace of Base's The Bridge (1995), on "Paradise Lost," the raving "Learn to Love Again," and the DeBarge borrowed "Wouldn't Hurt So Bad."

Unlike the Backstreet Boys, Steps wouldn't get a chance to capitalize on Buzz, as they disbanded after their "Gold Tour." Their recent "Steps: The Reunion" documentary filled in the dots of what went wrong, and that for the most part, the former Steps tried their hands at solo careers and personality driven entertainment engagements in the interim.

"It's the Way You Make Me Feel" from Buzz


In the decade since their disbanding, much has changed in the world. Performers like Steps, as they do, tend to be appreciated when they aren't as ubiquitous. Now, their work is being crowned by former cynics. For me, a strange homecoming has taken place. I don't believe in the idea of "guilty pleasure," at least in music anyway. Every artist has their place, and the responsibility to be the best at what they do, no matter what anyone may think. Steps did that.

They spoke of a more innocent time in my life, and those of their (now) adult fans. The Steps brand of pop, often heartfelt, fun, and sometimes corny, I've discovered has its place among the other music I've found since I was 16. I am probably the only black 26-year-old Midwesterner checking for Steps to keep on truckin' in these pop barren days, but somehow it feels full circle.-QH

[Editor's Note: All of Steps discography is in print, the mass of it available via import. For more information on Steps visit: Steps Official.-QH]