Official Chart Pop Gem #25: Britney Spears – (You Drive Me) Crazy

It wasn't an easy decision, but Britney's Top 5 hit from 1999 gets its place in the Pop Gem hall of fame.

STOP!
Picking a Pop Gem from Britney Spears’ decade and a half of hits was always going to be a tough decision. Suggestions for Pop Gems – those forgotten classics that were everywhere back in the day but have faded into obscurity – came thick and fast, but the problem with a back catalogue like Britney’s is all her hits were huge. Does Britney really have any overlooked classics?

We narrowed it down to three: 1999’s (You Drive Me) Crazy, 2002’s Overprotected and, from the same year, Boys. And when we watched the videos back, there could be only one winner: step forward (You Drive Me) Crazy.

(You Drive Me) Crazy is the late-90s baked in a pie of pop perfection. It does, of course, have the president of pop production Max Martin’s magic touch. Britney’s star was flying high when this, the third single from her debut album …Baby One More Time, first charted in October 1999.

The track had been reswizzled slightly from the album version to make the Stop! Remix, because the song was to feature in a movie called Drive Me Crazy (no, we don't remember it either), starring Sabrina The Teenage Witch herself Melissa Joan Hart, and future Entourage star Adrian Grenier. While the album version was nice enough, it didn’t quite pack the punch required by a third single for a megastar in the making.

The video, featuring Britney as a gum-chewing sassy waitress who liked to break into inexplicable dance routines every minute or so, was a big deal. It was Brit’s first foray into big-budget videos and was the feature of a behind-the-scenes documentary on MTV. Melissa Joan and Adrian also show up, hanging around kind of awkwardly in the background (and generally getting in the way of all the amazing dancing and stuff, if we’re totally honest).

(You Drive Me) Crazy peaked on entry at Number 5 in the Official Singles Chart and has sold 285,000 copies (and over 2,400 in 2013 alone – so you still love it). Britney hasn’t performed it on tour since 2004, but with her two-year Las Vegas show Britney Spears: Piece Of Me set to start in December, could (You Drive Me) Crazy be about to get another airing? Here’s hoping.

And here's Overprotected for your visual pleasure too, because, let's face it, it's also pretty amazing. Especially that bit where she goes "I don't need nobody telling me just what I wanna/What I what what what I'm gonna/Do do/Do about my destiny", right? Oh, and the way she sings "me" as "maaaaay". Maybe this should have been the Pop Gem after all. What do you think?

Got a Pop Gem?

Know a long-forgotten favourite that needs to be shown some Official Chart Pop Gem love? Don't be shy! Either mail us your nomination at popgem@officialcharts.com or keep your beady, chart-loving eye on our Facebook and Twitter on a Friday, where we reveal the week's theme. Get involved: Your Pop Gem Needs You.