Official Charts Pop Gem #7: All Saints - I Know Where It's At

Dig out that that (now hideously ill-fitting) crop top and combat pants from the back of the wardrobe (last seen circa 2001), and sit back and enjoy this certified Official Charts Pop Gem!

We like a good pop tune here at Official Charts HQ. We like them a lot, and throughout 2012 the Official Charts Company are celebrating 60 years of the Official Singles Chart – the home of said pop tunes.

But, ever wondered what happens to some songs when they disappear out of the charts, off radio playlists, pulled from music TV channels?

Well, with a little help from you guys, every Friday OfficialCharts.com will be unearthing some of these glorious musical nuggets with Official Charts Pop Gem!

All Saints - I Know Where It's At

Formed in 1993 (a year before Spice Girls got together) under the moniker of All Saints 1.9.7.5, the then London-based three piece (Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and Simone Rainford) inked a deal with ZTT Records for their first single Silver Shadow. However, the track, and its follow-up If YouWanna Party (I Found Lovin'), proved to be commercially unsuccessful and Rainford left the group.

In 1996 Blatt and Lewis decided to expand their line-up to a four piece, recruiting sisters Nicole Appleton and Natalie Appleton, ditch the 1.9.7.5 from their name, and started shopping around for a new record deal.

After vetoing a couple of offers from labels who wanted to turn them into a carbon copy of Spice Girls, who were fast becoming a global phenomenon, it was a demo version of new track I Know Where It's At that secured All Saints a deal with London Records. An antidote to the fizz of the then current girl power movement, All Saints set out down a different, or as some may describe, ‘more credible’ route. An edgier space carved out earlier in the decade by predecessors TLC and Eternal and their R&B-influenced sounds.

Now, we do of course still hear the likes of the amazing William Orbit-produced Pure Shores frequently gracing our car radios, BUT…when was the last time you were treated to a bit of All Saints’ debut single I Know Where It’s At? Exactly. As a feature, Official Charts Pop Gem exists to solve life’s little injustices such as this.

Released on August 18, 1997 I Know Where It's At debuted at Number 4 in the Official Singles Chart, selling nearly 48,000 copies in its first week on sale. All Saints would go on to score their first Official Number 1 (the first of five) with I Know Where It's At's follow-up, Never Ever, a few months later.

So dig out that that (now hideously ill-fitting) crop top and combat pants from the back of the wardrobe (last seen circa 2001), and sit back and enjoy this certified Official Charts Pop Gem!

Want to suggest a track to be next week's Official Charts Pop Gem and tell the world what you remember about a lost pop classic? Email us at: popgem@officialcharts.com