The one thing I love about music is that everyone has their own story to tell – the musician, the lyrics, the way the fans decipher them and also the way a song can also create a memory or a meaning to someone. That is what this new article is all about. Each fortnight, we will take a look at a different song and I will take you as a trip down memory lane as to what it means to me. Welcome to Music Memories.

Track: 5,6,7,8
Artist: Steps
Original Release Date: 10th November 1997

When I was a kid I was introduced to the world of Line Dancing because members of my family were really into it, one of the senior members even ran an evening teaching people how to do the dance. I was always going to evenings full of dancing, live music and even events in hotels that were dedicated to the dance theme. That member of the family even taught the dancing after school in my Primary school and we made the local newspaper.

It was a lot of fun, I used to like the moves where you got to spin around really fast or hop about as it meant I could use up all the energy that I had and I could put a lot of effort of swinging back and forth into turns. The one thing that really bugged me about line dancing though was when they decided to do dances to modern pop music at the time.

In the late nineties there was one pop band that had a catchy debut single that even had a popular dance routine with it – 5,6,7,8. Yes, that is right that famous Steps song with the famous dance routine that was sort of like line dancing but really was not. Well, the line dancing community were not a fan of the dance so they decided to make their own version to it. I hated it. I hated it, when you are a kid and you are in the era of pop bands to change a dance routine was a travesty and every time the line dancers did their version which was incredibly different I refused to dance it.

Whenever I hear this song, this memory comes back and it is such a random one I know but it also one that I remember very passionately.

Facts About 5,6,7,8

• It is a techno-pop and country pop song written by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby, and produced by Karl Twigg, Mark Topham and Pete Waterman
• “5,6,7,8” peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart
• Has become the third-best-selling single of their career in the United Kingdom, selling 365,000 copies and receiving 3,440,000 streams as of March 2017