The location: A studio in London
The look: Red and silver christmas stuff come pvc catsuits for super hero action!
The story: On a ever so fun christmas holiday whilst gathering wood H is kidnapped by evil dwarves! How scary! (no really that is scary!) So the gorgeous Faye, Lisa, Claire and Lee are forced to turn into all sking all some sort of snow machine thingy riding action heroes!
They eventually find poor old H and Lisa highkicks the evil ice queen who wanted him as her prisoner! They all return to their log cabin where they shower H with his christmas presents and hold candles and do christmassy stuff etc.
This video shows the dangers of how a seemingly harmless winter holiday can go tragically wrong!
Rating: 10/10
H: The others all take the mickey out of my acting in this video. The director told me to look scared when the extras were beating me up, and they all laugh at my facial expressions.
Faye: I always laugh when I watch the Heartbeat video because of H 'brilliant' acting performance when he's being prodded by the extras. It's the same in the fight scene when everyone is trying to do karate. I wore a actsuit which was very daring for me. Then again it wasn't the last time.
Lee: This was our first effort at being super heroes and it was real comic book video. It was really cliched but a lot of fun.
Claire: I remeber being up on the jet ski in front of the blue screen and it was really high up and I 'm scared of heights so I was terrified, but I had to look like I was having a great time and was really cool with it! Argggh!
Lisa: The video was a real laugh to film. It was all very tongue-in-cheek and we had a lot of fun with the extras. We seemed to be laughing all day.
Video 5: Tragedy
Released:
6th November 1998
UK Peak Postition: 1
The location: A church in London.
The look: Wedding dresses all round! Well except for H and Lee who preferred to wear suits!
The story: Lisa, Claire and Faye are all set to walk down the aisle and into impending doom with their grooms to be. However luckily for them Lee and H decide to rescue the beautiful brides before anything turns into too much of a tragedy and they all end up at the wedding reception disco doing their oh so famous dance routine as Pete Waterman spins some funky choons on the old decks...
Rating: 10/10
Lee: Tragedy was actually one of the cheapest videos we've ever made but it looked fantastic. It was great having our family and friends involved and I have some brilliant memories of that day. Especially how weird it was seeing all the girls in their wedding dresses!
H: I loved driving my scooter down the aisle in that video. I kept dissapearing in between takes because I was driving it up and down the road!
Faye: Filming the video was lovely, especially as my dad had tears in his eyes when we were walking down the aisle because I was in a wedding dress. He was getting all choked and I had to say to him, 'Don't worry I'll never get married dad!' But look at me now!
Lisa: I remember sitting in this beautiful Rolls-Royce with my dad on ou way to the church and we had to keep circling it because we were too early. We kept passing a couple of old ladies at the bus stop and it got a bit embarrassing after 15minutes or o. My dad and I started ducking down in the car - we were sure that the ladies had thought I'd been stood up!
Claire: I remember having a trying on session in someone's flat and we were all trussed up in all different wedding dresses. Lisa went for something traditional. Faye got something more modern, and mine was just terrible! I hated it, I thought I looked ridiculous, I kept trying to hide during the shoot!
Video 6: Better Best Forgotten
Released:
8th March 1999
UK Peak Postion: 2
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Very blue and lot's of shiny pvc.
The story: Not too sure about this one! STEPS themselves don't seem to be too sure about what it's about either! Faye, Claire and Lisa are trying to film a sexy and moody promo, but H and Lee being the jolly chaps they are decide that they're going to ruin it by generally messing about. It's got a watery feel to it and it's all very shiny and very blue...anyway whatever it's about it's all in good fun!
Rating: 9/10
Lisa: This is a funny one because it's not one of my favourites but it is still hugely popular with our fans. I go to our website a lot and they all seem to still love it which means I really enjoy performing it.
H: I was wearing what looked like a blue bin liner for a costume, which is always nice. I had to do all my shots first because the outfit was so hot I was dripping in sweat, so they wanted to get me out of the way!
Faye: The vidoe for Better Best Forgotten holds memories of me having glass stuck in my bottom. When we were filming we had a mock up of a glass wall behind us, and it fell on me halfway through a verse. It smashed and I got glass splinters in my bum and a sore head. The crew had to use this airbrush thing and then pick the splinters out with tweezers! I was supposed to be being glamourous in my genie outfit with my hair all done up nicely, but instead I was lying there with my backside out for all to see! Well, almost.
Lee: I remember Faye lying there and having the glass picked out of her bum. Something I'm sure every guy would love to do! She was so cool about it, though. She didn't panic at all. She's dead hard, our Faye!
Claire: I liked Better Best Forgotten a lot. I loved the verses because they were quite low which meant they were nice to sing. The fans go mad when we do this on tour so we love doing it.
Video 7: Love's Got A Hold On My Heart
Released:
12th July 1999
UK Peak Postition: 2
The location: Cannes, South Of France.
The look: One word and that's yellow!
The story: STEPS are in Cannes to promote 'STEPS - The movie' when an evil journalist type person steals the promo for it! Shock horror! So our fab five decide to chase after him and retrieve the film, luckily for them the dastardly chap has left them a string of clues to follow and in the end good triumphs evil and STEPS are reunited with their lost movie!
Rating: 10/10
Claire: The yellow outfits are the one's we're always remembered for, probably because they were so bright. Whenever takes the mickey out of us or impersonates us they always wear yellow outfits.
Faye: One word describes this video - yellow. It was filmed in Cannes and it was like a big yellow Enid Blyton mystery with us running around trying to find stolen film reels. We felt incredibly important and glam because we had these huge winnebagos as dressing rooms and people kept looking to see who we were.
Lisa: The video took us two days to film in all, and we had such a good time because it was such a lovely place. I liked Cannes alot and we got to have half a day off so we all went and sun bathed on the beach. Us girls are proper sun worshippers so we were well happy.
Lee: This song reminds me of summer sunshine. We wore bright yellow in the video and to be honest, that's the only thing I don't like about it. I think we looked like five canaries! I blame Faye because it was her idea as she loves yellow and gold. We all went with it because we hadn't done it before but I thought I looked ridiculous a bit like Big Bird.
H: Cannes is one of my favourite places. I'd been on holiday there before so I knew a lot of places to go.
Video 8: After The Love Has Gone
Released:
11th October 1999
UK Peak Postition: 5
The location: The Universal Studios in the USA.
The look: Oriental inspired in golds, reds and green.
The story: STEPS are working as undercover spies in China, Faye gets kidnapped by the baddies Lee saves her using his martial arts skills (what a show off!) H slaps someone with a wet fish (for comedy effect) Claire and Lisa look gorgeous and are also instrumental in the safe return of Faye - Claire trips some one up and Lisa fans someone to death or something!
Rating: 10/10
Lisa: I loved fimling this video because there was an oriental theme throughtout the song and the video, and because my grandad's Chinese it was his favourite. Because I love him very much I thought it was lovely to do something Chinese and I think it made him really happy. I went to town with the outfit. I had a gorgeous green pyjama set with a dragon on it and it's still one of my favourite outfits that I've ever worn.
Lee: I did enjoy doing this one because it gave me a chance to do my martial arts. Also H got to do some of the choreography which was cool.
Claire: We learnt the dance routine the day before we made the video and they wanted us to do all this high kicking action stuff. I was praying they weren't going to make me do any of it because I would have made such a fool of myself. It's just not me at all. And I was wearing a dress -so it wouldn't have been a good move. In the end all I had to do was spin around this stick and trip a bloke up - nothing too enegetic!
H: It was so cool filming the video on a real film set and it turned out really well. We all designed our own costumes and we got to do karate chops and stuff. I got to smack the bad guy with a big wet kipper which was a good comedy moment.
I really liked this song. It was very Abba and Claire did a brilliant vocal on it.
Faye: Ithought After The Love Has Gone was a new version of One For Sorrow. A second part.
I enjoyed learning the martial arts and because I'm a dancer I didn't find it too hard to do. It was so amazing how high skilled you have to be to do it for real though. Every time we touched one of the bad guys in the video they flipped and ended up on the floor!
Video 9: Say You'll Be Mine
Released:
13th December 1999
UK Peak Postition: 4
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Film star chic and itchy gold Lisa's nana's lampshade outfits (apparently!)
The story: STEPS get to re-create thier fave romantic movie moments then dance about in shiny gold outfits.
Rating: 10/10
Faye: This was my fave song for a long time because we all got to sing on it equally which was really, really nice. It was a big accomplishment for us.
I think it was one of the best video ideas in terms of the acting parts, but I wasn't keen on dancing in the gold outfits in between. I was allergic to my gold outfit as well because the material had a metal content in in it and I've got a serious nickel allergy. It was a nightmare to wear.
H: This wasn't one of my favourite videos because of the fact that we all looked like gold lamp shades. Unfortunately we were so busy and tired we agreed to the outfits without thinking properly! I never regret anything, but if we could go back and do it all again that's the one thing that I'd change.
Lisa: I wasn't very keen on this outfit. It was a gold two piece with fringing identical to my Nana's lamp shade!
It was a good laugh playing all the characters. H and I had quite a few scenes together so there was a lot of laughing. We recreated the Titanic scene at the front of the boat - the set builders did a great job. There was one bit where H held out my arms and I was shouting 'I'm flying H, I'm flying!' It was just like the film it was so cool!
Claire: My top was held together with this clear elasticated stuff and it kept snapping every time I did the dance routine because it was a bit energetic!
I loved the Juliet costume I got to wear though, but I must admit it was hard to keep a straight face during the scenes with H as my Romeo!
Lee: I don't think any of us liked our gold costumes, but I loved playing the movie roles!
Video 10: Better The Devil You Know
Released:
13th December 1999
UK Peak Postition: 4
The location: The Evening News Arena in Manchester.
The look: Floor length red leather coats and devil horns!
The story: STEPS get into satan worshipping! Well not really but hey, there isn't actually a story behind this video it's just footage of the fab five on stage on their record breaking, award winning arena tour!
Rating: 8/10
H: We had mad outfits for this song, they're some of the most memorable we've ever had. I remember Faye hating the devil horns because they always used to fall off her head. But we all had to wear them so she had to partcipate as well. And poor Lisa's coat was so long she looked like Dopey in the seven dwarves! It totally drowned her!
Lisa: This was the first and only live video we've ever done. We didn't have much time because we were on our arena tour so we shot the video live on stage in Manchester.
I'm alway wary of doing covers and think that unless ou can do it better than the original there's no point doing them. It was Pete Waterman's idea to record Better The Devil You Know. He produced the original with Kylie and he knew what he was doing because it was a top 5 hit for us.
Claire: This song is one of my favourites to perform. I always liked it and I think we did a really good versoin of it. I liked it when Kylie did it, but obviously I prefer our version! I'm a bit biased though!
Faye: This was the time of the flashing horns and every time you go to a STEPS concert now you get tons and tons of people wearing them. They're fantastic if you're in the audience, but I had to be really persuaded to wear, because let's just say they weren't my favourite thing. I literally had to be forced to wear them when we performed on the lottery - I wasn't a happy bunny.
Lee: I think it was areally good move to do a live video because people who hadn't seen us in concert got to see what we were capable of.
Video 11: Deeper Shade Of Blue
Released:
3rd April 2000
UK Peak Postition: 4
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Gone are the white lycra and cheesy grins the STEPS of the new millennium have thigh high boots, slashed catsuits and whips oh yeah and some of them are painted blue!
The story: STEPS get raunchy and when they get raunchy they do it big style! The video shows STEPS in two different lights the first being the clean cut smile a while space cadet STEPS the second being the ever so sexy pouting and whip whielding alien STEPS. Basically it was an excuse to get Faye in those thigh high PVC boots!
Rating: 10/10
Lee: This a twist to the STEPS story. It was a new phase because we had a whole new image which was much harder. There was a different vibe to the track and it did really well in the club charts. The video took two days to film and it was all about STEPS alter-egos. I t made people see us in a totally different light and I think that's the key to our career. We've always changed and evolved and can be a lot of different people.
Claire: When they told me I was going to be wearing a catsuit I was like, 'No way!' It was all slashed up the sides and showed off my thighs. It was very saucy. I was literally sewn into that costume. It was so tight, and the corset top was a proper old-fashioned corset. So once I was in it that was it and I was in it for eight hours non-stop! I couldn't even go to the loo! We didn't even take our costumes off when we had dinnet because we'd never have got them on again.
Faye: My video setting was a little stage surrounded by fluroscent lights to look like a cage. Paul the choreographer was getting me to do short, sharp movements and it was like doing 80's style robotics. It was kind of cool. It was a bit more like a film than a video and I was really impressed with the end result.
Lisa: The video was definately uncomfortable to make. Firstly because I was in a tiny outfit and very high heels and secondly because I had to be painted completely blue for it! It took hours and hours to paint and then it took ages to get it off again! I had five consecutive showers - I thought I was going to be blue forever!
H: I remember getting in the shower after Lisa. That's AFTER Lisa not with her! She'd covered the place with blue dye and it looked mad. I really enjoyed helping to paint Lisa. There was so much going on I thought I'd help out. I'd done art when I was younger and I miss it.
Video 12: When I Said Goodbye
Released:
3rd July 2000
UK Peak Postition: 5
The location: Rome, Italy
The look: Sexy and sophisticated glamour, oh and less is definatley more!
The story: H and Claire wander round Rome sitting on landmarks and singing wistfully about lost love, Claire tries to keep her modesty despite the fact that she's left the house wearing just a scarf(she'll catch her death or get a chill if she's not carefull!) Lisa, Lee and Faye also stare sexily into the camera as they ooh and ahh their way through the track.
Rating: 9/10
Faye: Nobody was wearing any clothes in this video! We wanted to make it a really sophisticated ballad, and Kenny Ho our stylist at the time, persuaded us to wear these really saucy outfits which did look pretty sophisticated. We got a lot of wolf whistles walking through the streets to locations and stuff. I don't think you could really miss us! I has some straight hair extensions in which I loved!
Claire: I was wearing the skimpiest top for the video. It was basically just a length of suede sewn at one end and put through my belt loop. It was stuck on with so much toupee tape you wouldn't believe.
I absolutely fell in love with Rome. It was jsut so beautiful. There were so many amazing things there. I was first up to do my bit in the morning and it was really early and raining really hard. I was not pleased! I spent a lot of time hiding in the van!
H: This was a duet between Claire and I which was lovely. It's very different to what we usually do and was filmed in black and white which I thought fitted brilliantly with the romance of the song.
Lee: I see When I Said Goodbye as a step on from Heartbeat, really. Heartbeat was the only ballad we'd released before this and this kind of took over from it. It was about lost love and kissing and making up.
Lisa: I thought the song was lovely. We hadn't done a ballad for a while and people seem to respond really well to it when we do it live. I remember hugging Claire when we were filming the video to keep warm because we were both so cold.
Video 13: Summer Of Love
Released:
3rd July 2000
UK Peak Postition: 5
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Bright colourful combats and t-shirts and ripped black leather, sequined bras and tatoos all round!
The story: This is Westside story meets a dodgy Gap advert! Good STEPS versuses bad STEPS. Basically goody two shoes STEPS are enjoying a drink or two in a very strange very white cafe when bad STEPS arrive and challenge them to a fight, it's more of a dance off really but this is STEPS after all.
Loads of camera trickery and costume changes later and we're left with twice the band we thought they were! The only thing wrong with this video is there are way too many dancers it's like playing where's STEPS trying to spot them in the vid!
Rating: 8/10
Lisa: We were inspired by the Gap adverts for this video. We had a white set and really colourful outfits which I think really worked. It was fun playing two different characters. For the darker side of STEPS I had dark make-up and I wore a purple chiffon top and black three-quarter length trousers and black boots. It was a bit of a raunchy look.
Claire: I made another hair mistake in this video. I decided to dye the ends of my hair pink but it went all washed out and looked terrible!
I loved the Bad STEPS look, I think everyone looked great. We did a lot of the video in one take as we had a huge camera rigged up that swing round and film us for ages at a time. That was something different for us.
H: We went into the studio the night before the shoot and set up some shots for the camera and we had to fit ourselves into the shots. It was done by running a camera along a track and it was recorded every centimetre. Then they split the screen and put Good STEPS on one side and Bad STEPS on the other side so they were both in the same shot.
Faye: I'd had my second lot of dreads put in when we did this video. I get bored with my hair so easily and I decided to do something with it again. This time they were multi-coloured ones and I didn't like them as much as the first ones I had done which were plain white.
Lee: I was in leather with tatoos down my arms and spiky hair for Bad STEPS, and I was all smiley in a blue bandana and some nice bright clothes for the Good STEPS. It was nice to compare the two.
Video 14: Stomp
Released:
16th October 2000
UK Peak Postition: 1
The location: A very posh appartment in North London.
The look: Bright colourful, glittery tops with ripped and bleached denim - STEPS get trendy!
The story: Lisa and H are left in charge of their manager's extremely posh appartment while he goes away - bad move! The troublesome twosome immediately ring up all their friends including Claire, Lee and Faye who hot foot it round there for a massive party. They mix cocktails they sing they dance and they draw funny faces on their managers paintings. STEPS and alcohol obviously don't mix!
Rating: 9/10
Faye: The video was a two day shoot and we had lots of extras. We had a really hectic couple of days because we did the photo shoot for the single and interviews and everything at the same time.
I really liked this song. When we first recorded it vereyone was a bit dubious because it was a bit of a different style, but it turned out really well.
Lisa: I got my scenes done early on the first day so I got the second day off which was lovely. A lot of what you see in the video was made up. It was spur of the moment, off the cuff, and we had a good giggle doing it. H was giving me a piggy back at one point and we were in hysterics again. I think you can tell from watching the video that we had a good time.
H: We wanted one of those flashing dance floors but we couldn't get one in time, so we actually put in an entire flashing wall behind us which looked wicked.
Claire: The apartment in the video cost about a million, and it wasn't even that big! It was pretty gorgeous but there's no way it was worth that much!
Lee: Stomp was a number one which was superb. It's all about getting ready on a Saturday night and going out with your mates and having a great time. Both he song and the video had a party vibe to them and we had a ball making the video.
Video 15: It's The Way You Make Me Feel
Released:
1st January 2001
UK Peak Postition: 2
The location: Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire.
The look: A step back in time with corsets and ball gowns for the girls and breeches a boots for the boys.
The story: A real bodice ripping yarn! STEPS are all madly in love with the wrong person and they try desperately to avoid bumping into people as they sneak round a mansion arranging secret meetings with their lovers. Lisa gets spied on through a keyhole, Lee slips a key down a girls corset it's racy stuff in the style of Dangerous Liasons!
Rating: 10/10
Lisa: Ahhh, I loved this. I loved the costumes and the make-up and the hair and everything. I had a long black hairpiece and we all designed our own outfits. I had a bit of a twist to mine because I didn't want it to be typical eightennth century, I wanted it to have a bit of a millennium feel. So I had a short skirt at the front and it went into a long train at the back which I think I'd quite like for a wedding dress. It was a really beautiful blue and it's one of my favourite costumes.
H: I really liked the outfits. I think the girls all looked incredible. I had spiky hair in that video which I didn't like. Everyone told me to have a bit of a change but I soon changed it back to my normal style. I don't think it suited me at all.
Claire: This was a lovely video. It was nice to be able to do something different for the dance routine and I thought it was great, although it was very difficult to perform on TV.
Faye: This is one of my favourite videos. We had it specially styled and we had lovely dresses and eccentric bots and corsets and lots of lovely things. We all designed our costumes and were inspired by fashion magazines and what we'd seen on the catwalk.
Lee: We got to do a little bit of character acting, which I liked. It was bit like being in a movie.
Video 16: Too Busy Thinking Bout My Baby
Released:
1st January 2001 (As a B Side to It's The Way You Make Me Feel)
UK Peak Postition: 2
The location: The London Weekend Television studios for a recording of the TV show Mowtown Mania.
The look: Very 60's and very sexy. The girls all looked the part in matching floor length sparkly dresses and H and Lee looked fab in suits.
The story: There is no real story to this one. It was never meant to be a promo video, but because of it's huge popularity music channels started to play it and with the inclusion of it on the single It's The Way You make Me Feel it helped STEPS gain a No.2 hit!
Rating: 8/10
Faye: I loved doing this song! I think it's a really great sing a long type song and the dresses we wore reminded of the kind of thing I had to wear when I worked as a cabaret singer at the Hilton Hotel in London.
Lee: I thought this track should have been released as a single, I didn't like the video though.
Lisa: I never liked this promo because it wasn't supposed to be a promo video it was a one-off TV show performance that we thought would be seen once but instead it ended up being one of the most requested music videos on The Box!
Video 17: Here And Now
Released:
4th June 2001
UK Peak Postition: 4
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Purple and mauve suede and leather a really sophisticated, sexy and catwalk look.
The story: STEPS are lost in a maze and trying to find their way to the centre for some unknown reason. It looks great though and there are lot's of clever computer trickery and as ever smouldering close ups to camera.
Rating: 9/10
Lisa: Here And Now always goes down well on tour and I think the video is really funky. It's one of my favourite songs and it's got a really cool dance routine. It was probably quite hard for the fans to do when they first saw it, but they soon picked it up!
H: The videos for Here And Now and You'll Be Sorry are linked. At the end of Here And Now we fly off in a spaceship. I don't think two videos have ever been linked linked together like that so we're really proud.
Claire: I was really pleased with how the video for Here And Now turned out. It was directed by the same people who did Summer Of Love. I think it turned out wickedly with all the flowers growing out from behind us and stuff. That took us a day to film. We did a day for Here And Now and a day for You'll Be Sorry.
Faye: There's a bit in the video where it looks like I'm lying down on a hedge but I'm actually standing up. It was the worst thing because my hair kept getting stuck in the hedge. So I'm trying to be all sultry and concentrate on my singing and my hair is all over the place!
Lee: We all get to sing leads on this song. I think it's got the anthemic Deeper Shade Of Blue disco feel and people will be playing it for a long time to come.
Video 18: You'll Be Sorry
Released:
4th June 2001
UK Peak Postition: 4
The location: A studio in London.
The look: Red. plum and white leather all round. Sleek and well groomed.
The story: STEPS arrive on board the spaceship/flower thing (don't ask!)that they dissapeared into at the end of Here And Now and they continue to shimmy and sexily saunter their way round. Loads of great computer graphics are used in the background as the band do their usual pouting poses to camera they then wow us all by doing a very sleek and stylish dance routine. Not much of a story line but a nice promo all the same.
Rating:8/10
Faye: I think the costumes in the videos for this and Here And Now are great. We had a stylist who's a fashion designer and does a lot of catwalk stuff. We have lots of her assistants coming down with us to shoots and travelling with us. We come up with ideas and stuff as well and it's great to be really involved with our outfits.
Lee: I think this is agreat disco-club track. We had a great time filming the video and it gives H the chance to show off his vocals.
Claire: The first time I heard You'll Be Sorry it caught my attention. It's very anthemic.
Lisa: The video is quite American and pretty cool. I really liked the red and white look I wore for this video, although the top did come undone during one take so we had to stop because I nearly exposed myself!
H: The video for You'll Be Sorry reminds me of this film called Tron because it's all set in a spaceship and the colours are black and neon. I had a really cool outfit, which again I designed myself, I do that all the time now. I had some really cookl leather trousers which had these brilliant flames on them, which I loved.
Video 19: Chain Reaction
Released:
24th September 2001
UK Peak Postition: 2
The location: A disused hospital in London
The look: Naughty nurses uniforms for the ladies, dashing doctors for the lads changing into golden and caramel outfits for the dream dance sequence.
The story: H is rushed into hospital (presumably with exhaustion after all his hyperactiveness!) there he falls in love with his gorgeous consultant Lisa! Faye in disgusie as an extremely naughty nurse has her sights set on dashing doctor Lee and Claire who's the receptionist...well we don't quite know where Claire fits into all this perhaps it's a follow up to the One For Sorrow video where poor Claire's on her own too!
Anyway H goes under the anastetic and the next thing we know the fab five are kitted out in gold stage outfits and performing a groovy new dance routine!
Rating: 10/10
H: I think we made a lot of male fantasies come true with this video! Our girls looked absolutely sensational in their nurses uniforms. I kept pulling Lisa's top down further to show off more cleavage cos more cleavage sells more records!
Claire: They wanted me to wear a dress in this video, like the one Faye wears, I was like 'no way!' I hate my legs and I wouldn't want to show them off in a mini skirt thank you. In the finished version though I think I ended up looking like the woman off the Specs Savers advert rather than sexy.
Lee: When we were filming the video some woman thought I was a real doctor and asked me to help her son who had his finger stuck in a kettle. I had to explain I wasn't qualified and direct her to the nearest A&E.
Faye: Lisa and I had to wear these really high really pointy stilleto shoes and by the end of the day I was crippled and linmping round! I could have done with lying down on H's stretcher!
Lisa: My outfit from the video went down really well with my boyfriend, I think the other girls kept theirs too! We had these amazing blow up bras that push your boobs together and make them look great we all kept them too!
Video 20: One For Sorrow (Tony Moran Mix)
Released:
24th September 2001 (As a B side to Chain Reaction)
UK Peak Postition: 2
The location: A studio in America.
The look: Erm very dodgy actually! If you thought the yellow outfits where bad check out Claire in dungarees and Lisa's white mini dress in this vid!
The story: This video was originally targeted at the US market as it was STEPS' first release out there way back in 1999. The original US video was intersperced with clips from the movie 'You Drive Me Crazy' as One For Sorrow featured on it's soundtrack. Unfortunately the only major hit the movie produced was Britney Spears with the title track of the same name. It was then released to UK music shows in 2001 after it was decided that it would be released as a B-side to Chain Rection.
The video is hilarious in a nice way, you can see that STEPS are trying extra hard to be even more smiley and cheerful than usual and it's actually quite sweet, particularly the bit at the end where they all pretend to be laughing except Lee, then he realises the camera is on him and bursts into spontaneous laughter! This video is highly entertaining and very colourful!
Rating: 10/10
Lisa: This was our first crack at the US. It didn't go down that well.
H: It wasn't what really wanted to do but we were told that this was the sort of thing that would help us in the States.
The outfits were trendy at the time though!
Claire: I couldn't keep a stragiht face when we recorded this it was just so naff. We had loads of extras as well and I felt a right idiot having to prance round in front of them.
Video 21: Words Are No Enough
Released:
3rd December 2001
UK Peak Postition: 5
The location: A creepy castle in the middle of a field.
The look: The 'real' STEPS go for glam, but things go a bit pear shaped when they turn into dodgy looking computer/cartoon versions of themselves.
The story:
The 'real' STEPS are exploring a creepy castle in the middle of nowhere and warbling about how their loved one must prove they've changed if they want to make a go of their love, when they stumble upon a mirror! Not very interesting you might think, but this is a STEPS video and a STEPS Christmas video at that so naturally the mirror is magical, loads of great stunt double action as STEPS just about manage to jump through the magic mirror - then shock horror!- STEPS begin to turn into strange distorted cartoon versions of themselves they then act out scenes reminiscent to something that you'd find in a computer action game, in fact the Lisa cartoon is basically just Lara Croft. H, Lisa, Faye and Lee battle to save Claire (whose alter ego cartoon has to be the worst resemblence to her since someone said David Beckham and Rolf Harris looked like twins). The video has nothing to do with the song, well I suppose it does really - they're all action heroes, and actions speak louder than words, and words are not enough... Do you follow my drift?... Thought not!
Rating: 8/10
H: We decided to make this video a bit different. That's why we chose to do it with the computer graphics of ourselves, plus we could mess round with them and make them look better than we do in real life!
Faye: This is a great song and it's given us the chance to have a bit of a rest cos we get to sing it sitting down.
Lee: We've gone for the action hero look again, but this time it takes on a new dimension.
Video 22: I Know Him So Well
Released:
3rd December 2001
UK Peak Postition: 5
The location: The London Weekend Television Studios during a recording of Abbamania in November 1999...yes that's right 2 years earlier!!!
The look: STEPS 2 years ago is basically the look of this because they didn't make a new promo!
The story: There isn't one. STEPS were appearing on the Abbamania TV show and they recorded this song as a tribute to the band because it was written by the two male members of the band, Benny and Bjorn. It's just a very basic TV performance and it would have been much better if they had made a new promo because it's such a fab song!
Rating:6/10
Lee:
We first performed this for the Abba TV tribute. We've revamped it for the single and while the girls do lead vocals H and I do the ab libs.
H:
This is kind of the girls song. They do a cracking job on it and sound just amazing. I think the way they did it on tour was breathtaking. It went down brilliantly and there were always a few tears in the house.
Faye:
This is a bit of a STEPS girlie trip and we used to look forward to performing it every night on the STEPS Into Summer tour. It's great to do live vocals to it because you can really belt it out. It always made our mums cry. It was so weird when we performed it though. We were all in this little spotlight and I felt as if I was the only person on the stage which was a bit daunting!
Claire:
I loved singing this on the tour when the girls and I are on stage belting it out, it's great. So many people have told us to release it because they love it.
Lisa:
I used to get really emotional on stage when we sang this on stage. It's such a powerfull song. I'm so pleased we made it work as a trio because it's a well known duet. I'm partucularly proud of that song - my Mum used to say that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up!
Released: 17th November 1997
