Throwback Single: Shanks and Bigfoot's 'Sweet Like Chocolate'
UK Garage duo Shanks and Bigfoot first entered the ubiquitous realm of music as Doolally, enjoying success with their 2-step smash hit “Straight From The Heart”. A rechristening later, the duo embarked on a short but veritable music journey that is still referenced today.
The 2000 release Swings and Roundabouts was Shanks and Bigfoot’s debut album. Terri Walker provided a majority of the vocals for the album with tracks such as 'Sing-A-Long' shining through. Additional vocal input was provided by Sharon Woolf. The album’s reputation preceded itself in the form of a melodic Garage tune that caught mainstream attention and permeated the air waves from the UK to New Zealand.
'Sweet Like Chocolate' was an instant success. The track - with Sharon Woolf’s infectious saccharine vocals waxing lyrical about the goodness of a beau - was already a club anthem before its official release in 1999. It went on to claim the number one spot in the UK charts and became one of the stand-out songs of the ‘90s. Similar chart success followed in a number of countries and the single went Platinum.
The accompanying animated video is memorable for its visual ode to chocolate. A young girl is depicted travelling through a town entirely made of the sweet culinary delights as she muses about the object of her affection. Chocolate houses, chocolate planes, chocolate fields and even a chocolate windmill; the young girl is seen in a love induced stupor bouncing to the beat completely enamoured. As is the audience.
Shanks and Bigfoot went from obscurity to UK household name, winning a MOBO Award in 1999 for Best Dance Act. Little has been heard from the duo since but their production legacy lives on in the form of “Sweet Like Chocolate”. I still hear the track played at clubs thirteen years later and the sheer joy on the faces of those familiar with the classic; and those new to the gem- is heart warming.
After a period of hibernation, UK Garage is slowly but surely seeing a resurrection, with demand for Garage remixes on the rise. Shanks and Bigfoot’s signature song is addictivand a great show-off of that definitive UK garage sound:
