Video Of The Week: Step Back In Time

Here's a nice one for the summer: Kylie's Step Back In Time - which is now a shocking 16 years old! Boy, am I feeling every one of my 31 years now...

This was, of course, the first Kylie song that cool kids could admit they liked, even though they had to use regulation heavy irony.

It came, seemingly, out of nowhere. Kylie's previous single was Better The Devil You Know: a massive hit, but still very much cast in the cheesy Stock Aitken and Waterman mold.

So this slab of disco funk took everyone a bit by surprise. Not only was it breezy and catchy, but it had guitars in it. Plus, Kylie looked hot.

This was just around the time she started boffing Michael Hutchence and playing up the sexy side of her image. When she turned up in Smash Hits to promote this single, starkers except for a black feather boa, I distinctly remember getting a funny feeling in my stomach (or, to be more precise, in my pants).

The video provides another link to Hutchence, as it was directed by Nick Egan - who made several INXS promos, as well creating the iconic montage of the band on the front of their Kick album.

He was also the desinger behind the perv-tastic cover for Bow Wow Wow's See Jungle album (pictured right), so he knew a thing or two about sexing up elfin pop starlets.

It's not a fantastic concept - Kylie rides around in a car wearing 70s clothes while some men in comedy afros do a dance - but its colourful and ebullient and fun. In other words, like I keep saying in this column, it's great because it captures the mood of the song perfectly.

If only they'd thought to release it in July, instead of dreary old October, it would have gone to number 1.

Get Kylie's greatest hits on DVD from Amazon

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