"Impossible"
Single by Captain Hollywood Project
from the album Love Is Not Sex
Released1 October 1993
Length4:14
Label
  • Blow Up
  • Intercord
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Cyborg
  • DMP
Captain Hollywood Project singles chronology
"All I Want"
(1993) 		"Impossible"
(1993) 		"Flying High"
(1995)
Music video
"Impossible" on YouTube

"Impossible" is a song by German musician Captain Hollywood Project. It was released in October 1993 as the fourth single from his debut album, Love Is Not Sex (1993), and features vocals by singer Kim Sanders. It was a sizeable hit in several countries, but like "All I Want", it achieved moderate success in comparison with the two previous Captain Hollywood Project's singles, "More and More" and "Only with You". A music video was also produced, featuring Petra Spiegl.

Critical reception

In his review of the Love Is Not Sex album, Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that "Impossible" "is another study in contrasts, as [Captain] Hollywood ponders the darkness of greed and power, amid a flurry of active, rave-flavored synth-beats. It is during this particular track that he best exhibits the poise and command of rhyme needed to resurrect the dormant hip-house movement."[1] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton described it as "Euro-disco in the Culture Beat mould".[2] James Hamilton from Music Week's RM Dance Update viewed it as a "girl wailed gruffy rapped cheesy typical German techno-pop bounder".[3] Tony Cross from Smash Hits praised the track, giving it four out of five. He wrote, "Front man Tony Dawson-Harrison [...] has come up with a monster dance hit that's impossible not to shake down to. It has the Euro flavour of hits like Culture Beat's "Mr Vain" (which Tony had a hand in) with a powered-up rap beginning. Then it grows to its hypnotic vocal chant — "I find you're a little impossible" - which is packed full of attitude. Expect it to chart very high."[4]

Chart performance

"Impossible" was a notable hit on the charts in Europe, becoming one of the project's more successful hits. It made it to the top 10 in Denmark (9), Finland (6), Portugal (3), Spain (9) and Sweden (4), as well as on MTV's European Top 20. Additionally, the single peaked within the top 20 in Austria (15), Germany (12), Lithuania, the Netherlands (14) and Switzerland (18). On the Eurochart Hot 100, "Impossible" also was a top 20 hit, peaking at number 20 in December 1993, but on the European Dance Radio Chart, it hit number three. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 29 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart, on 6 February,[5] but fared better on the UK Dance Singles Chart, reaching number 14. Outside Europe, the single was a top 10 hit in Israel, peaking at number nine.

Music video

A music video was produced to promote the song, directed by Apollon.[6] The video did for unknown reasons not feature Kim Sanders but Petra Spiegl and was later published on YouTube in 2017. It had generated more than six million views as of December 2022.[7]

Track listings

  1. "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10
  2. "Impossible" (Bumpy Version) – 7:56
  1. "Impossible" (Radio Edit) – 4:14
  2. "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10
  1. "Impossible" (Radio Edit) – 4:14
  2. "Impossible" (New Extended Version) – 6:10
  3. "Impossible" (Bumpy Version) – 7:56
  1. "Impossible" (Red Jerry Mix) – 6:49
  2. "Impossible" (Red Jerry Dub) – 6:09
  3. "Impossible" (Kamo Flage Mix) – 6:22
  4. "All I Want" ('94 Club Mix) – 5:56

Charts

Release history

Release history for "Impossible"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s)
Europe 1 October 1993 —
  • Blow Up
  • Intercord
United Kingdom[26] 24 January 1994
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Pulse-8

References

  1. ^ Flick, Larry (3 July 1993). "Dance Trax: Captain Hollywood Transcends Singles Format" (PDF). Billboard. p. 29. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  2. ^ Masterton, James (30 January 1994). "Week Ending February 5th 1994". Chart Watch UK. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  3. ^ Hamilton, James (5 February 1994). "Dj directory" (PDF). Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental insert). p. 7. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ Cross, Tony (2 February 1994). "New Singles". Smash Hits. p. 50. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100 06 February 1994 - 12 February 1994". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Captain Hollywood Project - Impossible". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Captain Hollywood Project - Impossible (Official Video)". YouTube. 3 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Captain Hollywood Project – Impossible" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  9. ^ Belgian peak Archived 9 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. 5 March 1994. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100" (PDF). Music & Media. 18 December 1993. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Charts-Surfer: Search through the Music-Charts". charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  13. ^ "European Dance Radio" (PDF). Music & Media. 5 February 1994. p. 28. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  14. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 9789511210535.
  15. ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie Archived 2 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 10 April 2008)
  16. ^ "M-1 TOP 40". M-1.fm. 30 January 1994. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2022. See LW column.
  17. ^ "Captain Hollywood Project – Impossible" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  18. ^ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. 11 December 1993. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  19. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  20. ^ "Impossible", UK Singles Chart Official Charts Company (Retrieved 25 June 2009)
  21. ^ "Dance Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 5 February 1994. p. 30. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  22. ^ "The RM Club Chart 31.1.94" (PDF). Music Week, in RM (Dance Update Supplemental Insert). 29 January 1994. p. 8. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Jaarlijsten 1993" (in Dutch). Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  24. ^ "1994 Year-End Sales Charts: Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 24 December 1994. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  25. ^ "Årslista Singlar, 1994" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Single Releases". Music Week. 22 January 1994. p. 21.
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