Best Song: Eminem - When I'm Gone
This record closes the first era of Eminem. It was from his greatest hits album and he wouldn't be back with another album until 2009. The lack of Eminem was one reason why decent mainstream music became very scarce after this as you could often rely on Eminem to produce the goods.
Worst Song: Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha
Busta Rhymes started out quite prolific with releasing albums. Between his debut in 1996 and 2002 there was just one year when he didn't release an album. Then he signed with Aftermath and by this point he was still yet to release his next album. In the mean time he collaborated with girl group the Pussycat Dolls on their debut Top 40 hit. I guess he had nothing better to do. I remember finding this record really irritating at the time and it still sounds as bad as I remember it.
Top 40 Review
2005 was the year the charts seemed full of indie records. There were more indie Top 40 hits in 2005 than any other year, but in the Christmas Top 40 we have just 4 which come from Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Coldplay.
What does seem to dominate is pop acts with 2 hits, the culprits being Girls Aloud, Pussycat Dolls and Westlife. Additionally we have "George Best - A Tribute" by Brian Kennedy which is the same song as "You Raise Me Up" by Westlife which was in that Top 40.
It was the first year of the X Factor Christmas number one which was "That's My Goal" by Shane Ward. Additionally we have American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson in the Top 40.
There were 3 Christmas records in the Top 40 and surprisingly one of them provides a point. That is "Under The Tree" by Water Babies which was from the Vodafone advert. Written by Peter Lawlor of Stitlskin, it's a record I quite like.
In 2005 I remember someone telling me that cheesy music had gone from the charts, but one of the Christmas hits was "Is This The Way To Amarillo (Santa's Grotto)" which was definitely a novelty hit. We also had a Crazy Frog record plus "The JCB Song".
From a dance music perspective it was also cheese. There was a remake of "Listen to Your Heart", a "Strings of Life" remake with vocals called "I Just Can't Get Enough", "I Like Girls" by Hound Dogs which has cheese written all over it and "Your Body" by Tom Novy featuring Michael Marshall which I always found really irritating.
In the rap world we have a 50 Cent record and I've never rated him as a rapper. There's also the Black Eyed Peas taking another step into shitness making them unrecognisable from their 90s selves.
R&B wise it's more pop disguised as R&B except for "Be Without You" by Mary J Blige. I remember that record being a breath of fresh air compared to the other rubbish coming out at the time. That's the final record to contribute any points.
I do remember mainstream music getting particularly bad around this point so was expecting a poor score and that's what we've got.
Score: 3
Table
The score is some way lower but sort of proves that music died in the second half of 2005 at some point:
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