2006: The End? - May

I mentioned in April that my chart music knowledge was very much in decline by that point given the amount of records I don't remember. In May I actually remember around 2 thirds of them and if you take indie and other guitar genres out of the equation I remember them all. I would say my choice of music channels provided that filter.

That said one guitar record I very much remember and am giving full marks to is "Dani California" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a comeback record and a return to form in my opinion having not been a fan of the "By The Way" era.

Beating the Red Hot Chili Peppers to best record though is Chicane and Tom Jones with "Stoned In Love". I wasn't convinced by Chicane's collaboration with Bryan Adams a few years prior, but he gets it right here. 

Just one more record gets full marks this month which is "Fly Me Away" by Goldfrapp. I'd actually forgotten it was a single but have listened to it many times on the album.

I've found half marks for Groovefinder's big beat remix of "Ain't Got No I Got Life" by Nina Simone, it seemed a bit all been done before but it's not a bad listen. Elsewhere in the dance music world it's pretty much cheesy remakes of older records plus Hot Chip who like I've said previously is something I could never get into.

Busta Rhymes had been quite prolific with his releases since breaking through in 1996 with 6 albums between then and 2002. Then he signed with Aftermath and it took until 2006 until he released his next album. The lead single was "Touch It" which was a bit of an anti-climax, but not a bad record.

We also have half marks for Damien Marley with "Beautiful" and T-Pain with "I'm Sprung", both decent enough for me not to change the music channel but not good enough for me to make a point of listening to.

There's a lot of people who think the Pet Shop Boys lost their way in the 90s but I'm not one of them. I thought they were still producing the goods throughout the 90s and into the 21st century. However I can't say I'm a fan of "I'm With Stupid" which came out in this month.

Onto the worst record then and it's really too close to call so I'm going to award it to 2 records. There's "Say I" by Christina Milian, her attempt at having more street cred in her so called R&B music and failing miserably. Then there's "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" by Sandi Thom, a record that was played all the time and I couldn't stand it.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 13%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've improved which isn't exactly difficult. However December is the only month in 2005 which was worse and you have to factor in the Christmas slump so 2006 is still feeling like the end.