2004: The Good Old Days? - April

To recap, May 2004 implied 2004 wasn't the good old days and got a really poor score. Going back to April it's difficult to know what to expect.

We'll begin with the best record which was a very tough decision due to the competition but I've picked "Come Home Billy Bird" by Divine Comedy. It's my favourite Divine Comedy song and despite the lyrics being about the less glamourous side to international business travel it was something I wanted to do and did do eventually.

The biggest competition came from rap music where we were seeing Kanye West in the Top 40 for the first time and I thought he was good back then. We have his debut hit "Through the Wire", he's a featured artist on "Slow Jamz" by Twista and he's uncredited featured artist on "This Way" by Dilated Peoples.

G Unit and Joe have 2 collaboration records this month. I wouldn't entertain either at the time, I liked Joe but I was team Ja Rule so didn't like G Unit. I'm still not overly keen on G-Unit, but "Wanna Get To Know You" is alright as is "Ride Wit U" and the double a-side of the latter is Joe on his own with "More & More" which is a great record. The only American rap record to get no points is "I'm Really Hot" by Missy Elliott.

R&B is a mixed bag, in addition to Joe I like "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)" by Eamon and "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys. I don't like the records by Beyonce, Big Brovaz or Sharlene Hector though. We could stretch the definition of R&B to blue-eyed soul with Simply Red having a decent record with "Home". Likewise if Justin Timberlake can be described as R&B then so can his N Sync bandmate JC Chasez with the double a-side "Some Girls / Blowin' Me Up" which I like.

JC Chasez is also featured on a dance record by Basement Jaxx with "Plug It In" which I like. These are the only 2 times JC Chasez has been in the Top 40 outside of N Sync. Other decent dance records come from Martin Solveig with "Rocking Music" and Narcotic Thrust with "I Like It". We do have the inevitable commercial cheesy rubbish dance record too which comes from Special D with "Come With Me".

The biggest surprise this month came from Agnetha Faltskog from Abba. I can't stand Abba but her solo record "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" is surprisingly good.

What remains is the worst record which goes to Norah Jones with "Sunrise". I remember all the hype about her at the time and just thought why. Some others clearly thought the same and nicknamed her Snoreah Jones.

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: 40%

Here's a look at the chart:

The best month so far by some distance and the sort of score that would imply 2004 was the good old days.