2004: The Good Old Days? - July

When I was doing my best year for the charts search I found 2004 to be the best year of the 21st century by some distance. It was better than several 20th century years and on a par with 1985, 1987 and 1989. This score was based on the Top 40 in the first week of July.

However this score would have included records already in the Top 40 and won't include those which entered the Top 40 in the remaining weeks of July.

There was an equal number of indie/garage rock records as rap and R&B records entering the Top 40. The presence of indie in the charts this month no doubt helped inspire the launch of Ibiza Rocks the following year. Just the one point from the genre though which comes from The Hives with "Walk Idiot Walk".

Rap wise we have what is possibly the only post "Where is the Love" Black Eyed Peas record I like in "Let's Get Retarded". I'm not going to pretend it's proper rap but it's fun to listen to. Likewise we have "Roses" by Outkast which I'd put in the same category. In fact you could even say "Push" by Ghostface Killah is the same category. The final full marks go to Twista with "Overnight Celebrity" which is a bit more proper whilst The Streets get half marks for "Dry Your Eyes".

The best record sites in the R&B genre which is "Eyes On You" by Jay Sean. A British record with Asian influences, it was a rare example of a British R&B record being just as good as what America has to offer. Just a shame Jay Sean went all American after this. Also getting full marks is Roger from Sister Sister aka Marques Houston with "Pop That Booty" whilst I thought "Burn" by Usher was good enough for half marks.

Ibiza Rocks wasn't just inspired by the rise of indie music, it was also the fall of dance music. Judging by the standards of most of the dance music this month I'm not surprised by its fall. The best we have is "One Perfect Sunrise" by Orbital. I also like "Satellite Of Love 04" by Lou Reed and "Happy" by Max Sedgley but both are a bit on the cheesy side.

The rest is just cheesy vocal rubbish. We have a watered down "Discoland" by Flip & Fill and a watered down "You're Shining" by Styles & Breeze. I don't even like the original happy hardcore version of the latter.

The worst record though is a dancehall one which goes to Nina Sky with "Move Ya Body". It basically a poundland "Jook Gal" by Elephant Man and just sounds wrong.

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: 23%

Here's a look at the chart:

At this half way point in 2004 we can conclude it's better than what came after but not that much better.