2001: The Good Old Days? - October

In May 2002 we went back into the UK garage era and every month we've gone backwards since we've had at least one UK garage new entry. In October 2001 there were 5 of them so we're really in the thick of it now.

We have "Sambuca" by Wideboys & Dennis G which I'm certain I heard long before this but good record nonetheless. We do however have the MC driven garage in "Course Bruv" by Genius Cru and "Bouncing Flow" by K2 Family which aren't so good. The Streets debuted with the garage record "Has It Come To This" which again isn't to my liking. Then jumping on the UK garage bandwagon is Liberty X with their debut "Thinking It Over" which consisted of Popstars contestants who didn't make it into Hear'Say. Again no points.

Mis-Teeq had their first R&B single with "One Night Stand" though it does have a garage section in it which pretty much makes the tune. There's some great beats by Dr Dre on "Family Affair" by Mary J Bliuge which again makes the tune. 

The best record of the month is also an R&B record which is "Where The Party At?" by Jagged Edge ft Nelly. It's the first proper tune on the "Jagged Little Thrill" album which is a great album.

One of the singles I bought this month was "It's Over" by Kurupt. Yes it does sound a bit childish but I do enjoy it. Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes went in a similar direction with her solo hit "The Block Party" but I can't say I like that one.

We have "2 People" by Jean Jacques Smoothie, a record I bought on vinyl. It never really went with the other tunes I had on vinyl though which were more the harder side of dance music.

We had "Fat Lip" which was the debut Top 40 hit for Sum 41. It was a record which mixed punk with nu metal, not a concept I was keen on but I have to concede that I like it. Likewise we had "First Date" by Blink 182 which was very American high school but I do like it.

The worst record goes to Girls@Play with "Respectable". They were one of many short lived girl groups from around this time and it was a cover of the Mel & Kim record.

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: 31%

Here's a look at the chart:

If we look at the final quarter of the years we've looked at so far then 2001 is considerably better.