2001: The Good Old Days? - February

It was February 2001 when Ash came back with "Shining Light" and predicted that 2001 would be the year of rock music. Taking that statement to mean guitar music it certainly didn't become the prominent genre like it would in the mid-00s but then we're yet to see how it compares to what came immediately before.

There was however a song from U2 which I considered to be good enough to buy the single which was "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of". It was one that just flowed. At the time much was made about U2 being old, more complimentary about how a band so old could still be relevant. Now I'm older than any of the U2 members were at the time.

Sticking with the guitar music and bands from Ireland we have "Snow" by JJ72, not a household name and this was their highest charting single that made number 21 but they were pretty good.

I predicted it would be the year of hard house, but this was the last month we had more that one hard house new entry in a given month. There were 2, "Blood Is Pumpin'" by Voodoo & Serano which gets full marks and "We Will Survive" by Warp Brothers which gets half.

There were also 2 UK garage records this month, "Boom Selection" by Genius Cru which I like despite it being MC driven. It's on a Timmy Magic tape I used to listen to a lot at the end of side 1. At the end of side 2 on that tape is "My Desire" by Amira which is the other UK garage new entry this month and I like this one too.

Trance music wise we have "Played A Live (The Bongo Song)" by Safri Duo which is a good instrumental number. There's "Chasing the Sun" by Planet Funk which is better known for it's association with darts these days that has some vocals but not enough to ruin it. The remaining trance records are ruined by vocals including "Synaesthesia (Fly Away)" by Thrillseekers featuring Heather Deane which started life a a decent instrumental.

The best record though is "The Next Episode" by Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg. It's been played to death now but I remember how much I liked this record at the time. Nate Dogg is an uncredited vocalist on that record but he is credited on another record this month which is "Oh No" alongside Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch which I also like.

R&B singer Joe had perhaps his best known record of the 21st century "Stutter" and I own the album on which it appears. Mya had her first solo record "Case of the Ex" which has a great backing track. Not seen keen on efforts by Usher and Debelah Morgan which sound more pop.

Onto the worst record and that goes to Atomic Kitten. This was their last chance saloon, had this flopped they would have been finished and even though Kerry Katona left the group at the time of this single she may have not had the opportunity to become famous for the sake of being famous. Unfortunately it topped the charts.

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: 41%

Here's a look at the chart:

This means at least half the months of 2001 score over 30%, only one month after Jan 2002 manages this. It's looking like we've found the good old days.