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.

UK Number 40s: Timbaland ft Pitbull - Pass At Me (2011)

 

In the 90s Timbaland was seen by many as one of the best rap and R&B producers. At the same time some critics would say that's exactly what Timbaland would be sticking to instead of rapping on records as well.

Despite this he managed to carve out a pretty successful career as an artist in the 21st century, though he would always have other artists feature and never had a Top 40 hit by himself. That career as an artist ended from a Top 40 perspective with this record.

In the modern era collaborations have become the norm for popular music and in 2011 it was even more of a trend than it is now. Pitbull was seemingly the go to man to collaborate with. He'd clocked up 12 Top 40 hits in a little over 2 years at this point. This record was his 2nd number 40 and he'd also got 2 number ones to his name at the time.

The record was notable for it's production from David Guetta but despite this and the fact he appears in the video he is not credited as an artist.

UK Number 40s: Nicola Roberts - Lucky Day (2011)

 

The question many of you will be asking on reading this post is: Nicola Roberts had a solo career?

When Girls Aloud went on hiatus it was well documented that Cheryl had a solo career but you'd hear nothing about the other members in that respect. In fact all Girls Aloud members except Sarah had Top 40 hits under their own name outside of Girls Aloud.

Nicola Roberts had the second most prolific of all the members with 2 Top 40 hits to her name. Her solo debut "Beat of My Drum" made number 27 in the summer of 2011 and then came this her 2nd and final Top 40 hit to date.

The record was written by Dragonette who'd hit the charts earlier on in 2011 with "Hello" alongside Martin Solveig. On hearing the record you can sort of tell, from the intro anyway. This was pretty much it for her solo career, but the Girls Aloud reunions keeps her active in the music scene.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 28

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

29. Celine Dion - Treat Her Like A Lady

What the fuck has happened here? I wasn't expecting a Celine Dion record to sound like this, a reggae style record. It was originally by Diana King and features Diana King herself. She's obviously trying to give herself a bit of credibility here, but it just sounds ridiculous.

Verdict - Rubbish

22. Sporty Thievz - No Pigeons

This was a parody of "No Scrubs" by TLC which was a big hit from around this time. I vaguely remember it at the time and was ready to write it of as comedy nonsense. Now I'm listening to it I'm thinking great response record.

Verdict - Good

21. Gomez - Bring It On

I remember seeing posters for Gomez when I was at university without knowing who they were. When I did finally hear them I realised that I had heard their music before. It never really had much impact on me though and still doesn't/

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 11/30, or 37%. That's quite a drop.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 28

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Palemiger Spatzen - Harmonika Power

We're over half way through the year and there's been a countless number of cheesy records featured so far. I had the feeling this would be a cheesy one and I was right. However I wasn't prepared for a record quite like this. It's a largely instrumental polka record played by men with dodgy haircuts. I'm lost for words.

Mango Kings - Under Di Mangotree

Another record you know is going to be cheesy before you hear it. This time it's by a Swedish act and this was their only Dutch Top 40 hit. It's a reggae pop record and arguably the cheesiest reggae pop record to ever exist which is saying something.

January Charts: 1966

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Chris Farlowe - Think

2. Len Barry - Like A Baby

3. Toys - Attack

4. Fontella Bass - Recovery

5. Mindbenders - Groovy Kind Of Love

6. Bob Dylan - Can You Please Crawl Out Of Your Window

7. Roy Orbison - Breakin' Up Is Breakin' My Heart

8. Crispian St Peters - You Were On My Mind

9. Pinkerton's Assorted Colours - Mirror Mirror

10. Swinging Blue Jeans - Don't Make Me Over

11. Merseybeats - I Stand Accused

12. Dusty Springfield - Little By Little

13. David And Jonathan - Michelle

14. Overlanders - Michelle

15. St Louis Union - Girl

16. Second City Sound - Tchaikovsky One

17. Tom Jones - Thunderball

18. Vince Hill - Take Me To Your Heart Again

19. Sandie Shaw - Tomorrow

20. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

21. Cilla Black - Love's Just A Broken Heart

22. Barbra Streisand - Second Hand Rose

23. The Bachelors - Hello, Dolly!

One of the problems with the charts from around this time was that we'd get covers of Beatles records as opposed to the actual Beatles record. In this batch we have 2 acts covering "Michelle" and another covering "Girl". None of them are bad covers but at the same time they're not as good as the originals.

Mersey beat bands the Merseybeats and the Swinging Blue Jeans are just about hanging in there with their respective final hits. Both have left their mersey beat routes behind to make blue-eyed soul records which appears to be the popular sound from around this time.

The Beatles had released "Rubber Soul" at the end of 1965 which whilst not strictly a blue-eyed soul record itself, it drew inspiration from soul artists which in turn inspired this blue-eyed soul trend.

The best record in this batch is a blue-eyed soul record with Chris Farlow making his chart debut with the Jagger/Richards composed "Think". My number 2 record is also a blue-eyed soul and was the 2nd and final Top 40 hit for Len Barry.

We have some authentic soul in 3rd and 4th place with Fontella Bass and The Toys having their respective 2nd and final hits. Then it's back to blue-eyed soul in 5th place with the Mindbenders making their Top 40 debut without Wayne Fontana.

Down the bottom we have The Bachelors with the worst record I've heard of theirs. Not only were they old fashioned for the time but they're doing a song from a musical. Speaking of musicals we have Barbra Streisand making her debut and is the 2nd worst record.

Another notable name making their chart debut was Nancy Sinatra with "These Boots Are Made For Walkin" which is a record I've always found irritating. There's also the debut of Vince Hill with "Take Me To Your Heart Again" which would have fitted in better with the charts 10 years prior. Not irritating, just boring.

Overall I do like the bulk of the records but the problem is none of them are outstanding. None score more than 3 but we do have zeros at the bottom.

Score: 43

2001: The Good Old Days? - March

Going through this latest batch of records does make it feel like we've gone back to the good old days. I've never been much of a buyer of singles but I count 7 records this month that I did buy the single for. Then there's those I have the album on which they appear and further ones that appear on mixtapes and compilations I own.

Picking the best record was a tough choice but I've gone with Artful Dodger with "Think About Me". I already owned their "It's All About the Stragglers" album by this point. This was the opening track and stood out to me as being particularly good.

In fact every garage record this month gets full marks and theirs a few of them. Fellow garage heavyweights DJ Luck & MC Neat had "Piano Loco", BM Dubs present Mr Rumble had "Whoomp There It Is" which I had on a few tapes by this point, Blackout had "Mr DJ" and Mark Ryder had "Joy".

"Set You Free" singer Kelly Llorenna was back from the wilderness by singing on "True Love Never Dies" by Flip & Fill, a record I liked enough to buy on vinyl and came before both artists started making some of the shittest dance music ever made.

I predicted in early 2001 that this would be the year UK garage would give way to hard house as the big dance genre of the moment. In reality hard house never had a big impact on the charts and this was really the latter stages of that era. This month we had "Wack Ass MF" by Rhythmkillaz, not the last hard house record to make the Top 40 but was the last particularly good one.

At the same time I was getting more and more intro rap music which is evident by all the rap records this month getting full marks and me owning on CD one way or another. There was the D12 debut "Shit On You" which I always intended to buy the album of once release. There was "X" by Xzibit where the opening line "The first day of the rest of my life" takes me back to a time when I thought I was going to rule the world. I bought the "Ms Jackson" single by Outkast when visiting Stirling. Finally we have "Danger (Been So Long)" by Mystikal and "Between Me & You" , both records by gravelly voiced rappers featuring female singers who would have solo careers of their own and be a bit rubbish.

R&B wasn't really part of my music taste at the time but we have some decent records in "The Storm Is Over Now" by R Kelly, "Could It Be" by Jahiem and "I'm Like A Bird" by Nelly Furtado. All feature on albums that I own.

However the worst record is an R&B one that I own on and R&B compilation. It's "He Loves U Not" by Dream which is basically a pop record disguised as R&B and has no place on the compilation really. Needless to say I always skipped this track whilst listening.

A mention has to go to "Push It All Aside" which was the final Top 40 hit from Alisha's Attic. This was the latter stage of me being a big fan but I was a bit underwhelmed by this comeback single. It is however the best track on their final album by some distance. The nostalgia gives it half marks though.

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: 42%

Here's a look at the chart:

Just before I added up the score I thought this was a certainty to be the best month so far but it just falls short of May. There were however more new entries overall this month so it does beat it in terms of actual numbers.

UK Number 40s: Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - Body and Soul

 

One thing that I've learned over the last few years is that you never truly know when someone's Top 40 career is over. Many chart acts reach a point where they continue to make music for many years after they were last in the Top 40, but the occasional one finds themselves back in the Top 40 for some reason or another.

Tony Bennett was releasing music before the UK singles chart started in 1952. He made his chart debut in 1955 with the chart topping "Stranger in Paradise". His music would have been considered old hat by the time rock n roll came about in the late 50s and even more so when the Beatles broke through, but he still managed have a few hits in the lower reaches of the Top 40 up until 1965. By the end of the 60s one would have thought we'd never see Tony Bennett in the Top 40 again.

However in 2011 he was back in the Top 40 for the first time in 46 years. He had continued to release numerous albums in in the 21st century he started making collaborative albums. The one he released in 2011 was "Duets II" which contained this track with Amy Winehouse. It was the last recording Amy Winehouse made prior to her death in the summer of 2011 and was released as a single on what would have been her 28th birthday.

Amy Winehouse had a surprisingly brief Top 40 career in her lifetime. None of the singles from her debut album in 2003 made the Top 40 and she didn't make her Top 40 debut until 2006 with "Rehab". A year later she had her final Top 40 hit in her lifetime with "Valerie". These were the only 2 Top 10 singles she had.

UK Number 40s: Jedward - Lipstick

 

I've never watched an episode of The X Factor but to my knowledge it follows a simple format. First a contestant will sing to the judges who then decide if their singing is good enough to go through to the next round. After a handful of contestants make it through it's then up to the public to vote for their favourites.

One would think you would need to be a good singer to succeed, but Jedward proved that was not the case. They are amongst the best known X Factor contestants because they were supposedly a bit rubbish. They were on the 2009 series, though they didn't win it.

At the start of 2010 they hooked up with Vanilla Ice to do a cover of "Ice Ice Baby" which got to number two in the charts. Then in 2011 came this, their only other Top 40 hit.

In the 90s when Ireland were winning Eurovision regularly, the comedy show Father Ted did an episode where Ireland picked the worst song to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest so ensure they wouldn't win and therefore wouldn't need to spend the money on hosting it.

This is presumably the mentality Ireland had in 2011 because they picked it to represent them that year. It didn't win, but finished 8th which isn't a bad result really. They were also picked for the 2012 entry with "Waterline" by that never made the UK Top 40.

The number 40 placing of this record means it's the only Ireland Eurovision entry to make the UK Top 40 in the 21st century so far.

20 Years Since....Q2 2005

Here's the tunes I was enjoying 20 years ago:

Nelly ft Tim Mcgraw - Over and Over

Tim Mcgraw was just about the biggest country singer in America around this time but was relatively unknown in the UK until this collaboration with Nelly. 

This came from Nelly's "Suit" album so was more of an R&B/country crossover rather than rap/country crossover. I recall after the success of this record Tim Mcgraw tried to crack the UK market with a song about sky diving and rocky mountain climbing but it never really worked.

Twista - Hope

I owned the Twista album by the time this came out as a single. I know this because the single version had Faith Evans on it but the album version doesn't. I prefer the album version, it's one of the highlights of the album really.

Snoop Dogg ft Charlie Wilson & Justin Timberlake - Signs

One of my interests outside music is tennis and after driving to Wimbledon listening to Snoop Dogg's "Tha Last Meal" in 2001 I made it a bit of a tradition to listen to that album when driving to Wimbledon.

I therefore found it amusing that 4 years later Snoop Dogg comes out with a record that mentions Venus and Serena at the Wimbledon arena.

Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz - Get Low / Lovers & Friends

"Get Low" was pretty much the best known Lil Jon record that was a couple of years old by this point. "Lovers & Friends" sees Lil Jon reunite with Usher and Ludacris following the success of "Yeah". As mentioned previously I was a big fan of Lil Jon around this time.

Nelly - N Dey Say

It had all been done before, PM Dawn had their biggest hit with a "True" by Spandau Ballet sampled record. It worked really well though so there's no reason why Nelly having a crack at it wouldn't work either.

It did work, though more of an R&B record really and was taken from his "Suit" album.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 27

Here's my weekly look at the Top 30 from 26 years ago. The plan is for these posts to go out at 17:30 on a Sunday.

Here is the Top 40 in full.

I've decided against repetition from previous weeks moving forward so will only feature the records I'm reviewing for the first time. I also won't repeat the reviews from the Top 20 in 1999 Reviewed posts.

Once again my opinions are inevitably going to differ from other people, but I'm not trying to convince anyone something is good or rubbish, I'm simply giving my opinion.

So this is the records new to the top 30 from this week in 1999 with my verdict on each record:

27. 2Pac - Dear Mama

This was Top 40 hit number 12 for 2Pac and his 10th posthumous Top 40 hit. It was originally on his 1995 album "Me Against The World" so had been well known for some time by the time it reached the Top 40. Like many 2Pac record, I like it. 

Verdict - Good

26. Dixie Chicks - There's Your Trouble

The Dixie Chicks are one of those American country groups I'm aware of without knowing any of their music. I assumed they had no UK Top 40 hits, but they managed one. It's just as crap as I expected it to be

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 16/30, or 53%. We stay above 50%.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 27

These were the new entries in the Dutch Top 40 that never made the UK Top 40:

Skibby ft King Lover - Feel My Riddim

This was the only Dutch Top 40 hit for Skibby as an artist. The 2 people behind Skibby though were 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor and this was a side project. It's a ragga influenced Eurodance record that's made to the tune of "I Will Follow Him". Vocalist King Lover would return to the Dutch Top 40 in 1997 providing vocals for a T-Spoon record.

Adiemus - Adiemus

Here we have a British record that made the Dutch Top 40 but failed to make the UK Top 40. It may however still ring a bell due to its use on an advert. It's what's known as worldbeat music which did have a degree of popularity in the UK around the mid-90s but this somehow failed to make the cut.

Bert Heerlink - Julie July

This record may also ring a bell if you're from the UK. It's essentially a cover of "Brother Louie" by Hot Chocolate but sung in Dutch. Bert Heerlink is a Dutch actor and this was his only Dutch Top 40 hit. He was however a part of Dutch rock band Vandenberg at one point.

2001: The Good Old Days? - April

It was April 2001 when MTV Dance was first launched so clearly dance music was considered to be big enough to have it's own channel. There were also more dance new entries in April than any other genre.

It's a dance record that is the best record this month which is "Happiness" by Sound De-Zign. It samples "Let the Beat Hit Em" by Shena which itself is a particularly good record.

There were 2 UK Garage new entries this month and both were lesser known follow ups to big hits. They were "Garage Girls" by Lonyo and "Show Me the Money" by Architechs. Both are decent records.

We have "Gonna Work It Out" by Hi-Gate which I associate with the launch of MTV Dance in a positive way. Orbital showed they hadn't lost their way in the 21st century with "Funny Break (One Is Enough)" which was a solid record.

From the world of rap and R&B it's not looking so good. The only record to get any points is "Snoop Dogg" by Snoop Dogg and even that is one of my least favourite tracks from his excellent "Tha Last Meal" album.

Rap gives us the worst record which is "Get UR Freak On" by Missy Elliott which I find a really irritating record. One thing I remember at the time was Trevor Nelson praising her talent of being able to both sing and rap well but I personally don't think she's any good at either.

There is however a rock record with rapping on it that I like which is "Butterfly" by Crazy Town.

The Bee Gees had their final Top 40 hit with "This Is Where I Came In". Normally a band who has been around for that long will be long past their best by this stage but I would say this record is amongst their best and a great one to round off their Top 40 career with.

Ocean Colour Scene were past their 90s heyday by this point but continued to have hits well into the 21st century. Their record this month was "Up On The Down" side which is a decent effort.

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: 27%

Here's a look at the chart:

Again we are seeing that 2001 is looking better than the years that followed but not enough high scores to consider it to be the good old days. If the remaining 3 months have 40%+ scores it would be a different story.

January Charts: 1965

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Manfred Mann - Come Tomorrow

2. The Kinks - Tired Of Waiting For You

3. Them - Baby Please Don't Go

4. The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

5. Del Shannon - Keep Searchin'

6. Rockin' Berries - What In The World's Come Over You

7. The Supremes - Come See About Me

8. Betty Everett - Getting Mighty Crowded

9. Val Doonican - The Special Years

10. The Hollies - Yes I Will

11. Chuck Berry - Promised Land

12. Francoise Hardy - Et Meme

13. Dodie West - Goin' Out Of My Head

14. The Beach Boys - Dance Dance Dance

15. Billy Fury - I'm Lost Without You

16. Seekers - I'll Never Find Another You

17. Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack

18. Brian Poole And The Tremeloes - Three Bells

19. The Dave Clark Five - Everybody Knows

20. Sue Thompson - Paper Tiger

21. Cheetahs - Soldier Boy

22. Cilla Black - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

If January 1964 was the month we could see how popular mersey beat was, January 1965 is the month we can see it going out of fashion. The Beatles had released the "Beatles For Sale" album at the end of 1964 which was a move away from that sound towards something Bod Dylan influenced.

Although they famously covered Bob Dylan records, my number one record "Come Tomorrow" by Manfred Mann isn't Bob Dylan influenced but does follow the trend of music getting mellow.

The same could be said of my number 2 record "Tired Of Waiting For You" by The Kinks which was a move away from the garage rock sound they broke through with the previous year.

Them on the other hand bucked that trend and gave us a blues rock record "Baby Please Don't Go" which had a harder edge to it than the British rhythm and blues sound that had been popular previously.

We're back to having different versions of the same song. This time it's "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin". The Righteous Brothers version is one I've loved since the 1990 rerelease. The Cilla Black version on the other hand is terrible and finds itself bottom of the table.

Liverpool singer Billy Fury has moved away from the mersey beat sound and onto a ballad. Again though it's relatively low placing is more a sign of the competition as I actually quite like it.

In terms of Bob Dylan influence we have Chuck Berry having his final Top 40 hit of the 60s which whilst being typical Chuck Berry style it's based on a folk record. We also have the more pop folk sound of The Seekers making their debut with "I'll Never Find Another You". Brian Poole and the Tremeloes went down the same route as The Beatles with the folk style "Three Bells" but this doesn't quite deliver. It is however slightly better than "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five who are yet to move with the times.

We're also seeing the emergence of soul music with The Supremes scoring their 3rd Top 40 hit with "Come See About Me" which is the best of that bunch, followed by "Getting Mighty Crowded" by Betty Everett. 

No The Bachelors this month but there is another easy listening Irish act in this batch, Val Doonican. Here he is showing that old fashioned for the time doesn't always mean bad as I quite like "The Special Years".

Overall I do like the majority of the records in this batch and as a result we have a new highest score so far.

Score: 55

UK Number 40s: T-Pain ft Chris Brown - Best Love Song (2011)

 

Both Chris Brown and T-Pain made their Top 40 debuts in 2006. This was Top 40 hit number 8 for T-Pain and number 14 for Chris Brown. For the first time in doing these posts though I don't really want to mention how many Top 40 hits either act has had as they've probably had more by the time you read this.

T-Pain has been a lot more low key since this collaboration, but Chris Brown has been quite prolific. He had at least one Top 40 hit every year between 2006 and 2020, nobody else could claim the same thing. Included in that was a couple of chart toppers.

What I will say is Chris Brown has probably had more Top 40 hits than you think so inevitably some of them will end up in the lower reaches.