2001: The Good Old Days? - January

One thing that was evident around the turn of the century was how big dance music was at the time. Just over a year later and this is still the case with almost half the new entries in January 2001 being dance records.

We'll start with the best one which is "Camels" by Santos. This one very much reminds me of an era when decent dance records were making the charts. Not only that, but also dance records that may not have been my cup of tea but were records for the dance music fans more than a mainstream audience.

A record I bought on vinyl at the time was "Komodo (Save A Soul)" by Mauro Picotto. At the time it seemed like this was the sort of direction hard dance music was heading in, slower than happy hardcore which had more or less died at this point, but faster than your average dance record.

There were 2 UK garage records this month and both were by groups jumping on the bandwagon. There was Mis-Teeq with "Why", an unknown R&B record given a garage remix and bringing them into the mainstream. The result was surprisingly good. What wasn't so good was "Falling" by Boom! who were a mixed gender pop group and a bit rubbish.

I'm a big fan of "Needin U" by David Morales but this month it's fallen victim to the trend at the time of ruining tunes with vocals so therefore gets no marks. I'm not too keen on "Demons" by Fatboy Slim & Macy Gray but can still appreciate it. No marks for it though.

Just the one rap record this month which comes from Spooks with "Things I've Seen" which I do like.

R&B wise we have 2 records, but both are really pop disguised as R&B. They are "Love Don't Cost A Thing" by Jennifer Lopez and "You Make Me Sick" by Pink. Neither records get any marks and I consider the latter to be bad enough to be crowned worst record of the month.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers had the last single from their "Californication" album "Road Trippin". I owned the album at the time but don't recall this being a single. I do like it 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: 33%

Here's a look at the chart:

2001 is clearly better than any of the years that followed. We also have months that are better than December 1999 though the best of them fall just short of the December 1993 score. This series of posts has cover the start of 2001 to October 2007. A separate series of posts looks at every Top 30 from the start of 1990 to the end of 1999 and will conclude at the end of the year. This just leaves a gap of the year 2000 and it only seems right to fill this gap in. As you may have guessed, next week will be the start of 2000: The Good Old Days?

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.

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.

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.

2001: The Good Old Days? - May

One thing I'm able to pin point when looking at the list of new entries in May 2001 is the last time I bought tapes. It was the hard house and trance tape pack from Slammin Vinyl in February 2001.  I would have obviously been after the rave had happened but it was before May.

The reason I know this is related to the best record this month which is "Strange World" by Push. It was the opening track to the Mark EG set and I was already the owner of this tape by the time this record made the charts.

That Slammin Vinyl event was the last time they had a UK garage arena. We had 4 garage new entries this month. There were 2 which get full marks which are "Coming Home" by K Warren ft Lee O and "Back Up (To Me)" by Wookie ft Lain. I don't mind "Shine On" by Scott & Leon but can't help but compare to the much better original. Finally we have "Up Middle Finger" by Oxide & Neutrino, a record that contributed to the demise of garage.

The majority of dance records this month were decent, another example of these being "Star 69" by Fatboy Slim. However the worst record this month is a dance record which is "Say It" by Maria Rubia. She had previously provided vocals for Fragma but this was a solo effort that was really cheesy and crap.

Rap wise we have the Black Eyed Peas when they were good, Spooks with their lesser know record "Karma Hotel", MOP with "Cold As Ice" and Jason Downs featuring Milk with "White Boy With A Feather" which all get full marks. 

R&B wise one of my all time favourite acts K-Ci & JoJo had their final Top 40 hit to date with "Crazy". We also have a decent effort from Joe with "I Wanna Know". Not so keen on "Don't Talk" by Jon B.

Shed Seven had what was possible the best record they've ever made with "Cry For Help". We were in the brief period where the Divine Comedy went for more of an indie image with "Bad Ambassador" which is actually pretty good.

Overall this has felt like the best batch of records I've listened to since I started the original 2005 series. All will be revealed soon in the score.

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: 43%

Here's a look at the chart:

This sort of score would imply 2001 were the good old days. We'll need to see how the remaining 4 months go to be sure.

2001: The Good Old Days? - June

In June 2001 I would have more likely described my music taste as dance and rap as opposed to dance, rap and R&B because I had few if any R&B albums in my collection at the time.

The only R&B new entry I like from this month is "Fiesta" by R Kelly which may explain why his "TP-2.com" album was one of the first R&B albums I bought. What I do remember though is making the effort to like artists such as India Arie who made her Top 40 debut this month, but I eventually conceded it was crap.

Rap on the other hand is a different story with all the rap records this month getting full marks. These were "Until the End of Time" by 2Pac, "Lapdance" by Nerd, "So Fresh So Clean" by Outkast and "What's Your Fantasy" by Ludacris. I ended up buying albums by all these artists.

UK garage wise we have the excellent "Do You Really Like It?" by Pied Piper which had been doing the clubs for quite some time by this point. We also had "All I Want" by Mis-Teeq which made me concede I quite like their music. Not so keen on "Ring Ring Ring" by Aaron Soul which sounded a bit like a poor mans Craig David. Then there was "Booo"by Stick & Ms Dynamite which I find irritating.

The best record this month comes from Daft Punk. When it comes to their "Discovery" era people talk about "One More Time" and to an extent "Harder Better Faster Stronger". For me though the best single was the other one "Digital Love" which you never hear played now but that means it's still a pleasure to listen to.

There were several other decent dance records this month, one that deserves a mention is "Muzak" by Trisco which is unlucky not to get best record. Another worth a mention is "10 in 01" by Members of Mayday.

Onto the worst record and that goes to Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil Kim and Mya with "Lady Marmalade". This was played all the time and I got sick of it very quickly, not to mention the fact it's a poor cover.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

Could have been better but it's still looking like 2001 is better than any year that came after it.

2001: The Good Old Days? - July

One thing is for sure about 2001, I can remember things I was doing at this point in time based on the music that was in the charts.

We'll begin with the best record which is "Frontier Psychiatrist" by Avalanches. It's the record I enjoyed the most when listening through the records just now. It's a bizarre record that just works.

This month was more of a guitar heavy month which supports the prediction Ash made at the start of the year. There were some decent guitar records, "Million Miles Away" by The Offsrping, "Broke" by Beta Band, "Juxtapozed With U" by Super Furry Animals and "Heaven Is A Halfpipe" by OPM. The latter is much better than I remember it being. Unfortunately "Sometimes" by Ash wasn't one of the records I liked.

Dance wise it was looking pretty good. There was the chart topper "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez which showed you could make a proper dance record and be hugely successful with it in those days. Ian Van Dahl had their only hit worth listening to "Castle's in the Sky" which I bought on vinyl at the time. 

There were only 2 dance records I didn't like. There was the vocal trance record "Innocente (Falling In Love)" by Delerium & Leigh Nash. The other one was "Devil's Nightmare" by Oxide & Neutrino. The So Solid Crew were credited with fueling the demise of UK garage but Oxide & Neutrino were members of the So Solid Crew and their own material was also a factor.

Whilst not strictly a garage record, you can sense a bit of garage inspiration on "Perfect Gentleman" by Wyclef Jean and it's a decent record. The only rap record in it's pure sense was "Purple Pills" by D12 and this was around the time I bought their album.

The best of the R&B records was "Dance For Me" by Sisqo which I remember doing the rounds on the music channels a lot at the time. The worst R&B record was the worst record for the month. It was "Loverboy" by Mariah Carey. It heavily sampled "Candy" by Cameo, a decent record, but had her screeching over the top and therefore ruining it.

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:

We have the joint best month to feature so far. Now we're half way through 2001 it's certainly looking better than any year that came after.

2001: The Good Old Days? - August

Whilst we know the charts would become very indie/guitar music heavy by the mid-00s, the prediction Ash made about it happening in 2001 doesn't appear to be happening as this is certainly in the minority this month.

Dance music is the most prolific and whilst not all of it is to my liking it's refreshing to see some of the more proper dance records in the Top 40. We have "Nothing Without Me" by Manchild and "The Real Life" by Raven Maize from the house music world for house music fans.

Trance wise we don't have any of the vocal rubbish or euro cheese. There's the excellent "Superstring" by Cygnus X and the solid "Like This Like That" by Mauro Picotto whilst "Fire Wire" by Cosmic Gate is OK. The only trance record I don't like is "Precious Heart" by Tall Paul, a sample of "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS done tastefully but just doesn't work for me.

UK Garage wise we may be seeing the beginning of the end here. There's "21 Seconds" by the So Solid Crew, the Top 40 debut from the act credited with killing garage. Then there's "Love You Anyway" by De Nada which I can't stand the singing on.

It's the rap world that gives us the best record which is "Ante Up" by MOP & Busta Rhymes. I bought the single for this and just loved the sheer aggression. Another single I bought was "Where I Wanna Be" by Shade Shiest, Nate Dogg & Kurupt. Then a decent rap rock record I didn't buy was "Revolving Door" by Crazy Town.

R&B wise we have the final Top 40 hit for the Honeyz "I Don't Know". It was seen as a questionable choice for a single notably from group member Celena but I do like it. Then we have "Just In Case" by Jaheim, an R&B record that later had a garage remix and both versions are good. No points for rubbish by Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson or Missy Elliott.

One record that deserves a mention is "Let's Dance" by 5ive. It reminds me of many nights out at the time, it's a pop record with a sense of humour and I remember a mate kept saying fuck Eminem, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, J from 5ive is the best rapper.

The worst record goes to Atomic Kitten with "Eternal Flame". The success of "Whole Again" gave them license to top the charts with any old rubbish, and they did with this dreadful cover.

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: 35%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've exceeded the 34% we needed to even consider it as the good old days. Will we stay there?

2001: The Good Old Days? - September

In September 2001 I was given a pass that got me free entry into a club in Newcastle where I was living at the time on it's rap and R&B night. Unfortunately I didn't get to use it because most of my friends in Newcastle were into indie music so being in the minority meant I was joining them at the indie club rather than them joining me at a rap & R&B one.

We have a similar number of indie records entering the Top 40 in September as we do rap and R&B but the latter is only slightly better in terms of quality. 

Indie wise I like "Bliss" by Muse which I wasn't expecting and also like "Let Robeson Sing" by the Manic Street Preachers. I also thought that "FEAR" by Ian Brown was alright. I can't remember if I heard any of these at the indie club or not.

Onto the rap, we have drum & bass DJ Adam F entering the rap world with Redman with "Smash Sumthin'" which is good. We have Ludacris and Nate Dogg with "Area Codes" which was very much one I was enjoying at the time. 

The best record though is a rapper with a non-rap single which was his only UK Top 40 hit. That was "Follow Me" by Uncle Kracker, the DJ for Kid Rock going solo. If you listen to his "Double Wide" album pretty much all the other tracks are rap and I'm sure some people were taken by surprise about that.

Nelly Furtado had her 2nd Top 40 hit with "Turn Out The Light" which is good. Artful Dodger were known for doing garage but their album had an R&B track called "Twenty Four Seven" which they released as a single with a different vocalist. Again it's full marks.

Speaking of garage we have a decent record from DJ Luck & MC Neat with "I'm All About You". The other ones come from Ed Case & Sweetie Irie with "Who" and Maxwell D with "Serious" which both fall into the contributed to the demise of garage category.

Dance music is the most prolific genre this month and the quality once again is a mixed bag. For trance we are saying instrumental trance is good and vocal trance is crap. There is a really good vocal house record though in "Finally" by Kings of Tomorrow.

Onto the worst record then which goes to Little Trees with "Help I'm A Fish". Normally I have a bit of lenience when a record is clearly intended to be crap, but this is so bad it just has to be the worst 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: 29%

Here's a look at the chart:

What we can say is that 2001 has a better September. October, November and December than those months in the years that followed. 

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. 

2001: The Good Old Days? - November

We've already established that we're now back in the era when dance music was big in the charts. There were no shortage of dance records in November 2001. However there were more rap and R&B records so this is where we'll start.

The only rap or R&B record to get full marks that I didn't buy the album of is "Ugly" by Bubba Sparxxx. The ones I do own as part of the albums are "Fight Music" by D12, "Livin It Up" by Ja Rule ft Case, "Letter 2 My Unborn" by 2Pac and "Fallin" by Alicia Keys.

That's all the rap records getting full marks but just the one R&B record. The rest of the R&B records all get zero even though these were the early days of me declaring myself as an R&B fan. With the likes of Destiny's Child having hits though it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

I got into R&B off the back of being into UK garage. This month there were 2 UK garage records but neither were any good and part of the reason for the genres demise. We have "They Don't Know" by So Solid Crew which needs no further explanation. Then we have "Messin" by Ladies First, a girl group jumping on the garage bandwagon.

Trance music is a mixed bag. There's a zero for vocal records "Stay With Me" by Angelic and "Dreams" by Miss Shiva. The vocal record "Underwater" gets half a mark though. Instrumental trance record "The Legacy" by Push gets full marks.

There isn't a bad house record this month and that includes "Rapture" by IIO which I do like despite the fact it appeared to inspire a lot of vocal rubbish in later years. We also have "Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk which I could almost tell would be a single when I first heard it on the album.

It's not Daft Punk who give us the best record though, it's a record from the punk world. I'd bought Green Days "Warning" album the day it was released a year or so prior to this. I found the album to be disappointing but one exception was the track "Waiting" which was different in a good way.

The worst record comes from Cher. After her late 90s revival with her autotune nonsense it seemed like that phase was over by 2001. But then came "The Music's No Good Without You". Fortunately that was the end.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

It's looking more promising but lets see how the rest of the year pans out.

2001: The Good Old Days? - December

One thing I remember the band Ash saying at the start of 2001 was that it was going to be the year of rock. If we make that definition guitar music then based on the new entries in December they were wrong. There were more dance records entering the charts.

From the indie records the only one to get any points was "60 Miles An Hour" by New Order. I initially wasn't too keen on their newer more guitar orientated music but it's grown on me over the years.

Feeder normally make indie records but this time they've gone punk with the record "Just A Day" which is easily the best thing they've ever done. 

There is a case for having "Trouble" by Cypress Hill in the guitar music category. It's a great blend of rap and rock, the chorus very much fitting the latter category. It's part of a double a-side with "Lowrider" which is purely a rap record. Both are decent.

The best record is a dance record which is "Where's Your Head At?" by Basement Jaxx. There is an argument this is rock music given it entered the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but in reality it's a dance track with rock elements in it.

Much of the dance music is rubbish thought. Vocal trance is leading the way and includes a record with Dannii Minogue providing vocals. There is however a decent instrumental trance record in "Resurrection" by PPK.

There were 2 UK garage records and both were decent. There was "It Ain't Enough" by Artful Dodger and Dreem Team, the final Top 40 hit for both. It had been doing the DJ sets for well over a year by this point. The other one was the Daniel Beginfield debut "Gotta Get Thru This" which is the only decent record he ever made.

The Jackson family represented the R&B genre this month with the only 2 record being "Cry" by Michael Jackson and "Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song)" by Janet Jackson. Neither are any good.

The worst record is "Paid My Dues" by Anastacia. Her voice is so annoying.

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: 24%

Here's a look at the chart:

Given the Christmas slump this is a good start. Better than the new Decembers looked at and better than most months in 2002.