2002: The Good Old Days? - January

The first thing that strikes me about January is the number of new entries which are dance records. Over half of them are dance, the first time we've seen a genre be so dominant is this series.

With that sort of quantity the quality is inevitably a mixed bag. The Chemical Brothers are an act who I've always seen as a mixed bag, but with "Star Guitar" we have one of their better records. It's a move away from their big beat sound to house music.

Another great record is "It's Yours" by Jon Cutler featuring E-Man. We also have solid efforts from Lange with "Drifting Away" and DJ Garry with "Dream Universe". Most of the records to get half marks are also dance records.

There's just the one UK garage record this month which comes from the So Solid Crew with "Haters". It is the sort of tune that was responsible for the demise of UK garage but I do quite like this one.

One of the factors killing dance music in general in the charts was the trance/eurodance remakes of older records done in a lazy way. Well this month we have examples of this in house music with "Love Is In The Air" and "Love & Affection" which are crap.

The best record is a rap record which is "Bad Intentions" by Dr Dre & Knoc-Turn'al which I bought the single of in the knowledge it probably wouldn't appear on a Dr Dre album. It did however appear on the soundtrack to the film "The Wash" which I later bought.

No points for the other rap record which come from P Diddy and Jay-Z who are amongst the worst rappers of all time in my opinion.

R&B wise we have "Shit On the Radio" by Nelly Furtado and "More Than A Woman" by Aaliyah. Both records had an impact on me and I remember buying both of their respective albums at the same time.

However R&B also give us the worst record which is "AM To PM" by Christina Milian. Given she'd previously featured on "Between Me and You" by Ja Rule I really tried to like this. It's just a silly pop record with a bit of an R&B beat to it though. The fact it was always on the music channels at the time didn't help.

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: 32%

Here's a look at the chart:

What we can say about 2002 is that it got off to a solid start but went downhill pretty quickly. This score is on a par with the final week of 1993 but lower if we use the same measuring criteria for December 1993. What we need to do now is go back to 2001 to see if these were the good old days. 

2002: The Good Old Days? - February

When we reached the first zero points chart in 2007 we were past the time I said my music taste was dance, rap and R&B. It had changed to anything that's good. As we approach the start of 2002 we are possibly getting to before the time I declared that as my music taste.

In February though all the full marks come from the dance, rap and R&B genres.

Dance wise we have "Drill" by Dirt Devils and "To Get Down (Rock Thing)" by Timo Maas getting full marks whilst "What Ya Got 4 Me" by Signum and "So Lonely" by Jakatta both get half marks. Just the one UK garage record this month which is "Bring It On To My Love" by De Nada which I don't like, mainly because I can't stand the singing on it much like their other hit.

The best record is a rap record which is "Worst Comes To Worst" by Dilated Peoples. I remember hearing it first on the Top 40 countdown and instantly fell in love with it and eventually went to see Dilated Peoples in concert.

Also from the rap world is "Always on Time" by Ja Rule & Ashanti. This lead to me buying the "Pain Is Love" album which a remember listening to quite extensively come Easter time. The final rap tune getting full marks is "Got Ur Self A" by Nas which is taken from another album that I own.

R&B wise we have a record that was ridiculed at the time and long forgotten now. That record is "Ride" by Ana Ann. She was UK based but her accent suggested she wasn't British and she came from a rich family who set up a record label to release her music. She then promptly disappeared off the face of the earth and there's very little about her on the internet. The song itself featured a male vocalist who sounded a bit like R Kelly. I have to say though, I do like the record.

One single I did buy at the time was "Moi Lolita" by French singer Alizee which was sung in French so I had no idea what it was about. It was cheesy and rubbish but I liked it. Then I had enough and eventually sold it on eBay a few years later. I'm giving it half a point for nostalgia reasons putting aside the fact she looks pretty scary these days.

Onto the worst record then which goes to Britney Spears with "Overprotected". It was on the music channels all the time and I can clearly picture the start of the video where she has her back to the camera which at the time was a sign to change the channel. 

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: 22%

Here's a look at the chart:

It's really not been a great year. A decent January will just tell me that 2001 may have been the end of the good old days.

2002: The Good Old Days? - March

The music of this month takes me back to a time I had a housemate who was always watching TV in the living room and often flicking through the music channels. The only music channels we had were MTV Hits, The Box and VH1 Classic so given to of them were very much hits of the moment some of these records featured a lot.

The best record is "Break Ya Neck" by Busta Rhymes. When I got into rap I saw myself as team west coast and the first east coast rapper I bought an album of was Busta Rhymes. When I saw Dr Dre had produced this it made me feel more comfortable about that. Of course I now know none of that really matters, it's a great record and one that few if any would be able to rap along to.

One thing most of the rap and R&B records I like this month is that I own them on CD one way or another. I have the Busta Rhymes album, "Chocolate Factory" by R Kelly which "The Worlds Greatest" appears on the bonus disc, "Songs in A Minor" by Alicia Keys which contains "A Woman's Worth" and I bought the "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" single by Beverley Knight because I loved that tune but wasn't overly keen on her other stuff. The only exception was "Lovely" by Bubba Sparxxx.

The best of the dance records was "Close Cover" by Minimalistix which I came close to buying on vinyl at the time but decided against it because it was on Ministry of Sound records who I saw as being too commercial. Yes I really was a music snob in those days.

There were 3 garage records this month once again. It was a mixed bag, there was a decent record in "B With Me" by Mis-Teeq which was their final garage single. There was "Time After Time" by Distant Soundz which was OK but nothing special. Then we had "Oi" by Platinum 45 featuring More Fire Crew which is really an illustration of garage turning into grime. Not for me.

Although it's clearly a piss take and was very much overplayed at the time I do like "Me Julie" by Ali G and Shaggy. The fact Ali G refers to Beyonce as the lead singer of Destiny's Child rather than by her name takes me back to a better time when nobody really knew what her name was.

The Pet Shop Boys enter their guitar phase with "Home and Dry", not a popular move for some but I quite like it. I don't ever remember it on the music channels though, maybe they were considered too old by this point. One record I very much remember on the music channels was "Love Foolosophy" by Jamiroquai which is a great record.

All that's left is the worst record which is "Been There Done That" by Smoke 2 Seven. They were one of many short lived girl groups at the time and this was always appearing on the music channels. Me and my housemates didn't really see eye to eye when it came to music but we all agreed about how shit this was.

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: 26%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've improved but 2002 is yet to be convincing as the good old days. 2003 and 2004 are looking better at the moment.

2002: The Good Old Days? - April

In May we'd gone back to the UK garage era which helped give it the best score in 2002 so far. I did however mention the latter stages of this era will give us records which contributed to the genres demise and this is what we see in April.

There's "Ride Wit Us" by the So Solid Crew who were seen by many as the reason for its demise. We also had "Champagne Dance" by Pay As U Go, another collective with lots of members including future grime artist Wiley. It wasn't just the crews that led to the demise, it was also everyone jumping on the bandwagon. The other garage single of the month was "I Can't Wait" by Ladies First who were basically a girl group doing garage. None of these records get any points.

The best record is a drum & bass one which is "Shake Ur Body" by Shy FX & T-Power, an example of drum & bass being musical without being too watered down. Another dance record to get full marks is "So I Begin" by Galleon though it could do without the vocals.

Maxi Jazz is involved in 2 records that get half marks. There's "One Step Too Far" by Faithless which features Dido, the sister of Rollo from Faithless. Then there's "My Culture" by 1 Giant Leap which also featured Robbie Williams. Barthezz does his similar sounding to "On The Move" follow up with "Infected" which also gets half marks.

I do however now think I spoke too soon in Mays post about being back in a more credible era for dance music. Lots of other dance records but they all get zero. One example is "Lazy" by X-Press 2 ft David Byrne, a record loved by many dance music fans but I've always hated it.

Just half a mark from the rap world which comes from Outkast & Killer Mike with "The Whole World" which isn't quite good enough to get full marks. Former drum & bass producer Adam F had gone into rap music collaborating with Lil Mo on "Where's My..." which isn't to my liking. Not so keen on "Let's Push Things Forward" by The Streets either.

The only R&B point comes from the most unlikely source, N Sync. It was their final Top 40 hit, the Neptunes produced "Girlfriend" which was basically a warm up to Justin Timberlake's solo career. The only other R&B record was "U Turn" by Usher which isn't to my liking.

No other records get full marks so that just leaves the worst record. This month it's Michelle Branch with "Everywhere". It's one of those cringeworthy records you would expect to find in a cringeworthy high school movie at the time. I'm even less tolerant of that type of music now as I was back then.

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: 12%

Here's a look at the chart:

Oh dear, what a terrible month. It wouldn't get this bad again until December 2005. It's going to take a remarkable first quarter for 2002 to be convincing as the good old days.

2002: The Good Old Days? - May 2002

One thing I remember saying in the summer of 2003 was that the charts were better when we had lots of UK garage in it. Well here in May 2002 we find ourselves at the tail end of the UK garage era so was I right?

One thing to consider is the demise of garage came as a result of the MCs taking over so the latter part of the UK garage era may not be so good. However in May 2003 we had 3 UK garage records and all 3 were good. 

DJ Luck & MC Neat were there at the start of the UK garage explosion at the end of 1999 so it's fitting they have the final record of the era with "Irie". Kristine Blond had her lesser known hit with "You Make Me Go Ooh" which someone on YouTube nicely describes as a cheesy source but great work by DnD. Then there was the Heartless Crew with their self titled theme who were one of the better crews.

The best record was one of the final techno records to make the Top 40 which was "La La Land" by Green Velvet. We also had the only Top 40 hit from Tiga with "Sunglasses At Night". Both are people I've gone to see play before.

We do appear to be going back to a more credible period for dance music in general. We have some proper trance music from Push with "Tranzy State Of Mind" and Cosmic Gate with "Exploration Of Space". Then proving that not all vocal trance is bad is 4 Strings with "Take Me Away Into The Night".

Vocals do however mean that Timo Maas only gets half points for "Shifter", a great tune music wise but the vocals stop me from truly liking it. All the dance record this month which I don't like are quite vocal heavy.

Just the one rap record which is "What's Luv" by Fat Joe, a decent if overplayed record. As an R&B fan in 2002 I'm surprised to see how few of the R&B records from the year so far that I actually like. The only one this month is "Rock The Boat" by Aaliyah. Interesting how I was more into rap and R&B at the time but dance music contributes most of the points.

All that remains is the worst record. S Club 7 were music for kids and terrible in my opinion but then someone had the idea of creating the S Club Juniors, music for kids sung by kids. This month saw their debut single "One Step Close" chart. I remember Noel Gallagher giving his opinion on them and he talked about when they become adults and start working at Burger King. If only that's what happened, instead one of them presents what could be a decent music quiz badly along with her husband and makes it unwatchable.

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:

Well UK garage has made a difference giving us the best score of 2002 so far. We need improvement if we're to call 2002 the good old days though.

2002: The Good Old Days? - June

When I got into rave in the 90s I wanted to trade my guitar for some turntables. A few years later I finally got some turntables it quickly became apparent it would be an expensive hobby and I was a poor student. With vinyl costing around a fiver each it would cost another £100 to buy enough vinyl to play the same set everytime. Basically my DJing never truly got underway and I concentrated my efforts on my band instead.

What's this got to do with the charts in 2002? Well this was the last time I tried to give the DJing another go and I bought 2 of the records that feature this month on vinyl. These were "Be Cool" by Paffendorf and "The Logical Song" by Scooter. The latter made Scooter a household name in this country but they had been going since the mid-90s and had a few minor hits over here back then too.

Dance music was the most prolific genre this month and the majority of the dance records get at least half a point. It also gives us the best record which is "Love Story" by Layo & Bushwacka. This was the original instrumental version and therefore the better version.

However dance music also gives us the worst record which is "Get Over You" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I thought her providing vocals to "Groovejet" was bad enough, but her solo career took it to another level.

Not so good on the rap front this month. Eminem did his traditional piss take lead single of his upcoming album with "Without Me" but that concept had worn thin by this record so gets not points. Busta Rhymes is normally reliable for points but having P Diddy feature on "Pass The Courvoisier - Part II" put me off and The Neptunes production made me think otherwise. In reality it's not a very good tune. Then we have "Hot In Herre" by Nelly, far too pop for my liking. The only points come from Ludacris with "Rollout (My Business)" which is OK.

R&B is a mixed bag. We have the only decent record from Ms Dynamite with "It Takes More" whilst I do quite like "Roll On / This Is How We Do It" by Mis-Teeq even if they we better doing garage. We also have the only Top 40 hit from a British singer called Rhianna. She's nowhere near as bad as the singer from Barbados but still not great.

A particularly good record that deserves a mention is "Jump On Demand" by Spunge. They were a rare example of a British punk band in the 21st century who managed to break through to the mainstream. They are still going but have to work day jobs to pay the bills, perhaps a lesson that my dreams of being super rich via my own punk band were never going to happen even if we did made it big.

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:

The same score as June 03 so now it's up to May to deliver.

2002: The Good Old Days? - July

In many ways my music tastes are a little older than my years. When I talk about the good old days of rave for example I talk of a time when I was too young to actually go to a rave but was always listening to the tapes. There are however some things I was the right age for, one of which was the Fatboy Slim era.

It was July 2002 when he played to 250k people on Brighton Beach and being in my early 20s at the time I was the right sort of age to be there. Unfortunately I was living the other end of the country in Newcastle at the time and couldn't be bothered to go all that way. 

My pick for the best record was the one Fatboy Slim opened his set with which was "It Just Won't Do" by Tim Deluxe & Sam Obernik. Despite not being there I do hold some nostalgia for it and have watched it on YouTube many times.

Dance music was the most prolific genre in July and it also contributed most of the points to this months score. Just missing out on best record was "LK (Carolina Carol Bela)" by DJ Marky & XRS & Stamina MC. Also getting full marks were Beginerz with "Reckless Girl" and Fischerspooner with "Emerge".

There's half points for Rob Dougan with "Clubbed To Death" and DJ Shog with "This Is My Sound". Inevitably there was rubbish too such as "Shooting Star" by Flip & Fill which was the first of many watered down covers of happy hardcore tunes. 

What about the rap and R&B then? Well rap contributes no points because there weren't any rap records. R&B on the other hand was a mixed bag.

The R&B points come from Ashanti and Alicia Keys, both records reminding me of a seaside trip I went on that wasn't to Brighton that summer. Another that reminds me a little of that trip is the worst record which is "Work It Out" by Beyonce. It's not the worst thing she's done by any means but this is where her solo career began, without it there may have been no solo career which would have been a good thing.

The Pet Shop Boys had their most unusual Top 40 hit with "I Get Along". I say unusual because they swapped the synths for guitars which is very unlike them. I do quite 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: 21%

Here's a look at the chart:

Halfway though the year and we're yet to get above 25%. Then again we didn't in the 2nd half of 2003 either. We should hopefully at least see an improvement in the first half of the year.

2002: The Good Old Days? - August

As an R&B fan in 2002 one thing I would do was try and convince myself that some R&B records were good when they really weren't. Examples from this month included "Rainy Dayz" by Mary J Blige & Ja Rule which I even bought the single of and "Addictive" by Truth Hurts. I even tried to like "Boys" by Britney Spears because it feature Pharrell Williams.

I hindsight I don't like any of these records and I don't consider any of the R&B records from this month to be any good.

Rap on the other hand was generally much better. The rap records this month remind me of going to HMV that summer with an old college friend who spend over £100 on CDs there. One CD I remember him buying was the latest Cam'ron album, one I would have bought myself if I'd had enough funds based on "Oh Boy" which is the best record of this month.

I also remember him buying the solo album by Romeo from the So Solid Crew. That wasn't on my want list partly because I wasn't a fan of the So Solid Crew but I had to concede his self titled solo debut single was good. An album I did buy that day was "In Search Of" by Nerd which contained the single "Rock Star". A record featuring Pharrell which is genuinely good.

Plenty of dance music entering the Top 40 this month and most of these records do contribute points. The problem is too many are average rather than good. The best of these dance records is the experimental "Starry Eyed Surprise" by Paul Oakenfold. 

From the punk world we have "My Friends Over You" by New Found Glory which I'm surprised to discover was their only UK Top 40 hit. They always seemed a bit too poundland Blink 182 for my liking, but this was a record of theirs which I did like.

Plenty of candidates for the worst record but this month it goes to the Sugababes with "Round Round". My immediate reaction when I heard it was that it was shit. Then I heard it out and about all the time but what stands out is the slow bit in the middle which really doesn't work in that environment.

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:

Too many average records keeps the score down for August. We're on a par with August 2003 so there's still hope 2002 will be better in the earlier months.

2002: The Good Old Days? - September

We're in the era when I would describe my music taste as dance, rap and R&B. One genre I should of perhaps included in there was dancehall because I was listening to that too.

There were 2 dancehall new entries in September 2002 and both were good. We had "Feel It Boy" by Beenie Man & Janet Jackson which I loved at the time. Then we had the debut Top 40 single for Sean Paul with "Gimme The Light" which found greater success when it re-entered the Top 40 a few months later.

Aside from these 2 dancehall records the rest of the points all come from the dance, rap and R&B genres.

The best of these was "Two Months Off" by Underworld. Whilst "Born Slippy" is by far the best known Underworld record I'd say "Two Months Off" is a fans favourite.

This month I've given full marks to a vocal trance record. N-Trance team back up with Kelly Llorenna to do "Forever" which was billed as a sort of "Set You Free" reunion even though she'd sang for them since. It was also before Kelly Llorenna did "Heart Of Gold" etc so I guess I was feeling nostalgic at the time hence I liked it. There's more of a proper trance record in "Can U Dig It" by JamX & Deleon and we also have "Nessaja" by Scooter which is possibly their best record of the 21st century.

Rap wise we have "Cleanin Out My Closet" by Eminem and "Nothin" by Nore both getting full marks. There were also 2 non-So Solid Crew efforts from So Solid Crew members with mixed results. Oxide & Neutrino were partly responsible for the demise of UK Garage but they were much better at doing rap and "Dem Girlz (I Don't Know Why)" is decent. Harvey on the other hand had a terrible record with "Get Up And Move" and after this he seemingly left his music career and gangsta roots behind to become a T4 presenter.

R&B wise there were just 2 records and both were crap. There was "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" by Ms Dynamite who's only ever made one good record and "Call Me" by Tweet who I don't think has ever made a decent record.

Time for the worst record then which goes to Pink with "Just Like A Pill". She broke through a couple of years earlier as an R&B singer but now she was a rock singer. In reality she was a watered down version of both and there was nothing genius about her reinventing herself as a rock singer. She just got Dallas Austin to write her a record instead of Babyface.

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: 22%

Here's a look at the chart:

2002 hasn't been convincing so far. Maybe the first half of the year will get stronger like 2003.

2002: The Good Old Days? - October

October 2002 was perhaps an early indication that the charts would become dominated by indie music in the middle of the decade. Indie is the most prolific genre accounting for nearly a third of the new entries.

We have an indie record that gets full marks which is "Formulae" by JJ72 which was their final Top 40 single. There's also a half mark for The Coral with "Dreaming Of You".

The best record is a tune from 1996. Nakatomi were a Dutch happy hardcore act and they charted in Holland with "Children Of The Night" at the time but didn't chart in the UK until 2002. It was the first time since the mid-90s that we had and happy hardcore record in the Top 40 and we've not had one in there since.

There's another dance record from the 90s getting full marks which is "Cafe Del Mar" by Energy 52. Originally coming out in 1996, this was just one of many remixes we've had of the record since. 

It's one of the better months for dance music from around this time. When I say better I mean the vocal trance isn't as annoying, but still not worthy of points. There's half a point for instrumental trance record "Reload" by PPK which is basically "Resurrection" with a few tweaks making it not as good.

Just the one decent rap record which comes from Irv Gotti and a bunch of artists on his Murder Inc records with "Down 4 U". There's also half a point for Ludacris with "Saturday (Oooh Oooh)".

Just the one decent R&B record too which comes from Nelly & Kelly Rowland with "Dilemma". I think that Nelly does R&B better than rap and it looked promising for the start of Kelly Rowlands solo career, but in the end it turned out a load of crap like her Destiny's Child days.

What's left is the worst record which goes to Las Ketchup with "The Ketchup Song". I know it's supposed to be shit but at the same time I heard it a lot and found it really irritating.

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: 25%

Here's a look at the chart:

I had the feeling the score would be around 25% before I even saw the list of records. Improvement is needed if we are to declare 2002 as the good old days.

2002: The Good Old Days? - November

We had 68 new entries in November 2002, the most we've had in a month out of all the months we've looked at so far. This means more room for good records but each good record carries less weight.

As a result we have representation around most of the mainstream genres but it is pop music that leads the way. This time none of the pop records score any points.

Outside of pop music the most represented genre is dance music which once again varies in terms of both quality and sub genres. We had some drum & bass from Shy FX and T-Power with "Don't Wanna Know" which is decent. 

On a more experimental front we had "Purple Haze" from Groove Armada which is a mixture of lots of things and works. The same thing could be said for DJ Shadow with "Six Days". Both records get full marks.

On more of a chill out tip we have "Poor Leno" by Royksopp which contributed to my decision to but the "Melody AM" album. We also have "In This World" by Moby and I already owned his "18" album at the time on which it appears.

What seems to be standard in this era is the vocal trance records appearing which are mostly crap. This leads me onto the worst record which is "Heart of Gold" by Kelly Llorenna. This is a cover of a happy hardcore record by Force & Styles, one of the early examples of crappy watered down happy hardcore covers. Had Kelly Llorenna called it a day after singing on "Set You Free" by N-Trance she would be fondly remembered. Now though I think of her as more of a singer of crappy commercial dance records.

The best record is a rap record which is "From That Chuuuch To Da Palace" by Snoop Dogg. This was the first of his singles to be produced by The Neptune's. As I recall Snoop Dogg was showing he didn't need to rely on Dr Dre's production to make a good record which he did, though it helped having perhaps the most in demand producers of the moment.

Speaking of The Neptunes's productions we also have the solo debut from Justin Timberlake with "Like I Love You". Given his boy band past I didn't want to like this record but had to concede it was a good record and I could use the producers as a justification for liking it.

Elsewhere we have "Still Waiting" by Sum 41 which I found surprisingly good at the time and is probably the best thing I've heard from them. We also have "Wonderboy" from Tenacious D which I would describe as novelty music there's no shame in liking. 

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: 20%

Here's a look at the chart:

My initial reaction is this isn't a great score but then it's actually the best November of all the years we've looked at so far.

2002: The Good Old Days? - December

We can loosely define 2005 as being the year of indie, 2004 as the year of rap and R&B and 2003 as the year of dance. What about 2002?

Well based on the new entries in December it very much looks like the year of pop. It was full of boy bands, girl groups, pop stars, pop idols and those who were once in boy bands. The only one of these records to get any points is "Feel" by Robbie Williams. He's someone I consider to have been overhyped at the time and under appreciated now. At the time many said he'd show his music credentials after being in a boy band, these days many say his music's crap hence charity shops are full of his CDs. I do think some of his tunes are decent and this is one of them.

Many of these pop records are worthy of being the worst record, but then they serve a purpose. Therefore the one I've picked is one for the pop kids who see themselves as a bit alternative but they're not. I'm talking about "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne, pop with guitars basically. Furthermore there was no avoiding it when on a night out at the time.

What about the decent music then? Well rap gets 100% helped by there being only 2 rap records. There's the best one which is "Thug Lovin" by Ja Rule and Bobby Brown. Then there's "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.

R&B wise we have the "Girl Talk" which is the final Top 40 hit from TLC which came shortly after the death of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes but she does feature on the record and it's decent. We also have "Girlfriend" by Alicia Keys, I already had the album and thought this was the best track. Not so good is "Put Him Out" by Ms Dynamite who was proving she only has one decent record to her name.

Dance music wise we only have points for Scooter with "Posse (I Need You On The Floor)". The rest are cheesy vocal trance/eurodance which generally isn't to my liking.

Elsewhere we have older acts such as Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen all with records that show they were all past their best. To give Bon Jovi credit, the video for "Misunderstood" is entertaining but points are based on the music not the video.

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: 16%

Here's a look at the chart:

Not a great start, but then we know the quality of music declines towards Christmas so there's still time.