2006: The End? - December

The indie/garage rock genre was losing it's grip on the charts by December 2006. I count just 6 from the genre. Given the lack of decent tunes from that genre it's no big loss and true to form it collectively scores zero points.

What is more dominant in December is Pop Rock which is essentially pop music with guitars. Think McFly, Pink and former Busted member Matt Willis. Listen to enough of that music and you'll be begging for indie to return. Needless to say it's zero for all those records too.

The most likely source of points though is dance music so lets look there. We have "The Cure & The Cause" by Fish Go Deep which is decent and gets full marks. I can only find half points for Sharam with "PATT (Party All The Time)". I like Sharam but find this a bit cheesy for my liking, but I don't mind it. Likewise it was just half marks for Faithless with "Bombs", not bad but doesn't really do anything for me.

Micky Modelle was a guilty pleasure with his debut, but his follow up "Over You" is a step too far. Cascada are just plain dreadful with their euro cheese remake of "Truly Madly Deeply".

Then we have Queen vs the Miami Project with a dance version of "Another One Bites The Dust" which isn't great. Finally the 2 females from Big Brovaz make their debut as Booty Luv with "Boogie 2nite" which is dance music for people not into dance music.

In the rap and R&B world we have the best record for December which is "That's That Shit" by Snoop Dogg and R Kelly. I remember at the time thinking these were both people you could rely on for a decent record and they delivered the goods. 

Nelly Furtado had her 3rd single of the year "All Good Things (Come To An End)" and it's the 3rd to get full marks. Also getting 3 out of 3 is Red Hot Chili Peppers with "Snow (Hey Ho)". I do remember thinking at the time that both of them were doing the best mainstream music of the moment.

That just leaves the worst record which goes to Katie Price & Peter Andre with their cover of  "A Whole New World". I don't think that one needs an explanation.

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: 11%

Here's a look at the chart:

I think we can conclude that the charts didn't just die over night, it was a gradual demise. 2005 was the year it was in gradual decline and 2006 was just poor throughout the year really.

I chose to measure each month as a percent to try and take the quantity of hits out of the equation as much as I could because I knew how much it could vary. We've had as many as 65 and as few as 20 hits in a month. The best actual score in a month we had was 15.5 which is almost impossible to achieve if there's just 20 hits to choose from. 

However as listeners we're more concerned about how much good music is out there rather than what the proportion is. If you've heard 1 good song this month and 3 good songs last month, you're more likely to say last month was 3 times as good than last month was equally as good because I heard 3 times as many songs. On that basis I thought I should plot the actual scores too:

This does paint 2006 to clearly be a worse year than 2005. It has raised another question though. The lowest we can score is zero and we've not done that yet. Surely there will come a time when there will be a zero scoring month.

Only one thing for it, join me next week for 2007: The End?

2006: The End? - November

At the start of 2005 I would have described my music taste as dance, rap and R&B. As we've gone through the months we've had several decent records from all 3 genres, mostly dance. This month though there are no records in any of these genres which get full marks. 

Dance wise there are just 3 records. Bodyrox & Luciana get half marks with "Yeah Yeah", a decent enough tune but the irritating vocals downgrades it. Fedde Le Grande gets no marks for "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" which gives a bit of a taste for the EDM era. Then there's Infernal with their euro cheese version of "Self Control" getting no marks.

In the rap and R&B world it's just four records. Not a fan of "Smack That" by Akon & Eminem, never been a fan of The Game and "It's Okay" does nothing to convince me otherwise. Taio Cruz makes his Top 40 debut, a singer who's very much after my time. Then there's the god awful Rihanna. All records get zero.

The best record is a novelty one. Tenacious D were back with "POD" and it's just what you expect from them. It was from a movie about them which was out at the same time and I watched the movie too.

Depeche Mode have yet another Top 40 hit with "Martyr". Once again it's not as good as their older material but still good enough for full marks.

The final record to get full marks comes from the most unlikely of groups, Take That. It was their comeback single "Patience" and at the time I was surprised how good it was. They seemed to have left their cheesy boy band image behind and done a proper song.

Former Take That member Robbie Williams had a hit with "Lovelight", from the era he was slated by many but I didn't mind. Jamiroquai had a hit with "Runaway", not bad but not classic Jamiroquai.

This just leaves the worst song which was actually not a difficult choice because it was so bad I couldn't listen to the whole song. That record is "Hurt" by Christina Aguilera.

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: 11%

Here's a look at the chart:

An improvement on October which isn't difficult, but still low enough to be worse than any months in 2005.

2006: The End? - October

When I used to watch the Galaxy Chart on MTV Dance one thing I discovered I had in common with presenter Jo Good is that we both don't like vocals in dance music. She mentioned it several times and quite possible mentioned it with one of the records from this month.

Chris Lake had an instrumental tune called changes and it's a very good tune. For its Top 40 release though he added vocals to it making it nowhere near as good. Because the instrumental is so good though it just about gets a point. No points for the other 2 dance records though which came from Bob Sinclar with essentially a remake of "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory which is a tune I've never liked. The other was "Superfreak" by Beatfreakz which just sounds pointless.

No points for either of the rap records, there was "Prangin Out" by The Streets which I don't think much of any "Come To Me" by P Diddy which is just nonsense.

Not only do the 3 R&B records get no points but all 3 are really strong contenders for worst record. There was Cassie with "Long Way 2 Go" who fortunately never troubled the charts again after this. Then we have Beyonce with "Irreplaceable" but as bad as it is she's done worse.

The worst record though goes to fellow former Destiny's Child band mate Letoya with "Torn". It takes a soul classic in "You Are Everything" and completely ruins it with her singing something completely different.

Another very strong contender for worst record was Amy Winehouse with "Rehab". This was actually her Top 40 debut and I took an instant dislike to it. I never saw what the fuss was with Amy Winehouse, I thought she was terrible.

The best record was an easy pick, "Welcome To The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance. I just love the speed and energy of it and it was the only record aside from Chris Lake to get full marks.

Just the one record gets half mark which is "Anthem (We Are The Fire)" by Trivium. It was nice to hear some guitar music that wasn't the boring indie records of which there was still plenty of.

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: 8%

Here's a look at the chart:

The joint worst month so far and given the percentage score is helped by the small quantity this really is the worst month so far.

2006: The End? - September

Top of the Pops finished in July but there was one September new entry that had appeared on the show in July. This was "It's Not That Easy" by Lemar which gets no points.

A lot of the rap and R&B records are more of a crossover between the 2 so I won't bother trying to separate them.

We have Nelly Furtado & Timbaland with "Promiscuous" which becomes either the 3rd rap or 3rd R&B record of the year to get full marks. I actually preferred this to the second full marks R&B record of the year "Maneater". 

We have half marks for Lupe Fiasco with "Daydreamin", his follow up to "Kick Push" which wasn't as good but not too bad at the same time.

I remember being excited for the Pharrell and Kanye West collaboration "Number One". I'd been impressed by tunes both had produced in the couple of years prior to this. Turned out to be a big disappointment though.

Another disappointing collaboration was Janet Jackson & Nelly with "Call On Me". I remember this being good tune, but listening now I don't think much of it and think I must be thinking of other tunes but can't. 

The worst record is an R&B related genre bending record. Jamelia had a string of pop hits labelled as R&B which were all awful. However this time she's taken more of a rock direction with "Something About You" and it's as bad as it sounds.

Indie/garage rock was still the most prolific genre with a bit of a sports connection going on. There's "Chelsea Dagger" by Fratellis which is used at the darts on ITV. Then there's "Starlight" by Muse, a tune I didn't think I'd know but as soon as I listened it brought back memories of Sky Sports. None of these, or any other records of the genre get any points.

Robbie Williams went in a dance music direction around this time with "Rudebox". It was seen by many as a low point of his career which he never truly recovered from if we're honest. I however didn't mind this record even if it was a bit silly.

It was perhaps an odd time for Robbie Williams to be doing dance music given how little of it was in the charts at the time. It did however give us the best record which was "Hush Baby" by Basement Jaxx which was experimental in a good way.

A couple of half mark records from the dance genre came from Supafly with "Movin Too Fast" and Chanel with "My Life", both alright but a bit vocal heavy for my liking.

The only remaining dance record in true sense brings back more memories of the Galaxy Chart. It was "Lucy" by Jealousy, a record Jo Good would always take the piss out of on the show. Was more to do with the video than the record itself, but at the same time I guess her point was the silly video distracts from it being a poor record, which I think it is.

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:

Same score as July and same as December 2005 and worse than the rest of 2005. Will we see a huge improvement in October like we did a year earlier?

2006: The End? - August

Top of the Pops was no more by 2006. However in the later years of Top of the Pops you were more likely to hear new records the BBC wanted to get into the Top 40 than what was actually in the Top 40. As a result we had 4 records that appeared on the show before it finished and all 4 were crap. These were "Dolls" by Primal Scream, "Iris" by Ronan Keating, "Lipstick" by Alesha Dixon and "Deja Vu" by Beyonce & Jay-Z.

The latter was an example of why I was questioning whether rap and R&B were really part of my music tastes anymore. Going into August only 2 records from each of the 2 genres have achieved full marks so far. Do we add to that in August?

Well no we don't. The other R&B records come from Cassie who was a sort of new Rihanna making a pop record labelled as R&B. Then there was Maria Lawson who wasn't as bad but still basically pop labelled as R&B.

Just the one rap record which came from Chamillionaire, I remember it well at the time but never thought much of it.

I do remember the music from this era of the Galaxy Chart very well. We had "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)" by David Guetta vs The Egg, a record I initially found a bit commercial but grew to like. This was before David Guetta was making the abysmal EDM records he's known for these days.

Then there was "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada which stayed number one for a while. Presenter Jo Good questioned why people were voting for it because it was such a terrible record. I'm inclined to agree, so much so that this is the worst record.

We also had "Dancing In The Dark" by Micky Modelle. It's a cheesy commercial dance record from AATW records, has a terrible singer but somehow I find myself enjoying it.

Other dance records are a bit crap, just commercial fodder from the likes of Shapeshifter, Michael Gray and Tom Novy. Then there was a mash up of "Horny" and "Bohemian Like You" called "Horny As A Dandy".

This means the best record comes from outside the dance, rap and R&B genres. It actually comes from the most unlikely genre, indie. The record is "Young Folks" by Swedish group Peter, Bjorn & John, famous for the whistle part which was used on an advert. A tune I've listened to many times over the years for my own pleasure.

The other full marks go to fellow Swedes Similou which I guess could be categorised as dance music at a push, but definitely electronic. The Pet Shop Boys were still in their worst era and as a result no point for their 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: 14%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've improved with the highest score since February. Like February though it's helped by the low quantity of records and the numeric score is the same.

2006: The End? - July

One thing that did come to an end in 2006 was Top of the Pops. I watched the final episode which was more going through the archives than playing what was in the charts. I do recall I hadn't watched an episode for some time.

Once again with have lots of indie/garage rock records in there and once again I have no recollection of most of them. One I do remember is the yawnfest that is "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. They seemed to be very popular at the time and I just didn't get it. All the indie records score the usual zero.

My best record pick is a guitar one though. It's "Tell Me Baby" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers which was the best thing they'd done in a long time. I also liked the sentiment of the video where they give a load of wannabe rock stars to play with them.

A close contender for best record was a sort of dance meets rock record in "We Are Your Friends" by Justice vs Simian, the former being an electronic duo and the latter being a rock band whose members included future electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco.

Future Swedish House Mafia members Axwell and Steve Angello had a hit under the name Supermode with "Tell Me Why" which was their take on "Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat and was an era when they were still making good music. Another point in the dance music world goes to Till West & DJ Delicious with "Same Man". Fatboy Slim gets half a point for "That Old Pair Of Jeans", I've always rated him more as a DJ than a producer.

Both rap records this month score something. We have full marks for "Kick Push" by Lupe Fiasco which stood out at the time as one of the better new rap records. There's half a point for "I Love My Bitch" by Busta Rhymes, it's alright but nowhere near as good as his earlier stuff.

R&B wise we have Chris Brown, Gnarls Barkley, Ne-Yo and Rihanna who were all modern rubbish in my mind. All get zero and the latter was a very strong contender for the worst record and on another month I'm sure it would have got that honour.

The worst record though is "Smile" by Lily Allen. Here we have someone breaking through via MySpace, the idea that someone makes music in their bedroom, puts in on MySpace and suddenly they're a superstar. Being the daughter of Keith Allen of course had nothing to do with it. Terrible record and it never stopped getting played at the time.

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:

On a par with December 2005 and worse than any other month in 2005, this is still telling me 2006 is the end.

2006: The End? - June

In June 2006 we had the World Cup and as a result there were several football records in the charts. As I've said many times, music and football don't mix so it's a collective zero for those records.

Indie/garage rock was still the most dominant genre though and once again I don't remember the bulk of those records. I've also forgotten several of them already after listening to them and none of them get any points.

I would question whether my music taste of dance, rap and R&B was really a thing by this point although this is the source of most of the points for this month.

Dance wise we have the best record which is "Fade" by Solu Music. This very much reminds me of the Galaxy Chart days on MTV Dance. We also have "Faster Kill Pussycat" by Paul Oakenfold which is OK. The only other dance record this month is "Love Sensation '06" by Loleatta Holloway, something that had been done to death by then and gets no points.

Rap wise there is half a point for Streets with "Never Went To Church", a pleasant enough listen but not enough about it to get full marks. No points for Black Eyed Peas or TI.

The R&B point comes from Nelly Furtado with "Maneater". I remember at the time thinking this was the only decent R&B record of the moment and from a chart perspective at least it was. The other R&B records were "Say Something" by Mariah Carey which couldn't be saved by the appearance of Snoop Dogg or a Neptunes production, and "Trouble Sleeping" by Corinne Bailey Rae which is more likely to help me to sleep.

The one remaining point goes to Depeche Mode with the double a-side "John The Revelator / Lilian" which showed they still knew how to make a good tune all those years later.

Onto the worst record then which goes to Leann Rimes with "And It Feels Like". I didn't realise she was still having hits as late as 2006, though this was her final Top 40 hit to date. I find a lot of country music cringeworthy, but the watered down country pop music she does takes this to another level.

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: 10%

Here's a look at the chart:

Worse than May and worse than any month in 2005. There's still a chance we'll improve in the 2nd half of the year but from what I remember I doubt it.

2006: The End? - May

I mentioned in April that my chart music knowledge was very much in decline by that point given the amount of records I don't remember. In May I actually remember around 2 thirds of them and if you take indie and other guitar genres out of the equation I remember them all. I would say my choice of music channels provided that filter.

That said one guitar record I very much remember and am giving full marks to is "Dani California" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was a comeback record and a return to form in my opinion having not been a fan of the "By The Way" era.

Beating the Red Hot Chili Peppers to best record though is Chicane and Tom Jones with "Stoned In Love". I wasn't convinced by Chicane's collaboration with Bryan Adams a few years prior, but he gets it right here. 

Just one more record gets full marks this month which is "Fly Me Away" by Goldfrapp. I'd actually forgotten it was a single but have listened to it many times on the album.

I've found half marks for Groovefinder's big beat remix of "Ain't Got No I Got Life" by Nina Simone, it seemed a bit all been done before but it's not a bad listen. Elsewhere in the dance music world it's pretty much cheesy remakes of older records plus Hot Chip who like I've said previously is something I could never get into.

Busta Rhymes had been quite prolific with his releases since breaking through in 1996 with 6 albums between then and 2002. Then he signed with Aftermath and it took until 2006 until he released his next album. The lead single was "Touch It" which was a bit of an anti-climax, but not a bad record.

We also have half marks for Damien Marley with "Beautiful" and T-Pain with "I'm Sprung", both decent enough for me not to change the music channel but not good enough for me to make a point of listening to.

There's a lot of people who think the Pet Shop Boys lost their way in the 90s but I'm not one of them. I thought they were still producing the goods throughout the 90s and into the 21st century. However I can't say I'm a fan of "I'm With Stupid" which came out in this month.

Onto the worst record then and it's really too close to call so I'm going to award it to 2 records. There's "Say I" by Christina Milian, her attempt at having more street cred in her so called R&B music and failing miserably. Then there's "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" by Sandi Thom, a record that was played all the time and I couldn't stand 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: 13%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've improved which isn't exactly difficult. However December is the only month in 2005 which was worse and you have to factor in the Christmas slump so 2006 is still feeling like the end.

2006: The End? - April

One thing I've mentioned previously is that on a Sunday evening in 2006 I would be watching the Galaxy Chart on MTV Dance and not really watching Top of the Pops. Turns out that statement only applies from this month onwards as I've since discovered the Galaxy Chart was launched on East Sunday 2006.

When I look at the new entries from April that appeared on Top of the Pops it would appear this was the right call as the collective score for these records was just half a mark.

This half mark goes to Jamie Foxx & Ludacris with "Unpredictable". At the time I saw it as a rare modern R&B record that was good, but in reality I thought it was average at best. The only other R&B record was the dreadful "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.

Indie/garage rock was once again the dominant genre and this was reflected in what appeared on Top of the Pops. Just 16 of the 44 new entries were on the show and 10 of these were from the indie/garage rock genre. All the records from the genre get zero points.

Another genre getting a full house of zeroes was rap. We had "Laffy Taffy" by D4L and "Bounce Shake Move Stop" which were examples of not so good modern rap I remembered. Trina had her only Top 40 single and I've always found her irritating. Then there was Nelly and The Streets, both very hit or miss with their music and this time the latter.

The only dance record to appear on Top of the Pops was "From Paris To Berlin" by Infernal, some Euro cheese that's not very good.

It is however the dance genre that does deliver the goods this month. The best record is "Most Precious Love" by Blaze who first formed in 1984. Deep Dish did their take on "Dreams" which featured original vocalist Stevie Nicks and gets full marks. Finally we have "Speechless" by Mish Mash.

I thought there was a potential point for another group who have been around since the 80s, Depeche Mode. It's one of theirs I don't remember but after a couple of listens it did nothing for me so gets no points.

Onto the worst record which goes to Pink with "Stupid Girls". Not that she was any good in the first place, but after debuting in 2000 she'd long overstayed her welcome in the pop world by 2006. Little did I think she'd still be around many years to come.

One thing is for sure, my knowledge of chart music by this period is pretty rusty. I don't remember more than half the records and I've already forgotten a big chunk of those I just listened to.

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: 8%

Here's a look at the chart:

We've managed a score worse than March. Will May be worse still?

2006: The End? - March

Normal service is resumed in March in terms of quantity of new entries with there being 45. We also have perhaps the largest quantity of records I don't remember too.

Indie/garage rock once again is the dominant genre but I don't remember any of the records. There was one record called "Tendency" by Battle that was hard to find, searching "Battle tendency" in YouTube produced lots of irrelevant results but I found it eventually. It wasn't really worth it, all the indie records score zero.

Dance music once again was very thin on the ground but did give us the best record of the month which was "Make A Move On Me" by Joey Negro. I didn't realise this was released as late as 2006, I thought it was a lot earlier which would probably explain why I like it better than the other records.

Nothing else gets a point in the dance music world, we have some generic commercial rubbish from Freemasons and Shapeshifters. We also have Hot Chip who I've never really been able to get into.

Rap wise we have half a point for Kanye West with "Touch the Sky". Bow Wow followed up the excellent "Let Me Hold" you with the not so good "Like You" in collaboration with his then girlfriend Ciara. Then there's Black Eyed Peas continuing to churn out rubbish.

R&B was mostly British R&B this month and gave us a decent record in "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae. The only American R&B hit was "So Sick" by Ne-Yo who like Chris Brown the previous month was one of the new breed of R&B artists I didn't think was any good.

Massive Attack had their final Top 40 hit to date with "Live With Me" and this gets full marks. The only other points go to Orson with "No Tomorrow" which I think is alright and gets half marks.

The worst record goes to the Pussycat Dolls with "Beep". All their records are terrible, but on this one they try to rap which makes it even worse.

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: 9%

Here's a look at the chart:

This is easily the worst month so far. The question is will the remaining months be this low or will we see and improvement.

2006: The End? - February

We're up to 31 new entries in February 2006, more than January but still less than any month in 2005. Just 11 of these were on Top of the Pops, but notably just over half the indie/garage rock records got shown on Top of the Pops.

As previously mentioned though in 2006 my Sunday evening viewing was the Galaxy Chart on MTV Dance. I can only conclude that a number of records in the Galaxy Chart at the time didn't get into the Top 40 as dance music was thin on the ground this month.

The big dance hit was "Thunder In My Heart Again" by Meck & Leo Sayer who sounds a lot like Freddie Mercury when he's singing on this. A very commercial record but it's not bad. LMC do a dance version of "You Get What You Give" which is rubbish. Then there's "Fire" by Ferry Corsten which features vocals from Simon Le Bon which again is rubbish.

Easily the winner of best record this month is "Ride A White Horse" by Goldfrapp which is a record I rate very highly but at the same time it didn't really have much competition.

Rap wise we have full marks for Three 6 Mafia with "Stay Fly", half marks for Rhymefest & Kanye West with "Brand New" and no marks for 50 Cent with "Hustlers Ambition" and Young Jeezy & Akon with "Soul Survivor".

R&B wise we have "Angel" by Pharrell which was I record I felt I should have liked more than I did, but it gets half marks. We also had the debut of Chris Brown with "Run It" which was an example of a new breed of R&B artist that I didn't think much of. I also didn't think much of "Your Body" by Pretty Ricky.

The only other points come from Go Team with "Ladyflash". I'd never heard of Go Team but it turns out at this point Go Team was just one person and he put together a band later on. I listened in alphabetical order, this was nearly half way through and ended a run of zeroes.

The worst record goes to Ashlee Simpson with "Boyfriend". It's basically music for moody teenage girls who have probably grown out of it now they're in their 30s.

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: 15%

Here's a look at the chart:

3 months have a lower score but again we're helped by the small quantity of records. It's notably lower than February 2005.

2006: The End? - January

As we enter a new year one thing immediately stands out about the new entries in January which is just how few of them there were. In total there were 20, compared to 59 in December 2005 and 40 in January 2005. This means that each good record will carry 5%, so we need just 2 decent and 1 OK record in January 06 to beat the score in December 2005.

The low quantity meant that most records were played on Top of the Pops. I count 9 of the 20 as being from the indie/garage rock genre and 6 of these were on the show. The indie/garage rock dominance was similar to the rap dominance in more recent years, so I guess Top of the Pops had now choice but to dig into that genre.

2 of the indie records not on Top of the Pops are what I would call really obscure. The bands are Crimea and Forward Russia, I've not heard of either. YouTube existed by 2006 so we have the videos from when both records were new and both have had just 40k views in that time. More importantly though, none of the indie records get any points.

My Sunday night viewing by 2006 was the Galaxy Chart on MTV Dance. There were 2 different dance remakes of the Baywatch theme, "Phat Beach (I'll Be Ready)" by Naughty Boy and "I'll Be Ready" by Sunblock. Both are crap.

A better use of sampling came from Hi Tack with "Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)" which sampled the Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson record and gets full marks. The best dance record, and best Jan 06 record was "Muscle Car" by Mylo & Freeform Five from the excellent "Destroy Rock n Roll" album.

Sticking with dance we had "Dancin" by Aaron Smith ft Luvli which wasn't how I remembered it when I played it. Turns out I was listening to a crappy 2013 EDM remix. Finding the original was like a needle in a haystack but once I found it I thought much better, but too vocal heavy to get full marks so gets half marks instead.

Rap wise we have "Nasty Girl" by Notorious BIG plus others, a record I remember being played a lot on the music channels but could never be sure if it topped the charts or not. Turns out it did, but not my cup of tea. We have British rapper "Sway" with "Little Derek" which is OK.

The worst record is the only R&B record of the month which is "Check On It" by Beyonce and Slim Thug. I was on the music channels a lot and when it came on I would switch channels.

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: 18%

Here's a look at the chart:

This score was helped by the small number of records. If we were just looking at a number score rather than percentage then it would be the worst month, but again the small number of records would put it at a disadvantage.