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.

UK Number 40s: Scouting For Girls - I Wish I Was James Bond (2008)

 

One of the knock on effects of the popularity of indie music around the mid-00s was opening the door to pop music with instruments in the Top 40, or if you prefer Pop Rock music.

One of the big beneficiaries of this was Scouting For Girls. They made their Top 40 debut in 2007 with "It's Not About You", but it was their 2nd and 3rd hits "She's So Lovely" and "Elvis Ain't Dead" that had the big impact on the charts.

This was Top 40 hit number 5 for them. The desire to be James Bond in the lyrics perhaps added fuel to their name "Scouting For Girls". It had been 18 months since they made their debut and over a year since their debut album on which this appears was released.

They would have their biggest hit 2 years later when they topped the charts with "This Ain’t A Love Song".

UK Number 40s: Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving (2008)

 

I remember the hype about this record at the time. It seemed like a good promotion strategy. What we had was a record which sounded like it had a young Michael Jackson singing on it. Then they started rumours on the internet that this was sampling a long lost Michael Jackson record.

It got people talking, the record was regularly on the music channels and I seem to recall Jo Whiley talking about this record and Michael Jackson in the same breath, though I can't recall exactly what she did say.

After all that hype and promotion strategy though it only made number 40. It would also be the only Top 40 hit for Sonny J. It's a shame really because I think this record is pretty good.

Top 30 in 1999 Reviewed: Week 18

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

Here is the Top 40 in full.

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

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

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

30. UB40 - The Train Is Coming

This was a cover of the Ken Boothe record which was their final Top 40 hit from their "Labour of Love III" album. The issue I have with this record is that Shaggy also did a cover and his version is a lot better. I'm struggling to enjoy this record as a result.

Verdict - Rubbish

29. BMR ft Felicia - Check It Out (Everybody)

BMR is an alias of Boris Dlugosch and I guess you could describe this record as being a proper dance record. However, it just sounds too generic for my liking and there really isn't a lot about this record to like.

Verdict - Rubbish

28. Eric Benet ft Faith Evans - Georgy Porgy

I once knew someone called Georgy and I asked if they knew the record "Georgy Porgy" by Eric Benet to which they responded I was one of many to ask that question. Maybe not specifically that question though as this was a cover of a record by Toto. Furthermore though it's based on a nursery rhyme which was most likely the question they were asked by others. It's not a great record.

Verdict - Rubbish

23. Faith Evans ft Puff Daddy - All Night Long

Many people will no doubt remember the Puff Daddy ft Faith Evans chart topper, but I would speculate not too many people will remember this Faith Evans ft Puff Daddy record. There's a reason for that, it's shit.

Verdict - Rubbish

If we give the records which were good 1 point each and those which were OK half a point, the final score is 17.5/30, or 58%. Quite an improvement on last week.

Dutch Top 40 1995: Week 18

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

De Nachraove - Sjeng Aon De Geng

I already knew we'd find happy hardcore and Eurodance in the Dutch Top 40 that never made it in the UK. What I've also learned is that they like their carnival music and that age seems no barrier to breaking though. Evident by this record, a carnival record and the main man behind it, Franz Theunisz has been around since the 60s.

E-Type - This Is The Way

More Eurodance this time which I guessed it would be. E-Type isn't Dutch or German or Italian, he hails from Sweden. He was one of the Cherion artists and this record was produced by Denniz Pop and Max Martin. It was a Swedish number one and his only record that came anywhere near the UK Top 40 but stalled at 53.

January Charts: 1956

Here are the new entries ranked from best to worst:

1. Hilltoppers - Only You

2. Tennessee Ernie Ford - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett

3. Bill Hayes - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett

4. Dick James With Stephen James And His Chums - Robin Hood/The Ballad Of Davy Crockett

5. Gary Miller - Robin Hood

6. Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line

7. Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons

8. Frankie Laine With The Mellomen - Sixteen Tons

9. Malcolm Vaughan - With Your Love

10. Lou Busch - Zambesi

11. Nat King Cole - Dreams Can Tell A Lie

12. Frank Sinatra - Love And Marriage

13. Frank Sinatra - (Love Is) The Tender Trap

14. Edna Savage - Arrivederci Darling

15. Billy Vaughn Orchestra And Chorus - The Shifting Whispering Sands

16. Eamonn Andrews - The Shifting Whispering Sands

The list of records to listen to has grown this year but instead of having more variety we have more duplication. It also speaks volumes when the best record is a cover that's not as good as the original which is the case with the Hilltoppers cover of "Only You" by the Platters.

Then the next best records are TV theme tunes which are helped by their familiarity. One thing I've learned is that Tennessee Ernie Ford only had new entries in January, his first coming in 1955 and the other 2 in this month. In both cases this month he's done the better version of each record.

After the TV themes (i.e. "The Ballad Of Davy Crockett" and "Robin Hood") we have the chart debut of Lonnie Donegan. This introduced a new type of music to the world, skiffle. I like the DIY ethos of the music and the fact it encouraged many people to make music themselves. However I do find the music itself has it's limitations and the music it inspired that came later (e.g. The Beatles) is much better.

The records from Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole aren't bad, just a bit boring so score 1 point. However the 2 versions of "The Shifting Whispering Sands" both get zero. It's hard to say which version is worse, both are long, boring and a bit silly. As Eamonn Andrews was a TV presenter as opposed to musician it seems right to put his version bottom.

One notable thing about this batch of records, no rock n roll. Bill Haley and his Comets were still the only rock n roll acts to have had a chart hit at this point but more was to come later in 1956.

This batch has been the toughest listen, least of all because of the repetition of the same songs.

Score: 28%

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.