Do you prefer LadBaby or Mariah at # 1 again and again ?

[Good Old Days]

In UK we already had four consecutive LadBaby # 1s at Christmas, but almost all other countries had Mariah at # 1 every year in this time period.

Both things are ruined any interest to Christmas charts, but what is the "least evil" for you ?

[Paul]

Ladbaby for being easier to ignore and less pervasive during the Christmas period

[Shireblogger]

Dec 4, 2022 20:30:56 GMT 1 Good Old Days said:

In UK we already had four consecutive LadBaby # 1s at Christmas, but almost all other countries had Mariah at # 1 every year in this time period.

Both things are ruined any interest to Christmas charts, but what is the "least evil" for you ?

What an objectionable premise this thread presents.

The Christmas streaming charts demonstrate what songs people enjoy listening to at a time of year when many are able to meet up with friends and family, have an enjoyable time, and temporarily forget about the pressures they are facing in life.

The Ladbaby singles have raised money for a good cause, and are a harmless piece of fun.


And yet here we have a poster asking whether raising money for charity, or playing your favourite music, is more EVIL !

Neither is evil. The songs themselves may not be your cup of tea. But to call them evil is warped.

[TheThorne]

In an ideal world I would like the streaming playlists to freshen up a bit but I get why they put the most popular songs at the top but means if someone listens for an hour the first dozen songs get a preference

Also you wouldn’t be saying it was evil if one of your favourite acts was one of those songs.

Anyway both better than Lewis Capaldi

[greendemon]

I don't think I've ever heard any of the Ladbaby songs so hard for me to complain about them really. I guess it beats the days when it was nauseatingly predictable that the Christmas number 1 would be the X Factor winner with a lame cover version.

[greendemon]

(Oh and I could be wrong about this, but the way I read this was Good Old Days trying to evoke the English saying 'the lesser of two evils' - which isn't usually taken literally - rather than meaning to actually say either option was evil... at least, I hope so...)

[Shireblogger]

My point is that the whole premise of this thread is to get argumentative and nasty about something which, for many people, is positive, enjoyable, heartwarming, or, at least, inoffensive.

It is an unpleasantly and needlessly provocative thread. There's nothing wrong with accepting that other people have different musical taste, may be less adventurous, or don't really think twice about donating 99p to a charity by downloading a song.

Enjoying the charts and enjoying the music in the charts are two different things. I enjoy seeing how the annual shennigans unfold, whether it be X-Factor, charity, traditional or none of these. Very few 21st century Christmas number ones have made it into my collection, but I don't feel that I need to be picking a fight with people who do like this music.

[Earl Purple]

Having the same song at number one every year is not a phenomenon new to streaming. Back in the 40s "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby was Christmas number one nearly every year.

Radio stations would play it every year.

The top 50 streamed Christmas number ones is clearly missing Ladbaby, so most people prefer Mariah.
That "I Hear You Knocking" and "Mull Of Kintyre" are also missing from the list appears just to be an indication of those songs not standing the test of time. If it's a Christmas-related song, or it's considered a classic, like the Beatles songs or Pink Floyd or the Human League which people listen to all year round, then it's on the list. Even all the Spice Girls ones are there.

Most of the X-Factor winners are there, just Leon Jackson notably missing.

[Razzle Dazzle]

I don't really feel strongly either way either. Although I do think there is an unignorable irony in LadBaby now doing the exact thing they complained about. "Hey get us to number 1 so the same old sh*te doesn't"

Going for #1 for the 5th year in a row with increasingly terrible songs is well charity or not more annoying than an oldie but a goodie topping the chart

[Good Old Days]

My choice is LadBaby at # 1.

It's for charity, the first his song was fun and I prefer to listen any "sausage rolls" instead 90 % songs from UK top 40 in last 10 years.

LadBaby is not bad at all, but I wish to listen something diffrent in his novelty singles, not "sausage roll" hit every year.   

[Good Old Days]

Dec 5, 2022 8:47:02 GMT 1 Shireblogger said:

Neither is evil. The songs themselves may not be your cup of tea. But to call them evil is warped.

I don't have anything against LadBaby songs. It's "evil" for chart fans. There are not any battles for Christmas # 1 anymore.

[lewis17]

LadBaby ~ at least it's for a good cause.

Can't stand Mariah's Christmas offering, can't understand why it's so popular ~ I reach for the mute button every time I have the misfortune to see/hear it.

[Earl Purple]

I don't know if it's the case or not but I reckon fewer people care about the charts now than they used to in my day.

Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, just that it's a thing of the past.

There are multiple ways to find the music you like and streaming platforms are very good in making music accessible.

29 years ago when Take That and Mr Blobby were battling for Christmas number one, it may have meant a bit more.

30 years ago Whitney Houston was number one at Christmas and a lot of people were saying "hey, that's a Dolly Parton cover" and may have even been comparing the versions, but a normal everyday chart follower probably didn't know Dolly Parton's version, nor did they have any easy way of accessing it to compare.
No when Ladbaby does "We built this city on Sausage Rolls" and they tell you it's a cover of Starship, every new generation chart follower who didn't know the original can go and find it.

They may then be told that Starship started their life in the 60s as Jefferson Airplane and go and find "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love" too.

[Shireblogger]

Dec 5, 2022 10:39:04 GMT 1 Good Old Days said:

There are not any battles for Christmas # 1 anymore.

Maybe you should list all of the great battles for Christmas #1 from the Good Old Days, just to remind us how it used to be.

From what I recall, in the 20th century the Christmas chart was usually the most boring of the year, because the number one rarely changed.

The only exceptionally exciting #1 Christmas chart battle that I recall was won by Rage Against The Machine, which I'm sure you remember fondly.

[greendemon]

'Killing In The Name' remains my favourite Christmas #1 of this century and I can't see that changing any time soon.

(Too late for a 2022 repeat but if ever there was a year for it it's this one!)

[Whitneyfan]

Is this thread really any worse than others that have slagged off songs and artists that the posters weren't a fan of?

[Shireblogger]

Dec 5, 2022 14:48:51 GMT 1 Whitneyfan said:

Is this thread really any worse than others that have slagged off songs and artists that the posters weren't a fan of?

No, probably not.

But I simply decided to take a stance against all the negativity. Music is one facet of life where we can all retreat to a place of enjoyment. It simply doesn't need someone going round saying which is most evil (a) or (b).

I enjoy the threads where we have to pick our favourites, and I say so regularly. Since I was rightly challenged last year for having a go at someone else's music taste, I have tried to avoid making negative comments. There's no right or wrong in music, so why start up a debate about what is the worst ?

[rewardman]

I’m going to state my preference as Mariah Carey.

[Earl Purple]

I'm going to state my preference as Ladbaby. Mariah Carey's good but it isn't 1994.

In my day we had novelty songs and covers around Christmas time. The Flying Pickets with an acapella cover of Yazoo in 1983. Not number one but the Toy Dolls cover of Nellie The Elephant was high in the chart in 1984. It's part of the fun of the Christmas market. And ok, so Reet Petite made a comeback in 1986 but that was one-off. Even 1987's number one was a disco-dance cover of an Elvis Presley classic.

I'm sure my online vegan friend Inanna Snow would hate the Ladbaby concept but I'm also sure many of the new generation got to check out the originals. (Ok, they probably found the Joan Jett version of I Love Rock And Roll but they may have found the Arrows too).

By the way I thought Sausage Rolls For Everyone was going to be a parody of Status Quo's 1981 hit and was disappointed when it wasn't.

[Good Old Days]

Dec 6, 2022 10:30:25 GMT 1 Earl Purple said:

In my day we had novelty songs and covers around Christmas time. 

I love " Have A Cheeky Christmas", Fast Fast Rockers - I Love Christmas, Hot Pantz - Give You One For Christmas, Skandi Girls - Do The Can Can and even "I Got You Babe" cover from Merion, Kensit, McColl.