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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 21, 2018 1:49:40 GMT 1
15 Say Something - Lily McQueen
So far a one-hit wonder in my chart, this got to #1.
14 What You Do To My Soul - Air Traffic Controller
Usually when youtube returns me a different video to the song I was looking for I just discard it but I know this band release videos much later than the songs so it was by chance I found this, and having had a #2 with "The House" they then went one better. I then entered "The House" for Haven Hidden Treasures.
13 Queen - Frankie Grande
This peaked only at #2, and really deserved to be a #1 given it has finished in the chart of the year above both the singles it was #2 behind: first 2 weeks behind Air Traffic Controller then another two behind Arcade Fire. The night this got on my playlist was 22nd May - that was a Monday, the day I usually filter through the list having been created on Spotify, run through iTunes for genres and other metadata and then gone through a youtube search. In any case I had no idea who Frankie Grande was at this point, and only later when I looked it up he is Ariana's older brother or possibly half-brother and 22nd May was the night of the Manchester nail bomber at her concert that killed several people. Apparently he was also there.
A "camp" song about dreams of being a rock and roll star and then the dream not being realised.
12 Jennifer Jones - Screens
Another band who so far are a one-hit wonder. This has a retro sound, the verses a bit like Happy Together and the chorus with a melody similar to Monday Morning 5:19, but it was too catchy and spent a couple of weeks at #1.
11 The Man Who Killed Reality - Prefab Messiahs
Song with a cartoon video, about Donald Trump. Spent 3 weeks at #1. Also their debut hit but they have managed a follow-up.
All of those artists are American except for Screens who are British but one of them is based in Spain.
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Post by Milliways on Jan 23, 2018 0:34:24 GMT 1
Songs rating 8 or more from me between #66 and #21
65 Fragile 17 - Hot Pink Hangover 64 All Worthwhile - Ham Sandwich 61 Same Old Story - Baboon Show 60 I'll Trust The Wind - Primitives 59 Yesterday's News - Skaciety
49 I Want My Country Back - She Makes War 47 Marry Me - Kai Fish 46 Hit Me Up - Slapback Johnny
43 Last Night Bus - Vanessa Peters 40 Birthday Suit - Escape The Future 39 This Dog's Just For Christmas - Prosecco Socialist 38 Bali - Paper Box
34 Due West - Real McKenzies 33 Rockstar City - Alex The Astronaut
27 Gravity - Amelia Curran 26 Behind Closed Doors - Strypes 22 Better Life - Glow
I couldn't separate my top 2 from this set, one being a song I'd heard before I started listening to the countdown from a band I was familiar with - the raucous, exuberant celtic punk of the Real McKenzies - and one that I hadn't and wasn't. Escape The Future with a song that reminds me of Ida Maria's "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" both in lyrical theme and a certain musical reminiscence, though it has male vocals. Of the rest, Glow was an uptempo toe-tapping highlight that I enjoyed very much, kind of like a cross between Dodgy and Mika. Slapback Johnny is great fun uptempo rock 'n' roll, and Vanessa Peters is an acoustic story song with a difference, well worth a listen.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 23, 2018 2:14:53 GMT 1
10 Mad Hatter's Tea Party - Cats In Space
This is the highest peaking song that didn't make it to #1. Alice In Wonderland theme in the lyrics. Uptempo pop-rock.
9 Stupid Things - Inheaven
This reached #1 in November. Rock with a "wall of sound" feel to it.
8 Long Time - Blondie
Breaking a record in my chart as Debbie Harry was nearly 72 when this got to #1. A gap of 19 years from their previous #1 and 40 years from their first. However Elvis Presley has a longer gap between first and last #1 (which will increase when I go back to start my retro chart from 1956, which I plan to do). Also 40 years on I finally got to see Blondie perform live - in Hyde Park on 10th September. And Long Time was one of the songs they performed.
7 Tongue Tied - Earl
Earl is a female singer, originally from the USA but based in England. This samples "Disco Bob" by Professor Bobo, a tune with which you might be slightly familiar as it features in Homebase commercials, but shows exactly the based way to use a sample - take something that's decent but is dull and repetitive and turn it into a proper song. During this video she wears a red dress and I've never seen her wear purple.
And in case you're thinking back to that "oldest #1" thread where My Town sampled an old tune for "Your Woman", she sampled that too in her next single. It didn't chart.
Having announced what the biggest hit that didn't get to #1 is, I will also announce what is the best-placed 2nd hit by an artist. Usually it's inside the top 20 or at least the top 30 but in fact it is Kai Fish all the way down at #51.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 24, 2018 1:12:03 GMT 1
Of the 6 remaining songs, 3 of them are by artists who have had hits before, 3 are by artists with their first (and so far only) hit. Two of those who have had hits before have had a #1 before.
Those 3 all come up next. So the top 3 are all one-hit wonders.
6 I Gotta Praise - Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott
Their 4th #1 as a duo (D.I.Y, Real Hope and The Austerity Of Love were their others). I saw them live too this year. They played all their duet #1s except Real Hope, and several of their #1s with the Beautiful South. They were not the only ex-members of the Beautiful South to get to #1 in 2017 either..
5 To My Roots - Emma Stevens
She hasn't reached #1 before but had a few hits previously and Gold Rush reached #3 in 2014. This country-esque style by a female singer is quite popular on Haven.
**4 Guilty - Paloma Faith
Paloma Faith first charted in 2009 with "Stone Cold Sober" and had a #1 in 2010 with "Upside Down" (her 4th hit, the others "New York" and "Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful"). This however has become her biggest hit, and her album The Architect reached UK #1. And that after I thought she wasn't good anymore and Crybaby didn't reach my chart at all.
This song also had 2 weeks in the chart in 2018 but it was only just above the #4 and nowhere near the #3 and the extra weeks don't move it any higher.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 25, 2018 12:04:55 GMT 1
I will be posting the top 3 one at a time.
3 Plastic City - Ellie Rose
At #3 is the highest placed female singer. This was her second single to get onto my playlist, the first didn't reach my chart at all. Since this got to #1 I liked her facebook page and got to see some of her "live" broadcasts on instagram. She's about 22, very pretty, and has started dating Luke Pritchard of the Kooks. Not sure if all that vlogging has interfered with the progress of her musical progress because I'm still waiting for the follow-up of this song.
A beautiful song about trying to move on after the end of a relationship. Certainly something that has applied to me and very likely a reason why this song did so well in my chart. Towards the end she sings "you called me because it was my birthday". My birthday was around the time this entered my chart and I also spoke with Carol for the first time in ages whilst this was #1 in my chart when I happened to see her when I was doing my Pesach shopping.
In any case, it spent 5 weeks at #1. Comfortably placed at #3 of the year, quite a bit ahead of Paloma Faith at #4 and also some distance behind the top 2.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 26, 2018 13:19:02 GMT 1
2. Grown Ups - :PM
You were expecting this to be high up, possibly #1 of the year. It falls just a few points short - actually a bit more than that in reality. In any case some may call his "boy-band with guitars", I know there are indie/rock fans who hate this kind of thing, but I like it, it's what pop music should be like (at least some of it).
Their follow-up single "Goodbye" wasn't very good though, in fact it was rather poor, and obviously to make a proper career they will need more than one good song.
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,534
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Post by TheThorne on Jan 26, 2018 14:25:22 GMT 1
It's fine I know Frag likes that one as well it's just a bit too light for me bit like the Vamps or 5SOS
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 27, 2018 19:42:42 GMT 1
Which means if you actually followed my chart you would already know what the number one is, but obviously I still have to announce it.
* 1. Suppression Starts At School - New Old World
Comments are disabled for the video, probably so they wouldn't get a flurry of Smiths comparisons. Certainly on this song they do sound a lot like the Smiths so either you like that because you really like the Smiths and thus anything that sounds like them, or you dislike it, either because you don't like bands to sound like other bands or because you never liked the Smiths or anyone that sounds like them.
Not only is the sound similar but the lyrics carry a similar kind of depressing message.
This song actually spent one extra week in the chart in 2016 at #11. Thus while it won 2017 by the faintest of margins it has a reasonably clear lead at the top.
The band have subsequently split so we won't see them chart again as they are, although various members may well chart in new bands.
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Post by Milliways on Feb 1, 2018 21:13:32 GMT 1
Songs rating 8 or more from me in the top 20:
20. Afterlife - Daggerplay 17. The Alien - Manchester Orchestra
12. Jennifer Jones - The Screens
10. Mad Hatter's Tea Party - Cats In Space 8. Long Time - Blondie
2. Grown Ups - :PM 1. Suppression Starts At School - New Old World
I did give these a few listens but the highlights remained the two songs I was familiar with beforehand (albeit not very long in the case of Daggerplay which I discovered through @frag's end-year chart). :PM remains the standout. I liked New Old World a lot on first listen but it didn't really stand up to repeat play. Manchester Orchestra is probably my pick for 'best of the rest', reminds me quite a bit of an artist called Strangejuice who I used to chart back in the days I still did a weekly one. The Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott track is not among my favourites of theirs; I much prefer 'The Fat Man' which appeared in Frag's chart.
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Post by Milliways on Feb 1, 2018 21:23:38 GMT 1
My Top 10 from your 2017 End Year Chart
10. 43 Last Night Bus - Vanessa Peters 9. 46 Hit Me Up - Slapback Johnny 8. 83 Unofficial - Dolly And The Dinosaur 7. 20 Afterlife - Daggerplay 6. 100 Love Drugs - Incarnations
5. 22 Better Life - Glow 4. 34 Due West - Real McKenzies 3. 40 Birthday Suit - Escape The Future 2. 2 Grown Ups - :PM 1. 76 Teen Angel - Dirty Fences
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