SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 27, 2020 17:01:50 GMT 1
623 - Drive By by Train No. 6 in 2012
Train are from San Francisco. They first appeared on the UK charts in 2001 with the rather lovely Drops Of Jupiter. A bit too adult MOR oriented to be supported by Radio 1, it did well to reach no. 10 in the charts and had a long chart fairly run as people discovered it via commercial radio. The follow up failed to make the top 40 and they were then absent from the charts for just over 8 years.
There was absolutely nothing about Train to suggest that they were not simply the latest in a long line of US bands to have a one-off UK hit and then never be heard of again, but against the odds in 2010 they reappeared and this new phase of their career has proved to be far more successful than the first, delivering them 2 songs onto this list, of which this is the first we have come across.
Musically, they appear to have simply heard the chirpy radio pop of Maroon 5 and realised they could do the same. Drive By is bland in the extreme, if that's not a contradiction in terms. It's got an upbeat chorus you can jump around to when it comes on, but you'll completely forget it until the next time it's on when you can jump around again. Financially this sort of music, meaningless guitar pop diluted to the point where you can hardly believe they're playing real guitars, must have been a fantastic move for them. Credibility wise they were obviously not bothered. I kind of feel like it probably makes some people happy to listen to music like this, but they are people who don't care too much for thinking. It's emotionless, flat, airheaded radio filler. I can see why it's on the millionaires list, but I wish Drops Of Jupiter was instead.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 26, 2020 17:57:44 GMT 1
625 - XO Tour Llif3 by L'il Uzi Vert No. 25 in 2017
An interesting entry now. Who would have thought it was possible to sell a million copies of a song the title of which looks like someone has fallen asleep while working and knocked their head on the keyboard. I did entertain the idea that L'il Uzi Vert might be Welsh, and Llif3 was pronounced Kliv Tri, but in fact he's from Philadelphia, so goodness knows what he's on about.
This is dark, atmospheric, mumbly rap music. I really appreciate the way this genre is able to create a feeling, it's clever how the music alone is sinister and ominous. You would think a million selling single would have slightly more than that though, but this one doesn't, apart from the general atmospherics and the repeated assertion that all his friends are dead it's really quite dull.
This was L'il Uzi's debut UK hit, and to date it's his biggest. It wasn't that big a hit either, but the clue to its appearance here is in its chart run,with 39 weeks on the top 100, 34 of them in the top 75. For the second time this week we're considering a song which doesn't seem to have caught on with the public as a whole, but rather has been streamed repeatedly by a relatively small number of very devoted listeners. It's the new normal, everything you thought you knew about successful singles is challenged by the success of this one.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 25, 2020 22:57:14 GMT 1
Heh, you bring up the Beatles, Velvets, Dylan, Hendrix, Nirvana, Small Faces...and then post Blink 182. It's like having your holiday to Hawaii cancelled and replaced with a weekend in Wolverhampton. Ha ha, that really made me laugh, I kind of see your point too. I did also mention Tatu, Snakehips and Less Than Jake though so the warning signs were there
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 25, 2020 16:06:57 GMT 1
626 - You Make My Dreams by Daryl Hall and John Oates Never charted in the UK
Daryl Hall and John Oates are pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia. It would be tempting to say that they are best known in the UK for a pair of top 10 hits they had in 1982, I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) and Maneater, but the truth is neither of them make the millionaires list, but this one, which has never even graced the weekly top 100, does.
The presence of You Make My Dreams in this thread has been a real head scratcher for me, it defies all conventional wisdom about how to that monumental achievement is accomplished. We have already had one none chart hit on here of course, Oasis' Champagne Supernova, but there's an important difference - I already knew that one. You Make My Dreams, on the other hand, is entirely new to me. There is, however, an interview with John Oates on the OCC's website from last month marking the fact that this song has passed one billion global streams. Asked why it was never released as a single in the UK he gives the slightly derisory answer "I never even thought about it", but interestingly someone called Wayne Dickson, who apparently knows more on the subject than either the OCC or the artist, has commented saying it was released, it just didn't chart because no one bought it.
So how on earth is it a million seller then? Well, digital downloads and streams obviously, but how does anyone even know it? The answer to that appears to lie in the long list of films and TV adverts it has featured. Oates says his personal favourite was its use in 500 Days Of Summer, which, never the film buff, I've not even heard of. The track really must be shifting a small but very steady number of units every single week to have become a million seller without appearing on the charts at all.
And the track? Well, forgettable, frankly, certainly not as good as several of their others, which is another reason the whole think mystifies me. There are many absolutely classic singles that don't make this list, the fact that this one does seems extremely odd.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 25, 2020 15:40:35 GMT 1
There's so many of these.
All Along The Watchtower will always make people think of Jimi Hendrix first, but the original is one of Bob Dylan's absolute best in my humble opinion. All Apologies by Nirvana is about as beautiful and heartbreaking a track you're ever going to hear All I Really Want To Do is another work of multi-layered Dylan genius, this time taken into the top 10 by Cher (I don't think that's really all he wants to do, by the way) All My Friends by Snakehips featuring Tinache and Chance The Rapper is far more modern than anything I normally recommend but I love it All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar is great fun for kids and was the first dance at my friends' wedding All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow was one of the only ones the guys who won over £9,000 on The Hitlist last weekend didn't know All Day And All Of The Night is a brilliant example of The Kinks before they got all clever (and equally brilliant, mind) All Or Nothing by The Small Faces was somewhere on my 100 greatest number ones list All My Best Friends Are Metalheads by Less Than Jake is brilliant ska punk All The Lovers by Kylie Minogue is surprisingly good, sounds like Robyn All You Need Is Love by The Beatles is philosophy in words of one syllable All Together Now by The Farm is a song about football you can love even if you know nothing about football All Tomorrow's Parties by The Velvet Underground is dark, brooding, and brilliantly pompous All The Things She Said by Tatu is a guilty pleasure, it's all about the production
...but today I'm posting a song that everyone in the world already knows and I don't care, I never tire of hearing it
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 24, 2020 17:17:45 GMT 1
627 - Controlla by Drake No. 18 in 2016
Drake again, his third of 14 appearances in this thread, I'm going to run out of things to say about him. Controlla was the fourth single from his album Views, one of the earlier ones being the chart dominating One Dance. While this one might not have managed 15 weeks at number one, it did have a remarkable chart run, spending 23 weeks in the top 40 despite going no higher than 18. In the streaming era this kind of chart run gives the impression that, rather than reaching a wide audience, the track was streamed repeatedly by a relatively fixed number of fans for several weeks. The fact that this generates "sales" for the purposes of a list like this one seems odd, but the alternative would be not to record any sales at all, and that would be odd too. If you believe streaming shouldn't be converted to streams then you effectively believe sales should no longer be counted at all, and that would be a shame.
It's also worth noting that Controlla's success came before the chart rule change that only allowed artists to have a maximum of 3 songs on the chart at any one time. Under the current rules, some of the track's chart run could not happen, because Drake had three or more other songs above it. That raises an interesting question about whether sales of "starred out" releases are still counting towards the all time sales lists. I don't know the answer, if anyone wants to enlighten me I'd love to understand more.
So what of the music? Well, it ambles along with not much happening and Drake murmuring about something or other for a couple of minutes, before Beenie Man appears from nowhere and suddenly starts some raggamuffin style toasting for a few seconds, then a really quite alarming air horn goes off, then it carries on ambling along until a cool bassy bit near the end. This type of music is a mystery to me, it just seems to lack everything that I understand people like about pop music. You can't dance to it, you can't sing along to it, the lyrics contain no revelations or artistry of any kind, it just sort of is. It exists, people listen to it, it's a million seller. Next.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 24, 2020 11:32:23 GMT 1
Yeah, there's loads of I'ms. I think my absolute favourite is I'm Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground, but I'm going to go with an 80s indie tune that was something of a regional hit, with one of pop's all time greatest titles
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 20:07:41 GMT 1
Someone should probably mention One Dance by Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla, or are we all still in denial about the 15 weeks think? I'm happy to pretend it never happened. Not sure which UK #1 is worse, that one or "One Day At A Time" by Lena Martell, or is it that neither are that bad, just I'm not particularly fond of either urban music like "One Dance" or religious-based country ballads like "One Day At A Time"? I don't find One Dance particularly offensive, it's ok as background music. No, I don’t mind One Dance either, but what it achieved chart-wise for a song that’s just OK was ludicrous. One Day At A Time, now that is a truly bad number one! That’s made me realise that nobody mentioned No Charge when the word was No too, I’ve really only been thinking of songs I like.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 17:43:39 GMT 1
The lack of Stone Roses seems deliberate - over the course of two weeks they've had 3 songs in the charts and none of them have been shown. The real reason seems to have been spite.
I love that clip, I’ve watched it so many times I knew exactly when the music was going to stop. “Amateurs!” 🤣🤣🤣 Was that around this time? That would make sense.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 17:26:47 GMT 1
The lack of Stone Roses seems deliberate - over the course of two weeks they've had 3 songs in the charts and none of them have been shown.
Big fun are so awful you have to laugh really, I kind of felt sorry for them.
They Might Be Giants are from New York and then 2 weeks later they're from Boston. It's a shame they didn't keep climbing, because it's a great song and because I'd be interested to see where they were from next.
There's been some great stuff on lately - the Inspiral Carpets second performance was mercifully free of the inappropriate clapping which ruined the first. Happy Mondays avoided being forced to have sily dancers on the stage by employing Bez, how much better Top of the Pops would be if he was onstage for every performance.
I thought I had fond memories of The Power but looking back now it's really quite crap, isn't it? Bizz Nizz on the folowing week too, I think these are the early signs of European superclub music that turned dance from an innovative and exciting genre to a bland, dull experience by the mid 90s.
I wonder if Nicky Campbell was watching and winced when he heard himself saying the Jam Tronik track was an excellent cover? He definitely should've.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 17:08:00 GMT 1
628 - Every Breath You Take by The Police No. 1 in 1983
I don't know about anyone else but I'm quite surprised to find BMI's official Most Played Song On The Radio In History so low on this list. Having said that, I had to look up BMI before to discover it is Broadcast Music Inc., the US body for collecting broadcasting royalties, I had wondered why the British Medical Institute would be interested.
This son's massive, isn't it? Always on the radio forever, it seems to have been around my whole life, even though I was 6 when it was released. It's a bit like it follows you round, like a stalker, which is exactly what it's about. Huh, life imitating art.
That guitar lick, very subtle and understated but rhythmic in a way that seems different somehow, is quite simply a work of genius. Well Puff Daddy certainly thought so, he shamelessly borrowed it for his own million seller, which perhaps oddly appears way further up this list. I have to admit I like both tracks, I admire I'll Be Missing You's gall if anything, but there's no beating the original.
Every Breath You Take was The Police's fifth and final chart topper, an impressive run for a rock band. Maybe they were the Coldplay of their time, a proper band making mass appeal radio friendly rock music. I think they were better than that personally, their songs had more meaning. This one is a creepy and yet fooled many people into not noticing, which is a great trick in itself.
The single entered the charts at number 7 before climbing to the top for 4 weeks. A modest 11 week chart run was all it ever managed, since 1983 it has never been seen on the charts again. I think I thought it had always been on the million sellers list but in fact it's only digital sales that have bumped it onto here, clearly far bigger at radio than it was at retail.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 16:04:18 GMT 1
Someone should probably mention One Dance by Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla, or are we all still in denial about the 15 weeks think? I'm happy to pretend it never happened.
The One I Love by REM is wonderful of course, as is One Day Like This by Elbow. I have One Loves by The Prodigy, The Stone Roses and Bob Marley & the Wailers in my favourites list, but today I'm going to go with a very catchy tune from the Levellers. As advice goes, "there's only one way of life, and that's your own" is something we would all do well to remember, I reckon.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 22, 2020 23:02:48 GMT 1
Interestingly, I have a lot less favourite Ifs than most of the recent words. I reckon my favourite would have to be If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. There’s a few great ones no one’s mentioned though...
If I Can’t by 50 Cent - arguably his second best single, after one we covered under In If I Can’t Change Your Mind by Sugar If I Could Talk I’d Tell You by The Lemonheads
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 22, 2020 9:17:07 GMT 1
My favourite here is obvious, and one of the greatest top 10 hits of the 90s - It’s Grim Up North by the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu
Also well worth a listen are...
It’s A Sin by The Pet Shop Boys It’s About Time by The Lemonheads It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue by Bob Dylan It’s Getting Better by Mama Cass (It’s Good) To Be Free by Oasis It’s Hard To Be Humble by Mac Davies It’s Like That by Run DMC vs Jason Nevins It’s My Life by Talk Talk It’s Not Right But It’s OK by Whitney Houston It’s Oh So Quiet by Bjork It’s The End Of The World As We Know It by REM It’s Tricky by Run DMC It’s Yer Money I’m After, Baby by The Wonder Stuff
Phew...
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 20, 2020 17:02:35 GMT 1
629 - Should I Stay Or Should I Go? by The Clash No 1 in 1991 (first charted in 1982)
I've always felt this song answers its own question with the line after the title - "if I go there will be trouble, but if I stay it will be double" - well, on the balance of things you'd better go then. Job done.
Anyway, what an absolute delight it is to see The Clash on the millionaires list. I absolutely love The Clash, from their early punky stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a tin bucket, the reggae influenced political stuff, the sharp and tight punk of London Calling and even the later rock and roll pastiche of this song and a few others, for a few years they just never stopped being brilliant. Some people would argue it's a shame they're so well remmebered for this song because their punkier stuff was better, but I don't really mind. Several punk bands moved slightly awkwardly into rock and roll territory after a few albums, but The Clash did it with style. This is a thousand times better than late Sex Pistols material, and more.
It isn't here by dint of their own promotion alone of course. In 1982 it had a 9 week chart run that saw it peak at 17. In 1991, with punk a distant memory, a re-issue via a Levis commercial saw it gain another 9 week chart run, this time including 2 weeks at the very top. That period in 1991 was something of a dark period at the top of the charts, The Clask has deposed The Simpsons' Do The Bartman, and was itself knocked off by Hale & Pace and the Stonkers with The Stonk. The least said about any of that the better.
Neither of those 9 week chart runs seem likely to have garnered a massive amount of sales, so presumably Should I Stay Or Should I Go? is doing well in the digital era. Quite right too, it's fantastic.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 20, 2020 15:58:11 GMT 1
I think the idea of a pop song about being determined to enjoy Christmas despite Covid restrictions is a great idea. Unfortunately that just isn’t very good.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 20, 2020 12:25:26 GMT 1
Oh, so many to choose from. Just a few brilliant ones include...
In Yer Face - 808 State In Too Deep - Sum 41 In The Name Of The Father - Black Grape In The End - Linkin Park In Between Days - The Cure In Da Club - 50 Cent
I can see me having to go for 2 every day now for the rest of the thread. I absolutely adore this one, a UK number 29 hit in 1996 which starts with a free sound that went on to be used in a gazillion mobile phone adverts
And here's a fascinating but often forgotten UK number 1 from 1969
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 19, 2020 19:07:02 GMT 1
Forgot this one, surely one of the greatest pre-rock & roll recordings
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 19, 2020 11:34:31 GMT 1
630 - Firestarter by The Prodigy No. 1 in 1996
I always think there are very few occasions in chart history where members of the general public might have heard a number one single and thought "well I've never heard anything like that before". It takes a special type of creativity to achieve that, not just building on what's gone before but starting with something entirely different, and yet ending with something that despite its uniqueness still manages to achieve the ultimate accolade as far as reaching the audience is concerned. Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush is definitely on the list, maybe Pump Up The Volume by M/A/R/R/S, and I guess Fire by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Perhaps Rock Around The Clock I suppose, although I'm not old enough to be sure. Firestarter is absolutely the one that did it to me though.
How do you even describe this song? Frantic, manic, urgent, crazy, apparently children even found it frightening. It is an assault on the senses, unlike so much pop music it gives you no choice at all about whether you pay attention. For me it's a work of genius, the intervening 24 years may have dulled the experience slightly but if I put it on and concentrate on how it made me feel in 1996 it is still and absolute thrill. Simply amazing.
Firestarter entered the charts at number one, stayed there for 3 weeks and ended 1996 as the year's 15th best seller, one place behind the follow up, Breathe. Interestingly, although its descent from the top 40 was fairly uneventful, by the end of 1997 it had managed an incredible 61 weeks in the top 100. It was unusual for physical singles to remain on sale beyond their immediate chart run, presumably on the assumption they wouldn't sell even if they were there in the shops, but Firestarter clearly challenged that notion. It also reappeared for a week at 58 in 2019 following the tragic early death of Keith Flint, it certainly stands as a moument to his manic talent and his fantastic contribution to popular culture in the 1990s.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,948
|
Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 19, 2020 10:37:08 GMT 1
When seems to cause great songs to have similar names. Would you prefer When We Were Young by Adele or When You Were Young by The Killers? When The Ship Goes Down by Cypress Hill or When The Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys? Difficult decisions.
I am always bemused about When Smokey Sings by ABC missing the top 10. I guess it just came after their peak in the public's eyes, for me it's their best song, I love it. When Doves Cry is genius of course, and When I'm 64 is a Beatles song that doesn't achieve the prominence of many of their others but is a favourite with my kids. Percy Sledge's When A Man Loves A Woman is a fantastic track only slightly spoilt by memories of Michael Bolton's version.
I'm going to post 2 today though because I couldn't decide, first of all a rare folky top 40 hit from 2005 for Bedouin Soundclash
Secondly, one of the best songs from Green Day's seminal Dookie
|
|