SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 11, 2020 17:41:02 GMT 1
And now for Take, I don't have so many of these as favourites. All very good though (and in many cases very obvious) are...
Take A Chance On Me by Abba (Take A Little) Piece Of My Heart by Erma Franklin (often just referred to as Piece Of My Heart, but the parenthesis is on Apple Music and I'm pretty sure it is on my 7" vinyl copt from when it was reissued in the 90s too) Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand Take Me To Church by Hozier Take On Me by Abba Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters
One I'm pretty sure no one else would post though, and one that pretty much sums up my feelings about the monarchy and this economic union which we Brits pretend is a country, is Billy Bragg with the excellent Take Down The Union Jack
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 11, 2020 17:33:22 GMT 1
I actually thought when this thread started that 'Do' would be in here somewhere, and I would go with Do Re Me (So Far So Good) by the mighty Carter USM, making refererence to the fact that the Do here was a homophone but that this seems to be within the rules. Unfortunately, I had a busy day yesterday and on every count Earl Purple beat me to it, fair enough. Do is a funny one really, because as an instruction to dance it has appears at the start of a lot of very dubious records - Do The Conga, Do The Bartman, Do The Funky Chicken, there's quite a few of them and they universally refer to things I wouldn't want to do. Has anyone mentioned Do They Know It's Christmas? by the way? Certainly the best selling Do song, and not a bad one in my humble opinion. I'd also like to mention (some of which I know have already been covered)... Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson Do I Wanna Know? by Arctic Monkeys Do It Again by The Beach Boys Do You Love Me? by The Contours Do You Realize?? by Flaming Lips Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? by Paloma Faith My Favourite Do song by a long, long way though, and close to my favourite song ever, has to be this work of indie disco genius.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 10, 2020 12:06:48 GMT 1
638 - History by One Direction No. 6 in 2016 (first charted in 2015)
This summer, before starting this thread, I made a playlist of all 742 songs and started shuffling it regularly when doing housework. I was not surprised to find there were a lot of songs which I didn't know, but I was surprised to find my wife did know this one. She doesn't follow music closely, but she does work in a primary school, I think that tells us a lot about this band's appeal.
I guess, that just goes to show that it's not a bad idea to pay attention to young children, because this isn't a bad pop song at all, it's quite charming and grows on you slowly. My only problem with it is I wonder why they shouted it rather than singing, I can only assume it's either because they couldn't agree which of them should sing it so they decided they all would at the same time, or because it was an attempt to hide the fact that none of them are that good at singing. The elephant in the room with the whole boyband concept is that so often they find themselves recording songs that could be sung perfectly well by one person, managing this contradiction sometimes risks ruining the material. It certainly doesn't help here.
History spent 3 weeks at number 6 in 2016. It was One Direction's last top 10 hit, so far at least. I am not familiar enough with their own history to know whether people knew it would be at the time or whether that was announced later, but it's definitely one of their better ones.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 9, 2020 20:51:53 GMT 1
639 - Rockin’ All Over The World by Status Quo No. 3 in 1977
Status Quo are a band who’ve built a career on repetition, two levels of it. The first level is that with the odd exception, all of their biggest hits are almost exactly the same. The second level is that within those individual hits, both lyrically and musically, the same thing is repeated over and over again.
I almost started this review by announcing that I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it, I li li li like it, I li li li like it, because against my instincts I actually do, but I decided that was too obvious. Also, it would fail to convey the complicated feelings I have of amazement and admiration that it was possible to do what they did and get away with it, but then that’s just the point, their songs really don’t convey anything. A few simple lyrics, a slight twist on the order of the same three chords and they’re away.
So why did I say I like it? The thing is, the moment I hear this track I’m instantly transformed to family parties as a kid, with my Mum and some Aunties in a row with their hands on their hips, frantically head banging to the left, then up straight, then to the right. I can almost smell the port and lemon. They didn’t need complex lyrics, they didn’t want anything different, they just wanted to enjoy themselves. Status Quo’s working class three chord boogie was exactly the soundtrack they were after.
There’s no point being a musical snob here, this is a great song that has been enjoyed by a huge number of people over the years, and fully deserves its, er, status as a millionaire.
Rockin’ All Over The World spent 3 weeks at number 3 in November 1977. We Are The Champions by Queen spent the same three weeks at number 2, but oddly on week 3 the number one swapped, from The Name Of The Game by Abba to Wings’ all conquering Mull Of Kintyre. It was certainly a time of iconic hits, and presumably very high sales too because I find it hard to omagine Quo adding many more in the digital era, but they’ve got here nonetheless.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 9, 2020 11:14:18 GMT 1
I've got a few Never songs I love. Some great ones that everyone knows... - Never Ever by All Saints - always loved that, such a brilliant record
- Never Forget by Take That - one of only 2 songs by that band I've ever liked, it's pompous, majestic, and ludicrously over the top but somehow very very good too.
- Never Forget You by Noisettes - the high point of that fad a few years ago where everyone was releasing song that sounded a bit Motown
- Never Let Me Go by Florence & the Machine
- Never Tear Us Apart by INXS (quite fond of the Paloma Faith version too)
I've got 3 less well known ones that are brilliant too. Firstly the best piece of advice you'll get all week, delivered by Billy Bragg
Secondly, I know nothing about Spector but this is a blissful bit of anthemic indie
And finally folk singer Martin Simpson with an astonishingly beautiful, incredible song about his relationship with his father which has made me think a great deal over the years about my relationship with mine
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 9, 2020 8:07:47 GMT 1
Symphony not Sympathy which is definitely the best song she's done - this one is probably my favourite of her solo work, but calling it a favourite is pushing it, it's just okay. Ha ha, I knew that, just didn’t proof read! My thumbs are too big for my phone’s keyboard 😕
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 8, 2020 23:33:40 GMT 1
640 - I Would Like by Zara Larsson No. 2 in 2016
Zara Larsson is 22. I’m not sure if that makes her the youngest person currently on the millionaires list but it must be close. She’s from Sweden, and rose to fame there when she appeared on their equivalent of X-Factor aged just 10. She had an intense period of success in the UK charts, this was her fifth top 20 hit in 2016, and the most successful. I preferred the first one, Lush Life, though, this one is generic and a bit dull.
I Would Like was held at number 2 by Clesn Bandit’s Rockabye, which is fair enough because that one’s much better, in the final week of 2016. It wasn’t that massive a hit, six weeks in the top 10 altogether with a fairly standard up then down chart run, but there must be a lot of people who’ve carried on streaming it to get it here.
In 2017 Larsson had her first number one, as featured vocalist on Sympathy by Clean Bandit, she mustn’t have held their keeping her off the top as a soloist against them. Since then she’s only made the top 10 one more time, raising the prospect that her career was all but done before she was even out of her teens. No offence, but I’m not sure she’s that big a loss to the pop world.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 8, 2020 21:33:52 GMT 1
The absolute classic here of course is Let It Be by the Beatles. I can be aged fairly accurately by the fact that the first version of that I knew was by Ferry Aid.
Quite fond of this one, it’s a bit silly but good fun
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 7, 2020 13:56:54 GMT 1
Monday you can stay indoors Tuesday Wednesday stay indoors Thursday stay indoors instead It’s Friday, stay indoors
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 7, 2020 9:02:39 GMT 1
I have 3 favourite I’ll songs, and they’re actually all I’ll Be songs:
I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts - I always think if you could only play one song to represent what the 90s sounded like it would be this one
I’ll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112 - not universally popular I know but a classic pop / hip hop crossover hit in my humble opinion
But head and shoulders above the rest, the wonderful I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight by Bob Dylan, which I first knew as a kid in cover form by Robert Palmer with UB40. Dylan is an incredibly versatile songwriter, here he’s in full on love song mode and couldn’t be more charming:
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 6, 2020 17:28:17 GMT 1
641 - Everlong by Foo Fighters No. 18 in 1997
Track 2 of 2 on this list by Foo Fighters, and I find the presence of this one a bit strange. We all know what to expect from a Foo Fighters single really, they are competent metallers, frequently very good but never surprising. Their style barely varies at all, and their quality doesn't much either, but it does just vary enough for a small number of their songs - This Is A Call, Times Like These, Best Of You - to stand out from the others.
Everlong doesn't stand out at all. It's OK, but there's no catchy chorus, nothing particularly great that makes me think it would be the kind of long standing success it would need to be to make this list. It's on it though, so I must be missing something. I don't dislike it, I'm just not massively enthusiastic about it either. It's just Foo Fighters doing what they do, so why's it here? I dunno.
After a three week chart run in August 1997 which just saw it shoot south from it's entry position, it has renetered the charts 3 more times, each for one week. No. 100 in November 1997 suggests there were a few CD singles left over, but no. 95 in 2007 and 81 in 2009 tell us far more about the possibility it has been a regular seller in the digital age.
I think the Foo Fighters are amazing for having success with music like this in an era when virtually no one else could, they're a fantastic band, they have much better songs than this one though.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 6, 2020 11:40:04 GMT 1
I get lockdown But I get up again (Graffittied on a bus stop near my house )
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 6, 2020 10:20:37 GMT 1
I don't have many Baby songs in my favourites, not sure what that says about me. Babies by Pulp and Babylon by David Grey come close though.
The only ones I have are...
Baby Love by Diana Ross & The Supremes Baby Come Back by The Equals Baby I Love You by The Ramones
...and this glorious pop rock effort from Transvision Vamp
Wendy James though, good grief...
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 5, 2020 17:36:14 GMT 1
A few from my record collection Good Times Gonna Come – Aqualung Leave Before The Lights Come On – Arctic Monkeys Your Time Has Come – Audioslave Come On Sister – Belle & Sebastian Come on! – The D4 How Did It Ever Come To This? – Easyworld Come Back To What You Know – Embrace Come Back Around – Feeder Cathy Come Home – Flyte Come Back – Foo Fighters Come On Home – Franz Ferdinand When I Come Around – Green Day Come On! – The Hives Come On Ghost – Idlewild Please Come Back To Me – Masked Intruder How Far We've Come – Matchbox Twenty Come As You Are – Nirvana Come out and Play – The Offspring Come On, Hello – Otherkin Come Back – Pearl Jam How Far Have We Really Come – Powderfinger Come Get Some – Rooster Come on Over – Royal Blood Come Pick Me Up – Ryan Adams They have to begin with come, not just contain it. Which now I come to think about it is the opposite of an awful lot of content on the internet...
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 5, 2020 16:42:23 GMT 1
There is also, of course, Come Baby Come by K7, possibly a candidate for the nearly forgotten hits thread. I remember them performing it on The Word and then Danni Behr saying to the lead singer "not exactly very subtle, is it?".
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 5, 2020 16:26:09 GMT 1
642 - Sexy Chick by David Guetta featuring Akon No. 1 in 2009
I was really surprised (and I must confess relieved) to find David Guetta has only 2 tracks on this list. He seemed to be uiquitous for several years, maybe my irritation at him was in excess to his actual success.
That said, my criticism of his music is that it usually seems so bland and wallpaper like, you know it's there but have no idea why. This one is not bland, in fact it really grabs your attention. Sadly though it's so awful it leaves me pining for his usual background guff.
The primary reason this one is so crap is unsurprisingly the featured artist. Akon is more frequently to be found whining testosterone fuelled drivel over his own r&b records, but here he lends his pipes to Mr Guetta by takling the weighty subject of a lady he finds attractive in the medium of dance music. For the occasion he's decided to switch his usual high pitched whine to a flat, tone deaf bellow. Sexy Chick is actually the radio version, in the clubs of 2009 you may have been lucky enough to have been treated to the other one, Sexy b****. After referring to a woman as that multiple times he then announces "I'm trying to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful". A commendable aim, but really, you need to try an awful lot harder.
Sexy Chick knocked the Black Eyed Peas' actually quite similar I Gotta Feeling off number one. It stayed there for only 1 week before giving way to Holiday by Dizzee Rascall, but it managed a total of 4 weeks at number 2. It will be well over a year before we encounter David Guetta again in this thread, and this is Akon's only appearance, both facts which help give me the will to carry on posting.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 5, 2020 14:26:29 GMT 1
I'm a big fan of songs already mentioned by Nirvana, The Beatles and Dexy's Midnight Runners, and also Come Home by James is great. (Am I going to mention James on this thread every day? Time will tell...)
This is amazing though, isn't it? A thrilling, fun, proudly Northern celebration of being young and loving every minute of it. I have been a little bit in love with Lauren Laverne ever since the first time I heard it
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 4, 2020 16:57:05 GMT 1
Some great Get songs around. I support your mention of Get Ready For This - I'm not a 2 Unlimited fan at all, but if they'd only released that one and then never been heard of again I'd be saying they were great.
Also worthy of a mention...
Get A Life by Soul II Soul Get Back by The Beatles Get In The Ring by Guns N' Roses - the song that taught me how to swear creatively, an undervalued skill that you need to learn from somewhere Get It On by T Rex Get Lucky by Daft Punk & Pharrell Get On The Dancefloor by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - excellent use of the Jacksons sample, and the second time Rob Base has appeared in this thread already Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliot - straight from my Halloween playlist
I imagine the brilliant Gett Off by Prince is disqualified, although what exactly he was aiming to achieve with the extra 't' I have never worked out.
As an absolute favourite I am going to go with Gomez, the wonderful Get Myself Arrested
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 3, 2020 12:44:17 GMT 1
So glad this thread has got going again.
The graphics said Eurythmics were at 11, when they were at 29. Pretty poor that no one spotted that before it went out.
Have we just had Phil Collins with Eric Clapton on guitar, and then Eric Clapton with Phil Collins on drums? It's effectively like they've formed a band. As far as the quality of the music is concerned I'd really rather they hadn't.
I'm sure it can't be a complete coincidence that Beats International have started to appear on these repeats just as I've started to see a meme on social media saying "Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty, you're listening to advice from Professor Chris Witty".
That Wedding Present track was excellent, and the performance was hilarious. I really should look into them more, I completely ignored them at the time, I was only 12 mind.
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 3, 2020 11:04:33 GMT 1
643 - Three Little Birds by Bob Marley & the Wailers No. 17 in 1980
The success of Legend, Bob Marley & the Wailers' greatest hits album, is unprecedented and to some extend behind the appearance of this track on the millionaires list. To date Legend, released in 1984, has spent 894 weeks on the UK album charts, which my calculator and a bit of rounding up tells me is 17.2 years. In other words it's virtually a permanent feature, this very week it is at number 35. It has only spent 6 weeks outside the charts in the last 6 years, and as recently as this August it was in the top 10. It is, of course, part of the vagueries of how the chart is compiled these days that when someone streams an album all of the tracks they listen to also contribute to the singles charts, a fact which will have dramatically bumped up sales of a lot of Marley's back catalogue.
There must be something extra about this track though, because despite being a much smaller hit than many of his singles in its physical chart run, it is his only millionaire. I guess the secret lies in the very simple, life affirming advice in the chorus - "don't worry about a thing, 'cos every little thing's gonna be alright". That often needed nudge of positivity has seen the song become an absolute staple of radio ever since it was released, and it's been a favourite with advertisers over the years too. It is a tribute to the enduring nature of the song that so many listeners have been able to seek it out despite the title not matching the part that everyone remembers.
Personally, I absolutely love Bob Marley. There are many of his songs that I like better than this one, but this one is still brilliant. The genius in his song writing was the ability to distill meaningful and deeply held personal beliefs into a message that people can easily relate to. In that sense Three Little Birds is on a par with The Beatles' All You Need Is Love, maybe even better. My go-to Marley tracks tend to be the slightly more complex ones, like Exodus or Redemption Songs, but hearing this one is never, ever a bad thing.
Its original chart in October 1980 came oddly 3 years after the release of its parent album Exodus, and it somewhat unusually spent 3 weeks at number 17. Just seven months later Marley tragically died aged only 36. He was already a superstar, and his reputation has only grown in death.
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