SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Feb 28, 2018 9:45:38 GMT 1
Inspired by a thread on here asking for our 100 favourite number one hits, I recently decided to carry on and do the same for number twos. I was surprised to find the task far more fun and interesting than the number ones. I think the chart toppers are so familiar that although the music is great it was a bit obvious. There are lots more dimensions when considering a number two single - what stopped it going further, whether it's widely known that it didn't top the charts or even that it got as for as it did. I considered just pasting the list in here, but I've decided to attempt my first ever countdown thread. I want to include pictures and videos and stuff, but often I'm accessing Haven using my phone so I expect I'll usually post the text first and then edit the posts later. Hopefully it will build into a thing of great beauty, but either way it will keep me entertained for a bit. Please feel free to join in at any point, all comments about how brilliant or terrible my choices are will be extremely welcome! Let's crack on then: The 100 All Time Greatest Number 2 Hits
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Feb 28, 2018 10:03:33 GMT 1
100 - Barking by Ramz 3 weeks at number 2 in January 2018. Kept off the top by River by Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran (1 week) and God's Plan by Drake (2 weeks)
Thought I might start with some controversy, after all why not? I was quite literally Driving Home For Christmas one Friday in December with the top 40 on when this entered the charts in the mid 20s. The DJ annoyed me by repeatedly stating in amazement that it was the week's only new entry even though an old Christmas song by Ariana Grande which had never reached the top 40 before had entered lower down. After only hearing it that one time I spent the whole of Christmas with "I might link my ting from Barking, 7am in the morning..." going round and round my head. That doesn't normally happen after one listen so there's clearly something different happening here.
I know Haven is not a, erm, haven for people who like Urban music, but I have banged on about my love of hip hop on here partly because I think it does everyone good to have a bit in their lives. There is a risk of the notion that all urban music is crap becoming accepted wisdom on here sometimes, and I will always fight that. This is not crap, it's excellent. It's a wonderful thing that in 2018 a record which sounds like it was made on a budget of a few hundred quid by someone no one's ever heard of before can still become one of the biggest hits of the year. This is also incredibly English music, and from The Kinks to Blur I've always had huge respect for artists who put English artistry ahead of global commercial considerations. Although I've never been, I am also very entertained by the idea that there's actually a real place called Barking. Not as silly as Staines, but still quite silly.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 28, 2018 10:17:19 GMT 1
I think the track originally started as a joke and a spoof of grime tracks on YouTube and then everybody just started talking about it and it became a real hit. Now ironically I dont think most people who are listening to this realise it is actually a novelty record and take it serious. Good for Ramz as he will be laughing all the way to the bank.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Feb 28, 2018 12:28:20 GMT 1
I think the track originally started as a joke and a spoof of grime tracks on YouTube and then everybody just started talking about it and it became a real hit. Now ironically I dont think most people who are listening to this realise it is actually a novelty record and take it serious. Good for Ramz as he will be laughing all the way to the bank. I didn't know that! As Big Shaq has already proved, there's a fine line between Grime and comedy. I like it when people don't take themselves too seriously. From joke to big hit is not a unique route either, I remember reading the same about the version of Born Slippy by Underworld which made the charts too, which, by coincidence, also reached number 2.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Feb 28, 2018 13:14:16 GMT 1
Before we go any further, I thought we should have some stats. This thread will contain...
1 single from the 1950s 18 singles from the 1960s 21 singles from the 1970s 22 singles from the 1980s 26 singles from the 1990s 8 singles from the 2000s 4 singles from the 2010s (of which 1 has already been revealed)
There will also be...
51 singles which spent 1 week at number 2 23 singles which spent 2 weeks at number 2 22 singles which spent 3 weeks at number 2 (of which one has already been revealed) 2 singles which spent 4 weeks at number 2 1 single which spent 5 weeks at number 2 1 single which spent 6 weeks at number 2
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Post by Earl Purple on Feb 28, 2018 13:18:07 GMT 1
We actually did do a #2s poll and I even ran a #3s poll.
I'd be interested to see how I'd fill this all in now. I wouldn't expect to put anything so recent in my own though.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Feb 28, 2018 13:29:26 GMT 1
I was just thinking the other day there are more number 2 songs I liked than number 1's
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Post by o on Feb 28, 2018 13:47:19 GMT 1
Maybe if we could find the old #2s thread, we could get our old lists and update them, with the number 2s we like since we last did it? Terrible start Sherriffatman, but I know it will get better
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 1, 2018 9:37:12 GMT 1
99 - These Days by Rudimental featuring Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen 3 weeks at number 2 in February 2018. Kept off the top spot by God’s Plan by Drake.
Theoretically in the digital age, any of the songs on this list could have to be removed if they reach number one. This one though, currently on its third week in the runners up spot, would have to be favourite. That said, so far it is remarkably consistent in distance sales-wise from Drake’s latest dirge, and all the indications are that this Friday it will extend its run at number 2 to 4 weeks, making it one of the most successful tracks on this entire list.
So does it deserve it? Remarkably for a late 2010s release with a cast-of-thousands style artist credit, yes, it definitely does. A great fun, uplifting, gospel tinged pop song about forming a post-relationship relationship, for 3 of the 4 listed performers I would even go as far as to say it’s a high point in their careers. Well, for Dan Caplen (me neither) that’s pretty certain. I don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Rudimental or Jess Glynne’s back catalogues, but I know Feel The Love, Waiting All Night And Hold My Hand. I quite like all of them, but they’re not as good as this.
Macklemore is a bit different. Since Thrift Shop appeared at number one I’ve been fascinated by the output of this man who is as likely to tell you that black lives matter or that gay marriage is a right not a privilege as he is that he’s wearing your Grandad’s clothes. I bought all three of his albums. On the first he sounds like an intelligent but sassy force about to take over pop music as we know it, on the second it sounds like the scope and range of things he plans to do might be too much for the average pop fan (see the epic and hilarious but complicated Downtown). On the third, only released at the end of last year, he sounds happy, and unconcerned by the thought that people might not “get” him. That makes the appearance of this near pop masterpiece just a few months later all the more surprising.
So there we are - 2 songs in and we haven’t got beyond this year yet, who’d have thought it? As there have only been 2 number 2s this year there is only one way to go know, and that’s backwards...
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Post by o on Mar 1, 2018 10:18:00 GMT 1
I do like that Macklemore song, not sure if it would make my list though, with a day off I may look at compiling my own list, you have the list of all the #2s sheriff, could you message me them p,ease?
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 1, 2018 10:42:34 GMT 1
98 - Shake It Off by Taylor Swift 1 week at number 2 in October 2014. Kept off the top spot by All About That Bass by Megan Trainor
One of my favourite ever quotes is from Jimi Hendrix: "There are only two types of music, good music and bad music". I completely agree with that, as soon as you start thinking about things in terms on genre you start writing off whole sections of musical output without properly considering its merits.
On the other hand genres can be fun, mostly because you can make up your own, and I do this often. Shake It Off is part of the Silly Girly Pop genre, in fact on the week it reached runner's up spot it was half of a rare all Silly Girly Pop top 2. As the genre's title suggests it is not an area I often expect to find songs I like, but sticking with the Hendrix maxim I am still prepared to give it a listen just in case, and in fact this track is really quite brilliant. Serious music lovers may decry the frivolity herein, but their concerns in relation to such a joyous pop creation simply need to be brushed aside. As the lady herself quite rightly says, "haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate hate".
As it happens, I had been aware for some time that there was a hugely popular American country pop star called Taylor Swift, but it was only when the equally excellent We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together hit my consciousness in 2012 that I realised she wasn't a man. One of the perils of giving someone a surname as a first name I guess.
This track is just massive fun. My kids love it, my wife loves it, I love it, it's a rare cross generational success in our house, and that's testament to what a great single it is. There's no angst, there's no rapping, there's not even any guitars, it's just a massive celebration of pop and there's no harm in that.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 1, 2018 10:46:05 GMT 1
I do like that Macklemore song, not sure if it would make my list though, with a day off I may look at compiling my own list, you have the list of all the #2s sheriff, could you message me them p,ease? I used this website... www.ndfletcher.org.uk/html/uk_no2s.htmlI don't know who the guy is but it seems to be accurate
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borneoman
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Post by borneoman on Mar 1, 2018 11:29:23 GMT 1
pretty sure Barking is a serious song not a joke, that was Big Shaq
not a big fan of bands changing their sound when they do a collaboration and thats what Rudimental have done, they sound 0% like themselves and 100% like the featured artist (Macklemore), a bit what happened wiith the last Calvin Harris collabs with Pharrell
love Shake it off, the lyrics are pure pure genious
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Mar 1, 2018 12:41:48 GMT 1
pretty sure Barking is a serious song not a joke, that was Big Shaq not a big fan of bands changing their sound when they do a collaboration and thats what Rudimental have done, they sound 0% like themselves and 100% like the featured artist (Macklemore), a bit what happened wiith the last Calvin Harris collabs with Pharrell love Shake it off, the lyrics are pure pure genious I was maybe a bit mixed up but its hardly a serious song.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 14:40:40 GMT 1
Maybe if we could find the old #2s thread, we could get our old lists and update them, with the number 2s we like since we last did it? Terrible start Sherriffatman, but I know it will get better Results here : fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/26831/top-100-2s-results32 voters, only 25-30 % from them are active on Haven now, so results can be different, but of course very interesting.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Mar 1, 2018 15:03:33 GMT 1
Maybe if we could find the old #2s thread, we could get our old lists and update them, with the number 2s we like since we last did it? Terrible start Sherriffatman, but I know it will get better Results here : fatherandy2.proboards.com/thread/26831/top-100-2s-results32 voters, only 25-30 % from them are active on Haven now, so results can be different, but of course very interesting. I've just noticed Albatross by Fleetwood Mac is on that list, yet it reached #1 when originally released. Surely the definition of a #2 hit is that it never reached #1.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 2, 2018 6:57:12 GMT 1
It’s hilarious that people are getting confused about which is a comedy record, Man’s Not Hot or Barking.
Big Shaq is not exactly subtle - he mentions ketchup, Rice Krispies, playing frisbee in the park, says you’ve got a “nose long like garden hose” and threatens to take your Dad’s Twix by force. I find the idea that people might listen to both tracks and conclude that it’s Ramz who is joking incredible.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 2, 2018 7:01:43 GMT 1
97 - Informer by Snow 3 weeks at number 2 in March 1993. Kept off the top spot by Oh Carolina by Shaggy (1 week) and Young At Heart by The Bluebells (2 weeks)
Amazing to think that it’s 25 years this month since the world’s record buying public was amused and confused in equal measure by the phrase “a licky boom boom down”, I remember it like yesterday. In Informer’s first week at number two it formed a third of what was trumpeted at the time as the UK’s first ever all reggae top 3, along with Shaggy and Shabba Ranks. In retrospect, although you can see the point, the boundaries of reggae were being stretched somewhat in order to make it.
Far from being some sort of Jamaican Rastafarian, Snow was actually a Canadian rapper. Also, the traditional peaceful message of reggae was a far cry from Informer’s confident and apparently true tale of street violence, or what little of it could be deciphered from his bizarre but captivating vocal style. This single is proof that you don’t actually need to know the words for a song to be catchy.
According to my list of the UK’s biggest ever hip-hop hits based on chart run, last updated a year ago, this is the 55th biggest rap record of all time in the U.K.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Mar 2, 2018 7:25:28 GMT 1
I love Informer, and can remember like it was yesterday thinking how amazing it was that there was an all reggae top 3.
Of course a whole top 20 of the same style now wouldn't seem weird at all.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Mar 2, 2018 8:48:02 GMT 1
96 - Streets Of London by Ralph McTell 2 weeks at number 2 in January 1975. Kept off the top spot by Lonely This Christmas by Mud
Some proper old fashioned folk music now, in a chart position surprisingly high for any era. Streets Of London is a lovely, twiddly, thought provoking song, comparing the lives of the average lonely Londoner to those of the city’s homeless and absolute poorest, a strange premise maybe but it works well.
I don’t know what the sales were like at the time, I don’t suppose anyone does, but I can’t help thinking it can be considered rather unlucky to have been kept at number two by a Christmas song well into mid-January. It does mean there was a top 2 for two weeks consisting of songs that were explicitly about loneliness, January 1975 must have been quite a melancholy time on the UK’s airwaves.
McTell had first written and recorded Streets Of London in 1967, then released it on an album in 1968. He was a bit unsure about the track’s potential, wondering if it was too depressing, but was rewarded with a worldwide hit and an Ivor Novello award when he finally got round to releasing it in the mid 70s.
McTell’s Wikipedia entry goes into a huge amount of detail regarding his fascinating personal life and career, to the point where you half expect to read his shoe size or what he likes for breakfast. To summarise though, he emerged from a poverty stricken childhood in Croydon in the 1950s to begin rambling around Southern England and later mainland Europe busking. Oddly, much of the inspiration for Streets Of London came to him while living in Paris, and it was almost called Streets Of Paris, until he realised it was London he was thinking about when he wrote it.
He got a record deal in the mid 60s, released several successful albums, sold out the Royal Albert Hall a few times, and in the 80s had a stint recording music for BBC kids TV shows, including The Wind In The Willows. He’s still popular on the folk circuit now.
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