Good Old Days
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Sielos grožio niekas nepavogs, kol širdy jaunystė gros.
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Post by Good Old Days on Aug 4, 2020 21:11:06 GMT 1
Where are all those awful number ones from streaming era? I think if you have managed to avoid hearing them, they avoid this list. I couldn’t name or recognise many recent number ones if I heard them Last UK #1, which I love is Diana Vickers - Once.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 5, 2020 17:54:51 GMT 1
It took Stevie Wonder sixteen years from his debut hit to get his first solo number one. It took the next act even longer. There was a full nineteen-and-a-half years between Elton John’s first hit in 1971 and his first solo chart-topping single in 1990. That song, though, is not the one that finishes at number 49 here. It is the one that topped the chart another seven years later, in 1997. Yes, it’s Candle In The Wind.
Officially, Candle In The Wind was a double a-side with Something About The Way You Look Tonight but it’s fairly clear which song people were actually buying so I have judged this number one purely on that song.
The original version of Candle In The Wind, about Marilyn Monroe, reached number eleven in 1974 and a live version got to number five in 1988. It was, though, the version rewritten for the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997 that topped the chart for five weeks and became the best-selling single of all time in the UK. In a sense, we got off lightly, It spent fourteen weeks at number one in the USA and a mind-boggling 46 weeks in Canada.
The original version is a decent song but the re-written one was horribly saccharine and massively over-played. That’s why it only just scrapes into the top 50. It replaced The Verve’s The Drugs Don’t Work at the top and was replaced by The Spice Girls’ Spice Up Your Life which didn’t really represent much of an improvement.
If the driver of that car in Paris had been rather more careful, the top three in my birthday week would potentially have been exceptionally good. Number two that week, missing out on a deserved number one, was Dario G’s Sunchyme, Chumbawamba's Tubthumping was at three and The Drugs Don’t Work was at four. Sunchyme would have been in, or very close to, the top ten.
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Post by greendemon on Aug 5, 2020 20:29:38 GMT 1
Ha, I bought 'Candle in the Wind' and I wasn't even living in the UK at the time I was 10 at the time, in my defence. Any of those would have been a far superior number one. Love 'Sunchyme' - one of the best songs ever in the category of dance anthems built around a sample from another song.
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Good Old Days
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Sielos grožio niekas nepavogs, kol širdy jaunystė gros.
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Post by Good Old Days on Aug 5, 2020 20:35:59 GMT 1
I don't understand how anybody can prefer Sunchyme over Candle In The Wind.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 5, 2020 20:40:28 GMT 1
I don't understand how anybody can prefer Sunchyme over Candle In The Wind. Very easily
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Post by suedehead on Aug 6, 2020 18:52:46 GMT 1
We move on, then, to number 48 and it is the most recent song in the list so far. It comes from the man whose latest number one happened just last month - Mr Jason Derulo. Derulo reached number one in 2010 with In My Head in 2010 and topped the chart again three years later with Don’t Wanna Go Home. The one pertinent to this list, though, is Talk Dirty which went straight to number one in September 2013. As well as being Derulo’s third number one, it was a first (and, so far, only) chart-topper for featured artist 2 Chainz.
Talk Dirty took over from Katy Perry’s Roar at the top of the chart. As it is one of Perry’s better songs, it would have finished significantly higher than number 48 if it had managed to hold on for a third week at the top. The top ten that week included two Avicii songs including the brilliant Wake Me Up and Macklemore’s Same Love. Further down the top forty we had Arctic Monkeys’ Do I Wanna Know and Why D’You Only Call Me When You’re High, Bastille’s Things We Lost In The Fire, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and Chvrches’ The Mother We Share.. Overall, it was a decent top forty. It’s just a shame about the song at the top.
After two weeks at number one, Talk Dirty was replaced by OneRepublic’s Counting Stars which had taken nine weeks to climb to the summit.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 8, 2020 22:22:14 GMT 1
Back in 1974, Kung Fu films (some of them starring Bruce Lee) were very popular. Their popularity led to an American television programme, Kung Fu, which was also shown in the UK. Early teenage me wasn’t at all interested in any of it. That meant that a song called Kung Fu Fighting was not likely to appeal to me either. It didn’t.
The song was written and performed by Jamaican singer Carl Douglas and it was a big hit in much of the Anglophone world. As well as being a UK number one, it also topped the chart in the USA, Canada and Australia. Wikipedia claims it popularised disco music which is, to say the least, a bit of a stretch. It comes in at number 47 in this list.
It went to number one in mid-September, replacing the Osmonds’ slushy Love Me For A Reason, and stayed there for three weeks (my birthday week being the second of those) before being toppled by Annie’s Song by John Denver.
Also in the top forty that week were Jimmy Ruffin’s What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted, Silly Love by 10CC and David Bowie’s version of Knock On Wood. The chart was littered with songs with a distinctly seventies sound. Among others we had The Stylistics’ You MAke Me Feel Brand New, Sweet Sensation’s Sad Sweet Dreamer and You Little Trustmaker by Tymes.
Carl Douglas had two other top forty hits, including Dance The Kung Fu, and then returned to the chart in 1998 with a new version of Kung Fu Fighting.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 9, 2020 19:00:04 GMT 1
On, then, to number 46. Black Eyed Peas’ first two albums yielded a grand total of zero big hit singles between them. With their third album, Elephunk, they had a change in fortune. They, no doubt, felt that the change was for the better; I begged to differ. The lead single, Where Is The Love went to number one in the UK (and elsewhere), becoming the first of five number ones. The ego that is will.i.am has had a further five chart-toppers as a solo artist.
Where Is The Love went to number one in early September 2003 and was in its third (of six) weeks at the top by the time my birthday came round. The song knocked Elton John’s Are You Ready For Love from the summit, preventing Dido’s White Flag entering at number one. Where Is The Love was eventually toppled in mid-October by Sugababes’ Hole In The Head.
The chart in my birthday week was not exactly brimming with top tunes. White Flag was at number three and was easily the best song in the top ten that week. Outside the top ten we had Chemical Brothers and Flaming Lips with the wonderful The Golden Path, Placebo’s Special Needs and White Stripes’ version of the Dusty Springfield hit I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. Also in the chart was the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil which had become their first top twenty hit for eight years.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 10, 2020 19:27:52 GMT 1
At number 45 there is another song which many people would rank far higher. I can understand why Kylie Minogue is popular; it’s just that her brand of fluffy pop isn’t to my taste. It didn’t help that her early singles were the standard Stock, Aitken and Waterman pap.
Anyone who tries to say they have never liked anything Kylie has released is probably lying. Someone who has been releasing music for as long as she has is bound to have released some songs which are, at the very least, OK. Claiming to dislike all of them is like claiming to hate everything ever released by The Beatles or Madonna. That said, my two favourite Kylie singles are duets. No, Especially For You is not one of them.
The one Kylie song that qualifies for this list was number one in 2001. Without that ultra-annoying la-la-la-ing that so dominates the song, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head would be a lot better - and a good deal shorter. I have to judge it on the song as a whole though, so it ends up quite low down the list.
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Kylie’s sixth number one, went straight to the top in the chart announced the day before my birthday and stayed there for four weeks. It replaced DJ Otzi’s Hey Baby and was itself replaced by Afroman’s Because I Got High. Among the other songs in the chart in its first week at the top were Starsailor’s Alcoholic, Ian Brown’s Fear and Muhammad Ali by Faithless. Outside the top forty there was a re-entry for New Order’s Crystal whose video featured a fictional band called The Killers. Brandon Flowers saw the video and decided that was a good name for a real band.
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Post by greendemon on Aug 10, 2020 20:18:55 GMT 1
I am also not wild about that Kylie song and have always been a bit bewildered by its popularity. I'd rate several of her offerings - especially 'Put Yourself In My Place' - quite a bit higher. And I also really can't stand the 'la la las'!
The best thing I can say is it's at least better than the number ones that came immediately before or after it...
(also did not know that that is where The Killers' name came from!)
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Post by suedehead on Aug 11, 2020 19:50:52 GMT 1
Anyone who draws up a list of their birthday number ones will find, if that list goes back decades, that there is at least one song that seemed to stay at number one for ever. Even someone whose birthday is around Christmas will be confronted with something like the godawful Whitney Houston version of I Will Always Love You or the magnificent Bohemian Rhapsody.
That brings us to Bryan Adams. He had a hit with Run To You in 1985. I wasn’t a big fan of the song but thought it was OK. Later that year he released Summer Of ‘69. I liked that song and was disappointed that it stalled at number 42.
Fast forward nearly six years and he released (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. The song was part of the soundtrack to a Robin Hood film and my initial reaction was that it was OK but not exactly a classic. It entered the chart in June 1991 at number eight, making it instantly his first top ten hit in the UK.
Two weeks later, at the beginning of July, it climbed to number one. Well done, I thought. Enjoy it while it lasts. I did not anticipate it being in its twelfth week at number one when I turned 31. Even then, I did not expect it to spend another four weeks at the top of the chart. Had it been in its second of four weeks at the top in September 1991, it would have finished higher in this list, As it had already more than outlasted its welcome by then, it is ranked at number 44.
Everything I Do replaced Jason Donovan’s version of Any Dream Will Do at the top of the chart. While I would not have wanted that to stay at number one long enough still to be there for my birthday, it did at least vacate the top spot before it became insufferably boring. U2 finally put us out of our misery by going to number one with The Fly towards the end of October. Vic Reeves and the Wonderstuff climbed to number two that week with their brilliant version of Dizzy. They topped the chart for the next two weeks.
Going back to my birthday chart, the top forty included Erasure’s Love to Hate You, Marc Almond’s excellent version of Jacques Brel’s Jacky (previously sung equally brilliantly by Scott Walker) and The Prodigy’s Charly.
Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy spent six weeks at number two behind Bryan Adams, The Fairbrass brothers who formed Right Said Fred went to a school in East Grinstead which, a few years later, was attended by me. Their six-week run at number two came to an end for my birthday chart when another song with Sex in the title, the terrible Let’s Talk About Sex by Salt ‘n’ Pepper, took over the runner-up spot.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 12, 2020 17:58:04 GMT 1
Now we come to the artist who appears both as part of a band and as a solo (featured) artist. Black Eyed Peas finished at number 46 and will.i.am is three places higher as featured artist on The Script’s Hall Of Fame, a 2012 collaboration that came about while Mr am and The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue were coaches on The Voice. It remains The Script’s only number one single and is one of Mr am’s five.
Hall Of Fame replaced Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love), a song that must have been extraordinarily dull as I have no memory of it whatsoever. It stayed at number one for a second week to become my birthday number one before being displaced by Gangnam Style. Had that Korean monstrosity made it to the top a week earlier, it would have been very close to the bottom of this list.
The use of Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think in Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympics saw the song reach the chart. The chart also included Read All About It by Emeli Sande who was everywhere that year, The Killers’ Runaways and Florence + The Machine’s Spectrum. Elbow’s signature song dropped out of the top forty that week after achieving a new chart peak following Guy Garvey and co’s performance at the closing ceremony for the Olympic Games.
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Roo.
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Post by Roo. on Aug 12, 2020 18:03:24 GMT 1
I like The Script more often than not, but was never a huge fan of this one, I prefer Bryan and Kylie over it for sure!
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Post by greendemon on Aug 12, 2020 18:11:47 GMT 1
'(Everything I Do) I Do It For You' is the quintessential overplayed song but it is much better than a lot of the garbage that gets to #1! I won't begrudge you its low placing, however. I suspect one of the main reasons why I grew up liking it a lot was when it came out I was about 4 or 5. Naturally I thought when he sings 'it's not worth dying for' was 'it's not worth dinosaurs' and I was impressed by someone else, especially a grown-up, having the same conception of dinosaurs' high worth as I did
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Post by onehitwonder on Aug 12, 2020 18:31:03 GMT 1
Ha, I bought 'Candle in the Wind' and I wasn't even living in the UK at the time I was 10 at the time, in my defence. Any of those would have been a far superior number one. Love 'Sunchyme' - one of the best songs ever in the category of dance anthems built around a sample from another song. I have both singles, but I prefer Sunchyme. It still sounds so good. I always skip Candle in the wind when it comes on, but I enjoy Something about the way you look tonight.
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Post by onehitwonder on Aug 12, 2020 18:34:52 GMT 1
Black Eyed Peas and Kylie - great songs. Jason DeRulo - the only good song he has is as a featuring artist with Little Mix. Bryan Adams - overplayed and it's an absolute torture to listen to the full version of the song.
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Post by onehitwonder on Aug 12, 2020 18:38:51 GMT 1
Following on from the remarks on the previous song, I am always a little nervous when a manufactured band splits up. There is, of course, the possibility that at least one member might surprise me and release some decent stuff. Harry Styles is the most recent example of this. On the other hand, we might end up with four or five individuals each releasing solo material that is very similar to the material they released as part of a group. Alternatively, at least one of them might release a song that is even worse than anything their band released. That brings us to Melanie Brown, the former Spice Girl. Her debut single, I Want You Back, entered the chart at number one in September 1998 (yes, another 90s number one bites the dust) despite being worse than any Spice Girls chart-topper. That’s what name recognition can do for you. The song featured Missy Elliott and it was to be the only number one for both singers. It completes the bottom ten of this list at number 51. It starts with the two protagonists showing that they can spell their own names and goes downhill from there. In another reference back to the previous remarks, I Want You Back replaced Robbie WIlliams’ Millennium which had entered at number one the week before. Millennium was a bright spot in a top ten that also featured Steps, Boyzone and Honeyz. Better pickings were to be found elsewhere in the top forty including If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next by Manic Street Preachers, Divine Comedy’s Generation Sex and P J Harvey’s A Perfect Day Elise. I Want You Back lasted just a week at number one before it was replaced by the abysmal Rollercoaster by B*Witched. Sadly, that beat the vastly superior Perfect 10 by Beautiful South to the top spot. Only ten songs down and five of the ten 1990s number ones are already out of the running. I am in the minority here but I absolutely love it. I think if it was released in 1999-2000, it would have been even a bigger hit. The production is too good for 1998.
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Good Old Days
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Sielos grožio niekas nepavogs, kol širdy jaunystė gros.
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Post by Good Old Days on Aug 12, 2020 19:14:09 GMT 1
I strongly dislike Can't Get Out Of My Head, because it's very annoying song.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 13, 2020 17:27:25 GMT 1
Like a lot of my contemporaries in 1972, I was listening to glamrock bands such as Slade and Sweet. My older sister, on the other hand, was - again like so many of her contemporaries - more interested in Donny Osmond and David Cassidy. In the run-up to my birthday that year, there was a very good chance that one of those four artists would be at number one.
The week before my birthday saw Slade at number one for a third week their third chart-topper (and second of the year) Mama Weer All Crazee Now. T Rex the biggest threat, sitting at number two with Children Of The Revolution but David Cassidty was also in the running with How Can I Be Sure at number three.
So, my twelfth birthday dawned with Slade at number one but with a new chart due to be unveiled at lunchtime. Given that the winner of that race is at number 42 in this list, you can probably guess that David Cassidy climbed to the top to get his first number one single. How Can I Be Sure is a bit slushy (even at eleven or twelve I thought that) but it’s by no means terrible.
Cassidy made his name (and set many teenage hearts aflutter) playing Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family. They were in the chart that week with the Nei Sedaka song Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. The Sweet were in the top ten with Wig-Wam Bam. Among other highlights were 10CC’s Donna, Jackie Wilson’s I Get The Sweetest Feeling, Mott The Hoople’s All The Young Dudes and Derek And The Dominos’ Layla. Just to complete the set from the opening remarks, Donny Osmond was in there too with Puppy Love which had spent five weeks at number one in the summer.
Two slightly bizarre songs were also in that top forty. Hot Butter were on their way down with Popcorn but Lieutenant Pigeon climbed sixteen places to number four with Mouldy Old Dough. Two weeks later, the latter song replaced Cassidy at number one to start a four-week run at the top.
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Post by suedehead on Aug 15, 2020 20:02:12 GMT 1
At number 41 is the 2009 number one from Taio Cruz, Break Your Heart. It was his seventh top forty hit but the first to get to number one. I wasn’t over-impressed with his first six hits but this one was a distinct improvement. It went straight to the top of the chart (as number ones tended to do at the time), replacing Pixie Lott’s Boys And Girls. It’s three-week run at the top was ended by Chipmunk’s dreadful Oopsy Daisy.
In the lead up to the chart, there was a lot of hype about the fact that Cliff Richard and the Shadows had a new single out, a cover of Singing The Blues. It was being talked up as the last chance for Cliff to get a number one in the noughties to add to his chart-toppers in each of the five previous decades. Fairly predictably, it fell some way short. Thirty-nine places short to be exact.
Also in the chart that week were Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ Empire State Of Mind, Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition and Muse’s Uprising. Much lower down the chart Elbow’s One Day Like This was having one of its pre-2012 runs.
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