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Posted by: LewisGT 8th May 2019, 04:08 PM

A few years ago Radio 1 did a show where they played 00's one-hit-wonders for the whole day which inspired me to make http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=176757.

When I completed that I said I would be back for this decade and here we are. If anyone read any of that topic, you would have seen that my writing on each song was pretty short and poorly written as I was trying to rush through the whole decade. This time it will be much slower and (hopefully) with longer and more descriptive commentary.


Rules: An artist must only have one top 20 hit as lead-credit. Features do not count.


If I've worked it out correctly 2010 had 27 One Hit Wonders starting with this one..

2010

1. Sidney Samson ft Wizard Sleeve - Riverside (Let's Go)
2. Girls Can't Catch - Echo
3. Jedward ft Vanilla Ice - Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)
4. Helping Haiti - Everybody Hurts
5. Gramophonedzie - Why Don't You
6. Daisy Dares You ft Chipmunk - Number One Enemy
7. Young Money ft Lloyd - BedRock
8. McLean - My Name
9. Joshua Radin - I'd Rather Be With You
10. Fyfe Dangerfield - She's Always A Woman
11. Edward Maya ft Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love
12. The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die
13. K'naan - Wavin' Flag
14. Shout For England ft Dizzee Rascal & James Corden - Shout

Posted by: DalekTurret32 8th May 2019, 07:12 PM

So excited!
I remember following your last 'one hit wonder' countdown back when I was just a new user.
You provide some interesting elaborations on your opinions.

Posted by: LewisGT 8th May 2019, 09:47 PM

QUOTE(DalekTurret32 @ May 8 2019, 08:12 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 22nd May 2019, 02:47 PM

Sidney Samson ft Wizard Sleeve - Riverside (Let’s Go)

Peak: 02
Chart Run: 2-3-5-5-13-17-23-30-40-44-39-42-46-49-67-76-77-66-67 (19 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Commentary: To begin this countdown off, let’s go all the way back to the 2nd chart of the decade with its first big chart battle where ‘somehow managed a second big hit’ Iyaz debuted at #1 with the most 2010 song imaginable: ‘Replay’ and this corker had to settle for 2nd place, despite very impressive sales of 97k.

Riverside was originally a hit in his homeland for Dutch DJ Sidney Samson almost a year earlier in its original form with the iconic Tupac sample. For the UK release, the vocals from a 2008 song titled ‘Me Plus You’ by US-group Wizard Sleeve was dubbed into the song.

I personally love both versions of the track, but I probably do listen to this version more often. Yes, the lyrics are completely cheesy (Goddamn girl you got an ass for days; one plus one it equal two) but there’s something incredibly charming about how cringy they are that makes it worth coming back for.

Here’s two fun facts I found about the artists: Sidney Samson is married to Eva Simons of Will.I.Am’s This Is Love fame & Wizard Sleeve’s name comes from a line in Borat.


Rating: 10/10

Posted by: danG 22nd May 2019, 03:33 PM

Riverside was a proper fave at the time. Sidney never really did anything else of note sadly though he is still going.

Oliver Heldens recently did a good remix of Riverside too.

Posted by: DalekTurret32 22nd May 2019, 04:23 PM

Riverside is such a bop

Posted by: LewisGT 24th May 2019, 11:41 AM

QUOTE(danG @ May 22 2019, 04:33 PM)

QUOTE(DalekTurret32 @ May 22 2019, 05:23 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 24th May 2019, 12:06 PM

Girls Can’t Catch - Echo

Peak: 19
Chart Run: 19-32-49 (3 weeks)
Nearly a hit: Keep Your Head Up (#26)




Commentary: Girls Can’t Catch were a very short-lived girlband consisting of 3 members: Daizy, Jess & Phoebe. I remember their name but genuinely nothing else about them so this should be interesting.

They were founded by Fascination Records, the same label that had The Saturdays among their roster, and attempted to raise their profile by supporting Girls Aloud & The Jonas Brothers on tours. However, they never really seemed to take off and despite this single peaking 7 places higher than their debut, they were dropped soon after and all went their separate ways.

Listening to it now, it’s not hard to see why they didn’t last. Like a lot of the pop at the time they leaned into the electro-angle, but the vocals are so dull that it ultimately ends up sounding generic and forgettable. All in all, this just sounds cheap and soulless compared to the music their labelmates were putting out.

The most interesting fact I can find about this band is that one its members is now one of the judges on All Together Now.


Rating: 5/10

Posted by: LewisGT 30th May 2019, 03:24 PM

Jedward ft Vanilla Ice - Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)

Peak: 02
Chart Run: 2-12-11-28-50-65-74-96-88-100 (10 weeks)
Nearly a hit: Lipstick (#40)




Commentary: Where to even start with Jedward? I’m sure everyone remembers them from X Factor 2009 where they briefly became the two most controversial and infamous people in the country. As two identical 18-year-old Irish twins with hyper personalities and crazy hair, they were chosen as the year’s token novelty act by Louis Walsh and managed to survive until the 7th week of live shows. They of course also went on to represent Ireland at Eurovision on two occasions, finishing at a high of 8th.

Their debut single was this mash-up of Queen & David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’ and a song which famously sampled it, Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’. They originally performed this when they were contestants on X Factor and as I remember, it was one of their better received performances. It finished a distant #2 behind Owl City's Fireflies and quickly vanished from the charts.

While the song is obviously terrible, I do have a bit of a soft-spot for it in just the same way as I do for the Vanilla Ice original. Even though, Vanilla Ice was hardly much of a get in 2010 it was still incredibly surprising to see him agree to re-record his verse for this release. It led me to wonder what the members of Queen thought about it, so I Googled it and Brian May was apparently fairly approving. Listening back to it now, it’s not as awful as I remembered and it’s bringing back memories of that brilliant clip of them performing at ‘T4 on the Beach’ where one of them broke a leg and the other is still jumping around. At the end of the day, this song is pretty fun and sometimes that’s enough.

Random Jedward fact: they appear in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sharknado films.


Rating: 6.5/10

Posted by: danG 30th May 2019, 04:37 PM

That and Lipstick really should've had their chart peaks swapped, Lipstick seems to be more remembered although mostly for its Eurovision connection - better song too (not that it's a great song but it's got decent novelty value).
Under Pressure was just an uninspired quick and easy hit by taking something they'd just performed on X Factor and tacking Vanilla Ice on for the nostalgia.

Posted by: Mack. 3rd June 2019, 01:20 PM

Grown to like 'Riverside' throughout the years, found this annoying when this was out. 'Echo', Girls Can't Catch trying to like a nu-Girls Aloud minus 2 members. 'Under Pressure' an easy hit for Jedward. Lipstick though was perfect for Eurovision.

Posted by: LewisGT 3rd June 2019, 08:58 PM

QUOTE(danG @ May 30 2019, 05:37 PM)

QUOTE(Mack. @ Jun 3 2019, 02:20 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 3rd June 2019, 09:01 PM

Helping Haiti - Everybody Hurts

Peak: 01
Chart Run: 1-1-9-26-42-77 (6 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Commentary: In 2010, Haiti suffered a catastrophic earthquake that caused tragic consequences across the country. To raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee & The Sun newspaper’s Helping Haiti Fund, Gordon Brown asked Simon Cowell arrange this charity single. Featuring plenty of X Factor & BGT alumni, including Joe McElderry, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS, Cheryl & Susan Boyle and other random artists (where else are you going to find Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Westlife & Mika on the same single) the song sold 205,000 copies in 2 days to easily become a #1 single.

As the first #1 single in this countdown, this was back all the way back in the time before streaming where it was still relatively easy to bag a big charity hit and every year seemed to produce a few. Charity hits have recently appeared to be a dying trend with this remaining the best-selling one of the decade (apart from James Arthur’s Impossible which feels like a cheat). Although with Ladbaby & The RSPB recently doing well maybe they haven’t fully died down yet.

On a purely musical level, this suffers from the same problems as the rest of these large-group charity singles, they are left sounding disjointed due to their purpose not being an attempt to be aesthetically pleasing to listen to but instead to quickly raise money for an urgent issue. I don’t think anyone particularly does a bad job, but the mass of voices just doesn’t gel together at all very well. At the end of the day, I think we’d all prefer just to listen to the original.

There’s still lots of charity singles to come including NHS Choirs, Justice Collectives, Band Aids, Artists for Grenfell, Wealdstone Raiders and X Factor Finalists.


Rating: 4/10

Posted by: danG 3rd June 2019, 09:46 PM

For me that was one of the better charity singles of the decade. Although that was mostly down to the song choice, and I wasn't familiar with the original version at the time, they did a good job with it.

Posted by: Darwin Turretson 3rd June 2019, 10:31 PM

Wasn't very fond of Echo or Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby), though I did quite like Vanilla Ice's parts in the latter.
I liked the Helping Haiti song, though it doesn't top the incredible original by REM.

Posted by: LewisGT 13th June 2019, 06:38 PM

QUOTE(danG @ Jun 3 2019, 10:46 PM)

QUOTE(Darwin Turretson @ Jun 3 2019, 11:31 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 13th June 2019, 06:43 PM

Gramophonedzie - Why Don’t You

Peak: 12
Chart Run: 12-17-18-26-37-44-60-78 (8 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Commentary: Gramophonedzie is a Serbian DJ whose real name is Marko Milićević. After attending the Irish Red Bull Music Academy he kick-started his career with this modern update of a classic hit.

‘Why Don’t You’ contains a sample of Peggy Lee’s 1940’s recording “Why Don’t You Do Right” which in itself was a cover of a song first performed in 1936 by Harlem Hamfats, originally called “The Weed Smoker’s Dream”. Gramophonedzie apparently made this track as his girlfriend of the time was “a huge fan” of the Peggy Lee song and “begged him” to turn it into a club track. While re-working old songs have been a bit of a craze in dance music in this decade (for example Felix Jaehn & James Hype are among the one-hit-wonders still to come) they don’t usually go this far back in time to find their source.

I must say I have no recollection of this song from the time, so this is going to be my first discovery from the countdown. After listening to it, I have mixed feelings. I like the idea of the song with its incorporating of jazz elements, but I don’t think it does enough to justify its existence. The vocals on the chorus have been chopped far too much to enjoy which leaves it sounding pretty weak and boring. What makes this song stand out is Peggy Lee's vocals and here they are chopped so much that they could have been anybody which makes the song feel a bit pointless. On another note, I also listened to the Harlem Hamfats original and that was a very smooth piece of jazz. Certainly, a much better listen than this.

Fun fact about Gramophonedzie: He started his career by producing the theme song for Veliki Brat, the Balkan version of Big Brother.

Rating: 5/10

Posted by: danG 13th June 2019, 07:07 PM

Really liked 'Why Don't You', was a very unique dance hit.

Posted by: LewisGT 17th June 2019, 08:31 PM

QUOTE(danG @ Jun 13 2019, 08:07 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 17th June 2019, 08:32 PM

Daisy Dares You ft Chipmunk - Number One Enemy

Peak: 13
Chart Run: 13-19-27-34-56-68 (6 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Commentary: Daisy Dares You is a British singer who found fame with this release at the age of 17 and who, like Girls Can’t Catch before, was dropped by her label before the release of her debut album. Her stage name derives from a character in the irritating and fairly surreal children’s show ZZZap!

Her first single featured Chipmunk, or Chip as he now likes to be known, who ended up having a much more successful career, even reaching the top 20 just this year as a feature on Roddy Ricch’s How It Is. I remember that I was a fan of this at the time despite finding it a bit cheesy. It’s now been years since I’ve last listened to it so it’s going to be interesting to see how well it holds up. I’m suspecting not very well.

The chorus to this song remains catchy and is by far the stand-out moment in the song. The rest is awful and very of-its-time. Chipmunk’s verse is by far the worst part of the song. The horrible autotune effect on his vocals sounds childish and really lives up to his once stage name. Daisy’s verses don’t fare too much better. Whatever accent she’s trying to do feels forced and makes her sound like a BTec Kate Nash. Honestly, if she re-recorded this now with the same chorus but some better verses, I think I would love it. Chorus is a solid 9/10 but the rest of the song has dragged it down to a 6 for me. Disappointing as it could have been so much more.

Fun fact about Daisy Dares You: She wasn’t a fan of being compared to Avril Lavigne, saying “Frankly, anyone who says I was influenced by Avril Lavigne can get stuffed”.

Rating: 6/10

Posted by: Darwin Turretson 24th June 2019, 11:30 AM

Really like Why Don't You with its electro swing style.
Number One Enemy is okay, though Chip's verse felt kinda out of place.

Also, Phillip George had two UK Top 20 hits (Wish You Were Mine, Alone No More)

Posted by: LewisGT 24th June 2019, 11:56 AM

QUOTE(Darwin Turretson @ Jun 24 2019, 12:30 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 25th June 2019, 09:22 PM

Young Money ft Lloyd - BedRock

Peak: 09
Chart Run: 61-40-34-28-27-22-18-18-12-9-19-16-18-20-22-29-33-45-63-63-73-84-86-91 (24 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Commentary: Young Money is a record label founded by Lil Wayne that homes such talent as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Christina Milian. In a similar way to GOOD Music (Cruel Summer) and Shady Records (Shady XV), they have been known to release projects as a whole and this single represents the most successful example of such.

The song is probably most notable for four things. 1) it was released not long after Forever (still one his best singles) when Drake was beginning to blow up, 2) for the most part (certainly to me at least) introduced the world to Nicki Minaj, 3) using one of cheesiest pick-up lines in its admittedly all-too catchy chorus and 4) featuring a bunch of other random-artists signed to the label (Shanell anyone?) in the video without them having any part on the song.

Aside from the obvious, what always really stuck out in this song to me is Nicki Minaj. And that’s only 50% because I was 12 and found her insanely attractive in the video. She stood out as the verse that truly nails the fun tone of the song. While she’s largely abandoned it now, it’s no surprise that her massive subsequent follow-ups all embodied the same, upbeat vibe (Starships, Super Bass and her features on Where Them Girls At & Turn Me On). While the highlight of her career is undoubtedly her all-timer verse on Monster, I think her best work is usually the light stuff rather than her darker output.

I didn’t mean to spend that long talking about Nicki I absolutely loved this song at the time and while I don’t think it has held up particularly well, it’s still fun for the occasional listen. Wayne’s verse is decent, Gudda Gudda’s is memorable, Drake’s is solid, Tyga’s is a bit naff but still charming none-the-less and Jae Millz’s is nice. Although, to this day, I still have to wonder what Gudda Gudda means when he says “and I got her, n****, grocery bag”.

Fun fact about Young Money: notable previous artists signed to Young Money/Cash Money include Omarion, DJ Khaled and Austin Mahone (!)

Dedication to anyone who can spot the two artists that we get a taste of on this song whom are one-hit wonders in their own right and are still to come.

Rating: 9/10

Posted by: Darwin Turretson 30th June 2019, 06:40 PM

They had a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 before that Bedrock song called "Every Girl In The World"

Posted by: LewisGT 20th July 2019, 03:30 PM

QUOTE(Darwin Turretson @ Jun 30 2019, 07:40 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 20th July 2019, 03:30 PM

McLean - My Name

Peak: 10
Chart Run: 10-13-18-20-21-29-34-52-73 (9 weeks)
Nearly a hit: Finally In Love (#44)




Commentary: McLean (aka Digga) is a British singer hailing from Dagenham, London. A bit of a theme is starting to occur here as, just like Girls Can’t Catch & Daisy Dares You before, McLean is yet to release a debut album. Even though Stormzy’s favourite producer Fraser T. Smith (on the chords) described him as “the modern day Marvin Gaye”.

I had forgotten about this song, but a re-listen is starting to bring the memories back. It’s a pretty pleasant slice of RnB but nowhere near the quality of the best RnB tunes of the decade before. I’m struggling to find anything to say about this song. It’s perfectly listenable but hardly remarkable. I see there’s a Boy Better Know remix, I’m sure that livens it up a bit. As it is, it’s just nice background music.

Fun fact about McLean: His younger brother is ex-premier league footballer Aaron McLean.

Rating: 6/10

Posted by: LewisGT 31st July 2019, 08:34 PM

Joshua Radin - I’d Rather Be With You

Peak: 11
Chart Run: 11-11-25-35-53-82 (6 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Joshua Radin is an American singer who has released 7 albums, with his most successful, 2008’s ‘Simple Times’ reaching the top 10 in the UK (two years after its original release) and 34 in the US. Unsurprisingly, it is also the album that homes his only single to chart, just missing the top 10 here and reaching a modest #82 in his native country.

‘I’d Rather Be With You’ was finally released in the UK as his debut single in the country in 2010, promoted by a new video featuring Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere. The song seemingly owes much of its success to the TV show Scrubs who featured in season 8 episode ‘My Cookie Pants’. This may be why its original video was directed by, none other than J.D himself, Zach Braff and starring another blonde actress (Joshua must have a type) Katrina Bowden.

Listening to it now and yeah, it really does sound like a conglomeration of all the songs you’d hear in the background of an episode of Scrubs It’s a very laid-back song about falling in love with someone you’ve known for a long time. However, it does feel a bit too laid-back at times; the line “I need to be bold” needs to be sung with a bit more oomph or it just doesn’t impact and feels a tad unconvincing and emotionless. In the end the songs fine and inoffensive. I’m sure many would find it sweet but it does nothing to stand-out among a sea of similarly sounding and structured MOR songs.

I’m not quite sure why this song in particular is the one that blown-up for him seeming that, while it does song like the song which could be a radio-staple, this doesn't appear to be the case as I had never heard it before and it’s last play on the BBC was all the way back in April; and even then it was only on BBC Radio Ulster.

Fun fact about Joshua Radin: While I’m not much of a fan, Ellen DeGeneres certainly is! So much so that she booked Radin to play at her wedding.

Rating: 5/10

Posted by: TheJüpreme 5th August 2019, 01:35 PM

I recall I actually bought Daisy Dares You's single on itunes at the time - largely bc I loved the show as a kid! Not much else memorable here, I'm with you on Gramophonedzie - it always sounded like it was going to go somewhere more interesting than it did given the unusual sample & setup before the drop.

Posted by: LewisGT 14th August 2019, 01:19 PM

QUOTE(TheJüpreme @ Aug 5 2019, 02:35 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 14th August 2019, 01:21 PM

Fyfe Dangerfield - She’s Always A Woman

Peak: 07
Chart Run: 99-14-7-9-15-20-29-36-33-42-60-76-66-70-84-90-(x)-61-(x)-95 (18 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Fyfe Dangerfield is an English singer who has already appeared in this countdown as a member of 2008 one-hit-wonder band ‘gUiLLeMoTs’. He has also been a member of other bands such as Senseless Prayer, Fyfe Dangerfield & The Accident, The Courtesy Group & gaNNets. As a solo artist, he has released one album ‘Fly Yellow Moon’ which reached #12. However, it did spawn one hit, in large part thanks to the rulers of Christmas, John Lewis. The advert in question features the life of a girl, growing up from a baby to getting married and having children (and grandchildren) of her own.

She’s Always A Woman was originally a 1975 Billy Joel song which peaked at #53 in the UK as a double A-side together with ‘Just The Way You Are’. Thanks to the popularity of this Fyfe Dangerfield cover and advert, it also managed to re-enter the chart in 2010, eventually peaking at #29. Joel wrote the song as an ode to his then-wife, Elizabeth Weber. He noted that others saw her as a “tough and savvy businessperson” which lead to her being described as “unfeminine”. The song was to remined her that she was “always a woman” to him.

This really is the perfect song for a John Lewis ad, but, in my opinion, Fyfe Dangerfield doesn’t really add enough to the song to justify listening to it over the original. He performs it at a slightly faster tempo and his voice is nice but its still sticks a little too close to Joel’s version. Another problem I have with this is that it lacks the emotion you would expect. I think it works well within the context of the advert, but the actual heart of the ad comes from the visuals and without them the song leaves me a bit cold. With all that said, this is still a perfectly alright listen but I think that’s more to do with being a nice song rather than anything related to Fyfe’s performance.

Fun fact about Fyfe Dangerfield: He was one of the panellists in the infamous episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks where Preston walked off stage after Simon Amstell read a passage from his girlfriend, Chantelle’s autobiography.


Rating: 6/10

Posted by: Polly Planturret 27th August 2019, 02:48 PM

From what I'm piecing together from its lyrics, My Name is about a guy who's struggling with his emotions and is starting to recover thanks to this special girl, and he now finds the time to give her his name (but if she helped you steer away from the awful things you're dealing with, wouldn't she know your name already?). Anyway, I think it's decent.
I'd Rather Be You is a solid singer-songwriter song.
I really liked Fyfe's She's Always A Woman, but not as much as Billy Joel's original (which is gorgeous BTW).

Posted by: LewisGT 27th August 2019, 05:01 PM

QUOTE(Polly Planturret @ Aug 27 2019, 03:48 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 28th August 2019, 02:14 PM

Edward Maya ft Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love


Peak: 04
Chart Run: 4-5-7-12-21-23-29-21-21-25-27-30-25-23-22-30-32-37-43-46-59-67-77-86-100 (25 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A




Edward Maya is a DJ from Romania who released Stereo Love as his debut single back in 2009, although it took another year before it reached the UK charts. His early work in music was in helping with the production of Romania’s 2006 Eurovision entry, ‘Tornerò’ performed by Mihai Trăistariu.

As is often the case with dance music, the instrumental is largely key for a songs success and Stereo Love is obviously best remembered for its accordion riff. It’s also famous for reinterpreting a composition titled ‘Bayatılar’ released by Eldar Mansurov in 1989 without permission. This lead to Mansurov filling a copyright claim and Maya signing an agreement that gave their co-authorship of the song.

I didn't remember this song being as popular as it clearly was: 18 weeks Top 40 in the UK and was (and maybe still is) the song that had spent the longest in the European Top 100 (47 weeks). I also didn’t remember just how boring the rest of the song apart from the accordion riff actually is. In my opinion, this song could have been a massive tune in the same vein as Heater by Samim if it stuck as an instrumental. After listening to the song 3 times in the last week, I still can’t recall how any of the vocals ago but I could easily whistle the killer riff. As it is, it sounds like a song that I would be declaring as one of the years best at any Eurovision (Epic Accordion Guy could have been Epic Sax Guy) but not one I would personally spend time listening to. This song's still a solid 7/10 but would climb to 8 if you took out Vika Jigulina's contribution.

Fun fact about Edward Maya: He never stopped trying to recreate the success of this song. His next 3 releases all also featured Vika Jigulina (and his 8th single too).


Rating: 7/10

Posted by: LewisGT 17th October 2019, 12:59 PM

The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die


Peak: 16
Chart Run: 16-20-31-40-49-60-77-87-91-(x)-92-88-100 (12 weeks)
Nearly a hit: Miss Nothing (#39)





The Pretty Reckless are a band from New York City that currently consists of four members: lead vocalist and guitarist Taylor Momsen, backing vocalist and guitarist Ben Phillips, bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins. However, Damon was not a part of the band at the time of this song’s recording.

The lead singer, Taylor Momsen, was already famous before the formation of Pretty Reckless as a model and actor. Firstly, as a young girl portraying Cindy Lou Who in 2000’s Grinch movie alongside Jim Carrey and later on as Jenny Humphrey in long-running teen drama series Gossip Girl.

This song is much rockier than I remembered. The song begins with a more slight instrumental before exploding into life with the heavier, dramatic guitar riff that continues throughout the whole song. I remembered this song sounding more like its opening rather than the grungy, angsty tune it is. With the young singer surrounded by an older band it’s almost like Selena Gomez & The Scene: The Rebellious Years.

As a teenage TV star and formed Cindy Lou Who, you would expect the edgy, punk aesthetic to come across as fake, However, I think as soon as Momsen starts to sing, she convinces you that this is where she belongs. Her gravely, raspy vocals were destined to be heard on this kind of record. She also comes across as cool and confident, with the perfect amount of attitude, that makes you forget that she was not an established and esteemed rocker, but a teenager with an extremely un-rock-n-roll past releasing her debut single. The one criticism I have of this song is that the bridge towards the end seems to go on forever and I lose interest in the group about halfway though it.

Because of her age, there are two music videos for this song. The official video proved very controversial which led to it’s release being delayed. The video shows Momsen progressively stripping throughout until she is eventually naked in a graveyard. While flames maintained her modesty, the video still proved to be legally difficult to release so they produced another video. This one, titled the ‘viral video’, was filmed at Hotel Chelsea in New York and mixes footage of a live performance with backstage footage of the band preparing for the gig. Eventually, they were able to release the official video. However, personally, I prefer the other one.

Fun fact about The Pretty Reckless: Momsen has claimed that the largest influences on the band are The Beatles, Oasis & Nirvana.


Rating: 8.5/10




(Note: This was originally going to be Leeds, Leeds, Leeds (Marching On Together) by Leeds United Team & Supporters but I found out that Leeds United FC have previously had another chart hit, namely “Leeds United” in 1972. The 2010 song is in fact just a remixed version of the original’s B-Side).

Posted by: Mack. 22nd October 2019, 03:20 PM

'Stereo Love' that was an classic but 'Make Me Wanna Die' just couldn't really get into the song.

Posted by: LewisGT 7th December 2019, 07:47 PM

QUOTE(Mack. @ Oct 22 2019, 03:20 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 7th December 2019, 07:47 PM

K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag


Peak: 02
Chart Run: 16-16-3-2-2-5-13-16-26-39-43-55-69-97 (14 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A





K’naan is a Somali singer and rapper who is based in Canada after his family moved there during his teenage years.

Wavin’ Flag was originally a big hit in Canada, reaching #2 as the 3rd single from his album Troubadour. And while the UK had Helping Haiti’s cover of Everybody Hurts at #1, Canada had a cover of this song, credited to Young Artists For Haiti (and featuring artists such as Drake, Avril Lavigne and Nelly Furtado), topping their charts. However, it wasn’t until Coca-Cola picked it as their official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa that it became a worldwide hit.

Ever since then, this has been one of my favourite songs of all-time. While its original form is quite dark and bleak, this remix is just pure joy and hopefulness. It is in every sense the perfect song for a sporting event, with themes of inspiration and togetherness blended with a simple but unbearably catchy hook that gets stuck in your head. In fact, it’s the only song I can (mostly) play on an instrument. Not bad at all seeming that it’s come from such a cynical source as Coke.

Between Shakira’s Waka Waka and this, 2010 really was the ultimate year for football music. Both tracks perfectly evoke the spirit that a globe-spanning tournament where everyone is welcome should represent. However, it didn’t seem that the UK market could accommodate both tracks. While this became a massive success, the Shakira track couldn’t even manage to reach the top 20, becoming one of the few countries (alongside USA & Canada) that it didn’t manage #1 in. In fact, I didn’t even start enjoying Waka Waka until the next World Cup came around. Worldwide, it really made up for it, with almost 2.5 billion views on YouTube compared to K’naan’s 181 million.

Anyone who played in my round of NMTBJ will already know I’m a massive fan of this song as it was one of the instrumentals I used (12 of you got it correct, well done). It’s impossible for me to listen to this song without being taken back to being 12 years old and getting the World Cup 2010 game on my Xbox 360 and having to create loads on new Xbox accounts so I could keep getting Xbox Live trials to play it online. This song played on every loading screen on the game which could have gone two ways, either made me sick of it and never wanting to hear it again or confirm its place in my heart and make it one of my all-time favourites. Thankfully, it’s the latter.

Fascinating fact about K’naan: He narrowly escaped death as a child when he mistook a live grenade for a potato but threw it away before it exploded.


Rating: 10/10

Posted by: SophieMax 3rd January 2020, 04:09 PM

QUOTE(LewisGT @ May 8 2019, 10:47 PM)

Thank you, you're very kind
I have my final 2 uni assignments in for next week so after that I will be free to begin this. (Apart from 1 more exam in June)
The first song is a massive tune and one of 12-year-old me's favourites.
2010

Posted by: LewisGT 30th March 2020, 03:03 PM

QUOTE(SophieMax @ Jan 3 2020, 05:09 PM)

Posted by: LewisGT 30th March 2020, 09:06 PM

Shout For England ft Dizzee Rascal & James Corden - Shout


Peak: 01
Chart Run: 1-1-3-15-40-62-98 (7 weeks)
Nearly a hit: N/A





Shout For England was Simon Cowell & TalkTalk’s attempt to cash in on the World Cup and was a huge success. Assembling the vocal talent of Dizzee Rascal and James Corden, the song was performed at the final of series 4 of Britain’s Got Talent and shot straight to number one on sales of over 100,000.

I think it’s fair to say that this was the last hurrah for original World Cup/Euro songs. Sure Noble England reached the top 10 in 2014 but that was more to do with the sad passing of Rik Mayall rather than excitement for the tournament. Three Lions getting a 4th spell at #1 in 2018 shows that we still do enjoy a football song, just maybe not a new one. This actually took inspiration from Three Lions and tried to do a 96/98 by releasing a new version for Euro 2012 but it never really caught on.

Including his iconic verse in Band Aid 20, this is the final of 6 UK #1 singles for Dizzee, coming only a couple weeks after his 5th, but is the only time James Corden has even ‘graced’ the charts. The song itself mainly comprises of two samples. Most obviously the chorus is lifted from Tears For Fears 1984 song ‘Shout’ but also taking riffs and the ‘hey yo’ breakdown from Blackstreet, Queen Pen & Dr. Dre’s classic ‘No Diggity’. What is original to this song is Dizzee’s raps about the England team and its players (“Aaron Lennon down the wing like he’s on a mission”, Rio Ferdinand: nobody can f**k with him”). It is a bit of an earworm to be fair, but it would have been hard not to be seeming it’s just made up of parts from incredibly good songs.

Fun fact about Shout For England: England were eventually knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in the last 16 after a 4-1 defeat vs Germany. Best remembered for the painful injustice of Lampard’s goal not being given even though it had clearly crossed the line. This was one of the main incidents that led to the introduction of goal-line technology.


Rating: 8.5/10

Posted by: hlavkus 3rd May 2020, 03:48 PM

I was thinking: "Didn't K'naan had another hit which featured will.i.am?". Turns out it was just another version of "Waving Flag"