:blink:

No need to blink? Just giving my opinion.

4TH AUGUST- BOOTYLICIOUS- Destiny's Child (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Bootylicious_CD_Cover.jpg

 

There's no law saying how songs should be used when being sampled, or that the original version's lyrical themes should also be incorporated, all of which is quite fortunate for DC on this one. Back in 1981 Stevie Nicks song "Edge Of Seventeen" was written about the death of her uncle and John Lennon in the same week, it went top 20 in the US but failed to chart here, this was therefore many people's (including mine) first exposure to this track in it's sampled form. Here it provides quite an ominous undertone to the track, bubbling along and threatening to overspill, all of which is entirely ruined by the lyrics in which the girls suspect they're men aren't up to it.

 

Utter tosh really, I quite liked what they did with "Emotions" but that just proves how hard it is to ruin a Gibb record and no tears were spilt by me when they broke up. Certainly their stock had certainly risen almost unremmitedly since 1998 into a big player in the field, shame they had to ruin a great song to do it though.

 

 

25TH AUGUST- TAKE ME HOME (A GIRL LIKE ME)- Sophie Ellis Bextor (1 wk)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/image/r29041_300.jpg

 

After a brief stint as an indie singer in her first group "Theaudience" Bextor turned her hand to disco and saw greater rewards at least commercially. MUCH better things were to come from her before the end of this year but after the uncredited vocal on Spiller's massive dance anthem "Groovejet" in the summer of 2000, Ellis- Bextor launhed her solo career with this cover of the Cher 1979 disco classic.

 

It's not great kids I can't lie to you, it passes the time but it all feels like she's in a hurry to get someplace else, and that sweet accent which will work so incredibly well on her next single seems odd here, by the time the original was done Cher was already 33 and in another era that was a time when a woman "wasn't getting any younger" as they said, Bextor here is a little over 22 perhaps too young to make the song believable. This is, after all, a plea to avoid the loneliness, an acknowledgement that the protagonist isn't the best of what's left or available but still worthwhile, and as she's a cracking looking 22 yr old you have to wonder why, if the sentiment of the song remains, she can't get a man? Psycho? overbearing? smothering?

 

A fairly light, unsubstantial production doesn't rescue the situation here either, it's a shame as I'm rather a fan of SEB in the main but this one has always been a rather addition to her canon in my opinion.

 

 

15TH SEPTEMBER- STARLIGHT- Supermen Lovers Featuring Mani Hoffman (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Starlight_(Supermen_Lovers).jpg

 

A song that I first heard whilst in Switzerland in May 2001, this is like a really good Jamiroquai record (he doesn't make that many I know) and had me hooked from the off. A bubbling funky bassline erupts at regular intervals to deliver a chorus that should have your hands in the AYER long before the arrival of such "luminaries" as Pitbull and Rida, it's all that was great about dance music at the opening of the decade, prayers asking for this to beat Bob The Builder to No 1 were made by me but alas fell on deaf ears, but it's another fine instance of French dance production a la Daft Punk & Stardust which had translated into UK chart success.

 

As a record aimed squarely at the dancefloor it's not got much substance to it other than its primary purpose and on that front it's a success for me!

 

6TH OCTOBER- CHAIN REACTION/ ONE FOR SORROW- Steps (1 wk)

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WKynq85l764/SeP2oRiUiPI/AAAAAAAAAEA/P4KXQmegkTA/s400/Cover.jpg

 

The end was oh so very near (3 months) and this became the penultimate release and is of course a cover of the Diana Ross 1986 No 1 hit with a remix of their own 1998 hit on the reverse. To be fair I don't really mind this, probably because they don't do anything too radical with the song, the dance routine's look a little haggard and out of place in an era when more sophisticated pop was starting to rule the airwaves and there is little doubt in my mind that they got out just in time.

 

I've always been a fan of the remix of "One For Sorrow" electrofied up and really rather jolly. As I have said on the previous Steps review I think 2001 was actually a good year for the band and their music did become more adult, this is a little bit of nostalgia for the late 90s coming out on this track and who doesn't like that eh?

 

Loving this thread so far Gezza! Can't wait to see the 2005-2009 thread if/when you do one - so many great number 2s in the noughties!

 

I love 'All I Want' and 'Bootylicious'. Steps really need to leave this thread now though.

Loving this thread so far Gezza! Can't wait to see the 2005-2009 thread if/when you do one - so many great number 2s in the noughties!

 

I love 'All I Want' and 'Bootylicious'. Steps really need to leave this thread now though.

Thanks very much for the kind words! :D

20TH OCTOBER- YOU ROCK MY WORLD- Michael Jackson (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Yrmwsingle.jpg

 

The sight of Jackson as some kind of Romeo has always been a slightly amusing and faintly ridiculous notion but it's the role he once more adopts in this video. All the trademarks are here, the vocal hooks, the sharp production (courtesy of Darkchild amongst others) and it's as smooth and polished affair as you'd expect but herein lies the problem, it's EXACTLY what you'd expect, and not the best example of it either considering he'd had 6 years to come up with a new studio album. Of course such a time period isn't unusual for Jackson who was regularly taking 4-5 years to make an album and whilst "Invincible" isn't a bad album there's something definitely missing from the period, he isn't concentrating here and that's why he's on autopilot.

 

In may have been his off the charts troubles or some unknown cause but "You Rock My World" must surely, by 2001, be named in irony for the once biggest pop star in the world, the album becoming his first studio album to not feature a No 1 single since "Off The Wall" back 1979, the fact that the album was abandoned after just two releases should give you an indication of record company faith here. To go out with a fizzle is a sad end (and this is the last point that he really is a popstar), but a defeated pop star, which is how he looked circa 2001 is a spectacle best unseen.

 

10TH NOVEMBER- RAPTURE- Iio (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/IiO_Rapture.jpeg

 

Originally a duo this song has recently made a re-appearance in the top 40 for original group member Nadia Ali. A rather innocuous dance record that instantly transports you back 10 years it reminds of clubbing days but above and beyond that I wasn't overly loving it back then and indeed I don't think i ever heard it played (or wanted to hear it) since.

 

For some songs you neither love nor hate and that's where I'm at with "Rapture" the light female vocal over a whistful dance backing had been over used well and truly by this point and the track does nothing to lift itself above the melee, it certainly won't burn your ears either though!

 

20TH OCTOBER- YOU ROCK MY WORLD- Michael Jackson (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Yrmwsingle.jpg

 

The sight of Jackson as some kind of Romeo has always been a slightly amusing and faintly ridiculous notion but it's the role he once more adopts in this video. All the trademarks are here, the vocal hooks, the sharp production (courtesy of Darkchild amongst others) and it's as smooth and polished affair as you'd expect but herein lies the problem, it's EXACTLY what you'd expect, and not the best example of it either considering he'd had 6 years to come up with a new studio album. Of course such a time period isn't unusual for Jackson who was regularly taking 4-5 years to make an album and whilst "Invincible" isn't a bad album there's something definitely missing from the period, he isn't concentrating here and that's why he's on autopilot.

 

In may have been his off the charts troubles or some unknown cause but "You Rock My World" must surely, by 2001, be named in irony for the once biggest pop star in the world, the album becoming his first studio album to not feature a No 1 single since "Off The Wall" back 1979, the fact that the album was abandoned after just two releases should give you an indication of record company faith here. To go out with a fizzle is a sad end (and this is the last point that he really is a popstar), but a defeated pop star, which is how he looked circa 2001 is a spectacle best unseen.

 

 

At least the next number two he had (if I remember correctly) was more than deserved! I was never a fan of 90s-00s MJ - although I do love 'They Don't Care About Us'. :D

15TH DECEMBER- MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOOR- Sophie Ellis- Bextor (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/SophieEllisBextorMurderOnTheDanceFloor.jpg

 

Just how fabulous is MOTD (not Match of the day!), a real pop gem full of infectious hooks and a breakdown that shimmies its way to the floor just to clear it and take centre stage. Undoubtedly one of the finest things she came up with (without the aid of the Freemasons I may add) it was an unexpected winter warmer that made Xmas that year just a little more glitter filled. Ellis-Bextor's vocals, again delivered almost in cut glass English, is perfect for the jagged, catty, and determined lyrics all backed up with a fantastic video which almost takes the lyrics at face value in her attempt to win a dance off.

 

Of course it's a little bit camp but hey ho that's the fun surely, much more immediate and quite frankly better than her Cher cover it rightly became her signature hit, as an excercise in how to deliver a high end pop product this is indeed a master class.

 

29TH DECEMBER- HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE- Gordon Haskell (1 wk)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/18662.jpg

 

Whilst he'd performed with some of the greats in the 60s Haskell had been on the pub/ club circuit for some 20 yrs by time this song was plucked from obscurity by another one of those 00s trends- the rise of Radio 2. Used by Johnny Walker on his show it was an unlikely contender for the festive chart topper and Haskell did a last minute busking concert to push the single but no avail. Not a song I cares for I'm afraid, boring and almost dirgey (????) it sounds like it's performed in some smokey bar in London by the guy who likes a drink a little too much.

 

In a way it's nice that relatively uncommercial songs like this could still be big hits just 10 years ago, but really we're all struggling to recall this- a shame for what is the showcase week of the year charts wise.

 

19TH JANUARY 2002- ADDICTED TO BASS- Puretone (1 wk)

 

http://991.com/newGallery/Puretone-Addicted-To-Bass-277241.jpg

 

A record that really shouldn't have been in this thread at all. Were it not for a leak on the saturday before its official release which saw some 809 copies sold and a debut position of No 68, this song would have leapfrogged over Aaliyah posthumous chart topper "More Like A Woman" which won the race for the top by 595 copies this week, but all this is chart history. Originally a top 20 hit in their native Australia in 1998 it took 4 years to maek it around the world during which time a new video was filmed for it based on the "Mad Max" film and really was a case of word spreading by mouth for most of its long gestation period.

 

I know a lot of people love this track, it's just never been more than OK for me though. January is always a dire month when the record industry has a collective hangover and nothing much gets released, it was always, until the download age, the month when either new acts were broke or when dance tracks found it easier to chart, less competition and the big guns had usually gone for the Xmas No 1 and the associated sales. It is perhaps the most fitting comment to end with that no other track by the group troubled the top 20.

 

26TH JANUARY- GET THE PARTY STARTED- P!nk (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/GetThePartyStartedSingle.jpg

 

 

I'm probably gonna get hate mail for this but I can't stand this track. Annoyingly cloying record that seems to me quite vacuous in its sentiment, written by linda Perry (Ex- 4 Non Blondes) she confesses that she slung every cliche and soundbite into writing what she termed a "Fun" record and there is no disputing its a catchy number, but I do recall at the time (and again probably due to the fact it was released in a dull January) it was drasically over played at the time which may account for me hatred. I don't actually mind Pink though a lot of her tracks are very love/ hate for me and for every good song she produces there are three or four which appear to be more or less carbon copies of it, but this isn't her best.

 

What I suspect attracts most people to her is exactly what I find kinda artificial, that sassy agressive feminism that seems to be a little too dominating, and sometimes forced. This makes her, for me, a hard popstar to love (maybe not being a repressed female is affecting this) but her role as the Jo Brand of pop, a title she probably shares with Beyonce on that front, never makes me quite sure whether I'm meant to like her or not, am I her audience? In conclusion maybe Pink and I need to talk.

 

Loving your love for Ms Jackson, I too think it's the best #2 of the year.

 

Rapture and Murder On The Dancefloor also deserving of praise round mine.

16TH FEBRUARY- HEY BABY- No Doubt (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/No_Doubt_Hey_Baby.jpg

 

I should prefix this with an explanation that I detest No Doubt. Yes even the mighty "Don't Speak" bores me to tears (VERY oerplayed at the time) and the kind of ska influence rock they dallied in does nothing for me I'm afraid. This track with tinges of Jamaican dancehall in it is not going to redeem them in my eyes I'm afraid, the fact that the whole era seemed to fail (certainly in comparison to former glories) only goes to justify my opinion here.

 

I really can't find a nice word for it, even the chorus gets under my tits with its repetitive cry. Anyway you get the idea I'm sure.

 

 

23RD FEBRUARY- YOU- S Club 7 (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/You(SClub7).jpg

 

Meanwhile all is still rosy in the S Club camp. With that nasty Steps self destructing a couple of months previously, the pre teenage audience was all theirs for the taking and this motown-lite track was typical of their stock, light breezy, pop in a boy meets girl kinda way.

 

Problem is it's all starting to wear a bit thin now, whilst it was undoubtedly a high, "Don't Stop Movin" with its serious dancefloor ambition showed what a great song could do in their hands and everything post that track seems a bit, well, substandard really. Had this been 2000 it would have been perfect but there were dark clouds on the horizon with 2002 proving to be an annus horribilis for the group with Paul Cattermole's departure and the failure of feature film "Seeing Double" all occuring by the year end.

 

"You" therefore is a track that treads water, and not even convincingly, the band barely appear to turn up for the track and with the launch of S Club Juniors imminant (who took much of their audience for the remainder of the year) it is perhaps not surprising that their only other single of the year "Alive" became their smallest hit to date making No 5 in November 02. That in itself was just a retread of "Don't Stop Movin" in tattier clothes- we'll meet them again in 2003 by that time it was officially all over.

 

9TH MARCH- WHENEVER, WHEREVER- Shakira (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Shakira_-_Whenever,_Wherever.jpg

 

This certainly felt like a minor event at the time, the launch of a major new star who came in a visually stunning body and referred to her breasts as "small and humble, so you don't confuse them with mountains". With a video in which there was plenty of flesh on show it soared to the top of video playlists on countless channels pre release and confirmed sales of over 100k in its first week would easily have been enough for No 1 in most weeks in 2002 evidencing just this point, had it not run into Will Young's "Pop Idol" single then this is exactly what it would have done.

 

Written in part by Gloria Estefan this is a track I loved at the time, a pop sensibility than seemed too strong to resist, a touch of those pan pipes making it all slightly exotic all combined to make it one of the pop moments of the year. Shakira girates her way through the track (launching many a parody- a sure sign you've infultrated the public conciousness) and all in all it's a self assured "debut" in the UK at least. She'd been releasing Spanish language albums since the 90s of course into the latin market but this was her first forray into the UK market and with such rich pickings she decided to stay (a few projects aside). Like that popular kid at school it's hard not to like "Whenever, Wherever" too tempting, too tactile, too sensuous not to indulge in- why am i reminded of those "flake" ads in the 90s right now?

 

23RD MARCH- ME JULIE- Shaggy Featuring Ali G (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b2/Me_Julie_single.jpg

 

Some jokes are of thier time, some were never really that funny, some are timeless, Ali G, for me, falls into the first category. Back in the days of "The 11 o'clock show" it was genuinely one of the funniest things on TV and a rich breeding ground for future talent (Sacha Baron Cohen, Ian Lee, Ricky Gervais, Alex Zane) but for many who weren't into late night Channel 4 programmes their first climpse of Cohen's creation would have been on Madonna's 2000 No 1 "Music" video. Inevitably the solo show followed and then the feature film in 2002 to which this is the soundtrack.

 

I know it's all a parody of the apeing of afro carribean culture by white suburban males (rumoured to be heavily based on Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood) but by 2002 Ali G was a very old joke which had crossed into the mainstream and, like most things that make that transition, had been to some extent anesthetised for mass public consumption. Make no mistake then "Me Julie" is painfully bad now (barely passable at the time) a knowing joke too clever for its own good with a whole chorus build around the need to rhyme the word "goolies" which is so awkwardly British in its school boy humour. Of course it was little more than a promotional tool for the film so on that level it was a success but really now its a bit of head scratcher.

 

Great thread, thoroughly enjoying it but haven't you missed A1 (Caught in the middle?)

 

I remember being gutted that Shakira was released the same week as Will. A week earlier and Shakira would have probably been #1!