I don't like Hear'Say, but Kym Marsh's solo material was very good. "Cry" reach # 1 in my charts. Her album is pure pop masterpiece. "Live Forever" is my favourite song, sad it wasn't a single.

This is my second most played song ever on my iTunes. The most played song is also a #2 hit from the (late) noughties. Any ideas? :kink:

 

Better In Time? :D

Better In Time? :D

 

'Happy' actually :P

3RD MAY- ALL OVER- Lisa Maffia (1 wk)

 

http://images.hhv.de/catalog/old_detail/00029/29198.jpg

 

Listening to this and it's VERY of its time! I'm not a fan of this genre as regular followers would know, and the former So Solid Crew frontwoman's debut single does little to alter my opinion. She still remains the highest charting UK female rapper of all time so you have to give her that, but for my money "All Over" isn't really a starter.

 

I struggled to recall it before listening to it, and afterwards I was still struggling, but then many of 2003's runner up hits were quick bombers down the charts never really getting into people's heads, this being a prime example. Her only solo hit to grace the top 10, she can be thankful that she even got this far, though being beaten by a THIRD release from Busted's debut album tells its own story.

 

10TH MAY- RISE AND FALL- Craig David Featuring Sting (1 wk)

 

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Q3PYFKA8L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

Pop's a fickle old world and Britain's greatest new hope circa 2000 had experienced a little rise and fall of his own. Despite shifting a million singles and albums in 2000 David was famously snubbed at the BRITS 2001 despite being nominated in 500 categories (n.b actual number probably less).

 

By his own admittance David has been damaged by Leigh Francis's portrayal of him on "Bo Selecta!" which had launched in 2002 and connected the artist with the caracature in the public's mind. Mind you naming your second album "Slicker Than You're Average" didn't help and when sales disapointed the press were quick to paint David as a yesterday man, and against this backdrop "Rise and Fall" was released as a third single from the album and became his 9th top 10 hit on the trot.

 

Based around a sample of Sting's "Shape Of My Heart" (which would also be used on a Sugababes track in the same year, it led midweek flashes only to lose out on the Sunday to Tomkraft. Never a song I loved it's passable if uneventful, roping in Sting obviously helped with airplay and thusly sales and was a decent stab at getting his career back on track but quite frankly it reeks of blandness...

 

17TH MAY- FAVOURITE THINGS- Big Brovaz (1 wk)

 

http://991.com/newGallery/Big-Brovaz-Favourite-Things-258022.jpg

 

Imagine, if you will, all the cliches of rap, and add a healthy dollop of crappy UK attempts to ape the US import version of rap and hey presto you have this pile of tripe. The success of Big Brovaz was a mystery at the time to me, and remains so, there is no joy on a level that you can see in, say, the Mis-Teeq records of the same time, this is just basically ripping off "The Sound Of Music" (yes of ALL things?!!!) and attempting to ghetto it up. The group fell apart thanks to drugs scandals and two of the girls leaving to form Booty Luv in the second half of the decade.

 

Truly woeful, it completes a hat-trick of No 2 hits that are all better best forgotten in my opinion however MUCH MUCH better is just about to happen.

 

Big Brovaz were truly awful - 02/03 were dark times for British music IMO bar a few exceptions

Big Brovaz were truly awful - 02/03 were dark times for British music IMO bar a few exceptions

I agree in the main apart from some glorious exceptions......which links in quite nicely to.....

24TH MAY- NO GOOD ADVICE- Girls Aloud (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Nogoodadvice1.jpg

 

With more than just a nod to The Knack's "My Sharona" Girls Aloud had a lot to prove with this single. "Sound Of The Underground" was always going to massive, just like any winning Reality TV single, but it's the follow up that always counts, and "No Good Advice" hits just the right spot. Crammed with hooks and enough attitude to assert that they were SOMETHING special it's a song that never lets up from the off bombarding the listener with enough knowing sassyness that One True Voice could only dream off.

 

Fair enough we can't downplay the fact the girls were clearly good looking and this aided them in the "Heat" magazine stakes but that they were given the finest offerings that Zenomania could produce (this is co-penned by Aqua's Lene Rasted) meant they were to them what Kylie was to S/A/W or Warwick was to Bacharach & David, regular and reliable deliverer of hits. Rumour has it the girls were less than impressed when they first heard it saying it wasn't "their sound" apparently Higgens gave them 5 minutes to talk about it and see if they wanted to continue working with him, wisely they made the right choice, this ISN'T the best GA record (that's still to come in this thread) BUT it is a glorious pop record which states an intention, if they weren't going to be one of the biggest groups of the decade they were certainly going to give it a go....

 

31ST MAY- ROCK YOUR BODY- Justin Timberlake (1 wk)

 

http://991.com/NewGallery/Justin-Timberlake-Rock-Your-Body-377519.jpg

 

The more I review these Justin Timberlake records the more it begs the question quite why he stopped when he did. After two crackers here he is with another one, there is, as usual, more than a whiff of Jackson about the track and the visuals ("Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" springs to mind) it's all perfectly executed pop, rhythmically tight with choreography which is faultless he remains the perfect popstar for 2003 and in less than 12 months seemed to have effortlessly transformed from a cheesy boyband member into an international popstar who looked like a "new" star- quite an acheivement.

 

Perhaps he hadn't quite thought through how much time and attention this would all bring to him which is why the follow up took 5 years to produce, perhaps Timbaland was too busy, who knows but as an opening salvo of 3 singles his is one of the best.

 

Two fantastic songs in a row there and I was thinking that Girls Aloud (along with Sugababes, Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Keane) were one of the best things about British music in the mid 00's

I disagree, No Good Advice IS the best Girls Aloud single (well, on par with Biology anyway).

Very sad time for Girls Aloud. Only # 2 on the week with awful leader.

I adore "No Good Advice" is my second favourite single after "Can't Speak French"

 

Must agree with justinthomas92. Yes, they were...

7TH JUNE- SAY GOODBYE/ LOVE AIN'T GONNA WAIT FOR YOU- S Club (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/SayGoodbyeSClub.jpg

 

So it's the end of the road for what were by 2003 S Club Senior and how do you bow out? Well you rehash a couple of your biggest hits and what we have here is a re-write of "Have You Ever" ("Say Goodbye") and "Don't Stop Movin" ("Love Ain't Gonna Wait For You") only not quite so good. Yes all told it's rather a poor ending to the S Club story from which we will only meet one member as a solo artist for the remainder of this thread. Spearritt would go on to star in "Primeval", Lee went into musicals, O'Meara had a brief solo career before it all went pear shaped on "Celebrity Big Brother" and the others apart from Stevens didn't do much but tread former glories.

 

Not much to talk about record wise, it all rather seems like they were treading water and fulfilling record company obligations before the serious business of solo careers got under way....at least that was the theory......

 

 

28th JUNE- FAST FOOD SONG- Fast Food Rockers (2 wks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Fast_Food_Song.jpg

 

An "Agadoo" for the 00s- that's being unfair, it's not that good. Yes in the summer of 2003 I am reliably informed this was all the rage on the school play ground, easy to see why. It's based around a Moroccan folk song "A Ram Sam Sam" and you'll be pleased to hear it make No 1 in Germany though it was called "burger dance" there and sung by the quickly forgotten DJ Otzi! Anyway the band lasted for under a year, enough to give them 3 top 30 hits and an album so they made a little go a long way all things considered.

 

If you've forgotten it then well done you, if not then apologies for even mentioning it...

 

 

I was 11 years old for most of 2003 (born February 92) and I can tell you that Fast Food Rockers were the biggest thing for kids at that time. Not for me though, I was about to enter 'big school' that September so was obviously too cool for such silly songs

 

I see your points about the S Club songs but I can't bring myself to dislike them. For me those two songs represent a turning point in my life - that being the (beggining of) the end of my childhood. I was 11 years old, in my final month before I went to High School and the band that pretty much defined my childhood were splitting up

Fast Food Rockers were good, but my favourite song from them was Xmas single.

 

My all-time favourite Christmas song.

Fast Food Rockers - I Love Christmas

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3OrsHCK_aU

19TH JULY- HOLLYWOOD- Madonna (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Madonna_hollywood_cd1.jpg

 

Really the only performance I could put with this track, the 2003 MTV awards where Justin tries to look non plussed by Britney and Madonna kissing. Anyway "Hollywood" was the second release from "American Life" and her first back to back No 2 hits in 12 years. To be frank "Hollywood" is rather pedestrian, nothing special or remarkable really, the video you may recall got her into a bit of hot water this time for plagiarism from photographer Guy Bourdin who got a settlement from Madonna.

 

Whilst its message may be a worthy one (beware the trappings of fame and materialism) it never quite rings true with Madonna, a star who you suspect enjoys all those trappings, the hollowness of the track is very evident at its core and that's what diappoints here.

 

 

26TH JULY- SATISFACTION- Benny Benassi (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Satisfaction.jpg

 

A song I couldn't stand at the time and one that I can't stand now. It's basically about getting your end away and the lyrics consisting of "Push me, and then just touch me, til i can get my satisfaction" it's not exactly challenging on any level. I suppose drugs/ drink might help with this- but really, why bother?

 

9TH AUGUST- NEVER LEAVE YOU (UH OOH UH OOH)- Lumidee (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Lumidee-never-leave-you.jpg

 

Debut, and sole top 40 hit from US star Lumidee Cedeno, it typifies much of what 2003 was about. It's rapidly turning out to be a marmite year for me, some fantastic records to be had (Girls Aloud, JT and few more still to come) and some real stinkers and this track unfortunately falls in to the latter category. This got to be very irritating very quickly, perhaps by the time I got to August i'd had enough of the "Uh Oh" as Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" had been ruling the airwaves for about 2 months already.

 

To give her credit Lumidee's voice is quite sweet and clear but it's all wrapped up in a psuedo dancehall beat that calls to my mind Reggae and you ought to know my feelings on that genre by now!