Unfaithful! :wub: One of my favourite songs of all time.

05TH AUGUST- AIN'T NO OTHER MAN- Christina Aguilera (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/Ain't_No_Other_Man_-_Single.PNG

 

Confession time. I don't like Jazz, and "big band" 30s/ 40s music holds limited appeal for me, hence I'm not a fan of this. The fact that the mighty "Hurt" followed this shows just what she was still more than capable of in 2006, there is also far too much showboating of Aguilera's vocals on this, the kind of attempt to defeat the listener by strength and power of the voice that sadly would mar much of Carey's work post 1998.

 

There is no doubt that she can sing, and that she has an "A" grade voice, but there is something ultimately "hard faced" about Aguilera, far too clinical in performance that strips the emotion away, she is in this way, a much nearer relation to Madonna than may at first be apparent. She may not the master marketeer that the latter is but the marked need for a new image with every album, and a career filled with controversy would suggest she's picked up a few tricks from the material girl.

 

In conclusion "Ain't No Other Man" is a perfectly competant piece of pop without anything you can positively say is bad, but for all that SOMETHING is just missing....

 

I do like Unfaithul a lot now, wasn't too keen on it back in summer 06 whereas strangely it's kind of the opposite with Aint No Other Man which I liked at the time but quite dislike now

19TH AUGUST- EVERYTIME WE TOUCH- Cascada (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Everytime_We_Touch.jpg

 

Well thank god for "Hips Don't Lie" is all I can say! I've never seen the appeal of this kind of music, real top deck of the bus on a mobile phone kinda thing. I know "the kids" love it (or certainly the kids of 06 did) but this seems bereft of any kind of positivity that I can think of. Lyrically simple, it seems like a less developed little brother of "From Paris To Berlin" (yes I didn't think that was possible either) but perhaps this is where we had been heading since Scooter way back in 2002.

 

I'm not a Cascada fan (as you can tell) and you could say it's just disposible dance music but even that would do an injustice to dance music in all fairness, the one small bit of hope that we can pull from this is that it didn't even sell 20k to make No 2 (it's the lowest selling weekly figure for a No 2 peaking song in the year) so it is perhaps punching above its weight in this thread. Dreadful

 

26th AUGUST- RIDIN- Chamillionaire Featuring Krayzie Bone (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/56/RidinChamillionaireKB.jpg

 

Racial profiling and police butality- nice breezy pop tune then- of course not this is 50 cent-lite Chamillionaire! I have to confess that I don't mind this one, there seems something genuinely ominous about the orchestration that backs up the message in quite a sinister way which lifts it above the bog standard piece of US Rap that was ten to a dozen at the time.

 

I'm not an expert on the genre but for some reason this holds my interest, it may have just enough pop in it to get past my censors. Chamillionaire never really bothered us again so you can't complain he overstayed his welcome, in short, not that bad

 

 

I loved both of those though I do feel sorry for Chamillionaire in a way as Weird Al's parody of his song, the brilliant "White and Nerdy", seems to be a lot more famous. You're right about Cascada being "mobile phone music" as well; I was actually there to witness that! Looking at the remainder of the No 2's for the decade I've spotted about three more that were

05TH AUGUST- AIN'T NO OTHER MAN- Christina Aguilera (1 wk)

 

 

Confession time. I don't like Jazz, and "big band" 30s/ 40s music holds limited appeal for me, hence I'm not a fan of this. The fact that the mighty "Hurt" followed this shows just what she was still more than capable of in 2006, there is also far too much showboating of Aguilera's vocals on this, the kind of attempt to defeat the listener by strength and power of the voice that sadly would mar much of Carey's work post 1998.

 

There is no doubt that she can sing, and that she has an "A" grade voice, but there is something ultimately "hard faced" about Aguilera, far too clinical in performance that strips the emotion away, she is in this way, a much nearer relation to Madonna than may at first be apparent. She may not the master marketeer that the latter is but the marked need for a new image with every album, and a career filled with controversy would suggest she's picked up a few tricks from the material girl.

 

In conclusion "Ain't No Other Man" is a perfectly competant piece of pop without anything you can positively say is bad, but for all that SOMETHING is just missing....

 

 

 

It's weird to think that, besides a certain 2011 #2, 'Ain't No Other Man' is Christina's last top 10 hit to date. It's sad that her last solo top 10 hit was in 2006 while Britney is still going relatively strong. I always thought Christina deserved the most success of the two. :(

 

In regards to the other #2s of 2006, I absolutely adored 'Unfaithful' when it was released. It was the song that made me a HUGE fan of Rihanna in the first place. 'Umbrella' cemented my fandom and the likes of 'Disturbia', 'Only Girl (In the World)' and 'We Found Love' just added to my adoration of her.

 

The likes of 'From Paris to Berlin' and 'Everytime We Touch' are best left in 2006.

 

Can't wait to see the 2009 #2s. My favourite song ever features there. :D

30TH SEPTEMBER- WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG- The Killers (2 wks)

 

http://members.shaw.ca/yuksreview/SingleEPReviews/WhenYouWereYoung.jpg

 

BEST.BAND.OF.THE.DECADE! You can keep your Coldplay's and your Keane's etc, it's always been the Killers for me. They've always appeared like an american indie version of the Pet Shop Boys for me, perhaps its the lyrical dysfunctionalism (?!), or the sublime use of those synths on some of their work but you'd have to have legs of stone not to tap along to their finer moments. OK so things like "Mr Brightside" have now become over played and over revered, but there is always a nugget of truth in these things, and whilst it's true that "Sam's Town" sounds a little less personal than its predecessor, lead single "When You Were Young" is all kinds of AMAZE! Full of longing, heartbreak, crushed hope, and nostalgia, it is in short much like a small opera, a tale told in under 4 minutes (whatever happened to strong narratives in a song?).

 

Perhaps they just appeal to my rather melancholic side but this is all rapped up in a guitar thronged tune that is a practical assault on the senses and rushes at a metaphorical 100mph from the off. Yet make no mistake it's all about that bridge for me, the religious overtones, the quiet before the storm, the perfect unity of the orchestration and the story, a lot of thought has gone into this, and it shows. Unquestionably one of my tracks of the decade if not of all time- yeah I went there!

 

11TH NOVEMBER- YEAH YEAH- Bodyrox Featuring Luciana (1 wk)

 

http://www.abload.de/img/0016r2z.jpg

 

Whilst over in clubland this was apparently all the rage. With a "suggestive" video I don't recall it creating much of a furore at the time, and in truth this track leaves me cold, then again I'd long concluded that me and dance music had seperated around 2004 and wouldn't really fall back in love until roughly 2009.

 

Luciana would go onto guest with Taio Cruz on "Come On Girl" in 2008 and write songs for amongst others Kylie Minogue, but this for me, remains just an oddity that isn't unjustly, by and large, forgotten about now.

 

Totally agree about When You Were Young. Definitely Top 10 of the 2000s for me

When You Were Young is INCREDIBLE. :wub: It's probably very high up in my favourite songs of all time as well.

18TH NOVEMBER- THE SAINTS ARE COMING- Green Day & U2 (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/U2_and_Green_Day_-_The_Saints_Are_Coming_cover.jpg

 

Released in support of the Edge's musical charity "Music Rising" which was established to replace musical instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina, this cover of the Skids 1978 track is an honourable enough affair and was released with rather less righteousness on the part of Bono. This was in and out of the charts quicker than you could blink and as a result it never settled into my conciousness.

 

It isn't a terrible cover and the video is at least engaging with an alternative history where Bush recalls troops from Iraq to help the aftermath of the hurricane and segues in from "House Of The Rising Sun", an appropriate track given that is a southern US folk song about life gone wrong in New Orleans. Slightly less pompous than a lot of U2 00's stuff and better for it, though still not great.

 

25TH NOVEMBER- MY LOVE- Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/My_Love_-_Single_low.jpg

 

Ah nothing says 2006 quite like Timbaland, and his work has never been quite so exhaulted as it was in the those two Timberlake albums. Much better than the overly repetitive "Sexyback" which may have more naked ambition in its construct but "My Love" has a heart where the former is empty, the production is much more precise and the synths have been notched up a fair bit to make the track have something approaching soul. The video is of course a choreographer's dream with Timberlake evidencing quite why he was one of the biggest popstar's on the planet at the time.

 

But it's more than just dancing and production here, he and Timbaland co-wrote and co-produced the track so it feels in actual fact an equal venture between them in a way that some of Timbaland's other projects don't (yes Nelly Furtado I'm looking at you). Kind of makes you sad that he decided he can't be bothered with this pop lark any more but this is a reminder of how great a popstar he was back in the day.

 

24TH SEPTEMBER- WE BE BURNIN- Sean Paul (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Webeburnin.jpg

 

If there is a downside to noughties music, and there undoubtedly is, it's an over reliance on the lowest denominator, the quick gimmick over the sturdy tune, it's part of the explanation as to why single sales dropped off, though of course the transfer to downloads helped considerably with this. Sean Paul is sadly a reflection of this, in 2003 the guy was ubiquitous, seemingly popping up on every other top 10 hit to the point of saturation. Come 2005 we'd had a break but here he was back with a new album and his biggest solo hit ad a sensitive plea to legalising marijuana (in it's original form) before a "radio" version was produced altering references and making it appear about women.

 

The problem with this track is that all sounds very 2003 still, that break doesn't seem to have inspired him into any new musical avenues. Ok the album hosted a veritable who's who of RNB (very much flavour of the month in the mid 00s) but his choice of lead single was interesting as it illustrates perhaps a lack of his conviction, best to stick with what people know. He's not the first to suffer this fate and he won't be the last but it convinced enough people he had no other string to his bow so that the next album (2009's "Imperial Blaze") was a damp squib here barely scraping the top 40, perhaps the rise of electro pop helped to dull his star.

 

The point here is that much of the music of the mid 00s only played on, rather than challenged, musical stereotypes and cliches of its respective genre (this went for indie as much as reggae) as this is a prime example of that laziness, with music this predicitable you have to ask what was the point?

 

Several times I have thought about replying in disagreement to one of your posts on number 2s in 2005 (I've been browsing for the last 10 mins) and several times I stopped typing or thinking about my response.

 

 

A summary of which

 

Empty Souls - far better than Richard Nixon and should have been the lead single, Feel Good Inc - instantly great and the only Gorillaz track that I love, Speed of Sound - text-book U2.

 

I loved Sean Paul and felt that he had proper melody and hooks in his songs. We Be Burnin' being one of his best (Like Glue probably his best though). I never felt it was a gimmic and always though it was great relief from 50 Cent and Eminem's macho shite. He cant have been that gimmicky to have hits in 2003 and then again in 2005 and now again in 2012.

 

 

It's like saying Muse are gimicky because they have songs that are good.

 

Anyway, I look forward to his greatest hits. :D

 

 

30TH SEPTEMBER- WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG- The Killers (2 wks)

 

http://members.shaw.ca/yuksreview/SingleEPReviews/WhenYouWereYoung.jpg

 

BEST.BAND.OF.THE.DECADE! You can keep your Coldplay's and your Keane's etc, it's always been the Killers for me.

 

 

Dear oh dear.

 

 

Muse and Bloc Party blew everyone else off the face of the planet in the last 10 years. The Killers are very skilled at mimicking other bands - they do their homework. But it's maths home-work and they know their formulae. When We Were Young = Beautiful Day + Speed of Sound. An effective song, but it just was too obviously derivative for me to take seriously. Still better than the awful Human. :P

Edited December 18, 201212 yr by AnthonyT

25TH NOVEMBER- MY LOVE- Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I (1 wk)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/My_Love_-_Single_low.jpg

 

Ah nothing says 2006 quite like Timbaland, and his work has never been quite so exhaulted as it was in the those two Timberlake albums. Much better than the overly repetitive "Sexyback" which may have more naked ambition in its construct but "My Love" has a heart where the former is empty, the production is much more precise and the synths have been notched up a fair bit to make the track have something approaching soul. The video is of course a choreographer's dream with Timberlake evidencing quite why he was one of the biggest popstar's on the planet at the time.

 

But it's more than just dancing and production here, he and Timbaland co-wrote and co-produced the track so it feels in actual fact an equal venture between them in a way that some of Timbaland's other projects don't (yes Nelly Furtado I'm looking at you). Kind of makes you sad that he decided he can't be bothered with this pop lark any more but this is a reminder of how great a popstar he was back in the day.

 

The second of 4 perfect singles and probably the best singles run of any album of the decade (Hot Fuss, Black Holes and Revelations, Absolution, Loose and Silent Alarm run it close though).

Several times I have thought about replying in disagreement to one of your posts on number 2s in 2005 (I've been browsing for the last 10 mins) and several times I stopped typing or thinking about my response.

A summary of which

 

Empty Souls - far better than Richard Nixon and should have been the lead single, Feel Good Inc - instantly great and the only Gorillaz track that I love, Speed of Sound - text-book U2.

 

I loved Sean Paul and felt that he had proper melody and hooks in his songs. We Be Burnin' being one of his best (Like Glue probably his best though). I never felt it was a gimmic and always though it was great relief from 50 Cent and Eminem's macho shite. He cant have been that gimmicky to have hits in 2003 and then again in 2005 and now again in 2012.

It's like saying Muse are gimicky because they have songs that are good.

 

Anyway, I look forward to his greatest hits. :D

Of all the songs I thought you might have issue with Sean Paul was never one Tony! :lol:

 

Of course they're just my thoughts and it is a thread intended to stimulate debate, horses for courses an all but I can never be convinced on Sean Paul :D and a definition of a "good song" I can't stretch to him. Muse on the other hand have done some qwalitee songs over the years but they've never reached Killers stature in my eyes.

Of all the songs I thought you might have issue with Sean Paul was never one Tony! :lol:

 

Of course they're just my thoughts and it is a thread intended to stimulate debate, horses for courses an all but I can never be convinced on Sean Paul :D and a definition of a "good song" I can't stretch to him. Muse on the other hand have done some qwalitee songs over the years but they've never reached Killers stature in my eyes.

 

 

 

 

:D

 

Indeed. Debate is always good.

Dear oh dear.

Muse and Bloc Party blew everyone else off the face of the planet in the last 10 years. The Killers are very skilled at mimicking other bands - they do their homework. But it's maths home-work and they know their formulae. When We Were Young = Beautiful Day + Speed of Sound. An effective song, but it just was too obviously derivative for me to take seriously. Still better than the awful Human. :P

 

How can you not think When You Were Young is amazing :o

 

I do agree about Human though worst single they've ever released, everything elses completely pisses all over it :puke2: and what makes it worst is the fact it's their best selling single as well. A similar issue arises with another artist who will appear on this thread very soon

Dear oh dear.

Muse and Bloc Party blew everyone else off the face of the planet in the last 10 years. The Killers are very skilled at mimicking other bands - they do their homework. But it's maths home-work and they know their formulae. When We Were Young = Beautiful Day + Speed of Sound. An effective song, but it just was too obviously derivative for me to take seriously. Still better than the awful Human. :P

Muse and Bloc Party are hardly supremely original, though.

 

I still stand by "The Saints Are Coming", not a highlight in either band's discography but it would have been a difficult one to fuck up. Two biggest bands in the world collaborating really merits a #1 though, I despise Westlife for that to this day.