18th September: THAT GIRL - McFly

 

As mentioned a few pages back (I think?), I hated McFly when they arrived as they seemed to simply continue where Busted left off once they split, filling the gap in the market for teenage girls to swoon over some pretty boy teenagers playing guitars and novelty Queen covers. But then years later something odd happened. I properly listened to a couple of their songs, particularly those released in their first year or so, and found myself weirdly enjoying them. And that I put down to Tom Fletcher being more than just a lucky guy with a record deal and instead blessed with the possession of a really quite surprisingly good songwriting brain.

 

I'd love to be writing about 'Five Colours in Her Hair' or the class 'Obviously' here, but as they were (deserved!) #1 hits instead it's this one, which is a bit of a shame as it's one of their weaker ones, it's got some nice 60s Beach Boys influences but just doesn't have the kick of their first two singles. They rescued it in 2005 with the brill 'All About You', but after that they lost me a bit. Still around today though and last year's 'Love Is Easy' is a fun listen.

 

25th September: AMERICAN IDIOT - Green Day

 

There was a time, as hard as it is to believe now, when it was cool to hate America. The moment they opened fire on Iraq in 2003 they lost major world credibility for years, getting at least some sympathy when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 but not really rescuing things until Obama succeeded Bush at the end of the decade.

 

Green Day seized on this at the perfect time. Can you imagine a song about being an 'American Idiot' coming out now? I'm not sure it would work, and although not completely about Iraq it struck enough of a chord with UK music buyers to make this their highest ever charting single, finally beating the #7 the epic that is 'Basket Case' got in early 1995. But not only was the sentiment right, so was the song, as from the moment THAT riff comes in you know you're listening to something brilliant. Comparing this to McFly above, it's a case of the Kings triumphing over the copycats, an awesome guitar stomper that joins Basket Case in being destined to be played in indie clubs forever.

 

The album it came from turned to be equally as good and provided us with one of the best things they've ever done, the awe-inspiring 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' that did just as well the following year.

 

9th October: FLASHDANCE - Deep Dish

 

WHAT A FEELING wait what.

 

Nope, not a looped-house Irene Cara cover (thank god!) but, shock horror, a 2004 dance track in the top 3 that isn't all that bad, featuring a guitar riff that ingrained into my head so much I ended up thinking I was hearing it in the background of every song for a while. With indie now in full-swing, this was one of the dance tracks that tried to meld the two together, seen again with the Bodyrockers' 'I Like the Way You Move' doing just as well a year later.

 

It's almost deceptively simple, keeping that riff going and letting singer Anousheh Khalili casually sing a few lines every now and then. But one listen and it will not leave, indeed it's stuck in my brain all over again now, damn it Deep Dish! Given that 2004 was the year dance died, it's good to hear something well above average for the time doing very good indeed.

 

16th October: MORE MORE MORE - Rachel Stevens

 

I loved Sweet Dreams My LA Ex. For some reason it reminds me of Woolworths, whenever I went there during the late summer/early autumn of 2003 it seemed to be playing and is a great pop gem of the year. Unfortunately nothing else former S Clubber Stevens released ever compared for me, not even the big #2 that was 'Some Girls' in summer 2004. By the time she released this - a cover of the 1976 disco track - she'd become an outdated bit of irrelevance to my eyes and ears. To the 16 year old me a 90s pop star covering a 70s song was the least coolest thing you could imagine, and listening nine years on, while it's a fun song this cover's simply just a pointless exercise. Listen to the Andrea True Connection original instead, which at least has an instrumental break featuring what would become Len's 'Steal My Sunshine' 20-odd years later in the middle.

 

Not only is the video unavailable on youtube, but I can't even find any clean versions of the 2:47 single mix - all there seems to be is the different (and slightly slower) 3:33 album version. Spotify will give you the single mix though, not much difference except it's over a lot quicker.

 

30th October: MILLIONAIRE - Kelis feat. Andre 3000

 

Fair to say that 2004 is probably one of Kelis's favourite years. Both 'Milkshake' and 'Trick Me' had been massive #2 hits here and then goes and sneaks in a third top 3 before the year's through. For someone who at one point seemed almost a one hit wonder beforehand ('Caught Out There' reaching #4 in early 2000 then two underwhelming #19 and #32 tracks) it was quite the comeback.

 

But then when you're paired with the guy responsible for 'Hey Ya' you're pretty much guaranteed another smash. This I remember sounded pretty unique at the time and indeed could perhaps have been a hit at the end of the decade with its subtle electro sounds, indeed it's a nicely chilled track which passes through your ears very pleasantly indeed. We last saw her in the charts with 'Bounce' doing pretty well in 2011, if at least with the help of Calvin Harris - given her habit of coming back every three or four years, maybe her next hit will come in 2014?

 

6th November: NOTHING HURTS LIKE LOVE - Daniel Bedingfield

 

Nope, I didn't know he lasted this long either. Starting out as a pop-garage star at the end of 2001 with the ok Gotta Get Thru This, he changed styles the following year to be a bland crooner instead and ended up with two more #1s, 'If You're Not The One' which got played all the bloody time on music channels and made me get sick of it fast, and the following summer's Never Gonna Leave Your Side. Here's his last top 3 hit and penultimate ever appearance in the top 40, just one more #12 to follow in the new year.

 

It feels like a song where the title was thought of first and then a song clumsily put around it, particularly with lyrics like "Nothing! Nothing! Nothing hurts like love!!" as if he's boasting about how awesome the title is. Or rather actual writer Diane Warren is, which is surprising as she's the same woman who wrote Faith Hill's former #3 'There You'll Be', Toni Braxton's 'Unbreak My Heart', Aerosmith's 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing' and about a million other classic songs. This feels like a B-side in comparison, incredibly poor song although I'm guessing Ms Warren never expected anyone to actually release it as a single.

 

No official video on youtube, just some terrible Game of Thrones/Twilight etc fan ones. Here's an almost-as-bad 2007 Windows Movie Maker sideshow to go with the audio.

 

13th November: MY PREROGATIVE - Britney Spears

 

Erm, wow. That was the reaction of 16 year old me when I first saw this pop up on the music channels. Having begun as a teenage star five years earlier and slowly but surely ramping up the sexuality every few releases, she's now writhing around a bed in her underwear and basically growling instead of singing. Too much? At least, I thought, the song's pretty good and one of the best thing's she's ever...wait, what do you mean it's a cover?

 

Yep, it's a Bobby Brown song from 1988 but I had no idea at the time and thought it was a pretty clever Britney original, particularly with the lines "Everybody's talking all this stuff about me". I do feel a bit sorry for Britney at points as by now it feels like the press were tearing her apart with glee at every turn, and looking back her much publicised breakdown a couple of years later was pretty inevitable. This got some rather mixed reviews at the time and failed to chart at all in the US, but did at least do well all over Europe and in Australia. Having since heard the Brown original, yeah I guess his is a little better, even though every Bobby (and indeed Chris) Brown song I hear today makes me a little uneasy cus of, you know, the whole domestic abuse thing and all.

 

As controversial an opinion as this may be, I still think it's one of the last above-average things Britney's done to date, nothing since her post-breakdown comeback particularly impressing me. To think though that this is the same singer who at the start of the decade was sweetly singing 'Born to Make You Happy'...

 

Edited July 19, 201311 yr by BillyH

27th November: IF THERE'S ANY JUSTICE - Lemar

 

And there we go. The last #3 of 2004 and the last of this thread, the end of the 133(!) #3s we've looked at from January 2000 to the mid-point of the decade. I don't think I'll be doing 2005-09 any time soon as the list simply doesn't interest me as much, there's some fun ones in 2005 but after that I think the best songs tend to chart at different positions. More likely to do the 1990s although with a busy summer ahead I can't make any promises!

 

Before I go onto this final song, here's a look back at a few memorable ones, arranged in my own special lists:

 

All-Time Classics:

Santana - Smooth

Darude - Sandstorm

Delerium - Silence

Faith Hill - There You'll Be

Ian Van Dahl - Castles in the Sky

PPK - Resurrection

Doves - There Goes the Fear

Jurgen Vries - The Opera Song (Brave New World)

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Keane - Somewhere Only We Know

Rasmus - In The Shadows

 

They weren't #1s?!:

Tom Jones - Sex Bomb

Blue - One Love

50 Cent - In Da Club

Jamelia - Superstar

Outkast - Hey Ya!

Anastacia - Left Outside Alone

Maroon 5 - This Love

 

Forgotten Gems:

Mya - Case of the Ex

Samantha Mumba - Always Come Back To Your Love

Jennifer Lopez - Ain't It Funny

Sophie Ellis Bextor - Get Over You

Christina Milian - When You Look At Me

Christina Aguilera - Fighter

Will Young - Your Game

411 - Dumb

 

To be buried in a pit and never heard again:

Richard Blackwood - Mama Who Da Man

So Solid Crew - They Don't Know

Cheeky Girls - Hooray Hooray (It's a CHeeky Holiday)

Rachel Stevens- More More More

 

Comparing my musical tastes from January 2000 to December 2004, they couldn't be more different. Aged 11 it was almost everything that was in the charts save for the occasional song or group with 'Girl' in the title, eagerly lapping up every bit of new manufactured pop goodness that got launched. But by 2004 the bland R&B, looped-house dance and talent show releases didn't appeal at all, and by that Christmas it was late nights on Radio 1 listening to hard house and underground trance music - plus, through some terrible quality mp3s, discovering the early 90s rave scene I was too young to remember the first time around. Not until 2008 would my tastes begin to lead towards pop again, and when the Guetta era began a year later we were back in business.

 

So poor Lemar here never really got a look in for me, perhaps fitting that a talent show contestant ends the list - this one from Fame Academy, and the most I ever heard of it at the time was flicking through the music channels in the hope of hearing some Michael Gray or Eric Prydz. Although this is the first (and only) Lemar song I could name, he'd been around for over a year by now and this wasn't even his biggest hit, 2003's 'Dance (With U)' getting to #2. Saying that it's probably his best known, and finally getting a proper listen nine years on it's a lot better than my hazy memories suggested, surprisingly melodic and tuneful and is working pretty well in this summer heat despite being a winter hit. He did, incredibly, end up with a #8 hit as recently as 2010 (The Way Love Goes, presumably not a Janet Jackson cover), I'll be damned if I remember it though.

 

We are done! Thanks everyone for commenting and reading :)

Thanks for the thread. Some great tracks peaking at #3. 'Hey Ya' and 'Millionaire'. :heart:

9th October: FLASHDANCE - Deep Dish

 

Was never really much of a fan of this, I preferred the melancholic "Say Hello" which was a moderate Top 20 hit for them the following July.

What amazing number 3s from 2000

 

Say My Name

The Great Beyond :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

Silence

Sandstrom

Walking Away :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

A Song for the Lovers :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

and then the awfulness of 2001 with Elevation, that Papa Roach rubbish and Starry Eyed Surprise.

Edited July 28, 201311 yr by AnthonyT