I Like The Way is a brilliant track to this day, so unique with the rock influences and spoken vocals.

Sounds like it could've been a bigger hit had it been released a few years earlier too as by this point the genre was dying in the chart.

 

It was originally released in 2002 reaching #56.

Shame they couldn't have turned it into a hit then. Not surprised it was originally released in 2002 as it sounds more like it's from that era than a 2005 release.

Blue Water is an amazing progressive house track...the vocal is brilliant....Also Blue Water production wise sort of starts the later deadmau5 style that would emerge in 2009. I think I remember it from the time and also it has been played a lot on Cool FM dance classics where I live in NI, for some reason considering it wasn't a big hit (are Black Rock from NI?) :unsure: .... Shine on Me I also remember is played a lot on the dance classics show of that radio station, really thought Shine On Me was a bigger hit than it was as a result.

 

Shame they couldn't have turned it into a hit then. Not surprised it was originally released in 2002 as it sounds more like it's from that era than a 2005 release.

It was originally released in 2002 reaching #56.

 

Not surprised it flopped in 2002 as house was struggling in the charts, as the emphasis was on vocal trance in 2002.

 

Also it's not really an unusual hit for 2005, considering Most Precious Love, another gospel house track was a hit in early 2006.

 

Sounds like it could've been a bigger hit had it been released a few years earlier too as by this point the genre was dying in the chart.

 

I don't think funky house was dying out at this point in the charts, not till about mid 2006 I would say did it start to decline in the chart. Even in early 2007 there were still a few hits. There was a small revival in 2008 too in the charts as electro went away for a while.

 

Believe is excellent, but I Like The Way has been quite overplayed over the years, I still like it though, I suppose with its rock influence it must have inspired by 90s rock/dance tracks like The Power by Snap! and Everybody Dance Now by C+C Music Factory.

Edited April 21, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

I'd love that song if it wasn't for the opening half of that song. He sounds like a serial rapist. The rest is epic.

 

Yes the opening half a bit annoying with the vocal, the second half of the song is much better imo.

Max Graham vs. Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

 

 

Date: 22nd May 2005

Weeks at #1: 1 week

Official Chart Run: 9-16-21-22-29-40-50-66-x (8 weeks)

 

 

'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' was originally a song by English progressive rock band Yes, taken as the first single from "90125" in 1983. The history of Yes band members is very long and the lineup has had multiple changes, though at the time of the original recording consisted of vocalist Jon Anderson, guitarist Trevor Rabin and other members Tony Kaye, Chris Squire and Alan White - with Trevor Horn as producer.

 

It would only be able to peak at #28 (though it did make #1 in the US), but would eventually find its way into the top ten following a remix by Canadian DJ Max Graham in 2005. In doing so becoming the band's second top 10 hit following 'Wonderous Stories' (#7, 1977). The band are still going today but have not released any new material since 2014's 'Heaven & Earth' - their 21st studio album.

 

Max Graham was born in London, England and also lived in Spain, New York City and L.A. before settling in Ottowa, Canada by the age of 18. He was active before even then, starting as a hip-hop and scratch DJ in the 80s before becoming a dance music DJ in the 90s and starting to produce his own tracks in 2000. He had just one hit single before disappearing back underground. Now, he still releases music and is known as a techno and trance producer, as well as running Cycles - a weekly radio show.

 

'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' is far from the kind of music he makes now however, with the song basically being a house beat attached to the original song. It doesn't do much in the way of changing it, with the original vocal and guitar remaining very prominent. You could say it's a lazy remix but I do like it for what it is, it's catchy and upbeat and doesn't take out the good bits from the original . At the time of course I didn't know that this, and indeed most dance songs were actually covers/remixes, but the point stands.

 

I imagine the biggest selling point of the song was the music video though. It doesn't feature Yes or Graham, instead consisting of two schoolboys who run off and get hot girls in little clothing to come to their house to dance for them. Eventually the pizza man comes around and gets involved too, cos why not. :lol:

 

Other dance songs entering the top 40 this week were Mylo's '

' (#13), Gadjo's '

' (#22) and StoneBridge vs. Ultra Nate's '

' (#37). The next week however there was a huge release, so big it'll be denying one of the other biggest dance hits of the year an entry in this thread (though it may well receive an honourable entry).

There are two top 10 dance hits the next one denies a dance number 1 iirc on different weeks, they are both good tunes, but I do prefer the later one for obvious reasons :funky: (which wasn't as big a hit)

 

The Owner Of A Lonely Heart remix I remember from the time, I knew it was an old 80s song and was very familiar with the original before then. Thought it was just another song that took the original and added a beat for doing exercise to, and not dance music as I still equated dance music with trance and eurotrance at this stage for some reason (probably because we had years of it before). I did like it though, mostly because I liked the original. The original was very ahead of its time imo, even though it was an 80s track it has some 90s rave style sound effects in the breakdown before the guitar solo in it. Anyway I agree that the Max Graham remix is perhaps a bit lazy, having not much change to the original apart from a beat, but it does change a bit at the end from the original with some looped vocals added to it in the background. Still a good remix though imo upon listening to it today.

 

Freak On I really liked, I remember hearing it from the time. Still really like it now. Listening to it now, the synths are very Shakedown - At Night in style, I am guessing that track was an inspiration for this.

 

Don't remember the Gadjo one at all much from the time, maybe very vaguely. It reminds me of Ray Foxx ft Rachel K Collier - Boom Boom, being from the same subgenre of Latin house. Both are great tracks as I do like Latin house (better summery tropical sounding vibes imo than today's tropical house)

 

In My Arms I may have heard a bit at the time, but it's the Currys advert in 2008 that I remember it most from and I did like it then, even if for some reason I thought it was a remix of With Every Heartbeat by Robyn and Kleerup. Now listening to it, it seems more chilled than most 2005 dance songs. It is also slower paced than most dance songs of the time, so in both respects it is definitely more current to today's chart dance music than a lot of 2005 chart dance songs.

Edited April 24, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

The Max Graham remix really elevates 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' for me *.* I miss when dance reworkings of classics were this good.

 

Echoing that the majority of the vocals on 'I Like The Way You Move' are a tad creepy :lol: the production is magnificent though.

The Max Graham remix really elevates 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' for me *.* I miss when dance reworkings of classics were this good.

 

Well one of my favourite remixes of an old song that makes it so much better than the original also makes the chart later in August 2005, Little Love by Lil Love, a remix of Coldcut ft Lisa Stansfield's 1989 track People Hold On (itself remixed in 1996 by Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and becoming a number 4 hit). The Lil Love one is my favourite one though. Only makes number 34 though. Was on the music channels a lot at the time though. Love this kind of funky progressive house production. :wub:

 

 

In terms of other full song remixes in 2005, the Pump Up The Jam remix by D.O.N.S. later in the year is great too, didn't know it was a remix at the time though.

Edited April 24, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

The original was entered in BJSC 80s spin-off by myself.

 

Please can we have a brief review of the other dance tracks that made the Top40 for that particular week.

 

 

Crazy Frog - Axel F

 

http://www.bong-records.com/magento2/media/catalog/product/c/r/crazyfrogaxelf200532872_f.jpg

 

Date:4th June 2005

Weeks at #1: 11 weeks

Official Chart Run: 1-1-1-1-2-4-6-8-10-10-13-20-31-48-67-72-99 (17 weeks)

 

 

This was the biggest dance song of 2005 in terms of chart performance, with 4 weeks at number 1, but it definitely more remembered as a novelty song. Crazy Frog is a computer-animated character created in 2003 by Swedish actor and playwright Erik Wernquist.

 

For reasons best known to himself, in 1997, 17-year-old Gothenburg student Daniel Malmedahl recorded himself imitating the noises produced by internal combustion engines. He posted this on a website and caught the attention of a Swedish television researcher, who convinced Daniel to perform the sound live on air. After the TV performance, the sound was shared online under the filename "2TAKTARE.MP3" ("Tvåtaktare" is Swedish for "two stroker" as in the two stroke engine he was imitating).

 

The sound later appeared on a static image online of a Formula 1 car called "Deng Deng Form" and later named "The Insanity Test".

 

In 2003, Erik Wernquist, encountering the sound online and not knowing about the background of the sound effect, created a character called 'The Annoying Thing' from it. The animation became popular on Erik's website and eventually Ringtone Europe and Jamster België discovered it and started to market it under the name 'Crazy Frog' (which Wernquist disapproved of, and said he wouldn't have allowed if he had of known it was going to become so big, saying the character wasn't crazy or a frog) from mid 2004. The Jamster ads featuring the Crazy Frog on music channels loads prior to Axel F, so I was familiar with Crazy Frog and it and the song, I didn't really like at the time as I found it too commercially orientated.

 

Anyway, Axel F was produced by Bass Bumpers, a German dance production team. The instrumental is a Eurodance style cover of Harold Faltermeyer's electronic synthpop instrumental theme Axel F from the Beverley Hills Cop soundtrack. This original charted at number 2 in the UK in 1985.

 

The 'What's Going On' and some of the instrumental from it was sampled from an earlier remix of Axel F in 2003 by Murphy Brown and Captain Hollywood.

 

The video for Axel F is animated and set in the future, a common theme of several early 00s Eurodance videos as we have seen in this thread.

 

The Crazy Frog version of Axel F in all went number 1 in 11 countries, these being mostly in Europe plus in Australia and New Zealand. Crazy Frog went on to have a further 4 top 20 singles in the UK.

 

I am doing an honorary post for two non novelty dance songs that missed out, plus a few other dance tunes around at the time will get a brief mention after that.

 

 

I remember thinking that, in ten years time (which has already passed, yikes), the Crazy Frog would be hailed as some kind of iconic reminder of people's child/teenagehood and be hailed nostalgically on internet forums of the future. Except that hasn't happened and instead people seem to have quietly forgotten it out of embarrassment :P

 

At its peak, you could literally flick through every music channel on Sky, and see this song at least once before having to go back to the beginning - either as an advert or as a full video. It did annoy me that various news sources at the time called this "the first ringtone to be number 1" - it's not, it's a three minute song with a ringtone sample slapped over the top, not actually just the ringtone on its own! But it made headlines at least and gave a new generation an excuse to complain about how terrible the charts are compared to their youth.

Two dance songs that missed out on dance number 1 because of Crazy Frog.

 

Audio Bullys ft Nancy Sinatra - Shot You Down

 

Chart run: 9-10-7-3-6-5-9-10-14-16-19-28-30-39-56-67-70-98 (+ 12/11/05 96-82) (20 weeks top 100)

 

 

I remember this one from the time, more for the Nancy vocal than anything. I considered it more indie than dance at the time for some reason but I did like it at the time because of the Nancy vocal mostly.

 

It really sounds completely different to any other dance song at the time, Believe by The Chemical Brothers probably being most similar in its bass heavy urban sounding big beat production.

 

Audio Bullys were a duo from London consisting of Simon Franks and Tom Dinsdale. After 2012 when Dinsdale left they only consisted of Simon Franks. Simon Franks also produces music under his own name and I posted Bart B More x Steff Da Campo Feat. Simon Franks - Jump recently on Buzzjack which I really liked not initially knowing Simon Franks was from Audio Bullys but noting the similarity to their sound.

 

Anyway, the Audio Bullys had two hits before Shot You Down, We Don't Care (reaching number 15) (which was in the late 00s used as a soundtrack for a Lucozade advert, which meant when Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal/ Armand van Helden became a hit (more about that later) it did remind me of We Don't Care in its electro synths and its confessional humorous rap verse).

 

The Things/Turned Away was also a hit in 2003 reaching number 22.

 

The Audio Bullys had one last hit 'I'm in Love' in November 2005.

 

 

Inaya Day - Nasty Girl

 

 

Chart run: 9-13-24-24-35-42-49-64-88 (9 Weeks top 100)

 

This one definitely fits more into the dance trends for 2005, clearly following the funky house revival kickstarted by The Shapeshifters, this one has a similar mix of violins and horns in it that Lola's Theme had in it for instrumentation and also has some disco style guitar in it. I do remember this one from the time I think, although I had forgotten about it until I rediscovered it a few years ago when looking at the archive charts for the 00s. I remember the video with Inaya in her car on music channels at the time too. I did like it for being uplifting, and its retro style (I did wonder why such a retro sounding song had become a hit as well).

 

Inaya Day, a singer from New York, was most notable prior to this song for being the vocalist in perhaps one of the best known funky house songs ever, Horny 98' by Mousse T and Hot n' Juicy (which I didn't like at the time (I was 6 years old back then) because of the sexual theme of the lyrics :kink: ) Mousse T also produced Inaya's version of Nasty Girl (which was a cover of the Prince-written song of 1982 of the same name for girlband Vanity 6 (which wasn't a hit in the UK).

 

Inaya Day still sings and The Urge In Me (a progressive house track by her with Joe Gauthreaux) recently made my personal chart (have to get back to making personal charts soon btw).

 

Our next dance number 1 like this one is also a soulful vocal house track, but it is certainly more progressive house in its production this time rather than funky. I still really like it though!

Edited April 25, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

Crazy Frog was absolutely inescapable at the time :lol: it was the talk of school for a lil while and an advert featuring it was on all the time. I also remember going on holiday to Spain that year and them having loads of Crazy Frog merchandise available, my brother even bought a keyring that played it :') it was very annoying at the time but I have grown to like it over the years after the overplay died down. Very nostalgic!

it was the talk of school for a lil while and an advert featuring it was on all the time

 

I remember people in school doing the bo-bo-bi etc. bit, not as much having playground renditions as as 'Do You Really Like It (Is It Is It Wicked)' in 2001 though!

 

It's also not the only song from an advert at the time to make dance number 1 in 2005!

Ring Ding Ding - Pondlife - #11

 

 

Don't remember this, it is different to the Crazy Frog version, but a good version in itself.

 

Poison - Groove Coverage - #32

 

 

Don't remember this version from the time (wouldn't have liked this anyway as I didn't like Clubland eurodance back then), but for me, this is a precursor of the Cascada style of eurodance which would emerge in 2006.

 

Why - DJ Sammy - #7

 

 

Remember this from the time, I didn't mind this at the time, even if it was a bit cheesy and eurodancey for me to like that much. It is a good cover hearing it now, i like the fact that the singer sounds a lot like like Annie Lennox from the original

 

U Don't Know Me - Basement Jaxx ft Lisa Kekaula - #26

 

 

Another rock influenced dance track which I may remember a bit from the time, not one of Basement Jaxx's best but certainly more interesting than the similarly named Jax Jones and Raye song!

 

NY Excuse - Soulwax - #35

 

 

Don't remember this from the time, but heard it later on a late night dance classics radio show in the early 10s and really liked it, it is quite a tune!

 

Technologic - Daft Punk - #40

 

 

Don't remember this from the time, but this is quite a tune, much better than Robot Rock, ahead of its time too, similar electro voice sound effects were still being used in a song 7 years later LMFAO's Sorry For Party Rocking.

 

Also this song led to Rhymes by Hannah Wants and Chris Lorenzo in 2015, and I wasn't a big fan of that one as it was minimal bassline electro, which isn't really my sort of thing.

 

Say Hello - Deep Dish - #14

 

 

Remember this from the time, liked it, the ethereal vocal meant I kind of linked it at the time to Need To Feel Loved and Avalon as being a trend of the time.

 

Fading Like A flower - Dancing DJs v Roxette - #18

 

 

Remember this too from the time, I liked this remix, especially the buildup with the guitar and the retro vocal. It is quite eurodancey compared to a lot of the 80s remixes. Probably because Harry Hard, a UK hardcore producer was part of Dancing DJs and there is a bit of UK hardcore in the climax of the song.

 

Everybody - Martin Solveig - #22

 

 

Another rock influenced dance track, looks like this become a mini-trend after Bodyrockers - I Like The Way.

 

I may remember the guitar riff from it from the time, if not the rest of the song. It's not too bad, but not one of the better dance songs of 2005 for me.

Edited April 25, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

Weird that Audio Bullys Shot You Down was such a big summer dance hit, it doesn't sound very summery unlike the Inaya Day track.

 

I am guessing the reason the Audio Bullys track was such a big hit is that it stood out from the 80s remixes and soulful vocal house tracks of the time.

 

Anyway, like Flashdance in late 2004 (perhaps even more so) it's quite an uncommercial sounding dance track to do so well in the chart.

Axwell ft Tara McDonald - Feel The Vibe ('Til the Morning Comes)

 

 

Date: 14th August 2005

Weeks at #1: 1 week

Official Chart Run: 16-25-44-68-89 (5 weeks)

 

 

Uplifting vocal house songs (usually with retro sounding female vocals) were a big trend in the charts in the mid 00s, as we have seen with Lola's Theme, Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own), Shined On Me and Nasty Girl, but this one is much different to those in that the production isn't funky house but progressive house.

 

Axwell (real name Axel Christofer Hedfors) is a Swedish producer and DJ. He started off playing drums, having taught himself to them by the age of nine. He then went on to start producing electronic music by computer 4 months later. He produced techno and hard trance in the mid 90s, releasing an EP in the genre under the name OXL in 1995.

 

Feel The Vibe was released in late 2004, as an instrumental, upon which it started to receive major play in the clubs. Data Records contacted hit songwriter Tara McDonald to write and sing a top line for the UK release. She did this with longtime collaborator Tom Kent (who also recorded and produced the vocals) while handling the vocal arrangement.

 

Tara McDonald is an English-Irish songwriter and vocalist from Dartford, Kent. At the time of Feel The Vibe ('Til the Morning Comes) she was the singer on Strictly Come Dancing (she was the singer from 2004 to 2007 on the show). She would have one more hit in mid 2006 on a rerelease of Armand van Helden's My My My.

 

I remember this one a bit from the time I think, especially the breakdown on it and the video. I liked it at the time, I thought vocal house tracks like this were quite refreshing at the time compared to the earlier eurotrance, which I wasn't a fan of.

 

Axwell will be dance number 1 again on this thread later, but I do think Feel The Vibe (When the Morning Comes) is a better song. He will also appear before then as part of a duo, with another great tune.

 

Of course Axwell's greatest chart success was in the early 2010s as part of Swedish House Mafia, and now he is with one of the members of that group as Axwell ^ Ingrosso.

Edited April 28, 20178 yr by Вuzzjack

Axwell's best for me has been "I Found U", loved that one.

 

On this one I wasn't keen on the vocals...