That was my highest ranked song from its heat although still outside my overall top 10 - it is pretty annoying/cringeworthy.

Come On You Reds wasn't the worst #1 of 1994. The only football club to have a UK #1.

 

Frankee just cashed in on the fake feud with Eamon, Eamon's version was far better.

Do You remember when You walked among men

Ooh Jesus You know, if You’re looking below, it’s worse now than then

 

19th - One Day At A Time - Lena Martell

 

 

5th, 1952-1979 heat

 

Average score: 20.77

Highest score:

38 Popchartfreak

Lowest score:

4 Dandy, Uls2000

 

Number One for 3 weeks in October / November 1979, this was the only hit for Scottish singer Lena Martell (who I had assumed was American just from it being a Christian country style song). She has also worked in TV and in the West End.

 

1979 brought us classic Number 1s from Blondie, The Bee Gees, Gloria Gaynor, Gary Numan, The Buggles and Pink Floyd to name just a few… and then there was this! Listening through them it really sticks out like a sore thumb. I think it’s less unpleasant on the ears than much of the Top 20 here and I assume it appealed to a certain demographic at the time. The message to live life in the present moment seems fair enough, but all in all it’s really not for us.

1979 really was a great year for #1s on the whole (especially for a self-confessed New Wave fanatic) but 'One Day At A Time' feels so jarring to listen to when working through a #1s marathon, it's so dated anyway but sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the mostly fresh explosion of music elsewhere, indeed :lol: not for me ~

I don't think it's that bad as mentioned so I'm happy it's out. When listening to it and then to other songs here... well I was slight confused as to what was so bad about it but from a look up of the lyrics maybe not so much appealing to Buzzjack with the religious lyrics :lol: as her voice wasn't bad to me either. Each to their own though.

 

I don't overly adore it mind you either especially in with those mix of 1979 #1's :P

Edited November 7, 20222 yr by Roba!

don't think it's that bad either

maybe it doesn't sound modern but Ed-Perfect doesn't either

actually Perfect is a million times worst than this and even has worst lyrics

I just find such schmaltzy overly religious music a bit vom inducing, more power to others if they're into that kind of thing but nah x

 

That's the second of my top 10 to drop (34 from me, highest so far).

Obv I still hate it :o It was fake Country, for a start, so to me it was a 2nd-rate attempt at the real thing which just embarrassed me. It was cloying, it hogged the top spot in a classic year, and I had to listen to the dreary thing week after week. There are plenty of great Country songs and great religious songs and then there's this..... :teresa:

What a saccharine snoozefest of a song. Surely it sounded dated at the time it inexplicably made #1 as well, just look at some of the great stuff from ABBA, Michael Jackson, The Police, The Jam etc... in the chart at the same time.

I saw One Day At A Time on the Top Of The Pops 1979 repeat a couple of weeks back and was in awe of how much it stood out, how did it even get to No.1 in the first place in such a progressive year for music?

 

Musically, I don't hate it. If it had been a Patsy Cline single from the 1950s then sure, but in the context of it being a No.1 in 1979 - and considering what was around it in the chart - it's far from great.

I'm not a fan of many religious songs myself either but didn't find it too bad in here and it usually is a reason for high scores generally lol but I think it's not so bad in comparison to other songs of similar context. Thankfully theirs worse 70's pap still to come.

Edited November 7, 20222 yr by Roba!

Red manure get high score with been toffees fan and awful to

Lonely rivers sigh,

“Wait for me, wait for me”

 

18th - Unchained Melody - Robson & Jerome

 

 

3rd - 1980-1995 heat

 

Average score: 20.90

Highest score:

40 Jester

Lowest score:

3 marcinjaro

 

Number One for 7 weeks in May / June / July 1995 as a double A Side with “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover”. This held off “Guaglione” by Perez “Prez” Prato And His Orchestra, “Common People” by Pulp for 2 weeks and “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” by U2 for 2 weeks. It sold over 1.8 million copies and was the biggest seller of 1995 and remains in the top 10 physical sellers ever. And of course the success didn’t stop there - they only released 3 singles but all of them reached Number One. We were treated to 7 cover versions over just the 3 singles, 2 double As and a triple A!

 

Robson & Jerome appeared in the TV series “Soldier Soldier”, and performed “Unchained Melody” as part of the show when the entertainment did not turn up at a wedding. Simon Cowell pursued the duo for months to record the song to the point where Green threatened legal action. Ultimately though Green owed not only his success to Cowell but his wife, who was working as Cowell’s PA at the time.

 

This was not only a lame cover but the vocals on it, in particular the falsetto section, were patched with uncredited vocalists. Still, perhaps the greatness of the original song, and the fact that they do not tamper with it, is its saving grace.

21 points from to that one. I have a neither here nor there opinion on that but it's also not great really.

Edited November 7, 20222 yr by Roba!

That write-up was educational, had no idea about the additional vocalists or nepotism.

 

Even with uncredited help it's such a limp version compared to Bobby Hatfield's stunning vocal on the classic Righteous Brothers chart-topper

The horror of Robson & Jerome on the charts, who even themselves would ultimately admit their naff granny chasing covers were a load of old shit. Very nearly my 40 pointer if it weren't for something yet to come.

 

The denial of chart topping status for Common People and Wonderwall will forever remain a tragedy. Although even without that legacy I feel I would have given this some hefty points and I have to say while the Righteous Brothers did do it better, for a song that's been a chart topper in so many versions, I really don't think Unchained Melody is anything special oop-

I tried carrying the weight of the world

But I only have two hands

 

17th - Wake Me Up - Gareth Malone’s All Star Choir

 

 

5th, 2007-2022 heat

 

Average score: 21.43

Highest score:

40 marcinjaro

Lowest score:

1 Suedehead2

 

Number One for a week in November 2014, unlike the original which spent 61 weeks in the Top 75 this had a rather more fleeting 1-7-54 run. Of course it was Gareth’s second chart topper after “Wherever You Are” with the Military Wives, but mercifully hits have been harder to come by for Gareth in the streaming age. “Flesh And Blood” with the Invictus choir only reached #29 in 2016, and his lockdown special with the Great British Home Chorus only reached #57 in 2020 despite being Top 5 in the First Look.

 

Clearly the opening motif of the Avicii song was crying out to be done as a “doo, doo, bee doo bee doo”. And the song ends with a not too subtle “buy…this record; buy…this record”. I guess that worked for the TV showing but it didn’t really need to be on the song given that nobody was streaming it - most people hearing that line would have already bought it. Overall for me it’s not the most horrid record to listen to but there’s something terribly self indulgent about the whole affair.

I initially put this lower down but upon hearing it again bumped it up to 34 points. I liked 'Wherever You Are' a lot. A rather endearing choir song but this nah. The one the following year is a bit better but again very meh again.

all these are useless covers but harmless

there are cazillions of worse originals

I’ve been waiting by the phone

I’m thinking about the things that I want to do to you

 

16th - I Feel You - Peter Andre

 

 

3rd - 1996-2006 heat

 

Average score: 21.50

Highest score:

39 Uls2000

Lowest score:

3 Popchartfreak

 

Number One for a week in December, this was the second and final Number One of the 90s for Peter Andre, though of course “Mysterious Girl” would make it on re-issue in 2004 following his appearance in the jungle. He had 14 Top 20 hits over a 15 year period which isn’t bad for someone who arguably started out mainly as a slab of eye candy for teenage girls, though it does include the diabolical “A Whole New World” cover with Katie Price, probably one of my least favourite chart hits of all time.

 

This raunchy number is the highest placed song that could be described as offensively inoffensive - I doubt anyone will remember how it goes without a good few listens. And clearly for some of you that was enough of a crime to rank it very highly here. But it’s out now, leaving only the winner of the 1996-2006 heat still standing…