For Week 8, 'Point Of View' is the top pick for me here, such a breezy dance anthem. 'Moi...Lolita' also a top track too and 'To Get Down' has slick production and neat vocals. 'Control' a great debut from Puddle Of Mudd and The Hives track is a great tune too.

The LeAnn Rimes track is nice as well and brings me back to the usage of it in Coyote Ugly which I've seen a multitude of times lol. 'You' is fun but not an ultimate highlight of S Club's. 'Whispers' doesn't do a lot for me but the production switch ups are interesting at least.

O-Town's at the beginning sounds a bit like 'Strong' by Robbie and in the vocals at times too, not a fan though, trying to hard with the Jon Bon Jovi voice.

9 hours ago, TheSnake said:

The Nickleback and Lasgo tracks are great, pity the latter has been rather forgotten.

Lasgo? That's one I still hear around every now and then, it feels fairly well-known/popular.

So many songs from the last few batches that are absolute classics to me!

Alive

Cherry Lips

The Drill

Hate To Say I Told You So

Point Of View

To Get Down

Whenever Wherever

How You Remind Me

Hands Clean

In Your Eyes

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Love Foolosophy

World Of Our Own (Actually love this song, and I generally despise them)

Something

Edited March 17Mar 17 by Jessie Where

Week 9 + 10

A lot of fab stuff across these two weeks, love the Kylie, Shakira, Nickelback, Alanis and A songs. 'Something' is a anthem. 'I Fell In Love With A Girl' is great.

Do like the Will winners single but he'd of course go on to release a lot of fab stuff through the years. Beverley and Jamiroquai and Junior Jack tracks are also decent.

Bad Babysitter' is fun in some way for me, don't recall the song at the time. Get what you mean about 'Tomorrow Comes Today' sounding like an album track but still solid enough. Mis-teeq's is enjoyable but far from their best.

'The World's Greatest' in it's own right is a great song and among that acts best.

Two batches to catch up on let's gooooo...

week 8

The brilliance of 'Don't Stop Movin' is carrying this S Club era so far but I do think 'You' is a step up from 'Have You Ever' at least, which does nothing for me. It's maybe a bit too sugary but I do like some elements, like the pretty flutes used for the instrumental.

Omg was racking my brain for how I recognised 'To Get Down' and finally figured it out. There's a site called rave.dj where you can mash two songs together. Me and Sam (Ultraviolence) ran a competition in The Lounge to make the best one and The Snake's entry was a mash-up of that song and Tove Lo's 'Disco Tits'! Oh my, the impact of that sticking with me.

Great to see 'Point of View' in your top 3 as that was one of the two favourites I was alluding to. Love its warm funky house sound and sparkling flourishes. I appreciate how the lyrical journey appropriately shifts from every day annoyances to romanticising your surroundings a bit more. The animated music video is so nostalgic too. 6Music has been really good for opening me up to songs that have later been sampled in more familiar hits, in this case my mind was blown when hearing Phoenix's 'Heatwave' for the first time.

The guitar throughout 'Hate To Say I Told You So' sounds familiar but I never would've been able to put a name to the artist/song, glad I do know now.

Alizee is the other favourite that I was looking forward to reading your thoughts on, yay! It's my top song of this section as well for sure a few years ago it suddenly clicked and I think it's so breezy and gorgeous. I am yet to read the novel Lolita (it's on the bucket list) but have seen the Kubrick adaptation and definitely wouldn't describe the tone of that so pleasantly

week 9 + 10

I was too young to remember Pop Idol at the time but my parents apparently had a 'Will Young to win' poster on our window taste, I guess. I see it's double Westlife-adjacent impact here as 'Evergreen' originated as a song on their World of Our Own album. Thankfully the title track is much better than their standard fare indeed, surprisingly punchy for a Westlife single.

I have so much love for this Gorillaz era and it's no different for the haunting 'Tomorrow Comes Today', but agreed it's a surprising single choice.

Noticed that 'Brotha II' is very similar to 'Where the Hood At?' by DMX and today I learned that both sample 'I'll Play The Blues for You' by Albert King!

I have wholesome childhood memories attached to 'The World's Greatest' as my brother's year sang it for their year 6 leaver's assembly, shame about the artist.

'In Your Eyes' was a great follow-up to 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'! I adore that in all its dark glory but also appreciate this fun, floaty nu-disco contrast.

Oh 'Be Angeled' is right up my street but I'd never heard it before until today! A fab little find there.

'Something' holds a special place in my heart as it was the first song I sent to a BJSC spin-off, back when the rules were more relaxed! This was a 00s dance theme and I won by default as RoBot was a non-voter. Weirdly that exact set of circumstances has happened about 4 times now so it's a bit of a running joke

I'm not a Nickelback fan whatsoever (this was the case before I knew how the internet felt, my brother spamming them annoyed me as a kid ) but 'How You Remind Me' is an exception and the best thing they've done by far, can see why it was the song to put them on the map. I usually find Kroeger's voice annoying but he uses it effectively here. Love that killer chorus and the post-grunge intensity of the production, including the instrumental pauses.

I discovered Joss Stone's 'Fell In Love With A Boy' years before the White Stripes track oops but am glad I eventually got to it, a thrilling whirlwind.

'Whenever, Wherever' is my favourite of the week 9/10 songs as well so feeling in sync with these last couple of batches. Gotta love her distinctive vocals, playful lyrics (mountains and all x) and the sheer flavour of the production, especially the panpipes. She was so unlucky to run into the Pop Idol juggernaut.

This is a mighty batch, the music scene was bubbling, not least a 10/10 from for Shakira, huge at the clubs, love it, as was Lasgo's Something, all memories of that fun hedonistic period 9/10. The White Stripes is a great rock buzz, 7/10, and Nickelback's best moment by quite some stretch also a 9/10 at the time, though I may be less bovvered these days, and might well prefer White Stripes which I under-rated.

Alanis generally got a 9 from me, and scrapes one here, A I have no memory of but it rates an 8, one I need to dig out on my minidiscs galore. Jam & Spoon I always like, thatll be a 7, and Kylie of course is a 9/10, fresh off her Light Years tour which I caught and she was fabulous. Bev is always consistently good, and occasionally great, a modest 7 for me this time, R Kelly pre-outrage scraped a 5 as I'd gone off him a tad after the death of aaliyah and things came out.

Westlife a surprisingly good 7/10 from me, and poor late Angie is on 4/10, as is Misteeq's. Gorllaz, Just jack, Lighthouse Family, and Distant Soundz all passed me by which makes me think I might have missed the top 40. Love Foolosophy a decent 6 to me, Evergreen was the only side I got to hear on the whole and that was barely a 4, I wasnt impressed with the Will Young hype at all and I didnt watch the show, expectations were very low.

Bubba grabbed a 5 from me, and Princess Superstar ditto, which in chart terms means 51 to 60 in my personal charts: likeable but not essential.

'Fell In Love With A Girl' and 'Something' are the two songs which made my top 10 of the year from the last batch - the former especially I've grown to love even more in the digital era, it's always a blast whenever it comes up on shuffle.

The next couple of batch winners I didn’t even know / remember before I did this. The 9 minutes album version of “Silent To The Dark” is the one on Spotify, although the single version was shorter. The full version is well worth it - an enchanting piece of psychadelic rock.

9	The Electric Soft Parade	Silent To The Dark II	The biggest hit for this English psychedelic group whose previous release only made #52: this is a stunning immersive track
8	Gomez	Shot Shot	1st hit in a few years for this Merseyside experimental rock group and a fabulous gritty track with great use of instruments
8	Platinum 45 Featuring More Fire Crew	Oi!	The only Top 40 for any of these artists and a classic of the grime genre: it's a great, relentless, striking and punchy track
7	Creed	My Sacrifice	A 2nd Top 20 for the Christian rock band: I think this is a very good song and vocally less divisive than their other Top 40
7	Hundred Reasons	If I Could	The lead single from their 1st full length album: it's great thanks to the soaring chorus and emotional vocal performance
6	Mauro Picotto	Pulsar 2002	His last Top 40 and this is a remix of a 1999 song: it's a good trance track and I like the part where it spells out his name
6	Busta Rhymes	Break Ya Neck	Interpolating "Give It Away" and featuring singer Truth Hurts, the lyrics make me wince but I really like the frantic track
5	Minimalistix	Close Cover	Biggest hit for this Belgian trance act that's a remake of a 1987 track by Wim Mertens of the same name: a pleasant track
4	Cornershop	Lessons Learnt From Rocky I To Rocky III	Their last Top 40 and "Brimful Of Asha" was their only Top 20: this is in a similar style to that but all in all lacks its charm
4	Smoke 2 Seven	Been There Done That	Only hit for this UK girl group: an *Nsync style punchy pop RnB number that's fine enough but won't help them stand out
3	Steve Balsamo	Sugar For The Soul	Only hit for this Welsh singer songwriter who performed in the West End: it's very inoffensive but largely unremarkable
3	City High Featuring Eve	Caramel	Their 2nd and final hit: "What Would You Do" is interesting and unusual whereas this is a bland typical  '00s RnB number
2	Brancaccio And Aisher	It's Gonna Be (A Lovely Day)	A cover of a cover: The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. reworked the Bill Withers song and this samples that; it doesn't give me much
2	Alcazar	Sexual Guarantee	"Crying At The Discotheque" is a fab camp '80s throwback: this on the other hand is lyrically naff and not at all engaging
1	Rik Waller	I Will Always Love You	A "Pop Idol" finalist notable for his voice and size: I struggle enough with the Whitney version and this is an inferior copy

2002 Week 12:

#1199	23/03/2002	Ali G And Shaggy	Me Julie	2	{2}-3-2-4-8-10-16-20-30-41-57-59-53-68->14
#1200	23/03/2002	Jennifer Lopez	Ain't It Funny {2002}	4	{4}-11-13-14-17-16-18-23-29-39-55-62-75->13
#1201	23/03/2002	Celine Dion	A New Day Has Come	7	{7}-13-15-20-24-29-27-39-46-64->10
	23/03/2002	Iron Maiden	Run To The Hills {2002}	9	{9}-20-40-65->4
#1202	23/03/2002	Natalie Imbruglia	Wrong Impression	10	{10}-19-27-43-55-62-62->7
#1203	23/03/2002	Tillmann Uhrmacher	On The Run	16	{16}-29-42->3
#1204	23/03/2002	Lostprophets	The Fake Sound Of Progress	21	{21}-40-59->3
#1205	23/03/2002	System Of A Down	Toxicity	25	{25}-43-67->3
#1206	23/03/2002	Warren Stacey	My Girl My Girl	26	{26}-44-69->3
#1207	23/03/2002	Felon	Get Out	31	{31}-56->2
#1208	23/03/2002	Bjork	Cocoon	35	{35}-65->2
#1209	23/03/2002	Peran	Good Time	37	{37}-59->2

No idea on Electric Soft Parade, all a blank to me! Sounds pleasant. Gomez ditto. I'm thinking I was on a Florida holiday and missed the top 40 for a couple of weeks, maybe. Ditto Platinum 45, Hundred Reasons, Mauro Picotto, Busta Rhymes, MInimalistix, Brancacchio. Creed grabbed a 6/10, but that would have been on US radio anyway. Cornershop 5/10 hooray one I vaguely remember! Smoke 2 seven hooray another one i charted, a 6/10. Rik Waller didnt watch the show, by this time hated the Whitney cover version, and this did nothing to win me over. I do remember it though, so that's one up on most of these.

Record of the batch for me, and it's not even close, is one I've forgotten, a 9/10 for Sugar For The Soul, Steve Balsamo. I need to remind myself of it, playing it now. sweeping strings, a sort of Mcalmont-Butler vibe to it, of course I would like it! Those brain cells have clearly died though, I really don't remember it yet it peaked at 6 in my charts! It's not a 9/10, more of a 7/10 I'd say. City High was a 7/10, but another I dont recall. Alcazar always teetered on the edge of camp naffness, but where Crying is brilliance this merely got an 8/10 from me, probably sounded good on the dancefloor and Alcazar were regulars. I vaguely remember this one which is one up on Steve B.

Today I learned there was a dance remix of 'Close Cover'! Rich sent the original to BJSC and I gave it a bronze medal, a stunning piano track will stick to that x

I've never heard of 'Silent To The Dark' before, glad I checked out the 9 minute version as the instrumental section was worth it! The chorus lyrics stood out too.

Need to accept that I'm definitely going to bed with "oi who's that O to the Z?" stuck in my head tonight...

Once again we venture to the lower end of the week’s new entries to find the highlights, and topping the list is this very sensual track from Bjork. In fact the YouTube video can’t be pasted here as it is deemed to contain nudity!

8	Bjork	Cocoon	This is so intimate it feels like she's there in the room with you, and I love the percussion and the track's homemade feel
8	Tillmann Uhrmacher	On The Run	Only hit for this German DJ: a beautiful trance track that conveys the sense of being on the run and I like the robotic vocals
7	Natalie Imbruglia	Wrong Impression	After "That Day" only reached #11 she did well to get into the Top 10 with this, which is a lovely track with rich production
7	Celine Dion	A New Day Has Come	Her 1st hit in a while from her 18th album: this has a lovely fresh and positive feel to it and is up there with her best songs
6	System Of A Down	Toxicity	The follow up to the brilliant "Chop Suey": this is also an enjoyable nu metal song but doesn't quite recreate the epic power
6	Jennifer Lopez	Ain't It Funny {2002}	Reviewing this again as it's clearly a different song to the more poppy version: that is better but I do enjoy this RnB duet
5	Felon	Get Out	Only hit for this girl group and I can't find out much about them, but this is quite an enjoyable and dynamic pop RnB track
5	Peran	Good Time	Only hit for this Amsterdam DJ: it uses the same sample as Primal Scream's "Loaded" and it's a decent rousing floor filler
4	Lostprophets	The Fake Sound Of Progress	Their 1st Top 40 after reaching #41 with their last single: a good heavy rock song but the vocals are somewhat obnoxious
3	Ali G And Shaggy	Me Julie	Only hit for the comedian and last really big one for Shaggy: it's very much a novelty song but quite a fun piece of RnB pop
3	Warren Stacey	My Girl My Girl	Only hit for this "Popstars" contestant who was eliminated for being too gospel orientated, but this is run of the mill RnB

2002 Week 13:

#1210	30/03/2002	Gareth Gates	Unchained Melody	1	{1}-1-1-1-4-8-12-19-28-32-36-35-40-53-46-46-55-59-57-63-64-68-61-66-61-68-73R(2)-69R(13)-58-73->30
#1211	30/03/2002	Marilyn Manson	Tainted Love	5	{5}-8-9-20-23-26-35-39-44-53-74->11
#1212	30/03/2002	Blue	Fly By II	6	{6}-9-10-15-18-21-24-34-38-50-57-56->12
#1213	30/03/2002	George Michael	Freeek!	7	{7}-17-28-42-47-57-65-54-61-74->10
#1214	30/03/2002	Darren Hayes	Insatiable	8	{8}-12-12-13-12-12-16-20-25-37-39-44-50-65->14
#1215	30/03/2002	Pet Shop Boys	Home And Dry	14	{14}-31-54-65-68-72->6
#1216	30/03/2002	Alicia Keys	A Woman's Worth	18	{18}-24-35-52-58-68-68-74->8
#1217	30/03/2002	Starsailor	Poor Misguided Fool	23	{23}-46-74->3
#1218	30/03/2002	Cassius Henry	Broke	31	{31}-52->2
#1219	30/03/2002	Way Out West Featuring Tricia Lee	Mindcircus	39	{39}-75->2

The Tillmann Uhrmacher song is amazing, one of the synths in ther buildup sounds very Talk Talk - Its My Life influenced. The System of A Down song is really good too, the switch from ballad singing the verses to rock growl in the chorus is interesting.

Edited March 21Mar 21 by TheSnake

My initial reaction, like last time, is "I don't know half of these". Let's test the reaction:

Bjork didnt chart for me, so likely heard it either not at all or just the once. Playing it now, it's decent enough. Quite low-key nice. Tillmann actually did chart as a 6/10 so I can confirm I liked it but have forgotten it. Wrong Impression def one I liked and know, a 9/10 4th top 10 and biggest track since Torn, one of the big hits of the year. A New Day Has Come is a ditto, Celine's best record I think, has those Madonna Frozen-era vibes to it and an easy 9/10.

Toxicity means nowt to me, Felon fled before they made an impression, Peran's Good Time didn't move me, Lostprophets I had the good taste to ignore. They never did anything better than a 6/10 and I recall my ex-work colleague was a big fan until the unpleasantness at which point she dumped their entire collection. Happily I never gave them money of any kind to throw away. "Somewhat obnoxious" is a great quote. Me Julie I dont need to look up, it was shite. Not even Shaggy, who I still like and am buying new tracks (see duet with Sting), could give it any charm. Warren Stacey never heard of, don't watch those sort of shows. So yes, about half of these I don't know.

That leaves J-Lo to make it 4 that I like, the revamp nowhere near as good as the original latin-driven pop goodie, but at least I gave it a token 1 week on my chart at 75, where the original was a long-running top 10 career highlight for me - up there with, or better than, If You Had My Love, Love Don't Cost A Thing. Papi and On The Floor.

'On The Run' is absolutely amazing, I listen to this regularly on the treadmill.

I still can't fathom how they thought coming back after a while away with 'That Day' was a good idea, when they had 'Wrong Impression' right there! Baffling. Her career may have panned out a bit differently.

Agreed that's definitely one of Celine's best.

Also, 'Me Julie' is an absolute HORROR. I thought that was a nailed-on #1 at the time and was so relieved it didn't make it.

If this were a Gezza thread it would have been mentioned that “Anything Is Possible” / “Evergreen” sold nearly 1.8 million copies and “Unchained Melody” over 1.3 million. They were the two biggest selling singles of the decade, though there totals would be beaten at the height of the download era.

However here we get to focus on the good music instead, such as the wonderful dance track “Mindcircus” which Imogen Heap co-wrote.

8	Way Out West Featuring Tricia Lee	Mindcircus	Only Top 40 this century for the UK electronic duo: it's a gorgeous track with beautiful clear vocals from Tricia Lee Kelshall
8	Blue	Fly By II	Their 4th his and unlucky to miss the Top 5 in a very competitive week: it's one of their best songs with plenty of punch
7	Starsailor	Poor Misguided Fool	The usual piano led rock ballad but one of my favourites of theirs: the sheer bitterness of it comes through very effectively
7	Pet Shop Boys	Home And Dry	Their 1st hit for a while from their 8th album "Release": it's the usual synth-pop sound but it's comforting to have it back
6	Darren Hayes	Insatiable	His 1st and biggest solo hit: not my usual thing but this is a passionate convincingly delivered ballad that builds very nicely
5	George Michael	Freeek!	The lyrics about the "tits and arse world" are strong and I like the production: I just think the song itself is a little lacking
4	Alicia Keys	A Woman's Worth	I don't enjoy the "real woman" and "real man" lyrics on this: orherwise it's a very soulful, classy, smooth and sultry track
3	Cassius Henry	Broke	Only Top 40 for this UK singer who will appear on "The Voice" I rather enjoy the rap but otherwise it's a bland RnB track
2	Marilyn Manson	Tainted Love	His only Top 10 hit: the Soft Cell version has just the right amount of anger and this over the top cover is not that pleasant
1	Gareth Gates	Unchained Melody	921st #1: "to the say, to the say" -  Will's single was slightly dull but this cover is ghastly and not what the song deserved

2002 Week 14:

#1220	06/04/2002	Missy 'Misdemeanor' Elliott	4 My People	5	{5}-6-7-8-10-14-17-22-35-42-49-53-73->13
#1221	06/04/2002	Shy FX And T Power Featuring Di	Shake Ur Body	7	{7}-13-18-20-22-31-38-47-66-75-57->11
#1222	06/04/2002	Anastacia	One Day In Your Life	11	{11}-15-21-25-24-32-37-46-64->9
#1223	06/04/2002	Badly Drawn Boy	Silent Sigh	16	{16}-32-48-56-65-61-67->7
#1224	06/04/2002	Travis	Flowers In The Window	18	{18}-30-38-43-56-59-51->7
#1225	06/04/2002	Outkast Featuring Killer Mike	The Whole World	19	{19}-27-33-41-58->5
#1226	06/04/2002	Sum 41	Motivation	21	{21}-34-49-65-69-69-70->7
#1227	06/04/2002	The Bluetones	After Hours	26	{26}-56->2
#1228	06/04/2002	Marc Et Claude	Tremble	29	{29}-55-69->3
#1229	06/04/2002	Adam F Featuring Lil' Mo	Where's My..?	37	{37}-66->2

'Insatiable' I remember was quite a hyped record of the time in some circles, my dad was a fan of Savage Garden back then too and we both liked the track.

Mindcircus not one I charted, playing it now, yeah it sounds quite nice, more of a chill-out dancefloor than pop. I only did the pop dancefloor. Fly By II is fabulous, that's a 10/10 for me number one track. System up with the top down! No, me neither, but it sounds great. I was always partial to a bit of morose Starsailor, and this was a good 7/10.

Home And Dry was merely a 9/10 from me for the more acoustic new album, downbeat pretty much throughout and my least fave PSB studio album, but it's better than I Get Along, t'other single. I prob over-rated it a bit due to being PSB, I reckon an 8 is more fair these days. Loved early Savage Garden. Insatiable scrapes a 7, memory suggests a 6 though.

Freek is fab, that's a 9/10, I rather enjoyed the more experimental nature of the structure and sound (for George). A Woman's Worth is worth about 4, and that's coming in a run of 4 and 5's after the big monster 9/10 Fallin'. Cassius Henry I dont remember, but Broke made my top 40, so a 7/10 then. Marilyn Manson is usually worth a 0/10 with his usual bollocks, but this one was marginally better using an actual classic song. Ruining it of course, but a 3/10 is a marked improvement on his entire career to date. That leaves Gareth Gates to go for the lowest mark this batch - which is pretty decent overall - if only for the brazen WTF of Simon Cowell opting for a song that had already been a number one 4 times, only one of which was classic, so good that trying to better it is pointless (Righteous Brothers obv) so let's just bung out something guaranteed to sell to TV fans. It was a close thing but Gareth peaked at 70 for me and Manson peaked at 71. So that gets the wooden spoon, I'm sure Manson will find a way to positively use it, virtual or real....

Oops, didn’t realise I’d fallen six weeks behind.

In the first batch, The Middle was a really good top choice, Kelly Clarkson seems to have been inspired by the melody of that for her hit Heartbeat Song in 2015!

That week where Mary J Blige was the highest new entry was a bit odd as a chart follower who had only been religiously watching since 1998, it felt like such a slow period and clearly enabled a few songs to climb to new peaks. I wonder why nobody major scheduled singles for that week?

I love Bring It Onto My Love, I think I mentioned in the 2001 thread that I loved Denada’s previous single Love You Anyway too, very sweet, melodic garage and they just disappeared after a couple of middling hits.

I like Hey Baby quite a lot but I think Hella Good and Underneath It All were actually more to my taste. Still, it was an infectious comeback single.

Point of View was my favourite of that second batch, such a wonderful dance hit and really it still sounds fresh today, such a cool song to be a big hit.

Moi… Lolita was definitely another huge highlight though. What a fantastic and inspired top ten hit, I remember it being on the TV music channels all the time.

That Dilated Peoples song is one of my favourite hip-hop songs of 2002, lovely bassline sample in that.

You is catchy but I’m surprised S Club 7 went back to pushing such corny material after the success of Don’t Stop Movin’, I expected them to continue down the cooler route which is where pop music was moving generally at this point.

What About Us was quite a cool track, although I do agree there is something slightly weird about the vocal production that grates.

Couldn’t really remember that O-Town song, but it sounded ok, doesn’t sound anything like their earlier stuff. I also checked that Ana Ann song, I do recall that from some compilations I had at the time, a very plain track.

Yeah, Shakira is definitely the best of that mega third batch, what a couple of weeks for the charts that was! So frustrating that she released that on the same week as the biggest seller of the decade, it’s such a classic that did not deserve to stall at No.2. Crazy it took her so long to have a hit here when she’d been having great hits since the mid-90s in South America and Spain.

Lasgo and Kylie’s singles were both wonderful, also classics from their genres, and How You Remind Me was by far and away the best Nickelback song. All over the radio all year but it was a very stirring song, shame they went off the boil so quickly.

Hands Clean was a really good Alanis track, agreed, it deserved to go top ten. And that was certainly a big career highlight for Beverley Knight too, a lovely track although I prefer Greatest Day from her overall.

World Of Our Own was definitely one of the better Westlife singles – generally they did uptempos quite well (Uptown Girl, When You’re Looking Like That), so it’s a shame they were so ballad heavy most of the time.

Not a fan of either side of Anything Is Possible or Evergreen really, the former is twee and the latter generic and overblown in the usual reality winner’s single way. But Will sounded good on them, and those sales he had were spectacular, the absolute peak of reality TV was Will vs. Gareth (and X Factor in 2008-2010).

I remember liking that Time After Time cover at the time, although it sounds a bit limp now. And I do remember finding Bad Babysitter quite abrasive at the time although I found it more funny to listen to than anything.

Edited March 24Mar 24 by gooddelta

The fourth batch, my absolute favourite is Close Cover, such a stirring version. I loved it so much that I got my keyboard tutor (I was learning at the time) to write the sheet music up for me, which they did. I loved learning that. I sent the original version by Wim Mertens to BJSC in 2019 and it came top ten, which was nice, as it’s such a lovely piece.

I’ve not got a huge amount of other favourites from that group but I did enjoy Sexual Guarantee although it relied very heavily on a disco sample that I’ve heard in loads of other songs. Alcazar had far better to come, but their best songs weren’t released in the UK (apart from Crying At The Discotheque).

Been There Done That is one of those ten-a-penny cheap sounding pop/R&B girlband songs that were absolutely everywhere in the early 00s, surprised labels were still funding this sort of thing for so long!

And gosh, that Rik Waller cover was blander than bland. I didn’t even think he had a particularly nice to listen to voice, the hype around him was way too much.

Good to see On The Run top the fifth batch, I bought this at the time and still really love it, sadly Tillmann passed away in 2011. It deserved to peak so much higher.

I must admit, I actually loved That Day, but agree it was a weird choice of lead single for Natalie and derailed that campaign, a slightly breathless and wordy song. Wrong Impression is super catchy and a clear radio hit, glad she got a top ten from it.

A New Day Has Come was a lovely track from Celine, particularly the uptempo radio mix moreso than the ballad album version for me. It’s cool that Celine still managed such a successful album in 2002 (I’m Alive being more popular now than it ever was then too) as I just relate her to the 90s really (and her 80s Eurovision win).

That J.Lo remix project was a curious beast, they were basically new songs with the same titles. I thought the Ain’t It Funny mix was pretty good though.

Me Julie was a dire number, but a bit of an earworm too. Glad it didn’t get to No.1 though, Shaggy kept that 2001 renaissance going for a lot longer than I thought he would!

And the final batch, yes I completely agree about the wonderful Mindcircus being best. I love this underrated track so much that I sent it to BJSC in March 2020, just as we were going into the Covid lockdown, it was quite comforting for me during that period, the song is like a nostalgic musical hug. It came 18th in BJSC.

I think Fly By II and Insatiable tie as my second favourite. That is definitely one of Blue’s best and still one radio regularly rinse now. And that was a really solid solo hit for Darren Hayes, with an interesting chart run, it seemed to linger around the top 20 for some time and that helped it to a solid position on the end of year chart above some No.1s.

I thought Home and Dry was a bit weak as far as PSB leads go, certainly not one of my favourites, nor was the parent album. And Freeek! was a very weak George Michael track for me musically, although clearly quite interesting lyrically and the production seemed quite futuristic sounding, inspired by US R&B of the time.

And finally, Gareth Gates…an extremely poor, sanitised cover just like Robson & Jerome’s version. But clearly this was coming out one way or another as it was so popular for Gareth on Pop Idol. If he had won the contest and released Evergreen/Anything Is Possible, then presumably this would have been the follow-up single in short order to capitalise.

Catching up on the last two batches:

week 12

I watched Popstars for the first time on YouTube last year so do remember Warren Stacey while my memory of that is relatively fresh. I think he was touted as a rival to Craig David, so pretty marketable, but looks like his career in the charts fizzled out pretty much straight away, oops. At least he did manage top 40 though unlike fellow reject Claire Freeland's poor brave #44 attempt.

I agree that J Lo's first 'Ain't It Funny' hit was better. Those Murder remixes don't do a lot for me but fair play to their success.

Snap favourite as Björk finally tops a section for me as well after her previous two entries here were podium placers, but not quite gold medals against tough competition. Vespertine is such a stunning era.

week 13

Not one but now two unnecessary Cowell-adjacent 'Unchained Melody' covers that the public lapped up in eye-watering quantities! A certain other Gareth cover version later down the line is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but yeah, flush for this introduction.

I definitely didn't need a Marilyn Manson cover of 'Tainted Love' either. Soft Cell mastered the art of tackling that one indeed.

I get what you mean where 'Freeek!' is concerned. The production is interesting and the lyrics are bold yet there's something missing for me to truly love it. I remember reading that the music video was really expensive to make so they can't have been too pleased about just 3 weeks in the top 40.

Reliably solid synth-pop from Pet Shop Boys as ever. The music video focusing on mice was an interesting choice.

Just checked what I gave 'Mindcircus' in BJSC and it was 9 points! I sent my 50th anniversary entry to that edition and have just unleashed #100 to the latest contest, time flies still sounding gorgeous upon re-listen. I don't think I knew that Imogen Heap was involved with the writing on this one!

I think 'Fly By II' just about pips it as my favourite of the batch. It's not quite as clever and imaginative as 'All Rise' but has a contagious aura nevertheless. They blended pop sensibilities and an R&B edge really well, cool choice of sample in Herb Alpert's 'Rise' also. Lee Ryan sounds amazing on that dramatic bridge.