Ooh nice Madonna choice there, Jim!

Music is one of my favourite albums of hers as mentioned at the listen through.

I never bought the Music album as wasn't overkeen on the lead single, so Amazing was a genuinely 'amazing' discovery, although completely sounds like Beautiful Stranger 2.0. Not a bad thing though.

Thank you for getting me off zero Jim!

Thanks Rich for the silver to open with!

'Amazing' is my favourite Madonna song of this century at least, and possibly of all her William Orbit productions too it's like 'Beautiful Stranger' without the cod-60s bits and instead a fragility at the edges which I just love. It was the first song to spring to mind for this contest, though I did anticipate it might get vetoed - especially when I realised Madonna has an artist forum - but I then saw that rule 3 from the last Bop Idol about artists forums had been taken out this time!

Yeah, why you all thought Dandy sent PJ Harvey, I thought he was behind Madonna

Julian sent Dido - Take My Hand

Arguably the best known song in the contest, this is the closing track on Dido's juggernaut of a debut album No Angel. Wikipedia says "According to Dido, it was one of the first songs she wrote after starting her sex life" which I thought was very strangely worded - I've never heard losing one's virginity referred to as that before!

Although Dido's track was not released as a single, it was covered by DJ Jurgen Vries, with vocals by Andrea Britton, and this version reached #23 in the UK. I could have perhaps specified in the rules that the single should not have been released as a single even as a cover version... but I didn't, so Julian was perfectly entitled to send this.

Julian's voting:

12 PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

10 Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

8 M83 - Outro

7 The Radio Dept. - Every Time

6 Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

5 Farrah Abraham - On My Own

4 Madonna - Amazing

3 Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

2 Annie - Me Plus One

1 Goldfrapp - Beautiful

1 (32) PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

2 (29) The Radio Dept. - Every Time

3 (25) Farrah Abraham - On My Own

4 (22) Dido - Take My Hand (Julian_)

4 (22) M83 - Outro (uhsting)

4 (22) Same Difference feat. Alcazar - Karma Karma

7 (19) Mis-Teeq - Just For You

7 (19) Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

9 (14) Madonna - Amazing (jimwatts)

10 (13) Joe McElderry - If You Love Me

11 (12) f(x) - Rude Love

11 (12) Orianthi - Addicted To Love

13 (10) Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend (awardinary)

14 (9) Goldfrapp - Beautiful

14 (9) Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

16 (8) Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

17 (5) Annie - Me Plus One (gooddelta)

18 (4) Alexander Rybak - Kiss And Tell

18 (4) Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

And now it's all change at the top, with those 12 points to PJ Harvey putting her top, with the fact that he couldn't vote for his own song leading to a dramatic fall from the top for Dido.

Farrah Abraham also makes her first visit to the top three.

...on the other hand, I've never listened to a Dido album before, but 'Take My Hand' was a gorgeous discovery so thanks for sending, Julian!

Thanks Julian - and great choice of 12 pointer!

Take My Hand is a really nice choice Julian, definitely stood out on No Angel with its length and more dance production. Used to love the Jurgen Vries version too, I bought that on single (along with his three other hits).

Nice pick there Julian. Not heard that Dido track before so was a good discovery for me.

Brer sent Farrah Abraham - On My Own

Another person I'd never heard of prior to this contest, her Wikipedia page certainly makes for some interesting reading. This track is from the only studio album she has released to date.

Brer's voting:

12 The Radio Dept. - Every Time

10 PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

8 Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

7 M83 - Outro

6 Madonna - Amazing

5 Dido - Take My Hand

4 Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend

3 Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

2 Orianthi - Addicted To Love

1 Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

Not sure why my 7 pointer is coming through as just a blank line

My top 6 here will be my main takeaways but I thought nearly all of these songs were at least decent and a fair few of them grew on me on second listen, so not bad not bad. Intrigued to see what y'all will make of proto hyperpop kween Farrah Abraham's accidental avant garde masterpiece x

1 (42) PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

2 (41) The Radio Dept. - Every Time

3 (29) M83 - Outro (uhsting)

4 (27) Dido - Take My Hand (Julian_)

5 (25) Farrah Abraham - On My Own (Brer)

6 (22) Same Difference feat. Alcazar - Karma Karma

7 (20) Madonna - Amazing (jimwatts)

7 (20) Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

9 (19) Mis-Teeq - Just For You

10 (17) Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

11 (14) Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend (awardinary)

11 (14) Orianthi - Addicted To Love

13 (13) Joe McElderry - If You Love Me

14 (12) f(x) - Rude Love

15 (9) Goldfrapp - Beautiful

16 (8) Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

17 (7) Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

18 (5) Annie - Me Plus One (gooddelta)

19 (4) Alexander Rybak - Kiss And Tell

PJ Harvey and The Radio Dept. surging even further ahead, with both songs scoring well from Brer.

I wasn't sure what to make of the vocals on that one but admired the accidental genius of the production intriguing swerve there Brer!!

Thanks Bré - I hadn't heard of Farrah Abraham before and that was a cool discovery!

Cody sent f(x) - Rude Love

I only ever knew of f(x) as the mathematical notation for a function, but apparently they are also a K-pop group and 'Rude Love' is a song which appears on their 4th album 4 Walls.

Cody's voting:

12 POINTS | Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

10 POINTS | Dido - Take My Hand

08 POINTS | Orianthi - Addicted To Love

07 POINTS | Same Difference f/Alcazar - Karma Karma

06 POINTS | Annie - Me Plus One

05 POINTS | Goldfrapp - Beautiful

04 POINTS | Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

03 POINTS | Mis-Teeq - Just For You

02 POINTS | Madonna - Amazing

01 POINTS | Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend

1 (42) PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

2 (41) The Radio Dept. - Every Time

3 (37) Dido - Take My Hand (Julian_)

4 (29) M83 - Outro (uhsting)

4 (29) Same Difference feat. Alcazar - Karma Karma

6 (25) Farrah Abraham - On My Own (Brer)

7 (24) Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

8 (22) Madonna - Amazing (jimwatts)

8 (22) Mis-Teeq - Just For You

8 (22) Orianthi - Addicted To Love

11 (19) Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

12 (17) Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

13 (15) Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend (awardinary)

14 (14) Goldfrapp - Beautiful

15 (13) Joe McElderry - If You Love Me

16 (12) f(x) - Rude Love (Cody)

17 (11) Annie - Me Plus One (gooddelta)

18 (8) Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

19 (4) Alexander Rybak - Kiss And Tell

With The Radio Dept. and PJ Harvey not getting a look in, Dido creeps back up and is eyeing up the top spot once again!

Yep sounded like something Cody would send haha. It was fun enough.

Chez Wombat sent Same Difference feat. Alcazar - Karma Karma

So apparently this song was fairly big on Buzzjack back in the day but I don't remember it. I make no secret of enjoying a good bit of cheese so this was a great discovery for me! This track appeared on their second album The Rest Is History and is by all accounts a fan favourite, despite never being a single.

Chez Wombat's voting:

12; M83 - Outro (No, this was not me :o)

10; Dido - Take My Hand 

08; The Radio Dept. - Every Time 

07; Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony 

06; Goldfrapp - Beautiful 

05; Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough 

04; Annie - Me Plus One

03; PJ Harvey - 66 Promises 

02; Farrah Abraham - On My Own 

01; Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

1 (49) The Radio Dept. - Every Time

2 (47) Dido - Take My Hand (Julian_)

3 (45) PJ Harvey - 66 Promises

4 (41) M83 - Outro (uhsting)

5 (31) Saint Etienne - Milk Bottle Symphony

6 (29) Same Difference feat. Alcazar - Karma Karma (Chez Wombat)

7 (27) Farrah Abraham - On My Own (Brer)

8 (22) Madonna - Amazing (jimwatts)

8 (22) Mis-Teeq - Just For You

8 (22) Orianthi - Addicted To Love

8 (22) Scissor Sisters - It Can't Come Quickly Enough

12 (20) Goldfrapp - Beautiful

13 (19) Ashley Tisdale - Overrated

14 (15) Annie - Me Plus One (gooddelta)

14 (15) Lisa Roxanne - Ex-Boyfriend (awardinary)

16 (13) Joe McElderry - If You Love Me

17 (12) f(x) - Rude Love (Cody)

18 (9) Siobhan Donaghy - Don't Take Me Back

19 (4) Alexander Rybak - Kiss And Tell

It's all change at the top once again, with PJ Harvey suffering from a low score here!

Oh wow I never would've called Chez for Same Difference

Well this is definitely throwing up surprises, I would never in a million years have put Brer or Chez against their entries 😮

Well I never 😮

Some real swerves this time, my guesses were awful haha.

4 minutes ago, dandy* said:

Well this is definitely throwing up surprises, I would never in a million years have put Brer or Chez against their entries 😮

Me neither!