"You're so fit and you know it" is such a quintessentially British opening line to a song lmao

I agree that 'Year 3000' is stronger and deservedly their signature song but I don't think 'You Said No' would be out for me just yet! I like the guitar work and the bridge.

Maybe it's partially nostalgia talking, especially as going to discos was a more relatable subject matter at the time 😅

'You Said No' is a fun track as is the one still to come. Wouldn't be out yet for me either!

I remember they had to change the name from Crash and Burn due to the space shuttle disaster a couple of months before the single release. Either way, it's kind of mid-tier Busted for me, they definitely had worse (Who's David...again), and better. I'd probably put it a couple of places higher but not a great deal.

It was in the chart on the same month as my end of secondary school prom, but despite the way the lyrics potentially suited that situation, I do not recall hearing this song there. One other song still to come ended up being the big anthem of the evening, unfortunately.

19

Daniel Bedingfield - Never Gonna Leave Your Side

Score: 3/10

02/08/2003	Daniel Bedingfield	Never Gonna Leave Your Side	1
Chart run: {1}-4-8-13-18-24-28-40-48-52-52->11

I did really enjoy the run of singles from his debut album, and Ioved that he had 6 releases and reached #1 with all the odd ones. But this has to be my least favourite of the 6. Even the #28 flop “Friday” which followed this was more interesting.

Slushy ballads are not my thing in general, but as I’ve said elsewhere “If You’re Not The One” is up with the very best of them, and is a unique song that only he would have released. This isn’t too bad but I feel like it falls into many of the traps that managed to avoid. The over-sentimentality, the clichéd lyrics, the overuse of falsetto and the lack of anything to really distinguish it from hundreds of other Heart FM worthy songs.

Still, I think he’s an interesting performer and it’s a shame his later material was largely ignored.

That's one song I'd have put below Busted; a crushing bore and clearly released as a response to the success of If You're Not The One (it was a new song on a deluxe edition iirc). For me this didn't deserve to be a No.1 at all, I agree that it completely pales in comparsion to all of the album's other singles. I too always found the chart peaks he achieved amusing during that era, Friday only making No.28 was a shock but I guess the album had sold very well by then.

Thought the Youtube video was an advert when it started, You Said No has that instant-in-ya-face catchy riff. The rest of the song is not quite as good, and Year 3000 is way better but it's OK, pretty decent for a song that doesnt get radio play these days. I was expecting to be not fussed about it. I definitely didn't hear it in clubs of the time!

Bedingfield ballads left me largely unmoved, well-made and punching all the right buttons for those that enjoy slushy ballads (and I am one) but it was just a nothing-much song, and playing it now it's as if I'd never heard it before in my life it's so unmemorable. It sounds very vaguely familiar but nothing more so again I'm guessing not big on Radio 1. Pleasantly forgettable and I'd rather hear the Busted track again.

18

Gareth Gates And The Kumars - Spirit In The Sky

Score: 4/10

22/03/2003	Gareth Gates And The Kumars	Spirit In The Sky
Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-1-2-2-5-8-13-18-29-42-45-53-59-66-62->15

Gareth’s 1st #1, “Unchained Melody”, is the only song to have been #1 in 4 different versions, and this is one of only a few songs that have been #1 in 3 different versions. Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 version was the original, and Doctor And The Medics covered it in 1986, so it’s neat that this cover was another 17 years on.

It was the lead single from Gareth’s 2nd album “Go Your Own Way”, and the official Comic Relief single for 2003. “The Kumars At No. 42” was a very popular sitcom about a British Indian family which ran from 2001 to 2006, and The Kumars teamed up with Gareth to provide the single’s comedy elements. The result was a huge #1, and its 1st week sale of 273,508 was the highest single week sale of the year. For much of the year it looked like it would be the year end #1, but was ultimately pushed down to 2nd.

I’m not a fan of Gareth’s voice in general which I find a bit thin, but it suits this kind of more upbeat song better. All in all this is a fairly decent cover and the comedy elements aren’t bad. It doesn’t bear very many listens before becoming tedious, but as ‘00s charity records go there were certainly very much worse.

'Never Gonna Leave Your Side' would've been somewhere in my bottom 5 too. It's pretty bland and feels like a bit of a non-#1 following his two more impactful ones.

I must admit that 'Spirit In The Sky' is a guilty pleasure mainly for the added sitar and quips from The Kumars - "is Will Young available?" *.*

Yeah that's fair for Gareth, it's a decent charity cover, not one I seek out to listen to but not horrendous and I agree that the bits by the Kumars are well placed and funny - the 'big sitar solo' was great. Seems we missed a 2020 hit revival of Spirit in The Sky then, the 17 year streak has been broken! We did get a song of the same name charting by Keiino the year before though.

Blimey there some awful number 1s in 2003. Cannot argue with the ones out so far, though not sure the rank would be exactly the same as mine.

Like others, I really like Sneddon’s Don’t Let Go, shame it wasn’t his number 1.

This was always trash as far as I'm concerned, 'Sunshine' was about the only redeemable thing he came out with (and I suppose maybe 'Anyone of Us' but don't tell anybody 🤫)

17

Fatman Scoop Featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be Faithful

Score: 4/10

01/11/2003	Fatman Scoop Featuring The Crooklyn Clan	Be Faithful	1
Chart run: {1}-1-3-5-9-14-16-24-30-24-27-37-44-50-55-65->16

American hip hop artist Fatman Scoop was affectionately given the nickname because he loved ice cream as a child, and he died only last year. Other than this he had a rather gimmicky follow up Top 10 “It Takes Scoop” the following year, but he also featured later on “Lose Control” by Missy Elliott and “It’s Like That” by Mariah Carey.

“Be Faithful” was in fact a 1999 single re-packaged in 2003. The main melody samples “Love Like This” by Faith Evans, but there are various other samples throughout including the “engine engine number 9” section which is a Black Sheep sample.

Fatman’s shouting over the record is an acquired taste to say the least; I’m not sure if the “FATMAN SCOOP! CROOKLYN CLAN!” section inspired the likes of DJ Khaled or even Jason Derulo to tediously boom their names over every record. However this reminds me so much of rubbish uni discos that I can’t dislike it: there’s definitely a so bad it’s good element and I get more guilty pleasure from it than from anything else revealed so far.

I love the bassline, production and the Faith Evans part but Fatman Scoop adds absolutely nothing for me with his shouting. I guess it would be down in my bottom three or four overall.

Interestingly, I bought a secondhand DJ compilation the other day from 2001 which had It Takes Two on it, so I was thinking his breakthrough must have been a long time coming.

Doing a big catch up now since David Sneddon was removed...

#22 Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne - Changes

A rather horrid recording if ever there was one. I don't know why it took off like it did, but you would think there were better options at the time, but no, only options from Cliff Richard and further down The Cheely Girls!

#21 Westlife - Mandy

Certainly can't say this is any more or less inspired than the rest of the #1 ballad covers Westlife churned out. It's the last Manilow inspired hit I believe, after Could It Be Magic gave Take That a big hit some 10 years earlier.

#20 Busted - You Said No

Perhaps not the greatest #1 from a boyband at the time, even if it did offer something different to the majority. I see if was the week this got to #1 that denied David Sneddon's second single which is ironic (albeit with So Solid Crew member Lisa Mafia in the middle). Also felt a bit odd that this was on Now Decades; a major landmark spin-off compilation, featuring the best of the best from 20 years of the series...

#19 Daniel Bedingfield - Never Gonna Leave Your Side

The man of so many genres, I could never make up my mind if he was a pop star, a garage enthusiast, or a little rocker wannabe... but this song did little to convinve me that I was going to be a fan in the end. It got even worse by the next era with dreary hits like Nothing Hurts Like Love and Wrap Your Words Around Me.

#18 Gareth Gates And The Kumars - Spirit In The Sky

Probably a little more interested in this one than the others so far, it's a fun, quirky, charity single with lots of charisma and catchy lines that many would have been familiar with from the past versions. I'd probably have it a bit higher up than this.

#17 Fatman Scoop Featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be Faithful

Some will find this to be irritating and I do understand why, but for me it is quite a nostalgic piece and has a comedic element to it albeit less so all these years later, but Faith Evans' part is very catchy I find.

Probably one of the worst tracks I've ever heard, wretched.

DJ Khaled was definitely this generation's Fatman Scoop - both annoying, shouty and entirely talentless.

As I said on my thread on 2003, a really poor selection here - nothing outrageously placed here. As far as novelty charity covers go I don't mind Spirit In The Sky (but that's faint praise if ever there was some) and I've always had a soft spot for Be Faithful though can't argue that objectively it's poor.

Oh I've been sat there thinking that I quite like the Fatman Scoop track but, having just listened to the video above, I now realise that is actually Missy Elliott's Lose Control that I was thinking of and that I'd completely erased Be Faithful from my memory

Be Faithful would probably be at the bottom of my ranking. Awful.

16

Busted - Crashed The Wedding

Score: 5/10

22/11/2003	Busted	Crashed The Wedding
Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-4-8-12-23-31-28-31-43-46-54-64->12

After a successful eponymous debut album and 4 Top 3 hits Busted wasted no time in moving on to their 2nd album, from which this was the lead. It gave them a 2nd chart topper with more respectable sales than “You Said No”, though the #2 “Year 3000” remained their biggest seller.

I think Busted were iconic more for their style in general than for their songs. They showed that all male groups didn’t have to be all about overblown ballads and that you could bring an energetic rock and roll inspired sound to a pop orientated audience.

Still I enjoy this quite a bit more than “You Said Know” and it felt like they sold it as a lead single. I like the wedding theme intro and the lyrics. It’s nothing I would actively listen to but it’s fun.

I once enjoyed 'Be Faithful' but it has tired on me quite a bit over the years. The samples do a lot of the heavy lifting really.

Not that fussed on 'Crashed the Wedding' but top marks for Matt Willis impersonating Adam Ant in the video