I've fallen behind with many threads while hosting BJSC but slowly catching up now and I've thoroughly enjoyed the write-ups!

A lot of these memories are coming back to me, especially 'Axel F', which really was everywhere. I was graduating out of kids TV a bit more by this point and piggy-backing on some shows my parents were watching, like X Factor U.K. and the ringtone adverts were always on. That and magazines being covered in ringtone / wallpaper pages... what a time capsule!

They went to town with the merch indeed, my brother had the Crazy Frog Racer game on the PS2 and bought a key ring that played the song while we were in Spain, so even on holiday it couldn't be escaped! Quite impressive that it (frog)spawned several other hits for the character as well and has an eye-watering amount of YouTube views even now.

Annoying on paper but as a 7/8 year old at the time time I get you on the nostalgia front. That riff is a classic in any form.

Just realised that the time gap between Harold Faltermeyer and Crazy Frog is the same as the Crazy Frog release to now :x

My favourite to drop out since I last commented is 'All About You'. The orchestration is wonderful.

11. Ciara feat. Petey Pablo - Goodies

#1 for 1 week W/E 29th January

#59 in EOY

Last to fall before the top 10 is the debut single from Ciara. Previously released in June 2004, it had already spent seven weeks at the top of the US Hot 100 by the time they pushed her over here. Co-written and produced by Lil Jon, it was written to be a female counterpart to Usher's Yeah!, another Lil Jon production, and was written as a direct response song to Freek-a-Leek by Petey Pablo presenting as a rebuff to the overt sexual nature of that song and implying he's going to have to work a little harder to get the 'goodies' from the 'jar'. Pablo himself features on Goodies playing up this overconfident character before leaving Ciara to put him in his place. It was part of the popular Crunk&B sound that was very popular in the 90s and 2000s in the US and parts of it were spilling over to the UK, with the aforementioned Yeah! being one of the most prominent example. With a lot of hype already behind it and a smart decision to launch in the barren January music landscape, it was the sole saviour of current music at the top of the charts for January, notably beating Elvis' second reissue of Heartbreak Hotel and breaking up his trifecta. This is to date her only number 1, though she did go on to have several other hits throughout the decade before a slight commercial decline in the 2010s, though she is still releasing as of 2025 with her eighth album, CiCi. Outside of music, she has also modelled with IMG and had a few film roles including most recently in the 2023 remake of The Colour Purple.

Goodies is, ahem, good, but she definitely had better songs that deserved to be her only number 1, Oh, Like a Boy and particularly the banging 1, 2 Step (which did outsell this one despite only peaking at 3). Still, it is nice to see the start of 2005 was still open to some new music. Like Get Right, your tolerance for this will depend on how long you can listen to the main instrumental line, in this case, a whirring car alarm synth that placates the entire track, I don't mind it myself and does add a spacey, unique feel, but I can definitely see how it can get annoying. Ciara does a good job here and the production is jam-packed to back her up, perhaps overly so, and Petey does a well here playing his role and working with the bassline. I think my main objection is I find it a difficult song to take seriously, the 'goodies in a jar' metaphor is just a bit too inviting of innuendo for me to really be captivated by it and it's almost slightly novelty, but then I was at an age where I could particularly read into that. It's solid and a good listen whenever I come to it, but not an example of a number 1 represents their best work (the fact that puts it as high as 11 says a lot about this year!).

Tomorrow the top 10 will start! Thanks for sticking with me so far, see below if you need a reminder of what's still to come x

Top 10 songs

2Pac feat. Elton John - Ghetto Gospel

Arctic Monkeys - I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers

Gorillaz feat. Shaun Ryder - DARE

Madonna - Hung Up

Oasis - The Importance of Being Idle

Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha

Stereophonics - Dakota

Sugababes - Push the Button

That's a largely decent top 10 there, will be intrigued to see how it pans out.

I'm not a huge fan of many of the more recent ones to drop out. It's All About You is one that makes me laugh, it's one I wind Mr D* up with when I think he's being selfish!

'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own' is a decent track but like you say not essential in their back catalogue and prefer 'Beautiful Day' of their #1's too.

'Goodies' is fun but liked 2009 Ciara the most as far as material wise goes.

That's a great top 10 left!

Goodies is alright, but I prefer 1,2 Step and Oh from her 2005 releases.

2 hours ago, Chez Wombat said:

Tomorrow the top 10 will start! Thanks for sticking with me so far, see below if you need a reminder of what's still to come x

Top 10 songs

2Pac feat. Elton John - Ghetto Gospel

Arctic Monkeys - I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers

Gorillaz feat. Shaun Ryder - DARE

Madonna - Hung Up

Oasis - The Importance of Being Idle

Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha

Stereophonics - Dakota

Sugababes - Push the Button

Hoping the Sugababes make the top 5, but I'm predicting it'll be #9 or #8. There's some really strong competition in that top 10.

I like 'Goodies', but she's definitely improved on it many times since.

'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own' may well be my favourite #1 of the year, with 'Lonely' its main competition, although I appreciate I'm very much in a minority here! It's my favourite of U2's #1s, although 'The Fly' has taken big strides over the years, and certainly they had better songs which peaked lower, but it has that classic Edge guitar sound to counterbalance Bono's performance and his lyrics (a similar theme appears on 'One') which all build to the middle eight section. '...Amarillo' is my next favourite since I last commented, I didn't know the song until 2005 but have fun memories of it from then on.

That's still a pretty great top 10, with one song especially I'd be really happy to be #1, although I have an idea what that might actually be...

1 hour ago, Jessie Where said:

I like 'Goodies', but she's definitely improved on it many times since.

Her 2007 single Like A Boy is one of my if not my favourites from her.

4 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

Her 2007 single Like A Boy is one of my if not my favourites from her.

This so deserved to be a hit (although admittedly it's 14 years later):

“Goodies” is fine but it’s all a bit one note and plodding. “1, 2 Step” would have been a much better addition to the #1 canon. I’d have that lower.

Think you’ve got “Get Right” about right! One of J Lo’s strongest hits I’d say, and I like that it is unapologetic in it’s “annoying” style.

“Sometimes…” would be in my Top 10 certainly: it’s simple in production but there’s so much genuine emotion in the vocal that it really works.

1,2 Step is better than Goodies, which climbed to the lofty heights of 59 in my charts, yeah that car alarm (and the squelchy wind-break noise at the end!) just a bit too repetitious for me. It started, grooved along a bit, and then ended. Preferred J Lo, though neither would be close to my top 10 of the year.

Goodies strays into non number 1 territory.

A day late, but let's go x

10. Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes - Don't Cha

#1 for 3 weeks W/E 17th September-1st October

#5 in EOY

The Pussycat Dolls originated from the world of Burlesue as far back as 1995, under the management of choreographer, Robin Antin, they had no consistent line up at this point and performed 1950s and 60s staples at nightclubs, they started gathering further press attention in 1999 after posing semi-nude and after a few late night talk show and movie appearances as well as performing with celebrities like Pink, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera and frequent performer, Carmen Electra, began to grow in popularity to the point they caught the attention of Jimmy Iovine from IGA who suggested to Antin that they should try their hand at pop music and turning them into a brand, following negotiation, Antin secured a record deal, though Carmen Electra could not commit to the group full time, stating finadncial concerns, so new lead singers Nicole Scherzinger, Melody Thornton and Kaya Jones (one of them did just a little bit more singing than the others). They started out with a few covers for film soundtracks including their cover of Sway which served as their debut single, but Antin knew to really break them they had to differ from their burlesque roots and needed to go a more contemporary R&B direction, and the label were looking for takers on a song called Don't Cha, written by then just behind the scenes songwriter Cee Lo Green and Busta Rhymes, this interpolated the chorus to Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1988 song Swass and was originally recorded in 2004 by Tori Alamaze, a former backing singer for Outkast, only achieving minor success and dissatisfied with her label, she relinquished her rights to the song to Universal. It was first offered to Sugababes and Paris Hilton, and that's where the Dolls came in, with the songwriters having a more active role as Busta Rhymes featured on the song and Cee Lo appeared on backing vocals, something that would gain him further recognition with Interscope and paved the way for his own success story next year. the song was a huge hit, while it just missed out on a Billboard number 1, it reached the top in 15 countries and was one of the biggest worldwide hits of the Autumn. The Dolls would go on to be a pretty damn successful cash cow and have a few more hits and another album cycle and smash hit film soundtrack, but cracks were beginning to show in the treatment of lead singer Scherzinger compared to the others who may as well have been backing dancers, and when Scherzinger inevitably ditched them for a solo career and other ventures, the group went silent until 2019 with a reunion tour and new album planned, but COVID intervened and alongside a general lack of enthasiasm and good will between the members, the tour was cancelled in 2022 and the group remain inactive.

A Burlesque dance troupe being big feels very on brand for the mid-2000s FHM boom in horny young male content, so you can view this as a product of it's time, but I do still enjoy hearing this. A bit like Goodies, it's one I heard a lot at the time (and never realised it was a cover and sample oh my x), and the meme ready chorus always gave it a bit of a novelty feel, but I do think the fact that they are not taking it so seriously makes it work better. The production is suitably cool and sultry, Scherzinger is instantly captivating (before she started believing her own hype a bit too much) throughout and Busta, though not on his wildest form, is quite a fun addition to to the song as well, and darn those Cee Lo vocals are really good even if he is only in the background, adding an extra soulful layer to the song. The obvious issue is the rest of the group as if you'd told me this was a solo Nicole debut, I'd believe you, the rest of the group are really anonymous, I think it's only Beep which I think works the best as a group song as at least the others are able to contribute. Overall, I got a bit sick of this at the time and it is at heart a bit fluffy so it's not one I go back to a lot, but it's still quite fun and I'll definitely take that over their other one this year.

9. Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

#1 for 1 week W/E 15th January

#134 in EOY

Elvis' final appearance here and the first of the anniversary re-releases and the 999th number 1, it was Elvis' second number 1 chronologically getting there in 1958, however it was the first reissue to chart as his first UK number 1 - All Shook Up - was not eligible for the Sales chart as it came with a collectors box with which to house the collection (had they waited a year, they may not have had to worry about that). Still it's a fitting one as it remains one of his most popular songs. On the soundtrack to the film of the same name, it was part of a then rather popular phase of music based in prisons and is a more light hearted take on themes similar to that seen in The Robins' Riot in Cell Block #9. There have been notable homoerotic themes sensed in the song that probably weren't picked up at the time, including 'you're the cutest jailbird I ever did see', not that Elvis particularly made them more noticeable. Following the conclusion of this exercise, Elvis' record label got pretty confident and tried this tactic again with his non number 1 singles from his Elvis the King album released in 2007, the 30th anniversary of his death, fooling the public twice proved to be shame on them as the download market had caught up with them then and none could crack the top 10, thankfully the message they needed to let him rest x

I do agree with the sentiment earlier in the thread that Elvis' number 1s don't reflect his best work, In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds and Hound Dog are my top 3 from him and I wish they'd have instead gone for getting them a second chance, but I will give him this one as it's my favourite number 1 from him and possibly his biggest classic that made it. It's just a very joyful and fun track that still manages to be just as danceable all these years later, his growly vocals aren't quite as refined as they would become but they work well here on a brash and raw track like this. The 50s really were crooner central until the later years and this helped to revitalise them so it does sound pretty refreshing in the context of listening to them all. Cynical as this whole exercise was, I have to acknowledge the best of them and now get back to the present x

It took me a good few weeks of it being on the charts to warm to Don't Cha back in 2005. I found it so annoying to begin with. I don't mind it now and it does bring back some good memories of the second half of 2005.

I loved 'Don't Cha' at the time, but I find it quite annoying these days. I think continued overplay has probably contributed to that, although it did give way to that iconic Money Supermarket advert.

Never knew Cee-Lo Green was on backing vocals. Mind = blown 🤯

I recall reading somewhere else that Don't Cha was offered to the Sugababes. I don't really see it suiting or working for them though.

6 hours ago, Jessie Where said:

I loved 'Don't Cha' at the time, but I find it quite annoying these days. I think continued overplay has probably contributed to that, although it did give way to that iconic Money Supermarket advert.

Never knew Cee-Lo Green was on backing vocals. Mind = blown 🤯

I know!!

Chalk that up as the something new I've learnt today.