March 16Mar 16 Author 7 Take That Greatest Day#2s held off #1: NoneNow be nice!I like this song. I like the anthemic feel of it. I also think it's a great number one. I'll admit, I wasn't the biggest fan of Take That first time round. But that's probably because my primary school 'girlfriend' was obsessed with them and maybe I was a little jealous. She was heartbroken when they originally split, although I don't think she was heartbroken enough to call the special hotline set up for grieving fans. I do have a nice memory of taping 'Back for Good' off the radio though - that is and will always be a superb number one. This song would become their 11th number one (only one more has followed) and their third post comeback (after 'Patience' and 'Shine'). It came off the back of a monster hit in 'Rule The World' the year before (one of my fave TT singles). If I could choose which of the two songs would get number one, I would have selected Rule The World, but they stupidly released the same week as Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love'......This song also inspired the jukebox musical based around the bands music. 'Greatest Days' was originally titled 'The Band' and featured a fictional band that comprised of winning contestants on the reality show 'Let It Shine' (which a certain Callum Scott-Howells of 'It's A Sin' fame auditioned for). I never saw the stage musical, but have watched the film version (featuring comedian Aisling Bea) more than once. IMO it's a superb film, which puts many of Take That's songs to good use, including this one.
March 16Mar 16 Author Just to pre-warn - I am planning on finishing this countdown by the end of this week, as I'm off on hols for 2 weeks. My final six in alphabetical order are: Beyonce - If I Were A BoyEstelle ft Kanye West - American BoyGirls Aloud - The PromiseLeona Lewis - RunPink - So WhatThe Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
March 16Mar 16 I'm generally a fan of Take That's 2000s comeback material but unfortunately 'Greatest Day' was an exception. For me it tries hard to be anthemic but misses the mark. I do quite like 'Mercy' though - the soulful, '60s style was a great fit for Duffy. I'm a big Peaky Blinders fan but had no idea about Aimee-Ffion Edwards doing well on a talent show, so that was fun to learn!
March 16Mar 16 Author 3 minutes ago, Jade said:I'm generally a fan of Take That's 2000s comeback material but unfortunately 'Greatest Day' was an exception. For me it tries hard to be anthemic but misses the mark. I do quite like 'Mercy' though - the soulful, '60s style was a great fit for Duffy.I'm a big Peaky Blinders fan but had no idea about Aimee-Ffion Edwards doing well on a talent show, so that was fun to learn!Hang on so Duffy wasn’t your other song?!
March 16Mar 16 1 minute ago, Herbs said:Hang on so Duffy wasn’t your other song?!Nope 😮 my other big favourite is still standing in your top 6 *.*
March 16Mar 16 Author Just now, Julian_ said:Kanye officially Herbs’ favourite male artist. One half of The Ting Tings as well!
March 16Mar 16 'Mercy' is great, liked all of Duffy's releases from Rockferry including the title track itself!'Greatest Day' I didn't mind for a couple of listens but it's really just got a underwhelming chorus which ultimately makes it very meh in retrospect as it doesn't take off anywhere interesting.
March 16Mar 16 Viva la Vida was unsurprisingly my big favourite and would've been my number 1 here so naturally it's first to fall for you! It was so good to see them get a number 1 (not the least when they were denied by Crazy Frog the last time!) with what was a really refreshing change of sound, I still think it holds up really well and I'd put it in the top tier of their material. I can't say I'm a big fan of the next three, but they certainly take me back to that time, I did like some of Duffy's material but Mercy always annoyed me a bit, if only it were Distant Dreamer or Warwick Avenue x I Kissed a Girl is certainly a fun time capsule, but it's not aged so well and Greatest Day, as others have said, just doesn't quite reach the anthemic heights it's trying to.Like Jade, my other favourite is at least still standing! (We may be referring to the same one but I'm not sure, I have a hot take about one of those in the top 5)
Monday at 17:465 days Loved that Duffy album so much, an instant classic that is overlooked these days but was everywhere at the time. Mercy was great and Warwick Avenue was just sublime and should have also been a No.1.I remember the media always pitted Duffy against Adele as they were both British soul singers with big voices who charted around the same time, and for a while Duffy definitely had the edge, what happened to her is extremely sad. I hope one day she can make a successful comeback because there would be so much goodwill for her I'm sure.Greatest Day is not very good, but hampered further by my own high expectations for it after they had put out three all-time classics in Patience, Shine and Rule The World. I find that the song just doesn't get going and sounds like a long intro. It feels too forced and like it was written by committee just for the purpose of having a 'stadium anthem' to sing – they didn't need one, they already have Never Forget. I did really enjoy The Circus on the whole though, a really strong almost concept album and the other singles on it were all better for me.
Monday at 18:085 days 'Greatest Day' might actually be the worst thing they've ever done for me, I hate it so much.
Monday at 20:085 days 7 hours ago, Herbs said:And still no Take That appearance! What the hell am I doing?!Good question! 🤪
Monday at 20:105 days 1 hour ago, Herbs said:Don’t be shy with the Take That hate guys!!!The Greatest DAIYE (the last word said in a deeper voice).If AI wrote a TT song….!
Monday at 20:135 days I believe "Mercy" is my favourite #1 of 2008 by far. I agree that "I Kissed A Girl" sounds very dated nowadays - not because of her vocals but the arrangement is quite boring. However, I had a white label drum & bass mix by Bootleggers and Gangsters, which is much more fire than the original. My favourite songs from Katy are "Firework" and "Dark Horse".
Monday at 20:205 days Author Ouch - with Coldplay and Duffy then I've taken out some people's number ones
Monday at 20:275 days 5 minutes ago, Herbs said:Ouch - with Coldplay and Duffy then I've taken out some people's number onesMine is actually still in! ❤️For the 1999 thread I removed some people’s favourites in the low top 20. The joy of a personal taste rank!
Monday at 20:405 days I always actually quite liked 'Greatest Day', I can understand the criticism (it's certainly not very original) but they could never make me hate it xOn the other hand I never liked 'Mercy' at all, always found it very annoying. I wasn't much of a fan of Duffy in general although 'Warwick Avenue' was decent. Shouldn't go without mentioning that her music career faltering was most likely related to traumatic life events.Out of the 6 remaining songs I really like 3 of them, quite like one, am neutral on one and really hate one. x
Monday at 23:105 days Just come across this thread. Looking at the list of number ones tells me chart music had well and truly died by 2008. The only number one I like is Kid Rock and even that wasn't a patch on his earlier stuff. Sounds like I'm the only one on here who likes Kid Rock though.
Tuesday at 09:325 days Mercy would be top end of the lists for me, pop banger, Greatest Day is better than most Phase 1 Take That's but it's more middling for me in this list, they did plenty of better tracks over the last 20 years.
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