29. Matt Cardle – When We Collide

3 weeks at #1 (entered 19th December): 01-01-01-02-05-20-25-37-44-57-61-68-95

Kept off #1: none

EOY #2

Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro, a band that I always enjoy hearing from, were having their most successful commercial era around 2008-2010. The Only Revolutions album produced six singles that got great radio play and reached the top 40, including my favourite song of theirs: ‘The Captain’. Unfortunately their songs would never have the wide appeal to get to a singles #1, and as such this is essentially the only opportunity to talk about the brilliant Biff in a number one singles thread. Particularly this concerns the fourth: ‘Many Of Horror’, which following steadily diminishing returns after three previous singles, reached a peak of #20 in early 2010. This era saw Biffy Clyro trend into making their sound more radio-friendly for rock radio stations at least, and as such ‘Many Of Horror’ is a rousing rock ballad with uplifting lines such as ‘It’s you and me ‘til the end of time’, and ‘when we collide we come together’.

All of that unfortunately made it perfect prey for the praying mantis of UK popular music, and I really hope this is the last time I’ll have to prominently mention his name in this thread, Simon Cowell, just as he was eying up how to potentially market a new type of singer for a X-Factor success. Winners of the previous X-Factors had all been firmly in the pop mould, and of the artists that looked likely to win the 2010 series, one of them, Matt Cardle, presented something a bit different. He was a slightly scruffy but still attractive (?) soft-rock guitar strummer that offered potential untapped financial success for the casual music market who enjoyed such things. Alas, poor Matt might have just been a tad too early, too attached to the Cowell brand, and not ginger enough. To have a long career at least. You can also just win lawsuits later if that’s your thing.

Actually an interesting thing that Cowell did this year was ensure the last four contestants left in the X-Factor would have recorded different winner's singles, in a change to previous series, to ensure they got a song that suited them (perhaps because of how ill-suited Olly Murs was to 'The Climb'). Cher Lloyd would have taken Shontelle's 'Impossible', One Direction Alphaville's 'Forever Young', Rebecca Ferguson Duffy's 'Distant Dreamer', and Cardle 'Many Of Horror'. Ferguson and Cardle performed their versions in the final, and Cardle won. A quick title change to not confuse the, ahem, easily distracted X-Factor audience, from the beautiful 'many of horror' in the song's middle 8 to the far more obvious 'when we collide' in the chorus, and it was away to the charts.

So let’s dispense with the final one from the far too long ‘winners single/charity single’ list in 2010, I wondered if I was holding onto this one too long but this is how much I enjoy them and while my enjoyment of ‘When We Collide’ is mostly down to my enjoyment of the original song it’s covering, and it is strictly an inferior version of that song, it’s still good enough to listen to ahead of the previous lot. Cardle's vocal handling of the song is nowhere near as interesting, his falsetto is annoying enough that I immediately know it's not the better version I'm listening to and it lacks a lot of the energy and emotion that Simon Neil puts into it (understandably, as it's about Neil's family). It's a good effort for X-Factor to at least try to touch on some different genres, but it also betrays how cynical this was, because Matt doesn't have any connection to this song, and while covers are a valid musical choice, the best put something of themselves in it. Outside of seeing him on TV up to now, we didn't have any sense of who Matt was, and this didn't do anything to change that.

'When We Collide' was hugely commercially successful, reversing the relative chart underperformance of 'The Climb', getting the Christmas #1 and 2 weeks after that into the beginning of 2011. It sold so fast that it almost denied 'Love The Way You Lie' that record-breaking End Of Year #1 and its Christmas #1 sales week was only just below that of Helping Haiti's first week. While not the biggest number in X-Factor's history, and actually even slightly below 'The Climb' on first-week sales, I think that's more a sign of the declining singles record market than diminishing interest in X-Factor. After a year off from the Christmas #1, Simon Cowell came back with a vengeance.

Outraged by a talent show taking and diminishing one of their band's songs for the masses, Biffy Clyro fans and by extension a large number of rock fans launched a campaign to get the original 'Many Of Horror' to #1 and stop the X-Factor for a second year in a row. This unfortunately was nowhere near as successful as Rage Against The Machine's effort the year before, but it did have the happy consequence of getting 'Many Of Horror' to a new peak of #8, something far more in keeping with its quality, and allowed at least those listening to the Christmas chart in 2010 to know the origins of the song now at #1.

Please allow me to never have to type X-Factor again.

Obviously Matt had better stuff to come. He really is much better than the likes of Ed Sheeran. A shame he could never shake the X Factor tag and yet wasn’t loved by X Factor fans.

I agree When We Collide was a vastly inferior version to the original, as you say at least it gave Biffy Clyro some much deserved publicity. The thing I found most annoying was the change of the name of the song, X Factor not only butchering another great song but also ignoring the writers choice of title. Did they think the GP couldn’t cope with ‘Many of Horror’, was Horror not considered an appropriate word at Christmas?!

However I think Matt was/is a great vocalist, and in common with many from the show, he just needed some decent (new) material to work with. His subsequent solo career, often self written, was/is good. I once saw him doing an intimate acoustic set a few years ago and he was absolutely fantastic and quite compelling in his performance.

One of the better X Factor winners songs this was from Matt Cardle rather this than that awful Surfin' Bird.

Oh aye, I think Matt in his career after this did perfectly fine, I enjoyed his first album and what scattered songs I heard after that well enough, once he got some original material there's nothing too much wrong with it - 'Run For Your Life' in particular is a very good song in that mould.

'Surfin' Bird' - hah, of course I didn't mention that as it only got to #3 but that was a real random campaign attempt.

As X-Factor winners singles go, I don't mind this one as much as a lot of the others. But it's definitely inferior to the original.

Actually yeah, before we really leave X-Factor behind (thank god), some of the rest of the list were performed on it/are by acts from it, but nothing that's as tied to the show in part because we've already gotten rid of every song in the last five/six weeks of the year(!), I should say that my favourite act that year was actually (Platinum) Paije! Idk, he seemed like a nice guy with a soulful voice and I always liked that sort of underdog at the time. With kudos to Wagner for... what he did.

Matt was a decent winner but I was full on getting into the underdog narrative as a teenager and it was very obvious after about halfway through that he'd win I seem to remember.

anyway talent show brainrot hate it how was I ever this into it

I don’t mind this one, as far as winners singles go.

'When We Collide' is just okay for me. I do think Matt has some decent tracks that followed like 'Starlight' and the collab with Mel C 'Loving You'.

I didnt really know the Biffy Clyro original much, though I did watch the X Factor final (Usually on holiday in Gran Canaria in the Red Cow, a good crowd and alcohol makes it more fun). Rebecca for me had the warmest vocals, but Matt was OK too and I really dont mind this track and his records in general. Genial and he can hit the notes.

If you go through all the 1,000 plus #2 hits in history you’ll find there aren’t nearly as many dreadful ones as there are #1s, and “Whip My Hair” is easily in the top 5 worst.

I think of “The Time” alongside “The Club Is Alive” for doing something with a well known tune that would never be associated with electronic pop, that would be ingenious if the song was actually good. It’s nowhere near as bad as the JLS track but a big comedown from their 2009 #1 trio.

Yep “When We Collide” is the okayest one of its kind.

Just caught up on all 5 pages and I've been thoroughly enjoying the lengthy write-ups so far!

I had an immediate guess for your #1 pick so shall see if that transpires.

'Shout' is a worthy last placer. I enjoy the original Tears For Fears and Blackstreet songs but this amalgamation of both in laddish, chanty fashion was really naff. Dizzee's more 'sell out' material had its moments, like 'Bonkers' in the previous countdown, but tracks like this and another still to come feel so beneath what he was capable of as an artist.

Speaking of naff though... 'The Club Is Alive' was a terrible direction for JLS. The lyrics are trash, the autotune was overbearingly unlistenable and they mangled a classic along the way. Flush. On the subject of autotune and X Factor acts, I remember that year of the show receiving criticism for quite obviously enhancing auditions with autotune - Gamu's springs to mind.

X Factor felt like it was at the peak of its powers in 2010, with its highest ever ratings and total tabloid domination, even if the ensemble charity releases experienced diminishing returns sales-wise. I'm forced to stan Tesco Mary being part of a #1 hit but musically this unsurprisingly offers nothing of merit. The original is of course a classic.

Gosh I remember coverage of the Haiti earthquake from the time so well, awful. I'm pretty sure I bought 'Everybody Hurts' on CD single out of sympathy as a kid at the time and then didn't hear it again until I started doing marathon sessions of all the #1 hits. It's a mess really, never something I'd seek out now, although a fascinating time capsule from a line-up perspective, with the likes of Joe McElderry and Mariah Carey on the same song! Also notable for Robbie and the other four Take That members taking part on the same recording prior to the proper 5-piece comeback.

I can't get over how corny the days of the week middle 8 is on 'Love You More'. '7 Days' this is not! Criminal that it quite literally held back 'The Flood', an epic return, albeit not the only song to block it. I agree that 'Eyes Wide Shut' was so much better than these #1s for JLS.

Oh I can't stand 'The Time (Dirty Bit)', this is when will.i.am was going off the boil with the whole futuristic shtick for me, a really embarrassing racket. That might actually be rock bottom for me. 'Just Can't Get Enough' was at least a better follow-up single.

Matt Cardle was actually my favourite on that year's X Factor, maybe a bit of an unexpected choice for a then 13-year-old girl when boyband heart-throbs 1D and 'cool' Cher Lloyd were right there, but I really liked his voice. One of the better X Factor winning tracks even if still formulaic. I don't think I knew that Cher had 'Impossible' planned as her winning song! Didn't take long for the show to revisit that idea then.

Everybody hurts, is just another prime example of a god awful charity song id probably have it even lower

Love you more was alright , I thought I remembered just being better clearly I remembered wrong 🤣🤣

If the tine (dirty bit) was a simple cover id of enjoyed it more i just dont think the rapping goes well with such an iconic song

I actually really like When we collide, yes matt did go on to have better but personally i would put this in the top half of x factor winners singles

Edited May 11May 11 by 777666jason

Describing Cowell as the praying mantis of popular music is superb!

Surprised that two of #1s from an group haven't appeared yet.

I knew there quite a few more regrettable #1s in 2010 than 2009 and we're still getting through them. How to follow up an era of mammoth singles success? Pastiche that whole era while covering '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life' of course.

Biffy's 'Many Of Horror' is fabulous, and the Matt Cardle version is reasonably faithful (retitling aside), though still vastly inferior. I was very relieved to find out that 'Love The Way You Lie' had retained the EOY #1 for 2010.

2 hours ago, Mack said:

Surprised that two of #1s from an group haven't appeared yet.

Something tells me they won't get the green light to go much further, but we'll see...

2 minutes ago, jimwatts said:

I knew there quite a few more regrettable #1s in 2010 than 2009 and we're still getting through them. How to follow up an era of mammoth singles success? Pastiche that whole era while covering '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life' of course.

Biffy's 'Many Of Horror' is fabulous, and the Matt Cardle version is reasonably faithful (retitling aside), though still vastly inferior. I was very relieved to find out that 'Love The Way You Lie' had retained the EOY #1 for 2010.

Something tells me they won't get the green light to go much further, but we'll see...

I would hope so that they would appear soon as it wasn't an real good time when that was #1.

28. Usher – OMG (feat. Will.i.am)

1 week at #1 (entered 28^th March, #1 on week beginning 18^th April): 13-08-02-01-02-02-02-03-06-12-11-6-11-15-17-20-23-22-27-31-35-41-50-48-60-60-66-70-63-35-47-54-67-76

Kept off #1: None

EOY #5

“I’m gonna tell you something, man. You kinda fucked up music. Yeah man, you really fucked up music for real singers.” Usher to T-Pain, 2013

AutoTune. While not a new technology, the charts of the late 00s and early 10s were very much in love with this musical trick, one T-Pain had built an entire career from it and even though we’re not far into this countdown, we’ve already come across a couple of autotuned songs. One of which contained the talents of will.i.am, and so, here’s another.

Someone who really hadn’t built a career from AutoTune was Usher, one of the most successful artists of the 2000s. Yet the siren call of success and chasing trends is ever there for artists with a lot of commercial viability, and will.i.am, one of said commercial artists was very into AutoTune at this time, as we have established. So he wrote a song with AutoTune, and put it over to another of said commercial artists, Usher’s team recording Usher’s new personal album about his relationships, Raymond v Raymond. Because this song fits in with that theming exceedingly well.

Will.i.am also ensured to include in this song a sample of crowd chants, which I’m certain were a major factor in its success. The crowd chants came from a French crowd that had just heard The Black Eyed Peas perform ‘I Gotta Feeling’. Which makes sense, because despite Usher being the main artist on this song, ‘OMG’ feels more at home with The E.N.D/The Beginning era Black Eyed Peas with how much it’s about AutoTuned big club party moments. Which will.i.am does decently, if this were a follow-up to ‘I Gotta Feeling’, and added in contributions from the other BEP members, it’d have some potential. It’s better as a song than what they did end up producing, though not by much.

I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been a huge Usher defender, but he was undeniably better without AutoTune, which lasted with him for precisely as long as it was popular. ‘OMG’ is one of his weakest songs, far too reliant on will.i.am’s production chops, while it's mildly rousing and not totally awful, Usher doesn’t really give a good vocal performance, he even sounds bored at some points – certainly not emulating the song’s title. Then he starts singing about boobies in such a way that Simpsons fans listening closely to those lines noticed something suspicious. I don’t really feel anything from this song and while this might be a divergence from some here, I knew it was ending up low for me here. Not below the lot already done, but low, especially considering how well this sold.

On the charts, as the third proper single for Raymond vs Raymond, ‘OMG’ was released ahead of the album’s release, and then because of the huge commercial and radio potential, became a radio staple in a large number of countries and a big hit in the chart over the spring and early summer - five weeks in the top 2 in a year with such huge #1s turnover is insane, even if it only managed to sneak the top spot in one of those weeks. I do not remember this at all from the time, perhaps because there’s so little to this song that it made no impact on me when I wasn’t paying attention and bored me when I did hear it and when I looked back at #1s, it was a clear loser. What I do remember is the far more engaging and fun follow-up with much less AutoTune, ‘DJ Got Us Falling In Love’ with Pitbull, which only got as far as #7. One might note that that song has nearly three times as many Spotify plays as ‘OMG’ these days, only just behind his defining hit ‘Yeah!’.

T-Pain later said that those comments of Usher’s helped contribute to his depression, though he was quick to clarify that there was no bad blood meant. Maybe Usher was a hypocrite with zero tact, but maybe deep down, he knew what a poor effort this song was.

I think this ended up climbing to #3 after it had been performed in the Britain's Got Talent final. Now hear this as an walk-on music for snooker player Matthew Stevens.

Interesting following this from a distance - I didn't actively follow the charts in 2010 so surprised by how many I remember! The only ones I didn't recognise from name alone were Shout For England and Love You More, and listening to the latter now it does sound familiar, a nice whack of nostalgia there as I can't have heard that song in about 15 years. The football one must have completely passed me by though!