MAGIC! - Rude

I remember at one of my places of work, they had Heart on the radio and this song was playing all the time. I wasn't allowed to change the station so I had to endure the torture.

I don't mind the song in small doses.

Edited Thursday at 13:565 days by Charlielargepotatoes

I really do not like 'Money On My Mind' whatsoever, grates on me like crazy. However, they had worse to come...

'Rude' is slightly annoying but I don't mind it as much.

Rude was certainly a moment in time. Not my cup of tea and never was, it didn't seem to fit the music scene of 2014 at all either so it was a bit of a surprising No.1 viewed outside the context of the year. It makes me think of the quote someone on here had in their signature about it being incredibly obvious that Rude would be No.1 ahead of Cheryl, and then she got there (initially) before this overtook, so her fans had a good gloat about that.

Money On My Mind is very irritating for me, I was never a fan of it, I think I saw Sam say somewhere very recently that they don't like singing it anymore so doubt they would argue much with this placing.

Money on My Mind at #34 - what????? This is one of my favourite songs from him, where he could show his great vocal spectrum. Production is ace too. This is my #2.

Rude I also like. A nice song for summer. Another good one. My #22.

02. Sam Smith - Money On My Mind (34)

22. Magic! - Rude (33)

35. Gareth Malone’s All Star Choir – Wake Me Up (36)

36. Will.i.am ft. Cody Wise – It's My Birthday (37)

37. Ben Haenow – Something I Need (38)

38. Band Aid 30 – Do They Know It's Christmas? (35)

Note that the last 4 songs are the only #1's I really dislike. Overall a really strong year of #1's.

Well we had to disagree before long so at least it’s out of the way early 🧐

“Money On My Mind” is my favourite out too. Compared to all the whiny ballads that were to come from Sam it’s quite an interesting track and I’d put it in the middle somewhere.

What a terrible bottom 4 though! Having said that “It’s My Birthday” might be my last place, I think “Wake Me Up” easily beats it. It’s the Gareth Malone everyone can sing formula to get people humming a random tune and then turn it into a jolly singalong but it’s horrid as a single. “Band Aid 30” wouldn’t be much ahead of that; what a dismal recreation.

I’d also have “Rude” only just ahead of the terrible 4; very annoying record.

Not a huge fan of 'Money On My Mind' either, this was where the shine of Sam Smith wore off for me too, though they'd have worse to come from that album campaign, I find it falls into many of the traps for inexperienced singer-songwriters who write message songs, critiques of one's economic world are generally welcomed but this one just isn't written very well and the way it is written, it gives off the impression that they don't have a whole lot to say beyond the surface of what has happened to them.

Though speaking of bad songwriting, very pleased to have 'Rude!' gone so early, hated the song and consumed numerous video essays around the time essentially all making the same point, that the singer clearly respects the marriage tradition of asking the father, yet doesn't respect his answer - and this is the perspective we're being asked to support. Also just awful awful cod-reggae. Agree it's radio-friendly, but only in a very cursed fashion.

(good riddance to those two charity covers but very little to say about them because of how little impact they ever made on actual pop culture)

I do remember the real hype that was surrounding Band Aid 30 at the time, and even thought they could do something quite distinctive or put a modern twist on it like 20, but it seems after all that hype they just...didn't bother at all, because the final product just seems so half-arsed, if they were trying to recreate the DIY feel of the original, it definitely didn't work as well! I would rank it between 20 and 2 overall but all of them feel totally unnecessary after the original.

I did quite like Rude at the time, it was quite distinctive and came out of nowhere, but I wouldn't put it on these days, it's not a style or sound that have really aged that well.

I actually prefer Money on My Mind to the Sam Smith song still to come although still wouldn't put it that high, they lost me quite quickly when they turned into a dull balladeer after their brilliant features leading up to it.

32. Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass

Chart run: 75-67-53-33-1-1-1-1-2-3-5-11-10-11-13-10-7-7-10-11-14-17-21-30-27-36-40-41-43-49-54-64-64-68-69-74R(2) (36 weeks)

Sales at number 1: 143,750; 100, 942; 108,857 & 82,163

Year End: 8

Number 2 peaks behind the chart topper: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off (Year End 14)

For the longest time, I thought the lyric was ‘no trouble’ instead of ‘no treble’ which makes more sense given the song is about that bass. Silly me.

I guess this song struck a chord as it sounded so different for the time in a doo-wap retro1950s/1960s way, I admit to being baffled by its success – it spent 4 weeks at number 1 and tied for the longest runner of 2014 with another song that is yet to come. Remember when having 4 weeks at the top was considered a long runner?!

Trainor started her career as a songwriter and she released three albums of her won between the ages of 15 and 17 - pretty impressive actually. She then signed with a Nashville based label and moved into producing music, mainly country and pop, eventually co-writing a song with Danish artist Aya Katrine in 2013. This proved fateful as she wrote All About That Bass with Katrine, the song was inspired by Trainor’s lack of body confidence (we have all been there I am sure!) to actually promote body positivity and self-confidence.

The song, needless to say, was a massive hit worldwide and was a chart topper in the UK, USA, Australia and throughout Europe, making it the 8th biggest seller in the UK by the end of the year. Not bad for a slice of retro.

She followed this up with the number 2 peaking song Lips Are Movin’ (I prefer this track actually, it feels more instant) and a number 1 album, titled, erm, Title. She is still recording to this day, but has yet to repeat her 2014 success aside from that song with Charlie Puth of course.

2014 is a very strong year for music and number 1s in particular imo and in most years this would be a bit higher for me. Its just not my sort of thing, I find the bubble gum pop doo wap very cloying and a bit false and it just doesn’t grab me like some cheesy music does.

So what did this deny a number 1 to? Only the mega Shake it Off from Tay-Tay. Looking back, it is hard to see how such a great track didn’t make number 1, but All About That Bass was the song of the moment and that won out. It’s a shame Shake It Off missed the top spot, its so darn catchy. Plus it is much more worthy than some of her subsequent number 1s.

Remember – no treble.

31. Sam Smith – Stay With Me

Chart run: 1-2-2-4-5-6-7-10-10-13-16-13-13-16-15-16-15-12-16-23-27-23-15-17-18-16-21-29-28-25-19-22-23-27-24-27-31-33-23-25-25-30-33-31-34-41-42-50-50-52-57-52-56-59-63-63-65-74 (58 weeks)

Sales at number 1: 108,898

Year End: 7

Number 2 peaks behind the chart topper: None

Ah Sam Smith (again).

This was the follow up to Money On My Mind and was Sam’s 3rd UK number 1 and arguably his signature song – certainly his most popular in terms of sales and longevity.

The song was written by Sam, James Napier (AKA Jimmy Napes apparently) and William Phillips (AKA Tourist also apparently) in around 30 to 40 minutes. It is about the feeling after a one night stand leaves you and although there is no long term connection you just ant them to stay with you longer to stave off loneliness.

Its gospel flavoured and is technically a decent song well sung by Sam (before their voice frankly started to sound like a woodwind instrument of its own). It was massive worldwide hit, making number 2 on the Billboard charts and set Sam up nicely for his In The Lonely Hour album which was again massive. This also has his longest stay in the top 75 of 58 weeks though the far superior La La La has their biggest pure sales at over a million.

Interestingly, and I have only discovered this after researching this song, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were retrospectively added as co-writers due to an alleged unintentional similarity to Petty’s 1989 track I Won’t Back Down. The similarity was a complete co-incidence and it was deemed that Stay With Me was an interpolation of I Won’t Back Down (which seems a nicer way of saying it sampled it or ripped it off!)

The issue I have with this is a combination of massive overplay and that it just drags on and on. Sam is fantastic for me with dance tunes and they fit their voice well, but Stay With Me is just dull and boring. Sorry not sorry.

Never a fan of All About That Bass, I don’t like the resurrection of that faux doo-wop sound, nor the lyrics (I’m bringing booty back’).

I do like Stay With Me though, one of Sam’s best, I’m a sucker for a gospel sound and I think their vocals are great here. Probably my favourite of those songs revealed so far

Meghan Trainor is one of the worst artists to have had a major label put their weight behind them in recent times, and even though it's awful, All About That Bass is probably the best song she did. So there's that. Would have put it lower. I suppose you would expect a song like that to sound alluring, but it's just so soulless.

also another dreck-y one as 'Stay With Me' was very dull. Again sure that 2014 had several good ones, but also clearly quite a lot of very bad ones.

I far prefer Shake It Off to All About That Bass although it was quite a gimmicky feeling top two. I'm not a fan of Meghan's music generally.

Stay With Me is a nice track although it was very overplayed, I would put this one a little higher probably although haven't checked the list.

No disagreements on the Gareth Malone thing or 'Money On My Mind'. Both never been much of a fan of. Band Aid 40 I think had a select few alright bits in there but does indeed fall rather flat.

I did like 'Stay With Me' during 2014 but would quickly go off Sam from 2015 onwards save for the odd decent track here and there.

'All About That Bass' did get to #1 for me but I'm not as much of a big fan nowadays. 'Lips Are Movin' is better I agree. Did like several others of Meghans too.

30. Cheryl Cole ft. Tinie Tempah – Crazy Stupid Love

Chart run: 1-2-4-9-20-25-22-32-33-44-54-59-72-68R(3)-71 (15 weeks)

Sales at number 1: 118,145

Year End: 46

Number 2 peaks behind the chart topper: None

Hands up if you knew that this song was originally considered by Kylie for inclusion on her Kiss Me Once album but was rejected? My hand is not up, but perhaps the Kylie/Dannii Minogue ‘club’ members is :P

I am really finding out some interesting facts about these number 1s for this thread. Interesting though isn’t a word I would use for this effort tbh!

Cheryl (Fernandez-Versini) and Tinie is an unusual combination for a song, they don’t seem a natural combination, despite Cheryl collaborating (more successfully imo) with Will.i.am back in the Noughties. Her sound feels more engaging with dance, which is why I am more of a fan of Call My Name which is probably my favorite of her number 1s. This was her 4th number 1, pretty impressive for an ex girl band soloist (though her X Factaaa fame of course helped), but would it be her last? No spoilers in this rate!

The song was written by the same co-writer as Fight For This Love, Wayne Wilkins. One of the other co-writers of course being Mr Tempah who contributed his rap (naturally!). It is built around a sample of Ain’t No Way by Aretha Franklin and the lyrics are obviously a gushing outpouring of love about a partner – one can assume Cheryl’s husband at the time Liam Payne. But of course, she didn’t co-write this so it could be a projection of her feelings. Maybe.

This sold a whopping (but normal for 2014) 118,000 copies to debut at number 1, becoming Tinie’s 5th number 1 and tying Cheryl with Geri Haliwell/Horner and Rita Ora at the time. It was also the lead single from Cheryl’s album Only Human, was an Irish chart topper and sold around 600,000 copies.

I have realised I have barely mentioned Tinie Tempah. I had no clue he had 5 number 1s before doing this rate – I could only remember the excellent Pass Out and this one. Perhaps I shall be more familiar with another before the end of this thread? He was very of the time and I think largely forgotten at the moment. Perhaps a Tinie (in name and not size) resurgence is awaiting us.

This track is a bit of a mess tbh. It has so many musical elements thrown at it, saxophone (very in at the time thanks to Ariana Grande), percussion, a kitchen sink, a rap. It just seems a little desperate and begging to be a hit with very little passion and soul considering the title and content of the lyrics. Not one I shall revisit.

Not keen on this Cheryl song.

Wasn't this around the time most pop artists had to insert a rap in the middle of their songs? Sometimes it's just not needed.

Edited Saturday at 18:393 days by Charlielargepotatoes

Yes, the ‘rent a rapper’ phase.

The singer/rap combo had became tiresome by now. It’s okay but nothing I’d seek out at all

Meh to that one and the other one to come isn't much better.

I don’t mind “All About That Bass”. I think the lyrics about wanting a little extra to hold at night have a certain charm, and given there’s obviously quite a bit that isn’t very good here I’d have it higher.

The other two I don’t like at all though. “Stay With Me” is so poor: that chorus has hardly anything to it and was inescapable for ages. “Crazy Stupid Love” is annoying and has very little of merit to offer.