Smint

Considering 'Shape of You' is one (if not THE depending on how you calculate) of the biggest "selling" songs of all time there is remarkable lack of love for it even within an Ed Sheeran rate.

I'm going slightly Mad' is quite heartbreaking when you know that Freddie was going through the late stages of AIDS at time of release. They had to shoot the video in black and white so his illness wasn't too visible. :(

Sadly I can well believe that.

Surprised Labour only standing for 77% of seats (compared to the tired wayward Conservatives on 93%) if they are going to be the next Government.

The anomalous US success of 'Lights' for Ellie reminds me very much of the case of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) - almost all of their singles bigger peaks in their home country UK rather than the US but their biggest US hit by far ('If You Leave', no.4 there) failed to make the top 40 in the UK. :magic:

I never quite got the Joe Dulce/Ultravox situation. Dulce beat Ultravox fair and square right? It's just that people prefer Ultravox right? Chart history has countless examples of crap no.1s keeping off great no.2s so why that one in particular?

I like her as a singer but too many of her tracks in the top 10 are really bland - she's definitely had to compromise her song quality to get bigger hits which in a way I don't blame her but when she doesn't then she's amazing ('Anything Can Happen', 'Starry Eyes', 'Explosions', 'Guns and Horses', 'Figure 8'). I also love 'Miracle' and 'Burn' as bops.

Aye with Sunak making slightly more saner decisions than Johnson/Truss (WTF is she doing giving speeches about how things should be, you failed!) on certain aspects of the economy/Brexit, there's not much between him and Starmer and I'd actually say that Sunak has slightly more personality than Starmer. All relative though. I do think tactical voting may play a part though in aiding Labour more than usual.

I'm sure they didn't play FGTH's 'Relax' at the time it was no.1 - only later they relented. Can someone confirm?

I don't know if it raised much controversy at the time but doubt the Police would release 'Don't stand so close to me' (about sexual attraction between teacher and pupil) nowadays if they were a current band. I know not a no.1 but Abba's 'Does Your Mother Know' has lyrics that haven't aged well ('But Ah Girl you're only a child')

Although Ebeneezer Goode does recommend caution as well as amplifying the benefits as follows: But go easy on old 'Ezeer he's the love you could lose Extraordinary fellow, like Mr Punchinello He's the kind of geezer who must never be abused

I'll focus on controversial in terms of song content rather than how it got to no.1 as that has been covered in several threads as I recall. Here's my suggestions from this century. Eminem - Stan. Lyrics about a man committing suicide and taking his girlfriend with him Cardi B/Megan - WAP. Very sexualised lyrics about how women want to pleased. Pissed off many right wingers. Robin Thicke/Pharell - Blurred Lines. Deemed very creepy as promoted sexual encounters without explicit consent. Banned in some universities Mike Posner - I Took A Pill in Ibiza. Just such a blatant reference to MDMA they had to change the title to 'Ibiza' or ludicrously 'I Took A Plane to Ibiza'! Afroman - Because I Got High. Very druggy lyrics throughout R Kelly - Ignition. Not so much the song itself although very raunchy But getting to no.1 AFTER many of those allegations was a bit queezy. Eamon/Frankee. The profanities throughout Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl. I didn't see the fuss myself but some thought with it was gay baiting/homophobic (especially after her more problematic 'Ur So Gay') Jay Z/Rihanna/Kanye - Run this Town. The lyric 'To everyone on your dick. No homo' is questionable. Rage Against the Machine - Killing the name of. Profanities again

I gave a lot of points to 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' as thought was very poignant (although think it was more about Brian May than Freddie). 'Bicycle Race' is a very English quirky fun song - can understand why many would hate it though. '

Indeed, these culture wars (where trans people and refugees will be top of the Tories' hitlist) are to distract from a complete absence of a positive message about the failure of capitalism here. Also, though they are a product of capitalism - social media companies have long amplified division by highlighting certain posts to users designed for outrage and clicks. I'm not a big Twitter user myself but in the last week, apparently there has been a dramatic escalation in the visibility of anti trans content especially in the 'For You' feed. What with other sites promoting right wing content (because their backers have the largest purses) then what hope is there for any kind of fairness and equality for minorities? Yes many can see through the lies of the media and are getting better at it but so feels like swimming against the tide. :(

Oh haven't we all suffered enough this year... :cry:

Marillion missing out on an opportunity to milk their 1990 no.34 hit 'Easter' clearly.

'The Miracle' I only very recently got into not remembering at the time but listening to recently I'm addicted as it's a rousing, hope filled epic (although seems like it goes on for longer than the actual duration of 5'02) with lots of unusual time signatures and twists.

Kinda ironic that Anne Marie and Ina Wrolsden are on the same position considering 'Rockaybe' vocal situation. Good that 28 out of my 30 are remaining still.

Oh good choice - I almost gave Taffy the 30 points too but in the end decided to go for the undisputed music Queen, the Greatest Of All Time........Sophie Lawrence. :cheeseblock: Vassy very interesting choice. Only hit single had very distorted vocals from what I remember..

Polling suggests that even in the much more right wing USA, people are generally anti the flurry of anti LGBT bills in Red states although there are some concerns. https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/04/08/repu...can-trans-poll/ That said their president is broadly speaking pro trans rights whereas the Republicans are completely anti. In UK Starmer has joined the Tories in broadly being against trans rights which is deeply worrying as some people will think 'Even Starmer doesn't support them' - ie moving the Overton window on this particular issue to the right.

And Ashe's 'Moral of the Story' is pretty great track to be fair.

I do like 'Let Me Live' - I generally prefer the post 89 Queen stuff more than most here, maybe as it was charting at the time I was listening to it and find the early 80s stuff too overplayed and in some cases too polished.

Love 'I See Fire' and 'The A Team'. I know it's a bit soppy (and very derivative of 'Chasing Cars') but love 'Photograph' too - and despite its no.15 peak, one of Ed's biggest hits. Went for 'Bad Habits' as best no. 1- I know its a very light song for such a subject matter (drugs, toxic relationship - could even be chemsex but prob nah because it's Ed) and it's not anything original or classic but despite hearing it hundreds of times it has that ability for me to never got tired of it or find it annoying. 'Shivers' likewise but marginally prefer 'Habits'. 'I Don't Care' is by far his worst - luckily I can barely remember it.

Laurie Anderson's 'O Superman' is incredibly strange. And the extraordinary speed it climbed to no.2 and fell again for the chart era of 1981.

I think (irrespective of my earlier slightly outdated votes) 'Headlong' is very weak single from Freddie lead Queen so glad it's lowest here.