My Random Music

The 5 best: Prince - Little Red Corvette Ashford And Simpson - Solid George Benson - 20/20 Big Sound Authority - This House (Is Where Your Love Stands) Eugene Wilde - Personality The 3 joint worst songs: Elaine Paige And Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well The Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance Pat Benatar - We Belong

"Innuendo" was certainly big at the time and you would hear it a lot in the aftermath of Freddie Mercury's death but like you say it's been largely forgotten since. I once put this as a question in a music clips quiz and was accused of picking the most obscure Queen song I could find. I had to point out that aside from "Bohemian Rhapsody" this was the only number 1 for Queen on their own during Freddie Mercury's lifetime. A surprising statistic when you consider how many big songs Queen have.

The key part being that it's his show Unless you know Ed Sheeran personally you're never going to know what Ed Sheeran the person is really like. Based on the limited number of musicians I've met I wouldn't say any of them have been like the person you'd imagine them to be based off their lyrics.

I became a huge Queen fan for a year or so after Freddie Mercury's death. "These Are The Days Of Out Lives" is decent but I think "The Show Must Go On" is a much better record. There was no escaping Bryan Adams in the summer of 1991 but I have fond memories of that summer and think it's a decent record. For me it's the sheer quantity of bland records that Bryan Adams released the rest of the decade that's tarnished his reputation for me. Not so fond memories of Enigma because I was ill in bed for much of January 1991. I don't think I remember it at all at the time as a result, but it's since become a record I'm very familiar with and like.

He's a musician not a politician, he doesn't need to say anything on the issue. I'm not going to start listening to his music because it's not my thing but I do see the fact he's refusing to get drawn into politics as a good thing. What I want from musicians is music not a political lecture.

I'm not saying that Ed Sheeran has a new fan in Jeremy Clarkson, I'm giving an example of someone who's just openly said they're not familiar with Ed Sheeran's music. The point is there's no such thing as bad publicity and there's lots of situations that could lead to one becoming an Ed Sheeran fan off the back of this.

I said he might have gained a few fans from this publicity and you're calling these hypothetical new fans right-wing fascist nutjobs. Of course he doesn't want Israelis to stop buying his music, I'm sure a lot of musicians would happily sell their music to whoever is willing to buy it. Nothing wrong with gaining Boy George as a fan. It's quite easy these days to not be familiar with the music of a modern artist. Jeremy Clarkson said in his article that he's met Ed Sheeran but isn't familiar with his music.

Let's say there's somebody who isn't familiar with his music but they're hearing all these news stories all of a sudden. They decide now's the time to familiarise themselves, they take a listen and like what they hear so they continue to listen to his music. By your logic that makes them a right-wing fascist nutjob.

There's no need for him to apologise and I share his sentiments about his concerts being to unite people not divide them. If someone wants to boycott his concert on moral grounds that's up to them but I'm sure most of his fans couldn't care less about his lack of political views. I suspect he's gained a few fans from this publicity too. Given the choice between upsetting a few fans who decided to boycott your concert and upsetting the fans who would turn up regardless it's a no brainer really.

Concert for Ukraine is different though, the audience are there for the cause so they can make political statements to their hearts content there. If you're not siding with Ukraine you won't be at that concert but you may like Ed Sheeran's music and go to one of his concerts where you can unite with people of differing views via the music. I know artists do use the stage to air their beliefs and like I said in a previous post that's a bad thing. My views come from my own research, not influenced by what a musician has to say.

There's a time and a place for artists and celebrities to air their views but a concert where the audience will have differing political views is not the place to do it. I'm not expecting a thank you from Ed Sheeran, I'm not a fan of his music in the slightest. Can't say I find anything wrong with his statement though. No I haven't watched it but I get the gist.

Irrelevant to the subject but no.

Well it's clearly something you're passionate about and that's fair enough but not everyone at that concert is going to share your point of view. Even if they do at least some of them will be at the concert to get away from the harsh realities of life to enjoy the music, not be subjected to them. I'm not apolitical and I listen to a number of artists who quite vocally have different political views to myself but I couldn't care less about their views. All I care about is whether the musics any good or not.

"Dizzy" would be near the top for me. I wouldn't even think it was a novelty record if I didn't know Vic Reeves was a comedian. George Michael/Elton John is decent enough but wouldn't trouble the top of the table. Can't say I've ever thought much of "The One And Only" but over the years it's become a so bad it's enjoyable sort of record. Can't stand the Cher record, would be near the bottom. It didn't help that her previous Top 40 hit was "Just Like Jesse James" which I liked and was completely different. "Black Or White" is a decent song, my only issue was the over the top Michael Jackson videos where you had to sit through 5 minutes of rubbish to get to the actual song.

I thought this topic would have a discussion about the Ed Sheeran tour. The fact of the matter is the only thing that unites thousands of people at a music event is the music itself. By making political statements you're only going to divide the crowd. Everyone has their own political views and they're not going to change their mind just because of something Macklemore says, particularly when it's Ed Sheeran they've come to see rather than him. If it had been at a pro-Palestine event then fair enough but this was an Ed Sheeran concert and politics should stay out of it. People are there for the music, not to be lectured. I personally hate it when artists make political statements at their gigs whether I agree with them or not. I just think shut up and get on with the music.

1991 was a great year for music though I'm not fussed about any of the featured number 1's so far. Once you get past the title of the Color Me Badd record it's a non-entity of a song. Hale & Pace and The Simpsons are supposed to be rubbish. Not a fan of musicals so don't like the Jason Donovan record. Iron Maiden isn't bad but they've done much better. My general rule for determining how good an Iron Maiden song is the faster the song the better and this ones quite slow by their standards.

It's actually a pro-hunting song in reaction to the proposals to ban fox hunting. I remember it causing a stir at the time and it wasn't the sort of song you'd buy for it's music credentials. That said I couldn't hum the song, have completely forgotten how it goes.

They certainly have their place, if you go to a drum & bass night for example you know the sort of music you'll be getting. There are however genres that are meaningless of misused. In the late 90s/early 00s I remember a lot of pop music being described as R&B to make it sound more credible but even actual R&B in the 90s was nothing like R&B in the 50s so it could be argued they shouldn't have the same genre label. Then you had Britpop which was basically any British band with guitars. Musically Blur and Oasis sounded nothing like each other yet any American band who sounded like Blur or Oasis would be a different genre because they weren't British. In dance music there are far too many genres, the number of different types of house music is ridiculous. The origin of the house genre was music played at the Warehouse Club in Chicago, similarly garage was music played at the Paradise Garage in New York so straight away a musics genre was dictated by whether it was made in Chicago or New York rather than what it sounded like. Make a similar sounding record in the UK in the late 80s and it's acid house. I recall a number of DJs being asked exactly what progressive house was and none of them could really answer.

Been quite tough to narrow it down to 5 but here goes: Iron Maiden - Aces High The Temptations - Treat Her Like A Lady Huey Lewis And The News - If This Is It The Stranglers - No Mercy Smiley Culture - Police Officer Picking the worst was a lot easier: Madonna - Like A Virgin

The 5 best: The Jacksons - Torture UB40 - If It Happens Again Big Country - East Of Eden The Stranglers - Skin Deep Feargal Sharkey - Listen To Your Father The worst: Kim Wilde - The Second Time

The reality is the charts have been fighting a losing battle for 20 years now. I was still in my 20s in 2006 and for the first time in living memory I couldn't of told you what was number one. It wasn't a conscious decision to stop following the charts, just happened naturally. Nowadays I work with several people in their 20s and into music and none of them could tell me what's in the charts now, I know more about it than they do and I'm old. Similarly it seems the youngsters don't watch Christmas Top of the Pops these days, just us oldies who keep the tradition and afterwards talk about how dreadful the music on it was. I can't see a way back. In the beginning it was a way of informing the public what the popular records to go out and buy were. These days the kids can just go on the internet and see what their favourite tiktok person has to say.

Well Pete Waterman was the man who brought 2 Unlimited to the UK for a start. It's also quite normal to not like the modern equivalent of something you do like. Both served the same purpose, cheesy catchy music for the dancefloor but lacking any depth.

Not really a fan of Hi-NRG and I can't say I like Divine either, to me it's the 80s equivalent of 2 Unlimited.

Top 5 Phil Fearon And Galaxy - Everybody's Laughing Windjammer - Tossing And Turning Jeffrey Osborne - On The Wings Of Love Break Machine - Are You Ready Level 42 - Hot Water Worst Hazell Dean - Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)

It's only really relevant to a niche audience of music nerds these days. Many of those who remember the good old days have reached the "modern music is rubbish" stage of their life whilst many youngsters don't even know there's such a thing as the charts. I've written a post about it myself: https://myrandommusicblog.blogspot.com/2026/07/18-week-number-1.html