ThePensmith

Liking this - I wasn't so keen on "Algorithm" but this is more like it. Still has the beautiful vulnerability of her older material whilst doing something different.

Surprised no one has yet mentioned Girls Aloud - "Love Machine": "We're gift-wrapped kitty cats / We're only turning into tigers when we gotta fight back" 😽 🐅

I was wondering when this was gonna be back on 👍🏻 That's when you know you're turning the corner towards late summer when the telly starts getting good again!

When I was at Radio 2 In The Park last year, between acts on the main stage they played music into the crowd and one of them was "Call the Shots". Also the main shopping centre in my hometown up until a few months ago when they started blasting more "current" stuff used to play a lot of 90s / 00s oldies in, and I'd hear either "Call the Shots" or "Can't Speak French". And even sometimes at Christmas they'd play "See the Day"!

Much better set of episodes than last week overall - although it felt like Hear'Say were somewhat skimmed over compared to some others on The Story of... episode. Like them or loathe them, without them, and without that first series of Popstars, a lot of what's to come on future episodes of this wouldn't have happened. Although given Myleene has often alluded in recent years to saying she's silenced on talking about certain aspects of what happened with them career wise (notably on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul Brunson last year) I'm guessing that was out the question. Ditto some of the other members - Suzanne and Noel - who've been quite vocal about not wanting to go back and revisit the past. I feel like there would have and should have been space for Kylie as mentioned above and Atomic Kitten on this Story of episode too, given they both had two of the biggest number ones of the year and both had equally a big moment behind it - "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" being the moment Kylie transcended everything she did before and became the icon she is today, "Whole Again" being a record that really did save the Kittens at the eleventh hour despite having everything against it. Re: Stargate reusing a riff for Blue "All Rise". Nothing would surprise me listening to that Multicyde track if that was the case, they also sort of reused it about a year later on a track called "Easier Said Than Done" which was their attempt at launching an in-house vanity project and just missed the top 40 despite heavy rotation on The Box: Blue on their first couple of albums were absolute fire though. Now those two albums - "All Rise" and "One Love" - both long overdue a vinyl pressing.

Great set of episodes tonight, some real forgotten gems amongst them, specifically, Mint Royale and Lauren Laverne, REM, Andreas Johnson and Daphne and Celeste in the first episode, and Fierce and The Tamperer with Maya in the second episode. Gabrielle "Rise" still such a gorgeous song and deserved number one. I saw her at the O2 Easter weekend last year and I shall see her again next month supporting JLS. One of our finest soul singers by far.

TOTP: Biggest Hits and The Story of 2001 are on tomorrow night on BBC Two - 10pm and 11pm - then Biggest Hits and The Story of 2002 next Saturday at 9:30pm and 10:30pm.

It's not returning for another series, Claudia has stepped down, and has more or less hinted she wasn't comfortable doing it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpq8j188n90o I can't say I'm surprised but equally disappointed. It feels like she was set up for failure with this, and she's more than capable of leading a much better chat show than what we ultimately got.

I'm more tolerant and respectful of them now, but at the time I hated Westlife and by extension most of their singles. I've mentioned this on some of Gezza's weekly sales threads he's been doing alongside the TOTP reruns as to why, but for me, it was just so frustrating how they effortlessly seemed to get number ones with every single song with what, to my 10 year old eyes and ears, were nothing special, and had been largely done before - and better - by Boyzone. And as a massive S Club 7 fan, I found it so infuriating that they always seemed to be stuck releasing on weeks against massive records - Eiffel 65, Sonique, Modjo - and had to be content with a #2 or a #3 instead. Of course, knowing what we know now and how Louis Walsh always picked a quiet week for Westlife to release in, the smoke and mirrors effect was massive because they rarely spent longer than two weeks at the top (thank God). As I said I've grown more respectful / fonder of them since they came back in 2019. But in their initial run, bar "When You're Looking Like That" and "World Of Our Own", I couldn't stand them. Excellent shout on "Amarillo" too. That and the flipping Crazy Frog were the scourge of my music enjoyment in the mid-late 00s. Peter Kay hijacking the Comic Relief singles with his "I am Northern and large, hence all the humour arises" bit was so infuriating when it overshadowed entirely the actual proper and by and large superior Comic Relief singles from the week before (McFly, Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud, The Saturdays).

I was gonna say CD:UK was miles ahead for me at the time, because it was more reflective of how things were moving a bit faster compared to four years previously. Plus it being attached to SMTV Live worked massively in its favour. One thing a conversation I had with someone yesterday over DMs on Instagram about regarding the absence of Fragma that I mentioned above on the "Biggest Hits" show did give me pause for thought. Because Coco who did vocals on the original "I Need A Miracle" that was sampled on "Toca's Miracle" has had a lengthy and well documented dispute over lack of royalties paid from the single, and she has a reputation for actively yanking it down from YouTube etc (I know "Toca's Miracle" is on DSPs as of a couple of years ago, but it had a re-recorded vocal from another singer). (I also inadvertently found out I was blocked by her on Instagram. Go figure) It does therefore make me wonder if the episodes when it's number one will potentially be skipped as a result. I guess we won't know for another month or two until the reruns resume after the Proms but something to bear in mind.

I know it was on the Biggest Hits show but it was such a key talking point regarding the show that year when they showed the video. I remember one of the first issues of Heat magazine my eldest sister had it was all over that with "the screen caps they tried to ban" etc!

I am a massive fan of Five but by no means is "We Will Rock You" their best single. Honestly they belonged more on the 1998 or 1999 episode. Also. No Robbie "Rock DJ" (given that's where the video premiered and where the whole controversy around it started), Coldplay launching or even Westlife given their string of number ones / defeat at Xmas to Bob the Builder that year being on this episode were choices as well. I just felt the overall editorial on the retrospective of 2000 let the side down massively.

Just watched both the BBC Two "Biggest Hits" and "Story of" shows for tonight. Alright overall, but some glaring revisionist editorial choices. That Joey Negro record could hardly be considered a massive hit of 2000. I would have more readily given that slot to Fragma "Toca's Miracle" or Darude "Sandstorm" which were actually big. No Madonna either. Also no offence to the Eels but their two top 10s were in 1997, only one of which could be classed as widely known ("Novocaine for the Soul"). Crowbarring them in as one of the big music stories of a year where they really weren't isn't it. And my God I'd forgotten just what a self important knobend Chris Cowey was. Whilst he did a decent job in his first couple of years, his obsession with turning the show into something it didn't need to be oftentimes verged on the cringe a little bit and clashed awkwardly with where music was at the time and ultimately played a part in what happened to the show's eventual fate. Mate. You were producing Top of the Pops, not The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Appleton - Side By Side (EP) on 4th September

All caught up to speed with 2000 reruns. Loved Donell Jones, I bought that one on cassette with some of my Christmas money that year! The Left Eye rap was awesome, can still recite it word for word 🤣 Also quite liked Point Break and Scooch on the first episode, they both had some great songs between them but the audience just wasn't there for either of them in the long term. Loved Britney on the second episode, "Born To Make You Happy" remains one of my favourite singles of hers and I was pleased to see it become another number one for her.