Telsorrow

February 5th Today we're celebrating the 59th birthday of Duff McKagan frpm Guns N' Roses! Happy birthday! 1960. "Why" Anthony Newley {-/UK0096} G8iFpJ7_xZA Rating: -/10 -- 1966. "My Love" Petula Clark {US0153/-} MrzC6-_d6-4 Rating: -/10 -- 1968. "Blackberry Way" The Move {-/UK0265} CkDecETN9TY Rating: -/10 -- 1972. "Telegram Sam" T. Rex {-/UK0309} iIuoTo_bgEA Rating: -/10 -- 1977. "Torn Between Two Lovers" Mary MacGregor {US0414/-} xFB1yytGLRA Rating: -/10 -- 1983. "Africa" Toto {US0528/-} FTQbiNvZqaY Rating: -/10 -- 2000. "Rise" Gabrielle {-/UK0847} na93MI5NFy0 Rating: -/10

February 4th Today we're celebrating the 41st birthday of Kimberly Wyatt, a former member of the Pussycat Dolls! Happy birthday! 1965. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" The Righteous Brothers {US0127/UK0186} So Phil Spector certainly was someone huh. Before being convincted of actually murdering two people, he was a genius music producer in the late '50s to the mid-'60s reinventing pop music with his "wall-of-sound" concept, a process where studio music gets arranged as several dense layers of orchestration and It's a fantastic sound that went on to influence decades of amazing music, it's just a shame that this can be attributed to basically a monster. uOnYY9Mw2Fg "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was produced by Phil himself, and you can definitely hear the brilliance at work with how dense and emotionally explosive that chorus is. That being said, I always found the verses a little underwhelming compared to that gigantic chorus. Rating: 8/10 -- 1978. "Uptown Top Ranking" Althea and Donna {-/UK0417} Beginning in the '70s, Western acts' appropriated reggae, dubbed "cod reggae," dominated the charts. British artists appeared to be particularly fond oftaking the genre and diluting it thoroughly through studio filters and genre bending. So it's nice to see an actual Jamaican act top the British charts every now and then. joh37lrvf-s "Uptown Top Ranking" isn't particularly memorable, but it's certainly adequate. The production is fun and sunny, and the beat is strinkingly catchy as it's based around a certain '60s riddim that was knowing a bit of a renaissance around the time with many other reggae songs featuring it, most notably like "Three Piece Suit". I think the vocals are a little too sloppy and amateurish for my liking. The two performers here were still teenagers at the time, so it makes sense. But I definitely prefered stronger, more passionate vocals to go along the beat. Rating: 6/10 -- 1978. "Stayin' Alive" Bee Gees {US0439/-} fNFzfwLM72c "Stayin' Alive" truly marked the pinnacle of the obsession with Saturday Night Fever, and established the Bee Gees as the true kings of camp (in a very positive way). And this song is truly magnificent and glorious. The use of the Gibbs brothers' falsetto has always been hit-or-miss (especially in the post-SNF era), but here it's used to its full potential. This song is packed with great hook after hook, with the vocals rising it all to lushous bliss, capable of bringing a ghost feel alive again. The melody pops and is extremely memorably. It's expertly crafted and produced with the excellent guitar riff and the danceable groovy beat. Truly a gem of the height of disco. Rating: 9/10 -- 1989. "When I'm with You" Sheriff {US0681/-} mMwBWlCFuY4 This is another weird story of a journey to number 1. As you probably can tell from the video, this is actually a soft rock ballad from 1983. At the time the song came out, it barely made any splash on the charts and quickly got forgotten. The group even disbanded a few years into the mid-'80s. Yet against all odds, some radio DJ in the late '80s brought the song back into rotation and from there it suddenly knew an explosion of a new found popularity. How this got as big as it did is to anyone's guess. I guess the American public was missing the simpler times of when soft rock dominated the charts in a time when gated drums were the modus operandi of the pop landscape. Who knows. And all I have to say: really? Of all the amazing music that goes completely unnoticed, you decide to bring back this mediocre power ballad from some anonymous band? This song is just detestable in its clichédness. It's got whiny vocals, uninteresting lyrics copy-pasted from a million other power ballads, underwhelming instrumentation and one laughably bad final note change. You couldn't have picked something more boring for a charting renaissance. Rating: 2/10 -- 1995. "Think Twice" Céline Dion {-/UK0716} Céline Dion, arguably the queen of the adult contempo radios in the '90s. I'm personally not huge into most of her stuff personally (I know, what an original opinion to share with denigrating rock elitists!), since a lot of her songs are very interestingly composed or oversung. Though sometimes she can definitely put out one truly epic ballad like "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". vGwIaL0jOUg Unfortunately, "Think Twice" is not a great song in my opinion. Her passionate singing is evident and admirable, but the song was poorly produced, so those rocking vocals went to waste. I dislike the dinky keyboard notes that appear on occasion; they cheapen the arrangements. The section where the guitar solo begins and her voice fades in is completely embarrassing. Everything in the production is mushy and doesn't stand out. The melody is at least sort of ok, and Céline's soulful performance helps it along, but it's a very forgettable song otherwise. Rating: 5/10 -- 2006. "Nasty Girl" The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge & Avery Storm {-/UK1027} Aside from his bland and sleepy rapping abilities, my least favorite aspect of Puff Daddy is that he clearly cashed in big time on the death of his friend, The Notorious B.I.G., in 1997. All of the last-minute posthumous releases and tribute songs lacked authenticity and seemed more like a cheap attempt to capitalize in on the death of an East Coast rap legend. So it's truly disgusting that Diddy's label, Bad Boys Records, decided to still capitalize on Biggie's name nearly a decade after his death. I despise when labels capitalize on the names of once-prolific artists who have since died by releasing posthumous albums/singles on which the artist had no creative say whatsoever. It still is a problem to this day with rappers like Juice Wrld getting releases years after their death. ufKxCclo7-c So "Nasty Girl" samples "Nasty Boy," a deepcut song from one of Biggie's albums. And the sampled parts feel tacked on and don't seem to serve the song at all. This could have easily been a Nelly and P. Diddy collaboration song, and it would have made no difference other than the prestigious name recognition. "Nasty Girl" is a fun song on its own. I like the bouncy production by Jazze Pha, and I like how good Nelly sounds on this. He shines when he juggles between a Midwest rapper and a poppy R&B singer. It's truly a shame that this song had to be released with such a frustrating context, because it could have been geniunely great if P. Diddy wasn't so money-hungry and exploitative. Rating: 6/10 -- 2006. "Check on It" Beyoncé ft. Slim Thug {US0921/-} Q1dUDzBdnmI Rating: -/10 -- 2012. "Twilight" Cover Drive {-/UK1186} 73noUWDDpWw Rating: -/10 -- 2012. "Set Fire to the Rain" Adele {US1011/-} Ri7-vnrJD3k Rating: -/10

February 3rd Today we're celebrating the 33rd birthday of Sean Kington and the 47th birthday of Daddy Yankee! Happy birthdays! 1968. "Green Tambourine" The Lemon Pipers {US0197/-} NBFY1-eEhdU A nice little psychedelic pop song from basically a one-hit wonder act. This might in fact be the most hippie song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100. Despite the fact that the song is about a tambourine and features one prominently, my favorite instrument may be the sitar, which has an unique sound and creates a fun groov here. Vocal feedbacks are a fairly common trick in psychedelic music; I really like how it was used here and wish it had been featured even more prominently. Rating: 7/10 -- 1973. "Crocodile Rock" Elton John {US0289/-} The very first of a long list of Hot 100 charttoppers for Elton John! KY_AqsdLMJc While "Crocodile Rock" is a fun little jam reminiscing about one's adolescence and the early days of '50s rock 'n' roll, it's not one of my favorite Elton John songs.While it's well-crafted, it's not particularly memorable, and at times it even feels like a throwaway early '60s dance tune which is definitely not my favorite era for music. After a while, the buzzing synth and Elton's "Lalalala"s in the chorus does become grating as well. As a songwriter, Elton John is capable of far more impressive work than this, but I have to admit that it's not bad at all and I'll now get to hum it for an entire day. Rating: 6/10 -- 1979. "Heart of Glass" Blondie {US0463/UK0433} WGU_4-5RaxU "Heart of Glass" is a ground-breaking song that blurs the line between disco and new wave. It's a disco song at heart, and a good one at that. The groove isn't immediately gripping, but rather gradually builds to stick in your head. The guitar riffs and various rock influences blend beautifully with the disco production. And the spacy synths that were sweeping the pop charts at the time truly elevate this song to the level of a great ode to the future. Debbie Harry sounds completely jaded about her romantic situation, as evidenced by the lyrics and her dulled diction, but she manages to keep things interesting by depicting her colorless romance with colorful vocals. Truly elevating this to a bittersweet anthem of a song. Rating: 8/10 -- 1990. "Nothing Compares 2 U" Sinéad O'Connor {US0717/UK0641} 0-EF60neguk Before shocking the world by tearing up a photo of the then-current Pope on live television, Sinéad O'Connor dominated the 1990 singles charts with this great ballad. It's a ballad written by Prince himself but that he never released, and it ended up as a forgotten deepcut on the album of some funk band. But, thankfully, Sinnéad rediscovered it and elevated it to become this behemoth of a single. Although competently written, the lyrics on here aren't amazing. A lot of it is just blank observations about a breakup. Sinnéad's shockingly great and raw display of heartbroken emotion, however, is truly what elevates this song to the rank of greatness. You can hear her gutted emotion in her voice and the way she enunciates certain words. The song has few bells and whistles, and its simplicity works wonders in this context. This is truly a monument to what every sad song should strive to be. Rating: 8/10 -- 2001. "It Wasn't Me" Shaggy ft. RikRok {US0868/UK0891} 2g5Hz17C4is This song has some questionable morals, to say the least. So this guy thinks he was caught cheating by his lover and asks what he should do, and the immediate response from his friend is to flat out lie to her face. But, given how bad his situation is portrayed in the chorus, it's pretty clear that this is all for laughs. And it manages to be funny, which is something that most comedy songs fail to do. Rik Rok is an intriguing R&B vocalist with a unique high-pitched voice, and it's a shame he didn't make it beyond this one hit. Shaggy's signature strong patois may be difficult to understand for those unfamiliar with dancehall, but it truly adds a nice flavor and a fun cadence to the song, especially when combined with that pop reggae fusion beat that has a pretty great hip hop sheen to it. Morals aside, this is a mindlessly enjoyable song! Rating: 7/10

February 2nd Today we're celebrating the 46th birthday of Shakira! Happy birthday! 1974. "The Way We Were" Barbra Streisand {US0317/-} Barbra Streisand, a ridiculously talented singer and actress, and arguably the queen of Broadway. She's a full a EGOT winner! ifWOSnoCS0M "The Way We Were" is a lovely ballad written for a film of the same name that I've never seen. It has a gorgeously constructed and soaring melody, as well as equally lovely nostalgia-tinged lyrics. Barbra is successful in injecting geniunity into her performance. Her voice has a distinct sadness to it. And the high notes she hits are incredible. And, while the song arrangements aren't spectacular, I like how it came together as one big theatrical ballad that the vocalist manages to elevate into gorgeous territory. One of the best ballads to reach the top of the charts. Rating: 8/10 -- 1980. "Too Much Too Young - The Special A.K.A. Live!" The Special A.K.A. ft. Rico {-/UK0450} I have no idea why the British charts even allowed EPs like these to top the single charts, asthey were definitely closer in format to albums than to singles. But oh well, it happened (and not just once). Here we have the Specials, one of the most beloved ska acts in the British music landscape. Iu6VzNalclQ So ska, a Jamaican genre where the rhythm is defined by its signature off-beat and prominent brass, first arrived in Britain through a wave of immigration. Around the late '70s-early '80s, there was a vibrant ska scene that exploded in popularity, mixing the original Jamaican sound with the newly fangled new wave sounds of the time. This marriage resulted in a deliciously eccentric sound which you could hear on this. Unlike the double sides, I won't review each song individually and do an average of the scores. This is a pretty odd EP anyway since it's a live recording of some concert, so it feels more like one long continuous performance rather than a true collection of songs. It's got some pretty good performance energy and lively enthusiasm, so I could definitely see the appeal of this EP. But at the same time, this is definitely not my prefered way of listening to music. I think I would have rather listened to the more polished studio recordings of the individual ska tracks. Rating: 6/10 -- 1991. "3 a.m. Eternal" The KLF {-/UK0659} HDsCeC6f0zc The early '90s were a very changeful time for electronica. House music had now fully reached the mainstream, and started its process of splintering and diversifying into various substyles. One of these was the genre of eurodance, a fantastically cheesy but frantic sound that defined the European rave scene of mid-'90s, defined by its bright synth appregios, throbbing bass, disco diva hook and some rapper dude. "3 a.m. Eternal" kind of sounds like that transition between house and eurodance. It was originally released in 1989 as a fairly typical acidy house type of song. But the 1991 remix truly took it to the next level, making it much maximalist, a faster beat, a stronger groove and so much more. It's great! I love the use of the ethereal soul singer here, the choral parts and the "Ancients of Mu Mu!" chant. I don't even mind the cheesy rapper they've added in to this version, as his parts work great with the fast-pace of the song and the datedness adds even more charm. Truly a ground-breaking and influential single. Rating: 8/10 -- 2002. "Hero" Enrique Iglesias {-/UK0919} koJlIGDImiU Enrique Iglesias, one of the most ridiculously handsome guys to ever reach the top of the charts, goes full on 9/11 tribute song here. This was obviously not originally meant as a memorial for that tragic event and released as pop ballad as any other. But its uplifting message, the theme of being a hero and the timing of release meant that it was the perfect song for a commemoration. And it definitely helped boosting its sale numbers too. I'm gonna be honest and say that I don't find this song very good. I find Enrique Iglesias' performance far too forced and strained. The composition is pretty generic and I don't like the big choir part near the end. And the cheesy lyrics are more aggravating to me than uplifting. I guess it's kind of produced nicely and probably helped many people to cope in fairly dark times, so I can't hold too much scorn against it. But it's definitely so-so. Rating: 5/10 -- 2013. "Get Up (Rattle)" Bingo Players ft. Far East Movement {-/UK1220} 6_BGKyAKigs Now this is definitely not how to do a house song! If you thought the rapping on "3 a.m. Eternal" was too cheesy, I've got something for you that's much more ridiculous and egregious. I could excuse the Far East Movement on their equally ridiculous "Like a G6", since that song had at least a geniunely fun beat. But here, the mechanical beat that sounds like a painful drill sound and the lifeless and generic drop coupled with the fratbro rapping geniunely put me in an annoyed mood. There's practically nothing that's remotedly fun here, it's all try-hard and obnoxiously in-your-face. I hate the cheesy whistling, I hate the tacky pitch-shifted vocals and I certainly hate lines like "My style is technotronic". This song is only 10 years old, but it has aged so poorly it might as well be a fossilized relic from long lost civilization. Also what a horrible video clip! Rating: 3/10 -- 2013. "Thrift Shop" Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz {US1022/UK1221} QK8mJJJvaes It's a good day today if you love to have some cheese in your pop music. I've never been too into Macklemore's pop persona, since it always seemed too corny for his own good. But I can't deny how well the corniness works great on a song like "Thrift Shop". It's a geniunely fun celebration of a song for going thrift shopping and general sustainable fashion in general. And was definitely something needed in era when a lot of people were struggling due to a pretty bad financial crisis. It's shamelessness is truly admirable, and I like how it subverts the typical hedonism in rap music and its taste for expensive things without being denigrating in the process. It's also produced pretty impeccably by Ryan Lewis. I love the brass parts especially, and the hook truly sticks with you. And While Macklemore is skilled enough of a rapper, the weakest link here is some of the jokes he cracks up. As much as R. Kelly sucks, that line was low, come on Macklemore. Otherwise it's a really fun song. Rating: 7/10

February 1st Today we're also celebrating the 68th birthday of Frankie Sullivan from Survivor, the 48th birthday of Big Boi, the former member of OutKast, and the 29th birthday of Harry Styles! Happy birthdays! 1969. "Crimson and Clover" Tommy James and the Shondells {US0211/-} XS0niyiKlcw "Crimson and Clover" is a great little nugget of psychedelic pop. It isn't preoccupied with remaining a concise pop song with structure. Instead, it's trippy, choppy, and goes into strange little production quirks. In the beginning, it has good bubblegum feel-good love lyrics that Tommy James performs grandly and almost stoically. However, halfway through the song, the song decides to abandon that and instead focus on playful drugged-out experimentation, with chopped-up vocals, distorted guitar slides, and acidy bass. And it's just a lot of fun to hear how many studio tricks they can cram into this song. Very interesting track, truly one of the highlights of psychedelia's golden era. Rating: 8/10 -- 1975. "January" Pilot {-/UK0365} WdcrTUcdO0Q January just ended yesterday. Sorry Pilot you were off by just one day! But I would excuse it since this is a pretty good song. And yeah, the January here is actually referring to a girl rather than the month. It's a little bubblegum jam with a great little guitar riff. The lyrics don't actually make any sense whatsoever, with the verses being about romantic upheavals and the chorus being the band's rise to stardom thanks to their earlier hit "Magic" (good song). But that's totally fine, because I like cheerful and exubherant bubblegum music even if it's nonsensical. The vocals aren't the greatest, but they're still pretty adequate for this. And I actually really like the "You've been chasing the world!". Rating: 7/10 -- 1975. "Laughter in the Rain" Neil Sedaka {US0352/-} Neil Sedaka was one of those artists that was huge in the early '60s doo-wop era but faded from the charts once British Invasion was in full swing. It seemed he was pretty done for, but suddenly had a major career revival in the mid-'70s. MtIibcNDQ6o "Laughter in the Rain" is an unexpectedly good song. It has that sophisticated soft rock sound, complete with piano keys and smooth saxophone. The lyrics are a pretty stupid story about loving someone while walking in the rain. Nonetheless, Neil Sedaka elevates this song with great tenderness in his delivery, culminating in an impressively sweet chorus. This is a song that doesn't try too hard, which is a good thing because it's better not to complicate a nice little silly love song like this. Rating: 7/10 -- 1997. "Beetlebum" Blur {-/UK0758} Here's another key band in the whole britpop movement of the '90s. I really like Blur, I think they a very interesting and quirky ideas in their songwriting and composition without having to resort to electronic experimentation in their music like Radiohead. In the eternal fight of Blur vs. oasis, Blur definitely wins out for me. WAXnqjUfal4 "Beetlebum" is a depressed and jaded song about drug addiction. It paints a fairly colorless and dejected picture of going out of a heroin rush. Yet at the same time, its delivery sounds almost hopeful and reassuring. Damon Albarn, unlike Liam Gallagher, is a fantastic vocalist, whether it be on Blur or on his later project Gorillaz, and makes me feel almost giddy in how great he sounds in his introspectiveness. The music is rhythmed by a heavily distorted guitar, which allows for a more outwardly oriented hook. Maybe not as good as the true fun rocker "Song 2," which was released around the same time, but that's some pretty stiff competition. This is a fantastic song regardless! Rating: 9/10 -- 2003. "Bump, Bump, Bump" B2K ft. P. Diddy {US0889/-} It's a certainly bumping day for music, but these certainly aren't bummers for songs. CgiX53hjAPc "Bump Bump Bump" is a goofy song about dem butts. But that's okay when it's also got a geniunely great beat mixed with some lovely Spanish guitar and a fantastic orchestral hit punctuating said chorus. The boy band does a decent job of cooing at their ladies' imposant derriere, even if I'm not huge on hard Omarion tries to have impressive vocal runs. I'm also impressed that P. Diddy doesn't sound he's about to fall asleep and geniunely puts some passion into his bars for once. Fun song. Really the worst part of this might just be the fact that the disgusting R. Kelly was involved with it at all. Rating: 7/10 -- 2014. "Rather Be" Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne {-/UK1250} m-M1AtrxztU "Rather Be" accomplishes everything I'm looking for in house music. For one thing, it's immaculately produced. C lean Bandit enjoys adding a little organic touch to their house beats, such as string music and orchestral details, and when they sound this good I for one welcome those additions. It also features the incredible Jess Glynne as its vocalist. As I previously stated, house is truly at its best simply j a just by having a disco diva rocking some anthemic beats. And Jess Glynne certainly possesses the vocal prowess of a disco diva. The lyrics are simple, but they pair beautifully with the buoyant feeling of ecstatic love feelings that emanates from the music. Rating: 8/10 -- 2018. "God's Plan" Drake {US1071/UK1334} xpVfcZ0ZcFM It's funny that this is most recent song on here, yet it's also by far the least vivid. The Canadian rapper Drake first rose to prominence entirely on the strength of being a refreshingly subdued and introspective rapper in an era when over-the-top machismo and hedonism were rap's bread-and-butter. And, while he produced some truly great material in that style over the years, such as "Hold On, We're Going Home" and "Hotline Bling," it eventually reached a point where it felt like it was overstaying its welcome. "God's Plan" feels like the point at which he began to become a parody rather than an innovative presence. This song is devoid of all life and color. It tries to be this personal onlook on his life, but fails to be engaging due to its sleepiness and sluggishness. Drake's anesthetized flow is pretty bad on this, and clumsy lines like "I feel bad, sometimes I don't" also aren't helping. sI suppose it blew up the way it did because of its airy production and the kind of sweet video clip, because otherwise it's a shallow and boring song that thinks itself more highly than it truly is. Rating: 4/10

One month down, 11 to go! Here's a little recap of what went down this past month: January Recap Top 10 Songs 1. "The Sound of Silence" - Simon and Garfunkel (January 1st) 2. "Great Balls of Fire" - Jerry Lee Lewis (January 10th) 3. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" - The Platters (January 19th) 4. "Your Woman" - White Town (January 25th) 5. "I Wish" - Stevie Wonder (January 22nd) 6. "Sixteen Tons" - Tennessee Ernie Ford (January 20th) 7. "Downtown" - Petula Clark (January 23rd) 8. "Jesus to a Child" - George Michael (January 20th) 9. "El Paso" - Marty Robbins (January 4th) 10. "...Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears (January 30th) Bottom 10 Songs 10. "I Write the Songs" - Barry Manilow (January 17th) 9. "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" - The New Seekers (January 8th) 8. "There! I've Said It Again" - Bobby Vinton (January 4th) 7. "Laffy Taffy" - D4L (January 14th) 6. "That's What Friends Are For" - Dionne & Friends (January 18th) 5. "A Little Bit More" - 911 (January 23rd) 4. "The Climb" - Joe McElderry (January 2nd) 3. "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" - Michael Bolton (January 20th) 2. "Go Away Little Girl" - Steve Lawrence (January 12th) 1. "Please Mr. Postman" - The Carpenters (January 25th) Average score per decade: '50s average: 6.50/10 '60s average: 6.12/10 '70s average: 6.17/10 '80s average: 6.00/10 '90s average: 5.90/10 '00s average: 5.74/10 '10s average: 4.91/10 '20s average: 6.00/10 Total songs per decade: '50s total: 16 '60s total: 26 '70s total: 35 '80s total: 27 '90s total: 31 '00s total: 19 '10s total: 21 '20s total: 12 Average score for January: 5.92/10 Total songs in January: 187

January 31st And we've finally reached the end of the month! Today we're also celebrating the 72nd birthday of KC from KC and the Sunshine Band, and the 42nd birthday of Justin Timberlake! Happy birthdays! 1963. "Diamonds" Jet Harris and Tony Meehan {-/UK0146} SE88CZ1loyM Pretty decent surf rock instrumental. I like the little vocal that occasionally. I did wish they had more of a presence throughout the song though. The melody kind of feels like intro to Hawaii Five-O oddly enough, which wouldn’t debut for another 5 years. Otherwise nothing really noteworthy, it's decently composed and played I suppose. Rating: 6/10 -- 1968. "Everlasting Love" Love Affair {-/UK0243} JaYTNsS_m2w There are dozens of versions of "Everlasting Love" that exists throughout the decades at this point. It was originally an American soul song that a year later was covered by a short-lived London rock band to number 1 on the UK singles chart. And as sweet as that original version of Robert Knight is, I actually prefer this cover over it which may be the definite version of the song. Steve Ellis' vocals are definitely not on par with Robert Knight's, but I think the amateurishness works in this case very well with song's theme of desperation in love. It highlights the feeling of yearning for someone's heart in a more convincing way. But most importantly I truly love the instrumentation. Those big horns that blare on truly are fantastic. The whole song is layered and bombastic in such an enjoyable way. Instrumentally it's fairly inspired by the pop soul that was big at the time in the US, but also has a nice British Invasion rock sheen added to it as well. Very good! Rating: 8/10 -- 1970. "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" Edison Lighthouse {-/UK0281} TfY8hR5frEQ Some delightful bubblegum stuff. Bubblegum pop is at its best when the lyrics are kept twee and wistful without being polluted by novelty elements like a certain “twice on the pipe” line. The music is bright, overblown and maximalist in the all the ways I love this kind of music to be. The vocals are lovely, and especially love it when the group chants in unison on the chorus. They truly sounds to have a lot of fun. Truly a song to put you in a good mood. Rating: 8/10 -- 1970. "I Want You Back" The Jackson 5 {US0228/-} It's Michael Jackson again, this time the kid version accompanied by his siblings in his legendary band! Sure they were hold with an iron hand by their father manager, but they also delivered on the sweet jams. s3Q80mk7bxE "I Want You Back" is in fact their very first big hit, and it's even more bubblegum goodness. For a song made by a kiddie band, this sure is ridiculously some impressive stuff for the age of the performers. It truly sounds like a song that any other Motown band could have released, and it doesn't even seem to have been dumbed down to accommodate it to the performers' age either. The fact that it sung by kids actually adds another layer of innocence to an already charmingly sweet love song. Michael truly seems like a natural born for the performance, as he truly delivered on this and it might be why he’s already center stage on the song. His voice hasn’t cracked yet that he does really impressive vocal runs, especially on that final section. "I Want You Back" might possibly be the best pop song sung the kids, and the competition isn’t exactly the brightest stuff anyway. Rating: 8/10 -- 1976. "Mamma Mia" ABBA {-/UK0383} It's ABBA! A Swedish pop quatuor that is easily the biggest act to come out of the entire Eurovision Song Contest, as well as one of the best. unfzfe8f9NI "Mammia Mia" is a nice slice of europop about the narrator being cheated on by their lover and yet back-and-forth on them. Musically, it's ABBA so it is impeccably produced pretty much by default. I love the use of the jumpy piano keys and guitar work on here. And then there's that chorus part being so much minimalistic instrumentally to the rest of the song, but the verses come in almost explosive way. Some truly great compositional craft is going on here. While this is a still a very good song overall and has to the fun legacy of having a musical (and its movie adaptation) named after it, it's definitely no match to the gloriously fanastic "SOS" from the same album (a real bummer that is nowhere near as popular as their hits). Rating: 8/10 -- 1976. "Love Rollercoaster" Ohio Players {US0388/-} Ohio Players might possibly be one of the best funk of all-time, and later hip hop artists sure do love them apparently considering the incredible amount of times their songs got sampled. 9VH6yD8zobM "Love Rollercoaster" starts off with a particularly great guitar riff. And then the groove settles in and then it's pretty much 4 minutes of pure funk silliness (or 7 if you listen to the extended 12" version). It's pretty one long jam session where the whole band goes all out. I particulatly love the bass play in this song, and how the instruments sort of swirl with the vocals near the end. It's easily my favprite part of the song. That being I do find this a little too repetitive and it does goes pretty aimless for a while. Still, a very solid song. There's also a persistent urban legend around the scream that you can hear around the 2:30 mark where it could have been a woman being murdered in the studio while this was being recorded. It has since been debunked, so it's pretty ominous to hear it and think about it. Rating: 7/10 -- 1998. "You Make Me Wanna" Usher {-/UK0782} And it's with his pretty young self we're introduced to Usher on this project! I really like Usher, as a R&B artist, he sure got charisma and smoothness in the pocket. bQRzrnH6_HY "You Make Me Wanna..." is one fine late '90s R&B jam. It's got all the Usher tropes already in place, lyrically being it's anxious look into a guy's relationship with his girlfriend while also involving a lot of smooth sex talk. It's pretty much an artform that Usher would perfect over the years. And while I like it here already, I do find the hook a bit forgetable. One thing that this song got right though is the production, featuring those lovely shuffling beats that were very in style back then and some gorgeous flamenco guitar sliding occasially. Rating: 7/10 -- 1998. "Together Again" Janet {US0823/-} 7SXKHiPQPhk "Together Again" is truly an incredibly sweet song, with a gorgeous melody that the Supremes could have sung, and a hopeful message on loss. It's all effortlessly exported by the charming Janet. House music wasn't doing a particularly great on the American charts in 1998, so for an R&B artist to release a straight up house song at the time sure was a bold decision. I admire the decision to explore, but I'm the actually the tiniest bit of bothered that the house beat is a bit on the boring side in comparison to pretty much everything else. But there still are some definite nice touches here and there production-wise. That sparkling flute sound that ocassionaly pops up is serotonin-inducing for instance. Rating: 8/10 -- 2019. "7 Rings" Ariana Grande {US1083/UK1350} Ariana! The girl that starred in a bunch of Nickelodeon series, and went on to become a pop megastar while succesfully shedding her kiddie image. QYh6mYIJG2Y Now for "7 Rings", the song gathered quite a bit of controversy for cultural appropriation of black culture. Since I'm no authority on that, I won't dwelve into that and focus on the music itself. And "7 Rings" sure is a weird beast of a song. Most notably, it interpolates "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music into a fully hedonistic ode to materialism. I'm usually no fan of blatant interpolations, but I guess it sort of works here in an ironic twisting way. Ariana is known for her melismatic singing, but here instead she raps instead. And it's surprisingly not terrible for the most part safe for the most part. The hook does come as tryhard though and gets irritating eventually. I actually think the dynamic and fun trap production might be my favorite part on this song if I'm being honest Decent, but definitely not stuff I'm looking for when I want to listen to Ariana. Rating: 6/10

January 30th Today we celebrate the 74th birthday of William King from the Commodores, the 72nd birthday of Phil Collins and the 39th birthday of Kid Cudi! Happy birthdays! 1953. "Outside of Heaven" Eddie Fisher {-/UK0004} CQCmyYjp6IU A heavily orchestrated ballad with waltzy rhythms and quasi operatic vocals. The arrangements are very sophisticated and overly polished. The lyrics are all about a romantic yearning for some Spanish lady. I didn’t really liked this… Rating: 3/10 -- 1959. "One Night" / "I Got Stung" Elvis Presley {-/UK0080} SZoC3U9j22Q "One Night" is the unfortunate result of taking an R&B song about the harsh reality of everyday life among minorities, and cleaning it up dry for white bread audiences. In this case the original Smiley Lewis version tackles the theme of debauchery and having intercourses with ladies of the street and the resulting shame. The Elvis version is a mere little love song instead. I mean it’s technically good, as the King tends to be vocally. And it’s also a nice break of all the fast-paced he was putting out at the time. It still doesn’t really the New Orleans, and is in general a fairly questionable cover version. lt5C-mxP-YE That's more like it! "I Got Stung" is a really fun stomper of a song with some amazing piano thumping at work here. I love how Elvis sings this in a ridiculously fast and uninterrupted way, riding off the beat with grace, passion and energy. A great Elvis classic! Rating: 7/10 -- 1961. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" The Shirelles {US0044/-} PAxb1vnb520 "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" is a sweet little song about doubts and uncertainties in relationships, a theme not often explored in love songs but is a very real fact of life. And besides being lyrically interesting, it’s also very well sung where the vocals approximate soul music (the Shirelles might also be the very first all-girl group to ever top the Billboard Hot 100). The orchestration is also sublime, with the strings enriching wonderfully the pop instrumentation. It’s great! Rating: 8/10 -- 1964. "Needles and Pins" The Searchers {-/UK0162} 1ioQVYqDg38 "Needles and Pins" possesses nice jangly tone to the guitar, a sound that the alternative scene of the '80s would later claim and pretty much perfect in several fantastic jangle pop releases. The vocal work here is fairly weak in my opinion. A lot of British Invasion were all about the hooks rather the vocal prowess, but I definitely the weak amateurish vocals actively hurt what could have been a pretty damn good love song. Even if the lyrics are pretty corny when you read into them, even for the mid-'60s. Rating: 6/10 -- 1982. "Oh Julie" Shakin' Stevens {-/UK0493} People were getting nostalgic for the pre-Sexual Revolution era in the '80s. That's how a hack like Shakin' Stevens winds up becoming the best selling singles artist of the decade, by selling retro-minded drivel. 6AtOcWOPT50 "Tacky" is the only word that comes to mind when listening to this. It tries to be all quirky and kitschy, but fails to stay likeable or remotely even sounding good in the process. 50's rock 'n' roll had a bit of resurgence in the early '80s in general, and while bands like The Stray Cats managed to succesfully recapture the feel of ol' early rock music while putting out great music in the procress, this is definitely not one of those cases. Shakin' Stevens makes painful attempts at rockabilly singing in the same rock legends like Elvis above on "I Got Stung", and it's quite the chore to listen to. But worst of all is the accordion which I do like the inclusion on here at all. It does go well with the rest of the stock-sounding rock 'n' roll, and just gives the whole thing an unwelcome schlager feel. Just unbearable. Rating: 3/10 -- 1982. "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" Daryl Hall and John Oates {US0512/-} Daryl Hall and John Oates are one of these music duos I dunno what to do with. I do not like their personas nor can I stomach their vocals in many cases, but at the same time they made some absolutely amazing music which is hard to argue with. ccenFp_3kq8 "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is one of moments of pure brilliance. The silky keyboard notes and twinkling production are some of the best musical works of that weird transitional period that was the early '80s. It's incredibly smooth and while at the same time rhythmic enough for the song to get not forgettable. Daryl Hall's vocals slightly teeter on the edge of being annoying for me, but the groove is so delectable and enchanting that it can easily excuse any vocal deficiency. And the lyrics are also pretty interesting, as that they depict a scene of romantic or even sexual resistance in a teasing way. It's just fun! A mesmerizingly great single. Rating: 8/10 -- 1988. "Need You Tonight" INXS {US0650/-} The American charts were almost completely devoid of fun funky new wave songs by 1988, pushed to the wayside in favor of sleepy adult contemporary and by-the-number corporate rock by then. So it's nice to see an Australian band topping them with material that sounds like a throwback to the earlier part of the '80s. w-rv2BQa2OU One thing that is immediately noticeable is how cavernously minimalistic "Need You Tonight" is. It's got a biting riff line, a muted sound and a groovy bassline, setting up a fantastically lowkey and understated mood. Which is on what Michael Hutchence flirtingly sings in an almost whispery tone to succesfully create a sexual tension of a song. A song that both truly enchants and makes you want to dance, managing with that a ton of musical restraint too. Simply spectacular. Rating: 8/10 -- 1999. "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" The Offspring {-/UK0813} Irony and MTV-ready pop punk both certainly were all the rage in the late '90s, and the combination of the QtTR-_Klcq8 "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" can be given the benefit of the doubt for at least trying to satirize that suburban white trash type that tries too hard to appriopriate hip hop culture just for their own sake. The song sure plays a lot into the character for the laughs, but I wonder if the meaning got lost on some people and this was taken as an actual geniune anthem for that attitude instead. The song sure does feel like it's losing its point at parts too though, which probably didn't help. Whatever the case is, this song gets also fairly annoying. I do not like how Dexter Holland's literally shout at parts. Bands like Green Day pretty much perfected the pop punk yelling but in a catchy, on tune manner, but here it goes all out pretty obnoxiously and needlessly so. I also don't get the "Give it to me baby!" part sung by uncredited female vocalists. I mean they're pretty fun at first. But it's rapidly not fun at all after that. It's a good song if you just turn your brain off, but it does have some grating elements. Rating: 6/10 -- 1999. "...Baby One More Time" Britney Spears {US0838/UK0817} And Britney is back once again! That's a lot of Britney in two days. January sure was a good month for her. And this time, it's actually her very her first single that we're graced with. C-u5WLJ9Yk4 This was rightfully a cultural smash from the get-go. It's pretty much the early Max Martin machine at its peak: highly melodic, funky beats that are quite reminiscent of new jack swing of the early '90s, and those amazing distorted piano stabs. That dense chorus where him and Britney sing in unison is truly magical. I did mention how Britney Spears' Southern drawl and her nasal singing voice did hinder some of her ballads, but those work great in context of this song with some amazing groove. There's an already impressive showcase of confidence here for a 16 year old (even if it does she does seem to be sexualized at some shots of the video clip). But besides some questionable, it's just an amazing little burst of joyous pop goodness. Definitely deserving its status of a pop classic at this point. Rating: 9/10 -- 2020. "Godzilla" Eminem ft. Juice Wrld {-/UK1363} r_0JjYUe5jo Well, at least it's nowhere near bad as "River". You might as well say that this was a solid attempt at bringing back some of early charm from his early Slim Shady days. Here he takes himself way less seriously and just want to have fun. Pretty impressive showcase of his rapping skills and how many bars he can spit in seconds time. Pretty sure this song now has the world record for fastest rapping, but it's not something that ever appealed to me nor is that part very interesting to listen to. Just feels more like a novelty factor more than anything. The production is also not very good, feeling quite dated for the year 2020. This song also has the sad context of being the very last thing that Juice Wrld recorded before his shockingly early demise. And while I like that chorus, it's oddly sad (and not just because of the context) in contrast to Eminem's goofy verses. At least Eminem seemed to have stopped his patronizing attitude towards younger rappers. Pretty ok song overall. Rating: 5/10

January 29th Today we celebrate the 67th birthday of Amii Stewart! Happy birthday! 1960. "Starry Eyed" Michael Holliday {-/UK0095} QNNj4NDCn6k Not a fan of this. I guess the music has a nice samba-esque exotica flair to it that makes you think of vacation, but its song itself has thematically nothing to do with voyaging. It's just another sleepy ballad with shmaltzy lyrics. Michael Holliday is a terribly underwhelming vocalist that sounds anesthetized on this. There's no life or passion in his performance. He just sort of strums along the music blandly. The backing vocalists are at least a cute touch I suppose. Rating: 4/10 -- 1969. "Albatross" Fleetwood Mac {-/UK0264} Many people nowadays seem to forget how longstanding Fleetwood Mac as a band actually is. They were putting out stuff and making hits way back in the late '60s, way before their famous "Dreams"/Rumours with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in the band. Viqr6KHwJjc In fact, "Albatross" here is the band's sole number one on the UK singles chart to date. It's a nice little instrumental song, very much in the style of the bluesy rock they were releasing at the time rather than the poppier soft rock they eventually were known for. This one instrumental is even a lot mellower than their vocal songs. It's moody and subdued in a very pleasing way, with guitar slicks slowly twanging and a fairly ominous sounding cymbals being clattered in the background. Very relaxing stuff! While I certainly like this critically acclaimed single, I won't go as far as saying I adore it. Rating: 7/10 -- 1977. "Car Wash" Rose Royce {US0413/-} eB0aROCl530 Now this is some fun stuff! When those strings come in, you know exactly some groovy stuff is about to get down. Even though it's mostly a soundtrack song meant to set up the setting of the movie, the silly lyrics work great with the already mostly silly genre of disco. It's pure funky mindlessness meant as a quick pick-me-up, and it works great in that regard. Rose Royce were a soul band mostly only known for this one song in the US, which is a bummer because they really perform the hell of their stuff like here. But at least they seemed to have been much loved in the UK, considering they still had numerous top 10 hits after this. I actually never heard of the movie Car Wash before, but it looks fun so I might give it a watch (but it's apparently directed by Joel Schumacher, the guy known for directing those horrible '90s Batman movies, so maybe not). Rating: 8/10 -- 2000. "Born to Make You Happy" Britney Spears {-/UK0846} When Britney Spears first arrived onto the pop scene, she was of course one of hottest teen pop idols on the airwaves singing mostly innocuous teenyboppers. Things certainly changed quite drastically as she grew up and reinvented herself as a more mature popstar! Yy5cKX4jBkQ "Born to Make You Happy" is a little slice of that bygone era. It's a pure product of the Max Martin formula of the time, even though this wasn't produced by him surprisingly. But it still is by someone by from the Cheiron studios, the same Swedish studio Max Martin worked at and where many of the popular teen pop songs of the time were composed. Those jumpy beats are a lot of fun, and I have a hard time disliking songs with such nice dense harmonies on the chorus. It's pure pop bliss. That being said, I do find Britney Spears pretty whiny sounding on this, which is only even more accentued by her Southern drawl. She's not the strongest when it comes to singing love songs, and this was definitely not her brightest moment. In fact, the whole song feels like it was first composed and sung as a ballad but was remixed at the last minute to a more upbeat song. The drippy lyrics kind of are a testament to that feeling. Weird Rating: 7/10 -- 2000. "I Knew I Loved You" Savage Garden {US0852/-} jjnmICxvoVY Argh... I said a few weeks ago that I liked "Truly, Madly Deeply" mostly for how much of a nicely composed song and driftingly sweet it was. But "I Knew I Loved You" tries way too hard and completely fails in what TMD was great at. For one thing, the music is completely generic sap that any boy band could have come up with. It's got all the bad traits of boring adult contempo mush. The lyrics are terribly forced. I do not find the "we didn't met yet, but I knew you were made for me" trope that so many love songs pull geniune at all. And this one truly basks in those clichés. And then there's Darren Hayes who does some terrible key changes and falsetto singing on this. None of this sounds good or is interesting in the slighest. Makes me actually shocked that this is from the same band that released "I Want You" a couple years before! Rating: 3/10 -- 2011. "Hold It Against Me" Britney Spears {US0998/-} Hey, it's Britney again! This time much later into her career. By 2011, she certainly had lived through some tumultuous times, but she also piled on the hits in the process. -Edv8Onsrgg "Hold It Against Me" isn't exactly one of her most well-remembered songs. This time, it is actually produced by Max Martin. But pop music when this was released had already evolved quite significantly since 2000 and the Cheiron studio days. The beat on the verses is way too harsh in my opinion, it stabs your ears way too hard for it without really being catchy. It's essentially a love song in a dance club still, but a little more retain in that beat would have been nice. In fact, those verses sung in a weird triplet form aren't great honestly.The ethereal chorus on the other hand is very nice, and offers a needed break from all the harshness. I just wish more of the song was like that part. There's also glitchy middle drop with a lot of cut-up vocals near the end, very much inspired by the dubstep that was huge in the early '10s. I don't think true dubstep aficionados would find that part very well-done, but it's interesting at least. Overall, it's a fine piece of club pop, but has a few clunky elements about it. Rating: 6/10

January 28th Today we celebrate the 45th birthday of Joey Fatone, a former member of NSYNC and the 43rd birthday of Nick Carter from NSYNC's fellow boy band, the Backstreet Boys! Happy birthdays! 1965. "Go Now" The Moody Blues {-/UK0185} The Moody Blues are a respected band for their pioneering work in the realm of progressive rock. They made some great classic albums in the '60s, and released fantastic songs like "Nights in White Satin" (if you haven't heard it yet, do yourself a favor, it's bone-chillingly beautiful!). But they started off as a very different band initially. Before a change in line up occured in 1966, the Moody Blues were a pretty typical pop rock band from Birmingham. They had Denny Laine as the main vocalist, who later became a prominent member of Wings with Paul McCartney. 6Vt4lLdz7UE "Go Now" is by far the biggest in the group's early era. While the band back then was definitely as interesting as their later incarnation, this is actually already pretty great. The music is definitely closer stylistically to soul music than to rock, but the band do a fantastic of layering their vocals appropriately. They perfectly capture the sad undertone needed to make such a sad and dramatic song work. I love the piano interlude, it softens the mood yet builds the rhythm toward the final verses very well. Denny Laine sounds definitely very young here, but he admittedly does the pathetic lover persona really well without overdoing it, and he has enough vocal talent to elevate his parts. Very good song! Rating: 8/10 -- 1984. "Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood {-/UK0531} When Frankie Goes to Hollywood first arrived on the scene, they were exactly what the '80s needed. A sexually liberating and LGBT-friendly synthpop band releasing club-ready songs in an era that was particularly harsh for that aformentioned community. They certainly started off with a bang in that domain. Yem_iEHiyJ0 "Relax" has a fairly contradictory name in this case. It's anything but relaxing. It has pumping synth stabs, cheesy MIDI trumpets and dance beats that would make the most lethargic of people dance. Holly Johnson's vocals are appropriately flamboyant, and fantastically rules on the rhythm. The vocals are all very sexually charged. It truly stimulates the feeling of being trapped in a dingy sexclub and yet having the time of your life at the same time. Obviously in an era where the LGBT were mostly still rejected by pop culture, this got banned by the BBC and gathered a lot of controversy. And that controversy probably helped the song shot up in sales. Good thing because it's a great catchy tune of liberation! Rating: 8/10 -- 1989. "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" Marc Almond ft. Gene Pitney {-/UK0622} ZTo1xaUcfI0 The original Gene Pintey "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" version from the '60s is a great little nugget of orchestral pop with attractively sweet and approachable vocals. Unfortunately I find that this cover of Marc Almond, the ex-member of Soft Cell who apparently is a huge fan of bringing back not so well-so-remembered songs from the '60s back to life, botches the original charm of the song quite a bit. Sure, his singing is measured and technically more impressive than Gene Pintey's, but it doesn't quite translate well in relation to the song's emotion. It lacks the geniunety that made the original works so well. In fact, Gene Pintey's back on this version as well! And more power to him for rerecording this after all these years, but he also sounds like a shell of his former self unfortunately. At least they're sounding they're having a blast recording this together, and maybe someone might the kitsch charm of this version alluring. But it definitely doesn't do that much for me. Rating: 5/10 -- 1995. "Creep" TLC {US0794/-} TLC were one of most legendary all-girl R&B groups of the '90s. They had style, flair, killer hooks and female empowering anthems for days. LlZydtG3xqI "Creep" is a great showcase of what the trio is all about. Obviously that muted trumpet sample coupled with the funky beat is a truly fantastic combo. The lyrics are fairly bitter, where the narrator gets romantic revenge on their cheating lover. And T-Boz with her beaten down and almost deadpan tone truly captures that bitterness admirably well. The chorus then comes in and is delightfully catchy and bright in an deviously cheeky way, making the message clear that you shouldn't have messed with them! Truly a really cool song with attitude, and probably the best song named "Creep" from the '90s. Rating: 8/10 -- 2006. "When the Sun Goes Down" Arctic Monkeys {-/UK1026} Arctic Monkeys are truly one of the first bands in the age of the internet. In the band's formative years, their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm No, nowadays considered an indie rock classic, gathered a strong following on the internet which helped them gaining a major push of momentum in the mid-'00s, which ended up dominating the British charts. That particular still is to this day one of the fastest selling albums in the UK history. EqkBRVukQmE "When The Sun Goes Down" is truly one of the bleakest moments on that particular album. Depicting a dark situation of a woman being misuses and forced into the streets by her partner. This tone of the song is appropriately harsh, and Alex Turner does a job in his storytelling with how disarrayed yet at the same time stoic he sounds here, even if he certainly doesn't shy away from featuring his strong accent from Sheffield. The guitar work also works in tandem very well to paint the sad picture. I do think the chorus is a little underwhelming since it's not contributing to the song all that much, but otherwise this is pretty excellent indie rock stuff. Rating: 8/10 -- 2016. "Stitches" Shawn Mendess {-/UK1309} Well, coincidentally here's another internet-made artist. This time it's Shawn Mendes, a Canadian kid who gained attention through video-sharing social media Vine (remember when that was a thing?). VbfpW0pbvaU Well, I can't certainly be too harsh on Shawn for how juvenile this sounds, he was still a teen when he recorded this after all. But that doesn't mean I can't still hate on it. His whiny vocals truly strain on the ears in the most unpleasant. I absolutely despise the way he sings "Stiiiitchhiiiuhhss" on the chorus. My eardrums truly are gonna need stitches after this! The song itself is bland heartbreak stuff that takes way too seriously and goes into absolutely ridiculous hyperboles. While the music has that stomping coffee shop sound that was huge in mid-'10s indie music, but feels pretty inappropriate in such a harsh song. That being said, this at least isn't anywhere near as horrendous as "Treat You Better", one of the worst songs of the '10s, but it still isn't very good at all. Rating: 3/10

January 27th Today we celebrate the 79th birthday of Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and the 51st birthday of Mark Owen from Take That! Happy birthdays! 1962. "Peppermint Twist" Joey Dee and the Starliters {US0064/-} In 1962 Chubby Checker's "The Twist" did the incredible feat of topping the Hot 100 chart for a second time after almost two years, and this without any holidays push! Allowing it to be the biggest song on that charts undisputably for 60 long years. x1W3a2SO858 So of course in face of such massive succes, copycats had to come to rake up some of that sweet momentum. "Peppermint Twist" doesn't even try to hide it's a shameless rip-off, but it's also a very inferior version. The beat is way less compelling, with that sax playing being downright pathetic. Joey Dee doesn't pocess nowhere near the presence and the charm inviting you to dance the same way the warm voice of Chubby did. He straightup reminds of a school dance counseler in how little enthusiasm there seems to be shown here. A bad copy that got forgotten in the shadow of the original. Rating: 4/10 -- 1966. "Michelle" The Overlanders {-/UK0209} QeZgXSH7MOs I personally find this pretty forgettable and poorly sung. I didn't even realize this was a Beatles cover. It sure isn't a memorable track of theirs. The original was cute, but nothing too great about it, especially compared to the pop classics they were churning out at the time. It just feels like a throwaway single to gain some more music markets in the pocket. So when a much worse band covers already subpar material, there was pretty much no chance for this to be elevated. The mellow aucoustic instrumentation and harmonics are kind of pleasing at the very least. Rating: 5/10 -- 1973. "Blockbuster" Sweet {-/UK0325} I love Sweet, one of the best and fairly underappreciated bubblegum bands of the '70s. They had the flamboyance of glam rock down to a science, but weaponised it to a fantastic degree in their truly mindlessly fun and weird little pop compositions. "Fox on the Run" and "Ballroom Blitz" are both amazing songs of their which unfortunately won't appear on here. WNXFtVWB47E "Blockbuster" is a lot of fun still, even if it's not a favorite of mine. It's not the most memorable of hooks, but it sure got one. The sung glistens into a bombastic blur of vocal sirens, and then explodes even further with an absolute storming chorus. It's got the goofy theatricality and grandiose musicmanship that makes Sweet such a good band, it's just not at its most accomplished here. Rating: 8/10 -- 1973. "Superstition" Stevie Wonder {US0288/-} 97hwNY3ni10 Do I really need to point out how great "Superstition" truly is? I think that fantastically funky bassline alone speaks for itself. It might possibly be one of the grooviest songs put to disk yet; The lyrics on the other hand aren't actually anything exceptional, just a bunch of observations on superstitious people. But Stevie Wonder manage to transform that fairly mundane topic into a towering epic. The moment where the brass isntruments come in and he elevates his voice is truly chillingly great. I have no idea how he managed to compose a song that sounds both triumphant and sort of sombre in a way, but he truly succeeded and even excelled here. Rating: 9/10 -- 1979. "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" Ian Dury and the Blockheads {-/UK0432} 0WGVgfjnLqc And here's a hit song that managed to mariage both the goofiness of Sweet with the adventurous funkiness of Stevie Wonder, and absolutely succeeds at it in the process. Ian Dury is totally ridiculous on this, being more of a cartoon character putting out a show rather than a proper singer. Yet it works so well when the music is so unhinged. The composition just doesn't try to make sense, it just wants to have fun and throws everything in the mix in order to do. The synths go absolutely insane especially while the sax part is pretty much taken from avant-garde jazz, and I wouldn't have asked for less. That last part goes absolutely hard. An absolutely amazing slice of delirious disco. Rating: 9/10 -- 1990. "Tears on My Pillow" Kylie Minogue {-/UK0640} 4wn0Iah33Fs I don't think I'm shocking any Kylie Minogue fan too much when I say I'm not the biggest fan of her earlier stuff produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman team. "Tears of My Pillow" is a mediocre cover of a fairly good song but ultimately too drippy for me. I guess it's nice that they kept the doo-wop style beat. But even then, this was too overproduced in bland, wishy-washy way. Kylie sings pretty mediocrily and unconvingly here. It sounds more like a demo tape that some teen submitted to a singing competition show. It doesn't help that they completely botched her voice here with some fairly horrible sounding reverb processing on her vocals. I dunno, there's just very little for me to like here. Sorry, Kylie! Rating: 3/10 -- 1996. "Spaceman" Babylon Zoo {-/UK0733} What an odd little song to go to number 1! Of course it's mostly thanks to the combination of the novelty factor of that pitch shifted intro and it being in a Levi's commercials (who could have though that commercials for a jeans company could have such a strong chokehold on music charts) that it gained such traction. But it's still went up to become one of the fastest and best sold singles in the UK to this day and was a major success too elsewhere in Europe. Very impressive for such an inconvenial song. ETbPRUqL_HE "Spaceman" is a fairly strange intergalactic experiment in the realm of alternative. It kind of ties to go for an industrial sound like Skinny Puppy or Front 242, altough it's not as gritty and cathartic. It's still got some fairly dark subjects handled, like the undercurrent anti-religion theme being expressed. The outlandish bells and whsitles this rock song got don't work all that well in combination with the heavy subject matter, but it sure is interesting. Overall, it's fairly good, just a little bogged down by the singer's exaggerated whine that was a super common trope in '90s alt rock for some reason. Rating: 7/10 -- 2001. "Rollin'" Limp Bizkit {-/UK0889} Nu-metal was one the more questionable trends of the early '00s. A mixture of metal and hip hop, it was contested by both metal purists and respectable music critics. It's pretty much only acceptable to listen to in a moshpit. I definitely don't like most of the genre, but it had some pretty good singles here and there, and bands like Linkin Park truly excelled despite the style. RYnFIRc0k6E "Rollin'" is a very dumb song, but by Limp Bizkit's standards, one of the worst bands of the late '90s, it's actually pretty good. It's not too spoiled by Fred Durst's obnoxious personality, even if I don't like how he keeps changing in his pitch. It's got a good rhythmic beat and some heavy guitar shreds that are used effectively. But there's otherwise not a whole lot of substance to this, and it eventually gets annoying in how repetitive it is. At least it's nowhere near as awful as some other Limp Bizkit songs. Rating: 6/10 -- 2007. "Grace Kelly" Mika {-/UK1050} 0CGVgAYJyjk Sort of a revivalist attempt at glam rock but with a much poppier take on the sound. I'm not a fan of all the faux-Freddie Mercury impersonations going on here. The way it's done is just way too kitschy and not a good way. That being said, when the chorus soars into Mika's falsetto vocals it's pretty awesome. It's got a fun springy production style taking influences from one of my favorite genres, piano rock, being rich and sophisticated while keeping a melodious and fun sound. And while I'm not a fan of the impersonations, Mika's theatre kid persona is truly on full display here and sounds to have a blast, and it's enjoyable to hear as a result. Rating: 7/10 -- 2022. "We Don't Talk About Bruno" Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto cast {US1133/UK1395} That sure is a mouthful for a list of artists. Pretty much everyone knows at least a couple of Disney movie songs. They're so ubiquitous that most people would probably think of one if they were aksed to sing random songs on the spot. Yet historically very few of them truly managed to much of a chart success on the pop charts. "Encanto" didn't even seem like this giant towering megahit that takes pop culture by storm like "The Lion" King or "Frozen" did, but somehow one of its songs managed to trascend that and become a genuine chart monster. The streaming era truly allows for some wild things now. bvWRMAU6V-c I think the most notable thing about this song is that it was penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the famous composer of the critically acclaimed rapped Broadway production "Hamilton". And you can definitely tell, as "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is not your typical Disney fare. It's got a very contemporary muted beat that hints at Latin. Even without knowing anything about the movie you know it's damn catchy. It's also composed in a pretty interesting way where every character sort of sings in a different tone and style depending on their personality/powers. My favorite might be Dolores and her hushed section. The ending where all the characters singing sort of entangles into the main character's confused state is also fairly amazing. Who knew modern Disney could still deliver on the bangers. Rating: 8/10

January 26th Today we celebrate the 59th birthday of Wendy Melvoin from Prince and the Revolution and the 60th birthday of Andrew Ridgeley, the former Wham! member! Happy birthdays! 1963. "Walk Right In" The Rooftop Singers {US0084/-} Z-qiC1jynmc One of the most acclaimed music movements of the '60s might be the Greenwich Village folk revival scene. That's where artists like Bob Dylan and Paul Simon originated from. "Walk Right In" kinds of feels like a tease to that folk revival sound. It features some pleasing guitar strumming interplay, as well as some lovely singing. Both of which unfortunately go to waste due to the song's repetitiveness and disposable nature. This had a lot of potential to be fantastic! Rating: 6/10 -- 1974. "Tiger Feet" Mud {-/UK0343} By 1974, glam rock had utterly dominate the UK single charts, being a mix of '50s-inspired rock 'n' roll riffs, poppy choruses, and a sense of outgoing flamboyance. yzp9RRf4dU8 "Tiger Feet" might be considered the genre's poster child. Possibly the most generic song in that style, checking all the boxes without adding anything new or exciting. It's decently tuneful and has an alright hook. But the composition is very basic and barebones, and it's not catchy enough to warrant being so repetitive. And that guitar work would have made endlessly laughed at by rock 'n' roll legends of the '50s. Thankfully, acts like Sweet, David Bowie, and Queen would come along and take the genre in new and exciting directions. Rating: 5/10 -- 1974. "You're Sixteen" Ringo Starr {US0316/-} One of the worst rock movements ever? Songs about being horny for an underaged girl. There were an alarming number of them that clogged the charts between the '50s and the '70s. Of course, only a few of them were even remotely decent, let alone not feeling totally creepy and gross. 8ainB6qnWBI So, what compelled Ringo Starr to record a cover of a deeply shitty early '60s song? It's not even performed well. Ringo here sounds completely bored out of his mind. At least the Johnny Burnette version had a little zip to it. The music is that weird '70s radio-ready pop rocky soup that sounds desperately generic. Everything just mushes together, and nothing is likeable or fun. Ringo, unlike his old ex-Beatles peers, has never had much of an interesting solo career of his own, despite a few good tracks here and there, and when he puts out garbage like this, you quickly understand why. Rating: 3/10 -- 1991. "Innuendo" Queen {-/UK0658} Ans speaking of which here's Queen, the band that everybody seems to love! 1991 was the unfortunate where the band's legendary singer, Freddie Mercury, sadly succombed to an HIV-related infection. Yet at the beginning of the year, Queen did the incredible feat of the UK singles chart after almost a decade of not doing. g2N0TkfrQhY "Innuendo" is a grandiose artistic statement in the same way that "Bohemian Rhapsody" was. Sonically, the track constantly reinvents itself, whether it's the towering power belter at the start, the flamenco guitar interlude, or the movingly sweet middle section. Nonetheless, the song maintains its consistent theme of moving forward in the face of injustice all the way through (unless there's actually an innuendo to something else entirely?). Brian May, the guitarist, is on top form here, providing us with some absolutely fantastic guitar work. Those shredding riffs at the start, combined with a surprising synthesizer, are truly the very definition of epic. And, of course, there's Freddie Mercury, displaying his great sense of operatic showmanship once more. Rating: 8/10 -- 1991. "The First Time" Surface {US0738/-} _Sz2HOAb54w Bah! Just more schmaltzy adult contemporary mush with uncomfortably whiny vocals. The lyrics are ridiculously sappy (Why would you cry from looking into someone's eyes for the first time? Isn't that just making a bad first impression?). And it just goes on and on too, uninterupted in its dullness, with the exception of one horrifyingly horrible moment. That synthetically processed guitar "solo" near the end is literally nails on a chalkboard level of painful to hear. At least there's something to keep you from falling asleep? This somehow managed to top the R&B charts even though it sounds like pretty much any ballad from the time. Just not good at all. Rating: 3/10 -- 2023. "Flower" Miley Cyrus {US1145/UK1408} Miley certainly started off this year with a bang. G7KNmW9a75Y One thing that stands out to me is that her voice has definitely become huskier over the years. It works wonders when she belts catchy rockers, as evidenced by the great throwback song "Midnight Sky," but it works less well in this type of more midtempo dance-pop setting. But she does get to show off her delectably raspy growls at times. The beat to "Flower" isn't particularly exciting, with only faint hints of disco being presented (the strings sound very pretty, but they almost seem wandering aimlessly in the mix). The lyrics are a little strange in that it almost feels like she would rather wallow in her loneliness, almost as if she had no one else in her life but him. I would have applauded the message of moving on from someone in a catchy format, but it doesn't work particularly well here. At the very least, it's a good song, if perhaps a little understated. Rating: 7/10

January 25th Today we celebrate the 42nd birthday of Alicia Keys! Happy birthday! 1957. "The Garden of Eden" Frankie Vaughan {-/UK0055} QFDp2b5TsNg A slice of biblically inspired pop. It's a jazzy tune that's fairly upbeat. Having said that, it's written in a very tiring staccato rhythm throughout. I also didn't like Frankie Vaughan's singing; it's technically impressive but his oversinging suffocates the whole thing. Might have been a number one song at some point, but it definitely went down as a footnote of a song at this point. Rating: 4/10 -- 1975. "Ms Grace" The Tymes {-/UK0364} It's not everyday that we have a soul song by an American R&B group on our hands that was a huge hit in the UK but completely bombed in the US. The Tymes even had a Billboard Hot 100 number 1 hit a decade prior to this, so it's not like they were unknown there, so I wonder why such a disparacy in popularity there. CqM6sC-uCKc That being said, I prefer this to their other hit on this project. No matter how shoddily written it is, I don't think it's physically possible for me to dislike this type of euphoric soul. It captures the richness and denseness of philly soul very well, while also wondefully putting it through a poppy setting. The lyrics are nothing impressive, some observations of a pretty lady the narrator has a crush on, but that literally doesn't matter when the Tymes sing this with so much conviction and vocal dexterity. I wasn't aware of this song prior to this project, so this is definitely a very nice find! Rating: 8/10 -- 1975. "Please Mr. Postman" The Carpenters {US0351/-} dcLbS0yxzdk What an absolute bummer. I personally like the Carpenters. They were always sort of looked down by classic rock purists as disposible easy listening music, but I personally think they made some very well crafted and beautifully arranged pop rock. But even I can't possibly defend this absolute abberation. "Please Mr. Postman" was a landmark single for the American music landscape as it was the first song by Motown, the first black-owned label, to top the Billboard Hot 100, a cultural marker in an era dominated by social unrest. So to see this particular song being stripped of all its soul and watered down to please the most whitebread of radio programmers feels like an insult to music itself. I'm not sure if Karen Carpenters had a cold or was completely exhausted while recording this, but she sounds truly horrendous on it. Her tone is consistently flat, and her notes are sung very nasally. The dinky harmonies feel downright embarassing. The music is pure radio fodder, and it turns into bland summer camp rock near the end. The entire thing might as well be a dumb ad jingle, which is appropriate given that its "videoclip" is basically an ad for Disneyland. This song is so culturally and musically repugnant that even a 1/10 feels generous, so I've created a special type of notation to highlight how incredibly detestable certain songs can be: Rating: MAJOR FLOP It might have been a number 1 hit, but it will always be a flop in my eyes. -- 1986. "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." a-ha {-/UK0564} A-ha might as well be a one-hit wonder at this point considering how much "Take on Me" strongly outshines the rest of their catalogue in popularity. It's a bummer because they're a very solid synthpop group that had many other bangers. a3ir9HC9vYg "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." is extremely overproduced and dense, but in the best possible way. It has a gorgeous melody, which soars into bliss with the chorus. Morten Harket truly has the vocal chops of an angel, and he shows them off wonderfully on this song. That "Touch me!" could melt even the hardest of hearts. And, despite being primarily a melodic love song, it also bangs with synths and drums, elevating the sound to an exhilaratingly catchy one. Rating: 8/10 -- 1992. "Goodnight Girl" Wet Wet Wet {-/UK0673} VI_MBT0GQrQ What an absolute misuse of harmonies. Soul bands like the Tymes who could actually layer their vocals properly to create a rich ensemble would give Wet Wet Wet a run for their money. And other than the vocals, there's nothing to hold on to. Those lyrics full of ridiculous hyperboles certainly are nothing to write home about. Everything is just disjointed and bland, and listening to it is even a chore. Marti Pellow isn't a bad singer at all, but Wet Wet Wet could definitely pride themselves as a better band than they actually were. Rating: 4/10 -- 1992. "All 4 Love" Color Me Badd {US0763/-} "All 4 Love" from 1992, not to be confused with "All for Love" from 1994 we had a few days ago. UcfbwMFvRb0 I don't like Color Me Badd, they mostly made annoying and tacky songs despite their very short tenure at success in the early '90s. "All 4 Love" is thankfully a innocent little new jack swing love jam I have nothing really against. It's definitely very juvenile, down to the vocals sounding more like a teen sung them than a grown adult, but it's mostly in an endearingly cute way. Altough the funky beat is truly what saved this song. There's a pretty poor attempt at '70s smooth soul slow talking at some point that Boyz-II-Men possibly made cool again in R&B of the time. And while I like it, I'm definitely in no hurry to listen to it again. Rating: 6/10 -- 1997. "Your Woman" White Town {-/UK0757} lVL-zZnD3VU "Your Woman" is certainly an odd little pop song experiment. A psychedelic swirl of a dancebeat guided by the faint echoed vocals of British-Indian singer Jyoti Mishra, with a fairly muted and contemplative approach. It cleverly samples Lew Stone's "My Woman" from the '30s, giving the composition a haunting quality. The lyrics are uniquely genderbent, depicting a violent and dark romantic situation (not to mention all the LGBT coding that you could assign to this). Sometimes Jyoti's vocals sound so beaten down that they sound like genuine calls for help. Sometimes the synth stabs get really heavy, and it turns into this twisted rave nugget. This is a truly unique and amazing song. Rating: 9/10 -- 2003. "Stop Living the Lie" David Sneddon {-/UK0947} MkwJd_gLA-I David Sneddon was apparently the winner of a BBC singing competition I'd never heard of, but by that point so many channels were trying to ride the coattails of the succes of Pop Idol that it didn't really matter. Technically, this isn't a corronation single because it was released a little too late for that, but it might as well be. It's at least a little better than one would expect from that usually. It has some nice restraint and the respectable craft into the arrangements, rather than feeling forced and bombastically cheesy. The singing is measured, but perhaps a little too overly so to the point of blandness. There isn't much personality expressed here. In general, I don't find this song particularly compelling. It's beautiful and well-made, but it's also forgettable and a little boring. Rating: 5/10 -- 2018. "River" Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran {-/UK1333} wfWIs2gFTAM 2018 was a bad time to be a fan of Eminem. His Revival album was ripped to shreds by the critics, attention-mongering actions like being anti-mumble rap and his embarassing feud with Machine Gun Kelly was his bread and butter, and in general he seemed to really push into dad-tryna-be-cool-with-the-kids territory. What an absolute shitshow that was, and this song might be a prefect representation of that shitshow. It's tedious and annoying, with Eminem on autopilot and a horribly forced Ed Sheeran hook. There's none of the clever underlying cynism that distinguished great songs like "Stan," instead we get this strange pop song about a serious abusive relationship while also attempting to be a lighthearted catchy pop song. Long gone are the days of his visceral sarcasm and self-deprecating persona, instead we have a self-serious Eminem just not knowing what the hell he's doing. Rating: 3/10

January 24th Today we celebrate the 82nd birthday of Neil Diamond! Happy birthday! 1958. "Jailhouse Rock" Elvis Presley {-/UK0067} This could be one of the oldest ubiquitous pop classics that almost everyone, young and old, is familiar with! I won't go into too much detail about the history of early rock 'n' roll, how it was technically an appropriation of black music, and how early pioneers like Chuck Berry don't get nearly enough credit for changing the course of modern music. But, unlike many others of the time, Elvis Presley, one of the first pop megastars, was a very talented singer who at least put effort into his craft. gj0Rz-uP4Mk I don't think I need to say how much "Jailhouse Rock" rocks. It's silly, it's about a rock party in a prison, and it has some strong homosexual overtones (poor unaware Elvis plays it completely straight). Elvis truly demonstrates some incredible rock vocals on this track. It compels you to dance and have fun. The piano keys, which were popular in early rock music but sadly were later removed, add a nice touch to this. Even though it's not my favorite Elvis song, it's a worthwhile rock classic. Rating: 8/10 -- 1963. "Dance On!" The Shadows {-/UK0145} NZIdvak91fs The Shadows are back, but this time without Cliff Richard, so here's an instrumental piece instead. It's a fine little slice of surf rock riffs. It's certainly well-played by the band, but there's nothing particularly memorable about it, and feels a little flat to be honest. Rating: 6/10 -- 1968. "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" Georgie Fame {-/UK0242} Despite being fictionalized ad nauseam, the story of Bonnie and Clyde is a true story and a fascinating tale of crimes and tragic love in the context of the Depression era where both assailants knew their demise at the same time in an almost poetic way. 0i8mTAsv5cA This is a fairly decent sung retelling of that story, inspired by the 1967 biographical film of the criminal couple. Georgie Fame's performance has some vaudevillian influences, and it's odd how this seems to be played almost for laughs despite the serious subject matter. Still, it has a cheesy charm to it without going overboard with novelty elements, and Georgie Fame keeps his retelling within the realm of a likeable narrator. Rating: 7/10 -- 1976. "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" Diana Ross {US0387/-} Diana Ross is a pop soul diva who not only marked the days of Motown with her famed girl band the Surpremes, releasing numerous masterpieces, but also had a decades-long fairly successful solo career. 21NMhKRimU4 "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To?)" isn't the most memorable piece in her extensive repertoire. But it's still a decent ballad, intended as a soundtrack song for some romantic film directed by the famed owner of Motown himself, Berry Gordy, which I didn't know before (I mean the movie was a big flop, which is probably why). The arrangements are rich and lush, but the overall impact is pretty serene. Diana Ross gently chants about love regrets throughout the song unbotheredly. It's not memorable in any way, but it's still sweet song enough. Rating: 6/10 -- 1987. "Jack Your Body" Steve "Silk" Hurley {-/UK0583} tn0CnTOobl8 "Jack Your Body" is a pretty impressive piece of early house music. In fact, it's a historically significant song since it was the first full-on house song to top the two charts, signaling the start of the era of electronic dance music domination. After the demise of disco in the late '70s, DJs in Chicago quickly created dizzying sounds to get the dancefloor going by utilizing newfangled synthesizer technology. House music was one of the very first substyles to emerge from this, was still being conceptually similar to disco with its "4-on-flour" rhythmed beats but with a much more updated electronic sound obviously. House quickly spread in nightclubs across the United States in the '80s, and it also managed to gain traction in the UK. The latter of which was particularly marked by the rise of acid house and its associated drug culture in late-'80s raves. There's no denying that "Jack Your Body" is an endlessly catchy song. It has a memorable bassline and some enjoyable snare drums. It's a great groove for dance clubs that stays away from the complicated and is all about having mindless fun. Not my favorite house song ever per se, but I admire it for introducing a whole new subculture to the mainstream and how much it influenced music for years to come, with many of my favorites being more or less connected to this. Note that that there are multiple mixes of this song, such as the long "12 version (which I think is what topped the UK chart), but that version was primarily intended for dancefloors, so I only listened to the version featured in the video clip. Rating: 8/10 -- 1987. "At This Moment" Billy Vera and the Beaters {US0619/-} O2ur063fMhs This is a bit of a strange hit. It was originally released all the way back in 1981, but initially completely went unnoticed. 5 years later, it was featured on a certain scene of an episode of the American TV show Family Ties and it suddenly picked up steam as a single all the way to top the charts. Maybe the American public in 1987 were starting to get tired of the big gated drum sound that was widespread, and needed a bit of a break in the form of more organic and simple soft rock song from the early '80s. But anyway, this is actually fairly pleasant as far as cheesy soft rock love songs go. Bill Vera does a fairly job at singing, mostly with some restrain for most of it but can hit the powerful notes on the chorus. It's also perfectly finely composed with a nice sax being dolled out at parts. It's not too corny nor too boring. Rating: 6/10 -- 1998. "All Around the World" Oasis {-/UK0781} It's Oasis! One of the main bands of the britpop movement, an alt rock movement that was sort of a reaction to the rougher American styles like grunge and looked back on the melodicity and simplicity of '60s rock instead. Blur was probably my favorite Britpop band because of their more daring and exploratory sound. While I'm not the biggest fan of Liam Gallagher as a vocalist, I will admit that the band produced many masterpieces. bdT8ixdxPX4 I'm torn about "All Around the World," one of their more contentious songs among their fans. It was part of their Be Here Now album cycle, an album that is still debated today as to whether it is a masterpiece worthy of the band's previous material or overproduced grand rubbish. I wouldn't go that far, because this song still has a lot of good qualities. I like the free, liberating lyrics, and the guitar work is flawless throughout, provided by Liam's talented brother Noel Gallagher. I appreciate the daring structuring at work here, but this song tries too hard. It's 9 minutes long, making it the UK's longest number one hit along the way. That wouldn't be a problem on its own, but there are far too many key changes and far too much going on in terms of production. Normally, I enjoy dense productions, but all of those big orchestral touches are dizzying rather than positively contributing to the song.This whole thing tries to be a grand statement of a song composition in the vein of the Beatles' "Hey Jude," but that song mostly worked because of its otherwise likeable simplicity and basic songwriting. Still, this is a beautifully crafted song, just not that well put together, and I enjoy it in many parts even if others aren't so great. As a result, I'll be generous with my rating. Rating: 7/10

January 23rd Today we celebrate the 69th birthday of Richard Finch, a former member of KC and the Sunshine Band! Happy birthday! 1953. "Comes a-Long a-Love" Kay Starr {-/UK0003} OYly94urGIw Cute little swing tune with some lively love singing on top. The type of music that was popular during World War II but declined throughout the '50s. It's bouncy and upbeat in all the best ways that swing music should be. Rating: 7/10 -- 1959. "The Day the Rains Came" Jane Morgan {-/UK0079} J3aMf69MwY0 "The Day the Rains Came" was a French song written in 1957, but rapidly was covered dozens of times in multiple languages throughout Europe to hit their respective countries' music markets (most notably cover by French goddess Dalida singing in German). Although still a thing nowadays, I noticed that covers of popular pop songs in a multitude of language throughout the countries was a much more widespread thing back then. This is the most popular version in the UK, despite coming from an American singer, and it's certainly not a bad one. Jane Morgan does a good vocal job on this, displaying her prowess especially in that amazing final note. Unfortunately, this version suffers from the sleepy production style that was common in '50s traditional pop with little life to it. And obviously this simply doesn't compare to the dreamy Dalida version, which I highly recommend giving a listen. Rating: 6/10 -- 1965. "Downtown" Petula Clark {US0126/-} The British Invasion didn't just entail rock bands, you also had Petula Clark dominating on the American charts for a time! 9jMuRfoSDrg "Downtown" is a mid-'60s pop gem with an explosive chorus that borrows heavily from Phil Spector's Wall-of-Sound formula. I love how much this sounds like something from a Broadway production. It perfectly captures the feeling of being taken aback by the bustling life of downtown one evening on a walk. And Petula Clark absolutely knocks it out of the park with her enjoyed singing. Rating: 9/10 -- 1971. "Knock Three Times" Tony Orlando and Dawn {US0248/UK0300} uw2eitx9Ly0 No I can't, it's just too goshdarn corny. The whole setting reeks of bad sitcom tropes. So these two neighbors are smitten with eachother, but can't casually meet unless they make coded signs at eachother. Are they cheating? Whatever is going on, the whole "twice on the pipe" shtick is pretty dumb, and just seems like a sneaky but desperate attempt to make a novelty song (read proto-meme song) out of an otherwise unremarkable bubblegum pop song. Tommy Orlando is also not a good singer to me as he tends to strains his voice often to an unpleasant degree. And this wasn't technically recorded by his group Dawn, which included Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson , because they hadn't yet formed at the time of recording this. Tommy is accompanied by a slew of random session singers instead. Rating: 4/10 -- 1988. "The Way You Make Me Feel" Michael Jackson {US0649/-} In some ways, I see Michael's Bad era as the beginning of the end for him. That's when his controversial image among the general public really took off. His trials were still a few years away, but his skin bleaching and plastic surgery definitely got tabloids already talking (although it was only later discovered that the skin bleaching part was unfairly judged on and only ever a by-product of his vitiligo). But it certainly wasn't the end of him putting out more bangers to come. HzZ_urpj4As "The Way You Make Me Feel" kind of feels paradoxical for pop song, both looking back at the past and forward at the same time. The main melody sounds a lot like a throwback to early '60s Motown, similar to something like "Shop Around" by the Miracles. However, that bassline is so hard-hitting and funky that it almost predicts new jack swing on its own. The hook is delivered in the most charismatic of ways that only Michael could provide, and the whole thing is cheery but deliciously catchy still. Rating: 7/10 -- 1999. "A Little Bit More" 911 {-/UK0812} f2r6tSPffQQ And what is this?? Charmless balladry by a faceless boy-band? Laughably bad vocals on a lifeless generic production? It's technically a cover of a '70s soft rock song that wasn't all that great to begin with, but it did have the advantages of decent singing and rich layered arrangements, neither of which are present here. Who in their right mind thought this was good enough to release, and better yet who would buy this song's way to number one hit status? Rating: 2/10 Meh! I'll go out of my way to milk this comment for all it's worth and post that gorgeous Dalida song I mentioned earlier: UEzPdTsbzzo

January 22nd Today we celebrate the 42nd birthday of Ben Moody, a former member of Evanescence! Happy birthday! 1977. "I Wish" Stevie Wonder {US0412/-} Stevie Wonder was on a hot streak in the '70s, putting out classic albums and classic songs back-to-back. The iconic "Songs in the Key of Life" may not be my personal favorite Stevie Wonder song (that honor goes to "Innervisions"), but the competition is so fierce that any discussion of that is largely irrelevant really. hYKYka-PNt0 On that album, "I Wish" is a certified gem. It's an intriguing look at the sentiment of nostalgia and how it can involve some questionable things one might do as a child. The chorus is a typical cry for the good old days, while the verses depict some cheeky details. It's a clever juxtaposition between the two parts of the song. But I think most people remember this song for its iconic, incessantly funky bassline, which is also amazing. And Stevie Wonder's wonderful voice is only the icing on the cake of that delicious song. Rating: 9/10 -- 1994. "Things Can Only Get Better" D:Ream {-/UK0701} V6QhAZckY8w This sure is a '90s pop song alright. This is definitely a '90s pop song. It's your typical song about overcoming obstacles, a theme that was certainly popular on adult contempo radio around that time. Even though it contains the ubiquitous gospel elements, it is not a generic ballad thankfully. It's more like house music, which I like better, even if the house beats here are fairly generic. I'm also not a fan of Peter Cunnah's sloppy singing. He lacks proper note support on this and frequently sounds out-of-breath. It's not that bad, but it's a little too wishy-washy as a pop song for me. Rating: 5/10 -- 1994. "All For Love" Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting {US0785/-} ofA3URC1wyk Oh yikes, I guess there goes already my gratitude for avoiding the generic adult contempo ballad on the previous entry. Whoever thought bringing together the two raspiest voices on rock radio was a good idea for a movie soundtrack song, it really wasn't. I like Rod Stewart, I can't stand Bryan Adams, and I definitely don't like these two on the same song. They just don't sound good together at all. At least Sting from the Police provides some of the song's nicer moments and a break from all the rasp. Otherwise, this song sounds like a band of friends competing in a karaoke of a generic love song after a night of excessive consumption at the bar. And not in a charming way, but in a painful-to-sit-through way. Rating: 3/10 -- 2000. "The Masses Against the Classes" Manic Street Preachers {-/UK0845} The UK certainly chose an unusual way to begin the new millennium. "The Masses Against the Classes" saw the Welsh alternative band Manics return to an angrier sound that straddled the line very closely with punk rock like in their earlier work, as opposed to the more polished sound from the few years before. This single was not part of an album cycle release, nor did it receive any type of promotion via video and certainly not radio, and it was quickly pulled from retail. So how it sold so well so quickly is to anyone's guess, but I'm glad it did because it rules. bS-S-YSEpso Musically, it's a fun concoction of a sloppy rock sound, accentuated by furious vocals and heavy riffs. Thematically, it's a rant against the larger establishment, pretty much going full socialism in its thinking and not afraid of quoting from libertarian writers like Chomsky and Camus. Good stuff. Rating: 8/10

January 21st Today we celebrate the 73rd birthday of Billy Ocean and the 47th birthday of Emma Bunton from the Spice Girls! Happy birthdays! 1984. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" Yes {US0543/-} Yes was one of the most beloved prog rock acts of the '70s, yet they sadly disbanded at the start of the '80s. But in a surprising twist the former members cobbled back together into the band and released some ready-for-Mtv synth rock jams, one of which managed to top the billboard charts. Such a fascinating turn of events. SVOuYquXuuc But I don't think "Owner of a Lonely Heart" counts too much as a sell-out move. It's still a pretty engaging song, with lots of interesting switchups and rhythm bending. And those guitar riffs are incredible, they rock so hard! It has a slightly off-kilter sounding chorus, but it still manages to be danceable at the same time. It definitely feels like something the Buggles would have released in their prime (which makes sense given it was produced by a Buggles member), and I like the Buggles, so I like this. Rating: 7/10 -- 1989. "Two Hearts" Phil Collins {US0680/-} SidxJz94Svs Phil Collins had previously released Motown covers, but this is one of his first forays into self-composed Motown pastiches, and it absolutely blows. The song attempts to harken back to the '60s pop soul sound without fully grasping what made the Holland-Dozier-Holland trio of producers such brilliant composers in the first place. The production is extremely hocky rather than charmingly retro, and it is otherwise very dull and flat too. There's none of the richness and density that defined the golden age of Motown. Phil Collins laboriously attempts to do a soul singer impression, but he sounds more like a washed-up session singer than anything else. And what a pathetic excuse for an unmemorable hook! Rating: 4/10 -- 2006. "Grillz" Nelly ft. Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp {US0920/-} Oh no, what is this... 8fijggq5R6w By 2006, Southern rap had completely dominated the rap charts, so Nelly, a Midwest rapper, had no choice but to go full-on Southern to maintain some semblance of relevance in the face of shifting trends. The song is quite dumb on paper, being an entire ode to mouth jewerly, but it's Nelly we're talking here. He made an entire song to Nike Air Force One before this... Bragadaccio about material goods is a very big thing in rap, but usually it doesn't limit itself to one very specific type of possession, and there's the whole context of making it big despite an approvished background. This however is pretty much Nelly phoning it for 4 minutes. He has a whole crew of Southern rappers to give this some cred, and while they're pretty good, they also make Nelly seem even more of a fool in comparison. Not to mention the uncredited chorus singer interpolating Destiny's Child's "Soldier," who sounds hilariously flat and uninterested. I definitely think Nelly has in him to make some serious rap jams, but this wasn't it. Rating: 4/10 -- 2012. "Domino" Jessie J {-/UK1185} UJtB55MaoD0 There's no denying that Jessie J has a great vocal range and can hit those high notes. However, I believe her displaying her vocal prowess throughout this song is more of a hindrance than a blessing. She has a bad habit of oversinging the verses, which makes the soaring chorus stand out less. The song doesn't breathe, and listening to it becomes quickly a chore as a result. The production also comes across as fairly generic, like a throwaway Katy Perry deepcut song. There are also plenty of laughably questionable choices in the lyrics, such as "Boom me like a bass drum, sparking up a rhythm," that are difficult to overlook. It's ok, at least not as offensively irritating like "Do It like a Dude". Rating: 5/10 -- 2017. "Bad and Boujee" Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert {US1060/-} Well, at least here's some actual geniune Southern rap by a famous rap trio from the area rather than Nelly phoning in an impression of it. S-sJp1FfG7Q "Bad and Boujee" has its own set of problems though. First of all, it's far too long for what it really is. It feels like it should have ended around the 3:40 mark, yet there's a whole entire Lil Uzi Vert verse after this. And wow is that section terrible. I usually don't mind Lil Uzi Vert as an em cee on his own songs (2017 was after all the year of the great "XO Tour Llif3"), but dear god does he sound obnoxious on this. There's a bunch of other annoying adlibs throughout the song too that don't feel like they serve any purpose besides as an attempt to bring this song to meme status. And while the production is pretty decent by gritty trap standards, I definitely wish there were some more switchups rather than it being the same thing all the way through. Honestly remove that horrible Lil Uzi Vert section, tone down on the adlibs and you had a very solid trap song on your hands (it's a great shame that much better Migos songs like "Stir Fry" didn't to number one instead). Rating: 5/10 -- 2021. "Drivers License" Olivia Rodrigo {US1116/UK1183} ZmDBbnmKpqQ "Driver's License" was unquestionably the biggest surprise hit of early 2021. The song that catapulted a moderately popular Disney Channel actress into massive pop stardom. The song is satisfactory on its own. It's definitely on the same wavelength as Billie Eillish's brand of more mature and atmospheric teen pop. This song, which is essentially about heartbreak, has a lot of retain in its lyrical approach. Olivia gives a convincing portrayal of a heartbroken adolescent, and her vocals are lovely throughout. However, the production is far too flat and minimalistic for me, with simple slow piano keys dominating the majority of the song length. A strong chorus almost feels inexistant in this and even the attempt at a key change near the end somehow falls flat. Still, it's a pretty impressive debut song for such a young artist, even if it's not really for me. Rating: 6/10

January 20th Today we celebrate the 54th birthday of Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers, the 52nd birthday of Gary Barlow from Take That and the 44th birthday of Will Young! Happy birthdays! 1956. "Sixteen Tons" Tennessee Ernie Ford {-/UK0041} 3tXJokkWQjY Ernie Ford truly does a fantastic job on covering "Sixteen Tons". The original Merle Travis version is a pretty good tongue-in-cheek country song about the working-class man exploitation in coal mines with fun talking blues sections, but this cover truly elevates the song even further. This is a pretty difficult song to categorize it when it comes to a genre; it reminds me of a beatnik finger snap poetry reading out of all. It has killer jazz drumming and muted trumpet playing, and Ernie Ford's tenor vocals perfectly complement the rhythmic performance and yet manages to invoke the cold harsh reality in the lyrics very convincingly. Truly a pop song ahead of its time. Rating: 9/10 -- 1966. "Keep On Running" The Spencer Davis Group {-/UK0208} cueuoz3IX0Q More solid stuff from the British Invasion era. It starts off with some thunderous drumming. Spencer Davis does a very convincing job at African American R&B imitation singing. he '60s British obsession with covering black genres like '50s rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues always came off as amusing to me, if a little perplexing (can't blame them for adoring such great, revolutionary music though). As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Many British imitators, in my opinion, were not very good however, but the Spencer Davis Group, thankfully, do not make the mistake of watering down the sound. It also helps that Spencer Davis' voice has a naturally bluesy tone that works very well in this context.And the distorted guitar that occasionally pops up is also f***ing incredible. Rating: 7/10 -- 1968. "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" John Fred and His Playboy Band {US0196/-} Is this title a play on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"...? wvQkzQart08 Whatever it is, it's pretty annoying. It has a fairly catchy rhythm, a driving bassline, and some fun brass, and those elements are pretty much the song's only saving grace. I enjoy the comedic pauses at the end of each chorus section. But the goofy singer truly takes me out of it. It doesn't help that the lyrics are dreadfully dumb. Just look at these: "And cross your heart, yeah, with your livin' bra Chimney Sweep Sparrow with guise" What it is going on here? It shoves cryptic and strangely flirty imagery in its lyrics, but that just doesn't mesh well when it also tries to be this quirky and lighthearted funny pop song at the same time. And regardless of the themes, it quickly gets on my nerves anyway. I didn't need to hear John Fred randomly moaning throughout the song, either. Rating: 4/10 -- 1990. "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" Michael Bolton {US0711/-} Michael Bolton always seemed like an ex-glam metal guy tried his shot at a blue-eyed soul career. A horrifying combo that I really don't think ever needed to exist. YFood_bTOX4 And yeah, it's as terrible as it sounds like. Everything here is in bad taste, starting with the dinky keyboard notes that were all over late '80s adult contempo radio that I absolutely hate. There's nothing more cheap sounding than that. Michael sings almost exclusively through his throat, which sounds about as pleasant as a scraping fork on a plate. He has a poor sense of note support and frequently slurs his lyrics. Said lyrics are just more overwrought cliché heartbroken rocker guy stuff that comes across as both forced and unappealing. Everything about this is just laughably bad, and there's very little redeemable about it. Rating: 1/10 -- 1996. "Jesus to a Child" George Michael {-/UK0732} George Michael here to show how to do proper blue-eyed soul to these amateurs. zNBj4EV_hAo This song has a very sad backstory. George Michael's Brazilian boyfriend had just recently passed away of AIDS. And this was an attempt to cope with that loss, with some slight bossa nova rhythms thrown in as a tribute. The song production is muted and atmospheric, but it retains an engaging texture thanks to some slick Spanish guitar. I'm not sure if it's because I just heard something absolutely horrible last, but I really liked this. George Michael sounds truly in pain and does an excellent job of displaying a sense of vulnerability, but his singing is extremely measured and manages to maintain class and retain. One of those songs that sends a shiver down my spine, but in a good way. Rating: 9/10 -- 2001. "Love Don't Cost a Thing" Jennifer Lopez {-/UK0888} 4kGvlESGvbs Jennifer Lopez truly was on a roll in the early '00s. "Love Don't Cost a Thing" is enjoyable, but I can't say I really love it. My main beef with J-Lo has always been her flat singing, and this song is a prime example of that. This song has a nice chorus that tries to soar over the verses, but she can't quite hit the notes to really bring it all together. The production is a little sloppy, and there isn't a particularly memorable melody going on here. The dance break middle 8 is quite strange and feels pretty unnecessary. The song also goes downhill in its final section due to how many times she repeats the goddamn chorus. Well, at least a pop star singing about how she isn't supeficial in love is always kind of fun, even if a little doubtful. Rating: 6/10 -- 2022. "ABCDEFU" Gayle {-/UK1394} NaFd8ucHLuo I don't think you can get more Gen Z anthem than this. I read a lot of vitriol about this song online, particularly about its singer being an industry plant or something. And, to be honest? Overall, I don't think it's all that bad. Yes, the lyrics are dumb and cringe-worthy, and her vocals are rough around the edges, but I think the sloppiness works fairly well in tandem with the song's raw teenage rage.It feels like it tries to be obnoxious on purpose, and such succeeds. And the chorus is kind of catchy. But of course being a song made for TikTok it's mercilessly short, and the verses are pretty bad still. Mixed feelings on this! Rating: 5/10

January 19th Today is the 77th birthday of Dolly Parton! Happy birthday! This is one of the busiest days of the year, so hold on tight because there are a lot of songs to go through today: 1959. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" The Platters {US0009/UK0082} 57tK6aQS_H0 This is simply breathtaking in every way. From a lyrical standpoint, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is pure poetry. Even so, the Platters, particularly their main singer Tony Williams, take this single to the next level. These vocal runs soar and are absolutely stunning. It's also very lovely on the instrumental side, with a wonderful use of strings to create a buildup and satisfying emotional climaxes. I'm not sure if soul music was alreayd a thing in 1959 yet, but this is definitely pure soulful music. Rating: 9/10 -- 1974. "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" New Seekers ft. Lyn Paul {-/UK0342} 9U4Leb6e-Ng Well, at least it's not exactly as bad as their other big jingle, uhm I mean single, but that’s not really a high standard. It’s kind of annoyingly cheery still though despite the bitterness of the sentiment. The main melody line in "You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me" highly bothers me. It has a polka rhythm to it, and it reads like second-rate schlager music as such. The use of a saxophone throughout does not help to dispel the feeling of cheapness. The "lalala" bridge is also quite annoying. It's quite pretty vocally at the very least, and I like how Lynn Paul gives her all despite the song's shoddiness. Rating: 4/10 -- 1974. "Show and Tell" Al Wilson {US0315/-} l5JmAQIkvdY Not exactly a well-remembered soul song. This track works mostly on the behalf of the luxuriant soul production. It’s not that the singer is bad, he just doesn’t do much vocally impressive on his like his peers would have done. And the lyrics too are quite unconvincingly generic. It’s fine overall, it doesn’t really stand much in any way. Rating: 6/10 -- 1980. "Brass in Pocket" Pretenders {-/UK0449} 0H6re3PCP3E "Brass in Pocket" is a fun little slice of early new wave. It also works as a female empowerment song, sexy and tastful without going overboard. It sounds strong, confident, and, most importantly, it truly rocks. Chrissie Hynde does an excellent job of selling us on her sexual confidence throughout the song. That guitar riff that plays during is truly enjoyable and memorable from the early Mtv era. I think the chorus is a little forgettable, but that's a minor quibble. Rating: 7/10 -- 1980. "Rock with You" Michael Jackson {US0481/-} Oh uh, it's none other than the King of Pop himself. I believe we can all agree that this guy had a very complicated and messy career. And it's heartbreaking to consider not only how he was treated by the general public, but also all of the heinous allegations leveled against him over the years. It's almost become its own rabbit hole at this point. One I will only acknowledge without delving into, and for the sake of this project, I will instead concentrate on the music for the time being. Because yes, the guy had a brilliant career at one point. 5X-Mrc2l1d0 "Rock with You" features some fantastic vocal prowess. Michael's vocal runs are appealingly sensual without ever becoming overbearing. Everything about the song is tasty and appealing. The production is funky and pleasantly groovy, without ever feeling forced. It clearly tries to be both a catchy dance jam and a silky sex jam at the same time, and it does so admirably. It's beautifully constructed. That said, in attempting to be two things at once, it also lacks the strong memorable hook that I would have expected from a Michael Jackson, which is this song's minor flaw. But nothing too serious really. Rating: 7/10 -- 1985. "I Want to Know What Love Is" Foreigner {US0562/UK0544} No, thank you. I don't! At least, that's how this song puts it. r3Pr1_v7hsw "I Want to Know What Love Is" contains a great idea for a power ballad, in my opinion. However, this song simply pulls out every cliché of the genre and lazily struts around them. The quieter verses aren't bad, and I like how sad and dejected the lyrics are. But once that chorus soars in, things get really bad for me. Lou Gramm's throaty vocal delivery is obnoxious, and he just sounds whiny. The song also employs the irritatingly cheesy trick of dolling out the choir for the final section. Both the '90s Tina Arena and '00s Mariah Carey versions are better than this one, so clearly the song itself isn't the main issue here. Rating: 4/10 -- 1991. "Sadeness (Part I)" Enigma {-/UK0657} The series of weird 1991 singles on top continues, and this one is an especially peculiar one. 4F9DxYhqmKw "Sadeness (Part I)" is a spatial downtempo track with religious church singing, a pan-pipe playing the main melody line, and some flirtatious French vocals on top. It's a strange and random combination that shouldn't work, but it does. It successfully crosses the admittedly tangible line between spiritual relaxation and sultriness. All of the elements work together to create a sense of mystery rather than come into conflict with one another. It also manages to have a catchy and memorable rhythm for a downtempo track. Very cool chart topper. Rating: 7/10 -- 1991. "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" Janet Jackson {US0737/-} Janet makes her debut on this project the same day as her brother Michael. I really like Janet; she's charming and sweet, and she's had some major jams throughout her career. "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" was still part of the Rhythm Nation 1814 cyclus, an album released all the way back in 1989 to demonstrate Janet's dominance on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the early '90s. n0dqk6Vybeo "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" is a bold and exuberant little new jack swing jam crafted by R&B genius heads Jam and Lewis, who provided us with some of the best hit songs on this project. The incessant booming percussive beats perfectly depict the jubilating feeling of love. Janet sounds appropriately and convincingly exhilarated about this. A totally positive and lovable hit song. Rating: 8/10 -- 2002. "More Than a Woman" Aaliyah {-/UK0917} From one R&B queen to the next. It's no secret that Aaliyah was taken from us far too soon, and we may never know how much great music she would have continued to release had she lived longer. I'm glad the UK at least gave her one more posthumous number one single. The more Aaliyah goodness I can cover, the better! xgYUj_pAD-w "More Than a Woman" has all the makings of a classic Aaliyah song. For starters, it's produced by Timbaland, so it's bound to be good. All of these shuffle beats and deliriously rhythmic drums take this track to a whole new level of futuristic. The lyrics are sexy and slick while also being subtly empowering. They're a little more simplistic than I'm used to hearing from excellent Aaliyah material, but they're still good. And then there's Aaliyah, whose cool, sweet, and confident demeanor is all over this. She simply rules. Rating: 8/10 -- 2008. "Now You're Gone" Basshunter ft. DJ Mental Theo's Bazzheadz {-/UK1067} "Boten Anna" is a perfectly charming slice of poppy euro-trance from the mid-'00s, albeit a little lame and cheesy. XOSCUCMOTrY So take that song and replace the euphoric clubbing joy with sadboy whining, and you've already made it a lot worse. When the bright trance arpeggios completely contradict the sad sentiment, this attempt at seriousness falls flat. You just cause emotional whiplash, especially when silly elements like "Ready for takeoff" are left in place. Furthermore, Sebastian Westwood is a completely unconvincing vocalist. Simply avoid this version and seek out the original Swedish version, which is superior in almost every way. Rating: 5/10 -- 2013. "Scream & Shout" will.i.am ft. Britney Spears {-/UK1219} It’s Britney Spears bitch! kYtGl1dX5qI Well, uhmm… Where to even begin with this? Oh, perhaps the fact that will. i.am is a mediocre producer who has gotten progressively worse over time. He wrote one excellent song, which we'll get to later, but his other contributions are pretty shoddy. And "Scream & Shout" is pretty indicative of that. The production is simply a jumble of random electronic bleeps and bloops. It manages to be both irritating and boring at the same time. Worst of all, we're subjected to will.i.am's horrible singing, as well as his terrible sense of use of the autotune. The bridge may be the worst part of the entire project so far. And poor Britney truly feels like a random session singer who got lost in the mix. Not to mention this song has aged incredibly poorly. Rating: 3/10 -- 2017. "Shape of You" Ed Sheeran {US1061/UK1319} What else is there to say about "Shape of You"? When it comes to pop music, I find the argument of overplay really lazy. But with this song, I have no choice but to say it was way too freaking overplayed. JGwWNGJdvx8 But, okay, I'll try my best to not let lazy radio programmers cloud my judgment by relying so heavily on safe bets. For a song that tries to be sexy, this song sure is incredibly un-sexy. The way Ed Sheeran repeatedly sings the line "come on be my baby come on" with grace of a drill sure is hilarious. The vocal doubling in the chorus is also quite annoying and entirely unnecessary. Ed Sheeran isn't a particularly pleasant singer on this, so there's no need to suffer doubly in the process. After a few verses, the never-changing and uninspired dancehall beat gets on your nerves too. Really, this song is just way-too-try hard and vacuous for its own good. Please, Ed Sheeran never attempt this type of music ever again. Rating: 4/10 -- 2019. "Sunflower" Post Malone & Swae Lee {US1082/-} ApXoWvfEYVU A pleasant and surprising pop single from two rappers (I mean, it's for a family-friendly film, but still). The beat has a retro sheen to it; it's all cleanly produced, but the abundance of reverb makes it quite charming, and it has enough bounce to be memorable. The two performers do an admirable job of singing this empowering refrain. I prefer how sweet Swae Lee sounds on this to Post Malone's bark-tone singing, but he still does a good job. Overall, this is a very solid song throughout. Rating: 7/10 -- 2023. "Pointless" Lewis Capaldi {-/UK1407} HlNGI4LbAto Lewis Capaldi, or the guy who sounds like he's from the post-grunge era, may be self-conscious when naming his songs, but that doesn't excuse them from existing at the same time. This song is as formulaic and trudging as ever. The ascending chorus arrives with as much grace as a brick thrown in your face. Lewis' singing is once again forced and throaty, which is deeply irritating. Not only is it pointless, but it's also pretty bad. Rating: 3/10

January 18th 1960. "Running Bear" Johnny Preston {US0025/UK0098} KbTVo6eNglE Ouch... I'm not even going to get into the issue of exploiting Native American tropes in a very cartoonish and insensitive way. Unfortunately, this is to be expected from the late '50s in the United States. But even so... What a terrible and irritating song, coupled an awful imitation of tribal chants and sloppy sax on the chorus parts. Not to mention Johnny Preston's lazily delivered vocals on the most tired of melodies. And, of course, he thought that combining the trend of the teen death ballad that was popular at the time with a Native American setting was a good idea, but it only exacerbated the exploitative feeling. Almost everything about this screams laziness and cheapness. Rating: 3/10 -- 1975. "Down Down" Status Quo {-/UK0363} Status Quo aren't a particularly well-remembered rock band for most, but they do have some beloved classic rock songs like "Pictures of Matchstick Men". Though their only number one hit in the UK is a bit of an unexpected one. d1gYJDQXPOk Although "Down Down" isn't my first choice for a single by this band, it positively rocks. It has some groovy guitar riffs that ascend into their signature boogie rhythms. Completed with an incredible guitar soloing. The lyrics are a little too repetitive and simplistic for the style, but they work. Rating: 8/10 -- 1975. "Mandy" Barry Manilow {US0350/-} Ugh... More Barry Manilow, so shortly after too... -gx8vaYlTWQ "Mandy" isn't exactly Bary's worst song, and it is easily his most remembered in fact (in fact it will later again in cover form). However, it too is hampered by tepid, ineffective verses and an over-the-top, saccharine chorus that tries far too hard. And the final key change with the soaring note certainly doesn't feel warranted. The entire composition is exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. But, to be honest, this sap is also marginally entertaining and overly emotional. As a result, my final note will be extremely charitable. Rating: 5/10 -- 1986. "That's What Friends Are For" Dionne & Friends {US0588/-} Dionne Warwick was a ridiculously talented soul singer of the '60s. But unfortunately by the '80s she quite fallen. HyTpu6BmE88 I mean, it's nice that she brought together so many of her equally talented friends, and for such a good cause as AIDS research too. The lineup is nothing to scoff at. Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight are all phenomenal singers who left indelible marks on the music landscape with some of the best music of the '70s. But my god is this song terrible. It has all the characteristics of a bad charity single. It's both irritatingly cheesy and nauseatingly sappy. The melody is extremely bland and unmemorable. Combined with a hockey production and harmonica, the song sounds more like a campfire song than a proper pop song. Not to mention that none of the singing here is cohesive or meshes well together. It may have been for a good cause, but this is shockingly bad for all of the artists involved. Rating: 2/10 -- 1997. "Professional Widow (It's Got to Be Big)" Tori Amos {-/UK0756} Zqae5qyopok That is not your typical Tori Amos song, that's for sure. She's a very talented and underappreciated piano rock artist (though she's well-known in alternative circles). Here's a house remix of one of her songs, though. The original is quite good, a slightly unusually sung piano rock thing. But I have to admit I don't find this house remix all that interesting unfortunately. It's a bit flat and repetitive. I like my house to be more energetic and accompanied by more anthemetic vocals. But it's not bad I suppose. It still features a strong groove and a pumping rhythm. If you're interested in her more typical work, I highly recommend checking out the devastatingly beautiful "Winter" if you haven't already. Rating: 6/10 -- 2020. "The Box" Roddy Ricch {US1096/-} UNZqm3dxd2w I'm guessing that the viral quality of that "eeh-ooh" adlib is largely responsible for the song's success. Something I personally dislike and find even actively annoying. Aside from that, this is a pretty good trap song, albeit slightly by the numbers. Roddy Ricch is a decently charismatic rapper who raps with a nice cadence even if very reminiscent of Young Thug (as many young rappers are these days). I also like how luxurious the production sounds, especially with the dramatic orchestral samples. The lyrics are fairly violent, with "the box" referring to where he's been stocking his weapons and drugs, but they were performed with a bit more aggression as such rather than the more typical trap nonchalance. Rating: 6/10

January 17th Today is the 74th birthday of Mick Taylor, a former member of The Rolling Stones, the 63th birthday John Crawford from the band Berlin, the 64th birthday of Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles, the 52nd birthday of Lil Jon, the 45th birthday of Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs and 39th birthday of Calvin Harris! Happy birthdays to all! 1976. "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow {US0386/-} Ugh... Barry Manilow. I was never a fan of this hack's trite sap songs. They always seem to rely on the most tired soft rock cliches delivered in the most obnoxious of ways possible. vHIdHIWfnl4 And "I Write the Songs" is all that, plus it adds some smug songwriting into that bad mix. There's nothing remotely charming about this. It's just badly sung, badly composed, and written in a way that makes it think more highly of itself. The production is generic, and I absolutely hate the ending where it pulls a generic climax with a key change. There's just so much pretense and false geniunety in that section that it's insufferable. Also how ironic is this: he didn't actually write this song, it's a cover of some Captain & Tennille track (another '70s act I don't like). Just prententious sludge of a song. Rating: 3/10 -- 1987. "Shake You Down" Gregory Abbott {US0618/-} Uc8wmLul3uw Smooth soul wasn't particularly doing great on the mid-'80s pop charts, so it's nice to hear something that's a bit of a throwback to the genre's heyday. Unfortunately "Shake You Down" is phoned in and doesn't work quite well as it was intended. The production for one thing is incredibly cloying, with a mess of generic smooth beats and a cheesy harmonica. Gregory Abbott also doesn't do a convincing job as a soul vocalist, with a poor understanding of how to do his vocal runs ("I've been missing you-OOO-ooh-ooh") and control over his vocal range. Also, I absolutely hate those dinky harmonized vocals. They sound straight of a bad parody. Rating: 4/10 -- 1998. "Never Ever" All Saints {-/UK0780} All Saints are a fairly fun girl group that would go on to release some great pop stuff around the turn of the millenium. X28-olxweYk "Never Ever", their very first big hit, isn't quite there yet for me. The song takes its sweet time to get going with that spoken intro, but nothing wrong with a personal touch where the vocalist hightlights her own experiences in love, right? Unfortunately the actual song never gets going. It's instrumentally a bit flat and uninspired. The vocals are decent, but never go into amazing levels. The lyrics get into really embarassing territory for me though, especially with lines like "The alphabet runs right from A to Z". The song also sort of cuts out at very strange point when one of the girls started to sing in a vocoded effect. This is a song that's not really for me unfortunately. Rating: 5/10 -- 1998. "Truly Madly Deeply" Savage Garden {US0822/-} WQnAxOQxQIU It's like if "I Write the Songs" was actually good. Just like Barry Manilow, I don't find Darren Hayes a super convincing vocalist, but he sounds geniune and likeable and not unbearable and smug. "Truly Madly Deeply" is a nice flowy love ballad with stronger pop tendencies and a slight shading of that late '90s downtempo sound. Very of its time. The chorus soars quite nicely and I appreciate the duo's main vocalist's likeable vocal chops. It's a bit basic on the whole, but definitely better than the typical run-of-the-mill big adult contempo shmaltz. It's airy drifting shmaltz! Rating: 6/10 -- 2004. "All This Time" Michelle {-/UK0969} The show may be Pop Idol, the actual pioneering program whose monster success would influence many copycat shows to follow, but that doesn't change how bad the coronation singles still are. R8rtWvWD9co "All This Time" is embarrassingly saccharine and sounds incredibly dated, even for the year 2004. It's decently sung at least, but otherwise it's everything you'd expect from a bad and generic coronation single. Whether it's the obligatory lyrics about overcoming obstacles or the dreadful final section with key change and choir that sounds far too forced. At least it's sort of nice to see how unconventially conventional a Pop Idol winner looked at some point, but beyond that there's practically no merit to this whatsoever. Rating: 3/10 -- 2009. "Just Dance" Lady Gaga ft. Colby O'Donis {US0968/UK1087} Hey, it's the debut single of one of pop music's most intriguing figures in the last two decades! Say what you want about Lady Gaga, but she provided a much-needed boost to the otherwise struggling pop scene in the late '00s. 2Abk1jAONjw "Just Dance" is suprisingly lowkey for a singer that went on to be known for her over-the-top and extravagant persona. It's a pretty straightforward dance track about letting loose on the dancefloor. However, it is also very well produced, with an extremely catchy beat and memorable buzzing synths. I find it amusing that the majority of the lyrics here depict a fairly horrific situation "Where are my keys? I lost my phone ". And the solution for all these icky problems? Just dance of course! I also love how weird the whole "Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic" section really is, where the synths slow down and Gaga's vocals sort gets into a vocoded effect. Truly feels like some sort of robotic fever dream. It's definitely not her most original song, but still a strong start to a tumultuous career. Rating: 8/10

January 16th 1953. "You Belong to Me" Jo Stafford {-/UK0002} The second UK number one single is also the very first one by a female singer, so there's quite the historically significance to this song. zQfF84ackMM "You Belong To Me" is a cute wistful little jazz ballad about someone's longing feelings in a faraway place, a sentiment that must have felt fairly significant at the time, with World War II not far behind. But it works great for me. Just a nice and warm little voyage accompanied by Jo Stafford's dreamy vocals, with just the right amount of world music influences going on. Rating: 7/10 -- 1964. "Glad All Over" The Dave Clark Five {-/UK0161} The Beatles-imitation at work here is pretty astounding. I wouldn't be surprised if music buyers of the mid-'60s accidently mistook this for a Beatles record. NHtNFaa2ne0 However, "Glad All Over" works as a standalone song as well. The powerful percussive beat is excellent for establishing a foot stomping rhythm. The band's happy little call-and-response dynamic is really fun. Despite being a catchy stomper, the song does a great job of establishing an effervescent happy mood around love. Truly a little gem of the British Invasion era. Rating: 8/10 -- 1982. "The Land of Make Believe" Bucks Fizz {-/UK0492} It's hard to look at Bucks Fizz and not see a cheap version of ABBA. l6DOGITIfAY "The Land of Make Believe" unfortunately follows that cheap knock-off sentiment. It's as if someone wanted to write an ABBA song but didn't know what made the band's music so great. The harmonies, which the Swedish band had down to a science, don't work very well here. None of the voices in this band blend well together. The incredibly sloppy sounding production also doesn't help matters. There's a lot going on in the lyrics, which were written as a subtle attack on Margaret Thatcher by an ex-member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. But I'm afraid the song's message is completely lost in translation due to the song's cheap performative innocence. Not good at all. Rating: 3/10 -- 1988. "Got My Mind Set on You" George Harrison {US0648/-} This one is a bit bittersweet as it was the very last an ex-Beatles managed to top the Billboard Hot 100. 6ZwjdGSqO0k "Got My Mind Set On You" is a cover of an early '60s song. And it actually works much better as an R&B song from that era. The original had a more intricately crafted production that highlighted the singer's yearning sentiment more effectively, especially when the singer did much effectively with his powerful soul vocals. When you remove that and replace it with fairly standard late '80s rock production, the song becomes incredibly simplistic. The lyrics are also very typical of a standard song in every way. And George Harrison doesn't try to do much vocally. It's still a good version, but nothing to write home about. Rating: 6/10 -- 1999. "Praise You" Fatboy Slim {-/UK0811} Fatboy Slim is a pretty interesting figure in the world of '90s electronica. As a big beat producer, he's less aggressive than his contemporaries, focusing instead on grooves and vibes (even if he released the occasional huge headbanger). ruAi4VBoBSM "Praise You" is an excellent example of this. It's a fairly laid-back little jam that's not too dissimilar to house music. The sampled soul track works well with the groove-oriented track. I also like how the song picks up speed from time to time. Just an incredibly well-crafted song if you just want to relax, or dance, or both since it's pretty all-encompassing Rating: 8/10 -- 1999. "Have You Ever" Brandy {US0837/-} I do love Brandy, she's an incredibly talented and underrated voice within the world of '90s R&B. Xkj1An6Wnec "Have You Ever" doesn't really have much to get excited about though. It starts slowly, but gradually builds up throughout the song's length, culminating in a pretty fantastic final section. Brandy keeps asking rhetorical questions about love the entire time in a fairly engaging way. But I'm quite let down by how standard and generic the production is. It sounds like standard ballad music. Which is unfortunate because it does not complement the singer and does not do Brandy's vocals justice. That being said, I still love this song despite its flaws, and still love Brandy (really wished "Sitting Up In My Room" would have been a number 1 single instead though). Rating: 7/10 -- 2010. "Replay" Iyaz {-/UK1119} ZoG5jJ3E8rg A little sunny R&B jam that sounds very of its time. The lyrics are incredibly juvenile, even a little too much for this song's own good. The "nanana" parts gets grating after a while, they sound like some demo filler parts that got accidently left in. And the one in the bridge is incredibly bad. I also don't find Iyaz a compelling vocalist at all, even if I must admit I quite enjoy the Islander flair he adds to the song. That being said, I can't deny a catchy hook, and the one here works incredibly well. And the production works fairly for it sets out to be. Rating: 6/10

January 15th Today is the 42nd birthday of Pitbull! Happy birthday! 1972. "American Pie" Don McLean {US0266/-} A song that famously had the honor to be longest song to top the Billboard Hot 100 for the longest time. A record that was broken little over a year ago. y5ecvBaqHBk But is the lengthy length worth it? I'd say so. It's a fun pastiche of pop culture and general life in the mid-century. It works well as a time capsule of the 1950s and 1960s, with numerous references such as the infamous day that music died. It now claims to be a groundbreaking statement of grand coming-of-age storytelling. Perhaps, but the musicianship is competent and even delightful throughout. The chorus really sticks with you and becomes an earworm. Rating: 7/10 -- 1977. "Don't Give Up on Us" David Soul {US0420/UK0399} YY8APrYU2Gs I don't despise it. If I have to sit through a shmaltzy ballad, at least make it so ridiculously sugary sweet that it's entertainingly cheesy. This song does it very well. I particularly like the emotional production, which includes cheesy strings and some guitar riffs. It sounds like something out of a Disney film. All of this is to say that the singing isn't particularly good, and David Soul employs the irritating trick of vocal doubling when it's completely unnecessary. And, while the cheesiness is mostly endearing, it does begin to grate at times. Rating: 6/10 -- 1977. "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" Leo Sayer {US0411/-} puPRFGspl6w This song starts as a ridiculously bad rip-off of a Bee Gees song, which I absolutely despise. Then it goes into amazing Michael Jackson territory on the chorus. Then it goes right back into absolutely detestable territory right after that. So, in short, this song just flipflops between the good and bad parts and they sort of cancel each other in the end, but since Leo Sayer's falsetto is so bad that it makes me want to rip my ears off, I guess the bad outweighs the whole thing eventually. Rating: 4/10 -- 1983. "You Can't Hurry Love" Phil Collins {-/UK0513} Oh look it’s Phil Collins. The guy that either makes amazing music or can be a total square about it. C9IwBJYTwQ0 Here, he performs a cover of one of the greatest Motown songs by one of the greatest pop groups of all time. It's fine, and there's nothing wrong with covering music that means a lot to you. Phil Collins has made no secret of his love for classic Motown music throughout his career. But, in trying to stay so close to the original, I'm left with the impression that I'm listening to a neutered filler version. And in this case, it just makes me want to just listen to the original. Rating: 5/10 -- 1983. "Down Under" Men at Work {US0527/UK0514} It’s possibly the most Aussie song ever brought on earth! At least it’s way up there. XfR9iY5y94s And do you know what "Down Under" is? It's also a great song. It works fantastic as a self-parodying gagfest that uses Australian stereotypes to its advantage. Of course, the bouncy reggae-inspired production is extremely catchy, and that little dinky flute is in a league of its own. I also like how MaW's frontman, Colin Hay, sings his heart out on the chorus. Rating: 8/10 -- 2000. "What a Girl Wants" Christina Aguilera {US0851/-} It’s X-tina! At least in her more innocent days, before she donned the whole allegedly X-rated persona. hpspGHeLOPE And "What a Girl Wants" is exactly symptomatic of those early days. An innocent love song about being thankful that her boyfriend is... not an asshole? Being patient and encouraging her? It's a little hazy. But one thing is certain: even though I enjoy many pop hits from this era, I'm not particularly fond of this song. The production feels so limp for some reason, and the hook is especially weak. All of these shuffle beats, which are usually great in a pop song, don't seem to add much to this. Rating: 5/10

January 14th Today is the 55th birthday of LL Cool J! Happy birthday! Also much unlike yesterday, today there are a lot of songs to go through! 1955. "Mambo Italiano" Rosemary Clooney {-/UK0028} 9prJXEhNhPA "Mambo Italiano" is a fun little piece of novelty mambo that combines some Spanish and Italiano with a lot of English. Rosemary Clooney has a natural charisma that allows her to sell the song effortlessly. Mambo, on the other hand, has nothing to do with Italy. Instead, it's a Cuban genre with some of the most energetic music in the country, though what's presented here is fairly generic for the style. It still has the genre's trademark big drums, but they're not as prominent as I'd like. The song's premise wears thin quickly though, but it is thankfully short. Rating: 6/10 -- 1965. "Yeh Yeh" Georgie Fame {-/UK0184} CPDuNMPUGZE Damn is this song thight. If you ask me, the singing is pitifully bad and thin. However, this is one of those rare instances where a catchy delivery and rhythm more than compensate for the singer's shortcomings. It's super groovy and possibly one of the jazziest mod tracks ever. I adore the interplay between the saxophone and the singer. With how fast the singing is, you'll never get tired of this song, and the instrumental bridge is a nice little break in the middle. Just a cool song. Rating: 8/10 -- 1978. "Baby Come Back" Player {US0438/-} Hn-enjcgV1o "Baby Come Back" is very smooth produced, as one would expect from soft rock, but it has some extra slick touches. It could be one of the most polished tracks on this whole project. It has some excellent guitar riffs and sticky keyboard notes. However, the lyrics are bog-standard, and I'm not a big fan of the entire band singing in unison on the chorus. I believe it would have worked better if they had saved it for the final chorus. And the bridge ended on an anticlimactic note. Still, I applaud how enjoyable and buttery smooth this song is. And that guitar solo really slaps. Rating: 7/10 -- 1984. "Pipes of Peace" Paul McCartney {-/UK0530} Paul certainly put out some preachy material in the early 1980s. Obviously, anti-war messages are always admirable. However, incorporating those into a pop song for mass consumption is a different story. B3q4Up5ugTc Can't say "Pipes of Peace" did the concept justice. It's a little underwhelmingly made. The progression is monotonous and leads nowhere. The ending arrives at an inopportune time, and the entire song suffers as a result. The instrumentation is also a little odd, with things like table drums appearing out of nowhere and not fitting in. At the very least, Paul and his choir singing cheerfully about people who should stop blowing each other's faces up is kind of nice I suppose. Nice try Paul, better luck next time. Rating: 4/10 -- 1989. "My Prerogative" Bobby Brown {US0679/-} Bobby, it should have been your girlfriend's prerogative not to be beaten up by an asshole. 5cDLZqe735k Aside from the singer's awful context, "My Prerogative," historically regarded as one of the very first new jack swing tracks to top the Billboard, is a monster jam. Bobby, who recently left New Edition, does an excellent job of displaying his entire brand of confidence on this track. The whole thing is about standing on one's own two feet, and Bobby does an excellent job of conveying that message. The big nasty beat also goes hard and does a great job of directing people's attention to where it should be. Rating: 8/10 -- 1995. "Cotton Eye Joe" Rednex {-/UK0715} "Cotton Eye Joe" is actually a very old traditional folk song from before the American Civil War. Nobody knows where it came from. Nonetheless, it's a classic song that legends such as Burl Ives and Nina Simone have covered. Unfortunately, this intriguing piece of history will now be forever associated with the cheesefest served by some Canadian novelty group. mOYZaiDZ7BM I'll give Rednex this: at least this fully commits to the bluegrass inspired aesthetics despite being full-on Eurodance (something I had a problem with in "Timber" a few days ago). The exhilarating effect is achieved by combining the pumping rave beat with the square dance fiddles. Unfortunately, I find both of the main singers here to be quite annoying, and the song as a whole quickly outstays its welcome. It's also a song that works best when played on the dancefloor. Trying to listen to it as a genuine piece of music without dancing is pointless, which doesn't help me. But I think it's just irritating and tacky. Rating: 3/10 -- 2006. "Laffy Taffy" D4L {US0919/-} The ringtone market was on the rise in 2006, and it sure did a number on the rap game. Quickly, a recently emerged club rap style called snap took ahold of the trend and released some of the most repetitive and tuneless rap songs at a rate never quite seen before. 3NXBgSCSrIk "Laffy Taffy" is possibly one of the worst snap songs ever written. Of course, the dinky beat is so ridiculously limb that the entire song reads like a joke. Fabo, the rapper, sounds terrible on this. It's as if he was out of breath the entire time. There's also the song's overall theme, which is completely ineffective. Candy euphemisms are extremely common in rap, but the candy used here is dubious. A laffy taffy is a rectangular, stiff chew candy that is unfamiliar to many people. What kind of body part does that resemble? In fact, I don't want to know. This is an awful song. Rating: 2/10 -- 2011. "Good Feeling" Flo Rida {-/UK1184} Well, I suppose "Good Feeling" deserves credit for introducing Etta James to a whole new generation of listeners via sampling. But to be fair, this samples Avicii's "Levels," which in turn samples Etta James, so perhaps I should not give this song too much credit. 3OnnDqH6Wj8 Anyway, "Good Feeling" is almost entirely based on how good "Levels" are. And most of the new elements, such as the Flo Rida stuff and that annoying dubstep break, serve more as a hindrance than anything else. At least Flo Rida isn't as annoying in this song as he is in some of his other songs. There are even some lines like: "No trick plays, I'm Bill Gates, Take a genius to understand me" Yeah, sure, I suppose you're definitely not phoning it at this point. Rating: 5/10 -- 2021. "Sweet Melody" Little Mix {-/UK1382} r4P-WOOUPk4 A lovely little song by a now-legacy girl group. "Sweet Melody" works because of its super catchy and enticing afrobeat-inspired production, as well as its chorus that just soars with all of the girls giving their all on it. I still wish it was a little less repetitive (the "dodododo" parts don't really add much) and had a better bridge, but I'll definitely take it as a jam for evening dance parties. Just high-pumping fun! Rating: 7/10

January 13th Today is the 69th birthday of Trevor Rabin's birthday, a former member of Yes! Happy birthday! There's also only one song to go through today somehow: 2001."Touch Me" Rui da Silva ft. Cassandra {-/UK0887} 3FkApmj8K1M A Portuguese DJ's little progressive house jam that spent a single week at number one on the British charts in early 2001. It's accompanied by English singer Cassandra Cox, who definitely gets to show off her vocal chops on this track. She even goes disco diva at times. It's even fairly unique how sad and tormented she occasionally sounds, something that will eventually become very influential? House music isn't exactly my forte in terms of electronica music, particularly this type of deeper club stuff, but I'd say that I definitely enjoyed it. Rating: 7/10