Popchartfreak

bit late commenting on the last batch oops! Neil Young, classic - I found it a bit oddly whiny vocally at the time but quite liked it, these times it's a 10/10 no prob. Jo Jo Gunne's is a forgotten rock power-drive gem, and Run Run Run was a one-off though and I'm not quite as mad on it as I was once 9/10. Back Off Boogaloo, Ringo and George on form, and his second best post-Beatles (Glam) track, the drums are amazing 9/10. Buffy's follow-up never excited me like Soldier Blue did, but it was cheerful and quirky, 5/10, and Elvis' version of her much-better song Until It's Time For You To Go was one of his less-annoying ballad covers of the era, not least as Prisicilla had had enough by this time I think 6/10. The original is better though. Labi Siffre's is a beautifully-constructed pearl of a song, the way the lyric alters in each section is just perfect, and the ending is emotionally moving - almost perfect and subtle 9/10. Tom was going too Las Vegas by this point, and I never really went big on the Puppeteer but it was OK 5/10, Never Before was no Fireball, and came and went away quickly as if apologetically, 4/10. Greyhound, still love 'em and I love this song WAY more than that anthem of the same name (at least until Aqua did it right) 9/10. Having The Osmonds get a radio hit after years of seeing them on US TV was a moment - but it was nowhere near as loveable as their animated TV cartoon show theme tune One Bad Apple, that's a 10/10 US smash. 6/10. Middle Of The Road, my first disappointment relative to the hat-trick of bubblegum gems I loved at the time, a mere 6/10 based on lasting affection for Sally & the boys. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes was a fave, the song was old and familiar and this version seemed more upbeat and appealing than the old dirge-ballads - but it hasn't dated that well 7/10. Ray Stevens, nice to have him back with a proper song, not a novelty, a big fave in our house was ol Ray, but it's not worthy of comparison to Everything Is Beautiful. Nice little chirpy gospel number, though, 6/10. The Potters, never heard it, but its football, 1/10. The Bagpipes kept Ringo off the top spot, so that's one thing against them. They also brought Judy Collins' version back into the charts, which I didn't exactly love or hate, but the huge success and news items and over-exposure turned it into one of my pet hates until Spock's funeral in Wrath Of Khan at which point I had an about-face on the song, that version and all. I'm still kinda 7/10 on it, but Judy Collins' is the 9/10 version. The Drifters: well Saturday Night was my first fave, then I got less interested in that one in favour of At The Club, the more-played track of the 2, but I;m now back with Saturday Night At The Movies again: 8/10 vs 7/10.

yes 2 9/10 anti-war tracks there, Messages still has the edge over Enola Gay for me as it was "more of the same" sound-wise rather than a "what is that!?" moment, and Army Dreamers is just sad and lovely, and a unique female viewpoint on the futility and waste of war. Sweet People is quite sweet, 7/10, not heard it in yonks though. Air Supply's previous single was a US hit but flopped in the UK, and Lost In Love is just gorgeous 9/10, which led me into buying All Out Of Love and topping my chart, but it's a tad too OTT these days to outdo the first one 8/10 - they will perfect that sound with a little help from Jim Steinman though! Woman In Love is Babs at her best, and the Bee Gees bio I'm reading makes it plain that it was Barry Gibb behind pretty much everything at this stage - post Disco Sucks, which basically crucified the Gibbs for what was a grand total of (count 'em) 5 disco tracks, 4 off Saturday Night Fever, one off Spirits Having Flown - as Robin was busy doing the Jimmy Ruffin album and Mo was into soundtracks and alcoholism. Bazza recognised they would have to adapt to the back scenes and Robin was about to resurrect his solo career and great songs that had been largely on hold since the early 70's. 9/10. Special Brew is the most friendly Bad Manners single to date 8/10, but they had their greatest in the wings for 1981. You're Lying is fabulous and under-rated Brit-soul, Linx were shortlived but good ahead of David Grant's solo career. 9/10. She's So Cold, Stones-by-numbers but they hadnt deteriorated too much yet 6/10. George Benson sounding more and more like a jazz-easy-listening version of Heatwave, unsurprisingly, 7/10, Casanova is OK, 6/10, Gotta Pull Myself Together a proper pop tune 8/10. What's In A Kiss, nice to see Gilbert back, but he was very out-dated by this time and it's a bit twee, 5/10, Quo though in rousing form, play loud and headbang along 8/10. Gillan, great on Black Night and Fireball, but his ex-Purple career never grabbed me much, and this cover ditto 4/10. Party Lights leaves no real memory to hook onto, I'm sure it was a 5/10 or so though. Matchbox getting their big hit, and it had a period charm to it, very Buddy Holly-era 7/10.

Bombalurina just no. Loved the Brian Hyland original though, one of my first ever music loves as teeny tot. Betty Boo and sampling Monkees and Bananarama what's not to love! Roxette, I was on my Florida hols for Dangerous being big so that was always a fave Roxette track and happy to see it get a UK release on the ballad back, that got most of the airplay, as the better track and a chart-topper together for me. But George Michael's Praying For Time is fabulous, what a record, and what an album. I still think he was nuts not doing a video proper for most of the singles....

lots of classics up the top end there!

Lana seems to be a big fan of John Denver, she references him and her last single was pure influence from him but Country Roads is not the one to go for - as a recent convert to his poetic imagery and melodies, Rocky Mountain High, Calypso and loads of others with a widescreen appreciation of the wilder parts of the USA and relationships are all way, way better. I love F You and it should have been a rewritten single! 😇

well thats a trio of fortunate events! Bet he was interesting! Flicking through the back catalogue here too, I must crack on with finishing the 90's charts! :) I cant say as I have much just come across randomly acts in concert, bar Steppenwolf at Disney Epcot, and Katy Perry In Barcelona, and various acts at Pride events - though I did buy Katy tickets in advance once I realised she was on. I have however timed holidays around concerts abroad and space shuttle launches, hah!

Suedehead2’s Substitute Chart Commentary 15th Aug 2025: Demon Hunters back slaying and Time Flies on albums. This substitute European heatwave special comes from sweltering Gran Canaria. Other baking venues are available. Back up on top after the Chappell Roan surprise release dethroned them for one week, we find The KPop Demon Hunters clan still going Up Up Up with Golden. That makes 2 weeks on top for the movie cast, varied and many, with Soda Pop holding at 6 and Your Idol up to 7. Note spelling, it’s not an accusation: You’re Idle. Previous movie-related golden chart-hits include Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger and the UK number one about the Gold Rush of the American West: Lee Marvin’s 1970 smash Wand’rin Star. That Leaves The Subway down to 2 for Chappell Roan, Dior holds at 4 for MK and Chrystal and No Broke Boys at a new peak of 3 for Disco Lines and Tinache, with Daisies rounding off the top 5 with Justin Bieber, but YUKON climbs to a new peak of 12 so good-news/bad-news for Beliebers. Ed Sheeran is at his happiest with multiple chart entries, but the latest is more modest: the Sapphire bop is at 9 while he adds A Little More at 18 for a fourth top 20 of 2025. If I hadn’t lost one vital point in a quiz last night due to me not recognising South Of The Border I would be more pre-disposed to his habitual entire-album charting tendencies: Play is not even out yet! sombr is up a measly two places to a new peak of 17 with the good 12 to 12, and Oasis have yet another 3rd-track syndrome new entry as Cigarettes & Alcohol pops back in over 30 years on at 34. It peaked at 7, hung around in and out of the top 100 for years, and yet this is only the 4th top 40 chart week for it. I was hoping for a Demon Hunter link: The Importance Of Being Idol would have been better for that. Sparks is up to 30 for Coldplay amongst all the ancient tracks yo-yoing as per the norm in the streaming age, and Lola Young lifts her s£aler to 31, while Sammy Virji x Skepta hit a new peak of 36 with Cops & Robbers. There are 2 new entries from tracks I know nothing about coming up. TAKEDOWN by TWICE is FROM is A kpop TRACK new at 35. Sorry, no more shouty text! It features in the Demon Hunters movie along with another version, so I’m assuming as the song is also on TWICE’s album it qualifies under that for a 5th charted Demon Hunters song. It’s Down Down Down rather than Up Up Up but just as hyper-active. Sit child in front of TV, add sugary treats and they will be on a high for a couple of hours. Parental Advisory Warning gifted from recent experience. You’re welcome! Denon Reed and Cru2 are new at 37 with Let Him Go, it’s a dance track debut from Birmingham DJ Denon, who sounds like a jeans brand, and Cru2 which is actually a brand designed to reviving bassline events. It’s hyper enough to feature in Demon Hunters if they expanded the genres a bit. Over on albums it’s a low-sales week allowing Oasis to return to the top spot with Time Flies. I bought it for a couple of quid in a pre-owned pile so that will never have counted as a sale, nor will my playing of it. Streaming, however lifts it high so the 900th album number one grabs a third week on top as Morning Glory rises to 3, and Definitely Maybe ponders number 7. So in that climate, congrats to The Royston Club getting overt 8,000 punters to shell out cash on Songs To The Spine. The Welsh rock band’s second album goes 12 places higher than their debut did and grab their first top 5, but also new at 2 and the highest of the week is lost americana from mgk - formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly - and it’s his 4th top 40 hit and third top 5 in a row. Shhh nobody mention the Bad Boy label, Interscope have dropped it. A bit like the former name, then. Alex Warren is still Alright, Kid at 5. Gunna, meanwhile, debuts The Last Wun at 9. It’s his 6th album in 6 years, all charting, which shows consistency for the Atlanta rapper if nothing else. We get to number 10 before we have a familiar name entering the chart, and it’s Craig David on his 25th year of album charting with his 9th consecutive top 40 album, Commitment. Craig has 10 in all, including Greatest Hits compilations. Six of the tracks have already been out as singles, including some I’ve bought like In It With You, a collab with JoJo which I rather like. New in at 12 with a second top 20 album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You is US singer-songwriter Ethel Cain. Nice to see Ethel back in use as a name after Ray Stevens did his bit to make it unfashionable in The Streak - “Don’t Look Ethel!”. At 16, it’s Halestorm, sounding like a superhero name in this spelling version, and new album Everest which didn’t quite make the summit. The Pennsylvania rock band are just missing their 4th consecutive top 10 album, dating back to 2015. Just behind at 17 BABYMETAL enter with METAL FORTH, shouty text sneaking back in again. The Japanese female Metal band have been around for 11 years, as Metal Forth becomes their 4th top 40 album in a row. Like Craig, there have been 6 singles ahead of album release, one of which I am partial to - Ratatata a collab with Electric Callboy is a right old romp. That concludes this jaunt and I hope everyone is staying cool and hydrated!

Suedehead2’s Substitute Chart Commentary 15th Aug 2025: Demon Hunters back slaying and Time Flies on albums. This substitute European heatwave special comes from sweltering Gran Canaria. Other baking venues are available. Back up on top after the Chappell Roan surprise release dethroned them for one week, we find The KPop Demon Hunters clan still going Up Up Up with Golden. That makes 2 weeks on top for the movie cast, varied and many, with Soda Pop holding at 6 and Your Idol up to 7. Note spelling, it’s not an accusation: You’re Idle. Previous movie-related golden chart-hits include Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger and the UK number one about the Gold Rush of the American West: Lee Marvin’s 1970 smash Wand’rin Star. That Leaves The Subway down to 2 for Chappell Roan, Dior holds at 4 for MK and Chrystal and No Broke Boys at a new peak of 3 for Disco Lines and Tinache, with Daisies rounding off the top 5 with Justin Bieber, but YUKON climbs to a new peak of 12 so good-news/bad-news for Beliebers. Ed Sheeran is at his happiest with multiple chart entries, but the latest is more modest: the Sapphire bop is at 9 while he adds A Little More at 18 for a fourth top 20 of 2025. If I hadn’t lost one vital point in a quiz last night due to me not recognising South Of The Border I would be more pre-disposed to his habitual entire-album charting tendencies: Play is not even out yet! sombr is up a measly two places to a new peak of 17 with the good 12 to 12, and Oasis have yet another 3rd-track syndrome new entry as Cigarettes & Alcohol pops back in over 30 years on at 34. It peaked at 7, hung around in and out of the top 100 for years, and yet this is only the 4th top 40 chart week for it. I was hoping for a Demon Hunter link: The Importance Of Being Idol would have been better for that. Sparks is up to 30 for Coldplay amongst all the ancient tracks yo-yoing as per the norm in the streaming age, and Lola Young lifts her s£aler to 31, while Sammy Virji x Skepta hit a new peak of 36 with Cops & Robbers. There are 2 new entries from tracks I know nothing about coming up. TAKEDOWN by TWICE is FROM is A kpop TRACK new at 35. Sorry, no more shouty text! It features in the Demon Hunters movie along with another version, so I’m assuming as the song is also on TWICE’s album it qualifies under that for a 5th charted Demon Hunters song. It’s Down Down Down rather than Up Up Up but just as hyper-active. Sit child in front of TV, add sugary treats and they will be on a high for a couple of hours. Parental Advisory Warning gifted from recent experience. You’re welcome! Denon Reed and Cru2 are new at 37 with Let Him Go, it’s a dance track debut from Birmingham DJ Denon, who sounds like a jeans brand, and Cru2 which is actually a brand designed to reviving bassline events. It’s hyper enough to feature in Demon Hunters if they expanded the genres a bit. Over on albums it’s a low-sales week allowing Oasis to return to the top spot with Time Flies. I bought it for a couple of quid in a pre-owned pile so that will never have counted as a sale, nor will my playing of it. Streaming, however lifts it high so the 900th album number one grabs a third week on top as Morning Glory rises to 3, and Definitely Maybe ponders number 7. So in that climate, congrats to The Royston Club getting overt 8,000 punters to shell out cash on Songs To The Spine. The Welsh rock band’s second album goes 12 places higher than their debut did and grab their first top 5, but also new at 2 and the highest of the week is lost americana from mgk - formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly - and it’s his 4th top 40 hit and third top 5 in a row. Shhh nobody mention the Bad Boy label, Interscope have dropped it. A bit like the former name, then. Alex Warren is still Alright, Kid at 5. Gunna, meanwhile, debuts The Last Wun at 9. It’s his 6th album in 6 years, all charting, which shows consistency for the Atlanta rapper if nothing else. We get to number 10 before we have a familiar name entering the chart, and it’s Craig David on his 25th year of album charting with his 9th consecutive top 40 album, Commitment. Craig has 10 in all, including Greatest Hits compilations. Six of the tracks have already been out as singles, including some I’ve bought like In It With You, a collab with JoJo which I rather like. New in at 12 with a second top 20 album Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You is US singer-songwriter Ethel Cain. Nice to see Ethel back in use as a name after Ray Stevens did his bit to make it unfashionable in The Streak - “Don’t Look Ethel!”. At 16, it’s Halestorm, sounding like a superhero name in this spelling version, and new album Everest which didn’t quite make the summit. The Pennsylvania rock band are just missing their 4th consecutive top 10 album, dating back to 2015. Just behind at 17 BABYMETAL enter with METAL FORTH, shouty text sneaking back in again. The Japanese female Metal band have been around for 11 years, as Metal Forth becomes their 4th top 40 album in a row. Like Craig, there have been 6 singles ahead of album release, one of which I am partial to - Ratatata a collab with Electric Callboy is a right old romp. That concludes this jaunt and I hope everyone is staying cool and hydrated!

14th Aug semi 1: 39 semi 2: 33 thomas dolby 3 in 10: i am i said, cracklin rosie, forever in blue jeans

1 2 1 8 TOKYO RAIN - Loaded Honey 693000 2 5 2 3 WALK OF FAME - Miley Cyrus featuring Brittany Howard 192200 3 1 1 8 OVER - Loaded Honey 595750 4 6 4 10 ZOMBIE LADY - Damiano David featuring Dove Cameron 274900 5 3 3 4 HARD TO BE HAPPY - Rob Thomas 174400 6 4 1 12 DON’T SPEAK - Loaded Honey 693900 7 7 7 2 RAG DOLL - The Four Seasons 100000 8 8 5 11 GLAD - Saint Etienne 381100 9 10 9 12 I SAW THE MOUNTAINS - Noah Cyrus 249150 10 9 1 12 RUN WITH U - Mamagama 922000 11 13 7 8 WOULDN’T IT BE NICE - The Beach Boys 252950 12 14 1 8 GOD ONLY KNOWS - The Beach Boys 851000 13 15 7 17 FEEL IT - d4vd 470350 14 11 1 21 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 1228900 15 31 15 6 LET IT BE FOR LOVE - Armin van Buuren featuring JAI RYU 67600 16 26 16 3 JUPITER - almost monday featuring Jordana 60800 17 19 17 4 BROKEN GAME - Finn Forster 74700 18 25 18 10 LET’S RIDE AWAY - Avicii featuring Elle King 136250 19 36 19 2 DAWN (GO AWAY) - The Four Seasons 38400 20 37 20 3 FIVE MORE SECONDS - Seafret featuring KT Tunstall 41100 21 20 20 8 MANCHILD - Sabrina Carpenter 110850 22 12 4 11 BALENCIAGA COVERED EYES - Agnes 417800 23 27 23 7 GOLD - Myles Smith 96250 24 21 16 8 CALIFORNIA GIRLS - The Beach Boys 155150 25 24 2 18 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 693450 26 39 26 3 POISON VINE - Cast featuring P.P. Arnold 41500 27 23 2 12 BROKENHEARTED - Gabry Ponte & Train 884400 28 34 28 4 NO TIME TO TALK - The Jonas Brothers 54200 29 16 16 7 ROCK THAT BODY - The Black Eyed Peas 111000 30 32 30 12 SPORTS CAR - Tate McRae 119050 31 22 2 16 MYSTICAL MAGICAL - Benson Boone 730900 32 38 32 2 C’MON MARIANNE - The Four Seasons 35000 33 17 9 8 DAYDREAMING - Elliot James Reay 242800 34 18 18 8 RUNAWAY TRAIN - Sam Feldt featuring RuthAnne 135350 35 29 1 19 SHINE - Mondo Cozmo 1169050 36 42 36 8 RUNNING UP A TAB AT THE HOTEL FOR THE FAB - Sparks 81650 37 30 5 8 GOOD VIBRATIONS - The Beach Boys 214300 38 43 38 7 SWEETNESS - Elliot James Reay 70300 39 44 39 8 BLOODLINE - Alex Warren featuring Jelly Roll 94200 40 35 3 19 RAGDOLL - The Lottery Winners featuring Chad Kroeger 475200

Yes me too, Unchained Melody is one I didnt really know much until 1990 when its majesty became quite clear, but childhood fave I Got You Babe is timelessly great and Sonny & Cher were instant faves in our household, I loved them always, and Cher beyond of course - she'll be popping up soon with one of t'other tracks here. The Byrds' is a good song and a good version, and I like the Honeycombs track too, even if its not quite Have I The Right. Georgie's rings no bell and I can't stream it at the mo but I expect I will like it - I always liked/like Georgie.

Yes I'm with the consensus here - for me KLF could do nor wrong and they had 5 classic unstoppable 10/10's in a row, epic, joyous, rousing and were act of the year, not even close. And then that was that pretty much The End. Going out on OTT top.

Thieves In The Temple is fab, I saw that Graffiti Bridge tour, Mavis Staples on hand to do the odd solo track, They also annoyingly took my pocket cassette recorder off me, all I wanted was a souvenir of Wembley Arena! Had to queue for ages afterwards to get it back and join the huge traffic-jam out of London. Pah! Tonight is the best NKOTB record, and reminds me of late 60's Bee Gees in their Beatles/Prog phase but if they had actually done an upbeat track like Jive Talking in that era. Or maybe not :)

36's galore! well done :) streaming back on again... 15th Aug: semi 1: 39 semi 2: 39 3 in 10: dont give up solsbury hill sledghammer

Another One Bites The Dust is Chictastic, nice to see the writing credits for hit songs shared about with John Deacon this time. 9/10. Three Little Birds was a minor sweet little Bob Marley track at the time, it would sound poignant within months at its cheerful optimism in the face of oncoming cancer. 8/10. Masterblaster was about Bob Marley, and I'm guessing Stevie already knew about his health condition hence the great tribute 9/10. AC/DC version 2 just oddly didn't gel for me, despite drafting in Brian "Geordie hitmaker" Johnson who I had fondness for, You Shook Me 4/10. Baggy Trousers is track of the week for me, love it, and the album, it captures schoolboy energy days in a way few others ever have in song. 10/10. The Specials back on form with added 60's musak vibes, Stereotypes is a good 'un 8/10 and International Jet Set nice 7/10. My Old Piano is another Chic-tastic moment, and an actual one, though Ms. Ross is too far up in her mix, and the Chic rhythm too low. 8/10. seemed Generals & Majors is fine, 6/10, but it's no Making Plans For Nigel. Killer On The Loose is the last great Thin Lizzy single, ominous and dark 9/10. Amigo is under-rated and forgotten these days, but what a fab tune 9/10 top reggae vibes. Odyssey is nice, but it's no Native New Yorker! 6/10. Don't Stand So Close To Me was my chart-topper of the day. Creepy and troubling, as intended, but not sounding like The Moment it did at the time as The Police hit Peak popularity. 8/10. Searching Is good, but not as good as Lover's Holiday, 7/10. Taste Of Bitter Love, well Gladys is never bad, she's incapable of not sounding classy, but it's not her most memorable track. 6/10. D.I.S.C.O. is cheese, but it's fun cheese on a dancefloor 8/10. Splodgenessabounds minus the social observations amusement, but everyone of a certain age loved Two Little Boys the song at the time and the piss take prob seemed a good idea. It wasnt really. 5/10.