Popchartfreak

Hi AH! 🙂, Glad you got some time off! Hooray! Always busy me,Last weekend London tonight Weymouth Pavilion, shooting off in an hour after doing this! 🙂 Thanks as always for the long list of picks, pop music has gone a bit hectic of late, I cant keep up with it! Burning Down is great too, but Ordinary has the edge for me 👍Busy Woman is so catchy, nice tune. I can see why Pitbull annoys (it what he does) but I liked that collab and this is more dance than rap, so there is that plus side to it 😄 Yes poor Angie, coming back from a concert too and she was the only one killed in the vehicle. I always rated that track, loved the O jays sample, I was mad on backstabbers, a number one when I was sweet innocent 14. Actually I was sweet innocent 40 too, but I never did rush into things 😄 Yes, Messy has started to get on my nerves now. I can see why teens might love wallowing in the misery, and it's a decent record, but oh I SO want to take the piss out of the lyrics...I might even do it yet...😇 thanks as always!😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Hope all is good with you! 1 8 1(×1) 16 Chappell Roan – “Pink Pony Club” 6 1 1(×1) 14 Kendrick Lamar & SZA – “luther” 10 15 10 9 Shaboozey – “Good News” 11 3 3 4 Lady Gaga – “Abracadabra” 18 17 17 3 Sabrina Carpenter – “Busy Woman” 24 14 14 18 Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us” 28 22 13 6 Sam Fender – “Arm's Length” 33 25 10 5 The Weeknd – “Cry For Me” 41 NE 41 1 Jonas Blue & Izzy Bizu – “Lifeline” 47 41 5 15 Sam Fender – “People Watching” 50 50 24 7 Kylie Minogue & YouNotUs – “Someone for Me” 71 69 59 3 Topic & Daecolm – “Control Of Me” 73 NE 73 1 Måns Zelmerlöw – “Revolution” 84 NE 84 1 Alex Warren – “Ordinary” 85 RE 83 2 Matt Sassari & HUGEL – “It Feels So Good” 91 54 4 25 Teddy Swims – “Bad Dreams” 92 38 3 13 Darin – “Moonlight” Picks of some of me faves here great chart!😎

Hi Sergej, hope things are good right now! 🙂 Thanks for the picks, lots of movement in my charts at last, hooray! Take care 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Hope all is good! Great top 3 again, and Alex Warren and Weeknd top 10 too, hooray! PInk Pony, Chasing Paradise, Euphoria, Busy Woman all climbing goodies! Breakers Guetta/Sia back at 1, Sam, Morgan, Florence, and back in 2012, when I joined Buzzjack, Rihanna/Calvin, Emeli sande and some massives classics in Titanium, Turn Me On, fun and Princess Of China, yay!! 😍 great charts! 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Thanks for the picks and likes, hope all is well with you! cheers!😎

Hi SSP! Messy, SOS, Gaga's, Sam Feldt & Oaks new one (I missed this one somehow), classic CCR - that takes me back to being 13 again! - and actual new Gloria Gaynor, gosh! One of my friends met her back in the day at a club he worked at. Loved her back in the 70's, this is pretty good! Andy Bell, Waterboys and Alan Walker all in too, hooray, lots of crackers! also Armin/Bon Jovi and lots of welcome familiar names like Seal great chart! 😎

Hi SSP! Thanks for the comments and picks, hope all is well with you! 😎

Hi Cody! 🙂 Hope all is good! Some great tracks in your chart, and some future pop classics that will run and run, I think, though quite a lot I don't know too. If only the day had more hours in it for hearing music! 😄 fab charts! 😎

Hi Cody! 🙂 Thanks for the picks and comments! Glad you like so much, that's always great to see, not to mention one of your tracks grabbing a sale from me thanks to entering it into BJSC, thanks for the tips and hosting-ness! cheers! 🙂

ooh thanks for that, I do rate Alan Walker, just has a gift for catchy melody and production, and an endless supply of guest vocalists! 😄

Hi Jordan! 🙂 Hope all is great with you! Great chart here, there's a few I dont know, and a handful I'm not fussed about, but overall lots I like or love, fabulous! 🙂

Hi Jordan!🙂 Thanks for the picks and comments, hope all is well with you! Yes, that Alex Warren track is a step up I think, love the addition of a choir, makes it more powerful. Glass Animals are turning out to be one of those "quirky" bands that do their own thing, which is great, I've been following the first one of those (Sparks) for nigh on 51 years and still coming up with the goods. It's a good long-term career move! Revolution/Revelation affected my spelling ability sitting next to one another, it confused me! They are split up this week so that'll help 😆 Whirlwind is great, I must send it to a friend of mine who will enjoy it! I also enjoyed the Blossoms song title - In my case (having gone through Death Valley with the radio on) it would be ELO Through Death Valley, or in the case of 80's cassettes, second-time round Michael Jackson Through Death Valley or Pet Shop Boys Through Death Valley, hah! 😄 Thanks as always! 🙂

Osibisa and Drifters look forgotten in music history there 😮 well done 39 Rollo and 33 is pretty good Jade! round 1: 33 (I said Crying for Oasis and didn't finish the title in time before contestant said it, and Peter "forgot his surname" Cox. Considering I went to see him 10 or 15 years ago, thats a tut tut, and I went to see Noel Gallagher last year and just played their Time Flies collection so thats a double tut tut) round 2: 39 3 in 10: 2 (sit down, just like fred astaire) thats a 3rd tut tut, loads of great records...

Moi Lolita is fab thats a 9/10 from me, The Hives' hit was a 7/10 for me at the time but that might well be an upgrade to 8 if I play it again. DB Boulevard was a clubbing fave of the time, a regular at the Magnum, 9/10, Timo Maas a decent 5/10. Ian Brown, as per is my wont, I tend to marginally prefer the solo stuff to Stone Roses stuff, yes I know that's sacrilege in some quarters, but that said Whispers is a modest 5/10. Spiritualised are generally likeable and I liked this as an 8/10 while Puddle Of Mudd were largely OK and I largely rated Control a 6/10. I dont recall that S Club 7 track but it did pop into my chart for 2 weeks as a 4/10. LeAnn Rimes occasionally, and another I've forgotten with a single week on my chart for a 4/10 too. Brandy = r'n'b on the sweeter side generally, but this rootsier one hit the spot for me and a sweet 9/10. Havent heard it since though so I'm assuming I'm in a minority there. Victoria Beckham, another one Ive forgotten, but I actually rated an 8/10 top 20 hit with a decent chart run, so that one I'm curious to hear again. O Town let's call it a 5/10 though a 2 week run only, no memory of it but I guess the Bon Jovi vibe appealed to me a bit.

some faves catching up with here, Girls Aloud promise, Kym Marsh Cry, No Doubt Its My Life, Kylie 2 Hearts, and Dido White Flag which was a big chart-topper for me. 👍

Thanks and well done Jade, you've been threatening 39 lately! Rollo I dodged that banana skin :) I was out n about ysterday but well done on the 3 everly tracks Jade! Bird Dog not that well known round 1: 39 round 2: 39 3 in 10: another gift for me, 6 rattled off no prob looks like the day layoff helped my ageing brain work more efficiently again 😄

2 top faves here, Petula's Tony hatch gem I Know A Place, and The Searchers Goodbye My Love, both familiar from the time, but Petula has appeal that lingers so that also gets my vote. I've still got all those free Elvis DVD's given away with newspapers when that was a thing. Including Girl Crazy. I must get round to watching them one day, what is it, 20 years now?! Do The Clam is mundane movie Presley. The Nashville Teens is unfamiliar but it sounds like their big hit, only not as good as Tobacco Road. Like the fabulous hook and guts has been surgically removed. The Moody Blues number is also one that means nowt t'me. High expectations, very low result - sounds like it was recorded in a toilet. Album track at best... After those 2, Cliff is a relief, lush ballad, a bit too sugary and plodding country & western sound, I've never liked it much, but at least it sounds well-produced. So my last hope here is Kathy Kirby, my beloved of the time and a song that gives me zero nostalgic vibes, unlike her previous fabulousness You're The One. This is more of an old-fashioned big band song tarted up for 1965 audiences.

Crikey I'm behind already! Batch 1: my clubbing at the Magnum in Southampton firmly a thing now, and Puretone, Aaliyah, Goldtrix all fit into that era. I was sad about Aaliyah still and a definite 9/10, Addicted To Bass a bit of a club anthem 8/10, and Goldtrix for me was a strong 9/10, albeit marginally less than More Than A Woman. Shimon & Shandy She mean nowt to me, didn't chart, so that'll be a 2/10 then and ditto Lange & Skye. Ash is an OK 5/10, and ditto Dr Dre. Haters, well it IS So Solid Crew...but it grabbed an actual 4/10 from me. So, it seems as though a batch of club tracks didnt get onto the pop dancefloor, I wasnt fussed about the upstairs Trance/Chill-out floor so blame that on me not knowing or charting most of the rest of the dance/club-ish tracks. Of the tracks I do actually like, Jay-Z was a 5/10 along with Backstreet Boys, Mr Pink does Joan Armatrading, and El Capitan was a 4/10. Two big faves for me, though in the Love Is In The Air remix, and the Nelly Furtado hit 8/10 each. Batch 2: The Dark Is Rising topped my chart in December so I consider it a 2001 hit, but I agree it's a total 10/10 masterpiece, and it's a crime it wasn't a huge hit!! Pink's Get The Party Started was a big one for getting the dancefloor going and a 9/10, AM to PM is fab, 9/10, and Star Guitar just about scrapes a 9/10 too. Those are the top league. Super Furries get an 8, Wheatus a 7, the cheap Bucks Fizz cover got a 6/10 cos of the song, Elton a generous 5, and Be Free a 4. The rest troubled my charts not a jot. Batch 3: A1 is another 10/10 for me, one of the songs of the year and their greatest record by a country mile. Just as they got good they split up, tch! Garbage as consistently fab as always, 9/10, Overprotected was Britney's best track of album 3, 9/10, and the dance remix of Hero was pretty good 9/10, the ballad version less so, but memories of my nephew amusingly dancing to it solo on a packed dancefloor at his sister's 21st party. The Drill passed me by, as did Incubus' but oddly they had a monster number 2 hit which I assume will be along later in the year. Love Burns is a goodie, 7/10, as is Angel also 7/10, back for a second run in my charts. Ja Rule 5/10, s'OK, POD a 3/10, Kaci a 3/10, and Haven a 4/10-ish I think. The rest, as I say, floated on by in ethereal clouds of obscurity or downright lack of interest. Hi Afroman, Nas... Batch 4: At first glance, my reaction is, eh wot?! A couple or 3 I know I like and a lot I have forgotten if I ever knew them. Let's explore what the mystic orb says (eg my A to Z of chart hits): No Doubt easily track of the batch, Hey Baby a pop 9/10! Mull Historical and Elbow are indie 7/10's, Dance For Me also a Mary J. 7/10 as I do likes me r'n'b, always have always will, while ditto Joe gets a 5/10, Jakatta get a modest 4/10 for daring to cover the fabulous 1982 Monsoon 10/10 original, and the rest confirm my initial reaction.

61 (51) I'M ON MY WAY TO A BETTER PLACE - Chairmen Of The Board Chairmen Of The Board hit the UK and US charts in 1970 with the timeless Give Me Just A Little More Time, lead by main vocalist General Johnson, an under-rated soul singer in my opinion, I loved his passionate range of vocals on tracks masterminded by former-Motown main men Holland-Dozier-Holland on their new Invictus/Hot Wax label. Main songwriter Johnson also hit as writer of Patches for Clarence Carter in 1970, and spearheaded the next 3 years of hits for the band - in the UK! For some reason the funk/gospel vibes of the band barely made it into early 1971 in the Hot 100, but in the UK the hits kept coming, including this gospel-soul gem. Johnson really gives it his all and I love the song, it topped my chart at the start of 1973 in the post-christmas lull as it dropped briefly in-out-back-in-out of the UK top 30 which meant a short chart run and a lowly year-end slot of 51 from me - because it's chart run (based on the UK top 30) was 1-out-1-out, so 2 weeks on top and nothing else. Keeping my charts aligned with the UK charts was starting to have its drawbacks as my fave record for around 4 or 5 weeks under-performed. That means, though, that it only drops slightly as it gets leapfrogged by other late-bloomers.

62 (NEW) ZING WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART - The Trammps The Trammps had a number of mid-70's disco hits in the UK, starting with this minor hit in 1974 - but it actually pre-dates the disco explosion of '74 and came out in 1972 in the USA. All disco tick-boxes are here, rhythm, danceability, harmonies, and in this case some 50's doowop-stylee nostalgia as they resurrect the 1935 Broadway song recorded by Judy Garland, The Coasters, The Move, Frank Sinatra and get the only hit version with it. I like the doowop-era vibe mixed with the disco beats, anticipating the Next Big Thing after Glam wound down. The Trammps are mostly remembered for Disco Inferno so it's fairly appropriate that they got a head-start on the genre, and surprisingly they weren't a veteran act who waited for their moment to shine - they formed in 1972 and hit the ground running. I did chart this highly in 1974, and rated it, but it didn't make the year-end 100 of that year so this is effectively a new entry as it gets moved back to the original year of release.

63 (NEW) VENTURA HIGHWAY - America America were an American band based in the UK (as Forces kids), so I always felt we had something in common (being an RAF brat) when they took off with a big hit in late 1971, Horse With No Name, at which point they re-located to the States and watched their career take off proper with non-stop hits for a decade. Ventura Highway was the only other chart hit they got in the UK, which is vastly under-rating their career. Their brand of soft-folk-rock might come over as Neil-Young-light on their debut hit, but they had some great melodies along the way, including this one. I always quite liked Ventura Highway without paying it too much attention at the time, though I rated some later singles a lot more. Janet Jackson samples the acoustic guitar riff intro and used it as a backbone to one of her greatest records in 2001, Someone To Call My Lover, which sent me back to the original to re-evaluate it, and I really did under-appreciate it was the conclusion. It's great!

64 (NEW) TOO LATE TO TURN BACK NOW - Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose A sweet soul track that passed me by entirely at the time, other than recognising the title and act from US Record Charts in the music press, and a flop in the UK, which is annoying given there is really no reason other than lack of airplay - soul music was pretty popular at the time. Switch to the 1990's and my annual holidays in Orlando listening to radio stations playing new stuff and also a fabulous oldies station playing a wealth of sixties and early seventies gems, many of which I didn't know, including this one. I bought a radio-cassette recorder and recorded key tracks I didnt have, and chunks of the radio stations, and then later on I found CD Billboard compilation albums like Super Hits Of The 70's, and got hold of one with this on. I've been a fan ever since, and the actual brothers and sisters comprising the band turn out to have other tracks that are pretty fine right into 1975.

65 (84) STANDING IN THE ROAD - Blackfoot Sue This unusual record became a UK hit in the summer of 1972, a driving rock-pop track with hissed Chackachaka-shhhshh noises in appropriate sections of the record, and guitar riffs elsewhere when the singers stop the verse lyrics. There isn't an actual chorus as such, it's all verse with the catchy bits being the instrumental and chakachaka and na na na's. I guess that's why it's all but been forgotten these days, which is something of a travesty, it's as good as any rock hit of the era, unexpected early fade and loud instrumental ending included. It may have a lack of significant lyrics, but the Tom & David Farmer twins in Blackfoot Sue and bandmate Eddie Golga keep the pounding pace up throughout, and as ever with me I rate records that do something different with the regular format of any popular genre. They managed a follow-up minor hit, but sadly later singles didnt catch on. I pretty much like it as much these days as I did at the time.

66 (NEW) MANANA - Bay City Rollers Still on Bell Records, the Bay City Rollers had had a fave hit cover of the Gentry's 60's US hit Keep On Dancing, which I bought and loved, and then they stopped having hits for the next 2 and a bit years, but I was still following them on some minor flop gems along the way until they hit the big-time in 1974 with a new lead singer and teenybop audience and increasingly-lowest-common-denominator records. In late 1972 they dropped this forgotten little gem - if it sounds like a lost 1967 Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich record that'll be because Zabadak and Band writer-producers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley were on board for a one-off single which got a bit of Radio 1 airplay but not enough to break through. Which is a great shame as Howard/Blaikley produced some vastly under-rated widescreen gems in the 60's like Last Night In Soho and Legend Of Xanadu, and Manana (Spanish for "later", as I was unaware at the time, but use a lot on holidays in Spain when I want a lie in in hotels) is fabulous, soaring strings, catchy hooks, a good vocalist who will drop out in late 1973 and a lot of chanting to boot. It's my favourite Rollers record by some distance and I own a copy I found in the 90's.

67 (9) POPCORN - Hot Butter This was the first entirely synth hit record, and for that reason alone it is a cornerstone of pop music, and one that blew my mind when it dropped suddenly in the summer of 1972. We'd had Chicory Tip dabbling with synths to a rock band format, but this instrumental was the sound of the future and it sounded like it. Yes, it came over as a novelty hit record, but it was clearly doing something new, and was way ahead of its time by about 5 years. The Moog was all the rage by now, and the song and Moog version was actually 3 years old (recorded by composer Gershon Kingsley) and contrary to expectations Hot Butter were an American band fronted by keyboard player Stan Free. I always thought they were European, due probably to it becoming a million seller in France - and clearly an influence on future French music acts. I loved it, so catchy, a big number one for me and my 9th biggest hit of the year, though I didnt have the pocket money to buy it on single it popped up later in the year on 22 Dynamic Hits Volume 2, which I happily spent £2 on. 50 years on, it's still an important record, though not necessarily one to get emotionally affected by, not helped in the least by the 2000's hit Crazy Frog version.