Popchartfreak

MINOR PLOT SPOILER IN THIS, Sorry though they give it away fairly early in the film! I was referring to the plot device of super-advanced-aliens coming to Earth, (which has been going on since the 1950's in movies) rather than this movie having a super-advanced alien plot, which I agree it definitely wasn't, it was more of the same, aliens as our saviours/conquerers, its usually one or the other plot. ET had a twist on that basic theme, human beings as being the ones to be frightened of. Spielberg's biggest plot-hole was more to do with the lack of interest following up a mission that had gone disastrously wrong 80 years earlier, when they are seemingly intent on spreading their message enough to turn up in person just after a massive global World War. If they are that advanced, why not just study language from a distance, film a statement with very clear subtitles and post on global TV, movie or internet and follow-it up afterwards in person when invited in. Boring plot maybe - Childhood's End, Contact have a variation on this but I still love the books and a lesser extent the films/series anyway 🙂- but peddling the old Aliens Roswell myth is a bit old hat these days, it's been done to death since Close Encounters (which was my all-time fave film for quite a while afterwards) and I was disappointed Stephen S was revisiting it when it wasnt really needed with a bit of plot rewriting.

Oh LMFAO is great fun, works well in a party atmosphere club especially if the video (without the annoying non-music intro) is on screen. Not heard it ina while and its sounding good still. Good natured laugh. Went top 20 for me so I wouldnt say it was a big fave as such at the time, but it's aged well, I think I enjoy it more now in these fun-free chart times.

KLF very happy to see on the list for 5 singles and nothing else. Classic pop of the era and the best act of 1991 hilariously higher than Michael Bolton. Michael could chuck out the odd decent single and song, but his awful "set to 11" foghorn ballads were excruciating. I always gave him leeway though for bigging up David Cassidy as a vocalist when no-one else did, other than George Michael and those of us of a certain age.

This Charming Man has aged like a fine wine, it sounded good at the time and even better decades later 10/10. Owner Of A Lonely Heart, ditto, and annoying it was such a minor UK hit along with the great follow-up Leave It, Trevor Horn has the golden touch, and Yes hadnt been this interesting before, and not this good since Wondrous Stories. 9/10. Hold Me Now was a step-up on previous singles from Thompson Twins, the gospel vibes soon to be a thing for them and a great song 9/10. What Is Love is a fab track, better than New Song, and showcasing Howard could bung out very different singles successfully. 9/10. That's All is decent Genesis but nothing out-of-the-expectation like Mama 7/10. Bark At The Moon may be Ozzy's best solo record, but there's not a lot of competition 6/10. Tom Robinson's was nice enough 7/10. Waterfront the sign of things to come, the percussion is amazing 8/10. My dad loved Only You, and the band, and they did an interesting version of the original Yazoo that should have been a number one 7/10. Thank You For The Music would have topped the charts had it been paired with Eagle in the summer of 78, both tracks are cornerstones of the ABBA Voyage show. Eagle is the 11/10 classic but Thank You For The Music is the one everyone can sing, it's basically an old-fashioned singalong that sounds like it has always existed and Vera Lynn sung it 30 years earlier. 9/10. Let's Stay Together is the big Tina Turner comeback, courtesy of Heaven 17's team and The Tube TV show. This set up Private Danvcer and everything else, but it's not as timeless as Al Green's original, but great to have the song back 8/10. My Oh My is a christmas singalong comeback anthem for Slade, something they'd never really managed first-time round, and it's a great song with a Celtic vibe to it - it sounds like a traditional folk song 10/10. Islands In The Stream yet again showing that The Bee Gees might have stopped having hits as an act due to stupid media backlashes but they can still bung out hit songs at the drop of a hat (Dionne, Diana, this) while Robin had gone full on synth pop with European smashes like Juliet. The UK and USA hadnt yet got the memo though. Karaoke classic obv here 8/10. Tracey's cover of Doris Day's warm, lovely movie theme song (fab movie too) was OK, but not a patch on the original which would hit again in 1987 7/10. Club Megamix was released without band agreement and not promoted in any way, bit of a mish-mash, 5/10. Mike Batt can always knock off a decent melody, soppy or otherwise, and Cliff's is quite nice if nothing groundbreaking 7/10. Roland Rat, annoying kids TV puppet with a cult-ish habit of getting away with slagging off quips, the record was drivel and I had to suffer through it so I'm going there with that 1/10 even if it prob is better than that. 😇

lovely seeing the old friends again, and deals with a modern topic when it comes to kids and making friends in the ipad generations - or as grown-ups like to see it, babysitting devices while you do other stuff - it's Jessie's film, pretty much, but it's not as fun as TS4, nor as good as the first trilogy. 6/10. Still worth seeing though.

7/10. Emily's performance is award-worthy and it should have been titled Close Encounters Of The Fourth Kind. The logic of the situation is a bit plot-holed (and always will be when one is dealing with super-advanced alien plots) - but the moral of the film is pretty-much spot on with it's heart in the right place. Project Hail Mary did it better though, but Spielberg direction/cinematography is always a treat.

had an appointment yesterday sorry, but caught round 1 in the car (39). Well done on the 39's both! 🤩 off to join other (some elderly) folk in the cool as ice cinema later for the 4th day in a row, certainly catching up with current movies, Toy Story, Masters Of The Universe and Supergirl. Roll on tomorrow evening and the end of the heatwave round here! Ageing bodies just cant regulate temperature the way they easily did 40 years ago! round 1: 39 round 2: 39 3 in 10: 2: Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart, 24 Hours From Tulsa then brain-freeze fighting to remember the title of my all-time Gene fave record I'm Gonna Be Strong. tch!

Film of the year so far, for me, excellent all round, and it made me shed tears. Not least as the ending was obvisouly filmed locally at Durdle Door...!

16 1 18 APT. - ROSE & Bruno Mars 846900 An old-fashioned chanty pop bop in the tradition of Mickey, Hollaback Girl and others, and will no doubt have driven some people mad, and kids to love it. I was converted while on holiday in Florida and it's a rare moment of global chart upbeat joy and to be cherished! Bruno made the 2024 list with Die With A Smile...

17 2 28 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 828850 ..and suddenly Miley isn't getting big hits, just like that. Fickle pop biz etc. She's as good as ever regardless, and this is a great record. Her second on the list and equals sis Noah in 2026, so far.

18 1 20 I GUESS U NEVER REALLY CARED ABOUT ME - Artemas 822500 Dark indie-dance that wasn't a hit, annoyingly. One of the follow-ups to a surprise one-off hit that is just as good. Second on the list for Artemas.

19 1 27 PEOPLE WATCHING - Sam Fender 793450 Rein Me In not on the list, nor for 2026 probably, but this touching Springsteen-esque song is.

20 1 22 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 788950 Gaga's best track in 15 years, bar one, and it's not even a single, tch! Sounds like a Taylor Swift song here and there, and a bit Yazoo Only You.

I wonder if anyone's ever done a list of acts who've never had a UK number one single or album. Hall & Oates should be in the running for that one....

Not sure it's technically a ballad, but my top record of the last 25 years is Princess Of China (Coldplay & Rihanna). Epic. Unusual and perfect in every way beginning to end. The video helps too.

Great to see Texas and Pulp make the list, two acts that easily deserved to have several huge sellers, but as mentioned they shifted albums. Texas remain under-rated and Sharleen one of the best live pop singers/frontspeople of the era, and that's still true, she makes it sound effortless when it isn't. The shift from Scottish Americana to Blue-eyed retro soul eventually paid off bigtime thanks to Chris Evans pushing Say What You Want and then back again on that BRITS mash-up.

Harold Melvin's original is an amazing peak Philadelphia moment, and also virtually belatedly the final goodbye to that era (give or take Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now). Teddy's vocals are emotional and powerful, he sounds like he believes the words he's singing, his last hurrah before that very suspicious car accident left him paralysed. Thelma's cover was a disco decent effort, but this very 80's cover went OTT, manic and shrill. Teddy's passionate vocal might make you change your mind about leaving, Jimmy's would reinforce it was the right choice - histrionic and needy, albeit a bop. It sounded good at the time, but overplay has left me a tad bored with it when the original is still there and perfect. You Are My World or So Cold The Night, meanwhile, never get played, much more preferable Communards tracks to hear again. Wham! still the best so far to go out, with this behind that.

hah! certainly is...!

That was a Bruno blip for me in a run of great singles - and that this topped the chart when the uplifting and wonderful Marry You didn't is just annoying. I mean it's jolly, and retro, but it's no Grenade. Peak of 29 in my charts sounds more reasonable. The Military Wives I havent heard since it left the charts, and it's quite pleasant, nicely done but I didnt bother to chart it - oddly, as an RAF child my dad was a year in Aden when that was a tough posting and we lived in a one bed flat/shared toilet/bathroom in Liverpool as a working one-parent 2 kid family so you might think I'd support the intent (I did) but the sentimentality not so much - in that situation you are too busy dealing with day to day life to dwell too much on what you don't have at that time.

I was very happy Billy finally had a number one, but... I bought his 1974 powerpop tour de force under the band name Scorched Earth, and loved that, On The Run really should have been a hit but Radio 1 didnt pick up on it, Luxembourg did though at least. Or Love Really Hurts, Red Light, Caribbean Queen all worthy of a top spot place. This was a more formulaic track that was fine, plugged a fun film, and was catchy enough without being annoying - but isn't one I ever dig out to play as it never seems to have gone away ever. Saw him at Upton Country Park about a decade ago, that's a 5 minute walk from my house, and to beat the rush I left on the final song of the encore as I wasnt that fussed, I could still hear it walking down the road. This one. He didnt do this one sadly:

one away from the full marks all round yesterday, so close! oh so so hot Monday I used to love hot weather but not now! cinema to escape it (Spielberg and lovely lovely Vue aircon) and a pub quiz (lost). Up late today too eek but just in time for Ken. round 1: 39 round 2: 39 3 in 10: Sun Goes Down, Something About You and then I panicked as contestant nicked one before me 😄

I Am A Rock is a good Simon & Garfunkel track, but never one of my faves of theirs, James Brown's Man's Man's World is prob my fave of his, unlike most people I actually enjoy his emotional ballads more than the funk beats, bar one or two of them. The lyrics may not have aged well but that doesnt mean they are bad as such, and Brilliant's 80's more-uptempo cover with a detached female vocal gave it a great spin. AKA Youth/Killing Joke, KLF and Stock Aitken Waterman before they broke big (either inside the band or backscenes or writing/producing). Lana is sweet, but not peak Roy by any stretch. PJ Proby's is not one I know much, though I have heard it before. It's not too bad as a big ballad, though the lyrics are unfortunate given his more recent comments that got him firmly cancelled. Lady Jane is utterly period, and that period is 1965-7, so I get quite a nostalgic vibe from it without actually associating it with any memories of that time. Nice. Sitting On A Fence is liable to give you splinters and this sounds a bit like a demo for the later better She's A Rainbow, and another that is pure 1966. So, it's Paperback Writer, which always takes me back to The South Bank Show TV theme and charting again in 1976, and my least-fave Beatles single to date despite the great riff, or it's 1972's top 10 hitting and personal-chart-topping Chiffons' Sweet Talking Guy. Sweet Talking Guy, I absolutely love it, and it's not even close.

Hated Eastenders sorry Rollo (!), melodramatic, and all that shouty shouty arguing really rubbed me the wrong way. Corrie OTOH had wit, better scripts and acting, and if someone had attached threatening electrodes to my open eyelids and forced me to choose between the two for a 12-hour binge sesh, it would have been Coronation Street every time. So sadly this cast-off also rubbed me the wrong way, too - tho I can sing it now, Ev'ri LOOza wiiiins, ev'ri blah blah blah, blahblahblah blah blah. So it at least had a mildly memorable melody and ranks above The Chicken Song for me 😄

2 goodies, both 70's based - OMD totally nicking the Glam Rock Beat from Mr Unmentionable, and The O'Jays getting another cover hit without ever getting one themselves with Now That We've Found Love. Robbed! Still love the Third World cover though.

I get more satisfaction from consistency acts making the list than those with one big hit, so great to see The Shamen, Tina T, in there and to a lesser extent D:Ream