James Silkstone

Day & Night is one of the best pop songs of the 2000's. I feel contractually obliged to love 'Reach' because I'm a child of '92-'96 but it's actually never been a favourite of mine, still like it though Sandstorm is, obviously, flawless

09th June 1990: #649. Englandneworder - World In Motion http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Neworderworldinmotion.jpg/220px-Neworderworldinmotion.jpg 2 weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #1 (2 weeks) Instead Of: None. Actual Position(s): 01-01 I normally don't like football anthems, but there's something about this one that I actually find quite emotional, and I even like John Barnes's rap. Re4aDJL3heA

12th May 1990: #648. Kylie Minogue - Better The Devil You Know http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e3/Betterthedevilyouknow.jpg/220px-Betterthedevilyouknow.jpg 4 weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #2 Instead Of: Adamski - Killer (all 4 weeks) Actual Position(s): 5-2-2-3 My all-time favourite Kylie single now, and her first number one of my alternative decade. In reality, she only managed one number one during the 90's and it was pretty substandard and one of her weakest singles; a real shame considering how much I enjoy a lot of her 90's stuff. She gets three other number ones on this thread - can you guess them? OgvhvaSQZeE

05th May 1990: #647. Adamski & Seal - Killer http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/Adamskikiller.jpg/220px-Adamskikiller.jpg 1 week @ #1 Real Peak: #1 (4 weeks) Instead Of: Madonna - Vogue Actual Position: 4 Many have already said that the run of number ones between Sinead O'Connor and Englandneworder is one of the best in UK Chart History and though I've changed it up a little, I'm inclined to agree. This song in particular is bloody fantastic and about the only thing Seal has ever done that I've liked. vtENRzTV__8

You can have four today to make up for an unforseen but prolonged absence... 28th April 1990: #646. Alannah Myles - Black Velvet http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0c/Alannah_Myles_Black_Velvet_Cover.jpg/220px-Alannah_Myles_Black_Velvet_Cover.jpg 1 week @ #1 Real Peak: #2 Instead Of: Madonna - Vogue Actual Position(s): #2 A song I've only recently discovered, I couldn't really deny this a week at number one it's absolutely fan-bloody-tastic. tkXNEmtf9tk

07th April 1990: #645. Madonna - Vogue http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Madonna,_Vogue_cover.png/220px-Madonna,_Vogue_cover.png 3 weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #1 (4 weeks) Instead Of: Snap - The Power! (07/04/90). 14/04/90 and 21/04/90 had Madonna at #1. Actual Position(s): 04-01-01 Undeniably iconic, 'Vogue' in reality was one of two number ones for Madonna during the 1990's, though she manages a few more here - though they aren't really until the second half of the decade. She's always been an artist of two halves for me; I either find her terrible or brilliant. 'Vogue' probably doesn't even rank in my top ten favourite Madonna singles, but it's still an undeniable classic, and let's face it - a rundown of 90's song would feel kind of wrong without it. GuJQSAiODqI

31st March 1990: #644. The B-52's - Love Shack http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f7/Loveshack.jpg/220px-Loveshack.jpg 1 week @ #1 Real Peak: #2 Instead Of: Snap! - The Power Actual Position This Week: 2 A record I know that is fairly divisive, but I've always found this very enjoyable and fun, and I preferred it to Snap's "The Power" which has always annoyed me (though I do like some of their later stuff) leohcvmf8kM

17th February 1990: #643. Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/73/DepecheModeEnjoyTheSilence.jpg/220px-DepecheModeEnjoyTheSilence.jpg 6 weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #6 Instead Of: Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U (17/02 & 24/02), Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me (03/03, 10/03, 17/03, 24/03) Actual Position(s): 17-6-6-6-12-20 Literally one of my ALL-TIME favourite tracks, this is definitely my Y/E #1 for 1990 and I'll be honest; we're already at the longest lasting number one of the decade and it's only February 1990! There's just such an epic and quite emotive feel to this tune, though it's only my 3rd favourite of the '90s, the other two do show up here but will not be spending quite as long as number one as neither were in the Top 20 all that long. If this had stayed in the Top 20 for more than six weeks, it would've been here for more than six weeks. Absolutely electric and brilliant song! m0AKJMGxwpE

10th February 1990: #642. Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/09/Dubbegoodtome.jpg/220px-Dubbegoodtome.jpg 1 week @ #1 Real Peak: #1 Instead of: Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U Actual Position This Week: 15 The second classic of the '90s and my favourite charting track thus far. I was inspired to look up this back in 2010 after Professor Green and Lily Allen sampled/covered it on 'Just Be Good to Green'. Obviously, OBVIOUSLY, the original is heads and shoulders above that and also seems to be one of the earliest hip-hop oriented number one singles. It only manages one week here, as opposed to four in reality, but that's all down to one of my all-time favourite tracks debuting next week. I like to imagine this stayed behind our next number one at #2 for quite some time. -MnELifX3sQ

#1 Of The Month iUiTQvT0W_0 What else was it going to be?

January 1990 #639: 13/01/1990 - New Kids On The Block - Hangin' Tough 2 Weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #1 Displaces: None. NKOTB were #1 on 7th January 1990. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/72/Hangin'_Tough_single.jpg/220px-Hangin'_Tough_single.jpg Not the most auspicious start to the decade I grant you, but of all the songs in the Top 20 from the first fortnight of the 1990's this was the one that was most familiar to me, the only other one I really knew was Kylie's overly twee cover of "Tears On My Pillow" which is a record I've never really liked itself, let alone her cover. This isn't great, I don't even really like it all that much, but it was the best of a pretty poor bunch (for me anyway). #640: 20/01/1990 - Mantronix - Got To Have Your Love 1 Week @ #1 Real Peak: #2 Displaces: None. #1 on 14/01/90 was New Kids On The Block http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Mantronix_Got_to_Have_Your_Love.jpg/220px-Mantronix_Got_to_Have_Your_Love.jpg 'The Perks of Being a Millenial' - for years I just naturally assumed that this was a Liberty X original, but the original is just so much better than their version. #641: 27/01/1990 - Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U 2 Weeks @ #1 Real Peak: #1 (4 weeks) Displaces: Kylie Minogue - Tears On My Pillow (27/01/90). Next week was O'Connor anyway http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Nothingcompares2u.jpg/220px-Nothingcompares2u.jpg Many refer to this track as the first classic track of the '90s and I'm very inclined to agree. Pretty much everyone knows of this tune, and to be honest, it's near universal acclaim always confused me when I was younger, probably naivety, but I can appreciate it's brilliance now. It's just so emotional and well-done.

Hello, and welcome to the countdown of my alternative number one singles of the 1990's. Some are the same, some are brand new. In order to do this, I looked at every Top 20 chart from the decade and merely selected my favourite track from each week to top the chart. There are a few rules: 1) No climbing back up to number one once a track has already been there 2) A number one might not necessarily be my favourite track that week, but for the interest of keeping the thread fresh, I removed it to make space for another track to reign 3) Only songs that charted in The Top 20 are eligible. Enjoy!!

Hey, guys I'm unfortunately going to have to put this on hold for a while. Things are a bit hectic for me at the moment, moving into Uni and everything, and I really want to concentrate on the blog for a while. Probably be back around November/December time once everything has settled down a bit Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this and the previous thread :)

Week Ending: 29th January 2011 Adele - Rolling In The Deep rYEDA3JcQqw Considering she’s the best selling artist of the decade so far, the biggest runaway success and a genuine musical history maker – it does seem somewhat surprising that Adele only clocks up 4 appearances in these threads – and only 3 if we discount ‘Make You Feel My Love’ as technically being from the previous decade. ‘Rolling In The Deep’ may have sold slightly less than its follow up, but it is the song responsible for the ensuing Adele mania that seemed to engulf the world over the next 2 years. It’s not hard to see why either, ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is so powerful, stomping and well sung that its near impossible to dislike. I wouldn’t even say it became a victim of overplay, and it’s success has definitely been slightly glossed over in the UK because of ‘Someone Like You’ I have issues with that song, but for me ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is Adele’s best song ever – and one that is very unlikely to ever be bettered. Best song on this countdown? It’s a sure fire contender 10/10 Diddy Dirty Money feat Skyler Grey - Coming Home k-ImCpNqbJw Despite his annoying habit of changing his name just as I get used to the old one, I’ll admit I’ve enjoyed the odd Sean Combs song in the past. His 2006 output in particular was very strong – ‘Come To Me’ and ‘Tell Me’ being two of my favourites from that year – and ‘Coming Home’ doesn’t disappoint However, like the former mentioned that has very little do with Puff – for me anyway. This is all about the chorus, sung amazingly by the criminally overlooked Skyler Grey. It’s just so powerful and emotional, you can’t help but be drawn in by it. This is the kind of song that a 15-year old can listen too and find inspirational; and I did, I don’t like it for those reasons now but I do still enjoy this very much. 7/10 Wretch 32 - Traktor MCivYv4HqiI Since when were tractor's considered a cool method of transportation? I hate this song. Nothing else to say about it really. 1/10 Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me -Edv8Onsrgg I grew up with Britney, some of the earliest music I remember liking as a child was her 1999/2000 stuff, and she’s definitely an icon for people of my generation but I’ll concede that by January 2011 she was very much old news to must of us anyway She’s here on fanbase buys, long gone were the days where she scored crossover successes and it’s all quite sad – because her music hadn’t exactly got worse. I’m not the biggest fan of the ‘Femme Fatale’ era, but it was so right for its time that the fact songs like ‘Till The World Ends’ weren’t crossover hits does seem strange to me ‘HIAM’ is pretty dull for me, it doesn’t really go anywhere or do anything. It’s an alright listen, and I enjoy the chorus after the breakdown, but it’s just never grabbed and with gems such as ‘Till The World Ends’, which could have scored her a genuine hit, waiting in the wings the fact this was chosen as the single to lead the era is a little baffling. 5/10 Aggro Santos feat Kimberley Walsh - Like U Like vaY6wX7dXFE Oh god, this is just the worst kind of guilty pleasure ever. I’ll normally admit to friends and such my guilty pleasures after enough pressure but I don’t think I ever admitted to liking this as much as I did It’s just catchy, and Kimberley Walsh does well here. Yeah, there’s not much to talk about because it’s so shallow and such but I do like it. An embarrassing amount for what it is. 6/10

'Baby One More Time' would sit in my Top 20 were I doing this, it's basically the song that introduced me to music as a whole.

Week Ending: 22nd January 2011 Bruno Mars - Grenade SR6iYWJxHqs Bruno Mars became one of my favourite artists around in 2011, the horror of ‘The Lazy Song’ aside, and a lot of that is down to ‘Grenade’. Mars has this soul to his voice that draws you in to pretty much anything he is singing, and though you could choose to see Grenade as being told from the point of view of an overly sensitive guy in the friendzoned – it really doesn’t come across as such ‘Grenade’ is a bitter song, a nuanced one that has elements of both love and hate within it. Bruno still loves the girl, hence the present tense used in the lyrics, but he is also aware of her many flaws and the fact she is taking advantage of his good nature and it’s a situation we’ve all been in. Whiny man child he may be at times, but he writes a damn good song. 9/10 JLS feat Tinie Tempah - Eyes Wide Shut qJcBWDCBldY After one horrid single, and one overly dull one, JLS got back into my good books with ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ – probably their best single to this point and I’m happy to say that after this one no songs of theirs will be getting negative reviews from me (Yes, I even liked ‘Proud’). They got better with age. This is another one of those ‘too happy to hate’ songs, but that seems to be somewhat of a smoke screen for a more desperate and clingy undertone. Tinie’s just there really – his rap is alright, but I could do without it But, yeah, for what it’s worse this was a very good song and at least deserved a higher peak than #8. 8/10

I think inconsistent is the best word to describe it. Looking at the comings and goings from the top ten each week is very interesting. When 2011 was good, it was bloody marvellous but when it was bad it was pretty horrendous. For my scores, There are 7 tens, 15 nines, 17 eights, 27 sevens, 17 sixs, 9 fives, 9 fours, 9 threes, 5 twos, 4 ones and two zeros. So overall it's pretty good on the top ten front.

Love 'Adagio For Strings'

Just for some context, here are my ranking criteria 10: Pretty much perfect, or very close 09: Love 08: Like a Lot 07: Like it 06: Good but not much to say 05: Alright but just.....eh 04: Not my Cuppa Tea 03: Dislike/Don't Understand The Appeal 02: Hate 01: Intensely Hate 00: There's a special place reserved in hell

Oh good. Loads of people at my school loved her, so I seemed to be the minority from people I knew

Weeks Ending 1st & 8th January 2011 01/01/2011: Katy B feat Miss Dynamite - Lights On cJNXXuAxkfk I like this song, it’s not overly offensive and I don’t actually know if I’d like Katy B as much as I do without it. ‘Broken Record’ was the first record she did that I adored, but ‘Lights On’ made me think there could be something more to her. I also liked the fact that despite it being a dance record, there’s a bit of seasonal warmth to it that complimented the track very well especially considering we were in the middle of an ice age when it came out. It was also a welcome return for Ms Dynamite. The only major issue here is repetitiveness really. 7/10 08/01/2011: Jessie J - Do It Like a Dude pOf3kYtwASo I’ll have to admit this here and now I guess; Jessie J is one of my least favourite artists ever. Now, my main issues with her don’t arise until 2013 and the ‘Alive’ era and to be honest in 2011 I could pretty much take her or leave her. ‘Price Tag’ was a song I liked a lot, and the others were alright as well But ‘Do It Like a Dude’ was not. I’ve never liked this song, I like what it stands for and everything but I’ve always found it just a bit too overly vulgar and I don’t like her vocals much here either. At the end of the year, I considered this a fluke bad song from her but in hindsight it seems like a ghastly warning of what was to come. 4/10

So, we begin the second year of the decade thus far tomorrow. 2011 was a good year for me, a year of firsts. I turned 16 that July and throughout 2011 I had my first girlfriend - and other firsts that come with that, first holiday abroad without the family, first TV appearance (Waterloo Road extra), first alcoholic drink and I started my first year of A-Level studies; I always consider late 2011 when I started those studies to be one of the happiest periods in my life. Everything was going brilliantly for me back then; sixteen years old, great girlfriend, great mates, didn't have a care in the world. 2011 was a good year for me, but less so for wider society.

And that is an end to 2010! 2011 will begin within a week or so, and in the meantime I'm just about to start March 2000 on my blog reviewing every top ten hit of the 2000's Thanks so much to everyone who has commented and read so far!

Week Ending: 25th December 2010 Matt Cardle - When We Collide -Hri715W56I This is alright, I’m not gonna lie as X Factor Winners songs go this is probably second to Alexandra Burke’s “Hallelujah”. It’s not as good as the original, I’ll never love it but it’s better than “When You Believe” at least Trashmen - Surfin' Bird 2WNrx2jq184 The above Family Guy joke was funny once. Once. It got dull by the end of that episode, and I blame it for the resurgence of this nonsense Biffy Clyro - Many Of Horror mAh--lH0H3U Now, here is the original and far more superior version that’s here because of Cardle and not it’s own brilliance which is annoying. I’ve been a pretty big fan of Biffy since late 2007 when I stumbled upon “Who’s Got a Match” and then the absolutely amazing “Mountains” the next year made me a true fan Of the singles from ‘Only Revolutions’, this one is easily my favourite. It’s just so moving and powerful, probably their best song ever actually Michael Jackson feat Akon - Hold My Hand -oCCnxBos10 I honestly feel that at this point in time, the Jackson family were just generally selling off Michael’s unreleased tracks to anyone who would buy them ‘Hold My Hand’ is a cheese fest, it’s listenable though and it’s sweet. But, goddamn it it’s way too cheesy for my liking and I’d honestly prefer Jackson to be remembered as the brilliant artist he was in the 80’s than this constant attempts at keeping him relevant after death I mean, it’s not like anyone’s really going to forget him in a hurry anyway is it?

Look forward to it!