James Silkstone

'Number 1' completely blindsided me at the time - truly, it was a record I was expecting to hate but ended up loving. Bit dated 5 years on but still enjoyable

I cannot bloody stand 'Roar' for all the reasons you have stated, horrid song. Nothing from Katy this time around has impressed me unfortunately, the best of the bunch has been 'Unconditionally' but that would've failed to stand out on either of her previous albums.

Which makes my disliking of it even weirder when you consider I was eating all that up completely in 2006

W/E: 18/09/2010 Alexandra Burke - Start Without You MWKchS0GAyo With a song that sounds like a weird mix of pirate music and reggae, Alexandra Burke is back with her penultimate top ten hit. This is honestly one of the most bizarre songs I have ever heard; I honestly can’t think of what genre to call this and it’s just very, very, very odd. I mean, my ears aren’t bleeding as a result of listening to it or anything but it’s just odd. I feel like I need a lay down after listening to this, the fact it spent two weeks at number one is just as strange. Still if you enjoy gratuitous scenes of toned men dancing around in very small black underwear then I guess this is for you... The Script - For The First Time CPEBN2dVNUY When they first arrived on the scene back in 2008 The Script quickly became one of my favourite bands of the year. Songs like ‘We Cry’, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ and ‘Breakeven’ were all brilliant, beautifully crafted and carried messages that really made you care. The Script’s first album is bloody fantastic, but as with most bands with great first albums ever since they’ve struggled to maintain the momentum ‘For The First Time’ honestly sounds like some leftover track that wasn’t quite good enough for the first album – in fact the whole of ‘Science & Faith’ does with the exception of ‘If You Ever Come Back’. It’s just BORING, doesn’t go anywhere and I just don’t feel connected to the subject matter as I did with the first album. The Script have got worse since unfortunately, at least they’ll always have that great first record. McFly - Party Girl Rrn6BbM0TRQ Hmmm. Back in 2004, when I was an innocent nine year old, I was a very big McFly fan. In the decade since their debut, I’ve outgrown their first few albums but they’ll always have that nostalgic element to them and I do like the simplicity of the pop songs on them to this day – ‘Obviously’ and ‘I’ll Be OK’ still being absolutely brilliant to me. By 2010, the boys had been around for six years and their original fanbase was growing up. The 9 year olds of 2004 were now 15, and the boys needed a change of sound to keep up It was jarring, and the fact the parent album of this flopped says a lot but I don’t hate ‘Party Girl’. I actually found it refreshing at the time, their music had sounded the same for years and it was nice to get a different sound from them. Their gamble didn’t pay off; any remaining fans seemingly put off by the new sound which wasn’t quite good enough to attract new ones with Shine a Light’ of course being the exception, but more on that later. The music video for this one is weird, and very disjointed. It's also just full on fanservice if you fancy Harry Judd. Emma's Imagination - This Day AsS9IwR6n-U Another song from the axed Sky One music show that I’ve now found out was called ‘Must Be The Music’. In all honesty, I actually quite like this one and at least it doesn’t sound like watered down Adele as the previous entry from the show had done. ‘This Day’ is nothing unique but it’s quite a happy little folk song, not all together memorable but quite nice to listen to all the same.

'The Power of Love' takes me right back to late 2012 too, I've always adored the song and Gabrielle Aplin's cover is pretty amazing for me

W/E: 11/09/2010 Olly Murs - Please Don't Let Me Go -4S9gQb9PjM Good ol’Olly, probably one of my favourites of the X Factor alumni and ultimately I think it was VERY good thing that he lost to Joe McElderry in 2009. He’s had so many bigger and better hits that ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’ seems pretty forgotten now, and its not surprising that it has really especially with ‘Heart Skips a Beat’ and ‘Troublemaker’ to compete with This isn’t bad, at all in fact it’s probably one of the better pop songs of the year, but it does slip a little too close to the dull side at points. There’s much, much, much better to come from Olly but this is a good starting point, and better than the nonsense Joe came back with a month or so later Katy Perry - Teenage Dream 98WtmW-lfeE In many ways, ‘Teenage Dream’ is probably the best song Katy Perry has ever released. It’s a glorious piece of summery pop fun, despite being a Katy Perry love song it stays away from being overly cheesy and it’s just an all round joyful listen. Especially when you consider how overly sexualised her songs have been in the past, hearing her sing about being genuinely in love here is very refreshing. I’ll admit she has her flaws as a pop singer, the tendency her songs have of being way too cheesy being the main one, but when she wants to Perry can really pull it out the bag and she does just that here. Absolutely brilliant. Pepper & Piano - You Took My Heart J9pm3fbokcQ I’m honestly not sure what to make of this one, I gather this duo came from some Sky1 reality show that didn’t make it past its first season. It’s not BAD but I’m not overly impressed by it either. Did they win? I don’t care

W/E: 04/09/2010 Taio Cruz - Dynamite :cry:Vysgv7qVYTo SO 2010 that it hurts, it’s easy to forget that Taio Cruz was actually killing it on the world wide stage three/four years ago. ‘Break Your Heart’ giving him a US number one and Dynamite returning him to the top two as well as having a very lengthy chart run there. With all that success, it does seem weird that since 2011 he’s just kind of vanished ‘Dynamite’ was one of my favourite records at the time it came out, just one of those tracks that I should find generic and uninteresting but refuses to be received as such and makes you want to listen to it over and over. A great track that will forever remind me of the end of a pretty great summer for me. Also, there were so many hilarious alternatives to the ‘I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...” line and even today if you started singing "I throw my hands up..." you'd probably have someone recite back the next lyric verbatim, a sign of a memorable track for sure Katy B - Katy On a Mission -6tHw4yIDok I have to admit I didn’t pay much attention to Katy B the first time she was around, not until I heard ‘Broken Record’ anyway, this one honestly passed me by a little bit at the time. Shame really, as I am really enjoying it now and as I’ve really enjoyed all the singles from ‘Little Red’ so far I’m going to come and out and say I have been converted into a Katy B fan Brandon Flowers - Crossfire 5AhU12zC8fc Going solo now, Brandon Flowers deciding to do his own stuff whilst The Killers were on a break.... Because he NEVER got a chance to shine in the band (???). I won’t deny that ‘Crossfire’ is a good song, and probably the best one that entered the top ten this week, but it’s just such a Killers song that I do struggle to connect with it; it just sounds like an album track from "Sam's Town" to me. Did people at the time even realize this was Flowers at the time, or did they just think The Killers were back with new music? Like I said, ‘Crossfire’ is actually a pretty great song and Flowers, as always, sells it all very well but I just think that if he wants to plan out a successful solo career for himself in a few years time, he maybe should do music that isn’t SO like The Killers music.

Well at least Paula did better there than it did here :D

W/E: 28/08/2010 Roll Deep - Green Light 1k2D90QtZeE Roll Deep getting a number one was surprising, but getting a second three months later was a hell of a surprise to me. Especially as ‘Green Light’ has always just seemed an attempt to recreate ‘Good Times’ and continue enjoying the wave that track had given them They haven’t troubled the top ten since, and that’s no big shame at all. To be fair, Green Light isn’t horrible to listen too but it’s certainly generic and not particularly memorable.

W/E: 21/08/2010 The Saturdays - Missing You y_-UiAwEgbQ The Saturdays never seem able to learn from their own mistakes, and have repeated the following one about four times. They always start out an era with an ‘OK’ song before following it up with an absolute almost masterpiece of a pop song but by that time no one really cares anymore, and it happens here. ‘Missing You’ isn’t a bad song, and to be honest quite summery so I can see the logic of an August release, but it’s not that interesting or throat grabbing – it doesn’t demand your attention the way awesome follow up ‘Higher’ does. I’ll save the rest of my comments for that review, this isn’t a complete misfire (pun maybe a little intended) but I wouldn’t call it an overwhelming success either. I did feel bad when they dipped from number one to number three over the week though, and I’d rather this had reached number one than ‘Club Can’t Handle Me’ Tinchy Stryder - In My System nmrOcdSx3J4 My love for Tinchy Stryder was a very short affair; I completely adored his first three singles in 2009 but by the time his second era came around I’d kinda forgotten about him, moved onto different artists and ‘In My System’ wasn’t quite enough to get me interested in him once again Four years later, and I’ve given myself the appropriate slap as I’m enjoying ‘In My System’ a lot more than I thought I would. I’d definitely rank it over ‘Never Leave You’ to be honest, and I guess the beauty of this thread is re-discovering songs and giving them a second chance because this honestly is not bad, at all.

Awesome Clean Bandit - Rather Be Sigma - Nobody To Love Keisza - Hideaway Sam Smith - Stay With Me Ella Henderson - Ghost Like it Route 94 - My Love Duke Dumont - I Got Us 5 Seconds Of Summer - She Looks So Perfect Mr Probz - Waves OK-ish Pharrell Williams - Happy DVBBS & Borgeous - Tsunami Rita Ora - I Will Never Let You Down Ed Sheeran - Sing I know it's bad, but I like it anyways Pitbull feat Ke$ha - Timber Boring Calvin Harris - Summer SecondCity - I Wanna Feel Don't get the appeal Sam Smith - Money On My Mind Aloe Blacc - The Man

100% agree with all of this. A Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes collaboration really should've been the song of the entire decade and instead it was this

This was number one on the day I was born, so I kinda have to love it :heart:

230. The Saturdays - Issues Released: January 2009 Peak: #4 ylJ7eNrvrug 229. Will Young - Your Game Released: March 2004 Peak: #3 YrZ1joBXiQw 228. Usher - U Remind Me Released: May 2001 Peak: #3 NMESN1UgeZo 227. Sugababes - In The Middle Released: April 2004 Peak: #8 rnHVIuBlAUo 226. Keane - Bedshaped Released: August 2004 Peak: #10 JugGmkvhsKQ

I did prefer the original version of "Impossible" to James Arthur's but too his credit his version is probably my favourite X Factor winners single. But then again when you're competition is Leon Jackson & Steve Brookstein that's hardly what I'd call an amazing feat

Done some research on Q-Tip and he's done a lot more than I realized. Consider the 'generic rapper' remark revoked.

W/E: 14/08/2010 Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster 2J2dwFVZHsY I like Ne-Yo, I’ll admit, and he’s probably been one of my favourite RnB singers of the late 2000’s but even he seemed to get bitten by the dance-pop bug as we headed into the new decade, though his first venture into it really came in 2008 with ‘Closer’ which I do not like one bit. Unpopular opinion maybe, but I’ve just never got why it was as popular as it was and I do actually prefer what we have offered to us here ‘Beautiful Monster’ is quite forgotten now, I think except for ‘So Sick’ the same can be said for a lot of Ne-Yo’s big hits (and he’s had more than you’d think) but I do actually remember liking this at the time. It’s almost dark, and it’s certainly a better foray into dance pastures anew than Usher’s “OMG” or the tripe Chris Brown would unleash to the world in 2011. The concept of a lover being some kind of metaphorical monster is of course nothing new, and ‘Beautiful Monster’ isn’t unique in anyway – this could be Jason DeRulo, Chris Brown, Usher, whoever and it wouldn’t be that different. But it’s a good listen.

W/E: 07/08/2010 The Wanted - All Time Low V0LV_bETEzs The Wanted enter now, and considering at the time of writing they’ve just announced a break split it seems appropriate enough that we should get to have a look back on how they started. They had promise at the start, but the fates were always against them becoming the biggest boyband in the country. They started in JLS’s imperial faze, and as that ended One Direction got started on their domination meaning The Wanted maybe got about 2 months in the summer of 2011 where they could have been called the biggest boyband It is a shame really, of all three big boybands this decade musically The Wanted have actually been my favourite. Their first album in particular is excellent, and though not the best on it “All Time Low” seems like a masterpiece when compared to the likes of “The Club Is Alive”. Though lyrically a bit stupid in places – “Standing on the yellow line, waiting at the station, or I’m late for work a vital presentation” – I appreciate the meaning of the song is good, even if it is that whiny ‘my girl left me and now I’m clinically depressed’ kind of song. They started of well, and for only a few wobbles, The Wanted stayed consistently good for me until the end. Travie McCoy feat Bruno Mars - Billionaire 8aRor905cCw Now, I like this song even if it is a bit stupid. At first glance, this probably would seem like some kind of boasting rap song about how much money and how many ‘hoes’ this guy has but its actually quite a sweat affair. It’s also pretty relatable, we’ve all dreamed of what our lives would be if we had that money and though edging on arrogance at points it ultimately has a lot of charm Bruno Mars makes it, his voice is so good here and the chorus is a joy to listen too. So whilst I normally hate songs about monetary value, I have to admit I do like this one quite a bit and it kept the 15-year old James of summer 2010 quite happy too Flo Rida feat David Guetta - Club Can't Handle Me SgM3r8xKfGE I’m honestly at a loss as to what I can say about this song as it’s just so damn generic and boring. It’s just one of those songs that just coasts along existing, not being overly terrible but not leaving any lasting impression or redeeming features in its wake. I’ve honestly never been as bored listening to a club anthem, and I wish I could give a more well rounded review here but what can I say about such a tedious and generic track Swedish House Mafia - One (Your Name) PkQ5rEJaTmk Now THIS is a lot more like it! I really did have a lot of time for Swedish House Mafia when they were about, and ‘One’ is definitely one of their best for me. It just sounds epic all the way through and its was nice at the time to hear from Pharrell who’s existence I’d all but forgotten about in proceeding years Of course, there’s not much to this lyrically and it is just bog standard club music but it’s good bog standard club music and hell of a lot more interesting than the Flo Rida track. But really, I cannot review this track and give it justice as I’ve never heard it in the environment it was intended – can someone please tell me if this is as epic in a club as I’m imagining? Magnetic Man - I Need Air H8Id5jMKQh0 This week’s a little bit too dance heavy for me I’m afraid, and I’m not really good at reviewing dance music at all. I gather ‘I Need Air’ was popular at the time but I’ve never really been all that blown away by it; it moves fast and does whatever job its meant too well but I can’t say I’ll ever love this

#235: Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down Released: February 2006 Peak Position: #8 uhG-vLZrb-g #234: The Game feat 50 Cent - Hate It Or Love It Released: May 2005 Peak Position: #4 JY0Ag0fMxz8 #233: Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake & Nelly Furtardo - Give It To Me Released: March 2007 Peak Position: #1 RgoiSJ23cSc #232: Usher - Burn Released: June 2004 Peak Position: #1 t5XNWFw5HVw #231: The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway Released: November 2009 Peak Position: #1 I7HahVwYpwo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'Sugar, We're Goin' Down' marked a turning point in my musical tastes mid-decade, I was determined to become a pop punk kid and damn did I succeed over the next few years. Luckily it was the mid-00's so that was popular at the time. Of all the songs I've heard about 'da struggle' The Game's is the most pleasant sounding. Same with Timbo and his motley crew of Furtardo and Timberlake who manage to make a boastful and really quite mean spirited song lyrically sound like one of the nicest things you'll ever. 'Burn' is a good ballad from Usher, though I still prefer his more uptempo stuff and 'Meet Me Halfway' was good enough to stop me hunting down and killing BEP for the rest of the dirge they'd put out in 2009. Also, who doesn't wanna see Will.i.am ride an elephant in space?

#240: Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Oooh Released: October 2006 Peak Position: #3 Wy3SV2fvoG8 #239: Enrique Iglesias feat Kelis - Not In Love Released: March 2004 Peak Position: #5 njKo3l0MKQ0 #238: Christina Aguilera - The Voice Within Released: December 2003 Peak Position: #9 nA2k79EGHbc #237: Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending Released: August 2004 Peak Position: #5 s8QYxmpuyxg #236: Evanesence - Call Me When You're Sober Released: September 2006 Peak Position: #4 _RrA-R5VHQs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Something Kinda Oooh' marks the first appearance of Girls Aloud in this countdown, and I'd get used to them because they're in my Top 5 acts of the decade. Brilliant pop. Enrique and Kelis's song has been criminally forgotten; it's honestly one of my favourite songs by him. Aguilera's best ballad is 'Hurt' but as that stalled at #11 and was therefore not eligible here, 'Voice' is her highest ranking ballad of the decade. Like many people my age I suspect, no matter if we've moved on from her musically or not I'll always have a soft spot for Avril and 'My Happy Ending' reminds me a lot of Summer 2004. 'Call Me' was a song that passed me by at the time, but 8 years on I absolutely adore it and Amy Lee's voice is haunting as always

#245: Madonna - Get Together Released: July 2006 Peak Position: #7 SceS4553f-0 #244: Liberty X - Holding On For You Released: December 2002 Peak Position: #5 _ik7R-8TXIQ #243: Leona Lewis - Forgive Me Released: November 2008 Peak Position: #5 GB6tSIj5Emw #242: Kylie Minogue - Red Blooded Woman Released: March 2004 Peak Position: #5 nZaLpZue7us #241: Jay-Z feat Rihanna & Kanye West - Run This Town Released: September 2009 Peak Position: #1 yVA-xTBeHyM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Though she has 3 or 4 songs to come later, 'Get Together' was the first Madonna song I ever fell in love with though I have come to love some of her earlier stuff with age. Liberty X's entry is a song that has always stuck with me, and probably one of the better pop songs of 2002. Leona's "Forgive Me" strikes me as a song that isn't particularly popular with her fans and though I wouldn't count myself as a Leona fan I do think 'Forgive Me' is one of her best. It was a welcome change in tempo for her. 'Red Blooded Woman' is also very underrated and considering it features 3 of the biggest artists of the new Centuary I'm always surprised how forgotten 'Run This Town' is. I suppose Kanye's negative press at the time and 'Empire State of Mind' becoming so iconic are probably the reasons, though I still find 'Run This Town' a hell of a lot more enjoyable

Is he? I'd genuinely never heard of him before :unsure:

#250: The Black Eyed Peas - Shut Up Released: December 2003 Peak Position: #2 KRzMtlZjXpU #249: Shayne Ward - No Promises Released: April 2006 Peak Position: #2 HLphrgQFHUQ #248: S Club Juniors - New Direction Released: October 2002 Peak Position: #2 pwcfFDvsN-I #247: Rihanna - Unfaithful Released: July 2006 Peak Position: #2 rp4UwPZfRis #246: P. Diddy feat Christina Aguilera - Tell Me Released: December 2006 Peak Position: #8 mgm89mSu168 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Shut Up' was very popular around the time I got properly into the charts and music, and for that alone it makes it in as it brings back a lot of nostalgia for me even though I found it ever so slightly dated 11 years on (I feel old just typing that). Shayne Ward surprised me with 'No Promises' after the dirge that was his winner's single but he actually came back with a very good pop song. S Club Juniors weren't even a guilty pleasure for me, I just outright loved them and I maintain that they had some very, very good song. 'Unfaithful' and 'Tell Me' both give me a lot of memories of Year Seven at school, specifically 'Tell Me' which - and this may be considered criminal - is the most I've ever enjoyed a P. Diddy song at least until 'Coming Home' was released five years later

During writing my reviews for my other thread (http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=163095) I started thinking a lot about the 00's and how that was the decade I really grew up in. I see a lot of posts about "90's kids" and in many ways I do consider myself one; being born in 1995 means I was just about old enough to be properly aware of and into the likes of Britney Spears, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys towards the end of 1999 but in all honesty being born half-way through the decade means I can't really claim to be a "90's kid". It does, however, mean I can claim to be a "00's kid" as I was 4 when the decade began, and 14 when it ended. So really, my childhood is exclusively 00's and though the general consensus seems to be that the 00's was the decade music turned a bit shit, but it's also the decade I grew up in, it has some might fine top ten hits - a lot of the ones in my list are forgotten gems IMO. I toyed with the idea of doing a review of every top ten hit of that decade but decided it was probably a bit too much effort, so I managed to scale down my favourite top ten hits of the 2000's into this Top 250 List you're about to see unveiled before you Enjoy and reminisce. I may also do a Top 100 or so 90's one someday, though that's very much still in the works.

W/E: 24/07/2010 Professor Green feat Lily Allen - Just Be Good to Green 7Kk-dgcTSwY Bringing this back as the majority of my exams are over and my life has felt oddly devoid of purpose. Unfortunately the music just Keeps. Getting. Worse. To this point, I don’t think Professor Green had actually released anything that was totally his own and didn’t sample songs over 20 year olds that all the little chavs listening wouldn’t know of, so they thought he was super original. Lily Allen manages to save this, and I do love her voice a lot even if I do think she’s a bit of twit away from the music. In fact, her ‘I’ll be good to you, you’ll be good to me’ bit is so well sung it almost makes me like the song. But I will not be fooled. I love ‘Dub Be Good To Me’ and this sorry track is nothing on that classic. To be fair, at least Pro Green put effort into being unoriginal. Mark Ronson - Bang Bang Bang TM6TCGltfHM I’m really worried I’m just coming across as some kind of negative Nelly now, but I don’t like this one either. I don’t know, or care, who is singing here but I don’t like her voice on jolt and Mr. Generic rapper aint exactly some great performer either and the whole chorus is just plain annoying Stick with this guys, positivity is hopefully just around the corner. I hope. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up 3iK24XDK5tg OK, we’re improving a little bit now. I do like this I’ll admit, even if it does bring back memories of a frankly depressing day on the road in August 2010. Radio One loved this song, I must have heard it about seven times in one day but I do actually quite like this It’s yet another one of those ‘so happy and harmless I can’t justifiably diss it’ tracks, and I think the fact I haven’t listened to it in a good few years has made me appreciate this a hell of a lot more. It’s just good, summery fun and I’m just pleased we’ve reached a song I can review positively Could do without that ‘tweet-tweet-tweet’ bit though. You’re not a bird love. On another note, I've decided to only do one post in this a week just so I'm not at risk of catching up with myself too soon. So expect a new post every Sunday, probably around this time as I can't sleep for shit these days