James Silkstone

I really like Now That We Found Love! It seems so underrated, wouldn't necessarily say it was a dance track though...

Oh 90's dance music is (for the most part) incredible. So excited for this!!

W/E: 13/03/2010 #1: Tinie Tempah - Pass Out QzvGKas5RsU At the time, this seemed like an absolutely massive moment. The glorious debut of the face of the UK rap scene for the New Decade, and it has everything you could want for a debut single; fierce, confidence and has an all round feeling of just being epic and possibly a little bit iconic. It’s definitely the most quotable song we’ve come across so far (‘I’ve got so many shirts, I keep some at my aunt’s house’). The fact that it is his debut single and he’s announcing how famous he already is was certainly a ballsy move; he’s not requesting your attention here – he’s demanding it. And he gets it too. Now, Tinie has had a rocky journey from this point on in my opinion. The only other song he’s done since that I’ve found enjoyable is ‘Written In The Stars’ and his latest releases have left me wanting for a lot more. #8: Naughty Boy feat Emeli Sande - Never Be Your Woman -jiBFV4DSIc So, we’ve come across the second song that I have absolutely no recollection of whatsoever! Headed by future big stars Naughty Boy & Emeli Sande (who frankly seem obsessed with one another) that is perhaps slightly surprising. Sampling White Town’s “Your Woman” actually works out well here – but that’s down to the pure awesomeness of White Town and not Naughty Boy or Emeli – who honestly sounds a little bored singing this. Tired of waiting in the wings maybe? You’ll get your moment love, don’t worry So yeah, I’ve actually find myself quite enjoying this. I won’t be listening to it again in a hurry but it’s certainly not that bad at all #9: Boyzone - Gave It All Away 9n8fxrejX78 Boyzone’s golden era was a bit before my time so to speak, they released their last single at the end of 1999 when I was just four. So unlike many when their reunion came about, I didn’t have any nostalgia with them to make me feel excited about the event. I’ve looked back on their discography since of course, and I can conclude that on a whole they’re actually much better than Westlife at least. Released as a tribute to Gately who’d tragically died the previous year, it’s honestly a very touching song. I wouldn’t say I love it, but it is very nice and lyrically very fitting for its situation and makes the whole affair a lot more real and ultimately devastating. #10: Cheryl Cole - Parachute -AWoZmAxKxg Here she is, the nations sweetheart circa 2010 and Cole’s career was on fire. Judging role on the countries biggest programme as well as a solo career that would leave the rest of her Girls Aloud pals for dust. It is confusing that out of all them Cheryl was the one who had the biggest success post-band; still I guess she had the X Factor and national sympathy behind her. That’s not to disregard ‘Parachute’ though, it’s a fine pop song and probably her best solo effort to date, much superior to ‘Fight For This Love’. She’s dignified here, and though it is a love song she sounds a lot stronger giving you the impression that if she did ‘fall out of love’ she’d probably be alright. Not to mention the music video is properly brilliant as well.

Same, for me it's Lights > Every Time You Go > This Love > Starry Eyed > Guns & Horses > The Writer (don't really listen to the rest of it)

W/E: 06/03/2010 #1: Jason DeRulo - In My Head UyG1FG3H6rY T-U-N-E!!! I freakin’ adore this song, and of all the songs I’ve given positive reviews too so far this is the first where I can say I still like this song as much now as I did 4 years ago. It’s just epic. And do you know what, I’ll admit this right here and right now, I really like Jason DeRulo. I know he’s unoriginal, generic and predictable but he’s released better music this decade than Usher has done since 2005. ‘In My Head’ is insanely catchy, an amazing pop song and just all around brilliant I’m actually a little embarrassed by how much I love song, but god damn it I love every little part of it. Especially the ‘hey oh-oh’ breakdown leading to final build up before an exceptionally amazing final chorus. I just love it. And now I’m off to listen to it about 50 more times #4: Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed fBf2v4mLM8k On to possibly my favourite new artist of the decade now, Ellie’s had me onboard since November 2009 when I happened to hear the glorious “Under The Sheets” on Radio 1. This, her first proper release, isn’t as good as that but ‘Starry Eyed’ is still a damn brilliant, catchy and fun pop song that I still love to this day. It doesn’t quite reach the glory of ‘Every Time You Go’ or ‘This Love’ for me but it’s probably about my 4th favourite song on ‘Lights’ I’m a bigger Ellie loon than ever post-Halcyon but it’s Starry Eyed that’s done that ground work for that, everyone has to start somewhere and Goulding started better than most. Fantastic song. #7: Sugababes - Wear My Kiss 68D4GB6zJFc The last single ever released by the Sugababes feels like it should have been a much bigger event than this. Of course, in March 2010 no one knew that this would definitely be the last time we’d hear from them. After all, they’d just completed their 4th different line up and for all intents and purpose they’d be back at some point with a new album I’m glad they didn’t, because for me this just isn’t the Sugababes. Though not the original lineup, the second lineup will always be the one I’ll remember with the most fondness. I think the fact none of the original girls are present anymore is what puts me off this, and the fact that ‘Wear My Kiss’ is just a bit.... Crap, for want of a better word It’s not interesting, it’s almost lazy lyrically and the fact it’s the Sugababes last single means they’re going out with a whimper – not a bang as they really deserved too.

Can't really say I like any of those to be honest :(

W/E: 27/02/2010 #2: Florence & The Machine with Dizzee Rascall - You Got The Dirtee Love Zixflls232M I’ll leave this one short and sweet: I don’t like You Got The Love I don’t like Dirtee Cash I don’t like Dizzee Rascall I didn’t like this performance I DON’T LIKE THIS. #8: Lemar - The Way Love Goes EXDSB2_6tlE Well, we’ve reached the first record that totally passed me by at the time. Who the hell would have thought Lemar was still capable of getting top tens as late as 2010? I’m impressed, his longevity is certainly surprising. And what’s more surprising? I actually like this, quite a lot. Yeah, it’s no ‘50/50’ or ‘If There’s Any Justice’ but it’s listenable, tolerable for RnB dance music circa 2010 and overall quite uplifting. Consider me shocked!

Aside from the girlband charity covers and that Jessie J screech fest I absolutely adore every song here so far!!

W/E: 20/02/2010 #1: Helping Haiti - Everybody Hurts Ts1HxVopG2k Charity records are so hard to review, mainly because the music is always secondary to the cause and many people just pick up the record to help in whatever cause it has been released for. So I can’t in all good reason give a critique of this song, that’s not what it is here for and it did its job of raising thousands for such a worthy cause. #9: Glee Cast - Halo/Walking On Sunshine cAShaI2vgV8 Those pesky happy Glee kids are back now, with a mash-up of Beyonce’s “Halo” and Katrina & The Waves “Walking On Sunshine”. Lead by the talents of Lea Michele and Amber Riley, this mash-up is almost too happy and bright for me to criticize it. So I won’t. How can I honestly and truly hate on a song that is so happy and uplifting? The only thing I will say is that it doesn’t warrant much conversation, and I actually preferred the boys mash-up of ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Confessions’ that week Maybe I need to re-watch Glee Season One, because this is bringing back some awesome memories. The cast have one more top ten hit left in them – but will it be as joyful as this one? Probably not. #10: Rihanna - Rude Boy e82VE8UtW8A Well as I’m pretty sure she’s got more top ten hits than any other act this decade, it seems only right that Rihanna enters quite early on. I’d been a fan of hers since ‘S.O.S’ but even I had to admit that by the end of the ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ era she needed to let it go and bring out some new god damn music already It took a year, and in December 2009 she returned with probably her best effort to date. ‘Rated R’ is so dark it almost seems like it’s by some completely different artists. ‘Russian Roulette’ was fantastic, and a few months later I was obsessed with ‘Te Amo’ it’s just a shame this came in between Yeah, I don’t like Rude Boy one bit. I’m not sure what it’s about to this day, I’m not sure if Rude Boy is slang term for something I’m missing or if she just likes a boy with bad manners. I’m assuming its the former, she’d dated a boy with bad manners before and didn’t end well for her. But yeah, ‘Rude Boy’ is yet another hugely popular song that’s popularity was a complete mystery to me. At least the next time we see her it’ll be on one of the best records of 2010

W/E: 13/02/2010 #2: Jedward feat Vanilla Ice - Ice, Ice Baby J8Cq6rVAWt8 Who the holy hell allowed this? I grew to like Jedward on The X Factor 2009 but by the time they left I was certainly over their shtick and they quickly became incredibly annoying to me once again. Mainly because of this record, I won’t lie, managing to somehow make ‘Ice, Ice Baby’ even worse. It is funny though, especially hearing John and Edward singing the “terror of knowing what this world is about” part from the original Queen/David Bowie song. Funnily enough, the more this goes on the more I’m enjoying it. Maybe we’ve finally got a record that actually does enter ‘so bad, it’s good’ territory. I didn’t pay much attention to Jedward after this, I know they popped up representing Ireland at Eurovision a few years later but for me the fad was over. On your bikes, lads. #3: Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again KDKva-s_khY Oooh, this is a lot more awkward than I remember it being. There is absolutely NO chemistry between Timbaland and Katy Perry in the music video, and in all honesty I am quite disappointed on re-listen I REALLY liked this song at the time, but now it just seems incredibly dull and overly auto-tuned for me. The era of Timbaland seems to be over now, and that’s a shame because I was a big fan of his back in 2007/2008. But he was pushing it here, and Katy Perry’s screeching is almost unbearable. In fact, the best part of the song comes at the end when this song seems to turn into some kind of weird rave. ‘Morning After Dark’ was quite good from what I remember, though I am reluctant to find out as this track has gone so far down in my estimation now. Katy will be back, lots of times, but I think we can safely assume that Timbaland won’t be troubling us too much. I recall a record with Justin Timberlake that did OK soon after this, but the glory days for old Timbo were definitely over.

W/E: 06/02/2010 #7: Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind Part II (Broken Down) g4IiccUjGps I don’t like Alicia Keys. There, and I said it and now that’s out there in the world. I get that she’s probably a lot more musically talented than a lot of the girls who started around the same time as she did (Xtina, Beyonce, Pink, Britney exct.) but I’ve always found her a little dull. There are, of course, some exceptions to this; the likes of Karma, No One and New Day are all songs I enjoy and I’m not totally adverse to If I Aint Got You either (despite the grammar). But this is the very definition of dull for me, and I don’t really see much need for it. The original ‘Empire State of Mind’ isn’t a song I love (but don’t hate) anyway and Jay-Z utterly makes the track what it is. Alicia’s solo version is almost sleep inducing. #10: Jay-Z feat Mr. Hudson - Forever Young E1nbvplgElw So, behind Alicia is the man responsible for ‘Empire State of Mind’ in the first place. I’d never really given Jay-Z too much attention before ‘The Blueprint 3’ era; for me he was good for the odd guest rap on records, ‘Numb/Encore’ and (of course) ‘99 Problems’. But it was this era, and maybe even this song, that made me a bit of a Jay-Z fan ‘Run This Town’ was awesome, ‘Empire’ was a little dull but passable and ‘Forever Young’ really spoke to me at the time. I actually didn’t realize until about 2 years later that the opening part by Mr. Hudson is actually a sample of an old 80’s song. Still, the overall sentiment of this song is what made me a fan of it. A song about growing up, and its hardships, of course it was going to speak to a 14-year old who for the first time was a little aware he was growing up The discovery that this heavily samples another song has tainted it a little for me overtime, but it is still a record I enjoy overall.

So pleased Bastille are as high as #6! Wow

W/E: 30/01/2010 #6: Example - Won't Go Quietly -So9lXFt5rM Many find him to be a bit of twat, but I actually like Example a lot. Like Plan B, he is probably one of my favourite of the artists who broke through in early 2010. Combining rap and dance is always a bit of a risky move but Example pulls it off well ‘Won’t Go Quietly’ seems to have been quite forgotten, by me too I’ll admit, and that seems a shame as I’m finding it utterly delightful on re-listen. I think ‘Kickstarts’ may have overshadowed this in a few months time but for what it’s worth I think I might actually prefer this. It’s actually causing me to be a little nostalgic, and it’s making me feel quite happy as well Well played, sir, well played #9: JLS - One Shot 8r2Q9S4PLkQ More X-Factor alumni now and from probably the most successful ‘losers’ of the show until the advent of One Direction at least. JLS, like The Saturdays, have always been incredibly inconsistent and JLS are a lot worse for it. It’s literally a case of a good single being followed by a bad single followed by a good single and the cycle pretty much carries on for the rest of their career ‘One Shot’ is easily one of their best, it may even the best, and in my eyes deserves the success that the terribly overrated ‘Everybody In Love’ received. One Shot is a fantastic pop song and I actually think it benefits a little from star of the show Aston taking more of a back seat than normal, obviously he still sings a lot but I find Marvin and Ortise are the most vocal here They’re over now, I won’t miss them but at least they got some decent hits out in their time. Now, how long until Aston kicks off his predominantly shirtless solo career?

I remember it being the hottest show on television and the fact I'd completely forgotten the show even existed until the tragic death of Cory Monteith shows how far it fell from favour so quickly

I didn't even know about that until now! :o

W/E: 23/01/2010 #2: Owl City - Fireflies psuRGfAaju4 I honestly don’t know what I can say about ‘Fireflies’ I find it that dull. I don’t know if it is just me but don’t you just think this guy is host to one of the most annoying voices ever? It’s so grating, and this is yet another song thats success completely bemused me. I do like the meaning of the song; about feeling small in the universe but for me it sounds like too much of a glorified lullaby to warrant any depth and Owl City’s voice doesn’t seem to be able to emote. This is all just a bit lost on me I’m afraid #5: Glee Cast - Don't Stop Believing 7vN2mkeCjlw I was actually a pretty big fan of ‘Glee’ when it first premiered on UK screens. The first season was so funny, original and so unexpectedly brilliant that I was hooked and an avid watcher until the end of the shows second season. I stopped watching then and haven’t since, though from what I hear the novelty’s worn off now and the shows not so good anymore. But, this isn’t a review of the show and their cover of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ is actually pretty pleasing to my ears. It became way too overplayed at one point so in all honesty listening to it for this review is probably the first time I’ve listened to it in about three years. It’s happy, bouncy and perfectly captures the original spirit and message of Glee as it was when it started. So, whilst not something I’ll be listening to again in a hurry I did find myself quite enjoying this one. #9: Plan B - Stay Too Long wauIGhax9xg I quite like this one, I’ll admit. Plan B was one of my favourite artists who broke through into the mainstream during 2010 and though the far superior ‘She Said’ is still to come I do actually like Stay Too Long. Probably one the best UK rappers of his time, it’s probably between him and Tinie Tempah in all honesty, I’ve not been a massive follower of his career after his debut album but ‘Stay Too Long’ is one of his best for me. The only problem I have with it is the fact it’s not all that memorable, I haven’t listened to the album in quite a while and I’d pretty much forgotten this when it came to the re-listen Maybe I should listen to that record again, he was so much better than the likes of Chipmunk, N-Dubz and Tinchy Stryder #10: Alexandra Burke - Broken Heels e2GecVOCxSM And here comes the first reality television contestant we’ll be coming across in this list/countdown/whatever the hell this is. There’s a lot of them coming too. Alexandra Burke has never been an artist I’ve paid much attention too, I’ve admired her voice in the past but I can’t call myself a fan at all. ‘Broken Heels’, for me, is probably the best song she’s ever done. There’s something charming about it, and she certainly sings with conviction and belief here. It’s probably quite gutting for her that after a promising first era she’s now all but finished, I won’t miss her and as good as ‘Broken Heels’ is it was never good enough to convert me to her cause. Leona all the way for me I’m afraid

Ah, you know what - no reason why I can't start this now. Here's the first week: W/E 16th January 2010[/font] #1: Iyaz - Replay ZoG5jJ3E8rg Now, I don’t know about the rest of the country but up here in Yorkshire we seemed to spend the whole of January 2010 submerged in some major snow. I’d never seen as much in my life, and because of it we got an extra week of Christmas holiday! My point here is that it feel weird that in the midst of all that cold weather the most popular song, among people my age (14) anyway, was this summery sounding love song And believe me, this was HUGE. I never really got it to be honest, it’s a pleasant listen and everything but I’ve just never loved it. I think it is meant to be a lot more catchy than it actually is, ironic when you consider the songs lyrical content is structured around something being stuck in one’s head, and Iyaz’s voice grates on me slightly Not the best, but not exactly the worst either. #2: Sidney Samson - Riverside V775PPuBc7Y This is the kind of song that I should look back fondly on, a kind of ‘it was so bad, it’s actually quite good’ kind of song for me but unfortunately it doesn’t even reach those levels. It is just plain irritating, and has absolutely no redeeming features for me unfortunately. The instrumental sound, if I can even call it that, actually gives me a bit of a headache and the whole experience leaves me a little pissed off at humanity. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the ‘Riverside motherf***er’ line (The ONLY line in the song) was apparently very quotable to a lot of my classmates. Our biggest shopping outlet here is called Lakeside, and for about three months after this song whenever we would go at least one friend would say ‘Lakeside motherf***er, let’s go’. Little things like that just grate on you after a while Not to be 100% negative, Harry Hill’s use of this song on TV Burp made for one of his funniest moments. So there’s that, at least #5: Florence & The Machine - You Got The Love PQZhN65vq9E Sometime in 2009 when I was 14, I went through a stage of being ‘too cool for school’ and I sought to drop Ne-Yo, Rihanna and Chris Brown from my playlists and find a few music artists that I deemed cool and I assumed no one else knew Clearly, I wasn’t very good at that as Florence was probably the least mainstream ‘new artist’ (The others were Daniel Merriweather, Little Boots, PIXIE LOTT and a girl group called Girls Can’t Catch) I discovered in that endeavour and everyone knew who she was about six weeks later anyway when Rabbit Heart hit the top 20. Still, they were one of my favourite things about summer 2009 and I snapped up ‘Lungs’ as quickly as I could when it was released- and it was a brilliant album So, I was a bit pissed when this overdone cover of ‘You Got The Love’ became their biggest hit (to that point). Florence’s voice, for me, is marvellous but has a tendency to be a bit shouty and overbearing and that’s exactly what’s happening here. This should be an anthem, but it falls short. It’s just not a song I enjoy, though that said I’d be sorry I ever had ill feeling against this on its own in just over a months time (Hint. I don’t like Dizzee Rascall... At all) #9: The Saturdays - Ego 93iIib5oLOw Girls Aloud were probably my favourite band as a child, right from their formation on Popstars The Rivals in 2002. They pretty much kept consistent pop music going in the mid-00’s so it was a shame to me that they decided to take a break just as their commercial and critical success were finally coming together. But they did, and we were left with The Saturdays I don’t believe, for a second, that the Sats were ever meant to become the biggest girl band in the land and the fact they did is mainly down to default. Girls Aloud were on breaks, Little Mix were yet to be formed and who the hell knows what was going on in camp Sugababe. I’ve always found The Saturdays more inconsistent than Girls Aloud, when the Sats are good they are excellent but when they are bad they are pretty damn cringe worthy ‘Ego’ luckily falls under the former cattegory, a stomping pop anthem about a guy being a douchebag isn’t exactly new or groundbreaking, but the girls pull it off with conviction, confidence and no doubt helped by the very sexy music video. The Sats were here to stay, still going strong after 6 years is no small achievement for a girl band, and they were just about good enough to fill in.

#1 with a bullet for sure, I'm not even that keen on it but it's just one of those ones you know is gonna smash

XO is rather brilliant, I didn't actually here it until the BRITs performance the other night - probably the song I've enjoyed most from her in years. Awesome #1

Excellent top six on the singles rank! Love all of those

I've said top five on the basis that not many people own the album, its an "album only" buy at present, the song itself is good and has cross over appeal they've not had since What About Us & they normally get decent-ish airplay Probably their best song since Higher as well for me

Very pleased that Bastille now seem to be onto a genuine hit with Pompeii and delighted one of Ellie's best has broken the Hot 100 too. Also, impressed with Story of My Life's longevity as well; after What Makes You Beautiful its probably One Directions biggest hit their know Say what you want about how contrived the award was, One Direction are the most successful British act overseas at the moment And The 1975 too! I doubt Chocolate will be a massive hit but just seeing them on the Hot 100 is good enough for me

Frozen is amazing, I don't even like Madonna but I can't deny Frozen. One of about 5 songs from her I actually like

Thank you! Literally found and read your Review of the Number 2's of the 90s and 00s in one day! Excellent threads

Exactly my feeling, and the purpose of this thread/experiment. For me, 2010 is the low point for chart music and in general I do think the state of the chart has improved in the years since