dandy*

^^ Mate is equally irritating. Love is okay to imply genuine affection at appropriate moments but also becomes annoying if used all the time. I mean, just speak normally and end the sentence at the appropriate place 😂

I instinctively want anyone other than Jo and Kush to win. They do both seem lovely in a way and I do appreciate seeing two young men with a great friendship like theirs... but I simply cannot get behind people who add the word 'lad' to the end of most sentences.

Over the moon to see the Chemical Brothers in the top 10 again, especially when it is with one of their best tracks <3

I don't mean to downplay their achievements but it is amazing how close a lot of the Westlife #1s came to being beaten. At the time I always assumed they were massive first week sellers simply because they always made #1 but their team really did pick their release weeks expertly.

Also... there are about 15 of these that I already know, and fortunately also like, so I know there'll definitely be enough great songs to vote for before I've even heard the others

Wow, the other 5 or so acts/songs I considered swapping to after I'd submitted are all actually in the list

Will for me, but the Pink track is also good so happy with either

This week is majorly busy so far for me so put a placeholder in just in case I don't get time to find anything else

Why so sweary Mack? Everything okay?

I haven’t found anything that quite feels right yet. There is a 7 minute techno track that I found but it’s quite progressive and I know that doesn’t appeal as much to many other people as it does to me

Mr Vain and Right Here are both wonderful. Like PCF said earlier, I’d argue SWV is better than the original. Urban Cookie Collective was also great fun.

THIS. I'm loving seeing an act like the Chemical Brothers go viral. I know they've been very successful really but it feels like they've been forgotten in a digital age, I really do think they're one of the best acts the UK has ever produced

…and there falls the other track I really hate. I didn’t like Take That at all at the time but I can in retrospect see that they had some decent songs… but Sure ain’t one of them, beyond average and feels like it goes on forever

I Try is one of my favourite tracks of the year, a classic <3

It was going to be my choice too! This is giving flashbacks to when about 10 people confirmed FAYE - Water Under The Bridge 😂

Twist and Shout is one of the two #1s I mentioned that I really dislike so very glad to see that it is out! Come On You Reds is kinda better than it has any right to be... I'd never choose to play it but it is significantly better than any other football club song I can think of (not counting England tracks)

When I logged on and saw the number of notifications I assumed that Human League must have won - but I'm glad to see it wasn't a runaway winner like some were predicting. I can't remember if I mentioned in the thread but I actually really struggled with 1981... when Chez sent it through my initial reaction was great because I assumed that there would be lots from that era that I liked, but when I trawled through albums released that year I was finding that I didn't really like anything on them aside from the singles, or the things I did like (such as OMD's Architecture & Morality album) seemed to have tracks that didn't work as well as stand alone ones outside of the album experience. I also spent ages searching for underrated 1981 tracks/albums etc but that just seemed to bring up lots of US rock albums... so in the end I just gave up and sent the only album track I could find that I thought would work in the contest. It's obviously nice to have won, but I'm also conscious that some people felt that it was too well known so feeling a little awkward about it 🫣 For me, nearly all the selections I enjoyed the most were in the earlier years - those of you who got those did amazingly well and I'd have loved to see one of them win instead <3 Thanks Chez for choosing an interesting theme that clearly appealed to a lot of people given the record number of participants! I definitely found it more difficult to think of tracks in this style but it did generate a really interesting mix of entries.

I know the topic has moved on a bit but I am genuinely astonished to learn that none of the Spice Girls have managed a top 3 album before 😲

Oh it should be subjective, much more interesting to see how you rank them rather than list what you think other people may want to see ☺️

Ooooh now that one is way too low! I don’t like them in general but that’s definitely one of their best

Love is All Around is okay for what it is, but not something I’d ever seek out - same evaluation I’d give the other mammoth film soundtrack hits from the first half of the 90s. I wouldn’t rank it last (there’s two songs I despise in 1994) but I doubt I’d put it much higher than about 13th

I did hope for better than the 30s with it, but can’t really grumble at an underperformance after the good luck I’ve had over the past year 🍀

OMG I’m so chuffed with that! ☺️ I didn’t know that we were so close to leading until Brer posted the update last contest - to which I immediately wished I’d spent longer finding something that I thought would do well… I’d completely forgotten that I’d got no points from the equivalent contests last year so was expecting Blacksquare to have pulled back ahead following his much better result this contest. What a lovely surprise, it’s really cheered me up today at a point where I was feeling a bit down about being stuck in the house with constant nursing duties whilst Mr D* recovers

I have a clear number one for 1994 so it will be interesting to see if you do as well… my second fave is a total guilty pleasure that I suspect would be quite low on most lists

Right Beside You is amazing (as is Alison Moyet) - I’ve had the Sophie track on my potentials list before but I assumed it would be a veto, but maybe not! (I do like the Tasmin track too but it wouldn’t be a hit I don’t think)