Ghoulian

Oh congratulations Jim!

25 Fleetwood Mac- The Chain 24 Simon & Garfunkel- The Sound Of Silence 23 Lykke Li- I Follow Rivers 22 Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb 21 Tame Impala- Let It Happen 20 Michael Kiwanuka- Cold Little Heart 19 Frank Ocean- Lost 18 The Beatles- Here Comes The Sun 17 The XX- Intro 16 Alt-J- Breezeblocks 15 Pixies- Where Is My Mind 14 The Cinematic Orchestra ft. Patrick Watson- To Build A Home 13 Blondie- One Way Or Another 12 Kendrick Lamar- Swimming Pools (Drank) 11 The Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter 10 David Bowie- Changes 9 Fisher- Losing It 8 Aerosmith- Dream On 7 Oasis- Half The World Away 6 Elton John- Tiny Dancer 5 Two Door Cinema Club- What You Know 4 Petit Biscuit- Sunset Lover 3 Meat Loaf- Paradise By The Dashboard Light 2 The Beach Boys- Wouldn't It Be Nice 1 Empire Of The Sun- Walking On A Dream

Welcome to the voting stage of BOP IDOL 4: TV Talent Shows The following talent shows are represented: X Factor UK X Factor Australia The Voice UK The Voice USA The Voice of Finland Britain’s Got Talent New Zealand’s Got Talent American Idol Swedish Idol Popstars Making The Band All Ireland Talent Show Star Academy Young Talent Time There are 23 entrants shown here in confirmation order: Julian_ Scene Roba. gooddelta Addy CowTzy jimwatts Herbs uhsting AllStarBySmashMouth Tafty Dobbo Mangø vibe awardinary King Rollo Chez Wombat Cody Piastri Calum Brer dandy* ChrisJK Jade This is an anonymous contest so please do not reveal or hint at your entry until the results are announced - but feel free to speculate what people may have sent! I have decided to present the track list in release order: 1 Breathe - Liberty X, Popstars, 13/05/2002 2 Creep - Dannii Minogue, Young Talent Time, 17/03/2003 3 Nolwenn Ohwo! - Nolwenn Leroy, Star Academy, 23/01/2006 4 Damaged - Danity Kane, Making The Band, 29/01/2008 5 Kashmir - Escala, Britain’s Got Talent, 25/05/2009 6 You’ll Never Get To Heaven - Diana Vickers, X Factor UK, 03/05/2010 7 Dub On The Track - Cher Lloyd, Mic Righteous, Zeph Ellis & Ghette, X Factor UK, 07/11/2011 8 Misty Eye - Aiden Grimshaw, X Factor UK, 20/08/2012 9 Think Of You - Christina Grimmie, The Voice USA, 06/08/2013 10 Alone By Heart - Clara Van Wel, New Zealand’s Got Talent, 25/10/2013 11 Chameleon Life - Daithi featuring Raye, All Ireland Talent Show, 06/06/2014 12 Gladiator - Dami Im, X Factor Australia, 08/08/2014 13 California - Amelia Lily, X Factor UK, 07/09/2014 14 Borderline - Tove Styrke, Swedish Idol, 09/10/2014 15 I Do - Only The Young, X Factor UK, 07/08/2015 16 Baby Don’t Dance - Fleur East, X Factor UK, 04/12/2015 17 Blood - Equador (Bo Bruce), The Voice UK, 28/10/2016 18 Bloodstream - Tokio Myers, Britain’s Got Talent, 12/10/2017 19 Rock With Me - Reggie ‘n’ Bollie featuring Ironik and Lauren Murray, X Factor UK, 15/12/2017 20 Domino - Saara Aalto, The Voice Of Finland, 16/02/2018 21 Ladies In The ‘90s - Lauren Alaina, American Idol, 15/10/2018 22 Racing Cars - Ruti, The Voice UK, 05/04/2019 23 I Trance - Agnes, Swedish Idol, 28/06/2019 A few notes: As well as all not being UK Top 40 hits, none of the tracks have more than 60 million Spotify streams and so we’re happy that none of them are too well known. As far as we know none of the tracks have been entered into any previous contests on the site. Sorry to the 3 of you who tried in vain to enter Bo Bruce. Equador is a collaboration between her and her husband Henry Binns and we decided to allow it as the artist representing her. It is debatable whether “Young Talent Time” is what made Dannii Minogue famous, but it seems it was a key part of her journey and so we have allowed it. The YouTube playlist: The Spotify playlist (now missing “Racing Cars” by Ruti): Let me know if you wish to change the version of your track on either of these playlists. I believe I have tried to use the links provided on the Google form as far as possible. Please vote for your favourite 10 songs in the usual Eurovision style scoring system: +12 +10 +08 +07 +06 +05 +04 +03 +02 +01 Please vote by sending me a private message. You have until 23:59 UK time on Wednesday 16 July to submit your votes. Guest votes are very welcome. I am planning to host a listen through at 20:00 on Thursday 10 July. Votes received: ChrisJK Jade Tafty awardinary Chez Wombat gooddelta Dobbo Scene Mangø AllStarBySmashMouth uhsting Brer King Rollo Roba. Herbs Calum Addy! Cody Piastri vibe dandy* jimwatts CowTzy Julian_

All pretty good - went for Girls Aloud.

A great bottom half especially. Going for Hermes House Band.

I’m sure Lewis will pull out all the stops he needs to in order to be #1, and I’ll be surprised if there’s any other outcome. However the Top 4 could be closer than we’ve seen for a while.

Hear’Say have been slung out, not by everybody but by more than 50% which is unusual in Round 3. This was the lead from their 2nd album of the same name, which only reached #24 after their 1st album had topped the charts. The single at least fared better, reaching #4 in December 2001. 8th: Hear’Say - Everybody 16/30 votes (53%) 9th: Wyclef Jean featuring The Rock and Melky Sedeck - It Doesn’t Matter 9/29 votes (31%) 10th: Jennifer Lopez featuring Fat Joe - Hold You Down 12/32 votes (38%)

Breaking free of the survivor to go and be independent is Kelly with her debut hit. The song had originally been meant for Christina Aguilera’s “Stripped” album but was left unfinished. It reached #6 in August 2003, and when the follow up only reached #35 it looked like that was it for her in the UK charts. 5th: Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent 12/30 votes (30%) 6th: U2 - Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (38%) 7th: Scooter - Nessaja 9/35 votes (26%) 8th: Jamelia - Something About You 8/27 votes (30%) 9th: Shaznay Lewis - Never Felt Like This Before 7/28 votes (25%) 10th: True Steppers featuring Dane Bowers - Buggin’ 14/34 votes (41%)

Looks like we’re done! I’ll get the entry list reviewed and it should be up soon.

I gave eight tracks an 8 and one 9! 1 Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers ❤️ 2 Jon & Vangelis - I Hear You Now 3 John Foxx - Underpass 4 The Buggles - The Plastic Age 5 Amii Stewart - Paradise Bird Commiserations: New Musik - Living By Numbers Boomtown Rats - Someone’s Looking At You Azimuth - Jazz Carnival Michael Jackson - Rock With You The Specials - Too Much Too Young

A strong group here with a couple of my favourites so far and the first 9. 9 Peter Gabriel Games Without Frontiers An anti-war track with backing vocals from Kate Bush: the whistling contrasts with the menacing vocals and production: I absolutely love it 8 John Foxx Underpass An excellent debut hit for this Ultravox member who will never reach the Top 30 solo: this is wonderfully synth heavy with robotic vocals 8 Michael Jackson Rock With You An early highlight in his hitmaking career, a great very atmospheric track that has a beautiful lullaby-like feel even though it's dance pop 7 The Tourists So Good To Be Back Home Again This band included Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart: this is a very lovely Beach Boys inspired track with nice harmonies and organ effects 7 The Chords Maybe Tomorrow This squeezed in at #40 whereas all the other hits for the UK band will miss: it's a frenetic and catchy track that doesn't pause for breath 6 Rainbow All Night Long Somehow outpeaking their last hit "Since You Been Gone", this is a good number from the UK rock band but not really electrifying like that 6 Cliff Richard Carrie A lyrically interesting and sinister hit penned by Terry Britten and BA Robertson: always nice when Cliff does something not saccharine 6 The Shadows Riders In The Sky One of their last Top 40s in an amazingly long hit career: this is an instrumental version of a '40s country and western song that works nicely 5 Dexy's Midnight Runners Dance Stance 1st hit for this UK band with big things to come: I like the urgency of the brass instruments and raucous energy, but it lacks an obvious hook 5 Keith Michell Captain Beaky/Wilfred The Weasel From a children's book series which Keith illustrated, both of these sides feature a heartwarming narration with orchestral accompaniment 4 Elvis Costello I Can't Stand Up (For Falling Down) His 2nd highest peaking hit after "Oliver's Army", this is a more rocky cover of a soul song by Sam & Dave: I find this track passes me by 4 Brass Construction Music Makes You Feel Like Dancing This funk band will have a few hits but no Top 20s: this has some interesting instrumental sections but the main elements are unremarkable 3 AC/DC Touch Too Much Their signature song just missed the Top 40 late last year and won't make it for over 30 years; this follow up is rather turgid and forgettable 3 Dave Edmunds Singing The Blues One of his last Top 40s: there seems to be a trend for late '50s rock and roll covers at the moment, but this is a highly unremarkable one 1980 Group 4: #45 23/02/1980 Blondie Atomic 1 3-{1}-1-2-7-18-35-41-46->9 #46 09/02/1980 Marti Webb Take That Look Off Your Face 3 57-49-14-6-{3}-3-3-6-21-26-40-65->12 #47 16/02/1980 Fern Kinney Together We Are Beautiful 1 46-23-9-2-{1}-2-2-5-14-28-46->11 #48 16/02/1980 Stiff Little Fingers At The Edge 15 45-28-25-{15}-18-20-22-53-61->9 #49 16/02/1980 Donna Summer On The Radio 32 54-{32}-35-37-46-60->6 #50 16/02/1980 Sammy Hagar I've Done Everything For You 36 48-37-{36}-43-69->5 #51 16/02/1980 The Police So Lonely 6 68-38-19-12-{6}-11-16-30-42-60->10 #52 16/02/1980 Captain And Tennille Do That To Me One More Time 7 72-39-30-25-{7}-10-8-16-27-45->10 #53 16/02/1980 Shakin' Stevens Hot Dog 24 63-40-43-30-31-{24}-26-33-51->9 #54 23/02/1980 The Beat Hands Off, She's Mine 9 48-20-16-{9}-13-15-28-39-48->9 #55 01/03/1980 David Bowie Alabama Song 23 {23}-26-24-33-44->5 #56 09/02/1980 The Vapors Turning Japanese 3 73-59-45-34-18-8-4-{3}-4-7-17-34-68->13 #57 23/02/1980 Iron Maiden Running Free 34 46-38-{34}-45-58->5 #58 23/02/1980 The Gibson Brothers Cuba/Better Do It Salsa {1980} 12 52-40-19-16-{12}-14-24-36-57->9

Also I suspect because so many Oasis songs had done enough to chart that week they just decided to re-set and showcase the Top 3. Not saying that was necessarily the right decision but I can see how it happened.

Represented so far: The X Factor UK Another country’s X Factor The Voice UK The Voice USA The Voice of another country Britain’s Got Talent Another country’s Got Talent American Idol Another country’s Idol Popstars Making The Band 3 other international shows I hadn’t heard of

I guess “Someone You Loved” must still be the most streamed ever. I was shocked that it was ahead of “Shape Of You” back in 2022, but since then SYL has been outperforming SOY. I’d be shocked if they re-set it - it feels very different from re-setting something 30 years old.

Last day to enter. We have a big variety of connections!

Looks like I had the “shuffle questions” toggle on my mistake - that must have been weird for everyone haha.

If @King Rollo can find something he likes for this theme anyone can!

All good!

No needs to be a performer 😊

Another pretty solid bunch here, including some great relatively small hits, but once again I’m being conservative with the top scores. 8 The Buggles The Plastic Age The smaller follow up to their chart topper but a fabulous, slightly crazy track with quirky instrumental features and rich backing vocals 8 Amii Stewart Paradise Bird/The Letter A very minor hit but "Paradise Bird" is an utterly gorgeous and atmospheric track: the other side is a very interesting take on a '60s song 8 The Boomtown Rats Someone's Looking At You From the same album as their best known song, an excellent organ based track about fame: I love the frenzied paranoia of the chorus 7 Sad Cafe Strange Little Girl 2nd hit for this UK rock band after a Top 3 debut: this is very enjoyable and reminds me of late Beatles with its distorted slightly trippy feel 7 Queen Save Me Written by Brian when he was concerned about Freddy, I like the impassioned pleading on this; otherwise it's quite a standard Queen song 6 The Whispers And The Beat Goes On 1st hit for this US soul group active since the '60s: the instrumental parts on this funky track are rhe best part of a slightly repetitive song 6 Suzi Quatro Mama's Boy Last of her 11 Top 40s: she's such a dynamic performer and this is a fun but not exceptional track about an insufficiently macho man 5 Matchbox Buzz Buzz A Diddle It 2nd hit for this UK rockabilly band with a Freddy Cannon track from 1961: it's a very fun bouncy song but not that different from the original 5 The Selecter Three Minute Hero 2nd hit for this UK mixed sex ska band: I think this is quite clever with its urgent rhythm, but I do find it slightly grating after a few repeats 4 Jefferson Starship Jane Only hit for this long running US rock band: it's a nice track but quite standard for its genre and I'm not sure why it gave them a breakthrough 4 Kool And The Gang Too Hot "Ladies Night" was their 1st hit a few months ago and this is the follow up: quite a pleasant RnB track but not seasonal and slightly repetitive 3 Ramones Baby I Love You By far the biggest hit for this US punk band with a Motown track: this doesn't seem that dynamic to me and I can't see the value of covering it 3 Sister Sledge Got To Love Somebody Their 5th and smallest hit to date: it's very obviously their style but this song isn't very catchy and doesn't go anywhere really interesting 2 Kenny Rogers Coward Of The County 451st #1: it does at least tell a story albeit a very dark one, but musically it's quite a featureless track that doesn't reflect the subject matter 2 Commodores Wonderland They won't have many '80s Top 40s and this only scraped in: it's a very plodding track that's meant to be sensual, but I don't get that from it 1980 Group 3: #31 26/01/1980 Keith Michell Captain Beaky/Wilfred The Weasel 5 75-40-15-{5}-5-10-17-29-44-64->10 #32 26/01/1980 The Shadows Riders In The Sky 12 63-52-26-21-16-{12}-13-17-32-53-69-71->12 #33 02/02/1980 Cliff Richard Carrie 4 62-27-13-6-{4}-7-11-19-46-64->10 #34 26/01/1980 John Foxx Underpass 31 67-47-33-{31}-33-39-46-73->8 #35 09/02/1980 Michael Jackson Rock With You 7 35-12-12-{7}-9-13-21-48-70->9 #36 26/01/1980 Brass Construction Music Makes You Feel Like Dancing 39 68-45-{39}-43-61-75->6 #37 19/01/1980 Dexy's Midnight Runners Dance Stance 40 60-44-53-{40}-41-59->6 #38 16/02/1980 Elvis Costello I Can't Stand Up (For Falling Down) 4 17-9-5-{4}-12-22-55-67->8 #39 09/02/1980 The Tourists So Good To Be Back Home Again 8 46-18-10-{8}-11-19-37-62-71->9 #40 02/02/1980 AC/DC Touch Too Much 29 60-47-34-34-{29}-29-41-51-69->9 #41 16/02/1980 Rainbow All Night Long 5 37-30-22-10-{5}-9-7-13-20-35-55->11 #42 09/02/1980 Peter Gabriel Games Without Frontiers 4 48-38-25-17-8-{4}-6-9-22-33-53->11 #43 09/02/1980 Dave Edmunds Singing The Blues 28 53-39-31-{28}-28-38-53-73->8 #44 02/02/1980 The Chords Maybe Tomorrow 40 70-44-{40}-41-49->5

Why not add it as a wildcard in semi 2?We can’t say for sure it would have qualified but it’s pretty likely.

Health - not sure if it’s successful but it’s at least attempting something different.

Have just been catching up with these - had fallen about 15 behind! And my goodness there’s some dross. I never null vote but the Run DMC round pushed me close (went for Crazy Frog 🐸 😆). However this is a really lovely version of “Sunshine”! One of the best discoveries of the series.

Brilliant Top 8 there!