Ghoulian

Calvin could send 4’33” and still get through.

Well it only missed out on auto qualifying so probably not a biggie; just someone has to remember to nominate it next year.

Aww that’s a shame M83 going. I get the criticism that it could never have realistically been a single and also that the track didn’t develop all that much. But I still thought it was a lovely thing to have discovered and a brave entry so I commend whoever it was.

I wondered if Fontaines were in trouble just from getting quite consistently mid to low rankings.

“3WW” got my 30 so nothing more I could do there. However “Glue”, my 29, could have really done with the extra 1!

30 alt-J - 3WW 29 Bicep - Glue 28 Tyler, the Creator (feat. Kali Uchis) - See You Again 27 LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby 26 MGMT - Little Dark Age 25 Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love 24 CamelPhat & Elderbrook - Cola 23 Omar Souleyman - Ya Bnayya 22 Arcade Fire - Everything Now 21 Steps - Scared of the Dark 20 Sam Fender - Play God 19 Charli XCX - Track 10 18 Jamiroquai - Automaton 17 Mountain Goats - Rain In Soho 16 St. Vincent - Los Ageless 15 Wolf Alice - Visions Of A Life 14 Dua Lipa - Be The One 13 Lorde - Green Light 12 Disciples - On My Mind 11 Kendrick Lamar - Humble. 10 Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses 9 Lana Del Rey - Love 8 alt-J - Adeline 7 Billie Eilish – Bellyache 6 French Montana (feat. Swae Lee) - Unforgettable 5 Adele – Water Under The Bridge 4 Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still 3 Royal Blood - I Only Lie When I Love You 2 Drake - Passionfruit 1 Calvin Harris (feat. Frank Ocean & Migos) - Slide

Little Red Corvette Close (To The Edit) Run To You This Is Not America How Soon Is Now?

Whoops - I read something saying it was an unrecognisable cover but appears it was fake news.

Not a stellar but a decent 1st group. I enjoy “Little Red Corvette” even more than “1999”, but under my rules I’m solely appraising the former as the other has already reached the Top 40. 9 Prince Little Red Corvette This isn't as boundary pushing as "Purple Rain" or "When Doves Cry", but it's a beautiful track about a one night stand 8 King Love And Pride This UK band's debut re-released and becoming a #2 smash: it's a great and very punchy and striking new wave track 8 Elaine Paige And Barbara Dickson I Know Him So Well 545th #1: from the "Chess" musical this is a beautifully written duet with brilliant interplay between the two voices 7 Strawberry Switchblade Since Yesterday Only Top 40 for this Scottish duo whose style reminds me a little of the Cocteau Twins: this has a lovely warm feel to it 7 Amii Stewart Friends Her 1st hit in more than 4 years: this is sung beautifully with sincere backing vocals, and has very effective production 6 Ashford And Simpson Solid Only Top 40 for this US husband and wife duo about their relationship: it's a well remembered and enjoyable song 6 The Pointer Sisters Neutron Dance This isn't one of their standout hits, but the spirited performance with their usual infectious energy does elevate it 5 James Ingram With Michael McDonald Yah Mo B There (Jellybean Remix) Producer and singer James Ingram's only Top 40 as lead, with a remix getting it here, and quite a nice synth RnB track 5 ZZ Top Sharp Dressed Man A 2nd 1983 non Top 40 getting a new lease of life for them: another very competent but not distinctive track of its style 4 Chaka Khan This Is My Night All their previous 3 hits have been pretty special, but this one is a not very distinctive or memorable R&B track 3 The Limit Say Yeah Only hit for this Dutch group that's in a very similar funk style to Imagination below and gives me only slightly more 3 Imagination Thank You My Love Their last Top 40 and a slow burner that entered last November, but I find it quite a nondescript final appearance 2 Russ Abbot Atmosphere 1st of a couple of Top 40s for this UK all round entertainer: a catchy bubblegum track that becomes grating quickly 1985 Group 2: #1584 29/12/1984 Bucks Fizz I Hear Talk 34 53-53-46-{34}-34-34-37-51->8 #1585 19/01/1985 Big Country Just A Shadow 26 35-{26}-29-46->4 #1586 19/01/1985 Billy Ocean Loverboy 15 37-24-16-16-{15}-16-18-27-35-57->10 #1587 24/11/1984 The Art Of Noise Close (To The Edit) 8 62-41-45-44-45-46-46-43-38-30-21-10-9-{8}-10-21-34-54-70->19 #1588 19/01/1985 Cashmere Can I 29 40-{29}-30-29-30-32-49-70->8 #1589 12/01/1985 Bryan Adams Run To You 11 74-41-28-18-{11}-11-11-11-17-27-36-66->12 #1590 12/01/1985 Pat Benatar We Belong 22 64-43-31-25-23-{22}-26-37-54->9 #1591 26/01/1985 Phil Collins Sussudio 12 36-19-{12}-12-18-25-34-52-66->9 #1592 19/01/1985 Kirsty MacColl A New England 7 57-38-22-13-10-{7}-8-14-25-47->10 #1593 19/01/1985 George Benson 20/20 29 42-40-40-39-31-{29}-41-52-73->9 #1594 26/01/1985 The Colourfield Thinking Of You 12 45-31-17-13-13-{12}-22-30-52-75->10 #1595 26/01/1985 Commodores Nightshift 3 54-32-19-17-9-6-{3}-5-11-17-30-35-53-61->14 #1596 19/01/1985 Big Sound Authority This House (Is Where Your Love Stands) 21 55-49-36-25-{21}-21-27-36-59->9

Nerina. I actually love “The Closest Thing To Crazy” and would have picked that.

I don’t mind “All About That Bass”. I think the lyrics about wanting a little extra to hold at night have a certain charm, and given there’s obviously quite a bit that isn’t very good here I’d have it higher. The other two I don’t like at all though. “Stay With Me” is so poor: that chorus has hardly anything to it and was inescapable for ages. “Crazy Stupid Love” is annoying and has very little of merit to offer.

Thanks Jim. I possibly still need to give “The Fly” more listens but it’s already crept up somewhat on where I’d have put it a few years ago. 1 Sadeness Part I 2 Should I Stay Or Should I Go? 3 Innuendo 4 3AM Eternal 5 These Are The Days Of Our Lives 6 Black Or White 7 The Fly 8 The One And Only 9 (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 10 The Shoop Shoop Song 11 Any Dream Will Do 12 Do The Bartman 13 Dizzy 14 Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me 15 Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter 16 I Wanna Sex You Up 17 The Stonk

I think this is the first time “Stick Season” has been above “Beautiful Things” since they were back to back chart toppers in early 2024. I had wondered if the latter would eventually overtake the former in total sales but that now looks less likely.

1 Sade - Pearls: really surprised by this and it’s stunning 2 Depeche Mode - Photographic: this is so intense and jangly 3 M83 - Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun: this makes me feel very zen 4 iamamiwhoami - shadowshow: this certainly feels like it could have been a single 5 Ultravox - Accent on Youth: I feel like they chose the singles extremely well but this isn’t far off the pace 6 New Order - Love Vigilantes: fairly typical of their early sound but good 7 Fontaines D.C. - Sundowner: I love this whole album but don’t particularly see this as the single that should have been 8 Texas - Like Lovers (Holding On): not something I’d seek out but a nice understated song 9 Years & Years - Ties: a solid album track but the singles were far better 10 Bananarama - Bad For Me: this would be around 5th for me in the solo male round but doesn’t stand out enough here

I went for Eve - was close between her and Kelly. The Jamiroquai song isn’t a classic of theirs either to be fair.

Dido coming to win the Gamu round with Band Aid 20.

Totally agree - I think what we have is pop first but straddling other areas enough to keep most of Buzzjack interested, which is the right balance in my view.

Yikes! Bye bye both Sams, Adele, Jessie Ware, Dido, Marina…

What does “actually pop” mean though? I feel like for some people it means “the stuff I’m familiar with”.

1 Gary Numan - M.E.: imagine creating this level of production in 1979 2 Roosevelt - Forget: reminds me a bit of Tame Impala; a lovely warm track 3 Damien Rice - Amie: gorgeous strings on this 4 Sam Fender - The Treadmill: quiite a nice track with strong lyrics 5 Darin - Om du var min: fairly generic dance pop but the Swedish does lift it somehow 6 Lewis Capaldi - Heavenly Kind of State of Mind: might be the most upbeat Lewis track I’ve heard; vocals a little rough but it’s OK 7 Sam Smith - Lose You: competent enough dance pop 8 Tom Grennan - If Only: lots of clichés in this 9 HRVY - Never Be Us: a very Jax Jones recycled sound to this 10 Calvin Harris feat. Tinashe - Dollar Signs: aside from the “Animals” similarity this sounds quite cheap

True - I wasn’t suggesting Sophie was copying it!

1 Jessie Ware - The Kill: gorgeous and dreamy 2 Kate Bush - Reaching Out: fragile and pleading and full of colour 3 Robyn - Time Machine: this bubbles away beautifully 4 MARINA - Teen Idle: some of the lyrics are startling but the track builds really well 5 Agnes - Loaded: has a slightly retro feel that I like 6 Adele - Can I Get It: it’s very boppy but I don’t get much heart from it 7 Dido - Mary’s in India: the storytelling is good but it doesn’t have enough musical oomph, whereas many of her songs do 8 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - New York City Lights: I can’t get over the chorus sounding like “Viva La Vida” but it’s OK 9 Leona Lewis - Outta My Head: I think it’s pretty standard and I’m not getting the fuss 10 Zara Larsson - Blue Moon: soulless for me

“Money On My Mind” is my favourite out too. Compared to all the whiny ballads that were to come from Sam it’s quite an interesting track and I’d put it in the middle somewhere. What a terrible bottom 4 though! Having said that “It’s My Birthday” might be my last place, I think “Wake Me Up” easily beats it. It’s the Gareth Malone everyone can sing formula to get people humming a random tune and then turn it into a jolly singalong but it’s horrid as a single. “Band Aid 30” wouldn’t be much ahead of that; what a dismal recreation. I’d also have “Rude” only just ahead of the terrible 4; very annoying record.

Yeah I think Dido kind of had to save “Take My Hand” in case there was a round like this really.

I think it’s that the fun is in taking a risk vs playing it safe because if you go too left field you’ll score nothing but if you play it safe you might only score 1. I’ve done a Family Fortunes quiz like this before where you get: Top answer: 1 point 2nd top answer: 2 points 3rd top answer: 3 points 4th top answer: 4 points Answer that isn’t in the top 4: 0 points So there’s an extra layer of jeopardy in wanting to be not too obvious and also not too obscure.