Julian_

A stacked group of songs here, including some songs like “Heartbreaker” and “Sexual Healing” which I have to acknowledge for being standouts of their genres without being favourites. The best discovery easily is “Cry Boy Cry” which absolutely ought to be a classic. But above that I’m giving a very rare 2 10s and a 9. “Maneater” is Hall & Oates at their very best and “Living On The Ceiling” is fabulous. But “The Day Before You Came” is one of ABBA’s very finest compisitions, and unlike all their big hits it doesn’t rely on a strong melody and rich vocal layers. We never find out who the person the lyrics are addressed to is and it’s left entirely to the imagination how they will turn Agnetha’s life upside down, and that’s what makes it so eerily powerful. 10 Abba The Day Before You Came The mundanity of the lyrics about the day in question contrasted with the eerie instrumental is what makes this brilliant 9 Blancmange Living On The Ceiling 1st Top 40 for this UK duo and a wonderfully quirky and Middle Eastern tinged track with a frenetic semi rapped vocal 9 Daryl Hall And John Oates Maneater A US #1 and their highest peak here: a brilliantly moody and soulful song written about the avarice of New York City 8 Blue Zoo Cry Boy Cry Only Top 40 for this UK new wave band: this is rather a forgotten gem as it's a fabulously dynamic and powerful track 8 Dionne Warwick Heartbreaker Her signature song is probably "Walk On By" but this is her biggest hit: it's Bee Gees penned and brilliantly performed 7 Marvin Gaye (Sexual) Healing His 2nd highest peak and one of his best known songs: I've always found the lyrics odd but it's a superbly written song 7 Supertramp It's Raining Again Their last and only 1980s hit as frontman Roger Hodgson will leave soon: a delightful and charming melancholy track 6 John Cougar Jack And Diane Only Top 40 for this US singer whose real name is Mellencamp: a good country song reminiscent of "Romeo And Juliet" 6 Eddy Grant I Don't Wanna Dance 510th #1: a strong catchy protest song but pales in comparison to the other single from the album coming next year 5 Kool And The Gang Let's Go Dancin' (Ooh La, La, La) One of their bigger hits and fairly enjoyable, but it does feel like this could easily blend into many of their other tracks 5 Raw Silk Do It To The Music Only hit for this US group: this is a fairly standard disco number but quite pleasant and the vocals have a nice quality 4 The Piranhas Featuring Boring Bob Grover Zambezi Their 2nd and last hit covering this song: I prefer the Lou Busch instrumental version as the sung parts are a little clunky 4 Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney The Girl Is Mine Amazing that this was the 1st single from "Thriller": it's only OK but there will be a better collaboration from these two 3 Status Quo Caroline (Live At The NEC) A live version of a 1973 #5 hit: it's not a bad song though the instrumental sound we've heard so many times from them 2 Diana Ross Muscles Maybe these lyrics wouldn't have seemed strange at the time but I find this all brawn and not really very much of a song 1982 Group 19: #904 06/11/1982 Clannad Theme From 'Harry's Game' 5 46-11-{5}-8-20-25-44-53-53-67->10 #905 16/10/1982 Wham! Young Guns (Go For It) 3 72-48-52-42-24-10-4-{3}-4-8-13-13-14-18-29-41-66->17 #906 06/11/1982 Donna Summer State Of Independence 14 52-29-{14}-15-19-20-36-54-54-47-69->11 #907 13/11/1982 Duran Duran Rio 9 32-13-11-10-{9}-14-21-21-23-33-71->11 #908 30/10/1982 Renee And Renato Save Your Love 1 54-41-38-24-9-5-3-{1}-1-1-1-3-13-20-40-58->16 #909 20/11/1982 The Human League Mirror Man 2 9-{2}-2-2-7-12-12-20-29-57->10 #910 06/11/1982 A Flock Of Seagulls Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) 10 62-41-28-14-11-{10}-15-24-24-25-30-46->12 #911 20/11/1982 Musical Youth Youth Of Today 13 31-16-{13}-16-23-38-38-32-45->9 #912 13/11/1982 Modern Romance Best Years Of Our Lives 4 68-32-21-18-11-9-8-8-{4}-5-14-28-49->13 #913 20/11/1982 Yazoo The Other Side Of Love 13 34-20-14-{13}-16-25-25-28-34->9 #914 20/11/1982 Lionel Richie Truly 6 35-17-{6}-6-6-9-9-17-27-39-71->11 #915 13/11/1982 Simple Minds Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) 36 54-{36}-41-57-74->5 #916 13/11/1982 Talk Talk Talk Talk {1982 Re-Release} 23 65-39-26-{23}-31-32-35-35-53-60->10 #917 06/11/1982 Whitesnake Here I Go Again/Bloody Luxury 34 65-47-40-38-{34}-36-42-46-46-69->10 #918 27/11/1982 Ultravox Hymn 11 28-16-14-13-16-16-12-{11}-18-27-56->11

Not a lot to say so far really - think I agree with the order of those 3 stinkers. “You Are Not Alone” is horrific. “Barry Islands In The Stream” is at least not taking itself seriously. “The Climb” wasn’t such a bad choice for an X Factor cover really as the original was a decent song but not exactly a classic, and I do like Joe’s voice.

How did you decide what to rank 11th based on those notes? 😅

Lukuzz is Kitten I’m fairly sure. Joseph likely Conan.

Surely it’s high time we had some of these favourites from the Pop Princsses compilation like “Ladies’ Night”, “Miss Independent” and “Born To Try”? 😇

Thanks as ever Rollo! I hadn’t clocked that we’d had 6 group winners in a row actually, so definitely nice to have a solo artist and the first winner from the 2010s. I still wonder if there’ll ever be a winner from before I was born but I’ll look forward to it whatever.

I was thinking HAIM was probably Josh! or elgornio, but really surprised at Troye not being Jay and Kelly not being Tafty! Well played Josh! - like I said it’s been a great run of songs from HAIM and I’m sorry this one didn’t connect so well. And Tafty thanks for showing me more of Troye -even though I haven’t enjoyed the latest ones so much it’s still been nice to get to know him more. Happy for Bowie though, and also ROSALÍA who again can’t have been safe by all that much!

Just in time for The Pop Factor flop round!

1 Blondie - In The Flesh 1 ROSALÍA - Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti (it’s exciting how this is pushing the boundaries of pop) 2 ABBA - Chiquitita (turns comforting a friend into a glorious epic) 3 Florence + the Machine - Cosmic Love (beautiful and shimmering) 4 Scissor Sisters - Mary (a lovely emotive ballad) 5 David Bowie - Five Years (really enjoy the rhythm and build; a good discovery) 6 Conan Gray - Forever With Me (a good song and he really gives it a lot of welly) 7 Kelly Clarkson - Piece By Piece (Idol Version)(not my usual thing but this is very personal and it does really hit) 8 Atomic Kitten - The Last Goodbye (have a soft spot for this: the lyrics are very sweet) 9 Lily Allen - Pussy Palace (a good track and a focal point of the album) 10 Chappell Roan - Casual (a little too casual, though it has a nice beat) 11 Delta Goodrem - Not Me, Not I (I think this is ordinary, but this competition has shown me that her songwriting improved over time) 12 HAIM - Gasoline (I’ve mostly really enjoyed their entries but find this pedestrian) 13 Troye Sivan feat. Betty Who - HEAVEN (this doan’t have much light and shade for me)

FYI the lower part is the group I’m reviewing next. 😃

I’d love Amy to win, especially as Robyn has won ROTD twice. Either way my presumption that the winner always comes from 1985-2005 has been proved wrong!

A rather mixed bag here but what a debut hit from Tears For Fears. 9 Tears For Fears Mad World 1st hit for this UK new wave band, and a wonderful brooding synth pop track with dark intriguing lyrics: a big selling #3 hit 8 Toyah Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard) Their hit making power is diminishing but not the strength of their singles: this is a very empowering and uplifting track 8 The Pretenders Back On The Chain Gang Their biggest US hit recorded after their guitarist died of a drug overdose: it's a very well written, lovely and tender song 7 Kid Creole And The Coconuts Annie I'm Not Your Daddy Their earlier material had been less commercial, but this is their biggest hit and a catchy and witty calypso style song 7 Japan Life In Tokyo More of a disco style to this as Giorgio Moroder was involved: very good but not mysterious like some of their earlier hits 6 Hot Chocolate Chances The underperforming 3rd single: not as good as "It Started With A Kiss" but a romantic song with nice instrumentation 6 The Who Athena Their 24th and last new Top 40 which just scraped in: you can tell they're a legacy act by now but it's a charming track 5 Spandau Ballet Lifeline It feels like they're starting to become more poppy and commercial at this point: a pleasant but not a very special song 4 Bauhaus Ziggy Stardust After a few non Top 40 hits, this Bowie cover makes it for the UK goth rock group: it's competent but nothing original 4 Sharon Redd Never Give You Up Her biggest solo hit: this has some fairly nice post disco style features, though it's quite long and not really memorable 3 The Kids From 'Fame' Starmaker Their 2nd and biggest hit: this is quite a slushy and turgid ballad, though not the worst of its kind and nicely performed 3 Melba Moore Love's Comin' At Ya Her 1st hit in a long time: I find this another of those funk hits that is not bad but fairly uninteresting and goes on a while 2 Barry Manilow I Wanna Do It With You This is his only Top 10 hit: an upbeat number though still very much radio friendly soft rock with not very engaging lyrics 2 Julio Iglesias Amor A big comedown in chart performance from 2 Top 3 hits, the main version is in Italian and it's his usual rather flaccid fare 1 Shakin' Stevens I'll Be Satisfied Originally a Jackie Wilson song from 1959: I find the over the top performance rather unpleasant and the vocals grating 1982 Group 18: #889 16/10/1982 Eddy Grant I Don't Wanna Dance 1 63-30-11-2-{1}-1-1-4-8-25-30-30-33-43-67->15 #890 16/10/1982 Kool And The Gang Let's Go Dancin' (Ooh La, La, La) 6 64-31-16-11-{6}-11-22-28-62->9 #891 16/10/1982 The Piranhas Featuring Boring Bob Grover Zambezi 17 70-37-27-22-{17}-20-27-36-59->9 #892 16/10/1982 Raw Silk Do It To The Music 18 61-38-33-27-27-{18}-24-31-40->9 #893 16/10/1982 Blue Zoo Cry Boy Cry 13 65-39-35-34-21-21-{13}-22-30-41->10 #894 23/10/1982 Dionne Warwick Heartbreaker 2 52-29-5-{2}-2-3-8-15-37-41-41-51-66->13 #895 23/10/1982 Abba The Day Before You Came 32 41-{32}-35-35-37-46->6 #896 23/10/1982 Diana Ross Muscles 15 49-36-28-23-{15}-19-26-34-72->9 #897 30/10/1982 Status Quo Caroline (Live At The NEC) 13 38-{13}-14-17-25-45-61->7 #898 23/10/1982 John Cougar Jack And Diane 25 54-39-30-{25}-27-37-46-72->8 #899 30/10/1982 Daryl Hall And John Oates Maneater 6 40-20-10-{6}-10-21-26-53-61-61-66->11 #900 30/10/1982 Marvin Gaye (Sexual) Healing 4 50-18-5-{4}-5-12-17-33-37-37-37-40-47-67->14 #901 06/11/1982 Michael Jackson/Paul McCartney The Girl Is Mine 8 33-9-{8}-12-24-32-62-71-71-75R(2)->10 #902 30/10/1982 Blancmange Living On The Ceiling 7 51-37-19-12-{7}-7-7-11-22-22-27-28-37-59->14 #903 30/10/1982 Supertramp It's Raining Again 26 61-38-33-33-29-27-28-{26}-31-31-43->11

Sorry don’t want to derail the thread as it turns out it was quite a different situation - yes it was a pupil but over the age of consent.

I think the problem is that you can decline a long way without having three consecutive declines - all it takes is the market to bounce every three weeks or so. Plus there’s the double lock that a decline by less than the market counts as an increase while an increase by less than the market is also an increase. I’ve long said they should find an alternative to requiring consecutive declines.

Great work with this Jade. I’d have loved the Top 2 the other way round but generally everything wasn’t far off my own ranking.

If there is really no more to it than a historic police investigation that was closed the sacking really makes no sense. Learning that the alleged victim was under 16 shouldn’t make a difference unless you’re doing away with the presumption of innocence.

Went for Arlissa, Muse and Tori.

Around 25k but it should enter soon if it keeps up its current rate.

Correct - only around 1k outside though.

She’ll take it back soon if not this week!

Week 13: 1 1 Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. 226,000 2 2 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 224,000 500,000 3 3 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 109,000 1,940,000 4 4 The Weeknd Highlights 92,000 1,680,000 5 5 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 86,000 390,000 6 6 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 83,000 600,000 7 7 Michael Jackson The Essential 79,000 2,180,000 8 8 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 77,000 380,000 9 9 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 74,000 710,000 10 12 Noah Kahan Stick Season 69,000 790,000 11 11 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 69,000 960,000 12 10 Tate McRae So Close To What 68,000 330,000 13 13 Linkin Park Papercuts 66,000 460,000 14 14 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 66,000 2,480,000 15 15 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 64,000 3,620,000 16 16 ABBA Gold 63,000 6,210,000 17 17 Elton John Diamonds 57,000 1,990,000 18 18 Arctic Monkeys AM 56,000 2,380,000 19 19 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 56,000 5,670,000 20 21 Sombr I Barely Know Her 53,000 150,000 21 20 EsDeeKid Rebel 52,000 130,000 22 22 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 52,000 3,590,000 23 25 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 48,000 810,000 24 23 Mumford & Sons Prizefighter 48,000 25 26 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 47,000 1,300,000 26 24 Robbie Williams Britpop 46,000 27 27 Maroon 5 Singles 44,000 1,030,000 28 29 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 43,000 740,000 29 30 Pitbull Greatest Hits 43,000 670,000 30 31 Sam Fender People Watching 42,000 320,000 31 33 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 42,000 640,000 32 34 Gorillaz The Mountain 42,000 33 32 Zach Bryan With Heaven On Top 42,000 34 28 Lily Allen West End Girl 42,000 130,000 35 - BTS Arirang 42,000 36 36 Queen Greatest Hits 41,000 3,250,000 37 35 Bad Bunny Debí Tirar Más Fotos 41,000 110,000 38 38 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 40,000 2,470,000 39 37 Charli XCX Wuthering Heights (OST) 39,000 40 39 Oasis Definitely Maybe 39,000 3,050,000 41 40 Charli XCX Brat 39,000 570,000 42 41 Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits 38,000 2,350,000 43 42 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 38,000 530,000 44 46 Calvin Harris 96 Months 37,000 270,000 45 45 Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad 36,000 2,560,000 46 44 David Bowie Legacy 36,000 1,190,000 47 47 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 36,000 600,000 48 48 The Beatles 1967-1970 36,000 1,360,000 49 50 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 36,000 2,070,000 50 49 SZA SOS 35,000 760,000 51 43 Louis Tomlinson How Did I Get Here? 35,000 52 53 Don Toliver Octane 35,000 53 52 OneRepublic The Collection 35,000 90,000 55 54 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy 34,000 130,000 59 63 Bruno Mars The Romantic 34,000 60 58 Harry Styles Harry's House 34,000 960,000 64 61 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 33,000 1,020,000 65 64 Fred Again… USB 001 EP 33,000 210,000 68 67 Olivia Dean Messy 32,000 150,000 74 74 CoCoMelon Nursery Rhymes By CoComelon 30,000 380,000 75 72 Taylor Swift Folklore 30,000 1,010,000 76 76 Avicii Avicii Forever 30,000 100,000 77 75 Eminem Curtain Call 2 30,000 540,000 81 80 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 28,000 350,000 83 84 Little Mix Between Us 28,000 690,000 87 88 The Killers Rebel Diamonds 27,000 270,000 91 91 Raye My 21st Century Blues 27,000 270,000 93 89 Dave The Boy Who Played The Harp 26,000 130,000 94 93 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 26,000 370,000 98 98 Fontaines DC Romance 26,000 300,000 99 94 J Cole The Fall-Off 26,000 - 100 Nirvana Nirvana 25,000 1,580,000

Quite a few that could work for Track 1: Show Me Heaven Nothing Compares 2 U Killer Vogue It Must Have Been Love

Well done AllStar - a fab track. And most of my votes made the Top 10 this time. Pleased to have 3 out of 3 Top 10 finishes in CB now, but a Top 5 eludes me still!

Showing my Stan colours - “Yesterday” is nowhere in my top Beatles songs and still managed 47 oops!

I don’t think I’ll ever enter BJSC for this reason, plus I like the anonymity.