Chez Wombat

That is a surprise to see Ace of Base out, definitely the victim of a very competitive category. Admittedly was a strange choice though going with a cover when they've have had a lot more original material that fits, sad Life is a Flower never got the chance to shine! (Unless they come back ofc. x) Guitarradelafuente did feel inevitable at some point and admittedly I didn't rank this one very high, but I did like his two other entries and admire the risky and distinct approach. Nadia Oh definitely went out on a high, maybe not intentionally so but that chorus, rhyming London with London, that random 'Biatch' before that DIY production, an iconic song to exit on!

25; Visage - Fade To Grey 24; Oasis - Live Forever 23; Linkin Park - In The End 22; XTM & DJ Chucky presents Annia - Fly On The Wings Of Love 21; Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends 20; Robyn - Dancing On My Own 19; Coldplay - Violet Hill 18; Cerrone - Supernature 17; Groove Armada featuring Mutya Buena - Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) 16; Amy Winehouse - Back To Black 15; The Veronicas - Untouched 14; Muse - Time Is Running Out 13; Eagles - Hotel California 12; Katrina and the Waves - Walking On Sunshine 11; The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar 10; Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again 09; Evanescence - Going Under 08; Bananarama - Venus 07; Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver 06; Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 05; The Smiths - This Charming Man 04; Bob Marley and the Wailers - No Woman, No Cry (Live) 03; Wilkinson featuring Becky Hill - Afterglow 02; The Supremes - You Keep Me Hangin' On 01; Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? Much stronger of the two heats, had a few more I could've voted for

Thanks so much to everyone who pointed The Presets! I first discovered this through my 1001 songs to hear before you die book, despite the rousing chorus and club sounds, it's quite a dark song about asylum seekers to Australia being locked up in detention centres and it was intended to show solidarity with them hence 'locked up with my people' (this was back in 2007 so sadly some things never change throughout the world...), the production itself sounds very heavy and dark which adds to the vibe. It's become quite well known in Australia over the years, but not so much anywhere else. Very pleased it connected with enough of you for a top 10 (and great to see a 12 swap with Julian <3), and obviously fantastic to see my 10 pointer win as well, French Affair was also a great song and Lucky Twice was lodged in my head even if I didn't vote for it so a good top 3. My 12 was a wonderful discovery from Kaskade, I always enjoy them when I still hear their stuff and The White Stripes/Faithless were reliably good as well so good to see them do solidly. Thanks Rich for the wonderful hosting, gonna have a bit of a hangover from this party now x

Ah too late for me deciding the winner then Congrats to dhwe!

I am following, I just haven't been revealed yet so can't say too much! I will say the top of the scoreboard is generally looking very good though x

Cheeky Girls starting as they mean to go on naturally *__

The songs I heard last year felt a bit by the book for her after the genius of A&W, I'm definitely more into this unique sound. It's bizarre and definitely straight from the Disney villain songbook as mentioned, but the atmosphere and orchestra gives it a uniquely unsettling feeling, it's great to see that she's still got the ability to surprise people.

Well done on this phenomenal undertaking Joseph! It's been really great reading your thoughts and for me myself to reflect on them as well, it's made me realise why I turned into such a fan and how I still hold on hope that it can reach that greatness again one day (assuming it's going to get picked up again x) I couldn't possibly try to rank for myself, but I will try to do a rough top 5 of each era (discounting Fourteen as he only had three, but ftr, Wild Blue Yonder > Star Beast >>>> The Giggle) Ninth Doctor: Dalek Fathers Day The Empty Child/Doctor Dances Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways The Unquiet Dead Tenth Doctor (ooft this was tough x): Midnight Blink Human Nature/The Family of Blood Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead Army of Ghosts/Doomsday Eleventh Doctor: The Doctor's Wife (you are so wrong about this!!) The Day of the Doctor The Girl Who Waited Amy's Choice The God Complex Twenfth Doctor: Heaven Sent The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion Face the Raven Mummy on the Orient Express World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls Thirteenth Doctor: The Haunting of Villa Diodati The Power of the Doctor Demons of the Punjab Fugitive of the Judoon Flux Chapter Four: The Village of the Angels Fifteenth Doctor 73 Yards The Well Dot and Bubble Lux Lucky Day

Well final thoughts then! Vincent and the Doctor - An excellent episode and one that really set the standard for episodes involving historical figures, it manages to use it's concept to say something profound about the man himself rather than relying on the novelty value of having them in the episode, would be quite high up for me as well. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead - Probably my favourite two parter, the first half has some amazing shock moments in thge eerie setting and the ongoing 'hey who turned out the lights' build-up and Donna Noble leaving the library at the end, and the second half's reveal of Donna living a parallel world is really well done too. Up there with the scariest the show has been. The Waters of Mars - 'I've gone too far' is such a simple line delivered with so much menace, easily the best of the specials and a fantastic space under siege scenario with a great payoff that shows how arraogant and cold this version was becoming. Adelaide was a great guest star as well. Next two might involve gushing x Blink - This was my number 1 and may still be on a different day, it's definitely between that and the episode to come. Either way, it's all been said before but I still can't praise this episode enough - one of the most scary, tightly plotted and original ideas they've ever had, it was perhaps inevitable the Angels would become overused, but they are still utterly terrifying here, especially so when they still have the weeping expression but you notice subtle movements that make you feel that something's not right, also when the video of the Doctor is revealed to actually be watching her. Sally is a fantastic protagonist too and it's impressive we have an entirely new character that's really rootable. A masterpiece x Midnight - It may be that it's fresher in my head because of The Well, but this is still as close to perfect as any Doctor Who episode will be, and especially impressive given it was intended as a filler, budget episode. Not only is the monster minimalist and terrifying (this is still what I think is the only monster the Doctor hasn't been able to best even within an episode, and he would've likedly died without the intervention), with the long stretches of silence and staring and it gradually becoming more confident with speech as it overpowers the recipient. It's a great study of groupthink as well and how people react in a crisis (and a bit of subtle racism in how some of them treat the stewardess as well). I could talk forever about it, amazing episode. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - This is an episode it's tough for me to be objective about as I literally could not stop watching this as a young pre-teen and I have such nostalgia for it, but even when I'm older, I still really like it and it would likely be in my top 10 too. I think the cliffhanger is built up really well, the two aliens obviously work great off each other and Rose's departure is, yes, a little overwrought but it had to be, it was the kind of cruel, bittersweet finale that RTD1 really did well, and of course no mention of this episode can go without the ultimate sass-off between anyone ever: Heaven Sent - This would be third I think for me, I still wonder how on earth they got away with airing something this experimental and daring pre-watershed. Peter Capaldi had already found his rhythm this season, but this absolutely was his moment, the psychological torment and confict within himself is so beautifully bought to life, it's almost akin to a stage monologue rather than an episode. Moffat had his flaws, but no other showrunner could effectively show the sheer emotional weight that the Doctor carries round with him and the impact of life-changing experiences. Turn Left - Just like Midnight, a really effective standalone episode with the Doctor out of the picture now, it's something the show had never quite tried before and it really shows the impact on society and everyone's daily lives that the Doctor has, you can really feel the tension and pain as everything falls apart for Donna gradually, it sets up well for the gut-punch that would follow in the finale. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls - I don't know if this would quite be as high for me, but I do think this is a real highlight of an otherwise quite underwhelming season. World Enough and Time definitely does a lot of the heavy lifting, I think it's the scariest and profoundly the Cybermen have been portrayed so far (and remembering they are suffering people stripped of their emotions which is terrifying and they deserve to be portrayed better than just mindless robots) and Bill's departure is so powerful and tragic. The second part does suffer from some of the usual finale tactics, but the Master and Missy play off each other wonderfully and it was great to see John Simm back. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - While this wouldn't really be anywhere near as high for me, I do think you make a great case for it and similar to Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, it was something I was head over heels for at the time and so still have some fondness for it. My criticisms would be that it's a bit overstuffed and all over the place and the Daleks end up as comic foil when they looked more threatening than ever before, but other than that, it's a great send off for RTD1's era and gave every character a fitting role in a Dalek invasion, much more so than the even messier End of Time saga, I did also really appreciate that they actually went through with the cruel ending for Donna which added a lot of edge to the Doctor's character for the specials. One I do still have a lot of fondness for even if it's not a firm favourite.

I barely ever know that many songs already, but Mount Palomar and Smerz were just on my radar through 6Music and various EOY 2025 lists, same with Out of My Head last time x Would prefer Sunday or early next week for a listenthrough x

01; Conan Gray - Never Ending Song 02; George Michael - Too Funky 03; David Bowie - Modern Love 04; Fred again.. - Jungle (Rico Nasty Remix) 05; Troye Sivan - My My My! 06; The Weeknd - Take My Breath 07; Nik Kershaw - Dancing Girls 08; Ruel - YOU AGAINST YOURSELF 09; Guitarricadelafuente - Agua y Mezcal 10; Eric Saade feat. DEV - Hotter Than Fire 11; Shawn Mendes - There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back Great round across all categories this week, most of the top 7 here were new to me and could've been in any order.

01; ROSALÍA - Aute Cuture 02; FKA twigs - Perfectly 03; Kesha - Take It Off 04; Toni Braxton feat. Loon - Hit the Freeway 05; Delta Goodrem - Wings 06; Lily Allen - Everyone’s At It 07; LiSA - Another Great Day!! 08; Nadia Oh - Jump Out the Window Poor Nadia, I at least found it catchy x

01; Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous 02; The 1975 - The Sound 03; Florence + the Machine - Spectrum (Say My Name) [Calvin Harris Remix] 04; Calvin Harris feat. HAIM - Pray to God 05; The Corrs - So Young (K-Klass Remix) (This is my favourite Corrs song, the above four are massive favourites so can't go higher, but glad it's sent) 06; ABBA - SOS 07; Erasure - Sometimes 08; Blondie - Denis 09; Ace of Base - Cruel Summer (Big Bonus Mix) 10; The Chicks - Gaslighter 11; Atomic Kitten - I Want Your Love I quite liked all of these to some extent, hell of a tough round x

I've taught some students with the book before, so was interested to see this. I do think it was very good for the most part. I like that Jack Thorne turned what was a cut and dry post-colonial war allegory and humanised the characters and made it more contemporary with his insights on masculinity (as he is used to with his past body of work ofc. x). I really like how we finally got some crucial scenes from the book that were always left out of the film adaptations like the Beast talking to Simon, the boy with a birthmark going missing and the naval officer's speech, and I agree the acting from the boys was much better than previous adaptations and the atmosphere, cinematography and editing really put you in the place of the book. There were some liberties they took I wasn't a huge fan of (I'll spoiler them just in case people don't know the story) Spoilers While I like that they humanised Piggy (including giving him his real name!) and gave him some tender final scenes with Ralph, I felt that not having him die immediately from the boulder loosened the impact it had in the novel. I also wish they'd done a little bit more with the spiritual imagery with Simon. I think they did a really good job with Jack, but not so much Roger, he tended to blend in with Jack's other hunters when he's one of the very worst characters in the book. Overall, not as good as the book, but definitely a unique take on it and the best adaptation we're likely going to get of it.

Well I know every song here so (Pop Party tho >>>>) 08 Christina Aguilera - Genie In A Bottle 06 Sugababes - In The Middle 07 Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around 06 Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams My LA Ex 09 Avril Lavigne - Complicated 03 Atomic Kitten - Ladies Night 08 Destiny's Child - Survivor 06 Girls Aloud - Jump 08 P!nk - Get The Party Started 10 Mis-Teeq - Scandalous 06 Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From The Block 07 Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss 08 Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oooh!) 06 Christina Milian - AM To PM 05 Anastacia - I'm Outta Love 04 Delta Goodrem - Born To Try 05 Hilary Duff - So Yesterday 05 Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent 10 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor 06 Amy Studt - Misfit 04 Emma Bunton - Maybe 05 Stacie Orrico - (There's Gotta Be) More To Life 11 t.A.T.u. - All The Things She Said

Ooh two of these I know, Love the Mount Palomar one, I considered Pass the Parcel and this one but didn't want to recycle too soon after my one, hopefully a big hit here x Smerz was one of my favourites of last year as well so hoping that one does very well. Don't know anything else, but hopefully GERD is better than that triggering artist name (heartburn is horrible x) Hope we're ready for some nihilism x (not certain a lot of that semi will be oops)

Well yes, that's the issue. The stigma attached to it in the UK will always put off bigger artists, in other countries, Eurovision doesn't have that, so they actually get well known artists in their country coming forward. Couple that with the need to keep it radio-friendly and our current model is so restricted that I don't know what the people immediately dismissing it in this thread expect, it's why I will at least give them credit here (and last year as well tbf) that they are at least going with a more leftfield name and style.

Because the well known names are queueing up at the door to represent us I'm sure xx

I sense quite a few turned it down before him, but great artist choice, I really liked his BJSC entries (and the artist name is wonderful), I sense this one won't be quite as unique, but I think my interest is piqued enough to give it a listen (I still can't bring myself to watch on the night though).

Well, if you were scared by this one, you'd best not watch the full movie for The Wall granted this is probably the most disturbing part of it, though there's a hell of a lot of intense psychedelic imagery and disturbing war metaphors. The film was a mixed bag, at times wonderful but sometimes just not quite working (I thankfully wasn't a child when I saw it!), but I love the soundtrack and this would probably be my number 1 if not top 3 for this year, I first discovered it through the Eric Prydz remake, the guitar line, choir and atmosphere are all beautiful. With how few hits they had, it was good their biggest was one of the best. I have a soft spot for YMCA, but the Trump association does bring it down a bit these days, so not sure if it would be in my top 10.

01; Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama 02; HAIM - I Know Alone 03; Florence + the Machine - Queen of Peace 04; The Chicks - Not Ready to Make Nice 05; Blondie - Hanging On the Telephone 06; Erasure - So the Story Goes 07; Ace of Base - Beautiful Life 08; Atomic Kitten - If You Come to Me 09; The Corrs - I Never Loved You Anyway 10; The 1975 - Love Me 11; ABBA - Hole in Your Soul 12; Girlicious - Over You Top 6 are all great, two album highlights and Not Ready to Make Nice is a classic with a great story behind it, the Erasure song was also good discovery. Not top-tier ABBA or 1975 there sorry!

01; Conan Gray - Killing Me (Fair play, this is a well done song) 02; The Weeknd - A Lesser Man (much better than I expected coming from that disaster of a show!) 03; David Bowie - Young Americans 04; Guitarricadelafuente & Troye Sivan - midsummer pipe dream 05; Fred again.. - Berwyn (all that i got is you) 06; Nik Kershaw – Gone to Pieces 07; Shawn Mendes - Lost in Japan (Zedd Remix) 08; George Michael - Freeek! 09; Troye Sivan - Strawberries & Cigarettes 10; Eric Saade - Every Minute 11; Markus Riva - Forever 12; Ruel - Not What’s Going On

Amazing, that beats our total for 2022 and doubles our amount of Golds from there (and we weren't far from an additional bronze in that event)! Especially impressive how Weston managed to turn that around when we were looking at 4th after that first run.

01; Kesha - Blow (This may not happen again, but got to honour my favourite Kesha song!) 02; FKA twigs - Glass & Patron 03; Kelly Clarkson – Gone 04; Lily Allen - Who’d Have Known 05; ROSALÍA - DIABLO 06; LiSA - Gurenge (紅蓮華) (Michelle Branch - You Set Me Free - another nice song, farewell x) 07; Toni Braxton - You’re Makin’ Me High 08; Chappell Roan - Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl 09; Nelly Furtado & Tiësto - Who Wants to Be Alone (hoping this is a one-off!) 10; Nadia Oh - Taking Over the Dancefloor 11; Delta Goodrem - Sitting On Top of the World

Yes, I have a particular skill for remembering inconsequential things like this and I do keep them all in a playlist, so I do remember them all. Ofc. I don't listen to some of them at all these days and wonder why I sent them, but there's none that I at least don't remember how they go.