Chez Wombat

Didn't take long for this to get ridiculous, I will be livid if I have to pay my license fee money to appease this scumbag, the right have long hated the BBC and want it gone or replaced by a GB News-alike and errors of judgement (minor really, but dumb and unnecessary given there was so many other ways to show he did it than editing a clip) like this is like catnip.

I believe it was you and Vulker/Vulkyria joint hosting iirc x

BJSC 64 where the hosts disappeared midway through and mods had to step in and go to One Big Final, and the semis weren't revealed I think until a year later or something, was an experience

12. Jennifer Lopez - Get Right #1 for 1 week W/E 26th February #23 in EOY Jenny from the Block was going for a literal Rebirth on her fourth album, after a successful movie and music breakout from the Latino market in the late 90s/early 00s, J-Lo received some scrutiny due to the breakdown of her public relationship with Ben Affleck and tabloid depiction of her as a diva, not helped by them both starring in box office bomb and widely ridiculed romcom, Gigli. The album was hoped to lead to a new start for her, and though it overall wasn't as successful as her last few in the US and led to brief career blip in the years that followed, the lead single was very successful. Get Right was a move to a more R&B, funk influenced sound and contains heavy use of the horn and saxophone riff from Maceo and the Macks' Soul Power The song itself managed number 1 in the UK with far healthier sales than had been before and gave us some much needed new music, and also #12 in the US, with it's video getting heavy airplay on MTV at the time. After a slight career decline in the later part of the 2000s, helped by a stint on American Idol, she would go on to have a revival by getting a third UK number 1 in 2011 and some successful acclaimed film roles later in the decade. The tale behind the scenes that led to this song's conception is interesting though - It was produced by Rich Harrison (fresh off Crazy in Love's fame) and was conceived in collaboration with Usher for his Confessions album originally called Ride, he wasn't satisfied with it and it was left off the final tracklist, Harrison decided to rework it and give it to J-Lo, but without Usher's consent which led to a bit of resentment on his part when it became a hit. Usher's version is on YouTube and did sometimes get played at the same time by DJs. There's another player here though - while he was with Usher, Harrison was already working with another up and comer called Amerie and a song of his, 1 Thing, was favoured for her, but the label wouldn't allow her to release it, keeping it in mind for J-Lo who had expressed interest. Not taking no for an answer, Harrison and Amerie leaked it to radio in late 2004 where response was positive and though the label tried to suppress it, they weren't successful and Harrison instead compromised with giving J-Lo's Usher's Ride which became Get Right. I suppose J-Lo didn't do too badly out of it here as it outsold it in the year (not sure if that's still the case, though 1 Thing was bigger in the States and critically) So I've always liked this song but knowing that story does give me a whole new perception, I'm not sure how I missed it before reading some commentaries on it but WOW, this does sound like a second rate 1 Thing doesn't it? I mean, it's not like it's a blatant rip-off, it's the same producer, but he really wasn't giving this the same attention 1 Thing got and it shows. I mean, I won't compare them for the whole review as that seems harsh - I still like Get Right, I've always been quite fond of it even if it isn't up with J-Lo's best work. The main issue really is her voice is just not very strong and can't really add a lot that the horns don't already, and yeah the track does lean a bit too much on the horns that could make someone already irritated positively explode, though I've always thought the sample works well. It's still a lot of fun though, the beats work great and J-Lo is at least good at steering the song into that danceable chorus which is what the track is aiming for. I think wit a different singer it could've really been a modern classic, but as it stands, it's still enjoyable, but more of an of the time thing than one that transcends that.

13. U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own #1 for 1 week W/E 19th February #76 in EOY U2's second single from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb had been around as a song for a while before the album and was initially in draft stage in the All That You Can Leave Behind era's recording inspired as Bono learned his father had terminal cancer with a working title of Tough reflecting Bono's own impression of his father. They spent extensive time rehearsing but couldn't quite make the song work and it was not included on the album. His father died in 2001 and Bono sang a version of it at his funeral. They revisited the song for their next era and finally realised that they were missing that key chorus and it was what gave the song it's new name. It was their second number 1 from the album and marked the first time one of their albums had more than one number 1 (and they very nearly managed 3 with City of Blinding Lights later in the year if it weren't for that pesky Frog). It is to date their final number 1 in the UK and they slowly transitioned to a legacy/album act in the UK in the digital era, though there certainly was an attempt at adapting to the iTunes market in 2014 with...probably not the response they were hoping for xx This is definitely not a particularly memorable number 1 both in their back catalogue or on its own, it's one of the lowest selling of the year, and it was something I didn't hold on high regard from them despite being a fan, although I will admit it's grown on me quite a bit recently. Quite the opposite to the huge, stadium filling Vertigo, Sometimes... does work as an expression of genuine emotions and not designed to do this artificially. The lyrics are really raw and Bono's slightly understated vocals and tone throughout I think works well in showing his vulnerability and honest emotion, it's at time conflicted reflecting their sometimes distant yet respectful attitufe to them such as 'I don't need to hear you say/That if we weren't so alike/You'd like me a whole lot more'. It's got a similar tone to One, which had that raw yet quiet vocal and powerful lyricism. All that said, I still wouldn't rank it as one of their best, it still doesn't quite have that timeless sound they were so good at and the ultimate moment it builds up to is nice, but doesn't stand up to some of their greatest choruses. It's one I appreciate the sentiment of and is a nice listen, but don't return to it all that often.

30; Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God 29; Father John Misty - Screamland 28; Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! 27; Cure - Alone 26; Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us 25; Charli xcx (feat. Lorde) - Girl, so confusing 24; Vampire Weekend - Capricorn 23; Billie Eilish - Chihiro 22; Magdelena Bay - Cry For Me 21; English Teacher - R&B 20; Fabiana Palladino - I Can’t Dream Anymore 19; Charli xcx - Von dutch 18; Magdalena Bay - Death & Romance 17; Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso 16; Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather 15; Ariana Grande - We can't be friends (wait for your love) 14; JADE - Angel Of My Dreams 13; FKA Twigs - Eusexua 12; Charli xcx - 360 11; Linkin Park - The Emptiness Machine 10; Fontaines D.C. - Starburster 09; Addison Rae - Aquamarine 08; Charli xcx (feat. Billie Eilish) - Guess 07; Charli xcx feat. Ariana Grande - Sympathy is a Knife 06; Tyler, The Creator - Noid 05; Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em 04; Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy) 03; Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I Runaway) 02; Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim 01; Last Dinner Party - Sinner Sorry I’m late, but couldn’t miss out on one of the best years for pop music recently ❤️

First time in a while that all my votes qualified! Finals gonna be a bloodbath if Semi 1 brings it x

Eledan was a wonderful entry, it reminded me of Original Pirate Material in places <3

Ayy, random.org being kind to me *.* I was quite confident with this, but you never know and especially in a semi so competitive! Persephonia definitely back on form with that one so hopefully a bigger hit in the final, POPHub a wonderful unexpected gem as well x And two great Qs there too!

Yes indeed (one addition in my commentary I forgot to include x), there's not a lot of information online but Ring Ding Ding by Pondlife was a track that happened to sample the same Crazy Frog sound as Axel F and have very similar cover art, to me clearly intended to make a quick bit of money off people that couldn't tell the difference. Apparently to avoid legal issues with Jamster (even though they claimed they had the idea first), they recorded the frog sounds themselves, it somehow got a label’s attention and got all the way to number 11 and had an OK chart run! It's still on YouTube, got a bit more of a garage vibe to it.

Director General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness have resigned as a result of a published memo by the Telegraph that recommended that Panorama edit two parts of Donald Trump's speech in 2021 to make it look like he explicitly encouraged violence. BBC NewsBBC director general Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turne...It comes after a leaked memo criticised the editing of a documentary about Donald Trump and accused the BBC of bias in a number of areas. Annoying that it's a bias against Trump of all things, but putting my thoughts on him aside, that is a big journalism no-no and a correct response. Potentially a good opportunity for Labour here to get someone in less obviously favoured by the opposition, or maybe they'll go back to the old reform so that the government don't have a say. I would hope they would depoliticise it overall, and it's reporting can now be unbiased as it should be. I noticed yesterday they were so quick to report that the Algerian escaped prisoner had happened in October 2024, before realising it was earlier and could've been under the last government, just frothing at the mouth to continue this divisive narrative. (Changed the thread title also as we are potentially approaching the era of Reform Bias, joy xx)

Deandria ❤️Glad that didn't need my help in the end, maybe I was underestimating the appeal x

Godley And Creme - Under Your Thumb The Police - Invisible Sun Altered Images - Happy Birthday New Order - Everything's Gone Green Laurie Anderson - O Superman I have decided that something like the Birdie Song can't be ranked alongside these other mere songs, it wouldn't be fair on them x Shoutout to Portsmouth Sinfonia which might just be the worst sounding song I've heard (but fascinatingly so).

(I think that's all the uniquely of their time number 1s now so the remaining commentaries shouldn't quite be as long )

14. Crazy Frog - Axel F #1 for 4 weeks W/E 4th June-W/E 25th June #3 in EOY I suppose you were all wondering when this was to come, well here it is! A song that is probably rooted in a place and time so far in this list, Crazy Frog was the creation of Swedish actor and playwright Erik Wernquist. The inspiration for this came when Wernquist encountered a recording of a student, Daniel Melmadahl, imitating sound effects produced by a two stroke engine. It was uploaded on a website and eventually caught the attention of TV researchers where it was performed live on air and became a donwloadable MP3 that was shared widely in the early days of the internet and file sharing. Fast forward to the 2003 where Wernquist found this and was inspired to create a creature imitating these sounds using 3D Modelling, dubbing it The Annoying Thing, it was a popular attraction in the pre-YouTube days, and Melmadahl eventually called Wernquist to confirm it was him to receive a credit, and one of the first internet memes was born. Before the story continues though, it is important to understad something the huge popularity of ringtones at the time though. With the leaps forward in making phones mobile and as we are still pre-smartphone, songs were finding a new home here and sales of ringtones were quite insane, they were higher than CD sales for some songs and were even projected to take them over in the dismal state they got to, and some songs were genuinely making more money through ringtones than CDs. In addition, there was nothing the public loved more than hearing sound effects and novelty rubbish on their phones. I could not count the number of ad breaks at the time where there was ten random sound novelty sound effects or catchphrases, there were many characters such as Sweetie the Chick, Nessie the Dragon and that's where the frog comes in. Market leaders, Jamster spied an opportunity from the internet hype in 2004 and turned the Annoying Thing into Crazy Frog, a change Wernquiest didn't approve of but he'd already sold it off so didn't make any money from it nor was Melmadahl credited as a writer, a classic bit of innocent fun turned capitalist venture. But with the huge popularity of the ringtone, a song was bound to follow it and it was chosen to be a reworking of Axel F 2003 by the Off-Cast project with the added frog vocals, which was itself a remix of the banging synth instrumental from Harold Faltermeyer which peaked at number 2 in 1985 and served as the theme tune to Beverly Hill Cop. With additional production from the German eurodance group Bass Bumpers and Wolfgang Boss (what a name x) and a ridiculous marketing campaign where it took up multiple commercial breaks on the main channels (the ASA had to put out a statement as they received complaints for the frequency), Crazy Frog's Axel F went on to become a massive summer hit, reaching number 1 in ten other countries and even charting in Japan where it wasn't widely known. They marketed the hell out of this thing, there was merchandise, video games and even a potential animated film and TV Series which were thankfully cancelled, Crazy Frog managed three other hits. a reworking of Popcorn and some Christmas covers of Jingle Bells and Last Christmas and three albums were churned out but only one made the top 5. The character was retired in 2009 as interest faded with the quick descent of the ringtone market. There was a revival attempted in 2020 and even a new single in 2021 possibly trying to bank in on nostalgia, but sadly this frog had hopped on. So why have I ranked this dated piece of novelty trash so high? Well, several reasons, as you can see I'm quite fond of nostalgia and that does definitely apply here, I do definitely remember this guy popping up here, and at my age, I always found it kinda funny (I don't think I actually had a phone at the time, it may have been this year or the year after I got my first one), but also I'm more OK with novelty songs as I don't think this was ever really intended to be good - it's a song based off a ringtone and while many loved it, it wasn't called the annoying thing for anything and many got wound up by it, it's kinda like Mr Blobby, it's not written with quality in mind so it's hard to judge it as that, but dare I say it, it's not THAT bad? Lazy yes, Dated yes, but arguably works pretty well for what it is, the Frog can do his scat and the instrumental can maintain its epic, danceable features. The first part of 2005 was so barren for any sort of creativity and classic songs that it honestly stands out as at least something different. It's dated, trashy and a product of it's time, but I still can't help but enjoy it so halfway between songs that genuinely work well as songs and the naff and boring stuff feels right.

15. McFly - All About You / You've Got a Friend #1 for 1 week W/E 19th March #6 in EOY A Comic Relief double x McFly were in the prime of their career at this point and the Comic Relief telethon was still event viewing, so it made sense to make them the ambassadors for the official comic relief single, and indeed it's their biggest selling single and one of the only ones to have a stable chart run. A double a-side of an original and a cover of a classic song. All About You was written by Tom Fletcher for his then-girlfriend and now wife as a valentine gift, and with BBC backing, it felt like their biggest release yet, with a string choir and star-studded, comedic video accompanying it. If Amarillo was the more names of the past, then this video is more of a who's who of more current entertainment names of the time, including Fearne Cotton, Graham Norton, Johnny Vegas and many more. Harry Hill also plays a security guard who refuses to let Harry Judd in to the recording studio as he's a Busted fan which still raises a smile. It was released as a double a-side with their cover of Carole King's You've Got a Friend, originally recorded in 1971 as part of her Tapestry album, it was best known when a version by James Taylor was released as a single and reached number 4 here, another version was recorded by the Brand New Heavies which charted at number 9 in 1997, but it wasn't until this version where it did what James Taylor's version did in the US and topped the charts. I always quite liked McFly, I wasn't old enough to be cynical of them and wasn't really the target audience that was head over heels for them, but they made quite likeable pop rock songs. All About You was another one weirdly enough that was resurrected in the 2020 pandemic, I guess as people were looking at older songs for comfort, with a new recorded video featuring McFly at home with their family members, and Danny with his chickens x Still it was nice hearing it and I actually think it holds up very well today, it's just hard to really fault it's sincerity and it never quite slips into sickliness, and the orchestral backing and building tempo really give it some life so that it doesn't stay the same throughout, it's still a lovely listen. It would be a bit higher but I have to judge both songs - I didn't hear You've Got a Friend much at the time as it got far less airplay and only vaguely recall it from the Now album, it's a pleasant cover that doesn't stray too far from King's original and never really lifts off enough to be anything other than passable, it was an appropriate song to include at the time, but I can't see a reason to seek it out these days. The video is also one that hasn't aged well for different reasons to those discussed above - in contrast to the comedic video to All About You, this video sees the boys going to Uganda to help out, performing for the impoverished children there and having them sing the chorus at the end. It was the sort of well-meaning VTs that were all over the Comic Relief telethons and nowadays, poverty porn is somewhat appropriate as it reinforces steretypes of Africa being helpless without the west and the white saviour syndrome, as well as some questions in this more interconnected age of just what is being done with all this money raised by governments and why communities never see any improvement. It's uncomfortable viewing these days and especially so for me as I was really worried at looking like this when I did volunteering abroad in an impoverished school in South Africa and it made me tentative about doing it again, but like Amarillo, it's hard to hold it against the singers themselves who were only doing what they were told. Still, it's pretty dull even without that and I'll go on record to say my favourite version of this song is genuinely from the AA advert, they give it a much needed dramatic, rousing feel, a banger x https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLl67lt1yZY

16. Tony Christie feat. Peter Kay - (Is This The Way to) Amarillo #1 for 7 weeks W/E 26th March- W/E 7th May #1 in EOY There was certainly something in the air with regards to retro songs in early 2005 for sure. ...Amarillo was originally a minor top 20 hit in 1971 for Tony Christie, despite the Texas city it was named after, it didn't make particularly big waves in the States and was more popular in Europe, becoming a number 1 hit in Germany and Spain. He had bigger hits in the UK so one could probably not have predicted that this would be the first song people associate with him nowadays, but the song was resurrected when it was used in the Peter Kay comedy Phoenix Nights, while I never watched this, I do definitely remember him being a big name at the time and so he was perhaps the most appropriate one to turn this into something of a phenomen. Comic Relief singles had existed for a while now, and while the official one was still released the yeat (more on that later), for the first time in 2005, they released an unofficial single with more of a comic feel than the standard charity ballad/cover usually influenced by a popular comedy at the time, in this case, on the back of it's recent exposure in Kay's series, they re-released Christie's song with the added addition of a video which features Kay miming the song while doing a jolly jog towards the camera with various green-screen backgrounds and accompanied by various light entertainment celebrities walking with him, while various stars from Phoenix Nights made cameos, there was soap stars, comedians, singers and children's entertainers and their puppets AKA a host full of 'national treasures;, it was a very retro and kitschy vibe to it that parents and grandparents could recognise and their children could enjoy the whimsy and colour of it all. It's easy to see why it was one of the last big hits of the physical era in a year like 2005, released the week after the official Comic Relief single, it stayed at the top for 7 weeks and was the only song to pass a million sales within the year. Amarillo's legacy would continue over Comic Relief and the next few additions had the release pattern of an 'official' release from a current pop group and unofficial release mainly based around a comedy show featuring comedians, it would go on until 2011 where the gradual digitalisation of both music and 'event' television caught up with it, where they stuck with an official release played as a more straight pop song for the next few additions until 2019 where they pretty much became non-existent reflecting the public's fading interest in the telethons. Peter Kay has an official credit, but doesn't sing on the record at all, it is a straight re-release of Christie's song from 1971 with just an added new video, but tbf, that was certainly what people were buying it for which he did have some part in. It remained a charming if kitsch little watch until many years later when a certain national treasure featured turned out to be one of the biggest and prolific child sex offenders and predators who ever lived, and while his crimes weren't common knowledge in 2005, allegations and general vibes were shifting that way which those giving him power chose to look away and defend him. Even though Jimmy Saville only features in it for less than thirty seconds, it's still noticeable and the video has since been re-edited. The version linked above is the most recent 2020 version uploaded to Kay's main channel (though you can find the original on YouTube if you so wish, frustratingly it's probably the better one musically as this one cuts the intro and part of the second chorus so it doesn't flow as well). Still the video has withstanded it somewhat, it even resurrected Tony Christie's career briefly when an England World Cup version was released next year and was popular amongst key workers during the pandemic for whatever reason, so much so that it was resurrected as part of BBC's Big Night In with a new video featuring clips of key workers doing the classic walk along with original clips. So all that said, it's a little hard to rank this personally. I have some good memories of seeing this as part of the Comic Relief telethon and at the time, thought it was quite genius even if I didn't watch Phoenix Nights, and I'd be lying if I said I still don't find it quite charming if we ignore the obvious, Sooty and Sweep, Keith and Orville and Ronnie Corbett and Mr Blobby's fall are still funny even if it does read like a who's who of the most inoffensive light entertainment you can get. It was a fun, cheesy big band number and though it's not as charming without the video, it kinda has the same appeal - dated but still charming. Even with Saville tainting the video though, it's still undeniably a dated big band 70s song and it's not really something I'd unironically come back to, but like a lot of these, it does have that nostalgia attached that I can rank it higher that some others so far. I've not much else to say so we'll just end this sparing a thought for Sally Lindsay who featured alongside Saville in the video, as if St. Winifreds wasn't bad enough...

17. Elvis Presley - One Night/I Got Stung #1 for 1 week W/E 15th January #151 in EOY With a well timed campaign and just a bit of corporate cynicism as detailed in the last post, Elvis achieved the 1000th number 1. This was the 3rd song released in the campaign and if not for Ciara briefly breaking the gap, would've been the third in a run of four straight number 1s, succeeded a week after by It's Now or Never. One lovely bit of chart symmetry is it was the fourth double a-side to hit number 1 and was also the fourth last, and the last by an artist that wasn't McFly. One Night was originally recorded by Smiley Lewis two years earlier, it was seen as a bit racy at the time and Elvis' managers were reluctant to approach it due to the racy lyrics referring to 'One Night of Sin is what we're paying for', positively scandalous I tell thee x Elvis found a way around it though by changing the lyric to 'One Night with you is what I'm praying for' to give it a little more subtlety to its urges, it has since been covered by artists. I Got Stung is an original song and the more lesser known of the two. Clocking in at under two minutes, it's one of the shortest songs to reach number 1. It was also the last song Elvis recorded in the 50s prior to his military service. I didn't actually hear these until recently with the Synctube sessions - One Night is pretty typical of the Bluesy rock and roll sound he had found his niche in, with its pounding guitar in the intro slowing down with his raspy, soulful voice, it's hard not to appreciate the raw talent here with just his voice and a few instruments making the song come alive, but ultimately it's one of many slower 50s songs that just aren't really for me, it's too slow and doesn't have enough variation to interest me and though I definitely appreciate his vocals, it's on the more grating side here and perhaps takes over a bit too much of the track for me to get into it, I Got Stung on the other hand is a much more upbeat, bouncy little rock and roll jam, which I imagine would've sounded quite fun on the dancefloor at the time x With goofy repeated lyrics and a few 'uh huhs' thrown in, he's having a great time and its hard not to feel that with him and it definitely doesn't outstay it's welcome, it's pretty much everything Elvis did well and think it deserves to be much better known than it is. It's something of a last hurrah as well in context he really descended into autopilot mode with his movie career. An evenly balanced A-Side overall so middle of the three Elvis entries I think works out fine x

Oh wow, absolutely love a final twist, that was amazing. Alan has made some terrible mistakes so far, but that last shot at Joe was a masterstroke, and what poor judgement from Joe there switching at the last minute, though I did see it coming as he was just a bit too trusting in Nick. Really pleased for Alan, such a wholesome person and the loyalty to Cat until the end was really nice.

(I should add that however much of a soft spot I have for it, Lonely beating Feel Good Inc. to number 1 is one of the biggest chart injustices ever x)

I mean it looks very nice and all, but I can't really not see this as a little awkward, especially so with the legal cases ongoing, the news of reshoots, pushback and the criticism from his own daughter. I can't see how they can honestly tell an effective story here when there was so much about him we'll likely never know and they legally cannot show as the Jackson Estate's involved. I'm sure it will be big and the discourse will keep it going for months, but I'm not really that interested. But honestly my main reason for that isn't even the subject (art from artist etc.) it's more that I'm sure it will be the Bohemian Rhapsody style typical, generic, crowd friendly music biopic which I just find so predictable and unexciting.

18. Akon - Lonely #1 for 2 weeks W/E 7th May-W/E 14th May #7 in EOY Here we are with the first number 1 for Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam...or just Akon x He arrived with two rather distinct breakout hits - two months before (a whole year after it's initial release in the States), Locked Up was his debut, marketed as a 'street record' and intended to build credibility , with some hard-hitting lyrics about the ongoing incarceration of young black people (apparently inspired by his own experience, but this was never proven), it peaked at number 5 here and the next step is to really break him commercially which is where Lonely comes in, a far more conventional love song taking a sample of Bobby Vinton's 1964 hit Mr Lonely and pitching it up to give it that Chipmunk Soul label that was popular for a while. This also made it fit in quite well with the growing ringtone landscape (more on that later x). Cynical strategy, but it worked perfectly, Lonely got to number 1 in nine countries and would pave the way for him to become one of the biggest hit makers of the next few years, getting several hits for the next four years. He would have a few hits through features in the early 2010s, but otherwise went almost completely quiet musically, focusing on philathropic works like Akon Lighting Africa, with many attempted comebacks after which did nothing and/or were postponed. His most prolific project post 2010 would be Akon City, a now abandoned crypto based project which...I don't have time to go into right now, but do look it up if you're not aware, it's a ride x I know a lot would rank this lower and I do get why this would be supremely irritating, but it is one I have a lot of nostalgia for. Helped by being on Now 61 which I spammed repeatedly that year, I can't count how many times I heard this on TV, radio, ringtones and watching amateur online parody videos and songs (the one that sticks in my mind is this random Indian parody replacing Lonely with Curry, which I found quite funny at the time and realise is so blatantly racist now, sorry, cancel me etc. x). I'll always look back on it fondly, but likewise with JCB, it's definitely not something I'd seek out much these days, but I'd still take this over most of his discography, which is all very throwaway and rancid lyrically as well as his voice really grating on me. I think he actually sounds alright here, quite soulful and restrained and I do like the idea of the song as an modern duet with a 50s ballad, I think it could've really worked if not for the Chipmunk sound effect, I don't mind it and does make it sound fairly unique as a ballad, and again as a pre-teen hearing a high-pitched voice like that was the sort of thing that humoured me, but it definitely ruins any kind of emotional connection he was going for and gives it more of a novelty feel that it probably didn't intend for (similar thing with Ironik's Stay With Me a few years later, which had a much darker subject matter). I completely get why this one is so maligned, but it's one of those classic time capsules that defines the year, so I can't hold a lot of resentment.

19. Oasis - Lyla #1 for 1 week W/E 28th May #31 in EOY Almost ten years on from their and Britpop's stratospheric peak, it's safe to say the Oasis juggernaut was certainly not quite what it was, off the back of a frostily received Glastonbury performance, this would be, to date at least, the year where they got their final number 1s before their initial split in 2009, though they didn't pick a bad end as it was the first where they had more than one in a calendar year. Lyla was the lead single from Don't Believe the Truth, their sixth album and first to not feature Alan White, their long time drummer after he left the band (possibly though not entirely related to a brutal brawl he got in with Liam which landed them both in prison and needing medical care), though the album was seen as a return to form after their last two efforts. The song itself duly became their seventh number 1, though Noel has never been particularly complimentary of it (and the choice of it as a lead fuelled tensions between the band and record label and led to them not renewing their contract initially) calling it 'not even the fifth best track on the album', 'specifically designed for pogoing' and 'poppiest thing since Roll With It', he has come round to it through when performing it live, though it still did not feature in their recent reunion tour. It's weird ranking a song from one of my favourite bands so low, but I don't think it's controversial to see Oasis released some really pedestrian work in the 2000s, and this was one of those. Saying that, I'd definitely take it over the Hindu Times and Go Let It Out. it's got all the classic big guitars, the 'far and neeeyaaaarrr' line from Liam is fine and the chorus is cool singalong stuff, but it does just feel like Oasis on autopilot like many songs of this era, there's just nothing here that they haven't already done better in the last ten years and it just sounds so blatantly like they were running out of ideas. It's decent, but nowhere near top of the list of songs I go back to, Thankfully have more positive things to say about their other one here x

20. Nizlopi - JCB Song #1 for 1 week W/E 24th December #12 in EOY Now this really did come out of the blue. Nizlopi were a duo formed in Leamington Spa made up of vocalist Luke Colcannon and guitarist John Parker (the name based apparently on a Hungarian girl in member Luke's school he used to like), Luke Colcannon wrote this song at his parents' house based on a real life memory of when his father picked him up from school in a JCB Digger, and how this made him feel strong when he was bullied due to his dyslexia. Clearly being a bit of a hero for him, a plethora of imagery is likened to him like Bruce Lee and B.A Baracus and transforming into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The duo being completely unknown at first, the song could only manage as high as number 160 when originally released in June. They didn't stop there though and the rising superpower that was the internet and online marketing worked it's magic on them, and they started to develop a cult following amongst their online fanbases and promoted the song heavily across radios, receiving particular airplay from Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 show at the time, and eventually Animation studio, MonkeeHub, caught wind of it and released a rather lovely hand drawn animated video, which began to bring further attention to the song and made further buzz online being frequently shared via email (YouTube was born this year, though it's realisation wasn't quite there yet), even playing on ad breaks between TV shows and music channels. It was re-released in December and topped the charts, beating Westlife in the process, and was looking on course to be Christmas number 1, however even with two days advantage in sales, it couldn't compete the other rising superpower of X Factor. True one hit wonders in every sense, they only had one further song even making the top 100 (with another animated video which didn't quite have the same impact) and though they did release another album, they split in 2010, reuniting on and off until 2020, with Luke now working as a travel writer and John a freelance session double bassist. Their most interesting future link was that a then unknown Ed Sheeran was a guitar technician at their earlier gigs, and was influenced by their sound. I have so much nostalgia for this one, I remember first seeing the video on an ad break on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or something and I was a bit mystified, but I did find it quite charming and I honestly still do. I always love hand drawn animation and it really captures the childhood whimsy of the song perfectly, purely as an animated video with a song attached, I think it still works really well, but without that video as a song? Hmmm, well I like that they added a garage rap to the end to diversify it at least, but this is another one of those acoustic, emotional singer-songwriter type songs, and there's no subtext here, this has just about as just about the most cloying and cheesy lyrics you could get, and WOW they are bad...'the engine rattles my bum like beserk', 'me and my dad havin' a top larrrf' 'My dad's B.A. Barakas only with a JCB and Bruce Lee's nun chuckas'. I was just about the right age to get the nice childhood sentimentality of the lyrics and it certainly works well for a younger audience, but nowadays, it's quite hard not to cringe. I can't bring myself to dislike it, it's the right sentiment and worked in that moment as something completely genuine that made everyone feel a bit more warm inside, just don't think about it too much as a song x

21. McFly - I'll Be OK #1 for 1 week W/E 27th August #52 in EOY Coincidentally, You're Beautiful is beaten by the song that finally knocked it off. This is the first of two number 1s to feature here for McFly, who were in the prime of their career at this point, with their fourth overall just a year after debuting. It is probably safe to describe this as a 'non-number 1', given it's plummet to 8th place the next week and exiting the top 40 a month after debuting, indeed the second week drops became a bit of a McFly quirk. Starting life as two songs where the best parts were put into one, the song was selected to give listeners a positive, encouraging message, the intro is similar to that of The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again, a named influence of the group and the single coincidentally contains a B-side of their cover of Pinball Wizard. As you can tell by my tangents, I don't have a lot to say about this one. I do enjoy McFly though and 5 Colours in Her Hair and Obviously were both solid jams, I wasn't 'indie' enough at the time to find them uncool and wasn't quite the right audience to be absolutely head over heels for them, but their songs were enjoyable and I do find some things I quite liked about this - the guitar intro is great, the false ending and harmonising work well and they are clearly in their element, but asides, there's nothing here that you haven't already heard from them, it's also a little faceless and watered down lyrically and lacking the character and personality of some of their better songs. It just elicits no strong reactions and while I can't say anything bad about it, I have no reason to come back to it either, so just before the top 20 feels about right for it. TL;DR drumroll It's OK x