10
|
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Artist link: 47 48
KT appeared on the music scene as a sassy darkhaired guitar-strutting Scot with attitude. This is exactly what comes through on this tune. This song is one to get the toe tapping and soon you'll be singing along to the chorus. Did I hear someone say that she's the modern day Suzi Quattro???? I'll leave that open to further debate.
Veronica S
No of votes: 11, Score:
55, Highest vote: 2nd
|
 |
|
9
|
Coldplay - Speed Of Sound
Artist link: 2  3  4 6  8 17 24 25 26 45
With the release of their third album, X&Y, and this, the first single from that CD, Coldplay have cemented their position as the new golden boys of British music and, thanks to a headline slot at this year's Glastonbury and a UK tour that included two nights at Crystal Palace, they have made the step up from the arena circuit to stadia without breaking a sweat. Chart domination should have been assured too, but an annoying Mr C Frog pipped them to the top spot with his Axel F cover. The less said about that the better, instead just lose yourself in this track and its huge, symphonic sound, all swirling piano and driving drums, and when the chorus lifts off, if you're not spinning around, arms outstretched in a Chris Martin-style, I suggest you log onto Amazon and buy yourself a copy of the aforementioned amphibian's album, because it's probably more your cup of tea.
Greg B
No of votes: 11, Score:
63, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
8
|
The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
This was almost the soundtrack to a road accident when I didn't leave myself much time to leave the M5 when on the way to Birmingham - it was certainly in my head if it wasn't on the radio. But, it wasn't the Chem's fault. I do love a bit of insistence in a song. Scarcely do I understand what's being said staccato-fashion. Quite why it's interwoven with a violin-esque sound from the region of the Indian sub-continent is also beyond my understanding. It works though.
P Shoo
No of votes: 12, Score:
55, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
7
|
Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger
The college drop-out returns for another semester, and this time he's teamed up with Oscar-winning flava of the month Jamie Foxx to serve up a bouncy hip-hop cautionary tale about women taking advantage of men who are too dumb to realise. In lesser hands it could have been overly-laboured, overly-cynical and overly-misogynistic, but the K-man's lyrical wizardry, dark humour and confident charm keep things just on the right side of fun. A word of caution - if you've only ever heard the radio edit you might be surprised (even alarmed) by the rampant use of the N-word in the uncut version and, should you happen to blast said version across your back garden during a nice, family barbecue, expect to get a few frosty looks from your guests. And yes, I do speak from experience. This is how we roll!
Greg B
No of votes: 12, Score:
60, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
|
|
5
|
Madonna - Hung Up
Artist link:6  40  43
If ever proof were needed to support the belief that those artistic types have to have a little pain and misery in their lives to produce their best work, you only need to look at Madonna between the years 2001 & 2005. In the opening few years of the twenty-first century she was head over heels in love with a Guy. Her creative output from this period? Die Another Day (which reached 122 with a bullet in the Top 50 of 2002) and American Life (a massive 218 in 2003's chart). By late 2004 reports started to emerge that all was not well in Casa Ciccone and maybe Mr Ritchie wasn't Mr Right after all. She disappears into the studio to boxercise her demons into submission and comes out with this track - five minutes of thumping disco wrapped around an ABBA sample and wearing sparkly hot-pants. Result!
Greg B
No of votes: 13, Score:
87, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
4
|
Athlete - Wires
Artist link:34
After the bouncy pop of Vehicles & Animals Athlete seem to have thrown away the happy pills, because their second album, Tourist, is a much more sombre (for which you could read "grown up") affair. Wires, the first single to be taken from the album, isn't really the kind of thing that you would expect to become a hit - it's slow, it's dirgy, it has lyrics about corridors and automatic doors. But what it also has is heart, bags of the stuff, almost certainly a result of the very personal subject matter (lead singer Joel Pott watching his new baby daughter fighting for survival in a hospital incubator after being born prematurely), and that's what transforms it from being just a mildly diverting tune into one of the most uplifting and life-affirming songs of the year.
Greg B
No of votes: 14, Score:
85, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
3
|
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc
Artist link:6 15 15 28
Four years on from Gorillaz's ground breaking first album and you might have expected a line up change or two, and for the remaining members to be showing the ill effects of those years of touring and substance abuse. But no, 2005 finds 2D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle relatively unscathed by the passage of time (how do you 'age' a cartoon character?) and having penned another collection of dark, urban tunes from the brink of the apocalypse (over dramatic, moi?), of which this is possibly the darkest about the industry of pleasure. So not the feel good anthem of the summer, then...
Isaac H
No of votes: 16, Score:
72, Highest vote: 2nd
|
 |
|
2
|
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
Artist link: 4 37 41 44
The vague smell of Leeds hangs over this adrenalin-fuelled anthem, which is one of the 21st century's most visceral musical thrills. This is the theme to the best cop drama never made, making your pulse rate rise with every drum beat, every piece of wry humour and every throaty yell that anticipates the chorus, or the riot, or both. While The Kaiser Chiefs are forecasting disorder, you imagine them looking on wide-eyed through the soon-to-be-broken windows of the pub across the road, rather than themselves being the angry mob, no matter what they may subsequently have had you believe. It's the sound of a band confirming that modern life is rubbish, but suggesting that you'd regret going back to the safety and discomfort of your box room just yet.
Danny G
No of votes: 21, Score:
143, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
1
|
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Artist link:14 15 22 42
Every once in a while, a record comes out that causes so much commotion that it becomes an anthem for a generation. The ultra-trendy few might have already got the debut EP some months before, but this was the first single proper from the Sheffield quartet - a furious sub-3-minute indie rout with more than a dose of punk rawness thrown in, turning it into the musical equivalent of a Depth Charge (a beer with a shot dropped in). And it's not only the music that gets the crowd moshing, Alex Turner's lyrics tell tales of inner city life with all the maturity of a seasoned poet - which was all the reason more why the song shot straight to number one. If you want proof of the phrase "from the sublime to the ridiculous", look no further than Peter Crouch's robot dance goal celebration in tribute to the most famous line in the song. It does however show that when even Premiership footballers' know it, you know you're cruising in the stratosphere.
Jason M
No of votes: 25, Score:
207, Highest vote: 1st
|
 |
|
Site designed by Jason "He Plays Music" Mansfield, 2009
(you see, I couldn't be arsed to do it in 2005, but in 2009 we came back and did it retrospectively).
Thanks go to the following people for assisting with getting together our comprehensive aide-memoire: Greg B, Kat B, Dan Mc
A MASSIVE THANKS also to all those who slaved over a hot keyboard to produce the write ups: Danny G, Paul H, Kat B, Andrew S, Isaac H, P Shoo, Jon B, Dan Mc, Harley R, Emyr I, Greg B, Veronica S, John M, John C
