20
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Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Artist link: 1  19  40
It's easy to underestimate the significance of "Use Somebody" on the public perception of Kings of Leon. Sure, "Sex On Fire" was a huge hit, but if they couldn't follow it up, then the moment that was there to be seized might pass them by. They'd had top 20 hits before (The Bucket, On Call, Fans) and never managed to translate them into mainstream success. If they were going to cross-over now they needed a strong second single to get people who'd never considered themselves fans buying the album. "Use Somebody", with it's U2 feel and lighter-in-the-air lyrics was more than up to the task. I wouldn't be too surprised to find them headlining Wembley Stadium before the end of the decade.
Greg B
No of votes: 12, Score:
57, Highest vote: 1st
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19
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Take That - Greatest Day
Artist link: 6  7 21
Last year, I hailed Take That as the all-conquering boyband, sweeping all others out of their path like a giant snow plough! And here they are again, almost swaggering in the easiness of producing yet another quality tune. The Great British Public just can't help themselves - we're obliged to sing along and wave our arms in the air as the kings of the well-crafted pop song wash over us. No longer is it cool to say that Take That are rubbish, and yet listen to them secretly whilst hiding under your duvet with just a torch for light; we can be loud and proud and admit that, yes, we have been won over by Mark, Jason, Howard and Gary and we're sorry we denied ourselves for so long!
Kat B
No of votes: 12, Score:
63, Highest vote: 2nd
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18
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Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Artist link:17
"Do it do it do it now", "Say it say it say it now" the lyrics to 'Ready for the floor' taunt me as I sense the futility of trying to describe its interplanetary (okay, they're really from Putney) electro-pop, chirpy, beepy, irritating, irritating, irritating sound. In a parallel universe Hot Chip would have found success with their student forays into layered acoustic guitars and meaningful songs but instead they grew tired of it all and set out to produce "the most inane songs they could" and have now clocked up three well received albums of it, regularly (if begrudingly) making my top 10 of the year. But I'd still advise, when you're watching NME TV in 2009 and five oddball characters appear in front of a wash of primary colours carrying synths and cymbals - turn off! Before their next hit is on repeat play in your head till 2010...
Isaac H
No of votes: 12, Score:
68, Highest vote: 1st
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17
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Britney Spears - Womanizer
Artist link:5 31  32 39 39
I don't know what the word is for the man-hating equivalent of a misogynist, but there have been quite a few man-bashing songs of late. There's the God-awful Beyonce track "If I Were a Boy" which seems to imply that all men are lying, cheating, boozing bar stewards that go around kicking puppies. And then there's this one from Britney which just focuses on the lying and the cheating (so at least the puppies are safe). Whilst not in the same league as "Toxic" or "Oops I Did It Again", it's certainly not the car crash that it could have been, mainly thanks to the catchy, repetitive chorus ("You're a womanizer, like the Kaiser, drinking Tizer..."). I just hope that next time she says something nice about us men-folk. We're not all bad, honest.
Greg B
No of votes: 12, Score:
71, Highest vote: 1st
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16
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Pink - So What!
Artist link:18  22 39 49
Pink clearly shows that her desire to shock hasn't dimmed since the last batch of raunchy singles, this one garnering so much commercial success that it has got her another solo number one, after a 6 year wait. The video does the majority of the work in this instance, though it's just as well she's swigging alcohol as she clogs up Sunset Boulevard on her lawnmower or people would think she's going soft in her later years. Though it quite clearly seems to be covering her divorce, she's been quick to deny that it is explicitly about that (her ex puts in cameos in the video itself, to prove the point?). Thank god then, that whereas some may take the cue to write syrupy ballads, Pink will instead be out kicking out the jams and falling back on her rock 'n' roll lifestyle - though she can't blow raspberries for toffee.
Jason M
No of votes: 12, Score:
74, Highest vote: 1st
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15
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Elbow - Grounds For Divorce
Artist link:6  38
Arrange the following sentences into a handy do-it-yourself review: Mercury Prize Winners. Long awaited acclaim. A storming Glastonbury set. Guy Garvey; songwriting genius. All of these things are true though, this really was Elbow's year and whilst One Day Like This may have been the album's number one son, used-by-the-BBC-on-the-footie anthem, Grounds For Divorce was the unruly child sat in the corner drinking, swaggering and scowling with bitterness, wit and cocky belligerence. Fun fact; the "hole in my neighbourhood down which of late I cannot help but fall" is allegedly a Manchester bar converted from an old underground Victorian toilet that Elbow are known to frequent. The best song about divorce since Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
John C
No of votes: 12, Score:
81, Highest vote: 1st
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14
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Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
For a song covered many times this version is unforgettable once heard. Wistful, haunting, romantic and heartbreaking, Buckley breathed all of this into Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Although still a small part of his shining work it stands as a wonderful insight to the possibilities Buckley was capable of. However you were introduced to or reminded of this song this year it was worth it.
Paul M
No of votes: 14, Score:
90, Highest vote: 1st
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12
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Duffy - Mercy
My first encounter with Duffy's Mercy was via a northern soul music group's recommendation that it was a good revivalist song matched by a strong video; an authentic-looking recreation of Wigan-era dancing. The video proved to be very watchable (possibly only matched in the nostalgic stakes by Moloko's recent homage to talc, spins and drops). The song took a little longer to grow on me; I think initially, and possibly unfairly, I compared it to a slightly inferior reversioning of a ballsy Etta James number rather than an uptempo Dusty, and that comparison left me slightly underwhelmed. That said, after purchasing the 45 ("vinyl to the day I...") and a few repeated listens it revealed a lot more. Oddly, it was the slightly hushed tones that Duffy uses on the track that started to draw me, rather than the consistently punchy refrain. The lass sings with a peculiar but interesting style, and on the quality of the songwriting and its great production I'm expecting big things.
Paul H
No of votes: 15, Score:
75, Highest vote: 1st
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11
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Sam Sparro - Black And Gold
I've been trying to work out what it is I like so much about this song. Is it the pulsating bassline running all the way through that makes me sit in my chair and shrug my shoulders in a manner that makes my colleagues think I've finally gone bonkers? It is the melody that makes me reminiscent of the 80's? It is the lyric about fish swimming out of the ocean and starting walking which proves that pop music isn't all about Creationism? Or should I just face it and admit it's all about Sam Sparo's mad sunglasses? Whatever it is, this is a combination of melody and words that create a heady mix of joy and a desire to turn whatever 6" of space you have around you at the time into Studio 54!
Kat B
No of votes: 15, Score:
82, Highest vote: 1st
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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, Paul M, Kat B, Andrew S, Isaac H, Milly H, P Shoo, Dan Mc, Greg B, Elliot H, John M, Jane B, Henry I-S, John C, Swiss T, Catherine Mc
