SMASH HITS singles reviews, 14th to 27th November 2001

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LHpvDJX8COZXr0fiOh4Vg?si=5ebde8cb97764e57

Not on Spotify:

Adam F featuring MOP - Stand Clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BloGEP-IM6A

Dreem Teem vs Artful Dodger - It Ain't Enough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oiv2OReHbu8

Ladies First - Messin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXhSgp1YRT8

Images: https://imgur.com/gallery/bMOJj0V

Chart peaks:
1 Blue - If You Come Back
1 S Club 7 - Have You Ever
3 So Solid Crew - They Don't Know
3 Riva featuring Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now?
5 U2 - Walk On
7 Bubba Sparxxx - Ugly
9 DJ Otzi - Do Wah Diddy
12 Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)
14 Liberty - Doin' It
16 Jamiroquai - You Give Me Something
20 Dreem Teem vs Artful Dodger - It Ain't Enough
25 Roger Sanchez - You Can't Change Me
29 New Order - 60 Miles An Hour
30 Ladies First - Messin'
31 The Charlatans - A Man Needs To Be Told
43 Adam F featuring MOP - Stand Clear
44 R.E.M. - I'll Take The Rain
45 Paul McCartney - From A Lover To A Friend
90 Atomic Kitten - You Are (only issued as a promo)
didn't chart: Honeyz - Talk To The Hand (only issued as a promo)

I was working in a busy 24 hour Spar grocery store in the student area of Cardiff in November 2001. They insisted we leave Red Dragon FM on all day, and as a result every song on this list is indelibly burned onto my eardrums for eternity.

So Solid gets my vote for being the only song to ever use the word ‘mibical’

Gotta vote Blue here, one of the best ballads of the decade

The one that I knew best and liked most at the time was The Charlatans; I enjoyed the parent album Wonderland a great deal.

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up. I mean it, shut up.

They really don’t write ‘em like they used to.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

not very familiar w/ most of these but i love these three

Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)
Blue - If You Come Back
Bubba Sparxxx - Ugly

may vote blue

or blu

I think this is an OK list, and the reviews aren't too shoddy either - I'd assumed that Smash Hits had dropped off an editorial cliff by now, but there's still evidence of its old wit. (NB: by the end of its run, the "singles reviews" had shrunk to three or four very brief capsule write-ups, so worse was to come.)

Blue is indeed surprisingly good, but then I've softened towards millennial pop in my dotage. I don't mind the U2 - I'll never truly rate them, but I found this era one of their more bearable ones. Bubba Sparxxx is good, Blu Cantrell is very good, but I'm sticking with The Charlatans.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

A sound result, but the lack of "engagement" for this one suggests that 2001 is just too dangerously modern.

In that case, let's head back to 1967, with this absolute goldmine of a poll:

RECORD MIRROR Singles Reviews, 25th November 1967