Pop-Eye 29/4/01

I see the gorillaz holding on @ number 9. Isn't it about time they just, like, *went away*

Allez, on répète encore un dernière fois... GLOUPGLOUPGLOUPGLOUP

I dislike everyone in the top 10.

Are we to interpret this as the Pinefox expressing a sneaking regard for La Bunton at 11?

I wish my opinions on these matters could be as interestingly nuanced and cunningly expressed as that, Tom.

Didn't see 11-20 till just now. Naturally I dislike all of them, too, except Madonna for her back catalogue.

Is it me or are S Club 7 singles just getting better and better. Don't Stop Movin' is not only boogilicious but more importantly it manages the feet of never stooping to rhyming Movi' with Groovin'. For this it is a deserved number one.

Don't Stop Movin' would appear to be S Club's first step up the ladder towards alleged Radio 1-approved "credibility"; it could be worse, chorus is pretty weak, preferred Reach For The Stars. Oh well, they really do play it a lot on Radio 1 and the facial hair hasn't affected their sales so I guess the strategy worked. Fatboy Slim's album must be shocking if the singles from it are something to go by. Spooks smell of record company gap-in-market meetings. Surprised by Depeche Mode's high placing but haven't heard the song. Gabrielle takes the place of reigning catchy-sentimental-sleeper-hit queen Whoa Nelly Furtado. Papa Roach have a funny video. Starsailor party like it's 1996. Craig David Rendezvous Blacksmith remix and Get Ur Freak On are still great.

Yeah I thought Dont Stop Movin was their best yet too - clearly something's getting the creative juices going etc. etc.

Actually it'll be interesting to see whether or not a hardcore fan like Alex T who has liked them since the beginning goes for this bright new sound.

I really don't mind the Ronan Keating song! Has that sing along in a pub qulaity. I really think this is the s-Clubs WORST single to date, I much prefered "Reach"..."Don't stop Movin'" is kinda bland to my ears and I really hate the video...O-Town, are a carbon copy of N- Sync, well at least in terms of their TERRIBLEy funny dancing.

Papa Roach sing something like "there's no money, there's no possessions" if only!! Then the Roach would have no instruments to inflict such torture with nor the means to get them!

Had a friend whos far from being a Depeche Mode fan argue that he only bought the single for the remixes by bushwacka,j saul kane (respect due) and kid 606 - i asked at local store + yes - surprising proportion of sales = the remixes.

Case closed

I've not heard the actual single, but O Town's performance on TOTP was the lamest and dreariest thing I've heard in a long time. Was probably only three minutes long, but seemed like ten.

Papa Roach's chart position is a shocker and in a good way, i.e. last single no.3, this one somewhere in the mid-teens - has the nu-metal bubble burst?

Am exceptionally disappointed by the non-appearance of the Meanwhile...Back In Communist Russia/Moonkat split CD, which of course would be about number 2 or 3 in an Oxford Top 40 (but tell that to Fucked FM or Fuschia FM).

No.30? Shed Seven? People are still buying this rubbish? And are they the worst band ever? No, that would likely be Starsailor - at no.12! If you bought this, you should be ashamed. No, really. While we're on the topic, did any of you lot get MP3.com to send me a promo email with a link to the 'Good Souls' vid? If it was, I'll find out where you live and set the Killing Joke army on you. I'll tell them you said Jaz was a poof. Its good to see the poor performance of that Robbie single, anything to wipe that stupid 'cheeky chappie' grin off his face. But, let's be positive - the top 2 singles are crackers for once, only criticism being the sudden outbreak of facial hair on S Club 7. A worse crime than being caught in possesion of a bit of weed, surely?

I was wondering when someone would notice Shed Seven. As baffling as a three-headed calf.

I don't even know whether it's still in the chart, but after downloading it for the focus group I've found myself totally enamoured of that Atomic Kitten track.

Tom, is that the Atommic Kitten track that was Number One. In which case:

a) Keep up fella - we rely on you for Pop Glory b) Which version is it, the slow original with up the duff Kitten, or the new - slightly faster version with all new (probably spayed) Kitten?

The version that got the radio play, duh. It's low and the vocals are sung not spoken - the spoken-vocal one is really annoying 'cause of the transatlanticisms.

Just bought Now 48 for focus group MP3ing purposes - nobody can say I don't take my job seriously.

"Whole Again": chartpop unevocative of its moment, and therefore of very questionable value. I personally find it desperately weak and old-fashioned, but the old-fashionedness is more striking than the weakness, if you see what I mean.

"Its moment" Robin? Well that depends really - i'm disturbed by this implication that chartpop has to sound up-to-date. Also if in January or February 2001 you'd been dumped and were going out with other people but would go back to your ex in a heartbeat then it might well very much sound "of its moment", not that that's anything to do with why I like it, but it's a simple song with a nice chorus.

boogilicious - a word I hope never to see again, even in an ironilicious context.

Oh, I don't *hate* "Whole Again", I just find it boring, not least because of its "simplicity" and "niceness". I'll probably give it 4.

"Its moment" Robin? Well that depends really - i'm disturbed by this implication that chartpop has to sound up-to-date. Also if in January or February 2001 you'd been dumped and were going out with other people but would go back to your ex in a heartbeat then it might well very much sound "of its moment", not that that's anything to do with why I like it, but it's a simple song with a nice chorus. (Tom)

I agree that the melody, and empathy with the lyrics are pretty much the song's appeal; but it *does* have an unbelievably old- fashioned 'British MOR of the 70's' feel to it (maybe some people just aren't aware of that). What interests me is whether the effect is *intentional* (in the same way as the Beautiful South), or an amazing product of the writers' subconscious (I don't know who they are or, more to the point, how old they are).

If the effect on "Whole Again" is intentional it would be an exact halfway point between the deliberate absence of any post-disco dance influence in Steps records (as Tom once mentioned) and the 70s MOR pastiches of the Beautiful South; an attempt to appeal to the teen market (but not really the pre-teens targeted by Steps) while at the same time appealing to a "mature" audience. Its aim, you might say, was to equal the achievement of Cher's wonderful "Believe" - to be the most-played record on Radio 1 and Radio 2 in the same week (I'm not sure whether it actually became the most-played on either station, but "Whole Again" has certainly been played across the board, everywhere except for rock-oriented Virgin).

And if it is subconscious, it is further proof that pop works on memories that you don't know you have (like the Radiophonic Workshop on children's TV - sorry Tom!) at least as much as memories that you know you have (like the Beatles or Abba).