Popular '00

— 26 July 2015 Tom 39 comments

Well, it took longer than I wanted, but we got there in the end: the 42 number ones of 2000, now reviewed and ready for your polling delectation. I give every number one a mark out of ten – here is where you can say what you’d have handed out. High scores this time from me included a 10 for Britney’s “Oops!” and 9s for Spiller and Black Coffee in a strong year. Which was also, by dint of the sheer number of hits, a weak year, with Mariah/Westlife and Five/Queen the double stinkers by my estimation. Over to you.

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BOB THE BUILDER – "Can We Fix It?"

RUI DA SILVA ft CASSANDRA – "Touch Me"

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Tom

26 July 2015 13:07

Popular (Not Popular) Top 10 – the songs that spent the longest in the Top 10 without hitting number one. Nothing higher than 8 weeks, which indicates the sheer amount of product the industry was pushing out each week.

1. BLOODHOUND GANG – “The Bad Touch” (8 weeks, peak #4)
2. TWEENIES – “Number 1” (8 weeks, peak #5)
3. BOMFUNK MCs – “Freestyler” (6 weeks, peak #2)
4=. SWEET FEMALE ATTITUDE – “Flowers” (5 weeks, peak #2)
4=. S CLUB 7 – “Reach” (5 weeks, peak #2)
4=. S CLUB 7 = “Two In A Million”/”You’re My Number One” (5 weeks, peak #2)
7. DARUDE – “Sandstorm” (5 weeks, peak #3)
8. PUBLIC DOMAIN – “Operation Blade (Bass In The Place)” (5 weeks, peak #5)
9=. DONELL JONES – “U Know What’s Up” (4 weeks, peak #2)
9=. SONIQUE – “Sky” (4 weeks, peak #2)
9=. ZOMBIE NATION – “Kernkraft 400” (4 weeks, peak #2)

Mark M

26 July 2015 13:37

The Face’s singles of the year – as far as I can remember, this was the only writers’ poll I ever took part in in which I voted for the single that topped the list. I assume I also voted for Still D.R.E. and B.O.B., and possibly The Time Is Now.

Interesting that Say My Name ranked so high despite coming from an album that was well over a year old by that point – admirable lack of hipper-than-thou-ness from the contributors to a style mag.

1. Aaliyah: Try Again
2. Azzido Ba Bass: Dooms Night
3. Spiller: Groovejet
4. Destiny’s Child: Independent Woman Pt.1
5. Dj Falcon And Thomas Bangalter: Together
6. Eminem: Stan
7. Destiny’s Child: Say My Name
8. Daft Punk: Daft Punk One More Time
9. Madonna: Music
10. DJ Ronaldo: Knight Of The Jaguar
11. Eminem: The Real Slim Shady
12. Modjo: Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
13. Crage David: Fill Me In
14. Dr Dre: Still D.R.E.
15. Moloko: The Time Is Now
16. Alan Braxe And Fred Flake: Running
17. Zombie Nation: Kernkraft 400
18. All Saints: Pure Shores
19. Outkast: B.O.B.
20. Black Legend: You See The Trouble With Me
21. Darude: Sandstorm
22. Nelly: Country Grammar (Hot)
23. Toni Braxton: He Wasn’t Man Enough
24. Sisqo: Thong Song
25. DJ Zinc: 138 Trek
26. Britney Spears: Oops! I Did It Again
27. Dr Dre And Eminem: Forget About Dre
28. Lambchop: Up With People
29. Kelis: Caught Out There
30. Laurent Garnier: The Man With The Red Face

Shiny Dave

26 July 2015 14:26

Utterly adorable that the Tweenies had a song called “Number 1” which ended up not being bunnied in this of all years, yet presumably outsold quite a few of the 42 that were!

Also startling to see that Sonique really, really wasn’t a one-hit wonder.

How many non-bunnies are more remembered today than some of the 42 bunnies? “Reach” certainly. “The Time Is Now” surely, if only for its use in Sky’s Premier League coverage for most of the rest of the decade. (I remember my mum being very annoyed when it gave way to anonymous Kasabian, before that in turn quickly gave way to a distant bunny.) And “Kernkraft 400” has gained a second life as a sporting anthem, particularly in Wales.

Then there’s “One More Time” and “Thong Song,” and “B.O.B.” is an all-time classic in some critical circles…

mapman132

26 July 2015 14:39

Voted for 23 out of 42. More than I would have thought. Of course, the songs I voted for today may or may not have matched up with those I gave 6+ to over the past six months.

Anyhow, the US number ones of 2000. An unusually large number for a year in the Soundscan era:

Smooth – Santana featuring Rob Thomas

– 2 final weeks of carryover. Split between two years, it was both the 10th biggest hit of 1999 and the 2nd biggest of 2000. This allowed an opening for something that hadn’t occurred since 1965…

What a Girl Wants – Christina Aguilera

– The first new number one of the century goes to Christina. Britney would have to wait some time for her first 21st century #1.

I Knew I Loved You – Savage Garden

– The inverse relationship between the size of Savage Garden’s hits and my opinion of them continues. This isn’t actually bad, but they’ve had a lot better.

Thank God I Found You – Mariah Carey featuring Joe and 98 Degrees

– A new decade doesn’t stop Mariah (yet). Also, the only #1 for 98 Degrees. Not the last for Joe however (the most generic artist name ever?)

Amazed – Lonestar

– For all of country’s ascendancy during the 90’s, there still hadn’t been a country #1 on the Hot 100 since 1983. This changed due to the poppier version of Lonestar’s huge country radio hit from the previous summer. It wouldn’t be the highest ranking country song on the year-end chart however.

Say My Name – Destiny’s Child

– IW1 would be a bigger hit, but for me, this is probably their best song.

Maria Maria – Santana featuring The Product G&B

– Another 10 weeks for Santana. Don’t know much about Product G&B who never had another hit, but Wiki says they’re connected with Wyclef Jean somehow. Explains why this record is often misattributed to Wyclef.

Try Again – Aaliyah

– And inevitable chart history is made as 18 months after Billboard’s policy changed we have the first #1 without a commercial single release. Of course no one knew at the time it would be her only #1 before tragedy stuck.

Be with You – Enrique Iglesias

– His 2nd, and I think final, #1.

Everything You Want – Vertical Horizon

– My favorite hit of the year and one of the slowest ever rises to #1, taking a full six months to get there. And they’re local for me too, having formed in not especially musical Washington, DC. I was surprised to learn this missed the UK top 40. They only had two more chart hits before falling back to obscurity.

Bent – Matchbox Twenty

– Led by Rob Thomas of “Smooth – Santana featuring…”, apparently another band that never broke the UK. Considered bland and faceless by many, but they’ve certainly sold a lot of records. I used to wonder if their name derived from the #20 car in the Matchbox 75 series (apparently not).

It’s Gonna Be Me – NSYNC

– NSYNC accomplishes what the Backstreet Boys never did. The relative inability of the era’s boy bands, as well as Britney, to top the Hot 100 has been discussed before. We’ll eventually see Justin again though.

Incomplete – Sisqo

– Classic example of someone hitting #1 with the “wrong” hit as he’s much better known for “Thong Song”. In fact I don’t really remember this at all.

Doesn’t Really Matter – Janet Jackson

– Still going strong in 2000, but I like her 2001 chart topper better.

Music – Madonna

– Already discussed. Still her most recent (and last?) number one.

Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You) – Christina Aguilera

– Some confusion here as some sources switch title and subtitle. I’d attribute Christina’s early lead over Britney in the number ones tally to her more credible image allowing for more airplay at the time. She’d eventually manage to screw that up of course.

With Arms Wide Open – Creed

– I usually think unhip bands like Nickelback and Matchbox 20 get more hate than they really deserve as they’re obviously appealing to someone even if that someone isn’t me. Not so with Creed who I despise with the passion usually reserved for the pure evilness of boiled potatoes or the New England Patriots. Basically the smugness of Bono, the blandness of Nickelback, and the bad behavior of Oasis combined into one festering package. A look at Wikipedia shows they were significantly less successful in the UK. Be happy.

Independent Women Part I – Destiny’s Child

– Already discussed. 11 weeks at #1 to close out the year and head into 2001.

And Billboard’s top single of the year was….none of these. For the first time since 1965, the year-end Hot 100 leader was a song that never reached #1 on the weekly chart, specifically “Breathe” by country singer Faith Hill. It’s easy to forget how huge she was at the time considering how she seems to have fallen off the face of the earth since then. Taylor Swift beware?

thefatgit

26 July 2015 16:19

Also voted 23 out of 42.

Peel list for 2000:

1. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends – Twist The Knife
2. PJ Harvey – Good Fortune
3. The Fall – Dr Buck’s Letter
4. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Mistakes & Regrets
5. Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go
6. PJ Harvey – Big Exit
7. Hefner – The Greedy Ugly People
8. Schneider TM vs KPT michi.gan – The Light 3000
9. The Delgados – No Danger
10. The Delgados – American Trilogy
11. Low – Dinosaur Act
12. Hefner – The Day That Thatcher Dies
13. Ballboy – I Hate Scotland
14. The Delgados – Accused Of Stealing
15. Hefner – Good Fruit
16. Cinerama – Your Charms
17. Cinerama – Wow
18. PJ Harvey – Mess We’re In
19. Shellac – Prayer To God
20. Boards Of Canada – In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country
21. Laura Cantrell – Somewhere Some Night
22. Calexico – Ballad Of Cable Hogue
23. The Fall – Two Librans
24. PJ Harvey – Whore’s Hustle, Hustler’s Whore
25. Radiohead – Kid A
26. New Order – Brutal
27. Laura Cantrell – Two Seconds
28. Clinic – The Second Line
29. Cuban Boys – Vinyl Countdown
30. Cowcube – Popping Song
31. Belle & Sebastian – Lazy Line Painted Jane
31. Herman Dune – Drug Dealer In The Park
32. Half Man, Half Biscuit – 24 Hour Garage People
33. Cat Power – Wonderwall (Session)
34. Cuban Boys – Theme From Prim & Proper
35. Lab 4 – Candyman
36. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Fresher Than The Sweetness In Water
37. Half Man, Half Biscuit – Irk The Purists
38. The Delgados – Witness
39. Mighty Math – Soul Boy
40. Smog – Dress Sexy At My Funeral
41. Cinerama – Manhattan
42. Laura Cantrell – Queen Of The Coast
43. The Fall – WB
44. Hefner – Painting & Kissing
45. Orbital & Angelo Badalamenti – Beached
46. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Little Boy Blue
47. Sigur Ros – Svefn G Englar
48. Radiohead – Idiotique
49. Belle & Sebastian – Fought In A War

mapman132

26 July 2015 17:35

#5 Wow. I think this is the first of these lists where I don’t recognize a single song. Showing either 1) the US/UK music dichotomy at the time, 2) how out of touch I was in 2000, or most likely 3) both.

weej

26 July 2015 17:38

17/42, so a below-par year as I usually seem to be more generous with my internet points than most. This seems like a personal low-point in pop music for me – indie bands were in a near-fatal quality-slump, pop music seemed to be taking a couple of years off to think about things, dance was stuck in a rut with garage / bass music just starting to take off and while there was plenty of good rap and r&b around we weren’t seeing enough of it in the charts, yet. What was left seemed lacking in inspiration or focus. I can see this in the Face and Peel charts too – some great stuff, but mixed up with plenty of forgettable tracks. I want to put a word in for ‘Dooms Night’, which I would naughtily fade in whenever I DJed to indie kids – half would love it, the other half would be livid. Very much a portent of the future.

Chelovek na lune

26 July 2015 17:49

Voted for 19/42. Glad this pace of change at the top didn’t quite keep up, as there’s a lot of eminently forgettable stuff among the other 23…

Quite happy to think of “Try Again” as my single of the year. Album of the year: certainly PJ Harvey’s “Stories From The City, Stories From the Sea”

I don’t know half of those US number 1s (and I don’t think this is just wilful ignorance or complete detachment from popular culture on my part) – more that there was still a very evident divide between UK and US tastes, which is arguably not so much the case at present…at least if based on number 1 singles. Although marketing and globalization….Are obviously the key words here…

Mark M

26 July 2015 17:58

Re6/5: I think this partly or mostly represents the way that the Peel show had become almost entirely a world by itself by this point, with (for instance) a substantially different direction to the music press, although PJ Harvey album was big in critics circles, too. There’s a fair amount of American stuff on that list, but it’s almost entirely what could crudely be termed alt country/Americana (Neko Case, Laura Cantrell, Smog, Bonnie Prince Billy, even Cat Power at a stretch). If you weren’t interested in that, then it would have passed you by…

weej

26 July 2015 18:13

Here’s the top 30 singles from Select – unfortunately it’s just a scan so can’t copy and paste. It really looks like the magazine is barely clinging to life if this is how they present their singles of the year – as indeed proved to be the case. Some interesting choices though – ones which didn’t appear in the other lists so far – The Facts of Life, Playgirl, Thong Song – as well as some shockers.

weej

26 July 2015 18:28

And here’s the current top 20 from rateyourmusic.com – as ever, very heavy on the Radiohead, but some interesting stuff lower down the rankings –

1 – Radiohead – How to Disappear Completely
2 – Radiohead – Idioteque
3 – Radiohead – The National Anthem
4 – The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
5 – OutKast – B.O.B
6 – Radiohead – Optimistic
7 – Goldfrapp – Lovely Head
8 – Sigur Rós – Ný batterí
9 – At the Drive-In – One Armed Scissor
10 – Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed
11 – Air – Playground Love
12 – Queens of the Stone Age – The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
13 – PJ Harvey – Good Fortune
14 – Elliott Smith – Son of Sam
15 – M.O.P – Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory)
16 – Eminem – Stan
17 – Goldfrapp – Utopia
18 – Moby – Porcelain
19 – D’Angelo – Untitled (How Does It Feel?)
20 – Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go

Mark M

26 July 2015 21:59

Re10: That is a stunningly bad bit of design. There’s also a classic instance of Emapism at its worst in the writing: ‘this staggering record left jaws with no choice but to drop.’ Yuck.

Also not on the Select list but not on the others is Gravel Pit, the Wu-Tang Clan’s only UK hit, and their most pop moment, I think.

Another favourite of mine from the year, up at #5 on the Peel list, is Broadcast’s Come On Let’s Go, which was as close as they got to a hit (No82).

lonepilgrim

26 July 2015 23:38

for a variety of reasons, some possibly millennial, the year seemed open to all-comers with a USP, good marketing and/or luck. As my spamming of the board will attest I took the opportunity to revisit the entries on the hits of 1965 during Tom’s holiday and in his double entry on Ken Dodd and the Stones he references the juxtaposition of Eminem and Bob the Builder in 2000s chart. Whereas Ken Dodd and the Stones represented contrasting forces pressing for representation and/or validation 2000s hits no longer embody anything other than a choice of product. There were some good tracks at number 1 but nothing that feels overwhelmingly significant to me.

swanstep

27 July 2015 05:55

16 for me and a whole bunch of those were 8s and 9s – Eminem, All Saints, and Craig David at the tops of their games, Ellis-Bextor and Beyonce coming on strong, and U2, Madonna (in one instance), Robbie, and Kylie all with good showings made for one of the best #1 years IMHO in a long while. Yay.

27 July 2015 08:37

@6 Haha yes: I “recognise” – in the sense of having heard of – precisely two of those songs, the Boards of Canada one and Kid A. And I can’t bring either of them to mind right now, even though I listened to Kid A, the album, quite a lot that year.

27 July 2015 08:58

Inspired / alarmed by my failing memory, I took a look at the Kid A tracklist to see how many I could remember.

For Everything In Its Right Place I can sing the title phrase, for Idioteque I can drum the beat. The National Anthem is the big band one, right? The Morning Bell has a trumpet?

Somehow alarming, how little I can recall. On the the other hand, I can remember every word of Bob The Builder, so that’s something.

(Er, I now see Idioteque is on the Peel list, too. So that makes three that I’ve heard of.)

Phil

27 July 2015 09:11

14/42 for me, about half of which I’d actually enjoy listening to. (I assume this isn’t just me. I’ve had endless arguments in another forum with somebody who maintains that ‘this is good’ is, always and everywhere, code for ‘I like this’, and pretentious code at that. But surely listening to #1s is proof positive that some things are good ‘of their type’ while also being difficult to stay in the same room with.)

#5 – I know almost all the bands… I only recognise five actual tracks, although most of those I know really well (from owning the record myself). But I’d stopped being a regular Peel listener long before that (late shift music radio, weeknights, really is a young person’s thing).

#10 – blimey. Who laid that out? And why?

James BC

27 July 2015 09:38

It’ll be interesting to see which of the two All Saints biggies comes higher. Pure Shores is winning at the moment #TeamPureShores

27 July 2015 09:58

@10, @17- It looks like they had just bought some new “3D effect” layout software, and really wanted to try it out.

I always think of that style as very characteristically 90s. Think of the cover of Timeless, or some of the ridiculous video effects on The Day Today.

They can be forgiven everything, though, because they put the gorgeous How We Used To Live in at #14.

Sound Of Water was my favourite album of that year, by miles, and soundtracked several glorious summers in the early 00s.

Oh, and #TeamBlackCoffee

Tom

27 July 2015 10:10

The Face list at #2 is probably a close-ish representation of what I was actually listening to – though with a bit less dance music and a bit more hip-hop and pop: my main musical memory of 2000 was starting NYLPM (blog of yore) and ILX (messageboard of ill repute) and because NYLPM was singles-focused and (frankly) dial-up internet enforced a one-track-at-a-time download regime, I didn’t listen to that many albums, per se, and I heard a ton of American singles that didn’t do an awful lot over here.

Cumbrian

27 July 2015 10:10

I got up to 9. There’s a lot of dreck in here that I would be happy never to hear again but the peaks are high – nothing I’d give a 10 to but three or four 9s, probably. My 10s from the songs listed thus far – B.O.B., Forgot About Dre (Eminem’s best contribution to music that year, I think), Caught Out There and Ante Up. Things Have Changed is pretty good too, mind.

Happy to see the more than solid representation from PJ Harvey on that Peel list. From what I can see, it’s the album that is looked down on now as being “too polished” or what have you, and maybe it is, but it was my gateway in to her catalogue. I have a lot of time for it.

This was peak Peel listening time for me – away at university, working into the late evenings on essays and so on, I was listening to him more than I would at any other point in his life. I imagine that there’s a load on that list that poptimists would turn their noses up at. For my part though, Delgados, PJ, Radiohead, Clinic, Boards of Canada and Trail Of Dead were my soundtrack of 2000 and I look back on all of them with fondness, the majority of which is supported by my replays of the records. Peel also playing early records by The White Stripes around this time, from my memory – eventually some of the wider public would cotton on.

lonepilgrim

27 July 2015 12:04

I was vaguely aware of the hits in the UK charts via radio, TV and the enthusiasms of the pupils I was teaching but I had largely lost interest in UK and US ‘rock’, indie or otherwise. Instead I was starting to listen to Brazilian pop in 2000 after getting a free Tom Ze album with a Wire subscription and following up on a ‘Tropicalia and beyond’ Primer in the same magazine. To my ears this was music that combined sonic inventiveness, rhythmic subtly and beautiful melodies.

mark sinker

27 July 2015 12:27

Aaliyah’s “Try Again” is — for I hope obvious good-filing-practice reasons — always and forever the first song in my iTunes: which means every time I decide to play “entire collection on shuffle” she gets played first, which seems fitting 🙁

Also she is terrific in the 15th best film of all time

flahr

27 July 2015 12:29

#16 surely you remember “The National Anthem” from this year’s GAME CHANGING Tidal launch press conference

27 July 2015 17:12

@24 I am afraid I don’t remember that. But I am sure Radiohead would have approved of the effort to secure for millionaire pop stars the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible.

@23 Try Again was always the second song on my iTunes, after Take On Me. But I like your way better.

anto

27 July 2015 17:51

@21 – I’d go as far as saying it’s actually P.J Harvey’s best album. It’s in her nature to try something different with each release, so why not a polished album packed with tunes.

Patrick Mexico, the Inanimate Carbon God

28 July 2015 19:33

21 out of 42! Sod’s law the year of most number ones yields the most averageness. Plenty of generous sixes but Manics, Groovejet and Stan all hovering around an 8 or a 9, maybe 9 and a half in four beers’ time. Revised a lot of my opinions – nobody on earth can listen to “Rise” and find it exciting :-/ but I never realised I had such long-suppressed love for Life is a Rollercoaster and Can’t Fight the Moonlight :-/

Sorry I’ve been quiet recently. This has been mostly down to the fact 2000 was personally a difficult year as my parents separated that September. However back then I was a self conscious teenager less engaged with the charts and getting into Nirvana a decade too late, and everyone at my school was into those pop punk bands nobody but people at your school seem to have heard of (I.e. The Vandals, Caffeine.) Fortunately for Popular that changes DRAMATICALLY next year as I HAVE A BRAND SPANKING NEW START at SIXTH FORM with a NEW WAY, NEW LIFE and have an OPINION ON EVERYTHING, at least in the charts.. 😀

Rory

29 July 2015 10:56

19 out of 42 for me, too, most of them concentrated in the first half of the year.

Here were Australia’s number one singles in 2000:

Eiffel 65, “Blue (Da Ba Dee)”
Macy Gray, “I Try”
Killing Heidi, “Mascara”/”Leave Me Alone”
Chris Franklin, “Bloke”
Madonna, “American Pie”
*NSYNC, “Bye Bye Bye”
Bardot, “Poison”
Destiny’s Child, “Say My Name”
Britney Spears, “Oops!… I Did It Again”
Madison Avenue, “Who the Hell Are You”
Kylie Minogue, “Spinning Around”
Bomfunk MC’s, “Freestyler”
Anastacia, “I’m Outta Love” (highest seller of the year)
Madonna, “Music”
Kylie Minogue, “On a Night Like This”
Pink, “Most Girls”
U2, “Beautiful Day”
Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”
Wheatus, “Teenage Dirtbag”
Baha Men, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

“Can’t Fight the Moonlight”, “Stan” and “Can We Fix It?” also reached the top there in 2001. (If I’d posted this a week ago, I could have written “here” rather than “there”… just back from my first trip home in five years, hence my lack of Popular comments lately.)

Stevonicus

29 July 2015 17:34

14 for me here. I suspect I could have been kinder to 3-4 others on another day. Still, some really great tunes on this list, and a heaping pile of average ones.

Also, this is my first time commenting here so I must say hello to all the regulars.

Tommy Mack

29 July 2015 19:01

Hi Stevonicus!

I gave sod all 6pluses which is weird because I thought of this as a bumper year during it’s Popular run. I have got really stingy with my marks. My threshold for a 6 these days is ‘would I choose to listen to this for pleasure at least once or twice’. Something I can only enjoy analytically (“this is interesting/well-made”) would be a five or four if it has other irritating qualities. There are always several songs I can’t remember so they miss out on a tick due to ignorance on my part.

Contemporary stuff I remember from this year would be Dre, Eminem, Britney, Destiny’s Child (big floor fillers at student nights those last two), lots of Drum&Bass I can’t name cos it was on mix tapes in people’s cars or in ACTUAL PROPER NIGHTCLUBS. Oh and Coldplay and Limp Bizkit for stuff I “hated” I.E. Didn’t like enough not to join in with the snarkfest. I actually made a T shirt of Fred Durst with “This is your enemy” underneath which was a bit twatty in retrospect…

Tom

30 July 2015 12:33

I’ll be interested to know how far this spirit of Durst reconciliation extends. We’ll find out soon enough.

And hello Stevonicus!

Tommy Mack

30 July 2015 19:18

Probably not very far! He was a bell-end and a terrible rapper but there’s no glory in publicly hating an obvious target daft pop star like it’s some sort of badge of outsider cool (especially if you’re only really hating on Durst because an older lad at uni who you sort of hero worshipped hated him too). Let he who was not an idiot at 19 cast the first stone.

Other big “going away to uni” tunes: Wu Tang’s Gravel Pit (this was also the year I got properly into 36 Chambers), Jurassic 5 Concrete and Clay, Foo Fighters’ Breakout and Stacked Actors (and Learning To Fly but that was rubbish) and At The Drive-In’s One Armed Scissor (though I preferred Pattern Against User once I got the Relationship Of Command Album). We also played loads of NWA as befits very white middle-class boys away from home for the first time. And Pixies. RHCP and Santana were also big in our halls of residence (in Knightsbridge! Now luxury flats) but I was and am ho-hum about them. My neighbour in halls (with whom I became besotted) was an obsessive Michael Jackson fan (her room was literally a shrine to the King Of Pop) so I probably heard loads of his stuff too, I remember learning Billie Jean on the guitar to impress her…

Garry

6 August 2015 12:58

I’m one of those who thinks the PJ Harvey album is her best. It’s not so much the polish as the energy.

Seeing The Avalanches’ Frontier Psychiatrist really takes me back though. A year or so before it’s release we found a Wayne and Schuster vinyl in the back corners of our radio station’s record library. A couple of the other announcers had parent’s who played it to them as a kid (where as I got Tom Lehrer). So when the Avalanches came along sampling that very piece of vinyl, we were happily quoting away. A fun time.

Tommy Mack

6 August 2015 14:08

#21/26/33 – I’ll have to check that PJ Harvey album out: I’ve always thought of her as someone who I would like but the few songs I’ve actually heard didn’t leave much impression on me so I’ve always had it in mind to devote some time to her back catalogue looking for a way in/seeing if anything grows on me. Any other PJ nube tips appreciated!

6 August 2015 15:31

That Peel list is very forgettable – is that an anomaly? Especially the Top 10, Broadcast excepted. Feels like most of his other lists are a lot stronger.

sbahnhof

6 August 2015 21:24

28 – Bomfunk MCs’ “Freestyler” was huge internationally – in Germany it’s gone down as a classic, and still gets played a lot. Strange, since the lyrics aren’t that easy to understand, even for fluent English speakers.

I preferred their fellow Finn Darude. Someone needs to redress the balance 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq4ikWktEOQ

Garry

10 August 2015 11:42

In the Oz #1s, Macy Gray -> Killing Heidi -> Chris Franklin is a rapid decent of quality. Loved the Macy Gray stuff, took an instant dislike to Killing Heidi and Franklin’s Bloke is one of the worst novelty track’s I’ve ever heard.

We were cruel to Killing Heidi. Elle Hooper was only 17 in 2000. We thought of them as a manufactured band, hoisted up by a professional producer to stardom, trying to go for the Magic Dirty/PJ Harvey all the way back to Patti Smith, long-haired rocker chick look. There was a lot of this look going around at the time. Later I realised it wasn’t Hooper and her bandmates fault – they had been around for four years by 2000, and it was a case of an existing band fitting a populatist mould – a bit like when ska gets popular and some bands who had poughed that field for years suddenly get a moment in the sun.

Chelovek na lune

5 September 2016 19:45

Seems I forgot to post this at the time, despite having it prepared, so here goes…

1. No. 1 in Scotland but not UK

1) R.E.M. – The Great Beyond
2) Sash! – Adelante
3) Bloodhound Gang – The Bad Touch
4) Travis – Coming Around
5) Delerium ft Sarah McLachlan – Silence

No. 1 in UK but not Scotland
1) Gabrielle – Rise
2) Chicane ft Bryan Adams – Don’t Give Up
3) Craig David – Fill Me In
4) Oxide & Neutrino – Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)
5) Five & Queen – We Will Rock You
6) Craig David – 7 Days
7) Melanie C – I Turn To You
8) Madonna – Music
9) All Saints – Black Coffee
10) A1 – Same Old Brand New You
11) Destiny’s Child – Independent Women (Part 1)

Letting a song as grand as understatedly melancholic as “The Great Beyond” get to no 1 makes me feel particularly kindly inclined towards the Scottish list of 2000. I can do without the frat-boy idiocy of the Bloodhound Gang and the workmanlike charmless tedium of Travis, and regret the failure of Destiny’s Child and All Saints to do the business with the Scots – but otherwise, well, they mostly missed a lot of rubbish.

Purple K

12 October 2019 00:42

A bit late with this but I thought I’d add to the yearly song polls in the comments sections by adding the top 10 of Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2000 (a listener poll from one of Australia’s biggest radio stations):

1 Powderfinger – “My Happiness”
2 U2 – “Beautiful Day”
3 Powderfinger – “My Kind of Scene”
4 Wheatus – “Teenage Dirtbag”
5 Coldplay – “Yellow”
6 The Avalanches – “Frontier Psychiatrist”
7 Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Californication”
8 Foo Fighters – “Generator”
9 Paul Kelly – “Every F***ing City”
10 The Dandy Warhols – “Bohemian Like You”

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