22 November 2019 [Content warning: self-harm] Combine the intensity of electronic music, the intensity of teenage feelings, and the intensity of a subdued vocal delivery: that's already quite intense. Add the lyrical themes of unhappiness, world-weariness and terminal self-harm, and 'Everything I Wanted' becomes more intense again. The video below is audio only with a … Continue reading Billie Eilish – ‘Everything I Wanted’ →

18 October 1973 I don't think I know 'My Friend Stan' by Slade. If it had been used in a retro clips show like Reeling In The Years or Match Of The '70s I'm sure I would have been curious enough to find it out. So, following the Irish Number Ones process document, I will … Continue reading Slade – ‘My Friend Stan’ →

27 September 1973 'The Ballroom Blitz' stands with 'Bootylicious' by Destiny's Child on the short list of songs that begin by naming the members of the group. Also memorable here: the swinging drum intro, the crunchy glam guitars, the lightning-flash three-chord riff that nails the chorus, and another of Steve Priest's flamboyant pre-chorus calls to … Continue reading The Sweet – ‘The Ballroom Blitz’ →

8 November 2019 'Don't Start Now' is a strange track. Its chorus is its least engaging and impressive part: terse and choppy, as if Dua Lipa is reading a list of bullet points in a PowerPoint presentation. You'll remember that this is similar to the chorus of her first number one, 'New Rules', though that … Continue reading Dua Lipa – ‘Don’t Start Now’ →

20 September 1973 No rubber bullets this time, just the hint of a shotgun wedding. Still, 'The Dean And I' is also full of light-entertainment Americana such as proms, dollars, soda pop, and a backing vocal that sounds like a Hollywood western's Native American war chant or rain dance. I think the soda pop is … Continue reading 10cc – ‘The Dean And I’ →

6 September 1973 We've already seen one of the teen-idol dreamboat boys of the early '70s at the top of our charts, David Cassidy with 'How Can I Be Sure'. Now here's his rival for your affections. I like to imagine both sets of fans fighting pitched battles on the street, trashing the others' favourite … Continue reading Donny Osmond – ‘Young Love’ →

1 November 2019 How much does pop culture in general affect pop music in particular? I ask because the incidental soundscape and intimate tones of 'Lose You To Love Me' feel emblematic of the new social media age of personal-content selfies and online self-help, to be consumed individually in private. (A decade earlier, this track … Continue reading Selena Gomez – ‘Lose You To Love Me’ →

25 October 2019 Did 'Dance Monkey' serve as aversion therapy by somehow flushing a taste for bad hits out of our systems? My recollection of the late-2019 and 2020 charts is of, if not quite a mini golden age, then a notable post-'Dance Monkey' uptick in quality from that particular low and the generally dreary, … Continue reading Regard – ‘Ride It’ →

23 August 1973 Three Counties was an Irish brand of processed cheese in my childhood, named after the Golden Vale agricultural heartland in Munster that takes in parts of Cork, Tipperary and Limerick. I remember it came in a round cardboard box as a wheel of individual segments wrapped in tinfoil. Like most processed cheese … Continue reading Brendan Shine – ‘Where The 3 Counties Meet’ →

30 August 2019 Gotye, Iggy Azalea, Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP, Sia... the '10s brought us a clutch of fleeting and idiosyncratic chart-topping acts from Australia. Now here, in the final year of the decade, is the most fleeting and idiosyncratic of the lot, with perhaps the most divisive track of all. Today's globalised online … Continue reading Tones And I – ‘Dance Monkey’ →