24 April 2014 It's been a good few years since I was at a wedding - not that I'm complaining. After all, if I want to spent hours sitting on a wooden bench watching some unlucky sap in a cheap suit stand at the top of the room and wait nervously for a weird old … Continue reading John Legend – ‘All Of Me’ →

24 October 1969 Surely this is recency bias on my part, I thought, but I re-watched The Apartment on TV last week and my re-listen to 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again' today seemed like it could be fittingly sung by Shirley MacLaine's Miss Kubelik: same cruel heartbreak, same world-weary sadness, same biting wit and … Continue reading Bobbie Gentry – ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’ →

27 March 2014 The reference to American Apparel underwear in the chorus of 'She Looks So Perfect' hasn't aged well. Many fans of 5 Seconds Of Summer have surely grown out of them too. (The band, I mean, not the underwear.) Still, 5SOS continue to release new music, and back in 2014 they found considerable … Continue reading 5 Seconds Of Summer – ‘She Looks So Perfect’ →

10 October 1969 Don't go out tonight! Don't make unnecessary journeys! Ireland in 1969 didn't have weather apps or storm-battered TV reporters, so it fell to mid-table rock bands like Creedence to warn the people of impending extreme weather events. 'Bad Moon Rising' predicts earthquakes, lightning and hurricanes, all of which John Fogerty wraps up … Continue reading Creedence Clearwater Revival – ‘Bad Moon Rising’ →

20 March 2014 Our previous 2014 number one, 'Rather Be' by Clean Bandit, included a feature credit for then-unknown guest vocalist Jess Glynne that effectively launched her career. However, the vocalist on DJ-producer Duke Dumont's 'I Got U', Kelli-Leigh, doesn't get a feature credit - that goes to the other DJ-producer here, Jax Jones. Now, … Continue reading Duke Dumont ft. Jax Jones – ‘I Got U’ →

3 October 1969 Those of you following Robin Gibb's 1969 solo run and his chart-topping 'Saved By The Bell' are probably waiting for the other shoe to drop: what happens now with the Bee Gees? Well, here's their subsequent single without the third brother, now replaced by a Peter Mason. You may be familiar with … Continue reading Bee Gees – ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’ →

20 February 2014 On the basis of 'Rather Be' and most of their subsequent singles, Clean Bandit's artistic vision seems to be: what if every uplifting dancefloor pop hit aspired to the state of the University Challenge theme tune? This is an understandable worldview, I grant you, when your group was formed at Jesus College, … Continue reading Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – ‘Rather Be’ →

19 September 1969 Exciting, isn't it: we're exactly 500 years from the year 2525! If I recall something I saw on TV once, everyone will be phenomenally beautiful, dressed in white spandex jumpsuits, and accompanied by droids quite similar to, but sufficiently distanced in copyright terms from, the droids in Star Wars. I think it … Continue reading Zager & Evans – ‘In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)’ →

2 January 2014 The last time we saw family-friendly Pharrell here before this soundtrack hit from all-ages cartoon Despicable Me 2 was a mere six months earlier as randy player Pharrell on consent-bemoaning anthem 'Blurred Lines' with Robin Thicke, whose cartoon would be Despicable #MeToo. Here in 2024, I doubt we'd be so ready to … Continue reading Pharrell Williams – ‘Happy’ →