11 October 1965 Amazing fact: 'Tears' by Ken Dodd was the UK's third-biggest-selling single of the entire '60s. It sold more than all but two Beatles hits, every Stones single, and every '60s single sung by a woman. Yes, the same Ken Dodd I dimly remember from '80s TV as an amiable but unfunny English … Continue reading Ken Dodd – ‘Tears’ →

13 September 1965 The Stones had played Dublin and Belfast earlier in September 1965, in the gigs filmed for the Charlie Is My Darling documentary. 'Satisfaction', on the setlist for those gigs and a raucous highlight of the film, had already gone to number one in the States that July and was now about to … Continue reading The Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ →

24 June 2010 Our 2010 number ones from the States have so far been notably conservative: the tweeness of 'Fireflies'; the strategic corporate alliance of 'Telephone'; the wholesome high-school musical of 'Gives You Hell'; the hip-hop-hooray EDM of 'OMG'; the soccer-parent nostalgia of 'Hey, Soul Sister'. Had '00s poptimism congealed into ick? Did the economic … Continue reading Katy Perry – ‘California Gurls’ →

6 September 1965 If Chubby Checker can follow up 'The Twist' with 'Let's Twist Again' (I imagine Brendan Bowyer or his defence counsel pleading) surely Ireland's leading showband can treat the little people to more of that Hucklebuck magic, right? Well, it may be Ireland's biggest home-grown hit of the '60s but I'm not so … Continue reading Brendan Bowyer and The Royal Showband – ‘Don’t Lose Your Hucklebuck Shoes’ →

2 August 1965 The semaphore on the album cover and movie poster actually spells N-U-J-V, not H-E-L-P. On US releases the lads were rearranged to spell N-J-U-V. For this reason it's bad luck to listen to 'Help!' on board a ship. (It's also bad luck to watch the movie, anywhere.) 'Help!' reminds me of a … Continue reading The Beatles – ‘Help!’ →

27 May 2010 The last time we had a Romanian act at the top of the Irish charts, Enigma with 'Return To Innocence', they were embroiled in a copyright claim over a trad-sounding element. The same thing happens here for Edward Maya: the distinctive accordion line in 'Stereo Love' wasn't a folk-hand-me-down in the public … Continue reading Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina – ‘Stereo Love’ →

26 July 1965 It's remarkable how The Byrds' three biggest hits have become TV and cinema's go-to evocative signifiers for '60s America: 'Mr. Tambourine Man' for the dawning of age-of-Aquarius optimism; 'Eight Miles High' for LSD-spun hippie-ana; 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' for a coming of age either wistfully in suburbia or traumatically on the battlefields of … Continue reading The Byrds – ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ →

20 May 2010 Inevitably, Lady Gaga's influence comes to market. 'All Night Long' is clearly a record that loves 'Just Dance' from its dance-centric lyrics to its robotic-verse-melodramatic-chorus EDM architecture and back around by its house party video. Alexandra in her video (below) also throws some Gaga-esque Weimar-cyborg shapes. If only Gaga herself had followed … Continue reading Alexandra Burke ft. Pitbull – ‘All Night Long’ →

19 July 1965 The sunny doo-doo vocal harmonies and shimmering tremolo guitar at the start of 'I'm Alive' suggest the influence of an innovative '60s US group we won't be seeing in the Irish number one spot: The Beach Boys. Still, after tunnelling through a sewer of showband hits I'm relieved to hear a chart-topping … Continue reading The Hollies – ‘I’m Alive’ →

13 May 2010 Really, this is from as late as 2010? In my mind I had carbon-dated 'Hey, Soul Sister' to the late '90s and early '00s, when Matchbox Twenty and the Goo Goo Dolls stalked the Earth. Also: really, this is the same band that did the blustery, pretentious soft rock hit 'Drops Of … Continue reading Train – ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ →