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’ →

28 June 1965 'Crying In The Chapel' sees Elvis entering his Tiny Tim phase. Not Tiny Tim the whimsical '60s falsetto folkie: Elvis here goes all-in on his low, sonorous, serious croon. No, I mean poor little Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, hoping people would see his small, frail figure in church and be … Continue reading Elvis Presley – ‘Crying In The Chapel’ →

14 June 1965 Bom! Buh-bom! Bom! Buh-bom! That's the sound of '60s UK and US pop swinging mildly to a borrowed calypso beat: we hear it in hits like 'It's Not Unusual', 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose' and this. 'Long Live Love' in its final verse even replicates the brassy calypso blare … Continue reading Sandie Shaw – ‘Long Live Love’ →

29 April 2010 That's OMG as in "oh my gosh" and not "oh my God", just in case you were worried about Usher and Will.i.am blaspheming against their creator - conservative Christian corporate America. Jesus wept. No such considerations of offence against taste or intelligence, of course. 'OMG' tends more towards Will.i.am's dumbed-down EDM inanity … Continue reading Usher ft. Will.i.am – ‘OMG’ →