3 July 1964 Wow: a snippet of live audience at the start of 'Bless You (For Being An Angel)' to capture the hormone-fuelled frenzy of Bowyermania! And then we segue into an Irish showband iteration of a pre-Emergency US jazz ballad. The Ink Spots indeed released this in 1939, and they're a fine and important … Continue reading Brendan Bowyer and The Royal Showband – ‘Bless You (For Being An Angel)’
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The Beatles – ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
7 August 1964 Sgt Pepper is Temple Bar '60s. Revolver is cold and chippy. Rubber Soul has 'Run For Your Life'. Abbey Road is '70s soft rock. The White Album is bloated. My favourite Beatles album is A Hard Day's Night. Handily, its title track is a perfect overture for the album. 'A Hard Day's … Continue reading The Beatles – ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
Lady Gaga – ‘Bad Romance’
10 December 2009 Ireland's first number one of the '00s was the world's biggest pop star, a young white American woman, with 'Born To Make You Happy'. Now we're almost at the end of that decade with the world's biggest pop star, a different young white American woman, and 'Bad Romance'. Had anything changed in … Continue reading Lady Gaga – ‘Bad Romance’
Cheryl – ‘Fight For This Love’
22 October 2009 It came with a collective hiatus rather than an individual departure, but Cheryl's imminent career move seemed to loom over her group for an age. She made a success of it too, with more solo number one singles in the UK (five) and Ireland (four) than Girls Aloud managed in either territory. … Continue reading Cheryl – ‘Fight For This Love’
Alexandra Burke ft. Flo Rida – ‘Bad Boys’
15 October 2009 It's that time of year in the '00s again. Four of the final five number one singles of 2009 in Ireland, occupying 11 weeks out of 12, are by acts from UK TV talent shows. The last of those four, our 2009 Christmas number one, will be in extraordinary circumstances. Before that, … Continue reading Alexandra Burke ft. Flo Rida – ‘Bad Boys’
Jim Reeves – ‘I Won’t Forget You’
24 July 1964 'I Won't Forget You' went to number one in Ireland in July 1964, was deposed for four weeks by our next chart-topper, and then regained the number one spot at the end of August for a further six weeks. Why the second, longer run at number one? Well, it's probably because on … Continue reading Jim Reeves – ‘I Won’t Forget You’
Roy Orbison – ‘It’s Over’
12 June 1964 I'm still finding it weird to see Roy Orbison on these early-'60s record covers as smiling, avuncular uncle Roy. In particular, I'm finding it weird just to see his eyes through clear glasses, and them being bright, happy eyes rather than bloodshot pools of febrile heartbreak. Anyway, I'll soldier on. 'It's Over' … Continue reading Roy Orbison – ‘It’s Over’
Industry – ‘Burn’
27 August 2009 Donal Skehan completists coming to 'Burn' will find it thin gruel indeed - their man just gets a few cute-one pouts and some backing vocals. The other three do all the main singing here. Even more noticeably than with their previous chart-topper, 'My Baby's Waiting', the group never appear together in this … Continue reading Industry – ‘Burn’
The Black Eyed Peas – ‘I Gotta Feeling’
16 July 2009 Here's one of the biggest singles in Irish chart history. 'I Gotta Feeling' by The Black Eyed Peas spent 12 weeks at number one in Ireland, more than the eleven weeks of '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You', the ten weeks of 'Maniac 2000', and every other chart-topper of the … Continue reading The Black Eyed Peas – ‘I Gotta Feeling’
Industry – ‘My Baby’s Waiting’
25 June 2009 "There are no second acts in American lives" is an F. Scott Fitzgerald line that gets trotted out in news articles whenever someone does have a second act in their lives, which is quite often. Even within the narrow scope of Irish singers who had an Irish number one single and whose … Continue reading Industry – ‘My Baby’s Waiting’
