10 November 2001 There's a weird moment in the video for 'Queen Of My Heart', which you can see at the end of these few lines, where Westlifer Nicky takes out a set of clippers from his back pocket and shaves off his hair. Statement of ascetic religious devotion? Treatment for head lice? Or just … Continue reading Westlife – ‘Queen Of My Heart’ →

20 October 2001 There isn't a precise sales figure for Ireland for Afroman's 'Because I Got High'. However, in the market closest to us, the UK, it's certified as selling 600,000 copies, which equates to a copy bought by roughly 1% of the UK population. Assuming a similar sales reach here from its three weeks … Continue reading Afroman – ‘Because I Got High’ →

22 September 2001 Look who's here! Yes, this is her first Irish chart-topper in 12 years. However, Kylie Minogue still had eleven Irish top ten hits in that time, the same number as Take That and one more than the Spice Girls. What's more, one of those Kylie hits was the sensationally brilliant 'Better The … Continue reading Kylie Minogue – ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ →

15 September 2001 September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday. For the days after that, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US, the national Irish radio stations (and perhaps local ones too) played round-the-clock news programmes instead of music. This absence of radio airplay, still in 2001 a crucial promotional outlet for new … Continue reading Uncle Kracker – ‘Follow Me’ →

8 September 2001 Through the '90s and up to the end of 2000 our rap chart-toppers were mostly by children's TV characters and crass white men. So, Eve at number one feels like welcome progress on that front. She had already featured impressively with a verse of her own on the fabulous 1999 single 'You … Continue reading Eve ft. Gwen Stefani – ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’ →

28 July 2001 We, the nation of ride-or-die devotees to 'Maniac 2000', aren't in much of a position to sneer at 'Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)'. Crowd-pleasing dance tracks like those were huge in the early '00s. When discussing Mark McCabe's contribution to Irish society I implied that DJ Ötzi may have subsequently been following the … Continue reading DJ Ötzi – ‘Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)’ →

30 June 2001 Moulin Rouge was the movie hit of 2001. I remember being duly impressed by its opulent spectacle—the trademark of its director and former Irish number one act Baz Luhrmann—and its playful postmodernism. Less impressive was its reliance on the tired old plotline of a lead female character as male sexual possession, male … Continue reading Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink ft. Missy Elliott – ‘Lady Marmalade’ →

2 June 2001 'Better than 'It Wasn't Me'' is a pitifully low bar to clear, so it's a blessed relief to find that Shaggy's follow-up doesn't go for the same leery sexism and cretinous misogyny. Faint praise, I know. 'Better than UB40' should also be easy clearance for any serious reggae track - or so … Continue reading Shaggy ft. Rayvon – ‘Angel’ →

5 May 2001 Quentin Crisp had a brilliant quip in his autobiography The Naked Civil Servant about the effects of the Wall Street Crash on the London cityscape: "The sky was dark with millionaires throwing themselves out of windows." Could erstwhile Girl Power idealogue Geri Halliwell have had something similar in mind when choosing 'It's … Continue reading Geri Halliwell – ‘It’s Raining Men’ →