Hits 21 - 2000 (10): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: October 9, 2022

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

Let the bells ring out for a wobbly Merry Christmas When the snowman brings the snow, well he just might like to know There will be stars shining for you All right there, everyone. And welcome back to Hits 21, where me, Rob. Me, Andy. And me, Lizzie.

Look back at every single UK number one of the 21st century from January 2000 right through to the present day if you want to get in touch with us you can find us over on twitter we are at hits 21 uk that is at hits 21 uk and you can email us as well just send it on over to hits 21 podcast at gmail.com thank you so much for joining us again. Just like our previous episodes, we're going to be looking back at, well,

a number one single from the year 2000. Maybe we'll be looking back this week at every number one of the year 2000 because we're covering the race for Christmas number one in the year 2000. And because there's only one Christmas number one, we needed to fill the time with some other things. So we may end up doing a year review at some point in this episode.

Who knows? Before we look forward, we're just going to look back at last week. Our poll winner was, of course, Stan by Eminem. Although there was a solitary vote for Never Had A Dream Come True. I would love to know who that was. That was me, that one. Oh, was it? No, I'm really kidding.

I really admire the gumption of whoever that was in terms of fighting the tide and letting their S Club flag fly very, very proudly. Yeah, shout out to whoever that was. Absolutely. Whether they're trolling or not we'll never know.

The structure of this episode is going to be a little different to what it normally is but the beginning will sound very familiar. We're going to take you back to December 2000 with some news headlines. Sub-zero temperatures, which reach as low as minus 13 in parts of the Midlands,

and snowstorms grind Britain to a halt. People are advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Airports and train stations are closed, and motorways around the country have their speed limits lowered to around 30mph. Meanwhile the Millennium Dome closes down its exhibition one year after opening as originally planned. It attracted 6 million visitors during the year it was opened to the public but that was only roughly half of what its sponsors had forecasted and as a result it was deemed a failure by the press. It would

of course reopen as the O2 Arena a couple of years later but at the time it really was quite a notorious white elephant in British history, the Millennium Dome, yeah. Yeah, it's a good documentary about it on YouTube actually. In other news, singer-songwriter Kirstie McColl is killed in a speed-ating accident while diving with her family in Mexico, aged just 41. Her biggest hits at the time of her death were A New England, which got to number 7 in 1985, Fairytale of New York with the Bogues, which got to number 2 in 1987, and Days, which got to number 12 in 1989. Do you both know about this case?

Yes, I do. I know about what happened, but the aftermath, no. Yeah, I mean, in better news, she did manage to save the life of her son, Jamie, who she managed to push out of the way just in time, so he sustained minor injuries. But what happened was the boat involved in the collision was controlled by someone called Guillermo Gonzalez Nova who was

the multi-millionaire president of a supermarket chain in Mexico and was on board with members of his family. So the boat was owned by his brother Carlos who founded the chain and one employee of Guillermo, boat hand Jose Sen Yam stated that he was in control of the boat at the time of the incident. Eyewitnesses said that Sen Yam was not at the controls and that the boat was traveling much faster than the speed of one knot that González Nova said. So Sen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to two years, ten months in prison. But

he was allowed under Mexican law to pay a punitive fine of roughly 1,034 pesos, which is about 61 pounds, in lieu of a prison sentence. And he was also ordered to pay approximately $2, dollars in restitution

to mccall's family at about based on his wages so people people who said they spoke to said yeah after the killing said he received money for taking the blame which i entirely buy and you know mccall's family have you know launched the justice for kirsty campaign in response and it seems like they they fought for years to get any kind of restitution from you know the mexican authorities who pretty much shut them out and sided with this millionaire family it's horrible how very very sad very very i mean it's just it's so sad around because i think you know probably the second most famous fact about her now other than that she did fairy tale of new york is the manner of her death um which you know is

one of those things that is such a kind of thing that people talk about at christmas all the time but really because we're so overexposed to it now you look back on it and it's such an awful awful thing to happen so sad so awful yeah the films to hit the top of the uk box office in december 2000 were as follows how the grinch stole christmas for like a third week at this point or something and m night shiomelon's unbreakable meanwhile the bfi publishes a list of the 100 greatest british tv programs of all time faultyowers takes the top spot from Cathy Come Home and Doctor Who. Hmm, should have been Doctor Who, but okay. Yeah.

Elsewhere, Madonna has just married Guy Ritchie in a ceremony at Dornock Cathedral in the Scottish Highlands. The wedding was private and exclusive and members of the press were not allowed to attend. However, Lee Sing ran to police. Sting was on the guest list. The couple were eventually divorced in 2008 and you know the rest of the story. Yes. So, Andy, normally you're second to read headlines

but you were briefly absent there while Lizzie took the second headline why is that? That's because I've done a special feature for this week so basically while we've got a little bit more time this week and while we're talking about this Christmas period

in general in 2000 I've decided to do a deep dive on all the TV tv film and associated pop culture that was around in christmas 2000 uh let's revisit what was on the screens both big and small and a few other little bits in christmas 2000 so let's see what you remember from all this okay so it is the first christmas of the millennium of course and the tv schedules i think don't disappoint for this occasion there really was kind of something for everyone on during this christmas period um huge shout out to the websites out there by the way

who still very very studiously document what was on every day of every year on every channel there are websites that keep this stuff so thank you very much for those. Yeah, thank you. Yeah and what really struck me was there was a lot of stuff I actually remember and this is just about within my memory this Christmas for TV. So the BBC's main highlights included a Victoria Wood special on Christmas Day with a range of celebrity guests and the other big highlight was a christmas special of the royal family which was the one where denise goes into labor in the bathroom and it's very very emotional at the end between her and her dad jim i remember that very well um that's quite a famous um episode of that show yeah bbc one also on christmas night donated a huge chunk of the night to the TV premiere of

Titanic which was actually a pretty recent film then it was only about 2-3 years old weird Titanic feels like a completely different era to me than this but yeah that was the TV premiere of that film was on Christmas night yeah

ITV on the other hand took a very different approach. They earned a double bill of their current big smash hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which took up most of primetime. And I'm sure that's what my family would have watched. We're big millionaire fans.

Is that Christmas Day? Christmas Day, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much through the night, yeah. Along with, as we mentioned last week, must give a shout out to the S Club 7 Christmas special, which aired in the early morning. There was also a special Aladdin pantomime with a celebrity cast.

I say celebrity cast. I've heard of about three of the names, and there were people in there like, you know, Sally Lindsay, Jonathan Wilkes, those kind of people who were just sort of... Oh, I've sort of heard of them, yeah, OK. And there was also a Stars in Their Eyes Christmas special. I used to love Stars in Their Eyes, so that must have been nice.

I think I've seen that one, actually. I want to say it's the one that Maria Callas won. Oh, wow. Not the real Maria Callas. It wasn't like Maria Callas doing Madonna, it was someone doing... Oh, I wish, I wish. Yeah. Just a few other points of interest around it.

Just a few little highlights that I noticed. So the BBC on Christmas Eve broadcast something very strange, which was a special Tweenies version of Top of the Pops. Oh, no. Yeah. How does that go? I know. I don't really know what it involves.

There was, this is to go slightly dark for a moment, there was some controversy about 12 years later after the death of Jimmy Savile when this episode was accidentally repeated. It contains friendly grandad character Max

imitating Jimmy Savile and that accidentally aired a few months after the Jimmy Savile broke. That's what that's mostly known for. Another thing I want to point out is the final episode of The Queen's Nose aired on BBC One as well on CBBC. Did you used to watch The Queen's Nose? I used to like it. Yeah, with the 50p and you could make a wish and yeah like basically a genie's lamp

but it was a 50p that gave you wishes and it was all kind of be careful what you wish for kind of things like in one episode she wishes to have the rest of the year

off school so she gets hit by a car and has to spend the rest of the year in hospital and that's some quite interesting themes you might say

proper moralising stuff that Jesus yeah so that was the sort of general gist of the calendar but of course Christmas TV is all about the soaps a land where those mystical chimes

of snow and winter are actually a calling card for misery death and despair and obviously chief amongst those is EastEnders so amongst those is EastEnders so this year in EastEnders Martin Fowler is revealed as the father of Sonia's baby much to the heartbreak of her boyfriend

Jamie Mitchell sad for him on Corrie, Roy and Hayley taking a child from the streets named Wayne who they will later go on to illegally foster and eventually abduct, blimey that escalated who they will later go on to illegally foster and eventually abduct. Blimey, that escalated.

What? Yeah, I do remember that storyline, and it was more complex than that. The kid was sort of getting abused at home, so they take it upon themselves to foster him and take him away without permission, basically. It's a good storyline. Ah, okay. And on Emmerdale, local vicar Ashley marries his partner Bernice in a typically drama

filled ceremony. And one of the tropes I hate the most about Christmas TV and films is people getting married on Christmas Day. Who the hell would get married on Christmas Day? It's selfish. People can't attend, can they? I know. Yeah.

And finally, the late Queen Elizabeth II used her Christmas Day speech to reflect on the start of a new millennium and to celebrate her recent tour of Australia so as for films which Rob has touched on of course but tis of course the season

there's always all sorts of stuff out at Christmas it was a very different time for the box office calendar in how Hollywood does Christmas nowadays you get big tentpole sorts of stuff out at Christmas. It was a very different time for the box office calendar and how Hollywood does Christmas. Nowadays you get big tentpole, you know, big highlight of the year releases for Christmas for reasons that we'll cover when we get there. But back in 2000 it was still mainly a place for kind of kids movies, Oscar bait, smaller movies, that sort of thing. And this year we did of course get that modern Christmas favorite The Grinch or as it's known in

the US How the Grinch Stole Christmas but look at this lineup of other films that were out this Christmas. People were spoilt for choice. So along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Unbreakable which Rob mentioned we also had Castaway, Miss Congeniality, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Emperor's New Groove were all out over that Christmas what an amazing bunch of films

yeah yeah yeah I watched The Emperor's New Groove about 18 months ago it's a decent movie oh it's fantastic The Emperor's New Groove

is so underrated like it's it's so so good let's do a podcast about that it's so good it didn't do it didn't do that well commercially did it

at the time no no it didn't it was considered a, did it? At the time. It was considered a bit of a flop and then over time it's really garnered a reputation as one of the better animated films of its time. I remember seeing that in the cinema actually. I went on a camping holiday

with my dad and we went into this theatre in Wales and we decided to see that and it was good fun I think it was I think it was alright aww that's lovely

yeah it is I think the reason it was unsuccessful commercially is probably the same reason why it did really well critically

which is that it was really strange it's a really really unusual Disney film it's got a lot of meta jokes that kind of sort of an early precursor to the kind of family guy humour there's a lot of that unusual Disney film. It's got a lot of meta jokes that are sort of an early precursor

to the kind of Family Guy humour. There's a lot of that in Emperor's New Groove, but more tasteful than Family Guy. Yeah, I seem to remember that it was originally supposed to be a completely different idea. Yes. It developed a lot and became something completely different. Yeah it was supposed to be called something like, oh I'm gonna get the title wrong here,

something like Empire of the, not Empire of the Sun, that can't be right, something like that. Kingdom of the Sun. Kingdom of the Sun, yeah it was supposed to be something like that which had the same general idea of a vaguely kind of Aztec and Inca inspired sort of South American story, which gradually morphed into this really weird, very, very strange take on it, which basically is a sort of modern day farce. I love it. It's a fantastic film. Anyway, yeah.

So finally, anyone want to take a guess at this one? The only thing I've got left that I haven't mentioned is the highest-selling book of this Christmas. Anyone want to take a guess on what it was? Oh, God. It's probably an autobiography. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh, Rob.

Gold star for you. Oh, OK. It was... Sorry to do that, Lizzie. It was, of course, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Outsold everything else by many, many, many times over. That's the one in which Dumbledore makes Harry risk his life three times just to see what happens.

And Cedric Diggory ends up as Cedric Deaderie. Yeah. So there we go. That's what was happening this Christmas. And amazing to think that we still don't know who wrote Harry Potter potter to this day no can you believe that no no it's just a mystery we'll never get to the bottom of it i'm sure a lot of people saying that it's this robert galbraith person but i have no idea who that is no mystery not really worth discussing really not worth talking about it wouldn't be anyone wouldn't be anyone but very very good would it anyway

yeah alright then Lizzie what have you got you normally bring us the US charts but we've kind of covered that so what have you got

for yeah well in the US charts everything is exactly the same so if you listened last week well done you're all caught up

instead I did try looking for the top selling toys of the year and I couldn't find much information like different sources say different things but the majority seem to say the Razer scooter which I think I had one of those

that was everybody had one I mean I never had one but I was like the only kid who didn't have a scooter like everybody had one you I mean, I never had one, but I was like the only kid who didn't have a scooter. Like everybody had one. You didn't as much, don't worry. But instead what I do have is the top 10 selling games in the UK over 2000. Okay. So I will go through from 10 to 1

and you can pipe up if you remember playing this one or I don't know, do whatever you want. So at number 10 we have The Sims. Oh, well, definitely pipe up about that one, yeah. Did it come out in 2000 or 19, I can't remember.

I want to say it was 2000. I think we did it as a headline on this show, actually. Yeah, we must have done, yeah. At number 9, we have Toy Story 2. What a game that was. Honestly, I'm more enthusiastic about this than The Sims, to be honest. That was genuinely a game that was almost as good as the film.

It was like Goldeneye. It was such a fantastic 3D platformer. It was wonderful. Brilliant game. Yeah. Yeah, really good game. At number eight, we have FIFA 2001. Okay, yeah.

I don't remember that being a very good one. I was waiting for one of the FIFAs to turn up. Yeah. At number seven 7 we have WWF Smackdown oh I played that game a lot

it's a really good game at number 6 we have Pokemon Blue oh I had that yeah yeah I think a lot of people

had that at number 5 we have Pokemon Red I didn't have that I know I had that one had that. At number five, we have Pokemon Red. No, I didn't have that. I know, I owned that one. Was that one where it was the same game, but it was slightly different versions?

Yeah. Something like that. And starter Pokemon and things like that, and the Pokemon that you encounter are different. It's all just... It's like slightly different parallel universe flavours of the same game. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, because it... Yeah, so Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, they were released together, and there was... They were, yeah. And Yellow. And Yellow was as well. Yeah.

Right. Yeah, so they're all sort of released together, and then... Oh, how strange. They still do that. That's always been the model for Pokemon. They still release, like, two games that are essentially the same, but slightly different Pokemon involved.

They still do that. They still release two games at a time. It's very popular. It forces a lot of people to double dip, which I'm sure is the intention. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yes, where Professor Oak stops you in the grass, and you're in Pallet Town.

And of course, the thing everyone immediately does is when you're naming Professor Oaks' grandson, you give him a very, very rude name, just so you can see Professor Oaks say it. I mean, we've all done that, haven't we? Hello, this is my grandson, Pooh! Back to the charts we have at number 4

WWF Smackdown 2 I also played a lot of that one they released two games in the same year not like Pokemon it was more like I think they released one in like February

and then another one in November because you've got to get that Christmas money I guess hmm at number three we have Gran Turismo 2 oh wow I owned that one

yes did you yes okay so that's two now I've owned because I owned Red and I've got Gran Turismo 2 as well I played that a few times I think that was when I fell in love with Subarus and things like that because they were always the ones that looked nice

on the game if I watch it now I'd probably be like god this controls like shit but anyway I think this is probably a more low rent version I think but rather than Gran Turismo I used to play Driver

which I used to quite Driver Driver and Driver 2 I used to like them both and number 2 we have Pokemon Yellow so any guesses for number 1 is it

I don't know whether the Pro Evolution soccer titles were that big good guess I've got a guess was there a Grand Theft Auto out at this time also a good guess you're both close but you're also

way off because the number one game of 2000 was Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Oh my god! Oh my god! Jesus! I didn't have that but I did have the weakest link for PS1.

I had that as well! It was so crap but so good. It was so rubbish! Did they get like Anne Robinson and Chris Tarrant to like voice lines Yeah Literally like don't imagine that it was

some kind of evolved version of the show it was literally just you play an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or you play an episode of The Weakest Thing the gameplay was just

select your answer that was it like completely Could you like you know give yourself a character trait that Anne Robinson could then tear into pieces

like you could select six things that Anne Robinson's recorded insults about like I think you're like selected from a line up of characters some of whom are wackier than others yeah I think that's how it worked so they have like a character select screen of random people like

here's Bob, here's Sharon here's like they don't have any special characteristics just like a different face and a different voice that's it

oh my god Jesus what a that was a moment in time what a chart what a chart thanks for that Lizzie that was great

yeah that was great really good yeah yeah see you next Christmas Lizzy for the top video games of 2001 oh yes right so we've had TV

and we've had video games and films and some news and we're going to look back now at the year 2000 a little bit but just we're going to sit and have a general discussion about trends that we've noticed, any surprises just we're going to sit and have a general discussion about, you know, trends that we've noticed, any surprises. And we're going to have a general discussion

about the songs that we've looked at on Hits 21 so far. So I don't know which of you wants to really take the lead on this, about like things from the year 2000 that have jumped out at you, whether you expected them to or not. It's totally up to you guys. So I've got an observation that basically,

this was a complete coincidence, but it really, really gave me clarity on looking at 2000, which is that I like to collect Now albums. Not like, you know, to an extreme extent, but I always like to pick them up when I see them in a shop. Yeah. And I happened to listen in the car last week to most of now 44 which was the last one of the 90s that was like

the second half of the 90s was covered oh sorry the second half of 1999 was covered on that album and that really really helped put into perspective for me how things changed in 2000. And what I mean, one thing that we have kind of a market upon that I feel really, really strongly about is that the difference between the 90s, the late 90s and 2000 is really stark. You know, there is a really huge change in sounds that happens fairly early on in the year and really grows throughout. change in sound that happens fairly early on in the year and really grows throughout. You know there is a lot of stuff in 99 things like you know Baby One More Time and S Club Party and you know Mambo No. 5 and Blue Dabber Dee things like that that would just sound really out of place I think in 2000 even though it's literally just a few weeks later you know there's really almost no

difference in time at all it's literally just a few weeks later. You know, there's really almost no difference in time at all. It's completely arbitrary, but it does feel like things change. But it's not completely stark, and there were a few things I noticed in the 90s feeding in to the noughties, is that there are a few songs in there that start to have that futuristic sound. Like, you can feel the noughties starting to get started. There's a few songs by Jamiroquai on there that feel like they've started to get that kind of new funk disco kind of sound. Sing It Back by Maloko came out at the

end of 99, which really fed to me straight into Groovejet and into Don't Call Me Baby and things like that. So it's like you can see the small seeds at the end of the 90s of a big bomb that's about to go off. And that's a very mixed metaphor, but you know of the 90s of a big bomb that's about to go off. That's a very mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean. About a big bomb that's about to go off in 2000. And that's my main observation about 2000, is that this really is a big, bold new era. I've been amazed at the amount of different genres that we've seen at number one. The sheer amount of number ones, full stop. There is so much going on in this year and i haven't liked all of them um but i think generally the quality has

been really really high and i feel like this must have been a really really exciting year for fans fans of pop music like anything was possible at this time and that's the thing that surprised me the most is that this really was quite a vintage year i think it's been really really good overall some fantastic songs some crap but that's what happens when you experiment so overall i think it's been a brilliant year yeah for me with the year 2000 the biggest surprise that i've had and it's a trend i've noticed is that i think we've said this a few times on the show anyway, but it's just disco is a lot healthier in the year 2000 than I ever would have thought about if I just thought, what was the big dominant sound of the year 2000?

Like, you know, disco does not even enter into my head as like one of the top five. And yet so many songs here are like updates of disco or are just flat out disco or yeah finding new ways to rephrase disco or taking samples from disco and just it's just such a huge surprise to have them on the show and then to have them pop up as like number one singles but then also to like for them to be selling really well like you know disco is like 25 30 years old at this point and still people are well into it and so yeah fair play to disco for

and fair place those artists for committing to disco as well and to sort of like not necessarily make it cool again but just sort of commit to something that's apparently uncool and fun um because you know what is pop music if not fun you know yeah it just commits right to it um i yeah there's a range of stuff uh in terms of how good it is i think the worst ones for me the worst my least favorite songs of the year have all been really uninspired covers of songs that are like 20 30 years old i agree with that agree i was surprised at how much that was an actual trend that stuck out but yeah a lot of covers that aren't really doing it for me because i'm sure there are covers further down the line that are just much better than this that i remember maybe they didn't get to like number one uh just in later

years but like i'm just sort of thinking about um i don't think this got to number one but just sisters uncomfortably numb i just think like it's that's a really good example of an updated cover of a 70s track that's trying to do something different it just takes the lyrics and that's all it takes it doesn't really take the melody either doesn't take the arrangement of the pink floyd version it just does something completely different with the words that are on the paper and so maybe there's a few more years yet before we you know look back on the 70s and 80s and we're not just trying to rehash it you know we're trying to do something different with it but um yeah and i think you know the big kind of solo names that come through, you get Madonna with a couple of number ones.

Eminem, obviously. Craig David at the start of the year. Britney Spears a couple of times. So you've got like big solo artists sort of making a name for themselves there. Eminem as well feels like he's kind of ushering in the 21st century a little bit with some of the stuff that he was doing, scaring a few people out of the 90s, basically. But yeah, no, it's been... I think it's been a solid year. I think as we go along, I don't think that there's going to be many years that we cover

that's going to end up with an average score as high as the year 2000. I think the year 2000 is going to be quite high compared to some others that we do. There's a few years I'm looking forward and looking ahead to where I think, yeah, overall, this might be a better year for number ones in the year 2000, but I don't think there's going to be many for me.

I have enjoyed going through this year. I'm excited to do 2001, but I'm more than happy that we did 2000. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's another thing that really struck me, is that before we started the show, I would have really, really struggled to name songs from 2000. It's not a year that stood out to me at all and I've been really surprised by how high the quality was and how many really classic

songs, look at how many songs we've put in the vault this year, we've got about 10 and that's just the ones that got number 1, we're barely barely scratching the surface layer of this year I think it really is quite a highlight and I think we will look back on this one barely stretching the surface layer of this year.

Yeah, I think it really is quite a highlight, and I think we will look back on this one very fondly in future years. Lizzie, what have you made of the year 2000? Yeah, totally agree with you both. I wish I'd kind of written up more on this, but I wanted to talk about the trends as well just just generally like things i've noticed that are in and things i've noticed that seem to be on the way out like very in at the moment i guess is more obvious because you know boy bands are the in thing in

2000 also disco as you've mentioned um dance music in general is doing really well that i mean the thing we've really gone out about is our futuristic sound isn't it from sonic and all saints that that that sci-fi sound that's the thing that we've probably pointed out the most isn't it yeah also american acts do really well this year you know britney and eminem in particular um i say on the way out would you agree that girl groups have a pretty bad year in 2000 I think they have a mixed year I think there's some awful

stuff you know there's Holla which is really really crap but then you've got All Saints and you've got Independent Women at the end of the year as well which is very good yes I agree but All saints are on the way out. Yeah, true.

Destiny's Child, I wouldn't really call a girl group. They're more, like, R&B than pop. Yeah, it's a funny one, because obviously, like, you know, you have upcoming, you know, there is... Maybe there is a bit of a gap. Maybe there's a bit of a gap. Maybe there's a bit of a gap between sort of this and Girls Aloud. Yeah.

And Sugar Babes kind of coming back with their line up. Atomic Kitten are very close around the corner as well. Yeah, Atomic Kitten. But they don't reach the heights of Spice Girls. No. Oh, no. No, they don't.

Yeah, so maybe it's less that girl groups are on the way out. It's more that girl groups have got to update. It's a lull, yeah. Yeah, I feel like... Before they evolve, sort of thing. Yeah, I'm not going to say that boy groups are dead because boy bands are dead because you got Busted to come

and like even in the present day you got like BTS oh no they had a great year and like they never necessarily go away but I will say that there are going to be better times coming for girl groups than there are for boy bands coming up especially in the year 2003 Britain makes a choice between girl groups and boy bands coming up especially in the year 2003 britain makes a choice between girl groups and boy bands in that moment and it does feel like yeah girl groups are going to have a little bit of a lull compared to the 90s for a couple of years but then there's going to be more than

a few of them after a little while and to be fair for for boy bands i think there is also a big big return to form well not return i wouldn't say return to form in terms of quality but a big return to popularity around 2010 2011 where you have one direction the wanted jls all at the same time um so yeah i think every every dog has its day I guess doesn't it gotta learn your lessons one thing Lizzie I was going to say one thing that I've noticed going out or one thing I've noticed that's in at the moment

in the charts that feels like it's being moved out and by sort of like 2008 is the beginning of a huge gap in the charts, I think, for alternative rock. Oh, yeah.

There's not much this year. Even like mainstream rock and stuff. Like, you know, Manix are there. I wouldn't say U2 are alternative, but like, you know, they make a noise, you know, and Oasis are there. But like sort of i would say by like 2008 the numbers have really dwindled down and quite a lot of rock bands of the mid-2000s have realized that they're not going to get massive singles unless they exchange their

guitars for keyboards and exchange their kind of you know like monochrome rough rustic aesthetics for like future festival friendly kind of like you know looking at you call play uh yeah yeah it's yeah and the killers as well and fallout boy and with a more grown-up sound you know that's right It's rock music in general that's dying a bit of a death at this time, though, really. It's really strange looking back to that first episode we did where one of the very first songs we had was Masses Against the Classes by Mannix,

and then we had Go Let It Out by Oasis in the first episode, and we all commented about both of those songs that, like, how did these get number one? It was so easy for rock music to get number one in those days. Turns out, no they were pretty much the only ones of the whole year There was Beautiful Day, but was that it?

Was it just those three other than Beautiful Day? They're the only ones Would you agree that it's a bit of a transitional time for rock, because Radiohead completely moved away from it with Kid A and we don't get The Strokes until about a year from now yeah the Libertines and yeah yeah the Garage Revival and the White Stripes and that sort of thing tell you what I would use as this is I always use this as a bit of a yardstick is that I would struggle to think of what might have

been headlining Leeds and Reading that kind of stuff at this time because there is a bit of a lot happening yeah it's got to be old brit pop bands isn't it probably like yeah is it going to be something new rather than you know something from like six or seven years ago i mean unfortunately i think reading and leads has kind of turned into that yeah yeah pretty much but yeah the headliners of Reading Festival actually in the year 2000 the top three Friday was Oasis Saturday was Pulp

and Sunday was Stereophonic oh god well there we go Stereophonics I guess Stereophonics are contemporary at this time but Oasis and Pulp

that's yeah Pulp have been around like 20 years at this point yeah although underneath them you've got Primal Scream Pulp, that's... Yeah, Pulp have been around like 20 years at this point. Yeah. Although underneath them you've got Primal Scream, Beck and Placebo.

They're all old. Yeah, they're all 90s groups by this point. Yeah, Foo Fighters, they've had their heyday. Yeah, the very current ones here. Even then, Limp Bizkit have been around for about 10 years by the year 2000, so... Oh, yeah. Yeah, Rage Against the Machine, they haven't... About 10 years as well. Yeah, well, with Rage, like,

they released three albums in the 90s, and then they did that Covers album in the year 2000, and then that was it. Yeah, they just buggered off the entire Bush administration, like, thanks, guys. The other... Just one last... Sorry Like, thanks, guys. The other... Just one last... Sorry, go on, Rob. Sorry.

Well, underneath, on the sort of... The less popular stage, if you will, from the year 2000, where it's not the big headliners, but it's like, you know, you're sort of...

Up and coming. You're introducing stage, if you will. You're Radio 1 stage. You've got Muse, Embrace, and Ian your Radio 1 stage you've got Muse Embrace and Ian Brown and so you've got

Muse who are sort because they've only had one album out by this point which was Showgirls Embrace I associate them more

with the the 2000s yeah mid-north Ian Brown trying to go solo but they've also got Shed 7

and the Wanadies Shed 7 Shed 7 yeah oh they've also got Shed 7 and the Wanadies Shed 7 yeah oh they've got Ween Ween are playing and they've got the Get Up Kids are playing so pretty pretty cool again they're 90s

you know like 4 Minute Mile is 90s I think Lizzie hit upon the exact phrase there, that this is, like, transition phase. This is a lull. This is, yeah, this is an era of development, shall we say, for rock music. Yeah.

I think just one last thing that I've noticed might have peaked this year is UK Garage. Yes. I think Craig David, at the top of the charts, is kind of a turning point where it's kind of hit the mainstream and it sort of peters out after that, even though the song we're discussing this week

has kind of a generic Garage backing because that was the style at the time. There's a couple that are still to come, but Garage kind of morphs into Bassline by the mid-2000s because you go from getting stuff like craig david and uh oxide and neutrino and then i think next year you get 21 seconds and then in 2003 you get baby cakes i think but then by like 2006 2007 it's Heartbroken by T2 and it's kind of moved on yeah like Burial and

sort of Dubstep and Grime obviously you know I think of all the songs that we've covered as number ones this year I think the one that stood out to me the most as the most dated and the most random at number one was Oxide and Neutrino with Bound for the Reload

which I still can't say without saying it in that rhythm with the Bound forrino with Bound for the Reload which I still can't say without saying it in that rhythm with the Bound for the Bound Bound for the Reload that really stood out to me as that was I feel like you had to be there to really understand why that got number one I'm so perplexed That's the most dated to you in a year where we

covered Against All Odds by Mariah Carey That's crap and it's sugary and smalty but in its own way it's sort of timeless in that there'll always be a place for that kind of crap ballad. I just thought that Oxide and Neutrino song, I was just like, I really

feel like I can't engage with this. I don't understand because this was just another era. It's only remembered by people who were there. Yeah. And I wasn't old enough to appreciate that. I feel like with Against All Odds, yeah, that's crap, but there's always going to be a market for crap. You know. Let's not talk about how long...

Fair enough. Let's not talk about how long Amarillo's going to be at number one for about an age in a few years' time. It's kind of difficult to see where we're going. It does feel like... This feels like it's the end of something rather than the beginning.

Hmm. I don't know. I feel like there's been some big themes that have emerged this year in terms of sound. I think in terms of popular acts and popular sort of styles of music, I think that's a bit more up in the air. But in terms of the way sound is developing, as opposed to the 90s, I think we've started to get the beginning of something

here. But definitely transition. There's a lot of transition happening here. Yeah, for sure. I'm going to pose something. I'm going to make a prediction that we may think that about quite a lot of years, which because you know because the weekly charts are only ever kind of judging what was popular on a weekly basis at any given moment in time i think we're gonna sit there at the end of every year and just think like well it was the start of some things but it was the end of some other things. And like, there are very few songs and years, I think, that I can really think back and think,

that was the beginning, definitely. This was the beginning of this. Like, this scene. Like, you can see the future of pop music in this year. You can really see it. Like, at the moment, I'm having trouble drawing a line between the year 2000 and the year 2009, for example. Yeah.

But I think when we get to 2009, say, we may have an easier time drawing a line between that and, say, 2016 or 2018 or something like that. So, yeah, I'm curious to see how each year, at the end of each year, we're sort of thinking like, see how each year at the end of each year we're sort of thinking like hmm you know is was it is every year transitional or do some years make a greater state you know make a greater claim for themselves as being like the actual origin point of something that came down the line and was turned out to be very important well i guess like yeah i was just about to say that makes me think the actual charts themselves are in a period of transition like the fact that this year we had what was it like a 16

week run of one week number ones yeah it would have been unheard of in like I don't know the 70s you know it just wouldn't happen it says something about people's habits isn't it about people's listening habits in that

although there were a lot of hits, a lot of really good songs this year, nothing really captured the public imagination to a unifying degree that got it to number one for weeks and weeks. There was no Umbrella by Rihanna moment. There was no, I don't know, there was no everything I do, I do it for you moment.

There's no crazy. I know you love that one, is it? Yeah. Crazy, that's a great example. There's no like, yeah, this is the zeitgeist. There's nothing like that in this chart. Everything is very kind of ephemeral and brief. And I think that's really interesting in its own way.

It's exciting because people are always moving on to the next thing. But unpredictable, very unpredictable. You don't get that slow crawl up the charts anymore. way it's it's exciting because people are always moving on to the next thing but unpredictable very unpredictable you don't get that slow crawl up the charts anymore you get songs that are straight at number one then straight back out again yeah yeah definitely yeah really interesting okay it's time to take a look at what was the christmas number one of the year 2000? But before we do that, what we're going to do is, well, I'm going to run down the top 10 on Christmas Day in the year 2000. And we're going to play some little sound clips as we go along. we go along. So, without further ado,

at number 10, it is Supreme by Robbie Williams. At number 9, it is Independent Women Part 1 by Destiny's Child. Hey! At number 8, it is Number 1 by The Tweenies. Boo!

So, unfortunately, it didn't get to Number 1. 7 is Can't Fight the Moonlight by Leigh-Anne Rimes. God, that's sticking around, that, isn't it? Yeah, doing all right. That's stuck around more than Independent Women, which came out much more recently. Number 6 is No Good For Me by our mates Oxide and Neutrino Well I'll be damned

Well they got Mega Man on it Wow Number 5 Who Let The Dogs Out By Baja Men Let's move on please Number 4 Never Had A Dream Come True

By S Club 7 And number 3 It's Stan by Eminem. So, the Christmas number two, and I mean that in more than one sense of the word,

was What Makes a Man by Westlife. I've genuinely never heard of that song. It doesn't exist. You've made it up. I know. I remember them singing in the song, they go, What makes a man? Or something like that. But it is the first single with Westlife's name on it not to get to number one. Yes.

Which means that whatever is at number one had the power to end this amazing run that Westlife were on. to end this amazing run that Westlake were on. So whatever we're about to discuss at number one must just be like one of the great songs of the year 2000 that everybody, everybody remembers and can instantly recall.

And when you walk down the street, I reckon you could randomly stop literally anybody in their tracks and go what was the number one of the year 2000 on christmas day and i bet you they would know exactly what it was oh this must be incredible i'm so excited this must be an amazing song yeah tell me beat tell us life eh wow well we've had you on the edge of your seat for just about too long so We've had you on the edge of your seat for just about too long.

So we're going to play it. And I think because it's the Christmas number one, we'll play it in full. I think it's not on Spotify. Contribute to its chart position in one way or another. This is going to be incredible. I can't wait to hear this masterpiece. So here we go. The Christmas number one of the year 2000 is... this. Can we fix it? Yes, we can!

Bob the Builder Can we fix it? Bob the Builder Yes, we can! Scoop, Muck and Dizzy and Roly too Lofty and Wendy join the crew Bob and the gang have so much fun Working together, they get the job done.

Bob the Builder. Can we fix it? Bob the Builder. Yes, we can. Bob the Builder. Can we fix it? Bob the Builder. Yes, we can.

You do this for us, baby. Yeah, we do it. Yes, we can. We'll wait till the sun goes down. Fuck the builder. Can we fix it? Fuck the builder. Yes, we can. Fuck the builder. Can we fix it? Fuck the builder.

Yes, we can. Wow! It's an arrogant duck. Can you fix it? Right. Left a bit. Right a little. OK.

Straight down. We can tackle any situation. Look out, here we come. Can we dig it? Yes. Can we build it? Yes. Thank you. For the Builder, can we fix it? For the Builder, yes we can! Digging and mixing, having so much fun. Working together, they get the job done. Can we dig it? Yes! Can we build it? Yes! Can we fix it? Yes! For the Builder! Yeah! For the Builder Yeah Bob the Builder All together now Bob the Builder

Can we fix it? Bob the Builder Yes, yes we can Bob the Builder Can we fix it? Bob the Builder Okay, it is Can We Fix It by Bob the Builder. Yes, we can.

Yes, we can. Released as Bob the Builder's first single in the UK, Can We Fix It is also the lead single from Bob the Builder's debut album, Bob the Builder, the album. It is not Bob the Builder's last UK number one. Oh, just you wait for that one. Can we fix it?

Yes, we can. The charts at number two, reaching number one in its second week on the charts, knocking Eminem off the top spot. It stayed at number one for three weeks, selling 215,000 copies in the first week that it hit number one.

360,000 copies in its second week at number one, and then 90,000 copies in its third and final week at the top of the charts. When Can We Fix It was knocked off the top of the charts. It fell three places to number four. And by the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 24 weeks. And if that wasn't enough, as of today, it is the only song released in the year 2000

to be a certified million seller in the UK. Jesus. Whoa. Where do we start with this? Andy. Oh. Can we fix it? Yes, we can.

All right, Lizzie. Andy's thoughts are done. I mean, not far off, to be honest. This is really... I want to say it's interesting because it is in certain ways. It's not really, is it? Because let's just be straight out the gate here, right? This is shit, isn't it?

It's awful. Like, it's a stupid, stupid song. I feel like you can only get away with this at Christmas. This is why, in a nutshell, Christmas number one is such a special thing that I think only, like, a certain generation, or a certain couple of generations, to be fair, of people specifically from the UK can relate to this. If you like

explain this to an American which you know maybe Americans listen to this but I feel like if you explain this concept to people of like we get really really excited to see what terrible song might make it to number one at Christmas. You know we'll never listen to it again it's all novelty and we're so excited

to see what it is. You know it's so never listen to it again. It's all novelty. And we're so excited to see what it is. You know, it's so contradictory. But I do think everyone who's, you know, old enough to remember this does remember this. This is like, everybody knows that Bob the Builder got number one for Christmas number one. It's a really, really kind of embarrassing phenomenon about our charts.

But I also kind of love that it happened, in that, you know, the charts are supposed to be representative of our culture, and our culture at this moment in time was a little builder. A little builder called Bob, with the voice of Neil Morrissey from Men Behaving Badly. If that's not British culture, I don't know what is. At least in the year 2000, yeah. I admire how they make a whole song out of it as well,

rather than just the theme tune. It's even got a fairly decent key change in it. It does! It does have a decent key change. I've heard words in this year alone. It's got a fairly decent key change. I think as well, it's worth reflecting on the fact that as a TV theme tune it's pretty good, this took off for a reason Bob the Builder was a popular TV show in its own right

but I do think a big part of why that show took off was because it had a really good theme tune and I do think that the 90s and early noughties late 80s as well were a really vintage time for kids TV theme tunes you don't get this kind of quality anymore you don't get your Postman Pats and your Fireman Sams and Bob the Builders anymore.

That was a really, really, not that I watch much children's TV anymore, but it was a really good time for TV theme tunes. But I certainly wouldn't go any further than that. It may be a decent kids theme tune but this is not something that should be number one. It's stupid!

It's daft! And it's got nothing I can say about it musically. All it is is just a simple call and response where you shriek the name of the artist and then put in a little catchphrase at the end. It's simplicity itself. Like I say,

I kind of love that it happened and it makes me smile whenever I see it in the list of UK number ones. But this is a bit daft, isn't it? This is a bit stupid that this happened. It beat Stan. It beat Stan. I mean, no, Stan got number one. But in Christmas week, people were like, should I buy Stan by Eminem? Nah, let's buy Bob the Builder. And the other thing about this is that it sold so many copies it was such a smash hit that it can't just have been parents of kids buying it there must have been adults with no children just buying this in their own right because they liked it and that

is quite disquieting i think i would not underestimate the synergy between the fact that the bbc do this chart at the official chart and that bob the builder was like cbbc's flagship show at this point i really do think that the majority at least 90 of these sales are like kids going mummy buy me bob the builder buy bob builder and then like in the car mummy play Bob Builder like you know how like kids are with like Spongebob albums

and things like that yeah but not to this extent not to this extent there must have been people buying it for themselves adults buying it

for themselves because that nearly a million in a month you know that's that's no not that many there must have been people secretly quite enjoying

this, like, oh, I'm buying it for my son, wink wink, at the till. I think there must have been people indulging in this themselves. Lizzie, what do you make of can we fix it? Yes, we can. Well, I was going to say, it does make me smile

that Neil Morrissey has two more number ones than Stephen Morrissey. And also, like, I guess this might have taken off just due to the fact that there were barely any Christmas songs in the Christmas number one rundown of 2000. I only found two. So one was, I wish it could be a wombling Christmas oh my god the wombles came back no the wombles came back and did a duet with Roy Wood

I know that and it's really really bad because they don't change the lyrics they just insert the word womble in the middle which means that line is like a 5-4 rhythm it goes like I wish it could be a wombling merry Christmas

every day it's really weird it's so bad and what's the other one the other one I think I showed you this this week but I'll share it for the benefit of the listeners as well

it's a song called at this time of year and it was by craig from big brother what's his surname again craig phillips i think craig phillips that's there jesus christ so yeah real slim pickings for like songs. And I actually watched the Top of the Pops where Bob the Builder was announced as number one. And he does a little intro and start. It's like, thanks for making me number one. Sadly, what doesn't happen is I was half hoping for Neil Morrissey to come out in a hard hat

and just spoil the illusion for all the kids. I was going to say, don't want to scare all the kids that Bob the Builder's a human man. Yes. Oh no, I have to go back to my other dimension now. I'm so free to that. You know how they used to do the Wombles?

They'd come out in these giant costumes. That's what I thought they would do. I thought they might have a Mickey Mouse style huge inanimate costume of Bob the Builder. I thought so too. For him to roam around in. No, did they not do that? No thought they would do. I thought they might have a Mickey Mouse-style huge inanimate costume of Bob the Builder. I thought so too. For him to roam around in. No, did they not do that? No, they didn't.

Oh. Lazy bastards. Yeah, I agree with you, Andy. I think this is not great, but I think it's also at least an attempt to make a slightly more bearable kids' show, number one. Because if you look back at like the Teletubbies or Mr.

Blobby like if you were an adult listening to those like maybe consult a doctor time for Teletubbies and yeah this is like the thing is it like it tries to do like a UK garage thing with a backing beat but it also tries to do like a glam rock kind of thing.

Yeah. And there's also like a little callback to the first number one of the year with the intro, you know, where it goes... Yeah. In that kind of twist and shout way. So I thought that was quite a nice callback. You know, it sort of bookends the year nicely. But the problem is, it just sounds thin and cheap on both fronts.

It doesn't do either of those things well. So it just, I don't know, it sounds kind of hollow. And by the time it's done, it's stuck in your head, but you've forgotten what it really sounds like. You've forgotten the meat of it. You can't really point out any of the lyrics other than, like, can we fix it? Yes, we can. Bob the Builder.

Like, there's not really that much to it. So, yeah, I get... Sorry, go on. I was just going to say, when you say there's not much to it, I think one of the things that is slightly disappointing about it is that there's no irony.

You know, they don't really have much they don't have much fun with the lyrics you know say if they'd decided to maybe fill it with innuendos or something or fill it with like jokes about the british building industry and you know make jokes about eu regulations and things like that that might have been a bit more colorful a bit more fun um and i just think they play it very very safe which is probably why it did so well but it means for people like us who sit down and try and analyse these things

it's like getting blood out of a stone isn't it yeah that's exactly it, it's just by the numbers, if you told me this was the theme tune and it's just a full version of it then I'd believe you and it kind of sounds like it yeah

I don't really have anything to add about this than what you two have already said it's just that the only there's two things I guess one of them is that every time I hear this now I can't unhear its association lyrically with can we kick

can I kick it oh yeah can I kick it yes you can oh wow get it out of my head now you've lit a fire in my head now in that Bob the Builder the show

would have predated Rock DJ so is Rock DJ actually a reference to this oh probably would have predated Rock DJ. So is Rock DJ actually a reference to this? Ooh, probably. I imagine because of Robbie's love of hip-hop, he will have been referencing Tribe Called Quest. Oh, well.

Well, I don't know, though, because... I'm getting a headcanon this. Rob Robbie Williams is sat at home watching Bob the Builder going, hmm, I might crib some lyrics from this. The other thing as well that I noticed is the shade that gets thrown at Wendy here, by the way. Like, Wendy is Bob's wife, right? And she's the last person that gets named in the theme song. I've only just noticed this. Like, because they go through Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roly, Lofty,

and then it's, oh, and Wendy joins the crew. Wendy's Bob's wife! No, she's not, is she? No, she's not, is she? I thought she was just a colleague who he's got a bit of a vibe with. Yeah, said I. It's not a Mickey and Minnie Mouse type situation.

Wendy is like, you know, the builder's friend from round the corner, who, you know, he does the odd job for, if you think about meaning. You know, I don't... I can't believe that we're going to have to go into Bob the Builder lore here. I'm convinced that Wendy is not his wife. I think Bob

is a confirmed bachelor, and Wendy is the object of his affections. But I don't know if Wendy feels the same. She's quite a haughty individual. So I don't know if Wendy feels the same. She's quite a haughty individual, so I don't know. On the Bob for Builder fandom Wikipedia, Wendy is described as Bob's business partner and best friend, later love interest,

who loves the office and keeps the business in order and often organises tools and equipment. So I will row back on that because at least when the theme tune was written in 1998, I think, Wendy was just his friend. So it must mean that in later Bob the Builder canon... Does Pilchard get a mention? The cat?

Does Pilchard get much of a mention? I don't know Rob I'm just trying to think of all the members If Bob the Builder was on the radio And they were like do you want to do a shout out Is this the order that he would do it in And would he mention Pilchard That would be like Homer Simpson not mentioning

Santa's little helper And Snowball 2 I'm not happy about this I'm sure everybody got it I'm sure everybody got it mentioned I think with Wendy he's probably just playing hard to get he's just like well I'm not going to go on about Wendy like whatever yeah she's just my maid don't go on about it Roley

you know old news old news but you know Andy I kind of have to agree that like obviously this is like annoying and crap and stuff but like you know at the same time it does make an attempt to be a song and the key change

is more graceful than basically all of the ones that we've heard this year where like at least they hint towards it and then do it like they don't like just jump in and like oh there you go there's your key change let's go like they build up to it for a second time like they do the leap before you know they do the leap melodically before they do the leap sonically which means that you're

already prepared for it by the time that it happens and jesus whoever thought that like there would be more subtlety with the key change in a literal kids theme tune that happens to have been extended to three and a half minutes and turned into a christmas the more but i mean don't don't kind of forget that you've really been treated to a lot of particularly awful ones this year you know you've got used you've got used to a certain low bar for key changes when you changes every Westlife one we've had is like the song comes to a complete halt and then key change

it's about as inconspicuous as Mr Blobby Mr Blobby with two mentions on this podcast so far by the way and a third because of me he's had more number ones than we have yes he has do we have anything more to say about can we fix it Bob the Builder

yes we can no I've got nothing else to say at all except that I've really really enjoyed revisiting this and I now have an urge to go and watch an episode of Bob the Builder. Sadly, I'm an adult who can't big time in their life for that sort of thing. And I don't think my husband would be impressed if I said, can we watch Bob the Builder?

But this has been a lovely conversation. I don't want to talk too much about Bob the Builder because remember, we do see him again. Yes, he comes back all right then well that's uh that's bob the build have done and we're nearly at the end of uh our race for christmas number one episode but we've looked back at this year in this episode but there's one thing left that we've got to do and that's let everybody know what our least favourite and favourite songs were of this year, or at least least favourite and favourite number ones were

of the year 2000. Andy, I believe you have the sort of like the piehole entries in front of you, the ones that really sucked, that we really hated. Although piehole entry is an innuendo I want to get away from, but anyway so these are

not all of them, there was only four songs that made it into the Piehole and I'm going to give you our bottom five just to give you a taste of it, because they actually, we considered them pretty much the same in terms of quality, so our fifth worst song of the year is actually two songs. It was I Have a Dream slash Seasons in the Sun by Westlife,

which was the very first song we covered. I wonder if we were maybe slightly too harsh on that. No. Okay, fair enough. It's a no then. So our fourth worst song of the year, which was kicked directly into the pie hole by me and Lizzie, but was not by Rob, and history will judge you harshly for this Rob, the fourth worst song of the year was...

Na na na na na! Life is a rollercoaster, Ronan Keithy. It was crap. Yeah, Andy, you've got to sort of lay off Rob a bit. Just don't fade it. Don't fade it. Right, so it's slightly different, actually. I'm the one who was merciful on this one. So our third worst song of the year, which Rob and Lizzie put in the pile,

but I didn't think was that bad, was American Pie by Madonna. Yeah, that was one of our early episodes. In fact, you might say that it happened a long, long time ago. I genuinely don't think it was that bad. I don't think it was worse than Life is a Rollercoaster. But anyway. So, our second worst song of the year.

It was close at the bottom, I will tell you this But, again, we're not unanimous on this Rob didn't put this in the pie hole But me and Lizzie did So, our second worst song of the year Was the almighty fart that was against all odds By Mariah Carey and Westlife I think, personally for me, this would have been my number one. I think this was the worst song of the year. Yeah, me too.

Yeah. Genuinely awful. Do you want to defend it at all, Rob? No. No. Thanks. So finally, our award for the worst song to get number one in 2000

was We Will Rock You by five and queen which i think we would all say had virtually no redeeming qualities and which is the only song of the year that all three of us put into the pie hole what an abomination that was yeah wretched yeah terrible Yeah, wretched. Terrible. You better believe I don't be tellin' you what's up in to the place here. Imagine all of it there with my wonderful impressions. Ha ha!

Right, so yeah, those were the worst ones of the year. Let's move on to brighter things and do our best songs of the year. Good stuff, yeah. At the top, so we had a few ties, actually, because like I said last week, we've been secretly scoring these as we've gone along, and we had a few ties at the top So we had a few ties actually Because like I said last week We've been secretly scoring these as we've gone along And we had a few ties at the top So we've had to make some choices So honourable shout out first to our 11th best song of the year

Which was Don't Call Me Baby By Madison Avenue Which tied for what we decided deserved number 10 Which was Can't Fight The Moonlight By Leigh-Anne Rimes Made it to number 10 I think it should have been much higher because I love that song, but whatever. Whatever.

Nothing personal. I've said it once and I'll say it again. Democracy simply doesn't work. In ninth place, and I'm quite surprised this got so high because we were all a bit cool on it, but ninth was Spinning Around by Kylie Minogue, which is decent enough, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Won by the AV system, I guess. Possibly, yes. Yes, of course. Number eight, again, possibly surprising this got so high, but me and Lizzie both put it in the vault. Rob didn't, again. It's Independent Women, part one, by Destiny's Child. Hmm, yeah.

So the following few songs now all of us put into the vault, we all loved all of these songs. So in seventh place was Oops, I Did It Again by Britney Spears from earlier in the year. Thoroughly well deserved

in the top ten, I think. Yeah. Classic. Number six was Black Coffee by All Saints. Very much well deserved. Again, I think that was

a great, great entry. And in fifth place was It Feels So Good by Sonic. A really great bunch of songs there, which we all put in the vault. So, we're getting to the really really good stuff now. In fourth place for

the year is The Real Slim Shady by Eminem. Which I didn't put in the vault but Rob and Lizzy did. It's wicka wicka number four. Anyway in third place, again

I didn't put this in the vault and I really should have. What was I on all those six, seven weeks ago? This was a great track. If I'm allowed I'm going to revise this. Our number three song of the year is the fantastic Groove Jet by Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bexter. Hell yeah. Which, Lizzie, am I right in thinking that would probably be your favourite of the year? Yes, I would say so. It's very close at the top, but that's my personal pick of this year. It seemed to be the one that you felt most passionately about when we did it.

Absolutely. You told that fantastic story about the origin of it. Thank you. So we're down to two. It was very close at the top, very close. We both really loved, sorry, we all really loved both of these songs. but just squeaking it down slightly into number two is Stan by Eminem. I tell you what, this week Eminem is always the bridesmaid eh? I know! Well funny you should say that because number one is Can We Fix It by Bob the... not really. So number one, well first of all before we move on So I reckon Stan was probably

Your best song of the year Wasn't it Rob? If Groove Jet was Lizzy Stan was yours Wasn't it? Yeah And I'm the lucky one Because my favourite song of the year

Made it to number one Because Rob and Lizzy You both absolutely adored it as well And we all put this in the vault Number one for the year Our greatest number one hit of 2000 Was Pure Shores by All Saints. Thoroughly well deserved, I think.

A magnificent piece of pop music. Superb. For sure. Yeah, just one of my favourite songs. Just full star. It doesn't even matter. Just amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Yeah, great song. That is going to take some beating next year. Whatever number one is next year, I'm not sure if it's going to level up to Pure Shores, but we'll see. I've been wrong before. We will see. All of these songs are going in a playlist, right?

They are. So what I'm going to do is the Vault and the Piehole are going to get their own dedicated playlist. If you want to listen to the Piehole playlist, I'm really not quite sure why you would, in case you just fancy inflicting yourself with some horrible stuff for half an hour for no reason at all. So I've created the Hits 21 Piehole playlist,

which you can now find on Spotify, which contains those four poor songs at the bottom. And you can also now find the hits 21 vault playlist which contains the ten songs that we put in the vault this year which is not quite the same as our top ten of the year and the only reason it's not quite the same is because bag it up by Jerry Halliwell also made it into the vault this year you're welcome yeah yeah so you can find our vault playlist and our Pi Vault playlist on Spotify now

and we will continue adding to them as the years go by. Wonderful. All right then. Unbelievably, that is the end of the year 2000. At last. It actually ended about 22 years ago, but it's the end of our coverage of the year 2000 um and when we come back next time it'll be 2001

and the other thing to mention as well is that in the past sort of two or three episodes we've obviously changed the structure up a little bit and we've found that doing four songs in an episode as opposed to five that felt better for us and so moving forward it's just going to be four songs per week instead of five it means we get more space and more time

to talk about each one of those so we don't have to try and cram five songs into an hour and a half. We hope the change is fine for everyone and if it's not, well tough shit. We make it. It gives us more time to talk

about Mambo No. 5 by Bob the Builder and that can only be a good thing. Can you fix it? No you can't. It's our podcast. We can do what we want. Anyway, well, thanks very much for listening to our Christmas episode in October.

I don't know when our next Christmas episode's going to be. Hopefully at some point the stars will align and it'll be great. We managed to get a Christmas out for Christmas. It'll be lovely when that happens. I really hope that does come across. I really hope it does happen. Or maybe we do a

Christmas special of some kind that we'll think up at some point in the future. But yeah, thank you very much for listening everyone and we will see you next time in 2001. See you then. See ya.