Hits 21 - 2001 (4): Shaggy & Rayvon, Lady Marmalade, Hear'Say, Roger Sanchez,

Episode Date: November 27, 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]

All right there everyone and welcome back to Hits 21 where me, there, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, where me, Rob. Me, Andy. And me, Livvy. 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're at Hits21UK. We're at Hits21UK.

That is at Hits21UK. I don't tweet from there much, but if there's ever an update I need to give about the show, I'll normally do it there. You can email us too at Hits21Podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again. Just like our previous episodes, we're going to be looking back at four number one singles from the year 2001 this time we'll be covering the period between the 3rd of june and the 14th of july of the year 2001 just casting our minds back to last week our poll winner was s club sevens don't stop moving um done. Well done to S Club on that one.

If you want your favourite for this week to win and you don't want it to be unfairly usurped by a song that you deem unworthy, then go onto our Spotify page and find this episode in Spotify and there's a poll underneath it. And if you vote for your favourite, then it might

win. Like always we are going to take you all the way back not just to the songs of 2001 but to the news and everything that was happening around the times that these songs were number one. Tony Blair's Labour Party win re-election in the 2001 general election with a landslide 167-seat majority. However, the turnout for the election is just 59.4%, the lowest turnout for almost 100 years. In other news, after an eight-week trial, Barry George is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of television presenter and journalist Jill Dando. George was found guilty of shooting Miss Dando on the doorstep of her home in London in April 1999.

However, he was granted a retrial in 2008 and found not guilty of her murder. To this day, the murder remains unsolved. Meanwhile, two people are stabbed and many more are injured during riots in Bradford. Violence broke out when anti-Nazi League protesters discovered that National Front sympathisers were gathering in a nearby pub. When the police arrived in full riot gear, anger turned towards them. The police were then criticised for failing to control the situation and a full review into the riots revealed the causes to be a complex mix of social deprivation, segregation and failings in official policy and police behaviour. The government announces that a memorial in honour

of Diana, Princess of Wales, is to be built in London's Hyde Park. The fountain eventually opened in 2004 and cost a total of £5.2 million, more than £2 million over budget, but closed after two weeks after three visitors slipped and injured themselves. It was reopened in 2005 and is now maintained by the Royal Parks Agency, which pays £250,000 a year to look after the site. This is a mad tangent, but I don't know if either of you two have ever been to Paris, around the area where she had the crash.

Nearby, but not to the actual area. Well, when you go through that tunnel and you come out the other side, there is a huge torch there, which is actually... You know how France built the Statue of Liberty and then sent it over to America

as a gift? They made a replica of the torch that the Statue of Liberty holds, and that's always been there for like 60 years, this replica of the Statue of Liberty flame. And people now assume that that's a Diana memorial, so it's covered in Diana stuff, because it's next to the tunnel. But it's nothing to do with that, but people

treat it as though it is a Diana memorial. The films to hit the top of the uk box office during this period were as follows pearl harbor for three weeks evolution for one week shrek for one week and lara croft tomb raider also for one week i think this is the first time maybe in the whole show so far, that I've seen all of those movies. Oh, wow. I mean, brief review, Pearl Harbor, shit. Evolution, okay. Shrek, amazing.

And Lara Croft Tomb Raider, okay. That's what I think, but yeah. Not a Michael Bay fan then, Andy. Oh, God, no. No. Meanwhile, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is broadcast on British TV for the very first time. And meanwhile, the first episode of The Office airs on BBC Two, starring Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis.

Which was inspired by that one scene in S Club Miami 7 where John goes to work for, what was it, a window company? Whack, whack, oops. Whack, whack, oops. Meanwhile, in video games, Time Crisis, Project Titan and Final Fantasy Chronicles are released for the PlayStation 1, while Sonic Adventure 2 is released for the Sega Dreamcast and Tomb Raider, Curse of the Sword is released for the Sega Dreamcast, and Tomb Raider, Curse of the Sword, is released for the Game Boy Color.

Ah. What a period. I had a lot of fun looking that up, because, oh, Game Boy Color, that was my life in the late 90s and early 2000s. I still have very vivid memories, actually, of, I think it's, me and Andy, we were discussing this a few weeks ago, it was Now 44, wasn't it, that had, like, Bon Jovi on it, you gave up. 47. 47, that's it, yes, very strong memories of listening to Now 47 on cassette tape in the car, waiting for my mum after work,

because me and my dad used to go and pick my mum up because he used to pick me up from school about half three, quarter past three and then we'd go home for a bit and then we'd leave at half four to go and get my mum from where she worked at five o'clock and we used to sit in the car and I used to sit playing Pokemon

one of the Pokemon games in my Game Boy Color with Now 47 blasting away What a perfect picture that is how lovely. Andy, how are the album charts looking? They are looking as varied

as ever this week. It's another period of almost constant change, but there is one main stay at the top this week. First of all, for one week, we have Amnesiac by Radiohead at the top this week first of all for one week we have amnesiac by radiohead taking the top spot wow um which i'm personally not a fan of because i'm just not really a fan of radiohead

um but my husband really loves that album and is sort of one of the better ones in his view i believe um what do you think about that you too I'm going to wait until you tell us what the next number one album is because I have a larger point about both of them okay well the next one that actually stays at the top for four weeks and is very successful gets four times platinum is The Invisible Band by Travis

hmm yes yeah Lizzie what do you make of Amnesiac? I really like it I think it's one of their more It's one of their more experimental albums It's certainly, I think it's aged really well Because of that

It seems like the sort of darker sibling to Kid A But yeah, I really like it. Well, some people call it Kid B, don't they? As a little bit of a joke. Kid B. But the thing with Amnesiac, I mean, it's not one of my favourite Radiohead albums, but I think it's just because I like a lot of their albums so much

that Amnesiac just has a couple of tracks that you can kind of feel the the b-side element kind of coming through ever so slightly and so i still really like it but it's just not right up at the top but it being right next to the invisible band is it feels like a bit of a moment in all especially british alternative rock where Radiohead hit number one with Amnesiac, and that is clearly, after Kid A, an album that confirms that they will not be returning to their 90s sound.

They don't want to do OK Computer or The Bends anymore, and they're happy to kind of just have it as a phase of their creative uh creative you know period of their creative careers and then move on to do other things and how and move into a new era whereas a band like travis comes along and it's like oh god i just they clearly can't get over okay computer and they just want all of their albums to sound exactly like okay computer but they can't and it's such a shame i was listening to it because like i kind of like the man who it's sort of is i think it's a decent record i really like turn i

really like driftwood but then you listen to the invisible band and it's like it's an idea of what travis think they want to sound like and it i think there's also a lot of a lot of bands around this point that just seem to think like oh yeah we'll just sort of copy Radiohead for a while, see what they were doing, and none of them were as good as Radiohead were at doing what Radiohead did, and the Invisible Band is a pretty high-profile example of that, I think. Well, you're in luck then,

because the next artist is better than Radiohead and Travis combined, obviously, which is Usher. I'm joking, by the way. I'm not that controversial. Usher takes number one for one week with 8701. I don't know if I'm maybe pronouncing that wrong. Maybe it should be pronounced 8701 or whatever. Any Usher fans out there, please feel free to correct me. Apparently the title derives from 87 was the year where he first sung in his local church. And 01, fact fans, is the year that this album was released. No flies on me for figuring that one out.

Yeah, so 8701 from Usher. And then we finish this period with a re-entry At number one by Survivor By Destiny's Child Which goes back to number one for two weeks Obviously sticking around a little bit there The first re-entry since January The first thing that has made a comeback since January So all credit to them for that

Cool Lizzie, how are things looking on the other side of the Atlantic this time? Well, as mentioned last week Janet Jackson's All For You was overtaken on the other side of the Atlantic this time? Well, as mentioned last week, Janet Jackson's All For You was overtaken on the 2nd of June by a song we're covering on this very episode, which stayed at number 1 for 5 weeks and finished at number 24 on the

year-end Hot 100. But you'll have to stay tuned to find out what that song is. No points for guessing, but... After that, Usher would score his second US number one single with You Remind Me which finished at number 15 on the year end list and number 90

on the decade end list meanwhile in the album's charts the foul stench of Tool was eventually blown away by the even more foul stench of Stained whose album Break the Cycle would stay at number one for three weeks eventually going five timescle would stay at number one for three weeks. Eventually going five times platinum and

finishing at number seven on the year end list and number 41 on the decade end list. Who's buying this? That scene man, so popular. It's terrible. Crikey. Yeah, the big kind of connection between new metal and alternative metal and

post-grunge. It's all connecting. Yeah, and the foul stench at the top of the album's charts would sadly continue for one more week with Blink-182's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket now I will not hear about this that was a controversial thing to say I don't like them

I'm sorry, I just don't like them no that's a good album that was fun yeah I like Blink I think that's my favourite of theirs does not deserve

to be spoken about in the same breath as Tool and Stained wow that was harsh I like Tool Stained I'm less keen on but you know

take off your pants and jacket went double platinum and finished at number 62 on the year end list and rounding us off this week

is Devil's Night by Eminem and his friends otherwise known as D12 which also went double platinum and finished at number 39 on the year end list

what a period for the album that was not a vintage trip to the US that I mean thank you Lizzie but wow that was not a good bunch

apart from Blink that was not a good bunch. Apart from Blink, that was not a good bunch. Wow. Even them, they're bottom of the pile for me. Oh, Christ. Wow. Time to get back over this side of the Atlantic and look at our first number

one of this week. And it is this On your musical disc Girl you're my angel You're my darling angel Closer than my peeps You are to me Baby Shorty you're my angel You're my darling angel

Girl you're my friend When I'm in need Lady Life is one big party when you're still young But who's gonna have your back when it's all done It's all good when you live for your pure fun Can't be a fool son what about the long run Looking back shawty always a mention

See me not giving her much attention She was there through my incarceration I wanna show the nation my appreciation Girl, you're my angel You're my darling angel Closer than my peeps, you are to me, baby Shorty, you're my angel You're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend And I'm in need Lady Okay, this is Angel by Shaggy and Ravon. Released as the second single from Shaggy's fifth studio album, Hot Shot, Angel is his ninth single overall to be released in the UK. It is the fourth Shaggy single to hit the top of the UK charts after Oh Carolina, Mr. Boombastic and It Wasn't Me all hit the summit in 1993, 1995 and 2001 respectively. It is, however, his last

number one in the UK. Angel went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking DJ Pied Piper and the masses of ceremonies off the top of the charts in the process, and it stayed at number one for three weeks. It sold 179,000 copies in its first week, beating competition from Sing by Travis, which got to number 3, and Electric Avenue Ring Bang Remix by Eddie Grant, which got to number 5. In its second week, it sold 101,000 copies and beat competition from We Come One by Faithless, goddammit, which got to number 3, Here and Now by Steps, which got to number 4, Another Day in Paradise by Brandy and Ray J, which got to number four another day in paradise by brandy and ray j which got to number five

romeo by basement jacks which got to number six god damn it and close to you by marty pello which got to number nine in its third and final week at number one it sold 76 000 copies and beat competition from all i want by mystique which got to number two, Until the End of Time by Tupac, which got to number four, Have a Nice Day by Stereophonics, and My Way by Limp Biscuit, which got to number six. Yes, I'm not keen on Have a Nice Day either. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Angel fell one place to number two, and by the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 18 weeks.

Lizzie, how are we about Angel? Is this song a particular angel of yours, or a darling, perhaps? Or a demon. Well, just a really brief note, you going through all of Shaggy's number ones, it's funny, like, all of these seem like one-hit wonders, right? Yeah, especially, I think, especially It Wasn't Me, but also Oh Carolina, that really feels like one as well. It's a gimmick, that song, really, isn't it?

Yeah, it's like, I don't know, it must have just been like a collective forgetfulness on behalf of the public, where it's like, oh, it's that guy, he's back, I don't know, it must have just been like a collective forgetfulness on behalf of the public where it's like, oh, it's that guy, he's back. I guess I'll buy his single. But yeah, this is all right. It's not as good as it wasn't me. I think particularly my problem with this song is Ravon.

I really, I'm not convinced by Ravon's performance. I just find it so flat and like you know Shaggy's doing his thing where he's doing his Shaggy thing and he's singing slightly off key but you know you've come to expect it but yeah I think just Rayvon's

vocal performance in particular is so dry I don't really buy into it at all but on the other hand I do like the production on this I like the sample what is it what's it called now

Steve Miliband not the gambler what's it called the joker the joker some people call him Maurice yeah the Joker some people call him Maurice whoop whoop it's that one

yeah I think they sort of do enough to carry it along but it doesn't have the gimmick that it wasn't me does and I don't know I'm not I don't hate it but I'm not loving

not even loving, not even liking this one as much as I did it wasn't me, I don't know about you both You mean you're not loving it loving it, loving it, you're loving it like the last song that this knocked off before Yeah Andy, how do you feel about this? Yeah I pretty much agree

maybe a little bit harsher actually than Lizzie feels I felt the same thing when you said Shaggy's had four number ones I was like, really? Has he? and then you went through them and was like, oh yeah of course, but it's not the most

impressive discography I've ever heard in my life to be honest I think with the other three, and particularly it wasn't me It's not the most impressive discography I've ever heard in my life, to be honest. I think with the other three, and particularly It Wasn't Me, you can be like, oh yeah, I can see the selling point with this. All of those songs are a bit daft, but you can at least get the fun factor from them. You can at least see why people would enjoy having a laugh around that song. But this one, not really, because this isn't that sort of quasi-comedy song that Shaggy so often goes for.

This is fairly straight down the line. There aren't really any bits of gimmickry to this at all. And it's quite generic. And I don't know. It's strange how this one was as big a hit as the others. I guess it may be just because Shaggy is sort of self-sustaining at this point as a sort of pop cultural product. But I really think this doesn't have that much going on in it.

It's certainly nowhere near as memorable as It Wasn't Me was. I think at this point you can kind of feel the Shaggy bubble bursting, and I think that's because it's a bubble that bursts if you put any pressure on it at all, basically, which is that as soon as Shaggy stops doing the kind of silly, you know, basically comedy routines disguised as music thing,

as soon as he does a more kind of straightforward single, it's kind of like oh right well it's a bit flat isn't it um and i'm not surprised at this this last number one because i think although he's not a one-hit wonder i do think he's a one-trick pony um sadly and he just managed to do it several times but it's okay it's all right i'm not as down on rayvon um as you were lizzie um he's certainly no rick rock but um it's sort of fine like the thing is the the lines that rayvon has to sing are not in any way challenging they're really really limited in range and there's not an awful lot you can do with those lyrics to be honest uh but it is quite quite flat it doesn't have much sort of pizzazz

in Rayvon's elements of the song. Overall it's just kind of okay, it gets a kind of not quite a thumbs up but not quite a thumbs down either. I think it certainly doesn't have that goofy quality that I've come to expect from Shaggy. It seems quite sort of out of type for him

really and it sort of feels like him going out with a whimper rather than a bang from the number one spot but um it's okay i've heard much much worse yeah shaggy's a really interesting artist in terms of how much people actually buy into his stuff because when people buy into it they really fucking commit like oh carolina was his debut single and that went straight to number one in the uk um it charted pretty well in america australia austria like germany new zealand you know like all sorts of places and then he goes another two years without a song in the uk top 10 and he comes back with In The Summertime which also

featured Ravon but that gets to number five and was released as a double A side with Boombastic in the US which got to number three and Boombastic is another one where it's like everybody fucking gets on board with it and it's like number one in the UK it's number three in the states it's like number one in the UK. It's number three in the States. It's huge. It's massive. And then after boom Bastic, he goes another four years. I know. Sorry. No, another,

sorry. Another, another two years before he has another top 10 hit again. And it's the only top 10 hit off that particular album, which was midnight lover. Um, the single was piece of my heart. And then he goes another three years without a

big single in the uk but it's another one that it is with shaggy it's like it either doesn't rain or when it rains it pours you know he doesn't have singles that were big elsewhere but not here you know it's like you know there's no big international hit that nobody picked up on in the uk it's like if he's doing well in the uk he's doing well everywhere and if he's not doing well in the uk it's not really selling anywhere and it's it's really up and down it does get really really close um next year um he doesn't get to number one in 2002 um me julie with ali yeah but i mean that is just yeah G that's the most novelty song that he's ever done I think this goes

some way to explaining at least in my head why this song exists the song itself very little to say about it nice interpolation slash sample of the Steve Miliband Joker bass line also the I think it's the melody

from I forget who did it but it's a song that Chrissy Hines sings on that when she's on a cameo in Friends which is just call me angel of the morning yes angel of the morning and so

okay fine but I think the plan behind this is pretty transparent, which is to release two diametrically opposed songs very close together, see which one sticks more, and then proceed from there. It's like, I imagine if this had done better than It Wasn't Me, it sold, it was number one for longer, but it didn't sell anywhere near as many copies. it was number one for longer but it didn't sell anywhere near as many copies and so if this had been the one that really stuck and endured in the way that It Wasn't Me did, we might not have got

Me Julie the following year. This song feels like a test, the two songs feel like a test run to be like okay, what do people want from Shaggy in the 21st century and it turns out that the image that Shaggy brought on It Wasn't Me was the more convincing character to people. And so he's leaned into that instead. I think as a song, this is more superficial than It Wasn't Me. It wasn't huge on It Wasn't Me,

but at least it kept its attempt at a punchline to the end. You know, it tried to keep things and withhold things from you a little bit lots of separate sections that work well in their own right and inform the greater strength of the collective whereas i think this it just kind of has the chorus which is sort of pretty and i like the harmonies every now and again the vocal harmonies but i think you were saying there lizzie something that touched on another note that i've um written down which is that this the relationship between shaggy and rick rock on it wasn't me that felt like they were a team in a way that yeah this it this it just feels like they're just on the same song yeah there's no chemistry between them and i think when rayvon comes in it's like oh yeah um this bit great and

yeah i don't really i don't dislike it necessarily but up against it wasn't me which is like a pretty easy comparison because it's his most recent single before this one it just feels like yeah pretty naked and transparent attempt to put something else out there see how it goes and then we'll we'll go forward with uh with whatever sticks but yeah it's fine i just don't it doesn't inspire much within me one way or another i think you're right about that rob that it's maybe purposefully playing it more serious to to sort of see if people will get on board with that it's a i hadn't really thought at that point and i think that's quite true actually the the only hint of goofiness that is in there is that line which i really really hate in the chorus the closer than my peeps you are to me which is just an awful line and like why was

that in there if this is supposed to be quite a nice ballad it just shows that like he's all over the place as an artist like he's really hard to figure out as an artist and that is such an awful line to sing in such an earnest way i mean this this did do well internationally but like his next song that did well internationally was probably me julie and that was another year on from this. Everything in between doesn't really hit in the same way. Yeah, I was just going to say, even Medjooli is more, I think, an Ali G thing. It is Ali G, yeah.

It doesn't chart in the US, Medjooli. No, of course not. In fact, Shaggy does not have another top 100 hit in the US until 2014. Wow. It's I Need Your Love that gets to number 66, and that's been it. Do you think people bought this without even hearing it? It's just like, hey, it wasn't the guy. He's got a new song out.

That sort of thing does happen. That's sort of why I was getting at that it doesn't inspire much of a kind of USP in terms of this is the single I should buy this week I'm kind of mystified as to why people were like yeah that song is really good because I could get that with

it wasn't me but with this it's just really plain and I just can't see what pushed people into buying this to the point that it got to number one. And it's, like I say, it's far from the worst song or even the most average song that we've had so far. But you'd think that as a follow-up to It Wasn't Me,

people would have been disappointed by this when they'd heard it on the radio and they wouldn't have gone out and bought it. And I guess I'm just sort of out of sync with the 2001 mentality in that way. I was just about to say, this maybe had a bit more crossover appeal because i think possibly maybe radio 2 wouldn't play it wasn't me because it's a bit more raunchy let's say but yeah i think it's it's possibly that but like because i don't want to write this off as saying like people bought this but then they were conned but because this was number one for four weeks

you know yeah that's true I just want to say before we finish that the definitive version of The Joker by the Steve Miller band is not by the Steve Miller band it's by Homer Simpson singing The Joker in his car

in the way he was in the second season of The Simpsons I agree. Weep seminal. Indeed. Whoop. Right, okay. The next one on our list is this. Sister flow, sister flow, sister flow Sister flow, sister flow, sister flow

He met Mama La down in old Moulin Rouge Struttin' her stuff on the street She said, hello, hey, Jill, you wanna give it a go? Getcha, getcha, ya, ya, za, ta Getcha, getcha, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, get you, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gitche gitche ya ya da da Gitche gitche ya ya here Mocha chocolata ya ya Creole lady mama la Ok, this is Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Maya and Pink. Released as the lead single from the soundtrack album of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, Lady Marmalade is the second single by Christina Aguilera to

reach number one and the first number one for each of Lil' Kim, Maya and Pink. It is not the last time we'll be discussing Christina Aguilera or Pink on this podcast. Lady Marmalade is a cover of LaBelle's original hit from 1974. It is not the first cover of the song to reach number one with All Saints double A side single Under the Bridge and Lady Marmalade having already reached the summit in 1998. Lady Marmalade went straight in at number one as a new entry, knocking Shaggy and Ravon off the top of the charts, and it stayed at number one for just one week. It sold 109,000 copies in its only week at the top of the charts, beating competition

from There You'll Be by Faith Hill, which got to number three. And I was a little bit surprised that there was only one new entry in the top ten, so I went and looked for the next highest new entry, and that turned out to be Papercut by Linkin Park, which got to number 14. When it was knocked off the top of the charts Lady Marmalade fell one place to number two and by the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 19 weeks so another good solid stay there for Lady Marmalade Andy take the lead on this one

oh I will I love this I love love love this I mean I kind of feel like YouTube won't be surprised that I love this This is just totally my kind of thing. I think it's one of those songs that Sort of any cover of it will always kind of be successful. It's just kind of an inherently really fun Really juicy song that's just got a lot in it that you can unpack like it's just kind of always good to sing along to Really? I really want to do this a karaoke But it's just a really great combination of artists as well um you don't really get things like this anymore the only thing i can think of that's similar

is that bang bang into the room thing with jesse j the humanage and ariana grande um that was sort of the modern equivalent of this where it's just kind of like let's just get everyone together and do a song and see how it turns out and they actually really play off each other quite well it comes across like a girl band rather than four artists competing for time they all bob in and out at the right sort of places and I just really really enjoy this I mean that like I said the song is it just inherently one that I really really like but I do think this is my favourite version of it. I think Christina Aguilera goes close to going too far

with some of her... bits, you know, as she does in every song, where she's like, let's break the sound barrier three times per song. But really, I have very, very few complaints about it. It's a song that I listen to all the time, that I sing all the time. I think it is so catchy, it's unreal. It's literally made of hooks, this song. There's about 15 different hooks in it.

And I just think it's a perfect combination of song, movie as well, and artist. I just think everything kind of comes together, and I really, really like this. The only criticism I have other than Christina really pushing it a little bit, the only other criticism I have is that it's just slightly too long. I think they kind of run out of stuff to do with it about a minute or two before the end

and there's just lots of reiterations of the same phrases. I don't think they should do the more, more, more thing twice. I think that was kind of, you didn't need to do that twice. And some of the kind of vocal acrobatics, they repeat because they kind of run out of things to do.

And that's a bit of a mark against the song. But other than that, love this. This is totally my jam. Really, really. This is probably my favourite song of the year so far. Yeah. Nice. I don't like it as much as you, really. This is probably my favourite song of the year so far. Yeah. Nice. I don't like it as much as you, Andy.

I think, though, bags of fun. A lot of personalities and a lot of personality. Yeah. Yeah. I think Pink gets a little overwhelmed overall by the others. I think as a positive I think it updates the original, gives it a bit of what HMV or the Grammy Awards would probably

lazily describe as urban energy. I think it's sexy, it has that little hint of burlesque about it so it's classy and it kind of teases you with the allure and promise of something that you're very much going to enjoy. Moulin Rouge is not a favourite of mine because I'm generally not a Baz Luhrmann guy anyway. Don't mind Moulin Rouge, I think it's one of his

better ones but I don't love it. But I think this captures the mood of that opening scene at the club and like its use in the film is one of its stronger sequences because that kind of deliberately dizzying psychedelic smorgasbord kaleidoscopic just oh god baz lohmann's movies just make me feel dizzy um but the song kind of matches what he's going for in that in that moment but i think i like you andy i start to get a little bit annoyed with it towards the end, especially with the end credit sequence where they all get their chance to walk into the song and bow to the audience.

I get that they're trying to capture that mood of a theatre, everybody getting their chance to say goodbye, but it does make the song about 50 to 60 seconds too long, and I honestly just get annoyed with that. Like you were saying, Christina Aguilera doing that mariah carey whitney houston like hey yeah yeah sort of melismatic vocal acrobatics thing just stop it because it's great that you could do that well done you can control your voice i knew that from all of the other stuff you were singing when you were singing words, not just kind of gesturing at me. But anyway, but I will give this song credit for making me realise that listening to it retrospectively,

that the bridge between British and American pop hadn't quite been built yet. You know, this still feels like something that's been imported, something for us quaint Brits to get excited about. This loud, large, brash, ostentatious cultural event that the Yanks have bestowed upon us. I know that urban would be a lazy description, I agree with you on that, but I do think you could use the label exotic for this, really, just in terms of how it's marketed for this really and just in terms of

how it's marketed to us Brits in terms of how it comes across it is something very very different you know especially when you

directly compare it with the song we've got next it's like that's British pop and then you've got this it really is so so different

I agree with you on that completely yeah I think like you know apologies for kind of sounding like I've copped out here

but it has an X factor that British pop doesn't quite contain you know like because you watch like old episodes of top of the pops from the 70s and 80s and it's like it's a big deal if an american artist has come over the atlantic to be on top of the pops yeah like you know they've not just you know they've not just made legs and co dance to it it. It's like, oh, we've got an actual performance from an American, an American superstar. And it does feel a little bit that way, even as far on as the 2000s. I think, like, you know, with the advent of digital downloads

and social media, that gap, and obviously with the progressions that we've made in air travel, that gap does start to get filled in and the lines blur a little bit more but i've been thinking like while we've been doing this show there's part of me that thinks that the pop of 2000 and 2001 seems to have more in common with the 80s than it does with the songs from about 2009 and just the way that everything kind of fits together and the way everything feels and hopefully that theory slash belief like holds water as we go along but i do enjoy that how i don't often enjoy when things are overtly american but this is one of those things where i'm like

yeah you probably couldn't get a bunch of brits to do this could you i don't even think it's well i agree with you on that it is that but i also think one of the big points of praise i would give to the song in general is that it's just really unique as a song especially at this point in time even for america i think there are relatively few things on the scene that you could compare this song to as yeah that's kind of similar to this the only things really Santana, this kind of sounds like Santana and the other thing that I would compare it to is

Destiny's Child, potentially it kind of sounds a bit like something Destiny's Child could do, but other than that really it's kind of unique of this era it's sort of something like you really would not expect 2001 to spit out anywhere, I don't think yes, it's sort of something like you really would not expect 2001 to spit out anywhere I don't think yes it's exciting

in a way I think it would have at the time I imagine it would have felt exciting along with Moulin Rouge and you know the whole brand synergy and oh who are all these Americans and oh what's this they've given us and that sort of thing I imagine there was a fascination with this

a curiosity if you will Lizzie how do you feel about Lady Marmalade I had a little giggle to myself there imagining what four British women would they get on this single at this moment in time

I don't know maybe Billy Piper I'm sure all the Spice Girls would say no but you could probably get like you might get Emma you might get Emma maybe

do you think Jerry would give this a go maybe Jerry I think she's maybe a bit too classy for it oh yeah

so downbeat maybe Charlene Spiteri from Texas you could get on this potentially she's big yeah yeah true

true how do you feel though Lizzie I have one complaint but it's it's not really a complaint it's more of like a what if

like what if instead of on this record instead of Little Kim you had Missy Elliot oh yeah she produced the record so she does i am often surprised that she wasn't actually on this as a vocalist i'm sure she's on like the you know the little intro and outro bits but that's it yeah if she had the verse

this would like push this over the the top for me i think but i do i do really agree with both of you like it's good it's it goes on slightly too long i do definitely agree with you andy about the more more more there's like an alternate version playing in hell where there's like the more and more just goes on and on and on it's like the like the key changes in merry christmas everyone by shaking steven so it just keeps going and going and on it's like the like the key changes in Merry Christmas everyone by shaking Stevens so it just keeps going and going the version that's playing in hell is more more more by Rachel Stevens that's the one that's playing oh god yeah um like Little Kim's verse is it's just all right it's one of those where we've had like we had um never be the same again where the verse

was just like it's okay but i think that sort of thing does get better with time when you get like you know nikki minaj coming along where they can really like give it socks and you know use it as a chance to properly show off um and i've also got a thought actually i wonder if this is the only uk number one to use creole you know gitchy gitchy yeah yeah that's that's actually us southern creole oh i did not know this that's new new information for me that wow yeah yeah so it's um i mean this this is on genius it's like get your party, get your party, woman. Get your party here, is a rough translation. I never would have known that. I thought it was just kind of Gucci Gucci,

like sort of, you know, sort of sexy, sexy kind of lyrics. I didn't realise that that was actually another language. Wow, that's me being extremely naive there. Yeah, okay. Completely copped to my naivety there? Creole lady mama. I did not realise that. Yeah, it does explain itself.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think there's many other French-speaking number ones either. Like, there's je t'aime, moi non plus. Yeah, this might be, like, the second number one we have with a French refrain like write in if you know better oh I'm thinking now

there might be some little French bits in some songs somewhere I'm sure Celine Dion will have thrown in a few but they won't have got to number one oh I'm gonna think on that one yeah leave that with me yeah yeah i think um i do really agree with you like pink seems a bit overwhelmed in this i don't think she necessarily needed to be here and but i don't know if that's what she was on it i don't yeah so did i i don't think it's necessarily because of her i think it's just that

christina aguilera especially as you've already mentioned is you know she's someone who excels in that mariah carey mold of like vocal gymnastics and belting and yeah it it does kind of overwhelm the song a bit but i think it's a successful cover in that it's kind of replaced the original. If you mentioned the song to me, I'll think of this version rather than the LaBelle original, which is... Yeah, I wouldn't disagree. I think that's a fairly successful cover. And here's a song with absolutely no French words in it.

I can see the beginning and I don't see the end Wanna hold you and never let go, oh no For as long as we're given and we never pretend I believe in the future. Okay, this is The Way To Your Love by Hearsay. Released as the second single from Hearsay's debut album entitled Popstars, The Way To Your Love is also Hearsay's second single to be released in the UK and their second single to reach number one. After Pure and Simple reached the summit earlier this year, it is their last UK number one and I think we're going to get into why. The Way To Your Love went straight in at number one as a new entry,

knocking Lady Marmalade off the top of the charts. And it stayed at number one for one week. It sold 76,000 copies in its only week atop the charts, beating competition from You Remind Me by Usher, which got to number three. 19,000 by Gorillaz, which got to number six. Soon. Bloody hell.

And Another Lover, by Dane, which got to number nine. Actually not bad. Is that okay? Yes, it's alright. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, The Way to Your Love fell four places to number five. And by the time it was done on the charts,

it had been inside the top 100 for 21 weeks so i just want to double check this before i uh before i go into my opinion on the song um which is that in the first week of sales um pure and simple Yep. Sold 549,000 copies. And three months later, The Way to Your Love sells 75,000 copies. Well, yeah. Yeah. Oh my God.

I think, it's not that people were getting sick of them, it's a number one single, but, anyway. I've got a similar fact on that yeah it's sort of the same thing it's the second lowest selling number one of 2001 wow i'm considering like you know is it a limp biscuit that was the lowest i don't know i don't know but it's the same yeah i should find that find that out, but it's the second lowest selling. Yeah, it must mean total sales.

Well, okay, fair play to them for this, because well, for parts of it, the intro sounds like a bit ahead of its time. I think this sounds like something that N-Dubs or Chipmunk would be, you know, like, just the very, very, very early bars of the song. It sounds like something that theydubs or Chipmunk would be, you know, like, just the very, very, very early bars

of the song, it sounds like something that they would do about nine years from now, or Tinchy Strider, you know, the kind of song that a UK rap artist would have done around that time when they wanted to seem sensitive, you know, like, when Chipmunk was doing Oopsie Daisy and Ndubs were doing the one about the person in their life that died and they wanted a sad song to go with it. But that's where all the innovations end. This feels like another one of those carefully constructed part ballads that Pure and Simple was. It makes some nice decisions with its harmonies at various points. It resolves in some unusual places, gets to its cadences via unexpected routes um but other than that uh i know it's kind of easy to say with hindsight um and i know that they still got to

number one and i know it probably deserves to have more said about it than i'm going to but like you can sort of feel the star fading, which isn't great, considering where things go for hearsay from this point on. As a group, anyway. As individuals, they all sort of do okay, but as a group, it's basically the end of the road. Andy, what about you? Well, first of all, just so I don't leave you hanging on that previous point,

the lowest-selling number one single of 2001 was Love Don't Cost a thing actually yeah which was just a shade below the way to your love in sales another bit of trivia the highest selling song that didn't get number one was teenager airbag by wieters oh number nine for the year anyway onto this song i think you can tell how yeah i know i think you can tell how enthusiastic I am about this song that I've immediately started talking about other songs. Yeah, this isn't great, is it? It's so, so generic.

Oh my lord, is it generic. It's got this kind of... I don't even want to say cheesy, but just incredibly clean, incredibly nicey-nice production to her. There is absolutely no kind of element of pushing boundaries at all in either the lyrics or the music.

It's very, very by the numbers. And this is the problem with Hearsay. Like, this is the problem. It's the one defining fundamental problem with Hearsay. It's like, okay, you've put five pretty decent singers together to make a band. What now? Who are they?

Not who are they as people, who are they as a band? What's their identity? And the answer is, we ain't got nothing. They have got no identity at all. Pure and simple was just sort of, it is what it is. It's a nice sort of debut single, fairly catchy. And then with the follow-up, you need to kind of start developing more. where it's just sort of, it is what it is. It's a nice sort of debut single, fairly catchy. And then with the follow-up,

you need to kind of start developing more. The example I always use is Just Dance to Poker Face. Just Dance is nice new sound. This is a fun artist. I like her. Then you get Poker Face, which is like, whoa, she's really something different. That's the ultimate example, I think. Pure and Simple to The Way To Your Love is kind of like, like well we've had nothing and now we've got less than nothing you know i don't know anything about these this band like if i was just describe like the type of music that they do

i genuinely couldn't do it like it's just like pop like what is the kind of music that hearsay do could we describe it in a phrase like i don't feel like could could either of you do it like describe hearsay's music like as a concept to someone it's like than what you've said about it like being sort of like nicey nice i don't know about you lizzie i was gonna say it's kind of like asking someone to describe like a bit of lint that you found in your pocket so it has nothing to describe the pavement it's just there it's just a thing and it's pretty uninspired to say the very very least

I have no problem with hearsay as people and I really want to make that point that I'm not at all denigrating them for being boring because I don't think they are boring they're just normal people which obviously was the whole point of pop stars and there's nothing wrong with that they are five sort of everyday people who all seem pretty nice and they don't seem to have there's a little bit of drama that happened on behind the scenes but

it never seemed to be at the level of other kind of bands of their era and there's nothing wrong with being normal like do they have good voices yes do they deserve success for that yes are they made for show business no absolute no um and that's the problem with pop stars that you know would be later corrected by pop idol and the x factor which is that you have to think beyond the end of the show you have to think about them as a sellable product and they're not as and they're not a sellable product the actual song is fine it has some really cheesy stuff done to it. It's got the worst key change. It's so bad.

It's like a really, really awful key change. I think the very worst part of it, though, is that incredibly tacky intro and outro that's made on a Casio that anyone I know would do right now. That bit at the end is rubbish. It's like the song's over and then it has a final flourish

and it's like, what was the point of that yeah wait for the 10 seconds yeah it's just got nothing to it really and it's it's not that bad because it's not actively offensive in any way it's just like how did this get number one like people had so much goodwill for hearsay like they really wanted to get invested in them but there's just nothing nothing there. There's no substance. And so they fall off after this point because I think people were genuinely hooked by the first single. People were getting behind the hype of here. And then the second time around,

it's like, I'll give you another chance. And now it's like, yeah, fill me once, fill me twice. You know, it's that sort of thing. I just think they dropped off so quickly because it became so clear they had nothing to offer in terms of interest, really. So, you know, like I say, I have nothing against hearsay, but this song, boy, howdy, is it average.

Yeah. Lizzie, what about you? Yeah, totally agree. I think, like, I mean, I don't think this is necessarily the end like end of the road because i will counter it by saying that this was on the album which was released alongside pure and simple but then that raises the question why would you release an album with your two singles on it alongside your debut single that's that's really bad like brand management right because yeah surely you want to keep people on their toes like when the next single drops oh my god it's another hearsay single we've got to go out and buy this not well we've already got

it so why would i go out and buy it again yeah Yeah, that's not even just a reality TV thing. That's just with any artist, really, isn't it? You wouldn't release the album with the debut single. You just wouldn't do that. Exactly. That's something else they correct, isn't it, on the X Factor and stuff? Yeah, you always release albums with the second single.

Exactly. And that's what you do with any new artist, not just reality TV. Because that was the thing with the winner's single, wasn't it? Where the X Factor would have the winner's single wasn't it where the X Factor would have the winner's single for the Christmas of the year that the series finished

and then it would be like six months before they had another single and then probably the album would come out in the autumn of the following year exactly

trying to think about Leona Lewis because she won was it X Factor for 2006 yeah either 2006 or 2007. And then Bleeding Love.

And then Bleeding Love was like midway through 2007. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think now. I'm just going to actually, I'm just going to double check. Yeah, they all followed that pattern, but I think you would do that for almost any artist really. Like you'd use the first single as the trailer and then the second single as the launch of the album, even if they only a month or two apart it's just i'm quite surprised to hear

that i assumed the album was released alongside this single i'm quite surprised to hear that even with like non-talent show bands it's so often the case that you like i don't know let's say for example we either come out and say hey we've got a new album coming out soon here is one of the songs from it but the album won't be coming out for another couple of months that's just how you build hype for that kind of thing unless you're one of the Kendrick Lamars of the world where you can just drop an album

and it's like there you go Beyonce did that as well didn't she yeah Beyonce's done it I think a couple of times surprise release yeah it's I don't know it's not exactly the end of the road

you know did you get like a number 4 and a number 6 single after this so it's like you know top 10 well done

but I mean I know that like after this they have an appearance on I forget where it is but they get booed about a year from this

don't they yeah I think it's the Brit Awards I think it might be the Brit Awards I tell you what though I'm ashamed I say ashamed because it's not a good song I went and looked it up and it's not good Awards I think it might be the Brit Awards I tell you what though, I'm ashamed I say ashamed because it's not a good song I went and looked it up and it's not good

I'm ashamed to tell you I bought the single of Everybody which is off their second album of the same name I bought that single and I'm like, what was I on? Why did I buy that? Before we move on as well I really must shout out that I'm so so sad that this knocked off

well not knocked off but this prevented 19 2000 by Gorillaz the Soul Child remix of that song is one of my absolute favourite songs from the whole decade I'm really gutted we never got to discuss that rules are rules it is what it is I love it so much

yeah well last up on our episode this week is this Thank you. We had to fight And I found I had one more chance To laugh I tried I told

The things We had to fight ស្លាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានប� Okay, this is Another Chance by Roger Sanchez. Released as the second single from his debut album First Contact, Another Chance is Roger Sanchez's third single overall to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one. It is also his last, with only one of three follow-up singles reaching the UK top 40. Another Chance went straight in at number one as a new entry, knocking Hearsay off the top of the charts, and it stayed at number one for one week. It sold 73,000 copies in its only week atop the charts,

beating competition from A Little Respect by Wheatus, which got to number three, Heaven is a Halfpipe by OPM, which got to number 4. Oh, wow. Such an earworm. And Hashpipe by Weezer, which just missed out on the number 1 spot, reaching number 21 in the charts.

So close, guys. You had to mention that, didn't you? So close. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Another Chance fell two places to number 3. And by the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 15 weeks, so a decent stay but not, you know, not as strong as some of the ones that we've seen this week. I should just explain to the uninitiated, the people that don't know us, um, Weezer are sort of a big thing in my life and

whenever they appear, um, on the rare occasions where they do actually appear in the top 40 I might leave them in I might just get them in as a bit of a joke but yeah they were so close guys try again next time Andy

how are we with Another Chance by Roger Sanchez I'm glad you by Roger Sanchez? Yeah, I mean, I'm glad you mentioned Roger Sanchez, like in terms of we would not see him again at the top of the charts, because that was my first thought when this came on. I was like, who? Roger Sanchez? Like, who's that? Which I think probably most people would think, because this is one of those songs that like everybody knows it but you

might not recognize the title or the artist of it it's like probably people don't really know what this is called if you like it is so ubiquitous like everybody knows this song um but it's it's one of those yeah that people perhaps don't really identify it which is weird considering it got to number one because people did actually go out and buy it. But there's a lot of other kind of songs of this genre that are like that. I think Toka's Miracle is sort of similar in some way. And Lola's Theme by The Shapeshifters, I always think people never really remember what that's called. But anyway, I do really, really like this.

It's got a lovely sound to it. Some really, really nice chords that kind of want to resolve themselves and just kind of keeps propelling you through the song love that kind of daft punky style production on the voice i say daft punky style because it is clearly inspired but you know if you're going to imitate then imitate the best um it's it's really it's really really nice and it doesn't overstay it's welcome as well which i sort of expected it to because there isn't that much in terms of content but they managed to spread it across the three and a half minutes without it ever saying it's welcome it flies by um really really nice song yeah i i would i would have

liked a little bit more in terms of lyrics maybe just to kind of bring out the theme a bit more because it's a nice little key line that they have you know it's a nice sort of idea in terms of that melancholy feeling in terms of that sort of complex set of emotions that you're expressing through the dance genre you know i would have liked a few more lyrics but then i also totally acknowledge that that might have taken away from the simplicity of it it might have taken away from the effect of the song if there had been more lyrics in there so i'm happy to sort of let it off with that. Just because I would have liked a little bit more

in terms of that content, it's not perfect for me, but that really is the only criticism I would make is that I just kind of wanted more of it, to be honest. Really, really lovely track. And I think this is definitely going to re-enter my regular rotation. I was really surprised by how much I liked this when I listened to it. Because it's not the kind of thing I would ever go out to listen to, like sit down and listen to,

because it just kind of comes on in bars and things. It's not the sort of thing I would look up on Spotify. But I'm going to from now on. Yeah, really, really like this. Thanks, Roger, for your contribution to society. I've really, really enjoyed this. Yeah, thank you. Lizziezie how are you on another chance yeah i love this so much um like this is um i'm glad you mentioned daft punk i think i think it's kind of more like earlier daft punk where they would just build a whole track around one sample and just kind of

yeah definitely like build it around it and bring it in and take it back out again and you have these kind of peaks and troughs i would actually say andy i don't know have you heard the full length version of this um yes i have um but that was i can't remember when that was i think that was when that came on in a bar where I did hear parts of this that I hadn't heard before. That was quite a few years ago, I think. When I sat down and listened to it this time, I haven't listened to the full version, but I am aware of its existence.

Yeah, because I think the full length version is incredible. Like obviously the radio edit's great, but it has to cut a lot out of that kind of, you know how it builds up and then it strips itself back to the point where it more or less is just the sample and then it kicks back in again and yeah there is something quite like euphoric and even what like cathartic about it i think um as a kid as well i can't remember when i mentioned this it might have been about um whole again by atomic kitten but i mentioned about how certain songs

i remember from this time i i maybe liked at the time but i didn't get like i do as an adult and i think especially because of you can't really talk about this song without talking about the video if i just say a woman in new york wandering with a big heart, I'm pretty sure you can picture it in your mind. Just that massive red heart of like, I don't know what it is, like papier-mâché or something. But I think this, like the sound of this song combined with that video spoke to a particular kind of like melancholy that you just don't understand as a kid like

you understand sadness but it's like sadness because you've only got choc ices in the freezer and mum says you can't have a 99 it's like it's that kind of it's not the same thing and chronic unfulfillment yeah um yeah i think also going back to Rise Again by Gabrielle, you know how it just kind of goes around and around in circles because, like, with a breakup, that's often what your mind does in that you just keep thinking over the same things over and over again and it's difficult to break out of that cycle because, after all, it's difficult to break out of that cycle because after all it's

it's all you've ever known and it's kind of a sudden jolt into this new world where you feel kind of alien and like you don't belong and yeah this is like i think the perfect sound for that. And I'm really glad this got to number one. I love it. Yeah, that was all like really beautifully put and it captured a lot of kind of what I wanted to say as well. So I'll fill in the gaps of my own thoughts that, I mean, you filled in quite a lot of it and I'll just fill in the bits that are left. I mean, I don't know if this

is a confession as such i think this is something to proudly admit but this was already part of my semi-regular rotation mine too um so like i first had the idea to do a podcast like this about three years ago and i made loads of playlists and stuff and like trying to get everything together and then obviously the pandemic hit and lizzie me and you started um the longest night and andy you did flashback um and so obviously we put this on hold for a little while but this was one of those songs that i kind of rediscovered during the pandemic when i was kind of you know locked inside nothing to do um oh i know let's go back through all the number ones of the 21st century and see what they're like. And yeah, I think this is one that really stood out to me.

I love this. Like, I think it's a smidge repetitive, but if you're going to compare it to things like Phragma or Rui da Silva or even Chicane or something, you know, those kinds of songs from previous episodes that kind of just do their thing and then pick a moment to fade out. previous episodes that kind of just do their thing and then pick a moment to fade out and i think this this achieves a level of hypnosis and being mesmeric that though the other songs felt like they were in pursuit of but didn't quite reach this feels more up there with and sort of beyond for me personally things like Mojo or Groovejet

there's this sense of allowing yourself to be lost in it something that's a little bit hallucinatory and psychedelic with it can I just interject because there's something I had in my notes I'd even go slightly further and say it reminds me of like Burial

yeah I totally know what you mean yeah because the way that it flips that sample yeah that from toto and and renders it to the point where actual legible words are obscured and smoky and mumbled where the melody and tone feel like they're prioritized over elocution yeah that it weirdly i know we talked about them at the beginning and it's kind of nice to bookend the episode a little bit but it kind of weirdly reminds me the way that tom york approaches radiohead songs yeah where the words aren't necessarily that important to the initial listening experience it's something that you go and find later and i think the way

that sanchez manages to find little details of um i won't hold you back uh the toto song that he's sampling the way that he finds them and then fleshes them out into bigger meatier parts the bass harmonies especially um makes them throb and makes them feel thicker in a way that quite that very pristine mid-80s production on i won't hold you back kind of removes some of the weight from it um yeah i mean it's a good kind of it's a big grand melancholy ballad but like i would not put it on a level with um rosanna for example if there's for like you know something that expresses a bit of longing and a bit of a bit of a want um if you will um two things before i finish um the time that has passed since this song was number one so 21 years is now longer than the time that passed between i won't hold

you back being released and then i won't hold you back being released and then i won't hold you back being sampled for another chance um but the other thing is that this song reminds me of a very specific time and place um very sorry andy because a lot of my uh location references will be places that you don't know because me and lizzie grew up in Stockport and you didn't but I'll know some of them I live here now I'll know some of them you do but sadly the building that it reminds me of was knocked down before you moved here it was the

the ten pin bowling alley on Grand Central next to oh my god yes it reminds me really specifically of that next to the swimming baths and the old cinema i mean that cine world was a shithole and it needed to go and the light is so much better the light is a lot better and it does more for cinema in stockport than cine world did

or ugc ever did um or anything like that when they were there. But Ten Pin, very specifically, a Friday night in Ten Pin with, like, friends and playing on the grabber machine and not winning on the grabber machine and leaving the bumpers up. And then that strange thing about midway through the night where they do cosmic bowling. Oh, yeah. and all the the

stupid like pfi era carpets where like there's no one color or design on the carpets it just looks like bits of it's like someone's taken scissors to a jackson pollock painting and they've just stuck it about the floor and then the door to Laser Quest that we weren't allowed in because we weren't 11 years old yet and like because the vests were too big for anybody under the age of 11 to wear and so it's just like oh I wonder where that door goes

and like all the arcades at the back and sort of like in the way that it's arranged. Andy I guess guess like, you know, you'll have been to places really similar to this where you live. But I guess, you know, recently, the place that we've both been is the 10-pin

that's now at Pars Wood in Didsbury. It was basically exactly the same, but just more kind of run down. And it didn't have TV showing sports everywhere. It was more kid focused um and you had to like the shitty little burger bars at the end of the at the end of the room that nobody really went to because there was the mcdonald's at the bottom of grand central that was like a two minute walk away i'm glad you mentioned the mcdonald's because i was just about to say this

track reminds me of the mcdonald's because there's something quite desolate and lonely about it, particularly when it's the middle of winter and you're in there at five o'clock, but it's pitch black outside. Yeah, and that's actually what also, funnily enough, Burials Untrue reminds me of. Yes. But it's more McDonald's at 3am.

Yeah, exactly. That kind of reminds me of. I mean, to be fair, there is a song, isn't there, on Untrue, which is just in McDonald's. But a lot of it is about the... But it does, this song kind of... I can hear it playing in that image in my mind. And, yeah, I'm just...

I'm strangely nostalgic for this. You know, like I was saying last week, I've got a lot of memories that are quite smoky of this era, and they only really crystallise in around sort of like 2004 um but this is one of those smoky memories where i can actually see something through it and it is just that saccharine neon of the 10 pin bowling alley that was decommissioned in 2008 and then knocked down i I mean, because the nightclub that was right next to it, Branigans and Heaven and Hell, that was empty for about six years.

Yeah. And then it got flattened, and now it's a holiday inn and an office. And they've turned Stockport train station into a park and ride. But yeah, that's my story anyway. I'm glad I had a story to bring this week, because you two brought some stories last week and I didn't have one

and so I have one now I do actually have one about Grand Central I got mugged there once oh shit someone sold my I think it was a Motorola V5 it was one of those little flip phones but it wasn't the Razr well that's a sad story

Grand Central was quite a desolate place for a long time is there much of it left there Rob? the swimming baths is the only thing that's left and at the very very bottom you've still got the apprentice

centre on the left hand side with those what I like to call the PFI era door handles oh yeah they form a perfect circle yeah and they're made entirely of metal um and you've got the it was a pizza hut and then it was a chinese all-you-can-eat buffet and it's been empty for about three years i think that's probably going to get knocked down soon because there are plans for stockport town centre to be developed beyond the bus station at the moment. I think the McDonald's on the corner is still

there but the clock hasn't moved in about five years. And the upstairs is now closed. The upstairs is now storage. Yeah. Rob, I think the fact that you had a story this week when you didn't have one last week and you're now relieved that you do have a story you might say that... Out of all of the darkness and sadness soon comes happiness comes the story i guess you could say

and i did i used my second chance yes i got the story show me the way to your story. Anyway, okay. So, before we go, we've got to do the Piehole and Vault Inductions. So, raise your hand if you would like to put Angel by Shaggy and Rayvon into either the Piehole

or the Vault. Nope. No raising hands there. Okay, Lady Marmalade. Yes, please. Slamming hole or the vault. No. No. No raising hands there. Okay, Lady Marmalade. Yes, please. Slamming that into the vault. Okay. Yeah, we've got a vault entry this week. Yeah.

The Way to Your Love by Hearsay. No. I mean, I thought about putting it in the pie hole, but it's not that bad. I was going to say, this narrowly misses out for me just by virtue of the fact that I know there's much worse coming up. And another chance

by Roger Sanchez. Yes. 100%. Yes. Yeah. My hand's going up as well so it's three vault inductions this week. I think that's the first time this year that we've had a unanimous vault induction with three votes so hooray

to Roger Sanchez I will tweet him or send him a DM slide into his DM send him a big heart and like through the door so that's the end of this week's show

next time out we'll be covering the period between the 15th of July to the 7th of September. So we'll see you then. See ya. Some people call me a space cowboy. Yeah.

Some people call me the gangster of love. Some people call me Maurice. Woo! Woo! Cause I speak of the Papatousa. People talk about me, baby, yeah. Say I'm doing you wrong, doing you wrong, doing you wrong, doing you wrong doing you wrong doing you wrong well don't you worry baby don't worry cause I'm right here right here right here right here right here