Hits 21 - 2001 (7): Afroman, Westlife, Blue

Episode Date: December 18, 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, Rob, me, Andy and me, Lizzie all 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 know where to find us. We're over on Twitter at Hits21UK that is at hits 21 uk and you can email us to just send it on over to hits 21 podcast at gmail.com thank you so much

for joining us again uh just like our previous episodes we're going to be looking back at some number one singles from the year 2001 however for this episode and for the majority of episodes hence, we're going to be looking back at three number one singles. This time we'll be covering the period between the 21st of October and the 24th of November in the year 2001.

So yeah, just to let you guys know, in the future, when we do our regular episodes, like this one, because we've got a couple of kind of Christmassy ones that are coming up next, as we come towards the end of 2001. But when we start 2002,

and from then onwards, we're going to do three songs a week, I think. Just because, I don't know, we found that kind of like, maybe the episodes were running a little bit long. Just because, I don't know, we found that kind of like maybe the episodes were running a little bit long.

And just, I think as we go further forward through time, we're going to have more to say about each of the songs. And also it just means that the setup and the work that we do to put every episode together, it just means that we can distribute it a bit more evenly amongst the three of us yeah with um with regards to going down to three songs per episode um we're coming to a period as well where we get far fewer number ones like 2000 especially was a huge period there was a

like ridiculous number of number ones but yeah as we move forward I think it does start to calm down a little bit. You get longer number one stretches. Yes. Yeah, and as far as ourselves go, I mean, we started with five songs a week and reduced down to four and then to three. It's kind of similar to Lizzie's Mambo No. 5 story last week. We space out and gradually get less and less. And by around 2005, we'll have reached the Hits 21

singularity where we will cover no songs or minus songs yeah we will start going back in time for previous weeks and cover songs again speaking of going back in time we're just going to look back at

last week and of course the poll winner was can't get you out of my head by kylie minogue i had a message from a friend of the podcast ed thomas he messaged me and he said that's the easiest hits 21 pick that's ever been so i think it is you know because i mean there's other songs that well one of the songs that I think has been as good, but it was in a better week. Whereas last week we had some trash. So that was really exceptionally easy. Yeah.

So well done listeners for making the right choice. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Onto this week's episode. As always, we are going to give you some headlines from around the time that the songs we're covering this week were at number one. The British Crime Survey reveals that crime is at its lowest point for 20 years in 2001. Over 9,000 adults were questioned in the first round of the survey, which was eventually completed in 2002 after interviewing up to 40,000 people. The results showed the crime

rate had fallen sharply for the third time since the survey began in 1981. A huge reduction in violent crimes, vehicle thefts and burglaries contributed to an overall 12% fall in total. Meanwhile in the United States, the Patriot Act is passed. You know, I find that really interesting about the crime stats because this is right around the time, as far as I'm concerned, where the moral panic about youths and gangs on the street

really gets started and Aspomania, if you like, kind of gets started and crime is at its lowest point and it's just it's frustrating because I always, you know, all of us were kids at that time and i think we were very unfairly demonized as oh scary youths and we were never doing anything wrong you know crime was low 12 percent lower in fact exactly yeah meanwhile 17 people are killed

in pakistan when armed gunmen burst into a church and opened fire. It was the worst attack against Christians in Pakistani history. The attack came during a period of religious and political tension due to the presence of the United States military in neighbouring Afghanistan. In July 2002, four people were arrested in connection with the attack, while three still remained at large. In Greece, 12 plane spotters are arrested by the country's authorities on accusations of spying. They were arrested after taking photographs of an air show at a military base in southern Greece. In April 2002, eight of the group of 12 were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to three years in prison.

In November 2002, many of those convicted returned to Greece and succeeded in overturning their convictions. That is... I couldn't believe that story. I didn't hear about that at the time. And as I was reading it and going further down the page doing the research,

I was like, what? They were found guilty? And then I found out there was a decent ending to it after all. Yeah, what a time in those people's lives just oh um the films to hit the top of the uk box office during this time were as follows american pie for one more week the others for two weeks before harry potter and the's Stone tops the box office for five weeks before Christmas. At the time, the Philosopher's Stone achieved the highest-grossing opening weekend in UK box office history, taken over from The Phantom Menace, which had been released two years prior.

I mean, it's a humbling thought that we may well have, well, I'm sure we certainly will have listeners who actually weren't born when this happened. So just to kind of emphas this this it really was massive you know it was a huge philosopher's stone i went to see it twice and the second time was because we actually had a school trip to go and see it um just because it was such a phenomenon the kid i think the teachers wanted to see it with the kids so yeah it was a big deal yeah yeah shame about the author isn't it but yeah oh yeah author did anyone actually write it yeah no no my mistake yeah other films that were released around this time were donnie darko okay monsters inc amazing and shallow howl not seen it

meanwhile in the world of technology microsoft unveils windows xp the greatest in america and in american tv drama series 24 debuts on fx smallville debuts on the wv and totally spies debuts on abc family it's a busy time do you know i have an anecdote a very dark anecdote about the first episode of 24 which considering the time period we're in you know October-ish

2001 well yeah Patriot Act and like 9-11 happening just before 24 that's like what an avenue

for 24 you know what happens in the first episode of 24 the very first one the cliffhanger to the first episode is that a plane

gets hijacked and exploded in the air oh god they really could not avoid that plot point because it kick-starts the whole season so they cut around it as much as they can it's uh very unfortunate yeah i used to love 24 yeah i've also got an anecdote about shallow hell actually uh which is don't watch it it's. It's possibly Jack Black's worst film. So don't watch it. Thanks, okay. I wasn't going to.

Across this side of the Atlantic on British TV, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The Coomars at number 42, and Pop Idol all debut across the BBC and ITV. Pop Idol. This is our new pop reality right here. Yes, we've had hearsay here say but yeah this is it like

just you wait for 2002 it's gonna be like wall to wall this stuff before the end of November contestants

Will Young Gareth Gates Darius Dinesh and Rick Waller would all make it through to the heats and live shows yeah

keep your John Paul Ringo and George and give me Will Gareth Darius and Rick. Rest in peace, Darius, by the way. Well, we'll get to talk about Darius a bit more next year, but I can't

wait to discuss Will, Gareth and Darius. I don't mean to slight Rick, he just doesn't get a number one, but I can't wait to talk about all of them. Andy, how are the album charts looking right now? Well, it's a very mixed picture this week in that it starts as a relatively quiet time first of all we have Michael Jackson's final album Invincible at number one for one week followed by the return to the top by Steps with Gold's Greatest Hits.

Then we get another one-week entry at number one, which is World of Our Own by Westlife. No doubt we'll be discussing them again soon. And then, at the end of November, we get a number one album that stays at number one throughout all of Decembercember and half of january so this is the final album entry i'll be able to talk about for this whole year which is robbie williams's swing when you're winning which of course stays at number one for seven weeks and goes eight times platinum and is the as far as i can see the third highest selling album of 2001. Absolutely massive.

Seven weeks and number one. Lizzy, how are our transatlantic cousins coming along? Well, in the singles chart, after a two-month long back and forth between Alicia Keys and Jennifer Lopez, which I discussed in the previous episode, Mary J. Blige would score her first and only US number one single with Family Affair. Ah, yeah.

Ah, great song. Yeah. I mean, it stayed at number one for six weeks and it finished at number 31 on the 2001 year end list, number 17 on the 2002 list, number 12 on the decade end list and number 99 on the all-time Billboard Hot 100. But it only got as high as number 8 in the UK

while Kylie Minogue was number 1. But then again, it was certified platinum over here after it sold over 600,000 copies, and I still hear that song on the radio to this day. Yeah, I hear that all the time. It's one of those songs that I think people often forget the title of it, and then you hear it and you're like, Oh, it's that! I love this song think people often forget the title of it. And then you hear it and you're like, oh, it's that.

I love this song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that song was everywhere back in the day. I'm surprised that didn't get higher. But anyway, moving on to albums where it's a much busier time for the US albums chart. So kicking us off this week is... Fucking hell.

God bless... Right, wait for this God bless America for the benefit of the Twin Towers Fund a compilation of quote American patriotic

or spiritual songs with a quote substantial portion of the proceeds going to the Twin Towers Fund which aided families of firefighters

police officers and other responders lost in the rescue effort at 9-11. What are the songs on this thing? I'll take it. Lee Ryan, potentially? The Dixie Chicks? Yeah.

Yeah? Yeah? Okay. Well, you're way off. It actually featured a mix of previously unreleased recordings, such as Celine Dion's version of God Bless America that she recorded for a telethon aired 10 days after the attacks as well as classic songs by the likes of Bill Withers

Mariah Carey Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan all my favourites oh yes, again 2001 it sold 181,000 copies in its first and only week at number one

before being replaced by DMX's album The Great Depression which sold almost 439,000 copies bloody hell in its first and only week at number one it outsold the 9-11 album threefold yeah that's really strange

what is going on America's gone crazy I mean I know why but like this is mad i know that's so strange you'd expect like the 9-11 album to be like i don't know one of those strange phenomenon where it's like you know one country really takes hold of an album and the rest of the world is like what and it just i don't know yeah Wow. Oh, God, that's crazy. Yeah. Well, it's back to DMX. Like, DMX's album went platinum in the US, but only got as high as number 20 in the UK. Just a side note on that God Bless America album, by the way,

it was never released in the UK, and I can't imagine why. After that, yeah, I mean, there's still more to go with the album's charts after that Michael Jackson would score his ah fucking hell I'll try that again

after that Michael Jackson would score his fifth Billboard 200 number one album with Invincible which stayed at number one

for one week and to round us off this week Britney Spears returned to the number one spot with her album Britney which sold

745,000 copies in its first week and went four times platinum in the US, but only got as high as number four in the UK. And I have a little fun fact for you on Britney Spears, by the way. She has had five albums which got as high as number two, but has never had a number one album in the UK. Really? What?

Really? Yeah, genuinely. Oh, wow. That's really astonishing. Wow. Wow. Bad timing, I guess. That's an even better fact.

That's scandalous as well. Yeah, with regards to Britney, spent only a week at number one, but it went four times platinum in the US and finished at number eight on their 2002 year end list and number 64 on their decade end list. Ah. Well, there you go. Thank you very much, guys, for the round

up there. We've done the news, we've done the album charts, we've done the US charts. I think it's time that we get into the three songs that we're going to do this week and the first of which is this roll another blunt

yeah oh good I was gonna clean my room until I got high I was gonna get up and find the broom But then I got high My room is still messed up And I know why I was gonna get up and find the broom, but then I got high My room is still messed up, and I know why Yeah, cause I got high, because I got high, because I got high

I was gonna go to class before I got high I coulda cheated and I could have passed, but I got high. I'm taking it next semester and I know why. Because I got high. Because I got high. Because I got high. Go to the next one. Go to the next one.

Go to the next one. I was going to go to court before I got high. I was going to pay my child support, but then I got high. They took my whole paycheck, and I know why. Because I got high. Because I got high. Because I got high. This is Because I Got High by Afro Man, released as the lead single from his debut album, which is also entitled Because I Got High. Because I Got High is also Afro Man's first single to be released in the UK overall.

It is his first and final single to reach number one in the UK charts. Because I Got High first entered the UK charts at number 70. It reached number one in its fourth week in the charts, knocking Kylie Minogue off the top spot. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week at number one, it sold 130,000 copies and beat competition from I'm a Slave for You by Britney Spears, which got to number four, and One Night Stand Britney Spears, which got to number four,

and One Night Stand by Mystique, which got to number five. In its second week at number one, it sold 109,000 copies and beat competition from Closer to Me by five, which got to number four, and also Island in the Sun by Weezer, which just missed out on the number one spot at number 31. There's some postcards. In its third and final week at number one, it sold 77,000 copies and beat competition

from Rapture by IO, I think it is, or EO, which I remember. I love that song. I love that song. Yeah, which got to number two. And also Falling by Alicia Keys, which got to number three. And also I'm Real by Jennifer Alicia Keys which got to number three and also I'm Real by Jennifer Lopez which got to number four and also Bohemian

Like You by the Dandy Warhols which got to number five at this point I would recommend our listeners go and watch the documentary Dig about the Dandy Warhols and what's the face Brian Johnstown Massacre I think that's a good

documentary um when it was knocked off the top of the charts because i got high dropped one place to number two and by the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 22 weeks 22 weeks of being high i wonder how that is andy uh have at it well i was gonna talk about this song but i got high i was walked into that one i was gonna say that it's crap but i got high it's the worst song of the year so far and i know why hey hey because i got high because i got high because i got high da da da da da da anyway yeah so that's me trying to fill up some time um because i have very little to say about this piece of crap um so it's awful and you know what my first thought when i saw this was like oh oh, this must have been a quiet week.

Tell you what, though, it was not. The stuff that you've just listed there that this managed to keep off the top spot. I'm a slave for you, fallen island in the sun, which came so very, very close. I know. Shocking. It's shocking. I mean, I remember this song being big. And I remember a lot of my family at New Year had this on and we're all singing along together and everyone found it really funny and I sort of did at the time as well because it's just like a gimmick and that's it that's all there is to it at all really and I think it's like a style of humor that maybe I've just grown out of but I think the world has kind of grown out of

as well that it's just dumb It's just really lowest common denominator, like, oh, smoking pot, guys, isn't that funny? You know, it's just, I feel like we've all kind of moved past this kind of novelty song. I mean, I may be wrong, there may be something like this that comes along in the future, but I don't think you really get things like this anymore and yeah this is not good it has some of my least favorite lyrics that i think i've ever encountered on this podcast so far i mean i don't even know where to say it because it's it's so bad but the i was gonna eat your blank but i got high is like i actually winced when i heard that that was just awful it's just that's like it could kind of be a little bit better

if it leaned more into that silly, funny, novelty song side. But actually, it combines the overall shitness of it with some really disgusting, horrible, dirty lyrics that are sort of, ugh, to listen to. I don't really find it funny, I just kind of find it

gross. The only thing that this has going for it is that it is very catchy, but much like Hey Baby last week, where I said the same thing, the only reason I think that it's catchy is because they repeat that same melody so many bloody times that it can't help but get in your head. It feels like you're being brought into a cult with how often they say this. It's absolutely terrible, definitely for me one of the worst songs that we've covered on this podcast so far i just just do not find it funny and i feel

like if you don't find it funny then what are you gonna get from it it's just a non-starter and that's what this is for me it's a total misfire i hate it i'm sorry yeah ah Lizzie what about you yeah I mean I agree with a lot of your points Andy and like I say this as someone who fully supports the legalization of marijuana for recreational and me too to be fair yeah yeah yeah but like be honest is there anything more embarrassing than weed culture in the West? Yeah. Like, in terms of Western media centred around weed use and stoners, I really struggle to think of examples which aren't cringeworthy comedy relics or blatant ignorance about Rastafarianism. And this song lands firmly in the first category

and is my least favourite song we've covered yet for a variety of reasons like we'll start with the obvious problem here it's a comedy song that isn't funny it's another one of those comedy songs where the punchline is always the same but the conceit becomes increasingly more ridiculous as the song goes on. Like you could mention it wasn't me here but I feel like that would be unfair because at least the protagonist of that song learns their lesson by the time it's over and realises that telling the truth is the most sensible path to take. This song reminds me more of My Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry like hammering the same joke over and over again with a backing track that's like a nursery rhyme. It's so boring that you barely even register it. And the final punchline

has no payoff at all. So what was even the point of any of it? And like, the song itself is clearly meant as a cautionary tale about overusing cannabis recreation recreationally but i suspect that message goes over the heads of most people who remember this as just a goofy novelty song about a guy who misses some appointments and prior commitments because he got high because it's delivered in a way that's far too cheerful for any of that dark humor to pay off especially because you've got those guys in the background tittering and chuckling away at Afro-man's misfortunes. And I think because the song is so boring and so irritating and so unfunny, I find myself reaching for other reasons to dislike this song,

such as the potentially damaging impact of a song like this, which depicts usage of weed as a path to destruction, on people who have to jump through hoops some 20 years later to legally obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes, like severe epilepsy in the UK. Like, not to get on a soapbox about this, but it feels like we've fallen way behind the US and some European countries in this regard. And now we're stuck in a situation where weed is only generally available through predatory dealers, there are currently no controls on the strains that pass through dealers hands to users and on top of all of that Tory police commissioners have only recently suggested

bumping it to Class A drug status alongside some of the most harmful drugs that can destroy lives and even entire communities. Meanwhile, alcohol deaths in England, wait for this, alcohol deaths in England and Wales were the highest for 20 years in 2021. Tobacco addiction costs the economy £17 billion a year and it's the primary cause of preventable illness and premature death accounting for approximately 74,600 deaths a year in England alone and the opioid crisis is continuing to cause incredible damage in the US as well as

closer to home in Scotland where deaths from drug misuse are five times higher than they were just 25 years ago. Like not to say that Afro Man is responsible for any of that but I can't help but wonder if this song had a lasting impression on the British general public and by extension people who would go on to become policy makers and law enforcers and for that I think it is so much worse than just a shit song about weed i think it genuinely had lasting damage and yeah for that it's going straight in the pie hole just very getting your vote in early very well said lizzie i can't commend you highly enough for that that absolutely deserves to be said thank you and i you know I'm naive enough that that hadn't really occurred to me much, but I fully, fully agree with you on that.

I also think this is just a kind of sub-point, and not to piggyback on that at all, Izzy, but I think there's also a vaguely racially problematic element to this song as well. Yeah, I agree. The largely white Britain fully endorsing this song so much, I think, at least had a small element of, look at the funny black men smoking weed.

Yeah, thanks, Chris Miles. Yeah, so I think there's that as well. But yeah, completely, completely agree with you on that. Yeah. When I first kind of heard this, I was about seven. I had a couple of older cousins that I mentioned last week because they were into Ja Rule. And they had Ja Rule CDs and i didn't and so i got a lot of my interpretations from music from them i remember

looking up ringtones in 2003 or 2004 and seeing that Usher had a new song out that was called Poppy Collar and they both subsequently laughed at me because it was actually released in the 90s and so a lot of my music knowledge around the time was kind of imported from them and i remember one day um i was seven my cousins were 10 and i want to say 13 or 10 and 12 and this song was on the tv in my grandma's house spent a lot of time at my grandma's up until being about 12 and um so this song was on the tv in the front room and i don't know my grandma got up to do something in the kitchen um and so it was just me and my 10 year old cousin at the time who was in the room and she leaned over to me while the song was on tv and she went i've got something to tell you about this song tv and she went i've got something to tell you about this song i said oh what what she said and she just completely sincerely she just went it's about smoking cigarettes and i was like

what oh my god is it and like because i'm like seven years old and i've not got i've not got like a concept of drug use or anything like that and so i'm sort of so innocently going oh i just thought it was about feeling elated or something like that but imagine how neutered it would be if it was just about sigs it's like i was gonna go to school but i had a sig then i went to school five minutes later because I'd finished my sick. As for my opinion on the song, I don't like this, but I definitely don't hate it. Definitely not to the extent that you two do. I definitely feel like this is one of those novelty songs where you're either in on the joke or you're not in on the joke. And if you're in the joke as afro man and his buddies all clearly seem to be then it's probably hilarious and if you're not

then it's probably very irritating and annoying for all of the reasons that you two uh have stated um weirdly i'm sort of on the fence with this um as i listen along to it i don't find myself getting irritated to the degree that you two seem to have but i also don't find myself laughing as much as afro man and his friends seem to be doing um i do kind of appreciate that as the song develops they seem to be experiencing increasing levels of giddiness as it goes along which sort of makes up for a lack of development compositionally and i appreciate that it's entirely self-deprecating it's kind of self-deprecating and doesn't seem to blame anybody but afro man for the way that

his life kind of falls apart over the course of three minutes or so but having said that um sometimes we come on this show and we say how great it is that the song basically has a series of bridges and choruses all the way through to the point where the momentum is never lost you're always excited to hear something resolve um i have been asked somehow to work a reference into this episode um by a listener to uh weezer's new single i want a dog um this is about the best place i feel like i could insert this um i don't know if making people aware of the challenge means i've failed it but um weezer's new record i want a dog um does the same thing where it kind of you know the verse is probably the catchiest part of it but anyway

um i think because i got high works against this theory though because the writing here is so sparse and repetitive that it runs really thin after about, I don't know, two minutes, maybe a minute if you're less patient. I understand why they're going for the kind of atmosphere that they've gone for, because they're meant to be coming across as stoned and lazy and that's the selling point, but I don't think the joke lasts as long as the song.

You know, like, I feel like the punchline kind of dries up before it actually reaches the the end i feel like the last kind of four verses or three verses or goes round of the chorus or whatever it is the i feel like it's expired slightly. See, I'm kind of on the fence with it. I've liked it less and less as we've gone along because I first kind of thought, when I remember the song, I was like, oh, this is pretty funny. And then I listened to it more and I'm like, no, it's kind of juvenile.

And I think it's kind of weirdly aimed at the kind of people who don't understand the song if you know what i mean like people like me at seven years old who were happy to laugh about something i think it's one of those where you're seven years old and you just join in with everybody else laughing because you don't want to be the only person who's seen not to get a joke and you pretend to be older than you are but i didn't really understand this as a kid and then when i grew up and i was like oh that's what it's about and then you're like oh not that funny really is it it's fine it doesn't annoy me i'll never listen to this again out of choice um but

i don't think i'd you know want to run out of a room if it was on. So, I have no real... I have no strong feelings whatsoever, as a certain character may have said in Futurama once upon a time. You've made the mistake of thinking that it irritates me. It doesn't. It just bores the fuck out of me. It does irritate me. Yeah. I completely agree with you,

by the way, on the point about how, you know, there's a sort of Emperor's New Clothes quality to it amongst children where I definitely got that

at the time. Yeah. Where it's like, what are we all laughing at? I don't know, but we're all laughing. So don't you be the one who's not laughing.

You know, it's just sort of a thing that no one can quite define. We've just all been told that it's funny. So herd mentality sets in with kids around this at the time i think um we're just a thing we all laugh at even if we don't even know what getting high is and we certainly don't know what weed is so yeah i i think that's yeah that's a good observation yeah would we like to move swiftly on and get this out of our lives? Yes.

Please. Alright then. Next up, it's this. So here we stand In our secret place Where the sound of the crowd Is so far away And you take my hand And it feels like home

We both understand It's where we belong So how do I say Do I say, do I say goodbye? We both have our dreams, we both wanna fly So let's take tonight to carry us through the lonely times I'll always look back As I walk away This memory will last

For eternity And all of our tears Will be lost in the rain When I find my way back to your arms again But until that day you know you are The queen of my heart This is Queen of My Heart by Westlife. Released as the lead single from the group's third studio album entitled World of Our Own, Queen of My Heart is westlife's

10th single to be released in the uk overall and then ninth number one i'm not reading them all out i can't be arsed it's not the last time we'll be discussing westlife on this podcast either queen of my heart went straight in at number one as a new entry knocking afro man off the top of the charts he would have stayed at number one but but he got high. It stayed at number one for one week. In its one and only week at number one, it sold 139,000 copies, beating competition from They Don't Know by So Solid

Crew, which got to number three. What's Going On by All Star Tribute, which got to number six. And The Music's No Good Without You by Cher, which got to number eight. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Queen of My Heart dropped one place to number two, and by the time it was done on the charts,

it had been inside the top 100 for 15 weeks. So a modest but relatively short stay around for Queen of My Heart. Lizzie, how are we with this old thing? Yeah, I mean, have either of you heard that What's Going On cover, by the way? Yeah, yeah. I actually remember it at the time. I remember seeing the music video for it and not recognising a single artist from it

because I was that kind of kid. Yeah, it's a bit naff. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's kind of admirable because I assumed it was for 9-11, but it's actually for, I think it's kind of admirable because i i assumed it was for 9-11 but it's actually for i think it's for eats research which is quite surprising and i think fred durst was on the end of it so fair play anyway uh westlife we've talked a bit on this podcast recently about the new reality for pop music in britain especially with regards to these manufactured groups that hit the

big time after the success of the Spice Girls. So Five have already decided to call it a quits about a couple of months before this. Another big British pop group is about to call it a day over the Christmas period. And even across the Atlantic, boy bands that were untouchable just a year ago were starting to see the writing on the wall. And then there's Westlife, who broke onto the scene in similar circumstances and often had a fair bit of fanbase crossover with these groups. And they seem to be weathering the storm quite confidently. I think the key here is that the people behind Westlife don't necessarily consider young people to be their primary demographic. Definitely not. Sure. Yeah,

so they still have pre-seen girls who show up to their concerts and scream their lungs out because they're a bunch of good-looking guys who can sing well, and it's easy for younger fans to imagine themselves as the subject of their affection but I'd argue that their main demographic is much older than most pop groups at this time like you could argue that their fan base is people who grew up with Take That or Bross or Duran Duran we could go as far as the Osmonds and like the reason i say this is because this song sounds like it was aimed squarely at radio 2 not radio 2 as we know it now where you get a fair bit of crossover with radio 1 alongside classic pop songs for the most part but radio 2 as it was back then, when Terry Wogan was the king of the station and the MO was MOR,

like this is essentially Westlife doing Mull of Kintyre, like rocking from side to side without any momentum, without anything to say. The accordion comes in during the second verse, it doesn't matter. The Christmas bells chime at the end of the second chorus but it doesn't matter and besides it's not Christmas for another eight weeks anyway. The key change classes in as usual, they get up off their stools and I've already forgotten the song was even playing by the time that happens. And like more importantly I would love to know if we have any listeners who were young fans of Westlife at the time and what they thought of this song. I suspect some would have gone along with it as usual because they were fans of the group and that's what fans do. But part of me wonders if

any of those pre-teen fans heard this and thought, this group doesn't speak to me anymore. Like, this song is in Walt's time, for fuck's sake. Like, you're not appealing to the kids anymore. You're speaking purely to, like, the people who will eventually come told most of Britain's wealth. They will become the record-buying public, whether you like it or not. And, like, you know, there's so much bold, exciting pop just starting to break through at this time,

and into 2002, a part of me can't help but wonder if this was the jumping-off point for some of their younger fans. Because, after all, how many times can you repeat the same old tired trick and still expect people to applaud? You know what I mean? Well, young people anyway. Exactly. They've done this shit so many times.

It's the same song and they've not sped it up. They've slowed it down. Yeah, the speed of this is quite remarkable, isn't it? Yeah, it's almost somnambulant. You feel like, you know you get to like a tempo so slow that you stop noticing there being a beat there yeah it's like a psychological effect i feel like this is encroaching on that territory yeah the thing with um westlife is i think they're trying to at point, trying to remind people of late 80s, early 90s kind of like ballads.

Maybe. Really pristinely recorded, you know, those kinds of ballads from around that point. And just things like, I guess like, I mean, it wasn't late 80s, it was early 80s, but even just stuff like against all odds like it's just the same kind of really slow you know fist pumping kind of like swaying ballad sort of thing but because i've heard them do this so much now like i mean everybody's heard the song who's listening to us because unless they've skipped over it and i wouldn't really blame them but like while i was sat there trying to take notes i was honestly just sort of sat there like what is there to say like it's a westlife song that does all of the things that you would expect a westlife song to do there's almost nothing to interrogate like the tempo is slow the group vocals feel clean and sweet but slightly out of touch with

what they're singing there's a big key change there's tiny gestures to irish folk and celtic music for good measure i suppose this time they've got little christmas sprinklings like the bells towards the end and like in isolation it's probably not too bad i quite i guess i quite appreciate the just the i'll always look back because i walk away but it's like on its own you know as like a little short thing i don't mind it but surrounded by everything else that the song is and everything else that westlife have done it's just so aggressively bland and like whenever they turn up on this podcast at the moment i'm just kind of thinking like them again right can we not just listen to something else and i think yeah their market is no longer young people and to be honest even when they're still getting number ones about eight years from now the market is not kids it isn't kids like no

one who i knew when i was a teenager enjoyed westlife it was entirely for I imagine their marketing department saw it as their audience is just mums that's it it's just mums and I think that to be fair when you tap into the mums market you can make a

you can make a load of money you can make loads of money off it and I think that's we're going to get a big example of that in a load of money you can make loads of money off it and I think that's we're going to get a big example of that in a couple of years and I think that's what they're going for there is an anecdote that I'll save for a later date that probably quite accurately describes

how young people perceived Westlife across the 2000s but I'll save it for another time when it's a bit more relevant because the anecdote actually happens around 2009 2010 which is around the time of their last number one to date so I'll save it for another

time I think but yeah keep them listening you reel them in and then you keep hold of them by promising them things down the line but yeah uh andy how about uh how about you yeah you've you've both summed it up really really well um there isn't much more for me to add to be honest except that you know the thing that really kills this for me as you both said but it's it's that choice of rhythm and that choice of tempo that it's just like almost scientifically

the worst possible rhythm that you could apply to this and I get what it's referencing obviously but it's like not slow enough that it's a sort of straight down the line you know really profound ballad in the way that something like Salidion

might do but it's nowhere near fast enough for it to be anything approaching any level of energy at all. It's really like so flat and even with it being in a waltz rhythm you know that's not necessarily the worst thing at all it's just that it does it in a very slow way and also kind of does it as a 6-8 rhythm rather than a 3-4 so it's like and it's like how am i supposed to dance to this how am i supposed to do anything to this like where does this fit in like to my head musically and yeah it's it's it's a particularly generic

particularly uninspired version of the same shtick that they've been doing for virtually every song that we've had so far. You know, I didn't mind my love. I know you two didn't really agree with me on that. And Fool, again, we all thought was sort of okay. But you're absolutely right that like the formula is really, really starting to get on my nerves now that for most of the time we've covered Westlife, it's been like, well, you know, this is not for for me this is boring and a bit rubbish but i don't begrudge them the success whatever but now you're absolutely right you know we hear about the songs that aren't making number one and we see how crowded it is out there at this time and it's like these guys this is their i think their fifth time now did you say fifth time at number one uh really you know is this really really merited? The answer is no, of course

it's not. But, you know, to quote Bo Burnham with his song Repeat Stuff, we'll stop beating this dead horse when it stops spitting out money. What can you do? These songs keep getting to number one. Why would they stop doing what they're doing? And the only thing

that would ever fix this is if people stopped being interested. and the audience is shifting as you've both very much identified but the audience is still there i'm not even really sure that they've peaked yeah to be honest um and and you know if you wanted to pivot towards the mums and nannas market you know there are plenty of artists who have made a living of that really successfully you know it's a good groundswell to have of support you know you know the kind of awful throwaway artists like people like daniel o'donnell and russell watson and stuff like that who have made a very successful living out of it and have very devoted following and there is a gap in the market there for someone really mainstream and someone who's really got

artists and industry power behind them to seize that market and go nuclear because there's a lot of people ready to buy there and that's sort of what happened with susan boyle i think that you know no one under the age of about 30 generously more like 40 or 50 had any interest in susan boyle but they didn't need to because the older market bought into Susan Boyle so much that it was just an absolute nuclear bomb of the charts. And this is sort of the same thing that, you know, they're pivoting towards, you know, OK, we've done this four or five times now. The young girls are going to start growing out of us. Could we maybe do this for the rest of our lives and just really lean into it? And the answer is yes, they could do. And they did so very successfully for quite a long time.

And I have no doubt that if they came back now, they'd still get more number ones. I know they're sort of still around slightly, but if they were to make a real proper attempt at a comeback, I think they'd be successful. I think there's always a market for it. But that's a really bad thing because this is true lowest common denominator stuff

You know, there's no there's no sense of urgency to it There's no sense of you know, this is why this one's different every choice that it makes is so predictable The key change the way those strings ramp up at the end You can almost feel the firework rain behind you you can you know feel the weight of them getting up off those stools It's just like so so by the numbers but um i just wanted to kind of make that point that why would they stop you know this is the like the fifth or sixth time now that they've got to number one easily they will do it many more times why would they stop um and that's an indictment of the place that they are at as artists but also you know you don't have to sort of kind of blame the people who are behind it somewhat and sort of turn the tables a bit and be like this is crap why do you like it they're gonna keep doing it

they're not gonna change you know how um this is not like something i'm an expert on but i i hear that the way it always goes with pokemon games is that people always will buy them in their millions and then say oh this is really really rubbish and then buy the next one in their millions so it's like why would they change it why you buy every single one without question whether you like it or not so why would you change the formula and that's just a depressing thing to ponder really um the only other thing I've got to say is because we're now so far in that you'd think we would have said everything that we'd possibly have to say about Westlife. In the first episode, I asked you, could you name all of Westlife? Could you do it now?

Do you know who they all are yet? No? No. Isn't that sad in its own right, though? For the record, it's Shane, Brian. Oh, you know, I had these in front of me. Shane, Brian, Mark, Nicky, and someone else. Kian, that's the one.

Yeah. There we go. So, yeah. All right, from one boy group to another boy group. Come on. I have And ever since the day You left me here alone I've been trying to find Oh, a reason why So if I did something wrong Please tell me

I wanna understand Cause I don't want this love To ever end And I swear If you come back in my life I'll be there till the end of time Oh yeah And I swear

I'll keep you right by my side Cause baby you're the one I want Oh, yes, you are This is If You Come Back by Blue. Released as the third single from the group's debut album, All Rise, If You Come Back is also Blue's third single overall to be released in the UK. It is the second blue single to reach number one after too close hit the summit in our previous episode it is not the last time

we'll be discussing blue on this podcast if you come back went straight in at number one as a new entry knocking westlife off the top of the charts it stayed at number one for one week in its first and only week atop the charts it sold 88,000 copies beating competition from Emotion by Destiny's Child which got to number three, Free by the Lighthouse Family which got to number six and Ugly by Bubba Sparks which got to number seven. When it was knocked off the top of the charts If You Come Back dropped one place to number two, and by the time it was done on the charts, it had only been inside the top 100 for 13 weeks. So another relatively short stay with that one. I'll probably take the lead on this one.

I think now that we've gone down to three songs a week, I can actually make sure Andy goes first, then Lizzie goes first, and then I do. And then it's all nice and even you're revealing our secrets i think this is completely fine probably my favorite blue song these days which says more about like how much less i love them now compared to when i was like seven or eight years old because this isn't really a favorite song of mine it's probably my favorite song this week uh but you know you've heard our comments about the previous two um it's very clearly to my ears Blue's interpretation of something like uh Back 4 Good take that which I think is a superior version of that kind of song but this is a decent go

something like that as blue continue to attempt to find their niche their vocals are more tuneful and affecting with this kind of material which suits them a lot better than their more upbeat r&b stuff i think i think this is basically proven by stuff like guilty and sorry seems to be the hardest word with Elton John Because they end up being bigger hits than you make me wanna and bubbling from their later years And I think this kind of stuff is what people actually really wanted from blue in The end or at least at the time like even in their solo stuff things like Duncan's I believe in my heart and Army of lovers by Leeyan and basically everything that simon webb did uh indicated that what people expected of blue was the more sensitive stuff

that sounds like gary barlow might have written it up until about halfway and then stopped and just sort of said i don't know you guys finish it off um i think this is probably why they only lasted three years where e17 lasted lasted five, NSYNC lasted six, New Kids on the Block were getting top 40 singles as late as 2008, and then later on, One Direction get five years, plus however many years their various solo ventures have added on. So you can do the soft and the sweet, but you can also do the bad boy, hanging tough, house of love stuff

that E17 and New Kids on the Block did and stuff. And I also think that not this year, but next year, the battle between Girls Aloud and One True Voice basically makes the argument that boy groups of blues type, of this type, kind of falling out of fashion and are going to need to reinvent themselves with young people and young audiences. I think One True Voice basically forces boy bands to go back to the drawing board uh anyway kind of

off on a tangent now so i will just say that this is fine it's a bit plain not very exciting but it is quite sweet and i think the emotions in it are believable and the performances are listenable and tolerable in a way that elements of Too Close were just slightly hoarse and out of tune and felt like they were singing a song in a different atmosphere than what was actually required. Whereas it feels like they suit this a little bit more. But I know that you two aren't as keen on this as I am, not to kind of steal your thunder or bury the lead but Andy yes, how are you on

If You Come Back? Yeah, I mean I don't loathe this, I don't dislike it as much as the other two songs that we've covered this week and to be fair Rob, I largely agree with most of what you've said, really. I'm just more critical of the things about it that rankle me. I'm a little bit less forgiving of it,

mainly on the point that the comparison to Back 4 Good, where, you know, obviously it's there, but for me, I think it's quite a brazen rip-off of Back 4 Good, to be honest. I think it really leans very heavily into that song, as well as having a few sort of strange shout-outs to other boy band songs as well. In terms of Back 4 Good, it's obviously the content of the song, the structure of it in terms of the way the choruses sound.

Similar verses as well, actually, in their melodic structure. Of course, the, I want you back, I want you back, is kind of repeated with the, back to me, back to me. You know, it's a very similar song to Back For Good. And I hadn't actually realised that

until I revisited this, because I hadn't listened to it, like, ever since it had been out. But it really struck me so hard as soon as I listened to it, of like, oh my God, this is so similar to Back 4 Good which is an infinitely superior song

that's not my favourite, take that song by any stretch, but it's a really well written song and this one just seems to sort of ride that coattail it also has that very deliberate invocation of I swear which is just sort of in there for no reason and I don't really know why

to the point where I almost kind of wasn't sure whether that was deliberate. But then I listened to Eyesore and I was like, yeah, definitely. That must be deliberate. It's just kind of touching on a lot of very common boy band beats. Which, you know, it's an interesting point that you make, Rob, about how boy bands of this style are kind of falling out of fashion. Because I agree with that. And maybe there's a broader conversation we can have about this at some point,

because if you look at Westlife before this, although they are a boy band getting a number one, they're sort of not operating as a boy band anymore, as we've said, in terms of where their market is. Yeah, they're contemporary now. Yeah, and Blue seem to have a similar kind of identity crisis where it's like, so we're a boy band, so let's do what boy bands do.

But where does that leave us as a band? And, you know, maybe I'm thinking too much of a long view of this and not looking at it enough as a song in its own right, but I just think there's this sort of lack of originality about this song that kind of rankles with me a little bit, especially considering the song that preceded rankles with me a little bit especially considering the song that preceded it had the same problem as well it's um it's pretty ably performed you know again lee ryan's voice bothers me far less than it that he usually does because there's so many

songs where you just think at the end which which always makes me laugh, and he doesn't really do it that much on this one. I think the individual voices come through much more strongly when they're doing ballads. I think that this is definitely a better area for them, that I don't think they're natural performers, and I think they're better as singers, and they're better at sort of wearing the heart on the sleeve and doing, well, not just take that, but, you know, that kind of late 90s, kind of 9-1-1 sort of thing. I think they're quite good at that. But yeah, the problem is that this is a really fleeting 15 minutes of fame for them,

and they're not doing anything with it that really identifies them as, this is what Blue have contributed to boy band history. I don't see what they're adding, really. And so the main reason it loses points for me is it's just like okay so what like i've kind of heard this song before i've heard every element of this song before in other places so what you know what's what's next um and i don't think blue have a good answer to that question of what's what's next for them

um but it's okay like it's okay in its own right. It's all right as a song. It doesn't bother me in the way that previous songs this week have. I just kind of think, could you not have put your own stamp on this a little bit more? Could you not have made this a little bit more interesting? It's fine.

It's very, very straight down the line boy band ballad. But I think we're moving past that in where we are in music history right now and so that sticks out like the lack of sticking out almost does stick out um if you get my meaning so yeah that's the problem i have with it but it's not that bad it's it's okay um i actually preferred too close to this just because i thought that song was more fun, but I think in terms of what Blue are good at, this is probably more their thing.

Yeah, a bit of a mixed bag for me, I think really. And Lizzie, you can round us off this week. How do you feel about If You Come Back? Yeah, Andy, I agree with a lot of your points, but I have two things to pull you up on. First thing, you mentioned 9-1-1. This was actually written by Lee Brennan of 9-1-1 I really didn't know that

so that's weird that's yeah you can kind of tell yeah well co-written anyway and also um you mentioned about Lee Ryan not doing his um not doing so bad vocally but he still has that one horrible moment in the chorus I think I keep you right by my side baby you're the one I want yeah but the fact that he does it once that's a win because what's the song where he does it loads and loads of times

it's actually All Rise he does it loads and so we've kind of dodged that bullet but there are a few more where oh sorry seems to be the hardest word that's the one we've got that coming up that bullet. But there are a few more where... Oh, sorry seems to be the hardest word. That's the one. Oh, God. We've got that coming up where basically the lead into the last chorus is just one

prolonged shriek. And it's so funny. I can't wait till that comes up. Oh, I can't wait. But yeah, with this, you'll be pleased to know I don't have very much to say about it. I think it sounds very dated.

It sounds like something from 1995. I totally agree with both of you that it is very reminiscent of Back 4 Good, but I take that. But some of the backing vocals even sound like they could be from a Lighthouse family song. And it's a bit concerning for a pop act that bursts onto the scene barely six months ago to be performing a song that sounds like it was made six years ago, especially after the last number one, which was a cover of a song from a period that seemed increasingly distant

just over a week after it hit number one. Like, obviously, with time shifts like this, you can't expect people to be on the money all the time. But I don't know, now that we've had Can't Get You Out of My Head, it just feels like this is old hat. And I don't know. It's probably the least worst of the bunch this week, but I still have to mark it down just for how,

like, by the numbers this seems. to mark it down just for how like by the numbers this seems yeah i i have to say the end to this year is just so there's just something so pre-christmas about it where like where everybody's kind of gearing up to see what will be christmas number one and so all the stuff that's getting released now is just sort of like you know i just i don't know it doesn't feel like there's any excitement going on at the moment it just feels like we've done these three songs this week and it doesn't even feel like we've been passionately annoyed about any of them or even passionately defensive or anything like that it's like you two really hate because i got high i don't hate it but i don't like it enough to really defend it i don't really

and it's the same with this where like if you come back it's like i think it's fine i think it's quite nice i wouldn't uh you know i wouldn't throw it out the house or anything like that you know it's just but i also just there is something about it where it's just yeah you know it is what it is and that's fine and we'll move on and we'll come back and you know maybe we'll look at it later and go but what you were saying there lizzie about the lighthouse family that for me feels like the main issue with where blue they i think they tried to go down the middle of the boy band r&b group adult contemporary group triangle that yeah i feel like i just it just feels like they're pulling in lots of directions but also the other two directions are pulling them in and it just feels like they can only be two of the three and not they can't perfect this

triangle they can only be two points on it and yeah yeah it just uh it just feels a bit like you know lee ryan's 17 around this time but he's like 30 he's like he's like he's like he just turned 16 and then he was 30 the next day i was stunned when i found out he was 17 he's only 17 but his mind is old R.I.P. Prodigy but yeah I just I find them just a bit confusing looking back because you get this I think they've tried to play like I was talking about those dynamics before trying to do the bad boy

with the heart of gold stuff but it just hasn't ever really been convincing enough one way or the other and I think that's why I look back and just don't really I just I don't think there's why i look back and just don't really i just i don't think there's anything else beyond the music to be excited about like pop is a bigger product than just the music and i'm just not sure if there's anything looking back that's worth listening to or consuming and just thinking yeah this is well exciting you know like we were talking about

with the spice girls third album where they went from each having like their own character to all wearing the same clothes yeah and kind of changing their identity is like oh let's update ourselves for the noughties by all wearing black on a white album cover and that let's try to mature and grow up but also sacrifice our identities at the same time that made people buy into us in the first place and this is kind of where blue are but from the start where it's like there is no character necessarily there's no like you wouldn't want to buy action figures of these guys because why would you want to buy an action figure of lee ryan in a nice overcoat like it just doesn't really make sense to me and it's like simon webb making a bit of a solo go at this i was a bit surprised actually to find out that lee ryan had had a top 10 single that i'd forgotten about that army of lovers but

again like the video for it that i've watched it's just him in a swimming pool him looking at the camera while being quite wet and being showered from above by a rain machine and reaching out and doing the ronan keating thing and it just i don't know it just feels like they're a mixture of stuff that was around at the point and looking back it's just like these the archetypes are really obvious i think but not so obvious that they're like easy to get on board with and easy to digest. It's just kind of like murky somehow. And it just, I don't know, the product doesn't come together for me. I do like this song.

I do think it's okay, but just on its own, just on its own, because I can't think of any other blues song that I'm like, oh, yeah, that one. Yeah, remember that? i just i don't know i loved them a lot when i was a kid and like like i was i was kind of saying that my love for blue was about a bit like a bit like my love for bewitched where it was like it was more of a phase where s club and maybe spy and spice girls definitely were um like a more of a long-term thing that i came back to and it's kind

of like with bewitched you kind of look back and you remember things like roller coaster and you remember doing the video where like they were all stood in front of one another doing like come on get on it and then you remember the silly like uh irish folk section of sailor v and the yeah with the fiddles and things like that and it it's like, oh yeah, that's it. Yeah, and the vaguely cheerleader-y aspect to Bewitched. Whereas with Blue, it's just lots of sensible blokes in nice clothes who like to walk in the rain and look at the camera and occasionally blink very, very slowly. And that's how I remember them, which I'm not sure is...

I mean, you know, they're doing well for themselves. They're currently doing arena shows and, you know, they're doing a tour and people seem happy to see them again. And I've seen lots of people on my Instagram stories saying, oh, this takes me back. And so clearly they've connected with some people, but not for me not for me yeah i think yeah the thing is like they're not the only culprits for this you know we've picked up on this with a few other acts just this year really like hearsay is a good example but do you ever get the feeling with a band like this that

they might look back and wish that they'd actually not got famous as quickly that you know they might look back and wish that they'd actually not got famous as quickly. That, you know, they might have actually got big too soon for their own good. Maybe. That, you know, they're not ready yet. It's like someone's taken them out the oven too quickly because they want to eat the, you know, this metaphor's getting lost. But anyway, they've taken them out the oven too quickly because they're not ready yet, even though, you know,

they've kind of struck a chord and i feel like they could have developed a bit more of an identity and developed a bit more of yeah this is like this is our justification for being big and for being a big pop act if they just had to work for it a little bit more and this is definitely like big problem with hearsay and with a lot of pop idol and x-factor acts that come after it because they get that inbuilt you are ready to be a star now without having done the work behind it of you know this is actually what our point of difference is and i think that's kind of what blue need really and it still goes on all the time you know there's there's bands like this who because with because with blue you get the feeling that the label have

very much decided that blue are going to happen like we're going to make it happen which is why they get those massive duets next year with elton john and stevie wonder which just must have cost out of this world money to get them to do and you know the label has clearly decided that blue are going to happen without really putting the product work into them. And it still goes on to this day. Do you remember? Well, it's not to this day, but do you remember that band Stushy from about 10 years ago, that girl group who did that song Black Heart? And it was like, you know, sort of similar to Little Mix,

but that Black Heart song was like pretty good. You know, it was fun. You know, they could definitely make something out of that. And it got sort of unexpectedly big. And so their second single was a cover of waterfalls. And I remember at the time just thinking, what are you doing? This is the worst idea ever.

You were just completely retreating into yourself. Like what, what are you doing? You're, you're doing a song from 20 years earlier. I, and it's frustrating when you see that, the bands who have made it big without any plan for what happens next

and yeah it really annoys me, you know, people should have to work towards success because then they'll have more to do when they get there yeah I think we see them once more, don't we Blue? Maybe we'll have to come up with some new things to have a go at them for

when they come back. So that's the end of the songs for this week's episode. Next week is going to be even shorter. We're just doing two songs and then it'll be the Race for Christmas number one for 2001.

Before we leave this week behind, I just have to ask, is anybody planning on putting because I got high in the pie hole and or vault I was going to put it in the pie hole but I got high yes I'm putting it in the pie hole

it's awful Queen of My Heart by Westlife is that going in the pie hole for anybody yep that's rubbish too. Yep, for me too. It's a unanimous piehole condemnation. I think that's the

first time that's happened since Five and Queens' We Will Rock You. Great company there. Amongst great company. And If You Come Back by Blue. I think we have a hits 21 first here. Because I'm to put this song

in the pie hole which means I've got a full house this week yeah wow see I'm not going to put it in the pie hole I don't think it's quite that bad I think it's okay but yeah not a great show this week for anyone

no not particularly no definitely not I am quite keen to get out of 2001 it's weird I feel like something's ground to a halt I think I was talking about this with you guys where I was saying last week

that the year 2001 feels like as much as there's been some cool fresh new stuff this year i just feel like we've stagnated i just feel like we're stuck something needs to happen definitely something needs to come through and just like bust the fuck out of whatever's going on because it doesn't really pick up for a little while in 2002 either the thing is we've mentioned it in this episode it's coming yeah it's it's it's gonna get there but it's yeah no it's a little while yet um i feel like the next time this really happens i could be wrong it may happen before i feel like the next

time this happens is 2008 where it just feels like to me whenever i look at the number ones towards the end of 2008 i'm like the decade's over something needs to happen and then like the first number one and even like the set the first couple of number ones of 2009 are just like ah new decade yeah and so it which is weird because it's the last year of the current decade but it just yeah i feel like we're in a similar point of stagnation where it's like there's nothing exciting going on right now i have always felt the same way about 2008 like i that's like that era is like my big era of like you know teenage coming of age stuff you know if i i could name you like 10 special pop songs to me from 2006 2007 2009 and 2010 but 2008 no not much there um so that's interesting that that's

not just me uh that's a spoiler for the future i wonder what we'll think of it when we get back yeah and maybe like 2001 it could be kind of a political thing because there was a big story in the news in late 2008 which obviously had a big grey cloud over everything. But I suppose we'll discuss that at the time. Yeah. All right, then. Thank you very much for listening, everybody. We will see you next time when we're just going to do two songs.

It may be our shortest episode ever. As Comic Book Guy may have said in a different voice, were he with us. Shortest episode ever. As comic book guy may have said in a different voice, were he with us. Shortest episode ever. So, yeah, we'll see you for it, and we'll see you soon. We'll see you there, if you come back. Hey! See you later.

Bye. See ya.