Hits 21 - 2005 (4): Stereophonics, McFly, Tony Christie & Peter Kay

Episode Date: October 1, 2023

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] Now That's What I Call Musings: https://open.spotify.com/show/2BiY89dz9uRlj6nJSI7ucb Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21 where me, Rob me, Andy and me, Livvy 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 can find us over on Twitter

we are at Hits21UK that is at Hits21UK and you can also drop us a line via email as well, we are hits21podcast at gmail dot com, thank you so much for coming back and joining us again, we are currently looking back at the year

2005 this week we are going to be covering the period between the 6th of March and the 7th of May last week our poll winner it was you two bowing out with sometimes you can't make it on your own it just pipped get right onto this week's episode and as always we're gonna give you some news headlines from around the time that the songs that were covering

in this week's episode were at number one in the UK. The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles takes place, with the ceremony being watched by a peak TV audience of 20 million people, making it the most watched live broadcast of the year. Afterwards, Camilla assumed the title of the Duchess of Cornwall. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip did not attend the civil ceremony,

but later held a reception. Tony Blair's Labour Party wins a third consecutive general election, but with a greatly reduced majority of 66 seats. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats win the most seats for a third party since 1923, with 62 MPs. Tory leader Michael Howard resigns later in the year.

Meanwhile the MG Roma group is officially closed down with 6,000 jobs lost as a result. Former Prime Minister James Callaghan dies aged 93 and the number of unemployed benefits claimants drops below 1 million people with employment at record high levels. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Brace yourself, there's a lot of them. Hitch for one week, Robots for one week, Hitch Again for one more week, The Ring 2 for one week, Sahara for one week, The Interpreter for two weeks and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for one week which was as a child

my exposure to most deaf yeah same very good film actually I was disappointed there was no sequel meanwhile big news for me Doctor Who returns with it's first regular episode for 16 years

almost 11 million people tune in to see Christopher Eccleston and Billy Piper make their first appearances as the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. Just a week later, it's announced that Eccleston will be stepping down as the Doctor to be replaced by David Tennant. Although the episode and the whole series were a huge success, the broadcast of the first episode, titled Rose, was marred by an unexplained technical issue, which caused Graham Norton's voice to be audible over several scenes.

Wow! What? The clip from the next programme, I believe it was, Any Dream Will Do or something like that, like a pre-recorded trailer, for some reason the audio started playing was Any Dream Will Do or something like that, like a pre-recorded trailer. For some reason, the audio started playing over a couple of tense scenes where Rose is being chased by plastic dummies in the basement.

Graham Norton's voice starts announcing the start of Any Dream Will Do. Hilariously, it's canon, by the way. There was a novel released of the episode, and they made it canon. That Billy Piper's's character unexplained she hears graham norton's voice in that moment that's that's brilliant i love that meanwhile over on itv 13 million people watch ken barlow and deirdre rashid tie the knots on coronation street and finally big news for us. On the 17th of April,

the official charts company includes downloaded singles in the official charts for the very first time. Ooh. Very big deal. Yeah. Andy, the UK album charts, how are they looking? Yeah, well, the last few weeks, because we've been covering about five microseconds of time,

I've had very little to say say here but are you ready for no less than eight albums at number one during this period i'm gonna fly through them so some names here to look back on so g4 by g4 oh my god number one for one week their debut album went double platinum actually g4 were a relatively big deal at the time. Wow. That was number one for one week and then toppled by The Massacre by 50 Cent, which also went double platinum and was also number one for one week. The exact same level of success as G4.

And then also, one week, double platinum, there's a bit of a theme here, is Language, Sex, Violence, Other by Stereophonics. and then also one week double platinum there's a bit of a theme here is language sex violence other by stereophonics if only we had an opportunity to discuss them and then that's replaced for two weeks at number one but also double platinum by the definitive collection by none other than tony christie who's he will we ever know will we ever get a chance to discuss him who knows after two weeks that's replaced at number one by counting down the days by natalie and bruglia um which only went gold and yeah snickering for one week there before it was replaced by basement jacks the singles a compilation album of theirs which went to number one for one week and went to triple platinum and

then just a few more uh we have trouble by acon number one for one week and went single platinum and then finally devils and dust by bruce springsteen went number one and just went gold after being number one for one week thank you very much uh lizzie how are things in the states there well as always i will start with the singles chart where 50 cent and olivia dominate most of this period with candy shop but we do get a new number one sneaking in on the 7th of may hollaback girl by gwen stefani oh my god. It was her first and only US number one and was the first single to sell more digital downloads than CDs in the US.

So again, another big milestone for America as well as Britain. It was eventually certified six times platinum in the US, but back here in the UK, it only got as high as number eight in early June. And like something I only learned this week, which i think is even better only gets as high as number 11 over here yeah i love cool cool i love cool cool yeah moving over to albums and this period is dominated by one album in particular you guessed it the massacre by 50 cent it got to number one for six weeks in

the us it eventually went six times platinum and as you've already heard it got to number one in the uk as well after that we had one week at number one for mariah carey and her album the emancipation of mimi it eventually went seven times platinum in the us but back in the uk it stalled at number seven around the same time. And finally this week, we have one week at number one for Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas and his debut solo album Dot Dot Dot Something To Be. It went double platinum over in America, but narrowly missed out on the top ten over here, reaching number 11 in the first week of June. Thank you very much, both of you, for those reports

and we will move on to the songs that we are going to be talking about this week and the first one up is this. guitar solo Thinking about thinking of you So much time, think it was June Thank you. Okay, this is Dakota by Stereophonics.

Okay, this is Dakota by Stereophonics. Released as the lead single from the band's fifth studio album, titled Language, Sex, Violence, Other, Dakota is Stereophonics' 20th single overall to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one, but it is their last as of 2023. Dakota went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Nelly and Tim McGraw 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 40,000 copies, beating competition from Rockahoola Baby by Elvis Presley, which got to number three, Star to Fall by Cabin Crew, which got to number three, Star to Fall by Cabin Crew, which got to number four, Do Something by Britney Spears, which got to number six, and An Honest Mistake by The Bravery, which got to number seven. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Dakota dropped one place to number two. The song initially left the charts in 2005, one place to number two the song initially left the charts in 2005 but re-entered in 2006 2008 and 2012 by the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 35 weeks the song is currently officially certified three times platinum so triple platinum in the uk

as of 2023 so andy i'm gonna give you the chance to kick off the show and let everybody know that for the last six days, you have managed to get to New York and back so that the King of New York has returned to grace us with his presence and you can open up by discussing Dakota by Stereophonics. Thank you, yes. If you, the dear listener, can hear how tired I am, then that's why.

I'm not just bored of the episode. I'm very, very tired. But yes, Dakota. So I think this is kind of... of every kind of song of this era that fits into that kind of bland dad rock genre i think if you were to release a compilation this would be track one this is the ultimate really where it's got that kind of buzz to it where it has that kind of exciting sound where you feel like you're kind of taking

off a rocket into space and you're you're just you're just cool even just for listening to it. Like it's got that vibe but then there's nothing to it at all. Like it's just, it just sounds quite fun and sounds quite energetic but the lyrics are completely impenetrable. I really like, in any song I really don't like Kelly Jones's voice and there just isn't much to it to be honest like and i i would at the time i actually really like this because it was just a good one to kind of sing in the car with my mom because she absolutely loved it she still loves it to this day um but it really in retrospect fits into the same bracket as like sex on fire to me to be honest in that it's kind of this sounds like a really snobby phrase but i think it is genuinely true is that it's kind of this sounds like a really snobby phrase but i think it is genuinely

true is that it's kind of rock music for people who don't like rock music it's it's very much on that fringe of um accessibility which is fine you know lots of people love this song and you know it's like huge at festivals and stuff i've known people who've gone to see stereophonics and absolutely raved at this when they inevitably do this as the encore, because of course they do. But it's just kind of very, very middle of the road and hits all the precise spots in such a kind of formulaic, precise way that I just don't find it very, very interesting, to be honest. I kind of like my music to be a little bit more subversive

and a little bit more innovative than this and this just is kind of like a 21st century take on something like The Chain by Fleetwood Mac which is is a very innovative song that's really wild and out there but this just feels like a pale imitator and feels like it was designed to be that kind of stadium rock anthem which you can translate to like driving in my car you designed to be that kind of stadium rock anthem, which you can translate to, like, driving in my car, you know. It kind of seems like this was done as, yeah, let's make a lot of money and a lot of recognition with this one, rather than having any real merit to it. And that's fine. I'm not using the phrase selling out there, because that's not true, and I don't really believe that that exists.

I think this is just a bit of a breakthrough moment for them that's in retrospect very bland and I don't think there's really any way of getting around that to be honest and you know like I say it's not a bad song like I do enjoy it I would never really choose to listen to it but there's definitely been times in my life where I would have and where i would have thought yeah let's rock out to dakota but um no not anymore this is like i say the kind of ultimate um dad rock song for me from the early noughties and there's nothing wrong with that at all but i'm not in that audience just yet so yeah kind of fine for me wouldn't go much further than that yeah i fully agree with andy on this this is just a sound it's yeah just barely a song like it's one of those where it's purely to be piped in at like stadiums or events and all like top gear driving anthems where it's

like you don't need to listen to the words because the words don't even mean anything it is just how can we make this sound big and in i'd say i'll give it some credit it does sound big it does sound like a lot of those big u2 kind of anthems it has the sound down pat and like i like the sort of bleepy sort of synth intro i think it's a good way of kind of building it up i think overall the production is kind of impeccable but it's also kind of soulless in that regard like there's no there's no room for error it's all just like tight everything sort of done down to the letter but there's no creativity there it is just play in this order do not step out of line do not do anything unexpected do not surprise the listener it is just play it as straightforward as possible don't give them any lyrics that they can hang on to

just get through the song get from point a to point B, there is no C. And there is just something very ordinary about it. And I think the more you listen to it, the more it starts to, well, for me personally, it started to grate just because I thought, like I've already said, it's just a sound. There's nothing here to really cling on to. When I come back for repeated listens there's no surprises or new little elements i can pick up on because it's always just this it's just dakota by the stereophonics and yeah like i definitely don't think they sold out

but i don't think they were ever part of like the alternative much either like even from that cool comry scene from the 90s like you've got super furry animals gawky zygotic monkey you've got um like even catatonia on the manic street peaches obviously and like the stereophonics were always kind of the more commercial end of that like even when they were doing like the bartender and the thief it always feels like they found a way to make those big crossover hits you know like this like have a nice day like mr writer. Writer. And I mean, there's some talent in that, definitely. But in the long run, and when you revisit it some 20 years later,

it just doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. And yeah, I think, Andy, you've pretty much nailed it on this. But I just wanted to echo that I don't think this is terrible or anything, but it's not great either really got me thinking there lizzie about with you saying oh it's basically just a sound you know there's not any depth to it that i i'm really wondering if maybe this started as just a jam between the band because it does kind of sound like it's just a jam that the audio has

picked up you know because there's so there's so little to it in terms of lyrics and in terms of anything other than just building and building and like kind of going through each sort of section of the song over and over again but adding a bit more each time it does kind of remind me of a jam session so i wonder if that's yeah just that know, like the Swamp Song by Oasis, where we just ended up on the album. Like something like that. I wonder if that's what this is, and it just went nuclear because of it.

That's it. In terms of its sound, it builds and it builds and it builds, and it builds to nothing. It's like that, you know, the escalator in The Simpsons that doesn't go anywhere. People just fall off the edge. It's like... That's it. It kind of sucks you in, thinking, right, this is it, the energy's coming up and it just, like,

and someone flicks the Vs at you. I really wonder how it finishes, live, because, you know, how would it stop? I really just think it's really interesting to imagine that everyone who breath, everyone who breathed in then it's just, and now it's the end. Just take a look at me now. Yeah. As a song in isolation, I think this is fine,

but I don't, I just don't see the fuss like you two. Like, you know, I like the introduction of the new melody towards the end, the take a look at me now thing but they just kind of ring it out until there's no water left you know i just and andy you saying that you mentioned in sex on fire i mean have you ever heard those two songs played together they're just they're like

identical structurally tonally they're just oh god god oh god, we have to get to Sex on Fire eventually, don't we? I think though, this is probably the least irritating stereophonic song that gets overplayed to the nth degree, because Have a Nice Day really irritates me I hate that song

it's proper like Friday night, 5.03pm on Q103 and just, oh, every, Friday night, 5.03pm on Q103. And just, oh, every fucking Friday, just like... The thing about that song, sorry to interrupt this, but the thing I really dislike about that song is that his voice is just such a terrible match with the song that he never really alters his vocal style.

He always has this sound of, like, sort of vomiting the words out in disgust and when it's with such a gentle song as have a nice day it's like it just doesn't work at all it's really weird yeah well it's like in like in the cover of handbags and glad rags where he really does just sound like i think i said on the episode that what like when we went past it it's like just sounds like a lobotomized rod stewart but i guess in a way though like with this it's kind of like stereophonic's own song too in the sense that it's clearly a slightly ironic send-up of american alternative rock but somehow wound up being taken completely seriously by everybody even the band themselves in the end and it's ended up being their most popular song when it is like the least representative thing about them and jesus the the album title what what is that

album title i'm sorry just the other oh jesus and we keep saying that Other With the question mark It's like In Bojack Horseman The hooray Question mark But yeah Like you two I am struck by how

Just ordinary And plain I find this to be Despite all the noise Because it's You know It's clearly going for Like this sprawling

Jet speed Like driving on the highway Kind of feel Except the wheels Have come off the surface of the road and you're actually flying or at least that's what it feels like you know the big sweeping guitars in the back of the chorus and the driving anthems volume two feel of the whole thing but like the hairs on the back of my neck just like don't move like i i can see what they're going for and i appreciate this but it's it's never been a favorite of mine um i don't buy into like the romance like like the romance

that the the protagonist is remembering and also the romantic images of america that they're trying to paint instrumentally like with the title of the song and the music video and all that it just feels so false um i also like the lyrics are kind of sparse and so the images they're trying to paint don't really take on physical form it's just like lying back with my head on the grass i was drinking and having some laughs yeah having some laughs like great you got any more to this story i just uh yeah and it goes the song is five minutes long on the album yeah and the outro goes on forever and ever like the last the whole last minute of the song is just them going so take a look at me now so take a look for a minute I just The whole

It kind of withers for me I don't know It's still okay and I appreciate them trying to do Something different to their usual style After so many years in the business Five albums in, trying to do something new You get a bit of a breakthrough on your fifth album Commercially, yeah great, good for you guys

It worked Everybody knows Dakota But it just feels And I'm sorry if I come across album commercially yeah great good for you guys you know it worked everybody knows dakota but it just feels and i'm sorry if i come across like a bit of a snob here but it just this feels like rock for people who don't really know or like rock that much they're not really interested in the genre they're just kind of they enjoy it as it's kind of presented to them not they like the the vague sort of shape of it not yeah not the form itself i imagine this is how like serious motorheads and car mechanics feel ironically enough you listen lizzie you mentioned it before when people watch top gear well like

yes or at least top gear as it existed where it's like you know ostensibly it's a tv show about cars but is it though is it not just like a tourist documentary that gives a chance for jeremy clarkson to be like rampantly xenophobic and for richard hammond to kind of giggle and then james may to kind of awkwardly shuffle about in the background and try to distance himself from the whole thing like oh i i'm above this sort of thing i just you know like motorheads and car folk at home would be like this isn't a bloody car show this is nothing this feels like the the acceptable face of rock if you know what i mean a sign that the genre has failed to adapt over the last sort of 25 years um because i'm bait on me i am basically of the opinion that rock got really lazy um after the album that after the era of the album was done and after disco and electro funk kind of and synth pop kind of took over and then

hip-hop i don't think that as a commercial force, rock has really had a proper response to that. And this feels like we're in the, we are very much in the end times of mainstream rock, I think, in this little era. I think we have, you know, there's maybe a couple more, like, you know, Arctic Monkeys get a breakthrough, Kings of Leon end up on the top of the charts

and stuff like that. But then I think me and you, andy we've had discussions about this where sex on fire is the last rock song to get to number one until i would argue maybe like olivia rodrigo doing good for you but i wouldn't even class that as a rock song it's more of a new wavey pop rock thing but see the records record this as being Paradise by Coldplay but that is not a rock song was Killing in the Name after

Sex on Fire? Yes it was so Killing in the Name would technically count but obviously that's not really about the song so Killing in the Name would be the last one but the last original rock song to get to number one. The last new rock song.

Yeah. The last new rock song to get to number one by my reckoning is Sex on Fire which is 15 years ago now so quite humbling. Yeah.

But on the other side of that you've got something like Mr Brightside which has been in the top 100 for about nearly 400 weeks combined. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Up to this date. So I get what you mean about it as a commercial force, and I think part of me wonders if that's just because rock is kind of more fragmented than something like, say, pop or even hip-hop, whereas you have all these different strands like obviously you've got this which is kind of pop rock you then you've got indie rock hard rock metal funk you know like there's all these different branches and i think that kind of makes it hard for anyone to stand out and because people all have their separate tribes within it.

I definitely agree with that. I definitely think that's part of it. I think in the mid-naughties, rock was able to reinvent itself and sustain itself by everything being able to somewhat coalesce around the naughties indie movement that you could pretty broadly fit into that kind of wider revival of rock music um through that kind of lens but these

days yeah i don't really think there's any such thing as rock music in quotes it's just now too general a term there's um yeah too many different variations out there and there's nothing to kind of grasp onto i would kind of say the same of most genres to be honest i don't know if this is a streaming thing um that i think just the walls of genre have just been completely broken down now um and it's very very hard to go from one artist to another in an organic way but that's a rant for another time yeah yeah getting ahead of ourselves a little bit Yeah, hell yeah Okay, right, next up Is this

It's all about you It's all about you, baby It's all about you It's all about you Yesterday you asked me something I thought you knew so I told you with a smile

it's all about you then you whispered in my ear and you told me to said you'd make my life worthwhile it's all about you and i would answer all your wishes if you asked me to but if you deny me one of your kisses Don't know what I do Okay, this is All About You, double A-side with You've Got a Friend by McFly.

Released as the lead single from the group's second studio album titled Wonderland, All About You, double A-side with You've Got a Friend is McFly's fifth single overall to be released in the UK and their third to reach number one. And it's not the last time that we'll be discussing McFly's fifth single overall to be released in the UK and their third to reach

number one and it's not the last time that we'll be discussing McFly on this podcast. The song was chosen as the official single for Comic Relief in 2005 and You've Got A Friend is a cover of the Carole King song which reached number four in 1971. All About You, double A side with You've Got a Friend, went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Stereophonics 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 158,000 copies, beating competition from Good Luck Charm by Elvis Presley, which got to number two, Falling Stars by Sunset Strippers which got to number 3 Crafty by New Order which got to

number 8 and California by Phantom Planet which got to number 9. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, All About You You've Got A Friend dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top of the charts, All About You, You've Got a Friend, dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 19 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2023. So Lizzy, take the lead on this. Yeah, I'll try and keep this brief because I feel like you both might have a lot more than me to say on this um overall though I do like this a lot I'd say I definitely think this is their best single so far of the ones we've covered um I think they have better to come though but anyway that's another topic for another time back to this yeah I think again there's a lot of comparisons I've been reading online to, like, saying this sounds a bit like the Beatles. Yet, when I think about it, there's no Beatles single or even song that I can think of that sounds anything like this. To me, this sounds more like a 50s thing.

Like, if you told me this was written by Buddy Holly or something, or Cliff, I'd believe you. Yeah. You know what I mean? It sounds kind of Dream dream boats and petticoats more than it does beatles definitely has a sense of every day by buddy holly in it yeah yeah yeah but um i mean that's kind of a side note although it does play into it a bit to say that it is it's very timeless there is something that you feel listening to this like this is a song that's been around for decades and McFly are just reviving it but no this is a brand new thing and the fact that they've managed to create something that sounds the way this does like like I say it just it sounds like it's always been around and I think it's kind of secured its place in British pop

history as a result I think if you ask most people to name a McFly song this is the one they'll probably pull out um and yeah I think it does think it deserves that I think in terms of the sound like I've already mentioned that kind of Buddy Holly-esque like 50s sound but there's some really nice like almost beach boyzy harmonies in there or like if you want to go like osmonds or bass rollers i think yeah they do real they do kind of harken back to that past sound but don't get too bogged down in it it sounds thoroughly like modern day and yeah they do a really good job with it um you can tell i'm struggling a bit and like i say i don't think i'm gonna have as much to say as uh yourself rob or andy but i thought i'd ask the kids of 2005 what they think on the BBC Newsround review.

So they gave this five stars, so screw you, J-Lo. So they describe this as a gentle 60s-style ballad with bit of kick. And it's simply about how when you're in love, you can't stop thinking about the person you fancy. That and dancing on the kitchen tops, which can't be too hygienic it's also the official comic relief single but that doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the song how dare they not mention the comic since when did the cover it's never ever been mentioned in any of the songs it's what that's weird exactly why would they uh but yeah there's some most of the reviews

are positive I just thought I'd outline I'd give a bit of both Joban 13 from Birmingham is a bit less positive they write

I think that the song is rubbish because it is all lovey-dovey they only write ballads if they wrote a couple more songs which are not ballads,

I would be happy. So take that, McFly. Five colours in her hair got to number one, like, last year, mate. Whoever you are. Yeah, come on, Joe Banner, you're keeping up. But on the other hand, we have Lucy, 14, from Cheshire, who

writes, it's amazing. It's nearly my fave song they have done so far and I love it to pieces. And it's dancing on the kitchen tiles, not tops. Yes. Take that, BBC, with your fake news. Nice one, Lucy. Egg on their face there.

Exactly. Yeah, to round up for myself, I like this. It's my favourite McFly song so far, but they do have better to come yeah um i really agree with everything lizzie has said there and i also i'm i have a feeling that the better to come song is one that i agree on as well because cards on the table i adore this i absolutely love this song but i do think possibly the same song we've got to cover in the future lizzie um

i agree might be even better um yeah i absolutely adore that as well um this is i completely completely agree with what you've said there about this being a well i guess what you would call an instant classic that it's kind of one of those songs that once it's out you kind of find it hard to remember a time where this song didn't exist because it's just it's just of one of those songs that once it's out you kind of find it hard to remember a time where this song didn't exist because it's just there in the public consciousness and that's for a very simple reason which is that it's really really bloody good

really really good I think sometimes I know it's about fame and it's about you know with Comic Relief here as well that'll have been driving the singles but I do think there is an argument here that quality wins through sometimes in pop music and i think this is a song that almost everyone can agree on is just really really nicely put together um it's just really really good at straddling that line

between genuine sincere balladry and you know mawishness. It just manages to stay on the right side of it, of being really sincere and sweet without it ever being, like, cheesy and kind of, you know, getting into kind of corny ballad territory. It manages to stay away from that, which is really, really difficult to do. And there's so many

individual elements of this that I love. That orchestra really should drown everything and make it sappy and washed out, but it doesn't. It really does a good job of accompanying the song and lifting it to something bigger. The production in general, I think, is fantastic. I think, you know, with it starting with just a guitar and two voices counterpointing each other, building and building throughout in a kind of still soft instrumentation, but just building to a kind of gentle climax with it.

Absolutely lovely in terms of how it's put together production-wise. And just in terms of how it's written as well, that the way it kind of strikes minor chords in an unexpected place just to give you a little sense of tension, just to give you a little sense of heartache, I think it really comes out so strongly. And I'm very, very happy to say that some of the credit to that, I believe, goes to Stevie Wonder. And this isn't officially acknowledged anywhere, but to me, and to my husband as well, because we both know both these songs very, very well, it's always stood out to me like a sore thumb that the i would answer all your wishes section is almost directly lifted from

lately by stevie wonder the oh yeah yeah i'm a man of many you know hope my reminiscent missus it's very very similar and it's a similar kind of vibe that song as well so that will definitely have been an inspiration um and he is the master of expressing emotion through music you know i could go on about that all day um and the fact that they use that influence here lifts it even further um it's just wonderful it's just wonderful and i love the lyrics as well that i think it's it's just we've had several songs in the past that have shown, you know, obsession with your love interest as being a toxic masculinity trait of, you know, this man is not good for you, you should probably get away from them, really.

Whereas in this song, it's like, no, it's sincere affection. I just think about you all the time because you're just so great. And it doesn't have to be any more kind of deep or have any kind of problematic nature to it than that. It's absolutely beautiful. And I've always loved it. But it's one of those songs that every time I listen to it, I love it even more. And a few years ago, when I was getting married, it was a bit of a plan for me and my old high school band to, as a surprise, get back together and do a few songs on the stage at our wedding to play some of our family's favourite songs,

mine and my husband's favourite songs for them as a kind of thank you for helping with the wedding and stuff like that. Didn't end up happening, unfortunately, because of COVID. We couldn't do it, which was a shame. I know. But for my sister, we were going to do this song because this is one of her favourite songs. She's a huge Busted and McFly fan sister we were going to do this song because this is one of her favorite songs she's a huge busted and mcfly fan and we were going to do this and it really like it just

really sticks in my memory at the time that when we were all learning the song and for several members of the band they had to kind of revisit it they hadn't listened to it in like 10 15 years and all of us were saying god this song is so good so good. Like, I just love the song. It wasn't just me. It was everyone was just saying, wow, it's so fun to play and it's so lovely to sing those harmonies. It's just so, so nice. So nicely put together. It's one of those songs that I think for musicians, it's an absolute pleasure to sit through and a pleasure to play because

there's a lot in it. Surprisingly complex for what it is. And for singers as well, it's lovely to do those harmonies. It's just a gift, just an absolute gift to the world, this song. And it almost seems kind of weird to say it, because this is like a charity single for Comic Relief, and you shouldn't think it should be as good as this. They've just really, really lucked out with this one by having this, raising money for such a good cause

because it's an amazing song. I absolutely adore it. Easily, easily my favourite song of 2005 so far. We'll see if that holds. But to me, this is an absolute classic. Just absolutely adore it. No complaints about it whatsoever. Absolutely wonderful.

Yeah. Aw. Well, I'm just going to consult the All About You slash You've Got a Friend Wikipedia page just to let everyone know that this song was written by Tom Fletcher for his then-girlfriend and now-wife Giovanna Fletcher, who obviously won I'm a Celebrity a couple of years ago, as a gift for Valentine's Day

as a result of him forgetting the actual day. Apparently, he wrote it in, like, 15, 20 minutes. Yeah, but they all say that. for Valentine's Day as a result of him forgetting the actual day. Apparently he wrote it in like 15-20 minutes. Yeah but they all say that. They do. I imagine the early version is very sparse compared to this and probably has fewer harmonies but isn't that nice? My thoughts on You've Got a Friend first, I'll give a little mention to it, just that it's a fairly respectable cover of a classic song, which, I don't know, well done for copying something that already exists, I suppose.

Comic relief. I wrote it off as fine. Do whatever you want with that. It's the B-side, who cares? Yeah. Well, it's a double A-side. Oh, is it? Yeah. Weird.

But thanks to The Simpsons, I'm incapable of hearing it without thinking of Homer and Buzz Aldrin floating in space while the ruffled potato chips and ant colony pieces... Mr Taylor, with the greatest of respect, this is not the time for your own bittersweet brand of folk rock. Yeah, so those are my thoughts on that. But All About You is gorgeous. It is the sound of being swept off your feet,

such a beautifully composed song that really lifts McFly into new territory. Amazing to think that this is their fifth single like they're like barely out of nappies on the pop scene and they'd write in stuff like this you know probably my favorite song of theirs it is so luscious and graceful and heartfelt um like the song that we've got next this is a bit of a throwback to a different era of pop. You know, it has that kind of, like you were saying, Lizzie, that kind of late, mid to late 50s, but also mid to early, early to mid 60s kind of classic pop sound.

I think it's a little too squeaky clean to really, you know, touch that, you know, to really push that button. But the respect, the twist on it that they're putting here is it's modern and respectful. And so I can just sort of sit back and appreciate it and trust it. You know, it's made me realize as well that why are there not more songs these days where basically every word is harmonized like we have you know guy doing the main melody and then there's another guy doing the harmony but they all sing all of the words together um don't know why we don't have more of that these uh these days um you know the two singers working together in tandem throughout you know a kind of Everly Brothers type thing. Exactly.

Why aren't we doing more of that, hey? Exactly. But I love the way that this climbs from something small and little and acoustic to this lovely, warm, giant hug in the final stretches. A really lovely pop song that I'm glad that we've come back to. Because to be honest, one thing I've learned from this Hits21 podcast and doing it is that these days I am way more of a McFly guy than a busted guy these days. Way more.

Yeah, like I say, a bit too squeaky clean for me to put it into the upper, upper echelons of the stuff that we've covered so far. But yeah, just a lovely lovely song just a quick run down as well for the people who were in the music video all the celebrity cameos

that are in the music video and it's not the first time we're going to be doing this this week so we have Fern Cotton, Johnny Vegas Davina McCall, Ben miles lee hurst graham norton derma toleri simon amstel ruby wax as the cleaner that must have been just after she was on celebrity fame academy if i remember rightly yeah kate thornton harry hill and there's a violinist in there called joanna mcqueenie oxerer. And apparently the music video for You've Got a Friend

was shot on location in Uganda, where they spent a week at McFly for comic relief. They play with some children and perform for them and teach them how to sing. So, yeah, lovely boys. And not the last time that we'll be discussing them either. The third and final song up this week is this When the day is dawning On a Texas Sunday morning How I long to be there

With Marie who's waiting for me there Every lonely city Where I hang my hat Ain't as half as pretty As where my baby's at Is this the way to Amarillo? Every night I've been hugging my pillow Dreaming dreams of Amarillo That sweet Marie who waits for me Show me the way to Amarillo I've been weeping like a willow

Crying over Amarillo? by Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay. Released as a standalone single, Is This the Way to Amarillo is Tony Christie's eighth single overall to be released in the UK and Peter Kay's first. It is the first time either of them have ever had a UK number one, but it's not the last time that we'll be discussing Peter K on this podcast. The single is a re-release of the song which originally charted at number 18 in 1971 and was also released to raise money for comic relief. Amarillo went straight in at number one as a brand new entry Knocking McFly off the top spot It stayed at number one For

Seven weeks Across its Seven weeks on top It sold 932,000 copies The highest new entries In each of the seven weeks That were not re-releases by

Elvis Presley were as follows. Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani featuring Eve, Candy Shop by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, It's Like That by Mariah Carey, Why Do You Love Me by Garbage, Somewhere Else by Razorlight, I Like The Way by Body Rockers and Signs by Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Amarillo dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 39 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum, so double platinum in the UK as of 2023. Andy, Amarillo, it's all yours. It's a strange one, this.

I really don't know what angle to come at this from because it's one of those songs a little bit like, I think I said this about Pure and Simple by Hearsay, where this is more of a kind of pop culture moment than it is a song. And it's not quite the same as that, because I will get into that. But yes, I remain a little bit mystified as to how this went so seismic as it did.

And I think it's just a lot of little things. I think Peter Kay was sort of peaking at this time. He'd done that Blackpool show that everybody was quoting from. About 50 different quotes from that were kind of entering pop culture at that time um it was a very funny music video with a lot of um i say big stars a lot of kind of minor stars from both the present and the past and my favorite is jeffrey hayes and bungle from rainbow lovely to see them pop it up um but yeah it's it's just a lot of little things that kind of got this on the scene and got this as yeah kind of the big thing that's happening at the moment in people's households but what's really

interesting i think is that it then managed to sustain itself just as the song where you know it wasn't like people recreating the dance all the time there was a bit of that you know like some of the teachers in my school did the video for charity and stuff like that but it was still on like at school discos and still on a family parties to this day it was on the radio just as the song and I think what happened is that people just learned that they actually really like the song by Tony Christie it's just as simple as that the video and the whole thing around it had made it this big smash hit but then it stayed there because people

had newly discovered this old song that they actually really quite like and it kind of entered the canon of those songs that are played at family parties and at weddings and at whatever you know it's really weird how it got

this kind of second wind and i can't really think of anything else other than maybe running up that hill by kate bush which has had that just total rebirth um you know re-released basically as it was to get um a whole new life and that's a really strange thing, which we can put down to Peter Kay, and we can put down to a bunch of minor celebrities from the 70s through to the noughties, has put Tony Christie right on top of the charts for seven weeks. It is just the weirdest thing that you would get teenagers singing this song.

Like I say, school discos, remember this being in like my year nine school disco where everyone was on the dance floor singing this freaking old tony christie song it's the weirdest thing um as as for like these days looking back on it it's it's very odd to sit and listen to this because it's not something that you would ever really do i think i said that about cha-cha slide that you just you don't sit and listen to this. That's just really weird. But I did have the CD single at the time, so I must have liked it,

or maybe I was just buying into the hype. But listening back to it, it is fun. It is a nice song, but I don't think there's anything particularly special about it. There's a lot of other songs from that era which I think are basically capturing the same thing, and this is just a different version of it

that people perhaps hadn't heard before. It was slightly more obscure than something like Can't Take My Eyes Off You, which it really sounds quite similar to, I think, in terms of that build. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine as a song and I think like I say it kind of took on a life of its own

after a certain point where it stopped being even about the song, about Peter Kay or anything it just became this thing that was happening that everybody was singing Amarillo and it was in everybody's heads all the time so it became self-sustaining and it's a very hard thing to explain to people who aren't old enough to remember it

I think to show them this song and be like oh yeah this isn't, I mean it's a very hard thing to explain to people who aren't old enough to remember it, I think, to show them this song and be like, oh, yeah, this isn't. I mean, it's from the 70s, but this was like one of the biggest hits of the noughties. This was number one for seven weeks in 2005. It's something that you can't possibly explain to anyone else. And so I'm really kind of trying to wrap my head around how to analyze this, because it's like analyzing a whole thing that happened in pop culture. But keeping it to the actual song

yeah it's decent it's a bit cheesy, it's a bit throw away and I would never really choose to sit and listen to it but it's fine and as for everything else that happens around it, it's just a thing that I'm glad happened because it's mental it's one of those lovely stories

much like another song, a novelty song that gets to number one in a couple of weeks' time, which we'll be covering. It's just a fun thing to have happened on the charts. So, yeah, just let it be that. Yeah, this is very much, I think it's three waves cresting at once, this. Yeah. this yeah where you have peter k's rising star after like you say that peter k thing the blackpool show phoenix knights the bolton show max and paddy's only just finished um at this point so you have that to contend with plus you know a little bit of comic relief thrown in there

you also have a long building wave i think over the last sort of 25 years maybe even 30 years by this point where amarillo is a relatively minor hit in the early 70s you know it gets to number 18 doesn't do great numbers tony christie isn't that much of a chart mainstay he's been singing for 40 years by this point and he's had eight hits on the chart, and I think there's only two or three of them that even got into the top 40. So, but I think what happened with Amarillo was that it was likely, and this is probably where Peter Kay picked it up, which is that it was a mainstay of set lists in labour clubs and the like up and down the country for 20 years and it's slowly

been gathering pace as this nostalgic you know this thing that people are affectionate for and so it now reaches this crest of a wave where it's like it's on national tv being performed by a guy who's just done you know a, a whole TV show, a very popular TV show about, you know, working men's clubs and labor clubs and stuff like that. I also think as well, this was probably a big karaoke thing in the eighties and nineties. Um, it probably gathered speed that way. And the third thing, which is that after three weeks of this being number one, which is that after three weeks of this being number one, it's at that point where downloads are officially counted towards an official sale.

You know, a download is officially a single sale. And I think it gives it another push because it's right in the middle of this comic relief thing where everybody wants to watch the video again and everybody wants to, you know, see the funny man do the funny miming again with all the various figures like you know uh ken and deirdre and all that you know ken and deirdre have just got married on corey as well so they're in the video there's you know there's lots

of things going on at once and i think that this is why we get seven weeks of this thing um being asked how i feel about amarillo is kind of like being asked about how i feel about like deck chairs well like and this works i was trying to think of something and it works so bear with me um because they've always been there and i can't really imagine my life without them existing i sort of have happy memories associated with them from some point in my past and i can definitely see why they're so popular but at the same time they're not really for me and if they vanished off the face of the earth tomorrow as if they'd never existed

i don't feel like i would have lost anything not not really keen on deck chairs and hammocks and stuff just not me i'll use the, I'll just steal a quote from the thick of it for this, a similar analogy which is, what do I think about it? Well it's like asking what do I think about skirting boards? I assume we need them but not really sure what for. Yeah, pretty much.

It's just a nice little easy listening song with some you know, nice little instrumental touches here and there and admittedly it has a great post-chorus the shallalala that is just that seals itself for like football stadiums pubs labor clubs family parties discos it just seals it forever you know it it feels but i think the big appeal to the majority of people who bought this who um we'll get into this in a little bit um i imagine the majority of the people that bought this were between sort of 30 and 60 white english folks who were probably

behind most of this. And because I feel like it's hearkening back to an era that was already long, long gone by the time even the original was recorded, you know, because it's looking back to images of the old West and Amarillo and Texas and all of this, you know, traveling through the wilderness of the American South, et cetera, et cetera. But it feels like it has little pieces of big band in there as well, like war era, big band, and a little bit of Motown soul as well. But there's also this family-friendly novelty to it, which makes it perfect for family parties,

but also for bingo halls as well. I feel like it pitches itself in this context, in 2005 I'm talking, it pitches itself alongside acts like Daniel O'Donnell and Cliff Richard and Val Dunican and Barry Manilow, where it feels simultaneously at home in football stadiums, but also in my life, i knew this song before it was released because my family we we used to go around to my my grandma's every saturday and my little cousin who was like three or four years old and we were teaching him various easy listening and

you know songs stuff like yellow submarine and things like things by the bay city rollers and other things like that but one of the ones that was really good to do was this one because it was an excuse for my little cousin who was like four years old to bang on the table at the moment and we'd all do it together and then by the time it was on Comic Relief, I already kind of knew the song. But I think more than anything, the video and the song together, it evokes this foggy idea of tradition. It's an era that I have no memory of or affection for,

but was very clearly keenly felt by the people who bought this and were affectionate for it. Because it just, Peter Kay, the guy, when it comes to pop music, that guy is a connoisseur. That guy knows pop music in a way that I find to be just unbelievable. To be just unbelievable. His recollection and affection for pop. Is unlike anybody else in the mainstream. To the extent that he is. I think his depth of appreciation.

And his depth of knowledge. If he was going to go on Popmaster. He'd get 39. I reckon Peter Kay. He'd know everything. He'd know every position it got to. I reckon he'd know how many singles a certain ice had all sorts of stuff like this if you think about how much mute pop music plays a role in everything that he does literally everything like his disco routine at the balton

albert halls and how songs remind him of places and people and the way that he builds characters around songs and the way that pop music plays a role in Phoenix Nights and Carshare and all of this and Peter Kay is such even at this point Peter Kay is 31, 32 I think by the time Amarillo is out he is such an old soul Peter Kay he is such an old soul and I think, by the time Amarillo is out. He is such an old soul, Peter Kay. He is such an old soul, and I think that the success of something like Amarillo sort of proves that, where all of his cultural references are from 10 years before. They should be from someone who's like 10 years older than he is, I think. He remembers the 70s and the 80s in a way that is so crystal clear that it makes him seem like he's permanently been 40 his whole life and he remembers pop music in a similar way too

and i feel like he that's why he connects with people who are much older than him his comedy is for people who are 20 years his senior i think they're the people who seem to find him funniest and the amarillo just feels like another peter k sketch another fond look at the past at something that the way that the world used to be um which kind of brings me on to my final point which is that yes the song got to number one but it's the video that got to number one for seven weeks you know that you know that there's this saying isn't the um i had to look this up where it's from it's from a book by lp hartley uh the go-between uh is the book um where the line is the past is a foreign country and i feel that no more keenly than on the other

side of something like this this adds more weight to my theory again that the mid the early and really mid you know dead mid 2000s the first half of the 2000s have more in common with the 80s than they do even like three years from now i think like 2008 2009 um because this feels like a line in the sand you know you have downloads being accepted as legal tender in the charts and you have this music video that is full of people from the 80s and 90s tv um but at the same time i kind of look back and wonder why we found it so funny and why because like you andy i also have this similar kind of fascination where it was like what's the big deal like i understand it getting to number one for a couple of weeks as like a passing thing but this is nearly a whole season that goes by while the song is number one it's nearly two months the whole public just like enraptured by this thing and it

happens again in 2007 like because you know bits of it in this are pretty funny like ronnie corbett falling over and mr blobby falling over but also like something kind of struck me during the video as well and this is where i think that even if they were to do this again in like 2012 um the demographic of the people in the video would be uh slightly different because in 20 as of 2023 uh the version of this video there are more um sex offenders than black people in this video uh yeah there's more fictional puppets than there are brown or black faces and the only non-white person that we see is a gandhi look-alike and this isn't to cast judgment necessarily on peter k or anyone involved with the video's production really because i think that a lot of peter k's comedy naturally comes from his upbringing and this 70s 80s nostalgia at which time you know

the makeup of british and you know the makeup of british tv is very different in that era but i think that this makes me realize just how far along ago how how far away 2005 actually still is you know like uh because we lived through it it doesn't feel like that long ago but 18 years is a really long time especially with the way that the world is now because this feels like it has more in common with 1987 than it does with like 2010 i feel like the world undergoes a change thanks to you know people pointing these sorts of things out on social media because i feel like if this if this video and song were released in the age of social media it would be like well well this isn't a very accurate representation of how the uk actually is

which is because it's not it's a it's more of an accurate representation of how the uk was and the the uk that is about to no longer be at least in terms of how it's represented in the media and i do think this is like the last gasp of a particular generation kind of having their moment as technology ushers the new generation through if you like the ideas of a new generation through where like you don't even have to pick a thing up and exchange money to get a single in the charts you just press a button and yeah this feels like the last of a particular era i think this is maybe the dividing line there's one more maybe a little epilogue which also involves peter k in the future um which is less funny yeah you've you've i mean you both kind both nailed a lot of thoughts I had,

but also, Andy, there's one specific thing you said, is that you don't really know which angle to come at, because, yeah, like you said, Rob, there's kind of three ways that you can come at this. I think in terms of if I'm just talking about the song, I think it's fine. But even in 1971, this seemed like an anachronism. This seemed like the past.

It seems like kind of old news. I managed to dig up a performance of this on Top of the Pops in December 1971, where I will say about Tony Christie, to his credit, he has aged very well but I think that's more because he looks weird as a young man

he looked like an old young face yeah he really did he had like sort of coke bottle glasses and that kind of comb over Beatles hair that doesn't look good at all but yeah he's a bit of a silver fox these days and in this video as well

but going back to the episode like he's a bit of a silver fox these days and in this video as well but but going back to the episode like he's on he's on this with like cause i love you by slade number one this seems like old news just as like glam is really kicking in but it's also on the same episode as ernie the Fastest Milkman in the West by Benny Hill. Like, this shit is already being parodied. It is a joke. It's done. You are fucking finished. This may as well be from 1951 to 1971. And, like, the fact that it's been kind of dug up by Peter Kay,

there's always a part of me that's wondered, does Peter Kay actually like this song? Or is he just taking the piss? Yeah. Exactly. it's been kind of dug up by peter k there's always a part of me that's wondered does peter k actually like this song or is he just taking the piss yeah i've had this thought of is he mocking tony christie here or not because i get that vibe sometimes that he's taking the piss out of this yeah yeah yeah like in in the context of phoenix nights there's a scene where Max and Paddy are driving like a senior's bus and they're like shouting along to this song. But they also sing along to I Could Be So Good For You by Dennis Waterman. There's an alternate universe where that was the comic relief single. Yes.

yeah but i think like you said rob it's that um peter k does have quite a clear recollection of the past which i i'm really jealous of as someone who also has a fascination with the recent past let's say and also yeah the death of kind of light entertainment which happens around this time due to a mix of technology and the people who kind of were in that universe like moving on or passing away and such and such it's just it's the way things go like that sort of thing does come and go and that sort of thing does come and go and the early 2000s feels like the real tail end of it like what happens with barrymore for example yeah and and even phoenix knights itself which kind of lampoons that that kind of world like the working men's clubs the wheel tappers and shunters that bernard manning kind of world yeah and yeah And yeah, it's just done. So I think, like you said, Rob,

I agree that the video sort of, it is like a last goodbye for those sorts of faces. Yeah. Even though a lot of them, like Mr. Blobby has kind of made a weird comeback as like a cultural icon for some reason. Like Sally Lindsay's still about sutty and sweet i think still have a show but other than that like yeah sean rider bears still about but they're kind

of they're i don't want to say novelty figures but they're they know their place in history and yeah that's what they are most known for. And yeah, I'm obviously not going to mention the big elephant in the room because I feel like someone else could possibly do that more tactfully. I don't think that's necessarily Kay's fault. No, no. The inclusion, it is a bit of a stain on the video, definitely. Yeah, they have removed him from the official version now the old version that did exist uh that's still on youtube but the version of it that exists now

is is re-edited so that it's just sally lindsey and peter k um they've slowed it down and they've taken out any any mention of that man so probably for the best yes but yeah um in terms of the song um again just like i said i think it's it's fine but it's just even looking at it in the context of both its own time and this time like 30 years on it just seems like it's from another world entirely so it's like the past echoing back to the past something kind of hauntological about it i also didn't know about that about like it being a fixture in like working men's clubs i figured it was more of like you know am radio yeah the there is a synergy going on though isn't there there? Where like a lot of people are very, very, very collectively aware of something because if it reached my mum's mum's little tape player in her dining room before this,

I think it's quietly, you know, seeped into households throughout the UK. In terms of, because I don't really have much else to add, but I did have a fun idea just now, because Rob, you mentioned that a lot of these stars in the video are from about, they would have peaked about 20 years before this video. Roughly, yeah. So, if Amarillo, the video, was to be made today, in 2023, who do you think would appear in it? I also

wondered this. Like, you've got to have Dick and Dom, obviously. Tracy Beaker, maybe? Oh, that's a good one. Tracy Beaker. Because this is the thing. This is kind of the point that I'm making, which is that 2003, the cultural figures of 2003

are not the cultural figures of 2023. In a way that i don't even think that we would look at them and then go oh do you remember them like you'd be like wait who's that again oh yeah of course and whereas like scott lee yeah whereas like in you know 2005 you're looking back at 1985 it seemed i mean i remember my you know my family just sort of going like oh yes of course oh yeah and like you know nine the distance between 2005 and the present day is like eons compared to the distance between 85 and 2005 in terms of how fast technology and culture seemed to have shifted in that time

and i i had real trouble thinking about who would be in this because i i even got like a little spreadsheet together where it was like who would be corrie the current soap equivalent of ken and deirdre gail platt yeah is phil mitch in EastEnders? I don't know but like my finger is not on the pulse of these things really anymore because I think it's harder to have your finger on the pulse I do think that this isn't a criticism at all

but I think it's just the way that it's shifted but like in 2005 broadly people watch the same 5 TV channels and listen to the same three or four radio stations broadly still whereas in 2010 with the advent of things like um you know like most homes in the uk having freeview and sky yeah and then suddenly the splintering starts to hit and then netflix and then social media and then once that happens and the algorithm

pushes people in their own directions and it's suddenly the synergy between print media radio and tv it just it's broken um because i was actually looking at this they actually did um a different version of this for the big night in which was the um and it was just basically it was just like paramedics and bus drivers marching in the street superimposed over images of peter k from the original video well poor peter k who was clearly recovering from some kind of health issue in that video was made to kind of sit in his back garden and eat a solero while um you know asking people to donate weird time that was yes a very a very odd uh little moment but yeah it's i i find this i've found this thing increasingly fascinating as the week has gone on because the full list of people

in this video is just like you've got b Brian May and Roger Taylor, Shaking Stevens, Sean Ryder, Bez, Paddy McGinnis, Michael Parkinson, Heather Mills, Danny Baker, Ronnie Corbett, Mr. Blobby, Jim Bowen, Mr. James Saville. And then you have lookalikes of Mahatma Gandhi and Cliff Richard. Bill Roach, Anne Kirkbride, Sally Lindsay, Bernie Clifton, Keith Harris, and Orville the Duck, Sutty and Sweep,

Jeffrey Hayes, and Bungle, as well as Tony Christie himself. And it's just like an assortment of people that they could get hold of. And yet, none of those are random names. Bear in mind that even someone like Shakin' Stevens, he's the biggest

selling artist in the uk in the 1980s you've got people like ronnie corbett who've been on tv for 20 30 years by that point like even rainbow was on for like 20 years it only ended in 1992 yeah so i think he's sort of cherry-picked specifically, like, nostalgic names, but people that the average person would... Well, most people would know in Britain. You know, you were just thinking there about who would be in a 2023 version of this. One person I can definitely say would definitely be in it

would absolutely... Ed Sheeran would do something like this now. I think Ed Sheeran would definitely get involved with would absolutely ed sheeran would do something like this now i think ed sheeran would definitely get involved with this of course he would um and maybe like lad baby would be in it or something like that but the list isn't very long of people that like oh yes everybody would know who these people are in in that sort of way where like it would be number one for seven weeks and go double platinum if you know what i mean yeah nowadays the strictly lineup is probably the best comparison you would get but the strictly lineup is made up of like half of them sort of being like who's that and then like because you know i'm more familiar with names like angela rippon and les dennis this year yeah but zara mcdermott is completely new territory for me i've never

watched love island no me neither and i feel like that's i feel like that's the dividing point that doesn't exist in the early 2000s where like there is no popular dating show on itv2 that only a very select group of people watch but it just it feels like you know the equivalent of in those days is like blind date with cilla black another figure from the 60s who is still very popular on television because just things have not moved we have not moved on from the past at this point okay so we have not moved on from the past at this point okay so andy out of dakota all about you and amarillo are any of them going in the pie hall or the vault for you this is a new way of doing it rob you've sprung this on me yeah yeah all about you is vault vault vault vault vault straight in the vault everything else excellent nothing for anything else else Lizzie what about you

it's a triple no for me this week I'm afraid it's all about you is close but just not quite for me cool I like Andy I'm going to put all about you in the vault it's lovely I think it's great

Dakota and Amarillo are kind of hanging in between they're going nowhere that is it for this week's episode thank you very much for listening when we come back

we will be continuing our journey through 2005 and I think next week is a very special week for me personally and I'll reveal why once we get there

so we'll see you next time bye bye see ya