Hits 21 - 2005 (7): Oasis, Gorillaz, Pussycat Dolls

Episode Date: October 22, 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] Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

Hey there everyone, welcome back to Hits21 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 can find us on Twitter

we are at Hits21UK that is at Hits21UK and you can email us too just send it on over to hits 21 podcast at gmail.com thank you ever so much for joining us again we are currently you find us looking back at the year 2005 and this week we are going to be covering the period between the 28th of august and the 1st of October. So after a couple of longer stretches in our previous couple of episodes, we're sort of back down to a month again, almost.

But still, lots of fun content to come. Just looking back at last week, the poll winner, I thought it would be a bit closer, but there was a bit of a runaway winner. It was McFly with I'll Be Okay. Well with i'll be okay well done to the boys there um all right then on to this week's episode and as always we are going to give you some news headlines from around the time that these songs were discussing in this episode were at number one in the uk in america almost 2 000 people are killed during Hurricane Katrina. The $125 million worth of damage caused by the hurricane made it the costliest in history. Cities in Louisiana and Mississippi were the worst affected with, as I'm sure most of you will remember,

80% of New Orleans was flooded for weeks afterwards. During a benefit concert shortly afterwards to raise money for the survivors, Kanye West utters the infamous phrase, George Bush doesn't care about black people. Meanwhile, further protests mount against the Iraq war after it is revealed that over 30,000 civilian deaths had occurred between 2003 and the summer of 2005. Demonstrations took place worldwide with over 150,000 people marching through Washington DC to demand that the United States government pull out of the region. And in sports, the England men's cricket team beat Australia over five tests to regain the Ashes. The famous series, which featured players such as Andrew, Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Peterson and

Steve Harmison, marked the first time England had won the Ashes since 1987. The matches, which were broadcast on Channel 4, reached a peak TV audience of 8.4 million people. peak TV audience of 8.4 million people. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. The Dukes of Hazzard for one week, The 40-Year-Old Virgin for

one week, The Longest Yard for one week, and then Pride and Prejudice for three weeks. That wasn't a vintage period of the box office, was it? Wow. That is a Poundland DVD bin special. Yeah, not good. Do you know, Lizzie, when I was typing those out at the box office, was it? That is a Poundland DVD bin special. Yeah, not good. Do you know, Lizzie, when I was typing those out,

I was like, Jesus, this is charity shop bin, isn't it? It is. Jesus. It is. Yeah. In the US, How I Met Your Mother, The Tyra Banks Show, My Name Is Earl, Criminal Minds, and Everybody Hates Chris all air their first episodes.

Blimey. And meanwhile, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia also airs its first season. Oh, wow. And finally this week, Rachel Stevens storms off an episode of Dick and Dom in the Bungalow after refusing to be covered in gunge. In response, the two hosts put a wig on a member of the show's staff and accused Stevens of wimping out. That's how you've seen this.

Yes, yes, yeah, I have. She just kind of slinks off. Yeah, it's so strange how it happens. Like, there's no grand exit. She just kind of quietly disappears in between ad breaks or like in between TV shows and then she just doesn't come back out. So they stick a wig on this guy

who then pretends that he's Rachel Stevens for the next round of this game that they're playing If you're going on Dick and Dom in the bungalow like you've got to be game for a laugh haven't you? Like I kind of feel like they did the right thing there by taking the piss a bit because come on Rachel, have a laugh

it's only gunge I think her excuse was that she'd just had her hair done and she was like, I don't want to get gacked by these two. If you're going on Dick and Dom, maybe don't get your hair done beforehand. Yeah, wait until afterwards. If you're going on that show, you should expect the creamy muck muck. Andy, the UK album charts, how are they faring?

Yeah, only a few to talk to you about this week. So last week, as you'll remember, we had one of the biggest hits of the decade coming to the top of the chart for the first time. That was Back to Bedlam by James Blunt. So in the wake of that, we do have a few more over this period. After that long eight-week run at the top by James Blunt, it's finally interrupted by Wonderland by McFly, which contains All About You, I'll Be OK, a couple of others.

That went to number one for one week and went single platinum. But I did say that it only interrupted Back to Bedlam because that then returned to number one for another week. And thankfully, that is all we're going to be hearing about it now that's its final week at number one in mid-september finished its run with 11 times platinum as of 2023 so two more to talk to you about over this period um after james blunt was done we had two weeks at the top from david gray with life in slow Slow Motion. What a boring album title that is. Probably just because I'm comparing it

to Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika, which is like one of the most fun albums ever. Yeah, that went double platinum for some reason. And then that was toppled by an even more exciting artist, Katie Melua with Piece by Piece, who went to number one for one week for some reason and went quadruple platinum for some reason. And just like last time with Katie Melua,

if you've got nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. And that's the end of the albums for this week. In America, Lizzie, how are things? Well, in England, well, in England, I say the UK, it's like peak coffee pop. I didn't realise it was all going on around this time. We had Bad Day around this time as well, didn't we? Yes. Yeah, last week's episode, yeah.

Yeah. Well, in America, on the singles charts, Mariah Carey's Reign of Terror finally came to an end in mid-September when Kanye West took the number one spot with Gold Digger featuring Jamie Foxx. It was his second number one overall after he featured on Slow Gems in 2003 and his first number one as the lead artist. In the US, it stayed at number one for 10 consecutive weeks and was eventually certified eight times platinum.

Back in the UK, it narrowly missed out on the top spot held at number two by a song we'll be discussing on this episode. As usual the album's chart is much more active around this time. First up this week is Most Wanted by Hilary Duff which got to number one for two weeks in early September but only managed to get as high as number 31 in the UK albums chart. Next up is a big one, Late Registration by Kanye West. It sold 860,000 copies in its first week in the US where it stayed at number one for just two weeks. It was eventually certified five times platinum over there

but again, narrowly missed out on the top spot in the UK, held at number two by Wonderland by McFly. And finally this week, there was one week at number one for rapper Paul Wall and his album The People's Champ. Despite being certified platinum in the US, it failed to chart in the UK and there's no UK chart data for Paul Wall as a solo artist whatsoever with his only UK chart appearance

being on a Nelly track from 2006 which got to number 24 sorry Paul well thank you both very much we're going to come back over this side of the Atlantic now and look at the songs we've got coming ahead this week and the first of those

is this. I stole my soul for the second time Cause the man that don't pay me I begged my landlord for some more time He said, son, the bill's waiting My best friend called me the other night He said, man are you crazy My girlfriend

told me to get a lie She said, boy you're lazy But I don't mind As long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine I'll be fine If you give me a minute Our land's got a limit

I can't get a life if my heart's not in it Okay, this is The Importance of Being Idle by Oasis. Released as the second single from the band's sixth studio album, titled Don't Believe the Truth, The Importance of Being Idle is Oasis' 21st single overall to be released in the UK, and their eighth and final single to reach number 1. So this is the last time that we'll be discussing Oasis on this podcast. The importance of being idle went straight in at number 1

as a brand new entry knocking McFly off the top of the charts. It stayed at number 1 for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 47,000 copies, beating competition from Ponder Replay by Rihanna, which got to number 2. Lay Your Hands by Simon Webb, which got to number 4. Don't Lie by Black Eyed Peas, which got to number 6. Long Hot Summer by Girls Aloud, which got to number 7. And My Doorbell by The White Stripes, which got to number six. Long Hot Summer by Girls Aloud, which got to number seven. And My Doorbell by The White Stripes,

which got to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, the importance of being idle fell four places to number five. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 22 weeks. The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2023. So Lizzy, feel free to open the show with this one. Yeah, well, I would maybe like this more if it wasn't a complete rip off of Dead End Street by the Kinks right down to the music video. Yeah. That will form, I think, the basis for a lot of my arguments on this,

in that I think it's an OK enough song, but it's unoriginal at best and kind of half-baked in some places. Like, I think, to get the good stuff out of the way, I think Noel's vocal on this isn't bad at all. And the production on this is probably my favourite of any Oasis song that we've covered. Like I really like the kind of striptease rhythm of the back beat which gives it a bit of a drunken sleazy vibe as well as the reverb heavy, I think it's an organ sound that comes in like during the chorus and in the guitar solo as well.

And also that descending guitar lick at the end of the chorus, the do, do, do, do, do. Again, I think that's all good stuff. And I don't think it's been a secret for any of us that Oasis are really good at crafting a sound. But again, it's a shame about the lyrics like going back to that kinks track for a second it paints a vivid and compelling picture of what the 60s were really like for most working class people in the uk like what are we living for two roomed apartment on the second floor no chance to emigrate i'm deep in debt and now it's much too late.

We both want to work so hard, we can't get the chance. The key there being that they want to work but can't due to the lack of suitable work and the chance to move to Australia for work has fallen through, meaning the cycle of poverty just continues endlessly until some small miracle can break it and even then there's every chance of falling back into it. Sometimes all it takes is one missed paycheck and like in this song Noel tries to convey a similar thing where the subject of the song is trapped in a similar cycle but the Gallagher's approach to work has always been a bit more nihilistic maybe like to give you an example from their

sort of period of dominance is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for it's a crazy situation but all I need are cigarettes and alcohol. And this one's no different since the final line of the final verse has Noel more or less admitting defeat to laziness. It could be worse I suppose but it's much harder to identify and sympathise with this character that Noel has created compared to the one in Dead End Street who laments their situation but who is actively trying to change it for the better I feel like with this even a small rewrite could have made this song one of their best but yet again with Oasis I'm left with the sense that their heart wasn't really in it.

Like I just said, crafting a sound has always been their strength, and this is no exception, but it's much harder to ignore the shortcoming of the lyrics in a song like this, where they are the centrepiece, as opposed to something like Lila, which is driven by that, like, pounding glam stomp, and you don't notice the lyrics as much, because it is just this monolith of rock. I think this is more straightforward. It's supposed to be a song full of pathos and feeling,

and I just don't get it from this at all. Like going back to Dead End Street one last time before I move on, Dave Davis said that the song was the epitome of what the Kinks were all about, describing it as, quote, reflecting a fondness for the past but at the same time expressing a determination and yearning for change to me oasis have always been too much about the former and not enough about the latter and i think this song proves it more than a lot of others i think that's very very like really really well put and actually you've sort of made me think there that like by the time oasis come round i think this is something we've discussed a little bit but i think that rock by the time oasis come round i think this is something we've discussed a little bit that i think that rock by the time oasis comes around rock is a very conservative genre that likes to it's very self-referential and it has its own canon and the canon must not be

disturbed that i think is set after the kinks time if you know what i mean i feel like the rock canon is set in the sort of like in the 70s and i do feel like because oasis come into rock when it has gone through several changes and now is only really about oh this is good because it reminds me of this of course uh andy how about you yeah this is an interesting one for me this um because I've kind of got a couple of different things to think about. I mean, I definitely, when I saw this on the list, was like, oh, yeah, the importance of being idle, because, you know, I think the trajectory that Oasis is number one has been on since we started,

it's been pretty gradual but steady curve upwards. We've gone from absolute creative bankruptcy in going it out through the hindu times which was yeah well just that noise describes it really and then um lilo was actually pretty decent and now we've got important to be an idol which i've always been pretty fond of so i was like oh yeah definitely wave this one through i like this um but i've kind of been reconsidering that for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I quite naively didn't know

about this Kinks connection until Lizzie told me about it. And that really has changed everything, to be honest, because it's basically, it's borderline a cover, really. Like, it's pretty much just a knockoff of that song and that video.

So that really has, you know, put a different lens on my view of the song um and also i was very very struck by what you said there lizzie about the lyrics and how it just doesn't really have the punch that it should do um so i'm feeling more critical about this than i did but there is a lot of good about this I think from a creative standpoint although it's very very heavily inspired by the Kings, I do think from a creative standpoint this is the most juice we've got

out of them from any of the number ones in this decade and it's quite a good note for them to go out on in terms of the charts you know they've been on a steady incline in terms of creativity since they bottomed out with Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. Don't get me wrong, they never, ever come anywhere close

to the first two albums in terms of innovation or creativity, but this is better. I agree with what you said about how that bass line and how some of the instrumentation and some of what they're doing in terms of structure of the song is much, much more interesting than what we've been used to in recent years from

Oasis. And at the time I really did like this, but it's always sort of felt like a last hurrah that this is sort of, they're going out on a relatively high note. And even at the time I felt that way, because they did have another album after this and I went to see them on that last tour and we didn't even at the time I felt that way because they did have another album after this and I went to see them on that last tour

and we didn't know at the time but we kind of did know really, it was no surprise at all that they broke up because although this is definitely a last burst of energy from them it's sort of like a last gasp rather than any

kind of revival. You know, they've picked a good song to be inspired by here. They've come up with quite a nice idea in terms of how they're going to present it as this sort of old fashioned, almost honky tonk kind of sound. You know, it's a good idea and it's a nice point to leave them on. And this was, you know, this got a lot of radio airplay at the time. I think this was of the number ones we've had by them, I'd say this is the only one that I remember really kind of penetrating the radio and penetrating public consciousness and sort of making it onto

people's iPods and stuff like that. This is the only one I remember really breaking through from them, from the noughties, to be honest. And I think that's a nice thing, for them to go out on a much, much better song than previously. And did it not have that context? If it didn't have that, if it didn't, you know, basically knock off another song,

then I would be far, far kinder about it because this is enjoyable. I would actually choose to listen to this, but I can't really deny that it's basically just cripping off another idea. But it's something, it's not nothing and previously Oasis have given us nothing so yeah, this is decent this is decent, I like this, wouldn't go any further than that, it's a solid

thumbs in the middle from me on this one yeah I'm actually kind of relieved that this is their last number one, not just because it's Oasis but because their next single is Let There Be Love and that's the worst kind of O that this is their last number one not just because it's oasis but because their next single is let there be love and that's the worst kind of oasis to me where it's like let's do imagine again like no let's not do imagine again please lizzy you know it's funny i also quite like noel's vocals on this um but the more i've listened to this and lila obviously

in the past like couple of weeks the more i'm listened to this and lila obviously in the past like couple of weeks the more i'm starting to think that like liam should have done the vocals on this and noel should have done the vocals on lila because i feel like the kind of slacker ruffian character that's being played on uh the importance of being idle is more suited to liam's vocal style and noel's more melodic singing is better attuned to like the arena-sized pot rock of um lila um and also like reese ifant in the video has basically the same style as of hair oh yeah as liam at this time um it feels a little strange i think that this is the last time we'll be discussing oasis on here because we've you know that I think they were on our first episode weren't they with Go Let It Out at least in one of our first episodes um but I think

they go out with something fairly decent here you know I remember in 2005 uh my mum saying that she heard a song on the radio that sounded like a really good Oasis impression and it just turned out to be this um which I think starts to get to my issues with it actually which is that I appreciate Oasis trying to do something a little different to their usual style you know but I'm not entirely convinced by how much conviction has gone into this like you Lizzie I struggle to find the emotion underneath it um like you've pointed out, Lizzie, this is just Dead End Street, but with a few bits and pieces twizzled around and, you know, like how a PR statement

would say something like, given that Oasis twist or whatever. And then going back to my mum's comment is that it sounds like someone doing a good impression of Oasis who themselves are doing a half-decent rendition of a kink song, and it feels like you have to peel back several layers to get to the

heart of this I was also distracted by how much this reminded me of another Kinks track obviously Sunny Afternoon and weirdly down and out from the Bugsy Malone soundtrack the bit towards the end with the criminals

where they're all bagging the um gruel bowls on the table um i i do think though that oasis is like slightly plodding slightly baggy kitchen sink approach to the instrument instrumentation here it definitely suits them and that's a little strange because around this time obviously oasis would also be doing things like let there be love which is also a little more you know not what you'd necessarily expect from oasis it felt like a bit of a return to something like stop crying your heart out um yeah yeah and whereas this they kind of go a different way out their comfort zone and i think it's okay um i also think

it contributes a little bit to the story you know this lethargic lazy man who can't be asked to get out of bed holds nothing but apathy for everything outside of his window um i also think as well that around this time there was a re-release of a music video there was a re-release of a song of theirs called the master plan which is obviously on that much famed b-sides album which the music video there was a re-release of a song of theirs called the master plan which is obviously on that much-famed b-sides album which the music video was really heavily inspired by all the lowry paintings of industrial landscapes and this seems to fit within that mold too you know it's all very cobbled streets and condensation on single glazed windows you know um it's just i think it's a shame that the imagery is just a bit stronger than the material.

I think the ideas are, you know, the initial ideas are quite strong here, but the eventual execution is kind of so-so. Yeah, it's a decent way for them to go out, but I'm not really going to miss them either. I feel like pop is just it's entering a bit of a an exciting period and oasis just they kind of have a part in it because you know shock of the lightning was good um and pretty successful and um dig out your soul

was obviously like a big deal as well so it's not like they they're not part of the furniture going forward but there were just new names coming through now like we've mentioned rihanna you know kanye west is on his second album and selling loads of copies over in the states and it just feels like the landscape's changing a little bit and oasis a part of the old and we need to move forward into the new so around this time that important to be an idol is number one it's pretty much 10 years exactly since the battle of brit pop and it's interesting that this oasis song could quite easily fit on any of their 90s albums whereas damon albarn from blur who's coming up next is doing something completely different to what blur would have been doing back in the day, I think.

And both at the top of the charts still. Isn't that nice? Yeah. You know, Lizzie, you are going to love my notes in a second. Am I? Good. Because the second song up this week is this. It's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up It's there It's there

You've got to press it on you You just think that's what you do Wait, wait, hold it down there Jump in the moment, move it Jump back and forth. I feel like you and I are so good now. Never did know I'm, never did know I'm. It's Dare Okay, it's Dare by Gorillaz and Shawn Ryder

Released as the second single from the group's second studio album Titled Demon Days Dare is Gorillaz' seventh single overall to be released in the UK And their first and last single to reach number one Demon Days, Dare is Gorillaz' seventh single overall to be released in the UK and their first and last single to reach number one, so this is the last time and the first time that we'll be discussing Gorillaz on this podcast. Dare went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Oasis 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 27,000 copies, beating competition from These Boots Are Made For Walking by Jessica Simpson, which got to number four, The One I Love by David Gray, which got to number eight,

and Jackie Body by Le Rhythm Digital, which got to number ten. When it was knocked off the top of the charts dare dropped one place to number two by the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 38 weeks the song is currently officially certified platinum in the uk as of 2023 so andy uh it's dare go ahead yeah i've um i've got some analysis to make about this song that I think is really kind of deep

and I've really put a lot of thought into it and that's that this song is just really good. That's it, that's my comment. No, not really. But I mean, it's kind of hard for me to articulate it any more than that because there's just so much going on in this song. There's so, so much going on. And I think, you know, what I would say straight off the bat

is that it's a production masterpiece. It really is. That all these constituent elements should not work at all. This funky little sawtooth synth that they're using, which is really, really catchy, along with this kind of quite invasive drum sound combined with Damon Albarn combined with Sean Ryder mispronouncing the title of the song this should not work at all but it all just comes together to make something that understandably

is completely unique that's kind of impenetrable really in terms of figuring out what this is but is just so so infectious and lovely to listen to and um that's what i would say is that there's really nothing else like this from this era it's like if you look at the list of songs not just that number one that we've covered but just look at the landscape in general it really stands out like a sore thumb the only other stuff you could possibly compare it to really is other things by Gorillaz. This is a real creative peak for Gorillaz and Damon Albarn specifically. You know this is Feel Good Inc and Dirty Harry both off Demon Days as well. What an album that is. Just really really interesting music that's been put out there and every time I've listened to this recently I've noticed something different about it that you

know it has more of a sense of rhythm to it than I realized it has more of a kind of rise and fall in terms of how it takes you through the song than I realized and that Shawn Ryder actually contributes far more to it than I remembered and yes he's like basically out of tune most of the time, and it's kind of odd that he's on here at all, but it's an idea that's so weird that it just about works. Yeah, I just really, really, really like this. I think it's not exactly perfect. I think it slightly runs out of road towards the end.

It could probably do with one or two less repeats of the chorus, but it's a minor point. I really would have absolutely no problem listening to this day after day. It's just a gorgeously put together song. It's amazing that this was released in 2005 and still sounds like it would be really fresh and new today. Yeah, kind of knocked my socks off. Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, Andy, we've got some very similar notes on this. I also said that Sean Ryder stands out like a sore thumb. It's kind of like if Mark East Smith turned up on a Human League song or John Cooper Clarke turns up on, I don't know, Duran Duran.

It shouldn't work, but it does. I'll try my best to keep this brief because I feel like if listeners turn the volume up loud enough, they'll be able to hear Rob vibrating in anticipation to talk about this one. But yeah, really like this. Like a lot of Gorillaz songs from around this time, it's infectious and hypnotic.

It kind of takes a pop sound and leaves it down a murky path full of outside influences that contort and mutate it and it spits it out the other side like frankenstein's monster both human and inhuman at the same time and yeah going back to Sean Ryder like that detached Mancunian bellowing should not work in this context but it's part of what makes that so engaging like Noodle and Sean Ryder make for quite a good like yin and yang pairing like the angel and the devil on the shoulder especially towards the end where Ryder is more prominent in the chorus and he's basically yelling at you like, hold it down there. I mean, I'm hoping Rob might be able to illuminate us a bit more about the meaning of the song in the context of Demon Days,

because as much as I've heard the album album it's not one I'm massively familiar with I think on its own I would say it's possibly a song about being able to live in the moment without thinking about the worst possible outcome every time like the way social anxiety can hold you back from doing things with other people that you would otherwise enjoy it's just that you doubt yourself and this is that voice saying no just do it like there's there's nothing stopping you except yourself but i could be way off um i mean i don't know the answer either so i'll wait for rob to illuminate us but yeah the never did no harm bit is a bit that i feel like is the key to it really that it's like just have a go you know to do some things dare to do some things yeah i i don't mind that it's

kind of vague and mysterious like that that it kind of leaves it open to interpretation a bit at least listening to it in isolation again could be different in terms of the album, but I'll leave that with Rob. But yeah, just to finish off, I actually slightly prefer the Death From Above remix. You know, Andy, you were saying that towards the end, it does kind of run out of steam a little bit. I'm inclined to agree. I mean, I don't mind it too much. But what the remix does is it does what a lot of my favorite remixes do which is take the original song and make it sound really fucked up and evil like it gets stuck in

your head the rhythm just like the original but then it breaks out a pneumatic drill in the middle and starts grinding its way through your skull as well and it is like the first time you hear it you're thinking jesus christ what is this like god get it off but you get sucked into it and it kind of takes that hypnotic factor and just ramps it up and by the end you're kind of drained it's it's about 12 minutes long um i think it's on Spotify. Go and check that out if you're a fan of this song and you've not heard it, because I think it does do something really interesting with the original. You might not like it, and that's fine, but yeah, I think it kind of added to my enjoyment of this song. And yeah, it feels like,

I'm so excited to say it's the first time in 2005 that i've genuinely loved a song it's my i can't believe i'm saying this it's my first vault since dry your eyes it's nuts yeah it's so funny that you mentioned that lizzie about um remixes i definitely definitely will go and give that a listen uh becauseillaz have got form with remixes. That's true. Yeah, I was so gutted that we never got a chance to discuss 19-2000 because the Soulchild remix of 19-2000, it's really right up there as possibly my favourite pop song of the whole noughties.

I just absolutely adore it. I love that so much. And specifically the remix. The original's fine, but that Soulchild remix, I'm so glad that I have some excuse to mention that here because it's the only time we're going to talk about Gorillaz. So I had to throw that in here. Yeah, there's also the Ed Case remix of Clint Eastwood, which is great.

Yeah, yeah. And I don't know if that's better per se, but it definitely puts a really interesting new flavour on it and I knew that version first so yeah they've got good form with remixes far better than most people to be honest Lizzie as much as

I'll explain my history with Dare and Demon Days is long perhaps longer than any relationship I've had with music I still listen to on a regular basis um i've never really known what dare is supposed to be about i think that it's because demon days isn't really a concept record it there's no central story or narrative that i've ever been able to pick up and plus noodle obviously is very prominent

in this um but she is also um featured in the video for the song which was released after this which was el mañana where she's on the um lighthouse island thing that flies through the sky and then at the end of that video she inverted commas dies and then five years later you find out that she hasn't died and that she's gone to plastic beach with the rest of the gorillas crew um she gets rescued um when she's on a ship and it's sinking and they all go it's in the video for on melancholy hill where you find out that she wasn't killed at the end of this el manana yeah it's wonderful these two gorillas records demon days and plastic beach are like two of my favorite albums of all time which i'll get into um in a second but el manana was released as a single after dare but on the album it's three

tracks before so i'm i'm not i'm never quite known about dare's place in the album either because as you were saying andy you know the whole main hook is kind of like an accident you know the the yeah sure it's sean rider and damon albarm were in the studio together and sean rider was supposed to be saying um it's coming up it's coming up it's there but then damon asked him to do it faster which is what you hear on the record but the way that he kept saying there was there or there and so damon went hang on and so the whole song title comes from sean rider just not pronouncing the word there properly and um it's funny lizzie that you mentioned marky smith before because obviously he ends up on a gorillas track on plastic beach called glitter freeze does he yeah it's not a great track though um it's very very irritating actually oh no it's a lot of very screeching it's not great um a lot

of screeching and yelling and it's not great but that's another one actually that starts with a little kind of studio not mistake but you know something that wasn't intended to be recorded um where marky smith when he went into the recording studio he's into the actual booth he said he wanted to be facing north and so he can hear him say where's north from here and then there's morse code that plays and then the song starts and the song is i wish i liked it because marky smith on a gorilla's record sounds like such a great idea but i really don't know what they were thinking uh with glitter freeze oh that's a shame yeah yeah it is a shame um but back to dare um before i start my analysis of the song i just wanted to

mention that great video on youtube which is um every instance of Shawn Ryder saying the word dare and so you have all of the recorded versions on the actual track and then you get him doing it live on Jools Holland and at Glastonbury and various places and he's at various stages of intoxication throughout some of these videos and he's really going for it because I won't do it justice by doing any impressions but if you thought that there was only one way or maybe even two ways to say the word dare you won't feel the same after watching that video. Turns out there are many ways to say the word dare. Demon Days, though, overall, is a huge deal for me, and so are Gorillaz. So I'm glad that we get to discuss them on this podcast. I think I maybe mentioned in a previous episode, actually, I think it was only last week or the week before um when demon days went to number one in the album charts um it was the first album i ever

bought with my own money um and i still have the cd downstairs it's now broken the two bits of the jewel case don't fit together anymore um but i used to um on my birthday every year i used to ask for money and then as a bit of a birthday tradition for about four or five years between being about 10 and 14 um me and my parents used to drive to the trafford center and then spend all my money and then have a mcdonald's and go home and we did that on my birthday for three or four years and each time i was there i would go into hmv and buy albums and demon days was out at the time and i remember really liking um feel good inc at the time and also dirty harry um and so yeah i went ahead and bought demon days um and so i used

to sit and listen through every song on my little cd player while reading the the booklet which had loads of drawings and doodles and things like that representing the the various songs um and this at the time this this never used to be my favourite song on the album, my favourites were always either Dirty Harry or El Manana, or, you know, like, Feel Good Inc., or something like that, but Dare and Feel Good Inc. were my first proper introduction to them, and they really, really captured my imagination, like, you know, I knew Clint Eastwood and 192000, like you know i i knew clint eastwood and 19 2000 and i knew that they were an animated band and that they were kind of like the brainchild of an artist called jamie hewlett and some guy who was in a band in the 90s you know when i'm 11 i don't really know who blur are um but they were

still a mystery and a massive enigma you know the the first band i loved that also didn't make a lick of sense because like i loved busted but they made complete sense everybody knew who they were whereas with gorillas there was always this kind of mystery behind it you know i still remember when they performed live on the plastic beach tour and it was the first time they'd ever performed as humans they hadn't performed behind a screen or something or other. And so this getting to number one, and I remember being obsessed with the music video, with the giant Sean Ryder head

and the combination of live action and animation in the music video and being really enthralled by it so obviously time has gone on um you know plastic beach came out in 2010 that is another landmark album for me in a in a big way um obviously none of the singles off that end up being anywhere near as successful as the ones from Demon Days but it was still just hugely important for my musical education at the time and so you know a long time has gone on and you'd think that you know the first album you bought that you would be slightly not ashamed of it but you know you sort of go oh I bought this and then you go and then all of your friends go, oh. And whereas with Demon Days, everybody has the reaction that you two have, which is like,

oh, that's cool. That's good. And it's because this has really stood the test of time. I think, you know, that the band's best stuff, like this song, is sort of the best that pop can be. is sort of the best that pop can be. You know, it maximizes pop's potential to bring audio and visual creativity together to create an entire aesthetic experience that defines a particular period or flash point in your life.

You know, it can be instantaneous, it can take years. But to ask for anything more from pop and a song like this, I think it's really hard, I think, you know, to pull from so many places and sources like dance and electro-funk and disco and inexplicably, you know, Sean Ryder, you know, it's actually interesting, I think, as we were saying before, and as you were saying lizzie before for this to come up alongside oasis because i think the little dichotomy between dare and the importance of being idle explains why i've got more time for damon alban than i do either of the gallaghers i think when it comes to pop and music in general damon just seems to have more of an open mind about things like this

but I think the experience of Gorillaz looking back is that Gorillaz albums to me are like hotels well the best ones are anyway, are like hotels where they bring in guests from as many places as possible and

Alban who's kind of like the concierge he manages to pull it all together so that your experience of the hotel is always pop always fun always slightly off balance and slightly creepy but in ways that are captivating rather than off-putting you know i mean i realize i've kind of talked around the song more than about it but i think that's just because it immediately sets my mind running with ideas and possibilities you know um its main drive you know it's one big idea the it's coming up it's coming up it's there is one of about five different things from this that i love and will always wait to come back around whenever the song is playing you know another is the brief period of

silence before the final chorus and then when sean rider comes in with um roses gabor who is needles voice uh when they when they're together like you were saying lizzie the devil and the angel on the shoulder um is wonderful and you have all the little instrumental counter melodies and decorative textures that kind of shimmer in and out of view there's just so much to focus on and it's so rewarding on repeated listens and to this day i still think it is just as exciting as it always has been um i think demon days is a perfect record from back to finish um from wait i've got that wrong um from start to finish um like i say i still have it i still listen to the album regularly um there isn't really a bum note on it except maybe like white light isn't as good as the rest of the record but it's just it is a proper sprawling

smorgasbord experience of pop uh demon days and plastic beats together and stuff like feel good inc and dare and dirty harry and el mañana all being from the same record like he was saying andy they it sounds both of earth and also not there is such a distinctly unique quality to a lot of gorillas mastering and production and right even just writing as well it's um yeah it immediately takes my mind somewhere else it is transportative in a way that quite a lot of pop it doesn't even try to be and that doesn't necessarily mean that songs that aren't transportative don't necessarily you know they're not worth their weight in gold as well but this feels like it's not even from the future it's like it's from another planet almost um the the

the combination of things in this song should not be it's almost like it shouldn't exist and yet it does and yeah i still just find it to be uh just incredible really really incredible and i'm so happy that this was the first thing i ever bought in my own cash um the first single i ever bought in my own cash comes next year because i didn't really buy cds uh singles i normally just used to wait for them to come around on the radio um but they're coming up uh next year around the summer because i also bought them with my money on my birthday um but yeah no this is wonderful uh and we still have another song to go so the final song that we've got up this week is this. Let me talk to y'all and just, you know, give you a little situation. Listen. You see the shit get hot every time I come through when I step up in the spot.

Make the place sizzle like a summertime cookout. Proud for the best chick. Yes, I'm on a lookout. So banging, shorty like a belly dancer with it. Smell good, pretty skin, so gangster with it. No chicks, only diamonds under my sleeve. Give me the number, but make sure you holler before you leave. I know you like me.

I know you like me. I know you do. I know you like me. I know you like me. I know you do. I know you do. That's why whenever I come around, she's all over you. And I know you want it. I know you want it. It's easy to see. It's easy to see. And in the back of your mind, I know you should be on with me.

Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don't you? Don't you? Don't you? Don't you? Don't you wish your girlfriend was raw like me? Don't you wish your girlfriend was fun like me? Don't you?

Don't you? This is Don't You by Pussycat Dolls and Busta Rhymes. Released as the lead single from the group's debut studio album titled PCD, Don't Ya is Pussycat Dolls' first single to be released in the UK and their first to reach number one. And this is not the last time we'll be discussing Pussycat Dolls on this podcast. The song is a cover of the Tory Alamazi song from 2004 which did not reach the UK charts.

Don't you first enter the UK charts at number 85 reaching its number one position during the third week on the chart, knocking Gorillaz off the top spot. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week at number one,

it sold 85,000 copies, beating competition from Dr. Pressure by Milo versus Miami Sound Machine, which got to number three, and Fix You by Coldplay, which got to number five. In week two, it sold 65,000 copies, beating competition from We Be Burning by Sean Paul which got to number 2. And in week 3 it sold 47,000 copies beating competition from Gold Digger by Kanye West which got to number 2.

Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand which got to number 4. And 9 Million Bicycles by Katie Melua which got to number four, and Nine Million Bicycles by Katie Mellua, which got to number five. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Don't Ya dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 52 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum, so double platinum in the UK as of 2023.

Lizzie, how do we feel about Pussycat Dolls and Don't Ya? I think occasionally we do have those songs on this podcast where we all kind of agree that it's good, but it sort of doesn't open itself up for much in the way of analysis or criticism it is just a pretty solid pop song and this is no exception to that i think the pussycat dolls phenomenon itself is somewhat more interesting than this song because like i say this is this is solid but i remember even at the time where it felt like this group had just come out of nowhere. And they also had like shops in Las Vegas and like branded clothes.

And like there was games rumored. And I think they just kind of came out of nowhere. In a way that you could maybe say the Spice Girls did too. In a way that you could maybe say the Spice Girls did too, but the difference is, is that the Spice Girls, they all had their kind of individual identities and everybody claimed, you know, you're this one, I'm this one. With the Pussycat Dolls, it feels like more of a... It feels more like Nicole Scherzinger and some other singers. As in... Right, if I asked you to name

any of the other members now, could you? Only because of Snoop Dogg's rap in Buttons. Okay. Ashley Roberts because she did Strictly. Okay. So yeah, Karmic Backhard, Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, Jessica Sutter and Melody Thornton.

Could have done Ashley, Melody and Kami, as Snoop Dogg refers to her as in the Buttons song. But yeah, I think it's kind of like it's interesting in that regard, because I think even at the time there were questions about this song. And like, why do you not hear any of the other members apart from on the chorus? It is pretty much all Nicole. And it's not like it's an established group where you can kind of do that. It's like everyone gets their own individual piece. You know, like we did with S Club, for example, where Joe would get a song, then Bradley would get a song, that kind of thing.

example where joe would get a song then bradley would get a song that kind of thing it's interesting that they're being presented to the world as like this brand new pop sensation and yet you only really hear from one member and like she's probably the best singer of the group so if you're going to do it with anyone it makes sense for it to be nico Nicole but I just find that quite interesting that it's sort of not really presented as like a united front it doesn't seem it's more just like like I say Nicole and some other singers um you realize I'm dodging talking about the song because what is there to talk about this song was everywhere at the time. It's one of those moments in pop where everybody knows a song and it sort of reaches over into like parody. You get it on like Dead Ringers or the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show will do a version and it's that sort of big where it's kind of all encompassencompassing but in terms of the song like i say as much as i do

really like it and i think it has stayed the test of time there's just not that much to say about it um i feel like if i maybe call on one of you we might get some talking points i can lean on because i'm i'm struggling as much as I like this song I've got a fair bit to say about the song itself yeah, go for it yeah, I kind of disagree a little bit well, this is weird in that I disagree

in that there's not much to say about it I think this is quite interesting because I mean, straight off the bat this is kind of a story with two halves for me in that there's the lyrics and the vibe and what this song is and where this song came from and then there's

the musical aspects of it and the musical aspects save it for me because if it wasn't for those funky horns and some of the catchy little elements put into it, this would be going straight into the pie hole for me partly because the lyrics, and maybe I'm taking this too seriously,

and well, I'm definitely taking this too seriously, I won't lie, but I think the culture that a lot of young girls and a lot of young women went through in the noughties can't be traced directly back to this song but i think um this song is really symbolic of it that this song basically sets out its stall of um trying to get a man by talking shit about his girlfriend saying that she's not hot and that she would be better if she was hot um and basically pitting women against each other

for for entertainment and to make money out of. And these are supposed to be aspirational figures. This is a girl band. This is a very, very far cry from girl power in the Spice Girls. This is very, very toxic, and I think it's really horrible. And it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth listening back to this because it's really of its time. And yes, I'm taking that too seriously, but I just wanted to say that it's really of its time um and yes i'm taking that

too seriously but i just wanted to say that that it would never ever get more than you know a kind of middling review from me because i think the the the whole message and the whole vibe around the song is really horrible um yeah so there is that said that, it is saved by the fact that I think, especially that... It's just, that gives it a little bit of an extra punch. That makes it not just typical kind of sexy R&B. I think that gives it something extra. It is actually a decent song. It is actually fun to listen to.

Like, it really gets in your head, but kind of in a overly simplistic, annoying way. You know, I'm not sure how good a thing it is that it's so catchy and that it gets in your head that much. Yeah, as you can tell, I'm trying to be a bit more positive about the song, but I'm not that positive about it, really. Another thing which kind of colours my view of it is, I'm glad you touched on it, Lizzie, about Nicole Scherzinger being, being you know kind of the load bearer for most of the work um of this song and

it's kind of like that in general that i remember reading an interview with nicole scherzinger a few years ago that was quite sad really where she said one of her worst memories pussycat dolls was um she sat in the studio after finishing working on a song at the end of the day the other girls came in finish it listening to the finished song and we're like oh this sounds good not realizing that it was them it was their song and they'd never heard it before in their life all of the other members except for nicole scherzinger had never heard their own song ever um and she got really really upset about it and it was kind of one of the things that led to the breakdown of the band

and that's the thing it's like they're just a corporate product really that's designed to make money off girls by dicking on other girls and the more I talk about it the more I really don't like it I'm afraid so yeah like it's

as a pop song yeah it i can understand why it's successful like it is a decent pop song and i won't take that away from it but everything around this and everything that's being put out from this song oh i really don't like no sorry but i guess there maybe is like a counterpoint to what you're saying i think i think you do have a really good point but there is also the sense of like is it pitting girls against each other or is it calling out men who fall for this kind of toxic talk and sort of forget about the person that they actually love in the process i think that's that is a fair comment but that's a fair comment coming from an adult i i kind of question whether that kind of nuance is something that would have been caught by you know teenagers listening to this i feel like it reads more simply as you are worth more

if you are hot i feel like it just it reads that way and yes perhaps it's got a layer of irony to it that it's taking the piss out of men who were just like, boah, hot girl, you know. That would make it much more of an enjoyable thing for me, but I'm not really sure that the target audience would kind of

get that nuance from it. But it's a fair point. I never thought about that, to be honest. Yeah. Well, for me with this, it's really strange been listening to both of you because i feel like i have portions of your notes that are basically verbatim but i seem to like it more than both of you um it's really strange how i basically agree with everything

that both of you have said and yet you know because the thing with the thing with the pussycat dolls though is that like because their follow-up singles weren't as good by you know and because it didn't their star didn't you know their star kind of fell a bit earlier than everybody was expecting i think it's easy to forget just how much don't you made it seem like pussycat dolls we're just gonna take over the planet yeah because like you were saying lizzie there was the there was the video game that was apparently planned like you say the clothes there was just it was just all of a sudden like it was this is the new thing you need to care about now and there's no way to avoid it because the whole rollout of this and the song itself is so bold and brash and so very

american in a way that british pop hasn't quite caught up to yet in 2005 like it's getting there but i remember this feeling just as exciting as something like lady marmalade and things of that ilk where us quaint brits were grateful for the yanks to even look at us, let alone bless us with pop that felt this, at the time, fresh and new. Because, you know, here they were with something that did make a lot of people stand completely still just through shock. And, like, you know, they just needed to look at this new thing that had come over the Atlantic. the Atlantic. And personally, I think that a lot of the sudden excitement and shock has mostly been retained. I think the idea, looking back, was that they would be like Destiny's Child, but louder and more aggressive and more dangerous, etc. You know, their music video starts with them doing, you know, Grease-style drag speedway things along flood shoots in los angeles

or wherever and i think that this mostly fits that bill you know you get buster rhymes coming in adding a bit of masculine energy to the whole thing you know you you get a lot of posturing and braggadocio you get a chorus i think that's like to die for it is an instant meme thing it is instant meme material. Not that we had those words at the time, but you know, don't you wish your ex was X like me or Y like me? You know,

that's yeah, that is very easily applicable to lots and lots of situations. You know, it's very broad, you know, like kind of a thing that is easily applicable in lots of areas of life. That means that people will always come back to it and think of it. They've got the aggressive dance moves.

You have this new pop star to love in Nicole Scherzinger. And I've always kind of liked that line as well, that maybe next lifetime. I think looking back, it's a bit strange that the song seems to conclude on buster rimes trying to work out how he can convince his girlfriend to be in an open relationship so he can quote hit the both of y'all but then at least nicole scherzinger does say like i see you know i i you know if i was her i would feel the same way but let's leave it yeah it's like maybe not yeah

maybe not and but still i totally agree with you andy like the whole chorus is just like don't you wish that person was more like me because i'm great and she's not and like you were saying there's this idea of pitting women against each other which comes back in pop quite a lot um that women need to compete for men's affections and not lift each other up but tear each other down, etc, etc. But it's a good laugh, I think, overall. The song, I think it would still go down a storm if it was randomly thrown on at a party. randomly thrown on at a party um i think maybe though my sympathies towards it are being affected by the fact that this and gold digger and my doorbell were constantly on the radio during the summer holidays in august 2005 and september um just because they were just you know they were huge hits and i

remember going on holiday a camping holiday to the lake district and we drove around listening to radio one quite a lot and by the end of the week my mum wanted this gold digger and my doorbell on her ipod she wanted them on her ipod and she uh that was the day she found out about the uncensored version of gold digger um which i find to be less creative than the radio version because i think that broke broke is a much catchier hook than the actual version that appears on the album but i digress um with this though i remember feeling so sad about 24 hours after this went to number one because i realized i wouldn't be able to chat about it with my primary school friends anymore because school was over you know we always used to go into the um the playground

and be like oh my god did you hear we got to number one yesterday oh my god oh my god and i couldn't talk about it with anybody because primary school was done and there was nobody to get excited about pop music with except my mom but you know you need your peers to also be excited about pop music too yeah i didn't know anybody well enough at high school to be able to have those kinds of conversations with them and so i remember this feeling particularly momentous and special in a way that it probably didn't deserve um because in retrospect this all probably seems a bit cute now because this initial wave of excitement this this gabbo style you know like oh here's the thing that you must be obsessed with it all fizzled out a lot faster

than i think we expected because i think a lot of the follow-up singles just didn't quite live up to the hype and all the noise you know like i i liked buttons and stick with you is okay um but beep was a bit tacky and hush hush was really forgettable um wait a minute was a little weird and was dismissed as such um i don't need a man was fine uh when i grow up was devoid of melody um there's too much going on in that one and all of it is just shouting um and i hate this part like can anybody sing that apart from the bit that just isn't it just isn't the title like you know plus the second album didn't hit in the straight in the same way and it is weird how like by the turn of the decade other than you know jai ho they're

basically done and i do think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it just became the nolte nicole shirt singer show when not many people had really anticipated that you know like he was saying about s club where yes it becomes the joe show but also bradley has a song every now and again and then the others the other members are there providing backing vocals and whatnot. And I think the idea was that Don't You would introduce Nicole, then the next song would introduce Ashley or Melody or whoever the other ones were. But that didn't really happen.

You know, and I think that this, it does kind of speak to the whole issue that eventually pulls them down, which is that this is basically just nicole shirt singer and buster rhymes and the other oh and they're there and obviously there was the whole conspiracy about the pussycat dolls that there was actually a hundred of them and that they were a dance slash stripper crew that like right you know that did you not remember this whole story this no theory like the Pussycat Dolls

that there were six of them in the group or five of them or whatever but like there were supposed to be hundreds of them and that it was the front for some kind of trafficking ring oh god there was this whole thing

and that like they were gonna change members every year or like no nicole would be the front and then they would switch out one member for another and none of it ever really materialized or turned into much but there was this conspiracy that the pussycat dolls were a front for something and that there were hundreds of them who could potentially be in the band and then it just all ends up really with Nicole Scherzinger becoming a judge on the x-factor and Ashley Roberts getting all the way to the Strictly final even though nobody liked her because she had professional dance training like it's yeah all very odd the way that it ends uh

we'll probably talk more about it when we get to um Stick With You which is is later this year. But yeah, I think Don't You is sort of great. Only sort of great, though. It's not like a classic in my head, but it's good enough to end up in the vault for me, along with Dare this week as well. They're my two picks for The Vault. Just going back to the legacies, I know they do come up again, but it's interesting that they did kind of fizzle out after two albums,

but they're still top ten best-selling girl groups in the world, ever. They sold over 54 million records. Wow. Yeah, they were a big deal, but again, They sold over 54 million records Wow And yeah they were a big deal But again Maybe it is just that Nicole took centre stage And the others weren't ready for it

And that's kind of why it fizzled out So Andy Are there any songs going in the vault Or the pie hole for you this week I'm putting Dirt in the vault That's an easy decision Importance of Being Idle is going nowhere and Pussycat Dolls, Don't Shed That

narrowly misses out on the pie hole for me Cool, Lizzie, how about you? Importance of Being Idle is kind of mild thumbs up but going in neither Dare is going in the vault and Don't Shed narrowly misses out on the vault for me but close

okay so that is it for this week's episode thank you very much for listening once again when we come back we'll be continuing our journey through 2005 we're almost at the end of 2005 now and we're in a good exciting period as far as I'm concerned so we will see you next time thank you very much

bye now see ya bye bye Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!