Hits 21 - 2005 (8): Sugababes, Arctic Monkeys, Westlife

Episode Date: October 29, 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

Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits 21 where me Rob, me Andy and me Lizzie all look back at every single UK number one of the 21st century from January 2000 right through to the present day if you want to get in touch with us you can find us over on Twitter we are

at Hits 21 UK that is at Hits 21 UK and you can email us too just send it on over to hits21podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 2005, and this week we are going to be covering the period between the 2nd of October and the 12th of November, almost time for our Christmas episode. Before we look back at last week's episode, there is something that has been on my mind. It's a little question for

the listeners, slightly informal, but I've always wondered how people listen to us. Not necessarily whether they listen to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anything like that. But whether they listen to us on headphones or out loud on their phone speaker while they're doing chores and things like that, or if they're driving in the car or whatever. So when we put the episode out on Sunday, just respond and let us know if you want to. I've always been curious

because I listen to podcasts out loud on my phone speaker while i'm doing the dishes or brushing my teeth or you know whenever there's a moment where i have to be alone with my own thoughts um so i'm curious to see if other people do the same thing um looking back at last week our poll winner it's day i got to do it again um gorillas so well done uh well done to the animated band um so on to this week's episode and as always we are going to give you some news headlines from around the time that the songs we're looking at in this week's episode were number one in the uk actor and comedian ron Ronnie Barker dies of heart failure in Oxfordshire aged 76. Barker had earlier declined to have heart valve replacement surgery. He was given

a private humanist funeral and his final resting place is in Banbury near to his hometown of Bedford. The Conservative Party begins voting on a new leader following their defeat at the 2005 general election. After the process was completed, Michael Howard was succeeded by a gentleman named David Cameron, the MP for Whitney in Oxfordshire. I'm sure we'll never hear about him in the news again. No, surely not.

And American civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who became famous for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott, dies aged 92. She became the first woman to lie in honour in the United States Capitol Rotunda. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. Serenity for one week, Wallace and Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit for three weeks and Nanny McPhee for one week. In UK TV, Lazy Town airs its first episodes on British TV. BBC One airs the 500th episode of Casualty

and Doctor Who wins big at the National Television Awards with Christopher Eccleston and Billy Piper winning the big awards on the night. Yay. And EastEnders becomes the first British drama to feature a two-minute silence on November 11th for Armistice Day. The episode in question saw Shane Ritchie's character visit the spot where his grandfather was killed in Normandy and later won the British Soap Award for Best Episode. Andy, how are the UK album charts looking right now? Yeah, I've got plenty of little treats for you this week. So where we last left off, Katie Melua was at the top with Piece by Piece, which went four times platinum. But as

this period begins, that soon toppled at the top by the second album by Franz Ferdinand titled You Could Have It So Much Better, which is quite aptly titled because it's not as top by the second album by Franz Ferdinand, titled You Could Have It So Much Better, which is quite aptly titled because it's not as good as the first album, which really holds up, actually, the first album. But yeah, I quite liked You Could Have It So Much Better back in the day. But yeah, that goes single platinum and is at number one for one week in October before it's toppled by The Sugar Babes

with their latest release, T more ways that went double platinum and was number one for one week you're noticing a theme here of one week and then at the top it's the prodigy with singles collection called their law which went number one for one week again and when triple platinum and then we have robbie williams with an album title i just adore which is intensive care that's the most robbie album title ever until we get to robbie williams swings both ways but anyway um that went number one for one week you guess it and went five times platinum for some unknown reason. And then finally, as this period ends, it's another number one album for our favourites,

Westlife, with their latest Face to Face, which went number one for how long? One week, and went four times platinum, baffling many. Okay, Liz Lizzy how are things in America well I have nothing to report in terms of singles as gold digger continues its 10 week run number one well so I'll move straight on to albums so first up we have disturbed with 10,000 fists yeah it got to number one for one week and eventually went double platinum in the US but only got to number one for one week and eventually went double platinum in the US, but only got to number 59 in the UK Albums Chart. Next up, we have All Jacked Up by Gretchen Wilson.

Yeah, me neither. I thought that was just me then. It spent one week at number one and eventually went platinum in the US, but it failed to chart in the UK, as you might have guessed. After that, Nickelback make their big return with all the right reasons. Despite spending only a week at number one it was eventually certified diamond in the US with almost 8 million copies sold to date. Here in the UK it's certified three times platinum with just under a million copies sold. It originally peaked at number 13 in October 2005, but after the success of the single Rockstar,

it spent two weeks at number two in February 2008. Will that get to number one? You'll have to wait about 20 episodes or so. Oh, I can't wait that long. That's really interesting that the single was so successful so long after the album. Next up, we have Unplugged by Alicia Keys,

a live album recorded on the MTV show Unplugged in July 2005. It was certified platinum in the US, but over here, it only got as high as number 52 around the same time. Two more to go, we're nearly there. Ashley Simpson was next to claim the top spot with I Am Me.

Despite being certified platinum in the US, it didn't quite manage to jig its way to success in the UK, only getting as high as number 50. And finally this week, Destiny's Child took the top spot with their first greatest hits album, Hashtag One Apostrophe S, more commonly known as Number Ones. That completely got me then.

It spent one week at number one in the US and was eventually certified platinum. Back in the UK, it was certified double platinum with around 600,000 sales, but only managed to get as high as number 6 around this time lots of very popular albums in its way well thank you both very much and we are going to come back over to the UK to press on

with the songs we're covering this week and the first of the three is this. I keep dismissing, don't have to think about it I wanna kiss and everything around it But he's too distant, I wanna feel his body I can't resist it I know my hidden looks can be deceiving But how obvious should a girl be? I was taken by the early conversation

Kissing, I really like the way that he respects me I've been waiting patiently for him to come and get it I wonder if he knows that he can say it and I'm with it I knew I had my mind made up from the very beginning Cash is opportunity so you and me could feel it Cause if you're ready for me boy Okay, this is Push The Button by Sugar Babes. Released as the lead single from the group's fourth studio album, which we just heard about,

titled Taller In More Ways, Push The Button is Sugar Babes' 13th single overall to be released in the UK and their fourth to reach number one. This is not the last time that we'll be discussing Sugar Babes on this podcast either. Push The Button went straight in at number one

as a brand new entry knocking Pussycat Dolls off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 78,000 copies, beating competition from Song for Lovers by Liberty X, which got to number five. In week two, it sold 64,000 copies beating competition from Trippin' by Robbie Williams which got to number two and in week three it sold 47,000 copies beating competition from All Because of You by U2 which got to number four and Baby Goodbye by Friday Hill which got to number five. When it was knocked off the top of the charts Push the Button dropped which got to number 5. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Push The Button

dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 23 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2023. So, Andy, kick us off with Sugar Babes. Oh, can I?

Thank you. I will push the big start button on Sugar Babes. I, can I? Thank you. I will push the big start button on Sugar Babes. I sense I'm going to be slightly less enthusiastic than you both on this. And that's kind of generally been the theme with me with Sugar Babes, but not so much as I used to be. I think that's something that's perhaps not clear to our listeners, is that I used to be really quite down on the Sugar Babes. I used to be girls-aloud through and through,

and scorned the Sugar babes, quite frankly. I just didn't really see the big deal. And then both Freak Like Me and Round Round and which is the one that we've covered? Hole in the Head. Hole in the Head, of course, yeah. All three of them I've really quite liked. I've really been kind of turned around on them. So I really went into this with an open mind. And I do like it, it gets a big thumbs up, but I have the same kind

of problem with it that I've always had really, which is that there just seems to be a little something that would really push it over the edge, that just isn't there. It's just a little bit minimal for me. But what is there I really, really really like i really love that driving rhythm and those little um vocal things in the background that i just think it's got a really great sense of energy to it it's very catchy isn't it um and i think actually the bridge is the best part of the song with that i've been waiting patiently with that guitar twanging the tune in the background it definitely does take you away with it um and i did enjoy this. But I don't know whether it's something in the production, maybe just to kind of lift it over the edge. I don't know whether it maybe just needs to divert from the formula a little bit more as it

goes, but having said that I do kind of think that the formula that it sticks to is kind of the success of the song, that it does what it wants to do very simply, very straightforwardly and very effectively. It's just a good pop song. So I find it quite hard to squeeze any kind of juice out of it in terms of analysis because of that, but it does mean it's just a very, very solid pop song. Yeah, I like this. You can tell I don't have a huge amount to say about it

just because, like I say, I think it's very, very straightforward, just very catchy, just a nice, energetic pop song. I think it could have been a little bit more than that and i once again kind of have the same problem with the girls voices that i just think they're a little bit thin that they could kind of have a bit more power a bit more fun a bit more character in their voices but i'm kind of picking up relatively minor points to be honest um and yeah i did like this but i'm kind of interested to see what you two think more than my own thoughts to be honest because i maybe wonder if there's something i'm not quite getting about this um as it stands though yeah definitely

definitely get a thumbs up from me but i just kind of wish it had that little x factor about it that really elevated it i know i might be biased a little bit just because I think as I mentioned in the last episode I was just starting high school this time and I'll always have fond memories of songs released around this time but I think that Dare last week kicks off a little golden period for number one singles in the UK that i would argue lasts until about midway through 2008 and so we're right in the beginning stages of it here um and i think that last week and this week combined are in contention for like being the strongest little run of number one singles that we ever get in the uk in the 2000s, because we go from Dare into Don't You,

which I really loved, then this, and then the next song. So that's like four consecutive songs that I have a really strong relationship with, even after all this time. Four songs that all sound new and exciting, and at least in terms of pop music, quite progressive with their sound, you know, forward-thinking in numerous ways despite coming from all sorts of different backgrounds and genres and also class status and new acts

and established acts. There's a lot going on, I think, in this little period of 2005. With regards to Push the Button, there were just certain songs and certain moments where, like, as soon as they strike, you can see the next little period of pop, like, kind of roll out in front of you a little bit, you know, and the few opening strands of this seem to be quite accurate with predicting where pop kind of sits for the next little bit of time, a move towards a kind of bit-crushed dance pop with little R&B influences. I feel like we're going to be coming back to that quite a lot over the next sort of, like you were saying before Lizzie ironically enough, about the next sort of 20 episodes.

And yet, with Push the Button, despite it resembling a few things that come afterwards, it still feels a moment entirely of itself in isolation, looking back. There's no song I can necessarily point to and say, yes, that's a close relative of Push the Button, as much as it feels like the general demeanour and the construction of the song is relatively similar to things that come afterwards i do think that this has an atmosphere that's fairly unique to british pop around this time and overall you know it feels like it takes the kind of modern urbanite sexual liberation of call on me and just kind of refines it restrains it transposes it into like a sultry girl group setting. Because Sugar Babes have always had that kind of, you know, talk to the hand kind of demeanor about their music and it's

interpreted through this too, because ultimately this is a song about Sugar Babes having to make the first move but they still sound like they are in control of whatever situation that is being described. It's still instructing them, it's still them, sorry, instructing the other person to push the button. You know, you do the verb, you do the action. I think like you, Andy, as much as I am actually, just to confess, I'm going to vault this, I think one place where this falls slightly short of a perfect mark is just towards the end. Like you were saying, Andy, about it maybe lacking that last little ingredient just to tip it over the edge. And I do think at the end, it doesn't quite lift itself to its full potential.

The third verse is just the usual bridge, but with no melody. third verse is just the usual bridge but with no melody, it's just that voicemail thing which was really popular at the time but hasn't aged particularly well as technology has moved on and the idea of a voicemail is just a faff, you know, you could just send it in a text message instead and I also think the final chorus could punch a bit harder than it does but I'm still perfectly fine with hearing the same chorus again because it is wonderful. You know, the carefully grouped, sorry, the carefully mixed group vocals, where the electronics go all kind of rigid but louder, and they seem to start an entirely separate section all their own that feels like a new track has started. I feel like 90% of this is amazing and the other 10% is just kind of okay.

And that is the verse really that's the okay bit i don't think they does anybody else feel like the lyrics in that third verse feel like they're another rewrite away from getting to the heart of it because it's just a bit i've been dropping so many hints and you're still not getting it now you've heard everything i have to say where are we going to go from here it just doesn't it feels like on the day they came in and they were like okay we don't have a third verse but we're just going to get one of you to say this and it just feels like it was the first thing they came up with um yeah that's that's my only real mark against it i do think that where certain songs like hole in the head for example which was quite you know

upbeat and active in a in a way that i feel is slightly different to push the button i felt like their voices were slightly overshadowed um this i i'm not really getting it this time i do think that they're slightly quieter more kind of polite uh vocals compared to other girl groups at the time it feels like they work together as a unit because nobody particularly stands out. Although just before I hand over to Lizzie, I just want to mention the lyric, My sexy ass has got him in the new dimension.

I feel like that's a very 2005 lyric. I don't think you could put that in a song any earlier than this. It feels like something that's part of an era we're moving into where for a short period pop becomes a more interior thing and we all have things on our iPods that we can quietly enjoy without having to involve anybody else and I think something as super camp as My Sexy Ass Has Got Him In The New Dimension is something that's perfectly fine to be enjoyed quietly in your earphones and you don't have to tell anybody about it. But Lizzie, what about you?

We push the button. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that line because I was going to say about, we had a sort of discussion before about how it feels like that kind of sexual overtness comes into pop a lot more from around this point yeah particularly i think pussycat dolls are a big part of that um and as much as this is quite tame you know my sexy ass we're only a couple of years away from things like s and m and yeah then you get to the nadir of it with blurred lines but like it for a time it did feel like it was kind of more accepted to to do that sort of thing in pop and it's around this time where you could just get that on the radio that's just what pop was um in a way that in previous decades it would have just been persona non grata like you can't

do that because it will just get taken off the radio playlists. At this point, you don't have to rely on radio playlists. You've got so many avenues that you can reach audiences through that even if a radio station does deem it, you know, a bit too risque, you don't really need to worry about it if you've got the fan base already there. Yeah, I like this one i i think you've both pretty much nailed it that this is a solid pop song um that is yes maybe missing something there's two other sugar babe songs that come to mind one is freak like me where at the end you get the dude where at the end you get the... Yeah. So, like, really ramp it up to the next level.

There's another one coming up in, I think, two years, where there's a gorgeous little bit in, like... Is it the middle eight, I think? Anyway, towards the end, where it kind of takes it from the chorus just to take you to the final chorus, and I love that. But, again, there's two examples of where you've kind of got something going and then you insert just that one little last element to

take it over the edge and it's like yeah you've you've got it I feel like like you said Rob this is maybe a rewrite away from being something exemplary. But instead, I think it is just, I say just, it's a really solid example of the way pop was moving towards at the time where, you know, previously they'd been this kind of R&B with somewhat rock elements. Whereas now they're straightforward electropop, like a robot from 1984. And you were talking about the DNA of this song. I actually find that there's a little bit of dare in here, in that the actual backing is kind of simple.

Like the backing of this is just the same three chords over and over again. Like... Yes, yeah. pull like the backing of this is just the same three chords over and over again like yes yeah and it's and what that does it kind of gives space for keisha especially her vocals shine on this i know that um mucha and uh what is it it's he yeah yeah that their bits are good on the verses but they don't have quite as much to do it's purely for Keisha to show off particularly in that pre-chorus bit you know that I've been wearing patient the way that kind of builds it ascends and it gives her more room to you know play

about with it towards the end of that. She's got that, like I say, that brilliant ascending bridge and her almost like breathless delivery of it. And yeah, again, I feel like maybe with just one more piece of the puzzle, this could have been like, you know tier of hits 21 i still think it's vault worthy and spoiler alert i will put it in the vault because i think it is something that is quite significant in its time as much as much as it doesn't seem like much now because everything afterwards kind of sounded like this this feels like the sort of second wave of the British pop renaissance of like the the 2000s that started in 2002 with the Sugar Babes and you know Xenomania and Richard X this feels like the next evolution of that as well as obviously the the next song coming up. So one of the singles from this album, their

third single was Red Dress and the B side to that was a song we're covering next. Here we go then, our second song this week is this. guitar solo Stop making the eyes at me I'll stop making the eyes at you What it is that surprises me Is that I don't really want you to And your shoulders are frozen Over your an explosion Your name isn't real

But I don't care for sand and light And I fuse my results in a bang But my pango I bet that you look good on the dance floor I don't know for sand and light And I fuse my results in a bang with my pango I bet that you look good on the dance floor I don't know if you're looking for romance Or I don't know what you're looking for I said I bet that you look good on the dance floor Dancing to electro pop like a robot from 1984

Well from 1984 Okay, this is I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor by Arctic Monkeys. Released as the lead single from the band's debut studio album titled Whatever People Say I Am, that's what i'm not i bet you look good on the dance floor is arctic monkeys first single to be released overall in the uk and of course their first to reach number one and it's not the last time that we'll be discussing arctic monkeys on this podcast i bet you look good on the dance floor went straight in at number one as a brand new entry knocking sugar babes 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 I Wanna Hold You by McFly which got to number three. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor dropped one place to number two. The song initially left the charts in May 2006, but re-entered the charts in 2012 and 2013, meaning that by the time it left the top 100, it had been inside the top 100 for 38 weeks. It is currently officially certified three times platinum so triple platinum in the uk as of 2023 lizzy arctic monkeys go ahead yeah you know how i was saying about british pop moving into its next phase here we are like don't believe hype just kicks in straight away yeah i love this um i love it when a song announces itself the way this one does like this one soars out of the park right off the bat it's like it's fast

it's loud it's full of energy it's like if you don't get on board, you quickly get left behind. That is how you announce yourself as a brand new rock band on the charts. That kind of take-no-prisoners approach. Like the intro to this might be the most exciting thing we've covered on the podcast. Like the sort of haymaker chug of the guitar

to the urgent throb of the drum beat under that amazing ascending guitar like the like and that sort of leads you into the first verse it reminds me a bit of something like new rose by the damned like the unofficial first punk single which yes similarly opens with that like a chugging guitar over an anticipatory drum beat before like kicking in at full pelt and within 30 seconds you've either turned off in disgust or you're ready to declare them your new favorite band and that's just the intro like there's still the rest of the song like it doesn't get any less exciting from there just straight away to hear um to hear Alex Turner's voice like it is explicitly

northern I think we did have a chat a while back about how accents like broad accents become a thing in pop around this time even last week we had um we had dare which is maybe the thickest of northern accents this side of arctic monkeys this is um this is the yorkshire to our lancashire but yeah and so it's just that the mixture of his delivery and the lyrics i kind of i tried to describe the lyrics the best way i could come up with is like the sound of this is like if buzzcocks did a song with lyrics by victoria wood yes it's got that kind of sort of tongue-in-cheek social realism about it where it's not just all like cobble street grimness there is some genuine like

wit like your name isn't rio but i don't care for sand it's like montague's and capulets just banging tunes and dj sets like there's genuine humor in there and they they cram all that into just under three minutes and all the while you feel like the song is just getting faster and faster it's like the last minute or so of come and i lean but it stretched out to full song length um yeah i i could i could talk about this for for ages because it does feel like a moment in british pop where everything kind of changes maybe it doesn't in the long term because I think the long-term ramifications of this is that you get a lot of copycat bands that similarly do very well but don't make as much of an impression don't feel as exciting just because

it does follow this blueprint and even the Arctic Monkeys themselves, it feels like... I was a big fan of them with a good friend I had in college, and it always felt like whenever they would put something new out, we'd go, it's all right, but I reckon when Alex Turner breaks out on his own, he's going to do something incredible. He's going to be like the next Scott Walker,

where everything he puts out is better and better than last and instead they just kind of settled into a bit of a garage rock slash josh hum funk and never quite broke out of it even though i like some of their more recent like lounge lizard stuff it feels like he gets fixated on the sound and then does it over and over again and maybe finds it a lot of hard to break out of. I think whatever they say I am that's what I'm not is an example of them finding that that sound and the theme and be able to expand on it in multiple different guises and probably the last great album they did I think I don't think they ever quite met that standard and I know they come up again I may be jumping the gun a bit but I just wanted to kind of underline how exciting this was and still is and how much, like, maybe it didn't deliver on the potential, but I appreciate that we always have this moment.

Yeah, that was really wonderfully spoken. Thank you very much. I definitely think you communicated how exciting it was. I would slightly disagree on your comment about this being their best because although well ah actually would I disagree because this this whatever people say I am might be their best but my favorite's always been favorite worst nightmare I just do you like that album I just think there's this weird kind of smoky post-punk haze that kind of hangs over favorite worst nightmare that just tips it above but it's hard to be as exciting when you just do the same thing again if you know what i mean so like i totally get it um and it's interesting that you've mentioned the damned and the buzzcocks because i've mentioned the buzzcocks in my notes as well because there is a distinctly kind of because I've mentioned the Buzzcocks in my notes as well,

because there is a distinctly kind of late 70s flavour to this, I think. This kind of, you know, it grabs a moment and just kind of wrestles it in its fist. It's like, ooh, all of a sudden. It's like it grabs something and shakes it by the shoulders. It's very hard to know where to start with this, but I will confess I have a lot on this, so I'll try and get through it as fast as i can um this is a bit daunting this one because it stands there like you were saying lizzie is this huge turning point for mainstream british rock because i would argue arctic monkeys were maybe the first example in britain of a band getting absolutely massive

because of promotion on the internet i think that's the really important thing for reasons that we all know about now plus it also results in the album becoming the fastest selling independent album of all time i think it is still the fastest selling debut album of all time in the uk i think it sold over 300 000 copies in the first week um but i also think that with arctic monkeys at this time we were given something that was billed as the next big thing and it actually turned out to be true um because they could back it up with tunes at least for a period of time i feel like ever since the 90s and ever since oasis well ever since be here now i feel like the UK had been waiting for the next big

thing, the next big rock band, the next big kind of festival, the festival kind of rock band, and I feel like Arctic Monkeys really filled that bill, because this just feels so important from the word go, like, this is new and exciting, there were bands obviously like block party the libertines franz ferdinand who kind of set everything up for this 2000s garage rock slash indie rock revival thing to go over the top but arctic monkeys were perfectly positioned and they took advantage of it i remember being like you know 10 11 years old and just sort of like freezing on the spot because i felt like i was looking in from the outside because arctic monkeys were clearly a band for students i mean imagine being a student at this time when these guys come along like imagine being

in uni in 2005 and this this gets dropped into your lap in your first year during your first semester like you just you wouldn't know what to do with yourself because this is written with the intention i think of trying to change your life like you were saying was the way that it crashes in and makes a kind of noise that british rock hadn't made for years by this point because it's music worth getting excited about because that's what it tries to do it It tries to excite you. All the discordant machinery hammering, which then gives way to these, like, as you were saying, Lizzie, the super fast scales that sound like a rocket about to take off. And then the voice.

Like, at this time in my life, and I think in this time in British pop, I don't think we were quite braced for what an effect Alex Turner's voice would have just because he sang in his own accent. I think people really did buy into the quote authenticity of it all, you know, the everyday and then the lyrical details that feel very vivid and quite nuanced, you know, even down to things like him really leaning into the plosives you know even down to things like him really leaning into the plosives and you know spitting into the mic and really audibly heavily breathing before he sings like the i remember being like a kid at the time and sort of i had never heard anybody on a song go as they're gonna go back in to sing and then he just takes full advantage of it it sounds so cool like you know and it's not i don't think any of this is necessarily new in time i think it felt new and exciting and in 2005

because it had been a while since something like this had come along but i think you can trace this back to buzzcocks and the undertones and bands like gang of Four as well where it's, you know, bunch of folks playing guitars really hard, some angular riffs, how angry and snotty can we sound? But this was a 21st century version of it, another document to add to this kind of post-threat pop dossier that is now quite long, another band acknowledging the truths of Blairism, even if we were all too excited to really take notice of it at the time. Because as much as I think this song kind of perfectly captures the moment where you see someone who is so hot that they kind of take your breath away,

and I think that as much as it captures that excitement in that moment, I think the surrounding kind of mise-en-scene reveals the truth of it, because I think this song and the album that it's from, and especially the next single we'll discuss, they're ultimately about people from Sheffield living in a dream world, because the people in these songs think that everything is vitally important and very intense when all that's really happening in the cold light of day is a slow downward slide towards a recession because the dance floor is supposed to be this place where magic happens but it's described as dirty and their dreams are supposed to be romantic, but they're naughty. It's very keen

to kind of destroy the images that it paints almost as soon as they're finished, which is something I find to be so intriguing. You know, I think Alex Turner had a deserved reputation for being a bit of a clever clogs with one-liners, but I actually think his true gift was that he was an excellent documentarian around this time you know i think that as much as i really love this i think that their true masterpieces are stuff like fake tales of san francisco from the ritz to the rubble a certain romance uh fluorescent adolescent balaclava you know and it's a shame that we won't get to discuss any of them because i think that as much as this is a worthy runner-up to them, I think that those are the genuinely, like, special, must-preserve-them sort of, you know, perfect 10 out of 10, put-them-behind-a-glass-box-in-a-museum kind of thing. But this, it's just, I love how he's so matter-of-fact about his subject matter, because it means that all the romance and glamour gets sucked out of them.

I think that even with songs like this, about, you know, the first time you experience something when it's all a rush, I do think that even with this, like the rest of Arctic Monkeys' really early material, there is a sense of futility to them, that all the drinking and music and taxis and girls and what have you it all ends in your own rundown neglected estate in sheffield it's easy to forget because we're in the 21st century but like these kids were born during the thatcher years and these are the children of the abandoned generation in the north and even though this is such a rush of excitement

the lasting taste is just kind of soggy pavements, social decay, a grim cab journey home. And it's I find all of all of these contradictions so, so interesting, along with the music as well, which really does feel like I mean, when he says don't believe the eye and then they play in the music video the song just completely raw you know no frills no excess just four lads one camera some lights i think all of it really comes together in this great image because ultimately that was what arctic monkeys really convinced people of in the early days they had a very convincing image and this was part of it. It was perfect synergy like pop is supposed to have. Just as a side point, I think that like the absolute best bands of this period, the so-called landfill indie era as it's now called, were the ones who didn't necessarily try to write from within the circle like oh look how cool we are they were

the ones who stood slightly outside the circle and observed just as much as they could and just as much as they could take in and i think arctic monkeys are part of the the outer circle the people observing any other examples of that like like Art Brute and Block Party and Late of the Pier. And I would say at his best, maybe not over the course of an album, but in terms of singles, I think Jamie T was always kind of more, you know, despondent and less celebratory of this scene. But I do think that Art Brute especially was sort of like perfect. They set themselves up as a perfect satire i think

of that kind of you know part of that scene um and i think arctic monkey's only material kind of sits in that realm too um and i think yeah just to sort of wrap up with dan's floor i think that this is something that has both instant and enduring appeal it's a fairly accurate representation of where we were but i think it's also a bit of a harbinger for where we were heading you know arctic monkeys don't necessarily last long as a singles chart heavyweight but they've only just headlined glastonbury as of 2023 so they weren't a flash in the pan by any means i do think that this is the even when i was saying the name of the song at the beginning and the name of the band

it just felt a bit like whoa this is like you know the beginning of a thing on the podcast it's like you know loads of history is kind of rolled out in front of me right now um and i think you can tell from this that they had serious legs i think this really did freeze the nation on the spot and i cannot like I was saying before, I cannot imagine how exciting it must have been to have been a Northern student when this lot were really popping off at the beginning. All the, because I remember like the songs off the album,

the album was such a big deal and people wanted to hear so much of it that songs that weren't even released as singles got regular airplay on Radio 1. I remember fake tales of san francisco the view from the afternoon and mardi bum all being played on the radio regularly because people were ringing in to hear them and none of them were ever released as proper singles i remember vernon k really uh playing mardi bum twice in a show because people kept ringing in for it and yeah there was just

something that there's something in this that I don't think we'd heard before or at least not for a long time in the UK and I think it's also sort of proof as well that like we're in an era of the charts where an independent band who mostly plug themselves online can sort of get to number one at the moment and become a huge deal just on the basis of like 40 000 copies and one week at number one it just kept them in the spotlight just for long enough so that they could amass a huge following and stay around forever and get slower and less energetic and more annoying as the years went by and then sort of having a little bit of a revival deciding to go for psychedelic lounge pop stuff and then playing their songs at 75 speed at their first glastonbury set for 16 years um but we'll probably talk about that more next time. Andy

how do you feel about this? Yeah well I mean I don't really know how I can possibly follow the both of you there because you really have done a full and worthy tribute there and I have really very very little else to add except to sort of echo the points

that I kind of feel most strongly there I think it is just so fresh in the context of our show, for starters. I think, like, obviously in the landscape in general, but particularly what's been number one over the, you know, over the last five years or so in rock music, we've had Oasis, which have been largely bland, apart from the importance of being an idol. We've had one Manic Street Preachers song,

which is virtually forgotten. We've really not had much else in terms of rock music, to be honest. Oh, we've had U2 as well, which I completely forgot about. And just in that landscape, this is just so, so different. It's such a different avenue of rock music that you can really barely put them into the same category and that i kind of think is one of arctic monkey's greatest tricks is that they they kind of are a buffet table rather than a meal you they really straddle

quite a lot of different things particularly as they've gone on through time and they've turned into a very very different sound um but even even in these days you know they offer very very different things to different people and i think that's their originality you know that that's i particularly like what you said there rob about how you know so many different songs got so many airplay got so much airplay because i do think that off that first album in particular but the second album as well they genuinely are albums that everybody has different favorite tracks off like every single song on both of those albums there are a lot of people that would say oh that's absolutely their song ever you know

they they really do present so many different options for you and there are a few that like people coalesce around like mardi bomb is is kind of like their great classic, their great fan favourite that gets played at the encores and stuff like that obviously this and When the Sun Goes Down the big breakout hits but A Certain Romance has always been my favourite

of theirs, I'm really glad you mentioned that one and that definitely does that thing that they're so good at of capturing the zeitgeist of kind of well, I'll get good at of kind of capturing the zeitgeist of kind of well I'll get to this but not just capturing the zeitgeist but setting the zeitgeist as well by kind of starting the song you know with

memorable verse lines that are full of imagery of the time so that imagery sticks with you like the first line of certain romances they might work classic Reeboks or Naked Converse or Tracky Buttons Tucked in Socks and it's like you're just instantly painting a picture of the time and place this is from. And it's so much easier said than done. Like to just go straight in with senses of time and place in a song and senses of setting and senses of what you're trying to capture.

It's such a hard thing to do and they make it look so easy. They make it look like it's so easy to just go, this is us and this is where we are and this is where we're from. And the greatest compliment I can pay to the first two albums in particular is that they really are deceptively simple. There's so much going on in those albums. And this song in particular, completely agree with what Lizzie said about that rising guitar that just keeps building and building and building

before dropping into that boppy little rhythm. That is just great. The guitar work on this is just absolutely great. The regional accents certainly help. We all love a regional accent, particularly the Live Lounge cover of Love Machine. I think it's just the greatest thing that ever happened on Live Lounge. Absolutely magnificent.

They also did a really great cover of You Know I'm No Good by Amy Winehouse, which is definitely worth seeking out. But yeah, they just don't sound like anyone else at this time. And it's good to have the context of this show to remind us of that because there will soon be plenty of people trying to sound like them who never really succeed. And it's good to acknowledge that they are kind of out of the gate in, like I say actually setting the zeitgeist

I do sort of remember what this was like at the time and they were the coolest thing in the world and as much as it is nice to have seen it happen to another generation as well who still think they're the coolest thing in the world I don't really like

everything from AM onwards to be honest i just think it's not for me and i'm kind of glad that it's okay to say that because there was certainly a time in the years after am came out that it really felt like a taboo thing to say of like i don't really like am i don't think it's particularly fun it's not it's crap no i've tried i've tried so many times in so many different ways. I've tried coming at it as a rock album. I've tried coming at it as Arctic Monkeys trying to do the Motown sound. I've come at it as a blues album.

I've come at it as them trying their first forays into psychedelic pop and loud. It just does not work for me. I've tried it so many times. It's so flat. So flat. So flat. I really just cannot stand it. it just does not work for me I've tried it so many times it's so flat so flat so flat I really just cannot stand it but carry on, sorry

I was just going to say that Psychedelia is the angle that I was really trying to come at it from because that album really sounds like it was made on a lot of drugs and so that was kind of the vibe I was trying to get into with that album

but it just didn't work for me but yeah but this stuff is just great. I love, love, love socially conscious and like I say, music that captures time and place. I just love that sort of thing. And I do think that with Alex Ten as well that he was always trying to do this.

To be honest, he was always trying to kind of set the template and create something new. I don't think it was kind of like, oh, we've accidentally become the biggest thing in British music. I do think they were always trying to make a bit of a mission statement. That album title is a right old mission

statement right there. And I definitely think that was always something they were trying to do. That's kind of sadly gone to his head a little bit in more recent years he he's he's quite a pretentious chap these days to be honest um he's quite proud of what he's achieved i'll just say that but um yeah these were the glory days and i look back on this very fondly whenever this comes on it's like oh how exciting was the start of that indie wave of course it got

much less exciting as time went on but um the the start of this was just the most exciting time. And I can't say anything but great stuff about this song. Yeah, it's brilliant. That rock and roll, eh? That rock and roll thing, eh? It just doesn't go away. It might happen, eh? From time to time, sink back into the swamp.

It's not even the words he says. He pauses and shakes his head. It's so funny. I mean, that is kind of unavoidable, really, because that happens to the best of them. It happens to John Lennon. When you really do become a cultural icon in that way and redefine an era of music in that way,

of course it's going to go to your head a little bit just maybe be aware of what you're saying in the public eye yeah i do think i mean we'll probably talk about this more but i do think as someone who generally likes everything up to and including um suck it and see i do think that somewhere between the beginning of them recording Suck It and See and the end of them recording AM, I do think that they started to think that their own farts smelled amazing between that time. And everything they've done since, even the stuff I quite like, just has this, like you were saying, Andy, just has this like you were saying andy there's just super serious pretentious air to it where it's like well everything that we touch is just golden and we can turn up to glastonbury and play everything in the the slowest possible pace that we could possibly play it and get away with it

and we can just do that because we're untouchable with the arctic monkeys and it just it feels like at this point in their career they have a point to prove and they sound so urgent and energetic because of it i don't know if i disagree with that i think i like i said it before i think turner especially just gets fixated on a particular idea or a particular vibe or a particular sound and as the years have gone on his ability to stretch outside of that has diminished because his worldview is one of los angeles and money and you know sunlit hotels and beautiful women, it's not like this what he's got here which is you know, northern working class

like post-industrial grime and the rot that comes with it Couldn't agree more The second that they got massive it became a contradiction of terms,

that, like, you cannot keep your finger on the pulse that much and relate to the common man or, you know, young person or student that much. You just can't. It's like Sex Pistols. Like, the second that that album went massive, that was it for them. Like, it was just never going to be the same again.

And that's the risk you run, really, isn't it? Yeah, they knew it. That was why they blew up. Yeah. But, like, there's interesting ways to be the same again. And that's the risk you run, really, isn't it? Yeah, they knew it. That was why they blew up. But there's interesting ways to speak from those perspectives. Like I say, the sort of being in that fame bubble. There are stories to tell from that point, but I just think he hasn't changed himself. It's just the world around him has,

and he doesn't know how to talk about it in a compelling way i definitely think he's always gone you know kind of blown a little bit hot and cold though i definitely think that he's always had eras of time they're a little bit less inspired than others like i do think humbug is a little bit of an aberration in those first four albums and i i think you know the last three albums are of kind of varying quality so I don't know if it's just like he occasionally just goes through these writer's block periods where it's not

as fresh as it should be so I do actually think it's entirely possible that they might have a reawakening and come up with something really really interesting in the future I hope so Oh yes we have another song to do this week

and it is this when I am down and oh my soul so weary when troubles come and my heart burdened be and I am still

and wait here in the silence until you come and sit a fire with me You raise me up so I can stand on mountains You raise me up to walk on stormy seas I am strong when I am on your shoulders You raise me up to more than I can be Okay, this is You Raise Me Up by Westlife. Released as the lead single from the group's sixth studio album titled Face to Face,

we heard about it before, You Raise Me Up is Westlife's 18th single overall to be released in the UK and their 13th single to reach number one. This is not the last time we'll be discussing Westlife on this podcast. You Raise Me Up is a cover of the song originally recorded by Secret Garden and Brian Kennedy, which did not reach the UK chart. You Raise Me Up went straight in at number 1 as a brand new entry knocking Arctic Monkeys off the top of the charts. It stayed at number 1 for 2 weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 97,000 copies beating competition from King of the Mountain by Kate Bush which got to number four wake up by Hilary Duff which got to number seven and just want you to know by Backstreet Boys

which got to number eight and in week two it sold 58,000 copies beating competition from can I Have It Like That? You Got It Like That, by Pharrell and Gwen Stefani, which got to number three. Don't Love You No More, by Craig David, which got to number four. And Number One, by Goldfrab, which didn't get to number one, it got to number nine. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, You Raise Me Up dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 20 weeks. The song is currently

officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2023. Andy, Westlife, You Raise Me Up. Only one more Westlife song to go, but we have to discuss this one first. No, we don't. We don't have to. You're making me. No, we don't, actually. Yeah, we make the rules, but it's best if we do.

You're choosing to put me through this, Rob, but I rebel. Because I'm going to be very, very brief on this, because what is there to say about Westlife that hasn't already been said? And that's not just because they've been very prolific on the charts, and we've had to discuss them about 9 million times. It's also because they're deeply boring as artists and deeply boring

musically and frankly they're quite boring as people. This one is no exception, it follows that exact same formula of balladry with a light piano backing that turns into a string backing that then turns into the musical equivalent of Firework Rain as they stand up off the stools and it sells like hotcakes but no one ever remembers it. It's the exact same formula over and over again and I

continue to be annoyed by the 2005 British Public's tastes that they are buying into this stuff because they are so, so so so out of date by now I mean what kind of statement do you have to make other than this came after I bet you look good on the dance floor the very next week after that was number one you get this at number one come on boys it's time to leave the stage and that's really all I have to say about this. Other than that, this is really, really boring.

And to kind of emphasise quite how boring it is, and also just so I could fill my slot with a little bit more talking, I listed some things I could think of that are more interesting than Westlife and more interesting than this song, which are boring, but they are more interesting than this. So I've got dishcloths, dado rails, Cliff Richard, the film Red, rice, Scottish politics, Perrier water, cranes, the vehicles, not the birds, cres, the vehicles, not the birds, Cranes, the birds, not the vehicles, Cornflower, Pop Idol the game, Snooker, and Tarmac. So those are some things that I find more interesting than Westlife. That's the end of my segment.

I do think that, well, yes, I actually, thank you for the list, but I do think that the history of the creation of Tartmat could be quite an interesting topic, actually. I'm going to get into that, just on purpose. You do you, Rob. You do you. If only despite Less Life's success, by the time we come to the Rose at the end of 2006, again, perfectly positioned just before Christmas to make that penultimate episode just before Christmas hell for us.

But instead, I'll try and give some tarmac facts when we come to the Rose. If you want. You're really fine not to. But yeah, that would be, yeah, your choice. Thank you for your list. Lizzie, how do we feel about You Raise Me Up? Well, I think Favourite Worst Nightmare might

actually be my favourite Arctic Monkeys album now I come to think about it, because there were some songs on it I didn't realise were actually on there. So yeah, scratch what I said about the first album being the best, I don't actually think that. And when we do come to that, it's going to, there's like a specifically quite painful born to runner up on there oh hang on we're not talking about the arty monkeys anymore sorry oh yeah you can go for it yeah no one no one noticed should we just talk about them for another half an hour we probably could you know we'd have to go way off script but unfortunately i do have to ask for your opinion about westlife and you raise me up some say roads they're made of tarmac like let's start with the positives on

this like it's better than mandy which was a creatively bankrupt cash grab by simon cowell and it's better than unbreakable which we only discussed about six months ago, and I couldn't even hum if you asked me to. Like, there's not to say this is good, but it's one of the more memorable Westlife hits. Is it, though? It is. Everybody knows this

song. Yeah, but they don't know this. They know the Josh Groban version, I think. I disagree. I disagree. In the version, I think. I disagree. I disagree. In the UK, I think specifically this version because I feel like this has been specifically made for that thing they'd always do on The X Factor where you'd have a contestant at the judge's house and they'd do that awful thing where it's like,

as you know, there's always going to be disappointments in this process and we do have to send people home. Unfortunately, on this occasion, you're going to have to come back because I'm putting you through to the live shows. You raise me up! And they get off of the seat and they hug Louis Walsh or whoever it is. I really have to give a shout out at this point. I shared this with you two and I might put it on our social media

that I got bored a while back. Presumably I finished reading the article about tarmac and I made two playlists, one of them called Through to Judges' Houses and one of them called Reality TV Rejection, which was like all the songs I could remember that were used for that purpose. I'll definitely have to make sure you raise me up

is on the Through to Judges' Houses one. I'll definitely have to make sure you raise me up is on the through to judges' houses one. And they even have the shot of the person who didn't quite get through and they go, I am strong. And then just a single tear rolls down their cheek. But that's why people know this song because it is a mainstay of that. It's just like, if you were a fan of the,

well, not a fan, if you were a victim of the X Factor back in the day, then you know this through and through. You've seen it a million times, but that's all there really is to this. It is just montage fodder. I even tried to read a bit more of that Westlife book to see if they had any interesting stories about it. I'm so sorry, Lizzie. I know, I tried. But it's just the usual spiel. We weren't sure about it at first, but then we heard the song and we knew it was going to be a hit. There's no challenge to their success by this point.

There's no hard battles to fight. There's no unforgiving gigs to a room full of long faces in the middle of nowhere and having to pull your amps back onto a lorry and you've got to go down some steps as well just to add insult to injury. This song is like an open goal and they're playing on an empty pitch.

There's nothing to it. And yeah, of course it was going to be a hit, but fucking hell. It feels like after we've just been discussing British pop, like visibly moving forward, this feels like 10 steps back. I know. It's not good. And yeah, I'm looking forward to being rid of this lot. I really can't.

We're so nearly there. I'm going to be so proud of us when we're done with them. I really am. In fact, I maybe feel like that's harsh because I don't think it's them, Westlife, who are making the choices. It's who I just mentioned, Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell and all the people in the back

who just play it safe and go for the lowest common denominator every time. And they win because they know what people want and it's this shit. Can't trust people, Jeremy. You can't. Yeah, with this,

I don't like this. I find it to be just you love it it's a proper judges house thing I didn't just like that performance I loved it yeah Westlife they just do their thing on this

it's a song that kind of suits them better than Mandy I guess it's still dull but it's not quite as dull as Dishwater I just think that the Brian Kennedy recording of this um is just it's so much better than this version in so many ways I just feel like I'm not a massive fan of You Raised Me Up but the Brian Kennedy version like you can feel the humanity in it and you can feel the humanity in his voice. I feel like singing it as a solo artist feels like it takes on more meaning than singing it as a group. Because I feel like You Raise Me Up is about one person singing to another.

one person singing to another. It was a similar problem to Against All Odds, where it was a group of people singing about a song from the perspective of one person, and they'd done nothing to change the lyrics or adjust the atmosphere or anything like that. They just played it totally straight. But Westlife barely changed anything about this, so there's nothing necessarily going wrong here.

It's just that, again, it's just so production line um even the slightly unconventional structure that this has doesn't really elevate it much you know i i'm not i'm not going to piehole this because i don't it doesn't boil my blood i i i agree with you lizzie that i do think this is one of the more memorable westlife songs but that could just be that i remember it i don't know if it's necessarily a thing in the public conscious but i i do feel like this is one of like you know if people were asked to name 10 Westlife songs, they would probably name this at some point in that list. I think flying without wings are probably number one or uptown girl, but I do think this would be in the top five,

top 10 sort of territory. Um, but yeah, I'm glad that it's almost over because like it just, you know, full disclosure, I, in between last episode and

this episode i've been in belfast and now westlife are not from northern ireland but you know i'm closer to dublin in belfast than i am any other city in england so i thought well i'll listen to it in belfast maybe something will hit me there's that long section in the middle where it goes all Irish oh the Titanic bit yeah and I thought maybe something would hit me and

no Belfast is an amazing city and there were lots of things I felt while I was there but increased affection towards You Raise Me Up was not one of the things that I felt, really. That middle section is quite nice-ish, I suppose, but again, it's not anything Westlife are doing in that middle bit.

It's not them making it. They're just waiting to come back in. Someone else is making that that nice little do do do where it kind of goes up as it goes up a key and then they do a nice little instrumental thing and you're like oh that's like a wow a westlife song with like a a key change that was signaled and then they did it you know but then at the end of the song they pause and they go up again and you're just like oh well you didn't prepare me for that one so no lads mark down again sorry but yeah i think this is like if i was going to give this a grade it's kind of like a

c minus d plus no d plus because c minus implies a pass. But yeah, it just... Yeah, I don't hate this. I just find it, like, it's a nice song done in the most committee-organised way possible, which is just Westlife to a T. Which I think deserves derision for that reason. True, very true. I totally understand why. I just, yeah, I only really save the pie hole for songs that really kind of it does take a lot to piss me off with pop and this gets close but not quite enough to have it

be slammed into the into the pie hole um before we finish can i just you know while we're ragging on this song and we're clearly floundering for things to say about Westlife, can we just have a bit of fun? Can I send Lizzie through to live shows? Go ahead. Lizzie, I didn't like it. I'm sorry. I loved it. You're through to live shows. Oh, I can't believe it. I've got to call my mum.

Hi, Mum. I got through believe it. I've got to call my mum. Hi, Mum. I got through. Oh, my God. You remind me of a young Lenny Henry. Oh, dear. Well, that is it for this week's episode.

Before we go, I'm just going to check with Andy. Are there any songs going into the vault or the pie hole for you this week? I'm thinking about the piehole for Push the Button, but no, no. Push the Button's not going in.

Bet you look good in the dance. The piehole? The piehole, sorry. The vault. Excuse you. I nearly put Push the Button in the vault. Certainly didn't consider putting it in the piehole. I'm definitely putting Arctic Monkeys in the vault, absolutely slamming that in there, and I am absolutely

slamming Westlife into the pie hole. This was utter shit. Lizzie, how about you? Yeah, I'm pushing the button to push the button into the vault. Nice. I bet that You Look good on the dance floor

is dancing to electropop in the vault like a robot from 1984. You raise me up is sinking into the pie hole. Push the button is going into the vault for me. I bet you look good on the dance floor is also going into the vault for me

and you raise me up is just kind of sitting on the edge of the pie hole. It may fall in at some point. It may not. I'm going to leave this destiny up to itself. Unfortunately, on this occasion, we're going to have to send you home. I'm sorry. You're not going through to the pie hole.

We're sending you home to pack loads of bags because you're going through to judges' houses. the pie hole. We're sending you home to pack loads of bags because you're going through to judges' houses. When we come back, we will be continuing our journey through 2005. Just one more episode to go now before the big Christmas episode.

Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye. See ya. Bye-bye. And I'll be good to you Bye. And I need you tonight Come make my dreams Only hard as it seems Loving me is as easy As pie I am just a love machine Feeding my fantasy

Give me a kiss or three And I'm fine I need a squeeze a day Instead of the negligee What will the neighbors say? This time I've been going crazy while you sleep.