Hits 21 - 2005 (9): Madonna, Pussycat Dolls, Nizlopi

Episode Date: November 5, 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 Hitch21 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 Hits21UK, that is at Hits21UK. UK, that is at Hits21UK and you can email us too, send it on over to Hits21Podcast

at gmail.com Thank you so much for joining us again you currently find us looking back at the year 2005 our penultimate episode of 2005, very exciting this week we are going to be covering the period between the 13th of November

to the 24th of December, which means that the Christmas number one in 2005 was announced on Christmas Day. Oh, isn't that nice? Beautiful serendipitous occasion for the charts there. Looking back at last week, the poll winner was quite a clear poll winner in the end. I expected a slightly tighter race between the Sugar Babes and Arctic Monkeys, but it was Arctic Monkeys who were looking very good on the Hits 21 dance floor as the winners last week.

On to this week's episode now. And as always, it's time for some news headlines from around this period in 2005. some news headlines from around this period in 2005. Former Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer George Best dies in London aged 59. Best had been battling alcoholism for 30 years at the time of his death and had recently had a liver transplant and at the same time new laws were passed in the UK which allowed some puffs to stay open for 24 hours. Andrew Stimpson, a 25 year old man from Scotland, is reported as the first person to have been cured of HIV despite having never received any treatment. To this day it has still not

been totally established how Stimpson managed to overcome the infection. And the Civil Partnership Act of 2004 comes into force, granting same-sex couples similar legal rights to those of married heterosexuals. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pays a Christmas visit to British soldiers in Iraq. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. In Her Shoes for one week, then Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for three weeks, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for one week, and King Kong for one week. BBC Children in Need airs on November the 18th, featuring several comedy skits and one-night-only performances.

November the 18th, featuring several comedy skits and one-night-only performances. Catherine Tate appeared in EastEnders, newsreaders from the BBC perform a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, I'd like to see that, and a seven-minute mini-episode introduces David Tennant as the new Doctor in Doctor Who.

I actually kind of remember that Bohemian Rhapsody thing. I don't know why. I mean, I don't at all. I've seen the Doctor Who bit a million times, because obviously I have, but I don't remember that at all. And I'm going to look that up. That sounds really fun. I'm now also wondering, was there a Children in Need single this year? Rob, I'll let you look that up while I read this next bit out. Yep, go ahead. And producers of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here confirm actress elaine lorden will not be returning to the jungle after collapsing twice in camp australian actress kimberly davis also leaves the show after fracturing a rib during a bush took a trial meanwhile wrestler eddie guerrero

dies age 38 from an undiagnosed heart condition the official children in Need single for 2005 was Liberty X's cover of A Night to Remember. Oh, right. It reached number six. Andy, the UK album charts, how are they looking? Yeah, we're getting towards that time of year now where people are buying their Christmas albums. And so we get some sort of random inclusions on the charts. I think that's fair to say. of random inclusions on the charts, I think that's fair to say. Speaking of which, our first week this week sees Ill Devo at the top of the UK album chart with their album

Ancora, I believe I've pronounced that right, which went three times platinum. People really loved Ill Devo and G4, who went to number one with their album earlier in the year. It was a real time for opera pop. And then that's replaced at number one by Madonna with Confessions on a Dance Floor, which goes to number one for two weeks and went four times platinum, which is a real downslide, it has to be said, from her previous

two albums, but still, big hit. Four times platinum. If only we had a chance to discuss Madonna further. And your final number one album of 2005, and I say final because And your final number one album of 2005, and I say final because it went to number one for five weeks, the whole

of December, and went nine times platinum. It was in the top five highest selling albums of the year. It's a greatest hits album. It is Eminem with Curtain Call. Oh, of course. Yeah, fair enough. Five weeks at number one.

Yeah, big Christmas for Eminem. Lizzie, how are the States? Well, the good news is that Gold Digger by Kanye West was finally dethroned in late November. The bad news, however, is that it was overtaken by Chris Brown. Not good. And his debut single, Run It. It spent five weeks at number one in the US

and was certified three times platinum, but it narrowly missed out on the top spot in the UK, held off number one by a song we'll discuss in our first 2006 episode. The Christmas number one situation, again, like the UK, is a little bit confusing in 2005 because, as you mentioned, Rob, Christmas Day itself landed on a Sunday. In the US, much like in the UK, there was a different number one for the final week of the year.

So I'm counting that as the Christmas number one, and I'll mention it on the next episode. So I will move on to albums. And first up, we have another now compilation now 20 it spent two non-consecutive weeks at number one around this time and it has two songs we've covered on this podcast don't share by the pussycat dolls and these words by natasha beddingfield really wow news travels slow in america but they do have, Rob, Beverly Hills by Weezer. Yeah. Of course they do.

Yeah. Of course they do, yeah. But predictably, it wasn't released in the UK, as Now 20 had been released here 14 years prior, and it didn't even have Weezer on it. So next up is Kenny Chesney and his album the road and the radio it's one week at number one in the us went three times platinum back in the uk got to number five on the country albums chart but failed to make the main albums chart nobody's surprised after that

we have madonna she scored her sixth number one album on the chart and her third consecutive album to debut at number one. Confessions on a Dance Floor. It only spent one week at number one in the US and was eventually certified platinum but it also got to number one in the UK as you mentioned Andy.

And it has sold over 10 million copies worldwide to date. If only we had a chance to talk more about Madonna and that album on this episode. Just if only. Anyway, last up this week is System of a Down's fifth album, Hypnotise. It spent one week at number one and it was certified platinum in the US, but only got as high as number 11 in the UK it's also their final album to date after they split up in 2006 but they reunited

in 2010 and are still together as of 2023 so you know they might be back at some point and um just like the singles the final number one album of 2005 to mention, but I will save that for the Christmas episode. Cool. Well, thank you both very much. And we are going to move on now to our first of the three songs that we'll be looking at this week. And the first of them is this. Time goes by, so slowly So slowly Every little thing that you say or do I'm coming I'm hanging up on you Waiting for your call

Baby night and day I'm getting up I'm tired of waiting on you. Time goes by so slowly for those who wait. No time to hesitate. Those who run seem to have fun. I'm caught up. I don't know what to do okay this is hung up by madonna released as the lead single from her 10th studio album titled confessions on a dance floor hung up is madonna's 59th single overall to be released in the uk and her 11th single to reach number one and it's not the last time that we'll be discussing madonna on this podcast hung up went straight in at number one as a brand new entry knocking westlife off the top of the charts it stayed at number one for three weeks in its first week atop the charts it sold 105 000 copies

beating competition from ticket out elusiville by son of dork which got to number three and no worries by simon webb which got to number four. In week two, it sold 60,000 copies, beating competition from My Humps by Black Eyed Peas, which got to number three. Biology by Girls Aloud, which got to number four. And Switch It On by Will Young, which got to number five. In week three, it sold 40,000 copies, beating competition from Dirty Harry by Gorillaz, that's a shame, which got to number six. When it was knocked off the top of the charts,

Hung Up fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 40 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2023. So Andy, kick us off with Madonna. I think you meant to say Girls Aloud. If I heard you correctly, it's Biology by Girls Aloud that got number one. Let's just go with that, trust me. No, I wish I could. I mean, nothing would be a worthy thing to beat biology off the number one spot,

but this is pretty decent. I do like this. Cards on the table straight away. This is something that is in my regular rotation already. I find it's very good for exercise, partly because the video takes place in a dance studio where she's just kind of writhing around it, like she's trying to expel too much sugar.

But it's a good one for exercise. I've really been thinking about one constituent element of this song quite a lot, which is, of course, that use of ABBA's sample from Gimme Gimme Gimme. And it's excellently used. It really is. I think it's one of the very few, perhaps only, uses of ABBA in a song, like to sort of bolster your own song, that I find successful. And like pretty much any cover of ABBA I don't like, to be honest. So it's a rare, rare thing for me to give it my blessing to be used in another person's song. And it is sort of equally associated with this as it is

with Gimme Gimme Gimme. I feel like whenever people hear that riff, they don't quite know which song it is sometimes and are sort of ready for either one to come in. Either the half past twelve or the every little thing. And yeah, I sometimes watch people's reactions to see because it's funny when you see people get caught out. But I've been thinking about it because obviously that riff is so great and has made two fantastic songs out of it but i wonder if this song would have been as successful or whether it would have been a hit at

all without that intro and the reason i really think about it is there's actually quite a lot of other stuff in the song like the song doesn't need that riff in there um which made me think i wonder at what stage that was inserted into the song because it doesn't sound like it was built around it it sounds like it was just a really clever idea to throw that riff in and it is a very clever idea it pulls everything together which made me really really want to listen to a demo or something of this song without the gimme gimme gimme sample um i'd just be fascinated to hear it and i don't know what you two think about that but like i just think it would feel like a different song without it um because there's enough in the song for it to stand in its

own right without that sample and getting into the rest of it i mean i've always really liked the time goes by um so slowly gimmick that like it's it's kind of got that kind of theme running through it as well sort of related to four minutes it always makes me think of in the future as well she she sort of has this thing about tick tock time ticking by and then what you're waiting for with the tick tock tick tock by gwen stefani is around this time as well there's a bit of kind of dna and similar sort of songs because you could you could see this song being from Gwen Stefani to be honest. So I kind of wonder if that was an inspiration there.

But anyway, yeah, I really, really like this. I think it's a good fit for Madonna that she went through a phase in the early noughties that I wasn't a huge fan of where she kind of sort of believed her own hype bit a little bit and she released music which she kind of saw as an anthem

and I don't really. And she had that incredibly cringy moment on Eurovision where she tried to get the crowd singing it a cappella and they just didn't. And American Pie, of course, which was so bad that it christened the Pie Hole. For those who have jumped on late to the podcast, it's worth a reminder that she named the Pie Hole.

And this is much, much better. I think Madonna is at her best when she focuses on being a pop star and, you know, just producing bangers of songs. And that's not to say that she can't put artistry in them, because that's obviously what she's fantastic at. But at her heart, she is just a solid

gold pop star who really knows how to deliver a great track. And I think she got a little bit lost in her own head in the early noughties to be honest um so this is a retentive form and it's fresh it's exciting it's relevant and it's innovative like there's quite a lot to it that is like huh this is exciting i really really like this i will say though especially with the time goes by so slowly motif, it is quite ironic that, because this song really goes on for too long. I think it's done everything it can do by about three minutes, three and a half minutes, and it's like five and a half minutes, the

full version, so I would take a few points off for that. And it's not reinventing the wheel, it's just a really good um construction altogether so i wouldn't rate it as the absolute favorites of madonna to be honest but it's good it needs a tighter edit um but yeah really really like this no other criticisms criticisms of it i think this is probably i'm gonna think this through before i say it yeah i am gonna say this i think this is the last great madonna single to be honest yeah so it's a good note to go out it yeah i am gonna say this i think this is the last great madonna single to be honest yeah so it's a good note to go out on yeah i think that this coming out in 2005 has sort of and together with what you've said about it there about how this might sound

were the other sample not in it it's got me thinking that it's kind of perfectly pitched between two you know it's like the halfway point between something like, I would say, Tom Craft, like we did earlier in the show. But also something that we won't get to discuss later, which is Body Talk, Robin's album from like 2010. Because it has that kind of arpeggiated electronics, like that sort of pulse to it um underneath um for this uh i think this is great um i think get together is probably my favorite from confessions on a dance floor the um the whole do you believe in love at first sight that i was always really taken with that as a kid and i think it's endured as my favourite cut from that record. And it's a shame that we won't get to discuss that one,

but I'll gladly take what I've been given if this is an example of it. I think this is a really, really cracking reinvention for Madonna. You know, like the pink kind of bodysuit, the long hair, because she wears it in the video and also on the album cover too i think it's you know they were clearly going for uh aesthetics aesthetic synergy with this and it's really really really strong i think um not quite on the the level that fever was for kylie but i think this pushes it close um I think you know it's an amazing late career gear shift that redefines Madonna for another generation of music listeners gets her back to the top of the

charts after a few years away um the the gimme gimme gimme gimme sample is effective and actually really dramatic you know the the kind of the the pounding kind of dance beats they feel like they're coming from something like i mentioned earlier like tom craft but they even feel like something that justice would do about two years from now on cross which becomes a very big deal um and i think you know there's that perfect relationship i think between and contrast between electro and house here um but the sample is the big hook i think um not just you know the song's hook but also the hook into it for me because i think you know with all the changes that we've gone through over the last sort of 18 months on the podcast from sort of like the middle of 2003 with the presence of computers and the digital world

and the internet having more of an effect on the charts and pop music i think this song kind of nicely represents how the internet kind of flattened the archives and made the entirety of popular culture sort of available at once you know you didn't have to go trawling back through a library or go to hmv and ask someone anymore you know you can just search for it on Google and it's there. And it's this very nice kind of like postmodern, I think it's a very good example of like postmodern pop, if you will, in the 21st century that Madonna, an artist from the 80s, can sample ABBA, a group from the 70s, mostly, and run it through 21st

century filters to get a futuristic hit for the 2000s you know everything under one digital roof um sort of thing i think i think it was an exciting thing to live through this kind of return of madonna after american life um and it's nice to look back at it um like i said before i think get together is maybe my favorite from the record like you andy i think that the radio edit of this is the essential version. I don't think that anything is lost in the cut from four and a half, five minutes down to three, three and a half minutes. I think that this is all go.

It's all drama. There's not quite as much ebb and flow as Get Together has. But that's completely fine, like, I am splitting hairs among the best songs on a good record, because I think that, above all, this kind of sums up what Madonna was the best at, which is constant reinvention, constant updates to her sound and image, and being able to keep up with herself and the market um not everything goes that well you know obviously american life was a bit of a bit of a dud and a bit of a flop and a bit of a wild ambitious mistake um but everything feels more refined and my favorite i mean my favorite era

of madonna is the 90s um with like Bedtime Stories and Ray of Light those are my favourite Madonna records I love her more like down tempo 90s stuff than anything else that she does like the kind of new wavy cheerleader stuff in the early 80s

but even though this isn't my favourite era of Madonna it's still a great era for Madonna. I think, like you were saying, Andy, I don't know if it's her last great single, because I do like the last thing that madonna at least as a massive commercial act didn't seem to be able to adapt to was streaming and early 2010s aesthetics because mdna and stuff like that didn't go over very well um with everybody and so yeah for that reason we've only got one more for Donna left but no Hung Up is yeah no really great I really enjoy it. Lizzie how about you? Yeah I'm with you both

I really like this one just going back to the intro a sec I think because Andy did you say that you weren't sure how kind of urgent it would be without that yeah yeah yeah well i think there is still kind of a novelty to abba being sampled like there's very few examples where they've allowed it yeah i think there's this there's rumble in the jungle by i think the fujis and one more but yeah they're they're quite tight when it comes to sampling i just want to add there that I don't know if it qualifies as a sample or an interpolation, whether they had to get permission or not before it, but One for Sorrow by Steps being basically the winner takes it all. Not sure if that counts, but yeah.

I'm not sure, actually. I'm sure they probably got a credit for it if they noticed. Well, everyone else did. But yeah, I do actually remember hearing this for the first time in the car with my mom and we both thought it was an advert for a new drink called tango spice your tango spice slowly oh i love that if the marketing department at tango are listening you can contact us on hits21pod podcast at gmail.com um yeah um just going back to this again like i say really like it i wasn't much of a madonna follower at the time

but with the benefit of hindsight i think american life was possibly her worst album ever or at least up to that point yeah up to that point up to that point yeah yeah i mean that was the sound of madonna desperately trying to stay in the zeitgeist and sounding more out of place than ever leading to some genuinely horrific moments like her rapping about soy lattes on the title track and just really trying to shock and just not it goes right through my body and you know i'm satisfied but yeah here this is just a vapid pop song about love and it's the most urgent she's sounded in years it's it's funny how that works't it? Like when she's not trying, she can do something magical like this, which you just don't forget about.

Like Oasis earlier in the year, I feel like this is Madonna kind of going back to basics and remembering what she's good at, which is making unforgettable dance pop bangers. Like it's not just the song here either. Unlike Oasis, who've basically looked exactly the same unforgettable dance pop bangers. Like, it's not just the song here either. Unlike Oasis, who've basically looked exactly the same for about 30 years at this point, Madonna's always been very good at aligning her sound

and her personal image, like you say, Rob. It's that alignment that really sells as the whole package. It's not just a new song. It's like a new Madonna. Yeah. And yeah, this is one of the most memorable i agree like the pink leotard the pineapple dance studio with the disco ball motif is something i notice in current stars as well like uh for example dua lipa who incidentally um the person who produced this stewart price also also produced a couple of Dua Lipa songs on Future Nostalgia,

including Levitating, Hallucinate and Love Again. I can definitely hear a hallucinate in this. Definitely. That drive in there. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that, though. Yeah.

He's also written and produced for Rina Sawayama, Jesse Ware, Pet Shop Boys, a couple of others. And he was La Rhythm Digital, for Rina Sawayama, Jesse Ware, Pet Shop Boys, a couple of others. He was La Rhythm Digital, which you mentioned a couple of episodes ago, Ron. Yes. And like, for the song itself, it's not as ear-defining as something like Vogue

or even Ray of Light, where it is a moment. It's like, oh my god, it's here. It is something that kind of changes the culture around it. This kind of finds its place within it. It's not, like I say, it's not Madonna trying to redefine the zeitgeist, but it's Madonna reminding you of what she can do. She can bring out a song like this.

And she can even, you know, be self-referential. Like in the lyrics, time goes by so slowly for those who wait. From Love Song on, I think, Like a Prayer, time goes by so slowly for those who wait and those who run seem to have all the fun. The song with Prince. I think she's recognising her place in pop history and, again, using that to her advantage rather than trying to play catch-up to a younger generation. And it really works. Like you, I think the radio edit's all you really need because the album edit does just kind of...

You get that sort of electro throb and then it circles back around again which is is fine but yeah for what it is just a three minute pop electro disco concoction I think it's great I really do not sure about Madonna's last great song because I'm less familiar with her later stuff like I definitely remember this from the time but we'll see about that I guess. Maybe there's a gem in there from the last 10 years, 15

years or so I mean I only really know the singles and that's why I caveated it with Last Great Single. There might be something in there that I don't know but I mean all the kind of recent stuff like Living For Love, Bitch I'm Madonna just oh dear yeah not for me and I mean I don't want to be too much of an armchair critic about you know the direction that people should take their careers in but it's like it's

like we've said you know with going back to basics here you do sometimes think it's not rocket science really that like this is what you're good at when you do it you get a banger you get number one like i don't know i just think she tends to overthink it sometimes and i agree with the comparison to oasis that it's like go back to basics people will love it it's it's really kind of not that hard once you're at that point to keep on cashing in on it and i don't know like i say i don't want to be too much of a backseat critic with this but do you know what i mean it's just sometimes it's like well why didn't you just do this last time you know yeah yeah all right then next up this week and our second song this week is this I don't want to go another day So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind

Seems like everybody's breaking up And throwing their love away But I know I got a good thing right here That's why I say Hey Nobody gonna love me better I'ma stick with you forever Nobody gonna take me higher

I'ma stick with you You know how to appreciate me I'ma stick with you, my baby Nobody ever made me feel this way I'ma stick with you Okay, this is Stick With You by Pussycat Dolls. Released as the second single from the group's debut studio album titled PCD, Stick With You is Pussycat Dolls' second single to be released in the UK

and their second to reach number one. However, this was the group's final number one and this is the last time that we'll be discussing Pussycat Dolls on this podcast. Stick With You went straight in at number one as a brand new entry knocking madonna off the top of the charts it stayed at number one for two weeks in its first week at number one it sold 44 000 copies beating competition from let there be love by oasis which got to number two because of you by kelly clarkson which got to number seven Because of You by Kelly Clarkson which got to number 7 and Albion by Baby Shambles

which got to number 8 In week 2 it sold 31,000 copies beating competition from Ugly by Sugar Babes which got to number 3 Juicebox by The Strokes which got to number 5 and Listen to Your Heart by DHT which got to number 7 When it was knocked off the top of

the charts stick with you fell two places to number three 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 gold in the uk as of 2023 and i'm so glad that after this, I don't need to say stick with you anymore because I feel very silly when I say it. Lizzie, how do we feel about the second single released by the Pussycat Dolls in the UK? What's that single called, Rob? Stick with you.

Stick with you, I think. Stick with you. Yeah, I do quite like this, you know. I know I'm usually the person of us who kind of falls for this stuff um like i love dilemma um i quite liked my place um i think with this the song itself is nice enough you know it's another softB ballad, which there was no shortage of at the time. But the production and the vocal performance is what really won me over with this. I think Nicole Scherzinger's vocal is really lovely on this. And as much as it's a shame that none of the other Pussycat Dolls get even one line of a verse,

I do love that sighing featherlight delivery in the chorus while nicole and melody thornton cut through the clouds with these little vocal interjections it's all pretty low-key until like the second verse where the strings start to drift in between the vocals not unlike another ron fair-production A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton oh yeah it's a simple idea but it stops something like this from you know becoming too cloying too quickly which it very easily can in the wrong hands I don't think it does here and in the second chorus there's a genuinely lovely bit with I want to say like a harmonica counter melody and that that post chorus is where Nicole shines most of all on this

the bridge is fine and the song sees itself out without causing too much of a fuss I don't mind the fact that it doesn't try to go too big like like, say, a lot of the Westlife ballads we've covered. Like, to my mind, this sort of song works better in those kind of hushed tones. I don't think it's vault-worthy or anything. The lyrics are OK, but nothing to write home about. And again, it could easily be a Nicole solo track but I think there's a definite understanding on the part of the producers of what makes those old R&B ballads

work you know by the likes of Patti LaBelle and Smokey Robinson much like with Dilemma a couple of years back and like after last week especially it's nice to be reminded that pop ballads still have a way of inviting the listener in quietly and gently and addressing them intimately rather than bellowing at them to get their attention and beating them over the head with sentimentality I think it's a really nice antidote to that sort of thing, honestly. And yeah, I do like this one, genuinely. Yeah, I broadly agree with Lizzie there. I'm probably a little less fond of it, but I do broadly agree. I think the difference there is my own personal sensibilities.

Like you say, Lizzie, you're generally more into this kind of thing than I am. Yeah, yeah. And I always think with this song, it's a little bit of a throwback. I would never have guessed that this came out in 2005. It does sound quite a lot like that early noughties R&B click and clap sort of thing that, you know, Kelly Rowland, Christina Milian, Ashanti, you know, all of that.

And, you know, you two know how I feel about that kind of music. That is generally not my fave. But this is a fairly okay example of it. I think the issue with me is that it's funny that I didn't, like, when I listened to this song for the first time, I was like, oh, I don't think I know what this is. But I do know this. I know it very well. I just had no idea that it was the Pussycat Dolls. Because I think their brand is a little bit all over the place here, that this is so different from Don't Shirt. And I know you want to have light and shade, you want to show that you can do stompers

as well as ballads. I get that, but it's so different. It really doesn't seem like Pussycat Dolls at all. Partly because it's just Nicole Scherzinger. It's Nicole Scherzinger and four dancers. Five dancers? Six dancers? I don't know but

I just think it doesn't really have much fizz to it to be honest I appreciate what you're saying Lizzie about how it keeps it at a low level and doesn't descend into cheese like Westlife and I do agree with that but I think it goes a little

bit too far the other way and is a little bit dull to be honest, I don't think it goes high enough, I think it plays it a little bit too low level most of the way through and for that reason I think when I look at Pussycat Doll hits that I remember like Don't Ya and Buttons and

God Forbid Jai Ho and all that this one kind of gets glazed over in my head and I don't think that's just because it's a ballad, because I tend to love girl band ballads, to be honest. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. But I think it's mainly because it just doesn't have that much energy to it. I think it's quite surprising that this is a single, to be honest. It kind of feels like something that would fill up the album,

and that might sound like a really harsh criticism. And it's not, because albums have ebbs and flows that's how they should work and you know there's a place for that i'm just quite surprised by as a choice of single to be honest because it just doesn't seem very representative of their brand um so that's that's the main thing that's uh stuck with me with this oh i'm I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was going to finish my whole notes on that point, but no, I'm not leaving it on that note. What I will say is that as much as I don't tend to like

stuff like Dilemma and all of that stuff from the early noughties, I feel like this kind of evolution of it is something I like more than that. And I think if Pussycat Dolls had kind of refined this a bit more and given it a bit more life and made it a bit more authentic and less like it was just kind of thrown off in a couple of days,

which is kind of what it sounds like to me, I think I could really get into this sort of thing. But it just never really seems to get out of first gear. So unfortunately, no, it doesn't stick with me. Sod it, i'll finish on that point yeah i've got a couple of theories about why this was released as a single maybe cynically i think it could be that they saw the success of we belong together and thought we'll have a bit of that it does sound like that does sound like that song quite a bit yeah but but

also there was something rob said i think about usher where you have a song for the ladies a song for the fellas and a song for the club so if you've got buttons for the club um don't don't should be for the fellas but i think well i won't speak for rob but i think that analogy is more for male artists than female artists to be honest because i think i think the whole kind of paradigm is different with those markets when you're coming at it from you know who's who you're supposed to be attracted to in a heteronormative way i think i think that changes everything to be honest but i would speak for rob on that interested to hear what you think about that rob well would you believe that is exactly what i've been discussing in my notes.

Yeah, the thing with this, it has grown on me over the week. It will not end up in the vault by any means, but it is more detailed and careful than I think I'd initially given it credit for, or at least my memory had given it credit for. I do think it's somewhat, though, Andy, I agree with you, it does somewhat halt the group's momentum slightly because they come out all fast and loud with don't you, but then they stop in their tracks a bit with this.

I feel like maybe if this feels more like a third single than a second single, but Hey, you know, this got to number one and you know, that's fair enough. And I think that with the song for the floor song for the ladies song for the fellas kind of structure i think you know they've got um song for the floor which i think is don't you they've got their song for the ladies which is stick with you and then oh god i said it again there you go and then beep comes immediately after this and i feel like that's more for the fellas yeah it's funny how man only thinks oh god terrible um but so whenever i recognize that i have to sort of make an

allowance for you know that people trying to you know doing tried and tested methods you know i'm willing to forgive this a little bit because it is a tried and tested structure i completely agree that it is predominantly 95 at the time male artists that do this um but maybe they thought let's try the pussycat dolls on this structure see how it goes and it worked fairly well for the first album uh can't really say the same for doll domination i think they waited a bit long you know like girl groups normally have a second album ready to go like a year 18 months after the first one but i think doll domination is 2008 i think they spend quite a bit of time out of the out of the spotlight i appreciate nicole scherzinger's vocal performance but i am not a fan of the polish that's on it,

just only because I find it, I can't unhear it, I find it a bit distracting. But I do think that this is a slightly better vehicle for the other five, compared to Don't You, and I only say slightly because I'd

like to think it's the other five, providing all those lovely harmonies and backing vocals in the second verse and beyond, but I'm not 100% sure. No, I doubt it. Yeah, I can't tell. You never know. It's only really Melody's voice

who seems to sound different to the rest. Maybe they all just sound that similar. So I do think that it struggles a little with being the Nicoleicole show again um but that said like you lizzie i totally agree the second half of this is nice i the introduction of that new section towards the end as well the um don't you worry about people hanging around and the uh i know you and you know me it's you know new melodies new hooks towards the end i'm always in favor of stuff like that

um it's actually that bit where it starts to vaguely remind me of girl groups from the past from the 60s and 70s the kind of wistful cooing sound that a lot of them have you know but this is for a new generation though who text on their phones hence the tech speak title and they watch mtv and they read about and look at pictures of airbrushed models in fashion magazines, you know, it's an update to that particular sound. So yeah, I'm cool with this. A bit surprised that this is the last time that we'll be discussing the Pussycat Dolls because they always seem so much bigger in my head, but maybe they were just an act who were, you know, big enough to stick around in my head but maybe they were just an act who were you know big enough to stick around in

the memory but just never quite managed to get the sales to be number one on a regular basis um at least in the uk i'm not i can't really remember much about their um their us chart fortunes but yeah i'm cool with this it's um not it's not it's not vault material i wouldn't even say it was close necessarily but i'm glad that we came back to this because i definitely have a better feeling towards it than i did like 10 days ago i should state for the record that this is better than we belong together yeah i agree i think i like them just about as much as each other maybe i'd have to re-listen to We Belong Together to be totally sure. Oh, I don't like We Belong Together.

Again, Mariah's got that problem where she sort of bellows, even on, like, a quiet song. It's like, Jesus. She's got it. Don't get me wrong, but, like, bloody hell, it's too much. Oh, it does happen at the end doesn't it where they trail that When you left I lost Yeah

and then we belong together at the end that I remember Yes Okay so our final song this week is this. Five years old, my dad's a giant sitting beside me And the engine rattles my bum like berserk While we're singing, don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work My dad's probably had a bloody hard day

But he's been good fun and bubbling and joking away And the procession of cars stuck behind Are getting all impatient and angry but we don't mind And we're holding up the bypass, oh Me and my dad having a top laugh, otherwise known as the JCB song by Nislopi. Released as the second single from the group's debut studio album titled Half These Songs Are About You, JCB is Nislopi's second single to be released in the UK and their first and only song to reach number one. So this is the last time that we'll be discussing them on this podcast. JCB went straight in at number one as a brand new entry,

knocking the Pussycat Dolls 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 82,000 copies, beating competition from when you tell me that you love me by westlife and diana ross which got to number two jingle bells by crazy frog which got to six advertising space by robbie williams which got to number eight and ultraviolet by mcfly which got to number nine when it was knocked off the top of the charts, JCB dropped one place to number 2.

By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the Tottenhunter for 19 weeks. The song is currently officially certified platinum in the UK as of 2023. So, Andy, kick us off with Nislopi. I mean, it's hard to gather my thoughts about this one, to be honest, because first of all, it's just like, where did this come from? It's just so out of place in 2005.

It seems just so odd in the current landscape that we're in right now. And maybe one of the reasons why it feels so odd in so many places and I know that we will all have the same comment on this obviously because it's absolutely screaming out which is Ed Sheeran this sounds so much like Ed Sheeran and

it really just discombobulates the mind because this sort of thing will go massive in 7 or 8 years from now, it's not particularly to my taste this sort of thing will go massive in seven or eight years from now. It's not particularly to my taste, this sort of thing, in that I find it a bit kind of twee, a little bit kind of I'll remember this, I'm gonna

name things that are in your house and that's emotionally effective for some reason. Like, it's just kind of got that kind of overly homely vibe to it and not particularly escapist, which is just, I don't know. I think it's a bit sort of on the nose for pop music, to be honest. And so this kind of thing, my instant reaction is a bit sort of like,

oh, no, it's a bit kind of sentimental and a bit sort of not my thing, this. But then, like I say, it does stand out in the landscape that, you know, if you were to play all the songs from 2005 that have got number one back to back, this is the real kind of odd one out. This is the black sheep of the year, to be honest. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially because there are things in this song that I really quite like. The way that the tempo completely changes towards the end,

there's like genuine invention there. It's kind of got quite a few hooks in there um and i like the vocal performance as well it is a little bit um it's a bit well it kind of reminded me of bastille it's just i don't really like that sort of thing um but it did strike me as having some genuine invention to it and i can kind of see why it took off but not to the point where it you know got number one and nearly got christmas number one and all i can put that down to is just the sentiment of it and that kind of cutesy cartoon video as well um like i say it just it kind of feels like it's sort of music for kids, to be honest, and I find this very, very sickly sweet, and it's just not really particularly to my taste in that way. But if it kind of had different lyrical content

and it was a different execution of that idea, I think it would really, really be high in my estimations. I think it is actually a good concept, and I think that there is genuine talent on display here. I just think the overall package is just a bit wishy-washy, a bit nicey-nice for me. But

honestly, even saying it right now, I've still not fully assembled my thoughts on it. Like I say, this is so out of place to almost anything else we've covered in recent weeks that I just kind of don't know what to make of it. It's fine. Like, could have been much better.

Could have been much, much better. But it's fine. It's very, very Ed Sheeran. So my thoughts on that genre, I'm going to park them for, you know, whenever we get there. But this is okay. And I'm kind of looking for some guidance from you two,

to be honest, about what you think of it. it because it's just there's a lot to unpack in this one and I don't really know where to start with it yeah well look I am not gonna hate on this too strongly like yes it's very twee but it's also quite sweet but the problem is that it's

sweet and also very twee like you see my problem like i i think i do love the personal details and storytelling in this like like i do think it nicely inhabits the mind of a child who's being bullied at school and feels different to all the other kids that he knows because i think the story was that he was dyslexic and didn't really understand and so he spent a lot of time out of school with his dad um and that was a place where like he got most of his like early education um but i think this stretches beyond kids with dyslexia you know like i think it extends to any kids who don't really feel like they fit into

traditional schooling methods and have to spend a lot of time away from their peers for various reasons but don't quite understand why, it's just kind of the way that it goes, and these are the fantasies that he comes up with while he's riding around with his dad in the JCB, that he comes up with while he's riding around with his dad in the JCB, and, you know, I, like you, Andy, I also appreciate the effort that is behind adding that new section towards the end, the whole, I'm Luke, I'm five, I'm eight, that, that bit, it suddenly turns into, sort of, like, slow bluegrass for a second, um, but, uh, and unfortunately, is it, it is a big, but, uh, and unfortunately it is a big but I cannot lie. I just find the execution to be too sickly to really withstand it for long. It's a shame because I remember looking back, me and my mum loved this when it was out and I really wanted it to be christmas number one um but the looking back just like the constant like

oh whoa like very bastille like you were saying that in the chorus all the seriously affected singing you know i think the content of the song would work just fine on its own without nislopi kind of like straining to make you realize just how sweet all of this is and how tender and you know sensitive it all is and sentimental it all is to make sure that you buy it before christmas like this isn't a christmas song but the single artwork has snow all over it which i find a little bit cynical and i think you know it kind of forms all these shapes of nostalgia and Christmas. And, you know, this song was originally written in like 2002. And Nislopi kind of played gigs and realized that this could be a bit of a hit.

And so at some point in 2004, 2005, they approached a few record distributors and single distributors. And I think Warner Media Group picked this up and was like yeah we'll do this and you can just feel the hand of the studio executive just kind of drawing little snowballs and snowflakes all over the single artwork and the video just to make sure it's all a bit East 17

where Staying of the Day wasn't a Christmas song but they added bells and put them all in winter coats just to hammer home that yes it is a Christmas song you didn added bells and put them all in winter coats uh just to hammer home that yes it is a Christmas song you didn't think it was a Christmas song but look at all this evidence that it clearly is etc etc um and it's a shame because I think the story is sincere but the way that it keeps having to remind me like every five seconds that like I need I need to sympathize with the protagonist I think it all just gets a bit overbearing like yeah it's it is a bit too much i think it is definitely worth mentioning that

not only is this does this sound like ed sheeran but ed sheeran has said that this was the song that was like he sat there and was like i want to start writing i want to start making songs i want to start crafting songs and I think a fair chunk of Ed Sheeran's early material really does learn the worst tricks from this I think Ed gets much better at writing sad and affectionate songs

as he grows up and just songs in general but in his early days things like Lego House and The A-Team they all suffer from this same issue where it's like, you know that episode of Friends where Monica, she gives that speech at her parents' 30th or 35th wedding anniversary, and she tries to get everybody to cry by showing them pictures of long dead pets, and reminding them of dead relatives, and nobody responds, and then she finishes her speech by going, you people are made of stone

because like she's you know she tries to get everybody really emotional and that's kind of how i feel with this where it's like it's a nice enough song on its own but it keeps showing me pictures of this adorable little child in a jcb going would you break his heart this christmas and it just it kind of it kind of rankles me a little bit and it's a shame because i have pleasant memories of my mum taking me into hmv to buy this for me i think this was the one of the first singles that was ever bought for me wasn't the first one i ever bought with my own money um because i didn't really have money before christmas like my birthday's in june then there's christmas in december so every six months i had you really have money before christmas like my birthday's in june then there's

christmas in december so every six months i had you know pocket money to spend on things i think she bought this because she liked it as well and i do remember owning this uh and then being quite sad when it got beat to um christmas number one but looking back uh the affection has not really But looking back, the affection has not really lasted, unfortunately, for me. But Lizzie, how do you feel? Yeah, well, thank you for filling in the Ed Sheeran thing for me. It means I don't have to talk about him. It's very, like, blueprint Ed Sheeran.

It's also blueprint John Lewis advert. Blueprint. That whole Christmas number one scene where it's like, let's not get Simon Cowell to number one. Let's get this fairly boring song to number one instead. Like, why? Who cares? I mean, just back on the Sheeran thing a sec.

There's an article by Genius about this song and his connection. Like you said, Rob, he attended a gig when he he was 14 he was their guitar technician a year later and even recorded a song about going to one of their gigs on his 2007 ep called want some and it's called two blokes and a double bass which is yeah it's pretty apt description of the band and this song um yeah with this song i'm with you i think the initial premise is quite sweet but the kind of unsmiling earnest nature of it starts to wear thin pretty quickly and at the time there was all this talk about how it was quote a welcome antidote to commercial pop which there's two problems with that mindset like yeah first of all andy i do agree with you that it is different from most of what is in the charts but it's not so radically different that it stops

you in your tracks it's hardly oh superman by laurie anderson which sounds like it's from another planet and it got to number two or moldy old dough by lieutenant pigeon which sounds like it's been left in a damp basement since the beginning of world war ii and it got to number one relatively speaking you know we've just had stick with you about pussycat dolls relatively speaking yeah but i mean we've also had um you're beautiful this year which again is a much more expensive production, but it is still in that white man with acoustic guitar realm. It's just that this one has a thick Midlands accent and that's about it. Like, sure, it is slow and it's sparse, but overall, it's a pretty ordinary folk song and the other problem with that view more importantly is as we've seen recently on this podcast commercial pop was having a bit of a renaissance around this

time like sure we've had a few duds here and there but as you said last week rob this 2005 to 2008 period is a bit of a golden age for pop music in Britain. Like in this very episode, we've had one of the best pop songs of the entire decade and it's stalled at number four because it's like downloads have just made it that much more competitive again. The charts still seem diverse and exciting around this time. Like you've got, you know, the likes of Girls Aloud and the Sugar Babes

really hitting their stride. You've got the rise of British indie. You've got still all some of the American indie stuff. You've got, you know, dance and disco. It's all going on. Like, McFly is still knocking around and they're only going to get better. Like I say, it's diverse and exciting, but this song is neither diverse nor exciting. And I don't see what this kind of serious music with real instruments reductionism achieves other than to placate the sort of people who don't really like pop music.

They just observe it from a distance and they think this is what it should be, like serious music by serious musicians. So yeah, it's an outlier in the landscape of pop music in 2005, but that is not enough of a reason to applaud it. Once you look past that factor, the song itself is cute on the surface but pretty empty underneath i would have listened to this when i did my run through at first i thought oh that was cute enough

and the more i've listened to it the more i've started to find it like you rob quite cynical yeah i was surprised by that feeling i didn't expect to have that feeling at all like i just i always thought that this would be sincere and cute, but the further it's gone on, I just feel like you can feel the initial appeal of like, oh, two guys on a stage, how nice is this? Writing a nice song about being five years old and then you can just feel the label hands.

Like, oh, do the, oh, whoa, as much as you can, mate. Just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. That's the thing. That's the hook. Yeah. Yeah. Shame.

I think one of the few downsides of this sort of internet era that we're entering into is that labels and, you know, A&R people are realising how to exploit that. We'll get one of the biggest examples of it in 2006 where it seems to be this whole, like, hype built upon nothing, essentially, like, lies. I already know exactly which song you're talking about as well. Of course you do, yeah. With this, it does very much feel

like oh well they're they're relative unknowns and they're just they're two local lads and they have they play their own instruments you see it's all like and like yeah all pop is marketing sure but most pop is fun and this isn't it's kind of grating and not very pleasant to listen to. The general vibe is that it's just a bit like, what? How did this get number one? It's a bit ordinary, isn't it? And I'm still getting that vibe, but yes, I am enlightened. So thank you both, as always.

Right, okay. So we're just going to do a quick run around the table and check. So Andy, which of Hung up stick with you jcb where are they going for you this week um i'm putting hung up in the vault um it was i was over the line about it but now definitely good enough to be in the vault and um stick with you and jcb are staying right where they are for me this week i will say as well i just got a shout out um after lizzie accidentally said the wrong way around there and I'm not picking on Lizzie because we've all done it

recently, but we had a great comment on Twitter this week that when that happens and we confuse the vault and the pie hole, we should call it a faux pie. Love that. Lizzie, how about you? I'm going to be hanging up, hung up in the vault. I'm going to stick with up, hung up in the vault. I'm going to stick with Stick With You,

but it's not going in the vault or the pie hole. And JCB is just crap. So, you know what? I am going to put it in the pie hole. By the way, Lizzie, you mentioned a song there called Stick With You, which I've not heard of. What song did you mean? Stick With You. Stick With You, which I've not heard of. What song did you mean? Stick With You.

Stick With You. As for me, Hung Up is going in the vault. The Pussycat Dolls number, which we observed second this week, is going nowhere. And neither is JCB buying his little piece. So that is it for this week's episode thank you very much for tuning in once again when we come back it'll be our sort of three monthly

tradition it's time for a very special Christmas episode for 2005 where we take you through all the stuff that was happening that we can remember at Christmas 2005. TV, films, games, toys, etc, etc. So we will see you then.

Thank you very much and bye-bye. See ya. Bye-bye.