UK Top 5 is All-American. Has that ever happened?

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

        In the 60’s it was pretty common for the US top 5 singles to be entirely British, and in one week in 1964, it was all Beatles. But I don’t recall there ever being such domination from the Yanks on UK’s singles charts. Well, it’s happened this week, though with no major fanfare, as the songs are largely forgettable recycled riffs or in the case of number three, striking while the iron is hot.

1.  Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris – We Found Love – Boy, it’s been a while since Rihanna has graced the UK charts! I think there were a couple of weeks there in mid-August that she missed out on. This, in it’s second week at the top, keeps the top five from being total Americana as she enlists Englishman Harris to rework the same riff that worked so well for him in 2009’s “I’m Not Alone,” the same riff that JLS and Chris Brown, among others, ripped off earlier this year.

2.  Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger – Not a horrible song, but what is the sudden thing with making Mick Jagger the epitome of sexy dancing? Maybe 40 years ago! This one has held at number two for 7 or 8 weeks, and UK is probably the only country where the song HASN’T hit the top.

3.  Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine – Stereo Hearts – A no-brainer for the Heroes to enlist Maronn 5’s lead singer, hot from the above song. Great for the band, who last charted here three years ago, and best known for 2006’s “Cupid’s Chokehold,” which reworked Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America.” This is at least an original song, but I prefer my hearts to be monaural rather than stereophonic.

4.  Christina Perri – Jar Of Hearts – She may have a great body of material, and this song isn’t bad, but it has that feel of corporate bosses listening to her stuff and saying “This is good, but can you do something that sounds like Adele?” The song had fallen out of the top ten, but I’d imagine its inclusion on “Glee” might have caused the resurgence.  

5.  LMFAO – Sexy And I Know It – Right Said Fred minus the skinheads. Oh, joy, another white guy thinking he’s black! Their previous hit, “Party Rock Anthem,” was overall pretty trite, but it did have that goofy a capella “Every day I’m shufflin” phrase. This tune doesn’t even have that!

6.  Matt Cardle – Run For Your Life – For the debut single from his first album, last year’s “X Factor” winner and his producer Simon Cowell took no chances, enlisting current judge Gary Barlow to write a tune. I’m sure it’s disappointing to all concerned that it only debuted at 6 behind all those Yanks. 

7.  Charlene Sorria – Wherever You Will Go – From a Twining’s Tea advert, this is a remake of a 2001 hit by a band called The Calling, who sounded more than a little like Creed, a popular grunge-lite band of the time. Sorria’s version owes more than a tip of the hat to, you guessed it, Adele.

8.  Sak Noel – Loca People – I like this one for many of the same reasons I liked last year’s “We No Speak Americano.” Catchy dance beat, obscure samples, and it’s done in little more than two minutes. FYI, the passage that’s continually bleeped out from the radio versions is “What the fuck?”  

9.  Ed Sheeran – The A Team – This has been around a while, and when it first hit in July, I remember being astonished to hear a male voice playing a GUITAR, for god’s sake! It moved back into the top 10 probably on the heels of Frankie Cocozza doing a good enough rendition of it on X Factor that he could cover up his vocal shortcomings. I still like the song, but what pop star is named Ed? Eddie, maybe.

10.  What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction – After the opening stolen riff, you expect John Travolta to come in with “Summer lovin..” but this one lacks even THAT much depth. Five of the luckiest boys in show biz managed to get a life line on last year’s X Factor as none of them was that good on their own, so they became a group. They hung in until the final three, miraculously. This was #1 a few weeks ago, and its shelf life won’t be much beyond that.

Tellingly, my girlfriend was with me as I was listening to the countdown yesterday, and all she knows about current pop music is from her involvement with me. The only one of the ten that even caused her to look up from what she was reading was “Jar Of Hearts,” so good on ya, Christina Perri.    

October 17th, 2011



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