Archive for December, 2005
December 16, 2005
We’re not the sort to embrace cliché here at Jukebox Junior, as everyone knows, and we don’t try to act out the words as if we were on Dave Lee Travis’ Golden Oldie Picture Show. That said, this song “put a great big smile on somebody’s face” at the very moment it promised. I hadn’t even moved away from the stereo, let alone launched into a fittingly silly dance.
Mind you, Junior often saves her biggest beams for the very start of each record, when I’m still standing at the decks. It might not just be about the music. She could be saying, “Ha. Dad, you really reckon you look like a Superstar DJ there, don’t you?”. She may well mock, but, yeah, she may well mock.
To give Roy and Wizzard their due, the whole song goes by in a whirl of limb-kicking, smiles and squeals. And when her dad unveils his falsetto to sing along with the children’s choir at the end, Junior can scarcely contain her joy.
Unless she’s just mocking me again.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged christmas, dave lee travis, golden oldie picture show, i wish it could be christmas every day, music, roy wood, wizzard | Leave a Comment »
December 16, 2005
It sounds like a million other songs, I’m certain, but I can’t place a single one. The Christmas party hangover can’t help here, although I think the infectiousness of the song dismisses most comparisons. And I wouldn’t want to devalue it in any way, lest I incur the wrath of Mutya. You wouldn’t mess. No wonder the addressee in the lyric is a touch nervous about making a move.
Junior gives it a muted reaction, perhaps because she sees enough music TV to get Sugababes fatigue. She’s no longer prudish about seeing once-sensible young misses writhing about in their smalls in lifts. It’s a shame to become so jaded at such a tender age.
Keisha, Heidi and Princess Mutya find this pop lark a breeze. Cracking singles are turned out every year, and they maintain some sort of “cred” with as little effort. Bravo. And even if the tune itself doesn’t float your boat, they’ll reel us all in with “my sexy ass has got him in the new dimension”. It means nothing, sounds great, and it’s a sweet line for mum and dad to sing to their baby daughter. Right?
Right.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, heidi, keisha, music, mutya, push the button, sugababes | 3 Comments »
December 15, 2005
“Why get to work at 9.30 when you can get there at 10.30?” Dumbfounding myself with this unshakeable logic, I realised it was time for another Christmas tune.
So, I’ve spent 20-odd years thinking it’s “hiding from you and you’re so revised” and now it turns out be “your soul of ice”. Ok, I haven’t spent the entire 20 years thinking it – that would be frivolous – but I have wondered how she/he could be “so revised”. It’s still worth considering, because it’s a better lyric than “soul of ice”.
George knew how to write a tune, though. Well, Barry Manilow did, in this case. Junior loves it. She’s smiling to the point of laughter, and her arms and legs are swinging all over the place, in the manner of Pepsi and Shirlie trying to ski* in the video. Her mum had her office Christmas party last night, so she’s less than festive, but she seems keen to indoctrinate Junior into the ways of the Wham!, making it a hit all round.
*They may have just sat by the fire for the whole song, but I’m projecting. I know that the edit that goes to MTV is just a snapshot of the artist’s life at that point. I’m still wondering how Take That are managing to reform after being pushed off that cliff.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged barry manilow, christmas, george michael, last christmas, mtv, music, pepsi, shirlie, take that, wham | 1 Comment »
December 15, 2005
Obviously a 20Sixer, Ciara’s “goodies” are actually sweeties. She’s pretty mean with them, they “stay in the jar”. Petey Pablo tries to bring the tone of the song down with a somewhat lewd rap, but he’s not going to get any sweeties while bragging about having a “sick reputation for handlin’ broads”. They’re “not just for any of the many men that’s tryna get on top”. So there.
Junior glosses over the lyrics. She’s too busy wriggling around to the music, which sounds like Cypress Hill in Star Trek. It seems to have a static energy, causing the hair around her crown to stand straight up. Could be an early parody of her dad. Her dad who’s trying to sing like Ciara again, so let’s hope she doesn’t remember this.
Number seven’s an odd position on the chart, isn’t it? It doesn’t come with the fanfare of the beginning of the Top 10, and it’s not quite on the cusp of the big five. The big-hitters start tomorrow. Will there be even more Ciara? Junior wouldn’t mind. Dunno about the rest of you.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, ciara, cypress hill, goodies, music, petey pablo, star trek | Leave a Comment »
December 14, 2005
He’s gone. He’ll be back at Christmas time, according to the children. Is Chrissie Hynde singing about Frosty the Snowman? Diamonds in the snow sparkle. These could be the coals he had for eyes. Not sure about the 2000 miles – seems a little far to run down to the traffic cop, but I’m sure he covered that kind of distance with the boy who wasn’t Aled Jones.
We’re back once more with the happy/sad side of Christmas. Junior adopts an appropriately serious expression and spends the entire 3 mins 40 secs watching the flat black vinyl circle going around and around on the turntable, without looking away once.
Is that a record?
Yes.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged 2000 miles, aled jones, chrissie hynde, christmas, frosty the snowman, music, the pretenders | Leave a Comment »
December 14, 2005
They have power, astonishing power no doubt, but not even Girls Aloud can change the season. Junior and I ignore the Christmas tree for three or four minutes and put some effort into imagining it’s a July morning and we’re shaking like cool lemonades. She gets better results than me, because she’s not sitting there tackling the existential question of how on earth one can shake like a cool lemonade. Is it the bubbles? Or is it the movement of the liquid when the ice cubes are dropped in? Perhaps the lemonade shakes because Nadine, Kimberley et al are holding it while they sashay around the CD:UK stage? Like “I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I’m 22 now but I won’t be for long”, this latter theory would beg the question of how the performance came before the lyric.
We’re getting bogged down. Junior likes the song, and how could she not? It has at least two different bridges, a half-rapped middle eight and an unexpected ad lib at the end instead of a thoughtless repeat of the chorus. And it has “ba ba ba”s, making it a contender for First Song That Junior Will Actually Sing Along With.
It has competition from ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Telegram Sam’ and the Pearl & Dean theme.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, cd:uk, girls aloud, hey jude, kimberley, long hot summer, music, nadine, pearl & dean, telegram sam | 1 Comment »
December 13, 2005
Her mum has played this many times, so Junior knows what to expect and she’s not precious about her ABBA samples. It has that gimmick where they fade out the treble and bring it back again, as if you’re leaving the party and coming back, and I can’t remember what the effect’s called. Daft Punk like it, and Kylie did it too because Daft Punk like it. It also has a ticking clock, like Gwen Stefani’s “tick tock”s and Kylie’s tick-tocking to ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’. Madonna is a magpie. No revelation there.
Still, it’s a satisfying melting pot.
Father and daughter exchange grimaces as we recall the contortionist leotard poses thrown in the video. Yes, yes, she looks good for 47 but, well, no. Considering her advanced years, though, the music’s more vital than much of the limp fare put out by pop stars half, maybe a third of her age. Mentioning no names. At this rate, they’ll get an advert at the head of the page.
So, ‘Hung Up’. It’s an object lesson in turn-of-the-millennium disco pop house chicanery, that’ll do for Junior until Daft Punk is playing at her house.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, abba, can't get you out of my head, daft punk, gwen stefani, hung up, kylie, madonna, music | Leave a Comment »
December 13, 2005
Listening to yesterday’s Christmas song, I was reminded of a truly insignificant record-buying moment in my youth. 20 years ago, when the death knell for vinyl first rang out, WH Smith still displayed the entire Top 40 singles in four rows of 10 7” singles. It was a wonder. I used to pop in before school on a Monday morning to pick up a latest release or two from the racks below and to perhaps choose a favourite I’d heard on the chart rundown the night before.
This time, I was after Art of Noise’s ‘Close (To The Edit)’ in its shiny white sleeve. I spotted it, must have turned away, turned back again and grabbed it from the shelf, paid and went on my way to assembly. At break I pulled it out of the bag to admire it. There, in a shiny white sleeve, was Kirsty MacColl’s ‘A New England’. My classmate thought she looked “fit”, but I wasn’t happy and exchanged it at lunch. These days, I’m not sure which record I like more.
When Junior’s downloading mp3s to the chip in her right earlobe, these errors will be a thing of the past. Nah, computers stuff up everything. Anyway, I digress.
The Wall of Sound, replete with jingle bells and sparkle, brings the hugest grin to Junior’s face. It’s a song which has all the magic of Christmas with its enchanted snowmen and gambolling in the white streets and gardens, but it also expresses the melancholy when it’s all over. The snow will melt and we’ll go back to school – never fear, though, because Frosty will be back next year.
It’ll be a few more winters before Junior gets excited about this sort of thing. Being a big kid, I’ll just have to do it for her.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged a new england, art of noise, christmas, close (to the edit), frosty the snowman, kirsty maccoll, music, the ronettes, wall of sound, wh smith | Leave a Comment »
December 12, 2005
“You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot..”. Not an obvious nursery rhyme for Junior, and not exactly a “children playing, having fun” chestnuts on the fire festive heartwarmer. But we all enjoy bitterness and recrimination at this time of year and if it’s accompanied by tin whistles, all the better. The intro brings more squeals of delight from the play-mat, however, and the best attempts yet at rolling over from back to front follow.
This single is enjoying a re-release this year, on the fifth anniversary of Kirsty MacColl’s death, and proceeds are going to a charity appealing for an investigation into the accident. It’s a sad record in many ways, then, but still a triumph.
The bells are ringing out too, from the little Piglet ball as it’s kicked in time.
Posted in Festive Fun | Tagged christmas, fairytale of new york, kirsty maccoll, music, piglet, pogues | Leave a Comment »
December 12, 2005
A riff ripped off Go West’s ‘We Close Are Whys’*, doo-doos that could grace ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’, those knowing lyrics that the Ferdinand do so well (and so often), it’s an infectious stomp through the chart bluebells. As it stutters to a finish we even get a “whoop” from Junior, solid proof that we’re in heavyweight country now. She’d spent most of the record trying to eat her toes. We know Franz Ferdinand want to make “music for girls to dance to”, so if balance and leg strength are going to prevent Junior from getting up and strutting her stuff she doesn’t even want those feet.
As the needle runs off the vinyl, there’s time to ponder the Dennis the Menace jumpers. We can understand the boys all wearing them in the video, but what about those publicity shots where only the singer and drummer are sporting them? So, they liked them so much that they kept them, but couldn’t they have phoned each other before they went out adorned in the same clothes? So embarrassing. Being a girl, Junior has an eye for this.
*There’s no persuasive reason why we shouldn’t mock Peter Cox. I haven’t even mentioned that tour he did “versus” Tony Hadley a year or two back.
Posted in 2005 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 2005, dennis the menace, do you want to, franz ferdinand, go west, hungry like the wolf, music, peter cox, tony hadley, we close our eyes | Leave a Comment »
