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October 11, 2009

UK Chart Singles 11 Oct 2009

Week two of my experiment to rate the UK singles chart.

If you want to play along, either tune your radio to a popular music channel, or download Spotify and click below to load up the playlist of this week's Top 9.

11h October 2009 - Top 9 Singles.

I'm currently missing one song - again!


1. Oopsy Daisy - Chipmunk

Straight into No 1. This is, I think, fairly common these days.
Once again, not my kind of song. Boring, utterly forgettable.


2. Forever is Over - The Saturdays

Not available on Spotify - review to follow, but had a quick listen to a 30s preview and wasn't that impressed.


3. Jay-Z - Empire State of Mind - 3/10

Rapping terribly dull, Alicia Keys singing section screechy and annoying. She is so talented this is a waste, like that James Bond theme last year which did her no favours.


4. Break your Heart - Taio Cruz - 7/10

This one has grown on me a lot. Nice melody, a bit throw away but pleasant to listen to. Quite a clever lyric.


5. David Guetta - Sexy Chick - 3/10

Average dance sound - vocoder vocals. Lamenting the days when songs with derogarory terms about girls in the lyrics wouldn't get on the radio. This is lazy writing. But have discovered that I was listening to the album version last week - the single uses 'chick' instead of 'bitch', even though they deliberately mispronounce it to rhyme with 'bitch'. Why can't they just write one song - have some integrity, and take the radio ban.

6. The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition - 6/10

1980s sound, like a U2 guitar riff at the start, sounds OK. Decent vocal. Probably the only traditional song in the top 10. But again so bland it's slipping away already.

7. Shakira - She Wolf - 6/10

The voice manipulation is a bit rubbish and unnecessary as Shakira has a very distinctive vocal sound already. Not a bad song though - grows on you. Agree with a comment I read about the wolf howl - a very half hearted effort. The video has to be seen to be believed - that girl is bendy.


8. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling - 4/10

Very average - even after 4 listens, I can't rememeber any of it. It's a fun song though, with a feel good lyric.


9. Pitbull - Hotel Room Service - 3/10

Terrible song - toneless singing in the chorus, tasteless lyrics, boring rapping, beeping in the background that I could create in 5 minutes. Have also stolen their main riff "Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn" line from Rappers Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. Was watching MTV Hits last night, and they refused to show the video as it was too explicit - what idiots Pitbull are.

The best thing to say about it is that it has quite a nice 15 second instrumental coda at the end.

10. Jay-Z - Run This Town - 4/10
As with New York, this song has some boring rapping, and an annoying female vocal - this time Rihanna


The whole...

Female vocal chorus which has a tune
male rapping over background verse
repeat

...is a tired formula - no one is listening to the rapping, just waiting for the singing. This is how several of today's top 10 are structured, and I just don't understand it. It has to do with the massive egos of the rappers themselves, but their lack of respect for their own abilities, and their less than average writing skills. Go and listen to some Eminem or Beastie Boys, or NWA or Grandmaster Flash - real lyrical rapping about real stuff that engages the audience.

Comments welcome, email me at robert@se71.org if you have problems with the site. See you next week.

Posted by se71 at October 11, 2009 08:41 AM

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