Here’s the deal. I’m going to spin an RNG (Random Number Generator) and whatever number it lands on (1-40, as it’s the top 40 duh) I’ll then check out the chart single at that position this year (or close enough to it) and then go back 10 years, 20 years, 30 years etc, checking out what was at that position in those years. So basically all the way back to the 1970s. Then I’ll come back and do the number one from each period.
Please feel free to join in. I’m not at all familiar with this century’s music, so it may provide some amusement as I try to work out why such a song got to number one, and flounder around like the old man I am. It may evoke some memories as I go back through time and rant about how music was better back then, or it may just be an interesting read. Or not. Anyway I’m doing it, and since originally when I wrote this it was back in 2022, that’s where I’m starting. Or did start. Whatever. Time to pretend to roll a die.
My first random spin gave me number 33, so what’s there this week and what was there this week up to fifty years ago? Well, this week (or as close to it as I can get anyway) we have this:
Title: “Super Freaky Girl”
Artist: Nicki Minaj
Nationality: Trinidadian
Genre: Hip-hop, Pop Rap
Written by: Rick James, Alonzo Miller, Lukasz Gottwald, Aaron Joseph, Lauren Miller, Vaughan Oliver (Lyrics by Onilka Maraj/Nicki Minaj and Gamal Lewis/LunchMoney Lewis)
Original release date: August 22 2022
Highest chart position (at time of writing): 10 (1 in the USA)
Chart position (at time of writing): 33
Progress, if any, at time of writing: Descending
From the album: N/A
What do I know about this artist? Very little; I know her name and that she’s a rapper/pop artist and usually has pink hair, but other than that, nada.
What do I think of this single? Okay, hands up anyone who thought I liked it? Huh? Oh, right. You just joined today. Well, you’ll learn once you get to know me. Look, it wasn’t as terrible as I had expected it to be, but let’s be honest here: the main thrust (ooer) or if you prefer the meat (double ooer) of the song is in the original: that instantly recognisable keyboard riff, the beat, it’s all James and then she’s spouting sexual not-quite-innuendos all over it. Yeah it’s okay and I can see how it was so popular, and you can’t fault the video (not that that should really factor into my decision, but this is the age of MTV, sort of). But really the only thing this song showed me was that I do actually know “Super Freak”, and it’s a cool song. This is okay but you know, meh.
What have I learned about this single? Seems to have been very successful, taking her to number one in the US, in fact debuting at number one, though it didn’t do quite as well over here, as you can see. Still made the top ten. Just. It’s not from any album, as seems to be increasingly the norm these days with pop artists - probably due to the popularity of streaming sites: indeed, this was the highest-charting debut for a female solo rap singer (well, it says biggest debut, but I assume that’s what it means) on Spotify. It liberally samples Rick James’s 1981 hit “Super Freak” (which then proves she didn’t exactly go outof her way to title it, just adding a “y” and “girl” to the song) but I’m no fan of James so could not tell you how, if at all, it compares to the original.
Some controversy apparently, if you care, about her being annoyed it was chosen as a pop rather than a rap single, which kind of seems like splitting hairs to me, but there you go. Then some sort of “Twitter battle” between her and some other rapper, Latte or Ladder or, no, Latto, that’s the one. As if I care.
My rating: 
And going back 10 years….
Title: “Little Talks”
Artist: Of Monsters and Men
Nationality: Icelandic
Genre: Indie Rock
Written by: Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, Ragnar Þórhallsson
Original release date: December 20 2011
Highest chart position: 12 (20 in USA)
Progress, if any, at that time: Descending
From the album: My Head is an Animal
What do I know about this artist? Nothing other than I’ve heard the name
What do I think of this single? It has a nice bouncy tempo and a sort of Celtic feel; certainly does not sound Icelandic - no Bjork or Sigur Ros here - and the dual vocal works very well. Not sure I would become a fan but this is pretty decent.
What have I learned about this single? Not an awful lot really. Other than that it became the highest-charting single for a band from Iceland on the Billboard Hot 100 and seems to have received a lot of praise. Oh, also that it was their debut single.
My rating:
And what was occupying the number 33 slot twenty years ago on this week?
Title: “You Were Right”
Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Nationality: English
Genre: Alt rock
Written by: Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Michael Gough)
Original release date: October 14 2002
Highest chart position: 9
Progress, if any, at that time: Descending
From the album: Have You Fed the Fish?
What do I know about this artist? Nothing other than I’ve heard the name
What do I think of this single? Seems a little fractured, musically, to me: the chords keep descending and somehow don’t seem to match his singing, but hell, what do I know? Reminds me a little of The Lightning Seeds. Some nice orchestration, though it’s a little sporadic I feel. I also get a sense of early Divine Comedy from it, sort of Liberation/Promenade/Casanova era. It’s not really for me though.
What have I learned about this single? That it was his highest-charting single (bit of a theme going on here), that the lyric was assembled from random phrases which recall his idols, and that it was highly acclaimed.
My rating:
Slipping back to the twentieth century now, what was at number 33 on this week, thirty years ago in 1992? This.
Title: “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”
Artist: Patty Smyth/Don Henley
Nationality: American
Genre: Rock
Written by: Patty Smyth, Glen Burtnick
Original release date: August 1992
Highest chart position: 22 (2 in Ireland, 1 in USA)
Progress, if any, at that time: Descending
From the album: Patty Smyth
What do I know about this artist? Not very much about Smyth, plenty about Henley, being a big Eagles fan and also a fan of his solo work.
What do I think of this single? Love it and it brings back some really nice memories. The duet between the two works excellently and I like the acoustic guitars.
What have I learned about this single? Well this is one I actually owned. I do love my ballads, and once Henley is involved, count me in. Seems it was the most successful single in Canada that year, and was a sort of reciprocation by Smyth for having worked on two of Henley’s albums.
My rating:
Another ten years back in time, to one of my favourite years, and forty years ago in 1982 the end of October saw this at number 33
Title: “Do it to the Music”
Artist: Raw Silk
Nationality: American
Genre: Dance, Funk
Written by: Bert Reid, Ron Dean Miller
Original release date: All I can find is that it came out in 1982
Highest chart position: 18 (5 on the US Dance Chart)
Progress, if any, at that time: Descending
From the album: N/A
What do I know about this artist? Absolutely nothing; think I may have heard the name somewhere but not sure.
What do I think of this single? It’s a pleasant dance number which reminds me a little of the late seventies funk and soul from the likes of Earth Wind & Fire and Imagination. Funky.
What have I learned about this single? Not a single (sorry) thing
My rating: :star
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-LLxuKz0k4
And finally, completing our first fifty-year journey back through the charts, what was at number 33 half a century ago (feel really old now!) on this week in 1972?
Title: “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”
Artist: Slade
Nationality: English
Genre: Rock
Written by: Noddy Holder, Jim Lea
Original release date: August 25 1972
Highest chart position: 1
Progress, if any, at that time: Descending
From the album: Slayed?
What do I know about this artist? Ah, Slade! They may not have been the greatest band but they sure were honest, and who doesn’t know “Merry Christmas Everybody”, by which the band have attained immortality and everyone knows Noddy’s joyous yell “It’s CHRISSSSSSST-MAAAAASSS!” But back in the day Slade were the original “bovver boys” (bovver being a phonetic way to write bother, meaning they were trouble) and did in fact attract the feared skinhead crowd. They certainly had a mass of hits, six of which went to the top and seventeen of which were top twenty singles, and are fondly remembered by many rock artists as an influence.
What do I think of this single? Ah it’s Slade, it’s mad, it’s basic, it’s honest, it’s fun. How can you not like it! Good old seventies. As was said of probably many bands, we shall not see their like again.
What have I learned about this single? It was Slade’s first number one, quickly followed by the classic “C[COLOR=“Black”]u[/COLOR]m On Feel the Noize” (no I don’t know why they wrote everything phonetically like that; maybe they were afraid their fans couldn’t spell? Probably a marketing ploy though) and started their idea of writing the audience into the songs by providing lines they could sing along with at the concerts. Originally supposed to have been titled “My, My, Weer All Crazee Now”, it was changed when, at a listening session, the producer thought he heard “Mama” and Noddy and the lads thought, much better. And so a legend was born.
My rating:
