THE SOUND OF 2016 : 76-100

Well, 2016 is almost over and what a year of music it has been. Bowie died, Prince died, and Phil Collins announced a comeback. It hasn’t been all bad. There were some songs I liked, and I’ve put them into a chart.

There’s nothing scientific to it, I just cut and pasted Friday Fives and spent half an hour trying to put them into an order based on what I liked the most over the past year.

You may notice a few rerecordings and previously unreleased versions of songs that have already been released. Well, my chart, my rules.

So, who will join the list of previous winners? You’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out.

2006-2009 were done on Bebo, so the articles are sadly gone, but you can click on the links to previous countdowns. There are a few former winners in this year’s chart.

2015 Blossoms – Charlemagne
2014 Jamie T – Zombie
2013 Haim – The Wire
2012 Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
2011 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – AKA …… What A Life
2010 Marina and the Diamonds – Shampain
2009 Little Boots – New In Town
2008 Sons and Daughters – Darling
2007 Feist – 1, 2, 3, 4
2006 Kasabian – Empire

76. Wyvern Lingo – Letter To Willow
77. DNCE – Cake By The Ocean
78. Tegan and Sara – Faint Of Heart
79. Bruno Mars – 24k Magic
80. Frank Turner – Mittens
81. David Bowie – Killing A Little Time
82. Garbage – Empty
83. James – Dear John
84. Primal Scream and Sky Ferreira – When The Light Comes In
85. Travis – Everything At Once
86. Manic Street Preachers – Together Stronger
87. Laura Tesoro – What’s The Pressure?
88. Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz – Midnight Gold
89. Sergey Lazarev – You Are The Only One
90. KT Tunstall – Evil Eye
91. Tove Lo – True Disaster
92. Kings Of Leon – Waste A Moment
93. The Divine Comedy – How Can You Leave Me On My Own?
94. Bear’s Den – Dew On The Vine
95. Richard Ashcroft – Hold On
96. Izzy Bizu & the BBC Orchestra – La Foule
97. Travis – What Will Come
98. Madness – Herbert
99. Primal Scream – Mantra For A State Of Mind
100. Madness – Can’t Touch Us Now

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 18.11.2016

1. Bastille – Send Them Off
2. Rose Elinor Dougall – Stellular
3. Tove Lo – True Disaster
4. Bruno Mars – 24k Magic
5. Catfish and the Bottlemen – Outside

Tomorrow, is International Men’s Day. Just another day for me, but if you’re commemorating it, enjoy yourself.

Some people even choose to celebrate it by being a self-hating dick on Twitter.

But most importantly, it’s an opportunity to do some theme charts. And yes, I do the same on International Women’s Day. It’s on March 8th if you don’t know. You may be shocked to realise you can point out the date of something and not be a sneering dick like Richard Herring.

SONGS WITH MAN/MEN/BOY IN THE TITLE

1. Duran Duran – Wildboys
2. Michael Jackson – Man In the Mirror
3. The Verve – Lucky Man
4. The Charlatans – North Country Boy
5. Andrew Gold – Lonely Boy

SONGS BY MEN

1. Simple Minds – She’s A River
2. U2 – The Fly
3. Bruce Springsteen – Badlands
4. Enrique Iglesias – Do You Know?
5. 10CC – The Things We Do For Love

SONGS WITH MEN’S NAME IN THE TITLE

1. Elliott Smith – Son Of Sam
2. Bat For Lashes – Daniel
3. Joshua Kaddison – Jesse
4. Oasis – Little James
5. Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 28.10.2016

1. Tove Lo – True Disaster
2. The Pretenders – Holy Commotion
3. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Acoustic
4. Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
5. Bruno Mars – 24k Magic

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 21.10.2016

1. Ray Blk – My Hood
2. Bruno Mars – 24k Magic
3. David Bowie – Killing A Little Time
4. Oasis – D’Ya Know What I Mean (Mustique Demo)
5. Oasis – Stand By Me (Mustique Demo)

THE SOUND OF 2014 : 76 – 100

Well, it’s that time of year again, Christmas is coming and we’re looking back at the 12 months just past.

As is tradition, time for a musical look back, at the Top 100 songs of the year, to see who will join this illustrious list of former winners :

2013 Haim – The Wire
2012 Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
2011 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – AKA …. What A Life
2010 Marina and the Diamonds – Shampain
2009 Little Boots – New In Town
2008 Sons and Daughters – Darling
2007 Feist – 1, 2, 3, 4
2006 Kasabian – Empire

Spoiler alert – There’s three former winners in this year’s Top 100.

Anyway, on with the music. Enjoy.

76. The Horrors – So Now You Now
77. Foo Fighters – Something From Nothing
78. Courteeners – Summer
79. The Kooks – Forgive and Forget
80. Ed Sheeran – Sing
81. Maximo Park – Leave This Island
82. Nick Mulvey – Cucurucu
83. Per Gessle – He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
84. Alexa Goddard – So There
85. Caro Emerald – Walk Like An Egypitan
86. Kaiser Chiefs – Coming Home
87. Twin Atlantic – Brothers and Sisters
88. Dolly Partin ft Richie Sambora – Lay Your Hands On Me
89. Tom Odell – Real Love
90. Becky Hill – Losing
91. Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
92. U2 – Iris (Hold Me Close)
93. Train – Holding Back The Years
94. Damon Albarn – Heavy Seas Of Love
95. American Authors – Best Day Of My Life
96. Mnek – Every Little Word
97. Coldplay – Magic
98. James – All I’m Saying
99. Matthew Dear ft Tegan and Sara – Pale Shelter
100. Charli XCX – Break The Rules

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 14.11.2014

1. Gabrielle Aplin – That’s All
2. Wonder Villains – Golden Five
3. Take That – These Days
4. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – True Faith
5. Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk

So, another week goes by, and once again, X-Factor make up the themes as they go along, as last week was Queen v Michael Jackson, that well known musical rivalry. Oh yes, I remember when the school playground was divided, and you were either Queen or Michael Jackson, there was no middle ground.

FIVE SONGS BY QUEEN

1. The Miracle
2. Seven Seas Of Rhye
3. Let Me Live
4. Innuendo
5. Bicycle Races

FIVE SONGS BY MICHAEL JACKSON

1. Man In The Mirror
2. Black Or White
3. Beat It
4. Will You Be There
5. They Don’t Really Care About Us

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 21.12.2012

If the world does end today, here’s five songs to see you through the final moments of humanity.

1. Muse – Madness
2. REM – It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
3. Matt Cardle – It’s Only Love
4. Bruno Mars – Locked Out Of Heaven
5. Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire

If the world doesn’t end today, it’s Christmas next week. So, here’s a Christmas chart for you all

FIVE CHRISTMAS SONGS

1. Robert Goulet – Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
2. Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas
3. Jethro Tull – Solstice Bells
4. The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping
5. Fountains Of Wayne – I Want An Alien For Christmas

Oh, and of course, Merry Christmas and all that

THE SOUND OF 2012 : 26-50

26. Newton Faulkner – Clouds
27. The Family Rain – Trust Me, I’m A Genius
28. Madness – My Girl II
29. Pink – Try
30. Green Day – Kill The DJ
31. Cheryl Cole – Under The Sun
32. Of Monsters And Men – Little Talks
33. Bruno Mars – Locked Out Of Heaven
34. Thea Gilmore – London
35. Fun – Some Nights
36. Kylie Minogue – Flower
37. Adele – Skyfall
38. Coldplay – Hurts Like Heaven
39. The Vaccines – I Always Knew
40. Alicia Keys – Girl On Fire
41. Paloma Faith – Never Tear Us Apart
42. Black Keys – Lonely Boy
43. Lloyd – Dedication To Me Ex
44. Elbow – First Steps
45. Blur – Under The Westway
46. Underworld – Caliban’s Dream
47. Justice – New Lands
48. Green Day – Oh Love
49. Pure Love – Riot Song
50. Labrinth ft Emeli Sane – Beneath You’re Beautiful

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 14.12.2012

1. Matt Cardle – It’s Only Love
2. Bruno Mars – Locked Out Of Heaven
3. The Moons ft Paul Weller – Something Soon
4. McFly – One For The Radio
5. The Family Rain – Trust Me, I’m A Genius

So, X-Factor is over, and i’ve already forgotten who won. It also means there’ll be no more themed charts until October 2013, assuming it doesn’t get cancelled.

Well, how about one more X-Factor themed chart?

FIVE SONGS BY X-FACTOR ACTS

1. Matt Cardle – It’s Only Love
2. Leona Lewis – Forgive Me
3. Little Mix – Wings
4. Olly Murs – Heart Skips A Beat
5. Rebecca Ferguson – Backtrack

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 7.12.2012

1. Lenka – Everything At Once
2. M82 – Midnight City
3. Bruno Mars – Locked Out Of Heaven
4. The Family Rain – Trust Me, I’m A Genius
5. Silhouette – Foxes

There is no X-Factor themed chart this week in protest at last week’s theme being utterly useless.

‘Songs that mean a lot to me’ – Seriously, they are making this up as they go along.