THE FRIDAY FIVE (AND IT’S A EURO 2021 SPECIAL) – 11.6.2021

1. Alphabeat – Danmark’s Dynamite
2. The Alarm – The Red Wall Of Cymru
3. Olivia Rodrigo – Good 4 U
4. Marshmello X Jonas Brothers – Leave Before You Love Me
5. Holly Humberstone – The Walls Are Way Too Thin

You may or may not have noticed, but an international football tournament starts today.

As is tradition, here’s a group by group chart by acts from the competing countries.

GROUP A

1. Yello – Oh Yeah
2. Spagna – Call Me
3. Stereophonics – Dakota
4. Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse Of The Heart
5. Ryan Paris – Dolce Vita

GROUP B

1. Tatu – All The Things She Said
2. Alphabeat – Boyfriend
3. The Rasmus – In The Shadows
4. Lordi – Hard Rock Hallelujah
5. Rasmussen – Higher Ground

GROUP C

1. Falco – Rock Me Amadeus
2. George Baker Selection – Little Green Bag
3. Shocking Blue – Venus
4. Focus – Hocus Pocus
5. Opus – Life Is Life

GROUP D

1. Simple Minds – Don’t You Forget About Me
2. Duran Duran – Ordinary World
3. Del Amriti – Always The Last To Know
4. Echo and the Bunnymen – Nothing Lasts Forever
5. Karel Fialka – Hey Matthew

GROUP E

1. Roxette – Joyride
2. Ace Of Base – The Sign
3. Robyn – Who’s That Girl?
4. Baccara – Yes Sir I Can Boogie
5. ABBA – Supertrouper

GROUP F

1. Daft Punk – Robot Rock
2. Nena – 99 Red Balloons
3. Freiheit – Keeping The Dream Alive
4. Desireless – Voyage Voyage
5. Lena – Satellite

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 8.6.2018

1. The Kooks – No Pressure
2. Johnny Marr – Hi Hello
3. Courtney Barrett – Nameless Faceless
4. Christine and the Queens – Girlfriend
5. Aurora – Queendom

And now, the first of many apologies.

Apologies for not having a Friday Five last week, I was too busy doing blogs from Biggest Weekend.

The last time I did a Friday Five, I totally forgot that it was Her Majesty Kylie Minogue’s 50th birthday.

Belatedly, he’s a chart to celebrate Kylie’s half century on earth.

FIVE SONGS BY KYLIE MINOGUE

1. I Believe In You
2. Better Than Today
3. I Should Be So Lucky
4. 2 Hearts
5. Some Kind Of Bliss

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the World Cup starts. So here, is a series of musical charts based on the groups. You may notice that some acts are appearing under FIFA’s nationality rules.

SONGS BY ARTISTS FROM COUNTRIES IN GROUPS A-B

1. Tatu – All The Things She Said
2. Enrique Iglesias – Do You Know?
3. Nelly Furtado – Maneater
4. Tatu – All About Us
5. Baccara – Yes Sir, I Can Boogie

SONGS BY ARTISTS FROM COUNTRIES IN GROUPS C-D

1. Alphabeat – Boyfriend
2. Of Monsters And Men – Little Talks
3. Desireless – Voyage Voyage
4. Steffan Dennis – Don’t It Make You Feel Good
5. Daft Punk – Robot Rock

SONGS BY ARTISTS FROM COUNTRIES IN GROUPS E-F

1. Yello – Oh Yeah
2. Ace Of Base – The Sign
3. Freiheit – Keeping The Dream Alive
4. Modern Talking – Brother Louie
5. Emilia – Big Big World

SONGS BY ARTISTS FROM COUNTRIES IN GROUPS G-H

1. Glenn and Chris – Diamond Lights
2. Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know
3. FR David – Words
4. The 5678s – Woo Hoo
5. Shakira – Underneath Your Clothes

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 24.5.2013

1. The Uncluded – Delicate Cycle
2. Texas – The Conversation
3. Mark Owen – Stars
4. Emmelie De Forest – Only Teardrops
5. Margaret Berger – I Feed You My Love

So, this weekend is the European Cup Final at Wembley, an it’s an all German affair.

Any excuse, if it was needed, to celebrate the best in German music.

Sweden last week, Germany this, country specific music charts might become a regular feature. Not long until Canada Day, Independence Day and Bastille Day. Ironically, a Bastille Day charts won’t feature Bastille.

FIVE SONGS BY GERMAN ACTS

1. Nena – 99 Red Balloons
2. Freiheit – Keeping The Dream Alive
3. Modern Talking – Brother Louie
4. Alphaville – Big In Japan
5. Scorpions – Wind Of Change

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 18.5.2012

1. Coldplay ft Rihanna – Princess Of China
2. Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
3. Ren Harvieu – Open Up Your Arms
4. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
5. Cheryl Cole – Call My Name

With this weekend seeing the European Cup Final take place in Munich, I thought i’d take the opportunity to do a chart of Germany’s finest musical exports. In truth, i’d just been looking for an excuse, and now I have it.

FIVE SONGS BY GERMAN ACTS

1. Nena – 99 Red Balloons
2. Freiheit – Keeping The Dream Alive
3. Alphaville – Big In Japan
4. Modern Talking – Brother Louie
5. The Scorpions – Winds Of Change

With Liverpool Sound City starting this week, I thought i’d pay tribute to the city’s top musical exports, which makes up for having two rubbish football teams.

I’ve already got a tin hat on in preparation after not including Sonia

FIVE SONGS BY LIVERPOOL ACTS

1. Cast – Finetime
2. Lightning Seeds – All I Want
3. The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything
4. The Farm – All Together Now
5. The Zutons – You Will You Won’t

THE FRIDAY FIVE – 4.5.2012

1. Goldie Lookin Chain – Tony Pulis
2. Marina and the Diamonds – Primadonna
3. Thea Gilmore – London
4. Fun ft Janelle Monae – We Are Young
5. Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill

This weekend, is Europe Day, so in honour of this, let’s celebrate this great continent in music, by songs from acts from Mainland Europe, and songs about cities in Europe

FIVE SONGS BY MAINLAND EUROPEAN ACTS

1. Europe – The Final Countdown
2. Falco – Rock Me Amadeus
3. Desireless – Voyage Voyage
4. Freiheit – Keeping The Dream Alive
5. 2 Unlimited – No Limit

FIVE SONGS ABOUT EUROPEAN CITIES

1. Boney M – Belfast
2. The Clash – London Calling
3. Editors – Munich
4. The Beautiful South – Rotterdam
5. Ultravox – Vienna

Meanwhile, the line-up for the Olympic Ganes opening concert was announced, featuring a band from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Duran Duran are representing England, with the organisers presumably thinking it’s the 1984 Olympics rather than the 2012 games. Snow Patrol got the Northern Ireland choice as Baltimora is dead, and Janet Devlin was too busy sitting in her bedroom listening to obscure music.

Stereophonics got the Welsh vote as Bonnie Tyler was too busy washing her lovely blonde hair. I have no idea why Paolo Nutini was chosen to represent Scotland.

To celebrate this, I shall do a Duran Duran, Stereophoincs, and Snow Patrol Top Five, as well as another Scotland Top Five (after previous St Andrew’s Day and Burns Night Top Fives)

Choosing a Duran Duran Top Five wasn’t easy. It was about as easy as a nuclear war.

FIVE DURAN DURAN SONGS

1. Wildboys
2. Hungry Like The Wolf
3. Ordinary World
4. Save A Prayer
5. White Lines

FIVE STEREOPHONICS SONGS

1. Dakota
2. A Thousand Trees
3. Superman
4. Just Looking
5. Madame Helga

FIVE SNOW PATROL SONGS

1. Signal Fire
2. Hands Open
3. How To Be Dead
4. Called Out In The Dark
5. Chocolate

FIVE SONGS BY SCOTTISH ACTS

1. Big Country – One Great Thing
2. Aztec Camara – Somewhere In My Heart
3. Del Amitri – Roll To Me
4. Simple Minds – She’s A River
5. The Proclaimers – Letter From America