20 years ago. That is exactly how long it has been since British boyband Blue released their debut album. When I first learnt of this on Instagram a week ago, I had two immediate reactions.Firstly, I am that mature now (I was 12 in 2001 for reference, date fans). Secondly, after cranking up that album … Continue reading A definitive ranking of all of Blue’s singles.
Just over two years ago in 2019, when we wrote our 10th anniversary blog for the release of their debut album, we confidently predicted (or at least hoped) that JLS would both get back together and return to the UK and Ireland's arenas in December 2020 to tour and mark the occasion properly. Whilst the … Continue reading #CrazyStupidAlbum: JLS (@JLSOfficial) – ‘2.0’
Hello, hope you're having a good Thursday and week generally so far - which is about to be that little bit better as I give you another great hidden gem from my own personal archives with this week's Pop Essays. So without any ado let's get to this week's entry... Artist: V feat. Tom and … Continue reading Pop Essays #19: V feat. Tom and Danny from McFly, ‘Chills In The Evening’
Hello and welcome to this week's Pop Essays, your weekly series where we bring new light to those forgotten pop gems of years gone by. This week: anyone fancy a British invasion of America? Then read on... Artist: BBMak Song: Back Here Release Date: 16/08/1999 (Original) / 12/02/2001 (Reissue) Writers: Christian Burns / Mark Barry … Continue reading Pop Essays #8: BBMak, ‘Back Here’
Firstly a happy new year to you all, albeit one that seems to be starting suspiciously just as the last one did globally speaking. But no matter, I'm a firm believer, in the words of D:Ream, that things can only get better. Especially as today, I write both my first blog post of 2021 and … Continue reading Pop Essays #1: Ultra, ‘Rescue Me’
15th November 2010. That was the last time, almost 10 years to the day, that McFly last released a full studio album. Said album - Above the Noise - is probably still up there with Spice Girls' Forever and The Human League's Crash as a potentially brilliant but wonkily executed tap into an unexpected territory … Continue reading #CrazyStupidAlbum: McFly (@mcflymusic) – ‘Young Dumb Thrills’
It's Thursday, and midday, and time once again for another revisitation of another poptastic nugget of the UK singles chart from Y2K with The Story of Pop: 2000. This week: one of the 00s biggest boybands cover an 80s classic and claim their first chart topper... Founded by the same management team behind Steps, A1 … Continue reading The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 36)
Needing a trip back to a time when the UK singles chart was chock-a-block with pop and a new number one every week? Then you have come to the right place, for you're just in time for this week's edition of The Story of Pop: 2000, our week-by-week retelling of this altogether crazy time for … Continue reading The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 30)
It's funny how much has changed in ten years. Not least of all The X Factor. Once the cornerstone and an unmissable powerhouse of Saturday night entertainment on ITV, pulling in 16m viewers at its peak, it actually once did what it said on the tin and produced stars. Nowadays, it's a pitiful and irrelevant … Continue reading JLS: a retrospective piece on the 10th anniversary of their debut album
Offering up the sights and sounds from the turn of the Millennium hit parade, this is The Story of Pop: 1999. And ladies, you may want to steady yourselves, for this week we have one of the world's biggest boybands of all time... It's only when I come to write a new one of these … Continue reading The Story of Pop: 1999 (Chapter 19)
Alex's Blog (still Crazy, still Stupid)... 