Clappy vs Billboard Hot 100

[SG19]

I see Snoop Dogg as a hip hop artist, but the term "pop" is ambiguous.

[Wumbo]

Yeah, "pop" can be defined as just what's popular, or the preened and prodded genre of music for commercial success.

[CyanideFishbone]

Kanye West? Mariah Carey? Weezer? Gorillaz? Foo Fighters? Green Day? Snoop Dogg? Fall Out Boy? The Killers? Kelly Clarkson - oh wait, that's my personal favorite of that year.

 

I could be certain you're in jumping in the "We hate it because X hates it" bandwagon, but if it's your true opinion, then I can accept it. 

 

.

Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, Weezer, and Green Day are all awesome.

[Doctor Sex]

Theirs a thing called pop rap. Its when the song is rap but pop charts friendly

[President Squidward]

Speaking of Lorde, is it just me or has her songs lately been sounding the same? Jousting, winning, love... I think it's probably me.

[Doctor Sex]

Speaking of Lorde, is it just me or has her songs lately been sounding the same? Jousting, winning, love... I think it's probably me.

Thought that ever since I heard her

[SG19]

Speaking of Lorde, is it just me or has her songs lately been sounding the same? Jousting, winning, love... I think it's probably me.

Um, we were talking about hit songs from 2005 and 2010, not Lorde.

[101 Dalmatian Street]

Um, we were talking about hit songs from 2005 and 2010, not Lorde.

 

Before that was brought up, Clappy brought up Lorde's "Tennis Court" and how he considers it one of the worst music videos. 

[SG19]

Before that was brought up, Clappy brought up Lorde's "Tennis Court" and how he considers it one of the worst music videos. 

Oh, yeah...

[Clappy]

2005 really wasn't that bad tbh. I despise 2010, but hey to each their own.

Also, Lorde's video for Tennis Courts is just brutally boring. It is not artistic or brilliant that she is just standing there staring saying "yeah". It's one of the laziest videos I've ever watched.

[Sweat]

2005 really wasn't that bad tbh. I despise 2010, but hey to each their own.

Also, Lorde's video for Tennis Courts is just brutally boring. It is not artistic or brilliant that she is just standing there staring saying "yeah". It's one of the laziest videos I've ever watched.

Plus, she looks really creepy in the video.

[Clappy]

Before I do my Top 10 of 2010 list....time to do another song that hasn't reached the Top 10 yet, but I think has a very good chance.

 

"Rather Be" - Clean Bandit (featuring Jess Glynne)

 

Spoiler

 

But before I do, I want to go over Brit-pop.  Like I have previously stated on this thread, the UK Billboard charts are a strange strange place.  

 

 

DO THE BARTMAN became a number one hit over there.  But yeah, some of the strangest songs have charted over there and some of that shit leaks over stateside.  I mean we can thank the UK for artists like:

 

 

Brit Brat Cher Lloyd

 

 

Mike Posner became a thing thanks to the UK.....oh and of course since we are talking about artists that came stateside, we have to always mention by default:

 

 

 

But you know, not everything from the UK is bad.  I mean we got artists like Robyn, Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, and of course Elton John.  What I'm trying to say is while the bad UK pop can range to all sorts of levels of bad, the good UK pop can reach all sorts of levels of good.

 

Which leads me to today's artists from the other side of the Atlantic, Clean Bandit...and once again, I didn't know shit about them until I started to listen to more of their stuff.  These guys are really...different.  What they do is mix classical music with house trance music.  Here listen to their first hit single over in the UK, "Mozart's House"

 

 

I honestly have no idea what to think.  At least this is interesting EDM.  Far more than that boring shit we constantly hear from David Guetta or Calvin Harris.  Hell it even mentions it throughout the song.  Not saying I like this but this is definitely far different than the same old shit we seem to be getting from dance music lately.

 

So you think electronic music is boring.  So you think it is repetitive.

 

Yes it is.  Thank you for doing something different Clean Bandit.  But this is not a review of Mozart's House.  This is a review of Rather Be.

 

Rather Be really doesn't do much to differentiate Clean Bandit from most other EDM artists....actually this song feels like a mix of house music and synthpop.  It's not really that complicated of a song either to be honest.  It's just a silly love song, but you know what?  Contrary to any opinion I've given off in the past, I love my silly love songs.

 

We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be
 

I would expect this guy to still be with you if you've traveled land and sea.  That's a lot of land and sea.

 

I would wait forever, exalted in the scene
As long as I am with you, my heart continues to beat
 

Aww how cute....

With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay
 

Erm...Kyoto to what I assume is the Tokyo Bay really isn't as far apart as she makes it out to be.

 

Strolling so casually
We're different and the same, get you another name
Switch up the batteries

 

Switch up the batteries?  What?

 

Ok so the lyrics range from cute to confusing, but I'll just face the facts and admit that the chorus is catchy as hell.

 

If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it
Know with all of your heart, you can't shake me
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be
N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be 

N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be

N-n-n-no, no, no, no place I'd rather be

 

And the second verse is a much bigger improvement over the first.

 

We staked out on a mission to find our inner peace
Make it everlasting so nothing's incomplete
It's easy being with you, sacred simplicity
As long as we're together, there's no place I'd rather be

 

But the real reason why this song is so good is just the accompanying artist.  I have no clue who this Jess Glynne is and she really hasn't done much of anything in her career either according to what I've been looking up on Google, but she is just fantastic.  She makes the song a lot better than it probably should be.  I can feel the emotion coming from her voice and just her singing reminds me a lot of Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, one of my favorite groups.  Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but I really want to hear more from this Jess Glynne.

 

So yeah, Rather Be.  While it's just a silly love song, I think it's a pretty damn catchy silly love song.  I like this.  Two thumbs up.  More of this from not just EDM, but pop music in general.  Less of this though.

 

[Wumbo]

"Chocolate Salty Balls" made it to the top of the UK charts. I honestly think that the UK charts are some kind of social experiment designed to baffle us North Americans.

[101 Dalmatian Street]

"Chocolate Salty Balls" made it to the top of the UK charts. I honestly think that the UK charts are some kind of social experiment designed to baffle us North Americans.

 

Not to mention Mambo No. 5

 

 

 

 

Whoops, I mean Mambo No. 5 BY BOB THE BUILDER.

[Burgerpants]

"Chocolate Salty Balls" made it to the top of the UK charts. I honestly think that the UK charts are some kind of social experiment designed to baffle us North Americans.

Are you sure this wasn't a GOOD thing?

[Clappy]

Just realized I need to do my Top 10 of 2010 before Wumbo leaves and there goes half the regular viewers.  Quick heads up though, I know a lot of these songs also qualified as hits of 2009, but if they ended up on the 2010 list, I'm counting them.  No one is stopping me.

 

Runners Up:

 

Carry Out - I can't hate on this despite how cheesy these lines.  I just love Justin Timberlake and this was the closest thing we had to him making a comeback during his seven year hiatus from making music.

 

Magic - Rivers Cuomo's chorus.  That is all.  Everything else is ok.

 

There Goes My Baby - Usher is the king of R&B for a reason.  I wish it was only a bit more memorable in the verses because I can belt the chorus easily.

 

My Chick Bad - .....ok so I can find one Nicki Minaj guest spot that I can actually say is great.  She is miles and above the sole reason this song is a runner-up.  Ludacris is ok too on this.

 

California Gurls - It took long enough, but I'm no longer sick of this.  This is a big guilty pleasure.

 

Meet Me Halfway - I'm not as big a fan of this song as others, but this is still a good Black Eyed Peas song regardless.

 

Bad Romance - Consider this the unofficial number 11 on my best songs list of 2010.

 

 

10. "The Only Exception" - Paramore

 

Hayley Williams stripped away the bare minimums and it became at the time Paramore's highest ranked song on Billboard's charts.  Shocking as it sounds, but not even Misery Business cracked the Top 20 the year it came out.  Only complaint is that for a song called you are the only exception, she doesn't sound like she is fully in on this relationship period with all her doubts.  Still, a beautiful song from a beautiful girl.

 

9. "DJ Got Us Falling In Love" - Usher (featuring Pitbull)

 

For the longest time I couldn't stand this, but as the years go by, the more I like this.  Hell, I can't even complain about Pitbull on this.  But he doesn't even come close to reaching Usher's level of awesomeness on this.  Usher has always had a thing for great party/club anthems as this is probably the best example of him on his A game.

 

 

8. "Young Forever" - Jay-Z (featuring Mr. Hudson)

 

Wumbo I think I like this more for the sampling of one of my favorite 80s songs Forever Young more than Jay-Z on this.  I just think they did a good job sampling a song I always thought was untouchable.  This isn't Jay-Z at his best by far, but this is a song about appreciating the spotlight for what it's worth.  This is what Holy Grail should have been for Jay-Z because he did far better here.  Oh and Mr. Hudson is always good for a guest spot.  Too bad he can't establish himself as a solo artist.

 

 

7. "Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum

 

Definitely the best country song of the past five years.  This is how country music once drawed me in as a big fan when I was younger.  This just tells a great story about drinking and despair. 

 

 

6. "Forever" - Drake (featuring Eminem, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne)

 

Talk about star power.  This song established Drake as a star and while it has been hit or miss for him in his career, he will always have this song here to show that he is the real deal and he does have talent.

 

 

5. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry

 

If any song off the Teenage Dream album stands out for me, it's this one and Last Friday Night.  Both great songs and I wish Katy Perry would go ahead and go back to writing songs as good as these versus what we've been getting off of Prism.  Such a disappointing album that was....but Teenage Dream was what cemented Katy Perry for me as a true bonafide pop star more so than California Gurls did.

 

 

4.  "Nothin' on You" - B.o.B. (featuring Bruno Mars) 

 

What a debut for both of these guys.  This song is just wonderful and it makes me wish we had more of this on the radio today.  That being said, B.o.B. needs to make up his mind whether he wants to be a hardcore rapper or a crossover pop act because at the moment he is not believable as either artist.  Meanwhile, I eagerly await Bruno Mars follow up album where I expect more songs like Locked Out of Heaven and Treasure.

 

 

3. "I Gotta Feeling" - The Black Eyed Peas

 

You know for as much shit as The Black Eyed Peas get (and rightfully so), I don't know a single person who hates this song.  Count me as someone who else who loves this huge guilty pleasure.

 

MAZEL TOV!

 

 

2. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem (featuring Rihanna)

 

Don't care about all the controversy regarding Rihanna/Chris Brown blah blah blah in this song.  Her singing here is just beautiful and Eminem is just fantastic in this.  This is the only rap song my sister can stand and that is saying something because my sister hates rap with a passion.  Everything Eminem and Rihanna do together is never disappointing.

 

 

....let's just pretend that doesn't exist.  Please.

 

 

1. "Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon

 

I'm cheating.  This was in 2009.  This charted in 2010 though, so I don't care.  This song is fantastic.  One of the best songs in the past decade.  Hands down.  All I ask is for rock crossover songs like this.  Then rock won't be the dying genre that it currently is.

[Wumbo]

Ehhh, I like "Forever Young" but Jay-Z just loses me with "Young Forever". All the song does is make me want to listen to "Forever Young".

 

What's your opinion on "Empire State of Mind"?

[Clappy]

Ehhh, I like "Forever Young" but Jay-Z just loses me with "Young Forever". All the song does is make me want to listen to "Forever Young".

 

What's your opinion on "Empire State of Mind"?

I got tired of it after the first 100 times on the radio.  Still taking awhile to get over the overplay.  It was fine at first...just too long.

[CyanideFishbone]

Since I'm about to go on another hiatus in a few days, I want to try something different here.  There are A LOT of songs I haven't reviewed yet that have made Billboard's Top 10.  Some by choice I have not reviewed.  Others I just haven't gotten the time to do so.  So instead, I'm just going to do some Quick Takes on the songs I've missed and that I might not get time to review between now and whenever my break may end:

 

"The Monster" - Eminem featuring Rihanna

 

I skipped this one by choice.  Not that I personally have a problem with it.  It's Jay-Z's "Holy Grail" except the song has a pulse.  Which resolves a lot of the problems I had with Holy Grail.  I liked this song originally, but after hearing how much better a lot of the songs on Marshall Mathers LP 2, it's kinda went down a bit.  Still I prefer this over a lot of the songs on the radio at the moment and Rihanna should collaborate with Eminem more often.  That's when she is usually at her most tolerable.

 

 

"Counting Stars" - One Republic

 

Also another song I skipped to review by choice.  Definitely a lot better of a song than other OneRepublic songs.  Ryan Tedder is incredibly talented.  However, this song is just meh to me.  I don't particularly like it, but I don't particularly hate it.  At least it has a future of being a reality competition song for aspiring singers.

 

 

"Let Her Go" - Passenger

 

Yep I'm commenting on this again.  My disgust for this song has grown since I originally placed it on my year end worst list.  I'm highly considering placing this on the year end worst list for 2014 too.  IT JUST WON'T GO AWAY!!!  Although I can finally say something positive about it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TCiI4rXAMo

 

Aww.  Such a cute commercial.  The puppy has a best friend in the horsey.  Such a heartwarming commercial.  The song still absolutely sucks massive amounts of suck though.

 

 

"Pompeii" - Bastille

 

I was originally going to give this one a full review, but I couldn't come up with full review material for it.  At first I absolutely loved this song and wished it had a better future on the charts.  And that it did cracking into the Top.  But thanks to so much replay on the radio, I've started to thoroughly analyze it more.  Now, I have no idea whether I like this or I just think this song is absolutely silly nonsense.  I think it's the former more than the latter, but man does this song have some absolute silly moments trying to compare life to the downfall of Pompeii.  The music video is still great regardless.

 

 

"Story of My Life" - One Direction

 

Boring.  There are definitely far more boring songs on the chart and I have to give One Direction credit for actually starting to make more mature sounding music compared to the crap over the past two years.  However, this is just VERY boring.

 

 

"Burn" - Ellie Goulding

 

Boring.  Also fire metaphors have to be one of the most overused cliches in song.  Ellie Goulding is an interesting artist, but I'm starting to doubt that we'll ever get another song as great as Lights from her ever again.

 

 

"All of Me" - John Legend

 

VERY BORING.  I get that John Legend is a man of romance, but my god.  The video for this.  If Kanye West gets crap for Bound 2 and him making love to Kim Kardashian on a motorcycle, then this video shouldn't get a pass for John Legend making love with his fiancee Chrissy Teigen twice.  I'll give the video credit for this though, it emphasizes how hot Chrissy Teigen is.

 

 

"The Man" - Aloe Blacc

 

I actually kinda like this.  Fun fact, did you know Elton John is one of the credited writers?  Just like I mentioned with Happy, this song is simplistic and enjoyable for it's simplicity.  Hope this eventually cracks the Top 10.

 

 

"Can't Remember to Forget You" - Shakira (featuring Rihanna)

 

Can I just watch the music video for this?  Very sexy.  Very attractive.  But man, this is underwhelming.  I might have to give this a full review if it is still around on the charts when I get back.

 

 

"Show Me" - Kid Ink (featuring Chris Brown)

 

Is it bad that I find this interestingly bad?  I mean from Chris Brown repeating the same thing over and over again about "mami" reminding him of something and that he doesn't know what it is.  Kid Ink's lines are incredibly cheesy.  "Mustard on the beat ho"?  There are so many problems with this song, but I can't entirely hate it.  The melody as repetitive as it is I find very catchy.  Like when I'm blanking out at work, I find myself saying "you remind me of something I don't know what it is, you better show me".  It's bad I know.

Hate Story Of My Life. Social Distortion did it first, jeez.

[SG19]

Hate Story Of My Life. Social Distortion did it first, jeez.

The One Direction song doesn't rip off the Social Distortion song. They just both have the same title. It's not uncommon for a song title to be used more than once.