The television production people certainly hit on a winning formula when they came up with their ‘The Nation’s Favourite 50 ……..’ formula. (Fill in you own blank.)
We seem to have been swamped by them in recent years. Our favourite tv moments, funniest sitcoms, best loved scenes from the soaps and others I can’t quite remember crop up regularly.
And the thing is, they’re compulsive viewing. You put them on for want of anything better to watch and even thought you tell yourself that you’ll switch off at the next ads, you can’t resist finding out just who or what is number one.
And there’s the rub – people actually vote for their favourites, although I’ve never actually seen a voting slip or been asked for my opinion. Which is a good thing because it means I can happily criticise other people’s taste.
This weekend it was The Nation’s Favourite Number 1 Singles to celebrate sixty years of the Official Singles Chart in the UK. I started watching about halfway through on Saturday and then tuned in again last night for the second 90 minutes show.
Part of the attraction was seeing some of the pop stars as they are now, commenting on the selections. The likes of Eric Burdon, ABBA, Brian May, Phil Oakey and Holly Johnson.
There weren’t too many surprises and I won’t draw out the suspense – number one was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Ironic really that the one song that breaks the three-minute mould tops the lot. Here’s the top ten:
| 1 | Queen | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| 2 | Michael Jackson | Billie Jean |
| 3 | Adele | Someone Like You |
| 4 | Oasis | Don’t Look Back In Anger |
| 5 | The Beatles | Hey Jude |
| 6 | John Lennon | Imagine |
| 7 | Britney Spears | …Baby One More Time |
| 8 | Abba | Dancing Queen |
| 9 | Whitney Houston | I Will Always Love You |
| 10 | Kylie Minogue | Can’t Get You Out Of My Head |
Interesting that the only really recent release was by Adele, or that her Someone Like You is right out of the same stable as Whitney’s I Will Always Love You – similar theme and similar style. Mind you, Whitney tends to make my ears bleed.
It would have been nice to see a song older than 1968 since this was meant to be a celebration of the last sixty years, not the last forty and there were titles lower down the list that would have been in my own top ten. Such as Bridge Over Troubled Water for Art Garfunkel’s voice and Paul Simon’s lyrics.
But of the ones that were chosen, the one that still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up is Oasis, so I’ll leave you with Don’t Look Back in Anger.
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Those lists are often skewed to the more recent, but that top 10 has only one song of real recency – Adele, of course.
can’t say any of that top ten would be in MY top ten but then it’s pretty much horses for courses and all that….. half of the reason we watch shows like the “top fifty smurfs” is that we like to disagree with them…… Smurfette should have been much higher than number seven! They give us our “water cooler” moments…..
Or even our blogger moments AF. I’m not sure what I would have written about today without it !
Roger: Yes I was surprised there wasn’t more modern stuff at the top. I suppose it must say something either about the demographic of the media in which it was promoted, or that the younger generation just doesn’t do democracy!
Bohemian Rhapsody definitely and I also like Dancing Queen. You can keep the rest though. (Damn, I meant to watch that!)
I’m not sure any of these charts showing us “the best of” are really worth much looking at. I’m always conscious that if you aim your poll at a particular “electorate” then you will be able to more or less predict what the likely results will be. For example, let a newspaper or magazine which might be read by a particular age range/gender/social class/type of person offer to do their own chart/poll, then repeat the exercise with a totally different group and the result is clearly going to be different.
Every time I hear Imagine by John Lennon on the radio I have to switch it off. I find it dreadfully mournful with completely banal lyrics that are so pretentious it’s not true. It’s always a good reason to do something more useful like making a brew.
Speaking of Michael Jackson, TV journalist Michael Buerk, when being interviewed today by Richard Bacon on Radio Five Live, complained that the great man’s death received unnecessary importance and air-time when it was reported on TV (given the other, more serious, events that had happened that day). He said that MJ was just an entertainer who sang in a squeeky voice and danced around a bit.
“How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” should have been up there with the best of them and I agree with you about “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Also where’s Mungo Jerry’s “In The Summertime”?
P.S. I despise Richard Bacon (thought you’d like to know – just in case you decide to post about him)
Yes YP, it was disappointing that the the likes of Granddad< /em > by the St Winifred’s Girls’ Choir didn’t make, not to mention Benny Hill and Ernie, but that’s public taste for you.
As for Richard Bacon, I’ve no intention of writing about him (although I reserve the right) as I find him too jolly and rather grating.