Let's all meet up in the year 2000. Won't it be be strange?
One of the worst Number 1s ever, in my opinion, is
We Will Rock You - Five and Queen
which is clearly a bit harsh, but, man, it's still dispiriting to think of it.
I'm quite fond of 5ive, and Queen are Queen, or rather, here, Queen really aren't Queen, but this is just an abject sign of the times, this one.
2000 was pretty much the worst year for the trend around the turn of the century for singles to only be Number 1 for one week. That year, there were only 8 Number 1s that were at the top for longer than a week. It is one of the few pleasing details of how streaming has changed the singles charts that songs have a much longer run at it now, in terms of both staying at Number 1 and staying in the charts full stop.
In 2000, everything was focused towards a high new entry and after that it didn't really matter. There are some distinctly unmemorable chart-toppers that year.
Not all - Pure Shores, Oops I Did It Again, Beautiful Day, Spinning Around, The Real Slim Shady, 7 Days, Groovejet (If This Ain't Love), Independent Women, Stan ... there are some really well-remembered Number 1s from that year, but lots that aren't.
Five (or 5ive) were quite a fun boyband for a while - there was the impression they had a bit more a sense of danger than some (When the Lights Go Out, Don't Want to Let You Go), they could do anthem (Everybody Get Up) and had some catchy light pop songs like Got the Feeling and Keep on Movin'.
By this release, though, even though it got to Number 1, it was clear their time was passed (soon to be seamlessly replaced by Blue), and it was also obvious, and I remember this so clearly at the time, that one of them. Sean, didn't want to be there. He looked in visible absent distress when they were on TV - this turns out to have been very much the case, and, less obviously, he wasn't the only one. It really sounds like it was a bit of a shitty life.
As for Queen, Freddie was dead 9 years, John Deacon had had enough a few years before, Brian May and Roger Taylor had a musical to sell. So be it. Two tickets to We Will Rock You.
But I never liked the song at the best of times, even when I loved Queen, I was thoroughly sick of it when it was on Gladiators each week, and this new version was beyond the pale.
Richie Neville, an ok singer who had the most "rock" voice of the five, had the thankless task of doing the Mercury vocal and ... you know, it's not.
There are some desperate rap bits, Sean looking miserable in the video, and the strong sense of how far both Five, and Queen, were from actually "rocking" anyone at that point.
Number 1 a couple of weeks later was Rock DJ by Robbie Williams, another song which insulted the word "rock" ... anyway, what was I listening to then? Flaming Lips, The Band, inbetween British indie like Ooberman and Ultrasound. I am still not seeing much light in pop music, but I remember it was at the end of 2000, with Stan and Independent Women, that I became a bit more open to non-rock music than I had been. Especially if this aberration was rock music.
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