Birthday Number 1s: 2012 - Spectrum (Say My Name)

In the big summer of 2012, the big song that was Number 1 was

Spectrum (Say My Name) - Florence and the Machine

which is the song Spectrum, remixed by Calvin Harris. I made a playlist of some of these later Number 1s and idly added the non-remixed song and idly thought "that doesn't sound much like a hit single" and then heard the remixed version, and thought, "ok that's what Calvin Harris does."

I had, initially, been a Florence and the Machine fan. I really liked Dog Days are Over, liked the first album, liked them when they supported Blur in Hyde Park just before they got massive (along with Vampire Weekend, pretty good support that), but then went off them for some reason, and very quickly. Not for some reason, actually. Because of the cover of You've Got the Love, which I hated and hate. Which was inescapable for quite a long time, and seemed to confirm everything bad about Florence Welch's voice, even though it was only one song. Oh I still hate it. It's absolutely one of the worst records ever made, I ignored F & T M for a decade or so after that, but have, grudgingly, listened to their last couple of albums, and they're really good.

Also, Florence and the Machine is really, by hook or by crook, an excellent name for a pop act. Excellent maybe the wrong word. But strong. Florence such a pastoral name. The Machine, so many implications. Like two halves of the titles of two extremely different 80s children's shows. I didn't actually know until today that the name is just because the Machine was the teenage nickname of the band's co-founder Isabella Summers. 

This was the Number 1 during the Olympics. I did not know that at the time. Was that a big deal? I feel like everything was a big deal during the Olympics. There was a lot of music about. I remember Elbow and Muse, the Spice Girls, Carly Rae Jepsen, Emeli Sande, Evelyn Glennie, but I don't remember that Florence was Number 1.

The Olympics were great fun. I mean, they really were. I saw lots of stuff - football, swimming, boxing, wheelchair tennis, basketball, boccia, athletics, volleyball. I was around in London, taking it in, though we'd moved to Sevenoaks earlier that year. I think I did karaoke on my actual birthday. Went to Claridge's which had been taken over by NOMA. Ate ants. There were some real treats that fortnight. But I can't remember Florence, even though I'd been to Florence the summer before (when it was a mere 40 degrees, terrifying heatwave fans).

Halfway through the Olympics, we went to stay at J's parent's place in the middle of France, only after I'd received assurances that they had full access to British TV. I was simply not going to miss the Olympics.

I remember on the way down, in Paris, in between connecting trains, outside the Montparnasse, I think, checking on my phone and seeing that Jessica Ennis had run 12.54 in the 100m hurdles. That was the only athletics I missed! Good holiday ... but still no Florence stirs my memory, let alone the machine.

This is a pretty good song. I've actually heard it loads since, in the background. Florence and Calvin had another Number 1 in October 2012 (this time it was Calvin Harris ft Florence Welch).

The Number 1s in 2012 were very good, or rather some of them were. Titanium, Paradise, Call Me Maybe, Feel the Love, Gangnam Style (!), Diamonds (Rihanna's second greatest song ...). Even Robbie Williams had an ok song.

So, basically, all pretty good. Well done, Florence. Well done, Calvin.