Sunday, December 21, 2003
Well, well, well! 2003 featured the closest battle for the UK's Christmas #1 in years, and the big winner is a bit of a big surprise.
It's not the Pop Idols, whose predictably crap cover of John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas" - the bookies' favorite - slunk in at #5.
It's not Bo Selecta, whose bizarre, oh so British novelty record "Proper Chrimbo" features the best lyric of any of the contenders: "Ho, ho, ho, I'm a bad mofo!" He's at #4. [That record, btw, was Dizzee Rascal' favorite for the prize.]
Thank heavens it's not Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne. Now, I'm thrilled that Ozzy finally got a UK #1 last week. But did it have to be a duet with his entirely talentless daughter on a butchered rewrite of Black Sabbath's "Changes"? Disheartening, and down two to #3.
And rather surprisingly, it's not The Darkness, who were the favorites all week, once the first-day sales figures were announced. "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" is a charmingly metallic holiday record, but really, not much better than Slade's ol' warhorse "Merry Christmas Everybody." And Darkness singer Justin's whining all month about how "ours is a proper Christmas record" got seriously grating.
So the Christmas #1 for 2003 is from, of all places, the 2001 motion picture Donnie Darko! It's a fine cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" done by Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - albeit a real pass-the-barbituates kind of holiday tune. Gorgeous record, though.
For those non-Brits wondering what all the fuss is about, "Mad World" and "Christmas Time" have been added to the Christmas downloads section to your right. Please form an orderly queue.
It's not the Pop Idols, whose predictably crap cover of John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas" - the bookies' favorite - slunk in at #5.
It's not Bo Selecta, whose bizarre, oh so British novelty record "Proper Chrimbo" features the best lyric of any of the contenders: "Ho, ho, ho, I'm a bad mofo!" He's at #4. [That record, btw, was Dizzee Rascal' favorite for the prize.]
Thank heavens it's not Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne. Now, I'm thrilled that Ozzy finally got a UK #1 last week. But did it have to be a duet with his entirely talentless daughter on a butchered rewrite of Black Sabbath's "Changes"? Disheartening, and down two to #3.
And rather surprisingly, it's not The Darkness, who were the favorites all week, once the first-day sales figures were announced. "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" is a charmingly metallic holiday record, but really, not much better than Slade's ol' warhorse "Merry Christmas Everybody." And Darkness singer Justin's whining all month about how "ours is a proper Christmas record" got seriously grating.
So the Christmas #1 for 2003 is from, of all places, the 2001 motion picture Donnie Darko! It's a fine cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" done by Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - albeit a real pass-the-barbituates kind of holiday tune. Gorgeous record, though.
For those non-Brits wondering what all the fuss is about, "Mad World" and "Christmas Time" have been added to the Christmas downloads section to your right. Please form an orderly queue.
# posted by Thomas : 11:02 AM
