Punk-rocker shocker: Gnarls knocked off number one by bland-a-thon
- Artists:
- Sandi Thom »
The seemingly all-conquering duo of Gnarls Barkley have finally slipped from number one to number two on the UK singles chart, following their label's decision to delete their smash hit, 'Crazy'.
In the year's finest single to date's place is the insufferably awful 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker' by former internet star Sandi Thom. Thom, of course, was picked up by RCA after broadcasting a series of gigs over the 'net from her basement in south London.
Despite her single's title, though, Thom's straight-in-at-one effort is a dire, blander-than-a-Mr-Bean-marathon-on-a-nine-hour-flight affair, and about as punk as briefly-popular television boyband North and South. It's proof positive, indeed, that you no longer need a song in your pocket to reach number one; some unrelenting marketing will suffice, so long as it's glossy enough.
Thom, pictured, preaches about revolution on her single, reminding listeners of both the advent of punk and the rise of the hippie. Sadly, her stream of state-the-bleedin'-obvious lyrics would make a ten-year-old primary school poet cringe, and the song's percussion can only be compared to said kid's ADHD-afflicted mates let loose in the cafeteria. POTS AND PANS!
Seriously, I'm gonna have DiS give me some cash to promote sixty seconds of silence: if Thom can go to number one with The Worst Single Of The Year*, then surely a CD full of nothing can, too?
Elsewhere in the singles chart, Embrace's 'World At Your Feet', the official World Cup song for England of course, limped rather miserably to number 38. Tony Christie's 'Is This The Way To The World Cup' whipped the northerners' arses, charting at 11 (although the physical version of Embrace's song is only out today). The Automatic's oddly popular 'Monster' entered at 23, seven places ahead of Michael Jackson' 'You Are Not Alone'.
We suppose he's reminding FM radio listeners nationwide that others share their Thom-induced pain.
*Okay, so that Ill Divo and Toni Braxton duet is actually worse.
Sandi Thom
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Tweet This
Share on Facebooki have heard this song
it is ABYSMAL.
how on earth could something like that get to number one? Well I know how - her PR company. But still, come on, it is fucking gash.
she makes my blood boil.
...
I just need this question answered and I'll go: I suppose I'm missing the point... but as I reached for the mute button on my remote control listening to this song yesterday, I couldn't help wondering why the singer appeared to think hippies and punks were interchangable. I mean, it's only music, ethos and about 15 years that separate the two movements. What's the deal here?
I was
just about to make the same point.
Stupid woman..
Grrrrr
that embrace
single isn't out in shops until today, 38 must be on downloads alone..
yup ^
but still, 38 = lame.
...
Yeah, but Embrace = Lame, so in a way, balance is achieved.
i think it's because
"they were both against the system, maaaaan"
I heard
Miss Thom's song about a year ago on Johnnie Walker on Radio 2. She was in that LIPA thing. McCartney has a lot (more) to answer for.
That Sandi Thom single...
...is one of the worst records I've ever heard.
It's hard to get angry about crap records anymore as we're spoiled for choice so you have to pick your moment... and this is one of them. Simply because it is actually attempting to masquerade as high art, which Westlife (and Crazy Frog) never were.
I made this point on the boards too - apologies for repeating myself but it was probably worth saying twice.
This "song"
is a strong argument for removing the teaching of music from the national curriculum.
I thought all that stuff about her broadcasts and subsequent fan base
was all a PR stunt...
hardly
i think it was still 4,000 downloads.
...
In that case, why not have the song called: "I Wish I Were A Lazy Slacker Singer-Songwriter Who Writes Music Designed For Coca-Cola Commercials"? Or "I Wish I Was Fedayeen"?
yeah
absolutely, every last word of that 'skint singer songwriter building up a fan base from her basement web cam' is 100% bullshit PR stunt
interesting thread on here
Are you sure
that briefly-popular television boy band Northern Line weren't really called North and South?
i haven't slept
since i found out it was a friend of mine who signed her.
WHY GOD WHY.
since when
do punk rockers where flowers in their hari anyway? Or is she trying and failing to be clever?
I actually like 'Crazy', best number one for donkey's years
there is nothing good
about this track.
annnnnnd she's fake
and i don't like her...i think i hate her more than i hate james blunt
both were great
i found love on the northen line
northern line - one time
---
what have i got to do
to get the message through to you
what else can i say
you never listen anyway
you think that i'm to young
you think that i dont understand
listen to me now
i ain't no boy, yes im a man
you don't understand
you don't understand
you don't understand
you don't understand
im a man not a boy
a man not a boy
a man not a boy
That number 1 song...
I heard some of the lines in it.
She must be trying to be ironic, right?
Grrrr
"I wish I was a punk-rocker... But I'm sorry, I'm too busy sucking corporate cock to actually try and make a difference."
Grammar aside, which'd normally be enough to piss me off, this song is just diabolically bad. It's got really rubbish lyrics, and it's shot through with an appallingly fake ethos (the idea she's some 'unknown' who got lucky, that she's 'punk', that 'punks' and 'hippies' are interchangeable...).
North and South!
whatever happened to them?
I think I've just discovered
A new candidate for my new, Bill Hicks style reality TV show. You know, along the lines of what he did with Billy Ray Cyrus...
I hope the BBC approves it. If we count James Blunt, we've already got two episodes...come on, we need four more! Suggestions?
whats so bad about it
did you not hear what else was on Top of the Pops. It was all much much worse than this. Its just some nostalgic music its not that bad. At least its not actually punk "phew"
I saw this song listed...
On the 'I'm listening to' thing on the MSN of someone I went to school with (I won't admit to being his mate due to what I'm about to write).
The 'punk' of the title threw me a bit; I now realise it deserves to sit squarely amongst the Celine Dions and The Callings that he also appears to listen to.
For the recrod, he is an eighteen year old lad, and I fear for his sanity.
I thought it was just me
that thought this was awful. Everyone I've spoken to seems to like it.
There is absolutely, precisely nothing punk about this track. Or hippy.
It fails on both counts.
I mean
you would though, wouldn't you?
I'm surprised
that anyone is still surprised when some shite record gets to no. 1. You can't underestimate the taste of the great British public.
Well, yeah
What's your point?
;-)
I wouldn't
she looks a bit like Rebecca Wade on the Guardian article
strickly speaking....
Wasn't the previous number one, 'Crazy'
retired? In other words this 'punk rock' anthem [which isn't,] is only at the top spot by default. In fact i dare say a few strings were pulled, a few promises made, to persuad Gnarls Barkley to retire their song after only 9 weeks.
That's where you'll find the real story.
internet star or publicity gimic?
It seems to me there's a myth in the making. A lot hanging on this story of the internet star made good. [Even that story stretches credibility]. Never mind the quality of the song or the performer, its all about the story.
As a consequence you have the aborted raign of 'Crazy' in favor of this travisty of the free market. Not that the market was ever really that free.
I can already see the movie...
I can't even....
begin to express my digust for this song.
horrible, horrible
'song'
eugh
Hollyoaks, All Bar One,"All Stars" T shirts, starbucks, Top Shop and this record
yeah, but htat's only because
mr bean >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> most of the world's population
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