Exactly eight months ago, I posted Decadance V: 1999, the final year in my mixtape series covering the 1990s, itself a follow on from Decade, the original cassette compilations I had recorded to sum up the 1980s.
In an attempt to create some (pre-millennial) tension, I concluded my post with a portentous - many (me included) would say pretentious - statement
I
suspect that when I get around to a series on the Noughties,
the gulf
between my singles selections and the UK charts will be vast,
yet I know
that like Decadance and Decade,
there will be many gems to be uncovered
and shared.
I'm not planning on doing it any time soon,
possibly not
even this year, though I have come up with the series name.
Decayed.
Well, it proved to be a scratch that I needed to itch sooner rather than later, it seems!
And so, here we are again, with a prelude to a series that will start properly next Saturday (8th) and run for the next 5 weekends.
As before, each mixtape will cover a single year via a dozen songs to fit on, in old money, one side of a C90 cassette, just like the original Decade series managed back in the day.
It turned out that "the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts" was not as vast as I suspected and there are a fair share of UK hits, number ones even, throughout. That said, I've reserved the right to include songs that spectacularly failed to dent the Top 100, just because I think they're great songs and should've had more love at the time. Especially when you consider some of the inexorable crap polluting the upper regions of the Top 40 in this decade.
This was a decade of significant changes in my life: becoming a homeowner, a husband, a father; I gained friends and lost friends; soaring highs and deep, deep lows. And always music to discover or rediscover and rejoice in.
Today's prelude selection features ten songs, each charting in the UK in respective years from 2000 to 2009, starting and ending with a #1 hit. None of the artists featured today will appear in the main series. Yep, this is the only time that you'll hear The White Stripes or Massive Attack in the next five weeks.
Much as I'd like to make an exception, Julian Cope will be absent from proceedings, as The Arch Drude didn't release any singles in the 2000s. Some might argue that he didn't release any decent albums either, but I will stick my fingers in my ears and sing ba ba ba ba ba if I see any of this nonsense.
A feature (gimmck, you say?) of the Decadance series was my efforts to shoehorn in a MAW (Mandatory Andrew Weatherall) track into every year, mostly remixes of other artists, which proved to be less difficult than I first thought.
No such studio trickery this time, though I can reveal that The Guv'nor will be making an appearance in this series, with a surprise Top 30 single.
But what of the ten that have made the cut?
Groovejet by Spiller was a ubiquitous tune in the summer of 2000, although in terms of chart action, it followed the growing trend of singles debuting at #1 then dropping out immediately after. In fairness, Groovejet dropped to #2, then #3, and spent 12 weeks in the Top 40, 30 weeks in the Top 100, which clearly reflected it's popularity.
It also proved to be a relaunch for Sophie Ellis-Bextor, fresh from the break up of theaudience and about to launch a solo career that, a quarter of a century later, has seen her elevated to National Treasure status.
In 2001, The Avalanches came out of nowhere (well, Australia) with an approach to sampling and cut-ups that as dizzying as it was unsustainable. Since I Left You sounds as magical now as it did then and the album of the same name that followed was a breathtaking piece of work. I don't know the full story of the 'extended alternate version' featured here, and discovered on YouTube in 2016, but I reckon it's a DIY cut and edit job by the poster, the wonderfully named Chungus Bungus.
From two seven-minute songs to one that comes in at under two minutes, it can only be The White Stripes. It took me a while to catch on to Jack and Meg's back-to-basics music and whilst I don't love everything they did, singles like Fell In Love With A Girl were spot on, retro yet sounding fresh and exciting. I'm surprised that this stalled just outside the Top 20 in March 2002.
Massive Attack returned in 2003 with 100th Window, and lead single Special Cases, featuring Sinéad O'Connor. Only four albums in, yet a world apart from the Blue Lines album just over a decade before. I finally got to see Massive Attack live in concert the following year, appropriately enough in our shared birthplace, Bristol.
Reign was originally released on the UNKLE album Never, Never Land in 2003, then as a single, peaking at #40 in November 2004. The song features Ian Brown, at this point half a decade into his solo career, with no hope of The Stone Roses getting back together again.
Antony & The Johnsons caused a stir in 2005 when they won the Mercury Music Prize with debut album I Am A Bird Now, qualifying in part as Antony Hegarty (now Anonhi) had been born in Chichester, West Sussex. You Are My Sister features a beautiful duet with Boy George, who also enjoyed an artistic renaissance in the 2000s.
The Automatic had a monster hit with, er. Monster in June 2006. It looks like the band called it a day in 2010, after three albums. I can confidently say that I have never knowingly heard another song by The Automatic and, much as I like Monster, I don't feel a strong urge to check out their catalogue.
Asobi Seksu, on the other hand, were a band that I feel for as soon as I heard the single Strawberries in 2007. Clearly the record buying public didn't agree, as Strawberries managed only one week at #54 before disappearing without trace. Sadly, Asobi Seksu have been on 'indefinite hiatus' since 2013, though I hold hope of a musical reunion one day.
When I started accessing loads of free MP3s via the RCRD LBL in 2007, I discovered loads of new artists and songs as a result. Paper Planes by M.I.A. is a good example, with a plethora of official and unofficial remixes offering up for download. Roughly a year later, it was released as a physical single in the UK, cracking the Top 20 in September 2008. The mix I've picked here, by then-partner Diplo, retains The Clash sample and adds raps from Big Bun and Rich Boy. Whatever happened to them?!
Another RCRD LBL freebie in 2008 was Just Dance by Lady Gaga, remixed by the RAC (that's the Remix Artist Collective, not the motoring services company!) Just Dance subsequently scored Lady Gaga her first UK #1 in January 2009, followed a couple of months later by Poker Face. Her debut album was appropriately titled The Fame.
As with previous series, for all those info heads, I've listed the parent EP or album, and the single's peak position in the UK charts. I've also included the date it got there which sometimes, but not always, is the same week that it debuted.
If you're thinking, as I did back in March, that the 2000s was the decade that your music tastes acrimoniously parted from the UK Top 100, stick around for the next five weeks, you may be pleasantly surprised.
1) Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (Spiller's Extended Vocal Mix): Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor (2000)
2) Since I Left You (Extended Alternate Version By Chungus Bungus): The Avalanches (2016)
3) Fell In Love With A Girl: The White Stripes (2002)
4) Special Cases (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Sinéad O'Connor (2003)
5) Reign (Album Version): UNKLE ft. Ian Brown (2004)
6) You Are My Sister: Antony & The Johnsons ft. Boy George (2005)
7) Monster (Album Version): The Automatic (2006)
8) Strawberries (Album Version): Asobi Seksu (2007)
9) Paper Planes (Diplo Street Remix): M.I.A. ft. Big Bun & Rich Boy (2008)
10) Just Dance (RAC Mix By André Allen Anjos): Lady Gaga ft. Colby O'Donis (2008)
20th August 2000: Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) EP (#1): 1
1st April 2001: Since I Left You (#16): 2
3rd March 2002: White Blood Cells (#21): 3
2nd March 2003: 100th Window (#15): 4
21st November 2004: Never, Never, Land (#40): 5
4th December 2005: I Am A Bird Now (#39): 6
11th June 2006: Not Accepted Anywhere (#4): 7
12th November 2007: Citrus (# 54): 8
28th September 2008: Kala (#19): 9
11th January 2009: The Fame (#1): 10