Good 1992 Vibrations. 29th March: One Dream Alone in November Rain

This week is frenetic and probably one of the busiest weeks of the year so far, there's a tonne of new entries including one in the top ten and songs that are making some dramatic moves up the chart so lets begin as normal with the top ten where the number one didn't change...it's still "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon however it's coming under pressure from the massive sales of "Marvellous" by The 12th Man feat. MCG Hammer.which climbed eight places to number two this week mostly due to the Cricket World Cup generating an interest in cricket related content.

Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff also riding momentum up two places to number three, at the moment I am not sure if it's a player for number one but am happy to see it doing well, it's a good song.

Then we get to the new entry at number four from U2 called "One", we'll get to the song's quality a bit later but it got here thanks to strong sales and could very well climb higher in the weeks ahead but it was enough to push "Tip Of My Tongue" by Diesel down one spot to number five.

All this action above caused "Love You Right" by Euphoria down three spots to number six as I said last week, this looks to be leaving the top ten.

Stuck at number seven is "I Can't Dance" by Genesis, it's staying steady mostly due to it not closing the margin to the songs in front of it.

"Rocket Man (I think it's going to be a Long Long Time)" by Kate Bush collapsed down to number eight as sales suddenly fell apart.

The same can almost be said for "Remember the Time" by Michael Jackson which slid three places to number nine. 

Rising ten places to join the top ten is "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited at number number ten.

Gains

Red Hot Chili Peppers raced into the top ten this week jumping eight places to 19 with "Under The Bridge" while Rick Price snags biggest gainer of the week with "Not A Day Goes By" jumping from 41 to 23 and that was about it. 

Losers

So with eight new entries, a lot of songs took tumbles this week including some that were already on the way out like "Cream" by Prince and the New Power Generation which collapsed down from 31 to 50, "Do You Feel Like I Feel" by Belinda Carlisle slipped from 42 to 49 while "Black or White (The Clivilles & Cole (C&C) Remix)" dropped eight places to 48.

Unfortunately "O.P.P" by Naughty By Nature dropped nine places to 47 while "Peace" by Sabrina Johnston also slipped nine to 44 and Jimmy Barnes cover "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" plunged from 36 to 43.

In more bad news "Stars" by Simply Red got shot down from 29 to 37 while Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" slipped ten places to 33 and "Come As You Are" by Nirvana" plunged from 25 to 31. 

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" by George Michael and Elton John collapsed from 14 to 27 as it looks to be on its way out anyway while Clivilles and Cole's cover of "Ptide in the Name of Love" dropped nine places to 21 and CeCe Peniston's "Finally" got hit with a seven place drop to 20.

New Entries

There's EIGHT new entries this week but let's start with...

45. “Insanity" by Oceanic

So Oceanic a pop trio hailing from England released this song in 1991 and its only just now hitting the Australian singles chart, it peaked at number three in the UK. "Insanity" is this dance euro pop song that in all honestly doesn't do much for me and while lead singer Jorinde Williamas has plenty of energy, the instrumentation just doesn't match that energy.  I don't know, its not precisely bad but there are better Euro dance pop cuts out there and more than half the time I am skipping this so yeah...next.

42 “Dream Alone” by Killing Time

Killing Time are an Australian hard rock band with this EP hitting the ARIA singles chart this week so how are Dream Alone? I like the instrumentation with lot of guitars and drums but I suspect the guitars are turned up way too loud and almost smother the vocals to a degree almost to where they've put the vocals so low in the mix...granted it's not like the vocals are bringing any kind of intense hard rock energy to the song either so yeah...pass.

40. “Baby Love” by Dannii Minogue

So for this week's charting cover, we get Dannii Minogue covering a 1986 song from American singer Regina that peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number ten so of course Dannii decided to bring this song to Australia and...you know what? The cover here might well be better than the original. The original tends to have the percussion overpowering the result of the instrumentation to a degree where as in the Dannii cover, the percussion is more tastefully done and supports Dannii's vocals so yeah I like this. Good job, Dannii!

39 “Coloured Kisses” by Martika

Oh boy, I remember the last time I covered a Martika song here...it didn't go well so I'm a little nervous as to what we have here...and really while the instrumentation is more restrained as Martika sings about her lovers kisses being coloured...which is a bit weird especially when a kiss is a kiss with no colour attached to them until Martika decided to attach colours to kisses over bright and slightly annoying pop production...the ridiculous lyrics make what is an otherwise bland song interesting...I guess...I wonder how Martika would describe puce kisses though...

34. “November Rain” by Guns ‘n’ Roses

Oh thank god...a song that doesn't blow ass and yeah...this song is unfettered AWESOME. It's an absolute rock epic with Axl Rose telling the story of love that isn't mutual or reciprocated with the basis of the song coming from a short story written by Del James and features two of the best guitar solos in rock music. Coming in at almost nine minutes, this song is a rock epic. I love this and hope its absolutely huge!

30. “Stay” by Shakespear Sister

Oh 1992, haven't we done enough of the bland shitty ballads already? "Stay" comes from former member of Bananarama Siobhan Fahey and American musician Marcella Detroit and my god the first half of this song is bland and really kind of boring with Detroit begging her partner not to leave him over this really bland piano with the song only getting interesting when Fahey enters the picture and the song kicks into a more rock type of structure but I really don't care much for this. NEXT! 

26. “Way Out West” by James Blundell and James Reyne

Second cover of the week with counry artist James Blundell and former Australian Crawl frontman James Reyne collaborating on this cover of a 1973 hit by The Dingoes and yeah this is a really good cover...the song tells the story of fly in fly out miners in rural Western Australia. Blundell and Reyne sound great together and tell the story of the song well and the instrumentation works well here with guitars having a more country twang to them...this is a really damn good cover. This needs to be a hit! Check this out!

4. “One” by U2

So here's the biggest new song of the week coming from one of the biggest bands in the world and honestly this is actually a song inspired by an inspired guitar riff from The Edge and the band on the verge of falling apart over tensions about the musical direction the band were taking in recording their upcoming album as "One" is an intensely bleak but hopeful song about sometimes the only way out of a situation is to get help from another person and also support each other through life, its a song that gets to you

So yeah it's a decent week overall but I'm giving best of the week to "November Rain" by Guns 'N' Roses and joint honourable mention to "Way Out West" by James Blundell and James Reyne and "One" by U2. Worst of the week goes to "Dream Alone" by Killing Time

ARIA Top Ten Singles/Chart Review: 29th March. Nothing But Bieber's Justice

Sigh...This entire chart review is basically going to revolve around Justin Bieber and his new album "Justice" because it's the main talking point this week. Bieber has all the new entries most of which aren't even the best songs on the album and even caused a couple of songs to jump hard but anyway let's get into all the action with the top ten where "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals continues to squat at number one for a fifth week which is weird to me given it's such a weird nothing of a song.

Justin Bieber makes his presence felt at number two with "Peaches" feat. Daniel Caesar and Giveon thanks to really good streaming but that's all it's really got at the moment however it did push "Without You" by The Kid Laroi down one spot to number three, "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo down to number four and "The Business" by Tiesto down to number five.

Rising seven places to number six off the back of the album release is "Hold On" by Justin Bieber. Again streaming was mostly where this song benefited and a lot is going to be dependent on how the deluxe album does.

Climbing one spot to number seven  is "Astronaut In the Ocean" by Masked Wolf, its actually got some sales behind it as well as streaming so this could be a player for number one soon.

All of this pushed "Cover Me in Sunshine" by Pink and Sage Willow Hart back two spots to number eight while the surprise come with the sudden four place collapse of "Goosebumps (remix)" by HVME feat Travis Scott to number nine...ouch. 

Wrapping up the top ten is "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd which fell three places to number ten.

Gains

Well outside of the top ten, there was the eight place gain by "Anyone" by Justin Bieber to 13 thanks to the album release in the only major gain this week outside the top ten.

Re Entries

Both re entries are from Justin Bieber with "Holy" feat. Chance The Rapper back at 21 and "Lonely" by Benny Blanco back at 47

Losers

"What's Next" by Drake took the biggest hit this week down eleven to 34 with "What's Next"...kind of telling just how these Drake songs aren't sticking around...it could rebound next week but I'm not so sure.

"Lasting Lover" by Sigala feat. James Arthur down nine to 46 while "Streets" by Doja Cat slipped seven to 19 while "Fly Alway" by Tones and I down eight to 26

Drop Outs

Couple of big ones this week with 2020 hits like "Rockstar" by DaBaby feat. Roddy Rich and  "What You Know Bout Love" by Pop Smoke

Then there's songs that will likely make the 2021 year end like "34+35" by Ariana Grande and "Therefore I Am" by Billie Eilish.

The non starters gone are "Wants and Needs" by Drake feat. Lil Baby, "On the Ground" by Rose and "Looking for Me" by Paul Woolfor feat. Diplo and Kareen Lomax.

New Entries

So I am introducing album bomb rules this week so if five or more songs from one album enter the chart then I will cover the top three new charting songs from that album plus any tracks that qualify for best or worst of the week.

So with there being five new entries all Justin Bieber album tracks, the two songs that aren't best nor worst of the week are "Off My Face" by Bieber at 42 and "2 Much" at 40.

23. "As I Am" by Justin Bieber feat Khalid

So one of the things I have noticed with Justin Bieber is that he likes to get features on his songs (there's quite a few on the album and honestly I kind of feel like for Bieber and his lack of charisma and personality that isn't punchable that is a bad idea when you absolutely know that he is very likely going to get blown out of the water by his collaborators and it's kind of the case in point where Khalid is more easily able to lean into the instrumentation and groove here to the point where I forgot Bieber was even on the song, granted, I am not sure the pianos really work that well and Bieber shouting "TAKE ME AS I AM" over that weirdly warped beat on the chorus and how the beat overwhelms Khalid's verse. The potential is there but yeah I'll pass.

22. Unstable by Justin Bieber feat The Kid Laroi

So I am going to make no bones about this but I don't like The Kid Laroi all that much, I think he is trying to rip way too hard from his mentor Juice WRLD rather than find his own particular style or sound and here sounds very much like it's in the Juice WRLD knock off vein but unlike Juice WRLD's better songs, it's got absolutely no energy and just falls flat over that acoustic guitar and watery piano. Plus the song feels like a fragment and feels too monotone rather than the instability that Bieber and The kid Laroi are singing about. Again this could have been better.

2. Peaches by Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon

So this song is an r'n'b song with a bit of groove, two artists like Daniel Caesar and Giveon on it along with the least interesting part of the song...Justin Bieber. "Peaches" has the sort of R'n'B that Bieber could have put into his previous album :"Changes"!. 

The song serving as an ode to Georgia with the state's peaches being a central theme to the song and the state also being the birthplace of Martin Luther King which doesn't make the excerpts of MLK's speecches earlier on on the album okay, Bieber?

Giveon and Daniel Caesar are really the only reason to want to return to this song and even then I'd rather listen to Giveon's new album anyway.

But yeah "Peaches" is still the best of the week easily. "Unstable" gets the worst of the week. As for next week: I've no idea as New Music Friday was overloaded with big names releasing new music, Bieber released a deluxe edition of "Justice" so we may well get another smaller album bomb...joy...might also get Taylor Swift working wth Maren Morris, Lil Nas X and Demi Lovato, we''ll find out on Friday at 5pm AEDT

New Music Friday Review: 19th March That Brass Summer of an Obsessed Billionaire in Pocket

 "Obsessed" by Addison Rae

Addison Rae is a social media personality where videos of her dancing on Tik Tok garnered attention and enabled her to start a singing career with this song being her first single and I am not going to mince words here the song is a steaming pile of crap, the lyrics are a simplistic look at how this other person is 'obsessed' with her and that this other person isn't alone because she's just as obsessed with herself as they are with her, it's got all the self congratulation and none of the self awareness that could make a song like this perversely interesting and the music is this flat generic affiar that doesn't even match the attitude Addison Rae is trying to sell albeit unconvincingly....this is garbage. Don't let this shit chart!

Rating: 1/10

"Brass In Pocket" by Teddy Geiger

Okay Spotify, nobody asked for this...NOBODY asked for The Pretenders classic "Brass in Pocket" to be stripped of what made the song work in the first place which is the energy and confidence of Chrissie Hynde confidently using her body to make guys NOTICE her. This cover sounds fucking miserable, it just lacks the swagger that makes the original great. 

Rating: 1/10

So we're off to a bad start but it does get better with...

"Billionaire" by Delta Goodrem

Well this is an interesting song...another single from the soon to be released new album "Bridge Over Troubled Dreams" and sees Delta Goodrem exploring a move to a more pop meets Americana meets country sound for a song where she reveals she didn't start drinking alcohol until she's 27 and how she's led with her heart and rather than marry some ridiculously rich man, she's going to work hard to make herself a billionaire. I like this a lot even if it does feel like another self empowerment song but instrumentation works here so yeah I'll take this.

Rating: 8/10

"That Summer" by Kaylee Bell and Josh Miranda

Sooo it's weird to see a song about summer released during autumn but none the less it actually makes sense here because Kaylee Bell and Josh Miranda have collaborated on a song that's reminiscing on a summer hook up that fizzled out for whatever reason and now they are left remembering the good times they had together. I like the country rock/pop production here too and Kaylee Bell has a terrific voice.

Rating 7.5/10

Good 1992 Vibrations: 22nd March. Not A Day Goes By when I Can't Dance to Marvellous

Well this feels like a pretty conventional week here with there being a fair amount of movement in the top ten and outside the top ten as well so may as well dig right in and begin where there's no change which is right at the very top with "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon keeping the number one spot for now...I'm not certain if there's anything that can challenge it at the moment,

It may not come from our new number two that being Kate Bush with "Rocket Man (I Think it's Going to be a Long Long Time)" which got a sales boost this week to hit number two surprisingly. Didn't think this song would take off like it has in the last few weeks but regardless it pushed "Love You Right" by Euphoria down one spot to number three, it looks like it's pretty much done with its run. 

Remaining at number four for another week is "Tip Of My Tongue" by Diesel but its starting to come under pressure from "Dizzy" by Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff which rose two places to number seven and it also brought "Remember The Time" by Michael Jackson up two places to number six with it! Nice to see!

The first of the two big stories that lie within the top ten is at number seven with "I Can't Dance" by Genesis as it climbed six places to reach the top ten. I still like this song so I am okay with this being here.

Salt 'n' Pepa slipped two places to number eight with "Let's Talk About Sex"..that song is pretty much on the way out.

What did surprise me though was the six place collapse to number nine for "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF...that came out of nowhere.

Wrapping up the top ten is the eight place rise for "Marvellous" by the 12th Man to number ten, this has some wild moment thanks mostly to the ongoing Cricket World Cup which is in the finals now so of course this song has gotten huge.

Gains

So not vey many big gains outside of our top ten however "Alive" by Pearl Jam climbed into the top twenty rising from 22 to 16 while "I Think I Love" by Voice of the Beehive climbed from 21 to 17 (this cover gets worse every single time I hear it) 

2 Unlimited continue to climb, this week "Get Ready for This" jumped fourteen places to number 20 while "Come As You Are" by Nirvana jumped ten spots to 25 and "Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers raced up eleven spots to 27. 

Most of these gains are pretty awesome...happy to see "Under the Bridge" climbing especially.

Sticking around a lot longer than I thought is "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" by Belinda Carlisle...I honestly forgot this song existed about a minute after I heard it.

Also "Ghost of a Texas Man by Concrete Blonde somehow rose twelve places to 32...ewww.

Losers

It's a busy week on this side of things so like always we'll begin at the bottom and work our way up so Freaked Out Flower Children slipped six places to 49. "Black or White" by Michael Jackson stumbled down ten places to 46 while the Clivilles & Cole remix of the song got hit with an eight place drop to 40.

"Ain't No Sunshine" by The Rockmelons feat. Deni Hines fell eight places to 48 while "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" by Rozalla collapsed from 23 to 39 and "Cool Jesus" by Maybe Dolls fell from 31 to 37. 

Jimmy Barnes cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" fell from 29 to 36...unfortunately, "If You Were with Me Now" by Kylie Minogue and Keith Washington slipped from 26 to 33. 

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" skidded from 15 to 23 while sadly, "It's Only Natural" by Crowded House tumbled from 16 to 22.

"Finally" by CeCe Peniston slipped from 9 to 13, it's not had the most convincing run ever.

New Entries

Just three new entries this week beginning with...

41. "Not A Day Goes By" by Rick Price

Okay so this is the lead single from Australian singer songwriter Rick Price's upcoming album called "Heaven Knows" and honestly it's not bad...I like the guitars and the dramatic swell behind the instrumentation on the song as Price wonders why he is so clingy and why he can't stop thinking about where this girl and wants this girl to tell him how he can get her off his mind and why he never hears from her, its full of yearning and wanting answers..yeah it's a bit clingy lyrically and we don't really get any hints as to why she left. Still good song...check it out.

34. "You Showed Me" by Salt 'n' Pepa

So this song has a bit of a history, it was originally released as a single by The Turtles at the end of 1968 which was to be their last big hit in the US, its now been given pop/hip hop cross over version by Salt 'N' Pepa in 1991 and took its sweet damn time to reach the Australian charts...look it's fine and bringing in new jack swing for their version of the song is inspired and does improve it on the original but still I am not sure how much I'll be coming back to this...it's catchy but Salt 'n' Pepa have done better.

19. "Human Touch" by Bruce Springsteen

So this is the lead single from the upcoming album of the same name and really this is just another decent Bruce Springsteen song. It's not quite got the fire power of his singles from the 80s but yeah it's a gentle song that kicks up a gear going into the final bridge and chorus where Springsteen is genuinely wanting somebody else to talk to or as he calls it "human touch"...yeah this connects for me a good way...check it out if you are curious.

And that's this week...worst goes to "You Showed Me" by Salt 'N' Pepa...it's not that bad...it's just the song that I didn't connect with all that much. I think "Human Touch" just edges out "Not a Day Goes By' for best of the week. 

ARIA Singles Top Ten/Chart review: 22nd March. Quiet week On The Ground

Sigh...this week was fairly quiet but a significant one too given that this was the first time that ARIA have announced their charts on a Friday (I still think the reasoning is fairly asinine...is it really that significant to be the first country every week to announce the top 50 most popular songs in the country every week? Really?) but I also welcome a quiet week given we're likely to be hit by a Justin Bieber album bomb next week.

Regardless of what day the chart is being announced nothing changed at the very top where "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals spent a fourth week at number one, it's got streaming on lock right now and sales are fine enough.

Streaming was enough to see "Without You" by The Kid Laroi return to number two this week, its just not bridging the margins to "Heat Waves" at all but it did push "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo back to number three this week as it's streaming and sales start to waver. 

That leaves a gap for "The Business" by Tiesto which remained at number four but it's doing better on sales than "Drivers License" and if it can get a boost on streaming than it may just climb higher.

Rising one spot to number five unfortunately is "Goosebumps" by HVME and Travis Scott mostly thanks to streaming of course.

Getting a two place gain is Pink and Willow Sage Hart's "Cover Me in Sunshine" to number six mostly thanks to being an absolute giant sales and the sort of consistent streaming that has seen this become entrenched in the top ten. Nice to see.

It pushed past "Calling My Phone" by Lil Tjay and 6lack which tumbled two spots to number seven as streaming has kind of fallen off hard for this song...its weird that the hype only lasted a week for this.

Then we have a new arrival to the top ten coming from Masked Wolf with "Astronaut in the Ocean" up three to number eight this week. This could climb higher thanks to streaming. 

The Weeknd's "Save Your Tears" remains at number nine mostly because streaming is not competitive with the songs above it and sales aren't enough anymore

Also new to the top ten this week is "Leave the Door Open" by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak and Silk Sonic which got a three place boost to number ten. Great news! Let's hope it keeps climbing.

Gains

The gains are a bit all over the shop here..."Streets" by Doja Cat rose ten to number 12 while "Hold On" by Justin Bieber rose six places to 13 (this will go top ten next week with the album release), "Heartbreak Anniversary" by Giveon up nine spots to 16. All of these are fine gains....the songs are all decent to pretty good.

However not so thrilled about the pretty generic "Friday" by Riton and Nightcrawlers feat. Mufasa and Hyperman also up ten to 19. Also AJR's "Bang" up four places to 46...WHY?

However the weirdest gain for the week was the something of an eleven place rebound for "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles to 36. Possibly off the back of the Grammys but who knows?

Losses

Unsurprisingly the biggest losses came for Drake songs that debuted last week although if I am Drake, I'd be a little concerned with "What's Next" collapsing sixteen places to 23 while "Wants & Needs" feat. Lil Baby got handed a fifteen place drop to 30...ouch!

Drop Outs

There's one significant drop out here with former record breaking chart topper "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I dropping out of the top 50 after 92 weeks on the chart!

The other drop out was "Lemon Pepper Freestyle" by Drake feat. Rick Ross.

New Entries

Two new entries this week...starting with...

39. "Telepatia" by Kali Uchis

So Kali Uchis has finally broken onto the ARIA Singles top 50 after some sporadic success in her native United States with this song getting a boost courtesy of Tik Tok (of course it did) and well I think I like the production here more than anything else, it's smooth and sultry fitting in with the lyrics sung in Spanish by Uchis about a long distance relationship except I'm not sure why I just can't connect this sort of song ompletely for some reason that I am not getting. It's not bad though. Check it out if you are curious.

31. "On the Ground" by Rose

So Blackpink's Rose is stepping out on her own with "On the Ground" being one of two new songs she released and well...this is actually better produced than what she is accustomed to with Blackpink which kind of makes sense considering Jon Bellion is one of the writers and producers on the track, the song itself reminds me of Avril Lavigne to a degree as "On the Ground" sees Rose reflect on being apart of a major K pop group and realizing that what is really important in life lies within herself. I like this more than I should check it out.

So yeah, "On the Ground" by Rose gets best of the week. No worst of the week as "Telepatia" is not bad at all. Next week...maybe a Justin Bieber album bomb, we'll find out when the chart updates at 5pm on Friday. 

New Music Friday review: 12th March. First Time Feels for Cutthroat Potions

So before we dive into this week's reviews of new singles, there's some news that was announced by ARIA on Monday that the revealing of the ARIA charts for the week will now take place on Friday at 5pm, I would think it's most likely to align with New Music Friday but otherwise this shift does feel like its for the inane and petty reason of being the first country to reveal their charts every week, what this means for the blog is that the updates for the 2021 charts and beyond will likely go up on the blog on Saturday. 

Anyway, let's get into it and we may as well begin with the garbage this week...

"Cutthroat" by Imagine Dragons

I weirdly had hope the two new Imagine Dragons songs that they released on Friday would be good so when I heard both "Follow You" and this song...oh boy. The reason I am not focusing on "Follow You" is because its an easy to ignore piece of bland grocery core that will get radio airplay because it's safe and relatively inoffensive however "Cutthroat" might just be the worst thing (I can't call it a song) that Imagine Dragons have possibly ever made. Not only does NONE of the instrumentation not fit together well but the hook has Dan Reynolds doing the sort of in your face screaming that leaves me torn between being incredibly uncomfortable to wanting to turn the song off/..this might be worse than Florida Georgia Line's "New Truck.

Rating: 1/10

Anyway onto something much much better...

"Potions" by Summer Thieves

Well okay when I say much better, this at least the production from NZ pop band Summer Thieves is better, the instrumentation sounds like they goes together and sounds like a fucking coherent song even though 'Potions" really doesn't have a strong crescendo or build into its chorus which is something that's way too common in modern pop music these days and that's kind of disappointing given the song's subject matter about finding a path in life and navigating that path through life, it's a bit rote and basic but after I've heard from Imagine Dragons...I'll take it.

Rating: 6/10

"First Time" by Illenium feat. Iann Dior

So ever since his guest appearance on 24KGoldn's "Mood, I've been keeping an eye on what Iann Dior has been doing and in this case he is the featured artist on an EDM/rock cross over track from Illenium and in all honestly I don't mind this. The chorus is catchy even if the lyrics are odd...Dior hasn't met this girl yet he likes her vibe? How does that work, I don't think it's quite Illenium's best but it's still pretty good...check it out

Rating: 7/10

"Feels" by WATTS feat. Khalid

Nashville based singer/songwrier Watts released this song back in 2018 independently, a song that Khalid heard and got in contact with Watts which resulted in this collab...and yeah this is fantastic although I do wish the feeling that is driving both of them insane was a little more fleshed out but this is the best Khalid has sounded on anything since "Better" in 2019 mostly because the production is right up his alley. Yeah, check this out because it's really damn good.

Rating: 8/10

 

Good 1992 Vibrations: 15th March 12th Man's Marvellous Clouds on tip of my tongue

 Well this week is kind of interesting in that we only got two new entries on the whole and the top ten looks like it got busy so let's get started with "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon spending a second week at number one, it still has sales and it was enough to keep ahead of "Love You Right" by Euphoria at number two and "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF at number three.

From there though? Up two places to number four is "Tip of My Tongue" by Diesel...okay this is pretty damn awesome...the song is fantastic. 

What caught off guard was the sudden seven place rise for Kate Bush's cover of Elton John's "Rockey Man (I think it's going to be a long long time)" up to number five. This song has been quietly climbing and yeah I still think it's a fine cover...

Part of all this happening though is the two place drop for former chart topper "Let's Talk About Sex" by Salt 'n' Pepa down to number six. It's fading naturally.

"Dizzy" by Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff rose two places to number seven, this song is as catchy as sin...I'm really enjoying this song a lot so nice to see it rising.

Down one are both "Remember the Time" by Michael Jackson to number eight and "Finally" by CeCe Peniston to number nine.

Finally the other big story in the top ten is the five place drop for "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana to number ten...thought this would stick around a little longer.

Gains

"I Can't Dance" by Genesis is up seven to number 13 this week...good to see as I still like the song but in not so good news "Thought I Died and Gone to Heaven" by Bryan Adams climbed from 45 to 19...geezus  christ.... really, Australia? We're just going to let this fart in the wind be a hit?

Anyway, "Peace" by Sabrina Johnston continues to rise, it's up five spots to 24 while "Cool Jesus" by Maybe Dolls climbed from 46 to 31...somehow.

Then there's the six place gain for the underwhelming "Feel So High" by Des'ree to 33 while 2 Unlimited jump ten spots to 34 with "Get Ready For this"

"Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers broke into the top 40 up from 43 to 38...thank goodness...needed a good gain amidst all the crap.

Speaking of crap, "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" by Concrete Blonde climbed from 49 to 44.

Losers

So we have got a fair few big losers here starting with "Live and Let Die" by Guns 'n' Roses down 12 to 50 as it is on the way out. Non starter "Again Tonight" by John Mellencamp slipped from 42 to 48.

I'm not about to complain that Freaked Out Flower Children slipped from 36 to 43 with "Spill the Wine" or that "Kingston Town" by UB40 skidded down ten spots to 41 (It's had a good run)

Diesel's "Come to Me" is on the way out down from 37 to 42 while The Rockmelons and Deni Hines cover of "Ain't No Sunshine took a heavy hit down from 27 all the way to 40.

Mercifully, crap also took a hit like "Addams Groove" by MC Hammer which tumbled from 25 to 39...good.

It also affected good songs like "One Word" by Baby Animals which skidded down from 22 to 28.

Former top ten hit "Cream" by Prince and the New Power Generation slipped eight places to 27 while Rozalla's "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" stumbled from 17 to 23.

New Entries

Just two new entries this week so let's start off with...

47. "Anthem" by Clouds

Clouds, an indie rock band from Sydney, landing their third single from their album Penny Century on the chart and I have to be honest here wbile I like the instrumentation, I don't like how the vocals are buried here especially as the front woman sounds like she needs to be closer and louder in the mix here but she's getting drowned out by the guitars. The song is going for the grunge effect and it's just not doing anything for me. If it's your thing, check it out but I won't be coming back to this.

18. "Marvellous" by The 12th Man feat. MCG Hammer 

Billy Birmingham aka The 12th Man strikes again, this being his latest charting single to impersonate the Channel Nine cricket commentary team, this time around it's a rap song where Birmingham as Richie Benaud raps about the life of being a cricket commentator and how when they call the game 'everything's marvellous' with Birmingham also impersonating other members of the commentary team in the song as well...its actually pretty funny and does include Birmingham playing a guitar solo as Richie Benaud which is pretty good. If you are up for a laugh...I recommend this.

And yeah, it's the best of the week, "Anthem" by Clouds is the worst of the  week here...I just don't like the production at all. 

ARIA Singles Chart Top Ten/Chart Review: 15th March. Hold On, Scary Hours 2 Open with a BANG!

 Well we didn't quite get the shake up the top ten was needing but there were certainly some changes just not in the top six so let's rip through those so we can get to the more interesting parts of this week.

"Heat Waves" by Glass Animals spends a third week at number one thanks to consistently strong streaming, it's place at the top was never really threatened by Drake at all, it kept "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo at number two for another week, this song might be about to fall away...it's starting to look shaky on streaming which could mean "Without You" by Kid Laroi returns to number two with stronger streaming but's stuck at number three...for now.

The same could be said for "The Business" by Tiesto as it has both sales and streaming momentum but wasn't enough to overhaul to margin to the songs above it. Same goes for "Calling My Phone" by Lil Tjay and 6lack which remains at number five and "Goosebumps" by HVME and Travis Scott stalled at number six (thank goodness).

At number seven is the first of three ARIA singles charts new entries for Drake this week off the back of the release of his "Scary Hours 2" EP with "What's Next", I will talk about this song later but streaming and some sales got it here and with that streaming support fading and sales basically already dying...I don't see this sticking around which is not a good sign for "Certified Lover Boy"

Rising two places to number eight is "Cover Me in Sunshine" by Pink and Sage Willow Hart as it continues to be a sales monster and continues to quietly and rather consistently do decently on streaming. 

Heck, it pushed past "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd down two to number nine and "Levitating" by Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby down one spot to number ten as its on its way out anyway.

Gains

Continued momentum for "Astronaut in the Ocean" by Masked Wolf which climbed five spots to number 11 while Giveon's "Heartbreak Anniversary' climbed four places to number 25 (this song has the makings of being a top ten hit) however the biggest gain of the week belonged to "Friday" by Riton and Nightcrawlers feat. Mufasa and Hyperman as it climbed twelve places to number 29...ehhh.

Losses

So with six new entries this week, there are a lot of losers like with former top ten hit "So Done" by The Kid Laroi down five to 18 while Justin Bieber's "Anyone" slipped seven to 21 (this should rebound post the album release. More on Bieber in the new entries).

While Ava Max's momentum with "My Head & My Heart" completely stalled out as it stumbled six places to 27.

Down eight to 32 is "Paradise" by Meduza feat. Dermot Kennedy while "34+35" by Ariana Grande sputtered down eight to 33 and Ariana's former chart topper "Positions" fell seven to 38. The "Booster Seat" is running out of room for Spacey Jane as the song slipped eight to 35.

"We're Good" by Dua Lipa slipped seven places to 33 while the same goes for "Last Lover" by Sigala feat. James Arthur which skidded down seven to 32.

'Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac dropped six to 36 (Frankly I am amazed its still even on the chart at this point)

"Whoopty" by CJ slipped eleven to 39 while "Love Songs Ain't for Us" by Amy Shark and Keith Urban continues to suffer from streaming not getting behind as it fell eight to 40 this week.

"Therefore I Am" by Billie Eilish stumbled five places to 41 while "Lemonade" by Internet Money and Gunna feat. Don Toliver and Nav plunged six to 43.

"Looking for Me" by Paul Woolford, Diplo and Kareen Lomax took a ten place hit to 45 while it looks like "Dance Monkey" by Tones and I's run on the chart is close to an end after a mammoth 95 weeks on the chart as it fell six spots to 49

Drop Outs

So the top 50 said au revoir to "Holy" by Justin Bieber feat Chance the Rapper (only briefly, will return due to the album release) and 2020 hits like "Roses (Imanbek remix)" by Saint Jhn and "Dynamite" by BTS.

Also gone are new arrival from last week "Josh" by Peach PRC and "One too Many" Keith Urban and Pink. I am fine with both of those gone tbh.

The only drop out I am unhappy about is "Prisoner" by Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa and when you see the first of the new arrivals, you'll understand why.

New Entries

There's six of them this week so I'm going to endeavour to keep them pretty short because this blog entry is starting to run long so let's unfortunately begin with...

50. "Bang!" by AJR

Well I guess this had to turn up eventually...right...I mean, it was top ten in the US and is currently lodged in the top 20 in New Zealand so it was only a matter of time before it turned up here, it's AJR's second ARIA charting single after "I'm Ready" reached number 5 in August 2014 but anyway let's get to the quality of "Bang" and really this song is more in the basket of being a vaudeville sketch except you can't get a laugh out of it, there's no groove apart from awful backing vocals and chipmunk noises, combine that with rather immature lyrics about leaving childhood and becoming an adult...speaking of which you'd hope AJR could grow as song writers but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

Looks it's not as bad as anything on "Neotheater" or "The Click" but its still intolerable so...next...

26. "Lemon Pepper Freestyle" by Drake and Rick Ross

So to begin our exploration of Scary Hours 2 EP songs we have this freestyle from Drake and Rick Ross and its probably the one I like the least of the three with a sample of Quadron's 2013 song pressure serving and a dreary trap piano serving as the instrumentation as Drake and Rick Ross brag about their lavish lifestyles, Drake talks about raising his son while Rick Ross claims he is social distancing not just for COVID reasons but also to avoid 'snitches'. It's not precisely bad but its not exactly good either so yeah...let's move on. 

19. "Hold On" by Justin Bieber

So a new single from Justin Bieber from his upcoming sixth album "Justice" and yeah I kind of like this but that liking comes more for the instrumental which is this fizzy pop/rock thing with guitars and drums, its just a shame that the lyrics kind of hold it back as they are the least interesting part of the song with Bieber's empty platitudes to this girl and about we all make mistakes which makes the song feel like he is remaking "Sorry" again but hey at least the chorus is catchy and I still like this enough to give it a pass.

15. Wants and Needs by Drake feat. Lil Baby

So this is is probably the best song from the EP mainly because it's Drake and Lil Baby sharing verses where both talk about their wants and needs and how they balance out in life. Of course both are going to brag about all the luxury items they have, Drake references a Mercedes Benz car from the video for 'Laugh Now, Cry Later", an expensive watch and then mentions that he should be acting more conservative due to being raised as Jewish and jokes he should probably be going to Kanye West to confess his sins.

As for Lil Baby, he goes on about his love of group sex, says he is not the GOAT and then brags about making lean and losing a large sum of money in Las Vegas and at the end of his verse says "YOLO"...all this is set to a pretty interesting kind of watery trap production with the flows from both Drake and Lil Baby being pretty good...I'll take this. It's good.

13. "Leave the Door Open" by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak & Silk Sonic

Well then ever since this collaboration and single was announced I was excited, mostly because I knew the potential that could be reached here, it's one of the biggest hitmakers of the 2010s teaming up with an aetist who should already be a superstar in the mainstream but because the general public decided they rather make Drake big, Anderson Paak has always felt like he has been on the cusp of being a mainstream star but never quite getting there however with this song, he finally got a charting song so how is the song?.

Let's not mince words here, "Leave the Door Open" is phenomenal, the production is lush, grand and allows both Anderson Paak to show off his charisma and charm in the verses before Btuno Mars just belts on the hook, it's the best Bruno has sounded since maybe "24k Magic" or "Versace on the Floor". The sound sounds like a 70s throwback love song but still has many modern elements that refresh the sound so that it's not going to sound dated. I vannot wait to hear this song live.

7. "What's Next" by Drake

Final song this week and I am going to endeavour to keep this brief because this song is Drake bragging  about his ability to send songs to number one on the Hot 100, his continued success and substantial wealth thanks to his rap career over production that Drake maintains a solid flow over...honestly this production suits him pretty well however the bar in the chorus "On Valentines Day, I had sex, okay?" did take me out of the song, it's not bad but when "Needs and Wants" is better...I don't see the need for this song.

That wraps up the week and both the best and worst fall out easily, the worst of the week is going to "Bang!" by AJR but I dispensing with dishonorable mention and giving two honourable mentions with :"Needs and Wants" by Drake and Lil Baby getting one and the other going to "Hold On" by Justin Bieber however "Leave the Door Open" by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak and Silk Sonic just run away with the best of the week and frankly it's actually one of the best songs to hit the chart this year.

Next week, we may well get the debut solo single from Blackpink's Rose, one of the two new Imagine Dragons songs and a collab between Wiz Khalifa and Empire of the Sun, we'll find out when the chart updates on Saturday at 5pm AEDT. 

New Music Friday Review: 5th March. Come on this is Heaven of Beautiful Sacrifice

 "Come Turn Me On" by Casey Barnes

So the latest single for Australian country artist Casey Barnes and its a stomper with elements of country, pop and even rock in there but it makes for a pretty catchy love song about meeting a bunch of other girls around the world but there's nothing like the girl waiting for him at home. Its definitely not a song for the country music purist but if you love country pop/rock that's a bit of fun than this. Pretty cute!

Rating: 8/10

"This Is Heaven" by Nick Jonas

What to do when you release an underwhelming lead single? You follow it up with a great song which isn't going to be a single and not get a video which is absolutely frustrating because "This Is Heaven" tips into it's 80s synthpop sound perfectly, it would do so incredibly well as a single considering how hard people are masturbating after anything with an 80s sound. Check this song out!

Rating: 9/10

"Sacrifice" by Bebe Rexha

Does anyone really care about Bebe Rexha anymore? It's not like "Baby, I'm Jealous" feat. Doja Cat was a thing in Australia beyond it's release week and honestly I've never ever been impressed with her work but anyway...how this one? It's probably one of her better songs, the lyrics are your basically song where she wants this guy she's hooking up with to sacrifice something for her over pop production that while not pushing any kind of musical boundaries, its pretty safe and kind of generic but okay. This song gets a pass.

Rating: 6/10

"Beautiful Mistakes" by Maroon 5 feat. Megan Thee Stallion

At this point, Maroon 5 is literally just Adam Levine being propped up by a bunch of recording studio musicians but oh well after the failure of the last single, we've got this only with Megan Thee Stallion on board to boost streaming and well...I think Megan Thee Stallion is almost the only reason to come back to this song because she pretty much outshines Adam Levine here. The instrumentation is closer to what Maroon 5 is capable of but it's only just a pass.

Rating: 6/10

Good 1992 Vibrations: 8th March. I'm Under The Saltwater Bridge, Please Come as You Are

 So this week feels fairly standard for 1992. A few shifts in the top ten with a major one right at the top along with a few new entries lower down the chart so let's get right into it with news of a brand new number one...that's right.."Saltwater" by Julian Lennon has taken top spot thanks to impressive sales, it pushed past "Love You Right" by Euphoria which slipped to number two as its sales couldn't go with "Saltwater" but it still held up ahead of "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF which held steady at number three, the same goes for "Lets Talk About Sex" by Salt 'n' Pepa at number four

Meanwhile teen spirit pushed Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" up one spot to number five while "Tip of My Tongue" by Diesel got a three place jump to number six! Yay!

Michael Jackson's "Remember The Time" remains at number seven while "Finally" by CeCe Peniston finally moved up two places to number eight. 

"Dizzy" by Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff spends its first week inside the top ten up three places to number nine.

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by George Michael and Elton John slipped five places to number ten as sales won't sustain this much longer.

Gains

"Don't Talk Just Kiss" by Right Said Fred somehow jumped from 23 to 18...just why? The song is garbage...ughhh...In better news though, "I Can't Dance" by Genesis rose ten places to 20.

Voice of The Beehive's bizarre cover of "I Think I Love You" jumped from 37 to 24 for some strange reason while Pearl Jam's "Alive" rose eight spots to 26.

"Peace" by Sabrina Johnston climbed from 35 to 29 while Simply Red's "Stars" climbed from 41 to 33...NICE!

Losers

Roxette's "Spending My Time" is down six places to number 50 while "Cool Jesus" by Maybe Dolls is also down six places to 46..

Guns 'n' Roses cover of "Live and Let Die" slipped six places to 38 while U2's "Mysterious Ways" plunged from 21 to 35 and "Black or White" by Michael Jackson stumbled from 34 to 27. UB40's "Kingston Town plunged from 25 to 31. 

In good news "Addams Groove" by MC Hammer dipped down from 18 to 25. 

New Entries

Four entries this week so let's start with...

49. "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" by Concrete Blonde

So Concrete Blonde are back with the lead single for their upcoming sophomore album called "Walking in London" and honestly I am not impressed...it's this song that's trying to be some kind of stomping country song in the vein of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" yet its nowhere near as engaging or as compelling as the latter no matter no much the instrumentation and the vocal "Whoa ohs" are trying to make it feel and the vocals do absolutely nothing but sound harsh so yeah...not good.

45. "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" by Bryan Adams

So the guy who had one of the biggest hits of 1991 and probably ever is back with a new single...and folks, if you thought "Everything I do (I Do it For You" was cringey than trust me, this song is a whole new level of cringe that I didn't think was possible at least "Everything I Do" had some sort of treacly sick sincerity to it but this? Well this is Bryan Adams going on about how this girl helped him get nutted and that she was so good at it he thought he'd died and gone to heaven as way of describing the orgasm he had after...ewww. All that is matched by instrumentation that doesn't match the mood at at all and sudden drops in instrumentation where Adams vocals sound too soft and not loud enough which is an issue that pervades the song. 

If this song inspires thoughts of your last orgasm...congratulations...I guess...but as for me, I am skipping this.

43. "Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Oh thank god...a song that doesn't blow chunks, "Under the Bridge" is the latest single from "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" and while I will confess to not being a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, "Under the Bridge" is a monster song with a fantastic chorus to boot..yeah, it builds slowly but my god the band make that build worth it as the song escalates with the guitars and the female backing vocals in the middle eight. 

The song is written by Anthony Kiedis who was experiencing feelings of alienation and loneliness and he felt vulnerable in this big city like Los Angeles and wanting to be back with friends, family and the band. The song just connects for me and yeah I hope this is a massive hit. Great song!

41. "Come As You Are" by Nirvana

So here's the latest single from Nirvana and honestly I like this a lot more than "Smells Like Teen Spirit" mostly because this songs feels lot more melodic than the more raucous and anthemic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and there's more visceral anger here from Kurt Cobain as he sings about the often contradictory nature of other people's expectations on other people (according to Cobain) so yeah check this out if you are into alternative grunge rock because yeah this works well.

So two good...two kind of bad to really atrocious, I am giving worst of the week to "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" by Bryan Adams. Best is going to "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers because yeah...the song is a fucking classic.

ARIA Singles Top Ten/ Chart Review: 8th March. Josh, Heartbreak Anniversary is on Friday!

 So we had some changes to the top ten this week and a fair bit of movement up and down the chart so let's get stuck into it because for a second week it's "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals at number one thanks mostly due its dominance on streaming because it's sales while good are starting to waver and it's facing some STIFF competition for top spot next week.

It held up ahead of both "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo at number two and "Without You' by The Kid Laroi holding steady at number three mostly because neither have the streaming presence anymore.

That might be good news for "The Business" by Tiesto which regained a spot to number four as it's in position to take advantage of any weakness above it BUT like I said there are some MASSIVE new releases heading for the charts next week however it did push past "Calling My Phone" by Lil Tjay and 6lack which dropped a spot to number five as interest in this song is fading ALREADY.

Unfortunately the worst song in the top ten "Goosebumps" by HVME and Travis Scott climbed one place because streaming won't let this song fucking die in a pit of fire already. It meant that "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd got pushed back one to number seven. 

Steady at number eight is 'Mood" by 24kGoldn and Iann Dior and "Levitating" by Dua Lipa and DaBaby at number nine. Both these songs look likely to exit the top ten next week. 

However we do have a new arrival to the top ten that being "Cover Me in Sunshine" by Pink and Willow Sage Hart which climbed six places to number ten because of strength on sales and is growing on streaming. It's Pink's 27th top ten hit in Australia and Willow Sage Hart's first. I'm not surprised by this, Australia loves Pink and almost anything she releases does pretty well. plus the radio LOVES this song.

Gains

So outside the top ten the biggest gain of the week came for "Your Love (9pm)" by ATB, Topic and A7S up 21 spots to number 24. 

The other two are cases of continued momentum with "My Head & My Heart" by Ava Max up six places to number 21 and "Astronaut In the Ocean" by Masked Wolf up nine spots to break into the top twenty at 16. 

Losers

The biggest loser this week is "Love Songs Ain't for Us" by Amy Shark and Keith Urban as it fell ten places to 32 because it really only has sales with only a small amount of streaming.

"Afterglow" by Ed Sheeran looks to be fading away naturally down seven to number 40.

Drop Outs

Much to my disappointment, "Martin & Gina" by Polo G fell out...that song deserved better.

Also gone are "Willow" by Taylor Swift and "Send It" by Hooligan Hefs. 

New Entries

Three new entries this week starting with...

41. Friday by Riton x Nightcrawlers feat. Mufasa and Hyperman

Well this requires some explanation, this song is by English DJ and producer Riton who teamed up with Scottish house music project Nightcrawlers and brought in Internet sensations Mufasa and Hyperman, both who are responsible for viral videos on Youtube. 

Now it should be said that the song does lean heavily on a remix of the Nightcrawlers 1992 hit "Push the Feeling On" which is kind of ironic because while objectively this is fine enough, I'm not feeling this at all, it just doesn't do anything for me, it feels kind of flat in a way I would expect a song about it being Friday to feel. That's all.

38. Josh by Peach PRC

Ahh so another act I need to explain, Peach PRC is a Australian pop singer/songwriter. Peach being her preferred stage name. This song being her first to hit the ARIA singles chart top fifty after some pretty impressive promotion on streaming and going viral on Tiktok.

So how's the song, it's your pretty basic break up song where she wants this guy named Josh to stop calling her and outlines all his immature traits (the song opens with the line "Does your mom still buy your clothes?" cause that's real mature to out that kind of shit in public) which eventually result in her cutting him off and just leaves me unimpressed with just how juvenile and catty this song is especially when she's rubbing it in about the song being on music playlists...it's not just Josh that needs to grow up here, clearly and the instrumentation is just bland as hell...NEXT.

29. Heartbreak Anniversary by Giveon

So I will confess I paid this song absolutely no attention when it first turned up on the Spotify top 50 in Australia and only began taking notice a few weeks ago when it turned up rather low down on the USA Billboard Hot 100 and with this being Giveon's first song to turn up on the ARIA singles top 50, what did we get?

Well it turns out we got a solid R'n'B cut that might well be one of the best of the year so far with its piano and bits of guitar spiking through out the song as Giveon parses through his feelings about the 1 year anniversary of his split with his ex and the pain he has felt since she left him and misses her a lot. It's a lot more maturely written than a certain other new entry this week. I like this. Let's make it a hit.

"Heartbreak Anniversary" runs away with best of the week this week while "Josh" by Peach PRC gets the worst of the week for being just ridiculously juvenile.

Next week is going to be an overload of new songs so we'll see what happens when the chart updates at 5pm AEDT on Saturday. 

New Music Friday Review: 26th February. BED is all She Wrote under Pictures.

"BED" by Joel Corry, Raye and David Guetta

So here is the follow up to "Head and Heart" from Joel Corry, this time teaming up with David Guetta and Raye and much like "Head and Heart" with MNEK, I kind of like this more than I probably should. Joel Corry seems to know what sort of vocalist he wants on a song eg: MNEK on "Head & Heart" was an inspired choice as is Raye here where it feels like the instrumental supplied by Corry and Guetta works well for her voice, it's not a bad song. Check it out.

Rating: 8/10

"All She Wrote" by Six60

So new single by New Zealand group Six60...and while I tolerate Six60 a lot more than other people would, this song is almost as though the group found a book full of song writing cliches and tried to stuff them into every single inch of the song, pair that with the production and you have a pretty forgettable and generic song. Pass.

Rating: 4/10

"Pictures" by AACACIA

Aacacia is an R 'n' B artist hailing from New Zealand and I am going to make no bones about this, "Pictures" is one of my favourite songs of the year. I love Aacacia's vocal delivery that is soulful and keeps the song tight as hell plus memorable too boost and that guitar drives the instrumentation seals the deal.  Check this out...it's well worth it.

Rating 9/10

"Only Wanna be With You" by Post Malone

Yeah, I am covering this...Post Malone covering Hootie and the Blowfish thanks to Pokemon of all things and well...its interesting and it definitely feels like a song that can be associated with Pokemon with the sound effects in there. Post Malone's singing needs some work but I'll say this...it's better than the original by a fair margin? Check it out if you are curious.

Rating: 7/10

Good 1992 Vibrations: 1st March: I Think I Love You Again Tonight

 Okay so we've got a bit of a steady week here and yet glancing at the top ten, I feel like we're in for a couple of shake ups soon? Let's get this show on the road starting with the top ten where yet again...unfortunately...Euphoria remain at number one with "Love You Right" but it's leaking sales and coming under significant pressure from "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon at number two which is gathering momentum to challenge.

Behind these two is "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF which climbed one spot up to number three, it pushed past "Let's Talk About Sex" by Salt 'N' Pepa which dropped one place to number four.

This left "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by George Michael & Elton John stuck at number five and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number six.

In some good news, "Remember The Time" by Michael Jackson climbed five places to join the top ten at number seven. Thrilled about this as the song damn great.

Stuck at number eight is "The Globe" by Big Audio Dynamite. Kind of surprised this has hung around the top ten if I am to be honest.

Also rising into the top ten is Diesel's "Tip of My Tongue" up three places to number nine. Again, another great song in the top ten, maybe 1992 is starting to look good finally?

Then bringing up the end of the top ten we have "Finally" by Cece Peniston still at number ten and really starting to clog up the chart.

Gains

So the gains this week are pretty awesome..."Dizzy" by Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff jumped from 24 to 12...YAY!

I'm also fine with "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to be a long long time)" by Kate Bush up nine spots to 14.

What thrilled me was "It's Only Natural" by Crowded House leaping from 41 to 19! AWESOME!

"I Can't Dance"  by Genesis slid up seven to 30.

Losers.

So let's deal with these quickly because there's quite a few beginning with former chart topper "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred which plummeted from 35 to 49 this week while Color Me Badd's "All 4 Love" skidded down 10 places to 48. 

Metallica's "The Unforgiven" hit a ten place slide to 48 as did Roxette's "Spending My Time" to 44, 

Pleasingly "If You Go Away" by NKTOB suffered an eleven place drop to 42 while "Come to Me" by Diesel fell back nine to 38 (Am fine with this, it's had a really damn good run)

In good news, "I Adore Mi Amor" by Color Me Badd slumped six places to 30...can it just disappear from the chart altogether though...

Guns 'n' Roses cover of "Live and Let Die" dropped from 25 to 32 while "Ain't No Sunshine" by Rockmelons feat Deni Hines plunged eleven spots to 28 and "Black or White" by Michael Jackson dropped eight spots to 27. 

"Cream" by Prince and The New Power Generation fell out of the top ten down to 16.

New Entries

46. "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited

Okay, this is a bit weird. 2 Unlimited are a dance act that are comprised of two Belgian producers that created the duo in The Netherlands with this being their debut single and...it's fine? I mean, it's a good hype anthem and the rapping has a good flow and energy to it for it being 1992 and I do like how the production is toned back to suit the female vocals. It's fine enough and is better than some of the other dance cuts I've heard in 1992 so far.

39. "Again Tonight" by John Mellencamp

So I've made no secret that "Jack & Diane" is one of my favourite songs, I love the story telling in the song and there's several other songs in John Mellencamp's discography that I like as well so how's "Again Tonight"?

Honestly? I am a little disappointed, more because this feels like Mellencamp slipping into Bryan Adams impersonation mode, this song feels like a Bryan Adams song in every single sense of the word from the production to Mellencamp's crooning on the hook...geezus....if I wangted to listen to Bryan Adams, I'd listen to "Can't Stop This Thing We Started"...thanks.

37. "I Think I Love You" by Voice of the Beehive

Ahh another group I have to explain so turns out Voice of the Beehive are an American alternative pop rock trio from California with this song being the second single from their sophomore album called "Honey Lingers" and it seems they are providing us a cover of the song by The Partridge Family that was released in 1970 and peaked at number one in Australia in 1971 so we've got our cover song of the week here, folks!

Now I should warn you I don't care for the original at all...the song has always felt somewhat mediocre to me but regardless how's the cover? Well, they did something with it that's for sure, they've turned the pop song into this alt pop rock thing that's not quite as weird as it seems to want to be. The vocals really don't do much for me here either, there's some nice vocal harmonies but it does feel like something Bananarama would have done after mangling The Beatles.

34. "Alive" by Pearl Jam

Dear god...I hope I can find some quality here,...maybe with American grunge rock band Pearl Jam with this song being their debut single from the band and well...yeah, it's grunge rock which given the success of an act like Nirvana this year so far, I'm really not surprised another band would break through with sort of sound and you know what? "Alive" is really damn good.

The song is the opening song of a trilogy following the story of a young man who finds out the man he thinks is his dead father is actually his step father (geez...this blog entry turned into Maury Povitch or Jeremy Kyle pretty quick) as his mother's grief leads her to having an incestuous relationship with the son (Ew). The band's lead vocallist Eddie Vedder has said the lyrics are in part true and in part fiction...it's a gripping song (I love a song that tells a story). 

The instrumentation also play up the darkness and add to the story that Vedder is telling so yeah I recommend this. Check it out.

17. "Foreplay (EP)" by Candy Harlots

I saw the title of the EP and the name of the band and instantly my stomach sunk even before I heard the song...geezus christ...really? Turns out Candy Harlots are a glam metal band that hail from Sydney and were originally known as Helter Skelter wuth this being their first thing to hit the charts...

So I'm going to keep this brief...the instrumentation is impressive with the pounding drums and a guitar solo that's not band bbut the lead vocallist sounds like he spent time listening to Bon Jovi,,,there is no power or presence in his vocal delivery. Not impressed at all, I'm dipping.

So that wraps up the week, worst of the week is going to "Again Tonight" by John Mellencamp for being disappointing. Best is going to "Alive" by Pearl Jam. Hopefully next week is much better than this...