Hits 21 - 2008 (7): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: May 19, 2024

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail] Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

It's 21, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, Livy have all been looking back at every single UK number one of the 21st century between January 2000 and December 2008. If you want to get in touch with us, find us on Twitter. We are at Hits21UK, that is at Hits21UK. Or you can email us too. Hitsits21podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 2008 and this week we'll be covering the race for Christmas number one. So our poll winner from last week's episode, pretty tight, Beyonce. If I were a boy was the winner on that occasion. So it is time to press on with this week's episode and as always it's time for some news headlines, this time from around Christmas 2008. In the UK, furniture store MFI announces that it is to cease trading, closing over 100 of its stores. Woolworths begins the first wave of closures too, with over 200 shops out of business before the end

of 2008. Richie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers is officially declared dead having been missing since 1995 and meanwhile in America Iraqi journalist Muntadar Al-Zaidi throws both of his shoes at President George W Bush during a press conference I think we all remember that one of the earlier memes you know sort of in that era of this is Sparta the Zidane headbutt kind of thing. I didn't realize that though that that happened after Obama's election that that was in the absolute final yeah like finally days of Bush's yeah it wasn't even the president really anymore like choose your moments yeah. Andy you gave us the full roundup for Christmas 2008 in the album charts last week. So Lizzie, this is your time to let us know, how do Americans feel looking back at 2008? What were their

biggest selling songs of the year? So yeah, first off, the best performing album of 2008 in the US was As I Am by Alicia Keys. It spent three weeks at number one in the US and was eventually certified quadruple platinum over there. But back here in the UK it only got as high as number 11. So time for the year-end Hot 100 singles. I'll give you the top 10. Any guesses? I'll give you a hint if need be. There hasn't been any standouts quite as big as last year. I would guess something by Beyonce.

I think she'll appear in the top 10 a few times, but there's no real obvious ones like Umbrella or anything from last year, I don't think. Or maybe some Britney, maybe some Britney. Yeah, maybe. I'm gonna throw those two names out there, yeah. Yeah. Rob, any advance on that? Definitely Beyonce, Single Ladies. That's my solid, solid solid pick. Okay well just to give you a bit more, it got to number two

in the UK in 2008. Oh okay then. So this is a born to runner up contender. So in at number 10 we have Forever by Chris Brown. In at number nine we have With You also by Chris Brown in at number nine we have with you also by Chris Brown at number eight we have love in this club by Usher featuring young Jeezy Q Rob. I knew it was coming. At number seven we have love song by Sarah Burealis. At number six we have no air by Jordan Sparks and Chris Brown again. At number five this is one for Rob Apologize by Timbaland featuring OneRepublic. Oh yeah, my guys, my guys. Yeah. And number four we have Lollipop by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major. Like a lollipop, like a lollipop. Why did

I hope for a second that it might be Lollipop by Mika? I thought that's ridiculous, that can't happen. I hope for a second that it might be Lollipop by Mika. I thought that's ridiculous. That can't happen. At number three, she was the number one selling album artist of 2008. It's Alicia Keys with No One. Yeah, big fan of Aria and Game of Thrones. It just took me a few seconds that I got there in the end. Yeah, I'm glad. At number two, we have Leona Lewis with Bleeding Love. Wow. As high as that, number two. Well done, Leona. Yeah, well done. Yeah, well done.

And at number one, it could only be Flowrider featuring T-Pain, it's low. Ah. Low, low, low. So no Beyonce at all. No Beyonce at all. She might have her best 2009, but who knows? I suppose she did release Single Ladies quite late.

So that's true. Yeah. All right. Thank you very much, Lizzie. Andy, back over to the UK. What are we watching? Christmas 2008. What are we sat in front of on the TV? Yes, here we are again. Welcome to your TV Christmas in 2008. Or should I say welcome to your TV Christmas in 2008 or should I say welcome to your TV Christmas in 2024 because well, you'll find out what I mean by that. Over on BBC One, it's kind of hard to pick a highlight really because there's a lot of big stuff this year. They really went for it. On Christmas Eve, we get a Christmas special of Gavin and Stacey. Honestly, the very best episode of the show as far as I'm concerned. One of my favorite Christmas episodes of anything.

It's so good. Honorable comedy mention also to the Royal Family, which started their tradition of annual Christmas specials once again with the new sofa following on from the Queen of Sheba, which is the return episode from earlier that year. Yeah, oh, the Queen of Sheba, right? Oof.

Yeah. And on Christmas Day, the highest rated program of the day on any channel that won the whole season at a staggering 15 million viewers is Wallace and Gromit returning for their latest adventure A Matter of Loaf and Death. I see what you mean. Oh yeah. Guest starring Sally Lindsay as a sinister baker who is plotting things involving bread, of some sense, yeah I don't know. Interesting though isn't it that they got in before

Bake Off with that, they got in before the baking boom with a baking themed Wallace and Gromit special. What a trendsetter they are. And there's also Doctor Who, which this year controversially titled their Christmas special The Next Doctor Doctor starring David Morrissey as supposedly the successor to David Tennant, but he isn't. It's all just a rug pull to get people watching which left viewers decidedly unhappy. But that was smoothed over by a special program on New Year's Day which announced Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. Now what I said earlier about 2024, the reason I said that was that the BBC have announced this year's Christmas line-up in broad terms and it's going to be Gavin and Stacey for the first time in five years, Doctor Who back on Christmas Day for the first time in seven years

and Wallace and Gromit back for the first time in 16 years. We've got the same line-up this year. It's back to 2008. All we need is the royal family, which is unlikely, but yeah, we've got Gavin and Stacey, Doctor Who, Wallace and Gromit once again this year. It's back to 2008. All we need is the royal family which is unlikely but yeah we've got Gavin and Stacey, Doctor Who, Wallace and Gromit once again this year. We can do a lot worse I think. Yeah. It could get worse. What's on ITV? Well yes it could get worse. On ITV, Primetime on Christmas Day is giving to Dancing on Ice at Christmas. It's basically like the strictly Christmas specials but it's the only one Dancing on Ice ever did. It's, sorry to contend specials but it's the only one dancing on ice ever did.

It's, sorry don't contend, it's just mildly dangerous strictly without the nice choreography, sorry. It's not a vintage one on ITV. The only other notable things are a two-hour midsummer murders, an hour of it'll be all right on the night and the soaps. And speaking of the soaps, on Coronation Street, Tony Gordon sneaks out of Christmas celebrations to dispose of the body of his victim Jed Stone, only to find that Jed is not dead. On EastEnders, Sean Slater leaves the square in a dramatic car chase after finding out the baby Amy Mitchell is not his daughter. He hate her mother! And on Emmerdale, Victoria Sugden has a misguided kiss with Daz Eden and runs out of the home, but she runs out onto a frozen lake.

The silly girl, she falls in and she has to be saved from the icy depths. The battle of the films! BBC One gives us Wallace and Gromit again to gear up for the evening. They give us The Curse of the Were Rabbit, up against Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on ITV. Pretty strong. Both great movies. The Queen uses her Christmas speech to acknowledge the 2008 financial crisis and that it's made Christmas a very sombre occasion for many. She encouraged those struggling financially to stay strong, to be brave and to hope for the future. The Queen delivered this message

from one of her four inherited palaces. And finally, the alternative Christmas message this year was delivered by none other than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. Yes, I wasn't expecting to read that either. Yes, this was a highly controversial choice, even at the time, due to Ahmadinejad's racist, antisemitic, homophobic views. However, the message itself was not considered controversial. It was full of just generic pleasantries, really. I think that's what we call a publicity stunt from channel 4 there, which worked. It got 300 complaints to Ofcom.

So thanks for that. Right. So that's your lot. You've got villainous bakers made of clay, Thanks for that. Great. So that's your lot. You've got villainous bakers made of clay, celebrities risking mild injury for your entertainment and hard-right Iranian politics. Oh, it's just like Slade sang about, isn't it?

Merry Christmas one and all. Lizzie, when we're not watching the TV on Christmas Day, what are we playing with? What are we doing on the living room floor in front of the tree and the telly? Well, if you're like me and you never truly grew up then you could be playing with any one of these toys. So first up we have the girls toy of the year which is the for real biscuit my loving pop by Hasbro. Okay. That helps. It doesn't. No. Yeah the further away we get from these it's like the hell is this. It's the one thing like with the 90s when if you mention a toy it's like, oh I remember that, I had that bloody thing. I probably still have it in the loft or something.

We've got the preschool toy of the year which is the Kiddy Zoom Camera by Vtech. I know they did a lot of these where it's like they're sort of half a megapixel and looks like you filmed it on a potato sort of thing. You know what? The PlayStation Eye toy was a similar thing. Oh God, yeah. The boys range of the year was Ben 10. Okay, yep. That's a name I recognise. See, this is part of why we're moving back to the 90s because I feel like we're entering into a little period where like the 2012 boys toy

of the year, when we're all like late teens early 20s and we're just gonna be like what yeah yeah the girls range of the year speaking of the 90s this was around then i'm pretty sure sylvanian families again always pops up there always wow god they have cornered the market in recent years yeah they're still doing this kind of gendering thing which i don't know it's the same with all awards i guess we have the construction toy of the year though and that is lego of course it is it's lego okay yeah construction toy have we always had that category because surely lego wins every year really construction toy could have mccarno as well mccarno connects yeah yeah maybe they changed

these around a lot like there's no consistency with the toy retailers association Okay, so next up we have the preschool range of the year which goes to in the night garden because The mid to late 2000s that was really big We have the collectible toy of the year what I've never heard of go go crazy bones. Oh, they just made that up Yeah, do you know what they've done there? They've realised that we've been reading these out on the podcast over the years and they thought, shit, this category is empty. We need love for Hits 21. We've got the film license of the year again going to High School Musical. Okay. What toys were you getting from High School

Musical though? They would have had things like... Basketballs? I'm sure they would have had... Yeah, basketballs, annuals... Annuals are probably a big thing, yeah. Lunch boxes, I don't know. Figurines, I guess. If you can fit Troy Bolton's face on it, you can sell it, I guess, is the motto. They must have done like a Barbie doll type thing with High School Musical.

We have the innovative toy of the year, Elmo Live. Elmo Live? What's live about it? Is he like live in the room with you? I don't know. Does he perform stand-up for you? We have the creative toy of the year which goes to Just Cupcake Maker. Fair enough.

Cupcake Maker. There you go. And finally we have the toy of the year for 2008 which goes to Ben 10 action figures 10 inch and 15 inch. Ben 10 again, wow. Specifically the 10 inch and 15 inch, any other options are out of the question. If it's more than 15 I'm just not interested at all, it might as well be garbage. Well exactly. Over to games, it might as well be garbage. Well exactly. Over to games.

It goes without saying at this point, the number one game of 2008 is FIFA 09. Meanwhile, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 languishes at number 13. Yeah, it was growing out of style. I still think the brand change was a bad idea. I don't why they went from pes 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 0 8 0 9 I don't know why they did it, but don't worry Rob. They'll figure it out in the 2020s and they'll return to form. I'm sure Back to 2008. What do you think is the second top selling game of 2008? I could almost guarantee that both of you have played this at some point. Grand Theft Auto IV.

Ah, see I... Okay, what about you Andy? I can't really remember what came out of that, I'm probably a couple of years out on most of them. Like, did Red Dead Redemption come out this year maybe? Or... I think it was a little bit later in... I've not got a solid guess for this one, no. Oh, yes I do, Guitar Hero 3. Guitar Hero 3.

I'm just thinking because I got that for my 16th birthday which was in 2008 and everybody seemed to have it so I'm going to guess that. Let's go top 10. Okay well starting off at number 10 we have Carnival Funfair games by 2Kplay and Take Two. Which I'm guessing is one of those Wii shovelware type things. Which still are. Oh, right, yeah. Which was the style at the time. At number nine we have Lego Indiana Jones

original adventures. What? Never heard of that. In at number eight we have last year's number one, Dr. Karashima's brain training. Still going strong. That was popular that. Yeah, really was. At going strong. How popular that. Yeah really was. At number seven we have WePlay. Oh. Ah. Which is the follow-up to Wii Sports which

wasn't as good for everybody had because they assumed it would be. At number six we have Call of Duty World at War. Yeah okay we're in an era now aren't we. Fine. Yeah we're about to turn that corner into Call of Duty World at War. Yeah okay we're in an era now aren't we? Fine. Yeah we're about to turn that corner into Call of Duty being the biggest franchise in the world. Yeah. But at number five we have Wii Fit. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay yeah. I've still got that board somewhere. I think everyone's got that board somewhere. I feel like in my mind really the only real legacy of Wii Fit are that you can play Wii Fit Trainer in Smash Brothers. Smash Brothers, playing as the trainer in Smash Brothers is always fun. Yeah, let's start with some leg stretches before annihilating you.

I was just going to say with everything with the Wii, the soundtrack just haunts all of social media. So you click on a video and there's about a 30% chance it's gonna be from Wii music. So speaking of the Wii, in at number four we have Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. I didn't know it was that big, wow. Top three, in at number three we have Grand Theft Auto IV. Oh, I was so close. Oh, yeah, very good guess. So at number two, we have Mario Kart Wii. Oh, of course. Oh, how did I forget that? Oh, well, then again, I sort of associate Mario Kart Wii more like with like 2010, because that's when I played it most.

So maybe that's why it didn't come to mind. But OK, I'm happy. I'm happy with 3. I'm happy with 3. That's a classic. That's a classic. But well done Rob. So was Guitar Hero just nowhere? No, it was actually at number 12. So you were just very close. And Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare was at 11. Yeah, FIFA 09 at number 1. You know the rest.

Alright, thank you very much Andy. We've done Toys and Games. Now we're gonna move over to number two singles. And it's the number two singles that we've been voting on. So the poll will take a shape that we recognize. It won't be a random survey of the general public. So, Born to Run or Up for 2008. Take it away.

It is Born to Run or Up Up 2008 or Be True 08. We've got to really try and get that to catch on because it's just too perfect. Yes, so you know the score by now hopefully but for those who don't, yes we've looked at every number two single from 2008. That's songs that peaked at number two without ever reaching number one and we have ranked them all from the poopiest to the greatest. And there are 17 of them this year. I won't read out all 17 but I will tell you what came dead last which was Rockstar by Nickelback. Not a great one. And You Somebody by Kings of Leon was right above that. I think people know if people could have seen the list they would have known we would have

put those last based on our opinions that we've expressed so far this year. In 10th place it's Low Low Low Low Low Low Low by Flowrider featuring T-Pain. In 9th place it's The Winner Song by Geraldine McQueen. That's Peter Kay. That high? Yeah it did pretty well in the end. I will say it was given. It was not your favourite, Lizzie, looking at the score.

No. No. In eighth place, it is Better in Time by Leona Lewis. Okay. Just fine. Fair enough. In seventh place it's Live Your Life by T.I. featuring Rihanna. Last in legacy in Mitchell's Verses the Machines. Not bad that one.

In sixth place it's Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. Why did that get to number 2? Who knows? Who could possibly answer that? I wonder. In 5th place, it's What's It Gonna Be by H2O featuring Platinum. Oh, I wanted that a bit higher, but never mind. In 4th place, it's Piece of Me by Britney Spears. Oh, I was expecting that to be the winner. Bit of a shock there. So, in third place it is Chasing Pavements by Adele. Okay, yeah.

And then we've got two left. Let me tell you, for the first time ever in Born to Runner Up history, Mids 21 history, it's a tie! We have a tie for first place! So, Brian Storm by Arctic Monkeys, which was last year's winner, is handing over the baton, maybe snapping it in half or maybe sort of making it in two with like sort of David Tennant and Shooty Gat, where we're kind of making two out of one. So the first winner of Born to Runner Up 2008 is One for the Radio by McFly. Oh wow. It's a lovely one. Okay. And it's McFly's first win on Born to Runner Up. They've been in this a few times and they've been in the main chart very high a few times. It's their first Born to

Runner Up win. Well done boys. And our second winner of Boards Runner Up 2008 is Black and Gold by Sam Sparrow. Ah, yeah okay. It's a proper banger. Yeah, yeah. Pretty solid in the end. Started off a bit funny, the top 10 to be honest. Yeah, Jesus. I will say we all really disagreed this year.

I think we act under the illusion that we all basically agree with each other and when we're scoring in secret, well we don't. We don't agree with each other and when we're scoring in secret, well we don't. We don't agree with each other. So yeah, well done to Sam Sparrow and McFly. Thank you very much Andy for the Born to Runner. Sorry, be true. Be true. Oh wait, we're gonna make it stick. Be true to yourself. Even when we go back to the 90s, it'll be be true 90, be true 91. I've just realised it sounds like Beatroot. Yes, I also had that exact same thought.

We can't call it the Beatroot trophy. The pie hole, strange enough, out of context for people who've not been listening, if we now start giving up the Beatroot trophy, that's going to be even more confusing. We're reaching continuity lockout points here, aren't we? Well, that's the shape of the trophy. Just a big beat root trophy. Yeah, big beat root. And it's just a really pleasant burgundy colour trophy. Yeah. Well thank you both very much for taking us through all of that. The TV, the toys and games, Bourne to Runner Up. And now I am going to take everybody through the Christmas Day

Top 10 for 2008, do my best Mark Goodyear impression, which is middling, and then we will discuss the Christmas Number 1 for 2008. So here we go, Top 10 countdown Christmas Day 2008, here we are. At 10 down 6 places from number 4, she knows what you are baby. It's Britney Spears with Womanizer. At 9 down 4 from 5, it's a former number 1, greatest day by take that. At 8, it was a big moment on the X Factor last week. It's up 52 places. Beyonce with Listen.

At 7, it's Kings of Leon with You Somebody. At six, it's Sword, twelve places in the last few days. Broken Strings by James Morrison and Nelly Tardo. Into the top five we go with Once Upon a Christmas Song, the brand new entry from Britain's Got the Pops, Factorials, whatever. Geraldine McQueen the winner at four it's a former number one and it's back up five places it's Beyonce with If I Were a Boy into the Christmas 2008 top three it is another former number one Leona Lewis and her cover of Snow Patrol's Run and at number two, missing out on the top spot this year, it is the late Jeff Butler with his version of Hallelujah. So I wonder what could be number one?

The Christmas number one for 2008 is this! I heard there was a secret chord That David played and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do ya? Well, it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, and the major lift. The baffled king composing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You're faithful strong but you needed truth You saw her baby on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight all of you She tied you to her kitchen chair She broke your throne and she cut your hair and from your lips she drew the hallelujah

I'm not the one who's seen the light. It's a call and it's a broken hand. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Okay, this is Hallelujah by Alexandra Burke. Released as the lead single from her debut studio album titled Overcome, Hallelujah is Alexandra Burke's first single to be

released in the UK and her first to reach number one and it's not the last time that we'll be coming to Alexandra on this podcast. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by Leonard Cohen which had never charted in the UK until it reached number 36 in 2008 this very week. Hallelujah went straight in at number 1 as a brand new entry knocking Leona Lewis off the top of the charts. It stayed at number 1 for 3 weeks! In its first week atop the charts, which is when it went to Christmas number one, it sold 576,000 copies, beating competition from the songs that you

just heard about. In week two, which took us into 2009, it sold 312,000 copies in a week where there were no new entries or climbers in the top ten. And in week 3 it sold 104,000 copies, beating competition from a little vision of the future here, Just Dance by Lady Gaga which got to number 3. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Hallelujah fell 2 places to number 3. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 20 weeks. The song is currently officially certified 3 times platinum, so triple platinum in the UK. As of 20, 24, Lizzy you can begin on Alexandra Burke.

After our last episode, I'm feeling much less charitable towards X Factor pop in general. To get the positives out of the way quickly, Alexandra Burke was clearly the right person to win the X Factor in 2008, and she tries her best to perform this with the respect and the gravitas that the song deserves. With that said, she could be the best singer in the world and this rendition of the song would still be trite and overwrought. I think Alexandra Burke could absolutely pull off the kind of low key approach that works best for this song, but as ever, Simon Cowell steps in yet again, presses the big red make it sound shit button and it ends up sounding exactly the same as all of his previous number ones. In each of these instances, the vocalist is just following

orders, just as much a part of the atrocity but powerless to do anything about it. I don't want to end this on a complete negative, so just before I hand over, I will say that I do have a nice story about Alexandra Burke. So a couple of years ago, this would have been just after the pandemic, I went to see Joseph and the Technical Dreamco at the Palisade with my mum. And Alexandra Burke was in it and she played the narrator. But not only that, she also played Jacob, Joseph's father, and she donned a little strap-on beard. A little beard. And she played side characters as well.

But not only that, she was seven months pregnant at the time. Wow. What? Yeah. I guess that's why Jacob has all those sons. Well yeah, of course. Say what you will about X Factor, but that is a pro right there. I'll always have some respect for Alexandra Burke for that.

Doesn't the narrator sing that song Jacob and Sons about Jacob? There's moments where the two characters are on screen at the same time. Yes, exactly. But then Jacob sings it from his own perspective. My name is Jacob, these are my sons. Andy, hallelujah, Alexandra Burke. Yeah, I've not got a huge amount to add to be honest, purely because we've done so many of these now that they're really very minor variations on a theme to be honest and the theme that keeps emerging is just bigger and bigger every time. The theme that keeps emerging is just bigger and bigger every time.

Yeah, I mean, looking back on where I was in 2008, I was like pretty much all teenagers. I was a little bit snobby. I was a little bit dismissive of this sort of thing, but not really. Like way less than you would expect for most teenagers really. Like I loved my pop music and I actually loved the X factor. Like I loved it for, you know, the entertainment of it really in a kind of shitty reality sense. I loved it in the same way I love Kitchen Nightmares now. But like I didn't turn my nose up at it really.

And the winner singles, although they were crap and I never liked them, like I didn't think they were like offensive to music or like a worrying omen of the future in the way that a lot of people were at the time. This though, I remember being a bit like, ohhhh. Not that it's the very worst one we've had, because it's not, definitely not the worst one we've had. No, no. But it's definitely one that's a bit like, feels a little bit like desecration to be honest.

It's like, whether you like or love this song or don't like it at all it's definitely like the most famous one that they've covered up to this point with maybe the exception of Against All Odds but that can't be saved that song. But this is the first like proper classic that they've covered for a Winners single and they absolutely stomp all over it and it's the biggest production that they've ever done on a song really. This is bigger even than Hero or Run from last week. This is like, especially in that last chorus where the choir comes in with that, hallelujah, all over the top. And it's like, oh, I feel like there's about a hundred voices in the room with you. And there comes a point

actually where that's so loud that Alexandra's not even singing against it She's just lets the choir sing hallelujah And then she does a bit of ad-lib behind it and at that point you've gone too big and I completely agree with Lizzie that this song Although I'm not the biggest fan in the world of it It is best executed when you do it quite slowly when you do it quite restrained when it's just a kind of Mourn mournful sort of a little bit of a cynical little ballad and you know that's kind of all that it really is. It's not hallelujah in the sense of a great religious experience which is kind of what this song paints it as. It sort of feels like you're kind of kneeling at the altar for this hallelujah and that's not what this song is so it's a

very different take on it and one that I think is kind of a bit gross yeah especially because it's interesting that they went with this because a lot of the young audience will only ever have been brought up on versions of this song that are much more restrained I think me along with a lot of people of my generation first was introduced to this song through Shrek which has a very quiet version of it that's a lot like Jeff Buckley's version and it yeah it works better in that way there's just no doubt it works better in that way. I don't have any problem with Alexandra at all like she's a great singer she does actually a very

good job with this and she does just about manage to keep up with it. She's got a lot of expression in her voice I think she's pretty much tied with Leona in terms of like the best vocal performance we've had on a Winner's single. But this is just, it's a schlock really, isn't it? Like I can't really give it any bigger praise than the singer herself because she's blameless in this but this is just a tatty product, that's all it is, it's just a product, it's nothing else. And I'm really done with these Winner's singles singles now to be honest I'm really glad that this is the last one we'll be talking about in this decade and Therefore for quite a long time. It's the last one

I'm really really glad about that the thing that you've said there about this feeling like a bit of a big religious Hallelujah thing which is not what the original song is about I mentioned on our Christmas episode about song is about. I mentioned on our Christmas episode about three years ago, two years ago, whenever we did Leona, so 2006, this kind of creeping American influence that Simon Cowell has brought over from his days on American Idol and like this feels very American to me. This doesn't feel like a winner song for a British singer. This just feels very American to me me I think it feels specifically like Mariah Carey I think they set the template with Against All Odds and Simon's just a fan of that and when you believe that was also Mariah and when you believe of course yeah and

they've just they've just gone with that ever since I think all five of them sound like Mariah songs yeah all of them yeah this might be the height of Simon Cowell's American influence because he manages to get fucking Beyonce on the final. I know. Yeah. And Britney Spears a couple of weeks before, yeah. I'm just thinking about that Harry Hill sketch of Britney Spears.

The biggest star in the world in the building, Britney Spears. Boo. the building he brings his penis. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Lewis, Leon Jackson, Michelle, etc. You know, talent show winners, they have a very particular formula over the last sort of three or four years, five years. And judging by last week's episode, this kind of formula of Westlife light material is very much in because it sells bucket loads at the moment and it guarantees yet another X Factor winner, a Christmas number one, Alexandra, a lot like Leona. She is likeable as a vocalist actually and she does her best with what she's been given. I won't be pie-holing this because of what Alexandra brings actually, I was considering it, I really was, but I think her alone she

manages to elevate it out of there. But with Hallelujah I just feel like it's one of those images that you see sometimes on the internet, like a picture that's been copied and pasted too many times, like how every time you copy and paste the image it loses some of its definition. The pixels distort and over time if that exact image has been shared around enough it will eventually blur into nothing if you copy and paste it and copy and paste it and copy and paste it some of the information is lost every single time. Because you have with this the original Leonard Cohen version, the lovely Jeff Buckley cover, then you've got the John Cale one which was the one that was used in Shrek and you've

got Rufus Wainwright, Katie Lang, all sorts of versions and you get this which takes all the quiet misery and subtle questioning out of it and projects it onto the face of the Magic Castle at Disney World. I think Hallelujah has kind of become one of those standards where any emotional uncertainty has kind of been erased with time which means that it's unfortunately crossed that line where I think I forget what song I was talking about with this, but it's kind of crossed that line where everyone thinks that they understand it now. It's just accepted as a piece of noise rather than a thing with intricate parts and the like little things that mean different things on their own in isolation, because even Leonard Cohen has

said he doesn't know where the song came from or what it really means. He wrote 80 different versions of this because it was clearly something that was meaningful to him and in the end he just settled on the version that we have. But instead of taking that information and taking it to mean that hallelujah can mean lots of different things, and because human beings are obsessed with figuring things out, the powers that be have decided on the public's behalf that Hallelujah is actually about nothing, except vague references to religion and stuff you've seen on the X-Factor over the last sort of four months. And the public have just accepted that. Like, in the eyes of normal people, hallelujah is just a song about being

emotional, like it's just vague, like oh this is a sad song. And it's used to signify things like Christmas and people winning talent shows and Cheryl Cole with a tear running down her cheek and I just, I think what I really can't stand about all the Simon Cowell things that we've done is that he emotionally flattens and deadens everything that he comes into contact with and yeah plasters it over images from his own shows that have been carefully crafted by other people. He doesn't search for hidden meanings in these songs to unearth new truths he just puts everything on the surface and then wipes it down with bleach.

The whole operation I find it, really it at the time and looking back even like I've called on certain things now that I thought were poisonous and you know the mark of the downfall of society when I was 14 or 15, there's loads of things I look back on and go well you were stupid for thinking that, but I honestly think the whole X Factor operation is so ghastly, even with hindsight by this point. And it's only because Alexandra Burke is very likeable and accomplished as a vocalist before her career has even begun that I'm not going to throw this in the pie hole. Because I was watching the music video for this and that key change, that line, there's that line,

is all I ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you. It's not a cry you hear at night, it's not someone who's seen the light, it's a cold and broken hallelujah. And the images are just Alexandra Burke taking the Tory power stance and belting it out into oblivion. And Cheryl Cole is applauding and the studio fireworks are going off. Like, this part of the song literally says it's not a cry you can hear at night. It is that pathetic and quiet and lonely that not even the darkness registers it and you've got firework rain and smiles and applause and I'm just like do these people know or care about the songs they pick for their winners beyond just like oh well

it makes people emotional and it is Christmas I suppose and Lizzie obviously I'm very very sorry to be, obviously that you're not going to be with us on the podcast after 2009, but in a way I am relieved on your behalf that you will never have to cover, well you won't have to cover one of these again unless you rejoin us for the 2010s. It means that at least one of us doesn't have to live through this anymore. And the whole thing withered and died on its arse by 2013, 2014 anyway. I think the last one you get is 2014, 2015, Ben, Hi Now, Hey Now, Hey No, Don't Dream It's Over.

A cover of One Republic's song, funnily enough. So again, Brian Tedder, are very pally still with simon cowell in 2014 2015 but yeah i just i find this all i found it at the time and i found it now it's still just like by this point it had become like just this behemoth and i felt very excluded at school because i used to watch this on a Saturday thinking like, oh, I like pop and I'm interested in the X Factor and I just used to hate watch. I think X Factor is the only thing in my life I've ever consistently hate watched. I watched it until like 2010.

The night when I really, I started to lose faith in it when they kept pushing Owen forward and the ways that they kept pushing him forward when he was a very limited vocalist. I mean of course he was, he was only what 15, 16? And I've never forgotten the night where they made him do Never Forget by Take That and because he couldn't do the note they got a big choir to do it with him instead. And they made it part of the story of the week and I was just like what the fuck am I watching? I was gonna say about Never Forget that if funny enough you can't fix that when it's live so you have to cover it up but you can fix it up on an album but they don't. No. Owen Quick sings Never Forget on his album and everyone go and listen to it go and listen to it I mean they'll give the poor lads some pennies if you do and honestly they just leave him completely out in the cold as he shrieks out a kind of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E There was a song on that album that was called 28,000 Friends, which was written by James Bourne of Busted.

The album is on Spotify. We have 28,000 Friends, we're all in this together, all about you, learn to fly, I imagine that's Foo Fighters, does your mother know? No! Oh poor kid! Home, When You Look Me In The Eyes, year 3000. She's the one, Ben, and never forget. I'm pretty sure Ben is one that he did live.

Yes, I think he probably did. On the show. The reviews of that album are some of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. There's one that says like it's not just something that can barely be described as music, it makes you question the quality of sound itself. Like, it's so funny. I laugh now but I felt so sorry for him. Like, immediately afterwards I hated him while he was on the show, probably because girls

I fancied at school fancied him instead to be honest There is there is no deep complex meaning behind that. It's just the hormones of a 14 year old But when it was all over and his album finally came out and I just thought oh Owen. Oh, no I've can't believe I will long I've delayed this but the moment where I really fully like turned off the x-factor just stopped this but the moment where I really fully like turned off the X-Factor just stopped watching and it was nothing to do with the act themselves but it was the night when Jedwood got through in front of oh what was her name Lucy Jones Lucy Jones that was it and but it was because of the way that it happened where Lucy was winning 2-1 on the judges votes and Cheryl, Sharon by that point, Louis, Danny, Cheryl and Louis, after those three had voted, I think Louis had said Jedward and Danny and

Cheryl had said Lucy and then I remember Dermot O'Leary turning to Simon and going Simon it rests with you Oh, if you vote Lucy Lucy goes through if you vote Jedward It goes to the public vote and you can you can look at this now on YouTube. You can see it in his eyes He knows you just see this little twinkle in his eye where he's like, I know what the public vote is and He just the way that he says it is so smug and he knows that he's about to basically just kill this Lucy Jones' chance at a career even though she's the better singer. Nothing against Jedwood, but they weren't great singers, they were good entertainers. Absolutely no doubt, but this is why he called it the X factor. Because the X factor, the X is literally, it can be

anything and nothing. And you can just see it and the way that he says I'm going to vote for Jedwood it just oh it ranked me so much the time and Jedwood went through and Lucy Jones went home. In which case like why have the public vote at all just go by that instead of this judges decision. I know. God I didn't like the X factor by this point I really didn't. And I was so happy when next year's Christmas number one happens. And I was the only person at my school who cared. Like no one at my school cared what number one was anymore.

It was just me and like one other kid. And then we went into school on the Monday going eeeeee after Christmas that it had finally happened but then Joan McAldrey was number one anyway and it felt a bit like oh what have I taken part in but yeah we'll get to that next year because that is not as clear cut as it looked that whole thing yes it's a little bit depressing when you see the real numbers behind that story. Yeah well I know I told my story about um Alexandra Burke and Joseph a couple of minutes

ago. What I didn't tell you was that there was also an appearance by Jason Donovan who played the Pharaoh and of course Jason Donovan got to number one in 1991 with Any Dream Will Do. number one in 1991 with Any Dream Will Do, which he performed with the duo Same Difference on the X Factor in 2007. No way! Did he? So we've gone full circle. Amazing. My mum actually has seen Alexandria in a musical, she saw her in The Bodyguard, apparently she was very good in that too. Seems like she's doing well in musical theatre, it's quite a good place for her, I think, yeah. I just wanted to say something about how, you know, we've all talked about how kind of drippy and, you know,

firework rain and, you know, like we were saying, worshiping at the altar, this is. And I really think one of the problems with all of these songs is that there's just not a hint of irony to any of them at all, like not a not a tiny little smile or a wink at all and I'm not saying they need to get like surreal and subversive in the form or anything like that but it's such a missed opportunity with this that I had to point it out

because they kind of almost do something a bit ironic and that there's this bit there's that famous set of lines in Hallelujah that talks about the major lift, the minor chord, etc. where they're making fun of the formulae chord structure of a sad ballad and then this song goes and throws a cheesy key change into it so you realise the lyrics of this song were making fun of that sort of thing and you've done it so why not kind of lean into the irony a bit more and make fun of this as an X Factor winner single but that would be too creative that would be too interesting so I just thought that was a bit of a shame. Too risky. Yeah and the only other thing I wanted to mention that I've literally just realized and who doesn't love a bit of

trivia, do you want some trivia? That Lucy Jones and Jedward from that night I've just realized both went on to compete at Eurovision. Lucy Jones represented the UK and Jedwood represented Ireland twice and they both did well out of X Factor. Aww, glad Lucy got somewhere. She didn't get nil poire did she? She did not, she did alright. I think she got like, I don't know, 50 points or something here. She didn't set the world alight but she did ok. Yeah 50 points is ok. Right then Andy, Bottom 5 of 2008, what are our lowest 5 rated songs of the year? Well it's bad news Alexandra, and I'm not doing a kind of Judge's houses thing on it

here like it is genuinely bad news for you Alexandra, I'm sorry because you've made the Bottom five love. Oh yeah. Yeah. With an average score of 4.3 from the three of us. Pie Hold by Lizzie. It is Hallelujah by Alexandra Burke in our fifth place. Followed by in our fourth place, the fourth lowest rated song of the year is Greatest Day by Take That with an average score of 3.8. Pie Hold by me and Lizzie. And then the bottom three, all of these were pie hold by all score of 3.8 pie-holed by me and Lizzie.

And then the bottom three, all of these were pie-holed by all three of us. You think 3.8 is a low score, then get ready for this roller coaster drop. All the others are 2.3 or lower. So with an average score of 2.3, our third lowest rated song of the year is Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. I'm not surprised. No. Then with an average score of a clean 2, it is All Summer Long by Kid Rock, our second lowest rated song of the year. Oh my god, he's got you at the bottom, Jesus.

I know. Many hard feelings for you Kid Rock. Bottom press. Well done, Pred. And then finally, at the bottom, the very bottom, the Nadir of 2008, it is the X Factor finalists with Hero with an average score of 1.6, which by the way is tied with Sandy Tom for the lowest score we've ever given on this podcast. Oh, I feel bad on Sandy's behalf. Yeah, I almost want to bump that up out of spite. Oh, I don't.

I mean, sorry, sorry, but I, I hated that more than hero, but yeah. So yeah, there was a few really low ones this year, but we had some really good ones as well. Let's revisit the top 10 of this year. So there was actually only 20 songs this year so we've mentioned almost all of them. So in 10th place, vaulted by Rob, but not by the rest of us, with an average score of 6, it is That's Not My Name by The Ting Tings. I should say Rob has put

that in the top 10 sort of single-handedly so don't be happy yeah with an average score of 6 again but with a high score from me and Lizzie so I bumped it higher it is Now You're Gone by Bass Hunter in 9th place yeah yeah alright in 8th place with an average score of 6.2 it is Singing in the Rain by Mint Royale oh this hasn't been an amazing year has it? I mean it hasn't been an amazing year, has it? I mean... It hasn't, no.

No, yeah. In joint sixth slash seventh place, pretty much completely tied, it's Take A Bow by Rihanna first. Okay. Okay, yeah, okay, that's one of the better ones so far. And also with the same score, Mercy by Duffy. They both received an average score of 7.5. We're getting into the good stuff now.

We're just about getting there yet. So, in fifth place, vaulted by me but not by anyone else, with an average score of 7.7, it's Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Okay, yeah, no problem. I'm perfectly fine with that actually. In fourth place with an average score of 7.7 and vaulted by Rob and Lizzie it's closer by Neo. If only it had got a little bit closer to the top! Okay, into our top three now with an average score of 7.8, quite close, too close to that, with an average score of 7.8. Quite close, too close are they. With an average score of 7.8 and vaulted by Rob, it is Dance With Me by Calvin Harris and Dizzy Rascal. Wow, top three of the year with an average of 8. Yeah, I mean, I like this song a lot but...

And in second place with an average score of 8.7 and vaulted by Rob and Lizzie It is American Boy by Estelle and Kanye West That's a good one. Yeah, it is. Which means it is time to bring on last year's winner Robin and Clearup. Hello again Clearup Hi Clearup making a really big deal out of you this time. Hey to hand over the Baton or the Tiara or the Crown or the Trophy or whatever we want to call it. Oh no, it's not the beetroot. It needs to be better than a beetroot. It's a... Rhubarb.

I don't know. A rhubarb! Okay, let's go with that. To hand over this year's trophy we've got Robin and Clearup and the winner of this year's Hits 21 record of the year with an average score of 8.8 so it's only narrow and vaulted by all three of us. The winner is... The Promise by Girls Aloud. Yes. Oh yes. Oh no the trophy should be a Primrose, a walking Primrose. A Primrose of course.

Yeah. So yes, Girls Aloud have won! I should say they finally won because they were extremely narrowly pipped to the top in 2002 with Sounds of the Underground. They got beaten by half a point for that. So yeah, they finally won. Well done Girls Aloud. I'm glad that we handed them a big trophy though as they left. That's good, just as they departed. Right then. That is it for 2008. Oh thank god. 2008 is such a bad year. Fuck me. The first half is normal, the second half, I have just no idea what happens apart from Girls Aloud obviously the

promise was the best entry in the second half but oh thank god it's over. As I said at the top, if you want to, I mean a lot of people have anyway, but if anybody wants to get in touch about the announcement in that previous short episode that we put out last week, feel free to get in touch with us, a lot of you already have. And thank you very much for getting in touch with us, saying all those wonderful things about Lizzie and also about Ed too, Had some really nice emails about how sad people are to sort of see Lizzie stepping aside, but how pleased they are that Ed is gonna be the one

taking your place, Lizzie, for a little while. We will see you in the future. We will see you in 2009. Oh, I never thought I'd be so happy to see 2009, but it is, I think 2009's an okay year so we're on the way back up we will see you then see you now see ya bye bye