Somehow 15 years have passed since VICE arrived in London and the editors would have to push piles of magazines around the city asking pubs to please take them. Since then we've grown, conceiving tiny content babies that have grown into leading industry voices (see us, here – Noisey – recklessly tooting our own horn). To mark this anniversary, this week VICE UK is throwing a bunch of events and we're running a series of content about a time in British music that most of us shouldn't, but weirdly do, struggle to remember.
Advertisement
Not to sound like a Brexit Dad, right, but these days you can’t tell much about a country by its number 1 singles. There once was a time when the very fabric of society was represented by what we collectively listened to. The charts were snapshots of a general mood, a vibe, a unified field of jams. I’m not talking about New Romanticism or Britpop – I’m talking about Sonique and Cornershop and the fact that nobody outside Europe has a fucking clue who Robbie Williams is. But the time of regional icons and flash-in-a-pan novelty shit whose success represents something deep within the heart of society is long gone. The time of “Despacito” single-handedly taking on Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift and DJ Khaled is in full swing.The predictable ebb and flow of the UK charts in 2017 has been interrupted only by the occasional charity single and “Man’s Not Hot” – what does that tell you about the general public, besides the fact that we will throw all our energy and money behind rare moments of pure joy because everything is terrible? The charts are chaos now and, in many ways, they’re better for it. You don’t need major label backing and an aggressive poster campaign on the tube escalators to break into the top 10 (although it won’t hurt, obviously). But, on the other hand, they paint a much less vivid picture of a geographically specific time and place. If someone from another highly Westernised country spent a few hours listening to Radio 1, the majority of names, voices and sounds would be recognisable or at least familiar. In 2002, this was not the case.
Advertisement
Fifteen years ago the charts were, pardon my French, off their tits. Everything was either a novelty song, a wet ballad, or sung by a collection of humans spat out by reality television. In an effort to exemplify just how gloriously ridiculous and incredibly specific things were in the UK in 2002 – and also because VICE UK turns 15 this week, so we’re giving you what Noisey couldn’t then because it didn’t exist – I’m going to take you on a journey through each month of the year as represented by something that was number one at the time. Let us reflect fondly upon the past, a much simpler but also much shitter time in which ten lads from Chingford could coast to number off the back of a paint-by-numbers cover of Bone Thugs n-Harmony.Our first hit of the year from comes from one of the two Bedingfield siblings we would come to treasure in the early 00s, not for their artistic integrity but for their everyman appeal and GCSE music coursework hooks. A white label classic, “Gonna Get Thru This” only spent the one week of the year on top, carrying over from its release in November 2001, but oh what a week it was. Nothing represents the “you can be whoever you want and do whatever you want in this life as long as you go through UCAS!” morale of peak Blairism quite like a 23-year-old with a slimline beard cobbling together his first number 1 single in his bedroom using Reason, and then filming a portion of the music video on the DLR and a bridge connecting West India Quay to Canary Wharf – two features of London that have the rare privilege of remaining unchanged in that they have both been crap and boring for a decade and a half.
January: Daniel Bedingfield – “Gotta Get Thru This”
Advertisement
February: Enrique Iglesias – “Hero”
March: Will Young – "Evergreen"
Advertisement
April: Gareth Gates – “Unchained Melody”
May: Liberty X – “Just A Little”
June: Elvis vs Junkie XL – “A Little Less Conversation”
Advertisement
July: Darius – “Colourblind”
August: Blazin Squad – “Crossroads”
September: Atomic Kitten – “The Tide Is High”
October: Will Young & Gareth Gates – “The Long and Winding Road”
November: DJ Sammy – “Heaven”
Advertisement