As promised, here’s a brief stone-skip over some of the better moments of ChartBlog’s four years of glory. Some of these have been nominated by ChartBlog readers on Twitter. Feel free to nominate your own in the usual place. ================================ Most Ridiculous Froth-On The Ting Tings – ‘That’s Not My Name’ The best song to have been released in ChartBlog’s lifetime. Yes it is. Yes it is. Key Quote: “Stop all the clocks. Everybody put your guitars, synths, drum machines and microphones down. There’s no need to put any more music out in 2008, the race to have the Most...

Look, let’s not mess about. The choice is very clear. Do we want pop music to be thrilling and odd and devious and brainy and joyful and brilliant, or do we want it to be familiar and acceptable and formulaic and stupid and ignorable and…just…THERE as a kind of aural emulsion? Cos I think we all want the former, and if that’s the case, there’s a few things we need to get sorted. First, when astonishing pop songs come along, we need to make sure they are treated as the precious things they really are, shown a lot of love, bought, taken to the top table of the charts, and handed the keys to the executive...

Mashup fans, I’ve a job for you. Someone needs to put the “na na nah” refrain from Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ under the verses to this song. It would please me, it works musically (same chords, y’see), and best of all, it would actually give the lyrics a bit of balance. Here’s Bruno tearing his heart out, dropping that cocky ladies-man thing which over-sweetened ‘Just The Way You Are’ and pleading with his girl not to dismiss the depth of his feelings. Of course, it’s still the same basic message, isn’t it? Both songs want to impress upon...

Ah, January; let the purging begin. We’ve spent all of December cluttering up the house and mind with all sorts of stuff – hidden carrier bags of presents, shopping lists, wrapping paper, cards, decorations, Matt Bloody Cardle – all or some of which are lovely in their own way, but after a while, they just build up into a big mess. Time to have a bit of a sort-out, a bit of a recycle, a bit of a decks-clear. It’ll feel a bit brutal at first, stripping back the layers of shiny, ribbony stuff and exposing the cold, clear surfaces beneath, ready for use. But it’s also kind of exciting. What kind of fresh wonder...