At #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 we have our first and only track that’s already been featured on the blog — Adele’s ‘Hello.’ That baby is hanging on months after it debuted. But given the record-shattering sales of Adele’s 25, I’m surprised this is still the only song to make a real splash.
In the ninth spot is ‘Cake By the Ocean’ by DNCE. DNCE is a band formed last year by Joe Jonas and this track, their first single, was released in September and has taken a leisurely stroll into the top ten.
At #7 on Billboard is G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha with ‘Me, Myself & I.’ I have no idea who either of these people are (I assume it’s two people) and I fear that they will end the streak of surprisingly good songs topping the chart.
According to my extensive research (read: a single Wikipedia entry), this song started as a solo piece by singer-songwriter Rexha, but when it was cut from her album she decided to shop it around. Rapper G-Eazy signed on and provided verses to pair with the chorus and bridge of Rexha’s original tune.
After a surprisingly strong top five Billboard lineup last week, we turn our attention to the bottom half of the top ten. Will the quality level remain high or are we due for a slip back into depressing mediocrity?
Zayn, formerly of One Direction, kicks us off with his first solo single, ‘Pillowtalk.’ This is a decidedly more grown-up track from young Zayn. Pre-teen girls all over the world are getting quite an earful.
Often these Random iTunes Weekends turn into an installment of ‘Where Are They Now?’
Today’s featured artist, Keane, released a trio of strong LPs and a fun EP between 2004 and 2010 before dropping the dreadful Strangeland in 2012. Following that bomb, the band put out a greatest hits record (presumably featuring nothing from Strangeland) and then fell silent.
R.E.M. officially broke up five years ago, but in my book the band’s real end came 15 years before that. New Adventures in Hi-Fi, released in September of 1996, was the last R.E.M. album to feature drummer Bill Berry and the last to sound completely like the band I loved.
Subsequent releases had their moments. 1998’s Up, the first post-Berry record, was the high water mark for that era, fueled by the band’s uncertainty about their identity as a trio. Reveal, Accelerate and Collapse Into Now had some high spots but weren’t memorable overall.
Meet Me In Montauk 