Best Song Genre’s Of 2008
2008 began, as most years do, with the hits of the recent past still weighing heavy on the airwaves. Predominantly these were the sharp, innovative sounds of ultra-modern R&B, since they perfectly reflected the bright, affluent future we were headed for…
Pop music was definately needed in 2008 to cheer us up through our awful financial times, but it didn’t arrive with a fanfare at all, having been banished for so long by the indie hordes, it needed to creep back into our lives somewhat surreptitiously.
As it turns out, those sleek hip hop-ish hits by the likes of Rihanna, Chris Brown and Timbaland were but a Trojan horse for pop. We thought we were listening to tracks that were urban and ‘cool’ while all along, proper songs brandishing massive choruses were ready to storm out from behind the beats, and attack the nation’s ear turrets.
Pop did manage to sneak in via any means it could, Robyn’s Be Mine – as good as anything Prince could’ve come up with, followed the ‘dance crossover’ smash of Every Heartbeat before anyone could realise what was happening.
And Robyn’s Danish cousins Alphabeat may have looked like Hoxton scenesters but close your eyes and listen to Fascination or Boyfriend and it could be the return of S Club 7 at their perkiest. Sam Sparro was as slick and slinky as Seal before he got all boring, Black & Gold might’ve made him a one-hit-wonder, but at least it was a good hit!
The Saturdays managed to infiltrate the girl groups’ fiercely guarded common room with two undeniably good singles in the shape of If This Is Love and Up, also helped, no doubt, by the Sugababes leaving the door wide open while they covered the Boots advert.
England’s Estelle did manage a refreshingly breezy Number One hit with American Boy. Although we wonder how many people remember it was her single and not that of her more famous guest rapper.The lads with the skinny jeans and gimpy hair did produce at least something of merit in 2008. While it was a fairly barren creative year for the indie types, we enjoyed Bloc Party’s descent into musical madness with Flux and Mercury.
Despite all the fuss about Duffy at the start of the year, it’s the underdog Adele we find ourselves thinking more fondly of, if only for her chocolate-meltingly scrumptious cover of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love, a song we’d like played at either our wedding or our funeral.
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