{"id":395,"date":"2010-07-04T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-04T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=395"},"modified":"2010-07-03T18:32:11","modified_gmt":"2010-07-03T17:32:11","slug":"no-1s-of-2010-27-june-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=395","title":{"rendered":"No 1s of 2010 – 27 June 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

With England out of the World Cup, it’s a safe bet that the football singles will be clearing the chart in the not too distant future. \u00a0Actually, most of them were on their way out anyway. \u00a0But perhaps it’s fortunate that Dizzee Rascal and James Corden’s “Shout” single didn’t hang on for a third week. \u00a0It would have been announced only an hour or so after England lost. \u00a0That would have rubbed salt into the wound.<\/p>\n

As it happens, the single was never going to manage a third week. \u00a0It’s current at number three, behind the all-purpose World Cup single “Wavin’ Flag” by K’Naan.<\/p>\n

He, on the other hand, has reason to feel aggrieved, because he was on course for a number one single until Virgin rush-released this…<\/p>\n

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(YouTube version here.)<\/a><\/p>\n

“California Gurls” by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg<\/strong> wasn’t due out just yet. \u00a0It’s another case of the record company panicking when a cheap cover version showed up on the iTunes chart, and rushing the official single out. \u00a0And once again, as it turns out, the single didn’t need the weeks of extra promotion to reach number 1.<\/p>\n

This is the lead single from Perry’s second album “Teenage Dream”. \u00a0It’s her seventh UK hit and and her second number 1, following 2008’s less-than-subtle debut\u00a0“I Kissed A Girl”<\/a>. \u00a0To be honest, I always preferred the follow-up “Hot N Cold”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lyrical theme this time is that the ladies of California are hot. \u00a0It’s decidedly Europop, and unashamedly lightweight. \u00a0But it’s quite catchy, and after all, nobody seriously pretends that Katy Perry is aiming for artistic immortality. \u00a0She’s claimed in interviews that it’s an answer song to “Empire State of Mind”, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she’s joking.<\/p>\n

Implausible as it seems, the mis-spelled title is neither an error nor a random stab at coolness, but an intentional reference to “September Gurls” by Big Star<\/a>. \u00a0Supposedly her manager is a big fan, and persuaded her to change the spelling after the death of Big Star’s songwriter Alex Chilton in March. \u00a0Big Star sound nothing like Katy Perry. \u00a0They’re the sort of band that Teenage Fanclub<\/a> used to cite as influence. \u00a0Here’s “September Gurls”, a single from 1974.<\/p>\n

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The single also gives Snoop Dogg his first UK number 1 in a chart history that stretches back to “What’s My Name” in 1993. \u00a0This isn’t for want of trying – it’s his 26th chart credit, and six of those made the top 10. \u00a0Until now, his biggest hit was “Signs”, which reached number 2 in 2005. \u00a0If you’re struggling to place it, that’s probably because you mistook it for a Justin Timberlake single.<\/p>\n

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He hasn’t actually made the charts, even as a guest star, since 2008’s vocoder-drenched “Sensual Seduction”<\/a> (when, to be fair, the gimmick wasn’t quite so beaten into the ground), and even that only made number 24. \u00a0Like many rappers of his generation, his UK chart record is remarkably variable – a core audience who’ll send him to the lower reaches of the top 30, but enough exposure to cross over to a wider audience when he’s got a suitably commercial single. \u00a0And they don’t get much more commercial than “California Gurls”, evidently.<\/p>\n

Other records that made the top 40 over the last couple of weeks:-<\/p>\n