{"id":597,"date":"2010-11-20T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2010-11-20T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2010-11-20T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2010-11-20T16:03:07","slug":"charts-14-november-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"Charts – 14 November 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the surprise of a lot of people, this week’s number one is “The Only Girl In The World” by Rihanna<\/a><\/em>, which hangs on for a second week. \u00a0So far as the record industry are concerned, this wasn’t really in the script. \u00a0The general assumption was that Take That would top the charts with ease. \u00a0But it turns out that the British really, really like that Rihanna record.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And so it’s a number 2 placing for <\/span>“The Flood” by Take That.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the benefit of the Americans out there, it’s worth recapping the story. \u00a0Take That were a five-piece boy band who were hugely popular in Britain, and pretty successful in the rest of Europe, in the first half of the 1990s. \u00a0With a core fanbase of teenage girls and a secondary fanbase of gay men (that’s not facetiousness, they started off playing the gay nightclub circuit), they updated the boy band format for a new generation and did it very, very well. \u00a0And while the group had been manufactured, they served largely as a vehicle for songs written by one of their members, Gary Barlow.<\/p>\n

Take That imploded in the mid-nineties, when a drug-addled Robbie Williams walked out, and the rest of the group disbanded after finishing the promotion of their last album. \u00a0Williams and Barlow both launched solo careers, and defying all expectations, Robbie Williams turned out to be the successful one, with Barlow eventually retreating into songwriting and more or less disappearing from view. \u00a0(Mark Owen also put out a couple of solo albums, which weren’t too bad, in all honesty.)<\/p>\n

In 2005, at around the time Robbie Williams’ solo career was going into decline, the other four got back together for a hugely successful reunion tour, and started recording new material. \u00a0Bucking expectations yet again, the band were met with good reviews and good sales and found themselves pretty much back on top, reinventing themselves as a quality adult mainstream pop act.<\/p>\n

And now we reach the final chapter, as Robbie Williams returns to the fold to complete the original line-up. \u00a0With all the very public history here – Williams made no secret of how acrimonious the break-up was – the question is how you bring him back into the group without having his return overshadow the actual music. \u00a0Step one was the release last month of “Shame”, credited to Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams, which reached number 2, addresses their history directly, and comes with a Brokeback Mountain<\/em> video.<\/p>\n

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That’s technically not a Take That single, though it might as well be. \u00a0It’s a bonus track on Robbie Williams’ greatest hits album.<\/p>\n

“The Flood” is a proper Take That single, and it has to deal with the big reunion. \u00a0They’ve handled it well. \u00a0It’s a grower – once it gets going, it’s got a suitably bombastic feel, but lyrics opaque and enigmatic enough to avoid hitting the topic too directly. \u00a0The tongue-in-cheek video, on the other hand, goes for a metaphor so gloriously unsubtle (and takes it to such absurd lengths) that you’ve got to admire its sheer deadpan ridiculousness. \u00a0It’s their answer to “I can’t believe you’re still going.”<\/p>\n

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This is Take That’s 24th UK hit single (to add to all their various solo hits). \u00a0Nobody would have predicted it in 1992, but Take That are somehow growing old with dignity.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday was also Remembrance Sunday – that’s roughly the UK’s equivalent of Veterans Day, Americans – prompting perhaps the oddest novelty single of all time. \u00a0You wouldn’t have thought that Remembrance Sunday lent itself to a charity record, other than some maudlin ballad. \u00a0But while it was never remotely in contention for number 1 (whatever you may have read in the lazier sections of the press), number 20 is a staggeringly high placing for “2 Minute Silence” by the Royal British Legion<\/em> – which is more or less what it says.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is, to be fair, a video. \u00a0In fact, this is arguably the clearest example to date of a video single qualifying for the singles chart on a technicality. \u00a0The video consists simply of assorted ex-servicemen and celebrities (ranging from the Prime Minister to the Saturdays, and it’s not often you can say that) looking at the camera in silence. \u00a0The video is not on YouTube, although if you search, you’ll find someone posting the video without the soundtrack. \u00a0Since it’s a charity single and the Legion presumably didn’t approve it being posted, I’ll leave you to look it out for yourselves, if you want.<\/p>\n

Including the soundtrack as a separate file is, I believe, a technical necessity to make it eligible for the charts. \u00a0The “single” – which was dutifully played in full on Radio 1’s chart show – consists entirely of the ambient background noise for each shot. \u00a0Because the video opens with a caption and finishes with the last soldier walking off screen after the two minutes ends, the running time is actually 2:08. \u00a0I\u00a0don’t believe they’re claiming it as a piece of music, which would defeat any attempt by John Cage’s estate to sue (and yes, believe it or not, they’ve tried before when people have claimed songwriting credits on silent tracks). \u00a0In any event, since the single consists of a compilation of different<\/em> field-recorded silences with audible edits at irregular intervals, it’s not the same as 4’33” anyway.<\/p>\n

While it’s difficult to track down any definitive answer, I’m fairly sure this gives “2 Minute Silence” the highest place ever achieved for a single containing no music whatsoever. \u00a0So far as I’m aware, that record was previously held by the 1995 single “Wibbling Rivalry”, credited to “Oas*s”, which was basically a recording of Noel and Liam Gallagher having an argument while being interviewed for the NME. \u00a0It peaked at 52. \u00a0As an honourable mention, there’s also Jasper Carrott’s 1975 double A-side “Funky Moped”\/”Magic Roundabout”, which got to number 5 – the latter track is a recording of a monologue from his stand-up set, but “Funky Moped”<\/a> is a novelty song, and therefore music, if only technically.\u00a0\u00a0It is, however, definitely not funky, no matter how charitably extended your definition. \u00a0(1975 was also the year that the Goodies released “The Funky Gibbon”<\/a>, which positively burns with authenticity by comparison.)<\/p>\n

The other new entries from this week’s chart…<\/p>\n