Concluding our 2001 odyssey.
20 - "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," Eve featuring Gwen Stefani
19 - "Superman (It's Not Easy)," Five for Fighting
18 - "I'm a Slave 4 U," Britney Spears
17 - "Fill Me In," Craig David
16 - "U Got it Bad," Usher
The second half opens with Philadelpha rapper Eve's first Top Ten pop hit. She brags about herself over a beat co-created by Dr. Dre, and Gwen Stefani sings the chorus. A simple but effective formula.
Singer John Ondrasik got his stage name from a hockey penalty, and got his first hit with this midtempo piano ballad that positions the titular comic-book hero as "only a man in a funny red sheet" who has doubts and fears and frustrations just like everyone else. It's a song I liked at first, then got sick of, but now I think I'm back to liking it again. Not a big fan of Mr. Ondrasik's falsetto, though.
Next is Britney Spears with the first single from her third album. It's a Neptunes-produced dance track about being subservient to music. At least that's what she claims. It's a little too bleepy-bloopy for my taste, but she does all right with it.
Then it's Craig David's second appearance on this week's chart. On this one, he learns that his girlfriend's parents have become suspicious that he's fooling around with their daughter, having deducted this from clues including a half-empty wine bottle, a Jacuzzi left turned on, and her coming home wearing a jacket that isn't hers. It's a snappy little tune, and I definitely prefer it to "7 Days."
This section closes with Usher Raymond with a ballad about being head over heels with someone after playing the field for a while. Not a great song, but it's delivered smoothly, and that's often enough.
15 - "Drowning," Backstreet Boys
14 - "It's Been Awhile," Staind
13 - "Hit 'em Up Style (Oops!)," Blu Cantrell
12 - "Only Time," Enya
11 - "Everywhere," Michelle Branch
This group is led off with the last hit The Backstreet Boys mustered before going on a four-year hiatus. Your usual boy band mush, nothing more. Their run as teenybopper gods was over.
Massachussets mope-rockers Staind are here with their first and biggest pop hit, a power ballad on which singer Aaron Lewis laments all the ways he's screwed up his life. Well, at least he got a song out of it that made him some money, unlike most people.
Next is the biggest hit for the colorfully-pseudonymmed Providence, Rhode Island native born Tiffany Cobb. On it, she gets revenge on her cheating partner by selling all of his possessions and maxing out his credit cards. Basically, it's a jauntier, gender-reversed version of Oran "Juice" Jones' "The Rain." A fun little one-hit wonder.
Then it's the second and biggest American pop hit by Irish New Age singer-keyboardist Enya Brennan. It's a dreamy, swirly tune about how only the passage of the days and years can reveal our fates, which was a message America really seemed to take to at a time when it seemed gripped by fear and uncertainty. Nice enough song, though I find it funny that some stations felt they could only play it in a remixed version with a hip-hop beat underneath it. Enya and hip-hop, not quite a natural pairing. Anyway, for being an island of semi-sophistication in an ocean of rap, rock, and teen pop, Enya takes this week's Uneasy Rider.
This quintet is anchored by Phoenix's Michelle Branch, who although she debuted at 18, stood out from the Britneys and Christinas of the day by having a rock edge to her music. Her first single was this sprightly number about seeing things that remind you of your lover all around all the time. Catchy, well-written, and memorable.
Mr. Top Ten, bring me a dream.
10 - "Gone," 'N Sync
Like their Backstreet contemporaries, the Syncsters' popularity was on the wane. However, they were at least showing some degree of musical maturity, and this slick R&B ballad was more substantial-sounding than their previous fare. Justin Timberlake co-wrote it and handled the lead vocals, and one could definitely argue that this offered a sneak peek of what his solo work would sound like.
9 - "Emotion," Destiny's Child
Beyonce and co. picked up another Top Ten with this cover of Samantha Sang's Barry and Robin Gibb-penned 1978 hit. It doesn't top the original, but these ladies sing it well enough.
8 - "I Do!!" Toya
Ms. Rodriguez. a St. Louis native, had her only major hit with this song about her attraction to a "6-foot stallion." Nelly doesn't contribute to this track, but something about the sound of this track made me certain that he and Toya shared a hometown even before I looked it up. And no, I don't know why there are not one but two exclamation points in the title.
7 - "Fallin'," Alicia Keys
Keys, a childhood piano prodigy, was already on her third record label by the time she released her first single, this fantastic ballad about the extremes of being in love. The song shot straight to the top and announced her as one of the new decade's major talents. Nothing more to say, really.
6 - "Get the Party Started," Pink
The first single from her sophomore CD Missundaztood was this funky ode to celebrating that was written and produced by ex-4 Non Blonde Linda Perry. A fun earworm, and a song that provided a nice bridge between her pseudo-R&B diva past and her pseudo-rocker chick future.
5 - "How You Remind Me," Nickelback
This Canadian rock band went all the way to #1 with their first U.S. pop hit, a power ballad about a dysfunctional relationship that would go on to be the most played song on American radio during the entire first decade of this century. Of course, now they're arguably the biggest rock band in the world today, and definitely one of the most polarizing entities in all of popular music. Myself, I find a lot of their material formulaic and calculated, but I just can't find it in my heart to hate them. And I do think this is their best song, by far.
4 - "Turn Off the Light," Nelly Furtado
More CanCon, this time in the form of the first U.S. Top Five by Victoria, B.C.'s Furtado. It's airy dance pop about although she seems to act tough and confident during the day, she feels lonely and vulnerable at night. I liked "I'm Like a Bird" much better, but this is okay too.
3 - "I'm Real," Jennifer Lopez
J. Lo scored her first #1 with this song that protests her authenticity. It worked so well she felt she needed to do it again a year later on "Jenny From the Block." I didn't believe her either time.
2 - "Hero," Enrique Iglesias
Julio's boy made 'em swoon on this ballad on which he offers to "kiss away the pain." Um, thanks anyway, Enrique, but I'll try an Advil first, if it's all the same to you.
And at Number 1 on 12/01/01, we find...
1 - "Family Affair," Mary J. Blige
Nearly a decade into her reign as "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul," Mary J. finally topped the pop charts with this exuberant Dr. Dre production on which she comes out in favor of dancing, loving one another, and getting "crunk," while vehemently opposing "hateration" and "holleration." I don't know what half of that sentence means, nor do I know what a "dancery" is exactly. But the song is a genuine classic of the new millennium.
Three LDDs, as usual. First, a teenage girl dedicated Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" to her loving, encouraging mother. Then, a man dedicated Marc Anthony's "You Sang to Me" to the online euchre partner he was falling in love with. Finally, a girl sent "Again" by Lenny Kravitz out to the boy she fell for while they were both in military school.
Next time: a trip to that palindrome called 2002.
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