Twostepcublog

    " The Return Of Nothing " was a club hit for Sandstorm, one of the project monikers for remixer/producer Mark Picchiotti. Released as a stand-alone single , the song was written, produced, and originally mixed by Picchiotti. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #4 in 2000.       

    " Differences " - Ginuwine from the album The Life (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 26   Today's song comes from R&B singer Ginuwine (aka Elgin Lumpkin), whose sophomore effort on 550 Records 100% Ginuwine had scored a top-20 crossover pop hit in the summer of 1999 with " So Anxious ".  At the close of that year, Ginuwine was part of a collab single " The Best Man That I Could Be " with Tyrese, Case, and R.L. from the group Next for the movie The Best Man . That song went to #20 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, as well as #77 on the pop crossover Hot 100. He also guested on rapper Nas' 2000 album Nastradamus , with their " You Owe Me " going to #59 on the Hot 100 and #13 on the R&B Singles list. After a small break, where he lost both his parents, Ginuwine returned with his third album (and first on Epic Records proper) The Life in the spring of 2001. The lead single fr...

    "Free To Change Your Mind" was a club hit for the Scottish electro-rock band Regency Buck. Appearing on their American debut album Incoming , the song was written by the group's Chris Gordon, Dave McLean, and Paul Westwater, who co-produced the track with Mark "Spike" Stent. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #12 in 2002.     (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Because I Got High " - Afroman from the album The Good Times (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 6   Today's song comes from rapper/singer Afroman , who grew up Joseph Foreman in Los Angeles. Foreman released an album on his own, My Fro-losophy , which didn't get any notice outside his home. Moving to Mississippi, he was signed under the indie label T-Bones owned by producer Tim Ramenofsky. There he released his first "true" set Because I Got High in the summer of 2000, followed very quickly by Sell Your Dope that fall. On the buzz from the title track from the first set, which appeared on various TV, radio, and movie soundtracks, Afroman was picked up by Universal Records, who picked and chose from his two records on T-Bone to release a major-label debut The Good Times . With the "Because You Got High" getting major exposure on the Howard Stern radio show and in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back , h...

    " Rising Sun " was a club hit for the British studio trance music act Paradise. Released as a stand-alone single , the song featured vocals from Kirsty McKormack and was produced by the act's Rob Grice and Glenn Brooks, and was inspired by the previous year's World Cup game in Japan. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #37 in 2003.      

    " Just In Case " - Jaheim from the album Ghetto Love (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #52   This week's "robbed hit" comes from R&B singer Jaheim, who had landed a top-40 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the spring of 2001 with his debut single " Could It Be ". His follow-up was the song "Just In Case". Written by producer Keir (DJ Kaygee) Gist of Naughty By Nature, singer Robert Huggar of the vocal group Next, and Ed Berkeley, the song has Jaheim singing to his wife as he's about to leave (and possibly do something nefarious), saying that because he may not come back, they should bang one more time before he goes. Well, that's basically it, besides the bragging on how "good" he's treated her. His Teddy Pendergrass-like voice is there, though not put to as good use as with the previous single, while the groove sounds like a Next outtake. The video goes for that Ghost pastiche with a re...

    " I'm A Thug " - Trick Daddy from the album Thugs Are Us (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 10   Today's song comes from Maurice Young, a rapper who records under the moniker Trick Daddy .  He grew up on the mean streets of Miami, the son of a broken home that fell into dealing drugs and violence that led Young to be in prison by the time he was twenty years old. But seeing potential in his rapping skills, label head Ted Lucas signed Trick Daddy (at the time going by "Trick Daddy Dollars") to his Slip-N-Slide Records. His debut album, Based On A True Story , came out in 1997, with a couple cuts featuring rapper J.T. Money, who would himself make this series before Young did. The record made Billboard magazine's R&B Albums chart at #59.  Dropping the "Dollars" from his alias, Trick Daddy returned a year later with his sophomore release www.thug.com . The record did much better, reaching the top-4...

    " Trippin '" was a club hit for DJ Oris Jay featuring vocals from Delsena (Ramsey). Released as a stand-alone single , the song was produced by Oris, who wrote the track with Delsena and Rayon Ramsey. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart the single peaked at #7 in 2002, while making it to #42 on the British Singles Chart.      

    Happy Sunday, everybody, it's time for this week's new album round-up, where I sample my picks of the best of the albums making their debut on Billboard magazine's sales charts as well as the same across the pond in the United Kingdom. You can check out yesterday's new singles recap by clicking here .   Only The Strong Survive - Bruce Springsteen Billboard 200 debut: #8 Billboard Current Albums Sales debut: #3 British Albums Sales debut: #2 Choice cut: "Turn Back The Hands Of Time"    Well, it's come to the point where the Boss, the greatest storyteller in rock music today, is going the oldies cover album route. In one way, it makes me sad, it does seem a little bit like a product, but he does put his heart into picking the songs on the set. He's at his best when he's doing a song he can growl and give drama on, like this one and the Four Tops' "7 Rooms Of Gloom". But on others, like the Tops' "When She Was My Gi...

    " One Rhythm " was a big club hit for Costa Rican/American singer Debi Nova (aka Deborah Nowalski Kader).  Released as a stand-alone single , the song was written by Nova with producer Shannon Sanders, using a sample of the song “ Somewhere In The Hills (aka Favela) ” written by Brazilian music icon Antonio Carlos Jobim with Ray Gilbert and Vinicius De Moraes. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single spent a week at #1 in 2004.      

    Hey folks, I hope everybody in America had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. It's time for this week's new music round-up, where I run down my picks of the latest singles on the various charts in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom.   "Heart Like A Truck" - Lainey Wilson from the album Bell Bottom Country (2022) Billboard Hot 100 debut: #86 Wilson's current top-20 country radio hit finally makes it to the "big" chart. It's always a good thing when a woman is doing well in that current fuckboi-heavy genre, and Lainey shows vulnerability in this world-weary song. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " Silence " was a big club hit for the Canadian electronica group Delerium featuring vocals from Sarah McLachlan. Appearing on Delerium's album Karma , the song was written by the act's Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb along with McLachlan. Originally released in 1998, a set of remixes by Tiesto and others in 2000 helped the song to peak on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart at #6. Four years later, new mixes from Above and Beyond put in back on the list where it spent a week at #1 in 2004. This is the 21st Century mix from Above & Beyond...     (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 "hit" tunes from the previous week. Steve Lacy holds on at #1 for a fifth week, while country singer Jackson Dean (pictured above) moves up a notch in the top ten. Song from Stephen Sanchez, Doja Cat, and the Heavy Heavy make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Imagine Dragons, Kate Bush, John Legend, Em Beihold, Cody Johnson, and Justin Moore drop off my chart. And under the list everything is Spotify-playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. Let the Christmas season finally commence!   This Week              Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Bad Habit - Steve Lacy (1) 2. Unholy - Sam Smith & Kim Petras (6) 3. Sunroof - Nicky Youre & dazy (3) 4. 2 Be L...

    " Start The Commotion " - The Wiseguys from the album The Antidote (1998) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 6   Today's song comes from the British alternative dance act the Wiseguys. Theo "Touché" Keating and Paul "Regal" Eve got together in London in the mid-1990s originally as a production team, and released the EP Ladies Say Ow! independently in 1994. On the buzz from that the duo were signed by Wall Of Sound Records, a bigger indie, and released their debut single " Nil By Mouth " a year later. That song would appear on their first full-length release, Executive Suite . The third single from that set, the two-for-one of " Casino Sans Pareil " and " A Better World ", became their first British chart hit at #88 in 1997. Eve nominally left the act (though would still appear on record pictures) as Touché went on to record the act's second album The Antidote , which came out in 1998....

    " Get Up " was a club hit for singer Amel Larrieux, who was formerly in the group Groove Theory. Appearing on her debut solo album Infinite Possibilities , the song was written and produced by Amel and her husband Laru. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #41 in 2000, while popping on to their Hot 100 pop chart at #97 and the R&B Singles list at #37.     (Click below to see the rest of the post)  

    " What I Really Meant To Say " - Cyndi Thomson from the album My World (2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #26 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 8   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter Cyndi Thomson, who grew up and went to school in Georgia before moving to Nashville to pursue a country music career. Eventually she was signed by Capitol Records, where she recorded her debut (and what would be her only ) album, My World , which came out in the summer of 2001. Cyndi had a hand in writing eight of the songs on the record, including the lead single "What I Really Meant To Say". Co-written by Thomson with industry veterans Tommy Lee James and Chris Waters (the latter the brother of country singer Holly Dunn), the song has Thomson running into an old flame, and after saying things were great and he leaves, confesses to herself how badly she feels that they're gone. There's no explanation on what had happened between them, just the regret in her heart, an...

    " Steppin' Out " was a club hit for DJ/producer Kaskade (aka Ryan Raddon). Appearing on his second album In The Moment , the song was written and produced by Kaskade, with vocals from Bret Garner. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #5 in 2004.    (Click below to see the rest of the post)

    " I'm A Believer " - Smash Mouth from the albums Shrek (Original Soundtrack) and Smash Mouth (both 2001) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 6   Today's song comes from the American rock band Smash Mouth , whose second album Astro Lounge in 1999 had scored the biggest hit of their career with " All Star " along with a follow-up " Then The Morning Comes " that came one notch from Billboard magazine's Hot 100's top ten in the beginning of the following year. After that album was released, drummer Kevin Coleman left for medical reasons, and replaced by Michael Urbano who joined lead singer Steve Harwell, guitarist and main songwriter Greg Camp, and bass player Paul De Lisle. "All Star" was featured on the movie Mystery Men (a comedic superhero movie that bombed ) back then, and was also placed on the soundtrack to the DreamWorks animated movie Shrek in 2001. Along with that song, Smash Mouth recorde...

    " Touch It " was a club hit for British singer Holly James. Released as a stand-alone single , the record was a cover of the top ten pop/R&B hit by Monifah from 1998, written by Albert "Screwface" Charles and Jack Knight, using a sample of Danish act Laid Back's 1982 club hit "White Horse", written by Tim Stahl and John Guldberg, with new added lyrics from Tijuana Frampton. On Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, the single peaked at #4 in 2004.      

    " Mad Season " - Matchbox Twenty from the album Mad Season (2000) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the mainstream rock band Matchbox Twenty , whose second album Mad Season had already spun off a #1 pop hit in the summer of 2000 with " Bent ", followed by a top-5 followup " If You're Gone " that was hugely successful on "adult pop" radio.  Another track from the album, " Crutch ", made it on to the new Adult Alternative (or "Triple-A") rock radio format, reaching #20 on that chart in Billboard magazine in the late fall of 2000. The third single promoted to pop radio was the album's title track "Mad Season". Written by lead singer Rob Thomas and produced by the group's frequent collaborator Matt Serletic, the song came from a place where Thomas though they may have been a "one-hit wonder", and threat of a "sophomore slump" was quite ...