Twostepcublog

    " Little Moments " - Brad Paisley from the album Mud On The Tires (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 3   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter/guitarist Brad Paisley , who had returned to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 2003 with "Celebrity", the lead single from his third studio album Mud On The Tires . His follow-up to that comic track took a weirdly romantically nostalgic turn, with the ballad "Little Moments". Written by Paisley with Chris DuBois, the lyrics have Brad rattling off flawed time from his partner, from when she backed up his truck to burned his birthday cake to falling asleep on his now-numb arm. But he wouldn't trade it for the world, and I guess Paisley's aw shucks demeanor and delivery can sell it better than any one else can. The production from Frank Rogers is reverend and sufficiently building in intensity through the song, with a good allowance f

    " I'm Still In Love With You " - Sean Paul featuring Sasha from the album Dutty Rock (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 16   Today's song comes from the dancehall-reggae artist Sean Paul , whose second album Dutty Rock catapulted him into the American mainstream pop world, already scoring a trio of hits with " Gimme The Light ", " Like Glue ", and the #1 smash " Get Busy ". He also went to #1 as a featured artist on Beyonce's " Baby Boy " in the fall of 2003, giving Sean even more name recognition and exposure. Right when the latter was topping the charts, Sean released the fourth single from his album, "I'm Still In Love With You", which featured dancehall singer Christine Chin, who recorded then under the name Sasha. Sasha, also signed to the reggae stalwart VP label, had a minor R&B hit in the summer of 2003 with " Dat Sexy Body ", which peaked at #79. Wri

    " No Better Love " - Young Gunz f/Rell from the album Tough Luv (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 4   Today's song comes from the Philadelphia-based hip-hop duo Young Gunz, who scored a top-20 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the autumn of 2003 with " Can't Stop Won't Stop ", which was originally on a label compilation from Roc-A-Fella Records. A remix of the track also appeared on their debut album Tough Luv , which arrived in the beginning of the following year.  The next release from  " Young Chris " Ries and Hanif " Neef " Muhammad was "No Better Love", which featured SoCal singer/songwriter Rell (born Wilbur Gerrell Gaddis), Rell was another protege of Jay-Z's and the A-list rapper gave an assist to both of the singer's charting singles, both from movie soundtracks. " Love For Free ", from Streets Is Watching , slipped on to the Hot 100 at #86

    " Wanna Get To Know You " - G-Unit featuring Joe from the album Beg For Mercy (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 11   Today's song comes from the hip-hop collective G-Unit, put together by one of the biggest rappers of the time 50 Cent , along with Young Buck and Tony Banks.  With momentum from the former's huge #1 pop hits, the group scored a top-20 crossover single at the close of 2003 with "Stunt 101" from their first album together Beg For Mercy . For the follow-up, they leaned heavily on pop potential by bringing on R&B singer Joe for the second single from the set "Wanna Get To Know You". Written by the trio and Joe, the song samples Marvin Gaye's " Come Live With Me Angel " from his romantic classic I Want You album from 1976. Each of the three rappers has a different dilemma with a woman, with Young Buck first tries his best to win over a hesitant propect, followed by Banks who is tr

    " In My Life " - Juvenile featuring Mannie Fresh from the album Juve The Great (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #46 (two weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from rapper Terius " Juvenile " Gray, who had landed a top-40 crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the late fall of 1999 with " Back That Azz Up " from his third album (and first majorly distributed) 400 Degreez . Very soon later, he released his follow-up album on Cash Money/Universal Records, Tha G-Code , which topped Billboard 's R&B Albums chart and hit #10 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a million copies (still a fourth of what 400 Degreez sold). But the main single from the project, " U Understand ", was only a modest R&B hit at #27, while stalling at #83 on the Hot 100. That was followed in 2001 with Project English , which came in at #2 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B Albums lists, but only cleared jus

    " This Love " - Maroon 5  from the album Songs About Jane (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (three weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 38   Today's song comes from the pop/rock band Maroon 5 , who scored their first hit on Billboard 's Hot 100 with " Harder To Breathe ", which hit the top-20 in the late autumn of 2003, and secured them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. The second single from the record was the white boy funk of "This Love". Written by lead singer/guitarist Adam Levine and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael (coincidentally the only two remaining original members of the group still around), the lyrics have Adam going through a breakup, but the production is so grooved-up and sunny that you kind of forget any hurt that he may be dealing out. Also, his boasting on his sexual prowess while stating the fact that she wasn't satisfied is a choice. But she's apparently done this before, so something must be bringing her back. But

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Chappell Roan reigns for a fourth week, while Luke Combs (pictured above) holds steady in the top ten. Former big hits from Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, and Dua Lipa leave the chart, while songs from Marsha Ambrosius, Charli XCX, and Jack White make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ). 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. Back to the grind... This Week                Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan (1) 2. Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar (4) 3. Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter (3) 4. The Door - Teddy Swims (2) 5. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (7) 6. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey (6) 7. T

    " I Wanna Do It All " - Terri Clark from the album Pain To Kill (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from Canadian country artist Terri Clark, who scored a second crossover top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " I Just Wanna Be Mad ". That song came from Terri's fifth studio album on Mercury Nashville Records, Pain To Kill , and would be her highest-charting single. The follow-up from the set was the physical single's "flip-side", the relationship drama of " Three Mississippi ", which was a modest country radio hit at #30, and missed the Hot 100 altogether. (It deserved better.) For the third release from Pain To Kill , Terri went back to having fun with "I Wanna Do It All". Written by Rick Giles, Gilles Godard, and Tim Nichols, the lyrics find Clark in traffic to a job she loathes, and while she's stuck there she compiles a bucket list of the th

    " Watch The Wind Blow By " - Tim McGraw from the album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors (2002) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 5   Today's song comes from country music artist Tim McGraw , whose seventh studio album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors had spun off three big country radio hits that crossed over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with " Red Rag Top ", " She's My Kind Of Rain ", and " Real Good Man " in 2002 and 2003.  The fourth and final single from the record was the breezy soft-country of "Watch The Wind Blow By". Written by Dylan Altman and Anders Osborne, the lyrics fall in the "simple life" template, where Tim sings about enjoying being outside with the one you love in the autumn months (mind you, this was released as a single in October). The production from McGraw with longtime collaborator Byron Gallimore as well as Darran Smith saun

    " My Immortal " - Evanescence from the albums Daredevil: The Album (Original Soundtrack) and Fallen (both 2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 27   Today's song comes from the goth-rock band Evanescence , who brought a powerful female touch to the male-dominated world of hard rock with their debut single " Bring Me To Life ", which reached the top five on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the early summer of 2003.  Their follow-up single, " Going Under ", was a decent rock radio hit, reaching #5 on Billboard 's Alternative Rock chart and #26 on their Mainstream Rock counterpart, but only managed to "bubble under" the Hot 100 at #104 without pop radio support. (It remains a favorite of mine from the set.) For the third release from Fallen , the band put out the second song after "Bring Me To Life" that also appeared on the soundtrack to the superhero movie Daredevil starring Ben Afflec

    " Toxic " - Britney Spears from the album In The Zone (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 16   Today's song is from Britney Spears , who had hoped her collaboration with the "queen of pop", Madonna, would supercharge both their careers on " Me And The Music ", but the oversexual single fell flat, barely reaching the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 at the close of 2003.  For the follow-up single, Britney left the writing to Swedish producers Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson and Pontus "Avant" Winnberg with their frequent collaborator Henrik Jonback, but this time they also brought in a proven hitmaker in Cathy Dennis, who had a nice string of top ten hits in the early 1990s including her remake of " Touch Me (All Night Long) " which went to #2 on the Hot 100 as well as writing the classic " Can't Get You Out Of My Head " for Australian pop music icon Kylie Minogue.

    " Megalomaniac " - Incubus from the album A Crow Left Of The Murder... (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #55    This week's "robbed hit" comes from the alternative rock band Incubus , who had cracked the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the summer of 2001 with " Drive ".  While the band was touring behind the album but before "Drive" was released, they released an EP of live material, When Incubus Attacks Vol. 1 , which came in at #41 on the Billboard 200 . Also, Immortal re-released Fungus Amongus , which spent a week on that list at #118.  Incubus returned in the fall of 2001 with their next album Morning View , which definitely took a cue from the success of the softer "Drive". The first single from the record, " Wish You Were Here ", again was produced with Litt, again sounded like a more pensive Sugar Ray, and that clicked with rock radio, which had the song spend six weeks at #2 on Billboar

  " One Call Away " - Chingy featuring J. Weav from the album Jackpot (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (five weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 17 Today's song comes from rapper Chingy , whose debut album Jackpot had already scored a pair of big hits that made the top ten on both the "pop" Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts in Billboard magazine with " Right Thurr " and " Holidae Inn ". The third and final single from the set was "One Call Away", which featured actor turned singer Jason "J. Weav" Weaver, who originally got his big musical break first as Michael Jackson in the TV miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream , then as the vocalist of younger Simba in the Disney animated movie The Lion King .  In 1995, a year after The Lion King , Weaver released an album on Motown Records, Love Ambition , that sent three singles into Billboard 's R&B Singles chart, with " Luv Ambition (Call On Me) " making it to

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Chappell Roan leads for a third week, while Billie Eilish (pictured above) spends a second week in the top ten. Songs from Jack White, Charli XCX, and Leela James make some of the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Ariana Grande and Michael Marcagi 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. A camping we will go!   This Week               Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.  Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan (1) 2. The Door - Teddy Swims (2) 3. Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter (5) 4. Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar (6) 5. Too Sweet - Hozier (3) 6. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey (4) 7