Twostepcublog

    Saturday is here, and it's time to run down my top "hit" tunes from the previous week. Teddy Swims stays at #1 for a second week, while Sabrina Carpenter (pictured above) climbs a notch in the top ten. Songs from Shinedown (with two different songs!), Anyma & Ellie Goulding, and Tiesto make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while former big hits from Green Day, Mary J. Blige, Maggie Rogers, Dexter and the Moonrocks, and George Birge 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. The gheys are a-Gaga this weekend...  This Week          Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Bad Dreams - Teddy Swims (1) 2. APT. - ROSE and Bruno Mars (3) 3. Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga and ...

    " Loco " - David Lee Murphy from the album Tryin' To Get Home (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #44    This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer/songwriter David Lee Murphy . who grew up in southern Illinois, and moved to Nashville to start a country music career in his early twenties. Initially spending a long time writing for others, Murphy would eventually be signed to MCA Records. In 1994, he landed a song on the soundtrack to the rodeo cowboy movie 8 Seconds , which made the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #33, selling over a million copies. His song,  the mid-tempo two-step number " Just Once ", was promoted as a single, and rose to #36 on Billboard magazine's Country Songs chart. David's debut album, Out With A Bang , arrived in August of that year and included that song, but the follow-up, the slow swing of " Fish Ain't Bitin' ", faltered at #52 on the country chart.  But in those days, labels had ...

    " Diary " - Alicia Keys featuring Tony! Toni! Tone'! from the album The Diary Of Alicia Keys (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 25   Today's song comes from singer/songwriter/producer Alicia Keys , whose sophomore album Diary Of Alicia Keys had already spun off a pair of quality top ten hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " You Don't Know My Name " and " If I Ain't Got You ".  The third single from the record was the de facto title track "Diary". Produced by Alicia, who wrote the song with her then-partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers Jr., the lyrics have Keys comparing herself to the titular journal, where her partner can confide in his deepest secrets. Backing her up on the choruses was the "reunion" of R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone'! , who were last seen in the series on their double-sided top-40 hit "Let's Get Down" and "Thinking Of You...

    " Live Like You Were Dying " - Tim McGraw from the album Live Like You Were Dying (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from country music artist Tim McGraw , who took control of his career and recorded an album with his tour band, eschewing the studio vets usually forced on him. That set, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors , spun off four singles that went top ten on Billboard magazine's Country Songs airplay chart and crossed over to the top 40 on the Hot 100 with " Red Rag Top ", " She's My Kind Of Rain ", " Real Good Man ", and " Watch The Wind Blow By ".  Though they didn't get a label bill on his next studio release, Live Like You Were Dying , Tim brought back the Dancehall Doctors for the record as well. The title track, written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman, was released as the lead single. The lyrics have Tim having a conversation with a man who h...

    " Slither " - Velvet Revolver from the album Contraband (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #56 (three weeks)   This week's "robbed hit" comes from the rock "supergroup" Velvet Revolver, who originally came about after the implosion of Guns N' Roses in the mid 1990's. After triumphing with their top ten epic " November Rain ",  the band took a complete left turn with the unpromoted covers album The Spaghetti Incident? . After another cover for the Interview With A Vampire movie broke the relationship between singer Axl Rose and guitarist Slash , the latter finally leaving them in 1996. Slash initially formed Slash's Snakepit with Eric Dover singing lead, releasing two albums in 1995 and 2000, with the former ( It's Five O'Clock Somewhere ) going to #70 on Billboard magazine's Billboard 200 sales tally (a surprisingly low showing for such a high-profile act). A song from the set, "Beggars & Hangers On"...

    " U Should've Known Better " - Monica from the album After The Storm (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 14   Today's song comes from R&B singer Monica, who had returned to the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in the summer of 2003 with " So Gone ". That came from Monica's third album After The Storm , which came after a tumultuous time when her planned set All Eyez On Me was scuttled after leaks, and her ex-boyfriend took his life in front of her, leaving a child that wasn't hers that she took in. The second single from the record, a newer track " Knock Knock ", peaked at #24 on Billboard 's R&B Singles chart and stopped at #75 on the Hot 100.  Meanwhile, another track from the record, " Get It Off " was remixed by That Kid Chris and promoted to clubs, and rose to #13 on Billboard 's Dance Club Play chart.  The fourth and final single from the record was like...

    " 99 Problems " - Jay-Z from the album The Black Album (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from rapper Jay-Z , whose first purported "retirement" release The Black Album had scored a pair of top ten hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " Change Clothes " and " Dirt On Your Shoulder ", a big feat for a hip-hop artist with "street" appeal since the days of G-funk.  Between those two hits the album track "What More Can I Say" got enough airplay to make Billboard 's R&B Singles chart, and after the latter at the start of 2004 the Kanye West-assisted song " Encore " made the R&B top-40 at #30, while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #106. ("Encore" will be in this series by way of its revamped "mash-up" with Linkin Park).  The third and final promoted single from The Black Album was "99 Problems"....

    " Dip It Low " - Christina Milian from the album It's About Time (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 20   Today's song comes from R&B singer Christina Milian , who after guesting on rapper Ja Rule's nearly top ten hit " Between Me And You " in 2000, scored her first lead top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the autumn of the following year with " AM to PM ". However in the turn of the millennium merger chaos, her label Def Soul had shifted and would eventually be put in with its "parent" imprint Def Jam. Milian was moved over to another Universal label, Island, for her sophomore effort It's About Time , which came out four years after her debut. The lead single from the set was the club track "Dip It Low". Written by the singer with producer Polli Paul along with Teedra Moses, the production casts Christina in an Southern Asian backdrop, as she coos about treating her...

    " Talk About Our Love " - Brandy featuring Kanye West from the album Aphrodisiac (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from R&B singer and actress Brandy , whose third album Full Moon had spun off a pair of hit singles that made the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " What About Us? " and " Full Moon ".  In 2004 she returned with her fourth release on Atlantic Records, Aphrodisiac , after a turbulent period where she was romantically involved with a producer from Full Moon , had a child, and broke up to just start dating a basketball player. Her original work with that producer baby daddy was tossed, and Atlantic set her up with a bevy of producers for the new set. Two songs with Tim "Timbaland" Mosley were set to be released, but after leaks were scuttled in lieu of another song, "Talk About Our Love", which featured the producer on the track, Kanye West....

    " You Raise Me Up " - Josh Groban from the album Closer (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #73    This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer and actor Josh Groban , who grew up in Los Angeles and started music and acting and a very young age. Although he had started college to study music, he left quickly after being taken under the wing of uber-producer David Foster. Josh got his first big break when he covered for an absent Andrea Bocelli at the Grammy Awards rehearsals in 1999, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion that got him to appear on the Rosie O'Donnell Show . With that exposure, he was discovered by TV producer David Kelley, who wrote Groban into the hit TV show Ally McBeal .  Signed to Warner Brothers Records, Josh released his eponymous debut album in 2001. A song from the record, " To Where You Are ", was also featured on Ally McBeal , and helped it top Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks in ...

    " Heaven " - Los Lonely Boys from the album Los Lonely Boys (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 25   Today's song comes from Los Lonely Boys , who are a trio of brothers from central Texas. Henry, Jojo, and Ringo Garza tried their chances in Nashville, but came back to Texas to record an album that was released independently before getting picked up by Epic Records. The first single from the record was "Heaven", written by the trio and produced by John Porter, who is best known for producing some of the Smiths' most seminal work. The lyrics have them asking for the light at the end of the dark tunnel, something that rings true this week. This is set over a production that's light and breezy and sounds more like island vibes than Latin rock.  But the music video definitely brings back their tejano roots, and with the country needing a salve at the time, this certainly did the trick... "Heaven" became Los Lo...