Decayed III: 2005

Side 2 of Volume 3 of my 'maginary mixtape meander through the first decade of the 21st century.

2005 is especially memorable because Mrs. K and I took a month off work to explore Japan... well, Honshu, the largest of it's four islands, at least. Travelling by train, we got a snapshot (literally and metaphorically) of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and a lot of places there and back.

There were lots of temples, enormous statues, a samba festival (!), the madness of the Shibuya Crossing at night, the beauty of Mount Fuji, the heartbreaking legacy of the atomic bomb, men pissing in the gutters on their way home from a sake bar, and the then-unusual sight of people wearing face masks when out and about. It was the experience of a lifetime.

Naturally, I came home with a clutch of Japanese CDs, none of which make an appearance here. Instead, I've mined the UK singles charts of 2005 for a dozen top tunes that floated my boat, and still do twenty years later.

Two Number Ones this time, one from the Queen Of Pop, Madonna, which shouldn't come as a great surprise as Hung Up was her 11th UK #1, albeit her first in five years. Gorillaz on the other hand scored their first - and to date only - UK #1 with Dare, bringing Shaun Ryder along for the ride.

Today's selection opens with Mylo, whose brilliant song Destroy Rock & Roll is an example of some of the challenges I encountered when creating these compilations. The track was originally doing the rounds in 2003, and popped up in my longlist for that year. However, Destroy Rock & Roll the album came out in 2004, whilst the title track entered the singles chart in early 2005. 

I made quite a few errors when I created the original 1980s Decade cassettes back in 1990, without the internet to hand and relying on record sleeve info to give me a rough idea of release dates. This time around, I checked all the chart positions, which involved some last minute swaps in the final year-by-year sequencing. I'm clearly quite adept at making an 'easy' job more complicated!

Destroy Rock & Roll is built on a extensively edited sample of the Church Universal and Triumphant's Invocation For Judgement Against And Destruction Of Rock Music. A long list of artists and bands are read out as deserving "the judgement of the sacred fire in this hour before the throne of almighty God" including Michael Jackson (twice), Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, Prince, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Unfortunately, thanks to a particularly incompetent preacher who was clearly unfamiliar with most of the names on the list, hapless innocents David Booey, Cyndi Looper and Jack Cougar Mellencamp suffered eternal damnation whilst their more famous nearly namesakes got away scot free.

Daft Punk weren't around then, but if they were, they'd no doubt be on the list for the perverted act of going around pretending to be robots. Thankfully, in 2005 James Murphy was hosting the most improbably gig ever, by cramming them into his humble abode. After a guest appearance here in 2002, at the controls for a single by Radio 4, in 2005 he makes a return with his own band, LCD Soundsystem. Not the last we'll be seeing of them in this series, either.

Another act who have only previously appeared on production duty is Coldcut, way back in 1990 on Telephone Thing by The Fall. in 2006, they released the brilliant album Sound Mirrors, preceded by a couple of singles, including Everything Is Under Control, featuring Jon Spencer (sans Blues Explosion) and rapper Mike Ladd.

Ben Watt also made a comeback of sorts, though as a solo artist rather than with then-partner Tracey Thorn (they married in 2009) as Everything But The Girl. Instead, the unexpectedly titled Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass has a star turn by Estelle, a spoken word tale laid over a bouncing dancefloor beat and surely a contender for the Some Songs Make Great Short Stories series at The Vinyl Villain.

Keeping the alternative/rock scene alive in 2005 were The Mooney Suzuki, The Bees and The Coral, whilst Cagedbaby and Hot Chip remixing Architecture In Helsinki were pushing my electronica buttons, even if the record buying public were less convinced.

Client was a super duo of sorts, teaming Sarah Blackwood (Dubstar) with Kate Holmes (Frazier Chorus, Technique), and signed to the Toast Hawaii label owned by Andrew Fletcher (Depeche Mode). Andy co-produced the single Pornography, Client's only Top 30 single, undoubtedly helped by a guest vocal from Carl Barât (The Libertines).

Things were about to change for the UK charts though, as 2006 would see a significant shift in the scope of eligibility, reflecting the change in formats and listening habits in the digital age. But was the music any good in 2006?

Please join me next weekend to find out!

1) Destroy Rock & Roll (Album Version): Mylo

2) Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Album Version): LCD Soundsystem

3) Everything Is Under Control (Album Version): Coldcut ft. Jon Spencer & Mike Ladd

4) Alive & Amplified: The Mooney Suzuki

5) Chicken Payback (Album Version): The Bees

6) In The Morning (Album Version): The Coral

7) Hung Up (Radio Version): Madonna

8) Golden Triangle (Radio Mix): Cagedbaby

9) Pop A Cap In Yo' Ass (Edit): Ben Watt ft. Estelle

10) Do The Whirlwind (Hot Chip Remix): Architecture In Helsinki

11) Pornography (Extended Mix): Client ft. Carl Barât

12) Dare (Album Version): Gorillaz ft. Shaun Ryder

16th January 2005: City (#22): 11

23rd January 2005: Alive & Amplified (#38): 4

30th January 2005: Destroy Rock & Roll (#15): 1

6th February 2005: Outspoken Part 1 EP (#74): 9

6th March 2005: LCD Soundsystem (#29): 2

10th April 2005: Free The Bees (#28): 5

15th May 2005: The Invisible Invasion (#6): 6

4th September 2005: Demon Days (#1): 12

23rd October 2005: Cagedbaby Will See You Now (# n/a): 8

13th November 2005: Confessions On A Dance Floor (#1): 7

20th November 2005: Sound Mirrors (#93): 3

20th November 2005: We Died, They Remixed (#100): 10

Side Two (46:58) (GD) (M)

Like this? Then why not dip back another couple of decades with my selections from 1985 and 1995?