Alright, folks, I momentarily missed out on doing actual U.K. chart talk last Sunday due to my escaped pussy. Vut to quote the wise Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy, I've got something to SAY!First off, a giant Wee-haw! to The Saturdays for totally kicking Sugababes and Girls Aloud to the curb and injecting a bit of rogue excitement back into the land of U.K. girl groups. Not only is it a third week inside the British Top 10 for "Issues," last week the single climbed to #4, thereby besting the #5 peak of previous single "Up."
Meanwhile, sadly, the only good Girls Aloud single (other than "Call The Shots") stalled at a dismal #10 placing last week. What happened with "The Loving Kind"? This week it falls to #14. Ouch! Did working with the Pet Shop Boys prove to be the kiss of death for them?That doesn't seem likely, since the Boys are on the upswing—they're receiving the Outstanding Contribution To Music award at next month's Brits ceremony, plus they've got a hot remix out of MGMT's "Kids." And Neil and Chris' own ninth studio album Yes is out in March.
Anyway, speaking of MGMT's "Kids," that single has been hovering around in the U.K. chart since October. It finally climbed to #16 earlier this month. This week it's at #30.
Okay, so the MGMT story: Back in September, when I went to Austin, Texas, to visit a friend and hit up the Austin City Limits festival, my pal got me into MGMT. We played them and Cut Copy that whole weekend. Wow, groovy NYC duo, etc. Great videos.
We went to this great Austin club called Beauty Bar, and when the DJ played "Time To Pretend," the place went crazy. The whole town was obviously geared up to see MGMT at the festival the next day.So, cut to MGMT taking the stage for their set at ACL. Here's a photo I took of the crowd that came to watch them in the 95 degree heat:
Yeah, they sucked. Sucked hard. Harder than Lady GaGa sucked to get her record contract. Their sound was off. One of their amps blew out. But worst of all, even if none of those technical gaffs had happened, the band just stood there like statues while playing. Their was no charisma, no moving around.
None of the excitement of their great songs like "Electric Feel" or "Kids" translated into a fun, energetic live performance. By their third song, the entire crowd just started talking amongst themselves (as you can see in that pic above). By song four a lot of people walked away and went to see other bands.I kind of chalked it up to a band that's best experienced at night in a small venue like a club suddenly finding itself on an outdoor stage during the day, with thousands of people standing in a field expecting a miracle.
Nevertheless, MGMT have great songs. And "Electric Feel" still made it into Chart Rigger's Best Singles Of 2008 list.
The U.K. Top 10:
1. "Just Dance" - Lady GaGa feat. Colby Adonis *3 weeks*
2. "Day 'n' Night" - Kid Cudi Vs. Crookers
3. "Take Me Back" - Tinchy Stryder feat. Taio Cruz
4. "Broken Strings" - James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado
5. "Issues" - The Saturdays
6. "Let It Rock" - Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil Wayne
7. "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)'" - Beyoncé
8. "Use Somebody" - Kings Of Leon
9. "Sober" - Pink
10. "Heartless" - Kanye West