Monday, January 10, 2005

U.K. More Advanced?

Reissues are all the rage in the U.K. singles chart. We pick up the story from billboard.com:

Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" (RCA) entered the U.K. singles chart at No. 1 yesterday (Jan. 9), the day after the King would have turned 70 years old. The title took over the top spot despite posting the lowest weekly sales totals in the chart's history (21,262 copies).

..."Jailhouse Rock" thus becomes the 999th No. 1 in the history of the British chart, having also been the 67th in January 1958, when it was the first disc to enter the survey at No. 1. Today, RCA reissues Presley's next U.K. bestseller, "One Night," and speculation is rife that next weekend it could become the 1000th No. 1 since the 1952 inception of the chart.

Another reissue of somewhat more recent vintage, Iron Maiden's 1982 hit "The Number of the Beast" (EMI), hit the new singles chart at No. 3, having only reached No. 18 its first time around. Another veteran chart act reappeared at No. 4, as "Breathe" (Mute) became the 17th U.K. top 10 hit for British pop duo Erasure over a period of more than 18 years. It's the lead track from the upcoming album "Nightbird" (Mute), and its first set of original material since 2000's "Loveboat."

New at No. 5 was "Filthy/Gorgeous," the fifth single from the Scissor Sisters' self-titled Universal debut album, which returns to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart in its 49th week. It took 22 weeks to reach the top of the British chart for the first time in July, with a second brief stint two weeks later. The U.K. sales total of "Scissor Sisters" is now 1.63 million, according to the label.
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Also, "Heroes" by David Bowie was just named best British song since 1970-something. Is it me, or is the listening public in the U.K. more Advanced than that of the U.S.A.? Or are they more Overt? I'm confused.

Update: I think I'm going to have to say that America is more Advanced because they like Oasis way too much over in the U.K.

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