Over the years of running this blog and my other blog Into The Groove (which I sadly have stopped updating due to lack of time) I’ve discovered and shared loads of great pop songs, and I always think it’s a shame that all the people who’ve started reading the site more recently won’t know about many of them. So I’ve come up with a new feature which basically involves me going through my iPod in alphabetical order and writing about all the best songs which weren’t big enough hits for the general public to be familiar with them. Each post will cover three forgotten favourites and will have links to where you can hear them yourself. Most of these tracks are on iTunes, Amazon etc so make sure you get a copy if you like them and let me know if you discover a new favourite so we can obsess over it together! Here are my first three picks:
Flamboyant Bella – Absolutely Wankered (2008)
This young group from Hitchin in Hertfordshire were hugely popular on MySpace and managed to turn it into enough of a real life fanbase to play lots of well-attended gigs, but sadly their success never turned into sales. They released a few brilliant singles, and this one which is like a snapshot of 2000s youth culture was the one I thought could have been huge. Sadly it just wasn’t meant to be. Flamboyant Bella broke up last year as their momentum had tailed off and they wanted to go off to uni, but I have hope they might reappear in some form in the future.
The Honeymoon – Act Like You Know Her (2004)
I saw half of The Honeymoon’s set as a support act, and I couldn’t believe how great they were. I immediately ordered their album when I got home, and loved every bit of it. Wayne (a former member of Catch) is a fantastic songwriter and his and Icelandic female singer Thorunn’s vocals sound perfect together. Sadly I never got another chance to see them live, as the album had no success and the members went on to other less interesting projects. This track was my favourite, but the whole album is stunning and well worth getting hold of.
Kim-Lian – Addicted (2004)
Amazingly, Dutch pop singer Kim-Lian actually got to release a single in the UK (a song called Teenage Superstar) and I even remember her appearing on Saturday morning kids’ TV to promote it. Teenage Superstar is quite good but very much kids’ pop, making her out to be a bit of a novelty artist when in fact she has released loads of great songs. Here’s a fun one from her first album, but check out her later releases for some more mature (yet just as catchy) tracks. She even recently did a duet with Swedish pop legend Linda Bengtzing!