The Ten Best Selling Songs in Austria in 2004
2004, when I was 8 years old, was the first year that I actively started listening to music and check out what was on the charts. The music channel VIVA, which was essentially the German answer to MTV (which also existed over here though), became one of my favorite TV channels.That year, the charts pretty much found a decent mixture of all relevant genres: dance, pop rock, pure rock, RnB, Latin, and hip hop. It's a nice cocktail of hits.
"Dragostea Din Tei" didn't need YouTube to become an insanely huge hit over here. I still recall this song being everywhere in 2004, and I loved it back then. Even today, it is still so much fun. When a song's chorus, bridge, and verses are instantly recognizable, you have a winner.
Peak position: 1
Having spent 13 weeks on top of the charts, the dance-pop song was also the biggest number 1 hit of the year.
I don't think anyone expected the follow-up to a talent search show participant's pop-rock debut single to be a heartbreaking, daring comment on the Iraq war. It's told from the perspective of a young Iraqi child who does not understand what is going on around her, asking her mother, who is running away with her, what those shooting stars (jets) are and where the thunder (bombs) comes from. The last few lines of the third verse, also aimed at the mother, are gut-wrenching: "Why don't you say anything anymore? Why are your eyes empty? Say, is this my fault? I'm sorry." Ouch. Very much ouch.
I have no idea why an almost identical sound-alike cover of the year's biggest hit was almost as successful as the original at the same time. But it was the case. I still recall that both versions were played equally often, sometimes right after each other. The original version by O-Zone sounds better in vocal style (yes, this song actually sounds better with autotune) and production.
Fun fact: the audio sample of the O-Zone version starts right where this audio sample ends, just to highlight how similar they are.
This and "Don't Phunk With My Heart" are the BEP's two greatest songs. Not only is this song musically very good - very melodic in its beat and chorus - but it is also a good audio play following a concept about domestic problems, with Fergie playing the role of the wife and will.i.am and Taboo sharing the role of the husband.
The beat and music are awesome (the background singers sound great), but the lead vocals and lyrics are ridiculous. I haven't heard this song since it was big fifteen years ago. It's not one of the songs that became classics (and no, its lack of airplay has nothing to do with the lyrics - Bloodhound Gang, Serge Gainsbourg, and Frank Zappa all have regular airplay). I can't really decide whether I like it or not. My first reaction after all this time was... it's bewildering, but it has something about it.
Ladies and gentlemen: the most instantly recognizable beat of all time!
I think this was the first time Austria was confronted with the hip-hop-leaning end of R&B. Before, the popular R&B songs were much closer to pop or neo-soul.
I think it's funny how differently this song, and the band itself, is received in America and Austria. Limp Bizkit's cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" is very well-liked over here. Although The Who are really popular, LB's version is played more often. You hear it every other day. As I mentioned earlier on another list, my father, who only really loves a handful of 21st-century songs and hates covers (his favorite bands are Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Queen), considers this one of the best songs of its time and almost as good as the original. He's not alone in this opinion.
Personally, I think both versions are very good. Roger Daltrey is the better singer, but Fred Durst does a fine job as well. Although both versions start off similarly, they diverge as the song progresses. The Who add more hard rock, while Limp Bizkit adds electronic elements that blend well with the soft rock, as well as a new verse. Still, it does not sound disrespectful to the original but like a new interpretation of a great classic.
THE masterpiece of this list and one of the best songs of the 2000s. The melody, instrumentation, and lyrics would have been an absolute smash hit no matter who performed it, even if it was just a so-so singer. But it was performed by Anastacia, one of the greatest artists of her generation. Her singing is soulful, funky, dramatic, strong, and vulnerable all at once, and she has the ability to make people stop whatever they are doing and just listen to her voice. This is sheer perfection. It's one of those songs that are pop by definition, but for whose artistry the term "pop" sounds far too trivial.