Here is the Mayhem chart for May 2025, rather late (just like last month) I know, but better late than never right? Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. My taste in music remains 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, the Sweet and the Wombles! What? The Wombles I hear you say. Well yes I interacted with the legendary Mike Batt via his autobiography and an interview. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for March and they are Ace Hansel Jr, Dead Rat Society and Kindelan. Bowie, Dead Rat Society and Kindelan have retained their positions from last month.
Dead Rat Society are the top artist for May up from number four in April. Dead Rat Society are one of four acts that remain in the artist chart from last month, along with Millie Manders and the Shutup, Lexi Jones and Greentea Peng. Four artists feature in both the artist chart and the song chart; Dead Rat Society (#1 Artist, #1 and #5 Song), Sparks (#2 Artist and #2 Song), Getdown Services (#3 Artist, #3 Song) and Bruce Springsteen #6 Artist, #4 Song). Robbie Williams makes his first ever appearance in the Mayhem Chart at number 7 in the artist chart. Yes I am now finally a fan! So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Twenty one minutes of great music!
Mayhem Artist Chart May 2025
1 Dead Rat Society 2 Sparks 3 Getdown Services 4 Greentea Peng 5 Ace Hansel Jr. 6 Bruce Springsteen 7 Robbie Williams 8 Millie Manders and the Shutup 9 Kindelan 10 Lexi Jones
Mayhem Song Chart May 2025
1 Come With Me On A Spaceship – Dead Rat Society 2 A Little Bit Of Light Banter – Sparks 3 Chrysalis – Getdown Services 4 Land Of Hope And Dreams (Live In Manchester) – Bruce Springsteen 5 The Night – Dead Rat Society
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Regular readers will know that I have never been a huge Robbie Williams fan and that in fact I have been quite negative towards him over the years. That changed when I went to the cinema to see the Robbie biopic ‘Better Man‘. I saw him in a very different light after that. As soon as we returned from seeing the film my wife Catwoman (a.k.a. Catherine) suggested that we book tickets to see him in Edinburgh, so we did and here we are! So was Robert Peter Williams any good? You will have to read my thoughts on the support acts before you find that out.
First it was the Lottery Winners and this was the first time that they have ever played a stadium. This Manchester band are riding the crest of a wave after two UK number one albums and playing a number of UK festivals. Off the back of that I think they might be the perfect act to open the show on Robbie’s Britpop tour. Frontman Thom was incredibly excited just to be there and that carried through into a sparkling performance from the band. There were many highlights, “You Again” was great but “letter To Myself blew us all away on a wave of emotion. Next up it was Rory Charles Graham a.k.a Rag’n’Bone Man. I have loved his voice from the first time I heard his soulful baritone on his first album ‘Human’ back in 2017. I have seen him a few times since then, but this was the first time for quite a while. His band is incredibly tight and wonderfully funky. “All I Ever Wanted” was good but even that was topped when he ended the set with a two song knockout punch. First it was a supremely powerful “Human” followed by a stomping run through of the huge hit he had with Calvin Harris in 2019, “Giant”. The recorded version is good, but live it takes on a whole new life.
Finally it was time for Robbie to hit the stage. He opened with the first ever live outing for rocking new single “Rocket”. He took the stage bedecked in an astronaut costume and thanks to some excellent wire work soared above the stage while performing. When he came back down to earth and lost the spaceman gear he exploded into “Let Me Entertain You”, what a performance. It is clear that whatever you think of Robbie you cannot deny that he is a towering performer. Then it was time for an eclectic medley which included “Song 2” (Blur), “Seven Nation Army” (White Stripes), “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” (Proclaimers) and “Minnie the Moocher (The Ho De Ho Song)” to name just a few. If anyone in the stadium was for some strange reason not enjoying the show by the time “Rock DJ” was unveiled they would have had to submit then to towering take on a Robbie classic. An emotional highlight for me personally was “I Love My Life”, those words mean so much and I did shed a little tear.
“The Road To Mandalay” was performed while Robbie took a long walk to his C- Stage in the middle of the crowd. He was joined on the C-Stage by Thom from the Lottery Winners for a walk through some songs that might have made the setlist, well technically they all did, right? Anyway that included snippets of a few songs including “Let Love Be Your Energy” and one of my favourites, “Candy”. But the best part of the C-Stage set was the first solo live outing for Robbie doing “Relight My Fire” the Dan Hartman song that became one of Take That’s biggest hits. For the part that Lulu sang on the original Robbie was joined by the winner of the second and final Pop Idol contest in 2003, Michelle McManus. That woman knows how to belt out a song. An epic performance from the girl from Glasgow. Robbie returned to the Main Stage for “Millennium” and “The Theme From New York New York”. By this time I don’t think there was anyone still sitting down. I loved the emotion in “Come Undone” and in “She’s The One”. The latter was dedicated a a delighted and emotional Debbie from Dundee who was picked from the crowd by Robbie to give a personal serenade to. The encore piled on emotion, pathos and soul with “Feel” followed by “Angels”. There were not many dry eyes in the house at this point. Even I enjoyed “Angels”
Robbie made a point about not being cool which was warmly received by the crowd. He implored us to embrace our cringe and to get in touch with our inner twat! I have done both, and probably have done something similar for years. Mr Williams comes across as a supreme showman who knows exactly who he is and it is hard not to love him for that. Confession time, I am most definitely a Robbie fan now. “Angels” is no longer my least favourite song ever. In fact I loved it as the show closer in Scotland. Would I see Robbie again? Certainly I would. It rained a lot through the show but that dampened no one’s enthusiasm. This was a stunning gig, one of the best stadium shows I have ever seen. Finally a big shout out to the organisers for giving us such an easy bus ride back into the city. Thirty minutes after leaving the stadium we were back in our hotel room in the city centre.
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This is the sixth issue in our fun (well I am enjoying it) series where we share the latest post with the most views for a given month and the archive post with the most views. This one covers January 2025. The biggest read post was my review of Johnnie Walker’s Final Sounds Of The 70s Show On BBC Radio 2, from October last year. The biggest post views for a January post went to my review of the Robbie Williams biopic ‘Better Man‘. I wonder what you lovely people will be mostly drawn to in February?
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I have never been a huge fan of Robbie Williams. But having been to see the Robbie biopic this afternoon at the behest of my wonderful wife Catherine (a.k.a Catwoman) I might have to shift my opinion a little. It is a strange film. Robbie is depicted by a CGI chimpanzee. Jonno Davies portrays him in a motion picture performance. He also voices the character along with Robbie Williams himself. The narration also comes from Williams. Given Robbie Williams’ clear involvement, the film seems very open. It provides an honest take on what fame can do to an individual. The chimpanzee is the only non human cast member and for me that is what really makes this movie work. It covers failed relationships, addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts, the dark side of success and death. All the human characters receive some affection and sympathy. However, original Take That manager Nigel Martin Smith gets some well deserved flak.
The scene in which Robbie hears of the death of his beloved Nan and the subsequent funeral is heartbreaking. The use of “Angels” to soundtrack that moment is poignant and tear jerking. I have always disliked that song. However, I may have to change my view after that scene! Spoiler alert, but the moment Williams confronts his demons and slays them in the Knebworth crowd is incredibly powerful. Who knew that a CGI monkey could tap such reserves of emotion and vulnerability. I have to admit that this film has made me check out a few more Robbie songs. I particularly like the new single which plays over the closing credits, “Forbidden Road”. Lyrically it is stunning, although on some parts the music sounds very similar to Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”. Even if you are not a Robbie fan, this film is worth seeing.
Blur, who have been a little inactive on the new music front recently launched some new merchandise which you can buy on-line. Is it branded trainers, hoodies, t-shirts, baseball caps and the like? No, it’s a tea set, beer mats and flat caps. Better hurry up if you want a Blur tea set though, apparently only 300 were made. Click here to get yours. Blimey next they’ll be selling whippets named after the band members and maybe branded pipes and slippers. What other random merchandising can we expect? Cup cakes from Ozzy Osbourne, BingoWings.com on-line bingo from Madonna, X-Factor ear plugs made from Matt Cardle’s ear wax, Robbie Williams and One Direction toilet paper, Olly Murs manure? All your suggestions would be very gratefully received.
It’s December 16th and therefore day 16 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts. I’m enjoying the music in these advent posts and I hope that you are too. So on to two songs with the number sixteen in their title.
The first song for today is from Ernest Jennings Ford who was better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song is about working in a coal mine and it is called “Sixteen Tons” it reached number 1 in the US charts in 1955. The song has been recorded by many artists; including Stevie Wonder, the Redskins, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Bo Diddley, Robbie Williams, Dandy Warhols, Tom Morello and the Eels. Whilst Elvis Presley never recorded the song he did play it live when touring the US in 1955. The Clash had the Ford version of the song played just before they came on stage during their ‘Sixteen Tons’ US tour in 1980.
The second for today features an artist that appeared as part of one of his earlier bands on day 7 of my advent posts. It’s Jack White with a track taken from his first solo album, ‘Blunderbuss’ released in 2012. White says that the inspiration for the song came from his daughter. When Jack asked her what she would like as a snack she said sixteen saltine crackers, he said she could have three. The singles B Side was a cover of U2’s “Love Is Blindness“. The single was sadly largely ignored in the UK reaching only number 129 in the UK singles chart. The album went to number one in the UK though and also reached the top in Belgium, Canada, Switzerland and the USA.
It’s now just over three weeks until the big day when the bearded weirdo arrives at your house and drops down your chimney. Are you excited yet? If not then I hope that the two tunes with numbers in their titles that I have selected for day 2 get you at least a little bit revved up. So behind the colourful little cardboard flap today we have a couple of classics for singing along to when drunk.
Pull the udder one Damon
First it’s Blur with an excellent if rather unimaginatively titled song; yes it’s “Song 2” from 1997. It came from an album which also didn’t need much creative juice when it came to choosing a title; it was simply called ‘Blur’. However forget the issue I have with those titles for me it remains one of the band’s finest albums. Sadly it only made it to number 2 in the UK charts, but it did hit the top spot in Canada. It has been covered by a wide range of artists, including; Avril Lavigne, Scooter, Robbie Williams and Vampire Weekend. It was also sampled by Pink on her song “Slut Like You”. “Song 2” has featured in episodes of Torchwood, the Simpsons and South Park. It is said that the US military wanted to use the song at the launch of a new Stealth Bomber, but Damon Albarn refused them permission. Rightly so in my opinion.
The second song from day 2 is the wonderful “Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please” from Splodgenessabounds. The song was released in 1980 when it made it to number 7 in the UK charts. The B side was the rather excellently titled song “Michael Booth’s Talking Bum”. In a throwback to the early days of punk many of the band members gave themselves some rather clever stage names; including vocalist Max Splodge, guitarist Pat Thetic Noble and Miles Flat also a guitarist. The band still tours, often with Bad Manners and appeared at the Rebellion Festival for the 19th time earlier this year.
Fifty seven years ago in 1956 Frank Sinatra had the honour of becoming the first artist to have a UK number one album with ‘Songs For Swingin Lovers‘. Since then there have now been 1,000 number ones; sadly the thousandth is Robbie Williams‘ second swing album, ‘Swings Both Ways’. It’s such a shame that it couldn’t have been Jake Bugg with his new album, ‘Shangri La’. But I suppose it might have been worse given that Lady Gaga’s ‘ARTPOP‘ was 999th.
I thought I’d check out which rock ‘n’ roll gods had the 666th UK number one album and it wasn’t any kind of god or devil just Nickleback with ‘Silver Side Up’
Robbie has now had eleven solo number one albums, equalling Elvis Presley. If you count his number ones with Take That it’s fifteen which is the same number as the Beatles. However Robbie is way behind on the weeks spent at number one in the UK albums chart list. The Beatles top that at 174 weeks with Robbie languishing in sixth place with just 31 weeks. The acts between him and the Beatles are Elvis Presley (63 weeks), Abba (57), Rolling Stones (45) and Simon and Garfunkel (40). I suspect Gary Barlow will have the 1,001st number one next week with his new album, which from what I have heard might rate as the dullest UK number one album for some time! Click here to read more about Robbie on the BBC.
It’s Brits time again and I will be typing live ready to publish later in the evening. It is opened spectacularly by Muse with an incredibly large orchestra and pyrotechnics. Although they were a long way from being Catwoman’s favourite I thought they were superb. It appears that James Corden is over the worst of the tonsilitis and back to present the Brits for the fourth time.
Damien Hirst has designed this years trophies. The first one presented this evening is for the best British female solo artist. It was given by Taylor Swift to the delightful Scot Emilie Sande. A very gracious speech too. Sadly we then switched to an at table interview of One Direction by Mr Corden. I really don’t like Boy Bands. Then to make matters worse Robbie Williams was the next live act. Regular readers will know how little I like him. Whilst “Candy” is not a bad song I dislike Robbie immensely. But the monochrome set and costumes of the dancers was very effective.
Next up it’s Best British group presented by Simon Pegg and a Bond Girl.The winners unsurprisingly were Mumford and Sons. At least it wasn’t One Direction. Some great British pride from the Mumfords too. It was the Best British Breakthrough prize next presented by Grimmy. I was expecting this to go to Jake Bugg Does anyone agree with me that James Corden is not particularly funny? A world exclusive by none other than Justin Timberlake was next to appear. It’s an ok song and whilst he wasn’t bringing sexy back his jacket was bringing shiny back!
Ed Sheerhan presented the best British male award to Ben Howard. Why no nomination for Jake Bugg when that Muppet Olly Murs was in the nominees? Now it’s time for the critics choice award and it goes to Tom O’Dell. Dermot O’Leary and Sharon Osbourne were introduced as man and wife (what a horrible thought) to give the Best International female statuette to Lana Del Ray. One Direction are on stage, will someone please kill me. How flat were some of those notes? A dreadful performance. Do this lot have any personality and stage presence? On this showing I think not. Bring back Blondie.
Coldplay won the Best British live act, strangely they are a band that I’ve not seen live, well not yet anyway. That is their 8th Brit award since they began. Tom Daley and Jonathan Ross (what a strange combination) gave out the best single prize to Adele for “Skyfall”. Sadly she wasn’t there as she is rehearsing for the Oscars. Thank god James Arthur or Olly Murs didn’t win!
Taylor Swift dressed as a wedding cake to perform between two braziers. Unlike Wand Erection though she can really sing. Losing that dress for the hot pants was a good move. Best International group was presented by a true rock god Dave Grohl. The award went to the fabulous Black Keys who sadly weren’t there, very worthy winners in my opinion. After winning two prizes so far Ben Howard was on stage to perform “It’s Only Love” which let’s be fair is a beautiful if somewhat sleep inducing song.
A brief interview with Mercury Prize winners Alt J by Mr Corden came up next. Now we have the best International male. Frank Ocean won it, what a damned good choice! The War Child charity won a new special recognition award. This is truly a great charity, a well deserved prize. Collected by Ben Knowles from Warchild and Damon Albarn. Mumford took to the stage for “I Will Wait” I saw them at the Reading Festival in 2011. They were bloody good, but I feel they peaked very early and that their second album was nowhere near as good as the first. I’m sure I won’t be the first to say that Mumford have become a bit dull will I?
None other than Byron Ferrari was on hand to present the Best British album gong to Emilie Sande for ‘Our Version Of Events’. Personally I love her voice, but I imagine she is a bit Marmite in that you either love her or hate her. Yet another Global Success Award was presented by Robbie Williams to One Direction; oh joy, two of my least favourite acts ever! What the fuck? Was this award invented just so that Wand Erection didn’t sob all over their school books? I bet that arsehole Simon Cowell was behind that! Emilie Sande closed the show and yes she was good. But that Global Success award to One Direction has left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact it has turned a relatively dull Brits into something quite shit! Can we have some proper rock n roll edgeiness back next year please? Preferably a bit more edgy than Sharon Osbourne mentioning Harry Styles’ willy!
The chart topping double was always seen as a great achievement when I was a teenager. I seem to recall Rod Stewart taking it a step further by having the number one single and album in both the UK and the USA at one point. Has that ever been done since? I’m not sure. Anyway the singles and album chart double is back with a bang in the UK. Last week Robbie Williams hit the top of the singles chart with a song that reluctantly I have to admit to liking; “Candy”. He then doubled up by sitting on the album chart peak with his new album ‘Take The Crown‘.
Robbie when he was still on the throne
He may have taken the crown but his time on the throne was short-lived, the single is down to number six and the album to number five. But a new pretender has taken the throne, sadly it’s One Direction or Wand erection as an acquaintance of mine called them. Are the charts as important now after 60 years of existence. I think they are and I am bloody disappointed that this band of five pop muppets has achieved this feat. Particularly as it seems to me that only one of them has a halfway decent voice. That’ll be you Harry Styles.
Their album is called ‘Take Me Home’ and I do wish that someone would. The single is called “Little Things” and on another sad note it’s an insipid cover of an Ed Sheeran song. But I guess Ed has to pay the bills. A previous One Direction single “Live While We’re Young” is still in the top 30 at number 26. While their first album ‘Up All Night’ continues to hang around the album chart at number 25. The pensioners are still hanging in there in the album charts though. Rod Stewart is at number two and the Rolling Stones are at number three, albeit with a Christmas album and yet another hits compilation respectively.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 