Lopez Blogs

15 = Expose - aaah Britain was largely immune to their charms and to be honest I wasn't overly keen on their more upbeat singles, but when they did a ballad they knew how to pull it off with style Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue was certainly their finest hour - and in the days of illegal downloading, if you did a search for Deb, her name would come up as the singer of this fine song.... (mp3)

15 = Bardot- the original all girl Australian popstars winners who really did what almost every other popstars tv group have done - have one great lead off single, an ok first album and then totally combust. Poison still remains a truly great song, Cathy Dennis penned Hit and Run for them, Jennifer Paige covered one of their tunes and randomly, Sophie Monk is now in Date Movie. (poison mp3) (hit and run mp3)

14 ~ Sweet Sensation - Britain was pretty immune to their charms too, but their album Love Child was never of my stereo for a good few months in the early nineties. The title track, If Wishes Came True, One Good Man and Destiny were all catchy songs and while they never did much else, the album had such an impact on me that i still listen to it sporadically now... (love child mp3)

13 ~ The GoGos - before Belinda Carlisle was massive, there were the GoGos. they used to take photos of their naughty bits and post them under their roadies doors and they were quite fond of the white powdery stuff Kate Moss is always in trouble for. Silly Girls. But they knew how to make a great tune - Vacation, This Town and Our Lips Are Sealed are all terrific and even get covered by the likes of Hilary Duff today. I think thats a good thing??? (unforgiven mp3)

12 ~ The Triplets - as far as I know, the trips only did one album. Guess what? They were triplets and were kind of like a spanish flavoured Wilson Phillips. They had a terrific powerpop first single You Don't Have To Go Home tonight and the rest of their album was filled with little gems too - Light A Candle, Dancing In The Shadows, So Hard... sigh (you don't have to go home mp3)

11 ~ The Faders - they were meant to be the new McFly back when they released No Sleep Tonight back in June 2005. But then they released Jump which was rubbish and disappeared off the face of the earth But then they came back with a track on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack called Better off Dead and it was like Jump never happened. And then nothing again, til Molly McQueen ditched the rest of the girls and went solo. She'll always be The Faders to me though... Viva la girly McFly... (look at me now mp3)

10 ~ The Veronicas - they are a new(ish) australian girl band whose debut album has just been released around the world and they sound a lot like Kelly Clarkson, but there are two of them! They are produced by the same guy who worked with Kelly on her ubersuccessful Breakaway cd and their songs are pretty good - 4ever and I Could Get Used To This are quite fine. Viva la girly Click Five... (4ever Claude Le Gauche radio edit mp3)

09 ~ Play - i think Play are some scandanavian girl group that made it big via the Disney channel in America. I Must Not Chase The Boys is one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded, and the rest of their output wasn't too shabby either even if a large part of their debut album was covers of modern classics like Just A Little, Honey To The Bee, Every Little Step and the best version of Its A Hard Knock Life ever! Sadly, they are defunct now, but while they lasted they were an awful lot of fun... (every little step ft Aaron Carter mp3)

08 ~ En Vogue - oh let me count the ways I loved the Vogue. They had one of my very favourite songs of the 90s with Hold On which was quite perfect! The rest of their debut album wasn't so great but then they came back with classics like Free YOur Mind, My Lovin, Give It Up Turn It Loose and Whatta Man and it always made me want to grab the one i love and shimmy. I kind of lost interest after the third album, but i still think they made some lovely r'n'b flavoured pop moments that shouldn't be underestimated... (hold on mp3)

07 ~ Atomic Kitten - they were pretty rubbish for most of their first album and if Whole Again hadn't been re-recorded, I doubt they would have had the longevity they did. Then they made the genius move of covering Eternal Flame and making it sound up to date and different, before going onto release classic pop tunes like Last Goodbye, Its Ok, Be With You - surely their danciest Sophie Ellis Bextor moment - and If You Come To Me. Subsequent covers (Ladies Night??) were frankly pants, but they had enough great pop moments for me to rank them so high on the list....rumours of reforming continue to abound, but really I think their time in the sun has passed... (the last goodbye mp3)

06 ~ The Bangles - Talking of Eternal Flame... much in the same vein as the 'Gos, but slightly longer lasting. Did terrific songs like Manic Monday, Walk Like An Egyptian and Hazy Shade of Winter before hitting on Eternal Flame. My mom bought the cassette single for me - remember them?! - and told me it was going to be huge. That sunday it debuted at number 74 in the charts. But it slowly climbed and 12 weeks later it hit number one! My mom - the hitmaker!! They recently reformed and did a great comeback album. Nothing starts an album off better than a british accent saying "one must tear off one's own head"... Genius :) Solo Susannah Hoffs was pretty fine too...

05 ~ Sugababes - fact! heidi whatsername used to be in the original line up of Atomic Kitten but was replaced by Kerry McFaddon. Heidi then joined the 'babes after one of them left. its like musical (groups) chairs! The Sugababes now have a tremendous greatest hits album because most of their singles are stomping in your face pop classics, so its a shame the rest of the albums let them down. But when you are responsible for Overload, Freak Like Me, Round Round, Push The Button and Ugly, then your place in classy pop history is guaranteed... only Easy written by Orson is a little bit rubbish... (Rocks acoustic mp3)

04 ~ Spice Girls - originally just called Spice until they got sick of everyone saying its the Spice girls, i initially destested them. I was at camp in USA for the summer of 96 so came back to have missed all the hype and just hear this average track Wannabe which i didn't get at all. Then against all my better judgements the second single Say You'll Be There started to hook me in and by Christmas track 2 Become 1 i was so very hooked. Spice Up Your Life wasn't the greatest start to their second album but it was soon forgotten when Stop Right Now, Too Much and Viva Forever were released. Geri left and the dodgy third album Forever was released so i choose to ignore this and think that Geris first two albums were really the continuation of the Spice Girls after Goodbye... I kinda hope they do make a Take That style comeback ;) (tell me why radio edit)

03 ~ Bananarama - the longest running girl group possibly who keep reinventing themselves. From the early days of It Ain't What You Do which was more punky to the SAW dance days of Venus and Love In The First Degree - which had the campest Brit Awards routine ever til last years Scissor Sisters extravaganza - to the more dance edged nineties til their more recent popdance comeback album, I have followed the Rams thru thick and thin and will probably always do so (Careless Whisper mp3)

02 ~ Wilson Phillips- I was so obsessed with the girl harmony group back in the very early 90s. Hold On was my fave song for ages as was Release Me, second album spawned another classic in You Won't See Me Cry and then they criminally split up. Chynna did her own album (Naked and Sacred - which was actually only ok) and The Wilsons did an album too which had a couple of great tracks on - Monday Without You and Everything I Ever Need. A couple of years ago they reformed for the California album which was probably more of a nostalgic treat for fans but lovely all the same... (Doctor My Eyes mp3)

01 ~ Girls Aloud - possibly the most succesful band from the latest round of reality pop tv... the Girls have produced quality song after quality song if you ignore their dodgy ballads (yes See The Day I mean you). But the uptempo stuff that they focus on mainly like Sounds Of The Underground, Love Machine, No Good Advice, The Show and Biology hooks into your head and refuses to leave. Love them obviously, and think they were responsible for the evolution of pop after Steps, S Club and Hear'Say all faded into the woodwork. Still not sure about their Tiffany cover, but i'm willing to forgive dodgy attempts to get to the Christmas number one because everything else is so balls-to-the-wall, in your face, 100 miles a minute exciting bits of pop history. I'll try not to cry when the inevitable split is announced on Boxing Day... (Live lounge Love Machine mp3)