The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Nice, September 2012

This is always one of my favourite posts to write, although it always leaves me with mixed feelings as it means my holiday is over :(

Anyway, here is my playlist from our holiday in Nice last week, and which I've continued to listen to...and as always there's a few "holiday" songs, complete with sun-soaked videos of course.

Wati House - Sexion D'Assaut (the "Mi Amore" song!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIrRPLzDrHU

Ma Vie Au Soleil - Keen'V http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqyOJ7oUnbI

Sur Le Fil - Jenifer  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLLnj8XPUWY

Quelque Part - Kenza Farah  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-1L_MX_d40

Des Mots Invincibles - Leslie 
Starlite - Christophe Willem  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVOVT6xM4uA

Party Shaker - RIO  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sPj0Ic8KQ8

Bara Bara Bere Bere - Alex Ferrari  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxF9PGRiabw   Je Veux Le Monde -  Nathalia (1789, Les Amants de la Bastille)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDZKoJ5XMco   Sur Un Fil - Circus  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9wSsUVFLA   Over the weekend I'll do a separate French music-related post.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Pisa, May 2011

Or not, as the case may be. Because this holiday was booked at very short notice it meant that I had very little time to familiarise myself with the latest Italian hits, therefore couldn't really identify them from what I heard on the radio.

There was one song (in Italian) which I liked, and which got a lot of airplay, but which I still don't know the title of. (I recorded a clip of it on my phone so I'll maybe put this in a separate post). It's like a guitar band pop/rock song, then goes into rapping on the chorus.

Another song which turned up regularly on the radio was "Eh...già" by Vasco Rossi which I did remember from the Italian charts update on this blog, and one of this year's Sanremo songs, "Arrivera" by Moda featuring Emma, was another regular radio fixture. I finally tracked down an Italian music station, Radio Italia ('solo musica Italiana') and heard lots of nice Italian pop tunes there. Significantly, despite their return to Eurovision after 14 years, I didn't hear Raphael Gualazzi once on the radio.

Unfortunately, like most other countries in Europe, Italy is suffering from the dominant globalisation of music. Switch on the radio and you'll never be more than a minute away from Bruno Mars, or Rihanna, or worst of all the Black Eyed Peas. These were also some of the most played songs of the week...

Set Fire To The Rain - Adele
Bright Lights Bigger City - Cee-Lo Green
Lifeline - Jamiroquai
Something In The Water - Brooke Fraser
Kidz - Take That.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Turkey, September 2010

Yes, it's one of those unpublished posts I was talking about recently. I realised that I'd never got around to publishing the summer holiday 2010 version of my annual holiday hit list, and thanks to discovering Power Turk TV whilst on holiday I was able to put names to the tunes and check them out again on my return home. Of course there are also a couple of very familiar non-Turkish "holiday hits" in there too :)

Araf - Mor ve Ötesi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrKevlnYnqY&playnext=1&list=PLC96C0C48700991A2&index=4

Alain Delon - Ozan Doğulu featuring Sıla http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7WwYVV5vQw

Takıntı - Aydilge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB_4GuT8YYM

Önsöz - Gülşen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXqvZpxnKBg

Eski - Şebnem Ferah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdI3sj5Ki18

Daha Erken - Gökhan Özen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmcobgfcDXg

Mikrop - Serdar Ortaç http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8og1Xg-MR-c&feature=related

Rengarenk - Sertab Erener http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZYwad-hZUk

Bodrum - Hande Yener http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL_vahPevhg

Gamsız - Gece http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZUVKvH2xsE

Böyle Ayrılık Olmaz - Kolpa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyMn5Y1KvbU

Herkes Haklı - Betül Demir http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fORDb5kTVi4

Çanta - Demet Akalın http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zauWnbqQHBk

We No Speak Americano - Yolanda Be Cool vs DCup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR8logunPzQ

Alors On Danse - Stromae http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pKrVB5f2W0

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Bratislava 2010

Otherwise known as...the "spent too much time watching MTV Germany in my hotel room" playlist...!

The fact remains, I know as much about Slovakian music now as I did before I went away = nothing. I switched on the radio and it was full of those well-known Slovak artists like Cheryl Cole, Taio Cruz, Train, Beyonce, Lady Gaga...you get the picture. Didn't buy any CDs whilst I was away either, as I was unable to find a record shop within walking distance :(

So here is a list of songs which will remind me of my Bratislava trip. None of them from Slovakia.

Satellite - Lena Meyer-Landrut: Germany is clearly very proud of its Eurovision entry this year, judging by the amount of radio and TV airplay. By the end of the week it had become "our song" for this holiday, and even faithful travelling companion couldn't shake it off.

Alors On Danse - Stromae: the other anthem of our trip - think Louise Attaque meets the Guru Josh Project (!). It's conquering Europe right now, and you will surrender.

Der Himmel Soll Warten - Sido feat. Adel Tawil: The words "featuring Adel Tawil" will always be good enough for me. I really like this guy's voice, and this was prominent on MTV this week thanks to rapper Sido's "MTV Unplugged" show.

Gebt Uns Ruhig Die Schuld - Der Fantastischen Vier: a completely daft and bonkers video to go with a song which, again, got a bit stuck in my brain.

Wavin' Flag - K'naan: this one is clearly cashing in on World Cup mania and getting massive airplay. However, I noticed that this is just K'naan on his own - unlike the version targeted at the British market. Why do they feel the need to have "featuring Will.i.am" on everything? Does this man never take a day off?

Pop Goes The World - The Gossip: this one grew on me over the week. Funky and quite commercial.

Fur Immer - Unheilig: You could maybe describe this as 'Rammstein-lite' (which isn't a bad thing) and I liked this song after just one hearing. More uptempo than their debut hit, the brooding "Geboren Um Zu Leben".

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Gothenburg, March 2010

Hej.....

I'm back from Sweden, from a rather fabulous weekend which included an updated contender for the best night of my life :)

Review of the concert to follow tomorrow at Planet Salem, once I gather all my thoughts and emotions together in a reasonable, logical place :)

Review of the rest of the trip to follow on here at some point soon, likewise :))

But in time-honoured tradition, here is my list of the songs which reminded me of my travels....

Keep On Walking - Salem Al Fakir: if this weekend was all-Salem, all-the-time, then thanks to the combination of Rix FM, Mix Megapol and P3, they ensured that I was never more than half an hour away from the theme song of my weekend....!

Manboy - Eric Saade: this went from being ever so slightly irritating around the time of MF, to being one of those songs which had us dancing around the hotel room. Even MF-hating faithful travelling companion was singing it by the end of the weekend :)

Kom - Timoteij: talking of whom, he's singing this non-stop too! I know it's probably wrong, but I like it too and I'm not ashamed to say it!!

Bad Romance - Lady GaGa: my other theme song of the weekend...I totally love this song and can't get enough of it!

You're Out Of My Life - Darin: one of the other major radio hits to come out of this year's MF.

Unstoppable - Ola: ditto. All over the radio, and I still like it :) Unfortunately I also heard a completely inappropriate remix of it at one point. I usually like these Swedish radio station remixes but that one didn't work for me :(

Whataya Want From Me - Adam Lambert: thankfully Sweden is really getting into him now - it's still to happen over here, but when it does it will be massive....

Walking In Memphis - Calle Kristiansson: a few months on from Idol and this is still getting lots of airplay. There's a remix of this too, and it's quite good.

Higher - Erik Gronwall: still getting airplay too.

All The Right Moves - OneRepublic: this seems to be doing pretty well, which is more than can be said for here in the UK when it was mainly ignored.

I'm Alive - Star Pilots: some good quality dance music, which you'd expect from them by now.

One more thing.....even though I had the radio on all the time, I only heard a certain Melodifestivalen 2010 winning song twice. Hmmm....

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Turkey 2009

Finally I'm getting round to Turkish things on the blog - sorry for the delay folks :) anyway what follows is a list of songs which will always remind me of my recent holiday in Icmeler. Some are current, and some aren't - whilst out enjoying the nightlife I felt as if I'd gone into a Europop timewarp, which was great fun :)))))

I took my radio with me and played it constantly in the hotel room, where we had a brilliant soundtrack of lots of radio stations playing uptempo Turkish pop tunes - Power Turk was probably my favourite station and thanks to the good old internet, the experience continues at www.powerturk.com. There was also Metro FM (http://www.metrofm.com.tr/) which played more international chart pop.

So here's my summer holiday soundtrack for 2009!!

Hotel Room Service/I Know You Want Me - Pitbull (Hotel Room is probably the song for us from this holiday - great party fun)

I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas (soundtrack to party time in Dream Boys)

Sexy B**** (not the "Chick" version!!) - David Guetta & Akon (ditto)

Poker Face - Lady GaGa (she's the new Rihanna - every holiday we go, she's everywhere)

Alice, Who The **** is Alice - Gompie (it never fails, does it? Even after all these years)

Country Roads/I Will Survive - Hermes House Band (tonight we're gonna party like it's 1998)

Turn Me On - Kevin Little (For very personal and hilarious reasons. All I'll say is, it involves a very hot waiter...!!!!)

Angels - Robbie Williams (you know it's after midnight when they play this :( )

Kalinka (this turns up in every waiter-show in town)

Ayo Technology - Katerine (IMHO not a patch on Milow's version, but heard it a few times)

I've Had The Time of My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (another song from Dream Boys' big Dirty Dancing finale)

Cha Cha Slide - DJ Casper (I should feel very ashamed that I know all the words???!!!)

Bu Böyle - Sertab Erener (yes the one and only 2003 ESC winner. Classy pop song)

Evlenmeliyiz - Hadise (can't be bothered with Dum Tek Tek, but this is very catchy)

Oh and we even heard Alexander Rybak's "Fairytale" at a stop-off on our last night on the way to the airport!

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Dusseldorf 2009

It's not too different from home...

My playlist is based on watching Viva (thank goodness for this channel, as MTV Germany seems to be like our MTV, with constant reruns of 'The Hills' etc in favour of actual music)

Poker Face - Lady GaGa: the international nature of the pop hit these days means that you're never too far away from the GaGa....

Stadt - Cassandra Steen/Adel Tawil: I don't know anything about her, but he's the Ich & Ich/Prison Break theme guy with the very distinctive voice. This is quite a nice little mid-paced pop number.

Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny) - AR Rahman/Pussycat Dolls: it may be a Slumdog-rip-off, but it's arguably the best thing PCD have ever done.

Love Sex Magic - Ciara & Justin Timberlake: this is no favourite of mine by any means, as it's possibly the worst example of conveyer-belt r'n'b as I can think of - but I've mentioned it here purely because it was played to death....

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas: as a former BEP fan (who even went to see them live a couple of years ago) I'm really disappointed in this - but I had to mention this here purely due to the amount of airplay this got on Viva.

Ayo Technology - Milow: there's no doubt that this is an inventive reinvention of the song - watch this become the next big pan-European hit - but the video is maybe just a bit unsettling at times.

Played to death category: Pink/Kelly Clarkson/Ashley Tisdale/Kid Cudi.

"Walking On Air" - Kerli: is this the same Kerli who did MF a few years ago? Estonian Kerli?

"We Made You" - Eminem: not quite past glories but it's good to have him back I guess.

"When It Was Good" - Flipsyde: I will stick my neck out and dare to suggest that this will be one of the biggest pan-European hits of the coming months. Watch this space.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Nice 2008

Here are a few songs which will always remind me of Nice!

Beggin' - Madcon: already one of my firm faves this year (and a major tip for my 2007-50) and seemingly the French agree. This. Was. Everywhere.

Disturbia - Rihanna: another holiday, another Rihanna song. The 53rd track to be released from her interminable "Good Girl Gone Bad" collection, but a refreshing electro diversion from the formulaic r'n'b which she was sinking into.

So What - Pink: Any break-up song which starts with the lines "I guess I just lost my husband/I don't know where he went" should not be taken too seriously, and this tongue-firmly-in-cheek comeback from Pink ticks all the boxes.

Just Dance - Lady GaGa: I didn't think too much of this track for a while but it finally won me over last week. Massive hit in France over recent weeks/months with huge hit potential - will this be another one to miss out in the UK?

Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La) - David Tavare: relying heavily on that old 2Eivissa "Oh La La La" sample, this has been one of the hits of the summer in France. At least they get the weather for it....

C'est Beau La Bourgeoisie - Kylian Mash & Laurent Konrad: gold-digging disco anthem. French dance music is on a real high at the moment and this bi-lingual track, all over the radio at the moment, is yet another example.

C'est Ma Terre - Christophe Mae: from forthcoming live album, another nice summery acoustic track from the former "Le Roi Soleil" star. I can only really stick him in small doses but this Afro-themed song certainly appealed to me last week when I heard it a lot.

Si C'est Une Ile - Jenifer: I found her new 'rock' direction a bit hard to take, but this is much much better than "Comme Un Hic" (which I hated, to be honest) but this guitar-driven song rattles along at a very nice pace and it grows on me with every listen.

Mes Insomnies - Louisy Joseph: rather good slice of reggae-flavoured pop from the ex-L5 singer. Sounded very good on the radio.

Entre Toi et Moi - Mathieu Edward: I may not have been a fan during last year's Star Academy, but I have to admit that Mathieu is now a real contender in the French r'n'b scene. This got a lot of video airplay on M6 and he is certainly a rather good looking young man too....

I Want You - Martin Solveig: like I said, French dance music is on a high and here is one of its biggest hitters.

Tomorrow Can Wait - David Guetta: ditto. Guetta is a real superstar of French dance music, this is also due a UK release and should take him back into the top 40.

Next Plane Home - Daniel Powter: slaying the one-hit-wonder ghost of "Bad Day" - this is getting major airplay in France and is a guaranteed hit.

Beat on the Brat - The Ramones: for reasons known only to myself and faithful travelling companion, this song will always be associated with Nice 2008. Enough said.

Rayon de Soleil - William Balde: the undisputed hit of summer 2008 in France, and still picking up a lot of airplay.

Comme Avant - Sheryfa Luna & Mathieu Edward: rather lovely duet from Popstars winner and Star Ac 7 runner up.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Summer 2007 - Berlin

This is the last in our series of Holiday Hit Lists - the last anyway until our holiday next spring. Where will that be? In the words of the great philosopher Alex Gaudino, “Destination unknown”!

Anyway here’s a list of the songs which will always remind me of Berlin 2007.

“Come Marry Me” - Miss Platnum. Crazy and catchy, think Bollywood rhythms colliding with r’n’b and the result is irresistible.

“Big Girls Don’t Cry” - Fergie. One of the most played songs and videos of the week.

“Umbrella”/”Don’t Stop The Music” - Rihanna. Yep it’s her again. Every time we go on holiday she’ll be there. Not literally you understand, although the idea of this would appeal to my faithful travelling companion. (!)

“The Pretender” - Foo Fighters. Travelling companion initially thought this was Nickelback. Must be all that facial hair. A song which I ended up liking a lot after the numerous plays during the holiday.

“Junge” - Die Arzte. Premiered on MTV that week, new song by very popular and enduring German rock band.

“The Way I Are” - Timbaland/”Stronger” - Kanye West: both of which were among my most played songs before I went to Berlin, and equally among the most played when I was there.

“Ein Neuer Tag” - Juli. Latest video by popular and very good German pop/rock outfit.

“Te Busque” - Nelly Furtado and Juanes. Very nice. Sadly not released in the UK because of this country’s aversion to anything in a foreign language.

“Little Wonders” - Rob Thomas. Been a big hit lately, and quite unusual to hear him doing this kind of ballad.

“Hamma!” - Culcha Candela. The kind of song which always reminds you of a holiday. Infuriatingly catchy slice of German reggaeton.

“Silencio” - David Bisbal. Great to see him doing well in Germany - he’s one of the best Spanish language pop artists of recent years.

“Lovestoned” - Justin Timberlake. There is no escape from him, anywhere in the world at this moment in time. And why not? We like him.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2007

And now we have reached the end of our series .... well at least until the next holiday.

Seems no time from when we were in Stockholm. To be in Stockholm in post-Melodifestivalen season meant that you were only ever minutes away from one of this year's MF hits.

"Cara Mia" - Mans Zelmerlow: he may not have won, but this got more airplay than anything else that week.
"Live Forever" - Magnus Carlsson: it still remains a mystery to me why this never made the final.
"The Worrying Kind" - The Ark: and I can't understand why this flopped in Helsinki either!
"I Remember Love" - Sarah Dawn Finer: one of the artists catapulted from nowhere to household names by this year's MF, and now she will be appearing in the "Jekyll and Hyde" stage musical.
"Trying To Recall" - Marie Lindberg: the singing schoolteacher who was one of the year's most unassuming and unlikely popstars.
"A Little Bit Of Love" - Andreas Johnson: still a great singalong tune.
And some non-MF songs too!
"Cupid's Chokehold" - Gym Class Heroes: clever sampling which brings out the Supertramp fan in all of us.
"Because of You" - Ne-Yo: one of my favourite chart hits of the year which I got into after hearing it so much on Swedish radio.
"What Goes Around" - Justin Timberlake: the Swedes just can't get enough Justin.
"7Milakliv" - Martin Stenmarck: it might be an oldie now, but it still got enough airplay to make this list.

During the coming week, I'll be compiling my holiday hit list for Summer 2007 in Berlin... watch this space.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Summer 2006

Almost one year ago and another new country for me - Germany. Our destination was Cologne - a great city indeed.
Got most of my music from TV as we had both MTV and Viva in our hotel. Viva is a particularly good music channel as it played lots of German tracks:
"Klar" - Jan Delay: great funky rap tune which I still play a lot.
"Sommer Unseres Lebens" - Sebastian Hamer: very good laidback summer song.
"Dieses Leben" - Juli: good guitar pop. Faithful travelling companion particularly liked them.
"Was Ist Das" - Lafee: Liked this very much, she is very talented beyond her young age.
"Tonight" - Reamonn: easy going middle of the road pop. Very nice.
"Long Before Rock N’Roll" - Mando Diao: first time I heard this Swedish band, and this totally rocked.
"El Temperamento" - Marquess: a German band which sings in Spanish and makes very catchy Latin-pop.
"Der Letzte Tag" - Tokio Hotel: the first time I saw them and realised very quickly what the fuss was all about.
"Unfaithful" - Rihanna: and here she is again!
"U & Ur Hand" - Pink: another holiday, and another song by Pink.
"London Bridge" - Fergie: one of our holiday anthems - "how come every time you come around....."
"Sexyback" - Justin Timberlake: possibly most played song of this holiday and already has classic status at EuropeCrazy HQ.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2006

We’re heading towards the end of this series but not before we stop off at yet another new country: Poland, and the beautiful city of Krakow.
Unfortunately my knowledge of Polish music wasn’t too great before, during or after this holiday. I went in search of some Polish-language Now-type compilations but I couldn’t find any, although my travelling companion did manage to find a female singer he liked and purchased her CD.
Therefore my list of songs this time are all international hits and not local ones, sadly :-(
"Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley: there was no escaping this, anywhere.
"Red Dress" - Sugababes: one of my favourite songs of theirs.
"Beep" - Pussycat Dolls": yes.
"Turn Your Car Around" - Lee Ryan: most played song of the holiday. Poland loves the ex-members of Blue, as I heard a lot of Simon Webbe as well.
"Je T’Adore" - Kate Ryan: A Flemish Belgian singing a song in English, played a lot on Polish radio. Now that’s what I call an international hit.
"SOS" - Rihanna: her again. Faithful travelling companion really liked the video, for obvious reasons.
"Stupid Girls" - Pink: possibly the other most-played song of the holiday.
"Cesse La Pluie" - Anggun: great singer, great song.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Summer 2005

Normal service resumed and we were back once more in Nice.
No prizes for guessing that I watched lots of "Star Academy" on TF1, (even though Series 5 wasn’t really a favourite of mine) but anyway there were new opening titles and a brand new theme tune - the brilliant "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclar which was the song of the holiday.
My shopping list this time included Jenifer’s "Le Passage", "De Jour Comme de Nuit" by Astonvilla, "Live 1.0" by Calogero, and the excellent "Mon Cabaret" by Sofia Essaidi. It was also the year of "Le Roi Soleil" and I couldn’t resist buying the special edition of the soundtrack CD.
So what was I listening to?
"Caravane"/"Ne Partons Pas Faches" - Raphael: he was massively popular at that time
"Un Geste de Vous" - Le Roi Soleil: third single from the musical soundtrack, this time featuring lead vocals from Christophe and Lysa.
"From Paris To Berlin" - Infernal: a hit in France long before it made the UK charts. Great dance anthem.
"Plus Belle La Vie" - Eva: easy-going theme tune to a French TV soap.
"Pas Sans Toi" - M Pokora: Matt in ballad mode this time. Rather good too.
"Pon de Replay" - Rihanna: the beginning of a trend - where there was a holiday, there was a Rihanna hit.
"Toutes les Peines" - Patrick Fiori: I’m not really a fan of his but I liked this.
"Bouger Bouger" - Magic System: the zouk tune of that summer
"Aimer Jusqu’a L’Impossible" - Tina Arena: Aussie pop songstress reinvented as a Francophone favourite.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2005

For the first time we went East - to Prague.
Where there’s a holiday there’s a record shop and it wasn’t long till we found Bonton Land, a big CD/DVD megastore where I bought a Now-type compilation of Czech pop.
Also whilst we were away I managed to catch a bit of "Cesko Hleda Superstar", the Czech version of Idol. In our hotel we had the delights of MTV Germany, which like all the other European MTV channels is much better than boring old MTV UK. But I digress.
My radio was permanently tuned to the Evropa 2 station, and here are some of the songs which they played regularly. Very regularly...
Boro Boro - Arash: Swedish, am I right?
Find A Way - J-Five: this makes me think of France, for some strange reason.
Suga Suga - Baby Bash: this one also reminds me of France, equally for some strange reason.
Sound of San Francisco - Global Deejays: legendary dancefloor tune still popular today.
Bad Day - Daniel Powter: one of the most enduring songs of recent years, and it was a hit everywhere else before the UK.
On My Head - Dan Barta: radio-friendly pop-rock from a Czech singer.
The Reason - Hoobastank: again one of the most popular songs in Europe that year, which didn’t really get the recognition it deserved in the UK.
Anything by Maroon 5, Anastacia or Gwen Stefani: the three international acts which at that time were possibly among the most popular in Europe.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Summer 2004

Destination Madeira, and something different. We went to a fado bar one night and it was excellent. The main singers were two ladies named Alexandra and Daniela (faithful travelling companion bought their CD during the interval), and the doormen/barmen/waiters also turned out to be singers and musicians!

Shamefully though my knowledge of the Portuguese pop scene doesn't stretch beyond fado so I didn't buy any local CDs.

Luckily we had a music channel called "Sol Musica" but all I can really remember is Anastacia's "Sick and Tired", Joss Stone's "You Had Me" and "Re-tratamento" by Portuguese rapper Da Weasel. Oh and they also played Alcazar's "This Is The World We Live In" which was always a welcome sight.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2004

Hope to finish this series by the end of this week, just in time for my next holiday.

Back to Barcelona this time for a short break, and armed with a shopping list of some musical items, notably David Bisbal's "Buleria", Bustamante's "Asi Soy Yo" and Nek's "Lo Mejor de Nek" - yes I know the latter is Italian, but I like him singing in Spanish :-))

Also bought Alejandro Sanz's "El Alma Al Aire" tour DVD but the sound on this is atrocious as the audience totally drowns him out all the way through.

The radio was constantly tuned to "Los 40 Principales" and here's some of the songs I remember:

"Dragostea Din Tei" - O-Zone. All together. Mai-a-hee, mai-a-hoo...ah they don't make holiday songs like that anymore..!
"My Band" - D12. You couldn't get away from the video on the music channels either.
"Malo" - Bebe. Was one of the biggest Spanish songs of that year.
"Lola" - Pastora. I rather liked this and remembered hearing their album being played in a record shop.
"Where Are We Running" - Lenny Kravitz. Spain loves Lenny Kravitz.
"Left Outside Alone" - Anastacia. She was very popular all across Europe at that time.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Summer 2003

A magic and memorable summer holiday which established Nice as my most favourite place. An equally memorable playlist too...
The cheeky "Papi Chulo" by Lorna was the song of the holiday: it’s totally outrageous and could only ever be a holiday hit!
France’s biggest hit of that summer was "Laisse Parler Les Gens" by Labylle, Devereux and Passi: summer is always time for zouk in France, and this was the 2003 vintage.
"DJ" was the breakthrough hit for Diam’s, who has become France’s best selling female rap artist and most recently cleaned up at the last NRJ Music Awards.
"The Magic Key" by One-T and Cool-T was another massive rap hit and one which I played for a long time afterwards.
Willy Denzey was another French r’n’b artist from that year: "Le Mur du Son" was a big hit in 2003.
Biggest English-language hit of the holiday was undoubtedly "Breathe" by Blu Cantrell.
It wouldn’t be a holiday in France without Marc Lavoine and this time "Dis Moi Que L’Amour" got lots of airplay.
Finally, Placebo have always been massively successful in France and "The Bitter End" was yet another in a long line of huge hits for them.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Spring 2003

Retour a Paris.
"Ma Liberte de Penser" by Florent Pagny was played non-stop on the radio, right from the off, and wouldn’t go away.
By that time Jenifer was also well-established and her nice ballad "Donne-Moi Le Temps" was also a radio favourite.
Chimene Badi had originally auditioned for Popstars, but didn’t get in the band because she ‘dodn’t look the part’. What they neglected to mention was that she had a fantastic voice which would inevitably get noticed. Chimene had the last laugh: she became a massive star and "Entre Nous" was her debut hit.
France’s obsession with Madonna meant that "American Life" was on about 83 times an hour.
Make Luv - Room 5: theme tune to "Nice People" which was like a multinational Big Brother.
Sur La Route - Jean-Louis Aubert & Raphael. Think this might have been the first time that Raphael came to the French public’s attention. He soon became a superstar with "Caravane".

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List Part 7: 2002

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Our destination was once again scheduled to be Ostend but a last minute cancellation resulted in a quick change of plan - we headed just "up the road" to Amsterdam.
The Netherlands is the home of happy techno: fans of this didn’t have too far to look in the record stores for one compilation after another. I was more interested in watching TMF (the excellent Dutch version rather than its bland British equivalent). Dutch music was almost non-existent on the radio, and I’d swear that there were whole stations devoted to Destiny’s Child. The songs I remember from that holiday were...
"Falling" - K-Otic: great pop song and a cracking video from one of the first Popstars-type bands.
"Desenchantee" - Kate Ryan: great techno cover of the Mylene Farmer classic. One of the biggest songs of that summer in Europe which was sadly overlooked in the UK because of our stupid language barrier.
"Underneath Your Clothes" - Shakira: the one song and video which certainly made my faithful travelling companion sit up and take notice!
"Hot In Herre" - Nelly: appropriate song for a nice hot June. Didn’t take the advice in the lyrics though!!
"A Little Less Conversation" - Elvis vs JXL: the soundtrack to that summer’s World Cup in Japan and Korea, and appropriately for this holiday remixed by a Dutch DJ.
"Holiday" - Madhouse: Madhouse were responsible for loads of dancey covers of Madonna songs that summer, and this was another one of them.
Decided that I couldn’t leave without buying some Dutch music. Volumia! were a cast of thousands (or it just seemed like it), fronted by the excellent Xander de Buisonje and their music was massively popular in their home country around the mid to late 90s. By the time I reached Amsterdam, the band had decided to call it a day and released a "Best of" which found its way to my record collection.
September 2002: Biarritz, France
Three months later, we were back in France - but a new destination. Biarritz is a cracking little resort on the south west Atlantic coast, in the French Basque country.
This was the holiday when I discovered "Star Academy". 2002 was the second (and best IMHO) series and I watched it every night on TF1 and was quickly hooked. It was the year of Nolwenn, Emma, Jeremy, Alexandre, Aurelie, Houcine and Georges-Alain: fantastic viewing and some really talented performers. There has been no reality TV music show better than this one.
Musically, Biarritz is in a great geographical location as you can hear both French and Spanish radio stations but of course old habits die hard and I ended up listening to NRJ. Very unusual for me, I only bought two French compilation CDs in Biarritz. However, on a day trip across the border to San Sebastian, I ran riot and bought four CDs - Alejandro Sanz, Nek, David Bisbal and David Bustamante. You’ll have guessed that I was crazy about Operacion Triunfo’s "two Davids". Although David Bisbal was always my favourite, I preferred Bustamante’s debut!
These are only some of the songs that reminded me of this holiday: there were many more which I don’t have room to mention here.
"Asereje (The Ketchup Song)" - Las Ketchup: the holiday hit of 2002.
"Manhattan-Kaboul" - Renaud & Axelle Red: most played song of the holiday. Thought-provoking post-9/11 song.
"Run Baby Run" - Bustafunk: theme tune to Star Academy. Great dance tune.
"En Apesanteur" - Calogero: the moment I stopped liking him, and started loving him.
"Come Back To Me" - Cunnie Williams: France’s answer to Barry White. Yes, that good.
"Aime" - L5: really liked this song by France’s first Popstars band.
"Dove (I’ll Be Loving You") - Moony: nice summery dance tune from the Italian singer - whatever happened to her?
"Chihuahua" - DJ Bobo & "La Bomba" - King Africa: two absolute holiday anthems which I’ll always associate with this holiday.
"Love Don’t Let Me Go" - David Guetta: long before its remix hit the UK charts, this was the original version which was massive in France that summer.
"Nos Differences (Caught In The Middle)" - A1 & Eve Angeli: British boyband collaboration with Ms Angeli. Back in those days she was a promising young singer before her reality TV reinvention.
"Happy" - Sita: ex-member of K-Otic who briefly enjoyed some success in France, both as a solo artist and later in her duet with Kyo.

The EuropeCrazy Holiday Hit List: Part 6

Been a while since the last one! We've reached September 2001, and the destination was Barcelona.

Tuned in to Los 40 Principales radio station which played lots of Spanish stuff which I wasn't familiar with at the time. Over the next 2 years I'd soon rectify this, thanks to my obsession with Operacion Triunfo and Spanish pop in general.

Particularly fond memories of "Conmotion" by the Fundacion Tony Manero, a delightfully cheesy tribute to the days "when disco music ruled the world".

Songs of the holiday: "Little L" by Jamiroquai and a fantastic dance remix of Christopher Cross' "Ride Like The Wind".

Otherwise: "Dig In" by Lenny Kravitz; "Androgyny" by Garbage; and let's not forget "You're My Mate" by Right Said Fred!

During this holiday I discovered the music of Alejandro Sanz, whom I have continued to love to this day. Bought "El Alma Al Aire" which I'd recommend, particularly "Para Que Me Quieras". Now I'm no ballad fan, but there's something about Alejandro which always reduces me to jelly and this song is a perfect example.

Coming soon: 2002!