Let’s continue this series into the 2000s decade. Here’s a question… how many music videos have been made near to where you live? There have been several in my case, including “All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers, “Pumps” by Amy Winehouse, and “Lost Cat” by Catatonia. Some of those were fairly successful hits, but there was one that unexpectedly took off.
I think the video made closest (that I’m aware of anyway) to where I live to the point that you can almost see it is “I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)” by Sandi Thom, a Scottish singer-songwriter. Now I’m not really sure how it all happened that this ended up being made round here, but when I saw this on the TV for the first time, it was definitely a surprise. This was released in October 2005 and reached no. 55, and that seemed to be the end of it. 
But then something rather odd happened. In June 2006, this one was re-released with some more promotion, and reached no. 1. So suddenly the video was being shown on TV frequently again, and it now accompanied a chart-topping single. But not only that, this song spent ten weeks at Number One in Australia, and went on to be the biggest-selling single of 2006. This means that the video would now be shown often on the other side of the world, which is very odd. 
Even odder is that despite all the success, this song was heavily criticised for its rather nonsensical lyrics. Also in June 2006, Sandi’s debut album “Smile… It Confuses People” was released and reached no. 1 as well. This meant that in a short space of time Sandi had gone from being a virtual unknown to doing the UK chart double. Could Sandi keep up this success though? Well you can probably guess… 
In September 2006 the follow-up single “What If I’m Right” was released and reached no. 22. Then two years later, Sandi released her second album “The Pink And The Lily”, which didn’t make the Top Ten. In May 2008, the first single from the album “The Devil’s Beat” was released, and this missed the Top 40, reaching only no. 58. I’d be surprised if anyone can remember how that one goes by comparison. 
“The Devil’s Beat” turned out to be Sandi’s final hit single. Sandi has gone on to release several more singles and albums though, none of which have got anywhere near the chart, and the last time anyone ever heard of her was when she was rather annoyed that radio stations had stopped playing her singles and all of her fans had long since deserted her. But I definitely won’t be able to forget her.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 