Right now - December 1999 - Highest chart position: 10

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The first single and this was really an incredible debut. Considering they had only been together as a band for a few months, this sounds like they'd been doing it for ever. Right from that first ripple of disco strings and funked-up guitar you know this is one to shake you booty to.

It did pretty well in the dance charts which is no surprise really. It's definitely a dancefloor filler. Let's face it if it had been done by some big name DJ it would have been THE dance tunes over the Christmas hols. Instead it was three dead cheeky scouse lasses who I first saw bounding down Carnaby Street, doing a plug for their new single. Then I saw them on The Big Breakfast, and knew they were the ones to watch in 2000.

Frankly, as a bloke, if any girl came at me with as much outright up-for-it attitude as this song has got, I would give in straight away and say YES. And that is why it is a great song : It grabs you and says come on, in no uncertain terms. OK, some will say the lyrics are borderline, but they probably have never spoken to a teenager girl of today, or for that matter anyone born after 1976. The "whole me-and-my-mates" all in a gang together style fits perfectly, not just a female equivalent of "Come and have go if you think you're hard enough", more it's classier cousin "Come and have a go if you think you're good enough". I've never actually seen the video for this one so if anyone wants to see me a VHS copy (PAL format), it would be much appreciated.

In the office, this one is usually saved for late in the afternoon, when either the indie kids need winding up or the pop tarts need an excuse to dance around. I must admit to being the one leading the dancing, but so long as the bosses don't notice it's alright.

It's been picked up on in Japan where the girls starred in an advert for Lotte Chocolate singing it, as well as being used as the theme music for the "J Sky Sports" channel, which the girls got to present when they were over there.

See Ya - March 2000 - Highest chart position - 6

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The song that really proved it for me, and still my favourite tune of 2000. Playground taunt chorus that's so obvious you wonder why no one had used it before. Sassy as hell, sharp and short. The line that got me was "Well there's plenty more where you came from, so I think I'll go fish". Gone fishing may be something of a cliché, but here it was perfect. That slightly wonky piano intro and the ecstatic beat just dragged me in, and keep it rolling through the 3 minutes of pop heaven that is See Ya. This was about the time that the girls started to appear everywhere, I saw the video on CD:UK and thought it was spot on. OK Jason Priestley panned it on "Live and Kicking" for being another one shot in a Californian desert, but everyone agreed it was a top pop tune.

It got surprisingly little airplay from the major stations who thought it a little too teeny for their so-called cool playlists. Well don't they look stupid now. It bounced into the charts at number 6, despite the lack of airplay and mainly thanks to the girls tireless efforts at promoting it via every media possible. They were also taking off in Japan and Asia at the time, which gave them a sudden air of knowing they were good enough to make it. Over the weeks they seemed to get more confident and more media savvy. I hear they were slightly disappointed that it didn't make top 5, and I would have to agree, but it was quite a busy chart week so I think they should be rightly proud of doing better than last time out.

It was they first time in ages I had actually decided to take an active interest in a band. For the first time in ages I was coming home in the evening and trying to write something better than it. I couldn't but it has got me out of a slump and back into writing songs again. Hopefully I'll get to record them soon.

I did just about master the dance moves to the chorus from seeing the video, and watching them live. If I ever get to interview them the dance moves are on the list of questions. This one goes on the stereo quite often, but mostly in one of it's many remixed forms, so as to escape the notice of the more "credible" people in the office. Yeah right, credible don't mean nothing if you ain't enjoying it, and they look constantly miserable. Me, I'm still prone to run around when drunk shouting the lines "see ya, wouldn't want to be ya".

I want your love - July 2000 - Highest chart position - 10

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Below is my initial review, now of course I love it to bits and can't stop playing it. Should have charted higher, but with all the big names throwing out their summer releases and no air play, this is a superb result. In fact it sold very well, especially given that above it were 7 other new entries from bands who are undoubtedly more established in terms of fanbase, and mostly on a second album or further in to their careers. No shame in number 10 is my verdict, it's a superb result given the race you are running in (does that last line make me sound like some dappy "life-coach" or over zealous American?).

"I've heard this one a few times now, and it grows on me every time I hear it. From the opening western riff, last heard on 808 State's "The only rhyme that bites" (The one with MC Tunes) to the space western feel of the video, it has summer written all over it. The outrageous, "Boom, push it, don't push it" bridge to the chorus is kinda weird, but it makes the chorus stand out and what an awesomely catchy chorus it is. the even spreading of vocal duties pushes Nat to the front where as Kerry and Lil have taken lead on the previous tracks, and doesn't she love it! She looks absolutely stunning in the video, as they all do and seems to relish the chance to lead the fun.

The cutesy cowgirl outfits and dance routine may well make it onto the dancefloor this summer. In fact I'm sure that rope 'em in bit and the gun slinging act will be imitated by teenage girls everywhere who know what they want and how they want it."

The video is absolutely sumptuous, and the girls look absolutely stunning. The first time I watched it (on MTV who, given the girls role as face of MTV Asia, sensibly put it on their "playlist B") the phrase "OH MY GOD!!" passed my lips several times. It wasn't the space western look of the whole thing that got me, nor the outfits (which were very slinky). It was purely how gorgeous these girls looked. How on earth could this be three teenagers from the North West? How on earth could anyone be persuaded that this was just a band for "the kiddies". I guess I must have missed out, but when I was their age (pre-Spice Girls) no girl every looked that good in a pop video. Born at the wrong time, the quality of pop talent, has so improved since the early 1990's. More class, more sass...... Oh well, I can pretend I'm young again!

There's a great line that I love in this song: "Making lots of money and living in a dream, is when you know you're doing all of the right things". That kind of sums up what they seem to be doing, and what I want to be doing too. They keep on inspiring me to get on with what I want to do, and sure enough I'm getting there slowly.

Follow Me - October 2000 - Highest chart position - 20

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And just when you thought you had them down as a one trick pop pony, all bouncy and fun energy pop tunes, they come out with this. A slick piece of pop R'n'B which brings to mind the likes of TLC at their best (on tracks like the classic"Waterfall"). Pop R'n'B seems to be the new flavour of the month in the charts and it can't do any harm to be in that basket at the moment.

First heard this one when it was previewed on their site and imediately loved it. The chorus line: "If your feeling love's unkind, Follow Me, we'll go walking through paradise" (or is it past times) struck me as really beautiful and made me well up a little (I'm a soppy old romantic who is hopeless at falling in love). Love the way the rotate the voices, offsetting Tash's fuller sound against Lil and Kerry's. In fact this song is really suited to her and Lil, with Kerry filling the sound out with harmonies. There is one point when their voices falter, but it adds to the charm and the feeling that this is genuine sentiment.

The video is all blue-screened stuff with them in very glamorous satin and sarongs in various exotic locations (I said exotic OK, and that's the word I was looking for. Oh to hell with Freud!). I think the theme was something to do with them being on top of the world and all that. Either way they look as great as ever. They even manage to get what seems to be their trademark dance move into the video: The shuffle/hop step forward with right arm circling round in front of them (as seen in routine for See Ya and elsewhere). Yet again not playlisted by Radio 1 or Capital, but who cares? Regional radio seems to have picked up on it, notably in Liverpool, which comes as no surprise. Can't wait for its release so I can go buy a copy!

Sadly only made number 20 on release, not I think because it wasn't a good song, just not what is expected of Atomic Kitten. Also, as I've said before, lack of airplay in these times meansthat hardly anyone gets to hear a track unless the big stations playlist it. Or perhaps the imminent return of chart heavyweight like U2, The Spice Girls, Fatboy Slim and Westlife, Robbie and Kylie and the much overrated Samantha Mumba, has something to do with it.

Whole Again - January 2001 - Highest chart position - 1

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The big ballad from the album. Actually wasn't one of my favourite choices from the album originally, but it is a huge grower. and it certainly has. the more I listen to it the more I like it. For me this song will always have a special significance. I'll explain why.

Kerry announces she's quitting the Kittens, I'm wondering whether they'll go on, and then I find out i am out of a job. The last job I do is to film an interview with Lil and Tash (Jenny was meant to be there but had to go to the dentist so couldn't) for C3 the Friday before the single was due to chart. The midweeks put them on course for number 1, ahead of U2's "Stuck in a moment". And so all the way through the interview I have the track racing through my mind, and the knowledge that I am out of a job as I stare at my monitor. Afterwards everyone is chatting about them getting to number 1. I wish Tash the best as she is leaving and wish them good luck for Sunday. Then de-rigged and went out and got drunk with the guys from work and listened to it on the way home. I was crying for hours feeling lost and betrayed.

Wake up Saturday morning, turn on CD:UK and wait for the count down. And yes they have done it!! Run around room screaming for joy and sort of feeling better that the band I have backed for so long have done it at last. So I guess you could say this song will always be associated with a momentous few days in my life. And that's why it's all the more special that it made number 1.

Eternal Flame - July 2001 - Highest chart position - 1

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With Whole Again still paying the bills in the charts and airplay, 2001 was starting to look like the year of the Kitten. Rumours leak out that actually Virgin had dropped the girls days before the release. But it turned out that was only until they saw the light. Whole Again monstered all opposition to be the biggest selling single of the year to date and had 4 weeks at number 1, as well as doing a demolition job over an incredible range of different countries across the world.

You've used up five songs off your original album, you're reworking that album for re-release and you need something big to keep the momentum. But how do you follow up something as freakishly successsful as Whole Again? Simple, take a massive end of school disco ballad from the big haired 80's, give it a funked up 2001 R'n'B remix for the kids of today and then sit back and see what happens. And so it came to pass that Atomic Kitten headed for the land of lighter waving ballads with a cover of The Bangles Eternal Flame, a song that I remember from when I was all of 12 years old.

This caused some bemusement amongst the press, who were still desperately playing catch up having not really given Atomic Kitten much of a chance up until Whole Again. While the usual sources (MTV, Smash Hits) had been regular supporters of the Kittens others, who had tended to think of them as "J.A.G" (Just Another Girlband), were playing catch up trying to get something on them. Commercial radio, having been caught totally unprepared by the success of Whole Again, finally gave AK a chance with heavy airplay, and print and online sources went into overdrive to get a piece of the hottest UK pop property going.

But could Eternal Flame repeat Whole Again's success? 2 large obstacles stood in its path: Destiny's Child and Geri Halliwell. Both established names with a big following and a good record of chart success. Both releasing singles in the same week as Eternal Flame. But things still looked good. DC's track was an album track from an already available album and Geri wasn't running the best of press campaigns (a distinct lack of tabloid coverage seems to blame). Eventually one object stepped out of the path of the AK juggernaut, as Geri moves her single release back a week (chicken? we think so). Just one to go then.

So come the week of release and things start to hot up. The Kittens are in press overdrive, appearaing everywhere possible, from the internet to radio and TV (terrestrial and satellite). In one day (Thursday 26th) they manage an outrageous number of live internet appearances/interviews (I counted something like five in one afternoon). By now midweek charts are suggesting that the battle is over, as AK are outselling DC by 2:1 on Wednesday. Come Sunday and the result is another storming number 1, But with a twist: In it's first week Eternal Flame has the highest figures for first week sales of any record this year, with a incredible 141,000 copies sold. That's more than Whole Again in any given week.

Next stop, the re-issued album in August and then a taste of America.

It's OK- June 2002 - Highest chart position - 3

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A year on a how things have changed! The girls have been made over into sexy, slick popstresses and are one of the best selling and most recognisable bands around. But for me it's just not quite happening any more. Tash is pregnant, they're all trying to act all mature and the fun seems to have gone out of it. This is now about business, sales and profits. So here's the first single from the album, written by Stargate, the Swedish hitmakers behind the big hits for the likes of Britney Spears, is another ballad. It's upbeat, it's got feisty lightweight feminist lyrics, features all three girls putting in strong performances. Oh heck, I'm making it sound a dreary and dull aren't I? Well actually I thought was the first time I heard it. But it grows on you, and the chorus sticks in your head like chewing gum in your hair. It gets in there and won't go away!! Top work then, and with a slick video involving a very nice vintage Porsche in South Africa, it was always guaranteed to get plenty of airplay.

I'm not going to hazard now (01 August 2002) whether or not this will be reflective of the new album as a whole, but if this is the standard of the singles then it stands ever chance of being just as strong and selling just as well across all age groups as Right Now did last year.

Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) - August 2002 - Highest chart position - 1

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It's a well worn formula to take an old song and give it a make-over to secure a hit. For older Kitten fans it's probably a disappointment that the second single from Feels So Good is a cover. I myself was not too please to here that the Kittens were releasing this as a single. Originally by The Paragons, then a hit for Blondie, Tide is High is a bit of a standard. Even with the addition of a new verse/chorus by the team from Wise Buddah who worked some magic on Whole Again, it still seems an all to easy choice of second single.

The Kitten update is saved from being a stinker by the girls' verve alone. Yes, it reached number 1 but so have many other average songs recently. Then again, as a late summer hit to sing along to as you wander around central London, it's unnervingly catchy and sticks in your head like chewing gum. In these days of the glamorous Kittens it's a light and frothy cover that reminds me of why I first feel in love with them all that time ago, and you can't say fairer than that.