In a year when we have probably had the overall worst set of music choices on SCD, if we REALLY must have them, do you think the "love" should be shared a little more widely?

By doing a quick round-up of this year, I would split it thus:

Ridiculous/Embarrassing Music Choices: Ainsley, Anthony, Carol, Daniel, Iwan, Jeremy, Kellie, Kirstie

Average Music Choices: Jamelia , Helen

Great Music Choices: Anita, Georgia, Jay, Katie, Peter

Not surprisingly, aside from Kellie, who has had to rise up against some real shockers (and deserves every credit for doing so), every single one of those contestants has now left the competition.

So, while I'm not stating that the best music choices would have made Iwan or Daniel a better dancer, do you agree that some celebrities are up against it from the outset having to dance to some truly dire music? Does the music they are given distinctly stereotype the celebrities as either "comedy duffers" "middlers" or "contenders" from the very beginning?

Jeremy's choices reflected his own musical tastes in the main and I don't think Anthony's were bad.

A lot of the eliminated contestants weren't very good dancers (most of them) and some of them didn't stay very long so you can't judge their music compared with others.

They've practically all had shocking music to contend with at some point. Whoever thought of 'My Generation' as a QS song needs ... remonstrating with

Think it's more about when you get decent or crap music/themes that makes the difference. Like last year, Caroline properly lucked out towards the end with her AS and AT music and Charleston theme, and they came one after the other - really helped build momentum for her win.

WHAT??!!!

"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" - clearly chosen for the likeness to his name.
"Eye of the Tiger" - clearly chosen because he is a boxer

The producers didn't even afford him some decent exit music - "So Long, Farewell"????

His waltz to "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was the only time he was remotely dealt a decent hand...


I know - but some (of the remaining batch Kellie) far more than others...

I don't think so .. Frankie had just as many good song choices.
In the semis Caroline had to dance a very slow Foxtrot to 'Diamonds' .. which was very exposing.
Also she tripped early in her AS .. which affected the rest of it. Her salsa music was great but it was her performance in it that made it awesome ... IMO.

'The Eye of the Tiger' is not a bad Paso song though .. it's as good as Bon Jovi's 'It's My Life' anyway. The trouble with it was Anthony's shoulder. I think he could have really gone for it otherwise.
'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' also worked as a jive (just as good as 'The Boy Does Nothing') It was Anthony's best dance I thought.

You see, I don't really remember Frankie's last few performances...for me, her stand-outs were the Paso and Green Tango which came quite early on.

I remember Caroline's AS trip, but it was still a superb routine to a great piece of music. Her later performances stand out in my mind more than her earlier ones (and compared to others, apart from Jake's whose I remember for the wrong reasons!) and the music and themes had a lot to do with that.

Daniel's music choices were perfectly fine.

"Summer Nights" - a decent song - but how appropriate for Daniel O'Donnell???

The rest, admittedly were good...

How appropriate is latin for Daniel O Donnell at all? It was a fun kitchy choice from one of the more iconic and popular movies portrayed that week, that got him out of having to be "sexy" or "cheeky".

Brendan picked Kirsty's paso music, and picked up the dog theme when it was going free

Don't forget Anita and Georgia had really bad Tango music. Sweet Disposistion isn't at all Tango like and whilst the tune for ghostbusters maybe right the song itself is ridiculous for such a serious dance. They both did well because Gleb and Giovanni managed to a fantastic job choreographing in spite of bad music.

Also pretty woman for Katie's Cha-Cha-Cha wasn't the best move either.

Sorry but I think Jay has had some terrible music. That one for the foxtrot last week was soooo boring. The AS one could have been a lot better and his quickstep one wasn't really a quickstep.

Exactly. Georgia and Anita did well despite of song choice and not because of it, with Anita''s being less of a horrible choice than Georgia

Everyone has had terrible music choices. My Generation for a Quickstep was so wrong, as was Lay With Me for the Foxtrot. Georgia has had some great songs particularly last Saturday's Chicago Charleston.

It was bad on movie week when he had to play Rocky Marcianao, the matador. That theme sealed his fate.

Remember that good celebs can make the most of bad music or a bad theme. Put a bad theme and bad music together and there is not much that can be done.

There definitely isn't with one arm working! I think that sealed his fate more than anything .. it was so conspicuous and also uncomfortable to watch.

Sorry, but nothing - absolutely nothing - could be worse music-choice-wise than Carol and Pasha doing a rumba to 'I Think I Love You' by the Partridge Family. Not a rumba in any sense of the dance AT ALL.

I didn't think they could get any worse than Harry and Aliona doing a salsa to Elton John's 'I'm Still Standing' (clearly not a salsa) … but this year, they did.

Whoever picks the songs knows next to nothing about music …

I love Elton Johns old songs

I was speaking to my wife about this very subject on Saturday night. I am just an ex pro sportsman who has zero musicality and even less dance ability but Strictly has been my guilty pleasure since the very beginning. This series I am not enjoying so much which I believe has to do with the music. I feel a song is picked and dancers told dance to this instead of the opposite way of music picked for the dance. Maybe I am wrong but that's what I am feeling.

You are not wrong. Many times the couples have to struggle against the tempo of the music. It must be quite daunting for the celebrities who won't be used to this.

When it all goes well it's a lovely combination of dance, music and (dare I say?) costume.

Sadly it often goes horribly wrong. I do agree Carole's rhumba music was the worst choice this year but there are many others.

It often looks as if they are dancing a dance with random music being played in the background for some reason. If you watch again and turn the music off it's sometimes much improved.

Music choice is probably the most subjective thing about Strictly outside of the dances. You either like it or you don't.

One of the problems for all of us is that as we get older, the large majority leave our musical tastes precisely where they were formed so by and large, our teens and possibly early 20s.

So as Strictly moves along, attempting to embrace (as it must) a modern audience, the music that features will move on, leaving a lot of us in the dust, so to speak!

I'm a Baby Boomer so my musical tastes were formed mostly in the 60s and 70s and I'm very comfortable with much of the really popular tracks of those years. For later years, well, to be truthful, it mostly passes me by and from what I hear from Strictly these days, I'm grateful for it! An example: I just don't see the musicality at all in the wailing, warbling, weak-voiced, repetitive and copy-cat noise that came out of the narrow lips of the opening performer on Sunday's results show! But I know others will and they will enjoy it as I never could. I've no doubt many of them would say the same about any music choices I might prefer so fair's fair.

I've checked and I reckon that I've known less than 50% of the music that's been selected for this season's dances, which does seem kind of low, but there it is. In fact, I knew just one song from last Saturday's show!

Whilst I might wish for a broader selection from down the years, it doesn't stop me from enjoying (almost) all the performances in each show although to my untrained eye there are clearly some awful misfits, like an American Smooth to Man! I Feel Like A Woman ... given the massive choice of music that mut be available, where on earth did that idea come from?

Anyway, as it happens, my radio is tuned to an internet station called Flaming Oldies (many others are available!) and The Animals "House of the Rising Sun" is playing. Sounds like a Viennese Waltz waiting to happen - if it hasn't already!

I take the point you are making - and I agree with much of what you say - but this isn't about taste and whether the selection of music is too modern. It's about whether the music matches the dance. And there is no way anyone can convincingly argue that 'I Think I Love You' is a rumba. It doesn't have a rumba rhythm or feel. Carol may have been one of this year's less convincing celeb dancers, but there was no way she could deliver anything resembling a rumba to that track.

And that's the most extreme example - but there have been others people have complained about, justifiably. The ratings for this series may be great - but that doesn't mean the show is perfect. Certainly not in this instance!

I think we agree ... I was trying to say that as time goes by, more "modern" music must, by definition, dominate the programme and the choices that are made to use one track over another to dance to. It's as much about keeping the audience of all ages involved enough to keep them away from Factor-X and the like. It would fail to do that if for example, the songs in one week had to be selected from an early Rolling Stones album. It just wouldn't work and many younger viewers would probably get bored stiff.

I guess it's about broad appeal, not pleasing all the people all the time which is probably why I know less than 50% of the music that's been used so far.

The problem then becomes that an awful lot of modern-ish music seems to be written for the short-term, samey, cheap download, which can be totally forgotten about by tomorrow. There's not a lot of longevity about it and as a consequence, a lot of what is left to dance to is just wholly unsuitable for that purpose. And in the same way as I can't expect Strictly to keep regurgitating the '60s because there's nothing to dance to from today, it's the same on the other side of the coin.

Which I think is what you're saying ...