(54) Phil Everly & Cliff Richard - She Means Nothing To Me

The Everly Brothers were probably just as important to the base-rock of popular music as Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry or Little Richard. There are hundreds of 60s, 70s and 80s acts who were massively influenced by 50s music, certainly those who crafted their vocals or played actual musical instruments when they went into the studio.  It was pleasing that Phil and his mate Cliff were able to sell records in 1983 and probably not just to people in their early 40s who grew up in the 50s and 60s listening to their music.  I was 8 and loved this as much as I loved Joan Armatrading or Howard Jones. I'm not sure what my point is however. This got to number 9 and gave Phil Everly his first top ten hit for 18 years.

(53) Elton John - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues

I've never been able to work out if Elton John is an angry man with diva-ish qualities who treats people badly or if he's a cheeky scamp who likes to dance about in massive glasses being everyone's best friend. Probably both. He'd released a string of awful songs in the 70s with the odd gem scattered amongst them; here, he broke free of that and started releasing some of the absolute best songs of all time. Not sure what changed or what influences in his life had come and gone, but if he could have bottled the inspiration he was having in this period, I'd like a few litres please. This got to number 5.

(52) Prince - 1999

Here he is everyone, he's arrived finally. His previous 'hit', the number 41 peaking 'I wanna be your lover' was ahead of it's time and ahead of everyone who heard it's readiness for such raw energy.  '1999' only got to number 25 because, again, the American invasion hadn't quite happened properly yet. Michael Jackson was probably the only exponent having massive hits. This 25 peak wasn't quite the end of the story for this song though because in 1985, it was reissued with 'Little Red Corvette' on the B side and got to number '2', the highest he ever managed bar 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World'. Stupidly, it was reissued again in January 1999 - I saw it on the counter at HMV in Edinburgh and thought, 'eh?', it's about New Year's Eve 1999, not January 13th 1999. Never mind, it got to number 10 then anyway.

(51) Rocksteady Crew - Hey you

Nothing says 'We use synthesizers' like saying the word 'digital' four times in the introduction to your song. You could tell this was written the first day their keyboard player got a new synth, it's got that 'ooh, an echo setting' vibe all over it. This song sparked my love affair with the 'Now that's what I call music' series.  The first ever album had this on it along with 14 other songs in this top 60 count down. At primary school we had a day when we could bring a Vinyl album in and play it whilst doing work, craft projects I think. My best mate brought in 'Number of the Beast' by Iron Maiden which made me question his ethics and morals. I brought in Duran Duran's first album and someone, I forget who, brought in 'Now that's what I call music 1', though it was just called 'Now that's what I call music'.  This was the first time I heard this song and by 3pm I was singing 'Hey You, the rocksteady crew, Bee Boy Blah Begga-lecka boogaloo'. I've just Googled it and the lyrics are actually 'B-Boy breakers electric boogaloo'. Nope, me neither.

(50) Wang Chung - Don't be my enemy

This is a cheeky little song which probably nobody remembers but you should definitely give it a spin. It's quintessentially what the early 80s were all about and perfectly produced.

(49) Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

Even Phil Oakey admitted the other two blokes who sing on this were better vocalists than him - although, I can't actually tell which of the singing parts are Phil and which aren't, apart from when Joanne and Susan sing of course. The video for this was ground-breaking, like a lot of videos made in the early 80s (because none had really been made before, they were all quite pioneering in some way). They actually painted a house and street red so from above it looked like a big red dot. They room they're performing in is derelict too and I think that street was actually demolished not long after the shoot. This slowly climbed to number 2 in the chart but once there, fell out of the 40 sharpish, it was only on the chart for 7 weeks.  The production was really weird - it wasn't until I heard the digital version of this that I realised my record player wasn't playing up during the intro. It does sound like the belt on the player is slowing down and speeding up. The little tinkers.

(48) Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

The video for this was quite spooky, choirboys with glowing eyes and Bonnie being chased through a wet stately home. Jim Steinman penned this song for a Vampire musical he was writing and you can just hear Meat Loaf singing it - but it suits Bonnie's voice perfectly. She'd not even hinted at performing songs like this before so either she begged her record company to let her realise her potential as a vocalist or it all happened by accident. Whichever, the result is a song that will always get the blood pumping and a lesson to all those weakly 'talented' idiots we're lumbered with in the charts these days. There'll never be music like this in the charts ever again - let that slowly sink in like spilt jam on a cardigan.

(47) Kajagoogoo - Too Shy

Produced by Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, this was as good a debut hit as you're likely to hear. They had two more hits, the band fell out, Limahl was fired, he went on to have some solo success, Kajagoogoo then had two more hits without him and then saw their last week on the chart ever, less than a year after this hit number 1. Nick Beggs was on lead vocals for some of their best work regardless of chart positions though, it's a mystery why all he seems to do these days is follow Howard Jones around playing weird shaped bass guitars.

(46) The Police - Wrapped around your finger

I completely missed this first time around. I definitely wouldn't have got it anyway - the subject matters of Police songs weren't the type of thing an 8-year-old would be interested in anyway. This was about having an affair with a much older woman, 'Every breath' was about stalking, 'Don't stand so close' was about a 'teacher-pupil' situation and 'Invisible Sun' has elements of war and poverty. The album 'Synchronicity' is titled after a Carl Jung philosophy. I have to admit, I was more drawn towards the theme tune to Inspector Gadget at the time. These days though, 'Wrapped around your finger' has more emotional depth than Inspector Gadget and a little more gravitas than the theme tune to 'Rainbow'.

(45) Toto - Africa

Just in case you didn't know what shape Africa was, Toto have drawn it on the wall behind them, helpfully including Madagascar in case you were in doubt that it was part of the continent despite being an island.  They're not in Kansas any more, but in the song they do say that 'Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus' using a mountain as a metaphor for a mountain.

The structure and instrumentation on this song is as good as you'll hear in 1983, and the result is a song that'll endure forever, probably.

(44) Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

Joe is giving Allanah a foot-up over Tom's back-garden wall so they can steal his apples. At least, I think that's what's going on, on the cover. What a bad idea to include the lyric (Rap boy rap) on the cover. It's like they wanted to ride the slipstream of the zeitgeist but they didn't need to - they were doing just fine doing their own brand of pop music.  One of the best moments in pop music occurs on this song when Tom sings 'I played you all my favourite records' and then plays an excerpt from their earlier minor hit 'In the name of love' like product placement or when YouTube interrupts what you're watching to tell you about some new self-folding trousers.

They had nine successive top 40 hits, some brilliant and some rather less so ('We are detective'????) The legend goes that their record company demanded that they write 'Hold me now' two, despite their protestations that you can only write what you feel like writing next.

(43) Joe Fagin - Breakin' away

I'm not sure if it's nostalgia or whether this is a great single but I absolutely loved Auf Weidersehen Pet, still do in fact, I watched all four series back to back last year and enjoyed every single second, all over again. This was the song that played over the introductory credits and put me in mind of the theme tune to the likely lads. 'Oh, what happened to you, whatever happened to me? What became of the people we used to be?' - that's such a sad lyric and one I only 'got' much later in life. Similarly with this song, 'Breaking away', it didn't have much effect on me in 1983 but these days, 'Don't want tomorrow to be like today, Until the good times roll around again, Auf Weidersehen'.

(43) Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed

After the Specials had hit the top with their seventh hit 'Ghost Town', Terry Hall departed to form 'The Fun Boy Three' which I'm sure was a sarcastic reference to the look on his face most of the time. This was TFB3's seventh single, and by far their best. It was co-written by Jane Wiedlin, of the Go-Go's and 'Rush Hour' fame. It got to number 7 here and the Go-Go's had a top 20 hit with it state side.

(42) Men At Work - Overkill

To me, it seemed everyone looked at Men at Work as a novelty comedy band. When the video to their song 'Down Under' came out, it was played for laughs and kind of undermined the talent behind what they were doing. Madness got away with it because they represented a movement, a style, an identity - it wasn't all about the music, but Men at Work just came over as a group of physical comedians who had a 'Baron Knight's' style song about Veggie Mite sandwiches.  'Overkill' is a fabulous song but only got to number 21. Colin Hay appeared on US sitcom 'Scrubs' singing it acoustic-style before Dr. Cox takes his guitar and smashes it against the wall. Iconic.

(41) Lotus Eaters - The First Picture Of You

The greatest mysteries of all time include the Loch Ness Monster, who shot JR/JFK and how this song only got to number 15. They didn't chart again either. It's such a well written, produced and crafted song - it belongs in a museum - this one in fact!

(39) Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat

Paul took this old Marvin Gaye B-side all the way to number 1. It's not the most politically correct song of all time but Paul's voice turned it from gentle bland faire to true soul classic. I bought the parent album 'No Parlez' on vinyl last year and the whole thing still sounds fresh. It's criminal that 'Behind your smile' wasn't on the album.

(38) Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

See previous comment regarding Michael's single covers. This is the song which launched the already pretty famous Michael Jackson to cosmic stardom. He performed his little moonwalk (a move he nicked from Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar) on the 25th anniversary Motown concert here 

At the time, everyone thought the song was about Billie Jean King, one of the greatest Tennis players of all time. It wasn't though, it was about fans who claimed their children had been fathered by one of the Jackson 5, but they would go on to say, 'But the ched is not my son'.

(37) UB40 - Red Red Wine

One of my sister's friends said to me, at the time this song was in the charts, 'it's such a sad song, it makes me cry'. I didn't have the foggiest clue what she was on about - as I said above, the true gravitas some of the songs in the charts had didn't hit me until I'd gone through some 'things' and seen other 'things' in the course of my life. Of course, I've had my own 'Red Red Wine' moments now so I totally get why it's so sad - however, my sister's friend was 13 at the time so I'm concerned as to how she'd understood the message of the song to the point it had such an emotional impact.

(36) Prince - Little Red Corvette

I was introduced to this song in the late 80s when a school friend gave me a mixtape of various music from the Minneapolis stable. Safe to say, I never looked back - this song is so smooth and representative of what Prince did best, oozing with personality and atmosphere.

(35) China Crisis - Christian

China Crisis are definitely the best group you've never listened to. Criminally underrated and ignored by the mainstream, their back catalogue is littered with wonderful tunes, if not the most exciting ones, they're quirky, melodic and gently soothing. This song calms me right down and always makes me happy when I hear it. This got to number 12 in January and they wouldn't follow it up until the following year when Wishful Thinking got to number 9 in January 1984.

(34) Tracey Ullman - They don't know

Purists will cite Kirsty MacColl (one of the greatest humans to ever exist) 's version of this song as the best and original (she wrote it after all). However, Tracey was having a great start to her career on TV and now in music, so anything she released was getting attention. There's a note in the middle after the solo where it goes 'Baby!', which was too high for Tracey to sing so Kirsty stepped in to do it for her (or it was copied from the original vocal take on Kirsty's version). Getting your hands on the original MacColl version is quite difficult as at the time, she told Stiff Records that she didn't want to extend her deal with them so, out of spite, stopped printing the single and stopped promoting it so it didn't have a hope of charting.

(33) Michael Jackson - Thriller

The song is great but as previously mentioned, tie-in a song and a movie and you've got gold for both. People who like movies will hear the song and people who like songs will see the video and become aware of the movie, doubling your audience for both!

The 'Thriller' video was, in all respects except length, a movie and the visuals definitely brought the public's perception of the song up from where it would have been without the video. I recorded the video off the telly and learned the dance. There's a bit where three zombies turn to look at the camera half-way through the dance, and I never knew what to do at that point - it still annoys me to this day. Then they released 'The Making of Thriller' on VHS which I rented from the local video rental shop about four times and watched at least three times on each rental period. Safe to say I was obsessed and looking back, I can see why - the 80s was littered with these big events. Wham's video for 'Last Christmas' was a massive deal as was Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'Two Tribes', there was Band Aid and Live Aid of course, and a lot of what Madonna was doing in both music and movies dominated the landscape. If there's one period in history I'm grateful to have existed it's between 1983 and 1986 - add in the release of Tears for Fears 'Songs from the Big Chair' and it pretty much underlines that small section of history as one of the greatest in pop culture. Whatever you think of Michael Jackson, he was absolutely one of the greatest pop stars in the history of history.

Ed Sheeran? LOL!

(32) Rod Stewart - Baby Jane

Red pleather aside, this song is the perfect vehicle for Rod's voice. His heyday was coming to a close and he'd soon be joining the stable of other 70s pop stars who were still capable of having hits but weren't lighting up the record collections of us under 18s like Wham! and Duran Duran were. This song had mass appeal though and hit number 1 without much effort. He managed to outstay all those young pretenders like Adam Ant and Limahl, and he's still releasing records these days!

(31) Men without hats - Safety Dance

We can dance, We can dance, everybody look at your pants. This song was a protest at the fact people were told to stop 'pogoing' on dance floors because they were bumping into people, standing on people and knocking drinks out of people's hands. So the 'safety' dance was one that was much gentler and kinder on people's toes. This got to number 6 and the band didn't trouble the charts ever again. The video is very very strange too.

(30) Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita

If you've read my commentary on my top 40's of the late 70s, then you can add this song to the list of those in my formative years that attached themselves to the part of my brain that absorbs unique sounds. The keyboard sound on Racey's 'Lay your love on me' will always take me back to 1978 - likewise the keyboard motif on this number 5 peaking hit. It's just so sonically pleasing - it makes my brain happy.

(29) Icehouse - Hey Little Girl

Talking of sonically pleasing, this is quite a unique sounding single and as far as I know, the only one of the 1980s that fades in rather than out (there's bound to be more but I don't know of any). I don't know if the lead vocalist was trying to sound like David Sylvian or Bryan Ferry or David Bowie or whether he just sounded like this - maybe he was doing an impression of David Sylvian doing an impression of David Bowie?

(28) U2 - New Year's Day

U2 weren't very well known at the time but it was probably The Edge who carried the band at this point of their career. If you listen to the parent album 'War', there's lots of interesting stuff going on, bombastic drumming, enthusiastic bass guitar and lots of Bono yelling and not quite hitting top notes, but it's in the Guitar layers and textures that the album really lives. It wasn't until 'The Unforgettable Fire' when they started to really gel and well, by the time 'The Joshua Tree' came out, they'd all reached a place where they were all contributing as much as each other. 'New Year's Day' is a favourite among U2 fans and it's easy to see why, bar Bono's shouting.

(27) The Kinks - Come Dancing

Probably the saddest song I've ever heard. Ray Davies sister died of a heart attack whilst dancing at one of the old-time dance halls (The Lyceum). This song isn't specifically about that though, it's a fictional tale of a young boy whose sister goes dancing at the Palais dance hall on Saturday nights.  The reason why this song is so sad is not only because of the inspiration behind it which is tragic in itself but it's that moment in your life when you realise parts of your own life have gone forever. My old primary school was demolished about 15 years after I left it. Seeing a gap where it used to stand was devastating. It wasn't that I wanted to go back there or anything but a lot of my most important memories and friendships were made there. Most of the songs in this list remind me of there too - the song 'Come Dancing' is sung from a time when the Palais has been knocked down and since then a bowling alley, supermarket and now a car park stand on the site. So when Ray Davies sings

'The day they knocked down the palais
My sister stood and cried
The day they knocked down the palais
Part of my childhood died, just died'

you really feel it. There are parts of your life that just ended and you didn't realise until years later when a totem to those times disappears. It makes people go 'why are they knocking that down' when really, its practical use these days is zero, it's just a reminder of when times were different, simpler, better - but only because we were young and all that mattered was dancing, drinking and dating.

(26) Limahl - Only for love

It was actually the best thing for Limahl when he was kicked out of Kajagoogoo, especially when he had a hit pretty much straight away with this and (see previous comments about song-movie tie-ins) 'Never-ending Story'.  'Only for Love' appeared on disc 1, side 1 of 'Now That's what I call Music' and 'Too Shy' appeared on disc 1, side 2. Not sure if any other artist has had two entries on the same volume, can't be bothered to check, but it's a good pop quiz question nonetheless.

(25) Paul Young - Come back and stay

Another single from 'No Parlez', this time an up-tempo affair which showcased the talents of his backing group 'The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts' who were Maz Roberts and Kim Lesley who were instrumental in giving the album its unique signature along with Pino Palladino on bass and the Simmons drum machine. In fact, it was the 'tarts' who made sure this single worked, without them, it wouldn't have been up to much.  They featured on the next album 'The secret of association' and again elevated 'I wanna tear your playhouse down' with their unique sound but then faded into the background for the rest of the album, or, more likely, were absent. Shame.

(24) Spandau Ballet - True

This is one of those songs you recognise from one note. It was massive at the time but I don't think time has been kind. It's a bit boring and not as good as the much more dynamic 'Gold'. This was the third single from the album and if they'd released it a bit earlier, we would probably have already forgotten all about Renee and Renato.

(23) Altered Images - Don't Talk To Me About Love

Don't talk to me about love and don't talk to me about drawing people's heads in proportion to their bodies.  This was the only decent single from the album - which was a bit more grown up than their earlier efforts but then, it was the playful fun vibe that people liked about Claire Grogan and the gang. They'd released two albums and six singles in six months! Because they weren't turning any work down at all (it had taken so long to get any at all, they were flying to Europe for interviews, back to the studio and back out to Europe without a break) they were fresh in the radio station exec's minds - this single was played about ten times in the week before it was released - which was unheard of!

(22) Grand Master Flash - White lines

Now that's what I call music 3. I had the cassette version and I remember on Sunday afternoon with my Walkman and orange sponge headphones curled up on the settee, listening to the whole thing. This is the track that stood out - I'd not heard it on the radio for whatever reason but here it was in all it's glory. It reminded me of those videos you were shown in school about not talking to strangers - only this one was cool people telling you not to do drugs.

I was once on the bus with my wife going to work and there was a bloke on the front of the bus listening to his Walkman, which everyone could hear. He was listening to 'Two Tribes' and from my time listening to 'Now that's what I call Music 3' so many times, I always expect 'White lines' to follow it. So when it was about to finish I said, 'I bet he listens to 'White Lines' next.'  As predicted, 'White Lines' came on. My wife was freaked out. It was just a guess that he was listening to NTWICM3 but now I knew he was, here was my chance to freak out everyone sitting near me too. 'I bet 'Free Nelson Mandela' comes on next', I said loud enough for the people around me to hear ... ... ... 'Freeeee-heeee Nelson Mandela!' Hilarious!

I had to get off the bus before the next song came on - I couldn't remember what the next one was anyway - probably Love Wars by Womack and Womack, which nobody remembers.

(21) Spandau Ballet - Gold

You've got the power to know, you're indestructible!

Great video, great voice and an iconic song to be played whenever anyone wins at the Olympics.

(20) Eurythmics - Who's That Girl

The soundtrack to my summer this. The 6 weeks holidays from school, down the seaside, going on fairground rides, playing on arcades, wading in the sea up to the bottom of your turned-up trousers. The video had various cameos in it like members of Bucks Fizz, Kiki Dee, Hazel O'Connor, Kate Garner (of Hayzi Fantayzee) and Keren Woodward and Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama, the latter of which later married Dave Stewart!

(19) Michael Jackson - Beat It

More Jackson in Jeans but this time completely overshadowed by the quality of the song. Probably his best ever, and with the West Side Story themed video, a masterpiece of pop music. The opening growl is played on a Fairlight - it got me thinking that in the early 80s when this sort of technology was emerging, you really had to seize those new noises. I was writing a song a few years ago and I've got a Fairlight plug-in, which is a software emulation of the original and I came across the instrument that does the opening note for 'Beat it'. Obviously, I can't use this sound in any of my songs because it's already associated so strongly with 'Beat it', it'll never find it's own signature or personality. It's like that for a lot of the new sounds emerging in the 80s, groups had to get the new kit, find all the new cool sounds and get them in their songs sharpish before someone else came along and used it first. Like the synth brass on Van Halen's 'Jump' or the opening to 'Take on Me'.  Anyway, the guitar solo on 'Beat it', speaking of Eddie Van Halen, is stupidly good.

(18) Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Probably the most iconic 80s song ever. It's the one Absolute '80s plays whenever they've had a technical breakdown, like its their screen saver. Dave Stewart came up with the bass line when the thing he was playing wasn't working so he played what he'd written, backwards. That sparked the rest of the song. Annie's voice here is just head and shoulders above anything else that you'd heard before, if you'd grown up in the 80s that is. It hit number 1 in the US but only managed a measly number 2 here.

(17) Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times

I was really disappointed with the rest of the output from the Belle Stars because this song is superb. The rest of their singles were ok - which often happens I suppose. Bands like this unfairly get labelled as one-hit-wonders when in fact, they had one massive song and a few others that entered the top 40 but weren't given much air-play so the casual music lover would never be aware they even ever released any other music.  Their other notable hit was 'The Clapping Song' which was a novelty cover-version.  'Sign of the times' got to number 3.

(16) Depeche Mode - Everything counts

I liked this song originally because it has a Melodica in it. My teacher at school at the time, Mr Dowson, used to have one in his top drawer and would whip it out whenever we listened to 'Singing Together' on Radio 4. We'd sing songs like 'Green Grow the Rushes 'O' and 'Cockles and Mussels'. I loved it and always wanted a go on his Melodica - but never did because it was full of his saliva.  Anyway, Depeche Mode came to my attention because their album was named after a toy I always wanted but never asked for, for Christmas, for some reason, the 'Speak and Spell'.  This tune is particularly invigorating and stands out because of all the 'found' sounds that Martin Gore used as percussion and the like. It enjoyed a number 6 peak in the UK.

(15) The Thompson Twins - Hold me now

I liked this at the time but didn't buy the single. It was in 1999 when I was watching the Adam Sandler film 'The Wedding Singer' when one of the scenes was preceded by this song that I thought, 'Oh yeah, I loved that song'. Still a few years away from YouTube and even more away from Spotify, I bought the soundtrack to the movie on CD in order to get my hands on a few forgotten gems from the 80s I hadn't heard in over 10 years including 'How soon is Now' by The Smiths.

This was the Thompson Twins' biggest selling single, entering at number 31 it peaked at number 4 and stayed on the chart for 15 weeks.  On the later Thompson Twins albums you can hear some of the melodic motifs from their hits being repeated, and not very well - which just makes you want to go back and listen to this again instead.

(14) Nik Kershaw - I won't let the sun go down on me

Nik in an early version of Sonic the Hedgehog

There was a girl I liked at school and I thought I'd impress her by singing the lyrics to this, directly to her face one playtime. She looked like she was enjoying it until I got to the bit where he says 'Old men in stripy trousers', at which she burst out laughing, said 'I love that bit' and then wandered off.  I used to know all the lyrics to all the songs in the top 10 at the time but this song had particularly unusual lyrics so I found them fascinating.  'Here in our paper houses stretching for miles and miles' and 'Pinball man power glutton, vacuum inside his head' were wonderful word patterns to an 8 year old.  It started my love affair with Mr. Kershaw (not in that way) and he's now the artist I've seen live more than any other.

This didn't crack the top 40 when it was first released but after 'Wouldn't it be Good' and 'Dancing Girls' had both been hits, it was re-released and got to number 2!

(13) Howard Jones - New Song

Howard had a great look in 1983 didn't he? His sound was so different to the other synth solo artists and his voice really carried over the glassy twinkling.  This song has a resemblance to Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel but it's just a passing resemblance. It reached number 3 and launched his career. Howard is the artist I've seen the second-most live - even if I'm terrible at grammar.

(12) KC and the sunshine band - Give it up

Excuse me, can I have my table cloth back now?

Summer sun, playing catch in the park, feeding the ducks, lazy Sunday afternoons. That's this song for me. It's so catchy and up-beat and classic and surely finds its way into most people's top 100 of the 80s. If you want to see someone dancing to this as if they've been told their dog's just died, watch the video for the song. Harry Casey looks like he's being told he won't be fed unless he performs the song for us.

(11) Lionel Richie - Running with the night

For me, this is Ironing Board Face's best song. It only reached number 9 in the UK and if you listen close you can hear Richard Marx on backing duty.  The string stab in the chorus was the first time I was aware of it anywhere outside of a slasher-horror movie and it works so well. The guitar solo from that bloke out of Toto rivals that one from Eddie in Beat it.

(34) Roxy Music - Avalon

Roxy Music weren't my cup of tea in the 70s. They became a whole new animal as the 80s began however, with their unique brand of white soul and Bryan Ferry's impression of someone singing whilst trying to dislodge last night's triple-meat kebab with chilli sauce. This charted at No. 13 in the UK. The backing vocals were performed by Haitian singer Yanick Étienne, whom Bryan Ferry heard in the adjacent studio and invited her in to help out. The song's music video was directed by Ridley Scott!!

(33) A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran

It still baffles me to this day how this didn't enter the top 40. It must have done well stateside as Flock of Seagulls were namechecked several times in American movies of the time. Mainly centring around the haircut of the lead singer. (It got to number 9 in the US actually. Ed.)

This probably qualifies as the best single never to be a hit in the UK. Lead singer Mike Score was confronted by a UFO in his youth and wrote this song as a result.  He ran, he ran so far away, couldn't get away though. It's one of those songs that brings back memories of that endless summer of 82. "I Ran" reached number 43, and although a few hits followed it for the Seagulls, they never did anything as good as this again.

(32) Human League - Mirror Man

This is a proper pop song isn't it? If aliens landed and their first question was, 'What is pop music?', you'd have to play them this.

My issue with The Human League was that in December '81 "Don't You Want Me" had entered the chart at number nine and got to number 1 a week later. It's one of the most recognisable songs of all time now - but they just stopped. They didn't captialise on this League fever sweeping the nation.  It took an entire year for them to release this and get to number 2 with it. Then it took them another 18 months to release a new album. (they did have another number 2 single in 1983 in the mean time).

There was potential here that I don't think was ever really reached properly.

(31) Japan - Ghosts

There's some of us that get this and some of us who just don't want to. David Sylvian's stuff is alright I suppose, nothing special, but different enough to prick your ears up to amongst all the other fantastic music of the time. This song is something of a masterpiece though.

Japan only had two top ten hits and this was the biggest. Number 5 to be precise. I still think David, Nick Rhodes and Marilyn should have formed a super group. You never saw them all in the same room did you?

(30) Bucks Fizz - Now Those Days are Gone

The song was nominated for an Ivor Novello award and for good reason. The Fizz are deceptive in that you get the impression that they're a bubble-gum pop group trying to be ABBA but that's not the case at all. Some of their singles were superb - mature, well produced and with real heart. Land of Make Believe is one of the best songs of the decade.

This number 8 peaking single was a real surprise. It began with Mike Nolan singing acapella and the others harmonising until some gorgeous strings and electric pianos creep in towards the middle. The lyrics are as painful as you'd find in any blues ballad and not so twee as to work even 40 years later. I'd say this either inspired the 'Fame' song 'Starmaker' or the same person was involved in writing both songs.

(29) Modern Romance - Best Years of our Lives

A complete change of pace this. Party songs were massive in the early 80s, hence the popularity of Black Lace and my primary school putting their album on repeat in assembly so the teachers could have a child-free hour in the staff room every Wednesday morning. This trumpety gem moved slowly up the chart, but it ultimately became Modern Romance's biggest hit. An alternative version complete with a Christmas feeling helped it to peak at number four in it's eighth week on the chart.

I remember a song of theirs, Cherry pink and Apple Blossom White (I think) which had four minutes of instrumental and 10 seconds of singing in it. Smash hits actually published the lyrics on a full page of their magazine.

(28) Spandau Ballet - Lifeline

Infinitely better than either Gold or True which came from the same album. Even if they did steal their opening verse from ABC's Poison Arrow. It had looked like Spandau's career would be short and sharp as their previous two singles had failed to break the top 30 and a third (Instinction) whilst hitting number 10 was very bland.

This was a bit of a bolt out of the blue and showed they'd found their 'sound'. Should have gone higher than number 7 really.

Spandau have split up, fell out, made up, split up, gone to court, made friends and split up again more times than any other band.

(27) The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way

It's easy to see where Electronic got their song 'Getting away with it' from - and they did get away with it - a copyright lawsuit that is.

This passed me by at the time, the first I heard of the Furs was their 1986 hit 'Pretty in Pink' which was great. This is a wonderful single though and puts me in mind of Teardrop Explodes. It only got to number 42 such was the quality of everything else happening in the world of popular music at the time.

(26) Yazoo - Don't Go

Despite Vince and Alison barely acknowledging each other in real life, they managed to come up with some magnificent work between them.  This is one of Vince Clarke's greatest moments - the sequencing itself is quite something.

This single had spent three weeks at number three which, as noted above, was a hell of an achievement given the quality of everything else around at the time.  It was a complete flipped coin to their first hit 'Only You' but was similar to that single's B-Side, 'situation'. It was a staple of the school disco in the early 80s.

(25) Gary Numan - We Take Mystery (to bed)

One of the songs that made me an obsessive Numan fan for life. The bass is infectious, the synths finely balanced and the atmosphere in the bridge/chorus is something that will always make me twitch with excitement. This was Gary's sixth top 10 hit from his first eight solo releases. He didn't get there again although he did hit number 2 in the album charts with his last two, 'Savage' (2017) and 'Intruder' (2021).

(24) Kids from Fame - Hi Fidelity

When I was 7, I wanted to marry Valerie Landsburg, the lead vocalist on this track. I used to watch Fame religiously as it was on after Top of the Pops on a Thursday night. The TV show spawned an album and several singles - this one got to number 5. The album spent 12 weeks at number 1 in the chart and only 18 other albums have bettered this in chart history! It was the 'Glee' of the day I suppose - another TV show that spawned actual chart singles.  Don't pay any attention to the version of the song on the video though, Bruno totally ruins it with his out-of-tune 'Hi Fi Deliteeee' bits.

(23) Hall and Oates - Maneater

I'm probably remembering this wrong but I heard a story where Stevie Wonder apologised to Hall and Oats for nicking the beginning riff of this song for 'Part Time Lover'. Then John Oates said something like, 'Don't worry about it, we nicked it off someone else'. It might actually have been a completely different set of people and songs however so pay no attention to me.

It was a very Motown song anyway so Stevie probably thought he'd written it himself anyway. It got to number 6.

(22) Depeche Mode - Leave in Silence

This was Depeche post-Vince Clarke and what a change. As much as I love Vince, he is very optimistic with his synth sounds. This is much much darker and probably influenced a raft of shoe-gazing bands which followed. 'This will be the last time... I think I said that last time', Dave croons. Brilliant.

(21) Hot Chocolate - It Started With a Kiss

This could have been a movie or a novel. Its such a well told tale, I feel like I'm in the story. Best friends at school who drift apart as they get older and eventually, one stops feeling about the other whilst the other will never let those feelings leave. Eventually, they meet after many years and she doesn't even know who he is! Oh my god, its one of the most heart-breaking songs ever written and Errol really sells it doesn't he?  This only got to number 5; can you imagine something like this being released these days? Hallelujah for being the age I was in the 80s. Kids these days will never have an experience like this song being fresh and new.

"Never thought it would come to this... you don't remember me do you?"

A Bona Fide classic which deserves its own shelf in the music hall of fame.

(20) Whitesnake - Here I Go Again

A humble little sort of secret rock group were Whitesnake. Especially in 1982 when their brand of music was a bit alien to us over here in the UK. This song didn't have it's moment until it was re-recorded in 1987.  The '82 version sounds like something John Lewis would have commissioned for a Christmas advert compared to the '87 version.

It got to number 34 and eventually, with the remix, got to number 1 in the US and number 9 here. Mainly due to the road being well trodden by Bon Jovi and Europe who prepared our palates for it.

(19) Duran Duran - Rio

The swell you hear at the beginning of this song is Nick Rhodes throwing some metal poles onto the strings of a grand piano and then reversing the tape. And what an intro! John Taylor's finest moment and one of the most iconic album covers and pop videos of the era.  Duran were one of the only bands who utilised and highlighted the talents of every single member of the band. Every song on their first three albums had all five members showcasing what they could do with their instruments - rare indeed.

This was the final single from the Rio album which probably explains why it only got to number 9, lower than both Hungry Like the Wolf and Save a Prayer, both inferior songs in my opinion. You can't trust the charts can you?

(18) Mari Wilson - Just What I Always Wanted

Miss Beehive, the 'Queen Of Neasden' had a wonderful voice. There was a woman where I lived in  the 80s who you'd see wandering around the high street with her 60s Beehive hairdo - which I believe she'd had since the 60s and never changed it. Or washed it. She definitely wasn't a Mari Wilson tribute act. She was in Kwik Save at the time.

This got to number 8 but the follow up 'Cry me a River' only barely broke the top 30 and she never charted again. Pity really, she had star quality.

(17) Maisonettes - Heartbreak Avenue

There were lots of 60s throw-back songs around in the early 80s. The production on this gave it a timeless feel, like it was an actual 60s group in the 60s singing 60s music.  It got to number 7. The singer 'Lol Mason' had a brother who was in the soap Crossroads at the time this was charting.

(16) Bananarama - Shy Boy

This song has the distinction of being the first song I ever taped off the radio along with 'Sign of the Times' by 'The Belle Stars'.  It's another song which leans into its production values. The muddiness of early 80s production is one of the reasons these songs have endured. Like old black and white photographs, they're not clear enough to make out all the details so you get sounds  that sort of mix together that shouldn't and it gives you a wonderful atmosphere. This song might have left the collective memory of everyone who heard it in 1982 but it still makes me smile even today.

(15) Madness - House of Fun

This got to number 1 but they had much better songs which didn't achieve that status. Everything they released was entertaining and the public and music press were starting to take them seriously, even if they weren't taking themselves seriously at all. They had, after all, two of the best songwriters around at the time so they were bound to come up with stuff of this quality. It was about a lad maturing to the age he was allowed to begin engaging in adult activities. I'm not sure how it didn't get banned, given the stuff the BBC was vetoing at the time.

(14) ABC - The Look of Love

This got to number four and was as glossy a pop song as you were likely to hear. Ever.  The album, The Lexicon of love is still revered as one of the greatest ever pop albums of all time.  Despite a couple of bangers in 'Be near me' and 'When Smokey sings' in later years, they never did live up to this early promise.

(13) Yazoo - Only You

Vince left Depeche Mode and formed Yazoo. A band on the edge of greatness for a band that might not ever have made it. Thankfully, this debut single got to number 2 despite the weird single cover. Acapella group, The Flying Pickets then took it to number 1 at Christmas a year later.

(12) Madness - Our House

Four weeks at number five for one of their best ever singles. From beginning to end it's a perfect pop song and underlines how mature their songwriting was getting after stuff such as One Step Beyond and My Girl.

(11) ABC - Poison Arrow

This got to number 6 and I don't think there was anyone alive in 1982 whom this song didn't appeal to. The various musical sections in this must have been crafted to a tee - there's so much going on, it could never have been written by just one person.

(89) True Faith - New Order

I first heard this on a late night radio show, one of those that played stuff that wasn't out yet. It took my breath away - so much so that it didn't occur to me to grab a blank tape and record it. It's a triumph of musician and sequencer. The Musicians Union was terrified when synthesizers came along saying it was going to put people out of work. They did, sort of, but it took digital recording platforms to really shove violinists and saxophonists out of the picture. Peter Hook using a bass guitar as a percussion instrument and Bernard Sumner belting out one of the best lyrics of the 80s in :

'My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
Spend my life in the shade of the morning sun'

(88) Goodbye - Spice Girls

Don't underestimate the Spice Girls' impact on popular music in 1996. It started a revolution that's still going today. 'Wannabe' is a brilliant single, launching the power pop fivesome into the stratosphere. Their image, message, energy and dare I say it, voices, created a marketing juggernaut that saw them on every TV show, every pencil case and every 9-year-old girl's bedroom wall. Hallelujah.  Geri was the best member of the group, and the most essential to their aura. When she left, the rest of them just didn't have the same sparkle. Having said that, they released 'Goodbye' after Geri left and if you were swept up in the Spice Girls whirlwind like me, it really felt like the end of an era. The song was about the departure of Halliwell but also I think, about the end of the group. They did go on to release the horrific song 'Holler' two years later before splitting up properly.  I liked a lot of what they did in their solo careers - even Victoria had a couple of enjoyable moments in the charts.  Goodbye was their third consecutive Christmas number 1, when it used to mean something, long before Simon Cowell got his grubby hands all over it.

(87) You Came - Kim Wilde

Simple this; it's the use of the B minor 7 chord in the bridge.  It jars; it makes the part of your brain that expects the progression to go somewhere to go 'eh?'. Apart from that, it's a blazing 80s blur of wonderful melodies and production. I could just as easily have chosen 'Never Trust a Stranger' or 'The Second Time' from Kim's back catalogue, which by the way, is totally worth checking out.

(86) First attack of love - Terry Hall

Terry has popped into my playlists quite a bit over the years. 'Ghost Town', 'Really Saying Something', 'Our Lips are Sealed' and the album 'Home'. I can't put into words what this album means to me. I bought it because I managed to catch a rare playing of 'Sense' on MTV in 1998. That was on this album so into the cassette player it went - and stayed there for months. This track is right at the end of the second side and from the opening bare guitar riff to the final note, it stirs something I only feel when I'm listening to this song. I can't imagine life without it.

(85) Point of view - DB Boulevard

What a great singer Moony is. This got to number 3 in 2002 and I used to watch VH1 for hours hoping the video would come back round. (This was before YouTube) There were a lot of 'producers' in the charts early 2000s and a lot of them were churning out very enjoyable singles. Roger Sanchez's 'Another Chance' and Spiller's collab with Sophie Ellis Bextor are fine examples of this new branch in musical artists emerging and evolving (there are more in this top 100 list too).  Music Videos were reaching a zenith too with songs like 'Starlight' by the Supermen Lovers and Sweet like Chocolate. Point of View has a great video and the song is all 'don't worry, be happy' which is always good. This song is just infectious and I like when it comes round randomly on Spotify.

(84) Too lost in you - Sugababes

The original Sugababes line-up had wonderful vocal chemistry. Formed by the All Saints manager, they didn't have a hugely successful start until Siobhán Donaghy left and Heidi Range joined. Eventually, every member left and was replaced by someone else so they didn't have any founding members.  Like the ship of Theseus.

I loved Sugababes in their middle period as much as I loved All Saints (see later in the list). Their song 'Stronger' is amazing and way beyond anything you'd expect from a percieved manufactured girl group or boy band. There was much more here that you'd find in any Oasis album, any Nirvana track or even a Bob Dylan nasal social commentary whine. The version of this song that starts with conga drums is the best version. The build is fantastic and when the harmonies kick in through the chorus, the hairs on the back of your everything will stand up. Superb.

(83) Don't go breaking my heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee

Has there ever been a better duet? I loathe most of Elton's 70s stuff. It's too jangly and tuneless. It's a bit non-sensical in the main but he gave his head a shake and started writing some superb stuff by the 80s. 'I'm Still Standing', 'I Guess that's why they Call it the Blues', 'Sad Songs', 'The One' and 'Believe' are wonderful songs. 'Don't go breaking...' is a particularly brilliantly crafted song. Real time was spent on writing this. Each piano chord, each vocal note and although Elton's strange vocal delivery isn't for everyone, he chose the perfect foil in Kiki Dee.

(82) The little things that give you away - U2

Whatever you think of U2's slow decline since 2004's 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb', their 2017 album 'Songs of Experience' had some real gems. This song comes straight from the top drawer. Lyrically, musically and atmospherically this song takes you to so many places. I'm not even sure what it's about but the lyrics don't ever do that thing where a word snaps you out of the song and makes you go 'why did they say chicken dinner there?'.  Bono's voice is a raw and gravelled as ever here and he's still one of the only vocalists around these days who makes you believe everything he sings.

(81) All around the world - Lisa Stansfield

There's a hint of Barry White here and as Lisa cleans up her Lancashire accent, you never feel that her monologue at the start is out of place. What a voice as well.  Her and Morten Harket should have duetted. Both were able to change their voices entirely depending on what they were singing. It's something inbuilt and natural. Like Kiki Dee, if Lisa had been given some better material after this smash hit, she could have been massive. The fact she was chosen as one of those to honour Freddie Mercury at the tribute concert in 1992 along with Elton John,  David Bowie, George Michael, Seal, Paul Young, Annie Lennox and Robert Plant spoke volumes for her standing in the pop world at the time.

(80) Don't you want me - Human League

This wasn't even going to be released as a single and was even shoved to the back of the album because the band didn't like it that much. Since it stormed to number 1 in 1981 it has since become a bona fide classic regardless of your taste in music. Phil Oakey has a great voice and a lot of their top 40 hits are a joy to listen to.  'Heart like a wheel' and 'Fascination' are my favourites, along with 'Open your heart' and 'Lebanon'. A great band with dodgy beginnings which saw them doing some very avant garde stuff that didn't resonate with the main stream and the eventual formation of Heaven 17, which definitely wasn't a bad thing.

For me though, watching Top of the Pops on that fateful evening, that bass synth intro set me on a path to needing synthsizers in my life forever.

(79) Call me - Spagna

This song has everything an infectious summer anthem needs.  From the velcro-like intro which hooks you in to the Euro-pop stylings that so defined Eurovision for so many years, Call Me is a triumph of a pop song. It goes further than just being a great single, it just cheers my soul up. I know singles do that but this hits a deeper part - a part of me I suppose that remembers those wonderful mid-80s summers with endless sunshine. I'll never get bored of this song.

(78) Secrets - Tears for Fears

Steel yourself. This is a deep cut from one of the greatest bands and songwriters of the modern age. After Tears for Fears broke up in 1990, Roland Orzabal continued alone but commercial success was elusive. The songs however remained at a very high standard, especially with 1995's 'Raoul and the Kings of Spain', a concept album exploring Orzabal's Spanish heritage.  Secrets is about the troubles in relationships, which gives the lyric the necessary weight but the pacing and power of the vocal are superb too so, here it is, the 78th best song ever written!

(77) You get what you give - The New Radicals

This is one of those songs it hard not to like. It defined a moment in time - many songs have done that over the years however so that's not why it's in the list. It's just so different to anything else I'd heard at the time. I wanted to put it on the stereo and turn it up as loud as it would go and dance around the house, over and over again. This song has the genuine power to transform your mood and that's rare.  The lyrics suggest he's going to 'kick' Marilyn Manson's 'ass in'. When asked about it, Manson said he wasn't mad about the threat of violence, more that he'd been included in the same line as Courtney Love.

(76) Saint - Texas

Listening again, maybe this song should have been a bit higher in the list, but there's some quite stiff competition. Texas hit a peak with this album, as if they'd opened a magical songwriting chest that inspired them all for a year. A lot of the other Texas stuff I've heard doesn't even get in the same postcode as this album. It's oozing with atmosphere and listening back to front is an absolute journey. This song manifests in the room as you play it. It's sister song for me is the track 'Move in' which is almost as good and would be just outside my 100. If I ever do an albums list, this is one of the first in.

(75) Quit playing games with my heart - Backstreet Boys

I said before, it doesn't matter how cheesy or credible a band or artist are in the eyes of the general public, genuinely great songs can come from anywhere.  Often on 'worst songs of the 80s' lists, Chris DeBurgh's 'Lady in Red' is a great song. It's the stigma that gets in the way. Anyone seeing the artist above may be forgiven for thinking 'Backstreet Boys were just a boyband' but this song is heartbreaking. As sad and emotionally exhausting as any of your 'Always on my minds', 'Tears in Heavens', 'Hurts' or 'Father and Sons', 'Quit playing games' touches a part of you that needs to be open to it.  If you've ever wished to go back and redo something, live something again, change an outcome - this will have you in tears. 'I wish I could turn back time, impossible as it may seem but I wish I could, so bad...'

(74) Sanctify yourself - Simple Minds

YES! YES! YES!

My favourite thing about Simple Minds is their use of power in songs. Power in the drums, in the bass, in the guitars and of course in Jim Kerr's voice. He's a lot gentler these days but back in the day, he was capable of going from soft and sensual to loud and electric. Alive and Kicking, Glittering Prize, Don't you Forget about me, Waterfront and Belfast Child, all songs you must have on your best songs playlist.

(73) Release me - Agnes

Strange that Agnes only had two hits. Both were brilliant but then, nothing. The first, 'Release me' reached number 3 but the follow up 'I need you now' only got to number 40 in 2009.  This has baffled me since I was old enough to understand the music charts. An artist would release a song every bit as good as another song but one would go top 10 and the other wouldn't chart. Why didn't people hear the other one? Did they hear it and hate it? Were they thinking it just sounded like the one they bought and they were sick of it? Regardless, any artist would have been proud to have this song in their repertoir, even if it was the only one they ever hit the chart with.

She showed her mettle at the tribute concert for Marie Fredriksson when she sang 'It must have been love', dare I say it, better than Marie ever did.

(72) The day the world turned dayglow - X Ray Spex

This is brilliant. Poly Styrene is a legend and rightly so. I talked about this song when I put it at number 2 of the best singles of 1978 here. It's one of those songs you need to know, to know. That's not to say that if you think it's just a load of noise and shouting that you're wrong, but that's what makes music brilliant. Your own opinion.

(71) Nobody's Girl - Nicky Holland

Sadly, even people who follow popular music closely may not have heard this. Nicky was part of the Tears for Fears 'Songs from the Big Chair' tour and began writing music with Roland Orzabal, contributing quite a lot of lyrics and piano to their album 'Seeds of Love'.  She quite deservedly got to release music in her own right - and this, one of the best songs I've ever heard, was written with Lloyd Cole. It's beautifully produced and her unique voice carries the song right to the middle of where songs are supposed to hit you. The rest of the 'Sense and Sensuality' album is lovely too - it's one you can stick on in the background and it accompanies any mood. This could have been her 'Sleeping Sattelite' but Google can't find any singles or what number her album charted at... I guess it got no promotion?

"I've been lost, I've been found, I'm every woman's daughter, and I'm nobody's girl".

(70) It must have been love - Roxette

Timeless, powerful and perfectly crafted. It was the piano solo in the middle that grabbed me on my first listen. Still does. Marie's voice was superb and it's featured again on this list much nearer the top spot. This was of course featured in the movie 'Pretty Woman' but it had been released originally in 1987 in Sweden where it reached number 4, as were subsequent singles 'Dressed for Success' and 'Listen to your heart'.  Once one of their CDs made it over to the USA and a wise old record executive pushed their music to the rest of the world, 'The Look' was released and went to number 1 in several territories. 'Dressed' and 'Listen' were then released worldwide and did just as well so 'It must have been love' was released again and went stratospheric.  After 'Joyride' went to number one everywhere, their career started a slow decline. Only 'How do you do' and 'Sleeping in my car' made any real dent in the top 10. We sadly lost Marie in 2019 and their first album 'Pearls of Passion' will always be one of my favourite albums of all time.

(69) Redemption Day - Sheryl Crow

This was an album I bought on the strength of one song but I soon realised that Sheryl wasn't her singles. In fact, whatever you heard in the chart wasn't a representation of what she was capable of. You need to listen to the 'Wildflower' album. It's not what the kids are listening to so it only got to number 25 here but it's as good a collection of heart-rending songs as you're likely to hear.

When I first heard the 'Sheryl Crow' album, track 3, 'Home' blew me away. It wasn't a particularly great time when I got this album and the melacholy nature of much of it still gives me goosebumps - especially 'Redemption Day'. It's like, come on - how can a song this good exist? It's politically charged but not in a preachy way, just a sad sort of 'where's your common sense' way. I heard Johnny Cash cover this and for once, he didn't make it his own - and that's rare.

(68) Hounds of love - Kate Bush

What an album. What a singer. What a song writer. I love artists who do exactly what their souls tell them to do. Her song 'This Woman's Work' brings me to actual tears. It's stupidly heartbreaking. I'm surprised that most of what Kate Bush did resonated with enough people to sell enough singles. I can understand her album success but when appealing to the common denominator, she was able to hook them too.  Hounds of Love got five star reviews from all the music press which usually means it isn't worth listening to but wow. Side 1 is as good a side of Vinyl you'll ever hear and the song 'Hounds of Love' is so refreshingly honest, it hurts.

'I found a fox, caught by dogs, he let me take him in my hands, his little heart beat so fast and I'm afraid of running away'

and the genius lyric : "You don't want to hurt me but see how deep the bullet lies"

(67) December - All About Eve

The lyrics of this song, I hope, were written with a powerful truth. I want them to be true so much because they're so lucid and realistic and full of imagery and emotion that you can actually feel. I'd hate to think it was a fiction - but then, even if it is, it's so beautifully written that there has to be some truth in it.

The song is about looking through a keepsake tin and finding a sprig of mistletoe used one December to kiss someone long gone.  She then blames the time of year for bringing back feelings which are only nostalgia, not real feelings of actually missing that person. The line that gets me every time (and the construction of the melody hammers the emotion home perfectly) is 'A fall of snow and the afterglow should be taking our breath away... but the years stand in the way'. Damn!

(66) Until the end of the world - U2

U2's best album. Borne out of them trying to find a new sound, finding a lot of frustration and then almost splitting up. Then came 'One' which you may or may not see further up this list, and the rest is history. To have a truly great album you don't just need great songs or great lyrics or even any of that - I think it's the atmosphere. It's the thing you can't describe. Everything has an aura - places, food, people, tv shows and music. If you've heard this album you'll know what I mean about the atmosphere. Something they managed to capture in Hansa Studios was intangible and something you just can't bottle or recreate. I'm sure if they went back to record this album again from scratch it would sound completely different. This is a record that took a lot of people a lot of time to create.

It's a song that comes from a real place which always gives it gravity. Bono and The Edge fell out temporarily and it inspired Bono to write a fictional conversation between Jesus and Judas which, in the end, results in Judas' suicide. Bono even 'sings' the song as a conversation - there's no discernible tune. And it's brilliant.

(65) Sin of the City - Duran Duran

It wasn't until the internet was a thing that I found out what this song was about. It's about the Happy Land arson fire that killed 87 people trapped in an unlicensed social club in New York City on 25 March 1990. Despite not knowing about this at the first years of listening, it was the piano riff I noticed. Nick Rhodes was integral to the early Duran Duran sound, using synths in a very different way to other bands. It's clearest on the Duran splinter group Arcadia's album 'So Red the Rose' where he goes gale force 9 with the pads and effects - crafted ones - perfectly weighted ones.  He came to the forefront again on the 'Liberty' album and silenced those critics who said he used to just stand around on stage, twiddling knobs. On Sin of the City he produces a chord sequence like no other I've heard. Epic.

(64) No Rain - Blind Melon

This is exactly how I felt in the late summer of 1993. I feel so sad when I hear this song now, especially as lead singer Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose in 1995. Like another song higher up this list, you can't help feeling that there was a lot of pain in what he was singing and that only serves to turn up the power of the lyric.

'And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
And it rips my life away, but it's a great escape'

These days it's X-box and TikTok.

(63) Black Coffee - All Saints

I might have mentioned this already but there was a peak in the quality of music videos in the early 2000s. The video for this song turns the lyrics up to 11 and it becomes very clear what it's about. It's not the romantic song you think it is, that's for sure. I loved the production on this and 'Pure Shores' - I think the same producer worked on Madonna's 'Frozen'. If they didn't then someone needs to sue someone.  Unlike Bananarama, who all sang the same note most of the time, All Saints were able to sing four different parts and melt their voices together into a wonderful tub of ice cream for your ears. It's pure joy.

(62) She sells sanctuary - The Cult

This has everything that Simple Minds' 'Sanctify Yourself' has but it also has a stronger hook and a singer who wants everyone to know that the heads that turn make his back burn.  It's a hurricane of a song and you're swept up in it along with the cows, cars and plastic bags.

(61) I can't stand it - Twenty 4 Seven

Here's something unexpected and something you've probably never heard. There are a few versions of this and the radio cut that I first heard is nowhere to be seen on Spotify. If you listen to the spotify version, you'll lose all respect for me and give up on the list. I assure you though that the Bruce Forest remix, which was the one radio stations played, is the one with the synth hook and tumble piano in the chorus which is what makes the song so enjoyable to listen to.  I'll find it on YouTube somewhere so check out that version in the playlist above.

Twenty 4 Seven were a foursome who strutted around on stage taking turns to rap and sing. When their song 'Are you Dreaming' was out, I had a friend at school who, every time I saw her for an entire week, we'd rap the chorus together, impromptu, without agreeing to do so before hand. It was weird but going 'Dreaming can be very nice, sometimes hot sometimes ice cold, but they're so real, nightmares can make you feel like jumping up and running away sometimes, dreams are just like people, human beings, fantasies are dreams' was one of the best in-jokes I've ever shared with anyone.  It's weird that I can remember that from 30 odd years ago but I can't remember what I went into the kitchen for twenty mintes ago.

(60) In the air tonight - Phil Collins

Don't underestimate the simplicity of this song. It's actually quite complicated. The initial percussion rhythm was programmed into a (new at the time) drum machine with loads of processing to give it that ethereal, twilight on the moors type feel. It makes you feel like it actually is coming in the air tonight. That drum fill in the middle is iconic for a reason. Bit overdone now I think but pretend you're hearing it for the first time and it gets you right there.  Phil Collins is one of the greatest songwriters of our time and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone up to his standard who's had a hit in the last 20 years.

(59) Phantom Bride - Erasure

Above all else, the album that this song comes from, 'The Innocents', is one the best sounding albums you'll ever hear. The production on it is so clear, the instruments so crystaline, the vocals so pure and the quality of songs so good, it comes as close to a masterpeice as you can get for a pop album.  Phantom Bride is everything good about the album in one song.

(58) Just one smile - Gene Pitney

What strikes me most about songs from the 60s and 70s is how singers, musicians and performers were there on merit. Whatever they looked like - they weren't taking selfies and dressing in Gucci and flaunting their wealth in vulgar ways (see Instagram circa 2019). Singers could sing, and most had voices so unique you knew who it was immediately. I was listening to the radio the other day, trying to pick something out from the 'songs of today' that I could at least tap my foot to. I couldn't discern any voice as unique. Everything was lost in the mix and so layered with effects and digital stupidity, I didn't know what was going on.

Gene Pitney had one of the most unique voices of the 60s. Along with Roy Orbison, any song he sang became something more than the tune, the words, the structure. I know this list seems to be filled with heavy songs - heartbreaking songs - but they're the ones that hit you the hardest. Just one Smile is just that, heartbreaking.

(57) Advice for the young at heart - Tears for Fears

'Love is a promise, love is a souvenir - once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear.'

The third single from Tears for Fears' masterpeice 'The Seeds of Love'. It's about when you're young, you want to be an adult and when you're finally an adult, wanting to be a child again.  This song was co-written by Nicky Holland (who sang 'Nobody's girl' above), and absolutely came from a place of truth.

'Soon we will be older. When are we going to make it work?'

I feel like that all the time.

(56) The Man with the child in his eyes - Kate Bush

Apart from the horrendous single cover, this is a song of real quality. Apparently she wrote it when she was 13. I was still playing Karate Kid in the back street at 13. It won an Ivor Novello for it's outstanding lyrics. The piano part is full of every characteristic you find in a Rachmaninov. In fact, you could probably sprinkle Kate Bush songs all over the top 100 best ever and none would seem out of place.

(55) Who's that girl - Madonna

I'm probably in the minority of one here but this is pristene pop perfection. Even when Madonna wasn't at the top of her game in the 80s, she was still head and shoulders above most of her peers. It's bright and optimistic and thankfully, doesn't bring the awful movie it was from to mind too much.

(54) Sand in my shoes - Dido

Not convinced by Dido's vocal delivery if I'm honest. At least it's unique and not like all those clones you used to get on X-factor singing the same Whitney Houston song with too many notes per word. Sand in my Shoes is about meeting someone on holiday, getting home to your humdrum life and not knowing if you want to see that person again because you like them or beacause the memory of them is synonymous with the sun, sea and sand escape from real life.  It's wonderfully written and delivered and has lots of those nice musical hooks. It's a shame that songs like this get lost in the ether and dissappear a few months after they were released. Actually, around the end of the 2000s  I was worried Rihanna songs were going to be circulated for the next 20 years but thankfully, they all dissappeared and were forgotten too. Especially that godawful Umbrella song. Um... what was I talking about again...

(53) Land of Make Believe - Bucks Fizz

Bucks Fizz won Eurovision and whilst the gamble was taken to offer them a recording contract based on that one performance, it paid off massively. A string of great songs followed and this went all the way to number 1 in 1982. You forget the ABBA comparisons because they became a group in their own right and this song is right up the street of a 7 year old, which is the age I was when I first heard it. They're on about ghosts and superman and imaginary friends. Inspired.

(52) Criticize - Alexander O'Neal

One of the greatest vocalists of all time. Rolling Stone will only ever go with the cliche choices of Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Beyonce because they're good in their own right but they'd all struggle to outdo Alex in his prime. The 'Hearsay' album is one I'd take to a desert island without hesitation. 'Sunshine' is my favourite song on the album but Criticize is so well written. The bass, the drum sound, Alex singing with very little effort. I first heard this song at a school disco and went out to buy the album that weekend. I've been listening ever since.

(51) Home - Erasure

Oh Erasure. How on earth can you take your uplifting twinkly positivity and turn out a dark, brooding, atmospheric, disturbing and inspiring song using instruments that 'have no soul'. Vince Clarke reaches his Zenith on this album and Andy Bell achieves a clarity in his vocals which rivaled any of his contemporaries. This song takes you out of yourself and it's the sort that you can attach quite powerful associations and memories with. Stunning with a captial S.

(50) In your eyes - Peter Gabriel

This is how you do lyrics. "So much wasted, and the moment keeps slipping away". Peter Gabriel must have come from money because he wasn't afraid to do music his way. However extreme or weird, dressing up as a flower or writing avante garde whistling medleys, he didn't stick to a safe commercial path. One of his albums was dropped by his record company just before releasing it (only for them to try and buy it back after the first single went top ten)! However, when he's gone straight down the middle with a conventional stab at pop music, it's been brilliant.

'In your eyes' ticks all the boxes for a love song. And some more boxes that aren't on the list.

(49) Sweetness follows - REM

This is quite a scary song. Depressing and too realistic - borne of 'Everybody hurts' but a little more cryptic, it squeezes your soul and pulls out all your ventricles.  'Lost in our little lives' and 'live your life with joy and thunder' are simple lyrics but so so so effective in context with the moody drawl of the strings. It's just a dark masterpeice, that's all.

(48) Sleeping Sattelite - Tasmin Archer

This song came from nowhere. In fact, one of my mates rang me to tell me to listen to it when it first came out - he loved it so much. I had to just leave the radio on all day to hear it - such was the lack of streaming back then. As soon as it came on I knew it was the one I was waiting for. It glitters from the first note to the last. I bought the album. I loved the album. I still listen to it now. 'Arianne' and 'Halfway to Heaven' should have been top 10 hits too. It's a song that'll be played on radio right up until the universe explodes. And probably after that too.

(47) Ordinary world - Duran Duran

What a glorious comeback single for my one-time favourite band. They were my everything in 1993 and although I'd loved their previous effort 'Liberty', the fans and the radio didn't. They'd lost two members and their 'way' until this perfect peice of emotionally stirring mixture of pop and soul came along. Of course I bought CD1 and CD2 (a tactic bands used to sell more singles by sticking lots of bonus tracks on each CD) with a slightly different mix of the song and an acoustic version on CD2. I used to support bands the way I supported football. I always wanted the bands I liked to get to number 1 and checked the charts methodically when they were published every Sunday. I was desperate for this to get to number 1 (They'd been there twice before) but it wasn't to be. They had to settle for number 6 (a crime) but they did manage one place higher with 'Reach up for the sunrise' in 2004. That's the last we'll see of the Durans in the charts though. In fact, I've got more chance of getting in the charts than Duran Duran have these days.

(46) Knowing Me, Knowing You - Abba

If you've done any level of songwriting, you'll know why this is one of the greatest songs ever written. On the surface, it's the totally 70s production, especially on the twinkling detuned piano and weird reverb at the start. Then it's the evocative lyrics and the harmonies - then, under all that is the simple melody of the verse which flips into that almost angry bridge and chorus.  As long as you don't think about Alan Partridge, you'll know what I mean. Abba are after all, the gold standard of pop songwriting.

(45) Please Push no more - Gary Numan

Did you ever think Gary Numan's cold emotionless voice could break your heart? This is a song which gives you chills but not in the android sense, in the actual 'wow, someone did a number on this fella' way. It's the way he sings 'So that was love?' in a way I think we've all felt at one time. There's such heart in this song that the synth wailing in the instrumental bits sound every bit in place. The album as a whole is probably Numan's best and this song dots the T's and crosses the I's.

(44) What's up - Four Non Blondes

This song was out at such an exciting time for music; American music really. It was all kicking off in 1993 and this was one of the songs which led the way - with Spin Doctors and Blind Melon following. 25 years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope. I was 18 at the time but I knew what they meant - and knew even more by the time I was nearly 19. I said Hey-ey-ey-yey-yeh, I said Hey, What's going on????  I'm still not sure.

(43) The way I are - Timbaland (Ft. Keri Hilson)

Timbaland almost saved popular music for a moment there in 2007. He almost launched Keri Hilson's career too. He definitely helped One Republic have a career and he nearly had a big chart career of his own. Despite all these nearlys and almosts, this song borrowed a lot from Salt 'n Pepa's song 'Push it', dragged it into whatever the prevailing wind was at the end of the 00's and came up with something catchy, fresh and infectious. I still get happy these days whenever it pops into my ears unannouced. It's almost feminist, sort of too.

(42) True Love Ways - Buddy Holly

I can't get over how fresh and clean this sounds despite it being recorded in the 50s. 1958 to be precise, four months before his untimely death. It's got a lot to do with the gospel song 'I'll be alright' which was played at Holly's funeral. Though I can't find a source to say otherwise, the beginning of the song features studio talk; the engineer telling people to be quiet and the piano player to give Buddy his starting note - it sounds like it's all recorded in one take, live. Couldn't possibly be though could it? It makes you wonder what he would have been capable of in later days - but it's like that with all hugely talented people who are taken too soon; their legend grows bigger than they ever were. Sometimes, that's deserved though.

(41) Martha's Harbour - All About Eve

Some songs don't sound like they were written by humans. It sounds like they were passed down through generations, having been born before humanity like they were part of the evolution of the planet. That might be going a little over the top, but this song is so well written, beautifully crafted, so visual and teeming with metaphors (not obvious cliched ones either) that it couldn't have just been three people in a room, making stuff up. Its a song that connects with your soul, and those are the ones that stay inside.

(40) Time after time - Cindy Lauper

At the time it was a completely unexpected gambit from Cyndi to release such a slow burner of a song. She was meant to be weird and loud and quirky and weird. This was mature and heartfelt and sincere. It shouldn't have worked. It should have been Tina Turner or Alison Moyet really, but once the confusion wore off, you couldn't imagine anyone else singing this. It's just brilliant.

(39) The sun always shines on TV - A-Ha

Epic! Or at least it was when that word meant epic, before the Americans started overusing words like Awesome so they lost their meaning. This song is so full of drama, it must have been written in several different sessions. You don't write an intro like that and then follow it up with an actual body of a song which is even better. Morten Harket's vocal is one of the best you'll hear on an 80s single and the way the last minute builds to the high note and eventually, the low piano note leaves you out of breath and not able to listen to anything else for at least a couple of hours.

(38) Temptation - The Everly Brothers

This is one of those noisy 60's tracks with all that church hall reverb and it still sounds better than most stuff recorded these days on little digital boxes does. It was originally written in 1933 and recorded by Bing Crosby. It's a perfect vehicle for the brothers' harmonising and the 'yay, yay, yeah-yow' intro is hooky and brilliant. Real singers, real instruments, real songs.

(37) Anytime you need a friend - Mariah Carey

There's some debate about who the greatest vocalist of all time is and Mariah (Pre-2001) was always there or thereabouts that argument. She gives it her full range on her second album 'Emotion', something I can't recall any other artist doing before her. Not that any other artist has as big a range as her anyway - she did it in a natural way and not in a 'see how high I can sing!' way.  'Any time you need a friend' is a masterpeice of gospel and soul. Her voice never sounded so pure and engaging and the vocal acrobatics (which are a little annoying at times on her later stuff) are perfectly weighted. You listen in a state of awe; bone chilling awe. Wonderful.

(36) Show me heaven - Maria McKee

Some singers don't know how to perform. They do the notes ok but they don't quite understand the words or what the song is about so they just do the whole 'la la la' thing. Maria McKee demonstrates how to perform a song on this track. She changes her voice to suit the mood, the message and the tone. She begins softly and then hits you in the face with a 'I'm not denying'. Remember when films had songs? Songs you could say 'that's from that film' about? When was the last time a song was in a film, specifically written for that film?  Anyway, this is a brilliant song by someone who mysteriously didn't have another hit - apart from 'I'm gonna soothe you', which got to number 35 three years later. Nope, me neither.

(35) If I could change your mind - Haim

You don't know this song. Nobody does and I'm sad about that. Haim had a brilliant first album, a brillianter second album and then an album which is probably one of the worst ever released by anyone ever as a third album. Two of them got to number 1 and one got to number 2. They got so much hate at the Brit Awards for winning best international group because people were like 'I've never heard of them' or 'they don't look like pop stars' or whatever. Their songs are fresh and interesting. Their voices are quirky and bubbly and 'If I could change your mind' is a first-listen classic. If you get a chance, listen to 'The Wire', 'Save me' and 'Days are gone' too. You'll thank me. Twice.

(34) I still haven't found what I'm looking for - U2

I probably don't even need to say anything about this. It's a gospel song about faith, or trying to have faith in a world that tests it to the full. The version they did on Rattle and Hum is probably the definitive one but that wouldn't have been commercial enough to chart (maybe). One of the greatest songs of all time on one of the greatest albums of all time by one of the greatest rock bands of all time - and you'd be pretty hard pressed to disagree with any of those statements however much you hate U2.

(33) I'm with you - Avril Lavigne

This was as unexpected a release from Avril as 'Time after Time' had been for Cyndi.  'Complicated' was a great debut but she was pratting around in a shopping centre on a go-kart so it didn't give me a great deal of hope for her second single. And I was correct - Sk8er Boi was awful. I thought that that was that for the angry JoJo but knock me out with a teaspoon if the first time I heard 'I'm with you' I was like 'Noooooo'. Superb in every sense of the word. I've probably listened to this at least twenty times a year, every year since 2003. It made me buy the album - and what an album it is. The second album was even better. 'Losing grip', 'Don't tell me' and 'My Happy Ending' are almost a soundtrack to my 2004.

(32) I don't care - Shakespears Sister

Obsessed isn't the word. It felt to me like nobody 'got' Shakespears Sister. I hate that 'Stay' is the only song people know and like by them when their grasp on songwriting was as strong as anybodies, they just didn't want to bow to the record execs who wanted trashy throw-away pop like what Bananarama did - the reason Siobhan Fahey left them in the first place to stamp her own personality on the music. It was such a shame she never really embraced Marcella as a true partner in music. They were sort of thrown together - but let's be honest, she wouldn't have made it without her. 'Run Silent' is an amazing song, too lightweight for the record buying public at the time but 'You're History' broke them into the chart and grew them a fanbase. I specifically went to Our Price when 'Hormonally Yours' came out to listen to the album on one of those 'stations' where you put the headphones on and press the button. 'I don't care' came on and didn't leave my consciousness since. I love the poem in the middle, Siobhan is the only person with such a sarcastic and dark demeanour enough to read one out in the middle of a pop song. Marcella providing the sugary antidote to Siobhan's deep gravelled tones. Brilliant. As is the video.

(31) We don't have to take our clothes off - Jermaine Stewart

There's part of your soul missing if this song doesn't get you up and gyrating across the room. It's so full of joy - it's infectious and I'm baffled how music and songs can sound like this but people just don't want to write them any more. It's like they all came out in the mid-80s and then they were made illegal. None the wonder why there's radio stations dedicated to 80s music now. For this song alone, Jermaine needs his own plaque in his own room on his own floor of the music hall of fame.

(30) Toy soldiers - Martika

This song was talked up by Rick Dees before I'd heard it as a song about drug addiction. Not being of the age where song lyrics ever meant much more than just a way to get a good tune into the world, it was probably a good job he said that - other wise I'd probably have just thought the song was about some carved wooden nutcrackers. I think one of the worst things she ever did was to get involved with Prince. Or maybe she wouldn't have had any more hits without him - who can say.

(29) I don't want to talk about it - Rod Stewart/Everything but the girl

In a true golden age for popular music, summer 1988, this was played on the radio. I can imagine when young'uns hear a cover version on the radio these days (someone had the audacity to add a dance beat to Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car' last year), they think it's a brand new song and it becomes their definitive version. Even if you play them the original, the classic version, the best version - they don't get it and why should they? When I heard this, I loved it and it's always going to be the best version. Secretly, Rod Stewart's version is better but don't tell anyone.

(28) Hand on your heart - Kylie Minogue

If you look at the songs written and produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, it will blow your mind.  It's true that a lot of the top 10 hits they had towards the end of their reign sounded spookily similar, however, there are some bona fide classics in their back catalogue. However throwaway you think 'Hand on your heart' is, it's got everything and the lyrics really do hit the right emotional spot. Like a lot of the songs I've chosen, it just lifts you from wherever you are to somewhere a lot higher.

(27) Broken Strings - James Morrisson ft. Nelly Furtado

I'd all but given up on the charts in 2008 until this gem came along. Stuff worth listening to is still out there if you can be bothered to unearth it amongst the vacuous wailings of people who look better than they sound. This is one of the all-time greatest songs for the simple fact it's got heart, a great melody and a true build at the end with all the dramatic qualities you get from any Wagner or Bach peice.

(26) Buffalo stance - Neneh Cherry

Nenah Cherry wasn't a very good pop star. Not in my opinion anyway. She always looked a bit awkward and not very polished or believable, actually. This was a very well crafted song however and her pseudo-rapping suited it (it didn't quite work on anything else she did however). I think it's the backing track that I like most about it - a very good choice of sounds! Well done to the production staff on this one.

(25) Groove is in the heart - Deelite

I know this is mainly samples and weirdness but the talent to put something like this together shouldn't be underestimated. The whole thing sounded like a riot to record and write. There's charisma and coolness all over the record and it's so full of interesting moments you can't help but put it on again and hear something different next time.

(24) Nothing compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor

Quite often, songs Prince wrote that were covered by other people were often better than the version Prince recorded. Manic Monday, I feel for you and Nothing Compares 2 U to name a few. Sinead pitches the emotion required to bring this to life perfectly. Prince wasn't able to do that, strangely.  Like I mentioned before, there's such a difference between singing a song and peforming it. Giving real emphasis to what she's saying is integral to how good this song is - the wrong singer turns this into a flat dull ballad - Sinead breathes life where maybe there wouldn't have been any?

(23) Mad World - Tears for Fears

A better song which sums up isolation, self doubt, alienation and being unable to meld with the social environment is yet to be written. The greatness of this song lies in its simplicity. It's 4-chord verse with stark ghost-like synths provide the perfect backdrop for Curt Smith's fragile delivery. 'The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had', he sings. Bleak.  The bit I identified with in 1982 was 'Teacher tell me what's my lesson, look right through me'. Don't watch the video though, Roland's dancing by the lake takes you out of the dark emotive journey of the song into a 'what is actually going on with his fingerless gloves?'

(22) Live to tell - Madonna

This isn't so much a song as a peice of classical music with pop sensibilities. As with lots of other Madonna songs at the time, it was from a movie I didn't watch but it made an ideal soundtrack for any romantic drama. There's a bit in the middle where it slows right down to the point of stopping - then dives straight back in. Dramatic and atmospheric at the same time.

(21) In my life - The Beatles

Little commentary needed here. Everything John Lennon says in this song is absolutely true for him and probably for anyone who listens to the song. I think we've all met people we never thought we'd lose touch with; one day we saw them for the last time for whatever reason and it's not really until a few years later you realise how much of a positive influence they were on your life.  I think John Lennon must have had a lot of regrets, even at that young age - a lot of affection for his childhood and formative years at least.  This song often finds itself at the top of 'greatest songs ever written' lists in Mojo and Rolling Stone. It's at 21 here because there are 20 better than it... starting with...

(20) Sweet Illusion - Junior Cambell

Probably the best song of the 70s. It's got a real Motown vibe and bright orchestral arrangement which gives it the drive but Campbell's vocals are everything here. There's something about the arrangement which takes it above a lot of songs that came before it that had the same essence. I'm not sure what it is but it works for me.

(19) I don't want to be around - Curt Smith

Not everyone's cup of tea this. Probably nobody's cup of tea to be frank but when Curt Smith went solo in the early 90s, he released an album called 'Soul on Board' because his contract said he had to, but he dismissed it immediately and it didn't sell well - but I loved it - still do. Then he went quiet for about 10 years and started releasing music on his own label. Playing intimate gigs in his native New York, his band decided to record some of the songs they'd written and stick them out on his MySpace 0r whatever he was using in 2002. Luckily, I managed to get a copy on eBay and loved every last second of it. 'Mother England' is a highlight with 'Snow Hill' and 'Sorry Town' also brilliant tracks. 'I don't want to be around' is a slow burner but once you get into the big 'chorus' (which isn't really a chorus, it's more of a bigger louder verse) it sweeps you along - made all the better by the abstract lyrics. Superb.

(18) One Day - The Verve

'Urban Hymns' was one of those albums that defined a moment in time. Late 1997, the British pop landscape had been sculpted by guitar bands from Manchester (well, over that way anyway) and The Verve just happened to release Bitter Sweet Symphony at a time when people were rediscovering The Smiths and missing the time when Oasis were new and 'fresh' (which lasted about 6 months for me before everything they did either sounded like a parody of something already released in the 70s or a parody of themselves). How a song like 'The Drugs Don't Work' got to number one, I'll never know. It's brilliant but it's shockingly depressing and has no uplifting qualities in either it's tone or music at all. Emo was here to stay for 8 months before bubblegum pop came back round to dominate the top 10. However commercial the singles were (count 'Lucky Man' in that trio), 'One Day' is so much more than the combination of everything else on the album. Now, this was an album like they were meant to be. Everything ran together like an opera and each theme, mood and atmospheric guitar swirl was perfectly crafted to take you on a trip into your own insecurities and make you question all the choices you'd ever made. 'One Day' stands apart though - totally part of the album's tapestry but even on it's own, it's a love song to someone who has gone forever like you've never heard. It crawls inside you, hurts you from the inside and stays there for 24 years - so far.

(17) Like a prayer - Madonna

Exhibit A. How to write a pop song. Another gospel song in my top 100, it also feeds off 'Live to Tell' with the empty vocal-only sections then jumps back into the dance-rhythm backed pop song. The vocal layering and harmonies are second to none and whatever you think of Madonna as a vocalist, she'd absolutely honed her craft by the 'Like a Prayer' album (before going off and being weird for about 7 years). For someone known as a pop vocalist, she's got an incredible range - see 'I'll remember' and 'Frozen' as examples.

(16) Stay on these roads - A-Ha

Morten Harket's vocals sound good whatever he's doing. This song however was absolutely the vehicle for his voice - all three members are credited with writing the song so I'd like to think Morten just turned up one day and started wailing away only for the other two to build the song around him.  As a love song, it's beautiful. He sings 'Stay on these roads, we shall meet - winter's gone, I'm on my own'.  However you want to interpret the lyrics, it's like you'll meet 'the one' one day, or, the one that got away will come back to you, in a fate driven narrative. Either way, it's another one of those absolute heartbreakers with hope instead of unrequited what-nots.

(15) Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel

Another one that speaks for itself. The structure of the song is so unusual that it keeps you interested throughout, the lyrics are sometimes abstract and sometimes so literal, you can't help thinking about what he must have felt like as part of Genesis, who were breaking through when he decided it wasn't for him and regardless of whether he could make it as a solo artist, he was going to do it anyway. Brave or stupid, if you had this song in your locker, of course you'd take the risk.

(14) Are Friends Electric - Tubeway Army

This song was a happy accident. Musically, it doesn't work on paper but the clashing keys and odd lyrics about robots being 'friends' somehow captured a public imagination who were absolutely not ready for this bloke. And he upset the industry and the press in the process. He wasn't seen as someone who had worked for his success, he just turned up one day and started having number 1 hits at the expense of the more glamourous artists of the time. That's what's always been wrong with the music industry and why so many talented artists don't survive. It's like cousins marrying. Eventually, the charts is full of music with three chins and no eyebrows.

(13) Drowning Man - U2

This song absolutely chills me to the bone. It's in a similar vein to Solsbury Hill with its odd meter and Bono's voice has never sounded so raw and full of legitimate emotion - maybe on 'One' but here, when he sings 'Hold on, hold on tightly to this love' and then the beautiful string section comes in it sounds so different to normal pop music, you're in danger of forgetting it's even a song or music you're listening to, you become such a part of what's happening. You just have to let yourself be swept up in it and enjoy everything that's happening. How four 22-year-olds could have produced this peice of music (they had a producer as well I suppose) baffles me to this day. It's an unbelievable track - and that's saying a lot when the album also had 'Like a Song' on it.

(12) Broken Wings - Mister Mister

There's a lot more here than you notice on face value. The bass line at the start really sets the mood and by the time the lyrics come in, the shivers are already creeping up your spine. Granted, the lyrics aren't the most profound, bordering on teenage diary poet, but they're delivered with such passion and commitment, you almost don't notice. I think it might have been influenced by The Beatle's 'Blackbird' but don't quote me on that.

(11) One - U2

No apologies for the amount of U2 songs in the top 100 - they're just that good at writing songs. 'One' is undoubtedly an all time classic and made all the better by the mythology of it being the song they wrote when they were at their wits end with each other and the fact the writing of their new album wasn't going to plan at all. By all accounts, this was the one that made them all understand their places in the band, that they were one, but they weren't the same and that was ok. The lyrics are some of the best you'll hear in a pop song - in fact, the lyrics on the parent album 'Achtung Baby' are some of the best you'll hear. 'Until the End of the World' and 'Ultraviolet' are the highlights. Even live, they, nor anyone else has ever been able to capture the moment they put down on celluloid - this is an absolute masterpeice from the drumming, the guitar layers and the emotional outpourings in Bono's voice, it's just head and shoulders above anything you would have heard in a pop chart 20 years either side of it.

(34) Hazel O'Connor - Will You

This was Hazel's third and final hit. I remember thinking at the time that this was a very mature song - I didn't know what was going on in it but knew that I didn't know what was going on because it had mature themes. It surprised me that Hazel stopped having hits, especially with her starring in Breaking Glass, from which "Will You" was taken.  It got to number eight.

(33) Abba - Lay All Your Love On Me

This only came out as a 12" single. Odd that it sold so well but this was Abba on the slide. Still a great song but quite removed from the style they'd had so many hits with. Erasure covered this and three other ABBA songs for their "Abba-esque E.P" which got to number 1 in 1992. Andy Bell worshipped ABBA and even got the usually retiscent Vince Clarke to dress up in a blue satin jump suit and dance along on stage when they performed it live.

(32) Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough

Speaking of Vince Clarke, he wrote this little ditty. It was like 'Twinkle Twinkle little star' to my young ears and sounded so simplistic, it gave me ideas of grandeur that buying one of those bleepy boxes would mean I could write a simple little bloopy tune and get into the top 10.  Turns out no matter how simple it sounds, it's not simple in the slightest.  This peaked at number eight, Vince left to form Yazoo and thirty years later, Depeche Mode were still having hit singles.

(31) Cliff Richard - Wired for Sound

Cliff likes tall speakers and Cliff like small speakers but he also likes roller skating in a sports hall wearing a walkman with orange sponge ear protectors.  It's a bit table-chair this track but it's decent enough and the video made it memorable enough to endure a decent chart run and end up at number 4.

(30) Rolling Stones - Start Me Up

I used to ask the guitarist in our band to play this for me before each rehearsal - just the intro - cos I loved it. He'd oblige with a sigh and then I'd leave him alone for the rest of the night.  The only thing wrong with this is that Mick Jagger totally over-jaggers the vocal and it's quite repetative and it's quite repetative.  It reached number seven and it's quite repetative.

(29) Adam and the Ants - Prince Charming

I still want to be Adam Ant. The 80s one - not the one now. This entered the chart at number two on the strength of his popularity, then took the tiny step up to number 1 where it remained for four weeks. I loved the Pantomime video with Diana Dors as the Fairy Godmother (one of her last onscreen performances) and Adam as the Prince assuming the Cinderella role. He then dresses up as Alice Cooper and Lawrence of Arabia for some reason.

(28) Linx - Intuition

If you've ever played the arcade game 'Out Run' then you might have thought it was an odd choice to use this song as one of those accompanying you on your hurtle through tropical lands in a Ferrari. However, it wasn't this song, just an 'homage' (by 'homage' I mean CTRL+C then CTRL+V).  It was Linx's highest charting single in reaching number 7.

(27) Foreigner - Waiting For A Girl Like You

This is one of those songs that has loads of potential and you think it's going to be great and then it doesn't quite go where you thought it was going to.  Also, I've always had an issue with the line 'a girl like you'. Surely, you should be telling her you've been waiting for her - actually her - not a girl like her.  That's not going to go down well on your first date.

They'd managed a number 24 with 'Cold as Ice'. This got to number 8 and made sure the parent album 'Foreigner 4' sold oodles.

(26) Abba - One Of Us

ABBA's 19th and last top twenty hit in their own right. This was like a song from a musical - which is where Benny and Bjorn went next of course. This song also seems to have inspired Ace of Base quite a lot.

(25) Linx - So This Is Romance

Lovely but very much like their other hits. It reached number 15 and was the last time that Linx featured in the top forty.

(24) Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

Easily one of the greatest songs of all time but not a 'single' for me.  It got to number 4 and remains laced with plenty of metaphorical or is that actual literal commentary about an 'incident' that may or may not have happened. I love songs with a mythology. It might have been scribbled on the back of a tab packet in a cafe on a rainy thursday but the atmosphere turns it into something that will live forever. This should have been one of the songs catapulted into space for aliens to find. Unless it already has been, in which case, as you were.

(23) Alvin Stardust - Pretend

My judgement of this song is clouded by the fact it reminds me of a thoroughly enjoyable holiday in Great Yarmouth, in which, was an adventure playground the likes of which I'd never seen, nor even dared to dream ever existed!  Anyway, this song is very jolly but I don't think I would have noticed it much without that association. It was Alvin's biggest hit since his March 1974 number one "Jealous Mind", and his first hit of any description since the Summer of 1975. This number four peaking hit, had reached number two for Nat King Cole in 1953.

(22) Bucks Fizz - Piece Of The Action

So obsessed was I by Bucks Fizz at the time, I could be heard singing this in the local supermarket whilst the cashier was checking out our groceries.  Only much later did I realise what 'action' the Fizzers wanted a 'piece' of and I was far too young for those sorts of shenanigans. It reached number 12.

(21) Teardrop Explodes - Reward

I was and still am scared of Julian Cope. He looked like the kind of kid at school who would smash your art project and laugh about it right in your face. It was the only single by the band to reach the top ten, and peaked at number six.

(20) Soft Cell - Tainted Love

I know this is supposed to be a kind of classic or whatever but I just don't think Marc Almond has a very nice voice. Obviously the 'doo doo' hook of the song is probably what dragged most listeners in to start with but when Marc starts to 'soul', he misses notes all over the place and starts shouting and going all over the top. If he'd just calm down for a minute, it might have sounded quite nice.

Having said that, it was the biggest selling single of 1981 so I'll move on.

(19) Adam And The Ants - Stand And Deliver

Not content with glamorising pirates, he was now doing it with Highway men. Neither have what you'd call balanced morals. This song's five week stay at number one was the longest for a single in 1981. It was also the third single to enter the chart at number one in just over a year.

(18) Shakin' Stevens - This Ole House

The biggest selling male vocalist of the 80s. Bigger than Sir Michael of Jacksonville. He was in an Elvis stage show when he was discovered and didn't release his first single until he was into his thirties but he mixed it with the young'uns and taught them a thing or two about standing on their toes and pointing into the middle distance. It smashed straight to the top of the chart, naturally, and the video was very literal - dancing about in a delapidated old house that needed it's shingles fixed. Maybe antibiotics would have helped?

(17) Human League - Love Action (I Believe In Love)

You know that 'action' Bucks Fizz wanted a 'piece' of? Well, this actual 'love action' was a little different if not related to the same subject area.  I'll let you google it.  Anyway, Human League were starting to get the recognition they deserved. They had been trying for three years before they had a number 12 hit with "Sound Of The Crowd" earlier in 1981. They had even got a mention in someone else's hit the previous year when the Undertones referred to them in "My Perfect Cousin". It reached number three and spent 11 weeks in the top 40.

(16) Dollar - Mirror Mirror

What a single this is mind. I just don't understand why David van Day became so obsessed with being in Bucks Fizz, then stealing the name when he finally managed to become an official member (despite never being in the original line-up) and then even re-recorded all their hits with his voice on them and releasing an album of 'greatest hits'. He had several perfectly good Dollar songs to tout around the holiday camps.  If you ever manage to catch an interview with Cheryl Baker where van Day's name is mentioned, you can actually see her teeth turn to spikes and her eyes turn red. She detests the man.  This was a number four hit!

(15) Toyah - Thunder In The Mountains

I used to sing this in my head in order to get to sleep when I was 6. Odd I know, but I loved this song so much. She did a Mad Max impression in the video too. It got to number 4 and all but ended her career as a top 10 artist.

(14) Madness - Grey Day

I never thought a madness song could be so deep. I'll say this for it, it got me through some really bad times when I was much older (the song passed me by at the time) and that's not the sort of thing you'd ever say about the throw-away comedy-esque stuff Madness were doing in and around this period.  It's a song with a real finger on the button of what it feels like to look out of your window in the morning and forget what happiness is.  This reached number four.

(13) Jacksons - Can You Feel It

This took nine weeks to reach number six, and totalled 13 weeks in the chart.  This was 'sampled' in 1998 and got to number one. The myth goes that the ironically named 'Tamperer' used this track without permission but knew they'd make more money than the copyright lawsuit would cost so went ahead anyway.

(12) Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

I'm a bit slow admittedly, but I'm not entirely sure what the message of this record is. To me it seems the narrator is saying, he lived his life to a script - getting married, getting a car and a house and couldn't remember really how it all happened. Regardless, it's a superb track co-written with Brian Eno and with a video choreographed by Toni Basil. It reached number 14.

(11) Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

A song doesn't have to be serious or have a hugely deep message to touch part of you. This song is deceptively deep however and tinged with more than a little sadness.  Claire Grogan's chirpy voice hides the message that she'd rather climb a really tall tree or go to Skye on her holidays just to get away from this awful person she's with.  'I could be happy', she sings, 'run away, get away, far away, how do I escape from you?' - meaning that she's probably trapped in a loveless relationship or worse. It doesn't bear thinking about really but the music is suitably jaunty to hide the horror of what's really going on behind the fun vocal so all's well. I think?

(34) Split Enz - I got you

This was their only hit and six is too many in a band isn't it, even if you are wearing differnt coloured shirts.

After a long climb the song eventually peaked at number twelve and showed just what the world was in store for when the Finn brothers went on to form Crowded House. I had the privelege of seeing Crowded House live in 2005 and they were amazing.

(33) Blondie - Atomic

I've heard countless people banging on about how 'Union City Blue' was Blondie's best single. I've never found anything special about it, especially as this song was full of all the ingredients of a hit single and the former wasn't. Atomic spent two weeks at number one.

I've always thought it was inspired by The Shadows (until the singing parts start). Listen for that synth arpeggiator in the background which lifts any song into a disco realm even if it didn't start out as a Disco track. I think that was Giorgio Moroder's doing.

(32) ELO - All over the world

The whole Xanadu project is underated in my opinion; sneered at even.  It's funny what time does to people's attitudes (good and bad). Despite ELO being chart doyens in the 70's, this was the best stuff they ever did and this track in particular was superb. It got to number 11.

The 'ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh' was re-approriated in the song 'Heartache Avenue' by the Maisonettes (another excellent song).

(31) Change - Searching

Sounds a lot like whoever wrote 'When the Going Gets Tough' also wrote this. This is the world's first glimpse at Luther Vandross whose voice is like Galaxy Chocolate mixed with blended clouds and a cup of silk. Should have been a bigger hit than number 11 - I guess the world just wasn't ready for him.

(30) New Musik - Sanctuary

A bit better than their previous minor hit, "This World Of Water", New Muzik fizzled away after this. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in this band was behind Bucks Fizz's early 80s success (and Dollar for that matter). The music has exactly the same sensibilities. It's joyous and that's what you want in an 80s synthpop record after a long day at school learning the four times table and colouring in without going over the lines.

It got to number 31, and they never hit the top 40 again.

P.S. I just did some research (there's a first) and turns out one of the band went on to produce A-Ha and Aztec Camera

(29) Kate Bush - Babooshka

Need to get one thing off my chest about this and that's the awful grammar in the opening verse. She definitely says 'She couldn't have made a worst move' doesn't she? I've heard it thousands of times now and that's all I can hear. Anyway...

Kate's biggest hit since "Wuthering Heights". This was a tale of a woman whose husband had an affair with a woman he didn't know was his wife using a pseudonym in letters to him

This song reminds me of assembly at school where I wasn't in the least bit interested in whatever the Headmaster was droning on about (probably trying to find out who broke the window in the outdoor toilet block) so I was singing this in my head, off in my own world. Then, a few years later, the school announced that they were doing a play called 'Babooshka' and I was so excited until I realised it was about a woman who goes off to find Jesus, gets lost and is never heard of again. What a lovely story that is for Christmas. Idiots. The one about a woman catfishing her husband would have gone down much better with the Mums and Dads.

The Fairlight computer was being used more and more on hit singles around this time and that sound of broken glass you hear at the end of this song is that very computer!

(28) We are Glass - Gary Numan

Talking about Glass, this is one of Gary's best singles.  It got to number 5 and was a cameo for the masterpeice that was the Telekon album. This was the first real glimpse of Mr. Numan that I got and I remember thinking to myself that I should try and hear more of him (I was competely mesmerised) but due to not being old enough to get pocket money, not having anything to play music on anyway and then forgetting about Gary Numan entirely until later in life, I didn't get round to it until the early 90s when the ability to borrow CDs from the library became a thing.

(27) Sad Cafe - Strange Little Girl

'Boys and girls come out to play' is played on a creepy twinkling guitar and then an even creepier voice goes 'lives down the lane' like some kind of weird horror film.  This sounds a lot like late Beatles but I love that bass guitar at the start and the odd construction - which means they spent time on this, it wasn't written in a day like most stuff these days.

It was the follow up to their huge "Everyday Hurts" single and peaked at number 32.

(26) Neil Diamond - Love on the Rocks

This song has been giving mediocre Karaoke singers a way to impress people who don't really know what a good singer should sound like for years, myself included. Taken from "The Jazz Singer", it's probably just better (as a single) than 'America', 'Hello Again', 'Amazed and Confused' and my favourite 'You Baby'. It only got to number 17, which is a surprise given it's broad appeal and genius build to the chorus. Actually, I'm off to listen to the soundtrack album again...

(25) Kool and the Gang - Celebration

Deliberately commercial and quite repetative - it's the perfect single. Doesn't go anywhere and isn't the kind of thing you want to put on in the background whilst you read - but it's played on so many appropriate occasions that it's now part of the fabric of reality. It got to number seven.

(24) Olivia Newton John & ELO - Xanadu

Title tracks to films often found themselves in the upper reaches of the chart and this was no different, especially for Olivia Newton John who'd been there with songs from Grease a year earlier. Xanadu got to number one for two weeks. Odd that this was the only time ELO found themselves in the top spot!

Xanadu has been the subject of a few top 10 hits over the years. Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch had 'The legend of Xanadu' and Frankie goes to Hollywood gave it a namecheck in 'Welcome to the Pleasuredome'.

(23) OMD - Messages

Simple but effective. I went off OMD the later into their career they got but I always appreciated what they were doing. I think the thing that put me off was watching Andy McClusky on Top of the Pops 'dancing' but swinging his massive bass guitar around the stage and looking utterly out of place.  It was even worse when he put his bass down and started flinging his unfathomably long arms around the place. He was like Mr. Tickle on Meow Meow.  Look, there's even a YouTube video calling him out on it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdkMjokbhTI

The song reached number 13. Andy McCluskey was the man behind girl group 'Atomic Kitten'. So you now know who to blame.

(22) Blondie - Call Me

Blondie's forth number one single and more importantly, their third entry on my top 40 singles of 1980! This had a lot of urgency compared to their final number one. It was produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder (of 'I feel love' fame), and taken from the soundtrack of the film 'American Gigolo' which was terrible by all accounts - not seen it personally.

The solo on this was played on an organ through a flange effect which was another defining sound of the early 80s - effects were becoming more and more elaborate and new sounds were popping up all over the place giving each new single a fresh and unique sound. What a time to be alive!

(21) B.A. Robertson - Kool in the Kaftan

B.A. Robertson was having the smallest of his five hits with "Kool In The Kaftan". This sounds a bit 'throw away' to begin with but it's actually very clever. It's another example of a song which changes gear halfway through (see 'Give me the night' by George Benson) and sends your emotional connection with what's going on, off in another direction. Clever, but not as clever as the same concept (but taken to another dimension) in the song at the top of my count down.

(20) Michael Jackson - Rock with you

The 'Off the Wall' album was already in the shops and this was one of the last tracks released so it didn't get to number one where it deserved to be - it settled for number seven which is definitely not to be sniffed at.  This owed a lot to what Chic were doing in the few years previous but the real genius behind this was Rod Temperton of Heatwave.

The song was first offered to Karen Carpenter! I mean, yeah, she had a voice like liquid gold but, really?  This was probably one of the last big Disco hits as dance floors became filled with people who'd migrated over from Punk into New Romantic. Still with coloured hairsprayed sticky-up hair but with more makeup and better dancing.

(19) Buggles - Living in the plastic age

Was this better than "Video Killed The Radio Star"? If not, it's just as good, just not as Zeitgeisty and therefore, not something to be played beyond it's chart run - which is a shame. I bet nobody born after 1980 who has heard of 'Video killed' has heard 'Plastic age'. That's how it goes I suppose. Trevor Horn went on to have a huge influence on the musical landscape of the 80s with acts such as Dollar and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, so I doubt he's bothered.  I always thought this was by Thomas Dolby and even though I've Googled it and there's even a single cover above with 'Buggles' written on it, I think it still might be.

There's a bit in the break near the end which sounds a lot like 'Pale Shelter' and I wonder if Roland of Tears for Fears might have stored this in his subconscious for later?

(18) Special A.K.A. - Too Much, Too Young

A number one for Terry Hall and the guys at last. It was a speeded up version of a track from their debut album, and caused quite a bit of controversy. Eventually, Radio One chose to play it but cut it just short of the last line. It was all about one of their female friends who'd gotten pregnant in her teens and basically saying 'yo'r life is now over'. A message of some worth but probably delivered in the wrong way.

(17) Roxy Music - The Same old Scene

This sounds like Duran Duran and I'm sure John Taylor and Nick Rhodes would agree that the album this came from would have influenced them hugely at the time. "Same Old Scene" peaked at number 12 and cements Roxy Music as chamelions of the charts, able to hit the top 10 with all sorts of different styles.  This one suited them best though IMO.

(16) Abba - The Winner Takes it All

One of the best singles of the 80's this. Apparently it wasn't about their own divorces but is definitely full of raw personal opinions on the whole subject. You can see where the musical 'Chess' came from when you listen to this. Pity about the video - it was like a bad american soap opera. The song spent two weeks at number one.

(15) Joy Division - Love Will Tear us Apart

Joy Division had released an album and three singles over the previous two years with no mainstream chart success at all. Then, after Ian Curtis took his own life in May 1980, this single was released and made it to number 13. Out of the ashes came New Order who were decidedly hit and miss.  Sometimes they were brilliant and others, baffling.

This single has to go down as one of the greatest of all time however. My first experience of the song was on Paul Young's debut album 'No Parlez' and he does it superbly, even if there was a lot of controversy about him recording it in the first place.  He also did a version of Pale Shelter which he murdered and I'm pleased it remained as a bonus track on the expanded edition only.

(14) Roxy Music - Oh Yeah (On the Radio)

Superb, and as good as four or five other Roxy Music songs I'd quite happily stick in my top 100 of the 80s.

(13) Diana Ross - Upside Down

This was Diana's biggest hit for nine years, and peaked at number two. It was also her first visit to the top twenty for over four years, but she couldn't fail this time. The parent album had been written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers who'd been responsible for all those Chic and Sister Sledge hits of the last couple of years. Listen to that bass guitar man. Just listen.

This was the second of the aforementioned first three singles my sister bought. This was also played to death when she was out.

(12) Olivia Newton John - Magic

Another song from the Xanadu soundtrack, and the best of the lot. It's one of two hits by Olivia that's not on Spotify like she's embarrassed of them. This and 'A little more love' (which got to number 4) are two of my favourite songs ever. Its weird. 'Magic' peaked at number 32 which is criminal.

(11) George Benson - Give me the Night

This always reminds me of Level 42 (even though they didn't chart until 1981). Peaking at number seven, it was one of the big disco hits of the year. He also plays Jazz Guitar in the video whilst on Rollerskates - you know, that perfect combination... like cheese and pickle... Jazz guitar and Rollerskates.

The thing that takes this single into my top 11 for 1980 is the chorus - the way it contradicts everything before it. Only a clever songwriter is able to shift a song's gears like that and there were more examples of this mood-shift in the rest of the chart...

(10) Stevie Wonder - Masterblaster (Jammin)

After entering the chart at number 30, this single made a massive climb to number four. A tribute to Bob Marley, this single peaked at number two a fortnight later. After such a run of superb singles, who knew his most successful would be the awful 'I just called'? I can still hardly believe it.

(9) David Essex - Silver Dream Machine

David Essex was back with his first top ten hit in almost two years with the title song from his latest movie "Silver Dream Racer". This one peaked at number four. It's deceptive in it's simplicity this one. It's got so many great parts to it and the atmosphere of it fading in coupled with David's understated vocal at the start, changing gear at the bridge into the chorus... I told you it was a recipe for success.

Anyone remember that sitcom David was in where he was a lock keeper? I used to like that.

(8) Police - Don't Stand so Close to Me

I'm perrenially disapointed that this song didn't develop into what I thought it was going to develop into with that moody intro. The Chorus spoils it - it's too jolly, especially for such a dark subject.  I also hate the way Sting rhymes 'Nabokov' with 'Shake and cough'.  Also, nobody refers to Lolita as 'that book by Nabokov'. Apart from that, it's brilliant.

This single was the second one this year to debut on the chart at number one. It stayed there for four weeks.

(7) Stacy Lattisaw - Jump to the Beat

The third of the three first singles bought by my sister and the one I played the most (when she was out). Thirteen year old Stacy released one of the finest singles of the disco era with this. She had previously been earmarked to record "Ring My Bell" , but that had instead been given to Anita Ward who took it to number one in 1979. So this was Stacey's debut and she took it to number three. Her follow up single "Dynamite" failed to make it past number 51, and Stacey was never heard of again in the UK. The same can't be said of the song though as Dannii Minogue took it to number eight in 1991. Stacy went on to record with R&B legend and childhood friend, Johnny Gill (from New Edition) who she convinced to have a go at a recording career when he was 16.

(6) Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno

Dexy's Midnight Runners had been to number 40 in February with their previous single "Dance Stance". This time they made it to the opposite end of the top 40 and spent two weeks there. This is one of those songs that never sounds out of place anywhere. Not as 'Birthday Party' as 'Come on Eileen' but quite timeless and fitting for lots of occasions. It is a tribute to Geno Washington and meant to sound like his Ram Jam Band.

(5) Madness - Baggy Trousers

This was one of the first music videos I remember seeing, largely because someone playing a saxophone starts flying around in the background as the band play on a school field. The lyrics to this song are a pastiche of life in a school (a kind of inverted reality to 'Another brick in the wall'), where I was at the time, and I connected with it immediately - as did six hundred thousand other people who went out a bought it. It went on to spend two weeks at number three and became their biggest hit so far spending 11 weeks in the 40.

(4) David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes

This single was complimented by one of the best video promos ever made and another one I remember sitting glued to whilst watching Top of the Pops (probably the same episode which featured 'Baggy Trousers'). This single also saw a considerable upturn in fortunes for Bowie (whose 70s singles career was a ratio of big hit to minor hit of about 1:5) after his last single "Alabama Song" had only reached number 23. This one spent two weeks at the top and somehow inspired the video producer to plonk David in a clown outfit walking in front of a JCB.

(3) Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach

This is a song which plays in my head a lot when I'm at work. I think most of us feel the same sentiments as the narrator; knowing that even though you're at work right now, one day, you'll be somewhere you can enjoy yourself, switch off from the stresses of life and relax.  Echo Beach is that place and it can be anywhere - the pub on Friday night, The Bahamas, sitting in front of a good movie with a take away - Echo Beach always feels 'far away in time'.  It quickly reached number ten, but only stayed on the top 40 for seven weeks. Toyah covered it in 1987, but failed to make the top 40.

(2) Peter Gabriel - Games without Frontiers

It took a while, but finally reached number four. In turn this helped his third album (titled 'Peter Gabriel', just as the previous two were) to reach number one. He kept singing 'It's a knockout' which was a TV program in which people tried to run obstacle courses dressed as dinosaurs and the like. I think it must have been of continental origin because it was often referred to as 'Jeux sans frontier' (Games without Frontiers) as there were teams taking place from various European countries and Peter Gabriel reappropriates this to give his commentary on war.

The song features frequent collaborator with Gabriel, Kate Bush who provides backing vocals. Also, Atlantic, who had distributed Gabriel's first two albums, hated the third and said he was committing commercial suicide. Then this single started getting traction and Atlantic tried buying the album back but Gabriel told them where to go and allowed Mercury to distribute it.

(1) Genesis - Turn it on Again

It takes someone of real musical skill and rhythmic awareness to write this never mind try and play it. I wonder if the recording of it was as effortless as they make it sound on the record? When Peter Gabriel rejoined Genesis for a tour in 1982, he was going to play drums on 'Turn it on again'. However, after stating 'Yeah, I can play that', according to Tony Banks, Gabriel kept getting lost and hadn't a clue what was going on.  It even baffles the best.

It peaked at number eight, and from here on Genesis were commercially massive right into the early nineties.

(34) One Step Beyond - Madness

It was hard for people to take Madness seriously as musicians.  However, they were all masters of their craft, especially Lee Thompson the Saxophonist and Mike Barson on Piano.  Whilst they were the perfect singles band, coming up with catchy earworms, in the late 80s they managed to sound soulful and reflective - probably a sign of growing up.  Their first single was a tribute to Prince Buster whilst this, their second single, was a cover of their favourite Prince Buster composition. The video for this was our first look at them as personalities, which was just as important as the music, especially in the advent of the music video and MTV. This got to number seven and was a staple in school discos across the land.

(33) Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney

None of the artists I love (and own all the albums of) ever did a serious Christmas Single (apart from maybe U2). So I've always wondered what Beatles and Paul McCartney fans thought of this single. I always thought this was from the very early 70s and was surprised to see it was released in 79. The production doesn't sound that fresh but regardless of that, it's wheeled out every Yuletide and I never get sick of it.

(32) Message In A Bottle - Police

This was the first single from the 'Regatta De' Blanc' (White Reggae) album and couldn't be further away from Reggae. This entered the chart at number eight and jumped to number one the following week. The thing that set The Police apart at the time (and ever since I suppose) was the erratic but cracking use of a drum kit, the use of guitar as an orchestra and the bass as both a rhythm section and bolster. Still not convinced by Sting's vocals (preferred him on 'Every Breath' and 'Don't stand' to 'Roxanne' and 'Walking on the moon') but they were signature, instantly recognisable and unique which is something you just don't get these days.

(31) Spacer - Sheila B. Devotion

This song came courtesy of Chic. There were a few songs around this time that had 'Space' themes, especially after Star Wars had become so massive. 'I lost my heart to a Starship Trooper' springs to mind. It's been copied many times, including this cringe-worthy video for 'Crying at the Discotheque' in 2020 by Sophie Ellis-Bextor (which also has shades of 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXecuVl7_4

(30) Complex - Gary Numan

My favourite ever Gary Numan song but not a single. Baffled as to how this got to number 6 - probably riding on the fact his first two songs went to number one. It's depressing, slow, full of paranoia and fear of fame. It's one of the best songs ever written. For those who were into this sort of thing, it actually is a great single - just not something you'd ever hear ABBA do.

(29) Bang Bang - B.A. Robertson

The first and biggest of his five hits - I first heard this on one of those K-TEL compilation albums with a large roller skate on the front. I heard a lot of late 70s singles this way, before 'Now That's What I Call Music' came along in 1983.  I've only recently got the point of the song and it's quite clever lyrically (how sexual encounters can destroy dynasties), which puts it just inside the 'novelty single' circle of the Venn Diagram. BA wrote songs for Mike and the Mechanics and co-wrote 'The Living Years'. Next year's 'Kool in the Kaftan' was even better!

(28) Roxanne - The Police

This charted a full year after it's original release and that was down to it being an American top 40 hit after flopping here initially. It reached number 12 and launched them into the stratosphere. It reached number 17 a year later as part of the "Six Pack" release, and the same position when remixed in 1997. It's not my favourite of theirs by any means but a great single nonetheless.

(27) Some Girls - Racey

That familiar singing organ sound which I'd be drawn towards in 'We don't talk any more' and various other hits that year. Barry Manilow had a go at covering this on his "I Wanna Do It With You" album. I had a full blown argument at school with a lad over what it was Barry wanted to do 'with you'. I still don't think I know what it is.

(26) Heart Of Glass - Blondie

Blondie's first number one in the UK, and by the end of 1980, they'd had five! This was the third single from the 'Parallel Lines' album and for a third song from an album that was already out there, it was unusual to get to number 1. I guess they found a whole new audience that didn't already have the album. A fourth single from the album also got to number 1 a few months later. Amazing!!

(25) Lines - Planets

Lots of production on this and sounded a lot like The Specials before they'd hit the charts. A bit of Pseudo-Reggae which was extremely mainstream at the time. This had lots and lots of airplay, the amount of airplay normally reserved for top ten hits. Yet, it only reached number 36!

(24) Bright Eyes - Art Garfunkel

Art Garfunkel got to number one had the biggest selling single of the year with this. It was about Rabbits with bright eyes. It made me think that Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' was also about Rabbits when they sang 'Turn around bright eyes' and they had laser beam eyes in the video which creeped me out more than anything I'd seen in my I-Spy book of insects.

(23) One Way Ticket - Eruption

This was a cover of a Neil Sedaka song which I discovered when I did a deep-dive into his back catalogue a few years ago. They're both brilliant but this was of it's time, given that it's a Disco treatment that sounds a lot like Boney M or Ottowan (or one of those Disco-ey groups). It reached number nine and that was the last we heard of them.

(22) Hold The Line - Toto

The name of the group came from vocalist Bobby Kimball's real name 'Robert Toteaux'. The first time I heard this was at a Tina Turner gig in 1996 when they opened for her. I thought it was great live and the recorded version (now I can get my hands on it (no Spotify then)) is even better. Strange given the quality of this single that their next top 40 hit was four years in the making. It reached number 14.

(21) Off The Wall - Michael Jackson

I'm not sure why that demonic drug-fuelled laughter happens at the start of the track but the bass line was good enough to make this a great single.  This was Michael at his best - forget Thriller and Bad, this is what his voice suited. It peaked at number seven.

(20) Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson

This went to number three. The video was parodied brilliantly by Leigh Francis (playing his Bo'Selecta version of Michael) with the lyrics changed to 'Don't stop til you get enough Cola Cubes'

(19) Is She Really Going Out With Him - Joe Jackson

This flopped when it was released in September 1978. The world wasn't ready. Also, "Sunday Papers" and "One More Time" flopped after that. But after getting to 21 in the USA, it was released here again and reached number 13. It's typical of that stompy jangly guitar stuff that was happening in the late 70s with Elvis Costello being the leader of the skinny weird looking musical geniuses that littered the top 40 in 1979 (Gary Numan, Trevor Horn, Bob Geldof, Terry Hall, Mark Knopfler et al.)

(18) Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind And Fire & The Emotions

This peaked at number four and became one of the all time classics. They credited The Emotions on the front of the sleeve this time, giving them the recognition they deserved.

(17) Gimme Gimme Gimme - Abba

This would probably have been their eighth number one if they hadn't released their second greatest hits album at the same time. It actually got to number three. The precise production on this, the spacing of the instruments and the very deliberately (in my opinion) exaggerated accents from Frida and Agnetha made this such a great track to listen to.

(16) Knock On Wood - Amii Stewart

Amii's Mother Miquel Brown made her chart debut in 1984, then her sister 'Sinitta' followed in 1986. This is infectious and has all the ingredients of a hit single which is probably why it was.

(15) Tragedy - Bee Gees

Imagine writing this - you would just know it was a number one single.  It got to number 1 for two weeks but, they must have thought that their work here was done because they didn't hit the top ten again for eight years. Steps took their cover of this song to number one twenty years later and it was played at each of the 26768 birthday parties I went to that year.

(14) Walking On The Moon - Police

A deserved number one for this. I didn't want to believe he was talking about actually walking on the moon. I always thought it was a metaphor for that feeling you get when something good happens. Like 'Walking back from your house, walking on the moon', like he'd been to see his girlfriend and they'd had a lovely evening in with the scrabble board and a pizza and he was walking home on joyful cushions of air, like you do on the moon? No? Just me? Well, you definitely don't want your leg to break if you're on the moon. There aren't any hospitals up there.

(13) Cars - Gary Numan

It reached number one for a week on first release. It's been released about five hundred times since and always hovers around the top 40. I'm a huge Numan fan and have every album he's ever released. It all started with one note. It's the one at 2m 55s in, where the counterpoint synth comes in and plays an augmented ninth. It's beautiful. I was hooked. And over 40 years later, here's him doing today even better than he did back then :

(12) Lost In Music - Sister Sledge

The third and least successful release from the 'We are Family' album became the most successful when it was re-released five years later.  It got to number 17 in 1979. The B-side "Thinking Of You" was released as a single too and got to number 11. They then hit number one with 'Frankie' but to my knowledge, haven't troubled the charts with anything original since.

(11) Angel Eyes / Voulez Vous - Abba

It's like ABBA had an energy factory they used to inject the stuff into their singles. Voulez Vous is a monster of a song and dare I say it, Erasure made it slightly better in 1992? Not convinced about Angel eyes though. This reached number three.

(34) The Bee Gees - Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever had taken over the consciousness of the parts of the world that had popular music as one if it's main pillars of society.  The Bee Gees had 11 top 40 hits in the 70s but countless others with other artists singing songs they'd written. When you talk about a sound defining an era, the wah-wah guitar was their weapon of choice and they wielded it better than anyone. They managed to create a world through their music in the late 70s which we all felt safe in, felt happy in and wanted to look exactly like John Travolta in.  Talk about 'Racey' coming up with a sound nobody else had managed and capturing my imagination, The Bee Gees made this sound up and anything else that came after it just sounded like a bad parody.

(33) Magazine - Shot By Both Sides

Brilliant!!! Even though the lead singer looks like what Robocop looks like when he takes his mask off near the end of the film.  This only got to number 41... criminally missing out on the top 40 - should have been top 10 at least.  Ignore the TOTP video version - go with the original Spotify one - the TOTP performance was one of those where the band had to come in that day and record a version of the song to mime to. The voice is too loud and he doesn't sing the chorus with the same intonation as the original.  That aside, it's a must have on your playlist for grey monday mornings and is going straight on my personal best of the 70s list I'll do after my 1979 list.

(32) FOREIGNER - COLD AS ICE

Although every time this song starts it reminds me of the 'Neighbours' theme tune, it's still great. Bloody Foreigner, coming over here, stealing our ice. This got to number 24 and it wasn't until 1981 that they cracked the top 10 with 'Waiting for a girl like you' and then number 1 with 'I want to know what love is'.  Their last hit was in 1985, a number 28 with 'That was yesterday'. Lou Gramm did have a solo career but never troubled the charts.

(31) MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND - DAVY'S ON THE ROAD AGAIN

It's lovely this isn't it? We see a welcome return of the 12/8 beat which has been notably missing in the charts the last few years.  The Earth Band only had three hits but they were all brilliant.  'Joybringer' made my '73 list but their other one 'Blinded by the light' just missed this list. Check out the video on the playlist above; it's live and sounds exactly like the record but with a better keyboard solo and more emotion!

(30) Samantha Sang - Emotion

It's those pesky Bee Gees again! In February 1978, number 31, 32 and 33 were all Bee Gee-penned songs on the way up the chart.  This track featured the Gibbs on backing vocals and was in the top forty for 12 weeks despite only reaching number 11. In fact, it might as well have been sang by the Bee Gees as Samantha's vocals get swamped in the chorus. One of a slew of 70s songs which were either re-relased or covered in the thirty years following.  Just before it fell out of the top 40, there was another version of it in the charts, albeit on the B-Side of 'Too Much, Too Little, Too Late' by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.

(29) CLOUT - SUBSTITUTE

A terrific pop record this, most enjoyable and very very 70s. This got to number 2 and was their only hit. Shame, they were one of the only woman bands around who played guitars, drums, bass, keyboards. Why is a debate for another time but suffice to say, 70s attitudes towards race, gender etc. are something we can quite happily leave in the 70s.

(28) GRAHAM PARKER AND THE RUMOUR - HEY LORD DON'T ASK ME QUESTIONS

Bits of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, The Clash and John Lydon here. Entirely original though having said that, and a great single. Just reached 32 which shows what kind of competition there was around at the time.

(27) T.Connection - On Fire

Number 16 for this full force disco track. It's got a lot of Disco Inferno about it but before you think it's going to go there, it veers off and hits you with the synthy backing vocal with which to hook you to the chorus.  Loads of 70s string motifs and plenty of different drum sounds coupled with a wasp synth, it's gonna get you!

(26) Abba - Take A Chance On Me

People wonder why ABBAs chart reign only lasted three years. It's simple enough, people had too much ABBA.  This track was number one for three weeks but it was their last for ages - other things were happening in the pop world and they soon became old hat.  It was two and a half years before they got there again.  I like the Erasure version of this and Erasure's version of Voulez-Vous better than Abba's; no doubting their songwriting, musicianship and vocal performances but by the time we'd had the ABBA annuals, the merch and eventually, The Movie, we were all but done and had started to take notice of The Police and Kate Bush instead.

(25) ANDREW GOLD - NEVER LET HER SLIP AWAY

What a songwriter this bloke was. Everything he released was gold (pardon the pun). This got to number 5 and was his biggest hit. His memory was insulted by the godawful 'band' Undercover who only released covers. They got to number 5 with this song as well!  Gold played on various other songs in the 70s (most notably Linda Ronstadt's) but he went on to form the band 'Wax' who had a number 12 in 1987 with 'Bridge to your heart'.

(24) Earth Wind And Fire - September

A classic in all senses of the word. Sparkly outfits and trombones with all wavy space effects in the video was bound to be a hit. The first of Earth Wind And Fire's three consecutive top five hits and also the biggest with a number three peak.

(23) Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

I've never warmed to this song and I don't know why. I always thought it was a waste of a good sax solo. Listening to it now, I don't even like the sax solo. However, it's a classic that everyone on the planet in 1978 had heard so it's here at 21. It took six weeks in the chart to reach number 3 and after a full 12 weeks in the chart, people were getting sick of it. Strangely, the band I mentioned who covered Andrew Gold's 'Never let her slip away' covered 'Baker Street' in 1992 and managed to get one place higher than Gerry.

(22) Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

I fell in love with Kate Bush in 1978. She was fascinating and this song was just the type of weird I needed in my life. She was a bit unhinged I thought, skitting about in a forest in a floaty dress and flowers on her head. In 1980 I went to one of my school friend's birthday parties and a woman who looked exactly like Kate Bush answered the door. I was convinced it was her; turned out to be my friend's mother. I spent the entire party staring at her and eating the cakes which she'd baked with actual money in them. I went home with about 25p that night. It was more money than I'd ever seen in my entire life. (Wuthering Heights spent four weeks at number one incidentally)

(21) JOHN TRAVOLTA AND OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT

Grease was another omnipresent film in 1978 which also starred John Travolta. It was one of the first Vinyl LPs I 'owned' (it wasn't mine, not sure whose it was actually) and I used to play it over and over. This was just one of the songs from the film which got released as a single. This one got to number 1 in May. Morrissey got to number 19 in 1992 with a song called 'You're the one for me fatty'. Nothing to do with this song, I just wanted to tell you that.

(20) Earth Wind And Fire - Fantasy

More Earth Wind and Fire amazingness which only got to number 14. To have so many members, so many instruments to co-ordinate, to sound this good, must have taken such a long time in the studio. Bands these days don't book studio time, they turn up with tracks already mostly complete on their laptops. Just bask in the greatness of this song; music how it was meant to sound before the robots took over...

Black Box took their cover of this to number five in 1990.

(19) BUZZCOCKS - EVER FALLEN IN LOVE

Have you ever heard a song called Jilted John by Jilted John? The one that goes 'Gordon is a Moron'? Well, I'm yet to be convinced that the bloke who sang that (the same bloke who played 'John Shuttleworth') wasn't the lead singer of the Buzzcocks. Whilst this song is a bona fide classic, the singer sounds like one of those kids at school who would tell you your parents were poor and he lived in a castle in the country and owned a horse.

It sounded very punk but I don't think it was. It was too commercial. It got to number 12 but each of their next three singles peaked at a lower position than the last. Being an 80s officianado, I'll always prefer the Fine Young Cannibals version, which hit number 9 in 1987, however much the purists scream at me.

(18) THE POLICE - CAN'T STAND LOSING YOU

I'll tell you why this works. It's the first time a guitar has been used like that on a pop record. The drums are a main instrument, up front and centre and full of personality. The Police embraced their Reggae influence, most notably in the title of their first album. I've never thought Sting was a great vocalist but his voice suits The Police more than it does anything he ever did after that. It was angry and shouty with an edge which he completely lost in later years. I suppose we all calm down and mellow out in later life when we realise we can't fight the system, don't we?

(17) E.L.O. - Mr Blue Sky

A brilliant single from the hairiest pop star on the planet and in the 70s he had some competition.  This was the first of three consecutive number 6 peaking records. The 'Out of the Blue' album spawned four hit singles (this never happened at the time) which showed how popular ELO had become after a slow slow start.

(16) Olivia Newton John - A Little More Love

Criminally missing from Spotify, you'll have to check out the YouTube playlist for this one. Riding on the back of her rise back to popularity through the movie Grease, this got to number 4. The producers employed that multiple voice falsetto that was so popular at the time on the chorus which was probably the best example of this production technique.

She'd been missing from the chart from 1974 until the summer of 77 when she hit number six with "Sam". 'You're the one that I want' had spent nine weeks at number 1 and that was followed by 'Summer Nights' which spent a further 7 weeks on top. Those two were with John Travolta but she had a solo hit with 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' on her own. EMI capitalised on that with 'A little more love' which spent nine weeks in the 40. What was weird about it's chart performance was that it's ninth week was at 16 and the following week it disappeared.

(15) Rod Stewart - Do You Think I'm Sexy

No Rod, I really don't. However, Rod is the original 'move with the times' artist that Madonna proved to be as she jumped feet first into the 90s. From crooning cracked-throat ballads to gale force twelve disco - this was some transformation. Another artist who 'sold out'? Who cares, he looked like he was having fun and so did we with this fun uptempo romp. I actually think he was taking the michael a bit with this song; the lyrics are far from serious, couple that with his performance in those famous leopard print trolleys - I think his tongue was firmly in his cheek. This got to number one unsurprisingly. That lead synth at the beginning is hookier than velcro.

(14) FRANKIE VALLI - GREASE

Another song from the Grease soundtrack and another Bee Gees written hit. Just two weeks at number three for this, despite it being the title track to the movie. This was Frankie's most successful solo single though; he never troubled the charts again after this though.

(13) Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive

Talking of the Bee Gees, the brothers Gibb reached number four with this. I've just noticed that they were on the RSO label which also released the 'Grease' soundtrack. The B Side to this single was a song that just three months later was taken to number four by 'Yvonne Elliman' which appears in my top 10 of 1978. This song was made by the bass line, a very popular instrument in the 70s.

(12) RAYDIO - JACK AND JILL

Have a listen to the lyrics to this. It's an attempt to legitamise having an affair. Despite the horrible sentiment, this is a wonderful single. The hook here is the screech by the backing singers after each line of the chorus.  It was written by Ray Parker Jr. (of Ghostbusters fame) who was the lead singer. He wrote a reply to this song from the point of view of Jill which had the line 'By the time poor Jack returned up the hill, somebody else had been loving Jill'.

I wonder where the Jacksons got the idea for 'Can you Feel it' though.

(11) Heatwave - The Groove Line

Another band in flares with fancy footwork in the vein of Earth Wind and Fire, but with a song which has so many great elements to it, it had to be a hit. The vocal is excellent, the bass line is sumptuous and the changes of pace, perfectly excecuted. It was written by Rod Temperton of 'Thriller' fame and you can tell. It reached number 12 here and shifted 2 million units in the US.

(34) Give a Little Bit - Supertramp

How this wasn't a massive hit is a complete mystery. Only reached number 29. It was re-recorded for the ITV Telethon in 1992, but failed to chart.

(33) Year of the Cat - Al Stewart

Most people who know this song consider it a classic.  Nobody else even knows it exists.  It only got to number 29 but that's probably because it's just not commercial enough. It got to 8 in America where musical sensibilities were vastly different to ours until the early 80s. There have been many stories concerning what the song is actually about, but the official story is that it's about a tourist trapped in the 'Casablanca' of the hit film.

(32) No More Heroes - The Stranglers

I didn't warm to the Stranglers until about 1982 - they were the most palatable of the Punk-wave artists. This is probably their best known track pre '80 and got to number eight. This track has that running electric piano motif in the background which was adopted more and more by the New Wave acts emerging over the next twelve months.

(31) Pretty Vacant - The Sex Pistols

A number 7 chart placing by a banned song isn't a bad feat (before the days of Frankie anyway). This was actually very good for a Punk tune which are all generally very loud, angry and shouty. This one is a very melodic loud, angry, shouty song which contains a very immature (but still fun to shout when singing along) Mondegreen.

I'm a huge fan of John Lydon. Every time I see him interviewed I find him to be engaging, intelligent, wise and hilarious. He said once that the most shocking thing about him was that he was a nice bloke!

(30) Boogie Nights - Heatwave

This was Heatwave's first and biggest (of seven) hit. It climbed all the way to number two and had a generation of imitators, not least of which Michael Jackson on his song 'Off the Wall'.  You'd not believe a group from a TV talent show could come up with something so profoundly resonant in popular music but for once, 'New Faces' did its job. Rod Temperton (a member of Heatwave) later penned one of Michael Jackson's most well known songs "Thriller", while vocalist J.D.Douglas later joined the Commodores and featured on their last big hit "Nightshift".

On the day of the shoot for the single cover, they'd forgotten their P.E. kit and all had to do it in 'skins'. Everyone looks up for it except the bloke on the left who looks decidedly awkward with his enforced nakedness.

(29) Love Bug - Tina Charles

Most of you will think this is quite a weak track but it's right up my particular boulevard. Fun, fresh and catchy. I love the synth swirls at the start and the flange guitar riffs. This would have been a fixture on my turntable if I'd had one at the time (and my two-year-old hands could have operated it). It reached number 26. It's something Sophie Ellis Bextor should have covered in the late 90s.

I wonder if Stevie Wonder ever got in touch to contest the similarity to 'Uptight' though...

(28) Easy - Commodores

The Commodores were making a welcome return to the chart after three years away with a song totally out of keeping with the funk they'd been serving up and getting into the lower reaches of the 40 with. It reached number 9 and got a new lease of life eleven years later when it was on an advert for a bank or building society. A cover by Faith No More also got in the chart in the early 90s.

The intro to this is a good example of the difference between someone who can play piano and someone who uses the piano as an instrument. There are dynamics here which give the song and message exactly what it needs. Something modern songwriters ignore with their programming and sequencers.  There's a guitar bit halfway through which is completely out of place though. It just sort of happens and then it's gone again. I always imagine the guitar player during the recording going 'There's this thing I can play. Can I put it in the song?' and they're like, 'not really, it doesn't fit - it's a slow ballad' but then he snuck in to the studio that night and dubbed it in randomly anyway and the song got released before anyone noticed.

(27) Red Light Spells Danger - Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean reached number two with his fourth hit in just over 12 months. But, he would have to wait seven years before he had his next hit. This is up-tempo and full of life - a jaunty ditty too.

(26) Baccara - Yes Sir I Can Boogie

Baccara were Spanish and it always struck me that they were (like a lot of other acts at the time) riding the coat-tails of ABBA who had popularised continental pop music. I first heard this on a 'Roller Disco' compilation album which also contained 'Naughty, Naughty, Naughty' by Joy Sarney (the one with Punch out of Punch and Judy). I was probably four or five at the time and used to wonder who they were talking to and why someone had asked them specifically whether or not they could 'Boogie'.

I'm quite a serious connoisseur of the Karaoke machine. Whenever I happen upon an establishment that has one, I'm very careful about my song choice. I want to sing something I'm able to sing, something I think others would like to hear and something I'm going to enjoy. I usually settle for something deeply 80s. However, I had a mate who was less than serious about his song choices. One night, he got up and sang 'Yes Sir, I can Boogie' in falsetto and brought the house down. I learned quite a valuable lesson that night.

(25) Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway

This spent two weeks at number five; easy to see why - it's got all the classic ingredients of a hit single. The lead singer had a very annoying face however.

(24) Elkie Brooks - Sunshine After The Rain

Berri covered this in 1995 and did a really good job of it.  However, this original is far superior, especially with Elkie's voice.  This reached number ten and was Elkie's second hit. The only time I've ever heard someone use the word 'Elkie' is when they're talking about Ms Brooks (apart from that time I thought I saw a large deer which looked a bit Elky).  She started her career in 1964 releasing six singles in two years before joining the 'Humphrey Lyttleton' and then 'Eric Delaney' bands. After a further solo single in 1969 she joined a jazz-fusion rock band called 'Dada', who recorded one album before changing their name to 'Vinegar Joe' as 'Robert Palmer' joined to share lead vocals with Elkie.

The band split in 1974 after three albums, with Robert and Elkie both starting solo careers. Elkie finally got her chart breakthrough in the Summer of '77 with a song about Janis Joplin, called "Pearl's A Singer". From then on, she continued to have hits at varying intervals until her last with "No More The Fool" at the beginning of 1987.

(23) Deniece Williams - That's What Friends Are For

Deniece had some cracking singles in the 70s.  This was the follow up to her number one hit "Free" and got to number 8.

(22) Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

Bafflingly, none of the singles from the Rumours album did much in the UK chart.  Imagine dating someone in your band and then splitting up acrimoniously. You both go ahead and write a song about the other person.  Lindsay Buckingham wrote 'Go your own way' whilst Stevie Nicks had to sing backing, using words which were a scathing attack on her.  She got her own back with 'Dreams' which was a much more subtle but still razor sharp retort.  'Listen carefully to the sound of your lonliness' and 'Women they will come and they will go', she sings, telling him he'll never find a love like hers. Ouch. It climbed to number 24 but had its day in the sun when The Corrs covered it in the late 90s.

(21) Leo Sayer - How Much Love

Leo Sayer was following up his only UK number one with the number ten peaking "How Much Love". A perfect example of someone stamping his personality on a song. If you watch the video and see him dancing along with that cheeky hamster-faced enthusiasm, you realise this song is just Leo Sayer in musical form. Joyful and triumphant.

(20) Emotions - Best Of My Love

This was written by Earth, Wind and Fire and reached a peak of number four. The Emotions only managed one minor hit afterwards, apart from their "Boogie Wonderland" collaboration with the aforementioned EWF for which they're probably best remembered. C.J. Lewis decided to take a steaming number 2 all over this song in 1994 so it's best we move on.

(19) Boney M - Sunny

Another Boney M song in my top 40 you say? Too right! They were the best thing about 1977 for me. This was the second of nine consecutive top ten hits and peaked at number three.  I love their voices, they mix so well with each other and have such rich depth.  They had transformed this Bobby Hebb hit "Sunny" into a disco tune and for that we thank them - it's easy to forget that Boney M were a disco act before they started making religious and nursery rhyme songs.

(18) Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love

The he-be Beegees spent five weeks at number three with this record. If you can write something this amazing and not get to number one, you must first have a little sit down in a cupboard with your head in your hands and then realise you must have been kept from the top spot by something pretty special? Well, at number 2 was 'The Floral Dance' by 'Brighouse and Raistrick Brass Band' and at number one... Mull of ***kin'tyre.

(17) Boz Scaggs - Hollywood

I consider this to be the first 80s song. Yeah, we're just over 2 years away but this was at least five years ahead of it's time.  A brilliant song in all respects, it only reached number 33 and Boz never made the top forty again.

(16) Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart

Yeah, Leo is in my top 40 a few times and I'm not even sorry.  Not only had he recently had his first UK number one, but he'd also broken the USA!  Sadly for Leo, this was his first hit not to make the top ten, as it stalled at number 22. This song was resurrected in the 2000s and got to number one for two weeks.  Irene Cara of 'Fame' fame also covered this.

(15) Deniece Williams - Free

As masterpieces go, this is up there with the best vocal performances of the century.  This got to number one and was Deniece Williams' first hit.

Though I can't find any reference online, I'm sure I heard someone like En Vogue singing this - probably just a live non-album version for the hell of it. Dina Carroll brought back all of Deniece's vocal sensibilities in 1993; all homage and no irony.

(14) Leo Sayer - When I Need You

After reaching number two three times, Leo Sayer finally reached the top with his sixth hit single, the only one of the six not written by him! In America this was his second consecutive number one. "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" had already been to number one and spent 17 weeks in the top 40. The Barron Knights then did their own version :

(13) Queen - We Are The Champions

This was a massive hit and spent three weeks at number two. It's endured throughout the years too. It's also part of that annoying Mandela effect thing people keep going on about where they say you believe something happened that didn't. Then try and prove it's a real thing by going 'You think the last part of the song is 'we are the champions of the world' when in fact it's 'we are the champions...' and then it ends.  Next time someone says this, they want to hope I don't have access to a pointy stick.

(12) Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way

Harold Melvin got to number five with his version and a couple of weeks later, Thelma released the definitive version. She only got to number 13 and there were many people who bought both versions rather than just picked their favourite and stuck with it. If you were a buyer of singles, you'd probably pick up five or six in one go.  Over nine years later the battle in the UK was belatedly won by the Communards who hit number one and had the biggest selling single of 1986. The Communards version takes elements of Thelma's version which are missing from Harold's (most noteably, the bass guitar motif in the chorus which they transpose to brass).

(11) Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

As previously mentioned, none of the singles from Rumours got above 29.  This only managed to place at 38! If you want to hear some raw emotion, give this isolated vocal version a whirl :

(34) Let The Music Play - Barry White

I loved Barry White's hair when it looked like a Judge's wig.  This really showcases his voice and isn't his usual tepid fare. This was his fourth top ten hit in under 18 months. It got to number nine.

(33) Daddy Cool - Boney M

This sums up the word 'Groovy'. This was Boney M's first hit. This got to number six and spent 12 weeks in the top 40.  The music press called them 'More plastic than the records themselves', which meant they were being a proper pop chart act with great singles and entertaining videos. The bloke in Boney M wasn't actually the singer - the voice on the records was the producer. Much like Milli Vanilli!

(32) Under The Moon Of Love - Showaddywaddy

Who thought the 50s would be popular in the 70s? Showaddywaddy did and they built their entire career around writing original 50s sounding songs and covering Rock and Roll songs dressed like the 50s. They also used Timpanis in this song which I loved. They always reminded me of Butlins entertainers; must have been the jackets.

(31) You Are My Love - Liverpool Express

Because the singles chart was such a huge part of the fabric of how society operated in the 70s and 80s, having a number 11 hit single was massive! Especially when it's your first single as it was for this band. Current hit singles were everywhere back then; TV, radio, over the tannoys in shops. We didn't have entertainment beyond the TV and radio apart from the cinema, and as you'll see in the following few years, a lot of songs entered the singles chart because of their association with films.  In fact, the theme from Jaws was in the chart in 1976. That would never happen these days. Being in a band which had been in the charts was a huge deal back then. How society has changed! Anyway, this is a beautiful single - it's got summer written all over it.

(30) Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

Wow! All these instruments are played by people! I won't keep banging on about the lack of humans in the charts these days but just stick this on, lie back and let it tickle your ear drums.

(29) Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton

Probably one of my favourite vocalists with one of the best singles of the 70s.  The start always reminds me of 'Play your Cards Right'. How it only got to number 2 is a mystery. 'You got the love' is also great even though when it was released in 1986 she couldn't remember having recorded it!

(28) Fooled Around And Fell In Love - Elvin Bishop

Elvin Bishop reached number 34 with this. He was a guitarist and passed vocal duties to Mickey Thomas who later sang with Starship '(Nothings gonna stop us now' et al.) This is classic easy listening at its best.

(27) I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me - Jimmy James

Jimmy James And The Vagabonds were having their first hit, since their debut with "Red Red Wine" in 1968. They would only reach number 23 this time, but better times were coming for the band. I almost got to see them at a theatre in Skegness whilst there on a family holiday but I think we went to see Duncan Norvelle instead. Good times.

(26) Silver Star - Four Seasons

This was the Four Seasons' last big hit. It had an odd chart performance; entered at 27, up to 16 then 6, dropped to 9, climbed to 3, dropped to 21, went back up to 16, dropped to 31, 39 then out. I try to ignore the fact it's about a sheriff in the wild west.

(25) Can't Get By Without You - Real Thing

This got to number 2. The 1986 remix got to number 6 and I remember David 'Kid' Jensen introducing the song on his chart run down asking the question, 'Will Argentina beat England tonight?' and then played the song which went 'No way, no way, no way'.  England lost. Cheers Dave.

(24) You See The Trouble With Me - Barry White

I think I've said this before but there's a phenomenon where you believe a song is a great song because somewhere deep down, you have an emotional connection with it. It reminds you of something good or of a great summer etc.  There's another where you like a bit of a song - not the entire thing, just one bit. Like when Faithless' Insomnia kicks in around the middle bit.  This Barry White tune is one of those.  I absolutely love the time signature change just after he goes 'craz-eehhhh'.  Brilliant. Maybe the song isn't that great but I love that part so it's here number 24.

Barry's second biggest hit this.  Hit number 2 and was his last top ten hit.

(23) Evil Woman - E.L.O.

SIgnature E.L.O. sound here. One they used on the Xanadu soundtrack. This was their first hit for two years and it got to number 10. Their other hits this year 'Livin' thing' and 'Strange Magic' were great too.

(22) You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer

Leo had disappeared since hitting number two with "Moonlighting" a year earlier.  This became his third number 2 single in five releases however. I'm always a little disappointed when the brilliant 'I'm in a spin you know' comes in and it's followed by the gentle chorus. After that bridge, it had the potential for a huge chorus, Queen style. Still, it works after a few listens and you get used to it.  I heard Leo a few weeks ago in an interview saying that all his old master tapes were taken and burnt by his ex-manager after a fall out.

(21) I Love To Love - Tina Charles

Catchy. Danceable. This was Tina Charles first hit, at least the first with her name on the record; she'd sung lead vocal on the 5000 Volts number four hit "I'm On Fire" the previous year. This as at number 1 for three weeks. There's a great use of delay on the 'stop-op-op-op' part. Well played to the engineers.

(20) If You Leave Me Now - Chicago

Chicago's entry to the 'most recognisable intro of all time' competition.  What a song to comeback from five years in the chart wilderness. Three weeks at number one. The key change is the thing that lifts this from being a lovely song to an achingly brilliant song. The bit where the strings kick in and he sings 'A love like ours ... how could we let it slip away'.

(19) Life Is Too Short Girl - Sheer Elegance

This starts like it's going to be one of those novelty songs by a French singer like Charles Aznavour. They reached number nine, but was the last hit for the band who found fame via the 'New Faces' talent show. It's got a sense of Phil Spector about this, in my opinion anyway.

(18) Anarchy In The UK - Sex Pistols

This was the kick the charts needed in late 76. The amount of great bands that followed and were influenced by the anger, the sentiment, the sound and the sheer entertainment value of John Lydon was amazing.  The Police, The Jam, The Stranglers, The Clash... the list goes on. This only got to number 38 but there was a huge buzz around the band itself because of the controversy, the way it was put together and then them swearing on TV and the overdose of one of it's members which was made into a film. It's a bit of a paradox really, them singing about anarchy yet conforming to the methods of ensuring the single was chart eligible and then paying tax on the royalties.

(17) Don't Take Away The Music - Tavares

This hit number 4, as did Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel. Simple, effective, lovely.

(16) Wake Up Everybody - Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes

I've become a secret Harold Melvin fan since doing these best single countdowns. This is superb. It was also the last single before Teddy Pendergrass went solo. I've also since discovered that it was these what wrote 'Don't leave me this way'.

(15) Arms Of Mary - Sutherland Brothers And Quiver

See, all you needed back then was skill with an instrument, a good voice or the ability to pen a nice tune. It didn't matter that you looked like a Science Technician in a Comprehensive School wearing a pleather jacket.  This got to number five. They wrote Rod Stewart's 'Sailing' of course but couldn't reach the chart with their own version.

(14) Never Gonna Fall In Love Again - Dana

This was a cover of an Eric Carmen song which was a 'homage' to Rachmaninoff. However, the original single had all the sensibilities of the type of song you'd see on an early evening Saturday night entertainment show back then. Lovely melody, albeit by Rach-man (as I call him). There isn't a version of this on Spotify but Dana re-recorded it in 1996 (which is the version on my playlist above) and I'm positive it would have been a hit in this form for Whitney or Mariah or Celine. She might have had a hit with it herself if it had been released as a single.

(13) It Should Have Been Me - Yvonne Fair

Good grief Yvonne! Hold something back! This cover of Gladys Knight's 1968 hit is far superior to the original.  If only Tina Turner had done a version of this.  Yvonne sent this to number 5 and my most enduring memory of this song is when it was used in an episode of 'Vicar of Dibley' with Dawn French lip-syncing.

(12) Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band

A number 10 hit for this one hit wonder. Brilliant production on this and a great voice captured on vinyl perfectly.  This is an absolute cracking single.  I'd have bought this with my pocket money if I was old enough to start getting pocket money. (I was a year old in 1976)

(11) Devil Woman - Cliff Richard

A bit of a turning point for Cliffy - and I liked quite a lot of his records from the early 80s onwards. This is his own favourite of his songs - which reached number 9 and was referenced endlessly by Rik Mayall in the Young Ones. Saying the Devil woman is going to get you from behind is a little out of character for Cliff, don't you think?

(34) Sky High - Jigsaw

Another cop show theme tune that wasn't one. That first verse though! It should have been used in a more dramatic song. However, it was pleasant enough and the chorus makes up for the sin of trying to make this a disco single.  They hit number nine with this and spent a total of ten weeks in the top 40. Jigsaw had to wait almost two years for their only other hit.

(33) Mandy - Barry Manilow

Oh Barry! You came and stopped without waiting... (or something). This was his first British hit and it hit number 11. It took him four years for another top 40 hit and almost eight years before his first (and only) top ten single. "Mandy" was originally a hit for Scott English when it hit number 12 under it's original title of "Brandy" in 1971.

(32) I'm Stone In Love With You - Johnny Mathis

I always remember thinking how friendly Johnny looked.  Along with Neil Diamond, Johnny had the most recognisable voice to me at a very young age. This was a surprise hit because the Stylistics had only just had a hit with it two years before. The original hit number 9; Johnny got to number 10.  People liked to hear songs sung by their favourite singers in the 50s so there'd be like three or four versions of the same song in the charts by different people. Seems that trend was still sort of true.  Even in 1974 and 1975, there were instances of the same song in the chart twice by different people. Significantly, this was Johnny's first hit since 1960. He followed with another three hits before the seventies were out.

(31) Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale

I don't know how but this song was almost an exact copy of "Goodbye Nothing To Say" by the Javells from 1974. I can't find anything on the internet about it being borrowed or licenced or by the same writer or anything. So, they must have just got away with it and got to number eight during a seven week chart run.

(30) The Hustle - Van McCoy

I'm not sure if this is a novelty single like the Macarena and Mambo Number 5 or not.  It's superb regardless. Van was behind lots of other hits for different artists over the previous few years but had a go on his own and spent two weeks at number three.

(29) Imagine Me Imagine You - Fox

It wouldn't surprise me if the lead singer of Fox was also the lead singer of Goldfrapp.  Definitely odd before Kate Bush's time.  She had such a distinctive voice and vocal style, this was bound to be a hit.  A lot of Fox hits featured time signature changes mid-verse, which only added to non-musical people's intrigue. They only got to number 15 with this. Lead singer Noosha Fox's stage name is a sort of anagram of her real first name, Susan (Nussa).

(28) Listen To What The Man Said - Wings

How do you follow an album like 'Band on the Run'? Well, Paul McCartney could write songs in his sleep and not just that, ones that were pleasant rather than spectacular. This is one of those songs which plods along and is very nice to listen to but was never going to be one of the songs mentioned in the same breath as other 70s classics in 40 years time.  He did cover the Crossroads theme tune on the 'Venus and Mars' album but we forgive him for that.  This song hit number six but neither of the next two singles got into the top 40. It was a full year before he did that again.  Listen to the McCartney version and then have a go of this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx6WuGfOV0Q (I dare you)

(27) Shame Shame Shame - Shirley And Company

Look at their little faces on the single cover.  That's Shirley on the left and I guess the guy on the right is company.  This is pretty funky for a bloke who looks like a Geography teacher.  This was their one and only hit single. The bloke's screaming is a little bit annoying but doesn't spoil it too much.  Research leads me to discover that Sinitta covered this in 1992. I hope to the sweet lord above that I never accidentally hear that version.  This song is a bit like Lord of the Rings (Return of the King) in that it fades out and you think it's over and then it fades back in and it goes on for another minute.

(26) Harmour Love - Syreeta

This is the ex-Mrs. Stevie Wonder with a lovely tune. It peaked at number 32, before she endured a four year absence from the chart.  Not entirely sure what Harmour love is but I want some.

(25) Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

I hate this. Well, not the song, just the vocal performance.  I personally can't stand his voice and I'm judging this as the 25th best single of 1975 purely on the catchy single-ness of it all.  I don't know who told him he could sing but to add insult to my personal injury - I went to see Phantom of the Opera in London in the early 90s and who should be unexpectedly playing the Phantom?  Steve EFFING Harley.  I mean WHY? How?  Anyway, this song got to number 1 not surprisingly.  I knew of this song only because it was the B-side of Duran Duran's Number 1 hit 'The Reflex'.  It was recorded live at one of the Duranies concerts if memory serves and they murdered it.

(24) I Only Have Eyes For You - Art Garfunkel

When Simon And Garfunkel went their separate ways, most expected Paul Simon to be the most successful of the two. Many think he has been. But, the UK singles chart tell a different tale. Paul has had seven minor hits along with three top ten hits, the biggest being the number four placing of "You Can Call Me Al" in 1986. Art Garfunkel on the other hand hit number one with his first two releases. "I Only Have Eyes For You" would eventually knock David Essex off the top and spend two weeks in pole position before rapidly plummeting down the chart. The song had been originally recorded by 'The Flamingos'.

(23) Fox On The Run - Sweet

Someone got a Synthesizer for Christmas didn't they?  This was loud! They'd changed their style a bit from their previous hits and they were about to go into full Queen mode with their next single.  The single before this, 'Turn it down' hadn't been playlisted by the BBC because it had the word 'bum' in the lyrics.  It only reached 41 but this single shot up to number 2.

(22) How Does It Feel - Slade

I might have said this before but, how good were Slade?  It's a surprise to me that I had to go digging to hear most of their 70s hits and that they didn't just naturally progress out into the 80s and beyond on radio and television.  Like what David Bowie and Queen did.  This was the first Slade single in ten releases not to make the top three. In fact it didn't go higher than number 15; Criminal.  Oh for something this good to be released these days!!

(21) Three Steps To Heaven - Showaddywaddy

This was the first cover version hit single of Showaddywaddy's career, and it was such a success (number 2), that when they later stopped having big hits with their own original songs they went back to the covers and re-activated their hit career.

(20) There's A Whole Lot Of Loving - Guys And Dolls

You might recognise David Van Day and Theresa Bazaar from Dollar at the bottom of the single cover.  This was 'Guys And Dolls' first and biggest hit, reaching number two. Bruce Forsyth's daughter was in the group too.  If you get a chance, have a look at the David Van Day - Bucks Fizz saga on Wikipedia. It deserves its own film. He wasn't an original member but after joining as a replacement temporarily, he contested the ownership of the band name and then went and recorded a lot of old Bucks Fizz songs so that his voice was on them, and released it as a Bucks Fizz album. It's just weird.   This song is great though.

(19) Your Kiss Is Sweet - Syreeta

This is in my countdown simply for the verse alone; its such a lovely song.  This was her first time in the top 40, and also her biggest solo hit. It reached number 12. She didn't have a price sticker on her head in real life.

(18) Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees

This was the first hit for the Gibb brothers since 1972, and also the beginning of their involvement in disco music. It spent two weeks at number five. The song was taken to number seven in 1987 when it was covered by Boogie Box High. At the time, nobody could confirm who the lead vocalist was, even though everyone knew it was George Michael (something about his contract with a record label and royalties or something).  Boogie Box High was a musical project of Andros Georgiou's (George's Cousin) that also featured Nick Heyward!

(17) Action - Sweet

I'm not sure if this was written by Queen, performed by Queen or whether the ghosts of Queen inhabited Sweet's bodies during the writing and recording of this but, it's basically Queen.  Using the same Synthesizer as previous (Fox on the run), they also layered some huge orchestral strings with power guitars straight out of Brian May's repertoire.  The layered vocals were straight from Freddie Mercury's too. Great song however which proves bands were doing what The Darkness were doing, and better, thirty years before they were.  This only got to number 15. Maybe the public weren't ready?

Def Leppard covered this in 1994 and got to number 14. Maybe the public still weren't ready?  The band on the single cover look like their manager has just asked them all to get haircuts.

(16) Mama Mia - ABBA

If anyone was worthy of knocking Bohemian Rhapsody off Number 1 it was this - and they both had the words 'Mamma Mia' in them!

Abba had released a few singles after 'Waterloo' but nobody thought they were going to be anything special.  However, SOS got to number 6 in October 1975 and then Number 1 with this.  They then had another five number 1's from the next six singles! It spent two weeks at number 1 and catapulted the band to international stardom that endures to this very day.

(15) That's The Way (I Like It) - K.C. And The Sunshine Band

Love it or hate it, this is infectious and remains a staple of wedding receptions up and down the land.  This was their 4th and biggest hit. They'd already defined disco with George McCrae's 'Rock your baby', which they wrote, and further defined it here.  It was the song that sparked the Media into a 'Disco is here' frenzy.  I can imagine it was impossible to escape this song at the time. It would have been on TV, radio and fair grounds the entire time.  It does go on a bit!

(14) Lady Marmalade - Labelle

This song has been murdered a fair few times over the years.  All Saints did a version in 1998 which wasn't awful but then Missy Elliot and P!nk and some others got their hands on it in 2000 and completely missed the point.   It didn't set the world alight at the time; it only got to number 17 but it's considered a classic these days.  Even the Happy Monday's borrowed the chorus for their hit 'Kinky Afro'. I'll bet they did it unconsciously - Shaun Ryder did most things unconsciously in them days.

(13) Get Down Tonight - K.C. And The Sunshine Band

If 'That's the way' didn't make you want to tear your ears off, here's another from KC and the SB.  This one was better though because it wasn't as repetitive but still an impossibly catchy single.  I've never been sure how that voice came out of that bloke.  My favourite by them is still 'Give it up' however.  Get down tonight got to 21 in the chart but has been used in numerous TV commercials and films so it never went away. It's probably been sampled dozens of times too.

(12) Ding-A-Dong - Teach In

OK so, hear me out before you switch off the playlist and never listen to anything I recommend ever again.  Eurovision is full of brilliant songs. Songs which are so sadly laughed at and forgotten far too easily.  I first heard this song when Erasure sang the chorus in between songs at a concert I went to in 1991.  I had no idea what it was but just that 5 second blast stayed in my head for years until I was researching this list.  The song is pure Eurovision!! This won the competition that year and got to number 13. The song was parodied in the recent Will Ferrell film about Eurovision which actually spawned an unbelievable song called 'Husavik (My Hometown)'.  I urge you to listen to it.... here in fact : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21c3duHlFAc

(11) I Believe In Father Christmas - Greg Lake

In almost any other year, this would have been the Christmas number one. But it had to settle for three weeks at number two behind Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It would have been better if it wasn't actually about Christmas but then, it gets played every single year so maybe it's for the best. Not sure why the single cover says Emerson Lake and Palmer... this was just by Greg Lake.

(10) All Around My Hat - Steelye Span

I love this song. This group remind me of Fairground Attraction and All About Eve, both of which were New Age folk types. I remember singing this a lot when I was young. In fact, I think this and Boney M's 'Rivers of Babylon' are the two songs I have the earliest memories of.   If a three year old is skipping around the house singing it after a  few listens it's probably catchy enough to be a hit.  This song whizzed up to number five within 2 weeks of entering the top 40 and looked a likely Christmas number one. But it took a nosedive and ended up at number 19 by Christmas.

(9) Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Yes, it's only at number 9.  And that's because it's a great song but only a good single.  What I mean by that is, it's two songs mashed together which makes for an epic 8 minutes but it's not something I like to sit and listen to as much as the eight songs ahead of it in my countdown.  A single needs to make you engage, and probably only for about three minutes before you put the needle back to the start and listen again. You can't do any of that with BoRap. Bay City Rollers' "Bye Bye Baby" was the longest running number 1 for four years when it hit the top in '75. Queen entered at 17, climbed to number nine the following week and then to number one for nine weeks.  This was the longest number 1 placing since Paul Anka managed it with "Diana" in 1957.

Only "Cara Mia" by David Whitfield & "Rose Marie" by Slim Whitman had spent more time at the top. BoRap returned to the top spot in 1991 following Freddie Mercury's death.  In fact, it hit the top at the end of 1975 and was still there in 1976, then at the end of 1991 and was still there in 1992 meaning the song was number one in four different years! There's a quiz question for you!

There was something fishy going on with Kenny Everett at the time of release - Everett got his hands on an early pressing of the song with strict instructions not to broadcast it. Somehow, by accident, he played the song 14 times over the course of two days. Despite my lowly ranking in this singles run down, Bohemian Rhapsody regularly comes out on top of polls as the best song of all time. Maybe it's because a lot of people voting for it weren't around in 1975 and haven't had the joy of hearing the other 8 songs ahead of it in my countdown? Maybe?

(8) I'm Not In Love - 10CC

Atmosphere, that's what this song is all about. It spent two weeks at number 1 and Kevin Godley had far too much hair.

(7) Your Mama Won't Like Me - Suzi Quatro

I could never work out if I liked Suzi Quatro or not. She definitely had character and there was no denying her prowess with a bass guitar but there was something about her that I couldn't get on board with. I still don't know what that is but this is a cracking track.  She'd had six consecutive top twenty hits but moved away from her usual style with this song.  It only reached number 31, and was followed by a run of singles that failed to even reach the top 50. She only hit the top ten twice more with 'If you can't give me love' in 1978 and 'She's in love with you' in 1979.

(6) Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company

All of Bad Company's 70s hits were great. This only got to number 20, proving there was a market for heavier guitars but it wasn't a mainstream one. There's not a lot wrong with this single if you're into that kind of thing. Which I'm not as it goes. Judging by their faces on the single sleeve, it doesn't look like any of them feel line makin' love.

(5) Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins

Adele might have thought she'd cornered the market in heartbreaking ballads a few years ago but she's just a pale imitation of all the greats that have gone before her. That's not to say that there aren't great exponents of the pop ballad these days, but the art of songwriting doesn't seem as well honed as it did back then.  This song is one of the true classics. This got to number six.

(4) Imagine - John Lennon

Just because it's John Lennon. Just because it's one of the most famous songs of all time.  This was actually on his 1971 album "Imagine" and hadn't been released as a single.  It was released in '75 to promote his last album before taking a five year break to raise his son Sean. It entered the chart at number 25, climbed to number six and stayed there for another two weeks. It then dropped to number ten and out of the chart.  It's amazing that it's held in such high esteem despite its modest chart activity.  The record buying public of the time bought more copies of 'Love Hurts' by Jim Capaldi and D.I.V.O.R.C.E by Billy Connolly.  The B side, "Working Class Hero" might actually have been a better choice of single and climbed higher up the chart had it been radio friendly. Maybe Imagine didn't do so well because all his fans had the record already?

(3) Sailing - Rod Stewart

I loathed this song growing up. I thought it was tedious. I'm much more mature now and realise it's actually very very good.  It was number one for four weeks. It fell out of the chart and then re-entered a year later climbing back to number three in another 14 week top 40 run.  I think it was because it was used as the theme tune on some BBC drama or such. The song wasn't Rod's however, it was originally recorded by the Sutherland Brothers. Bet they were gutted it wasn't them having the chart success - but when they looked at their royalty cheque, it probably helped.

(2) S.O.S. - Abba

Something of a comeback for Abba. After having a number one with the Eurovision winner "Waterloo" they had struggled with their next three singles not rising above number 32. Their days looked numbered until this release which was the third from their 'Abba' album. It went on to reach number six and became the first of 18 consecutive top ten hits. Check out the B side of this "Man In The Middle" (also available on the album 'Abba').

(1) Highfly - John Miles

John appeared from nowhere, climbed to number 17, and was gone within five weeks.  This epitomises my definition of a single. As I said all the way at the beginning of this blog journey, I'm looking for three minutes of pure joy. Something I want to listen to a number of times in a row. The thing that separates this song from the rest of the 1975 pack for me is the musicianship and the changes in pace. Whether he was influenced by Queen (as a lot of people were beginning to be around then) or not is debatable but there are elements of 10CC and Roy Wood here but they were contemporaries so I'm going to give John 'Music' Miles the benefit of the doubt. Please listen to this if you haven't before.

Honourable Mentions

Glass of Champagne - Sailor

This song challenged Bohemian Rhapsody for the top spot at the end of the year but didn't climb any higher than number 2. There was a lot of 'Sparks' about this. Quite original for it's time but I'm afraid Sparks got there first.

You Can Have It All - George McCrae

This only managed 23 in the chart. Great voice and a very nice song to have on in the background.

You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

This hit the top ten in three separate decades. Their biggest hit was "So You Win Again", a number 1 in 1977 but this is probably their best known song. It spent three weeks at number two.

Crying Over You - Ken Boothe

The follow up to the big number one hit "Everything I Own" spent two weeks at number 11. We didn't see him in the chart again.

Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Rollers

The Bay City Rollers finally achieved a number one single with the release of this cover of a song that was a complete flop in the UK for the Four Seasons ten years earlier. They didn't just hit the top, they spent six weeks there and had the biggest selling single of the year with it.

Roll Over Lay Down - Status Quo

Status Quo were following their number one single "Down Down", with a live recording of a track from their 1973 album 'Hello'. "Roll Over Lay Down" would peak at number nine.

Only You Can - Fox

Goldfrapp, I mean, Fox hit number three with this. It was another song with time signature changes in it and a sing-a-long-a bit with the oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-nly you can.

Shoorah Shoorah - Betty Wright

This wan't played very often on the radio and not a lot of people got to hear it so it barely reached the top 40. I think there was a lot of that going on. You were never going to hear every single song released and the only ones you did hear were on the radio or the local disco (if you were of that age). John Peel sorted that out though; he used to play loads of obscure stuff and kickstarted a lot of bands' careers who might have existed for a couple of singles max otherwise.  This was a lovely little record though and deserved better even though it was quite retro for it's time.

We Love Each Other - Charlie Rich

Just lovely. If Elvis had lived to his 60s he might have sounded like this. More great background music but worth a spin if you've got a couple of minutes spare.

What Am I Gonna Do With You - Barry White

A number five hit for Bazza.  If you've heard any Barry White single, you'll know what this sounds like. Lots of talking over the intro and then the build and then the chorus. It was a formula, but it worked.

Good Loving Gone Bad - Bad Company

This only got to number 31. Shocking. I'm not great on the facts here but everything about this song screams AC/DC, KISS and Iron Maiden. Were they influenced by Bad Company? Or did all those bands already exist and they were in the same stable. Whichever, it's very distinctive. Maybe they were all influenced by Free?

Sing A Happy Song - George McCrae

This criminally only spent one week in the top 40. Look at his face... of course he's singing a happy song.

Where Is The Love - Betty Wright

This reached number 25. Despite Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway having the original hit version of this song back in 1972, it was Betty who wrote the song. She had no more hits despite a couple of near misses in the late 80's. If you're familiar with early 80s pop, then you can imagine Kid Creole or Modern Romance having a hit with a cover of this.

Once Bitten Twice Shy - Ian Hunter

'ellaw! Ex 'Mott The Hoople' vocalist Ian Hunter was having his first and only solo hit with this number 14. This felt a lot like he was trying to sound like Steve Harley or an extra on Eastenders.

Tears On My Pillow - Johnny Nash

This was Johnny's first hit single in almost three years, and also his only number one (one week at the top). Absolutely gorgeous song this. 1975 was full of really great ballads. Probably the best year for ballads ever?

Take Me In Your Arms - Doobie Brothers

I don't know why the Doobie Brothers aren't regarded more highly than they are. (see my commentary on Slade)  They were massive in the USA but the UK just didn't want to know.  Their 1972 single "Listen To The Music" made a small dent in the chart when re-issued in 1974 (a truly timeless song which sounds great even today!) by reaching number 29. Then came this much less memorable single which also peaked at number 29. It would be over 18 years before they bettered number 29, and that was with a re-issue of a 20 year old track called "Long Train Running" which surprisingly reached number seven.

My White Bicycle - Nazareth

I like unusual songs and this is as unusual as it comes. It was a cover of a song previously recorded by Tomorrow and it rose to number 14.

I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You - Gilbert O'Sullivan

He was the king of the bland single was Gilbert. This very nice song peaked at number 14 however, but he had to wait five years for his next and final hit.

Fancy Pants - Kenny

Kenny were following up "The Bump" with this upbeat Bay City Rollers-sounding romp. It reached number four, and was their last top five single. Terrible name for a band by the way.

In Dulci Jubilo - Mike Oldfield

After 3 weeks just outside the top 20, this took a surprising jump up the chart to number 4 in the middle of January. This is rolled out every Christmas on the radio and those 'top 20288 songs of Christmas' documentaries.  It's a traditional Christmas carol that Bach used loads in his chorales. You'll just have to take my word for that though.

Swing Your Daddy - Jim Gilstrap

Jim Gilstrap went to number four with his only hit. He sings 'Your love Jones out of control' which is probably accurate? I'm not sure how to swing your daddy but it probably involves a system of weights and pulleys. (he also had a song called 'Take your daddy for a ride'. Maybe he took him to Alton Towers for the day?)

Blue Guitar - Justin Hayward & John Lodge

This might as well have been released as a Moody Blues single despite only two of them being on the song. It probably would have got to number one but I assume most people didn't know who these fellas were by their real life names. It got to number eight.

I Can Do It - Rubettes

The Rubettes were having their fourth hit and reached number seven. This was a proper school disco song - even though the lead singer spends most of the song whinging about when he was born and how he's too old for this and too young for that.  However, he can really rock so he doesn't seem too cut up about things.

Please Mr. Postman - Carpenters

This final top five single for the Carpenters was a cover of a song that was, in it's original form by the 'Marvelettes', Motown Records first Billboard number one (and it featured the drumming talents of Marvin Gaye). This cover was also a Billboard number one, but settled for number two in the UK. The Beatles also recorded it for their 1964 album 'With The Beatles'. This doesn't really suit the Carpenters very well but it's a decent effort.

Now I'm Here - Queen

Freddie with his signature call and response followed by swirling vocals and some pretty nifty studio trickery. Queen were all about the art of the music weren't they? Not just catchy tunes but real craft.