Hey all!

 

This is my debut on this forum. Gezza's glorious Top 200 biggest selling female soloist rundown has inspired me to have crack at doing my own personal rundown of my favourite singles of the 80s!

 

Now, this is a bit of a challenge considering I was born in 1983 but with chart music being the dire state it's been of late (yes I'm getting old), I have thrown myself into this wonderful decade. Often ridiculed for horrendous fashion, dodgy cuisine and some terrible songs (some may show up on this list!) I love the 80s all the more for it! For me, the 80s has the greatest legacy culturally (certainly better than the 90s and 00s). So, stick your chicken kiev in the oven, slip on those clip on ear rings... This is the 80s BABY!

Edited February 21, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

80

Jermaine Stewart/We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off...

HCP:2/1986

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Take_Our_Clothes_Off.jpg

 

The new breed will recognise this in a recent Cadburys ad (with the dancing clothes). Very 1986, and not just production-wise... By this time, AIDS was rarely removed from Headlines and safe sex, or preferably, no sex was the order of the day (of course, safe sex should always be the way but I digress...). The song was, as it says in the tin, about not having sex on the first date. Unfortunately, the outcome was all too ironic... Jermaine died of AIDS nine years later. What was left behind was undisputed joyous pop that has left its mark in the pop vaults!

 

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

79

Fresh 4 Feat Lizz E/Wishing On A Star

HCP:10/1989

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AjgOa8SML._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

Hip-Hop/RnB was making some seriously impact on the charts. This time, it's a British take on a all-so-familar 70s classic from Rose Royce (also covered by Paul Weller, but I'd rather not talk about his odious retake). The sleepy breakbeats and swirly noises are trippy and gorgeous. Some 23 years on, it still sounds remarkably fresh and easily

 

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

78

M/A/R/R/S/Pump Up The Volume

HCP:1/1987

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/MarrsPumpUpTheVolumeAD707.jpg

 

The first of a fair few chart toppers to grace my top 80. House music was born in Chicago (or so history suggests) but by 87, the UK were already putting their stamp on it. This was a project consisting of several British DJs and and several hundred samples, one of which got them in a lot of trouble with Pete Waterman!! 'Jack Your Body' got the first house number one 8 months earlier, but this in my opnion, is far superior! A rightful classic!

 

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

78

M/A/R/R/S/Pump Up The Volume

HCP:1/1987

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/MarrsPumpUpTheVolumeAD707.jpg

 

The first of a fair few chart toppers to grace my top 80. House music was born in Chicago (or so history suggests) but by 87, the UK were already putting their stamp on it. This was a project consisting of several British DJs and and several hundred samples, one of which got them in a lot of trouble with Pete Waterman!! 'Jack Your Body' got the first house number one 8 months earlier, but this in my opnion, is far superior! A rightful classic!

No it wasn't, it was a collaboration between 4AD artists Colourbox and A.R.Kane with some additional input from Chris "C.J." Macintosh and Dave Dorrell. It is still one of the most genious #1s ever.

 

 

77

David Bowie/Fashion

HCP:5/1980

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Bowie_Fashion.jpg

 

It truth be told, I'm not a Bowie fan BUT I'm convinced there is at least a Bowie track for everyone. For me, it's "Fashion". Slightly leftfield, but aggressively funky. Lyrically, it's as relevant as ever so certainly no sign of ageing any time soon!

 

 

No it wasn't, it was a collaboration between 4AD artists Colourbox and A.R.Kane with some additional input from Chris "C.J." Macintosh and Dave Dorrell. It is still one of the most genious #1s ever.

 

Did I say "DJs"?? I meant producers/artists... eeek! (Though I'm sure they were sometime DJs too)

Edited February 20, 201213 yr by ScottyEm

76

Kate Bush/Hounds Of Love

HCP:18/1986

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Hounds_of_Love_(song)_cover.jpg

Rather like Bowie, another national treasure but an artist who unfortunately doesn't register 100% on my music radar. But "Hounds Of Love" is certainly one I appreciate enormously, dramatic, uncompromising - rather like Bush herself.

 

 

75

Fine Young Cannibals/I'm Not The Man I Used To Be

HCP:20/1989

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Fine_Young_Cannibals_-_I'm_Not_the_Man_I_Used_to_Be.jpg

 

Fine Young Cannibals? Oh well it has to be 'She Drives Me Crazy', right? Nope! Sadly, this underated little gem rarely gets a look in, due to it's modest chart position and being the 4th single off the album "The Raw and The Cooked". The James Brown breakbeat sample (used many a time since, most recently on Emeli Sande) runs along Rolands melancholic (and rather high) vocals and is more than a nod to the emerging dance/RnB sound that would only grow into the next decade, literally just round the corner...

 

74

The Human League/The Sound Of The Crowd

HCP:12/1981

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Sotccover.jpg

 

Possibly the greatest band to come from Sheffield, Oakey and Co were rarely out of the charts during the early part of the 80s. While I like a fair few of theirs (and it looks like I'm getting dragged to see them live this December), it's this that just about makes my personal 80s list. What makes it all the more endearing is Oakeys shouty-like vocals, almost demanding you to PUT IT OUT THERE! And in 1981 and in the grip of Thatcherism, there was no better time..

 

73

Madonna/True Blue

HCP:1/1986

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Madonna-True-Blue-5380.jpg

 

I shouldn't like this, but I just do. A lot. Totally shameless ode to cutesy 1950s-style love songs, with a sparkly 1980s makeover. The subject matter is Sean Penn, so it's little wonder why Madge ensured it was ommited from both "The Immaculate Collection" and most recent "Celebration" compilations.

 

72

Duran Duran/The Reflex

HCP:1/1984

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/The_Reflex.jpg

 

At 72, it's a case of song-you-love-by-a-band-you-don't. Can't say I care for Duran Duran, however "The Reflex" isn't as conventional as their other singles, presumably down to its "shall we add this bit in and hope for the best" production - and all the better for it! It later gave inspiration to a shitty chain of 80s bars!

 

76

Kate Bush/Hounds Of Love

HCP:18/1986

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Hounds_of_Love_(song)_cover.jpg

Rather like Bowie, another national treasure but an artist who unfortunately doesn't register 100% on my music radar. But "Hounds Of Love" is certainly one I appreciate enormously, dramatic, uncompromising - rather like Bush herself.

 

 

Just a glorious pop song..... exciting, joyous and just...perfect.

71

Black Box/Ride On Time

HCP:1/1989

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31mI9wFq+XL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

I'll spare you the story behind this and how Black Box had to eventually surrender 90% of the royalties. We know it already.

 

 

No's 75 & 76 are the only ones on your list thus far that I would contemplate putting into my list. That M/A/R/R/S record never appealed at the time and It hasn't improved with age IMO. I don't positively hate any of them yet so you're doing well!! :D :lol:

No's 75 & 76 are the only ones on your list thus far that I would contemplate putting into my list. That M/A/R/R/S record never appealed at the time and It hasn't improved with age IMO. I don't positively hate any of them yet so you're doing well!! :D :lol:

 

Oh well that's encouraging! :D

Bar True Blue, I reckon you're doing a stellar job so far :cheer:

Bar True Blue, I reckon you're doing a stellar job so far :cheer:

 

Cheers... let's hope you haven't shot yourself in the foot! Anyway I was at a works conference last night so some catching up to do! Let's continue...

 

70

A Guy Called Gerald/Voodoo Ray

No:12/1989

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QckHSaV2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

Considered a landmark house track for several reasons. One of them due to where it was conceived (in a high rise flat in Manchester by Gerald Simpson, hence...) but also it was the first breakthrough acid house track to be 100% British made (and no it wasn't D-Mob "We Call It Acciiiiieed" which ironically was not acid house at all). "Voodoo Ray" is a track that remains close to the heart of any Manc that was out every Saturday in the late 80s (and in my front room at volume 11!)