52 minutes ago, Last Dreamer said:

It's the one from my least favourite music genres, so many songs from this compilation were included in "worst" lists.

Which song to you hate the most?

44 minutes ago, King Rollo said:

Could one of you update the opening post when you have some time? My classic synthpop collection still isn't on there. Thanks.

Will do, KR. I think it's missing a few updates.

Great job Dan!

Disc 1 is currently accompanying my run 🏃‍♀️

Love this one, was always in safe hands with Dan compiling it 💚

The next 'Buzzjack presents' collection takes us back to 1982 when the new wave music of the previous three years was petering out a bit and pop music gained a resurgence. The Top Of The Pops studio had more of a party atmosphere with both performers and the audience wearing colourful outfits. This four disc compilation contains all the highlights from the singles chart that year with all but four of the songs reaching the top 20.

Disc 1:

This is the pop disc so we start with the best selling single of the year, 'Come On Eileen', which is followed by five more number 1 singles, the last of which is by Bucks Fizz who had two chart toppers and 'The Land Of Make Believe' is the one I chose to include. They had won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK the previous year, and this year's entry by Bardo is up next. A dose of Americana from Tony Basil and the J Geils Band is followed by the emerging English pop groups Wham!, ABC and Haircut 100 as well as Spandau Ballet who'd been around a little longer. Modern Romance and Kid Creole provide some salsa rhythms before we get to five female led singles which include two new girl groups, Toto Coelo and Bananarama. The disc finishes with two more number 1s from Shakin' Stevens and Captain Sensible.

Disc 2:

This is the new wave and synthpop disc starting with the other act who had two number 1s and 'Town Called Malice' had to be the Jam single to be included. It was only last week that a cover version of 'Rock The Casbah' won the retro song contest and the original is up next. Future husband and wife Jim Kerr and Chrissie Hynde are back to back with their respective groups while 'Party Fears Two' and 'Golden Brown' are two of the most memorable songs from the year. The synthpop starts with one of New Order's early hits 'Temptation', Vince Clarke's new group Yazoo and his old one, Depeche Mode, showing they can cope without him. 'Mad World' and 'Living On The Ceiling' are both classics from the genre while 'The Damned Don't Cry' by Visage is a gem that might be a new discovery for some. 'Say Hello Wave Goodbye' and 'Save A Prayer' are my favourite singles by Soft Cell and Duran Duran respectively. The disc concludes in Germany with 'Da Da Da' and the number 1 single 'The Model'.

Disc 3:

The three number 1 singles that start disc 3 from Culture Club, Musical Youth and Eddy Grant all have a hint of reggae about them while the next four songs fit loosely into the dance and hip hop genres. I made sure I picked the 12 inch version of 'The Message'. There's some post disco from Odyssey and Donna Summer with her superb cover of the Jon & Vangelis song 'State Of Independence'. Things get funky from 'Get Down On It' all the way down to 'Just An illusion'. Hall and Oates and the Steve Miller Band combined funk and rock so they are up next, transitioning us the the rock music that concludes the disc, culminating with the movie theme 'Eye Of The Tiger' by Survivor.

Disc 4:

This is where the ballads and slow paced songs reside, starting with some rather cheesy number 1 singles which haven't aged quite as well as the rest of the music on the collection. The English version of Eurovision winner 'A Little Peace' is not on Spotify so we get the German language version instead. The soul music is provided by Fat Larry's Band and two singers from the 60s making a comeback, Dionne Warwick and Marvin Gaye. Hot Chocolates' tale of playground love, 'It Started With A Kiss', is here along with Chas & Dave's finest song 'Ain't No Pleasing You'. Two personal favourites of mine, the Trevor Horn produced 'Give Me Back My Heart' by Dollar and what I think is Abba's best song 'The Day Before You Came' are next, both clocking in at more than five minutes in length. The soft rock is provided by Foreigner and Chicago while 'Las Palabras De Amor' is an overlooked song from Queen's vast back catalogue. Things slow down even further with the next three songs, Dire Straits' epic 'Private Investigations', an unlikely number 2 hit, and the haunting sounds of 'Ghosts' and the theme from 'Harry's Game' which you will know from Chicane's 'Saltwater', one of the songs on the last 'Buzzjack presents' compilation. We finish with 'A Winter's Tale' which is now a staple of Christmas playlists.

Go and have a listen now to the playlists below. Thanks to Colm for providing the cover art.

Disc 1:

Disc 2:

Disc 3:

Disc 4:

The whole playlist:

Unsurprisingly I am loving the look of Disc 2 in particular!

A stellar job Rollo, many thanks. I had a look through all of the other hits/classics from 1982 and I couldn't think of anything significant missing. Really nicely sequenced too and a great write-up.

Great artwork too Colm.

When I listened to this album a few days ago, it occured to me that around as much time has passed between Dizzee Rascal's Dream (which sampled Happy Talk) and today as there was time between Happy Talk and Dream. Mad.

Edited April 14Apr 14 by gooddelta

Disc 2 is solid gold. But the whole thing is a great listen with top quality sequencing (I am seeking professional help about my unhealthy obsession with good sequencing).

This is great, thanks Rollo. I'm also a big fan of Disc 2 especially - I had all but four of those songs on my iPod, and it's great to have 'Temptation' included as this was a key track for New Order prior to 'Blue Monday'.

Coming Soon ...

The latest ‘Buzzjack Presents’ edition returns once more to the heavier side of the music scene, focusing this time on ‘90s Rock and era which required a huge amount of severe editing of choice cuts. Therefore, as ever, we’re treading the fine line between ballads and the extreme Metal category and trying to represent big hits and significant milestones. Pop Punk was also dealt short shrift as it’ll likely get its own set in time.

 

The decade was a time of great upheaval and creativity in the genre, inspiring a marked shift in the styles and sounds within the scene,  and long admired underground acts surged in popularity to crossover into the mainstream. Others crafted new musical furrows and created new sub-genres that still provoke strong debate among fans as to whether or not they really are ‘Metal’. By the end of the decade the scene was almost unrecognisable from that which existed in 1990. With that, let's go on a little journey...

 

Disc One

 As 1990 dawned you could be forgiven for thinking the decade would continue to be business as usual and this first disc concentrates almost exclusively on the period of 1990-91. Metal and Rock enjoyed broad popular appeal and bands regularly had notable hits. Iron Maiden kicked of 1990 by scoring a UK #1 single and AC/DC dropped one of their most well known hits in Thunderstruck, with its famous intro. Guns n Roses were still making a reasonable claim to be the biggest Rock band in the world. But the combination of their Punk injected Glam, and the 1988 Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilsation: The Metal Years, had struck the first heavy blow for the L.A. Metal scene that had dominated the latter part of the ‘80s. Between them they had shown the world how formulaic and out of touch with the kids, the scene had become.

 

 Those same kids were starting to look elsewhere for their kicks.

 

Thrash Metal had been the most prominent alternative but bands like Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica had realised that they needed to find a new angle to survive. The rise of Grindcore and Death Metal had taken things much harder and faster then they were looking to go. At the end of the ‘80s Slayer had decided to slow things right down – it gave them a more menacing edge but the same trick played into Metallica’s more melodic strengths. They scored a big hit with Enter Sandman, followed up with a multi-million selling album and became global stars, and so began the debate over whether they were still Metal. New York’s Anthrax, who’d been born from the same melting pot that spawned Hip Hop teamed up with Chuck D and Flava Flav to cover Public Enemy’s Bring Tha Noize. They’d fused Metal and Hip Hop before but not so effectively. This interpretation was so influential it can be claimed to have inspired a generation of musicians.

 

Meanwhile, a handful of bands like Jane’s Addiction, Faith No More and Red Hot Chili Peppers had been plugging away for a number of years with little mainstream recognition, but they were now being picked up on by MTV and college radio and they began to notch up minor hits and acclaimed albums. Further blurring the lines between what could now be defined as Rock music. Elsewhere, U2 had decamped to Germany and had a rethink after the poor reception to the excesses of the Rattle and Hum era, releasing The Fly toward the end of the year. Trent Reznor’s solo project Nine Inch Nails capitalised on the ground Ministry had broken when they welded Industrial to Metal. Head Like a Hole, from NIN’s debut album took him from the bedroom studio to MTV fame. Former Goth legends The Sisters of Mercy dropped their Vision Thing album and showed that they could ramp it up for the new decade by turning into the ‘Rock n Roll groove machine’ they always claimed to be. And, Pantera, the L.A. Glam Metal also rans, ditched their lead singer, cut their hair, switched spandex for baggy shorts and reinvented their sound, playing slower, harder and more aggressive becoming the foremost pioneers of the burgeoning Groove Metal sub-genre.

 

All of this and we’re barely at 1992.

 

 

Disc Two

 

By November 1991 you needn’t have been looking very hard to see that the times were a-changing for the Rock and Metal scene. A swelling of new sounds was pushing up from the underground and the 1991 Reading Festival, Friday bill was a pointer of things to come. Low down on the bill, between Silverfish and Chapterhouse were a decent if unspectacular Seattle band with just the one album behind them. The album, Bleach had been well received but they were overshadowed by contemporaries like Mudhoney, Pixies or Sonic Youth. The 4^th song in their set was a new unreleased song called Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was released in November that same year and would be the catalyst for a sea change in both Rock music and the entire music scene the world over. It became the de facto anthem for Generation X. The band went supernova and literally hundreds of bands, who’d been plugging away in the same scene, followed in their wake. Grunge’s had its own ‘Big 4’ Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains swiped the flag from L.A. and moved the capital to Seattle. Overnight, ‘Hair Metal’ was out of favoutr and began its painful decline.

 

Behind the Seattle bands were many more - L7, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Stone Temple Pilots all became stars in the new ‘Alternative Rock’ era with bands like Rage Against the Machine building of the Rap/Rock crossover or Manic Street Preachers who saw themselves as kindred spirits to Nirvana, despite the musical divergence.

 

Yet by 1994 things had turned again. The scene was built largely by the disaffected youth and many had grown up with personal problems of mental health. Add fame to the mix and it’s a recipe for disaster. The scene’s popularity had given a voice to many who were disenfranchised but it imploded following the death of Kurt Cobain and a desire for something else, perhaps something less introverted and more… fun.

 

In the popular consciousness of the UK,  Britpop took over the role for the more Indie inclined parts of the crowd.

 

However, there were was once again a variety of styles emerging for those who liked things heavier. In 1994 within months of each other, Korn released the groundbreaking Blind, the ripples from which wouldn’t be felt above ground for a good few years and Green Day slipped out Basket Case, another whose influence would become obvious later.  Nirvana’s drummer Dave Grohl created his polished Grunge-lite of Foo Fighters, Tool fused Prog Rock with Metal and Type O Negative added a dash of Black No.1 (as in the hair dye) to help create what has become known as Gothic Metal. Marilyn Manson created his trilogy of concept albums, the second part of which – Antichrist Superstar – turned him into conservative America’s worst nightmare and the by the 2000s the scapegoat for all the countries problems, which whatever he may be guilty of it isn’t that.

Finally by the late ‘90s the effects of Korn’s debut were plain to see – Nu-Metal had arrived in the forms of Slipknot and Limp Bizkit becoming two of the biggest bands of the era. As the decade came to an end the two biggest genres in Rock would be Nu-Metal and Pop Punk

 

One

Two

The Lot

I seem to have it engraved in my mind that 'Enter Sandman' was a late 80's song, when it is actually 1991.

32 minutes ago, AllStarBySmashMouth said:

I seem to have it engraved in my mind that 'Enter Sandman' was a late 80's song, when it is actually 1991.

I remember it all too clearly. It came out just before my birthday, my friend bought The Black Album and Sepultura's Arise on tape and we went over the park with a case of beers and a stereo to do a photo shoot for the band we were in.

Ooi did you guys ever do a Pride edition? Icr! Did a quick search and couldn’t find anything under “Pride”

23 minutes ago, Tafty said:

Ooi did you guys ever do a Pride edition? Icr! Did a quick search and couldn’t find anything under “Pride”

I think @SuperWooper might have something in the works, but I'm not sure.

Thoughts? @gooddelta @Colm

10 hours ago, Tafty said:

Ooi did you guys ever do a Pride edition? Icr! Did a quick search and couldn’t find anything under “Pride”

Something Pride themed is on its way courtesy of @SuperWooper! Albeit probably later in the summer as there are a few projects on the go.

13 hours ago, gooddelta said:

Something Pride themed is on its way courtesy of @SuperWooper! Albeit probably later in the summer as there are a few projects on the go.

It’s okay. I’ve decided that July is Pride Month: Part 2 (The Remix). ‘Cos June was a bit rubbish.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Disc 4

Full album

We are proud to present a very special one-off companion album to an annual we have released previously. 1999 was an amazing year for dance music - perhaps the best ever commercially, with genres like trance and garage at their peak and delivering chart hits week after week, many of which have become classics over time. So we took all of the circa-30 dance songs on our main 1999 album and then added 60 more from that great 12-month period.

Disc 1 kicks off with two of the defining anthems and biggest selling dance hits of the year, ATB’s No.1 summer trance hit 9PM (Till I Come) and our introduction to Dutch act Alice Deejay, presented initially by DJ Jurgen, with the incredible Better Off Alone, which peaked at No.2 for three weeks and missed No.1 by under 500 sales at its closest. It was a great year for Eurodance and that is quickly represented by more No.1s from Eiffel 65 and Vengaboys before more big hits DJs Jean and Sakin. The trance classics get underway with Ayla’s self titled gem and a classic of a similar stature, Carte Blanche by Veracocha, this one of Ferry Corsten’s many aliases at the time and marking the first of six in our run of involvement from the Dutch superstar DJ. His involvement in either the production of or remixes for Binary Finary, System F, Gouryella, William Orbit and Art Of Trance are all sequenced together here. Then it’s across to Germany for Fragma’s No.11 hit Toca Me - which would become a lot more famous in mash-up form the following year, and York’s first hit The Awakening, also a No.11. More timeless trance anthems from Mauro Picotto, Paul Van Dyk and Agnelli & Nelson follow before a hit remix of Alena’s Turn It Around, and this trance heavy disc concludes with Blank & Jones, Lost Tribe, Matt Darey, The Space Brothers, Three Drives on a Vinyl, and Solarstone.

Dance music was having just as good a time at home as it was in Europe and a couple of vintage productions, and top three hits, from Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers, kick off Disc 2. Mr Oizo’s infamous French house hit Flat Beat - helped to No.1. by a Levi’s ad - is then followed by the classic Windowlicker from the legendary Aphex Twin, another French house hit from Cassius and then back to the UK for hits from Basement Jaxx with the brilliant Red Alert, Faithless, Leftfield, Apollo 440, The Wiseguys with a No.2 hit propelled by a Budweiser ad and then Orbital and Underworld. The disc starts to chill out at this point as we hear the beauty of Hybrid, Chicane, Moby, Groove Armada and the atmospheric soundscape of Brother Brown. There is still room for more trance at the end though, as we hear top 40 hits from Lustral, Lost Witness, Airscape, Three ‘n’ One and Liquid Child - notable as being the final track on the UK’s biggest selling Now album, Now 44, so only fair it repeats its closing disc status here.

French house wasn’t the only house doing well just before the new millennium, and the US scored an early year chart topper with You Don’t Know Me, which opens Disc 3 for Armand Van Helden and Duane Harden. British house from Phats & Small and Moloko follow before another American sourced No.1 by the quirky Wamdue Project, and big hits from Bob Marley in remix form, Jamiroquai and Soulsearcher. Pete Heller then provides another house classic in Big Love before we hear once more from Cassius, and Duane Harden (this time with Powerhouse) and then hear more top five hits, from Paul Johnson, Blockster and Mario Più with his ode to the growing mobile phone movement of the late 90s. A summer top ten smash from Yomanda and a top 15 hit from Dope Smugglaz - both using 80s samples - precede a Planet Perfecto remix of 1995 top ten hit Not Over Yet by Grace, and then a top five Roxy Music cover from Emmie. The blissed summer sounds continue with Ruff Driverz and a remix of Inner City’s iconic Good Life before we round this disc out with second appearances in a great year for Basement Jaxx, The Chemical Brothers (with uncredited vocals from Noel Gallagher), Groove Armada (with remix help from Fatboy Slim), and then the Brighton star himself with his No.1 smash Praise You.

Finally, we can’t wave off 1999 without a nod to the quickly growing genre of garage, which peaked the following year commercially but was hugely successful for the first time in ’99, with Artful Dodger’s seminal December No.2 hit Re-Rewind, which launched the career of Craig David, kicking off Disc 4. Shanks & Bigfoot follow with their No.1 hit Sweet Like Chocolate, the UK’s first garage No.1 with a memorable confectionary themed video, and then Doolally (a Shanks & Bigfoot alias) follow with re-released 1998 No.20 hit, Straight From The Heart, which went to No.9 on second release in 1999. The year’s other big garage hit was A Little Bit Of Luck, which unusually for the time entered in the low top 20 in December before climbing to No.9 in the new year on its sixth week on the chart for DJ Luck and MC Neat. A garage remix from Neneh Cherry, by Dreem Teem, follows this and then it’s back to house with hits from Phats & Small, Eclipse, Big Time Charlie, Supercar, The 3 Jays and Mirrorball before a Madonna sampling top 10 hit at the end of the year from Progress and The Boy Wunda. A hardstyle top 10 from early in the year from Porn Kings and then hits from Perfect Phase and Sash! (with an uncredited Dr. Alban) follow prior to Sash’s old friend Tina Cousins, and then a run of mostly second appearances from Eurodance acts to close the disc. DJ Sakin covered Irish/German cult band The Kelly Family for second hit Nomansland, ATB scored a second top three hit with the thumping Don’t Stop, Shaft rode the short-lived mambo craze to deliver No.2 smash (Mucho Mambo) Sway, and Vengaboys had such a huge year that we had to exclude two other top three hits - including a No.1, but plumped for the classic We Like To Party! (The Vengabus), which gave Denise a turn on vocals rather than lead singer Kim for once. Rounding out the disc we have the second top five hit from Alice Deejay, who shared the same producers as Vengaboys, Bryan Adams’ with the Chicane remixed Cloud Number Nine (Bryan would return the favour on Don’t Give Up in 2000), Ann Lee’s twee No.2 smash 2 Times, and finally, the iconic hamster dance song turned top five Christmas smash from Cuban Boys.

With my thanks to Colm for creating the artwork!

Edited yesterday at 10:071 day by gooddelta

Oh this is giving me pure 90s Dance Compilations nostalgia! It's "Clubmix 99" meets the early MOS Annuals, with "Fat Dance Hits" thrown in for good measure! Amazing job @gooddelta

And props on trying to find all the correct UK edits for the spotify playlists! That takes so much effort.

Thanks Adam! A couple of edits weren't available (Wiseguys, DJ Luck & MC Neat) but yes, I went back through chart show recordings and compilations from the time to check the correct edits and mixes are all there where possible!

Just a note that ATFC's In And Out Of My Life would have appeared too but is no longer available to stream (apart from an acapella version and some mixes that don't feature the Fatboy Slim sample).