Such a stacked round, I genuinely love Bananarama but I detest that song.

1. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

2. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

3. M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

4. Years & Years - Take Shelter

5. Texas - When We Are Together

6. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

7. iamamiwhoami - play

8. Depeche Mode - See You

9. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

10. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

11. New Order - Ruined in a Day

12. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

This was the strongest category, there was nothing I really disliked.

1. Ultravox - Sleepwalk A good idea to start with their first top 40 hit

2. Depeche Mode - See You The same here with one of their early singles

3. New Order - Ruined In A Day A later era for this group but Bernard's vocal ability improved over time and sounds good here. I think these three bands will be my top 3 in most rounds but the order will change according to which songs get sent

4. M83 featuring Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion Susanne, one of my favourite female singers

5. Iamamiwhoami - Play An interesting discovery, looking forward to hearing more from them

6. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) A good cover version

7. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles Not the best vocal from Pete but plenty to like musically

8. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo Their big hit singles were all classy but 80s wine bar music isn't really my thing

9. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream I quite enjoyed this but difficult to know where to rank it in a pop genre contest

10. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus) A toe tapper certainly but very cheesy

11. Texas - When We Are Together They have a few good songs but most of them, like this one, are bland, radio friendly ones

12. Years & Years - Take Shelter Nice enough to listen to but I've already forgotten it

1. Vengaboys - We Like To Party! (the Vengabus)

2. Texas - When We Are Together

3. Years & Years - Take Shelter

4. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

5. Dead Or Alive - Misty Circles

6. Depeche Mode - See You

7. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

8. New Order - Ruined In A Day

9. M83 featuring Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

10. Iamamiwhoami - Play

11. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

12. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

Love the top 2, 3-6 all good, 7-9 decent, probably wouldn’t listen to 10-12 again

01 Years & Years - Take Shelter

02 M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

03 Texas - When We Are Together

04 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

05 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

06 New Order - Ruined in a Day

07 iamamiwhoami - play

08 Depeche Mode - See You

09 Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

10 Ultravox - Sleepwalk

11 Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

12 Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

01; M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør – Oblivion

02; Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

03; Ultravox - Sleepwalk

04; Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

05; Depeche Mode - See You

06; New Order - Ruined in a Day

07; Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

08; Years & Years - Take Shelter

09; iamamiwhoami – play

10; Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

11; Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

12; Texas - When We Are Together

Great start from easily the best category, I knew the M83, Depeche Mode and Ultravox songs already but Fontaines and New Order songs I wasn't familiar with and sounded great. Probably won't be ranking Vengaboys that high going forward, but that song's a classic x

I didn't dislike anything here, although I have never been that keen on play, which may be a bit of a hot take given my general BJSC taste, but hopefully will enjoy some other picks from her. Likewise, I do have some songs I really like from the bottom 2 artists, but these ones were a bit too MOR for me x

1 Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

2 Texas - When We Are Together

3 M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

4 Ultravox - Sleepwalk

5 Years & Years - Take Shelter

6 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

7 iamamiwhoami – play

8 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

9 Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

10 Depeche Mode - See You

11 Fountains D.C. - A Lucid Dream

12 New Order - Ruined In A Day

Found the New Order and Depeche Mode songs didn't do much for me and I like songs from both normally so here's hoping it gets better from round 2.

1. Years & Years - Take Shelter

2. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

3. Texas - When We Are Together

4. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

5. M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

6. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

7. New Order - Ruined in a Day

8. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

9. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

10. Depeche Mode - See You

11. iamamiwhoami - play

12. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

Kristinia DeBarge did it better than Bananarama I fear x

Gamu 🫨

1. Vengaboys - We Like To Party - great first choice. Pop joy

2. Texas - When We Are Together - another great first choice. Great vocals

3. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey - forgot this song existed but a nice catchy tune

4. Years & Years - Take Shelter - could be bigger but solid opener

5. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo - soulful vocals and nice song overall

6. M83 - Oblivion - keep forgetting how it goes but found myself entranced with every listen

7. Ultravox - Sleepwalk - like the sound, wanted more from the chorus

8. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles - grew on me with repeat listens

9. Fontaines D.C - A Lucid Dream - looking forward to hearing stuff from them as love me some Irish music.

10. Depeche Mode - See You - know there’s bigger to come

11. New Order - Ruined In A Day - meh

12. iamamiwhoami - Play - wanted to like it

This was the category I struggled with the most but I think I will like a lot of songs from these artists in future rounds

1. Years & Years - Take Shelter

2. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

3. M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

4. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

5. Depeche Mode - See You

6. Texas - When We Are Together

7. iamamiwhoami - play

8. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

9. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

10. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

11. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

12. New Order - Ruined in a Day

01. Years & Years - Take Shelter

02. Depeche Mode - See You

03. M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

04. New Order - Ruined in a Day

05. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

06. Texas - When We Are Together

07. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

08. iamamiwhoami - play

09. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

10. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

11. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

12. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

This was a good round to be honest. I have a soft spot for Communion and "Take Shelter" is one of my favourite songs from the album, so it was inevitable that it was going to be atop. "See You", "Oblivion", "Ruined In A Day" and "A Lucid Dream" were really good on first listen. The same applies to "When We Are Together", "Sleepwalk", "play" and "The Sweetest Taboo". I wasn't into "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" and "We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)", while I didn't like "Misty Circles".

01 Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus) (so far and away the best of this category, it’s not even close - a classic and a very strong start)

02 M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion (this really stands out in this pack and is just a superbly produced song that builds to something quite special)

03 Years & Years - Take Shelter (I feel like I used to like this more back in the day and it hasn’t aged AS well but still a great pop song)

04 iamamiwhoami - play (30 year old me is definitely appreciating this more than 16 year Rob did, as I expected)

05 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) (not a classic but I do love this tune from hearing it sampled in like 100 pop songs since)

06 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo (is it weird that I thought this was George Michael until I checked? I like their voice though and thought it was quite refreshingly smooth)

07 Texas - When We Are Together (decent x)

08 Depeche Mode - See You (unfortunately for you, I was quite over 80s synth pop by the time this came along at the end - each feels quite indistinguishable, but my brain is telling me I enjoyed this the most)

09 Ultravox - Sleepwalk (please see above - could realistically be higher if 1/3rd of this category wasn’t 80s synth pop so it didn’t stand out to me)

10 New Order - Ruined in a Day (and please see above again)

11 Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream (I know I like some of their songs quite a lot but this wasn’t one for me, quite loud and ultimately was kinda ready for it to end - so I assume this is just a side of them that doesn’t resonate with me)

12 Dead or Alive - Misty Circles (kinda did nothing at all for me unfortunately)

Definitely not a peak category for me unfortunately, but I know each of the 12 acts will have great stuff to come.

iamamiwhoami - play

M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

Years & Years - Take Shelter

New Order - Ruined in a Day

Depeche Mode - See You

Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

Texas - When We Are Together

Ultravox - Sleepwalk

That top 2 is absolutely divine.

1. M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion [favourite]

2. Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)

3. iamamiwhoami - play

4. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

5. Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

6. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

7. Years & Years - Take Shelter

8. Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

9. Depeche Mode - See You

10. Texas - When We Are Together

11. Ultravox - Sleepwalk

12. New Order - Ruined in a Day

I hope iamspamspamami - Play (In The Kitchen) wins.

Seriously though Vengaboys are hard to beat here.

01 Vengaboys - We Like to Party! (The Vengabus) [fave]

02 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo

03 Years & Years - Take Shelter

04 Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)

05 Texas - When We Are Together

06 M83 feat. Susanne Sundfør - Oblivion

07 iamamiwhoami - play

08 Ultravox - Sleepwalk

09 Depeche Mode - See You

10 Fontaines D.C. - A Lucid Dream

11 New Order - Ruined in a Day

12 Dead or Alive - Misty Circles

1 hour ago, TheSnake said:

I hope iamspamspamami - Play (In The Kitchen) wins.

Seriously though Vengaboys are hard to beat here.

iamamiwhoami has no chance of winning, looking at the votes they'll finish around mid-table I think

1 Fontaines D.C.

2 Dead Or Alive

3 Vengaboys

4 Ultravox

5 iamamiwhoami

6 New Order

7 Sade

8 Years & Years

9 the other one

10 Depeche Mode

11 Bananarama

12 Texas

This is the best category by miles, even the Texas song is ok. Guessing Dead Or Alive are gonna be out which is a shame as I actually really liked this song!