BOP IDOL 8 - WHOLE LOTTA HISTORY

Welcome to the voting stage of Bop Idol 8 where all the artists had a whole lot of history behind them when they released the songs you see here. This is an anonymous contest so please do not reveal or hint at your entry until the results are revealed. These are the 32 songs:

1. Seal - Love's Divine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iczaDcixBj4

2. Fangoria - Mas es mas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtuMjjdU2wc

3. Christina Aguilera - You Lost Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOKI_tIBWVI

4. Booka Shade - In White Rooms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDaXgipLOVg

5. Beth Orton - Conceived https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJasSfvnRI

6. Matchbox Twenty - Put Your Hands Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t3ETJlVRio

7. All Saints - This Is A War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmheIhcj8MA

8. Cosmic Gate and Jason Ross - Awaken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSVf_x1F6K4

9. Ace Of Base - Unspeakable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuUHZj6fFnU

10. Trance To The Sun - Sleeping With The Natives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46B-aAITV8

11. Kate Bush - Mrs. Bartolozzi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRiJ1xrZQ80

12. Legowelt - Elements Of Houz Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeYx7VQTCCE

13. Aqua - Playmate To Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0ayTZi7Xjw

14. Within Temptation featuring Tarja - Paradise (What About Us?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6MpsDPKts

15. Tori Amos featuring Damien Rice - The Power of Orange Knickers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWaRnJqkcC4

16. Modest Mouse - Little Motel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqQTODR3kR8

17. Peter Gabriel - Signal To Noise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJoSNZxLdbU

18. RuPaul - Glamazon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1PsQmFdlnk

19. Cher - Woman's World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjPWL-23w-w

20. Unkle - Hold My Hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f12iEBlHpLE

21. Robyn - Ever Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfK88LsB0fg

22. Sweet Trip - Milk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGG2g0mWfkc

23. Bruce Springsteen - Land Of Hope And Dreams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpJhS99Q60

24. Axwell - Center Of The Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsyVNlzc7I

25. David Byrne and Fatboy Slim featuring Florence Welch - Here Lies Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ6SBJt57EY

26. Cusco - Odysseus And The Sirens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu2N7Tm3--I

27. Placebo - For What It's Worth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_XJEQaYRck

28. Charlotte Martin - 12 Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcyOB8MOYNs

29. Blink-182 - Ghost On The Dance Floor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiM48pjqf6c

30. Sophie B Hawkins - Soul Lover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vbFxW-aBtw

31. Neneh Cherry - Kong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ivBXh1zGQ

32. Kaku P-Model - Shagan Daishi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98MBhn7sY8Q

Spotify Playlist:

Missing: Kaku P-Model - Shagan Daishi

When you are ready to vote, please send me a PM using this scoring system:

12pts

10pts

8pts

7pts

6pts

5pts

4pts

3pts

2pts

1pt

You have until 23:59 UK time on Saturday 3rd October to submit your votes. Guest votes are very welcome.

Voted:

Tafty

WoW73

Doug

Chez Wombat

Jade

Jaz13music

vibe

jimwatts

Paddington James

Scene

King Rollo

Viper*

matto

Lee_J11

Dobbo

AllStarBySmashMouth

Mango

Not me but 'You Lost Me' was in my EOY top 20 that year. Another lovely ballad from Christina.

Think I've heard that Cher one and know and like the Placebo track too. Rest are discoveries. Looking forward to seeing how this theme goes down!

Interesting list, some of these are certainly doing the rounds in forum contests.

I know about six songs, including my own.

I didn’t know a couple of these acts predated the 00s in their origin!

I should explain that four of the featured artists debuted in this century. These are Damien Rice, Tarja (as a solo act), Jason Ross and Florence Welch. They were all allowed in as the lead artists all started before 2000.

Wow, I know more than half of the lead artist names.

I know the vast majority of the artists, one I'm especially intrigued to see here.

Wow - that are a lot well-known artists. I think I know about 85% of the artists but a lower percentage of the songs.

OMG You lost me! I've not listened to that song in such a long time, I can genuinely really excited to hear it again for the contest. I'll give every song a fair listen but that one is going to take some beating for me it's my favourite of the ones I do know. 😍

I’ve done an Apple Music version:

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bop-idol-8-whole-lotta-history/pl.u-Ymb07a0uE09EY

Nice to see a few artists I was considering turn up in this list.

I tidied up the links for you @King Rollo and embedded the Spotify playlist to your post and added the Apple Music playlist that Jaz created.

54 minutes ago, awardinary said:

I tidied up the links for you @King Rollo and embedded the Spotify playlist to your post and added the Apple Music playlist that Jaz created.

Thanks, that looks a lot better. The old site had a 'how to do hyperlinks' guide but this one doesn't and I didn't know how to do it. Also, the Spotify playlist did not embed when I copied and pasted it.

You can add hyperlinks by highlighting the text and clicking the icon in the post box that looks like two linked chains. It's a pretty annoying process compared to the old site where it could all be done very quickly using BBCode though. (I see there is no tracking garbage in the links here so either everyone learnt how to send links with it removed or someone has edited them out of the links that contained them, yay either way x)

I guess it makes sense given the theme requires artists who were around for at least a decade but wow I recognise nearly all of these artists (I think there's literally only one name that doesn't ring a bell at all). Only 2 songs that I immediately know I've heard before (Christina Aguilera and Placebo) but a few other song titles that also look familiar so I might have come across them before too. Looking forward to listening anyhoo!

I did shorten any youtube links that looked to be too long.

Kate Bush the new Pet Shop Boys?

I considered a few artists I love, but I nominated late and became convinced that they’d already be chosen. So stupidly I didn’t go there and, of course, they’ve not been picked! I’ll just keep them for an another contest, but I’m obviously still a novice and learning about choosing nominations !😆

I can host a synctube listenthrough for this on Wednesday 23rd September

The act who I'm most surprised to see here is Axwell as I didn't think he'd be old enough to have first released music in the 20th century but I see he released an EP as far back as 1995!

On 20/09/2026 at 09:31, Jaz13music said:

I considered a few artists I love, but I nominated late and became convinced that they’d already be chosen. So stupidly I didn’t go there and, of course, they’ve not been picked! I’ll just keep them for an another contest, but I’m obviously still a novice and learning about choosing nominations !😆

If you send a song/artist that was already taken you'll just be asked to provide a replacement so never any harm in trying!

I have an immediate fave from the list so will be interesting to see if anyone competes with that!