Pting Rollo

17. The Edge Of Heaven - Wham! After nine top 10 singles from 1982 to 1985 including three number 1s, Wham! decided to go their separate ways as George Michael wanted to target a more grown up audience with his solo records. The Edge Of Heaven was their final single, spending two weeks at the top of the chart in July. Wham have come up with some decent pop songs, most notably Young Guns (Go For It), Club Tropicana and Wake Me Up Before You Go Go but this one is a bit of a mess. There's nothing to like here, whether it's George's vocals, the horns or that terrible guitar solo and there are too many "yeah,yeah,yeah"s and "la da da da da"s. It was the right time for them to bring the group to a close.

We all got 39 today. Round 1: 39 💥 Round 2: 39 💥 3 in 10: 3 Road To Nowhere, And She Was, Once In A Lifetime

I think this could be one of two songs, I'm not sure which of them you would hate the most.

18. I Wanna Wake Up With You - Boris Gardiner Boris Gardiner's career in music started in Jamaica in 1960 when he joined The Rhythm Aces. He was part of other bands in the 60s before having a solo instrumental hit with 'Elizabethan Reggae' which reached number 14 on the UK chart in 1970. He failed to follow this up with any more hits and made a living as a session musician which included playing bass guitar on the top 40 single 'Police And Thieves' by Junior Murvin in 1980. Then, out of the blue, came this single which spent three weeks at number 1 in August and September and was the third best selling single of the year. It was a cover of a ballad by the country singer Mac Davis from 1980, written by Ben Peters. Boris followed this up with the number 11 hit, 'You're Everything To Me' and 'The Meaning Of Christmas' which only got as far as number 69. He then returned to obscurity but is still going at the age of 83. The song launches straight into the first chorus and doesn't have any verses. I would call the second melody to be the middle eight. The reggae beat in the background prevents any changes of pace so the whole song just meanders along and could easily finish after two minutes. The remaining two minutes are just the same thing again and that's why I'm ranking it as the worst of the number 1s that are not novelty songs.

Well done Jade for today's 39. Round 1: 33 Born To Be Wild, Your Head Round 2: 39 💥 I remembered Elephant Stone from the number 8 poll. 3 in 10: 3 Come Dancing, Waterloo Sunset, You Really Got Me We chose nine different Kinks songs between us.

19. Living Doll - Cliff Richard and The Young Ones featuring Hank Marvin Written for the film 'Serious Charge', Living Doll was Cliff Richard's first number 1 and the best selling single of 1959. Three years later, 'The Young Ones' gave him a fifth number 1 single. That song was the theme tune to the 1980s comedy show of the same name, this time sung by the cast which was made up of Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan. Rik Mayall's character, Rick, was an avid fan of Cliff Richard. The Young Ones came together with Cliff to record a new comedy version of Living Doll for the Comic Relief charity which had been founded the previous year. It spent three weeks at number 1 in April. So I'm putting the two novelty chart toppers at the bottom of my rankings. This one is mildly amusing but doesn't really offer anything else. Cliff sings his song to the best of his abilities, the Young Ones interject with various humorous comments and terrible singing and Hank Marvin contributes a guitar solo.

Thanks, and we both get 39 today. Round 1: 39 💥 Round 2: 30 Los Lobos, Partners In Kryme I really shouldn't be getting 80s number 1s wrong but I could only think of Los Del Rio for La Bamba, I knew I was wrong. 3 in 10: 3 Always, Living On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name

20. The Chicken Song - Spitting Image The satirical TV puppet show, Spitting Image, was first broadcast on ITV in 1984. At its peak, more than 15 million people watched it every week. The royal family, politicians and people from sport, TV and music all had their own exaggerated caricatures. The Chicken Song featured several times in the 1986 series and spent three weeks at number 1 in May. One of the singers was Kate Robbins (Emily Atack's mother) who had previously reached number 2 in 1981 with 'More Than In Love'. Spitting Image had one more top 40 hit at Christmas in the same year. The show came to a close in 1996 and has had a few revivals since then, the latest being last year on youtube but you needed to be quick to view full episodes as they were soon taken down by Paddington Bear's representatives who objected to the way he was being depicted. He co-presented each show with Prince Harry. The Chicken Song was a parody of cheesy summer holiday songs, in particular, 'Agadoo' and 'Do The Conga' by Black Lace who are referred to as "those two wet gits, with their girly curly hair" but it ends up being just as annoying so I have to put it in bottom place. While I enjoyed the programme in the 80s and 90s, I never found the song of the week to be particularly funny. I do like the video they did for 'Land Of Confusion' by Genesis the same year.

Well done Jade and John for those 39s. Round 1: 39 💥 Round 2: 30 John Lennon, the year 3 in 10: 3 Round Round, Push The Button, Freak Like Me

9th - 15th June 1966 25. Don't Answer Me - Cilla Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTP8tneMRNc An orchestral ballad that steadily builds up towards the end. Cilla's vocal is mostly OK this time and this will be her seventh top 10 hit. 31. Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a21mSikXv7s This would be ROTW on most weeks but there's something even better to come. Written about the high tax levels in the UK at the time, the song has a music hall sort of sound to it and the descending guitar chords are a particular highlight along with Ray Davies' whimsical lead vocal. It will be the group's third number 1 single. 34. Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'bout Me) - The Four Seasons with Frankie Valli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWMm6SK5mVk The title comes from this being the Four Seasons' 17th single. A good pace is kept throughout and this time, Frankie does not use his falsetto. 37. Nobody Needs Your Love - Gene Pitney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM58MRe75Cg A song already recorded by Neil Sedaka but not released after a dispute with his record label. This is the same recording so you can still hear his backing vocals behind Gene's new lead vocal. It's another solid performance by Gene but I'm surprised the single will go as high as number 2, equalling his highest chart peak, as it's not very memorable. 38. Hideaway - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf35lmzcMpk Their second top 10 hit. The drums and bass guitar create a catchy rhythm here and there's a distinctive guitar solo in the middle. Record of the week : 33. River Deep, Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner Tina Turner's unique vocals combine perfectly with Phil Spector's wall of sound for this week's winner. 21 session musicians contributed to the recording, painstakingly put together by Spector who got Tina to sing her vocal over and over again for hours until he was happy with it. The single will only reach number 88 in the US after the white radio stations won't play it for being too black and the black radio stations won't play it for being too white. This will lead to Spector's withdrawal from the music industry. In the UK, the single will do much better, peaking at number 3.

Round 1: 36 Argent Round 2: 36 Singapore 3 in 10: 2 Working My Way Back To You, Cupid

For my second year, I have chosen 1986 for the sheer variety of number 1 singles, there really was something for everyone that year. There were a total of twenty chart toppers from nineteen different artists. As with 1983, I won't be reviewing the number 1 which was carried over from the previous year so 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens will not be included here. What was going on in 1986? A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, ultimately causing the deaths of thousands of people. The Challenger space shuttle broke apart seconds after launching, killing all seven crew members. Halley's comet appeared near the Earth for the first time since 1910. Australia gained full independence from the UK. The M25 motorway was completed. Diego Maradona's 'hand of God' goal followed by his 'goal of the century' helped Argentina win a World Cup quarter final against England and they went on to win the tournament. The Independent and Today newspapers were both launched in the UK with the latter being the first to have colour photos throughout each issue. In TV, Neighbours made its UK debut, Casualty's first series aired and more than 30 million people watched the Christmas episode of Eastenders, a record for a British TV drama. My rankings will start soon.

ABC - That Was Then But This Is Now Aztec Camera - Oblivious Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart The Police - Synchronicity II Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

Round 1: 24 Wet Wet Wet, the year, Shakin' Stevens, Never Trust A Stranger Round 2: 39 💥 3 in 10: 3 Take On Me, Hunting High And Low, Crying In The Rain I'm on holiday next week so won't be doing this again until the week after.

I've entered something suitably obscure for Sweden that it's unlikely anyone will already know.

Thanks, and well done John for today's double 39. Round 1: 36 The Monkees Round 2: 36 The year (one year out) 3 in 10: 1 Search For The Hero

I'll try and find something fairly obscure for Sweden rather than an act that everyone will have heard of.

Thanks. Round 1: 39 💥 Round 2: 36 The year (one year out) 3 in 10: 3 Ballroom Blitz, Love Is Like Oxygen, Fox On The Run

31 please

Yes, I would have explained that at the end but Julian mentioned it when he revealed my vote. Sandie Shaw got to number 68 in 1986 with a cover version.

So my first choice from 2006 would have been Sao Paulo by Guillemots but I entered that to a previous Bop Idol. I also sent We're Here from the same album to BJSC. I sent Lights by Archive to Unknown Pleasures and someone else sent Dick Around by Sparks to the BJSC. With nothing else from my own music from that year that I thought was good enough, I decided to look for something new. I googled 'best songs from 2006' and found Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken high up on the first list that I looked at and loved it the first time I listened to it. I had seen the name Camera Obscura on the album chart a few times and assumed it was the group who had a single called Destitution out in 1983 which got some airplay on Radio 1. I had taped it off the radio at the time. I now know this is a different Camera Obscura. Even Spotify has put 'Destituition' in the same place as the second Camera Obscura. Thanks to everyone who gave my entry points, especially CowTzy, Chez, Rabbit, Lee and gooddelta for the 18s. And thanks to Julian for a fantastic job hosting. This now makes up for Sao Paulo having that big lead in a previous edition but ending up in 2nd place.

I'm absolutely thrilled to win. 😃 I knew it was a great song but didn't expect it to do so well. I'll write a longer post in a minute on how I came to enter it to the contest.

Have I shot myself in the foot?

Well done both on the 39s. Round 1: 39 💥 Round 2: 39 💥 3 in 10: 3 Faith, Careless Whisper, A Different Corner

2nd - 8th June 1966 21. Over Under Sideways Down - The Yardbirds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FA_y92vwvQ A song punctuated by many shouts of "hey". The guitar riff is the highlight. Sadly, this will already be the last of their five top 40 hits with all of them reaching the top 10. 27. Twinkie-Lee - Gary Walker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BVWXH3r9U A straightforward pop song with the bass guitar and brass instruments keeping up a pacy rhythm. Both of Gary Walker's two solo hits peaked at number 26. 35. Stop Her On Sight (SOS) - Edwin Starr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qduMyOwtqTU Edwin's debut hit single is an enjoyable one with his lead vocal supported by backing singers and a Motown style band. It will become popular on the Northern soul scene. 36. Merci Cherie - Vince Hill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK4LCWT0WpQ A cover of this year's Eurovision winner which came from Austria with new English language lyrics. There is some similarity to 'You'll Never Walk Alone' at the start. Vince reaches the big extended note in the middle but there's nothing else notable about this. 39. Water - Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbADz8zjoOE An English group fronted by the American singer. The saxophones make an impact but the song wasn't one I'll remember. 40. Whatcha Gonna Do Now - Chris Andrews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE0ZfWmw6AY This song is a bit of a mess with some amateurish backing vocals and brass playing and Chris not doing much better with his lead vocal. Record of the week : 13. Don't Bring Me Down - The Animals It's another record of the week for The Animals with this one. I like the guitar work which combines well with the drums and electric organ and there's the usual passionate vocal from Eric Burdon. The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It will reach a peak position of number 6.