dandy*

You mean is the Golden Wagner getting a Golden Wagner?

Ahhhh I'm kinda gutted that Guitarricadelafuente has gone, I enjoyed all the songs from him so far and his style was a nice change in the male category

ABBA regretting their life choices

It’s okay, I’ve got several in the headwear closet. They’re remarkably difficult to match an outfit to

Actually, changing to maximum points for your act, rather than zero, regardless of where you place them does get around the issue

Oh I didn’t realise that’s what that sentence meant in the rules - yes in that case it does marginally benefit, although hopefully it should be easy to spot if someone non voting had an impact and, if it did, I think the non voter should be eliminated instead

I do think that people should vote, especially given the length of each round - but non participation doesn’t benefit their act in this so I’m not sure it needs a penalty system for the entry. It would probably be better for repeat offenders to have their slot offered out to someone who wants to take part but whose act is already out

Meanwhile in the Louvre

06 | The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays Weeks at number one: 4 End of year position: 4 Rating: 9.5/10 Next up it's a song that was destined to remain relevant forever due to surely everyone on occasion thinking I don't like Mondays as they head off to work and then finding themselves going tell me why! This was Bob Geldof & Co's second number one in succession (following Rat Trap the year before) and it was destined to be their last as well - although they did manage a further couple of top 5 hits as well so they were more successful than I'd realised before beginning this. I find the beginning half of this song to be the best part... it announces its arrival with a big piano flourish before then spending the first half minute continuing interspersed with thudding drum triplets and swirling strings, it's quite the entrance... and then we're treated to Geldof joining in with a verse that has a melody that is reminiscent of David Bowie to me (it could easily have been a partner to Life on Mars) before quickly moving into the call and response technique of the chorus which is really effective. The drama builds and lifts over and over again during the songs runtime and it makes for a very memorable chart topper - plus it has claps! And we all know a song simply cannot be bad if it has clapping in it! I'm not sure how long it took me, but it was definitely quite a long time, to realise that this song was actually about a school tragedy. The opening line of the silicone chip inside her head gets switched to overload was always in my head that I'd always thought it was a sort of robot style tale... but I can remember one day just really listening and realising that the reason the playgrounds were empty was not because a robotic thing had got everyone the day off to avoid having to go in on Monday... but instead it hit me that lines like all the playing's stopped in the playground now, the lesson today is how to die and of course I wanna shoot the whole day down were right there painting a much darker story. Having researched it, it is about a true story of a 16 year old girl who began shooting at her school and the line I don't like Mondays was the response to why she did it. It's a pretty chilling song that somehow managed to keep its subject yet set it to a dramatically catchy production.

Sleeping Satellite is selling quite gently for a number one but I'm glad it made it. Bizarre Inc had a pretty catchy track, definitely more pop focused than their early stuff but still works. The Madonna song I like more now than I did at the time, I do prefer Justify My Love out of her more raunchy efforts. Arrested Development is a good new one, I quite liked their singles from this album - although at the time I didn't realise how heavily they sampled as I'd never heard the originals.

01 FKA twigs - Perfectly 02 Lily Allen - Everyone’s At It 03 Delta Goodrem - Wings 04 Kesha - Take It Off 05 ROSALÍA - Aute Cuture 06 Toni Braxton feat. Loon - Hit the Freeway 07 LiSA - Another Great Day!! 08 Nadia Oh - Jump Out the Window This wasn't the strongest for me tbh, thought the other two groups definitely were better quality.

07 | Gary Numan - Cars Weeks at number one: 1 End of year position: 18 Rating: 9/10 Next up is a bit of a synth classic in the form of Cars by Gary Numan, the final act to appear who managed to grab two #1s during 1979. Both Blondie and Gary still have their other one in so who will win out in the double #1 stakes? It seems like it was perhaps a little fortunate to make #1, securing a single week as Cliff Richard's huge hit dropped away and before the Police's biggest hit of the year took over, but I'm very glad it did make it. I am a total sucker for this sort of synth music with pretty deadpan vocals and synths that do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to melody, these songs paved the way for some of my favourite tracks such as Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy the Silence' or Woking Mens Club's 'Widow'. Gary must have seemed like such an unlikely pop star back at the time, a lot of his performances seem quite awkward and the stylings of his hits were the exact opposite of much of what else was going on in 1979... whilst disco was bringing all the joy and colour you could possibly hope for, this was something much darker and dystopian in tone. The track itself is pretty simple in terms of lyrics, four verses of four lines that were vaguely inspired by a group trying to attack him whilst he was in his car. But this song isn't about the lyrics, it is about the synths and it's in the instrumental sections where the song really takes off... there are two main variants, the opening section which mirrors the verses and the sections immediately following the verses where a comparatively jaunty synth line provides a much needed counter to the repetitive nature of the track's construction... and my favourite part which is the end section of the track where it all sort of melts and moulds into each other. It's definitely up there with the top most classics in synth pop and it's a riff that is instantly recognisable.

Jonathan for me. I don’t think his character really went anywhere after the first couple of seasons

01 Erasure - Sometimes 02 Florence + the Machine - Spectrum (Say My Name) [Calvin Harris Remix] 03 Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous 04 Calvin Harris feat. HAIM - Pray to God 05 The Chicks - Gaslighter 06 ABBA - SOS 07 The 1975 - The Sound 08 Blondie - Denis 09 The Corrs - So Young (K-Klass Remix) 10 Atomic Kitten - I Want Your Love 11 Ace of Base - Cruel Summer (Big Bonus Mix) The bottom 3 were a bit away from the others for me but this was a really strong round from the groups

01 David Bowie - Modern Love 02 George Michael - Too Funky 03 The Weeknd - Take My Breath 04 Troye Sivan - My My My! 05 Guitarricadelafuente - Agua y Mezcal 06 Conan Gray - Never Ending Song 07 Shawn Mendes - There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back 08 Nik Kershaw - Dancing Girls 09 Eric Saade feat. DEV - Hotter Than Fire 10 Ruel - YOU AGAINST YOURSELF 11 Fred again.. - Jungle (Rico Nasty Remix)

08 | Blondie - Sunday Girl Weeks at number one: 3 End of year position: 9 Rating: 9/10 I love this song and it pains me putting it in 8th, but I think I've settled that it has to be the next one to fall. All of the top eight tracks are fantastic and we leap up to the 9/10 mark already. This one holds a particularly special place in my heart because it was the #1 song when I was born, something I've always been very pleased about because y'know, who wouldn't want an act as cool as Blondie to have been their birth number one. This was Blondie's second number one single of a very impressive six chart toppers, any of which have a good claim to be considered a classic and all have a pretty distinctive style to them... and the reason this one is the track that I've decided should fall in 8th is that it probably isn't quite as distinctive a song as their others, nor the other songs that remain. But it still is a cracking pop song, and it is very much a pure pop track (with a sprinkling of new wave) as the hand claps and bouncing melody result in a joyous 3 minute gem. The thing that lifts it above most other pop songs of this ilk is Debbie Harry's vocal though, she is undoubtedly the star and her vocals just sound so smooth and cool - and she must have looked it too as she sports a suit in the video, just standing there but somehow managing to look like the person every kid aspires to be as cool as. Worth a mention is the song that got stuck behind Sunday Girl, Roxy Music with one of their biggest hits Dance Away. You could argue that it is very unlucky not to feature on this countdown instead as on the end of year chart it actually featured one place higher than Sunday Girl despite the latter blocking it from #1 for all three of the weeks it peaked in second spot.

I love this best of, it’s such a brilliant title!!

25 Robyn - Dancing On My Own 24 Blue Boy - Remember Me 23 The Beloved - Sweet Harmony 22 The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar 21 Visage - Fade To Grey 20 Depeche Mode - In Your Room 19 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black 18 The Smiths - This Charming Man 17 Oasis - Live Forever 16 Cerrone - Supernature 15 Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 14 Muse - Time Is Running Out 13 The Supremes - You Keep Me Hangin' On 12 The Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit) 11 Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) 10 Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia 09 The Veronicas - Untouched 08 Blur - There's No Other Way 07 Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again 06 Natalie Imbruglia - Shiver 05 Everything But The Girl - Wrong 04 Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You 03 Moby - James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) 02 Groove Armada featuring Mutya Buena - Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) 01 Bananarama - Venus

Apologies for the pause in this... I'm still struggling to rank the top 8 and keep changing my mind, all of them are fantastic imo

This is excellent updating, takeaway deliveries could learn something from you

Oh of course! Why did I not think of that as well - I know what I've sent now... well the artist and title anyway. Thank you! That is true - it's been my best run for a very long time so definitely no grumbles there...

Btw it’s not unusual for me to send a random placeholder early - it’s just usually there’s a link in the mod forum to the spreadsheet so I can check what it was but this time there isn’t so I really don’t know what I’ve sent

That’s a very specific comment that I suspect I’m supposed to understand but I don’t 🫣

I love Sleeping Satellite, it was such a nice change to see a singer/songwriter track in the top 10

Given my comment just now in the confirmations thread, the one for this contest 🫠