dandy*

06.0 I Got the Wherewithal 05.0 If You Can't Do It When You're Young: When Can You Do It 06.5 A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed 06.0 I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough) 10.0 Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (ft Spiller) 08.0 Take Me Home 11.0 Murder On The Dancefloor - predictable I know... but it's stood the test of time and ranks as one of the best pop songs of the century 07.0 Get Over You 05.0 Move This Mountain 06.0 Music Gets The Best of Me 03.5 Mixed Up World 04.0 I Won't Change You 07.5 Catch You 07.5 Me and My Imagination 07.5 Today The Sun's On Us 06.0 If I Can't Dance 08.0 Heartbreak (Made Me A Dancer) (ft Freemasons) 04.0 Can't Fight This Feeling (Junior Caldera) 07.5 Bittersweet 07.5 Not Giving Up On Love (vs Armin Van Buuren) 05.0 Off & On 04.0 Starlight 09.5 Young Blood 07.5 Runaway Daydreamer 08.0 Love Is a Camera 07.0 The Deer & the Wolf 08.5 Come With Us 07.0 Crystallise 07.5 Wild Forever 07.0 Death of Love 08.0 Love Is You 07.0 Crying At The Discoteque 08.5 Hypnotized (ft Wuh Oh) 09.0 Breaking The Circle 07.0 Everything Is Sweet 05.5 Lost In The Sunshine 08.0 Freedom of the Night 07.0 Relentless Love 06.5 Vertigo 05.0 Taste 06.0 Dolce Vita 05.0 Stay On Me Collaborations 05.0 Circles (Just My Good Time) (ft busface) 04.5 f*** With You (ft Bob Sinclair & Gilberte Forte) 06.5 Immortal (Ft Lufthaus)

04 | The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star Weeks at number one: 1 End of year position: 17 Rating: 10/10 We're sticking with the fun songs as we reach #4 and find ourselves in the company of the Buggles. Video Killed the Radio Star is another song in this list that would easily feature in a list of the most distinctive #1s of all time - and arguably the band had more influence over the next decade than any of the others I've featured... well, I say the band, I of course am really referring to Trevor Horn who would go on to produce some of the most adventurous music of the 80s, and in the guise of Frankie Goes to Hollywood some of the most successful as well. I like that the song arrives in deceiving fashion, the opening piano and wow wow wow wows (this is a technical term) feel like they're going to subject us to a generic US soul ballad... but then the vocal comes in with an unexpected tone and pitch and you know you're not getting what you anticipated, then the 'Oh-oh' comes out of nowhere and you're like what on earth is this?!!!!... and then what's that, a thudding beat and synth flourishes? Why it's the arrival of a possibly completely bonkers but brilliant electro-pop banger! It has so many production elements as it progresses, a choir that just appears for verse two before evaporating away, a guitar crescendo to announce the chorus is coming back after the instrumental section... then the echoey ending... but, what's that, it's not over... youuuuuu aaaarrrrrrreeeeeeeee a radiooooooo star! Why yes Buggles, yes you truly are! Of course whilst it is famous for making #1 in quite a few key markets, it is probably most famous these days for being the song that launched MTV... and you can see why they chose it to be the first song, not only is the lyrical theme fitting but it just works as a way to introduce anything with it's joyously distinctive and fun approach signalling a bright new future (even though the song was a few years old by then!) - of course sadly it was also the final song to be played on MTV as well as the music channel closed on the final day of last year, but a lovely touch from them to go full circle like that.

I thought there was a chance that Ian Dury may be a bit divisive being that high but so far it's avoided the panning I feared, fourth up next...

Charles and Eddie the best of the new ones. The Undercover and Erasure tracks are both a bit uninspired - the latter in particular was disappointing, I guess it was a nice sentiment but they’d have been better going for Oh L’amour if they wanted to revive an old flop.

I can’t listen to the ABBA track without thinking it’s a warning about our dance mod

05 | Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick Weeks at number one: 1 End of year position: 13 Rating: 9.5/10 Into the top 5 we go and I'm beginning with the song that has made this thread especially worthwhile for me. Before I began listening to these back in January I had most definitely heard this track before, but I'd also rather quickly dismissed it as a borderline novelty track... if you'd have asked me back then where I'd thought it would finish then I'd possibly have said bottom 5 and definitely not top 5! However repeated listens has made me realise that this track is actually absolutely brilliant. One thing I'd never noticed before was just how brilliant the music is on it, the groove that kicks in from the opening beat is as infectious as anything else released in the 1970s, the piano line and the bass in particular really just soar... I'm going to say it was approximately January 13th when I realised that this song was making me move more than any of the others in the playlist and my foot was tapping and my body swaying on the train into work - there's a real possibility that other passengers may have noticed as well! The sax solo kicks in and I'm absolutely sold, even the slightly bonkers bit where he's playing two saxophones at once... but even then the backing drops away at the perfect time to make that moment a moment and then everything builds back so slowly you don't even notice it was ever away before it all ends as suddenly as it began. C'est fantastique! The reason I'd never noticed any of that before this January was primarily down to the lyrics, which it probably is fair to say do still border on novelty - but I've decided it's in a good way, like Tubthumping. I've grown to really like them as Ian Dury reels off a load of different places, has a brief foray into French and German before declaring that it's nice to be a lunatic and commanding us to hit him with our rhythm sticks. It certainly has to be one of the most distinctive number ones of all time and I'm a little bit sad that I've never given it the time it deserves before now as I think it could make it to a 10 in time, but to compensate for that it most definitely will be staying on my playlist to make me boogie in front of other passengers on the 6:35 to Nottingham.

I love Koochy as well. It was very different for Armand Van Helden but I think it worked. I remember being in a second hand record shop (back in the days when me being there was a rarity!) and it was playing on the radio and I said I liked it... and the look of disdain from every other person in there as they scrambled to inform me that the original was far superior 😂 You have such a good memory for things! Where as I can't even remember the other things that made me think that but I know there's a few things I've read where I thought wow it's so lovely that you recalled that. Glad it isn't just me who thinks that... the more I've spent on this the more I think I may as well have just posted the top 8 in any order

I was so certain we'd be getting Less Than Zero from the Weeknd!

Votes are in! SF2 really was quite alt-centric, I can see where Cody's comment is coming from tbh

This year we're getting a Diva Fever Reviva

tbh I'm not sure we need to be bringing any acts back, it's going to last until 2027 at this rate as it is (not that I'm saying this is a bad thing!)

Ace of Base getting eliminated in round 3? There's something not addying up for me there!

I love pretty much every Shamen single from this period but I feel in retrospect that the Beatmasters need some credit, the remixed production on the single versions was definitely key to getting them hits.

Scissor Sisters have some fantastic album tracks, they should smash this next round

I feel bad for Ace of Base as they did have much more to offer - but then again Cruel Summer was my least favourite of the round so I can't grumble. I feel like whoever is behind them just unluckily chose the wrong round to take a gamble in with the song choice

I have another question for the next round that I think is worth asking to clarify ahead of people submitting: Could the album track be a cover of someone else's well known song?

I generally prefer Ace of Base to the Chicks but I definitely preferred the latter in this round

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