Let's remember the top 10 records of exactly 20 years ago. (Click on a few links to remember even more)
1)Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax: It's 20 years since "I'm A Celebrity" DJ Mike Read forced the BBC to ban this record for its "overtly obscene" lyrics. They were filthy of course, but the song was fantastic, the band's megastardom was assured, and Radio 1 now playlists far worse. Relax went on to sell nearly 2 million copies and is one of the UK's top 10 best selling singles of all time. Frankie say "Thanks for coming".
2)Queen - Radio Ga-Ga: The epic industrial anthem that revitalised Queen's career, writen by Roger Taylor, reaching number one in 19 different countries (but not the UK). Freddie and his dreamers produced a memorable video featuring clips from Fritz Lang's classic 1927 film "Metropolis". All we hear is (clap clap) Radio Ga-Ga. Applause.
3)CyndiLauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun: Brooklyn-born Cyndi launched Girl Power into the charts a decade before the Spice Girls - brash, loud and quirky. This karaoke classic stormed the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, closely followed by funeral favourite "Time After Time". Cyndi's still touring - ah, she's so unusual.
4)Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride: A one-hit-wonder, quite bouncy, bit twee, dead bland, very catchy. Matthew also wrote some of the songs for Disney's Mulan a few years ago. Less bouncy, more twee, still bland, didn't quite win a Golden Globe award.
5)Thompson Twins - Doctor Doctor: First gig I ever went to see was 20 years ago this month - Tom, Alannah and Joe live at the Oxford Apollo, supported by BowWowWow and the Bellestars. Look, real popstars! The Thompsontour coincided with the launch of classic album "IntoThe Gap", although the band had been drumming around for years beforehand. Unique and irreplaceable, I reckon.
6)Joe Fagin - That's Livin' Alright: The theme from the hit ITV drama "Auf Wiedersehen Pet", still going strong as a hit BBC drama. Scouser Joe was also the voice behind the "Gotta Lotta Bottle" milk campaign.
7)Madonna - Holiday: It's exactly 20 years ago today since Ms Ciccone first entered the UK top ten. This track was produced by boyfriend John 'Jellybean' Benitez, launching one of the most successful pop careers ever (the most ever Top 40 hits by a female artist (58), the most ever consecutive Top 10 hits (34), and some darn fine records to boot). Holiday - celebrate.
8)Fiction Factory - Feels Like Heaven: Is there a more quintessentially Eighties song than this sparkling gem? The band hailed from Scotland and got their big break supporting Paul Young on tour. Lead singer Kevin Patterson is now an IT bod at the University of Dundee. Thanks for this one Kev. See me I feel, see me I live. 9)Duran Duran - New Moon On Monday: Another hit off the album 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger', back when even an average LeBon track could become a huge hit. This was very average. Fascinating related astronomical fact: there were no New Moons on Mondays in 1984.
10)Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again: A beautiful track from the album "Touch", Annie and Dave's third long player. I still have it on cassette somewhere... <goes and finds small plastic cuboid, inserts into ageing hi-fi, presses play button, memories flood back, aaaah>Is it raining with you?
