140 - It's a Sin - Pet Shop Boys
Neil Tennant mastered the talk-sing genre. His 'rapping' on West End Girls is something to behold and on this song, he makes sounding bored an art form. When I first heard this song I didn't think music could get any better. The lightning, the synth brass hits, the religious nods and admission of depravity all tied up in a glistening pop parcel fronted by the two most sour faced pop stars of all time. On the cover of the album, Neil is yawning his head off whilst Chris just sits there, staring into the lens thinking about all the bad choices he made in life. The endless ennui they no doubt experienced in the recording studio bleeding from song lyrics such as 'I love you; you pay my rent' and 'What have I done to deserve this'. This song however is a timeless classic that could well have been recorded yesterday. Simply brilliant.
 |
| As the excitement in Neil's flat built, the doorbell finally rang and they both dined on pizza with anchovies and quinoa |
139 - When I think of you - Janet Jackson
"This is a song about control... and I have lots of it!", croons Ms Jackson in the opening track to her 1986 album, 'Control'. A lot was made of the video for this song, supposedly shot in one take - if you take out all the pans to dark flooring and back up again to a completely different location. You can recognise Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' influence a mile away and that clicking synth bass is present all over this song with the glossy piano tines that hung over into Alexander O'Neal's 'Hearsay' the following year. 'When I think of you' doesn't actually go anywhere; it just repeats the same two chords all the way through and apart from the weird noises in the middle eight which sound like they've left the tape running whilst some people have a fight in the car park, Janet just flits through with her angelic pixie-like voice, pulling you along like you're on rollerblades - or, those roller skates you had to tie to your shoes and could make longer or shorter with an unscrewable bolt in the middle. My point being, if you can make two chords repeating over and over sound this good, you're probably Jam and Lewis.
 |
| 'Would you like to buy a massive violin?' |
138 - Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds
I've said it once and I'll say it again, Jim Kerr is what Bono could have been if he'd stayed in college. However, he left and became a massive global superstar and Jim remained famous only in the UK. I love Simple Minds. I really wanted to put 'Sanctify Yourself' in the top 200 but it just fell short - however, that's one way of getting more than 200 songs in this list... I love the power of Simple Minds' songs - She's a River, Waterfront, Let the Day begin, Stars will lead the way and Glittering Prize. They all get a listen at least once a month with the volume RIGHT up. Alive and Kicking is an absolute gem of a song. An undeniable classic that never fails to get the blood coursing around your eyeballs. The video with them standing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff is also particularly scary and only adds to the gravitas of the song.
 |
| We're raising awareness of cliff erosion through the power of song |
137 - Our Lips are Sealed - Fun Boy Three
I didn't really get Terry Hall when I was growing up. I first saw him when I was probably six years old, standing on stage with a really thin microphone, his fluffy hair at huge odds with the facial expression of a person who lost all their money on a one horse race. He just sort of stood there. Sort of singing. Looking like he sort of wanted to be there but not really. Like he'd just wandered in off the street to stand in for the real singer, looking a bit shifty and looking forward to the whole Top of the Pops thing to be over so he could go get a chicken from ASDA, go home and make tea for the cousin he stupidly allowed to stay over 4 months ago and never left. I should really Google this but I'm sure 'Our lips are sealed' was written by Hall with one of the Go-Gos, probably Jane Wiedlin. This song has stuck with me throughout the years and I've always enjoyed it when I've heard it accidentally on the radio or something. It's so jolly - for Terry Hall anyway.
 |
| A 'Dazzling' performance from Terry's washing powder |
136 - The look of love - ABC
I never got the joke. The song was titled, 'The look of love - part 1' and on the album 'The Lexicon of Love' there was a 'part 4'. Still not sure what that was all about. However, I'd not been exposed to a lot of pop/funk/soul before I got into Prince. It didn't surprise me that ABC later did a song called 'Minneapolis' from where their sound was derived. They had the lush synth basses of Human League and the wonderful soaring vocals of Martin Fry but they mixed in sweeping strings, tom toms, bell synths and powerful deep grand pianos too. What a lovely combination. It was grand pop opera at it's absolute greatest. I still can't believe 'All of My Heart' was written and recorded in 1983. More on that later though.
 |
| I'm sure I parked my Ice Cream van round here somewhere |
135 - Intuition - Linx
Having a bad day? Stick this on. What happens if you put David Grant and Norman Junior 'Mama Used to Say' Giscombe in a room? Everything that's great about British soul/funk. I liked everything both these guys did in the 80s - especially Junior's collab with Kim Wilde. Listen to the intro to this song and then play the arcade game 'Out Run'. Can't believe they didn't sue Ocean!!
 |
| These glasses will be all the rage in 1983 |
134 - I just don't have the heart - Cliff Richard
I was pretty down on Stock, Aitken and Waterman in the late 80s. They'd come along and taken over the charts with songs which all used the same formula, drum machine and vibe. They seemed to just take the same song, use different lyrics and stick someone pretty at the front. That wasn't the case with this Cliff track however. Not that he's not pretty in his own way but it was a bit left field for both of them to get involved together. Donna Summer had her moment with SAW, as did Bill Tarmey (Jack Duckworth), La Toya Jackson, Sinitta, Pat and Mick and Roland Rat but they did kinda make Siobhan Fahey leave Banarama and form Shakespears Sister so they weren't all bad.
 |
| We're all going on a... |
In my old age, I've come to realise that although they squeezed a lot of good stuff out of the charts, they did write 'You'll never stop me loving you', 'Say I'm your number one' and 'Hand on your heart'. And Mike Stock was responsible for the amazing recent Bucks Fizz album 'The A-Z of Pop'. I'm not ashamed to admit I was (kind of) wrong about them.
133 - Alone - Heart
As you might have already guessed, power ballads get me right there. Not that you can see where I'm pointing right now... The piano led verse is lovely in itself but the song bursts into life with the chorus. It's been ruined (as most songs are) by that stupid loan advert. I realise these people need money and if they've got something they can sell to fund their next packet of Wotsits, then fair enough but it's taken the gloss right off this song for me. However, it still tickles the part of me that likes raw energy in songs so it sits here in the upper 100s which is no shameful place to be in such a decade of amazing tunes. Well played.
 |
| Why does the room look all lacy? |
132 - What's love got to do with it - Tina Turner
I was in Middlesbrough when I first heard this song. That was bound to make anything I heard that day sound amazing. Hearing a seagull in it's final death rattle after trying to swallow a scotch egg whole would probably have made it into my top 10 songs that day. Anyway, it was the six weeks holidays from school and this song came on the radio. The strange pipey flute thing at the start caught my attention. Probably not the instrument of choice for most songwriters but that was the hook - never mind Tina's gravelly interpretation of singing making me instantly fall in love with a woman I'd not previously heard of. I saw her live in 1996, a concert I will never forget and this song will always be the one that reminds me of the day I first heard her sing.
 |
| This is what happens when you let people do their own hair and make-up |
131 - Hold me Now - The Thompson Twins
I have to admit that I thought this was just OK at the time. I was more into Human League and Paul Young; Thompson Twins were a bit weird singing about Detectives and Doctors and they had this woman at the back with an explosion in a mattress factory on her head playing xylophones and shaking odd percussion instruments. I heard this song again in 1999 on the soundtrack to the Wedding Singer and was all like 'Woah, no way dude' or whatever the kids were saying back then. There's no denying the quality of this song - despite the lyrics - it represents a period of the 80s when everyone was starting to get their production together. Warm. Fuzzy. Joyful. Perfect.
 |
| I'm not sure what this is but I'm going to hit it repeatedly with a stick. See what happens. |
Check out the rest of the top 200 videos here :
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8C2p97n8SmX5qmS8asB7YWWuu2GCDq_o
