While I was writing up my Top albums, I decided I had to do the singles that have impacted me most down the years. An almost impossible task, and one I shall no doubt update as time goes on and I realise that there were so many songs I forgot!
The following list is my Top X songs – singles and album tracks that I played over and over or bring back memories of a certain time. Entirely off the top of my head and spanning 1971 when I got given my first ever record called something like “Hot Hits 18″, right up to the present day. It reflects the fads of times forgotten, the punk era, new romanticism, trance and more.
There’s a few in there that make me cringe now – and a lot I haven’t heard in years, but plenty that I still listen to from time to time. So here goes. The best songs in the world ever! At one time. Maybe. In some sort of chronological order (although not 100% accurate):
70’s
Sparks – This Town Aint Big Enough For The Both Of Us
The Sweet – Hellraiser
ELO – Mister Blue Sky
The Sweet – Teenage Rampage
Boomtown Rats – Rat Trap
Buzzcocks – Autonomy/I Don’t Mind
The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
Sex Pistols – Bodies
The Damned – Smash It Up
The Dickies – Fan Mail
The Damned – Melody Lee
The Skids – Into The Valley
The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning
Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays
80’s
OMD – Stanlow
Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough
The Cure – A Forest
Sid Vicious – My Way
Yazoo – Goodbye 70s
Ultravox – Vienna
Yazoo – Situation
OMD – Genetic Engineering
Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls
OMD – Tesla Girls
Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missile F1-11
The Ramones – Rock n Roll High School
Farley Jackmaster Funk – Love Can’t Turn Around
Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam
George Michael – Careless Whisper
MARRS – Pump Up The Volume
90’s
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence
The Ramones – Howling At The Moon
Depeche Mode – Barrel Of A Gun (Underworld Soft Mix)
Green Day – Basket Case
C.J. Bolland – Sugar Daddy
Groove Armada - At The River
Accadia – Into The Dawn
Boards Of Canada – Happy Cycling
Chicane – Offshore
BBE – Seven days & One Week
Darude – Sandstorm
Samuel Barber – Adagio For Strings
William Orbit – Adagio For Strings
Olive – You’re Not Alone
Art Of Trance – Madagascar
System F – Out Of The Blue
Post 2000
Paradise – Rising Sun
Bassic – Fire Engine Girl
U2 – Vertigo
Lange – Frozen Beach
Green Day – When September Ends
Cell – Floating Retention
Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars