90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41
40-31
30-21
20-11
10.
Artist: New Order
Song: True Faith
Album: Substance 1987 (1987)
Watch The Video
*sigh* Nothing makes me wish I was a coked up '80s yuppie in a designer suit more than "True Faith". This is such a great song, the pinacle of '80s new wave (essentially most New Order is). The non-stop beat drives me crazy and makes me wanna get into that two-step dance move of the '80s while clicking my fingers. I'm not really sure why this song is so great. New Order just has an ability to make incredible great music (see #66 and #77 on this countdown plus songs like "Blue Monday", "Fine Time", "Vanishing Point", "Bizarre Love Triangle" etc). The video clip is quite possibly the most bizarre thing I have ever seen. But I still love it.
9.Artist: Madonna
Song: Into the Groove
Album: Like a Virgin & OST Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Watch The Video
Okay, seriously - has there ever been a song that's this much fun? Sure, it's a song about wanting to get out from behind the hairbrush and the mirror and get onto the dancefloor, but that's what a pop song should be! It should be about having fun. "Music can be such a revelation/Dancing around, you get a sweet sensation" This song always, without fail, makes me wanna get up and dance (I have my own private dance parties in my head). My favourite part is when she sings (nay, demands) you get up and dance with the line "You've got to!" Strange to believe that this song was original a b-side only! And in the US remains so, although it was attached to foreign copies of Like a Virgin, was released as a single around the globe (apart from the US, again) and was a featured song of the Madonna starring Desperately Seeking Susan (awesome movie btw). How awesome is the lyric "We might be lovers if the rhythm's right/I hope this feeling never ends tonight" god, for such a "simple" song it's so perfect. "Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free/at night I lock the doors where no one else can see/I'm tired of dancing here all by myself/Tonight I wanna dance with someone else!" "Wanna get to know you in a special way/This doesn't happen to me every day." This is probably the perfect example of a pop song. A true pop classic and if anybody says anything different it's because they simply don't get pop music and they never will. Nuff said. Check out this clip of Madge performing it during her Re-Invention tour with bagpipes and all!
8.
Artist: Donna Summer
Song: I Feel Love
Album: I Remember Yesterday (1977)
Watch The Video*
When I first heard this song I was (to paraphrase Elaine Benes) speechless. I was without speech. How could this song exist today let alone in 1977! Today, the song would be cast aside as simplistic minimal crap (that doesn't stop Ciara though!). Of course, I later discovered that the '70s was rife with songs like this, but none were of this quality. This song is, most likely, at least partially responsible for most music today. Not just dance, but all kinds. I've repeatedly mentioned things such as synths in this countdown (with artists from Bruce Springsteen to Janet Jackson) and this song lead the way. Hell, even the Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2 have performed it in concert. A perfect dance song, "I Feel Love" just pulsates it's way through for nearly six minutes and never skips a beat - unless, of course, it wants you to (which it does occasionally to give you a moment to rest only to make you start right back up again). It's no surprise that Kylie and Madonna have not only sampled the song (in "Light Years" and "Future Lovers" respectively" but also covered the song in their concerts.
*Please note, the video is for a '90s rerelease of the song. It had rerecorded vocals I believe and the music has been altered. I couldn't find the original on there.
7.Artist: Michael Jackson
Song: Smooth Criminal
Album: Bad (1987)
Watch The Video
For me, Thriller is not the best Michael Jackson album, but that goes to Bad. It's more edgy and the line "the dogone girl is mine" doesn't appear once! I was surprised to realise this was the only Jackson song on the countdown though, but what a doozy! "Smooth Criminal" is a brilliant mixing of pop, funk and just outta this world craziness. That addictive beat is just so unbelievably great and those lyrics are mad. Every single bit of this song is as perfect as it could be, and that goes for the video clip as well. Fact? This is my favourite video of all time. Just astonishing. The dance moves! The choreography! The look! My favourite bit is about 6 minutes in as it goes silent and the chorus chants "annie are you okay? are you okay annie?" over and over before kicking back into the song. Oh, and the bit where the men are placing bets and turning it into a dance and then Jackson flips the dude over. Oh and the pool table sequence. At the stair bit. And... oh, you get what I mean. Spectacularly well done. BTW, Justing Timberlake if you're reading this (and I know you are)... THIS is the sort of video you need to make for a song. If you do I will finally be convinced.
6.
Artist: Kate Bush
Song: Wuthering Heights
Album: The Kick Inside (1978)
Watch The Video
I love that that as Kate Bush has aged her voice has become less angelically bizarre, but more mature and womanly. But just listening to her first big hit "Wuthering Heights" I get shivers up my spine. I can't imagine how anyone can sing at that level for the duration that Kate does. The song itself is just beautiful. Passionate and wonderfully written, it sweeps you up and you only return once she finished those last few notes. The song is so well performed by Bush and she puts everything in including a kitchen sink or two. The video is strange though. Very strange.
5.Artist: Prince
Song: Purple Rain
Album: Purple Rain (1984)
Watch The Video
My favourite album of all time is not anything by Madonna or Bruce (he's #2 though!) or whoever else, it is in fact by Prince. It is indeed Purple Rain (also, quite shamefully, one of my favourite movies too). The song "Purple Rain" appears as the finale of sorts, it's the big rousing ballad at the end and boy does it work. It is so powerful, and so emotional and when the crowd of onlookers and the club manager nods his head in the "wow kid, you really did it" moment that all of these movies have, I was nodding along with him. The movie was my first exposure to most of these songs, and it just hightened them. "Purple Rain" works on many levels, but really it is just a great rock ballad. You can hear it in Prince's vocals and then in the guitar solo. He knows this song is something special and so do I. The video clip is actually the scene from the movie. There was really no point in making a new one as the film version was good enough.
Fun Fact - I love this album so much that I have a copy of the record (vinyl) mounted on my wall with a little plaque and the front and back covers and everything. It's awesome.
4.Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Song: Streets of Philadelphia
Album: OST Philadelphia (1993)
Watch The Video
I'm sorry folks, but this gets me every time. I don't care two hoots whether you like or loathe the movie (I liked it all those years ago but as I see more and know more I find it troubling - something even the cast agrees with funnily enough), but this song is down right brilliant all by itself. A sad eulogy from a man singing to himself (because he has nobody else) just tears me up. Listening to those lyrics and hearing Bruce's delivery... I love it so much. That drum beat, the occasional cry in the background, the synths, the "la la" moments are possibly the most miserable I've ever heard. But the song stands out. It's just so good. I love that it won the Oscar too! And on a purely trivial note, am I weird for thinking a 45-year-old Spingsteen done up as a homeless man is still one of the hottest things going around?
3.Artist: Kim Carnes
Song: Bette Davis Eyes
Album: Mistaken Identity (1981)
Watch The Video
That synth. That clapping. That voice. Everything about this song is so brilliantly done, it's no surprise it won Song of the Year and Record of the Year grammy awards. I remember watching the video for this song over and over and over again on the video tapes that my mum recorded of music videos from before I was born (this was 4 years before me y'all). Something about it hypnotised me. I think it was the voice. And that tune just sucks you in! It wraps itself around you. My love for this song is so deep that when I first heard Mylo's "In My Arms" (that samples the song) I dropped a plate and smashed it. Oops. It was in a good way though cause I love "In My Arms"!
2.Artist: Massive Attack
Song: Unfinished Sympathy
Album: Blue Lines (1991)
Watch The Video
I know that I've imagined love before
And how it could be with you
Really hurt me baby, really cut me baby
How can you have a day without a night
You're the book that I have opened
And now I've got to know much more
Simply. Astonishing. Without a doubt this is the best written song I've ever heard. That tune and those lyrics. Everything is so sublime. It's dark, heartbreaking and troubled. "Like a soul without a mind/And a body without a heart/I'm missing every part." This song is epically mellon collie, but I can relate to it. It's truly amazing. The video is amazingly simple. A woman walks down a street, but it's so well done. So well done in fact that people's brains exploded and forgot about it when The Verve cruely mocked it for "Bittersweet Symphony" (I hate The Verve).
Normally, "Unfinished Sympathy" would be #1 but there's one song I always come back to. I remember hearing it for the first time as a five year old and seeing the video clip and just being transfixed. Since then I've been hooked. Also helps that the song is a classic. I'll announce that tomorrow, but it should be pretty blatantly obvious what it is.
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