Best Song: Public Enemy - Fight The Power
You may be surprised to hear I've picked a Motown record as best song. It's a Motown record because that's the label the soundtrack to the film "Do The Right Thing" is on which includes this record. It had some close competition but this just about edges it, maybe it's the line "Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me" that does it.
Worst Song: Transvision Vamp - The Only One
One band I could never tolerate as a kid was Transvision Vamp and my opinion hasn't changed. This is them following up to their biggest hit "Baby I Don't Care" with a record that sounds the same so equally as shit.
Top 40 Review
I'm pretty sure I taped this Top 40 at the time. I certainly remember listening to some of the songs in this Top 40 from taping it.
Anyway, just narrowly missing out on best song in this Top 40 is the record at 40 "Voodoo Ray" by A Guy Called Gerald, one of the all time classics that really is a classic. At the other end of the charts is "Back To Life" by Soul II Soul which has got better with age, though I did also like it at the time.
As a primary school kid at the time I had no knowledge of underground music, but I gave my best shot at trying to know record others didn't. The best I could do was "Waltz Darling" by Malcolm McLaren which was at its peak of 31 this week but unfortunately there was someone else at school who knew it, but a record I like nonetheless.
Guns N Roses have 2 records in this Top 40. There's "Sweet Child O Mine" which I still like despite hearing it far too many times. The other is "Patience" which I remember finding a bit soft for Guns N Roses at the time and I'm still not overly keen but good enough for half marks.
We also have "Breakthru" by Queen who's video was recorded at Nene Valley Railway not long after I visited it myself so it grabbed my attention. The song gets full marks too.
We have half the Beatles in the Top 40, kind of. The record is "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty which features George Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on the drums in the video. This was one of the stand out record to me at the time and I still listen to it now.
Despite these fond childhood memories of this Top 40, there's a lot of crap in there as well. It was the year of Stock Aitken & Waterman after all. It's not just that though, there's music outside of that is bland pop music that hasn't aged very well.
The combination of the good and bad results in a very 80s score.
Score: 15
Table
At the end of the 80s, 7 of the years are separated by just 1 point so you'd have to say it was a pretty consistent decade:
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