Twenty Four No1 Singles (2)

Continuation of Part 1

1975 D.I.V.O.R.C.E. - Billy Connolly
I didn't remember this till I heard the first few bars. Go listen!

1979 Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd
A song bristling with insurrection disguised as indignation.
"HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY PUDDING IF YOU DON'T EAT YOUR MEAT!" The countless times (aged 11-12) I was left with some disgusting meat on my plate at the end of lunch and had to stand outside the housemaster's study to try to get it down. The times I raced out of the dining hall to the bogs to be, or pretend to be, sick. The excessive water consumption, soon restricted by the authorities, as I worked out how to swallow the vile stuff with a drink, like you do tablets.

1980 Don't Stand so Close to Me - Police
I think of the teacher who would never teach because there was no way to get his name removed from the Child Protection Register. Though he had now been married to the "victim" for over 20 years.

1981 Imagine - John Lennon
Naive, idealistic, call it what you like this song cuts deep. Chapman is still in prison for the murder.

1983 Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
Basically I chose this just to see if it lived up to the other name I remember it by (i.e. Total Eclipse of the Ears.) It didn't, really.

1983 Down Under - Men at Work
The only song I know with the word chunder in the lyrics.

1988 Desire - U2
A real rock song at No 1!

1994 Twist and Shout - Chaka Demus and Pliers
You gotta want to dance when you hear this! 

1996 Wannabe - Spice Girls
Why did I like the Spice Girls? They were sexy!

1998 Brimful of Asha - Cornershop
Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow

2002 Dry Your Eyes, Mate - The Streets
I haven't heard any other songs that express the despair of a break-up from a male point of view so sharply

2014 Happy - Pharrell Williams
Happy, happy, happy, happy!!!

After the discipline of going through the charts year by year I wanted to choose a couple of tracks from the hundreds on offer.

Guns of Brixton (The Clash) and Waiting for the Man (Velvet Underground). Armed resistance and classic Velvets.