Pop quiz trivia question: what was the real name of ‘M’, the one-hit wonder behind the novelty hit single Pop Muzik? Answer: Robin Scott.

(more…)

Excuse the sentimentality but Patti Smith wrote this song as an elegy for a previous Pope, so it seems a suitable epitaph for Francis, who died today.

(more…)

The Jones Girls may have come from Detroit but their sweet harmonies made them synonymous with the Philly Sound. And their big breakthrough came after almost a decade when they teamed up with Philly Soul titans Gamble and Huff.

(more…)

Holly Beth Vincent combined a feisty punk attitude with a smouldering sexuality and pop tunes you would remember in her short-lived band Holly & The Italians. None more so than this.

(more…)

I fell in love with Ellen Foley’s album Night Out the moment I heard this bombastic and blissful opening track – We Belong To The Night. With its piano runs, crunchy guitars, loud drums and epic Wall of Sound production, it could have come from a female-fronted remake of Born To Run.

(more…)

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark came up with their eco-anthem Electricity, the foundation stone of synthpop, in the summer of 1979.

(more…)

It’s funny, looking back now, to recall that The Motels were sold as a “New Wave” band. This is the only song I remember – and it’s an epic ballad.

(more…)

Culture’s debut album Two Sevens Clash was a landmark release back in 1977. Joe Gibbs and I-Roy teamed up on the 12-inch version.

(more…)

Words can’t express how much I have loved this song from the very first time I heard it, with its litany of cultural icons that we all admire.

(more…)

Doll By Doll were something of a cult band in the punk/New Wave era, thanks mainly to the larger than life personality of their Scottish front man. (more…)