It’s impossible not to love Snap!’s hybrid of hip-hop, house, soul and a dash of heavy rock. It kicked off the whole dance music scene when it topped the charts in early 1990.

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It was when The Clash invited Joe Ely to join them on tour in 1980 that I began to understand the parallels between punk and rebel country music.

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Sugababes redefined the girl group when they came along in 2000, injecting RnB into the well-worn pop formula with debut single Overload.

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I vividly remember the first time I heard Public Enemy. It was the most exciting new music since I first saw and heard the Pistols, Ramones and Clash.

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The last hit single of this British pop quintet became the title – and title song – of Edgar Wright’s film Last Night In Soho.

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Vladimir Horowitz plays Schumann’s Träumerei at the age of 83 at the Moscow Conservatory on his return in 1986, three years before his death.

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Here’s another Northern Soul classic, courtesy of The Younghearts from Los Angeles,  California. This was their debut single in 1967, with a falsetto vocal that calls to mind Smokey Robinson.

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This is The Stranglers song Golden Brown as you’ve never heard it before – transformed into a slice of smooth jazz. And it’s wonderful.

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Here’s one of those early-’60s pop oddities – Sandra Barry & The Boyfriend’s – featuring a singer and band who became better known much later.

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“Life is unfair,” sings Sarah Nixey. “Kill yourself or get over it.” As pop choruses go, it’s a dark one; as dark songs go, Child Psychology is even darker.

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