Every year there’s a song of the summer that somehow creeps into your consciousness and stays there til the sunshine starts to fade. This year the first contender for me is Mash Up The Dance. (more…)

This is the greatest disco song of all time; no argument about that. And one of the greatest songs of all time. I usually tend towards the view that these things are a matter of opinion but in this case I hope we can all agree. (more…)

There have been plenty of crazy characters and egotists in the history of popular music, and Ernie K-Doe was one of them. A bit of a blues and soul legend in his native New Orleans, he performed in a cape and crown and billed himself as “Emperor of the Universe.” (more…)

I’ve spent a lot of time on the road in the past week, driving to Cornwall and back, listening to 6Music (at least when I had a DAB signal in the car). This is the tune that caught my ear the most. (more…)

For Jamaicans, and an older generation of fans, Horace Andy is one of the legendary reggae singers from Jamaica. For a younger one, he’s synonymous with Bristol as the guest vocalist on some of Massive Attack’s best tunes. (more…)

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Vocal trio The Abyssinians followed their seminal debut Satta Massa Gana with their second single, Declaration of Rights in 1972. (more…)

This startling oddity is about as ‘punk’ as it’s possible to get, despite consisting of nothing but a drum and a voice. It’s one of the angriest tirades you’ll ever hear. It still sounds shocking today. (more…)

It’s taken nearly 45 years for me to find out that Blondie’s 1978 hit single was a cover version. This is the original from two years earlier – the only record ever released by The Nerves. (more…)

Kitsch, camp, catchy and controversial, this was the first song to come out by Adam & The Ants. Deutscher Girls first appeared on the soundtrack of Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee. It didn’t make Stuart Goddard’s name. That would come later. (more…)