My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1987 Quiz

Answer: New Order

"True Faith" by New Order is an astonishing dance track, recorded in a synthesizer studio; Peter Hook had to fight to keep his bass guitar on the track. Bernard Sumner sings in his normal flat voice, and I've no idea what the lyrics are about.
There's a great video, featuring modern performance art choreographed by Philippe Decoufle, the writer and director of the Cirque du Soleil show "Iris". It won the British Video of the Year in 1988.
It went to number four in the UK Singles Chart and to number 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart; a 1994 re-release in the UK went to number nine.

Answer: Broken English

The first time I heard "Comin' on Strong" by Broken English I thought "that's great - it's surely the Rolling Stones!" - it had a great guitar riff and the singer sounded very much like Mick Jagger. But I was wrong - the band had been put together by Steve Elson who had written the song, and he was playing for a Rolling Stones tribute band! The single did OK, but the follow-ups flopped and the band broke up.

A shame, because they had a great "Ghostbusters" look and they had an awful lot of energy. Track down the video on YouTube - it's great fun. Sadly in the mid- and late-1980s there was little room in the charts for pure rock bands like this. It went to number 18 in the UK Singles Chart but wasn't released in the US.

Answer: Mel and Kim

The charts were full of Stock, Aitken and Waterman tracks which were almost universally dross, although some were OK to sing along to. "Respectable" by Mel and Kim was one of the better examples, with an infectious "Tay tay tay" hook line proving that you can never be too commercial!
It went to number one in the UK Singles Chart, and also to number one or two in three US Dance Charts; however, it didn't make it to the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Sadly Mel died of cancer in 1990, aged just 23.

Answer: ABC

"When Smokey Sings" was ABC's tribute to the wonderful Smokey Robinson. It was based on a bass line that, while not taken from an actual Robinson track, certainly was recognisable as being inspired by "Tears of a Clown". The saxophone backing also helped.
It went to number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and to number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Grateful Dead

Well - the Grateful Dead. To be totally honest, although I was aware of the band and their long history, I'd never knowingly heard anything by them until this surprise US hit - and I just loved it. The musicianship is wonderful, especially the lead guitar playing by songwriter Jerry Garcia which has a lovely up-beat jangly feel to it as well as a great melody. And the song lyrics are great, quite dark but almost anthemic in the last chorus - "We will get by, we will survive".

It's all helped by a very amusing video, featuring the band as skeletons.

A great, great record from a source that I was totally unaware of - a very welcome surprise! It went to number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart but didn't chart in the UK.

Answer: Big Audio Dynamite

One of my favourite Big Audio Dynamite tracks, this was the second release from their second album, "No.10, Upping Street". A Mick Jones and Joe Strummer collaboration, it's strongly melodic even though the lyrics are a jumble. Great punch line at the end, though: "Sodom and Gomorrah? - this is London, gov".
It went to number 49 in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: Prince

"Sign o' the Times" was the lead single from Prince's 1987 album of the same name. It's a tremendous record, a catalogue of the current bleak social conditions including AIDS, gang violence, natural disasters, poverty, drug abuse, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the impending nuclear holocaust. The instrumentation is electronic-based and sparse but very effective.
It went to number ten in the UK Singles Chart and to number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was also ranked at number 304 in the 2010 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Answer: INXS

"Need You Tonight" was the first release from the 1987 album "Kick" by the Australian band INXS. It's really catchy, slightly slow-tempo, mean and moody. Lead singer Michael Hutchence was a bit of a sex god, so his sensual interpretation of the lyrics was a perfect fit. I loved the long percussion intro! There's also quite a clever video, with Hutchence appearing minus his shirt.
It went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart; the first release in the UK went to number 58 in the UK Singles Chart, but a re-release in November 1988 went to number two.
Sadly Hutchence died in November 1997; the cause of his death remains an issue of debate.

Answer: Los Lobos

"La Bamba" first appeared as a Mexican folk song, and became a Top 40 hit in the US for Ritchie Valens in 1958. When in 1986 film director Louis Valdez made a film about Valens' life entitled "La Bamba" he used the Mexican-American group Los Lobos to record a lot of the soundtrack. Consequently their traditional version of "La Bamba" was released in 1987 - a sure-fire hit.
The Los Lobos recording went to number one in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The original version by Valens went to number 49 in the UK Singles Chart and to number 22 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It was ranked at number 345 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, the only non-English Language song included in the list.

Answer: Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby seemed to come from nowhere. Not a person lacking in self-confidence, his 80s soul sound as expressed in his album "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" was spot on-trend and produced four hit singles. The second, "Wishing Well", was a slow, "sparse funk" song with a bit of a 60s vibe thrown in - it was certainly catchy.
It went to number four in the UK Singles Chart and to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.