My Favourite 45s of the Year: 1988 Quiz

Answer: Neneh Cherry

So you're sitting watching "Top of the Pops" and the next act comes on - it's a woman singing "Buffalo Stance", a pretty crazy song with rap bits. What's immediately obvious is the bulge between her bra top and her black miniskirt that shows she's seven months pregnant! Cue national media outrage!
Neneh Cherry, stepdaughter of jazz artist Don Cherry, began her own musical journey in various punk and post-punk bands in London in the early 1980s. Her husband and his friend had come up with the basic idea of "Buffalo Stance" and had recorded in 1986. Further re-working brought about the track as released by Cherry, which became a massive hit. The song is catchy and fun, and her vocals are brilliant. The subsequent album, "Raw Like Sushi", was often on my turntable.
There's a fun video, too - watch out for the deranged backing singers!
It went to number three on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it was ranked at number 412 in the 2021 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

Answer: Womack & Womack

Cecil Womack started performing with his brothers in the early 1960s, and got together with Linda (who was actually his stepdaughter) in the late 1970s. Recording together brought a hit album "Love Wars" in 1983, and then this excellent song, "Teardrops", in 1988. It's soul at its best, smooth and catchy with a wonderful groove.
It went to number three in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: The Art of Noise with Tom Jones

I know that "Kiss" by Prince was included in my Top Ten for 1986 but the 1988 version by Tom Jones and the Art of Noise is quite different, so I've no qualms about including it in 1988's listing!
The Art of Noise was an avant-garde British synth-pop band, formed in 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan along with programmer J. J. Jeczalik, keyboardist Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music journalist Paul Morley. The band was founded on the output of the Fairlight CMI Sampler, and they'd had hits with tracks like "Close (to the Edit)" in 1984 and "Peter Gunn" in 1985. The release of "Kiss" came about after Tom Jones started to include the song in the set list of his Las Vegas show, and Jeczalik and Dudley contacted him to record it. It's all very well done, with a great guitar and horn break and, of course, Jones' wonderful voice on top of it all.
It went to number five in the UK Singles Chart (one place higher than Prince's original release) and to number 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti's album "Cupid & Psyche 85" spawned three UK Top Ten hits, including my Records of the Year for 1984 ("Absolute") and 1985 ("The Word Girl"). Their 1988 album, "Provision", produced only one hit single, but what a gem it was! "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry for Loverboy)" is slow and sensual, with Green Gartside's wonderful voice floating over the top of the instrumentation. And then, as a real bonus, the wonderful Miles Davis plays a trumpet sole that really captures the feel of the song. Sheer genius!
It went to number 13 in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: Siouxsie and the Banshees

Beware: this track is seriously weird! Siouxsie and the Banshees are well-known for releasing the occasional off-the-wall track, but "Peek-a-Boo" takes the biscuit - backwards brass instruments, steel drums, an accordion and oddly-recorded vocals on top! There's just so much going on in it that it sometimes gets a bit OTT, but at the end of the day it's like nothing you've ever heard before and are unlikely to hear in the future.
It went to number 16 in the UK Singles Chart and to number 53 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Prefab Sprout

Brothers Paddy and Martin McAloon founded Prefab Sprout in 1978, and it immediately became clear that Paddy was a talented song-writer; his songs are wryly intelligent, subtle and unorthodox. "The King of Rock'n'Roll" was a bright, bubbly pop song but with a darker side: the lyrics are about a singer who has become a one-hit wonder, haunted by a novelty song with the chorus "Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque".
Sadly it became a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as far as the band was concerned, as - ironically - they became more-a-less a one-hit-wonder group with "The King of Rock'n'Roll" known as their novelty hit. Paddy McAloon said that he was aware that "it's a bit like being known for 'Yellow Submarine' rather than 'Hey Jude'".
It went to number seven in the UK Singles Chart; it wasn't released in the US.

Answer: Transvision Vamp

Transvision Vamp got together in 1986, fronted by the rebellious and sexy Wendy James - a vision in pink with matching pink lipstick. Their third single, "I Want Your Love", was a great piece of punk/pop crossover, and for a time the band were riding high. Sadly they folded in 1992.
It went to number five in the UK Singles Chart but didn't chart in the US.

Answer: Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and took up music at an early age. While at University in 1986 a fellow-student recorded her playing as a support act in a concert in Boston, and persuaded his father (a music publisher) to sign her; from there she signed with Elektra Records and released her first album, "Tracy Chapman" in 1988.

The stand-out track from the album was "Fast Car", and when she played it at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute it took off. It's a pleasing folk-rock song about a woman trying to escape from poverty, with lovely guitar backing. It went to number five in the UK Singles Chart (a re-release in 2011 got to number four), and to number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It was also ranked at number 167 in the 2004 "Rolling Stone" list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and at number 71 in the 2021 list.

Answer: Prince

The first single from the "Lovesexy" album, "Alphabet St." by Prince is a sparse junk of R'n'B with scratchy guitar, great percussion and lots of sampling. It has the usual chunky Prince groove. The inclusion of Cat Glover's rap is the cherry on the cake.
It went to number nine in the UK Singles Chart and to number eight in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Answer: Fine Young Cannibals

There was a time in the mid-1980s when the Fine Young Cannibals were on the radio all the time. Formed in 1984 by two guitarists who'd been in The Beat, they recruited a lead singer, Roland Gift. Gift was not only was a good singer with a distinctive voice but also - to use my wife's phrase - a definite piece of eye candy: in 1990 "People" magazine named him as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world.

The band's 1985 debut album, "Fine Young Cannibals", contained two UK top 40 hits while their 1989 album, "The Raw & the Cooked", did even better. "She Drives Me Crazy", included on the latter album, was a great mix of synth drums, power chords and Gift's falsetto singing, co-produced by Prince. It went to number five in the UK Singles Chart and to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.