New Order’s classic single “Blue Monday” remains the biggest selling UK12 inch single of all time. It is also one of the longest singles ever to chart in the UK as it clocks in at more than 7 minutes. Did you know where the song’s title came from? Apparently it came from the title of an illustration in Kurt Vonnegut’s book ‘Breakfast Of Champions’. The title of that illustration was ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’ and it referred to how the invention of the washing machine had improved the lives of housewives so much! So obviously it never changed the lives of us men much then did it?
Many of you will already know that the NME celebrates its 60th birthday this year. It was first published in March of 1952, it was later that year that it also published the first ever UK singles chart based on sales. That was in November 1952 and featured Al Martino‘s “Here In My Heart” at number one.
As part of their birthday celebrations the NME has published a list of the top 100 songs since the paper has been around. I’m sure that there will be plenty of debate about what is in and what isn’t in the list. I was particularly surprised that there are no songs from the 50’s included. How about Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” that was pretty damned ground breaking. Incidentally the spread of songs from the other periods are;
60s = 22
70s = 16
80s = 19
90s = 19
00s/ 10s = 24
Why not cast your vote in my favourite decade poll below 🙂
My favourite song of all time; Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” reaches number 86 and Mr Bowie has “Space Oddity” at number 39 and another song in the top 5 (more of that one later). The Beatles have three entries in the top 100. Thankfully Westlife, Cheryl Cole and their ilk are nowhere to be seen in this list.
So without further ado and in traditional reverse order here is the top 5;
New Order’s classic single “Blue Monday” remains the biggest selling UK 12 inch single of all time. It is also one of the longest singles ever to chart in the UK as it clocks in at more than 7 minutes. Did you know where the song’s title came from? Apparently it came from the title of an illustration in Kurt Vonnegut’s book ‘Breakfast Of Champions’. The title of that illustration was ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’ and it referred to how the invention of the washing machine had improved the lives of housewives so much! So obviously it never changed the lives of us men much then did it?
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 