Just for fun, I decided to create a list of songs that entered the UK charts on every August that I have lived through. I did the same for June and July on other posts. I limited it to one per year. It wasn’t until about 1971 that I was familiar with them at the time, but I did get to know the 1960s songs in later years.
When I say I remember or like a song, I’m not endorsing the lyrics or the artist. I don’t really take much notice of the lyrics. But some songs transport me back in time because I’d have heard them on the radio at the time. And in some ways, the ones that are most successful at doing that are ones that I hardly listened to in the intervening years.
It’s a bit of a struggle to find 21st Century songs that I like, but I hope that some of them will transport me back to the early decades of the 21st Century if I live another 20 or 30 years 😀.
- 1962: Sealed with a Kiss – Brian Hyland
- 1963: She Loves You – The Beatles
- 1964: She’s Not There – The Zombies
- 1965: Like A Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
- 1966: God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
- 1967: Even the Bad Times Are Good – The Tremeloes (I do remember that one as a 5-year old 😀)
- 1968: Little Arrows – Leapy Lee (I remember and Irish showband version of that at the time)
- 1969: Good Morning Starshine – Oliver (I remember that at the time too – and the rest of the songs on the list)
- 1970: I (Who Have Nothing) – Tom Jones
- 1971: Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast – Daniel Boone
- 1972: All The Young Dudes – Mott the Hoople
- 1973: Angel Fingers – Wizzard
- 1974: It’s Only Rock And Roll – The Rolling Stones
- 1975: Summer Of ’42 – Biddu Orchestra
- 1976: Dancing Queen – Abba
- 1977: Down Deep Inside – Donna Summer
- 1978: Walk On By – The Stranglers
- 1979: Is She Really Going Out With Him – Joe Jackson
- 1980: The Winner Takes It All – Abba
- 1981: Japanese Boy – Aneka
- 1982: Save a Prayer – Duran Duran
- 1983: Wings Of A Dove – Madness
- 1984: Like To Get To Know You Well – Howard Jones
- 1985: Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
- 1986: Human – Human League
- 1987: Toy Boy – Sinnita
- 1988: Teardrops – Womack and Womack
- 1989: Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Tears for Fears
- 1990: Praying For Time – George Michael
- 1991: Jacky – Marc Almond
- 1992: Movin’ On – Bananarama
- 1993: Higher Ground – Higher Ground
- 1994: Kiss from a Rose – Seal
- 1995: Country House – Blur
- 1996: Sorrento Moon – Tina Arena
- 1997: Electric Guitars – Prefab Sprout
- 1998: If You Tolerate This – Manic Street Preachers
- 1999: Why Does It Always Rain On Me? – Travis
- 2000: Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) – Spiller
- 2001: Knives Out – Radiohead
- 2002: In My Place – Coldplay
- 2003: Don’t Look Back Into The Sun – Libertines
- 2004: These Words – Nastasha Bedingfield
- 2005: The Importance Of Being Idle – Oasis
- 2006: Deja Vu – Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
- 2007: Hey There Delilah – Plain White T’s
- 2008: I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
- 2009: I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
- 2010: Forget You – Ceelo Green
- 2011: Moves like Jagger – Maroon 5
- 2012: We Are Never Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift
- 2013: Roar – Katy Perry
- 2014: All About the Bass – Meghan Train0r
- 2015: Fight Song – Rachel Platten
- 2016: A Head Full of Dreams – Coldplay
- 2017: Havana – Camila Cabello
- 2018: Breathin – Ariana Grande
- 2019: Dance Monkey – Tones & I
- 2020: Dynamite – BTS
- 2021: Cold Heart – Elton John and Dua Lupa
- 2022: Forget Me – Lewis Capaldi
- 2023: Paint the Town Red – Dojo Cat
- 2024: I Had Some Help – Post Malone
- 2025: Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter
- 2026: Bring Your Love – Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter
So, I’ll end by embedding YouTube videos of six of the songs on my list – I quickly chose a favourite from each decade – just off the top of my head:
Looking at the larger list, I think that my interest in pop music peaked in the late 1970s, but I do like my life having a bit of a soundtrack to it. I might not approve of all the songs, but because they would have played on the radio at the time, they help me to remember each year. I recently started going backwards and logging all the songs that I’m familiar with from 1900, and even before, to 1962. It’s interesting that how many early 20th century songs and even 19th century songs are still known and loved. Perhaps I’ll do something with these too at some stage.
When I commited my life to Christ back in 1980, I almost idolized pop music. Maybe I prayed that pop music would become so bad that I’d lose interest in it. If I did – my prayer has been answered! 😀 It was become worse, and contemporary Christian music has improved. But I do need to make an effort to like anything new. For both spiritual and secular songs, I like the old stuff best. But who knows? Maybe it’ll get better again at some stage.
Hibernia Gospel 