Free - All Right Now

What a classic rock single to mark my 100th post on my blog. Released in May 1970 and hit number 2 in the charts in June, this well known single from the Paul Rodgers led band hit the top of most of the charts around the world in 1970. The single was taken off the album Fire And Water which was a huge hit too thanks to the single. Free had mixed fortunes over the few years they were together and were formed in 1968 but had split up by 1973 due to personal differences and drug problems. All Right Now has taken on a life of it's own and continues to be played today. The single has various UK & US awards for the amount of radio play it has had since 1970. The song has been featured in various TV shows and adverts and has had it's fair share of cover versions too! It was re-released 1973 when it got to number 15 and again in 1991 when it got to number 8 thanks to a remix. Here's the single on the classic pink Island label

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

A fantastic pop song from 1979, was originally from an album released in 1978 by Woolley & the Camera Club called English Garden. Written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes & Bruce Woolley this synthpop classic is about nostalgia and technology, about a radio star who's career is cut short by television. Released on Island Records in September 1979 the single climbed to number 1 in November of that year. Although the song was from 1979 is has been featured on many 80's compilations. Surprised at the single's success the band had to rush back into the studio to record a follow up single and came up with The Plastic Age and the album The Age Of Plastic, although the single hit the charts nothing came close to the success of Video!

When MTV started in America in August 1981 Video Killed The Radio Star was the first video to be shown on the new station, very much true to the single's title! The band released another album but split up, Horn and Downes joined Yes for a while and Trevor Horn became a top producer in the first half of the 80's to work with the likes of ABC, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Dollar! Here's the single which still is a classic and still sounds great!

Pulp - Common People

Brit pop was at it's height when this came out. Jarvis Cocker and the band came out with this masterpiece in 1995 and quickly shot to number 2 in the charts. A song basically about an upper class girl wanting to act and live like a working class girl, swapping luxury for poverty. Jarvis wrote the song about a girl that he knew from his art college days and like the line in the song goes, if she did call her Dad he could just stop it all and so therefore she could never be like common people!

Pulp had always up to this track been a band that always nearly made it, with a big loyal fan base and always critics favourites. I remember seeing them perform this track on Top Of The Pops and was so powerful, almost anthem like and the video was a great piece of footage too. Released on yellow vinyl, 2 cd singles, 12'' and a cassingle all these formats helped get it into the top 5. The follow up single had a dance remix on of Common People which is pretty good too! A classic track that always reminds you of a period of life in the mid nineties