The best singles of each year between 1973 to 1993

The songs in this museum are from all genres which were popular in the years that each page is dedicated to which means you'll find some T-Rex and some Shirley Bassey! I invite you in to discover, to learn, to have fun, expand your musical horizons and hear some good songs you've never heard before. It'll be like stepping into a time machine for some of you who were around at the time, but mostly I hope my deconstruction of the lazy generalisation of what musical decades and eras were actually made of is a little entertaining too. I've tried to be as objective as possible but of course, my top 40 of each year will contain a dollop of personal taste. I just hope my taste is wide ranging enough to satisfy most palates.

 Why start at 1973?

 The first room in my Music Museum is dedicated to 1973 because:

• Once the mania of the 60s music scene calmed down (when the Beatles split up in 1969) the charts hit a bit of a doldrum
• 1973 saw the emergence of some truly special music and artists.
• I can't speak with any level of authority about the 60s. I wasn't there.
• I had enough exposure to the music of the early 70s growing up, that I can base my selections for the 'best songs' of each year on songs which have and haven't stood the test of time (those that were huge for 2 weeks and then forgotten about and never played again by radio or even alluded to by those nostalgia shows that show clips of Ready Steady Go and the Old Grey Whistle Test etc.)
• I know all the rough diamonds of the 70s which most people born after 1979 will definitely have missed.

Second Disclaimer : The top 40 songs I've selected for each year will only feature songs which were in the actual top 40 (the one Top of the Pops and Radio 1 used) but I've ranked them on my own opinion of their quality regardless of sales or peak chart position. I figure, if a single shifted enough units to get into the top 40, it must have been one of the best songs of the year. However, as Little Jimmy Osmond was at number 1 for an obscene amount of weeks with 'Long haired lover from Liverpool' in 1973, it won't be in my top 40 for that year.  It's chirpy and nauseating - everything a good single should be I suppose, but good songs are everything you've ever liked and everything I've ever liked so I hope you step into the museum merely to discover some new music, remember your old favourites and hopefully be entertained. 

 

 Each year in the museum will be supported by a Spotify playlist, a chart countdown (in reverse order), some honourable mentions for songs which didn't quite make it into the top 40 and some commentary about each track I've selected and why. They'll be in the form of blog posts so they're easy to read but I'll link everything together so you can poke around and find something interesting by accident too.