Ann-Maria - Luv'

Luv' released their seventh consecutive hit single in February 1980. The girl trio were doing great business, performing live wherever they could and appearing in almost every TV programme in the Netherlands.

This single was a Mexican-flavoured popsong, using all the cliches of mariachi bands and the like. The single peaked at number 11 in the Dutch Top 40 and also appeared in several European charts. On the sleeve, the girls looked rather posh.

My collection: 7" single no. 33
Found: Wouters, Den Haag, 1980
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Ann-Maria' / 'Flash'

Maxou - Vanessa Paradis

I saw the music video for Vanessa Paradis' single 'Maxou' a couple of times in 1988 or 1989, and the song always stuck in my mind. The video was very cute (although it is a bit risqué with all those sensual images of a very young girl) and the music was very beautiful.

After I'd found the cd of the album 'M&J' I started searching for the 7" singles as well. In the Netherlands they were very difficult to get a hold of, because Paradis was a star in France only after her international hit 'Joe le taxi'. But I succeeded. The single also contains the best album track on the B-side.

My collection: 7" single no. 2262
Found: Record fair, April 8, 1995
Cost: 7 guilders
Tracks: 'Maxou (remix)' / 'Le bon dieu est un marin'

I wanna get back with you - Tom Jones featuring Tori Amos

Tom Jones had just had a reasonable hit with the atrocious 'If I only knew' when he released this duet with Tori Amos as the second single from his 1994 album 'The lead and how to swing it'. It was a smart move: Tori Amos had just become the hottest thing since sliced bread and the appeal to a younger audience would be massive... or so the record company must have thought.

The single did not chart, which is quite logical when you hear the stuff that Diane Warren has composed and written. Warren has a monopoly on cliched pop ballads. Sometimes they are effective, in that audiences fall for it, but this time around, they didn't.

My collection: 7" single no. 2260
Found: Record fair, April 8, 1995
Cost: 10 guilders
Tracks: 'I wanna get back with you' / 'If I only knew'

Snobbery and decay - Act

Not only do I have the 7" single of 'Snobbery and decay', I've got the 12" single too! Quite a feat, because these things became increasinly expensive during the Nineties, when record buyers were finally catching on to the phenomenon Act. According to Claudia Brücken: 'The whole idea was based on a programme called 'Lifestyles of the rich and famous'. That was when we discovered how much we wanted to write about that idea and what a great introduction it would be for Thomas and me to have a duet as a first single. Two characters talking about that whole thing.'

This 12" single also features a cover of 'I'd be surprisingly good for you' from the musical 'Evita', chosen according to Thomas Leer, because 'we both dislike Andrew Lloyd Webber intensely. We wanted to do something from a musical, something that was crap and that we could make great. It also fitted the idea of the package.'

My collection: 12" single no. 510
Found: ?
Cost: 10 guilders
Tracks: 'Snobbery and decay (That's entertainment)' / 'Poison', 'I'd be surprisingly good for you'

Dance away - Roxy Music

'Dance away' was released as the second single from Roxy Music's 1979 album 'Manifesto'. The single reached number 2 on the UK singles chart and number 6 in the Dutch Top 40. In the US Billboard Hot 100 the single reached number 44.

The record shop where I bought this single is one of my most vivid memories of a shop ever. The place stank of urine (probably from the dog who was walking around there), there were boxes with singles everywhere and the state of most of them was deplorable. I rescued a few titles I really wanted to have and got out of there. Pity I don't remember the name of the place...

My collection: 7" single no. 856
Found: Den Haag, May 27, 1989
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Dance away' / 'Cry cry cry'

Woman in chains - Tears for Fears

'Woman in chains' was the second single from Tears for Fears' 1989 album 'The seeds of love'. Band members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith discovered Oleta Adams while she was singing in a seedy bar somewhere in America. They decided that she had to work with them on the album, and 'Woman in chains' was one of two tracks on which she appeared. The track features Phil Collins on drums.

Roland Orzabal explained about the lyric: 'The song is also about how men traditionally play down the feminine side of their characters and how both men and women suffer for it.... I think men in a patriarchal society are sold down the river a bit - okay, maybe we're told that we're in control but there are also a hell of a lot of things that we miss out on, which women are allowed to be.' The single peaked at number 26 in the UK singles chart and number 12 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 1115
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, November 17, 1989
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Woman in chains' / 'Always in the past'

In 't leven - Het Goede Doel

'In 't leven' ('In life') was the debut single of Het Goede Doel, a Dutch band formed by Henk Temming and Henk Westbroek. The lyric of the song described a one night stand, initiated by a woman who was interested in love nor money. The singer finds himself smelling the sweat of her body when he's eating a sandwich a few days later.

The single did not chart in the Dutch Top 40, despite repeated airplay in 1982, when it was released. Things turned out alright for the band: they would have a dozen hit singles during the Eighties.

My collection: 7" single no. 3761
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received June 3, 2009
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'In 't leven' / 'Alleen'