Nothing else matters - Metallica

Metallica's James Hetfield wrote this song while on the phone with his girlfriend. Since he held the phone with one hand, he plucked the four open strings with the other, which eventually made up the first two bars of the song. The lyrics were also dedicated to his girlfriend, which talk about being 'so close, no matter how far', indicating the bond they shared even when Hetfield was on tour. Initially, the song wasn't meant to go on the album, and Hetfield had written it for himself, but when drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, it was recorded for the album anyway.

The single reached number 5 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 6 in the UK singles chart. The band re-recorded the track with a full orchestra in 1999 for the album 'S&M'.

My collection: 7" single no. 1816
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, January 9, 1993
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Nothing else matters' / 'Enter sandman (live)'

Socrates - Elpida

Elpida Karayiannopoulou was born October 1, 1950 in Spercheiada, Greece. At 14, she moved to Athens with her two older brothers to study. After this, she started a career in music when she became a singer of an orchestra, eventually recording an album with them and then forging her own career.

She became internationally known when she represented Greece during the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Socrates'. She finished eighth out of 19 competitors. She returned to the contest in 1986, representing Cyprus with the song 'Tora zo'.

My collection: 7" single no. 4570
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received February 20, 2010
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Socrates' / 'Pou na ise agapi'

Eternal flame - The Bangles

Written by Susanna Hoffs with Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, 'Eternal flame' was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley that Michael Steele saw when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child. Steinberg: 'Susanna was talking about The Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary. There was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame.'

Released as a single from the Bangles' 1988 album 'Everything', it reached number 1 in the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

My collection: 7" single no. 734
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, February 7, 1989
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Eternal flame' / 'What I meant to say'

Sugar - Lori Spee

American-born Dutch singer Lori Spee released her third album 'Intuition' in 1983. The single 'Sugar' was taken from this album in January 1984. Supported by a concert tour in the Netherlands, the single still didn't manage to conquer a place in the Dutch Top 40.

It is actually a nice song, although it was maybe a bit too 'middle of the road' in this synthpop-dominated era in music.

My collection: 7" single no. 1236
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, May 25, 1990
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Sugar' / 'Time alone'

Synchronicity II - The Police

Personally, I think the best Police track is 'Synchronicity II', as it displays an amount of aggression that is not equalled in any other piece of music I know. The title refers to Carl Jung's theory of Synchronicity. It tells the story of an emasculated husband and harried father whose home, work life, and environment are terrible and depressing. One of the best lines in the track is 'every single meeting with his so-called superior/is a humiliating kick in the crotch', as the visual image underlines the music so well.

According to Sting: 'Jung believed there was a large pattern to life, that it wasn't just chaos. Our song 'Synchronicity II' is about two parallel events that aren't connected logically or causally, but symbolically.'

I have two copies of this single: the regular UK single featuring the B-side 'Once upon a daydream', and a Brazilian copy, which features the earlier single 'Wrapped around your finger' on the B-side. 'Synchronicity II' reached number 17 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 1166 / no. 3247
Found: Record fair, 1990 / London, October 20, 2000
Cost: 5 guilders / 1 pound
Tracks (no. 1166): 'Synchronicity II' / 'Wrapped around your finger'
Tracks (no. 3247): 'Synchronicity II' / 'Once upon a daydream'

We're like starlight - Gry

Gry Johansen was born August 28, 1964. She represented Denmark during the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Kloden drejer' ('The planet's spinning'). The song finished 17th out of 20 competitors. She made two further bids for Eurovision in Denmarkt in 1989 and 2000, but both times she was unsuccessful.

This single features an English version of 'Kloden drejer', entitled 'We're like starlight'. It was released in several European countries, but without commercial success.

My collection: 7" single no. 4407
Found: Second Life Music, Amsterdam, December 30, 2009
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'We're like starlight' / 'For one more night'

A question of time - Depeche Mode

Following Depeche Mode's single 'A question of lust', 'A question of time' was released as Depeche Mode's 17th single in August 1986. The track was remixed for the single, running at a slightly faster temp and pitch than the album version on 'Black celebration'. The accompanying music video was the first to be directed by Anton Corbijn and brought forth a big relationship with him and the band which still lasts to this day.

The single reached number 17 in the UK singles chart, but was unsuccessful in many other territories.

My collection: 7" single no. 474
Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1985
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'A question of time (remix)' / 'Black celebration (live)'