Het antwoord - Frank Boeijen Groep

Frank Boeijen, lead singer of the Frank Boeijen Groep had to undergo surgery on his vocal chords because of a medical problem in early 1983. It had some effect on the sound of his voice, which is why there are actually two versions of this track, 'Het antwoord' ('The answer'). The track on the single was recorded before the surgery, whereas the version on the album '1001 hotel', as well as all the other tracks on the album, was recorded after the surgery.

All this makes this single a bit of a rarity. This version of the song has never been released on cd, while the single has never been a hit. What about the B-side? Well, that was simply a track from the previous album.

My collection: 7" single no. 214
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1983
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Het antwoord' / 'Sneeuwblind'

Through the barricades - Spandau Ballet

'Through the barricades' is the title track of Spandau Ballet's 1986 album. It was released as the second single from the album. The lyric of the song was inspired by love prevailing over the troubles in Northern Ireland. The single was released as a limited edition with a gatefold sleeve.

The single reached number 6 in the UK singles chart and number 3 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 3258
Found: House of Rhythm, London, October 20, 2000
Cost: 40p
Tracks: 'Through the barricades' / 'With the pride (live in '85)'

Situation - Yazoo

Although I was a really big fan of Yazoo in the early Eighties, I never had the money to buy their 12" singles. And by the time I did, I'd played my singles so often that I just didn't want to buy those 12" singles anymore.

On one occasion I did, though: I found a cheap American 12" single of 'Situation' in 1993 and because of its low price I bought it. It's got two versions of 'Situation' on it, that were finally released on cd in 2008 when the box set 'In your room' was released.

My collection: 12" single no. 168
Found: Record fair, 1993
Cost: 5 guilders
Tracks: 'Situation (remix by François Kevorkian)' / 'Situation (dub version)'

I go to sleep - The Pretenders

'I go to sleep' is a track from the second album by the Pretenders, called 'Pretenders II'. Although it is not one of their most exciting tracks, it is one of their biggest hits, as it peaked at number 7 in the UK singles chart and number 4 in the Dutch Top 40.

I didn't like the song when it first came out, but a few years later I learned to like it. That's how it went with many more Pretenders tracks.

My collection: 7" single no. 787
Found: All that music, Leiden, March 30, 1989
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'I go to sleep' / 'Waste not want not'

Did it in a minute - Daryl Hall and John Oates

'Did it in a minute' is my bugspray single. I bought the single on the same day I was going on a holiday with my parents and my sister. I was only ten years old, of course, and we were leaving late one afternoon. When I came home with this single, my father had already sprayed my room, so I went up there and held my breath while I lay down the single on the desk in my room. I did it in a minute, by the way. Strange memories can last a lifetime.

The single was not the biggest success for Hall and Oates. While it peaked at number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, it went by unnoticed by the rest of the world.

My collection: 7" single no. 128
Found: Rapsody, Den Haag, 1981
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Did it in a minute' / 'Head above water'

First boy in this town (Lovesick) - Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti is a band that repeatedly surprised me as the Eighties went on. Their reggae-influenced singles circa 1985 please me a lot, but 'Oh Patti' sounded nothing like that and it still thrilled me.

And then there was 'First boy in this town (Lovesick)'. I can vividly remember hearing that single for the first time, when my sister had just bought it and played it to me. I thought it would never be a hit, but I also knew I had to get it myself. Well, I was right on both counts of course: in the UK this single only reached number 63 and I got the copy only a year after its release.

My collection: 7" single no. 1001
Found: HMV, London, October 16, 1989
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'First boy in this town (Lovesick)' / 'World come back to life'

I'm not in love / Dreadlock holiday - 10CC

'I'm not in love' was originally written around a bossa nova style beat and tempo. Lol Creme suggested slowing it down, while Kevin Godley suggested replacing the beat with a built-up wall of voices. The ethereal sound was created by laboriously building up multiple overdubs of the voices of Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Godley and Creme singing a single note in unison. This multi-track was then mixed down and dubbed down onto 16-track tape. This process was repeated across all sixteen tracks to create a lush 256-voice "virtual" choir that could "sing" chromatic chords. A number of these prepared multi-tracks were then cut into several endless loops, each of which contained the basic notes of the main chords used in the song. The chorus loops could then be played by using the mixing desk rather like a keyboard. Each chord could be sounded by bringing up the fader for that loop. The instrumental break featured the repeated spoken phrase: "Be quiet, big boys don't cry...", which was spoken by Kathy Warren, the receptionist of the Strawberry Studios where the band recorded the track.

Released in May 1975, it became the band's second number 1 single in the UK. In the US Billboard Hot 100 chart it peaked at number 2 and in the Dutch Top 40 it reached number 5.

My collection: 7" single no. 553
Found: London, October 1987
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'I'm not in love' / 'Dreadlock holiday'

Abacab - Genesis

If you're wondering what 'Abacab' means: you're not alone. In an interview, Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford explained in an interview that the band labeled various sections of the song with letters of the alphabet, and at one point the sections were ordered A-B-A-C-A-B. Rutherford commented that the completed song no longer followed this format, but the name was kept nevertheless.

The song was the title track of the 1981 album by Genesis. It was released as a single in August 1981. It peaked at number 26 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 9 in the UK singles chart and number 26 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 978
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, August 29, 1989
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Abacab' / 'Another record'

Junger Tag - Gitte

As bad as this year's Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest is, there is still hope, as history tells us there have been many dreadful songs competing. Although for the really embarrassing ones you would have to go back a decade or three. Take for instance Gitte, the pride of Germany in 1973.

Gitte Hænning was born on June 29, 1946 and quickly rose to fame as a child star in Fifties. After she moved to Sweden, she had a hit with 'Tror du jag ljuger' in 1961. A year later she tried to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark, but she was disqualified because the composer Sejr Volmer-Sørensen had whistled the song in the canteen of the DR. In 1973 she competed for Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Junger Tag'. As nondescript as the song was, it still finished eighth in a field of 17 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 4456
Found: Fun Records, Berlin, received January 28, 2010
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Junger Tag' / 'Hallo, wie geht es Robert'

Ever fallen in love - Fine Young Cannibals

'Ever fallen in love' was written in 1978 by Pete Shelley and recorded by his group the Buzzcocks. It was a fastpaced, urgent song which reached number 12 in the UK singles chart when it was released.

The Fine Young Cannibals recorded a cover version of the track for the soundtrac kof the movie 'Something wild' in 1986. Their version reached number 9 in the UK singles chart and number 35 in the Dutch Top 40 (where the Buzzcocks version hadn't charted at all).

My collection: 7" single no. 909
Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 25, 1989
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Ever fallen in love' / 'Couldn't care more'

Let me be the one - Five Star

'Let Me Be the One' was the fourth single taken from Five Star's debut album 'Luxury of life', released in the summer of 1985.

It became the group's second UK Top 20 single of the year, peaking at number 18. It also reached number 11 in the Dutch Top 40 that autumn.

My collection: 7" single no. 1723
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, October 3, 1992
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Let me be the one' / 'Beat 47'

Money for nothing - Dire Straits

Bizarrely, Mark Knopfler from the Dire Straits wrote 'Money for nothing' during a visit at a New York appliance store. At the back of the store, there was a wall of TV's which were all tuned to MTV. A man working there, dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt was watching them. As he was standing there, Knopfler remembers the man coming up with classic lines such as 'what are those, Hawaiian noises? That ain't workin'' etc. Knopfler asked for a pen to write some of these lines down and then eventually put those words to music. According to Knopfler: 'He's singing the song. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real...'

Sting contributed backing vocals to the track, and the classic line 'I want my MTV'. Knopfler modelled his guitar sound for the recorded track after ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons' trademark guitar tone, as ZZ Top's music videos were already on heavy rotattion on MTV. Gibbons later told an interviewer in 1986 that Knopfler had solicited Gibbons on how to replicate the tone, adding, 'He didn't do a half-bad job, considering that I didn't tell him a thing!'.

'Money for nothing' was not a hit in the Netherlands (which is quite remarkable in fact!) but reached number 4 in the UK singles chart and was a number 1 hit in Canada and the USA.

My collection: 7" single no. 320
Found: LP Top 100, Den Haag, 1985
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Money for nothing' / 'Love over gold (live)'

Fantasie - Frank Boeijen Groep

For a long time, I didn't even know this single existed. It didn't chart and no mention of it was made in any of the music publications at the time. It must have been bad promotion, then, that caused this single to go down so badly.

'Fantasie' ('Fantasy') is an unusually light-weight pop song for the Frank Boeijen Groep, urging the listener to use his fantasy to make life a little less difficult. The B-side is a bit more gloomy, about love in the then-separated city of Berlin. Both tracks were taken from the band's second album 'Twee' ('Two').

My collection: 7" single no. 1225
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, April 22, 1990
Cost: 5 guilders
Tracks: 'Fantasie' / 'Liebling'

The biggest fool of all - Cock Robin

You could wonder if it's a good idea to re-release a song that was not successful the first time around, years later on the occasion of a compilation album, but without any promotion or even any new tracks or remixes to go with it. But that's exactly what happened with this single. 'The biggest fool of all' was originally released in 1987 as the second single from Cock Robin's second album 'After here through midland', but it flopped in most territories.

When the record company released 'The best of Cock Robin' in 1992, the track was re-released - and failed to chart yet again.

My collection: 7" single no. 1652
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, May 9, 1992
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'The biggest fool of all' / 'Coward's courage'

When we were young - Bucks Fizz

'When we were young' was a change in direction for Bucks Fizz. The production was heavy and the song had an ominous tone, far removed from the group's usual pop sound. It was the first and only single to feature lead vocals by Jay Aston. Aston's vocals were notably different from her solo appearances on previous Bucks Fizz songs Aston herself has said that she was adopting an effected voice, similar to Hazel O'Connor. She has since stated, despite the song's success, her vocal affectation wasn't a good idea, although has rated it her favourite Bucks Fizz song, while member Cheryl Baker has commented that she never liked the song due to its downbeat tone.

Reaching number 10 in the UK singles chart, this was to be Bucks Fizz's last top 10 hit for three years. In the Dutch Top 40, the single reached number 14 and they wouldn't have any chart hits until three years later.

My collection: 7" single no. 1088
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, October 27, 1989
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'When we were young' / 'Where the ending starts'

She bop - Cyndi Lauper

'She bop' was, for some, a controversial song as the lyric was full of allusions to masturbation, such as 'They say I better stop / or I'll go blind'. Lauper said she wanted little kids to think the song was about dancing, and to understand the real meaning as they got older. This is probably why the lyric is quite oblique.

The single was a top 10 hit in most countries where it was released, although there were exceptions: in the UK it only reached number 46 and in the Dutch Top 40 it only got to number 34.

My collection: 7" single no. 469
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, October 20, 1986
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'She bop' / 'Witness'

That was yesterday - Foreigner

'That was yesterday' was the second single from Foreigner's album 'Agent provocateur'. The song was written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones and was remixed for the single release.

The single reached number 12 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 28 in the UK singles chart and the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 277
Found: LP Top 100, Den Haag, 1985
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'That was yesterday' / 'Two different worlds'

A better love - London Beat

'A better love' was the second single taken from London Beat's second album 'In the blood'.

The previous single 'I've been thinking about you' was a number 1 hit in the US and the Netherlands, but this single was not as successful: it peaked at number 18 in the US and number 14 in the Netherlands. In the UK, this single stalled at number 52.

My collection: 7" single no. 1359
Found: Den Haag, December 5, 1990
Cost: - (present)
Tracks: 'A better love' / 'K.I.S.S.'

L.A. Woman - Billy Idol

It was quite a brave move for Billy Idol to record a cover version of the Doors' famous track 'L.A. Woman', the title track of the band's last album before Jim Morrison died. But his version turns out surprisingly well, adding a lot of power to the track that was already fast paced to begin with.

It was released as the second single from Billy Idol's fifth album 'Charmed life'. It reached number 70 in the UK singles chart and number 52 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. I bought the album not so long after I bought the single, because an edit is always too short.

My collection: 7" single no. 1281
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, August 23, 1990
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'L.A. Woman (edit)' / 'License to thrill'

Who is wrong and who's right - Kirsten and Søren

Kirsten Siggard (born September 7, 1954) and Søren Bundgaard (born March 4, 1956) were no strangers to the Eurovision Song Contest when they represented Denmark in 1988: they first entered in 1984 as Hot Eyes with the song 'Det' lige det'. They returned in 1985 with the song 'Sku' du spørg' fra no'en?'. They reached 4th and 11th place respectively.

In 1988 they got another shot at Eurovision fame with the song 'Ka' du se, hva' jeg sa'?'. No longer named Hot Eyes but simply Kirsten & Søren, they had their best result, reaching third place in the Contest. This single, featuring the English and French versions of the song, was released in various European countries, but did not chart outside Denmark.

My collection: 7" single no. 4395
Found: Second Life Music, Amsterdam, December 30, 2009
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Who is wrong and who's right' / 'Ecoute moi mon amie'