Richie's singles club

Although nearing a decade as a going concern, the Inspiral Carpets second LP 'The Beast Inside' had proven a slight disappointment and the singles from it even more so. The first single from their third LP now needed to be a real statement, and boy it was. Right from the chugging march opening, Clint Boon's mechanical, wailing organ and tight percussion make the verse sound very much like some kind of repetitive, factory floor existence before a shoutalong chorus soars temporarily into the track like a beery weekend. It's very much the celebratory side of the pop 'conveyor belt'. It became the band's biggest UK hit, peaking at number 12...and we'll just overlook the fact that the album that followed was even more disapointing, won't we?

Ultra-catchy US hip hop single with a gurgly 'bug' sample played Ferris Bueller style on a keyboard. I really loved this as a kid, it felt like the future and was probably the first rap record I was ever aware of. It even touched the popular culture I was consuming as a 9 year old. Wayne, the resident hip-hop centre forward from Jossy's Giants was well into it too, happily rapping along to it in a jacuzzi while the boys enjoyed a relaxing trip to Scarborough. If that reference is lost on you, fine, but you should watch more Syd Waddell-penned children's drama. No, you really should!

My cousin had a Sigue Sigue Sputnik t-shirt around this time and, because he chose to wear it at a family function, Tony James and co are well remembered by my wider family. That said, I've no idea what my late Grandfather would have made of this drum-machine-led mix of shouting, samples from A Clockwork Orange and references to Mondo Teeno giving something that's never quite confirmed. Actually, he'd probably have loved it like me. This record would return to the airwaves just a year later when Pop Will Eat Itself decided to cover it. Quite a logical choice all round really.

The NME C86 compilation was more complicated than it seemed. Some acts just chucked a random B-side at it and got very little in return, but the Creation bands, buoyed by the savvy-even-back-then Alan McGee presumably, gave their latest singles and shone above the others. The Bodines did just that and three month old minor indie hit 'Therese' went pretty mad as a result. Quite right too as this jangly monster with hints of very late Jam and its 'scares the health out of me' chorus pounds along for three minutes before making you want to stick it right back on again.

Some indie bands were so insignificant before the Britpop hoorah happened that they managed to hold on to the buffers of the gravy train while everyone else was tossing Neds, Poppies, Stuffies and Cuds out the window like British Rail sandwich cartons. Unfortunately, My Life Story had to then sound soooo kitschy music hall, so parpingly weird that this song makes 'Sunday Sunday' sound like bloody 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday'.

Negativland are best known for their U2 / Casey Kasem cut-up where the man who would be Shaggy ditched Scooby for Snuggles and then everyone got seriously sued. 'Guns' looked to recoup some of the money they'd lost, but it was neither funny nor enjoyable to listen to and, while it has some artistic worth as a cut-up, when you hear the horses galloping into the sunset at the end, you don't really hasten them back.

Long before they covered Rod Stewart and made a bad song utterly wonderful and long after their 1985 debut, Al Jourgenson and co gave us this clattering noise celebrating alcoholic beverages and the only kind of people R Lee Ermy believe come from Texas. It also has a wonderfully incongruous sample from Rhythm Control's 'My House' and the whole thing bangs along quite nicely, like.

Yes, they would go on to inflict 'Elkie Brooks goes clubland' on us a couple of years later with Berri, but this was accessible flute-led rave pop that appealed to a wide audience. One particular fan of this record was Pete 'The Hitman' Waterman who would play air-flute on The Hitman and Her any time this was on (which was a lot) - ah, what a geezer.

Dean's first single after leaving Galaxie 500 is arguably better than anything he did with the band. Teaming up with Mercury Rev's Jimmy Chambers on drums, this record sounds a little like a blissed out Dinosaur Jr. (complete with guitar solos) and boasts a wonderfully silly chorus in You know I try to please ya / You're under anesthesia'.

Released by a Scottish outfit, this is the kind of shuffling, bassy hip hop tune that at various times may be described as trip-hop or downtempo. It's nice yet forgettable and perhaps the most interesting thing is a co-production credit for Bruce Forrest who I'd only ever encountered on his remix of the TwentyFourSeven track 'I Can't Stand It'.

Featuring the iconic EU flag (see Carter USM the same year), this early outing for Neil Hannon and co, as the title suggests, owes more to Bronski Beat than Scott Walker et al that their later stuff brought to mind. It's decent enough, but unsurprisingly it landed as far from the charts as was possible back then.

Following up 'Running Up That Hill' and even 'Cloudbusting' is a tough ask, even for Kate and the titular song from her best loved album falls a little short. Worst still, the acapella-tastic Futureheads version that came out two decades later really eclipses it, no matter how crazy that may sound.

Both my first introduction to Polly Jean Harvey's pounding, sparse rock and to the suggestive pagan statues this song refers to. One part driven sexual freedom to another Ooh Matron smut, this was to set Polly up for decades to come (oo-er).

Ripped off wholesale by Pete Waterman signings Toxic Two, this is the original and best version of what amounts basically to Lil Louis' French Kiss transposed from acid gurgle to hoover stabs - and not a 'Rave Generator' in sight.

Some ten or so singles into their career, 'Hard' is a spiky yet fey, jangly yet abrasive slice of indie pop from Butch and the gang. It's also their last one for Glass records before heading over to Creation.

It takes a couple of minutes for this Mudhoney spin-off tune to get going. That's a shame as it ends pretty soon afterwards. Not the most exciting thing to ever come out on Sub Pop, but not the worst either.

Third single for the short-lived post-The Cure Lol Tolhurst vehicle. This sounds pretty much exactly what you'd expect a short-lived post-The Cure Lol Tolhurst vehicle to sound like.