Twice the Pleasure: Our Top 1980s 12″ Tunes: The Not So Perfect Ten

Our semi-definitive guide to the greatest 12″ singles of the 1980s

Sometimes, the radio edit of a chart single may lack that extra something which the 12″ version has. At the other end, some singles are better suited to the traditional two to four minutes of a seven inch 45.

The long single (in excess of five minutes) can fulfil a few other functions. It could either be a floor filler, as part of a series of different mixes to maintain its lofty chart position, or a convenient addition to the playlist. In other words, it is a suitable length to accommodate the DJ’s toilet break, or anything else s/he may do (which is best left to one’s imagination).

Treasures of Stock, Aitken and Waterman – The Not So Perfect Ten

The definitive ten tracks ever to have been produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman

February 1987: a month on from starting the Ewing School. Not least the (oft-mentioned on this blog) fringe benefits of listening to Piccadilly Radio on my 30 mile round trip. At around that time, I started to gain a greater interest in chart music, looking at a long dog-eared copy of Chez Vall’s Guinness Book of British Hit Singles (second edition, 1978). I used to enjoy listening to the songs of the day since my formative years, though never too interested in the record labels and chart positions.