Every Friday, I’m publishing my top ten songs from a single year and this week it’s the turn of 1989.

For previous top ten tunes, please click on the year: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

1989 was a pretty horrific year, Boeing 737 crashes into the M1 killing 44 people, a fatwa (order to kill) is placed on author Salman Rushdie following the publication of his book the Satanic Verses, the IRA bomb army barracks in Shropshire injuring 50 soldiers, Sheffield dock workers go on strike, a pleasure cruiser collides with a barge on the River Thames killing 51 people, Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips separate, the IRA bomb the Royal Marine School of Music in Kent killing 11 people, the Church of England vote to allow the ordination of women, the House of Commons is televised for the first time, George Bush Snr becomes president of the United States, the Berlin Wall comes down, Margaret Thatcher along with George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev hail the end of the Cold War, thousands of students occupy Tiananmen Square protesting for democracy- several hundreds or thousands (final figure never confirmed) are shot dead by the Chinese army and 96 football fans are killed and 766 injured in a crush at the FA cup semi-finals between Nottingham Forrest and Liverpool at Hillsborough stadium.

When Harry Met Sally and Glory were released. I celebrated entering my teenage years (I very much doubt my parents celebrated this though).

Mate, this post was originally going to be a top 15 tunes as I simply couldn’t decide on a final top 10, but at the last minute I decided to be ruthless and have somehow narrowed it down to 10 (sorry Martika but you had to go in the end). So, here in no particular order, is my most tricky year to decide on so far- 1989…

1.Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) by Soul II Soul

2. Ride on Time by Black Box

3. Baby I Don’t Care by Transvision Vamp

4. Poison by Alice Cooper

5. The Best by Tina Turner

6. Sowing the Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears

7. Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses (ok so the below video is not from 1989. Nor is it obviously, Guns N’ Roses, but I just wanted an excuse to play a clip from one of my favourite ever comedy films Step Brothers…“you don’t even look good while you’re singing”).

8. Like a Prayer by Madonna

9. Eternal Flame by the Bangles

10. This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush

Hands down, my favourite year so far, but my favourite of the lot is still an easy choice this week. My second favourite song ever, Like a Prayer wins (my very favourite was in year 1979). So, which one is your favourite from these 1989 songs? And reading the news sections, aren’t you starting to get the feeling that it’s always been a bit rubbish and that it really isn’t just our present times?

See you next week for the start of the NINETIES!