Popular Nostalgia

Music brings memories flooding back, remember your favourite bands, artists and songs here.

First released by Gene Autry in 1950, Frosty the Snowman was later performed by the Jackson 5 and many other artists. The first version got to number 7 in the US charts and is a perennial success. Gene Autry had previous success with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. “Frosty” was written by Steve Edward Nelson and […]

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me In St. Louis” – in which a family is distraught by the father’s plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their home in St. Louis, Missouri just before the long-anticipated Louisiana […]

Nat King Cole recorded The Christmas Song for the first time in 1946 with his group The Nat King Cole Trio. The record company re-recorded it with a string section, and Cole recorded it again in 1953 with Nelson Riddle. Capitol Records released it in December of 1960. It stayed on the chart for a […]

“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is a song by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the The Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir. This […]

It’s one of those golden oldies that gets wheeled out for four weeks of the year and results in serious torture issues for anyone working in a shop with music on repeat. Supermarket workers and Gap employees are most at risk. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge […]

This is a video of Wizzard performing the ultimate Christmas nostalgia track “I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day!” on Top of The Pops (another blast from the past since the BBC axed it a couple of years back!). If it was Christmas every day, we’d probably all be alcoholic, fat and skint, but […]

Here’s some old school music that brings back a lot of memories for me. Back when rap music was in its infancy, not everything was about b*tches, hoes and shooting G’s, no, it was about having 5 on it. This is a belting classic, of that there is no doubt.

Before Ben Elton made the hit musical We Will Rock You about a band called Queen, a band called Queen made the song We Will Rock You as one of their most popular track of many great tracks. With their ebulient frontman, Freddie Mercury, Queen really were a phenomenon for many years – bridging the […]

Released in 1966, “Reach Out I’ll Be There” epitomised the Tamla Motown era. Sung by Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Lawrence Peyton and Abdul Faki, the song took the US and UK by storm. They were shown round Britain by Beatles manager Brian Epstein. In Stubbs obituary, The Independent says: “The unusual arrangement with its use […]

This song was so blatant and rude, the kids loved it. Is it wrong that they played this at our school disco? Ten points to anyone who knows the dance. Careful though, this can get you jailed in some countries. Enjoy it and laugh one more time. Lyrics to “Sex on the Beach” Oh We […]

Great proponents of the curtain hairstyle, the Backstreet Boys took the nineties by storm with their urban cool and increasingly complicated shaving regimes. Nick Carter was the pin-up boy of the decade and his little brother very almost succeeded in leeching of his success. I’ll always remember them for their catchy tunes and genuine harmonies. […]

Apologies to those of you who rightly assume that I’ve just been mining a rich vain of 1995 tracks. I actually got a “Dance Tip ’95″ cd for christmas one year (1995 would seem logical). Cotton Eye Joe was one of the tracks on that very Dance Tip ’95 CD. I never really liked it, […]

Freddie Mercury died before he could perform at the opening of the Barcelona Olympic Games but his favourite opera singer, Montserrat Caballe went onto perform a spine-tingling live version of the theme penned by Queen.

The Thompson Twins released this classic anti-drugs rant in 1985, but aside from its important message to the kids, it is a classic tune, with the most instantly catchy and incredible base-line – ooh ooh ooh ooh ow ooh ooh ooh ow. He’s not one for sympathy though, old Doctor Dream, so don’t mess with […]

Barbie Girl by Aqua was a huge success, and despite the slightly silly words and light-hearted look of the video, this is an incredibly catchy and was really a la mode at the time it came out in the mid-late 90s. Even the mums and dads liked Barbie Girl. Dads particularly enjoyed the video on […]