Alice Cooper’s fourth top ten hit in the UK. Number 10 in 1973.

Alice Cooper: No More Mr Nice Guy

The first hit for the band. No 8 in 1985.

Fine Young Cannibals: Johnny Come Home

MacColl’s first “hit” of the 90s. It only reached no 82 though. Lyrically it’s coming from a similar place to her first hit, There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis. This one isn’t at all “rock”y, though, and has a Country feel.

Kirsty MacColl: Don’t Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim

The Zombies’ second US no 1 – four years after their first She’s Not There in 1974. While the latter did reach no 12 in the UK this one didn’t chart at all. Despite that it’s still fondly remembered.

The Zombies: Time of the Season

Drummer Frank Beard of ZZ Top, who was master of the Texas Shuffle beat, died last month. His drumming was a prime component of the band’s musical style, driving but also somehow loose, which John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival dubbed ‘chooglin.’

Ironically, given his surname, Beard was the only member of the band not to exhibit extravagant facial hair.

This is a live version of ZZ Top’s first British hit and their joint highest chart placing (no 10 in 1983) with Viva Las Vegas (which charted in 1992.)

ZZ Top: Gimme All Your Lovin’

Frank Lee Beard: 11/6/1949 – 17/8/2026. So it goes.

I don’t think there can be anyone who didn’t admire Dolly Parton. For making her way in a male orientated musical genre, for being herself and true to herself, for her determination, for not compromising, for writing (and performing) great songs. And then she parlayed her success into founding the Imagination Library providing books for millions of children. And she contributed a million dollars towards the development of Moderna’s COVID vaccine.

I was surprised on looking it up that she never really had a big solo hit in the UK (Jolene was only a no 7, as was her collaboration with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream; none of her other songs made even the top thirty.)  Yet the songs are so good and so familiar.

This one became the theme song to British sitcom Butterflies (though it was a version by Clare Torry which the producers used on the credits.)

Dolly Parton: Love is Like a Butterfly

The song which probably made Dolly the most money (even though she turned down an offer for Elvis Presley to sing it, which would have involved her giving up copyright,) I Will Always Love You, had its biggest success when Whitney Houston sang it for her film The Bodyguard. Yet to me Houston’s version was overblown and sounded soulless, whereas Dolly’s original was more intimate.

Dolly felt the song. Houston didn’t.

Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You

Dolly Rebecca Parton, 19/1/1946 – 25/8/2026. So it goes.

Reaching no 5 in the charts in 1986, this is the late lamented Palmer’s biggest UK hit – no doubt helped by the backing “band” in the video. I suppose it’s the image most people associate with him.

Some wit has commented on YouTube that if you look closely you’ll notice Robert Palmer is in the video.

Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love

Musician and legendary record producer William Orbit has died. As well as making records in his own right he worked with a multitude of artists across his career and is widely credited with reviving Madonna’s when he produced her Ray of Light album. TI am not really a fan but the two Madonna songs I regard most highly, Ray of Light and Beautiful Stranger, were both created with Orbit’s oversight.

This Orbit track, his arrangement of Samuel Barber’s composition, reached no 4 in the UK in 1999.

William Orbit: Barber’s Adagio For Strings

William Mark Wainwright (William Orbit): 15/12/1956 – 23/7/2026. So it goes.

A world-wide no 1, 2 or 3 – except in North America (and Finland) – from a band with a slightly cheeky name.

Due to the recurring lyric its title is frequently misquoted as What’s Going On?

Four Non Blondes: What’s Up?

Time for a piece of rampant psychedelia.

The Golden Dawn were a short-lived band from Texas.

The Golden Dawn: My Time