As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Thursday, May 1, 2014

#66 Tenderness -- General Public (1985)



The English Beat was the best of the 1980s British “ska-rock” bands, with such great songs as “I Confess”, “Mirror in the Bathroom”, and “Too Nice To Talk To”. Although they never even hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., despite getting considerable airplay on alternative and progressive FM radio stations, they begat both the Fine Young Cannibals and General Public, both of whom had more chart success. “Tenderness” is wonderfully infectious despite its unusual structure (short simple chorus but two different bridges) and tricky rhythm, and it also features some nice twists in the lyrics (“My luck’s like a button, can’t stop pushing it”).

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