Top 40 Dance Anthems Ever (20 to 11)

Continuing my run down of the 40 greatest ever pieces of dance music ( see here for numbers 40 to 31 from Friday and numbers 30 to 21 from yesterday ) here is today's list from 20 to 11:-

20. Bomb the Bass – Don’t Make Me Wait

Following the success of sample heavy Beat Dis, Bomb the Bass followed up this success with a more conventional dance pop song, Don’t Make Me Wait.  Lorraine McIntosh’s sensual and compassionate vocals sit well with Tim Simeon’s jagged dance electronica.

19. Oceanic – Insanity

Somewhat of a one hit wonder of dance, Insanity is very much a British interpretation of various successful strands of dance in recent years.  From the plinky plonky Italian House style keyboards, a strong driving Acid House vocal and the techno rave style speed of the RPM beats.  This all combines to produce a euphoric and essentially danceable tune.

18. Urban Hype – Trip to Trumpton

There was a craze in the commercial rave days for tracks to use children’s TV themes as their basis.  This went well with the happy, clappy innocence of a lot of the E generation. Shaft’s Roobarb and Custard, Smart-E’s Sesame’s Treat and the Prodigy’s Charly fall into this camp. It is hard not to feel that a lot of this was just novelty however. Another is Urban Hype’s Trip to Trumpton which appears out of the blue like a group of ravers who have just got lost on the M25 and have stumbled across a gathering in a field. Not particularly deep or intelligent, but this piece of fun could only happen with rave and it should be celebrated that a genre could throw up material like this.

17. LaTour – People are still having Sex

This is possibly the strangest track amongst the entire 40 on this list. I was always confused as to whether this was a pro or anti chastity message in the face of fears of a possible AIDS epidemic.  If anything it is probably indifferent, merely remarking that people were still having sex whether it is good for them or not. People are still having Sex is the early 90s equivalent of Paul Hardcastle’s 19.

16. N-Trance – Set You Free

Set You Free is another female vocal driven dance track.  Rereleased time and time again, it is surprising that it took such a long time for a song with such an instant appeal to become a hit. The song is like a rollercoaster, speeding up and slowing down.  Set You Free is exhilarating and eventful throughout.

15. Altern-8 – Activ 8 (Come with Me)

Chart rave. Altern-8 were quite a terrifying image to middle-England. Were they the original hoddies? Those yellow face masks that Altern-8 wore were pretty frightening also! Beyond the frankly scary imagery however Altern-8 produced incredibly fast and heavy bass infused loud rave anthems.  There is genuine creativity in the music that Altern-8 produced, Activ 8 (Come with Me) being the best example of that.

14. Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea

Atmosphere is everything in music.  The ability to create vivid visions of worlds and take the listener to places they have never been is to succeed with this art form.  Papua New Guinea was a popular club anthem which would sound equally at home on a television advert for British Airways.  Although Future Sound of London would get more ambient on subsequent recordings, the harmonics of the Lisa Gerrard sampled vocals combined with driving melodic synths produce a majestic aural delight. 

13. Orbital – Chime

One of the downsides of dance music is that it proved to be a genre where many talented people failed to sustain a long career.  Orbital are one of the exceptions yet more humble beginnings are highlighted by the fact that the Hartnoll brothers allegedly recorded Chime on their fathers tape deck.  Far from sounding amateur, Chime feels like it is pointing the way.  Confident and self-assured, Chime heralds the end of the 80s and the coming 1990’s.

12. A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray

Voodoo Ray is the sound of a city, and one city in particular.  The wet, damp city of Manchester is the perfect antidote to the sunny Mediterranean dance meccas of the 1990s.  It is a testament to Manchester’s brash swagger that, London aside, it can be seen as Britain’s most important dance city.  Sampling Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and featuring Nicola Collier’s effective mantra, A Guy Called Gerald produced a piece of work that is as important to dance music as anything coming out of more sunnier climes.

11. Felix – Don’t You Want Me

Don’t You Want Me is another mysterious entry into this list.  On the singles release Felix was a man of mystery. No one really knew who he was. Rumour had it that he was a schoolboy experimenting with some sequencers in his bedroom.  A musical Banksy if you like.  What is clear is that in Don’t You Want Me, Felix produced a piece of dance power.  The key to the success of the song is the repetition of the Jomanda vocal sample, then the pause before the sample comes back again and all hell breaks loose. An understanding of musical dynamics of such maturity whether Felix was a schoolboy or not.

Tomorrow the number 1 dance anthem ever will be revealed as number 10 to 1 is counted down.