Off the Wall – Michael Jackson
On 10 August 1979, Michael Jackson released the first album that sounded like a man choosing his own weather, not a boy kept in the family's key.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody – Whitney Houston
Horns punch the air, a drum machine grins, and Whitney Houston's voice arrives already at full size, asking for a partner as if the whole room had been invited to answer.
Criminal – Fiona Apple
The piano arrives already guilty, a low figure that does not so much announce itself as confess.
Born Slippy .NUXX – Underworld
The kick is a fact before the words are.
Don’t Go – Yazoo
A synth bass hops like a nervous heartbeat, too fast for a ballad and too human for a machine, and Alison Moyet's voice comes in already bargaining, don't go, as if the chorus were a hand on a sleeve.
Try a Little Tenderness – Otis Redding
It begins as advice, almost courtly, a man telling other men to be gentle, the horns holding still like ushers.
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