Shout it from the highest steeple

Another timeslip moment is upon us...

We've hurtled off in our time machine, back to this week thirty years ago.

In the news in May 1986: the trial of the IRA bombers of the Tory party conference in Brighton neared its conclusion; huge efforts were underway to clean-up/seal-off land affected by the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in Russia; Labour's "Militant Tendency", Liverpool Football Club and Eurovision Song Contest winner Shadra Kim from Belgium were in the ascendant, and we waved goodbye to Talbot Cars, Hylda Baker and Sterling Hayden; civil war erupted in Somalia; at least 600 people were killed in a ferry disaster in Bangladesh; and 5,000,000 people including innumerable celebs joined Hands Across America to raise money for homeless and anti-poverty charities. In cinemas: The Money Pit, Pretty in Pink and Down and Out in Beverly Hills. On telly: A Very Peculiar Practice, Pingu and Carla Lane's comedy Bread.

In the UK charts this week: novelty songs were all the rage, including The Chicken Song from Spitting Image at #1, Snooker Loopy featuring Chas'n'Dave and the fab remake of Spirit in the Sky by Doctor and the Medics; and also scoring highly were Patti LaBelle with Michael MacDonald, Peter Gabriel, Simply Red, Level 42, Jaki Graham, Van Halen and Robert Palmer. But... just making its debut miles away down the charts was a song that was to become a ubiquitous part of that summer's soundtrack, as I recall - it's Amazulu and their eternally chirpy version of a Chi-Lites classic:

Amazulu - Too Good To Be Forgotten

I'm skanking as we speak.