Mesdames, messieurs, le disc-jockey Sash est de retour

Having a bit of a pottering day [it's too humid to be really energetic; just a bit of dead-heading and spot-watering], and listening to Vernon Kay's Dance Sounds of the 90s on BBC Radio 2 - inevitably I was whisked back to an odd and life-changing era for me, 1997, when I was dancing my little titties off...

...to SASH! Here are their three megahits from that year:

Sash! - Encore Une Fois

Sash! - Ecuador

Sash! feat. La Trec - Stay

Fuck. Twenty-seven years ago?! That's the year Simone Biles, Camila Cabello, Maisie Williams, Zara Larsson, Marcus Rashford, Max Verstappen and Google were all born... Gulp.

Every place I've ever been, every place I'm going to...

As the countdown continues to World Pride on Saturday - and the stupid stories and mud-slinging occupy gay news sites - I thought I'd take us on another trip down memory lane...

It is forty years since the first Gay Pride rally was held in the centre of London - but what were the significant Number 1 songs through the decades at this Gay Xmas time of year?

1972 - Take Me Bak 'Ome by Slade [in an exceptionally odd clip from Spanish TV - wtf are those girl dancers doing?]:

Slade - Take Me Bak 'Ome

1977 - So You Win Again by Hot Chocolate [featuring the very "proud" Mr Errol Brown and his incredible performing trousers again]:

Hot Chocolate - So You Win Again

1982 - Happy Talk by Captain Sensible:

Captain Sensible - Happy Talk

1987 - It's A Sin by Pet Shop Boys [Highly appropriate, methinks!]:

Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin (Live in Rio, 1994)

1992 - Abba-esque (EP) by Erasure [You really can't get much more camp than this!]:

Erasure - Take a Chance on Me

1997 - Ecuador by Sash! [actually at #2, held off the top slot by that pompous twat Puff Daddy, but I'll never play I'll Be Missing You on this blog.] [I remember dancing my tits off to this one, in a dance tent in Clapham, no less...]:



2002 - A Little Less Conversation by JXL [Possibly the very first song featuring Elvis I ever liked]:

Elvis vs JXL - A Little Less Conversation

2007 - The Girls by Calvin Harris [It was actually bloody Rihanna and her Umbrella at #1, but I can't stand that.] [I am not much of a fan of Mr Harris's song tbh, so instead here's the much more "gay-friendly" cover version by Dragonette]:

And today? Bloody Will.i.am (and I most certainly am not playing him!). In fact, I cannot see anything in today's chart that I would even want to listen to, let alone feature here. How sad...