Sara Cox's top 10 motivational 80s tunes
For Red Nose Day this year, BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 80s host Sara Cox has followed in the fleet footsteps of her fellow presenter Dermot O'Leary and has strutted, jived, and shimmied her way through 24 hours straight. The soundtrack? The best upbeat 80s anthems, of course. Before she took on this incredible challenge we asked Sara to choose the top ten tracks that would keep her motivated - from Wham! to Madonna via Frankie Goes to Hollywood, these are the songs that helped her get into the groove as she set out to raise a stupendous total for Comic Relief.
1. Kim Wilde - Kids in America
Kids in America was Kim Wilde's debut single, reaching No. 2 in early 1981. It was written by Kim's brother Ricky and her dad Marty, a rock'n'roll singer who enjoyed a string of Top 10 hits in the late 50s. Despite the title, Kids in America was only a modest hit Stateside - Kim would have to wait another five years until she properly broke America, reaching No. 1 with her cover of The Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On.
2. Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough
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Straight outta Basildon, Depeche Mode struck pop gold with their third single Just Can't Get Enough, which broke into the Top 10 in autumn 1981 at the height of the synth-pop boom. It was the last of their singles to be written by founding member Vince Clarke, who left soon afterwards to form Yazoo. It has since been adapted as a football chant by fans of clubs ranging from Celtic to Toronto FC.
3. Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero
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Holding Out for a Hero was written by Meatloaf collaborator Jim Steinman for the film Footloose - it's blasted from a boombox during the scene where Kevin Bacon plays chicken on a tractor. Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler took the song to No. 2 in 1985.
4. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I Love Rock N' Roll
Joan Marie Larkin AKA Joan Jett launched her career in the mid-70s, as guitarist for all-female rock band The Runaways. After going solo, she scored a massive worldwide hit in 1982 with I Love Rock N' Roll, originally by London-based band The Arrows. Britney Spears took the song back into the charts twenty years later.
5. Prince - Kiss
Although Kiss was a last-minute addition to Prince's 1986 album Parade, when released as a single it became his third US No. 1 hit. The eye-catching video, in which a half-naked Prince danced in tandem with a woman in a long black veil, was choreographed by Louis Falco, who also directed the dancers in 80s movie Fame. Wonder if Sara will be busting out any of those moves during her danceathon?
6. A-ha - Take on Me
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Hard to believe now, but A-ha's ultra-catchy signature song was actually a bit of a slow-burner. Originally titled The Juicy Fruit Song, Take on Me was released three times before it hit No. 2 in October 1985, thanks in part to a groundbreaking video. Using a combination of live action and pencil-sketch animation called rotoscoping, it took 16 weeks to complete. The video was memorably parodied by Harry Hill for 2013's Children in Need.
7. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
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A thundering satire on Cold War aggression, Two Tribes was one of the biggest singles of the 80s, topping the charts for nine weeks in summer 1984. As well as a video depicting US President Ronald Reagan in a wrestling match with Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko, the music was also designed to represent a battle between the two superpowers, with American funk elements combined with Russian orchestral stabs.
8. Madonna - Into the Groove
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Originally written for her film Desperately Seeking Susan, Into the Groove became Madonna's first UK No. 1 in summer 1985 - although, bizarrely, it was never released properly as a single in America. On her 2008 Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna performed the song while skipping, which is something for Sara to consider...
9. Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together in Electric Dreams
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This uplifting 1984 single was a meeting of two great synth-pop minds: Phil Oakey, frontman of The Human League, and Giorgio Moroder, producer of many a Donna Summer disco hit including pioneering single I Feel Love. It was written for a largely forgotten sci-fi romcom called Electric Dreams, involving a love triangle between a man, a woman and a computer.
10. Wham! - I'm Your Man
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Wham!'s 1985 No. 1, written by George Michael, features a thumping beat heavily influenced by Motown's 60s hits. It was the last single released by the band before they announced their split, although they signed off with one final No. 1 in the form of 1986's Edge of Heaven. George Michael revisited I'm Your Man with James Corden for Comic Relief in 2011, in a skit that provided the basis for Corden's Carpool Karaoke series.
