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There's not quite so much ambiguity here as there was on our last entry - the first contemporary record I can remember really disliking was by The Communards, although I can't now remember why. By that I don't mean that it's now a record I find it impossible to dislike, just that I genuinely can't recall what I had against it - in fact I can't really remember whether it was this one or 'Don't Leave Me This Way'. Mainly I just remember hearing it on the radio and shouting "WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH!" for two minutes or so. Now seems a good time to apologise to the band, and indeed to whichever members of my family were at home at the time.
The obvious criticism to level at their two biggest hits as an adult is that they were both cover versions of cover versions: in this case, it's essentially a copy of Gloria Gaynor's disco version of the Jackson 5's hit. But I don't know whether I knew that then, and I wouldn't have cared anyway though I certainly remember grown-ups bemoaning an excess of old songs in the chart at that time. Maybe it was just the name I didn't like. I suppose in a way it's a bit of a rite of passage to realise that some records are more to your liking than others. Two decades later, I don't find it nearly so objectionable, just pointless. I suppose it could be argued that Jimmy Somerville is making a radical move in addressing the lyric squarely at another man, but it's not really all that noticeable in practice.
In response to the many YouTube comments suggesting that some of the people involved in this record might be gay (really?) somebody's said, "The 80's were all about excess, big hair, fun times, and just being yourself!" although even then Somerville wasn't what you'd call long-haired and there's not a lot of excess on display - Richard Coles looks like the Anglican priest he's since become and the whole atmosphere is more office party than decadent feast. Actually, that's rather endearing.
Also appearing on: Now 6, 8, 9, 12
Available on: Very Best of Jimmy Somerville: Bronski Beat and the Communards
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