Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Vera Lynn also make cut in list issued by BBC
David Renshaw
12:44 31st August 2012

Amy Winehouse, The Beatles and Frankie Goes To Hollywood are amongst the artists who have contributed some of the most important songs of the past fifty years, according to a new Radio 2 list.

The People's Songs will be a new series on the BBC station, chronicling fifty of the most influential and important songs in British culture. Radio 2 have released a list of the first ten today (Aug 31), which includes everyone from Vera Lynn to Amy Winehouse.

Speaking of the list, Radio 2 host Stuart Maconie said: “These are the songs that people listened to, laughed to, loved to and laboured to, as well as down tools and danced to.”

The inclusion of Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab' is described as, “Her demise was a kind of modern parable on the perils of fame, narcotics and a national obsessions with celebrity.”

The Radio 2 People's Songs released today is as follow:

We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn (1939)
Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan (1954)
She Loves You - Beatles (1963)
My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small (1964)
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harum (1967)
Je T’Aime... Moi Non Plus - Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (1969)
God Save The Queen - Sex Pistols (1977)
Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (1984)
Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen (1992)
Rehab - Amy Winehouse (2006)

The Radio 2 series will begin in 2013 with a list of fifty songs being detailed individually. The list was selected by a panel of BBC experts.

Photos: Amy Winehouse legacy: the beehive to denim shorts

  • The beehive: The incredible hairdo was invented in 1960, and we don''t think anyone has rocked it as well (or as big) as Amy since then. OK, well maybe Marge Simpson. But she''s fictional...

  • Camden: Camden Town in North London was always synonymous with the singer, and to honour it being her spiritual home, venue The Roundhouse plans to have a statue of Amy installed to serve as a memorial.

  • The voice: No one could sing like Amy. She truly was one of the most outstanding and instantly recognisable talents the UK has produced, taking an ageing genre and making it sexy, relevant and incredibly cool.

  • The Tattoos: Amy was asked to cover up the naked woman on her left arm for a performance at the Grammys in 2008, so rather than putting on more clothes, she just drew a bra on the girl. Nice.

  • Those denim shorts: Did she ever wear anything else?

  • The excess: The troubled singer maintained a constant battle against drink and drugs. Although the star was clean of any illegal substances at the time of her death, it was a huge alcohol binge that ultimately caused her untimely demise.

  • The bad-boys: The singer was famously friends with the equally troubled Pete Doherty, and her on/off marriage to Blake Fielder Civil was littered with rumours of assault and drug abuse. Civil even once told a British newspaper that he introduced Amy to Crack Cocaine and Heroin.

  • ''Rehab'': No, not the clinic, the song. As the first single from second album ''Back to Black'', ''Rehab'' received huge critical acclaim and rocketed Amy to stardom. She went on to release massive hits ''You Know I''m No Good'' and ''Tears Dry On Their Own''.

  • She was funny: A couple of appearances on BBC''s Never Mind The Buzzcocks showed that she was not only funny, but more than happy to give Simon Amstell as good as she got.

  • Mitch Winehouse: Amy was incredibly close to her father Mitch, and had a tattoo saying ''Daddy''s Girl'' on her arm. Mitch was a professional singer in the 1970s, and last year tried to reignite his musical career.


Photo: WENN.com