St. Andrew’s Reunion Decade Mixes

Commander Starkie, my old Headmaster

Back in 2011 I was asked to help plan a 60th anniversary reunion day for my old Primary School, St. Andrew’s in Rochester. Despite having been there nearly 40 years before, my love for my old school had grown over the years and I couldn’t wait to get started. I had a number of ideas, some of which were agreed by the reunion committee. One was to create an oral archive for the school using a series of questions which former pupils would answer as a way of giving voice to their thoughts and feelings about the school. Students from across the school’s history took part and there were some fascinating reminiscences.

The other idea was my main task, in terms of the day, which was to theme the classrooms for each of the decades since St. Andrew’s had been founded in 1951. There were two main elements to these themes, memorabilia and music. I sourced pictures and magazines, while the school searched through its own archives to find magazines, photographs and newspaper articles. It made every single classroom a time capsule, an impression strengthened by CDs playing the hits of the time. This was right up my street as I attempted to put together music that would have been popular with pupils at the time. Two considerations governed my choices, the relative familiarity and ongoing popularity of the songs and the ‘mix’. As any good DJ and anyone who has created playlists from the days of cassette onwards knows, the mix of songs creates the mood. Sudden changes in tempo and style take people by surprise, and are generally extremely unwelcome, and choosing the wrong song in the wrong place can kill an atmosphere stone dead! Actually there was a third, that my playlist could be contained on a CD-R disc of just over 75 minutes long! That third requirement led to a number of issues with songs I would otherwise have loved to include not fitting on the CD and being replaced by songs that reduced the overall running time to the required timescale. I eventually ended up with discs for each of the 6 decades which I felt best reflected the type of music that would best jog the memories of those involved. I felt I did pretty well overall, and below I share a brief review, the full track list and my newly constructed Spotify Playlists for each of the decades. I hope you enjoy them and that they bring back memories for you.

The 1950’s Mix

This was quite an easy one to put together, partly because of my abiding affection for the music of the era, and partly because the songs were more easily fitted into the mix than other decades tended to be. The relative strength of the genres, where there were clear similarities between the the tracks, made it easier to group and I am still very pleased with the result.

Here is the Spotify Link

• Rock around the Clock – Bill Haley and the Comets
• Say Mama – Gene Vincent
• Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis
• Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley
• Shakin’ All Over – Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
• See You Later Alligator – Bill Haley and the Comets
• C’mon Everybody – Eddie Cochran
• Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis Presley
• Peggy Sue – Buddy Holly and the Crickets
• Move It – Cliff Richard
• Livin’ Doll – Cliff Richard
• Red River Rock – Johnny and the Hurricanes
• Heartbeat – Buddy Holly and the Crickets
• Crazy – Patsy Cline
• Diana – Paul Anka
• Duke of Earl – Gene Chandler
• Mr. Sandman – The Chordettes
• When I Fall in Love – Nat King Cole
• Puppy Love – Paul Anka
• All I Have to do is Dream – The Everly Brothers
• True Love Ways – Buddy Holly and the Crickets

The 1960s Mix

With the wealth of popular music across the decade, the main task was to try to include as many of the key artists of the time. I didn’t do too badly, although for every artist I included there was at least one other I could and perhaps should have done. That said, it was perhaps the most popular mix of the day and the final song, In My Life just summed up the event perfectly.

Here is the Spotify Link

• Do Wah Diddy Diddy – Manfred Mann
• Help – The Beatles
• Congratulations – Cliff Richard
• Delilah – Tom Jones
• Young Girl – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
• Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison
• The Young Ones – Cliff Richard
• Baby Love – The Supremes
• Fun Fun Fun – The Beach Boys
• Foot Tapper – The Shadows
• Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen – Neil Sedaka
• Daydream Believer – The Monkees
• Happy Together – The Turtles
• You’ve lost that Lovin’ Feeling – The Righteous Brothers
• He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – The Hollies
• Those Were the Days – Mary Hopkin
• You don’t have to say you love me – Dusty Springfield
• You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gerry and the Pacemakers
• The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
• Are You Lonesome Tonight – Elvis Presley
• In my Life – The Beatles

The 1970s Mix

What a difficult one this was! I initially overdosed on glam rock as it was my era at St Andrew’s and reminded me so much of my time there. However, I needed to rein that enthusiasm in otherwise the entire playlist would have been 73 – 76! Looking at it now after 13 years, I missed out 70 – 72 almost entirely and I needed to replace a certain bacofoil clad singer with another artist on the grounds of taste when I transferred it to Spotify! Luckily the swap not only goes unnoticed in terms of the mix, but in many ways makes it better. I seem to remember making a second 70s mix just for me, so I would be interested to see what was included on that.

Here is the Spotify Link

• Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
• Crazy Horses – The Osmonds
• Blockbuster – Sweet
• Tiger Feet – Mud
• Cum on Feel the Noize – Slade
• Under the Moon of Love – Showaddywaddy
• Summer Nights – John Travolta and Olivia Newton John
• Puppy Love – Donny Osmond
• Daydreamer – David Cassidy
• Bye Bye Baby – The Bay City Rollers
• Don’t Give Up on Us – David Soul
• Vincent –Don McLean
• Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks
• When Will I See You Again – The Three Degrees
• Dancing Queen – Abba
• Beach Baby – First Class
• Hold Me Close – David Essex
• Cool for Cats – Squeeze
• I Don’t Like Mondays – Boomtown Rats
• My Perfect Cousin – The Undertones
• Message in a Bottle – The Police

The 1980s Mix

I ended up with no less than four CDs of music for this decade! It was definitely my most difficult set of choices for the day itself as my musical identity was very much formed from 1980 – 1984 in particular. When I finished each CD I was left with the feeling of ‘How could I have left this one out?’! Looking at my Spotify list, I had to transfer out Tom Hark by The Piranhas as, incredibly, that does not exist anywhere on Spotify. Its replacement, Modern Romance’s Best Years of Our Lives, actually fits the feeling of the day more effectively.

Here is the Spotify List

• Best Years of Our Lives – Modern Romance
• I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) – The Proclaimers
• Baggy Trousers – Madness
• Echo Beach – Martha and the Muffins
• Stand and Deliver – Adam and the Ants
• Going Underground – The Jam
• Every Little Thing She Does is Magic – The Police
• Locomotion – OMD
• Girls on Film – Duran Duran
• Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
• Freedom – Wham
• Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
• Perfect – Fairground Attraction
• Tainted Love – Soft Cell
• Take On Me – Aha
• Ghost Town – The Specials
• See You – Depeche Mode
• Crazy for You – Madonna
• The Winner Takes it All – Abba
• Lady in Red – Chris De Burgh
• Will You? – Hazel O’Connor

The 1990’s Mix

This set of songs, I think, gives a fairly good picture of the decade, although the absence of big hitters Blur, Pulp and Oasis would definitely need to be fixed if I revisited it. There are Britpop classics by Boo Radleys and Supergrass, but there needs to be more. The big miss though was staring me in the face. How could I have left Wannabe by the Spice Girls off the original playlist? Well, from memory, it just didn’t fit and it was easier to omit it than completely rejig the playlist. Well, it’s back in its rightful place thanks to Spotify! As to the second last song, it’s just as perfect as the final song in the 60s mix.

Here is the Spotify List

• Wannabe – Spice Girls
• Go West – Pet Shop Boys
• Baby One More Time – Britney Spears
• Bring It All Back – S Club 7
• Tragedy – Steps
• I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
• Mambo No. 5 – Lou Bega
• Could It Be Magic – Take That
• Three Lions – Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds
• Wake Up Boo – The Boo Radleys
• Alright – Supergrass
• Walking on Broken Glass – Annie Lennox
• All That She Wants – Ace of Base
• It Must Have Been Love – Roxette
• Song for Whoever – The Beautiful South
• Nothing Compares 2 You – Sinead O’Connor
• Back for Good – Take That
• When You Say Nothing At All – Ronan Keating
• Don’t Be a Stranger – Dina Carroll
• These Are Days of our Lives – Queen
• Angels – Robbie Williams

The 2000s Mix

Pop all the way with this one! I loved getting back into the charts during this decade with my children. It is in some ways my most pleasing list, because I can’t think of anything I would replace.

Here is the Spotify List

• Amarillo – Tony Christie
• Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue
• I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
• Price Tag – Jessie J
• Paparazzi – Lady Gaga
•  Hot N Cold – Katy Perry
• She’s So Lovely – Scouting for Girls
• Reach – S Club
• Up – The Saturdays
• Sex Bomb – Tom Jones
• Bad Day – Daniel Powter
• The Lazy Song – Bruno Mars
• Stop and Stare – One Republic
• Viva La Vida – Coldplay
• Rule the World – Take That
• Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
• All About You – McFly
• Whole Again – Atomic Kitten
• Something Stupid – Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman
• Someone Like You – Adele
• You’re Beautiful – James Blunt

So there you have it. 6 decades, 6 playlists, 126 songs. A school history in music no less. As I have admitted there are things I would do differently, but I am very pleased and somewhat proud of the part I played in the day with my flair for mixing together memories and music, not to mention my oral archive. If anyone from St Andrew’s is reading this, I am definitely available for the 75th Anniversary in November 2026!!