No Rock And Roll Fun

AN UNFITTING END: We used to love Record Mirror, and were sad when it closed down. Although we'd ceased to view it as a must-have purchase by that point. It's only looking back at the last ever 'best singles of the year' chart that they produced that it becomes clear why the title had to die:

1 Soul II Soul Back To Life
2 The Stone Roses Fools Gold
3 Lisa Stansfield All Around The World
4 Beloved The Sun Rising
5 Tone Loc Funky Cold Medina
6 Shakespears Sister You're History
7 The Bangles Eternal Flame
8 S'Express Hey Music Lover
9 Black Box Right On Time
10Madonna Like a Prayer
11Lil LouisFrench Kiss
12Guns'n'RosesSweet Child O' Mine
13=The Wonder StuffDon't Let Me Down Gently
13= The Sundays Can't Be Sure
14 The CureLullaby
15 Nenah Cherry Manchild
16 LL Cool J I'm That Type Of Guy
17 Tears for Fears Sowing The Seeds Of Love
18 De La SoulMe Myself And I
19 Hue & Cry Violently
20 808 State Pacific

... although there's some good tracks in there, and the pop stuff has stood up pretty well, it's virtually impossible to see who this title was being aimed at there. People too old for Smash Hits but who were afraid of Q? Or was the editorial team just hoping to pick up readers when the People's Friend distribution network broke down?

Anyway, this list - and many, many others - can be found at rocklist.net, an absolutely insane but wonderful repository of year end critics lists and readers polls. They're looking for help filling in the gaps, too.