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Here’s our Top 20 of Maggie’s Jukebox…

1. Tramp the Dirt – Elvis Costello

2. Fascist Groove Thang –  H 17

3. Ghost Town – The Specials

4. Stand Down Margaret – The Beat

5. Shipbuilding – Robert Wyatt

6. Labour of Love – Hue and Cry

7. Kill the Poor – Dead Kennedys

8. Know Your Rights – The Clash

9. Maggie’s Farm (feat. Rico with The Ice Rink String Sounds)– Specials

10. Sinful – Pete Wyllie

11. Margaret on the Guillotine-  Morrissey

12. Good Morning Britain – Aztec Camera

13. Steeltown – Big Country

14. Signing Off – UB40

15. It Says Here – Billy Bragg

16. The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum – Fun Boy Three

17. Letter from America – The Proclaimers

18. It Doesnt Have to Be this Way – Blow Monkeys

19. Mind and Movement Control – Tackhead

20. Eton Rifles – The Jam

Plus your suggestions…

VIM – Maggie’s Last Party

Sinead O Connor – Black Boys On Mopeds

Kitchens of Distinction, “Margaret’s Injection”

Crass – How Does it Feel?

Mogwai – “George Square Thatcher Death Party”

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  1. Donald Adamson says:

    Great headline and antidote to the establishment candy floss.

    Robert Wyatt’s refrain still resonates, after all these years:

    “Diving for dear life

    When we could be diving for pearls”.

  2. bellacaledonia says:

    Thanks – weird watching the gushing tributes. This is about continuity not death

  3. Donald Adamson says:

    Mike/Kevin(?),

    “This is about continuity not death”.

    Totally agree. For example, how about this:

    British General Election Result 2010 (seats won in southern half of England):

    East Midlands

    Conservative 31
    Labour 15

    West Midlands

    Conservative 33
    Labour 24

    Eastern England

    Conservative 52
    Labour 2

    South East

    Conservative 74
    Labour 4

    South West

    Conservative 36
    Labour 4

  4. bellacaledonia says:

    Mike

  5. Graeme Orr says:

    How can you have a Top 20 which omits the punk classic “I’m in love with Margaret Thatcher” by the NotSensibles? There was also a fine French song “Miss Maggie” by Reynaud. I donated my copies of these to the Protest Song Archive at Cally Uni.

    1. bellacaledonia says:

      Thanks, will add in, some great new additions up there, loving Sinead O Connor and VIM

  6. SilverHaze says:

    Maggie You Cunt by The Exploited should be number one.

  7. Iain says:

    I think you’re missing one obvious classic; a song that captures the mood of the early 80s like no other. The paranoia, the politics, the love, the drugs, the disillusionment, the hope, the tragedy – it captures it all. I still feel this song rather than hear it.

    “They are coming amongst and in between us
    Tapping our phones – you can be sure they’ve seen us
    Are you working for or with the state
    They’re selling you smack at a slightly cheaper rate
    ‘Cos you’re not a threat when you’re out of your head
    and I’m gonna get out of my head”

    Au Pairs – Headache for Michelle

    1. bellacaledonia says:

      Thanks, will add …

  8. Brilliant antidote to the hagiography, one minor quibble would be a preference for “Going Underground” over “Eton Rifles by The Jam.

    You choose your leaders and place your trust
    As their lies wash you down and their promises rust
    You’ll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns
    And the public wants what the public gets
    But I don’t get what this society wants

  9. Surprised not to see any fom ”scheme” in the list.The band and they’re songs were a product of thatcherism

  10. There are two people not mentioned so far, who deserve a place on here. Dick Gaughan and Linton Kwesi Johnson

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