The ten best disco tracks

By Andy Bell of Erasure

1 I FEEL LOVE Donna Summer

When I first moved to London I was living with a woman, and this song reminds me of coming out. I went to the Embassy Club, a gay venue, and I was totally enamoured of the whole place. This song was so exhilarating it was almost too much for me.

2 SHAKE YOUR BODY (DOWN TO THE GROUND) The Jacksons

I used to go to the Post Office Club with my parents. It was a sort of working men's club and it would always play this song. I would rush onto the dancefloor and start waving my arms about, showing off. Some girls from school were there, and I thought they'd be really impressed.

3 DREAMING Blondie

When I first started going out in Peterborough as a teenager, I would go to discos in the swimming pool. When this song came on, I'd be the only one on the dancefloor, shaking my moves.

4 THERE'S A GHOST IN MY HOUSE The Fall

This is a Northern Soul track that puts me right back at the Irish Centre in Peterborough. The men there would all wear really tight trousers with amazingly wide flares and big sailor waistbands with six or seven buttons, tight skinhead Fred Perry T-shirts and crêpe-soled shoes.

5 NUMBER ONE SONG IN HEAVEN Sparks

Before I was in the music business I fancied myself as a dancer. At the Irish Centre, we'd dance to songs like this and it was always very acrobatic, a real testosterone competition. Everyone there was drinking underage, and they were only too happy to be serving us.

6 SO MANY MEN, SO LITTLE TIME Miquel Brown

This song would play at Heaven nightclub when I was first in London, and I was so shy that I couldn't speak to anyone. Boy George and Marilyn would be there, but if they remember me it is probably just as the one in the corner in an anorak. This is a total HI-NRG, which I hated, but, at the time, there wasn't much else around.

7 ROCK LOBSTER The B52s

This used to play at The Bell pub in Kings Cross, which at the time had a real political scene, marching for gays, the miners and against Maggie. I was showing off my dance moves to this track, and a guy told me to take some lessons before it was too late. I never did, and I regret that now.

8 NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE The Communards

This is, for me, Jimmy Somerville's anthem. When Erasure first started he was a real working-class hero, and my gay compatriot. We would sit around and bitch about all the people we thought were hiding in the closet. We sang this at an Aids benefit, dressed as Bananarama.

9 YOU MAKE ME FEEL MIGHTY REAL Sylvester

While speaking at a Gay Pride festival, Erasure were given the keys to San Francisco. Around the same time, Sylvester died of Aids. The lover I've been with for 18 years went out with Sylvester before me, so it is quite poignant.

10 LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME Abba

Erasure covered this one, and it was nowhere near as good as Abba's original. Not many people knew the original though: it was off the last album before they split, and I just want to die when I hear it.