Dancing to the top ... Sophie Ellis-Bextor kept Posh Spice off the No 1 slot. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
If you have been near a radio or a club in the last few weeks the chances are you would have heard a tune with an accordion playing through it. It's called Heater by Samim and despite its choice of instrumentation it does have hip origins (Berlin's Get Physical) but is no doubt being dropped like a stone by tastemakers after Radio 1 recently playlisted it.
I for one will welcome the return of a dance instrumental to the charts untainted by vocal grafts or tampering by A&R who believe radio won't play anything without giving listeners something to sing along to. This fad for, what I believe is termed "whacking a vocal on top", began with Sophie Ellis-Bextor atop Spiller's Groovejet in 2000. This worked well and kept Posh Spice off the No 1 spot but I don't think this ploy has ever been equalled.
Following Bextor's lead Hatirus's Spaced Invader suddenly reappeared with Basement Jaxx' Slarta John "toasting" across it. Someone foolish thought Cosmos's bleepy, synthetic Take Me With You would benefit from an appearance by fading soul star Roachford. There are numerous other perfectly fine dance records that have suffered a similar fate - Superdiscount's Fast Track and Mason's Exceeder to name but two.
After Groovejet everyone seemed to forget that Window Licker by Aphex Twin, Da Funk by Daft Punk and Higher State of Consciousness by Josh Wink (OK, the title gets uttered by a time-stretched robot but I'm not counting that) had done perfectly well in the charts without someone calling for Cathy Dennis. What would Joe Meek have thought if a record company man insisted Telstar would have been infinitely better if Lonnie Donegan sang about chewing gum over the top?
I just hope Heater doesn't start a fad for dance records with gimmicky motifs as we've had our fill of those in the past. In 1994 the Grid employed a banjo to assist their swift rise to the No 1 spot with Swamp Thing and later that year a record called Doop went top of the pops based around the Charleston. Other than those horrors, can you remember any more instrumentals that charted or that underwent a vocal graft?
