A bit of work of course, but could produce some interesting lists for sure! Particularly the modern stuff, I assume 80’s and 90’s top 10’s would be quite familiar to most of us.
I’ll think about this for a second (or 5 hours or whatever), then show my list.
Ok, my list would look something like this. Very heavy on the classics!
1980’s
Arnold Jarvis - Take Some Time Out
Joe Smooth - Promised Land
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem)
Phuture: - Acid Tracks
Jungle Brothers - I’ll House You
Raze - Break 4 Love
Mike Dunn - So Let It Be Houze!
Tyree Cooper - House Music Is My Life
Mr Fingers - Mystery of Love
1990’s
Dajae - U Got Me Up (Danny Tenaglia’'s Club Version)
Kerri Kaos Chandler presents Arnold Jarvis - Inspiration
Pepe Bradock - Deep Burnt
River Ocean - Love And Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochún) (12" Club Mix)
The System - You’re In My System (Kerri Chandler Athmospheric Vocal Mix)
Alcatraz - Giv Me Luv
Mike Dun - God Made Me Phunky
Tears of Velva - The Way I Feel (4 Daye Dub)
Armand van Helden feat. Duane Harden - You Don’t Know Me
Ron Trent - Don’t Try It
2000’s
Alan Braxe and Fred Falke - Intro
Josh One - Contemplation (King Britt Funke Mix)
Nathan Haines feat. Verna Francis - Earth is The Place (Distant Music Mix)
Underground Resistance - Transition
Martin Buttrich - Full Clip
Blaze Presents Underground Dance Artists United For Life Feat. Barbara Tucker – Most Precious Love (DF’s Future 3000 Mix)
Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom – Relevee (Carl Craig Remix)
Dennis Ferrer - Son of Raw
House of House - Rushing To Paradise (Walkin These Streets)
Pepe Bradock - Path of Most Resistance
2010’s
Culoe De Song - Y.O.U.D.
Floorplan - Tell You No Lie
Karizma - Work It Out
Liem - If Only
Mari Kvien Brunvoll - Everywhere You Go (Villalobos Celestial Voice Resurrection Mix)
Mr. G - They Say They Play House
Sophie Lloyd - Raise Me Up (Alan Dixon 12" version)
The Vision feat. Andreya - Heaven (Danny Krivit Edit)
Gershon Jackson Presents Reset Preset – Hands Together (House of Omni Hands Together Extended Club Mix)
Midland - Final Credits
2020’s
Disclosure & Fatoumata Diawara – Douha (Mali Mali)
Frankie Knuckles Presents Director’s Cut Feat. B. Slade – Get Over U (Tedd Patterson Extended Remix)
Danny Tenaglia -The Brooklyn Gypsy
Louie Vega & Unlimited Touch - Music Is My Life
Prunk feat. Jovonn - Story of House
The Shapeshifters - Finally Ready (David Penn extented Remix)
Vince Watson - Progress (Joe Claussell Remix)
Boys Noize - Mvinline
Dennis Ferrer, Discliples, James Yuill - Whisper
Sophie Lloyd Feat. Pauline Taylor – Angels By My Side
Well, I want to contribute, but I’m only going to have a stab at 10 from the 1980s because I very much fell out of love with house in the early 1990s (I moved more towards hip hop, jungle/D’n’B, and the West London blues party scene via a brief flirtation with 2-step). During the late 80s I was studying at a provincial town in the south of england which had a very limited non-mainstream music scene, so there was little-to-no chance of me hearing half the records that I read about in the music press - and that will be very evident from my list as it relies heavily on the classics. But ‘classics’ often become classics for a reason, so…
My 1980’s 10 in no particular order:
Lil Louis - French Kiss
First heard this on John Peel’s show, sounded so futuristic. Not sure I’d play the orgasmic moaning and groaning section now, kinda wish there was a pure instrumental version.
Humanoid - Stakker Humanoid
Seems a bit obvious now, but I used to play this at every opportunity. It sounded so big!
M|A|R|R|S - Pump Up The Volume
Jungle Brothers - I’ll House You
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
808 State - Pacific State
I’m not going to past any lists yet, but:
I sometimes think we’re the same person but with different record collections. I was at Farnham, in Surrey, but as home was in London I’d go back at weekends sometimes just to listen to the pirate stations.
This is an interesting choice because although I think it is an important record for opening the doors for house music in the UK, I never thought of it as a house track. It seems to live on its own as some kind of electronic go-go.
Yes, it doesn’t sound like a house record, but maybe that’s a post-hoc assessment? My recollection is that at that point ‘house music’ seemed quite loosely defined. At the time it did seem (to me, at least) to be very much part of the revolution that was happening in what was otherwise a very amorphous genre (namely, ‘electronic music’).
When i was compiling my list I considered replacing Pump Up The Volume with Beat Dis - which is quite similar in many ways, and which I also considered to be a ‘house’ (or maybe ‘House Not House’…?!). record.
But I was in Bournemouth at the time, which gave me very little insight into club culture! It felt like a cultural desert apart from 2 local gay clubs which ran weekly straight ‘alternative’ nights (one a kind of indie/goth night, the other a house/electronic night). Otherwise there were just a few mainstream chrome-and-carpet clubs playing chart hits of the day. Home was a village in Essex, and trips to London were expensive and Infrequent. Life was so unfair!!