BLACK SLATE
(Jamaica, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

CARIBBEAN ONE HIT wonders with "Amigo" which we can't remember. This is where you came in, and to save the day, DEREK claims that the song was another of those feelgood reggae tunes, which was 'ideal for lazy summer Sundays'. We thought six pints down the pub followed by Bullseye cured that particular problem. Still, each to their own.

Biggest Hit: "Amigo", No.9, 1980
Defining Moment: None really.

BLANCMANGE
(UK, five Top 40 hits, two Top 40 albums)

Slightly-barking arty synth duo comprising of Neil Arthur (tall, scrawny, voice) and Stephen Luscombe (short, blonde, instrumentalist) who slid around for a few years in the mid-80s with a sparse but catchy collection of songs. Got the break in '82 with the excellent "Living On The Ceiling" ("I'm up and down, I'm up the wall, I'm up a bloody tree") featuring that magnificent "na-narr-na-narr- narr-na-narr-na-na- narrrrrrr" middle eight, quickly followed by the less memorable but still first-rate "Blind Vision". Returned in '84 with the top-drawer melody "Don't Tell Me" ("I climbed a mountain, reaching for the skies, and all too soon I jumped the moon and found I'm losing my mind") before having the sheer nerve to cover an Abba song at a time when the world was pining for the not-long-split Swedish legends. Arthur and Luscombe's unironic version of "The Day Before You Came" was a minor success, though hearing the aloof Arthur singing about watching Dallas and reading Barbara Cartland novels in bed was tough to take in. Last gasp with "What's Your Problem?" in '85 before the fuel ran out, but the decade was better for their offbeat, entertaining presence.

Biggest Hit: "Living On The Ceiling", No.7, 1982
Defining Moment: "I'm so tall, I'm so tall, you raise me and then you let me faaaaaaall..."

BLOW MONKEYS
(UK, four Top 40 hits, three top 40 albums)

Bouncy sax-based semi-political band led by the sartorially-elegant Dr Robert, chief songwriter supreme who wrapped his resonant vocal chords around first hit "Digging Your Scene" ("tell me whyyyyyyyyy, is it I'm in yourrr scene...") in '86, with follow-up smash "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" arriving a year later ("and I've just about had enough of you sunshine!") confirming the man christened Robert Howard as a songwriter and performer of some stamina and conscience, with his floppy part- Gothic fringe, sharp suits and faded make-up. But it all went pear-shaped after that, with a glut of floppy discs blackening their name until the last-gasp "Choice?" of '89 reminded us of them. The Doc (under his real name) had a hit in a duet with Kym Mazelle on "Wait" in the same year but time was up for the Monkeys, whose name got a farrago of brain-dead giggles about Michael Jackson's favourite pastime with Bubbles. One album was called "She Was Only A Grocer's Daughter", which we don't own, but we assume is a thinly-veiled Thatch-basher from start to finish. Howard's memorable offstage moment was declaring how much he hated milk, as it "tastes like rancid phlegm." Charming.

Biggest Hit: "It Doesn't Have To Be This Way", No.5, 1987
Defining Moment: He put water on his Shreddies instead.

BLUE MERCEDES
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

WE SORT OF remember the name, but our recollections otherwise are vague. The song was called "I Want To Be Your Property" ("I want to live like Cyd Charissee in a big house by the sea"), with lyrics supplied by THOMMO. We're actually thinking of just handing over the entire site to him, as he has yet more to tell us...

"The lead singer was the fantastically named David Titlow, whose name now crops up in the music press on a frequent basis, not in the guise of eighties has-been, but because he's now a rock photographer with a pretty cred reputation."

So now he photographs no-hopers instead of just being one.

Biggest Hit: "I Want To Be Your Property", No.23, 1987
Defining Moment: Daft lyrics.

BLUE RONDO A LA TURK
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Ridiculously-named previous life of Matt Bianco, with one single reaching No.40 being the measure of their appeal.

Biggest Hit: "Me And Mr Sanchez", No.40, 1981
Defining Moment: That came three years later under their new name.

BLUE ZOO
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

One hit, few recollections. Singer, to whom Suede frontman Brett Anderson sounds similar, was identity paraded on Never Mind The Buzzcocks in '99. Any more for us?

Biggest Hit: "Cry Boy Cry", No.13, 1982
Defining Moment: None.

BLUEBELLS
(UK, three Top 40 hits, one Top 40 album)

Jumpy, folky collection of geography-teacher lookalikes who enhanced our view of the world with their '84 hits "I'm Falling" and the charisma- dripping "Young At Heart" ("how come I love them now, how come I love them more?") which catwalked main man Robert Hodgens - once sent a personal note of thanks by Morrissey for a favourable single review in Smash Hits - as one of pop's cheery saviours among the deadpan stuff infiltrating young crania at the time. And of course, they went to No.1 in '93 with self-same song (seven places higher than its original outing) thanks to a bit of inspired soundtracking from anti-wrinkle experts Nivea. Seeing them on the same TOTP as the WWF Superstars and Arrested Development was surreal, to say the least.

Biggest Hit: "Young At Heart", No.8, 1984
Defining Moment: "Da-da da-da da-da-darr, da-da da-da, da-da-darr, da-da da-da da-da da-da-da-da-darrrrrr..."

BLUES BROTHERS
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Suits, shades and that song. What more can we say?

Biggest Hit: "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", No.12, 1989
Defining Moment: "I need you, you, you, I need you, you, you..."

BODYSNATCHERS
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

ALL-LASSIE troupe of ska upbringing, many of whom reformed as the Belle Stars, while lead singer Rhonda Dekker later emerged as Jerry Dammers' main warbler on his post-Hall, world-to-rights project the Special AKA. The hit wasn't overtly memorable.

Biggest Hit: "Let's Do Rock Steady", No.22, 1980
Defining Moment: None.

(Thanks to BESTIE for further information)

BOMB THE BASS
(UK, three Top 40 hits, one Top 40 album)

Influential house act of the decade's arse end who had three major hits with differing guest vocalists. Dated as hell now, but still fondly revered for their contribution to the dance phenomenon. Re-emerged briefly in '91 with the squeezily-angelic "Winter In July".

Biggest Hit: "Beat Dis", No.2, 1988
Defining Moment: Having the bravery to cover "Say A Little Prayer".