Rachel Horne’s top 80s covers live from the Top of the Tower

Virgin Radio

28 Dec 2022, 09:15

Rachel Horne has taken a look back at some of her favourite 80s covers live from the Top of the Tower.

We’ve had some incredible bands and artists on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky and when they perform 80s covers, it’s always such a treat.

So Rachel has chosen some of her favourites from over the years.

Tom Walker - Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by The Police

When he joined the show three years ago, Tom performed a cover of the 1981 classic from The Police and absolutely smashed it.

Texas - Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Back in May 2021, Texas joined the show to talk about their tenth studio album, Hi, and brought us a very special cover of the 1982 hit Come on Eileen.

David Gray - Inbetween Days by The Cure

Earlier this year, the phenomenal David Gray joined us and performed some of his most iconic songs from White Ladder, including his version of Soft Cell’s Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. He also treated us to a cover of The Cure’s 1985 classic Inbetween Days.

The Vaccines - Walk of Life by Dire Straits

The Vaccines joined us at the Top of the Tower back in 2019 to perform a cover of Dire Straits’ 1985 hit Walk of Life. As Rachel said: “Frontman Justin’s vocals are so perfect for this song - he could be a Young Mark Knopfler…”

We sadly don’t have a video of this one but check out another song they performed for us instead!

Shed Seven - Panic, The Smiths

When Shed Seven first formed, they were constantly compared to The Smiths - so it’s only right they played a cover of the 1986 hit Panic when they came to the studio in 2018.

Divine Comedy - Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads

When this band joined us in April this year, Rachel said she was “starstruck”. They were here to talk about their new ‘best of’ album and treated us to a cover of this iconic Talking Heads song.

Elbow - It Must Be Love by Madness

When Elbow joined us for a Breakfast live session at the Top of the Tower and when Guy Garvey told us he was covering the Madness classic, we knew we were in for a treat but nothing could have prepared us for this!

Natalie Imbruglia - Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House

In 2021, the lovely Natalie Imbruglia joined us to chat about her album Firebird and treated us to a stripped back version of Crowded House’s 1986 hit Don’t Dream it’s Over.

The Feeling - Fight For Your Right (To Party) by Beastie Boys

On a very grey September morning this year, The Feeling came to the Top of the Tower to perform some tracks from their sixth studio album Loss. Hope. Love. They also gave us an incredible cover of this Beastie Boys anthem.

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - Happy Hour by The Housemartins

Actual 80s music legends Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott joined the show in 2019 and gave us a rendition of Happy Hour. Sadly, we don’t have a clip of that one but we do have a video of their cover of Since You’ve Been Gone, which they performed when they returned to the show last month.

Franz Ferdinand - Tainted Love by Soft Cell

The Scottish Rockers joined the show at the start of the year to celebrate their greatest hits collection Hits to the Head and performed a cover of Soft Cell’s hit 1981 song Tainted Love.

James Blunt - Where is my Mind by Pixes

The incredibly talented James Blunt came to the Top of the Tower just over a year ago to tell us about his Greatest Hits album. He also performed a rendition of this 1988 classic while they were here.