There's lots of stuff which was breathtakingly odd at the time but which has been subsequently absorbed into the mainstream. How about Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The reaction when we all first saw Boy George on TOTP.. The odd, gentle, cod-reggae tune.. We think nothing of it now.

O Superman - Laurie Anderson
Little Red Rooster - The Rolling Stones
The Good the Bad & the Ugly - Hugo Montenegro
Geno - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Loving You - Minnie Riperton

All absorbed into rock's rich tapestry now. All Top 5 hits that sounded very uusual when they first broke.

..in no way was that abosrbed into the tapestry of popular music. Still sounds off its head today!

But America What Time Is Love is nuts. Power chords, former Deep Purple singers, rapping, swiss horns, vikings moshing with sitars... possibly a kitchen sink.

Seemingly the Bill Drummond quote when this came out was "There's always been a rock element to our dance music." I miss The KLF.

But can you imagine hearing it on the radio for the first time?

The other one is Mike Oldfield's Portsmouth, but I can't copy and past the link from YouTube for some reason.

So here's Driver 67 instead.

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.
Still a joy to me today that this got to number one.

It was utterly extraordinary. It still is.

Here's a link to a 'making of' documentary that Fraser included in the latest 'Something for the Weekend' e-mail...

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMysticAudio#p/u/4/O2WksiotTjw

...although a standard oldie now, Wuthering Heights really isn't the sort of thing that gets to number one, was it?

Telstar by the Tornados. Still sounds 'out there' today, I think.

top 20, but this got to number 25 in 1978, and I've always loved it...

Guy Marks - Loving You Has Made Me Bananas

A sound & image that were to become commonplace, but at the time, well...

I reckon this was a pretty unusual Top 20 single. Almost all of the song is in a 7/4 time signature, which is pretty uncommercial for a start.
I find I still like the song a lot.

was a bit different to the normal chart stuff of the day.
It was twice as long as most other singles for starters.

Good shout on Car 67, I used to love that.

Time may not have treated it kindly, but nothing, before, or since this was number one, has sounded remotely like it.

totally original.

(I am not a particularly big Queen fan, so its not a case of "Music were better in my day" )

for Scaffold and "Lily The Pink"

and Rolf Harris "Sun Arise"

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds...

In 1973 this was "the second biggest selling UK single of the year, behind The Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace"", according to Wikipedia. I could've posted Amazing Grace, but this is surely stranger.

It's also splendid.

...I was eager to finally get to see it, when I went to England in the summer of -82.
I was stunned as I watched Captain Sensible sing "Happy Talk" among people in penguin suits etcetera...it wasn't quite what I had expected of the famous british chart show!
And unless I remember it incorrectly, it was number one that week.
And next week. And when it finally dropped down, what took it's place ?
Trio - "Da Da Da".
I returned home thinking that the british chart was a load of bollocks I'm afraid.

Whilst I believe Bohemian Rhapsody probably takes the biscuit, Mr Numan's full on Synth sound was pretty revolutionary for a pop single in 1979.

...I wasn't around when this came out but it obviously doesn't sound like Slade

...

..nice little pre-punk ditty about heroin with a charming spot of hurt filled wailing towards the end... lovely

"And The Birds Were Singing" by Sweet People.

This got to number one in 1975(?)

and this was their follow-up number one hit 8-}

Randy Scouse Git (Alternative Title)

I've been undressed by kings (no, really), mainly during those rare times when I haven't been crying to unborn children. As well as that, I've also been able to squeeze in visits to Georgia, California, Nice and the Isle of Greece (wherever that might be).

And believe it or not, I've also seen somethings that a woman just aint 'sposed to see.

Such as this cackola reaching no.1.

Back in the day when they were still called W.T.F.

...for leaving this stonker out.

According to wiki, the Tremolo EP by My Bloody Valentine made the top 30 in 1991, which is pretty amazing for such uncommercial avant-rock on an indie.

Blue Room, a 30 minute-plus chill out track by The Orb went number 8 and onto TOTP like this:

And Windowlicker by Aphex Twin made number 16; superb, angry-sounding leftfield dance track.

..I think we're on our way to a really good compilation (special arrows for 90s tracks mentioned above - I think Tremelo can get an honorary inclusion, even though it missed the top 20)

This was Top Ten. But of course, this came first:

I seem to remember that Johnny Walker popularised this at the time.

Bluegrass Techno. I still think it's rather fantastic.

And this is dead good as well and would have qualified as odd if it'd troubled the chart compilers in this country. Was a big hit elsehere. Mega-techno industrial ping-pong balls. With bass to liquefy bowels. And some kotos thrown in for good measure.

The definitely in no way gay, God bothering, walking advert for the futility of Botox, predicts the iPod generation 25 years early whilst hurtling around on roller skates dressed like he's late for a rave. You couldn't make it up.

Haysee Fantaysee

Both odd and ball

and a very nice tune indeed.

And in Latin.

in 1968

The b-side was the whole thing backwards.

piano interlude, anyone?

Number one in 1969

This one by the Cure has no real melody or chorus just that great bassline, keyboard riff and lots of whispering.. probably the closest they came to genius (not bad little video too)

And as for Adam and the Ants - I didn't hear this until years after it came out (I was only 7 in 1980) and really couldn't believe this had actually charted