1996 The Chemical Brothers: Setting Sun

There never was a 'Britdance' genre, but there's no doubt that a number of British dance acts benefited by Britpop's prominence and from following in its slipstream. Of course, having one of the genre's royalty on board is always going to help, and Noel Gallagher's vocal on 'Setting Sun' is as wise a move commercially as it's unwise artistically. Because it could have been so different; the Brothers' trademark big beats still swing with the thump of a heavyweight boxer's fists, but there's also a tasty side order of discord with air raid siren screams and some grind to halt beat stretching at 2:20 that almost make it the number one Aphex Twin never had. Almost - 'Setting Sun' shows too much deference to Gallagher's presence to allow it to fully play to the strengths of innovative experimentation it aspires to and, frankly, his role playing attempt to turn this into a 'proper song' just gets in the way. Without him, this would probably not have had a sniff at the number one spot, but with him 'Setting Sun' lacks the in the round weirdness of a 'Firestarter' and instead pitches up squarely in a no-man's land that will satisfy few. But all is not lost; flip it over for a seven minute instrumental version that shows both all that this should have been and exactly why Gallagher was required to make it the hit the A side was.