15: Orange Juice, “Rip It Up” (no.8, 1983)

Misanthropic Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle has a routine which sets out how the intelligence of any given couple is equivalent to half of its most intelligent constituent, a thesis the self-doubting pair in his fellow Caledonians Orange Juice’s “Rip It Up” (“I hope to God I’m not as dumb as you make out”) might well have some truck with. Three minutes of bright, eternally effervescent pop magic, squeezed from riffs that any smart teenage guitarist might arrive at in his dad’s garage one night - which is, of course, a major part of the song’s boyish charm. (Kudos, too, for referencing the Buzzcocks’ tremendous “Boredom” with words and guitars.) Though lead singer Edwyn Collins would later go on to have solo success with the ace “A Girl Like You”, Orange Juice themselves will go down in pop history as one of those acts who really should have had more hits - although this one track is better than other bands’ whole careers.