Neil Tennant writes mournfully witty lyrics about love and loss, proudly carrying on the legacy of Noel Coward.

Chris Lowe creates club-shaking techno music with astonishing textures and layers.

Is it any surprise that this unlikely pairing has produced the most compelling pop music of the last 15 years?
They're the Pet Shop Boys and I hope the music plays forever.

THE song: "Being Boring" - it sometimes produces laughter, sometimes tears but never boredom.

Only Eurythmics fans from the 1980s can appreciate the trepidation felt over Diva, the first solo album from Annie Lennox, and the relief in realizing she didn't need Dave Stewart to create the same brilliant pop.

So what if the patchy Medusa didn't measure up? Or if the subsequent Eurythmics' reunion felt like a retreat? Their Peace album is quite good and Annie is still a diva.

THE song: "Step by Step" - a gospel-tinged number so good even Whitney Houston couldn't upstage it.

Bruce Springsteen believes in the power of rock and roll. I don't. But that's OK because I believe in Bruce Springsteen.

He's spent three decades setting America's social conscience to music and been rewarded with people who think Born in the USA is a patriotic anthem. It's time to listen closer.

THE song: while "Streets of Philadelphia" haunts like a ghost, I have to go with "Brilliant Disguise," a song that captures the painful fear that lurks within any romance.

Of course, having a social conscience doesn't mean you can't party and, after two decades, the B-52's can still rock the house.

They're the only band who can sing "I'm in love with the love love love" and not only get away with it but mean it. A teen in 1980 credited them with easing his high-school coming-out. Ten years later, I heard Fred bark of "others LIKE YOU" and felt the same.

THE song: "Roam" - it just sends me!

Juan Garcia Esquivel is the originator and still master of "space age bachelor pad music." One listen to his work will stun you, as it did a friend of mine who simply said, "It's the sound of madness."

A second listen will dazzle you, however, with his untamed creative joy and a third listen will make you a fan, like Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who calls Esquivel's music "mind-curdlingly bizarre and beautiful."

THE song: While I thrill to his brilliant reinterpretations of "Sentimental Journey" and (my personal favourite) "The Third Man Theme," his original compositions deserve special note, the zany "Whatchamacalit" being my favourite.

I once considered trading in a couple Chris Isaak albums -- they're all just variations on the same heartbroken theme, aren't they? But I couldn't do it.

Chris has continued the necessary work of Roy Orbison -- because only the lonely know why they cry -- and each album has at least three songs that have travelled with me along the twisting highway of my love life.

THE song: "Wicked Game" is a classic, of course, but the melancholy twang of "Graduation Day" lingers for much longer.

Of course, when it comes to songs of heartbreak, Chris is still in high school compared to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

In a mass-produced age in which Mariah = Whitney = Celine, Aretha's distinctive voice is still a source of awe -- powerful, smooth and passionate -- and she's earned a place in history (first black woman on the cover of Time, for instance) as an inspiration to a generation of people young, gifted and black.

THE song: Among her 1960's Atlantic recordings are dozens of classics (pick your favourite) and I'll go with the Motown-flavoured "Since You've Been Gone."

No longer punk-pop's Angry Young Man, Elvis Costello has mellowed with style and, while his recent work may not be as edgy, his collaborations with Paul McCartney, Aimee Mann, the Kronos Quartet and the legendary Burt Bacharach have produced inspired results.

THE song: while "Every Day I Write The Book" is a wonderful example of the ever-elusive Perfect Pop Song, it's the imperfect charms of "Alison" that stir me up again and again.

R.E.M. is the World's Greatest Rock Band. It's that simple.
No one else comes close to matching their ability to experiment with radical new styles while never losing sight of their strengths. And what strengths -- raw guitar, passionate vocals, intriguing lyrics, eclectic production and wondrous melodies. Tickets to their August 99 concert in Toronto were a birthday gift from Bryce and that summer night remains a cherished memory.

The song: Automatic For The People is a disc that will never leave my possession but "Losing My Religion" is the earlier song that turned a casual fan into a lifelong one. A decade later, it's still that good.