The whole panoply of Western popular music in ten tracks

1. Sam Cooke - "You send me"
2. Sly and the Family Stone - "Dance to the music"
3. Beatles - "When I'm 64"
4. James Brown - "It's a man's world"
5. Metallica - "Enter sandman"
6. Aaliyah - "Rock the boat"
7. Cyndi Lauper - "Time after time"
8. 50 Cent - "In da club"
9. Orbital - "Halcyon"
10. Krome and Time - "Ganjaman"

Because I think you need to play them chirpy, melodic music (Beatles). You need upbeat, stompy, danceable (Sly Stone). You need epic and grandiose (Metallica). You need swaggering (50 cent) you need sexual (Aaliyah) you need James Brown, because he's James Brown, you need melancholy pop (Lauper) you need smooooth (Cooke) you need delicate and electronic (Orbital) and you need percussive, driving dance music (Krome and Time).

Ace of Spades though...you're on the right track.

You should throw in some disco track though!

Daft Punk - "Digital Love," I bet the kids would love that. Or "One More Time."

Yes, I'm not too sure about Common People myself, the concept of dressing down for status wouldn't mean much to them I guess. I'm from Sheffield, so I'd like to play something 'local', it seemed like an obvious choice.

because it builds so deliberately. perhaps thence could be gleaned some semblance of what it is to rock

james brown - sex machine

to see if it really is that intuitive

hip hop seems like the most daunting one to pick really, maybe just blaze bleak and free??!!??!

to see if it really is that intuitive

I like this suggestion. As for Elvis, the blues and the like, I'm loathe to play things that I wouldn't really listen to myself, but at the same time I'm aware that I should just be giving them an idea of what's popular and letting them choose for themselves. I mean, I could easily get away with telling them that Momus soundtracks Bud Ice commercials and people all over the English speaking world traditionally get married to the sound of MF Doom, but I'd also like to give them a chance to hear something they might have a chance of hearing again in the future.

Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry (since rock was a black invention, I prefer including a black artist rather than Elvis Presley as an example of 50s rock. Also, Berry was better, and he wrote his own songs)

I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles (sort of the ultimate melting together of "black" rawness and "white" melody/harmony, and as such, important in the history of rock)

Respect - Aretha Franklin (Typical example of 60s soul, chosen instead of Motown as this is more "pure" R&B so to say, and as such a better example of the genre (even though Motown was musically better))

A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum (as I didn't want to include The Beatles twice, this one is my chosen example of rock trying harder to become "arty" towards the end of the 60s)

Anarchy In The UK - Sex Pistols (most famous example of a punk track)

Staying Alive - Bee Gees (disco)

The Message - Grandmaster Flash (rap)

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (the rise of alternative rock as a mainstream phenomenon, also made sure that the guitar was kept still alive and kicking as an important popular music instrument)

Firestarter - The Prodigy (Almost important to find a "representative" electronica track, but electronica/dance is too important not to include here)

10 tracks isn't a lot, and I had to skip synthpop and glamrock. I also considered including some Robert Johnson, but decided it wasn't "popular music" enough measured in actual popularity at the time.

This was compiled before I realized you wanted more contemporary stuff. Back to the drawing board.

Hey Ya - Outkast
Sing - Travis
Independent Woman - Destiny's Child
Back In Black - AC/DC
Music - Madonna
The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
I Believe In a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Don't Let Me Get Me - Pink
My Love - Westlife
Freak Like Me - Sugababes

Pulp - Sorted out for Es and whizz. I already mentioned Pulp, and I'm thinking about this one 'cos I once did a class on it before with some other students from various countries and they loved it. Maybe the drugs thing is a bit dicey, but it's not like I'm gonna be distributing the lyrics with free sample kits or anything. They might be interested in hearing about Glastonbury and the like.

Underworld - Born Slippy. I've never got bored of hearing this, and I want to be able to talk about each track with a certain amount of enthusiasm. I though that the Prodigy, which somebody suggested earlier, is too similar to the music they bombard themselves with on Wargasmcraft 8 or whatever. Orbital might be a bit soporific on first hearing.

Something by Eminem, or actually maybe 50 Cent, 'cos I'm not at all comfortable with introducing them to hiphop through a white artist.

Smells like teen spririt, they may already have heard it, but then again maybe not. As for the Sex Pistols, I think that talking about the 1970s or 1870s to them will mean just as little, so this will do instead.

Having said that, I want to include something by the Beatles, if only because they might just think of them as the Westlife of their day, and I want to play them something like It's all too much, Helter Skelter or Happiness is a warm gun to challenge that notion.

Jammin' by Bob Marley. I always think that he is the singlemost universally popular musician on the planet, and they should really have heard of him. Not that it's their fault if they haven't of course.

Hey Ya by Outkast, just really poppy, shiny and confident, I'd be amazed if they didn't catch on to this straight away.

Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack, just like the Outkast one this should grab their attention and I don't think they will have heard anything like it before.

Hyperballad by Bjork. I want to get accross to them just a little bit of the strangeness and exoticism of pop, while at the same tme bearing in mind that they're gonna have to like it straight off.

Which means that Devo is out.

I'm aware that some of this might come accross as patronising, but living here you realise just how thin is people's cultural diet. You just hear the same supermarket techno played at eyebleeding volume, or the same powerballads on endless repeat play. They really don't have any notion of the alternatives that are out there, I just want to open their ears a little! Hopefully, if it goes well, they'll be interested in hearing more, in which case I can bring in slightly more challenging stuff.

So, waddya think of the list? I'll welcome suggestions, the classes aren't 'til next Monday.