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Madonna is Madame Provocative. But she’s also a damn good singer.

Drowned World/Substitute for Love was a track on her Ray of Light album released in 1998 and produced by William Orbit. I love this live version which Madonna sung in 2006 during the Confessions Tour.

This is another of my reference tracks when I test audio equipment when the bass and drums come at 1:15. Of course, I use the album version to do that as it has much better sound quality.

Bad is the title track from Michael Jackson’s 7th album, also called Bad. The album was released in 1987 to critical acclaim and was co-produced by Quincy Jones.

I was 14 when I first heard Bad, probably on the radio. The next day, I had purchased the album on cassette and, for the next few weeks, I would listen to it hundreds of time.

All the songs on the album were world-class but Bad, as the opening track, was so full of energy and the sound quality was so good that even my oh-so-crap Tatung audio system sang. Brings back so many good memories…

Da Funk was a track on one of the first CDs I ever bought, Daft Punk’s first album, Homework. This was in 1997 and the whole album was a revelation. It was top-notch house music and the sound quality was (and still is) astounding.

Da Funk is one of my reference tracks. Whenever I need to test a new amp or a new set of speakers, I fire Da Funk. You know that you have good equipment if your jaw drops when the bassline starts at 0:45.

Over the years, Daft Punk released other great albums (most notably Random Access Memories) and tracks (Starboy with the Weeknd) but, for me, Homework rules.