16. “Is It Really So Strange?” by the Smiths
As previously noted, the Smiths released Strangeways, Here We Come, their final studio album, in 1987. That same year also brought Louder Than Bombs, a double album compilation consisting almost entirely of singles and other songs that hadn’t yet been released in the United States. “Is It Really Strange?” is the track that leads off the album, and it also appeared as the B-side to the “Sheila Take a Bow” single. The version that appears on Louder Than Bombs was recorded as part of the band’s fourth and final John Peel session in December of 1986. While I’m dumping information out there, I’ll also take a sentence to note that the title Louder Than Bombs is culled from Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, an extended prose poem originally published in 1945 (“Everything flows like the Mississippi over a devastated earth, which drinks unsurfeited, and augments the liquid with waterfalls of gratitude; which raises a sound of praise to deafen all doubters forever; to burst their shamed eardrums with the roar of proof, louder than bombs or screams or the inside ticking of remorse”). This is the second of three songs by the Smiths on the countdown.

15. “The Motion of Love” by Gene Loves Jezebel
As someone who was watching closely at the time, I can assure you that the video embedded below provides all the information anyone might need about what 1987 looked like. Seriously. This is the second of two Gene Loves Jezebel songs on the countdown.

Previously…
An Introduction
40 and 39: “4th of July” and “Bizarre Love Triangle”
38 and 37: “Heartbreak Beat” and “Not My Slave”
36 and 35: “Alone Again Or” and “Absolute Perfection”
34 and 33: “Love Removal Machine” and “The Passenger”
32 and 31: “It’s Still Warm” and “Hourglass”
30 and 29: “Alex Chilton” and “We Care a Lot”
28 and 27: “Crazy” and “It’s a Sin”
26 and 25: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Rules and Regulations”
24 and 23: “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” and “Twenty Killer Hurts”
22 and 21: “We Close Our Eyes” and “Please”
20 and 19: “Rain in the Summertime” and “Behind the Wheel”
18 and 17: “The Sweetest Thing” and “Rent”