Kylie Minogue's year of celebration
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue performs during a concert on her Aphrodite Tour. Photo: Francois Mori Source: AP
THIS is not just the year of the dragon and the London Olympics, it's officially the year of K25.
That's 25 years of Kylie Minogue as a pop music superstar - starting way back in 1987 with a pair of fashion-challenged bike shorts dancing to The Locomotion.
In that time, we've seen the divine Miss M evolve from the tomboy next door, playing the feisty mechanic Charlene on Neighbours, to her most recent incarnation, last year's Greek goddess vixen in her global Aphrodite Les Follies tour, and being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Kylie and her loyal fans are now preparing for K25, a year-long celebration of her music career highlighted by what she is calling an "anti-tour" - a series of intimate shows playing her favourite songs.
K25 will also see a TV special for Europe and Australia rumoured to include duets with Nick Cave, Robbie Williams, sister Dannii and Madonna - although Minogue herself played down the Madonna whisper this week, tweeting: "It's just a rumour, but of course it would be amazing!".MATT'S MEMORABLE MUSICAL KYLIE MOMENTS
1. THE LOCOMOTIONA cover of the '60s hit by Little Eva, it's the song that propelled Minogue into the life of a pop superstar. It gained the attention of song-writing team Stock, Aitken & Waterman and became the biggest Australian song of the '80s. As a three-year-old, the song was a favourite of mine as I told my parents that marrying Minogue would one day be my destiny. Of course, that never happened because I grew up to become, well ! ... a Ky lie fan.
Released in 1990, the song is an all-time fan favourite and performed in every one of her live tours. Considered to be an ultimate gay anthem, it's still played at 12.30am every Saturday night in London's Heaven nightclub where Kylie often makes surprise appearances.
Peaking at number one on the ARIA charts, Confide In Me is the song that saw Kylie firmly in charge of her career. Breaking free from the Stock, Aitken & Waterman shackles, a sexed up Kylie is shown in the video begging people to dial "1-555 Confide" and confide in her. Don't try calling the number, I discovered it wasn't real after many attempts thinking I would get an intimate chat with my idol growing up.
After a few years in the "indie wilderness" when Kylie had a musical dalliance with Nick Cave and her Impossibles Princess album, she returned to the top of the charts with this disco-inspired tune. While the song was a smash, the gold hotpants from the Spinning Around film clip went on to have a life of their own... and changed my wardrobe forever.
5. CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD
Kylie's biggest hit and the biggest song of the last decade. Not only is it the ultimate Minogue hit, it is truly one of the ultimate pop songs of all time. From it's simplistic composition that has world singing "La, La, La" to the clip that saw nightclubs filled with patrons dancing like robots, it's the song that was seen as the I Will Survive for the new millennium . Kylie cemented her place as pop royalty with a career-defining performance at the 2002 Brit Awards where s! he mixed the song with New Order's Blue Monday surrounded by silver-faced dancers and looking like a space goddess.