That 1 small matter aside (see, it irks 1, right?), I like the rock guitar riff that opens this tune about as much as I like any other opening rock guitar riff. Hot Chocolate songs are some of the few on this list that have both disco and rock in their genre ID3 tags, and I often find myself caught at the pinnacle of a rock-guitar run with nowhere to go from Hot Chocolate except to more Hot Chocolate. Fortunately, “You Sexy Thing” and “You Could’ve Been a Lady” always go over well.
When I first moved to Athens, I dragged the DJ gear out to the end of my driveway and played music to the runners in a half marathon who were passing my house. “Every 1’s a Winner” is one of the songs I played, along with “Marathon Runner (Alkalino Mutant Disco Edit)” from Aural Exciters and “The Runner” by The Three Degrees (which latter isn’t on this list; I’ve added it to the next one). I’m not sure I played “The Runner” from Tropique, which is not a cover of the Three Degrees tune, nor is it good enough to be on the list, probably, but there it is in the low 700s anyway with a note to play only 3:20 to 6:05, which does actually cover two pretty dope breaks without admitting much or any bad, stringy stuff. More on that record in the 123-bpm range, and that’s no lie.
