Fades in Slowly

In case you’re worried, I’m officially declaring this part of the chart a David Soul-free zone. This then is the second part of the chart, running down from that all-important #35 to the very brink of the top 20. My apologies in advance if you find me taking the piss out of any songs that you chose.

There’s just one video clip in this part of the chart, it’s #23 and you can download it here. Stay tuned for the top twenty some time between now and the new year.

Why the bloody hell didn’t I do this in order? I’m only seven 50s into the marathon and I’ve already lost count and have to go back and check what I’ve already done. On to 1986 then. This was the year that Spain and Portugal were admitted into the European Community, there was the first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley) and Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.  Even worse, Sandra Kim won the thirty-first Eurovision Song Contest for Belgium singing “J’aime la vie” (I love life). 

In an interview with Playboy magazine, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke came out as a bisexual and  US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant exploded, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. I should warn you, this clip doesn’t make for comfortable viewing…

This year’s Festive 50 was broadcast between 22nd and 31st December and is one of the greats, especially if you happen to be a Smiths fan. #47 has long been a personal favourite of mine…

If you’re one of the tens of people who might actually be interested in listening to the shows, you can do so here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Notice how I carefully avoided mentioning any hand of God type incidents?

The year 1994 was designated as the “International Year of the Family” and the “International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal” by the United Nations. For me, it was the international year of getting drunk in different countries as I embarked on my first and so far only round the world trip. It was also the year that I gave university life a second, and eventually successful, try. Hence, a lot of Peel shows were listened to around this time with people of a like minded disposition.

Famous slaphead Telly Savalas died this year, as did Richard Nixon, A-Team legend George Peppard and East German bastard Erich Honecker. Newt Gingrich led the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secured control of both houses of U.S. Congress. George W. Bush was elected Governor of Texas. Russia and the People’s Republic of China finally agreed to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other. Michael Schumacher cheated his way to his first Formula 1 World Championship and Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar was shot dead in Bogotá. His murder is commonly attributed as retaliation for the own goal Escobar scored in the 1994 FIFA World Cup against the United States.

The Festive Fifty for this year, given my student status at the time, remains one of my favourites. It was broadcast on 17th and 23rd December. Anybody who doesn’t think the #25 isn’t just wonderful is in big trouble…

Hope you weren’t as freaked out by Tarantino’s sudden appearance at the end of that clip as I was. this was, of course, the year of Pulp Fiction. It’s almost impossible to choose a definitive clip so here’s the trailer to the film with the best soundtrack ever.

It’s the middle of December and it’s a balmy 20 degrees C here in Istanbul. Listening to all these Festive charts is the only thing keeping me in the Christmas mood, I’m telling you. To enjoy the many delights of the 1994 chart, click here, here, here, here and here.

There was never enough hip hop in the festive 50 for either my or Peel’s liking, but when it did make it into the chart it did so in some style. For those of you who still doubt the genre, listen to this absolute classic which charted at a lowly #30 in 1992.

Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love in February, 1992, while in March, Microsoft launched the, er, crap Windows 3.1. Michael Schumacher won his first Formula One race at the Belgian Grand Prix that year and the Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-US team to win the World Series. Absolutely Fabulous aired its first episode on BBC1.

The Festive 50 had truly moved into the 90s following the ‘debacle’ of the 1991 chart (soon to be detailed at the ever marvellous Teenage Kicks blog). I believe this was the beginning of the kind of fifties that Peel wanted, very few comparatively established mainstream artists appear, the chart appearing to be a championing of the causes of the upcoming stars. Fair enough, there’s still a healthy representation of the Fall and the Wedding Present, but that’s par for the course.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Steve has been doing the odd years while I’ve been doing the evens. Hence, you need to pop over to Teenage kicks. OK, I’ll make it easy for you. Here are his posts for 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987. Back to 1992… the chart for that year was broadcast between 19th December, 1992 and 1st January, 1993. If you want to give it a listen, and I’m sure you do, you can do so here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

‘Why festive season and not Christmas‘ I hear hardly any of you ask? Well, living in a predominently Muslim country means that I’ve gained a bit of perspective on how others view this time of year. Sadly, they’ve gone the whole hog as far as the commercial aspect goes, but the true meaning it seems is being lost just the same as is the case elsewhere. Tradition here in Turkey is that people exchange presents on New Year’s Eve, which is good news for my young ‘uns who basically get two sets of presents.

On to business… 1984 was a big year for me. I moved to the North of England from the South, which had quite an impact on how my life panned out from that point on. Elsewhere, big brother wasn’t watching that closely just yet, although lots of stuff did happen. Hulk Hogan won the World Wrestling Federation Championship from the Iron Sheik, in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Hulkamania was born as a consequence. Konstantin Chernenko succeeded Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and famously appeared in this video with Ronald Reagan, who defeated Walter Mondale to be re-elected in one of the largest electoral landslide in United States election history.

This also happened in 1984…

This year’s Festive 50 marked the start of The Smiths’ short-lived but nonetheless remarkable domination of the chart. The Cocteau Twins were also at the height of their FF activity, while elsewhere there were entries for, ahem, Peel favourites The Cult and The Sisters of Mercy. There were also some classic entries from best band ever The Fall, most notably (if you ask me) at #9. The chart was broadcast between 18th December, 1984 and January 1st, 1985. Those of you who are interested in listening to the shows can do so here, here, here, here and here.

My long-lost (now found) half sister Gemma also arrived this year.

1980 was a busy year. There was a Military coup here in Turkey, the Solidarity trade union was formed in Poland, Björn Borg won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, while in Australia the State of Origin rugby league series, possibly the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, was born. To make you feel really old, Christina Ricci, Chelsea Clinton, Venus Williams, Jessica Simpson, Macaulay Culkin and Jake Gyllenhaal were born in this year. Lest we forget, this was the start of the decade of debauchery, greed and excess, which could have been predicted when Ronald Reagan was elected the 40th US president in a sweeping victory. Hero of the year was a certain Alan Whipper Wells, who benefited greatly from loads of people not showing up at the Olympics to win the 100m men’s title in a time of about 15 seconds that wouldn’t even have got him to this year’s final.

In December, shortly before the broadcast of the Festive Fifty, Mark David Chapman murdered former Beatle John Lennon in New York. As a seven-year-old, I clearly remember the night it happened, I guess I was just about at that age where you can gauge the importance of events like this.

The Festive Fifty was still ostensibly an ‘all-time’ list in 1980, although you’d be hard pressed to find anything in the top 50 dating back much further than 1977. You have to look to the extended 65 list to find a few old gems from the likes of Pink Floyd and The Who. Indeed, it was probably fear of this year’s one and two duking it out for top spot in the following years that prompted JP to change to the year’s best format that we came to know and love. If you’d like to listen to the shows, broadcast between 22nd and 30th December, 1980, you can do so here, here, here and here.

While we’re on the subject of festive charts, I should mention that this will be a joint operation between myself and Teenage Kicks Steve, who has just begun his half of the shift with the 1977 chart.

Just to make it clear, I will be posting links to every currently available Festive Fifty over the next month or so, as long as the day job doesn’t get in the way. I should also make it clear that they will in no way be coming along chronologically, just in whatever order takes my fancy. This time we leap forward to December, 1988, a time when I was a moody fifteen-year-old who spent way to much time alone in his room listening to Pink floyd and, ahem, Marillion. Photos of me during this period exist, apparently, although I go to great efforts to keep them hidden.

This was also the month that Roy Orbison died; it’s been twenty years, really. It was also the month that Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people, Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state and Estonian became the official language of Estonia; communism was well and truly on its way out. for a couple of days in September, the world was astounded by this…

…of course, he was to cause more of a stir when his cheating was discovered. I remember getting up at something like 3:00 am to watch this race, I was so happy when that smug git Carl Lewis lost. Oh well. This was also the year that Red Dwarf started. The Festive 50 this tear was broadcast between 20th and 28th December. Should you wish, you can get to listen to these shows by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

‘What were you doing in December, 1978‘ is a question I’m rarely asked these days. Watching ‘The wizard of Oz‘, ‘Jeux sans frontieres‘, ‘The generation game‘ and ‘Blankety blank‘ is probably about as accurate an answer as I can give right now. I think this was the year that I got a Kermit the frog for christmas, although that could well have been 1979. I’ve absolutley no doubt that I wasn’t tuning in to John Peel’s 1978 Festive 50. As a five year old, I just didn’t see the appeal at the time. My tastes have changed somewhat, which is why I’m so glad that I am now able to listen to this feast of music.

While my new toys were occupying me – perhaps this was the year that I got my six million dollar man doll – JP was busy broadcasting what was quickly becoming an international institution. The Festive 50 for that year was broadcast between 26th December, 1978 and 1st January, 1979. For those of you interested in listening, you can do so by clicking here, here, here and here. This is how the UK sounded before Thatcher got her hands on it.