John Peel Festive Fifty 1976

If you knocked the Dylan, Van M and Neil Young off the list, and taped the rest, I'd probably enjoy listening to it quite a lot, big surprise.

I wonder what the turnover in listeners between 76 and say 78 was.

nr7 is a bit of an odd one in this company, yes.

i like i want to see the bright lights by richard & linda thompson. i haven't heard a lot of the others, though they seem to be very famous more famous than i would have thought

This was apparently the first ever F50. I think 82 was the first all-new one.

WHAT the FUCK?!?!?!

Yes, should have been fuckin' No. 1, with a friggin' bullet!!!!!!!

I can't imagine John Peel actually playing the vast majority of those records.

xpost OH YES!

But, "Hey Jude"? I can only imagine him playing number seven on that list, in 1976...

I don't recall Peel being too happy with the overall conservatism of the list, and I especially remember him distancing himself from #50 (And You And I), saying that it was immediate evidence that this was his listeners' poll, not his poll.

My theory is that the 1976 50 probably informed the rapid overhauling of musical policy which ensued. (The number of letters from angry Budgie fans he read out in Spring 77...!)

Peel then did his own Festive Sixty in 1977, with The Motors (1977's answer to the Racing Cars) at #1 with Dancing The Night Away. Peel excluded God Save The Queen entirely on the grounds that it was too important (it "bestrides 1977 like a colossus" being his exact words).

nope.)

yep.

Dancing the night away is a fine track though, but about as good as it got for them...

...which then became a recurring theme. He was always distancing himself from at least 1 track every year thereafter. Like The Mission in ... whatever year they got to #49: "More Janice than me". And then there was the recurring "too many white boys with guitars grrr" from Peel in the 90s (by which time I was old and grumpy enough to agree haha).

"I helped her with her baggage/and her baggage was so heavy".

Has anyone ever *seen* a Grinderswitch record, let alone heard one?

Also, the most recent issue of UGLY THINGS has a lot about Peel's connection with The Misunderstood - he met them in the 60's, flew them to England, got his brother to put them up and generally promoted them as much as possible - maybe even paying for the recording sessions? They were his favourite band back then, before the Fall showed up

Nirvana - Smells like teen spirit (4:55)
PJ Harvey - Dress (3:10)
Curve - Ten little girls (4:25)
The Fall - Edinburgh man (4:30)
Teenage Fanclub - Star sign (4:50)
Teenage Fanclub - The concept (6:00)
Hole - Burn black (5:00)
Wedding Present - Dalliance (4:00)
The Fall - A lot of wind (3:45)
Hole - Teenage whore (2:55)
Primal Scream - Higher than the sun (6:40)
Wedding Present - Dare (3:40)
Gallon Drunk - Some fools mess (5:00)
Wedding Present - Fleshworld (4:25)
Catherine Wheel - Black metallic (7:10)
Nirvana - Drain you (3:40)
Moose - Suzanne (3:20)
Babes in Toyland - Handsome and Gretel (1:55)
Boo Radleys - Finest kiss (5:25)
Slowdive - Catch the breeze (4:15)
Foreheads in a Fishtank - Happy shopper (4:25)
Wedding Present - Rotterdam (3:20)
Slint - Good morning, Captain (7:35)
The Fall - High tension line (3:45)
Nirvana - Lithium (4:10)
The Pixies - Planet of sound (2:05)
Smashing Pumpkins - Siva (4:15)
70 Gwen Party - Auto killer UK (3:50)
Billy Bragg - Sexuality (3:45)
Babes in Toyland - Catatonic (2:45)
Babes in Toyland - Laugh my head off (3:30)
Wedding Present - Octopussy (6:15)
Chapterhouse - Pearl (5:00)
Pavement - Summer babe (3:10)
The Fall - The war against intelligence (3:15)
Teenage Fanclub - Like a virgin (4:20)
My Bloody Valentine - To here knows when (4:45)
Curve - No escape from Heaven (4:15)
Babes in Toyland - Primus (3:55)
Electronic - Get the message (5:20)
The Fall - The mixer (3:30)
Babes in Toyland - Ripe (3:35)
The Fall - So what about it? (3:25)
Th' Faith Healers - Gorgeous blue flower in my garden (6:25)
The Fieldmice - Missing the moon (7:00)
The Pixies - Motorway to Roswell (4:40)
The Pixies - Bird dream of the Olympus Mons (2:45)
Nirvana - Breed (3:00)
Mercury Rev - Car wash hair (6:45)
Bongwater - Nick Cave doll (2:55)

ha ha, that is SO wrong!

1991 was cancelled due to lack of interest, lot smaller number of votes is how i remember it but then he was always grumbling about, say, lack of black acts and things so he may have canned it himself. he had a change of heart and played it a track per show later though. 'The Phantom Fifty'. or am i confused?

An annual tradition of the show was the Festive Fifty—a countdown of the best tracks of the year as voted for by the listeners. Despite Peel's eclectic playlist, the Festive Fifty tended to be composed largely of "white boys with guitars," in Peel's words. This frustrated Peel somewhat, and in 1991 he went so far as to cancel the rundown. Topped inevitably by Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", this Phantom Fifty was eventually broadcast at the rate of one track per programme, some years later. The 1997 chart was, unusually, a Festive Thirty-One.

i confused 91 with 97 by the look of things. DO I *LOOK* LIKE DAVID GEDGE?

8)

He said often that it DID actually reflect the music he played, but only one section of the program.

My dad voted in this poll! His top three was:
1. Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
2. Stooges - LA Blues
3. Roxy Music - Bogus Man

none of which got into the final list, obv.

I also thank this thread for reminding me of the existence of "Go To Rhino Records" by Wildman Fischer, which I woke up singing this morning. "You can get Herb Alpert, and Jackie Lomax, for 40 cents. Ba-doom ba-doom."

(Was it 40 cents?)