John Peel - Purveyor of Rock

On Amazon last night I was excited to notice a link to John Peel's Festive Fifty

It's 6 years since legendary DJ and radio presenter John Peel passed away, and to commemorate this we have a fantastic selection of albums that formed part of his Festive Fifty selection at bargain prices. No matter what your taste in music, there's bound to be something you'll enjoy.

It sounded promising.

No matter what your taste in music, there's bound to be something you'll enjoy.

And with 487 albums to choose from, they must be right. So let's take the first, festive fifty albums from this list. I've then listed the artists in order, with extra points if they have more than one album on the list.

1. Bob Dylan (8)
2. Bruce Springsteen (6)
3. Dire Straits (4)
4. Elbow (3)
5. Nick Drake (3)
6. Nirvana (3)
7. Manic Street Preachers (3)
8. The Rolling Stones (2)
9. Tears For Fears (2)
10. Cure
11. The Who
12. Van Morrison
13. Elvis Costello
14. Thin Lizzy
15. The Clash
16. The Jam
17. The Stone Roses
18. James Taylor
19. Lynyrd Skynyrd
20. Rod Stewart
21. Del Amitri
22. U2
23. Pulp
24. Jimi Hendrix
25. PJ Harvey

Hang on a minute. Is this really representative of Peel's Festive Fifty? Dylan certainly crops up in the early years, but Bruce Springsteen and Dire Straits? If you check the most complete listing I've found, then, yes, both bands appear once, in 1978 - Bruce Springsteen with Born to Run and Dire Straits with Sultans of Swing. So does that deserve six Springsteen albums in the first 50? I well remember John Peel saying that, while he respected Andy Kershaw's appreciation of Springsteen, he didn't quite share it himself.

Of course the Festive Fifty never really reflected the music the old curmudgeon liked anyway. He would rail against the fact that it consisted of "white boys playing guitars" and lamented the lack of black music. This list takes it even further in that direction, though, pushing radio friendly unit shifters. A collation of entries in the Festive Fifty gives this chart of the most popular artists (here's the top 25):

1 Fall 2131
2 Wedding Present 1393
3 Smiths 1035
4 New Order 760
5 P.J. Harvey 494
6 Cocteau Twins 469
7 Pulp 430
8 Jesus and Mary Chain 415
9 Cinerama 400
10 Half Man Half Biscuit 370
11 Joy Division 345
12 Belle and Sebastian 315
= Delgados 315
14 Pixies 303
15 Hefner 301
16 Sonic Youth 298
17 Clash 283
18 Mogwai 277
19 Siouxsie and the Banshees 273
20 Billy Bragg 271
21 Pavement 250
22 Morrissey 237
23 Stereolab 226
24 Undertones 206
25 Echo & the Bunnymen 205

There are only three names in common in the two lists (PJ Harvey, The Clash and Pulp woo hoo!). In the entire 487 albums on the Amazon list there are none from:

1. New Order
2. Jesus and Mary Chain
3. Half Man Half Biscuit
4. Joy Division
5. Belle and Sebastian
6. Delgado
7. Pixies
8. Hefner
9. Mogwai
10. Siouxsie and the Banshees
11. Billy Bragg
12. Pavement
13. Undertones
14. Echo & the Bunnymen

The Undertones! So, a poor effort, but does it matter? I think it does. It is perhaps only a pale sign, but I think it shows how far we have come. It is not that the different has been incorporated into mainstream culture, it is simply being ignored. The music that I loved is being forgotten, and with it the footprints that I left in the sand are disappearing.

That's why she's the way she is

Ugly men secrete themselves in seats too thin
Begin the paperwork that brings more sin
Upon a thankless world that asked for nothing from them
Maybe love.

She tucks a wisp of hair away
Casts a nervous look my way
Are you another one who's made me feel this way?

I had a dream last night
A fearful examination and I hadn't done the reading as required
I know too much (about nothing)
And I'm sorry (very sorry) I've been wasting my time.

Such a beautiful thing but look again and you see
The flaws you find in everyone
(Is that a good thing?)
The flaws you find in everyone.

So she made you feel alive
And she kept you alive
And now you wonder
What on earth are you living for?

The ugly men who entertain you (now and then)
What on earth are you living for?

Grow old, look back, try not to fall forever
Remember when the grass was green (again)
You stand barefoot on the bridge and feel the water call you
Smooth and glassy, flowing forever.

Should she claim you do you go on after this?
Should she claim you we'll be forever like this.

Sam is not my name

And you want to be like I do
But you know I'm not the same
And I want to know what you do
Sam is not my name

When you wake up and turn over
Just remember why I came
I cannot talk about anything
I cannot remember my name

Her skin the colour of porcelain
Her eyes are bright with flame
I can't remember anything
I can't remember my name

I'm older now than I ever was
I'll never see these streets again
When she walks away it's my memory
Kisses goodbye again

Woodgate Valley Country Park is underwater, says Google

I found this on Google maps. Sad to see that Birmingham has been sent to the bottom of the sea. I suppose it was inevitable with the expansion of the oceans. My guess is that the farm animals are actually now all fish. Good for them.

If you want to know what it feels like to be God

No, not the feeling of being all-powerful, but the feeling of being weighed down by humanity. The Church of England has a site called Say One For Me, where you can post your prayers. You can also read the prayers of other people. Some seem a bit insignificant

Please pray for the work of the media hub as we work to use the local media in Bradford as part of the outreach of the church. Thank you.

On the day I looked there were some from a classroom of children, many of whom seem to have been told to apologise for what we're doing to the planet

Thank you for the beautiful flowers we have in spring.
Thank you for the lovely planet you made .
Sorry for crulty to children and sorry for those who have less than me.
Please keep my dog happy in heven .
And please keep my fammly safe.

But the vast majority are from people having the most awful time, with illness usually. If there is a God, it must be a depressing job. You might be tempted to have second thoughts about free will. But I suppose, since you are a God, you'll be made of slightly sterner stuff.

Job opportunity

I quite like getting phishing messages, and I'm disappointed I don't get more. Sadly there seems to have been a lull in the number of wives of African dictators who have to smuggle unfeasible quantities of cash out of the country.

This latest one prompted me to think that there must be an opening for someone with good editing and proofreading skills in the international gangs that run these operations.

Dear Customer,

As part of our security measure, we regularly screen activity in the HSBC Bank system. You received this message due to an issue on your account.

Due to unusual number of invalid login attempts on your account, we have reason to believe there might be security breach on your account. Your account requires extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security.

It's not too bad, but not writing "an unusual number" starts to give the game away. You'd think, with the amount of money they apparently make, that they could spare some for spending on editing. It seems a shame to let your scam fail because you haven't spelled things properly (although there are many legitimate UK companies that adopt the same approach, of course).

Life in the gang might not be so bad, but I don't think it would suit a total grammar pedant.

Boss: "We're gonna make a million now we got the words done right."

Pedant: "Don't you mean 'written properly'?"

A Colt revolver clicks...