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.