The best band in the world?*

I'm currently listening to the songs from the all-time Festive Fifty of 1982 and as it is actually made up of relatively few bands, I thought I'd look at the figures and see who were John Peel's listeners' favourite bands from back then. If you have seen the chart you will easily see that Joy Division must come out top. I added up the points depending on the chart positions like 1st place gets 50 points down to 1 point for 50th place and came up with this chart. The lists of numbers are the individual points and in brackets is the total. Of course, there were more bands than this but these are the most notable ones.

1. Joy Division - 49,48,47,44,39,28,25,13,10,3 (306)
2. New Order - 45,33,21 (99)
3. Sex Pistols - 50,26,14,7 (97)
4. The Clash - 41,32,11 (84)
5. Stiff Little Fingers - 35,22,20 (77)
6. The Jam - 40,34 (74)
7. Siouxsie & the Banshees- 36,12,9,6,5 (68)
8. The Undertones - 43,15 (58)
9. The Cure - 46
10. Bauhaus - 42
11. The Damned - 38,1 (39)
12. Dead Kennedys - 37
13. Killing Joke - 19,17 (36)

Amazingly, no-one even came close to JD and even though the Pistols got the number 1, their total was still less than New Order's. Siouxsie & the Banshees got the second most number of songs in the chart but only one was in the top 20.
I think that also looking at the kind of bands that made that Festive Fifty, it was a very dark time and the political and social situation in the UK then was really reflected in these generally bleak and angst-ridden songs.

As I was only 10 at the time of this chart, I have been unaware of some of the bands or songs in this chart. It was interesting to hear the song at number 49. I'd never heard of the artist or song before but I thought it interesting enough to share with you and it makes me think that maybe the band 'Air' have been inspired by it.

It is Laurie Anderson's "O Superman".

*pre-1983 anyway...

The question of the illegality of downloading music

Obviously we all know about how it's illegal to download music through file sharers, etc. but does it really make sense that people can buy other people's music from them? What I mean is it's no problem to buy second hand discs from shops, your friends or via the internet but in the end, what is the difference between that and simply downloading the same album?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone should be free to download every song that they want, especially recent songs that the artists are trying to make a living from, but it is legal for someone to acquire a ton of recently released albums and resell them on Ebay, for example.
The only difference I can see is the scale of it. It's true that you can only resell a limited number of records or CDs but in the end, the artists and record companies get absolutely no money from these resales.
For me, it doesn't equate here. What do you reckon? Is the law correct?

Now, on to the Festive Fifty of Never that I have recorded the first three parts of. You may have noticed that I haven't posted part four for a long time since part three. Why? Quite simply, hardly anyone shows their appreciation for my efforts so I'm not going to bother with the top 20 as recordings. All I will give you is the list of the songs that make my part four, that being numbers 20 to 11.

11. High Risk Group – Flag

12. Flaming Lips - The Gash

13. The Jesus Lizard - Then Comes Dudley

14. Josh Wink - Higher State of Consciousness

15. Tiger - On The Rose

16. Pavement – I Love Perth

17. The Stone Roses - Breaking Into Heaven

18. The Sugarcubes – Regina

19. Morrissey - I Don't Mind If You Forget Me

20. The Breeders – Saints

Just to finish off, I will let you know that I will post actual recordings in relation to the number of comments that are left on this blog. Cheers.

Something for the weekend, sir?

It's time for the third part of the Festive Fifty that never was. This collection is for numbers 30 to 21. You may know some of these songs but as we go into the top 20, there will be more obscure and rare songs.
And just while I think about it, this is not a Podcast. Why? Well, why the chuf should I call it that? Because it's the cool way of calling a recording of more than 5 minutes? You can listen to it on anything that plays mp3s... I don't have an iP*d and am never going to be reeled in by Apple's monopoly in the mp3 player market. They are overpriced and you can play mp3s with the same sound quality on pretty much any mp3 player. Mine has 20Gb of space but no 'cool' image quality rubbish and guess what... it was loads cheaper than an iP*d and the sound quality is just as good.
Is that enough moaning for now? Righty-o. Enjoy the "iFestive Fifty"... ;P

F50 no.s 30 to 21

PS - I've just remembered about the band Gumball, led by Don Fleming. Their music seems to be unavailable but does anyone have anything by them? I would especially like the song "39 Lashes" from their Peel session of 1991. Or any of those songs. Cheers.