John Peel's Festive Fifty

I always thought Peel's annual Festive Fifty was a fascinating barometer of musical taste. It started in 1976 when he asked his listeners to vote for their all-time favourite tracks...

John Peel's Festive Fifty 1976

1. Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
2. Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
3. Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
4. Pink Floyd - Echoes
5. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
6. Free - Alright Now
7. Racing Cars - They Shoot Horses Don't They?
8. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
9. Beatles - A Day In The Life
10. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
11. Poco - Rose of Cimarron
12. Neil Young - Cortez the killer
13. Rolling Stones - Brown sugar
14. Beatles - Hey Jude
15. Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralysed
16. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo chile
17. Beatles - Strawberry fields forever
18. Captain Beefheart - Big eyed beans from Venus
19. Led Zeppelin - Whole lotta love
20. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
21. Van Morrison - Madame George
22. Doors - Riders on the storm
23. Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna
24. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
25. Deep Purple - Child in time
26. Little Feat - Long distance love
27. Grinderswitch - Pickin' the blues
28. Joe Walsh - Rocky mountain way
29. Who - Won't get fooled again
30. Misunderstood - I can take you to the sun
31. Genesis - Supper's ready
32. Bob Marley and the Wailers - No woman, no cry
33. Jonathan Richman - Roadrunner
34. Rod Stewart - Maggie May
35. Jackson Browne - Late for the sky
36. Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
37. Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
38. Allman Brothers band - Jessica
39. Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack flash
40. Grateful Dead - Dark Star
41. Richard Thompson - I wanna see the bright lights
42. Family - The weaver's answer
43. Jackson Browne - Fountain of sorrow
44. Bob Dylan - Hurricane
45. Doors - Light my fire
46. Matching Mole - O Caroline
47. Roy Harper - When an old cricketer leaves the crease
48. Wild Man Fischer - Go to Rhino records
49. Little Feat - Willin'
50. Yes - And you and I

The following year, Peel compiled a Festive list of his own favourite tracks of the year...

1. Dancing The Night Away' The Motors
2. Uptown Top Ranking' Althia & Donna
3. You Beat The Hell Out of Me' The Motors
4. I Can't Stand My Baby' The Rezillos
5. Suspended Sentence' John Cooper Clarke
6. Smokescreen' Desperate Bicycles
7. Right Track - Marlene Webber
8. Like a Hurricane' Neil Young
9. Complete Control' The Clash
10. Be Good To Yourself' Frankie Miller
11. Holidays In The Sun' The Sex Pistols
12. Shadow' The Lurkers
13. Truly' J. Ayes and Ranking Trevor
14. Pigs' Pink Floyd
15. Incendiary Device' Johnny Moped
16. New Religion' Some Chicken
17. See Them Come' Culture
18. Emergency' The Motors
19. The Worm Song' The Yobs
20. Box Number' The Boys
21. London Lady' The Stranglers
22. I Don't Wanna' Sham 69
23. Pinhead' The Ramones
24. Freedom Connection' Jah Woosh
25. Can't Give You More' Status Quo
26. Blue Wind' Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer
27. White Riot' The Clash
28. Success' Iggy Pop
29. Your Generation' Generation X
30. Nobody Go Run Me' King Short Shirt
31. Love Story' The Lurkers
32. Waiting in Vain' Bob Marley & The Wailers
33. Paradise' Dr Feelgood
34. Cruel Brother' Five Hand Reel
35. I'm Stranded' The Saints
36. Heroes' David Bowie
37. Sick On You' The Users
38. Oh Bondage Up Yours!' X Ray Spex
39. Lookin' After Number 1' The Boomtown Rats
40. No Man's Land' June Tabor
41. Neat Neat Neat' The Damned
42. The Dark End Of The Street' Ry Cooder
43. Questions' Suburban Studs
44. Feel Like Making Love' Elizabeth Archer & The Equators
45. I Knew The Bride' Dave Edmunds
46. Away From The Numbers' The Jam
47. Whole Wide World' Wreckless Eric
48. Green Onions' Roy Buchanan
49. Wild Dub' Generation X
50. I.R.T.' Snatch
51. Pretty Vacant' The Sex Pistols
52. John Willie's Ferret' The Oldham Tinkers
53 'Stepping Razor' Peter Tosh
54. Capital Radio' The Clash
55. Watching The Detectives' Elvis Costello and The Attractions
56. Bringing In The Morning Light' The Motors
57. Beginning of The End' Eddie & The Hot Rods
58. Jocko Homo' Devo
59. Whatever Happened To' The Buzzcocks
60. Rocket In My Pocket' Little Feat
...& 61..God Save The Queen' The Sex Pistols

Before reverting to a listeners' all-time poll in 1978...


1. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
2. Clash - Complete Control
3. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
4. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
5. Magazine - Shot By Both Sides
6. Sex Pistols - Pretty vacant
7. Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais
8. Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
9. Public Image Ltd. - Public Image
10. Undertones - Teenage Kicks
11. Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster
12. Buzzcocks - Boredom
13. Damned - New Rose
14. Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
15. Clash - White Riot
16. David Bowie - Heroes
17. Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
18. Sex Pistols - Holidays In The Sun
19. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
20. Rezillos - I Can't Stand My Baby
21. Van Morrison - Madame George
22. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
23. Clash - Police & Thieves
24. Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
25. Elvis Costello - Watching The Detectives
26. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
27. Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
28. Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
29. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
30. Buzzcocks - Moving Away From The Pulsebeat
31. Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
32. Stranglers - Hanging Around
33. Stranglers - No More Heroes
34. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Helter Skelter
35. Motors - Dancing The Night Away
36. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
37. Elvis Costello - Alison
38. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Overground
39. Who - My Generation
40. Stranglers - London Lady
41. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Switch
42. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Mirage
43. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling
44. Jam - In The City
45. Sex Pistols - EMI
46. Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
47. Flying Lizards - Summertime Blues
48. Neil Young - Like A Hurricane
49. Thin Lizzy - Emerald
50. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Metal Postcard


The seismic shift in taste caused by punk in the UK still astonishes!

More Festive Fifties available here: http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/festive50lists.htm#1978

 

By '78 all the 'rock' listeners had moved over to Tommy Vance? Peel's show definitely shifted in content, if not approach, when punk broke. Listening back to tapes from that year, it's punk/new wave/reggae and some oldies - 50s rock/rockabilly. Mainstream rock acts had disappeared from the playlist.

 

Legendary Stardust Cowboy? Looks like I've got some Googling to do.

 

Yes, John Peel's influence was big. I still owe him a drink in heaven...

(**looking right now for my BBC box set of The Fall**)

 

Real time choice.


John Peel 1976

5. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
6. Free - Alright Now
8. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
9. Beatles - A Day In The Life
10. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
11. Poco - Rose of Cimarron
12. Neil Young - Cortez the killer
13. Rolling Stones - Brown sugar
14. Beatles - Hey Jude
16. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo chile
17. Beatles - Strawberry fields forever
18. Captain Beefheart - Big eyed beans from Venus
22. Doors - Riders on the storm
23. Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna
24. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
25. Deep Purple - Child in time
33. Jonathan Richman - Roadrunner
37. Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
39. Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack flash
45. Doors - Light my fire

1977
8. Like a Hurricane' Neil Young
11. Holidays In The Sun' The Sex Pistols
15. Incendiary Device' Johnny Moped
21. London Lady' The Stranglers
23. Pinhead' The Ramones
29. Your Generation' Generation X
35. I'm Stranded' The Saints
36. Heroes' David Bowie
51. Pretty Vacant' The Sex Pistols
God Save The Queen' The Sex Pistols

1978...
1. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
3. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
5. Magazine - Shot By Both Sides
6. Sex Pistols - Pretty vacant
8. Buzzcocks - What Do I Get?
9. Public Image Ltd. - Public Image
10. Undertones - Teenage Kicks
12. Buzzcocks - Boredom
13. Damned - New Rose
16. David Bowie - Heroes
17. Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet
18. Sex Pistols - Holidays In The Sun
22. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden
26. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
29. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
32. Stranglers - Hanging Around
33. Stranglers - No More Heroes
34. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Helter Skelter
36. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
38. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Overground
39. Who - My Generation
40. Stranglers - London Lady
41. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Switch
42. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Mirage
43. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling
45. Sex Pistols - EMI
48. Neil Young - Like A Hurricane
50. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Metal Postcard

 

There's some of Peel's own favourites in there which he played often like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Misunderstood, Wild man Fischer and of course the Grinderswitch was the theme tune to his programme - I would imagine without him, hardly anyone in the UK would have known who they were.

As to the switch to punk...you can see this with old issues of Zigzag from 1977 - within a few months they'd gone from being based around West Coast music to punk and new wave.

 

You can do a lot worse than reading this for a start.

It's baffling to me that it made the top fifteen! But that's Britain for you.

 

It's a band name, #15 on the first list. The song is "Paralyzed".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_Stardust_Cowboy

 

No, it's not a band name. Read the link I posted.

 

You could vote for any old song on the early polls, but after a few he insisted the record had to have been released during the previous year.
That stopped repeat appearances and made for a really fresh list every festive broadcast.

 

Those polls are like the '60s never happened, and I question that. There are some good songs in there of course. On the other hand, I've heard Paralyzed and it's awful.

The 1978 poll is heavy on the Motors, a pretty good band. I've been trying to inform the forum that Picturama / The Middle Bit / Soul Surrender, a piano-thumping 8:15 B-side to the single Airport, is one of the better songs of the 1970s. I think it came out just after these polls though.

I seem to recall a CFNY poll in the early '80s that featured Suppers Ready and Where Do You Go To My Lovely among other songs not exactly in their playlist in the years that followed.

 

Never knew he did this. Very cool.

 

The seismic shift in taste caused by punk in the UK still astonishes!

I absolutely agree, there further seismic shifts with Two-Tone, Synth-Pop and the New-Romantics. As a teenager it was a full time job sorting out the gold from the dross, as we only had limited funds to spend on albums and listening to John Peel was a heavy influence on purchases.
Another thing that has changed, I used play the same new album several times a day for a couple of weeks until something else caught my interest. That never happens now, I just don't have enough time.

 

He never gave up on Rose Of Cimarron though. I think it was a sentimental choice for his wife. I still remember hearing it on his show in the 80s.

 

It shows the desire for punk, before punk existed. As does Roadrunner.

 

I once compiled 3 CDs of the 1980 festive fifty which I usually play around Christmas time.

 

I would have done a lot better at school if Peel had been on earlier. Staying up til midnight every night, poised over the pause button was almost a part time job in itself.