John Peel Festive Fifty 1984
Each year, the Late and Legendary BBC Radio 2 D.J John Peel would pick out Fifty Tracks for his Festive Fifty. This was his pick of the year. So here we have his Festive Fifty from 1984. Hope you Enjoy!
Festive Fifty 1984 track-list
50: Working Week, ‘Venceremos (We Will Win) (7 inch Bossa Version)’ (Virgin)
49: Cocteau Twins, ‘Pepper Tree (12 inch-B side of Spangle Maker)’ (4AD)
48: Bronski Beat, ‘Smalltown Boy (7 inch)’ (Forbidden Fruit)
47: Echo And The Bunnymen, ‘Thorn Of Crowns (LP-Ocean Rain)’ (Korova)
46: Hard Corps, ‘Dirty (12 inch-extended version)’ (Survival Records)
45: Pogues, ‘Dark Streets Of London (LP-Red Roses For Me)’ (Stiff)
44: Fall: No Bulbs (EP – Call For Escape Route ) Beggars Banquet BEG 120E / BEG 20
43: New Model Army, ‘Vengeance (LP-Vengeance)’ (Abstract Sounds)
42: Frank Chickens, ‘Blue Canary’ (Peel Session)
41: Special AKA, ‘Nelson Mandela (7 inch)’ (Two-Tone)
=39: Cocteau Twins, ‘Beatrix (LP-Treasure)’ (4AD)
=39: Flesh For Lulu, ‘Subterraneans (12 inch)’ (Polydor)
38: Cocteau Twins, ‘Pandora (LP-Treasure)’ (4AD)
37: Jesus And Mary Chain, ‘Upside Down (7 inch)’ (Creation)
36: Smiths, ‘Reel Around The Fountain (LP-Hatful Of Hollow)’ (Rough Trade)
35: Robert Wyatt, ‘Biko (12 inch EP-Work In Progress)’ (Virgin)
34: Berntholer, ‘My Suitor (7 inch)’ (Blue Feather)
33: This Mortal Coil, ‘Another Day (LP-It’ll End In Tears)’ (4AD)
32: Yeah Yeah Noh, ‘Bias Binding (7 inch-The Cottage Industry EP)’ (In Tape)
31: Propaganda, ‘Dr. Mabuse (12 inch-Das Testament Des Mabuse)’ (ZTT)
30: Cult, ‘Spiritwalker (LP-Dreamtime)’ (Beggars Banquet)
29: Billy Bragg, ‘The Saturday Boy (LP-Brewing Up With Billy Bragg)’ (Go! Discs)
28: Smiths, ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (LP-Hatful Of Hollow)’ (Rough Trade)
27: Very Things, ‘The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes (LP-The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes)’ (Reflex Records)
26: Unknown Cases, ‘Masima Bele (12 inch)’ (Rough Trade)
25: Frankie Goes To Hollywood, ‘Two Tribes (12 inch-Carnage Mix)’ (ZTT)
24: Smiths: ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (LP-Hatful Of Hollow)’ (Rough Trade)
23: Smiths: ‘William It Was Really Nothing (LP-Hatful Of Hollow)’ (Rough Trade)
22: Cocteau Twins, ‘Donimo (LP-Treasure)’ (4AD)
21: This Mortal Coil, ‘Kangaroo (LP-It’ll End In Tears)’ (4AD)
20: New Order, ‘Murder (12 inch)’ (Factory Benelux)
19: Echo And The Bunnymen, ‘The Killing Moon (LP-Ocean Rain)’ (Korova)
18: Fall, ‘C.R.E.E.P. (LP-The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall)’ (Beggars Banquet)
17: Smiths, ‘What Difference Does It Make? (LP-The Smiths)’ (Rough Trade)
16: Cocteau Twins, ‘Ivo (LP-Treasure)’ (4AD)
15: Sisters Of Mercy, ‘Emma’ (Peel Session)
14: Smiths, ‘Nowhere Fast’ (Peel Session)
13: Billy Bragg, ‘Between The Wars’ (Peel Session)
12: New Order, ‘Lonesome Tonight (12 inch-B side of Thieves Like Us)’ (Factory)
11: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, ‘Saint Huck (LP-From Her To Eternity)’ (Mute)
10: Redskins, ‘Keep On Keeping On (7 inch)’ (Decca)
09: Fall: ‘Lay Of The Land (LP-The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall)’ (Beggars Banquet)
08: Sisters Of Mercy, ‘Walk Away (7 inch)’ (Merciful Release)
07: New Order, ‘Thieves Like Us (12 inch)’ (Factory)
06: Membranes, ‘Spike Milligan’s Tape Recorder (7 inch)’ (Criminal Damage Records)
05: Mighty Wah!, ‘Come Back (7 inch)’ (Beggars Banquet)
04: Cocteau Twins, ‘Spangle Maker (12 inch)’ (4AD)
03: Men They Couldn’t Hang, ‘Green Fields Of France (No Man’s Land) (7 inch)’ (Imp Records)
02: Cocteau Twins, ‘Pearly Dewdrops’ Drops (12 inch-B side of The Spangle Maker)’ (4AD)
01: Smiths, ‘How Soon Is Now (LP-Hatful Of Hollow)’ (Rough Trade)
The John Peel show
The John Peel show was a Radio Show on BBC Radio 2 which ran for years up til the DJs death in 2004. He was one of the first broadcasters to play Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock records on British Radio. He was most famous for his promotion of small, obscure Bands that wee unheard of and promoted them. Way back before the days of the Internet, if you had a band, you sent your demo tape into John Peel and hope it got heard by him and played.
However, he got thousands of Demo tapes sent into him. I once saw a documentary where he’d enter his office of a normal day and his door would have a massive pile of mail lying piled up behind it. He’d have to shoulder the door to get in. So you can imagine the backload of tracks he had to play. But when he died, the barn that he owned was stacked full of stuff that he still hadn’t had a chance to listen to yet.
Respect for the Tunes
But I think the thing I loved most about John Peel as a D.J was the fact that he let each single play fully right to the end before he said a word. Most DJs rabbit on over the music. Disturbing it. So annoying. Again, Back in the pre internet days before MP3 Downloads that take a few seconds, we used to tape things from the radio.
This required putting a cassette tape in the player and pressing record n play to capture songs we liked on the Radio. Since Peeli was an ex pirate ship radio D.J from the Radio Caroline days, he was onboard with this. So he always made sure he let the track play right to the end before talking. He also liked to be constructive when he did talk. As far as John Peel was concerned, he was there to play music.
However, broadcasting rules required DJs to have a certain amount of taking in the 2 hour slot he’d gave on a Tuesday and Thursday nights between 8pm and 10pm. So instead of just babbling Luke most D JJ s seemed to do for the same of it, he’d use the time wisely. Between every second song he would tell you the song that had just played and introduced the next track. But every half hour or so, hed spend about Five minutes telling all about a group or a new release, etc
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