Tag: BBC
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In The Audience of Later…with Jools Holland: The Iggy Pop Episode
Iggy Pop was a force of nature on Later… with Jools Holland on Tuesday night, and I was fortunate enough to be there in the studio audience to witness Iggy lay waste to the cozy, boogie-woogie-piano-infested waters of Maidstone, Kent – where the show is filmed. It was an evening of surprises. With Josh…
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Share Your Memories of Your Favourite Pop Music Here…
The Peoples’ History of Pop Popular Music has often attracted tribes. Punks, hippies, soul boys, mods, rockers, ravers, People Who Like Chris Rea. One of pop music’s most interesting aspects is that everybody’s journey of discovery is different and thus we all have an alternative history of events. St Etienne’s Bob Stanley has written at…
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Sound of 2014 – Your New Favourite Bands
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Has Hair Metal Stood The Test Of Time?
Twenty five years on from the peak of heavy rock’s commercial popularity in 1988, this series asks why heavy rockers no longer dominate the charts and seeks to highlight the crimes that Heavy Rock is accused of, and give you the cases for and against. At the end of each debate, you will have the…
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A Look Back At Top of the Pops: 1978
As I was growing up, something of a ritual established itself on Thursday nights at 7.30pm. After tea had been consumed, typically consisting of a home made beef lasagne lovingly cooked by mum and the washing up duties squabbled over and completed, the family settled down together to watch TV. Ours was a particularly fine…
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Sound of 2013: Your New Favourite Bands
New Music Acts for 2013: The Sound of 2013 There’s no doubt that 2012 was a fantastic year for music. From Gentle Whale’s sophomore effort to the amazing debut by Ginster Pye, both of which appeared on almost every end-of-year list, there has been much to admire. Could 2013 possibly get close? It would appear…
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Home Taping Is Killing Music – Further Tales of Taping Off The Radio
Another Home Taping Confession: The Friday Rock Show And Why Record Companies Always Put The Best Tracks At The Start Of The Album. Whilst I have confessed to my musical piracy when taping off the radio – indeed the BBC have broadcast the tapes to prove my guilt – the extent of my taping songs…
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Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top Ten – Part 2
One of the questions I was asked in Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top Ten was why so many people used to tape songs off the radio? Was there more romance surrounding the charts back then? Part of the answer was for practical reasons. We didn’t have much money back then. I wouldn’t…
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Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years Of The Top Ten – A Preview
The good people of the BBC have posted a clip on their website of Friday’s Pop Charts Britannia documentary which marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Charts. In the clip, you can see me make an idiot of myself trying to tape the charts from 1983 on an unfeasibly large boom-box. There’s a bit more…
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Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top Ten
This is just a quick word about the BBC4 Documentary Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top Ten. Regular readers may recall that I am set to feature in this documentary which looks at the romance of the charts on the 60th anniversary of the very first NME chart. Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years…
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Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top 10: How Blogging Has Landed Me A Part On A BBC Music Documentary
The Diamond Jubilee of 2012: Celebrating an ageing, old fashioned but much loved institution that for the most part unites Britain in dewy-eyed nostalgia, even though we know the idea of it itself is somewhat outdated and is hardly in keeping with Modern Britain. No, not the Queen or the Royal Family, I’m talking about…
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In the beginning…before Later with Jools Holland…there was The Tube…
There was a time before Later…with Jools Holland. This was a time of The Tube… In 1986 it was still challenging to hear heavy metal on mainstream media. It would have been easier for Ghengis Khan to pass a CRB police check to help out at his local school than for the UK public to…
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Laser 558, what’s wrong with Radio 2 and the real reason people liked Genesis
So what links Laser 558, Radio 2 and Genesis? Not that you need a reason (yes you do) but it is worth taking a look at the musical landscape of 1985 to put into context (some would say justify) why I (and many people like me) liked Genesis. My theory is that it’s all because…
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Home Taping is Killing Music Part 2: Top Ten Tips for Home Taping
Taping the charts off the radio has rather gone out of fashion… However, following the much publicised shutdown of Megaupload, keen file sharers may find it trickier to download music files (aside from using the hundred or so copycat sites of course…). With that in mind, here are my Top Ten Tips for Home Taping…(you have…
Every record tells a story 