1980 Festive Fifty

Shows

 * #50 - #41: 22 December 1980
 * #40 - #31: 23 December 1980
 * #30 - #21: 24 December 1980
 * #20 - #11: 29 December 1980
 * #10 - #1: 30 December 1980


 * Comments
 * "listeners in the month of November were invited to send in a list of their three favourite tracks ever and I was going to... in order, y'know, whether they be album tracks or singles, and I have worked these into an attractive chart to be broadcast between now and, well, Tuesday week, tomorrow week. And it's difficult to say, actually, because I never count the cards to be honest, but I suppose that probably something of the order of 6 or 7000 people bothered to write in"
 * "the stamped addressed envelopes have been pouring into the BBC - well at least to Brian and myself - during the past couple of days, from people wanting copies of the Festive Fifty. Photocopies of the list that I so neatly typed myself too, which has got maybe messed up slightly with pencil marks made by Walters, but it still looks a pretty neat bit of typing. Not a single mistake on it, y'know, on the whole thing. And you also get #51 - 65 if you ask for a copy of it. What you have to do is send us a stamped address envelope - and you won't get one unless you do, frankly, because we can't afford them to mail out millions of them - stamped addressed envelope to Music-Loving Johnny Plee, care of BBC Radio One, London, W1A 4WW, and mark your envelopes, if you would, 'Sheena Easton', so that we know that it's a copy of the Festive Fifty that you're after."
 * "And at #1, and with more than twice the number of votes that "Atmosphere" had, this again."

John Peel's Festive Fifty 1980

 * 1) Sex Pistols: "Anarchy in the UK" (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977) Virgin Records
 * 2) Joy Division: "Atmosphere" (12" single, 1980) Factory
 * 3) Joy Division: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (7" single, 1980) Factory
 * 4) The Jam: "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" (All Mod Cons, 1978) Polydor
 * 5) The Clash: "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" (7" single, 1978) CBS
 * 6) The Dead Kennedys: "Holiday in Cambodia" [single version] (7" single, 1980) Cherry Red Records
 * 7) The Undertones: "Teenage Kicks" (The Undertones, 1979) Sire
 * 8) The Damned: "New Rose" (Damned Damned Damned, 1977) Stiff Records
 * 9) Stiff Little Fingers: "Alternative Ulster" (Inflammable Material, 1979) Rough Trade
 * 10) Joy Division: "Transmission" (7" single, 1979) Factory
 * 11) Public Image Ltd.: "Public Image" (Public Image, 1978) Virgin Records
 * 12) Sex Pistols: "Holidays in the Sun" (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977) Virgin Records
 * 13) The Jam: "Going Underground" (7" single, 1980) Polydor
 * 14) Joy Division: "Decades" (Closer, 1980) Factory
 * 15) The Clash: "Complete Control" (7" single, 1977) CBS
 * 16) Stiff Little Fingers: "Johnny Was" (Inflammable Material, 1979) Rough Trade
 * 17) The Undertones: "Get Over You" (The Undertones, 1979) Sire
 * 18) The Cure: "A Forest" [album version] (Seventeen Seconds, 1980) Fiction
 * 19) The Ruts: "In a Rut" (7" single, 1978) People Unite
 * 20) Joy Division: "New Dawn Fades" (Unknown Pleasures, 1979) Factory
 * 21) The Fall: "Totally Wired" (7" single, 1980) Rough Trade
 * 22) Joy Division: "She's Lost Control" [12" version] (12" single, 1980) Factory
 * 23) Sex Pistols: "Pretty Vacant" (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977) Virgin Records
 * 24) Stiff Little Fingers: "Suspect Device" [single version] (7" single, 1978) Rough Trade / Rigid Digits ???
 * 25) Sex Pistols: "God Save the Queen" (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977) Virgin Records
 * 26) The Fall: "How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'" (7" single, 1980) Rough Trade
 * 27) Stiff Little Fingers: "Wasted Life" [single version] ("Suspect Device" 7" single, 1978) Rough Trade / Rigid Digits ???
 * 28) The Only Ones: "Another Girl, Another Planet" (The Only Ones, 1978) Columbia
 * 29) The Damned: "Love Song" (Machine Gun Etiquette, 1979) Chiswick Records
 * 30) Adam and the Ants: "Kings of the Wild Frontier" (Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980) Epic
 * 31) The Dead Kennedys: "California über Alles" (7" single, 1979) Optional Music
 * 32) The Specials: "Gangsters" (Specials, 1979) 2 Tone
 * 33) Public Image Ltd.: "Poptones" (Metal Box, 1979) Virgin Records
 * 34) Public Image Ltd.: "Careering" (Metal Box, 1979) Virgin Records
 * 35) Killing Joke: "Requiem" (Killing Joke, 1980) E.G. Records ???
 * 36) Killing Joke: "Psyche" (7" single, 1980) Malicious Damage
 * 37) Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Jigsaw Feeling" (The Scream, 1978) Polydor
 * 38) The Fall: "Firey Jack" (7" single, 1980) Step-Forward
 * 39) The Clash: "Armagideon Time" ("London Calling" 7" single, 1980) CBS
 * 40) Spizzenergi: "Where's Captain Kirk?" (7" single, 1980) Rough Trade
 * 41) Joy Division: "Twenty Four Hours" (Closer, 1980) Factory
 * 42) The Damned: "Smash It Up" (Machine Gun Etiquette, 1979) Chiswick Records
 * 43) The Teardrop Explodes: "Treason" (Kilimanjaro, 1980) Fontana
 * 44) Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Switch" (The Scream, 1978) Polydor
 * 45) Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Icon" (Join Hands, 1979) Polydor
 * 46) The Clash: "Bankrobber" (7" single, 1980) CBS
 * 47) Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Hong Kong Garden" (7" single, 1978) Polydor
 * 48) The Clash: "White Riot" [single version] (7" single, 1977) CBS
 * 49) The Fall: "Rowche Rumble" (7" single, 1979) Step-Forward
 * 50) Gang of Four: "Damaged Goods" (Entertainment!, 1979) EMI
 * 51) Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Love in a Void" (7" single, 1979) Polydor
 * 52) Killing Joke: "Wardance" (Killing Joke, 1980) E.G. Records
 * 53) Adam and the Ants: "Kings of the Wild Frontier" (Kings of the Wild Frontier, 1980) Epic
 * 54) The Ruts: "West One (Shine on Me)" (7" single, 1980) Virgin Records
 * 55) The Who: "My Generation" (My Generation, 1965) Brunswick
 * 56) Mo-Dettes: "White Mice" (7" single, 1980) Mode Records
 * 57) Stiff Little Fingers: "Tin Soldiers" (Nobody's Heroes, 1980) Chrysalis
 * 58) The Stranglers: "No More Heroes" (No More Heroes, 1977) United Artists
 * 59) The Jam: "The Eton Rifles" (Setting Sons, 1979) Polydor
 * 60) Pink Floyd: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" [parts I - V] (Wish You Were Here, 1975) Harvest
 * 61) Magazine: "Shot by Both Sides" (Real Life, 1978) Virgin Records
 * 62) Public Image Ltd.: "Death Disco" (7" single, 1979) Virgin Records
 * 63) Led Zeppelin: "Stairway to Heaven" (IV, 1971) Atlantic
 * 64) Joy Division: "Dead Souls" (Licht und Blindheit 7" single, 1980) Sordide Sentimental
 * 65) Wah! Heat: "Better Scream" (7" single, 1980) Inevitable Music

Availability
This Festive Fifty is available as a number of different recordings; unfortunately, these only contain the Festive Fifty itself & John's links, and not any of the other music played during these five shows.

Four mp3s are available from the Peel newsgroup. These are FF80.1.1.mp3, FF80.1.2.mp3, FF80.2.1.mp3 and FF80.2.2.mp3. However, FF80.2.1.mp3 is currently a duplicate of FF80.1.2.mp3.

Five recordings are also included in John Peel Torrent Compilation 1 of 17. The first and last of these are identical, and they are both 128kbps mp3s of John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part 1 No's 50-32 128K.wma. These three files actually comprise #50-36 (and John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part2 No's 31-20 128K.wma includes #35-20.)
 * 1980-12-00 Festive Fifty 50-32.mp3
 * John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part2 No's 31-20 128K.wma
 * John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part3 No's 19-01 128K.wma
 * John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part 1 No's 50-32 128K.wma
 * John Peel Festive Fifty 1980 part 1 No's 50-32.mp3

Finally, all 65 tracks are included in John Peel Torrent Compilation 2 of 17 as individual mp3s. However, only #40-8 & 6-1 are actual recordings from the shows; the others are the original tracks (unsurprisingly for #65-51!).

To my ear, the individual mp3s on Torrent Compilation 2 have the best sound quality, and, aside from #50-41 & 7, they include all the links featured on the other recordings, and reinstate some parts missed at the ends of tapes. Thus, through a combination of these recordings, it is possible to collect the entirety of this year's Festive Fifty. Please see the individual show pages for further detail.