1977 Festive Fifty

At present, there is no broadcast copy of the 1977 festive fifty in circulation, although entrailicus has been contacted by someone claiming to have the full broadcast. For so long considered to be the great lost festive fifty, information on this list finally surfaced in late 2007.

From the ever wonderful rocklist:

DJ John Peel's long lost "Festive 50" of top tracks of 1977 has been reconstructed as part of the new definitive history of his show THE PEEL SESSIONS, to be published by BBC Books on 4 October 2007. The rundown presents a startling snapshot of Peel's personal view of a year when music changed for ever, with punk and reggae elbowing out the rock legends.

The first ever Festive 50 poll of his listeners' all-time favourite tracks was broadcast over Christmas 1976, but with everything changing in 1977, Peel and his producer John Walters decided not to run a poll that year. Instead, Peel chose his own favourites, but presented it as a 'Festive 50' chart rundown anyway. The Top 13 are well-documented, but the full chart is the "Forgotten Fifty", remembered only in fragments by even diehard listeners.

Prompted by queries and tip-offs from fellow members of the John Peel News Group on Yahoo, author Ken Garner reconstructed the chart from a combination of listener diaries & off-air tapes, and the programme scripts kept on microfilm at BBC Written Archives, Caversham. "Even though he referred to it on air as the Festive 50, Peel clearly chose 60 personal favourites from across the year to spin again, plus The Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' cheekily thrown in as an extra at the start", he says: "The track was still banned at the BBC in Silver Jubilee Year ? although Peel had of course played it twice before the ban was imposed ? and you can imagine the furore if he had drawn attention to it by 'placing' it. This way he sneaked it in with no-one noticing." Although no chart placings are given on the scripts, it was possible to count backwards from the number one at the end of the final countdown show. "The Forgotten Fifty as a whole in its range and order is very much like the nightly Peel shows of the time in its mixture of old and new, the fashionable alongside the uncool" says Garner, "with some giveaway Peel running-order jokes, like following The Boys with The Yobs."

"The Forgotten Fifty" of 1977 itself follows:


 * 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

Although, as stated, no broadcast is in circulation at present, the Peel show from the nate after the broadcast is available. See