Now that guitar bands were commercially viable again, it was less surprising than it might have been that the likes of Ash, Elastica, Supergrass and Pulp were embarking on a minor invasion of the British singles charts without sacrificing an ounce of creative freedom or freshness, and helping to produce a Festive Fifty with a fair number of highly placed hit singles. It was refreshing too that Peel himself announced his approval of the chart....It had the most richly varied top twenty in the chart's history, and this has since been matched only by the conspicuously eclectic year of 1998. (Whitby, M., The Festive Fifty, Nevin Publishing, 2005, p. 42.)
*The top act was Pulp, with six entries: this included them holding down the top two positions, a feat only achieved by one other act, the Jesus And Mary Chain in 1985.
Mark E. Smith made chart history by appearing with three different acts: DOSE, Long Fin Killie and, of course, the Fall.
John was so obviously convinced of the merits of this chart that he repeated the top 15 on two programmes for BFBS, the only time he appears to have done so for his overseas output.
