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*In November 1997, Peel announced that there would be no Festive Fifty chart that year, then changed his mind and allowed Alison Howe to organise a reduced chart of 31 places, compiled from emails, faxes, letter and cards (the phone votes spoken of elsewhere on the Internet were not mentioned). It was broadcast over a specially extended show running from 6.30-10.30 p.m. on Tuesday 23 December.
 
*In November 1997, Peel announced that there would be no Festive Fifty chart that year, then changed his mind and allowed Alison Howe to organise a reduced chart of 31 places, compiled from emails, faxes, letter and cards (the phone votes spoken of elsewhere on the Internet were not mentioned). It was broadcast over a specially extended show running from 6.30-10.30 p.m. on Tuesday 23 December.
 
*Quite why the 1997 Festive Fifty was reduced to only 31 is something of a mystery. The official reason given by Peel was that due to the late Christmas scheduling at Radio 1 he was not given enough time to display a proper chart. This seems somewhat specious, given the fact that:
 
*Quite why the 1997 Festive Fifty was reduced to only 31 is something of a mystery. The official reason given by Peel was that due to the late Christmas scheduling at Radio 1 he was not given enough time to display a proper chart. This seems somewhat specious, given the fact that:
# He had already managed to fit the 1993 chart quite comfortably into a single programme, with a running time half an hour less than he was given on this occasion. Mark Whitby <ref>''The Festive Fifty'', Nevin Publishing, 2005. Mark adds, reasonably, "Even if it hadn't been (possible to broadcast a proper Festive Fifty)...could we not at least have been ''told'' what records were between numbers 32 and 50?"</ref> has pointed out that the programme containing the chart, if the session repeat by Pavement is disallowed, contains 50 tracks anyway.
+
# He had already managed to fit the 1993 chart quite comfortably into a single programme, with a running time half an hour less than he was given on this occasion. Mark Whitby <ref>''The Festive Fifty'', Nevin Publishing, 2005, p. 46. Mark adds, reasonably, "Even if it hadn't been (possible to broadcast a proper Festive Fifty)...could we not at least have been ''told'' what records were between numbers 32 and 50?"</ref> has pointed out that the programme containing the chart, if the session repeat by [[Pavement]] is disregarded, contains 50 tracks anyway.
 
# The remaining records contain no new releases at all. Instead, JP allowed programme staff, his family and individual listeners to select favourite tracks from the year. It is difficult to believe that no other listeners voted for these tracks.
 
# The remaining records contain no new releases at all. Instead, JP allowed programme staff, his family and individual listeners to select favourite tracks from the year. It is difficult to believe that no other listeners voted for these tracks.
 
# Rather tellingly, he makes a verbal slip early on in the programme and refers to a 'Festive 51'.
 
# Rather tellingly, he makes a verbal slip early on in the programme and refers to a 'Festive 51'.

Revision as of 15:58, 4 September 2009

Background

  • In November 1997, Peel announced that there would be no Festive Fifty chart that year, then changed his mind and allowed Alison Howe to organise a reduced chart of 31 places, compiled from emails, faxes, letter and cards (the phone votes spoken of elsewhere on the Internet were not mentioned). It was broadcast over a specially extended show running from 6.30-10.30 p.m. on Tuesday 23 December.
  • Quite why the 1997 Festive Fifty was reduced to only 31 is something of a mystery. The official reason given by Peel was that due to the late Christmas scheduling at Radio 1 he was not given enough time to display a proper chart. This seems somewhat specious, given the fact that:
  1. He had already managed to fit the 1993 chart quite comfortably into a single programme, with a running time half an hour less than he was given on this occasion. Mark Whitby [1] has pointed out that the programme containing the chart, if the session repeat by Pavement is disregarded, contains 50 tracks anyway.
  2. The remaining records contain no new releases at all. Instead, JP allowed programme staff, his family and individual listeners to select favourite tracks from the year. It is difficult to believe that no other listeners voted for these tracks.
  3. Rather tellingly, he makes a verbal slip early on in the programme and refers to a 'Festive 51'.
  4. A slightly more tangential fact is that it was a full 20 years since the last Festive Fifty chart he selected himself (see 1977 Festive Fifty), and this may have been a way of 'commemorating' it.
  • In view of all this, it is tempting to wonder whether he was trying to impose some kind of personal criteria on the chart, since he had actively voiced diapproval with the charts in 1987-8, and did not broadcast the 1991 chart at the time. However. since there are opposing arguments (such as the fact that there is no African pop, for example, surely something he would have included given the choice, and the fact that he showed a positive attitude to the 1995 Fifty), and the troubled events at home that autumn that he refers to which could have influenced his decision, this theory will remain open to conjecture.

Show

The Festive Fifty Of 1997

  1. Cornershop: "Brimful Of Asha"
  2. Mogwai: "New Paths To Helicon"
  3. Helen Love: "Does Your Heart Go Boom?"
  4. Period Pains: "Spice Girls (Who Do You Think You Are?)"
  5. Belle & Sebastian: "Lazy Line Painter Jane"
  6. Novac: "Rapunzel"
  7. Fall: "1/2 Inch"
  8. Daft Punk: "Rollin' & Scratchin'"
  9. Clinic: "IPC Sub-Editors Dictate Our Youth"
  10. David Holmes: "The Holiday Girl (Don't Die Yet-Arab Strap Mix)"
  11. Blur: "Song 2"
  12. Belle & Sebastian: "Dog On Wheels"
  13. Hydroplane: "Cross The Atlantic"
  14. Stereolab & Nurse With Wound: "Simple Headphone Mind"
  15. Bette Davies & The Balconettes: "Shergar"
  16. Arab Strap: "Hey! Fever"
  17. Fall: "I'm A Mummy"
  18. Spiritualized: "Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"
  19. AC Acoustics: "I Messiah, Am Jailer"
  20. Stereolab: "Fluorescences"
  21. Hitchers: "Strachan"
  22. bis: "Sweetshop Avenger"
  23. Synchro Goldfish: "Dandelion Milk Summer"
  24. Prolapse: "Autocade"
  25. Dream City Film Club: "If I Die I Die"
  26. Stereolab: "Miss Modular"
  27. Delgados: "Pull The Wires From The Wall" (Peel Session)
  28. Propellerheads: "Velvet Pants"
  29. Hybirds: "Seventeen"
  30. Prolapse: "Slash/Oblique"
  31. Angelica: "Teenage Girl Crush"

Availability

  • The complete show is available in excellent sound: see date page.
Footnotes
  1. The Festive Fifty, Nevin Publishing, 2005, p. 46. Mark adds, reasonably, "Even if it hadn't been (possible to broadcast a proper Festive Fifty)...could we not at least have been told what records were between numbers 32 and 50?"