1999 Festive Fifty

Background

• "Although there were fewer different acts in the chart this year (perhaps we'd reached saturation point on that one in 1998), we still had the impressive total of thirty-seven, a total that, prior to 1996, would have seemed almost unfeasibly huge. Diversity, then, still remained a refreshing characteristic of the final chart of the century...Pleasingly, while British bands predominated as usual, the chart featured acts from the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan." (Whitby, M., The Festive Fifty, Nevin Publishing, 2005, p. 50.)
• Peel took the unusual step of granting an 'honorary' play for Monkey Steals The Drum, which narrowly failed to make the top 50.
• Top act was Hefner with five entries, including three with the word 'Hymn' in the title.
• Mark E. Smith achieved the unparalleled feat of being the only artist to make the chart with five different acts (the Fall, Elastica, Long Fin Killie, D.O.S.E. and the Inspiral Carpets), albeit not in the same chart.
• Half Man Half Biscuit repeated the Delgados' attainment of entering the chart with a session track that would reappear the next year as an official release.
• The session track by Godspeed You Black Emperor has to date still never seen an official release: since it is the only song the band recorded for Peel (clocking in at 19 minutes), this marks only the second occasion in the chart's history when every track from a Peel session made the Festive Fifty (the other one in analogous circumstances being the Orb's 'Loving You' in 1990).

Shows

• 23 December 1999: #51-#31
• 28 December 1999: #30-#17
• 29 December 1999: #16-#01

The Festive Fifty Of 1999

1. Cuban Boys: "Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia"
2. Hefner: "Hymn For The Cigarettes"
3. Hefner: "Hymn For The Alcohol"
4. Fall: "Touch Sensitive"
5. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: "Spanish Dance Troupe"
6. Elastica With Mark E Smith: "How He Wrote Elastica Man"
7. Fall: "F-oldin' Money"
8. Flaming Lips: "Race For The Prize"
9. Murry The Hump: "Thrown Like A Stone"
10. Low: "Immune"
11. Half Man, Half Biscuit: "Look Dad No Tunes"
12. Flaming Lips: "Waiting For A Superman"
13. Cinerama: "Pacific"
14. Mogwai: "Cody"
15. Orbital: "Style"
16. Sonic Subjunkies: "Do You Even Know Who You Are?"
17. Super Furry Animals: "Fire In My Heart"
18. Cinerama: "King's Cross"
19. Salako: "Look Left"
20. Clinic: "The Second Line"
21. Godspeed You Black Emperor!: "Hungover As The Oven At Maida Vale (Peel Session)"
22. Hefner: "I Stole A Bride"
23. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: "I See A Darkness"
24. Super Furry Animals: "Northern Lites"
25. Mogwai: "Stanley Kubrick"
26. Kraken: "Side Effects"
27. Super Furry Animals: "Turning Tide"
28. Cuban Boys: "Flossie's Alarming Clock"
29. Dawn Of The Replicants: "Science Fiction Freak"
30. Half Man, Half Biscuit: "24 Hour Garage People (Peel Session)"
31. Pavement: "Major Leagues"
32. Hefner: "I Took Her Love For Granted"
33. Gene: "As Good As It Gets"
34. Plone: "Be Rude To Your School"
35. Smog: "Cold Blooded Old Times"
36. Broadcast: "Echoes Answer"
37. Add N To (X): "Metal Fingers In My Body"
38. Melt Banana: "Plot In A Pot"
39. Atari Teenage Riot: "Revolution Action"
40. Blur: "Tender"
41. Badly Drawn Boy: "Once Around The Block"
42. Aphex Twin: "Windowlicker"
43. Six By Seven: "Helden"
44. Appliance: "Food Music"
45. Pavement: "Carrot Rope"
46. Stereolab: "The Free Design"
47. Marine Research: "Parallel Horizontal"
48. Miss Mend: "Living City Plan"
49. Hefner: "Hymn For The Things We Didn't Do"
50. Wheat: "Don't I Hold You"
51. Monkey Steals The Drum: "Injured Birds"

Availability

• To date, only the first show (23 December 1999) is available in its entirey. The others contain the chart section alone: all can be accessed from the date pages.