Here is the Mayhem chart for December 2024. Regular readers know the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. Apparently, my tastes have fallen by four points to 92% more obscure than the rest of the UK! It must be all the Christmas standards I have listened to last month. Incidentally no Christmas songs are included in the chart. But the most popular Chrimbo tune was Mr. Strange with “Santa Clause Hates The Poor”. The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Wham! Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for November: Liz Davinci, Sleuth Gang and Carol Hodge. Carol also appears in the artist chart and the song chart. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. There is the usual eclectic mix of artists, including three that were in the top ten last month. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds went up from number 2 to number 1. Herorangecoat is staying at number 7. Delilah Bon is staying at number 9. Delilah has been in the artist charts now for 13 months! Two artists appear in both lists for December: Delilah Bon and Carol Hodge. The number one song comes from HANDSHAKE IN SPACE. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five!
Mayhem Artist Chart December 2024
1 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2 Carol Hodge 3 Cassyette 4 Taylor Swift 5 Lana Del Ray 6 Du Blonde 7 HerOrangeCoat 8 Mannequin Pussy 9 Delilah Bon 10 Bobbie Dazzle
Mayhem Song Chart December 2024
1 Let’s Control It – HANDSHAKE IN SPACE 2 Not The President – Delilah Bon 3 Shake The Slack – Avalanche Party 4 Hunt You Down – ALT BLK ERA 5 Manoeuvres – Carol Hodge
When 2024 began I set myself a target of posting an average of one post per day. That meant I needed to finish at least 366 posts as it was a leap year. In the end I posted 377 times, 11 over target. Those posts received a total of 43,874 views, the second highest annual figure since 2015. That was from a total of 31,105 visitors. Since the blog began in 2009 (yes it really is nearly 16 years old) we have received 1,850,714 views. Let’s push on to 2 million! In completing my target I wrote 113,231 words.
The most popular posts were “Everyone Is A C*nt Except Me” – Judy Raindrop. Another favorite was “Johnnie Walker’s Final Sounds Of The 70s Show On BBC Radio 2“. He will be sadly missed by many of us! A huge thank you from me and the team for your support. We appreciate you sticking by With Just A Hint Of Mayhem for all these years. It is you that keeps me going and I really do love doing this. I hope that 2025 is a great one for you. Be happy, be strong and be kind!
I have never been a huge fan of Robbie Williams. But having been to see the Robbie biopic this afternoon at the behest of my wonderful wife Catherine (a.k.a Catwoman) I might have to shift my opinion a little. It is a strange film. Robbie is depicted by a CGI chimpanzee. Jonno Davies portrays him in a motion picture performance. He also voices the character along with Robbie Williams himself. The narration also comes from Williams. Given Robbie Williams’ clear involvement, the film seems very open. It provides an honest take on what fame can do to an individual. The chimpanzee is the only non human cast member and for me that is what really makes this movie work. It covers failed relationships, addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts, the dark side of success and death. All the human characters receive some affection and sympathy. However, original Take That manager Nigel Martin Smith gets some well deserved flak.
The scene in which Robbie hears of the death of his beloved Nan and the subsequent funeral is heartbreaking. The use of “Angels” to soundtrack that moment is poignant and tear jerking. I have always disliked that song. However, I may have to change my view after that scene! Spoiler alert, but the moment Williams confronts his demons and slays them in the Knebworth crowd is incredibly powerful. Who knew that a CGI monkey could tap such reserves of emotion and vulnerability. I have to admit that this film has made me check out a few more Robbie songs. I particularly like the new single which plays over the closing credits, “Forbidden Road”. Lyrically it is stunning, although on some parts the music sounds very similar to Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”. Even if you are not a Robbie fan, this film is worth seeing.
I think we all knew that this day would come soon. Johnny completed his final ‘Sounds Of The 70s’ show on Radio 2 in October. I spoke about that show in an earlier post. But the news of his passing still brought a tear to my eyes. He was most definitely my favourite broadcaster. I spent a lot of my formative years listening to his radio shows. Later, I always tried to listen to his ‘Sounds Of The 70s’ shows on BBC Radio 2. They were wonderfully put together and aired on Sunday afternoons. Back in the 70s, I loved when they announced the new chart on BBC Radio 1. Johnnie Walker did it on a Tuesday lunchtime. I always made sure to have my transistor radio with me. My mates and I were at Bishopshalt School in Hillingdon. We wanted to find out if David Cassidy and the Osmonds were still clogging up the UK charts. They were. We also wanted to see if Slade had gone straight in at the top. They had. And we wondered whether Bowie would get his first number one single. He did, but not until 1975 with a reissue of “Space Oddity“.
In the early 70s local schools in my area took turns in hosting a disco every 4 weeks. My own school, Bishopshalt was a little too snobby to get involved. It was a grammar school don’t you know! Anyway many of my friends from primary school went on to Abbotsfield and that school did host Interspin discos. These disco nights were usually hosted by BBC Radio1 DJs. I can remember seeing Tony Blackburn, Dave Lee Travis and of course Johnnie Walker. I suspect that no one bothered to brief Johnnie that this was a disco for 13 to 16 year olds. This became apparent when were treated to two topless go go dancers strutting their stuff on stage. I will leave it to your imagination to determine exactly how the 15 year old me felt about that!
Johnnie will be sadly missed on the airwaves and within music more widely. My thoughts are with his wife Tiggy and all his family and friends. If there is an afterlife, I am sure Johnnie will be spinning some great tunes. He will be playing them wherever he might be. Check out the classic tracks he aired on his regular Johnnie’s Juke Box slot. He chose the final entry himself for his final show. It was “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. RIP Johnnie Walker – an absolute legend!
I have championed many of Kunt and the Gangs releases over the tears. In particular when trying to help them get a Christmas number one. Notably “Boris Johnson Is Still A Fucking Cunt” at Chrimbo 2021. That song eventually reached number 5 in the UK chart. Wayne Clements from Basildon is Kunt and the Gang. He is also the Kunts, although with the latter he does have a band of other kunts with him. The support, unsurprisingly, was Kunt and the Gang. Essentially a solo slot by Wayne backed by some rather nifty backing tracks. There were some hilarious tunes. Notably, “Santa’s Sack” was bloody hilarious. “The Ballad Of Captain Tom” rightly rips the old bloke’s family a new one! He was ably supported by Gordon The Gopher as Little Kunt was AWOL.
The second set was Kunt backed by his band of kuntish punky stalwarts. All the hits were there. These included “Boris Johnson Is A Fucking Cunt.” Other hits were “Scrap The Monarchy,” “Bum The Runner,” and “Prince Andrew Is A Sweaty Nonce.” Then there were some other Kunt classics; “Paul Steven’s Party” (probably the best song of the night), “Gentleman’s Wash”, “Sausage Roll Cunt” (a wonderful dig at Ladbaby), “The Wrong Ian Watkins” (poor old H from Steps!), “Fuck Sticks”, and “Bangers And Mash”. We also heard one of the songs from the controversial film ‘Shannon Matthews The Musical The Movie’. The song was “Shannon Ain’t Dead”. Thanks to that song and the film there were some protests planned at the venue. However, the protesters never materialised. Perhaps it was due to the weather or because they had not realised this was a matinee gig. Sadly, that would have been fun.
This was a good gig. Kunt is generally very funny and incredibly irreverent. However, I was left with the feeling that it was heading towards being a bit same old, same old. But an enjoyable night nonetheless!
This is the first, and last, singles round up for 2024. We have reviewed many other singles this year, but all individually. This post draws together five of the best that we missed in the run up to Chrimbo!
“Shake The Slack” – Avalanche Party – some dirty garage blues. It has a punky psychedelic dance edge. This music comes from the finest band on the planet. This chorus will rock the fuck out of every venue they play next year!
“Hunt You Down” – ALT BLK ERA – this starts off with a deliciously dark vibe. It builds into something that would make Depeche Mode jealous. Every time I say that a new track from ALT BLK ERA is their best, they take it as a challenge. They push themselves to create something even better. This is their best yet and the album will be a contender for album of the year next year. I would love to hear a dance remix of “Hunt You Down”. The “hunt you down” chant towards the end of the track is intoxicating
“Not The President” – Delilah Bon – When Delilah is angry, she is a force of nature. While musically this is quite acoustic and almost soft, the lyrics are aimed at the orange moron in the USA. Vocally it is reminiscent of Pink but within even more passion! When Delilah stands up for the downtrodden, persecuted and ignored the world is a better place. Be more Delilah!
“Let’s control it” – HANDSHAKE IN SPACE – a truly uplifting electronic dance anthem. This is 21st Century disco in it’s most perfect form.
“Burning Up” – Blair Gilmour – Blair is reminiscent of Sam Fender on steroids. This song is a mountainous banger of a tune. I was hooked very early on. Now, I am so excited for whatever comes next from this extremely talented Scottish artist.
This one is not confirmed as a fact, but is allegedly true. I certainly hope it is. Back in the 1980s Queen’s Freddie Mercury dressed Princess Diana in drag and took her to a gay bar. British actress Cleo Rocos wrote a memoir. According to it, she and Freddie sneaked Princess Diana into the iconic London gay bar Royal Vauxhall Tavern. She wore a leather cap to hide her hair, an army jacket, and dark aviator sunglasses. After a couple of drinks and some fun, they dropped her back home at Kensington Palace. Nobody discovered what happened.
A couple of weeks ago you will have read all about Mayhem’s Top 20 albums of 2024. Well here are our top 10 songs of 2024. What were your favourite songs this year? Some of these artists also featured in the top 20 albums list too.
1 Life’s A Fucking Miracle – James 2 Maverick – Delilah Bon 3 My Drummer’s Girlfriend – ALT BLK ERA 4 Two Years This May – Molly Rymer 5 Ipecac – Cassyette 6 Millions Of Heartbeats – Kate Nash 7 I Really Fucked It Up – girli 8 Best Junkie You Adore – Jazmin Bean 9 Age Of Stupid – Jellybricks 10 Collateral Damage – Avalanche Party
I began my With Just A Hint Of Mayhem journey in 2009. At that time, I had no idea about the future. I never expected that one day I may be writing about what is essentially a porn site. I am talking of OnlyFans. This site was created back in 2016. It was initially a social network. The purpose was to serve as a meeting point between fashion influencers and followers. Its creator, Tim Stokely (a Brit), initially conceived it as a premium content platform. Users paid to see the publications of their celebrity idols. It has grown into a, mostly, soft porn site. It caters to some fetishes and tends to focus where possible on celebrities. However, plenty of ordinary people seem to make money from it. It took off hugely during the COVID-19 pandemic. I can state categorically that I do not have an OnlyFans account and nor am I ever likely to. Not because I have high morals but because no one wants to see a fat old white blokes body. Recently, Lily Allen mentioned that she earns significantly more money selling pictures of her feet on OnlyFans. This income surpasses what she makes on streaming services like Spotify. Check out the screenshot below for more detail and click here to read Drowned In Sound’s’ take on the story.
Since then, Kate Nash has set up an OnlyFans account. This highlights the predicament many artists find themselves in. Nash has said this about her ‘Butts For Tour Buses’ campaign on OnlyFans. “I think it’s bit of a punk protest as a woman to take control of my body and sell it to be able to fund my passion project, which is actually my 18-year career. I want to highlight that, and I want people to talk about it, and I want people to know the truth about what what’s happening in the music business. The only way I could find to make a profit on the tour – you’re either going, hopefully I sell enough T-shirts to cover the debt, or you cut people’s wages, or you fire band and crew, or you travel dangerously. So that leaves me in a position where I’m not profiting from tours. So is this a job, or is it a passion project?” She later said that it was “an important time for women to take control and to feel empowered” The pictures of her derriere that she has posted on OnlyFans so far are revealing but a long way from being explicit. She has also said of the pictures that “I think the arse is the perfect combination of comedy and sexuality” and “I actually like bums. I think they’re just quite great. I think it’s funny. I enjoy taking pictures of my bum. Always been a bit of a flasher. So I’m going to enjoy doing it, and I’m already putting it online anyway.” She has stated that she expects to make more money from her backside than her music, particularly in the short term. Kate has called this protest “as punk as fuck” and I completely agree with her.
Is this right? no of course it isn’t. The music industry needs to wake up and stop being so fucking greedy. It shouldn’t be all about the money for entertainment corporations, but sadly it is. What happened to nurturing artists, supporting them and the grass roots music venues while you are at it! So many talented and upcoming artists are affected by shabby and arrogant treatment by the industry. Remember Little Simz’s lyric from her song ‘Angel’? “They don’t care if your mental is on the brink of somethin’ dark/ As long as you’re cuttin’ somebody’s payslip/ And sendin’ their kids to private school in a spaceship”. That was a sharp and brutal remark directed at music industry executives. Many of them know nothing about music, but they know a lot about ‘product’. What will it take for the industry to change? Sadly, it is likely to take a lot more than Lily Allen’s feet. Even Kate Nash’s arse won’t be enough to change everything, but it is a start. I hope it doesn’t happen, but I can see a distant future where new music never happens. What good will come of that? Well at least the corporations and the misogynist fat cats that ran them will no longer exist. I can’t imagine a life without music so we need to act, and act fast! What can we do? Here are a few thoughts from me, feel free to let me have your views.
• Spread the knowledge of how badly artists are treated and rewarded by streaming companies. • Boycott artists who don’t share a part of their ticket price to organisations like the Music Venues Trust. • Reduce your usage of streaming services. Alternatively, stop using them entirely. • Use Bandcamp more • Buy more artist merch and physical product. • Support your local music scene and grass roots venues • Never buy ridiculously overpriced tickets. Oasis and many festivals for example. • Never use Viagogo or their dark brotherhood of ticket exchange companies • Contact your MP and tell them to speak up for artists
While I am on the old Christmas message trip, I want to thank Herorangecoat and Taylor Grace from Not Now Norman. for that. I decided to do my own message too. I hope you like it, especially the hat 🙂 Have a gigantic and wonderful 2025. I will see you at a gig soon, or at the bar, or both! Keep on rocking people!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 