So here we all are in a new year once again. It seems hard to believe that we are now 11 years into the current century and that I have now lived in seven different decades. But then as my Nan once said to me, old age is always 10 years older than you are. So I take this to mean that as long as it’s not my name in the Guinness Book Of Records as the oldest person on the planet then I will never be old, will I? Obviously I’m only saying all this because I turned 52 on January 1st and birthdays make you think of age, longevity, life and stuff don’t they?
Rihanna longed for a deeper bath
Anyway enough drivel about me let’s take a quick look at the best-selling UK albums and singles for 2010. Rihanna has performed amazingly well with one entry in the album top 5 and two in the singles. It was also good to see the X Factor single failing to make the top spot in the end of year sales chart.
I assume that the one in the front next to Gary is Robbie
Well I trust that you all had a good Christmas and that your turkey is all used up. Myself and Catwoman certainly ate too much as usual! Anyway I’m back with a couple of snippets of news for you.
Even Simon Cowell can't stand to listen to most contestants
Firstly I am saddened to report that the X Factor was the most watched show of 2010 on UK TV. Some 17.7 million viewers watched Matt Cardle crowned champion on the final show of the series whilst England versus Germany in the World Cup could only muster 17.4 million. But it would be fair to say that the England team showed as much talent as some of the no talent losers that populate the first few weeks of the X Factor. Eastenders and Coronation Street were 3rd and 4th. You can read the story here on the BBC. Matt Cardle has also managed to stay for a second week at the top of the UK charts. The top ten also features Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas, Take That and Katy Perry who have all had major guest slots on the show. Olly Murs, X Factor Finalists and JLS, all former contestants are in the top 40. In addition part-time X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger has a top 40 place and there are two for X Factor judge and the Nations Sweetheart Cheryl Cole. So many places taken up by X Factor related stuff, how bad is that?
So onto some better news, the zebra crossing outside the Abbey Road studios which was featured on the cover of the Beatles Abbey Road album has been given listed status. This must be the most famous crossing in the world. How many of you have been there and had your picture taken on it? Send them to me and I’d be happy to post them on the blog! The BBC reports the story here. To celebrate listen to the Fab Four below with “Come Together” from that very album. Below that you can also see two other famous crossings, the Simpsons and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
As a special Billy Christmas bonus for those of you who have stuck with me through each and every one of the 25 posts on my UK Christmas Number Ones Advent Calendar. Here are the 21 UK Christmas number ones that did not get seen or heard on any of the original posts. Enjoy them as you digest your turkey and enjoy a nice glass of wine 🙂
And finally at the end of the post I couldn’t resist adding another bonus, the final song is my favourite Christmas song ever, it’s Darlene Love with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
Sir Cliff laughs in the face of the recent cold snap by keeping his shirt open
After a mammoth Beatles Advent Calendar post yesterday, today, December 21st, brings you another person who has so far had three UK Christmas Number Ones. So let’s open that little cardboard flap and see who it is. You’ll firstly be taken back to Christmas 1960 when I was fast approaching the milestone of two years old. It was the first of Cliff Richard’s UK Christmas Number Ones and on this one he was backed by the Shadows, it is called “I Love You”. Cliff is the only act to have achieved UK Christmas Number ones in three separate decades. The other two were “Mistletoe And Wine” in 1988 and “Saviours Day” in 1990. Thankfully the awful, in my opinion anyway, Cliff’s “Millennium Prayer” didn’t make it to the top at Christmas 1999, however it did get to number one for two weeks and was deposed by Westlife, with “I Have A Dream/ Seasons In The Sun“. Of the two I’m really not sure which was the worst, but a 2004 VH1 poll registered “Millennium Prayer” as the worst number one ever. I presume that makes it officially a pile of number twos!
Sir Cliff prepares to celebrate his first UK Christmas Number One
After Hank and the boys moved on Cliff struggled to play his guitar parts on air guitar
Anyway onto the three songs that made it to that coveted UK Christmas Number One spot for Cliff. Firstly with “I Love You” backed by the Shadows in 1960. The song was written by Bruce Welch off of the Shadows and stayed at the top for just two weeks. John Lennon once said that ‘before Cliff and the Shadows there was nothing worth listening to in British Music’ Whilst Cliff went on to massive success without the Shadows, they too were a very successful band. Cliff has had a total of 14 UK number ones, sadly that record is now equalled by Westlife, which puts him and them just behind the Beatles on 17 and Elvis on 21. The Shadows had three number ones in their own right, including the fabulous “Apache” from 1960, and a further seven backing Cliff.
Sir Cliff's cunning plan to disguise himself as Santa wasn't a great success
Cliff waited 28 years for his next UK Christmas Number One which arrived in 1988, it was called “Mistletoe And Wine”, certainly not one of my favourites, but then, to each their own as they say! The song comes from a 1976 musical adaptation of Han’s Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Match Girl‘. It was Cliff’s 99th UK single, which whether you like him or not is an astonishing record (no pun intended!) It was also his 12th UK number one and the biggest selling single of 1998, it spent 4 weeks at number one. Like many Christmas themed songs it often returns to the UK charts in December.
And there was me thinking that only Freddie Mercury could get away with clothes like that!
The third and so far final UK Christmas UK Number One from Cliff was “Saviours Day” in 1990. The video for the song was filmed in Dorset. It is one of only three UK Christmas Number Ones to remain at the top for just one week. An honour it shares with “Goodbye” from the Spice Girls in 1998 and “Killing In The Name” from Rage Against The Machine in 2009. At the time of writing Matt Cardle’s “When We Collide” has been at the chart summit for less than a week, but I expect that it will remain for a bit longer yet. I find it pretty sad that once again the X Factor gets the Christmas Number One slot. We must do better next year people, let’s make sure it doesn’t happen. We need another Rage Against The Machine moment, let’s start a Facebook campaign now!
Madonna, Amy Winehouse and Sir Cliff Richard in Lego..... a strange trio if you ask me!
Zack was now beginning to regret that pre gig curry
On December 16th you need to be a little careful when opening the cardboard door on my UKChristmas Number Ones Advent Calendar, this one may get a little loud! So let me take you way, way, way back through the sands of time to Christmas 2009. OK so I lied about the way, way, way back thing! Well we did it last year didn’t we? We stopped X Factor Muppet Joe McElderry from getting the Christmas number one. Thank you to everyone who bought Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name” last year. I’d like to think we can do the same this year, but at the moment it doesn’t look like it, Matt Cardle’s cover of a Biffy Clyro number is sadly way ahead of the competition on the midweek sales chart.
Rage get their tackle out to tackle the PMRC
The Biffy song Simon Cowell chose for the winner was “Many Of Horror” but presumably that title was a little too surreal for X Factor fans so they changed it to “When We Collide”. Anyway back to last year, thanks to an amazing Facebook campaign from Jon and Tracy Morter “Killing In The Name” reigned supreme at Christmas. It might have only stayed there for one week, but people we did it! Now all we need is another campaign to get rid of those useless tossers also know as the coalition government!
This is exactly how they started their set at Reading when I saw them a couple of yeasr back
When “Killing In The Name” was originally released back in 1993 it only manged to make it to number 25 in the UK. But last Christmas it was the first UK Christmas number one to make it on downloads alone. The uncensored version of the song contains the Anglo Saxon expletive ‘fuck’ 17 times. This has managed to get a few people into trouble at various times. In 1993 Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes played the uncensored version on the weekly chart countdown show. Then in 2008 the song was inadvertently played over the speakers at an Asda supermarket in Preston, obviously many people complained. For the record, I would not have complained!
In August 2008 in a strange twist the aforementioned Biffy Clyro performed an acoustic version of the song for Jo Whiley‘s Live Lounge live from the Reading Festival. The band obeyed the strict instructions not to use the word fuck as it was a live broadcast. However the crowd didn’t follow that request and could be heard filling the supposedly offensive lyrics in themselves. Poor Jo was forced to apologise to her listeners. I was there that year but sadly I missed that performance.
Liam no longer has a bone to pick with his brother, but he does have a nose of his own to pick!
Just a brief post with a couple of bits of Christmas related news for you. Firstly, could the Gallagher brothers feud be thawing just a little bit? Liam has posted a message on Twitter wishing Noel a Happy Christmas. The Tweet also wished seasons greetings to the Zutons. The tweet read like this ‘Noel Gallagher n Zutons Merry Christmas LG x’ You can follow Liam on Twitter if you so desire Twitter.com/liamgallagher I wonder if Noel, who to be fair has a Christmas type name, will respond.
How the hell do they keep slim with all those calories????
Hello once again dear readers and we’re passed the halfway mark to Chrimbo on my UK Christmas Number One Advent Calendar. It’s December 13th and todays treat is the first of the reality TV Pop Idol/ X Factor songs to take the Christmas number one spot. It was number one in Christmas 2002 and was begotten by ‘PopStars: The Rivals’ That show formed a boy band and a girl band and then put them into a Christmas chart battle. The winner by a long way was Girls Aloud with “Sound Of The Underground”. Can anyone remember the name of the losing boy band? it was One True Voice and their single was a double A side with “Sacred Trust/ After You’re Gone”. The girls were number one for four weeks that Christmas.
The girls would do anything to get a part in the next Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, even walk the plank!
Personally I kind of like that first Girls Aloud single, it’s still my favourite of theirs. Remember this was back in the days before Cheryl Cole was Cheryl Cole and before she became the Nation’s Sweetheart and launched her lip syncing solo career. Back then she was just plain (well some would say not so plain!) Cheryl Tweedy. It’s funny how the little altercation in a nightclub toilet from those days seems to have been airbrushed from Cheryl history isn’t it? Anyway check out Lily Allen’s “Cheryl Tweedy” here.
The judges for Popstars: The Rivals were Pete Waterman, Gerri Halliwell and Louis Walsh. Will someone please explain how such a dipstick as Louis has survived so long in the business? I really don’t get it. As for Girls Aloud, whether you love them or hate them you have to admit that they are one of the few reality TV acts with any degree of longevity. Cheryl has now released two solo albums whilst Nadine Coyle has just released her first. Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding have all tried their hands at acting as well.
OK people after last year you know exactly how to stop the X Factor winner making it to the UK number one spot over Christmas this year. Last time around pop muppet Joe McElderry was beaten to the Christmas number one by the brilliant “Killing In The Name Of” by Rage Against The Machine. This year there is another opportunity to prevent the X Factor lording over the charts once again.
This time it is going to be ” 4’33” ” a recreation of John Cage’s most famous avant-garde work. Well ok Emperor’s New Clothes time here, it is in fact 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. This may sound somewhat mental, however by downloading the piece you will be helping a number of charities including, Calm, a service for young men at risk of suicide, the British Tinnitus Association, Youth Music, Nordoff RobbinsMusic Therapy and Sound & Music, a charity promoting challenging new music and sound art. On top of that you will dent the next X Factor Muppets progress.
If only he'd been clearer about his wish. He hadn't really wished for a 12 inch pianist had he?
Many artists have participated by errr….. recording their silence. Those include; Fyfe Dangerfield off of the Guillemots, Unkle’s James Lavelle, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, some Kooks, Heaven 17, Matty off of the Infadels, Suggs off of Madness, Orbital, Pendulum and Billy Bragg. Pete Doherty apparently failed to turn up. Read the story here on the BBC News site. Join the Facebook campaign here and let’s make Cage Against The Machine the Christmas Number One this year!
By the way, I realise there is no real title to this post, but what did you expect?
Firstly this post is NOT in my Advent Calendar series OK? It’s another random selection of music stuff. Firstly and I am saddened to say it in many, many ways a Bowie song is at number one in the UK. It’s the X Factor finalists cover of Bowie’s “Heroes” Thankfully I haven’t been able to hear Wagner on the recording. The singles only other saving grace is that it is raising funds for the ‘Help For Heroes‘ charity which supports those British soldiers that have been injured in the ridiculous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we followed the Americans into. But believe me, it is the UK Government I have a gripe with and especially former Prime Minister Tony Blair, I have every respect for all the British troops that are out there right now. Go and buy the single and throw it away if you have to. In the meantime take a look at the classic original below.
You know I always thought that Santa's Elves were a little more cuddly than this!
Next some very good X Factor related news. Corey Taylor off of Slipknot has recorded a Christmas single and he wants it to beat whatever single the X Factor show produces for the Christmas slot. Let’s get behind this one people, let’s make Corey this years “Killing In The Name Of“. Buy it and keep a muppet off the number one spot. The song is called “X-M@$”. Check it out below and click here to read the NME report about the song.
US politics often baffles me, especially where outgoing officials are allowed to grant pardons for previous misdemeanours by various criminals, jailbirds and wrongly accused. However I was pleasantly surprised to read that the ousted Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, has issued a pardon for Jim Morrison off of the Doors following the singers arrest for allegedly getting his todger out on stage in Miami in 1969. Fair play Charlie and frankly, about bloody time too! It has always bothered me that with all the people and all the police at that concert there was never any evidence to prove that Jim actually did the deed. Read about the pardon by clicking here.
Enjoy “Break On Through” below
Apparently it was the dog's bollocks that Jim exposed, not his own!
Before X factor the race for the UK Christmas number one was often quite exciting, well at least it was for a teenager like me. Well ok I’m not a teenager anymore, but I was…… honest! So to follow-up my Facebook experiment last year I will be undertaking a post a day until Christmas and whereas last years were all about cover versions, this years advent calendar from me is all about UK Christmas number ones over the years. There have been nearly 60 and I promise you that some you will love and frankly there will be some that you won’t.
So to kick things off by opening the little cardboard door on my advent calendar for Decemebr 1st and behind that door is…….. “Christmas Alphabet” by Dickie Valentine. This was Christmas number one in the UK in 1955 and stayed at the summit for three weeks. Dickie’s parents name him Richard Bryce when he was born in Marylebone in London. This song was the first actual Christmas song to reach number one in the UK. It was also his second number one of the year and a further three top ten hits. Being a crooner it was probably the advent of rock n roll that stilted Dickie’s career. Sadly he died in a car crash in Wales in 1971 aged just 41.
And finally here is Dickie once again with “Mister Sandman” hmmmmmmm………I wonder if there is a mash-up out there of this song and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman“?
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 