Times you were on Alan Partridge's side

[phantom_power]

Yes. It is very much a cut-out "unintelligent person unwittingly says something unintelligent to unwittingly show their lack of intelligence" gag

[Kane Jones]

I prefer the most straightforward interpretations: Naming the Best of the Beatles shows Alan's lack of insight or interest in his own field, and thinking Wings are the "band the Beatles could have been" shows a lack of taste, within the reality of the show at least.

^ It's this, plain and simple.

[QDRPHNC]

As Dr Rock says, those are also parts of the joke. It is ABSOLUTELY a major part of the overall joke that Alan names an album that does not exist. If you don't get that bit, that's fine, other parts are available.

Do you think the studio audience is laughing because they know there isn't an album called The Best of the Beatles?

[kalowski]

Do you think the studio audience is laughing because they know there isn't an album called The Best of the Beatles?

That's why I was laughing.

[thecuriousorange]

I suppose when he defends Lynn in the AP movie, but that doesn't count as it's the least Alan Partridge thing ever. And since when could he play the bass?

[magval]

I think his air bass is good enough to suggest he could actually play.

[Avril Lavigne]

I think his air bass is good enough to suggest he could actually play.

Yep. The only people who care about bass enough to ever unironically do air bass for their own enjoyment are bassists.

[magval]

Yep. The only people who care about bass enough to ever unironically do air bass for their own enjoyment are bassists.

I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not.

Also worth nothing is Alan's drumming to the Return of the Saint theme also displays his efforts to be reasonably accurate while miming to songs.

[Avril Lavigne]

I can't tell if you're making fun of me or not.

I'm not, most people just don't care about bass so I imagine air-bass isn't that popular outside of people who actually play.  On a few occasions when telling people I play bass in a band I've had to explain the difference between a bass and regular guitar and why it's necessary.

[samadriel]

"Bass is the foundation of the band!!!"

[magval]

I'm not, most people just don't care about bass so I imagine air-bass isn't that popular outside of people who actually play.  On a few occasions when telling people I play bass in a band I've had to explain the difference between a bass and regular guitar and why it's necessary.

Good man.

I can't play bass or guitar, but depending what band I'm listening to when I'm walking I'll either be air strumming or air picking with my right hand. Usually bass.

[Poison To The Mind]

Do you think the studio audience is laughing because they know there isn't an album called The Best of the Beatles?

I think people in the studio audience are laughing because they know this.

[St_Eddie]

I think people in the studio audience are laughing because they know this.

If by "people", you mean 'two', then yes, they were laughing because they knew that.

[magval]

While I respect everyone's opinion and am only stating my own, I disagree strongly on two fronts, here -

1) I don't reckon regular people know enough about music to know there isn't a canonically-licensed Beatles album called The Best of the Beatles. Alan could jut have easily said "The Beatles' Greatest Hits" and the joke (if that's what it is) would have landed. When it comes to bands like the Beatles and Abba or performers like Elvis, common folk don't know the names of ANY albums, as the size and success of the songs means they haven't had to.

2) I still think there's more to the joke, and that Alan, who it's worth bearing in mind doesn't like Ben, is refusing to play his game of one-upsmanship. He's not naming The Best of the Beatles as an actual answer - he's expressing his thought that he doesn't care about ANY of the Beatles' albums, because their greatest hits compilation, which he only presumes exists, would suffice. Besides, he prefers Wings. Nothing wrong with that, either.

As far as my second point is concerned, it's been coloured somewhat by the passing 20+ years of getting to know Alan better and learning through various documentaries (in and out of character), the books and subsequent TV series and film what he's like as far as it comes to music.

He is not stupid.

What the original intention was may not matter because the character has evolved to be proven not to be musically as ignorant and so many of you insist. If you want to take it however you imagine Bayham, Iannucci and Coogan intended it in 1997, I'd argue that Alan deserves better.

[Dr Rock]

I'd argue it's time for someone to ask Bayham, Iannucci or Coogan and settle this once and for all.

[Chollis]

I'd argue it's time for someone to ask Bayham, Iannucci or Coogan and settle this once and for all.

Not a bad suggestion for any of you hip kids on Twitter or the like. I always open this thread hopefully expecting some funny Partridge recollections and find this fucking Beatles argument instead. It's deeply upsetting and must be resolved once and for all.

Obviously we shouldn't have to contact the writers of the show because the answer is very fucking clearly that Alan either doesn't know or doesn't care about any Beatles album, especially as a greatest hits compilation is more than adequate for a band he considers inferior to Wings.

[magval]

I know, I wish I'd never mentioned it in the first place.

[Spudgun]

Isn't the joke that every music fan knows that in such debates compilations don't count? Greatest Hits and Best of... collections are a cheap and obvious answer that don't tell you anything about the musical opinions of the person (which is the real point of discussing the question), they can't really be argued against, and ultimately leave the conversation nowhere to go.

Alan either doesn't realise this unwritten rule or ignores it and 'wins' the non-competitive debate on a subject he knows nothing about by basically cheating - as he would do with any act. (Favourite Queen album? The Best of Queen. Favourite Frank Zappa album? The Best of Frank Zappa, etc. etc.) Pulling that stunt for the biggest band ever underlines (a) how little knowledge he has of music, and (b) that he's more interested in giving an undisputed 'correct' answer and 'winning' than discussing opinions on an equal footing and potentially disagreeing.

Or have I been wrong all these years too?

[gilbertharding]

Does this debate define the concept of duality?

On the one hand, if there were an album called The Best of the Beatles, and it counted as an album (and had been compiled properly), it would be a legitimate shout for the 'best Beatles album'.

On the other hand... 

[Twed]

Isn't the joke that every music fan knows that in such debates compilations don't count? Greatest Hits and Best of... collections are a cheap and obvious answer that don't tell you anything about the musical opinions of the person (which is the real point of discussing the question), they can't really be argued against, and ultimately leave the conversation nowhere to go.

Yes. I feel that is exactly the joke and it surprises me that people are looking for more complex explanations. For most mainstream music enthusiasts, Beatles albums are a cultural touchstone, and there's always one that directly appealed to you and stands out as special. For Alan, it's a Best Of, a logical corporate exercise as opposed to Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper's which were motivated by artistic expression.

[Dr Rock]

I phoned up Almando and he says it was definitely an important part of the joke that there has never been an album called The Best Of The Beatles.

[St_Eddie]

Isn't the joke that every music fan knows that in such debates compilations don't count? Greatest Hits and Best of... collections are a cheap and obvious answer that don't tell you anything about the musical opinions of the person (which is the real point of discussing the question), they can't really be argued against, and ultimately leave the conversation nowhere to go.

Alan either doesn't realise this unwritten rule or ignores it and 'wins' the non-competitive debate on a subject he knows nothing about by basically cheating - as he would do with any act. (Favourite Queen album? The Best of Queen. Favourite Frank Zappa album? The Best of Frank Zappa, etc. etc.) Pulling that stunt for the biggest band ever underlines (a) how little knowledge he has of music, and (b) that he's more interested in giving an undisputed 'correct' answer and 'winning' than discussing opinions on an equal footing and potentially disagreeing.

Or have I been wrong all these years too?

You're not wrong.  Some people are just reading too much into it.

[New Jack]

I enjoy the double meaning of knowing it's also a Pete Best album, and the canon being flawed can't take it away!!

Anywho, a new one: I also get annoyed when I want a rail ticket and I'm behind someone buying a travel pass which involves photographs and scissors and forms and his access won't wipe

[Zetetic]

I phoned up Almando and he says it was definitely an important part of the joke that there has never been an album called The Best Of The Beatles.

That's odd - he told me that in the Partridgeverse, there was a The Best of the Beatles compilation album and it was actually a pretty good overview of their oeuvre.

[asids]

I know this isn't exactly relevant to the original question of this thread, but when Alan goes to the arcade and shouts "Shitty zombies!", he's actually playing Crisis Zone, a spin-off of Time Crisis which contains terrorists, not zombies, so in fact he is fighting "shitty terrorists" instead. Alan's actually incorrect there. Other games he plays in the first sequence and then a repeat of it at the end of the episode include some fairly obscure mid-90s SEGA games - Manx TT SuperBike and WaveRunner. Alan is clearly a cultured arcade player who goes beyond the traditional cabinets.

Also someone brought up Gordon the retired police officer earlier as a time you were on Partridge's side, and I agree with that. Not with their initial meeting where he threatens him to treat Lynn better but the next time where Alan sees them together in the caravan and has to bump up Lynn's annual salary by a whole £1500 to keep him on his good side. Even then, after Lynn leaves he says I'm "still watching you". I mean, I know he treats Lynn bad, but come on. You can't still be angry with him after he does that.

[Hecate]

The creepy-dad way he says "Julia Bradburry".

[St_Eddie]

Alan is clearly a cultured arcade player who goes beyond the traditional cabinets.

Seeming as it's somewhat related, I may as well post this (in hindsight, not very good) thing that I wrote several years ago.  A Brother Gibbon, I must certainly am not...

Interactive Gaming Concepts of Entertainment With Alan Partridge
(Sponsored By Daz)

Greetings self-confessed members of the game community.  I am renowned and respected broadcaster, Alan Partridge.  Whilst I am not a regular user of video-controlled-and-operated-gaming-toys, I did grow up playing the classics such as 'Pong' and 'Puck-Man'.  I have also been known to spend some of my darker moments, blasting the heads off zombies, in training for the inevitable zombie apocalypse, down at my local arcade emporium, 'A Bunch of Slots'.

'But why is a high-profile star of your status posting on a site for us computer nerds?' I hear you ask (obviously, I don't actually hear you ask that, as I've not experienced the voices in my head for some time now, thanks to my lovely prescribed medication; I'm merely being rhetorical).  Well, allow me to explain...

Several years ago (1997 to be precise), I pitched several innovative, ground-breaking TV series to the then chief commissioning editor of the BBC, who I won't name here but for the sake of this anecdote I'll simply refer to him by his surname of Hayres. As I pitched my brilliant ideas to Tony, he scoffed at them with the smile of a git. He was a petty, vindictive and petulant man, who lacked the wisdom or foresight to see the brilliance of my concepts.  One such concept was 'Monkey Tennis'.

Hayres' is now dead, killed during a roof related incident, which of course is a great tragedy because I was recently informed by my nephew that there is a miniature-game called 'Monkey Tennis', as a part of a greater collection of games titled 'Superb Monkey Balls'.  Apparently, this game was a big hit and if Mr. Hayres was still with us today, he would be able to see just how stupendously moronic he was, to have rejected my ahead of its time pitch.  Alas, Tony is currently six feet under, his brains slowly being consumed by worms.  Considering the man, those worms must be starving from malnutrition.

When my nephew initially informed me of this revelation of simian bat and ball success; I quickly came to realise that, unlike the BBC, the game-video industry must be receptive to the ideas of the great thinkers of our time.  With that in mind (and having perused a catalogue of popular games on Amazon.com for inspiration), allow me pitch some of my concepts for future pixel-polygon entertainment...

Tomb Grader - You control an upper-middle class woman with an eye for architecture, as she strolls through various cemeteries, grading the tombs that she comes across, from 'sub-par' to 'lovely stuff'.  To keep things interesting, occasionally a zombie will emerge from a tomb and the player must quickly phone the relevant emergency services for assistance (which in a zombie based situation; I suspect is probably the police, as the need for an ambulance has long since passed, by the time of zombification).

Resident Weevil - A gigantic mansion in the Cotswolds has been overrun by weevils and you play as an exterminator trying to rid the 16th century county house of the bothersome beetles.  The man who designed the mansion was eccentric to say the least, as you must collect various objects in order to access the different facilities (for example, you must find and combine seven gems to lift the toilet seat, by which point it's usually too late).

Arm Wrestling With Chas & Dave - This was another pitch I made to the BBC some years ago and another pitch that they idiotically rejected.  Chas and Dave are still keen and a good idea is still a good idea.  Making the experience interactive, would only benefit the high tension stakes.  Also, quite frankly, this needs to happen sooner, rather than later, as Chas' skin has recently turned to the rather icky shade of lime green and he may not be long left for this world.

Day of the Lent Sickle - The player assumes the role of Father Dempsey, a Catholic priest during lent, as he takes a sickle and harvests the crops from the local parish in preparation for the post-lent feast.  The challenge lies in controlling the priest's urge to gorge himself on the crops and therefore condemning himself to an eternity in hell.  This is based on a real-life Father Dempsey, whom I met on a cruise ship.  He was stricken with remorse for his breaking of lent and convinced he would be tortured in the pits of hell as a result.  I told him he was probably right.  "Honesty is the best policy" as God once said.

Daz Jackrabbit - The player assumes the role of a jackrabbit, whom uses Daz, the UK and Ireland's leading laundry detergent, to rid the land of evil stain monsters.

[Chollis]

I phoned up Almando and he says it was definitely an important part of the joke that there has never been an album called The Best Of The Beatles.

Don't listen to him he's nuts!

[Thomas]

I imagine they opted for the fictional The Best of the Beatles because it would have been far less funny for him to say Greatest Hits or The Essential Beatles. It's easy to imagine that The Best of the Beatles would exist, especially in 1997 when it wasn't easy to immediately check, and it's the best arrangement of words for the gag. Even 'The Very Best' would diminish it. I don't know if the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre was genuinely being considered at the time, and that bloke isn't really the son of the man who invented cats' eyes.

Also worth noting that Pete Best's album is simply titled Best of the Beatles, with no definitive article. Alan says 'The Best'. He's not referring to Pete Best's album, unless, in yet another layer of characterisation, Alan is also getting that wrong - for some reason.

QDRPHNC has it. Elegant and simple, as no doubt would be the tracklist for The Best of the Beatles.

[Fisher Goes Berserk]

Isn't the joke that every music fan knows that in such debates compilations don't count?

That's how I've always read it. And the laziness and ignorance is compounded because it's the Beatles. Everybody knows at least one Beatles album.

I imagine they opted for the fictional The Best of the Beatles because it would have been far less funny for him to say Greatest Hits or The Essential Beatles.

I think so too. The alliteration and rhythm of the phrase is funnier than the alternatives.

Back on thread:

"You already ruddy have."