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Chart Music Podcast 2 (Man Sound) - ITS PIPOU TIME!

Started by dr beat, August 11, 2020, 09:55:15 PM

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Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: non capisco on October 10, 2020, 12:25:31 AM
The vitriol directed at Harry Enfield threw me for a bit of a loop. I love a lot of his stuff, 'End Of An Era' and 'Norbert Smith' especially, but Pricey's diatribe didn't even mention two of the dodgiest things in the 'Harry and Paul' series. Parking Pateweo never sat especially well with me and there's that 'Ricky Gervais' sketch which ends with an on-screen appearance by Nigel Farage himself, in on whatever the "joke" was. I don't think Enfield is "despicable" but I've never understood why they let that cunt on to help legitimize himself. I guess for the same reason HIGNFY kept unveiling Boris Johnson as a star attraction. A smug centrist assumption that the war was over.

Pricey loves his comedy, but I get the impression that he doesn't really know much about Enfield and Whitehouse. So he probably hasn't seen those dodgy sketches or, more importantly, the brilliant stuff they've done. I guess he just took against Enfield in the '80s and hasn't altered his opinion since. We're all a bit like that regarding certain things.

Nelson

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on October 09, 2020, 02:57:32 PM
I thought they were a bit harsh on Enfield and Loadsamoney in the most recent episode. The record is shit, but there was no mention of the fact that Enfield, Whitehouse and Higson were so mortified by the success of that character, they killed him off a year later.

Yes, they milked him (urgh) for a bit, but when he became unexpectedly successful on Friday Night Live they introduced the character of Buggerallmoney - a Geordie bloke who was the antithesis of everything Loadsamoney stood for.

Also, Paul Whitehouse was an actual working-class plasterer, he was taking the piss out of the awful people he'd encountered - no mention of that either.
I'm reassured that it wasn't just me who thought this. Buzby is right too when he mentions how the (fundamental) roles of PW and CH were skirted around. That said, I do think there's something in the point about the Loadsamoney punching down on working class people (something also seen with the Slobs and the Scousers, with PW, Kathy Burke and whichever McCann it was, all providing useful cover for the nastiness). And the record was shit.

McGann not McCann

edon

I do think Bee and Pricey were a bit soft on Wet Wet Wet and Fairground Attraction, but then again they probably did seem a lot better coming after Pump Up The Bitter. It was good to hear Kylie get a fair amount of appreciation at the end though - there are some nice elements in Got To Be Certain, but the production naturally lets it down. Never knew that about it being originally given to Mandy Smith either.

dr beat

Yeah I'm glad they finally had a chance to appraise Kylie, a fantastic pop star a million times more so than Madonna.  I do think Can't Get You Out of My Head is a hugely influential record that helped redefine pop and reintroduce it as a genre worthy of serious consideration.  Alongside stuff like Overload by Sugababes.

I do agree with Simon that Paul Calf's Video Diary is worthy and doesn't punch down - as our very own Blue Jam has said elsewhere, Calf is the exception in that he's surrounded by people who are hardworking and holding down steady jobs.

dr beat

1988 was a good year for Anglo-Australian relations due to it being the 200th anniversary of the colonisation of the continent, well at least for an English point of view.  Gave lots of telly people excuses to head over there, I remember TV-AM doing a week presenting from Sydney.

Probably reflective more of English triumphalism, but it was a respite from arguments about sledging and ball-tampering.

edon

I'm not sure both Enfield and Star Turn getting on the same show exemplifies it, but I do think there may be a bit of truth in that the people working on TOTP in 1988 looked down upon dance music and particularly hip hop - there was the brief ban on the former later in the year, despite Radio 1 still opting to play it, and even with performances by the likes of Derek B and the Wee Papa Girl Rappers, highly charting examples of the latter would sometimes get little to no time on.

The one that really sticks out to me is Don't Believe The Hype by Public Enemy getting completely snubbed, despite being the highest new entry at #23 the week it charted and then peaking at #18 the week after. Don't know if it just fell foul of a PE unavailable for performing and the video not being ready yet, but that does seem strange considering how the show would always play the highest new chart entry if possible, to the best of my knowledge.

jamiefairlie

So Belinda Carlisle looks great because of her awesome attitude to life? I'm sure the plastic surgeons who basically restructured her entire face might disagree.

jamiefairlie

I'm just not getting on with this episode at all. It's as if everything they say is the diametric opposite of what I think and that's never happened before.

All the lavish praise for Prefab Sprout? The essence of 80s awful MOR production, bland adult oriented mush, the safe indie band with great 'craft', alongside Aztec Camera.

Pump up the bitter? It was shite then it's shite now but it's no different to Cannon and Ball or Little and Large, it was mainstream 'northern club' type comedy, it wasn't for us so we could just ignore it. It's not the great offense to civilization that Bee seems to be saying through her fury.

The Wets? Fucking dreadful cheese. The fact that Pellow is enjoying it is neither here nor there, it's shite. Robbie Williams is shite too. Don't give me this crap that they're great entertainers and know how to give a great show, that's irrelevant if they're peddling shit wares.

Seedsy

Can I be honest pop crazed youngsters. I didn't care for this episode at all.
Pricey seemed out of sorts, granted it was a shit show of an actual totp episode, but his whole mood seemed half arsed and a bit down. Al even seemed a bit offended when Simon relayed how shit the episode they had to dissect was.
However, and I'm sorry for saying this, I just can't really get on board with Sarah Bee. I don't find her engaging at all. Her musings often just trail off and go nowhere. , and her opinion on the wet wet wet performance, I just switched off. It went nowhere.

I like how Simon has such a visceral firebrand opinion on music and politics. I agree with him on alot of things but not all, but Sarah Bee is just so, "hey ho, it is what it is" on music To the point I actually was thinking. Are you sure you are on the right podcast.
I don't mean to be a prick or overly harsh.
Still love chart music.

Sarah is surely a welcome and necessary contrast to the negativity that sometimes comes from the male journalists? She also prevents the atmosphere becoming too sexist. The downside is that she only gets seems to be given episodes that are dated after my interest in TOTP tailed off.


jamiefairlie

Yeah, you need the varying cynicism of at least one of the other three to balance the chemistry. Price is just scattergun hyperbole and Bee doesn't want to offend anyone and, honestly, doesn't seem to see music as a vital thing, seeming to like the spectacle, the rave, the live interactive experience more. Which is all fine but this works best when there's forensic analysis of the song, the band, the social context of the time, that's when it's really engaging. That's what the other three bring to varying degrees (Taylor being the best at it).

Meanwhile, Al has informed me via Facebook PM that they still plan to cover Savile but are working out how to tackle it.

Rizla

Yeah, I'll chime in and say I wasn't exactly riveted by this, despite the ep in question being one I vividly remember, and remember hating, as at 12 years old I was regularly affronted by the state of the programme which never seemed to feature the stuff I liked in the charts (Tango in the Night would have been my fave album at the time, I remember getting the cassette along with Graceland and the current Shadows release using the old Britannia Music Club scam - older readers will know what I'm talking about here).

Very few laughs, zero social history, a palpable mood of despondency from Pricey and Sarah being a bit too Pollyanna-ish, as others have pointed out. Can't win em all I guess. That recent Parkes/Stubbs episode may have spoiled me a bit.

jamiefairlie

Quote from: Satchmo Distel on October 10, 2020, 10:44:05 PM
Sarah is surely a welcome and necessary contrast to the negativity that sometimes comes from the male journalists? She also prevents the atmosphere becoming too sexist. The downside is that she only gets seems to be given episodes that are dated after my interest in TOTP tailed off.

Is it sexist? I've never really noticed anything that would qualify for that to be honest. Certainly male, in the way they tend to approach things but I'm not sure if they've ever been downright sexist.

Neomod

A very disappointing episode but whoever dissed Prefab Sprout and Aztec Camera upthread is on fucking glue.

jamiefairlie

Quote from: Neomod on October 10, 2020, 11:00:33 PM
A very disappointing episode but whoever dissed Prefab Sprout and Aztec Camera upthread is on fucking glue.

That was me and I stand by it. Bland, tasteful, worthy stuff that's well crafted and won't upset the oldies. You can add Elvis Costello from that period in too, ach may as well go the whole hog....later Orange Juice, later Squeeze, The Beautiful South, Deacon Blue, The Kane Gang, Del Amitri, Then Jerico, Danny Wilson, Hue and Cry, Fairground Attraction, Texas, The Christians....

I mean I could go on but  it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

edon

#226
Quote from: jamiefairlie on October 10, 2020, 11:10:46 PM
That was me and I stand by it. Bland, tasteful, worthy stuff that's well crafted and won't upset the oldies. You can add Elvis Costello from that period in too, ach may as well go the whole hog....later Orange Juice, later Squeeze, The Beautiful South, Deacon Blue, The Kane Gang, Del Amitri, Then Jerico, Danny Wilson, Hue and Cry, Fairground Attraction, Texas, The Christians....

I mean I could go on but  it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Pretty much all the acts listed there do deserve some stick for most of the safe stuff they peddled, but The King Of Rock 'N' Roll and Somewhere In My Heart genuinely were two of the better songs in the Top 40 around the May 1988 period. Although that may say something about the state of both songs and the charts at the same time.

I did say Al should be careful in which TOTPs he picks after 1985, and I think this is a good example of why - they should've gone for one with Bros or S'Express on or something. I don't really agree with all of the criticisms that have been levelled at this episode, but the actual show's content and sheer amount of crap on kind of hindered the quality of the discussion in places. A good deal of it could've just been edited out, no real loss would've been made; it was the longest episode thus far after all.

edon

I already hope they can get another one out sooner than later, a 70s TOTP must be on the cards next. A new Here Comes Quizim wouldn't go amiss either.

kidsick5000

#228
I loved the story of that struggling band Liverpool FC.

But the hatred of Loadsamoney and Star Turn was, in a word, weird.
Especially the reading of some insidious masterplan in Star Turn's chancerish cash-in.
The performance is a huge turd of a thing, but its also a sketch more than a song and they'd not figured how that would look on TV.
(Also, Are You Affiliated? is a corker. I had no idea it was so old)


non capisco

It definitely felt like a comparatively low octane episode (I got the sense that neither of the guests were in the right mood for it, Simon especially) but I did really enjoy Al's unexpected genuine love and enthusiasm for 'Anfield Rap'. And although I don't love the sound of 'King Of Rock And Roll' I wholeheartedly agree with Simon that the opening lyrics to that first verse are utterly wonderful. That "All my lazy teenage boasts/Are now high precision ghosts/And they're coming round the track to haunt me" bit, that jumped out at me on the contemporaneous TOTP repeat when they were in the studio.

Quote from: non capisco on October 11, 2020, 09:37:45 PM
"All my lazy teenage boasts/Are now high precision ghosts/And they're coming round the track to haunt me"

Those lines have brought tears to my eyes a few times, they're too on the nose. For McAloon to have written them at 30 years old is impressive, it took me 15 years longer before I got it.

kidsick5000

While I really can't do the full Heimat of 5.5 hours, but it's still entertaining split into segments.

Quick question. Which was the episode where they went at the last years of Melody Maker?
I think it was another Sarah Bee and Simon Price ep I think

non capisco

Quote from: kidsick5000 on October 11, 2020, 10:06:23 PM
While I really can't do the full Heimat of 5.5 hours, but it's still entertaining split into segments.

Quick question. Which was the episode where they went at the last years of Melody Maker?
I think it was another Sarah Bee and Simon Price ep I think

Sarah and Neil, episode 37, 'ITV Digital And Chill'

kidsick5000


Seedsy

When, rather than if there's a Saville episode. They should make it a clash of the titans, all 5 contributers involved
A 10 hour extravaganza. Al as always keeping things under control

non capisco

It surely can't have the usual CSS theme music, "EHHHH UP" and 'pop and interesting' chat preamble. It will have to be almost a seperate one-off podcast with a tacit understanding that you won't be getting any levity this time. I don't even think it should necessarily be an analysis of a particular episode that Savile hosted as then there'd be uncomfortable tonal shifts between discussing that evil cunt and then whatever acts he was introducing that week. If they're ever going to do it then it should probably be a deck clearing special analysis of the elephant in the room, the effects of that morally diseased indvidual's nation grooming starting with Top Of The Pops and broadening out to all of UK culture.

Taylor has to be one of the guests for this, natch.

edon

#236
They could always go for a show where Savile appears but is among several other R1 DJs, so that his shadow isn't looming over things too much. He definitely only pops up in one or two links during the Christmas 1981 special, which would be an amazing one for them to do:

Quote25/12/81  (Radio 1 DJs)
The Teardrop Explodes – "Reward"
Ultravox – "Vienna"
Kim Wilde – "Kids In America"
The Human League – "Love Action (I Believe In Love)"
Godley & Crème – "Under Your Thumb"
Kirsty MacColl – "There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis"
Dave Stewart & Colin Blunstone – "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?"
The Jacksons – "Can You Feel It?" (Zoo)
Linx – "Intuition"
The Beat – "Too Nice To Talk To"
Spandau Ballet – "Chant No.1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)"
Toyah – "It's A Mystery"
Laurie Anderson – "O Superman" (Zoo)
Altered Images – "Happy Birthday"
Depeche Mode – "Just Can't Get Enough"
OMD – "Souvenir"
Shakin' Stevens – "You Drive Me Crazy"
The Beatles – "All You Need Is Love" (audience singalong + credits)

Other options include the 1000th episode and Radio 1 15th Anniversary show (which has the Dexys Jocky Wilson performance, and I think was previously briefly discussed on CMP for the scene of the DJs dancing to Friend Or Foe by Adam Ant).

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: non capisco on October 11, 2020, 11:42:48 PM
It surely can't have the usual CSS theme music, "EHHHH UP" and 'pop and interesting' chat preamble. It will have to be almost a seperate one-off podcast with a tacit understanding that you won't be getting any levity this time. I don't even think it should necessarily be an analysis of a particular episode that Savile hosted as then there'd be uncomfortable tonal shifts between discussing that evil cunt and then whatever acts he was introducing that week. If they're ever going to do it then it should probably be a deck clearing special analysis of the elephant in the room, the effects of that morally diseased indvidual's nation grooming starting with Top Of The Pops and broadening out to all of UK culture.

Taylor has to be one of the guests for this, natch.

But wouldn't that be a bit of a 'very special episode' of Chart Music? I think they're far too self-aware to put out something like that. Not that your idea is bad, but I just can't imagine them feeling comfortable with an episode in which avuncular Al basically says, "And now the laughter stops, let's get serious."

They did a great job of discussing Glitter in one of the early podcasts, but he was just one act during an otherwise inoffensive episode. I dunno. I think they could do it, but I get why they've held off on it. The Savile story is grim beyond belief. So is the Glitter story, but you know what I mean.

Neomod

I think now they need to take a bit of time with the episode selection (still haven't got through the present one switching to the Smash Hits pod instead).

Personally I don't care if they have several eps from the same year as long as the majority of bands appearing are:

1. Worth talking about
2. Haven't been covered before

Not that difficult I would have thought with one ep a month.

I mentioned an all contributor edition before. Can't remember if it was for the birthday/christmas ep but they should defo do that this christmas[nb]not for Saville though[/nb].

Anyone else hoping/waiting for the inevitable pop culture smorgasbord pod presented by Taylor and friends. I hope his people i.e. him are in talks as we speak.

Seedsy

Absolutely, now they have the backing of great big owl. I'd like them to really get some more iconic episodes instead of the random ones.