Forgotten Fifty: The Festive Fifty (actually 61) of 1977 revealed

[ken garner]

Thanks for the good wishes for the book. Publisher issued this 
release this morning, and we've already got a mention on nme.com 
(complete with factual error). Those from this list who prompted me 
to investigate this are credited at the end. Looks like I'm going to 
be on Nemone on 6 Music either on Peel Day (11th Oct) or day before. 
I'm also doing a talk plus pics and music and 1 or 2 guests in 
Waterstone's Sauchiehall Street Glasgow at 6.30pm on Peel Day, free, 
all welcome - Ken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Issued by BBC Books 9am Thurs 27 September 2007........


DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF JOHN PEEL'S RADIO 1 SESSIONS REVEALS 
THE "FORGOTTEN FIFTY" OF 1977 

DJ John Peel's long lost "Festive 50" of top tracks of 1977 has been 
reconstructed as part of the new definitive history of his show THE 
PEEL SESSIONS, to be published by BBC Books on 4 October 2007. The 
rundown presents a startling snapshot of Peel's personal view of a 
year when music changed for ever, with punk and reggae elbowing out 
the rock legends.

The first ever Festive 50 poll of his listeners' all-time favourite 
tracks was broadcast over Christmas 1976, but with everything 
changing in 1977, Peel and his producer John Walters decided not to 
run a poll that year. Instead, Peel chose his own favourites, but 
presented it as a 'Festive 50' chart rundown anyway. The Top 13 are 
well-documented, but the full chart is the "Forgotten Fifty", 
remembered only in fragments by even diehard listeners.

Prompted by queries and tip-offs from fellow members of the John Peel 
News Group on Yahoo, author Ken Garner reconstructed the chart from a 
combination of listener diaries & off-air tapes, and the programme 
scripts kept on microfilm at BBC Written Archives, Caversham. "Even 
though he referred to it on air as the Festive 50, Peel clearly chose 
60 personal favourites from across the year to spin again, plus The 
Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' cheekily thrown in as an extra at 
the start", he says: "The track was still banned at the BBC in Silver 
Jubilee Year – although Peel had of course played it twice before the 
ban was imposed – and you can imagine the furore if he had drawn 
attention to it by 'placing' it. This way he sneaked it in with no-
one noticing." Although no chart placings are given on the scripts, 
it was possible to count backwards from the number one at the end of 
the final countdown show. "The Forgotten Fifty as a whole in its 
range and order is very much like the nightly Peel shows of the time 
in its mixture of old and new, the fashionable alongside the uncool" 
says Garner, "with some giveaway Peel running-order jokes, like 
following The Boys with The Yobs."

"The Forgotten Fifty" of 1977 itself follows:



1 `Dancing The Night Away' The Motors
2 `Uptown Top Ranking' Althia & Donna
3 `You Beat The Hell Out of Me' The Motors
4 `I Can't Stand My Baby' The Rezillos
5 `Suspended Sentence' John Cooper Clarke
6 `Smokescreen' Desperate Bicycles
7 `Right Track' Merlyn Webber
8 `Like a Hurricane' Neil Young
9 `Complete Control' The Clash
10 `Be Good To Yourself' Frankie Miller
11 `Holidays In The Sun' The Sex Pistols
12 `Shadow' The Lurkers
13 `Truly' J. Ayes and Ranking Trevor
14 `Pigs' Pink Floyd
15 `Incendiary Device' Johnny Moped
16 `New Religion' Some Chicken
17 `See Them Come' Culture
18 `Emergency' The Motors
19 `The Worm Song' The Yobs
20 `Box Number' The Boys
21 `London Lady' The Stranglers
22 `I Don't Wanna' Sham 69
23 `Pinhead' The Ramones
24 `Freedom Connection' Jah Woosh
25 `Can't Give You More' Status Quo
26 `Blue Wind' Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer
27 `White Riot' The Clash
28 `Success' Iggy Pop
29 `Your Generation' Generation X
30 `Nobody Go Run Me' King Short Shirt
31 `Love Story' The Lurkers
32 `Waiting in Vain' Bob Marley & The Wailers
33 `Paradise' Dr Feelgood
34 `Cruel Brother' Five Hand Reel
35 `I'm Stranded' The Saints
36 `Heroes' David Bowie
37 `Sick On You' The Users
38 `Oh Bondage Up Yours!' X Ray Spex
39 `Lookin' After Number 1' The Boomtown Rats
40 `No Man's Land' June Tabor
41 `Neat Neat Neat' The Damned
42 `The Dark End Of The Street' Ry Cooder
43 `Questions' Suburban Studs
44 `Feel Like Making Love' Elizabeth Archer & The Equators
45 `I Knew The Bride' Dave Edmunds
46 `Away From The Numbers' The Jam
47 `Whole Wide World' Wreckless Eric
48 `Green Onions' Roy Buchanan
49 `Wild Dub' Generation X
50 `I.R.T.' Snatch
51 `Pretty Vacant' The Sex Pistols
52 `John Willie's Ferret' The Oldham Tinkers
53 'Stepping Razor' Peter Tosh
54 `Capital Radio' The Clash
55 `Watching The Detectives' Elvis Costello and The Attractions
56 `Bringing In The Morning Light' The Motors
57 `Beginning of The End' Eddie & The Hot Rods
58 `Jocko Homo' Devo
59 `Whatever Happened To' The Buzzcocks
60 `Rocket In My Pocket' Little Feat
...& 61`God Save The Queen' The Sex Pistols

ends


Notes to editors:

• `THE PEEL SESSIONS: a story of teenage dreams and one man's love of 
new music' by Ken Garner will be published by BBC Books on 4th 
October 2007 at £19.99
• For further information, jpegs of John Peel or cover artwork, 
please contact Ed Griffiths at BBC Books on 020 7840 8628 or email 
egriffiths@...
• The Festive Fifty of 1977 was first broadcast on BBC Radio 1, The 
John Peel Show, 22.00-00.00, over the four nights of Thurs 22nd, Fri 
23rd, Mon 26th and Tues 27th December 1977. Reconstructed by Ken 
Garner with contributions from Adrian Barber, Jimmy Stepek, John 
Bravin, & Stu McHugh. Please contact ken_garner@... or via the 
John Peel News Group on Yahoo
• Ken Garner wrote 'In Session Tonight', a history of live pop on BBC 
Radio, described by Q magazine as 'indispensable' and 'a work of 
almost lunatic scholarship' by John Peel. He has worked as a business 
reporter, magazine editor, and newspaper radio critic. He teaches 
journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University.