The Festive Fifty

by Mark Whitby

**** Record Collector In 1976, John Peel broadcast the very first Festive Fifty - a chart compiled from votes by his listeners - in his Radio One show. He continued to do so, roughly speaking, until his untimely death in 2004. Since then, Dandelion Radio have continued to broadcast the chart. This updated version of a book that first came out in 2005 contains information from all of those subsequent festive fifties as well as the since discovered 1977 chart and other details of interest to John Peel's dedicated fans and anyone with an interest in the rare, the challenging, the obscure and the downright good in the world of music. Essential questions answered include: Which album placed eight of its eleven tracks in the festive fifty? Which two bands scored festive fifty entries with eleven consecutive single releases? Which record made number one in four separate festive fifty charts? What is the only track to have appeared in seven festive fifties? And which record made the top twenty of the chart despite only one known copy existing in the UK? As well as providing a historical chronicle of the chart, the book also compiles charts of the top festive fifty artists of all time, the top albums in festive fifty history, most successful record labels, most successful session tracks and complete line-ups of all featured bands.

270 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2015

Reviews

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the uninitiated John Peel was a British DJ who had a long running late night national radio show. The BBC indulged Peel and he was able to play an eclectic mix of music outside of the BBCs playlist. He championed new music and every year his listeners were invited to vote for their favourite tracks of the year. This tended to throw up a chart which was way different from the usual more mainstream charts of the year and often contained bands that most people had never heard of and still haven't. Still the Festive Fifty as it was known was a British institution for many years and has been continued in various forms since Peel's death. This book is a labour of love and a reference to all those charts. I personally love The Fall so was interested to read this but be warned, if you aren't a fan of Indie Music then this isn't for you.

[MR A J POWELL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great memories of my musical youth. Quite a few typos but well worth a read and for future reference.

[Stephen Kirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An almanac of the John peel festive countdown lovingly and meticulously put together by the author. Terrific research and statistics too.