So many brilliant suggestions last night for occupations. The trick was that it had to be a song about your occupation. GIO listners include sculptors, professors, a vegetable recognizer ( true) and every kind of tradesman you could think of. Some folk were really inventive and I had to get some of them onto the blog...
John in Sheildhall the boss of a roofing company:
Anything by Bonnie Tyler
Mike in Fort William who is about to retire as a restaurant manager: Tired of Waiting - The Kinks
Malky, manager of a digital photo lab:
Wishing ( I had a photograph of you) - Flock of Seagulls
Wee Jacqui the bar maid:
Wide eyed and legless - Andy Fairweather Low
Catherine the town planner:
We Built This City - Starship
Frazer the policeman:
You Could Be Lifted - Lighthouse Family
D Attenborough:
Anything by Gorillaz!!!!!
Madmac, accountant:
Get the balance right - Depeche Mode
Lesley from Perth the anaesthetist:
Comfortably numb - Pink floyd
George the shoemaker:
Anything from Rubber Soul
Iain the fraud investigator:
Somebody's watching Me - Rockwell
Last word goes to Kev in Glasgow who texted to say:
"My mate Ali is a full time space cadet How about Walking On The Moon ?
As well as connecting us to the digital future our audio trainee Ian has been keeping himself occupied during those late shifts. Armed only with a mobile phone camera and a Michael Jackson CD he showed us what really goes on at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ HQ in the middle of the night. He has let me put on the blog as long as I promise not to "steal his moves". He has clearly not seem many 43 year olds trying to dance or he would have realised that this would be a physical impossibility!
"How do I get G.I.O on D.A.B ?" was the question posed by Ian Crowther last night. The short answer is you can't. We can be found on FM and online and the football is on MW and DAB. Offering a choice of listening is important to us and I'm happy with the FM option.
The truth is that until today we couldn't even listen to digital radio in our office. This pic will let you see that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is truly at the forefront of the digital revolution. It's an arrangement cooked up by Ian our audio trainee which involves hooking up our new DAB radio to the antenna of what looks like the oldest wireless in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
Still, it does work and it will allow anyone in my office to listen to the footie in the evenings...if they dare!
Songs with lists is the theme for tonight and Matt, who used to be one of the GIO team and is now one of our zones producers, claims that the best ever list song is Chas and Dave's That's What I Like which is their homage to pie and mash, Glen Hoddle, jellied eels and the like. He claims we'll be inundated with requests for it tonight. I have my doubts.
Although they can never be forgiven for Snooker Loopy, Chas and Dave do have an extremely credible musical claim to fame and it's one that implausibly involves Eminem.
It seems that in the 70s they were respected session musicians and among the tracks they played on was Labi Siffre's I Got The which was released in 1975. On the track Chas plays guitar and Dave is playing bass.
Listen to the instrumental break at about 2:10" into the and you'll soon recognise the sample that featured as the main riff in Eminem's My Name Is.
Who would have though that they inventors of Rockney would end up providing the musical inspiration for the world's best rapper...
Trying to get this online in the midst of one of the most enjoyable shows in a long time. It has been
such great fun hearing everyone's stories of their secret singles shame. Rockin' Ralph plumped for Chicory Tip and
Son Of My Father which prompted me to check out their official
. Worth a look for the shocking before and after pics. Then they looked like a
'sooked in cheekbones' version of The Verve; now they look like Black Lace. There were some impressive choices tonight. Liked Glen Miller's story of buying Please, Please Me on reel to reel tape. He's still got it and sent this pic to prove it...
There have been several times when I have felt I feel like being stretchered off after a particularly busy show, but this is the first time I have ended up in a stretcher before a show.
Over the weekend I was hosting a 'get fit for winter' event at a big outdoor shop ( I should point out that's a shop that sells outdoor gear and not a shop that just happens to be outside!) and among the guests were the Ochills Mountain Rescue team. The guys felt that in order to appreciate the work that they do I should spend a bit of time as a 'casualty'.
If we were allowed to run competitions then I would say this is a caption competition waiting to happen...
Next week's themes are now up and running so don't be shy about getting your suggestions in. I think occupations night will be good fun especially for those with fairly unusual jobs. I'm also looking forward to Monday night's 1st singles show although most of the folk I've talked to seem to have two - the one you admit to and the one that you really bought but are far too ashamed to admit to. Feel free to send me both.
Mon:
Some were cool, most were cringeworthy, but we all had one....'the first single you ever bought' is the theme for tonight. Confess all on the email or if you really feel like going public then leave a comment on the blog...
Tue:
Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover, We Didn't Start The Fire or even This Ole House. Tonight's theme is 'songs with lists in them'. Jim from Erskine suggested this on the blog a few weeks back so I am expecting an extra long one from him to kick us off.Send an email with your suggestions or call and text during the show...
Wed:
Occupations is tonight's theme....but there is a twist! It has to be a song about YOUR occupation. Don't even think about suggesting Hang The DJ. Let's hear about your Career Opportunities by e-mail, call or text...
Thurs:
Let's get ready for Halloween with a night of Goths, ghosts and ghouls. Jan from Rutherglen suggested this and Moira Harkins has been pleading for a night on the 'dark side'. Email your spooky sounds to getiton@bbc..co.uk or leave a comment on the blog...
We've got whips, several screeches, some motorbikes, assorted telephones and some classic camera clicking all going on in tonight's show. All you have to do is spot what the songs are. The theme is sound fx on pop songs and I think it's going to be fun couple of hours.
Obviously the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ library has a wealth of sound fx to dip into but I did find this wonderful which has handy hints and tips for making your own home-made effects. Should you ever require to recreate the sound of 'blood and guts being torn out' then someone called Adam has the following advice:
"I know how to make a nice sound of blood and guts being torn out. Just make a milk pulp and put it into your mouth, and they try to say "Ghhhh". Mix it with the end section of any splash water sample or add a sample where you're moving out your hand from the barrel of water..."
Cheesiest song of the whole show last night was the ripe, oozing country Camembert, No Charge.
J.J. Barrie charted with this song in 1976 and implausibly it got to number 1. It was eventually knocked off it's perch by The Wurzels' Combine Harvester which for music lovers must have been a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.
I also realised last night that I had once interviewed the man who wrote the song. Harlan Howard wrote classics like I Fall To Pieces, Heartaches By The Number and Busted.
Tonight, I'm delighted to say another cheesy number should make it to the playlist. The theme is 'flight' and so Julie in Edinburgh has asked us to include the theme from the cult Scottish comedy, The High Life.
Only one series was made of the wonderfully funny sit-com focused on the antics of Air Scotia stewards Steve and Sebastian. It was described as "a slice of mile high camp" which doesn't go halfway to explaining how over the top it was. I think it's still available on DVD so well worth a viewing if tonight's theme tune whets your appetite. I've spent far too long this afternoon watching clips of Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson prancing around in their slacks and mourning the fact that they didn't carry on together. They could have gone on to be one of Scotland's great comedy partnerships. Maybe they are anyway?
Oh the pain! 24 hours after the end of the Amsterdam marathon I feel like I have been set about by twelve burly blokes all taking pot shots at my legs with their tackety boots.
There has been some pain relief though.ÌýThere can't be many people who go to Amsterdam for the weekend and have a massage for totally legitimate reasons!
It was a great race and even though I was reduced to taking walk breaks in the last few miles I did manage to finish in 2hrs 55 mins. Chuffed with that.
You could be forgiven for thinking that I am obsessed by
lavatorial matters, but I had to share with you the facilities on offer at the marathon.
I know the Dutch are very free and easy and rather more relaxed about certain matters than us Brits. Whilst I approve of their tolerance, I have to say that encouraging folk to relieve themselves in the open air was just a little bit too 'European' for an uptight Aberdonian like me.
However, it was only 10 minutes till the race started, the queue for the cubicles was a mile long and unless I was going to do a 'Paula' there was nothing else to do but 'go dutch'.
I'm putting the themes up early this week as I'm off to Amsterdam for the weekend to run the marathon. I suspect I might be the first Scottish bloke to go to Amsterdam and not drink beer or eat chips and mayonnaise...well at least till the marathon's over.
It's been a great response on the blog so far so let's hope as many folk log on and start posting suggestions for this week.
BTW, all the themes this week have been suggested by GIO regulars so don't be shy about submitting your theme ideas...
Monday 20th October:
Valerie in Shetland has suggested a positive and negative theme to kick off. It's songs with 'yes' and songs with 'no' in them, or maybe both! So we could play McAlmont & Butler 'Yes', Amy Winehouse 'Rehab', Midge Ure 'No Regrets' or Baccara 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie'. We will also accept the odd yeah or naw but definitely not maybe!
Tuesday 21st October:
Leaving On A Jet Plane, BA Robertson or perhaps something from Pilot? Flying is the theme, as suggested by Joe in Linlithgow. If you would like to contribute to the in-flight entertainment then get posting...
Wednesday 22nd October:
The car door on 'Love Is The Drug', the siren on 'Two Tribes' or the horses' hooves on 'Stand and Deliver'. Sound effects on pop records is the theme and it's been suggested by John in Shieldhall. Call or text during the show or leave a comment on the blog...
Thursday 23rd October:
Vic Galloway sits in for me tonight and will surely have on eye on the clock. That's because tonight's theme is time, suggested by Gordy. Do you want to hear Gene Pitney 'Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa', The Beautiful South 'A Minute's Silence' or maybe Culture Club with 'Time (Clock Of The Heart)'? E-mail getiton@bbc.co.uk and get ready to rock around the clock...
"Guess who had a tinkle in my toilet?" asked my producer Barbara today. As far as opening lines go it's definitely one that's going to hook you in.
Turns out that her celebrity tinkler was none other than Jane Asher who was filing a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ drama on Barbra's street. ( I should point out it's not a drama about Barbara's street but if her stories are to be believed it's a cross between Wisteria Lane and Peyton Place!)
Our office has a cake obsession so the fact that the high priestess of home baking has paid a visit to the producer's loo is the source of much excitement to us.
And let's not forget that thanks to Jane's relationship with Paul McCartney, Barbara's smallest room now has a Beatles connection. I sense a request for a blue plaque coming up...
Ìý
There is a popular misconception (especially on the blog) that Smash Hits only ever featured the naff side of pop. Sure artists like New Kids On the Block and Kajagoogoo were staples but looking through some back issues it's amazing to think that the Skids, the associates, Bauhaus and X-ray Specs were all cover stars. Very little work has been done in the office this afternoon thanks to John in Sheildhall and Jan from Glasgow. They popped into the studios at lunchtime with a collection of magazines and associated memorabilia from the late 70s and early 80s. I've spent the afternoon 'researching' and reminding myself about bands like The Polecats, the Mod-ettes and Blue Rondo A La Turk. There was some respectable music journalism in those early issues and that irreverent approach that was a trademark of Smash Hits has been replicated elsewhere. The credits list includes David Hepworth and Mark Ellen who went on to form Q, Empire and Word magazines. Jan has also had her work featured in Smash Hits which you can see below. Bet that had Jimi Sommerville quaking in his DM boots...
Ìý
My weekend was pretty much dominated by sequins and sweat with my role as MC at the opening ceremony of the which were held at Glasgow's Kelvinhall.
'Acro' is this amazing sport that seems to be a mixture of dance moves, contortions and incredible strength. Think Strictly Come Dancing meets World's Strongest Man.
The oddest moment for me was when a gymnastics official from England worried about whether my Scottish accent would be understood by people. Ha, it's not like I talk like Rab C Burnett.
I struggled to understand the scoring system but ( I hope) nodded approvingly at all the right bits. This is a sport with a lot of judges and officials. There were more blazers in evidence here than at an annual bowling club outing.
The athletes themselves were a dedicated bunch made up of lithe young woman who were able to put their limbs in places that would make most of us wince, and big muscle men who were able to support three teammates balancing on their shoulders.
Mind you, to get away with outfits like these you would need to be a tough guy...
A really busy week on the show... and on the blog. It's great to see so many people posting suggestions and their thoughts about music. Don't be shy about joining in the fun and once you've signed up you will be able to contribute to any of the blogs in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ blogs network.
Here are the themes for next week. Hope there's enough there to stimulate the brain cells...
Monday
We've teamed up with the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival for tonight's show. In the first hour we'll be featuring the songs that never fail to lift your mood and in the second it's an hour of chill out tunes as chosen by you...
Tuesday
The Man Booker Prize is announced tonight so it's books and literature for tonight's theme. What are the songs that name check famous authors and novels? Put pen to paper and get your suggestions in....
Wednesday
Smash Hits went on sale for the first time this week in 1978 so tonight we'll be celebrating the 'Smash Hits generation'. Plastic Bertrand graced the cover of the very first issue but what were the artists that you remember from the greatest pop music magazine ever?
Thursday
Blue Peter made it's debut 50 years ago today and gave us one of television's most memorable theme tunes. To celebrate we are returning to TV themes for tonight's show. Why not leave a comment on the blog or e-mail getiton@bbc.co.uk?
When is an intro not an intro? Ask the Get It On audience as there were plenty opinions aired last night. According to the dictionary definition an intro establishes the melody and rhythm of a song and is related to the main body of the piece.
"Introductions may be an ostinato that is used in the following music, an important chord or progression that establishes the tonality and groove for the following music, important but disguised or out of context motivic or thematic material.As such the introduction may be the first statement of primary or other important material, may be related to but different from the primary or other important material, or may bear little relation to any other material" says Wikipedia.
That's cleared that up then. We were in murky waters last night with some of our choices - Fat Bottomed Girls is a good example. "It does have an intro", someone pointed out last night. "It just happens to have vocals on it!"
I suppose the " Oh, who's gonna take you home tonight..." section would qualify as the intro, with the song not actually starting until Freddie starts singing about being a skinny laddie.
Tonight's theme of 'emotions' should be less controversial, but just in case:
An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. It is a prime determinant of the sense of subjective well-being and appears to play a central role in many human activities.
Top show last night. It seems we are all a little bit obsessed by food. Thanks to everyone who contributed, especially those who shared details of their tea. Special thanks to the Inverpolly crew who sent in a list of 'toast' songs and a lovely jar of home made marmalade. Now that's what I'd like to encourage. Sadly it didn't arrive until today but it was very much appreciated by the team. Now all I need to do is convince Ken to send us some of his home made apple pie from last night.
I knew 'food' as a theme would bring in some good puns and you didn't let me down. I liked:
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep ( where's your mama's scone?)
Take My Broth Away - Berlin
Eatin trifles - The Jam
The Glasgow Wrap - Johnnie Beattie
And the texter who asked for anything by Coldplay as they are mince!
Tonight it's songs with no intros. We're starting with Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads and you can decide what come next by texting in or e-mailing getiton@bbc.co.uk
I'm back at work today after a weekend of star spotting at The Great North Run. Myself and my mate Stewart shared a lift with Tony and Cherie which was fun, although I should point out it that was a lift as in an elevator as one of my pals thought I meant that The Blairs had stopped the jag and offered us a hurl to the race! I also managed to get some swimming tips from our Olympic gold medal winner, Rebecca Addlington. Lovely girl and really encouraging about my doggy paddle. However, Kirsten suggested that before posting the picture online I should point out that despite appearances, the hangbag really does belong to Rebecca!!!
Here we go again then. Something to get you thinking over the weekend. I am having issues with Tuesday though. All week I have been thinking about what a great theme it was and now as I write this I can't think of a single track which fits the bill. Help!
Monday
It's not only the Get It On team that are obsessed by food. It's a popular theme which has been suggested by Jan from Rutherglen, John in Shieldhall and Iain "Vinylman" Lyall. Strawberry Fields, Bread, Rock Lobster or The Jam? Leave your menu on the blog...
Tuesday
'No intros' is the theme for tonight. Let's have your suggestions of the songs that get straight down to business. E-mail getiton@bbc.co.uk or why not leave a comment on the blog?
Wednesday
U2 were at Number 1 this week in 1988 with 'Desire' and Neil Martin suggested 'emotions' as a theme. How about 'Don't Worry, Be Happy', 'Comfortably Numb' or 'Too Shy'? Leave a comment on the blog with your favourite songs of desire, anger, passion, joy and the rest...or email getiton@bbc.co.uk.
Thursday
It's time for another 'themeless Thursday' where it's open house on Get It On. Whatever you want to hear, for whatever reason, get in touch and get it on....
Good to be back at work after a very relaxing but active holiday. After spending ten days running in the mountains of Colorado it's appropriate that someone asked for Running Bear tonight. It's quite alarming to be out for your morning jog and then come across a sign like the one above.
Nancy e-mailed to say that on their first day in Boulder, her godson and his 3 year old child saw a Bear sitting on the picnic table in the garden. No matter how many Paddington stories you read him nothing can prepare a kid for seeing that!
Rather than bring back the expected sweeties or chocolates (and let's face it is there nay body who enjoys American chocolate. That H*ershey's stuff is like the cake covering pretend chocolate you used to get) I brought back some election badges.
"Save the drama for Obama" went down particularly well but not many takers for the " I heart McCain" badge which will probably not surprise those critics who claim there is a liberal bias at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ! It eventually went to a colleague who claimed he would wear the McCain badge as he does do good chips...
