³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

TUESDAY

'Gossip' - Michael Marra

Elton John, Lionel Blair, H.M. The Queen, Dorothy Paul, Frankie Howerd, the Beatles, David Bowie. (In that order).

Tuesday

What a name check list... Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Mussolini

Powerman - T.Kinks

Monday

Red Shoes - Elvis Costello - I brought this song to a band I played in at the time. He eventually made it, unlike the band

Tuesday

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way? - Waylons Jennings - Ungrammatical classic

Wednesday

Come Away Melinda - Tim Rose - Unintentionally hilarious anti-war song eclipsed by Morning Dew


Thursday

Far Away Eyes - Rolling Stones - Mick pretends he's Dwight Yoakam in this tale of a US gospel station.

Monday

Tuesday 'For Jethro l.o.l.'

Wednesday

Thursday

"The first moon landing by man." As opposed to what?

Was this prepared by the team who brought us "outdoor" weather forecast

Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering...

Brilliant! We have a pirate theme.....

THURSDAY

'There's A Ghost In My House' - Arrrrrrrrr Dean Taylor

>8-D

TUESDAY

'England's Glory' - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

I would need a lyric sheet to mention them all. Includes 'Muffin the Mule'

'nuff said!

Monday Discoveries

I was at the Sex Pistols in Manchester along with Mark E Smith, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Morrissey, Paul Morley, Mick Hucknall... no, wait. I've confused my life with the script of 24 Hour Party People. Tony Wilson had the same problem, so I don't feel so bad.

Hmm - I'm clearly no talent scout, as I either get into bands long post-hype whose music is really good *despite* the hype (Fratellis for example) or find , but don't get there because they concentrate on the music, not the being famous (see Oasis for the opposite approach).

However, I did spend a lot of evenings in the Royal Oak in Edinburgh singing with Karine Polwart, before she joined up with a couple of mates of mine to form Malinky. I'm not requesting her cos I never thought she was the stand out talented one (that would be ).

What else... I first heard They Might Be Giants while working in the US in 1990; not particularly early in their career, but before they'd really got any airplay here, so perhaps that counts? If so, Istanbul (Not Constantinople) please.

I heard (and instantly loved - it's still one of my Desert Island Discs) Capercaillie: Ma theid mise tuilleadh (If I Ever Go Again) in about 1989, which was pretty early for them.

Finally, I was a big John Peel fan throughout the 80s, but the only only track I remember hearing and thinking at the time "this lot are going to be big" was Duran Duran: Planet Earth.

Mon
I was once dragged along to the QM halls of residence by my Benbeculean,
Benbeculite, Benbeculonian, by a date who came from Benbecula to see a band called Runrig from 'the islands'. There were 12 people watching and they did an encore before coming out to chat to us about how they were trying to get a gig in Tiffany's in Sauchiehall st. A couple of years later I saw them again at the Barraland amidst a heaving mass of sweaty dancing bodies. So howsabout Nightfall on Marsco or Hearts of Olden Glory.

Tues ah good theme and hunners to choose from

She's so high / Tal Bachman.....Cleopatra joan of arc and aphrodite
On and On / Stephen Bishop.......Sinatra
The Future / Leonard Cohen....Stalin, Charles manson, St Paul
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Thoughts From Abroad / Clifford T Ward...Browning Keats Wordsworth
Werewolves of London / Warren Zevon / Lon Chaney

and not forgetting
Life is a Rock but the radio rolled me / Reunion
which mentions everyone and could also do Thursday's theme too

Wed
Eve of Destruction / Barry McGuire
Be thankful for what you got / William De Vaughn
Let's Clean up the ghetto / Philadelphia International allstars
There'll never be peace till god is seated at the conference table /Chi- Lites
Let Em In / Billy Paul
White Lines / Grandmaster flash

Thu
Ten to Eight / David Castle (for my not so wee sis who used to brush her hair to the rhythm of the music playin on the radio)
Radio Africa / Latin Quarter
Listen to the Radio / Tom Robinson
Spirit of Radio / Rush
FM / Steely Dan

Or one for the old Pirate Radio ships
Rock the Boat / Hues Corporation

#10

Didn't have that early privilege, but *did* manage to get previews of vocal lines for songs that ended up on The Big Wheel, as a certain singer was standing for Edin Uni Rector during the recording sessions, and I was on his campaign team[1]. Not in a "here, listen to this" way, but a walking along between hustings, practising and trying to get right way.

Many of that campaign team ended up on the Loch Lomond footage far too often for it to be co-incidence too - we reckoned it was revenge :-)

[1] A good friend of mine was campaign manager - hi Lindsay!

Tuesday namechecks:

If you avoid Billy Bragg: Levi Stubbs' Tears then there's something very, very far wrong.

You also get

Norman Whitfield and Barratt Strong
Are here to make everything right that's wrong
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you

on that track.

However, I might forgive substituting that for Billy Bragg: Ingrid Bergman.

...advanced warning: I'm going to have a longish list for Wednesday. And that's just the Billy Bragg subsection :-)

It may involve a little bit of politics (as Ben Elton put it).

Thursday Radio

Another *huge* selection of songs to pick from (including Scissor Sisters, Monty Python, The Selecter & Slade), but I'm going to plump for Roger Waters: Radiowaves. You could, of course, play the whole album Radio K.A.O.S. as it's pretty much all on-topic.

There's also a compilation or two of tracks played on Radio Caroline (there's at least one other regular blogger who has it), with classic 70s tracks and original jingles - it'd be great if you could play a few of those as idents (say going into the Fred Macaulay trail) just to confuse the casual listener :-)

Has Lulu stood on something?

Monday

I bought an LP having heard this group on Radio Luxembourg. This group was fronted by a gorgeous blonde who sang punk in 1978 and I tried to get my fish-merchant pal to listen to a few of their tracks en route to Peterhead market at half past three one Saturday morning in July of that year.

"Aye, no bad", says he, " but they'll never make it big"

Thirty years later, "Always touched by your presence dear" is still one of my Blondie favourites.

DC in Cellardyke

THURSDAY (Pirate theme)

'Harrrrbor Lights' - Boz Scaggs - for DC

>8-D

#18

I think that mike is live........

Before they were famous.....
There are a couple of tremendous Whistle Test compilation DVD's around which read like a Who's Who of rock and feature early or first Tv performances of loads of Legends. Everything from Marley to U2 to Skynyrd to Roxy to Alice Cooper etc. Great stories as well from the presenters about their memories of the performances and meeting these future stars for the first time.

Best one was Bob Harris's story of Focus and how they realised for the first time that they were actually affecting music sales. Noone knew of them before they appeared on the programme and within a fortnight the band had both Sylvia and Hocus Pocus the two tracks played on the programme, in the charts simultaneously.

#22

Lots of play on Caroline too - good reason to get Hocus Pocus on for Thursday if you ask me.

I've just remembered too - Runrig: Hearthammer namechecks Radio Caroline as part of imagery from childhood. But then again, Runrig are on the GiO banned list (along with Tull, Fratellis etc)

Before David Gilmour became a famous solo artist, he played with a little known band called Pink Floyd....

DC

Mon 'Them' came to St Convals chapel hall.The lead singer (Van somebody or other) never looked up.They never looked back.

Tue Chip Taylors 'It Don't Get Better Than This' name checks Springstein,Tiger woods,the Yankees,and even the boy they were taking back to Cuba.Great song.

Wed The title track from the same album,Chip Taylors Black And Blue America.A nostalgic look back at liberal America in the sixties features Martin Luther Kings 'I Have A Dream'speech.Check it out if you haven't heard the track.

Thurs Jamiroquai 'Radio'

#9 - agree re John Peel.

Most Saturday lunchtimes would see me tootling along from my Saturday job to a record shop in Frederick (or was it Hanover ) Street to buy, quite often from 'Big John out of The Exploited', some of the records I'd heard on the John Peel show and had read about in The NME...stuff that was non-mainstream at the time but then mostly made it into the charts a while later...I'd be a mixture of pleased and disappointed if they got into the charts....funnily enough, The Daughter 'discovered' Taylor Swift about a year ago...I quite understood how she felt when La Swift finally hit the charts here and The Daughter was really irked to hear 'neds' singing her songs on the bus (as they do). Sometimes music's like your own little secret...you know fine well it's not really just for you but it's fun to imagine you're the only one with your (good?)taste.

Records I bought by bands that were successful later include:

UB40's first single - double A side 'King'/'Food For Thought' (I liked 'Food For Thought' better).

Ian Dury and the Blockheads - 'Clevor Trever' from 'New Boots and Panties - bought in 1977.

The Specials' first single - 'Gangsters' ...which was, I thought, always a dead-cert to be successful...there was so much hype about them.

Madness's first single - 'The Prince'.

Echo and the Bunnymen - 'Rescue' - saw them in 1980 in Valentino's disco in Edinburgh...they didn't reach the top twenty of the charts till 1982.

When I saw The Police in 1979, I remember them singing 'Message In A Bottle' before it had been released. They'd already had a song in the top ten by that time but their global success came later. That concert was more of a success than a previous gig in Edinburgh where, as support band to Albertos Y los Trios Paranois, they had bottles thrown at them.

I do have a real soft-spot for 'Rowche Rumble' and 'how I Wrote Elastic Man' by The Fall, but they're still very much a cult band, even after 30 years and acres of newsprint in serious music journals and the arts sections of the Sunday supplements.

I heard Billy Bragg on John Peel's show and bought 'Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy' in 1983 - I like 'The Milkman Of Human Kindness' but his fame isn't really comparable with Sting's is it?

#26...oops! got a bit carried away there...sorry folks.

#26, #27

I'm not much of a Sting fan (although I do like the Police stuff) and I am a Bragg fan, but I'd have to agree with you. Bragg is underrated, and perhaps, according to your theory, that's not SUCH a bad thing, as we fans can feel like he's just for us! :-)

#26

Julie,

When Sting and his playmates were having Bottles hurled in their direction, why didn't they get the Message?

>8-D

#29

Perhaps they weren't standing Close enough.

#30

Must have had a Deathwish.

BOMBS AWAY.................

Max B Gold advises that when he was a student busybody and entertainment something or other he signed up Wet, Wet, Wet, Goodbye Mr McKenzie and Deacon Blue on the same bill for a paltry £1,200.

I'm just telling you that because none of them went on to be any good but they were "discovered" soon after.

My friend (and now neighbour) Colin booked Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath and Alex Harvey in 1970 when none of them were household names. People generally went because there was a late bar.

Was Colin a policeman?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Now, if I do THAT joke, I'll be severely moderated!

Tuesday - Songs That Namecheck Celebs:
Bette Davies Eyes - Kim Carnes
Diana - Prefab Sprout (Princess Diana)
End Of The World As We Know It - R.E.M. (Lenny Bruce)
Absent Friends - The Divine Comedy (Steve McQueen)
Taxman - The Beatles (Mr Wilson, Mr Heath...)
I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher - Notsensibles
John Kettley Is A Weatherman - A Tribe Of Toffs
Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly
(she runs an excellent chain of cafes across America - I frequented them often when driving between Nevada and California when I worked in the States)

Thursday - Radio Songs:
Don't Listen To The Radio - The Vines (a pure belter!)
Calling All Stations - Genesis
Last Request - Paulo Nutini
Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello
Midnight In A Perfect World - DJ Shadow
Radio Musicola - Nick Kershaw
W*O*L*D* - Harry Chapin
Transmission - Japan
Let The Record Play - Wait For Green

Tue: 'A Simple Desultory Philippic' - Simon and Garfunkel, from 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme' (mentions Norman Mailer, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Lou Adler, Phil Spector, Dylan Thomas, Art Garfunkel...and more). It's a track I've always liked...it's clever, amusing...and short.

Wednesday - Songs With A Powerful Message:
Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello
This Land Is Your Land - Billy Bragg
Ellis Unit One - Steve Earle
Bag Lady - Todd Rundgren
Weary Whaling Grounds - Jack The Lad
Drive - The Cars (took on a whole new meaning after Live Aid)
I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister - Pete Seeger
Imagine - John Lennon

MONDAY

I used to work with a cousin of Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross. The cousin Colin used to play in a band called Those French Girls. I jammed a wee bit here and there with Colin at his house and he told me about his cousin's band. I remember him playing me a demo of Dignity then eventualy told me they got signed by CBS. I bought Raintown the day it was released but it was about a year later before it became a hit after all the singles had been re-released.

I saw Lloyd Cole at the Hammersmith Odeon when I was in London around October 2004 and the support act was the then unknown James Blunt.

And as it seems I am almost obliged to Give Roxy Music a mention so here goes, Bryan Ferry played in a band called The Banshees in the 60's in Newcastle. (This was the inspiration behind Souxsie naming her band as they all met at a Roxy gig and where big fans)

Ferry also played in a band called The Gas Board with film director Mike Figgis when they where at college.

J.O'B.

Monday:

1986, Aberdeen University, and a friend has managed to get hold of a copy of a demo tape made by two lads from Auchtermuchty... it all sounds a bit raw, but wonderfully colloquial. The Proclaimers are booked to play Ritzy's nightclub, so we go along and are treated to the most inspirational and energetic performance you can imagine. They have a short set, only 10 or 12 numbers, but the crowd are so enthused and insistent that the duo play virtually the whole set again... what a night!

How about 'Throw the R Away' or "Over and Done With"' to remind me of that night?

For Monday
I Saw the Thompson Twins at the Sword Hotel in Stirling in either late 79 or early 80 after buying their first single 'Perfect Game' see if you can find it. It's very good and quite different to the later stuff they recorded...

Frankindennyinspain

#35 ?!?

So Colin had a magic wand. So does Sooty.

Is anyone keeping a league table of how often they have their posts removed?

If my memory serves me right:

Glenn 4
Scotch 2
Paolo 1
DC 1
The rest 0

However, I may be wrong so need to be telt

DC

Thursday:

'The days before rock and roll' by Van the Man lists a whole lot of wireless stations which were around in the 60s, Athlone, AFN, Hilversum, Luxembourg, Budapest, Helvetia etc

I can't say I ever listened to Radio Caroline, preferring the original Radio Scotland which was anchored not far from where I stay

DC I suggested that one before without any luck and certainly hope it gets played this time. It would also fit namecheck night very well indeed with references to Elvis, Jerry lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Little Richard and of course Lester Piggot and Van's goldfish!

Great track.

#43

That was The Thompson Twins as a 7-piece? I wasn't a fan at the time (too young), but my big sis was. She had In The Name of Love and played it to death in the house, so when it was referenced in Love On Your Side in the trio days (a few years later, when I was a fan), I got it straight Away.

Monday - Before They Were Famous:

I'm going for two bands both of which I knew before they went on to bigger and better things.

The first is Runrig. In the 80's, before many of their massive hits, I was in a band called The Sheep Worriers! We got the job of supporting the boys around the colleges and uni halls. Great fun! We'd turn up, get to hear Runrig do their setup/sound check, do our own sound check, and then have the extremely easy job of warming up an already buoyant crowd! Hanging out backstage with the boys was fun - the then drummer was going out with my cousin and at one point I almost expected us to be welcoming him into the family! Alas, that did not happen... Which brings me to my second choice:

The Liberties. My aforementioned cousin Alison was front woman in the excellent Edinburgh country band, so naturally I got to hear their material before release. They were a great wee band and it was a shame that they didn't ultimately make it - their first album was great!

So my choices are:

Hearthammer - Runrig
Colour Of My Car - The Liberties

#45
2 for adam and one for Jim methinks

#46 and #47
I'll third it but won't bother repeating the story of my Daddy's radiogram again

#48
Would that have been after the QM hall of Residence gig then?

oops I meant #49 not #48

A wee hand / cheat, call it what you like, for anyone wondering if their favourite artist has ever namechecked a celeb.

Eh, I didnae suggest Duran duran. That's the first signs Bryan. Drink lots of coffee, that'll reverse the process :-)

For some folk to check when/where gigs were:

#50 #51

It might have been! I was NOT driving that night! ;-)

There were others too, including Napier around the same time. It's all a wee bit hazy nowadays, you understand...

#53 HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

DC

#49, "The Sheep Worriers", eh?

Where did you say you originated from Jim?

;-)

DC

A Wooly Bully

#57

It wasn't my band - I just rode shotgun ;-)

And my lot come from the North East, basically - your neck of the woods.

#59
DC and JFE....Separated at birth ...and found each other again on the GIO Blog. How good are stories with a happy ending :-)

It's time to reclaim your rightful inheritance - The Menie Estate.

now that would be a trump card to play.

#59, so geography isn't your strong point...

Last time I looked, Cellardyke was only thirty miles north of the border, so hardly my neck of the woods at all!!!!

DC in the south east

#63

We've already had this discussion - I was shorthanding it assuming you might remember, but no matter.

Good show tonight. Nice to see the blog well represented.

;-0

#49

Jim,

Was yon a 'Dolly' tribute band?

>8-D

#64 shorthanding the map of Scotland. Have you run that one by Ecky Redfish?

TUESDAY

When Smokey Sings - ABC
Mentions, Luther Vandross, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown and Marvin Gaye

Dont Phunk With My Heart - Black Eyed Peas
Mentions, Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston

The Jean Genie - David Bowie
Mentions, Marilyn Monroe, Snow White

Mr. D.J. - Charlie Daniels
Mentions, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Skaggs, Alabama (the country group), George Jones, Mickey Gilley

Brimful Of Asha - Corner Shop
Mentions, Asha Bohsle

Sunny South Kensington - Donovan
Mentions, Alan Ginsburg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mary Quant

Radioactivity - Kraftwerk
Mentions, Madame Marie Curie

Trans Europe Express - Kraftwerk
Mentions, Iggy Pop, David Bowie

All The Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople
Mentions, Beatles, Stones, T Rex

Behind the Wall of Sleep - The Smithereens
Mentions, Jeannie Shrimpton, Bill Wyman

GET IT ON!

From Hank to Hendrix - Neil Young
Mentions, Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix

No, and no.

#69

Charlie Daniels Band; guid yin!

I was considering a request for it on Thursday...

Trying to avoid musicians as we had that recently:

Bob Dylan - Hurricane

David Bowie - Andy Warhol

Indigo Girls - Gallileo, he says somewhat desperately by now

Springsteen - Jesus Was An Only Son

Iggy Pop - China Gitrl (Brando reference)

Lou Reed - The Day John Kennedy Died

But if we were to have musicians

Mary Chapin Carpenter - I Feel Lucky (Lyle Lovett and Dwight Yoakam)

The Who - Mirror Door (great great track with an absolute who's who of influential musicians)

So Lonely - The Police (Sue Lawley)

72# Good shout David Bowie - Andy Warhol, Hunky Dory a great album

#72

Sorry Norrie...

#67

Bah humbug?

DC

Not at all MMFC that is a great list you have, everyone a winner!

I thought about Jonathon Richman and The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso I guess that would fall foul of the timeslot. Bowie does a good version too.

#77

'Suck it and See' - Sweet

#80 Mott The Hoople - Sucker.......sorry!

TUESDAY - CELEB MENTIONS

Brian Protheroe - Pinball " ....read about Monroe, and I wonder was she really what they say..." Haven't heard it since the seventies, it's an unusual song with lyrics that I always enjoyed.

Neil Young - Campaigner "... even Richard Nixon has got soul...."

Bob Dylan - Lennie Bruce

TUESDAY
You Were Right: Badly Drawn Boy (Namechecks The Queen, Madonna, Sinatra, Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain and John Lennon)

WEDNESDAY
Surely you can't let the night pass without some Billy Bragg? Let me add to to the long list promised by CaptRamius (#16): Would love to hear "DAYS LIKE THESE".... I think it could be BBs finest moment. Alternatively, if you can find another song with the word 'dogma' in the lyrics, play that instead.

Wednesday - OMG, just one night! There's enough from the civil rights movement to fill GIO for many,many more. How about "Abraham, Martin and John" from Marvin Gaye or "A Change is gonna come" from Sam Cooke. Or "Mississippi Goddamn" - Nina Simone. A bit older Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" is just haunting. And a (wee) bit newer - Neil Young's "Southern Man". Change the subject a bit - "Woman in chains" - Tears for Fears or "Sisters are doin' it for themselves" - Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin. And what about Eric Bogle's "No man's land". Does anyone believe a war will end wars?

Good show last night. In tribute to the man who brought us all so many undiscovered bands, pray .

(now if we're talking knowing *comedians* before they were famous, I've known Mitch Benn since our Freshers' Week)

#83

I started mentally listing tracks while in the shower this morning, and came to the conclusion I'm going to have to have subcategories, likely to include:

* Civil Rights in various countries
* Gender Politics/Domestic Violence
* Trade Unionism
* Civil wars in various countries
* Gay Rights
* Rise of Fascism
* General pacifism
* Positive Thinking
* Dissatisfaction with standard popular culture

Can you tell I grew up in the 80s, and always preferred a track with a lyric that *meant* something..?

# 85

How about a Bragg special (on 20th Dec the bards birthday)?... after all we have had Dylan and Springsteen specials!

OK... I'll fetch my coat.

Look forward to the list though.

For Wed
Stevie Wonder............ Heaven help us All

TUESDAY: name checks

Bryan Ferry 'Cruel'

the line "James Bond, Jackie O, Johny Ray and Garbo"

J.O'B.

#85

I've just discovered I can't come to your party after all.

#81
great shout for pinball.

Had a bizarre experience driving back from work there. Several vinyl albums strewn across the carriageway in and out of their sleeves. Neil Young Crosby Stills Etc CCR amongst others. Emdy out there upset their missus lately?

Did you stop and get any?

#90

Regularly - it's a daily hazard :-S

#91
Na but I think I halved a copy of Harvest.

#92
Don't think any of them were yours Jim. No tull or Dolce from what I could see :-)

Mr. MacLean,

You kept that very quiet! When do you find time to sleep?

Kept what quiet SG?

Think I just heard someone doin the hoovering in the studio

That sucks!

Great track Scotch!!

#98

Lots of Michael's songs namecheck folk. Dr. John, Grace Kelly,Frida Kahlo, General Grant, Bob Dylan, Hamish McAlpine, etc. etc.

I'm a wee bit surprised there weren't more Michael Marra requests this evening.

And the Parkhead fox!