That All-Important Number 51 Slot

John Peel occasionally extended the chart beyond his normal fifty entries and included anything up to seventy tracks. These were not played in the normal run of the programme, but rather listed separately as what nearly made the chart. The reasons for this are somewhat obscure, but he hinted at times that either (a) he had not received as many votes as normal in a particular year, or (b) the number of votes was very close, and thus tracks he felt should have been included but weren’t were given a chance. To highlight that feature of the chart, today’s post lists the five tracks that came in at number 51.

Siouxsie And The Banshees, Love In a Void

The 1980 chart contained 65 tracks, including five from the lower echelons that never appeared in any other chart. Love In A Void (FF 1979 #21 and 1980 #51) was in the band’s first Peel session, and John thought highly enough of it to play that session version in Peeling Back The Years as an example of the band’s contribution to the sound of his chameleon-like programme. However, I have not included that here, as he categorically stated in 1983 that no session tracks prior to that year ever made the chart, and have instead gone for the double A-side release that came out with Mittageisen in 1979, and, lacking a tape of that year’s FF, feel he would most likely have played this instead. It’s a fast-paced, nihilistic romp, just begging for a live performance: and here is one such, from ‘yoof’ TV prog Something Else:

Joy Division, She’s Lost Control

An instantly recognisable outline of the effects of the epilepsy that plagued Ian Curtis on stage, this (FF 1980 #22, 1981 #51 and All-Time 1982 #41) is from the Gothic primer Unknown Pleasures, as opposed to the 12 inch, which is another story for another day. They appeared on…guess what…Something Else! P.S. The link above was wrong, and has now been corrected. I wondered why no-one was downloading it…why doesn’t anybody politely let me know these things???

Stranglers, Strange Little Girl

Who knows why this archetypal band of punk Billy No Mates elected to change their style mid career? Whatever the reason, the sunny, warm sound of Strange Little Girl (FF 1982 #51) was a song given to EMI as a demo before they even had a deal, and had actually been written in 1974. This re-recording was part of their severance deal before moving to Liberty Records, and hit number 7 in the UK charts.

James, If Things Were Perfect

Both tracks on James’ James II EP (FAC119) made the FF chart in 1985, which broke Peel’s own record by listing 70 tracks (he stated that he nearly went up to one hundred). The other was Hymn From A Village, which was posted here last year as part of a Tony Wilson tribute. The songs would later see the light of day on Village Fire.

Monkey Steals The Drum, Injured Birds

Finally, something of a rarity and an ‘honorary’ #51 in 1999’s Festive Fifty. By this time, JP had long since relinquished the chores of counting the votes to others, but added this track simply because he liked it. Birds was released by Shifty Disco as a singles club release and limited to 1000 copies. It’s perfect pop slowed down to a crawl and put through the grinder of overdriven guitars. The result is impossible to shake from the mind.
Sadly, guitar/vocalist Christian Ashcroft committed suicide in 2005. Their legacy is a handful of singles and two Peel sessions.

Tony Wilson 1950-2007

Anthony Howard Wilson died on Friday due to complications arising from the kidney cancer he had been battling for some time. As the founder of Factory Records and the Hacienda club in Manchester and manager of bands like A Certain Ratio and Durutti Column, he was linked to John Peel’s Festive Fifty in more than a tangential way. He booked the Sex Pistols to appear on the second series of the Granada TV programme So It Goes (hmmm, name sounds familiar), thereby ensuring vital exposure for the fledgling punk scene: when he first saw them in concert, he described the experience as an epiphany.
He started a rumour that he signed Durutti Column and Joy Division in his own blood. Although not true, it has persisted to endemic proportions. FAC 13 (Transmission) was the first single released on Factory by the latter band, and established its dark, brooding but hypnotic and even danceable style (FF 1980 #10, 1981 #14, All Time 1982 #26, and All Time 2000 #28).

On Factory Records, every release had an FAC number, and this has led some fans to attempt to collect every item (rather difficult, when FAC 51 was the Hacienda itself, which was demolished in 1997, and FAC 259 was a staff Christmas party).
Joy Division metamorphosed into New Order, and it seemed that when Blue Monday took the charts and the club scene by storm, the future would be rosy. But Wilson was a socialist, not a hard-headed businessman. The Hacienda, although a mecca for the Manchester scene (and which led to Tony himself being dubbed ‘Mr. Manchester’ in recognition of his promotion of the scene), never made any money (reasons being that initially the bar was far too cheap, and later on the clubbers took ecstasy rather than booze). As he said, ‘some people make money and some make history’. Another prescient signing was James, whose clipped urgent musical style and unique vocal delivery were evident from this early release on FAC 119 (Hymn From A Village, FF 1985 #28).

The Happy Mondays released their first single on Factory in 1985, and the scene based on them and their antics became known as ‘Madchester’. Wrote For Luck (FAC 212, FF 1988 #48) took Shaun Ryder’s witty, pungent lyrics and made them into a condemnation of false friends backed by a thumping beat.

But the writing was on the wall. In the 90s, the Hacienda and Factory both folded, and Wilson was left to face a condition that he couldn’t even afford the drugs for. Musically, he left a huge legacy in the bands he saw a future in, and a slew of classic singles like this one (Electronic, Get The Message:FAC 287, FF 1991 #40):

The above band was a collaboration between Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and Bernard Sumner (New Order), and saw a fruitful commercial direction being followed (it also made the UK Top 10). However, it was all too late in the day for the label, and for Wilson. I remember him mainly for So It Goes (I only saw it briefly, due firstly to the fact that the first series was only broadcast in the Granada area, and secondly that it was on too bloody late) and introducing this:

Thanks for all of the above, Tony: we owe you one.