Forgotten 80s: an unforgettable radio show

Back in the early years of this blog I used to feature some obscure old songs on my late-night Saturday feature. Retro Saturday.  Many of these songs were from the 1980s, a decade which was actually pretty crap if you actually lived through it (from personal experience anyway!) but you have to acknowledge that there was much, much more to that decade than the usual overplayed hits.  

So if you're into the lesser-known hits of the 80s, then how much would you love a radio show which focused on the forgotten hits of that decade rather than the usual same-old 10 to 15 songs which always crop up as 80s oldies?  I think you would really love it....

"FORGOTTEN 80s" is broadcast every Sunday night from 7.00-9.00 pm on Absolute Radio 80s in the UK.  This particular radio show has just celebrated its 3rd anniversary, but I only discovered it a few months ago and since that time it has become my favourite radio show and essential listening on a Sunday night.  It's presented by Matthew Rudd, who is a refreshingly knowledgeable and enthusiastic radio presenter in an age of personality-free radio-bots who only exist to play the next Ed Sheeran/Adele/Jess Glynne/Justin Bieber song on the radio playlist.  You will probably get the best experience out of the show if you were actually around in the 80s and remember the songs first time round - sparking that crucial recognition-factor - but even if you don't remember that decade it's worth tuning in to check out the diversity of 80s music which doesn't otherwise get an airing.

I discovered the show by accident earlier this year as I noticed it trending on Twitter one Sunday night.  So what was this #forgotten80s? I decided to check it out and was immediately hooked. Matthew is a brilliant host who has such enthusiasm and genuine knowledge of the decade, and the stories behind the songs.  The criteria for the show is forgotten Top 40 hits, but a particular highlight of the show is a section called "Didn't We Almost Have It All" (#DWAHIA) where the listeners are invited to submit suggestions for two songs from 80s charts from different years, where the songs missed out on that week's particular top 40.

If you've only discovered the show, check out the blog at http://forgotten80s.blogspot.co.uk/ with full playlists from previous shows; and if you want to listen to the full shows ad-free then check out the Absolute 80s Mixcloud page at https://www.mixcloud.com/discover/absolute-80s/ and search for the Forgotten 80s shows.  I guarantee that you will not be disappointed :))

Verves of Europe!

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of how much I loved "Sounds of Europe" which was a weekly radio show on student radio station GU2. The show, presented by superstar DJs and blogging legends Rachel and Keira, ran from 2008 until 2010 and was essential listening every week. The show introduced me to a lot of European singers and songs which I hadn't heard before.

Yesterday Rachel introduced me to "Verves of Europe" a weekly radio show hosted by James and Fey who are students at London Metropolitan University. I had a listen last night and was hooked. This show resurrects the spirit of "Sounds of Europe" and if you loved that show, you will love this too.

If you go to http://vervemedia.org.uk you can hear the show online by selecting it on the radio player. It is broadcast weekly for an hour and a half. More info at http://vervemedia.org.uk/radio/verves-of-europe

The end of an era :(((

My favourite radio show is coming to an end tomorrow night and I'm feeling very sad :(

It's the final "Sounds of Europe" on the University of Surrey's GU2 Radio (www.gu2.co.uk) which will be broadcast as usual between 9.00 - 11.00 pm British time. (If you can't catch it then, there is always the 'Listen Back' feature on the station's website). I've really enjoyed the show over the last couple of years as it's the only programme on any British radio station which plays a great variety of wonderful European music for all tastes.

The show is ending because Keira and Rachel - my two best blogging pals and the dynamic duo responsible for this weekly treat - are leaving their student days behind them, so it will be very emotional for everyone tomorrow night.....

Don't forget to tune in - and girls, good luck with the show!!!

Out with the old.

Whilst we're on some annual festive countdowns, there is one notable absentee this year. For the last few years I had been following the listeners' all-time top 2000 on Flemish-speaking Belgium's Radio Donna. Last year it wasn't a top 2000 but a top 5000, but what I didn't realise at the time was that it would be the last one, as the radio station was going off the air.

Donna has since been replaced by a radio station called MNM, and here's the good news - there's still a chart, it's now a top 1000 instead of top 2000 but the important thing is that it's still there. If you go to www.mnm.be and scroll down the right hand side you'll reach the MNM 1000 playlist - click on this and you'll find this year's chart.

Some traditions are well worth keeping alive!

Fanning's Fab 50 2009

http://2fm.rte.ie/pages/fab50

Here's this year's annual list as voted by listeners to the legendary Dave Fanning's RTE 2fm radio show:

1 U2 - One
2 Kings of Leon - Sex on fire
3 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
4 U2 - Bad
5 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
6 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
7 U2 - With or Without You
8 The Killers - Mr. Brightside
9 The Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection
10 Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
11 Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
12 Muse - Uprising
13 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
14 Elbow - One Day Like This
15 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
16 The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
17 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
18 Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
19 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
20 Oasis - Live Forever
21 Snow Patrol - Run
22 Florence and The Machine - Cosmic Love
23 Pearl Jam - Black
24 Johnny Cash - Hurt
25 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
26 Snow Patrol - Just Say Yes
27 Empire of The Sun - Walking On a Dream
28 Foo Fighters - Everlong
29 The Arcade Fire - Intervention
30 Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man
31 U2 - Magnificent
32 Radiohead - Paranoid Android
33 Smashing Pumpkins -1979
34 The Killers - Human
35 Guns N' Roses - November Rain
36 U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
37 Queens of The Stone Age - No One Knows
38 Coldplay - Yellow
39 Delorentos - S-E-C-R-E-T
40 Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
41 Muse - Super Massive Black Hole
42 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
43 The Pixies - Debaser
44 The Frames - Revelate
45 Radiohead - Creep
46 Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings
47 The Coronas - Heroes and Ghosts
48 Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
49 The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
50 Radiohead - Karma Police

"Sounds of Europe" back tomorrow!

A quick plug for a great little radio show called "Sounds of Europe" which is presented by two of my best blogging pals Rachel and Keira. The show is broadcast on GU2 Radio, the radio station run by students from the University of Surrey. The station also broadcasts online at www.gu2.co.uk

Anyway, it's a new term, a new series and a new timeslot for the show: it'll be broadcast live from 9.00 - 11.00 pm (UK time) on Monday nights, starting tomorrow. If you can't listen live, the show will be available to listen back on the website.

Dave Fanning's Fab 50, 2008

Just thinking the other day about all the musical Christmas traditions I used to love in the 1980s:

1. Listening to (and voting for) John Peel's Festive Fifty;
2. Buying the Christmas issue of the NME - it was always a double edition with year-end charts and rock stars dressed up as other celebs; (I stopped buying NME when it went from a newspaper to a 'glossy')
3. Tuning my radio and hoping for a decent signal from RTE Radio 2, to hear Dave Fanning's Fab 50 chart, which was also a listeners' choice but a bit less left-field than the Peel one.

Reassuringly, Fanning's Fab 50 is still going, and here is this list which is reproduced courtesy of www.rte.ie.

It can always be relied upon to provide a mix of old rock, 80s and 90s indie, and recent/current favourites.

1 - One - U2
2 - Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
3 - Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
4 - Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
5 - Bad - U2
6 - With or Without You - U2
7 - How Soon Is Now - The Smiths
8 - There is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
9 - Black - Pearl Jam
10 - I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses
11 - Dearg Doom - Horslips
12 - Run - Snow Patrol
13 - Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
14 - Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
15 - Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
16 - Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
17 - Hurt - Johnny Cash
18 - Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
19 - Human -The Killers
20 - Imagine -John Lennon
21 - Gimme Shelter -The Rolling Stones
22 - Kids - MGMT
23 - Viva la Vida - Coldplay
24 - Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
25 - Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
26 - Live Forever - Oasis
27 - I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses
28 - Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
29 - Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N'Roses
30 - Mr. Brightside - The Killers
31 - A Day in the Life - The Beatles
32 - 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
33 - Intervention - Arcade Fire
34 - Where the Streets Have No Name - U2
35 - Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
36 - Debaser - The Pixies
37 - Creep - Radiohead
38 - Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
39 - Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade fire
40 - Bullet with Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins
41 - Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
42 - One Day Like This - Elbow
43 - Don't Stop Believing - Journey
44 - Fans - Kings of Leon
45 - Time to Pretend - MGMT
46 - November Rain - Guns n Roses
47 - Fool's Gold - The Stone Roses
48 - Enter Sandman - Metallica
49 - Love is Noise - The Verve
50 - Back in Black - AC/DC

Svenska Favoriter no more.

I feel rather gutted, as I've just discovered that Svenska Favoriter ("hundra ett comma nio!") is no more. The station which played exclusively Swedish music and which soundtracked my Stockholm holiday in 2007 and subsequently provided backing music for many a blogging session, is gone and in its place comes Star FM, which just looks to me like a Swedish version of Real Radio (note to non-British readers: this is a British radio station which specialises in familiar oldies and 'safe' current hits).

This will not do.

I don't know the reason why Svenska Favoriter has ceased to exist, but its all-schlager-all-the-time format could always guarantee some good old cheesy Swedish pop, with Melodifestivalen tracks old and new as its speciality.

Svenska Favoriter R.I.P. You will be sadly missed. :((((

BBC Radio 2 Johnny Hallyday documentary series

It's not often we hear about foreign artists on British radio or TV, so I was glad to hear about a new documentary series on BBC Radio 2 about the legendary French singer Johnny Hallyday, now 64 years old and still going strong (although he now has allegedly retired from performing...where have we heard that before?). The series is narrated by Johnny's son David Hallyday, who is also a successful singer and songwriter in France. Part 1 has already been aired but is available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ and the next part will be broadcast this Wednesday at 11.00 pm UK time.