THE SMITHS - THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT

Video: THE SMITHS - THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT
#1 JOHN PEEL’s FESTIVE FIFTY - 1985
In a Festive Fifty dominated by The Smiths (seven entries, four of which made the top ten, including the number one spot, and five taken from The Queen Is Dead) and The Fall (again seven in total, with two in the top ten), Peel was somewhat dismayed to find that once again the top 50 failed to reflect his show’s eclectic mix of indie, hip-hop, African music and reggae.
“EACH NOVEMBER, as the nation's thoughts turn to unrepeatable Christmas discounts and the office party death squads ready themselves for another season of drinking and driving, I commit myself to three or four weeks of serious tedium by inviting listeners to my Radio 1 programmes to write listing their favourite tracks of the year,” wrote Peel in The Observer in January 1987.
“About 5,000 of the scoundrels oblige, thereby condemning me to nights in a corner of the scullery entering their votes in a ledger. At the end of this proto-Dickensian routine we have what we call, I fear, the Festive Fifty.”
“Since completing this year's chart I have spent some time staring deeply into it in the hope that a handful at least of the secrets of the universe will thereby be unlocked. What sort of trousers will we be wearing in 1987 ? Does anyone seriously believe that Arsenal will win the championship?”
“These are typical of the questions I have been asking. There is, though, only one realistic forecast I can make from this prolonged study, and that is that those listeners who write me grumpy letters chiding me for tainting, as they see it, otherwise perfectly good programmes with reggae, hip-hop and African music, will write again in triumph.”
“Where, they will want to know, are the Half Pints, the DJ Cheeses, the Bhundu Boys ? And they will take the non-appearance of reggae and the rest in what is becoming a conservative and nostalgic chart as all the proof that is needed that no one wants to hear these things.”
“Other and more adventurous consumers have suggested that I should list the top 50 tracks but broadcast numbers 51 to 100. This is not a bad idea at all, as this bottom would include much reggae and hip-hop, along with at least four tracks by the Bhundu Boys (back in Britain and virtually the only genuinely -unmissable combo around) and the unhinged, red-eyed Sewer Zombies, from some-where unforgivable in America, with They Died With Their Willie Nelson T-Shirts On.'”
“Only one of the tracks listed is not available on record or tape. This is the laugh-a-minute ' I Wish I could Sprechen Sie Deutsch,' recorded in session for Radio 1 by the Munich-based Freiwillige Sclbstkontrolle, a band which includes the painter Michaela Melian. ' I Wish I Could' is a highlight amongst tracks which, despite their individual merits, I make up a rather characterless I chart .”
JOHN PEEL’s FESTIVE FIFTY - 1985
1. Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
2. Age of Chance - Kiss
3. The Fall - Mr Pharmacist
4. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
5. Smiths - Panic
6. Smiths - I Know It's Over
7. Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
8. Shop Assistants - Safety Net
9. Jesus and Mary Chain - Some Candy Talking
10. The Fall - US Eighties - Nineties
11. Smiths - Ask
12. Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
13. Weather Prophets - Almost Prayed
14. Half Man, Half Biscuit - Trumpton Riots
15. The Fall - Living Too Late
16. Wedding Present - Once More
17. Soup Dragons - Hang Ten!
18. Wedding Present - This Boy Can Wait
19. Bodines - Therese
20. The Fall - Bournemouth Runner
21. Cocteau Twins - Love's Easy tears
22. Primitives - Really Stupid
23. Pastels - Truck Train Tractor
24. Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears
25. Soup Dragons - Whole Wide World
26. The Fall - Realm of Dusk
27. Age of Chance - Bible Of The Beats
28. Wedding Present - You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends
29. That Petrol Emotion - It's a Good Thing
30. Very things - This is Motortown
31. We've Got a Fuzzbox - Rules and Regulations
32. The The - Heartland
33. Freiwillige Selbstokontrolle - I Wish I Could Sprechen Sie Deutsch
34. Mighty Lemon Drops - Like An Angel
35. Smiths - Cemetry Gates
36. Wedding Present - Felicity
37. The Fall - Lucifer Over Lancashire
38. Cocteau Twins - Those Eyes, That Mouth
39. Half Man, Half Biscuit - Dickie Davies Eyes
40. Elvis Costello - I Want You
41. Billy Bragg - Greetings To The New Brunette
42. Flatmates - I Could Be In Heaven
43. Shop Assistants - I Don't Want To Be Friends With You
44. Mighty Mighty - Is There Anyone Out There?
45. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
46. Colourbox - The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme
47. Camper van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling
48. The Fall - Dktr Faustus
49. Mission - Serpent's Kiss
50. Pogues - The Body of an American