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So, here we are, then, as the Bank Holiday ticks away - the number one from 1988's Festive Fifty. Perhaps surprisingly - given that The House Of Love tend not to be the first band on people's lips when remembering the post-C86 era - it's Destroy The Heart which took the honour. Snub TV provides the footage:
Buy: The Creation Years
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
The Wedding Present's Nobody's Twisting Your Arm - here captured in a Chart Show indie chart top ten (from the fifth March 1988, if you're keeping notes).
Buy: Thank Yer Very Glad
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
More genius from the Creation stable, as Jesus And Mary Chain kick off the top three with Sidewalking - surprisingly their only appearance in the run down in 1988:
The version which got everyone excited - the almost never-ending Take Me by The Wedding Present - was the session version. This isn't that - it's live, recorded at Wolverhampton's Little Civic Hall (presumably for people who don't feel very civil?). You might not need to look at your screen during this one.
Buy: An Evening With The Wedding Present DVD
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
Another band which is currently enjoying a reunion surge, then, at five, with the mighty Freak Scene by Dinosaur Jr.
Buy: Bug
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
And this, of course, is why all right thinking people were giddy with over-excitement when they returned. My Bloody Valentine's You Made Me Realise. This, live, from Amsterdam in 1988:
Buy: Remastered vinyl version of Isn't Anything
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
The highest placing for Pixies, with Gigantic. This is live, but no indication of where it was recorded.
Buy: Pixies Acoustic: Live in Newport
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
Festive 50 archivist David Gedge appears at number eight: Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now by the Wedding Present:
The official video, off of MySpace
Buy: George Best
[Part of 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
Christine, from the House of Love, which not only made number nine in the festive fifty, but went one place higher on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. Obviously when it was modern.
From the band's 2005 reunion tour:
Buy: The Complete Peel Sessions
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
Another slice of the Peel programme's year-end vote from two decades ago. Why did I say two decades? That does make it sound ever such a lot...
12. Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday
Of its time appearance on Top Of The Pops
Buy: Everyday Is Like Sunday on vinyl
11. The Inspiral Carpets - Keep The Circle Around
A reunion tour appearance in Manchester this year
Buy: Cool As...
10. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat
Live on the legendary Night Music show
Buy: Tender Prey
[Part of 1988 Festive Fifty weekend]
Picking up, quite quickly, some of the tracks that made the lower reaches of the Fifty:
39. Pixies - River Euphrates
Live, Brixton, 26th June 1991
Buy: Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim
35. Stump - Charlton Heston
Buy: Stump Box Set
31. Mudhoney - Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More
Live in Chester, Cheshire, 1989
Buy: Superfuzz Big Muff
[Part of the 1988 Festive Fifty Weekend]
Of course, the countdown won't actually have very much suspense in it, as you could nip off and look up the tracks anywhere, but to celebrate the long weekend, we're heading back twenty years to explore the Festive Fifty, John Peel's annual end-of-year listener's poll. We'll bring you the top fifteen in its entirety (the odd cut-off being because number 16 is the first we can't find on YouTube) but, before we get there, here's some bubbling under:
50. Public Enemy - Night Of The Living Bassheads
Buy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
47. Darling Buds - Shame On You
Playing live in 1989
Buy: Pop Said
43. Mega City 4 - Miles Apart
From the tribute gig for Wiz, 2007
Buy: Inspiringly Titled
41 Loop - Collision
Buy: Wolf Flow: The Peel Sessions
The chart will build over the weekend
50 Public Enemy - Night Of The Living Bassheads
49 Wedding Present - Don't Laugh
48 Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck
47 Darling Buds - Shame On You
46 The Primitives - Crash
45 Pixies - Bone Machine
44 New Order - Fine Time
43 Mega City 4 - Miles Apart
42 The Flatmates - Shimmer
41 Loop - Collision
40 The Fall - Guest Informant
Thirties
39 Pixies - River Euphrates
38 McCarthy - Should The Bible Be Banned?
37 Shalawambe - Samora Machel
36 The Fall - Jerusalem
35 Stump - Charlton Heston
34 Pooh Sticks - On Tape
33 James - What For
32 Spit - Road Pizza
31 Mudhoney - Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More
30 Pixies - Where Is My Mind
Twenties
29 Sonic Youth - Silver Rocket
28 Overlord X - 14 Days In May
27 The Fall - Kurious Oranj
26 Cocteau Twins - Carolyn's Fingers
25 Billy Bragg - The Great Leap Forwards
24 The Fall - Big New Prinz
23 Morrissey - Disappointed
22 Morrissey - Late Night, Maudlin Street
21 Robert Lloyd and the New Four Seasons - Something Nice
20 Sugarcubes - Deus
19 Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
18 House of Love - Love In A Car
17 My Bloody Valentine - Feed Me With Your Kiss
16 The Fall - Bremen Nacht
15 The Wedding Present - I'm Not Always So Stupid
14 The Fall - Cab It Up
13 Morrissey - Suedehead
12 Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday
11 Inspiral Carpets - Keep The Circle Around
10 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat
9 House Of Love - Christine
8 The Wedding Present - Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now
7 Pixies - Gigantic
6 My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise
5 Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene
4 The Wedding Present - Take Me
3 The Jesus And Mary Chain - Sidewalking
2 The Wedding Present - Nobody's Twisting Your Arm
1 The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
