Orange Juice: Why Twitter is an amazing place to be

This alone would be worth excusing that bit yesterday where everyone was pushing a Vogue cover like it was worth looking at:

There was a time before all new albums automatically received four stars. Sounds' Dave McCullough lets rip in 1982: pic.twitter.com/EPe5gTKz1w

— bob stanley (@rocking_bob) March 19, 2014

But the response is jaw-dropping:

@rocking_bob Re' Dave Mc? Poor Old Soul' fact!!!@@!!!!!-Edwyn,

— Edwyn Collins (@EdwynCollins) March 21, 2014

You might want to compare and contrast this with the Stereophonics' Mr Writer; it'll allow you to measure the actual distance between an artist and a hack.

Retiring: Alan Lewis

A find farewell to Alan Lewis, a man who quietly worked his way through many of the UK's best-beloved and now-defunct music papers.

UK Press Gazette counts them all out:

Lewis started his career as a local newspaper sub before moving to Melody Maker in 1969 from where he went on to become the founder-editor of Black Music and Kerrang!, editor of Sounds, NME, No1 and Vox.

He was also instrumental in the launch of Loaded and Uncut, the former of which he acted as editor-in-chief, and had a hand in the development of Family History Monthly.

Lewis has been editing Record Collector magazine, which he has carefully positioned away from being a magazine solely about collecting circles of plastic; as a result, there's still a title to hand on. Ian McCann - a name whiskery NME readers will recognise as an equally solid pair of hands - will take up the editor's job when Lewis retires.

Christmas in 1987: Top Ten Promo videos

As voted by Sounds readers

10. Satelitte - The Hooters


9. Blue Water - Fields Of The Nephilim


8. Baby Turpentine - Crazyhead

7. Incommunicado - Marillion


6. Big Time - Peter Gabriel


5. You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party - Beastie Boys
Universal Records requests embedding be disabled

4. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2


3. True Faith - New Order


2. This Corrosion - Sisters Of Mercy


1. Prime Mover - Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction


Perhaps, now, we're starting to understand why Sounds had to close. Their taste was somewhat... not bad so much, it was more like they were choosing records on a jukebox in a pub where you don't feel quite comfortable drinking. Still, who'd have thought all but one of their choices would be viewable around the world, on demand, twenty years in the future?

[Part of Christmas in 1987]

Christmas in 1987: The Sounds Readers Poll

As a special treat - and we're using the words "special" and "treat" in slightly nervous ways - we're going to be spending some of the festive season back twenty years ago, with illustrated results to the Sounds Readers Poll from 1987, as originally published in the January 2nd, 1988 edition of the now defunct magazine. As the endeavour unfolds over the next few days, we'll build a mini-list of the various polls here:

Top ten promo videos
Top ten cover versions
Singles: 20-11