D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so grey?

John Peel in 1976

OK, slightly rubbish heading but I'm running out of funny original titles.

Anyway, it's been a few days since I did a post resting on John Peel's Festive Fifties, so here we go:

In recent years, it is increasingly being considered that John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten)'s post Sex Pistols band, Public Image Ltd (PiL) may, in fact, have been far more groundbreaking than the Sex Pistols. No kidding.

Public Image Ltd.- 'Public Image.' mp3 (1978 Festive Fifty no.9, 1979 Festive Fifty no.9, 1980 Festive Fifty no.11, 1981 Festive Fifty no.26, 1982 All-time Festive Fifty no.20)

Famously, John Peel's favourite ever song was this, the opening lines of which are now on his gravestone:

Undertones -'Teenage Kicks.' mp3 (1978 Festive Fifty no.10, 1979 Festive Fifty no.2, 1980 Festive Fifty no.7, 1981 Festive Fifty no.6, 1982 Alltime Festive fifty no.8, Millennium no.2)

There seems to be a bit of a link between teaching and rock'n'roll, despite the fact that the two might seem to be diametrically opposed. Step forward, in this case, Gordon MacIntyre and Katie Griffiths from Ballboy.

Ballboy -'All The Records On the Radio Are Shite.' mp3 (2002 Festive Fifty no.10)

There have been a number of cover versions making the Festive Fifty over the years, including this one (a fair bit of 'goth' made it onto the FF over the years):

Bauhaus -'Ziggy Stardust.' mp3 (1982 Festive Fifty no.14)

...and despite the accusations, it wasn't all white boys with guitars in the Festive fifty over the years either

Broadcast -'Echoes Answer.' mp3 (1999 Festive Fifty no.36)

Though some of those white boys with guitars did make some excellent records, though:

Pavement -'Range Life.' mp3 (1994 Festive Fifty no.14)

'At least once a week I drive a nail through my foot for not seeing them while I had the chance' said Peel of Big Black. Maybe I'm just afraid of pain. Main man Steve Albini went on to produce Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Low and the Wedding Present.

Big Black -'Colombian Necktie.' mp3 (1987 Festive Fifty no.18)

Finally, many thanks to Steve at Teenage Kicks for posting these, without whom I wouldn't be able to post these here:

Sabres Of Paradise -'Wilmot.' mp3 (1994 Festive Fifty no.

Ministry -'Jesus Built My Hot Rod.' mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty no.3)

Very Things -'The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes.' mp3 (1984 Festive fifty no.27)

Will be more music here over the weekend. Keep it tuned, so to speak. X

Ten more from John Peel's Festive Fifty

John Peel with Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley in 1999.

Yup, kids, just like it says, ten more tracks that made John Peel's Festive Fifty, and I've tried to go for even less predictable stuff this time...

Gang Of Four -'Damaged Goods.' mp3 (1979 Festive Fifty no.23, 1980 Festive Fifty no.50)

Bluetones -'Slight Return.' mp3 (1995 Festive Fifty no.21)

Detroit Cobras -'Shout Bama Lama.' mp3 (2001 Festive Fifty no.21)

Dead Kennedys -'California Uber Alles.' mp3 (1979 Festive Fifty no.33 , 1980 Festive Fifty no.31, 1981 Festive Fifty no. 42)

Soup Dragons -'Whole Wide world.' mp3 (1986 Festive Fifty no.25)

Camper Van Beethoven -'Take The Skinheads Bowling.' mp3 (1986 Festive Fifty no.47)

PJ Harvey -'Dress.'mp3 (1991 Festive Fifty no.2)

Melt Banana -'Stimulus for Revolting Virus.' mp3 (1998 Festive Fifty no.37)

Helen Love -'Long Live The UK Music Scene.' mp3 (1998 Festive Fifty no.10)

Broadcast -'Come On Let's Go.' mp3 (2000 Festive Fifty no.5)

As always, if you want to find out more about John Peel start here and for more music featured in his annual Festive Fifties, an excellent place to start is the Teenage Kicks blogspot, especially for music long since deleted.