Friday 4 May 2007

Chart geek alert!

I know I'm one. And I know he's one.

I'm proud to admit it. I'm obsessed with the singles charts. Growing up, me and my siblings would huddle in front of the telly on a Thursday evening and during the Top 20 chart run down would cheer or boo depending on who came up. Later in the week, I would sit there with in front of the family 'music centre', hitting the clunky record button, whenever my favourite song appeared on the Radio 1 Top 40 show. Years later, if I'm home, I'll still put the radio on for the Top 40 show (trying to ignore JK & bloody Joel). The cheers and boos have gone, but I'll still wait with baited breath for the announcement of who is NUMBER 1!

Also, these days it's now a regular Sunday night habit to go read Chartrigger for his (vare funny) persective on the UK Top 10. Bengobaz/Chelsea Kelsey in his blog, Shang-a-Lang often uses the charts to, well, chart his life. In this post, his comparison between the 1988 Top 40 and todays as a signifier of his 18 year stint at Virgin Records is, as ever, inspired, funny and as detailed as only a chart geek can be.

6 comments:

The Richard said...

umm, yes, hands up. me too.

I used to, er, write them out every week obsessively. Like, for years.

If I haven't listened to them on a Sunday I usually check first thing on a Monday morning on that Yahoo! Launch thing.

Tragic geek confession over.

Phil said...

Chelsea Kelsey used to write out the charts too... I used to pour over them in the Record Mirror and it it took me years to work out what indie meant. hahahaha

D'luv said...

Aw, thanks for the mention. It's funny... I really only started this site as my own personal diary for what was in the charts each week, so I could go back and check if ever need be....

Then I started getting irritated by the crap that was more often than not in both the US and UK charts, so it became kind of fun to rip on it all.

The first chart posts 2 and a half years ago were very, very earnest, but, really, who wants to read that?

Unfortunately, something wonky happened to my site a month ago, and I still have to go back and re-archive half of the UK chart commentary drop menu.

Phil said...

You know how much I love your site, so I won't gush or anything. It does amaze me, though, that your weekly Sunday posts, which you must do every Sunday morning I presume, have become such part of the fabric of my chart fixes.

That's it! Your site is the charts equivalent of crack! Fabulous and highly addictive.

D'luv said...

Ha! Well, I'll take that. I make crack more friendly and accessible for the masses, then. And by all means, I'll gush and say that, while I actually don't read too many blogs, I really get a kick outta yours and Tricky-dicky's. It's good to find sites with quality writing by passionate fuckers like yourselves.

Yuяi said...

So, is that a "then and now" pic of Yazz? What's she doing these days, I wonder??