The Panasonic Thief! 📻

Aaah, the days of the old top 20, where as a kid I'd crouch down on the floor, my ear eagerly hovering above my Panasonic twin cassette player; poised and ready to hit the record button as soon as the song I loved started playing - incredibly meticulous that I avoided any talking from the DJs. A smooth conveyor belt of songs is what I was after, and I more or less got it.

Whigfield; Spice Girls; No Doubt; Ace Of Base; Fugees; Take That; Aqua - all my childhood favourites (I hadn't yet discovered Rock 'n' Roll!), and now they were mine. I had those hit songs to myself, and could play them as often as I liked, and it didn't cost a penny! And we blame Spotify for the state of the music industry. This shit has been going on for years - I've been ripping music for free before I even reached double figures!

Most of the time, dinner was timed perfectly. Number 1 would finish playing at 7pm, and I'd cheerfully sprint downstairs and our tasty Sunday evening meal would be served. With every mouthful I ate, I'd be thinking about the songs I just captured - I couldn't wait to listen to them after dinner. (Killing Me Softly With His Song, The Sign - oh, and I remember being exceptionally excited about Babylon Zoo's Spaceman.)

The timing of this Sunday evening ritual wasn't intentional, it just worked out brilliantly most weeks that dinner was served pretty much at 7pm. There were only a couple of occasions when we ate a little earlier, meaning I'd have to keep getting up to leave the table in order to press record, or stop recording. Didn't care how delicious that chicken was (wasn't a veggie or vegan back then), I was determined to avoid those jingles! Surprised Mum let me leave the table so frequently. Perhaps I told her I was busting for the loo. 6 times though!....

My sisters and I would make little mix tapes for each other with our new freely captured hits. I vaguely remember doing an exercise tape for Mel. "And a 5,6,7,8, and stretch 6,7,8" to the Spice Girls' Wannabe. Bit different to my exercise routine now. Gasp 6,7,8 / cry 6,7,8!

When we've been on the long roads touring, we've listened to the 1970s top 20, so Dave can have that same nostalgic buzz. Someone on YouTube has recorded loads of the old Top 20 radio shows in their entirety, and released them as little videos. All the old jingles included. A lovely portal into Dave's childhood. What's interesting is how many shockers made it to the top 10 back then, let alone the top 20! An example of this was The Floral Dance which made it to number 2 - can you believe it?! If you don't know this random song (only just discovered it myself), stop reading this blog immediately and quickly YouTube it. I'll be waiting...

Yep - this here was number 2 in 1977! 🌺😱🌸 I actually quite like it. A cute, happy, homely tune with a feel good buzz about it. Kate Bush made it to number 1 just a couple of months after that with Wuthering Heights - the music industry being very open-minded back then.

I think Tuppenny Bunters would do far better in the 70s than we do now. A recent live review of ours confirming this - "there was so much going on and so many differing styles being thrown at us that I was beginning to lose the will to live!"

I'll be forever grateful to have experienced recording songs on my little radio all those years ago. You can't recreate those exciting musical captures in the same way today. With music so freely available, any time you want it, with the nonchalant click of a button, the urgency just isn't there anymore, and it was the urgency that made the whole experience so exciting. If you want to get close to the buzz of it, you can hear old Top 20 recordings on YouTube. A treat for other millennials, who like myself, shot up from their dinner table, capturing the zeitgeist for that week.

Here are a couple of links to the 70s top 20 and 90s top 20. If you want the 80s, you'll have to do your own digging around!

📻 📡 🔘🎶

https://youtu.be/6xDE3J2YRjQ?si=fK9-jBaP3rUEifFL

https://youtu.be/0yk5ixkw3vI?si=RYVLDOmr_Eo-O_nm