Sinister: Listeria

[Michael Jones]

Dear Lovelies,

Ooh, it's been ages since I wrote to you lot.  Chiefly because I
couldn't think of anything to say.  Thankfully, this doesn't appear to
be a prerequisite for posting thesedays, so I'll just press on.  Or
'Send', rather.  I'm joking of course.  Or am I ?

Without wishing to fall head first into the murky pond that is
Discussing Sinister On Sinister, I would like to alert any UK listees
who've recently been tempted to subscribe to OnDigital (by their
consistently amusing and clever ad campaign, no doubt) to a new
Premium Channel which begins broadcasting on Monday.  It's called
Sinister Gold and features a series of lively constructions of Old
List Debates performed by professional actors and introduced by Tariq
Ali.  I've had a sneak preview; the exchange between a woman who was
once Third Helicopter Crash Victim (DOA) in 'Casualty' and a chap
whose chief claim to fame was Abusive Moustachioed Barman in 'Soldier,
Soldier' on the nature of Sixteen-ness is particularly affecting. 
Comic relief is provided in the form of animated interludes - witness
Cartoon Leonard Rossiter and Cartoon Tony Hancock discussing Yabby
You.  It's worth a look, though, for £15.99 a month, I was kinda
expecting Antoine De Caunes and Jeremy Clarkson to be slugging it out.

(Btw, if any grammar scholars out there would like to suggest a
shorter and more readable opening sentence to the above paragraph,
perhaps they can mail me privately and I can ignore them in my own
time).

Is 1999 the International Year of the List ?  Tom Cox suggests as much
in today's Guardian, so it must be true.  Now, lists are, of course,
the refuge of the scoundrel (or is that badger-baiting ?); I only
peppered Sinister with Top 10s last summer to Make A Point about how
appalling and loathsome they are.  Of course I did.  However, in Tom's
piece in the Friday Review section he's made a laudable attempt to
compile an 'alternative' Top 100 Albums chart.  He's polled a
selection of Pop luminaries (including our own B&S) for their
favourites, but has prohibited voting for any of around 80 yawnsome
acknowledged 'classics' ('What's Goin' On', 'Pet Sounds', 'Sgt.
Pepper', etc).  The results ?  Well, Sinister Darling Nick Drake
cleans up basically - 'Bryter Layter' is #1, 'Five Leaves Left' is #5.
 Elsewhere the likes of Jane Siberry, My Bloody Valentine, Laura Nyro,
The Millenium and even bloody AR Kane (check out the Simon Reynolds
ding-dong on Sinister Gold, kids) pop up.  Now, a list is still a list
and, as such, should be reviled and shunned by all good Pop folk but
what *might* be interesting is if this process was repeated a number
of times.  The same (or different, sexier) people are polled but this
time they can't name any of the 'alternative' Hot 100 either; and then
they're polled again - excluding the list entries they came up with
last time.  And so on, until eventually all you're left with is 'Hot
August Nights II', a bunch of Happy Hardcore and The Fire Engines. 
It's a thought.  Not a very good one, mind.

Enough yammering already.

Mike.
_________________________________________________________

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