The Mixcloud Chronicles : Episode 19

It was hot. It was badly dressed. It was depressing. But was it also the worst year for pop? Ever?

https://www.mixcloud.com/Chris2023/pop-in-the-real-world-mixcloud-19/

1976 was the worst year for pop music . That's a view I've held for 49 years. It's time to revisit if that view holds up. Five songs in a row pinpoint the good, the bad and the ugly. Comments welcome.

It's also springtime, a time for rebirth and uplifting sensations. We'll have the music that does justice to that.

Elsewhere we have a mini celebration of Sebastien Tellier, an indication of what AI may do to music, a song that the author can no longer bear to listen to, a couple of vague Eurovision links, some new favourites and some old, fondly regarded classics and should have been classics.

Here's the tracklist after the usual contrived picture clues.

An April sky, dancing under moonlight, the Keystone Cops and some bad people, a campfire

1. Rock Around The Clock - Telex

2. Rise - Public Image Ltd

3. Feeling Good - Nina Simone

4. Campfire - Caribou

5. Scrolling - Pale Blue Eyes

6. April (Still Here) - Birds In The Brickwork

7. Ai-je Besoin de Savoir - Birds In The Brickwork

8. Telephone Line - ELO

9. Love To Love You Baby - Donna Summer

10. Police and Thieves - The Clash

11. New England - Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

12. Anarchy In The UK - Sex Pistols

13. April Skies - Jesus and Mary Chain

14. Stop Making It Worse - Dolores Forever

15. Your Father - Bullion

16. These Things Will Come To Be - DJ Seinberg

17. Curls - Bibio

18. Company Man. - Mark Fredson

19. On A Roll - Soft Cotton County

20. Cuckoo! - Jake Xerxes Fussell

21. J'en Ai Assez Vous - Metronomy with Sebastien Tellier

22. La Ritournelle - Sebastien Tellier

23. Hiding In Plain Sight - Manis Street Preachers

24. Last Nite - The Strokes

25. Lose Yr Frown - The Electric Soft Parade

26. Shelter Song - Temples

27. Dancing The Night Away - The Motors