Hits 21 - 1991 (6): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

It's QUEENmas! Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

The End Hi there everyone and welcome back to Hits21, the 90s, where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, Ed are looking back at every single UK number one of the 1990s. If you want to get in touch with us, you can. We're on Twitter at Hits21UK, that is at Hits21UK and you can email us too, just send it on over to Hits21podcast at gmail.com. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 1991, but this is our last episode of 1991 because we are covering the race for Christmas number one in 1991. Looking back to last week's episode, Michael Jackson won the poll. Well done. So it is time to press on with this week's episode and I'll just give you some news.

As we all know, Christmas is kinda quiet for news so here we go. Unemployment in Britain reaches 2.5 million for the first time in three years. Polls indicate that the next general election will result in a hung parliament with Labour leader Neil Kinnock apparently ahead of Prime Minister John Major in the polls, and in international news the Cold War effectively ends as Mikhail Gorbachev resigns, dissolving the Soviet Union in the process. Alright then so Ed, it's time for the end of year review for America. How have they looked and bought and listened in 1991? I'm going to start with the top 10 US albums of the year. At number 10, it's Whistle

Note Houston with I'm Your Baby Tonight. At number 9, Queensryche with Empire. Number eight, it's Madonna's Immaculate Collection. I'm grouping seven and six together, I think somewhat deservedly because it gives us less surface area to deal with. It's those twin touters of terrible mainstream rap, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice together at last. The top five, Wilson, Cocking, Phillips with their debut album, Wilson, Cocking, Phillips.

Number four, C&C Music Factory with Everybody Dance Now. At number three, they shook their moneymaker and lo, it made them money. A surprising amount, it's The Black Crows with their debut album, The Black Crows, which sold five million copies. Number two, oh look, it's Garth Brooks, who sold 18 million copies of the album No Fences.

And number one, I started with a stylophonic dog nuisance so I'll end with one it's Mariah Carey with her debut album right now on to the year end top US singles at number 11 boys to men say sickness be gone because Motown Philly is back again and And number 10, it's a shitty, bland 80s, sugar hangover, Baby Baby by Amy Grant, kicking things off. Number nine, The First Time by Surface. Number eight, I Like The Way, The Kissing Game by Hi5. Cool name, you guys.

Number seven, people presumably forgot the song is in fact 18 months long and vaulted more than words by extreme to number seven before the number six entry has but one word to describe the likelihood of a UK baggy single selling more than half a million copies in the US. Can you guess what that word is? It's unbelievable.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. Number six, that's amazing. Totally outstripped its UK performance in the States. Number five, it's One More Try by Timmy T. For whatever that's worth. Number four, Paul Abdul pitches in with Rush Rush. And number three, Gonna Make You Sweat. Everybody dance now!

By Wongle's Wacky Wheels of Music for the Philips CD-i. Number two, with a low-key bullet, it's Colour Me Bad with that song we did that No. Rob. Um, my mind has gone blank for some reason. Yeah, that's the effect this song often has. Brian Adams. Of course. Oh, yes. Of course, yes. Yeah.

Leading us on to the main event. Let's have a look at what was happening in the US single charts. The week of Christmas, 1991. Number 11, Amy Grant. That's what love is for. And I will take her word for that. That's what it's for, right.

Yeah, I was wondering. Tried using it as a doorstop. Number 10. Hey baby, take a walk with Markie Wahlberg and his funky ball Berg with Wild Side at number nine Too legit to quit but to past it to hit number one. It's MC Hammer number eight CC

Peniston finally, it's them with that With that. Number seven. Paula Abdul is blowing kisses in the wind. Just mind out for Garth Brooks' rope. Number six. Mariah Carey can't let go of chart domination. And it's Christmas. Time to get out your sledge.

Your Percy sledge that is. It's Michael Bolton with some slapped on soul credibility at number five. Now, number four, sees PM Dawn not yet set adrift on their memory bliss. Number three, colour me bad, ask Rob which of Weezer's seasons EPs are worth listening to, to which he of course answers, all four love. Oh, God! which he of course answers, all four love. Oh god. I couldn't resist. At number two, with more numericisation, it's Boys 2 Men with a song that isn't End of

the Road or Motown Philly do do do do do do do do. And at number one, it's Black or White by Michael Jackson. And also, he has the number one album at Christmas with Dangerous. So that's all the weather. Alright then, thank you very much for your report there and for your reports throughout the year in 1991. So Andy, if we were to be sat in front of the television during the Christmas period in 1991, what would we be watching? Well, I'm glad you asked. Yes, just as in 1990, I feel an immense sense of having not been there. Because for most of the naughties Christmases that we covered, I did at least have some

recollection of why the schedules looked the way they did. I could vaguely be like, yeah, I could see why, could see why that was popular etc but sometimes with these early 90s ones you find yourself looking at these schedules and asking is this real life or is this just fantasy? On the BBC to start with it's a bit of a sitcom Christmas with specials for birds of a feather and keeping up appearances, getting the prime slots in the schedule, along with a 90 minute only fools in horses earlier in the day. There's also a special on the big day itself again for the Generation game, which I honestly did not know was still going and still hosted by Bruce Forsythe in the early 90s. I thought that was, I thought we

were long past that, but anyway. I remember it. Yeah. yeah whatever that's worth yeah but well if it's drab procedural detective fair that gets you thinking the jingle bells are ringing then boy are you in luck because boxing day has a two-hour Bejarak right in the middle of the evening for you with no add breaks so exciting sends shivers down my spine body aching all the time. ITV on the other hand they take a very different approach this year take an interesting angle of mostly focusing on films and in fact just on the day itself there are no less than five films shown on ITV during Christmas Day and a

further three that run consecutively through the night into Boxing Day. So on the day they've got the BFG and Pinocchio in the morning, For Your Eyes Only in the afternoon and Police Academy 4 in the late evening. Oh my fuck. And I've left out the main film of the day because we'll look at that in our usual Christmas head-to-head for the films. There's also an hour-long minder in the evening if you find yourself with literally nothing else at all to be doing on Christmas evening. I mean, come on, minder, just go outside, I don't know, open your eyes, look up to the

skies and see. And yes, I did say earlier that for fans of inoffensive Tui regional murdering, this was ho ho heaven, which is why on Boxing Day begging not to be beaten by Bergerac on the beep there's a 150 minute Ruth Rendell mysteries oh yeah goodness they can do that I know you think this should be some kind of law but anyway on to the the big film showdown, because ITV, its main event, it was Crocodile Dundee 2, because apparently there's a second one. Whereas the BBC gets, I think, a very impressive premiere, a genuinely really impressive premiere

on Christmas Day of the 1989 Tim Burton Batman. Only two years old, that film. I imagine they had to pay a lot for that one. I imagine. It would have been a coup, I think, at the time. Yeah, I think the amount they would have had to a lot for that one I imagine it would have been a coup I think at the time yeah I think the amount they would have had to put forward for that one was a little high little low and I realized by the way because I always compare these films because we've got Batman versus Crocodile Dundee that I realized I've been missing a brilliant opportunity to

do a thing every single time I've posed this question so allow me to just indulge myself. We've got Batman and we've got Crocodile Dundee too but which is better? There's only one way to find out. FIGHT! Anyway, which is better? Which do we think is better? Oh, probably Batman. Probably Batman, yeah. Over on the soaps, this is one of the very few years, apparently one of only three years ever,

where Eastenders didn't air an episode on Christmas Day, but it is notable for featuring a storyline over the Christmas period itself, where Mark Fowler tells his family about his HIV diagnosis. Obviously an extremely topical choice of storyline, I suspect we know where that came from. Emmerdale didn't air any episodes at all for the whole of Christmas week because that was what they did back then, but it did air on Christmas Eve

where as best I can tell Nick and Elsa got back together. Who knows? No follow-up questions please. And I think perhaps the most notable thing to happen on TV this whole Christmas is Corey's Christmas Day episode. This is genuinely really cool. So imagine you are a commissioning editor and assembling the schedules. It's a massive challenge every year for the broadcasters. It's like assembling and rearranging a sort of complex house of cards.

And it must be very frustrating for them that there's one program that cannot ever be moved around at all. That is just like nailed to the floor, which is the Queen's Christmas speech at 3 p.m. Of course, you can't move that. But ITV decided not to let that stop them and they did something really different and really innovative. So Corrie erred between 2.50 and 3.35 on Christmas Day,

in which Alma Baldwin fell back into the arms of husband Mike, despite Ken Barlow's efforts to charm her. 10 minutes into the episode at 3 p.m., Audrey and Alf Roberts sit down to watch the Queen's speech for real, and we cut to the screen that they're watching and watch the full live Queen's broadcast. And afterwards, Audrey and Alf get up

and carry on with their Christmas dinner prep, and the episode continues. How cool is that? What a great idea that is. That's quite impressive and meta and that must have taken some coordination, I imagine. Yeah. I mean, the broadcast had to line up perfectly. And I took this out on YouTube. I didn't have to dig very far.

You can watch this episode quite easily on YouTube. And it works really well. It just seamless within the episode. And I find that sort of thing really, really cool. I thought that was the most notable thing that happened this Christmas to be honest. And in that Queen's Christmas message she bravely attempted to reflect on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the re-emergence of over a dozen sovereign Eastern European nations and the reaffirmation of democracy as a cornerstone of a functioning 20th century world in 10 short minutes. So yeah. Did she succeed? I don't know. I don't know. Well yes she did.

She succeeded her father George VI. Now I think she's coasting on that at this point. Yes but yes that's your TV Christmas so and if you wanted to go outside I don't know if it was raining or snowing, but anyway, the wind blows. Always in December. Well thank you both very much for all that information. Normally we would be stopping off at the Toys and Games section. Now, for our Christmas episode from 1990, the BBC had archived a very handy video that basically ran down the entire top 10 and had a little look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja slash Hero Turtles craze

the Swep Shops for Christmas 1990 and I was expecting there to be a similar video for 1991 there wasn't there is a video though for 1992 so in a few short weeks because 1992 does not have many number ones in it, we'll get that clip loaded back in, but for now, you're just gonna have to go off the information I found, which was conflicting. So, when I googled top-selling toys UK 1991, one website gave me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the other website gave me the

Game Boy, the Nintendo Game Boy. They were both popular. Very. The Christmas Day Top 10 for 1991 and then we'll go straight in to the Christmas Day number one for 1991. So here we go. here's the top 10. At 10 it's up to Sweet and Smooth. Three places this week it's Rhubarb and Custard by Shaft. Our number 9 is Creepy and Kooky and it's up a solid 7 places it's The

Adam's Groove by MC Hammer. Brian Mays at number 8, he's reversed back two places this week with Driven by You. It's a non-mover at number 7, Kim Sims is just too blind to see it. It being the top 5. At 006, it's down one place this week, Guns and Roses with Live and Let Die. Into the Christmas Day top 5, it's smooched its way up 4 places for Right Said Fred with Don't Talk Just Kiss. At 4, the KLF are standing by Tammy Winnett but they're down 1 place with Justified and Ancient. Into the Top 3, it's a former number 1, George Michael and Elton John are begging don't let

the sun go down on me, but they're down one place. And at number two, we've got to tell Diana Ross some bad news. She's missing the Christmas number one spot for 1991. It's with When You Tell Me That You Love Me, which means that the Christmas day, number one for 1991 is this. from reality Open your eyes

Look up to the skies and see I'm just a cool boy I need no stupid thing Because I'm easy come, easy go Little high, little low Any way the wind blows Doesn't really matter to me To me

Mama, just killed a man Put a gun against his head Pulled my trigger, now he's dead Mama, life had just begun But now I've gone and thrown it all away Mama, ooh Didn't mean to make you cry If I'm not back again this time tomorrow Carry on, carry on As if nothing really matters Too late, my time has come Since shivers down my spine

Body's aching all the time Goodbye everybody, I've got to go, got to leave you all behind and face the truth Mama, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all I see a little silhouetto of a man Scaramouche, paramouche, will you do the pandango Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, Magnifico I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me He's just a poor boy from a poor family Sparing his life from this monstrosity Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah!

No, we will not let you go! Let him go! Bismillah! We will not let you go! Let him go! Bismillah! We will not let you go! Let me go! We will not let you go! Never, never let you go! Never let me go! No, no, no, no, no, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye? So you think you can love me and leave me to die? Oh baby, can't do this to me baby Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah

Nothing really matters Anyone can see Nothing really matters, nothing really matters to me Okay, this is Bohemian Rhapsody, Double A Side, with These Are The Days Of Our Lives, by Queen. Release as a standalone single, Bohemian Rhapsody, Double A Side, with These Are The Days Of Our Lives is Queen's 41st single to be released in the UK and their 4th to reach number one. The single is a reissue of the Queen song which was also the Christmas number one in 1975 and it's not the last time we'll

be coming to Queen during our 90s coverage. Bo-Rap and Days of Our Lives went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for five weeks. In its first week atop the charts it sold 357,000 copies, beating competition from We Should Be Together by Cliff Richard which climbed to number 10, Don't Talk Just Kiss by Right Said Fred which climbed to number 9, and Live and Let Die by Guns N' Roses which got to number 5. In week 2, when it became Christmas number 1, it sold 289,000 copies, beating competition from the songs you just heard about. In week 3, it sold 72,000 copies copies in a week where there were no new entries

or new climbers in the top 10. In week 4, the first week of 1992, it sold 46,000 copies, beating competition from Everybody in the Place EP by The Prodigy which climbed to number 10 and Good Night Girl by Wet Wet Wet which climbed to number 9. And in week 5 it sold 44,000 copies beating competition from We Gotta Love Thing by Cece Peniston which climbed to number 7, God Gave Rock and Roll to You Too by Kiss which climbed to number 9 and I Can't Dance KISS which climbed to number 9, and I Can't Dance by Genesis which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Bo-Rap and Days of Our Lives dropped 1 place

to number 2. By the time the 1991 reissue was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 14 weeks. Bohemian Rhapsody by itself re-entered the chart in 2009, 2018, 2019 and 2022. Bohemian Rhapsody has sold 2.6 million copies in the UK plus several more digital units making it the third biggest selling single of all time in the UK. It is officially certified five times platinum so it is quintuple platinum in the UK as of 2025 and I'm pretty sure that that's only based on physical sales as well. So digital sales you could be taking it way higher, you could be taking it into double figures for platinum, it could be diamond for all I know. So, Ed,

kick us off with Bohemian Rhapsody slash These Are The Days Of Our Lives. I wasn't too hot on Queen's last offering from their final studio album with Freddie. Well, except for the posthumous one. It made me rant about Prog, which I don't think is ever good, but there are a lot of things in Bohemian Rhapsody, I'll deal with that first, that you know I don't always get on with. Those slick, wispy, grill-cream harmonies, if you did them slightly wrong, they'd go into a kind of sneery, ELO space. And I ain't the biggest fan of ELO. I find them a bit sort of smug and, yeah, anyway. But they sound so fluid and passionate when Freddie delivers them. I get none of ELO's smug air here,

perhaps because through all of the deliberate operatic silliness here, the knowing operatic silliness, there is genuine tenderness. It sounds on here and on the the other side of this single like Freddie Mercury actually wants to reach the audience and make them feel things, not just knock them over and show them how much like the Beatles they are. Sorry, I'll stop talking about ELO. Also, the multi-part song

that I'm supposed to regard as the inherent magnum opus, but often sounds choppy and gimmicky to me is a sort of symptomatic of this period of music. There are a few of these on albums that I actually love. It might sound like sacrilege to a lot of people, but I adore The Stranger by Billy Joel. Never been the biggest fan of scenes from an Italian restaurant. This works though. I mean, it may not go into the full kind of proggy,

nativically written, sort of inversion led writing of a lot of the sort of big prog numbers, like Close to the Edge or Scorched Earth or, you know, Almancato Compliano di Una Farfalla by Maxophone, of course. But it works dynamically. It works logically and it works in terms of mood as a really natural sort of, it sort of wisps in on the wind,

builds up and then goes out on the wind again. But there is some really neat, motivic stuff happening here that kind of gives at least a sort of sense of symmetry if you listen out for it. For instance, the piano part behind the final, anywhere the wind blows, is the same piano part played slightly more slowly

that proceeds the easy come, easy go line, which must've been a deliberate callback. So it's, I think it, I mean, it's, it's wonderfully constructed as a full experience and it already seems to whiz by in terms of its duration. It never feels very long. It always feels about like four minutes. The musicianship and production is frankly stunning really. Just even listening to the way the panning was used on the guitar solo, I mean I'm coming off

like such a nerd here but I don't care. This is a song that is both on a surface level so much fun and so joyful and entertaining to listen to but the more you dig into it the more impressive shit is going on and you realise how much craft has gone into it. It's 70s pop rock at its best and there was a lot of good pop rock in the 70s as much as that may sound like a very vague and amorphous genre. Brian May, I mean it's easy to talk about Freddie Mercury's wonderful, versatile instrument but you know, he was a superb guitarist. He was never a show-off and he knew... He wrote his lines to fit the song well.

Usually. I'll come back to that. But yeah, even the drumming I started noticing this time. I mean, I hate to say it but the bassist and the drummer of Queen... Usually. I'll come back to that. But yeah, even the drumming I started noticing this time. I mean, I hate to say it, but the bassist and the drummer of Queen, they're not always the focus of conversation about the group, let's say. It's great.

You know, it's a combination of it. It's a pretty complicated part that requires a lot of unusual rhythmic emphases, but he gives it a lot of welly and a lot of Looseness where it needs to it's just all in the service of the song. It's really good. I Think this is fantastic. As I say, it's not it's not really prog. I threatened to talk about prog I'm not gonna it is more a sweet or perhaps a medley but that doesn't take away from the fact it's a brilliant track.

And yeah, as I say, it's sort of a high watermark of 70s pop rock. It's joyful, it's fun, it appeals to kids and, you know, adults and boring music nerds alike. It's just good. And the AA side, I'm so glad that they actually coupled it with, you know, they didn't try and say, oh, let's put Killer Queen on there or, you know, We Are The Champions or something. They released a very meaningful, restrained new track off the last album. And it's lovely, actually. These are the days of our lives. And I think it enhances Bohemian Rhapsody in this context because it adds a bit of sobriety and pause for thought,

where you realize it wasn't all about the sort of the theatre and showmanship. There was real potential for resonance and intimacy, in a way, with Freddie and his delivery and his writing. Now I'll be honest, it is slightly blighted by when it was recorded. The production is a little bit any dream will do in its kind of plinkety plunk, kind of cod jungle rhythms or whatever you'd call them. I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah.

And the guitar solo, for all I said about Brian May before, is a little bit overdone. Like, it's got a bit of grandstanding and all of that echo on it. It sounds like it's coming from a more epic song. I would rather it was a little bit more restrained, because he can do that.

He's not like a fret wanker. Do you know what I mean? But not mad keen on that, but I can't say there's anything wrong with it either. It is mildly plodding in part due to that production and arrangement, but it's too dynamic a composition for me to care that much and just too beautifully sung and well-meant. and I think it is genuinely

earnest. They've even divorced from its context which obviously deeply loads this track. It's just sweet and it's obviously delivered by somebody for whom music just seems so wonderfully obvious if you get what I mean. Yeah. Almost in a sort of Mozart way. It's just like, oh, you know, it never seemed to be much trouble for Freddie, this kind of thing. I usually admire Queen's Craft more than I do actually engage with,

or I'm shaken emotionally by their music, but I do think this AA side is just a lovely, or I'm shaken emotionally by their music. But I do think this AA side is just a lovely, you know, two-sided way to appraise the group. It's a lovely sort of sad, but very strong swan song. And it represents the group at their most resonant at kind of two ends of the spectrum. presents the group at their most resonant at kind of two ends of the spectrum. Yeah, I think it's a really, really lovely double A side.

Andy, how are we on Bo rap in these are the days of our lives? Yes, well, I mean, Bohemian Rhapsody is one of those songs that's such a giant monolith, a giant behemoth sort of thing in British music history for very good reason that I don't really feel I can do it justice by analyzing it in the way that we can usually though we usually do on this show. Ed has done a very, very good job of something up there. And all I would really add is that yes it's fantastic, it's mildly overblown and mildly overly theatrical but it's an exceptionally well written and well performed and well executed piece of work that deserves its status and that These Are The Days Of Our Lives is a genuinely moving bit of a tearjerker for the final AA side to be honest. So yes obviously huge,

huge praise from me. But other than that, you know, it's Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't really feel it's necessary for me to add much more than that for myself. And with that said, I'm going to use my time to talk about the real world events behind this appearing at number one, which as I'm sure we all know is the death of Freddie Mercury following a seemingly many years long battle with HIV AIDS so if you'll permit me this is going to be a fairly large and probably a fairly serious and heavy gay corner which you know I've talked about Freddie Mercury before in this kind of way but if you'll indulge me I want to you know, I've talked about Freddie Mercury before in this kind of way. But if you'll indulge me, I want to, you know, really get into this because this is a big event that's happened here that has coincided with not its music, politics,

culture and liberties all coinciding in one event, really. So I just want to talk about it as a thing that happened. Yeah absolutely. I mean so starting at the start essentially you know HIV AIDS it was a huge taboo in the 80s and those who had it were not only discouraged from ever talking about it until pretty much the moment they died just like Freddie did but also also the medical, scientific and particularly the government establishments of the day were simply not doing anything meaningful to address the epidemic. Not at first. They were not doing anywhere near enough to address the epidemic, which was of course disproportionately affecting men who have sex with men. And worse than that, in many

ways they were actively working against progress in the field, whether that's through what I would politely call promoting palliative care efforts, what I would very politely call that, or whether it's along with the likes of Section 28 which further inhibited the community and its allies' ability to fight the spread of the epidemic and protect younger members of the community by refusing and outlawing our ability to educate them about the risks out there at the time.

And this is something that we talk about from the distant past, because it is a fairly distant past, but this went on well, well beyond the 90s, by the way. I think that's something that almost everybody, including myself, tends to think of this as an 80s and 90s taboo. But in small ways, this did go on long beyond the 90s. I was helpfully reminded by an old episode of Charlie Brooker's Screamwipe, funnily enough, that I watched recently. He showed some old clips that as late as 2006 the Pope himself stated that condoms increase the risk of contracting HIV AIDS and encourage the Catholic method as a

more suitable way method of protection and safety backed up by several religious figures on national news with no medical qualifications at all who were running with this thing less than 20 years ago, stating that using a condom will increase your risk of contracting HIV AIDS. Just gobsmacking really that that happened that recently. And so it is that you look back at this whole time, but particularly you look back at the eighties and nineties. And for me, at least as someone who watches and watched a lot of TV and films in the 80s and 90s and 70s as well, but also listens to a lot of music from that time. And it almost becomes like this horrible, morbid kind of bingo card almost

where you see a young actor or a young singer or whoever who shows promise, but who never made it big. You've not heard of them before. And you wonder why you look them up on Wikipedia big, you've not heard of them before, and you wonder why, you look them up on Wikipedia and yep, they died of HIV AIDS. These are names that you want to get to know, but they would never become household names and perhaps they would have done if anyone with power was willing to save them from preventable illness. But with this, this is different. We've got a different situation here. Freddie

Mercury, who even at that time, as far as I'm aware, was one of the most famous, most beloved figures in British music, who had also successfully crossed the counterculture boundary that's so often imposed on queer artists. He was, you know, everybody knew that he wasn't a straight man, but he was taken into the living rooms of basically every walk of life in the country. He would really been taken into the nation's hearts. And in the final years of his life, again, although it based on the internet don't tend to say this, I'm reliably informed by people of that generation that it was known for several years that he was suffering from HIV AIDS. And still, he was extremely, extremely beloved.

And that taboo started to wane slightly in the wake of, you know, knowing that Freddie Mercury was going through this. And so when he died, you'd think that, oh, this is a whole new stage of the story that Freddie Mercury's died at this, you know, that we have to talk about this illness now, because now it's claimed the life of one of our most beloved artists. And sort of, yeah, just sort of. Freddy's death did come at a time that probably, probably not coincidentally, was a period of gradually changing hearts and minds where there was at least some public and political will to do something to save innocent lives and I have to say as well in the medical

community there's lots of anecdotal stories of doctors and nurses at this sort of time in the early 90s really fighting the fight to insist on better treatment and more dignity for patients with HIV. And I think it also sort of goes without saying but I should say that having been born in 1992 myself the world I grew up in and explored my sexuality in was and remains less dangerous and more understanding than frankly the hellscape that my ancestors in the community had to navigate in the 80s and 90s. And so to some extent, you know, until a certain point a few years ago, I was sort of naive to all this in the way that a lot of people are really, and I had my first year of trauma as the majority of LGBTQ plus kids do, but I didn't really know much about why. I'd never really piece the pieces together and I guess I just had this sort of vague

acceptance that that's just how the world is and had a vague sense of appreciation for living in relatively safer times, even if they're certainly not perfect and certainly less safe at the present moment than they have been for a long time, but I just sort of never really thought about it that much to be honest. And then in January 2021 the TV series It's a Sin was broadcast on Channel 4 and it genuinely is not an understatement at all for me to say that that show changed my life, it changed my life. It changed my whole view on the world. Written by the brilliant Russell T Davies

who, by the way, I have had the utmost joy of actually bumping into a few times and was able to talk to her about the impact this show had on me which was lovely. So the show, if anyone has not seen it, it explores the HIV AIDS epidemic with a brutal, unflinching view of the horrors that it brought to people's lives and it does that by showing us the other side of the coin, by focusing in on a group of young friends who we sort of watch from the start of uni into adulthood and we see them blossoming as people and we grow to love them, we grow to really appreciate their friendship and their dynamics in that group, not unlike the friends from Friends to love them, we grow to really appreciate their friendship and their dynamics in that group,

not unlike the friends from Friends, to be honest, you get that kind of attachment to them, you relate to them and you wish the best for them, and then we have to watch more than half of them die slowly, painfully, without closure, without any kind of narrative flourish and without dignity. It's intensely moving and more so for me personally, because the story is inspired by the real stories of real people who did exist and some of whom are still alive to this day,

fortunately, but many of whom died of HIV AIDS. In fact, the lead character of the show, Richie, is based on one of the very same people who I mentioned earlier who you'd Google and you find out that they died after after looking up something from the past that character the lead character who Ali Alexander played it's based on actor called Dersley McClinden who I knew because he appeared in 1980s Doctor Who serial called Remembrance of the Daleks and he died shortly

afterwards it's a real person and what's notable in even more so than that, I keep saying what's notable because there's so much that's notable about that show but I think one of the things that really sticks with me is that no one at any point in that show faces any consequences for knowingly and willfully driving innocent young men to early graves. No one. The villains of the piece are largely unseen, never appear, never even named. They are a concept, they're not characters. The villains of the piece never find out what they've done and they are oblivious right to the end about it. There is no justice for anyone, there is no arrests made, there are no comeuppance in a moral sense for most of the people who appear in the show. Well basically all of the antagonists in the show don't have any comeuppance whatsoever.

And that's just it, we're just left with that. And although we are constantly reminded that the lives of the characters were filled with joy and we love all the time we spend with them, we are constantly reminded that that's a joy that should have lasted for decades longer and it was extinguished. It was a senseless, heartless waste of life. that that's a joy that should have lasted for decades longer and it was extinguished. It was a senseless, heartless waste of life. And watching that show and the emotion I felt suddenly so much about my life and about my experience has made sense to me. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I had a quite difficult coming out experience where my parents,

their reaction was they were fearful and they were grief stricken. Which I now understand after watching that show and learning more about HIV. I understand now they reacted with grief because they were conditioned to assume that I would be dead before long because I had just come out. And, you know, even if you don't contract HIV, that is possible. That has a knock on effect. I'll tell you another story that when I was 22 Which not that many years ago. It's just over a decade ago. I had appendicitis

Which went undiagnosed for weeks because as soon as the doctor I spoke to asked about my sexuality And my relationship status wouldn't do any more about it until it had an STI test which I had to wait over a week for and in fact was too long because before those results come back where I was waiting for results of tests which I knew were going to come back negative I'd been rushed into hospital with unbearable pain and the appendicitis had been left for so long that it had turned into sepsis and I had to have life-saving surgery so So I very nearly lost my life at a young age, ultimately because a doctor assumed I had an STI rather than taking my symptoms seriously.

So yes, there are still very real, very present dangers because of the generational impact of HIV. I now understood why that had happened, which I didn't understand at the time, and I understood now why that happened. I understood why so many in society were insistent that gay sex should be frowned upon and discouraged even if they didn't appear outwardly homophobic and weren't really homophobic in most of their interactions. They'd just been taught that it was inherently unsafe and dirty. And even just in the

last couple of years, again coming back to medical stuff, me and my husband have both, we've attended medical appointments about completely unrelated things, like a cut sustained in an accident or a funny looking freckle and been asked our HIV status for no reason at all. And all of this stuff suddenly made sense to me and I felt so many things. I felt revelation as I really like understood generational trauma and generational impacts of things that have happened. And I felt grief and I felt sadness.

I felt this sheer overwhelming outpouring of emotion about this understanding of the world that I'd been born into. And perhaps most strongly of all, I felt an unbearable rage. I became more connected to my community and its nightlife than I ever had before. In fairly short order, I left my job and got a new one,

an organization supporting LGBTQ plus people because I just had to do something with these feelings. I began losing my inhibitions a bit. I often dressed and spoke pretty flamboyantly when I hadn't done before. Died my hair pink at one point, that was fun. And on a lighter note, we even named our dog Richie because of it's a sin. It was named after him.

And so now coming at the end of all of those recent experiences and my kind of awakening in terms of what my place is in history. I look back at the case of Freddie Mercury, and I do acknowledge that the publicity, his diagnosis and his death received it, that that did turn a corner for us but there is another sign to it that reignites that frustration and that rage and that's what I have to finish on here which is that Freddie Mercury he was one of those artists who was so indescribably talented, so spellbinding

as a performer, that he is now spoken of in mythic terms, that we don't talk about Freddy the Man. When we mention his name, most of us instantly see him as a silhouette with one arm raised at the sky and the other arm with the microphone stand, like he's sort of summoning some higher power. We speak about him in those kind of aught tones, like sort of desperate to understand him but accepting that we never really will. We sort of speak wistfully about what the next few decades might have held for him and we long for those days when a genuine superstar like him was riding high. He's a genuine true icon in the most literal sense, like I think that word is thrown

around a bit too lightly but he actually is like he's no longer a person in the way that we talk about him. He is an emblem of something else. He is an emblem of music itself, really, as silly as that sounds. But he is. We don't see the person. We see that silhouette with the arm in the sky, which means that everything we do know about his life and his journey is mythologized quite understandably considering his achievements you know and all the big things in his life i've not seen that Bohemian Rhapsody film but i imagine and i've heard from Rob and from others that the kind of stuff they focus on is his first day oh and his live aid performance and and Bohemian Rhapsody and the creation of that and his death from HIV AIDS which i know doesn't get a huge mention in Bohemian Rhapsody, but that's something that we just sort of tell as part of his story as well. We treat that as another part of his great mythic story that like this swashbuckling musical hero received a suitably tragic ending,

capping off the story with an almost literary tear-jerking flourish at the end. That's how we talk about it. We use phrases like, oh, it's so sad, isn't it? Oh, he's so missed and oh, why him? And you know what? No, this is not what we should be saying. This is not what we should talk about when we speak about Freddie Mercury's death. It wasn't some mythic tragic downfall. It was a slow, painful, undignified and personally harrowing road towards an atrociously young death. It was a slow, painful, undignified and personally harrowing road towards an atrociously young death. It was a death that could have been prevented and knowingly wasn't. Freddie Mercury didn't die, he was killed by neglect, by this very same establishment that now encourages and joins in with the veneration of his memory. So let's reframe all of those comments from

above like, oh, it's so sad. Yes, it is sad, it's worse than that, it's a travesty, it's an injustice, it's a disgusting aberration of our apparently liberal values that he was allowed to die along with literally millions of others around the world whose names we don't know and who will probably, many of them will be forgotten sadly, you know, and sad doesn't begin to cover it. We say, oh, he's so missed. Yes, of course he's so missed because he wasn't supposed to die. He never should have died. So, of course he's missed. And finally, why him? That's not the question. The question is, why not him? So many others met the exact same faith.

The people around you of that generation who are LGBTQ plus, they're just the lucky ones. They're the lucky ones, or the ones who weren't quite, you know, sexually active enough at that time. Mostly they are the lucky ones. And in the end, Freddie Mercury, he was just another victim of times that didn't care enough to help.

So don't feel sad, don't feel wistful, don't mythologize his death in that way. Feel angry, feel rage, it's okay to feel that. Feel the need for justice and look at the present day and understand that it's not okay to treat homosexuality and bisexuality with shame and by wrapping us up in cotton wool. It's not okay to always think of us in terms of whether we have HIV or not. It's not okay to allow people to joke about backs against the walls or don't eat off our plates because those aren't jokes those were real attitudes. A lot is said about allyship these days

that's a really big movement in recent times, rightfully so, it's really important allyship and so the best advice I can give to anyone who wants to be an ally is this, being an ally is not being sad about Freddie Mercury's death being an ally is being fucking angry about it. I appreciate this is heavy stuff for our lovely light music show and I do thank you for listening through this massive rant of mine but I'm saying all this because our reaction as a country when Freddie Mercury died was to get Bohemian Rhapsody to number one and that's lovely but that isn't enough. To really pay proper tribute to Freddie Mercury's death we have to understand it and when we understand it we must then, now and always demand better. That's the best

legacy that we can give Freddie Mercury and all of those who died alongside him. His musical legacy is 100% assured, you don't need to worry about that. Our job is to make sure that the legacy of his life and his death is also assured. Yeah, to be honest, I kind of think that if anybody is listening to this and thinks, well that was a bit heavy, tough really to be honest. Thank you Andy, that was great. I really appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, very much so. I actually, I mean I know Andy that you were a massive fan of It's a Sin, but I didn't realise that like that was why. You know, the actual dead specifics of it, like

getting right down into the nitty gritty of how it like had that much of an impact on you. I'm not alone in that. It's not, all of what I said, there's nothing unique about my experiences that you know, it is a bit of a thing that you find that you know, although there's nothing unique about my experiences that you know it's it's it is a bit of a thing that you find that you know although there's a lot of kind of light talk and banter you know when you're out with gay friends when it's a sin comes up there's this sort of hushed like understanding that emerges when people just sort of shake their heads and you know everybody gets it whether it's a sin like it's not just me. For what it's worth I mean I will say this regardless of your stake or perceived stake in the storylines that it illustrates.

I think it's just one of the best pieces of television I've ever seen. It's so well written. And I mean, it just deals with such a harrowing subject, but it's just so well balanced. You don't feel like, you know, it doesn't feel like a chore to watch, but the message stays with you. I never, you know, I think about that show all the time myself.

And I'm not as deeply entrenched in the in the in the world as you are. Yeah. But watch it. Just just fucking watch the show. It's great. It's really, really good. And I really like it really obviously completely appreciate what Rob said there about, you know, if you thought that was too heavy, then tough. And I would go further and say, if you think that's too heavy, watch it to sin. That's like, because

that's why I'm talking like that. That I agree with it as well. I would go as far as to say, possibly, I think the best piece of television I've ever seen, but certainly the most powerful piece of television I've ever seen. So the most powerful piece of television I've ever seen. So yes, if you want to learn more about the issues I've raised in my TED talk today, then go and watch it to set, and I promise I'm not being paid by Ross Lissie Davies. Yeah. Blimey.

I'm glad I went first, Andy. That was... I'm sorry. Rob! Hey! Well yeah, coming over to me, before I talk about Bohemian Rhapsody the song, I just want to doubly... What's the opposite of recommend? Discourage? Just... Bohemian Rhapsody the film... Just... I really wish one day that that's burned out of existence.

Because Andy, what you were talking about there, about Freddie Mercury being... Mythologised and having his humanity stripped away in the process. That is that film in Microcosm. It is so much worse than just his playing his greatest hits or whatever. The message that I always come away from with thinking about that film is, oh God, if Freddie Mercury wasn't so gay and bisexual, Queen might have had a successful period in the 80s before Live Aid. And that's it. That's, that's, and that's gay shame right there.

Because that's, although that's the more blatant side of it, it creates these subtle impulse responses for actual gay people or for men who have sex with men to think, well, yeah, maybe, maybe if I just have a little bit less sex, I'm less likely to die. You know, and that sets in the shame response of like, you know, is it okay for me to want to, you know, put myself out there like everybody else? Films like that are as guilty as anything else from that time. Films like that should be ashamed of themselves for doing stuff like that. If films could be ashamed of themselves, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think I actually said this on a few episodes ago when we did innuendo, and I will say it again, that like, it's rare I ever think this about a piece of art, but I do think that anybody involved with that film should be ashamed of themselves. I don't care how much effort was put in, it was put in in effort of something genuinely ugly that made the world a worse place and they should be ashamed of their involvement

in it as far as I'm concerned. Do you know what? I'm quite glad that the trailer was bollocks because I never bothered to see it. I'm like this is just going to be the worst kind of surface level NAF cash-in biopic shite. It was a terrible trailer that Leeds, what's his name, Rami Malek, looked ridiculous in a way Freddie Mercury never did. It was slightly embarrassing and I'm, to be honest, I mean it sounds so judgmental and disablered, I'm kind of glad I never bothered. Yeah Andy, I would say that like, I mean I would always recommend that everybody watches absolutely everything but Andy I would say that with Bohemian Rhapsody, from what you've

just said, I think if you watched it, blood would come pouring out of your ears from rage alone. I mean I was nearly like that, you know? It just... And when you talk about them playing the hits and mythologizing him and stuff, they move his HIV diagnosis to before live aid, which means that when he's up there singing Bohemian Rhapsody, I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all, Oh, my stomach just actually let's, that was just... Oh my god. I don't want to die. I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all Actually, yeah

Move it to before that and then at the end of the film as part of a slideshow It says oh and Freddy was with this guy and he died and they were together when he died and oh isn't that nice And well, it's not even like there's no there's nothing shot of it. It's just a picture with with a caption next to it. And the film constantly re-emphasizes that the love of his life was, I forget her name, but the one he wrote the song about. Mary, of course. That's the thing that's really, really, really hammered home.

Meanwhile, anything relating to Freddie's bisexuality is presented with, it's all... I'm literally being completely serious here. It is men with mustaches looking at him from across a room as if to say, come on Freddy, let's go and commit sin together. They also compare and combine quite a lot of temptation and sin with regards to his sexual promiscuity. They also line it up and compare it with drug taking and you know like that he was putting his body in danger and that the and that him going to Berlin and doing all this stuff was what ultimately broke the group up in the 80s before they got back and it's And I thought oh my god, how disrespectful is this and how awful is this and then I look in the credits and

The surviving and remaining members of Queen are all down as executive consultants. I will say I was I mean it sounds you know Extremely disrespectful and offensive but in terms of the mythologizing stuff, I do think that that was going on long before Behemian Rhapsody, but that's oh, yeah, that's being a problem with Freddie's image almost since the moment he died, really. And I do wonder and I never really got into this, but I do wonder if that was a bit of a reaction to the fact that he died of a taboo illness

that was, you know, only vaguely kind of legal to even talk about at the time. Yeah, ignore that. I wonder if that was how we channeled that, that he became an archetype rather than a person, because that's been going on for many years. Like we've all grown up in that image of him with the hand in the air. You know, that's not something that Bohemian Rhapsody, the film, created. But yeah, that's the logical end point of it, which is to essentially desecrate the memory. I've said this a dozen times on the podcast already, but this is another song, just as Andy said, where it's so big and daunting that like, I go to type notes about it and I just sort of freeze because like, as soon as I have a

thought, I guess that the exact same thought has been uttered thousands of times by thousands of other people, you know, Bohemian Rhapsody has been picked out and analyzed and repicked out and reanalyzed so many times in so many different ways from so many different angles that I am acutely aware that no original thought about it has ever passed through my head or anybody's head for about 20 years, you know, even acknowledging that none of my thoughts around Bohemian Rhapsody are original, that's not an original thought either. It's just Bohemian Rhapsody is just there. You know, the third most successful single of all time in UK pop chart history, number one twice, Christmas number one twice, one of those singles that's in our national song

book, probably on the first few pages of it somewhere. So I'll do a quick mention for Days of Our Lives, which is, I agree Ed, very sweet, very emotional ballad that's a bit bogged down by a lot of 90s signifiers but is elevated by one of Freddie's more restrained performances behind the microphone. You know, Roger Taylor, who's the drummer, writing an emotional song for his friend and band mate who's about to die and then Freddie turning it into something really touching. You know, it's definitely more than worth the entry fee. One of my favourites off Innuendo, which is my favorite Queen album anyway.

So, yeah, so Bohemian Rhapsody, I've put it off for long enough. I think Bohemian Rhapsody is really special. I have complained about Queen on this podcast a few times in the past. Like, they really aren't a band I have that much fondness for. I always appreciate what they're doing and I band I have that much fondness for. I always appreciate what they're doing and I enjoy like a decent portion of their songs but the love has always been lacking. You know Queen always kind of remind me of, like I said when we covered Innuendo, of being like Sparks' normal cousin. It's like they start out with all these flamboyant and theatrical

glam rock elements and then they get nervous and so they streamline it and they put it into something that's more conservative and more mainstream but I will say that that that only becomes a major problem for me from about News of the World onwards including News of the World and then beyond whereas Bo Rap is from the period of Queen I Enjoy the Best that run from Queen to through Sheer Heart Attack and then Night of the Opera. That's a good solid trilogy of records that and I think that this is the best of that era because it's one of the very few occasions where they don't dial down the experimentation or the outlandishness of glam. It feels like it finishes with the same vision that they set out with. It's like they were willing to just slap this on some record executive desk and say this is going out untouched because we have faith in it.

The movements from five-part acapella harmonies at the beginning into piano balladry, into hard rock, into little prog suites and back out again. Bands had been, to quote, you know, everybody, using the studio as an instrument for at least a decade by like 1975, but the multi-tracking here is insane. Like it feels like New Worlds are constantly opening up throughout this, you know this was the first time Queen had ever used a 24-track recording setup, and they make sure that every last one of them is doing something different because they also did this neat little trick where they would bounce down several tracks into a single track so that more and more and more overdubbing could be done and apparently like almost 200 tracks were present

in this song by the end once they figured out you know the bouncing down and you know getting them into one track and then using the remaining 23 tracks to then bounce it down again and doing that process nearly 10 times. And I think this is where my affection for Vovorap really comes in because you can feel the band just wanting more and more and more and more out of this composition. They want to make it as big and grand and as loud as possible. Instead of going, well, we do want a hit with this so we'll turn down the feathers and the scars and the light shows and we'll play it a bit straight,

instead, they just commit with full gusto to an incredible vision and they tie it all together. Like you say, Edward, the kind of, you know, the sort of motif-based songwriting and the little piano runs that come back and go away and come back again. And I cannot tell you how hard I've had to work to just ignore the 50 years of history that have been heaped onto this song. How it's one of those songs that's kind of been, we've mentioned it on the show before, that's kind of been flattened by overexposure, where you kind of listen passively every time you hear it, because it's always, you never sit, no one really these days ever needs to sit down and find Bohemian Rhapsody because I feel like if you turn around enough times one of those occasions you turn around the song will just be playing and you you could just go oh yeah and you listen passively because you

know it so well and it means you forget all the nuances and the things that made it special in the first place it just becomes a noise we all know. But I'm glad to have sat with this properly this week, with proper headphones in the choir over the last couple of weeks on my own, trying to remove and forget as much of the context as possible. Because then you remember that there's a truly great song underneath all of that 50 years of history, a real statement song, a song that attempted to push glam and pop rock as far as it could go, combines hard rock and prog and rock opera and all sorts of other things, the closest queen ever got to being as good as Sparks. I've always found the mix during the hard

rock section to be a little muddy, like yeah okay it's the 70s and everything's muddy and dusty but I think it's also down to the playing as well it's kind of sludgy in some places but that's a minor point and the rush into the hard rock section still feels incredible after all this time they all like you know Wayne's world like that enshrines that kind of moment forever I think for a lot of people as if it wasn't already enshrined it's such a minor point but this is a worthy double number one, a worthy double Christmas number one, and I think this is a better celebration of Freddy than anything that that fucking film had to say. A thing he made, the thing he put most of himself into, that's, I think that's how I would prefer to remember him, as opposed to a thing

that was made by committee several years hence that was chopped and messed around with and fudged with so much and by so many people. It had two different directors because the original director turned out to be a bit of a wrong-un and they had to get someone else in last minute to make loads of edits and cuts which is why the film is cut to fuck and the camera changes at angle every 1.4 seconds and Rami Malek winning best performance is just about more outrageous than Green Book winning best picture, one of the most loathsome and offensive films I think I've ever seen in my life and there it is just oh yeah best picture. Those are the kinds of people that celebrated Bohemian Rhapsody the most

and gave it all those awards and accolades and stuff and I don't even dislike Rami Malek. Like I said I think he's really good in Mr Robot. I like him generally, he seems like a decent guy. He's a good actor I think. Yes he was just part of a horrendous production. A mistake. He made an excellent Bond villain as well by the way. He's very very good in that. Yeah. The way I always describe his performance is that it's a terrible set of prosthetic teeth hiding an even worse performance. That's kind of how I've always characterized it in my head. It's absolutely terrible. Whereas I think Bohemian Rhapsody, just remember him by, Freddie, by the things he did. You know, I think this Bohemian Rhapsody

the song is a better example of the person he was, you know, I think this Bohemian Rhapsody of the Song is a better example of the person he was than something that was made by other people many years after Freddie Mercury, the person, had stopped existing. Interesting because I went through a sort of self-doubt period quite a long time ago, probably like the late noughties, but I was still sort of learning about what the popular opinions were about music. I went through a bit of a self doubt period with Bohemian Rhapsody at the time because there was a school of thought, like relatively recently, there was a school of thought that really, really hated this to the point where this song appears in some 90s and noughties, like number one worst song ever written lists.

You know, it's I don't know what that's about. Maybe they just didn't get it. Maybe it needs a bit more time. song ever written lists you know it's I don't know what that's about maybe they just didn't get it maybe it needs a bit more time but I just think that's like almost factually untrue yeah over played and prog adjacent was enough to make it a pile of shit in that era of critical thinking but even if it's not it's not my favorite Queen song it doesn't have to be anyone's favorite Queen song or let alone favorite song full stop but it is close to be an's favourite Queen song, let alone favourite song full stop. But it is close to being objective, isn't it really? You can't deny the sheer talent in this. I think it's disingenuous to apply otherwise. So I think that's odd that it used to have that school

of thought of maybe this isn't very good at all. Of course it is, come on. Don't need to reinvent the wheel with every article you write, come on. Before we get into the last bit of the episode So I trust we are all vaulting this right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes, okay. Excellent So to wrap up 1991 we're gonna look back at the whole year So Andy first up we've got three little things to go here Well sort of two actually because there are so few songs in 1991, but you may as well just do the whole list. So, two little bits to go. So we have Born to Run or Up, Be True for 1991, and then we have

the countdown of our least favourite to favourite number ones of 1991. So, for Be True, Andy, take it away! As always, you know I always introduce a segment every year, but you know what this is by now. This is the part of the year where we decide, just for for fun what if we doubled the amount of songs we look at and do the second batch in a 10 minute segment we're just that crazy but yes we have secretly ranked them all and come up with our winner for the best number two single of 1991 and where where it's notable I'll let you know what beat them to number one because some of these are a bit notable. But yes, I will start with our very worst. In fact, I'm going to do the whole 14 of them, because only 14,

so rather the top 10. I will very briefly tell you that our worst was Wind of Change by the Scorpions. Yes. 13th place, it was Baby Baby by Amy Grant. And in 12th place, it was When You Tell Me That You Love Me, which is our current number two at this time by Diana Ross. And in 11th place it was I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred.

So, getting into the top 10. First of all, in 10th place we have Let's Talk About Sex by Salt and Pepper. It tried. Yeah. In 9th place we've got Crazy For You by Madonna. Yeah. Okay. In 8th place we've got More Than Words by Xtreme.

Do you know what? It's actually lovely for the first two minutes and twenty seconds and then it goes on forever. In seventh place, we have I Wanna Give You Devotion by Nomad featuring MC Mikey Freedom. I should have to look that one up again. Yes, I want to give you the devotion. In sixth place, it's Now That We Found Love by Heavy D and The Boys. Yeah, well done. Yeah, six is respectable. Into our top five.

So in fifth place, we've got Last Train to Transcentral by KLF featuring the Children of the Revolution Yep, finally back Which was beat to number one by the way by the Shoop Shoop Shong Haha, it got you too! In fourth place it is Get Ready for This by 2 Unlimited Fair That was beaten by both Brian Adams and also by Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff. In third place we have

Gypsy Woman brackets She's Homeless brackets La-Da-D by Crystal Waters. I can live with that. I'd put it a little bit higher but I can live with it. In second place we've got Sit Down by James. Fair, good track. Okay so before we reveal our number one, a few points of order. First of all, I forgot to mention, just to point out, When You Tell Me That You Love Me by Diana Ross, which none of us really liked very much, we ranked that near the bottom. I think it's fair to say that if what happened didn't happen with Freddie Mercury, that probably would have got Christmas number one.

We would have been talking about that instead. What a very different episode that would have been. But I will say though, it felt bad to rate Diana Ross solo. I really like Diana Ross and that song is just so by the numbers, it's a shame. Yeah, she's hit and miss to be fair, she's hit and miss. And all that leaves us to announce then is the winner of Born to Runner Up, 1991, which two of us rated as our favourite number two of the year and one of us rated as our second favourite number two of the year so we're pretty clear on this that the best number

two single of 1991 is Crazy by Seal. God that makes me happy. That makes me so happy. That was the first song I ever remember really positively reacting to when I was in my bloody pushchair pretty much. It was the very first one of the year as well, the very first Born to Runner of Entrance of 1991 and it made it all the way through to the end and won and it was beaten to number one by Sadness, Sadiness by Part One by Enigma. It's a good week that one, good week that. Yeah. Little Factoid before we do our top songs of the year,

that one. Good week, that. Yeah. Little Factoid, before we do our top songs of the year, When You Tell Me That You Love Me was also a runner-up entry in 2005. What? Because it was a cover with Westlife and it was kept off number one by the JCB song by Nislofi. Westlife covered that track with Diana Ross. Did it just dissolve into nothingness? I mean, Jesus Christ I know so Andy I Would say what were our top ten songs of the year? But like how many number ones were there this year like 13 we have 17 and considering that I do the top ten and the bottom Five, I think I might as well just do the whole 17 to be honest But I will keep you in suspense

I'll go in reverse order to start with because I'm in charge and you can't go any higher than me. So our fifth worst number one single of the year Was I think this is a bit controversial. It was bring your daughter to the slaughter by Iron Maiden Oh, no, no bit controversial it was bring your daughter to the slaughter by iron maiden oh no with an average score of five yeah I think it's a little bit controversial have we lost our credibility as serious music people by Duncan on Iron Maiden? No, not that. Not even Iron Maiden fans like that so go ahead our fourth worst number one of the year it It's Any Dream Will Do by Jason Donovan. Yeah. Gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, gung, g Which, er, so it got an average score of 4.5 and was put in the pie hole by Ed.

In second place, it's Dizzy by Vic Reeves and the Wonderstuff, which got an average score of 4 and was put in the pie hole by Rob and Ed, but not by me. I feel sorry for the Wonderstuff, I've gotta say. Oh, I don't. And the worst number one of 1991 that we determined, which I think anyone who's been keeping track of what we've been covering probably isn't surprised by this one, and we even had Lizzie in to agree with us about how bad it was, we had a real consensus on this, with an average score of 3.3. I'm putting the pie hole by Rob and I. It's the Stonk

by Hale and Pace. I think we determined that the stonk stonk yes Did I not put that in the no you didn't do you want to join a race with me? You can do a retrospectively. I'm not been fired anyway carry on We're gonna put in a team's invite tomorrow that just says catch up and we're gonna talk about it then Intervention. Chat. So a quick mention for those who have fallen in the valley, those two songs in the middle. In 12th place it was Do The Bartman and in 11th place it was Everything I Do I Do It For You by Bryan Adams. Isn't that funny? That biggest number one of the year by far

and barely a mention in our rankings. So into our top 10 in 10th place It's the shoot shoot shoot shoot shot by sheriff by Sean Yes, which got an average score of five point six it was actually put in the pie hole by edge But it makes it into our top ten I will say fact fans that this is the lowest scored song ever to make it into the top 10 of any year. In ninth place, it's Sadness Part 1 by Enigma, which got an average score of 5.6 also, but it wasn't put in the pie hole.

So I've ranked it higher. It's got a 0. It's fine. Yes. And so also, yeah, it shares our dubious honour of being the lowest scoring one ever to make it into the top ten. It perks up a little bit from there. In eighth place, ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the top ten, had to do one more of those before the year was out, with an average score of 5.8 and not put in the vault or the pie hole by any of us. In seventh place with an average score of 6 and not put in the vault or the pie hole by any of us, it's the one and only by Chesney Hawks.

Chesney Hawks, oh. Well done there Chesney. I think that's surprisingly high. I think, I mean I'm happy about that because I like that song. Well I'm surprised it got as high as number 7. It is a decent track, you know, it really is. It's a well put together track, decently sung. So we've not put anything in the vault yet, but that changes here. In 6th place, put in the vault by Rob, but no one else, and with an average score of 6.3, it's Innuendo by Queen.

We're so far into the top 10 and the average score is 6.3. 1991 has not been a great year. It's been a weird year. In fifth place, it's our first fifth place entrant ever, fact fans, to not score seven. It's with an average score of 6.5 and put in the vault by Rob, it's the Fly by U2. Oh well, I'm glad it got to the top five anyway. Do you know what? It's good, I just don't love it. As simple as that. In fourth place, with an average score of 7.2 and put in the vault by Ed, it's Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash.

The Clash, yeah. Making it high up there. I actually forgot about that, but well done. So into our top three, and with an average score of 7.3 put in the vault by me and only me with that one If you're thinking about number three, it don't matter if you're black or white by Michael Jackson Yeah, yes good So into our top two and I will say that we're still in really low numbers here in second place with an average score of 7.7 and put in the vault by Rob and Ed it's 3 a.m. eternal by the KLF just missing out I mean that's really good for them well done well that's

grown on me like a rash I really like that track yeah and it's me fully admit this me you torpedo that that it would have got a much higher score if I felt better about it and that's going on me a bit, going on me a bit. I tend to picture to you too that I went to Berry Arcade Club which is great by the way for the Blockly Chagoda and they have this big screen where they play old retro stuff to make it feel more like the era and a bit like Stranger Things and they put 3am on the big screen and it was really good, really atmospheric yeah oh my god yeah visit that if you have the opportunity it's a really good

place yeah yeah it's really good so we come to our number one and I'm gonna bring on last year's winner who of course is none other than Madonna everybody who is here to hand over the crown tiara the assorted jewelry or ornatory that you think is suitable for the winner of our trophy. Madonna won last year with Vogue. Nice to have you here Madonna. And she tells me that her favorite number one of 1991 is Do The Bartman. Interesting choice. Thanks for that Madonna. And her favorite Hits 21 host is Ed because she hates Don't Let the Sun Go Down on me. Yeah, that's interesting.

That surprises me, given my lukewarm reception to a lot of her material. Anyway, let's say goodbye to Virtual Madonna and let's have a new virtual winner. So the number one number one of 1991 according to us, our record of the year it is of course with an average score of 9.2 and vaulted by all three of us it's Bohemian Rhapsody slash these are the days of our lives by Queen. Yay from 1975! Well yes that's a first so a couple of firsts with this one yeah it, it's the first song not from that year, it's the first song not from that era at all, to go ahead and win the year.

Don't know what that says about the songs that we've covered this year, but that's the first time that's ever happened. Yeah, and it is also only the second time, not quite the first, it's because of Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud, but it's only the second time that a artist has won the year who is now deceased

so yeah so we'll always make a joke of course about the artist virtually being in the room with me but i really do wish that freddy could be virtually in the room with us so yeah um yeah queen win the year yeah and what a victory a storming victory from them there yeah at the risk of bringing things down though as much as i like the track I just want folk to be honest would days of our lives have won this if it wasn't attached to Peebee and Rhapsody on its own merits? Maybe. I would have scored that like it only needed to beat the score of 7.7 and I probably would have given that an 8 so I think it might have done it would anyone else have? It's possible. They have nicked it. Yeah. It's possible. Do you know what?

I thought, you know, for all its production drawbacks, I thought it was very sweet, wonderfully sung. It could have done. Alright then. So that is it for our coverage for 1991 and we will see you all in 1992. Thank you very much for listening and we will see you next time. Bye bye. Bye.