Archives – 2017 – January  

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The Freaky Trigger Readers’ Poll 2016: #10-#1
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“Call me Ron. I’m a straightforward sort of pup, me – what you see is what you get. But when I’m not out clubbing with my six older brothers, I do get to wondering what it’s all about. You know. Life. Death. Sardines. It[…]

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The FT Top 41 Films 2016 – #20 – #11
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“Hi I am Elliot from Pete’s Dragon. I suppose you could call me Pete’s Dragon, except Pete clearly doesn’t own me, we are just buddies who hang in the woods. And yes, I am the proper Pete’s Dragon, not that godawful 2D d[…]

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The Freaky Trigger Readers’ Poll 2016: #20-#11
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TASH-BED: Hi everyone! It’s us, the singing Bedingfield siblings! Remember us? You must remember us.
DAN-BED: Summon Tash and she will appear!
TASH-BED: We’ve been keeping busy for the last few years, doing a turn on the New Zealand X Fac[…]

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Popular Crystal Ball: 2016 – The Year Pop Broke
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Shout Out To My Eggs
Well, that was a year. It’s not what 2016 will be remembered for, but this was the year that streaming broke the charts – or fundamentally changed what they reflect. The structural impact is obvious – TEN records got to num[…]

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The Freaky Trigger Readers’ Poll 2016: #30-#21
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Greetings! I’m the Toilet Duck and I’m here to solve all your problems! It’s easy (*quack*) when I’m on your team. With my catchy tunes and the help of my squadron of all-terrain bathroom fixtures I will defeat the rebel bacte[…]

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The FT Top 41 Films 2016 – #30 – #21
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“Hi I’m Godzilla. No honestly I am. I know what you’re thinking, that doesn’t look like Godzilla, he stands up on his hind-legs and stomps Tokyo. Well firstly who are you calling a “he”. Godzilla, ie me, is a lady.[…]

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The FT Top 41 Films 2016 – #40 – #31
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Hi, I’m Dr Zaius smoking a cigarette from The Planet Of The Apes. You know the proper Planet Of The Apes from the sixties where people acted as apes, rather than Andy Serkis wearing ping pong balls and making a fool of himself. OK it meant that Cha[…]

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The Freaky Trigger Readers’ Poll 2016: #40-#31
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“‘Allo. My name is René Artois, cafe owner and reluctant assistant to the Resistance. You may be wondering what I am doin ‘ere, at the top of a German communications tower, ‘olding a large knockwurst with a fuse coming out of[…]

Latest comments on FT

  1. Well done for getting this far, and capping the first 1,000 with these essays. I discovered FreakyTrigger and Popular through…

  2. Astonishing read. I don't know if any of this is going to make sense, but thank you, Tom, for this…

  3. Thank you, Tom, for many years of enjoyable, insightful, reading. Really something that has endured and has proven its worth…

  4. Tom, thank you for such thoughtful reflections on Popular and the charts. I really enjoyed them, just as I’ve really…

  5. Congratulations on making it this far, and I'm enjoying it more than ever! And I have been reading for my…

  6. Yeah while I wanted to accentuate the positive there are some absolute horrorshows to come and Sheerangate is one of…

  7. It's great to hear that the new focus on pop's past didn't pull you too far away from the present.…

  8. Almost unbelievable achievement Tom! That many reviews, and all of them crackling with personality, opinion, taste and varying degrees of…