A PERFECTER PERFECT DAY — by !!SCIENCE!!

Some people I think might be on it if it was recorded now, for better or worse:
– Suggs
– Neil Tennant
– Jools Holland
– Dizzee Rascal/other British rappers
– someone from the world of dance music, maybe Jocelyn Brown? Or does Heather Small count for that?
– Jarvis
– Kylie
– Will.I.Am.

As Rave ’92 only has 20 different artists on it I will have to think outside the (big fish small fish cardboard) box. SO! For my 140bpm mix I would have the following dudes in front of various Amiga-generated backgrounds:

2 Unlimited (don’t be afraid it’s just the Perfect Day), Mark E Smith (it’s such fun), Justine Frischmann (more sullen than Evan Dando), Neil Tennant (problems all left alone), Elaine Page & Barbra Dickson (I’m glad I spent it with YOOOOO), Origibabes (for the majority of the ‘reap’s), Enya (for the rest of them). Nile and Bernie to do the instrumental bit. Keith Flint, Gala, Bruce Dickinson, Daniel Bedingfield, Will Young, Frankie Vaughan, Fergie and (why not) Westlife for the rest.

Courtney Pine has requested he repays a guesting appearance by ditching the orchestra and replace it with his old collaborative pal Mike (sorry Michael) Oldfield for the instrumental bit. (In no way is Oldfield allowed to sing).

So sax, double speed guitar (a loon or too) with added Humphrey Lyttleton on trumpet for services rendered over the decades.

Meanwhile Sparks has demanded to be included, mistakenly believing they have have owned the BBC since 1994.

It strikes me that Stephin Merrit with the sorts of vocalist line-ups (including St Et’s Cracknell) he assembles on his The Sixths records could do a nice job, as could the larger indie conurbation around Broken Social Scene (Metric’s version is OK).

@9: Fair enough, there are lots of reasons to bash the BBC, but would you prefer wall-to-wall Murdochvision instead?

Anyway, I’m leaning towards a “dead US people” version, starring Jim Morrison, Arthur Lee, Gene Clark, Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, that guy from the song with the Bee Girl, etcetera. Could be quite distinctive.

Imagine YOU have been appointed (time-travelling) Director-General of the 1992 BBC instead of John Birt. Who would you keep? Who would you drop? Who would you draft? What would you do that Birt didn’t? What he did do that you would do different?

This deserves a separate post, really. Whether the BBC is salvageable or not (it still does some things well, but too many of punctum’s points hit home), I think there’s a strong tactical and strategic case for starting a public discussion of what it or its successor(s) OUGHT to be doing, and not just for various kinds of music. Actually setting a want-want-need stall out.

(Perhaps not such a strong tactical and strategic case for starting the discussion on FT, of course.)

#12 Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon

(i don’t think bowie’s taking the piss at all, i think he’s manfully — alienfully? — attempting transparent and unself-conscious sincerity, like thomas newton singing hymns in man who fell to earth)