Weather: Sunny spells, and a couple of very heavy showers. 21 C is the tops again.

Track of the day: The Beat Goes On - Britney Spears' cover version (...Baby One More Time, 1999). Originally recorded by Sonny & Cher in 1965, the track was covered in a modern style by Sheffield's All Seeing I in 1998. The following year, perky pop princess Birtney's Pears made a faithful, almost note-for-note cover of the ASI version, and plonked it on her debut album. It's worth another listen.

Speaking of Pears, confirmation that her favourite producers, the Cherion studios in Stockholm, will be closing at the end of the year. "We've taken this bunny as far as we can," is a loose translation of beat svengali Max Martin. Pears, the Backstreet Boys and their ilk are now expected to turn more towards the R&B-influenced filler; Steps will continue to sound like Abba.

Daphne & Celeste get pelted off stage at the Reading festival in Reading. Pop's perky pair of tweenies are given the big elbow by a bunch of indie music snobs waiting to hear Liam Gallagher belching. "They love us really," said Daphne, (or was it Celeste?) clearly not getting the joke. The joke being that there is no joke, what one sees with that pair is exactly what one gets. They're not proto-punks, as the NME claims, confusing the pair with 1994's perky pair of tweenies, Shampoo. They're just up for a larf, and more fools those who try to find some deeper story.

Emmy
korn does a lot less marketing towards youngsters *i'm sure theres still the *cool* issue there n stuff however*
Ah, Korn was the band it was cool to be in to circa 1997. It's all Slipknot now. For those who haven't heard the group, think.. well, think Korn. I can't tell the difference. My 13 year old cousin can.

i actually love korn their probably my favorite guy band
(Carbon-) Date me as an Iron Maiden fan.

i would never ever ever ever think it ok for 12, 13, or 14 year olds to be listening to them
Would they be listening to the words, or just hanging out for the image? And if they were listening, wouldn't they be de-constructing them in the same way that the writers wrote them?

korn doesn't have the *look-at-me-i'm-a-young-pretentious-asshole-whose-becoming-rich-and-i-can't-get-enough-of-this-negitive-attention-and-my-face-all-over-everything* attitude
Korn, which is almost never on eMpTyV. Unlike Eminem. Unlike Victoria Posh-Spice-Beckham-Aadams.

Weather: Almost the perfect late summer's day: cool and misty early, sunny and warm (20) later.

Travel: Back to abnormal on the trains, as the Proof House mess-up finishes. Doesn't explain the late running of the local train early (10 minutes), nor the vanishing bus to work. Nor does it excuse the train leaving Oxley that fouls that junction and adds another quarter hour to the trip home. Let this be all the delays for the week.

Track Of The Day: Sometimes When We Touch Newton's disco version, 1997. Originally a minor hit for Dan Hill (obCanCon) in 1977, Newton added the disco beat the original cried out for, and hit the dizzy heights of #35.

BT launches its ASDL always online service. At £40 a month, and available to barely 1 person in 3, it's going to be more for show than genuine roll-out. They'd better watch their step, I'd so love to make a complaint to the ASA or ITC over their adverts.

Roy, on another band that never makes MTV. Or VH1.
Its tragic. Tragic I say. "Let it Be" never made number 1. TRAGIC!
Yes, but just look at the other singles around at the time. Not just "Wand'rin' Star" but such classics as "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)", "Venus", "Sugar Sugar" and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." Songs of the century, none of them.

[In fairness, the week LIB made #2, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was #3, "Both Sides Now" #23, and "My Way" #33. On the other hand, "Two Little Boys" was #21.]

I am listening to "Free as a Bird" btw. And I love it.
Compared with "The Gift Of Christmas" (#9 week of release), the Outhere Brothers (#18) Whigfield (#21), or the #35-36 double sh*t that was the Coronation Street Cast and Mr Blobby, who wouldn't!

Or... with "Exhale" #40, "The Universal" #27, "Miss Sarajevo" #17, "One Sweet Day" #10 and "Wonderwall" #11, there was some good stuff around.

I love "Real Love" bettter though.
Now that was an under-rated tune. If only it had been the lead single for the project...

Weather: Very foggy early, clearing to a nice sunny day. 20 C, but it only feels warm in the afternoon.

Travel: Sofa - so good.

Track Of The Day: Amazed - Lonestar, recorded live for BBC Radio 2 in Nashville. It's a classic, natch.

The annual broo-ha-ha at Burnt Church, NB, is under way. Yesterday, Canadian fisheries officers rammed two native fishing boats in the harbour, causing the locals to call for attempted murder charges. The band claims to be asserting its treaty rights to lay lobster traps, confirmed in a Supreme Court ruling last year. The ruling did specifically allow the federal government to control these traps for conservation reasons.

Jing
mel C is kinda robbie williams girl version...agree?
Hey, you've been speaking to the Virgin records promo people, haven't you? This is the exact rumour that they've been spreading for yonks.

But seriously, they're not the same. Robbie is capable of putting in some decent vocal performances, has a huge stage presence, but isn't quite a world-class performer. He's damned close, far closer than a lot of other people, but he's not quite there yet. Mel C, meantime, shies from the limelight - witness the way Lisa Lopez *steals* Never Be The Same from under Mel's nose. She's a great pair of lungs, knows how to use the vocal cords, and - I think - will be the standout solo act from the teen groups of the late 90s. Long after Ronan and Nick Backstreet have gone the way of Mark Owen and Gary Barlow.

Sara
I did really love both of the songs she put out on it.
Both? Four!
* "Going Down" - Punky Spice. All raw energy and high notes.
* "Northern Star" - Ballad Spice. The sweetest song in a long time.
* "Never Be The Same Again" - Dykey Spice and Lisa TLC Lopez. You know this one.
* "I Turn To You" - Dancey Spice. As seen on MTV every 15 minutes.

Weather: Sunny, then cloudy. Heavy rain around 6:30. Top temps 19.

Travel: Down to London, working at one of the offices there. Vermin is a little late at Euston both ways, and we only just squeak ahead of the stopper leaving Coventry. But no significant delays either way.

Track Of The Day: You Get What You Give (New Radicals, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, 1998). Look, folks, this is just *such* a classic. Thanks to the semi-network that GWR runs, I can hear the track on Northants 96.6, lose the closing chant while going through the Kilsby tunnel, retune to Mercia 97 and pick up where I left off.

It's odd in London, with some tourists but not as many as in high summer. The noise from Covent Garden is still there, the sun is still blazing, but it feels like it's autumn. This is the fourth year in a row I've scheduled a trip to London for the end of August - last year was the start of two months working there, 1998 was meeting Eli, 1997 was to meet a load of internet friends - though that got called off owing to my feeling rough.

keoni, on Kati's exit lines
you know what? if you've been here on this list for more than a year, you'd know she's right.
Ahum. I've been on for a month short of five years, which is (checks watch) a lot more than a year. And, yes, the list has changed. It has to. Things don't stay the same. Change is part of life. If it were the same subjects, the same points being trotted out time and again, I'd have moved on years ago. Here, every time you think everything's been said, along comes someone new - or not so new - to throw something into the pot.

think of all the people who've left. think of the ones who just dissappeared.
People move on. I've not moved out yet, and I don't think I've seriously considered it. I suppose the day may come, eventually, when it is time to scarper. But now is not it.

The air has changed. i don't know why exactly.
It's like standing in a good breeze: it's bracing because there are winds of change blowing all the time.

this place isn't warm and fuzzy anymore. it's more like hot and bothered, with an underlying feeling of unease.
I'm not that sure we ever had *that* much warm and fuzziness, even in the much-hyped halcyon period circa 1996. And if you want unease, look at the six months to May 98. In comparison, the recent spat was the model of gentlemanly behaviour.

you will be afraid to post here because either everyone ignores the post you spent forever trying to make entertaining or thoughtful, or people get a gang mentality and a list war starts up in your name because of your posts.
Certainly I get the former frustration. It does take a lot of effort to put these posts together, carefully stitching things together, putting subjects together, forming the run-ons and the original content. And all for one or two replies? But how many people enjoy and don't reply? Or can reference points from a month ago in their posts? Plenty.

On the same topic, Angela
I *rarely* post one of my MSCL list thingees because they take time and I never (anymore) feel that that time is worthwhile as so few (and very often *nobody*) says a single thing about them.
For me, it's because there's no way I have the time or energy to put into creating something a fraction as good. I see it more as a work of art.

Weather: Heavy showers through the morning, but turning into a sunny afternoon. 20 C the top.

Travel: Good both ways, though the bus back is made slow by a van parked on a double yellow on Waterloo Road. Letter to the police requesting prosecution will follow.

Track Of The Day: Northern Star Melanie C (Northern Star, 1999). The second single off the album was Ballad Spice, and it's amongst the five songs I've heard most this week. Not that there are any complaints...

Relaunch Of The Day: The Radio 2 Website. "Terry Wogan has some big news," suggested Tricky Dicky Allinson yesterday. He's quitting? Bunty's show is to be split between the Irishman and Lester? Nope. The website gets a glossy new look. The unofficial site looks exactly the same, though.

Shana
there are so many people that don't know the spirit of the list... they don't know what this list can be like... they just know it for what it is now.
Yet isn't what the list is right now the spirit of the list? History is the past, the future is unknown, it's the now that counts.

The list has changed so much that quite a few members have been finding comfort in other lists... WHY?
Look, if you want me to go *really* overboard with the state of British television, I can do. Most of that goes to another list, because it's their reason for being, and most of my points won't go over their heads. I mean, would a point-by-point dissection of the history of "Pages From Ceefax" be of any interest to anyone here? Thought not.

OTOH, even though they've arranged physical meetings, they're strictly boozing sessions. No-one devises whole evenings of entertainment, or puts themself out for a week's hospitality.

Equally, I might slip a bit for the next couple of weeks, while I do Millionaire summaries for game show lists. A blow-by-blow account of Chris Tarrant's facial expressions is out of place here, but it's desired reading for people who suffer through Regis.

We oldtymers shouldn't have to fear newbies... but we do.
*You* may. I don't. A newcomer is a newcomer, someone to greet, meet, and perhaps discuss matters with.

Oldtymers have told me that they feel out of the loop, and ask me to tell them what's going on... but I have nothing to tell them... there isn't anything to tell them!
On the contrary, there's *plenty* to tell. The problem being that many of the characters involved are new to them, and filling in the other players distracts from the story to the extent that the narrative gets lost.

my post was just my OPINION. it doesn't mean that any of you have to agree... but it does mean that you don't have the right to debate my opinion...... freedom of speech.
Have I missed a "not" somewhere along the line, or something? If anyone posts anything to a public forum, they are offering it up for public debate. That's why it's a *public* forum. Anyone can come along, set up their soapbox, and speak. Saying "Oh, you can't argue with me, I've only got opinions" just won't wash. It's intellectually dishonest.

Like I said, I hope there was a negative intended for the middle sentence.

I remember 200+ posts a day! (and god, did that take up a lot of drive space *smiles*)
And time. Too much time to consider properly. It's happening again, with 8 digests in the 24 hours to 1800 UTC Thursday, 9 to Friday. How's the hard drive coping? (:

Weather: Cloudy, with a heavy shower or two. 18 C.

Track Of The Day: Wifey, the current release from Next. It's rather good, better than I dared hope.

International football sees Croatia and Belgium draw in a good result for Scotland. Iceland slip to defeat, which will really hurt. And Essendon wins the Aussie Rules tournament after a 24-1 season.

Weather: Sunny, 21C. There's a fair old nip in the air as early as 6, presaging a slight ground frost tonight, I reckon.

Track Of The Day: Say It Isn't So - Bon Jovi's new release and another top 10 hit. (Crush, 2000)