I'm a bit bowled over by how good tonight's theme was. We got so many wonderfully creative suggestions from you guys and I loved the different approaches. There were clever links between lyrics, suggestions of songs with similar chords and tracks that for no particular reason sounded good together.
I liked Stuart Russell's idea of linking two songs together to make a sentence. His suggestion was to fuse The Judds and Simon and Garfunkel to give us Love can Build A Bridge Over Troubled Water! I wonder if there's a theme in that?
My song of the show was Ane Brun with her song about Gillian Welch. I'd never heard of her before but I love the sound of her voice and will definitely be checking out more. Have a search online for her cover of True Colours which was used in a TV ad. She also does a stunning acoustic version of Alphaville's Big In Japan which takes the song into a different league.
Tomorrow night is about the songs that can make an impact in 3 minutes. You can suggest longer songs if you like but my plan is to cut them off after precisely 3 minutes. the Jackon Five's ABC is bang on however The Artic Monkeys will have to lose 3seconds from their new single if they want to be included. American Pie will only be getting warmed up when miss babs sounds the 3 minute warning.
If we haven't been sold on a song in the first 3 minutes then is there any hope that we are ever going to get it. Or do many of the classics not get going until much later in the song? We'll find out tomorrow night.
Requests are like buses. You don't get one for ages then all of a sudden two come along at once. On Tuesday we are doing a "buy one - get one free" on all request. I am looking for you to suggest two tracks instead of the ususal one. All I ask is that they sound good played back to back.
They could be two wildly contrasting types of music with a shared link or they could be two songs that work together so well it feels like they were separated at birth.
The upside is that we will hopefully get a better understanding of your musical choices but the downside is that only half as many people get their choices played. Hope you are one of them...
I have to apologise to anyone whose weekend has been spoiled by an argument over music. Tonight's theme of 'the artists who divide your household' certainly led to some honest feedback including some from Captain Ramius about the tracks that have led to deep divisions between the bloggers and the GIO team. Who knew that the Incredible String Band would come between us?
It's been a cracking week of themes and tonight was a great laugh and terrific way to round off the week. Thursday's theme of 'songs that would make great films' was my favourite and also the most popular one. Despite the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s finest music brains (well - me and Miss Babs) working on the themes for this week it was lovely to think that an 11 year old girl called Eve came up with the theme of the week....
Tonight's theme of 'songs that would make great films' was a very popular theme and some of you put in an amazing amount of effort to your movie proposals. I think Capt Ramius summed up why this theme was so popular with a lot of Get It On regulars, "I'm loving this show because the music I love best is all based on Stories, particularly Country, Folk and (via Concept Albums) 70s Prog."
Tomorrow night we are doing the songs that divide your household. The tracks that divide our cosy little studio are my fondness for quirky ( or what she calls weird) singer-songwriters like Dean Friedman, and Miss Babs' inexplicable love of bangin tunes from rave acts which are clearly meant for someone of a different generation! Gloves off at ten past six...
I'm happy with a show that includes Gloria Gaynor, Eminem, Bing Crosby and Radiohead. Only the addition of a wee bit of Angelic Upstarts or Art Attacks could have improved that mix. I wonder if there is the appetite for a punk rock special?
11 year old Eva came up with Thursday's theme and it's 'songs that would make a great movie'. How many songs do you hear with a great story, a story so good it could fill 90 minutes on the silver screen? Which hit single would you like to turn into a big picture?
Would Kiera Knightly take the lead in Copacabana or will Born To Run be the blockbuster of the year? Submit your big movie ideas and hopefully your picture will get the green light...
Well if I was Dylan I would be pretty happy with that birthday tribute tonight. I think we ended up with a really interesting mix taking in everyone from Dolly Parton to Duran Duran. My favourites were Stevie, Jason and The Scorchers but the standout song was John Martyn's lovely rendition of Don't Think Twice It's Alright.
Tomorrow is a night of introductions - the songs where the artists tell us exactly who they are. I'm a Rockstar, claimed Pink and Eminem was only too keen to tell us that he was the real the Real Slim Shady. Whether they claim to be a walrus or a lineman for the county,get in touch and tell me who is the big 'I am' ?
It seems a bit perverse to celebrate Bob's big day by not playing any Bob but I thought that for a change it might be good to feature other folk tackling his music. So, we are looking for the best Dylan covers of all time. He has clearly been a massive influence on the artist who followed his path and over the years many of them have chosen to interpret his best work.
From Jimi Hendrix to Johnny Cash we'll feature your suggestions of the big names doing Bob. Adele gave him his biggest hit in years but who would you choose to sing for Bob's birthday?
Tonight's show was a fantastic bit of fun and it rounded off a very varied but really enjoyable week of themes. Please join us on Monday as we head off on a virtual road trip. There's plenty room in our tour bus for you and all you have to do is tell us where we are headed. Miss Babs was inspired by hearing about the road trip that Michael Jackson, Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando took so she would like to know who you would get to accompany you on your journey.
We could start in Memphis,Tennessee and then make a detour to Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen - where we go is up to you. Let's see how many miles we can clock up in what will be the most diverse musical road trip you'll take this year.
Tonight's 'starsigns' theme was a gift to the comics among you. 'Love Will Taurus Apart' stood out for me and I did enjoy Julie's suggestion of something by Soft Shell for the crab.
Friday's theme will I hope be a chance for you to indulge yourself by coming up with some funny suggestions. The theme is 'songs where the word lunch could be substituted for the word love and it still makes sense'. ( Possibly the longest theme title ever!) It's going to be a busy one as they are flooding in already - Jim from Humbie has just asked for Ruby Don't Take Your Lunch To Town. Looking forward to seeing what the blog throws up for this one...
Age of Aquarius sounds like a must to open tomorrow's show because the them is signs of the zodiac. Although there are lots of songs that reference star signs we also want to include the actual signs themselves. So we could have some twins (Sunshine on Leith anyone?) or perhaps The Lion Sleeps Tonight for all the Leos. Mind you, I'd be interested to hear how you get some scales and a mountain goat into this theme...
Tonight's show of the songs that remind you of your ex was a delight. There were funny stories of picnics on anoraks in the school playground, heart-warming tales of former loves who got back together again and some sad stories attached to significant songs that I felt privileged to be able to share.
Tomorrow, we'll be looking for songs to help teenagers cope with exam stress. Well - not just the teenagers I suppose. I imagine parents are finding this a stressful time. Chill out tunes and rocking stress busters please....
Tonight's show was one of the most enjoyable shows since we've started Get It On. It was joy to present. It was such a simple idea to get you to share your 'recent discoveries' but it really worked. We got such a lot of new music that I now can't wait to go home and explore some of those names further.
However it was also great to hear from folk discovering 'old' artists for the first time. I got great texts from people who were only getting into Teenage Fanclub and The BMX bandits for the first time. I also loved the text from the 12 year old boy who discovered Bob Dylan for the very first time today.
We got lots of comments from folk who were enjoying sharing other listener's discoveries and I think it was summed up by this lovely post on our Facebook page: "Ooh I'm enjoying this voyage of discovery. The Get it on crew and passengers really know how to sail this boat."
It's a theme I want to return to in a few months. In the meantime 'songs that remind you of a former love' is our topic for tomorrow...
'Recent discoveries' was ( I think) suggested on the blog. On Monday night I want to know all about the things you have recently come across. They don't have to be particularly new things - it could be some vintage blues or country that you found by accident. However, I think it could be an opportunity for us all to refresh our record collections. If we trust our audience to pick quality oldies then it stands to reason that we should put our faith in you when it comes to picking some new tracks. I'm not the only one in our team who has been introduced to some real goodies from the blog or Facebook. Tune in on Monday and see what we can discover together.
It's been a good day here at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland. We're all celebrating some of our best listening figures for years and we are now reaching over a million Scots every week. Your support has made sure that Get It On is part of that success, so thanks. After Monday's 'challenging' theme of three chord songs, the rest of this week has been a breeze. We've had some really popular themes as well as some quality suggestions. Thanks to all on the blog and elsewhere for the work put in to your lists.
I'm not really one for being superstitious; however I will be taking Friday 13th off work. Alison Craig will be looking after the show and her theme is luck - the good and the bad kind. Don't all go rushing at once to suggest Kylie!
Tomorrow's theme is one of those ones that sounds dead simple but is actually pretty hard when you sit down and think about it. I'm looking for your suggestions of the songs that were charts hits more than once. My Sweet lord is a good example as it charted again after George Harrison's death. Bohemian Rhapsody did the same after the death of Freddie Mercury. there were plenty of examples of hit songs which re-entered the charts after being featured in telly ads and there are loads of songs that dipped out of the top ten briefly before climbing back up the charts.
I realise that this might be a bit limited so I am thinking of widening then theme out to include albums as well. This might give us a wider range of music and a longer list to choose from. As always, your thoughts are welcome...
Something happens to me at least once in every show. I play a song that gets me thinking about how overplayed it is and am I doing our audience a disservice by giving it another spin when I could be playing some unheard gem instead. Then, when I play it it dawns on me why it's played so much. I want to get a list going of the songs that get played all the time, but still move you in some way every time.
I know there's a fair amount of groaning comes from the blog when the overly familiar opening notes of 500 Miles or Bohemian Rhapsody come on the radio, but there must be a reason why people want to hear them again and again. So what are the ones that do it for you? If you think they are overplayed then think again....
Have you ever wondered where Danny Wilson ended up after their stint in the charts was over? Did Marilyn ditch the make-up and find himself a job in an office after he realised he was no longer going to feature on the front cover of Smash Hits? Did Judy Tzuke cope when the glory years were over? Tomorrow's theme is 'whatever happened to...' and will feature the artists who enjoyed chart success then disappeared off the radar.
Well that was a tremendously upbeat an perky show tonight. It was entirely co-incidental that it came on the back of an election but it made all those songs like Beautiful Day and It's Getting Better seem like they were loaded with meaning. They weren't.
Monday's theme is 'three chord wonders' so that is tunes where three really is the magic number. We'll feature everything from country to The Quo but I have seen online that some folk think The Trogg's Wild Thing was the best three chord song of all time. I wonder what your thoughts are....
Whatever you have planned for the weekend then we will have the tunes to make it go better on Friday night. 'Positivity' is the theme so let Get It On be your guru and spread some positive vibes. Adele McVey suggested this theme as she's taking part in the women's 10k on Sunday and could do with the motivation. However, you don't need to be active to suggest a song. Maybe you are a bit disappointed with how the election turned out? Turn those gloomy thoughts into little rays of sunshine by tuning in tomorrow night....
I have such a low boredom threshold that I think I will really struggle with tomorrow's theme. The theme is 'albums that you listen to all the way through'. I think so many of us listen to music on 'random' that that you get out of the habit of listening all the way through. Even listening to CDs in the car I am always flicking past a particular song. There are some albums like Thriller that you think are going to be perfect then you realise that The Girl Is Mine is track 3! So tomorrow night get in touch and let me know the albums that keep you hooked because they don't have a duff song on them.
Here is an exclusive extract from the all new GIO book of pop star rhyming slang. It gave us a great laugh tonight so thanks to all who contributed...
Stevie Wonder - blunder
Feargal Sharkeys - car keys
Nat King Cole - lemon sole
Beyonce - fiancé
Biffy Clyro - giro
Van Halen - wailin'
Twin Atlantic - frantic
Gloria Gaynors - trainers
Paolo Nutini - bikini
George Michael - cycle
Stephen Duffy - huffy
Bob Marley - Harley
Donna summer - bummer
Frightened Rabbit - crabbit
Pink Floyd - annoyed
And finally...
Dolly Parton/John Martyn - breaking wind!!!
Tomorrow night the theme is 'didn't get it then but I get it now' which is all about the artists that took you several years to get into. Are acts like Floyd and Dylan the ones you appreciate only in later life? We'll also include those albums that are slow burners and the musical genres that passed you by first time around. It should be a very 'blog friendly' theme and make for a really interesting programme.
Are you 'Hank Marvin' for a 'Ruby Murray' washed down with a glass of 'Vera Lyn' ? There are some brilliant examples of pop star rhyming slang, the problem is they are all a bit out of date so what I am looking for you to do is to come up with some new examples. We came up with Jamie Woon = Swoon, Britney Spears = Ears and Miss b has found herself a wee bit Katy Perry = Merry.
Let's see what you come up with, but remember guys the modererators are watching!!!
