The Chart Show's 10th Anniversary: All-Time Hall of Fame
by Mark Wheat
September 26, 2019
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all the thousands of you listeners who have voted for our Chart Show over the years, it has been a pleasure to host every week and I think this 10th Anniversary Chart tells it's own story of what a great new cannon of work we are creating together. Every Tuesday morning I have compiled the chart from your votes. I love the simple math involved and the beautiful poetry that has evolved. Often I've tried to make sentences by putting the titles of the songs together thinking that one day I should try it. Unbelievably, while preparing the Anniversary edition of the Chart, the titles seemed to flow naturally into this --
An Ode to The Chart Show
Ten years ago, The Current decided to "Tighten Up". We'd been the "Avant Gardener" in the musical field for 5 years, but we wanted "The Suburbs" to like us too. To do that, could we really play a classical piece, like "The Chaconne" next to a Laurel Canyon ballad like, "When My Time Comes"? Or a band from "Calgary" next to a musical "Love Interruption"? Or whatever "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"?!
We didn't want to be the soundtrack for a "Suicide Saturday" anymore. We have a "Kick Drum Heart" and we'd had to "Wait So Long" for the chance to be a great radio station. We needed the "Bloodbuzz Oio", and we needed it now. To "Recover," we "Crystalised" everything "Written In Reverse". We made the "Little Lion Man" into "Running With The Wolves" and we screamed "Violet!". And we were never "Cruel" to anyone, not even "Emmylou."
Yes, as Emmylou might say, we could do with a few more females in there, (6 out of 20) but we're working on that. Last week the chart had over 50% female voices, but that's still rare. Courtney Barnett splitting up a more predictable Top 3 artists is still a source of great pride. And how timely that Dessa jumped into #4 just last week! She tops our local presence which is strong and varied; Bon Iver (yes he is!), TBT, Cloud Cult, jeremy and young hot local boys Hippo Campus, who are the most recent 'new entries' at #8, which is an indication of the speed and depth of their rise, considering their first song only came in 4 1/2 years ago.
Sonically it gives an accurate picture of what we have sounded like over these past 10 years too. Our base loves are guitar driven rock and Americana variations, with lovely elements of electronic experimentation laced within, like the xx, CHVRCHES and St. Vincent. Geographically, we have the map well covered too, fifteen of the artists are North American based, with 3 Brits, the high flying Aussie and the quiet unassuming Swedish sisters from First Aid Kit! Thanks for listening and for voting, we couldn't have done it without you!
Cheers,
MW