Well the public have voted! And in what numbers ! It never ceases to amaze me how passionate our listeners are about music, whether in response to our invite to join our weekly playlists or to take part in public votes such as the one we ran over the last few days to find the the perfect climax to our ‘Road from V (Virgin) to A (Absolute)’ musical extravaganza. Listeners were asked to vote for their favourite song ever beginning with the letter A !All the old Virgin stalwarts are there – U2 , Queen , Bon Jovi, Blondie and they will continue to be part of the great cannon of music that Absolute Radio promises to delve into. But in addition the vote indicates that from familiar bands such as Oasis and Stereophonics there is a love from our audience of notionally less familiar songs – Acquiesce ( it was only ever a B side!) and A Thousand Trees (one of their earlier songs which failed to crack the top 20). And that is how Absolute intends to develop on Virgin Radio – keep our commitment to real music but hopefully allow our audience to rediscover great songs they had forgotten or just let them discover and enjoy these songs for the first time. Our new station will feature music from the last 5 decades – a cross section of music our listeners love as shown in the top 20 listeners’ vote where Jimi Hendrix ( 60s ), Pink Floyd ( 70s ), Def Leppard ( 80s ), Manic St Preachers ( 90s ) and The Killers ( 00s ) are all heavily featured.
And as for the top 3 songs in the vote? At 3, Don McLean’s ‘Ameican Pie’ in all its unadulterated 8min 30 sec glory (Absolute will be respecting these great songs and playing them in full) , at 2, ‘ A Day in the Life’ – Beatles (often regarded as the finest song by the world’s greatest ever band ) and the No.1 . Well it had to be Bowie’s ‘Absolute Beginners’ didn’t it ?!
But if the Thin White Duke is somewhat reticent at the beginning of this song we are not . To paraphrase we have SOOOO much to offer and everything to take. And as David says ‘ “as long as we’re together the rest can go to hell”
Top 20 Listeners’ Poll
1. Absolute Beginners – David Bowie
2. A Day In The Life – Beatles
3. American Pie – Don McLean (full version)
4. Another Brick in the Wall – Pink Floyd
5. All These Things That I’ve Done – Killers
6. A Kind of Magic – Queen
7. All Right Now – Free
8. Always – Bon Jovi
9. All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
10. Alive and Kicking – Simple Minds
11. Atomic – Blondie
12. A Design for Life – Manic Street Preachers
13. Angel of Harlem – U2
14. All My Life – Foo Fighters
15. Animal – Def Leppard
16. Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
17. All The Young Dudes – Mott The Hoople
18. A Thousand Trees – Stereophonics
19. A New England – Kirsty MacColl
20. Acquiesce – Oasis
