Planet Sound
![]() |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2009) |
Planet Sound is a Teletext music page on ITV and Channel 4 in the UK. It is broadcast on analogue Teletext from page 340, and on digital Teletext from page 820. Since May 24, 2007, Planet Sound is also available to read online via the Teletext website. [1] The pages are all simultaneously updated daily at 10pm.
History
Teletext's predecessor ORACLE ran a similar music section in the 1980s. Future PS editor John Earls had reader reviews printed, aged 14, in ORACLE's Blue Suede Views of 1987 albums by ABC, Pet Shop Boys and Westworld under the pseudonym Jetty.
Planet Sound (named after the Pixies song Planet of Sound)[citation needed] began in 1997, when its chief writer was Stephen Eastwood. Other past writers for Planet Sound include Jacqui Swift, now a music writer for The Sun's Friday entertainment supplement Something For The Weekend, Alistair Clay and Andy Panos. Its chief writer since January 2001 has been John Earls.
Since November 2008, when its other freelancers were made redundant, Earls has been Planet Sound's sole writer. Regular freelancers included Ian Gittins, who also writes about music for The Guardian, Colin Irwin, the former Planet Sound editor and folk music expert who is regularly a judge on the Mercury Music Prize, Ric Rawlins, who is also Reviews Editor of online music magazine Artrocker, Kat Lister, a freelancer for NME, Innes Weir, who also contributes to music magazine M8 and Natalie Shaw, a freelancer for Gigwise, Clash and Notion.
Music coverage
Planet Sound deals with all genres of music, mostly of the Indie rock variety. It promotes various artists that are underground as well as more established acts. Planet Sound also helped to discover the band Hope of the States via its weekly demo page.[citation needed] Others to receive favourable demo reviews include Maxïmo Park, Nine Black Alps, Kubichek!, Luxembourg, Komakino, Shady Bard, Calvin Harris, The Twilight Sad, The Strange Death of Liberal England, The Coolabahs and The Others.
Other acts that have been promoted at the earliest stage of their careers include Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Editors, Snow Patrol, Klaxons, Kasabian, HARD-Fi, Elbow, The Magic Numbers, The Feeling, Scissor Sisters, The Killers, Guillemots, iLiKETRAiNS, The Maccabees, The Twang, Jamie T, Liam Frost, Amy Winehouse, Dizzee Rascal, Little Man Tate, The Courteeners, Patrick Watson and The Metros.
End of year polls
Planet Sound runs a Top 50 for the best singles and albums each year, as decided by John Earls and - until he left Teletext in 2005 - its then-editor, Colin Irwin. Planet Sound has a policy of only including one release per artist per year, so that anyone with a mention in Top 50 singles of the year won't be included in that year's Top 50 albums, and vice versa.
Album of the Year
Year | Artist | Album |
---|---|---|
1997 | Radiohead | OK Computer |
1998 | Air | Moon Safari |
1999 | Death In Vegas | The Contino Sessions |
2000 | The Delgados | The Great Eastern |
2001 | The Avalanches | Since I Left You |
2002 | The Streets | Original Pirate Material |
2003 | Dizzee Rascal | Boy in Da Corner |
2004 | Modest Mouse | Good News for People Who Love Bad News |
2005 | Bright Eyes | I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning |
2006 | Muse | Black Holes and Revelations |
2007 | The Twilight Sad | Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters |
2008[1] | Elbow | The Seldom Seen Kid |
Single of the Year
Year | Artist | Single |
---|---|---|
1997 | Belle & Sebastian | "Dog On Wheels" |
1998 | The Tamperer | "Feel It" |
1999 | Genelab | "Anorak Lou" |
2000 | Eminem | "Stan" |
2001 | Missy Elliott | "Get Ur Freak On" |
2002 | The Polyphonic Spree Ms. Dynamite (joint #1) |
"Soldier Girl"/"It Takes More" |
2003 | Junior Senior | "Move Your Feet" |
2004 | Graham Coxon | "Freakin' Out" |
2005 | Arctic Monkeys | "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" |
2006 | Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family | "The Mourners Of St. Paul's" |
2007 | Maxïmo Park | "Our Velocity" |
2008 | Sam Sparro | "Black and Gold" |
On reviewing Viva la Vida by Coldplay, John Earls mentions how "Other than wanting to give a thick ear to whichever colleague gave Barenaked Ladies a near-perfect score, it's a list we'll defend to the hilt. Except X&Y by Coldplay - our version of those five-star reviews for Be Here Now. Apologies for getting over-excited about a 7/10 album, one the band too recognise had its faults."[2] John Earls has also said at one point that the 5/10 given to Illinois by Sufjan Stevens when it was released was a mistake, and that he would now give the album 8/10.
Ending
It was announced on the 17th of July 2009 that Planet Sound is to end in January 2010.[3]
Albums that have received 9/10
Note: This list is incomplete.
- The Strokes - Is This It
- Elbow - Asleep in the Back
- The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
- The Avalanches - Since I Left You
- Cornershop - Handcream for a Generation
- Doves - The Last Broadcast
- Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
- Idlewild - The Remote Part
- The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
- The Streets - Original Pirate Material
- Bright Eyes - Lifted
- Elbow - Cast Of Thousands
- Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
- The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers (The Sleepy Jackson album)
- Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
- The Hidden Cameras - The Smell of Our Own
- Ben Kweller - On My Way
- Charlotte Hatherley - Grey Will Fade
- Damien Dempsey - Seize The Day
- The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
- Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
- The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
- Magnetic Fields - I
- The Dears - No Cities Left
- Super Furry Animals - Songbook
- M.I.A. - Arular
- Coldplay - X & Y
- New Order - Waiting For The Sirens Call
- Warchild - Help: A Day in the Life
- Nitin Sawhney - Philtre
- My Morning Jacket - Z
- Arcade Fire- Funeral
- Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
- Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
- The Wrens - The Meadowlands
- The National - Alligator
- Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
- The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
- Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
- Cat Power - The Greatest
- Eighteen 18 - Body Armour
- Pretty Girls Make Graves - Élan Vital
- Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
- Hope of the States - Left
- Hope of the States - The Lost Riots
- Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
- The Little Ones - Sing-Song
- Razorlight - Razorlight
- The Sleepy Jackson - Personality - One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird
- R.E.M - And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987
- The Hours - Narcissus Road
- Fred Deakin - The Triptych
- Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
- Charlotte Hatherley - The Deep Blue
- Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
- Blonde Redhead - 23
- The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
- Rufus Wainwright - Release The Stars
- Justice - †
- Cherry Ghost - Thirst For Romance
- M.I.A. - Kala (album)
- Shack - Time Machine: The Best of Shack
- Levy - Glorious (album)
- Okkervil River - The Stage Names
- Radiohead - In Rainbows
- Led Zeppelin - Mothership
- Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
- Hot Chip - Made in the Dark
- Michael Jackson - Thriller
- The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion (NB: Not reviewed by main reviewer John Earls)
- Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
- M83 - Saturdays = Youth
- Robert Forster - The Evangelist
- Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
- Bloc Party - Intimacy
- The Dawn Chorus - The Big Adventure
- The Black Angels - Directions to See a Ghost
- Opeth - Watershed (NB: Not reviewed by main reviewer John Earls)
- Port O'Brien - All We Could Do Was Sing
- A Camp - Colonia
- Royksopp - Junior
- The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
- The Leisure Society - The Sleeper
- Doves - Kingdom of Rust
- The Horrors - Primary Colours
- Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
- Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
- Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
- The B of the Bang - Beginning Middle End
- Cornershop - Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast
- Telekinesis (band) - Telekinesis!
- Noah and the Whale - The First Days of Spring
- Broken Records (band) - Until the Earth Begins to Part
- Prefab Sprout - Let's Change the World with Music
- Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead
- Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek
- Vitalic - Flashmob (album)
- Liam Frost - We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain
- Erin McKeown - Hundreds of Lions
- The Hidden Cameras - Origin Orphan
Singles that have received 9/10 (or 5/5)
Note: Singles also used to be rated out of 5. Many got rated 5/5, but keeping with the album rating, no single has gotten 10/10. This list is incomplete.
- Arcade Fire - Neighborhood 2 (Laïka)
- Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes
- Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene
- Elbow - Forget Myself
- The Automatic - Recover
- The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
- Prodigy - Girls (The Prodigy song)
- Morrissey - First Of The Gang To Die
- The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost (song)
- The Magic Numbers - Love Me Like You
- The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
- Junior Senior - Move Your Feet
- Plan B (rapper) - No Good
- Cast - Desert Drought
- Little Man Tate - The Agent
- Shady Bard - Treeology
- The Little Ones - Lovers Who Uncover
- The Wrens - Faster Gun
- Prince - Black Sweat
- Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen
- The Raconteurs - Steady, As She Goes
- The Feeling - Fill My Little World
- Little Man Tate - What? What You Got?
- Keane - Is It Any Wonder?
- Liam Frost - The Mourners Of St. Paul's
- Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
- Air Traffic - Just Abuse Me
- Alesha - Lipstick (Alesha song)
- Muse - Starlight
- Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
- The Sleepy Jackson - I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree
- Razorlight - America
- Hot Chip - Over And Over
- The Maybes? - Olympia EP
- Calexico - Lucky Dime
- Lily Allen - Littlest Things
- The Little Ones - Oh MJ!
- LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
- Maxïmo Park - Our Velocity
- The Rumble Strips - Alarm Clock
- Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill
- Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
- Björk - Earth Intruders
- Dizzee Rascal - Sirens
- The Coolabahs - Another Reason
- Cherry Ghost - People Help the People
- Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
- Travis - Selfish Jean
- The Twilight Sad - And She Would Darken the Memory
- Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)
- The Courteeners - Cavorting
- Patrick Watson - Luscious Life
- Kaiser Chiefs - The Angry Mob
- Ian Brown - Illegal Attacks
- M.I.A. - Jimmy
- Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving
- Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong - Lucio Starts Fires
- Super Furry Animals - Runaway
- Los Campesinos! - The International Tweexcore Underground
- The Ting Tings - Fruit Machine
- The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home
- Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone
- Malcolm Middleton - We're All Going To Die
- Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
- Levy - So Hard
- MGMT - Time to Pretend
- Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
- The Dawn Chorus - The Hope Will Kill Us
- Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
- Broken Records - If The News Makes You Sad, Don't Watch It
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - More News from Nowhere
- Elbow - On A Day Like This
- Captain Black - Sister
- Annie (Norwegian singer) - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
- Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers (song)
- TV on the Radio - Dancing Choose
- Saint Etienne (band) - Method of Modern Love
- Twilight Sad - I Became a Prostitute
- Royksopp - Happy Up Here
- Skeletons and the Empty Pockets - Oh Brother
- Stornoway - Zorbing
- Depeche Mode - Wrong (Depeche Mode song)
- Ian Brown - Stellify
- Dizzee Rascal - Holiday (Dizzee Rascal song)
- Stornoway - Unfaithful
- Fake Blood - Fix Your Accent
- Dance to the Radio - 4x12 Volume 3
- The Northwestern - Ghostrock
- Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You can't See Land
References
- ^ Earls, John. "Review: Top 50 albums of 2008". Teletext. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ http://www.teletext.co.uk/planetsound/interviews-features/647c7f09b5b930c230ccb5ad29107fbb/bColdplayViva+La+Vidab.aspx
- ^ http://www.teletext.co.uk/planetsound/news/3e36322f2532e109a177303490df268a/Planet+Sound+is+closing.aspx