This Friday (April 8th) will be our first-ever edition of Now Playing @6Music – hurrah! And we’re going to need the help of g Music listeners to decide on a playlist – which we’ll base around one of this week’s major music news stories. Obviously the first thing for us all to thrash out will be which story to use as this week’s theme. And then we’ll going to need your suggestions to help us put together the best possible playlist based on that theme.
So to start the ball rolling here’s a few suggestions and starting points. But as for where we’ll end up by the time we go live on Friday – that, my friends – will be entirely a matter for you.
So what has happened in the world of music since last Friday ?
James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem played their last-ever gig at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, having first burst onto the scene in 2002. So we could start with their track Tribulations and then maybe add another nine tunes by other indie-electro crossover acts. Or (given that Arcade Fire joined them on stage last Saturday) nine tracks featuring compelling collaborations. Or else songs featuring a legendarily eccentric frontman or woman.
Mark E. Smith anyone ? Björk ? Dresden Dolls? Lou Reed ?
Or Mohammed Al-Fayed‘s decision to unveil a statue of Michael Jackson at Fulham FC ahead of their match against Blackpool last weekend? That didn’t go down so well with the fans. If we, erm, kicked off with the late King Of Pop’s epic They Don’t Care About us, how about another nine tracks by artists whose images have appeared in improbable places? Or else nine songs about places where it might be more appropriate to erect a statue of Michael Jackson. And stop that sniggering in the back there.
Or maybe comeback kids: Foo Fighters have just hit the ground running with a Greatest Hits set at South By SouthWest, streaming their brand new album in full on Soundcloud and booking themselves a major London show at Wembley. So who else is set to make a long-overdue return: Fiona Apple? Anthrax? Beyoncé ? Billy Childish ? Van Halen? St. Vincent? There you go – that’s six already – just off the top of my head.
But hey, it’s all up to you. We’re happy to throw the whole thing open – so if you can think of more interesting news-based musical themes this week, let’s run em up the flagpole and see who salutes them. If you’d rather just go with the ideas above, then here are some starting points
1. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – Tribulations, followed by perhaps
*9 Electro-indie crossover acts
*9 outstanding music collaborations. or
*9 tunes by eccentric one-of-a-kind frontmen/women
2. MICHAEL JACKSON – They Don’t Care About Us, followed by either
*9 artists whose images have appeared in odd places
*9 songs mentioning suitable locations for a Michael Jackson effigy, or
*9 places where musicians have found themselves decidedly unwelcome
3. FOO FIGHTERS – Best of You, followed by
*9 other artists overdue for a comeback this year, or
*9 artists who DESERVE to be playing Wembley this year, even if they’re not
And basically that’s it. Either send us your own topical theme suggestions – or make up a playlist based on one of ours – and ping it over to us via email, Facebook, Twitter or our new BBC Blog (due to come onstream this week). Or why not create an actual playlist people can hear on Last.fm/Spotify etc and send us the link… Over to you !
