David Bryant
@23daves.bsky.social
"I don't mean half the things I say/ So just ignore the half that you don't like"
All views expressed are personal, not those of my employer.
Writer of "Everybody's Number 1 to Someone", about NME Indie Chart toppers: https://indienumber1s.blogspot.com
All views expressed are personal, not those of my employer.
Writer of "Everybody's Number 1 to Someone", about NME Indie Chart toppers: https://indienumber1s.blogspot.com
Pinned
82. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Singer (Mute)
All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com
Blog update: Nick Cave reached number one in the NME Indie Charts in July 1986 with an unexpected cover of Johnny Cash's "The Folk Singer" - resulting in an association with the Man in Black that would last until his passing. It's a faithful version.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
Reposted by David Bryant
Trump is probably focused on the money he wrongly thinks he'll make from Venezuelan oil. But he's not a details guy and nobody has thought through the details. Essentially, the US has taken over Venezuela by mistake. Stranger things have happened, but not many.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
Stranger Things
The 1980s Nostalgia of Trump's Foreign Policy is probably going to end up, like Stranger Things, as a horror show.
open.substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM
Trump is probably focused on the money he wrongly thinks he'll make from Venezuelan oil. But he's not a details guy and nobody has thought through the details. Essentially, the US has taken over Venezuela by mistake. Stranger things have happened, but not many.
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
open.substack.com/pub/arthursn...
Blog update: Nick Cave reached number one in the NME Indie Charts in July 1986 with an unexpected cover of Johnny Cash's "The Folk Singer" - resulting in an association with the Man in Black that would last until his passing. It's a faithful version.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
82. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Singer (Mute)
All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Blog update: Nick Cave reached number one in the NME Indie Charts in July 1986 with an unexpected cover of Johnny Cash's "The Folk Singer" - resulting in an association with the Man in Black that would last until his passing. It's a faithful version.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2026/01/82-n...
Reposted by David Bryant
It does not take a cynic to suppose that Trump and Putin have agreed to "swap" Venezuela for Ukraine, just as Fiona Hill described in 2019. But everything we've seen from Trump & Putin suggests that there are no depths to their own psychopathic cynicism & criminality.
The cynics think today's attack on Venezuela is staged and transactional. Maduro is allied with Putin, but in 2019 Putin offered Trump a swap: Russia cedes Venezuela and gets Ukraine. (See Fiona Hill's testimony in Trump's first impeachment trial, h/t @davetroy.com). Even Maduro may be in on it. 2/
January 3, 2026 at 7:26 PM
It does not take a cynic to suppose that Trump and Putin have agreed to "swap" Venezuela for Ukraine, just as Fiona Hill described in 2019. But everything we've seen from Trump & Putin suggests that there are no depths to their own psychopathic cynicism & criminality.
Reposted by David Bryant
It's scrazy that the foundations of the global drug trade have been revolutionised, but the vague and disingenuous discourse remains the same.
A Chinese teenager can flip a molecule in his garage and create a drug so heroically strong that he can export it in tiny, needle-in-a-haystack quantities.
A Chinese teenager can flip a molecule in his garage and create a drug so heroically strong that he can export it in tiny, needle-in-a-haystack quantities.
January 3, 2026 at 6:33 PM
It's scrazy that the foundations of the global drug trade have been revolutionised, but the vague and disingenuous discourse remains the same.
A Chinese teenager can flip a molecule in his garage and create a drug so heroically strong that he can export it in tiny, needle-in-a-haystack quantities.
A Chinese teenager can flip a molecule in his garage and create a drug so heroically strong that he can export it in tiny, needle-in-a-haystack quantities.
Reposted by David Bryant
The real reason I collect records....
January 3, 2026 at 2:16 PM
The real reason I collect records....
Reposted by David Bryant
Rod Stewart's being interviewed on the radio and I always forget he isn't Scottish despite claiming to be, and that he now sounds exactly like Daphne's layabout brother Simon from the later seasons of Frasier.
January 3, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Rod Stewart's being interviewed on the radio and I always forget he isn't Scottish despite claiming to be, and that he now sounds exactly like Daphne's layabout brother Simon from the later seasons of Frasier.
Today's brief earworm: Something my brain regularly troubles me with - Brian May's strangulated delivery of "You'd be forgiven if you think you were dreaming" in "Driven By You", in which he sounds like a member of Vic and Bob's parodical German rock group Wensleydale Cheese.
January 3, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Today's brief earworm: Something my brain regularly troubles me with - Brian May's strangulated delivery of "You'd be forgiven if you think you were dreaming" in "Driven By You", in which he sounds like a member of Vic and Bob's parodical German rock group Wensleydale Cheese.
On New Year's Day 2024, I woke up from a dream where a publisher asked I'd be hitting my deadline for a book about Depeche Mode's albums. I handed it over to him there and then - "It's already done", I said.
I woke up convinced that I had written the damn thing and it was on my laptop. Anyway...
I woke up convinced that I had written the damn thing and it was on my laptop. Anyway...
January 3, 2026 at 11:27 AM
On New Year's Day 2024, I woke up from a dream where a publisher asked I'd be hitting my deadline for a book about Depeche Mode's albums. I handed it over to him there and then - "It's already done", I said.
I woke up convinced that I had written the damn thing and it was on my laptop. Anyway...
I woke up convinced that I had written the damn thing and it was on my laptop. Anyway...
Reposted by David Bryant
Even if Maduro were a greater monster than Hitler and his overthrow an unalloyed good that might be easily achieved through military action, such action would still require the approval of Congress. Any orders to act absent that approval must be refused by officers of the armed forces.
January 3, 2026 at 8:17 AM
Even if Maduro were a greater monster than Hitler and his overthrow an unalloyed good that might be easily achieved through military action, such action would still require the approval of Congress. Any orders to act absent that approval must be refused by officers of the armed forces.
What I love about "Glass of Champagne" is the way Sailor murmur "A little glass of champagne" for the backing vocals, as if the recipient is actually too young to be drinking alcohol. On one level it is a bit sinister, on another it reminds me of exciting family dos. #totp
January 2, 2026 at 9:47 PM
What I love about "Glass of Champagne" is the way Sailor murmur "A little glass of champagne" for the backing vocals, as if the recipient is actually too young to be drinking alcohol. On one level it is a bit sinister, on another it reminds me of exciting family dos. #totp
Given that I've now had it stuck in my head all day, I have to say that:
A. It's surprising STYTR wasn't a hit anyway
B. The Darkness are one band who could definitely have covered it in the 00s and carried it off.
youtu.be/EzLu9UH1XyE?...
A. It's surprising STYTR wasn't a hit anyway
B. The Darkness are one band who could definitely have covered it in the 00s and carried it off.
youtu.be/EzLu9UH1XyE?...
January 2, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Given that I've now had it stuck in my head all day, I have to say that:
A. It's surprising STYTR wasn't a hit anyway
B. The Darkness are one band who could definitely have covered it in the 00s and carried it off.
youtu.be/EzLu9UH1XyE?...
A. It's surprising STYTR wasn't a hit anyway
B. The Darkness are one band who could definitely have covered it in the 00s and carried it off.
youtu.be/EzLu9UH1XyE?...
Reposted by David Bryant
Looks like Virgin Radio UK is going to be just Chris Evans and a load of voice-tracked presenters hardly anyone has heard of.
From the latest Popbitch newsletter:
From the latest Popbitch newsletter:
January 2, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Looks like Virgin Radio UK is going to be just Chris Evans and a load of voice-tracked presenters hardly anyone has heard of.
From the latest Popbitch newsletter:
From the latest Popbitch newsletter:
Reposted by David Bryant
I've actually just gone away to find out if anyone ever did cover It Bites "Still Too Young To Remember" in a pop style, as it feels completely plausible, but obviously nobody has. A possible tip for all you music business moguls out there looking for your next hit.
January 2, 2026 at 8:47 AM
I've actually just gone away to find out if anyone ever did cover It Bites "Still Too Young To Remember" in a pop style, as it feels completely plausible, but obviously nobody has. A possible tip for all you music business moguls out there looking for your next hit.
Dreamt last night that I was in The Works and found an old annual of a flop boy band called Bonce who were cartoonish "bad boys". Their arch enemies were Take That, or "Toke Fat" as they referred to them. Their biggest hit was a number 27 harmonised cover of It Bites "Still Too Young To Remember".
January 2, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Dreamt last night that I was in The Works and found an old annual of a flop boy band called Bonce who were cartoonish "bad boys". Their arch enemies were Take That, or "Toke Fat" as they referred to them. Their biggest hit was a number 27 harmonised cover of It Bites "Still Too Young To Remember".
Reposted by David Bryant
You'd think the British government (and everyone else still using X for 'reach') would not want to be known to be frequenting a platform that carries and actually generates child porn. And yet they keep posting there.
January 2, 2026 at 7:05 AM
You'd think the British government (and everyone else still using X for 'reach') would not want to be known to be frequenting a platform that carries and actually generates child porn. And yet they keep posting there.
Reposted by David Bryant
It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 PM
It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵
Just going to have another crack at spreading the word about this one, because the sound of the group is so bloody naggingly familiar. If you didn't listen when I posted it last time, have a quick go at identifying them.
A Lostwave puzzle for you all on this Saturday afternoon. This sounds very much like a Madchester/baggy era band, and I get the feeling that when (if?) it's eventually unveiled I'll kick myself, but I'm completely drawing blanks.
Anyone know? @outonbluesix.bsky.social?
youtu.be/zDTOMjFmly4?...
Anyone know? @outonbluesix.bsky.social?
youtu.be/zDTOMjFmly4?...
Unidentified Song ("All Alone")
YouTube video by q
youtu.be
January 1, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Just going to have another crack at spreading the word about this one, because the sound of the group is so bloody naggingly familiar. If you didn't listen when I posted it last time, have a quick go at identifying them.
Also found out today that the inventor of those whacky X Ray Specs novelty toys which were continually advertised in children's comics was a regular financial contributor to the KKK. God knows why I'm pulling so many of these rocks up.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...
Harold von Braunhut - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 1, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Also found out today that the inventor of those whacky X Ray Specs novelty toys which were continually advertised in children's comics was a regular financial contributor to the KKK. God knows why I'm pulling so many of these rocks up.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...
Sometimes during the post-Christmas down period, I find myself wondering about internet eccentrics of yore, and I remembed Scottish indepedence activist Peter Dow. You may remember him from this: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-worl...
What's he done since, you may wonder. Well...
What's he done since, you may wonder. Well...
Meet the lonely heart from hell
WEIRDO independence activist Peter Dow has posted a bizarre internet appeal for love.
www.dailyrecord.co.uk
January 1, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Sometimes during the post-Christmas down period, I find myself wondering about internet eccentrics of yore, and I remembed Scottish indepedence activist Peter Dow. You may remember him from this: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-worl...
What's he done since, you may wonder. Well...
What's he done since, you may wonder. Well...
These are the main problems London has at the moment, and don't let anybody kid you otherwise. I will also add that the largely non-white working class area I used to live in was far friendlier and more supportive than the supposedly "lovely" middle-class town I'm now in.
I live in a majority non-white working class area and I have never felt safer. What is really damaging London is money: high rents, chainification and blandification, the forces of gentrification pushing long standing working class and/or ethnic minority communities and local businesses out.
January 1, 2026 at 1:06 PM
These are the main problems London has at the moment, and don't let anybody kid you otherwise. I will also add that the largely non-white working class area I used to live in was far friendlier and more supportive than the supposedly "lovely" middle-class town I'm now in.
Reposted by David Bryant
heykidsrocknroll.etsy.com is back, back, back! And for a limited time you can use the code MISERICORD for 10% off EVERYTHING! Treat yourself! Feed the machine!
December 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
heykidsrocknroll.etsy.com is back, back, back! And for a limited time you can use the code MISERICORD for 10% off EVERYTHING! Treat yourself! Feed the machine!
Reposted by David Bryant
Okay, I will preface this with the GIGANTIC disclaimer that I promise I know how this looks, and I *swear* this is not personally motivated: If you have an old #LiveJournal account, and it has things you still care about in it, download it or import it to Dreamwidth SOON. Details:
January 1, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Okay, I will preface this with the GIGANTIC disclaimer that I promise I know how this looks, and I *swear* this is not personally motivated: If you have an old #LiveJournal account, and it has things you still care about in it, download it or import it to Dreamwidth SOON. Details: