Happy New Year to our readers, listeners and viewers around the world. If you want to hear my take on the last twelve grim months, you'll find that here.
Meanwhile, by popular request, here's a Hogmanay-modified version of part of our six-hour live Boxing Day Bonanza - in which I count back across a century the hits and headlines that were Number One at New Year. The music is wide-ranging - from Rihanna to Melanie, the Bangles to the Tokens, Rod to Nat, the Monkees to the Mills Brothers, Adele's tune to Elmer's tune... We're doing them in reverse order back through the years because, as I say rather sadly, "that way the songs get better". On the other hand, for the first time ever, Steyn plays Nickelback. And we do end with a perfect New Year song.
In Scotland, the Government has just banned Hogmanay, and similar strictures apply elsewhere around the world. So you can always use the show for an impromptu dance party. If you're someone who enjoys dancing to Michael Jackson, you may find Isham Jones and his Orchestra more of a challenge. And vice-versa.
Click above to listen.
This is the first of three diversions at SteynOnline this New Year weekend.
My first appearance of 2022 will be on Serenade Radio in the UK. It's called Taking the Chief, a programme I did way back in 1988 talking to various songwriters about their experiences in Hollywood. It went down rather well at the time and got nominated for various awards. So, a third-of-a-century later, we've dusted it off and are airing it on New Year's Day at midday Greenwich Mean Time. If it's well received, we may re-air it again in another third-of-a-century.
So I hope you'll tune in either in 2055 or on Saturday. Noon GMT is 7am North American Eastern/4am Pacific - which I appreciate isn't the most convenient of broadcast times on this side of the Atlantic, unless you're just staggering in from an especially wild Hogmanay. But the programme repeats at midnight London time, which is 7pm in New York/4pm on the West Coast. You can listen from anywhere on the planet by clicking the button at top right here.
~On the Town is a special production of The Mark Steyn Club. For more on the Steyn Club, see here.
There's a whole cavalcade of musical delights over on our Netflix-style music home page, where you'll find easy-to-access live performances by everyone from Herman's Hermits to Liza Minnelli; Mark's interviews with Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein and Bananarama (just to riffle through the Bs); and audio documentaries on P G Wodehouse's songs, Simon after Garfunkel, and much more. We'll be adding to the archive in the months ahead, but, even as it is, we hope you'll find the new SteynOnline music home page a welcome respite from the woes of the world.
