DJ Alan T (Sydney)

22/12/2025

R.I.P. Chris Rea, he won't be driving home for Xmas ..... he died aged 74
The prolific slide guitar player had two chart-topping albums in his native England and was nominated for a best new artist Grammy in 1978.
A proud guitarist with influences stretching deep into the blues, Rea recorded 25 solo album.
He sold over 40 million records and had two UK chart-topping albums (The Road to Hell, Auberge).
His first flush of success came in the US, where his 1978 song Fool (If You Think It’s Over) reached No 12 and earned him a Grammy nomination for best new artist. He struggled to match that achievement for some years – likening industry machinations in this period to “a big manure heap of bubbling stuff. I had no control over it, I didn’t know what to do” – though the 1985 album Water Sign was a hit across Europe and helped to turn his fortunes around.
The late 1980s were his most commercially successful period: finally embraced in the UK despite often sitting outside the dominant trends in pop, 1987’s Dancing With Strangers began a run of six UK top 10 albums, two of them reaching No 1.

This great song by "Chris Rea" was first released in 1986 as a non album single, but it was not until 1988 that it got to number 53 in the UK singles chart, ...

19/12/2025

🌟 INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT — WHAT A YEAR FOR KYLIE! 🌟
🎤✨ Kylie Minogue’s Tension World Tour was a massive success, landing Top 10 worldwide and Top 5 in the Pop category 🌍🔥
👑🎄 UK Official Christmas Number 1 for 2025 — YES, IT’S KYLIE!
After decades of Mariah’s festive reign, she finally has a true challenger… Kylie, the new Queen of Christmas! ❄️👑
🎉 37 years after her Official Chart debut with I Should Be So Lucky, pop icon Kylie Minogue scores her FIRST-EVER UK Christmas Number 1 with XMAS — and it’s a RECORD-BREAKER! 🏆✨
She ends WHAM!’s two-year festive reign, claiming the most coveted chart spot of the year with her brand-new Amazon Music exclusive 🎶🎁
📊✨ Official Charts confirm that Kylie is now the first female artist ever to score UK Number 1 singles across FOUR DECADES:
🕺 1980s | 💿 1990s | 📀 2000s | 🔥 2020s
👏 She surpasses Madonna, Mariah Carey, and Lady Gaga, who each achieved three decades.
Only Elvis Presley, Elton John, Queen, and Cliff Richard have matched or exceeded this legendary feat 🏆👑
🎶 Watch XMAS here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B5Zcou91yA&list=RD3B5Zcou91yA&start_radio=1
💿 While Kylie boasts 11 UK Number 1 albums, and made a glittering comeback in 2023 with viral smash Padam Padam, XMAS becomes her first UK Number 1 single since 2003’s Slow — and her 8th UK Number 1 overall! 🎉
🇦🇺✨ The last Australian artist to top the UK Christmas chart was Nicole Kidman back in 2001 with Somethin’ Stupid. Kylie brings Australia back to the festive crown 24 years later!
📈 According to Official Charts Company data, this week marks Kylie’s biggest UK sales and streaming week in 23 years, and XMAS is also the best-selling physical single of the week 🏅
💛 Released on 7” gold vinyl, 12” zoetrope vinyl, and CD, it also tops the Official Vinyl Chart 🎶✨
🎄💫 Long live Kylie — a true pop legend and now, officially, a Christmas icon! 💫🎄

16/12/2025

After a dramatic couple of weeks, it’s time for everyone to move forward. The boycotters have made their point (and hopefully can now step aside), and the focus shifts back to the participants and the excitement ahead.
So let’s get into the spirit — here’s a first look at the, as always, amazing staging! ✨Austrian broadcaster ORF has revealed the stage design for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision Song Contest is the world's largest live music event, constantly evolving musically, culturally and creatively through continuous development. To set the stage for Vienna 2026, ORF is using a concept by Florian Wieder that will preserve the familiar while boldly opening up something new. At the heart of the stage will be a LED surface in the shape of a curved leaf that forms the centrepiece of the production. A sweeping arc and an elaborate structure complete this spectacular design. The creative spirit of the Viennese Secession lies at the centre of the stage-design concept. And like that art movement once did, ORF’s production wants to deliberately break conventions and allow new forms. It's about courage for renewal, openness to radical creativity and a new freedom of design.
Three design leitmotifs will convey this idea to viewers of Vienna 2026 in May:
The Leaf
A symbol of origin and potential, it stands for new beginnings and shared design. Diverse music from all over Europe is written on it.
The Curved Line
An expression of resonance, development and musical movement, it embodies connection, emotion and Viennese charm.
The Construct
A golden structure that connects art with functionality, it creates order, supports artistic vision and forms a deliberate contrast to the organic curved line.
Michael Kögler and Robin Hofwander will be responsible for the direction at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.
The direction team will take inspiration from Hollywood in realising the Live Shows. For the first time in Eurovision Song Contest history, Arri cameras will be used, presenting the Contest in a stylish cinematographic look.
This same vision has recently been applied to concerts by artists such as Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Billy Joel.
Music inspired by Mozart
Dorothee Freiberger and Martin Gellner reinterpret selected themes from Austrian composer Mozart's The Magic Flute for the theme music of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
Orchestral splendour will meet modern structure, creating a powerful connection between classical symbolism and the current musical language – interpreted by the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna.
Vienna 2015’s memorable theme music, Building Bridges, was also composed by Dorothee Freiberger.

Subscribe and 🔔 to Eurovision 👉 https://www.youtube.com/user/eurovision?sub_confirmation=1 ​Austrian broadcaster ORF has revealed the stage design for the ...

16/12/2025

Fun fact: this is the original French version of a famous Christmas song 😁

diapo photos et vidéos

14/12/2025

Kylie takes early lead in UK Christmas Number 1 race, but Together For Palestine, WHAM! and The Pogues are hot on her tail

Stream Strictly LIVE on BBC iPlayer 💃🕺 https://bbc.in/2MyAdzwSubscribe and 🔔 to BBC Strictly ✨ https://bit.ly/2kzjjATSubscribe and 🔔 to BBC 👉 https://bi...

12/12/2025

Whoa… she did it again! 🎉🎄
Kylie Minogue has unwrapped an early Christmas present of her own, sleighing her way to this week’s Official Number 1 with Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped). 🛷✨
A reissue of her 2015 album Kylie Christmas, which originally peaked at Number 12, this festive favourite now gives Kylie her 11th UK Number 1 album 🎶👑, placing her alongside legends like David Bowie, Eminem and Rod Stewart in the chart-history hall of fame.
As the Christmas Number 1 race officially kicks off today 🎅📈, could this be a hint of what’s coming next week? With limited-edition vinyl and signed CD versions of her single XMAS dropping today 💿💖, all eyes are on the Aussie pop princess as a major contender in the biggest chart battle of the year. 🇦🇺👀
Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) also tops the Official Vinyl Albums Chart 🥇💽, shifting the most copies on wax over the past seven days, and reigns over the Official Record Store Chart as the best-selling album in UK indie shops this week. 🏆🛍️

09/12/2025

Eurovision has faced political boycotts before
The decision by four countries to withdraw over Israel’s participation is significant for the contest, though the crisis may not be existential. Political boycotts are nothing new for the world’s largest live music event, despite the organisers’ insistence on its supposedly apolitical nature. Ironically, Spain, whose broadcaster RTVE has been the most outspoken among the four boycotters, was itself the target of the first boycott call in Eurovision history. At the ninth edition of the contest, in Copenhagen in 1964, a young Danish left-wing activist stormed the stage holding a placard that read “Boycott Franco & Salazar,” protesting that Spain and Portugal were allowed to compete despite being ruled by military dictatorships. You could argue that, in light of this, Spain’s activist stance today smacks of hypocrisy; or you could say that the country is uniquely positioned to see through the glitter and haze to what Eurovision is truly about. Spain entered Eurovision at a time when it was being blocked from joining the European Economic Community. It was about ending its isolation and joining an elite club! Its own history in Eurovision has made it acutely aware of how pop culture can function as a form of soft power.
After the EBU’s decision to allow Israel to continue participating, some media outlets are already predicting the collapse of a 70-year tradition. In doing so, they fundamentally misunderstand the nature and purpose of the Eurovision Song Contest – as well as the true background of the current boycott.
The Eurovision Song Contest has never been the cheerful, apolitical music festival that some commentators nostalgically portray it as today. It has always been a forum for international television cooperation, born from the desire to enable technical and organizational collaboration across borders. The real scandal of last Thursday’s events is that certain broadcasters are now attempting to exclude another broadcaster through intense pressure. This would not harm the Israeli government but the public broadcaster KAN, one of the few voices in the country that openly criticizes Netanyahu’s policies. Anyone who takes “United by Music” seriously should be protecting partner broadcasters, not isolating them.
Spain’s, Ireland’s, Slovenia’s, and the Netherlands’ withdrawals are perhaps less a sign of moral conviction than a mix of domestic political reflexes and financial considerations. Ireland’s broadcaster admitted months ago that it would be unable to host the contest in the event of a win. Slovenia has long struggled with the question of whether participation is financially worthwhile at all, in fact, its national selection was scrapped in 2024 due to cost. The Israel narrative now provides a convenient way to withdraw while maintaining an appearance of principle. Most of the countries now boycotting the contest have in any case regularly failed to qualify from the semifinals in recent years. Their absence will hardly break the hearts of the audience. Spain, once part of the “Big Five,” has also not been among the countries that consistently reach the top positions.
One thing is certain: the competition’s financing in Vienna will not be so destabilized by these withdrawals that the future of the ESC is in danger. As host, ORF traditionally covers half the costs, while the remaining participating countries share the other half. Yes, Spain’s contribution is gone but with Romania and Bulgaria returning, the community is growing again. And perhaps the time has come to reconsider the oversized interval acts that have consumed disproportionate amounts of money in recent years.
What remains is a debate that goes far beyond the ESC itself: What is the future of the two-state solution? What is the future of public service broadcasting in Europe? The EBU’s decision was a committee decision, a choice to continue international television cooperation under changed circumstances. The new rule prohibiting state funded campaigns in support of an entry applies to everyone. Making Israel the scapegoat for a practice that has long been common, whether driven by record labels or lobby groups, reveals more about the political sensitivities of the boycotting countries than about any supposed unfairness.
One thing must not be forgotten amid all this: the world cannot close its eyes to the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. But punishing KAN means targeting precisely those who, within their own country, continue to advocate for reason and democratic principles. “United by Music” does not mean ignoring conflicts, it means strengthening those who continue to seek dialogue despite them. The ESC will survive this crisis too. Its significance does not lie in the illusion of an apolitical celebration, but in its ability to maintain cooperation despite political tension.

09/12/2025

Christmas Number 1 Contenders 2025: Kylie Minogue - XMAS
Everybody goin' X-M-A-S...Number 1?
It's a role Mariah Carey's assumed for the best part of three decades, but could she soon be joined by another, newly-appointed Queen of Christmas™?
This festive season, Kylie Minogue delivers her Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped) record. Already on course to become her 11th chart-topping album, the reissue of 2015's Kylie Christmas boasts four brand-new bops: Hot in December, This Time of Year, Office Party and the biggie, XMAS.
Complete with its TikTok-ready routine, XMAS takes the brilliantly bonkers blueprint of Village People's YMCA, grabs it by the baubles and cranks up the camp.
It's Kylie! It's Christmas! Of course it's even more camp!
So, with the 2025 Christmas Number 1 race inching ever closer, we're here to explain why Kylie's such a strong contender, with a little input from the pop queen herself.
Chatting about the origins of the track, Kylie exclusively tells Official Charts: "The song comes from 2015. I was at Soho House in Berlin. It was summer on the terrace and we’d just done the first Christmas album. We’d had a couple of glasses of wine - it wasn’t Kylie Wines back then - and it came to us. YMCA, but XMAS! I’ve been sitting on the chorus for 10 years."
So, could the 10-year wait culminate in that coveted Christmas Number 1 title?
What stands Kylie in such good stead for this year's title, then?
Well, for a start, Kylie's a chart veteran with seven UK Number 1 singles to her name already: 1988's I Should Be So Lucky and Especially For You, 1989 hit Hand On Your Heart, 1990's Tears On My Pillow, 2000 smash Spinning Around, 2001's Can't Get You Out Of My Head and 2003's Slow.
Kylie's also one of only four female solo artists to secure Top 10 singles in five consecutive decades, the 1980s, ‘90s, ‘00s, 2010s and ‘20s, most recently with 2023's Padam Padam. Cher, Diana Ross and Lulu are the other three enduring chart queens, in case you're wondering.
XMAS is well on the way to earning Kylie her 36th Top 10 single, too, at Number 5 midweek and giving Christmas classics from WHAM!, Mariah and Brenda Lee a real run for their money.
On that note, what's Kylie got in her arsenal to give this a real shot at Number 1?
An Amazon Music UK exclusive release, XMAS follows a string of seasonal success stories from the streaming service, including Tom Grennan’s 2024 Top 5 offering It Can’t Be Christmas and Sam Ryder’s Number 2 smash You’re Christmas To Me, which had Last Christmas shaking in its snow boots in 2003. It was a close one.
The track's also available on vinyl and CD formats from December 12, the very day the race kicks off. Never underestimate the power of a physical drop in Christmas Number 1 release week: every copy counts!
Can Kylie go all the way and bag her first-ever Official Christmas Number 1 single? Keep it locked to OfficialCharts.com for all the latest as we ready ourselves for the biggest race of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4o8yhheSQ&list=RDIN4o8yhheSQ&start_radio=1

Kylie serving the Christmas atmosphere with 'Xmas' live at the O2 for Capital's Jingle Bell Ball 2025! more Capital videos from Ky...

08/12/2025

My pick for the year’s “most brutal album” is Lily Allen’s West End Girl, a stunning examination of contemporary love and disillusionment. Its revelations butt plugs, condoms, a possibly s*x-addicted husband are delivered with disarming candour, softened only by the album’s warm, honey-drenched pop. Nearly two decades after Alright, she still offers her most merciless and finely honed storytelling yet, an unvarnished chronicle of heartbreak and betrayal.

Provided to YouTube by BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd.West End Girl · Lily AllenWest End Girl℗ 2025 Lily Allen under exclusive license to BMG Rights Manageme...

07/12/2025

Girl Power …….Pop music became a minefield for parents in 2025! You’re sitting with your family, maybe at the dinner table or buckled into the SUV, happily enjoying the newest Taylor Swift album together, when suddenly you’re forced to explain to your young kids what Taylor really means when she says Travis Kelce’s “redwood tree” was “the key that opened my thighs.”! Well we are back to the Donna Summer/ Amanda Lear / Milie Jackson, LaBelle and “Lady Marmalade” then Cyndi Lauper, “She Bop” or even earlier with Lucille Bogan, a.k.a. Lucille Anderson and Bessie Jackson known for her b***y lyrics about booze and s*x. Just listen to "Shave Em' Dry" (explicit version).
And the next song ? it’s you lunging for the skip button during “Tears” by Sabrina Carpenter as she belts about getting “wet at the thought of you… tears run down my thighs.” Sure, it’s catchy and kind of funny when five-year-olds are serenading the daycare drop-off line with that chorus.
After last year’s hilariously raunchy “Nonsense” outros, Carpenter has fully embraced her brand as pop’s poet laureate of lewd, the Emily Dickinson of, well, dick-and-sons! On “House Tour”, my favourite track from her new album Man’s Best Friend, she spends nearly three minutes offering a prospective lover a guided tour of her, shall we say, home. “I just want you to come inside / But never enter through the back door,” she sings — and, honestly, I can’t help but blush.
Thanks to Sabrina’s influence, pop got filthy in 2025. It was Lorde talking about getting her “lips ’round your halo” (Clearblue); it was Lola Young yearning for “you to trickle right down my throat” (Post S*x Clarity); it was Addison Rae “with a cigarette pressed between my tits” (High Fashion); it was Lily Allen finding “butt plugs, l**e inside, hundreds of Trojans” in (allegedly) David Harbour’s dojo (P***y Palace); it was budding icon Romy Mars singing “If you wanna know how hard it is to listen to you talk/ just look down at yourself when I take my clothes off” (Ego). Even PinkPantheress, pop’s top purveyor of sweet introversion, got blunt: “You want s*x with me? Come talk to me,” she sang on Tonight.
The biggest shock – and one that drew the most controversy around many of her fans who’ve only ever thought of her as a fantasy princess – was that even Taylor Swift, one of pop’s more romantically elevated songwriters, got down and dirty. As well as reflecting on her paramour’s manhood (Wood), she also sings that being chastised as “boring Barbie” is “kind of making me wet” (Actually Romantic).

Listen to ‘Man’s Best Friend” out now: https://sabrinacarpenter.lnk.to/MansBestFriend New merch available: https://sabrinacarpenter.lnk.to/ArtistStore Subsc...

06/12/2025

10 years ago ……
Bowie's History December 🖤 7th 2015. He knew but he was still smiling 🥲 .......... David Bowie made his final public appearance at the premiere of the musical Lazarus on 7 December 2015.
The event took place at the New York Theatre Workshop, at 79-83 East 4th Street in Manhattan, New York City.
The director was Ivo van Hove, and the play starred Michael C Hall, Cristin Milioti, Sophia Anne Caruso and Michael Esper.It was written that he looked so well, so healthy. But behind the podium he collapsed from exhaustion. It was then that I realised that it may be the last time I would see him.
''I have known for about a year. We began collaborating on our show, Lazarus, and at some point he took me to one side to say that he wouldn’t always be able to be there due to his illness. He told me he had cancer, liver cancer.The cast didn’t know all that time, and I suspect that the musicians with whom he recorded Blackstar didn’t know either. He made every effort to complete those two projects on time, not to let his illness win.''Ivo van Hove........ 💔 The first preview of Lazarus took place in November 2015. The initial theatre run was intended to end on 17 January 2016, but was extended to 20 January. The New York City’s mayor’s office declared the final day ‘David Bowie Day’ in honour of the late musician.

03/12/2025

R I P Judy Cheeks
She brought fire to the dance floor for over four decades, winning over fans around the world for both her talent and her versatility. Sad to report Ms. Cheeks has died at age 71.
Cheeks’ musical journey started long before the clubs. Born in Miami on February 13, 1954, she was the daughter of gospel great Rev. Julius Cheeks. She stepped into the spotlight in 1973 with a debut album produced by Ike & Tina Turner. A tour with the Turners followed, where she even performed as an Ikette.
By the late ‘70s, Cheeks had relocated to Germany and found international success with Mellow Lovin’, a disco classic that shot up the dance charts. She continued honing her craft as a songwriter, penning tracks for Motown and lending her powerhouse vocals to legends like Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, and Thelma Houston.
The ‘90s brought a resurgence for Cheeks, as she scored big on the dance scene with chart-topping club anthems like “Respect” and “As Long As You’re Good to Me.” Her album Respect cemented her status as a dance star, and she kept the energy high with later releases like True Love Is Free (2013), Danger Zone (2018), and A Deeper Love (2019).
Cheeks remained a force well into the 2020s, collaborating with POSE in 2023 and dropping Be Happy in 2024. Whether in the studio, on stage, or through her writing, Judy Cheeks inspired both fans and other performers with a talent as rich as her legacy.

"Reach" hit the Top Twenty UK charts twice, first in 1994 and again in 1996 thanks to some brilliant remixes.