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.
[216344] 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) 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. 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
Single of the Year
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."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.
Albums that have received 9/10
♦ denotes albums which were not reviewed by Planet Sound's
main reviewer, John Earls.
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.
References
-
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
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