15 YEARS OF THE LIST
For fifteen years. 400 issues. and something like 40,000 pages, The List has been there, one step ahead of the game. usually getting it right. sometimes getting it wrong. Here are just some of the highlights.
These days Douglas Henshall is everywhere from Psychos to Anna Karenina. while Peter Mullan is acclaimed on both sides of the camera. be it Orphans or Miss Julie. Imagine. then. seeing both of them at close quarters in a purpose-built studio in Glasgow's Tron Theatre. They appeared in Crow in 1990 directed by Michael Boyd who‘s now with the RSC. The List called it ‘entertaining and unsettling‘.
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These days you might be glad to see the back of Wet Wet Wet. but once they were a hot young property. ‘Devotees. convinced that they have big potential on the scale of Lloyd Cole. impatiently await the release of their first single.‘ we gushed in 1985. And no. don‘t ask who Lloyd Cole is.
On INXS in 1986: ‘They look like the sort of band that The Sun might choose to take to its heart and propel to stardom.‘
On Ricky Ross and Deacon Blue in 1986: ‘A singer songwriter of extraordinary talent . . . they have just signed a major deal of typically gargantuan Glaswegian proportions.‘
On Ian Rankin in 1986: ‘With such dedication. Rankin could go places.‘
On Blur in 1990: ‘Oh happy day - the greatest band in musical history finally release their debut single.‘
On Radiohead In 1992: ‘Amazingly for a debut which embraces indie anonymity. it‘s actually supremely engaging.‘
On Eddie lzzard in 1989: ‘He‘s a smashing bloke but there are a good few shows you should catch before this one.‘ On Steve Coogan in 1990: ‘He is seriously out of his depth in front of a live audience.‘ On Blur in 1991: ‘Leisure is an able debut. Whether Blur are vital enough to last out the year is quite another matter.‘ And in April 1992. how were we to know that Pulp would turn out bigger than. er. The Primitives. and omit to mention Jarvis Cocker and co in the listings blurb? Come to think of it. how was it the following month that we thought it more useful to write about an outfit called Fabulous when Radiohead were on the same bill?
Eventually. Newman and Baddiei became the biggest comedy double-act in showbiz. but before they did. they had their own one- man shows. How prophetic then that in reviewing a Rob Newman gig in 1990. The List should write: ‘I heard routines about Peter Purves and the Commonwealth Games that David Baddlel is doing word for word at the Assembly Rooms.‘
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‘ Vera not i J?” ‘ k On David Gray in 1993: ‘A maudlin muse demands to be heard.‘
From the set of a new movie called Shallow Grave in 1994: ‘lt‘s bloody and intelligent . . . a deliciously black comedy thriller.‘
On Oasis In 1994: ‘Right now ‘Live Forever‘ is the best song ever written. and its ten brother tracks aren‘t far behind.‘
On Travis in 1997: ‘Glasgow band Travis have dis- covered a record deal at the end of the rainbow. Could a pot of gold be out of the question?‘
On Angelina Jolie at the start of 2000 before she won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted: ‘If the upcoming serial killer yarn The Bone Collector doesn‘t break her into the big time. Girl. Interrupted. in which she co-stars with Winona Ryder. certainly will.‘
On Billy Elliot in our July 2000 Edinburgh Film Festival preview: ‘lt treads similar comic-tragic ground to Brassed Off and The Full Monty. It‘s going to be a big hit.‘
11997
0 TV show of the year: 7775 Life
0 Lara Croft enters the national consciousness in Tomb Raider
- Bridget Jones' Diary strikes a chord with thirtysomething women everywhere
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Throwing caution to the wind at the start of 1999. we made our musical predictions for the year ahead. Big things were in store. we promised. for Rammstein. Jurassic Five and Black Eyed Peas. We obviously had learned nothing from the previous year during which SubcerUS. Earl Brutus and Tortoise had singularly failed to flourish as we‘d promised.
0 TV show of the year: South Park
0 My Name Is Joe wins Peter Mullan applause for and festival prizes
for his acting
o The Beastie Boys resurrect themselves, and List readers vote Hello
Nasty their album of the year
2-16 Nov 2000 THE U8T19