What are you listening to right now?

[Blackleaf]

Ghost - 'Umbra" (2026)

The brand new single from the rockers from Linköping, Sweden.

The band, fronted by 44-year-old Tobias Forge, has described their music as a mix between pop music and death metal.

Their music is described as Satanic in nature, but the band has stated that it is very much tongue-in-cheek, saying "We have no militant agenda. We are an entertainment group."

 

[Blackleaf]

Look Mum No Computer - "Groundhog Day" (2019)

Look Mum No Computer - real name Sam Battle, 35, from Kent - is a YouTuber, electronics enthusiast and musician.

He is known for making and playing unusual, esoteric, and eccentric electronic musical devices made from vintage technology; notably such devices as a Furby organ, a synthesizer fused with a classic Raleigh Chopper bicycle, and a Gameboy Triple Oscillator synthesiser.

Battle runs This Museum Is Not Obsolete, a museum in Ramsgate, Kent which showcases vintage analogue devices repurposed for humorous uses.

He is to represent the United Kingdom in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in May.

It's good to see the UK going for something unusual in this year's Eurovision because nowadays it's usually the unusual that wins it. It's the eccentric stand-out song that wins the competition.

It's not yet been revealed what song he is to perform.

The UK is one of the most successful Eurovision countries, yet hasn't won it since 1997. It finished second behind Ukraine in 2023.

 

[Blackleaf]

The Animals - "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (1965)

In what many consider to be the best decade for pop music, the Newcastle band had a No3 UK hit with this in the year of Sir Winston Churchill's massive State Funeral, the last State Funeral in Britain until that of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022; British comedian and actor Stan Laurel - part of the British/American comedy duo Laurel and Hardy - dies; Inter Milan win the European Cup at their home stadium; Mariner 4 becomes the first spacecraft to send back images of Mars; the Maldives gains its independence from Britain; and Singapore is expelled from Malaysia to become a sovereign state.

 

[Blackleaf]

The Beatles - "Hey Jude" (1968)

In 1968 it seemed as though the mighty Beatles were fading, having passed through their most successful years. They seemed to be on a downward spiral.

Then what happened? In that year the Liverpool band released this song, shocking their detractors in Britain and America.

"Hey Jude" became yet another No1 hit for The Beatles. It topped the UK charts for two weeks. It topped the US charts for 9 weeks, the longest run at the top of the US charts until 1977. It topped the Australian charts for 13 weeks, a record that wasn't broken until ABBA released "Fernando" in 1976.

In total, it reached No1 in 20 countries.

By the time The Beatles split in 1970, they became the most successful artists in history, a title they still hold.

 

[Blackleaf]

Celtic Woman - "Scarborough Fair" (2007)

Hailing from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, the girl band released this in 2007.

It is a traditional English folk ballad dating from the late 1800s about Scarborough Fair.

Scarborough Fair was where people from around England, Scandinavia, the Baltic and Byzantine and Ottoman empires gathered to buy goods from local business people in the Yorkshire seaside town. It ran from 1253 to 1788, from the reign of King Henry III to the reign of King George III.

In 2026, in the reign of King Charles III, Scarborough Fair returns.

 

[Blackleaf]

Jethro Tull - "Living in the Past" (1969)

Hailing from the popular seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, the English folk rockers with a flautist as a frontman achieved their biggest hit with this, in the year humans set foot on an alien world for the first time; the Boeing 747 flies for the first time; Britain and France conduct the first test flight of Concorde; John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry in Gibraltar; and the first electronic message is sent between two computers.

Jethro Tull are still going to this day.

 

[Blackleaf]

Black Sabbath - "Iron Man" (1970)

If you like it heavy and dark then there's no better place to go than Black Sabbath

The Birmingham band, who invented heavy metal, were formed in 1968 and continued performing until their concert at Birmingham's Villa Park football ground on 5th July 2025, just over two weeks before frontman Ozzy Osbourne's death.

Osbourne, Butler, Iommi and Ward performed in front of thousands of fans in their home city in the summer of 2025 just a fortnight before it was announced to the world that Ozzy had passed away.

Whilst this seems nothing new to us now, at the time nothing was heard like it before. People were shocked and they were declared to be Satanists...

 

[Blackleaf]

Radiohead - "Bones" (1995)

This song comes from the popular Oxford band's 1995 album "The Bends", although it was never released as a single.

It likely gained more listeners when it featured in the closing credits of an episode of the 2012-14 British sitcom "Derek", starring best friends and comedians Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington (best known for his comedy global travel shows).

Set in a care home for the elderly and showing the everyday lives of the staff and the patients the sitcom was also written and directed by Gervais.

Gervais is a genius in comedy writing and acting. Were the young people in the old footage actually the old actors that appeared in "Derek"? We don't know.

 

[Blackleaf]

Scooter - "Back in the UK" (1996)

Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, the techno band had a Top 20 hit with this in the UK.

Lead singer H.P. Baxxter is an avid Anglophile. He loves British television shows and music and has a large collection of vintage British cars. He wears a Union Jack in the video.

The song samples the theme tune of the British TV series "Miss Marple" (1984-92).

Notwithstanding a couple of devastating recent wars in which they they kicked the shit out of each other and the far less serious football rivalries, the British and Germans do admire each other as close Germanic cousins.

 

[Blackleaf]

The Rasmus - "In The Shadows" (2004)

The Finnish rockers had a No3 UK hit with this in the year the Queen Mary 2 - then the largest ocean liner ever built - was launched by Queen Elizabeth II, the granddaughter of Queen Mary of Teck, after which the ship is named; Kodak phases out film-based cameras; Arsenal's "Invicibles" become the first and so far only team to win the Premier League without losing a single game; 10 countries join the EU; and England are wrongly disallowed a "golden goal" in their Euro 2004 Quarter Final game against Portugal...

 

[Blackleaf]

Pet Shop Boys - "Heart" (1988)

One of the most successful artists in history, the London electropoppers achieved yet another global No1 with this banger.

Lead singer Neil Tennant had a previous job as a writer for "Smash Hits" magazine. He met keyboardist Chris Lowe in a hi-fi shop in Chelsea, London and, in 1981 - the year I was born - they founded Pet Shop Boys... and the rest is history.

In 1994 Tennant came out as gay in an era when it was slightly more taboo than today.

In 2026, Pet Shop Boys are still releasing records.

This video is from the 1988 Christmas Day episode of the BBC's "Top of the Pops"...

 

[Blackleaf]

Duran Duran -"Union of the Snake" (1983).

Simon Le Bon and Co had a No3 UK hit with this...