Hits 21 - The Future of Hits 21

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

In Five: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IOBwf2KiHAVEtmbH9DiTw

Hi there everyone and welcome to this short episode of Hits21, it's just me, Rob, here today, hope that you are all alright. Last week in our sixth episode for 2008 we let you know that an announcement would be forthcoming regarding the future of Hits 21. The truth is actually that there's two announcements. The original plan was to make both announcements at the top of our last episode for 2008 which would cover the race for Christmas number 1. However, in the past few days some stuff in our personal lives has come up and it means

that there will be no new full episode of Hits21 this week. We don't want you to worry about us, the three of us are okay, but there's also a chance that we might need to take a slightly longer break than usual before our next episode. And we've noticed on social media that some people are slightly anxious about what the announcements are after we teased them a few days ago, so I'm just recording this little bonus episode to keep you all up to date and let you know what's going on without disrupting our main episodes. We don't want to do the X factor on you, so without further ado, the first announcement is that when we reach our last episode of 2009, the race for Christmas number one in that year, the show will continue but we won't be moving forward into January 2010. Since Hits 21 started a couple of years ago, a question has often come up, not just from

our listeners but behind the scenes as well between me, Lizzie and Andy, and that question is what happens when Hits 21 reaches the present day? A lot of people who keep in touch with the show on Twitter and via email have been asking whether we'd think about covering the 1990s or the 80s, or whether we'd go all the way back to 1952 and start from Al Martino.

Well, I can confirm that when we finish our coverage of 2009 we're going to be wrapping up the 2000s in a special episode before going all the way back to January 1990. So I can officially announce that Hits 21 The 90s will be with you in Autumn 2024. 90s will be with you in Autumn 2024. Now the original plan was to reach the present day first as we promised in the introduction to every episode, and then we would go back to previous decades. We expected to line up with the present day sometime in 2026, based on our schedules. However, as much as it was always in the plan to do the 90s one day, the decision has been brought forward to now for a few reasons which I'll go into.

Because as much as our listeners have been asking us to revisit 20th Century Pop, we've also been wondering behind the scenes about what's best for the future of the show. Now we will cover the 2010s and the 2020s one day and one day we will reach the present day But the further through the 2000s we got we realized that not enough time or distance has really passed Since the 2010s actually ended, you know We were potentially faced with a situation where we'd go from talking about songs that are over 20 years old To songs that were released 20 years old to songs that were released less than a decade ago, maybe even just half a decade ago. In fact, some of those

songs are still in the charts to this day. When we recently covered Viva La Vida and Sex on Fire, they had recently still been in the charts and their stories haven't quite finished yet. So we're going to let the impact of the 2010s, in terms of pop music, pop culture and politically to be honest, we're just going to let it settle down and percolate before we take a look at them. Thankfully there's 50 years worth of number ones to occupy us in the meantime. We're going to start by journeying through the decade of boy bands, Britpop, grunge, hip hop and New Jack Swing and however many weeks it was of Bryan Adams. We are really excited about

the future of the show though and can't wait to get started on our new era. However, as I said at the top, there is a second announcement. The announcement is that of course we will be going back to the 1990s but unfortunately Lizzie will not be joining us for the 1990s. When we started Hits21 the world was just coming out of the pandemic and out of lockdown conditions so myself, Andy and Lizzie, we were all still working from home. That meant that we could dedicate more time to the podcast, it meant that our evenings had more free space and it meant that we could bring you a weekly show discussing the number ones of the 2000s. Of course though, as some of you listening will no doubt be aware, as we move back to normality following the pandemic,

more and more companies are asking their employees to return to the office instead of working from home. In recent weeks, Lizzie has been asked to commit more days to the office going forward, which means that she won't be able to dedicate as much time for the podcast. For this reason, and for a couple of other more personal reasons which will remain private to Lizzie, she has decided to step aside for the time being. We want to stress that it is entirely her decision and that it's not been an easy one for her to make.

We've been discussing it for a little while now. We also want to stress though that Lizzie will still be part of the Hits21 team, she will still be all over our Twitter page and she will still be making the artwork for each episode that we put out. With regards to her future appearances on the podcast itself, the door of course will always remain open and her chair will always be free. I imagine she'll pop in as and when she can but for now when we finish our coverage for 2009 we'll be saying see you soon to Lizzie. Not goodbye, not really, but we will be going back to 1990 without her. Now, as much as a podcast with just me and Andy discussing

the 90s would no doubt be great on its own, Hits 21 is a podcast that I think, and Andy thinks, and I think you all think, it works best with three voices, right? So I'm sure you'll all be happy to hear that stepping in for Lizzie for our 90s journey will be friend of the podcast, Ed. Those of you who have listened to either my appearances or Andy's appearances or Lizzie's appearances on Ed's podcast, In Five, you will already be familiar with him. But if you're not familiar with him and you haven't listened to M5 yet, I will leave

a link to the show in the description so that you can get to know Ed and how he works with me and Andy, but also just about how he works as a podcast host and how he works as a lover of pop music. Honestly, I am and Andy is and Lizzie is too, you know, we are delighted that Ed is coming onto the show, not just because we've been friends with him for years and have been wanting to involve him in this podcast in some way for a long time, not just because he knows a lot about music and not just because he loves pop as much as me and Andy, but because he was there. I'm sure he won't mind me mentioning that he was born in the 80s because it means that

he'll have actually lived through the songs that we're discussing, much like me, Andy and Lizzie lived through the 2000s. You know, we are really looking forward to you all getting to know him and we're also looking forward to him filling in gaps that me and Andy can't about songs that were released before we were even born. So, to wrap up everything that's been said, we're going to finish 2008 very soon with the Christmas episode, just after this little break that we're on at the moment, then we'll go forward into 2009 We'll wrap up the year with the contest between Rage Against the Machine and the X Factor

Which of course is also our yearly review show Then we're going to look back on the entire 2000s, hand out a few awards and trophies to various songs and say see you soon to Lizzy a few awards and trophies to various songs and say see you soon to Lizzy. Then we're going to take a few weeks off just to formalize the format of the 1990 show and we'll be back in the autumn of 2024 with our new lineup ready for the new era. I'll also be releasing some moments of truth episodes as well just to keep you all occupied in the meantime. So thank you very much for listening to this short bonus episode. releasing some moments of truth episodes as well.