Category: 2003

A tip of the hat and an elbow nudge to everyone who stopped by our final National Pop League Rewind on Saturday evening. It was the usual mix of great music, fond memories and drunken typos.

The playlist for NPL19 is now available on Spotify with those songs that are not currently coining it in on the streaming platform posted below.

Songs missing from Spotify

Song #1: Cranebuilders – Just Idleness

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Song #9: The Go-Betweens – Hold Your Horses

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Song #18: Ballboy – I’ve Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear

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Song #25: Max Buba – Hierba Verde

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Song #34: Fire Engines – Candyskin

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Song #37: Primal Scream – Crystal Crescent

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Song #42: My Bloody Valentine – Slow

By popular (mostly Iain Hamilton’s) demand, we’ll be rewinding one more National Pop League this coming Saturday, the 27th of June. Once again, jumping back to 2003 and NPL19, we’ll ask that you supply your own memories and drinks while we provide the soundtrack.

You know the drill: 8.45pm start; get sweaty and silly for the next five hours in the comfort and safety of your own home.

The virtual Woodside Social Club can be located on Mixlr, just off Great Western Road.

Read more about this online event on Facebook.

The playlist for National Pop League 18, its first Smiths special, is now available to stream on Spotify. It includes the top ten Smiths songs as voted for by users of the NPL Yahoo Group.

Songs missing from Spotify

Song #12: Groovy Little Numbers – Windy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-hpXvx3ENc

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Song #30: The Shop Assistants – Safety Net

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Song #42: Cranebuilders – You’re Song

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Song #58: My Bloody Valentine – You Made Me Realise

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Song #62: The Go-Betweens – That Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A885lEUgaJg

In 2003: National Pop League 18 – Smiths Special

A founding goal of National Pop League–which was eventually reached, Golden Lights included!–was to play every Smiths song. In the month leading up to NPL18, a poll was taken for Pop Leaguers’ top three Smiths tunes. In the end, the top ten, played over the course of the night, were:

10. I Want the One I Can’t Have
9. William It Was Really Nothing
8. Still Ill
7. Cemetry Gates
6. The Queen Is Dead
5. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
4. Panic
3. Reel Around the Fountain
2. This Charming Man
1. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

The ethos of The Smiths, and by extension Morrissey, was central to NPL, but obviously the topic has taken on much more complexity in the intervening years. Please watch this space in the coming week for more thoughts on Morrissey and The Smiths, fandom, and tackling difficult subjects in the archives.

We’re sending lots of lockdown love to everyone who joined us for our latest NPL Rewind on Saturday night, and a special mention goes to those who tuned in from New York, New Zealand and the new babies maternity unit of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. It was another fabulous evening of music and memories, and one that can still be heard in its entirety on our Mixlr showreel – as can the National Pop League 17 playlist on Spotify.

Songs missing from Spotify

Song #2: Sportique – The Kids Are Solid Gold

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Song #7: Beachbuggy – Kickin’ Back

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Song #8: The Would Be’s – I’m Hardly Ever Wrong

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Song 11: The Go-Betweens – Caroline and I

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Song #18: Prolapse – Killing The Bland

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Song #21: All Girl Summer Fun Band – Dear Mr and Mrs Troublemaker

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Song #41: Primal Scream – It Happens

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Song #42: My Bloody Valentine – Thorn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dzkS77KoiM

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Song #77: The Go-Betweens – Lee Remick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p9lNUHM_pc

In 2003: National Pop League 17

Join us on Mixlr at 8.45pm for a live re-run of that night with pictures, a video and memories from those who were there.

We’re back with another disco for the socially distanced. A redux of last month’s rewind, the National Pop League Archive will be spinning the playlist from the 17th edition of Glasgow’s celebrated club night. It’ll be a live recreation of the evening of 25th April 2003, but without the bar queues and peeling wallpaper.

Once again, we’ll be presenting memories to match the music, and we’d love you to join in. There will be photos and videos, fanzines and badges, mailouts and message board posts, and, this month, we’ll be punctuating the music with clips from our oral history interview with NPL founder, John Hunt.

The virtual Woodside Social Club can be found on Mixlr.

Lately we’ve been whiling away these enforced evenings in by reliving the nights out of the past, and so, this Saturday, we’ll be live streaming the playlist for NPL 16 in its entirety to commemorate the 17th anniversary.

We’ll be sharing that night’s music, fanzine and badge, plucked from the NPL Archive, and we’re inviting you to post your memories and photos, not just of March 28, 2003, but any and all Pop Leagues.

It begins at 8.45pm, so queue in the kitchen for a warm beer, squeeze into the hottest room of your house and join us online to party like you’re on the dancefloor of the Woodside Social Club.

Instructions for joining

Ahead of our NPL Rewind, attendees are required to sign up to Mixlr. This can be done via Facebook or email.

Once registered, head to our virtual Woodside Social Club.

Users can listen through their desktop browser, or on their phone or tablet through the Mixlr app.

Don’t forget to say hello to Carlo on your way in.

Get over the trauma of candy stains by taking in the National Pop League 15 playlist, now available to stream on Spotify.

Songs missing from Spotify

Song #8: All Girl Summer Fun Band – It’s There

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Song #9: California Snow Story – The Only One That Matters

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Song #31: Cranebuilders – You’re Song

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Song #67: My Bloody Valentine – You Made Me Realise

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Song #18: The Bodines – Therese

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Song #32: The Shop Assistants – Safety Net