Planet Sound

Planet Sound was a Teletext music page on ITV and Channel 4 in the UK, active from 1997 until 2009. It was broadcast on analogue Teletext from page 340, and on digital Teletext from page 820. From 24 May 2007, Planet Sound was also available to read online via the Teletext website.[1] The pages were all simultaneously updated daily at 10pm.

History

Teletext's predecessor ORACLE ran a similar music section in the 1980s. Future Planet Sound editor John Earls had reader reviews published, 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 from January 2001 was John Earls.

In November 2008 Earls became Planet Sound's sole writer, as the other freelancers were made redundant. 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, Reviews Editor of online music magazine Artrocker; New Musical Express freelancer Kat Lister; MTV journalist Tom Thorogood; Innes Weir, who also contributes to music magazine M8; and Natalie Shaw.

It was announced on 17 July 2009 that Planet Sound was to end in January 2010.[2] This was brought forward slightly and the final Planet Sound was published on Monday 14 December 2009. The final edition featured many musicians sharing their favourite memories of Planet Sound and Teletext, and a final Void viewers page followed by a final message from John Earls.

Following the closure of Planet Sound, Earls established a record label called WET Records. A Facebook group page titled "Planet Sound Lives" features contributions from many previous readers and characters from the Void.

Music coverage

Planet Sound covered all genres of music, but primarily indie rock, promoting many underground artists 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 were promoted in the early stages 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 ran 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 had a policy of only including one release per artist per year, so that anyone with a mention in Top 50 singles of the year will not be included in that year's Top 50 albums, and vice versa.

Album of the Year
Year Artist Album
1997 Radiohead OK Computer
1998 Air Moon Safari
1999 Death In Vegas The Contino Sessions
2000 The Delgados The Great Eastern
2001 The Avalanches Since I Left You
2002 The Streets Original Pirate Material
2003 Dizzee Rascal Boy in Da Corner
2004 Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News
2005 Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2006 Muse Black Holes and Revelations
2007 The Twilight Sad Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
2008[3] Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid
2009 Telekinesis Telekinesis!

Single of the Year
Year Artist Single
1997 Belle & Sebastian "Dog On Wheels"
1998 The Tamperer "Feel It"
1999 Genelab "Anorak Lou"
2000 Eminem "Stan"
2001 Missy Elliott "Get Ur Freak On"
2002 The Polyphonic Spree
Ms. Dynamite
(joint #1)		 "Soldier Girl"/"It Takes More"
2003 Junior Senior "Move Your Feet"
2004 Graham Coxon "Freakin' Out"
2005 Arctic Monkeys "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"
2006 Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family "The Mourners Of St. Paul's"
2007 Maxïmo Park "Our Velocity"
2008 Sam Sparro "Black and Gold"
2009 Dizzee Rascal "Bonkers"

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) teletext.co.uk, Retrieved 13 August 2014
  2. Archived 27 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine Teletext.co.uk, Retrieved 13 August 2014
  3. Earls, John. "Review: Top 50 albums of 2008". Teletext. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
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