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David Bryant

@23daves.bsky.social

950 followers 420 following 6.2K posts

Feel the music/ And you'll wonder/ Is he a Yankee?/ No I'm a London-aaargh The views expressed here are personal, not that of my employer. Owner of Everybody's Number 1 to Someone, a blog about NME Indie Chart toppers: https://indienumber1s.blogspot.com

indienumber1s.blogspot.com

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 6d

Blog update: Almost 40 years ago this week, "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" reached number one in the NME Indie Charts. As a factual record of Morrissey's career-based frustrations and woes, it's a record which has no right to sound as beautiful and gripping as it does.

68. The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side (Rough Trade)

All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.

indienumber1s.blogspot.com

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 16h

Grew up near there and bought a house near there which I lived in until a few years ago. There's three reasons to go there:
1. The station, which is fantastic
2. Valentines Park
3. Astoundingly cheap but very good Indian/Afghan/Bangladeshi restaurants.
These are the three things I miss.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 23h

That’s interesting. I’d have had that lot pegged as a band few would be interested in anymore, but I suppose it’s about how it’s pitched.

Reposted by David Bryant

Rob Morgan @durutti74.bsky.social · 1d

Good luck to everyone trying to get tickets today. The eternal paradox of asking this question to Kraftwerk fans...

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Eddie Burfi @eddieburfi.bsky.social · 1d

Former Head of Comms for the IEA, Annabel Denham, says the super rich will leave if we have a wealth tax.

Yes, the very same IEA that brought us Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget. 🤦🏽‍♂️

Green Party leader Zack Polanski explains that their taxable assets can’t leave. #bbcqt

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

There are surprisingly few albums I needed to play 10+ times to actually "get", though. One of them happens to be an all-time favourite, but that occurs so infrequently. If I'm not at least getting a little spark here and there from the second listen, something is usually wrong.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

If it's a band I love I will still rush out and buy it before listening to it on streaming - I like the ritual of going to the shops, picking it off the shelf and still having that connection and "investment". Sometimes it's backfired, obviously. And I doubt I'd carry on doing it if I was broke.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

It happens to be a bloody good single and one I actually own, but that's by the by.
On the other hand, there's also a crock of shit coming up from somebody you'll all have heard of who really should have known better. Sometimes that's just the way the dice land.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

The number of webhits my blog gets depends on who I'm writing about. Just researching forthcoming entries and God - there's a string of none-more-indie "6 men and a dog at the Camden Falcon" non-pullers coming up. One isn't even on streaming and I'd be amazed if any reader under 45 has heard them.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Martin Amis would probably like a word!

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Fiona Bruce just asked "Who's laughing?" on Question Time, then asked the person in question to speak. She'll be asking them if they're chewing next. I might tune in more often for that.

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ChinnyVision @chinnyvision.bsky.social · 1d

Can we go again? No?

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Andrew Hook @andrewhook.bsky.social · 1d

Always important to keep those indie presses running!

Salt Books @saltpublishing.com · 3d

Help Salt take its publishing to the next level!

Donate to Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026, organized by Christopher Hamilton-Emery

Help Salt Publish Brilliant New Books in 2026 For twenty-… Christopher Hamilton-Emery needs your support for Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026

gofund.me

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Great track of yours!

It's actually a source of slight bitterness for me that I never went up the Post Office Tower. I had to make do with Tower 42 instead, who I discovered would actually allow you up to their top floor bar on appointment, even if you only drank one (expensive) cocktail there.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

I have never got along with "Dark Side Of The Moon", which always feels a bit suffocating to me - immaculately produced and politely and carefully performed, but very yawnsome as a result.

I only quite like "Forever Changes", and most of my friends are evangelical about it. Oh well.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Wire are actually the group whose album I most regret buying. I already owned lots of Wire albums I loved, but "Manscape" was a hellishly boring record I wasted money on when I didn't have much brass to rub together. I've kept their others, but I threw that one into a charity shop many decades ago.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

At first glimpse, that background does look like the pastel backdrop of a "To Grandma" birthday card, rather than anything stirring.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

At least one of them seems tailor-made for a cult following on TikTok, sadly. Rees Mogg vibes.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

At least two of these look as if they're cosplaying as middle-aged Tories in the eighties. The one on the left is obviously trying his hardest to be a Dennis Thatcher type, snuffling round the house before his morning commute trying to find out where Maggie has hidden his gin.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

I'm just doing that now Rob, with some stuff I haven't seen in 30 years. It's fascinating how little I recognise the 18 year old me, but by the time I'm 20 I start to see glimmers of my adult self; little turns of phrase or ideas which feel recognisable.
I'd worry if I thought any of it was amazing.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

I always hope I'll find a morsel of a half-good idea in there somewhere I can repurpose, but it never even comes to that.

My music journalism from that period is surprisingly OK-ish, though. Could have scraped into the bottom corner of the live review section of Melody Maker on a quiet week.

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

I've found lots of early writing from my early twenties these last few days. It's definitely the lack of self awareness that's the problem, both in my day-to-day life at that point, and my creative work. The waffling and the self-absorption.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

He was genuinely shellshocked by the fact that someone who pointed his life in an interesting direction turned out to be such a shitbag.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

I know someone who had Lawrence as his teacher, and claimed he was "inspiring and showed no signs of being a right-wing lunatic then".
He wrote him an email talking about how hurt and disillusioned he felt about his comedy and subsequent direction in life, but obviously got no reply.

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David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 2d

If you're going to do something like that to begin with, you really need to "do a Noel Gallagher" and just shrug and laugh and mention the money if anyone asks. As much as I dislike Noel, it's infinitely more honest than hand-wringing comment pieces.

Reposted by David Bryant

josh (oldfriend99) @oldfriend99.bsky.social · 2d

"I was working in the lab late one night"

Let me stop you right there. I am not listening to a song about work

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