Album · Billy Bragg
William Bloke by Billy Bragg
William Bloke is an album by Billy Bragg, released in 1996. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 2 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Brickbat”, on 1 list with a best position of #12.
William Bloke, Billy Bragg's seventh album, arrived in September 1996, a full five years after his previous studio record, with Grant Showbiz producing. The title is a wink at William Blake, the 18th-century English poet, and it fits a record where Bragg's mix of folk, punk spirit and protest settles into something gentler and more reflective.
The songs still swing between the political and the personal, as they always have with Bragg, but here they come wrapped in easygoing folk rock rather than a call to the barricades. "Upfield" was the album's only single, "Brickbat" and "Northern Industrial Town" found their way onto the countdowns, and the record reached number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from William Bloke on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brickbat | 1 | #12 | – | 1996 | |
| 2 | Northern Industrial Town | 1 | #37 | – | 1995 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.