Song · Arab Strap
“The First Big Weekend” by Arab Strap
From the album The Week Never Starts Round Here (1996)
“The First Big Weekend” by Arab Strap appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 1996. It was first released in 1996 on the album The Week Never Starts Round Here. Its best result is #2 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1996. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #122 alternative song of 1996.
Watch
Video from YouTube (Arab Strap - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"The First Big Weekend" was Arab Strap's debut single, first pressed as a seven-inch of just 700 copies on Chemikal Underground in 1996 and then included on their debut album, The Week Never Starts Round Here. It's barely a song at all: Aidan Moffat talks his way through it over Malcolm Middleton's guitar and a drum machine, and Middleton only sings at the very end.
What Moffat describes is a weekend across Glasgow and Falkirk, bars and clubs, international football, The Simpsons and clumsy attempts to pull, told with a hangover's deadpan precision. Fans have even dated it: the football reference points to Scotland against England at Euro 1996, which puts the start of the weekend on Thursday 13 June. BBC Radio 1's Evening Session gave it plenty of airplay.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 2 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1996 | 50 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "The First Big Weekend" by Arab Strap.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.