Opening up the floodgates

Ending 2024 with an invite to revisit 2024.

This has been my first full year on Substack (I “joined” in July 2023). I have published 110 posts this year, and counting. The vast vast majority have been free but they do go behind the paywall after 12 weeks.

During 2024, my subscription list has increased 150% (i.e. 2.5 times). Thanks for coming on board! But having a good sense of how this platform works and how most of us don’t peruse the home pages - though really, we should, one of the reasons to really enjoy Substack is the design element - I am, as a holiday season gift to all and sundry, opening up the “regular” paywall for this week so you can enjoy the entire back catalogue*. (Posts always behind the paywall remain so, but they all have a free preview.)

If you want to just go for it, GO! Here’s the home page. (Also, knowing that linking to interior pages as I am about to do uses up e-mail bandwidth, most of you will need to go on the webpage to finish this post anyway.)

But if you would like some curation…

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Here are my three most popular posts of 2024:

Why I quit Spotify

Why I left Spotify for Qobuz

How I find "new" music

Conclusion: My peeps on Substack like music. They don’t like Spotify.

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Here are the next two most popular:

"There were these two nuns and a goat..."

"It was funny to have a record at No. 4 that was about wanking off."

Conclusion: You can’t beat a headline with sexual innuendo. (You also can’t beat off to it, though I guess you could try!) Oh, and my peeps on Substack like The Who.

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And these, dividing the number of people who read them by the number of subscribers I had at the time, are the ones that reached the furthest beyond my subscription base (eliminating any of the above, of course.)

Waking up to Tinnitus

Living With Tinnitus

Emerging from the wreckage

Conclusion: Peeps on Substack like disaster stories.

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These are some of personal faves that also connected with readers.

Thick As Thieves, Part 1

Thick as Thieves, Part 2

She is 90. I'm A Boy.

Conclusion: It’s fine to write about your friends and your family. We should all be so lucky as to have them. (And these first two posts get re-upped with special love to my dear friend Mike Peters and his indefatigable fighting spirit.)

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My series of running posts wound up with this one, which will link you back to the others. They were not the most popular, but I got a lot of appreciative comments from fellow runners.

My 7 Maddest Races

Conclusion: Some of my best friends are also mad. (Also: I should write a book on running, apparently.)

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And here’s your preview peek at some of what paid subscribers received in 2024 as a bonus for their support.

"Heroin comes along and offers you something you never ever thought you were looking for."

John Entwistle: "I wasted my whole career on The Who. "

From the Jamming! Archives: Bill Nelson, 1979

Tim Booth on The Smiths: "It was like coming to see a guru."

From the Keith Moon archives: my Larry Hagman interview.

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And, of course, paid subscribers also get the Crossed Channels podcast that I host with

Dan Epstein

. We posted 11 episodes in 2024, and they are rock solid. We started the year with Tim:

Tim: The Replacements Hit the Big Time

And we ended the year with Tim. (And co.)

A Band From Britain Called James

In the middle of it, we made one episode a free-for-all, having no idea the band in question was about to reform and become a skit on SNL and a news item on PBS:

What's The Story, Oasis? Maybe? Definitely!

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I lost two paid subscribers the day I posted this:

It's Not About Him, It's About Her.

Conclusion: Either some people just didn’t like Kamala Harris, or peeps come here for not politics. Then again, lots of people liked the post and commented accordingly. And maybe we are all reading too much into it.

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All in all, it’s been a great year here. I honestly could not keep it going if I did not have paid subscribers, and to be equally honest, it doesn’t feel like nearly enough. So here’s your friendly reminder of how easy and inexpensive it is to come fully on board. Occasionally Substack itself will hit you with an offer (I think), but the core deal is $5/c£4 for a month, 20% discount for the full year, founding members welcome to donate more. I am, finally, going to raise the price in 2025, so consider this your “holiday discount…”

And in conclusion, because I know we are all stretched thin these days (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the like excepted, reminder to choose your retail and social media options according to your beliefs) and everywhere we turn there’s another bloody paywall. I love ALL my subscribers - but all the more so those who read the posts.

I’ve had a madly busy end to 2024, but I look forward to engaging in - and sharing - so much great writing, music, podcasts and more in 2025. You are welcome to leave a comment if you got this far.

And given that this post is free for all, you are welcome to share it out:

Peace, my peeps!