Procol appreciation in the Netherlands

Procol Harum and Radio Veronica

Sam Cameron writes: Charts of all-time favourite tracks, compiled by magazines and radio stations, are now legion. The majority of these come from the UK and the USA and are prone to feature A Whiter Shade of Pale.

The following statistics are derived from polls conducted in Holland by Radio Veronica. They suggest that there is a much wider appreciation of the recorded legacy of Procol Harum in the Netherlands than in (first language) English-speaking countries.

Given the enormous number of records in the world, and the fact that A Whiter Shade of Pale does not even feature in some UK / USA 'all-time' lists, the appearance of three other PH compositions in the lower 200s is a considerable index of Dutch support for the band.

Radio Veronica was a pirate station from 1964–74 but evolved into a legitimate radio and TV broadcasting corporation.

The charts were constructed from regular polls of listeners' Top Tens which were compiled into top 100s and this series of top 100s has been compiled into an all time top 500.

The response to these polls was allegedly high [sometimes over 30,000 listeners]. I have no idea what mathematical rules were employed to effect these transformations from one chart to another as my source does not elaborate on the matter.

More PH chart-data