YS2
YS2 was a series of programs featured on the YS covertape during 1993. It looked identical to teletext/Spectacle, and contained strange wibble written by the YS team. Strangely, a page in YS2 has an interview* with Simon Brattel (who, if the interview is to be believed, was currently writing for YS). Simon was part of Design-Design, and therefore wrote some stuff for Spectacle - a coincidence? We think not.
Using a Sceptical driver they stole from Delta-4 (or, rather, a Delta-4 driver they stole from Sceptical), YS2 contained articles on how to make your own student band, a competition to win Stuart Campbells' "Radioactive Popcorn", Ten Ways To Kill Yourself With A Parsnip, Ten Ways To Kill Yourself In Which A Parsnip Is Incidentally Involved (apparently, these parsnip things were written by none other than Leigh Loveday), and, of course, Eric Idle's alternative theme for One Foot In The Grave, the lyrics of which are reproduced here for your enjoyment.
(Oh, and Simon Brattel was also mentioned in Sceptical. He appears to have a monopoly on teletext-style Spectrum disk magazines)
Yes, I'm here today to tell you,
How to earn a quick bob or two,
Just write a theme tune for BBC,
You think it's hard? No! Listen to me;
I've written songs since '71,
Writing songs is my kind of fun,
Using chords you've all heard before,
But I still sit down and write more.
They say it's boring
ignoring musical trends,
I'm driving sane people
straight round the bend,
They say it's drivel, it's rubbish,
and what's more they claim,
It all sounds the same.
You see I write my music in C,
I go to A through B-flat and B,
Then I repeat it time after time,
Adding words to make the thing rhyme.
So now you see how easy it is,
For people in the song writing biz,
But still the last two lines of this verse,
Have given me a reason to curse.
It's my consistent persistence
I have to admit,
That's making my music sound a bit naff,
I'd do something else, but Idle's my name,
It all sounds the same,
It all sounds the same,
It all sounds the same...
(Words © 1993, Music © 1971)
* Actually, it has come to our attention that that page wasn't actually an interview with Simon - it merely had a misleading title.
But what we really want to know is...
Whatever happened to Sceptical II?