The Rolling "Top of the Pops" BBC4 Revival thread.

I liked him on it tbh. Overall first episode was far better. The second peaked in the opening three minutes (though, admittedly, so did the first) and bottomed out on the forever horrendous Cleopatra's Cat.

hated Deayton, his snarky remarks about Robert Palmer were a low point

Just catching up on recent episodes - what was with the butchering of large chunks of the verses on ‘Babies’? Don’t remember that when it aired in the 90’s.

didn't notice that when it aired last week

Oasis - what if Slade were knobheads?

I wonder why people bother covering Cameo's 'Word Up'? The original is perfect. Gun's version here is better than Mel B's attempt from 1999 but still it just sounds like a cover a band would throw into a live set to mix things up. Their cover version of Hot Chocolate's 'Every 1's A Winner' - which they also released as a single - is a similar mix of competency and head scratching "why would anyone do this?".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkBXas4YL4

I prefer Alan Vega's approach of ignoring the tune... and the words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA7z-rSYxjQ

the 1978 show was like punk never happened

the Gun version is one of two covers I can think of that was later supplanted by a soundalike for a similar audience (Korn)

the other is how Tiesto shoved aside Orbit/Corsten's Adagio for Strings (not as much a soundalike as Korn to Gun admittedly, but definitely the same audience in theory).

the Julian Cope was an odd thing, one for being a random album track and another for his performance (which the audience seemed to enjoy)

What DID totp bloke think your dad would be saying about Julian Cope? I think my dad would have prob called him a poser.

Gun, weirdly, had among the most enthusiastic fans in the TOTP audience I've seen.

Is it known how TOTP audiences were chosen? Did bands get to bring their entourages/fan clubs?

Always funny when there's a Reggae or R&B artist singing about the black experience and it cuts to the awkward dancing of the blondest 14 year olds you've ever seen.

My sister was in the audience once, I should ask her. I think it was the same as any other TV show with an audience, you bought tickets in advance, you just had to hope there was somebody you liked in the studio that week.

I've been in the audience before when it was recorded at BBC TV Centre. A friend and I just turned up after hearing from somebody that there was a good chance of being let in if you arrived in time. This doesn't really make complete sense but I can't remember any more about what inspired us to go.

The girls in my school would sometimes go on around this era.

the Julian Cope was an odd thing, one for being a random album track and another for his performance (which the audience seemed to enjoy)

― koogs, Monday, 17 April 2023 06:33 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

It was very odd - it looked like something off The Tube, but with a terrible sound mix (as you say, maybe the audience got a better one)

TOTP already shifted to 9pm tonight because of the snooker and now it's been delayed a bit more. Sometimes things don't change a bit. At least the balls aren't orange tonight.

Anyone who saw the beginning of Britain's Got Talent last Saturday will know that Ant & Dec still can't dance.

This week's shows only worth it for a few songs - Shampoo, Rozalla, Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry - but still worth it.
Really coming back to me how much Wet Wet Wet can fuck right off.

A good friend of mine until quite recently thought Youssou N'Dour was two blokes called Youssou and Dour.

Haha, that’s brilliant.

My mum thought Del Amitri was a bloke called Derek.

The first time I saw Olivia Newton John on TV, there were three people on stage, so I thought...

What was Wet Wet Wet's deal, exactly? Audience reactions seem to suggest they were a kind of boyband, but their music doesn't resemble NKOTB or even Take That in any way (plus they play instruments). I'm having trouble thinking of another group that you could compare them to, though their uniqueness by no means makes them less crap.

I remember at the time, but can find no current reference to, suggestions that Wishing I Was Lucky had had more spent promoting it than any previous major label debut single.

wishing I was lucky / sweet little mystery were fine, I guess, not for me but w/e

their version of Love Is All Around OTOH is the worst fucking thing of all time and the 15 weeks it spent at number one felt much worse than Bryan Adams 16

the fsol single, I've never heard it before or seen the terribly dated cgi video

except i have both the lifeforms LP and the EP so i must've

fsol video was the worst kind of artless raytraced bollocks that plagued the mid 90s, and the sound was a random snippet which obviously didn't survive being played on my TV speakers, you really wonder why they bothered

FSOL do TOTP properly you cowards

I'm having trouble thinking of another group that you could compare them to

You couldn't move for groups comparable to Wet Wet Wet in Glasgow in the 80s and 90s. Hue and Cry, Texas, Hipsway etc. Always found it amusing that Wet Wet Wet were the most successful of the lot (apart from Texas arguably) because they were a bunch of Rangers fans from Clydebank and not West End hipsters pretending to support Celtic.

Hmmm ok that does scan.

Believe me it was like a plague, and all of them had at least one song with Sugar, Honey or Candy in the title. Tailors did good business though.

used to feel a bit sorry for the WWW guitarist as he was never a member of the band, was left out of photos etc
but then one night he was a total creep to some friends of mine, so fuck him

"Not a dry eye in the house..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0VOJ0Z3vY0

My wife and I always shout “MARTIIEE PELOOOH” in an atrocious accent anytime we see WWW thanks to Limmy.

Believe me it was like a plague, and all of them had at least one song with Sugar, Honey or Candy in the title. Tailors did good business though.

― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Sunday, April 30, 2023 11:28 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, not like the Jesus and Mary chain oh hang on....

One of the reasons JANC seemed like cornball provincials to a lot of people on the Glasgow indie scene.

the one PWEI song that i like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAxAOK885B4

I remember well the woman from Texas crashed her scooter into a chelsea tractor outside The Queens right in front of a load of smokers, drinking before MBV played at The Roundhouse. She walked away from it as said smokers all clocked her but were only amused cos fuck those cars

Actually quite impressed they bothered to feature the FSOL video (and a written credit for Fraser as if most viewers would recognise her name and voice) during the chart rundown (lol Mayo's 'mmm...' after it) but the CGI probably has aged worse than anything else on that episode (Pantera's 'Planet Caravan' cover from later in '94 has a similar vid and charted higher than I remember but doubt it will have featured at all).

fsol video was the worst kind of artless raytraced bollocks that plagued the mid 90s

I'm quite fond of it mostly because I see it as an outgrowth of Dougan's Stakker/Eurotechno filmery - of which there was no going back to after even Pot Noodle got in on the fun (plus, the style did wonders in numerous ardkore videos at the same time). But I also can never get Reynolds' pan out of my head: "their music sounds as disgustingly denatured and plasma-morphic as those godawful videos and Buggy G. Riphead cover images." Obviously remove the word 'godawful' and this could read like high praise (and I do like - sometimes love - most of their work from their 94-97 imperial phase a lot).

"FSOL do TOTP properly you cowards"

The Far Out Son of... gets momentarily used as background music the week it charted* while Lee & Herring do their thing but the video never actually appears IIRC (and obv not performed either).

*same week as Oxbow Lakes. A nice moment for formless soundscapery in the top 40.

Just catching up on this episode. That 90s CGI aesthetic has been really popular as a revival style for lots of clubbing and club-adjacent kids the last few years.

Also, I'm going to tell my grandkids that was Linda Perry jumping around in that episode.

Robert Smith looking very winsome tonight

As much as I dislike Jon Bon Jovi and his music, I have to grudgingly acknowledge that 'backing vocalist on a Star Wars LP' to 'Always' is impressive.

Dee dee na na na

Always is even more absolutely fucking irredeemably shit than R2D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas though

It is hard to tell which is the more cynical attempt to sells records.

sell records

the 1983 show, chock full of quietly brilliant records.