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

Because, the first one (tonight) is 1976, where we get :

01/04/1976
With Abba, the Brotherhood of Man, the Beatles, Fox, John Miles, Diana Ross and Sailor. (R).

Then after that they are on Thursday night, 7:30pm, and basically are running weekly, each
episode being from (exactly) 35 years ago (near enough)..

Until BBC4 sack it.

Brilliant idea. I can relive my childhood. My earliest musical memories (from pre-school days) are stuff like Abba, The Wurzels, Showaddywaddy and Hot Chocolate.

This docu that's on now makes grim viewing.

The docu made some interesting points, and for all that I'd have loved if they'd started in 1964 (or whenever), 1976 is a good year to kickoff from.

The big point made was that the charts had become a 'variety' show source, as opposed to the 'teen hit parade' of the sixties. So, loads of Mathis, Roussos, BroMan, Abba and Radio DJs having comedy send-up hits.

It'll be like this for a while, but one I do remember being somewhat of a life changing moment was when Eddie and the Hot Rods did "Get out of Denver",and I went straight out and bought the (expensive) ep the next day.

I know, thesedays peopple decry the rods as being "not as seminal as Dr Feelgood", but I saw a repeat on TOTP2 and it was as good as I remembered. So, soon come, that show which showed the juxtaposition of this band against the other acts on that night.

(also, it means that the quality of dodgy Punk TOTP compilation DVDs are going to shoot up. If they get that far, of course)

What tickled me most was the former TOTP producer saying that they didn't get the Pistols on for "Anarchy In The UK" (which peaked at #38) because it didn't chart high enough, very important that we always stuck by the rules etc etc... followed by an April 1976 show featuring two (useless) acts which never charted at all.

The Hot Rods did well to get a TOTP appearance for "Get Out Of Denver", as a) the Live At The Marquee EP peaked at #43 and b) it was the lead track on the B-side.

It was track 2 on the a-side, but yeah.

Also, the funny was having Dave Bartram saying "yeah, a TOTP appearance guaranteed you a top 10 hit" and demonstrating this with a screening of their massive top (fillinasecond) hit "Trocadero"...

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xpost - Aaargh, so it was!

The big point made was that the charts had become a 'variety' show source, as opposed to the 'teen hit parade' of the sixties. So, loads of Mathis, Roussos, BroMan, Abba and Radio DJs having comedy send-up hits.

Am I misunderstanding? cos the 60s had big hits for Ken Dodd, Englebert Humperdinck, the Barron Knights etc etc

Oh sure, but the theory being that those were in the minority, show-content wise.

oh on the show. yeah probly fair enough. chartwise it was variety a-go-go

Yeah, I don't think the point was that the charts had become (more) like a variety show, but that TOTP had.

fuck Noel Edmonds and his 'comedy' links

fuck Noel Edmonds and his 'comedy' links

I know, what a dick. Still we had the Four Seasons doing "Silver Star" this week. Also Eric Carmen's "interview" with Noel Edmonds, where you couldn't hear a word he was saying, don't be shy Eric!

Interviews on TOTP? that's a rarity...

"Inteview" not really the word.

"You wrote a song for Dana didn't you?"
"Mumble mumble mumble"
"What's the best song you've ever written?"
"Mumble mumble mumble All By Myself"
"Well all the best with the new single"
"Mumble"

Don't know what song he wrote for Dana

Oh and Noel was saying what a good album "Eric Carmen" was: a rare display of good taste from Edmonds there!

Noel had to say he liked it cos he didn't want to blow a raspberry.

My god that it horribly formed.

*is*

OK so Google tells me Dana covered "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" from the aforementioned "Eric Carmen" album

Is Dana the one who did some religious kids programme called 'Wake Up Sunday'?

Sounds likely

10CC, "Mandy Fly Me" was on too. Fantastic!

NEdmonds always had his love of singer-songwriters, to be fair.

Big fan of Harry Chapin, yer Edmonds.

Balderdash certainly describes droll Noel's career.

This was easily the most WTF song on this week's show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISUroWbu2U

I watched last night's 1976 episode, it was amazingly and compellingly bad. Lots of odd-looking folks I've never heard of awkwardly performing novelty songs, and one of Pan's People doing some remarkably gratuitous ass-shaking in the direction of the camera. I need more.

70s was the golden age for ugly blokes, you could still end up in a band on TOTP with groupies galore. Rubettes' (sans caps) song sounded more like the Beatles than the Rutles!

I'm watching this now. LOL at the male members of the Vagabonds miming the female backing vocals. Something massively depressing about second tier disco groups though, like they're trapped in time, it's as if they're composed entirely of all the bits of late 70's disco that don't influence music today.

Shoeless and carrying a walking stick with a bicycle bell on it? Fucking hell, Harpo could teach Lady gaga a thing or two.

Sheer Elegance one of the most misnamed bands ever judging by what they were wearing, the uglyness of the Rubettes & their overcocky drummer, the utter WTFness of Harpo. mandatory viewing from now on!

I'm sure Punk would never of happened if Sky+ would of been available in 1976...ended up fast forwarding most of last night's show...bring back Noosha Fox...become a little obsessed with s-s-single bed...

^^^ same goes for watching it on iPlayer. I don't know if 'compellingly bad' is the term, or just 'bad'.

the uglyness of the Rubettes & their overcocky drummer

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx-aH0oBscw

definitely 'compellingly bad' for me. and Fox lady really reminded me of Alison Goldfrapp which is a Good Thing.

Noosha F missing link between Clare Grogan and Goldfrapp. Love that record.

Ah, been catching up via good old iplayer on the wii.

Old enough to remember these episodes quite clearly in some cases.

Sad that they haven't gone back far enough in time to have Sparks on.

Still, don't recall that Gilbert O'Sullivan song though I must have heard it then.

Oh, last I heard, they are definitely doing this run for a year.

After that? Who knows...

Still, don't recall that Gilbert O'Sullivan song though I must have heard it then.

He was long gone as commercial proposition by 1976. That song sounded like a demo, did artists have to re-record tracks? I know they had to re-record vocals, hence the ubiquity of the Ladybirds. But then other acts obviously just mimed to the record.

They did 'have' to.

A lot of them switched the tapes post-session, apparently.

ooooooo-oooooooooooooh Vienna it's Slik

It's Midge Uuuurrrr...

And Paul knickerless

Jesus Christ, superstar?

DLT looks like Badly Drawn Boy.

This is sooooo much better than last weeks....

Only one novelty act so far.

Shit Brotherhood Of Man are still number one...

Confession: having never seen Rob 'n' Raz & Leila K on TOTP at the time, or even having heard of them until a few days ago, I spent the best part of three decades thinking that song ('Got To Get') was by Neneh Cherry.

I've started watching these to alleviate lockdown and also because this is, for me, pretty much where my personal history of pop begins - songs I'm not old enough to remember being new releases but being on the radio and familiar.

I was under the impression they didn't recycle performances nearly as much as they do. Some of them I've seen two or three times and only going on the ones on the iPlayer home page at this moment!

That Inner City song "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" needs to be more fondly thought of than it is, so lush and warm. I am also really enjoying Jimmy Sommerville donning his good trackies and going wild for being on stage.

That Inner City song "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin'" needs to be more fondly thought of than it is, so lush and warm.

Yeah I enjoyed that one - almost a precursor to the smoother end of 2-step.

Yes, it’s wonderful and actually a pretty faithful rendition of the Stephanie Mills original of which I tend to keep forgetting that it’s a cover.

Mood whiplash so strong this episode that it shifted Van Morrison's hairline back three inches.

You'll love this if you love the single mix; one of the very best remixes of the era, way ahead of the curve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxiO4hhaWY

FBI Project and especially Bruno Brookes showing that waistcoats are for wankers.

"Hello I'm Bruno Brookes and I don't have a clue what the fuck is going on but I'm going to try and cover that up by using my standard 'enthusiastic DJ' voice."

yeah the Def Mix is my favourite part of that yesteryear Frankie Knuckles comp but I only knew it from there, I had no concept that at a point in time it would have been considered ~pop music~

boxedjoy, serious question: do you follow current South African music/the various SA house genre threads at all? House music in all its uniquely varied local splendour is a major part of pop music down there.

I don't, but only because I wouldn't know where to start with the immense and spiralling threads here!

House music has always been a major part of UK chartpop, at least in my narrative of history. My first homemade tape of songs recorded from the radio went "Don't Give Me Your Life/Two Can Play That Game/Dreamer/It's Not Over/U Sure Do," I got to live through the Ibiza crossover of the millenium and UK garage as well as the Rinse FM Pop takeover of the mid noughties. It's not that I think of that Inner City track being weird because it's house music, more that it's so lush and obviously aspiring to be classy, sophisticated, opulent, a kind of tastefulness that you don't really hear in the kind of dance music that tends to be chartpopular

it's so lush and obviously aspiring to be classy, sophisticated, opulent, a kind of tastefulness that you don't really hear in the kind of dance music that tends to be chartpopular

To go back to the original topic: there was a spell in the early 90s when those Def Club Mixes were one of my favourite things in music, but I don’t think these Knuckles/Morales remixes were ever chart hits in their own right. They definitely supported/enhanced the popularity of the original versions though, probably culminating in Morales’s remix of “Dreamlover”.

(also in the particular case of the Inner City track a lot of the qualities you mention are inherent in the pre-house Stephanie Mills original, which was a sizeable US hit)

oh I LOVE Dreamlover in Morales mix form!

that post is a wonderful primer and I massively appreciate it. breastcrawl your passion and excitement for this is so infectious and encouraging, I'm looking forward to spending some time with this later on

back to TOTP and there's a few specials on iPlayer just now which are ~interesting~ viewing, the Latin special is shameless and the FA Cup one opts for Anfield Rap over World In Motion which is a choice move

<blush emoji> and thank you for your kind words!

Due to my family's monopolisation of the TV on Christmas Day 1989, I didn't get to see this episode at the time, but it's like someone's got their finger on the fast forward button as there's 20 seconds of one song, 30 seconds of another and then OH IT'S JUNE!!!

Confession: having never seen Rob 'n' Raz & Leila K on TOTP at the time, or even having heard of them until a few days ago, I spent the best part of three decades thinking that song ('Got To Get') was by Neneh Cherry.

She does sound a lot like Neneh Cherry - them both being Swedish I guess is why.

No double episode tonight, just this woeful 'Review of the 80s' that was originally broadcast at the end of 1989. 'Live' in the studio, Status Quo and Shakin' Stevens.

A song about getting old sung by a man who didn't appear to age for the whole decade.

A brush and a can of paint on top of the drum machine next to Phil Collins during 'In The Air Tonight'. I was hoping he'd start splashing paint over the audience when the drums kicked in but of course not. I may have told this story elsewhere in ILX, if not on this thread, but I used to work with a woman who was two or three years older than me who said that she was attracted to Phil Collins since she was 15, mainly because of the skullet.

Some good 10 second video clips in this review of decade and then, yes, David Cassidy in the studio doing a full song.

A stubbly cliff Richard was quite a sight.

The clips are even too short to skip over

Chris de burgh in studio now

And nothing in the listings for next week...

Nor on the TOTP page on the BBC website. I will be gutted if this is finishing before it gets to episodes and performances from my own era of watching.

oh, looks like it's been bumped by the snooker.

(although why that shit's not on bbc2 where it belongs is another question)

Twitter scuttlebut suggests there’s been no ‘Story of 1990’ filmed yet because Covid.

Can't they just get Stuart Maconie and Paul Morley to talk shit on a Zoom call?

Are they not?

Ah, the thread you can only find by not searching for top or pops...

Anyway, the 1990 documentaries are on next Friday so 1990 episodes should follow.

90 was a good year for indie but I wonder how much of that will make it onto totp, or will it be full of dreck like the last couple?

Maybe it's just nostalgia but I've really really enjoyed the last couple of years of reruns.

Woo! I've been waiting for this.

90 was a good year for indie but I wonder how much of that will make it onto totp, or will it be full of dreck like the last couple?

A bit of both. For every Kinky Afro Groove there'll be a few Turtle Powers.

Thank god - I was getting concerned.

There's a list on Wikipedia but it's per year and not per episode (which avoids spoilers - good) and also says it's incomplete. It looks better but still not great.

If you search Popscene and add the year, you'll get all the episodes

Search on Google, obviously

But spoilers. I'd rather watch them roll out an episode at a time (and then fast forward though them)

There is that.

On the other hand, can I be bothered looking them up? They're kinda now 'I remember them pretty clearly from first time around' nowadays.

Seal came across well. Shaun Ryder looked awful: like Peter Beardsley on smack. Bobby Gillespie looked terrible shuffling around in leather trousers (but nice to see Mark Gardner from Ride pretending to play the keyboards for no particular reason). I like the Monie Love one. Frustrating camerawork for Beats International - just as it got to the 'mm-mm-mmmm-mmm-mmm' bit, they inexplicably cut to a shot of random people on the balcony.

The story of 1990 is a cracker, particularly after such a long wait, and painfully nostalgic for me. What a fascinating year.

Two episodes tonight starting at 7pm.

Story of 1990 was a really good watch: maybe lockdown is affecting my sense of time, but- rather than being nostalgic- 1990 looks more futuristic than any period since. The future looked like it was arriving. Primal Scream come across as hopelessly adrift peddling tired and clapped out old rock cliches amongst a racially diverse day-glo electronic music scene .

Same goes for the Quireboys from tonight's first episode. At the time I thought they were American, but it turns out they where from... Newcastle.

Mis-spelling Megadeth in the chart run down on TOTP is my business... and business is good!!!

The Guy Garvey archive trawl on Sky Arts is all *ITV* archive shows that i've never heard of. Supersonic? some regional shows as well.

it's themed, the clips are partial, and he talks all over it, so it's not great.

David Bowie and Ringo smoking on Russell Harty...

There's loads of great Russell Harty interviews with Marc Bolan, Elton, The Who, etc.

Bruno Brookes saying "sponditious" like someone trying to be cool and failing hard. Also ffs Bruno get rid of that suit, it's the 90s!

don't think i've seen that house of love performance before.