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...

Ah, it's the time of the acid house scare where they don't even say the track name if it has acid in the title (Jolly Roger, acid man)

Don't think I've ever heard the Kraze track that is in the charts.

A quick YouTube tells me I'm missing nothing

Would that be The Party? It’s a classic crossover house track.

"Jack To The Sound Of The Underground" by Hithouse AKA 'Theme from The Mary Whitehouse Experience'.

Yes that is the violin player from Dexys Midnight Runners playing whatever that wind instrument is next to Tanita Tikaram. I could never figure out what some of the lyrics to this song were - "pig out til you've seen the light"?

susie mathis? was she ever a dj? oh, bbc radio manchester, i guess that counts.

"Subsequently, in 2009, Mathis became a Charity Manager working for Mohammed Al Fayed."

yazz seems to be on every episode recently.

(it's an oboe, i think)

can't remember robin beck. but it sounds familiar. was it a coke advert? ha, yes.

Was the whole of the UK in FM by that point?

Wow they were really pushing the whole Radio 1 FM weren't they.

I have no recollection of this Sam Fox track but it's not terrible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9usE58DQWY

Humanoid's 'Stakker' - another song that they won't show on TOTP because 'oh-noes acid means drugs'.

Just been catching up on these. Quite surreal to see Steve Wright in his smiley t-shirt with Caron Keating saying 'aciiieeed'.

He Ain't Heavy was used in a Miller Lite advert, wasn't it? I'm assuming that the Commodores' Easy was also back in the charts because it was in an advert, but I can't remember what. I'm convinced Lovely Day was in an advert for Mars Milk, but I can't find any evidence on the internet to back this up.

'Easy' was used in a Halifax Building Society advert at the time.

I remember that Sam Fox track, it's ace!

Humanoid's 'Stakker' - another song that they won't show on TOTP because 'oh-noes acid means drugs'.

I'm pretty sure it does get shown on TOTP because I was reading about it a couple of days ago.

Stakker hasn't aged at all, still an amazing track. Snowman mix too

Oh wow it was actually on the very next TOTP (1/12/1988).

Are they skipping any episodes at this point? I doubt js is still presenting but is Mike Smith? Dlt?

What was Susie Mathis doing at this point? Gary said about her being on TOTP in 1968, and I saw she worked as a charity director for the Al fayeds, but was she the new Sybil Ruscoe or some such?

BBC local radio - at this point it was increasingly common for TOTP to be co-presented by a random DJ. Unlike the 90s where they'd bring in Chris Eubank or whoever.

Lol @ Angry Anderson

"Burning Bridges" - the worst Quo single? Mainly because of that interminably long-winded keyboard riff that makes up two thirds of the song. Meanwhile I'd forgotten all about Scott & Charlene's wedding on Neighbours (it was blown up into a ridiculously big deal by the BBC) but now I vaguely remember this song although who's this Angry Anderson?

Also if you think that 'Downtown 88' is a cynical cash grab try the 1976 disco-tastic re-recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7nC_Z773Do

Bernard Sumner dances like someone trying to take a dump while climbing a ladder.

they've changed a bananarama

You've read Karl Marx and you've taught yourself to use a rhyming dictionary... oh wait you haven't because you've tried to rhyme 'Marx' with 'dance'.

(that's weird - i watched 1988 big hits episode this morning and the above line jumped out at me too (is bros))

I'd love to know what Neil is thinking when he looks at the camera here. Maybe something like "fuck everyone at Smash Hits who thought this would be over in a year".

oh wow, is this 'shit Bros lyrics' hour? "I watch you crumble like a very old wall"

Phil Collins looks like a boy wearing his dad's suit. It's a real marvel of late 80s boxy shouldered baggy trousered tailoring.

Xpost I used to think it was "I want your bum boy, like a very old boy"

I knew it couldn't be, but never found out what it really was.

Anyone else watch the TOTP Christmas show yesterday? Would that be what TOTP would be like if it were revived today? Because it seemed very Brit School and safe.

I missed it, I thought it'd be after the Queen for some reason

TOTP Big Hits 1989 - this is a year when there were a lot of big changes in pop music.
Also I was unaware that there was even a Happy Mondays vs Pulp episode of Bargain Hunt.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/p06m6pv7.jpg

I really liked this song at the time. However, Marc Almond's 50s rocker / forehead vein look is distressing enough, but it's combined with Gene Pitney's Terry-Venebles-does-Gene-Pitney-on-Celeb-Stars-In-Their-Eyes appearance.

Mike and the Mechanics: their singer looks alarmingly like Phil Collins, I wonder if that was in his contract? 'Clause 15.a.III - must look at least 85% like Phil Collins at all times.'
Also here's Phil Collins with perhaps the worst 'multi-millionaire rock star tells you YES YOU the average person what to think about some social issue' song of the time.

that bargain hunt episode made the national news because someone related to the HM camp was caught bidding for their items.

Bez's girlfriend.

That remake of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' was unspeakably awful. Somehow I have no memory of it.

Happy Mondays vs Pulp episode of Bargain Hunt.

googled on seeing Candida's hands there and she was diagnosed with arthritis at sixteen. it hurt just looking at that pic.

that bargain hunt episode made the national news because someone related to the HM camp was caught bidding for their items.

― koogs, Saturday, January 4, 2020 4:37 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao. I really want to see this episode now.

just watched best of 1989 and it seems like more of the same tbh. the meatiest thing out of the tracks they played was transvision vamp (and then salvaged at the last minute by the stone roses)

AND SO IS MICHAEL FISH!

I don't recall Jacob Rees-Mogg being in U2...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Angel_harlem.jpg

'Buffalo Stance' still sounds great today, it doesn't sound dated at all.

it's looking good today

lol at Holly Johnson being referred to as "a star of the past" in 1989 when his last single (albeit with Frankie) was in 1987.

Not seen the latest one yet, still blinded from Milli Vanilli's meat and two veg effort last week.

Their video is shown this time, which somehow manages to show how terrible they are at miming and dancing, despite someone having edited it.