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"...

32

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...

"High Energy" and "So Many Men So Little Time" are great singles but it's not because of the production

"Senza Una Donna" is a divorcecore classic. Zucchero whispering "even doing my own cooking" like it's taking all he has to admit he has been reduced to such a shameful condition is chef's kiss.

Thanks to the link to the Ian Levine wiki for alerting me to the existence of the single 'Doctor in Distress'. 😱

― Piedie Gimbel

"The music was played by Hans Zimmer on a Fairlight II synthesizer" lol.

Ian Levine and Hans Zimmer collaborated on quite a lot of tunes in the late 1980s, bizarrely enough.

hans zimmer produced the first krisma record!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5a9Tx_GCS

oops dud dink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5a9Tx_GCSE

I had no idea of Hans Zimmer‘s earlier career. I like that Krisma track.

He was briefly The Damned's producer too.

Would be quite confident in putting tonight's first up as the worst edition in the history of the show

The second show tonight was pretty bad as well.

brambles not mingling with the proletariat, i notice.

Yeah, weird greenscreen experiment tonight, and they've found a new way to ruin the chart rundown.

kenny thomas looks like a cross between shrek and barry from eastenders

Rebel MC though! Best tune for weeks. "People Are Still Having Sex" very enjoyable too.

Conversely Any Dream Will Do is even worse than the first time round. I seem to have erased from my memory that horrible plinky sound that's all over the arrangement.

It won't be long before we get 16 weeks of Bryan Adams.

well 8 weeks

yeah, you can probably outrun the police in your flash car, but those personalised plates are going to make you easy to track down.

Just the one episode this week. Shame it's presented by Bruno Brookes and features Bros.

Axl Rose: Waste of Ammo...

that wasn't Kirsty MacColl singing with billy bragg. is that why the camera never focussed on her?

lisa lisa using samples nobody had touched for ~10 years.

A brief flash of Morrissey waving a Jobriath album at the camera there.

Nice to see Frankie Knuckles this week.

Everyone's favourite Covidiots, Right Said Fred.

This studio performance is awful. The video is a lot better. But why did anyone care about this record? I have a theory that for everyone there was exactly ONE time they could have played this record out loud and it would have been OK (for example, driving down the high street of the nearest large town 'blasting' this through your Goodmans stereo).

"I'm Too Sexy", more than any other song I can think of, seems to me to exist now solely for the purpose of sparking nostalgia for late 1991. Fairbrass might be a Covidiot now but him and his brother (in the words of another pop duo) "have both made such a little go a very long way".

They were one hit wonders three times over. Were part of the general furniture for a bit. Then they came up with "Bumped" as their 'new single after being away for a bit" in full confidence, and nobody liked it much.

The singles section of their discogaphy is just depressing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Said_Fred#Singles

I had their first LP and liked it, I mean I was 12 but I think it probably would sound fine now

Marcello liked it too

http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2020/12/right-said-fred-up.html

I remember Deeply Dippy, but not Don't Talk Just Kiss. I'm assuming it's not a cover of the Wedding Present song of that name.

it's not, I had the opposite experience when I first listened to Bizarro

Bear in mind, "Three one-hit wonders" is a compliment. Three very strong singles, not hugely similar, but undeniable hits.

Then they had the idea that they were popular personalities, and to be fair, they were. But not necessarily with people who buy records.

Then it drifted into mediocre songs, did they lose focus or just lucked into it in the first place?

I remember the first time I heard "I'm too sexy", I knew it would be huge and take over that summer. So how did it get turned down by every record label until they got signed bu Gut Records (and is that the german for "good" or a reference to stomachs?)

Still it had a directness and a lot of tongue in cheek, whereas "I'm So Attractive" by The Photos didn't have either...

"What's the name of Right Said Fred's only UK number one?" is a classic pub quiz question. Also works with A-ha, T'Pau, Prince.

Hmmmm. I knew the A-ha one and, as with Right Said Fred, it's not the track that most people would immediately think of, whereas the T'Pau is exactly the track everyone would immediately think of. I had no idea for Prince and now that I've looked it up, I don't think I would have ever guessed that.

Indeed. Please elaborate on the T'Pau one.

It's China In Your Hand. That's their most famous song by far.

China In Your Hand, Covid In Your Lungs

sorry, should have put "x post". i meant with regard to T'Pau in the pub quiz as it is indeed surely exactly the track everyone would immediately think of, ie China In Your Hand, Covid In Your Lungs.

T'Pau's most famous song is "Heart and Soul" - at least outside of Europe.

Bit samey this week. Just waiting for Dannii Minogue to turn up.

Horror of Dracula is on Talking Pictures, might watch totp later.

(I was jokin’… it’s three hours of Bach’s St Matthew Passion)

That's what I thought! But they keep changing it at the last minute, so who knows?

The Bomb the Bass song was good.

Charly says always tell Bruno 'Tory' Brookes to go fuck himself.

TBF I'd be quite unsurprised if Liam Howlett were a Tory these days.

Charly AND What Can You Do For Me? AND Insanity all in the same show?

I mean also there was that horrible version of Happy Together by Jason Donovan, but basically going very well so far.

Old derelict deco terminal at Speke only good thing about that Farm video.

Didn't even spot it was Speke and that's where my family's from