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

Y'know, if you squint, Maurice Gibb looks just like Mark King!

Sounds like a not-shit week this week.

It seems to have started off well enough!

Considering this George Michael video probably cost about £20 to make, it's incredibly cool.

Ah, spoke too soon, here's Stock Aitken Waterman puppet Rick Astley with one of his songs that isn't the one that everyone remembers. Unfortunately, the peak era of Stock Aitken Waterman with Kylie and Jason etc. is still yet to come, so we've all got that to look forward to.

To be fair this isn't one of the really terrible SAW singles, but it's clear that it was written before they decided who in their roster would actually sing it. Astley makes the song work here, but he's bordering on SHOUTING! IS! EMOTION! style of Tony Hadley.

That chart rundown shot of Bryan Ferry makes it look like he's peering through your patio doors.

Two Rick Astley songs in the Top 40. TWO!

Fashion disaster area Steve Wright (in the afternoon evening).

I can't seem to get warm enough
Even with four blankets and a sheet

Every tried a duvet, Ray?

With (ooh) Gary Davies (on the radio)

(xpost)

I had a feeling George Harrison and T'Pau might make an appearance on this when I saw 'em in the rundown... wish they'd shown more of that Eurythmics track!

Oh god, what the fuck is this bollocks!?!

Yeah, it's just such a weird song and video at a point where you'd expect most acts to play it safe (although Lennox did later).

Hahahaha, the guitar guy with the red cowboy hat is blatantly trying to upstage the singer here!

Actually, the Top 10 really isn't all that bad considering!

Clearly they didn't film enough footage of the Bee Gees and had to throw in everything. There might even be a kitchen sink in there somewhere (with a solarising filter and shown upside-down).

This Fleetwood Mac video might be a bit heavy on the Quantel Paintbox but at least I don't feel like I'm having a seizure watching it.

Half the fun is waiting for the bits with Mick Fleetwood in, so you can see how off his fucking tree he is.

Also it's funny how there's nothing for John to do in this video except walk across the frame.

Jack Mix... 4? WTF?

Don't worry, there's only seven of them (as far as I can ascertain).

Also 'Criticise' is the best Alexander O'Neal single, at least for my money.

Have we skipped an episode or two? Because the jump in chart position for both T'Pau and George Harrison between the last episode and this one was huge!

I suppose it's worth pointing out that at this point in time it had only been 20 years since the release of Sgt. Pepper's, but 1967 and 1987 feel fucking worlds apart to me.

Whereas 20 years ago from now, people were still waiting for the follow up to OK Computer.

Yesterday's episode was 29th October 1987, tonight's is 12th November, so they've only skipped a week. Although back then that was enough for a record to seemingly appear out of nowhere, like this Nina Simone track. Although IIRC it did more or less arrive nearly at the top of the charts on release.

5th November episode - it's not being shown because Mike Smith is one of the presenters and he didn't sign the license extension.

Presenters: Janice Long & Mike Smith Playlist: (5) T’Pau – China In Your Hand (7) George Harrison – Got My Mind Set On You (video) (32) Heartbeat – Tears From Heaven (12) Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe – Barcelona (video) (28) Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full (1) The Bee Gees – You Win Again (video) (10) Was (Not Was) – Walk The Dinosaur (and credits)

We're not going to see the 10th December 1987 episode for the same reason.

Maxi Priest "Some Guys" - the 1984 Rod Stewart version is way better, particularly because it's one of those Rod songs where you can't believe that someone like Rod (or at least the kind of character Rod usually performs in his songs) would ever have problems getting into a relationship.

If you've ever wondered why there's no Scottish-based contributors to this thread it's because BBC4 is not available on Freeview in Scotland anymore.

The non-guitar playing Proclaimer carrying on the Wham! shuttlecock tradition here.

That'll be a shinty ball, not a shuttlecock.

Simon Mayo's stripey sweartshirt and chinos combo is basically how I dressed for every family party / barbecue / event at the time.

I didn't notice this back in 1987, probably because our TV had mono sound, but for the last few weeks the sound quality has been noticeably worse. They've mixed in some of the crowd noise from the studio and maybe done something else because the music sounds flatter and tinnier and <insert audiophile equivalent of wine taster language here>.

If you've ever wondered why there's no Scottish-based contributors to this thread it's because BBC4 is not available on Freeview in Scotland anymore.

That's not true – it's on channel 82 (SD) and 106 (HD). Though now you mention it I never end up seeing TOTP just because I'm unlikely to casually flick up to these numbers as I would've gone up to BBC4 in the past.

Ah,I see, just after Talking Pictures!

Blue Mercedes - they should have got these guys to represent the UK in last weekend's Eurovision.

Also: Body Glove vest? What is this, the early 90s?

People can laugh all they want at Shaky but I certainly couldn't jump around like that at 39.

Bit of a mish-mash this episode but I've always liked the Housemartins' 'Build' from the first time I heard it.

Yeah, it's one of their better songs. Watching this performance of 'Build' feels strange to me from a 2019 perspective, if only because it feels like two of the singers from the Beautiful South jamming with Fatboy Slim. It'd take 11 years to get from that to 'Perfect 10' and 'Right Here, Right Now' ...

Yes you all heard that right. The Tams ‎single is called "There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin'". The Shag being a dance.

Also The Proclaimers are name-checking Wester Ross in the Highlands, not Westeros.

Oh it's just Michael Jackson harrassing a woman in the street nothing unusual wait what?!

Here's Mick Hucknall in an ill-fitting suit (quite an achievement in a perverse way for this part of the 80s) making a pompous drawn out mess of this song. There was a story that he was in a restaurant where they played some other singer's version and he threw a massive strop.

Shane McGowan so off his face that he can't even walk mime to this song and chew gum at the same time.

The camera really doesn't know what to do with the rest of the band here. Conspicuously move a camera operator (dressed entirely in white!) in underneath the penny whistle player and then only show the feed from that camera for a few seconds before cutting to something else?

Level 42 - 'Children Say Why Are Mark And The Other Singer The Only Two Band Members In This Video?'

PSB's 'Always On My Mind' probably my favourite cover version ever, precisely because it doesn't even try to sound like Elvis. SPOILERS it's THIS single that was Christmas #1 in 1987.