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

lol ninja'd

I hate Bon Jovi but especially those slower songs that they seem to have calculatedly written specifically to appeal to women (that end up sounding super crepe anyway).

The one positive thing I can say about Jon Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi is at least we're not watching Steve Tyler / Aerosmith.

Yes! Prince! Some music of real quality!

The Smiths! Pet Shop Boys!

All the good stuff they should have on the main section is in the Breakers!

Oh god, look, it's Simon Cowell's first crime against music.

Prince back when he would actually write lines like "let's get to rammin'". One of my favourite Prince tracks.

I remember being kind of annoyed that I didn't get to see that PSB/Dusty video at the time.

Sinitta's backing dancers were certainly, uh, something!

They gave Spagna a lot more time than they'd normally allocate to the last (in studio) song of the show. Maybe because they were expecting to show a Michael Jackson video and couldn't?

Didn't they have that same problem on another episode? To be fair, Michael Jackson didn't need Top of the Pops at all at that point!

I was on board with this Then Jericho song but it went on too long and the singer started dancing around and preening like a twit. At least the Pet Shop Boys are here to show how not to make a total embarrassment of yourself in your own video.

Speaking of making a total embarrassment of yourself, here's Wet Wet Wet with Marti Pellow acting like he's on Seaside Special in 1983. Also I feel that a young Robbie Williams saw this performance and cribbed all his stage moves from it.

This episode worth the price of admission just to hear Gary Davies say "girlfriend in a coma" in his trademark Radio 1 Roadshow voice.
Also the line "up straight in the sunshine" from Black's 'Wonderful Life' always made me lol because I took it to be a reference to erections.

Friday nights are my fave just because of this. So good! I just wish you could watch all of them on the app thing and not just the ones they’ve shown recently.

T'Pau with one of their songs that isn't 'China in Your Hand', followed by Level 42 featuring Mark King in a vest and David Miliband on keyboards. So far, so grim.

Thank fuck those headstock-less basses fell out of fashion. They just look so wrong!

'Heart And Soul' and 'China In Your Hand' are the only two T'Pau songs I'm even aware of.

This WASP song has far fewer lyrics than you might think, even for a paint-by-numbers late 80s hair band.

"Hey guys, what if we try and rip off Alice Cooper and KISS at the same time, but without the talent of either?"

Hey Matthew when you're watching TV hey hey Matthew what do you see?
Peter fucking Powell.

Depeche Mode at 26 and New Order at 27.

Jesus christ... Depeche Mode, New Order and Prince are all in the charts, but what do the BBC see fit to show in the year of '87? Graham fucking Gouldman. Again!

HORN!
This Wax single is... 'frantic' I think is the word.

U2 head and shoulders above everything this episode!

I like that Wax single. Graham Gouldman is fine by me. Bono, ugh.

wax were good

(I'm assuming the song was bridge to your heart)

It was. He didn't do much wrong, Graham Gouldman, when all's said and done.

The Alarm in 'desperately wanting to be U2' action.

Serious mullet action.

One of my favourite ILX posts of all time is where another ILXor talked about hearing the most exciting brutal industrial beat they'd ever heard while tripping on acid, only for them to find out later that it was The Bee Gee's 'You Win Again'.

Also the oblong gadget Maurice Gibb was playing is a Stepp digital guitar. I used to know someone in the mid 90s who owned one, despite being a student, because they were going cheap on the second hand market on account of not being very good.

Wow did Neil Tennant lose a bet and have to wear that 3-sizes-too-big jacket?

Also his hairstyle on tonight's show closely resembles one of my bad hair days.

Okay, Kiss, I fucking get it, these are crazy nights!

Pet Shop Boys and Erasure on the same episode. Awesome 😎

As Kiss songs go, 'Crazy Nights' isn't bad, but that live version was a mess.

I'd go as far as saying that it's the only Kiss song that I like in any way!

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?