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

Rod's effort was terrible, but Scotland's WC song for 1982 was by The Krankies.

"this is a song with a nice refrain"

so we'll sing it once again
and again
and again
and again
until it pops into your mind unbidden at random yet inconvenient moments for the next 35 years and counting

yes we smurf in a water tap
WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?!?!?!?!?!

The guy in the audience with the England hat needs a slap.

I wonder if Whitesnake and Bob Marley and the Brotherhood of Man exchanged 'Props' in the green room...

that Izhar Cohen that comes up during the countdown was the israeli eurovision winner that year. but i can't recall it at all. A-Ba-Ni-Bi...

Or as it was known in Glasgow, "Ah wannae be a polar bear"

my mind has also blanked out rod stewart's world cup song, thankfully.

I was singing it only last week!

Literally every time I watch this brotherhood of man are in the top 5.

Only one more appearance this year to come, in august, until the christmas episode.

Can't wait.

Hray, Buzzcocks

Or at least until the razor cuts Peter Powell comes on with his creepy 'budget Sting at Primark' look.

David 'crepe' Jensen: "The great thing about tonight's show is how many girls are on it!"

Ray Parker Jr.'s guitar doubles as a snow shovel.

heavy on legs and co this week.

Nobody worth a squirt of piss wants to go on it, that's why.

Forever Autumn seemed like it was 6 minutes long, and it's not the first time it's been on

Oh, I thought it was "Sky at night" week..

Apart from Raydio you haven't missed anything.

it's wednesday, that's probably why.

it's repeated tonight and maybe saturday. and on iplayer.

oh yeah!

Right, will have a word wit' tivo.

A bland cover of 'It's Only Make Believe'. Totally not an attempt to ride on the coat-tails of 'Grease's success, oh no...

Nah, that would suggest a thought process 'in the moment' which is not evident

I guess Lloyd-Webber and Rice couldn't get Ringo Starr so they had to settle for David Essex...

More like Che Whatever.

hadn't seen that clip of gordon dancing with legs and co before. noticed he'd also amended his t-shirt...

Tony Blackburn confused by all these Hong Kong Gardens and Dreadlock Holidays.

I'm intrigued by the breaks in transmission. Are we missing J P$£l episodes?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/trivia/presenters/list2.shtml

am not sure where we are...

August 3, 1978 - Dave Lee Travis
August 10, 1978 - Peter Powell
August 17, 1978 - Noel Edmonds
August 24, 1978 - David Jensen
August 31, 1978 - Tony Blackburn
September 7, 1978 - Peter Powell
September 14, 1978 - Jimmy Saville
September 21, 1978 - Paul Burnett
September 28, 1978 - Dave Lee Travis

peel is much later iirc (feb '82)

also, some breaks may just be due to missing recordings.

(wednesday's was 31/08)

Apologies for the easy google opportunities I missed there.

Right, I assumed JP was around earlier than he may have been. It seems the beeb is trying to keep the broadcasts in the original week of each particular year.

(he'd done some of the earlier shows but there was a hiatus...)

1977: The Year Doo-Wop Broke.

(wait, it's 1978. still, with all the showaddywaddy, darts and grease stuff in the charts... 4 things in top 10 from grease.)

There've been a lot of godawful piano ballads recently. Just listen to this monstrosity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGfb6pm3DOg

er, convicted sex offender Jonathan King?

yeah, that's an odd decision given that they aren't showing some episodes because two different presenters are currently unpeople.

still, it's like they have discovered punk / new wave this week. (i may've spoken too soon, am watching about 20 minutes behind real time). odd given that blackburn's shows are usually disco-heavy.

so is this Aug 31 or Oct 26?

August 31, 1978 - Tony Blackburn
September 7, 1978 - Peter Powell
September 14, 1978 - Jimmy Saville
September 21, 1978 - Paul Burnett
September 28, 1978 - Dave Lee Travis
October 5, 1978 - David Jensen
October 12, 1978 - Jimmy Saville
October 19, 1978 - Peter Powell
October 26, 1978 - Tony Blackburn

actually given that the last four have been Powell, Burnett, Jensen, Powell it must be Oct 26.

is it still 1978? these years must have been interminable to actually live through.

yeah, they are trying, i thought, to stay exactly 35 years ahead. which is my i'm surprised that we are 3 weeks ahead.

actually i'm being a bit harsh this week's has almost all of Public Image, after the Number 1 over the end credits!

(that was last week's. this week they were on (video) as part of the main show)

was that a different vocal on Germfree Adolescent? could swear her voice cracks more on the version i know.

otherwise, that was dire. Dandy, Patrick Juvet, ONJ, Rats, Darts, Cars, Xray Spex, JT&ONJ, Jacksons over end credits

Yeah, they would sometimes have the original backing track and a 'live' vocal.

Polystyrene was asked by the TOTP producer to change "Listerine" to "glycerine" and "SR" to "XR" to avoid what-we-now-call product placement.

could've sworn it was SR last night. will give it another listen.

and just listening to the John Peel Session version (on Let's Submerge) and that *is* XR and Glycerine. (and breaking voice, although not as much as the lp version)

no, you're right (1:22 and others)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmlujq7qsW0

star ship trooper really is a thing.