TOTP hits the 80s tonight.
― You are swimming in spaghetti. Without a paddle. (snoball), Thursday, 8 January 2015 19:12 (nine years ago) link
OK I lost track of these in the 70s, but...http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05279pn/top-of-the-pops-31011980
...this is all over the place! time to get back on the bus?
the Revillos, Kenny Rogers, Azymuth, John Foxx, Madness, the Shadows, Rupert Holmes, the Ramones, Jon & Vangelis, Billy Ocean, New Musik (???), Captain Beaky (for about a week) (oh god it's Steve Wright being introduced as a hip young gunslinger) , the Specials and the least memorable song on Queen's Greatest Hits bleats on a bit while the cameraman points at the ceiling and fiddles with his new filters...
― undergraduate dance (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 26 February 2015 23:48 (nine years ago) link
and we're back (i think we're two weeks or three weeks behind, yes, 15th feb 1980 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0544glm/top-of-the-pops-15021980 )
that captain beaky thing, it's terrible and he did it terribly in the studio.
followed by the flying lizards doing TV which is about as out there as totp gets, i think. simon bates record of the week, apparently.
a real ragbag of things this week.
― koogs, Friday, 6 March 2015 19:43 (nine years ago) link
SLF as well. on the edge.
― koogs, Friday, 6 March 2015 19:44 (nine years ago) link
paul macartney as ron meel (et al) in the Coming Up video
robert smith with short hair.
― koogs, Friday, 8 May 2015 10:05 (eight years ago) link
Christ, is this still on? And is anyone other than koogs watching it?
― Cram Session in Goniometry (Tom D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 12:42 (eight years ago) link
Other running commentary places are available
― Mark G, Friday, 8 May 2015 12:43 (eight years ago) link
It doesn't help that it's on so sporadically.
Early human league (doing Gary glitter)Johnny Logan.Preludes ???Michael JacksonMatchboxLegs & co vs awbJona louisCockney rejectsBoney m (doing my friend jack)RutsOmdUndertonesDexys @ #1
― koogs, Friday, 29 May 2015 19:28 (eight years ago) link
Prelude. They had one hit with an acappella version of "After the goldrush" previously.
And after that, they still had one hit.
― Mark G, Friday, 29 May 2015 20:40 (eight years ago) link
he, peter powell, called them "preludes", but wikipedia agrees with you. but then he did spend the rest of the show saying "hit 10" and "change of place", the jump-suited idiot.
boney m doing psych classic was a bit odd. hadn't heard it before.
― koogs, Friday, 29 May 2015 21:20 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, saw the shorter edition, will catch up later with Boney M.
"You'll always find me in the kitchen at midnight" Genius, Peter...
― Mark G, Friday, 29 May 2015 22:52 (eight years ago) link
very ffwdable this week - lots of repeats and stuff like 'i'm forever blowing bubbles'
but the specials, telekon era numan...
― koogs, Friday, 5 June 2015 08:53 (eight years ago) link
And Junior Murvin, that's about it.
― Mark G, Friday, 5 June 2015 09:53 (eight years ago) link
i had forgotten that (minor) lambretta's track too.
(and odd to see him wearing a shirt i associate with new romantics)
the karel fialka thing was odd. almost in the buggles or flying lizards vein when all i associate him with is the 'hey, matthew' slop (7 years later)
― koogs, Friday, 5 June 2015 10:17 (eight years ago) link
This seems like a completely different time to the last one, maybe they skipped a couple of weeks. Oh, OK, two things that I recognise from before - omd and legs and co dressed in rags and dancing to suicide is painless
― koogs, Sunday, 14 June 2015 11:16 (eight years ago) link
.....and Mystic Merlin!
― tayto fan (Michael B), Sunday, 14 June 2015 11:27 (eight years ago) link
terrible this week.
9 week gap due to industrial action and then back with a slightly new format - guest host elton john. no chart at the beginning but, instead, a list of people who would be appearing (my heart sinking with every one he read out)
(26) THE PIRANHAS – Tom Hark(2) DIANA ROSS – Upside Down (video)(9) ROXY MUSIC – Oh Yeah (On The Radio)(16) TOM BROWNE – Funkin’ For Jamaica (danced to by Legs & Co)(21) HOT CHOCOLATE – Are You Getting Enough Of What Makes You Happy(29) KELLY MARIE – Feels Like I’m In Love(7) THE GAP BAND – Oops Upside Your Head (video)(14) THE GIBSON BROTHERS – Marianna(3) ODYSSEY – Use It Up And Wear It Out (danced to by Legs & Co)(13) OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN & ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Xanadu (video)(63) DON McLEAN – Crying (video)(5) SHEENA EASTON – 9 To 5(15) BAD MANNERS – Lip Up Fatty(1) ABBA – The Winner Takes It All (video)(10) GEORGE BENSON – Give Me The Night (crowd dancing) (and credits)
^ 7th august 1980. which means we are ahead of ourselves by about 5 weeks. and there are a lot of un-people presenting shortly too, another 8 episodes we won't see between now and the end of the year.
http://z6.invisionfree.com/popscene/ar/t1124.htm
― koogs, Monday, 29 June 2015 11:35 (eight years ago) link
Uhhh, some great stuff on there... or am I missing the point?
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Monday, 29 June 2015 11:59 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, only 63 really made my heart sink
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Monday, 29 June 2015 12:14 (eight years ago) link
killer lineup imo
― cod latin (dog latin), Monday, 29 June 2015 13:28 (eight years ago) link
Funkin For Jamaica and Give Me The Night in the same episode makes me wish I'd watched it.
― cod latin (dog latin), Monday, 29 June 2015 13:30 (eight years ago) link
Amazing episode tonight with Roger Daltrey and Tommy Vance sleezing over everyone and Roger hating on disco.
― ewar woowar (or something), Sunday, 5 July 2015 00:40 (eight years ago) link
Still lots of the disco barrel being scraped IMO.
That dire hustler song could've been done by the flying lizards.
The other thing that struck me was the Ultravox and Bowie things felt like the start of new romantic, a couple of years earlier than i'd've said. (Rio 1982, but blitz club 79-80)
― koogs, Sunday, 5 July 2015 01:23 (eight years ago) link
Flying Lizards were way more avant garde than that, c'mon!
― Mark G, Sunday, 5 July 2015 23:01 (eight years ago) link
There was just something about the delivery or the meter, made me think of the lizards. They'd've certainly improved it.
― koogs, Monday, 6 July 2015 04:10 (eight years ago) link
The episode with Roger Daltry was perhaps the oddest yet; painful to watch.
― mahb, Monday, 6 July 2015 08:06 (eight years ago) link
And seemingly edited?
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/07/05/bbc-under-fire-for-cutting-homophobic-joke-out-of-top-of-the-pops-repeat/
― arbiter of sorrow (aldo), Monday, 6 July 2015 09:30 (eight years ago) link
Yep, seems some people were looking forward to Roger's joke...
― Mark G, Monday, 6 July 2015 10:27 (eight years ago) link
This from the guy who sang, "I'm a Boy" :)
― holger sharkey (Tom D.), Monday, 6 July 2015 11:16 (eight years ago) link
i take it that everyone was struck dumb by B A Robertson
― koogs, Monday, 20 July 2015 20:29 (eight years ago) link
Another footnote in the mystifyingly successful career of BA Robertson...Wasn't he given his own TV show at one point - "BA in Music"?
― quixotic yet visceral (Bob Six), Monday, 20 July 2015 22:50 (eight years ago) link
https://youtu.be/XDK1dMNAJno
― quixotic yet visceral (Bob Six), Monday, 20 July 2015 23:10 (eight years ago) link
(indeed he did - what a tosser he was)
― quixotic yet visceral (Bob Six), Monday, 20 July 2015 23:14 (eight years ago) link
Weirdest thing I found out about him, you know that Big Star group when they had their first album out on a small label, well guess who had their first album as the next one in the catalogue?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 06:23 (eight years ago) link
Already noted, would quite like to hear the story behind that.
― Possibly Fingers (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 09:11 (eight years ago) link
My favourite BA Robertson TV moment, which has weirdly stuck with me through the years, was when he was sitting on Saturday Superstore with a bucket over his head. He was a "mystery guest" and callers had to ring in and guess who the mystery guest was.
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 09:27 (eight years ago) link
and when he took the bucket off the kids were still none the wiser
― Live Aid: JFC (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 09:46 (eight years ago) link
Yes, pity he took the bucket off, his career was all downhill from there.
― Possibly Fingers (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 July 2015 10:37 (eight years ago) link
Was this his performance with Maggie Bell?
― everything, Tuesday, 21 July 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link
back on thursday. with mike reid presenting.
― koogs, Saturday, 26 September 2015 16:34 (eight years ago) link
Read. Reid is the eastender cockney comedian bloke.
― Mark G, Saturday, 26 September 2015 16:41 (eight years ago) link
'triffic
― Fields of Fat Henry (Tom D.), Saturday, 26 September 2015 16:44 (eight years ago) link
> Read.
but i did read, it was in the guardian guide. 8)
― koogs, Saturday, 26 September 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link
Oh, maybe it is him then.
― Mark G, Saturday, 26 September 2015 21:42 (eight years ago) link
if DOCTOR WHO can do it then TOTP can too ~ bring back the LOVE!
― Paul, Sunday, 27 September 2015 00:02 (eight years ago) link
"Write the theme tune, sing the theme tune..."
― koogs, Friday, 9 October 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link
we are back. but it's not good.
they appear to be mixing audience noise in with the performances so it sounds kinda shitty.
darts and showaddywaddy in the same show too (last week).
and every link seems to be someone plugging something. dollar, dennis waterman, the new stevie wonder lp, totp t-shirts...
still, christmas hats...
― koogs, Friday, 30 October 2015 17:48 (eight years ago) link
Yeah the audience noise over the music is so irritating. Legs and Co looked like they were being filmed by a drunk at the back of the crowd. I enjoyed Adam and The Ants and Bad Manners though
― tayto fan (Michael B), Friday, 30 October 2015 20:14 (eight years ago) link
Yeah. Both for the second time in 2 weeks though. (Showaddywaddy too)
― koogs, Friday, 30 October 2015 20:54 (eight years ago) link
The links by the DJs in general on these old TOTP shows are terrible. I thought the one redeeming feature of these idiots was a certain type of cheesy professionalism, but no they all sound illiterate even when doing something as basic as introducing the next song. On the Christmas edition from ’82, Mike Read went from Nicole to Eddy Grant by saying ‘from a Eurovision winner to someone who’s never won it in his life’, eh?
Isn't Eddy in line to represent the UK next year? Not very prescient, Read!
Most posters here probably know already, but Freaky Trigger has been covering the repeats too:
1980 – http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2008/12/popular-80/?comment-page-all#1520073
1979 – http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2008/10/popular-79/?comment-page-all#1279536
1978 – http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2008/08/popular-78/?comment-page-all#1076011
1977 – http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2008/07/popular-77/?comment-page-all#942492
1976 – http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2008/05/popular-76/?comment-page-all#821996
(Just to be very clear, I'm joking about Eddy Grant entering Eurovision. Don't want a repeat of the Sam Smith dissing incident)
― flyingtrain (sbahnhof), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 21:46 (eight years ago) link