Top Of The Pops

Nice artical about Top of the Pops in today's Guardian.

Read it here

Paul Ryder tells a story about Shaun and Ian Brown sitting in the Blue Peter garden, which is quite nice and Steve Morris has the following to say:

It was the only time in the show's history that a band appeared on the show and the single went down in the chart the following week. Foolishly, we insisted we would go on only if we could perform live. So they had to inspect everything and put "BBC approved" stickers on our plugs. All the other bands were telling us how they'd always wanted to do it live, but we made a complete balls of it. Blue Monday [1983] was never the easiest song to perform, anyway, and everything went wrong. The synthesisers went awry. It sounded awful. When we did Thieves Like Us, I remember hearing the camera crew going, "Oh my God, this lot don't move a muscle and the bassist's chewing gum!" I suppose we were trying to rebel. I think everyone harbours a secret fantasy of going on with a loaded machine gun and taking half the audience down.

Johnny Come Lately wrote: Nice artical about Top of the Pops in today's Guardian.

Read it here

Paul Ryder tells a story about Shaun and Ian Brown sitting in the Blue Peter garden, which is quite nice and Steve Morris has the following to say:

It was the only time in the show's history that a band appeared on the show and the single went down in the chart the following week. Foolishly, we insisted we would go on only if we could perform live. So they had to inspect everything and put "BBC approved" stickers on our plugs. All the other bands were telling us how they'd always wanted to do it live, but we made a complete balls of it. Blue Monday [1983] was never the easiest song to perform, anyway, and everything went wrong. The synthesisers went awry. It sounded awful. When we did Thieves Like Us, I remember hearing the camera crew going, "Oh my God, this lot don't move a muscle and the bassist's chewing gum!" I suppose we were trying to rebel. I think everyone harbours a secret fantasy of going on with a loaded machine gun and taking half the audience down.

Great article. Remarks made by one interviewee about the presenters' egos were so true. Noel Edmonds, Bruno Brooks, Mike Read et al. Not nice people. Mike Read did help Relax get to No 1 tho!

Steve's not quite right about NO having the only single to drop down the chart after a TOTP appearance. September 1978, Hylda Baker and Arthur Mullard's appalling version of You're The One That I Want was performed live so badly, so out-of-tune, timing completely wrong, that sales fell away immediately. Worst moment EVER on TOTP.

TOTP was an essential part of life in the 80's; since then it has become increasingly irrelevant (due to music channel mania and the net) and the BBC knew that welding TOTP2 to TOTP1 would be cyanide to the show.

BM wasn't the only song to go down the dumper post airing; but it was a rare event.

I would shed a tear for TOTP's demise; but it's like a loyal dog thats living in acute pain; although it hurts you know it's for the best to put it down.

The net/media channels have nothing to do with it. The fact that not one person within the BBC has the wit or imagination to work out how to make a relevant weekly music program based on the charts is a scandal of our age. We deserve better from our public service broadcasting.

The demise of TOTP is very, very sad indeed.

I'm glad that its gone.Been nothing more than a pile of shite for the past 15 years.Hopefully this will spell the end of the boy/girl band crap aswell.Bring back The Tube.

TUBE were ace,it's well overdue a return.Without MARK MIWURDZ though,the unfunny ginger twat.

That TOTP performance of Thieves Like Us was fuckin shite!

I think the final nail in the coffin,might have something to do with recently.BBC executives were embarrassed to find,on the night of recording,that their licence required showcasing live bands to a studio audience,was no longer valid.So BBC had to turn away Joe Public and fill the audience with studio executives,canteen staff,well...anyone they could find. Explain why the last show didn't have a single live performance. What a shower of shite.Not like BBC are hard up for cash,eh?

Was watching that prog about Pan's People last night.They've aged very well

It is a sad state of affairs that the BBC do not have the wit or wherewithall to fill half-an-hour of airtime per week with the best music in the charts. How hard can it be?

In the last ever edition they boasted that franchises of the show will still be shown in over 20-odd countries. This I presume includes the U.S. So why are WE so devoid of ideas for it to survive in the UK?

Because they fooked about with the format too much. From the mid to late 90s the show had improved substantially from the early 90s dross (Electronic and NO performances excluded of course).

And then what did they do, relaunch it with the shite theme music from the early 90s, a Posh Bint exclusive and Fern ruddy Cotton presenting it. The end was nigh...

But don't bet against a pheonix-like rise from the ashes in the next five/ten years a la Doctor Who.

Maybe they should hand the reins over to the guys who put together the backing music for shows such as Trinny & Susanah, Top Gear (a bit of Ian Brown the other night on a piece about tranny vans), and all the other shows that constantly nod their appreciation to NO and the rest.

I remenber that brilliant performance when NO played Blue Monday live pure class.

russie wrote: I remenber that brilliant performance when NO played Blue Monday live pure class.

Better still the Regret Baywatch performance or Barney performing Get the Message in a pair of dungarees. Now that was utter cool class perfection!

Barcaboy99 wrote:

russie wrote: I remenber that brilliant performance when NO played Blue Monday live pure class.

Better still the Regret Baywatch performance or Barney performing Get the Message in a pair of dungarees. Now that was utter cool class perfection!

Totally agree

Thanks for posting this!

Top posting to DC & Barcaboy99,right on the nail.The UK music scene,so revered around the world,& we can't make a decent fuckin' live music program.With all the creative minds that can actually make the music,not one person connected to TV can produce a relevant program?Come on! Obviously,this doesn't include 'Jools Holland's Later' which is quality,but a little aquired & eclectic.We've done it before,albiet 20 fuckin' years ago with 'The Tube'.Jools Holland again.Spooky........

Best TOTP for me had to be Sweet doing Blockbuster about 1973. I was about 8 years old and thought it was amazing. I read later that the only reason they got camped up was so they could chat up the birds in make-up!