So 1980 then was a story of tape recorder rivalry, dropped drumsticks, borrowed wigs, disco that Elvis never did, musician union strikes, a revamped show, celebrity co-hosts and potential nuclear Armageddon. Quite luckily for us this year is that far fewer editions were hosted by Jimmy Savile, but unluckily the whole of June and July of 1980 was lost because of a musician union strike at the BBC, which ultimately saw the end of the TOTPs orchestra. Add to that the Christmas Day show which was co-hosted by JS, which means that (perhaps mercifully) we won't get to see the St.Winifred's School Choir keep John Lennon off the number one spot.
1980 is another fantastic year of music to look forward to and the Big Hits compilation provided a very tasty appetizer for the year ahead.......
2-1-2015: TOP OF THE POPS - 1980 Big Hits (compiled by Popscene)
MADNESS – My Girl (TOTP 3-1-80)
THE PRETENDERS – Brass In Pocket (TOTP 3-1-80)
FERN KINNEY – Together We Are Beautiful (TOTP 22-2-80)
THE VAPORS – Turning Japanese (TOTP 13-3-80)
GENESIS – Turn It On Again (TOTP 13-3-80)
DR. HOOK – Sexy Eyes (TOTP 27-3-80)
DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – Geno (TOTP 3-4-80)
HOT CHOCOLATE – No Doubt About It (TOTP 1-5-80)
THE BEAT – Mirror In The Bathroom (TOTP 1-5-80)
THE FOUR BUCKETEERS – The Bucket Of Water Song (TOTP 15-5-80)
JONA LEWIE – You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties (TOTP 8-5-80)
THE PIRANHAS – Tom Hark (TOTP 7-8-80)
SHEENA EASTON – 9 To 5 (TOTP 7-8-80)
BAD MANNERS – Lip Up Fatty (TOTP 7-8-80)
THE RAMONES – Baby I Love You (TOTP 22-2-80)
KELLY MARIE – Feels Like I’m In Love (TOTP 4-9-80)
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Enola Gay (TOTP 9-10-80)
MOTÖRHEAD – Ace Of Spades (TOTP 6-11-80)
DENNIS WATERMAN with THE DENNIS WATERMAN BAND – I Could Be So Good For You (TOTP 6-11-80)
SPANDAU BALLET – To Cut A Long Story Short (TOTP 13-11-80)
ADAM & THE ANTS – Antmusic (TOTP 11-12-80)
Love the bang up to date blog re-titling, Angelo!
ReplyDeleteA fascinating programme about 1980. I find it really useful to be reminded of the social and economic backgrounds of the time, as depicted in the yearly prequels.
Does anyone have a copy of that ‘new look’ pilot edition with all those stand-ins? That would be archive gold and a looking-through-fingers treat to watch. Just as much of a treat was the segue into 1981 near the end of the programme – a heavy hint we may be together for the next two years at least?
A couple of lookie-likeys to these eyes – Joanne from The Human League seems to have morphed into a Northern Lynda Bellingham, and if anyone wants to do a movie on the young Alan Sugar, step forward Kevin Rowland.
I swelled with local pride at the footage of Ray Dorset, as he grew up 250 yards from me and he’s a celebrity patron of the local football team. For those not in the know, Mungo Jerry’s name came about because of Ray’s mixed parentage (back in the 60’s and 70’s, around our way a mixed race person was nicknamed a ‘mungo’) and people kept getting Ray’s surname mixed up with that of Jerry Dorsey ,aka Englebert Humperdinck
arthur, why were mixed-race persons referred to as "mungo's"? also, with regard to mr dorset i think i've told this tale before, but a few years back i visited a house in bournemouth where an old lady who lived there excitedly told me that "mungo jerry lives across the road!"...
Deleteregarding "lookie-likeys" (sounds like something the barron knights would come up with to make fun of chinese people): "boring" bob grover looked alarmingly like g*ry gl*tter when the piranhas did "tom hark" - even pulling the same kind of faces! talking of which: did anyone else notice that the human league's cover of "rock & roll pt 2" was featured, thus presumably generating some (much-needed) royalties for mr gadd...
DeleteWilb. I've no idea. Ray moved from Middlesex to Bournemouth many moons ago, and I believe he has a residence in Germany as well, but he still holds some affection for his 'manor'. Maybe I should have just said lookalikes instead of lookie-likeys but, hopefully from my years on the forums,you realise my phrasing meant no harm...unlike Roger Daltrey!
Deletei'm not offended arthur, just making light of what could be conceived as non-pc in these yewtree/big brother/bottom inspector times. by the way, i wonder what half-chinese legger patti made of the barron knights' antics at the time?
Deletewasn't it from Mungojerrie a cat in the book/poem by TS Eliot...
Delete"Looky-likeys" hails from the French and Saunders Watchdog spoof back in the 1980s. No racism involved.
DeleteMany faves amongst this lot and this is just a taste of the treats to come! Despite losing a few episodes for various reasons there's still plenty to look forward to. Re. The Story of 1980, I wonder if Daltrey's comment will get chopped? After some manufactured public outrage of course. Surprised Iron Maiden's live performance at the end of feb didn't get a mention.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Big Hits, signal dropout experienced during brass in pocket on earlier showing. Later showing was ok but the start signal for the programme was late. I noticed this happening for a few totps '79 so now I set my recorder earlier and later for the late night full episodes.
I think BBC4 have made a bit of a rod for their own backs by highlighting Daltrey's comments, because if they do now edit them people are going to notice, and there is likely to be hoo-ha either way.
DeleteForgot to mention, a fine live vocal by Dennis Waterman. A tad shouty, but I reckon he could have been a very good frontsman for a rock or blues band. He'd released several solo singles before TOTP fame beckoned.
ReplyDeleteWeird seeing the girls from Human League being interviewed. One of them looked like my mum did in 1980...
ReplyDeletebut which one? suzanne's weathering quite well (albeit with a lot of help from max factor), but joanne's definitely showing her age. i also think if phil oakey wore a wig styled in his famous long/short haircut and raided suzanne's make-up drawer he'd still look pretty good...(!)
Deletealso: omd's andy mccluskey still looks in pretty good shape, but sadly paul humphreys has metamorphosized from a nice clean-cut young man into a middle-aged neil sedaka lookalike!
DeleteTalking of which, Phil Oakey was slightly wrong. Their debut appearance was at number 72 - the song climbed to, and peaked at, 56 the next week. Bad boy Andy McCliuskey's memory was better - OMD were at 53 and not 54. I'd have put money on Johnny Logan over six rounds myself.
ReplyDeleteThe 'new look' programme, with less airplay time for songs, caused more focus on the top 30 and put a squeeze on singles at the lower end of the chart. A quick scan shows that, from July, only one song outside the top 50 actually made it onto the show for the rest of 1980. One or two shows went haywire - with one show apiece containing four, five and six songs outside the top 30 on the show - but the shows from July onwards only contained an average of two singles without photo opportunities.
i suppose a lot of it depended on the availability of acts, especially given the short amount of notice. i wonder how many "reserves" they had lined up on the average show to step in if a higher-placed act couldn't make it? also, it still hasn't been made clear if there were ever acts that were on the set and filmed on the day of shooting, and then left on the cutting room floor...
DeleteGood point. The bespoke Popscene website mentions that Elvis Costello and Sammy Hagar had ready-to-go appearances in the can during the 1980 strike months, and Weddingsuit (Brendon's bassist if you remember that far back on this five year thread) sent in various TOTP running orders, one of which showed a Three Degrees 'new release' turn that never saw the light of day, and the single in question flopped.
Deletei suppose that reserve list got ever shorter as time went on thanks to now-becoming-commonplace promo videos? maybe their prominence also made flick colby's job a bit easier when it came to selecting tunes to choreograph (sadly no more interviews with any of legs and co this year - it would be interesting to see what those who didn't appear in last year's preview look like these days)
Deleteif i was kelly marie and had been approached to be interviewed for the show, if i couldn't afford to visit a fat farm beforehand then i'd have at least visited the hairdresser's to get my roots done!
ReplyDeleteThe middle part of the show Big Hits 1980, from Dr Hook up to and including The Ramones was brilliant. The rest was dross if you consider the likes of Fern Kinney and Denis Waterman as viable acts on the show.
ReplyDeleteThat was probably the best "Story of" documentary we have had so far, with some fascinating anecdotes and less inclination than in the past to shoehorn the year's musical developments into a grand narrative about How Punk Changed Everything (it of course helps that we are now past the punk era). I thought it was particularly good on Michael Hurll and the changes he brought to the show, and it was fascinating to see those clips of the July 1980 "pilot" episode. Richard Skinner on the Lennon shooting and his chat with Macca was also interesting.
ReplyDeleteI thought the compilation flagged a bit in the middle, but in general provided a good overview of what was a very strong year for chart music - they should have left out Brass in Pocket though, as that has already featured on BBC4. I do think it's a shame that they don't include more Yewtreed performances in the compilations, as it is an ideal opportunity to showcase stuff that we will not otherwise get to see - Peter Gabriel's brilliant No Self Control is an example, and should have been featured ahead of the lousy Tiswas pantomime.
Still, my appetite for 1980 is now further whetted, and I can't wait for the first show. By the way Angelo, I like the rebranding of the blog title!
Fair play to the bloke pretending to be Saxon's lead guitarist in the pilot. He couldn't play properly, but he enjoyed himself, gave it his best shot and was top stand-in from what we saw. If only BBC4 would allow us to see the show - an explanatory preface from Peter Powell would be the icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteSpoiler alert for August (sorry folks, look away now if you want)...
ReplyDeleteJust discovered that Legs & Co actually got to perform a routine to "Use It Up And Wear it Out" when it was number 3...probably by way of apology to the act, as the single had dropped from number 1 during the last week of the strike.
Sorry, me again!
ReplyDeleteI found this fascinating article on the Musicians Union strike and thought you might like to see it....
http://www.muhistory.com/?p=1075
Thanks for the article Arthur. As far as the strike's effect on TOTP is concerned, it is rather ironic that the Orchestra was dropped as soon as the show returned, as presumably it was the Orchestra going on strike which forced the show off the air for those 9 long weeks...
DeleteA strange year in hindsight, if you consider it along the lines of:
ReplyDelete1977 - look! Here's something 'new and different'.
1978 - the 'new and different' struggles to gain recognition in a chart overburdened with Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Boney M, Smurfs etc.
1979 - the 'new and different' finally achieves chart domination.
1980 - OK, where to now?
The Big Hits programme showed the problem with 1980: the first two-thirds of the year was simply 'more of 1979' but then it tailed off towards the end, and I got the impression that, apart from Enola Gay, the producers were struggling to find material to represent the autumn months. A timeless rock classic which didn't actually make the Top 10, a TV theme (which, as good as it was, to be honest can be filed under 'novelty') and two acts from the end of the year which presaged 1981, which, as the documentary informed us, saw music move into a new arena. And that was it.
But a good documentary with a large number of artists featured, and it was fascinating to see what they looked like today (a bald Phil Oakey - good grief!). And I thought Mel Giedroyc's commentary was excellent - it's so nice to hear a 'normal' voice without a gratuitous regional accent or moronic glottal-stopping these days.
Big thanks to Manorak for the excellent UK Gold shows added to vimeo.Well worth a look.
ReplyDelete