Top of the Pops 25th February 1982
https://vimeo.com/174855283
And so The Jam pass the chequered shirt in first place once more
25-2-82: Presenter: Dave Lee Travis
(10) DEPECHE MODE – See You
A new audience friendly performance to get the show underway this week, on its way to number 6.
(3) J. GEILS BAND – Centerfold (video)
Now at its peak.
(25) MIKE POST feat. LARRY CARLTON – Theme From ‘Hill Street Blues’
Anita and a huge gaggle of Zoo do a kind of West Side Story routine for this tune at its chart peak.
(23) BOW WOW WOW – Go Wild In The Country ®
Heading towards the top ten.
(8) DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES – I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) (video)
Now at its peak.
(46) THE ASSOCIATES – Party Fears Two
Making their debut on the show with what would become their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 9.
(4) HAIRCUT 100 – Love Plus One (video)
A volcanic performance here to help this song up one more place in the charts.
(22) ADRIAN GURVITZ – Classic ®
On its way to number 8.
(19) IRON MAIDEN – Run To The Hills (video)
With what would become the band's first top ten hit when it peaked at number7.
(9) BANANARAMA & FUN BOY THREE – It Ain’t What You Do It’s The Way That You Do It
Here's the gangway performance that was featured on the recent Big Hits 1982, and soon to be the Fun Boy Three's biggest hit when it peaked at number 4.
(1) THE JAM – Town Called Malice ®
Final week at number one.
(20) STARSOUND – Stars On Stevie (crowd dancing) (and credits)
The final hit for the medley specialists, this one reaching number 14.
Next then is March 4th hosted by David Jensen.
Thanks Glenn for the show - I hope your Vimeo postings last longer than some! What struck me most about this one was the political incorrectness on display. DLT makes a very dodgy joke about a black dancer looking like Paul Newman after a holiday (presumably he had in mind somewhere sunny), while Iron Maiden make light of the genocide of American Indians in the 19th century (complete with comical ancient b/w Western clips), and Haircut 100 play up to "native" stereotypes by sticking a young woman in a pot and having what look like voodoo worshippers circle round her. I bet BBC4 would have made at least one edit if this had been repeated...
ReplyDeleteDepeche Mode get us off to a restrained start, at least, with a new performance that allows us this time to see all the band members clearly. The Hill Street Blues theme is another rather restrained, tasteful piece of music, and the Zoo routine matches it pretty well - as a bonus we also got to see plenty of Anita Leg's suspenders, and even the odd flash of knicker each time she gets lifted up! However, the effect was spoilt by the total lack of coordination in the costumes, many of which looked completely inappropriate for the dance.
I know Billy Mackenzie is highly regarded in some circles, but his histrionic vocals on Party Fears Two ruin the song for me, and render it close to unlistenable. The best thing about this performance was the statuesque lady in the bow-tie playing keyboards, whose visual appeal helped to make up for Billy's squawking! Dodgy pot-dancing aside, the Haircuts' video is quite amusing, especially when Nick does his Tarzan impression. However, why did the pop world seem to be so obsessed with jungles in early 1982? If you can overlook the dodgy subject matter, Run to the Hills is an impressive piece of hard rock, and with Bruce Dickenson on board I suppose the band's glory years start here. The 'Nanas and FB3 look to be enjoying themselves on that catwalk, with a very knowing performance that seems subtly subversive of boy-meets-girl clichés.
DLT, freshly bespectacled and looking older as a result, generally does a decent job if you can overlook the Paul Newman "joke", but he is a bit more irritating here than on some of his recent shows. Speaking of irritants, Fairbrass is back to dance to Starsound over the credits. Thankfully we don't get to hear much of this, as I thought the Stevie soundalike was dreadful - while the peak of the medley craze was already over, did this help drive the final nail in the coffin?
Whatever the level of political incorrectness, this was one of the best TOTP shows of the year, cos there was so much fun by everyone in the studio, and whatever the conclusion on DLT, his TOTP shows seem to bring out more fun and happiness in the studio, as his sense of humour is way superior than the other DJs, and funny how that translates into a more fun atmosphere on the show than those who have not been given the chop by BBC4.
DeleteI know what you mean about Billy Mackenzie, John. I preferred his vocals on "Those First Impressions" and "Breakfast", both of which sadly stalled in the 40's.
DeleteIn 1982 m friends and I used to go to a club called Cha-Chas run by Scarlett Napolean which took place every Tuesday at Heaven in Charing Cross. It was a place for young trendy new romantics, I didn't like it very much was I was dragged along a few times. And one night we saw Billy McKenzie there. He was sitting on his own and no one talked to him. It was quite bizarre and I felt a bit sorry for him but I was too shy to go over and say hello.
DeleteDepeche Mode - highly underrated track this one. See You has an enviable sounding intro, but somehow this one is not as famous as the overplayed Just Can't Get Enough. Still the boys got this one across very well, and was a fantastic start to one of the best TOTP shows of the year which regrettably has been yewtreed by the Beeb.
ReplyDeleteJ Geils Band - "Does she walk, does she talk, does she come from Leeds?" Brilliant stuff from Mr Geils and already at No.3 and closing in on the No.1 spot with such un-PC video and lyrics. It's a sign of the changing times and what people absolutely loved then (yes, men and women) has now sadly become segregated in our new, more serious world in the new millenium.
Hill Street Blues theme - absolutely loved the Zoo performance on this, plus I'm agreed with John G's description of Anita's underwear on show on numerous occasions. This choreography was much akin to the Grease performances by Legs & Co in 1978 and also the recent Meat Loaf video for Deadringer For Love, with the boys and girls starting off on opposite sides of the dance floor, but who obviously couldn't wait to get their hands on each other as the performance rolled out.
Haircut 100 - Good Lord, already at No.4 and challenging for the No.1 spot along with J Geils Band and Tight Fit. The video for Love Plus One seemed to follow the idea of Tight Fit's Lion Sleeps Tonight, but for me it most resembled the film Carry On Up The Jungle, made only 12 years earlier in 1970. Whatever your taste, we cannot have enough girls undressed as on this video, in bikinis or loincloths, as all are welcome.
Starsound/playout - with Starsound now relegated to their customary playout slot on the show, they must have been relieved that this was their fourth and final offering in the UK charts with their celebration of Stevie Wonder, as we say goodbye to another medley phenomenon that was Starsound.
Haircut 100 - You also get Nick Heyward in a lion cloth if that's your preference.
Deletei have already gathered that we are not going to be treated to the associates' magnificent performances of "club country" thanks to the "offending hosts", and now it seems billy mckenzie and co have pulled the short straw again! as i'm not going to get to watch this, i can only assume that the lady in the bow-tie is martha ladley of martha and the muffins fame (that's the cute blonde one that played keyboards - not the ugly one who sang!)...?
ReplyDeleteThe Associates' keyboardist is indeed Professor Martha Ladly (as she is now officially styled). As you rightly point out, she was a Muffin; Martha Johnson, "the ugly one who sang", was the 'Martha' of the Canadian one-hit wonder outfit. I wouldn't say Martha J was ugly myself, but she'd make a splendid Mama Morton in the stage musical 'Chicago'.
Deletebeauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but i think most would agree that ms ladly was the prettier of the two martha muffins. i'm not familar with the musical "chicago" so not really sure what it takes to make a splendid mama morton, although apparently she's the female equivalent of grouty from "porridge" so i'd guess a lady with an imposing stature and personality?
Deleteapart from being an associate of the associates and helping roxy music promote "avalon", the rather fetching ms ladly also had a brief solo pop career that failed despite her good looks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0cUnrVRK_A
she then retreated into artistic design before becoming a media studies academic - yes, she may be a bit of a boffin, but this very recent educational video shows she still looks pretty good for her age:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdvvYKHCm5M
Wilberforce - are you saying that you are not going to watch this show because DLT offends you or you're offended by the BBC's decision not to show it?
Deletebama it's definitely the latter - as i keep saying ad nauseum: if they can't bring themselves to show the "offending hosts", then why can't they just airbrush them out so we can still the musical acts? anyway, not watching the pirate versions (unless in exceptional circumstances i.e. the associates' appearances, when i go to youtube) is my subversive form of protest!
DeleteBit of a rehash with the title of the blog after Town Called Top of the Pops last week!! -personally i would have gone with Top of the pops fears two ;-) keep up the good work with the blog -good stuff asusual !!!
ReplyDeleteWell The Jam got to perform twice the other week so why not give them a second blog title too! Yes, it's all very carefully thought out you see :-)
DeleteYes but you should have called one the blogs "Precious Top of the Pops" especially as the song lyrics contain the line "I hear your distant show clicks, to the midnight beat". Very apt as the full versions ar shown around midnight. Hark at me getting all deep.
DeleteA better Depeche Mode performance than last time, though the enormous powder puff hair remains a distraction. Dave looks a bit lost in the crowd when he's sitting down. Those two girls at the front yakking away can't have been too encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned Zoo dancing to Hill Street Blues as a joke, but it turns out they really did it. I think this was a groundbreaking show, but more popular over here than in the US where it was kept on the air because of its perceived quality - the ratings weren't huge. Here we get that staple of TV theme tunes, the wonky middle bit that you've never heard on the show. Best stick with the piano. Mike Post's Rockford Files theme is still his best in this area.
Somewhere between the sublime and the ridiculous, and how cute to see Billy burst out laughing while miming it, Party Fears Two sounds fantastic, as did the entire Sulk album. Too weird to stick in the mainstream, but for a short, glorious time they had a big hit on their hands. Or the producers of Week Ending thought so.
Haircut 100 begging the question, where's the bloke in the lion costume when you really need him? If Alexander Skarsgard gives up the role, maybe they could revive Nick for the next Tarzan movie?
Iron Maiden with what is their best known (though not biggest) hit, and it storms along with galloping drums, wailing guitar, histrionic vocals and a support of the minorities, though how many American Indians there are in the UK is unclear.
Looking like there's a big joke that they're in on, The Nana's and the Fun Boys prance about to their catchy (and echoey) success. Another improvement on the previous performance.
Paul still chewing his way through TOTP, then a Stars on 45 that you can guarantee has never been played since 1982. Not a very good Steveland impression.
Incidentally, is the new coloured text design on the blog a tribute to Ceefax? Please say it is!
ReplyDeleteEvery time we come to a new ToTP year, I take a quick shuftie at the pages of Popscene to see what treats are in store for me in future editions. This one (from the week of my 20th birthday) stood out immediately despite it being hosted by the Yewtree'd Cornflake.
ReplyDeleteAnd we get off to a great start with Depeche Mode's 'See You' one of the few records of theirs that I really liked. Its a well-constructed song smothered in a barrel load of hookiness, and it's nice to see them dressed sensibly after a brief fling with weirdness.
It's not hard to imagine the impact that the 'Centrefold' video had on teenage boys. Or me.
The massed ranks of Zoo perform to the theme from Hill Street Blues. I counted about 20 of them, but only 8 are name checked on the credits. Were the rest 'cheerleaders'?. Its a good theme tune - helped by the fact that it was a great programme, but hardly what I would choose to dance to. I think I would have preferred to have watched the 6 Leggers instead.
A repeat for Bow Wow Wow and the full video for Hall & Oates including a lengthy intro before we reach the pinnacle not just for this show, but for the entire decade.
Party Fears Two is simply sublime. And memorable. And as mad as a box of frogs. I adored it then. I adore it now. McKenzie's swooping, soaring vocals over that epitome-of-80s-music piano riff (played by Martha Muffin) touched a chord with me. Glorious. Absol-chuffin-lutely glorious.
After that, we can only go downhill, albeit slowly with a decent-enough video for the enjoyable Love Plus One and a repeat of Adrian Gurvitz, before the rot really sets in with Iron Maiden and the excreable Run To The Hills, about the white man's attempt to drive the Native Indians to extinction. A worthy enough topic for a song, but not done with this hamfisted effort. If you want to hear how such a subject can be treated with a bit of class, can I point you in the direction of Queen's 'White Man'.
Scores. DLT gets 4. He may be dressed soberly but he has gone back into patented 'loony' mode and his Paul Newman 'joke' was about offensive as you could get.
Music. My heart is saying it must be 10, just for The Associates. Especially when you consider that the 'supporting' acts included 5 singles that I actually bothered my arse to go out and buy. But then you have to take into account Iron Maiden and the hideous play-out medley. I'll have to make it a 9. A strong 9 - but a 9 all the same.
Indeed I had just turned 14 years old in the same week that this show was aired in 1982, and I was in that same teenager cohort where Centrefold had a big impact on me too. Also the way Anita of Zoo was displaying her underwear on the same show to the theme from Hill Street Blues, you could say that this was now becoming a serious contender for one of the TOTP shows of the year!
Deletehaving not heard it for many years, i felt compelled to watch the totp performance of "party fear two" on youtube as a result of the acclaim here. now as then i think the best bit is the instrumental theme, that billy's vocal gymnastics get a bit hard to take after a while, and that the lyrics are rather peculiar to put it mildly!
DeleteI loved being 19 in 1982 and I loved this song, it's brilliant. I always took the lyrics to have a double meaning. He (the party) is fearful of entering into a relationship in case in goes wrong (I identified with that, my relationships were ALWAYS doomed), and the party (social gathering) he has been invited to is fearful of him because he is different (shy, bisexual, awkward). Listen to the longer album version on YouTube;
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPsdRUHiCAE
I did hear a while back the Party Fears Two were a couple of girls who were bad news whenever they showed up at a party, and that was their nickname. Dunno how true that is, but I like Bama's theory.
Deletei don't normally report musical sleb deaths, but i'd like to mention alan vega who was active on the alternative/post punk scene in the early 80's - wiki normally report such events showing the person's name and then cause of death, so when i saw "suicide" in brackets next to his i thought how appropriate. of course that was just the name of his band, and (perhaps disppointingly( it turns out that he died from natural causes...
ReplyDeleteAlan's surname reminds me of a Football League Cup tie I saw many moons ago between my favourite league team, Brentford, and Tottenham Hotspur. The esteemed visitors had a defender called Ramon Vega who had a complete nightmare and got sent off, but not before he'd committed a daft foul and I shouted "Ramon Vega? More like Suzanne Vega" and got a hearty round of laughter from the New Road side.
DeleteAlan Vega was an absolute badass, one of the punk pioneers who influenced so many from Bruce Springsteen to Throbbing Gristle to Pet Shop Boys and beyond. Frankie Teardrop is one of the most disturbing songs ever, if that's a recommendation (he would probably think it was!). Ghost Rider is a classic bit of menace rock. RIP.
Deletei know this may seem morbid (and silly), but with regard to the above i thought it might be interesting if pop stars' demises related in some way to the name of their bands. for example: what if someone from iron maiden were to be subjected to the same instrument of torture as that they named themselves after, or if someone from the stranglers got a taste of their own medicine?
DeleteAlan Vega - we used to dance to Juke Box Babe at The Bell in Kings Cross. That was a superb song.
Delete@Wilberforce: Just checked and all members of Lawnmower Deth are fine. So far.
DeleteThanks, Glenn. Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI see Depeche Mode got the Human League treatment with a wrong line-up mugshot. Still, you can see Alan Wilder on stage this time. Was that a character from the Rupert The Bear series on Martin Gore’s keyboard? Refreshing to see a lead singer not concerned with hunting down the ‘on’ camera.
So, whereabouts in the Leeds area does J. Geils’ band’s centrefold come from? Guiseley? Farsley? Chapleltown? I bet she isn’t a Leodensian at all. Fair play to The Kaiser Chiefs for shoehorning that word – describing a native of Leeds – into “I Predict a Riot”.
Wahay! We got to see plenty under what DLT described as Anita’s tablecloth. Her knicker flashing round a lamppost for “Rainy Night In Georgia” as a Legger was merely a trial run, then. Ironic when, if memory serves me right, one of the main catchphrases of “Hill Street Blues” was “Let’s be careful out there”.
The Associates’ track was very much of its time and nothing wrong with that at all. Great hand on hip cool by Martha, and Billy wins the award for thinnest ever tie on TOTP. Was he the first Dundonian (sorry, native of Dundee) on TOTP since Rokotto?
As soon as I saw the cannibal equipment in the Haircut 100 video I immediately thought of “Melting Pot” by Blue Mink. Surely the lads’ garb was too hot and chunky for the surroundings. As for “Is it down to the lake, I fear”, did Nick mean Lake Tanganyika?
That Iron Maiden video wouldn’t get past the censors now, DLT or no DLT. Tongues in cheek or not?
Bananarama had come to DJs’ (and the FB3’s) attention with their karaoke attempt at the Swahili song “Aie A Mwana”. Is it me or did the lads always sound out of key when singing the word “swing”?
The last hurrah of the medley era (for now) with a less than wonderful effort. See what I did there?
yes arthur, fb3 do sound off-key when they sing "swing". i'm not sure if it's deliberate or intentional though
DeleteThe shambolic singing on the FB3 track is what makes it, I think.
DeleteIndeed Arthur, I remember last year when Pop Gold showed the rare Blue Mink performance in TV studio, which can be considered the official video for Melting Pot, cos in 1970 there were no videos as such, and any crisp TV footage is as good as pop videos of nowadays.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_MfDYVKlg
I'm usually fine with DLT, political incorrectness and all, but he was at about 12 on the 'loonyometer' here and did grate somewhat. At least there wasn't much here that we won't get to see again, I hope.
ReplyDeletePost / Carlton - For some reason, I was really taken with this theme when it was released as a single, presumably because of this TOTP. Or were they actually playing it on the radio? Surely not.
The Associates - I LOVE this. Always have, as it sounded like it came from another planet. I recently bought the deluxe edition of 'Sulk', which is a brilliant album. On that version you get the instrumental version of 'Party Fears Two' (never released before, amazingly) and the original version of it which has very different lyrics indeed. I assume we get to see this on BBC4, though I know that we won't get 'Club Country' which is frankly a massive shame.
Iron Maiden - I've always really liked the song, and genuinely had no idea about the subject matter. Hmmm....maybe not quite as keen now.
Nanas / FB3 - Ah, here's the better performance! On a Yewtreed show though - pffffrttt (Yes, I know it was on 'Big Hits' but that's with dopey captions all over it)
Starsound - A bit of a shame that we didn't get this on a BBC4 show, in order to see the extended danceathon. Mind you, it probably would have featured lots of Fairbrass anyway.
DLT is on fine form here and even though he was about 36-37 still fits in with the 1982 scene and his sense of humour diffuses the pomposity that the show has at times.
ReplyDeleteThe more times I hear this Depeche Mode track the better it sounds and this performance is better than the last with Dave starting sitting down which adds to the intimacy and sadness of the song.
The J Geils Band video again which played a big part ion making this such a big hit.
Now while I love the theme music of Mike Post - The Rockford Fils, Cheers, Magnum, etc, - I'm not entirely sure that Zoo have grasped the concept of Hill Street Blues. It was a cop show not West Side Story or Guys and Dolls.
A welcome repeat of Bow Wow Wow albeit flame-grilled this time.
And a repeat of another video for Hall and Oates but still faded once we reach the sax solo.
The Associates. The first time I heard this I fell in love with it, such and unusual haunting sound and I love the band's look from Billy being awkwardly shy in his sharp suit and hat, the anonymous guitarist staring into the mid distance and the lovely Martha on keyboards, one hand casually on her hip while she smiles at Billy's antics. A bit too weird to be a massive hit but once heard-never forgotten and what a debut.
And then we finally see the vid for Love Plus One and what an odd thing it is. What has the song got to do with volcanoes, voodoo and Tarzan? Answer nothing, but I guess it doesn't matter. Percussionist Mark Fox should have been told that tucking your chunky knitwear into your pleated trousers makes you look a bit chunky. And stupid. And what's with Nick's weird knowing looks to the camera, methinks he may have taken something prior to the recording. Loved-up plus one?
I'm afraid I don't share DLT's enthusiasm for the Adrian Gurvitz track (and they share a love of bad perms), even at the time I thought this was too clumsy and too self conscious to be a true classic, attic or no attic.
Bruce Dickinson revalling Rob Halford in the who's-got-the-biggest-studded-gauntlets competition. I was no metal fan but I rembemer the video well and it still makes me smile.
The FB3 and Bananarama get the big stage treatment and make the most of it. Truth to tell neither parties can sing that well and even though I was a big Specials fan I didn't buy this dismissing it as lightweight froth. My opinion hasn't changed much but it's nice to see it again. I spy the Fairbrass on one side of the stage.
A welcome repeat of Town Called Malice sans end titles. Did anyone else spot Fairbrass po-going through this in the background and pretending to injure himself in the process. He had no shame and would try and upstage anyone.
And playout with frankly the worst of all the medleys featured on the show. It sounds like it was edited by someone wearing boxing gloves. Dreadful, truly dreadful and to top it all we see glimpses of Frairbrass again attired in leather trousers this time.
Ah, so it wasn't just me who saw the Burger King antics round the lens for Bow Wow Wow. I couldn't remember if I'd seen that first time round - why bother doing that for / ruin the second showing like this?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletejust in case any one here doesn't know anything about larry carlton: among many other things he supplied much of the electric guitar on joni mitchell's fantastic album "the hissing of summer lawns", played a number of dazzling solos in several steely dan albums, and was a semi-permanent member of the crusaders at their mid/late 70's jazz-funk peak...
ReplyDeleteWas checking out the Iron Maiden video, which, credit to TOTP, they did show nearly the whole video, except the typical rock n roll slow energetic finale.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the video, in 1982 pop groups were still using for their videos early reel footage of films from the 1920's slapstick silent era, where for example the image of the invading white man having his toupee pulled off by a red-Indian attacking him from behind, well this was typical of the slapstick era.
We also saw similar 1920's/30's footage on the superb Hooked On Classics video which got to no.2 a few months earlier, where a fat ballerina took to our hearts when seeing her desperately trying to make her dance routine work. Not to mention Starsound getting to No.2 with their debut hit a few months earlier in 1981 with similar slapstick video (however not shown on TOTP).
Suffice to say, in this week's case with Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills, it was a pity they only had one appearance on TOTP with DLT, considering that two week later they broke into the top 10 at No.7 and not shown on TOTP for second showing, while TOTP gave three showings for the Jets, the third being while still at no.26! No justice, is there?
the "old grey whistle test" went through a phase in the late 70's (and maybe earlier than that?) using ancient cartoons like betty boop to silently accompany some tracks featured on the programme (although hardly appropriate music for such a show, i'm sure they played "get up and boogie" by silver convention with such footage). i actually thought it was quite a good idea and highly entertaining, but (as no doubt bama will confirm) the reason for their use was probably as they were in the public domain and thus no fees were required!
DeleteThanks to Glenn for the UK Gold version of this show , Just wondering if anybody might have the BBC1 version as they butchered 2 links here maybe Neil B might have it - but thanks again Glenn
ReplyDeleteMeer