Friday 25 November 2016

Top of the Pops what I Always Wanted

Simon Bates is the host tonight for the 16th September 1982 edition of Top of the Pops, which was originally watched by 8.5 million viewers.

Mari hopes she hasn't misjudged the height of the Top of the Pops studio ceiling..


16-9-82: Presenter: Simon Bates

(36) MARI WILSON – Just What I Always Wanted
Mari and the boys get the show off to a hair raising start tonight with what became her only top ten hit when it peaked at number 8.

(5) THE JAM – The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow) (video)
Lots of snogging and discontented brides in a video that oddly reminds me a little of the one for Wham's Last Xmas, though without all the xmassy stuff. Number 2 was the peak.

(28) SIMPLE MINDS – Glittering Prize
An alarmingly anemic Jim Kerr sings this full blooded follow-up to Promised You a Miracle, which became the band's second top 20 hit of the year when it made it to number 16.

(27) UB40 – So Here I Am ®
Went up two more places, but edited out of tonight's 7.30 pm showing.

(24) SHAKATAK – Invitations
"One of the best live bands around" our host informs us and they certainly get the crowd going, though the song got no higher in the charts.

(6) ABC – All Of My Heart (video)
Sadly edited out of tonight's 7.30 broadcast, it went up one more chart place.

(14) TALK TALK – Today
Also edited out of the early showing, it was at its chart peak.

(22) ADAM ANT – Friend Or Foe (video)
Another great video from Adam Ant, with a tune going back to his earlier sound, this was his penultimate top ten hit, reaching number 9.

(17) CARLY SIMON – Why
Zoo do some quite painful looking ballet pirouettes to Carly's first hit for five years, with Chic lending a helpful hand to get this up to number 10.

(1) SURVIVOR – Eye Of The Tiger (video)
Third of four weeks at number one.

(8) GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE – The Message (crowd dancing) (and credits)
At its peak.


September 23rd 1982 is up next.

127 comments:

  1. Nice to hear 'The Bitterest Pill' - I'd forgotten about this one, it never seems to get much radio play.

    Slimes seemed to have added another trick to his armoury of annoying habits. What was all the jiggling about during his links? Was he desperate for the gents?

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    1. I wonder if the title on this last but one Jam song before the end, had something to do with the fact that the group were almost done after 5 or so successful years of chart releases? A bitter pill for any real Jam fan to swallow.

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    2. Could be. Apparently Weller told the other Jam members he was quitting when they were recording the video for the song.

      It sounds more like a Style Council song than something by the Jam too.

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    3. A lot of these later Jam singles seemed to enter the charts very high, very quickly and then make a slow gradual descent so they didn't get shown on TOTP many times.

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    4. by this time they were second only to gary numan in the "strictly for the converted" stakes...

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  2. Mari Wilson's cheerily avaricious tune was very appropriate for the decade, and is difficult to shift from your head once you've heard it. The Wilsations showing what would come to be a typical lack of restraint.

    The Jam try out an ABC style production as Bruce runs off with Paul's girl! What a cheek. 6 Music like to play this, so I'm quite familiar with it, pretty good in its faux soul sound.

    Ever since Wilberforce invoked Michael Myers from Halloween wrt Jim Kerr's look I couldn't shift the image of him terrorising Jamie Lee Curtis from my mind. The set looks like they got the Doozers from Fraggle Rock to build it.

    I'm fairly sure someone in the audience gives the camera a full-on close-up Harvey Smith two fingered salute during UB40's funk breakdown.

    Shakatak, basically Night Birds with slightly different notes. He'd find it easier to play the piano if he wasn't holding that flute. You play jazz flute? "I dabble."

    ABC's majestic apex next, true to TOTP form cut off just as it's getting going.

    Talk Talk barely discernible through the thick pea-souper that had settled over the studio. Is Mark Hollis really a recluse now, or is that just what they term him because he shuns the limelight?

    Adam Ant, must admit I love this, as weird as his other singles and seriously catchy. I will say, however, that the little red haired girl in the video (not Charlie Brown's crush) really creeped me out when I was a kid. Watching it now, I laugh more!

    Superb production from Chic brought Carly Simon back to the charts, this sounded like nothing else at the time, and the bassline is just great. As for the Zoo routine, back with the aerobics with some ballet chucked in.

    Survivor seem to be striding through a red light district judging by those signs. Edgy! By this time I think I'd rather hear Mr. T's ode to being nice to his mother, just for a change.

    Exactly what Grandmaster Flash would have wanted: Simon Bates bopping to The Message. Oh, and his Anni-Frid interview was more like the third degree. Get out of her face, Simes!

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    1. The Adam Ant video as Angelo quite rightly mentions, has shades of Adam & The Ants earlier sound, and I did think that the video had elements of Stand & Deliver, as well as Prince Charming from 1981. I don't recall this new one in Sep 1982 at all though.

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    2. THX, my parents have a place in a coastal village in West Sussex, and Mark Hollis bought a house in their road this year. According to one set of close neighbours, he's happy to say who he is and he's not reclusive as such, just detached from the music biz and content with his lot.

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    3. Good to know. They called Kate Bush a recluse too, and she was just getting on with life. Mind you, she is back this year...

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    4. There's a book about Talk Talk out at the moment - Classic Pop magazine published an extract a while back.

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    5. the above conjures up a bizarre scenario in my head of arthur's parents being big talk talk fans who constantly play their records. and then one day mark hollis strolls past their house, hears them and feels compelled to knock on their door and introduce himself...! actually something similar did indeed happen with robert palmer, who heard his music being played by a neighbour and couldn't resist letting the guy know he was passing by!

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    6. Nice image, Wilby, but I'm afraid there's no chance of that happening. My parents are more into the likes of James Last and Roger Whittaker!

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    7. If you'd heard James last's Voodoo Party album you might re-evaluate that statement.

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    8. "hansi" was mainly for the stiffs, but yes he did come out with a few funky gems every now and then!

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    9. Mention of James Last always reminds me of the Red Dwarf episode where good and evil celebrity waxworks are fighting a war to the death. JL was on the side of the bad guys...

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  3. Well that was much much better - despite being presented by a rather weirdly hyper Simon Bates.

    Mari Wilson. A very early example of a 60s girlgroup pastiche/homage. It IS one of those earworm records, but one that I still quite like. Weird that she has an all-male backing line-up because I had always thought that the Wilsations were all-female including future Eastender Michelle Collins.

    The Jam, or the Style Council in all but name. Another fine Weller tune married to an abomination of a video. No idea what they were thinking with this soap opera effort, not that I was giving it my full attention because I was cringing throughout.

    And the good stuff continues with Simple Minds. As Angelo mentions above, Jim looks startlingly pale here, not helped by his overuse of eye liner and his dark 'hairstyle'. This is really a little belter of a tune, isn't it - a very welcome sound to the Shaky ears.

    Another outing for UB40 with a song that improves with repeated hearings. BBC4 will show a UB40 doc next week detailing the rise and disintegration of the Brummies. Should be fun!

    Sir reckons that Shakatak are one of the best live bands around. Really? Is Sir telling porkies? Can't imagine this lot being entertaining for ninety minutes when they struggle to do it for three. I know there is history of old people saying that all new music ( whatever the genre) sounds the same. But this relentless plinky-plonky jazz lift-music really DOES sound the same, just with slightly different lyrics. Imagine a whole concert. Would you know where one song ended and another began?

    Another outing for ABCs video and again it is cut short before the end.

    Talk Talk in the studio. This is a great song, but Hollis looks a less than comfortable frontman, in the way that he grips the microphone. He also overmimes.

    Adam Ant. Its another twee, pantomimeish video for the former Ant leader, but at least the song is a decent one. After Goody Two shoes, this is a return to form, and its a song I remember with fondness.

    I had to FF through Why. Not because of the song but because of Zoo. Painful to watch. Really, REALLY painful. This is the moment that Michael Hurll started to check Zoo's contract and figure a way to get out of it.

    Laughable video for Surviver.

    Laughable dancing to Grandmaster Flash.

    Scores. Musically this is as good as its been for many a week. Lots of great stuff here, only fading toward the end. It's a 9.

    Sir. The interview with Frida whilst not particularly disturbing did give the appearance of Bates rather looming over her vampirically. There were several other instances that scored on the cringometer, but I watched the show last night after a night out and am writing this at 9 am with a hangover and the fact of the matter is Bates was an awful presenter who sets my teeth on edge every time he pops up here. I might be overmarking - I might be undermarking, but he's getting a 3, just because he's Simon Bates and, frankly, he deserves litle more.

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a good old Full English to try and cure my aching head. Shakey by name and, this morning at least, shakey by nature.

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    1. I once read that Frida is not Swedish at all, i.e., she is Norwegian. She was born in 1945 as the lovechild of a German Nazi officer on his last night in German-occupied Norway, with a teenage Norwegian girl who was enamoured by his charm and promised him a night of love before he departed back to Germany, as the war was ending and the Nazis approaching defeat. Frida only met her father for the first time in 1977 in Stockholm, and he only died as recently as 2009 at the age of 90.

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  4. Lyrically I think "Bitterest Pill" is Weller's finest three minutes. Shame it didn't make it to the top - much better than "Beat Surrender". The Frida interview was unintentionally hillarious as Master Bates kept managing to ask questions she really didn't want to answer.

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    1. When you know what the lyrics are it is a great song but it took me ages to find out that Weller wasn't singing "same common market shadows" in the chorus.

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  5. A much, much better show than the last one, despite the presence of the perma-grinning Master Bates. He is actually quite tolerable most of the time here, continuing his recent mild improvement, though my eyebrows raised when he talked about "the hairs on the back of his legs standing up" during ABC. The interview with Frida was an interesting watch, as you could sense that she knew the game was up so far as ABBA was concerned but was not about to admit it. The persistence of Bates' questioning perhaps suggests he sensed this too, but I may be giving him too much credit there...

    I have always liked this Mari Wilson tune, and it's a great way to get things started. The beehive is frankly ridiculous, but you can see that she and her gormless-looking backing singers are not taking things too seriously, and it's a very entertaining performance. The Jam Council next, pointing the way very clearly to Weller's musical future. This is good stuff, especially the melodic chorus, but the soft focus video was a bit underwhelming.

    We then have another trip to the studio for Simple Minds, with Jim looking ever more cadaverous. This time, he has ditched the cravat for some weird kind of mini-poncho thing. Shakatak certainly never passed up any opportunity they could get to be in the studio, and here they are yet again. The girls appear to be wearing "Shaka-macs," judging from what is written on the back of their garments, but the camera always remains a bit too far out when they turn their backs to it for me to be sure.

    It's a shame ABC and Talk Talk both got chopped from the early showing. Nice to see the latter band finally make the studio, even if they were half-obscured by dry ice throughout this performance. I can't share the love expressed above for this Adam Ant effort. Apart from some nice guitar from Marco, the song is a bit of a mess and the lyrics sound tiresomely self-absorbed and self-pitying. It sounds as if Adam was getting very sensitive about criticism at this time - presumably he wasn't too impressed by Captain Sensible's recent hit! The great Carly Simon follows with a welcome return to the singles chart. As with her previous hit five years earlier this came from a film, in this case the obscure romantic comedy Soup For One, and Carly did not write it herself. Rodgers and Edwards were not obvious people for her to collaborate with, but it works a treat and the ballet-themed Zoo routine works quite well with the song. The same cannot be said of the static, underpowered dancing to The Message over the end credits...

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    1. Mari Wison was a nice start to the show, along with evening dress and beehive hair, but this song has badly waned over time, and does not stand up to the new millennium at all well.

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  6. host: once again slimy is not as odious as i expect him to be, and he even starts jigging up and down a bit as he introduces the grandmaster flash track at the end. and with his link after mari wilson (surprisingly pronounced correctly, rather than "marie" as i would have expected someone like him to say) he remains impressively impervious to the over-excited woman next to him who continues to clap like a duracell bunny long after the canned applause has finished. and in another link he even has a highly attractive woman gazing up at him as if he's some kind of love god!

    mari wilson: her backing band was originally called the imaginations, until leeeee john & co's lawyers got them to change it to something else (reminding me of smokie who were forced to re-spell their name "out of respect to smokey robinson"!). she and her beehive (was it real or a hairpiece?) were certainly hyped up a lot at the time, even to the point where we knew that she came from neasden which was made out to be somewhere special... although in reality (after i found out when i moved to the smoke a few years on) it was a merely a tatty suburb in north west london just off the north circular road near wembley! i did like the throwback to the swinging sixties-thing fashion-wise, but this tune never did much for me i'm afraid - especially the rather shrill middle bit that seems to bear little relation to the rest of it

    jam: FF/MTCO time

    simple minds: jim's gone a bit mad on the eye liner again, but i like his floppy hair and the fact he's using one of those slimline mics that means you can actually see the singer's mouth moving. in contrast to his appearance here, these days with his weathered features and closely-cropped steel-grey hair (what's left of it) he looks very much the docker's son i think he actually was

    shakatak: why didn't (peelie's mate) bill sharpe actually have something to rest the flute on when he wasn't using it (which was most of the time), rather than having to keep it in his hand like it was some kind of teacher's cane and also thus forcing him to play his keyboards one-handed (although you could argue that beardy fatso was still present to cover the latter problem)? and every time the backing singers opened their mouths i expected them to sing about nightbirds! talking of which: sadly jill still has once again managed to get her hands on the crimpers left behind after rosie of legs & co cleared her desk, and she looks a bit sullen at times here - maybe because she's now having to share the spotlight with a fellow statuesque blonde, as opposed to a dumpy brunette? i think the slogan on the ladies' back said "shaka-mac", which might have been faintly amusing had they actually been wearing raincoats rather than black dresses that remotely resembled them. oh and jill, wearing white shoes with black is a bit of a fashion faux-pas - even for the 80's!

    frida (is this in the right place?): she's lookly a bit crinkly, but then again i presume she was already in her 40's by this point. i still don't get this peculiar practice whereby acts make the effort to turn up at the studio and are then merely subjected to an excrutiating interview by the host (and this was no exeception as slimy was determined to get the dirt on the abba split) rather than actually perform their latest single?

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    1. Mari Wilson, although a North Londoner, is of Scottish parentage; the way she enunciates "war-r-r-drobe" in 'Just What I Always Wanted' betrays this.

      Her forename is often spelt Mairi, Mhairi or even Mhairu - as in the title of the Gallagher & Lyle ballad - in Scots Gaelic. The anglicised pronunciation of all four spellings is 'Mah-ree', though the latter two are traditionally pronounced 'Vah-ree' in Gaelic. On 'The Golden Hour', BTW, Mr Bates always correctly announced the duo mentioned above as 'Gal-a-HUR and Lyle', not 'Gal-a-GUR and Lyle'.

      Neasden's Queen of Soul - as she was often billed at that time - had shed a few members of her backing band, as well as the two Marionettes (female backing singers), at this point, though the Marines (male backing singers) remained intact. Nevertheless, she would soon rebuild the instrumental section and recruit two new Marionettes - who may or may not have been future EastEnders star Michelle Collins and singer-songwriter Julia Fordham.

      I know for sure that the harmony singer on The Jam's 'Bitterest Pill' was The Belle Stars' Jennie McKeown.

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    2. julia fordham is as far as i know the only person from my home town to "make it" as a pop star. although certainly as far as this country is concerned that is in relative terms (although apparently she did get get to appear om totp at least once). i remember one journalist pointing out that it was a bit tardy and pointless her releasing a song called "woman of the 80's" when the decade was practically over!

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    3. My main memory of Julia Fordham is of her in session on DLT's Sunday morning show and getting him to sing the backing vocals on Where Does the Time Go? It was excruciatingly embarrassing.

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    4. I bought Mari Wilson's first single in 1980 (Love Man) which was a superb tribute to the 60s Motown sound (credited as "The Sound Of Young Wembley"). She was indeed billed as Mari Wilson and The Imaginations, so I'm surprised that Leee John and Co, or their label Red Bus, were able to threaten legal action because a) she used the name first and b) it wasn't exactly the same anyway.

      There were a lot of 60s-inspired singers on her label Compact which sadly didn't chart including Virna Lindt who did a fab single called Attention Stockholm and Cynthia Scott who released The X Boy at about the same time as Just What I always wanted.

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    5. the compact organization (to give the full name of the record label) was to my recollection the brainchild of a guy called tot taylor, who even came up with a suitably-swinging-sixties pseudonym for himself as teddy johns! i was aware of virna lindt and indeed have a track of hers in my collection called "the dossier" (that wouldn't sound out of place on a goldfrapp album despite being recorded decades earlier!). but i knew nothing of cynthia scott, nor sadly can i find the track in question on youtube...

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    6. mari wilson may well have named her band the imaginations before the emergence of leee john & co. but the fact was that the latter broke through first, which probably gave them (or rather thair people) the muscle to dictate terms!

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    7. Attention Stockholm is a fantastic record, one of many I discovered on the old Mark Radcliffe Graveyard Shift show of the 90s.

      Her album was re-released on CD about ten years ago, and I toyed with buying it before thinking, well, how often would I listen to it? Sort of regretting that now, it would have been a nice addition to the collection.

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    8. THX - I distinctly remember that Julia Fordham appearance on DLT's radio show, probably because it was so extraordinary, and not in a good way.

      I think that we can assume that it was DLT's 'hilarious' idea to do that.

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    9. Arriving late to the party here. I bought the Virna Lindt CD. Quite enjoyed it, but nothing to match Attention Stockholm.

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    10. Thanks! I'll stick with my CD single of AS then. I wonder if there was a video...?

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    11. Hmph, no there isn't. Not on YT anyway.

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    12. I have a memory of seeing a video for Attention Stockholm on MTV when I was in the States in 1983, but, as you say, it doesn't seem to be on YT. It featured her dodging up and down stairways in a concrete block of flats.

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    13. There was also a video for Shiver

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    14. That AS vid sounds about right - don't tell me, it was in black and white?!

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  7. pt II:

    talk talk: a murky studio performance has not endeared this to me one iota

    adam ant: funnily enough the music was more of interest to me (in terms of analysing that is) than the video. this is the second song in a row where he's concerned about what others are thinking of him - is he paranoid or something? maybe that's why he was eventually sectioned a few years back. a bit of a throwback to the "and the" days, and another song where the middle bit bears little relation to the rest. what was of interest in the video was the printed-backwards packet of KP crisps (or nuts) that was presumably that way to stop the video being blacklisted for contravening advertising rules (and reminds me of the napoleon xiv novelty thing where the b-side was printed backwards). but not the muscleman - ugh!

    carly simon: you could say this was cod-reggae, although as nile rodgers was behind it i don't know if it counts. but it is pretty good all the same. one of the zoo dancers exposes a lot of crotch (calm down dory!) with her ballet-style moves

    grandmaster flash: not realising that (c)rap was going to consequently take over the world and destroy popular music in the process (the same way the uncouth goths ransacked the civilised roman empire) i didn't mind this too much at the time, athlough i preferred the synth bits to the actual rapping. listening now it could have been improved a bit with sung choruses interjected inbetween a la the superior sort-of follow-up "white lines". a while back i did find a rather good pastiche/rip-off of this on youtube by the evasions, who you may remember for being on the show with "wicka rap":

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QBjoVzVM58

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  8. Only two episode to watch this week but I have managed to watch this one before the previous edition, so still haven’t seen Dire Straits!! Here goes anyway.

    Mari Wilson – Just what I always wanted - …a big hit presumably? After releasing a number of flop singles this one finally charted well. ‘Voice of the Beehive’ perhaps? Not a bad record but I always disliked that middle section where it completely shifted tempo.

    The Jam – Bitterest Pill – Uncharacteristic style record. A nod towards the Style Council perhaps?

    Simple Minds – Glittering prize – Hmmm not my favourite Simple Minds song and Jim looks very heavily made up on this appearance.

    UB40 – So here I am – So there they go….

    Shakatak – Invitations – If I had to define the term ‘lounge music’ this would be my example. Quite pleasant though and the band enjoy performing it.

    ABC – All of my heart – SB sums it up when he says that it makes the hairs on his neck stand on end. After all these years it stick packs a punch for me. Only a number 5 hit whilst we’ve had the likes of Captain Sensible, The Goombay Dance Band etc. etc. at number one this year…..

    Talk Talk – Today – Lots of single word titles around at the moment!

    Adam Ant – Friend or Foe – This is a bit of a mish mash isn’t it? I really liked ‘Good Two Shoes’ after the depths of ‘Ant Rap’ but not so sure of this despite the lavish video.

    Carly Simon – Why – What a bass line! Pure Nile Rogers and Bernie Edwards. What was not mentioned was the film that the song was taken from ‘Soup for One’ which I must admit I have never seen.

    Frida interview. What a classic piece of evasion! Ducking and diving or what? What a shame that Frida’s superb Russ Ballard penned single ‘I know there’s something going on’ was relegated to background noise here and not featured when the single was still going up a couple of weeks ago. Produced by Phil Collins and featuring his unmistakeable drumming and Daryl Steurmer’s guitar playing this was a much bigger hit a little later in the US – I am sure it was shown on the JK US slot on ToTP in early 1983, but I don’t suppose we’ll get to see that. Worth looking at anyway…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p98PjtSfNWo

    The second single ‘To turn the stone’ written by Giorgio Moroder was fantastic also!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Uq-7FhJ0Oo

    btw speaking of Phil Collins, I am reading his book ‘Not dead yet’. Wow! What a roller-coaster! There are some fascinating anecdotes – George Harrison and the Led Zep Live Aid gig in particular.

    Survivor – Eye of the Tiger – great again – just love it. The label Scotti Brothers was using prefixes of ‘SCT’ at this point in time which obviously caught my eye!

    Grandmaster Flash – The Message – Back to Phil Collins; the laugh that Genesis used on ‘Mama’ in 1984 was inspired by the laugh on this single…..

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    1. "soup for one" featured an early appearance (and rare leading one) for well-known character actor saul rubinek. the soundtrack's title theme was also later sampled on the no. 1 house hit "lady" by modjo

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    2. Frida is definitely on a JK section in 1983, as it's one of the few shows I recorded in full from UK Gold when they showed them in the 90s.

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  9. Going completely off piste here, for which I'll apologise.

    I do the tannoy at my local non-League football club, and today a close friend of the chairman kept a promise and turned up to watch - none other than 'Diddy' David Hamilton. I managed to have a chat with him before the game. Lovely fella. I made sure to thank David for helping the BBC out with those wiped TOTPs he presented and had recorded. Cue a beaming smile in return.

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    1. Arthur - nice one. Hope you didn't mention that famous Rod Stewart song 'The Killing of Georgie Fame'!

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    2. Ooooh no! Apparently David leant the tapes to the 'Kaleidoscope' archive network first and then the BBC found out and asked if they could borrow them to fill the gaps. I found an old clip on YouTube of David presenting on ABC ('your weekend television in the north') in 1967 and played it to him. Cue another beaming smile!

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    3. Thanks for sharing this Arthur, it's nice to hear. Diddy has always struck me as being a nice guy, and I think he was a decent TOTP host - shame he didn't do it for longer really.

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    4. Didn't David Hamilton used to play for the Showbiz XI team? They even released a few records.

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    5. 'Diddy' captained the Showbiz football XI and another charity team called The Hapy Wanderers. He does the tannoy announcements at Fulham and also works for Age UK's radio station The Wireless. Not bad for a 78-year-old!

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    6. Did he mention his brief work for what was Big Centre Tv?

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    7. Did he mention his brief work for what was Big Centre Tv?

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  10. Good Lord, I've just seen that this coming week, the two TOTP airings on BBC4 on Thursday and Friday are both hosted by John Peel. I wonder if that has ever happened before on these reruns with the same presenter on both shows?

    This has been made possible because the two shows in between Peelie's two are both with Jimmy Saville, and so cannot be shown. Therefore there are four shows to blog in the coming week, two with Peel and two with Saville. Zzzzzzzzz!

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    1. Whats more, I just realised that the Musical Youth video is on all four shows, i.e., as a new entry at No.26, followed by three weeks at No.1, all in two days of our blog!

      It is rumoured that Musical Youth were too young to perform in the TOTP studio and had to do their homework and watch their own video on TOTP instead throughout their full run of this single through October 1982.

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    3. They were in the studio for Xmas 1982, which we wont see in full, but their clip was lifted for use for Totp Big Hits 1982 though.

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  11. Oh God, not another four-show week!

    Way too smiley and acting like he’s had a sugar rush, but Simes’s best show so far in my opinion.

    A fun start with Mari Wilson in a slightly too tight dress for her tum, but she was a natural for this show. Nice kettledrum and muted trumpet combo. How often do you hear a song where the songwriter sticks in a mention for themselves and the picture sleeve photographer? Note the audience handclaps stop when that awkward bridge passage kicks in.

    Simes’s one big booboo was to say The Jam were both biggest climber and highest new entry. A fine song. I hope Paul Weller took out his omnipresent chewing gum before that kiss.

    Jim Kerr looked like a panda with his make-up. Ooh, a drumkit at right angles to the crowd! Nice botched camera work at the start, focusing on the guitar during that bass break.

    I’d have loved to stand next to that knob whistling (admittedly in time to the song) during Shakatak.

    So, Annifrid, does your solo work signify the end of Abba? No? Hmmm...

    A very foggy stage for Talk Talk, who were miming but gave it the full works, so fair play to them.

    I was going to say, did anyone notice the back-to-front film for Adam Ant’s cinema audience to try not to advertise KP Crisps? Note to self – I must get to the front of the blog queue quicker!

    It’s ballet disco for Carly Simon! Why do the Zoo gals all looked like they’ve sucked lemons? Not one of them as attractive as Legs and Co, or Pan’s People, or even Toto Coelo!

    I yearned for that bloke to walk across stage during the outro dance again, just for something interesting to happen.

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    1. arthur even though i got there first with the adam ant kp crisp bag observation, thanks for making it clear how they got that effect, which is rather obvious when you think about it. and there was me assmuing that they had an actual crisp bag manufactured that way just for the video!

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    2. The bloke eating the spsirC PK was the guy who looks like actor Derek Martin but isn't, he was also in the Ant Rap vid.

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  13. Can anybody shed any more light on Mike Smith's blocking of his TOTP's? His 4/11 show won't be shown.

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    1. You mean Smith and not BBC4 are blocking it? How can that be, as the shows are first and foremost the property of the BBC, and they have the rights to their own property, so how do you know it won't be shown? I mean what is the full story on this nonsense?

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    2. Has anyone at the BBC confirmed it won't be shown? I'm sure clips featuring Smith have been shown before, wasn't he in the 1985 Christmas edition Channel 5 showed a few years back?

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    3. As I understand it, some provisional schedules have indicated it won't be shown, but provisional schedules can be wrong and we won't know for sure for another week. It has been pointed out on another forum that presenters/performers (or their relatives, in this case) cannot stop the BBC from repeating old shows in which they featured, on the Beeb's own channels. If this edition doesn't get shown, it would therefore presumably be for technical reasons, and we could expect to see other Mike Smith shows in future. As I say though, we need to wait a few more days before we know for definite if it will be on BBC4 or not.

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    4. Actors can halt a show being re-broadcast because they command a high repeat fee, eg Martin Shaw stopped The Professionals being repeated in the 1980s as he claimed it was affecting his career (although ITV3 are making up for it now by showing it on a loop). Also James Bolam did a similar thing with the Likely Lads and also he famously fell out with Rodney Bewes and presumably didn't want him to get any repeat fees.

      I read somewhere that Noel Edmunds stopped his TOTP from being shown at one point. But either way Mike Smith certainly can't have blocked his shows from being shown himself because he died in 2014.

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    5. martin shaw very much saw himself as an serious ak-tor, so exercised his right to veto what he saw as lightweight fluff standing in his way. which apparently annoyed his co-star lewis collins (with whom shaw never really got on, and who unlike shaw never really got the breaks afterwards). but the reason shaw finally got off his high horse and agreed to repeats of the show (and by which time he had managed to shake that particular monkey off his back anyway) was that he was informed that gordon jackson's widow was on her uppers and could really do with the royalties!

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    6. i think it's quite sad that james bolam is still estranged from his old likely lads chum rodney bewes. apparently the latter still doesn't really know what he did wrong to invoke bolam's ire! but if his personality is anything like the characters he plays then perhaps bolam's stance is no surprise. but come on jim, make it up with rodney whilst you still can!

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    7. I bought Rodney Bewes' autobiography and he says that the reason Bolam stopped talking to him was because Bewes had blabbed to a journalist about his wife being pregnant but there has to be more to it than that.

      The trouble with Rodney Bewes is that he does a press interview every two years keeps pleading to Bolam to be friends again, saying lets forgive and forget, but then goes and says something snide about him. I think he's the main cause of the problem.

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    8. Apparently Smith blocked UK Gold from showing his TOTP's. Listings up until 23rd Dec indicate that it won't be shown.

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    9. Despite the fact that - for some reason that I never really understood - everyone fancied Sarah Greene, she always gave the impression to me of not being overly easy to deal with. So I would not be at all surprised if she is behind it. So just as we looked like gaining more shows with JS appearances becoming fewer, this will have to be factored in!
      Brilliant....

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    10. Yes, I think Sarah Greene is a tough cookie. At this stage though, we don't know the reason for this show being pulled and I doubt the BBC will deign to tell us! If Mike's shows from 1983 don't get an airing, then I think we can safely assume that someone has slapped a ban on them.

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    11. It would be foolish at this stage to speculate as to the possibility or probability of the Mike Smith shows being pulled until it becomes blatantly obvious that they have. I do remember at the end of 'the Story of 1981' in January, they showed a brief clip from his first TOTP (Nov 1982) introducing Wham!

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    12. I think it only effects the editions themselves.

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  14. Andrew, I have just had a quick look at some internet info and it would seem that some of the Mike Smith episodes were shown on UK Gold (although none from 1983 apparently). If his shows aren't gonna be shown then this will be disappointing for us fans of the BBC4 repeats as he hosted a hell of a lot of shows in the mid to late 80s.

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    1. I only ever saw a couple or so TOTP's on UK Gold. It's all very confusing as I was informed that Edmonds had blocked all/some of his but yet they've appeared on BBC4. Have been trying to remember the last time an edition of TOTP was skipped other than for technical or JS/DLT reasons.

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    2. I'm sorry but I still cannot understand why any TOTP presenter would want to block his shows from being broadcast. It negates the fact that they came forward in the first place to present the show, which I guess is because they wanted people to see them in action.

      So come on guys, let's stop this rumour-mongering, before we give the Beeb ideas, and then they decide not to show them. This is not healthy banter for this blog, and does the opposite to what we want.

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    3. in the unlikely event that anyone at the beeb who is responsible for the totp re-runs follows this blog, then surely the level of concern over certain episodes possibly not being broadcast due to objections by the estate of one of the hosts would suggest that the interest in it is very high, and is therefore worthy of continuation?

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    4. I'm with you wilberforce - if I seriously thought that Sarah Greene (or whoever) is reading this, stamping their feet and going "Well, they DEFINITELY won't be on now!" then I wouldn't be so flippant.

      On the flip side, a few years back there's no way we'd have got the sound restored editions so just maybe there is some recognition by the powers that be of our desire (and those of other forums) to watch as many shows as possible...

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    5. I think the Twitter traffic helps too, most weeks TOTP is one of (if not the) most trending topic on Thursday and Friday nights. In recent weeks the Beeb have started doing tweets during the show too.

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  15. I really enjoyed this edition, lots of top tunes. Even Bates was tolerable. I also know for a fact that I definitely loved this show at the time. All will be explained...

    Mari Wilson - Starting here! Mari made a big impression on me, I remember drawing her and the beehive a lot after this show went out. Loved the song too, and I still do.

    The Jam - A cringeworthy video that shows why Paul Weller never went into acting, but the song is good. I really like the later Jam stuff, even though I'm not a fan of the Style Council, which they sound a bit like!

    Simple Minds - I've said before that this is my favourite 7" from the 'New Gold Dream' album. Jim Kerr looks very odd though, he's almost inventing the early to mid-90s 'curtains' hairstyle there. Doesn't look good.

    ABC - Odd that we get (some of) the video again. Were the band on tour?

    Talk Talk - Oh dear, Mark Hollis is closing his eyes, over emoting and holding onto the microphone for dear life. You can see why he wasn't a natural live performer. Did they appear on the show again?

    Adam Ant - Vivid memory Number 2. I thought the video was HILARIOUS. My favourite bit was the nonsense with the cow, however I recall a slomo shot of the cow sliding along the floor which didn't seem to be there. False memory?

    Carly Simon - Great song, later sampled by lots of people.

    The Message is also brilliant, not really designed to be danced to awkwardly by lots of predominantly white people though.

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    1. A very quick peak at the Popscene website confirms Talk Talk appeared in the TOTP studio three times in total.

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    2. Noax, regarding the ABC video, it was one of those types of songs just made for video only, and I just couldn't imagine them performing this song in the studio, because the video does it much more justice. It's like asking Dire Straits to do Private Investigations in the TOTP studio. No chance!

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    3. Yeah, you have a point Dory. Shame we haven't got to see it in full then!

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    4. I sometimes go to my local karaoke on Tuesday nights and partake in some nostalgia, so last night I chose All Of My Heart by ABC, and it was just brilliant to sing it instead of Martin Fry, and on a cold winter night, it really felt heartwarming to sing this one in the karaoke studio, if not the TOTP studio, and no, I'm not planning to make a video for this.

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  16. Found a couple of clips from this show on YouTube... Simple Minds... errr, yes, what DID he look like?! Also an 'interesting' drum kit comprising solely of what appeared to be 2 snare drums either side of a plastic hi-hat which the drummer clicked away at for all his worth!

    And Talk Talk. Were the bass player and the drummer some kind of early '80s parody?

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  17. Well, in my opinion, that show is certainly a contender for best show of 82 so far.

    Mari Wilson - yes, a bit cheesy I know but all together a decent pop tune.

    The Jam - one of my top 5 bands of all time yet best remembered for a different style of music. For us Jam fans, this one has become a bit of a taboo subject!

    Simple Minds - love this song but not Jims look, freaky!

    UB40 - Must admit I don't really remember this one by these and I can see why.

    Shakatak - there might have been a change of backing singer but not a change of sound, I thought Night Birds had been re-issued for a second!

    ABC - As many have said a cracking song this one (as were both Poison Arrow and Look of Love). Unfortunately, they couldn't live up to the success of Lexicon of Love in future albums.

    Talk Talk - highlight of the show for me, not for the performance, but the song. Not many people talk about Talk Talk (pardon the pun) but they were the most underrated band of the 80s in my book.

    Adam Ant - see UB40.

    Carly Simon - great song, Nile Rodgers produced I think, he worked his magic again and again and again in the 80s.

    Survivor - a bit overplayed over the years but a classic bit of rock nonetheless

    Grandmaster Flash - seem to remember this being on a TV advert? Can anyone remember which one?

    Marks 8.5/10 (just UB40 & Adam Ant let it down) it would have been 9 but gotta knock 0.5 off for Smiley Bates.

    On a separate note, can anyone tell me why Paul Burnett only did a handful of TOTPs, I thought he was a really good host?

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    1. Apparently, Paul Burnett didn't feel comfy in front of the camera. Real shame, as he was informative and didn't try to be wacky or 'hilarious' when presenting. probably on the re-run presenter podium with Peely and The Kid in my books.

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    2. GF's The Message was adapted into the Green Cross Code public information film after Dave Prowse had been let go. "Don't step out when you're close to the edge...!" etc.

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    3. GB2202 i don't know how long you've been with us, but it's good to see a new name posting a detailed review of a show

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    4. Indeed, it's been the same 8-10 regulars on this blog for two years, and surprisingly it has not grown over time to double that, which you would expect in two years or so, or indeed how GB2202 found us in the first place.

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    5. Yes welcome to the blog GB. I was a massive Jam fan as well but I loved The Style council equally.

      I always thought Paul Burnett did a splendid job as presenter and if he was nervous it certainly didn't show.

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  18. If I'm correct, the following regulars have been on this blog since the start:

    Angelo Gravity
    Wilberforce
    Arthur Nibble
    20th Century Relic
    Noax
    Dory
    THX
    sct353
    John G
    Shakey Shakerson
    Bama Boogie Woogie
    Julie Joanne Bevan


    Other occasional users include:
    Steve Hack
    Shakey Slade
    Wellieman
    Charlie Cook
    Andrew Hennesey
    Zenon IFore
    Fiftysomething

    So I make it 12 regulars, about 7 part timers, plus new entrant GB2202. Overall about 20 contributors in the three years or so of this blog.

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    1. Not forgetting those stars who shone brightly but briefly, like WeddingSuit (the bassist in Brendon who gave us loads of excellent info about the show's recording process).

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    2. Or starry, who was around for a good few editions until vanishing earlier this year.

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    3. Yeah, Starry hasn't been around for a while

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    4. arthur i think weddingsuit was only really interested in his own band rather than the show in general, otherwise he might still be here. but it was good to have someone who actually appeared on the show contributing here, even if a: it wasn't for long, and b: they weren't exactly regulars on the programme - hopefully someone else who had their 15 minutes of fame will pitch up here one day?

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    5. I enjoy reading the regulars takes on each show and usually find someone has said what I would've posted, so I save my comments to responding to specific points (and making sarky comments about Master Bates). I will make it a new years resolution to do a full review though!

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    7. I remember weddingsuit. It was nice to hear from a bonafide pop star who had appeared on the show - my own claim to fame was that I had a small hand in creating a couple of pop videos (not that anyone gave a monkeys).

      What would be good is to hear from someone who was a member of the crowd. Was the sound really as bad as they say? Did they meet any of the stars? Were they mowed down by a camera? Etc.

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    8. I have a rather exciting memory of being in the TOTP audience. I was in the audience when David Bowie appeared. I never saw myself on the show until a couple of years ago, when they found a lost clip and I was in that clip. I remember it being a lot of hanging around, and we were there for several hours.

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    9. i did once work with someone (actually it was around "this time" i.e. 1982) who told me that they had been in the totp audience. sadly i didn't pump them for more info at the time, or if i did then i can't remember anything more about it!

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  19. On the down side we have the slimey one as host but on the plus side we have the brilliant Mari Wilson with one of my fave singles of 1982. I was such a fan I even bought the Compact Records boxed set. This is a great performance only slightly marred by Slime pushing his way past during the first verse. One member of the crowd loves Mari Wilson's backing singers so much he's copying their every move.

    The intro to The Bitterest Pill always reminded me of All The Young Dudes, the same chord sequence I suppose, Not my favourite song of theirs but the video is quite good with its reference to Miss Havisham from the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. Paul is still chewing gum and has already adopted his flashers raincoat that he would put to good use in the early days of the Style Council

    Is that a seal clapping while Slimon is trying to tells everything he's already told us about The Jam being the highest news entry? Oh no it's an over enthusiastic member of the crowd. Someone throw her a mackerel.

    Jim Kerr and co with a re-recorded version of Glittering Prize. I like the way the band are set up with the drummer viewed from the side and the way they all just get on with it even if here is a bit of posing on Jim's part.

    I could be wrong but I think the two Japanese girls with Slimon are performance artists/singers the Frank Chickens who went on tour with Billy Bragg at one point.

    A repeat of UB40 which to be fair sound s better the more times you hear it but is still a long way from the magic of their earlier stuff. Does Ali really thing "I wish I could play with myself"?

    Shakatak are backatak with at least a few of the crowd clapping along in time. Great to hear not so good to look at. I checked out the lyrics and they really do say "With a fleeting smile below the lazy eyes". Images of comedian Russsel Howard come to mind.

    Frida could be a character played by Julie Waters, she is relaxed but seems strangely reticent to look even remotely interested in what Master Bates is saying to her. And she lies about ABBA continuing. Benny was packing his piano away as she spoke..

    From ABBA to ABC on video again. A shame they couldn't be persuaded to come into the studio. We won't see them again for a year now when they return with the aptly named That Was Then but this now.

    Talk Talk have so much dry ice and low lighting it's hard to make out what any of the members look like apart from the singer. I liked this a lot at the time and went on to buy a few of their singles.

    I have seen the video for Fiend Or Foe a few times and it still makes me smile. Adam still has an image problem and is running out of costume ideas but at least he's not taking himself too seriously. love the pantomime cow and the tap dancing wrens.

    Carly Simon and Zoo turn into Legs and Co with a good but somewhat old style dance routine which is edited like a video rather than performed live.

    The Top 10 and Survivor which I'm starting to hate now. Playout with GMFATFF with it's dodgy lyrics and even dodgier crowd dancing.

    A good show but they seem to take it in turns to have shows featuring songs with only in the Top 30 or outside and this week it was the former (Mari Wilson aside) so they resort to include two songs that are non-movers.

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    1. The Frank Chickens! I used to like their Channel 4 chat show, Kazuko's Karaoke Klub where the celebs were forced to sing for their supper.

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    2. didn't the frank chickens actually have a hand in setting the now-world phenomenom that is karaoke in motion? such a simple idea, and yet it didn't even happen until the 80's - presumably the advent of cheap computerised recording technology was what made the difference?

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    3. talking of the frank chickens, don't forget the equally zany (if equally crap) early 90's irish group the frank and walters...

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    4. I saw The Frank and Walters recently. Their set included a version of Kraftwerk's "The Model" with disco style verses and rockabilly choruses, and it was brilliant!

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    5. I could take or leave The Frank and Walters, apart from Indian Ocean which is a fantastic pop song.

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  20. Relax, Bama, that pisspronounced UB40 line is "Wishing I could please myself".

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  21. Welcome to the clan, GB2202! Hope you have a long and enjoyable stay.

    Last night I cranked up BBC iPlayer and watched that film about Gary Numan’s relocation to Los Angeles and the recording of his “Splinter” album – it was on BBC 4 last Friday. Gary meeting and marrying his number one fan turned out to be the best thing he could ever have done in his life (turned out he phoned her up initially to see how she was after a family bereavement). He’s quite shy and antisocial by his own admission, and he’s been depressed, troubled and racked with self doubt, but he came across as, dare I say it, normal and likeable.

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    1. Thanks and thanks to everyone else who has welcomed me to the blog. I have been an avid reader of the comments following each edition and thought to myself it might be good fun to join the community and I will be posting my own observations going forward as I have with this episode.

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  22. Has anyone else noticed that Mike Read's Pop Quiz is returning for a couple of Christmas specials on BBC4? Apparently Nick Heyward, Toyah, Andy McCluskey, Steve Grant, Cheryl and Jay from Bucks Fizz, Ranking Roger, Mari Wilson and Leee John will all be participating.

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    1. Sorry, that should have been Steve Norman and David Grant!

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    2. I think I'm more excited by the guests than the host! As long as he doesn't sing one of his "hilarious" ditties, I suppose...

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    3. it's a good job mike read is hosting it rather than jonathan woss!

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    4. i can't believe the reclusive toyah is appearing... NOT! i wouldn't imagine that her and mark hollis move in the same circles...

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    5. I quite enjoyed Pop Quiz in the 80s but I'm not sure that I can cope with Mike Read now - he wasn't exactly a brilliant host then.

      As usual with media stories about old TV shows, at least one revival (with Chris Tarrant) has been airbrushed out of history. There may be others.

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    6. Mike Read seems to be having a bit of a TV renaissance at present - I gather he has created an "X Factor for songwriters" competition which is currently being shown on some obscure digital channel - sounds thrilling...

      I remember the Chris Tarrant revival of Pop Quiz, but I think that was the only one until now. I did have the game at one point, but I seem to recall there was no board or anything, just a pack of questions!

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    7. I'm sure there was a board game version of Pop Quiz, we had that and the card version when I was a kid. I had a Blockbusters card game too.

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  23. Loved that Mari Wilson tune - even though it's retro, it's as fresh as paint compared to some of the recent 50/60's rama-lama-ding-dong-revivalists that have been featured.

    Was one of the Wilsonettes later vagueley famous (a comedian possibly?)

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  24. yes - more applause from the pavilion as another century gets put up on the board. even if there were a couple of wides courtesy of westy (who seems to have the same "double hit" problem that arthur had a while back)...

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    1. a couple more bies from westy there! arthur perhaps you could advise him on how to sort it out?

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  27. Tut! Shameless number plumpage - Norris McWhirter will have to uncork his slide rule all over again!

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  28. have we made our highest score of comments with this edition? i'm not sure but i think the record might still be held by a show that was broadcast (or maybe withdrawn) shortly after the js yewtree thing broke out. but then again that was extraordinary circumstances, so perhaps that doesn't count?

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    1. You need to take off about 10-15 postings which are duplicates or 'removed by author', so they don't count (Westy, Steve Hack, Andrew Henessey), but still, it did clear 100 this week, if not really 125.

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    2. Sorry my phone was posting comments twice that's why I removed mine.

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