In the 80's now
02/10/86 (Mike Smith)
OMD – “(Forever) Live & Die” (11)
At its peak.
Five Star – “Rain Or Shine” (2) (video)
Also at its peak.
Status Quo – “In The Army Now” (29)
The Quo try their hand at a slightly new sound and are rewarded with a number 2 hit.
Madonna – “True Blue” (3) (video)
Will be number one next week.
Queen – “Who Wants To Live Forever” (24) (breaker)
Got no higher.
Cyndi Lauper – “True Colors” (21) (breaker)
Peaked at number 12.
A-ha – “I’ve Been Losing You” (14) (breaker)
The first single from their number 2 album, Scoundrel Days, and it peaked at number 8.
Pet Shop Boys – “Suburbia” (23)
Peaked at number 8.
The Communards – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (1) (video)
Final week at number one.
Paul Hardcastle – “The Wizard” (not in chart) (video/credits)
The new theme tune released at last, and it peaked at number 15.
October 9th is next.
Thanks to Anonymous for the upload again. Have you got any of the following shows, all with parts removed by BBC4 or not shown at all. They are 5/10/78,27/12/79,30/4/81,21/5/81 and 14/7/83.
ReplyDeleteYep here are all five episodes.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-lS4v0Gn2ix
thanks for these just wondering if you have the full shows from the tims bright eyes was no.1 as BBC4 edited the shows also the time M*A*S*H was no.1 they did the same thanks
DeleteYep if you can let me have dates
Deleteanother one BBC4 did not show was the peter Powell 7.5.81 show i believe the excuse was does not exist at the BBC in broadcast quality would you have the FULL BBC1 show?
Delete12.04.79 to 17th May 79 6 weeks
Delete8th 15 and 29th may 1980 - the rest spilled over to the "strike" period
thanks for these I am just looking at the shows that UKGold cut up and BBC4 did not show.
here are 15/5/80 29/5/80 22/5/80 and Bright Eyes can only find 5 of the 6 episodes, but here they are as well. Apologies for delay had a major computer breakdown.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-OLOGEuce4a
Thanks for these fills another gap in the collection
DeleteSmitty is back to his annoying worst, alas, his stupid haircut and endless succession of silly faces and facetious remarks greatly increasing his punchability rating. His opening remarks about EastEnders did interest me slightly, however, as we had evidently reached the point in that show’s life when poor old Lofty got stood up by Michelle on their wedding day, an episode I remember very well as I felt really sorry for Lofty!
ReplyDeleteAnother outing for OMD to start us off, with what must be Paul’s last appearance on the show - I liked his miming of a tear. I had never noticed before, but listening to Rain or Shine this time I realised that the parent album, Silk and Steel, was mentioned in the lyrics. Quo next, with the single that cemented their comeback and took them, albeit temporarily, in a somewhat more moody and reflective direction. The song was a cover, originally released by Dutch brothers Bolland and Bolland (who co-wrote and produced Rock Me Amadeus) in 1981 - Quo certainly made it their own, however, and it deservedly became their biggest hit in a long while. An unusually restrained performance here, but that is in keeping with the song.
Madge unleashes her latest hit, very shortly destined for number 1. It’s a nice pastiche of the 60s girl group sound, something emphasised by the nostalgic video, but it is also one of her more lightweight efforts. For all Smitty’s bigging up of Queen, we won’t be hearing any more of it. Yet another slice of the empty bombast they seemingly couldn’t help churning out at this time, and used in Highlander, which features in the video; the song title was rather unfortunate in retrospect, given Freddie’s premature demise. This is all we get of this forgotten A-ha hit as well - it doesn’t sound too bad on the basis of this brief snatch, but they aren’t doing anything new here.
PSB were really hitting their stride by this point, and this remains a highly evocative, memorable tune from them. Not sure what look Chris was trying to achieve here, but it is completely bizarre. By rights Annie and Dave should have had the video playout spot this week, with their latest hit at its peak, but annoyingly TOTP can’t resist the temptation of promoting its theme tune instead, finally out as a single after six months of usage on the show. I don’t recall ever hearing the full-length version before, and it is still annoyingly fussy and twiddly to my ears - the video is more spooky than magical.
Incidentally, thanks to Anonymous for providing a better version of this show.
DeleteThe Paul Hardcastle theme tune and video had touches of Welcome To The Pleasuredome by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, by copying the concept of a bald-headed master shouting HaHaHaHaHaaaa.....and also other concepts of the video, such as the journey into the unknown. Paradoxically, Frankie were still inside the chart this week, only just, and at No.36 with Rage Hard, albeit with a huge tumble from No.16 the previous week!
DeleteNice to have the entire top 3 all on video this week in full by TOTP. I wonder when the last time this happened, as it is quite rare I would think.
OMD start us off, I do like the bass bits on this, but we have seen it before. As we have the Five Star video, somewhat unusually not appearing in the studio to promote this one. Also, annoyingly once again they cut off before the bit where the song goes all weird, which was the bit I liked back then.
ReplyDelete"Ooh, have you heard the new Status Quo?! It's a whole new sound!" Yeah, they got a lot of attention for trying something different, and were duly rewarded with one of their biggest hits, but it is basically the same thing over and over.
Madonna, well, we'll be seeing a lot more of this famous, stylised and simple video - spot Debi Mazar as one of Madge's pals. No idea who the other two were.
Queen, with the song from the bit in Highlander where Heather finally dies, but Connor has stayed with her all these years and has never grown old while she has, and tells her he would never have left her because he loves her too much. No, I'm all right, just something in my eye...
Oh, and this is my favourite A-ha track, with its menacing bassline and powerful, plaintive melody, the best thing they ever did and their most underrated song (probably because hardly anyone remembers it). Video's a bit boring considering what they had done before, maybe that's why it didn't get a proper showing?
PSB, now, they "blame the colour TV" for social issues in the lyrics, which you might have thought was an antiquated notion, but in the news this week was the report thousands of people in the UK still have a black and white TV Licence even to this day. So it's still relevant! Anyway, an attractive melody contrasts with bitter lyrics, but wasn't it more the inner cities that were a problem in the 80s, not suburbia?
The Communards' last week at the top, and then Paul Hardcastle with the theme tune; I'm sceptical about Smutty's claim it was released by popular demand, when Paul was on the show months back saying it would be released anyway. A sample of Vincent Price's Thriller laugh goes a long way, eh, Paul? Oddly staircase-obsessed video. Tune, it was OK, not the worst theme TOTP had.
Interesting that Black & White TVs were still being purchased in 1986 to have a black & white TV licence. I thought it had already gone from the market. When did the whole concept of Black & white TVs and associated B&W TV licence go to the wall eventually?
Deletei was still watching a black & white telly as late as the mid-90's, although i never paid a licence for one thanks to either lodging or renting accommodation and never staying for too long anywhere - something you could never get away with now in this age of big brother!
DeletePresumably the current B&W licence holders are using vintage equipment with a set-top box, because you sure can't get analogue TV anymore. And needless to say, a B&W digital TV is not on the market. No idea when the last B&W set was manufactured, though.
DeleteI used a black and white portable TV throughout the 80s, though that was mostly to play games on.
5 star: the only reason i looked this up on youtube was to see if i could actually remember it or not once it started playing. and the answer is not until the chorus kicked in, although perhaps not surprisingly i like the modulation that happened at that point. but also one also has to grudgingly concede that it's well-put-together and pleasant-enough radio fodder
ReplyDeletequo: i remember really hating this dirge with a passion at the time, but despite that there are already more than 10 worse records that have been on the show this year so far (and that doesn't even include the blue rinse brigade stuff i.e. su pollard and nana mouskouri). so francis rossi can sleep soundly at night knowing that this won't be in my 1986 turkeys list, like "margarita time" was a few years earlier
queen: thanks to the festering antipathy over roger taylor earning as much-if-not-more royalties than co-primary song provider brian may thanks to one of his occasional contributions being used as b-side filler for "bohemian rhapsody", by this time everything they wrote got an equal four-way credit (may claimed that they would probably have split up otherwise). so i don't know if freddie mercury actually penned this one or not. but if so then i suspect that he must already have been aware that his number was soon up?
a-ha: another one that didn't come back to me on listening again, but to be honest that's no surprise as i never really got their appeal at the time. now it sounds okay in the context of the times, although i doubt i'll remember anything about it five minutes after having heard it again. what are "scoundrel days" out of interest? something lost in translation perhaps?
pet shop boys: musically this is not one of their better efforts by some distance. also i remember neil tennant once archly sniping at elton john for putting an extra syllable in his song "sacrifice" (whereby he intoned "sac-a-ri-fice"). whilst i have no objections to anyone criticising reg, mr tennant should have borne in mind the old saying about throwing stones and glass houses as here he sings the title word with a syllable less than there should be ("su-burb-ya") at times as well as with the correct enunciation ("su-burb-i-a") at others
paul hardcastle: why did this take so long to get a single release? maybe because the record company thought the more time the show viewers heard it, the more likely they were to rush to the record shops once it was finally available commercially? if so then perhaps if it was a vocal track such a ploy might have worked, but as an instrumental basically everything you need to hear happens in the space of 30 seconds anyway
Actually Queen didn't combine the writing credits on the 'A Kind of Magic' album (although the lead of track 'One Vision' was credited to Queen. 'Who wants to live forever' was surprisingly written by Brian May. The other singles from the album - 'A Kind of Magic' and 'Friends will be Friends' were credited to Roger Taylor and Mercury/Deacon respectively.
DeleteThe next album 'The Miracle' did credit all songs to Queen.
my apologies sct - i knew it was around this time they switched to group songwriting credits, but of course i should have checked first!
DeleteFreddie wasn't diagnosed until 1987.
Deleteoops - i'm wrong on two counts then!
DeleteApparently the new Queen film has Freddie diagnosed just before Live Aid, which is some grade A manipulative bullshit, right there.
Deleteyes, it seems as is usual that the makers of pop biopics are taking artistic licence. although i presume freddie would have had the symptoms of the disease for at least a year or so before he was diagnosed? to my recollection it wasn't a case of "oh, i'm not feeling well so i must have aids", rather just feeling generally below par and getting ill with colds and flu-like symptoms more frequently than before - which in his case could of course have just been regarded as the price to pay in return for a hard-partying and carousing rock star lifestyle?
DeleteI don't know the specifics of Freddie's case, though apparently the disease could strike with frightening speed. I saw an incredibly moving documentary where nurses described the early days of trying to treat patients when basically nobody knew what they could do (and the prejudice the patients faced was horrendous).
DeletePresumably Freddie was in the same boat in the late 80s? Though I imagine some progress was beginning by that stage, though not enough to save his life.
i remember reading that holly johnson picked up HIV not that long after freddie did, but he's still around many years later. so presumably by that time the relevent medication had been formulated to contain if not eliminate the virus? however as it seems to have disappeared as sensationalist news these days, perhaps rather shamefully i have no idea if those affected (and presumably people still will be if they're not careful?) can now be totally cured or just have it held at bay by drugs? and if the latter, then would their health still affected by it in some way as a result?
DeleteHolly was desperately ill at one point, though. Advances in medication mean it's possible to live far longer and healthier now, and there have been "cures", but I don't know enough on the subject to say how far things have progressed. Safe sex is still the best option.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone else is familiar with the following site ~ https://archive.org/
ReplyDeletebut there's a whole bunch of Top of the Pops 1979 editions on there, as well as loads of other stuff.
And if you've missed any of the 1986 edtions, you might find it here ~
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KzbysKQT11fabUtM7bW67l1uopYHWhKd?fbclid=IwAR34bXoMjy4KBcr_KxPvvOSwWJbZIk6sAH0BBY9L_byqiAO_YvEeeoGyeA0
And this link is even better ~ it has all the editions of Top of the Pops from 1978 up to 1986 ~ https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/popscene/google-drive-link-to-totp-shows-t14370.html?amp=1&fbclid=IwAR2UcagUUoIS0O4FM0-3pkaemmC3x4KbKMsCGEX0SQx0XjG2rCg3eYTZJQ8
DeleteAnd this on is even better - going all the way back to 1968 ~
Deletehttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m5iTGsuPG2uy-k1awEGJDr0EsxzmhVyp
Thanks again to our Archival friend for sharing. Quick question; we marvelled a while back that the BBC4 repeats showed more than the original transmissions of the end dance off. Are all these complete recordings the full monty at the end or the transmitted cut? I suspect the former.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great show tonight (Five Star aside). Smitty again plugs the next show ‘Eastenders’ rather than ‘Dallas’.
OMD – (Forever) Live and die – Another treat to listen to this track from OMD with Paul’s vocals sounding pretty fine – especially the chorus harmonies.
Five Star – Rain or Shine – Quick, run for the shelter of FF
Status Quo – In the Army now – What a track! I liked this so much I bought the double single which featured another Quo classic ‘Marguerita Time’ backed with ‘What you’re proposin’. Value for money. I recall this went down well at the Knebworth gig later that year.
Madonna – True Blue – Just love this! So cheesy and so poppy but I love it! Remixed from the album of the same name, it featured the ‘Hey yeah’s’ at the beginning. Like ‘Papa don’t Preach’, ToTP seemed to have mislaid the start of the video. For me it’s the best bit! Let’s see if they show it next time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P51LunEV3Sk
Breakers – Queen – Who wants to live forever – Rare vocals for Brian on this sumptuous piece of operatic grandeur. Fitted the film so well (as did the fabulous ‘One Year of Love’). Cyndi Lauper – True Colours – Another US no1 single and a great track covered by Phil Collins later. A-Ha – I’ve been losing you – A forgotten gem. Video not up to much though.
Pet Shop Boys – Suburbia – Entering their ‘can’t do any wrong’ era, Tennant looks very smart in his tie here. As Smithy says, very catchy.
Communards – Don’t leave me this way – Well thank goodness it did remain at no1 otherwise we’d have been lumbered with Five Star.
Paul Hardcastle – The Wizard – I was harsh on N-N-N-you-know-what and remain so, but this is a pretty fine piece of music and despite hearing it every week, I’m not tired of it.
Missing in action – Ultravox – Same old Story – Well it wasn’t. Peaking at no31 it didn’t even get a breakers slot and to be honest, this single and the album ‘U-Vox’ were a big let-down. Minus Warren Cann on drums we get Mark Brzezicki from Big Country instead, along with the much travelled Carol Kenyon on backing vocals. The video is notable for Midge seemingly premiering the Selfie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58SArv-iZKI
I would think that the complete recordings are the full monty, because the start of them have the countdown to the start of the shows, which were not even seen in the original transmisisons, so I would imagine that the playout section would also be the full monty.
DeleteStatus Quo - I'm not keen on this song, and it's only recently that I discovered that it's Noddy Holder who shouts the 'stand up and fight!' bit, though once I did find out I wondered how I'd never noticed that it was him!
ReplyDeleteMadonna - Odd given her fame at this point that it looked like the video had about 10 dollars spent on it, but I guess that it was probably meant to look like an old TV performance. It's not Madonna's best but perfectly fine although she obviously doesn't think much of it as I think it was left off 'The Immaculate Collection'.
Breakers - The Queen song is one of those that I have to be in the right mood to enjoy, whereas the a-ha one is amongst my least favourites of their singles.
Pet Shop Boys - The least good of the 4 singles from 'Please' but since this is PSB we're talking about it's still the best thing on the show...
Paul Hardcastle - What an odd video, I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a representation of an Escher print perhaps? I recognise the guy who was playing the baddie - he's got such a striking look that I have a feeling he was featured in Godley & Creme's 'Cry' video. No appearance from Geoffrey Bayldon who voiced THe Wizard himself - perhaps he was busy.
Thanks for the Noddy Holder call-out Noax - I never knew that! No sign of Noddy in the studio here for his couple of seconds of fame.
Delete'True Blue' was indeed omitted from 'The Immaculate Collection' making it, for me not-so-immaculate, with the throwaway 'Rescue Me' in its place. At 73:30 running time they could have perhaps squeezed in 'Who's that Girl' as well.
Wasn't True Blue Madonnas love song for Sean Penn, hence it getting ditched from her back catalogue as soon as they split up.
DeleteThanks once again to our friend who I think of as ’Archivist’ for this show. Not so much “Maid Of Orleans” style sound in the pre-show countdown. Shame, as that was better than some of the songs in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteShitty again, dressed like a peacock and sounding like a cock, though that was a good ‘Enders pun prior to OMD, with Paul adopting a similar jerky dance style to Andy when he sings a slow ‘un and looking far too happy for a sad tune.
Strange Five Star didn’t elect to do a studio turn for their lovely pop ballad.
Three of Status Quo looking very dapper there, though Rhino and the drummer decide to eschew the ‘chicken-in a-basket’ cabaret clobber. Not keen on this and you can tell it isn’t a Quo original.
Next it’s Madonna’s tinny thin yoghourt simper and surely the cheapest video yet on the show.
Still, it wasn’t as morose as Queen’s depressing plod. Surprised they didn’t rope Leonard Cohen in for full effect.
Cyndi Lauper inventing Bjørk there. For some reason her headgear brought “The Singing Ringing Tree” to mind.
A-Ha with a forgettable tune and a brilliant video! How much did that cost?
If Neil Tennant wants to run with the dogs he must be a synthpop Usain Bolt to keep up with them. Chris adopting the leather sailor look there.
Oh God, it’s Michael Hurll’s vanity project. Remind me how many excellent or even half decent songs from this year’s mugshots didn’t get a single second of airplay (and don’t start me on Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man”), yet this tripe not so much gets a leg up as a ladder over the wall.
I used to have nightmares about 'The Singing Ringing Tree'. The bit when the dwarf freezes up that lake was so sad.
ReplyDeleteI rewatched The Singing Ringing Tree a few years ago, thinking, "Well, it was weird and freaky when I was a kid, but it'll play differently now."
DeleteNope, it's still weird and freaky!
i've never heard of "the singing ringing tree" so had to look it up - apart from the apparent weirdness of the movie itself, what is weird is that it was produced in east germany at the height of the cold war (the communists didn't exactly rival hollywood for fantasy and entertainment!). and filmed in colour too. yet when the beeb got hold of it they apparently only ever broadcast it in black and white - even well into the 70's, by which time many viewers would have had colour tellies to watch it on!
DeleteNot true - I saw it in colour as a tot in the 70s. East Germany had a very healthy film industry, as did many of the Eastern Bloc countries, all state sponsored of course, and they had generous budgets to work with too. Fairy tales and science fiction a speciality.
Deletethe beeb b&w bit came from wiki, so presumably they are misinformed? however that apart i bow to your superior knowledge thx - one gets the impression that the only means of entertainment available in the communist bloc after a hard day's collar for the cause was getting blotto on a bottle of vodka!
DeleteIt wouldn't be the first time Wiki got something wrong! But yeah, you may have heard of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s which saw a huge burst of cinematic creativity - naturally, the Soviets cracked down on that very harshly, leading many top talents to scarper abroad (the late Milos Forman being one of them). After that I guess it was back to the booze for those under the heel of Communism.
Deletei can't claim to be familiar with the czech new wave of films in the 60's, but by pure coincidence earlier this week i was informed of one called "closely observed trains" - the reason being i was contacted by some guy who was involved in the same early 80's local music scene as myself (and of which i am the unoffical archivist), and told me that the name of one of his bands ("observant trains") was inspired by said movie!
DeleteStatus Quo's hit was written and performed by the Bolland Brothers, born in South Africa but hit artists in the Netherlands and indeed Norway, where "You're In The Army Now" was a six-week chart topper. It was released over here in 1982 on the lesser spotted PRT-distributed Moon label, then again by A&M the following year.
ReplyDeleteThanks once again for the Smithy treat..nice blue suit...
ReplyDeleteHooray OMD back again. Great record this one. Earlier this year I used my commute to make my way through all their studio albums, some great stuff in there including this mid 80s stuff which was all new to me. I have become such a big OMD fan during these repeats.
Another look at the Five Star video. Very Alice in wonderland. Those outfits were all Prince cast offs I assume. Number 2 already.
Now this I remember very well. A huge hit for the Quo. Probably one of my first actual memories of them. Still remember the fuss when Radio 1 stopped playing them. Didn't they threaten to sue the Beeb?
Anyway this is a quality song. One of their finest.
New Order didn't last long...won't get to see them then, or Dead Or Alive.
Madonna on hit 15 already. This is one of my favourite Madonna songs. Not sure why as it's quite slight and poppy but I just love it and it's 50s style video.
Breakers:
Queen. All fire and brimstone. Huge voice, huge song, but I'm not a fan of this one. Bit stage show for me, and not in a good way.
Cyndi Lauper. Beautiful song this one. Where has she been. Very moving.
Aha. Live video for a much lesser known hit. I must say it's a good one. They really were massive at this point.
PSB, my all time favourite band, this is pure joy.
They always seems to get Smithed so a massive thanks to whoever provides these episode. I am very grateful.
Back to the video for the number one.
Paul Hardcastle gets a plug for his new single which has a load of wizardardly talking over the 7" but not the rather odd video.
Great show this week. FAB