Sunday 22 December 2019

The 25th Anniversary Top of the Pops

This edition of Top of the Pops from December 31st 1988 will not be shown on BBC4 because one of the hosts is Jimmy Savile. So obvioulsy don't click on any links if you wish to avoid him. Otherwise a big thanks goes to xrayfour for finding a link where you can stream it here, and a link where you can download an mkv file version here on WeTransfer.

Silver haired jubilee!


25th Anniversary, 31/12/88  (Radio 1 DJs)

The Swinging Blue Jeans – “Hippy Hippy Shake”
Manfred Mann – “Mighty Quinn” (clip from 15/02/68)
Procol Harum – “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” (clip from 26/12/67)
The Dave Clark Five – “Bits & Pieces” (clip from 19/02/64)
The Kinks – “Lola” (clip from 18/06/70)
The Animals – “House Of The Rising Sun” (clip)
The Hollies – “I Can’t Let Go” (clip)
The Beach Boys – “Good Vibrations” (clip)
Mike Love – brief interview
The Tremeloes – “Silence Is Golden”
Slade – “Merry Xmas Everybody” (clip from 25/12/74)
Gary Glitter – “I Love You Love Me Love” (clip from 15/12/73)
The Jam – “Going Underground” (clip from 27/03/80)
The Police – “Don’t Stand So Close To Me ‘86” (video clip)
Adam & The Ants – “Stand & Deliver” (video clip)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Two Tribes” (TOTP clip)
Duran Duran – “Is There Something I Should Know?” (clip from 23/03/83)
Village People – “YMCA” (video clip)
Showaddywaddy – “Under The Moon Of Love” (TOTP clip)
Free – “All Right Now” (clip from 04/06/70)
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – “Fire” (clip from 18/07/68)
Benny Hill – “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)” (film clip)
Ray Stevens – “The Streak” (clip from 27/12/74)
Sylvia – “Y Viva Espana” (clip from 15/08/74)
Mud – “Tiger Feet”
Moira Stewart – brief interview
Sandie Shaw – “Long Live Love” (rehearsal clip)
Cilla Black – “Anyone Who Had A Heart” (clip)
Madonna – “Like A Virgin” (clip from 13/12/84)
Olivia Newton-John – “A Little More Love” (clip from 07/12/78)
Kate Bush – “Wuthering Heights” (video clip)
Dusty Springfield – “Son Of A Preacher Man” (clip)
Lulu – brief interview
Lulu – “Shout”
Errol Brown – brief interview
Hot Chocolate – “So You Win Again” (TOTP clip)
T.Rex – “Hot Love” (clip from 25/03/71)
Roxy Music – “Virginia Plain” (clip from 24/08/72)
The Jacksons – “Blame It On The Boogie” (video clip)
Abba – “Waterloo” (clip from 25/12/74)
Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant” (video clip)
ELO – “Mr Blue Sky” (video clip)
John Denver – “Annie’s Song” (clip)
St Winifred’s School Choir – “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma” (clip from 04/12/80)
Terry Jacks – “Seasons In The Sun” (Musikladen clip)
Glenn Medeiros – “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” (clip from 07/07/88)
Engelbert Humperdinck – “Release Me”
The Rolling Stones – “Jumping Jack Flash” (clip)
The Rolling Stones – “The Last Time” (clip from 04/03/65)
The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar” (clip from 15/04/71)
The Rolling Stones – “Let’s Spend The Night Together” (clip from 26/12/67)
Les McKeown – brief interview
Bay City Rollers – “Bye Bye Baby” (TOTP clip)
Donny Osmond – “Puppy Love” (clip)
Kajagoogoo – “Too Shy” (TOTP clip)
A-ha – “The Sun Always Shines On TV” (video clip)
Bros – “When Will I Be Famous?” (TOTP clip)
David Essex – “Gonna Make You A Star”
Petula Clark – brief interview
Cliff Richard – brief interview
Lulu – brief interview
Maurice & Robin Gibb – brief interview
The Bee Gees – “Massachusetts” (clip from 26/12/67)
Fleetwood Mac – “Albatross” (clip)
Madness – “Our House” (video clip)
The Monkees – “I’m A Believer” (film clip)
The Shadows – “Don’t Make My Baby Blue” (clip from 12/08/65)
The Three Degrees – “When Will I See You Again?” (clip from 15/08/74)
Blondie – “Denis” (video clip)
The Who – “My Generation” (clip)
Dire Straits – “Sultans Of Swing” (video clip)
Gladys Knight & The Pips – “Midnight Train To Georgia” (clip from 29/04/76)
The Four Tops – “Reach Out I’ll Be There”
Brian May & Roger Taylor – brief interview
Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody” (video clip)
John Lennon – “Imagine” (film clip)
Sonny & Cher – “I Got You Babe” (clip from 12/08/65)
U2 – “Pride (In The Name Of Love” (video clip)
Ultravox – “Vienna” (clip from 25/12/81)
The Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays” (video clip)
Cliff Richard – brief interview
Cliff Richard – “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
Rod Stewart – “Maggie May” (TOTP clip)
Elton John – “Daniel” (clip from 25/01/73)
David Bowie – “Starman” (clip from 06/07/72)
Phil Collins – “You Can’t Hurry Love” (video clip)
Stevie Wonder – “I Just Called To Say I Love You” (video clip)
Marvin Gaye – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (video clip)
Lionel Richie – “Hello” (video clip)
Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean” (video clip)
Bruce Springsteen – “Born In The USA” (video clip)
Roy Orbison – “Oh Pretty Woman” (film clip)
Tom Jones – “Delilah” (clip from 07/03/68)
Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder – “Ebony & Ivory” (video clip)
Elvis Presley – “The Wonder Of You” (stills)
Shakin’ Stevens – “This Ole House”
Lulu – brief interview
Tom Jones – brief interview
Don McLean – “American Pie” (live clip)
The Righteous Brothers – “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (clip from 28/01/65)
10cc – “I’m Not In Love” (live clip)
The Supremes – “Baby Love” (clip from 07/10/64)
Whitney Houston – “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (clip from 21/05/87)
George Michael – “Careless Whisper” (video clip)
Band Aid – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (clip from 25/12/84)
Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards – brief interview
Dexys Midnight Runners – “Come On Eileen” (clip from 25/12/82)
Eurythmics – “You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart” (clip from 23/06/88)
Wham! – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (video clip)
Culture Club – “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” (clip from 25/12/82)
Genesis – “Turn It On Again” (clip from 13/03/80)
Soft Cell – “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (video clip)
Spandau Ballet – “True” (TOTP clip)
The Human League – “Don’t You Want Me” (video clip)
Depeche Mode – “Just Can’t Get Enough” (clip from 24/09/81)
The Beatles – “Daytripper” (clip)
The Beatles – “Hello Goodbye” (clip)
The Beatles – “We Can Work It Out” (clip)
The Beatles – “Hey Jude” (clip)
Petula Clark – brief interview
Cliff Richard – brief interview
Lulu – brief interview
Status Quo – “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” (clip from 15/02/68)
Status Quo – “Rockin’ All Over The World” (with credits)


So that's it for 1988 ~ many many thanks once again to all who read and contribute to this blog, have a great Xmas and we will see you back here in 1989!

23 comments:

  1. Thanks again to xrayfour for making this available. It is certainly quite a glitzy celebration of the silver anniversary, with plenty of old presenters back for the occasion and, erm, Moira Stuart and John Kettley - I suppose the latter did have a song named after him in the charts at the time! Nice to see the likes of Kid, Diddy and Kenny there, not so great to have Master Bates back, while poor old Fluff made a right timing balls-up of his interview with Mike Love.

    The clips were plenteous, though of course nowadays most are very familiar and a lot of those from the earlier years had to be sourced from elsewhere thanks to the decimation of the TOTP archive. One that did intrigue me was the Shadows performance, which must be about the only surviving clip of the show from the 60s that I don't think I have seen before. The new performances were an interesting mixture of live vocals to what I assume were pre-recorded backing tracks, and miming to the original records. Appropriate that the Swinging Blue Jeans started off the show, as they performed Hippy Hippy Shake on the very first edition, but the Tops probably gave the most dynamic turn. The "here's to the next 25 years" caption felt a bit poignant at the end, though the show is of course just about still here thanks to its annual festive resurrection. Incidentally, the caption writers managed to get the years of some of the clips completely wrong.

    Anyway, happy Christmas once again to all, and see you in 1989/2020!

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    1. It was a real shame about the Fluff Freeman interview with Mike Love of The Beach Boys, especially as Mike was about to name his latest US No.1 the previous month with Kokomo, as part of the 25 years between their first No.1 in 1963 to their final No.1 in America in 1988 (Kokomo).

      It was never to be for Kokomo on TOTP here in Britain, by first being cold-shouldered on its way to its peak of No.25 this month, to now on the 25-year anniversary show with Mike Love himself not getting the time to acknowledge it on that garbled Fluff interview.

      The only one to give Kokomo its red carpet in the UK was Paul Gambaccini on his weekly Saturday afternoon slot on Radio 1 in 1988, getting to No.1 for one week on the US Billboard charts, and a shame that he didn't do that TOTP interview with Mike Love on the balcony instead of Freeman. Good Lord!

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  2. thanks for all the work on the blog, and providing the missing editions. You are appreciated! Happy Xmas.

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  3. A strange one this. Some of it was very well produced and I thought the montages were a lot slicker than we usually get with the Breakers, but many of the pre recorded interviews felt like they'd been thrown in with no explanation.

    Bates aside, it was good to see some of the old faces although I felt Tidybeard and DLT were notable absentees, given how regularly they had hosted the show.

    There should be a TOTP 80s speciak at the end of the 89 re-runs. Hopefully it's one we'll see as it's hosted by Paul Gambaccini and Mike Read.

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    1. Yes, I was surprised DLT didn't turn up, given his length of service on the show and the fact he was still ensconced at Radio 1 at the time, but perhaps he still felt sore about being given the elbow from TOTP - I definitely don't think it was his own decision to step away. Noel's absence surprised me less, as with his TV career flourishing I don't think he was in the mood for looking back during this period.

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    2. Good point, in fact the only time I can ever remember him reminiscing was on the Swap Shop celebration in 2006 when he'd just got back on TV with Deal Or No Deal.

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  4. Although Jimmy Saville got centre stage among the presenters on this anniversary show, it was interesting to see the varying dynamics amongst them. Great to see David Jacobs coming across from Radio 2 to the TOTP studio. He stayed with Radio 2 until 2013 where he died at the age of 87 the same year. Jacobs, Freeman, and Saville where all around the same age, and into their 60s by this point and notoriously vintage presenters, finding themselves at the front of the presenting group on the show.

    The second tier comprising of David Hamilton, Tony Blackburn, David Jensen and Paul Gambaccini took fine place on the show presenting studio performances, with Gambaccini by far the best presenter on this show with his American charts expertise, and encyclopaedia of pop music knowledge and history, and a shame he never did more on TV than his extensive radio work.

    The next tier of Peter Powell and Simon Bates (what, no DLT?) were well behind the first two tiers on the TV picture, and came out of very recent retirement of 2-3 months to do this show, they fared very well, and I think this may have been Powell's last ever appearance on British radio & TV, as from 1989 onwards there is no mention of him anywhere on radio & TV.

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  5. Performers wise, it was a case of far too many song clips than necessary for a one-hour show, but the highlights for me was the 70s montage including ELO with Mr Blue Sky, and great to see Mike Love, Errol Brown and Queen among the TOTP studio audience, the latter two pleased to be dancing as part of the studio audience (and what, Moira Stewart of the BBC News, Good Lord!)

    1968 (my year of birth) seemed to be the transition from Black & White to colour broadcasts of TOTP, as we saw on this anniversary show a clip of Delilah by Tom Jones in Black & White, while on TOTP2 earlier on today on Gold, they had a clip of The Scaffold's 1968 Christmas No.1 called Lily The Pink, which was only ever in colour, so if anyone knows which date in 1968 that TOTP had its final Black & White and first colour transmission, I would love to know.

    I just loved the playout track of Status Quo doing Rocking All Over The World, with Mike Love of The Beach Boys and and all the Radio 1 & 2 DJs enjoying dancing to it with the studio, including David Jacobs, Fluff Freeman and Paul Gambaccini. What a superb end to the show!

    By the way, I think leading on the present-day age list is David Hamilton, still with us at the age of 81, and I think the oldest surviving of the former presenters of TOTP, followed by Tony Blackburn and Noel Edmonds (also like DLT, surprisingly not on this anniversary show) now in their 70s.

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    1. Slight mistake, Pete Murray on this show with Saville, Freeman and Jacobs, all four of them born between 1925-1927, is the only one of them still alive, and is 94 present-day, born in 1925. Apparently he is lifetime teetotal according to Wikipaedia.

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    2. TOTP didn't go into colour until November 1969 - November 27th, to be precise. That Scaffold clip you saw may have been taken from the Christmas Day show in 1969, as their performance on that show still exists in the archives.

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    3. Not sure where that Scaffold clip is from but it's not the Christmas Day one from 1969.

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    4. Its the only colour or no colour Scaffold clip I have ever seen on TV, and the one regulalry shown on BBC nostalgia shows like TOTP2 etc, but it could have been taken from another TV show in 1969 other than TOTP.

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  6. Before I watch this, can someone tell me exactly why Lulu is interviewed so many times? I can't stand the sight of her, and even though she'll turn up to anything this many chats on camera seems ludicrous!

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    1. The interviews are very brief - she just talks a bit about her memories of TOTP. Not sure why they had to have her keep turning up through the show like a bad penny, though!

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    2. That is her default mode so I suppose it just came naturally to her at least.

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  7. Apparently there is a rare video of The Scaffold's Lily The Pink which I never knew existed, and I wonder if this particular clip was shown on any of the December 1968 TOTP shows when it was at No.1 for the whole month, as we will likely never know as these shows were all wiped, which may be a relief in today's PC world, as such a video would likely never be aired in todays environment:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpxlKV0fXR4

    Also, didn't know until now that one of the three members of The Scaffold is Paul McCartney's brother!

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    1. I'm not surprised it wouldn't be shown in today's climate - not many videos feature the artistes murdering someone!

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    2. It was likely to have been a video made for ITV, as in those early days of colour TV in the 70s, I remember vaguely that ITV would show much more daring/risque programmes or broadcasts like Benny Hill, Tiswas and OTT, as even in those days I'm sure that this Scaffold music video in 1968 would not have passed the BBC censors.

      One of the Scaffold members in this video, John Gorman was a Tiswas regular from 1974, so it would seem to piece together if indeed the video was only ever transmitted on ITV.

      Nowadays though, after the early 90s when ITV regional stations like Thames TV, LWT, Central, etc collapsed, ITV seems to have fully aligned with the BBC in terms of programming and censorship, and there is no difference between them, except for ITV still depending on commercials for revenue, in place of the BBC TV licence.

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  8. Neil Innes has died, he must have been on TOTP with the Bonzos for Urban Spaceman. Such a talented chap, The Rutles was one of the greatest spoofs ever.

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    1. Sad news indeed. A really nice guy. Many years ago he sold CDR copies of unreleased songs from his personal archive for the cost of the cds and postage. Still dip into them now and then...

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    2. looks like neil innes has shared the same fate as david cassidy, in not making the home page of wikipedia with his death - unlike journeyman footballer chris barker and a bunch of other people who like him i've never heard of!

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  9. Well I must say I thought that was rather fab.

    I remember watching that with my Mum back in the day and she owned many of those 60s records.

    Brought back so many good memories.

    Thanks for uploading and Happy New Year to all..0

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