tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post5267987415094356970..comments2024-03-28T23:09:18.798+00:00Comments on Never Forget ~ Top of the Pops 1995: Top of the Pops BreakerAngelohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16090709386124664912noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-59358028852412932402016-12-16T01:18:37.935+00:002016-12-16T01:18:37.935+00:00Chart entry means a song that is new in the top 30...Chart entry means a song that is new in the top 30 but made its chart debut outside it. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06164497915486217540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-83280302957468329342016-12-13T19:07:43.843+00:002016-12-13T19:07:43.843+00:00Well well, I'm almost back up-to-date with thi...Well well, I'm almost back up-to-date with this epic run of shows, although this one was quite frankly a bit of a disappointment. I have no time for Dionne and Eddy, altho I do remember I Don't Wanna Dance being a bit of an ear worm at the time.<br />But I'll never tire of TFF, rubbish hair and dance moves notwithstanding, and though I don't recall the Blue Zoo moment at all and thought it was alright actually.<br /><br />The highlight for me was the way Boy George confidently held the camera with his gaze during the slow start to a still wonderful no,1 and practically invented the look of early Madonna in the process!<br /><br />The odious Slimes was a good sport too and this might be the first time I'd score him more than zero for a presenting effort...if I could be bothered with that sort of thing.<br /><br />Never mind roll on the ToTP debut of the magnificent Blancmange in high-def on BBC4 next time around.....oh nooooo, "Smitty", what were you thinking????NNellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847464732046530753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-15134869246119082882016-12-12T21:44:58.976+00:002016-12-12T21:44:58.976+00:00bama your 1982 multiple mishaps remind me of the s...bama your 1982 multiple mishaps remind me of the short time period in the early 90's where i was a: suspended from work for 3 months for fighting, b: arrested for being drunk & disorderly with intent on causing malicious damamge, and c: strip-searched at heathrow airport after returning from amsterdam and informing customs officers i had done nothing there that was illegal! well, they do say that trouble comes in threes...<br /><br />by the way, i think george is a vegan these days, so probably no longer eat kebabs!wilberforcehttp://www.gavinunderhill.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-61648830401084876332016-12-12T19:37:30.131+00:002016-12-12T19:37:30.131+00:00I saw that Arthur Lowe interview at the time and t...I saw that Arthur Lowe interview at the time and thought he was talking strangely. Very sad. Great actor who totally mastered his 'Dads Army' role.sct353https://www.blogger.com/profile/15640119850898956884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-32896707217289784142016-12-12T17:39:10.038+00:002016-12-12T17:39:10.038+00:00Exactly, which is why I say it nearly brought a te...Exactly, which is why I say it nearly brought a tear to the eye when I saw the late night repeat last week. It's as though the BBC kept this extra playout footage unseen for 34 years, and finally we would get that final part of the playout only now in 2016. You could call it a long term sentence for this track till it was finally free.Doryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718769648375882927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-50563204580587405022016-12-12T17:34:48.726+00:002016-12-12T17:34:48.726+00:00A few months ago I went on one of those London Wal...A few months ago I went on one of those London Walks where a tour guide takes you by walk through a popularistic part of London. On the Camden walk on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the summer, the tour guide explained that the kebab shop opposite the Roundhouse was the place that pop groups would jam at the back of the shop, and people would queue up outside to see them.<br /><br />I wonder whether when you bumped into Culture Club in that shop, they were planning to do a set for the kebab eaters inside, as well as tucking into one themselves? Apparently the famous kebab shop only recently had a stop put on them by the local council of having the live jamming at the back, and now is only allowed to serve as a kebab shop and no other activities inside!Doryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718769648375882927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-34700647187288046582016-12-12T17:24:29.866+00:002016-12-12T17:24:29.866+00:00There's an episode from 1982 with Arthur Lowe ...There's an episode from 1982 with Arthur Lowe who falls asleep live on air when he's being interviewed. Later that same day he died. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937581521280389248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-34797661237252840732016-12-12T17:15:18.543+00:002016-12-12T17:15:18.543+00:00Cups of tea?! George had a thing about tea drinkin...Cups of tea?! George had a thing about tea drinking didn't he, saying that he would have a cuppa than sex. A complete lie of course. <br /><br />I also stood in the same room as Mr O'Dowd, actually it was in a kebab shop (see my comments below). Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937581521280389248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-50205850966112937972016-12-12T17:09:06.746+00:002016-12-12T17:09:06.746+00:00They did sometimes show a bit of extra footage dep...They did sometimes show a bit of extra footage depending on how much time there was before the next show was due to start but never as much as this.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937581521280389248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-29646837465722075322016-12-12T17:07:52.135+00:002016-12-12T17:07:52.135+00:00The Love Me Do re-issue was the start of The Beatl...The Love Me Do re-issue was the start of The Beatles It Was 20 Years Ago Today where all their singles were re-issued 20 years after the week of their original release.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937581521280389248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-64103289756971836622016-12-12T17:05:02.289+00:002016-12-12T17:05:02.289+00:00Although I hate creepy Slimon to be fair he did a ...Although I hate creepy Slimon to be fair he did a good job at taking part in the daft Halloween skits, although he needn't have worn any make up.<br /><br />I had completely forgotten just how good the Raw Silk track was, and a superb performance to go with it. The cheerleader people struggle to dance convincingly in their spooky costumes.<br /><br />Blue Zoo was another one that had slipped from my memory bank. I didn't buy this at the time but it is a catchy slice of synth pop and a very slick performance. The lead singer looks a bit like Curt Smith from TFF but has a better haircut. The 8 foot tall keyboard player Matthew Flowers used to be in punk band Sore Throat. He runs an art gallery now.<br /><br />Sad ballads being a guilty pleasure of mine I loved Heartbreaker at the time. It just glides along beautifully and DW delivers a good live vocal here. I like the bass players head movements in time with his bass plucking.<br /><br />I recall this Tears For Fears video well, it's very early 80s in style. I can hear the director selling the band the idea - "Curt you sit in an old house staring at a table, while outside the window Roland can wear a crombie coat and make shapes while staring out over a lake. Later Kurt can mime-act like he's trapped behind a window pane. Intercut with a kid's party and end on a moody shot of both of you standing in the shadows".<br /><br />Eddy Grant proves that he's a master at writing a simple pop tune, vetoing the obvious reggae vibe for a simple synth melody and adding a guitar solo. Brilliant.<br /><br />Boy George looks happier and more confident in this performance of Do Really Want to Strap Me To A Radiator. And he's learnt a few more hand gestures and dance moves.<br /><br />By this point in time in 1982 I had moved back home to live with my parents after I quit my job, got evicted from my flat and got robbed all in the same week (almost my entire record collection got stolen!). But while I still lived in London I recall bumping into Culture Club in a kebab shop of all places.<br /><br />Actually they bumped into me, almost literally. I lived in a flat in Chalk Farm in North London, half a mile from the Chalk Farm Recording Studio where they were recording their first album. I didn't know this at the time and didn't know who they were, even though they had already released a couple of singles. The kebab shop was opposite The Roundhouse and I was standing in the queue one weekday evening getting a kebab when they all piled in presumably<br />during a break from recording and they were all laughing and joking.<br /><br />Because they were a pop group (albeit not a famous one) they tried to push in the queue but the people ahead weren't having any of it, so they had to queue up which was quite funny. I was fascinated by Boy George's appearance who even when he was recording was eccentrically dressed. I didn't stop to chat after I got my food but I now wished that I had spoken to them. That was it, A month later they were on TOTP and I realised who they were. I wonder if George still eats kebabs?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937581521280389248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-68868845163871190352016-12-12T15:10:21.031+00:002016-12-12T15:10:21.031+00:00Oh, and the choice of dress by Ms Warwick on the o...Oh, and the choice of dress by Ms Warwick on the official video was worthy on its own to take the song to No.1 in place of Eddy 'boring' Grant. Sorry folks, just had to get that off my chest. I'm going make some tea now and enjoy the rest of my afternoon....Doryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718769648375882927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-47924122407881519922016-12-12T15:02:59.161+00:002016-12-12T15:02:59.161+00:00You've hit the nail on the head Noax with rega...You've hit the nail on the head Noax with regard to the Dionne Warwick new entry. When I saw this TOTP offering, I thought it was a crap performance to what is a good song, and I mean crap by the fact that the backing musicians had hardly any volume on their microphones, and it was almost an accapella performance by Dionne Warwick, which gives the song no justice.<br /><br />If TOTP had instead shown the video, then you would find that the backing sounds was much more audible, and it was at least 50% contributory to the success of the song getting to the dizzy heights of No.2, which we can blog again this week on David Jensen's show. <br /><br />Anyway, here is the official video for Heartbreaker, which unfortunately we will not see on TOTP, in favour of the same crap studio performance on both showings, i.e. 28.10.82 and 11.11.82:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xHQsMYosao<br /><br />The nicely audible musical intro on this is just as romantic as the lyrics on Dionne Warwick's voice, and was pivotal I feel in getting this to No.2 in Nov 1982, and only being denied the No.1 buy Eddy Grant, whose song was nowhere near as good as Dionne Warwick.Doryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07718769648375882927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-39865124535356683332016-12-12T14:37:23.647+00:002016-12-12T14:37:23.647+00:00Given that Simon Bates struggles with the fairly s...Given that Simon Bates struggles with the fairly simple task of introducing songs correctly, why not give him some 'comedy' sketches to do inbetween the songs as well? Yeah, that'll help...<br /><br />Raw Silk - A lot of love for this here, but I find it all a bit average to be honest.<br /><br />Blue Zoo - Whereas this is brilliant. I don't recall seeing the performance at the time, if I had I may have been put off by the singer's appearance, but the song was featured on my beloved Chart Runners compo so I loved it because of that. Mystifying that this was chopped from the early edition rather than The Beatles which we've already seen.<br /><br />Dionne Warwick - A good song, but unfortunately this performance replaces the brilliant Bee Gees production with Light Ent style crap and ruins it as a result.<br /><br />Tears For Fears - Seen it too often for it to have much impact now, sadly.<br /><br />Eddy Grant - I think I liked this for about 5 minutes back then, but very quickly got bored. I see there's also a lot of love for this around these parts but to me it's very thin gruel and nowhere near as good as some of his earlier songs.Noaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02790474836630218113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-38838014250036971192016-12-11T09:17:09.327+00:002016-12-11T09:17:09.327+00:00"pebble mill at one" - one of the few da..."pebble mill at one" - one of the few daytime shows back then that wasn't either the test card or for kids. they had a rota of presenters but i remember the most-frequent one was bob langley, who also wrote a pretty good adventure paperback that that i read back in the 80's ("the <br />war of the running fox"?)wilberforcehttp://www.gavinunderhill.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-58930459012381369312016-12-11T01:29:41.693+00:002016-12-11T01:29:41.693+00:00Thanks for the Dionne Warwick link... awesome! The...Thanks for the Dionne Warwick link... awesome! There's also similar footage of the Pinkees playing live on that show from around the same time... OK, I'll put the wooden spoon away now...<br /><br />Pebble Mill, the Alexandra Palace of the Midlands, mercilessly thrown away [sob sob]. They call it progress.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-20938169765328423612016-12-10T23:22:56.659+00:002016-12-10T23:22:56.659+00:00Another horror of a show (ho ho), though fair play...Another horror of a show (ho ho), though fair play to Simes. Of all the DJs to be asked to partake in Halloween skulduggery, and to join in with relish at that, he would have been an outsider in my book.<br /><br />Was it me, or was Raw Silk’s lead singer incredibly (and I mean incredibly) thin?<br /><br />Blue Zoo singer Andy Overall thinking he’s making a fashion statement whereas, in fact, he looks a right prawn. The generic white boy indie soul doesn’t help either.<br /><br />Give it to Dionne Warwick, she ‘nose’ a hit when she smells one. Boom boom tish! Actually, I never liked this tedious Bee Gees template ballad, but at least the boys didn’t smother her vocals like they did with Samantha Sang!<br /><br />Straitjacket for Roland Orzabal! He’s been watching the shapes thrown by Madness’s Chas Smash too often for his own good. Mind you, they were the best part of an intensely dull video.<br /><br />Sorry, no love for Eddy Grant’s thin yoghourt reggae or magnolia paint dull video in Nibble Towers.<br /><br />Standing room only for Culture Club this week, That George was a natural for the camera.<br /><br />How did Flick Colby get a dance director credit when Zoo were absent again? And why did the rundown change ‘chart entry’ from last week to ‘new entry’ this week? And what happened to the ‘R’ at the end of Boring Bob Grover’s name?<br /><br />And to finish, I used to work with a bloke called Ian and I’d sometimes greet him with “31st October”. Hallo Ian. Geddit? Harrumph.Arthur Nibblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11547006132533866220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-72670849102327611972016-12-10T22:40:25.824+00:002016-12-10T22:40:25.824+00:00The KR label managed one reggae hit ("Your Ho...The KR label managed one reggae hit ("Your Honour" by Pluto) as well as a number 45 for The Rah Band. Not a bad hit ratio for a label which released just under 20 singles.Arthur Nibblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11547006132533866220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-1166586136185505742016-12-10T17:50:40.914+00:002016-12-10T17:50:40.914+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Steve Hackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07365973104946684183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-14855413505878729022016-12-10T17:49:44.646+00:002016-12-10T17:49:44.646+00:00I was disappointed that the audience missed severa...I was disappointed that the audience missed several gilt edged opportunities to get Master Bates - sealing him in the sarcophagus, pushing him in the cauldron, pushing him back in the coffin and throwing garlic at him. Aside from Bates, a much better show musically than Thursday's effort.Steve Hackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07365973104946684183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-28925242924087366262016-12-10T15:48:01.672+00:002016-12-10T15:48:01.672+00:00Last week's Powell-helmed edition was so calam...Last week's Powell-helmed edition was so calamitously boring that I couldn't bring myself to comment. To be honest this one wasn't much better, but here goes.<br /><br />Bad start. Raw Silk's only British hit is a non-distinct piece of disco, Love Me Do is bubblegum Beatles that nobody really likes that much, and Blue Zoo is a by-numbers synth-pop effort sung by an annoying front man.<br /><br />Dionne Warwick. Like others on here, I'm not a big fan of her vocals, but she usually aligns herself with some of the worlds best writers and producers making her records fairly reasonable. But this live performance was diabolical. To me, it sounded like she was only in the general vicinity of the actual tune for most of it, and the backing itself was awful.<br /><br />Tears For Fears. Not much to say about a video that surely did little to improve sales or make Roland Orzabal a dance idol.<br /><br />Eddy Grant's theme tune. A song that has suffered through over-familiarity over the years, but you can see why it was such a big hit. Decent video.<br /><br />Right, the scores. 5 for Sir. Not sure the whole Halloween thing worked, but he did go for it, so fair enough, but yet again he seemed to start a sentence, get distracted, and fail to finish it off properly.<br /><br />Music. TFF and Culture Club were the only decent songs on parade. 4.Shakey Shakersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-5196277242227355412016-12-10T15:34:24.385+00:002016-12-10T15:34:24.385+00:00Well like John G I don’t recall Halloween being th...Well like John G I don’t recall Halloween being this big in the UK in 1982 but ToTP have spared no expenses with some of the props here, even borrowing from the ‘Einstein a go-go lab’ at one point?! Nowadays of course, its big business selling props and pumpkins etc.<br /><br />Raw Silk – Do it to the music – I had to listen to this as its one I don’t remember. Pretty standard disco fare. Julie mentions ‘Nights’ above - “I remember the nights, down in deepest December….”. Now I bought that single by Lindisfarne – backed with the very wonderfully named ‘Dog ruff’!<br /><br />Beatles – Love me do – Has anyone mentioned that the single release did feature Ringo on drums whereas the album take featured Andy White? Not sure which one this is as it’s hard to tell.<br /><br />Blue Zoo – Cry boy cry – Almost another Beatle song title following ‘Love me do’ but again, I only vaguely recall this and it’s Ok.<br /><br />Dionne Warwick – Heartbreaker – Ah, I have a lovely memory of this. I came home from college one day and my dear Mum told me excitedly that Pebble Mill had featured and international high calibre star that day and she’d brought along a full orchestra and band and it was a fabulous live performance. I hadn’t heard the song at that point but of course she was right. I’d never seen the Pebble Mill performance before but I had a look on YT and to my delight it’s there:-<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eck8Lu7PuUA<br />There is a great comment from none other than Junior Campbell (Marmalade) on YT with the video which sums it up; “Heard this on the radio today and remembered this live performance on daytime UK TV which I caught at the time. This is a bare bones, no frills, honest performance of a great song by a great artist. Just shows what happens when you put great writers with a great artist. Magical”.<br /><br />Tears for Fears – Mad World – Great video which really matches this great song.<br /><br />Melba Moore – Love’s coming at ya – No thanks…<br /><br />Eddy Grant – I don’t wanna dance – If ever a song had ‘no1’ written all over it then this is a classic example. Reminds me of when I first heard ‘So you win again’ by Hot Chocolate. Eddy’s song and video is just a great three minutes.<br /><br />Culture Club – Do you really want to hurt me – Skip!<br /><br />Barry Manilow – I wanna do it with you – We’re spared the casual clothes of Barry and band and it really is a surprise that this was a bigger hit in the UK than some of his classic tracks. As noted above, we get a lot of Barry doing it!<br />sct353https://www.blogger.com/profile/15640119850898956884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-9751604000172053732016-12-10T14:34:02.978+00:002016-12-10T14:34:02.978+00:00Calvin Henderson has kindly posted the "Smitt...Calvin Henderson has kindly posted the "Smittied" (or should that be "Smiffed"?) 4 November show on YouTube, in two parts. The Shaky video has been edited out, but that's no great loss:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTtQWa4B2K4<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSIJfvsdQcMJohn Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-26102374841215537892016-12-10T14:24:38.823+00:002016-12-10T14:24:38.823+00:00A much better show than last week. Simon Bates was...A much better show than last week. Simon Bates was an odd choice for a Halloween episode as he's completely non threatening and looks like an accountant. Dionne Warwick's teeth appeared to be somewhat of a work in progress. Stunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656821189691902130.post-64579660546047652002016-12-10T13:47:59.950+00:002016-12-10T13:47:59.950+00:00Interesting that TOTP decided to go so big on Hall...Interesting that TOTP decided to go so big on Halloween at a time when it was not such a big deal in this country, particularly when the big night itself was still three days away. Master Bates, naturally, completely overlooks the latter fact and keeps on insisting it is Halloween night. He certainly enters into the spirit of the thing, to a sometimes embarrassing extent, even though he has no need of fangs and costumes to creep the audience out - couldn't they have nailed shut that sarcophagus he came out of at the start?<br /><br />At least musically the standard was generally high here. I like this Raw Silk track, a slinky slice of post-disco music, though the group are a bit upstaged by the Halloween costumes surrounding them - I notice the skeleton from the last show was back, indulging in some acrobatics this time. I did wonder for a second if Blue Zoo was a pornographic spin-off of the resident dance troupe, but alas that was not the case! The singer's bouffant hair points the way to future 80s tonsorial crimes, but the song itself is pretty good, with a nice tempo.<br /><br />I have never understood the appeal of Dionne Warwick. Her voice has always seemed limited and mediocre to me, and I also don't think she's much to look at (sorry, Wilberforce). From what I've read she is not a very nice person either, and apparently hated this accomplished Bee Gees song even though it rescued her from a long spell in the wilderness. This live performance failed to live up to the record's excellent production, with tame backing that merely helped show up Dionne's vocal deficiencies. Nice to see the Mad World video, a nice moody production that accompanies the song well, despite Roland's dodgy dancing!<br /><br />Eddy Grant returns with a great bit of pop-reggae, and a fun, exotic video too - this was a well-deserved number 1. Culture Club celebrate their current chart-topper with a third studio appearance. They all look very pleased with themselves, and why not? The spooky crowd then get on down to Bazza to play us out, his desire to do it with us surely the most frightful thing about this show...John Gnoreply@blogger.com