Showing posts with label Tubeway Army. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tubeway Army. Show all posts

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Top of the Pops is Electric!

Who cares what was on any channel other than BBC1 on the 24th May 1979 with an edition of Top of the Pops as good as this.....

It's cold outside, and the bunnies are not number one any more...


24-5-79: Presenter: David Jensen

(25) McFADDEN & WHITEHEAD – Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (and charts)
(29) THE SKIDS – Masquerade
(2) ROXY MUSIC – Dance Away (footage from Snowtime Special: Abba In Switzerland 16-4-79)
(48) TUBEWAY ARMY – Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
(24) DONNA SUMMER – Hot Stuff (danced to by Legs & Co)
(44) LINER – You And Me
(20) THE DAMNED – Love Song
(14) ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Shine A Little Love (video)
(33) DOLLAR – Who Were You With In The Moonlight
(9) DAVID BOWIE – Boys Keep Swinging (video)
(21) THE SHADOWS – Theme From ‘The Deer Hunter’ (Cavatina)
(34) ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Accidents Will Happen
(1) BLONDIE – Sunday Girl (footage from TopPop)
(30) CHEAP TRICK – I Want You To Want Me (and credits)


McFadden & Whitehead ~ with their instantly recognisable top 5 tune play over the chart rundown

The Skids ~ get the show off to an energetic and very smartly dressed start, with a song that would soon reach number 14.

Roxy Music ~ and 'Dancing the night away' as our host David Jensen introduced it, now at its number 2 peak.

Tubeway Army ~ this week's debut of a major act goes to Gary Numan, still called Tubeway Army at this point (until the next single). 'Are Friends Electric' did indeed sound amazing and futuristic at the time. I remember walking 3 miles from where I used to live in Padiham, all the way to WH Smiths in Burnley town centre, to buy this (for 99p) and then walking the 3 miles back home again to play it! And you tell that to the kids today......

Donna Summer ~ Legs & Co go all Indian for a fiery performance to Hot Stuff - Donna herself not yet having made it into the TOTPs studio.

Liner ~ with a song very much influenced I think by the Bee Gees, but sadly for Liner, Bee Gee style success did not follow, with You and Me failing to make the top 40.

The Damned ~ at their peak with Love Song, but edited out of the 7.30 showing.

Electric Light Orchestra ~ what a bright video this one was, you needed those sunglasses to watch it! Shine a Little Love was the first of four top ten hits in 1979 from their cleverly entitled album, Discovery.

Dollar ~ awww - edited out of the 7.30 showing, and I like this one!

David Bowie ~ was he being a bearded lady in this slightly weird video? Boys Keep Swinging swung all the way to number 7 in the charts.

The Shadows ~ edited out of the 7.30 show, this one was still only at number 21 this week, but it did eventually make it into the top ten.

Elvis Costello ~ sounding very much like Squeeze I thought with Accidents Will Happen ~ and he'd soon go on to be their producer.

Blondie ~ with a clip of the number one song Sunday Girl taken from the Dutch version of Top of the Pops, creatively called Top Pop.

Cheap Trick ~ get to do this week's credits.


Next week is the 31st May 1979, and the rare treat of a Paul Burnett hosted show.