Whole Lotta Xmas!

Sometimes we forget that Top of the Pops is actually still a current BBC show, albeit now reduced to just two new episodes per year! But hey, its two better than nothing! And while this tiny beat of life still, er, beats, there has to be just a little hope that one day a full recovery can be made to bring Top of the Pops back to full health :-)

So Christmas Day 2013, with the show on the verge of its 50th anniversary, we had this line up:

25-12-2013: Presenters: Fearne Cotton & Reggie Yates (New Titles)

(40) JOHN NEWMAN – Love Me Again
(-) CHASE & STATUS feat. MOKO – Count On Me
(-) BOYZONE – Love Will Save The Day
(-) RIZZLE KICKS – Lost Generation
(-) WILL.I.AM & BRITNEY SPEARS – Scream And Shout (video)
(-) MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS feat. WANZ– Thrift Shop (video)
(-) ONE DIRECTION – One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks) (video)
(-) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – Mirrors (video)
(69) PASSENGER – Let Her Go (video)
(78) DAFT PUNK feat. PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Get Lucky (video)
(60) ROBIN THICKE feat. T.I. & PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Blurred Lines (video)
(45) TOM ODELL – Another Love
(-) JESSIE J – It’s My Party
(66) BASTILLE – Pompeii (footage from Radio 1’s Big Weekend)
(-) THE SATURDAYS – What About Us
(-) NAUGHTY BOY feat. SAM SMITH – La La La
(47) JAMES BLUNT – Bonfire Heart
(27) AVICII – Wake Me Up (video)
(68) ONE DIRECTION – Best Song Ever (video)
(15) KATY PERRY – Roar (video)
(42 MILEY CYRUS – Wrecking Ball (video)
(24) LORDE – Royals (video)
(6) LILY ALLEN – Somewhere Only We Know (video)
(-) RUDIMENTAL feat. ELLA EYRE – Waiting All Night
(7) ELLIE GOULDING – How Long Will I Love You?
(22) ONEREPUBLIC – Counting Stars
(1) SAM BAILEY – Skyscraper (video)
>> A new title sequence and logo make their debut



And yes indeed, that legendary Top of the Pops theme tune, Whole Lotta Love, makes its long awaited 3rd coming, along with a shiny new logo ~ signs of hope surely?

Even though I'm one of those stuck in the pop past BBC4 people glued to 35 year old repeats of a long gone golden era, I have to say I was totally impressed with this brand new show. Obviously the return of THAT theme tune helped get me in the mood, but actually the songs and performances presented were all impressive in my opinion. I shan't go through them all, but standing out of the crowds for me were John Newman, Chase & Status, Rizzle Kicks (not normally a fan of hiphop type stuff, but enjoyed the silliness of the performance and costumes ~ anyway, even 35 years ago there was music I wasn't too keen on, that's the nature of a show like Top of the Pops really, you're never going to be able to please everyone all the time), James Blunt (well I am old school, and I think so is he), Ellie Goulding and OneRepublic. The obligatory X Factor winner number one had a nice voice but the song and video was pretty much the same as all the other X Factor winners. But that one aside, an excellent show that I thought stood up well to anything from 35 years ago. All that was lacking maybe was a nice dance routine ~ maybe they could have roped in a few people from Strictly?

Don't forget there's another new show on New Year's eve and I would highly recommend it ~ come on its a chance to put some faces to some of these somewhat anonymous modern pop stars, and will confirm that pop music did not die on 30th July 2006, but is still well and truly alive and in fact is in not too bad shape.