This was the first of nine shows lost to the musicians strike at the BBC throughout June and July, but now thanks to a great deal of skill and perhaps even a little bit of actual magic, we can now watch the show in full as hosted by Simon Bates.......
Better late than never......
Top of the Pops 5/6/80
(29) Teena Marie - Behind the Groove (and charts)
This week's chart rundown song became Teena's only top ten hit in the UK
(35) Siouxsie and The Banshees - Christine
The second single from her top ten album, Kaleidoscope, Christine peaked at 22.
(22) ELO - I'm Alive
The first of the Xanadu soundtrack singles, this one peaked at 20.
(3) Lipps Inc - Funky Town (danced to by Legs & Co)
You may recognise the funky town set that Legs & Co are using for their routine this week.....
(23) Judas Priest - Breaking the Law
The follow up to Living After Midnight, and their final top 20 hit.
(19) Jona Lewie - You'll Always Find me in the Kitchen at Parties
This one peaked at 16 in the charts, and then it started to sink......
(27) The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
Became their only top ten hit when it made number 5.
(47) Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam
The third single from his number 2 album, Get happy.
(49) Darts - Let's Hang On
This became the band's final top 20 hit.
(57) The Stranglers - Who Wants the World
It was three years now since their last top ten hit, and this one peaked at 39.
(5) The Specials - Rat Race
Now at its peak in the charts.
(1) The Mash - Suicide is Painless (danced to by Legs & Co)
Its second of three weeks at number one.
(14) Robert Flack and Donny Hathaway - Back Together Again (and credits)
On its way to number 3 in the charts.
Next week then, the 12th of June 1980 shall be revealed....
(Actually, I'll be away next week, so you'll have to wait for week commencing 10th August!)
Accch! I knew an Elvis Costello clip was ready to roll in case the strike was off and I gambled on it being in next week's edition rather than this one. Still, I scored more than one out of thirteen so that was a Brucie bonus!
ReplyDeletethanks to angelo and stephen murphy & co for this "fantasy" edition of totp (angelo, how did you find out about this?).a good cut-and-paste job in the main, but a shame they couldn't get a decent slimy impersonator in to cover the gaps (it seems an alien was asked to the job instead!). presumably the playlist is just determined by whatever stephen and his chums manage to cobble together, as opposed to any official totp/bbc information? i do remember actually watching the amusing priest video at the time (and by the way the music is far superior to the other singles off that album), but now knowing it was never shown on totp, presumably either via swapshop or something on itv?
ReplyDeleteSeeing as Batesy was recently dropped as Smooth Radio's Breakfast DJ (and replaced by Andrew "Did you know I used to play tennis?" Castle!), had he known about this fantasy edition Simesy might have been at a loose end and done the job for you!
Deleteangelo, presumably the next fantasy edition of totp is already in the can and the tracklisting known? if so can you let us know the number of tracks we have to guess for next week, thanks
ReplyDeleteI'm told it's ready, but I haven't seen it yet. We'll stick to the same rules ~ 13 songs maximum.
DeleteStephen contacted me about it and asked if I would be interested in blogging it, so I said yes :-)
Ok I can now reveal that 14 songs are on the next edition, so you're all allowed an extra song :-)
Deleteif anyone puts together a list of what they think will appear on the next fantasy show, presumably the usual totp rules will apply inasmuch that the number one single apart, no act will feature two weeks running? but maybe the chart rundown and credits music are exempt from that rule as well? anyway, hopefully angelo can confirm/clarify...?
DeleteI would say that only the No.1, the chart rundown and end credits can have a song appear two weeks running
DeleteA real labour of love. Well done, everyone!
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly Simon’s voiceovers would have been very tricky to sort out, but the alien voice was different to put it mildly. Maybe we could get the booming Peter Dickson (the former Patrick Allen soundalike voiceover man for “X Factor”) to do next week’s!
I’ve never seen Siouxsie holding a guitar before, and I always wondered why drummers like Budgie prefer to have the snare at a gradient away for them – better contact and sound than having the drum skin parallel to the floor, perhaps?
I found The Stranglers’ song and video nondescript, I wondered if the BBC plumbers were on strike and a blocked urinal caused the Korgis’ wet floor, I enjoyed the black and white Darts video which made Griff look a bit like Billy Joel and Bob look a lot like Max Headroom, and I loved the ‘humorous but played straight’ Judas Preist video, complete with Rob’s facial expression bending those bars. What a beast!
A real labour of love. Well done, everyone!
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly Simon’s voiceovers would have been very tricky to sort out, but the alien voice was different to put it mildly. Maybe we could get the booming Peter Dickson (the former Patrick Allen soundalike voiceover man for “X Factor”) to do next week’s!
I’ve never seen Siouxsie holding a guitar before, and I always wondered why drummers like Budgie prefer to have the snare at a gradient away for them – better contact and sound than having the drum skin parallel to the floor, perhaps?
I found The Stranglers’ song and video nondescript, I wondered if the BBC plumbers were on strike and a blocked urinal caused the Korgis’ wet floor, I enjoyed the black and white Darts video which made Griff look a bit like Billy Joel and Bob look a lot like Max Headroom, and I loved the ‘humorous but played straight’ Judas Preist video, complete with Rob’s facial expression bending those bars. What a beast!
Wow, what a great show for 5.6.1980.
ReplyDeleteWhat the BBC never showed at the time has been compiled very nicely in this new show by Angelo and Stephen M with thanks.
The pick of the bunch for me came from ELO and that epic Xanadu clip called I'm Alive, which was so good that in 2006 the video concept and storyline was copied by Meck with his own druses to replace the ones in this 1980 effort by ELO, and using Leo Sayer's Thunder In My Heart Again for the lyrics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGVuqOzG-TM
Sadly for ELO, I'm Alive only just made the Top 20 in June 1980, and if had there been no TOTP strike, and the video had been shown at time or Legs & Co, I believe it would have made Top 10, and probably Top 5.
Pleased to get 4 points for the correct Legs & Co dance!
ReplyDeleteGreat work this. I enjoyed the ELO and Judas Priest videos. Could the Stranglers video have been filmed on the same hill as featured on the sleeve of the 'Strange little Girl' single?
Perhaps if this show had been made, we'd have seen the Darts in the studio (as usual) as well as Siouxsie and maybe Judas Priest (would the BBC have actually approved of their video?).
Perhaps the last showing of the MASH at number one could feature the clips rather than just Legs & Co dancing?
Many thanks for compiling this guys.
Many thanks to Stephen M for compiling this "show," and for Angelo for drawing our attention to it. In some ways it was preferable to having a real show, as Bates' appearances were kept to a minimal length and the deep voice was amusing - given that Savile was due to host the 12th June edition, I will be interested to hear what he ends up sounding like on the next video!
ReplyDeleteThere were a number of songs here that I had never heard before (Stranglers, Siouxsie, Elvis Costello), but The Korgis' appearance just increased my regret that this excellent song never made it on to TOTP for real. Still, I very much look forward to seeing how Stephen will fill the strike gap over the next few weeks - it will certainly make up for there being no shows on BBC4 until September.
Incidentally Angelo, if the strike hadn't happened Michael Hurll's first show would have been on 17th July, according to Radio Times. Do you know if Stephen plans to adopt the new format, complete with fantasy guest presenters, from that point on?
Well done everyone for this!
ReplyDeleteLegs and Co looked very different this week :-) Never seen that ELO video before
What were the 'real' Legs and Co dancing to originally?
Korgis - Don't know what Health and Safety would make of all that water near electrical equipment.
Without checking, I think Legs & Co were dancing to "Working My Way Back To You" by the Detroit Spinners. I might have got the wrong track, but the original routine's been shown within the last year or so.
Deleteangelo can you let us know in which post we are meant to submit our playlists for the 12th june fantasy totp edition? i would guess here, but arthur's already contributed his in the previous post!
ReplyDeleteI was in "Back To The Future" mode"!
DeleteArthur got it right, please post your suggestions for 12th June on the Game of Top of the Pops post - if we keep all them on there its easier to keep track of hopefully ~ and I still haven't seen it yet but I would say Wilberforce that all normal TOTPs rules apply :-)
DeleteAll normal TOTP rules apply. But however if a song goes down but comes back up next week there is a very good chance it will B featured
Deleteactually, yes my friends it was me who helped fill the gaps in the simon bates links for the 5th of june fantasy top of the pops
ReplyDelete:-D
DeleteThat's all well and good A Robot. If not for the fact that it's complete and utter rubish. Francis Pryor Britain AD. It was actualy Confused Brian
DeleteI shall be away next week so you've got some extra time to put your 12th June suggestions together, and I'll put the blog together when I get back week commencing 10th August :-)
ReplyDeleteAngelo, are you off to Funky Town?
DeleteBy the way, for anyone wondering why there were no Attractions in the "New Amsterdam" video (just me, then), it's because the song was a track recorded completely by Elvis in a session separate from the recording of the album "Get Happy".
I knew that Arthur. Hoover Factory, the b-side of his next single is also a solo effort.
DeleteThis is doing my head in! We have the Jam at No. 1 for a week, followed by two weeks of Kelly Marie, then the next week both of them have yet to enter the charts!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this is a nice way of filling in that big gap in the middle of 1980 and offering completeness of the year's chart music. I thought that the chart rundown was particularly well done - even down to text and pictures changing out of sync! - but the stereo sound was an obtrusive inaccuracy.
Don't know why the Darts promo was in black and white - I've seen it in colour on YouTube only recently, and I'm sure it was a clicky on this blog. I found it fascinating because it featured the then brand new Corkscrew ride at Alton Towers. In the wake of the tragic accident on the Smiler it got me thinking - sometimes simpler is better.
I did mention at the time to Angelo that my preference was to do the TOTP game before the August & September show repeats on BBC4, and then blog the repeats just before the resumption at the end of September, which is when we would be back in synch with BBC4, and for this very reason from your top paragraph.
DeleteHowever, better to have Darts now than never, as was in 1980 when they were kept off screen cos of the TOTP strike, and I never knew this video existed.
It's great to be able to fill in the gaps this way, it's a shame the BBC can't get compile the same type of shows to fill not just the strike weeks but the JS and DLT weeks. Perhaps Stephen can offer his services.
ReplyDeleteI was never a huge fan of heavy metal but I did like Breaking The law and have never seen this video before. But the highlight for me here is New Amsterdam. I've seen the video countless times but it was one of the first EC singles I bought and it was available as a standard single (at a reduced price), a 1960s style EP with sleeve artwork by Barney Bubbles under the pseudonym Sal Forlenza and a picture disc.
Jona Lewie AGAIN? I'm tired of that one now.
ReplyDeleteFunky Town great, and I enjoyed the dance put to it here, it worked well for me even though the space was confined, that and the deconstructed construction space somehow fit the music.
Enjoyed The Korgis video, fitting into that early 80s apocalyptic theme, flooded, paper blown in the wind, and it highlighted a violinist is actually in the song as well, above them all dreaming of better times perhaps.
I'm Alive is a nice video of course, I mentioned that before here. The bit were the skater touches Olivia on the shoulder and surprises her is missed out.
Let's Hang on I didn't see the point of, it was just like a copy of The Four Seasons. It's a nice song but you may as well listen to the original.
The Stranglers song, if not spectacular, was listenable. And of course a nice playout song. Disco very much still alive around this time as we saw from episodes shown earlier in the year.
Sad news... Cilla Black has gone to the great TOTP in the sky:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33751060
Let's hope the 12 June edition is gud
ReplyDelete