Just make sure you don't come in late with that xylophone at the end......
27-11-80: Presenter: Tommy Vance
(50) SHOWADDYWADDY – Blue Moon
The by now somewhat out of place looking teddy boys get the show(addywaddy) underway with a cover of Blue Moon which peaked at 32.
(10) UB40 – Dream A Lie (video)
Now here's a video...... a black and white minstrel show parody makes for an eye catching presentation of this flip double A side of The Earth Dies Screaming, but nevertheless it got no higher than 10.
Then along come the first of tonight's special guests, Hall & Oats, doing their best to look as gloomy as Robert Palmer had managed to be a couple of weeks earlier....
(42) ROBERT PALMER – Looking For Clues
But it seemed to work for him because here he was now performing his song on the show, but it wouldn't quite make the top 30.
ELO drummer Bev Bevan then becomes the second special guest of the night, and he introduces Legs & Co....
(26) ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Don’t Walk Away
And here said girls are with a somewhat pedestrian routine to the fifth and final single from Xanadu, which peaked at 21.
(49) THE STRAY CATS – Runaway Boys
Tommy Vance predicts success for this new band who'd moved to London from New York, and sure enough this single, produced by Dave Edmunds, was heading for the top ten.
Then its Top of the Pops tongue twister time when Marty and Martha from the Motels become the third special guests of the show. But they are far too pleased to be here to have any chance of a hit.
(11) SPANDAU BALLET – To Cut A Long Story Short ®
Was cut from the 7.30pm edition.
(12) MADNESS – Embarrassment (video)
Soon to become the band's fourth top ten hit of 1980 when it reached number 4, what a year this had been for Madness.
The top ten rundown:
(10) UB40 – Dream A Lie (video)
At its peak.
(9) THE BOOMTOWN RATS – Banana Republic (video)
Still rising towards the top 3.
(8) JOHN LENNON – (Just Like) Starting Over (still picture)
Now at its initial peak, his first top ten hit for five years, and his first with new material for eight.
(7) KOOL & THE GANG – Celebration (still picture)
Also now in peak position.
(6) BARBRA STREISAND – Woman In Love (video)
Falling down the charts.
(5) DAVID BOWIE – Fashion (video)
Stuck at number five, and got no higher.
(4) STEPHANIE MILLS – Never Knew Love Like This Before (video)
Didn't turn up in the studio after all, and now at its peak.
(3) DENNIS WATERMAN with THE DENNIS WATERMAN BAND – I Could Be So Good For You (still picture)
Another record in peak position.
(2) BLONDIE – The Tide Is High (video)
Down from number one.
(1) ABBA – Super Trouper (video)
Tommy tells us that this is Abba's 9th chart topper, maybe he somehow knew that it would also be their last. He also thinks it has a good chance of being the Xmas number one..... Meanwhile, Agnetha really wants to show us her su-per-per arm per-pits.
(20) YOUNG & COMPANY – I Like (What You’re Doing To Me) (crowd dancing) (and credits)
Another song at its peak as Tommy and the special guests wave good night.
Next week we enter the final month of the year with the edition from December 4th 1980.
A mixed bag this week, but it will go down in TOTP history as the night that Showaddywaddy handed their rock revival crowns to The Stray Cats - who shared their British record label. Blending an authentic rockabilly sound with new wave energy and a sharp bikers' image, the trio from New York would initially earn acceptance here in the UK before storming to even greater success in the US. The Specials and The Rolling Stones were among the top-line acts the Cats supported in their early days.
ReplyDeleteUB40 continued to fulfil their promise despite flouting the rules of political correctness in their latest video, while Madness - on their first single to feature Carl Smyth playing trumpet - hinted at a fresh post-ska style that would eventually make them the Kinks of the 80s.
ELO seemed to be running out of ideas by this time, with a pedestrian song being afforded an accordingly pedestrian routine by Legs - who, curiously, were dressed as Quality Street chocolates in wrappers. Lucky Rosie got to dress as a gooseberry cream - a long discontinued variety from the pre-Nestle era.
The much-missed future superstar Robert Palmer was gradually finding his feet as a solo singer by this time, recording consistently satisfying material that would make Rod Stewart one of his staunchest fans. I remember Roderick discussing and praising Robert's 'Johnny and Mary' in 'Star Choice', a feature in the magazine 'Smash Hits' in which various rock stars would choose their favourite songs.
At number one, yet again, are the Swedish foursome. Like several other hit songs in their repertoire, 'Super Trouper' owes some debt to Ron and Russell Mael, aka Sparks - in this case, the Californian brothers' French No.1 'When I'm With You'.
UB40 made a dreary song more appealing by means of a great video in my opinion. This song and video was better than the flip side (double A side) The Earth Dies Screaming shown three weeks earlier on TOTP with its own video.
DeleteWith regard to political correctness with a take on The Black and White Minstrel Show, I think that at last BBC4 has found a sense of humour, and let us enjoy it now how it was enjoyed back then.
Julie I like your reference to Quality Street choccies and the forgotten gooseberry cream.
DeleteAh, but can you remember the first lost flavour in Revels, discarded after about a year circa 1969?
DeleteELO - well here was a breath of fresh air on the show. Bev Bevan making the effort to come to the TOTP studio to be interviewed, even though ELO last performed in the studio in early 1976, due to their later world demand and worldwide fame. On top of that, Bev started the studio dancing at the end of the show for the end credits, and really seemed to be enjoying himself on the show beside Hall & Oates at the end credits time, which was fantastic to see.
ReplyDeleteOn to ELO with Legs & Co then. The girls looked really tasty this week in their shiny short dresses, and Gill and Rosie were the pick of the bunch for me this week looking so hot, with the aptly titled track Don't Walk Away.
In fact, this ELO effort was the six and final release from Xanadu, and nice to see it side by side at No.26 with the fifth release Suddenly at No.27 by Cliff & Olivia, i.e. the final two Xanadu songs next to each other in the charts.
The fourth release from the Xanadu called Magic by Olivia NJ only made No.50, and so this one seemed to be overlooked by Angelo above, because Peter Powell got it right on 30th October when introducing Suddenly as the fifth release from Xanadu!
er dory were there any other acts on the show tonight?
DeleteThere's still no doubt that ELO gave people that feel-good feeling for every song they released in 1980 for their part in the Xanadu soundtrack.
DeleteLike them or not, Bev Bevan's mood just before the end credits and comfort being on the show the week was an extension of that, despite ELO not performing in the TOTP studio for nearly 5 years at this point in Nov 1980. Imagine what could have been on TOTP if they had made more appearances.
You are right, I forgot about Magic!
DeleteTommy Vance - wearing a godawful jumper - is this week's mic-holder for what turns out to be the best show for many a month. Although it starts off less than auspiciously with The Waddies blurting their way through Blue Moon. Once again singer Waddy and drummer Waddy are the only ones hanging onto the drapes of yesteryear. Strange that it took them this long to add Blue Moon to their discography. The phrase 'scraping the barrel' springs rather quickly to mind!
ReplyDeleteUB40. Um. Erm. I'm gonna go right ahead and assume there is some post-ironic thing going on here, what with the band being multicultural and all. Because to be honest there is no other good reason for the blacking/whiting up. Good song - bad vid. Lets leave it at that.
Hall & Oates stop by for a brief chat before Robert Palmer mimes his way through Looking For Clues. Great song - poor miming, especially from the xylophonist (if thats the correct term).
Huge-haired Bev Bevan is a more animated guest and gets the rare opportunity of introducing his own record which is 'danced' to by The Leggers. I say 'dance'. Basically they walked. Flick Colby at her literal best there, ladies and gentlemen.
The Stray Cats debut and the three of them put the multi-Waddies to shame, filling the stage and airways with their patented punky/rockabilly sound. Stray Cat Strut would end up being my favourite of theirs, but this isn't a bad way to start your career off.
ANOTHER guest. This time a couple of Motels, one of whom - Martha Motel- had quite clearly availed herself of the ToTP bar.
A repeat showing for Spandau before one of Madness's finest tunes (complete with two - count em TWO sax instrumental breaks) Was that Mike Barson following in UB40s shoes there by blacking up?
And at number one - their ninth number one- are Abba with Supertrooper, their ninth number one; according to Mister Vance.
So all in all a pretty fine show. In fact this could have been a nine had Showaddywaddy been replaced by someone else, or if The Leggers could have bothered their collective arses to do an actual dance. Tommy Vance picks up a 6; dropping points for his mangling of a couple of links, his missed camera cue, his jumper and his less than riveting questions to guests.
I'm not a robot.
The Leggers did dance - a slow dance, but without a partner. Any takers gentlemen, and who would you choose this week?
Deletehost: i wonder how keen tommy was to appear on this show? he always seems game but somehow his presenting style seems a bit unsuited for this kind of thing. he promises us a good show tonight (is that to make up for that abberation that peter powell presented a few weeks back?) and looking at the line-up ahead that certainly looks likely. by the way, tommy sports a sweatshirt with a "cadillac" sign on it, that reminded me of the "all platinum" record label logo (presumably they filched the design? if so then no surprise as label boss sylvia robinson nicked other people's music for her own acts on more than one occasion!)
ReplyDeleteshowaddywaddy: weren't they on the show peddling some other thing a mere month or so ago? looking and sounding ever-more incongruous for the shiny new 1980's, the biker look has been replaced by... nothing of any interest really, although presumably mainman dave has selected the blue colour teddy boy outfit from his wardrobe with the song in mind. i've never really understood the appeal of this wishy-washy number (and as such i'm glad i'm not a man city fan!), especially as it came from the pen of richard rodgers who was capable of much more superior songwriting (apparently he was not best pleased when the marcels had a big hit with it, although presumably he didn't turn away the royalties from the dozens of cover versions that followed?). what does it say on dave's t-shirt? and what is the point of bothering wearing it if you've got it covered up with a jacket anyway? presumably that's it for them now as far as totp is concerned? well i never cared for their music, but i have to say they always tried their best to give us a show!
UB40: before starting to review this, i have to ask: just what exactly was the purpose of a "double a-side" single? was it released in that manner in the hope that they would sell twice as many copies? the reality was that only one side would normally get played by the media anyway (this being a rare exception - "king" which was the superior half of their debut "double a-side" single never got any airplay on radio 1 to my recollection). and in the case of the beatles doing it (with "strawberry fields forever" / "penny lane") it spiked their run of consecutive no. 1 singles, thus allowing westlife or some other crap to beat their achievement! now onto this track: i remember watching the video and thinking it quite clever, particularly with band members norman and mickey having half-black and half-white faces. and certainly didn't cringe at the "black and white minstrel" aspect of it at the time... unlike now! as usual ali sounds like he's singing with a bag a spanners in his mouth, so i have no idea whether the imagery relates to the lyrics or not (what the hell were the bones about?). as for the tune, it's bland and definitely b-side material for me, and the first sign of the fallability from the band...
Bad news, Wilby...despite th 'Waddy never troubling the mugshots again, "Blue Moon" got a repeat, and they managed an appearance apiece in the next two years to take their final number of TOTP studio appearances to a whopping 38 before their trailer failed its MOT and had to be hoisted out of the studio car park.
DeleteRegarding UB40, it must be remembered that throughout 1980, The Specials regularly produced double A sides for each singles release, with the most recent one being International Jet Set, and it's likely that UB40 were copying this tactic, but with the benefit of offering two distinct videos for the single on the double A side, i.e., The Earth Dies Screaming and Dream A Lie.
DeleteWith regard to the black-painted faces inspired by the Black And White Minstrel Show, it must be remembered that UB40 had black members in the group, so it wasn't an issue with them if such a video was completed, and in those days, black people found it fun and gave them a limelight, so there was no PC issues there.
In fact the two rastafarians in the group had their faces painted white in the same video, and so reading between the lines, it was a show of mutual respect for both black and white on Dream A Lie, and so there would be no need to edit it out of the show, so well done the BBC!
obviously i noticed that the two black guys in the band had themselves done in "whiteface". (and as i've already noted, those inbetween did half and half). but watching it now still makes me feel a bit uneasy, and in my opinion there's no way anyone would do that these days. even if the entire band was black!
DeleteNeil Diamond had just done blackface in his 1980 version of The Jazz Singer, so even though the Black and White Minstrels had been cancelled the "tradition" was proving hard to shift.
Deletefor the first time in a while it's a 2-parter (or should that be a "double a-sided single"?):
ReplyDeletehall & oates: oh - they're not actually performing. with a new single to promote, why not? as puzzling as ever, although maybe they did so at the time (in the manner that the next act did) but the single dropped after that? daryl hall has a pretty cool leather jacket on...
robert palmer: ...but not as cool as mr palmer's double-breasted affair! his "backing band" (including the great neil hubbard on guitar) don't quite measure up to him in the fashion stakes, but at least most of them have made an effort... unlike grizzly adams on drums! for me this guy always effortlessly exuded style, although his music usually failed to match up. this was one of the exceptions, screaming from the rooftops what the 80's would sound like, and probably too-far-ahead-of-it's-time in that respect (that might explain it's failure to set the charts on fire). never mind the air-marimba playing, robert doesn't seem sure of the lyrics of his own song! the parent album "clues" features a couple of collaborations with gary numan, although like most of palmer's music they promised more than they delivered...
bev bevan: another walk on guest, this time the drummer of "the ELO" (get it right tommy, it's either the electric light orchestra or ELO!). perhaps inevitably, when tommy asks bev to sum up his book in one word he uses about 30! still, at least (unlike hall & oates and the motels) we got to listen to (the) ELO's latest effort. not that it was worth it as it was about as cutting edge as bev's shagpile haircut! as for legs, the song's title gave choreographer flick the excuse to take it easy this week. rosie still persists with the hideous crimping shears, but i do like gill's new 80's big-hairstyle...
stray cats: come in showaddywaddy, your time is up! although i never understood why people insisted on trying to revive the rock and roll sound of a bygone age in what for me were the two most creative decades in pop (the 70's and 80's), at least this lot had to be admired for trying to sound at least sort-of contemporary. and they look really cool too, especially brian setzer (was he ever nicknamed "alka"?) with his bouncing blond quiff (dave from showaddywaddy take note!). and like neil hubbard, brian's no slouch on guitar either. as i discovered when i accompanied a friend who's a big fan of theirs to one of their reunion gigs a few years back (i have to say that although not really my musical cup of tea, i enjoyed the show very much... and from a distance they looked exactly the same as they do here!)
madness: this has all the classic ingredients of the nutty sound, but (unlike "one step beyond" and "night boat to cairo") it never quite did it for me. i enjoyed watching the expanding "horn section" on the video though!
Hall & Oates were actually at their chart peak this week at No.33 with Kiss On My List, which is my favourite of their entire catalogue, and they really should have been performing it in the studio, as they were there in person.
DeleteWhy didn't Vance tell us there were up to No.33 this week? I would have preferred them over Showaddywaddy for the studio performance this week, cos the following week they started to fall down the charts!
Re 50s revivalists, I've always thought the best one of the lot was Chris Isaak, who did some really classy stuff on his early albums and for my money sometimes out-orbisoned Orbison! I wasn't too keen on his recent Sun Records tribute album, mind you.
DeleteShowaddywaddy, hmm, it says a lot for your band when you're upstaged by your novelty guitar. Presumably the classic, shake up the oldies, doo wop version by the Marcels was back in the public consciousness for its expert use at the abrupt ending of An American Werewolf in London? Or was that not out yet? Whatever, this was a tame cover.
ReplyDeleteUB40, when this started I thought oh dear, that special effect is having an unfortunate consequence but then it cleared up and turned out we were indeed watching a minstrel show. With a tune very inferior to The Earth Dies Screaming there's not much else to do but sit there till it's over, presumably they were trying to outwacky Madness? I was getting a Papa Lazarou vibe, especially with the unexplained bone.
Robert Palmer, classy, driving tune even with the Patrick Moore xylophone break, I really like the choppy guitar sound that pops up from the hurried beat, with Bob's cool as a cucumber vocals sliding over the top of it. Oh, and check out the beardy weirdy on drums.
ELO, not one of their most committed tunes, more a "will this do?" filler for the soundtrack album. And it's "Walk Away", Legs & Co, not "Walk About a Bit". They barely broke a sweat.
Stray Cats, a real earworm, I remember watching this at the time and thinking it was incredibly menacing. All it needs is footage of a juvenile delinquent racing hot rods, maybe that was in the video? Always surprises me to see there were only three In the band, oh, and that's how you use a double bass, UB40.
Madness, a more serious song from them (about racism), and with a more serious video, not one of the brass section took flight around the studio. Fantastic saxophone on this.
The ABBA to finish, I wish the bloke on the titular spotlight would flash it in time with the lyrics like he's trying to, I notice it every time. As for the guests, Hall and Oates obviously couldn't get their work permit in time, though at least Tommy made more of an effort with the questions than he did with Bev, who was justifiably confused by his queries, and Martha was obviously suffering a little jet lag (ahem). Glad they described their sound because I can't bring it to mind.
Hard for us Brits to remember The Motels' new wave sound, as they only had two minor hits over here, "Whose Problem" and "Days Are OK", which peaked at 42 and 41 in late '80 and early '81 respectively. They checked in with two number 9 hits across the pond.
Deleteto me the motels duo were screaming "noo yoik noo wave" even before they opened their mouths, and yet they actually came from los angeles - it's funny how you think all the punky bands come from the east coast and all the hippy bands from the west coast...
DeleteNot only couldn't I bring the Motels' sound to mind, I had no idea who they were! An American Werewolf in London came out the following year.
DeleteOnce again TOTP uses the original Blondie video for the top ten rundown, and their own patchwork video if shown in full.
ReplyDeleteOh please, do we need to have the original video dangled like a carrot in front of us, but we are not allowed to see it, in favour of a TOTP-rustled up video of their own with too many still images? It's like confiscating the original as if we are all babies or teenagers, and not mature adults.
Did you want the BBC to edit the proper video into the original TOTP broadcasts?
DeleteNo, I wanted the BBC in 1980 to show the original video when at No.1, but instead they only featured a couple of seconds of it in the top ten rundown when not at No.1 with patchwork video made by the BBC.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletesong but people are getting bored with them now. Never mind they can go back where they came from doing end of pier shows and Butlins gigs.
ReplyDeleteThe Earth Dies Screaming / Dream A Lie was UB40's interim single between their first and second albums, neither track is as good as the last two singles but it's good to hear them again. I have no recollection of this video at all and it was a bit of a shock. Considering the obvious political overtones of the images the lyrics are fairly straightforward about a love affair gone wrong.
My god Hall and Oates look young even though they weren't that young at the time. I was never a massive fan but bought one or two of their later singles and then discovered the Abandoned Luncheonette album in the 1900s. Superb stuff. Tommy seems to be directly all his questions to Daryl Hall, maybe it's because he's taller than John Oates.
I bought this Robert Palmer single at the time and loved it to bits. I remember seeing the video which showed him on a white background standing on oversize child's building bricks and playing air xylophone but when I checked it out on YouTube the video was slightly demonic showing Robert walking along a corridor with lots of people dressed in strange animal masks like an outtake from The Wicker man. Maybe the video I saw was for a TV show possibly Swap Shop or Get It together?
The incredibly tall Bev Bevan - one part flue brush to two parts giraffe - last seen on the 1973 show when Kenny Everett almost knocked him over. I used to have a copy of this book and there were one or two references to groupies in it that Bev might have wished that he hadn't included given the current climate.
For some reason I remember Don't Walk Away very well, maybe because it reminded me of someone I knew at the time. A very subdued Legs routine to suit the downbeat mood of the song. BTW it's not Bev Bevan's song as I thought Tommy's comment implied, it's penned by Jeff Lynne as always.
Tommy reads out the 30-21 chart placings and is in his element when he gets to AC/DC at number 23. "Welcome to Berkshire" indeed.
The Stray Cats put Waddy clearly in the shade. This has BIG HIT written all over it. Drummer Slim Jim married to Britt Ekland in 1982.
The chart part 2 and then a repeat of the new tartan terrors Spandex Bollocks. This seemed really weird at the time but seems quite tame now.
And then the Madness video we all know and love filmed, I believe in The Music Machine, later Camden Palace. This was the Madness song that did it for me, I bought every single and every album after that. My grandmother lived in Camden Town and she was always saving me cuttings about Madness who were always being mentioned in the local paper. The song from the Absolutely album Not Home today was based on a Camden resident Perry Buckland (Chas Smash's cousin) who was wrongly sent to jail for a murder he didn't commit.
The Top Ten and then the ABBA video we all know and love. Lyrically this reminds me a bit of Road Ode by The Carpenters being about the problems of touring and missing a loved one.
I recall this Young and Co song for being part of a disco-pop medley called Bits and Pieces. It was banned from broadcast (although not from discos/clubs) because they had used the tracks without permission but the part of it that featured Beatles songs was copied by Stars On 45 and the rest is history.
Hall & Oates were one of those acts who were massive in the States but nowhere near as big over here. It's perhaps slightly ironic, therefore, that Daryl Hall is something of an anglophile who has spent a lot of time over here in more recent years.
Deletei always thought the (the tall, blond, clean-shaven) daryl hall should have ditched (the short, swarthy, moustachio'd) john oates for a solo career as he was obviously the face and the voice of that duo, with the other one being a bit of an andrew ridgeley. yet when he finally did, he couldn't give away his records!
Deletehopefully H&O will get their chance to shine if they carry on showing the old TOTP's next year, as their classic "i can't go for that (no can do)" brought them right into focus with the great british record-buying public (thanks to one jonathan king featuring them in his "what's happening in the USA" segment that started up on TOTP that year!)
Daryl Hall's solo single Dreamtime was a neato record that should have been a bigger hit.
DeleteI've no idea how H&O worked behind the scenes, but perhaps Oates was a musical mastermind who brought the hit-making magic Hall couldn't produce on his own?
DeleteWas there a last minute switch in the guest line up? TV back announces UB40 by saying they're from Birmingham and then introduces Hall and Oates from Philadelphia in a car crash of a link. A few minutes later up pops Bev Bevan from... Birmingham
DeleteJust realised the first line of my post disappeared somewhere, it should start:
DeleteShowaddywaddy kick off the show for one last time. It's a good song...
Overall, I think this was probably the most enjoyable show we have seen since the strike. The new format finally seemed to be coming together by this point (though admittedly there were still too many "special guests"), and they even managed to break the Top 30 down into three even segments for a change. Though he's come in for a bit of criticism here, I thought Tommy Vance did another highly professional job overall, and showed off his musical knowledge impressively. He did lose it a bit while interviewing Bev Bevan, but perhaps he was put off by that appalling hairdo! I had no idea Bev was a published author - that can be filed alongside drumming and reviving bands long after the creative masterminds have departed as one of his achievements!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Showaddywaddy thought when they saw The Stray Cats? They must have known then (if they didn't already) that their chart days were strictly numbered. I must confess that I have always disliked The Marcels' version of Blue Moon (I thought Elvis did it a lot better as a slow croon during his Sun days), so the Waddy's effort left me feeling very cold indeed. Brian Setzer and friends, by contrast, were youthful, modern and dynamic, giving the rockabilly sound a whole new lease of life and looking great in the process. A shame really that it would be Shaky who ended up taking the bulk of the revivalist chart glory in this era...
Elsewhere, UB40 delivered a typically dull tune, but you certainly couldn't say the same for that video! I'm slightly surprised BBC4 had the courage to show this, but good on them for doing so - perhaps the fact that there was both blacking and whiting up going on made it acceptable to the compliance unit. For a generally very staid and conservative band, this was quite a bold statement by UB40, but perhaps it seemed less provocative back then than now. Their future collaborator Robert Palmer, meanwhile, was his normal smooth and professional self in a very slick performance. This song isn't in the same league as Johnny and Mary or some of his later hits, but it's decent enough. Just a shame the drummer didn't make more effort to fit in with his bandmates - that beard made him look twice as old as the rest of them!
ELO were scraping the barrel with this tedious offering, but at least Legs gave plenty of sensuous glances to the camera as they strolled around the studio. Madness, meanwhile, deliver one of their best songs, unusually hard-hitting for them and with a nicely atmospheric video to match.
ABBA, of course, would not survive at the top until Christmas, but Tommy's speculation did set me wondering how many songs might have been number 1 but would be foiled because of John Lennon's death. Vienna would seem the most obvious casualty, but does anyone have other contenders that they would like to nominate?
"vienna" had its rise to the top notoriously blocked by the "novelty" record "shadup you face" for 3 weeks, although according to wikipedia it was also held back from the top spot by the last gasp of the lennon "let's buy his record because he's died" lunacy. also according to wikipedia "vienna" actually outsold both those singles (that were probably bought by punters who didn't usually go anywhere near a record shop), which does make rather a mockery of the charts. but maybe that's cold comfort to midge ure and co?
DeleteFather Abraham & The Smurfs were stuck at No.2 for a staggering 6 weeks in the summer of 1978, and their foil was one of the Grease releases. Imagine what could have been for the Smurfs. 6 weeks at No.1 for them and Father Abraham.
Deletei'd rather not, thanks - "grease" was definitely the lesser of the two evils!
DeleteVienna's first week at number 2 saw it stuck behind Lennon's Woman, before Joe Dolce took over at the top. My own theory is that the distortions caused to the chart by Lennon's death robbed Ultravox of the vital momentum they needed to get to the top, whereas Mr Dolce's effort came out late enough to avoid the same fate.
Deleterather sadly, robert palmer's beardie drummer wouldn't look out-of-place among the youth of today...
DeleteIt wasn't just about No.2's John G.
DeleteIf we examine this week's performance by Robert Palmer in the TOTP studio, it then resulted in 5 consecutive weeks at No.33 till the end of December, and then only in the first chart of 1981, did it drop out of the top 40! Now that is a rarity indeed.
The sell more copies comment wssn't related to an indvidual week, but was total sales over its life - Vienna had a much longer shelf life than the other two hits that kept it off the top.
Delete'I'm too sexy' by Right said Fred - 6 weeks at no.2 behind you-know-what in August/September 1991
DeleteThe other one that springs to mind is 'Ruby don't take your love to town' by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. Five weeks at no.2 Dec 1969 - Jan 1970 including the two weeks over Christmas where there was only one chart published and a surprising 'bounce back'. The sequence from Dec 6th - Jan 24th runs:-
Delete3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4 - 2
...and no.1 for most of this time? Rolf Harris.
Dory - the Robert Palmer chart stat you mention is an interesting quirk, though how much it owes to the "Lennon effect" is debatable. What I am really interested in is singles that might have made number 1 if Lennon had lived, and I think Vienna is the prime candidate. In the Air Tonight and Antmusic might also have reached the top in normal circumstances, but we will of course never know for sure.
Deleteof course what they should have done was ban all the lennon records from the charts, as it was obvious they weren't being bought for the right reasons i.e. because people liked the music! let's pretend the lennon thing never happened and all those who only got to no. 2 thanks to that happening really got to no. 1 in an alternate universe. one thing is for sure: there's no way lennon would have got anywhere near the top of the charts if he hadn't been shot - in his case, it was literally "number one with a bullet"!
DeleteWould the England 1970 World Cup Squad have got to no.1 in 1970 with 'Back Home' if we hadn't won the World Cup in 1966 I wonder?
DeleteWhile I liked Bohemian Rhapsody I would so loved Laurel and Hardy to have made Number 1 with Trail Of The Lonesome Pine, even if for just one week in 1975/76. They went from 9 to 3 to 2 back to 3 to 2 and then to number 11 tussling with Greg Lake but neither could shift Queen from Number 1 and Laurel and Hardy had a ready made video..
DeleteThat Laurel & Hardy tune and 'video' which got to No.2 at Christmas 1975, was originally released in 1937 for the film Way Out West when the boys were in full flow in their Hal Roach studio careers, and I'm not sure why 38 years later they found a renaissance enough for a pop chart release.
DeleteI'd have loved to have seen Greg Lake get to number one - my favourite Xmas tune along with The Waitresses' top 45 classic.
DeleteMention of Laurel and Hardy's renaissance reminded me of a series I was fascinated with as a young lad - BBC1's "Golden Silents" from 1969, shot at the British Film Institute and compered by Michael Bentine, who gave a critique of silent comedies made by the likes of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. Of course, on 'the other side' in the same era, you had Bob Monkhouse with "Mad Movies".
There showing some old Bob Monkhouse comedy film clip shows on the Talking Pictures, channel unfortunately at 6am.
DeleteThe Laurel and Hardy song made the chart because United Artists had just released an album of comedy sketches and songs from L&H films (this was the days before videos so it was the nearest you could get to seeing them). Trail Of The lonesome Pine proved so popular it was released as a single. There was also a follow up single called Another Fine Mess but it bombed.
The album was part of UA's Golden Age Of Hollywood series and further singles from other albums were Lullaby Of Broadway by Winifred Shaw and As Time Goes By by Dooley Wilson which both charted..
Her indoors was heard to exclaim "indeed!" when embarrassment was introduced after the Motels slot... (Don't remember the video at all!)
ReplyDeleteAs this week was the only showing of Don't Walk Away, it stayed in the back third (30-20 region) of the chart rock-solidly until the beginning of January, and still stayed top 30 at Xmas, and while the original Christmassy video was not shown on TOTP in favour of Legs & Co, it is probably the greatest ever animated video of all time, and here it is.
ReplyDeleteI challenge anyone on this blog to come up with a better animation music video than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzwveN64C28
This fittingly was the last of 6 releases from Xanadu, which meant that there was a Xanadu track constantly in the charts for a staggering 8 months from May to December 1980.
Dory - your ELO taste is impeccable! I hope you've got a ticket for the tour next year - I certainly have, but I don't think we'll be hearing 'Don't walk away' sadly. btw the 35 year old plug for Bev Bevan's book sees it currently selling for over £50 on eBay!
DeleteI'm blushing. I better get my copy of Bev Bevan's book. £50+? It must be very good reading for that price!
DeleteWell we will now have no ELO until Autumn 1981 on these reruns when Hold On Tight gets to be the first release from the legendary Time Album, so it was fitting that Don't Walk Away would see out 1980 in some style to close the door on the Xanadu album releases for one final time just before Xmas.
I had a copy about 5 years ago and sold it on eBay for around £40 to a buyer in Japan.
Deletei'm guessing that we'll be lucky to see robert palmer in action again on totp, so here's one more thing about him: i once read that some guy was playing one of palmer's records in his flat, and then there was a knock on the door. he answered it to find palmer himself standing in front of him! apparently palmer had been walking past when he heard his music being played, and decided to get a bit of feedback from the listener...
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic to see that in this week's chart in 1980, Palmer and UB40 were on the same show in their first year of chart presence, and then 10 years later in 1990 we would see them join forces for their combined effort called I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, which was for me their finest moment in their illustrious careers across all their solo and collaborative singles.
DeleteGoes to show that you can be stronger as a couple than being single, haha.
Another Robert Palmer anecdote that I remember for some reason- he called the driveway leading to his not-inconsiderable home the 'Tina Turner drive' because it was paid for with the royalties from her version of Addicted To Love.
DeleteWell I have watched the show and I have to say really enjoyed most of it.
ReplyDeleteShowaddywaddy – Very short version of a much covered tune. Not ‘over the moon’ about that one and were they really that good live as Tommy alluded to?
UB40 – Ah-ha I don’t recall this being on the show at all. I was only commenting the other week that I felt that ‘Dream a lie’ was the better of the two A sides. Presumably the video was an ironic take on the B&W Minstrels, but nonetheless a surprise.
Robert Palmer – Nothing special – the bearded drummer looks familiar.
Bev Bevan interview; Bev looked very ‘rock star’ with his unbuttoned shirt and plug for his autobiography which, as I observed elsewhere is much sought after now. Bev gets to introduce his latest hit…
ELO – Yes it’s a slow song and yes it’s the fourth Jeff Lynne song from the ‘Xanadu’ album (the fifth and final Jeff Lynne song ‘The Fall’ was not released as a single). But for me, in the words of Vanessa Williams, it’s ‘saving the best ‘til last’. Legs and Co. look both alluring and sexy in their largely static ‘dance routine’. But it’s a slow song and for me it totally works. Would have liked to have seen more but it cut at the advent of the second chorus. Great B Side to this single also – ‘Across the Border’ from ‘Out of the Blue’ which became much played on Radio 2 in later years.
Stray Cats – Great song and performance, and tattoos in those days were quite unusual. The drummer ‘Slim’ Jim Phantom married Britt Ekland, so there’s a little link there with the current no.17 in the charts…
Spandau Ballet – Steve from Eastenders looked like he was chewing gum all the way through this!
Madness – Hilarious video (sorry, film). The way the saxophone players increased and then decreased was a real hoot.
Chart rundown – ‘I’m not the kind of girl who gives up just like that’ – perplexing. Was the other video that TOTP showed official or not? Debbie is definitely singing the words to ‘tide is high’ in it, so it must have some air of authenticity. Bring on Tash, Jenny and Liz 22 years later…
Abba – Just wonderful. Nine number ones and not a duff one amongst them. A year later ‘One of us’ should have been the tenth but stalled at no.3 behind Cliff and the Human League.
Young & Co. – playout went on and on and on ….(hey, that’s another Abba song from ‘Super Trouper’).
I think both Blondie videos for The Tide is High are now accepted as official videos. The one that TOTP used when at No.1 is the the only one that currently is available on iTunes to download and keep, but it will be nice if they can also offer the original video where Blondie flirts with Darth Vader at the end.
DeletePleased to say that a total of five videos from the performers on this week's show are available on iTunes for download and keep:
(12) - Madness - Embarrassment
(11) Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short
(10) UB40 - Dream A Lie
(2) Blondie - The Tide Is High (TOTP alternative version shown when No.1)
(1) Abba - Super Trouper
Just realised, Blondie hit no.1 with 'The Tide is High'. So did Atomic Kitten. Blondie also hit no.1 with 'Atomic', Prophetic or irrelevant?!
DeleteRobert Palmer's drumer was Dony Wynn, he's still going strong today.
DeleteInterestingly the 12 inch B side of Looking For Clues was Style Kills, co-written with Gary Numan.
as i've mentioned above, the guitarist in palmer's totp band was neil hubbard (ex-kokomo, studio session doyen and regular bryan ferry collaborator). he didn't actually play on the original recording (palmer did much of the instrumentation himself on the album) so surely he wouldn't be hired just to mime on top of the pops? i would guess that this was palmer's touring band of the time. i could be completely wrong here, but i am wondering if the keys/marimba player is palmer's namesake david, ex of jethro tull and later to have a sex change and become dee? as for the bassist, i have no idea - can anyone help...?
Deletei remember watching a video of palmer and his band playing live on "the tube" around 1983, and by then we was doing his material as a medley rather than individual songs, which must have been quite demanding for his musicians!
Late to the show this week, but not as late as Stephanie Mills, wrongly rumoured by some to be on this edition. Stephanie’s been married three times, each union lasting about two years on average, and she has a Down’s Syndrome child.
ReplyDeleteGreat chart prediction by TV for the latest weak tea effort by the ‘Waddy. Was it dress down day for the lads, were their teddy boy suits down the cleaners, or had they realised their time was almost up so why bother looking the part any more? I thought Buddy ‘bom bom’ Gask’s actions looked ridiculous.
I liked UB40’s mickey take of the Black and White Minstrels, even down to the half caste lads having ‘milk and plain’ faces, and I quite liked the tune, a ballad which cut to the bone (see what I did there?), but I found the inside of Ali Campbell’s mouth alarming against all that monochrome, and why was sax player Brian Travers miming with a clarinet?
Sounded like Adam and the Ants behind Hall and Oates – at least they were better interviewees than those Motel types – then came a candidate for worst mimer of the re-run, Robert Palmer’s xylophonist, plus a drummer who wouldn’t look out of place with today’s draft laddish trend of growing a Dickensian beard. An underrated song by Robert, much like “Johnny and Mary”.
Bev Bevan reminded me of Dougal from “The Magic Roundabout”, but he wasn’t as magic as Gill, the only Legger in a sublime two-piece for an ELO song I don’t remember. Patti was really cheerful, wasn’t she? By the way, seeing as it was stated the girls looked like they were dressed like sweet wrappers, the answer to my question about the first lost Revel flavour was strawberry.
I can hear ‘Waddy singer Dave Bartram utter “Oh, Bo££ocks” on seeing the dynamic, vibrant upgrade of the 50’s sound by The Stray Cats, The audience obviously loved it. No wonder the double bassist had plasters on some fingers – if he played his instrument like that all the time, his digits would end up looking like that bone in UB40’s video.
Talking of that video, and here’s a dubious link, was Mike Barson also blacked up when playing his keyboards? A Madness classic, and I loved the way the sax got bigger with each additional band member.
Interesting to see Dory's comment two shows back as to why the "Darth Vader" video for Blondie's chart topper might not have been shown (Debbie flashes a boob when doing her Mollie Weir clean-up of the floor)...wasn't this the same piece of footage used to accompany Blondie in the rundown this week?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Arthur. The BBC has lost its marbles, and they even showed that flash of boob in this weeks chart rundown No.2 position when Blondie were knocked of the No.1 spot. Good grief, they might as well have showed this Darth Vader video after all, for the two weeks that Blondie was at No.1!
DeleteJust noticed that Blondie will appear in two more chart rundowns in the first two shows of December 1980, so lets see which part of the darth vader video they show.
DeleteMadonna flashed both boobs in the Papa Don't Preach video, I remember Bruno Brookes making a quip about it when he was on TOTP.
Deletethe slits went topless on their first album cover, but i don't know if they made any videos to match?
DeleteWilby, there's two seconds' worth at 4:24 in The Slits' video for "Typical Gilrls"...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCk8tEOcwqU
The research I have to do for this forum! :-D
There are plenty of videos with people other than the singer/band in a state of undress (I'm guessing we won't be seeing THAT Duran Duran video on TOTP), but not many with the singer/band themselves going starkers. Which brings us with overwhelming inevitability to Sabrina...
DeleteOh yes, Sabrina, it was 1988 in her video for Boys Boys Boys, when she came out of the swimming pool with a wet white t-shirt and revealing a nipple.
DeleteI remember having the uncut video as part of a compilation video of 1988 hot singles, which included The Fat Boys with Wipeout on the same VHS compilation.
Wonder if I still have it somewhere? I was 20 at the time in 1988, and Sabrina was a very welcome newcomer on our TV screens for people my age in 1988.
And what a beautiful voice she had, not tone deaf in the slightest. More cynical artistes would have relied on their looks to get a hit record.
DeleteI've always been quite partial to the sleeve of Sabrina's follow up single to 'Boys Boys Boys' - the number 25 hit 'All of me'.
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DeleteThe other two top 10 rundowns that 'The Tide is High' appears in are on YT (search on Top of the Pops 4th December' or 11th December) if anyone can't wait for the next two Thursdays.....
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DeleteAha, you let the cat out of the bag sct353.
DeleteBlondie only appears in a clip from the other video on the two December shows chart rundown, and alas not that boob we saw on the darth vader video on the chart rundown of 27th Nov!
I'm sure at the time in 1980 the Beeb did not look that closely, and just put on the show whatever was at hand for the chart rundowns, but here we are with a microscope dissecting everything like a science.
Just goes to show that this blog is working pretty damn good 35 years later!
thx i agree that sabrina had a voice like an angel - the fact that she had a big pair of tits as well was purely incidental...
Deletei was watching the show again tonight (in the comfort of someone else's lounge as opposed to having headphones on in my bedroom), and i think i'm the first one here to point out that showaddywaddy got a "blue moon" guitar specially made for their appearance...?
ReplyDeletei'm guessing that the sax player used a clarinet to emphasise the "black and white" theme in the UB40 video, although the bassist never followed suit - they should have filmed it in monochrome really for the full effect. also, (without trying to sound like i'm one of the right-on-pc-brigade) arthur you're showing your age by referring to a couple of band members as "half caste" - it might have been alright to describe them thus in 1980, but you're supposed to refer to such people as "mixed race" these days! i think norman hassan was of arabic descent anyway...
and yes, barso was also definitely blacked up in the madness video - perhaps doing a fats waller impression? it was likely done in irony rather than ignorance, but it's still not a good move - even then!
Yeah, I mentioned Showaddywaddy were upstaged by their guitar. The Madness song is about the shocked reaction to a mixed race couple, so I suppose that explains the blackface in the video.
DeleteSorry about that, Wilby and everyone else, no bad intent meant whatsoever by my description of the lads in UB40. I do get mixed up as to what terms we are and aren't supposed to use. A classic example of how things have changed over time is that Mungo Jerry got their name because Ray Dorset is mixed race, and the local term round our way for mixed race in the 60's was a mungo!
DeleteI also see your point about the clarinet instead of the sax. Hadn't thought of that, and neither had the double bass player by the look of it, but I liked his playing the instrument kneeling down. No plasters evident on his fingers, though, which suggests he didn't play it as brutally as the lad in The Stray Cats!
Mike Barson blacks up again as an Indian gentleman on the front cover and label of their 1982 album The Rise and Fall to tie in with the song "New Delhi".
DeleteOf all things, I was the victim of a spoiler (if that's possible for a 35 year old show) about the UB40 video by a friend. I think that I was vaguely aware of its existence anyway, but fair play to the BBC for leaving it in. I think it's fair game given that it's clearly poking fun. I also think that the song is the better half of the double A side.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see Hall & Oates I always think of the silly Big Train sketch where they were detectives on a London housing estate or somesuch. I'm pretty sure that Kevin Eldon was 'Oates'.
Robert Palmer gives a pretty cool performance, doesn't he? 'Looking For Clues' has a very odd song structure, I remember it standing out at the time when it was played on radio.
I LOVE the ELO song, unusually amongst us here it seems. Also I'll go against the grain by saying that I didn't really like The Stray Cats then and I don't like them now.
The Madness song is really good, nice understated video (by Madness standards!) as well - shame that radio just plays the same 2 or 3 songs of theirs over and over again.
As a whole, the show was very slick - I thought Tommy Vance did a very good job and handled it like a radio show (maybe that's why he had the odd slip with the camera - perhaps he forgot that he was being TV on TV!) especially with the Number One where he talked up to the vocal!
How on earth did Stephanie Mills get to no.4 this week? It doesn't sound like anything different to a record that struggles to even make top 20.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does - the video sounds like it was filmed underwater!
DeleteI just watched the video in full, and it's hard to know if it's in Hampstead Heath or The Lake District, or if it is even in the UK, considering that she comes from New York, so it's probably an American heath.
DeleteWas just looking up Stephanie Mills, and it appears that she was only 23 in this video, and it goes to show that people then looked about 10 years older than they do now at the same age, so typically a 30 year-old on TOTP in 1980 would look like a 40 year-old now. Just look at the faces on Air Supply's video on All Out of Love, and you get my drift.
So Robert Palmer's drummer was really only 57!
DeleteThe only exceptions to this would be people like David Bowie and Tom Jones who seem to defy age and keep looking younger through time.
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