That's all for 1984 ~ Ohhhhhhhhh Kayyyyyyyyyy!
27/12/84 (Lenny Henry)
Spandau Ballet – “Only When You Leave”
Getting us underway with a song that peaked at number 3 in the summer.
Ultravox – “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”
Also peaked at number 3 and their final top ten hit.
Slade – “My Oh My”
It made it to number 2 last Christmas.
Neil – “Hole In My Shoe”
A live vocal from Neil, adding amusing festive lyrics to his number 2 hit from the summer.
Chaka Khan – “I Feel For You” (video)
Her only number one hit.
Shakin’ Stevens – “A Love Worth Waiting For”
A number two from the beginning of the year.
Bronski Beat – “Smalltown Boy”
Their debut hit from the spring which peaked at number 3.
Paul McCartney – “No More Lonely Nights” (video clip)
Shame Paul didn't come into the studio to perform one of these songs instead of the video clips. This first one got to number 2.
Paul McCartney – “Pipes Of Peace” (video clip)
The first new number one hit of the year.
Bananarama – “Robert De Niro’s Waiting”
Made it to number 3.
Lionel Richie – “Hello” (video)
A very big number one.
Black Lace – “Agadoo”
A very big number two.
The Flying Pickets – “Only You”
Dressed as choirboys this time to perform last year's Christmas number one.
Joe Fagin – “That’s Living Alright”
The number 3 hit from Auf Wiedersehen Pet.
Stevie Wonder – “I Just Called To Say I Love You” (video)
Stevie's only solo number one hit. This also highlights the folly of getting rid of the resident dance troupe. We've already seen this flying toast many times over now, but a Legs & Co routine here would at least have spread a tasty topping on it.
Ray Parker Jr – “Ghostbusters” (audience dancing/credits)
It peaked at number 2.
Next Friday sees the two launch shows of 1985, with 'The Story of' and 'Big Hits'. So that means a new name is once again needed for the blog, and all suggestions are now very welcome!
Our normal DJ hosts are still absent, but Lenny Henry steps into the breach for this one - he was actually presenting shows on Radio 1 around this time, so it's not as random a choice as it may seem. He was also at the peak of his comedy career, and I used to enjoy his TV show as a kid, but on the basis of the characters and impressions deployed in the links here, you would have to say the humour has not aged well. Having said that, Theophilus P Wildebeeste did still manage to raise a bit of a smile, as did that distinctly un-PC Stevie Wonder impression...
ReplyDeleteThis show isn't as good as the Christmas Day edition, running out of steam towards the end and having to rely much more on some very familiar videos. Ultravox, Bronski Beat and the Nanas were the pick of the songs for me - I'm not 100% sure, but this may well have been the last time that Ultravox ever appeared on the show. I liked Neil's festive adaptations of his hit, as well as the "My White Bicycle" intro, while the Pickets looked liked the world's creepiest choirboys. The latest Ghostbusters playout was also quite amusing, thanks to the two young chaps who were standing around chatting and then started guiltily dancing when they realised they were in shot. It looked as if the hand-held camera also bashed into another dancer at one point.
Thanks as ever Angelo for guiding us through another fascinating year, and I look forward to 1985, even though I think the overall standard does start to slip from here. As for blog titles, You Spin Me Round and Out in the Fields spring to mind. Happy New Year!
I would add Only When You Leave and No More Lonely Nights to those three.
DeleteThis show was more memorable for Lenny Henry and his comic characters than the actual music artists, but I did like the fact that the Ghostbusters playout was at last played in full, after a number of shortened playouts across two separate releases of the song in the second half of 1984.
DeleteLenny Henry was my favourite comedian when I was a kid, so this edition would have been great for me. Don't think I watched it at the time, though. Not sure. Anyway, he still made me laugh, not consistently, but he was such an affable performer.
ReplyDeleteSpandau Ballet, this sounds pretty great at the top of the show, though the increasingly mullet-tastic band are heavy on the self-congratulation scale.
Ultravox, still flogging the Feed the World T-Shirts. Wouldn't be an 80s Christmas without a nuclear winter.
Slade, imagine if Dave had worn a Feed the World T-shirt for this performance. This has not grown on me, and seems to go on for bloody ages.
Neil, new material and all, laughed at this too, well, a bit. I thought the joke was "Why do little bears walk softly?", not ducks.
Chaka, the video again - get used to the preponderance of videos. ABBA were on to something.
Shaky sounded surprisingly Christmassy, maybe because he was holding back on his actual Christmas record. Didn't mind this at all.
Bronski Beat, and Jimmy looks absolutely sweltering. High precision balloon aiming is becoming a theme here.
A Macca double bill on video, one more familiar than the other, but they're two of his better solo hits for me. Note Doctor Who used the Pipes of Peace trick this Christmas.
Bananarama looking very cheery considering the subject matter of their song. They all have the same kind of shoes on.
Lionel, still making me laugh with that big reveal. "What a nice bust of... Rondo Hatton?!"
Black Lace, not making me laugh at all, but something for the audience participation brigade.
The Flying Chancers, oi, you've had your fifteen minutes, get off!
Joe Fagin looking even more like a pub singer, if that's possible.
What if Stevie was phoning Lionel's girlfriend? Didn't think of that, did you?
Ghostbusters to see us out, and given that it's supposed to be an end of year party, some very half-hearted dancing on display.
On that downbeat note, I hope all the visitors to this blog have a happy and safe New Year, and thanks of course to Angelo for giving us this forum.
Lenny Henry was not my favourite comedian in the 80s by any stretch, but I must admit that the Beeb pulled off a great trump card to have him presenting this TOTP show, firstly by the fact that there were lots of black artists on the show, and so only a black person could get away with impersonating them without the PC police coming round, for example when Lenny dressed up as Stevie Wonder when introducing the video, and also his rastafarian character which a white person would have been slammed as being racist if impersonating, especially nowadays, so the Beeb were quite clever in getting Lenny to present this Christmas TOTP show.
DeleteThe two characters I liked from Lenny where Algernon Razzmatazz and Trevor McDoughnut, which did always make me laugh at the time. I think what got Lenny his break and his own show in the 80s was the success of his character Trevor McDoughnut on Tiswas which is where the public got first sight of him as a comedian. Still, I much preferred Russ Abbott and his array of characters, which were much more varied and memorable than Lenny Henry in the same 80s era.
i can't say i ever found lenny henry side-splittingly funny. but i'd rather him than russ abbott, who was strictly for the plebs as far as i was concerned. the bad news regarding this blog is concerned is that i think he's going start inflicting his awful records on us soon...!
DeleteThere's an ad appearing on these blog pages with David Bowie apparently promoting an expensive watch - did Dame Dave know anything about this when he was alive, one wonders?
ReplyDeletelike the other end of year compilation, there's very slim pickings as far as i'm concerned - the only one from this show that's in my personal collection is "i feel for you", and that's only a very recent edition due to a chum sending me a load of mp3's on a flash drive from an 80's cd comp - i probably wouldn't have bothered getting hold of it otherwise!
ReplyDeleteso good riddance to bad rubbish as far as 1984 is concerned in my view. i already know for a fact that even though (as john points out) the general standard goes even more downhill, 1985 had a lot more to offer that floated my boat than this year did - including what i might possibly pick as the greatest record of the 80's, were a gun held to my head. therefore for that reason i've decided to stick around a bit longer
of course having previously been intent on quitting at this point, i have given no thought whatsoever to the title of the 1985 blog. a look at "the greatest hits of 1985" album has offered up a a possible choice in "say i'm your number one" (one great track from that year for starters in my view). however "things can only get better" can surely only ever be picked in ironic jest?
the above comments are on the presumption that angelo is happy to carry on as mine host for at least another year? if so, then great and keep up the good work. but if not, then thanks for all the time and effort you've put in anyway!
Cheers wilberforce ~ 1985 is definitely happening, thanks for your blog title suggestions - I have a couple in mind as the front runners so far, but there's still a few days left yet to decide which one to plump for.
Deleteanother suggestion (and another great track of 1985 in my view) has come to mind for the title of the 1985 blog assuming it happens: "don't stop the dance"
ReplyDeleteAn amazing year for chart music, sad to see it end.
ReplyDeletePossible big hit titles for next year
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - though I hate the song. Also Don't You (Forget About Me), a song I like more and so I'd probably be happier with.
i can see why parentheses might be justified for "you spin me round", but what exactly is the point of them for "don't you forget about me"? "don't you" is utterly meaningless on its own, and needs something (not in brackets) after it to make any sense. and i certainly don't remember anybody referring to it as merely "don't you" when it was a hit...
Delete'Now this is what we call Top of the Pops 1985' perhaps?
ReplyDeleteBy the time these repeats air, it will be 33 years since they were first broadcast, therefore how about Sentimental Street for the new blog name?
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed 1984. Not quite as good as 83 but lots to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteA chance for me to catch up before year end as Wifey snoozes on the sofa. This is the first year I've watched these repeats INSTEAD of the new editions,.. must be getting old,
I hadn't heard this Spandau song before these repeats and good to hear it again.
Great Ultravox song and a fond memory from the time, must have been played a lot on the radio as I remember this well from the time and was still 6 months or so from buying my first single with my own pocket money. ..
Notice Midge still has his Feed The World tshirt on
Crucial....not heard that word for a whole...Thanks Lenny.
My oh My it's Slades worst seasonal song. Next...
Neil with probably the best of his 3 appearances. Quite enjoyed this one for a change.
Can listen to this Chaka Khan all day. One of the best 84 has to offer IMHO. Great video too, shame she never did a live TOTP performance.
Shaky with a so so song, had already forgotten this one and it could only have been 5 months ago....
Bronski Beat .just a classic 80s record. Great to see it again. Still good that singles with more diverse subject matter can make it onto primetime. Groundbreaking is the word I think. ..
Bit of a Mccartney medley. Shame no frog chorus. 10 year old me liked that one.
Bananarama on fine form. One of their best songs as well.
Looks like everyone else has left the party and rather than clear up theyre dancing round the kitchen .
So sick of this cheesy Lionel song and video. Goodbye...
Agadoo, do, do ....getting disapproving looks from wifey. ..Might be because I'm joining in...
Ba da da da...Great song, ,getting into this now, ,might be the second beer.
What do they look like? ??
Not a fan of this Joe Fagin effort. Too young for Auf Wiedersehen ... 10 years later and Jimmy Nail would be singing this..
Stevie. This and Lionel have been on this show so many times that my 11 year old knows all the words and keeps singing them. Like father like son. ...driving Wifey mad.
Ghostbusters ..Proper party tune from the time. A nice singalong to finish up 1984.
Thanks Angelo for this great blog. And thank you to all have supplied the contraband editions. Much appreciated.
Happy New Year to one and all.
Bring on 1985
Next year's blog. TOTP aid????
Within 6 months Jimmy nail starts warbling.....
DeleteSome of this was quite emjoyable, and I guess it made sense to round up all the video only No.1s that hadn't been on the previous show even if they were all very familiar to our BBC4 watching eyes.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Nigel Planer for once again providing a unique version of 'Hole In My Shoe' which made it the best thing on the show.
As for 85 blog titles, another vote here for 'You Spin Me Round'. All the best to Angelo and my fellow bloggers for 2018.
A very happy new year to everyone who reads and contributes to this blog and a huge thanks to Angelo for providing it. The music in 1985 might not be quite as good as 84 has been, but I'm sure they'll be plenty of talking points.
ReplyDeletei have just thought of another suitable candidate for the song title of 1985: "get into the groove"
ReplyDeletealso: how about "slave to the rhythm"?
DeleteThat is probably the best one so far. We are after all slaves to technology nowadays as someone told me, so 'Slave To The Rhythm' would work well for 1985.
DeleteAny thoughts on when the performances were recorded? Obviously some were in the studio with Len, but others were pre-recorded. Most of those, though, had Christmas back drops, so it wasn’t just the original performance. So... were these recorded in a couple of extra sessions in the run up to Xmas, or were (at least some) done, as Neil joked, perhaps even months before by a very well organised TOTP team? Or am I just very confused?!
ReplyDeleteI think I liked it most for the Lenny bits and Neil, too.
Thanks all for the great blog and links to the missed episodes. have lurked for a while, far better than the blogs found elsewhere...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to '85 my fave year of the 80's, an idea for the name 'Since Yesterday' as in Strawberry Switchblade which was a hit early in the year.
thanks for the compliment kc, and that's a good suggestion for the 1985 blog title
DeleteAs most of the studio artists on this edition were on the previous edition as part of Band aid I am presuming that both episodes were filmed, in the most part,On the same day. I think that only Howard Jones from the 1st, añd Shaky, Neil and Joe Fagin from the 2nd were missing from the mass, replaced by Weller, Quo and Marilyn.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if anyone watched BBC1's New Years Eve with Nile Rogers & Chic bringing in the New Year on Sunday night/Monday morning at a indoor venue close the the London Eye, with their brilliant studio set and disco sound.
ReplyDeleteIt was jaw-droppingly brilliant, with not only the Chic classics from the late 70s, but also singing other artists' songs that Rogers wrote for, i.e., Let's Dance by David Bowie, some Sister Sledge classics, and also Madonna's Like A Virgin, which was very timely in that it is currently in the BBC4 TOTP reruns at then of 1984/beginning of 1985!
Nile explained to the audience that he was recently close to death with cancer which he has now survived, and subsequently feeling a new lease of life going into 2018. May he live gracefully past 100, as his music has such a good feeling about it, and I couldn't help getting the Chic/Sledge Greatest hits CD back out of the cabinet and have been listening to it all week. Here's to a joyous 2018 everyone. "Dance, Dance, Dance (Keep On Dancing)!"....