Amazingly it's now ten years (ten years!) since BBC4 began showing the repeats of Top of the Pops. And in that time we've seen some truly poptastic editions (and perhaps one or two floptastic ones) featuring some fabulous performances of some of the best songs of all time.
So here's your chance to take a little trip down memory lane and share your own personal top ten (or however many you fancy really) favourite performances from the years 1976 to 1990.
My own favourites...
ReplyDelete10. Antmusic ~ Adam & the Ants. 1980
9. Darts ~ Daddy Cool. 1977
8. Kate Bush (at the piano) ~ Wuthering Heights. 1978
7. 'Jocky' Wilson Said ~ DMR. 1982
6. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (two saxophones at once) ~ Ian Dury and the Blockheads 1979
5. Eyptian Reggae (Legs & Co) ~ Jonathan Richman. 1977
4. This Old House (audience clapalong) ~ Shakin Stevens 1981
3. Love of the Common People (xmas jumper) ~ Paul Young. 1983
2. Boomtown Rats ~ Rat Trap (candleabra sax). 1978.
1. Under the Moon of Love (white/black suits change) ~ Showaddywaddy. 1976.
Nice Top Ten Angelo but this is an impossible task for me. I could do hundreds of Top Tens. Here's one of many from the 70's:
ReplyDelete1. Nice 'n' Sleazy • The Stranglers {1978}
2. Undertones • Here Comes The Summer {1979}*
3. UK Subs • Tomorrow's Girls {1979}*
4. Rezillos • Top Of The Pops {1978}
5. The Jam • Down In The Tube Station {1978}
6. Kursaal Flyers • Little Does She Know [1976}
7. Black Sabbath • Never Say Die {1978}
8. David Bowie • Heroes [1977}
9. Yellow Dog • Just One More Night {1978}
10. Ramones • Don't Come Close {1978}*
* Not on BBC4.
Some great tunes there! It's difficult isn't it? I've already thought of quite a few more I could have added ~ Bucks Fizz Land of Make Believe; Communards Don't Leave Me This Way; Siouxsie and the Banshees Spellbound; and from 1990 Adamski and Seal Killer.
DeleteThanks for this Angelo. 10 years! What a journey it's been!
ReplyDeleteOh it does work. That was a test post! My comments weren't publishing for some reason. Some great choices, Dexys in '82 of course and forgot about Yellow Dog. 'Spellbound' is in my list as well. Later on I'll do a top 30 in chronological order if that's ok. I came late to the blog and I've only seen the BBC4 shows so will restrict mine to just those editions (that misses a heck of a lot!) and no videos. 2 honourary mentions from both those categories:
ReplyDeleteNot on BBC4: The Ruts, Babylon's Burning (21/06/79 & 05/07/79)
Strawberry Switchblade, Since Yesterday (10/01/85 & 24/01/85)
Videos: Gladys Knight & the Pips, Baby Don't Change Your Mind (30/06/77)
Supertramp, The Logical Song (12/04/79)
I was going to do something else first but I'll do a part 1 of my favourites now. Forgive the mostly sentimental comments on some of them.
ReplyDelete1) Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak (29/07/76)
Phil Lynott being indisputably the coolest man in Britain for those 4 or so minutes.
2) Pussycat, Mississippi (28/10/76)
This isn't moving from No.1 any time soon so let's pan to some lights and run the credits. Oh so polite '76 triumphalism for a classic guilty pleasure.
3) Elkie Brooks, Pearl's a Singer (07/04/77)
Totp '77 at it's eccentric finest. Elkie with the perfect late '70s curls and a keyboardist who looks hungover.
4) Delegation, Where Is The Love We Used To Know (05/05/77)
Genuinely sad when this stopped appearing. Beautifully anonymous soul balladry that didn't make the top 20. Picked this performance because it includes one of those uniquely Noel intros where he seems caught between having to introduce the next act and wanting to continue the conversation with whoever he's standing next to.
5) Carly Simon, Nobody Does It Better (18/08/77)
And nobody danced more attractively than Patti does here (goes all bashful)
6) The Rods, Do Anything You Wanna Do (25/08/77)
7) Manhattan Transfer, Walk In Love (23/02/78)
Along with Baker Street the first pop record I ever remember hearing and a so evocative performance.
8) Lindisfarne, Run For Home (08/06/78)
Definately have a far off memory of seeing this on TV. Somewhere. Maybe here. One of the singles of my life.
9. Hi Tension, British Hustle (10/08/78)
10. The Jam, Strange Town (15/03/79)
In a near pitch dark studio (more industrial action?) The Jam pull out an absolutely gripping performance.
11) Judie Tzuke, Stay With Me Till Dawn (12/07/79)
Time halting live vocal performance of one of those singles. Saw her live a few years ago. Wonderful still.
12) Blondie, Dreaming (25/12/79)
13) The Pretenders, Brass In Pocket (03/01/80)
Convinced I saw them do this on 'Swap Shop' when I was really small. Maybe it was here but I remember her look and being mildly scared. Also the guy front and centre with Pretenders hair and jacket who looks, for Chrissie's sake, like he needs his feet chaining to the floor.
14) The Detroit Spinners, Working My Way Back To You (13/03/80)
Legs and Co dressed as roadworkers for a charmingly daft routine. I could literally see my older sister with her friends from our street trying to imitate the dance moves for this.
15) Siouxsie and the Banshees, Spellbound (04/06/81)
From the brief no opening theme tune or chart rundown period, an approach never more powerfully effective than here.
Mic, that's amazing! An overlap of three with my selections and I didn't even look at anyone else's chart first.
DeleteI've been going to Judie Tzuke gigs for many years. The last one was the 'Woman to Woman' tour with Beverley Craven and Julia Fordham which I saw at the Union Chapel.
If I had included videos, then I would certainly have included 'Dreaming' as well.
Isn't she great! Such a sweet person as well. I saw her at Huntingdon Hall in Worcester. That single is so atmospheric. It literally sounds like the dawn and that gorgeous instrumental section. I had no idea until a few years back that she did the original version of 'Come Hell or Waters High', a single I loved as a child when covered by Dee C Lee. XTC's one would've been on my list as well if I'd had a 40. Which performance of it was your favourite. Was it the one with a very jovial Andy Partridge in glasses and blazer? Some great choices in your list Sct
DeleteThe XTC performance was from Jan 28th 1982. Andy has a black jacket and shirt on in this one.
DeleteThere's an hour documentary on Judie Tzuke on Sky Arts on Friday night at Ten o' clock featuring live performances, including Stay with me 'til dawn.
DeleteSorry folks, I got my wires crossed! It features Rickie Lee Jones instead!
DeleteWill try and see Rickie Lee Jones one but Judie Tzuke also more than deserves a Sky Arts feature. Both women appeared on the 12th July '79 edition of Totp. And Supertramp! I really kick myself that I didn't record that one. I'd love Sky Arts to show her appearance at Glastonbury in 1982 which was shown on the LWT 'Cue The Music' series some years later. Some great stuff on there this week. Docs on Al Green on Weds and The Byrds on Fri.
DeleteMic - there is Judie on Youtube performing 'Come Hell or Waters High' on the Leo Sayer Show in 1983 if you're interested...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUgdH85WAck
Thanks Sct. That was great! A really special talent. Bat For Lashes is possibly closest to her in recent years. Dee C Lee's version was substantially different to that with a new chorus added but that opening part I always remember loving.
DeleteOh yes and about 'Brass In Pocket'. I went on the 'TV Pop Diaries' website in an idle period at work (can't recommend the site enough if anyone hasn't visited it), went to 1980 and saw listed a special called 'The Multicoloured Music Show'. It was broadcast on BBC1 at 17.00 on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May '80 which must've been a couple of hours before the channel switched to the drama at the Iranian Embassy. 'Brass In Pocket' appears, maybe the Totp clip, but confirms my memory of Noel Edmonds introducing the performance. She was definiately wearing the boho neckerchief like on Totp. Also debunks the idea that 'Swap Shop' was the dull, straightlaced older brother to 'Tiswas' great as that show also was.
Obviously the best ever TOTP performance was Plastic Bertrand and Legs & Co: Ca Plane Pour Moi.
ReplyDeleteI've chosen ten performances on the show itself rather than 10 favourites from the period (i.e. no videos). So no room for Heart, Toto etc.
ReplyDeleteIn no particular order:
1) Judie Tzuke - Stay with me 'til Dawn - Great live rendition of a classic.
2) Coast to Coast - Do the Hucklebuck - Just love the routine and the way the two girls perform it.
3) Fox - S-s-s-s-Single Bed - The classic performance with the guitar sound made famous by Peter Frampton....everyone at school was singing this the next day.
4) Pussycat - Mississippi - The band rocked up in the studio to sing this live on one occasion. So many good songs not appreciated in the UK.
5) Lindisfarne - Run for Home - Classic Geordie singalong featuring the much missed Alan Hull.
6) Chris de Burgh - The Lady in Red - Much derided chart topper, but Chris performed it live on several occasions in the studio which is more than most could manage.
7) Leo Sayer - When I need you - A true performer who sang this live so well. Great Albert Hammond song.
8) Madonna - Like a Virgin - Who could forget the pink wig?
9) Elton John- Sorry seems to be the hardest word - Just Reg and the piano.
10) XTC - Senses working overtime - The 'one two three four five' line lent itself so well to five different camera shots of Andy Partridge.
I've probably missed some goodies but to produce 10 from 10 years is tough!
I almost had Lindisfarne in my top 10, but it was probably No.11 for me, as my top 10 below was just legendary for me, and brightens up my day, but I'll take Lindisfarne's Run For Home any day.
DeleteWe both got Mississippi by Pussycat, what a gorgeous tune and lives so well in the all time music library for me, especially the video with them taking a boat along the Mississippi shown on TOTP when it was No.1 in 1976
Happy Anniversary, everyone. I found the original forum due to a painfully bad link of Noel’s on a 1976 edition. He referred to a “drell spoon” in-between performances by Alex Harvey and Archie Bell. I looked up the phrase, and there was only one source that came up!
ReplyDeleteHere's Part 2. I hope 30's ok and that others are doing a longer list. There were just too many clips that were too special to ignore.
ReplyDelete1) (Jump back. Forgot this essential choice).
Chic, I Want Your Love (01/03/79)
The monarchs of disco effortlessly ruling the place.
2) Randy Crawford, You Might Need Somebody (18/06/81)
Pure class and a real time machine performance.
3) Orchestral Manouvers In The Dark, Souvenir (03/09/81)
4) Bad Manners, Walking In The Sunshine (15/10/81)
Everyone at primary school loved them and this one was another nice suprise.
5) Mari Wilson, Just What I've Always Wanted (16/09/82)
A total time machine back to being 7.
6) The Lotus Eaters, The First Picture Of You (28/07/83)
A beautifully understated performance of a magical single.
7) Culture Club, Karma Chameleon (22/09/83)
The sound of village youth club late '83 (there were only about 7 singles that were played) and from the time when TOTP seemed like a party every week.
8. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Power of Love (25/12/84)
A breathtakingly atmospheric version just for the Christmas Day edition. I wonder if they'd been watching 'The Box of Delights' concluded the day before?
9) Amii Stewart, Friends (17/01/85)
10) Feargal Sharkey, A Good Heart (30/10/85)
The best song ever recorded in the history of everything for me at the time. Still such a happy memory and love Janice's sweet gesture of goodwill just as the camera pans across.
11) Talk Talk, Life's What You Make It (30/01/86)
12) Paul McCartney, Once Upon a Long Ago (03/12/87)
13) All About Eve, Martha's Harbour (11/08/88)
Redemption and then some. A brilliant performance and an audience that completely knows it.
14. The Bangles, Be With You (22/06/89)
A by their standards total flop which I loved the moment I first heard back in Summer '89 and couldn't wait to see again.
15) The La's, There She Goes (09/11/90)
That was hard work but great to do.
A favourite 5 would possibly be:
1) The Jam, Strange Town
2) Mari Wilson, Just What I've Always Wanted
3) Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Power of Love
4) Feargal Sharkey, A Good Heart
5) All About Eve, Martha's Harbour
My pick of the bunch here is Be With You by The Bangles - could have been a much bigger hit, and one of my favourites of theirs.
DeleteFeargal Sharkey's big no.1 in 1985 was also a humdinger that still sounds brilliant today, so well done on these picks.
Better late than never, here's my top 10 from the 1976-1990 period that BBC4 has so generously laid out for us every week or so in the last 10 years:
ReplyDelete10. Mississippi - Pussycat (1976)
9. Being With You - Smokey Robinson (1981)
8. Woman In Love - Barbara Streisand (1980)
7. Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart - Marc Almond & Gene Pitney (1989)
6. Slow Hand - The Pointer Sisters (1981)
5. Heartbreaker - Dionne Warwick (1982)
4. With You I'm Born Again - Billy Preston & Syreeta (1979)
3. Music - John Miles (1976)
2. Starmaker - The Kids From Fame (1983)
1. Take My Breath Away - Berlin (1986 & 1990)
Great choices there! I almost included Slowhand as well. The Legs & Co routine actually (or should that have been Rosie & Co!). Love that record. Heartbreaker as well. Also Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart. Three ticks so far for Mississippi!
DeleteLike 'em all Dory except for the Kids from Fame. I didn't include any video showings in my 10. If I had then 'The Winner takes it all', 'Alone', 'Africa' and 'Woman in Love' would have probably made it. 'Music' is one I forgot about - John did perform that in the studio, albeit in an edited format.
DeleteListened to Gambo's Pick of the Pops last Saturday where he featured charts from this week in 1977 and 1990. No prizes for guessing which one I FF'd half the tracks showing just how good the music was in the 70s and early part of the 80s. Abba were no1 in that 1977 chart.
It's quite interesting that the very first show on BBC4 with these TOTP repeats was the 1st April 1976 show which had John Miles performing his Top 5 hit Music in the studio, which has stood firmly in my top ten here, and more or less the most recent show in these repeats, i.e., November 1990 with Berlin's Take My Breath Away at No.1 on my list. Talk about using the full 1976-1990 period Angelo!
DeleteSome have expressed surprise at my 1970's TOTP choices! Here are some of my favourite things from the TOTP sound of music in the early 1980's:
ReplyDelete1. Peter Gabriel • No Self Control.*
2. Associates • Club Country.*
3. Department S • Is Vic There?
4. Soft Cell • Torch.
5. Dollar • Mirror Mirror.
6. Secret Affair • My World.
7. Siouxsie & The Banshees • Fireworks.
8. Bad Manners • Special Brew.
9. Joe Jackson • Steppin' Out.*
10. Blue Zoo • Cry Boy Cry.
11. Dire Straits • Romeo and Juliet.
12. Ultravox • Hymn.*
* Not On BBC4.
I particularly like Stepping Out by Joe Jackson, which I remember arrived in the chart at the beginning of 1983, a cold winter humming this tune in my head I think till spring came along. Certainly I remember Jackson was dressed for winter in his video.
DeleteI'd gladly swap Dollar's tune with their other one called Who Were You With In The Moonlight, which was my favourite of theirs along with Shooting Star, the tune that started it all off for them in 1978.
Long time lurker, first time poster here.
ReplyDeleteFor me the great revelations of this series all occurred during those first two years - 1976/77. By complete co-incidence I started watching TOTP around April 1976, at the age of 6, so re-living those years was like returning to the farthest-flung shores of my musical memories, churning up the half-forgotten, the dimly-recalled; songs that I instantly loved but because they were often only played on TOTP once were lost to my memory for 35 years.
And I remembered feelings I had long consigned to dusty files at the back of my memory - fear, of that countdown pic of Johnny Rotten that was used for the Pistols releases, utter delight, at the brilliant facial expressions many of the artists used when miming (Noosha Fox and Dave Bartram of Showaddywaddy were particularly good at this), puzzlement, at how awful the many disco releases sounded when accompanied by the TOTP orchestra. (How can something that sounds so shoddy be in the charts? How can this be possible?)
I was back there, once more, as a young primary school kid, fearful of what might lie ahead - in those scary sounding decades, the 1980s, 90s and beyond - but hopeful that music to help me find joy and, unwittingly perhaps, provide a guiding hand so I could better understand the world I was growing up into.
These repeats have made me fall in love with the programme all over again. Long may they continue.
Will
A beautiful bit of writing Will. Encapsulated thoughts about the show that all of us on here share. Welcome to the blog and look forward to hearing more from you. Michael
ReplyDeleteAs well as great songs it's also the little incidents that make it so enjoyable. The sea scouts that seemed to keep cropping up in the audience in the early repeats. The amiable punk that pogoed sarcastically at the front during Brotherhood of Man's performance of 'Figaro'. Having a private, spooky image I've always associated with 'One Day In Your Life' being enacted so similarly by Legs & Co that it caused me to jump in my seat. John Peel's links. Peter Powell's farewell. All old history but great examples of music on TV and these repeats just tell me how special music on TV still is.
ReplyDeleteSo, after some consideration I am going to have to list another 10….sorry Angelo, but 10 from 10 years is not enough! As before, these are all memorable studio appearances not necessarily my favourite tunes from the 10 years. In no particular order.
ReplyDelete1) Ultravox – Vienna – Never heard this song until this performance in the studio. Obviously this is more fondly remembered for the excellent video, but this was a good showing too.
2) Japan – Ghosts – Spooky and weird! Love the way the special effects managed to make David’s face go all ghostly.
3) Susan Fassbender РTwilight Caf̩ РTragically took her own life too early. A great opener for the show and her mate Kay Russell is much in evidence here too.
4) John Miles – Music – How could I forget this? (thanks Dory). The full works Alan Parsons ‘McArthur Park’ production and treatment. Amazing record.
5) Cyndi Lauper – Girls just wanna have fun – Outrageous debut. Love it!
6) John Farnham – You’re the voice – Anthemic singalong in the car.
7) Mike Oldfield – Moonlight Shadow – Timeless and sweet vocals from Maggie Riley.
8) Genesis – Turn it on again – My favourite band all time….never thought they’d ever set foot in the ToTP studio until this debut.
9) Jon and Vangelis – I’ll find my way home – Love the song, and I know that J&V did come to the studio for this, but the solo dance by Sue Menhenick on her last show (17/12/81) is the standout performance for me and is kind of moving.
10) Bonnie Tyler – Total elclipse of the Heart – The red leather outfit and bombastic Steinman song were such a departure from the likes of ‘It’s a Heartache’ that this performance couldn’t fail to stick in the mind.
Welcome Will from me too. A lovely summary of your reflections. ToTP is almost the soundtrack to my younger years and watching these repeats has been a real pleasure and reminder of simpler times.
Another great selection there. 'Ghosts' was a really powerful one for me as well. You're right about that effect on David's Sylvian's face after the choruses. Really eerie. I don't remember them from the time but those effects really took me back to childhood memories of how the show looked.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a lovely gesture of Flick Colby to offer Sue a final dance to say thank you for her contribution for so many years. I'd read about that on Wickipedia some time before and that was a poignant choice of record to bow out on. She looked amazing too.
Legs & Co did actually make one very last appearance, a repeat of their dance to 'Japanese Boy' by Aneka being shown on the No.1s of the year special presented by Mike Read on 31/12/81.
Best performances? That’s tough.
ReplyDeleteThere are those performances that I loved back then and now equally (Fox’s S-S-Single Bed, Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound, and the aforementioned Ghosts by Japan).
But there are those about which I have changed my mind completely over the course of 35 years. I found X Ray Spex’s The Day The World Turned Day-Glo an unlistenable caterwauling din in 1978. By 2013 it was utterly thrilling, groundbreaking even. The 10 year old me regarded Billy Preston and Syreeta as interminably dull adult bilge. Today, it’s a beautiful ballad that makes me long for the days when duets weren’t exercises in market positioning.
And then there are the ones that are beyond any measurement of good or bad. Call me perverse but the hapless Glamourpuss are one of the performances that’s given me the most joy during the re-runs. Ditto Joy Sarney. Back in 1977 Naughty Naughty Naughty left me feeling a little scared. Three and a half decades later - like many of the Flipper/Legs dance routines - it’s a source of a great deal of affectionate hilarity.
Assuming the re-runs are extended I wonder if we’ll feel affectionate hilarity for the post-Sep ’91 TOTP and its embarrassingly amateurish presenters?
(That’s if you can call them ‘presenters’. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them take the Mike Smith option and refuse to sign their licence extension..)
Like the Billy Preston & Syreeta review. It seemed they just enjoyed singing together, and not bothered about number of records sold. There was a similar duet earlier in 1979 which I almost had in my top ten:
DeleteReunited by Peaches & Herb. I remember it was at No.4 and No.5 forever alongside Boogie Wonderland by Earth Wind & Fire in the spring of 1979, and was almost as touching a ballad as Preston & Syreeta:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FZ8uK_dJhE
Suffice to say that Peaches & Herb was one of the memories for me of the BBC4 TOTP reruns over the last 10 years.
to my recollection, perhaps the finest moment (or at least funniest one) regarding acts appearing in the studio was when an expanded version of splodgenessabounds flailed about on a cramped stage before letting loose a dog (that had presumably been smuggled into the place) on it - whereupon it ran around trying (not always successfully) to avoid getting a boot or knee in its face!
DeleteThat Splodge performance almost made it into my top dozen tracks from the early 1980's wilberforce. There is a previously unseen intro (as far as I am aware) of that TOTP clip with a close up of the dog before we see the band.
Deletexray4, i can't seem to find the performance in question on youtube - perhaps you could help? btw i think the dog in question was also featured on the front sleeve of their debut album:
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/Splodgenessabounds-Splodgenessabounds/release/1558708
a few years after their 15 minutes, a mate of mine set up a basic recording studio in a spare bedroom in his house (live drums couldn't be recorded due to limited space plus noise issues). max splodge & what was left by then were early clients, but despite the ovious limitations he was told to "record a whole album in a day for contractual obligation reasons"!
Here's the clip wilberforce:
Deletehttps://youtu.be/h9DTX3cfIcc
thanks for that xray. maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but i am sure it was on another occasion and perhaps with a different tune involved - where "nipper" got battered a hell of a lot more than he did here?
DeleteThere is one major anomaly in the repeats for me. On 28th April '77 The Detroit Spinners appeared doing a live vocal of 'Could It Be I'm Falling In Love' despite the single not being reissued (certainly in the UK) and there not being any live or best of albums by the group at that time. I've always found it a mystery but a very welcome one as it's one of my favourite live performances from the show. Bobby Smith sounds just marvellous. Does anyone know why that was performed? DLT makes no reference at all to it not being a current release.
ReplyDeleteIt actually appeared on the same edition as the other great mystery; Contempt, 'Money Is a Girl's Best Friend' but at least that was a single that they were trying to promote at the time. I don't know any other example.
Glad that 29th Nov and 6th Dec editions are getting an airing. The first one looks good.
ReplyDeleteBefore then we can add a bit more on this page (there's no deadline of course). Thanks so much again for this site Angelo. I'd like to just add what my favourite repeat year has been so far. For me it has to be 1979. A constant run of fantastic songs with an incredible diversity of genres almost all at their height. Even the novelty stuff of which there was a large amount added hugely to the enjoyment. It's a year that has a certain magic for me anyway being the time of my earliest clear TV memories. Worst year, with apologies to anyone for whom it was their halcyon days, would be 1986. A little too sterile and Americanised for me and way too much ugly synthesisers.
another epocal moment in the re-runs was like splodgenessabounds - as in not because the music was any good in my opinion, but the memorable studio performance - in this case, boney m decided to make comment on "the troubles" by presenting themselves and an extended ensemble (including three extra hardly-required backing singers) as participants in the rio carnival!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0AiFKa3LI
another memorable studio performance for all the wrong reasons was when one of the stylistics' shape throwers (presumably as a result of injuring himself in the warm up) sat on a stool at the edge of the stage - where he half-heartedly tried to join in with the others!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp-foXFEfog