Friday, 30 May 2025

Too Much Top of the Pops

 But something's coming over to make the 25th of December 1997 edition of Top of the Pops!


Ladies Night


25-12-97:   Presenters:  Zoë Ball, Jayne Middlemiss & Jo Whiley

(-) ETERNAL feat. BEBE WINANS – I Wanna Be The Only One
15th biggest selling single of 1997.

(-) HANSON – MMMBop
11th biggest seller.

(47) CHUMBAWAMBA – Tubthumping 
7th biggest single.

(-) GALA – Freed From Desire
17th best seller.

(-) SARAH BRIGHTMAN & ANDREA BOCELLI – Time To Say Goodbye
22nd best seller.

(8) NATALIE IMBRUGLIA – Torn
10th biggest selling single.

(-) SASH! – Megamix
The 27th, 24th and 21st best selling singles.

(-) SHOLA AMA – You Might Need Somebody
32nd best seller.

(-) ULTRA NATÉ – Free
20th biggest single.

(4) ALL SAINTS – Never Ever
16th biggest selling single of 1997.

(-) TEXAS – Say What You Want
46th best seller.

(6) AQUA – Barbie Girl 
2nd best seller.

(11) ELTON JOHN – Something About The Way You Look Tonight  (video)
Number one best selling single of 1997, and of all time.

(1) SPICE GIRLS – Too Much  (and credits)
This year's Christmas number one.


39 comments:

  1. 2-6-77: Presenter: Noel Edmonds

    (NEW) ELKIE BROOKS – Saved
    (8) THE MUPPETS – Halfway Down The Stairs (video)
    (NEW) THE FOUR SEASONS – Rhapsody
    (5) VAN McCOY – The Shuffle (danced to by Legs & Co) ®
    (15) HEATWAVE – Too Hot To Handle (video)
    (NEW) TWIGGY – A Woman In Love
    (13) BOZ SCAGGS – Lido Shuffle (video)
    (NEW) JESSE GREEN – Come With Me
    (7) MARVIN GAYE – Got To Give It Up (danced to by Legs & Co)
    (NEW) HOT CHOCOLATE – So You Win Again
    (17) CAROLE BAYER SAGER – You’re Moving Out Today ®
    (NEW) THE STRAWBS – Back In The Old Routine
    (1) ROD STEWART – The First Cut Is The Deepest (TV special 24-10-76)
    (14) GENESIS – Match Of The Day (and credits)

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    1. My pick of this 1976 edition was the video for The Muppets with Halfway Down The Stairs, not only for the fact that it made it up to No.8 by this point, but also that it was a simple video with the camera not having to much from one position through the whole tune, and also the classic orange brown carpet that reminds me of the 70s in my primary school days where most people's houses had orange and brown sofas and carpets which was the fashion at the time!

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    2. Mixed bag on this show but expertly anchored by Noel.

      (NEW) ELKIE BROOKS – Saved
      Folow up to ‘Pearls a Singer’…and nothing like it and I don’t recall it. Always good to see Elkie though.

      (8) THE MUPPETS – Halfway Down The Stairs (video)
      Remember this on the Capital Hit line. It was in there for ages. Nice keyboards.

      (NEW) THE FOUR SEASONS – Rhapsody
      Not Bohemian….

      (5) VAN McCOY – The Shuffle (danced to by Legs & Co)
      Pans People probably danced to ‘The Hustle’ two years earlier. Nice to see Lulu and Sue here.

      (15) HEATWAVE – Too Hot To Handle (video)
      So its called too hot to handle…let’s features some flames in the video.

      (NEW) TWIGGY – A Woman In Love
      Big mystery! Why was this not massive? No3 for the Three in 1979.

      (13) BOZ SCAGGS – Lido Shuffle (video)
      Most of Toto had a hand on this. Co-written by David Paitch (Africa, Rosanna). Very visible Jeff Porcaro on drums. Impressive performance from a great album ‘Silk Degrees’.

      (NEW) JESSE GREEN – Come With Me
      Not sure about this… non-descript.

      (7) MARVIN GAYE – Got To Give It Up (danced to by Legs & Co)
      Legs and Co again..I don’t really like this track much, but the routine is eye catching.

      (NEW) HOT CHOCOLATE – So You Win Again
      Pure gold..Noel is spot on with his prediction. Great Russ Ballard song I never tire of hearing.

      (17) CAROLE BAYER SAGER – You’re Moving Out Today
      Wouldn’t you agree baby you and me got a groovy kind of love… Nothing like this quirky song.

      (NEW) THE STRAWBS – Back In The Old Routine
      Not sure why this was featured…possibly a ‘radio hit’.

      (1) ROD STEWART – The First Cut Is The Deepest
      Total class! What a great double A side this was with ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’. Rod wearing eye liner though?

      (14) GENESIS – Match Of The Day
      Oh so brief… No video and then it went down in the charts so that was it for Genesis until Follow you, follow me’.

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    3. Good to see this one again and the full show. I hadn't seen the Lido Shuffle clip before, only hearing it as a playout. A few comments; Noel's hair looks more lustrous than ever. Interesting considering it was the start of the Summer of Punk. I agree with you Sct; Legs' routine certainly enhanced the Marvin's Gaye single. Nice to see Patti appearing and disappearing most prominently near the end. Some very seductive poses there.
      Not familiar with the Genesis layout and I noted it sounded remarkably like Split Enz did around that time.
      Some classic please move out of the way-ing among the audience for Hot Chocolate; the performance re-shown for the Top of the Pops 25th Anniversary show.

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    4. Could they rename predictive text, doesn't make any semantic sense text? Ha ha.

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  2. Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli - superb single, and studio performance. I'm not sure if Brightman performed in the TOTP studio before 1997, as I only recall her videos from 1978 through the 80s with the various duets and Andrew Lloyd webber theatre tunes. Interestingly Brightman sang Time To Say Goodbye on her own without Bocelli on her Harem Desert Fantasy album in 2003, with a new solo video for this song with only herself on the single.

    Sash! Megamix - interesting to combine all three 1997 singles into one single, and never seen this before, but it came out much better in this TOTP studio performance than the three individual singles on their own. Definitely worth watching again.

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  3. A great hour to finish off 1997 with The Spice Girls ending on their second of three Christmas number 1s. Look forward to BBC4 showing the editions from 1998.

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  4. TOTP2 (27th December 1997) is a late episode - due to it, the first of many Christmassey-themed episodes presented by Steve Wright for the next 11 years and it does end with Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' which would be yearly for the next 10 years. Johnnie Walker never done a Xmassey-themed episode, but Wrighty did it his own.

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    1. Has this been added to? Also does anyone have the 2014 Christmas edition for a link of totp2 please?

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  5. Hello, I'm miles behind with my 1997 rewatch, but have just spotted that I'm missing the episodes 7th February and 14th February. Is there a kind soul out there who could help me out with a link perhaps? Many thanks!

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    1. Go on then.

      It's a good job they were still LURKING or my hard drive.

      Here is 7/2 & 14/2 1997

      https://limewire.com/d/2kypR#niSN0gww1e

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    2. Great stuff, many thanks.

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  6. Lurker do you have the totp2 Christmas one by any chance please that hasn't been added?

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    1. I'm sorry I haven't.I usually look forward to Rob posting them.

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    2. OK no problem. I've enjoyed watching the last few totp2 that have bee posted. I noticed Anonymous posted about the show but couldn't see a link to it. Rob if you have this one if you wouldn't mind adding it please?

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    3. That TOTP2 from the end of December'97 will be a repeat for years to come for Christmas tracks, but the 27/12/97 episode has 2 of the biggest Christmas songs missing - Wham! and Mariah Carey. Well a 'Review of the Year' has definitely now gone, in years to come, 1998 has a Glam Rock special though and 1999 it is all-year round onwards until 2004.

      It does end with White Christmas by Bing Crosby, where it would be for each Christmas TOTP2 episode from now on right up until 2007 and also NYE specials would also follow.

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    4. I saw the other totp2 shows posted, so thought this particular one may have been as it's part of the series. I've never seen it but would be nice if it does get added.

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    5. It’s a Christmas episode as well in sort of a way - with Wizzard, Slade, Shaky, and Bing Crosby.

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    6. Other ones in the past have had festive songs included and have been posted. Personally there's been so much talk about it I don't know why it's not included.

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  7. Rob can you upload 27/12/1997 TOTP2 edition? Please!

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    1. I don't think it's going to get posted which is a real shame 😞

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  8. If someone could please upload this?

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  9. I haven't been very on it with the 1997 repeats which is a surprise as it was a year full of great music and university memories. '98 always seems a nothing year to me then it picks up in '99/'00 but as always with this run, it will be good to see if the memory is correct. Anyway here's my top 20 for the year. No order:

    20. Monaco, What Do You Want From Me
    19. James, She's a Star
    18. Finley Quaye, Sun Is Shining
    17. The Brand New Heavies, Sometimes
    16. Supergrass, Richard III
    15. Radiohead, Paranoid Android
    14. Bjork, Yoga
    13. Bjork, Bachelorette
    12. DJ Quicksilver, Bellisima
    11. Olive, You're Not Alone
    10. Ultra Nate, Free
    9. The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony
    8. Sash, Stay
    7. Cast, Guiding Star
    6. En Vogue, Don't Let Go
    5. Republica, Ready To Go
    4. Natalie Imbruglia, Torn
    3. Texts, Halo
    2. The Verve, Lucky Man
    1. No Doubt, Don't Speak



    ReplyDelete
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    1. ...and just under: Eels (which my predictive text selected as a correct alternative Nelson(??????)), Susan's House. They also win the best Totp appearance prize of course for their legendary and still hilarious performance of Novocaine For The Soul.

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    2. Yes noticed you put Texts under Texas in your Top 20 🤣

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    3. I know! One day im going to do a long blog post and not check anything and see what comes up!. "Shep's back at bumble fun for hexagon sheep!"
      Most troubling it said Yoga for Bjork. Oh dear! Though that would make a good yoga soundtrack.

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  10. The festive show is a good episode from the tracklist. 98 lot next week

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    1. Normal service resumes next week for TOTP2 right on until the Christmas 1998 special. 12 Sep 98 is the revamp which features the 1970 CCS theme tune arrangement of 'Whole Lotta Love' (which was previously used during TOTP episodes from 14th August 1980 and only used in the chart rundown as well until the 2nd of July 1981).

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  11. https://we.tl/t-1ifvQQZNUk TOTP2 Xmas 97 as requested. Credit to original uploader.

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    1. Thanks, most kind.

      That will never been shown on BBC again.

      First song The Wizzard looks like the drummer has a blacked up face.Black and White minstrels style.

      Towards the end not only is Jimmy Saville mentioned, but is seen.

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    2. 20-12-73 clip in which JS presented and they’ve used for the first TOTP2 Christmas special as well.

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    3. It says the transfer has expired. Do you have another link?

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    4. After a few day it expires. If anybody has the 2014 Christmas totp2, if you could please add that one to it would be much appreciated?

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Thank you very much

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  13. Next Saturday evening BBC2 Top of The Pops 1985, The Story of and 40 Hits from 1985. I enjoyed the 1988 one they did a few weeks ago.

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