Top of the Pops 1979 is Something Else

This edition of Top of the Pops was moved from its regular Thursday slot to Friday, to make way for  A Song for Europe, where the UKs Eurovision song contest song was chosen, and this year the winners were.......... Black Lace! And they will be on the very next show.

So what else was on the telly this Friday night? .......

Well, ITV offered: 7.00 The Muppet Show 7.30 Sale Of The Century 8.00 Flambards 9.00 House Of Caradus 10.00 News 10.30 Soap

Whilst on BBC1: 6.20 Nationwide 7.00 Wonder Woman 7.50 Top of the Pops 8.30 The Other One 9.00 News 9.25 Petrocelli

Meanwhile, on the front cover of Smash Hits this week......

And so on Top of the Pops we had:

9-3-79: Presenter: David Jensen

(19) HERBIE HANCOCK – You Bet Your Love (and charts)
(46) INNER CIRCLE – Everything Is Great
(2) ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Oliver’s Army ®
(7) THE SEX PISTOLS – Something Else (danced to by Legs & Co)
(44) BUZZCOCKS – Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
(26) DENNIS BROWN – Money In My Pocket
(47) LATE SHOW – Bristol Stomp
(5) THE REAL THING – Can You Feel The Force
(NEW) CLIFF RICHARD – Green Light
(27) THE DOOLEYS – Honey I’m Lost
(63) MOTÖRHEAD – Overkill
(11) GENE CHANDLER – Get Down (footage from Soul Train 20-1-79)
(66) LEYTON BUZZARDS – Saturday Night (Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees)
(1) THE BEE GEES – Tragedy (danced to by Legs & Co) ®
(14) GARY’S GANG – Keep On Dancin’ (and credits)


Herbie Hancock ~ plays over the credits this week with another top 20 hit for him to follow up last year's I Thought it Was You.

Inner Circle ~ Everything wasn't so great for this one, it peaked at 37. Then they had to wait 13 long years for their next chart hit - Sweat, which did much better making it to number 3.

Elvis Costello ~ another repeat showing (third time?) of this sweaty classic.

The Sex Pistols ~ Something Else was the radio friendly song of this double A side, but everyone was really buying it for the not so radio friendly track on the other side. I remember the kids at my school in some kind of frenzy over Friggin in the Riggin, and then hearing it for the first time at a friend's house, once his parents were safely out of earshot in the kitchen! And as for this unmissable multi-coloured punk routine from Legs and Co, well it truly was.......... something else!

Buzzcocks ~ all clad in leather jackets this time and it looks like singer Pete Shelley had let his hair grow a bit too - this catchy number just scraped into the top 30 at 29.

Dennis Brown ~ reggae was getting to be a very popular flavour now in the UK charts - this tune made it to number 14 though it was to be Dennis's only top 40 hit.

Late Show ~ never seen this act before - first impression is a manic mix of Racey and Rocky Sharpe. The song refers to Bristol in Philadelphia, rather than Somerset, and it peaked at 40.

The Real Thing ~ made a much better job of getting the Top of the Pops audience excited than did the previous act - and no wonder with a song as good as this, which went on to reach number 5 in the charts.
Cliff Richard ~ got the red light and was edited out of the 7.30 show. This song got quite a lot of airplay at the time but flopped at number 57 ~ however his next single would become one of the smashes of the year.......

The Dooleys ~ were also lost from the 7.30 show, and again bigger things were soon to come......

Motorhead ~ a bit of editing out overkill going on here now......

Gene Chandler ~ also got downed from 7.30 - but you can still see all these performances in the unedited screening at 12.30 tonight on BBC4 - the channel that lived.

Leyton Buzzards ~ won The Sun/Radio 1 competition (?) but this song was a number 53 flop. However, singer Geoff Deane & bass player David Jaymes had huge success in the early 1980's with a very different sound as members of salsa sensations Modern Romance.

The Bee Gees ~ at number one for the second and final week, though Kid Jensen seems to think it's been much longer than that, and they still can't make it into the studio or send a video, so we get to see Legs and Co clowning about again ~ did Patti look a wee bit wobbly on that chair? :-)

Gary's Gang ~ play us out over the credits.

Next week, it's our monthly Sky at Night treat, so Top of the Pops returns in two week's time with the edition from 15th March 1979 presented by Peter Powell.

Hit Me With Your Top of the Pops

With the infamous 'Winter of Discontent' about strike, and the first episode of Blankety Blank about to air, Peter Powell is here to cheer us all up with this week's.....

Top of the Pops!
18-1-79: Presenter: Peter Powell

(30) SHALAMAR – Take That To The Bank (and charts)
(53) OLYMPIC RUNNERS – Sir Dancealot
(28) ANNE MURRAY – You Needed Me (video)
(3) RACEY – Lay Your Love On Me
(27) DAN HARTMAN – This Is It (danced to by Legs & Co)
(54) FRANKIE MILLER – When I’m Away From You
(5) OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN – A Little More Love ®
(2) IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
(18) THE THREE DEGREES – Woman In Love
(26) BILLY JOEL – My Life (video)
(7) CHIC – Le Freak
(1) VILLAGE PEOPLE – Y.M.C.A. (video)
(11) CHAKA KHAN – I’m Every Woman (and credits)






Shalamar ~ play over the chart rundown with their first top 20 hit.

Olympic Runners ~ then give us an energetic, onesie clad, invisible trampolining start to the show. Shame the song wasn't quite good enough to take off in the same way though! Two members of this band, Pete Wingfield and Mike Vernon, also played for Rocky Sharpe and the Replays.

Anne Murray ~ this instantly recognisable country song peaked at 22 for this Canadian singer. Boyzone did better when they covered it in 1999, and took it to number 1.

Racey ~ edited out of the 7.30 showing - not to worry you can catch them in the second showing at 1am.....

Dan Hartman ~ is this week's choice for the Legs and Co routine. A full compliment of Legs this week too. 'This is It' reached number 17.

Frankie Miller ~ edited out ~ catch him at 1am...

Olivia Newton-John ~ ditto for the delicious A Little More Love.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads ~ ah, it's the classic one where Davey Payne plays two saxophones at the same time - a real 'where were you' moment this. I remember where I was when I first saw it - in front of the telly watching Top of the Pops :-)

The Three Degrees ~ take the country song that failed to chart for Twiggy in 1977 and turn it into a top 3 smash hit. They just sang it a whole lot better really, and had more sparkly costumes.

Billy Joel ~ I've always like this song, it has more than a touch of class and a fair bit of piano oomph! This was a good time for Billy what with Barry White's cover version of Just the Way You Are also in the top 20. I expect he was grateful now that his suicide attempt of 9 years earlier had not succeeded.

Chic ~ freakishly ironic that a song written about not being allowed into a dance club would go on to become one of the biggest dance floor fillers of all time.

There then follows a brief appearance by latest teen sensation Leif Garrett who informs us that 'I Was Made for Dancing' has just charted at number 43, and also that Britain in January is nothing like California....

Village People ~ and from one timeless disco classic to another, with its final week at number one before Ian Dury hit it with his rhythm stick. Though we won't get to see that whacking moment on BBC4 next week because unfortunately that's a banned DLT episode.....

Chaka Khan ~ who played over the chart rundown last week, now plays over the end credits this week, with her Ashford and Simpson written song at its peak number 11 position in the charts.


So next week then BBC4 takes us to February 1st 1979 and a show hosted by Mike Read.

Together We Are Top of the Pops

On an evening 35 years ago when the BBC1 line up was:

6.20 Nationwide 6.55 Tomorrow's World 7.10 Top of the Pops 8.00 Morecambe & Wise At BBC 8.30 Butterflies 9 News 9.25 The Good Old Days.............


11-1-79: Presenter: David Jensen

(14) CHAKA KHAN – I’m Every Woman (and charts)
(24) ROCKY SHARPE & THE REPLAYS – Rama Lama Ding Dong
(30) SALLY OLDFIELD – Mirrors
(13) PAUL EVANS – Hello, This Is Joanie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song) (video)
(NEW) BONNIE TYLER – Louisiana Rain
(21) LEO SAYER – Raining In My Heart
(25) MANKIND – Dr. Who
(27) DRIVER 67 – Car 67
(NEW) THE DOLL – Desire Me
(16) HOT CHOCOLATE – I’ll Put You Together Again (video)
(35) THE SHADOWS – Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
(18) FUNKADELIC – One Nation Under A Groove (danced to by Legs & Co)
(NEW) STEVE ALLAN – Together We Are Beautiful
(1) VILLAGE PEOPLE – Y.M.C.A. (video)
(29) BILLY JOEL – My Life (and credits)




Chaka Khan ~ plays over the opening titles, on the day when the newspaper headlines in the UK were
famously 'Crisis? what Crisis?'

Rocky Sharpe and the Replays ~ if they remind you a wee bit of Darts, that's maybe because both Den Hegarty and Rita Ray were both original members before they left to form.......... Darts.

Sally Oldfield ~ singing this irresistibly pretty song is the older sister of Mike Oldfield ~ and she also sang backing vocals on her brother's legendary Tubular Bells album.

Paul Evans ~ another irresistibly pretty song, if you regard ringing your girlfriend's answering machine to listen to her dead voice as pretty, Paul also wrote 'When' which got to number 1 in 1958 for the Kalin Twins and number 3 in 1977 for Showaddywaddy.

Bonnie Tyler ~ This Tom Petty cover failed to chart for Bonnie. Not too surprising, it's not a patch on It's a Heartache or Lost in France.

Leo Sayer ~ was edited out of the 7.30 BBC4 showing ~ catch his Buddy Holly cover on the second showing at midnight.

Mankind ~ ditto for the Dr Who theme tune cover.

Driver 67 ~ what a fabulous novelty record this was from Paul Phillips and Pete Zom, which is trending now 35 years later on Twitter apparently :-)

The Doll ~ are also not coming out to play until the midnight repeat showing.

Hot Chocolate ~ ditto HC, with the third irresistibly pretty song of tonight's show.

The Shadows ~ This fine instrumental Lloyd Webber cover peaked at number 5. Shadows drummer, Brian Bennett, also has a successful career composing tv theme tunes, including New Tricks and the Sweeney.

Funkadelic ~ This scantily khaki clad Legs and Co routine helped One Nation Under a Groove get to number 9 in the charts.

Steve Allan ~ Steve's real name is Alan Carvel and he had first appeared on the show back in 1977 with his band The Carvells, performing The LA Run. His version of Together We Are Beautiful failed to make the top 40, but a year later a much more emotive vocal from Fern Kinney took it to number one.

Village People ~ YMCA is the UK's 32nd best selling single, with sales of 1.47 million. Village People lead singer Victor Willis was married to Phylicia Ayers-Allen, who played Bill Cosby’s wife in The Cosby Show.

Billy Joel ~ from his album 52nd Street, this song peaked at number 12 in the UK.

Next week's show, from 18th January 1979, is presented by Peter Powell with performances by Frankie Miller, Ian Dury and Chic, amongst others.

Hello, This is 1979!

JANUARY 1979:

4-1-79: Presenter: Mike Read

(24) PAUL EVANS – Hello, This Is Joanie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song) (and charts)
(NEW) GENERATION X – King Rocker
(5) ELTON JOHN – Song For Guy ®
(18) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – September (danced to by Legs & Co)
(6) IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (video)
(21) OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN – A Little More Love (video)
(3) RACEY – Lay Your Love On Me ®
(29) BARRY WHITE – Just The Way You Are (video)
(NEW) BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – Goodbye Goodbye
(1) VILLAGE PEOPLE – Y.M.C.A. (video)
(16) HOT CHOCOLATE – I’ll Put You Together Again (and credits)



**************************************************

Paul Evans ~ plays over the chart rundown. This was his first hit in 20 years, his earlier ones being Seven Little Girls (Sitting In The Back Seat) and Happy-Go-Lucky Me.

Generation X ~ King Rocker became their biggest hit, peaking at number 11. The song is apparently about the Beatles and Elvis having a fight over who is the king of rock n roll!

Elton John ~ a fine live performance featuring just Elton and his piano. At the time I thought this was about Guy the Gorilla, who had recently died at London Zoo, but in fact it is dedicated to Guy Burchett, a 17 year old messenger for Elton's label, who had been killed in a motorbike accident.

Legs and Co ~ dancing to Earth Wind and Fire's September - a strange time to release a song with such a title! Co-writer Allee Willis went on to write the theme from Friends.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads ~ the video this week, the legendary studio performance is yet to come. Ian had this song in rough on a piece of paper for about three years before it was finally completed!

Olivia Newton John ~ this song was written by John Farrar, who also wrote You're the One that I Want and Hopelessly Devoted to You. Not a bad 12 months for him!

Racey ~ were originally called Alive ‘n’ Kicking. They picked the new name from a list by producer Mickie Most for its easiness to say. This song was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote a production line of hits in the 70's for the likes of Sweet, Mud, Smokie and Suzi Quatro.

Barry White ~ almost a year after Billy Joel had taken the original to 19 in the charts, Barry's cover made it to number 12.

Brotherhood of Man ~ a rather aptly titled song for them, as this marked the end of their chart career. Not a bad song though really, I guess its just the times they were a changing.

Village People ~ replacing Boney M at the top of the charts. A song that was no doubt played at just about every New Year party in 1979, it was still being played at those parties I'm sure in 2014. The song was inspired by the YMCA branch at 215 W 23rd St, as seen in the video.

Hot Chocolate ~ play almost their entire song over the end credits - well why not, it is such a good one :-)

Next week, it's the 11th January 1979 hosted by David Jensen.

London, Paris, New York, Munich everybody's talking about ~ Top of the Pops 1979!

In the real world, it's just turned 2014 (still can't quite get used to any year that doesn't have a 19 in front of it!) but over on BBC4 at 7.30pm (nearly) every Thursday it's 1979 :-)

The series began tonight with a behind the scenes documentary 'The Story of 1979' - a tale of moving mic stand strikes, spitting at the Nolans, peeing from rooftops, blacked out teeth and gate crashing the BBC bar, followed by a compilation of some of 1979's big hits, in a show called ...........

3-1-2014: TOP OF THE POPS - 1979 Big Hits

ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS – Oliver’s Army (TOTP 8-2-79)
LENE LOVICH – Lucky Number (TOTP 15-2-79)
CHIC – I Want Your Love (TOTP 1-3-79)
RACEY – Some Girls (TOTP 26-4-79)
CHAS & DAVE – Gertcha (TOTP 31-5-79)
SQUEEZE – Up The Junction (TOTP 31-5-79)
JANET KAY – Silly Games (TOTP 14-6-79)
DAME EDNA EVERAGE – Disco Matilda (TOTP 21-6-79)
THE RUTS – Babylon’s Burning (TOTP 21-6-79)
THE POLICE – Can’t Stand Losing You (TOTP 12-7-79)
THE PRETENDERS – Kid (TOTP 19-7-79)
LENA MARTELL – One Day At A Time (TOTP 25-12-79)
GARY NUMAN – Cars (TOTP 30-8-79)
CLIFF RICHARD – We Don’t Talk Anymore (TOTP 25-12-79)
THE JAM – The Eton Rifles (TOTP 1-11-79)
THE NOLANS – I’m In The Mood For Dancing (TOTP 20-12-79)
THE SELECTER – On My Radio (TOTP 18-10-79)
JOE JACKSON – Is She Really Going Out With Him? (TOTP 9-8-79)
MADNESS – One Step Beyond (TOTP 8-11-79)
M – Pop Muzik (TOTP 5-4-79)
THE BOOMTOWN RATS – I Don’t Like Mondays (video) (TOTP 19-7-79)
THE SPECIALS feat. RICO – A Message To You Rudy (TOTP 25-10-79)


Elvis Costello ~ a superlative performance of curling his lip at the camera and sweating whilst performing the song he wrote about the troubles in Northern Ireland, all in the style of Abba.

Lene Lovich ~ a brilliant attempt to out-mad Kate Bush, by the Yugoslav American from Hull.

Chic ~ a song written for Sister Sledge, but they instead recorded He's the Greatest Dancer, so Chic did this one.

Racey ~ ok who was the girl with the deep voice? Not one of Legs & Co I don't think, like last time.

Chas & Dave ~ a live vocal, and Chas was banned from using the word 'cowson' which a BBC exec's mum took offense to, hence the awkward pause and shifty looks before one of the Gertchas!

Squeeze ~ inspired by the Roxy Music song Virginia Plain, where the title isn't sung until the very end. Had Harry Kakoulli left by this point?

Janet Kay ~ had just turned 18 and had never performed before an audience ~ have to admit I was unfamiliar with this high note song that even the Bee Gees would have struggled with.

Dame Edna Everage ~ should not have been allowed out in a dress like that!

The Ruts ~ a song written about race riots.

The Police ~ this originally came out in 1978 but peaked at 42 - returning to the charts in the wake of breakthrough single Roxanne, it then made number two.

The Pretenders ~ lead singer Chrissie Hynde has performed with over 20 different band members over the years.

Lena Martell ~ a one hit wonder in the singles chart, the country singer from Glasgow has sold millions of albums over the years.

Gary Numan ~ his serious non-smiling image came about because he was embarrassed with his over large two front teeth, and didn't want to show them!

Cliff Richard ~ perhaps the surprise hit of the year, written by one of the Shadow's roadies, it totally rejuvenated his career.

The Jam ~ a favourite song of Prime Minister David Cameron, an old Etonian himself!

The Nolans ~ come on, you secretly wanted to get up and dance to this one, didn't you!

The Selector ~ looking forward to the 'Two-Tone Top of the Pops' show, along with the Specials and Madness.

Joe Jackson ~ apparently a song written as a joke by Portsmouth's finest, but became a top 20 hit in the UK and the USA.

Madness ~ Chas Smash was not yet a full member of the group when he recorded the vocals for this.

M ~ lead singer Robin Scott was big friends with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.

The Boomtown Rats ~ this tale of a mass shooting in America was originally a reggae song until Johnny Fingers, the pyjama obsessed keyboard player, re-arranged it last minute.

The Specials ~ a cover of Dandy Livingstone's song from 1967 - the trombone player, Rico Rodriguez, played on both.


Next up on BBC4 should be the show from January 4th 1979, presented by Mike Read, and featuring, among others, Generation X, Racey and Brotherhood of Man.