Top of the New Year!

Whole Lotta Love rings out once more and we have the very latest edition of Top of the Pops on BBC1 ~

31-12-2013: Presenters: Fearne Cotton & Reggie Yates

(14) LITTLE MIX – Move
(79) TINIE TEMPAH feat. JOHN MARTIN – Children Of The Sun
(35) THE VAMPS – Can We Dance
(49) DAFT PUNK feat. PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Get Lucky (video)
(39) ROBIN THICKE feat. T.I. & PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Blurred Lines (video)
(-) LILY ALLEN – Hard Out Here (video)
(-) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – Mirrors (video)
(-) MICHAEL BUBLÉ – It’s A Beautiful Day (video)
(-) DAVID BOWIE – Love Is Lost (video)
(38) BASTILLE – Pompeii (video)
(-) KANYE WEST – Bound 2 (video)
(-) JLS – Billion Lights (video)
(-) THE 1975 – Chocolate
(-) ARCTIC MONKEYS – R U Mine? (footage from Glastonbury)
(-) LONDON GRAMMAR – Strong
(69) JAMES ARTHUR – You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You
(42) JESSIE J – Thunder
(34) ONE DIRECTION – Best Song Ever (video)
(16) LORDE – Royals (video)
(17) AVICII – Wake Me Up (video)
(33) YLVIS – The Fox (video)
(5) EMINEM feat. RIHANNA – The Monster (video)
(75) LADY GAGA – Applause (video)
(73) NAUGHTY BOY feat. SAM SMITH – La La La (video)
(22) MILEY CYRUS – Wrecking Ball (video)
(11) GARY BARLOW – Let Me Go (video)
(66) ROBBIE WILLIAMS – Go Gentle (video)
(45) CHASE & STATUS feat. JACOB BANKS – Alive
(39) ROBIN THICKE – Blurred Lines (footage from Radio 1Xtra Live 2013)
(18) ELLIE GOULDING – Burn
(61) FATBOY SLIM & RIVA STARR feat. BEARDYMAN – Eat Sleep Rave Repeat (video)
(-) AVICII versus NICKI ROMERO – I Could Be The One (video)
(13) MARTIN GARRIX – Animals (video)
(-) BINGO PLAYERS feat. FAR EAST MOVEMENT – Get Up (Rattle) (video)
(-) DUKE DUMONT feat. A*M*E – Need U (100%) (video)
(82) SHOWTEK feat. WE ARE LOUD & SONNY WILSON – Booyah (video)
(37) JOHN NEWMAN – Love Me Again
(1) PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Happy (video)



It's the New Year Eve show, broadcast on the eve of the Top of the Pops 50th anniversary (though no mention of it was made during the show!).

As a person who now gets the vast majority of his pop music via Radio 2 whilst in the car, here was an opportunity to put some faces to the songs I've heard. Not everybody watches their pop via YouTube videos or endless MTV and the like.

So who stood out for me this time? ~

Well I thought Little Mix were quite fun, if a somewhat typical girl band, but nothing wrong with that.

The 1975 provided an interesting contrast though the punky haircut was perhaps more 1977 :-)
London Grammar also added a touch of variety and a change of pace from the 'banging' tunes on offer by the likes of Chase & Status and Tinie Tempah.

James Arthur, Ellie Goulding and Jessie J were all very impressive live vocalists as was John Newman, who after opening the Christmas Day show with Love Me Again, closed this edition with the same song - but to be fair it is a cracker of a tune which would have graced any era of Top of the Pops.

Out of the studio we got some quality live performances from Arctic Monkeys and Robin Thicke, and then a shedload of short video clips in a whirlwind summing up of the year.

I can't hide my delight at the return of Whole Lotta Love as the theme tune ~ what other tv show has an opening as good as that, as soon as you hear it a tingle of excitement runs down your spine, but one thing still missing without question is a dance routine. It adds variety and is infinitely more desirable than a video. And dance troupes are so popular at the moment too. It would be a real highlight of the show.

And of course the current number one song, the very aptly named Happy, was shown too ~ nice song that I've not heard before and would not have been aware of it being at number one if it wasn't for this show. How many number one songs will now pass us by during 2014 because we don't have a regular show like this?

Here's hoping that Top of the Pops has one or two surprises up its record sleeves in this 50th anniversary year ~ maybe some more Specials ~ Valentines Day, Easter, Summer, Halloween etc?
If there's no appetite (from the BBC, or the viewers ?) to bring back a weekly show how about a monthly one just to keep us informed and up to date about who's singing what in our pop charts?

Otherwise its just the repeats of 1979 on BBC4, beginning this coming Friday, to keep us going all the way until the next brand new edition ~ next Christmas Day.

Well, Happy 50th Top of the Pops ~ you're still number one as far as I'm concerned :-)

Whole Lotta Xmas!

Sometimes we forget that Top of the Pops is actually still a current BBC show, albeit now reduced to just two new episodes per year! But hey, its two better than nothing! And while this tiny beat of life still, er, beats, there has to be just a little hope that one day a full recovery can be made to bring Top of the Pops back to full health :-)

So Christmas Day 2013, with the show on the verge of its 50th anniversary, we had this line up:

25-12-2013: Presenters: Fearne Cotton & Reggie Yates (New Titles)

(40) JOHN NEWMAN – Love Me Again
(-) CHASE & STATUS feat. MOKO – Count On Me
(-) BOYZONE – Love Will Save The Day
(-) RIZZLE KICKS – Lost Generation
(-) WILL.I.AM & BRITNEY SPEARS – Scream And Shout (video)
(-) MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS feat. WANZ– Thrift Shop (video)
(-) ONE DIRECTION – One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks) (video)
(-) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – Mirrors (video)
(69) PASSENGER – Let Her Go (video)
(78) DAFT PUNK feat. PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Get Lucky (video)
(60) ROBIN THICKE feat. T.I. & PHARRELL WILLIAMS – Blurred Lines (video)
(45) TOM ODELL – Another Love
(-) JESSIE J – It’s My Party
(66) BASTILLE – Pompeii (footage from Radio 1’s Big Weekend)
(-) THE SATURDAYS – What About Us
(-) NAUGHTY BOY feat. SAM SMITH – La La La
(47) JAMES BLUNT – Bonfire Heart
(27) AVICII – Wake Me Up (video)
(68) ONE DIRECTION – Best Song Ever (video)
(15) KATY PERRY – Roar (video)
(42 MILEY CYRUS – Wrecking Ball (video)
(24) LORDE – Royals (video)
(6) LILY ALLEN – Somewhere Only We Know (video)
(-) RUDIMENTAL feat. ELLA EYRE – Waiting All Night
(7) ELLIE GOULDING – How Long Will I Love You?
(22) ONEREPUBLIC – Counting Stars
(1) SAM BAILEY – Skyscraper (video)
>> A new title sequence and logo make their debut



And yes indeed, that legendary Top of the Pops theme tune, Whole Lotta Love, makes its long awaited 3rd coming, along with a shiny new logo ~ signs of hope surely?

Even though I'm one of those stuck in the pop past BBC4 people glued to 35 year old repeats of a long gone golden era, I have to say I was totally impressed with this brand new show. Obviously the return of THAT theme tune helped get me in the mood, but actually the songs and performances presented were all impressive in my opinion. I shan't go through them all, but standing out of the crowds for me were John Newman, Chase & Status, Rizzle Kicks (not normally a fan of hiphop type stuff, but enjoyed the silliness of the performance and costumes ~ anyway, even 35 years ago there was music I wasn't too keen on, that's the nature of a show like Top of the Pops really, you're never going to be able to please everyone all the time), James Blunt (well I am old school, and I think so is he), Ellie Goulding and OneRepublic. The obligatory X Factor winner number one had a nice voice but the song and video was pretty much the same as all the other X Factor winners. But that one aside, an excellent show that I thought stood up well to anything from 35 years ago. All that was lacking maybe was a nice dance routine ~ maybe they could have roped in a few people from Strictly?

Don't forget there's another new show on New Year's eve and I would highly recommend it ~ come on its a chance to put some faces to some of these somewhat anonymous modern pop stars, and will confirm that pop music did not die on 30th July 2006, but is still well and truly alive and in fact is in not too bad shape.