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Post by o on Aug 5, 2017 9:52:53 GMT 1
Having caught up with the first show, one of the best for a while with the Special AKA (I have that on 7"), I remember the Thompson Twins video, and loved the Blancmange song, although I think the keyboardist looks a bit like Vince Clarke, it isn't though. Queen and THAT video, I remember everyone talking about it! Bluebells debut, sadly forgotten, but not half bad. Nik Kershaw with his mum dancing in the background. OMD got dressed in the dark! Lionel Richie, gah! Followed by dull Kool and the Gang, shame about the ending, good up to that point!
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 6, 2017 11:55:03 GMT 1
Nineteen four. A capella start. No presenters. Straight into Special AKA. Then as the ska horns break in we see Powell and Davies dressed as if they're about to paint the set. Makes me wonder whether there would have been a thing in not having any presenters at all and segueing every performance into one. With the charts running as a chyron. Hm. Anyway, this is quite upbeat for a protest song. Bouncy.
We whizz up now to no. 2 and Thompson Twins. Via a girl who forgot to put on her skirt. Heh, Alannah is a secret thespian. She's really milking her role. Wonder how they arranged the video? Rang up a quarrying operation and asked them to bring along a load of popstarts who would pretend to be slaves? Not much for their PR. Judging by the number plate on the lorry it's Portugal. Hey, they cut it short. Just as Alannah was about to wink at me.
Blancmange back in the charts with a really, really good single. Sitar heroes. The band the Pet Shop Boys could have been. Stupid name though. As indeed is Pet Shop Boys. Wow, killer key change.
Queen with "I Want To Break Free". Heh. Cross-dressing. Frederick could at least have shaved. What's in the closet, Fred? All of Queen, by the looks. Hm, they ran out of inspiration for the theme pretty early, so just strung together a load of different ideas. They obviously borrowed Elton John's director. Song is dull.
Debutants on TOTP. The Bluebells from Glasgow. Formed at an Altered Images concert. This is OK. No Altered Images though. I'm still waiting for the next Altered Images.
Top 40. Flying Pickets at 37? Pfft. "Dr Marbuse"? Someone's never heard the record. Nik Kershaw at 25 and here he is. No band, just dad dancing. And unconvincing synth playing. He looks like Pat Sharp. Any era Pat Sharp, frankly. This is quite spiky and discordant. Rather a bold choice for someone pushed as a heartthrob. Quite decent indeed. Reminiscent of Can.
Shannon is at 24 with a second single. No, still don't remember her. OMD are back. Yay. Back to 19 and indeed it is OMD. This has a caribbean flavour to it. Poor Andy still looks like the geography teacher at a school disco. Paul has steel drums.
10 and the single digits. Shakin' Stevens got to no. 2? Bloody hell. Richtea at no. 1 over a far more deserving track. We finish off with a Playboy pet and Kool & The Gang. Christ alive, did Robert Bell have incriminating pics? It's the same song over and over again. And not a very good song at that.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 6, 2017 15:18:43 GMT 1
四月二流。Bates dressed as a bank manager on his day off and Long as a cougar. We start avec Sandi Shaw and The Smiths. No mention about the incongruity. I remember the whole Mozza thing about her at the time but didn't recall this even being a hit. It's a weird visual, with Shaw seemingly trying to be Morrissey on stage, and instead looking like she's turned up on the school run p*ssed as a fart. But it is a very, very good single. Bates says there are some very good film themes at the moment. No idea why that segues into Phil Collins. Next. Eurovision. Fitting given Shaw's overture. Belle & The Devotions. The name is right from 1963. So is the sound. Basically one of the Supremes singles that missed the US chart before the broke through. Christ alive, Belle looks like she was dragged out of a ship's cemetery. This is a distinct step down from recent entries. Bob Marley and a host of stochastic miming heads. Junior? f***ing HELL. He's even sh*t in this. This is of course Marley's best single. Other than "Jammin". Never did know who the woman in the mad hat and scarf was. Simon Bates talks all over Long's attempt to introduce the Durannies. No. 2. This could be their first organic no. 1 single. It is something of a return to form after trying far too hard with some of their recent efforts. Lord alone knows what it's about. Didn't know they'd performed this in the studio. Only ever remember seeing the video. Long thinks it could be no. 1 next week. We go from that to Nelson & Iglesias. Christ alive. I've seen less sh*t in a sewage works. Chartism. Weird Al Yankovic. "The" Cocteau Twins at 38! Ooh, play THAT instead of f***ing Nelson. Weird to see them on a TOTP card. Sandie Shaw doesn't have The Smiths on her title. "Relax" is a non-mover at 29. It is 22 minutes to 8 and we go back to number thirty...eight? No, just thirty. Echo & The Bunnymen. Sia must have listened to this. Something of the high drama about this. Excellent stuff. Back to the charts. Special AKA down despite being on last week. Flying Pickets are going up. Jeez. Oh great, we're going to see them. Novelty acts should do the decent thing and intercourse off after their fifteen minutes. Right. Top 10. Long seems happy. Hm, it says here Duran Duran are at 5. The graphic earlier had them at 2. Not the hardest thing to get right. f***ing hell, Richtea STILL? I bet the playout will be sh*t. Let's FF it. Pointer Sisters. Just about makes the level of OK.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Aug 7, 2017 10:14:31 GMT 1
When you've got past what an absolutely dreadful record it is, that Lionel Ritchie video is fascinating. The mid 80s viewer was no doubt expected to be charmed by this romantic vision of a lecturer falling in love with his student despite her being blind. Through 21st Century eyes it looks like a pervy older man fantasising about taking advantage of his position of authority and exploiting a vulnerable young adult for his own sexual gain. Grim.
It's probably for the best that they've missed a couple of episodes out lately. I tend not to fast forward because I like to think I'm recreating the full original experience, but if I'd tried to watch this six times I'd have been risking being thrown out of the house.
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Post by thehitparade on Aug 12, 2017 0:31:14 GMT 1
A pedant writes: Freddie Mercury did shave his moustache for the ballet scenes in the video.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 13, 2017 9:21:34 GMT 1
3.5. We start with 6. OMD. Steve Wright, the least funny man on the planet, is co-presenting with Mike Read, the least cool man on the planet. Andy Mac's shirt seems to have been made out of several other shirts. Not OMD's best, but even sub-standard OMD is better than most.
From one group arranged around a synth double to another. Blancmange apparently on feria somewhere. Stephen and Neil are perennially corpsing with some Princess Leia-coiffured senoritas. I like this idea of video. "We need fifteen grand for a promo. Leave the details to us." Then go off on hollybobs.
New Order performing live and putting the popstrels to shame. Hooky has his bass to "rusty chainsaw" setting. OK, nothing more. Not particularly, er, hooky.
"Footloose". About the only point in the existence of Kenny Loggins (and Hall & Oates) is for that one-off Simpsons joke of Garfunkel, Oates, Messina and Lisa. This is gash.
Ready's forte - the charts. Mentions one of Disco Tex' Sex-O-Lettes coming up here. Is that Belle of the Devotions perhaps when she was still in her forties? Cocteau Twins at 29. That should guarantee a play. No, Jocelyn Brown. Yes, let's play loads of useless Americans rather than the best British act to make the charts. This is worse than gash. It is beyond gash. Plu-gash.
Charts again. And Human League. Sounding remarkably like The Mission. And Phil Oakey taking his look from Rodney in OFAH when he takes Nervous Nerys out for a drive in the Herald. Pretty good.
Top 10. Richtea OFF. At intercoursing last. 3 and 2 don't move. Duran Duran. Quite a high-powered top 4. A decent no. 1. Not many of those these days. Interesting that they get to the top with a bog-standard live video. Whereas all the ones where they're bouncing around Sri Lanka fell short.
Maybe the Cocteaux will be on the playout? No, we get Nik Kershaw. f***ing A.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 13, 2017 9:44:07 GMT 1
10 and its half. Jensen and Peel. That last show made me angry. It sums up the BBC's attitude to indie music that Cocteau Twins were entitled to a shot on TOTP and instead of getting before a mass audience the BBC decided to have Kenny f***ing Loggins. Anyway. We start with the 54 year old "Belle" and The Devotions. Who are not singing on this. You would have thought that if you're going to recruit someone for eye candy you'd go for hotties rather than the scrag ends from a Southend night-club.
Queen non-move at 3 - that's the third week in a row therefore - so they're not going any higher. Ergo TOTP wastes a play on them rather than someone less mainstream. And we go from one non-mover to another. Because it's not as if The Flying Pickets haven't got their own f***ing tv show to parade their pointless cheap tat.
Bob Marley on video. This is a useless show so far. Three top ten singles and a Eurovision entry. What's the point in bothering with new releases when you can just play everything that's already popular? Good job the BBC learned that lesson.
Right. Top 40. Roland Rat is back. Depeshay. At least Peel calls Cocteau Twins "excellent". Terri Wells? Who? FGTH are going back up. Why? We now see Ms Wells. Come up through the clubs, which means it's likely to be sh*t, on the basis that everyone there is high or low or whatever and don't care about actual music. And I'm right.
Charts. Pointer Sisters, with Caster Semenya on lead vox, at no. 4. They start with the video and then go into robotic dancing and Paul Rutherford with a couple of fans.
We cut back to Peel cutting a rug. And the top 10. D-squared are still at no. 1 and we play out with Jeffrey Osborne because the pluggers are cretins.
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 13, 2017 14:46:59 GMT 1
I have finally caught up on TOTP. I went away to Israel in early April 1984 so I have never seen any of these episodes.
What strikes me obviously is the number of songs that never got on TOTP in spite of long chart runs, and the number of them that got more than one play.
I think it probably had a lot to do with bands who would come into the studio.
Not sure if the Cocteau Twins wanted to go into the studio of TOTP and whether they made a video. Without a dance troupe anymore, if they couldn't go into the studio and there was no video, it couldn't be played.
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 13, 2017 14:48:20 GMT 1
10 and the single digits. Shakin' Stevens got to no. 2? Bloody hell. Richtea at no. 1 over a far more deserving track. Yeah I'm sure you think Shaky was far more deserving of the #1.
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Post by thehitparade on Aug 13, 2017 15:52:26 GMT 1
There is a Cocteau Twins video but to be fair I don't know whether that was finished in time for this episode. I certainly can't imagine them going on in person.
I was also going to say that whilst 'Thieves Like Us' is one of my favourite singles of 1984, that live performance is terrible. I don't know whether New Order's actual concerts were that bad or whether it was just the studio set-up.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Aug 13, 2017 20:56:54 GMT 1
I know the Cocteaus didn't want to do TOTP, but they could have been at least a playout track. Or TOTP could have borrowed their Old Grey Whistle Test performance. Not sure when the video was done.
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Post by thehitparade on Aug 13, 2017 23:24:49 GMT 1
Now you come to mention it, I wonder whether TotP ever did "punish" acts who turned down an offer to appear (as opposed to those who were out of the country or whatever)? Not saying that's what happened to the Cocteaus, obviously, I've no idea whether they were ever approached. But I wonder whether it ever happened to anyone else, apart from the Clash.
I haven't really been keeping score of the playout tracks in this era, but aren't they mostly more danceable in nature?
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 15, 2017 10:51:30 GMT 1
Surely the plural of Cocteau would be Cocteaux...
The Clash's song "Bankrobber" was once shown with Legs & Co dancing.
Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" was never on TOTP in spite of a slow climb and several weeks at its #8 peak. Shannon never on with either of her two hits.
Marvin Gaye's death happened on 1st April 1984. That was a Sunday, and was before the never-shown TOTP but the equivalent chart for that week was the one before, when "It's Raining Men" was #2 and the entire top 7 were climbers (other than Lionel Richie holding at #1 for a second week).
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Aug 15, 2017 11:27:12 GMT 1
Marvin Gaye's death happened on 1st April 1984. That was a Sunday, and was before the never-shown TOTP but the equivalent chart for that week was the one before, when "It's Raining Men" was #2 and the entire top 7 were climbers (other than Lionel Richie holding at #1 for a second week). Apologies if I've missed something, but why was there a "never shown" Top of the Pops?
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 15, 2017 11:57:12 GMT 1
It was a TOTP episode on 5th April 1984 that didn't happen because of a strike. John Peel and David Jensen were due to present it, and it was going to be a live show but it got cancelled.
The one the following week was extremely short, and was co-presented by Dave Lee Travis. They put in a top 10 video show that week.
So in a 2 week period there was just one very short TOTP. Lucky the charts were moving relatively slowly at the time. These two weeks were Shaky's two weeks at #2.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Aug 15, 2017 13:21:38 GMT 1
So did BBC4 show the very short episode? I have been watching them all but I didn't notice one was shorter than usual. I tend to watch them while ironing and time becomes somehow less meaningful...
I did notice that only 4 episodes were shown with Lionel Ritchie at number 1 when he was there for 6 weeks, I assumed there was something Yew Tree related going on but maybe not...
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Post by Earl Purple on Aug 15, 2017 13:48:14 GMT 1
They didn't show the very short episode because Dave Lee Travis was one of the presenters. I belong to a facebook group where they give us links to these episodes (usually on dropbox, sometimes vimeo) so we can watch them.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Aug 15, 2017 15:23:48 GMT 1
Ah, of course, I wasn't paying attention to who presented. Due to a fateful, unsolicited grope in a corridor at BBC Manchester several years later we will never see it again.
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Post by thehitparade on Aug 15, 2017 17:14:14 GMT 1
The wouldn't have shown the very short one if it was presented by DLT.
(Sorry, I see what's already been said)
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Post by suedehead on Aug 31, 2017 20:50:32 GMT 1
We’ve skipped two episodes so we’re now up to the beginnng of June 1984. Our hosts once again are John Peel and David Jensen. Sadly this is their last episode together. When this programme was first shown the continuity announcer probably had very little to say. Nowadys we get a full-length speech.
We start with Spandau Ballet so there is plenty of room for improvement. Of course, there is also plenty of scope for worse.
The mediocrity continues with Howard Jones.
We take a break from the mediocre with some rubbish from Evelyn Thomas. Not even the bassline from Relax can save it.
A weak joke precedes the first chart bit.
Bananarama are up next with a song I’ve forgotten existed probably because it’s so nondescript.
The best of the night os far – and probably altogether – comes from Bronski Beat. Yes, it’s Ian Hislop’s TOTP debut. Panel show regualr (not yet Rev) Richard Coles looks somewhat younger here.
The top ten countdown brings us to Wham at number one. Two gay singers in a row. The Daily Mail would have been horrifed if they’d known.
A generally poor programme ends on another low note with Sister Sledge. Let’s hope for better tomorrow.
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