Repeated on BBCFour from 10/12/2015
Presented by Simon Bates
Full chart here
*wee note: I've chosen the exact original date in 2015 to publish this post.
Bates is back and will do us the honours for this, the last 2015-repeated TOTP80. Over to you Symes...
Wow! Quite a party going on here, funny hats and Stray Cats in the background...
The Beat - Too Nice to Talk To
It's been a great year for The Beat, now having had four hit singles (five if we include tears of a Clown from late last year) and a cracking album which remained top 30 for five months. Alas it seems as if the magic was over with this last one as they are swept away with the new-new wave in '81. Perhaps the Soviet soldier-chic was a bad move?
St. Winifred's School Choir - There's No-One Quite Like Grandma
Stuck at no. 2 having been somewhat cheated out of the top spot by the cruel hand of fate. All is not lost however, not for the wee clones at least. Symes must have a niece or nephew or something at St. Winifred's as he clings on to the fact that it might still get to no. 1 for Christmas and yah boo sucks to John Lennon.
The Barron Knights - Never Mind the Presents
Funny hat back on Symes and since this is Great Britain so we couldn't have a Christmas without having a 'novelty' 'Christmas record, could we. I remember this lot being quite popular at the time although being more of Monty Python / Not the Nine O'Clock News man myself, I duly poo-pooed their populist humour. In hindsight however their Pink Floyd "we don't need no educayshun" piss-take is actually quite funny.
More japes now with special guests Little and Large....steps back in amazement...
The Specials - Do Nothing
Such was The Specials' hardcore following that they seemed to get hit after hit with almost no effort, and little radio play, involved. Third single from their 'lounge' influenced More Specials album, which was surprisingly short-lived Top 30-wise. Nice Christmas jumpers, and more dress sense than The Beat and Little & Large put together. The 'second vocalist' who jumps around doing nothing, not even singing much would later be adopted by
Symes plugs some BBC records, then gets so excited about the next artist he gets the song title wrong and also misguidedly tells us it's 'live'.
Gary Numan - This Wreckage
Talking of hardcore followings, here's another artist who had already become a bit of a cult within the space of just over a year, with mega-selling albums, a handful of top 10 singles, sell-out tours etc. Hard to believe we're only just a year after Cars though as this synth-durge with lyrics about God being dead, and "I leave you" in Japanese and all that is hardly TOTP or even hit-radio material. As you're retiring Gaz, might as well get back to the drawing board. Nice festive 'snowman'-chic jumpsuit though.
Robert Palmer - Looking For Clues
Perhaps it was Numan himself who managed to pull a few strings and get his mate Robert Palmer back on the Pops. Palmer recorded a version of Numan's I Dream of Wires for his Clues album: "you scratch my back mate and I'll call someone at the BBC...". Symes reminds us that PAlmer's last single wasn't "a massive hit" and thereby puts the jinx on this one too: stuck at no. 33, the third of five weeks in that hallowed chart position.
Symes reminds us that Christmas Day is coming up next Thursday (who knew??) and that the Pops will be on at 2 pm and not in the usual slot, so that makes a change.
Chart rundown 30-18.
Chas & Dave - Rabbit
The first appearance of the cheeky Cockney duo since '79's hit Gertcha (Cockney rhyming slang for 'gertcha') and now they're back with this song about some lady friend and her 'rabbiting' ie. the art of catching rabbits, which may seem like a strange thing at this time of year. Should've been 'turkeying' perhaps? Unlike Gary Numan, Chas 'n' Dave sing live.
Charts 17-11. Bates is keen to show us what's going up this week. Erm, only Quo & Queen, actually Symes.
The Nolans - Who's Gonna Rock You
In a desperate effort to get some female artists onto the show (despite Chas n Dave's sexist ranting) The Nolans sisters are grabbed by the skin of their teeth at no. 39 and dragged on to brighten the place up a bit and keep the Dads, and indeed The Parents, happy. Complete with backing band, this is/was a rather feeble attempt at 'disco' and not their best but it'll keep the Nolan ball rolling. And 'rock' isn't meant to be a euphemism for something else, by the way.
Top Ten Time.
Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry
Like Symes said, now at no. 3 with his Moog-tuba brass backing band, and of course sleigh bells and the "wish I was at home for Christmas" (clang!) festive bits thrown in. Repeated studio performance.
John Lennon - Just Like Starting Over
"..number one, of course.." cit. Symes. Legs & Co. were absent last week because they were apparently busy rehearsing for the Christmas & New Year's specials. But it looks as though they had to quickly put together a Christmas-themed routine for the deceased Beatle's single...of course. One can always speculate on how the new Lennon/Ono material would have fared had it not been for The Tragic Incident: sceptics may say they would have re-faded into oblivion and faded rockstar sadness, while others may say that it was a return to form with Lennon's retro-style fitting in with the new 50s/60s nostalgia (although way outclassing the likes of Stray Cats, Matchbox et al), while Ono's more avant-garde pop has already been absorbed into the new wave mainstream. I'd go for the latter theory. Whatever you think, Lennon was brutally murdered and his assassination by an obsessed "fan" was a cruel, illogical consequence of pop-stardom in the modern world.
Hate to have to finish TOTP80 on such a sad note - the omission of the Christmas show in BBCFour repeats here in the year 2015 also another sad consequence of how just a small number of leading figures in 'show business' and public broadcasting spoiled the party for everyone. Hopefully, hoever, said Christmas special will be made available by someone, somewhere and we can bring you the line-up and the usual commentary just for completion's sake.
Until then, it's good night from me.
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