TOTP 80.39 27/11/80

First broadcast 27/11/80
Repeated on BBCFour from 19/11/2015
Presented by Tommy Vance
Full chart here.

Given the large amounts of heavy metal that are still hanging around they obviously thought it was time to get Vance on again. Sadly for him though (and lucky for us) there isn't very much of it at all on this week's Pops, although Tommy puts on a very brave face despite all this.

L to R: Soul boy, Vance, Anna-Marie

Starting with...quick preview (Spans, Palmer, Madness)

Showaddywaddy - Blue Moon
Vance spends an awful lot of time telling us how many hundred times this song has been done before, then we get The 'Waddy doing it exactly has it has been done a hundred times previously. Their manager/record company must have had a lot of friends in high places as a) their last song was rubbish and failed miserably b) this was only at no. 50 c) this was another rubbish version and failed miserably.

UB40 - Dream a Lie
As Vance so knowingly tells us, this was a double 'A' side with the doom-laden The Earth Dies Screaming, so here's a bit of light relief with the '40 posing as, er, Black and White Minstrels. I'm surprised this one actually got through in these politically and racially correct times, but some of the band were black and made to look white, so that makes it OK.

UB40: politically correct

Surprise visit from Darryl Hall and John Oates all the way from Philedelphia or somewhere, and they evidently have something to plug. Ah yes, Kiss On Your List which actually got nowhere near the Pops studio.

Robert Palmer - Looking For Clues

Looking like somewhere between Bryan Ferry and Gary Numan (with whom he had connections), Palmer is another one of those artists who skilfully and tastefully managed to re-invent themselves and their music to the eighties. That said, his previous single - the very eighties sounding Johnny & Mary - hadn't managed to get onto the Pops but this time he gets some good exposure as a bubbling under, and is all set to spend a record number of weeks at no..........33. And the "You had one job" award this week goes to the xylophone "player".

Yet another 'surprise' guest: Bev Bevan, who, as everyone in 1980 knew, was the drummer in ELO. Actually he's just written a book all about being the drummer in ELO. OK so now you're here Bev you can introduce the next number. By ELO.

ELO - Don't Walk Away (Legs & Co.)

And months after its original release they're still milking the Xanadu - The album cow for all it's worth with yet another single from said opus. More like flogging a dead horse though, as this one failed to get into the Top 20 and Olivia n Cliff were already on their way down just a place behind the 'Orchs with Suddenly. Fairly run of the mill Legs "dance" routine for one of Jeff Lynne's drearier ballads. In fact there's not much dancing at all, but predictably quite a lot of...walking away.

Rundown 30-21

Stray Cats - Runaway Boys

In retrospect, given his abysmal attempt to have a hit earlier in the year, Dave Edmunds probably did right to put his solo "career" on hold for a while to produce this lot. On the face of it, it's the same old repurposed rock 'n' roll stuff which had been rocking all over the world since our Dads were young, but this time with a slightly more credible 'modern' edge to them than, say, Matchbox or Showaddywaddy. Not quite Adam and the Ants or Spandau Ballet, but "eighties" defining nonetheless.

Stray Cats: 80s quiffs ahoy

20-11 rundown.

Spandau Ballet - To Cut a Long Story Short

"..in sound and vision.." says Vance - well yes Tommy that's what telly is supposed to be. Anyway the Spans are obviously already too busy touring or playing London clubs or something to come on again so here's a repeat of the performance form two weeks back. Now at no. 11.

More surprises, and more Americans...Martha and Marty of The Motels telling us what sort of Music The Motels Make. Now on a three week long short tour, making it the longest short tour ever. Just for the record, The Motels had two Top 50 (ie. not Top 40) singles in the UK.

Madness - Embarrassment

Well after that very embarrassing interview, here's some proper English hit music with Madness and their new one now at no. 12 up from 31. Great song, great band, great video and indeed a great year for them. They should be playing on top of Buckingham Palace or something.

Top 10 rundown .. .and it's a new number one!

Abba - Super Trouper

Abba Angels

But it's a full fifteen seconds before Vance can actually announce it cos of Agnetha and Annifried's angelic sung intro. Yup, the nation's favourite Swedes were at the top spot again (for the ninth time, thanks for that Tommy). Sad to think they never made it a tenth time and that it won't be long before they all get "sick and tired of everything" for real. But let's enjoy this for now. And it's their ninth numb.... oh shut up Vance!

A man maneuvering a super-trouper

Young & Company - I Like What You're Doing
Nondescript disco number to play us out as we bid adieu to Tommy and all his guests.


See you next week as we race towards December!

TOTP 80.25 21/08/80

BBCFour repeat here.
Full chart here.

In true 1970's/early 80's being on holiday and not having a telly therefore missing TOTP on Thursday night style I was again on holiday last week without a telly (in the year 2015 tut!), and so duly missed Thursday's show. So I've called in guest reviewer Gaztronix to give this week's Pops the once over.
Over to you Gaz!....

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

Presented by Steve Wright with a youthful looking Sir Clifford of Richard* by his side all Smashy n Nicey

pic: popscene

We kick off with the Nick Straker Band and massive European holiday song A Walk In The Park. The guy in charge of TOTP FX is having a bit of a freeze-frame meltdown. Mr Straker has the most amazing hair - I'm sure it's inspired a Mighty Boosh skit or two.

Back to Steve n Cliff with some repartee on Sheena Easton. Easton, performing Modern Girl, has thankfully dropped the look that made her look like Gary Numan's younger sister and had opted for a style best described as 'Disco Sue Lawley'. Fair do's. There is a synth solo in this song - it's amazingly bad even for 1980 - I had to play it again. It was THAT bad.

Just Steve now - maybe Clifford has gone to check with his portrait in the attic. We get given what we get which is a video of The Jam performing 'Watch You Give Is What You Get.' Proper 80s vid it is too - intense staring at bright lights through Venetian blinds (what was it about the early 80s Venetian blinds phase?) (ed. the song title is actually 'Start!')

Smashy has gone, so we get Nicey Sir Cliff who looks a lot like Mike Read. Not Runaraaaaaaaahnd Mike Read but Frankie-smashing, slightly racist song writing for UKIP Mike Read. And exclusively for TOTP - Cliff has gone all mockney - well, he's drifting towards mockney, innit. That Cliff eh? Any more of this mockney malarkey and he might go the full Danny Baker. I'll keep you updated. And who's Triff introducing? Why it's only Cliff...sorry Shakin' Stevens. I genuinely can't tell you what the song is called, but he keeps shrieking 'Marie' so I'm guessing it's that. Cliff...Shakey is in Teddy Boy Hot Pink and is performing all on his lonesome tonight - a few fifties moves, hair the glistens and love for the mic stand. (ed. the song title is actually 'Marie Marie')

Back to Wright now and whassat Steve? Legs and Co? Ok. Dancing to what!? The Clash!? Yep - it's Legs and Co - dancing to Bankrobber by The Clash. All stripes, leotards and cages. If the English National Ballet did this, it be classed as 'challenging'. But as it's Legs and Co - no one bats an eyelid.

Smashy n Nicey are back together again. A little bit of Mockney from Smashy and only a smattering this time from Nicey. Oh and Elvis impersonations as the next tune is a bit of Rock n Roll from Shak...no hang on - it's Billy Joel and It's Still Rock n Roll To Me. It's a pop video, so I'm ignoring it to let you know that the best version of It's Still Rock n Roll To Me was performed by Laptop sometime in the late 90s. Seriously - dig it out. Joel gets chopped as soon as the sax solo starts to kick in - wise move Mr. BBC editor bloke - cheers!

Right back with Wright now and the countdown 30-11. Up next it's Hazel O'Connor. Ah at last - it's the eighties with Eighth Day. All that Rock N Roll had me worried for a minute. There is better work by O'Connor - honest, there is - but this isn't it. Cartoon new wave synth sounds are just the half of it - I haven't even got started on the lyrics yet. If Queen had been this melodramatic it would've raised eyebrows. Hey ho - the audience lap it up. And fair do's as it does bounce along a fair rate, O'Connor is an engaging performer and they have just been subjected to large amounts of throwbacks to the fifties.

Sir Cliff now - almost back to normal - only 10% on the mockneyometer.

It's The Piranhas and Tom Hark - one of those jaunty faux Caribbean things that you wished you'd never heard but later gets adopted by the terraces. Odd really, as its lyrics are actually an anti-nuclear war song! Yep - it's political! Not that you'd know from the bands appearance and demeanour. Peel used to love them apparently but dropped them like a stone when this came out.

Steve and Cliff again - no mockney this time and Doo-doo! Doo-doo! It's Kelly Marie and Feels Like I'm In Love. Doo-doo! Doo-doo! Kelly is dressed in a black jumpsuit with gold trim for Blakes 7 or an office party - back then it was impossible to tell. But the dancers either side suggest she may even eschew all of the above for dinner with Liberace.

pic: Gaztronix

Up next it's Steve n Cliff introducing - Cliff! Wow, how'd he do that? He's so smooth. That's not The Shadows though...I think...no idea to be honest, but if Hank Marvin isn't there then I'm guessing it's not. This is modern Cliff. It's a bizarre performance - the BBC FX Dept are having fun with this one. The band fade in and out around Cliff and shedloads of dry ice. I think the song is called Dreamin', so Cliff is dreaming of the band! Wow! D'you see wot they did there? Crazy Cliff, crazy band, crazy times! Paul Young would steal this entire sound a few years later. Cliff has a very loose arrangement with his tie and nonchalantly plays with his jacket which he casually slings around his shoulder as he sashays and dreams and pouts his way along. Rocking a look best described as 'Apollo from Battlestar Galactica on his day off heading to a picnic with friends in a park'

Countdown from 10-2. Cliff has woken up, his band have vanished and all he's got is his mate Steve. The number one and it's the godlike genius David Bowie with an absolute classic Ashes To Ashes. It's the video - Dave probably has better things to do, or maybe Cliff asked him to the picnic and Dave doesn't want to go - could be awkward. It's the whole video n all. Wright says 'some people say it's his best yet...' - he could be right. (ed. - first week at no. 1 for this Bowie single which knocked Abba off the top spot)

Back to our cheeky chappies now - cheers Cliff, who's off on tour. And that's it Folks. No idea what the end title song is - some very weak disco about All Over The World. (ed. Electric Light Orchestra!)

*in memory of the late, great Tom Hibbert


Thanks for that Gaz. We'll be back to 'normal' next week folks with more Pops fun before The Posh Proms (c) kick in. Laters!

TOTP 80.24 14/08/80

BBCFour repeat here.
Full chart here.

Introduced by Tommy Vance and guest Roger Daltrey.

Just a quick runthrough as we're packing our bucket n spade and going on our summer holiday...

Looking at the charts, nearly all the acts that were on last week benefited from their respective performances (save for Bad Manners who remained at 15) so TOTP had definitely given the record buying public a kick up the backside. Amazingly they seemed to have cobbled together a pretty good show from what else of good there was....

Ultravox - Sleepwalk

Openers Ultravox got the party started with their debut as a group and they were already at no. 29. Midge had already been on with Slik though a few centuries ago as had keyboardist Billy Currie who had d been on last year with Tubeway Army/Gary Numan. Midge is oh so slick with the cameras, never losing a moment to give Bowie-esque gazes into the lens. Another jaw-drop moment for me (for the music not for Midge's crafty looks) although surprisingly this did them little good chart-wise. But they'll be back...

David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes

So much has been said about this song/video already as it's become nigh-on legendary. This was apparently the first time it went on telly and duly shook the nation. Bowie's new one had to be featured on TOTP of course because it was straight in at no. 4. That legendary 'video' practically brought the New Romantic movement out of the underground London clubs and into the mainstream. And we now knew that Space Oddity's Major Tom was actually a junkie.

ELO- All Over the World

Brum's best didn't get much of a look in with their only no. 1, albeit with hot blonde lead singeress, because of the Strike. Here's another cracker from Xanadu though which also did them good. Legs & Co. slightly overdressed this week, but you can't mess around too much with national costumes - might start a war or something.

Mike Berry - Sunshine of Your Smile

Who is this and how did he get here? I've no idea and no time to find out either. Life's too short.

 

Grace Jones - Private Life

Another debut and possibly the first time many had seen her. Epic cool performance and a great single. Love the way she flicks the ash without actually smoking. A Marlene Dietrich for our time.

Village People - Can't Stop the Music

Way past their 'YMCA' best and perhaps they really had better stop the music. or re-invent themselves for the 80s. No, forget that.

Sue Wilkinson - You've Got to be a Hustler..

See Mike Berry above, although perhaps slightly more entertaining. A nation asked itself what a 'hustler' was. Get that woman some hair conditioner.

Abba - The Winner Takes It All

Is it all over already? I've missed out the 'guest presenter' banter and the intermittent peacemeal chart rundowns in favour of brevity, plus the fact that Daltrey is an arrogant burke. But still, everyone's favourite Swedish group are still kings and queens of pop. For now.

Must fly! Ciao!

The Ones (and other hits) that got away

Here's a list of songs which were hits during the TOTP strike period:

Number 1's:

Don McLean - Crying
We'd already seen the promo video a couple of times, and after three weeks of a song about suicide the Great British public chose three weeks of a song about crying. Britian was obviously a very miserable place.

ELO & Olivia Newton John - Xanadu
But enough moping already! Here's a shiny new Olivia and the fabulous Electric Light Orchestra from Brum who sadly didn't get the chance to show off their first and only time at the top spot on national television on a Thursday night. Travesty indeed. ELO also got to no. 20 with I'm Alive and to no. 11 with All Over the World, all by themselves.

Farrar, Newton-John, Lynn: The Xanadu team (pic.: donosdump.com/xanadu/)

Odyssey - Use It Up and Wear It Out
A chart-topping anomaly in these TOTP-less wilderness days perhaps. They knocked Olivia and pals off the top spot and stayed there for two weeks.

Abba - The Winner Takes It All
This one was however fully justified in making it to the top. More miserableness, true enough, but a classic heart-wrenching ballad about a post-split couple hurtling into a divorce. Bjorn says it was totally non-autobiographical and we totally believe that, don't we. Top promo video too, but I still can't bear to watch it when Agnetha looks into the camera and sings in trembling voice "Now I understand, you've come to shake my hand..". Their seventh UK no. 1 and the first to be shown in the new style Pops, coming up.



Other Big Ones

Kate Bush - Babooshka
Still one of her best known songs but as it peaked at no. 5 in the first week of August the classic promo-video never made it to the Pops.

Leo Sayer - More Than I Can Say
This one also peaked beginning of August, making it to no. 2. The permed-one never got to sing this smoochy classic on a TOTP stage (although a stand-in did for the nigh-legendary pilot show).

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Could You be Loved
Some cheery summer rasta sounds at last, peaking at no. 5. Marley would be dead within a year, although not even a posthumous release of No Woman No Cry managed to beat this chart-wise.

UB40 - My Way of Thinking
More summer reggae sounds man in this follow up to Food For Thought. Peaked at no. 6.

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
It's still debatable as to whether this post-punk classic went Top 20 because of radio-play dominance through TOTP's non-showing or whether it would have been a hit anyway, following singer Ian Curtis' suicide at the end of May. But no matter, it's another classic and their one and only chart hit, which would re-surface again in 1983.

The Korgis - Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime
More sloppy gloomdom, although a bit more 'sound of the eighties' than most of this kind of stuff that was around. Sadly they never managed to make a decent follow up and the parent album Dumb Waiters (great cover) only made it to No. 40.

Splodgenessabounds - Two Pints of Lager and Packet of Crisps Please
Again we are left to wonder if this novelty-punk record would ever have got to the Top 10 or even onto Top of the Pops in a non-BBC-orchestra strike parallel universe. But it was a bit of a laugh, and we all know how us Brits like to have a laugh amid all the crying. Especially if it's about crisps and beer. Or a strike.

We're laughin'! (Official dispute pic.: overgrownpath.com 01.10.2010)