Old TOTP (BBC4) (6 Viewers)

As much as I hated Elastica, I;d forgotten that they'd had 4 or 5 generic hunks in towels just sitting/standing around bored. That's quite fun.
 
Jesus, Damon Albarn is such a WANKER at this point. Graham Coxon already looking very uncomfortable...we know where that was going...
 
The Glam Metal Detectives - neither Doon Mackichan nor Phil Cornwall's finest moment...
 
octophone said:
The problem was that video channels and The Chart Show were showing songs for weeks and TOTP was left looking a bit old hat by only being able to show them once they were in the actual chart, by which time, demand had often peaked. But the problem was that it eroded the shows essential appeal - "Here Are Some Songs That Are In The Charts". You ended up with a very narrow strata being catered for and you stopped seeing random metal and indie bands because they would have an exclusive by a Big Pop Act instead. This, the show got boring.
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Yes, I very much remember TOTP feeling quite redundant at the time, exactly for that reason. What was there to get excited about when you had a plethora of music channels you'd been watching those songs on for weeks already?

I can see why the idea of the EXCLUSIVE was so appealing to producers in that it gave TOTP a point of difference and the audience a reason to tune in - but like Ag says, they were too often big names with poor songs. At the time perhaps that didn't matter as much as the fact that the STAR was appearing, but watching back this far down the line, you get a better perspective of how sub par a lot of it was.
 
This episode is awful, even the sheer weirdness of Love Can Build A Bridge doesn't help. How did they pick the vocalists, throwing a dart into The Guinness Book Of Hit Singles?
 
"Wake Up Boo!" is still brilliant, if overplayed. It's not even in the Top 20 best Boo Radleys songs either.
 
You really can see why Blur/Oasis and the Spice Girls happened relatively soon can't you? I know Wannabe was still over a year away, but I think I'm right in believing that this is when everything was switching into gear behind the scenes for them.

As much as I think the chart and music has been better in 94/5 than it was in 93, it has all largely felt pretty faceless. And on the pop front, Barlow and Take That had gone very MOR and lost any real sense of excitement.
 
lolly said:
Yes, I very much remember TOTP feeling quite redundant at the time, exactly for that reason. What was there to get excited about when you had a plethora of music channels you'd been watching those songs on for weeks already?

I can see why the idea of the EXCLUSIVE was so appealing to producers in that it gave TOTP a point of difference and the audience a reason to tune in - but like Ag says, they were too often big names with poor songs. At the time perhaps that didn't matter as much as the fact that the STAR was appearing, but watching back this far down the line, you get a better perspective of how sub par a lot of it was.
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Definitely - ratings over quality. A lot of big names were making very mediocre records in the 90s. Meanwhile, a genuine club hit would have to go top 10 to get a look in.
 
1994/1995 was the near nationwide rollout of cable TV, wasn’t it? So you’d not have to buy a dish and could just sign up with a box being sent in the post.
 
Ellie said:
1994/1995 was the near nationwide rollout of cable TV, wasn’t it? So you’d not have to buy a dish and could just sign up with a box being sent in the post.
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It was definitely no later than that, locally at least. My parents were never early adopters of anything, and I had cable TV by this point. I remember friends having it for what felt like AGES (but was probably only months) before and being horribly jealous.

Plus having access to MTV Europe may well have dimmed the appeal of the UK charts and shows anyway - I now had access to far more music than I did previously.
 
I remember the music press were by now salivating over the return of "rock stars" over "faceless techno bollocks". I'd been into Blur since their first single so I was enjoying their victory lap and Oasis seemed to be getting better and better (I thought 'Whatever' was wonderful and I still do). It was the whole guitars vs machines thing which culminated in the nonsense assertion that Oasis constituted "real music". By the time Spice Girls turned up, Britpop had become Dadrock and it was Cast and Paul Sodding Weller.
 
lolly said:
It was definitely no later than that, locally at least. My parents were never early adopters of anything, and I had cable TV by this point. I remember friends having it for what felt like AGES (but was probably only months) before and being horribly jealous.

Plus having access to MTV Europe may well have dimmed the appeal of the UK charts and shows anyway - I now had access to far more music than I did previously.
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I just remember it was only the rich people who had satellite dishes, but all of a sudden in the mid-90s more people from across the board started signing up to cable. There was definitely a big push with roadworks fitting the cables around the areas.
 
Right on cue, Radiohead. They hate "High And Dry" apparently. I wonder why, it's a lovely thing, beautifully performed (and the record is indeed a live take with minor overdubs). Maybe it became a bit too normal for them.
 
I love Radiohead - I'm overdue a Radiohead phase, probably because they've stopped releasing records or even being an actual band.
 
lolly said:
I can see why the idea of the EXCLUSIVE was so appealing to producers in that it gave TOTP a point of difference and the audience a reason to tune in - but like Ag says, they were too often big names with poor songs. At the time perhaps that didn't matter as much as the fact that the STAR was appearing, but watching back this far down the line, you get a better perspective of how sub par a lot of it was.
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Oh, perfect example - this Stevie Wonder song is terrible. I mean, he's Stevie Wonder, of course you're glad to see him but this song is rotten.
 
Des'ree!

season 5 richard GIF
 
Wet Wet Wet are now the bassist, the guitarist who was never an actual member until everyone else left and him out of Liberty X on vocals. Oh, the humanity.
 
I wonder what happened to the singer out of Freak Power after Norman Cook became Fatboy Slim?
 
Why was Prince wearing a scarf over his face in 95? Was it the whole record company dispute thing?
 
funky said:
He usually had that or SLAVE written on his face, and on his guitar
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Oh, I remember that from the Brit Awards. Dave Rowntree from Blur ended up with "DAVE" written on his face in similar writing that night. Doesn't look so good now.
 
The whole Prince-WB is actually a fascinating story - in the sense that, while he’s right about the money and decision making which must be hell for a true artist especially once they’re a megastar and are in a position of leverage, WB were actually correct about a lot of things - he wanted to put out a new album every 6 months and they kept telling him that the industry (not WB) isn’t built that way and it will dilute his legacy. As it turned out they were right - after Diamonds & Pearls they stopped trying to keep up with him on the promo trail and it all fell apart.

It was only the fact that he had an accidental worldwide smash in 1994 with TMBGITW that the Gold era in 95 still gave him hits. After that, he went into practical obscurity for about a decade.
 
The climate of today would likely have suited Prince better with release schedules being more fluid and major artists "dropping" a new album being almost commonplace. But, yes, people can only absorb so much, even hardcore fans and he moved way too fast for any era of the music industry save maybe the early 60s, an environment in which the idea of the artist even being allowed to touch the console was near strike-worthy.
 
I just thought Texas were coming on but it turned out to be Menswear. The lead singer really looks like Sharleen
 
I have no memory of Joshua Kaddison’s time as a hitmaker(?) but I assume he’s currently enjoying a healthy afterlife as Las Vegas’ premium Elton John tribute act.
 
I don’t mean this in a shamey way, but Adina Howard has quite literally turned up dressed as a stripper :D
 
Runrig a band I knew by name only. Never would have predicted that would be their vibe!
 
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