Old TOTP (BBC4) (1 Viewer)

It was bold of Annie Lennox to stand on that stage on her own. She does seem to be incapable of singing and keeping her eyes open at the same time tho' - often a sign that a performer is not enjoying themselves.
 
Vince Clarke going full "back to the audience" again. The Erasure single after this was "Abbaesque", I think?
 
"Deeply Dippy" remains bewildering. Absolutely terrible, of course, but still bewildering.
 
I had also forgotten how incredibly shit "Let's Get Rocked" is. There was a lot of sympathy for Def Leppard because they were coming back after their guitarist overdosed but, good grief, that song is SHITE.
 
The 20-30 seconds of the Manics' "Slash & Burn" was the highlight of that episode.
 
Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse as Smashie and Nicey introducing W.A.S.P. And we thought this was perfectly normal.
 
"It's pronounced Peniston, mate". Jeez. The pre-Roxette banter is even less funny that I remembered too. Sheesh.
 
An exclusive from Chris De Burgh?? Christ on a fucking tricycle, who booked that?
 
I've just TWIGGED that the TOTP repeats are finally up to the 90s, and whilst its still too early for my TOTP nostalgia to really start kicking in from around 95/96 I'm totally watching these for as long as BBC Four manages to remain functioning.

I can't QUITE get over how terrible the presenters, particularly Claudia Simon :D
*Yells line at camera with no real inflection sometimes offering an opinion of her own and sometimes not, whilst camera has already started to move onto something else* :D
I never realised how lucky I was to grow up with the SHEER PROFESSIONALISM that is/was Jayne Middlemiss :D :disco:
 
It's amazing how many of these rave/club "anthems" come right back to me when they turn up on TOTP. Praga Khan is not one of them - not a flicker in the memory bank.
 
Altern8 seemed properly off-kilter at the time but actually sound pretty tame now.
 
...and again, an exclusive from Genesis with an absolute bore of a song. One thing if it's in the charts but as an exclusive? Again, who were they making this show for?
 
Not one of Iron Maiden's most memorable. Oddly cheap video complete with heavy handed imagery. Grim.
 
I retain a soft spot of Carter USM. Not their best single but a deserved victory lap.
 
A fifth of the programme given over to a Michael Jackson video. I maintain that TOTP went to shit when they stopped following the charts. Too many "exclusives", not enough of what people bought that week.
 
octophone said:
A fifth of the programme given over to a Michael Jackson video. I maintain that TOTP went to shit when they stopped following the charts. Too many "exclusives", not enough of what people bought that week.
Click to expand...
Yet their ability to spot future hits was debatable at best.
 
Ag said:
Yet their ability to spot future hits was debatable at best.
Click to expand...
It was "big names". Yet that Cher song didn't do well, neither did the Chris De Burgh one they had a few weeks ago and that EMF record didn't set the charts alight.
 
I personally loved the music video exclusives. Even though MTV Europe had been going since 1985, it wasn't until the early 90s that I actually knew anyone who had satellite TV, and they were mostly the wealthier households. I swear just the rise of The Simpsons was a huge reason why some families were forking out for Sky dishes, but we as a family only got cable TV in 94-95 before my dad gave us an ultimatum to choose between TV or the internet, so it got cancelled.

There was no other place to really see full music videos. I can only remember Going Live showing short clips and we've already talked a lot about the frustration of The Chart Show on ITV never showing the ones you wanted, or fast forwarding to the end just as you're getting in to it. TOTP showing them in full was amazing at the time for acts who were never going to be doing the promo rounds performing in TV studios (basically MJ and Madonna etc.).
 
The trouble was that the exclusives were very obvious. As an indie kid, I was constantly seeing records I'd bought that were in the chart get passed over for expensive videos made by established artists and that got right on my tits.
 
octophone said:
The trouble was that the exclusives were very obvious. As an indie kid, I was constantly seeing records I'd bought that were in the chart get passed over for expensive videos made by established artists and that got right on my tits.
Click to expand...
I was 10/11. There were no Indie kids at our age so we were probably the right demographic for it.

The videos you liked were probably the ones on The Chart Show that I had no interest in watching!
 
The Sisters Of Mercy with Ofra Haza (RIP) - this is a banger. I remember dancing to this at a got night in Aberdeen. Brilliant. Camp as tits to boot.
 
I don't care how hip it is to rag on "Friday I'm In Love", it's a great song. Thoroughly charming.
 
My main takeaway from recent episodes is that even though I remembered them as bloody awful, somehow Def Leppard are even worse than I'd recalled.
 
lolly said:
My main takeaway from recent episodes is that even though I remembered them as bloody awful, somehow Def Leppard are even worse than I'd recalled.
Click to expand...

Truth. Every cliche you remember about 80s/90s British rock/metal appears to be their fault. Absolutely rotten.
 
Oceanic arguing over the key change :D

That was a great watch. Putting a very positive spin on Year Zero though. 1992 next week too.
 
Wow a Ce Ce Penicillin exclusive. That must have got the nans and the scientists tuning in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top Bottom