Old TOTP (BBC4)

Ag said:
I liked Howard Jones' first two, but this is drab.
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I actually thought this was his best! 'Hide And Seek' is a great record. And you got to see Matthew Wilder too, albeit in a clip in the top 10 countdown. Where they still didn't play the number 1... but they will tomorrow as Nena gets to the top!
 
Robbie said:
I actually thought this was his best! 'Hide And Seek' is a great record. And you got to see Matthew Wilder too, albeit in a clip in the top 10 countdown. Where they still didn't play the number 1... but they will tomorrow as Nena gets to the top!
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I caught up on Matthew Wilder. I don't know how I missed it. I'm rather obsessed with the performance and just Wilder in general.
 
Wang Chung and Re-Flex are the epitome of why 80's revivalism needs strict limits. No more Simmons Octopads and no more slap bass. No more blousson leather jackets. No more mullets.
 
I don't mind ALEXEI SAYLE as 'comedy' records go

"IS THERE LIFE IN PECKHAM?"
 
Matt Bianco are annoying. I can see why they were called a bunch of wankers.
 
I would happily go all ISIS on Wang Chung. Like The Safety Dance without Justin Trudeau's mother or any redeeming features.
 
I don't even remember them apart from hearing they were BIG IN AMERICA and that was as big an indicator of being a LOAD OF OLD SHIT as you could get
 
A never-ending slushy drama starring that old QUEEN Richard Chamberlain *housewives faint*

 
Theme Tunes appear to be remarkably popular purchase in 1984 - Fraggles, Thorn Birds, Cheers all in this weeks chart
 
I distinctly remember my mother thinking Thorn Birds was rubbish, but my grandmother loved it.
 
Shirley said:
I don't even remember them apart from hearing they were BIG IN AMERICA and that was as big an indicator of being a LOAD OF OLD SHIT as you could get
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The Bush of the 80s. Except possibly even worse.
 
Ag said:
I liked Howard Jones' first two, but this is drab.
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Just catching up on a couple of episodes now. I thought I liked Hide And Seek at the time, but it sounded like a dirge looking for a tune in the light of 2017.
 
IIRC, Jones decided he hated the production and took to playing the song on a piano...he may even have done so on TOTP.
 
OMG THE HITLER RAP! :D

Don't be STUPID
Be a SMARTY
Come and join
THE NAZI PARTY :disco:

You just don't get this kind of thing any more :(
 
The 15/03/84 edition of TOTP won't be shown due to Mike Smith being a prat, even in death... thankfully you can find it here. It's a bit of a rubbish edition though unless you like Lionel Richie or Kajagoogoo. Or Torville and Dean skating. It's notable though for TOTP showing the original German version of Nena's record, the video had been shown on one of their Europarade countdowns the previous year. Hairy armpits ahoy!

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/0ec0719108f4eaa269e7d92a2230f1ce20170715191928/be6dc3

'Breakin' Down' by Julia and Company is still a great record though and was one I bought at the time.
 
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I note they even have to edit out the mention of Mike Smith's name. Grim.
 
octophone said:
IIRC, Jones decided he hated the production and took to playing the song on a piano...he may even have done so on TOTP.
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Just catching up now, and he did indeed. The production of the recorded version killed the song.
 
I loved Sarah Greene growing up. It's painful having to reevaluate.
 
It's a bit of a drag atm. Madonna aside, we get John Lennon and Captain Sensible but not Chakka Khan. Ridiculous!
 
That Captain Sensible tune is a banger tho'. Robert Smith looking shite bored with Siouxsie And The Banshees was a treat too.
 
Also, weird to revisit that moment when "Free Nelson Mandela" was a new single by the up-to-then pretty unsuccessful reboot of The specials.
 
Catching up again now. They were scraping the John Lennox barrel for singles at this point, weren't they? I doubt Borrowed Time would have been a single had he not died, much less a minor hit. And I never realised how much it sounded like 'Mother and Child Reunion', either.
 
Yeah, it was the songs too rubbish for Double Fantasy, which wasn't exactly a classic to start with. At least it was left a respectful distance - they gave it over 3 years before getting the barrel-scraper out.
 
There's no Top Of The Pops on BBC4 this week due to some Welsh Show competition tonight and the Proms tomorrow night. But as when it comes back next week we will have missed the 12 April 1984 edition due to DLT being involved it seems like a good time to post a link...

With Richard Skinner, a shortened version of TOTP with next to no acts in the studio, though there is a top 10 video countdown. The lack of acts was due to some BBC scene shifters strike.

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/db22a0e3e7fb4aa325206273e43d449820170726185147/2622ac

The quality of the video is dreadful but that's the way it goes...
 
Not the greatest pair of episodes. The Smiths and Sandie was a bit of a curio. Otherwise mostly quite humdrum. Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias was particularly poor. I guess the Reflex was one of the better Duran Duran songs, but I mostly think they're shit. The Specials and Queen were not that shit, the latter in particular.
 
Oh God The Flying Pickets. I was glad to read that the lead singer is DEAD.
 
Need to catch up - I have that Smiths/Sandie Shaw 7". I think I prefer it musically to the original - it has a dark defiance to it that Shaw utterly fails to grasp, making the results a thoroughly odd stew.
 
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