The Rolling "Top of the Pops" BBC4 Revival thread.

70s was the golden age for ugly blokes, you could still end up in a band on TOTP with groupies galore. Rubettes' (sans caps) song sounded more like the Beatles than the Rutles!

I'm watching this now. LOL at the male members of the Vagabonds miming the female backing vocals. Something massively depressing about second tier disco groups though, like they're trapped in time, it's as if they're composed entirely of all the bits of late 70's disco that don't influence music today.

Shoeless and carrying a walking stick with a bicycle bell on it? Fucking hell, Harpo could teach Lady gaga a thing or two.

Sheer Elegance one of the most misnamed bands ever judging by what they were wearing, the uglyness of the Rubettes & their overcocky drummer, the utter WTFness of Harpo. mandatory viewing from now on!

I'm sure Punk would never of happened if Sky+ would of been available in 1976...ended up fast forwarding most of last night's show...bring back Noosha Fox...become a little obsessed with s-s-single bed...

^^^ same goes for watching it on iPlayer. I don't know if 'compellingly bad' is the term, or just 'bad'.

the uglyness of the Rubettes & their overcocky drummer

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx-aH0oBscw

definitely 'compellingly bad' for me. and Fox lady really reminded me of Alison Goldfrapp which is a Good Thing.

Noosha F missing link between Clare Grogan and Goldfrapp. Love that record.

Ah, been catching up via good old iplayer on the wii.

Old enough to remember these episodes quite clearly in some cases.

Sad that they haven't gone back far enough in time to have Sparks on.

Still, don't recall that Gilbert O'Sullivan song though I must have heard it then.

Oh, last I heard, they are definitely doing this run for a year.

After that? Who knows...

Still, don't recall that Gilbert O'Sullivan song though I must have heard it then.

He was long gone as commercial proposition by 1976. That song sounded like a demo, did artists have to re-record tracks? I know they had to re-record vocals, hence the ubiquity of the Ladybirds. But then other acts obviously just mimed to the record.

They did 'have' to.

A lot of them switched the tapes post-session, apparently.

ooooooo-oooooooooooooh Vienna it's Slik

It's Midge Uuuurrrr...

And Paul knickerless

Jesus Christ, superstar?

DLT looks like Badly Drawn Boy.

This is sooooo much better than last weeks....

Only one novelty act so far.

Shit Brotherhood Of Man are still number one...

They were there for 6 weeks.

The guy without the 'tasche wants to die.

I still fucking hate the last line of that song...not for the paedo connotations...just cos i hate it...

So, there isn't a TOTP this week, but there is a "Primal Scream" themed evening coming up on Friday.

AAAAAAAAAAARGH

No, the band, not the Janov therapy.

You could kind of see why Midge Ure ended up in Ultravox, I mean "Requiem", the title sounds an like Ultravox song. Slik were a pretty cool looking band by 1976 standards.

Oh, it was very Ultravox, for sure.

I got tickets to see them live in 1978, Top Rank, Reading, thanks to being at the Radio210 offices at the right time: The whole band were there, I met them all, and got the signed piccies, and for some reason that escapes me two free tickets and a bunch of discount vouchers. It wasn't full to say the least, and the support band, "Screemer", were perfectly competent early seventies pophairies that would lose their career path in the wake of punk...

That 1978 should be (Nov) 1976 (oops), timings at that point in history are crucial.

Mud go disco, urgh...

Didn't the guitarist write 'Can't get you out my head' by Kylie...sounds a bit like it...

Frankie Valli's tired performance there. He really got a boost from appearing in Grease in '78, didn't he.

Sometimes I think Elvis died just to avoid crappy cover versions like this.

DEVIL WOMAN!!!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LP_YP0I7zZY/SoFziAfbpiI/AAAAAAAAC-c/RoLUJLbssFU/s200/RikMayall.png

the shadows have let themselves go...

Mud go disco

Surreal

the shadows have let themselves go...

Even by 1976 standards that was one ugly backing band.

Was there anything good in this episode? Apart from Cliff?

The iplayer only has the 30 min version!

Blimey, Robin Sarstedt, what was that all about? Sutherland Brothers/Quiver was quite nice, not enough guys with combovers in the charts these days.

Guessing Annie Lennox has superseded the Sutherland Brothers as Aberdeenshire's biggest chart act though

The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver were pretty great, a lot of quality 70s country rock/AOR tunes. Never heard the Suths on their own tho.

odd that they chopped the Stones out of the longer version.

Robin Sarstedt song was familiar. probably from Jane Russell in The Las Vegas Story.

i think claire grogan has heard that fox single.

The Sutherlan Brothers did the original of "Sailing", and I knew it before Rods version thanks to a k-tel compilation.

Well....'punk had to happen' is a tired old theme, but IF it was ever true then this weeks shows why. Robin Sarstedt - just die you seedy bastard. Sutherland Brothers and Quiver - a soundtrack for cruisin' down the Gateshead bypass in your Hillman Avenger. The singer (Gavin Sutherland?) had great hair though. Frankie Valli, who I maintain it is impossible to dislike looked like he hadn't slept for a year. Manilow - unspeakably awful, and why did he have the piano stool so high? He could barely reach the keys. JJ Barrie - nothing can really describe the horror of this record, although he looked like a decent enough bloke. The Mud record was utterly bizarre - I have no memory of this at all. Even though it was a bit of a disco death-rattle from the bubble-glam stalwarts, they at least seemed enthusistic about it. And bonus marks go to Dave Mount for doing the 'let's arse about on the telly' walk around his drum-kit. What else was there? Ruby Flipper - what did Pan's People do to deserve this fate? Only bright spot was Cliff - crackin' song that with a lovely electric piano sound. The band were hod-carriers even by TOTP session-men standards. They made Sutherland Brothers and Quiver look like arch sex gods in comparison. Oh and of course Abba. But they faded it in verse 2 - bastards. A dire week but at least they didn't show Hank Mizell or John Miles. And how bored was Noel throughout?

Back in 76, I was still watching TOTP as a 14yr old, along with OGWT, but I don't think I was listening to anything much from the charts. I had some Pink Floyd albums, I think I'd just discovered the Syd era LPs. I had a couple of Status Quo albums (Piledriver, Hello) some Bowie and T-Rex, Story of The Who, some K-Tel comps. Within a year I'd be spending my pocket money on scratchy singles in home-made sleeves made by bands barely older than myself from Belfast, Manchester, Deptford and Ladbroke Grove. Happy days, and yeah they did HAVE to happen.

(Imagine a bootmix of "Give peace a chance" with the lyrics of "Sailing" over the top of it)

xpost obviously, blimey thread's suddenly busy.

Two of SB and Quiver played with Pink Floyd - Tim Renwick and Willie Wilson.

And Bruce Thomas was in Quiver!! But not in SB&Q, I think.

Tim Renwick? Something to do with Bowie too?

Bacofoil era Usher

They were Kinky Machine before they were Rialto.

Had no idea - I remember Kinky Machine.

Also had no idea how posh the singer was (from Wiki):

Hon. Louis Robert Eliot (born 11 April 1968) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, formerly of Kinky Machine and Rialto.[1] He is the second son of Peregrine Eliot (1941–2016) and Hon. Jacquetta Jean Frederika Lampson, third daughter of the Scottish diplomat Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn. In the early 1980s, his father held Elephant Fayre at their home Port Eliot. In 1988, his father succeeded as the 10th Earl of St Germans. His parents divorced in 1989.[2]

He had an elder brother, Jago, Lord Eliot (1966–2006),[3] and has a younger brother, Hon. Francis Michael (born 1971). He was educated at Eton.[2]

what was the music under the chart rundown during the middlemass-presented show tonight? vaguely dnb, unlike anything else on the show.

second week in a row when i've owned one of the records (Spiritualized last week, Lion Rock this. oh, probably Cornershop too)

that's 24:50 into this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002gk6n/top-of-the-pops-13031998

I didn't recognise it but sounds quite Timbalandy

instrumental of Beenie Man "Who Am I" which was just outside the Top 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhqpISpm1n4

yep, thanks

'it can only be... Kula Shaker!'

in my limited experience of all saints (under the bridge and the previous one) i have noticed that one of them never takes a turn at a solo and seems to be there to make up the numbers.

But was/is married to either Liam Gallagher or Liam Howlett

I dunno which Appleton sister is which.

I'm a little behind on catching up with these but the Ian Brown harmonica solo was gruelling. And there was a recent episode that was definitely 90% repeated footage and not even subtle about it.

Howling at the Busta Rhymes performance with random people in the street shouting the hook!

comedy cover of Kung Fu Fighting with added breakdancing
comedy cover of beastie boys with added breakdancing

I'm not watching this but if it's Bus Stop then your man doing the rap is Eurovision troubler Daz Sampson!

I thought he looked familiar but I couldn't place him.

Even tho I know they're Bus Stop I misheard Zoe announcing them as Bust Up, which suits a song called "King Fu Fighting" better

Although the weirdly resonance-free name Bus Stop is what attracted me to the song years ago when I asked my mum to buy me Fresh Hits 98 from a jumble sale. Just one of those deliberately faceless names, like Tin Tin Out.

Tbh, a more coherent mid-98 hits package than Now 40 (which despite a generally strong second disc I've always been a bit baffled by)
https://www.discogs.com/release/1759870-Various-Fresh-Hits-98?srsltid=AfmBOoo9PkuCIBr292kV6A-jbIZipqxuKsfI9TPuf_kktAVxKJEQ-9O4

"A one-off supergroup, consisting of Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Colour Scene, Space (4) and the Spice Girls" !

"While Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Colour Scene and Space (4) are credited on the release, only their respective lead singers were involved in the recording and performance."

but that was obviously will bunnyman on the far left on totp

Tony Blackburn and some other Radio 2 DJs are on The Weakest Link tonight. He looks like Leisure Suit Larry in this photo:
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/p0m4x6bp.jpg

This week's first episode opens with a copy pasted repeat of Boyzone's performance from last week. The audience in the background are able to do the choreography almost as well as Steps.

Fittingly for Halloween, here's Steven Tyler of Aerosmith looking like a 90s grunge/goth vampire.

i feel like entering the dancers competition 40 years late. i could walk the envelope around, save myself a stamp.