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

The only Level 42 song that I can sort-of stand.

lol Alphaville

The sight of Mark King jumping up and down while his thumb is going ten to the dozen on a bass that's worn chest-height is just cringe.

John Peel: "Agadoo. What a gem." - loooooooooooool

Yeah even with their most tolerable song they still look terrible.
Liked 'Big In Japan' but never could make out most of the lyrics. Reading them now they're bobbins. And the singer looks like Simon Amstell.

Also I will never know how the fuck Black Lace ever became popular. I can only guess that the 'pissed up Brits on holiday' demographic is far larger than I thought.

"Agadoo. What a gem."

Oh I'm watching the stream and it's ~20 seconds behind.

Noel Edmonds: "Watch out for the flying bit of toast in Stevie's video!" he said to no audience applause or reaction whatsoever.

Okay, not Stevie Wonder's finest moment, but it coulda been so much worse... and 'I'll Fly For You' was really Top 10? I seem to remember it being somewhat of a relative flop for Spandau... huh.

Oh wait that's a different version of the video. Also Stevie Wonder's laziest hit is still miles ahead of everything else this episode.

Oh great, Tory bellend Bruno Brookes followed by that fucking Elton John track again - what a combo.

Also the multiple key change is like *ugh*. Come on, Stevie "I wrote the 'Superstition' riff btw" Wonder sinks to this? Although it shows how great he is that his lows still beat most people's highs.

Also I will never know how the fuck Black Lace ever became popular. I can only guess that the 'pissed up Brits on holiday' demographic is far larger than I thought.

― Zings Can Only Get Better (snoball), Friday, October 6, 2017 6:52 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

At least there's 'The Chicken Song' to look forward to when the inevitable backlash happens... didn't one half of Black Lace end up joining Smokie in a bid to be taken seriously?

That'll be the Smokie of "Who the fuck is Alice" infamy..

I did buy "Agadoo" on 45. I was 7 tbf

Oh god, I hated Careless Whisper at the time. Too adult, too slow. I've revised that opinion now of course

xxpost:

Well, it clearly didn't have the desired effect!

Did we work out why Pete Wylie was dressed like Dave Vanian that one time?

This is my favourite podcast at the moment. Various ex-Melody Maker journos dissect a random episode of TOTP. Its hilarious

https://chartmusiccouk.wordpress.com/

yeah he joined Smokie then died in a tour bus crash in the mid 90s.

speaking of the 'pissed up Brits on holiday' demographic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMGNiAD-tMA

Did I mention I bought their first single?

Bohemian Rhapsody.

Also I will never know how the fuck Black Lace ever became popular. I can only guess that the 'pissed up Brits on holiday' demographic is far larger than I thought.

Weren't here also smutty versions of a lot of their songs so while they might be singing Agadoo one TOTP, 'Ave A Screw was maybe what a lot of people were singing in their heads? So kind of subversive but in a really gross and rapey sort of way

Having a Gangbang has sort of eclipsed Agadoo as their legacy song I thought.

Rugby songs on a package holiday basically, summer anthems for aspiring sex offenders

'Superman' somehow manages to be more annoying than 'Agadoo' ... it's still infuriating that when people think "'80s", they think of shit like Black Lace.

Thank fuck they're not showing the long format version of 'Blue Jean' as it's fuck awful.

Steve Wright, chimp par excellence for this sea of shit.

Now this is the version of the Stevie Wonder with the flying toast.

Aww fuck, I missed it!

Second part of the Nile doc and a funk doc on later will make up for it, though.

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

Tuning in now and... *groans* ... Matt Bianco.

Huh, that looks like Lord Voldemort in the video to Duran Duran's Wild Boys. That vocal remains utterly horrible. I like the video, though!

xp a bunch of wankers

Bruno Brookes being asked if he's been eating magic mushrooms!?!

Dave Stewart waa enjoying himself a lot in that Eurythmics vid, eh?

*was

Alvin Stardust not really sure what to do with his arms here.

Someone in my year at school looked like Nick Kershaw and always got really pissed off when anyone mentioned it.

Every time I see a Nik Kershaw performance on this show he always looks either confused or mildly annoyed... the lyrics to this are utter bollocks!

I'll never get bored of this Chaka Khan track. Better than the Prince original!

Nik Kershaw agrees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_(Nik_Kershaw_song)#Lyrics
Kershaw has stated: "In short, 'The Riddle' is nonsense, rubbish, bollocks, the confused ramblings of an 80s popstar."

Hahaha!! I had no idea he hated it. He's completely right!

He wrote Chesney Hawkes' 'The One And Only' and reportedly hated that as well.

What's the answer to "The Riddle"?

It amazes me that people are still asking me this question. I spilled the beans a few years ago now so this isn't exactly news.

My producer (Peter Collins) came over to my house just before we commenced recording on the second album to hear how I was getting on with the writing. He went away saying he thought it sounded great but didn't think I had the first single. Incensed by this, I went straight up to the spare room and got the chords and melody together for the Riddle. This must've taken all of twenty minutes. Knowing time was short before we started recording I jotted down some jibberish with the intention of writing the real lyric as we were recording it.

About a week later we started recording and I threw a rough guide vocal down using the jibberish lyrics. As the album progressed, I tried various different lyric ideas but nothing seemed to fit as well as the guide lyric. So we decided to stick with what we had. "Let's call it the Riddle", I thought. Then people would think it was actually about something.

I had completely underestimated the fuss this would cause and, to make matters worse, the marketing and promotions people at MCA decided to make a competition out of it (without telling me). The response was unbelievable. We got sack loads of mail with elaborate and detailed analysis of the song. Line by line, word by word. Some were the size of small novels. Some even made sense!! People stopped me in the street to give me their thoughts and theories. On one occasion I arrived to do a live Radio 1 interview with a certain DJ only to find he'd told the great British public that I would be "revealing all" on his show. He was most put out when I wouldn't (couldn't) co-operate.

It all got a bit out of hand and, very quickly, passed the point at which I could come clean without pissing off a lot of people.

In short, "The Riddle" is nonsense, rubbish, bollocks, the confused ramblings of an 80's popstar.

Please forgive me. I knew not what I did.

^ okay, LOL!

ffs this Nick Heywood song goes on and on

Heh. I normally have all the time in the world for The Human League, but Billy Ocean is far the best thing that's happened on this episode so far!

Agreed. I don't understand how his career just stopped in the late '80s. He was still releasing records but no-one cared.

You'd think that Murray Head would know the words.

Actually I'd like to hear a John Peel cover version of 'One Night In Bangkok'.

Fucking hell, Shakin' Stevens... truly bringing out the big guns this episode, eh!?