The Chart Show

Yes, there was defintiely a bias there. In fact, Marcello, it was your mention of Kane Gang on ILE which prompted this post. There seemed to be a bias towards what I might term (cheekily, perhaps) second-division major-label signings in the early days, so we had the videos to both "Motortown" and "What time is it" from the Kane Gang's second album. Other acts I would include in this category would be Thomas Dolby, Love & Money, River Detectives and Westworld. I think the Chart Show actually played a pivotal role in helping me to formulate my own opinions and tasts about music, in that it would premiere bands which were at that point obscure (and therefore cool: I was just short of my sixteenth birthday when the Chart Show started). Over time I realised that most of the bands they were touting most were not those which found their way into the Indie Top Ten and (more crucially) had the least musical merit.

I'm afraid I don't know the identities of any of the individuals responsible for the Chart Show, but they did appear to take their cue from the Chart pages of the NME or Melody Maker, insofar as they had chart run-downs for different categories of music, in addition to a main Top Ten at the end. As for not playing the whole videos, they rrellay were stuck between a rock and a hard place with that one. They could hardly make the show four hours long and had it been any shorter they would stand accused of showcasing a range of music which was too narrow. By the end (re your own M People comments) they were probably doing that anyway.

Interesting re. second-division major-label acts; obviously some horse trading going on backstage - "if you want this Duran Duran exclusive, then you'll have to take the next three Love and Money singles as well."

I liked it in the early days ('86) 'cos it actually had an effect on record sales, esp. the indie charts - I remember Godstar (Psychic TV) and Rules and Regulations (Fuzzbox) going straight into the Top 40 after being shown on the first edition and thinking, wow this could actually change things! But of course it didn't.

I suppose round-the-clock MTV did for it in the end (where you can watch vids all the way through, albeit the same 20 in rotation).

"Sarah of St Etienne has just bought a speedboat. It's bright pink, 20ft long and the band have christened it Dillo!"

Er, right.

(Whereas indie videos - not wanting to 'bash indie' or anything but even then I was aware that videos were not the genre's strong point. NO MORE JUMPCUTS I BEG YOU! All the Wedding Present ones were SO AWFUL and I wuvved the Weddoes. There's that dreadful one with the camera in a shopping trolley oh christ.)

Best moment: first showing of the 'Birthday' video. Made me rush out and buy it on 7" AND 12" from the Corsham Book & Record Shop.

Worst moment: tuning in at some point in 1987 to discover that it had all gone down the toilet. Didn't this coincide with the move from Channel 4 to ITV?

Corsham book and record shop - I went to school in Corsham and remember it well! It was full of singles that they were obviously given on a 'take a load of these and sell them for 99p so they get into the charts' basis. Albums were more of a problem tho - 'well, we don't have it in stock, but can order it for you...'

Now sadly defunct - the guy opened a comic shop where the old bike shop used to be, and last time I checked it was being run by big fat Matthew Booker.

Sorry about, normal service now resumed.

The late, great Book & Record Shop is probably 95% responsible for me being here in the first place.

Best ever purchase: Radiohead's Drill EP for 20p. Still got it and really should be thinking about selling - saw it for $300 the other day.

Pity it's so dire.

I went to County Primary BTW...

I also bought a radiohead rarity in the Book and Record Shop - Creep on 7" clear vinyl, which may well be worth something too!

i) the way We've Got A Fuzzboz And We're Going To Use It were ALWAYS in the indie top ten.

ii) discovering that the Smiths had recorded their own version of Hand In Glove (I think it was always in the indie top ten as well).

Not great chart show moments:

i) the way nearly every week the featured chart would be the Shit Music chart and not either The Indie Chart or the Actual Fucking Top Twenty Chart.

Highlights from the I.T.V. days include seeing the Spice Girls for the first time, when the video for "Wannabe" made its debut on U.K. television.

I wish "The Chart Show" was still on. I don't have satellite so I never get to see pop videos anymore.

Introduced me to Pop Will Eat Itself, Sugarcubes and loads of other stuff.... including Man From Delmonte (whose video for Water In My Eyes hold the record for being the cheapest Video shown on Channel 4 - it cost 25 quid...)

those were the days...........

Re: The Drill EP.

In Ipswich where I used to live there used to be a shop that every year would have a MEGA SALE, or so they claimed. In reality it was multiple copy upon muliple copy of the aforementioned "second-division major label signings" singles for 10pto50p each depending on how interesting the cover was.

I bought The Drill E.P. for 10p then, and I can distinctly remember a whole box holding about 50 copies. Occasionally I think: what if....

You may think I'm alright 'cos at least I bought one, I can still make a profit on this really awful CD single. Well, I could if it wasn't for the fact that in about 10 years of buying CDs this is one of only 3 times when I have the case, but I've lost the CD. How much do you reckon the case would fetch on Ebay?

However, my only comfort is the value of the disc might have been reduced somewhat due to the fact that I wrote "Radiohead are Toss" over the actual CD after hearing it. (BTW I like most of their other st

*laughing hysterically* I can just picture the face of the poor Radiohead fan who, having just paid hundreds of dollars for his Drill EP, finding that the CD has that emblazoned on it.

I might start doing that to all CDs I sell, just for shits 'n' giggles

I can remember The Chart Show in 1988 getting took off on Spitting Image with the STOP, REWIND slides then The Hollies coming on singing "He aint heavy, He just put on a bit of weight in the sixties"

The Chart Show went on strike in 1986 between June & August & was replaced by a programme called REWIND playing oldies taken from many old music shows etc.... & featured the same STOP, REWING captions.

Does anyone remember that & have any of those shows ?

It was on Channel 4 from 5.30-6.15 friday evenings.

Belinda Carlisle - Do You Feel Like I Feel (love that steam train at the end!)

Curve - Clipped (Toni is hoping Santa will bring her an exotic holiday and that Dean likes the present she bought him from the Early Learning Centre!)

REVIVE!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22the+chart+show%22&search=Search

feast your eyes! relive the roller-coaster of elation and frustration when (yay!) they chose the indie chart but (boo!) they played the acid house track instead of the wedding present! play a rousing game of "guess when the factoid will pop up (and for a bonus point, guess what it is)"!

ah, bliss.

they chose the indie chart but (boo!) they played the acid house track instead of the wedding present!

wrong way round!

when Sonic Cathedral came to Oxford they showed Chart Show videos of Lush, Slowdive, Ride etc on the projector screen back to front! Quite amusing trying to read the pop up windows.

it's all because digital channel The Vault has been showing old episodes overnight.

i still remember the noise of the vault being opened. is this a Whole Channel of old chart show eps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=veqFCCbyrX8

This Annie video has made me so nostalgic for The Chart Show that I've spent a whole morning on Youtube watching selected rundowns and feeling old.

It's funny how they axed The Chart Show so we could get CD:UK and "live performances" and "content", and now we have a culture of Youtube and Freeview channels that show videos all day long.

I am really not very good at copying and pasting Youtube links.