Radio 2's Pick Of The Pops yesterday (rolling)

It's a fine record, especially in its 12-inch version when that off-centre label/warped synth goes moderately crackers. But Love Action or Sound Of The Crowd it ain't.

This may or may not be true.

(actually, it is true)

I bought nos 9 and 8 of this top 10 (8 was a remix, 9 was a single double pack)

Worse, I've kept them all.

(xpost)

20. Bruce Ruffin - Rain
Used to hear this all over the place. The ludicrous George Chisholm trombone raspberries are yet another example of Johnny Arthey's bizarre "Willesden Sound" arrangements for Trojan, but not as bad as Ruffin's "Mad About You" upon which he overdubbed a Punch and Judy puppet.

19. Fame and Price Together - Rosetta
Roset-TA are you bet-TA are you WELL WELL WELL? They were on the Two Ronnies every bloody week.

18. Neil Diamond - I Am, I Said
"Now I'm not a man who likes to swear." "I am, I said/To no one there." Descartes meets Sondheim halfway up the Brill Building. Genius.

17. T Rex - Hot Love
Beginning of time, part 1.

16. Arsenal First Team Squad - Good Old Arsenal
In the year of the double. "Rule Britannia" with different words (i.e. "Good old Charlie" etc.). Dale did not comment on the attendant irony of playing it when he did. Nick Hornby must have bought it.

15. Andy Williams - Where Do I Begin (Love Story)
Loathed the film but what a record, what a performance. Lovely.

14. Sakkarin - Sugar Sugar
Jonathan King does heavy metal Archies. Sounds unsettlingly like Lordi.

13. Gerry Munroe - It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
Blimey I'd completely forgotten about this Opportunity Knocks-winning John Shuttleworth lookalike! Sort of a cross between Frank Ifield and Vic Reeves' club singer. Whatever became, etc.

12. Severine - Un Banc, Une Arbre, Une Rue
Monaco's '71 Eurovision winner. Sounding remarkably like 80% of this year's Eurovision entries.

11. Free - My Brother Jake
...which, when I was a kid, I always thought was about the kids' puppet series Sally And Jake. You didn't miss anything.

10. Diana Ross - Remember Me
One of that curious string of melodramatic MoR ballads in Gordy's continued attempt to turn La Ross into Shirley Bassey. I thought "Surrender" far and away the best of that bunch.

9. McGuinness Flint - Malt And Barley Blues
I loved "When I'm Dead And Gone," but this was a very dull follow-up, and consequently charted lower.

8. Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You
At the moment, for private reasons, one of my favourite records ever; another (1966) Dave Godin/Twisted Wheel resurrection job, and quite rightly so.

7. East Of Eden - Jig-A-Jig
How much of this stuff would even come within a mile of today's Top 100, never mind the top ten? Bizarre folk-free-jazz-rock fusion which I thought was a mightily avant-garde single to have in the charts, but then I heard Hot Rats and realised that it was a complete crib of Sugarcane Harris' solo on "Gumbo Variations." Never mind - I still love it!

6. Waldo de los Rios - Mozart 40
Ah yes, popular classics with a gentle easy listening beat, the sort of thing Radio 2 was actually playing at the time instead of the stuff they're now pretending they played.

5. Dave and Ansell Collins - Double Barrel
Beginning of time, part 2.

4. Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy
The greatest Beatle solo career begins in earnest. What a fucking terrific pop record. Apparently originally offered to Cilla Black - ?????????????????

3. R Dean Taylor - Indiana Wants Me
Something you'd expect from Curt Boettcher or Gary Usher rather than Motown; mournful and melodramatic on-the-run/crime-of-passion number with multiple puncta of police sirens, gunfire and "This is the police, you are surrounded" voiceovers at the end. Wasn't RDT a lost visionary? Only three major hits and all classics.

2. Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar
Even then I felt severely pissed off that this didn't get to number one. You know - if you're going to do this sort of thing, this is the way to do it. Brilliant, catchy and genuinely sexy.

1. Dawn - Knock Three Times
Bloody pre-Beatles leftover/Engelbert bandwagon jumper with his ultra-creepy stalking song. "Read how many times I saw you." POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think either "Hot Love" or "School's Out" was when I started taking an interest in the charts more or less fulltime.

With good reason, IIRC...when "Don't Let It Die" came out there was a sort of "mystery artist" hype placed on it. Many people thought it was the guy who played Alfie Hall on The Clitheroe Kid! Terrific record, though.

The next day, John being nice, told Norm that they couldn;t use it as they didn't have a Ringo song, and that's what they were going to do to complete said album.

(Not told in the book: The conversation between Paul and john where John says "you are joking la")

Good for him is what I say. A DJ with a mind of his own - very rare these days.

20. The Move - California Man
Excellent if clearly transitional record; not quite the Move, not quite ELO and not quite Wizzard, but none the less glorious for it. "Take it Jeffrey!"

19. The Moody Blues - Life Is Strange
Seldom-revived track which sounds uncannily like Barafundle-period Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

18. The Temptations - Take A Look Around
Minor balladic entry in the '70s Temps/Whitfield canon; quietly menacing in its paranoid doo-wop, but not one of their best.

17. Jo Jo Gunne - Run Run Run
Who were these people? You heard this all the time on '70s Radio 1, but what else (if anything) did they do?

16. New World - Sister Jane
Op Knocks winners; weren't they Australian? Also the least-remembered act on the Chinnichap roster. What a strange record this is: starts off like the Seekers and then this Chicory Tip/Moroder electro riff comes in. All about running a woman out of town because she's "fallen in love again." Charming.

15. Paul Simon - Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard
Reminds me of that dreadful old Cadbury's Dairy Milk advert of the period with Cilla Black doing the voiceover. "Goodbye Rosie, the Queen of Corona." Yes, thank you, Paul, we'll let you know.

14. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Reissued for no evident purpose. Was 1972 at a loose end?

13. Marmalade - Radancer
Still having hits in 1972...remarkable...unlike the actual record, you understand...

12. Lindisfarne - Lady Eleanor
Weird how, when I started university in 1981 and was expecting dozens of musically hip 'n' kool students, I found most of them still to be listening to James Taylor, Cat Stevens and LindisBastardFarne. Made me ask several unheard but key questions about tertiary education.

11. Don McLean - Vincent

10. Leeds United Football Club - Leeds United
Attendant irony, part 2: "We're out to toast each other from that silver cup."

9. Primal Scream - Country Girl
Just kidding, it was "Tumbling Dice" by the Stones. Or am I?

8. Drifters - At The Club/Saturday Night At The Movies
Reissued for no evident purpose.

7. Johnny Cash & the Evangel Temple Choir - A Thing Called Love
In my mind, JC is always associated with summer holidays in Blackpool, the warm wind refracting off Central Pier, the kids' cartoon cinema, Pink Panther pink chocolate. Most shops we passed seemed to be playing this or "Boy Named Sue" or "What Is Truth?"

6. Hurricane Smith - Oh Babe, What Would You Say?
Exquisite. The kind of record which, though deliberately retro, you don't mind insofar as its retro-ness in a roundabout way works in its favour. Also it reminds me of being a kid, in a good way. HS was the missing link between Syd Barrett and Julian Cope - produced Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and turns up playing trumpet on Kilimanjaro.

5. Elton John - Rocket Man
Hmmm, Watford five places above Leeds United...

4. Vicky Leandros - Come What May
'72 Eurovision winner. Sounds uncannily like the '82 Eurovision winner (the verses are nearly identical).

3. The Pipes & Drums & Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Amazing Grace

2. David Cassidy - Could It Be Forever?
Ooh, lovely helplessness. First UK solo hit and some luscious lead guitar from Larry Carlton. Kim Carnes and Jennifer Warnes did the backing vocals.

1. T Rex - Metal Guru

All in all, a less interesting Top 20, and a noticeably more rockist one, than that of May 1971.

Jo Jo Gunne were half of Spirit weren't they? Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes? Jay Ferguson wrote some great songs with Spirit but I don't think he did anything very worthwhile after Spirit.

What a great song this is tho

20. Freddie and the Dreamers - I Love You Baby
Paul Anka cover version. "As I walk by the schoolyard..." - maybe not, sadly-missed Freddie, eh?

19. Kathy Kirby - You're The One
Never quite knew what to make of Kathy K; something of a throwback to the Anne Shelton/Joan Regan school of bellowing balladry. The orchestration on this (Ivor Raymonde) is so demented it virtually drowns her voice out.

18. Gigliola Cinquetti - Non Ho L'Eta Per Amarti
'64 Eurovision winner, and thanks to my mum, a record I've known all my life. From the Francoise Hardy can't-really-sing-but-quite-cute-in-her-vulnerability school of song delivery.

17. Lulu & the Luvvers - Shout
Lulu does Alex Harvey doing the Isley Brothers. Following Kathy Kirby and Gigliola Cinquetti it sounds like Sonic Youth.

16. Billy Fury - I Will
Ah me, poor Bill, the one Brit rocker who was for real (yes I know, Johnny Kidd, Vince Taylor, but...) and all Decca did was drown him in pipe-and-slippers ballads like this one. Sings the song far better than it merits.

15. Searchers - Don't Throw Your Love Away
This was the New Thing? It sounds so annoying polite...

14. Bachelors - I Believe
The Westlife of their day wobbling through that bloody song again (only good version is the one sung by Phil Minton on the Solid Gold Cadillac Brain Damage album, complete with romantic electric sax obbligato by George Khan).

13. Jim Reeves - I Love You Because
The one Ken Dodd turned down.

12. Mary Wells - My Guy
Hallelujah - a record which actually sounds like 1964 instead of 1924! Another of my current all-time favourite records, again for private reasons (it's always the way with Motown...). The beginning of time, part 1, obviously.

11. Hollies - Here I Go Again
You said it.

10. Dionne Warwick - Walk On By
The end of time, part 2. According to Dale, rush released in Britain to avoid Cilla covering it.

9. Fourmost - A Little Lovin'
Oh fuck OFF, fucking Frank Rogers And The Spotty Dogs Out Of Brookside Knees Up!

8. Brian Poole & the Tremeloes - Someone, Someone
Dry run for "Silence Is Golden," more or less. Definitely less.

7. Millie - My Boy Lollipop
The first big Jamaican crossover hit, and therefore probably the record with the greatest overall long-term influence in this list. Bit too Little Jimmy Osmond for my taste, though.

6. Chuck Berry - No Particular Place To Go
Again according to Dale, this wasn't selling until he came over and appeared on Thank Your Lucky Stars, and then it took off. Good job, too - in this context it sounds like Merzbow!

5. Shadows - The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt
Hank and the boys try to toughen up a bit, and inadvertently show up all the Merseybeat lot for the ghastly pale cabaret acts they really were.

4. Cliff Richard - Constantly
...unfortunately, no one bothered to tell their boss...

3. Four Pennies - Juliet
Yeucch. A B-side that was flipped over, sadly not onto a sticky frying pan. Didn't the singer go on to present Play School?

2. Roy Orbison - It's Over
Is this tomorrow, or just the end of time, part 3.

1. Dale's Great Personal Mate Cilla - You're My World
"I feel a power so divine." That'll be Graham Norton's record collection, then.

So there you go...lots of drippy ballads, and three of the greatest singles ever made...

If you think that's bad, you should hear "I found out the hard way" for badness.

Points for "trouble is my middle name" though.

Yes: Lionel Morton, for it was he. Talking 'bout MY generation!

20. O.C. Smith – Son Of Hickory Holler’s Tramp
Good gracious, authentic(ish) Southern Soul in the mainstream charts. How did that get through?

19. Jacky – White Horses
The TV theme, and it still moves me, not just because it makes me think of being a kid again but because of the song’s delicate despair; it’s all about escaping from a dead life into a fantasy of hope, and no there’s no evidence to suppose that “White Horses” was meant in the Laid Back/Goldfrapp sense.

18. Marmalade – Lovin’ Things
Their first hit, very much in the Love Affair mould with the same production team (Mike Smith and Keith Mansfield). Oddly fragile performance, with singer Dean Ford seeming perpetually on the verge of tears.

17. Herman’s Hermits – Sleepy Joe
No I can’t remember how it went either, and Dale didn’t play it. Perhaps it had naughty lyrics.

16. 1910 Fruitgum Company – Simon Says
Marred for me by being the constant soundtrack to primary school PE classes where we had to do the actions or else.

15. Tremeloes – Helule Helule
Trying to get a belated hold of the Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich market by the sound of it. The equivalent of the Sweet in their “Poppa Joe”/”Co-Co” period.

14. Equals – Baby Come Back
13. Des O’Connor – I Pretend
12. Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World/Cabaret
All three were past or future number ones and illustrate the yawning and bemusing aesthetic gap between the two schools of 1968 chart-toppers. Of them, the Equals record is by far my favourite.

11. Scott Walker – Joanna
Well well well. Why is “Joanna” the most important record in Walker’s career? Because without it The Drift would probably have been afforded the same gratuitous 150 words in a slow week as, say, the new AMM or Evan Parker record – we are fascinated because once he was like this; up there with Engelbert and Solomon King and John Rowles, and even if he only did the record to pay for Scotts 2 and 3, his delivery is immaculate and heartfelt. Note also the lyrical overlap with “Copenhagen” from Scott 3 – “You made the man a child again.”

10. The Herd – I Don’t Want Our Loving To Die
Frampton and co’s credibility went out the window with this, their biggest hit, but in retrospect it’s like the Bonzos doing bubblegum – Master Singers intro, cardboard bongos, school recorders in the instrumental break, even a Scott Walker pastiche. Quite berserk, in its own polite way.

9. Dionne Warwick – Do You Know The Way To San Jose?
Over the weekend I heard “It Never Rains In Southern California” on the radio, and for the first time it struck me how desperate a song it really was under its coating of AoR gloss. “Don’t tell them where you found me – just give me a break.” “San Jose” is something similar; a rueful homecoming following a future which was never going to happen. One of Bacharach and David’s most barbed songs, and one of their most misleadingly chirpy tunes. Therein lies their genius.

8. Donovan – The Hurdy Gurdy Man
Croaking through a shortcircuited Leslie cabinet, sitars going wrong, a startlingly aggressive lead guitar (Jimmy Page, wasn’t it?) – still the most disturbing of Donovan’s hits, and one of three instances of complete and total malevolence in this chart of pop.

7. Don Partridge – Blue Eyes
The Sandi Thom of his day, except he was for real – a Tottenham Court Road one-man-band busker who carried on being as such after the hits. Quite a jolly record, not that I would ever be driven to listen to it again in my life.

6. Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity – This Wheel’s On Fire
See what I mean about absolute malevolence. Beginning of time, obviously, and another indication of the surprising hold that Dylan had on the charts of ’68 at one remove (think also of the Manfreds’ “Mighty Quinn,” and Hendrix’s “Watchtower”). Julie’s vocal is possibly the coolest female vocal performance ever, in all senses of the word.

5. Love Affair – Rainbow Valley
Same subject matter as “San Jose,” and another record which makes me feel sad for lives gone; Steve Ellis’ voice marvellously vulnerable on this.

4. Engelbert Humperdinck – A Man Without Love
When in Glasgow, I marvel at the fact that there are radio stations like Clyde 2 and Saga who still play this kind of stuff as a matter of priority. Sometimes I wish there were similar ones in London, if only as an option. Very, very camp but actually quite a wonderful record, of its kind, whatever that means.

3. Bobby Goldsboro – Honey
Oh, please…an unwanted missing link between “Old Shep” and Lou Reed’s “The Bed” where the singer patronises his lamented Other – he might as well be singing to, or about, a dog – and it’s little wonder that she topped herself, just to get away from him.

2. Rolling Stones – Jumpin’ Jack Flash
An end of time, I guess, but note how this song is the negative image of “Hickory Holler’s Tramp” at the other end of the list.

1. Union Gap – Young Girl
This record has always given me the creeps. God knows whether anyone listened to the lyrics while dancing to it.

the great unanswered question where the 1968 charts are concerned is: how different would they have been had it not been for the Marine Offences Act? where would Aretha Franklin's post-MOA records other than "I Say A Little Prayer" have peaked? where would "Grazing In The Grass" and "Tighten Up" have peaked in the UK? what about all those other US hits we never got here?

against my better instincts, I found myself rather liking "Helule Helule". though that was probably because it was on a compilation my parents used to play when I was about five.

today, it's 1983. Synchronicity.

the human league song from vice city. ace.

this is pretty much the same as the chart at the top of the page. candy girl is great! is this teenpop?

true is no 1. not good.

Full circle.

What's the likelihood that they'll do 1971 next week?

Ah well, that's that then. Don't really need to bother with it again until/unless Robin and I start compiling and presenting it when it goes to Resonance... *inyourdreamsMC.jpg*

They still haven't done a 1981 or 1984 chart since Marcello started his commentaries. Perhaps you could complete the set if they ever do so.

It's funny how I've started to miss the very early sixties ones now that they've gone. They had a real unfamiliar and musty quality, slightly melancholy, like spending a Sunday afternoon rooting around your grandparents attic when you're a child.

they do them occasionally. it's annoying the show is stuck in 1 '67 - '78 rut most of the time, gets a bit wearing.

I would definitely like the programme to come out of its demographic comfort zone and tackle both the nineties and the fifties - the original Jimmy Savile Double Top Ten Show regularly did fifties charts and they were strange but reassuring things.

i'd like to hear a chart from '93 with animal nitrate and i love your smile in it. if that's possible.

Unfortunately I Love Your Smile was a hit in '92.

'93 is always written off as a duff year for pop - calm before the Britpop storm, nothing going on except Suede etc. - but actually it was a terrific year for the charts, especially all the crossover dancehall stuff. R2 listeners need to be reminded of that.

i remember the charts of 1993 as being freddie mecury, 4 non blondes and lots and lots of reggae. what was that song that went "a la la long, a la la long lonely nights"? i loved that age 9.

"I've been watching you"

Wasn't that Freddie Mercury and "Living On My Own"?

(no)

Ah that was ne about "looking at your big brown eye"

Try the thread about "songs pertaining to 4n4l s3x"

(that was an xpost)

That one sounds like "Shine" by Aswad which was '94.

Correction!

It was "Sweat" by Inner Circle!

"And if you cry out, I'm gonna push it some more more more..."

"Sweat (a la la la la long)" by Inner Circle.

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/inner-circle/sweat-a-la-long.html

"and if you cry out, I'm gonna push it in some more"

Nice chap.

xpost obviously, making me FIRST!!

It wasn't worth it.

The thing that puts me off "Temptation" more than anything these days is Glenn Gregory's leery "oh" after "carved by another's hand."

Makes him sound like a dirty old man, but then again "Come Live With Me."

Remove the quotes and the sentence runs on ".. and see what a DOM sounds like!"

I thought Glenn Gregory was very good in Emmerdale last night, as Bob Hope's ghost dad.

As regards "Sweat Open Brackets La La La La Long Close Brackets How Many Points Uncle Ted," I'd moderately like to see John Otway doing a cover version.

"Sweat" could be greatly improved by running the vocals from Bucks Fizz "Land Of Make Believe" over the backing track.

Why always the same boring charts?

How many times have they done March 1967 and March 1978 now? Nine? Ten?

If I were running POTP, my first programme would feature 1953 and 2008.

Then I'd split the programme in two.

Sundays at current time for 50s, 60s and 70s and Dale to remain presenter.

Saturday afternoons from 1-3 pm for 80s, 90s and 00s and get someone more attuned to those times than Dale. It would inherit Jonathan Ross' audience and R2 could get rid of those dismal comedy shows that no one listens to.

And only feature ONE chart in each programme and play the Top 20 in FULL.

If Capital Gold can do it so can Radio 2.

Blackburn took over the show on Saturday; immediate improvement – better choices of records, closer engagement with the music, Dalebot not missed (you just KNOW he would have played the Dooleys over “Tusk”), stats overload cut down and put in their place. Clever pick of years as well; had totally missed the links between “Winchester Cathedral” and “Video Killed The Radio Star.” Looking forward to listening again.

Marc, do you still .."

For my sins I bought all of them, as I have done with every Top 40 single since 1974 -

Sadly (or, in the case of storage, happily?) I am now beholden to Brer iTunes. For physicals I wait for the albums and/or Now Volume X etc.

Big gaffe this week: November ’81 – “It’s Raining” by Darts (from ’78!) was played instead of “It’s Raining” by Shakin’ Stevens. Actually it didn’t bother me that much; even Shaky would admit that his “It’s Raining” is not amongst his masterpieces and there was a nice, gloomy OMD feel to the record which fit in very well with the awesome stuff elsewhere in this magnificent chart. Such a treat to hear New Pop in its original chart context and the show did its job of taking me back to both time and place.

The Nov ’68 chart was pretty great, too; the main difference between the two years being that British pop in late ’68 seemed to have lost its way (“Listen To Me” was the last Hollies single with Nash on board and sounds like a washing powder commercial as well as sounding oddly like Oasis; “Eloise” demonstrated, as it always superbly does, that nobody else was even trying) whereas late ’81 Brit (New) Pop knew exactly where it was going.

The other curious recurring theme in the ’68 chart; pinings for lovers who don’t exist (“Only One Woman,” “Jesamine,” “Eloise”).

Mmm, I don't so much mind "It's Raining" Shakey, rather that than the usual easycoverversionlite.

Enjoyed the POTP documentary on Radio 2 last night. Really it was an appreciation of Fluff but terrific listening for chart geeks such as myself.

I note that Dale’s decade at the helm hardly got a look in and Mr Cash My Gold was not prevailed upon to reminisce. Perhaps (and understandably) the BBC would prefer to forget about that lamentable time.

Always good to hear “Party Fears Two” and hyuk they still have to refer to “a single by Max Romeo.”

i agree that having Tony do the show has raised the bar quite considerably, and whenever i get the chance to listen, i enjoy his picks and snippets of detail.
just a shame my wife cant cope with his over emphasised vocal styling that has got more pronounced in recent years (or so it seems .. )

aw, i used to love dale's pick of the pops. not so keen on blackburn though.

Nice end to last Saturday's POTP with a re-broadcast of Fluff doing the countdown to the #1. It helped that it related to IMHO song-for-song the greatest Top 20 chart of all time (September '72 in case you missed it).

That does look like a very good chart, although I'm sticking with June 1979 as my greatest ever. I think Marcello favours March 1982 (and justifiably so). We should do a poll!

March '82 was great was May was better!

http://www.chartstats.com/chart.php?date=29%2F05%2F1982

1978 on Saturday. Because it was all about Leo Sayer and Crystal Gayle. "Public Image," "Ever Fallen In Love" and "Hurry Up Harry" all climbing the top 20 and all missed out. Some of me finds this reassuring - after three-and-a-half decades, the BBC still can't get to grips with punk - while the licence-paying part of me does his usual sigh at public money being used to promote Stalinist (or should that be Thatcherite?) rewriting of history. People who tweet about what a great show it is when driving the kids home are The Enemy, just as they or their parents were then.

Well, I know which bunch of songs My Kids would rather hear.

Blackburn always claimed to like Buzzcocks at the time, as well. They were the one exception to his I-hate-punk stance.

I much prefer Kid Jensen's Double Top 20 show on Smooth FM, Sundays 6-8 pm. Because it's Smooth FM they tend to bypass or minimise anything approaching "rock" but it's a far better listen and I find that stance a lot easier to deal with than BBC's Mumsnet Knows Best approach.

But in a way, I can accept Blackburn's continued sidelining of PiL and Sham - he hated them then, he hates them now, there's a consistency - and his picks do tend to be better than Dale's. I don't think it's so much of a case of R2 smoothing out the rough edges - Buzzcocks are totally R2 Core Values these days! - as Blackburn making his own choices, which I think is more or less fine.

Thing is, you ask Swern how he puts these shows together and he’ll tell you it’s a case of sticking in a drawing pin and seeing which chart it lands on, which is patently untrue; the same patterns of featured charts recur year after year. If it’s Blackburn’s curmudgeon-ness then that’s one thing, but it remains deliberate misrepresentation of history and using public money to do it. All that talk when TB took over about how he’d like to feature more recent charts; whatever happened to that? If he wants to bang his own drum then he can bugger off to Smooth or Heart or whatever and do it there, but in the wider scheme of things it’s all about this stupid blanket of pseudo-cosiness that R2 has always been about – let’s reduce the past to background music for eating jam and scones, or painting the shed, don’t scare the grannies in Arbroath or the flower-shop owners in Winchester, let’s pretend “Brown-Eyed Girl” was a hit, that the Undertones only ever made one record and that nasty characters like G*ry Gl*tt*r never existed. Oh, and those Occupy protestors are just lazy students besmirching the ancient nobility of St Paul’s – listen to R2’s Cameron lickarse news bulletins, or rather, don’t.

Yes I know I don’t have to listen. That’s not the point.

Did you see that JKing and GGlitter are now "allowed to be shown" on the BBC4 reruns of TOTP?

Yes indeed. Also that both are featured on R2’s Sounds Of The 20th Century series (although didn’t the early bits air some years ago as The Rock & Roll Years?). Presumably when it’s a documentary the rules are different.

However, the POTP audience are one of the most notorious stick-in-the-mud audiences R2 has (and that’s saying something) so no late nineties or noughties charts with all that loud, paracetamol-inducing dance and rap and R&B call-it-music? and presumably the only way GG’s records will get re-aired will be after he’s died and everyone can say: “oh what a terrible man he was but he did make some great records, it’s a shame…”

Current problem with POTP pinpointed by Saturday’s programme.

1964 – very fine hour of hits, some of them hardly ever played on the radio, Blackburn obviously in his element.

1983 – it’s the old Dale disease; skim past all the good ones, the ones some of us might have tuned in to hear (“That Was Then But This Is Now,” “Synchronicity II,” “Hey You (The Rocksteady Crew),” even though two of these were climbing) and play all the slow and/or boring ones – George Benson (which was nearly out of the chart), Donna Summer & Musical Youth, Status Fucking Quo – so as not to upset flower-shop owners or shed-painters.

OK so it’s clearly Blackburn’s tastes but couldn’t they have picked someone whose tastes are a little less hidebound?

Surprised Tone wouldn't like "Rocksteady crew" but hey (you)

In other news: twenty-eight years of hard searching and still scientists can find no tune in "Only For Love" by Limahl. "I think we've got another Mary Rose on our hands," quipped Time Team beefcake Mick "Mick" Aston.

True tale: I remember looking in record shops in Budapest, in the year before they separated from the USSR, and found many many copies of the Limahl solo album. "Yup", I thought, "they can't even shift them here!"