So what is your favourite Top of the Pops performance? What did I miss? Trash Theory playlists - Spotify: tinyurl.com/yxp32pjf Deezer: tinyurl.com/y2mdp8h2 Also if you want to help out, here's my patreon link: patreon.com/trashtheory
Enjoyed this, thanks. When I was a kid TOTP was fantastically diverse. Punk, two tone, soul, disco, reggae, post punk etc,; it's hard to believe now that UK families were sat eating their dinner when PIL appeared, almost miming to The Flowers of Romance! th-cam.com/video/OLMlHe2CslY/w-d-xo.html Or that anyone thought it would be good idea to have the TOTP dancers peform to Laurie Anderson's O Superman! th-cam.com/video/NJBZifZ4TIc/w-d-xo.html
Good video shit commentary, I mean who is/was Kirsty McCoyle? You mean Kirsty McColl. Your droning voice does not give the magic that TOTP did even in it's worst performances and we all knew that they were mimming.
I remember when The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ went straight in at number one. Presenter Nicky Campbell said “get your mums and aunties in front of the telly, cos they’re gonna hate this!”.
I remember first hearing that song and thought it was pretty dumb. I wasn't sure why anyone liked it. It seemed like maybe the music magazines of the day told the hipsters that they were going to like it, so they manufactured a sense of liking it.
I don't think New Order's 'Blue Monday' slipping a notch ever really mattered. That song has experienced so many remixed, rediscoveries, and use in commercials and films that as a track it has far outperformed most pop songs.
And the commentary mentions "MIDI sequencers/sequences". MIDI was a new technology about a year later. For New Order, synchronisation was still a manual process.
Is better to have music being made in the moment, rather than just another fake ass playback performance. Kraftwerk also programmed every song in every concert during 1981, they all sound different in each concert.
I remember new order from about 87 onward and when I finally discovered the earlier stuff I'm like okay I think I've heard Blue Monday too somewhere, like you said discovering , rediscovering etc.i like their early stuff post Joy division ,that's some of the best stuff they've ever put out or anybody for that matter I mean movement is amazing as is the one with age of consent
14:45 - "The performance is pretty by-the-numbers for the first two-thirds of the song, apart from the lobster taped to the microphone" is a magnificently understated sentence.
I remember Marillion's performance of their single 'Lavender.' Fish, the lead singer, had laryngitis at the time and (I think) had had to cancel some gigs because of it, but TOTP still wanted the band to perform their single because it 'didn't matter anyway,' because they were often mimed. So the band went ahead and did it - but Fish didn't lip-sync at all. Instead, he'd made a series of cards with the lyrics to the song written on them, and just held each one up in turn, in time to the song, for the whole duration of the performance.
6:55 Re: Jocky Wilson picture. "After 35 years no-one has confirmed if this was a mistake or intentional". Well, apart from about a month after event and during every interview Kevin Rowland has ever done since where he explained it was his joke. So no, it won't remain a mystery....
Its so obviously a piss take by rowland, how could anyone confuse Jackie Wilson with jocky Wilson, the name of the song is Jackie Wilson said, for christ sake
I still remember the excitement of Thursday nights waiting for TOTP to start. It was the highlight of the week, and Kate Bush was my all time favourite performer. I didn’t care if they were miming.
Kate Bush - the Taylor Swift of the 70s/80s. Kudos to Swift but she plays to the gallery in a way that Kate Bush wasn't interested in? Or just the wrong timeslot.
@@edwardalexander9486Jesus Christ Swift can’t touch Bush. She was raw talent. Swift is manufactured and a useful idiot. Bush didn’t make a succession of pop songs about failed relationships.
I will never forget being 9 yrs old and sat on the living room floor, mesmerised as Boy George dressed in full regalia performed Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. It was 1982 and much apart from loving the reggae vibe ( a family full of rude girls and rude boys) a mass debate broke out in the family as to whether he/she was a guy or a girl!!!! Bloody iconic and I’ll never forget that moment. No matter where you were or what you were doing, everything stopped for TOTP’s. Playing out during summer holidays, we’d all run home at 7pm to watch it! Classic!
He changed so much after he got on the cover of the magazine "The Lapsed Catholic".... th-cam.com/video/tGG3Fr1p4Qw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3r-9Gj5BzizHkGgA&t=990
"Blue Orb decided to release a 39 minute 57 second-long version of their track, Blue Room, as a single. A 3 minute snippet of the track was played over the top of producers Alex Patterson and Chris Weston playing chess, with Weston playing with a toy sheep. And that was it, that was the whole performance." The '90s were a strange time.
People took the piss but I think when you look back today, it shows how shows like this actually gave time to artists who, the like of, today can't get air time on TV. TOTP ran as a democracy. People voted in the record shops and TOTP then siad, the eight highest chart climbers, not featured on the show last week got air time no matter what.
True. The bad thing about that was when people 'voted' by buying stuff like 'Una Paloma Blanca' and you got to watch Johnathan King week after week 🤣 Until The Old Grey Whistle Test came along TOTP was the only music programe on TV. TOGWT was so much better, live performances by excellent musicians. TOTP had some crap in the mix but was always worth watching. I doubt if I was the only teenager who lived from Thursday to Thursday.
@@Ndlanding It was a lot better then than it is now even though the artists first had to be discovered and then signed to record labels and after that the plugging and the DJ's playing their favourite singles more.
@@lemsip207 Dunno about now, as I've been abroad for a long time. When I used to play in a band, our rehearsals would stop for TOTP, mainly because it was compulsive, even when it was shite. Then we'd go back to rehearsing, without being even slightly influenced by the Top 20/30/40.
Thanks for that little nostalgia trip - I remember nearly all of those f*ck-ups, with my ol' man puffing and blowing in the background from the sofa about the "bunch of flippin' freaks". 😆
At the start of the performance, Geldof took a picture of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, who they had just knocked off the number one spot, and tore it in two.
Yes! I thought it was only me who remembered that. One of the best ever TotP moments for me, having been born too late to witness anything much before about 1993 first-hand.
They gave artists 2 options, sing live to backing tracks or mime to live instruments. Which is why REM's Michael Stipe protested with his Orange Crush mimed through a megaphone for the entire track.
@@grahamd4764 it was the 80s. Everything was absurd/over the top. Classless Brits acting as they are above everything. Props to bands like Maiden that still had respect for their performances. You didn't see the US acts acting ridiculous. Solid Gold was the equivalent here in the states and I don't recall this ever happening. I do recall it happened a few times on AB. No surprise it was the Sex Pistols. Zero talent.
I actually like the New Order performance, it's like all the playback's pushed back and all the live/honest stuff is pushed up front and exposed, a sort of non-slickness about it that's in keeping with the band
agreed. it was cool at the time. sounded like the record and def live. That the single dropped a bit matters not a jot. It lasted for years in all kinds of high spots worldwide. Probably the record of the decade.Oh wait, the final countdown :)
What went wrong was partly the primitive technology of the time, and partly user error. To play the song live, they had to put two or three different discs into their Emulator sampler-synth and Stephen Morris started with the wrong disc, which is why there is a synth choir where you'd expect a thunderclap. That is what Morris says in his memoir 'Fast Forward'. The confusion might have been caused by the fact that they were playing a specially shortened version of the song for TOTP.
I agree in a way, but I think if the studio version had been played they might have reached number one instead of number 14 (and number 9 the second time around in 1983).
When I was a child, I lived in England briefly and was able to see numerous original broadcasts of TOTP in late 70s. While it had its share of crap, the weird mix of artists who appeared on it during that time period really made an impact on my impressionable mind. It was one of the formative influences on my eclectic musical taste - both in first real exposure to punk & new wave, but also in being able to appreciate multiple genres & styles (something that continues long after).
8:04 "The midi sequences are also wildly out of sync with everything else...." Proceeds to clip of what sound to me like perfectly synced midi sequences 🤔
@@JesusHChrist-q9d ahhh I didn't know that! I use an Oberheim DMX software emulation in my recording studio and I love it, but I don't know what I'd do without the ability to midi-sync it to everything else. I thought that performance by New Order on TOTP was actually really good and it was TOTP that let them down with a crappy mix.
@@portcullis5622 I actually love both but let's be fair, one was a blip, the other is a legend who is still smashing records, so your perspective is a bit out of touch with reality.
I wasn't going to watch this because I am 60 and I loved the show. But it is one of the best pop videos I have ever seen. My mate worked as a tech on TOTP and swears the Jockie Wilson picture was a mistake. Great work.
The reason for the miming on Top Of The Pops wasn't entirely down to the bands not being able to play or the studio not set up for it, the union representing the BBC's house musicians had a part in it as well, they insisted only the BBC orchestra could play the music whilst the band could only supply the vocal parts, this eventually led to the bands having to supply a backing track and singing live to it, by which in time ended up with bands just using the original recording and miming everything.
Always loved TOTP and could not wait to get home to watch it. Great programmes despite what so many of us knew, it was fake! Thanks for this, very enjoyable!
Growing up being in to rock and metal i used to watch TOTP nearly every week in the hopes of seeing some rock music on there. My fondest memory of the show is Faith No More performing "Ashes to ashes". They play live and and it actually sounds heavier than the album version. It's on TH-cam, check it out.
I can clearly remember the episode that had Dexy's Midnight Runners and the photo of Jocky Wilson in the background. I can't believe that it was 37 years ago 😮 Wow time flies, I was only 12 at the time. 👍
An unmissable show from my childhood and through my teenage years ... Sweet were my favourite band and the glam rock era was a real spectacle and great fun !!!
The days when bands didn't take themselves too seriously. I mean look at Mick, Andy, Steve, Brian, Noddy, Dave Jim and Don? How could you? But their music is the music I grew up to and still love.
@@allwrighty100 Kirsty MacColl, (they said the wrong name in the video), she was a great singer, but wasn't really well known, in general. Sadly, she died in 2000 in a boating accident that was fairly big in the news because of the people involved & that there was clearly a cover up.
Orbital's "performance" on TOTP led to them creating their now legendary live shows. If you noticed, not any of their equipment was plugged in either. Phil Hartnoll said in 2018 about the experience: "They wouldn’t let us play live, so we performed in T-shirts reading “No” and “Poll tax”. We placed the mains plugs on top of our instruments so that everyone could see we weren’t really playing. They didn’t let us back on the show for six years."
@@JonMichaelDeShazer Oh, granted, and I know I sounded facetious there - but in pure singles chart terms they didn't have another decently-sized hit until The Box made no.11 in 1996. The year after that Satan finally became a big hit in a remixed live version that reached no.3, as did follow-up The Saint (I always thought those two titles made a great juxtaposition). In the 6 years after Chime though they barely scratched the top 30. Edit: here we are - www.officialcharts.com/artist/13342/orbital/
For the longest time, i thought lonely this Christmas was by Elvis. Until I was talking about it with my Dad and he was like it was by mud. Who i'd never heard of before haha
@but why Yep Elv liked 'em 'fresh', his thing was if he liked your song he would sing it in return for 50% ownership, that's how the bugger got so rich, he wanted Dolly Partons I will always love you but she refused him, clever gal
@@oldskoolfool141 Actually, he wasn't that rich. In terms of rock star "rich" that is. He was forced into doing Las Vegas cabaret because his manager and entourage were literally bankrupting him. Remember, he had no songwriting royalties to fall back on.
One of the greatest TOTP trollings was performed by the writers on guest presenter, boxer Chris Eubank. Being famous for having a pronounced lisp, they got him to announce "Next, at number six, it's Suggs, with 'Cecilia'".
Hi, I'm recovering at home from surgery, so spent a bonkers amount of time falling down various youtube rabbit holes. Yours being one of my faves! What a complete surprise to be one sec enjoying your round up of worst TOTP performances, to then see my ex girlfriend KB dancing for Orbital! Cheers! db
ps... the Dexys one is an urban legend... It was actually a joke that the band were fully aware of: "Most viewers naturally assumed that clueless TOTP producers were behind this screw-up, and interviewers were probably too scared of Dexys' inscrutable frontman Kevin Rowland to ask him about it. When they finally did, though, he explained that it was his idea all along. "For a laugh, we told the producer to put a picture of Jocky Wilson up behind us," he told the Guardian in 2002. "He said: 'But Kevin, people will think we made a mistake.' I told him only an idiot would think that. The morning after, the [Radio 1] DJ Mike Read said: 'Bloody Top of the Pops. How could they mix up one of the great soul singers with a Scottish darts player?'"
You said it - I DO remember my first glimpse of Ziggy Stardust. It was the exact shots you have shown. I was 12 - I am now 60. I wouldn't swap that moment for anything. x
It's pathetic. It's like saying, hey you have a good song and we'd like to give you some exposure here in England. Here's a chance to promote yourself. Then you act like fking idiots. Shoulda bought that gun sooner, Kurt.
First of all: we NEED a Trash Theory episode on the Manics. Second: the sanctity of stiff and awkward Blue Monday-era New Order must be protected... always.
Reminds me of Jethro Tull's performance of "Witches Promise" on TotP. Ian Anderson spends the whole performance gurning at the camera and not even trying to look like he's actually playing his flute. The only band member that seemed to be happy to be there was Glenn Cornick, rest his soul. Anderson has been very vocal through the years about his aversion to performing to cameras, but especially miming.
Yep, pretty sure someone from the band has confirmed that it was a joke they came up with in rehearsal and that the production staff needed quite a lot of convincing lest it look like they'd messed up.
It may have been a flawed icon, but it was, as you suggest, a uniting cultural force. The whole of the UK paid attention and came together in a shared moment. WIth that gone, the atomization of the country continues faster than ever.
@@drkatel I think it´s crude but… in a good way. Anyway, they could have easily performed on a taped version of Blue Monday and they dared to go live ;)
The Manic Street Preachers song included such dark and humourous lyrics as, "Anamabadabanafamamamafaaa". ... I played that about 6 times and I still got no idea. Lol
it should be noted that Orbital were one of the few techno acts that regularly toured and performed live, and put on some of the best shows to this day. Chime being their first single, and thus, not having performed much to that point (nor introduced their live performance trademarks) and being asked to mime, they were most likely taking the piss. such is their humour after all.
Well, it's well known that cheesy Tony Blackburn and hairy Dave Lee Travis were the inspiration for Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse's pisstake with 'Smashie & Nicey'.
Regards Blue Monday performance…. I was myself in a band at the time. Synthesisers, notably Moogs, would ‘drift’ out of tune regularly. Often due to the heat and humidity, but also due to rough handling by roadies. We would retune after every couple of songs. Tuning the Moogs first, the retuning the guitars to the synths. There’s a version of ‘Are Friends Electric’ by Tubeway Army performing on Old Grey Whistle Test. By the end of one short song, the synths are off by about a semitone.
@Trash Theory your boring narration is boring me to tears. I'm almost asleep. Are you stoned or jet lagged? I can barely keep my eyes open now to watch the great nostalgic clips! I've just saved this to listen to each night to treat my insomnia. Thank you!👏🥰👍
It ended because digital music and the internet with downloads that could be accessed free of charge, this made it virtually impossible for the music marketing board to ascertain whether a song was a hit or just run of the mill. Record sales were accumalated each week from a witheld database of selected record selling retailers to establish the song which had sold the most copies, this would then be used to work out which song was number one and so on. The digital music phenomenon and the internet taking over again, saw the end of vinyl production as plants that cut the recordings onto vinyl diversified production to a different product or simply went bust as demand dropped in favour of the computer craze we have been all taken over by. The recent upturn in demand for records is sadly very limited and then its restricted mostly to albums due to the very limited plants still able to cut vinyl records as the lead times from ordering to production of a record is very long, so many good songs have been lost to digital as it is merely data that is too prone to corruption or deletion on disc drives. Another example of IT technology taking away something people enjoy doing, on this occasion its buying records. It will be the ruin of the human race if we are not careful, be warned good people out there.
My fave TOTP moment is at the end of one of Neil the hippie's appearances doing "Hole In My Shoe" when he makes a horrifying discovery about part of the stage dressing: "Oh, noooo! These flowers are made of PAPER! HOW MANY TREES HAD TO DIE TO MAKE THESE FLOWERS?!?"
TOTP was made for pop artists who could stand there and mime a song. Not surprisingly, many bands *LOATHE* being on the show as they had to "pretend" their way through a performance and it shows with a majority of these groups who appeared on the program throughout the years. On one hand, a lot of bands understood the exposure that being on TOTP would bring them, but on the other hand it's obvious how many of them thought of it as a joke and would not take it seriously. TOTP rode that line of instant fame and chart recognition vs credibility and respect......
New Order were like that and in the 80s refused to do show where they would have to mime. Considering they could either be epic or pants from one moment to the next its a brave stance! For another fun one look up on here their live appearance on Radio 1s Rock Around The Clock. Although musically a million times better they are ALL pissed off and hilarious. look up the Gillian and Steve talking about it 'New Order's Steve & Gillian talk about the band's performance on Rock Around The Clock, BBC in 1984'
Another car crash I remember was the Spoof of Grease track "You're the One That I want" by Arthur Mullard and Hilda Baker. Track was rising up the charts until they went on TOTP. The performance was so bad that the single bombed the next week!!
I'm from New Zealand, this show used to play every weekend, but no one seems to remember it! I'm glad I saw this video and can prove I'm not mad haha I used to love this shit.
There's a great performance of the Stranglers playing No More Heroes on TopPop where they've all swapped instruments - JJ Burnell gives animal a run for his money!
Mark E Smith from The Fall for his only TOTP performance in 94 alongside Madchester legends the Inspiral Carpets for their Top 20 hit I Want You. The director wanted him off the show for making up lyrics and being drunk and drugged up during rehearsals. The Inspiral Carpets insisted he stays or we go. The director later said "My career highlight?? Getting Mark E Smith from The Fall.on the show for his one and only performance on TOTP". Classic
Cool little vid. I'm in my 50's and TOTP was massive as I was growing up. Seeing my my favorite band, The Jam, do both sides of their number 1 in 1982 was massive for me as a kid. I really felt they there were as big as the Beatles. They split up a couple of months later. Kind of a metaphor for TOTP. Nothing is for ever.
And contrary to the claim here, it was actually Kevin Rowland's idea to have Jocky Wilson; the claim that this was a mistake by somebody at the BBC (come on!) has been long debunked.
From what I understand, it was Mike Patton of Faith No More who broke the camel's back when he goofed around during an appearance in 1990. The program insisted on live vocals from that point on. Mud were great, RIP Les Gray.
So what is your favourite Top of the Pops performance? What did I miss?
Trash Theory playlists - Spotify: tinyurl.com/yxp32pjf
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Should’ve covered oasis with Liam and noels switch for the song roll with it
Enjoyed this, thanks. When I was a kid TOTP was fantastically diverse. Punk, two tone, soul, disco, reggae, post punk etc,; it's hard to believe now that UK families were sat eating their dinner when PIL appeared, almost miming to The Flowers of Romance! th-cam.com/video/OLMlHe2CslY/w-d-xo.html Or that anyone thought it would be good idea to have the TOTP dancers peform to Laurie Anderson's O Superman! th-cam.com/video/NJBZifZ4TIc/w-d-xo.html
Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" only reached #6
Good video shit commentary, I mean who is/was Kirsty McCoyle? You mean Kirsty McColl. Your droning voice does not give the magic that TOTP did even in it's worst performances and we all knew that they were mimming.
Kirsty McCoil? Its Kirsty McCall...also spoken is not pronounced Spocken..other than that was enjoyable :)
"Cobain later said he wanted to sound like Morrissey"
This is the best thing I heard all year.
best thing I hear every year mayne
and he meant Neil Morrisey - he was a great fan of men behaving badly.
Sounds more like a bad Barney impression
The funny thing is that I can actually hear a certain similarity.
Cobain was high as a kite!
I remember when The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ went straight in at number one. Presenter Nicky Campbell said “get your mums and aunties in front of the telly, cos they’re gonna hate this!”.
My mum loved the Progidy lol
I interpret this as a rare moment of self-realisation from Mr Campbell.😂
I remember first hearing that song and thought it was pretty dumb. I wasn't sure why anyone liked it. It seemed like maybe the music magazines of the day told the hipsters that they were going to like it, so they manufactured a sense of liking it.
@@alukuhito nah
@@kostajovanovic3711 Yeah.
I don't think New Order's 'Blue Monday' slipping a notch ever really mattered. That song has experienced so many remixed, rediscoveries, and use in commercials and films that as a track it has far outperformed most pop songs.
Yes just another live version there - no big deal
And the commentary mentions "MIDI sequencers/sequences". MIDI was a new technology about a year later. For New Order, synchronisation was still a manual process.
None of them really do they are pop music legends
Is better to have music being made in the moment, rather than just another fake ass playback performance. Kraftwerk also programmed every song in every concert during 1981, they all sound different in each concert.
I remember new order from about 87 onward and when I finally discovered the earlier stuff I'm like okay I think I've heard Blue Monday too somewhere, like you said discovering , rediscovering etc.i like their early stuff post Joy division ,that's some of the best stuff they've ever put out or anybody for that matter I mean movement is amazing as is the one with age of consent
14:45 - "The performance is pretty by-the-numbers for the first two-thirds of the song, apart from the lobster taped to the microphone" is a magnificently understated sentence.
I remember Marillion's performance of their single 'Lavender.' Fish, the lead singer, had laryngitis at the time and (I think) had had to cancel some gigs because of it, but TOTP still wanted the band to perform their single because it 'didn't matter anyway,' because they were often mimed. So the band went ahead and did it - but Fish didn't lip-sync at all. Instead, he'd made a series of cards with the lyrics to the song written on them, and just held each one up in turn, in time to the song, for the whole duration of the performance.
Nirvana's performance was one of the best trolls ever
cuz he sang better than More ASS y .
Hell ye bruther
emosh73 I wish I could have experienced it
now i get why weird al did that thing in his parody video
That and Nirvana's appearance live on MTV for the music awards
6:55 Re: Jocky Wilson picture. "After 35 years no-one has confirmed if this was a mistake or intentional". Well, apart from about a month after event and during every interview Kevin Rowland has ever done since where he explained it was his joke. So no, it won't remain a mystery....
Thank you. Thought this was very strange by Trash Theory who otherwise tend to do quite credible research.
...."print the legend"
This whole video is a bit shit really
Its so obviously a piss take by rowland, how could anyone confuse Jackie Wilson with jocky Wilson, the name of the song is Jackie Wilson said, for christ sake
@@partlyironic Glad its not just me lol
I still remember the excitement of Thursday nights waiting for TOTP to start. It was the highlight of the week, and Kate Bush was my all time favourite performer. I didn’t care if they were miming.
Yeah as a youngster and teenager i used to watch t o t ps religously. At the time i wasnt too bothered about the miming.
Kate Bush - the Taylor Swift of the 70s/80s. Kudos to Swift but she plays to the gallery in a way that Kate Bush wasn't interested in? Or just the wrong timeslot.
Kate sang live, iirc. That's why her voice was so shaky to start with... nerves, she was only 18.
I always wanted to see Kates Bush 😮
@@edwardalexander9486Jesus Christ Swift can’t touch Bush. She was raw talent. Swift is manufactured and a useful idiot. Bush didn’t make a succession of pop songs about failed relationships.
I will never forget being 9 yrs old and sat on the living room floor, mesmerised as Boy George dressed in full regalia performed Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. It was 1982 and much apart from loving the reggae vibe ( a family full of rude girls and rude boys) a mass debate broke out in the family as to whether he/she was a guy or a girl!!!! Bloody iconic and I’ll never forget that moment. No matter where you were or what you were doing, everything stopped for TOTP’s. Playing out during summer holidays, we’d all run home at 7pm to watch it! Classic!
I remember the family discussion well - was it a boy or a girl?
To be fair I think "off your face drunk" was just Shane McGowan's normal condition.
He changed so much after he got on the cover of the magazine "The Lapsed Catholic"....
th-cam.com/video/tGG3Fr1p4Qw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3r-9Gj5BzizHkGgA&t=990
Yes he was celebrated all over the world for being continually drunk of course he is dead now died rather Young
No mention of Oasis, Noel and Liam switching places so Noel is miming the lyrics and Liam does the guitar solo?
no.... because it wasnt that interesting... at that point not many of the general public knew the difference
Joe McElroy or other oasis performances where they didn’t mime
Mattie Mclean You sound like you’re fun at parties
@@mattiemclean9882 not known? theyd already done Definitely maybe at tha point, the fastest selling debut album of all time (at that point)
@@joemcelroy7202 i was talking about the general public. Not people who read the NME
"Blue Orb decided to release a 39 minute 57 second-long version of their track, Blue Room, as a single. A 3 minute snippet of the track was played over the top of producers Alex Patterson and Chris Weston playing chess, with Weston playing with a toy sheep. And that was it, that was the whole performance."
The '90s were a strange time.
Never heard of Blue Orb...
True. But I'd always rather have a strange time than a bad time.
Sidenote: I do truly miss the 90's but lets see what the 2020's have in store...
dr Alex is the man still :)
went to school with Kris "Thrash" Weston!
I remember the orb doing it
People took the piss but I think when you look back today, it shows how shows like this actually gave time to artists who, the like of, today can't get air time on TV. TOTP ran as a democracy. People voted in the record shops and TOTP then siad, the eight highest chart climbers, not featured on the show last week got air time no matter what.
Do you honestly believe that?
@@Ndlanding don't tell him about Santa either.😉
True. The bad thing about that was when people 'voted' by buying stuff like 'Una Paloma Blanca' and you got to watch Johnathan King week after week 🤣 Until The Old Grey Whistle Test came along TOTP was the only music programe on TV. TOGWT was so much better, live performances by excellent musicians. TOTP had some crap in the mix but was always worth watching. I doubt if I was the only teenager who lived from Thursday to Thursday.
@@Ndlanding It was a lot better then than it is now even though the artists first had to be discovered and then signed to record labels and after that the plugging and the DJ's playing their favourite singles more.
@@lemsip207 Dunno about now, as I've been abroad for a long time. When I used to play in a band, our rehearsals would stop for TOTP, mainly because it was compulsive, even when it was shite. Then we'd go back to rehearsing, without being even slightly influenced by the Top 20/30/40.
Thanks for that little nostalgia trip - I remember nearly all of those f*ck-ups, with my ol' man puffing and blowing in the background from the sofa about the "bunch of flippin' freaks". 😆
Watching Bowie perform starman, and Jimmy saville fondling the girls in the audience probably sticks in my mind.
That candelabra - saxophone solo had me laughing so hard I was in pain!
You’d obviously laugh if your
arse was on fire
From what I heard, a musician's union wouldn't allow him to mimic playing a saxophone because he wasn't a saxophonist.
Typical Bob Geldoff. Stupid.
At the start of the performance, Geldof took a picture of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, who they had just knocked off the number one spot, and tore it in two.
Lisa green ,cutting edge stuff,eh?
I remember Eels 'playing' novacaine for the soul on toy instruments, and smashing everything at the end! Brilliant!!
So do I (1996). I bought their debut album after that, and have been listening to them ever since.
Yes! I thought it was only me who remembered that. One of the best ever TotP moments for me, having been born too late to witness anything much before about 1993 first-hand.
oh wow I remember that was a huge hit
Orbital moved more in that clip than Kraftwerk have ever moved in ALL of their 90s shows.
So true haha
Now there's a name I've never heard before - Kirsty McCoil????? RIP Kirsty, you deserve better.
I recoiled from that.
With Shane McCondom
Kirsty McCoil with Shane Gowangowangowan...
@herbert sherbert Idiot!
@herbert sherbert I never heard that she gave money to the IRA?!?! She was Scottish not Irish.
Loved this video!! I am so sad that this era of pop culture has passed
They gave artists 2 options, sing live to backing tracks or mime to live instruments. Which is why REM's Michael Stipe protested with his Orange Crush mimed through a megaphone for the entire track.
I think we’re missing the point of these performances, good old British humour, aka taking the piss lol
Exactly. These artistes are just pointing out how absurd TOTP's really was.
Well said Toddy..my sentiments exactly...
British humor is only funny in Britian.
@@tonyjulius6011 American humor is funny nowhere. With some honorable exceptions.
@@grahamd4764 it was the 80s. Everything was absurd/over the top. Classless Brits acting as they are above everything. Props to bands like Maiden that still had respect for their performances. You didn't see the US acts acting ridiculous. Solid Gold was the equivalent here in the states and I don't recall this ever happening. I do recall it happened a few times on AB. No surprise it was the Sex Pistols. Zero talent.
I actually like the New Order performance, it's like all the playback's pushed back and all the live/honest stuff is pushed up front and exposed, a sort of non-slickness about it that's in keeping with the band
It was always hit or miss with New Order when it came to live performances.
agreed. it was cool at the time. sounded like the record and def live. That the single dropped a bit matters not a jot. It lasted for years in all kinds of high spots worldwide. Probably the record of the decade.Oh wait, the final countdown :)
it was even good that sales went down given they were losing money on each sale because of the packaging costs
What went wrong was partly the primitive technology of the time, and partly user error. To play the song live, they had to put two or three different discs into their Emulator sampler-synth and Stephen Morris started with the wrong disc, which is why there is a synth choir where you'd expect a thunderclap. That is what Morris says in his memoir 'Fast Forward'. The confusion might have been caused by the fact that they were playing a specially shortened version of the song for TOTP.
I agree in a way, but I think if the studio version had been played they might have reached number one instead of number 14 (and number 9 the second time around in 1983).
Great lil Doc..THANK YOU!
When I was a child, I lived in England briefly and was able to see numerous original broadcasts of TOTP in late 70s. While it had its share of crap, the weird mix of artists who appeared on it during that time period really made an impact on my impressionable mind. It was one of the formative influences on my eclectic musical taste - both in first real exposure to punk & new wave, but also in being able to appreciate multiple genres & styles (something that continues long after).
"Cobain said he wanted to sound like Morrisey" 😂😂😂 11:17
JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA
I think he nailed it 😂
To his credit, it was pretty on point during the chorus
sounds like joe swanson.
@@larry90944 Or Jim Morrison.
I love the bands that protested not being able to sing themselves by genuinely not trying.
Almost all music shows were like this. My favorite was Smokie s performances. Hilarious. Glad you put this out. Thanx. Brought back lots of memories
8:04 "The midi sequences are also wildly out of sync with everything else...."
Proceeds to clip of what sound to me like perfectly synced midi sequences 🤔
That's exactly what I thought.. Plus, I never owned an Oberheim DMX with midi. There's a conversion kit now but there wasn't in those days.
@@JesusHChrist-q9d ahhh I didn't know that! I use an Oberheim DMX software emulation in my recording studio and I love it, but I don't know what I'd do without the ability to midi-sync it to everything else. I thought that performance by New Order on TOTP was actually really good and it was TOTP that let them down with a crappy mix.
Agreed. Sounded good to me
I thought it sounded in tune, in sync and fine.
Absolutely agreed, it sounded spot on 😂
9:52: "Despite this, the track rose in the charts the preceding week". Impressive time-travelling rise up the charts there.
And before that, fell to Number One.
*proceeding
Little known fact: After All About Eve's fiasco, singer Julianne Regan was upset, so Kylie Minogue sent her a huge bouquet of flowers.
Little known because it's not interesting.
They also invited all about Eve back to the show the next week to say sorry, if I remember correctly. 👍
@@painbow6528 I disagree
Nice gesture, if true, from the pop product. Sending flowers to a real singer and artist.
@@portcullis5622 I actually love both but let's be fair, one was a blip, the other is a legend who is still smashing records, so your perspective is a bit out of touch with reality.
I just did what I should have done when I first subbed... I'm now a patron!
Amazing content at documentary level quality.
Peace, love and rock & roll.
The Shamen getting away with shouting "Es are good!" on national telly was mint
Just goes to show, one person’s ‘mint’ is another person’s irritating wannabe naughty-boy slop.
@The Radiant Mrs Gloop
_"Well, I never!"_
@Sean Wilkinson Wicked, my son!
@@Claymor621 you must be fun at parties
Many of us didn't have a clue... I was young, I hadn't even started drinking then.
I wasn't going to watch this because I am 60 and I loved the show. But it is one of the best pop videos I have ever seen. My mate worked as a tech on TOTP and swears the Jockie Wilson picture was a mistake. Great work.
Great video. I feel I lived my life alongside this show.
That dummy was more genuine than 95% of all the other acts on TOTP.
My autobiography will be called “I was the dentist for The Pogues.”
Author died prematurely from overwork..
You sucked then.
A single line then: I waited alll day but...
@@HeadacheMachine Shane MacGowan's dentist IS the loneliest dentist. Loved your comment.
Will it be a toothfull account?
The reason for the miming on Top Of The Pops wasn't entirely down to the bands not being able to play or the studio not set up for it, the union representing the BBC's house musicians had a part in it as well, they insisted only the BBC orchestra could play the music whilst the band could only supply the vocal parts, this eventually led to the bands having to supply a backing track and singing live to it, by which in time ended up with bands just using the original recording and miming everything.
Finally someone mentions the true reality I couldn’t be arsed to type it in
A lot of bands replaced the rerecording with the original tape
Anyone remember The Ramones singing "Baby I love you" with the BBC orchestra? Hilarious.
Always loved TOTP and could not wait to get home to watch it. Great programmes despite what so many of us knew, it was fake!
Thanks for this, very enjoyable!
"As he fellates the microphone"
The best sentence I've ever heard
Then you haven't heard many sentences.
@@Ndlanding naw, I've heard quite a few
@@WordsofHeresy Naw, ye huvnae. Yer corned beef!
here's a better one... "He was shaking like a shitting dog"
Growing up being in to rock and metal i used to watch TOTP nearly every week in the hopes of seeing some rock music on there.
My fondest memory of the show is Faith No More performing "Ashes to ashes". They play live and and it actually sounds heavier than the album version.
It's on TH-cam, check it out.
FNM performing From Out Of Nowhere on TOTP is what got me into them.
Al Pacino.
@@davidellis5141 Yep!
I remember Faith No More doing Digging the Grave on TOTP. They were pretty good.
I can clearly remember the episode that had Dexy's Midnight Runners and the photo of Jocky Wilson in the background. I can't believe that it was 37 years ago 😮
Wow time flies, I was only 12 at the time. 👍
Ha me too, I remember rolling with laughter and calling my mum to come see it 😂
Can you believe we're nearly 50? It seemed like such an old age back then. Now it's like "no, I'm twenty something, I'm sure of it"
I credit someone at the Beeb with a sense of humour.
An unmissable show from my childhood and through my teenage years ... Sweet were my favourite band and the glam rock era was a real spectacle and great fun !!!
TheHumbuckerboy. Sweet were my favourite too, bought every single and their first Album. SWEET F.A.
The days when bands didn't take themselves too seriously.
I mean look at Mick, Andy, Steve, Brian, Noddy, Dave Jim and Don?
How could you?
But their music is the music I grew up to and still love.
I'm old enough to remember watching all of these featured. Great video, very well put together.
I think this is the video that made me sub, and I’ve watched it at least 5 times, since I first clicked on the link. Great stories!!!
"Shane MacGowan was off his face and couldn't sing the words in time." Otherwise, it's Shane being Shane.
Along with Kirsty McCoyle(?) whoever she is.
Yeah, I'm surprised anybody noticed.
(I really like that song though).😄😄😄
@@allwrighty100 Kirsty MacColl, (they said the wrong name in the video), she was a great singer, but wasn't really well known, in general. Sadly, she died in 2000 in a boating accident that was fairly big in the news because of the people involved & that there was clearly a cover up.
Shane was 100% proof
@@msstarlight4770 Even fewer people know that her dad wrote Dirty Old Town and The First Time Ever I Saw your Face. RIP Kirsty.
Orbital's "performance" on TOTP led to them creating their now legendary live shows. If you noticed, not any of their equipment was plugged in either. Phil Hartnoll said in 2018 about the experience:
"They wouldn’t let us play live, so we performed in T-shirts reading “No” and “Poll tax”. We placed the mains plugs on top of our instruments so that everyone could see we weren’t really playing. They didn’t let us back on the show for six years."
"They didn’t let us back on the show for six years."
To be fair, that was about how long it took them to have another big hit.
@@Somnogenesis Halcyon, Belfast, Satan and let is not forget their legendary Glastonbury performance were within 5 years of this performance.
@@JonMichaelDeShazer Oh, granted, and I know I sounded facetious there - but in pure singles chart terms they didn't have another decently-sized hit until The Box made no.11 in 1996. The year after that Satan finally became a big hit in a remixed live version that reached no.3, as did follow-up The Saint (I always thought those two titles made a great juxtaposition). In the 6 years after Chime though they barely scratched the top 30.
Edit: here we are -
www.officialcharts.com/artist/13342/orbital/
Jon-Michael DeShazer I was there - amazing performance! Oh happy days 😀
For the longest time, i thought lonely this Christmas was by Elvis. Until I was talking about it with my Dad and he was like it was by mud. Who i'd never heard of before haha
Might you have been mixing it up with "Blue Christmas"?
Les was an Elvis impersonator.
@but why He co wrote 2 off his 40 greatest hits, or at least gets credited on 2.
Basically Elvis was a voice & actor
@but why Yep Elv liked 'em 'fresh', his thing was if he liked your song he would sing it in return for 50% ownership, that's how the bugger got so rich, he wanted Dolly Partons I will always love you but she refused him, clever gal
@@oldskoolfool141 Actually, he wasn't that rich. In terms of rock star "rich" that is. He was forced into doing Las Vegas cabaret because his manager and entourage were literally bankrupting him. Remember, he had no songwriting royalties to fall back on.
I see lots of Top Of Pops on videos, an being from U.S., didn't understand much about it; you opened my eyes a bit. Thank you!
One of the greatest TOTP trollings was performed by the writers on guest presenter, boxer Chris Eubank.
Being famous for having a pronounced lisp, they got him to announce "Next, at number six, it's Suggs, with 'Cecilia'".
Little known fact: Jackie Wilson was actually really good at darts and hit a 9 dart finish in his televised match with Elvis
Cool I didn't know that
Yeah, but he missed loads of easy doubles in the next round and got knocked out by Little Richard.
@@Somnogenesis Leapy Lee was best - he even had a song called "Little Arrows".
@@EricIrl Not to be confused with Jerry Lee Lewis - who of course did Great Bulls of Fire about his favoured checkout.
You schooled me.
"Asked about it later, Cobain stated he wanted to sound like Morrissey."
JFC Kurt XD
Good ol Kurt
The Nirvana performance was one of my greatest teenage memories of TOTP, utterly mocking the mine 😂
This is such a fun and entertaining video! Great idea
Hi, I'm recovering at home from surgery, so spent a bonkers amount of time falling down various youtube rabbit holes. Yours being one of my faves! What a complete surprise to be one sec enjoying your round up of worst TOTP performances, to then see my ex girlfriend KB dancing for Orbital! Cheers! db
Wow! I've never seen Shane McGowan with teeth. I did see him live once, he almost made it through 2 songs.
David Zanke got him on a good day did you?
I'm surprised the bloke is still alive tbf
_now your just showing off_ 🙄
“ When forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend” is a line from the end of “Who shot Liberty Valance”
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" American director John Ford in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
ps... the Dexys one is an urban legend... It was actually a joke that the band were fully aware of:
"Most viewers naturally assumed that clueless TOTP producers were behind this screw-up, and interviewers were probably too scared of Dexys' inscrutable frontman Kevin Rowland to ask him about it. When they finally did, though, he explained that it was his idea all along.
"For a laugh, we told the producer to put a picture of Jocky Wilson up behind us," he told the Guardian in 2002. "He said: 'But Kevin, people will think we made a mistake.' I told him only an idiot would think that. The morning after, the [Radio 1] DJ Mike Read said: 'Bloody Top of the Pops. How could they mix up one of the great soul singers with a Scottish darts player?'"
"only an idiot" ... Mike Read, LOL. Yes, Mike Read was an absolute twat, let's not forget how he contributed to Frankie Goes to Hollywood history
Chris Stein out of Blonde playing his guitar lead. That was a good one.
Excellent video. Thanks.
You said it - I DO remember my first glimpse of Ziggy Stardust. It was the exact shots you have shown. I was 12 - I am now 60. I wouldn't swap that moment for anything. x
Nirvana's is the best ever, but I love the Smiths, with Morrissey singing into a bunch of flowers too
You should check out Nirvana on The Word then. If I remember rightly we were treated to a bit of bush.
@@thumbs2drums L7
It's pathetic. It's like saying, hey you have a good song and we'd like to give you some exposure here in England. Here's a chance to promote yourself. Then you act like fking idiots. Shoulda bought that gun sooner, Kurt.
@@tonyjulius6011 Completely missed the point and then tried to be edgy yeah you ain't funny my guy
@@LiamGervaise I am as funny as Kurt was, and I wasn't trying.
First of all: we NEED a Trash Theory episode on the Manics.
Second: the sanctity of stiff and awkward Blue Monday-era New Order must be protected... always.
Very underrated band when talked about by the music analysts
Reminds me of Jethro Tull's performance of "Witches Promise" on TotP. Ian Anderson spends the whole performance gurning at the camera and not even trying to look like he's actually playing his flute. The only band member that seemed to be happy to be there was Glenn Cornick, rest his soul. Anderson has been very vocal through the years about his aversion to performing to cameras, but especially miming.
The Jockie Wilson thing was defo deliberate....
Yep, pretty sure someone from the band has confirmed that it was a joke they came up with in rehearsal and that the production staff needed quite a lot of convincing lest it look like they'd messed up.
Great video, really enjoyed this one
It may have been a flawed icon, but it was, as you suggest, a uniting cultural force. The whole of the UK paid attention and came together in a shared moment. WIth that gone, the atomization of the country continues faster than ever.
New Order were great in that TOTP performance.
Miguel S. P., Yeah, it didn’t seem especially bad to me either.
@@drkatel I think it´s crude but… in a good way. Anyway, they could have easily performed on a taped version of Blue Monday and they dared to go live ;)
I was thinking the same thing, it sounded good from that snippet they played, now I need to search out the whole performance
@Jetsonic The problem might have been that they and their crew got wasted every night during the US tours.
The Manic Street Preachers song included such dark and humourous lyrics as, "Anamabadabanafamamamafaaa". ... I played that about 6 times and I still got no idea. Lol
His kind of rapid fire style doesn't help, "I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing"
Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey used the same technique. Maybe.
it's a bummer that TOTP has been gone for the 16 years it has because we didn't get to see what Kero Kero Bonito, SOPHIE and 100 gecs would do with it
it should be noted that Orbital were one of the few techno acts that regularly toured and performed live, and put on some of the best shows to this day. Chime being their first single, and thus, not having performed much to that point (nor introduced their live performance trademarks) and being asked to mime, they were most likely taking the piss. such is their humour after all.
Julian Cope, TOTP live 1981, stood bare foot on a piano, tripping on LSD and fronting The Teardrop Explodes.
I can remember the Eels preforming Novacaine For The Soul, pretending to play the song with toy instruments. Hilarious
Then smashing them up at the end like a pre-school Who! Brilliant idea.
"The presenters were as cheesy as the pop music." really thought Saville was getting brought up there lol
Well, it's well known that cheesy Tony Blackburn and hairy Dave Lee Travis were the inspiration for Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse's pisstake with 'Smashie & Nicey'.
@@eddiewillers1 I thought that they were based on David 'Kid' Jensen and Alan Freeman.
This was fascinating, as someone who grew up in the usa I never had the chance to watch top of the pops until the TH-cam era came about
Regards Blue Monday performance….
I was myself in a band at the time. Synthesisers, notably Moogs, would ‘drift’ out of tune regularly. Often due to the heat and humidity, but also due to rough handling by roadies.
We would retune after every couple of songs. Tuning the Moogs first, the retuning the guitars to the synths.
There’s a version of ‘Are Friends Electric’ by Tubeway Army performing on Old Grey Whistle Test. By the end of one short song, the synths are off by about a semitone.
Iron Maiden 'Running Free' 1980. Best ever performance on what was a totally naff show and one of the few to play live and not mime.
Manics are definetly underrated in terms of what they have done while Richey was there as well as post-Richey trilogy
Everyone knew the bands mimed. If I recall correctly in early episodes viewers watched the tone arm lower onto the vinyl.
@Trash Theory your boring narration is boring me to tears. I'm almost asleep. Are you stoned or jet lagged? I can barely keep my eyes open now to watch the great nostalgic clips! I've just saved this to listen to each night to treat my insomnia. Thank you!👏🥰👍
Excellent mate! Thanks
Nicky Wire is the Manics' bassist, not guitarist.
No, he was their bongos player: FIGHT ME
@Welsh Simon A guitarist is not a bassist. Fact. There is also a difference in IQ.
"It was the system and had to be Raged against" when he said that I thought "oh imagine if Rage Against The Machine appeared on that show"
"I've been too honest with myself, i should have lied like everybody else" Faster Manic Street Preachers
It ended because digital music and the internet with downloads that could be accessed free of charge, this made it virtually impossible for the music marketing board to ascertain whether a song was a hit or just run of the mill. Record sales were accumalated each week from a witheld database of selected record selling retailers to establish the song which had sold the most copies, this would then be used to work out which song was number one and so on. The digital music phenomenon
and the internet taking over again, saw the end of vinyl production as plants that cut the recordings onto vinyl diversified production to a different product or simply went bust as demand dropped in favour of the computer craze we have been all taken over by. The recent upturn in demand for records is sadly very limited and then its restricted mostly to albums due to the very limited plants still able to cut vinyl records as the lead times from ordering to production of a record is very long, so many good songs have been lost to digital as it is merely data that is too prone to corruption or deletion on disc drives. Another example of IT technology taking away something people enjoy doing, on this occasion its buying records. It will be the ruin of the human race if we are not careful, be warned good people out there.
My fave TOTP moment is at the end of one of Neil the hippie's appearances doing "Hole In My Shoe" when he makes a horrifying discovery about part of the stage dressing:
"Oh, noooo! These flowers are made of PAPER! HOW MANY TREES HAD TO DIE TO MAKE THESE FLOWERS?!?"
TOTP was made for pop artists who could stand there and mime a song.
Not surprisingly, many bands *LOATHE* being on the show as they had to "pretend" their way through a performance and it shows with a majority of these groups who appeared on the program throughout the years.
On one hand, a lot of bands understood the exposure that being on TOTP would bring them, but on the other hand it's obvious how many of them thought of it as a joke and would not take it seriously.
TOTP rode that line of instant fame and chart recognition vs credibility and respect......
New Order were like that and in the 80s refused to do show where they would have to mime. Considering they could either be epic or pants from one moment to the next its a brave stance! For another fun one look up on here their live appearance on Radio 1s Rock Around The Clock. Although musically a million times better they are ALL pissed off and hilarious. look up the Gillian and Steve talking about it 'New Order's Steve & Gillian talk about the band's performance on Rock Around The Clock, BBC in 1984'
From what I have read, Syd Barrett hated TOTP and that was a contributing factor to him leaving/getting kicked from the band.
The last person seen on TOTP was Jimmy Savile turning the lights out.
Another car crash I remember was the Spoof of Grease track "You're the One That I want" by Arthur Mullard and Hilda Baker.
Track was rising up the charts until they went on TOTP. The performance was so bad that the single bombed the next week!!
My god, I hadn't thought about that for about 40 years! Here it is: th-cam.com/video/x_MSi0MhM_c/w-d-xo.html
Yes - some things cannot be unseen. This along with "Grandma" and "Grandad". Though at least the Mullard/Baker one wasn't serious....
Still better than any "hit" of the last 12 or more years though! haha
@@ChrisHow I'll have a laugh at this now.
@Tone. Yes according to his daughter.
Never knew Kurt was trying to impersonate Morrissey, always thought he was trying to impersonate Jim Morrison.
I'm from New Zealand, this show used to play every weekend, but no one seems to remember it! I'm glad I saw this video and can prove I'm not mad haha I used to love this shit.
There's a great performance of the Stranglers playing No More Heroes on TopPop where they've all swapped instruments - JJ Burnell gives animal a run for his money!
I've seen that, but I don't think it was on TOTP.
The manic street preachers performance is legendary.punk anarchy at its finest.Just amazing.
I'd love to see a punk dance interpretation of "Holydays in Cambodia" 😍
I can actually remember the DK's on TOTP.
Mark E Smith from The Fall for his only TOTP performance in 94 alongside Madchester legends the Inspiral Carpets for their Top 20 hit I Want You. The director wanted him off the show for making up lyrics and being drunk and drugged up during rehearsals. The Inspiral Carpets insisted he stays or we go. The director later said "My career highlight?? Getting Mark E Smith from The Fall.on the show for his one and only performance on TOTP". Classic
Cool little vid. I'm in my 50's and TOTP was massive as I was growing up. Seeing my my favorite band, The Jam, do both sides of their number 1 in 1982 was massive for me as a kid. I really felt they there were as big as the Beatles. They split up a couple of months later.
Kind of a metaphor for TOTP. Nothing is for ever.
The Dexy’s Midnight Runners incident gets me every time
And contrary to the claim here, it was actually Kevin Rowland's idea to have Jocky Wilson; the claim that this was a mistake by somebody at the BBC (come on!) has been long debunked.
180 !!!
As this is Top of the Pops there may be flashing images. Jimmy Saville flashing kids.
That made me chuckle, thanks for that.
Unfortunately the beeb can’t show many TotP reruns because Jimmy Saville was often the presenter.
gary jones or dead or a mental patient or .....you get the idea
On the very last TOTP Saville turned the lights off as he left the studio. The BBC knew of his nonciness but had him pinned as a legend.
Paulus thewoodknome nonciness. I learned a new word today.
"With performances from the most exciting bands."
And Bob Geldof as well.
But then again who among us likes Mondays?
"singing" Rat Crap/Clap Trap........ nobody cared because he's a twat.
Supported by fucking Travis.
i always wondered why people were always so pissed of by Travis (i never really got the chance in england or scotland)
Bob prancing around like a berk then falling over at the end of one number just summed it all up.
From what I understand, it was Mike Patton of Faith No More who broke the camel's back when he goofed around during an appearance in 1990.
The program insisted on live vocals from that point on.
Mud were great, RIP Les Gray.