Top 20 Greatest Top of the Pops Performances of All Time
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 เม.ย. 2023
- These icons all performed live back in the day! For this list, WatchMojoUK counts down the Top 20 Greatest Top of the Pops Performances of All Time. Featuring performances from Kate Bush, Elton John, David Bowie, and many more. What’s your favourite “Top of the Pops” memory? Let us know in the comments!
Check out these other brilliantly British videos from WMUK:
Top 10 Greatest Top of the Pops Performances of All Time - • Top 10 Greatest Top of...
Top 10 Artists BANNED From Top of the Pops - • Top 10 Artists BANNED ...
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WatchMojoUK is your source for British Top 10s, covering popular shows like Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, Great British Bake Off, Coronation Street, This Morning, Good Morning Britain, The Graham Norton Show, Sherlock, and more! We also cover the latest in British Movies, Music and Pop Culture - We Top 10 it all!
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Check out our LATEST TOTP Video!
Top 10 Underrated Top Of The Pops Performances
th-cam.com/video/GcTa0YSYvw4/w-d-xo.html
Bowie didn't die, he just returned to his home planet.
He went without giving my my socks back! ( Labyrinth)
I love that!
@@tonilove8245 ha ha
MARS . He took the Spiders with him.
No T. Rex? Unbelievable... Marc Bolan created the whole Glam Rock with THAT perfomance on TOTP. Underrated and underpreciated as always...
Yes...where is Marc Bolan...a tragic omission
Bowie of course has to take first, everything about that performance is brilliant
My seminal moment. I was 14. The next was Sparks.
@@LarchenkoTF Well they all were in the TOTP'S studio.
Two words. Marc Bolan.
He taught us all how to be groovy
I was one of those kids. I heard him once and was a fan for life. He's a legend. God bless David. I wish he was still here❤
No T.Rex?, no The Sweet?, no Smiths? 😮
Yeah Marc Bolan was a genius and my fav. Band of the early 70s! No Get it On?
Kate Bush is an amazing performer with a voice to match. Since coming onto the music scene, she became my favorite female singer. She is so beautiful too.
I remember her first TOTP performance. It was electrifying. At school the next day everybody was talking about it. You either loved it or hated it but everybody noticed it.
@@stevemoorby9068 I saw her for the first time on Saturday Night Live. What a voice and her range is mind blowing,
I don't know whose voice is more annoying: hers or Bjork's.
T.Rex and "get it on" should be in the top 10. Defo agree with Elton & Bowie.
This brought back so many great memories. I always looked forward to finding who would be on. Bowie, Slade, Queen, etc made TOTP great
Top of the Pops was always my jam as a kid. I couldn't wait to see which artists were performing that week!
I believe you
No self respected teen would miss TOTP, it was part of our lives in the Seventies
And the 80s 😊
I was at University in the mid 70's and had a 10 inch B&W TV. 5 of us would crowd around it for 2 reasons, TOTP and Doctor Who !
It was, but even at that age we kind of watched in a tongue in cheek slightly eye rolling way. Especially at Pans people
@@clareshaughnessy2745 yes Clare your bang on x
TOTP was the British version to American Bandstand also no self-respecting kid/teen would miss it! Soul Train usually followed American Bandstand so us Us a kids had great Saturday mornings.
where was T.rex?
Yea 😢
Amen brother
Absolutely agree w this one. Their 1st time there was so iconic & influential. Johnny Marr said that was 1 of the things they thought about when they went to do This Charming Man.
The Sweet Blockbuster .. ❤️❤️❤️
I saw David Bowie in Cologne Sporthalle Germany in 1978. What an amazing experience I had that night, nothing since has given me the rush of that night.
David Bowie as "Ziggy Stardust"
So happy to have been in my teens in the 70s. When else would you find Mud rubbing shoulders with Hawkwind , Tull or Roxy? Brilliant countdown. A real nostalgia fest.
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Jackie Wilson Said. Loved it when a massive portrait of darts player JOCKEY Wilson descended towards the end.
#5 Gary Numan. He was strange, he was ackward, he was crazy, but that's part of life. Still loved that dude either way, kicks ass.
If you didn't watch the documentary about him you need to. It was the best I ever saw on a musician.
For more TOTP Goodness check out this!
Top 10 Artists BANNED From Top of the Pops
th-cam.com/video/f7niTE5N4eE/w-d-xo.html
Notable omissions: Alice Cooper - School's Out, The Specials - Gangsters, Madness - The Prince, Desmond Dekker - The Israelites, Marilyn Manson - Mobscene
We didn't get a colour TV till 1978, but every Thursday my big sisters would take me round to our auntie's house to watch TOTP with our cousins. Fond memories as another kind of world opened up before my very eyes. I remember every single one of these performances first time around!
I used to go to my friend's house to watch TOTP as her mum and dad had a colour tv😅
Starman and Killer Queen I watch them both and both are still my favourite by the artists.
The Bowie and Roxy Music performances were instrumental in convincing me that music was what I wanted to do with my life.
I cannot believe adam ants goody two shoes not in this top 20 at all, he performed the whole song over the three totp stages with the dancers all in one take & took him to number one with massive sales
The two best performances EVER were left out. The POGUES & KIRSTY MCCOLL singing FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK was truly moving and OASIS performance of ROLL WITH IT where the brothers switch places to make fun of having to mime their hit was hilarious.
You missed the most important part of the Starman performance: when Bowie sings "I had to phone someone so I picked on you-oo-oo" and coyly points at the camera. It's not often you can pinpoint the exact second someone becomes a superstar, but this is definitely one of those times.
Thank you for pointing that out.
Spot on. Remember talking about it in school the next day.
Thanks - I came to say the same thing. When he looked and pointed directly into the camera he spoke to each one of us.
And the second best moment- casually slinging his arm around Mick Ronson. Shock!
For some people, they felt he was pointing personally at them, inciting them to become musicians 💜💜
I would've chosen Sweet's Blockbuster or Ballroom Blitz! Someone would have to choose who to leave out to fit them in:)
I feel that what kids are missing today is the ridiculous excitement of what pop/rock music was like back then.
That one specific performance by Bowie literally resulted in the music industry we know today. Which is bonkers!
Grace Jones performing 'Private Life' barely moving. One of the greats - and those three albums still sound fresh today.
Skunk Anansie with Bjork was one of the heaviest live sets I've seen on totp. Absolutely amazing.
The Sweet...Blockbuster. Nuff said!
Big one.....but at least they got Sparks in. Great playground talk performances. 😁
You can’t have this list, and not include Bad Manners. Every performance they did on TOTP was completely insane and absolutely brilliant! Just look up ‘Can Can’ and ‘Special Brew’, you won’t be disappointed
Buster lives in Margate
great call
Agreed!!
I'm so glad Sparks was in this :)
Lived over there in 70 to 74 saw Elton John, David Bowie, and The Who
Love seeing Sparks on the list.
The only fan club I ever joined. It cost me £1. I had to forego 5 pints of beer for that. Funnily enough I'm drinking beer now and reliving my youth.
Nailed it. Love this. I actually saw most of these on first broadcast, from Bowie to Jeffrey Daniels [yes, I'm that old]
I'm with you on pretty much all of the sentiment…. but…
Gladys Knight isn't a full playback [mime] That is live over backing track. I wasn't much of a fan of the song [not my genre at all] until I saw her do this on TOTP - she absolutely killed it. Made me a fan of this song forever more. I found the TOTP2 version, cleaned up.
That's live as live gets. Doesn't track to the recorded version at all, ad-libs a-plenty. She's doing that for real.
I hope I don't get auto-trimmed for putting a link in… in fact I'll link it in another comment just in case. I know YT doesn't like links...
TOTP and the Old Grey Whistle Test were a staple diet for amazing music back in the day.
Now it’s all just dross.
Old grey whistle test was epic. A must watch.
1- Let me go alive
2 Parasite
3 Makin love
4 100,000 years Alive
5 flamin youth
6 I still love you
7 The oath
8 I want you
9 All American man
10 Charisma
11 Duece
12 take me away together as one
13 Watching you alive
14 under the gun
15 Creatures of the night
16 Do you love me
17 Larger than life
18 Snowblind
19 Got to choose alive
20 Save your love
Honourable mention
Ladies room Alive 2
Strange ways
She Alive
Your all that I want
Naked City
Mr Speed
A million to one
Great episode this one lads, thank you so much 👍😄
13
What a great mix here, something for everyone, memories are made of these tracks, rather moving actually.
This brings back lots of memories. I did interviews for my university radio station with Hawkwind and Queen when these songs were out. I also saw Elton John live when he released My Song.
Sorry Shalamar were the first band on main stream tv to show off what became known as the mon walk but those of us who were around before then may have seen some of many of the documentaries that showed the American kids dancing and popping and also moon walking on the street.
The BBC requested artists mime to their songs as this allowed quicker changes of acts in what was not a particularly large studio (eg no tuning of instruments required etc) but the Musicians Union demanded that artists could not just mime to any recording of their song but that they to especially record one just for the show, often the day before. This allowed musicians and sound engineers to be paid, effectively making up for the lost income from the BBC’s policy of no live performances at the recording.
I thought KLF-Last Train to Trancentral might be in the list, but so many good performances to mention.... Tight Fit.The lion sleeps tonight anyone?
Where is Marc Bolan???. The First MAN wird glitter on ther face sang the song" get it on". Get it in changes the Music of All Times.
@@aladinsane10 yup, another iconic Performance !
Where is WHAM!´s Young Guns performance? It set fire to TOTP, and they weren´t even planned to perform, but another act couldn´t come, so WHAM! got a slot and nailed it!
No Adam and the Ants and Dog Eat Dog? Everybody, and I mean everybody, was talking about it the next day. Been many iconic performances on ToTP, including He Who Should Not Be Named and Leader of the Gang. Bowie and Kate Bush certainly had people talking the next day in school [Bush was more a wtf reaction to be honest for many], but Adam and the Ants was a crazy reaction. Not a coincidence I suspect that both HWSNBN and the Ants were using a double drum set.
My favourite is Janet Kay singing, "Silly Games" live! When all other artists were miming to their songs in 1979, Janet persuaded the BBC that she should sing live. And it showed. A true (underappreciated) artist.
Sorry, MARC BOLAN did this for me, well before David Bowie. Can’t believe he was missed from this list.
Glam rock happy times
No Nirvana? That set was hilarious 😂😂
A Top Three of Lennon, Bush, Bowie. All timeless artists. And always will be. Yeah, I'll take that.
Thanks a lot it sounded so fun!
Loved David Bowie ❤
Brilliant brilliant video loved it
Glad Jethro Tull made the list. Brilliant performance. ❤❤❤😂
So true ! 👌👍
Ron from Sparks scared the crap out of me as a kid.
The American counterpart was American Bandstand. As a young adult, I always thought they were live…
Morrissey with flowers in his back pocket is the one that sticks out for me.
Can't believe you didn't include Steve Marriott and humble pie doing Black Coffee.
I grew up in the UK during the 70s and never missed Top of the Pops!
Shalamar was one of the greatest bands to ever play, in my opinion. They all had great single careers as well. 😊
I remember Kate Bush and Wuthering Heights. What a song, what a singer!
Wow! So jackson didn’t only steal innocence he also stole the moonwalk!
Brilliant!!
How could you fail to mention the moment when The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s blazing metal crown gave him second degree burns, and had to be hurriedly removed!…..iconic moment.
nice compilation...
Good choices!😊 Jeffrey Daniels should’ve No1 .truly the most memorable..but where was Wham And young guns go for it? From the same year .
Culture Club should have been at number 2 or 3: young people knew it was okay to be different.
Like George said about Bowie's Starman performance: I finally knew there were other people like me.
Gay or weird?
Great memories, I remember all of those and Bowie is certainly the best. Where did it all go wrong for TOTP?
Wish it was still on TV!
We did make a video on what went wrong though:
th-cam.com/video/XwUPP4-KBjc/w-d-xo.html
Crap management and crap music.
The music in general was not as good as it was in the 60s,70s and 80s! Full stop!
Great video 🙂 you should have included SWEET 🦊
@@cauldronmoon That would have made the video a blockbuster and made little Willy very happy 😄
How can you have a TOTP retrospective without Boney M?
More seriously, where is Thin Lizzy's Rosalie? One of the most powerful performances I ever saw on the programme
Ra Ra Rasputin and Don't Believe a Word..
yes i agree , brilliant
Sparks for the win! ❤
You missed School's Out (Alice Cooper) and Denis Denis ( Blondie)
Hawkwind the best live band ever! As a kid in the seventies I never missed top of the pops. 😁👍👊✌️🌍.
KATE BUSH AT NUMBER 2 AS SHE SHOULD BE
She is so special, gives me goosebumps.
Standout image from the Starman clip is of course tank-top lad in the background.
Before the advent of CCD cameras, you couldn't have loud sounds or bass in a studio. Loud sounds would make the camera tubes vibrate causing colour errors.
It was my weekly 'go to' programme
RE Numan - have you seen "Station to Station" era Bowie? What Gazza did, bless him, was hardly groundbreaking
Some great tunes and memories but as a lifelong Bowie fan it has to be TOTP most iconic moment long live the music 😢
That codpiece scarred me for life.
I squealed when you mentioned Sparks - reminds me of studying for my GCSE's 20 years ago
I live in the United States and I just love watching this show! All of the greatest rock stars, esp Queen! Huge fan!!
Solid choices, and you got number one right for sure.
Two TOTP performances that stood out for me were Jimmie The Hoover doing Tantalise in the summer of 1983. Some rather suggestive snake hips dance movements from the lead singer. Another is Lieutenant Pigeon's Mouldy Old Dough from 1972. It wasn't so much Pigeon themselves but more the way some of the members of the audience were dancing.
Also with Lt.Pigeon,his old mum on piano ! 😂
Oh yes and that too.
The Smiths with 'William It Was Really Nothing'. Morrissey took over the TOTP studio.
Wrong about Gladys midnight train it was sung live but what made it great was the bbc live band played a slightly faster tempo and she had a funky ball! Great performance you can see her laughing with her brother one of the pips during it.
you forgot Wizzard
Greatest performances is all the people on the show not knowing what a shit Jimmy Saville was
You missed the best. Radioheads last "Top og the Pops" appearance, with Thom Yorke singing:
"Look into my eyes
I'm not coming back".
I would have to add John Otway’s Bunsen Burner (never seen anyone so grateful to be there) and the KLF’s it’s grim up north. Really both super performances, recommended to make you smile. Crowded house played after the KLF and opened their song with the lyrics it’s grim down south as well. Good days.
You need to add vanilla ice live with ice ice baby. Absolutely mesmerised by his performance. Sang and danced live without losing a breath
Why did the BBC cancel this fabulous show?
Not woke enough !
Mud weren't glam rockers. That Hawkwind performance was just used on TotP it wasn't recorded at the studio. Can you really call most of these performances when so many were mimed?
I wish we had access to TOTP in states! So much better than tight-arse Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and shudders Solid Gold. Thank the gods for Soul Train.
Fantastic choices…and not all obvious ones ie Running Free…brilliant.
Arthur Brown - fire, and Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger - this wheels on fire are the two greatest. Hawkwind third. Black Sabbath - Never say die 4th, Ozzy in one of his greatest performances.
I wish that they would give the dates for all of these. It would add more perspective.
Great choices... especially remember Gary Newman/Tubeway Army, it was music and a performance from a different planet.
But no place for The Wombles!!
Hey, how about Massive Attack's 'Unfished Sympathy' with orchestra?