Top 10 Iconic Top of the Pops Performances
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- Some of the biggest names of all time appeared on this BBC classic. For this list, WatchMojoUK counts down the Top 10 Iconic Top of the Pops Performances. What TOTP song is closest to your heart? Let us know the story in the comments below!
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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!
#TOTP #TopofthePops #TheBeatles #DavidBowie #Starman - บันเทิง
Time for BEST of the WORST
Top 10 Worst Top of the Pops Lip Syncs
th-cam.com/video/jTgADqza914/w-d-xo.html
You had one of the worst in this one here: Chirpy Chirp Chirp, hard to think nothing but utter schlock was going to come afterward but you did redeem yourselves, from Queen on it was great and of course you ended with the greatest band of all time: The Beatles.
Ha there wernt any if u remember it u wernt there peace
@@G8GT364CI I loved this version back in the day but check out the original by Lally Stott singing it while walking through the streets of Amsterdam.
In terms of which song on TOTP do I actually remember thinking "woah, what is this, I love it". I remember a ten-year-old me at my aunt's when Gary Numan performed Cars. It was like nothing I'd heard before. I still remember being that mesmerised kid.
I loved Gary Numan "Are friends electric".
I agree with you :), I was the same age.. The other song that blew me away was Ashes to Ashes in 1980..
Yes! Mine were ‘we don’t need no education” by Pink Floyd, and “Ashes to Ashes” by Bowie. Both videos absolutely terrified me but I loved the songs, so I had to sit facing the other way from the tv!
Yeah, I think Are friends electric came out first was mesmerised by that and Cars, was 11 at the time, also remember the Police performing Roxanne and thinking “This band are going to be big” 😁
For me it has to be Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' in '78. I was 9 and part of me found her ridiculous and part of me was mesmerised. Adults and kids alike talked about it the next day. Her voice was screechy and beautiful at the same time. The 'screechy' part has left my ears now and she just sounds beautiful to me. Her voice is a much loved old friend and quite comforting
One great Album “The Kick Inside” and “Man with the child in his Eyes” still gives me goosebumps
A new girl started part way through the term at intermediate school. On her first morning she danced on stage to withering heights. Oh my what a splash. She later became a model. On time we wife and I were in a bathroom shop and there was a shower brochure with her naked from behind on it looking over her shoulder at the camera. Oh wow that’s Tracey I told the wife. She wasn’t happy.
@@mritzs5142 Been a fan for more than 40 years. It must be a phase…
She sung live vocals too.
Why don’t you let us hear what they are singing without talking all over it
Exactly, it is so annoying
Exactly!!!
Because most of the performances are woefully bad.
Just ridiculous and a waste of time
Fucking annoying all I wanna do is listen to the music not his voice
As an American who grew up in the 80s, discovering Top of The Pops has been like finding a time loop into 80s music from a distinctive British perspective. We had a steady diet of MTV in the States during the 80s which introduced us to brilliant British pop music..Great Stuff..
Top of the pops only showed popular dross,it avoided more controversial hits
@@CashelOConnolly Yeah, well, you run out of (Peter Cook's) Revolver episodes pretty effin' fast, so what are you gonna do?
Thanks ,My Friend. Lovely comment and Good Luck from London:)
Yep, I agree. Love watching old TOTP episodes. The early 80s and MTV were essentially a second British Invasion: Culture Club, Bananarama, Human League, Tears For Fears, Wham, Spandau Ballet, etc. Loved it all!
@@keithespinoza2064that was at their peak
Sparks doing "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us" in 1974. A charismatic singer looking like a cross between Jim Morrisson, Marc Bolan and Johnny Rotten and the keyboard player with his hair slicked back with Brylcreem and a Charlie Chaplin moustache scowling without moving a muscle except for his fingers. Iconic!
I remember that so well. We just sat there mesmerised.
BLEW MY MIND WHEN I FIRST SAW IT
I was just about to mention this one...IMHO Ron Mael's deadpan performance on keyboards contrasting with brother Russel's quintessential 70s "glam rock" turn as frontman stands out as possibly the greatest moment I ever witnessed on TOTP...
Ha iz up town top rankin
Bowie looks like he knows he is a very naughty boy on his Starman TOTP performance.
Dexys Midnight Runners and "Jackie Wilson says" was pretty amusing viewing.
Oh yes!
Rod Stewart performing Maggie May on TOTP. They were really have fun😂
with that louse John Peel
You know, I was gonna post the same, with John Peel on mandolin ... and on the football
I hadn’t realised how much of a resemblance there was between Sally Carr and Agnetha Fältskog.
My first and second blonde crushes!
Thank you very much for this video. My ToTP performance has to be The Specials performing "Ghost Town", which went to no.1 in 1981.
Great now you've gone and made us listen to it again! 😄
The Smiths - This Charming Man. I remember seeing this performance and thinking wtf.
I'm blown away by these great legends because I actually took all this talent for granted! Gosh we were so privileged. (hope the spelling is ok) to be there. ❤
Absolutely we were and your spelling is fine.
Exactly- the music gods walked the earth back then.
Blockbuster by Sweet was iconic!
We were all singing that on the school bus the following day.
Adam Ant's Goodie Two Shoes. He totally owned that stage.
The greatest for me would be T.Rex - Get It On. Brilliant and very talented guy was Marc Bolan. Died too young.
Ditto.Bolan was an absolute class act who never really got the credit he deserved
Love T. Rex!
It’s where Slash from GNR got his look.
I watched another top 10 Top of the pops performances a while ago. This one is better, but still can't believe T Rex's Get it On with Elton John on the piano isn't here!
I agree 100 percent!
I remember seeing Blondies first appearance with Debbie Harry jiggling about in a bikini and a blazer when i was about 13. Thinking my father wouldn't approve I offered to get up and change the channel. "Leave it on if you like" he said with a bit of a wry smile. A definite "moment" in our relationship....
As a teenager, my father used to criticise the music I liked until I caught him watching The Old Grey Whistle Test.
I'm not far off 60 and still in love with debbie harry.
That woman blew the minds of my entire generation.
@@nhhdjdhdj6496She's up there in age but still a beautiful woman and amazing performer :)
Haha lovely story :)
Killer Queen performed by Queen, was actually a late replacement, when the originally booked band, pulled out. I'd say serves that band right, their thunder was totally stolen. The clip itself was originally wiped, but found in the video recording collection of a late famous comedian, who was actually recording the next show on, but got the last 10 minutes of TOTP, with this iconic performance. I'm sure those of us who had video recorders years back remember setting them to go off early, recording part of the previous program, so we could get what we really wanted. It's an amazing and serendipitous save for musical posterity of one of the UK's all time great bands. 🎶❤️
The band originally booked was David Bowie, thanks to him canceling his presentation, Queen began their career.
@@OnlyGoodMusic_ They ended up doing a separate vocals recording years later for Under Pressure.
Well the Sex Pistols only did their BillGrundy interview cos Queen pulled out, so what goes around etc
Along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, the list is endless.
We can thank Bob Monkhouse for the recording. When he died the full extent of his recording collection was revealed. He owned one of the first VCR's in Britain & recorded thousands of hours of TV content from the era.
Roxy Music "Virginia Plain"
Bowie's performance was a revelation, like Boy George's first performance....no one like either of them, totally unique. All us kids and teens, etc were like wow and although I didn't see Boy George until I was in my twenties, I know both performances bemused my late father.
and Ian Dury - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (TOTP 1979)
My younger brother loved Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep as a kid. If we had a record player in the house at the time, we would have had no peace. 😁
I was expecting to see Roxy Music "Virginia Plain" Top Of The Pops - 24th August 1972 at Nr.1 but i enjoyed the ones you showed anyhow.
Agree, just for the line ' throw me a line I'm sinking fast' classic.
Superb collection of the time, space & energies that happened at the time..Much love'n'light you beautiful souls...❤️❤️❤️
You should do a list of the best Madness performances in a best of order. 🎶❤️
and Bad Manners - Lip Up Fatty, for instance
Ah, my childhood!
SLADE were the kings of TOPS and WHERE ARE THEY ?
Slade were anarchic, completely unconventional, styled themselves unlike any one else before, at the time or since
I’m addicted to Top of the Pops because I favored British bands in the 80’s. It’s just great performances.
Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades'. As a teen headbanger late '70's/early '80's I couldn't believe my eyes when on the TV, much to the annoyance of Parents, was Lemmy (RIP) belting the track on TOTP of all places.
The Orb playing trippy chess to Little Fluffy Clouds was a particular highlight of mine
Top 4 is awesome. Kate Bush, Elton John, David Bowie and the Beatles. Best of British right there. Feeling proud! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Most iconic for me was one Xmas special with the lead singer ignoring the song completely, eating an orange and chatting to the crowd!
haha
@@WatchMojoUK But what about Neil the hippie knocking over a giant flower prop and realizing in horror that "These flowers are made of paper! How many trees had to die to make these flowers?!?"
The Stranglers were the first ones to do it with No more heroes in 77, they got bored and started mucking about and then destroyed the crummy stage. 😂
So good miss pop of the pops 🔥
I was hoping for Fox on the Run but these were all great picks
Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is quite splendid...
I like the unagitated and relaxed PSB intro on the subject of "iconic performances". That's the British humor I just love, as well as the self-deprecating PSB. Great😅👌
1. Queen, 2. Kate Bush, 3. Elton John
1. The Beatles. Because the footage is gone forever and because of the obvious. 😁
Good selection.
Wow!! Bowie! Queen! Elton! Kate! What an iconic mix!! Pity about the lost Beatles tape, but at least we have the original music video 🌟🌟🌟
For me, it's I Need Love by LL Cool J.
It's a long, long way from being a 'classic' in the Hip-Hop world, but I remember being amazed at how he was _saying_ the words instead of singing them and how he made them rhyme. I was absolutely fascinated by it.
A depressing number of years later and I'm still deejaying and MCing and have a fairly large vinyl collection that I still use.
Ozzie was a great songwriter, sang this with a band I was in Houston Tx who were 1/2 originals half cover. Over The Mountain...another one I loved singing
The Hare Krishna Mantra by the Radha Krishna Temple with George Harrison joining in since he produced them as one of his Apple Artists. I think he also appeared on another tune called Govinda Jaya Jaya. I contacted BBC to find out if they still had the original footage, and they thought they had taped over it. It would be great to know if someone had their own copy todady! Would love to see it
No T Rex?? Are you kidding?
I know, Bowie always gets the credit.😡
I agree! Where’s Ride a White Swan?
20Th Century Boy ?? Metal Guru???
TOTP is why I appreciate the live performances on Saturday Night Live (and Fridays back when)
George Michael and Bonnie Tyler. I'm an 80's kid. Never seen either of these performances. Thanks for the great stuff!
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - the most infectious, happy-go-lucky, bubblegum pop song about child abandonment YOU'LL hear today...
No one listened to the music. They were all looking at Sally's legs !
I grew up listening to this cover and loved it but recently came across Lally Stott's original and it has really grown on me.
Madonna doing Holiday very early in her career.
School's Out was a terrible omission from this list.
One of the most iconic for me w@s Culture Club Do you really want to hurt me because Boy George was so exotic nobody was sure whether he was a fella or a girlie.
Absolutely love this song Chirp 😂❤
I would have put ( love grows ) by edison lighthouse in there, loved that one.
As a lifelong Sabbath fan? What a giggle watching people attempting to dance to Paranoid.
I love the pads taped to Roger Taylor’s Tom Tom’s on the queen clip.
Heaven 17, with Carol Kenyon, Temptation. TOTP.
For me Rod Stewart and the Faces doing Maggie May springs to mind, while making a mockery of the BBC insistence that the
Bonnie Tyler is my guilty pleasure
Kate Bush is my lifelong crush
I’m in the same queue !!
Bonnie Tyler's "big hair" is totally hilarious after forty years.
I was only 12 at the time but distinctly remember baby come back by the equals in 68.
With a young Eddie Grant as the frontman on Vocals.
@@GeeCeeWU The frontman on vocals was Derv Gordon. Eddie Grant was playing guitar and doing backup vocals.
@ 1:36 some of us do....and can you believe we know how to (in 2024) use a PC too! lol
The Prince by Madness
Would have been nice if, and I admit it's infrequent, people wanted to enjoy more than 5 seconds of one of the tracks without the crashing voiceovers.
Top 10 while i talk shite all the way through them 😂😂😂
The video showed, but didn't comment on, Bowie putting his arm around Mick Ronson's shoulder. Nowadays you wouldn't even notice but back then it was jaw-dropping.
I don't get the hype over that, like a man hadn't casually draped an arm over another mans shoulder before, it just smacks of a degeneracy agenda claiming mythical milestones
why would that be jaw dropping
I think these days most people wouldn’t read anything into it other then a friendly gesture between two good friends but then I suppose it was a bold statement of Bowie’s sexuality
@@seanclark6438 Exactly. I think that I did the same thing performing with one of my bands (none real went anywhere) and I never thought anyone would see it otherwise !
It was bloody well mimed in the old days. Check out Paul Heaton singing.😂
the singing was mostly live with a backing track for instruments
@@miguelurdaci7884mostly? on the whole, no, most artists lip synced, these here on this list only Kate, Bowie, Kurt have live vocal.
Total Eclipse of the Heart takes me back to 1983.
Curt Cobain sounds like Mike Flowers
I believe the most poignant TOTP performance of my life came in December 1996 and the memorial version of Knocking on Heaven’s Door, it was no. 1 until the Christmas week
Sarah Harding’s dad was actually on TOTP himself. Was in a 70’s band called Sunfighter, signed to EMI records. Many years later his late daughter followed his footsteps with Girls Aloud. 🌟🎵✨🩷🤍
This town ain't big enough for the two of us
Queen should of been much much higher, British music royalty, deserve better 😊😊😊
No Rolling Stones?
Who?
No, Rolling Stones.
Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" in 1987. In an age of lip-synch, Whitney does a live vocal and knocks everyone in the studio off their feet. Amazing talent.
Killer Queen always number 7.
Top 10 Queen Songs
Top 20 Queen Songs
And now, Top 10 Iconic TOTP performances
Re: Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. How did they kidnap the blonde lass from ABBA and why did they force her to inhale helium?
Queens good old fashioned lover boy on TOTP was semi live rare for TOTP.
So many great songs/perfornances. Sadly most talked over.
Steeleye span all around my hat was a belter
Could you imagine some family in Bath sitting down for some family entertainment only to hear black sabbath
Gary Numan's Are 'friens' electric- looked like he came from the far future- should have been here on the list
Honestly, the one that got my spine tingling and for me was the stand out - Kate Bush. Magical, and like all true art it gets even better with time.
I question "the acoustics of the studio" being the reason for miming. It was filmed in various studios across the years anyway! It's actually because it was technically too difficult to mix all the live instruments from multiple bands in one episode, or, in some cases, an actual band didn't exist (session backings or electronic). For some years, the Musician's Union insisted on bands re-recording everything for TOTP (although, they still had to mime to it!) Also, in 1983, New Order hated what the BBC did with their sound when they tried Blue Monday live, which put the BBC and artists off the idea for a good while. Eventually, producer Stanley Appel after an overhaul in late '91 insisted on all lead vocals being live, which lasted a few years.
I’m a bit surprised that Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep is up there with so many greats. It was a catchy song, but really??? Kate Bush will always be my favourite. She was mesmerising.
Wasn't the appearance of The Beatles singing Ticket to Ride in Doctor Who taken from a now lost episode of TOTP?
It was, it was shown in episode 1 of The Chase, the third Dalek story in 1965. The tapes of each episode (all 6 of them) survive as telerecordings as all master transmission tapes of episodes up to 1970 are lost. The context of the clip is that the Doctor and the companions at the time were watching certain events in history on a Time-Space Visualiser (a sort of time tv). In addition, the Beatles were supposed to record a cameo of themselves in the future as old men for the Visualiser but I believe their manager Epstein said no to the idea prior to filming.
You DO know that Careless Whisper was mimed, surely?
It pretty much all is.
Blondie Denis! That Red Dress with Debbie Harry! That is Iconic!
Ich hätte Starman von David Bowie auf Platz 1 gesetzt. Er war ein toller Sänger und sah toll aus. Die Beatles mag ich auch. Mir gefällt die Pilzkopffrisur nicht. Aber ihre Musik 🎶 war klasse.
mick ronson on guitar for bowie..amazballs...
Can't complain at the choices. Contenders T-rex, The Sweet Ballroom blitz, The Housemartins Happy Hour, Gary Newman Cars, Culture Club Karma Camelion...
Manics doing Faster, with James Dean Bradfield singing with a balaclava on. It garnered the most complaints ever on TOTP!
Odd isn’t it? James is such a sweetheart
Thanks very much. Keep on blabbing through everything and by all means never show one complete and uninterrupted clip.
Song of Temma Harbour - Mary Hopkin - Pan's People dancing.
jethro Tull Witch's promise.
Yes, love that - he looks mad 😁
Tull was perhaps the most underrated lyricist and tune maker of that Golden Age.
Ian Anderson was a bloody genius. His 'To young to die' is my go to song everytime.
Losing a Beatles short film: Tragedy.
i can't make up my mind who got the nicest hair - George Michael or Lady Di......
Brian Connolly from Sweet had some nice hair too
This is not as inconceivable as you might think, Chris. George and Lady Di were besties IRL, so they nay have had a shared celebrity hair stylist, like Vidal Sassoon, for example.
Always the Sun by The Stranglers .
5:57 my queen should be number one Kate Bush is the definition of perfection all these present-day female musicians wishes they could be like her
Is it my imagination or do most of the female singers today sound exactly the same?
@@GeeCeeWU no Kate Bush is one of a kind
@@chris26479 I meant todays era of music and I agree with you; Kate Bush is one of a kind.
You're absolutely right. The days of great pop music are over,@@GeeCeeWU
Sade was on a Level of her own too
there's a performance of No More Heroes by The Stranglers where they really took the piss
Nolan’s I’m in the mood for dancing
I loved the stranglers performance. They kinda destroyed the stage
From the selection, Kate Bush should've been #1 on that. But, that said, there's plenty others missed from this - a fantastic era that are also superb, and I suppose it would go on for hours trying to narrow it down.