Bands fucking about on live TV performances/miming

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Most of these will be TOTP performances but here's a few I remember

Nirvana playing Territorial Pissings on Jonathon Ross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N49kYRC_EhQ instead of Lithium

Oasis switching instruments for Roll With It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUTL2jSRIgE&t=32s&ab_channel=JavieraP%C3%A9rez

Nirvana on TOTP not even pretending to play their instruments during Teen Spirit and Kurt sings in a ghostly voice and changes the lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPtJtbRXi3I&ab_channel=SantiagoMar%C3%ADn

[Pauline Walnuts]

The Stranglers. No More Heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgzDQwWygAc

The Stranglers. No More Heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0VB_MmeK0

[Mr Gruts]

Belinda Carlisle / Zodiac Mindwarp & Love Reaction. Fucking about happening during guitar solo....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJOjLoOD6i0

[dr beat]

*Of course* The Quo on Totp, Marguerita Time with Jimmy Lea on bass.  Last 30 seconds, Rick Parfitt epic drum riser fail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtm2HOTNC6Y

Lovely bit of business which I haven't noticed before at 2:36 - Francis Rossi flicking a balloon with his axe.  And for once thats not a reference to having a polish.

[purlieu]

Say what you will about the song, but the food fight that starts halfway through Travis doing 'Sing' on Top of the Pops is a lot of fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbBLantVhTs&ab_channel=TellyArchive

The Orb's performance of Blue Room consisted of Alex and Thrash playing a sci-fi chess game on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Q3-cTOX7E&ab_channel=Thunder2Music
Sadly no sign of the Toxygene performance which had them in, as far as I recall, bumper cars.

[dr beat]

*Please* don't tell me that Trevor and Simon pretending to be the Pet Shop Boys doing I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing has gone from Youtube.  Say it ain't so!

[Dirty Boy]

I think i'll start a Forest Fire!

[Captain Z]

Zombie Nation on TOTP, playing a plastic leg and smashing shit up. Worth staying right until the presenter's link at the end.

https://youtu.be/rJjbue7DtOI

[Kankurette]

Elvis Costello and the Attractions doing Less Than Zero on American TV only to suddenly go 'lol jk we're doing Radio Radio instead'.

[Johnny Yesno]

The Pop Group definitely performing Where There's a Will live and not miming at all on Belgian TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpwcrOGRjC8

[Johnny Yesno]

And also Public Image Ltd's absolutely live performance on American Bandstand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZLhqTzjpUM

[Jockice]

I have had a go at The Wedding Present on another thread but for taking the piss on your TOTP debut it's got to be Gedge's crown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otZ8Bq7lXag

[DrGreggles]

Taking the piss on your TOTP debut, you say?
A win for Patton there, I reckons:
https://youtu.be/COWpnlvc7dU

[Huxleys Babkins]

I've always loved this one. Noddy's never really taken TOTP seriously, but at this point the Merry Christmas Everyone residuals are so good that none of Slade are bothering to try.

https://youtu.be/r7CEouf63k8

[purlieu]

Zombie Nation on TOTP, playing a plastic leg and smashing shit up. Worth staying right until the presenter's link at the end.

https://youtu.be/rJjbue7DtOI

I can't believe I forgot to post this! Utterly brilliant.

Talk Talk doing Life's What You Make It on a French programme is brilliant, making no attempt to mime to a song which is impossible to perform with their actual lineup. Paul Webb constantly trying to make Mark Hollis laugh is a joy to watch; Hollis's performance consists largely of him drinking a bottle of beer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-aEwVEfps&ab_channel=TABENON

[studpuppet]

Muse being made to lip-sync on Italian telly, so they all swapped instruments. Of course because they were Muse, no one fucking noticed.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xymez5

[studpuppet]

I've just reminded myself of possibly the best live 'fucking about' TV performance in the history of, well, fucking about on TV.

https://gawker.com/5981614/dennis-weve-been-crying-too-much-dr-hook-and-the-untold-story-of-the-best-rock-movie-ever-made

[lankyguy95]

I've always loved this one. Noddy's never really taken TOTP seriously, but at this point the Merry Christmas Everyone residuals are so good that none of Slade are bothering to try.

https://youtu.be/r7CEouf63k8

I prefer this chaotic one where the, I guess drunk, drummer goes mental in the second half.

https://youtu.be/cWgwTe01kMU

[pupshaw]

The Stranglers. No More Heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgzDQwWygAc

The Stranglers. No More Heroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0VB_MmeK0

Looks like both those were recorded in one session, so the studio might have been in on the joke. Wonder which one was recorded first.

[The Crumb]

Killing Joke on TOTP with Jaz Coleman either hiding under a hazard suit or (so the stories say) off in Iceland to hide from the apocalypse and replaced by a mystery person in a hazard suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoTNOb76LV4

[Mr Banlon]

Kix from Madness pretending to play a tiny toy saxophone.
The singer from The Bluebells shouting 'Techno ! Techno !Techno ! Techno !' in the middle of Young At Heart on TOTP

[Bently Sheds]

Evan Dando doing a top Morrissey impression during ToTP performance of Mrs Robinson.

https://youtu.be/S9WLKl8EhHo

[Glebe]

Nirvana on TOTP not even pretending to play their instruments during Teen Spirit and Kurt sings in a ghostly voice and changes the lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPtJtbRXi3I&ab_channel=SantiagoMar%C3%ADn

Think Kurt was doing a Morrissey pisstake.

[Dusty Substance]

Eddie Reader from Fairground Attraction pissed, miming and dicking about with an orange on Christmas TOTP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F4q6s9-wvg

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

And also Public Image Ltd's absolutely live performance on American Bandstand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZLhqTzjpUM

That's one of the great 'fucking about' TV performances. I actually find it quite moving when the kids get the gist of what's going on and gleefully follow Johnny onto the sound stage.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Belle & Sebastian's only appearance on TOTP. Insurrectionist rock and roll mayhem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWTDhqwM52I

[timebug]

Rod Stewart and the Faces, playing footie and generally arsing about as they pretended to mime to 'Maggie May'. One version of this even had John Peel pretending to be the mandolin player.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Orb's performance of Blue Room consisted of Alex and Thrash playing a sci-fi chess game on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Q3-cTOX7E&ab_channel=Thunder2Music

I'm surprised that's still up on YouTube a year later. About five years(?) ago, I uploaded it from the original TOTP performance rather than the TOTP2 one, complete with Bob Geldof's withering intro. It got me my one and only YouTube strike and warning.
Thrash had waded into the comments section and told me in no uncertain terms to, "Take this down, YOU FUCKING THIEF!!!, This is MY music!!!!"

Before I even had a chance, it was removed and I was banned for a bit until I watched the instructional videos on copyright regulations. That experience felt like I was getting a police caution for shoplifting some toffees in the midst of a department store getting turned over by hundreds of rioting looters.

[Icehaven]

I think Eels "played" toy instruments or something when they did Novocaine For The Soul on TOTP.

Edit: They did https://youtu.be/wDwO1hECw9M and smashed them to shit before the song ends. Even better it's Peter Andre introducing them.

[Brundle-Fly]

I was trying to remember a Fun Boy Three TOTP performance where the lead singer wasn't behaving, so had a Google. OO-ER, missus... etc



Talking of 2Tone. Madness got into hot water with The Beeb when at the end of their TOTP Sun And The Rain performance, Chas Smash started holding up lyric cue cards for the viewers that also on the back of them was a hello message to his brother, Brendan who was banged up in the nick at the time. Unfortunately, there was a prison breakout that night and the band were accused of giving the secret signal for the escape to go ahead. I can't imagine this TOTP episode will ever be shown fully on TV again, mainly because of Savile hosting, and Lee the sax player in full black makeup. He often used full body paint in many hues in performances, so I don't think he was 'blacking up' in the traditional sense here. You leave that to Barson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6gs7CYDAD4