Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Thread Three

[Norton Canes]

Bit of '91 TOTP related triv today - on Pointless, in the final round category 'Singles by electronic pop acts' (or somesuch), for OMD Sailing on the Seven Seas was pointless but its follow-up Pandora's Box scored one point

[Norton Canes]

Two out of the five episodes hosted by poor dead Steve Anderson are affected by the Rose-Woolf excrescence.

Are you HAPPY NOW?

Tony Dortie is good value on twitter, in case you haven't seen. Laying into Woolf quite obliquely (quote tweeting the popbitch* gossip). And he doesn't think much of Jo Wiley either.

>> Budgie smuggler <<
Adrian flies under the radar
 
Those watching vintage Top Of The Pops re-runs on BBC4 might have noticed that there's been a few missing episodes recently; those hosted by a little remembered DJ called Adrian Rose (aka Adrian Woolfe).

The Beeb attributes the missing episodes to vague 'legal rights issues', but as Adrian went on to become a big player behind the scenes on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, it seems he isn't keen to remind viewers of his youthful attempts in front of the camera. It's a shame, because it'll also mean missing out on early performances by the Manics, Primal Scream, Shakespears Sister, The Shamen and that legendary performance from Nirvana where Kurt croaked his way through Smells Like Teen Spirit an octave lower than normal.

Still, with all the headlines about climate catastrophe and profligate spending at the minute, maybe it's smart of Adrian to keep a low profile. During his time at Celador, his nickname was "Budgie" – on account of his habit of always taking helicopters everywhere, even when a train or taxi would be easier.

Wait... somebody actually wrote to Popbitch about that? Honestly. What kind of sad TOTP repeats obsessive with too much time on their hands actually writes an email to Popbitch about Adrian Rose?

[dissolute ocelot]

Bit of '91 TOTP related triv today - on Pointess, in the final round category 'Singles by electronic pop acts' (or somesuch), for OMD Sailing on the Seven Seas was pointless but its follow-up Pandpra's Box scored one point

Was surprised to find out recently that OMD's biggest UK hits (both reaching #3) were

Spoiler alert

Souvenir and Sailing on the Seven Seas

[close]

[matjam13]

From Digital Spy:

These songs only appear on Adrian Rose episodes:
The Pogues Feat. Kirsty Maccoll - Fairytale Of New York*
Shaft - Roobarb And Custard
Hammer - Addams Groove
Cliff Richard - This New Year
Danni Minogue - I Don't Wanna Take This Pain
Des'ree - Feel So High
The Wedding Present - Blue Eyes
Paula Abdul - Vibeology
Civilles & Cole - Pride (In The Name Of Love)
The Beautiful South - Old Red Eyes Are Back
Queen - The Days Of Our Lives
Primal Scream - Movin' On Up
Inspiral Carpets - Dragging Me Down
Alison Limerick - Make It On My Own
Everything But The Girl - Love Is Strange
D.J. Seduction - Hardcore Heaven/You And Me
Gary Moore - Cold Day In Hell
Tears For Fears - Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)
New Atlantic - I Know
Liquid - Sweet Harmony
Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch
Lisa Stansfield - Time To Make You Mine
Swing Out Sister - Am I The Right Girl
Ten Sharp - You
ZZ Top - Viva Las Vegas
ZZ Top - Gimmie All Your Lovin**
Brand New Heavies - Never Stop
The Wedding Present - Silver Shorts
Mariah Carey - Make It Happen
L7 - Pretend We're Dead
2 Unlimited - Workaholic
Kim Wilde - Love Is Holy
Morrissey - We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
The Levellers - 15 Years
Kingmaker - Eat Yourself Whole
Marillion - Sympathy
Wilson Phillips - You Won't See Me Cry
Incognito - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
The Wedding Present - California
George Michael - Too Funky
Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness
Oceanic - Controlling Me
Tina Turner - I Want You Near Me
Cyndi Lauper - The World Is Stone
Erasure - Voulez-Vous
Tori Amos - Crucify
Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction
Messiah - Temple Of Dreams
Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night
Dina Carroll - Ain't No Man
Joe Cocker - Unchain My Heart
Urban Hype - A Trip To Trumpton
Sinitta - Shame Shame Shame
Bryan Adams - All I Want Is You
George Benson & Patti Austin - I'll Keep Your Dreams Alive
EMF - They're Here
Manic Street Preachers - Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)
Inspiral Carpets - Generations
Happy Mondays - Stinkin' Thinkin'
The Wedding Present - Loveslave
Daniel O'Donnell - I Just Want To Dance With You
Soul II Soul - Just Right



* Appeared on BBC Four in 2019 during the 1987 repeats
** Appeared on BBC Four in 2017 during the 1984 repeats

[Norton Canes]

That list includes a lot of videos though (and some of those videos are from the Breakers)

[Norton Canes]

Cross-referencing that list with this one, I make these the Roseblocked studio performances:


Shaft - Roobarb And Custard (2nd studio performance)
Cliff Richard - This New Year
Des'ree - Feel So High
The Wedding Present - Blue Eyes
The Beautiful South - Old Red Eyes Is Back
Inspiral Carpets - Dragging Me Down
Alison Limerick - Make It On My Own
Everything But The Girl - Love Is Strange
New Atlantic - I Know
Liquid - Sweet Harmony
Lisa Stansfield - Time To Make You Mine
Swing Out Sister - Am I The Same Girl
Ten Sharp - You
Brand New Heavies - Never Stop
2 Unlimited - Workaholic
Kim Wilde - Love Is Holy
Morrissey - We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
The Levellers - 15 Years (via satellite)
Incognito - Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
The Wedding Present - California
Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness
Cyndi Lauper - The World Is Stone
Tori Amos - Crucify
Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction
Dina Carroll - Ain't No Man
Joe Cocker - Unchain My Heart
Urban Hype - A Trip To Trumpton
Bryan Adams - All I Want Is You
George Benson & Patti Austin - I'll Keep Your Dreams Alive
EMF - They're Here
Manic Street Preachers - Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)
Inspiral Carpets - Generations
Happy Mondays - Stinkin' Thinkin'
Daniel O'Donnell - I Just Want To Dance With You
Soul II Soul - Just Right

[daf]

Also the live performance of Ebeneezer Goode featuring a completely different mix to the one used on the video.

[Norton Canes]

The Jolly Roger mix, I think. Love it!

[daf]

Yaaah Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Nice one!

[A Hat Like That]

The 1978 Christmas Special has a bizarre choice of staging.

[A Hat Like That]

It's because of strikes, isn't it?

[matjam13]

Christmas Day 1998 on tonight.

[matjam13]

Enjoyed the Christmas Day 1998 edition. Half of it because of the music and the other half because of Jayne and Kate.

[A Hat Like That]

Enjoyed the Christmas Day 1998 edition. Half of it because of the music and the other half because of Jayne and Kate.

Yes.

Also, I think I know one of the girls in the crowd behind The Tamperer ft Maya, about two to the right from the long blue oriental dress. Bit of a blast from the past that.

[kaprisky]

I watched a little bit of B*Witched doing that song with the fiddle then decided to switch over to Christmas University Challenge.

I did get around to watching Oliver Stone's The Doors on Sky Arts the other night. They couldn't wait to launch into Break on Through and Light My Fire, the latter of which we were denied on the BBC Four repeats. The best bits of the film were the concert scenes and the bit where Jim/Val walks through the audience while doing one of the songs. Kind of reminded me of Holly Johnson doing his walkabout on one of Frankie's TOTP performances.

Oh, and the bit where Jim sees a light entertainment version of Light My Fire on a TV in the dressing room.

[matjam13]

300k people watched the repeat of Christmas Day 1998 on BBC Four yesterday.

[Satchmo Distel]

How many people have been watching the 1991 episodes?

[Pauline Walnuts]

OK I give up, what blackmail material do Clean Bandit have on the producer of Top of the Pops?

[Chicory]

OK I give up, what blackmail material do Clean Bandit have on the producer of Top of the Pops?

The same type that Pink has on Heart FM.

[daf]

2 January 1992: Presenters: Steve Anderson & Adrian ROse

(05) | RIGHT SAID FRED feat. JOCELYN BROWN – Don't Talk Just Kiss
(36) | THE POGUES & KIRSTY MacCOLL – A Fairytale Of New York
(09) | SHAFT – Roobard And Custard



(08) | HAMMER – Addams Groove (video)
NEW | CLIFF RICHARD – This New Year
- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(40) | DANNII MINOGUE – I Don't Wanna Take This Pain (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(20) | WET WET WET – Goodnight Girl
(01) | QUEEN – Bohemian Rhapsody (video)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/13119a6d1598ba91fceb7228cc47d2d520220102141246/c2152c

[Norton Canes]

Nice! Was hoping to catch up with this one tonight but probably going to be tomorrow.

[Norton Canes]

Meanwhile, here's a double page spread from Ian Gittins' 2007 potted history of TOTP, 'Top of the Pops: Mishaps, Miming and Music - True Adventures of TV's No.1 Pop Show' (snappy title, Ian!). It's a 'lavishly illustrated' potted history of the show focusing mainly on the many bands that have passed through the hallowed studios by means of hundreds of hilarious (and mostly well-worn) anecdotes but this short section is devoted to the 'difficult' late 80's/early 90's.

As you can see, the author conflates the Year Zero stuff with the earlier arrival of other youth TV presenters and also bizarrely adds Beertje 'half a dozen shows in 1996' van Beers to the YZ roster but it's worth it for the publicity shot of our Adrian (that look. He knows) and Mike Read's petulant barb. [Edit: Which on closer inspection appears to be inaccurate - seems it happened on The Roxy]

[non capisco]

Cheers for your sterling service as always, daf.

I see asking that terrible live vocalist on Roobarb and Custard to sing the hook an octave lower didn't exactly fix the problem.

Don't know why this bit in the Hammer/Addams Family song amused me so much,
"I remember the day I needed to borrow a little bit of pepper"
(Explanatory backing vocal) "For my chicken."

[bigfatheart]

Fairly standard first episode of a new year stuff - post-Christmas slump, nobody halfway decent's putting anything new out and so you mostly end up with novelty chancers and Cliff.

The lack of chemistry between old Knobchops Fairbrass and Jocelyn Brown was palpable, wasn't it? Not sure it was a good idea duetting with an old school, belt-'em'-out vocal powerhouse-type singer, either - leaves his vocal limitations more than a tad exposed.

Besides his need to clarify his pepper usage, I like how MC Hammer really gets to the core appeal of the Addams Family: their unwavering commitment to personal freedom. "They do what they wanna do, say what they wanna say, live how they wanna live, play how they wanna play, dance how they wanna dance, kick and they slap a friend" - it's Blake's "I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's" for the 90s!

I was 5 when Wet Wet Wet did Love Is All Around, which had the rather handy effect of blotting everything they did before or after from the cultural landscape, so I'm sure I'd never heard Goodnight Girl before, despite knowing it eventually gets to number 1. I'm not entirely convinced I'll remember it even when I've seen it for four episodes on the bounce, absolute wet fart of nothingness. But I suppose that's the post-Christmas slump again - lob out any old tat, and if you're a big enough name you've got a chance of a number one (or these days, being the highest placed non-Ed Sheeran or Adele artist, so about #33).

[The Culture Bunker]

I was 5 when Wet Wet Wet did Love Is All Around, which had the rather handy effect of blotting everything they did before or after from the cultural landscape, so I'm sure I'd never heard Goodnight Girl before, despite knowing it eventually gets to number 1. I'm not entirely convinced I'll remember it even when I've seen it for four episodes on the bounce, absolute wet fart of nothingness. But I suppose that's the post-Christmas slump again - lob out any old tat, and if you're a big enough name you've got a chance of a number one (or these days, being the highest placed non-Ed Sheeran or Adele artist, so about #33).

Wet Wet Wet's career wasn't looking too strong before this - last four singles hadn't made the top 20, and this was the third one put out from their third album (the second of which hadn't even gone top 40). I have a slight memory - and I stand to be corrected - of 'Goodnight Girl' being featured on a festive episode of Coronation Street, providing a much-needed boost. That compilation album that came out the following year seemed to be everywhere - I would have been 13 and it was one of those CDs everyone my age's parents seemed to have.

[matjam13]

From Digital Spy:

TOTP Ratings:
7 Days:
20th - 26th December:
Christmas Hits: 586,978 - 2nd highest rating show on BBC Four
Christmas Day 1986: 552,615 - 3rd highest rating show on BBC Four
Christmas Day 1978: 323,657 - 12th highest rating show on BBC Four
Christmas Day 1998: 315,887 - 13th highest rating show on BBC Four
Christmas Day 2002: 309,832 - 15th highest rating show on BBC Four

28 Days:
22nd - 28th November:
Christmas Day 1991: 434,494 - 4th highest rating show on BBC Four
29th November - 5th December:
Christmas Day 1984: 501,762 - 7th highest rating show on BBC Four

[non capisco]

The lack of chemistry between old Knobchops Fairbrass and Jocelyn Brown was palpable, wasn't it? Not sure it was a good idea duetting with an old school, belt-'em'-out vocal powerhouse-type singer, either - leaves his vocal limitations more than a tad exposed.

Yeah, when she's just repeating "Well, baby" to that gyrating bellsprout she must have been thinking "What am I doing here lower in the mix than this tone deaf slaphead?" She was phoning it in less when she recorded a song for Hull Trains (as revealed on the latest Back To Now podcast).

[DrGreggles]

Ian Gittins' 2007 potted history of TOTP, 'Top of the Pops: Mishaps, Miming and Music - True Adventures of TV's No.1 Pop Show'

Fun book that

[Norton Canes]

2 January 1992: Presenters: Steve Anderson & Adrian ROse

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/13119a6d1598ba91fceb7228cc47d2d520220102141246/c2152c

Sorry daf, there's something wrong with that file. Someone's messed about with it and put an Instagram type filter over Adrian Rose's face so his eyes have gone all bulgy and his lips look like a pair of deflated sausage balloons.


What?


Oh. I see.


Anyway

(05) | RIGHT SAID FRED feat. JOCELYN BROWN – Don't Talk Just Kiss

when she's just repeating "Well, baby" to that gyrating bellsprout she must have been thinking "What am I doing here lower in the mix than this tone deaf slaphead?"

Pure deso, innit. Worse mismatch of vocal talents in any duet ever?  (Yeah, I know, 'duet' is an overstatement)

Jesus. I've literally watched this five times through on the bounce and I can't think of anything to say. Can only assume the Richard one does something lewd while asking "Gimme little kiss!", because the camera cuts away. Honestly, the best thing about this is when our Adrian introduces it and his voice breaks on the word "kiss". Very telling.

(36) | THE POGUES & KIRSTY MacCOLL – A Fairytale Of New York

Got stung by this one in the pub quiz the other night. "What odds did the horse come in at?". Yeah. Yeah, I know. And if I'd watched this beforehand I wouldn't have had a problem beacause for all Shane's ambiguous diction, here it's clearly "eighteen to one". Ah well. Despite the adjusted epithets it's great to hear this sung live and the set's pretty great. They could actually have dressed S&K up as vagrants and have them perform this as a musical number.

By which I mean, a number in a musical. It's clearly already a musical number.

(09) | SHAFT – Roobard And Custard

And if that was existential theatre then we're suddenly in the realm of the absurd, complete with possibly the worst video effect the show has ever used. Thought at first the note said "WE WANT TOE CURLING". Well we certainly got that, Rich mate. I think there's actually something quite... haunting about the female vocal here. 

Bless Adrian. He loves Roobarb and Custard. I feel like every episode is giving us a deeper insight into his troubled psyche.

(08) | HAMMER – Addams Groove (video)

Oof. I see the label have paid for the premium 'extended video showing' option here. It's not quite a full 'Black and White' playthrough over again but between this and Bohemian Rhapsody we're not getting much breathing space.

NEW | CLIFF RICHARD – This New Year

Just struck me, Is there a definitive moment when C. Richard started this slo-mo body popping shit? It's like, one moment he wasn't doing it, then suddenly that's all he did. Can we pin down the instant he decided it was the future?

- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(40) | DANNII MINOGUE – I Don't Wanna Take This Pain (video)

A unique example of a singular Breaker? If so one for quizzers to remember. Can see that question cropping up. Keep it real, Dannii.

(20) | WET WET WET – Goodnight Girl

Can anyone seriously say that if you strode into a reputable tailors with a fat wad of cash in 1992 they'd run you up a jacket that looked like a butcher's awning? Seriously?

Look I'm a be honest with you all, I'm sat here with the last of the Christmas shiraz and a stilton crust cracker and I'm really grooving on this mellow shit. Back to work tomorrow, having finally drained the last of the festive dregs.

Something distinctly messianic about Marty in front of that laser fan.

(01) | QUEEN – Bohemian Rhapsody (video)

Can I just say, right - I don't think the Bohemian Rhapsody video is all it's cracked up to be. Okay yes the four of them together, iconic moment, the blue trails, I get that. It works. But there ain't that much of it and the rest is just them on stage. Nice idea lads but really should have worked on it a bit more.

Oh, and has anyone got a link to the Blue Jam 'compressed' version of this? Can't find it on YouTube.


So. Proper TWO POPS FRIDAY coming up. BRING IT ON BBC FOUR.

P.S. What's the deal with Steve Anderson's tie?

[Catalogue Trousers]

Just struck me, Is there a definitive moment when C. Richard started this slo-mo body popping shit? It's like, one moment he wasn't doing it, then suddenly that's all he did. Can we pin down the instant he decided it was the future?

Not sure if it helps, but when he appeared with The Young Ones live on stage for that year's Comic Relief in 1986, he came on stage moonwalking. Perhaps the earliest manifestation of his 'hello there, fellow kids' approach to dancing.