Chart Music Podcast 2 (Man Sound) - ITS PIPOU TIME!

[DenzilHolles]

And it almost goes without saying but I do love hearing coatdowns of acts I really enjoy, as they're all such entertaining , intelligent and massively interesting people.

[Johnboy]

They love Top of the Pops don't they, that's what's so compelling about the podcast.

At the heart of it is the sacred space that is the Top of the Pops performance itself and they discuss and decide whether an artist deserves it or not.

[Das Reboot]

Indeed, in one of the Q&A specials Al cited New Order's truly catshit live performance of Blue Monday on TOTP as the basis for his loathing.

[buzby]

Indeed, in one of the Q&A specials Al cited New Order's truly catshit live performance of Blue Monday on TOTP as the basis for his loathing.

Al has mentioned that in one of the early pre-Patreon episodes too, that he hates them for not 'respecting' TOTP by not following the show's rules for wanting to play live. The thing is, if you read any comments from the band, their 'playing live' stance wasn't borne of any 'elitist' attitude or snobbishness towards the show, they just really weren't comfortable with miming. You can see that in the recent repeats with Sumner's appearances with Electronic where he does mime, and he looks far more awkward than he ever did doing live vocals. Basically they played live because they felt less embarrased by standing there doing something than pretending to do something.

The Blue Monday performance was actually on a par with how they were performing it live at the time (bar Steve's unfortunate sample loading mixup in the Emulator) - see the April 83 Kilkenny gig or the performance on C4's Switch as an example.. Their gear was just a bit too primitive and unreliable to pull off a decent recreation of the studio track at that point (and wouldn't be until the end of the 80s when they started sampling off the multitracks into a bank of Akai S900s). The biggest issue really was the sound mix, which is mostly due to the TOTP sound crew not being used to mixing live performances.

[DrGreggles]

It sounded bloody awful, whatever the reason.

[gilbertharding]

I prefer it to the normal version. It's the 'AAAAAH!' bit instead of whatever noise it's supposed to be that makes it for me.

[jamiefairlie]

It was bloody brilliant. I don't rate BM much as a song but what they did was very Factory, more punk than The Clash refusing to appear. This is part of what made them special.

[gilbertharding]

Bored at work, so I've put on Simon Price's 'Melody Maker 1986-1997' spotify playlist (I think he mentioned it on the podcast)... and in spite of having been an Indie Kid (ugh) of approximately the right vintage, only about 15% of it is provoking any memory at all. And probably only half of that small fraction is records I actually owned... it's very odd.

[justin_bennett]

Update from Al - sounds like they've had the covid.   A new year, though. 

Ayup, you Pop-Crazed Youngsters. Just a note to say the latest episode has been a BASTARD to put together (all three participants taking ill at some point, having to schedule and reschedule, and a chunk of it completely disappearing), but;

1. We're nearly there

2. It's a year we've never done before

3. It's the length that you've come to expect and thoroughly deserve

As always, thank you for your patience and support. Sit tight, listen keenly, watch the skies, and STAY POP-CRAZED.

- Al

[bigfatheart]

My guess for the year: 1992 or 1993, covering the apopsaclypse just before the BBC4 repeats get there.

[Egyptian Feast]

Update from Al - sounds like they've had the covid.   A new year, though. 

He said in the Patreon comments it wasn't spiteful armoured bollock related, thankfully.

I'm hoping it's 1972. I'm sure I saw a really good non-Savile episode from that year recently that would've been perfect. I would like to hear more 1990s and maybe some post 2000 episodes, despite their lack of enthusiasm for the era.

[Das Reboot]

I hope Sarah's involved with this one as we've not heard from her since Christmas.

[Chicory]

Yes, a Sarah one in either '92 or '93 would make perfect sense.

[non capisco]

Sarah and Taylor for some slightly spiky repartee, please.

[Dusty Substance]

Sarah and Taylor for some slightly spiky repartee, please.

They definitely fucked back in the day, right?

[Jockice]

They definitely fucked back in the day, right?

I went to school with a Sarah Taylor you know.

[RickyHamster]

They definitely fucked back in the day, right?

Not according to our records.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Always liked Lauren Laverne. You let that one slip through your hands Taylor, probably not one of your 20 romantic moments.

[blisterman]

I wish they'd do more 90s episodes. Both because I would actually remember the music. But also I find it interesting hearing about their careers at the time. The 2000 episode with the last days of Melody Maker was really interesting. Plus, I still want to know how Al became a stripper.

[Natnar]

Updated episode list by TOTP airdate

1969
March 6th 1969 Episode #43 TP NK

1970
February 5th 1970, Episode #10 NK TP

1971
April 29th 1971 Episode #38 SP TP

1973
June 22nd 1973 Episode #25 DS SP
October 11th 1973 Episode #57 SP NK
November 15th 1973, Episode #3 TP SP
December 25th 1973 Episode #17 DS TP

1974
April 11th 1974, Episode #9 SP DS

1975
March 20th 1975 Episode #51 DS TP
April 10th 1975 Episode #6 NK SP

1976
January 22nd 1976 Episode #29 DS SB
April 29th 1976 Episode #18 TP SP
August 26th 1976 Episode #41 DS TP
December 25th 1976 Episode #35 TP SP

1977
July 14th 1977 Episode #1 DS SB
October 6th 1977 Episode #23 NK TP
December 25th 1977 Episode #47 NK TP

1978
May 25th 1978 Episode #54 TP NK
November 16th 1978 Episode #13 NK TP

1979
February 1st 1979 Episode #20 TP SP
April 12th 1979 Episode #4 SP NK
August 2nd 1979 Episode #45 SP NK
October 11th 1979 Episode #36 DS TP

1980
January 24th 1980 Episode #48 SP TP
August 14th 1980 Episode #5 TP DS
September 4th 1980 Episode #15 SP DS
October 23rd 1980 Episode #58 DS TP
December 18th 1980 Episode #34 SP NK

1981
May 21st 1981 Episode #39 TP NK
August 27th 1981 Episode #43 NK SP
September 24th 1981 Episode #8 TP SP

1982
January 7th 1982 Episode #49 SB NK
January 14th 1982 Episode #11 TP SP
May 6th 1982 Episode #27 SP TP
October 28th 1982 Episode #32 NK TP
December 12th 1982 Episode #55 NK DS

1983
April 7th 1983 Episode #60 SP NK
August 11th 1983 Episode #31 SP TP
December 22nd 1983 Episode #16 NK SP
December 25th 1983 Episode #56 NK SB SP DS TP

1984
February 9th 1984 Episode #2 DS TP
August 9th 1984 Episode #26 TP NK
November 8th 1984 Episode #44 SB TP

1985
February 14th 1985 Episode #52 TP NK
July 4th 1985 Episode #22 NK SP
August 22nd 1985 Episode #7 TP NK

1986
July 3rd 1986 Episode #59 NK TP
July 31st 1986 Episode #24 SB TP

1987
September 24th 1987 Episode #14 TP SB
December 17th 1987 Episode #46 DS SB

1988
May 12th 1988 Episode #53 SB SP

1989
June 15th 1989 Episode #19 SB NK
November 23rd 1989 Episode #30 SP TP

1991
April 4th 1991 Episode #40 SB SP

1994
March 16th 1994 Episode #12 NK SP

1995
May 11th 1995 Episode #21 DS TP
August 31st 1995 Episode #28 SB SP

1996
February 8th 1996 Episode #33 SB NK
March 21st 1996 Episode #50 SP NK

2000
August 11th 2000 Episode #37 SB NK

[Johnboy]

Taylor's way ahead in terms of appearances isn't he - has anyone crunched the stats

[shiftwork2]

So the 1972 gap is actually 2 years long.  What wonderful stuff there must be hiding in there.  Did we (by that I mean someone else) establish that we can probably never get a CMP from that era?

[Natnar]

Taylor's way ahead in terms of appearances isn't he - has anyone crunched the stats

By my reckoning Taylor is ahead on CM appearances

35 Taylor
29 Neil
28 Simon
17 David
14 Sarah

[Bellalunaesme2]

So the 1972 gap is actually 2 years long.  What wonderful stuff there must be hiding in there.  Did we (by that I mean someone else) establish that we can probably never get a CMP from that era?

I think the 2nd 1972 Christmas episode is available and doesn't feature Saville. I don't know how likely it is that it will be covered though considering it isn't the Christmas Day one.

[HAVANAGILA]

Updated episode list by TOTP airdate

Superb work! Found myself at a bit of a loose end so I did some number crunching myself:

Most common pairing : Neil and Taylor (12 appearances), followed by Simon/Neil and Simon/Taylor (11 appearances each)

Least common pairing : David and Neil (1 appearance), plus obvs the one-off where they all appeared

Date-wise, we have
- 45 episodes pre Band Aid (13 July 85), 15 post Band Aid

- 30 episodes in the 80s (22 pre and 8 post BA)
- 22 70s episodes
- 6 90s episodes
- 1 each from the 60s and 00s

- 17 from the Eighventies  (1979-1982), 19 if you include 1978 as well.

Really hoping for some more early 90s episodes to fill up the gaps!

[Natnar]

Yeah the 1990-93 period needs to be covered more.

[Brundle-Fly]

So, what CMP stat will we all be talking about in the playground tomorrow?

[phantom_power]

Needs more Sarah as she brings something a bit different
?
Do you think they will ever have other guests on? Other MM journos or even, gasp, an NME one?

[Chicory]

Has anyone put together a slang glossary for CM?  All that stuff about 'saxons', 'grebs' and 'rammel' explained, for the unseasoned listener.  I think people under 50 and from the South the world ought to be enlightened.

[non capisco]

You can cease with the stat crunching, guys. The new one's just landed on Patreon!

Spoiler alert

Simon and Sarah. July 2003, blimey.

[close]