They skip a few weeks for Wednesday's programme so we won't get to see the competition result announced. That competition seems so old-fashioned now with entries "on a postcard" and even saying "Include your phone number, if you've got one".

Elaine Coombs aged 16 from Salisbury was the winner & she chose the name of "Legs & Co". Elaine appeared on the show with the girls & Dave Lee Travis. The girls performed their routine to "Spinning Rock Boogie" by Hank C. Burnette. That show is missing, of course. Though maybe Elaine has it?

 

The 2 Christmas Editions go out on Christmas Morning & 1977 begins with Kid Jensen on 5th Jan 2012, when the 7.30 showing will be edited because it's a 40 minute show in a half hour slot.

Loved Jethro Tull in this week's edition, the genius of Ian Anderson showing through. Don't often hear that Christmas record on the radio these days, more's the pity.

 

One interesting facet of these 1976 shows is the number of times Abba promoted their records by using special promo clips, as they did for their December 1976 hit Money!Money!Money!. They were perhaps the first group to consistently use such promo's since The Beatles in the sixties, and such promo's no doubt helped to usher in the music video age a few years later.

 

So Showaddywaddy at number one. Bit of a contradiction in their appearance, I always felt. Dressed in teddy boys clothes that belonged firmly to the rock and roll era of the fifties, but sporting long hair that was very fashionable in the sixties!

 

Paul Nicholas performing Grandma's Party, with Legs and Co dancing in the background dressed up as "grannies" was a sight for sore eyes. I wonder how many of those same dancers are now real life grannies.................

Jethro Tull never got the success they deserved.

 

A double dose of Christmas specials next week on Tuesday and Thursday.

What the hell happened to Legs & Co. dancing to Wings at the end? We just got the credits after DLT had said they were closing with them? Bit surprised to see Laurel & Hardy!

Edited December 21, 201113 yr by Common Sense

That was rather weird. I'm sure the programme was always one hour so there shouldn't have been any need to edit the programme - unless there were even more mind-numbingly tedious trailers than normal to fit in.

That was rather weird. I'm sure the programme was always one hour so there shouldn't have been any need to edit the programme - unless there were even more mind-numbingly tedious trailers than normal to fit in.

 

Yeah it was in the schedules to start at 8.00 but actually began at 8.09pm!

Legs & Co's bizarre pirate routine to Portsmouth was a real treat last week. Jethro Tull looked like bloody lunatics.

Yeah it was in the schedules to start at 8.00 but actually began at 8.09pm!

Maybe some rather hurried editing then. I watched it on catch-up so I didn't realise it had started so late.

Maybe some rather hurried editing then. I watched it on catch-up so I didn't realise it had started so late.

 

Same today, scheduled in all listings for 8pm but they'd a Bill Withers song at 8 as a filler and TOTP started at 8.07pm. Strange! The Xmas night repeats are are all sheduled to run 50 minutes though.

Same today, scheduled in all listings for 8pm but they'd a Bill Withers song at 8 as a filler and TOTP started at 8.07pm. Strange! The Xmas night repeats are are all sheduled to run 50 minutes though.

I've just started watching on catch up and was surprised to see it was timed at 50 minutes. However, the BBC website has a scheduled start time of 8.10 and at the start of the programme they referred to "the next 45 minutes". It won't take me that long to watch it though :lol:

Just watching TOTP2. Can anyone please tell me what Take A Chance On Me and Chasing Pavement are to do with Christmas? :rolleyes:

Edited December 24, 201113 yr by Common Sense

Have just watched both editions on interactive, highlight has to be Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, what a masterpiece of a record. People will still be watching that video and listening to that song a 100 years from now, I am sure.

 

The only thing is that I could have sworn that it was a 1975 smash. Presumably it was still riding high enough in the charts in early 1976 to warrent an entry on the end of year 1976 top of the pops.

 

Always interesting to see a young Midge Ure fronting Slik. Malcolm Mclaren wanted him to join The Sex Pistols at one stage. Now that would have been interesting to see, one of the founding members of the Band aid project in The Sex Pistols! Still, Geldof was in an |Irish punk band of course, when all is said and done.

 

One of Rod Stewart's records that I did like a lot was The Killing Of Georgie, and he presented the record well. So credit to Rod there.

 

My all-time favourite Sir Cliff record has to be Devil Woman, so that was a highlight, and some of Abba's hits were obviously good to listen too, even if I have heard them so many times before! Not so keen on The Brotherhood Of Man though, obvious Abba imatators who, unfortunately, had quite a bit of success in the UK charts during a period of about 18 months. :(

 

Always keen on Legs And Co, of course! :dance:

 

1976 produced some good stuff, but there was still an awful lot of dross about. Thank goodness the Wurzels did not have continued success, thank goodness JJ Barrie disappeared quite quickly, and thank goodness Denis the Greek did the same! Music was about to change, punk was about to happen, bring on the Sex Pistols and The Stranglers, is what I say. That will wipe the smile off Tony Blackburn's face!

 

On a poignant note, Jimmy Savile presented the last Christmas edition with Blackburn. RIP Jimmy.

 

So on to 1977. I hope they do keep showing these retro editions from that era. They can be very entertaining, and when all is said and done, some good music was being made at that time, whatever your taste in music was and is, the seventies surely offered some appealing music to you.

Yeah BR had 9 weeks at no1 from November 1975 through Christmas and into January 76 so it probably was one of the biggest sellers of that year too!

 

Johnny Mathis Christmas no1!!

1977 kicks off tonight :D

 

There's a Story of 1977 at 9.00 followed by the first TOTP of the year at 10.00. Then there's another compilation at 10.35 rounded off with a Whistle Test selection.

I think it's funny that the BBC are bigging up totp being invaded by punk and new wave but there's nothing on like that until May when The Jam and The Stranglers were on.

By and large I liked the documentary on 1977, bit selective with some of the "new wave" artists shown. The adverts were never a big punk band in anyway, and then there was Darts............................. :unsure:

 

Nice to see The Boomtown Rats, Stranglers, and Pistols of course. And nice that they mentioned Donna Summer's ground breaking record I Feel Love.

 

As already stated, yes, the BBC were very late and very reluctant to put punk bands on the box in the top of the pops slot. But they did at least acquiesc to some extent in the end.

 

Roll on 1977.................better times, better music, and some of us were a lot younger and better looking! :puke2:

The inclusion of Darts and The Adverts seemed to be more a matter of who was available for interview than their significance.

 

I Feel Love still sounds great today and has always been far better than the repetitive Love To Love You Baby. Of course, now it would be by Giorgio Moroder feat. Donna Summer.

Mistake in the documentary, was there not? I am sure that they said at one stage that had The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen got to number one, then it would have been the first banned record to do so.

 

Not so. There was a UK number one in 69 by Serge Gainsborg and Jane Birken, Je t'aime… moi non plus, that was banned.

 

Only a small point, but a valid one, I think. Wonder what top of the pops did in 1969 when that record topped the charts?

Mistake in the documentary, was there not? I am sure that they said at one stage that had The Sex Pistols God Save The Queen got to number one, then it would have been the first banned record to do so.

 

Not so. There was a UK number one in 69 by Serge Gainsborg and Jane Birken, Je t'aime… moi non plus, that was banned.

 

Only a small point, but a valid one, I think. Wonder what top of the pops did in 1969 when that record topped the charts?

Presumably the same as they did when Relax made number one. I assume they ignored it.

When 'Je t'aime' got to #1, they played an instrumental version over the opening credits, and finished the show with the record at number 2. So they kinda played it, but without the vocals and not properly introduced.