So, here we go again and we’ve reached the 1980s. Judging by the compilation shown over Christmas, we’ve got some good stuff to look forward to. Of course, there will be some real dross as well.

 

As mentioned in posts above, there will be a long gap due to a strike. I assume a lot of that will be covered by a gap for the Proms.

 

 

An excellent start with The Clash over the chart.

 

Madness are the first studio act so it’s going well so far.

 

Christmas may have been over but we still get Paul McCartney’s (you know, that new bloke who is on Kanye West’s latest single) festive ditty.

 

On to the Pretenders on their way to number one. Suede’s cover of Brass In Pocket is rather good too.

 

Talking of the mighty Suede, here’s one of their influences, Mr David Bowie. It’s going very well so far, isn’t it?

 

Bowie recorded a song with Queen so here’s the riff from Another One Bites The Dust on a Kurtis Blow song (and another Chrimbo song). The Beat were edited out so we could hear this.

 

Time for some slush now with Billy Preston and Syreeta. Preston performed on The Beatles’ Get Back. It was all downhill from there. He was also Little Richard’s organ for a time. Oops, sorry, organist.

 

It may be a new decade but it’s the same old Legs & Co doing their thang to a particularly uninspiring Chic number.

 

Up next, a Dr Hook song I had managed to forget ever existed. I’m sure I will have forgotten it again ere long.

 

Back to some quality at last with Pink Floyd still at number one.

 

And some Rose Royce over the credits.

 

TOTP is not on next week as it is time for a different type of stargazing so we’re back in two weeks’ time.

 

Kurtis Blow was using Chic's bassline as well everyone knows, so good even Queen blatantly confessed to nicking it along with Sugarhill Gang and an army of others :dance: Let's give credit to Chic even if their last hit was a slight drop in standard ^_^

 

The Fifth Beatle (officially the only act to ever get a credit with the Fab Four) was terrific in his heyday, gospel and funk American hits like Outa Space, Nothing From Nothing, That's The Way God Planned It. Outa Space was an early fab funk instrumental track and not a million miles away from current number one Uptown Funk.

 

By 1980 he was duetting with Stevie Wonder's missus, Syreeta, and I still love With You I'm Born Again, a lovely ballad from two sadly late great singers.

 

Doctor Hook is the weak link to me...

 

 

A game of two halves if ever there was one.

 

Up to Bowie it was classic TOTP then the quality fell rapidly away after that.

 

That Billy Preston duet was dreck and I didn't even realise that was Chic it was so bad.

 

A brief dose of class in the final five from Pink Floyd brought the proceedings to a good end.

My 5 year old loved ABITW as well! And she recognised Bowie from having watched Labyrinth!

A game of two halves if ever there was one.

 

Up to Bowie it was classic TOTP then the quality fell rapidly away after that.

 

That Billy Preston duet was dreck and I didn't even realise that was Chic it was so bad.

 

A brief dose of class in the final five from Pink Floyd brought the proceedings to a good end.

My 5 year old loved ABITW as well! And she recognised Bowie from having watched Labyrinth!

She's obviously being brought up very well :D

Good start to 1980, all good except for Dr Hook.

 

According to Who sampled Kurtis Blows Christmas rappin has been sampled in 115 songs including Bomb The Bass Beat Dis, probably the best known of the lot.

 

Dont normally go in for ballads but With You I'm Born Again is not too bad, written by Carol Connors who was school friends and in the Teddy Bears (To Know Him Is To Love Him) with Phil Spector. She also wrote the theme to Rocky!

They should have cut Wonderful Christmastime with it being Jan.8th.

I posted over in the digitalspy Top Of The Pops 1980 thread that I have a feeling that the chart featured on TOTP 1980 last Thursday (chart week ending 5 January 1980) was possibly wholly based on sales prior to Christmas 1979 with the sales week being Monday 17 December to Saturday 22 December 1979. Back then the chart compiler, BMRB, always skipped collecting sales for one week of the year with this being around the Christmas /New Year time and I can't imagine that they would have skipped collecting sales in a full week prior to Christmas in favour of collecting sales from Monday 24 December to Saturday 29 December 1979 (which would normally be the sales week covered for a chart dated 5 January) which would be one of the the lowest (if not the lowest) sales week of the year.

 

Could it be possible that BMRB waited until after the Christmas to compile this chart (the sales diaries wouldn't arrive at BMRB's HQ in Ealing until Christmas Eve at the soonest) and as the next issue of Music Week would be dated 5 January 1980 is it possible that the chart was compiled between the Christmas and New Year in order to give the industry (including Radio 1, Top Of The Pops and Music Week) a new chart for the New Year? Some possible giveaways:

 

Christmas hits still climbing

 

'My Girl' by Madness a new entry at number 54 - the record was released on Friday 21 December 1979 so would be charting on a maximum of sales of 2 days. A number 54 entry sounds about right for this

 

The possibility the programme was recorded before the New Year rather than the day you would expect: Wednesday 2 January 1980 - although the set is made to look like it is from 1980 some of the performances that aren't repeats or are on video seem to have a slightly Christmas feel to them. Perhaps the programme was recorded on 2 January but the live performances were recorded earlier? It would mean the programme was recorded just before the New Year though if not recorded on 02/01/80.

 

Dave Taylor once posted that BMRB did sometimes compile New year charts for the 1970s based on sales in the immediate run up to the Christmas (one in 1971/72 and one in 1974/75 - the chart dated 4 January 1975 was actually announced on Radio 1 on Tuesday 24 December 1974 but did not appear in Music Week until the issue dated 4 January 1975 hence its chart week ending date).

 

If this was the case for the chart of 5 January 1980 it would mean that no sales were collected for 24-29 December 1979 - that makes more sense than ignoring sales in the biggest sales week of the year (17-22 December 1979).

Edited January 11, 201510 yr by Robbie

Indeed hence the chart run at the time of 6-6-7 for WC. Still don't get why they showed a performance of it tho.

 

I watched the overview of the 1980 show there lastnyt after I taped it. Seems 1980 was a big year of change for the show with risks being taken more to stay relevant what with performance by electronic acts that weren't in the chart yet and the changes to the crowd and presentation. When did legs and co get removed?

 

Also the dispute between the music unions and their defeat seems symbolic for what was happening in every sector of British society - modernisation to make things actually better but at the expense of people lives!

OK, so it’s time, once again, to see what delights are in store for us from TOTP.

 

Madness over the chart so that’s a decent start to the show.

 

UFO are the first band in the studio with a long-forgotten song. Apparently they are still going but nobody recognises them.

 

Abba still dreaming at number two.

 

Joe Jackson next. Things going reasonably well so far. There’s bound to be some rubbish along soon.

 

Sheila B Devotion with some French disco (before Stereolab’s glorious song of that name). A definite drop in quality but at least it’s still tolerable.

 

Skids are this week’s token punk-ish band.

 

Legs & Co to accompany KC & The Sunshine band. Less repetitive than their usual tosh, just dull this time.

 

Oh dear, KC has turned up in the studio. His real initials were WC. I wonder why he didn’t use them.

 

We’ve had the Yankee Dollar and now we have Dollar murdering a Beatles song. Let’s hope this is the low point this week.

 

The low point continues with the Nolans. Please make it stop.

 

And the low point comes to an end with the night’s high point. Pink Floyd still at number one and they’ve got the children back after Abba stole them.

 

Booker T & The MGs to play us out. There was a real drop in quality leading up to the Floyd but at least it’s a decent ending. Booker T never did get round to writing Blue Cheese to follow Green Onions.

UFO were the first band I ever saw live but that really was a forgettable song.

 

WTF was Richard Jobson on? Looking like the campest blitz kid doing so incredibly poor dad dancing. No wonder Stuart Adamson pissed off to form Big Country in the end.

Joe Jackson had to be the highlight for me. He wrote some great tunes should have had more hits than he did. Is She Really Going Out With Him is an all time classic

Edited January 23, 201510 yr by fiesta

There was a lot of love for Joe Jackson on Twitter last night. For some reason, he was always regarded as un-cool so didn't get the success he deserved.

I could never stand It's Different For Girls.

 

I had it on some new wave/punk compilation and I used to groan everytime it came on.

Yeah I'm sort of in the middle with Joe Jackson, when he was good he could be very good (Steppin' Out, Is She Really Going..), I appreciated his flitting from one style to another jazzy style, but on the whole he very rarely moved me one way or the other. It's Different For Girls was one of the exceptions, but it can get a little tedious if you hear it too much...

I liked him in his Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive phase - it was one of the few tapes my Dad had in the car when we were growing up.

 

Really don't like 'It's Different For Girls' though - I recently deleted it from the Best Of I have by him :)

OK, here we go again. It’s time for another edition of Top of the Pops.

 

The Bee Gees over the rundown. A horrible yellow background this week.

 

New Musik are the first act making it a decent start. The singer looks a bit like Keith Harris which is unfortunate for him. He produced the original version of Take On Me before it was spruced up for its more successful re-release.

 

 

Slush time now with Billy Preston & Syreeta. Where’s the mute button?

 

Sad Cafe next. This did rather less well than Every Day Hurts which isn’t a great surprise. I don’t remember it at all.

 

More dross now with Sister Sledge.

 

Positive Force are this week’s totally forgotten act. Apparently this reached the top 20. Oh well.

 

Madness have been cut but they will be on the repeat later.

 

Ah, this is better, time for Dexys Midnight Runners. Kevin Rowland before he went really weird.

 

Legs & Co with their interpretation of Green Onions.

 

Much Twitter rage for the omission of The Pina Colada Song. That, too, will be on later.

 

The bad news - Pink Floyd are no longer number one. The good news - The Pretenders are.

 

In the week that Demis Roussos died, we finish with his former bandmate Vangelis with Jon Anderson on vocals to close the show.

Green Onions is a curious one, this was originally from 1962. Anyone know why it was issued and a hit in 1980?

 

New Musik the standout track this week (other than the no.1)

I was trying to remember why Green Onions was released then, but drew a blank.

Not sure but it did feature in the mod club scene of Quadrophenia which would have probably still been in cinemas in early January 1980.

Tony Mansfield prod version of Take On Me doesnt sound too bad, or maybe its just because im bored stiff of hearing the alan tarney produced hit version :lol:

Edited January 30, 201510 yr by fiesta