Human League looked strange in 1980!

 

Believe me, they looked strange in 2014 :D

DOUBLE POST HELL

Edited June 3, 201510 yr by richie

Back we go to 22 May 1980 for this week’s TOTP. Earlier in the day, the story on Play School was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This was supposedly George Bush’s favourite book, There is nothing wrong with having fond memories of a book from childhood, but Bush was 22 when this was published.

 

The punningly-titled Lipps Inc accompany the chart. Surely, an act with that name needs to be seen.

 

The Lambrettas are the first studio act. Yes, they really did have a second hit. Who knew?

 

Another chance to sleep through the Michael Jackson video. Ah, it’s over at last.

 

UK Subs had six top forty hits (and a number 41), but none of them were very big. This is one of them. It’s not hard to see why they were not exactly huge. Dear lord, there are some people with a very weird dress sense this week.

 

A welcome chance to see Jona Lewie again.

 

An Indian born male singer who isn’t Cliff Richard next, in the form of Karel Fialka. Oh, the visual effects people have another new toy. This comes from an album called Still Life, which happens to be the name of the greatest song ever recorded. Not by him though.

 

Ska time with a classic from The Specials. Good to see that some people have dressed up for the occasion - apart from the one who has come straight from the gym.

 

Cockney Rejects with a song to mark West Ham’s FA Cup win. Or was it Aston Villa? Whoever it was, the performance has been cut.

 

Gary Numan next. This made the top ten, but his chart career is already going into decline. So are his appearance fees. This has been cut too.

 

Also cut, a reggae classic from Junior Murvin and the Average White Band.

 

Legs & Co performing the Theme From M*A*S*H. They’re not going to demonstrate a painless suicide, are they? As ever, it’s hard to tell what their “routine” is about. Still, it must have been fun telling Flick Colby which song they would be doing that week.

 

Matchbox with yet another repeat from last week’s show (15 May was Yewtreed). More sartorial elegance.

 

And so, to the number one. It’s Johnny Logan’s Eurovision entry. This year’s winner was a lot better. Johnny seems to like the colour blue.

 

We end with another Jackson as Jermaine accompanies the closing credits.

Karel Fialka was to later exclaim "Oh Matthew" to greater effect, co-starring his son, but I bought this single. I'm not sure anyone else did, but ne'er mind the Ayes Have It became a catchphrase in parliament as a result of this record. True fact. :teresa:

This is why I only watch the extended versions - imagine cutting the wonderful Junior Murvin to repeat-show geriatric grease-nothings Matchbox?

This is why I only watch the extended versions - imagine cutting the wonderful Junior Murvin to repeat-show geriatric grease-nothings Matchbox?

 

I agree about Junior Murvin but Cockney Rejects was the one to cut, or UK Subs. In a battle between fun rockabilly or shouty cockney football chanting i'll pick the one with a tune and which is intentionally amusing :lol:

Back we go to the end of May 1980.

 

Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway over the charts. Not the best of starts, but I suspect there is worse to come.

 

Liquid Gold kick things off in the studio with their second, and last, top ten hit. That gave them two top ten hits more than they deserved. It almost makes me want to hear Dance Yourself Dizzy again. Ah, it’s over at last.

 

Hot Chocolate survive the cut this time. The special effects budget must have been at least £3.25. In the 21st century, we will all dress like that. Or not.

 

Elton John up next. This just about made the top forty, but was one of a run of relative flops. He seems to have nicked part of the intro from Song For Guy, although it isn’t as long as that intro.

 

Legs & Co interpret Crown Heights Affair in their usual style.

 

Don McLean appears on video with a song heading for number one. The was also a hit for Roy Orbison in 1992, and was performed by Philip Pope on Only Fools & Horses.

 

Thin Lizzy with their homage to a central London district.

 

Roxy Music with another one of their smooth sounds.

 

The person responsible for editing this programme should never be allowed to edit a music programme again. OMD have been cut from the early-evening version.

 

We get to see Jermaine Jackson this week. It doesn’t make the song any better.

 

Stiff Little Fingers get another airing.

 

This should have been time for the WTF slot. However, Mystic Merlin remain mysterious.

 

Someone must have dropped out at the last minute. There can be no other reason for inviting Lena Zavaroni, six years after her last hit. This was, thankfully, a flop. And it’s been cut anyway.

 

Theme From MASH has reached the top. That gave the Manic Street Preachers a chance to cover it for the NME’s 40 years of number ones album in 1992. That Legs & Co routine gets another airing.

 

And we play out with Lipps Inc. Once again they are denied the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess at their name.

 

TOTP then went off-air due to a strike by the Musicians Union. It returned, in a new format, in August. Apparently, the first of those programmes will be shown in two weeks’ time.

Lipps Inc. Arf! :lol:

 

Donny and Roberta not a good start? Splutter soul legends cough, croak! :P

 

Doh! No Mystic Merlin swirling his cloak about, this won't do at all! Not when Stiff Little Fingers, Lena Zavaroni and Liquid Gold are in the line-up.

 

Jermaine, enjoyed seeing him try to mime to actual Stevie Wonder vocals (and song donated).

 

I seem to recall it was Abba at number one in the first new TOTP (I was annoyed that Xanadu got no TOTP exposure for it's chart run, among many)

 

I could be mis-remembering of course (copyright see politicians)

 

 

What on earth are you doing lumping SLF in with Zavaroni and liquid gold for?

 

Thank god for them is what I say.

 

Better than the anodyne blandness of donny and roberts. Soul legends my arse

What on earth are you doing lumping SLF in with Zavaroni and liquid gold for?

 

Thank god for them is what I say.

 

Better than the anodyne blandness of donny and roberts. Soul legends my arse

 

what you call blandness I call emotion. It's rare I dislike a band, but Stiff Little Fingers fall into that bracket, sorry, I was underwhelmed. Still am.

 

Of the two you will find plenty of influence, TV specials and inspirational acts who quote Flack & Hathaway and they still sell well. Nobody has to like every type of music, of course, my preference is for melody and vocals over shouting and chanting.

Plenty of melody in Nobody's Hero and a really positive message in the lyrics.

 

And who cares if roberta and donny are 'legends' - legends can still produce cack, look at bowie during the 80s!

I would also dispute that legends tag, possibly the most overused tag in pop music.

Stevie Wonder (although I dislike most of his output) is a true legend Otis Redding. Sam Cooke. Marvin Gaye. Yes.

 

Sorry but back together again wouldn't even qualify as plastic soul, more like laminate flooring soul.

Plenty of melody in Nobody's Hero and a really positive message in the lyrics.

 

And who cares if roberta and donny are 'legends' - legends can still produce cack, look at bowie during the 80s!

I would also dispute that legends tag, possibly the most overused tag in pop music.

Stevie Wonder (although I dislike most of his output) is a true legend Otis Redding. Sam Cooke. Marvin Gaye. Yes.

 

Sorry but back together again wouldn't even qualify as plastic soul, more like laminate flooring soul.

No worries we all have different views slf I was holding back what I think of them. Seem to be popular on here but not with me. Great lyrics are poetry if they are attached to a backdrop that doesn't appeal. Always thought they were critically overrated. Never commercially popular. Roberta flack is a great vocal interpreter I'm the jazz soul singer-songwriter style mash up and is generally well regarded as well as commercially popular.

 

end of the day the definition of musical cack is not an absolute its a personal opinion. Much as I accept stiff little fingers have devotees but I really don't get why myself other than lyrically at a pinch

So the first if the new 'cooler' TOTPs is as soon as two weeks away - looking forward to this - we leave the cheesy late 70s and enter the new romantic age for real then :)

So the first if the new 'cooler' TOTPs is as soon as two weeks away - looking forward to this - we leave the cheesy late 70s and enter the new romantic age for real then :)

Only one week away. It is on next week.

Good to see, they must be taking more weeks out of the end of the year to fill in the 6 week strike period?

 

So who def doesnt present TOTPs from this point on again - Saville, Noel Edmunds, Tony Balckburn?

I suspect there may be an extended break while the Proms are on.

We have now skipped all the way to August as TOTP was off-air for a few months due to strike action. To add to the fun, the BBC used the intervening time to revamp the programme. Earlier in the evening, Tom Baker confronted the Daleks in Dr Who.

 

The first change comes with joint presenters with Peter Powell (what is he wearing?) accompanied by Elton John. The old theme tune is back but the chart rundown has been replaced by a list of upcoming acts.

 

The Piranhas get the proceedings underway with their entertaining version of Tom Hark. The drummer doesn’t seem to have had time to get dressed properly or to find a chair. He also seems to have lost his drumsticks, so he’s using fish instead. As you do. Ooh, and there’s a new special effect with a caption at the end.

 

A video from Diana Ross in her Nile Rodgers disco phase.

 

A rather dull song from Roxy Music is the first to be cut.

 

Legs & Co are still here for now. Here they are accompanying Tom Browne (not to be confused with the former chart show presenter). The girls even get captions to remind people of their names. Just in case anyone cared.

 

Oh, we do get a chart rundown after all, starting with numbers 30 to 21. Classic Joy Division at number 22. Sadly, they are on their way down, so they never got a chance to appear.

 

Hot Chocolate next. I don’t remember this one at all.

 

The chart rundown resumes with numbers 20 to eleven.

 

Things are really going downhill as we get Kelly Marie followed by The Gap Band. I’m beginning to think that strike should have lasted another week. The appearance of The Gibson Brothers continues the dross section. The Kelly Marie song was written by Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry) with Elvis Presley in mind. Elvis thought it was so awful, he died to make sure he wouldn’t have to record it.

 

The clips of the number one songs from the off-air period from Odyssey, ELO & Olivia Newton-John and Don McLean have been cut, along with Sheena Easton’s biggest hit. The rundown included a mention of someone called Katie Bush.

 

We jump to some typically daft nonsense from Bad Manners.

 

Another innovation next, as we get a rundown of the top ten with clips of each song.

 

That, of course, leads into the number one from Abba, one of the best-known break-up songs in pop history.

 

George Benson plays out over the closing credits with shots of the audience dancing.

Classic Joy Division at number 22. Sadly, they are on their way down, so they never got a chance to appear.

 

Well, Ian had also recently died. Mind you, the video would have been a nice touch.

The Kelly Marie song was written by Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry) with Elvis Presley in mind.

 

I hadn't realised that until I saw the TOTP 1980 show at the start of the year. Now whenever I hear the Kelly Marie song all I can hear are the Mungo Jerry-esque "chh-chh" acapella percussion bits.

 

such a shame Ray Dorset is remembered only for those songs - not that he isnt still about - but Baby Jump is rocking fab, Lady Rose sweet ballad, Open Up moody, among other hits.