'Hello' always makes me smile, because it reminds me of being at school and singing 'Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is lonely feeling you?' with my mates as we laughed ourselves daft.
I was very disappointed this week when listening to the sublime Birdsong by La Lovich that the song was cut off in its prime. The 2nd chorus had barely started only to be drowned out by the plastic applause. Birdsong is a wonderful piece of music which reaches a wonderful crescendo in the final minute of the song. I would not have expected anything other than what TOTP delivered : a brutal, ill-timed edit. And to think it was cut short to allow inferior offerings from Janet Brown and The Ramblers.
I think a few posters might change their minds if they gave the whole song a few plays. But then again....
Like many other posters I too am looking forward to 1980 : one of my favourite years in pop music history. Don't get me wrong, I love 1979 but I do feel that over the past few weeks it is beginning to rapidly run out of steam. As an impoverished first year student in the autumn of 1979 I remember thinking that not much of my student grant could be 'wasted' on vinyl records. I was lucky as I was barely tempted to pay the full whack for any single released October - December. 3 singles which I did buy however were Making plans for Nigel,Still and a song by City Boy which I loved called The Day the Earth Caught Fire - a rather melodramatic but enjoyable 5 minute opus. Needless to say it was not a hit - but I still shove it on the turntable when I'm feeling nostalgic. I cannot see it making a TOTP appearance unfortunately.
Good to read the occasional love on this forum for Dan I Monkey Chop. I honestly did not think anyone would remember this single. I bought it for 30p from the Woolies bargain bin ( where I got most of my singles ) . It's a pity it's been given the 'chop' this week. Thanks Savile! >:(
How many times has Sad Cafe's Everyday Hurts been on the pops? 3 + a rehashed Chart run down? I shelled out £2.99 for the LP Facades ( an anagram of Sad Cafe) and still love the album to this day. The second single Strange Little Girl ( so underrated) was decisive in my decision to purchase the album.
There were so many brilliant albums released in 1979 : I am EWF , Cool for Cats , Off the Wall , Breakfast in America, Bad Girls , Spirits Having Flown, We are Family, to name a few I bought.
Finally imminent must be the debut single from the Whispers And the beat goes on. . This was the first 12 inch single which I ever bought. A waste of money : the 7 inch version was superior.
I was very disappointed this week when listening to the sublime Birdsong by La Lovich that the song was cut off in its prime. The 2nd chorus had barely started only to be drowned out by the plastic applause. Birdsong is a wonderful piece of music which reaches a wonderful crescendo in the final minute of the song. I would not have expected anything other than what TOTP delivered : a brutal, ill-timed edit. D
Well said ramraider!!!
Birdsong is my favourite Lene Lovich tune & I'm surprised it didn't go higher! Possibly cause of the bad editing & also maybe because of Mike Read describing it as eerie or whatever he said!
Although, in some cases, Lene Lovich is her own worst enemy - as I think she pulled a few too many faces on TOTP to appeal to the kiddies watching at the time - even if it was Halloween!
Cwying was brilliant. Much better than the original imo. Don's voice really soared at the end. Majestic!
Use it up and wear it out....how on earth did that get to number one. Complete rubbish. Cant believe anyone liked it.
I'm afraid I liked it and bought it and their next 4 singles. This was a good recording era for Odyssey ( in my opinion) and it reached its climax in 1982 with Inside Out - one of my favourite singles of the entire year. Sublime.
A lot of dance music flourished while the pops was off the air in the summer of 1980. Very often dance music artistes relied heavily on Legs and Co to promote their offerings and therefore they got limited exposure on TOTP. How often have the chart rundown record and the play out record been a dance track? It can be argued that if Dance artistes do not come over to the UK to promote their music they do not deserve to be successful - and to an extent this is fair comment. However with no way to promote your latest single other than radio airplay in the summer of 1980, dance music seemed to perform better than normal in the charts that year.
Just checking the singles I purchased that summer and I see I must have spent a fortune : You gave me love / Use your body and soul , Stomp , Funkytown , Let's get serious, Let's go round again , Jump to the beat , Use it up ... , Funkin' for Jamaica , A lovers' holiday/ Glow of love , Back together again, Behind the groove, A walk in the park, Give me the night - all sublime.
Birdsong is my favourite Lene Lovich tune & I'm surprised it didn't go higher! Possibly cause of the bad editing & also maybe because of Mike Read describing it as eerie or whatever he said!
Although, in some cases, Lene Lovich is her own worst enemy - as I think she pulled a few too many faces on TOTP to appeal to the kiddies watching at the time - even if it was Halloween!
Thanks Ursula. Impeccable taste from yourself as always. Like you, it is also my favourite Lovich tune. ;-)
I've just watched the TOTP edition hosted by Jimmy Savile, first broadcast on 8 November 1979 and I have to say... I don't know what he was on but he seems rather pervy on a couple of occasions
Forget about what we all know about him now, he genuinely seems to be on heat. First he makes comments about how some of the female audience had been in his dressing room and how they can't see their mam's (seriously, at least that's how it sounds what he is saying!) then later he introduces Abba as he makes a strange guttural noise while he has his arms around two women who he says can't hear very well. Very weird. Oh, and he's flashing his chest all throughout the episode.
Oh, and 'Monkey Chop' is on there too, the single that has previously been mentioned by posters in this thread on the past two pages.
I've just watched the TOTP edition hosted by Jimmy Savile, first broadcast on 8 November 1979 and I have to say... I don't know what he was on but he seems rather pervy on a couple of occasions
Forget about what we all know about him now, he genuinely seems to be on heat. First he makes comments about how some of the female audience had been in his dressing room and how they can't see their mam's (seriously, at least that's how it sounds what he is saying!) then later he introduces Abba as he makes a strange guttural noise while he has his arms around two women who he says can't hear very well. Very weird. Oh, and he's flashing his chest all throughout the episode.
Yes, you see at the time we* saw him as a pathetic deluded old git. If he'd had a more restrained style of hair and dress, more suited to his age, we probably wouldn't have been so bemused and repelled by him.
Oh, and if he had desisted from making those weird gurgling noises as well.
*'we' being me and everybody I knocked around with.
A member of the Sugarhill Gang, Henry Jackson aka Big Bank Hank, who we will presumably be seeing in the coming weeks with the first mainstream rap hit, Rapper's Delight which made No3 in December, has passed away today aged only 57 from cancer.
A member of the Sugarhill Gang, Henry Jackson aka Big Bank Hank, who we will presumably be seeing in the coming weeks with the first mainstream rap hit, Rapper's Delight which made No3 in December, has passed away today aged only 57 from cancer.
I've just read this before coming here. As ramraider1 has just posted, I also thought he was called Big Bad Hank. RIP. Another one bites the dust (and another song that ripped off the bass line from 'Good Times' too).
Has anyone else here got an example of a song they absolutely hated at the time it was a hit but now actively loves it?
Yup. And one that will be on TOTP 1979 very soon. When 'Another Brick In The Wall' by Pink Floyd was at number 1 in December 1979 I absolutely hated the song. It took me years - until the 1990s - to like the song, but now... I absolutely love it!
Another Sugarhill Gang link to the UK charts is that Sugar Hill Records (their label) was owned by Sylvia Robinson and her husband.
She had a hit as Sylvia - 'Pillow Talk' in early 1973, and also owned All Platinum Records - hits in the UK included Shirley and Company's 'Shame Shame Shame' and Moments and Whatnauts 'Girls'.
Wonder why they put 'Sugarhill' together instead of keeping the label name?
Another Sugarhill Gang link to the UK charts is that Sugar Hill Records (their label) was owned by Sylvia Robinson and her husband.
She had a hit as Sylvia - 'Pillow Talk' in early 1973, and also owned All Platinum Records - hits in the UK included Shirley and Company's 'Shame Shame Shame' and Moments and Whatnauts 'Girls'.
Wonder why they put 'Sugarhill' together instead of keeping the label name?
Possibly due to finances. Sylvia Robinson was always sailing close to the wind with finances for her labels. Her Sugar Hill label went under after a number of legal disputes, mainly due to the fact she never sought permission to sample songs. For example, 'Rappers Delight' (which was her production using rappers she assembled) caused the label to lose the label all royalties for the record as all the royalties were paid to the Chic guys . Similarly, 'White Lines' by Grandmaster Melle Mel eventually bankrupted the label as the track sampled (without permission) 'Cavern' by Liquid Liquid plus used the name of Grandmaster Flash on the original release of the single even though he played no part in the release of the track. Flash sued for the unathourised use of his name.
Possibly due to finances. Sylvia Robinson was always sailing close to the wind with finances for her labels.
I meant 'why did the Sugarhill Gang not call themselves the Sugar Hill Gang', not why didn't Sylvia Robinson keep the old label name.
Mind you, if I'd been clearer, we wouldn't have got this interesting bit of info.
I don't remember the Red Hand Gang! What channel was it on? According to imdb.com and wikipedia it was a one season production in the US in 1977 and which was cancelled halfway through it's only season - could it be one of the programmes that regional ITV showed on a Saturday morning or midweek tea-time?
According to its wikipedia page, the programme has been often been broadcast in the UK - I don't remember it at all!
I don't remember the Red Hand Gang! What channel was it on? According to imdb.com and wikipedia it was a one season production in the US in 1977 and which was cancelled halfway through it's only season - could it be one of the programmes that regional ITV showed on a Saturday morning or midweek tea-time?
According to its wikipedia page, the programme has been often been broadcast in the UK - I don't remember it at all!
It was on BBC1 Robbie. It was frequently shown and I recall it regularly between about 1979 and 1984, probably repeated a few times. I noticed by accident on the BBC Genome when gazing at 1987 and it was still being shown then. I seem to recall it on more in the late mornings during school holiday weekdays but I think it had afternoon showings too. I'm certain I'm not going to be the only one who recalls it on here.
It was on BBC1 Robbie. It was frequently shown and I recall it regularly between about 1979 and 1984, probably repeated a few times. I noticed by accident on the BBC Genome when gazing at 1987 and it was still being shown then. I seem to recall it on more in the late mornings during school holiday weekdays but I think it had afternoon showings too. I'm certain I'm not going to be the only one who recalls it on here.
When it comes to BBC programmes during the school holidays I'm more from The White Horses, The Flashing Blade and Banana Splits era, which runs up to 1977 / 1978 ... those programmes were repeated year upon year. Probably to be taken off in 1979 for the likes of the Red Hand Gang to be shown!
Are the yewtreed episodes still being uploaded anywhere?
There's a Facebook page:
"Turn up the TV - It's Top of the Pops 1979"
The poster posts performances from the screened shows and has links to a few Yewtree'd editions.
A couple of Yewtree'd links are further back on this thread.
Has anyone else here got an example of a song they absolutely hated at the time it was a hit but now actively loves it?
At the age of eleven I actively disliked 'Burlesque' by rock group Family (link below) which reached No. 13 in the Autumn of 1972. The song was aired on TOTP four times and IIRC singer Roger Chapman wore a stripy rugby shirt for the studio performance. But when it was played on Savile's Old Record Club seven years later I heard it with fresh ears and appreciated the raunchy groove and Chapman's gritty vocal style. The grunting bass and backing vocals are supplied by John Wetton who went on to form the group Asia in the early 80s with Geoff Downes of the Buggles (among others) and still fronts them to this day.
Other songs which I loathed at the time ( and I do mean loathed) but now happily tune into now and again are East of Eden Jig a Jig , Meatloaf Deadringer for love , America A horse with no name and Johnny Pearson Sleepy shores
Johnny Pearson wrote 'Sleepy Shores' as the theme tune to the BBC series 'Owen MD' (about a rural GP) which preceded TOTP on Thursday nights in the early seventies when 'Tomorrows World' was having a rest.
When it comes to BBC programmes during the school holidays I'm more from The White Horses, The Flashing Blade and Banana Splits era, which runs up to 1977 / 1978 ... those programmes were repeated year upon year.
IIRC the first series of Banana Splits was broadcast weekly on BBC1 in place of Crackerjack at 5 to 5 on Friday nights at some point in 1969. Some of the "trippy" music videos in which the four caricatures mimed to psychedelic/bugglegum pop/rock songs written specially for the show are on YouTube and IMO Adam Had Em (which features Bingo taking a precarious joyride in his Banana Buggy ) is possibly the most entertaining:
Has anyone else here got an example of a song they absolutely hated at the time it was a hit but now actively loves it?
One has sprung to mind, although it perhaps has more to do with a specific style, than the virtues of a particular song. The ''Dangerous'' album's single releases by Michael Jackson is something i disliked intensely at the time, and despite feeling pretty lukewarm still about the song ''Black And White'' (which is pretty much a standard rock tune), songs like ''Jam'', ''Remember The Time'', and ''Who Is It?'' have really grown on me. I think, although ''Dangerous'' as a whole was a little patchy in places, i have to admit many of it's songs cut much deeper than those on ''Thriller'' and ''Bad''. Jackson was updating his sound by his collaboration with Teddy Riley, to give himself a harder contemporary edge, and although i did find ''Jam'', for example, a tuneless dirge intitially, i think i retospect that song in addition to many of the others possess a really grit, missing from the Quincy Jones produced material on ''Thriller'' and ''Bad''. It will be interesting to see how ''Dangerous'' will be viewed in time to come.
Are the yewtreed episodes still being uploaded anywhere?
Also, search for "Angelo Gravity" (the same person who owns the Facebook page mentioned above). There you can more easily find the links as they are clearly under each Yewtreed episode.
Thanks to them, I believe we have been able to see every single episode of 1979 so far (or at least most of each episode, barring some missing rundown tracks, playout tracks, number 1s and some missing links from UK Gold rebroadcasts). So regardless of what BBC Four decide to do with the repeats in years to come, hopefully now every single episode from where we are in 1979 onwards is "out there" somewhere.
Comments
It was a simpler time.
I think a few posters might change their minds if they gave the whole song a few plays. But then again....
Like many other posters I too am looking forward to 1980 : one of my favourite years in pop music history. Don't get me wrong, I love 1979 but I do feel that over the past few weeks it is beginning to rapidly run out of steam. As an impoverished first year student in the autumn of 1979 I remember thinking that not much of my student grant could be 'wasted' on vinyl records. I was lucky as I was barely tempted to pay the full whack for any single released October - December. 3 singles which I did buy however were Making plans for Nigel, Still and a song by City Boy which I loved called The Day the Earth Caught Fire - a rather melodramatic but enjoyable 5 minute opus. Needless to say it was not a hit - but I still shove it on the turntable when I'm feeling nostalgic. I cannot see it making a TOTP appearance unfortunately.
Good to read the occasional love on this forum for Dan I Monkey Chop. I honestly did not think anyone would remember this single. I bought it for 30p from the Woolies bargain bin ( where I got most of my singles ) . It's a pity it's been given the 'chop' this week. Thanks Savile! >:(
How many times has Sad Cafe's Everyday Hurts been on the pops? 3 + a rehashed Chart run down? I shelled out £2.99 for the LP Facades ( an anagram of Sad Cafe) and still love the album to this day. The second single Strange Little Girl ( so underrated) was decisive in my decision to purchase the album.
There were so many brilliant albums released in 1979 : I am EWF , Cool for Cats , Off the Wall , Breakfast in America, Bad Girls , Spirits Having Flown, We are Family, to name a few I bought.
Finally imminent must be the debut single from the Whispers And the beat goes on. . This was the first 12 inch single which I ever bought. A waste of money : the 7 inch version was superior.
Well said ramraider!!!
Birdsong is my favourite Lene Lovich tune & I'm surprised it didn't go higher! Possibly cause of the bad editing & also maybe because of Mike Read describing it as eerie or whatever he said!
Although, in some cases, Lene Lovich is her own worst enemy - as I think she pulled a few too many faces on TOTP to appeal to the kiddies watching at the time - even if it was Halloween!
I'm afraid I liked it and bought it and their next 4 singles. This was a good recording era for Odyssey ( in my opinion) and it reached its climax in 1982 with Inside Out - one of my favourite singles of the entire year. Sublime.
A lot of dance music flourished while the pops was off the air in the summer of 1980. Very often dance music artistes relied heavily on Legs and Co to promote their offerings and therefore they got limited exposure on TOTP. How often have the chart rundown record and the play out record been a dance track? It can be argued that if Dance artistes do not come over to the UK to promote their music they do not deserve to be successful - and to an extent this is fair comment. However with no way to promote your latest single other than radio airplay in the summer of 1980, dance music seemed to perform better than normal in the charts that year.
Just checking the singles I purchased that summer and I see I must have spent a fortune : You gave me love / Use your body and soul , Stomp , Funkytown , Let's get serious, Let's go round again , Jump to the beat , Use it up ... , Funkin' for Jamaica , A lovers' holiday/ Glow of love , Back together again, Behind the groove, A walk in the park, Give me the night - all sublime.
Thanks Ursula. Impeccable taste from yourself as always. Like you, it is also my favourite Lovich tune. ;-)
Of course! ;-)
Forget about what we all know about him now, he genuinely seems to be on heat. First he makes comments about how some of the female audience had been in his dressing room and how they can't see their mam's (seriously, at least that's how it sounds what he is saying!) then later he introduces Abba as he makes a strange guttural noise while he has his arms around two women who he says can't hear very well. Very weird. Oh, and he's flashing his chest all throughout the episode.
Oh, and 'Monkey Chop' is on there too, the single that has previously been mentioned by posters in this thread on the past two pages.
Yes, you see at the time we* saw him as a pathetic deluded old git. If he'd had a more restrained style of hair and dress, more suited to his age, we probably wouldn't have been so bemused and repelled by him.
Oh, and if he had desisted from making those weird gurgling noises as well.
*'we' being me and everybody I knocked around with.
She had a hit as Sylvia - 'Pillow Talk' in early 1973, and also owned All Platinum Records - hits in the UK included Shirley and Company's 'Shame Shame Shame' and Moments and Whatnauts 'Girls'.
Wonder why they put 'Sugarhill' together instead of keeping the label name?
Mind you, if I'd been clearer, we wouldn't have got this interesting bit of info.
I always yearned to be the character Frankie (Matthew Laborteaux), the good looking kid who snared crooks with his pals. :cool:
Remember?
http://youtu.be/cMcEiPQs8CA
According to its wikipedia page, the programme has been often been broadcast in the UK - I don't remember it at all!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Hand_Gang
There's a Facebook page:
"Turn up the TV - It's Top of the Pops 1979"
The poster posts performances from the screened shows and has links to a few Yewtree'd editions.
A couple of Yewtree'd links are further back on this thread.
At the age of eleven I actively disliked 'Burlesque' by rock group Family (link below) which reached No. 13 in the Autumn of 1972. The song was aired on TOTP four times and IIRC singer Roger Chapman wore a stripy rugby shirt for the studio performance. But when it was played on Savile's Old Record Club seven years later I heard it with fresh ears and appreciated the raunchy groove and Chapman's gritty vocal style. The grunting bass and backing vocals are supplied by John Wetton who went on to form the group Asia in the early 80s with Geoff Downes of the Buggles (among others) and still fronts them to this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23VdAJuEU1Y
Johnny Pearson wrote 'Sleepy Shores' as the theme tune to the BBC series 'Owen MD' (about a rural GP) which preceded TOTP on Thursday nights in the early seventies when 'Tomorrows World' was having a rest.
IIRC the first series of Banana Splits was broadcast weekly on BBC1 in place of Crackerjack at 5 to 5 on Friday nights at some point in 1969. Some of the "trippy" music videos in which the four caricatures mimed to psychedelic/bugglegum pop/rock songs written specially for the show are on YouTube and IMO Adam Had Em (which features Bingo taking a precarious joyride in his Banana Buggy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKCEu_3as5E
One has sprung to mind, although it perhaps has more to do with a specific style, than the virtues of a particular song. The ''Dangerous'' album's single releases by Michael Jackson is something i disliked intensely at the time, and despite feeling pretty lukewarm still about the song ''Black And White'' (which is pretty much a standard rock tune), songs like ''Jam'', ''Remember The Time'', and ''Who Is It?'' have really grown on me. I think, although ''Dangerous'' as a whole was a little patchy in places, i have to admit many of it's songs cut much deeper than those on ''Thriller'' and ''Bad''. Jackson was updating his sound by his collaboration with Teddy Riley, to give himself a harder contemporary edge, and although i did find ''Jam'', for example, a tuneless dirge intitially, i think i retospect that song in addition to many of the others possess a really grit, missing from the Quincy Jones produced material on ''Thriller'' and ''Bad''. It will be interesting to see how ''Dangerous'' will be viewed in time to come.
Also, search for "Angelo Gravity" (the same person who owns the Facebook page mentioned above). There you can more easily find the links as they are clearly under each Yewtreed episode.
Thanks to them, I believe we have been able to see every single episode of 1979 so far (or at least most of each episode, barring some missing rundown tracks, playout tracks, number 1s and some missing links from UK Gold rebroadcasts). So regardless of what BBC Four decide to do with the repeats in years to come, hopefully now every single episode from where we are in 1979 onwards is "out there" somewhere.