I used to watch TOTP and the Old Grey Whistle Test but shame that the Revolver passed me by, seems excellent from the clips I've seen. Its the audience I can't get over, as a poster on youtube said 'a british audience with a pulse'.
Without wishing to sound like a Mark Radcliffe TOTP2 voiceover ...
... even Robert Mugabe seems to be enjoying himself watching Siouxsie and the Banshees at 0.37 in the clip below.
No need to use foul language on this thread Charlie!
Channel 4 had The White Room back in the 90's if I recall, not to mention its 80's Tube, which I now regret that I never watched a single edition of, despite being a teen throughout its entire 5 year run.
:eek::eek::eek:
The Tube was THE BEST show of them all!! - Edgy, Great music, Wacky presenters, Gothy audience - it had the lot!! - Although I can see why some people might not have liked it - You either loved or hated it!!
I really, really wish C4 would repeat The Tube - just like the BBC are repeating TOTP!!! :cool:
Sorry to burst your bubble Fave St, but I don't think it really is Robert Mugabe, a case of mistaken identity I'm afraid........no, it's Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch, big in '78!
Ursula I fully understand your horror at me not seeing a single Tube. Was it always on at 6pm Fridays? If so, my parents likely wanted the news, and I'd not argue with that.
Sorry to burst your bubble Fave St, but I don't think it really is Robert Mugabe, a case of mistaken identity I'm afraid........no, it's Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch, big in '78!
Ursula I fully understand your horror at me not seeing a single Tube. Was it always on at 6pm Fridays? If so, my parents likely wanted the news, and I'd not argue with that.
Ha - yes it was on from 5.30 - 7pm on Fridays and unfortunately I remember BIG arguments with my parents about letting me watch it!! - I think I was a stubborn teenager! - But I'm glad I got to see them now!! - Thanks Mum!!
I've got 7 three hour VHS tapes of videos taped from that show dated between 1989 and 1992. Some rare stuff on there. One day, I'll get the money together to convert them and put some on youtube.
I've got quite a few editions of The Chart Show, recorded from repeats on the Vault and original recordings someone did me copies of - ranging from the 1986 special to the final show in 1998. As usual with the orginal recordings from years ago, the best stuff is usually the ads and continuity.
Loved that Revolver clip, especially by the way they had the guts to play when they only knew about three chords. Siouxsie actually looks quite conventionally attractive there, instead of being so in quite a scary way.
I don't think anybody has yet mentioned Naked City, which also had bands on playing live. They kept the cameras rolling after the show had finished to film the headliners playing a full set, which would later appear under the title of Butt Naked. The best one of these was a set played by The Manic Street Preachers when Richie Edwards was still in the band. It is probably the best television production of a live band that I have ever seen, where just for once, the darting camera edits actually enhanced the performance, rather than ruining it, which is the usual result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvtOnKzQ9Uw
Let's see who's the first to work out the lyrics by listening to that clip
Just out of interest, after delving back about 20 pages or so, here is a clip of Elkie Brooks when she was in Vinegar Joe - and believe me, I've seen a clip somewhere where she was far more raunchy than this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPED5-u_i88
No need to use foul language on this thread Charlie!
Acts popping up to sing one, or two "songs" on commercial TV chat shows doesn't cut it as music whatsoever. Neither does the no-X Factor either, which is primarily "entertainment", and I use that word very loosely indeed. I like Alan Carr, but that show has gone to pot. I am sick to death of hearing that the generic/anonymous Saturdays girl group are appearing on it. Are they contracted to do so every series? They to me are one of the worst, most generic, nothingy creations of recent times. A great example as I previously said of not the cream, but the crap rising to the top.
I thought what Ramraider said about his pupils singing along to Suzi Quatro was fabulous!
I recall ITV's ill fated attempt to copy TOTP around about 1987/88 with Kid Jensen (traitor ) on a weekly show called The Roxy, which used the commercial network chart that he presented. That show lasted a short time. It was okay, but in terms of the charts it was irrelevant to me. Only TOTP counted on that. Not forgetting the ITV Saturday chart show, which okay it was just videos but was something. I have a few from 1994 and even then they looked a lot more varied musically. No idea how they used to collate their chart for that show. It was always a mystery to me.
Channel 4 had The White Room back in the 90's if I recall, not to mention its 80's Tube, which I now regret that I never watched a single edition of, despite being a teen throughout its entire 5 year run.
I see the BBC's version of 'entertainment' to rival the X factor, The Voice starts again soon. The wife will no doubt watch it while I'll be staying out of the way as it winds me up. Jessie J shouldn't be giving anyone advice on how to sing/perform, along with Will.I.am who's best ability is being able to put full stops in his name.
I do recall The Roxy, if only for the performance of Mick Jagger-soundalike 'Broken English' with 'Comin' on Strong' and thats about it, it was TOTP all the way for me.
It would be good to see ITV repeat it though. I wonder if ITV have the programme in their vaults though, some of the old ITV regional programming has apparently vanished (as in it can't be traced) when the regional ITV stations who originally made the programme lost the franchise at the end of 1992. I once read the master tapes for some programmes were put into storage and were lost in the system in the mid 90s.
Elvis Costello's appearance on Revolver with the Attractions in August 1978 is a bonus feature on 'The Right Spectacle' DVD released in 2005 which would suggest that the master tapes survived beyond the mid 90s.
Just out of interest, after delving back about 20 pages or so, here is a clip of Elkie Brooks when she was in Vinegar Joe - and believe me, I've seen a clip somewhere where she was far more raunchy than this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPED5-u_i88
Vinegar Joe performed that on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973; the late Robert Palmer (who later enjoyed solo success with 'Addicted To Love' etc.) is the guitarist nearest to camera.
I looked up 'The Beat Room' on Wiki last night which ran from July 1964 to January 1965 on BBC 2. Of the 29 programmes made 28 were destroyed and the one that survives (No. 14 from 5 October 1964) includes the live Kinks clip (which I first saw on Revolver in 1978) and live performances from John Lee Hooker and Tom Jones with his original rhythm and blues backing band before he went solo. Most of this stuff was included on the 'Sounds of the Sixties' series in 1991 but I noticed one solo artist who featured on the wiped episodes was Elkie Brooks who in 1964 would have been 19 years old. The band 'Zoot Money' of which future Police guitarist Andy Summers was a member were on it as well. The resident dance troupe were called 'The Beat Girls' and included future Pan's People, Babs Lord and Ruth Pearson; a brief clip of the Beat Girls from the surviving programme was shown on the 1994 documentary 'Digging The Dancing Queens'.
I heard this great quote during the Goodbye To BBC TV Centre programme on BBC4 last Friday evening, and like it so much that I just want to share it here, for all of us that are recalling 1978 with such fondness each week, as we did with the past two years also, and in light of the "then & now" discussions that have taken place, and the pining for the past and disappointments of the present, of which I am a prime candidate myself. Anyway here it is;
"Change is usually sad, but it is dangerous to live too much in the past, and to overstate the past at the expense of the future"
Good words I thought. I am guilty of the above, so it made me take stock. Are we overstating our collective past here?
Incidentally, I thought they rather glossed over TOTP during the programme, considering it spent so long coming from the TV Centre, and they had Noel on. He barely even mentioned it.
I heard this great quote during the Goodbye To BBC TV Centre programme on BBC4 last Friday evening, and like it so much that I just want to share it here, for all of us that are recalling 1978 with such fondness each week, as we did with the past two years also, and in light of the "then & now" discussions that have taken place, and the pining for the past and disappointments of the present, of which I am a prime candidate myself. Anyway here it is;
"Change is usually sad, but it is dangerous to live too much in the past, and to overstate the past at the expense of the future"
Definitely true, but you can't help wondering why so much rubbish is repeated constantly, yet there seem to be hundreds of outstanding clips that were only ever broadcast the one time.
Definitely true, but you can't help wondering why so much rubbish is repeated constantly, yet there seem to be hundreds of outstanding clips that were only ever broadcast the one time.
You said it. Mind you, I'm guilty myself at home of that and I could kick myself. I constantly went over and over some great stuff on C90 cassette tapes in the early 80's. But I had no choice. I could not keep buying brand new ones every other week, as I simply did not have the means to do so. Likely on a larger scale this is the case at the BBC and elsewhere. Pure economics, sadly.:(
I was thinking, before I saw the posts on here about Revolver (which I realised I did know of thanks to a Peter Cook documentary a few years ago), of the other music shows I could remember from my "yoof" apart from TOTP. I have very vague memories of The Tube (pretty much just the titles) and Razamatazz(sp?). Also The Roxy on Saturday afternoons with Kid Jensen. I remember there was a parody of it on Your Mother Wouldn't Like It called The Poxy. It's funny what sticks in your mind from a very early age.
The Ozone on BBC2 (usually right at the end Sunday mornings) was more interview based but very of the moment. There was a short lived music show in the mid 90s, hosted by Andi Peters, called The Noise which would have "live" performances. I loved The Chart Show, which was later replaced by CD:UK. After that, music TV has become very marginalised rather than generally in view at regular intervals.
I was thinking, before I saw the posts on here about Revolver (which I realised I did know of thanks to a Peter Cook documentary a few years ago), of the other music shows I could remember from my "yoof" apart from TOTP. I have very vague memories of The Tube (pretty much just the titles) and Razamatazz(sp?). Also The Roxy on Saturday afternoons with Kid Jensen. I remember there was a parody of it on Your Mother Wouldn't Like It called The Poxy. It's funny what sticks in your mind from a very early age.
Good reminder of Razzamatazz, which I recall a few episodes of, but not in any detail, except it seemed quite a high energy show, and I have not cheated by looking for any You Tube clips.....yet, so all pure memory. However I have glanced it's wikipedia entry and am amazed at just how long it was going for and how many shows were made, between June 1981 and January 1987 apparently.
I'd also recommend the Quincy Jones hit, Razzamatazz which is fantastic, and believe it or not,it actually hit the charts in June 1981, the same month that wiki says the show with the same name began. Presume it's just one of those wonderful coincidences.
So in some ways, another TOTP myth is busted ever so slightly. The one that goes it was the only show on TV that you could see your fave pop stars regularly. Well the list of other shows that came and went, during the TOTP heyday is growing longer.
How about 'APB' on Channel 4 as an obscure one? I've got some of it on a VHS somewhere, specifically an interview with the Bangles. From 1988 or 89 I think.
Claim to Fame time :-
I was on Razzamatazz back in the early 80s!! - It was filmed in Newcastle and our school kept being asked to go along to be in the audience!! - There was never anyone too interesting when I was there though - except for maybe Tick n Tock and Bad Manners!!
I must admit though - there was no hanky panky going on between us girls and the presenters!!! - And we had Alistair Pirrie!!
How about 'APB' on Channel 4 as an obscure one? I've got some of it on a VHS somewhere, specifically an interview with the Bangles. From 1988 or 89 I think.
A bit of trivia here.
I noticed in a few "live" TV performances of Eternal Flame, the lead singer couldn't reach the highest note in the final chorus and sang it as she had in the other choruses. Yet the high note is there on the record. An early example of "digital enhancements?"
I noticed in a few "live" TV performances of Eternal Flame, the lead singer couldn't reach the highest note in the final chorus and sang it as she had in the other choruses. Yet the high note is there on the record. An early example of "digital enhancements?"
Very likely. I saw them in concert, and Susanna didn't even try for that high note.
By the time of Eternal Flame, the record company was actively trying to push Susanna as the front woman looking to have her go solo. As a result, the album is very disjointed. The record company was also insisting on more and more session musicians.
For proper Bangles sound, I recommend their first album 'All Over The Place'.
Very likely. I saw them in concert, and Susanna didn't even try for that high note.
By the time of Eternal Flame, the record company was actively trying to push Susanna as the front woman looking to have her go solo. As a result, the album is very disjointed. The record company was also insisting on more and more session musicians.
For proper Bangles sound, I recommend their first album 'All Over The Place'.
ahhh, Susanna Hoffs, absolutely gorgeous. it's all about those eyes in the 'Walk Like An Egyptian' video...
I was always intrigued about why they did a cover of Katrina & the Waves' 'Going Down To Liverpool' (a song written by band member Kimberley Rew who was born in Bristol). With lines like "Hey, where you going with that UB40 in your hand" they must have thought the line was about someone carrying an album by the band UB40 rather than about the old Unemployment Benefit white dole card from which UB40 took their name.
ahhh, Susanna Hoffs, absolutely gorgeous. it's all about those eyes in the 'Walk Like An Egyptian' video...
.
She was just the same in concert. You felt like she was looking right at you. Amazing peepers.
And I have a vinyl picture disc (or two) featuring interviews with the band (yes, I am a fan), and on one of them they get asked about 'Going Down To Liverpool. I can't remember exactly what they say but it does lead to some dodgy attempts at a British accent from the ladies.
Comments
Without wishing to sound like a Mark Radcliffe TOTP2 voiceover ...
... even Robert Mugabe seems to be enjoying himself watching Siouxsie and the Banshees at 0.37 in the clip below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiVfRoywQtk
:eek::eek::eek:
The Tube was THE BEST show of them all!! - Edgy, Great music, Wacky presenters, Gothy audience - it had the lot!! - Although I can see why some people might not have liked it - You either loved or hated it!!
I really, really wish C4 would repeat The Tube - just like the BBC are repeating TOTP!!! :cool:
Sorry to burst your bubble Fave St, but I don't think it really is Robert Mugabe, a case of mistaken identity I'm afraid........no, it's Huggy Bear from Starsky & Hutch, big in '78!
Ursula I fully understand your horror at me not seeing a single Tube. Was it always on at 6pm Fridays? If so, my parents likely wanted the news, and I'd not argue with that.
Ha - yes it was on from 5.30 - 7pm on Fridays and unfortunately I remember BIG arguments with my parents about letting me watch it!! - I think I was a stubborn teenager!
I've got quite a few editions of The Chart Show, recorded from repeats on the Vault and original recordings someone did me copies of - ranging from the 1986 special to the final show in 1998. As usual with the orginal recordings from years ago, the best stuff is usually the ads and continuity.
I don't think anybody has yet mentioned Naked City, which also had bands on playing live. They kept the cameras rolling after the show had finished to film the headliners playing a full set, which would later appear under the title of Butt Naked. The best one of these was a set played by The Manic Street Preachers when Richie Edwards was still in the band. It is probably the best television production of a live band that I have ever seen, where just for once, the darting camera edits actually enhanced the performance, rather than ruining it, which is the usual result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvtOnKzQ9Uw
Let's see who's the first to work out the lyrics by listening to that clip
Just out of interest, after delving back about 20 pages or so, here is a clip of Elkie Brooks when she was in Vinegar Joe - and believe me, I've seen a clip somewhere where she was far more raunchy than this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPED5-u_i88
Do you not remember the tidy-bearded DJ Chris Hill who made two novelty Xmas records in 1975 (Renta Santa) and 1976 (Bionic Santa)?
I see the BBC's version of 'entertainment' to rival the X factor, The Voice starts again soon. The wife will no doubt watch it while I'll be staying out of the way as it winds me up. Jessie J shouldn't be giving anyone advice on how to sing/perform, along with Will.I.am who's best ability is being able to put full stops in his name.
I do recall The Roxy, if only for the performance of Mick Jagger-soundalike 'Broken English' with 'Comin' on Strong' and thats about it, it was TOTP all the way for me.
Elvis Costello's appearance on Revolver with the Attractions in August 1978 is a bonus feature on 'The Right Spectacle' DVD released in 2005 which would suggest that the master tapes survived beyond the mid 90s.
No. Wish I did!
Vinegar Joe performed that on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973; the late Robert Palmer (who later enjoyed solo success with 'Addicted To Love' etc.) is the guitarist nearest to camera.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G51tmiwMlk
I looked up 'The Beat Room' on Wiki last night which ran from July 1964 to January 1965 on BBC 2. Of the 29 programmes made 28 were destroyed and the one that survives (No. 14 from 5 October 1964) includes the live Kinks clip (which I first saw on Revolver in 1978) and live performances from John Lee Hooker and Tom Jones with his original rhythm and blues backing band before he went solo. Most of this stuff was included on the 'Sounds of the Sixties' series in 1991 but I noticed one solo artist who featured on the wiped episodes was Elkie Brooks who in 1964 would have been 19 years old. The band 'Zoot Money' of which future Police guitarist Andy Summers was a member were on it as well. The resident dance troupe were called 'The Beat Girls' and included future Pan's People, Babs Lord and Ruth Pearson; a brief clip of the Beat Girls from the surviving programme was shown on the 1994 documentary 'Digging The Dancing Queens'.
And this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FkJ-3cIgp8&list=PLC197283719F13060
It makes me realise what an archive of classic material there is waiting to be unearthed. I would love a dvd of that Manics performance on Butt Naked.
"Change is usually sad, but it is dangerous to live too much in the past, and to overstate the past at the expense of the future"
Good words I thought. I am guilty of the above, so it made me take stock. Are we overstating our collective past here?
Incidentally, I thought they rather glossed over TOTP during the programme, considering it spent so long coming from the TV Centre, and they had Noel on. He barely even mentioned it.
... because they were wiped :mad: ?
You said it. Mind you, I'm guilty myself at home of that and I could kick myself. I constantly went over and over some great stuff on C90 cassette tapes in the early 80's. But I had no choice. I could not keep buying brand new ones every other week, as I simply did not have the means to do so. Likely on a larger scale this is the case at the BBC and elsewhere. Pure economics, sadly.:(
The Ozone on BBC2 (usually right at the end Sunday mornings) was more interview based but very of the moment. There was a short lived music show in the mid 90s, hosted by Andi Peters, called The Noise which would have "live" performances. I loved The Chart Show, which was later replaced by CD:UK. After that, music TV has become very marginalised rather than generally in view at regular intervals.
Thank you so much, darnall42!
Good reminder of Razzamatazz, which I recall a few episodes of, but not in any detail, except it seemed quite a high energy show, and I have not cheated by looking for any You Tube clips.....yet, so all pure memory. However I have glanced it's wikipedia entry and am amazed at just how long it was going for and how many shows were made, between June 1981 and January 1987 apparently.
I'd also recommend the Quincy Jones hit, Razzamatazz which is fantastic, and believe it or not,it actually hit the charts in June 1981, the same month that wiki says the show with the same name began. Presume it's just one of those wonderful coincidences.
So in some ways, another TOTP myth is busted ever so slightly. The one that goes it was the only show on TV that you could see your fave pop stars regularly. Well the list of other shows that came and went, during the TOTP heyday is growing longer.
I was on Razzamatazz back in the early 80s!! - It was filmed in Newcastle and our school kept being asked to go along to be in the audience!!
I must admit though - there was no hanky panky going on between us girls and the presenters!!!
A bit of trivia here.
I noticed in a few "live" TV performances of Eternal Flame, the lead singer couldn't reach the highest note in the final chorus and sang it as she had in the other choruses. Yet the high note is there on the record. An early example of "digital enhancements?"
Very likely. I saw them in concert, and Susanna didn't even try for that high note.
By the time of Eternal Flame, the record company was actively trying to push Susanna as the front woman looking to have her go solo. As a result, the album is very disjointed. The record company was also insisting on more and more session musicians.
For proper Bangles sound, I recommend their first album 'All Over The Place'.
http://www.rockband.com/blog/bangles-dlc-susanna-hoff-interview
I was always intrigued about why they did a cover of Katrina & the Waves' 'Going Down To Liverpool' (a song written by band member Kimberley Rew who was born in Bristol). With lines like "Hey, where you going with that UB40 in your hand" they must have thought the line was about someone carrying an album by the band UB40 rather than about the old Unemployment Benefit white dole card from which UB40 took their name.
She was just the same in concert. You felt like she was looking right at you. Amazing peepers.
And I have a vinyl picture disc (or two) featuring interviews with the band (yes, I am a fan), and on one of them they get asked about 'Going Down To Liverpool. I can't remember exactly what they say but it does lead to some dodgy attempts at a British accent from the ladies.