Apart from they aren't what you expect from POTP.

Heart's Time Tunnel more like.

Bollocks. For starters all 3 were regularly played when new on Radio 2. Infact it was Radio 2 that were credited with getting Gary Jules to no.1.

Well good for them. But if that dreary song and all those terrible cover versions featured on POTP, I would actually complain. Play years like 2003 if you like, but I won't listen.

Does the show and Tony Blackburn want long-time listeners switching off I wonder?

No that is why they avoid 90s and 00s charts like the plague.

Good. You seem to like just being stuck in the 80's and refuse to listen to anything made after 1989! Why should the show be just for the likes of you? It's funny you tell us we should go and listen to Heart despite the fact that Heart doesn't play half the artists mentioned. Yet we have a show on Radio 2 that is covering the same years as the retro shows on BBC Local Radio!

Because of a minority of ignorant listeners who want to hear the same bloody music and same bloody years week after week?

Erm well excuse me for preferring older music. And I stand by what I said - if POTP wants to play the 2000s, I'll switch off.

I've listened to the show since the late 90s. Perhaps that means I'm stuck in that era as well?

You sound like a spoilt teenager now. So liking 70s and 80s music makes me 'ignorant' does it? That's fine, call me ignorant then!

No refusing to listen to anything else is. And you are the spoilt child. I will switch off if I hear anything post 1989 so they shouldn't do it which is what you are saying.

There are lots of people who share my opinion Peter.

Perhaps if you want to hear music from 2003, POTP really isn't for you? I don't hear say 1977 on Heart's Time Tunnel, but I don't expect to hear that era on there either. It's the same thing.

But you hear 80's on Heart. You are hearing the exact same years on BBC Local so what is the point of Pick Of The pops doing the same thing? The show isn't reflecting the broad Radio 2 audience which is to cover numerous decades. Something there was no problem with under the Dale Winton era. ClareB put it simply and she is someone who has admitted at not being a fan of the 90's and that is if the show continues the way it is it is in danger of becoming a show that is a complete and utter joke.

No, because of about 5 million people who tune in every week and enjoy the show as it is. Long may POTPS be a 90s and 00s free zone. The 50s charts get played about once in six months. Should be more frequent and would add to the variety and quality.

Yes you do hear 80s music on Heart, but in no way can Heart be classed as an 'oldies' station. Heart probably caters more for the sort of music you wish to hear than me! Heart play more 90s and 2000s music of the genres you highlight in that 2003 chart.

If BBC local radio duplicates POTP, then it is up to the BBC to sort that. Not everyone can receive these BBC locals any way.

It seems you have an issue with Tony Blackburn and his presentation as much as anything else. Again many people enjoy Mr Blackburn and his style of broadcasting and tune in for this.

The show becoming a joke? Playing 10 or more cover versions a show would be my idea of a joke.

Oh so ratings is all that matters? The BBC shouldn't take risks then? Oh and by your argument the 50's shouldn't feature more because of the ratings. Its funny how that argument is only used when it suits

So would you happily listen to the 50s or 40s?

Yes. I love music from all decades.

Well stop moaning then. It's Christmas

Irony just died.



You're putting up a fantastic argument as usual Peter, but it's like nailing jelly to a wall with certain people on here.

Odd how the ones who would like to hear different decades feature a bit more often (40s, 50s, 90s and 00s) are pilloried and called childish by those who steadfastly want the show produced just to their specific requirements.




I'd guess you've not asked every single one of those 5 million, but don't let that stop you making wild claims to suit your narrow minded arguments


Merry Christmas

I'm not against 90/00's charts as long as they are good charts. There's plenty of good ones they could choose. I'm an 80's fan but wouldn't mind some different years for a change.

Nothing more to add to the debate about which years should be played on POTP, so will just leave my comments re the 1979 chart.

22 DECEMBER 1979

29 LONDON CALLING - CLASH - Surprised and pleased this got played, although not my fave their hits. Ironic that this should kick off the 80s TOTPs, considering how much they hated the show.
20 TEARS OF A CLOWN - BEAT - While nothing will beat the Smokey Robinson original, I think this is a decent enough cover.
17 IS IT LOVE YOU'RE AFTER - ROSE ROYCE - It is hard not to hear this and think of The Theme From S-Express. I think both are fantastic singles in their own right. I tried, without success, to get a download of the extended version of this.
16 LIVING ON AN ISLAND - STATUS QUO - Nice to hear the Quo when they're doing something a bit different, and this song about the downside of fame was certainly different from their usual stuff. I'm surprised the references to getting high didn't get it a BBC ban, though.
15 CONFUSION - ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - I prefer the other A-side Last Train To London to this one, and I think it's the one that usually gets played. It's certainly the more memorable of the two to me.
14 UNION CITY BLUE - BLONDIE - Definitely one of Blondie's hits I wouldn't be bothered never to hear again. There's nothing in the song that grabs me, unlike most of their other hits.
13 JOHN, I'M ONLY DANCING (AGAIN) (1975) - Not one of Bowie's songs I've over-familar with, but I have to say I prefer the original version to this "new" version.
12 OFF THE WALL - MICHAEL JACKSON - Because of my age, I came to Off The Wall after Thriller and Bad. I've not listened to album for ages, but I think all the singles from are it are excellent, which can't be said for Thriller and Bad.
10 BRASS IN POCKET - PRETENDERS - I know I've commented before that I'm not that keen on this song, and Chrissie Hynde's vocals. I've heard it loads of times, and still can't make out a lot of what she's singing.
09 MY SIMPLE HEART - THREE DEGREES - While I was aware of this song, I really got to know it when I began collecting mp3s of all the 80s top 10s and I've really grown to like it.
08 QUE SERA MI VIDA (IF YOU SHOULD GO) - GIBSON BROTHERS - Another song I got to know better through collecting 80s top 10 mp3s. Definitely my fave of theirs - I love the "if you should go, go, go, go" intro!
07 WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME - PAUL MCCARTNEY - Irritatingly catchy, guaranteed to be played every Christmas forever more and make Macca even richer than he is already. I don't think there's anything more to add!
04 DAY TRIP TO BANGOR (DIDN'T WE HAVE A LOVELY TIME) - FIDDLER'S DRAM - I mentioned on the TOTP thread that someone bought my sister this record for her 8th birthday, and I've always loved it. Nothing more than a good sing-a-long song, and I'll never grow out of finding amusing the bit about Elsie feeling sick after being on the ferris wheel!
03 WALKING ON THE MOON - POLICE - Definitely not one of my faves from them. I'm sure much has been commented on the way Sting sings with a Jamaican accent, but on the song it just seem really OTT.
02 I HAVE A DREAM - ABBA - Disappointing effort from Abba. It seems like a calculated attempt to get a Christmas No. 1 - with the childrens' chorus and " I believe in angels". While I they deserved the honour of a Christmas No. 1 it would've been a shame had it been with this.
01 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL (PART II) - PINK FLOYD - Excellent! Obviously, I loved this as a kid, and still do, though I appreciate more now what a great song it is. I always like the video too, and never thought it was scary.

Not played
19 ONE STEP BEYOND - MADNESS - I find songs like this that have very few lyrics annoying. Either write some more, or make it an instrumental! As this is a good tune, it should definitely just be an instrumental.
18 MOODY BLUES - Surprised this wasn't played, and I wouldn't have minded if it had been. Although a 60s reissue, it's such a classic, haunting, song. I've enjoyed seeing it on the TOTP repeats.
11 DONNA SUMMER AND BARBRA STREISAND - There's no way you can go wrong with two fantastic female vocalists like Babs and Donna and I've got the extended version on my ipod. Love a disco tune that starts off with a slow into - From New York To La is another example.
06 SUGARHILL GANG - I don't mind some rap songs, but I'd lose the will to live listening to the full version of this. It does amuse me when one of the rappers is boasting about having a colour TV! Whenever I hear it, it always reminds me of the old woman singing it in The Wedding Singer.
05 I ONLY WANNA BE WITH YOU - TOURISTS - Definitely the version of this song I'm most familiar with, and definitely the fave. Annie certainly had the vocal ability to take on this Dusty Springfield song.

No I haven't asked 5 million people. I only assume that if a radio show consistently attracts 5 million listeners it is a fair bet that at least a decent majority like what they hear. I very much doubt that many will simply listen so they can moan about the show on Internet forums. I like the show and I am happy with it as it is. I can do without hearing charts from the nineties and nighties. I am pleased that the producer has so far excluded those decades in the main. Long May that policy continue if only to allow people like yourself and Peter the Great to get all steamed up about a show you listen to but obviously dislike.

Since when did they play the same music every week?

Great post Clare. Always good to hear your views. Have to agree with most of it, although I really like ELO's 'Confusion', Blondie's 'Union City Blue, The Pretenders 'Brass in Pocket' and I've always been a sucker for 'I Have a Dream'.

Steamed up


I love the show. It could be better by occasionally including significant years of the youth of huge swathes of Radio 2's core audience.

It's not a hard concept to get your head around.

Aren't you being a little assuming and patronising here? Who says this 'youth' audience automatically wants to hear 90s and 2000s charts?

I was still in my 'youth' in the late 1990s and I wouldn't mind if I never heard those charts again!