I bet it wasn't. .It was a track called "Sucker MC's". You can find out what is being played on each edition on the Radio 2 website.

Terrible broadcaster IMHO - her 'knowledge' of the 80s is unfunny and sounds forced - but she keeps being employed by the Beeb so perhaps I'm wrong !!!!!

Listened to it on catch up, yep her knowledge of the 80's is awful, the reminiscing of 80's clubbing with the caller were pitiful as she wasn't there. In fact she couldn't legally go clubbing until 1992....

The singles success was exceptionally modest and over a very brief period of time. A No21, No32 & No23 from March 1986 to May 1987. I think to most people when talking about "success" they would be expecting somebody who had at least made the Top 20 singles chart at some point in the decade. Is that unreasonable? I'll concede on the album though. I'd forgotten how successful it was, 4 weeks at No2, getting stuck behind the awful Curiosity Killed The Cat's Keep Your Distance for two weeks on its debut, and also a week behind an album I bought at the time which I still really like by Swing Out Sister, It's Better To Travel.

I asked somebody today to tell me instantly what they thought of when I said a name, that name being Sara Cox. The reply was "90's ladette culture and that awful Girly Show". So instantly the decade 90's came out. This is the issue here in so many ways. The presenter is clearly associated strongly with a particular decade, and it isn't the 1980's!

Personally I thought it was a bit unreasonable because I thought she was fairly successful through the decade. Album sales are just as important and in some cases more important than singles. I must admit I slightly disagree about Curiosity Killed the Cat. I thought they made some pretty good pop songs.
Regarding Sara Cox. I agree I don't think she is a suitable presenter for the show and would probably have been better at doing a general show on Radio 2 like Early Breakfast. I think it was you that suggested that Janice Long would be a good choice? I agree with you there because her knowledge is right across the board. She has the interest and knowledge of more Alternative music but she has never been too snobby to like the more commercial stuff. The problem is she already does 5 nights a week so I am not sure she would have the time anyway.

Down To Earth by CKTC is one of the best singles of the 80s imho.


I think even today, whilst sounding undeniably 80s, it also sounds as if it could have been released last week,

Each to their own, but would have to disagree, it was from the poorer end of the 80's and IMO the production, like all music of that era sounds extremely dated. If I didn't know the track and hearing it for the first time I recon I could date it.

Personally I see the track as one of many heralding the beginning of the decline in popular music....

Love Down To Earth - definitely their best single.

Caught up with Saturday's show. Being only less than a year older Sara, I'm always interested in what things from the 80s she remembers and doesn't. I couldn't believe she didn't know of Boy George appearing in the 80s. That always seemed to be mentioned on those 80s nostalgia programmes.

I enjoyed her chat with the caller about going to Roxy's nightclub in Sheffield. I never went there undarage drinking, but did go to a few underage gigs there back in the 80s/early 90s.

Looking forward to next week's partly televised show, though I'm guessing that her guest, Rick Astley, won't be to everyone's taste.

Perhaps a partial swap would be in order: give Sot80s to Janice Long and give Sara Cox the Sunday night/early Monday show.

Radio 2 boss should had have someone like Andy Kershaw to do it instead of Sara Cox because she was 6 in 1980 and 14 in 1989 and she only had 40 per cent of the decade in her memory,

I genuinely fail to understand why age must be a dictating factor for a decades show.

Sara is a fine presenter. Just because Gary Davies, Mike Read, Pat Sharp, David Jensen were huge presenters in the 80s, it doesn't mean they would make a great job of this show.

Andy Kershaw, Tommy Vance, Richard Skinner etc would have been better choices for precisely the reasons given. Basically any of the 1980s R1 or Totp presenters. Or even Annie Nightingale as she was presenting ogwt at the time.

They were there; she wasn't.

It might just be me, but the show sounds horribly scripted tonight. Just like everything's being read out.
EDIT, actually the sound is slightly different now the video section has ended. Pretty sure it was recorded.

The show has been sounding increasingly scripted as the weeks have passed in my opinion. This is why a presenter with decent first hand anecdotes to run off the cuff would be so much more interesting for this 80's show. Sara has just answered somebody who asked if she was in Rick Astley's 1987 video with the comment "I was only 13 and into ponies at the time". Rather sums up the lack of genuine 80's ability/memories in a succinct line right from her own mouth tonight.

The last time this red button interview with Adam Ant was on it also looked suspiciously like it was recorded too.

Rick Astley only looks about 2 years older than he did in 1987! Barely changed.

Nice to hear the fabulous State Of Independence by Donna Summer at long last on the radio. No14, a disgrace!

Tommy Vance might be a little difficult considering he died some years ago.

Hadn't known that...

Richard Skinner might be interesting but I can guarantee Andy Kershaw would run a mile from it! It's evident from his autobiography, and his shows as they progressed over the years, that he has very little time for 80s music. I still think this show would be perfect for Janice Long or David Jensen.

So what if the interviews are pre-recorded? The show itself goes out live, rather than the awful VT shows which seem to be becoming more frequent at weekends on so many stations including R2.

Doesn't bother me that Sara was not an adult in the 80s. It's more important whether she genuinely has/had an interest in the music from that period. Considering the apparent gaps in her music knowledge, maybe not, but in the end if you don't like her informal chatty style, then you aren't going to like her presenting this show regardless of musical knowledge.

Donna Summer's State of Independence is my all time favourite track of hers, even though it's a cover of the Jon Anderson/Vangelis original. I prefer her version

Listened live and managed to stay awake until the videos finished. Loved the interview with Rick Astley. Still looks great and, more importantly I think, still sounds great after all these years. I think I missed Sara's remark so I'm not sure if the person was joking about her being in the Rick Astley video. Well, I was only a year older than Sarah, but I was playing his album constantly.

If you contrast it with Dave Pearce's Dance Years - Dave has personal and professional knowledge/interest of the whole era as he DJ'd through it as I understand it, as opposed to Sara who wasn't there except as a VERY young listener.

Basically you need a veteran broadcaster in the way that Brian Matthew covers the 60s, Johnnie Walker the 70s...

As Richard Skinner opened Live Aid - he'd be a good choice as he was there all through the decade.

Listened back tonight. "If you're watching / not watching via the red button..." etc became tiresome very quickly. I'm sure she's a lovely lasds, great wife and mother and all that but she's a dreadful host of this show. I love 80s music and the show could be so much better with a decent presenter. That said, I'd prefer Dave Pearce back with his dance anthems in that slot.

Regarding doing this in association with the BBC red button, why do they not simulcast properly from 10pm to midnight on the red button instead of the strange mash up that entailed? I watched a large part of it, which ended and within 10 to 15 minutes the same Human League & Kate Bush videos repeated, not even seeming like a proper full loop. It was a mess. When Sara spoke directly to camera it just did not give the appearance of live as broadcast going out on Radio 2 at the same moment.

I'm with you, at the end of each track its like Sara is reading a synopsis of the band/track from Wiki with zero input from herself.

Surely part of the point of show like this is nostalgia, something which Ms Cox is completely unable to bring to the show. Even a younger listener with an interest in 80's music would benefit from the input of a DJ with a working knowledge of the decade.

I was born nearly a decade before Cox, whilst having a fair knowledge of music post 77, I'd struggle with anything before, especially the early part of the decade. The same could be said for Sara ten years on and musically speaking the most interesting part of the decade had passed come 1987 ....

On air. Playing out Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal.

Sara Cox seems to be rambling a lot tonight. I wish she'd talk less and play more music.