Thanks for putting this up, my recorder failed when i was away last week so i've been looking for this episode

An interesting show. But Dale Winton attempting in his effeminate voice 'lads' type banter with the radio one djs about how they must have been 'babe magnets' was a bit cringeworthy. And of course there is the discomfort and unease of listening to such comments in the retrospective light of the later Savile and DLT issues. What happened to Alan 'Fluff' Freeman's mouth? Had he had a stroke? He does not look very well at all and seems unrecognisable to the usual Fluff we knew and loved.

Cheers Scott - I enjoyed watching that! Ta for the link!

'Shakatak ain't nothing but bad elevator muzak'. Plinkey, plonkey, plinkey, plonkey. Talking of which, I think I'd prefer 3 minutes of Les Dawson.
Having two vaguely similar sounding names of groups (Shakatak and Shalamar) from the 80s was confusing. The music itself couldn't be any different. Both groups tended to pass me by at the time. But I certainly remember night birds and not being fussed at all.
Hearing Shalamar's songs in the intervening years, they are certainly miles better.

'Ever So Lonely' by Monsoon is one of those records that has been rarely played on radio sine the time of its release. I thought I did not know the song, just looking at the title, but once it started on the TOTP edition, I immediately recognised it.

Hasn't David Van Day been doing charitable works by performing around old people's homes singing 50s and 60s stuff to help alzheimers and dementia sufferers? He can't be all bad, despite his narcissistic argumentativeness. The tabloids gave him a bad press even for that, by saying some residents were falling asleep while he performed Dollar songs.

'More Than This' by Roxy Music has great melodic verses but is let down by a weak chorus.

Loved Bucks Fizz, Bardo and Simple Minds from this edition.

I think it's fair to say that sometimes the songs shown on TOTP are poor compared to the quality of the charts. It's happened occasionally since the repeats have started and others have commented on it. Coming up there's going to be an episode with 3 football songs on it, i'm sure there were better songs in the charts that week.

I really like the charts in 1982 and i fully appreciate that you're not so keen but i guess it's all down to personal taste.


That 1982 Scotland song was the first single i ever bought! You've got to laugh at the way how Scotland's world cup songs went from extremely optimistic (Easy Easy in 1974) to the quite frankly depressing (Don't Come Home too Soon in 1998)!

There never was any serious romance. It was just a publicity stunt.

Night Birds was very good, and so much more than bad elevator muzac.

I really didn't mind the early weeks of 1982, but i feel the last month or two, has gone badly off the boil. Thankfully, i think following on from last week's better episode, the next few will also mark a continuation of the improvement, but perhaps that won't be the story longterm. The likes of Tight Fit and The Goombay Dance Band, hasn't cast a very good impression generally, for me, with them both making No 1, but that isn't the real reason 1982 has seemed rather mediocre of late. New acts and old, have been releasing rather uninspiring output, that also seems to have been clogging up the charts. Bucks Fizz "My Camera Never Lies" does stand out miles in terms of quality, and melodically, "Ebony And Ivory" stands out very well, too.

I do miss the New Wave and the Disco sounds, from a couple of years previously, mind.

Yes it is Boz, the music from Shakatak such as Night Birds is classy stuff. Although I will admit that TOTP has not done it justice. To listen to it through decent headphones from a high spec download really does reveal the track in all its true delightful form. It's great that these sounds could be decent sized hits. I don't get all this negative attitude towards the group. But there is one other thing I have just got to bring up as it's been getting mentioned yet again, and it's this daft notion that there were people who seriously got Shakatak and Shalamar mixed up with each other just because they charted in the same period. I'm not accepting that any literate and intelligent person could ever get the two groups mixed up. No excuses whatsoever!

So who went into Virgin Records, HMV, Woollies, WHSmith or an independent record store at the time and asked for the new single by Shakatak and got Night Birds when they really wanted I Can Make You Feel Good?

But the current version does -
http://s14.postimg.org/ufdh9ihzl/15_4_82.png Updating Popscene folder...


According to GB's profile he was 7 at the time....
but Shakatak's Night Birds ain't that bad.

Let's just remember some of the classic No1 hits we have endured, I mean enjoyed, since spring 1976 and through the classic era shall we....

1976.

Save All Your Kisses For Me - Brotherhood Of Man, 6 endless weeks of babyish smooching.
No Charge - JJ Barrie, 1 shortchanged week, not.
Combine Harvester - Wurzels, 2 weeks too long. Needed harvesting before it hit top ten.
Forever And Ever - Demis Roussos, 1 small week for the big man.

Into '77 we go.

Don't Give Up On Us - David Soul, for 4 criminal weeks for Hutch.
Lucille - Kenny Rogers, 1 week of insipid country at the top in punk/jubilee month.
Angelo - Brotherhood Of Man, an unwelcome return for 1 week in the week Elvis croaked.
Float On - Floaters, 1 week for Russell Grants favourite single.
Way Down - Elvis Presley, 5 posthumous weeks for this single which looked to be missing the forty until he made a good career move.
Mull Of Kintyre - Wings, 9 hefty weeks and joint longest of the 70's for the epitome of traditional, a new song that instantly sounded ancient.

Off to 1978 we skip merrily.

Figaro - Brotherhood Of Man, 1 week of middle England pop that can never be unpicked.
Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats & Dogs, Brian & Michael, 3 weeks and I helped that and now regret it was my first bought tune when Kate Bush was debuting at the same time.
Rivers Of Babylon - Boney M, 5 weeks for a song that should have sold 5 copies.
Summer Nights - Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta, 7 weeks of "summer" retro in "autumn" in the new wave era, isn't that ironic on two levels.
Mary's Boy Child - Boney M, 4 weeks of utter huge selling tradition for the masses.

Now for our beloved 1979.

Bright Eyes - Art Garfunkel, 6 weeks and the bestest seller of them all in '79 thanks to the wabbits. Aaah...Uugh.
One Day At A Time - Lena Martell, 3 weeks but 21 days taken one by one.

Only two worthies here but they still make up over 2 months of the year. Considered adding Dr Hook, and yes it's a bit MOR but a good one.

Into the Eighties with 1980.

Coward Of The County - Kenny Rogers, a 2 week stain on the start of the new decade.
Together We Are Beautiful - Fern Kinney, 1 week but it should have been back in 1975.
Working My Way Back To You - Detroit Spinners, 2 weeks but it should have worked back to 1974/5.
What's Another Year - Johnny Logan, 2 weeks of this wet wet wet sounding song from the Johnny Rotten wannabe...not.
Theme From MASH - Mash, 3 weeks for a ten year old song from an American show, Mr Edmonds to blame it seems.
Crying - Don McLean, 3 weeks of this Orbison cover, keeping up the cutting edge so far.
Feels Like I'm In Love - Kelly Marie, 2 weeks of S/A/W 1988 in 1980 via some odd reverse timewarp.
There's No One Quite Like Grandma - That Choir, for 2 weeks. Pity the grandads at the time, left out. The grandma's should have been too. What nana's bought it, as in yellow fruit, not nannies.

Gingerly onto '81.

Shaddup You Face - Joe Dolce, 3 weeks and he never shut up and still can't be muted even now.
This Ole House - Shakin' Stevens, 3 weeks of 50's retro.
Green Door - Shakin' Stevens, 4 weeks of 50's retro. No slamming the door in Shaky's face yet.
Japanese Boy - Aneka, 1 week of faux Oriental delight to stir fry the mind. Should've been Anneka Rice instead.
Begin The Beguine - Julio Iglesias, 1 week of 1981's truest heart throb.

Now it's 1982, and look what we have - Tight Fit and then Goombay Dance Band and you Jedikiah along with some others on here are having a bit of a TOTP meltdown at two consecutive lightweight No1 hits and acting as if the quality pop music world is about to cave in. WELL IT'S NOT. The second British invasion of America is just about to get underway for starters! Then come 1983 there are some staggeringly all time great UK No1 hit singles to look forward to, never mind the rest that never hit the top spot. Not to forget that there remain an enormous amount of brilliant disco tracks, although maybe disco/dance is a better genre pairing from mid '82 onwards, to come, many in Summer 1982 and even many more in Summer 1983. A true classic fave of mine from exactly a year from now being by Indeep.

At least you agree with me about the supreme No1 that is Ebony & Ivory which goes against the grain on here.

Chin up Jedikiah and stop looking at 1976-81 through overly rosy glasses. 1982-85 holds up very well.

Yes it was each. The guy from Bardo, cant remember his name, was supposed to be in Bucks Fizz but changed his mind. Don't know why, maybe he didn't want to go blonde! Bobby McVay was the second choice, finally they settled on Bobby Gee.

Rich Tea, except of course, we all have differing tastes, and a few of those No 1 songs you have selected as more mediocre, are among my personal favourites. I think the problem for me, is more fundamental than that. It is the stripping away of pop's more extreme characteristics, whether it be progressive electric guitar playing, the more rich and lush string arrangements, or the more rebellious punk attitude, or even the more poetic nature of the lyrics, to fit into some form of pure pop sensibility. It is quite obvious to my ears that with the odd exception, the music of 1982, is grossly watered down to much of that of the seventies, and there is a strong feeling with many of the acts, that the management are concentrating more on image and style, than popular music existing as anything too profound. The likes of the recent Foster And Allen, and from a few months earlier, The Fureys, in many ways for me, acted as some light relief, because the acoustic sounds do seem a little more intricate, and 'musical' in nature, and not just surface gloss, even if as songs, they may not strike me too much. That is why i could never agree with you, for example, when you remark that the likes of Kenny Rogers, proved poor No 1's. Acts like Status Quo, don't seem as hot either, because although the familiar riffs are still there, they have mellowed into almost an electric Chas And Dave, by this period.

Pop generally in 1982, to my ears, seems to be getting very bland.

I think he was in a touring musical when the whole Eurovision thing was happening. Funny re Bobby McVay theough as he is now in the group with Cheryl, Mike and Jay.

I see from the Radio time that TOTP82 is back to 2 eps a week next week.

I been interested by the fact that we have seen every April 82 episode I guess that explains the odd variation in quality of eps recently, given that for the last few years of eps have mostly had at least one banned episode a month, maybe its always been like that but just not noticed.

Re Jedkiah's comments - I also agree. I know there are a lot of great songs in 1982 & 83 - but many bands by then had lost their edginess & alternative sound in favour of a trendy look or teenage appeal. I feel much like today, pressure was on to look good rather than sound good. Think back to the charts of the late 70s. There were a lot of plain ( or even dare I say - ugly ) acts on the Pops - but the quality of some of the songs was fab!
The early 80s still had great songs - but by the mid 80s, the emphasis was definitely more on image!!

I'd have to disagree about the number one singles in 1983. To my mind there are only two or three that could be considered great, the rest are average at best. There's a lot of stuff I'd really be looking forward to seeing in 83 but, at the very top of the charts it's definitely about style over substance.

I would never post any real personal details regarding age, birth date etc on a publically accessible Internet forum. Data protection and all that. So, no, I was not 7 years old at the time.

BIB: Strongly agree
Italics: Strongly disagree
Others: more neutral

Count me in the 'Ever So Lonely' fan club, too!

As Jedikiah has pointed out, Sheila Chandra would have been known to some viewers from Grange Hill, where she played Sudhamani Patel. Here's an interview with her - she's quite funny about her time on the show!

https://grangehillgold.wordpress.com...ni-patel-s2-4/

I totally agree with this and I'm so relieved that I'm not the only one who thinks this!

Have you both forgotten what you were told not to? Easily my favourite Simple Minds single.

1982 is my all time favourite year. I never stopped buying singles and albums that year: Associates, ABC, Yazoo, Kid Creole, Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, Blancmange, China Crisis, Soft Cell, Culture Club, Siouxsie, the Clash, New Order, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Madness, Dexys, Eurthymics... the list is endless.

Bland that lot ain't.

Sorry, no!

For me, post-1982, Simple Minds descend into a kind of sub-U2, pompous mess. Such a shame.

But each to their own!