Both classic 80's tracks and I would include FGTH's Welcome To The Pleasuredome in the 'Trevor Horn Super Productions Inc.' category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOmHcBVA-BU

I think Yazoo were unlucky not to get number two this week given that Fame was on the way down in the charts. It's unusual for a former number one to hold onto the number two spot for a second week after being displaced.

I hate to be an irritating pedant but Duel wasn't actually produced by Trevor Horn. It was produced by Stephen Lipson. But it was probably heavily influenced by Trevor who produced other Propaganda songs around this time such as Doctor Mabuse.

Catching up on Thursday's Pops.

The Coconuts 3 - 0 Zoo. An easy win.

I loved Boystown Gang. Oh those 1980's gay disco memories!

Agreed, I've liked that cover for a while. One of the good disco updates. To me the music is always way more important than whether the visual presentation is cool is or not.

I had no idea that's what it was about, and they performed it on Saturday kids TV too! They don't seem to have done much after this song, and the lass, Kate Garner, appears to have become better known as a photographer since...

An odd totp that...not too much quality... Nice to see the Firm again, Dexys is just starting to get annoying (though the part where they stop, then slowly build up to a shuddering finish is always good to hear)...

The Boystown dancers were so ridiculously camp it was distracting from a good song - though I prefer the Andy Williams version - The Associates were ok (never seen much of them, but they appear to be the most eagerly anticipated act on this thread each week). Sheena was dreadful,and most of the rest quite dull or below par (except Yazoo).

A fairly poor week overall on bbc4, neither show was outstanding... Hopefully better to come!

Bruce Forsyth's daughter is one of the band. Not sure which one though.

I always thought it was the funniest line of the song.

Are you sure? According to Wikipedia "Toto Coelo -The original members were singers Anita Mahadevan, Lacey Bond, Lindsey Danvers, Ros Holness (daughter of television presenter Bob Holness) and Sheen Doran."

I thought it was Bob Holness's daughter who was a member?

No, it was definately Bruce Forsyth

I thought The Boystown Gang's version of ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You'' was mediocre at best, and not a patch on the Andy Williams, or the original Frankie Valli version. The visuals certainly didn't help, of course, and it seemed strange in this period to have a full blown disco song in the charts, when many of the other 'dance' tunes were incorporating other elements, to take their songs beyond the more typical late seventies disco formula. I have nothing against disco, mind, and that is certainly not the reason why i don't like this version of ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You''. It just seemed very cabaret sounding to me. I thought the other dance tune, ''Big Fun'', by Kool And The Gang, was very poor, too, by their previous standards, and again the visuals, this time by Zoo, couldn't disguise this fact.

Overall, though, unlike recent episodes, there seemed more songs which were at least trying to move beyond the more obvious pop formula of the day, to create something at least a little more interesting, and different. The Associates ''18 Carat Love Affair'', Sheena Easton's ''Machinery'', Wavelength's ''Hurry Home'', and Fun Boy Three's ''Summertime'', at least were trying for something that demanded to be listened to, and had the potential to be enjoyed over repeated listens. They weren't just producing wallpaper music, which we've been subjected to more than enough recently. How successful they are may be another question.

The Associates ''18 Carat Love Affair'' is easily the lesser song of their three Top Of The Pops appearances, and ''Love Hangover'' may have been featured later, had this double A sided single had a more successful run. Sheena Easton's ''Machinery'' could never compete with her first two major hits, ''Modern Girl'' and ''9 To 5'', because there isn't much of a song there, although the elements within the track are at least interesting. She actually sounds a little like Joni Mitchell in places. Fun Boy Three's ''Summertime'' is an interesting take on a very old song, and while it is worthy, i don't think it is anywhere near up with best versions of this song. Wavelength's ''Hurry Home'' made me stop - and listen, which has been rare in these more recent Top Of The Pops shows.

Toto Coelo's ''I Eat Cannibals'' always struck me very much as a throwaway track, back in the day, and it still does. I believe former Legs & Co, and Zoo dancer, Anita Chellamah, appears in this group, and the group was one of seventies star, Barry Blue's projects. According to Wikipedia, Bob Holness daughter, Ross, was a member of this group too. I notice the type of jungle theme typified by this song features highly during 1982. Haysi Fantaysee's ''John Wayne Is Big Leggy'', was a much more likeable and infectious track, and the song does take on a new meaning, once the lyrics become more clear! Not sure it rates especially highly with me overall, mind, but it does strike me as rather cute in places in an Altered Images type way.

Not a great episode, or even a good episode, even with the addition of Yazoo's ''Don't Go'' and Dexys ''Come On Eileen'' (and not forgetting of course the ''Arthur Daley'' track). It had its fair share of mediocrity, but there were some more pleasing musical elements to be found too, even if they did not automatically translate to great songs.

6/10

I could see Kim Wilde singing the Sheena song Machinery

Well, having just watched the full episode, I'm giving that one 9/10, only deducting a point for the unnecessary repeat of The Firm. Yes, many of the great moments were ones of unintentional hilarity - like Wavelength singing their sombre ballad in front of an audience wearing deelyboppers - but there were so many uniquely 80s curiosities in here that it's definitely a keeper.

Toto Coelo in binbags giving it their all for a song that sounds like it should have come out of a musical. They're clearly not as young as you might expect, and one of them has a similar lisp to Toyah, but it's hard not to be swept up in the infectiousness of it.

The Boystown Gang clip is the gift that keeps on giving. Sheena Easton singing a bizarre and forgotten song in equally bizarre attire. Haysi Fantayzee giving themselves a moment to tell their grandchildren about - how they mimed anal sex on primetime BBC1. The Moroccan Tumblers.

I'd completely forgotten "Hurry Home" by Wavelength - the song and the staging could have come straight out of 1976, but the audience is pure 80s.

Then there are the moments of genuine quality - Yazoo, Associates, FB3, Dexy's. All in all a bit of everything and an absolute riot to watch!

Sorry if I came across a bit like a doubting Thomas it wasn't meant that way.. Remember watching that programme and was staggered at just how many clips from different artists were played

Of course you can bet the song was covered on those £ 1.25 Woolworth albums that were always on sale when I was a kid. NO DOUBT those covers would have counted towards the total number of covers

Bruces daughter was in Guys and Dolls

Bobs daughter was in Toto Coelo

OMG I'm out!, see post #9910

We all love each other on this thread sir

I hadn't spotted the above post so apologies to you too...................

I took a SERIOUS interest in Toto Coelo in 1982, or my hormones did anyway

18 Carat Love Affair might have stood a better chance of success in the MTV era. It's slightly lacking as a song and, as I said earlier, the echo on the live vocal did not help, but there was a charming winsomeness about Billy Mackenzie's face, especially when looking into Martha Ladly's eyes.

Thats okay I instigated some of the confusion.

Absolutely eribolds, you can never go wrong with a Holly Johnson 'HA!'


DOH! (wipes egg from face) Schoolboy error!

A spot of 'Bates disease' creeping in I think

I find ZTT's output often falls between confusing and down right unfathomable, with the differing versions of releases available (most with alternative mixes).

If you have the time, there's a decent resume of ZTT's output on this fansite reproduced from Record Collector Magazine in 1988..

http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?ti...le=ztt%20label
http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?ti...le=ztt%20label
http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?ti...le=ztt%20label

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Secret_Wish#Reception

The Wikilink ^ lists the different versions of 'A Secret Wish', and the youtube clickety below being a hybrid of one fan's compiled mixtape of (in his view) the best mixes which follow the running order of the album...

Propaganda - A Secret Wish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1mhUodL6D8

I can understand people not getting the anal aspect - you'd have to listen closely to the lyrics on the dialogue section to get that, but the "big c**k" aspect is pretty explicit - you have Jeremy Healy miming a big c**k while singing "HE'S SO LOOOOOOOOOONG!" after all! Maybe the 13 year olds wouldn't have got it, but it's surprising that no-one at TOTP picked it up.

Maybe there was more to this being edited from the 7:30 showing than just timing? I'm sure they could have edited out The Firm and made it look as though John Peel was counting down directly from 20 to 1 if they'd really wanted to...

The first comment under the Frankie clickety pretty much sums up the effects of the fear on the population at the time (written by a bloke called hislop)

Unsure if it's that one

'hislop67'
When this came out in the 1980s I hadn't heard this version and I was woken up one Saturday morning by the nuclear alarm warning at the start of this song - terrified and almost p*ssing my pants, I immediately jumped out of bed to get my mum and dad as I thought World War 3 was starting ... then the music started... I burst into my younger brother's room who was playing this at full volume and told him he was a f*ucking d*ckhead LOL

There was very little said about the meaning of John Wayne is Big Leggy at the time. A few years later I remember it being explained that Big Leggy related to penis size but i've never heard the anal sex explaination until now