If you only watch the 7:30 showings (which are cut to 30 mins) and not the late showings (which are in full), you won't have seen either. 'Da Da Da' was featured in both the 8th July Jensen and 22nd July Bates editions, but was cut from both 7:30 showings. "John Wayne" was featured in the 12th August Peel edition, but cut from the 7:30, and its other appearance was in a DLT edition (with reference to your last sentence, shows hosted by Savile and DLT are not being shown).

BBC iPlayer upload the full episodes to watch for 30 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00704hg

The 8th July edition is only available until this Tuesday so you've only got a couple of days left to catch it.

Can't believe after all these years, there are still people who haven't clocked the late night repeat is different to the early one!

Same as my family. John on the male side and Johanna on the female.

When my daughter was born my mother said 'you will stick to family tradition won't you?' I said of course, and called her Amy Elizabeth. I was not my mother's favourite for quite a while.

Up the revolution my subversive brothers and sisters!

*raises fist*

Maybe 'feeding' is a wrong way of putting it, more trying to consolidate perhaps. Thus comments on 'we all have agreement on this', or having a 'guilty pleasure' which they shouldn't have. People have the similar interest in the topic of music, but when that gets narrower people can try and self validate through others with a similar narrow interest on what they think the truth is, on something they wish to identify with. You see this all the time on appreciation threads on music boards. Sometimes people may take offense, but yes that is pointless if they take it personally (again that would simply be about their own identification with music). Andon this thread I think it's more about nostalgia than anything, but nostalgia itself can twist things when it goes into value judgements.

Some people are interested in discussion of course, quite a few aren't though so I don't think that can be generalised. Often with music people can just voice what's thought a general safe opinion too, rather than making more effort to form an individual assessment.

Just watched the full show from Friday, and it's excellent throughout. The highlight for me is about 30 seconds into Mari Wilson where Simon Bates can be seen exiting the stage very awkwardly on the right side of the screen - if you didn't see it, have another look!

Mari Wilson's backing singers make the boys from ABC look postiively coordinated by comparison, and I still think the middle one is the spitting image of Phil Daniels. It's a great record, though, a perfect combination of retro feel with up-to-the-minute 80s sounds.

Many have compared Shakatak's music to "Pages From Ceefax" music, but to me it sounds like what would come out if you press the "Demo" button on a Casio keyboard. There are few bands who appear to enjoy their appearances on the TOTP stage more than these boys, though.

Pity that both appearances of the "All Of My Heart" video have been cut off so early. Martin Fry has the Elvis lip-curl down to a tee in this video.

Adam's "Friend Or Foe" is a song I had largely forgotten over the years - it's a bit of a mess but just about works in the end. Carly Simon's "Why" is a song whose charms have completely passed me by over the years - listening to it now I'd have to ask "Why?"!

"The Bitterest Pill" is a great lyric - pity that most of it has been obscured for me up until now by the fact that I've never actually read them in print before. At times like this, the subtitles are a gift (which is not intended to be a Jam-related pun).

Interesting that UB40 were fronted by two lefties - I'm talking about their handedness, not their political persuasions!

Many, many years ago in my 'desperate enough to go anywhere with a girl to see if I could impress' stage, I went and saw UB40 live.

Being left handed myself I did notice the coincidence, but I did feel like screaming 'Will you shut up lecturing about Thatcher and just play your bloody songs'.

I still find if funny that one of their best selling songs [if not the best] is a copy of a record by an American multi millionaire establishment icon and another is a cover of a Republican politicians best known hit.

When it got to the Frida interview I realised I had seen at least part of Friday's edition before. It was definitely a better edition than the PP one and I'm scoring it an eight out of ten.

I can't think of a better way to have kicked of this show than with Mari Wilson's Just What I Always Wanted. I'm surprised that this retro sound appealed to me as an 8 year old, but I've always loved it. I've watched the TOTP performances of this loads of time and I always like the bit where, for a ring, she gets a telephone receiver!

I do like the Jam's Bitterest Pill though that's probably because it was a move into the sound Paul Weller would continue with the Style Council. I couldn't recall the video at all though. There was lots of snogging going on it!

Glittering Prize is one of the few Simple Minds songs I actually like. It's got quite a funky groove to it. I'm not a fan of Jim Kerr's vocal, though.

UB40's So Here I Am wasn't one of their hits I was that familiar with and I'd say it's growing on me after hearing it again on this edition and the yewtreed one.

Lol, no surprise that Simes is a fan of Shakatak. When this was on the yewtreed edition I was quite bored, thinking how it sounded exactly like their other hits, but for some reason seeing/hearing it again on this edition I quite enjoyed it. Was it Shaka Miss on that was written on the back of the girls dresses?

Great to see Frida in the studio. As has been said, it has to be remembered that at this point in time there was little interest in the group or the solo members anymore - and wouldn't be for another 10 years.

I was disappointed that it wasn't a studio performance of ABC's fantastic All Of My Heart, though better the video than it not being featured at all and we'd already lost it once on a yewtreed edition.

At lest Talk Talk did manage to make it into the studio. It's definitely a re-discovered gem for me from the TOTP repeats. Yes Mike Hollis did look a bit intense in his performance but it didn't spoil it for me.

I can't hear Adam Ant's Friend Or Foe without thinking of the radio 1 DJ dancing to it. Thank God it was that was it yewtreed and not the video. Like the Jam video, I didn't recall it all, but it was as entertaining as you'd expected from an "Ant" video. I liked the pantomime cow and the tap dancing,

I think Carly Simon's Why is okay, but I'm not as crazy about it as most people on here seem to be. The Zoo routine didn't help at all either. It looked like one of the 80s ads for make up or hairspray. Not sure if it'll be featured again but if so, hopefully there'll be a vid to show.

While I didn't like that routine, I would've sooner have seen the one Zoo did for Eye Of The Tiger than the video yet again. I'm fed up with it now,

I don't dislike Grandmaster's Flash's The Message but it could never mean as much as me to White Lines but I know that's an age thing. I'm sure if the Message had been released 2 years later and on Now 3 it would be the opposite.

I don't have an issue with DLT being mentioned on the thread.

It's when questionable attitudes towards the women he groped or comments disregarding the groping that took place are made that I challenge those posts. Those women are not on the forum and so cannot defend themselves. I feel it's right for me to step in and stand up for them.

I also have no problem with my posts on here being scrutinised and commented on if people wish to do so.

BIB - I don't follow the logic. The BBC have and will no doubt continue to broadcast old programmes featuring deceased comedians such as Tony Hancock, Sid James, Tommy Cooper, Morecambe & Wise, Messrs. Barker and Corbett etc. who were all survived by living relatives. When Clive Dunn passed away four years ago they didn't stop screening repeats of Dad's Army on BBC2 and a compilation of Cilla Black clips was shown on BBC Four this year presumably with no thought for her three grieving sons. If another MP was assassinated a la Jo Cox would the BBC feel it incumbent upon them to obtain permission from the bereaved family to broadcast it on the national news in case the reports upset them? If the corporation does intend blocking the Mike Smith repeats (who incidentally died of natural causes) on these flimsy grounds I think they will be taking political correctness to a disturbing new level.


I sometimes think Elvis Costello sounds like he is suffering from constipation - a fleeting example of the singing style I'm thinking of can be heard in the first second of the clip below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8JkB-OR7H4

Incidentally we are presently on page 444 - Part 1 of the TOTP 1981 thread only ran to 443 pages so on that basis we could be getting a Part 2 anytime now.

It was "Shaka-Macs".

He'd taken the Ex-Lax by the time he started singing this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbZ1hNbGAJ0

Thanks. That makes more sense than Shaka Miss!

I'm similarly perplexed. I don't follow how the BBC can't repeat something it owns the rights to, or how a contributing presenter could block it. This isn't the sale of a BBC show to another channel, or release of a BBC show on DVD, or as a download - it's a repeat broadcast on a BBC channel.

And I'd also agree with Boz - removing the Smith editions would effectively bracket him with Saville and DLT, as far as the average viewer goes. Why would that be anything he would have wanted, or anything his surviving relatives would aspire to?

Overall, I would agree with you, but just two notable - for me - exceptions.

Black Tie, White Noise, which I still play quite a bit and Heathen, which I have left lying around somewhere, but I can play on Youtube.

Otherwise, yes, for me, Bowie's best stuff was in the 1970s.

BIB - Very true. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of mainstream hip hop tunes which get into the top 40 these days. Having said that, I watched the BBC4 documentaries about the history of Hip Hop, and Rubbled, which were shown a fair few months ago.

After watching the two docs, I can say now that I understand the appeal of top 40 hip hop now, than I did before.

......but I can also say that I am not going to start liking modern hip hop. It is not being written for the likes of me, if the truth is told.

Just to re-iterate this was only speculation on my part as I had not seen all the previous posts on the subject.

Hello Andy.

Just to check, with that link, are you implying that either or both Pedrok and Littlegirlof7 are trolls?

If so, then you and I have both very different opinions of what a troll is.

LGO7

I have found the posting above, from you very upsetting. I will now withdraw from this group.

(or in the spirit of a lot of other posters who say that they are going to withdraw, I will most likely change my mind and be back on here again tomorrow )

That's similar to me. I won't like most hip hop, that's for those who have bought into the whole culture of it. And that's how it is looked at often I think, not simply just music. But I can appreciate things here and there anyway as I made an effort to listen to older stuff and modern stuff and work out what I think is more creative or fresher (and separating what I think is just hyped).

Key things for me are a powerful voice (attitude), interesting rhythms, sometimes an interesting production and some catchiness. Sometimes that can be encouraged by good lyrics. It leads on from r&b music, and I think it can be looked at from that simple rhythmic energy, but also combined with an underground attitude which may be meant to shock those not ready for it. There are also more 'pop' songs around the world which incorporate a hip-hop element into them to add some attitude and energy, some can be quite successful from my experience. As with anything I just think it depends on how well it's done and not the style used per se.

But for me that's from listening to music and not reading about it or watching something on it. Nothing beats listening to as much as possible. Words are pretty much pointless I think it's about adjusting the brain to have a better understanding of different styles. If I feel I can understand and appreciate some things of a style then I definitely think that's progress. Also I think the top 40, or even just a Western perspective, are limitations that may not always help

Bowie's 80s output post-Scary Monsters is something I really struggled with at the time: there are some gems in there ('Loving The Alien', 'Absolute Beginners', the original of 'Cat People'), but so much more that rather sounds like he'd lost his way (we could start the list with 'Dancing In The Streets'…).

His contribution to music from the 70s is so huge (and prolific) that it almost defies logic. His only contemporary from that decade with a comparable body of music and associated influence is Stevie Wonder; his only contemporary beyond that decade whose impact comes remotely close is Prince. Nobody could carry on in the same vein any of them did, with the same amount of material, forever. And nobody else has.

But I can't agree that Bowie never made a great album after 1980. I'd nominate The Buddha Of Suburbia, … hours, Heathen, The Next Day and Blackstar as brilliant. Of course they didn't make the same splash as his work in the 70s - that was impossible, given that time had moved on and we all lived (and live) in a different world to the one we did then - but there's depth, wisdom, humour and imagination that makes them shine. It's a shame he didn't reunite with Tony Visconti sooner …*but you can't have everything!

Oh - and, for me, the album of 2016 isn't any of those rather predictable titles on the BBC list. But nor is it Blackstar. It's not even Kate Bush's Before The Dawn. It's the brilliant Chaleur Humaine by Christine & The Queens - who also take gig of the year for their jaw-droppingly awesome concert at London's Brixton Academy last month.

You're not the only ones, to be fair.

I can't be the only one who spotted Eamonn Holmes behind Bates 29mins into Friday's show can I?

Not meaning to sound pedantic (but I've started the sentence with that so it's inevitable), I was actually talking about Top Of The Pops before so...

*innocent eyes, coy smile*



OK, had a look. Granted it does look like him but it's not actually him.

To me he looks like Carlos The Jackal sans glasses.