I hope a compromise can be reached regarding the Mike Smith episodes. Perhaps those editions could be available to view on iPlayer only? Just a thought.

very well put - Hard to believe that more than 20 years after UK Gold first appeared on Sky,that one individual can still prevent repeats though

For me undoubtedly Shout. Yet another reason why music was so much better in 1985 than it had been in 1982.

I was thinking exactly the same thing. I like I Don't Want to Dance, but when it was released I would never in a million years have earmarked it as a future Number 1.

You can't be all bad as you like the brilliant Starmaker, but, why oh why do you go on these rants about other posters who merely want to watch TOTP performances? You keep going on about a sense of entitlement - surely the person with the biggest sense of entitlement was Smith.

Very true. Mike Smith's period on Top Of The Pops was when there did appear to be more of a recognition of how important these episodes may prove, in highlighting the music and social values of a particular period. I have no doubt, unlike in the sixties/early seventies era when nostalgia wasn't really considered, he would have been well aware of their historical importance in the years to come. However way it is viewed, it does seem a rather selfish and petty act on behalf of Mike Smith.

Yes, ''Mad World'' has a lot going for it and i do like it. It is definitely one of the better tracks from the show. However, i have always found Tears For Fears overall sound incredibly watery. I don't think it has anything to do with the instrumental aspect of the song. It is definitely with Curt's voice on this occasion, but i find that too on the tracks Roland takes lead on. It is so much better, though, than the Gary Jules dirge version.

Alongside Tears For Fears, it is The Beatles and Culture Club, who stand out most for me. I can recall in an interview, Beatles producer George Martin, saying he considered ''Love Me Do'' really not very strong, yet it does have a great feel to it, which acts as a nice contrast to some of the more typical contemporary sounds of 82, and it was a bigger hit this time round, too, reaching No 4, instead of the previous No 17, back in 62.

The Raw Silk track features a couple of members from the group Crown Heights Affair, who's song, ''You Gave Me Love'' featured on Top Of The Pops in 1980. "Do It to the Music" doesn't strike me so much, i must say, but like i suspect with the Melba Moore dance track, ''Love's Coming At Ya'', it may be a slow grower. It is about hitting that certain groove. Either way, i can't really see these songs as standing especially highly alongside the likes of Evelyn King's ''Love Come Down'' or Patrice Rushen's ''Forget Me Nots'', from this same period, even though the likes of ''Love Come Down'' and ''Love's Coming At Ya'' features some of the same production personnel.

The Bee Gees penned ''Heartbreaker'' appears a big improvement on their Leo Sayer hit' ''Heart (Stop Beating In Time)'' from a month or two back, because the song itself is much more memorable, and appears a good fit for Dionne Warwick's voice. However, it is also an incredibly bland track, and especially if you compare to the wonderful string of hits Dionne had from the the pen of Bacharach And David, during the sixties. Songs like ''Walk On By'' and ''Do You Know The Way To San Jose?'' had a much more sultry feel, which suited her voice down to the ground, but ''Heartbreaker'' strikes me as struggling to rise above the blandness sometimes found within the less inspiring middle-of-the-road sounds.

It would be nice to say that i like Blue Zoo's ''Cry Boy Cry'', but for me it tends to fall rather flat. In may ways it reminds me of Classix Nouveaux ''Is It A Dream'' in that it aims for something big, and vaguely new wave/futuristic etc. but fails to convince. I am not sure why so many of the more arty sounds from 82, haven't worked so well as previous years. Gary Numan is another artist who springs to mind. Bauhaus from the previous show, too.

Eddy Grant's ''I Don't Wanna Dance'' is ok, but it isn't so great. Of the three consecutive reggae inspired No 1's (including Musical Youth and Culture Club), i perhaps like this one the least, because it seems the most insubstantial. I don't think it is as good as ''Living On The Front Line'', ''Do You Feel My Love'', or the later ''Electric Avenue'', but it is perhaps more user friendly, as it appears completely inoffensive.

I think again with this episode truly great songs are rather thin on the ground, and it's very much a toss up as to which episode is best - this one or the previous one. They are both not too impressive, despite the odd light at the end of the tunnel.

4.5/10

Well I've just watched last nights repeat & I can say it was 100% better with Blue Zoo 'Cry boy Cry ' on it! - Why it was edited it out for some of the other stuff - I just don't know.

Blue Zoo could've been as big as Duran Duran - I don't really know why they only had the one big hit. Singer Andy contacted me on YouTube once when I commended their song!

People watch it a second time? I guess, if there was a really really good show. I am moving from being a casual observer to being a more regular viewer though.

Only when it's a good episode or the editing team cut out the classics like Blue Zoo!

I am completely clueless on Blue Zoo (I thought it was a clothing label) so before the football starts I will be checking them out on 'that video exchange site'.

Re Tears For Fears and as to what people think was their best single release, I made a poll...

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2193356

And it worked (my first attempt)! Choose one from ten. Poll closes on Christmas Eve.

I don't remember that Raw Silk song, but it was truly dire & I hope I never hear it again.

Here:-

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=80CInBBXYeU

Like I said - it's a great song & one of the best of 1982!

It's got that 80's sound of course and (s)he's got quite a decent vocal - but they weren't around for too long.


*courtesy Wikipedia

OK - so here, courtesy of me prevaricating while I should have been doing other things, is the Record Mirror Top 40 Disco chart from the week that corresponded with last night's repeat edition of TOTP …

1 (1) BEAT THE STREET (INSTRUMENTAL)/NEVER GIVE YOU UP/BEAT THE STREET (REMIX), Sharon Redd
2 (10)) LOVE DON’T COME EASY, New Jersey Connection *
3 (3) DO IT TO THE MUSIC, Raw Silk
4 (2) LOVE COME DOWN, Evelyn King
5 (5) DREAMIN’, Greg Henderson
6 (11) IN AND OUT, Willie Hutch *
7 (6) ANNIE I’M NOT YOUR DADDY, Kid Creole & The Coconuts
8 (4) PASS THE DUTCHIE, Musical Youth
9 (17) SUNSHINE PARTYTIME (RAP)/DUBBING IN SUNSHINE, Rockers Revenge *
10 (15) (SEXUAL) HEALING, Marvin Gaye
11 (7) LOVE’S COMIN’ AT YA, Melba Moore
12 (18) KNOCK ME OUT, Gary’s Gang
13 (14) LOOPZILLA, George Clinton *
14 (16) KEEP THE FIRE BURNING, Gwen McCrae
15 (21) STRAIGHT AHEAD, Nick Straker Band
16 (9) THERE IT IS, Shalamar
17 (12) WAY OUT, Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame *
18 (25) E.T. BOOGIE, The Extra T’s *
19 (24) HOLD ME TIGHTER IN THE RAIN, Billy Griffin *
20 (26) HIGH HOPES, The SOS Band *
21 (13) WALKING/ROCKIN’ ON SUNSHINE, Rockers Revenge
22 (28) YOU CAN’T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO, Brenda ‘BT’ Taylor *
23 (31) THE SMURF, Tyrone Brunson *
24 (8) ZOOM, Fat Larry’s Band
25 (32) SHE’S SO DIVINE, The Limit
26 (39) WE’VE ARRIVED, Loose End
27 (23) BODY SLAM! Bootsy’s Rubber Band *
28 (22) OOH LA LA LA (LET’S GO DANCIN’), Kool & The Gang
29 (38) YOUNG GUNS (GO FOR IT), Wham!
30 (19) WHEN WE PARTY (UPTOWN DOWNTOWN), Jay W McGee
31 (27) DANCE FLOOR, Zapp
32 (29) HEAD OVER HEELS, Galaxy
33 (49) GO WITH THE FLOW, Weeks & Co *
34 (41) NIPPLE TO THE BOTTLE, Grace Jones
35 (33) CHANGES/HEART ’N SOUL, Imagination (LP tracks)
36 (30) JUMP TO IT, Aretha Franklin
37 (48) PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK, Planet Patrol *
38 (20) THE MESSAGE, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
39 (55) MAGIC’S WAND, Whodini *
40 (34) DON’T STOP MY LOVE, Passion

The asterisked tracks are import 12" singles.

A fair few of those imports were subsequently released in the UK, and there are also a few names who meant little outside specialist circles but would ultimately cross over (The SOS Band, Galaxy, Steve Arrington and Loose End - after they added an 's' to their name).

I'd love to say there's more where that came from but my collection is patchy plus this is probably a labour of love for a whole website in itself, never mind occasional posts on DS!

Wow, just watched my recording of the late show, I don't remember anything about this group and the song only barely, a rare blind spot for me for a new wave hit! It's pretty decent.

Why did they fade away so quickly, lack of good songs or some other reason? I suppose there has always been quite a high percentage of one hit wonders.

I tend to watch the 7:30 showings while monitoring this thread and Twitter, then later in the weekend watch the full edition with no distractions. Most episodes usually improve on second viewing- I certainly hope this week's do!

I'm curious to know, is there a resource for RM or did you have to type all that out yourself?

Brilliant song and good performance too. They really did 'look the part' in many ways back then and seemed to have a confident, charismatic frontman so it is indeed puzzling as to why they were never bigger than they were. I'm not sure it was lack of decent material as I always thought the follow up to 'Cry Boy Cry', 'Loved One's An Angel' was a very decent song also. Puzzling one.

There's no resource that I know of - this is just me chancing on a pile of old issues in a cupboard at my mum's, and finding some from 1982 … so it was all hand-typed, I'm afraid!

'Cry Boy Cry' was produced by Tim Friese-Greene, who also produced Talk Talk between 1984 and 1991 ('It's My Life' onwards) … but was also responsible for two other big hits in 1982: 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and 'Fantasy Island' by Tight Fit!

There will be a new episode of Pop Quiz with Mike Read on Wednesday 28 December, apparently an 80s theme with guests such as Toyah, Nick Haywards and Cheryl Baker.

This is from an article in TV choice where Mike references the current TOTP showings.

TOTP2 Xmas special on GOLD at the moment!

Sorry have I missed something here? Are Mike Smith editions also not being shown?

Presenters have no right to demand that a show cannot be repeated. They took part in a broadcast knowing full well it may be repeated later on. Just look at the numerous quiz shows repeated on the likes of Challenge TV. Many of those quiz shows are from the 70's and 80's. As for Mike Smith I know he is dead, so it is Sarah Greene blocking his repeats?