I can't remember what it was either, old age is a terrible thing!

The original stage concept for "Addicted to Love"?

Like many things happening socially in the UK, pop in a sense was most definitely affected by the Thatcher philosophy, that greed is good, and profits are the be all and end all. Music in the eighties became more safe and more corporate, and less artistically creative. Success did seem all important. Everybody was jumping on the money bandwagon, irrespective of how tacky things started to get, and whether the music had much sincerity, or genuine soul. Stock, Aitken And Waterman's independent label, very much sought out what success meant for many in the eighties, and where the emphasis lay. Haven't you ever wondered why things suddenly went a lot more glossy?

Snap - I had a job in Our Price for a while, at the end of my student days - only it was was during the 90s when chart music was c&@p !!

SAW have been highlighted by many other FMs as being exemplary of where things went wrong in the 80s and, while I wouldn't dismiss every single thing they did as cynical, conveyor belt fodder, the sheer volume of material they managed to get into the charts did pop music no favours. It highlighted a model to the music industry of the day where technology could mask performers with limited musical ability (and that's putting it politely); and where short term profit suddenly became appealing as a business model. And while the major record companies may have been openly derisive of SAW, they flocked to them for their 'expertise'. No doubt they paved the way for Simons Fuller and Cowell and their empires to expand over the 90s, aided by their television 'talent' competitions - the ultimate in short-term profit models.

Add that to the financially driven culling of artists from major labels, and you have a climate in which it's now almost unimaginable that a major record company could ever persist with a talent like David Bowie, Kate Bush or Prince - all of whom had dips in their careers where, by modern standards, they would have been dropped.

There are glimmers of hope out there - but they exist in an apparently unstoppable deluge of bland TV manufactured pop, R&B/rap and EDM. If ever something as revolutionary as punk was needed, it's now.

I love those Imagination singles from 1981/1982 and the Nightdubbing album you mention - but it's interesting that while Swain and Jolley's star rose off the back of all that (Bananarama, Spandau Ballet, Alison Moyet), Imagination's started fading in 1983.

For me, neither 'Looking At Midnight' nor 'New Dimension' come close to their first two albums but Swain and Jolley couldn't save them, either and, by the end of 1984, they'd parted company with the group.

I suspect the public may have grown tired by then of the OTT glam routines that Imagination excelled in on TOTP - but I'd argue they were also subject to the seismic judders that Thriller was bringing to black music by 1983.

Off-topic, but in case anyone here wants to go …

https://lazarusmusical.com/

"(I'm Always Touched by Your) Prescence Dear" by Blondie was always one song title hard to get right, with those brackets in the right place! - I bet Simon Bates got the name wrong on more than a few occasions - but then he gets one word titles wrong too - so it would be no surprise!

It was something so normal & likeable that I think all the jaws of us forumites dropped, in shock, simultaneously, whilst reading it!!

As well the names of the acts and sometimes whether it's going up or down the chart, pretty much everything in fact. It's a wonder he can tell the right time on his live episodes!

Ha - Poor Simes!! He always read the 'Our Tune' out well though!!

The word "presence" is hard to spell too.

Generally I think there's good & bad in any Year of music, but there seemed to be less for pop fans after 1992 and less fun around after acid house & as a result my interest began to wane after then....

There seemed to be a sneering snobbery to pop music develop between 1993 & 94, fully realised by the Britpop 'Cool Britannia' crowd. The footage from the infamous Tony Blair reception at No. 10 in 1997 is excruciating to watch now & I'll wager the attendees of the event now wish they'd been washing their hair that night!

I wasn't a fan of Britpop which left me cold truth be told, though that had it's moments I suppose (Parklife, some Oasis & Pulp's Common People), but I think the transformation of music to become the money-at-all-costs behemoth certainly seems more noticeable when you work in a music store & see some of the shenanigans the Record company reps used to employ to promote artists, talented or not...

Auto check!!!

Numan on Uni Challenge tonight! The Young Uns got it wrong though - Dolts!

Does anyone know anything about the style of drums in the Gary Numan video... the ones that look as if the drum shells had melted. I remember seeing them a few times in the 80's.. I assume it was something to do with directing the accoustics

I watched last weeks later edition last night, still as awful as the first time I viewed it back in 82. As I have some recordings on my fresat box I decided to watch editions from Sept 80 and August 1979, so damn refreshing compared with the rubbish that followed throughout the 80s. It was also good to see and hear the CCS opening theme.

You are beginning to sound like me, TOTP_81!

The last three weeks, or so, i have found myself looking back frequently for the first time, since these Top Of The Pops BBC4 repeats started back in 2011. I am not saying i never looked back previously, but i certainly didn't make a habit of it. 1982 really hasn't impressed me too much in recent weeks, after a reasonable start. The last old episode i watched, which was presented by Mike Read, and dated 20/9/79, really was an outstanding show, which included Starjets, Kate Bush, Madness, The Jags, and Gary Numan. It it worth going back and checking these old shows out. I would say compared with the recent 1982 shows, many of them do seem even more impressive.

My regular peep through here. Mr Jedikiah there is a never ending theme with you. If something's worth saying it's worth saying a thousand times. Like all those constant summer repeats on the Beeb and elsewhere on TV, maybe you should place an '(R)' after some of your entries like they do in the telly listings.

The best years on the Pops were surely 1972 to 1978 from my lofty viewpoint. I'll tag a bonus '79 on the end too.

I wonder how many of you know that Adrian Gurvitz who got some mentions on here had already had another number 8 single way way back in late 1968 with a song called Race With The Devil under the name Gun, a group he was lead vocal on. Google it and you'll see him in glorious black and white on the Pops. Quite a contrast to his 1982 song Classic which I've always enjoyed when I hear it.

I also saw a mention of Paul Weller doing two songs from a Jam double a-side chart topper and a questioner wondering if he might have made certain demands of the show in order to perform both, or the lesser known side. Knowing Mike Hurll there would be a negligible chance of making an actual demand and getting it. No matter who you were, getting invited onto Top Of The Pops most would know who was the boss for the time in the studio. It was never the act. A 'suggestion' would be fine. A 'demand', forget it. You rarely made demands of BBC producers, they made demands of you.

My little bird on the inside has told me that 1983 is 'provisionally' coming along in the new year on BBC4. Also I have heard that 'representations' are being made and considered for the re-insertion into the 1983 Beeb 4 showings of a certain airbrushed out hairy host. I'm sure that will cheer a few of you up.

I want to just name a few of my favourite writers on here such as Mr Jedikiah, UrsulaU, Highlander1969, Rich Tea, Robbie01, SgtRock, Torch81 and I've been adoring Andy1302 with his comedy run downs of the recent shows. So good they almost seem professional like a comedy scriptwriter I know. There are some clever and incredibly articulate young(ish) people on here.

Awww - how very kind! - Although I fear your finger may have slipped whilst typing the word "young" to be accidently adding "ISH" on the end!! No ish about it - we still all feel (& probably act) about 12 at heart!!

Good to hear 1983 will be coming too!

Very good news about 1983 coming next year and even better to see DLT make an appearance if it comes off

As for the eternal debate re Lion Sleeps Tonight and Seven Tears its got to be Goombay Dance Band by a short head......re listening to Tight Fit after all these years just shows how weak that song is, theres nothing to it

Yes, and at the risk of repeating myself yet again............those years pretty much correspond with mine, except i wouldn't have any hesitation in adding 1979, and also perhaps the early months of 1980. 1972-78 also spans the Top Of The Pops presenting career of one Mr Noel Edmonds, so i am sure for that reason also those years hold very special memories. I really do wish there were more Top Of The Pops episodes available from the early seventies period. It was my favourite era. I was listening to Pick Of The Pops the other week, and Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" came on, and i thought what a wonderfully delicate and understated performance that was. She could certainly teach a thing or two to the over emotive pop star 'singers' of today, and especially those who appear on the likes of The X Factor. She certainly sang with a strong level of sincerity. It wasn't simply about flaunting for the sake of it.

But no different from what it's always been in the music industry. Did you not watch "Classic Albums" on Sunday? All Capitol Records wanted was money from the Beach Boys and were more interested in releasing a Greatest Hits album than promoting the more artistic Pet Sounds. That was in 1966. It is ridiculous to suggest that that sort of thing started with Maggie.

Again, blaming SAW for any perceived musical ills is nonsense. I think at their peak they may have had 10 records in the Top 40. That is still room for 30 singles that weren't anything to do with them!! And their peak was over very quickly.

No, it must have been something rubbish!