Totp
 

Nobody has posted about the demise of this show, long before MTV and associated satellite channels the only music show on television was Top of the Pops. Others came and went..Ready, Steady, Go, the Six-Five Special, Thank Your Lucky Stars, (There was also one in the 70's with Mike Mansfield going 'cue bay city rollers' cant be bothered doing a search)....But TOTP survived it all.

Who can forget Dexy's Midnight Runners singing Jackie Wilson Said with a background of...the wonderful little fat scottish dartplayer Jocky Wilson or Pans People ( dances by Flick Colby) dancing to Flowers in the Rain wearing raincoats and holding a bunch of flowers..(Who the hell had a name like 'FLICK' in the 60's) or Jimmy Saville with his hair dyed (yes dyed there were no temporary paints in those days) half black and half white on the day TOTP went colour, crap miming, people picking their nose in the audience, young lads in the audience ogling at girls in hot pants without realising the cameras were on them, miscues, bad miming, floor managers with 'scream now' boards in shot..Status Quo, crap to watch on TV, crap to listen to on your CD, but absolutely fantastically unbelievable to watch live (which incidentally is why they survive decade after decade) , being on it 106 times and holding the record

RIPTOTP.... yet another end of an era

Re: Totp
 

It is saddening, the demise of a national institution.
I'll never get to say that ultimate in rock 'n' roll line now - "Mum, I'm on top of the pops!"

However it was inevitable - the minute they tried to appeal to everyone was the beginning of the end, using blonde haired sprogs instead of BBC DJ's was a very bad move.

Re: Totp
 

got to agree i didn't watch it for years cos i'm an old git and think most of todays stuff is crap, but what a great show its been for the young of many generations even me ONCE when moby dick was a tadpole, i won't miss it for me,but i will certainly miss it for the kids. rip totp, this thread is probably in the wrong place lol ;)

Re: Totp
 

I saw quo live live at F1 at silverstone the other day.
But yes fantastic it was in it's day, watching sabrina sing boys boys boys, so pretty, erm so full of life.
I think it will hold different memories for all of us, but it's dead, and the music channels aren't as popular as they were either, it's all down to the internet.

As someone has said on a local forum, if video killed the radio star, internett killed the video star, I think that sums it up perfectly.

Re: Totp
 

I'm not sure it's actually just about music, it's as much about a tv show and nostalgia.

Re: Totp
 

Recall Tony (Anthony as he snobbishly prefers nowadays) Wilson prattling on about them being 3 chord no talents...something I am forever arguing with people about, in my opinion the true test of a performer/s is what they can do LIVE!!!.cant stand Sir Cliff, never seen him live, EXCEPT when he had half the bloody country singing summer holiday (myself included) during a rain storm at Wimbledon a few years ago

Re: Totp
 

yes but they do the 3 chords so well :D

Re: Totp
 

Ripping off CCR's Rockin All Over The World with 3 chords and doing a dance with your guitar...how cheeky, how british, how top of the pops :D

Re: Totp
 

Nowt wrong with Cliff, seen him on stage loads of times, a natural. I'm sorry to see the end of Top of the Pops though, it was my life when I was a kid.

Re: Totp
 

Re: Totp
 

I don't think it's just the many specialist music programmes that have killed it. I think the end was nigh when they broadcast it against the most watched programme on ITV Coronation Street. In it's hay day TOTP could get around nine million viewers until they kept moving it around in the schedules.

TOTPs was always about the variety of music that made it into the charts. A footy team, a punk group and Terry Wogan's Floral Dance all on the same programme, brilliant.

My favourite TOTP's moment comes from 1982, after Culture Club appeared whilst still unknown. Everyone was asking the next day 'what was it?' That dainty, skipping, painted, six foot doll, was Boy George.

Re: Totp
 

Re: Totp
 

Remember watching the very first one on New Year's Day, 1964. "Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five was number one. Now, that makes me feel old!

Re: Totp
 

I remember a band called Symposium doing their single Fairweather Friend. The singer dived off the stage into the crowd and then he reappears minus his shoe, which is suddenly thrown at him from the audience and hits the drummer in the face. Vastly entertaining!:D

Re: Totp
 

My favourite ever performance was The Smiths performing 'This Charming Man' - not live of course, just playback - but Morrissey with his bunch of flowers & hearing aid looked absolutely ridiculous yet effortlessly cool at the same time!

Closely followed by The Jam with 'Eton Riflles' I think this may have been actually live - I can't quite remember. The Jam were one of the greatest live bands ever.

My favourite that I was actually young enough to see has to be either Oasis performing Roll With It, where Noel & Liam swapped around just to take the mick :p or Nirvana performing 'Smells like Teen Spirit' in the style of Morrissey - the cheek!!

Looking back; thank god for TOTP2! I hope that isn't cancelled aswell.